Linqingguan, the target of Li Mi's thief army, was also fighting in full swing. When the envoys of the Eastern Capital came to Linqingguan on flying horses carrying Yang Tong's edict, Pei Renji, who was eager to repay Li Mi's kindness, had already taken Linqingguan first. The reinforcements led by Meng Shanyi, the prefect of Hanoi, arrived one step too late. Meng Shanyi had to lead his army to retreat to Xinxiang. Gong County in the north surrendered to Pei Renji, and Li Mi's rebel army successfully opened the gateway to the hinterland of Hanoi.
Then, when Pei Renji came to the city of Xinxiang, the envoys of Dongdu bit the bullet and read Yang Tong's imperial edict against Pei Renji in public on the city wall. He was also planning to let Li Mi's bandit army deliberately send the rumor to death, but it turned out to be counterproductive. After learning the content of the rumor spread by the Sui army, Pei Renji, who was furious, immediately launched an attack on the city, and almost broke the city of Xinxiang in the first battle. The reinforcements from the Huangtaoshu Department arrived in time and quickly entered the city to help Meng Shanyi defend the city, which barely withstood Pei Renji's attack.
Knowing that Pei Renji was powerful, Huang Taoshu only dared to defend the city and did not dare to fight. Pei Renji, who was familiar with the internal situation of the Sui army, never paid attention to Huangtaoshu. However, when Pei Renji organized the army to build siege weapons, Li Mi's special envoy Zu Junyan Pegasus rushed to the Xinxiang battlefield and ordered Pei Renji to retreat to Linqingguan on behalf of Li Mi. Pei Renji was furious when he heard the news, and asked face to face: "Doesn't Duke Wei believe me? Does Duke Wei believe those shameless rumors and think that I will deliberately let him go under his command?" Soldiers sent to die for nothing? Give me another three days, and I won’t be able to take down Xinxiang City within three days, so I’ll apologize to Duke Wei!”
"Don't worry, General Pei. Of course, Duke Wei believes in you, and he also knows that those shameless rumors are nothing more than Chen Yingliang's tricks." Zu Junyan explained: "The reason why Duke Wei ordered you to withdraw is definitely not because he doesn't trust you, but for the sake of the overall strategy. Li Yuan's army is heading south step by step, and Chen Yingliang's main force in the eastern capital is ready to send troops at any time. If you continue to attack fiercely at this time, you will only attract more enemies for us. Chen Yingliang will definitely personally raise the main force to fight Li Yuan, and after the Eastern Capital is empty, we can send troops to attack the hinterland of Hanoi, wouldn't it be much easier?"
"General Deben, the Linqing Pass is already in our hands, which is equivalent to opening the door to the hinterland of Hanoi. As long as Wei Gong is willing, our main force can go westward and take the whole territory of Hanoi at any time, but the time is not right now. If we temporarily retreat now, we will be able to obtain a more favorable strategic situation in the future, and this is what we are talking about when we take a step back."
Feeling that Zu Junyan's words were reasonable, Pei Renji was no longer upset, and immediately led his army to retreat to Linqing Pass. Before leaving, he deliberately burned a large number of siege weapons that were about to be created. After retreating, he immediately sent a fast horse to report the good news to Chen Sangliang. Chen Sangliang, who was in the eastern capital, was not only not happy when he heard the news. After scolding, Chen Sangliang, who didn't dare to move the main force in his hand, still had no choice but to watch Li Mi's bandit army entrenched in Linqingguan, looking down at the hinterland of Hanoi, pretending to be an ostrich and ignoring it.
Li Mi's side is still relatively reserved, knowing how to restrain and choose the right time, Chen Sangliang doesn't have to worry about it for the time being, but Zhiguan's side can't. In the face of the danger of annihilation of the whole army, he would definitely attack all the way. In addition, Chen Sangliang vaguely remembered that Duan Zhixuan seemed to be one of the famous generals of Lingyan Pavilion, so Chen Sangliang did not dare to place too much hope on his little cousin. I only hope that he can guard the Zhiguan and prevent the rebels from entering Hanoi to Amitabha. However, Chen Sangliang seriously underestimated his little cousin, his ability, and his self-confidence and self-motivation...
