Wuguan is located in a river valley on the bank of Danshui. Danshui originates from Lantian, passes through the Qinling Mountains in the northwest, and flows into Mianshui in the southeast. When flowing through Shaoxi Mountain, Danshui cleverly drew a "ji" character between the north and south canyons, which isolated a flat river beach from the mountain road. Seeing that the area was surrounded by mountains and rivers and was naturally dangerous, the people of Jin built a pass and city in the riverbank and named it Shaoxi. Later, it was captured by the Chu State and renamed Wuguan.
Wuguan is located on the Danshui River, controlling the natural dangers of the Qinling Mountains for 300 miles, overlooking the Guanzhong Plain to the west, and directly leading to the Nanyang Basin to the east. It can be said to be the first thoroughfare between Qin and Chu. Therefore, the Qin people listed Wuguan, Hangu Pass, Sangguan and Xiaoguan as the four fortresses, while the Chu people used Wuguan as the gateway. In the Qin Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu destroyed Qin and promoted Han Dynasty from Wuguan. After leaving Wuguan to pacify the Xia Dynasty, people at that time praised him highly, saying: "Strangle the junction between Qin and Chu, and rely on the dangers of mountains and rivers. Travel to Nanyang and east, and enter Lantian. Guan You is in danger. Wuguan is a huge defense, and the importance is divided in one fell swoop."
But it is unimaginable that such an important military location could fall into the hands of the Shu people as easily as straw shoes. No wonder Chen Chong, a well-educated man, suddenly lost his composure and vowed to behead Kou Gang in public. However, questioning the guilt will not help the matter. The most urgent task is to make amends. Taking advantage of the Shu army's unstable foothold, quickly raise troops to recapture Wuguan and push the Shu army back to Miannan.
Fortunately, Chen Chong had asked Duan Xuan for eight thousand Xifu's elite cavalry. By this time, they had all arrived in Chang'an and were on standby. Chen Chong only needed to balance arrows and lose armor before he could march directly. Time was tight, so Chen Chong immediately ordered Wang Xiang to start the matter, and at the same time, he made preparations to stabilize the government after leaving Beijing.
Based on past experience, when Chen Chong left Beijing, Zhong Yao and Xun You often took charge of the overall situation. But at this time, Xun You had been transferred to the Prince Dai's palace, and Zhong Yao's energy was not as good as before. Should some young people be promoted to participate in state affairs? Chen Chong pondered for a moment, and was worried that Kong Ming and Gong Lin would not be able to take on the big responsibilities, but he soon felt relieved. He thought, he was also young when he participated in politics, so why should he look down on those who came after him for no reason? So Chen Chong mobilized personnel and changed Zhong Yao, the military advisor of the Central Military Commission, to Guang Luxun, who was in charge of the affairs of the court. He also appointed Chen Qun as the Shangshu Ling, Zhuge Liang as the Zhongzuo Army, and Liu Xie as the Zhongfu Army. They all recorded the Shangshu affairs, which could be decided by the four of them.
Before leaving, Chen Chong called Zhuge Liang and Liu Xie into the palace and told them: "In handling government affairs, you must be aware of everything in terms of personnel, but you must be careful in handling it. If you have suggestions, you can come out of Taichung, but you cannot make them public. If you have any undecided matters, you can ask Commander Zhong for political matters, or send a letter to Governor Duan for military affairs. If you really can't handle it, just put it aside for now and wait until I come back to deal with it."
The two of them retreated. Chen Chong suddenly thought of it and went to ask Chen Zhang: "Now you are sixteen. At your age, I have also entered the battlefield for the first time. Now in the battle of Nanyang, although life and death are tied to the same line, it is still a matter of military service." It’s a good place to make meritorious deeds, would you like to accompany me?”
Chen Zhang hesitated for a moment, but he still said bravely: "Since it is my father's arrangement, I dare not refuse." Chen Chong felt relieved when he saw his promise, so he patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Go to you Grandma said goodbye, packed up and bowed, and we will set off early tomorrow morning."
