Chapter eight hundred and twenty fourth entering the customs
At Huguan, flags were flying on the city wall. Guard Meng Cheng looked at the overwhelming darkness outside the city and the overwhelming Western Qin army, with a look of worry on his face.
Lieutenant General Bai Gou, who was standing next to the general guarding Huguan, swallowed his saliva and said: "General, at last I saw that there were more than 100,000 rebels outside the city. Can they hold the pass with only 20,000 troops?"
Guard Meng Chengcheng sighed and said, "Do you know who the rebel leader is outside the city?"
A look of confusion appeared on Lieutenant General Bai Gou's face, and he asked, "General, please clarify my doubts."
Guard Meng Cheng pointed to the large banner with the word "Lin" outside the city and said with a solemn face: "The most famous person with the surname Lin in the world is none other than the former champion Hou Linze. He can use the word "Lin" as his banner and lead an army of more than 100,000 people.
There is no doubt that it is this person."
"In the past, when the whole world was in rebellion, who didn't know that the champion would lead his army to conquer all directions and quell the rebellion? Since this man has led his army here, do you think this pass can be defended?"
Lieutenant General Bai Gou heard this and said worriedly: "General, what should we do?"
Upon hearing this, the guard general Meng Cheng looked solemn and said: "I have sent people to Chang'an to ask for help from your majesty. If everything goes well, your majesty will definitely receive news about the rebel Kou Bian within five days."
"As for you and me, we come from a powerful family and have been blessed by the emperor for generations. We can only fight to the death to repay His Majesty and the Qin State."
"In this battle, we do not seek victory or survival. We only seek to slow down the rebels as much as possible, so as to give His Majesty and the DPRK ministers more time to react."
At the end of the sentence, Guardsman Meng Cheng looked at Lieutenant General Bai Gou with a sincere look on his face: "Gouzi, you and I grew up together, will you help me, right?"
Lieutenant General Bai Gou held his head high and replied: "General, no, Brother Cheng, I will be with you life and death."
Guard Meng Cheng showed a look of relief on his face, nodded heavily and said: "Okay, Gouzi, you can go into the pass and rest. I will be guarding on the city wall. After nightfall, you and I will change shifts."
Lieutenant General Bai Gou bowed his hands and said, "Brother Cheng, I will leave first."
…
Outside Huguan City, about a kilometer away from the city gate, Lin Ze suddenly raised his hand to signal the army to stop.
Only the sound of uniform footsteps paused and then disappeared.
Lin Ze looked at the wall of Huguan City, thought for a moment, and then decisively ordered: "Zhang Han, I ordered you to lead an army of 30,000 to be on guard to prevent the Qin army from leaving the city to attack the camp. Yu Ziqi, you lead other soldiers to camp on the spot and drill wells to collect water.
Bury the pot and make rice.”
Hearing this, Zhang Han asked with a puzzled look on his face: "Let me tell you, Lord, our army has just arrived and its morale is strong. Why not go all out and capture Huguan?"
Lin Ze replied calmly: "The soldiers have been exhausted after marching for several days. It is not suitable to attack the city at this time. We should rest for a few days. After the soldiers have regained their energy, we can discuss the attack on the city."
Zhang Han looked back and saw that the soldier, who had marched no more than eighty miles in a day and was only slightly sweating on his forehead, said with hesitation: "Reporting to the lord of the country, I will see from the end that the army does not seem so tired. We have captured Huguan."
It shouldn’t be a problem.”
Lin Ze replied nonchalantly: "No, you got it wrong."
Zhang Han was stunned and suddenly became anxious: "But..."
"It's nothing," Lin Ze interrupted with a serious look on his face: "If you rush to attack the city and fail to capture Huguan, you will lose troops and generals and morale. Can you bear the responsibility? Follow the military orders."
A hint of helplessness appeared on Zhang Han's face, and he bowed and responded: "The last general will accept your order."
Lin Ze looked at the direction Zhang Han was leaving with a strange look on his face, and began to suspect that being stupid was contagious.
This Zhang Han, who used to be so smart, started to behave stupidly after hanging out with Li Xin for a long time.
After driving away the distracting thoughts from his mind, Lin Ze waved his hand to summon Qian Hu, a guard in imperial robes, and asked, "Has your governor (Wu Fan) gone out to inquire about the military situation, but no news has been received yet?"
The Jin Yiwei Qianhu bowed and replied: "To the Lord of the Kingdom, in order to ensure smooth and accurate information, the Governor took away a large number of Jin Yiwei elites. It is estimated that he will not return until the fast information channel is completely established."
"Before leaving, the governor told me that if he arrived at Huguan and the king asked about his movements, he told me that he would definitely come and join the king before Youshi."