On the night of August 27th, although the night sky was clear and the stars were still dense, the waning moon was already like a thread, and the light was seriously insufficient. Riding on such fine weather, Li Yuan's rebel army, who had already believed that Dugu Wudu was about to surrender, dispatched troops at the second shift, led by Duan Zhixuan himself, with his deputy Tang Jian as the vanguard, and approached the west gate of Zhiguan overnight, while Zhang Daoyuan stayed behind for the time being. At the camp, at the third watch, the rear army was organized to advance eastward to meet them.
Of course, you can’t count on the cannon fodder with hoes and wooden forks to launch a surprise attack, so although Duan Zhixuan and Tang Jian brought only 3,000 troops this time, they are the core army of the rebel army, and the number is already the main force of the rebel army. Half of the soldiers, but it is convenient to bring the elite to attack. Not only are there few soldiers who are left behind, but the speed can also be guaranteed. In the middle of the third watch, Tang Jian and Duan Zhixuan arrived at the outskirts of Zhiguan one by one, lurking in the Outside the narrow and long pass intersection, wait patiently for the signal from Dugu Wudu.
The moon is dark, the frogs are singing, the night wind is whistling, mosquitoes are rampant, and fleas and bugs are crawling everywhere. After waiting patiently for nearly half an hour in such a harsh environment, the three thousand rebel soldiers have basically left lovely mosquito hickeys on their bodies. Finally, thick smoke and fire rose in the direction of Zhiguan, and shouts could still be heard vaguely. Duan Zhixuan and Tang Jian were both overjoyed to see Dugu Wudu kept his word and sent a signal. Immediately, Tang Jian led a thousand forwards to rush into the pass, and Duan Zhixuan, according to the prior agreement, led two thousand troops to station outside the pass, ready to respond Be prepared just in case.
The noise in the city of Zhiguan became louder and louder, and the sound of swords colliding could be vaguely heard. The striker led by Tang Jian became more and more confident. The city was already on fire, screaming and killing everywhere, and many soldiers of the Sui army were still fighting on the Guancheng, and one person was still shouting on the Guancheng: "Quick! Come up, our people are blocked from opening and closing the door, come quickly!" help!"
"Human ladder! Get on!" Tang Jian yelled without hesitation, and then yelled again: "Send a signal, tell the rear army to come in quickly!"
"Woo!"
The contact horns agreed in advance sounded continuously, telling Duan Zhixuan outside the pass that the chaos at Zhiguan was real. Hearing the sound of the horn, Duan Zhixuan, who was eager to break through the Zhiguan and reverse the passive situation, did not hesitate, and immediately shouted orders, commanding the army to rush all the way into the narrow pass road. At the same time, the rebel soldiers under Tang Jian also quickly formed a human ladder, biting their weapons and forcibly climbing the wall. The soldiers of the Sui army who were fighting with the traitors on the wall kept screaming, but they still stubbornly blocked the rebels climbing up. The rebel soldiers clasped their hands tightly to the rammed earth and cut down many walls, while the rebel soldiers with high morale persevered and continued to climb up one after another.
When Duan Zhixuan rushed to the pass with the rear army and was crowded with Tang Jian's front army, the rebel soldiers finally realized that something was wrong. The top of the wall sounded like shouting and killing, and swords and guns collided constantly, but they were forced to climb up. None of the rebel soldiers who climbed could rush up to the closing wall. All of them had their heads cut off as soon as they touched the arrow stack, pierced through the front door, and fell down the closing wall screaming. At the same time, the closing door remained motionless. No sign of opening.
"Boom!" The sudden thunderous explosion told Tang Jian and Duan Zhixuan that all this was a despicable trap. As a gunpowder bottle fell into the crowd of rebels and exploded, the high mountains on both sides of the pass suddenly shouted to kill. All around, countless rolling stones fell rumbling down on the heads of the crowd of rebels who were crowded in the pass, and the screams of dying were also heard in pieces among the crowd of rebels. What followed, of course, was Duan Zhixuan and Tang Jian's screams like killing pigs, "It's been tricked! Get out! Get out of the pass!"
withdraw? It would be nice if it was so easy to withdraw! At the same time as the rolling stone and wood fell, large bundles of firewood and countless lit torches rolled down the narrowest eight-meter position in the pass. , and soon a skyrocketing fire was ignited in the narrow part of the pass, and at the same time, arrows shot down on the closed wall, and gray bottles of sheep's head stones rained down like hailstones. Smoke burst into flames and fled in embarrassment. You pushed each other and trampled on each other on the narrow pass. Countless people died.
