Fenghou

Chapter 727 Candle Road
On the north side of the Xiaohan Ancient Road is the surging Yellow River, and on the south side are lofty mountains, which are full of high platforms and ravines, where hunters and herbal gatherers live in this area all year round.

There is only one way for the carts and horses and livestock, but if you are a strong soldier, you can pass the mountains and mountains.

An army of [-] people was speeding through a ravine, occasionally seeing animal bones from the White Forest in the bushes or crevices of stones on both sides of the ravine.

"There are a lot of mountain leopards in this area. They climb mountains and ridges like flattened ground, and even old and weak goats can't escape their sharp claws." Guide officer Wei Ping pointed to the goat bones on both sides.

Wei Ping was about [-] years old, and he was born as a hunter in Lushi County, Guozhou. He joined the Western Army five years ago, made many military exploits, and was promoted to deputy commander.

Liu Qiong nodded and asked, "Where does this mountain pass go?"

"It will soon come to the end, and then climb up, and pass through a forest of more than [-] miles, and then pass Yanxiang County."

"How far is it from Yanxiang County?"

"About twenty miles, it's impossible to pass."

The army walked for a few miles, and it turned out that the valley was at the end of the valley. There was a slope going up, and there were a few big rocks on the top of the slope. Soldiers had tied rope ladders to the big rocks, and the rest of the soldiers dragged the rope ladders to climb up.

These soldiers are all tall and strong, with short spears and crossbow arrows on their backs, long knives on their waists, and a bag of ten catties of kerosene and dry food bags on their backs. Almost every soldier carries a weight of more than thirty catties.

Climbing up the hill, there is an endless pine forest in front of him. Liu Qiong looked to the north, and he could vaguely see the big flag on the city wall more than [-] miles away.

Liu Qiong waved his hand and said: "Speed ​​up!"

He led the soldiers into the woods and continued to run northward
The governor of Shanzhou was Kong Yanzhou, the rebellious Song general in the Battle of Jingxiang. He suffered a disastrous defeat in Jiangling and nearly wiped out his entire army. He was then treated coldly by Wanyan Chang, but Wanyan Wushu admired him more and named him the capital. Controlling, served as the envoy of the Shanzhou system, and commanded [-] puppet Qi soldiers.

Although Kong Yanzhou's character is despicable, he has his own merits, otherwise he would not be reused by Wanyan Wushu. When others thought that Chen Qing was going to attack Hedong next time, Kong Yanzhou wrote to Wanyanwushu twice. Before attacking Hedong, we will definitely capture Shanzhou and Guozhou first to ensure the absolute safety of Guanzhong.

It's just that his idea was not approved by Wanyan Wushu's counselors. They all agreed that it was impossible for Chen Qing to fight on two fronts at the same time, but Wanyan Wushu still ordered him to be on high alert and observe every move of the Song army.

Kong Yanzhou sent more than a dozen spies to Tongzhou. When Chen Qing appeared in Tongzhou, Kong Yanzhou became nervous. Two days later in the afternoon, he received a letter from the spies Feige. Song Jun moved to Tongguan.

Kong Yanzhou immediately became nervous. The Song army moved towards Tongguan, not to attack Hedong. There was only one possibility. The Song army was going to attack Shanzhou and Guozhou, which he guessed right.

Kong Yanzhou immediately wrote an urgent letter of [-] Li, and ordered people to ride a fast horse to Bianliang.

At the same time, he added [-] troops to Yanxiang County, Hucheng County, and Hangu Pass. The garrisons in Yanxiang County and Hucheng County were to delay the Song army's eastward advance and buy time for Luoyang's reinforcements. The core of the defense was Hangu Pass. , Hanguguan has [-] troops, and Kong Yanzhou personally supervises the battle here.

In terms of time, the Luoyang reinforcements could reach Shan County in about five days at the earliest. Kong Yanzhou certainly believed that he could hold out in five days.

In addition, Kong Yanzhou also deployed [-] troops on the North Bank of the Yellow River. Although there were not many troops, he just didn't want the Song Army to take the North Bank of the Yellow River smoothly.

As for Guozhou, Kong Yanzhou's military strength is really limited, so he can't take care of it.

Early in the morning, the sky was gloomy, and Hangu Pass was shrouded in a thin layer of morning mist. Kong Yanzhou was wearing armor and staring into the distance, his eyes were full of worry. I don't know what happened to the situation in Yanxiang County.

At this time, two cavalry came rushing from a distance, very embarrassed, one of them saw an arrow stuck in his shoulder, and the two cavalry rushed to the Hangu Pass in a moment, and shouted: "We came from Yanxiang County, There is a military emergency!"

Kong Yanzhou hastily shouted: "Open the city gate!"

