Spring and Autumn I Am King

Hangu Pass, which was called Taolin in Shang Dynasty, set up a small fortress here in Zhou Dynasty, hence the name Taolinsai. Later, it was included in the territory of Jin State. After the civil war between the six ministers of the Jin State and the Qin State taking the opportunity to control the place, the eldest son of the Qin State, Pu, set up a pass on the basis of Xiaosai. Because it guards the passageway in the Weihang Ancient Road, it is called "Hangu." close".

Long before the Hangu Pass was set up, Weihan was selected as the so-called "nine fortresses in the world": Taifen, Ming'e, Jingshan, Fangcheng, Weihan, Jingxing, Lingzhi, Juzhu, Juyong, and now. More deservedly...

Amidst the shouts of killing, another attack failed. Looking at the danger in front of him, Robber Zhi had unwillingness in his eyes. He was full of anger, but he had to admit:

"Juzhu, Jingxing, etc. are not as good as Hangu, and it is not too much to be called the head of the nine fortresses in the world!"

In March, Robber Zhi led his army to make a detour, raided the rear of the coalition army, induced You Su to turn back, defeated the Zheng army on the north bank of Luoshui River, and slaughtered 5,000 Zheng prisoners. The name stops crying.

Because of the defeat of the Zheng army, the Qin and Wei coalition forces who were besieging Guocheng naturally could not feel at ease to attack the city, so they lifted the siege. Next, they made the biggest mistake since the start of the war - they moved to Hedong, and then they were captured by Zhao Wuxi. One trick caught the turtle trapped there.

After the army of Robber Zhi rested in Guodi, he asked Han Hu to dispatch all the soldiers who could move, some of them in Maojin to contain part of the Qin and Wei troops, and the rest to follow him to push Hangu Pass.

This is Zhao Wuxi's military order. As long as the Hangu is broken and the south bank of Fenglingdu is controlled, Hedong will completely become an airtight urn.

However, this fortress, which had been established for less than five years, was not so easy to break. Before reaching Hangu Pass, Robber Zhi understood why he mentioned this fortress, and Han Hu and his generals would be helpless.

Hangu Pass is now going to Luoyang in the east and the throat of Qin in the west. This channel is one of the most difficult and dangerous paths that Robber Zhi has traveled in his life. Can only be ashamed. The road section from Laoshan Mountain to Hangu Pass is mostly in the valley, which is as deep and dangerous as a letter, so it is called Hangu. There are pines and cypresses everywhere, and pedestrians are at the bottom of the deep valley. day.

From Guocheng to Hangu Pass, there is a full one hundred li, and the robber took the people to walk for five days, sometimes only ten miles a day. Fortunately, the Qin and Wei forces retreated in a hurry, and there was no fortification here, and there was no resistance. In early April, Robber Zhi finally arrived at the pass with 20,000 Zhao and Han troops.

...

After seeing the appearance of this Guancheng, let alone Han Jun, who had met somersaults here, even Zhao Jun, who was full of blood and blood with the might of a great victory, suddenly lost his confidence.

Although Hangu Pass has only been established for three or four years, it is far from the unconquerable city of later generations that "in the strong pass of Hangu, where the sky opens, thousands of valleys are shocked to the north sky", but it has already begun to take shape.

In front of the pass is Hongnong Stream, which constitutes a moat of Hangu Pass. In early summer, the water in the stream is fast and it is difficult for people and horses to cross.

The horses from the east, commanded by the robbers, had to cross the Hongnong River in the north of Hangu Pass. After crossing the river, they had to travel south along the west bank of the river and enter a narrow road that leaned against Gaogang along the river in front of the pass before they could approach the city. , that narrow road can only accommodate two horses side by side, and the army cannot expand at all. Not only that, there are noble loess plateaus on the east and west ends of Guanlou, which are like a natural city wall, and become an insurmountable fortification for foreign enemies.

"How did the Qin people choose the city site..." Robber Zhi just wanted to roll his eyes, and he began to feel that it was useless to bring so many troops and horses, because with the terrain here, no matter how many troops and horses they were, they would not be able to use them. It's no wonder that when Zhao Wuxi attacked Qin a few years ago, the task that Zhao Wuxi assigned to Han was to attack here. As a result, the Hexi was over, and Han was still at the base of the city, unable to do anything.

But no matter how difficult it was, they had to fight. As far as the robbers knew, there were only 3,000 people in the pass, and the rest were dragged to Hexi to resist the Zhao cavalry, and to meet Han and Wei, they crossed the river from Puban.