Unexpectedly, that night, Chen Chong saw the princess kneeling on the mat in the banquet, silently wiping tears, and then said to Chen Chong secretly: "Hanzhen is only sixteen years old, and his martial arts is not ordinary. Why do you want him to go into battle with you?"
Seeing the princess's thin shadow swaying slightly in the suddenly swaying candlelight, Chen Chong came back to his country and thought: "Yes, she is worried about Hanzhen's safety. Apart from Hanzhen, she has no one in the family who can rely on her." , I must be feeling lonely in my heart.”
So he comforted her and said: "I'm not an idiot. How could I send him to the front to fight? It's just that since he was born in my family and was neglected by others, he must do something for the country to avoid gossip in the world."
Unexpectedly, these words touched the princess's sadness even more, causing her to raise her head and say: "When you condone the prince's reckless behavior, why don't you think about the gossip of the world?" But as soon as the words came out, Princess Wannian knew that she had made a mistake. He turned around suddenly and hurriedly walked out to the lake in the backyard, unwilling to speak to Chen Chong anymore.
Chen Chong was speechless for a while. He sat on the couch for a long time and thought about many words of comfort, but in the end he felt pale again, so he put on a summer coat and went out, riding Qingkui to the outskirts of the city to visit Cai Yan's tombstone. It was not the time for cicadas to chirp at this time, and the road was extremely quiet. Only two frogs croaked occasionally. Chen Chong was bathing in the summer wind and looking up at the bright moon. His heart was extremely desolate. At some point, he suddenly heard the sound of breathing around him, going back and forth. After looking around, he discovered that it came from Qing Wei under him.
This old guy who has been following him for more than 20 years is now staring at the sky like Chen Chong. It is also old.
In the 18th year of Yanxing, in the fourth month of the summer, Chen Chong, the captain of the Sili School, officially sent out troops. In addition to his only son Chen Zhang, he was accompanied by Ma Chao, the guard of the West Prefecture, Yang Fu, the leader, Qu Sheng, the general of the Zhonglang, and others. A famous general in Longshang. The knights under his subordinates are also accompanied by horses all year round. They are all confident in horse fighting, riding and shooting. Therefore, although there are only 8,000 people, Chen Chong is still full of confidence in this battle.
It is about four hundred miles from Chang'an to Wuguan, and most of them are mountain roads. At this time, it was raining continuously, so it was not easy to travel. But Chen Chong wanted to compete for time, so he gave everyone a horse before setting off. They galloped all the way day and night. Except for a moment of rest at a road pavilion every two hours, the rest of the time was spent on horseback. In this way, Chen Chong traveled one hundred and fifty miles in one day, and he arrived in Shang County only in the early morning of the third day.
After arriving, Chen Chong immediately summoned Yang Huai, the magistrate of Shang County, and asked: "What has the Shu army done in the past few days? Are there any scouts?" Yang Huai did not expect Chen Chong to arrive so quickly and was not prepared to receive him. Therefore, he was sincere and frightened: "I really don't know anything. People from the south have been fleeing in recent days. I can't arrange them well enough, so I don't care about anything else."
Chen Chong felt relaxed after hearing this. He looked at the raindrops outside the door and couldn't help but think to himself: According to common sense, in order to isolate the military, the Shu army should drive the people south, but now they are allowing the people to flee north, which shows that the troops have been exhausted. , and probably there are no remaining soldiers to monitor the north. Therefore, he ordered the soldiers to eat on the spot, then stayed with the people in the city for a day, and launched an attack on Wuguan that night.
After driving for more than three hundred miles, the soldiers of the Western Army were exhausted until now. Now they were able to rest. They snored like thunder and slept for six more hours until Haishi that night. The heavy rain suddenly came in torrents, and the crisp sound of water droplets exploding when they hit the ground lingered in everyone's ears. However, they did not receive the commander's order to cancel the night attack. The soldiers still put on their hats and raincoats and led their horses to gather in the south of the city.
