Peerless Pirates

Aoguan is the main road from Chang'an to the hinterland of Nanyang Central Plains. It stands in front of Ailing Mountain and in the back is Mount Jiang. In the past, when Liu Bang entered the pass, he adopted the tactics of storming and bribery, and he was successful. Under Zhang Liang's persuasion, Liu Bang, an old man, gritted his teeth and took out some gold and silver treasures and gave them to Li Shiqi to do the bribery work. At the same time, he led his sergeants to "cross Mount Jiang" and seize the Qin army's retreat. After two battles, the southeast gate of Xianyang was torn open.

In fact, as you continue along the Yaoguan Pass towards the Central Plains, there is another great pass, which is Wuguan Pass. Guanzhong is called the Land of Four Fortresses because there are four major passes (Wuguan Pass, Hangu Pass, and Xiaoguan Pass). and Dashan Pass). However, Wuguan has always been occupied by the Qi army. Since the founding of the country, Daqi has been passively beaten and in a defensive position, so that Wuguan has become a barrier for Daqi to defend against the Xixia army.

Because of this, the Xixia people paid more attention to the defense of Yiguan. As for the cities of Shangzhou, Shangluo and Shangluo between Yiguan and Wuguan, although they were also occupied by the Xixia army, these towns were limited by the terrain and acted as the defense of Xixia. The buffer zone between Daqi and Daqi.

Since the Dangxiang people annexed Guanzhong, they have paid special attention to the southeastern gateway of Aoguan. Not only has Aoguan been built extremely solidly, but also fortifications have been built at the dangerous points of Aoling and Mount Jiang. The Qi army cannot imitate Liu Ting at all. In the past, Li Yuandan's great feat of "circling Yaoguan and crossing Mount Jiang" was not tolerated at all.

Daqi attacked Yiguan with two groups of troops, one was 30,000 Shandong Pass soldiers led by Xiao Dingguo, the military envoy on the left side of Shandong Pass, and the other was 55,000 soldiers led by Guan Piao, the army envoy on the right side of Tokyo Pass. After the two groups of sergeants met in Shangluo on the tenth day of August, they began to discuss how to attack Yaoguan.

Due to the restricted terrain, more than 80,000 troops could not launch an attack on Aoguan at once. Therefore, after discussion, the two parties decided to attack Aoguan separately within a period of five days.

The governor of Tokyo Pass was Pang Hui, and he had a large number of troops. Therefore, Guan Piao was the first to attack without hesitation. On August 13, Tokyo Pass sent 20,000 sergeants to directly attack Aoguan. After five days of bloody battle, all the troops were exhausted. After trying various methods, I still can't get into the Pass.

Guan Piao was greedy for merit and became desperate. Not only did he drag more than 50,000 soldiers up, he also changed the agreement. First, he changed the time limit from five days to ten days, and then to fifteen days. Until August 20 After fighting for half a month on the seventh day, nearly 20,000 troops and horses were lost, and there was still nothing to do about Aoguan. The reason was that Aoguan was too important to Li Yuandan. It was only seventy or eighty miles away from Chang'an. Once it fell, Chang'an would be Like a naked big girl, placed in front of the Qi army. Li Yuandan built this place enough to make any army despair. Even famous generals like Gu Polu sighed when they retreated.

The sergeants at Tokyo Pass could no longer attack, so they had to change their positions and let the soldiers at Shandong Pass continue the attack.

Xin Qiji was also included in this expedition, and when Xiao Dingguo went to Panghui Dayuchang, Shaanxi Province, he took charge of the expedition to Guanxi, Shandong. Xin Qiji accepted the lessons of Sergeant Guan in Tokyo and did not choose to attack blindly, but chose a combination of boxing: Night attacks, small groups of troops infiltrating around the mountains, harassment, and irregular strong attacks every three to five days.

From August 29th to September 8th, for ten days, although Xin Qiji failed to capture Aoguan, he still disturbed the Xixia garrison at Aoguan.

For example, every midnight, the Qi army would beat gongs and drums in front of the pass, and fire off a few cannons from time to time, even using firecrackers and two kicks, in order to prevent the Xixia sergeants from sleeping soundly.

Or they sent a surprise attack force along a path known only to local hunters, with the intention of bypassing the mountain range. Although most of these people were blocked and retreated, they also scared the Xixia people into cold sweats.

