In addition, Xu Zhi, Zhou Yuanzhi and others led 5,000 soldiers, as the vanguard of the righteous army, and it took less than three days to arrive outside Hangu Pass. This Hangu Pass is based on the plateau in the west, borders the Jiejian in the east, connects the Qinling Mountains in the south, and stops the Yellow River in the north, because it is closed in the valley, the deep danger is like a letter, so it has this name, and the Hangu Pass is the most convenient passage to enter Chang'an outside the pass.

Xu Zhi asked the soldiers to set up camp outside the pass, and while hanging up the exemption card, he and Zhou Yuanzhi climbed the hill opposite Hangu Pass to check the enemy situation in the pass. The two saw that the valley was full of flags of various colors, and the dust was flying between the ravines, and they couldn't see the reality of the officials and soldiers for a while.

Only heard the sound of the war drums of "dong dong", Xu Zhi and Zhou Yuanzhi saw that Yun Feiyang led a team of officers and soldiers to kill out of Hangu Pass, and went straight to the camp of the righteous army.

Zhou Yuanzhi said to Xu Zhi: "Brother Xu, the terrain of this Hangu Pass is steep, the valley is narrow at both ends, and there are not many ambushes to hide in theory, so I am afraid that the imperial court will go away and press the treasure here!"

Xu Zhi said with a smile: "Yuan Zhi, your analysis is right, this Hangu Pass is narrow, even if the imperial court comes out, and there are military camps all over the Hangu Pass, it is also the end of the strong crossbow." Let's go back and discuss with the soldiers before deciding on the next move!", Zhou Yuanzhi nodded at Xu Zhi.

Xu and Zhou returned to the barracks, and immediately summoned all the generals to discuss, and before Xue Atan arrived at the big tent, he shouted: "Brother Xu, Miss Zhou, you can force Ah Niu to death in the past half a day, the enemy army has called the camp back and forth three times, but our army is good, stay in this camp and be a turtle with a shrunken head, it really annoys me!"

Zhou Yuanzhi saw that Xue Atan was anxious, walked back and forth, and comforted: "Brother Xue, don't be impatient! When we find out the truth of the enemy army, as long as the reinforcements arrive, we will be caught off guard by killing him!"

An Jingsi also said: "Yes, Sister Zhou, I also persuaded him like this, but Xue Aniu just didn't listen, if I hadn't watched him firmly, according to his fiery temper, he would have left the camp to fight Yun Feiyang for eight hundred rounds!"

Xu Zhi said with a smile: "Jing Si, what you did right, for the commander, you must be brave and strategic, and you must be calm at the critical moment, how can you be arrogant?"

An Jingsi and Xue Atan both bowed their heads and said yes. At this time, Pang Xun, Liyin, Zhiran, Liran, and Lidian also came to the big tent of the Chinese army one after another, and Xu Zhi hurriedly asked them to sit down and told the generals about the inspection of Hangu Pass.

Pang Xun analyzed: "Horses, princesses, now the terrain of this Hanguguan is dangerous, the city is high and the pool is deep, and I don't know the truth and reality, and my vanguard has few soldiers, and the reinforcements have been delayed, how is this good?"

Zhou Yuanzhi also said: "It's really strange, it's only three days from Luoyang to Hangu Pass, and we have been waiting for two days, why hasn't General Shang's army arrived yet?"

He said worriedly: "Xu Zhi, Miss Zhou, now our army is alone in the depths, neither advance nor retreat, this official army challenges several times a day, and our army avoids fighting, and if it goes on like this, it affects morale, how should this be good?"

Zhou Yuanzhi saw Xu Zhi's brows tightened, and comforted the generals: "You don't have to worry, maybe General Shang's successor army will arrive soon, and as soon as our two armies converge, there will be as many as 20,000, and we will no longer be afraid of a sneak attack by the official army!"

At this time, a messenger came from outside the tent: when Shang Rang General marched to Shaanzhou, he was seriously wounded by the assassins sent by the official army, and was now unconscious.

It turned out that Shang Rang was worried that Xu Zhi was young and did not know how to soldier, and wanted to join Xu Zhi in front of Hangu Pass as soon as possible, and the two armies would merge into one and open up the passage to Chang'an in the west together. Therefore, Shang Rang led the reinforcements non-stop, and when they arrived in Shaanzhou, it was also late at night, and the soldiers traveled nearly 400 miles in a row, but they couldn't walk, so they had to stop at the outskirts of Shaanzhou. Shang Rang saw that the soldiers were exhausted, so he ordered the soldiers to be exempted from patrolling at night, and tens of thousands of soldiers rested in the bushes for one night, and they would start at dawn tomorrow.

