Vol 2 Chapter 2615: Conquering Yangping Pass (Part 1)
Chapter 2615 Breaking Yangping Pass (Part 1)
Chapter 2611: Breaking Yangping Pass (Part 1)
The governor of Hanzhong was none other than Liu Yu's younger brother Liu Zhang, who was also the unlucky man who captured Yizhou by Liu Bei.
Facts have proved that Liu Zhang is not incompetent. He handles all the tasks assigned to him by Liu Yu very well. However, when he is placed in a position beyond his ability, his shortcomings of lack of ability and cowardice will be fully exposed. .
Liu Yu also knew Liu Zhang's younger brother very well. He could not be the governor of a state, but he still had the ability to govern a county, so he appointed Liu Zhang as the governor of Hanzhong.
Hanzhong is the northern gateway of the Shu Han Dynasty. It needs a governor with a high enough status to stabilize the morale of the military and the people, and Liu Zhang, Liu Yu's younger brother, is just right.
However, Liu Zhang was okay in terms of government affairs, but not in terms of military affairs, so Liu Yu did not give him any military power. He was only responsible for handling the government affairs of Hanzhong County.
Liu Zhang was quite diligent after taking office. He had Liu Yu backing him up, and Liu Er and Zhang Ren were fully responsible for the military affairs. Therefore, Hanzhong County had always been extremely stable, and no major disturbances had occurred until the prefect's palace. The seismograph issued an early warning.
“What? Did the copper pill on the seismograph fall?”
After hearing the news, Liu Zhang's eyes widened immediately. He was so frightened that he jumped up on the spot. The first reaction in his heart was not the earthquake, but because of the Zhu Zijun. After all, where did so many earthquakes come from? It was still the Zhu Zijun. is more likely.
However, Nanzheng is located in the hinterland of Hanzhong, and Yangpingguan and Xicheng are still in good condition. How did the enemy's army bypass the two places and suddenly dig under Nanzheng City?
Did they dig through Yangpingguan or Xicheng?
It's impossible. If the Qin Army's Zhuzi Army really digs through these two areas, the seismometer in the city will definitely give a warning.
Now it was not just Liu Zhang who didn't understand. Everyone in the prefect's mansion was also puzzled, but they didn't think about the fact that the Qin army bypassed the West City during the excavation. The reason was also very simple. The amount of this project was really too big. .
It has only been a month since the war between Qin and Shu. No matter how hard you dig, it is impossible to complete such a large amount of work.
Liu Zhang's brain could no longer think normally. Although Yanpu, the Chengcheng of Hanzhong County, did not know the reason, he knew the seriousness of the problem and quickly asked: "In which direction did the copper pill fall?"
“Well, your lord, the governor, your lord, the seismograph dropped more than one copper pellet, and copper pellets fell in all three directions.”
“Fall in all three directions?”
Liu Zhang and Yan Pu exclaimed at the same time, then fell into deep thought.
Although Liu Zhang's character is cowardly, he is not a fool.
If the copper pellets fall in one direction, it may be caused by an earthquake or the Pulse Army.
But if it fell in all three directions, there is only one possibility, that is, the seismograph is broken.
After all, the possibility of earthquakes occurring in three directions at the same time, or of earthquakes occurring in three directions, is really too low, and it is not as high as the possibility of a broken seismograph.
Even if the Qin army sneaked into Hanzhong through unknown means and sneaked all the way to the outside of Nanzheng City, the number of people would definitely not be too many, and the food and grass would definitely be limited. If they want to dig into the city, they will definitely have to concentrate their manpower, which is not very likely. Excavation may be carried out in three directions.
So, the most likely possibility is that the seismograph is broken.
“Hey, what’s the matter? It turns out that the seismometer has been damaged due to disrepair. If the machine is broken, just let the craftsmen repair it.”
Liu Zhang waved his hands, looking unconcerned, then yawned and prepared to go back to sleep.
Although Yan Pu still had a frown on his face, he could not think of any other possibility except that the seismometer was broken. However, just in case, he decided to take the craftsman to repair it himself.
The internal structure of version 3.0 seismometer is complex, and not all craftsmen can repair it well.
Yan Pu brought five master craftsmen and repaired it for a full two hours, but concluded that the seismometer was intact and there was no damage.
Since the seismograph has not been damaged due to disrepair, the earthquakes detected before are real.
