On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, excluding the Tiankai tribe who were still facing off at Jiguan, Chen Chong organized 20,000 soldiers from Henan into an army. They remained in Gucheng for a short time while he himself went to Sun Jian's tribe.
Sun Jian's troops were still attacking Hangu at this time. Since October, he had led his troops to stop in front of Hangu Pass. However, at that time, the Central Route Army was ordered to only pretend to attack, so the soldiers did not fight for their lives in the attack, and mostly fought against the Liang people under the city.
It was just shooting, and the ants did not even attack the wall a few times. They just set up a few more archery towers in the east of Guandong and dug five or six earthen hills hastily. Therefore, Hangu Pass has never been broken.
When Chen Chong rushed to Sun Jian's camp, Sun Jian was surveying the terrain around Hangu Pass, which gave him a headache. Hangu Pass at this time was different from Hangu Pass in Qin Dynasty. Qin Hangu Pass was located in the southwest of today's Shaanxi County and was occupied by Liu Bei.
Control, and the Hangu Pass in front of us was built by the former Han Dynasty general Yang Pu. Although this place is not as dangerous as the Qin Hangu Pass, it is still enough to cut off things.
Hanguguan City is built on the top slope of a mountain road. Once you get close to Guancheng, you have to walk up a long slope no matter east or west. Looking from the north to the south, Hangu Pass is adjacent to Jianshui in the north, Longwei Mountain in the south, and Jianshui in the north.
Even the towering Fireworm Ridge, the distance between the two mountains is only a hundred feet, and the gate wall is as high as five feet. In such a cramped environment, the army cannot spread out and surround the city gate. Only three thousand soldiers are needed.
Tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of enemy troops can be blocked here. The terrain is so dangerous that it really deserves to be the first of the eight passes in Luoyang.
When he returned to the camp, Sun Jian saw Chen Chong and his first sentence was: "There is no way to start. If we want to break the city, we can only attack by force."
In fact, the storming in front of Hangu Pass has lasted for two days. Seeing that the situation in Kansai is gradually improving, and the food and grass supplies in the city are enough for half a year, Dong Zhonglang General Dong Yue does not need to worry, and only patrols back and forth on the city wall every day.
To boost the morale of the city, they used the geographical advantages to easily resolve Sun Jian's several offensives: the Jing people used ladders to attach themselves to a wall, but their troops did not have an advantage; the Jing people built a ram to hit the gate, but found that the slope in front of the pass was too steep.
The heavy rush cart could not be pushed in front of the wall; the Jing people tried to fill up the mountain of earth to reach the Guan wall, but the result was that the Liang people followed Chen Chong's approach in Mengjin and built wooden buildings on the Guan wall, causing the Jing people to always
Unable to catch up with the wall.
After two days, the Jing people had already lost over a thousand people, and Sun Jian's so-called forceful attack meant that he had no choice but to continue to attack the city wall in this way until the result was achieved with human lives.
Chen Chong was strongly opposed to this approach. He said to Sun Jian: "We all know that Hangu Pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the city is a dead thing, and people are living things. How can it be like this if we live and die?
What's more, if we expend a lot of troops here, we won't be able to force Dong Zhuo to return reinforcements, let alone fight the enemy after breaking through."
Chen Chong said this for two reasons: First, Dong Zhuo still had troops stationed in Xin'an. If Dong Yue was short of troops at Hanguguan, Hu Zhen's regiment from Xin'an could come to assist in the garrison, which would be enough to stop the Central Route Army from advancing westward;
Second, if it is a hard attack, it will still be time-consuming and labor-intensive. I am afraid that Liu Bei's army will not be able to sustain it until the barrier is broken.
How could Sun Jian'an not know these two points? But he just couldn't crack it. Chen Chong immediately asked someone to take the Sili map he had with him, and analyzed the terrain to Sun Jian and said: "In my opinion, the new pass is far less dangerous than the old pass.
Xinguan is not a unique and dangerous place." He started from Gucheng and rowed along the Luo River to Yiyang. He also pointed at Yiyang and Xin'an and said: "Last year, Dong Zhuo entered Beijing against the order, so he took this detour.
OK, if we want to break through the city gate, we must cut off foreign aid here first."
Sun Jian pondered for a while and then said slowly: "Ting Jian, I know that there is a small road here. At that time, Dong Zhuo came to Beijing with only three thousand people, and they were all fast horses, so they could get through, but our army
The number is too large, and it will be easy to intercept them by sending troops here. We can only dispatch a small number of surprise troops. With a small number of enemies, it may not be easy to intercept the Xin'an reinforcements."
