Royal Road

The sound of horses' hoofs was as fast as thunder, and three hundred horses lined up neatly, galloping all the way. The Xiongnu cavalry has always been well-trained, not to mention the elite of the royal court. It was like a dark cloud that was rolling, raising a large amount of dust, and drove towards the distant city.

This cavalry set out from Lucheng and arrived at Taihang Pass in just two days. Here is the main way to guard Taihangxing, as long as the Taihang Pass is taken, one more road from Sizhou to Bingzhou can be blocked. And Taihang Pass itself is not a strong city. If you come from Sizhou and the pass is placed on Xingdao, it can be said that one man will be the pass, but if you attack from the direction of Bingzhou, it is just a small city. . Naturally it is not difficult to overcome.

However, when the siege started, Liu Meng, the leader of Qianqi, realized that this pass was completely different from what he had imagined.

The Xiongnu cavalry attacked the city, especially this kind of small city, always used the cavalry to cover the pawns and attacked the wall. The rain of arrows can make the soldiers on the wall have no time to take care of the attackers, and the fast-moving cavalry can dodge the opponent's counterattacks in time and remain invincible. With such a strong army, Liu Meng is confident that he can use a few waves of arrows to pry open the gate of Taihang Pass.

Unexpectedly, this commonly used strategy will not work at all! On the originally low city wall, a female wall was added, which was blocked by arrows, and it was difficult for the flying arrows under the city to hit the guards on the city. What’s more terrible is that at a distance of about a hundred steps from the city, five shallow trenches were dug continuously, each of which was only one foot deep and separated by less than five steps. If the pawns are naturally able to cross over easily, but for the cavalry, It has become a trap that can break a horse's leg.

Neither can the horse be crossed, nor can it be turned back easily. As soon as they came up, they broke six or seven horses in this shallow ditch. Taihangguan was built on the mountain, the terrain was originally uneven, and encountering such a defensive formation, it made it impossible for the cavalry to use it.

Liu Meng just thought about it for a moment, and ordered his subordinates to shoot immediately outside the shallow ditch. Unexpectedly, at this time, the city crossbow was shot from the watchtower in the pass!

The watchtower was very strange in style, standing on the city like a horn, Liu Meng thought it was a hastily built watchtower, but unexpectedly there was more than one rhubarb crossbow in it! Four crossbows shot crossbow arrows one after another, with amazing accuracy, almost even his mount was hit by arrows.

In shock, Liu Meng quickly led his troops back five hundred steps away. At such a distance, cavalry and shooting can't reach the wall anyway. Without the cover of cavalry, let all soldiers dismount to attack the city?

Looking at the small city gate that looked like a hedgehog, the Qianqi Xiongnu shook his head in the end. This is definitely not the defensive style of the Jin army. In the rear of Bingzhou, any Xingdao defense should be aimed at Sizhou. Who would have deployed outside the city early to guard against the sharp knives behind him? Such an arrangement outside the city, and the precise targeting of the cavalry, proves that the people in the city have long been wary of their army.

This kind of rigorous preparation, if there is no more than a thousand people, and a strong attack regardless of loss, it can't be won. And he has not lost the capital of the army.

Turning his horse's head, Liu Meng ordered: "Take the Gaodu!"

The small Taihang Pass has become like this. The Gaodu city is the Taihangxingwei city, so it is natural to explore it clearly. And at this moment, the autumn harvest is approaching. If you take advantage of the situation and take advantage of it, you will take advantage of these farmers as pioneers and drive towards the city. Relying on these people as a cover is also expected to capture the city gate. Gaoducheng and Taihangguan are both external and internal. If Gaodu is attacked, does Taihangxing's defense really not have a single soldier? As long as the opponent has a probe, they will naturally be able to shoot back the carbine and seize the pass!

However, when they arrived in Gaodu, they were faced with a scene even stranger than Taihang Pass. The large tracts of grain in the field have not yet been harvested, but even a farmer has not been found for more than a dozen li nearby. At some point, all the people near Gaodu moved into the city. In the face of the heightened and thickened city wall, the three hundred cavalry wanted to take it down, and it was simply whimsical.

"Someone has discovered our whereabouts! Where is the direction of Liang Mansion? Are there signs of soldiers and horses dispatched?" Liu Meng couldn't detect the problem. But along the way, I didn't even see a bonfire with wolfsmoke, and they galloped in again. How did the news reach Gaoducheng?

"No!" the scout replied, "Liang's house has been closed tightly and seems to be under martial law. Even the two nearby villages have closed their doors."

As a general under Liu Xuan's command, Liu Meng naturally knew that the Xiangguo was afraid of the Buddha in the Liang Mansion, so he came to capture Taihang Pass and surrounding cities when the other party was abducted to the county. However, along the way, he was shocked. Where is this ordinary city? It is clearly a strong city on wartime alert. Snatching is no longer possible, only heavy troops will be sent to guard the surrounding areas of the two gates and besiege Sima Teng's army who wants to return to Bingzhou. And this is not a decision he can make by a mere chief Qianqi.

