Long County, Long City. Wang Yuan is in Long City now. The real number of defenders in Long City is much more than what the Han army has found out. According to the Han army's inquiry, there are only a few thousand defenders in Long City.
At most it's just over ten thousand.
In fact, the number of Longcheng defenders was as many as 50,000.
When Geng Yan led his army to attack Longcheng, most of the defenders in the city did not participate in the battle to defend the city. Instead, they stayed in the military camp in the city and stood still, giving the Han army the illusion that the number of Longcheng defenders was small.
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After the first day of siege battle, the Han army returned without success. Wang Yuan in Longcheng City immediately replaced the defending army, replacing the soldiers who had fought fiercely for a day and replaced them with those who had not yet participated in the battle.
A full army.
By the time they attacked the city on the second day, the Han army was already exhausted, but the defenders were a vigorous force. After the siege battle on the second day, Wang Yuan once again changed the defending army.
On the third day, the Han army was already exhausted, but the army defending the city was still a vigorous force. In this state, it is surprising that the Han army could capture Longcheng!
However, Wang Yuan also made mistakes, or he was too cautious.
The Jiequan garrison and the Qingshui garrison were moving closer to Long County, forming a trap for Geng Yan's tribe. However, at this critical moment, Wang Yuan still chose to have reservations.
The 50,000 troops hidden in Longcheng did not come out in full force, but only 30,000 troops were dispatched, so the number of troops surrounding Geng Yan's tribe was 60,000 instead of 80,000.
Although the gap was only 20,000, it gave Geng Yan's tribe a rare chance to breathe and successfully merged with the Ma Wu tribe and Wang Ba tribe who had arrived for reinforcements.
Looking at the entire battle, this should be Wang Yuan's only mistake so far.
After hearing the report, Geng Yan led his troops to retreat towards Wushan. Wang Yuan immediately summoned his generals to discuss how to pursue the enemy. Now, the morale of Wang Yuan's generals was high. People were standing around the map. One of them
The general said: "In this battle, our army already has the advantage, but the enemy's army is weak, and they are just fighting against trapped beasts. If our army cannot completely wipe out the enemy's army, and allows the enemy's army to successfully escape back to Sanfu, after returning, it will be really difficult."
I can’t explain it to the king!”
"That's right! Our army must annihilate these three enemy armies, Geng Yan, Ma Wu, and Wang Ba!"
The corner of Wang Yuan's mouth raised, he looked at his subordinates with great momentum, suddenly raised his hand, pointed at the map, and said: "This is the place of life and death between our army and the enemy's army!"
The generals' eyes all fell on Wang Yuan's finger, and they said in unison: "Duanwu Valley!"
"That's right! Wushan's Duanwu Valley!" Wang Yuan nodded.
The generals looked at each other, and one of the famous generals whispered: "General, we have not set up an ambush in Duanwu Valley, and we cannot block the enemy's retreat!"
Wang Yuan waved his hand and asked: "Which of you has been to Duanwu Valley?"
Many generals bowed their hands and saluted, saying: "General, I have been there!"
Wang Yuan asked: "What is the terrain of Duanwu Valley?"
A general frowned and said: "The valley is narrow, just a crack splitting the mountain. The valley can only accommodate two or three people walking side by side, and even carriages cannot enter. Also, the valley is full of rocks, making walking extremely difficult. This road
Not to mention that the route is difficult for the army to pass, even the hunters who are familiar with Wushan are not willing to take it."
Wang Yuan smiled and said slowly: "Duanwu Valley is the only way to pass through Wushan! If the enemy's 30,000 troops want to pass through Duanwu Valley, it will take at least one to two days. During this time,
, the main force of the enemy army was blocked outside the valley." At this point, Wang Yuan suddenly stopped and looked at everyone happily.
"What the general means is that our army can take this opportunity to launch an all-out attack on the Han army. The enemy army blocked outside Duanwu Valley is like being blocked on a dead end road, with no way to the sky and no way to the ground. Our army can
Total annihilation!"
Wang Yuan said happily: "Geng Yan has already expected that we will set up a blockade on the main road. If he withdraws from the main road, he will be intercepted by our army, so he decided to take a small road instead. However, Geng Yan is a young boy.
He is still too young, he doesn’t know how dangerous the route to Duanwu Valley is!”
All the generals present showed excitement on their faces, and they all said: "First kill Geng Yan, Ma Wu, and Wang Ba, then kill Fu Jun, Zang Gong, and capture Liu Xiu alive. If we follow the general, we will all die."
What a great achievement!"
Wang Yuan raised his head and smiled. He clapped his hands on the table and said loudly: "In this battle, our army must not let the enemy go again. We must annihilate all the enemy outside Duanwu Valley!"
"Here!" All the generals stepped in and saluted.
Wang Yuan gathered all his troops, a total of 80,000 people, and pursued the Han army.
Thirty thousand Han troops led by Geng Yan, Ma Wu, and Wang Ba marched eastward and soon entered Wushan.
Wushan Mountain is so high and steep that it is impossible to climb over it. If you want to pass through Wushan Mountain, there is only one path, which is Duanwu Valley. Duanwu Valley is like a giant who split Wushan Mountain in half with an axe, creating a large canyon in the center of Wushan Mountain.
This canyon is too steep. It is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, but the widest part at the bottom is only more than one meter wide. This kind of terrain makes it impossible to set up an ambush on the top of the valley.
Let’s not talk about whether the ambush troops can climb to the top of the mountain. Is there a place to stand on the top of the mountain? Even if they go up and find a foothold, the stones will not be thrown down, because the valley becomes narrower as they go up, and the stones thrown will have to be stuck on it.
