On March 1, Prince Qin Yao Hong's army marched forward, forty miles away from Hongmen. Under the Pass, the Jin army used chariots as a formation and powerful crossbows as arrows to defeat the Qin army. After analyzing the terrain of Hongmen, Yao Hong and Yao Shao believed that the terrain around Hongmen was open and there was no possibility of chariots blocking the road. If they are lined up, they can go around from both sides. If they are formed in a circle, it is impossible to accommodate many soldiers and horses in the middle, and they will be trapped in death.
Yao Shao said confidently: "Your Highness, our enemies are outnumbered, and the Qin army has become exhausted after fighting for a long time. This battle must be won." On March 2, the Qin army led Yao Shao to lead six thousand light cavalry, and Yao Hong led the other troops. The horse followed, and the army spread out two miles wide and four miles deep, rushing toward the Jin army camp at Hongmen overwhelmingly.
Yao Shao controlled the speed of his horse and did not advance in a hurry. He was five or six miles away from the rear infantry and was on guard against a secret attack by the Jin army.
At Shenshi, the Qin army successfully arrived at Hongmen and set up camp five miles away from the Jin army camp. Yao Shao accompanied Yao Hong to a high place to view the layout of the Jin army's camp.
"Your Highness, please take a look. The fence of this camp is made of cut wood. It is long on the outside and short on the inside. It can be covered with wooden boards... This camp is tightly laid out and heavily defended. The Jin general who leads the army knows how to use troops." Yao Shao detailed. Di introduced for Yao Hong.
He knew that Yao Hong had no experience in commanding an army in the field. If he could teach the prince all his experience in battle, Qin would have another wise king in the future and revitalize the Qin Dynasty.
Yao Hong listened with a smile, waved his finger in the air, and asked: "According to what Dong Pinggong saw, how many soldiers and horses can be accommodated in the Jin army's camp?" Yao Shao squinted his eyes and looked at it carefully, and said: "Scout Cavalry The report should be correct, there are at most five thousand Jin troops." Yao Hong laughed and said: "Tomorrow I will defeat the enemy with Dongping Gong." Yao Shao laughed loudly, his white beard trembled slightly, and said with enthusiasm: "Okay, I will wear armor tomorrow. Charge into battle for His Highness." Yao Hong looked at Yao Shao's white hair and white beard, and sighed sincerely: "The courage of Duke Dongping will not let Huang Zhong of the Three Kingdoms." Wang Zhene said to Lu Jie: "Yao Hong is eager to establish his power, thinking After winning the battle and successfully inheriting the empire of the Qin Dynasty, tomorrow's battle will be fought in full force, and those gunpowder will come in handy."... In March of spring, the weather has warmed up, but the chill is still heavy at midnight, and the sky is full of stars. , shrouding the earth in haze.
In the Jin army camp, black shadows emerged from the tents and lined up in the night. The weak firelight reflected in a pair of eyes, moving and jumping.
Pour boiling hot water into the oil noodles to make a paste, which is fragrant. A soldier carried a large basket and put it down. Inside was dried meat as thick as a thumb. Zhou Chao walked past his subordinates and whispered: "Enough food. When everyone is full, kill the Qin captives." At the gate of the village, dozens of vehicles The catapults were arranged in rows, and next to each catapult were five bamboo baskets. Inside the baskets were clay pots the size of human heads. Wang Zhene was inspecting them personally.
"These things are flammable and explosive, so you must be careful when handling them and don't be careless." Wang Zhene warned again and again.
There were a total of 120 clay pots, each of which contained ten kilograms of gunpowder. Wang Zhen'e brought a total of 1,500 kilograms of gunpowder to the expedition and packed it into 150 jars. Even when he attacked Tongguan, he was not willing to use it. .
At the end of Yin Dynasty, the gate of the village was opened, and the sixty catapults were divided into three groups. Under the leadership of Wang Zhen'e, Zhou Chao, and Feng Heng, they divided into three groups and marched towards the Qin army's camp, leaving Lu Gui and two thousand light cavalry to guard the camp. , waiting for news.
It has been proven during the day that the Qin army
The "pin" character is divided into three camps, thousands of steps away from the Jin camp. As soon as the Jin army left the camp, they were detected by the Qin army's reconnaissance cavalry and reported to the generals on duty.
Soon, Dongping Gong Yao Shao came outside Yao Hong's tent. Yao Hong's tent was just like an ordinary soldier, except that there were dozens of guards standing outside the tent.
