"Damn it, this is clearly a heavenly book, not a letter." Yi Shenzheng threw the small note on the table. He turned around and said to the little school beside him: "Have those five Zhou soldiers made careful moves?"
The school bowed and said, "The five Zhou soldiers could not withstand the heavy punishments in detail, so they had already been recruited. The few of them said that they were basically the same. They were only responsible for delivering notes, but they really didn't know the contents of the notes."
Yi Shenzheng said with a calm face: "Since that's the case, kill me."
Gao Yanqi picked up the note, read it again, and smiled bitterly: "The paper numbers must be a secret letter from Zhou Jun to contact, but we just can't understand it."
Yi Shenzheng said to Gao Yanqiu and Zhao Chongtao, two generals: "The Zhang family pass is only 2,300 Zhou troops, five days, the main force of the four thousand Shu troops, 6,000 Chengzhou troops, Guzhen troops, a total of 10,000 people, and the soldiers and generals were damaged, but they could not even break the small Zhangjia Pass. We are really disappointed. General Zhao can fight, so I want to ask General Zhao to take action and slash Zhangjia Pass in one fell swoop."
When Zhao Chongtao heard Yi Shenzheng pointing his head, he said in a deep voice: "The terrain of Zhangjiaguan is dangerous, and it is extremely difficult to break through the Black Eagle Army defending the dead. Moreover, our main force has now divided into two groups and attacked the flanks of the Zhou army. There is no need to use our main force to attack Zhangjiaguan. But only the troops in Chengzhou and Guzhen are used to dig deep trenches and firmly surround Zhangjiaguan, so as not to allow the Black Eagle Army to escape. When our main force succeeds, we can adjust more powerful siege tools, and Zhangjiaguan will be the burial place of the Black Eagle Army."
Gao Yanqi agreed with Zhao Chongtao's opinion in his heart, but when he saw Yi Shenzheng staring at Zhao Chongtao with a gloomy face, he didn't want to say much, but just "coughed" twice, reminding Zhao Chongtao not to say anything.
When Yi Shenzheng heard Zhao Chongtao pushing left and right, he didn't want to attack Zhangjiaguan from his heart, and thought to himself: "It seems that Zhao Chongtao and Li Tinggui are in the same group. If Zhao Chongtao can't defeat Zhangjiaguan, I will govern him and Li Tinggui." With an idea in his heart, Yi Shenzheng said calmly: "Zhangjiaguan is behind our army, cutting off the connection between our main force and Guzhen, Chengzhou and Jiezhou. This nail must be pulled out. The Zhou army can seize Zhangjiaguan from our army. Why can't our army be taken back from the Zhou army? General Zhao has experienced many battles and will definitely be able to capture the small Zhangjiaguan, so don't refuse."
Zhao Chongtao had no choice but to take the order and leave. Zhao Chongtao was dissatisfied and quietly arrived at Li Tinggui's camp before leaving. Although Li Tinggui was removed from the position of recruiting envoy and lost command of the Shu army in Fengzhou, the official position of the commander of the Pangsheng and Control Crane was not removed, and the specifications of the camp remained the same.
Li Tinggui pointed to the position beside him, signaled Zhao Chongtao to sit down, habitually stroked his beard for a while, and said, "As time goes by, people's hearts are seen, and horsepower is known from afar. In three days, the guest servant is my first guest."
Zhao Chongtao and Li Tinggui were in a life-and-death relationship, and he spoke casually. He saw a map next to the coffee table in front of Li Tinggui, and said, "The commander-in-chief is not idle either. What do you think of the current situation?"
Li Tinggui stroked his beard for a while and said, "According to the information from Daliang, the commander of the Black Eagle Army was Hou Dayong, the defensive commander of Zhengzhou. He was a refugee from the north, and was about 34 or 35 years old. Now he has married Fu Yanqing's four daughters. According to Zhao Wu, this person relied on the power of the Fu family to achieve a high position as the defensive commander. However, from the actual situation of the fight, the Black Eagle Army always unexpectedly acted, breaking the Eight Villages of Huangniu, attacking Qinzhou, and capturing Zhangjiaguan were all good things that Hou Dayong did. I concluded that Hou Dayong must be a strong enemy of our dynasty, and Zhao Wu said that there were many untrue things. Zhangjiaguan was captured, and the Shu army was indeed extremely passive. Yi Shenzheng's mood to retake Zhangjiaguan is understandable, but if Yi Shenzheng's fighting method is based on Yi Shenzheng, the Shu army will be defeated."
Zhao Chongtao deeply felt this, so he told Li Tinggui what he had just said, "The strategy of the commander of the capital is correct. Yi Shenzheng's fighting style made me feel very uneasy. Our army is backed by Hanzhong, with sufficient food and supplies, waiting for work, and originally had the advantage. Although Qinzhou was destroyed, losing a city has nothing to do with the overall situation. However, Yi Shenzheng divided his troops into three groups, took the initiative to attack, and he wanted to fight quickly, which hit the Zhou army's wishes."
Li Tinggui pointed to the map and said, "If you succeed, you will be a good move. However, Wang Jing, who has fought with us for so many years, is as cunning as a loach in oil, will never break the food route easily. The last time the grain warehouse was burned was because of a rebel general. For the general, you can use this dangerous move, but for the general, it is a taboo. I suggest that the guest provinces use the enemy without attacking, and adjust more sharp attacks such as stone cannons, and dig a trench along the periphery of Zhangjiaguan to prevent the Black Eagle Army from attacking. If the battle is favorable, wait until the Black Eagle Army is exhausted and launch a general attack. If the battle situation is unfavorable, you can leave 10,000 elite troops for the Shu army."
