Although Li Hao really didn't have much expectations for this attack, he could only obey the orders due to military orders.
Fortunately, Wu Han was probably unhappy with Li Hao and wanted to keep out of sight. In addition, he believed that he had enough troops on hand, so he did not recruit Li Hao's troops, but directly assigned Li Hao to the end of the army as a reserve force.
This is in line with Li Hao's thoughts. He can make some preparations along the way. It would be best if the army successfully captures Longdi, but if something unexpected happens, he can also stabilize the situation.
The subsequent development of the situation was similar to what Li Hao had imagined. The army attacked Longdi for several days. Although there was progress, it failed to break through the defense line.
For this reason, Wu Han urgently ordered Li Hao to lead his troops and join the attack. As a result, on the night when the order was sent, Wang Yuan, the general under Wei Xiao, led a large army to attack the Han camp at night, and the Han army was defeated miserably.
However, Wu Han and other generals still had some skills after all. Even so, they basically ensured the stability of the army and was not completely defeated.
But Wang Yuan naturally would not give up this opportunity to eliminate the main force of the Han army, and directly led his troops to pursue them one after another, without giving Wu Han and others time to reorganize and rest.
When Li Hao learned the news, he had already rushed to the Xialong area. Li Hao immediately stopped the army and formed a camp on the spot to meet the defeated army and block Wang Yuan's troops.
Wu Han and the others immediately heaved a sigh of relief after receiving the news, and the army rushed to the rear to rest. Wang Yuan naturally did not want to miss this opportunity. Even if he launched an attack on Li Hao's camp, it would naturally be in vain.
After all, when it comes to defensive counterattacks, Song Jun is good at it. In this regard, Li Hao has accumulated enough experience in the world of knowledge, so how can it be so easy to deal with.
Wang Yuan's troops attacked for two days without any success. After Li Hao took advantage of the situation and launched a counterattack, they lost more than 3,000 troops. In addition, it was estimated that the defeated army in front had breathed a sigh of relief. He had lost a certain amount of fighting power, so he finally chose to retreat.
Naturally, Li Hao did not pursue him. After all, the main army had just suffered a disastrous defeat and its morale was low. Moreover, during the retreat, it suffered heavy losses in various types of ordnance. It was feared that it would be unable to start another war in a short period of time.
So after stabilizing the situation a little, we counted the losses and found that of the 50,000-strong army that went on this expedition, except for Li Hao, who suffered smaller losses, the rest of the troops lost nearly half, leaving less than 30,000.
The loss of the rest of the troops is just repayment, and it is not under Li Hao's control anyway. However, there are only more than 3,000 of the 8,000 troops who came from Xuzhou, which makes Li Hao very heartbroken. After all, many of them are from the Yuan family. people.
This battle must not be fought any longer. Everyone agreed to retreat first, and then make plans after reporting the situation here to Emperor Wen.
In the process, Wu Han and the others remembered that Li Hao had reminded him before. Although Wu Han had a violent temper, he was also sensible, so they thanked and apologized to Li Hao in public.
Li Hao naturally brushed it off. After all, it was not his fault if he really wanted to blame him. So far, his relationship with Wu Han and others had eased.
Later, because Li Hao's army had the most complete organizational system, Li Hao led his army to the rear. Wang Yuan came to attack several times at this time, but he never took advantage of it, and he never came again.
Then all the troops successfully retreated to Qianxian County, where Li Hao led his troops to garrison in case Wei Xiao sent people to counterattack Guanzhong.
The rest of the troops returned to Chang'an to rest and recuperate, and they still need to continue to mobilize troops from other places to replenish their forces for future use.
At this time, Emperor Wen had already arrived in Chang'an. He was shocked when he heard the news of the disastrous defeat on the front line. Later, he felt relieved when he heard that the situation had been stabilized.
After learning the whole story from Wu Han and others in detail, Emperor Wen finally knew the role Li Hao played in it. He couldn't help but sigh: "This guy is quite capable. I thought he was just here to help Yuan Zhoumu and Liang Zhoumu fool around." Achievements, I didn’t expect him to be really talented.”
