Looking at the hundreds of people shot dead in Guanxia and the thousands of people slowly retreating, Gan Tang felt a little angry.
When Heifu ordered the prisoners to move forward, the people at the top of Wuguan City thought they were being asked to fill in the ravine. Unexpectedly, those people were unarmed and without any armor. They ran all the way to the bottom of the city and asked for the door to be opened.
Gantang felt that something was wrong and asked for help, but Sima Yang had been summoned back to Xianyang, and another second-generation confidant, Lang Guan, was sent to act as general. Captain Wuguan was the son of a massacre in Xianyang City, and was killed because he had been a guest of Zhao Gao.
He must be reused and let him guard Wuguan, an important place.
The butcher's son did not listen to Gantang's words and only ordered the guards to shoot at random.
Faced with Gantang's question, Captain Wuguan disagreed: "Who knows if there are rebels among those people? What should we do if we take advantage of the opportunity to cover up and come in when the door is opened?"
Gantang was quick-witted and suggested putting down one or two hanging baskets, grabbing a few people, and asking about the situation.
Captain Wuguan still shook his head: "I was ordered by Your Majesty to guard here. After learning that Tongwu Hou passed away, Your Majesty has issued an edict. After the army withdraws, the pass must be tightly closed and no one can be allowed to enter."
"Gan Changshi, you have to know that once Wuguan is lost, Xianyang's last defense is only Aoguan (south of Lantian County, Shaanxi), but Aoguan is not as good as Wuguan, and the route is easy. It can even be circumvented from Lantian Valley.
In the past, the Wuguan Pass must be absolutely perfect!"
Gantang stamped his feet and said: "But these arrows will push those Qin people who had no choice but to surrender towards Heifu, forcing them to serve the rebels. This will further chill the hearts of our army and reduce morale greatly.
Once the hearts of the people are scattered, once there is a war, even if there is danger, what is the use?"
Captain Wuguan disagreed: "Since you ordered them to be cut off, haven't you already given up on these tens of thousands of people?"
Gantang said: "If Nanyang had not surrendered the thieves and followed the policies of Tongwuhou, we could have returned with the whole army..."
Who would have thought that Nanyang Shou, who had a feud with Hei Fu in the past, would suddenly rebel.
Captain Wuguan said: "Since they have surrendered to the rebels, they are national and military thieves. Qin law has never forgiven these two! As for Han Xin..."
Captain Wuguan played a clever trick and said to the messenger next to him: "Let the guards shout loudly. We have repelled the first round of the rebel attack!"
And at this moment, the drum beat loudly again at the top of the city:
"Captain, the bandits are back!"
…
This time, the people who came were captured in Xi County, and Li Bi, the leader of the 500 cavalry, was also among them.
It turned out that just now Luo Jia and others rushed to Wuguan, but were shot back by a barrage of arrows. They had no choice but to retreat to the Northern Expeditionary Army. Unexpectedly, the Northern Expeditionary Army put down their weapons. Heifu even asked people to question loudly:
"Since I let you go, why do you come back?"
Luo Jia and others looked at each other and said: "The guard will not close the city, but will shoot us with arrows and we will not be able to enter..."
But Hei Fu seemed to be pretending to be stupid and asked people to shout loudly: "I'm afraid the guard doesn't recognize you, so why don't you get out of the way and ask the five thousand people from Xixian County to try again!"
So the 5,000 people who surrendered from Xi County slowly moved forward. However, they learned to be smart and stopped moving forward when they were two hundred steps away. Instead, they looked at me and me at you. No one wanted to
Go and get arrows.
However, some people who were determined to give up began to shout in unison.
"We are also soldiers under the command of Marquis Tongwu."
"Unfortunately, I was intercepted in Xi County, but now I have to be released..."
"We are definitely not surrendering, we are definitely not..."
But what answered them was a flying stone that could shoot nearly two hundred steps, that is, a catapult!
Darling, how can you let you shout so loudly about the preferential treatment of prisoners on the other side? Isn't this disturbing the morale of the army? Damn it!
Seeing stones as big as human heads flying towards them, one or two of the unlucky ones were smashed to death. No one dared to stay any longer. They cursed Captain Wuguan and turned around in embarrassment.
After walking more than a hundred steps in front of the Northern Expeditionary Army formation, Hei Fu asked someone to question him again.
"Why are you coming back too?"
This time, everyone who surrendered in Xixian County bowed down one after another and said in frustrated voices: "We have already identified ourselves, but the guards at Wuguan actually hit us with flying stones. If we had taken a step back, we might have been reduced to pulp..."
"The emperor in the pass... no, Hu Hai, I'm afraid he doesn't want us to enter the pass and go home!"
The prisoners were filled with righteous indignation, and the Northern Expeditionary Army was silent for a long time, before they parted a lane, and Wu Zhonghou Heifu came out in a car. He was wearing a beautiful suit of armor, his hair was neatly combed, and he put on a crown, and the flag was fluttering behind him.
