However, under this ruthless attack like locust arrows and stones, the more than a thousand surviving elite soldiers of the "Dangshiying" did not take immediate action, but took a short rest in the Tongguan gate, as if they were making some preparations.
On the west side of Tongguan Pass, the imperial guards who were originally lying at the gate and blocking the formation were finally dragged up from the ground and sent to the back to rest. The rest of the imperial guards immediately redeployed their formations under the command of officers at all levels, intending to line up at the gate and block the Youyan army from entering the capital.
At this moment, a deafening "crackling" sound suddenly came from the Tongguan Gate. This sound was familiar yet strange, with a slightly cheerful rhythm, which was totally inconsistent with the solemn atmosphere of the battlefield.
The soldiers of the imperial guards who were still lining up in formation stopped to watch. Even the generals, such as the lieutenant, inspector, and lieutenant general, who were commanding the formation, had never encountered such a thing on the battlefield before. They forgot to issue orders and stared at the situation ahead with wide eyes.
Suddenly, twenty or thirty horses rushed out of the dark gate of Tongguan, trampling like crazy on the imperial guards who had not yet completed their battle formation. The strange sound was the explosion of firecrackers tied to the tails of these horses.
It turned out that Zheng Rong and Zhongli Kuang found inspiration from Qiu Yi's use of explosives to blow up the Jianchun Gate in the capital.
Although they could no longer use gunpowder to blow up the entire Tongguan, they thought of using firecrackers - they tied firecrackers to the horses' tails, lured the horses to go crazy, and sprint forward, using them as vanguards to be the first to carve out a clear area.
This group of horses galloped forward, neighing at the top of their lungs, and rushed without hesitation into the formation of the imperial guards, which had not yet been neatly arranged.
The imperial guards guarding the capital Luoyang, although well-fed and well-equipped, had little actual combat experience, so where had they seen such a scene? However, they knew that the impact of a horse running at full speed was too great for the human body to withstand, so they fled to the sides and rear, and their formation was in chaos.
The elite soldiers of the "Dangshiying" took this opportunity, followed closely behind the mad horses, rushed out of the Tongguan Gate, holding strong shields and sharp spears, and fought with the imperial guards behind the pass - the Youyan army finally set foot on the land of Kinki.
The soldiers of Youyan usually fight against the fierce and barbaric Turkic cavalry. In field battles, they are not only powerful but also have unparalleled experience. A mere thousand elite soldiers are like a steel needle, inserted into the formation of tens of thousands of imperial guards.
Their courage and fearlessness were so great that even the enemy's old general Bai Wenbo, who saw them from the top of the wall, was filled with admiration.
Zheng Rong and others outside Tongguan were also not idle. Seeing a breakthrough in the war, they immediately commanded the troops to charge into the gate in an endless stream.
In just a moment, the battle situation on the west side of Tongguan had taken on the shape of a man clasping his hands together - the fist in his right hand represented the elite soldiers of Youyan; the palm in his left hand represented the imperial guards - no matter how wide or thick this palm was, it would not be able to withstand the repeated impact of the fists over time!
In addition, the remaining nearly 100,000 Youyan troops had already assembled and were advancing towards Tongguan from all directions, and were about to break into Tongguan.
The old general Bai Wenbo was at the top of Tongguan, and he saw all the changes in the war. He had been in many battles and was well-known for his ability to defend the city. He knew at a glance that the Youyan army had already made a breakthrough, and if he did not take countermeasures, he would inevitably suffer heavy losses.
So he shouted loudly and ordered, "Split the soldiers on the wall into two, and attack from both sides!"
At Bai Wenbo's command, half of the soldiers on the east side of the Tongguan wall who were trying to prevent the Youyan reinforcements from entering the pass ran to the west side of the pass wall and shot at the Youyan army who were fighting with the imperial guards at the pass.
These Youyan soldiers were so focused on fighting the endless imperial guards in front of them that they were not prepared for the attack from above their heads. Under such an unexpected attack, a large number of them were knocked down in an instant. The territory that they had fought hard for was temporarily shrunk, and the war suddenly came to a stalemate.
At this moment, Zheng Rong, Zhongli Kuang, Zheng Sen, Zheng Miao, Cui Nan, Wei Hu and other senior Youyan officers have all arrived at the rather large town west of Tongguan. Zheng Rong specially requisitioned the tallest restaurant and set up a central army command post on the top floor to directly command this operation.
Seeing that the battle was not going well on the top floor, he frowned and ordered, "Cui Nan, go down and take a look. Why haven't they passed Tongguan in half an hour?"
Cui Nan, who had been appointed as the general to suppress rebellion by Zheng Rong, remained taciturn. He just said "hmm", put on his armor, picked up his saber, and went downstairs.
Not long after, one of Cui Nan's personal soldiers came upstairs and reported, "Your Highness, some soldiers guarding Tongguan abandoned the east and attacked our army from the west. Our army suffered heavy losses, so it is difficult to advance for the time being. General Cui has stayed inside the gate to command the battle."
Zheng Rong knew that he had no other general who was better at attacking than Cui Nan, so he said to the messenger, "Go tell General Cui that he will handle all military affairs at the front. We must break through Tongguan as soon as possible!"
He then said to his two sons, Zheng Sen and Zheng Miao, “There are only so many soldiers on the Tongguan wall. If we send some of them to attack the west, the frontal force will be weak. You should quickly mobilize the army and bring siege equipment to support us. Don’t make any mistakes!”
Zheng Sen and Zheng Miao hurriedly stood up, bowed, and went downstairs.
Zhongli Kuang sat next to Zheng Rong, holding the folding fan that never changed in his four seasons, and suggested, "I see that this building is only a hundred or two hundred steps away from the Tongguan city wall. Your Majesty, why don't you send a powerful crossbow up to the building and snipe at the imperial officers and soldiers on the wall to enhance your power?"