"Return to Xiangguo immediately. If you want to capture the two battlefields, you must increase your troops." Liu Meng simply ordered. Then he glanced at the city behind him again and snorted coldly. When he turned his head and led five thousand soldiers, he didn't believe he couldn't attack this city!

"Others, quickly follow me back to the county town." After seeing everything in front of him, Liu Mengcai made up his mind. This time even if there is strict blocking, the kid surnamed Liang has to be killed! To make such an earth-shaking change happen near Gaodu, apart from that Buddha, I'm afraid there is no one else. Xiangguo's expectation is not bad, this son is really a confidant!

With an order, the cavalry marched toward the direction as they had come. Almost at the same time as that fast horse, the news also passed back to the Liang Mansion.

"The Huns retired?" The group of Huns went so fast, but it went beyond Duan Qin's expectations. He originally wanted to hold down this fine rider from the county town. Unexpectedly, the other party had only dropped a few corpses before Taihang Pass, and then went back to the house neatly.

There are three hundred people! If the lord has not succeeded in capturing the county city, it will be in trouble.

However, the opponent is a fast-moving cavalry, even if he wants to stop, he does not have enough troops. Without hesitation, Duan Qin ordered: "Send a letter to the post on the mountain to inform the lord as soon as possible that the Huns cavalry will return."

The post on the mountain is also a secret weapon of the Liang Mansion. Set up checkpoints on the peaks within sight and prepare several signals in advance. Once the enemy was observed, the pine and cypress at the door were brought down and a warning was given. Such three or five outposts can easily pass the news, and it is not as noticeable as the smoke of the wolf. The mountainous area near Liang Mansion is the most convenient.

It is precisely because of this that he was able to inform Guo County Order Kaicheng to accept the refugees from nearby villages half a day in advance and prepare Taihang Pass. And now, he must use the same method to let the lord get the news as soon as possible.

I only hope that the lord's side can successfully seize the barrier, and then there will be more power to encircle and suppress this group of cavalry!

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The sky gradually darkened. After half of August, there should have been more than half of the moon in the sky, but tonight there were many clouds, which obscured the stars and the moon, making the four fields dark.

On the head of the city, several torches were lit, and Yingyingchuo illuminates the figure of the guards. This is the first pass of Baixing, and it is also the strongest one. As long as there are a hundred defenders, they can resist several times, but ten times the strength. However, in such a strong city, the Huns who had just captured the head of the city did not relax their vigilance. People were constantly patrolling the city, guarding this road that was finally in the bag.

Of course, they did not see any enemies.

The mountains are silent, and it seems that all the creatures are in deep sleep, except for the small beasts that occasionally pass by, making a rustle. From the time of the Zishi to the Yinshi, the moon sinks to the west, and even the elite Xiongnu soldiers can't help but become trapped. At this moment, dozens of dark shadows, as thick as the night, passed through the dense woods and came straight to the city wall.

This is not easy to do. Even the elite Xiongnu soldiers would not look at things at night. This symptom is called "sparrow blindness." Therefore, every night, bonfires are lit in the barracks to strengthen guards to prevent commotion among the blind soldiers. Similarly, there are very few cases where night attacks can be successfully carried out because of pleural blindness. If it weren't for true elite soldiers, who would dare to lead a group of half-blind people into the camp of others?

However, this team walked very briskly, as if they could see things in the dark, and after only a moment of effort, they quietly came under the corner of the wall. In the darkness, a pair of faintly fluorescent blue eyes looked over. Those eyes were like wolf eyes that would only appear in the wilderness, cold and sharp, without emotion. However, seeing these eyes, the people around him will feel relieved, and find their place just like a pack of wolves following a wolf.

There was no need to give instructions at all, and the group of people moved into action. Around the city wall, four tall and strong soldiers squatted down, and immediately someone stepped on their shoulders and climbed up. Just standing still, someone climbed up again. The top of the wall is only two feet high, and the stacked human ladder easily hooks to the top of the wall.

Yi Yan grabbed the arrow stack with his left hand, and clenched the crossbow with his other hand. With a sudden force with one arm, he jumped onto the wall! This was too unexpected. The soldiers on the wall did not even react, and the sharp arrow pierced the throat. At the same time, three of the same arrows were shot out, and three people immediately fell to the ground!

At this moment, the first warning call suddenly sounded. However, Yi Yan ignored it, shaking his hand, and the iron claw hook with the rope was firmly placed on the arrow pile. As the claws were placed, the soldiers under the city began to climb, and the number of people climbing on the wall doubled in just one breath. First a crossbow, then a knife, this group of ferocious wolves easily crushed all the Huns defending the city!

The whole city was boiling. There are constantly awakened soldiers trying to rush to the wall and destroy the enemy. However, the occupation of the high ground was an unexpected night attack. The soldiers who carried out from their sleep did not fail to stop Yi Yan and the others. After a quarter of an hour, the city changed hands!

"Yingzheng, all the Xiongnu soldiers have been killed." A deployment leaned forward and whispered.

"Very good. Choose twenty to keep up. Before dawn, you must capture another city!" Yi Yan shook off the blood bead on the blade and replied in a cold voice.

Like a pack of tireless wolves, they attacked another city that was still sleeping!