He looked at everyone with pitiful and helpless eyes.
"You neither want to join the Northern Expedition nor can you return. What are your plans in the future?"
The prisoners looked at each other in shock, feeling that their lives were like the short few miles between Wuguan and the Northern Expedition, and they were in a dilemma!
Heifu glanced at everyone and said slowly: "I do know another way to enter the customs and return home."
What is it? Luo Jia and Li Bi looked at Wu Zhonghou and their mouths moved slightly. They had already guessed it.
"Do you need to say more!?"
At this time, from somewhere among the prisoners, such a voice sounded!
"Join the Northern Expedition and abandon darkness for the light!"
"Yes, Wuguan won't let us in, so why can't we capture it?"
"The false emperor and treacherous ministers have abandoned us. Our family members will definitely be arrested as concubines. We will break through Wuguan and enter the pass to save our families!"
There were more and more similar voices. They were scattered at first and finally got together. Even Luo Jia and Li Bi were affected by this and responded loudly.
"It should have been so!"
"Marquis Wu Zhong, please allow us to submit to the Northern Expeditionary Army!"
Everyone bowed down one after another, this time sincerely, because they had no way out!
"Shan, it seems that the Northern Expeditionary Army will have tens of thousands more lost and returned to Wu Ben!"
Heifu smiled: "This is your own choice!"
With a wave of his hand, he asked the front line to put away their spears, and then asked the captain and Sima to restrain the prisoners and make them regroup and face the direction of Wuguan.
"You know, second or third son, what's the matter with Marquis Tongwu's three calls before his death?"
This is what the Northern Expeditionary Army would loudly preach before two meals every day. After more than ten times, those three chants were almost imprinted in everyone's minds.
"Entry..."
The prisoners muttered subconsciously.
"Enter the customs."
Luo Jia and Li Bi looked at Wuguan and said through gritted teeth. They were hit by arrows and stones. They just felt that their military life for more than a year had been let down.
"Enter the customs!"
Tens of thousands of prisoners, together with all the soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, shared the same hatred of the enemy and yelled these two words!
At the top of Wuguan City, Gan Tang listened to the roar from the distance with a pale face, feeling that something was going to be bad...
But Captain Wuguan burst out laughing, pointed several miles away, and said proudly:
"Look, if what I said is true, those so-called prisoners were all faked by the rebels, and no one was killed by mistake!"
…
After today's scene was over, in order to prevent the enemy from discovering that our own troops were actually not that large and risking an attack, Hei Fu ordered the three armies to withdraw and set up camp thirty miles outside Wuguan.
The Gongwei was very excited and said: "After these nearly ten thousand people returned to Nanyang, they told Xi County what they saw and heard. Rang County surrendered its troops. The commander clearly kept his promise and let everyone go. In fact, Hu Hai had to keep them away.
Besides, if this is the case, the soldiers will have no choice but to give up."
"As the saying goes, don't hide when you return to the army. In order to return home, the prisoners can also fight hard to overthrow Hu Hai, which can come in handy."
The Dongmen Bao, who was not fully healed from his injuries, also took the opportunity to ask for a fight: "But in the tough battle, we still have to rely on the veterans of the Northern Expedition. Bao please attack Wuguan for the general and conquer the city first!"
However, Heifu rejected the proposal to attack Wuguan now.
"After all, Wuguan is a dangerous pass and there are many guards. This is preparation for fighting me behind the pass after the city is broken."
In addition, their siege equipment has not yet arrived, so if they want to attack by force, they will pay a heavy price.
Heifu did not want to cause too many casualties to his side on the eve of the victory of the revolution.
So he said:
"Our army initially set up Nanyang, but it went too far. The road to Wuguan was difficult to travel, there was insufficient food, and the equipment had not arrived. If we stayed at the pass for a long time, we might repeat the mistakes of the past when the six countries joined forces to attack Qin's Hangu Pass, but were repeatedly defeated.
."
"It's better to use Danyang as a base first, wait until the prisoners have been reorganized and the army has gathered food and equipment, then attack, and use the power of thunder to break through the barrier!"
Dongmen Bao and Lieutenant General bowed their heads and obeyed the order: "Wei, the commander is far-sighted!"
After the two left, Heifu touched his chin and said to himself: "Although the advantage is great, it is still very dangerous to climb the tower."
"Why don't we wait until the jungler and the top lane troops arrive before pushing together..."
He looked to the southwest. The center of the pass is between the four passes: Hangu Pass in the east, Wuguan Pass in the south, Xiaose Pass in the north, and San Pass in the west.
Going west from Wuguan, across the mountains and rivers of Daba Mountain and Qinling Mountains, you will reach the west gate of Guanzhong!
"Now, just wait for the good news about Han Xin in Hanzhong!"
…
ps: Hey, the sun came out in the west early in the morning.