When he arrived, a vigorous black shadow jumped into the bushes, and he tiptoed straight into Shang Rang's Chinese army tent. The assassin drew a gleaming sword, gently lifted the curtain, and slid sideways. Just as he was getting close to Shang Rang's sleep, he was about to raise his sword and stab him, when he knocked over the oil lamp next to the bed in the dark. With the sound of "dong hole", he woke up Shang Rang in his sleep, and he saw a black shadow standing in front of him in a haze, startled, and quickly turned over to dodge a sword.

The Assassin stabbed the bed, drew his sword and stabbed again. Shang Rang knew that there was no luck in the crime, so he simply turned over and ran into the assassin, and shouted, "Someone!

The assassin panicked in his heart, and with a move of "stepping on the snow to find plums", and a sword "immortal guiding the way", he swung his sword and stabbed Shang Rang's chest. Shang let out a scream after being hit by the sword, and he stopped moving. Seeing the noise outside the tent, the assassin did not dare to check Shang Rang's life and death closely, and immediately turned around and walked out of the tent.

The soldiers outside the tent heard the general's shout, and they all took up their weapons and gathered around the black shadow, the assassin sneered, and a cold light swept by, cutting off the spear of one of the soldiers, and the soldier was shocked and hurriedly retreated a few steps. The Assassin followed up a few more steps, and stabbed the other soldier with a single "brace".

Seeing the Assassin's martial arts, the soldiers raised their swords and spears in their hands and rushed over. The assassin waved the long sword in his hand, slashed east and west, stabbed in front and back, and cut off the weapons in the hands of the soldiers one by one, the assassin sneered, a move "Dapeng spread his wings", jumped over the heads of the soldiers, jumped on a big tree, and made a move "Plum Rain Flying", the sword light flashed, the sword qi flew sideways, and the soldiers in front of them fell to the ground and cried bitterly.

The soldiers did not dare to chase any longer, so they called in the archers and fired arrows at the shadows, but the assassin had long since disappeared into the dim bushes.

Xu Zhi read the battle report and knew that the official army had sent Jianghu assassins in a vain attempt to assassinate the generals of the rebel army, so he quickly ordered all battalions and villages to be on guard, and asked An Jingsi, Xue Atan, Liao Yin and others to strengthen the patrol of the military camp at night.

On the night of the third day, Xu Zhi and Zhou Yuanzhi were playing chess in the big tent of the Chinese army, discussing how to break through the Hangu Pass of the imperial court and open a passage for the successor army. A breeze drifted by, and a black shadow flew over the fence of the camp and flew up to the flagpole of the camp of the Chinese army. After carefully observing the layout of the barracks, the black shadow jumped down the flagpole, bypassed the patrolling soldiers, and went straight to the big tent of the Chinese army.

The black shadow slowly lifted the curtain and saw Xu Zhi and Zhou Yuanzhi sitting face to face and talking, with both jealousy and anger in his heart, and was about to wave his hand and shoot a poison dart inward. I only heard a broken shout: "Who are you, dare to peek at the reality of our army?", after speaking, he raised the stick in his hand and swept towards the black shadow's hands.

The black shadow looked at it, it was the cause, he didn't dare to risk shooting out the hidden weapon, otherwise his hands would be split by the cause, so he had to shrink his hands inward, squat slightly, and stretch out his right leg, which was a trick "Autumn wind sweeping the leaves", attacking the legs of the cause.

Cause jumped up with both feet and stretched out his right index finger to make a move to "show the way to the Immortal", stabbing the Assassin in the center of the eyebrow, and the Assassin turned his head to dodge, but was still slashed by Cause's finger in his left ear. The black shadow was just about to pull out the sword, but because he hooked his finger and hooked the man's wrist, the black shadow's right hand was numb, and the long sword fell to the ground, and he hurriedly made a move "swallow skimming the water", trying to pick up the sword from the ground.

Seeing that the black shadow was weak-hearted, he took advantage of the fact that he picked up the slippery sword, seized the opportunity, closed his fists, and made a move of "two winds piercing the ears", hitting the man's temple.

The assassin screamed, trying to escape, but he was bleeding all his own tricks, and struggled to somersault in the air. At this time, Xu Zhi and Zhou Yuanzhi saw the sound of a fight outside the tent, and hurriedly came out to check, and An Jingsi and the patrolling monks also arrived. An Jingsi was quick and ejected a stone that struck the assassin's right leg.

The Assassin screamed, and collapsed to the ground, unable to move.

