Chapter three hundred and twenty sixth surprise attack on Yangguan
When the 'tornado' was close enough to see clearly, people realized that it was a group of cavalry running towards them quickly.
However, even if they saw the cavalry coming, the Yangguan defenders could not immediately distinguish whether it was the imperial cavalry or the Han army's cavalry.
It wasn't until the cavalry was less than a hundred steps away from the pass that the defenders finally saw clearly how the cavalry was dressed. They were not the imperial army at all, but the Han army.
"Enemy! The enemy is attacking——"
"Close the city gate! Close the city gate immediately!"
"Get ready to fight! Everyone fights!"
Woohoo——
For a time, the defenders' shouts and the sound of alarm horns could be heard one after another, and the whole Yangguan became a mess in an instant.
If the defenders were not in chaos, the situation would be better. If the defenders were in chaos, the people outside would also be in chaos.
The common people had never seen the Han army. They only saw the black cavalry rushing toward them. People's hearts were shrouded in fear, and their first reaction was to run away.
But no matter where they ran, two human legs were no match for the four legs of the cavalry. People instinctively crowded into Yangguan City.
At this time, the Yangguan defenders wanted to close the city gate, but they couldn't close it at all. The city gate cave was filled with panicked and crowded people.
The defenders blocked the city gate, and while preventing the people from entering the city, they shouted loudly: "Get out of the way! Everyone, get out of the way! Close the city gate!"
No one listened to the defenders, and all the people were like frightened wild horses, screaming, wailing, and pushing desperately inside.
The general guarding Yangguan was a school lieutenant. Seeing the enemy troops outside getting closer and closer, but his own city gate could not be closed, he was so anxious that his eyes were red, he drew out the sword from his ribs, and tore apart several people.
Our own soldiers.
As the soldiers were pulled away by him, two civilians immediately ran in. The captain raised his sword and brought it down. With two puffs, the two civilians who ran into the gate fell into a pool of blood.
This situation shocked the defenders and the people present. People looked at the captain with dumbfounded eyes and could not recover for a long time.
The school captain took two steps forward, raised his sword, chopped down another civilian, and shouted sternly: "Anyone who blocks the closing of the city gate will be punished as a rebel!"
He thought that killing three people in a row would prevent the people from entering the customs, but he was wrong. The scene was silent for a moment, and the people blocked by the defenders became more and more crazy. Screams were heard everywhere, and people tried their best to go to the border.
Pushing forward, crowding.
The captain's eyes were red and he screamed: "Kill them! These are the spies of the rebels! We must not let them in! Kill! Kill them all!"
As he spoke, he waved his sword and chopped down the crowds of people one by one. Seeing this, the defenders below also became red-eyed.
The crowd stabbed.
In an instant, there were screams in the city gate. Poor unarmed people were killed in groups and fell to the ground in front of the red-eyed defenders.
The people behind crowded over and were immediately stabbed to the ground again. There were piles of corpses on the ground, and scarlet blood gathered into a river.
The defenders were crazy, and so were the people. Many people were so frightened that they held their heads in their hands, huddled under the city wall, and cried loudly. A thousand cavalrymen led by Liu Xiu rushed to Yangguan City, and what they saw was a
Such a tragic situation.
Inside the city gate cave, there were corpses everywhere, and the defenders holding spears were all killed until their faces and bodies were covered in blood, their facial features were distorted, and they looked as ferocious as ghosts.
Wang Ba roared angrily, took the lead in urging his horse, and rushed forward. When the horse stepped into the city gate, he swept out with his sledgehammer.
Boom, boom, boom——
The round sledge hammer swept down three defenders at once. Each defender's helmet was smashed flat, and their heads were also smashed. The red and white brains flowed out along the cracks in the deformed helmets.
Seeing the bravery of the king, the captain with the sword did not dare to fight. He was so frightened that he turned around and ran back. The generals ran away, so how could the soldiers below stay and fight to the death? People turned around one after another and ran back in a swarm after the captain.
.
But no matter how fast they ran, how could they be faster than the horses? Liu Xiu led a thousand cavalry and charged straight into Yangguan City without any hindrance.
Inside the pass is a small city, surrounded by barracks, granaries, warehouses and other buildings, and in the center is the school military field. The defenders followed the captain and retreated to the school military field, and found a good burial place for themselves.
land.
The terrain of the school military field is flat, with a flat river, which is perfect for a cavalry charge. Liu Xiu led his cavalry and charged from the front of the defenders' formation to the end of the formation. One thousand cavalry, against 500 infantry, passed through the formation.
In this round of cavalry charges, only 500 defenders were still standing on the field, not even 100.
The captain guarding Yangguan also died tragically under the iron hoofs of the war horses.
The remaining dozens of defenders looked around them. The ground was full of corpses that had been trampled by war horses. People dared not fight anymore. They threw away their weapons, knelt on the ground, and surrendered to the Han army.
.
Before Liu Xiu could give an order on how to deal with these prisoners, the civilians who suffered heavy casualties ran into the school military field one after another. The men picked up the scattered weapons on the ground and slashed and killed the surrendered defenders. The women cried.
Shouting, they all fell on the defenders and bit them.
Seeing this, Liu Xiu shook off the blood on the Chixiao Sword, then sheathed the sword and said to Zhu You, Gai Yan, Fu Jun, Wang Ba and others beside him: "Clean the battlefield, bury the bodies, and count our troops.
