Hulao Pass is located on the bank of Sishui River, also known as Sishui Pass. It can be said to be the east gate of the ancient capital Luoyang. Once Hulao Pass falls, the east gate of Luoyang will be opened, and armies will continuously appear under the city of Luoyang. Therefore,
It is said that Hulao Pass has always been an important place for military strategists, and the imperial court has never relaxed its construction and defense of Hulao Pass.
It can be imagined that under such circumstances, the Hulao Pass is no less strong than the capital city. It can be said that one man can guard the gate and no ten thousand men can open it.
If Dong Zhuo and Ding Yuan had not received the order from General He Jin in advance to order the Hulao Gate guard to open the city gate, I am afraid that the two troops would never have appeared outside the capital.
Now Hulao Pass is plunged into a bloody storm. Yuan Shaoguang issued a message calling on the wise people in the world to raise troops to attack Chu Yi. However, he and Ding Yuan's troops were in a very bad situation.
There is the capital in front and Hulao Pass in the back. It can be said that the living space left for Yuan Shao and Ding Yuan is very narrow. If they do not want to be surrounded and killed by Chu Yi before the armies of all the princes in the world gather, they will be surrounded by Hulao Pass and the capital.
If there is time, then they must leave this area, otherwise once the armies of both sides start fighting, they will be the first to be cleared.
Neither Yuan Shao nor Ding Yuan had absolute confidence that they could withstand the stranglehold of Chu Yi's army, especially since most of Dong Zhuo's troops were captured. If nothing unexpected happened, those troops and horses would definitely be captured by Chu Yi.
When Chu Yi is recruited, the power that Chu Yi can use will definitely soar. At that time, the army will press forward, and there are fierce generals like Lu Bu and Huang Zhong. With just the few men they have now,
It’s really hard to stand it.
Originally, Ding Yuan's troops and Yuan Shao stayed behind Hulao Pass and cooperated with the coalition of princes to attack the defenders of Hulao Pass, which would definitely increase the chance of the coalition taking Hulao Pass.
It's a pity that the coalition of princes has not yet assembled, and Chu Yi obviously cannot give them time, so if they don't want to be eliminated by Chu Yi first, the only choice Yuan Shao and Ding Yuan can make is to escape from this place of death.
However, if you want to escape from this place of death, you must cross the Hulao Pass, so now a bloody battle is taking place.
Groups of soldiers and horses attacked the city wall of Hulao Pass. A large number of soldiers died tragically during the siege, that is, Ding Yuan, Yuan Shao and their attacks came from the back of Hulao Pass. If we say that they had just attacked Hulao from the front,
If it is closed, the losses will definitely increase.
Even so, most of Ding Yuan's men were cavalry, and the number of soldiers who could be used to attack the city was extremely limited. After several attacks, they were driven back by the soldiers guarding Hulao Pass.
Standing on the city wall, Cao Ren, holding a broadsword, slashed a siege soldier who climbed up the city wall with one blow. He wiped away the blood splattered on his face and roared: "Soldiers, follow me and kill him."
!”
The guard general of Hulao Pass is obviously Cao Ren. As a member of the Cao family, Cao Ren was appointed by Chu Yi as the guard general of Hulao Pass. This can be said to be beyond Cao's expectations. Even though he is now vaguely regarded as Cao Ren, he is the guard general of Hulao Pass.
Cao Cao, the leader of the clan, was deeply surprised by Chu Yi's decision.
Everyone knows the importance of Hulao Pass to Luoyang City. For such an important pass, even if Chu Yi ordered his trusted generals to take charge of it, no one would be surprised at all. However, Chu Yi abandoned Huang Zhong and Xu Huang.
They did not dispatch, but instead promoted Cao Ren from Cao Cao's staff and appointed him as the guard general of Hulao Pass.
Now it seems that Chu Yi's choice was not wrong. Even in the face of Yuan Shao's repeated persuasion at Hulao Pass, Cao Ren, who was in charge of Hulao Pass, had no intention of letting go.
