Although Gao Gang is unknown in history, he was able to hold on to Qishan Fort with inferior troops in the First Northern Expedition. If you say he is a fool, then you are looking down upon him.
Gao Gang is still capable. When he set up the defense line of Qishan Fort, he not only expanded the control area at the foot of the mountain, but also set up five outposts and a hidden outpost halfway up the mountain.
This secret post is a bit like a bunker. It is a temporary observation post dug out using a few rocks to block it.
Because it was blocked by rocks and the body was exposed on the ground, Wei Yan did not find the hidden sentry because his vision was limited during the daytime investigation. In addition, it was dark and he could not see the hundreds of soldiers led by Wei Yan. Found.
When the guards in the secret post noticed a large number of soldiers coming up the mountain in the middle of the night, they immediately understood that they could not be their own and immediately blew the warning horn.
When the horn sounded, not only the soldiers on the mountain were awakened, but Gao Gang also woke up and realized that something was wrong.
At this time, seeing that Wei Yan's whereabouts were exposed, he quickly made a decision and asked the raiding soldiers to light the torches. Taking advantage of the enemy's brief period of confusion, they quickly rushed in and tried to reach the gate of the camp on the top of the mountain and seize control of the camp gate. right.
At the same time, when Wei Yan lit the torch halfway up the mountain, he also told the 2,500 soldiers still at the bottom of the mountain to start a general attack.
Although Gao Gang is not an idiot and he has worked hard on the defense of Qishan Fort, he is not a famous general after all.
If he is prepared to fight and defend based on the terrain advantage, then Gao Gang can still hold on for a while.
But now faced with an unprepared attack, Gao Gang lacked the composure and coping skills that a famous general should have, and indeed fell into chaos in a short period of time.
When he saw that Wei Yan had led his troops to fight halfway up the mountain, it was the first confusion. When he saw countless torches lit at the foot of the mountain, and the torch group was heading towards Qishan Fort, it was the second confusion.
In the two chaos, Gao Gang did not make a qualified response immediately, and he, the general, did not respond. The soldiers below did not know what to do in the middle of the night when the enemy's situation was unknown.
Therefore, Wei Yan took advantage of the enemy's chaotic and unprepared situation to quickly fight from the middle of the mountain to the top of the mountain, and began to besiege the gate of the Qishanbao camp.
But Qishanbao Camp is a military fortress after all, and the camp gate is closed at night. Wei Yan really couldn't break through for a while. This gave Gao Gang time to react.
In addition, Gao Gang discovered that although the torch team at the bottom of the mountain was heading in the direction of Qishan Fort, the nearest torch team was also five miles away from Qishan Fort, and the enemy troops who attacked the top of the mountain were only a few hundred people. There is no chance of a comeback.
There are more than two thousand guards in the Qishanbao camp.
If you just defend and wait until the local armies gather and attack together on the mountain, although Qishan Fort can still hold on, no one knows when it will be breached.
After all, under the current situation, Qishan Fort no longer has a geographical advantage, and the number of enemy troops is unknown. Once the opponent's strength exceeds more than twice his own, Gao Gang doesn't know how long he can last with the combat effectiveness of this group of garrison troops.
But now, most of the enemy troops are still far down the mountain. The only ones who have attacked the top of the mountain are a few hundred people. There are more people than ourselves, and they are at least four or five times more.
As long as the soldiers who attack the mountain are eliminated and the condescending geographical advantage is regained, it will not be that easy for the enemy troops at the bottom of the mountain to attack them.
For this reason, Gao Gang gritted his teeth and ordered the gates of the village to be opened and the whole army to attack.
At this time, Wei Yan felt a little uncomfortable attacking.
War is like this. Although some things are well planned, only when they are actually implemented, you will find that things may not go the way you thought.
According to Wei Yan's layout and plan, when he launches a general attack on the mountain, his remaining 2,500 men should have arrived not far below the cliff. At this time, if he quickly goes up the mountain to reinforce himself, it is possible to break through the Qishanbao camp. .