Various tactics, coupled with the previous half-month strong attack by tens of thousands of soldiers at Tokyo Pass, put the entire Xixia Army in a state of extreme fatigue and had to take turns guarding the pass.

The reason why Xin Yu bombed the camp when he was in the enemy's supply of food and grass was also related to the condition of these sergeants guarding the food and grass. They were sergeants who had fought fiercely with the Qi army. Because of the heavy casualties, they withdrew to guard the food and grass. Prepare. After trimming it, pull it up to the gate.

The previous bloody battle made the nerves of these sergeants extremely tense. The patrol team beheaded the soldiers, and the blood flowed freely, which stimulated their nerves. Xin Yu and Yan Feng took action without hesitation, which was the trigger for the bombing of the camp.

By the time Lu Ding, who was stationed in Lantian City, left the city, the outer city guard had already taken control of the grain and grass battalion. When he counted the losses, Lu Ding almost fainted. Only one-tenth of the grain and grass that the Aoguan defenders had used for half a month had been burned. .

The reason why Xin Yu and others achieved such results was because several of his men led by Yan Feng took the initiative to stay and took on the important task of continuing to burn food. Xin Yu, however, took advantage of the chaos to escape. The news that the Xixia people's food and grass were burned, It must be sent back to the Qi army outside Yaoguan in time.

Xin Yu could not bear to abandon his subordinates. However, he was the most skilled among the group and had carefully studied the terrain of Aoguan before the war. In this case, he could only bear the heavy responsibility of delivering the message.

When the food and grass in Xixia were burned, it was the night when Song Zheng had a verbal battle with Liang Yiyue in the Prince's Mansion. When there was dawn in the sky, Xin Yu was behind a big tree at the northern foot of Mount Jiang, looking at the Lantian City where the fire was gradually extinguishing. , Tears flowed for a long time. Those were his brothers who accompanied him day and night at Luoyang Pass! Xixia and his party were all folded in. Why didn't Xin Yu's heart feel like a knife?

After Xin Yu bowed three times in the direction of Lantian City, he took advantage of the darkness and walked toward the mountains.

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On the morning of September 11th, when Song Zheng was fighting against the madmen of Shu in Wuhou Temple, Xin Qiji was sitting in the tent, reading a secret letter from Xiao Dingguo from Shaanzhou. The content made Xin Qiji's face throbbing with veins.

There are five contents.

First, Xixia abandoned all the states in the Weihe and Hebei provinces, and mobilized military forces to send reinforcements to Tongguan and Yaoguan. The grain and grass originally stored in the states were also required to be transported to Chang'an.

Second, due to the inability to conquer Tongguan for a long time, the troops at Luoyang Pass were unstable, and more than 300 sergeants mutinied. Although they have been suppressed and the relevant generals were executed, the crisis of the Qi army has already appeared.

Thirdly, Prince Pang Hui is dying and "faints three times a day". Even taking the elixir "Afurong" does not help.

The fourth news is that Cong Kui, the military envoy on the right side of Shandong Road, secretly wrote to Jiangning, saying that since Da Qi could not conquer Tongguan, it would be better to take advantage of the opportunity of the Jin army to march into Guanzhong and cross the river to attack Jiezhou. At the same time, Shandongguan would attack Dezhou, Hebei Province. Jiezhou Salt Lake is an important salt-producing area of ​​Daikin and one of its most important sources of salt. Cong Kui’s intention is to use the army to attack Xixia to hold back the main force of Daijin, and with nearly 80,000 sergeants at Shandong Pass Together with the Dengzhou navy, we can directly capture the central capital.

The last news is that there is a logistical problem. Due to financial constraints and the grain harvesting of everyone in Jiangnan, the supply of grain and grass in Daqi is weak. Although Huitong Commercial Bank is doing its best to support the operation and Huang Yuandu is trying his best to raise funds, if the attack is repeated at the end of September If we don't enter Guanzhong, we will have to cease the war.

Because of this, some officials in Jiangning City began to write letters to stop the war. Although it is not the mainstream, if the war does not improve again, more and more officials will write letters.

Seeing this news, Xin Qiji was extremely angry. The commander was seriously ill, the supply at the rear was weak, and the war at the front was not going well. The shortcomings of Da Qi's march were suddenly exposed, and the journey was cast into a thick layer of gray.