"Withdraw! Withdraw! Quickly withdraw!" Tang Jian's army, who had rushed the fastest before, was of course the last one at this moment. Seeing his own soldiers crowded into a mess on the pass, Tang Jian was of course sweating from his forehead, waving his knife just to urge the soldiers to hurry up. However, at this moment, a large sinful stone the size of a millstone suddenly fell from the sky and hit Tang Jian's sweaty head impartially, directly smashing Tang Jian's head into his neck, and then both the man and the horse were killed. He was smashed into a meat paste, and died so badly that he became the first general who died in battle since Li Yuan's rebel army rose up.
Miserable wailing sounded one after another in the pass, Duan Zhixuan was heartbroken, but he was at a loss what to do, he could only lead the remnants of the defeated general forward desperately, rushing through the fires of the Sui army, even his clothes and eyebrows were burned, but with the flames The black smoke rushed through the sea of flames, and just after leaving the valley, another Sui army shouted to kill from the direction of Guyuan City in the northeast. Duan Zhixuan did not dare to fight, and led the defeated army away. The former army was in ambush, and rushed to respond.
Pei Xingfang's overly cautious arrangement missed a great opportunity. Considering that the army's elites were too few and insufficient, and Zhiguan must not be lost, Pei Xingfang arranged all 1,000 elite soldiers in Zhiguan City, and only arranged for 1,000 soldiers. The recruits went out to ambush and let them intercept the fire signal after they saw the fire signal. The result made Pei Xingfang extremely regretful. Because of the lack of combat effectiveness and experience, although the recruits of the Sui army made some gains, they failed to kill the rebels. All the defeated soldiers were blocked within the narrow pass—no one can blame this. In order to prevent the rebels from noticing the existence of the Sui army's ambush, the Sui army's ambush could only be ambushed at a relatively far position, and it was difficult to completely block the pass in time. road exit.
Although Zhiguan also quickly dispatched troops to pursue it, it was still a step too late, allowing Duan Zhixuan's defeated soldiers to join up with the rear army first, and the Sui Army recruits who pursued them first were also unable to crush the large number of defeated rebel soldiers, so they could only stop the pursuit immediately. To avoid turning victory into defeat, in the end the Sui army only captured some wounded and fallen rebel soldiers in the final battle, and hacked some stubborn rebel soldiers into pieces of meat, failing to further expand the results of the battle. Duan Zhixuan He fled back to the Qiziling camp with the rear army in embarrassment, scolding the Sui army for being despicable all the way.
The final result made Pei Xingfang very regretful. Of the 3,000 elite rebels who attacked Zhiguan, the Sui army beheaded and took prisoners in total just over 1,600 people. They failed to achieve the set goal of completely annihilating the incoming enemy, so he personally led the army to come. The sneak attacking Duan Zhixuan also managed to escape, and only killed Tang Jian. This result made Pei Xingfang regretful and regretful, and couldn't help but shouted loudly: "It's a pity! I'm still inexperienced! If I Be more courageous, let the Bao Guo army also lie in ambush outside the pass! Why am I afraid of being seen through by the enemy, so I dare not ambush the elite soldiers outside the pass?"
Pei Xingfang got cheap in Zhiguan City, but his opponent Zhixuan yelled in the rebel camp. Hearing that Tang Jian died in battle, Duan Zhixuan burst into tears. While crying, he wanted to apologize to Li Yuan. Quickly grabbed Duan Zhixuan to persuade him, and said: "Army leader, it is his honor to sacrifice General Tang for the General. As the commander of the entire army, how can you give up your life to apologize for a small setback? The most important thing right now is How to break through Zhiguan! How to avenge General Tang!"
Duan Zhixuan, who was rated as a rogue in even the history books, would really commit suicide and apologize if he was a fool. There are only three options, one is to attack Zhiguan head-on, the second is to detour behind Zhiguan, and the third is to lure the Sui army out of the pass for a decisive battle.
The first and second choices were quickly rejected. Now that the reinforcements from the Eastern Capital have entered Zhiguan, it is almost impossible to break through Zhiguan head-on; V-shaped, the tip of the V faces west (interested friends can adjust the satellite photos to watch), and the nearby highlands have already been sentry posts by the Sui army. The rebels want to attack from the far north or south. To go a lot farther, first of all, you have to climb over a large undeveloped mountainous area. Even the elite soldiers are almost exhausted after walking this kind of road.
