It's time to take a look at the situation of the Wagang Army at Hulaoguan. For tonight's battle, the Wagang Army has made great efforts to prepare. The eight thousand main force will serve as the vanguard, with rich experience and strong combat effectiveness. The elite Qijun Sui army of the arresting army was able to fight. It was led by Wagang fierce general Shan Xiongxin and wise general Xu Shiji, and arranged a rear army of as many as 20,000, led by Zhai Rang himself. A large number of flying ladder sacks can be changed into a strong attack at any time. Basically, as long as there are no problems on Pei Renji's side, the Wagang Army will undoubtedly win tonight.
Around the first moment of Shenshi, Zhai Rang personally inspected the forward team as the main combat force, and because of the recent consecutive victories in front of the Henan capture army, the morale of the Wagang Army is indeed very high, which is reflected in the mental outlook. The man raised his head and chest, his waist was straight, his swords and guns were bright, and the flags were neat. Zhai Rang was very satisfied after checking it. He had to give a speech in front of the army to boost morale and morale.
"Brothers, today is a big day. Tonight, we will go all out to take down the Luokou warehouse! You must have heard how much grain is in the Luokou warehouse. The grain bags piled up are higher than Mount Tai! We Wagang thieves can eat for two lifetimes, and they can’t finish it! We have already arranged how to take down the Luokou warehouse. As long as you work hard to kill the enemy, the Luokou warehouse must be ours! Take down the Luokou warehouse, Each of you will be rewarded with one hundred shi of grain! Wagang will win!"
"Wagang will win!" the soldiers of Wagang who had been trained by Li Mi shouted in unison, their voices piercing the sky with extraordinary momentum.
Laughing with satisfaction, Zhai Rang ordered the army to disband and rest, and all the generals of Wagang also gathered in front of Zhai Rang and asked Zhai Rang whether he would send troops according to the original plan. The complacent Zhai Rang laughed again and said: "Then Of course, when Xu Shi is sending out troops to attack Pei Renji's camp, brothers Shan and Xu, remember, you just chase after Pei Renji, I'm the one who sweeps the camp and the battlefield, so you don't have to worry about it."
Knowing that Zhai Rang was greedy for money and wanted to make a small fortune in Pei Renji's camp, Shan Xiongxin and Xu Shiji didn't say much, they both agreed, only Xu Shiji asked: "Brother Zhai, has the person sent to contact Xiao Huaijing come back?" ? Is there any news from Xiao Huaijing?"
Zhai Rang naturally turned his attention to Jia Xiong, the deputy military adviser who was in charge of confidential affairs for him. Jia Xiong replied: "It's normal that he hasn't come back yet. The officers and soldiers have blocked the front road very tightly, and our messenger is disguised as a The common people sneaked into the official army camp, and they had to take the mountain road in the south to detour back and forth, which would take some time. But it doesn’t matter, they will definitely be back before dark.”
"Brother Xu, don't worry, nothing will happen." Zhai Rang said carelessly: "The tyrant only gave Pei Renji 30 days to get back to Hulaoguan, and there are only seven days left. Pei Renji also lost consecutive battles, except Surrender to us honestly, he has no other way to survive, and there will be no fraud."
"Pei Renji is not worth worrying about. As for those remnants and defeated generals in his hands, no matter what kind of tricks they play, they can't do anything to us." Xu Shiji said with a gloomy expression: "The ones worth worrying about are Chen Yingliang and Chen Gouguan. That dog official is too cunning. Hulao Pass is not far away from the battlefield, if he and Pei Renji join forces to play any tricks, we will be hard to guard against."
"Brother Xu was deceived by Chen Gouguan in Tongji Canal, right?" Zhai Hong laughed rudely.
Xu Shiji, who was poked in the old scar this time, did not sulk this time, but shook his head and said, "It's not that I'm afraid of being deceived by him, I'm really a little afraid of this scheming dog official, not to mention the one who died in his hands all these years There are countless soldiers in the rebel army, and they said that the last time they attacked Luokou Cang, what a great opportunity, but we were scared away by this dog officer, three men and three riders, and we had to be careful when dealing with such traitors. "
It was Zhai Rang's turn to look a little embarrassed. He was just about to scold Chen Sangliang, who cheated Hu Qingyise last time when he cracked down on fake golden flowers, but unexpectedly, a soldier rushed up to the general's platform and played to Zhai Rang Jishou: " Your Majesty, the messenger we sent to communicate with Officer Xiao Huaijing has returned and has entered the west gate."
"Great, bring it here."