Xu Zhi lifted the assassin's veil, and under the illumination of the torches, he saw the true face of the assassin, which turned out to be Ye Luchun, the deputy leader of the Black Eagle Sect. Yelu Chun saw Xu Zhi and sneered: "I didn't expect to die in your hands in the end." Xu Zhi, Zhou Yuanzhi, don't be too happy, you are only a few thousand soldiers and horses, how can you defeat the hundreds of thousands of lions in the pass, you will only live a few days longer than me!" After talking and laughing wildly, he turned his head and died.

Seeing that Yeluchun died in the hands of the senior brother, Yang Tianchang smiled and said: "Abbot, Zhide Zen Master, have you all seen it? The disciples have killed Yeluchun and avenged you!", the monks listened to this, and they also bowed their heads and recited "Amitabha".

The next day, King Huang sent an envoy to send an order: General Shang Rang was seriously injured and could not continue to lead the troops, so he was recalled to Luoyang to recuperate. General Zhu Wen was specially appointed to take over the military power and respond to Xu Zhi. Xu Zhi couldn't go deep alone, and waited on the spot for General Zhu to lead the troops to come to respond.

Zhou Yuanzhi was very worried about Zhu Wen's treachery, and advised Xu Zhi to be patient for the time being and act according to King Huang's orders, which should be right. Xu Zhi had no choice but to continue to hang up the war-free card and wait for the arrival of Zhu Wen's army. I don't know that Zhu Wen's army has been gone for three days and has not yet left Luoyang City. However, the enemy army in Hangu Pass was repeatedly advancing, and there was not much grain and grass in Xu Zhi's army.

Xu Zhi was anxious, and he was afraid that it would affect the morale of the army, so he had to consult Zhou Yuanzhi. Xu Zhi said: "Yuan Zhi, this Zhu Wen obviously wants to kill us, he deliberately delayed not to enter the army, according to the report, his army only left Luoyang less than ten miles, according to such a marching speed, not 10 days and half a month, how can you get to Hangu Pass." And our army's grain and grass can only last for two or three days, how is this good?"

Zhou Yuanzhi said: "Yes, Brother Xu, we can't just wait and consume." There is a cloud in the art of war: put to death and then live, we might as well think about how to break through the Hangu Pass!"

Xu Zhi pondered for a while and said: "If you want to break through the Hangu Pass, you must first know the reality in the pass, and even more so you have to think about the clever plan to enter and exit the pass!"

Zhou Yuanzhi smiled and said: "Brother Xu, this first one is easy to say, do you still remember the crazy words that Yeluchun said when he was dying?"

Xu Zhi recalled: "He seems to have said: There are tens of thousands of elite soldiers in the imperial court in ambush in the pass, let us live a few more days." As long as we wait for the main force of our army to arrive, we will be wiped out!"

Zhou Yuanzhi said: "If what Ye Luchun said is true, we can make a fuss about these tens of thousands of elite soldiers!"

Xu Zhi looked at Zhou Yuanzhi's smiling eyes and said with a smile: "Yuanzhi, you are still smiling at this time, you seem to have an idea in your heart?"

Zhou Yuanzhi deliberately coquettishly said: "How can I have any idea for a little girl! Even if I have an idea, if I hurt my eldest brother's little princess, I won't be a sinner?"

Xu Zhi also deliberately got angry and said: "Yuan Zhi, now that the enemy is now, she and I have already become enemies and opponents, why did you mention this matter again!"

Zhou Yuanzhi looked at Xu Zhi's angry appearance, burst out laughing, and sighed: "Okay, let's not talk about things between you." Brother Xu, since the imperial court has stationed heavy troops in this narrow valley, it has already committed a taboo for soldiers, as long as our army attacks with fire, they will inevitably be chaotic without a fight!"

When Xu Zhi heard this, he didn't feel applauded, only to see Zhou Yuanzhi continue: "It's the middle of winter now, the weather is dry, everything is withering, and it burns when it encounters fire, but our army is in the east, and it must be tailwind, but this east wind is not easy to find? But we can learn from Zhuge Liang in the Three Kingdoms to borrow the east wind!"

Xu Zhi said with a smile: "Yuan Zhi, we asked the soldiers to prepare the fire-starting things and rockets first." Just wait for the east wind to come!"

Zhou Yuanzhi said with a smile: "Big brother, why wait for this east wind, little sister saw that it suddenly warmed up today, and guessed that there would be an east wind blowing at night." There is still half a day left in the evening, and we can ask the soldiers to prepare something to start a fire!"