As always, Chen Chong arrived at the south of the city half an hour earlier than everyone else, and began to wrap the horse's hooves in cowhide to prepare for constant treading in the mud. At this time, his mount was no longer Qingkui, but it was still a strong green-maned horse, so Chen Chong named it Qingzhui. After putting Qingzhuo's vest on, Chen Chong looked back at Chen Zhang and found that he couldn't help but tie the saddle at an angle, and he was quite absent-minded. Chen Chong patted him on the shoulder, and Chen Zhang was startled. When he turned around and saw his father, he gradually relaxed again.
Chen Chong smiled at him and said, "Why, are you scared?"
Chen Zhang lowered his head and said, "Father, although I practice martial arts and swordsmanship, I have never killed a living person!"
Chen Chong saw the rain falling from the face of his only son who looked like his wife. He felt a little confused for a moment. He calmed down and said: "It is a good thing not to kill. You are coming with me today. You only need to protect yourself. There is no need to be demoted." After that, he took off the dark Taiqiu Sword from his waist, handed it to Chen Zhang and said, "This is the treasured sword your great-grandfather left to me. It cuts iron like clay. You can use it to defend yourself. You will be fine."
The Taiqiu Sword is a recognized sacred object in the Western Dynasty. During the Battle of Pingcheng, it was this sword that helped Chen Chong escape from Qu Yishu. Chen Zhang was overwhelmed and took the Taiqiu Sword into his hand. When he raised his head to look at his father, I found that Chen Chong had stood up and was counting the number of soldiers.
When all the soldiers arrived, Chen Chong ordered Qu Sheng to lead two thousand elite soldiers to take care of the city. He took six thousand Longshang Qingqi with him and left the west of the city at the time of his death. The whole city had been sealed off when they arrived, and no one knew that they left the city at this time and disappeared in a curtain of rain.
This place is less than sixty miles away from Wuguan. Even though the group of people walked on muddy roads with no moonlight and starlight to guide them, and rain blocked their sight, there was only one Wuguan Road, so they never lost their way. Instead, the dark rain curtain became a cover for the cavalry, completely covering up the sound of tramping hooves and the figures. As a result, it took only two hours for the Western cavalry to arrive in front of Wuguan City. At this time, most of the Shu troops in the pass city were still resting. When the soldiers guarding the pass noticed the arrival of enemy troops, the Western forwards had already crossed Danshui and were only a hundred feet away from the city wall.
After Ma Chao and about 300 people crossed the river, they immediately rushed to the foot of Wuguan City and circled the city. They found that although the city gate was closed, the outer city wall had not been repaired and had some flaws. The trenches outside the city were filled in. At this time, it had not been cleared again, which was just convenient for the Western Army to launch an attack.
After he returned to the army and reported to Chen Chong, Chen Chong said with a smile: "It's not in vain that we rushed in such a hurry. He attacked me unprepared, and I will return him unprepared today!" After that, he ordered to boost morale and said: " If we can capture the important land of Wuguan State in one battle, you will all be rewarded with two levels of nobility!"
Inspired by this, Westerners were all excited and eager to try. In this situation of heavy rain and lax enemy preparedness, there is no need to wear armor at all. Therefore, everyone took off their iron stomachs, tied them into ladders, and went into battle lightly with only a knife in their hands. Ma Chao's brother Ma Tie stepped on the hook like this, and the people behind him grasped the end and rushed up to the corner. Then, he was pushed up by the robes into the gap in the city gate.
Ma Tie led about 20 people, and killed more than ten Shu soldiers who had arrived late on the wall, and then blocked the stairs to the upper city, making it difficult for the Shu army to advance to support. During this period, the Westerners behind them came up. Although some people fell down due to slippery hands, more people climbed up the city gate and gradually expanded the occupied area.
Amidst the noisy shouts of the Westerners that shook the night sky, the Shu army defenders were frightened. Seeing that it was difficult to distinguish the enemy's situation, and the city defense was full of loopholes, they immediately chose to withdraw from Wuguan. So early the next morning, Chen Chong's eight-character destiny flag was planted on the Wuguan wall again.