The closed gate was opened, and the cavalry rushed into the Guancheng. Soon, some soldiers led the messenger to Kong Yanzhou. Kong Yanzhou asked anxiously, "How is the county?"

The messenger knelt down on one knee and cried, "I report to Kong Dutong that Yanxiang County has been conquered by the Song army."

"Ah!" Kong Yanzhou was stunned. Why was he captured by the Song army in just one night?

"What about General Song and the other soldiers?" Kong Yanzhou asked hastily.

"General Song didn't escape. He didn't know if he was alive or dead. Only a few hundred brothers escaped from the east gate, but they still couldn't escape the cavalry of the Western Army. They died or surrendered. Only the two of us rode horses and escaped the pursuit. "

A few generals next to him yelled at Song Jun, Kong Yanzhou quickly waved his hand to keep them quiet, and he asked again: "Tell me in detail, how did the Western Army break through the gate of the county?"

"Reporting to Kong Dutong, the Western Army used battering rams, but at the beginning, they sprayed kerosene on the top of the city with a heavy oil fire cabinet, and the whole top of the city turned into a sea of ​​flames. The battering ram came and smashed open the city gate."

The general next to him yelled, "A group of idiots, why do you let the oil fire cabinet spray kerosene, can't you shoot them with random arrows?"

"General, their fierce oil and kerosene are placed in the cart, and the walls of the cart are thick boards, and the arrows cannot be shot inside."

Kong Yanzhou squinted his eyes. The powerful siege method was exactly the same as Wanyan Loushi's method of attacking Shan County. Back then, the Jin soldiers used giant trebuchets to project kerosene, set all the heads of Shan County on fire, and then hit them with battering rams. Open the city gate and enter the city.

This kind of siege method is useful for the county seat, but it is useless for Hangu Pass. There are several pass cities in Hangu Pass. Even if you break through the outer city gate, you have to face another pass city after you get in. The left and right sides are also pass cities. , this structure is very similar to the urn city in the big city. There is also a lot of fire oil and gunpowder in Hangu Pass. Once the Song army enters the outer city, they will fall into a desperate situation. live in a raging fire.

Kong Yanzhou was not worried at all about Song Jun's attack. On the contrary, he had been waiting for this day for a long time.

Three thousand soldiers rushed all the way in Guozhou, bypassed Guolue County, and entered the Zhushui River Valley in the east of the county. The water was just beginning to melt, and the current was swift, and the army encountered low waterfalls from time to time. The soldiers climbed down the cliff with ropes, and the march was very difficult.

At this time, the army came to a river beach. In front of it was a big mountain. Candle water passed through the mountain. There were cliffs on both sides of the river. They had no way to go.

Wei Ping pointed to the river: "The river ahead is very deep, so we can only float on a sheepskin raft."

The generals were all surprised, "We have three thousand troops!"

Wei Ping said helplessly: "I know that tying up a hundred large rafts can carry three thousand soldiers."

Liu Qiong yelled sharply: "The Yellow River has drifted past, what is this little river water, hurry up and cut down the trees and tie up the raft!"

Three thousand soldiers put down their weapons and luggage, and went to chop trees and build rafts together. Liu Qiong asked, "How long is this river valley?"

"About twenty miles away, the Xiaohan Ancient Road is on the other side of the mountain. In fact, we have already passed the Hangu Pass."

It took three thousand soldiers half a day to build more than a hundred large rafts. In order to increase buoyancy and stability, they tied sheepskin bags around them. The first large raft was launched, and thirty soldiers boarded the raft. , Carefully paddling and drifting towards the middle of the river.

Immediately afterwards, the second large raft was also launched, which was full of soldiers, and the third and fourth rafts followed
Liu Qiong sat on the first raft, and the current was relatively fast. Two soldiers held long bamboo poles one after the other to stabilize the raft.

"Where does the river end up?" Liu Qiong asked.

"Of course it's the Yellow River!"

Wei Ping said with a smile: "All rafts will be washed into the Yellow River in the end, and we landed halfway."

Liu Qiong nodded, the raft drifted for about twenty miles, Liu Qiong suddenly found a faint county town ten miles in front of the left, and asked in surprise, "Where is that?"

"That's Lingbao County. Hangu Pass is to the west of Lingbao County, but we're going ashore."

Wei Ping pointed to the right, and a river beach appeared hundreds of steps ahead.

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[Today is still two shifts, there is no way, once I do the nucleic acid, I have to travel to two places, and I have to take my mother to line up to do the nucleic acid, basically I can’t code all morning.

There was a mistake in yesterday's chapter. Zhe Keqiu was written as Zhe Keshi, which is too inappropriate. One is a national hero, and the other is a traitor who surrendered. It has been revised. 】

(End of this chapter)