In the big tent of the Chinese army in Shichang City, Hua'an and his generals studied the strategy of dealing with Sun Fudu, with the 50,000 troops currently assembled under their command, they have the strength to attack Sun Fudu from the front, but this is bound to suffer heavy losses, and excessive losses are what Hua'an does not want to see.

For this reason, Hua'an vetoed an all-out attack on Sun Fudu, and had the idea of sneaking into the hinterland of Tianshui County.

Hua'an pointed to the location of Jicheng on the map, and said: "Generals, this is Jicheng, the hinterland of Tianshui County, if our army sends a small force to attack Jicheng, you can cut off the grain route of the Maqiu Western Expedition army, and at the same time, it will also let Sun Fudu of Shichang City return to the army to rescue, as long as Sun Fudu's camp moves, the main force of our army can be pressed with all its strength, and Sun Fu can be broken, what do you think?" ”

"The general wants to sneak attack Jicheng, the road leading from Qishan to Jicheng has been occupied by Sun Fudu, if our army wants to sneak attack Jicheng, we must take a small road and detour from afar, so that it is easy to be found by Sun Fudu, so as to be recognized, besides, the path is difficult to walk, it is not easy for soldiers and horses to move, and if there are few soldiers and horses, they will not be able to break through Jicheng, and there will be problems with the supply of grain and grass, and the lone army will go deep behind the enemy, and the risk is too great." A general said worriedly.

When Hua An heard this, he felt that there was some truth in the general's worries, but a surprise sneak attack can achieve the greatest result with the smallest loss, and it is the best tactic at the moment, and it is a pity not to abandon it.

After thinking carefully for a moment, Hua An said softly: "Although the raid on Jicheng is dangerous, this is the best way to break through Sun Fudu's deployment, and I have decided to personally lead the pro-guard army to raid Jicheng." The Liangzhou legion was responsible for confronting Sun Fudu head-on, and once it was found that Sun Fudu's main army was retreating, he immediately pursued it, and the Qinzhou legion stayed in Shichang as a backup for the army. ”

Seeing that Hua An wanted to personally lead a small number of soldiers and horses deep behind enemy lines, the generals all thought that it was impossible, and let the main generals of the three armies enter the tiger's den in person, this kind of behavior was too risky.

"The general stays in Shichang, let the last general lead an army of 10,000 to raid Jicheng! The last general will definitely be able to complete the task. Yang An clenched his fists and asked.

Hua An shook his head and said, "Don't talk about it, if you don't enter the tiger's den, you will get the tiger." Ben has made up his mind. He personally led the pro-guard army to raid Jicheng. ”

Seeing that Hua'an insisted on this, the generals no longer objected, but stayed with Hua'an to study the specific raid plan.

After some detailed discussion. Hua'an decided to divide the army into two ways. Two hidden paths from Qishan respectively. Secretly crossed Qishan, and then launched a surprise attack on Jicheng at the same time by dividing the east and west, and finally took Jicheng. After the two armies met in Jicheng, they firmly controlled Jicheng in order to cut off the grain route of Maqiu's western expeditionary army.

Because of the consideration that a large amount of grain and grass must have been hoarded in Jicheng City, Hua'an asked the guards to bring only three days of dry food, that is, to conquer Jicheng within three days, otherwise, 10,000 guards may be starved to death.

In order to be able to break the city quickly when they arrived in Jicheng, Hua'an asked some soldiers of the guards to carry enough black powder to blow up the city gate, and let the other part of the soldiers prepare enough shields, after arriving in Jicheng, these small number of soldiers, under the cover of shields, rushed into the vicinity of the city gate, so as to ignite the black powder to blow the city gate open, so that they could quickly break through the city.

An hour later, all kinds of supplies needed by the pro-guard army were prepared, and under Hua'an's order, 10,000 pro-guard troops quickly left Shichang City and quietly marched to the predetermined position.

Among them, Hua An and Wang San led the five battalions of their own soldiers to take the path east of Qishan, while Zhuge Xiong led the five battalions of Wudang to take a small road on the right side of Qishan.

The terrain of Qishan is complicated, especially the small roads are even more difficult to walk, and in some steep positions, the soldiers must dismount and lead the horses on a difficult trek, but these difficulties are difficult for the soldiers of the Pro-Guard Army who have undergone rigorous training.

Before leaving, Hua An had already told them the importance and danger of this mission, which made all the soldiers understand that if they could not reach Jicheng quickly and break through Jicheng, the fate that awaited them would be starvation to death, and for the sake of victory, honor, and survival, the soldiers must work hard to move forward.

Fortunately, in the process of Hua'an's pro-guard army marching into Jicheng, there was no heavy rain and pouring weather, but always sunny days, which provided great convenience for the soldiers to march and allowed the pro-guard soldiers to arrive at the city of Jicheng smoothly.

The scouts of Zhao were not vegetarians, and when the guards of Hua'an's department were halfway there, they had already discovered this situation and immediately reported it to Sun Fudu, who immediately transferred the five thousand cavalry under his command to return to Jicheng.

However, Hua'an's personal guards were also all cavalry, and they arrived at Jicheng one step faster than Sun Fudu's cavalry, and were ready to attack the city.

Looking at Jicheng in front of him, a smile appeared on the corner of Hua'an's mouth, there were not many defenders in the city in front of him, in Hua'an's opinion, with the help of black powder, it only took one round of attacks to capture it lightly.