As soon as this conclusion came out, Yan Pu was frightened into a cold sweat. After all, it was impossible for earthquakes to occur in all three directions, so there was only one possibility left.
At this moment, three crisp voices sounded.
Dong, dong, dong…
The copper pills from the mouths of the toads in the east, west, north, and west directions of the seismometer fell again.
This time Yan Pu had no luck in mind, and regardless of the situation, he directly passed the prefect Liu Zhang and issued a martial law order to the entire city. After all, there was no big mistake in being cautious during the war, but it was obviously too late.
Tu Xingsun could obviously dig into Nanzheng City in one night, but even though he knew that there was insufficient food and grass, he spent three days digging in three directions. His purpose was to mislead Liu Zhang and Yan Pu in order to gain these two hours. of prime time.
Since Liu Zhang and Yan Pu have been fooled, it will not be so easy to break the situation.
【Ding dong, Tu Xingsun's skill "Tulu Ling" effect 3 is activated. When leading the Zhu Zi Army to participate in the battle, the entire military force of the Zhu Zi Army will be +1, and the excavation efficiency will be increased by 30% during excavation operations.
Tu Xingsun’s basic strength is 105, the mixed iron rod +1, the stick **** +4, and the current strength has increased to 110;
The dragon-bearded tiger's basic strength is 105 (+1), the dragon-tiger double hammer +1, the hammer **** +4, and the current strength has increased to 110;
Li Maozhen’s basic strength is 102 (+1), Qi Wang Spear +1, Spear God +4, and the current strength has increased to 107;
…]
In addition to Li Siyuan's 30,000 troops, the Shu army also has 80,000 troops in Hanzhong, of which 35,000 are at Yangping Pass, and the other 45,000 are scattered throughout Hanzhong. Among them, the city of Nanzheng alone has 30,000 defenders. .
The 30,000 troops in Nanzheng City are stationed in military camps in the three cities of East, West and North respectively, and these three places have grain depots, armory and material depots respectively.
Tu Xingsun's goal this time was just the grain depot, but in order to prevent the Shu troops from the east and west battalions from reinforcing the Peking Camp, he had to create chaos in the two major urban areas, both east and west, to attract the attention of the defenders and prevent them from being distracted. In addition, the food-burning operation in the north of the city will be easier.
After the order to impose martial law in Yanpu was issued, they prepared to find people with hearing talents to determine the location of the soldiers who were actually digging. However, before anyone arrived, the east and west of the city fell into riots. Li Maozhen and Long Xuhu led people to set fires along the military camp area and set up roadblocks in the streets.
The Shu army leaving the camp was blocked by fire and roadblocks. The flames must be extinguished and the roadblocks cleared before they could reinforce the north of the city.
But while they were extinguishing the fire and clearing obstacles, the Zhuzi troops who had sneaked into the city continued to wreak havoc and were ready to attack the armory and material warehouse. This also frightened the two battalions of defenders, who clung to the ordnance. warehouses and material depots, leaving no opportunity for attackers to take advantage.
At the same time that chaos broke out in the east and west city areas, Tu Xingsun's two thousand soldiers dug directly to the vicinity of the grain depot based on the map.
Since turmoil broke out in both the east and west of the city, the Shu army in the north city was alerted. However, Tu Xingsun and a group of people came from underground. The Shu army on the ground did not know their location and could not be defended at all.
In addition to the camp in the north of the city, there were three thousand defenders in the grain depot, but there were no strong generals. In addition, they were caught off guard, so they were defeated by two thousand soldiers. Tu Xingsun The raid was very easy and the soldiers broke into the grain depot.
Looking at the grain warehouses in front of him, Tu Xingsun was filled with ecstasy. With a ferocious look on his lips, he raised his stick and shouted: "Set fire."
)
The two thousand soldiers roared angrily, and then split into two under the command of Tu Xingsun.
Tu Xingsun led 1,500 soldiers and was responsible for killing the defenders in the expelled grain depots, while the remaining 500 people were responsible for setting fires. With mutual cooperation, the major grain depots were destroyed in less than an hour. All lit.
“Withdraw.”
Tu Xingsun kept Li Maozhen's instructions in mind and was not reluctant to fight at all. As soon as the fire in the grain depot started, he immediately led his army to retreat through the tunnel.
