No matter how worried the Tang people are, it will eventually pass little by little.
One early morning more than half a month later, Dou Jiande's army finally reached the north bank of the Yellow River.
Now, as long as you cross it, you will reach Hulao Pass ten miles ahead! Further ahead, there is Luoyang and the rich land of Guanzhong. The whole world seems to be waving towards Dou Jiande.
Hulao Pass is named after King Mu of the Western Zhou Dynasty who imprisoned a tiger here.
It is connected to Songyue Mountain in the south and the Yellow River in the north. The mountains are intertwined, making it a natural danger. It has the potential of "one man can guard the pass, but ten thousand men cannot open it", and it has been a battleground for military strategists of all ages!
Due to the terrain, if you want to reach Luoyang from the north of the Yellow River, Hulao Pass is a checkpoint that cannot be bypassed!
So Liu Bang and Xiang Yu fought for the city and the pass here.
Lu Bu, Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu performed the famous Three Heroes Battle against Lu Bu here.
Now, Li Shimin and Dou Jiande will also compete here.
In fact, Dou Jiande originally had three choices.
One of them is to imitate the old wisdom of besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao, and attack Jinyang directly from Hebei, forcing Li Shimin to retreat.
However, the best result of this method is to capture Jinyang.
For Dou Jiande, who already owns a large territory, the harvest of one city will obviously not satisfy his growing appetite. He wants greater returns!
The second was to cross the Yellow River through Jiyuan. Abandon Luoyang and attack Chang'an directly! However, this idea was also abandoned by Dou Jiande because the battle line was too long.
Third, which is what Dou Jiande is doing now, is to pass through the shoal opposite Hulao Pass, cross the Yellow River by boat, and cross the pass to Luoyang.
Perhaps Dou Jiande never dreamed that this seemingly safest decision would lead to the collapse of his great cause and the death of his body and country!
On the Yellow River, ships have been found.
Although it was less, the Tang people did not take the opportunity to destroy it. This made Dou Jiande, who had just arrived, not only surprised, but also ecstatic!
"Why use soldiers like a god? It's just a general thing!"
Stepping on the rocks by the river, Dou Jiande couldn't help laughing loudly!
When he decided to capture Hulao, he was most worried about crossing the river!
Because his men are all northerners, nine out of ten are landlubbers!
These people couldn't even move without getting on the boat, let alone a water fight!
If there is a fight on the water, if you can ensure that you don't fall off the boat, it is the blessing of your ancestors!
So now, when I saw that my army was safely crossing the river.
The huge stone in Dou Jiande's heart finally fell to the ground, and at the same time, he couldn't help but feel contempt for his opponent Li Shimin this time.
You can't even see this little bit of opportunity, so it's better to be famous than to meet in person!
There are still a few ships. It will not be possible to expect these ships to transport 200,000 troops back and forth across the river.
At least an hour has passed, and less than one tenth of the time has passed.
It seems that if we want to complete the crossing, it will have to be at least this time tomorrow.
Looking up at the busy ships on the Yellow River, and then at the black cloud-like army behind him, Dou Jiande felt so proud that he couldn't help but want to look up to the sky and roar:
I, Dou Jiande, am here!
Of course, this is not some kind of hysteria that Dou Jiande is experiencing.
In fact, beside the rolling mother river, any authentic Chinese person will have some different thoughts.
For example, Dou Jiande is thinking about victory now!
Li Shimin thinks about the world!
As for Xiao Han, he was rather strange. When he saw the Yellow River, he only thought of the delicious Yellow River carp and Yellow River catfish...
Dou Jiande is here.
Of course Li Shimin also arrived!
At this moment, on a dangerous peak on the other side of the Yellow River, Li Shimin and his generals were silently watching the Xia army crossing the river.
"Hey, if we have enough warships and attack at this time, we will definitely catch him by surprise!"
Putting down the telescope in his hand, Duan Zhixuan punched the pine tree next to him in frustration!
The dry yellow pine needles on the tree immediately rained down with this punch, scattering all over the heads and faces of the people under the tree.
"Hey, you guy with no hair on your head, just say what you want, what are you doing by smashing the tree?!"
Cheng Yaojin was also under the tree. Unprepared, a pine needle hit his neck. He immediately jumped up, shaking off his collar, and yelled at Duan Zhixuan!
"Quiet!"
Hearing the noise around him, Li Shimin frowned and scolded!
Then he raised the telescope removed from Gouzi Dahuang's crossbow and carefully observed Dou Jiande's army.
Only when you know yourself and the enemy can you fight without danger!
"The army formation is not in order, and the boat ride is chaotic! Those who crossed the river first did not explore the terrain first, but instead rested on the spot. This Xia army does not seem to be doing well?"
Looking at the chaotic river crossing scene in the telescope, Li Shimin's voice was filled with doubts. This didn't seem to match the heroic soldiers he imagined?
"Hey, King Qin, you are thinking too much! To put it nicely, Dou Jiande is a hero in the world! To put it badly, he is just a country guy, how good do you expect him to be? He is just lucky and picked a few soft persimmons.
!”
Cheng Yaojin didn't like Dou Jiande very much. After all, his hometown in Shandong was occupied by this guy at this time. He didn't know how his family was doing now or whether he was implicated.
Li Shimin nodded, not sure if he was agreeing with Cheng Yaojin's words. Putting down the telescope, he turned to Xue Shou and asked: "How is their food channel exploration going?"
Xue Shou seemed to have been prepared. He cupped his hands and said, "General Li Junxian wrote a letter saying that his investigation was correct. He also said that Xia Jun was a little arrogant and did not expect that we could get behind them, so there was no food path at all."
Too many troops! Just wait for an order to completely block the food route!"
"Okay!" Li Shimin's eyes flashed, and then he asked: "What about our warship?"
"The warships have also been assembled. Once they have finished crossing the river, they can go down the river and sink all the ships on the river at this time!"
"Okay! Now that we are ready, let's give it a try! Whether it succeeds or not, we will decide tomorrow!"
"Here!"
On this dangerous mountain beside the Yellow River, Li Shimin set the final tone for the most crucial battle of the Tang Dynasty to regain the world.
At this time, he probably didn't realize that soon, he would capture the two emperors alive and complete the most glorious achievement in his career!
Looking up to the west, that is the direction of Luoyang.
Tonight, the 60,000 people there will also withdraw to Hulao, and the only ones left there will be Xiao Han and 5,000 warriors!
Li Shimin clenched his hands bit by bit until his nails almost pierced into his flesh, and then Li Shimin's heart calmed down.
He knew that it was useless to worry now!
What he can do now is to cut off the Xia army's retreat as much as possible and let them attack Hulao Pass immediately for supplies!
In this way, as long as he can hold out there for two days, Dou Jiande, who lacks food and grass backup, will retreat!
By then, Xiao Han's place will be considered safe!
