With Fancheng in hand, Wancheng naturally does not need to have too many troops and horses left behind.
Tong Guan then ordered his confidant Yuhou to lead 3,000 men to guard the area. He also mobilized the former guard general Zhou Xin, the governor of Songzhou, and more than 10,000 Song troops who had been rescued earlier to come to Fancheng.
On June 2, the Song army gathered more than 80,000 troops, crossed the Han River in a mighty manner, and attacked Xiangyang.
The thieves who guarded the city knew that the army had been defeated, and they were panic-stricken. There were sneaks running around every night, and the guards could not catch them all.
On the morning of the fourth day, Han Shizhong personally held a sword and shield, climbed into the broken city first, and pulled it out in one fell swoop.
Of the five thousand rebel soldiers in Xiangyang City, more than five hundred died in battle and more than a thousand surrendered. The rest scattered into the nearby mountains. The guard Ni Wei failed to escape and died among the rebels.
The city of Xiangyang, with Huxiang in the south and Guanluo in the north, is the choke point of Chu and Shu. It has been a must-win for military strategists since ancient times. From Xiangyang to Xiangyang, Nanfeng, Jingnan and Yun'an are all under the front of the Song army. At that time, the group of thieves were shocked.
Wang Qing never expected that Duan Er's soldiers and horses were so strong that they would lose Xiangfan so quickly. He was so angry that he cursed Duan Er. When Duan Sanniang heard that her brother had been captured by Tong Guan, she cursed and came to beg the king. Qing sent troops to rescue him, but Wang Qing took away some of his words, and the couple fought. Wang Qing's fighting power dropped a lot due to his indulgence in drinking and sex. He and his wife only fought in a draw, and both of them were injured.
Later, it was "Mr. Golden Sword" Li Zhu who made suggestions and mobilized two groups of soldiers and horses to attack Xiangyang. One group set off from Fangzhou, and the governor Du Bo (Yinxue) led 30,000 troops to fight from west to east; all the way started from Jingnan. , Li Huai, nephew of Li Zhu and the envoy of Xuanfu, led seven generals and raised 30,000 Jingnan troops to fight from south to north, vowing to retake Xiangyang.
He also sent Pegasus to deliver a message to Duan Wu, urging him to break through Xijing quickly and threaten Bianliang.
Tong Guan, of course, didn't know what the Huaixi army was planning. After a few days of preparation, he sent Wang Yi, the governor of Dengzhou, as the vanguard, and led 50,000 people as the central army. He sent his troops to Fangzhou, hoping to destroy the enemy's lair in one fell swoop.
In his opinion, to capture the thief first, capture the king. As long as Wang Qing, the culprit, is captured, other prefectures and counties will naturally spread the word.
Fangzhou is called Fanling in ancient times. During the Three Kingdoms period, Mengda occupied the three counties of Shangyong, which is where it was.
It borders Hanzhong in the west and Xiangfan in the east. It is surrounded by Qinling Mountains, Wudang Mountain, Bashan Mountain and Wushan Mountain. The terrain is dangerous, but fortunately the Han River runs through it and connects several waterways to Xiangyang.
Although the water route was relatively smooth, Tong Guan had no sailors and it was inconvenient to cross from the lower reaches to the upper reaches, so he still traveled overland through mountains and rivers.
This road is embedded between Wanshan Mountain and the Han River. On one side there are towering mountains and on the other side the clear water is wide. However, the road itself is very narrow. Less than two days after the Song army set out, they collided with Du Bo's army coming along this road. Right.
There was a chaotic battle between the two armies. The thief general Du Bu used a snake spear that was eight feet long and was invincible. The rebel army went straight to the vanguard Wang Yi and killed him with a spear. The Song army was defeated and was killed by Du Bu. Cover up all the way.
Unfortunately, the mountain road was narrow and there was nowhere to hide. Before the Chinese army's formation could be deployed, it was overrun by the defeated front army. Du Bo pursued them for twenty miles before withdrawing.
In this battle, the Song army lost five to six thousand men. Tong Guan left behind corpses all over the mountains and fields, and hurriedly returned to Xiangyang to reorganize the city defenses and wait for the bandits to attack.
In fact, when it comes to Xiangyang's physical victory, it is rare in the world. It is naturally an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack place.
The mighty Han River makes a big bend around Xiangyang. The north, east, and south sides of the city are all surrounded by the Han River. To the west are numerous mountains. The Wanshan Mountains running from east to west and the Xianshan Mountain running from north to south form a joint structure. It is in the shape of an arrow, and the tip of the arrow points to Xiangyang.
Therefore, there are only two land roads leading to Xiangyang, which can be regarded as the outer edges of both sides of the arrow: one is between Wanshan Mountain and Han River, Zuolian Shangyong Land, and the other is between Xian Mountain and Han River, going down to Jingxiang In the past, Sun Jian, the fierce tiger from the east of the Yangtze River, attacked Xiangyang and was killed by Huang Zu's random arrows under the Xian Mountain.
