Outside Xinyang Pass is a grassland. The withered yellow thatch is spread like a huge carpet between the sky and the earth. The light yellow grass blades are shivering in the cold wind. Walking closer, on the distant horizon A towering tower appeared.
After Chen Xiaomu outsmarted Xinjing City, he left more than 2,000 men to garrison Xinjing City. That night, he quietly led his troops out of the city and rushed to Xinyang Pass. After a day and night of rapid march, Chen Xiaomu and the cavalry of the vanguard finally saw the enemy in the evening of the next day. The outline of Xinyangguan, a world-famous pass.
Zhang Jian's more than 2,000 horses have camped about ten miles away from Xinyang Pass. He did not know that he had no backup during the past two days. He always thought that Chen Xiaomu led more than 10,000 horses less than two kilometers behind him. Follow him quietly in the journey of time.
As soon as he saw Chen Xiaomu, Zhang Jian complained: "Mr. Chen, the Chu army in Xinyang Pass ignores us at all. In the past two days, I sent soldiers to challenge the scolding formation almost every day, but they just pretended to be deaf and dumb. Can’t get out of seclusion!”
Chen Xiaomu smiled and said, "Do you know why they can't come out of seclusion?"
"Afraid of death! Why else?" Zhang Jian blurted out.
"No, you are wrong!" Chen Xiaomu shook his head and said, "Because they are waiting for someone!"
"Waiting for someone?" Zhang Jian looked at Chen Xiaomu with confusion.
"I asked you to set up at least five stoves for each soldier every time you set up camp. Did you do it?" Chen Xiaomu asked.
"Of course I did, and according to your instructions, for every five stoves built, four were buried shallowly, leaving only one open stove."
"Isn't this right! If you think about these stoves being counted by the Chu army's scouting horses, how many people would your army have become?"
Zhang Jianlue thought about it and said with a guilty conscience: "Did the Chu army think we have fifty thousand people? But based on the tents we camped in, they should be able to count how many people we have?" Zhang Jian still didn't understand.
"Haha, General Zhang, this is because you know how many troops you actually have, so you feel guilty. But the Chu army doesn't know how many troops we have, so they can only use methods like counting military stoves to find out who we are. The number of our troops, and psychologically they are very willing to exaggerate the number of our troops, firstly so that they can ask for more support from above, and secondly, they can get more rewards for their military exploits after the war."
"Mr. Chen, I don't understand this. We know that the Chu army dare not go out to fight, so we still exaggerate our military strength. Isn't it counterproductive? In this way, the Chu army will not be in seclusion and defend itself, making it more difficult for us to attack. You Seeing as we are now stuck between Xinyangguan and Xinjing City, we are unable to achieve anything. If the Chu army in Xinjing City reacts and comes from behind us, won't we be attacked from both sides?"
"I have captured the new capital!" Chen Xiaomu suddenly said in an understatement.
"What, Mr. Chen, did I hear you correctly? You said that New Capital City has been captured by you?" Zhang Jian trembled, looked at Chen Xiaomu in surprise, and then moved his eyes to Zhang Yun, who was standing behind Chen Xiaomu. .
Zhang Yun nodded and said with a smile: "I guess your Zheng Huangji is on his way back to the capital now."
"Oh my God! Why do I feel like I'm in a dream?" Zhang Jian exclaimed and looked at Chen Xiaomu blankly, "Mr. Chen, can you tell me what is going on?"
"This is what you just said that we will be attacked from both sides by the Chu army. In fact, the Chu army must have thought the same way as you. Think about it why I asked you to pretend to be the Zheng army with 50,000 troops. I was thinking about this at the time. The number of Chu troops in Xinjing City will not exceed 50,000 even if it goes up to the sky. Among them are many Hubei auxiliary troops who are not of the same mind as them. When you pass by Xinjing City, as long as you do not take the initiative to attack the city, They will never dare to go out of the city to attack you, because they do not have an advantage in numbers. If they rush out of the city to attack you, not only will they not get an advantage, but they will be in danger of being counterattacked by you and enter the city. The only chance they have to eliminate you is to fight with you. The Chu troops at Xinyang Pass unite to attack from both front and rear. Only when they have an absolute advantage in numbers and location can they attack you out of the city. I am taking advantage of their mentality. After you pass through Xinjing City, I will then attack you in Xinjing City. Set an ambush on the only way to Xinyang Pass and eliminate the Chu army that is chasing you out of Xinjing City. First, cut off the threat behind us. It is like a pair of scissors. I will break off half of its sharp edge first. Naturally, it won’t fit together and will lose its original function!”