"Wake up your highness quickly, I have military information to report." Soon, the lights were turned on in the tent, and the guards came out and said: "Prince, please come in, Duke Dongping." Yao Hong had just woken up, and was splashing cold water on his face, wearing a brocade robe. .
Yao Shao stepped forward and said: "Your Highness, the Jin army is coming to attack at night." Yao Hong was stunned and asked in surprise: "How many people are there?"
"Only about three thousand," Yao Shao replied. Yao Hong asked in confusion: "What does the Jin army mean? Do we need to send troops to intercept it?" Yao Shao was also confused and said: "I don't know what the Jin army means. Please climb up to watch the enemy." Waiting for Yao Hong, Yao Shao climbed up to the high platform in the camp, and Wang Zhenxi's troops had already approached the Qin army's camp one hundred and fifty steps, with twenty catapults lined up.
No torches were lit, and thousands of soldiers stood quietly in the dark night. At this time, the Qin camp was already brightly lit. Yao Hong squinted his eyes and tried his best to see the Jin army outside the camp. He asked Yao Shao beside him: "Dong Pinggong, isn't it necessary to take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness to rob the camp? The Jin army is clearly showing off. What do you want to do?" Yao Shao thought for a moment and said, "We might as well send the light cavalry to test. Just in case, let the heavy cavalry wear armor first." People in the Qin camp shouted horses and prepared to go out to meet the enemy.
Wang Zhen'e estimated that the other two teams had almost arrived at the location, and ordered: "Throw gunpowder." The range of the catapult was about 200 steps. With the order, the earthen jars filled with gunpowder rose into the air and smashed into the Qin army's camp. Inside.
The earthen jar is on the ground
There was a "bang" sound, and the powdery gunpowder inside scattered. An earthen pot hit the brazier,
There was a "bang" explosion, and a fireball spread over a distance of about ten feet. Several soldiers standing nearby were immediately covered in fire. The fireman screamed and rushed to the side, attracting the tent, and the fire became more and more fierce.
One hundred and twenty clay pots were divided into three groups, with only forty in each group. Twenty catapults threw all the gunpowder into the Qin army's camp, and the camp turned into a sea of fire.
Wang Zhene looked at the Qin camp with wide eyes. He didn't know how effective gunpowder was in actual combat. He only heard that Zhu Lingshi used gunpowder to blow up the pass, and Liu Zhong used gunpowder to burn down the Qin Navy.
When he was in Xiangyang, he had seen the power of gunpowder, and discussed with Yang Anxuan and Zhang Gang more than once how to use gunpowder to achieve the best effect. Yang Anxuan once told him that gunpowder would be infinitely powerful in the future, but at the moment its biggest role is just to set fires.
The earthen jar exploded in the camp, and a raging fire suddenly broke out. Yao Hong was shocked out of his mind. He remembered the battle report sent by Yaoguan, saying that the Jin army had an ordnance that could emit loud noises and thick smoke, and it could be this burning thing.
My father once thought that this object was a Buddhist demon-conquering pestle, and asked Master Jiumo for help. Master Jiumo said that it might be a Taoist alchemy object. My father sent people to search for Taoist priests to investigate, but later he couldn't do anything because of illness.
When the powdered gunpowder is touched with flames, the tents, wooden fences, watchtowers, and even the leather armor on the body and the mane of the war horse will burst into flames, which will not be extinguished even if they are beaten.
Yao Shao pulled Yao Hong down from the high platform and said to the guards beside him: "Hurry up and escort the prince to shelter for now." As he spoke, blazing flames rose from the three camps.
The "pin"-shaped flames quickly gathered toward the center, creating a fire whirlwind that burned more and more intensely. The gunpowder made an explosion when it burned, thick black smoke rolled up, and the horses neighed and ran around. No matter how much the generals shouted, they could not stop the Qin army from fleeing.
The fire was blazing, and even if it was more than a hundred steps away, the flying sparks would still come with heat. Wang Zhene smiled with a smile on his face and said loudly: "The Qin army is finished." The sons of the Jin army looked at the flames flying in the sky and shouted in unison,
"Mighty, mighty." The flames were too fierce to approach here, so Wang Zhene led troops and horses to capture the Qin army's defeated troops and horses around the camp.
At dawn, Lu Gui heard the report and came with two thousand light cavalry to chase the Qin army everywhere. Yao Hong escaped from the camp under the escort of more than a hundred personal guards. Looking back at the camp that burned like a torch soaring into the sky, he cried sadly: "The Qin Dynasty has perished." Yao Shao's white hair and beard next to him were covered in white. Dust, the old man looked at the billowing smoke, knowing that if 20,000 soldiers and horses could survive, it would be good for more than a thousand.
