On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, excluding the Tiankai tribe who were still confronting Jiguan, Chen Chong organized 20,000 soldiers from Henan into an army. They stayed in Gucheng for a short time while he himself went to Sun Jian's tribe.
Sun Jian's troops were still attacking Hangu at this time. Since October, he has led his troops to stop in front of Hangu Pass. However, at that time, the Central Route Army was ordered to only feign an attack, so the soldiers did not fight desperately in the attack. Most of them were shooting at the Liang people under the city, and they did not even attack the wall with ants. On several occasions, they just set up a few more archery towers in Guandong and hastily dug five or six earth hills. Therefore, Hangu Pass has never been broken.
When Chen Chong rushed to Sun Jian's camp, Sun Jian was surveying the terrain around Hangu Pass, which gave him a headache. Hangu Pass at this time was different from Hangu Pass in the Qin Dynasty. Qin Hangu Pass was in the southwest of today's Shaanxi County and was controlled by Liu Bei. The Hangu Pass in front of us was built by the former Han Dynasty general Yang Pu. Although this place It is not as dangerous as Qinhan Valley Pass, but it is enough to cut off things.
Hanguguan City is built on a top slope of a mountain road. Once you get close to Guancheng, you have to walk up a long slope regardless of the east or west. Looking north and south, Hangu Pass is adjacent to Jianshui in the north and Longwei Mountain in the south. North of Jianshui is the towering Fireworm Ridge. The distance between the two mountains is only a hundred feet, and the wall of the pass is as high as three feet. It is so cramped. Due to the environment, the army cannot deploy and surround the city gates. Only three thousand soldiers are needed to hold off tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of enemy troops here. The terrain is so dangerous that it really deserves to be the first of the eight passes in Luoyang.
When he returned to the camp, Sun Jian saw Chen Chong and his first words were: "There is no way to start. If we want to break the city, we can only attack by force."
In fact, the storming in front of Hangu Pass lasted for two days. Seeing that the situation in Kansai was gradually improving, and the city's grain and grass supplies were sufficient for half a year, Dong Zhonglang's general Dong Yue did not need to worry. He only patrolled back and forth on the city wall every day to boost the morale of the city, so he took advantage of the favorable geographical location to ease Sun Jian's several offensives. Solution: The Jing people used ladders to attach themselves to a wall, but their troops did not have an advantage; the Jing people built a ram to hit the door, but found that the slope in front of the pass was too steep, and the heavy ram could not be pushed in front of the wall; the Jing people added fill They tried to fill up the Guan Wall with earth mountains, but the result was that the Liang people followed Chen Chong's approach in Mengjin and built wooden buildings on the Guan Wall. As a result, the Jing people were never able to catch up to the Guan Wall.
In two days, the Jing people had lost over a thousand people, and Sun Jian's so-called forceful attack meant that he had no choice but to acquiesce and continue to attack the city wall in this way until the result was achieved with human lives.
Chen Chong was strongly opposed to this approach. He said to Sun Jian: "We all know that Hangu Pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the city is a dead thing and people are living things. How can it be like this if we live to die? What's more, if we consume a lot of troops here, we won't be able to force Dong Zhuo to return reinforcements, let alone fight the enemy after breaking through."
Chen Chong said this for two reasons: First, Dong Zhuo still had troops stationed in Xin'an. If Dong Yue was short of troops at Hanguguan, Hu Zhen's regiment from Xin'an could come to assist in the garrison, which would be enough to stop the Central Route Army from advancing westward; Second, if it is a hard attack, it will still be time-consuming and labor-intensive. I am afraid that Liu Bei's army will not be able to sustain it until the barrier is broken.
How could Sun Jian'an not know these two points? But he just couldn't crack it. Chen Chong immediately asked someone to take the Sili map he carried with him and analyzed the terrain to Sun Jian: "In my opinion, the new pass is not as dangerous as the old pass, because the new pass is not a unique and dangerous place." He pointed his finger and set off from Gucheng. , rowed along the Luo River to Yiyang, and pointed out two points between Yiyang and Xin'an, and said: "Last year, Dong Zhuo violated the order and went to Beijing, so he took a detour through this road. If we want to break through the city pass, we must cut off foreign aid here first. .”…
Sun Jian pondered for a while and then said slowly: "Ting Jian, I know there is a small road here. At that time, Dong Zhuo came to Beijing with only three thousand people, and they were all fast horses, so they could get through, but our army The number is too large, and it will be easy to intercept them if we send troops here. We can only send a small number of surprise troops. With a small number of enemies, it may not be easy to intercept the Xin'an reinforcements."
This is all true, but Chen Chong already has a solution: "I have a thousand mountaineers under my command, led by Army Commander Wei Yan. We can first order them to open the way and hide in the mountains and forests, and then lead five thousand people to follow and attract The Xin'an defenders should pay attention, if they send troops to stop them, Wei Yan can lead his army to attack from the mountains and forests, and he will definitely be able to break through the dangerous obstacles!"