''But now the Chu army in Xinyang Pass is in seclusion and refuses to fight. What should we do? "Zhang Jian asked.
"This is a good thing!" Chen Xiaomu said: "If the Chu army in the pass really opens the door and goes out to fight, with more than 10,000 of our troops fighting them, not only will we not be able to take any advantage, but we may also be defeated by the Chu army in the pass. , According to my estimation, the Chu army in Xinyang Pass now will not be less than 50,000. They are not afraid to fight, but they are waiting for the Chu army in Xinjing to attack us from behind and form a pincer attack on us!"
Based on the information in their hands, the Eagle Eye Department under the Imperial Censor's Office of the Qin State once secretly ranked the generals of the ten countries who are capable of conquering and fighting. The first place among the top ten was vacant because Gao Jianli was firmly opposed to ranking them. He ranked himself on this list, but according to the war records of generals from various countries collected by the Eagle Eye Division, the number of enemies wiped out, and the way of using troops, if Gao Jianli is not ranked first, then no other general can be ranked first. One, therefore the first can only be vacant.
Let’s talk about the top five in the top ten first. The second place is Wang Zhan, the Taiwei of Qi State. If Gao Jian is called the God of Military, then Wang Zhan is definitely worthy of the title of Military Saint. , not to mention anything else, in the battle to destroy Lu, Wang Zhan only used the 20,000 vine-armed troops he created with his own hands, and he did not use Chu's indiscriminate fighting method of using ordinary people as human shields to fight head-on. They wiped out all the 400,000 troops of Lu State including their skin and bones.
The third place is Shi Lei, the current prime minister of Chu State. Although he used the shameful human shield tactic in the war to destroy Hubei, he only used 50,000 black armored troops to destroy a country of the same size as Chu State. This alone makes him deserve to be ranked third.
The fourth is also a general of the Chu army. He is the Minister of the Ministry of War and the new Jiedu envoy of Xinyang Pass. He is the commander of the Black Armored Army raised by Prime Minister Shi Lei. , he appeared in almost every battle. Under the command of Shi Lei, he attacked the city and captured the territory with overwhelming force, all the way to the gate of Dongdu, the capital of the state of Hubei, and asked the Emperor of Hubei, Ximen Jun, to propose peace and surrender.
The fifth place is Sun Kui, the general of the Wu State. Because he commanded the border battles with the Chen State for many years, he captured nearly 20 cities in the Chen State, turning the Chen State from a medium-sized country with more than 60 cities. Become a third-rate small country.
At this time, Xue Qi was standing on the gate tower of Xinyang Pass, putting his hands on his eyebrows, looking at the Zheng Army camp shrouded in the afterglow of the setting sun on the grassland outside the pass. Duan Fang, the military advisor who accompanied him, said with concern: "Commander, we evacuated Cicada City's soldiers and horses to Xinyang Pass without reporting it to the Emperor. If the Emperor finds out, I'm afraid he will be furious!"
Xue Qi turned to look at him and said calmly: "As long as the Wu Yan tribe can arrive as soon as possible, and we can attack from inside and outside to annihilate this army that may be the last of the Zheng State, let alone the Cicada City, the entire Zheng State will belong to me." In the land of Chu, how can the emperor blame me?"
Duan Fang opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but then swallowed it after thinking about it.
Xue Qi smiled slightly and said: "Commander Duan, the key to winning a battle is to concentrate our troops, not to worry about the gains and losses of one city or one place. Cicada City is a small city that is completely undefendable, and there are still more than 10,000 troops stationed there. There, this seems to be a disguised attempt to kill Zheng Jun!"
Duan Fang cupped his hands and said, "Commander, I am too cautious."
Xue Qi put down his hand on his eyebrows and said, "I don't blame you for being cautious. It's true that the Zheng army opposite us is too cunning. You see they don't have many camps. They are deliberately showing weakness to us. In fact, they hid most of their troops and lured me out to fight them."
"Commander, I heard that Zheng's army has been almost wiped out by us. I'm afraid they really are just these soldiers and horses. Why don't we send the cavalry out of the city to attack first to explore their true strength?" Duan Fang suggested.