After spending several days making simple siege equipment, Rogue Zhi let people launch a tentative attack, but all ended in failure. Not only that, but in mid-April, he also learned a bad news from the rear. .

The King of Chu personally conquered, and the handsome army came to Lu Hun!

After hearing this, Thief Zhi laughed and scolded, "It's getting more and more lively."

So he was faced with a choice, should he continue to attack Hangu Pass, or go back to rescue Lu Hun and stop the King of Chu?

"Lu Hun City is also a dangerous place. The Chu army's attack on this place is no easier than our attack on Hangu." Robber Zhi has no intention of saving Wang Sunsheng at all. With his understanding of Wang Sunsheng, this son attaches great importance to revenge and fame, and does not As for immediate surrender. Because if he came down, not only the Zhao family hated him, but the people of Chu who liked loyalty and bravery would also look down on him.

So let him fend for himself and let the uncle of the King of Chu who block him buy us time. Although he didn't say it directly, that's what Robber Zhi meant.

"As long as I am equal to the King of Chu breaking through Lu Hun and attacking Hangu, sending a division to stay here, then entering Taolin and Xiadi in the west, and controlling the south bank of Fengling Crossing, I will be able to complete the order of Shangqing and cut off the last chance for Qin and Wei to escape... …”

At that time, what does it matter even if the Chu army takes all of the Hewai? Hanguguan will keep them out, and when the remaining enemies in Hedong are cleaned up, Zhao's 100,000 army is still afraid that he will fail the 50,000 Chu army?

But not everyone has this kind of consciousness to abandon the car and protect the commander. Hearing that the King of Chu was marching into Yiluo, Han Hu, the head of the Han family, was panicked.

In this war, the Han family was probably the biggest loser in Zhao Wuxi's camp. Because of the terrain, they were the first to be attacked by Qin Wei, and Zheng Guo also came to join in the fun to avenge the battle of Hulao Pass a few years ago. . Although these three parties could not beat the Zhao family, they could easily beat the Han family. From January to the end of March, the Han family had been losing battles and losing ground. He used his poor body to resist the enemy's attack and assembled a large army for the Zhao family to win. take time...

Now, there are only more than 10,000 people in the Han family, and the territories in Hedong and Hewai have also been ravaged. The food has been looted, and the people have fled to Zhao to avoid the military disaster. Fairly good.

The Han family couldn't bear the loss any longer. Anyway, they stayed at Hangu Pass, and the Han soldier was also stolen by Zhi Zhi and went to Mofu to attack the city. After a few days, he lost nearly a thousand, so he might as well take this opportunity to withdraw.

Therefore, Han Hu and Dao Zhi had a disagreement on whether to return to the aid. Dao Zhi insisted on attacking Hangu Pass, but Han Hu decided that there was no hope of breaking the pass, so it was better to turn back and prevent the Chu army from advancing.

Although Wei Manduo was killed, Wei Ju betrayed the country, and Han Hu had risen to the position of the second minister of the Jin State, how could Piio Zhi easily bow his head? He thought that Han Hu could not fight and failed repeatedly, and completely ignored his request to lower his profile.

Han Hu was furious. Although Zhao Wuxi promised to compensate him when he did, but those were too few to count, so he returned with eight thousand Han soldiers. Rather than attacking, he would rather defend...

Robber Zhi sneered at Han Hu's worrying about gains and losses. In his opinion, there is not much difference between marching to fight and being a thief. Only by taking risks can you get the most benefit. Biting down hard.

"If only there were Shaoliang Cannons..."

Although they brought some Ludi craftsmen, Shaoliang artillery is the core technology of Zhao's family, and ordinary craftsmen can't touch it. Robber Zhi can only let them make some ladders, chariots, catapults, and ballistas carried by the army. Hanguguan was attacked continuously from the front. Fortunately, there is no shortage of wood and stones here. Although it is difficult for the Zhao army to launch an offensive formation, the fierce firepower still makes the Qin army guards in the pass unable to lift their heads.

But this is not enough. It is impossible to break the level by suppressing firepower alone. Someone must climb to the top of the city. In the past few days, Rogue Zhi has used Han Hu's soldiers as gully fillers, which greatly consumed the energy of the guards, and bombarded for several days. The order to attack...

The so-called moth attachment is a siege technique that allows soldiers to carry wooden ladders close to the city wall and climb up the city wall one after another. It is the most primitive and also the most costly method.