Xu Zhi arranged according to Zhou Yuanzhi's plan, and in the evening, Xu Zhi called Pang Xun and other disciples of the spear gate, and asked them to quietly move forward to a place 14 or 500 steps away from Hangu Pass to ambush them, and let them stare at the flag of the flagpole, as long as the east wind is together, he ordered the soldiers to shoot rockets into the valley. Xu Zhi also called An Jingsi, Xue Atan, Liao Yin and other Shaolin disciples and asked them to follow him at night.

At midnight, if Zhou Yuanzhi expected, a fierce east wind blew, Xu Zhi and Zhou Yuanzhi led the Shaolin monks, carrying the things that ignited the fire, and climbed the cliffs on both sides of Hangu Pass with flying tigers, and climbed the back of the officials and soldiers with gecko climbing the wall. At this time, as a rocket pierced the sky, countless rockets flew from the sky and shot towards the officers and soldiers in the pass.

The officers and soldiers of all walks of life did not know what had happened, only to see countless rockets falling from the top of their heads, burning rapidly along the fierce east wind, frightened and panicked, and they all swarmed to climb the cliffs on both sides, at this time Xu Zhi saw that the officials and soldiers began to be chaotic, and also let the Shaolin monks set fire behind the officials and soldiers, and shouted loudly: "The righteous army has mixed into the pass, the righteous army has killed, the official army has been defeated, everyone run!"

The officers and soldiers in each town were originally put together temporarily, they only knew their own generals, and they ignored Li Xiuyun, Yun Feiyang and others when they broke their voices, and retreated one after another. In order to escape from Hangu Pass first, the last Yicheng and Tianping troops actually fought each other, and the other armies saw that the road to retreat was impassable, some squeezed forward, and some retreated, pushing each other's bags and trampling on each other for a while, with countless casualties.

Xu Zhi pulled Zhou Yuanzhi and led the monks to take advantage of the chaos, along the cliff of the valley, and returned to the city tower at the pass, and saw Li Xiuyun, Yun Feiyang, Zhou Chen, Huifeng, He Mengjiao and others were loudly ordering the soldiers not to panic, not to retreat, to resist. Xu Zhi saw that Jiang Chengfeng, Jiang Chao, Ou Yangguang and other masters of the rivers and lakes were not in Hangu Pass, and guessed that they might be on the way to assassinate the generals of the rebel army, or in the Tongguan camp behind Hangu Pass.

Xu Zhi jumped straight to Li Xiuyun's side, and saw that her flower was bleak and exhausted, so he couldn't bear to hold her hostage, but shouted loudly: "Princess, the imperial court has lost the hearts of the people in the world, and it can't stop the rolling wheel of history with just one Hangu Pass!"

Li Xiuyun didn't expect Xu Zhi to break into the pass, and cried: "Xu Zhi, why are you again? Why do you keep going against me, we can't be friends, do we have to be enemies?"

Before Xu Zhi could answer, Zhou Yuanzhi also followed, and said with a smile: "Li Xiuyun, Brother Xu doesn't want to be your enemy, he is the enemy of thousands of living beings in the world, and the damned court, as long as you no longer protect the mediocre court, we will naturally not be embarrassed by you!"

Li Xiuyun shook her head painfully and said: "Miss Zhou, you are also a sensible person, even if this court is full of mistakes, but I have royal blood in my body, how can I betray my father, my royal family, and my ancestors?"

Because he knew that Yun Feiyang was the mastermind of the bloody Shaolin bath, and when he saw him, he was even more angry, and the two did not wait for Xu Zhi to speak, so they besieged Yun Feiyang and attacked Yun Feiyang one after another. Yun Feiyang didn't dare to be careless, took out the Nine Dragons Whip, shook it at the Ran behind him, forced him back, and turned the whip into a spear, stabbing at Yin's roaring neck. Seeing the unpredictable changes of the Nine Dragons Whip, he didn't dare to advance or retreat for a while, so he had to wrestle with Yun Feiyang in place empty-handed.

An Jingsi and Xue Atan surrounded Zhou Chen, and the idiot and the fool also stared at Huifeng and He Mengjiao respectively.

Xu Zhi saw Li Xiuyun looking at him in extreme pain, and he felt a little unbearable in his heart, only to see Li Xiuyun begging bitterly: "Xu Zhi, Miss Zhou, for the sake of our love for being in the ancient tomb of Songzhou and suffering together, please let go of my father and the emperor, and let go of the crumbling Tang Dynasty! As long as you agree, Xiuyun is willing to immediately cut her hair and become a nun, and confess the bad things done by the imperial court in front of the Buddha all her life!"