Normally, based on Cao Cao's relationship with Yuan Shao's family, it would be normal for Cao Ren to let go. However, now facing Yuan Shao, Cao Ren went into battle in person, and Ding Yuan's troops were stunned to lose their temper.
Looking at the siege soldiers receding like the tide, Cao Ren couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Although Hulao Pass was said to be the most powerful pass in the world, there were only three thousand soldiers in the city.
After all, today's Yellow Turban rebels have been pacified, and the remaining Yellow Turban remnants are unlikely to appear in the capital. Under such circumstances, it is quite unreasonable to have three thousand soldiers stationed at Hulao Pass.
Bad.
But now facing the offensive of tens of thousands of troops under the city, even with a general like Cao Ren on command, it would be a huge pressure.
Cao Ren sat down on the ground, exuding a bloody aura. Hearing this, Cao Ren said to a general next to him: "Quickly go and count how many soldiers we have left."
Facing Yuan Shao under the city, Ding Yuan launched an offensive regardless of damage, but Hulao Pass, which he held for a day and a night, suffered heavy losses.
Of course, if it is just ordinary soldiers attacking the city, to be honest, Cao Ren is confident that with his own ability, even if he only has 3,000 troops, he is sure to hold Hulao Pass for more than ten days. The key is what he has to face now.
The right ones were not just a group of ordinary soldiers, but also generals of the Xiliang Army such as Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Guo Si, Niu Fu, etc.
These generals are just one or two. He, Cao Ren, is not a freeloader. Even if he faces Yan Liang and Wen Chou, it is not impossible to fight for a while. The key point is that nearly ten generals led their troops to charge into the battle. If Cao Ren hadn't been ruthless,
If the confidants were escorted, Hulao Pass would have been breached long ago.
Looking at the soldiers lying on the ground around him, Cao Ren couldn't help but sigh, looked towards the direction of the capital, and whispered softly: "Mengde, if you don't lead the army here, I'm afraid you will have to collect the corpses for me!
"
Cao Cao just obeyed Chu Yi, which was equivalent to Chu Yi taking the lifeline of the Cao family. If the generals of the Cao family dared to make the slightest move, it would be equivalent to asking Cao Cao to die.
If not, relying on Cao Cao's friendship with Yuan Shao's family, Cao Ren would have let Yuan Shao go no matter what. But now, in order not to implicate Cao Cao, facing Yuan Shao, Cao Ren could only be ruthless and stop him in Hulao.
It's closed.
Soon, according to the statistics of several soldiers, nearly a thousand of the three thousand soldiers in Hulao Pass had been killed in the battle, and many more were injured. Only about a thousand were left who were worthy of fighting.
After receiving such news, Cao Ren secretly breathed a sigh of relief. With these troops, he was at least sure that he could hold on for a while, but he didn't know whether Yuan Shao, Ding Yuan and others under the city would attack the city regardless of losses.
However, they said that the dignified camp under the city gathered the remnants of Xiliang and Ding Yuan's army. The two sides combined had more than 30,000 troops.
After some consideration, Zhang Ji, Fan Chou and others finally chose to follow Li Ru's suggestion and led their troops to join Yuan Shao. Together with Guo Si and Niu Fu, although they said they had not expressed their stance, they were willing to advance and retreat together with Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao went from having only two generals, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, to having tens of thousands of troops.
With tens of thousands of available troops under his command, Yuan Shao was naturally confident.
However, Yuan Shao's face was quite ugly at this moment, and the faces of all the generals in the tent were very ugly. After all, their tens of thousands of troops had been blocked at the city for so long. If it was to prove that the attack on Hulao Pass was
If so, that's fine. Everyone knows how easy it is to defend Hulao Pass from the front and difficult to attack. The key is that they attacked Hulao Pass from behind. The difficulty was reduced by almost ten times. Even so, they lost so much.
Most people have not been able to break through Hulao Pass. Wouldn't it be even more difficult if we had to prove it?
Ding Yuan sat there stroking his beard, glanced at Yuan Shao with a gloomy look and said: "At this time, we have already filled in more than 3,000 soldiers. With this posture, if we want to break through Hulao Pass, we will probably have to fill in more soldiers."