Zhao Chongtao nodded and said, "Only after following the commander to fight, I have confidence in my heart. Yi Shenzheng compared himself to Cao Cao and wanted to use a surprise army to cut off the food route of the Zhou army. I think it was just Ma Su and Zhao Kuo. I thought that after reading a few military books, I could plan and win a thousand miles. Bah!" He said, "I have already thought about it. If the situation of the war suddenly changes, our army can retreat to Qingniling quickly, build a defense line according to the danger, and delay the attack of the Zhou army."
After the entire Shu army was mobilized, Wang Jing and Xiang Xun ordered the formation envoy Zhang Jianxiong to lead 2,000 troops to set up an ambush in Huanghua Valley according to the direction of the Shu army's mobilization. At the same time, Wang Jing wrote a secret letter to order Hou Dayong to defend Zhangjia Pass and threaten the Shu army's retreat. Several Zhou army soldiers secretly sneaked to Zhangjia Pass with secret letters. The Zhou army messengers were captured by the Shu army, and none of them passed to Hou Dayong. Fortunately, after the Shu army received the secret letter, they could not decipher. The secret letter was equivalent to a piece of waste paper for the Shu army.
Hou Dayong did not receive the secret letter and did not know the overall changes. However, judging from the intensity of the attack of the Shu army, the main force of the Shu army had reached Zhangjia Pass.
The Black Diao Army suffered a considerable loss when it attacked Qinzhou, with nearly 300 casualties. In order to maintain sufficient troops, Hou Dayong carefully selected 300 cavalry from Fengxiang Army and temporarily added to the Black Diao Army, so that the Black Diao Army still had 3,000 people. Zhangjiaguan was too small, and three thousand people filled the village. If the enemy attacked with stone cannons, the three thousand people would have nowhere to hide. Therefore, Hou Dayong ordered Shi Hu to hide in the mountains behind Zhangjiaguan with two thousand people and support Zhangjiaguan on the periphery.
Zhangjiaguan was built on a protruding mountainous land, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack. Except for the main gate, there were steep cliffs on the other three sides, which were very similar to the terrain of Huangniu Village. In order to be able to defend for ten days, Hou Dayong carefully studied the terrain of Zhangjiaguan and sighed: "If the Shu army had not been slack in defense, they would have to attack Zhangjiaguan, and I don't know how many people would die." Seeing that the terrain outside the gate of the village was flat, Hou Dayong ordered more than 200 Shu troops to dig a trench more than 20 meters long, two meters deep and five meters wide in front of the gate of Zhangjiaguan Village. He prepared wood and big stones on the village city, and readjusted the location of the two original bed crossbows inside the gate.
After Zhangjiaguan was successfully attacked by the Black Diao Army, more than 100 Shu troops were killed, and the rest surrendered. The Shu troops of Zhangjiaguan were all from Fengzhou. Except for the lieutenants who were killed, the soldiers were all children of poor families. They had long been dissatisfied with the heavy taxes, corvee and military service of Fengzhou year by year. They saw that the Black Diao Army was well-equipped and lived a good life. After digging the trenches, they all asked to surrender to the Black Diao Army and guard Zhangjiaguan with the Black Diao Army. Hou Dayong originally wanted to release all of these more than 200 people, but he was afraid of exposing the strength of the village. If they were all in the village, they would not only consume food, but also take care of people. It was really a burden. While he was hesitating, the Shu soldiers took the initiative to join the war, and Hou Dayong broke up more than 200 Shu troops and organized them into the Black Diao Army teams, which was specifically responsible for throwing down woods and stones.
In order to attract the main force of the Shu army, Hou Dayong raised the Black Diao Army's flag in the highest and most conspicuous place in Zhangjiaguan. When the Black Diao Army rushed to Qinzhou, it did not open the military flag to confuse the Shu army, which made the Black Diao Army's entire army depressed for a long time. When the Black Diao Army's flag fluttered in the wind at Zhangjiaguan, the Black Diao Army soldiers finally saw the long-lost military flag. The soldiers sang military songs and watched the military flag rise slowly, full of the pride of attack and invincibility.
The Black Eagle Army was fully prepared at Zhangjiaguan and was only waiting for the Shu army to attack.
The first one to arrive at Zhangjiaguan were the two thousand Shu troops in Guzhen. The Guzhen Shu troops did not know how many Zhou troops were in Zhangjiaguan, nor did they know the consequences of the Black Diao Army. After arriving at Zhangjiaguan, they did not set up camps and launched the first attack on Zhangjiaguan.
Hou Dayong stood on the wall of the village and saw only two thousand infantry of the Shu army. He ordered three hundred black eagles to go up to the wall of the village, and all seven hundred black eagles to ride on horseback and wait behind the gate of the village.
The Shu army soldiers held up a round shield and a long sword and approached the gate of Zhangjiaguan Village. The Shu army did not expect a trench at the gate, so they did not prepare wooden boards or other objects. Seeing that the trench was not deep, the Shu army general ordered the Shu army to continue attacking. When the Shu army climbed up from the trench, the round shield naturally did not use it, and the Shu army soldiers became the target of the black eagle army crossbowmen.
The Black Eagle Army crossbowmen were in a very happy mood on the wall of the village. They competed with each other and shot at the Shu army that was exposed from the trench.
Chapter completed!