While the Han army surrounded Jingxing layer by layer, Zhou Buyi also led his troops to set off from Xindu. Liu Xie knew that his mission was the most dangerous, so he wanted to allocate him 20,000 troops, but Buyi declined.
When Zhou Buyi came to see the emperor, he was already wearing an armored skirt and a sword at his waist. Only his iron armor was left unworn. But even so, he could not suppress his scribe's temperament. He said with a smile: "I'm going to stay here. I'm just going in and out quickly. I can't bring many people with me. If your majesty cares about my safety, you might as well give me more good horses and flags to guarantee victory."
Liu Xie was convinced of this. He took out a poplar wood bow with crane pattern and lacquered gold from the weapon racks on both sides of the camp, handed it to Zhou Buyi and said: "Unfortunately, there are too many corrupt officials in the court, so I am not allowed to go to the battlefield. I can only I’ll use this bow to cheer you up.” Zhou Buji clasped his fists after hearing this, then walked away with the bow and laughed. He brought only about 6,000 cavalry with him on this trip, but each of them had two servants.
According to the current situation, the Liao army gathered its main force in the Zhuoxian and Yijing areas, with about 60,000 troops, almost ten times that of Zhou Buyi. Zhou Buyi needed to lead his troops across the plains between Wuruan and Zhuoxian to attack Juyong behind Zhuoxian. There are also 20,000 Liao soldiers left in Juyong City, which is enough to guard the dangerous point. After all, in the past few years of confrontation between the East and the West, no matter who defends Juyong, there is no record of the city being breached. Therefore, the soldiers who went on the expedition were in many troubles and really didn't know how to win.
Zhou Bujie said he was going in and out quickly, but he was not in a hurry after leaving the battle. He was riding a fast horse, but he only marched eighty miles a day. Although it was early winter and the weather was freezing, for the cavalry, Galloping on the cold and icy plains, even traveling two hundred miles a day is no problem. Therefore, the officers and soldiers in the army are somewhat complaining, thinking that the general is only favored by the Holy Family and does not actually know how to fight.
But on the fourth day, after Zhou Buji arrived in Tang County, he suddenly ordered the army to change their flags and fly the flag of Marshal Guan Yu. Then he issued a message to the surrounding people, claiming that he was the vanguard of Guan Yu's troops and that the army would arrive soon. In the imperial township, he fought a decisive battle with the Liao captives; on the other hand, he ordered his subordinates to build camps around Tang County, enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people. Only then did the Han soldiers realize that they had no doubt that their intention was to attack in the east and in the west.
In order to deceive Cao Zhen, Zhou Buyi was meticulous in every detail. He hung more flags and made more smoke in the camp during the day, and lit more bonfires at night. He sent all his soldiers to patrol the outer camp, and his horses were also left to roam outside. In addition, he followed Dong Zhuo's old wisdom and ordered the remaining soldiers to take turns leaving the camp at night and then re-entering the camp during the day. Although the men were tortured enough, when the scouts from Zhuoxian County came to watch, they saw Guan Yu's flag. The horses drinking water and eating grass by the river were all frightened, thinking that they must be the main force of the Han army. After reporting back to Cao Zhen's army, Cao Zhen was doubtful. Although he ordered his men to repair fortifications and prepare for the attack, he still sent scouts to Tang County.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Buji knew that Cao Zhen had believed Cao Zhen, so he immediately ordered the entire army to assemble, claiming to relieve the siege of Zhuoxian County. At this time, he ordered the whole army to run, but overnight, they went straight to the Liao camp in Zhuoxian County. At that time, the dawn was dawning, and the vast land could be seen at a glance. Several miles away, Zhou Buyi could see a fortress spreading like a long snake, surrounding an ancient city. Zhou Buyi ordered his men to light more torches, and like a mighty fire dragon, they flew around Zhuoxian. In just half an hour, he circled Zhuoxian. The Liao troops in the camp didn't know how many people were coming. When they saw this, they all stood guard in front of the antlers in fear, always ready to fight. However, when it got a little brighter and it was misty, we saw the Han army slowly retreating to the southwest. The Liao people breathed a sigh of relief. They just thought that the enemy troops came to check out their arrangements. Seeing that there was no gap to take advantage of, they slowly left.
Little did they know that Zhou Buyi had just retreated ten miles, and then suddenly turned to the mountains to the west and went north quickly along the flat road on the side of the mountain. At this time, there were no scouts following him, so he slipped to the north of Zhuoxian without anyone noticing. The soldiers rested once in the mountains, ate some dried meat, and stuffed some random mouthfuls of snow into their mouths, then slept against their horses before continuing their journey north.
Probably no one thought that the Han army could cross Zhuoxian County, so the journey was very smooth. Even the local Wubao thought they were sergeants under the rebel general Gao Lan. For a moment, the world seemed to become extremely quiet, as if they could no longer distinguish each other. No doubt led the cavalry to explore the ups and downs of the mountains, just like appreciating the waves of a big river. Then at noon the next day, he saw two overlapping waves in the waves from a distance, and a road stretched out from the intersection. Juyongguan City is located in the center of Xingkou, the capital of the army.
At this time, Juyong Pass was still hidden in the mountain road. Although Zhou Buyi reached his destination, he did not know the terrain, so he did not dare to advance. Instead, they sent people to climb up from the mountains and forests on the side to observe the topography around Guancheng. Unexpectedly, after climbing up the Xiliang Mountain south of Guancheng, I was surprised to find that there were not many people in the south of Guancheng. Going northwest again, I heard the sound of drums and fighting shouts faintly from the distance, and I discovered that there was a large army attacking the ants in the north. During the siege, I looked carefully at the flags of the attacking side. There was a green and white wolf flag on them, and I knew that Tuoba Liwei from Yunbei had arrived.
