After Wang Ji entered Jianzi City, while guarding the main road, he sent sentry detectives to continue patrolling, and finally found out that there was a Zhao Pass fifty miles away, and asked the locals, calling it a leather prison. The trail is narrow, and a mountain stream winds through it. The pass is close to the mountains and rivers, blocking the narrow road behind it, and the pass is not large, with about 500 people stationed. There is a relatively open valley in front of the pass, which can be garrisoned. If you go over the mountain from the mountain path, you can go down the mountain; If you go around the north side of the road, you have to walk an extra twenty miles, but the road is relatively easy to walk.

Wang Yi decided to lead a light army of 5,000 people over the mountain to occupy the place; The rear army of 15,000 men carried the baggage and followed up a day later.

The next day, Wang gathered 5,000 soldiers and, under the guidance of his guide, walked on a mountain path. The path is extremely narrow, which allows the two to stagger by. Wang led 500 people as the striker and quickly rushed forward. The others, led by the public passengers, walked in turn. The so-called light soldiers are soldiers who do not carry heavy weapons such as spears and shields, nor do they wear armor, or strange soldiers. Due to the single weapon, the combat effectiveness is actually not strong, and the main thing is that it is light and fast. The front battalion led by Wang Yi was mainly composed of light-footed soldiers, and the march was very fast, and it only took a moment to reach the top of the mountain. Wang Yu asked them to disperse along the commanding heights on the top of the mountain to rest on guard, while urging the rear team to follow as soon as possible.

Since ten battalions could not march side by side, and only one battalion could advance in turn, the process of climbing the mountain did not go smoothly. When Wang Di's front camp reached the top of the mountain, the last camp had not yet reached the mountain. This inability to take care of the situation made Wang Ji very annoyed, and if he suddenly killed a battalion of enemies, he could disrupt the formation, so that the head and tail could not correspond, causing huge losses to himself.

Looking behind the mountain, there are thousands of mountains, and a small road winds down, and there seems to be a small gathering at the end of the road, about dozens of families.

When the second battalion approached the top of the mountain, Wang Yi told the battalion acting officer that he must raise his vigilance and wait for the next battalion to come before coming down the mountain. The top of the mountain was not open, and it was already crowded to stop a camp, so Wang Yi took the front camp down the mountain and went to the front of the town.

The battalions in the back did not march in a hurry, and the speed of the march was not much different, and the battalions were about a mile apart. When Wang's former battalion entered the settlement, two battalions were already descending the mountain.

The settlement was at the intersection of several three roads, and in addition to the one that descended from the top of the mountain, there was also a valley leading to the back of the mountain, and from here the pass could be seen twenty miles away.

The pass is indeed not big, it is only half a mile longitudinal and horizontal, and it can accommodate about 100 people, and it is already more than 500 people to defend it, probably because after learning that the Qin army had attacked, it sent additional troops. If it is on the plain, such a small city, Wang Yi can take it with a charge. But this pass is different. First of all, it is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the mountains of the northeast almost carry it into its arms, and the water flows from the valley in the northwest, flows through its front, and flows into the valley in the southeast; Between the two valley mouths in the northwest and southeast, a valley that is no more than ten miles wide can barely be arranged. The valley mouth in the southeast direction is the only way to Handan. This pass perfectly protects the valley mouth; And because this valley mouth leads to Handan, it can support this pass almost uninterruptedly: if you want food and soldiers, you can supply it at any time.

Wang Ji asked the front battalion to come down the mountain and occupy an advance position.

The place here is really small, and Wang estimates that there is only enough space for a camp. He barely squeezed in, arranged the positions of the next two camps, and marked them with flags. The front camp of the mountain was on standby, beware of the Zhao army in the pass from coming out to harass him. He also sent an envoy to give an order, asking the public passengers, the public officials, and the doctors to go down the mountain to gather in Juyi first, and after arranging the garrison of the front camp, they also went up the mountain and returned to Juyi.

Five thousand hedgehogs gathered in a small valley, which made Wang Ji very unhappy. He had to quickly break through this pass and go out to the open realm in order to give full play to the combat effectiveness of the army. But here, Wang Ji can't even use the strength of 5,000 people, and at most two or three battalions can be used at the same time.

After Wang Yu went up the mountain, the second battalion also arrived at Juyi. Wang Di asked the official doctor to lead the troops to occupy Juyi and its surroundings first. When the third battalion arrived, all the officers above the rank of officer and doctor were also present. Wang Ji asked the third battalion to go down the mountain, arranged the camp fence, and guarded the open land in front of the mountain pass with the first battalion. Then all the officers were taken up to the nearby peak. Here, you can see the renovated valley at a glance.

Wang Yi said: "This place is narrow, and this pass is quite strong. However, it is not enough to pass this hurdle. One day it will break through this barrier, and it will be done. ”

A doctor said: "The minister will break this barrier every day!" ”

Wang Yi said: "Tonight, I will stay on the mountain. So he agreed with the battalions on the camp plan, as well as the tactics of tomorrow's attack, the route of march, and so on. Since this place was too small, and the assault force was 500 sufficient, it was decided to concentrate all the bows and arrows and concentrate the shooting at the corner of the pass to cover the assault of the 500 men.

At night, Wang Yu sent a force to patrol under the pass, around the pass, and reconnoiter the terrain around the pass as much as possible. However, due to the blockage of the river, when wading through the water, he will always be discovered by the Zhao army in the city, and a burst of bows and arrows will shoot back. It is possible to cross the river only by wading through the mouth of the valley upstream, but there are only a few observations that can be observed.