There was only the third option left, but how to lure the Sui army out of the decisive battle at Zhiguan made Duan Zhixuan and Zhang Daoyuan face a difficult situation, because they had already discovered that the enemy they faced this time was not only thick-skinned, but also extremely cunning It is not generally difficult to let such an enemy fall into the middle, so after discussing and discussing, Duan Zhixuan and Zhang Daoyuan have always looked at each other with big eyes, and no one can think of a reliable way to trick the main force of the enemy out of the pass. .
The luck of Li Yuan's rebels was indeed extraordinary. Just when Duan Zhixuan and Zhang Daoyuan were worried about not being able to lure the enemy to fight, another big pie fell from the sky—the Sui Army's coach Liu Changgong actually took the initiative to send envoys to fight. In the book, Li Yuan's rebels fought a decisive battle west of Zhiguan the next day. Although Liu Changgong's tone was very arrogant and his words were very mean and venomous, Duan Zhixuan and Zhang Daoyuan were overjoyed after reading the book, and immediately agreed to the decisive battle the next day, and immediately started to arrange the decisive battle for the next day.
In the early morning of the next day, the rebels who were eager to fight came to the appointed battlefield early, and lined up to wait for the Sui army to go out for a decisive battle. However, they waited for more than four hours in the wilderness under the sun from the early morning to the early morning. Duan Zhixuan and Zhang Daoyuan were puzzled, so they simply sent people to check the situation outside Zhiguan City, and asked Liu Changgong why he broke his promise? As a result, the answer given by the generals of the Sui Army almost killed Duan Zhixuan—the generals of the Sui Army replied: "Our General Liu has newly acquired a beautiful girl named Li Yueru, and she is sleeping with her. I don't have time today, and I want to fight decisively." Waiting for tomorrow, the old place, it's still a quarter past time!"
Duan Zhixuan was almost pissed off by this answer, but Zhang Daoyuan, his deputy, was so mad by the answer on the spot, he was about to go to Sui Jun with a knife in his hand, but Duan Zhixuan quickly pulled him back, and it took a lot of effort to ask him to understand The reason—it turns out that Zhang Daoyuan's mother happened to be called Li Yueru. Duan Zhixuan was dumbfounded, and finally couldn't help yelling, "Damn it, everyone in Taiyuan called me a scoundrel. Compared with Liu Changgong, I'm definitely a gentleman!"
(Liu Changgong: Bah! I am also a gentleman! I was not the one who came up with this bad idea, and it was not me who asked Zhang Daoyuan’s old lady’s name from the mouth of the captive!)
Being slapped down viciously by the even more rogue Sui army in the eastern capital, the rebel team, which had been in the sun for more than four hours, could only return angrily. The generals were angry, the soldiers complained, and their morale values plummeted. But the matter is not over yet. Not long after the rebels retreated, some Sui army cavalry came out of the customs, ran to shout and provoke, and called Duan Zhixuan and Zhang Daoyuan's female relatives by name. When the rebels turned back in anger, the Sui army cavalry But he fled quickly, and kept shouting and provoking before leaving, asking the rebels to come back for a decisive battle the next day.
After successfully completing the task, the Qingqi of the Sui Army rushed all the way back to Zhiguan, and was followed by the rebels' pursuers again. Unfortunately, these pursuers were still a step too late to catch up. They watched the Sui army's cavalry flee into the pass. , and then he was shot with random arrows, and finally he could only leave cursing and hating. Seeing the red-faced and thick-necked rebel soldiers on the wall, Liu Changgong, Dugu Wudu and the others laughed wildly, and then hurriedly asked Pei Xingfang: "Brother Xingfang, what should we do next? Are we going to play the bandits again tomorrow?" once?"
"Duan Zhixuan won't be fooled again." Pei Xingfang shook his head, and said in a deep voice: "But I can be sure that the bandit army has been completely angered by us, and our opportunity to defeat the bandit army has come."
"How to defeat the enemy?" Liu Changgong and others asked quickly.
"Rooting the camp!" Pei Xingfang replied decisively: "Today is the twenty-ninth, the moonlight must be dim, and the main force of the bandit army was tricked into the wilderness by us and exposed to the sun for more than two hours. The physical exertion was serious and the morale was low. A great opportunity to rob the camp and destroy the enemy!"