But now, Wei Yan took the time to look down the mountain and found that his group of rear troops were actually still seven or eight miles away from Qishan Fort. The most important thing was that the direction seemed to be a little off, not in the direction of the mountain road in the southwest. But on the southeast side of Qishan Fort.
This distance and this direction almost made Wei Yan angry to death.
God knows what happened to these soldiers. It was just that they were moving slowly, but why did they go astray? !
But if you think about it carefully, these soldiers couldn't see clearly at night, and they couldn't use torches for lighting, so they relied on ropes to pull them. There was nothing they could do if they wandered off.
But in this case, Wei Yan would have to rely on 500 troops to carry out siege on Qishan Fort. The troops were not enough.
Insufficient troops are not the key point. If the Qishan Fort defender is allowed to react and focus on his own attack direction and strengthen the defense of the camp elsewhere, even if his rear army arrives in time, it may not be of any use.
The open area at the entrance of the main camp of Qishan Fort does not allow too many people to attack and fight, but the defenders relying on the defense of the camp are really not that easy to break through.
Once the defenders are allowed to hold on until dawn and discover their weakness, it will be very difficult to conquer the Qishan Fort.
So in fact, Wei Yan was really in a hurry. He could only hope that the Qishan Fort guard was incompetent and that the chaos in the army would last longer, giving him more time to seize the village gate.
But soon, Wei Yan knew that this was impossible.
In the originally panic-stricken Qishan Fort camp, the noisy panic became less and less. Wei Yan tried a third attack. The originally shaky gate of the camp was strengthened this time with additional troops, and the defense became more orderly. The attack was repulsed by enemy arrows and hurled stones.
Obviously, the Qishan Fort garrison now has unified command, and the soldiers feel confident.
Wei Yan suddenly fell into a dilemma.
If the enemy cannot hold out and relies on the troops in the city to defend the gate of the village, it is simply unrealistic for him to completely break through the village in the small area on the top of the mountain.
But if he just retreats and sieges without attacking, then the purpose of his sudden march and sneak attack will completely fail.
Just when Wei Yan was in a dilemma, a turning point appeared very suddenly.
Wei Yan didn't know what the enemy defender was thinking, but he actually opened the door to fight.
This Wei Yan really didn't understand. Is the enemy defender out of his mind? !
If it were Wei Yan who was guarding the Qishan Fort, even if the enemy had to be defeated, Wei Yan would hold on until dawn. After seeing the number of enemy troops and making plans, why would he suddenly open the gate of the stronghold and send out troops to fight in the field? !
Aren't you afraid of being defeated in the field and then taking advantage of the situation to attack the village gate? !
Wei Yan didn't understand, but Wei Yan knew that this was simply the best opportunity God had given him. If he couldn't seize it, then he really shouldn't go back to send Zhang Xi back, just send his own head back.
As soon as he saw the enemy troops coming out of the city to fight, Wei Yan was immediately ecstatic. He drew out his sword, raised it high above his head, and shouted loudly, "The first victory of the Northern Expedition is right in front of us! All the soldiers will follow me to kill the enemy. The one who climbs to the city first and breaks the city will be rewarded with a hundred golds." !”
After saying that, Wei Yan personally led his personal bodyguards and rushed to the front. He was the first to strangle with Sergeant Cao's soldiers who rushed out of the village gate.
When the soldiers of Wei Yan behind them saw that the generals were rushing forward, they naturally took the lead bravely. In addition, there would be a reward of a hundred gold for the first one to conquer the city.
Let me emphasize again, a hundred gold these days is not a hundred copper coins, but a genuine one hundred taels of gold, a huge wealth.
If you tell these soldiers who don't know a single word about "killing the enemy to serve the country" or "helping the Han Dynasty", they won't be interested in you, but a reward of a hundred gold is enough to motivate them to fight to the death.