Xin Qiji punched several cases and walked back and forth in the tent. The 30,000 troops marching to the west of Shandong Pass had been delayed for thirteen days at the Aoguan Pass, losing between three and four thousand soldiers and horses. The fifteen-day deadline was in sight. When they arrived, Xin Qiji was extremely anxious. The Xixia army was desperately defending the pass, and its reinforcements were coming again. It didn't look like they could capture it in two days. If he replaced the sergeants of Tokyo Pass, Xin Qiji couldn't expect to do much. Initially Half a month of fighting has worn away the spirit of Sergeant Tokyo Seki.

What should we do? Do we really have to choose to attack by force regardless of our lives?

Xin Qiji clenched his fists and frowned, unable to make up his mind for a moment.

"Report!" A long shout from the captain outside the door interrupted Xin Qiji's contemplation.

"Come in!"

A captain in soap clothes hurriedly ran in, "General, our soldiers captured a sergeant wearing a tattered Xixia military uniform, but he claimed to be Xin Yu, the general of Guanzhou in Luoyang. He was the son of the general and had important military information to report. The guard at the gate The general does not dare to deal with it without permission, so I came here to ask for instructions from the general."

"Yu'er?"

"Look at it first! Ask carefully, and then report back." Xin Qiji, who was in a bad mood, waved his hand. The captain turned around and was about to go out. Xin Qiji suddenly thought that there was no news from his son since he sent a letter a month ago. .In the past, I wrote a letter every half month.

"Stop and bring the people up." Xin Qiji changed his mind.

After a cup of tea, two sergeants brought in a man who looked like a beggar. The man's hair was unkempt, with a few grass clippings on it. His face was even more bloody, and the tattered clothes on his body could barely tell the appearance of the Xixia army. At first glance, this man was extremely weak. If it were not for the two sergeants holding him up, he would probably collapse immediately.

When the man saw Xin Qiji, his blood-red eyes flashed, and he shouted hoarsely, "Dad!" Then he fell down and fainted.

Xin Qiji was startled for a moment, then quickly stepped forward to support him and shouted, "Yu'er! Yu'er! Pass the message to the doctor quickly! Pass the message to the doctor quickly!"

After a cup of tea, the army officials ran in, and a group of Shandong Pass generals also crowded into the tent. At this time, Xin Qiji was sitting on the ground, calling his son's name in a low voice, with tears streaming down his face.

The doctor hurriedly knelt down, touched Xin Yu's pulse, opened Xin Yu's eyelids and looked at it, then cupped his hands and said, "General, Master Ling is just overworked, there is nothing serious in his health."

After saying it twice, Xin Qiji finally reacted. "Are you sure?"

The doctor looked at it again and replied, "It's OK to be humble."

Xin Qiji breathed a long sigh of relief and said slowly, "It's time to work, let's get down."

After calming down, Xin Qiji stroked his son's messy hair and remained silent for a while.

Suddenly, he suddenly remembered that his son had important military information to report to him, so he sent someone to call back the doctor who had just left the tent to see if there was any way to temporarily wake up his son. It must be unusual for his son to risk his life to report the news. .

The doctor hesitated for a moment and then said, "This method may be disrespectful to Mr. Ling, but please..."

"What time has it been? I don't care if I'm being disrespectful or not. Hurry up!" Xin Qiji's heart was bleeding and his face was as heavy as water.

The doctor sighed, took out the needle bag from the medicine box, pulled out a silver needle, and asked the sergeant to take off Xin Yu's shoes. Xin Yu's feet were covered with blood blisters, and one foot was even worn out, and the flesh and blood were Fuzzy. Xin Qiji felt another pain when he saw it. How many miles had his son walked to wear his feet like this?

The doctor glanced at Xin Qiji again, then reluctantly inserted the silver needle into the gap between Xin Yu's toenails. Xin Yu shook a bit but still didn't wake up.

"Go on and use the needle!" Xin Qiji saw the clue and shouted again.

The doctor reluctantly took out another silver needle. Some of the generals nearby got the truth and were about to try to persuade him, but Xin Qiji glared back.

Until the fourth silver needle pierced Xin Yu's fingernail, Xin Yu let out a long howl, opened his blood-red eyes, and the first thing he said was, "We have burned all the food and grass in Jiaoguan, please." Father, please send troops quickly to avenge my brother."

Before he finished speaking, tears welled up again.

…

Half an hour later, drums were beating loudly in the military camp, and all the sergeants rushed out. At the same time, a cavalry galloped towards Shangluo.

The time has come for all-out attack.