At dawn, Jiadu continued to march. According to Li Chengzhong's request, each group continued to march and compete. This time, each group behaved well. Although they still ran wildly at the beginning, they were not as scattered as yesterday. Li Chengzhong still took Jiang Miao with him.
Jog together and be the first to arrive in the first ten miles.
Following closely behind were two groups, Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao. The two seemed to have made an agreement. They set off together, rested together, and arrived together. It was vaguely like two groups becoming one.
Next came Zhong Shiro's guys. After they arrived, Zhong Shiro gathered the whole group of brothers together and whispered something in a low voice.
Wang Dalang's guys were the sixth to arrive. This time they didn't lose another person. Wang Dalang finally breathed a sigh of relief and came to Li Chengzhong with a playful smile. Li Chengzhong gave him a roll of his eyes: "Wait until you get it."
Come and talk to me again in the first five days."
At the second ten-mile mark, when everyone ran out, Li Chengzhong found that Zhong Silang's men were following him leisurely. He ignored them and just ran slowly with Jiang Miao.
, and then passed the other groups running in front one by one. When Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao arrived at the end of the second ten-mile stretch, they looked back and saw that all ten people in Zhong Silang's group had arrived.
Got first place this time.
Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao were a little dumbfounded when they arrived. The two brothers quietly came to find Zhong Silang to find out what was going on. Zhong Silang did not hide it and said: "Brother Meng, Brother Jiao, who do you think is the first one to arrive every time?"
?”
Jiao Chengqiao said: "It's XX and Meng Da. You guys have overtaken them this time, so XX will come over and ask."
Zhong Silang sneered twice, and Meng Xuxing came to his senses and slapped Jiao Chengqiao: "Stupid! Of course the first ones to arrive are Li Dutou and Captain Jiang!"
Zhong Silang said: "Yes, so I thought about it. Since we can't outrun Li Dutou and Captain Jiang no matter what, we might as well just follow them."
Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao nodded again and again, and they went down to discuss things quietly with their brothers.
After resting for half an hour, they continued the third ten-mile march. This time, two more men, Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao, were running behind Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao without making any effort. Wang Dalang greeted everyone at the beginning.
Brother Huoer ran forward, but when he looked back, he saw the brothers from the three gangs following Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao, looking unhurried. He was stunned, patted his forehead, and cursed secretly.
He called out "Idiot" and quickly shouted to his brothers to slow down and follow him. This time, Wang Dalang finally got his wish and led his brothers to squeeze into the top four.
Before setting off in the morning, Li Chengzhong ordered everyone to bring a noodle cake with them. At noon, Jiadu had marched thirty miles and had already left the civilian convoy far behind, so he asked everyone to take out the noodle cake and eat one.
Lunch. In this era, we only eat two meals, one in the morning and one in the evening. We didn’t have the habit of having lunch, but after running for thirty miles in the morning, we were all tired and hungry.
The cake is so sweet and delicious.
After resting for an hour, Li Chengzhong waved his hand for Jiadu to set off again. This time, all the brothers followed Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao and ran away without daring to start. Li Chengzhong stopped running, he just quickened his pace.
, marching at the pace of "fast walking", so all the groups followed suit and started to "walk fast". However, none of them had any experience of "walking fast". Some people learned to move forward, and it was decent, but some people did not.
They were a bit of a toddler, often stumbling over their own feet. From time to time, members of the team would shout "ouch", and some would simply run for two steps, then stop and take two steps, making the whole team noisy.
Strangely enough, although this walking method seemed slow, it was actually not much slower than jogging, and I didn’t feel as tired as before, so I actually walked fifteen miles in one breath. When it was time to rest, everyone also
They all spread out, flexing their ankles around, and then sat down when they were able to move.
At this moment, we are still fifteen miles away from Yuguan. No one knows what the situation is in Guancheng. Jiang Miao came to Li Chengzhong and reminded in a low voice: "Li Lang, do you want to send a few people to investigate first?"
Li Chengzhong nodded. He really needed to send a few people to check the situation first. If there were barbarians stationed in Yuguan, and he, a capital city, would foolishly rush in head on, it would be too late.
Jiang Miao hesitated for a moment and then said: "Why don't you go? It's more dangerous." Jiang Miao was afraid that no one would dare to go when Li Chengzhong gave the order.
Li Chengzhong smiled: "No need." After saying that, he stood up, called all the team leaders over, and said: "There are still ten miles of land in the end. I will wait for everyone there. The first team to arrive, I will allow them to be the first to go forward."
Go out to Yuguan to explore the enemy's situation! What do you think? Whether you can get this opportunity depends on your ability."
Upon hearing that Li Chengzhong was going to reward the first place, all the team leaders were gearing up and shouting.
Zhong Silang said: "Just watch Dutou, someone will be the first to arrive!"
Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao said angrily: "You haven't run away yet, Zhong Silang, how dare you boast! Why are you the first?"
Wang Dalang also jumped on his feet and said: "Du Tou! This time, someone must be first! Must be first!"
…
Jiang Miao looked on, feeling a little dazed. Why did everyone think that something dangerous was a good thing?
This time, Li Chengzhong asked Jiang Miao to stay here to wait for the convoy of civilians, and he went on the road alone. He quickened his pace from the beginning, much faster than last time. All the groups were affected by Li Chengzhong's change in marching rhythm, and began to run wildly.