When Zhai Rang was overjoyed, he quickly ordered to be summoned, and his own soldiers rushed away. After a while, the messenger who sneaked into the Sui army camp to contact Xiao Huaijing pretending to be a relative was brought to the school grounds. Pointing to the general's platform, another Wagang Army scout Pegasus rushed into the school grounds, and shouted from a distance: "My lord! Good news! The officer's camp has changed! There has been a big disturbance in the officer's camp!"
There is no commander who does not want the enemy camp to be in chaos when the two armies are facing each other. Hearing such good news, Zhai Rang ignored the messenger who had just returned from the mountain path, and asked the scout directly: "Official army Something happened to the camp? Report it quickly!"
"Your Majesty, great joy!" The scout clapped his hands before dismounting his horse, and said, "I don't know what happened to the officer's camp, suddenly there was a great chaos, countless officers and soldiers gathered together to make a noise, and even the scouts outside the camp withdrew back one after another. , Our brothers took the opportunity to inspect the official army camp and confirmed that the official army camp was in chaos."
"What's going on? Why is the army camp in chaos without fighting?" Zhai Rang Huanxi couldn't believe it was true when such a big pie fell from the sky suddenly. His first reaction was to analyze the sudden chaos in the Sui army camp. s reason.
"Could it be that something happened to Pei Renji?" Bing Yuanzhen came to the most likely conclusion, saying: "Pei Renji is going to surrender to us, if his subordinates refuse to obey, it is possible that Pei Renji failed to kill the disobedient subordinates immediately There was such confusion."
"Then why are you still in a daze?" Zhai Rang yelled without hesitation, "Hurry up, send troops immediately!"
"King Zhai, don't be fooled!" The messenger who was unable to speak before screamed like a pig, howling: "Your Majesty, don't be fooled! That's fake, it's the officers and soldiers trying to trick us out of customs! Chen Yingliang and Chen Gou The officer is here, Officer Chen Gou has already brought the army!"
"Chen Gouguan has come?!" The faces of all the Wagang generals present changed color, and they were extremely shocked. Only Mulan standing behind Shan Xiongxin had a flash of light in his eyes, and then the light quickly disappeared without a trace.
The courier who wasted a lot of time on the mountain road before returning did not dare to delay any longer, and hastily reported what he overheard in Xiao Huaijing's tent to Zhai Rang, Bing Yuanzhen and others in detail, and also reported to Pei Xingfang by the way The origin of his identity shows that Pei Xingfang is Chen Yingliang's closest distant cousin, and he accidentally slipped his mouth, revealing that Chen Sangliang brought 26,000 troops from the Eastern Capital this time. Of course, Zhai Rang, Bing Yuanzhen, Xu Shiji and the others became more serious as they listened to it, and became angrier in their hearts. Finally, Zhai Rang simply cursed: "Pei Renji, old man! How dare you collude with Chen Yingliang to lie to me? Cutting you into pieces, it's hard to get rid of the hatred in my heart!"
All the generals in Wagang agreed one after another, and they all scolded Pei Renji for being despicable and shameless, even using vicious tricks such as feigning surrender to lure the enemy. On the other hand, Xu Shiji, who had been deceived by Chen Sangliang before, showed suspicion and said, "Brother Zhai, wait a minute, something is still wrong. Since Chen Gouguan has already set up an ambush, why doesn't he let Pei Renji follow us?" The request to swindle defeat at night? Just come up with a new trick at this time to trick us out of the customs?"
Zhai Rang heard some doubts, but Jia Xiong, who was good at divination for Zhai Rang, thought he was smart and analyzed: "It is possible that Chen Yingliang's traitor wanted to play the trick more realistically, and asked Pei Renji to pretend that the camp was chaotic to lure the enemy in advance, so as to win our trust. Let's attack in advance without enough preparation, so that he can be more sure of defeating our Wagang Volunteer. If this is the case, the sky is getting late now, and we have to attack in a hurry. Even if we catch up to Luokoucang, it will be almost dark. This is the opportunity for the officers and soldiers to ambush us and defeat us."
Zhai Rang nodded his head when he heard it, and immediately felt that Jia Xiong's words were reasonable, but Xu Shiji was still full of doubts, and planned to suggest: "Brother Zhai, the enemy's situation is unknown, we can't attack at will, otherwise, let the army close the gate first. Gather up and wait for orders, and send more people to investigate the movement of the officer's army camp, if we have a chance, we will attack, if there is no chance, we will continue to retreat and stick to it, without delay."