Lin Ze said a faint "Yeah" and waved the Jin Yiwei Qianhu to retreat.
In this tripartite attack on Qin, Lin Ze had already made up his mind that his allies would not move and he would not move.
If he hadn't heard that Liu Ji's army was approaching Hangu Pass, Lin Ze would have preferred the army to walk back and forth for ten more days and a half, rather than being the first to fight Qin.
Similarly, Lin Ze would rather stay outside Huguan City for ten days and a half than be the first to break through and enter the central area of Guanzhong.
Even if he tentatively attacks the city, Lin Ze will not take the risk. If he fails to control the rhythm and easily captures Hu Pass, how can he find an excuse to delay?
Anyway, this is a time of great strife. As a heavenly being, Lin Ze cannot take action easily, lest his luck be damaged.
On the wall of Huguan City, guard Meng Cheng looked at the Western Qin army camped on the spot. He was puzzled at first, and then sighed: "He is indeed a champion. He marched and fought without leaking, and did not give the opponent any chance to take advantage of."
…
In the afternoon, as the sun was setting in the west, a figure quickly headed north. It was Wu Fan who was ordered by Lin Ze to inquire about news.
Regardless of the Grandmaster's consumption of power, Wu Fan rushed to the vicinity of Huguan in Shenshi.
When Wu Fan was still a hundred miles away from the camp, Lin Ze sensed his arrival. Without saying a word, a big hand appeared and fished Wu Fan over from a hundred miles away.
Wu Fan felt that the world was spinning, his eyes dimmed and brightened, and he appeared in front of Lin Ze.
Knowing that it was Lin Ze who had taken action, Wu Fan quickly bowed and saluted: "To the Lord of the Kingdom, this morning, I witnessed with my own eyes that Liu Ji's army, with the help of many great Confucian scholars, broke through Hangu Pass in one fell swoop."
"Qin General Meng Tian led the Qin army to fight to the death. In the end, due to lack of strength, he was seriously injured and captured. More than half of the 100,000 Qin army died in the battle, more than 30,000 were defeated, and more than 10,000 surrendered."
"Due to the Qin army's desperate counterattack, Liu Ji's army suffered nearly 30% casualties. After Liu Ji captured Hangu Pass, he left only five thousand soldiers to guard the prisoners, and led a hundred thousand troops straight to Chang'an without stopping."
Lin Ze had a strange look on his face when he heard this: "Liu Ji was on drugs, why did he suddenly become so aggressive? Or is it that Confucianism will do anything to seize opportunities?"
Then a sneer appeared on Lin Ze's face: "Confucians really think that Emperor Qin is a soft persimmon, and he is allowed to be manipulated? He is not afraid of knocking out his teeth."
"Wu Fan, arrange for people to continue to pay attention to the dynamics of Liu Ji's army. Regardless of whether there is any abnormality, report it once an hour without any mistakes."
Wu Fan responded: "No, I will make arrangements right away."
After saying this, Wu Fan exited the camp and passed on Lin Ze's orders from level to level.
Lin Ze looked up at the sky and said to himself: "It's getting late, so let's break through Hu Pass tomorrow and enter the pass."
…
There was nothing to say all night. Early the next morning, Lin Ze sent an order to Yu Ziqi to lead an army of 50,000 to prepare to attack the city. Zhang Han led an army of 30,000 to support him.
After receiving the order, Zhang Han inevitably felt depressed. He knew that Lin Ze was a little dissatisfied with his performance yesterday, so he handed over the task of siege to Yu Ziqi.
"Dong dong dong"
The loud sound of war drums sounded, and 50,000 Western Qin soldiers quickly gathered and lined up.
After Yu Ziqi issued several military orders, ten thousand soldiers left the army. The first three rows carried shields, and the back rows carried ladders. Under the cover of archers, they gradually approached the city wall.
At the moment when the drums sounded, Huguan guard Meng Cheng also sounded the alarm. While ordering the soldiers to fire arrows, he also had people prepare gold juice, logs, stones and other weapons for defending the city.
The offensive and defensive battle at Huguan is about to break out.
At this time, the deputy general Bai Gou heard the news and came. He didn't even have time to put on his armor. He just put on a robe and led dozens of soldiers. He hurried up the city wall and came to the guard Meng Cheng. He said with a solemn face: "Brother Cheng, traitor
Has the army attacked the city?"
Guard Meng Cheng saw Bai Gou's bloodshot eyes and hurried over. He was both touched and a little distressed.
Finally, he steeled himself and said with a straight face: "Gouzi, why are you coming up now? You didn't sleep all night last night, so go and rest quickly. When I get tired, I expect you to come up."