More soldiers..."
Three thousand soldiers accounted for more than one-tenth of their total troops. In this era, if an army can survive with more than one-tenth of its casualties without collapsing, it can already be called an elite force.
No wonder Ding Yuan looked so ugly. After all, these were elites. It would be heartbreaking to lose any one of them, let alone so many casualties all at once.
The most important thing is that these are elite cavalry, but the result is that they attack the city like soldiers, and the death is not worth it.
Yuan Shao felt aggrieved. You must know that when he learned that the guard of Hulao Pass was Cao Ren, Yuan Shao patted his chest and assured Ding Yuan that Hulao Pass could be easily entered.
However, what disappointed Yuan Shao was that Cao Ren had no intention of jeopardizing his friendship with Cao Cao, let alone jeopardizing, and even personally led the army into battle to boost morale. Otherwise, how could they have suffered such heavy losses.
Taking a deep breath, Yuan Shao gritted his teeth and said with a cruel look in his eyes: "There has been news that Chu Yi is mobilizing the army. I am afraid that they will be able to arrive at Hulao Pass tomorrow, and we don't have much time left.
If we cannot cross Hulao Pass before sunset, there will be only a dead end waiting for us."
As he spoke, Yuan Shao looked at Ding Yuan and said, "Sir, it's time to make up your mind."
Ding Yuan sighed slightly and said: "That's all, now I can only give it a try regardless of the casualties of the soldiers. Send my order to the whole army and order the soldiers to have a good meal. After an hour, all the troops will be mobilized and attack the city with all their strength. They will not break the city until it is broken."
withdraw troops."
Previously, Ding Yuan had always cared about his soldiers and was unwilling to lose too many soldiers in vain, so he did not let go of the attack. But as Yuan Shao said, they don't have much time now. If they don't fight hard, they may not have a chance.
Already.
The setting sun was like blood, and a breeze blew by, bringing with it a smell of blood. Cao Ren, who was standing on the city wall wearing blood-stained armor, couldn't help but look extremely ugly when he looked at the tens of thousands of black troops below.
.
Several soldiers of the Cao family stood beside Cao Ren, and one of them couldn't help but said to Cao Ren: "Brother, look at this situation, Yuan Shao and the others are going to fight tooth and nail. Even if we risk our lives, we probably won't be able to stop him.
"
Cao Ren saw Cao Hong alone. Cao Ren was appointed by Chu Yi as the guard of Hulao Pass. However, Cao Cao was worried and secretly transferred Cao Hong and Xia Houyuan to help Cao Ren.
If it weren't for Cao Hong and Xia Houyuan's great help, Cao Ren alone would really not be able to stop the offensive of Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Guo Si and other generals.
But now, even arrogant people like Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and Xia Houyuan completely lost their confidence in guarding Hulao Pass when they looked at the dark soldiers below.
After all, what they were facing was not a frontal siege of the city. If it were a frontal siege, the three of them were absolutely sure that they could hold back tens of thousands of troops with three thousand soldiers. Even if it took more than a month, it would not be a problem.
The key point now is that they are facing an offensive from the back. It is already quite difficult to hold on to such an extent.
Cao Ren took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, a stern look flashed in his eyes and he said: "Pass my order, open the city gates, and all the soldiers will gather in the general's palace in the city."
Cao Hong and Xia Houyuan were both stunned when they heard this and looked at Cao Ren in shock. Cao Hong was so upright that he almost said on the spot: "Brother, what do you mean? Even if it means death, we have to fight for it. This way
Wouldn't it be better to open the city gates wide and let the other side slaughter you?"
Xia Houyuan, on the other hand, stroked his beard, and there was a faint flash of light in his eyes. He nodded slowly and said: "It's not bad to take a gamble like this. I think Yuan Shao should understand our intention of opening the city gate."
Hearing what Xia Houyuan said, Cao Hong couldn't help but look confused. He looked at Xia Houyuan and then at Cao Ren. It seemed that he was the only one who didn't know what was going on.