After the defeat of Qin Dynasty, I am afraid that the morale of the army is completely lost, and the country is really not far away from being destroyed. For most of his life, he had never encountered such a disastrous defeat. Yao Shao felt a tightness in his chest.
He spat out blood with a "plop" sound. There was the sound of horse hooves, and Lu Gui came to kill with his light cavalry. Yao Hong did not dare to stay longer, and fled towards Chang'an City with more than a hundred people.
At noon, the Jin army officers and soldiers were still cleaning up the burned Qin army camp. There were scorched corpses lying on the ground everywhere, and the sickening smell of burnt food filled the air.
The corpses of the Qin army were cleaned and piled together. The fire formed a large circle last night. Most of the Qin army soldiers did not escape from the camp. More than 10,000 people were burned, choked, and scorched to death in the camp, as well as thousands of horses. .
Wang Zhene looked at those horse corpses, and his heart twitched with pain. If he had these horses, all his men could become light cavalry, and their combat power would be greatly improved.
.........The news that the prince was defeated and that 20,000 Qin army elites perished in the sea of fire soon spread in Chang'an, and people's hearts were filled with anxiety and panic.
The Jin army may be approaching the city of Chang'an, and the defeat cannot be concealed from anyone. Yao Hong ordered not to disturb the king's recovery. He was afraid that Yao Xing would re-activate Yao Bi's army after hearing the news of the defeat.
At Guangping Palace, Yao Bi learned that Prince Yao Hong had been defeated at Hongmen. He immediately put on his court clothes and wanted to go to the palace to discuss matters, but was stopped by the guards in front of the door.
Yao Bi was furious and roared: "I am still a general and Duke Guangping. The Qin Dynasty is in danger. What do you want to do by imprisoning me in the palace?" After hearing the news, Prince Zhanshi and Wang Zhou hurried over and said righteously: "Your Majesty has a purpose. , Duke Guangping shuts himself up and thinks about his mistakes. If he is not allowed to go out without an order, please ask Duke Guangping to return home." Yao Bi took out his sword and was about to kill Wang Zhou, but was held back by the guards on both sides.
The sword was taken away. Yao Bi pointed at Wang Zhou and cursed: "You are Yao Hong's dog. Sooner or later, I will chop you down." Wang Zhou said, neither humble nor arrogant: "If Duke Guangping obeys the law, he will not kill the fool." "If Duke Guangping takes personal revenge, the national laws will not be compatible." In the council hall, Prince Yao Hong stood in the middle, Duke Dongping Yao Shao sat on the soft couch with a pale face, and the civil and military officials on the left and right looked frightened.
I just learned from the prince that the Jin army used a flammable substance, which was like fire from the sky and would catch fire when it touched it. There was something that made loud noises and earthquakes at Poya Pass last time. What weird thing was it this time?
Yao Shao sighed secretly, the prince was not familiar with martial arts, how could he say such demoralizing words in public. With a slight cough, Yao Shao said: "Your Highness, gentlemen, beware of the Jin army attacking Chang'an City, and arrange the defense of the city in time." Former army general Yao Lie said: "Chang'an City only has ten thousand troops, except for the imperial guards who guard the palace. Outside, there are less than a thousand garrison troops in each gate. Even if the young and strong people in the city are mobilized to defend Chang'an, it will be insufficient. Troops from all over the country need to be mobilized to back up Chang'an." Yao Hong's eyes seemed to be filled with raging fire. If Yao Shao hadn't seen the opportunity quickly, he would have almost died. Sealed in the camp by the fire, Yao Hong couldn't help but shudder when thinking of the soldiers who were on fire, and said in horror: "The Jin army has such sharp weapons, how should they defend themselves?" Yao Shao said: "Your Highness, don't panic, I estimate that the Jin army The army has a limited number of sharp weapons. Otherwise, if there was a stalemate in the battle in Lantian, the Jin army would have used them long ago." Yao Hong felt relieved and said: "Dong Pinggong's analysis is correct. There are not enough defenders in the city, so he ordered Lantian to withdraw 20,000 soldiers and horses. Guard Chang'an. In addition, Taiyuan Duke Yao Yi and Ningdong General Yao Chengdu were ordered to send troops back to support Chang'an. The Jin army had been on an expedition in September last year, and the supply of food and grass was bound to be difficult. Chang'an only had to hold on for two months, and the Jin army would inevitably return without food. "Glancing at the civil and military forces in the palace, Yao Hong said: "The situation is urgent. I decided to ask the Wei State for help and asked the Wei Army to send troops to contain the Jin Army and buy time."