After hearing what Emperor Wen said, Wu Han and others also apologized together. After all, this time everyone did make the mistake of underestimating the enemy and did not listen to other people's advice.
Emperor Wen heard this and said: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military officers. If you lose this time, the next step is to find a way to win. I will also ask the generals to serve. I will record this matter for now and wait for the battle to be settled. We will discuss it later." Rewards and punishments.”
Emperor Wen then asked Geng Yan, Feng Yi, and Ji to guard the three strategic locations of Qixian, Qiyi, and Qixian. Wu Han returned to Luoyang to recruit troops, and ordered all states to continue to mobilize troops.
As for Li Hao, although Emperor Wen did not immediately award him a reward, he did give him a commendation edict, declaring Li Hao's contribution in this battle.
Li Hao was asked to lead troops back to Chencang to take over the defense. It was said that he was going to deal with Gongsun Shu's attack from Hanzhong and the pressure from Wei Xiao from Shangbang.
But in fact, the Sanguan and Chencang lines have always been easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the journey from Longxi is also difficult, so the actual pressure on Li Hao's side is not great.
After all, although Li Hao emerged in this battle, Emperor Wen's trust in Li Hao was limited after all, and he did not dare to let Li Hao guard a fatal place.
But at least Li Hao's reputation for being good at fighting has spread. As long as he wins a few more battles in the future, his words will naturally gain strength.
Then Weixiao took advantage of the victory and sent troops to patrol Quyi. Wang Yuan took Qixian and was defeated. In addition, Dou Rong, who was in Hexi Province, joined Liu Xiu and attacked Jincheng. He defeated the Qiang powerful He Feng and other tribes who assisted Weixiao, and ordered Weixiao was under attack from both sides, and Weixiao's general Ma Yuan also surrendered to the Han at this time.
Forced by the instability in the rear, Wei Xiao had to suspend his offensive, make a truce with the Han army, and ask for help from Gongsun Shu, thus the two sides reached a temporary peace.
The following year, Gongsun Shu sent reinforcements from Shu, and Weixiao started fighting again. He went south from Longdi as a flank and attacked Qianxian. He then led an army of 30,000 to attack Qixian and Quyi.
In this battle, Li Hao led his troops to assist Qian County, and joined forces with Ji Zun to destroy the partial army. As for Qixian and Quyi, they also successfully held on until reinforcements arrived. So far, Wei Xiao's plan for this battle failed and he had no choice but to retreat. Then Li Hao Continue to return to Chencang to garrison, and the two sides continue to confront each other up and down Longshan Mountain.
Until the follow-up troops of the Han army arrived one after another, Emperor Wen ordered a counterattack. The main target this time was Lueyang, the important town of Tianshui, and Yu Lai She and Ji Zun sent troops from Lu County.
However, during the dispatch of troops, Ji Zun suddenly fell seriously ill. Li Hao originally thought that this time he would return without success. Unexpectedly, Lai She suddenly broke out and led 2,000 elite troops from the Fanxu area over the mountains and ridges, and broke into Lueyang. Under the city, Lueyang city guard Jin Liang was beheaded and successfully occupied Lueyang.
The geographical location of Lueyang is very important. After all, it will have a resounding name in the future, Street Pavilion.
It was the central location where Kuai Xiao guarded Longshan. In the past, Kai Xiao's troop deployment had to pass through here.
Therefore, after the fall of Lueyang, Weixiao immediately dispersed his troops to the Longshan Mountains and deployed defenses outside Lueyang along the Longdi, Fanxukou, Jitudao, and Wating lines, cutting off Liu Xiu's reinforcements. The road to Lueyang makes Lueyang an isolated island.
He rashly besieged Lueyang with a large number of troops, intending to regain this important town, but Lai She and his soldiers defended the city to the death and refused to go out to fight.