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The bottom of the valley is full of large and small stones, angular and angular, like stone knives. Walking on them makes it difficult to find a place to stay. If you are not careful, the soles of your shoes will be pierced and the soles of your feet will be cut.
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The path Geng Yan chose was the only way to go through Duanwu Valley. They had no choice but to go here.
Witnessing the situation in the valley with their own eyes, Ma Wu, Wang Ba and other Han soldiers secretly grinned, how could their 30,000 soldiers survive in such a narrow valley!
Ma Wu said to Geng Yan: "Bo Zhao, our army's carriage cannot pass through such a narrow canyon!"
Geng Yan squinted his eyes, pondered for a moment, and then said: "Unload the carriage, put all the baggage on the horse, and take away as much as you can."
After he finished speaking, he saw everyone standing there stupidly, looking at him blankly. He clapped his hands and said loudly: "We don't have much time. Let's dismantle the carriage quickly!"
Ma Wu, Wang Ba and others sighed and could only act according to Geng Yan's orders.
Soon, the first batch of Han troops began to enter the canyon. People lowered their heads and walked slowly forward in the canyon.
Standing outside the valley, Geng Yan raised his eyes to look at the sky, frowned, and shouted towards the valley: "Hurry up! At this speed, we won't be able to cross Duanwu Valley in three to five days!"
The soldiers of the Han army walking in the valley secretly grinned. They wanted to go fast, but they couldn't go fast at all. The bottom of the valley was full of large and small stones. If they didn't stop, it would be light enough to scratch the soles of their feet. If their feet got stuck,
It's stuck in the cracks of the rocks and you can't pull it out even if you want.
The Han army led by Geng Yan arrived at Duanwu Valley at noon. By the time it was almost dusk, there were less than 2,000 soldiers who had passed through Duanwu Valley.
Seeing that the sky was getting dark and his speed was still slow, Geng Yan felt chills in his heart. This was not a good sign. His main force was now completely blocked outside Duanwu Valley.
Geng Yansi thought about it, summoned his generals, and said in a deep voice: "Our army is passing through Duanwu Valley too slowly, and the enemy may chase us at any time. This is not an option!"
Wang Ba shook his head and said: "This is already the fastest speed of the soldiers. Even at this speed, many soldiers' feet were cut and scratched!"
Ma Wu looked at Geng Yan and couldn't help complaining: "We were all opposed to taking the small road at the beginning, but you, Bo Zhao, didn't listen and insisted on going your own way. What should we do now?"
Geng Yan narrowed his eyes and looked at Ma Wu. He was silent for a while and said word by word: "Pave the road with wooden planks from the carriage and our army's food bags!"
"Wha...what?" Everyone present looked at Geng Yan in disbelief. Are you crazy?
"There is no other way!" Geng Yan said categorically: "Inform our soldiers that each person will only bring three days of rations, and the rest of the food will be used to pave the road!"
"Then... what about three days later?" Food and grass is no joke. No matter how miserable the soldiers are in the battle, no matter how ineffective they are, as long as the food and grass are still there and the morale of the army is there, the whole army will not disperse.
If the food and grass are gone, then even if you win consecutive battles, the morale of the army will collapse and the entire army will be disbanded. Now Geng Yan wants to use his own food to pave the way. Isn't this crazy?
Geng Yan said: "In three days, our army will be able to reach Longguan and join your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty's camp was attacked. Your Majesty escaped with only three thousand soldiers, and there must not be much food. After joining your Majesty, will our soldiers have food to eat?" Ma Wu asked loudly.
Geng Yan shouted loudly: "If your Majesty also has no food, then our soldiers will steal it! Just rob it!"
His sudden voice startled everyone present.
Geng Yan shouted in a loud voice: "Don't talk to me about the future! There are 30,000 soldiers whose lives are hanging by a thread right now. What are you telling me about whether there will be food to eat in three days? If there is no food, then go grab it. If you can't grab it,
When you arrive, go eat grass and chew tree bark! Now, act immediately according to my general order!"
At this moment, Geng Yan's eyes were red, and when he glared at people, his eyes almost burst out of fire.
Ma Wu and Geng Yan looked at each other for a long time, stamped their feet, turned to his subordinates and shouted: "Distribute the rations, and leave the remaining food to the general!"
Geng Yan's character was not only decisive, but also ruthless. No one could have imagined that he would dare to use military rations to pave the way and level the bottom of Duanwu Valley.
As bags of grain were thrown into Duanwu Valley, people stepped on the grain bags and marched several times faster than before.
But at this moment, spies from the rear came quickly to report that the enemy's vanguard, estimated to number 20,000 people, had been chasing them. This news was tantamount to a blow to the head for the Han soldiers.
The enemy's 20,000 elite troops have caught up. It is not that we cannot fight, but as a result, our retreat speed has been delayed. It is estimated that the main force of the enemy's army will arrive before the battle is over. By then, all our soldiers will be
Can't run.
Geng Yan shook his fist and asked: "How many cavalry do we have left?"
"There are only more than two thousand horses!" Wang Ba said anxiously.
Geng Yan nodded and said: "I will lead the cavalry to resist the enemy. You can quickly cross the Duanwu Valley!"
After finishing speaking, Geng Yan turned around and walked away. After he had taken a few steps, Ma Wu caught up with him and grabbed his wrist. Geng Yan turned around and looked at Ma Wu in confusion.
Ma Wu said: "You are the general and the commander-in-chief of the entire army. No one in the army can do it except you!"
"Zizhang!"
"I'll go!" Ma Wu said with firm eyes and a tone that could not be refused.