Zhai Rang immediately adopted Xu Shiji's compromise idea. While sending a large number of scouts out to check on the situation of the Sui army, he ordered the army to gather inside the gate and at the same time personally led the Wagang generals to climb the wall of the west gate to observe from a high position. The movement outside the pass, the situation of the Sui army camp was immediately grasped, and the Wagang army's elite movements were also very fast. Not long after Zhai Rang and others climbed the pass wall, the main force of the 8,000 soldiers has basically assembled and can leave the pass to fight at any time .
Under such circumstances, if Pei Renji, who had abandoned the camp and fled for his life, could send the news to Hulao Pass as soon as possible, the Henan arresting army that hastily retreated was indeed doomed to be defeated by the Wagang Army. After leaving the camp, after taking an arc to the south where the terrain is relatively open, he indeed rushed to report to Hulao Pass in a roundabout way. However, it is a pity that at almost the same time, Chen Sangliang was in the Sui army In the tent, he promised some heavy rewards to one of Qin Qiong's soldiers, and also issued an order to him...
For Qin Qiong's personal soldier, Chen Sangliang's promise of promotion to three ranks and rewards of 100 guan is not easy to get, and he has to risk his head, because the Henan arresting army is already starting to abandon the camp and retreat. The scouts have also been ordered to return to the camp one after another, but the scouts of the Wagang Army immediately became rampant. This Qin Qiong soldier rode out of the camp alone according to Chen Sangliang's request, and went straight to the front of Hulao Pass to look for Pei Renji to carry out the order. The danger factor was extremely high. indescribable. As a result, it was no surprise that Qin Qiong's personal soldiers were only three miles east of the camp when they were immediately hunted down by the scouts of the Wagang Army.
Chen Sangliang caught the right person with a random grab. This Qin Qiong soldier, who Chen Sangliang didn't even have time to ask for his name, was not afraid to run for his life when facing the Wagang scouts. At the Prison Pass, the Wagang scouts chased after him and fired arrows, but they failed to stop him. The unknown hero just rushed all the way to the Hulao Pass, and in only ten minutes, he rushed straight to the Hulao Pass. Close the west door firmly.
It's a pity that this unknown hero not only failed to catch up with Pei Renji, but also attracted more Wagang scouts to block and chase after him. After firing all kinds of arrows, this Qin Qiong soldier was hit by an arrow, and he had to fight again. Turning around and fleeing back to the Sui Army camp, the Wagang Army scouts continued to chase, and Zhai Rang, Xu Shiji and others were also puzzled on the west gate of Hulao Pass. He ran back again after one lap, what did he want to do?"
Heaven pays off, this unknown hero galloped back for two or three miles, and was overjoyed. Just in time, Pei Renji was escorted by several Wagang Army scouts to Hulao Pass. With less than ten steps behind him, he went straight to Pei Renji and shouted loudly, "Marshal Pei, go back! Please go back! You can't come to feign surrender! You can't come to lure the enemy by feigning surrender! That would be death for nothing! Hurry up!" Run! I have received your great favor, and I will give you the queen!"
"Commander, let's go!" shouted, Qin Qiong's soldiers really came to save Pei Renji with swords, and the plan Chen Yingliang arranged for him also went wrong at this moment, before he pretended to be defeated and continued to escape, behind him An arrow pierced through the air, and it hit him right in the vest. The sharp arrow pierced his chest. He also carried his horse and died for the country.
Of course, the sacrifice of this unknown hero is not worthless. At least his cries were clearly heard by the Wagang scouts. The Wagang scouts who escorted Pei Renji not only immediately strengthened the custody of Pei Renji, but also saw him. When he arrived at Zhai Rang, he made a truthful report. As a result, Pei Renji, who came to surrender sincerely, could only end up crying without tears. Obviously, the camp of the Sui army was completely chaotic and vulnerable, but Zhai Rang and others did not dare to live or die. Immediately believing his words, they kept on questioning whether his visit was true or not, and inquired about every detail of the chaos in the Sui army camp, wasting countless time that was ten thousand times more precious than gold and jewels.
At the same time, thick smoke has gradually risen from the camp of the Henan arresting army. The soldiers of the Sui army set fire to the tents, luggage and food, while carrying only armor and weapons out of the camp to gather, according to the order arranged by Chen Sangliang Stride towards the direction of Luokoucang, start the great Sui version of the Dunkirk retreat, Chen Sangliang personally led Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong's two armies to the rear, regardless of everyone's persuasion and opposition, he insisted on walking in the Henan arresting army last digit of .
"I am your interim coach! Charge ahead and retreat behind. This is the responsibility of the commander! Go forward, I will be the last!"
This is the strongest voice that Chen Sangliang, the actor of the Sui Dynasty, uttered today. It moved the soldiers of the Sui army to tears, and also moved Luo Shixin, Qin Qiong and other Qi county elders to sigh and sigh. Following a coach like Chen Sangliang, but mistakenly following a coach like Pei Renji, wasted time and time, and suffered a lot.
