As the soldiers and horses of the Eastern Wangfu re-pressed towards Tongguan under the personal leadership of Han Jian, the shape of the Guanzhong also suddenly became nervous.

In the following days, in order to clean up the grain road behind, Han Jian sent soldiers and horses to ambush several times, and attracted the army behind the Xiwang Mansion with a fake troop transport vehicle and horse team.

The grain route in the rear was stable, and with the smooth progress of the summer harvest, the grain transferred from Jiangdu began to be transported to the front line in a steady stream, and even the soldiers and horses left behind by Su Tingxia, who had been exhausted in the north of the Yellow River, were also fully supplied. Han Jian sent several generals from the Eastern Palace, along with the troop transport team, to the north, and took the opportunity to collect the more than 30,000 soldiers and horses left by Su Tingxia on the north bank of the Yellow River. In addition, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses entered the territory of Guanzhong around the northeastern part of the Guanzhong, and the form of the previous aid was assigned to guard by Su Tingxia.

By this time, the soldiers and horses in the Dongwangfu attack pass were distributed in three parts. The first part is Han Jian's Chinese army outside Tongguan, with the original 30,000 horses plus the incorporated Su Tingxia Division, the number of soldiers and horses is more than 50,000; the second part is the Su Tingxia Department that has been rounded into the pass, with about 60,000 soldiers and horses; The third part is the soldiers and horses stationed in Pusaka led by Han Cui's family, with the original 6,000 soldiers and horses of the Eastern Palace, plus the thousands of soldiers and horses from the local Toucheng, the number is around 10,000.

As for the defenders of the West Palace, they are scattered and messy, among which the soldiers and horses and the Tongguan defenders who are fighting with Su Tingxia's department are the main force, and the soldiers and horses are about 60,000 or 70,000 each, plus the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses stationed in Chang'an City, at this time, the soldiers and horses of the West Wangfu are still around 200,000, of which the living combat force is about 100,000, which can be regarded as excellent, but it can no longer maintain the absolute strength advantage of the East King Army. And with the opening of the campaign mode of the Eastern King's army, which is contained after the encirclement. The West Palace's palace has become very passive in the battle situation.

Fortunately, Han Jian's Chinese army still did not break through Tongguan, and Han Cui's soldiers and horses were also stationed in Pusaka City, which allowed the Western Wang Army to mobilize superior forces to deal with the most difficult Su Tingxia Division.

Around the tenth day of the first month of June, there had been several frontal battles in the northern part of Guanzhong, and although Su Tingxia's troops had just returned from the victory of the Bohai Kingdom, they faced the elite soldiers of the Western Wang Army. There was no advantage at all, and its soldiers and horses had to retreat because of the resistance of the local gentry and common people because of the seizure of the place, and after several battles, Su Tingxia's soldiers and horses had to retreat.

On June 12, a letter for help written by Su Tingxia came from Guanzhong, and the letter was directly handed over to Han Jian. Although Su Tingxia said in the letter that the shape of the front line was very critical, Han Jian didn't see it, and now he wanted to use the hand of the West Wangfu to teach Su Tingxia a lesson about his arrogance.

June 15. More grain and grass were delivered to the front-line military camps, but this time it was Lin Xiaoshu, who was the chief steward of the Dongwang Mansion, who personally led the team to escort the grain and grass.

Han Jian and Lin Xiaoshu met, and the two lingered all night, but the next morning, it was Su Tingxia's second distress letter. The main force of the Eastern King Army is now strong and strong, and the morale of the soldiers has also risen, but Su Tingxia's side has encountered an unprecedented crisis, and he can't advance or retreat. It can only be fought with the main force of the Western King Army in the priority area, and it is impossible to grab more war resources if it cannot expand the combat area. With the completion of the harvest of summer grain by the Western Wangjun, Su Tingxia's troops were already struggling under the strong wall and clear wilderness, but at this time, Han Jian chose not to care about it, which was equivalent to pushing Su Tingxia out to fight a decisive battle with the Western Palace, and the Eastern Wangfu did not even need to provide grain and grass, let alone reinforcements.

"Su Tingxia will fight himself if he wants to fight. It is obviously impossible to transport grain and grass to the past, but it is better to think about how to capture Tongguan. ”

Han Jian could see that Lin Xiaoshu was still very concerned about Su Tingxia's news, after all, it was an "old acquaintance", although there was nothing between Lin Xiaoshu and Su Tingxia. But knowing that one of her old friends was also a general of the East Prince's Mansion, but now he was abandoned by Han Jian like a shoe, and she didn't care, she still felt a little unhappy in her heart. But since Han Jian said that she didn't care, she couldn't say more, just a little stalk in her heart.