Speaking of this, Chen Chong explained to Sun Jian: "Most of our troops are from Qingxuzhong, and not many can fight in the field. I am afraid that the five thousand soldiers and horses to lure the enemy will need to be mobilized by Wentai." These words successfully persuaded him. Sun Jian smiled and said: "This is not a difficult task." He ordered Zu Mao to come in to discuss the matter, and introduced Chen Chong: "Zu Sima has been my guard for many years. He has lured the enemy from behind for many times, and the enemy's front is always in his place. Frustration, it’s up to him to do this.”
After speaking to Chen Chong, he changed his expression and said solemnly to Zu Mao: "During the Guangcheng War, you were defeated by Xu Rong and narrowly lost the central army. You have lost your reputation for bravery." Zu Mao has been with Sun Jian for many years. Hearing that he was going to be entrusted with an important task, he immediately blushed, clasped his fists at Sun Jian and said, "General, Zu Mao will go and fight if he has an order!"
After the explanation, Zu Mao left with five thousand troops that day, but Chen Chong still stayed in Sun Jian's camp. Sun Jian was quite surprised and said with a smile: "For such a big event, I thought you would accompany the army to handle it personally." Upon hearing this, Chen Chong said, He shook his head and smiled, and then said: "Then you underestimate me. I don't trust people when I hire them. I trust your judgment. Besides, I'm not good at horse racing. I'm just a burden if I go."
Having said this, Chen Chong walked out of the camp gate and looked up at the sky. As the sun set, he suddenly said to Sun Jian: "Wentai, I have an idea. Come with me to the front of the pass to have a look." Sun Jian suddenly understood after hearing this. The reason for his stay turned out to be that he had another way to attack the city, and he immediately agreed happily.
Sun Jian's camp was less than four miles away from Guancheng. Such a distance was due to the narrow road and no one could stand out against the surprise attack on the camp. Therefore, when Chen Chong and Sun Jian rode to the pass, soldiers were constantly coming and going on the road. Those who came were carrying bows and wooden shovels forward, while those who were going were carrying wounded soldiers who were moaning constantly, like a tide.
In front of Guancheng, we are still going back and forth to attack and defend. Now the person commanding the front line is Army Commander Ma Zhuzhi. He is supervising the auxiliary soldiers and loading the excavated soil into carts or sacks and carrying it on the backs of horses and donkeys. , people and horses climbed the slope and rushed to the front of the earth mountain in turn, piled up the soil, and continued to fill it up. Between the earth mountains and the earth mountains, the shadow of the trench could still be vaguely seen.
Chen Chong looked at the earth mountains. There were twelve earth mountains in front of the city, eight of them were close to the city wall, and four were a hundred feet apart from the city wall. Obviously, the ones against the wall were built during the two days of strong attacks, while the ones further away were excavated during the previous confrontation. Chen Chong walked to the foot of the last four mountains and squinted his eyes to look at the sights of the soldiers in Guancheng. After he passed each of the mountains, Chen Chong looked calm and said to Sun Jian: "I have a way to attack the city this time."…
Sun Jian was surprised when he heard what he said, but he knew the principle of secret plan, so he suppressed the urge to ask, and then returned to the main camp and asked: "Ting Jian, I don't know what the plan is?"
Chen Chong squatted down, took a branch, and drew a picture on the land in the tent. He first used a horizontal line to represent the city wall of Guancheng, and then marked the location of each earth mountain in front of the city wall. Then he pointed to the last four earth mountains and said: "I just looked at the city defense of Guancheng. It is definitely not feasible to attack the city with ants. It is better to use tunnels to break it." city."
When Gu heard this, Sun Jian was a little disappointed. He questioned: "Hangu Pass is the first of the eight passes. There is an underground urn in the city. We will dig a tunnel into the city and we will be discovered soon! By then, the officers and soldiers in the city will be condescending. If you pour hot soup into the tunnel, you don't know how many people can survive."
Chen Chong shook his head and said: "I'm not asking you to enter the city through the tunnel." He then explained the plan to Sun Jian in detail. It turned out that he saw that the Jing people piled up mountains of earth beside the city wall, the people on the wall built building blocks high, and the Han Valley Sekimoto is a huge city, and its foundations can be said to be overwhelmed. He planned to lead an army of 5,000 people to dig a tunnel from behind the four mountains into the corner of Guancheng, dig a cavity under the corner, and then use pillars to prop up the city wall to prevent the cavity from collapsing for the time being. After the cavity expanded to a large enough size, If the pillars and beams are burned by fire, the city wall will collapse directly with the foundation.