But he said that after Du Bo defeated the Song army, he did not fight his way out of the path between the mountains and rivers as Tong Guan thought. Instead, he led his troops directly across the Wanshan Mountains, passed through Longzhong, and bypassed the Xian Mountains. They joined Li Huai's army from Jingnan and set up camp together on the open tidal flat in the southeast of the city.
After the two armies and horses in Huaixi merged, their morale was greatly boosted. Tong Guan wanted to rob the camp at night, but unexpectedly the thieves were heavily guarded and had to return without success.
The next day, the bandits came out of the camp and formed a formation below the city. Several generals showed off their power in front of the formation, running back and forth, urging Tong Guan to go out of the city for a decisive battle.
Tong Guan saw it at the top of the city and sneered: "A bunch of stupid thieves, the art of war says: surround them ten times. Now looking at their number, they are only fifty or sixty thousand, which is not as many as my commander. Besides, I have a strong city." Come on, he is so brave, what can he do to me?"
Wang Xun frowned at the side and said: "Although the Prime Minister's words are very good, we are here to suppress the bandits. If the stalemate with the bandits here lasts for a long time, and the remaining bandits attack the city and plunder the land, won't the court have any objections?"
Tong Guan's face darkened when he heard this and said, "If you say so, you must have a good plan."
Wang Xun thought for a while and said: "As a general, I still have to fight with him a few times to seize the opportunity to wipe out this group of thieves. It will be difficult for the Huaixi thieves to be able to fight again."
Tong Guan nodded and said: "In that case, you can lead our troops to meet with him for a while."
Wang Zhen smiled bitterly after hearing this, pointed with his hand and said: "Please see, Privy Council, the two thieves generals Sui and Fengtai who fled Fancheng are also among them. The last general can only block one of them, but there is no one under his command who can stand up to him." A helping hand.”
Tong Guandao: "Not only these two people, the one who used the snake spear to kill Wang Yi is also a brave general... Wu Zhi, your lieutenants are all very good at fighting and can stand up for the king."
Wang Zhen was overjoyed, clasped his fists and said, "If General Wu can help me, I will have no worries."
Lao Cao replied with a smile: "We are all doing our best for the country, and there is no distinction between them."
At that moment, several people put on their armor, led a thousand troops, opened the city gate, and formed a formation below the city.
When the thief general Du Bo saw the Song army coming out of the city, he rushed to the front of the battle formation and shouted: "I am the commander-in-chief of the King of Chu. I will compete with Zhang Fei. Du Bo, if there is anyone brave among the Song army, come and fight!"
Cao Cao looked at this man. He had a black helmet, black armor, and a black horse. His face was covered with curly beard. He was wielding a snake spear. He took a breath and told everyone: "This man is really extraordinary. We should deal with him carefully."
Lu Junyi laughed after hearing this and said: "My little brother is just asking him to be extraordinary, otherwise what's the fun in killing him?"
Immediately, he rushed out and shouted, "Do you recognize Lu Junyi, the Jade Unicorn?"
Du Bo had actually heard of his name, and sneered: "You are a rich man, but you spend money to brag about your reputation. What do you know about fighting? Since you don't want wealth and wealth, but you come here to die, you will be fulfilled." Damn it!"
Lu Junyi was furious after hearing this. He raised two spears and spears at the same time and immediately killed him in one place.
These two people fought in a very exciting way. The two of them——
One is a naturally auspicious beast, a jade unicorn, with a white horse, a steel spear, and silver armor; it is as fast as the wind and as slow as a willow, scattered like stars and dense as scales.
One is Zhang Fei, a fierce general in the world. The black-armored snake's spear looks like gray; it comes like thunder and goes like lightning, but the movement is domineering and the silence is majestic.
One possesses unrivaled and shocking skills, his spear rustles like the wind of a crane; he has no rivals in the world, and he can kill anyone in a killing field.
One is that a warrior sharpens his sword with murderous intent, and his bones are as strong as gold and iron, and it is difficult to break his back; but he is born with pride because of his boldness, and he will be even more arrogant if he does not believe in the prince.
These two, a hero who was among the officers and soldiers, and a hero who lived in the wilderness, fought for a dozen or so times, and both realized that the other party was no ordinary person. They couldn't help but fight more and more fiercely, and they gradually used their life-long skills to fight. There were more than 100,000 people in the city, all of whom stared blankly with their eyes wide open.
After another ten or twenty battles, a general among the thieves became angry. He was nine feet tall, with a red face and a burnt yellow beard. Under his crotch was a curly black horse, wearing a cooked bronze helmet and a black oil inlay. Armor, holding a piece of water-hardened steel in each hand. The left hand weighs fifteen kilograms and the right hand weighs sixteen kilograms. He shouted loudly: "This jade unicorn is a luxury cover! I just don't believe that the Song Army has a luxury cover besides him." , If there are any, come out and fight with you, Mr. Yuan!"
As he spoke, he patted his crotch and dismounted his horse, and the horse jumped onto the battlefield like a streak of black smoke.
There are different teachings: If you don’t praise Hebei, Shandong and Han Dynasties, you must see Jiangnan and Huaiyouxiong. Yuan Dufeng fought bravely, and his golden sword was sharp and cold.
(End of chapter)