"Brother Xingfang, although robbing the camp is a good way to win more with less, the bandit army may not be unprepared, and it may be difficult to succeed." Liu Heita reminded.
"I know the enemy will be prepared, so I plan to take three steps." Pei Xingfang replied: "The first step is to send a team of fast-running recruits out of the customs to rob the camp, deliberately revealing traces for the enemy to find, and then feign defeat." And let's go, the enemy has been completely enraged by us, and they are eager to fight, and they will definitely pursue them with all their strength!"
"Second step, Brother Liu, you lead our 1,000 elite soldiers out of the customs, and go to the southeast to lay an ambush ahead of time. After the enemy chases out of the camp, you lead your troops to attack the enemy's camp and burn the food and grass in the enemy's camp."
"The third step." Pei Xingfang turned to Zhao Yu, who was eager to try, and said with a smile: "Brother Zhao, the bandits are chasing us, and the elite soldiers must be the first. Stop the enemy's charging momentum, and then it's up to you. When the time comes, you suddenly reveal your white robe, and catch the enemy by surprise! Then we will counterattack across the board and smash the bandit army!"
Zhao Yu laughed, and Liu Heitai, Liu Changgong and the others also laughed, without saying a word, but they all gave Pei Xingfang a thumbs up.
After careful and careful preparation, it was midnight. A group of recruits from the Sui army who were specially selected to be good at running sneaked into Qiziling, pretending to sneak attack on the rebel camp, but deliberately exposed their traces for the enemy to discover. They were completely enraged and eager to fight. The rebels went out to fight, but before they could get close, the Sui army turned around and fled. Duan Zhixuan and Zhang Daoyuan relied on their strong troops and knew that there was no ambush ahead because of the open terrain, so they mobilized 20,000 troops to pursue them. Duan Zhixuan took the lead again. Lead the elite troops to pursue.
As soon as the fifth watch arrived, the main force of the rebel army pursued the Sui army to the wilderness west of Zhiguan. What made them ecstatic was that a large number of Sui army soldiers had already lined up outside the pass with torches. Duan Zhixuan was overjoyed, and personally led the army to attack Liu Changgong's commander-in-chief. However, what frightened the thieves was that the infantry of the Sui Army who lined up in front of Liu Changgong's commander-in-chief suddenly used the muskets that were only glimpsed in the Battle of Yanmen. Duan Zhixuan The cavalry led by surprise, and the horses under their crotches raised their hooves and stopped when they saw the muskets for the first time, and confusion suddenly appeared.
The rebels were still behind, the torches were shining, white robes were fluttering behind the muskets of the Sui Army, and suddenly the famous white-robed cavalry of the Nationalist Army appeared, and the musketeers scattered left and right, ready for a long time With the momentum of a fierce tiger descending the mountain, Duan Zhixuan, who had followed Li Erchong across the Daxing Sui Army in the Battle of Huoyi, had the courage to face the enemy, but he still couldn't stand the battle-tested Baoguo army. The army's iron cavalry attacked and was defeated and fled.
At the same time, Liu Heitai, a general of the Sui army ambushing in the southwest, also personally led Pei Xingfang's only 1,000 elite soldiers into the rebel camp. Fleeing on the road, Liu Heita's army killed people and set fire everywhere, igniting the grain, grass and vehicles of the rebel camp.
Seeing the fire in the rear camp, Zhang Daoyuan's team following Duan Zhixuan was in chaos, and hurriedly turned around to rescue the camp. Liu Changgong also took the opportunity to order a general attack. It is rare to personally lead the army to charge, and use the Baoguo army as the vanguard to pursue and kill with all their strength. Duan Zhixuan and Zhang Daoyuan, the morale of the rebel army collapsed, and the people from all over the country who had newly joined the rebel army scattered and fled for their lives. Liu Heitai, who had lit the rebel army's granary, also led his army to turn around and fight back. The Chinese army was completely defeated by the enemy. Duan Zhixuan and Zhang Daoyuan, who had no place to live, had no choice but to lead the remaining thousand defeated soldiers to Jiangjun. The Sui army in the eastern capital took the opportunity to recover Wangwu County and kill Xiancheng County The order completely resolved the crisis on the western front in Hanoi County.