Some generals objected: "The method of moth attachment, even if it succeeds, will lead to heavy losses to the soldiers..."

"But this is the only way to break the Hangu Pass." Roof Zhi remained unmoved. After slaughtering the prisoner of Zheng from Luoshui, he became more ruthless and ruthless than before.

Different from Ran Qiu'ai's method of governing the army as a child, Robber Zhi believed that beyond this, only strictness and cruelty could train a strong army for the generals.

Those who are good at military use can kill half of the soldiers, then kill thirteen of them, and kill eleven of them. ...

This is not only to describe the harshness of military law, but also to think that it is the proportion of losses that can be endured in combat. Han Hu can't even bear one-tenth of it, so he has been defeated repeatedly. As for Robber Zhi, he believed that he could break through Hangu Pass at the cost of thousands of lives!

The military orders were like a mountain, and the soldiers bit the bullet and put the cloud ladder on the city wall. The first ones who were driven up were the Qin prisoners captured along the way, and then the local people who were unlucky. For a time, arrows rained down from the city head, and the rolling wood and stones were also driven up. litter down.

The screams were repeated, and the ladders were constantly being pushed down, and there were also people who fell from the top and broke their heads, and the pile of corpses under the city became a layer higher.

Robber Zhi was unmoved by the sight of this slaughterhouse that was constantly devouring his life. He had his own plans in his heart: there should be a lot of food left in Hangu Pass, but the arrows were getting fewer and fewer. When they first came, Qin people The arrows were not stingy, but slowly but only when the situation was critical, the arrows also changed from bronze to stone and bone, and the feathers on the shafts gradually sparsed until they became bare, and many of them were still Apparently it's new.

When the guard's arrows were exhausted and he could only use local materials to smash them down with bricks, stones and wood to stop the attack, Robber Zhi knew his chance was coming, he waved the command flag violently, and Zhao's crossbowmen began to enter the letter recklessly. Within 100 steps of Guguan.

Although he disliked Han's weak combat power, Robber Zhi recognized the skill and efficiency of Han's craftsmen. There were not many others in Guocheng, but countless arrows and crossbows were made. Because of their timidity in hand-to-hand combat, the Han soldiers preferred bows and crossbows, which made it cheaper for the thieves. Although Han Hu left, the baggage was still transported far and wide through the channel.

So the arrows rained all over the sky and flew towards the city head. The dense arrows were like a dark cloud and the wind was impenetrable. The strong bow and hard crossbow allowed the Zhao army under the city to stay away from the stones and bricks thrown by the city head. The three thousand crossbowmen squandered freely A sharp arrow.

Hangu Pass is far from being a splendid fortress of "hundreds of corpses and **** sculls" in later generations, and the city wall is not too high. Under such a fierce attack, no one dared to raise his head.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Robber Zhi resolutely ordered a siege.

Dozens of big drums sounded at the same time, and the dull drum sound was like the call of death from Jiuyou, urging everyone on the battlefield.

The bowmen gradually retreated to the sides, maintaining their attack on the city head. 200 steps outside Hangu Pass, Liu Xiazhi pulled out a sharp iron sword and raised it over his head, and the blade shone with an unusually cold light.

Robber Zhi turned his head, and behind him, thousands of Zhao soldiers occupied the narrow passage in front of Hangu Pass. They did not speak or complain, and were watching him silently. Most of these people came from the expedition of the state of Lu, and many of them were gang thieves brothers who were born and died with him~www.readwn.com~ were recruited by Zhao Wuxi and became dead soldiers who worked for him.

Feeling the trusting and awe-inspiring gazes of the soldiers behind him, for some reason, Robber Zhi suddenly felt warm in his eyes.

After this war, I don't know how many people can no longer see the sun tomorrow and can no longer return to their hometown thousands of miles away.

Eat Zhao's salary, receive Zhao's fields, and fight for Zhao's.

The people of pre-Qin did not have too many twists and turns in their hearts, even these former group thieves. Simple reasons, simple logic, but taken for granted, prompted them to come here.

Cannibal Tian Lu works for others, and he is also a thief!

Thief Zhi didn't think about it anymore, his sword pointed at the dangerous pass of Hangu, but he didn't shout out slogans like "Destiny Mysterious Bird" like other Zhao troops.

It's a slogan familiar to gang thieves.

"Plant disciple! Listen to my orders!"

(To be continued.)