Liu Huang, the commander of the northern camp of the Shu army, naturally would not let Tu Xingsun go, so he led his men to hunt down Tu Xingsun. However, he finally found a retreat tunnel, but it was blocked by Tu Xingsun. It was obvious that he wanted to get through. Not that easy.
Liu Quan saw that he had lost track of Tu Xingsun, so he could only take him to put out the fire first, trying to save as much as possible.
As for Li Maozhen in the east of the city, and Longxuhu in the west of the city, they were fighting in the streets with tens of thousands of Shu troops. Seeing that the fire was starting in the north of the city, they knew that Tu Xingsun had succeeded, so they did not bother too much and escaped from Nanzheng through the tunnel.
After the three parties arrived at the ruined temple, they briefly counted the number of people and found that there were only 1,500 people left, and nearly half of the soldiers died in the city.
In response to this, the three generals Tu Xingsun and Sun fell silent. Although they were a little hard to accept, they all knew that this was the best result. After all, they had just fought with 3,000 soldiers against 30,000 Shu soldiers. How could they escape? Half the manpower is pretty good.
The task of burning down the grain depot in Xinzheng has been completed. Next, the Shu army will definitely turn Hanzhong upside down and search for traces of Tu Xingsun and others throughout the county.
The ruined temple is too close to Xinzheng and will definitely be found by the Shu army soon, so Tu Xingsun and others must move immediately.
Taking advantage of the darkness and before the Shu army left the city, Tu Xingsun, Li Maozhen and others headed east with the remaining 1,500 soldiers.
The grain and grass stored in the Xinzheng Grain Depot amount to millions of stones, which cannot be burned in a short time.
Not long after the fire broke out in the grain depot, Yan Pu mobilized all his people to put out the fire. However, the fire was too big and could not be extinguished by manpower.
The firelight illuminated the entire sky above Nanzheng. Even from Yangpingguan, dozens of miles away, one could see the red night sky.
Zhang Ren, who had worked hard all day, had just fallen asleep when he was woken up by the soldiers and went to the tower. He took the telescope from Shen Shi's hand and looked south, and his face suddenly turned pale.
"what happened?"
Liu Er and Kong Peng also rushed over, both of them were still confused.
Shen Shiqi said with a bitter look on his face: "Something happened in Nanzheng."
Liu Er and Kong Peng's expressions suddenly changed.
From the preliminary judgment based on the light of the fire, something must have happened in Nanzheng, but no one knew exactly what happened. Everything could only be investigated after dawn.
As a result, before dawn, a letter from a flying pigeon came from Nanzheng, informing Zhang Ren and other generals what happened in Nanzheng.
Da Qin's Zhuzi Army used some unknown method to bypass Yangping Pass or Xicheng, sneaked all the way to the outside of Nanzheng City, dug into the city and burned the grain depot.
The fire continued to burn until dawn without explanation. Liu Zhang and Yan Pu were still organizing firefighting, but only God knew how much food and grass could be saved.
At the same time, Liu Zhang was still searching for traces of the Qin Zijun throughout Hanzhong, but he had not found them yet.
Zhang Ren and other Shu Han generals discussed the country and decided to adopt the plan of reviewing the food supply, asking Liu Zhang and Yan Pu to forcibly collect the rations from the people of Hanzhong counties and distribute them uniformly.
But for the 110,000 Shu troops in Hanzhong, the bulk food provided by the people was simply a drop in the bucket and obviously could not sustain them for long.
However, Shen Shiqi obviously can't care so much anymore. How long can he hold on now?
In addition, based on the information given by Liu Zhang, Shen Shi analyzed that the Qin Zhuzi Army should have come from Xicheng.
After all, there is no way that thousands of soldiers, so many people, can pass through Yangping Pass under the eyes of tens of thousands of Shu troops.
So, Shen Shiqi summoned Liu Zhang and asked him to concentrate his manpower to search the direction of Xicheng.
Liu Zhang followed the instructions given by Shen Shiqi and sent additional manpower to the west city while forcibly requisitioning grain from the people.
Shen Shi's guess was absolutely correct. The men Liu Zhang sent out did find traces of the Zhuzi Army. However, they arrived a step too late. Tu Xingsun and others had already escaped from Hanzhong and destroyed the tunnel.
At the same time, Li Jing, after receiving the message from Tu Xingsun, was also preparing to give Yangping Pass the final blow.
(End of this chapter)