This is all true, but Chen Chong already has a solution: "I have a thousand people who are good mountaineers under my command, led by Army Commander Wei Yan. We can first order them to open the way and hide in the mountains and forests, and then lead five thousand people to follow and attract
The Xin'an defenders should pay attention. If they send troops to stop them, Wei Yan can lead his army to attack from the mountains and forests, and he will definitely be able to break through the dangerous obstacles!"
Speaking of this, Chen Chong explained to Sun Jian: "Most of our troops are from Qingxuzhong, and not many can fight in the field. The five thousand soldiers and horses to lure the enemy will probably need you to mobilize Wentai." These words successfully convinced him.
Sun Jian smiled and said: "This is not a difficult task." He ordered Zu Mao to come in to discuss the matter, and introduced Chen Chong: "Zu Sima has been my guard for many years. He has lured the enemy from behind for many times, and the enemy's front is always where he is.
Frustration, it’s up to him to do this.”
After speaking to Chen Chong, he changed his expression again and said solemnly to Zu Mao: "During the Guangcheng War, you were defeated by Xu Rong and narrowly lost the central army. You have lost your reputation for bravery." Zu Mao has been with Sun Jian for many years.
Hearing that he was going to be entrusted with an important task, he immediately blushed, clasped his fists at Sun Jian and said, "General, Zu Mao will fight if he has an order!"
After the explanation, Zu Mao left with five thousand troops that day, but Chen Chong still stayed in Sun Jian's camp. Sun Jian was quite surprised and said with a smile: "For such a big event, I thought you would accompany the army to personally handle it." Upon hearing this, Chen Chong said,
He shook his head and smiled, and then said: "Then you underestimate me. I trust your judgment when I hire people. Besides, I'm not good at horse racing. I'm just a burden here."
Having said this, Chen Chong walked out of the camp gate and looked up at the sky. As the sun set, he suddenly said to Sun Jian: "Wentai, I have an idea. Come with me to the front of the pass to have a look." Sun Jian suddenly understood after hearing this.
The reason for his stay was that he had another way to attack the city, and he immediately agreed.
Sun Jian's camp was less than four miles away from Guancheng. Such a distance was because the road was narrow and no one could stand out to attack the camp. Therefore, when Chen Chong and Sun Jian rode to the pass, soldiers were constantly coming and going on the road.
Holding bows, arrows and wooden shovels, they moved forward, while others carried the wounded soldiers who were moaning constantly, like a tide.
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In front of Guancheng, we are still going back and forth to attack and defend. Now the commander on the front line is Army Commander Ma Zhuzhi. He is supervising the auxiliary soldiers and loading the excavated soil into carts or sacks and carrying it on the backs of horses and donkeys.
, the men and horses climbed the slope and rushed to the front of the earth mountain in turn, piled up the soil, and continued to fill it up. Between the earth mountains and the earth mountains, the shadow of the trench could still be vaguely seen.
Chen Chong looked at the earthen hills. There were twelve earthen hills in front of the city. Eight of them were close to the city wall, and four were a hundred feet apart from the city wall. Obviously, the ones against the wall were all built by the two days of storming, and the ones far away were
They were excavated during the previous confrontation. Chen Chong walked to the foot of the last four mountains of earth and squinted his eyes to look at the sights of the soldiers in Guancheng. After he walked through each earth mountain, Chen Chong looked calm and said to Sun Jian: "I have already attacked the city this time.
There is a way."
Sun Jian was surprised when he heard what he said, but he knew the principle of secret plan, so he suppressed the desire to ask, and returned to the main camp before asking: "Ting Jian, I don't know what the plan is?"
Chen Chong squatted down, took a branch, and drew a picture on the land in the tent. He first used a horizontal line to represent the city wall of Guancheng, and then marked the positions of each earth mountain in front of the city wall. Then he pointed to the last four earth mountains and said: "I just looked at it.
To defend the city, it is impossible to attack the city with ants. It is better to use tunnels to break the city."
Hearing this, Sun Jian was a little disappointed. He questioned: "Hangu Pass is the first of the eight passes. There is an underground urn in the city. We will dig a tunnel into the city and we will be discovered soon! By then, the officers and soldiers in the city will be condescending.
If you pour hot soup into the tunnel, you don’t know how many people can survive.”
Chen Chong shook his head and said: "I am not asking you to enter the city through the tunnel." He then explained the plan to Sun Jian in detail. It turned out that he saw that the people on the wall were building mountains of earth, the people on the wall were building blocks, and in the valley
Guan is a huge city, and the foundation is overwhelmed. He planned to lead five thousand troops to dig tunnels from behind the four mountains into the corners of Guancheng, dig out holes under the corners, and then use pillars to support the city walls.
, to prevent the cavity from collapsing temporarily, and then fire-proof the columns and beams after the cavity expands to a large enough size, which can cause the city wall to collapse directly with the foundation.