Bai Gou looked out at the dark crowd of Western Qin soldiers outside the city, and said with a wry smile: "Brother Cheng, look at this posture, if I don't come, I will feel uneasy."
"The other party is a world-famous champion. Just the two of you, I'm afraid we may not be able to survive today."
Although what Bai Gou said was a bit demoralizing, the fact was that the guard Meng Cheng was unable to refute. However, the matter had come to this, and he could not be allowed to back down.
I saw Meng Cheng with a determined look on his face as he said, "Gouzi, it's useless to talk too much. There is only one battle, and the old Qin people will never back down."
Bai Gou hesitated for a moment after hearing this, pulled Meng Cheng aside, and whispered: "Brother Cheng, I heard that the champion was originally a loyal minister, but because of his outstanding achievements, he was forced to leave by His Majesty Hu Hai. The current emperor is not His Majesty the First Emperor.
But it’s faked by outsiders.”
"Now that the champion is coming, he may not be here to bring order to the chaos. Why don't you and I send someone to contact him and inquire about his purpose?"
"If the champion is to expel the thieves pretending to be the First Emperor and welcome His Majesty Hu Hai, you and I may be able to take refuge with him. Firstly, we can be loyal to the country in a different way, and secondly, we can save our lives."
Hearing this, Meng Cheng looked at Bai Gou with a shocked look on his face. He couldn't restrain his anger and said, "Gouzi, what are you talking about? A traitor is a traitor, how can he be a loyal minister?"
"Your Majesty, the First Emperor, how could it be that a thief was pretending to be a thief? How could the family head and elders allow a thief to ascend to the throne? How could the rumors spread by the rebels be believed?"
As he spoke, a look of suspicion appeared on Meng Cheng's face: "Gouzi, are you afraid of death and want to surrender to the traitors?"
Hearing this, Bai Gou seemed to have been greatly insulted and said with excitement: "Brother Cheng, you and I grew up together. How can I be the one who is afraid of death?"
Seeing the doubtful look on Meng Cheng's face, Bai Gou pulled out the dagger from his waist and said angrily: "If Brother Cheng thinks that I am afraid of death, I will die in front of Brother Cheng to prove my innocence."
After Bai Gou finished speaking, he wiped it on his neck.
The suspicion on Meng Cheng's face suddenly disappeared, and he quickly stepped forward and tried to snatch the dagger from Bai Gou's hand, while advising: "Gou Zi, don't be excited, it's not that I don't believe you..."
Before he finished speaking, he saw Bai Gou following Meng Cheng's move to seize the sword and inserting the dagger into the heart of his former good brother.
Meng Cheng was shocked. He grabbed the dagger with both hands and asked in disbelief: "Gouzi, did you really surrender to the traitor?"
Bai Gou burst into tears and said, "Brother Cheng, I'm sorry, I can't die. My son is only two years old. He can't lose his father."
Meng Cheng relied on his breath to hang himself, and said with difficulty: "How can you guarantee that the rebels will definitely let you go?"
Bai Gou shed tears and said in a low voice: "Because I am the champion."
After receiving the answer, a trace of relief appeared on Meng Cheng's face. He could no longer suppress his fatal injury, vomited several mouthfuls of blood, and fell to the ground dead.
Bai Gou stared blankly at Meng Cheng's body with a confused expression.
When a soldier nearby saw this scene, he immediately screamed: "General Meng was killed by General Bai."
This scream immediately woke Bai Gou out of his daze.
Bai Gou showed a ruthless look on his face, pulled out his dagger, chopped off Meng Cheng's head with one blow, raised his head and shouted: "Listen, all the soldiers, Meng Cheng is dead. I have surrendered to the champion. Those who surrender will be spared death, and those who resist will die."
."
When Meng Cheng's soldiers saw this scene, their eyes were about to burst, and their faces were full of hatred. They rushed towards Bai Gou regardless of their own safety, trying to kill the traitor and avenge their general.
However, Bai Gou was not unprepared. Dozens of his soldiers who climbed onto the city wall with him quickly moved closer to him, formed a team, and killed all the scattered Meng Cheng soldiers.
After dealing with Meng Cheng's soldiers, Bai Gou led his men to kill the Qin army guarding the city.
The group of dragons was leaderless and was attacked from both sides. The Qin soldiers who defended the city had no intention of resisting at all. They dropped their weapons and fled in all directions.
When Lin Ze outside the city saw this, he immediately loudly ordered: "Yu Ziqi, the internal forces in the city have been captured. The entire army is pressing forward to attack the city and support them."
"Nuo," Yu Ziqi responded loudly. He held a long sword and took the lead. He led the remaining 40,000 troops and rushed towards the city wall.
A quarter of an hour later, Lin Ze rode a horse and entered through the city gate slowly.