"Big brother, Jicheng is ahead, let's attack!" Hua An looked at Jicheng in front of him and said loudly.

Hua An smiled, nodded and said, "Since they are all here, then what is polite, let the soldiers prepare for the siege immediately." ”

"Yes, big brother." Wang San responded and ordered loudly: "Soldiers, prepare to attack." ”

Two thousand soldiers in front, immediately raised their shields and prepared for the attack.

"General, look, Zhao army reinforcements." At this moment, the five thousand reinforcements sent by Sun Fudu were about to arrive, and the billowing smoke and dust raised by the five thousand cavalry gave people an unstoppable momentum.

Hua An was slightly surprised, paused, and said softly: "It seems that our army's sneak attack was still discovered by the scouts of Zhao State, otherwise, Sun Fu would not have sent cavalry to reinforce the rear for no reason." ”

"Big brother, the cavalry of the Zhao army is only a few thousand, and it is not an opponent of our army at all." Wang San said loudly.

"General, let the last general lead the army to resist!" Zhuge Xiong shouted for his life.

Hua An nodded and ordered: "General Zhuge , your five thousand cavalry against the five thousand cavalry of the Zhao army, the general will look at your appearance." ”

Zhuge Xiong hurriedly clenched his fists and said: "General rest assured, the last general will not let you down." After saying that, he led the five battalions of Wudang under his command to kill the reinforced Zhao cavalry.

Hua An looked back in the direction of Jicheng, stretched out his hand, and ordered: "Attack the city immediately." ”

"Knock knock knock...... More than a dozen big drums in the Hua'an army formation issued an order to attack.

The two thousand soldiers in the vanguard held shields and black powder in their arms, and slowly pressed towards the gate of Jicheng.

The soldiers of the Zhao army who were defending the city, saw the Jin soldiers and horses under the city holding shields and attacking forward, they couldn't help but be a little surprised, in their impression, it was impossible to attack the city only by relying on shield soldiers, and the siege should at least have standard equipment such as ladders.

Although the Zhao army defending the city had few troops, they were not at all afraid of the Jin army's siege, and they took it for granted that the Jin army's shield bearers alone could not break through the city walls.

However, since the soldiers of the Jin army had been killed under the city, the soldiers of the Zhao army could not remain indifferent, so rolling logs and stones of various sizes were thrown from the city wall, causing certain casualties to the guards besieging the city.

The hundreds of soldiers at the front of the two thousand guards entered the door hole smoothly, unloaded the black powder in their arms, and stacked them together, and as a hemp rope soaked in fire oil was ignited, the soldiers of the guard army quickly ran out of the door and hid under the city wall outside.

"......Boom" With a loud bang, the gate of Jicheng was blown open by black powder.

"Rush to the ......" The general of the pro-guard army roared and led his soldiers to kill the city.

The defenders of Zhao State, who were laughing at the Jin army on the city wall, were dumbfounded, they watched the Jin army enter the city in a panic, and immediately understood that the city could no longer be held, so they immediately abandoned the city wall and fled to the rest of the city gates.

"Big brother, you see, the city has been broken by our army, should we enter the city immediately or reinforce Zhuge Xiong?" Seeing that Jicheng had been easily breached, Wang San said softly.

Hua An looked sideways to the south and said softly: "Zhuge Xiong's Wudang Fifth Battalion is enough to deal with the five thousand cavalry of Zhao State, we don't have to worry about him, and enter the city immediately." ”

"Into the city, the whole army into the city." Wang San shouted, and slowly marched towards Jicheng with the remaining 3,000 soldiers of the personal guards.

The first thing he did when he entered the city was to immediately control the grain and grass that Zhao Jun had hoarded in Jicheng, and firmly seal the four city gates.

"Big brother, there are 30,000 deniers of grain and grass in Jicheng, which is enough for a year's military rations for my personal guards." Wang San said happily after inspecting the grain and grass in Jicheng.

Hua An smiled and said softly: "Thirty thousand deniers, that's really a lot!" However, it is impossible for our army to stay in Jicheng for a year, and on the day of our army's withdrawal, most of the food will be burned. ”

"Big brother, isn't it a pity to burn such good food, on the day of withdrawal, we will take it all away." Wang San looked a little reluctant.

"There is no need, our army has sufficient food and grass, and there is no shortage of this, besides, bringing so much grain and grass on the day of withdrawal will slow down the speed of the army, which is not conducive to the rapid action of our army." Huaan does not intend to covet these grains and grasses.

When Wang San heard this, he said: "Even if our army doesn't need it, it doesn't have to be burned, there are so many poor people around Jicheng, if our army distributes the excess grain and grass to the people, it can greatly buy the hearts of the people, which is also very beneficial to our army's Northern Expedition in the future, what does the eldest brother think?" ”

Hua An was overjoyed when he heard this, looked at Wang San, and praised: "You are right, it is the best thing to distribute the excess grain and grass to the poor people, and this matter will be left to you, first distribute 10,000 deniers of military food and give it to the poor people who need food the most." ”

"Don't worry, big brother, it's all left to me." Wang San accepted the order with great emotion.

Tianshui County, where Jicheng is located, is dominated by the Qiang and Di ethnic groups, and these two ethnic groups do not have much loyalty to the Zhao State ruled by the Qian, Hua'an believes that as long as he is kind to these people, he will be able to gain the approval of the people. (To be continued......)