Therefore, with the general taking the lead and the encouragement of monetary rewards, the 500 Wei Yan soldiers were greatly boosted in morale and moved forward bravely.
At this time, Gao Gang also regretted it. He shouldn't have gone out of the city to fight.
It's impossible to beat it.
Originally, there was a big gap in the quality of the soldiers between the two sides. On the one side, there were elite Hanzhong soldiers trained by Wei Yan personally, and on the other side, they were just ordinary Cao Wei garrison troops.
In addition, the other party has financial incentives. Gao Gang cannot offer a reward of a hundred gold, and even if he declares it verbally now, Liangzhou Governor Guo Huai will not reimburse him afterwards.
At that time, even if he defends Qishan Fort, I am afraid that he will be "reimbursed" by his group of soldiers.
Now in front of the main camp of Qishan Fort, the two armies are fighting each other, and Cao's army is slowly collapsing visible to the naked eye.
However, due to the terrain restrictions, the gate of Qishan Fort's camp could only accommodate an attack of about a thousand people. No amount of people could be accommodated.
Therefore, Gao Gang could not send reinforcements to meet these soldiers who were going to battle. As soon as they left the village gate, they were crowded.
Gao Gang regretted it now.
After all, Gao Gang was not a famous general. He first misjudged the enemy's combat strength, thinking that he could kill Wei Yan with his numerical advantage. Then he misjudged the terrain and failed to carefully consider the number of combatants that could be accommodated outside the Qishan Fort camp. These two mistakes combined , making Gao Gang unable to advance or retreat now.
But Gao Gang still has some brains and ability. Seeing that the current situation is very unfavorable to his side, if the fight continues like this, the enemy will lead his defeated army and rush into the camp.
Gao Gang thought for a moment, became cruel, and directly ordered the village gate to be closed.
Closing the village gate at this time means giving up the hundreds of Cao Wei soldiers who went out to fight in the city and letting them fend for themselves.
As for himself, he led the remaining more than a thousand soldiers to defend Qishan Fort, stalling for time and waiting for reinforcements from Liangzhou.
Gao Gang felt that with the strength of Qishan Fort, he might be able to hold on until the day he saw reinforcements. But sorry, he made a mistake again.
Gao Gang's decision was too cold-blooded.
Those hundreds of Cao Wei army officers were ordered to go out to fight in the city, but now Gao Gang abandoned them as soon as he said so. This behavior can be said to be a strong man's breaking of a man's wrist, or it can be said to be ruthless.
Gao Gang has no emotional or interest relationship with these soldiers, but many of his soldiers are friends from the same hometown, and even relatives and brothers are outside. Gao Gang ordered the gate of the village to be closed, but it is not so easy to close it.
The soldiers these days are not that high-minded. Without someone to organize them, they will not mutiny in front of the army at this time. But they are procrastinating in executing military orders and calling on their brothers from the same country to come back quickly. Will still do it.
And just such a delay made Wei Yan keenly aware of Gao Gang's intention.
Wei Yan is now fighting at the forefront of the two armies, and with his superb force value and the hard work of his guards, he is about to break through the entire Cao army's defense line.
In this case, how could Wei Yan not see it, and how could he not hear it? Wei Yan knew that he must not let Gao Gang close the gate of the village. This was his last chance to break through Qishan Fort.
Wei Yan looked at the gate of the village that was slowly closing. He felt anxious. He gritted his teeth, roared, and knocked away the soldier Cao in front of him with his knife. He strode wildly and crossed the enemy's defense line quickly, facing the possibility of being shot at any time. With a cold arrow, he occupied the position of the camp gate with a loud roar.
With his own strength, he killed several people in a row, killed Cao's army that collapsed at the gate of the camp, hacked and killed the soldiers who closed the gate, and stood alone and proudly in front of the camp gate with a knife.
The next step is to guard the camp gate and wait for your soldiers to follow.
(End of chapter)