After the second day, Wang Yi climbed the mountain peak and observed the entire battle situation.

According to yesterday's arrangement, the official doctor under the mountain set off with 500 halberders and 500 archers. When the army reached the water's edge, the city was silent, as if there was no one. Wang Di secretly praised: This will be extraordinary! Usually when the enemy army appears near the moat, the defenders start shooting almost instinctively, and if they can shoot a few, they count as few. There is only one possibility for this situation to arise, and the guards strictly order that they are not allowed to shoot lightly.

Archers were the first to wade across the river. They spread out in line and crossed the water as fast as they could. When they were halfway through, the drums of the city sounded, and a row of arrows was shot out in order. Immediately, several Qin soldiers were hit by arrows, and the blood stained the water red. Then there is the second, then the third.

Almost instantly, three arrows shot out in unison, knocking down many Qin archers. Dozens of Qin soldiers jumped down from the shore, dragging the wounded soldiers back to the shore, drawing arrows, stopping the bleeding, and binding the wounds, while the archers did not slow down in the slightest. When they climbed the river bank, there was another drum sound, three arrows were shot, and more than a dozen Qin soldiers fell, this time many people were shot down from the shore in the river, and the Qin army who rescued them did not arrive so in time.

After crossing the river, the archers crouched down on their knees, and the drums sounded, and the archers fired sharply into the city, while the halberdiers on the shore jumped into the water and rushed to the opposite bank. Each of them took a bundle of hay, threw it under the city gate, and quickly retreated. The bows and arrows in the city were suppressed by the rain of arrows outside the city, and only sporadic arrows were shot down, posing no threat. Then ten torches were thrown into the haystack, and the hay was lit. The Qin army retreated en masse to the riverbank, only waiting for the city gate to be on fire, and immediately launched a charge.

But before they could completely retreat across the river, they found that the Zhao people had brought large urns and small cans and poured water down from the gatehouse to extinguish the fire. The official ordered the archers to shoot arrows at the city gate to prevent the fire, but the distance was too far and the counterattack from the city was not very effective, and after a while, the fire turned into smoke and then gradually dissipated. The city may have been afraid that the Qin army would light a fire again, so they poured a few large urns of water down and completely wet the grass pile, so that it could not be lit.

Wang Ji was on the mountain, and the fire in front of the door was extinguished, and the hope in his heart was extinguished. Such a narrow pass was originally set up for defensive operations, although the area is small, but the city wall is strong and tall, it is almost impossible to climb the city by climbing, opening the city gate is the most convenient tactic, and then it is to use the ladder to climb the city. Since the Qin army had to pass quickly, blockade tactics were not advisable, and the Qin army could not afford it compared to the Zhao army.

Seeing that the doctor in front of him was preparing to launch another attack, Wang Yu ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops. He didn't want to lose too many troops under this small city,—— he hadn't seen Handan City yet!

That night, the soldiers on patrol came back to report that a large number of Zhao troops had moved at the east gate of the pass, and they had gone to listen in concealment, and it turned out that the Zhao army east of the valley mouth had come to reinforce them, and carried away the dead and wounded soldiers in the pass, and many of them were carried out. Wang Yu asked how many people were being carried, but the answer was that he couldn't see clearly, and it seemed that there were quite a few people. This added to Wang's worries: if the pass could be replenished by the rear in time, it would be even more difficult to capture.

Wang Yi gathered all the generals together to discuss tomorrow's battle. Some people feel that it is too early to retreat today, and if they do not retreat, but resolutely stick to the riverbank, they may be able to inflict great casualties on the soldiers defending the city. But everyone is more concerned about how to open the city gates. Some suggest burning it again; Some suggested simply cutting down some big trees and slamming open the city gates; There are also suggestions to plug the upstream of the water and irrigate the city with water.

Wang Yi was anxious to open the pass and quickly entered Handan, relying on the strength of his troops, and decided to take a multi-pronged approach. He distributed his forces and continued the siege tomorrow, striving to burn it with fire, mobilizing his soldiers to send many bunches of hay and preparing to burn the city many times in succession. The door panels of the people were also removed and temporarily used as shields to reduce casualties during impacts.

The first battalion prepared earthen bags and went to the upper reaches of the river to build a dam and prepare to irrigate the city. When a battalion went to the mountains to cut wood, they converted the cars of the people into rushing cars. Both of these roads will take time to prepare, and it will definitely be too late tomorrow. Therefore tomorrow we will continue today's storming and burning of the city gates.

Tonight, Wang ordered the whole army to prepare two bunches of hay before they could rest. The next day, the Qin army carried a bunch of hay on their backs and carried the door panels in front when crossing the river to cover the archers in order to reduce losses. After crossing the river, the archers began to shoot under the cover of the door panels, and when the fire of the Zhao army was suppressed, the halberdiers jumped up, rushed under the city gate, and threw the hay on their bodies into the door hole. The city wall on the other side of the city gate was not within the strike range of the Qin army's cross-concentrated firepower and was not suppressed, but before the Qin army rushed over, they did not shoot, creating the illusion that the Zhao army was suppressed; Now the halberders of the Qin army rushed over, when they were more than ten steps away from the city gate, they suddenly shot arrows down from the city, because the halberd soldiers were concentrating on the city gate, the formation was very dense, almost every arrow must be hit, although most of the soldiers were still able to throw the hay into the door hole, and retreated, but the soldiers who were hit by the arrows were so many that they could not finish when they retreated. Although the covering archers immediately shifted their aim and fired at the far wall, heavy casualties were already taken!