Casualties, statistics of Yangguan supplies!”
"Yes! Lord!" The Han army did not stop the people from killing the surrendered defenders. People dismounted one after another and began to clean up the battlefield. None of the dozens of surrendered defenders ran away, and all the civilians died there.
Under the chaotic blade.
Many people whose relatives had died sat on the ground and cried loudly, while some people huddled in the corners and shivered in a ball.
Liu Xiu walked among the people, looked around, and said: "You guys want to pass, go now. We are waiting for the Han army to kill only the thieves and never harm the innocent."
Hearing this, the people cried louder.
Soon, Zhu You calculated the quantity of Yangguan substances and reported them to Liu Xiu.
There are a lot of supplies in Yangguan, including a lot of armor, weapons, crossbows, arrows, and hundreds of stones of food. Apart from a small amount of money, there are all other strategic materials.
Looking at Zhu You's statistics on the amount of supplies, Liu Xiu nodded. The reason why our side was able to win so easily during the surprise attack on Yangguan this time was that the common people helped us a lot, preventing the defenders from closing the city gate in time.
Of course, the people also paid a heavy price for this. In just a short period of time, at least three to four hundred people died tragically in the hands of the defenders.
Liu Xiu asked his soldiers to inform the people that those whose family members were killed could receive five dou of food, those whose family members were injured could receive two dou of food, and those who had no casualties in their families could receive one dou of food.
One stone is ten dou. In fact, whether it is compensation of five dou, two dou, or one dou, the amount is not too much.
It's just that the people who killed and injured the people were, after all, the Mang army, not the Han army. The Han army was willing to make such compensation to the people, which was already a good job.
When they heard that the Han army would distribute food to themselves, people's cries became weaker and they all looked at the Han army in surprise, unable to react for a while.
The government has always levied all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes on them, but how could it ever take the initiative to distribute food to them? Besides, it was not the Han army who killed their relatives.
The people present walked up to Liu Xiu one after another, knelt on their knees, kowtowed forward, and said with tears in their eyes: "General Liu is so kind and kind that I will never forget it, but we... we can't collect these grains."
!”
Seeing a large group of people kneeling on their knees, Liu Xiu could not help them one by one. He could only help a few elderly people nearby and said: "In order to escape the disaster of war, everyone migrated north. They were displaced and lived a hard life. Now
We have suffered this misfortune again, and Xiu is uneasy. This time, the food distributed by our army is not much, it is only enough for everyone to eat on the road, so please be sure to accept it!"
Although these casualties were not caused by the Han army, they were directly related to their sneak attack on Yangguan. Liu Xiu still felt that it was not enough to distribute these grains as compensation, but there was only so much grain in the army and he wanted to take it.
He couldn't do more.
After hearing Liu Xiu's words, many people were deeply moved, and many burst into tears. Some young and strong people simply refused to leave and offered to join the Han army.
Of course Liu Xiu welcomed the people who took the initiative to join the army, but he had to say something first. Yangguan was not a safe place and could be counterattacked by the reckless army at any time. Here, they could also start a life-or-death fight with the reckless army at any time.
Even though Liu Xiu had spoken seriously, more than a hundred strong men still chose to join the Han army.
The Han army unexpectedly successfully attacked Yangguan. The news was first sent back to Ma Wu, and Ma Wu deliberately spread the news to the county.
When they heard that Yangguan had been lost and captured by the Han army, the defenders in the county were all frightened, as if they were mourning their heirs.
You must know that the main force of the Han army is currently fighting in the southern part of Yingchuan County. The Han army, led by Wang Feng and Wang Chang (mainly Wang Chang), fought successively and captured Dingling, Yancheng and other places one after another.
The southern counties of Yingchuan County are in a precarious situation and are no longer able to send troops to reinforce the county. At present, the county can only count on the help from the northern counties.
But Yangguan is precisely the northern gateway of Yangzhai. The fall of Yangguan is equivalent to cutting off the route of northern reinforcements. Now Yangzhai has been turned into an isolated city by the Han army, isolated and helpless.
The morale of the troops below was in turmoil, and the county government was also anxious and sent letters to Luoyang by flying pigeons.
At present, the Mang army, led by Sikong Wangyi and Situ Wangxun, has assembled an army of 430,000 in Luoyang, known to the outside world as one million.
After Wang Yi received the letter asking for help from Yingchuan County, he was furious. The Han army was currently besieging Wancheng in Nanyang and Yangdi in Yingchuan. The Han army wanted to devour Nanyang and Yingchuan in one go.
County!
Under his own nose, in front of millions of his own troops, the Han army dared to be so unscrupulous and deceived others! Wang Yi immediately sent an order to the generals of the three armies to prepare for the invasion of Yingchuan.
Yan You was shocked when he heard the general order from Wang Yi, and immediately went to Wang Yi to dissuade him from attacking Yingchuan. Our target should be Nanyang. Attack Yingchuan first, regardless of priority.
Regarding Yan You's suggestions and analysis, Wang Yi sneered and almost became angry. He said proudly: "Our army has millions of lions, swallowing up mountains and rivers with anger, enough to trample the rebels who have fled to Yingchuan. We want to
I avoided the Yingchuan rebels and took a detour to Nanyang. It’s really a shame that you, General Yan, can speak out!”
If it weren't for the fact that Yan You was a veteran in the army and an old man in the court, he was quite prestigious in the eyes of the soldiers, he would have wanted to spit in Yan You's face.