Smashing his fist on the city wall, Cao Hong grinned and said, "That's all, Meng De said, just let me obey the orders of my two brothers."
Soon the soldiers guarding the city retreated like a tide, and under the leadership of Cao Hong, Cao Ren, and Xia Houyuan, they retreated to the location of the general's palace in the city.
The city gate was open, and Yuan Shao, Ding Yuan and others were stunned when they saw the open city gate. Yuan Shao, Ding Yuan and others were all ready to break through the city even if they had to lose some soldiers.
Even the charging soldiers couldn't help but slow down when they saw the empty city wall and the open city gate, looking at the open city gate full of hesitation and suspicion.
This is really too abnormal. You must know that Cao Ren left a deep impression on them before. The defense of the city was simply watertight. So many soldiers and horses were unable to capture the city, but now it is like this
Situation, how can people not worry or hesitate.
Ding Yuan frowned and said, "Ben Chu, this...could this be some kind of conspiracy?"
Yuan Shao, however, stared at the empty city head and the open city gate, pondered for a while, and suddenly laughed loudly and said: "God bless us, sir, please order that all soldiers and horses pass through the city immediately."
If you pass by, you are never allowed to stop."
While he was talking, a figure appeared next to Yuan Shao. It was Yan Liang, Yuan Shao's general. Yan Liang was heard whispering: "My lord, urgent military information. The Chu bandit troops are approaching Hulao Pass. There are at least two more."
You will be able to arrive in due time."
"What!"
Yuan Shao's expression changed, he looked at Yan Liang and said: "Didn't I say before that Chu Yi had not raised his troops yet? How could it be so fast?"
Yan Liang looked solemn and said: "It is said that Chu Yi personally led Lu Bu and Sanhe Jing on horseback and came without stopping."
Taking a deep breath, Yuan Shao said: "Enter the city, enter the city quickly, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, you guys immediately block the news of the Chu bandit reinforcements coming, and absolutely do not allow any news to enter the city, otherwise Cao Ren and others will never let us do it so easily
Escape from Hulao Pass."
If Yuan Shao was still a little hesitant about taking the opportunity to occupy Hulao Pass, but now that he knew that Chu Yi's troops were about to arrive, he immediately gave up his greed.
Don't forget that Hulao Pass was not occupied by then, but Cao Ren and others in the city were desperately entangled with them. If Chu Yi arrived, they would have suffered heavy losses.
Ding Yuan obviously had the same idea as Yuan Shao. The two looked at each other and immediately ordered the army to pass through Hulao Pass as quickly as possible.
Tens of thousands of troops passed through Hulao Pass like a flush. At this moment, Yan Liang, Wen Chou and Yan Liang took action together and stopped three waves of envoys conveying Chu Yi's orders. Cao Ren and others in the city did not receive any information.
News about Chu Yi.
Chu Yi, who personally led the Sanhe Jingqi, was now saying to Cao Cao: "The Cao family is really rich in talents. My brother is truly worthy of being a general. With only three thousand troops, he was able to defeat tens of thousands of soldiers."
Ding Yuan, Yuan Shao and others blocked the city. If Yuan Shao and Ding Yuan's troops can be destroyed in one fell swoop, his younger brother Cao Ren should be the first to do so. Chu will personally go to the emperor to ask for credit, and the Cao family will come out with another line.
Hou Ye!"
When Cao Cao heard this, he quickly said: "The Marquis is ridiculous. Your filial piety is nothing more than abiding by your duty. The success you have today is all due to the Marquis' good arrangements."
Looking at Cao Cao, Chu Yi smiled and said: "Meng De can rest assured. As long as the Cao family does not imitate Yuan Benchu, Gongsun Zan and other rebellious ministers and traitors, the Chu family can protect the Cao family's wealth and wealth for generations to come."
Cao Cao's face showed a touch of emotion and said: "Master Hou's great kindness will be unforgettable by the Cao family. It will be regarded as the work of Master Hou's dogs and horses!"