Even though Kaixiao diverted water to flood the city, this important town could not be breached, and the attack lasted from spring to winter.
Naturally, Liu Xiu was not idle either. Of course, he also knew that if he attacked Wei Xiao at this time and the reinforcements from the Longshan defense line were carefully arranged, he would probably lose his troops and generals.
So we simply made another strange move. Ma Yuan, who had surrendered through Kaixiao, suggested that he directly bypass the layers of defensive strongholds that Kaixiao had built in Longshan, seize the first city at the highest point of Longshan Highlands, and then make an emergency landing of the Wating defenders. , and took advantage of the situation to completely take over the Longshan Highlands as their own.
At this point, the Han army and Wei Xiao completely changed their offensive and defensive positions, and the Han army could attack from top to bottom, while Wei Xiao's troops could only resist.
On the other side, Li Hao received a message from Fei Ge in Shanggui and Mianzhu Dao. The news was that Li Hao had set up a stronghold in Chang'an first, and then quickly delivered it to Li Hao.
At this point, Li Hao knew that the defenses of Shanggui and Mianzhu Dao were empty. After reporting the news to Liu Xiu, he immediately led his troops to raid at night and captured the two cities one after another, completely disrupting Wei Xiao's deployment.
Now that the main force of Wei Xiao is sandwiched between the main force of the Han army and Li Hao, and Li Hao has occupied the Shanggui and Mian roads, the natural barrier of Longshan has been lost, and subsequent supporting troops can be easily overcome.
So Wei Xiao had no choice but to retreat to Tianshui, and sent people to go to Gongsun Shuchu again to ask for help, asking him to send troops to recover the Shanggui and Mian roads and restore the natural danger of Longshan.
But Gongsun Shu had other ideas. Because Li Hao's troops left Chencang, the defense there would be empty. If Chencang could be breached, it would not only cut off Li Hao's troops' retreat, but Chencang would also lead to the Guanzhong Plain.
At that time, troops can be sent directly to Chang'an, and Liu Xiu himself will be there. Even if Liu Xiu cannot be captured, it will definitely shock the world, and some ambitious people may start to cause trouble.
Therefore, Gongsun Shu did not follow Kui Xiao's request to attack the Shanggui and Mian roads. Instead, he ordered Tian Yan and Li Yu to lead troops along the old road to attack Chencang.
It's just that Li Hao dared to send troops, so he naturally had to guard against this attack. During the period when Chencang was stationed, Li Hao was not idle. The terrain of Sanguan was already dangerous, so Li Hao helped to reinforce it again. In addition, Li Hao strictly ordered him to stand firm and not lead his troops into battle.
Tian Yan and Li Yu naturally hit a wall when they arrived here. In the end, they failed to break through Sanguan, so they could only retreat with their troops and attack Shanggui and Mian roads instead.
But the opportunity was lost at this time. Li Hao completed his rest and strengthened the city defense here. Tian Yan and Li Yu could not take it for a while, so they had to retreat to Xi County and defend it.
Originally, this was the time when he was trying to annihilate Kuaixiao in one go. Suddenly, rebellions broke out in Yingchuan and Hedong, causing the capital to tremble. Liu Xiu had no choice but to lead his army back to quell the rebellion.
At this time, Li Hao and others were unable to follow up, and they had to guard against changes in Guanzhong, so they could only stop the attack. So the two warring parties ceased fighting again, but this time the Han army had a clear advantage.
Weixiao and Gongsun Shu naturally wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to regain the cities of Shanggui, Mianzhudao, and Lueyang, and retake the natural danger of Longshan.
However, when it comes to defending the city, Li Hao of the Han army took advantage of the time when Tian Yan and Li Yu were coming in front to transport a batch of grain, grass and military equipment from Guanzhong. There was even enough quantity to be distributed to the troops occupying Lueyang. Come to She.
This supply of food, grass and armaments was sufficient. Even if Kaixiao and Gongsun Shu mobilized a large number of soldiers, they still could not shake the three cities of Shanggui, Mianzhudao and Lueyang. Instead, they lost troops and generals.