Sun Jian had not thought of this tactic and was greatly surprised. After thinking about it again and again, he felt that it made sense. He couldn't help but smile at Chen Chong and said: "Ting Jian, you are really as wise as the ocean!"
The next day, Chen Chong mobilized Zang Ba's 5,000 infantry to dig behind the mountain. Three tunnels were excavated behind the mountain. A total of 12 tunnels were excavated at the same time. There were infantry and cavalry patrolling above for cover.
The excavated soil was brought to the front of the city by the Jing people to continue filling the mountain of soil against the wall. Soldiers from outside the city also gathered here and fought repeatedly.
After three days of this, I saw some commotion among the Liang people in the city. It was obvious that something had affected the morale of the army. Sun Jian guessed that Zu Mao and the others had a trick and successfully cut off the back road of the city pass, so he ordered a temporary truce in front of the city.
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Changshi Gong Qiucheng was dressed in Confucian robes, and he rode with only a few followers to the mountain in front of the city. He shouted to the tall buildings on the mountain: "General Dong Zhonglang, please answer me."
The soldiers on the tower stopped and looked at him coldly, but did not fire arrows to attack. After a while, they saw one head sticking out of the tower. It was Dong Zhonglang General Dong Yue. He said loudly from upstairs: "
General Dong Zhonglang of the Han Dynasty is also in charge of the eight passes and the governor of the countryside. Dong Yue is here! What do you have to say?"
Gongqiu said that he had heard this, and he clasped his hands on his horse and said: "Now, for the sake of the country's peace, our army has surrounded the city with a hundred thousand people, and sent troops to cut off the general's return route. The general is in a dilemma, and Dong Zhuo can't do anything. I threaten the city but
Using a mantis' arm as a chariot will only end up in ruins all over the city. It is better to surrender early and fight against the thieves together with our army. It can be said that we have corrected the evil and returned to the right path. We will not lose our lives and wealth. I hope the general will think twice!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Dong Yue replied: "It is indeed a strange move for you to send your troops around to the back of the pass. But I still have tens of thousands of troops in Xin'an who have not been rescued. Are you just getting lucky and trying to deceive me into opening the city?"
The Prime Minister has treated me with great kindness, how can I repay him with this kindness? Unless I die, you can't even think of destroying the city!"
Hearing this, Gongsheng Qiu followed Sun Jian's previous instructions and said loudly: "Since the general is determined, let's fight again. Please leave an hour for us to move the corpse of the deceased away so that we can fight again!"<
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At this time, there were mountains of corpses on the earth mountain. If they were not cleaned up, it would really be detrimental to the fighting between the two sides. Dong Yue raised his hand and shouted: "Come and clean up, but if there is another battle, I, the Xiliang warrior, will accompany you to the end!"
Gong Qiu said that he would go back and report to Sun Jian.
When asked about Chen Chong's progress, Chen Chong stood in the dirt road, counted his fingers silently, and finally replied: "Give me another four days, Hangu Pass will be broken!"
In the early morning of the 25th day of the first lunar month, Chen Chong quickly returned to the main camp and replied to Sun Jian: "Hurry up and organize your army. We will break through this barrier today!"
The Liang people at the Chengguan Pass soon saw a strange sight: they saw the Jing people reorganizing their army two hundred feet in front of the Chengguan Pass, and dense crowds filled the entire entrance road, like ears of rice lying on the ground during the autumn harvest, but it happened that
There was no one between these two hundred feet of land, as if something big was about to happen.
Suddenly, Liang Ren felt a slight shaking feeling, as if he was drunk. But no, they soon discovered that it was the city wall under their feet that was shaking. The shaking seemed to have exceeded a certain limit and suddenly became violent.
So much so that people in Liang shouted wildly: "It's the earth dragon who has turned around!"
A crack suddenly appeared in the ground from bottom to top, rapidly expanding along the outline of the mountain beside the city. What followed was a huge sound of the ground sinking, the crash of the city wall collapsing, the screams of soldiers falling, and the disintegration of the mountain.
The shattering sounds are all intertwined, and will end with a cloud of smoke and dust.
The dust settled, revealing the gaps everywhere after the city wall collapsed. Han Dang, who was the first, finally reacted. He turned back, raised his sword, and shouted to the soldiers: "Kill!"
The Jing people in front of the city seemed to have just woken up from a big dream, and they raised their swords and responded in unison: "Kill!" The vast number of Jing people were like a tide, stepping on the ruins of Guancheng and pouring into the city one after another.
As walking corpses, they treat the Jing people as if they were gods, allowing them to slaughter them.
After killing for less than half an hour, Dong Zhonglang tied up Dong Yue and asked to surrender, and the Central Army captured Hangu Pass.