Han Jian took Lin Xiaoshu to personally meet with some generals in the army, and after absorbing some of Su Tingxia's soldiers and horses, the Chinese army led by Han Jian was also extremely strong, and it could be said that it had the ability to fight a decisive battle with Xiwangfu. The general's respect for Lin Xiaoshu has gone beyond the scope of the princess of the East and even the big housekeeper of the East Palace, when there was a shortage of food, it was this big housekeeper who tried his best to transport food to the front line, and now he got better, and seeing the big housekeeper in person was like seeing his parents again.

But Lin Xiaoshu still looked very respectful in front of these people, she was a woman after all, and she was one of Han Jian's concubines, so she couldn't be too high-profile. Now she is not as competitive as before, after being in a high position, she also understands some truths, now the qiē she gets is given by Han Jian, if it is too arrogant and causes Han Jian to be disgusted, then the one she gets will also be lost.

Han Jian didn't have that much heart, he just politely let Lin Xiaoshu meet with the generals, and arranged a dinner party in the army. Although the soldiers were not allowed to drink alcohol, they had meat to eat.

There was a jubilant scene in the barracks outside the city, while the inside of Tongguan was desolate.

With the men and horses led by Su Tingxia and Han Cui's family going around to the interior of Guanzhong, and Pusaka, a large city of grain storage in Guanzhong, was lost, Tongguan, which was originally full of grain, grass, soldiers and horses, also encountered a food crisis.

Originally, in order to maintain the stability of Tongguan, the Xiwangfu would continue to transport grain and grass from the direction of Chang'an and even the Western Capital, but it was intercepted by Su Tingxia's department, Su Tingxia is also a genius in the use of the art of war on the battlefield, and he naturally knows how important it is to cut off the enemy's grain route in the case of his own lack of food. Later, because Han Jianzhong's army delayed launching a fierce attack on Tongguan, and the Xiwangfu focused on how to annihilate Su Tingxia's troops, so that by the beginning of June, no new grain and grass were transported to Tongguan. By the middle of June, the city has basically run out of food, originally the army and the people in the city can enjoy the Xiwangfu grain relief, now the army in order to survive, but also the idea of the people in the city, some of the grain that has been sent out has been forcibly requisitioned back, in the process of forced expropriation and the people have a certain conflict, many dead and injured.

At the beginning, it was the soldiers of the Dongwang Army outside the city who watched the soldiers of the Xiwang Army on the city tower bury the stove and make a fire every day, how to eat and drink, but now the situation is different, every time there is a fire outside the city to make food, some people will always be sent to the city tower to demonstrate. The distance is exactly one or two miles away, and you can't see or touch it. The soldiers at the head of the city didn't want to eat dry food, and there weren't many trees in the city, so they didn't even have the opportunity to eat leaves and gnaw bark.

In addition, the city has always kept the matter of who is the commander of the Chinese army, and the middle and lower-level soldiers have needs and even don't know who to talk to, and the morale of the defenders in the city is also low for a while.

Everyone thought that at this time, Han Jian should almost launch an attack on Tongguan. Because Tongguan is of great significance to the garrison of the entire Guanzhong, after all, this is the most critical layer of the Guanzhong defense line, and once it is lost, it will mean that the Dongwang army can drive straight in. But Han Jian seemed to settle down to deal with Tongguan to the end, that is, he did not launch a large-scale siege, small nuisances were almost every day, but there were no big losses every time, and occasionally even sent one or two people to the city to provoke, and did not send envoys to the city to lobby and persuade him to surrender, so he wasted it.

And at this time. The shape of the north is also a little urgent.

After a long winter's rest, the Xianbei people had begun to gather their troops and horses again, intending to take advantage of the power struggle within the Wei Dynasty to move south again. For this reason, Lin Zhan's department also had to move the focus of the garrison from Beichuan City to Beiguan to deal with the Xianbei people going south at any time. At this time, the urgency of the north to request reinforcements was also constantly sent to Han Jian, and Lin Zhan asked Han Jian to transfer 50,000 soldiers and horses according to his own situation, which was already the most basic number of soldiers and horses to keep Beiguan stable. But Han Jian couldn't send troops to Lin Zhan, after all, the Guanzhong problem had not yet been solved. The division of troops means that each has nothing to gain, and it is better to concentrate on fighting the battle in the pass.

June 21. The Xiwangfu first sent envoys to Tongguan, and then went out of the pass to the camp of the Dongwang army, and these envoys presented the transcript handed over by the Xiwang himself, saying that they would be loyal to the emperor and defend one side for the emperor. At the same time, he also promised that if the "imperial court" withdrew its troops, he would also withdraw from Luoyang and return most of the cities and passes that originally belonged to the imperial court, including Tongguan. Re-stationed the soldiers and horses in the western capital.