Only Zhong Shiro still led his team, marched at the previous speed, and finally got the first place.
Seeing the jubilant Zhong Silang group, the brothers in each group were a little discouraged. They could only stay where they were, looking enviously at Zhong Silang and others who excitedly went to Yuguan to investigate the situation.
When it got dark, a brother from Zhong Silang's group ran back out of breath and reported everything to Li Chengzhong. It turned out that Yuguan was deserted, and the Hu people were not stationed there, but the city wall was somewhat damaged. The brother was still there
Tell Li Chengzhong that Zhong Silang had already led his brothers into Guancheng when he saw no one was guarding him.
Li Chengzhong felt relieved and immediately ordered Jiadu to get ready and set off. The resting place was less than five miles away from Yuguan Pass City, and all Jiadu had entered the city before dark. After all, Jiadu had to march 70 miles in one day.
It was more than enough, and unknowingly it was already the top speed of marching in this era. But Li Chengzhong was not satisfied. In his opinion, marching a hundred miles a day was a satisfactory rapid marching speed.
Because it was getting late, he only took a cursory look at Guancheng, then ordered each group to garrison in sections, arranged the night watch, and rested on the top of the city that night.
Early the next morning, Li Chengzhong walked around and the situation at Yuguan was roughly clear. In Li Chengzhong's estimation, Yuguan should be Shanhaiguan in later generations, which is the easternmost end of the Great Wall. Guancheng stretches from the Great Wall.
, until the seaside, but it does not extend into the sea like the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty. Instead, a gate is built at a gap on the seaside, blocking the passage into Pingzhou.
Li Chengzhong visited Shanhaiguan before crossing and saw the well-equipped military fortress. Compared with Shanhaiguan, the main facilities at Yuguan are not that complicated. The entire pass is composed of two parts, one of which is stuck in the gap. The main pass is located at the main pass, and the second is a fortress built on a hill next to the main pass. The main pass blocks the front, and the fortress is condescending and cooperates from the side. The fortress and the main pass are connected by a long wall, so that they can support each other at any time. The city below Guan City is not flat. No cloud chariots, ram chariots, or catapults can pull it over. It would be much more difficult to attack the city with wooden ladder ants, because the city wall of Yuguan City is higher than the city wall of Weizhou. Judging from this situation, Yuguan is indeed a formidable pass that is difficult to conquer.
The Khitan people obviously set a fire after breaking through Yuguan. Everything was black and burned. The closed door had been burned to a pile of ashes, the doorway was wide open, and the towers on the wall of the pass had been completely burned away. Shelves. Fortunately, the main walls are made of large stones. This fire will not cause much damage to Yuguan. It only needs to repair the gate and the tower before it can continue to be used.
At this moment, a figure came out of the fortress, and saw an old soldier with a gray beard running out crying, and was stopped by Wang Dalang's men. There was actually someone hiding up there! Li Chengzhong suddenly broke into a cold sweat. If it had been last night The Khitans are hiding here, isn't it...
He signaled Wang Dalang to let him go, and the old soldier came to him and explained everything with trembling lips. Only then did Li Chengzhong suddenly realize what was going on.
Yuguan was not conquered by the Khitans, but was let in by the defenders. According to veteran soldiers, there were more than twenty Khitan rangers chasing a group of fleeing people to the foot of Guancheng. The team guarding Yuguan When he saw that the Khitan knights were still far away from the people, and they had enough time to switch and enter, they ordered the door to be opened. But who knew that there were several Khitans mixed in among these people, who broke in on the spot and directly boarded Guancheng. Several people at the head of the city The ten old and weak soldiers could not stop these wolves and tigers of the Khitan people. They were killed and scattered in the blink of an eye. At this time, the Khitan rangers in the distance also rushed in, and the Yu Pass was broken.
After the Khitans came in, they slaughtered all the soldiers, looted all the goods and equipment in Yuguan, drove hundreds of people hiding under the pass, and walked back to the outside of the pass. Before leaving, they released a Fortunately, there was a cave that could accommodate one person on the cliff outside the fortress. In desperation, the old army hid in it and escaped. He hid in it and did not dare to come out. Last night he saw Brother Jiadu enter Guan, he was really frightened. After dawn today, he finally came out after seeing clearly that it was one of his own.
Li Chengzhong comforted the old army and summoned all the captains of Jiadu for a military meeting.
"The Khitans have noticed our weakness. They are trying to attack the city and want to see our reaction." Zhong Silang thought for a while.
"After seeing our flag, the Khitans will probably come again. They want to know if we can still fight." Meng Xuxing said.
"Would you like me to go out and investigate? See what the Khitan people are like?" Wang Dalang suggested.
…
Listening to everyone's suggestions, a defensive line was gradually outlined. Li Chengzhong decided to seize the time to train the queue. In any case, before repairing the gate and the suspension bridge, he wanted to enable the armor to face the enemy with a complete queue. In other words, at least the surface must be bright! The Khitans are still a little unclear about the situation of the Lulong Army. They hope that their armor can deter the next wave of Khitan offensives, at least until reinforcements from the military commander Zhou Zhiyu arrive. .