After Emperor Wen calmed down the civil strife, he immediately organized his troops and returned to the Longxi battlefield. By this time, the war had been going on for more than two years, and the Han army had mobilized nearly 200,000 troops.
So this time Emperor Wen didn't want to waste any more, and was ready to get rid of Wei Xiao in one go, but it happened that Wei Xiao suddenly died of illness.
Although his subordinate generals Wang Yuan, Zhou Zong and others supported his son Kai Chun to succeed him in Jixian County, he did not have the prestige of Kai Xiao in the army, so the Han army took the initiative to launch a counterattack at this time.
Lai She, Feng Yi, Wu Han and others led their troops to attack Ji County, while Li Hao led his troops to Longxi County to block reinforcements from Shu.
This order was definitely inappropriate. After all, Li Hao's army was closest to Ji County, but the order turned out to be far away.
But there was no way. Lai She, Feng Yi, and Wu Han were all veterans who had followed Emperor Wen for many years. Without affecting the situation of the war, Emperor Wen had his own preference.
It was not easy for Li Hao to argue about this. After all, he couldn't offend Emperor Wen and the emperor's cronies all at once. How would he be able to mess around in the court from now on?
Anyway, if he had to let it go, Li Hao would simply do his best to be upright and honest, and truly send this favor to others' hearts, which can be regarded as a reward.
As for military achievements, who said that there would be no achievements in dealing with Gongsun Shu? Li Hao had to do it for everyone to see.
So Li Hao sent the map he had ordered to draw during this period, and prepared a batch of ordnance, waiting for Lai She and others to come and give it to him.
When Laishe and the others saw Li Hao's enthusiasm, they felt a little awkward. After all, although they were obeying orders, they were suspected of stealing credit.
At first they thought Li Hao would complain about this, but they didn't expect that Li Hao didn't say a word and instead tried his best to help, which made them feel a little ashamed.
With such an effect, one of Li Hao's goals was achieved. After Lai She and the others marched to Jicheng, Li Hao also led his troops to Longxi County.
And here, Li Hao ran into the Shuzhong reinforcements brought by Yancen and Lu Tuna. It was said that this time Gongsun Shu was finally willing to contribute, unlike before, where he sent ten or twenty thousand people to help. Lively, this is just what Li Hao wanted.
There were only 40,000 to 50,000 troops in the front. Although Li Hao's men also added some troops, they could only defeat 10,000 people in full. I was afraid that they would not be able to defeat them with a strong front, so they withdrew back and ordered the garrison of Shanggui and Mianzhu Dao to come out of the city for reinforcements. .
Naturally, Yancen and Lu Tuna refused to let Li Hao go. They pursued him all the way to Panxu Mountain. When they approached Shanggui City, they could no longer retreat.
Because Lai She and the others were leading their troops to besiege Jicheng. If they retreated again, Yancen and Lu Tzu would be able to bypass Shanggui and go straight to Lai She's back. Then they would be in big trouble.
So Li Hao could only block the attack at the mountain pass. It happened that the defenders from Shanggui and Mianzhu roads had also arrived, so the two sides fought here for three days, and finally Li Hao retreated.
Yancen and Lu Tuna were overjoyed to see this situation, and they immediately wanted to pursue each other, but then they encountered a fire deliberately planned by Li Hao.
It is said that when Li Hao encountered these reinforcements, he had already thought of a way to deal with them. For this purpose, he performed a big show with them here, just to facilitate his arrangement of kerosene and hay.
If it weren't for the fact that there weren't many things to burn in the mountains in the spring, I'm afraid not a few of these tens of thousands of troops would survive in the end. Like now, more than half of them escaped, but they were all burned out by the fire.
But this is okay, the fire attack is still a bit more brutal after all. If it really kills too many people with this method, it will harm the peace of the world and be useless to the reputation.