The Xianbei people built ladders and watchtowers in front of the pass. Even though the arrows on their heads were like locusts, the soldiers rushed forward one after another as if they were not afraid of death. Even though there was a long forest above them, they still smashed into it with their heavy armor and fought for their lives with the defenders on the city. The narrow city wall It was crowded with soldiers from both sides. Almost every blink of an eye, some people fell down and others continued to pour in.
The Xianbei people's attack was so massive that it restrained a large number of troops in Guancheng. Those who retreated also settled down to rest under the gate tower. This led to some omissions in the defense in the south. Seeing this, the scouts hurriedly wrote down several easy-to-attack locations, and then Report to Zhou Buji immediately. When Zhou Buyi heard about the situation, he couldn't help but laugh and said: "I wanted to accomplish great feats alone, but unexpectedly I ended up sharing the same score with King Heng."
After that, he ordered his generals to attack Guancheng. The Han soldiers tied up wooden sticks as ladders and suddenly appeared in the south of Guancheng. Before the guards in the city could gather, dozens of people climbed up on the ladders and occupied a section of the city wall. Then Zhou Buyi ordered his subordinates to still fly Guan Yu's flag. When the Liao army in Guanzhong saw this, they were all shocked and looked at each other and said: "Why did Guan Hu suddenly come here? Could it be that the army to the south has been defeated?" Then they heard a warrior general. The Liao people who blocked the front were cut into two pieces, and they stepped forward and shouted: "I am Liao Hua, the captain of Ningwu School under Marshal Guan. If you want to die, come and fight!"
This statement immediately caused a commotion in the Liao army, and then quickly calmed down. Zhang He, who was behind, was about to urge the soldiers to move forward, but suddenly noticed something strange. Then he saw the soldiers in front dropping their weapons like fallen leaves and surrendering to the Han army on the city. While he was in shock, before anyone could stop him, a big hand appeared from his side and covered his mouth and nose. It turned out that the personal guards around him wanted to use him in exchange for merit. Zhang He was caught off guard and struggled for a moment. He was hit on the head again and lost consciousness. He was then tied up and sent to the Han army's tent.
The rest of Gao Lan's troops naturally couldn't make any waves, so Tuoba Liwei took the opportunity to break through the northern city gate and capture and kill him in one fell swoop. At this point, Juyongguan also fell back into the hands of the Han army.
The news that the Han army had taken back Jingxing and Juyong reached Zhuoxian almost at the same time. Cao Zhen could hardly believe it. He confirmed it several times and went to personally ask the retreating defeated soldiers. Only then did he feel that something was wrong. However, as the commander-in-chief of the entire army, he knew that he could not show any cowardice at this moment, so he still managed to remain calm and ordered his followers to gather the defeated soldiers together and strictly ordered them not to spread the news.
After returning to the military tent, Cao Zhen sat in front of the case for a moment, and it was like a building falling down. It was really unimaginable to him that the originally good situation had collapsed in an instant, and it was as worthless as a rotten tree in front of the behemoth of the Western Dynasty. A sunbath. He wanted to calm down and think of a way to reverse it. But he couldn't calm down for a long time. In the end, he could only touch the long bow painted black with his hand and sigh as if he was melancholy.
Cao Zhen knew in his heart that this war was probably going to fail. If there is still a chance to turn defeat into victory, it will not be on the battlefield here, but in Xuzhou, thousands of miles away to the south. Sun Quan controlled four states and had nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses under his command. He also had many good generals and advisers. If he fought to the death with the Western Dynasty, the outcome was still uncertain. Judging from past experience, Sun Quan was out of his wits and wanted to separatist power, and would never take such a risky move. Therefore, he couldn't help stroking his bow and sighing to himself: "We have made an alliance with the rats, as of today."
While he was feeling sad, he suddenly heard the sound of drums outside the tent like rain, followed by deafening shouts. Cao Zhen was shocked by this, and he immediately went out to watch, regardless of being sad in the camp. It turned out that the Han army in the city suddenly opened the door to attack the camp, and then started a fierce battle with the Liao army. The sound of killings on the battlefield not far away was so loud that it seemed to encompass the entire universe. Smoke, dust, and fire also immediately rose up. Cao Zhen immediately called his cronies and led everyone to rush to the source of the sound.
The Han army attacked Gongsun Mo's troops to the west. When Cao Zhen arrived, he saw him leading his cavalry fighting with the Han army. When he was about to greet the Han army, there was a strange sound in the air, and an arrow suddenly passed through Gongsun Mo's mouth. The back of his head was pierced, and Gongsun Mo didn't even have time to show a panicked expression before he fell off his horse and threw a cloud of dust on the ground, while his mount continued to run forward.
This incident shocked Cao Zhen, who immediately hid among his soldiers, not daring to reveal his identity, and only commanded with a banner. Fortunately, the Han army only planned to go out of the city to kill for a while, and had no intention of breaking out. After fighting for an hour, they returned to the city. Although the time was short, the sight of corpses lying on the ground and blood flowing everywhere really made Cao Zhen feel heartbroken. He ordered his men to clean the battlefield and looked at the city in front of him without saying a word. Everyone knew that he was thinking of ways to break the situation and did not bother them.
Unexpectedly, after Cao Zhen returned to camp, he lamented privately: "Could it be that all the best athletes in the world have fallen into the puppet dynasty?" No one could answer.
At this point, Cao Zhen was already thinking about a retreat strategy.
Ji Han Zhangwu