After all, Chen Sangliang's hastily arranged plan to get rid of the golden cicada's shell has too many flaws. It can even be said that if Chen Sangliang had not been famous for being treacherous and notorious all over the world, it would be impossible for the Wagang Army to be fooled. He had great doubts, but after finding out the information that a large number of Sui troops had left the camp and assembled, and after listening to Pei Renji's swearing explanation, Zhai Rang finally ordered Xu Shiji and Shan Xiongxin to send troops to chase after the Sui army basically withdrew from the camp.
Facts have proved that Chen Sangliang's decision to give up all food, grass, and supplies was very correct. Without the fetters of heavy grain vehicles and supply vehicles, the soldiers of the Sui army who were lightly loaded into battle withdrew very quickly. Shan Xiongxin and Xu Shiji had no choice but to negotiate hastily. Shan Xiongxin led about 1,500 cavalry to pursue first, and Xu Shiji led the infantry to follow.
The Wagang cavalry quickly approached the rear of the Sui army, and the time to test Chen Sangliang's adaptability also came. With the morale of the army fluctuating and the command chaotic, Chen Sangliang decisively ordered the other troops to retreat to the Luokou warehouse at full speed, and he personally led the army. Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong's less than 2,000 troops fought hard to the rear, and retreated to Luokoucang.
During the pursuit battle, Chen Sangliang's commander-in-chief naturally became the key target of the Wagang cavalry, and the strong bows and crossbows of the Wagang army basically greeted Chen Sangliang. Chen Sangliang calmly commanded the battle and personally Draw a sword and participate in the battle—Although Yuchi Jingde has been guarding by his side, Chen Sanghao still put on a show. At the same time, the sky has no eyes, and the arrowheads of the Wagang Army have never been nailed to Chen Sangliang's vitals. Although he suffered certain casualties, Chen Sangliang led his army and successfully retreated about five miles away from Luokou Cang.
At this time, the rear army led by Xu Shiji had also chased nearby, but before Xu Shiji joined the battle, the 3,000 freshmen led by Ma Sanbao had already entered the joint of Xu Shiji and Shan Xiongxin's second army from the south, and a large number Using gunpowder bottles to destroy the Wagang Army columns—it’s a pity that when Li Mi was still in the Wagang Army, the Wagang Army had already obtained gunpowder bottles through special channels, and used them suddenly during the attack on Hulao Pass. I have known it before, so the effect of disturbing is not as great as before.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chen Sangliang also led his army to turn around and fight against the Wagang Army. However, the result of the scuffle was still equal and stalemate. In front of the elite Wagang Army with good combat effectiveness, the new force under Ma Sanbao did not take advantage of it. Fortunately, all the soldiers of the Henan arresting army retreated first and retreated to Luokou. After Cangcheng, Kan Leng also led 3,000 Mo Dao soldiers out to respond, and Chen Sangliang was able to escape from the battlefield and retreated to Luokou Cang under the cover of the Mo Dao soldiers lined up to intercept him.
Kan Ling's Mo Dao soldiers finally withdrew to the gate of Cangcheng. Although the Wagang Army tried to enter Cangcheng many times, they were all killed by Kan Ling's army. He retreated with great regret for losing the opportunity to defeat the enemy. He watched Chen Sangliang, who was full of crimes, retreat into Luokou Cang and hold on.
It was also when the Wagang Army retreated bitterly that under the guidance of He Yanyu, Chen Sangliang saw the flower-shaped flag in the Wagang Army's ranks. Looking at the flag in the light of the torch, Chen Sangliang was full of thoughts. Sudden sadness came from his heart, and he couldn't help crying loudly. Liu Changgong, He Yanyu and others beside him were shocked, and asked Chen Sangliang why he was sad, but Chen Sangliang ignored him, just raised his head to the sky, and shouted: "Marshal Zhang, I tried my best! But there is no way, there is too little time left for me, I still haven't been able to bring back all the soldiers you left behind, I'm sorry for you!"
Hearing Chen Sangliang's crying and mourning from the bottom of his heart, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin, He Yanyu and other Qi County elders all shed tears. Liu Changgong and others comforted him with kind words, but Chen Sangliang wiped away his tears and said with a choked voice: " The matter is not over yet, Pei Renji rebelled in front of the battle, and the Wagang bandits are more powerful. They will definitely attack Luokou Cang again, and immediately start to deploy the defense of Luokou Cang. I also want to report to His Royal Highness, gather troops and horses to help, and fight the Wagang Bandits to the death !"