After the fire gradually extinguished, Li Hao immediately led his troops to pursue the situation. This pursuit was to continuously attack Xixian, Wudu, and Xiabian, and directly entered Hanzhong, taking down nearly 10,000 prisoners along the way, and also captured To Yancen.
After all, the Shu reinforcements this time mainly deployed troops from Hanzhong and Wudu, so Li Hao's attack was almost unimpeded.
After arriving in Hanzhong, Li Hao ordered some men and horses to guard the prisoners, and without stopping, he personally led the main force to rush to Yangping Pass. After taking advantage of Yangping Pass, he led his troops to rush to Jianmen Pass, and another force was sent to Micang Road. Capture Guancheng.
At this time, Gongsun Shu had also reacted and moved his troops north. Li Hao tested it at Jianmen Pass and found that they were prepared, so he immediately led his troops to retreat to Yangping Pass to prepare for Gongsun Shu's counterattack.
At the same time, he ordered people to send a message to Chang'an through Baoxe Road, informing Emperor Wen that he had recaptured Hanzhong, and asked him to send people to support him.
After all, Hanzhong has always been the throat of Shu. If Hanzhong is lost, Shu will lose a barrier against powerful enemies. From then on, it will be much easier for the Han army to attack Shu.
Therefore, Gongsun Shu would go crazy and launch a counterattack against Hanzhong, and what Li Hao had to do was to survive this period of time, and when Emperor Wen's support arrived, the matter would be settled.
Of course, in reality, Li Hao was not under too much pressure. After all, the only two roads to attack Hanzhong from Shu were Jinniu Road and Micang Road, and the roads were quite difficult and dangerous, so it was not difficult to hold on.
If Li Hao hadn't been worried that Gongsun Shu would send people to attack Xiabian in a detour, cutting off the connection between Hanzhong and Longxi, and sending a lot of troops there, Li Hao would have been more relieved in this battle.
Soon, Gongsun Shu's counterattack came. In order to retake Hanzhong, Shu came fiercely, launching attacks from Jinniu Road and Micang Road at the same time, and seemed to go crazy at the first contact.
However, both gates were dangerous places, and Li Hao had made preparations in advance, so no matter how hard the Shu army tried, the two gates were still strong.
However, Xiabian encountered a lot of trouble. After all, the city there was not as dangerous as Yangping Pass. Under the fierce attack of the Shu army, it was really difficult to defend, but Li Hao did not have the extra troops to support it.
In the end, after receiving the news that Li Hao was besieged, the soldiers from Xuzhou immediately rushed to rescue from Longxi and finally saved Xiabian.
At this point, Gongsun Shu saw that the situation on the battlefield was not improving, so he had a wrong idea and ordered the assassin to find a way to sneak into Hanzhong with the intention of assassinating Li Hao.
To be honest, this really surprised Li Hao. After all, when the two armies faced each other, they sent assassins to kill the opponent's general. Li Hao had never encountered such a dishonest person in the past.
Even when Li Hao was in Zhifou World, he didn't send many assassins when faced with foreign tribes like Xixia and Liao who didn't talk much about benevolence and righteousness.
Without Li Hao's special precautions, these assassins actually sneaked into Hanzhong and suddenly launched an attack while inspecting Li Hao's city.
Caught off guard, Li Hao's accompanying bodyguards suffered heavy casualties. Even Li Hao himself did not escape and was stabbed on the shoulder. This was because Li Hao had been practicing martial arts diligently over the years and reacted quickly. Otherwise, the stabbing just now would have been a direct blow. It hit Li Hao's head.
Seeing that Li Hao was injured, the remaining guards quickly gathered around and fired a special signal firework into the sky to summon troops.
As for the group of assassins, although they didn't understand the specific intention when they saw this scene, they intuitively felt that something was wrong.
Just when he was about to take action again, he heard Li Hao say: "You must be the assassins sent by Gongsun Shu, he really knows some crooked skills.
I heard that assassins pay attention to missing a hit and being able to escape thousands of miles away. Now that your identity has been exposed, you still want to kill by force. It seems that you are not very particular. "