Sun Jian had not thought of this tactic and was greatly surprised. After thinking about it again and again, he felt that it made sense. He couldn't help but smile at Chen Chong and said: "Ting Jian, you are really as wise as the ocean!"
The next day, Chen Chong mobilized Zang Ba's five thousand infantry to dig behind the earth mountain. Three tunnels were dug behind one earth mountain, for a total of twelve tunnels to be excavated at the same time. There were people on foot and cavalry patrolling it for cover, and the excavated soil was brought to the front of the city by the Jing people to continue filling the hillside against the wall. Soldiers from both inside and outside the city also gathered here to fight repeatedly.
After three days of this, I saw a sudden commotion among the Liang people in the city. Apparently something had affected the morale of the army. Sun Jian guessed that it might be Zu Mao and his friends who succeeded in cutting off the route behind the city pass, so he ordered a temporary truce in front of the city.
Changshi Gong Qiucheng, dressed in Confucian robes, rode up to the mountain in front of the city with only a few followers, and shouted to the tall buildings on the mountain: "General Dong Zhonglang, please answer."
The soldiers on the tower stopped and looked at him coldly, but did not attack him with arrows. After a while, I saw Dong Yue peeking out from upstairs. He said loudly from upstairs: "General Dong Zhonglang of the Han Dynasty is also the governor of the eight passes and the governor of the countryside. Dong Yue is here!" What do you have to say?"
Gongqiu said that he had heard this, and clasped his hands on his horse and said: "Now my army is for the sake of the country's peace. I have surrounded the city with a hundred thousand people, and sent troops to cut off the general's return. The general is in a dilemma, and Dong Zhuo can't do anything. I threaten the city, but you can't do anything." Using the mantis's arm as a chariot will only end up in ruins all over the city. It is better to surrender early and fight against the thieves together with our army. This can be said to be a correction of evil and a return to the lost path without losing life and wealth. I hope the general will think twice!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Dong Yue replied: "It is indeed a strange move for you to send your troops around to the back of the pass. But I still have tens of thousands of troops in Xin'an who have not been rescued. Are you just getting lucky and trying to deceive me into opening the city?" The Prime Minister has treated me with great kindness, how can I repay him with this? Unless I die, you can't even think about breaking the city!"
Hearing this, Gongsheng Qiu followed Sun Jian's previous instructions and said loudly: "Since the general is determined, let's fight again. Please leave an hour for us to move the corpse of the deceased away so that we can fight again!"...
At this time, there are piles of corpses on the mountain. If they are not cleaned up, it will really not be conducive to the fighting between the two sides. Dong Yue raised his hand and shouted: "Come and clean up, but if we have to fight again, I, the Xiliang warrior, will accompany you to the end!"
Gongqiu went back to report to Sun Jian. Sun Jian had just eaten and said happily: "It seems that Zu Mao has succeeded. Whether he can break the city now depends on when Tingjian will dig it!" He then sent Gongqiu to the earth road. When asked about Chen Chong's progress, Chen Chong stood in the dirt road, counting his fingers silently, and finally replied: "Give me another four days, Hangu Pass will be broken!"
In the early morning of the 25th day of the first lunar month, Chen Chong quickly returned to the main camp and replied to Sun Jian: "Hurry up and organize the army. We will break through this barrier today!"
The Liang people at the Chengguan Pass soon saw a strange scene: two hundred feet in front of the Chengguan, the Jing people were mobilizing their troops, and dense crowds filled the entire entrance road, like ears of rice lying on the ground during the autumn harvest, but it happened that There was no one between these two hundred feet, as if something big was about to happen.
Suddenly, Liang Ren felt a slight shaking feeling, as if he had passed out from alcohol. But no, they soon discovered that it was the city wall under their feet that was shaking. The shaking seemed to have exceeded a certain limit and suddenly became so violent that the Liang people shouted wildly: "It's the earth dragon turning over!"
A crack suddenly appeared in the ground from bottom to top, rapidly expanding along the contours of the mountains beside the city. What followed was a huge sound of the ground sinking, the crash of the city wall collapsing, the screams of soldiers falling, and the disintegration of the mountains. The shattering sounds are all intertwined, and will end with a cloud of smoke and dust.
The dust settled, revealing the gaps everywhere after the city wall collapsed. Han Dang, who was the first, finally reacted. He turned back, raised his sword, and shouted to the soldiers: "Kill!"
The Jing people in front of the city seemed to have just woken up from a big dream. They raised their swords and responded in unison: "Kill!" The vast number of Jing people were like a tide, rushing into the city one after another through the ruins of Guancheng. The Liang people were as if they had lost their souls and fell into despair. As walking corpses, they treat the Jing people as if they were gods, allowing them to be slaughtered by them.
After killing for less than half an hour, Dong Zhonglang tied up Dong Yue and asked to surrender. The Central Route Army captured Hangu Pass.
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