The words were sincere, but Han Jian would never believe Yang Pingju, now that the soldiers were approaching the city, and when Yang Pingju was tortured by Su Tingxia to scratch his ears and cheeks, he would make peace with the "imperial court" in such a low voice. Once he withdraws his troops, then Su Tingxia's troops will be gathered and annihilated, and then he still expects the Western Wangfu to withdraw his troops to the Western Capital? Believing became a joke.

Han Jian did not embarrass the envoys of the Western Palace, and directly drove them out of the camp, and at the same time, Han Jian also asked them to bring a message to Yang Pingju, if they wanted to completely withdraw the troops from the Eastern Palace, then they would go to the military camp in person like Yang Luochuan, the king of the South, to take the guilt of Jing and ask for the crime, and then take Luoyang as a hostage.

With Yang Pingju not being forced to a dead end now, he obviously will not give up his current power and be willing to be a subordinate. This move was just a way for Han Jian to express to Yang Pingju that he was dead.

On June 25, in a battle inside Guanzhong, Su Tingxia won first and then lost, and 20,000 soldiers and horses were separated by the main force of the Western King Army, and then they were almost completely annihilated. Su Tingxia brought more than half of the soldiers and horses into the pass at one time, and as a last resort, Su Tingxia could only withdraw his troops to the north, deliberately thinking of crossing the mouth of the river to cross the Yellow River and go north.

In the past few days, Su Tingxia has sent letters to Han Jian more than once asking for help, but Han Jian has refused for various reasons. By June 26, when Han Jian learned the news, Han Jian's time was roughly ripe, and the situation of Su Tingxia's troops and the Western Wang's army being defeated was almost also designed by him, and now with the power of Su Tingxia's remnants, it can no longer reach the point of threatening the imperial court, but if the rescue is delayed, then in the end, Su Tingxia will also be separated from the imperial court, which is not a good thing for the imperial court.

After a month of quiet in Tongguan, Han Jian's army finally made a move, but what was surprising was that Han Jian did not attack Tongguan on a large scale, nor did he attack the inside of Guanzhong in a roundabout way, but chose to withdraw his troops!

Han Jian's choice of the timing of withdrawing troops was something that no one expected. So much so that the day after Han Jian's Chinese army withdrew from Tongguan, the defenders of Tongguan found that no one came to demonstrate, so they felt that something was wrong, and sent scouts to investigate, only to know that the Chinese army of the Dongwang Army had withdrawn for almost 100 miles, and the direction of withdrawal was also to Luoyang.

The defenders in Tongguan still didn't believe that Han Jian really withdrew his troops, thinking that Han Jian was actually ambushing while the defenders in the city were pursuing, or taking a detour to rescue Su Tingxia's troops, or using Puhan City as a springboard to launch an attack on Tongguan from the inside or besiege Chang'an.

The defenders in Tongguan were panicked for several days, thinking that the Dongwang army would come back at any time, but it was not until they heard that the Dongwang army had withdrawn less than 100 miles from Luoyang, and they felt that the withdrawal of the Dongwang army this time was not a feint, but a real retreat. Some people also think that something happened in Luoyang City, forcing Han Jian to withdraw his troops, which may be related to the Xianbei people or the Southern Wangfu, and even some people take the factors of Southern Qi into account, until Han Jian withdrew all the soldiers and horses to the surroundings of Luoyang, and Han Jian also returned to Luoyang in person, after a few days, there was still no movement of the Xianbei people in the north, and there were reports of military movements in the Southern Wangfu and even Southern Qi. This shows that Han Jian not only withdrew his troops, but also completely "abandoned" Su Tingxia's department and Han Cui's department on the front line.

When the Xiwang Mansion came to his senses, he felt like he had been deceived, and he had been guarding against Tongguan for several months, from building a defensive line to mobilizing people, horses, food and grass, and then to responding to the battle, but now he was put on a position by Han Jian. Xiwangfu was a little angry, and in a hurry, he transferred 30,000 soldiers and horses from Tongguan and directly killed Su Tingxia's troops in the north.

Su Tingxia's remnants of more than 10,000 people and horses joined the 20,000 or 30,000 troops that followed, but they could only respond to the battle in a hurry and could not form a confrontation with the Xiwangfu.

Seeing that this war was going to end with the complete victory of the Xiwang Mansion, when the two groups of the Xiwang Army trapped Su Tingxia's troops in the two isolated cities of Yunzhou and Xiazhou, they were shocked by a sudden news.

Lin Zhan's department, which was originally stationed in the north, did not know when to quickly go south, crossed the Yellow River and went straight to Tongguan, and it was complete with grain and grass, and could launch an attack on Tongguan at any time. The Chinese army of Dongwangfu, which had been withdrawn to Luoyang, made a detour to the north, crossed the Yellow River and marched in the direction of Beichuan. Han Jian didn't want to capture Tongguan personally, but let Lin Zhan's department, who had been in battle for a long time, have long been a commonplace in attacking cities. (To be continued......)