"No." Xue Qi shook his head and refused, "If they don't have a large group of people behind them, they will definitely not dare to come to the pass with this small force to challenge the formation. Unless they don't want to live, they are afraid that they will set up an ambush outside the pass. To lure us into taking the bait, all we need to do now is to have the soldiers in Guanli on the alert. As soon as we find Wu Yan leading his troops to attack from behind this Zheng army, we will immediately open the door and attack with the whole army. We will never let a single Zheng army slip through the net! "
The setting sun finally fell below the horizon, and a northwest wind blew on the grassland. The tents they camped in were rustled by the wind. Chen Xiaomu's Zheng army had just set up camp when a group of Zheng troops suddenly came out unexpectedly behind them. The Chu army waved their big flags and violently charged towards Zheng Jun's camp. The fence of the camp that Zheng Jun had just set up was instantly broken down, and the shouts of killing were loud. Zheng Jun was overwhelmed by the Chu army that suddenly appeared. The army was caught off guard and had no choice but to retreat towards Xinyangguan.
At this moment, all three gates downstairs of Xinyangguan City were also opened. First, three groups of cavalry rushed out from the gate. They raised their sharp swords and rushed towards Zheng Jun who was retreating here. Three groups of cavalry rushed out from the gate. The cavalry and the Chu army behind the Zheng army had already formed a pincer attack. At this time, with great violence, raindrops of oilcloth bags flew out from both sides of the three Chu army cavalry who were charging forward like crazy. With a bang, the first oilcloth bag exploded, and the subsequent oilcloth bags also made loud noises one after another. The Chu army's cavalry was suddenly thrown off their backs by the explosion, and the frightened horses ran rampantly on the battlefield like headless flies.
Xu Qi, who was standing on the city tower watching the battle, was stunned. He couldn't understand what was happening on the battlefield outside the pass for a moment. The infantry of the Chu army below the city tower followed the cavalry and rushed to the outside of the pass through three gates. Go, the Chu army at the gate huddled together and blasted past the Chu army cavalry rushing out of the pass. The oilcloth bags began to fly towards the Chu army infantry who were crowded behind the pass. The front of Xinyang Pass instantly turned into a self-cultivation field. Blood and flesh were flying everywhere. Seeing this horrific scene, the soldiers in front wanted to retreat to the pass. The soldiers inside the pass did not receive the military order to stop the attack and could not see what was happening outside the pass. They were still rushing out desperately. In this way, they wanted to retreat to the pass. The soldier was pushed outside the door by the soldiers behind him and was killed by the flying oilcloth bag.
What made Xue Qi even more horrified was that he could clearly see from the city gate tower that the Chu army rushing up from behind the Zheng army did not fight the Zheng army, but instead rushed towards the gate with the Zheng army.
Xue Qi's heart couldn't help but sink, and he thought to himself, Oh no, it seems that I have fallen into the trap of the Zheng army outside the city. "Hurry up and close the gate, and the archers will shoot arrows at the bottom of the city to prevent the Zheng army from attacking the pass." Xue Qi turned around and shouted to Duan Fang and others who were standing behind him to watch the battle with him.
"Commander, you can't fire arrows. We are all our soldiers now." After hearing Xue Qi's frenzied order, a general quickly stepped forward to stop him.
Xue Qi drew out the saber on his body, chopped off the general's head with a "click", and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Close the door immediately, the archers are in place, and any offenders will be killed!"
Xue Qi said it was easy, but in fact, the door could be closed at any time. The soldiers who had just rushed through the door quickly turned back and ran back when they heard that the door was about to be closed. This was good, the three closed passages under the city tower were crowded. The Chu army was full of soldiers. Those in front wanted to enter the gate, and those behind wanted to close the gate. In the end, there was a stalemate and they started fighting each other. At this time, the arrows of the archers on the tower came down densely again. The Chu army who had just left the gate were immediately dead and wounded. , the generals who accompanied Xue Qi to watch the battle on the city tower couldn't bear to look down the city.
At this time, an oilcloth bag flew up to the city gate tower with a faint light. With a loud bang, blood and flesh flew everywhere on the city gate tower. Because the Chu army who rushed out of the city had no intention of fighting, they began to retreat. Chen Xiaomu took the opportunity Move the light trebuchet to the downstairs of the city gate of Xinyangguan, get close and throw the explosive packets on the city gate tower. The gate tower of Xinyangguan is a wooden structure, which can carry an explosive packet weighing ten kilograms. The result of the bombing was that only two explosive packets were shot up, and the tall gate tower of Xinyang closed collapsed. Xue Qi and others who were watching the battle on the gate tower were crushed under the pressure even if they were not killed by the explosion. Underneath the collapsed city gate tower.