Zheng Rong thought for a moment and said, "What you said makes sense."
Then he turned around and ordered General Wei Hu, "Go and get ten sharpshooters up here right now."
Wei Hu stood up and agreed. As he walked downstairs, he said, "Your Majesty, and Mr. Zhongli are indeed very resourceful. Why didn't I think of this idea..."
He went downstairs mumblingly, and soon brought ten soldiers with powerful crossbows upstairs, saying, "These are all experts in shooting arrows from a hundred paces, please give them a try, Your Majesty!"
Zheng Rong saw that although these people were of different heights and faces, they all had piercing eyes and strong arms. He guessed that these people were all good fighters picked from a hundred, so he smiled and said, "Great! As expected, you are my Youyan elite soldiers. No need to be polite! You can shoot here with your crossbows. If you kill a court soldier in the pass, I will reward you with one ounce of silver. If you kill a general, I will reward you with one ounce of gold!"
The crossbowmen were already very happy to have the opportunity to listen to the instructions of King Zheng Rong of Youyan, and they were even more excited when they heard that the reward was so generous. So without saying a word, they immediately walked to the window of the tall building, drew their crossbows, aimed briefly, and shot at the wall of Tongguan.
There was a very clear and neat sound of crossbow strings being fired, and ten soldiers on the Tongguan Pass fell down. Three of them were hit in the abdomen by arrows, and when they bent over, they fell from the tall wall and were smashed into pulp.
The Youyan soldiers at the pass had suffered many losses at the hands of the government troops on the wall, so when they saw how powerful their own sharpshooter was, they all cheered loudly.
Zheng Rong was watching from the side and was also very happy, so he said: "Fight well for me. With such skills, you will have a chance to make a name for yourself in the future!"
Hearing Zheng Rong's encouragement, the ten crossbowmen became even more delighted and concentrated on shooting at the imperial officers and soldiers on the wall.
Although their shooting did not kill many enemy soldiers, it made the government troops cautious and their firepower was weakened. The Youyan army took this opportunity and continued to move closer to Tongguan.
Cui Nan's progress was extremely limited.
Following the order of Youyan King Zheng Rong, Cui Nan personally braved the arrows and stones to rush to the gate of Tongguan. After getting a rough understanding of the situation, he made a prompt decision - to let the soldiers in the back row hold up their huge shields like umbrellas to protect the heads of their comrades fighting in the front row, so that they could fight the enemy in front of them without worry.
Cui Nan started out as a mere private and fought his way up through the ranks. Even after being promoted to an anti-rebel general, his spirit of leading by example did not diminish in the slightest.
Cui Nan, who was not good at speaking, knew in his heart that it would be better to boost morale if the commander and ordinary soldiers stood on the same front to fight the enemy than making long motivational speeches.
So he made some brief deployment, then picked up his dagger, and under the protection of three or two personal guards, led the soldiers holding huge shields, rushed out of Tongguan, and engaged in a melee with the court officials and soldiers.
When the Youyan soldiers saw that their commander was willing to risk his life and that they had protection over their heads, their morale was immediately boosted. They cheered up and stepped forward to continue fighting with the imperial army.
Even so, the imperial army still had an unshakable numerical advantage. Veteran general Bai Wenbo continued to deploy troops on the wall, trying to further consolidate and utilize this rare advantage so that the Youyan army could no longer advance.
If there are no unexpected changes, this majestic Tongguan will still be an impenetrable barrier protecting the capital city of Luoyang, just as it has been faithfully guarding the vital heartland of the Han Dynasty for nearly three hundred years.
However, at this moment, the situation on the battlefield changed unexpectedly.
The imperial guards, who had originally planned to rely on their numerical advantage to continuously send troops to block the Youyan army, seemed to have lost their strength and no longer fought bravely. Their formation became increasingly disorganized, as if they had lost the motivation to fight the enemy, and their front line was gradually eroded by the Youyan army.
The old general Bai Wenbo could see clearly from the top of the wall and immediately noticed the changes. He quickly ordered his personal soldiers, "There seems to be something strange among our troops. Go down and take a look. What is going on? Report immediately!"
The soldier saluted, and after a while he came back, crawling, "General, Dai... Dai Luanxiang has arrived, and he said he has defected to King Youyan, and is inciting our reinforcements to defect in the battlefront!"
"What! Are you telling the truth?" The messenger spoke clearly and in a bright voice, but the facts he stated were so unbelievable that veteran General Bai Wenbo had to ask again for confirmation.
The soldier nodded and said, "I also thought it was just a trick by the Youyan Army to confuse the enemy, so I went to the rear army to check, and sure enough, I saw that it was Dai Luanxiang, guarded by a group of soldiers, shouting to our army. I have seen Marshal Dai before, so I won't make a mistake!"
Dai Luanxiang has always enjoyed prestige among the officials and soldiers of the imperial court. He has also been in charge of the imperial guards for a long time and has many younger subordinates in the army. If he instigates the imperial guards to rebel at this juncture, the war will inevitably quickly turn in a direction unfavorable to the officials and soldiers.
Even if the imperial guards did not listen to Dai Luanxiang and did not immediately counterattack, given the opponent's determination and combat effectiveness, if the government army's position loosened for a moment, the Youyan army would seize the opportunity and capture Tongguan in one fell swoop. Then the capital Luoyang would be exposed to Zheng Rong's blade.
Bai Wenbo was a veteran who had been through many battles. How could he not understand this? He knew that this matter must not be taken lightly, so he hurriedly arranged the defense of Tongguan and led 20 to 30 trusted guards to Xiaguan to meet Dai Luanxiang, who claimed to have surrendered to Youyan King Zheng Rong! (To be continued)