Royal road

The sound of horseshoes was as fast as thunder, and three hundred horses lined up neatly, galloping all the way.The Xiongnu cavalry has always been well-trained, let alone the elite of the royal court.Like a billowing dark cloud, a large cloud of dust was raised, heading towards the distant city gate.

This cavalry, starting from Lucheng, arrived at Taihang Pass in just two days.This is the main way to guard Taihangxing. As long as Taihang Pass is taken, another road from Sizhou to Bingzhou can be blocked.And Taihang Pass itself is not a strong city. If you come from the direction of Sizhou, the pass is placed on the Xingdao, so it can be said that one man is the pass and ten thousand people cannot open it; but if you attack from the direction of Bingzhou, it is just a small city. .Naturally, it is not difficult to overcome.

However, when the siege began, Liu Meng, the captain of Qianqi who led the team, discovered that this Guancheng was completely different from what he had imagined.

When the Xiongnu cavalry attacked the city, especially this kind of small town, they always used cavalry and archery to cover the infantry and attacked the top of the wall.The rain of arrows can make the soldiers on the wall have no time to take care of the attackers, and the cavalry who come and go quickly can avoid the opponent's counterattack in time, and are in an invincible position.With such a strong army, Liu Meng is confident that he can use a few waves of arrows to pry open the Taihang Gate.

Unexpectedly, this commonly used strategy will not work at all!On the originally low city wall, a layer of female wall was added, blocked by arrow stacks, so it was difficult for the flying arrows below the city to hit the guards on the city.What's more terrible is that five shallow ditches were dug in a row about a hundred steps away from the city, each only one foot deep, and the distance between them was less than five steps. It is easy for infantry to cross, but for cavalry, But it has become a trap that can break a horse's leg.

It is impossible to ride a horse across, and it is impossible to turn back easily.As soon as they came up, they broke six or seven horses on this shallow ditch.Taihang Pass was built on the mountain, and the terrain was inherently uneven, and it encountered such a defensive formation, which made it impossible for the cavalry to use it.

Liu Meng just thought for a while, and ordered his men to shoot outside the shallow ditch immediately.Unexpectedly, at this time, another city crossbow was shot from the watchtower in the pass!

The watchtower was very strange in style, standing on the city like horns, Liu Meng thought it was a hastily built watchtower, but unexpectedly there were more than one rhubarb crossbow inside!The four crossbows fired arrows one after another, the accuracy was astonishing, almost even his mount was hit by the arrows.

Shocked, Liu Meng hurriedly led his troops back five hundred paces away.At such a distance, cavalry and archery would not be able to reach the top of the wall anyway. Without cavalry cover, let all the soldiers dismount and attack the city?

Looking at the small city gate that looked like a hedgehog, the Huns Qianqi finally shook his head.This is definitely not the defensive style of the Jin army.Being in the rear of Bingzhou, any Xingdao defense should be aimed at the direction of Sizhou. Who would set up formations outside the city early to guard against sharp knives from behind?Being able to arrange such arrangements outside the city, and to target the cavalry precisely, proved that the people in the city had long been wary of their army coming.

With such rigorous preparations, if there were no more than a thousand men and a strong attack regardless of losses, it would be impossible to win.And now he doesn't have the capital to lose troops.

Turning his horse's head, Liu Meng ordered: "By way to Gaodu!"

The little Taihang Pass has become like this, the Gaodu City is the Taihang Xingwei City, so it is natural to investigate clearly.And now that the autumn harvest is approaching, if you take advantage of the unpreparedness and grab some farmers as pioneers and drive towards the city, relying on these people as a cover, it is also possible to capture the city gate.Gaodu City and Taihang Pass are the exterior and interior of each other. If Gaodu is attacked, will the defense of Taihangxing really not have a single soldier?As long as the opponent probes, they will naturally fight back and seize the pass!

However, when they arrived in Gaodu, what they faced was a scene even stranger than Taihang Pass.A large piece of grain in the field has not yet been harvested, but in the vicinity of more than ten miles, not even a single farmer has been found.I don't know when, all the people around Gaodu moved into the city.Facing the heightened and thickened city wall, it is simply whimsical for three hundred cavalry to attack it.

"Someone has found out our whereabouts! Where is the direction of the Liang Mansion? Is there any sign of troops being dispatched?" How could Liu Meng fail to detect the problem.But along the way, they didn't even see a bonfire, and they came at a gallop. How did the news reach Gaodu City?

"No!" The scout replied, "The gates of the Liang Mansion have been closed tightly, and it seems that martial law is also underway. Even the two nearby villages are closed."

As a general under Liu Xuan's command, Liu Meng naturally knew that Xiangguo was afraid of the Buddhist son of the Liang Mansion, so he took advantage of the time when the other party was abducted to the county, and came to attack Taihang Pass and surrounding cities.However, along the way, he was shocked.Where is this ordinary city?It was clearly a fortified city on wartime alert.It is impossible to rob, so the only way is to send heavy troops to guard around Liangxing and besiege Sima Teng's army who wants to return to Bingzhou.And this is not a decision that a mere Thousand Rider can make.

"Immediately report to Xiangguo that if you want to take the two cities, you must increase your troops." Liu Meng simply ordered.Then he glanced at the city behind him and snorted coldly.When he turned around and led five thousand troops, he didn't believe that he couldn't conquer the city!

"Others, quickly follow me back to the county." After seeing everything in front of him, Liu Meng made up his mind completely.This time, even if Yan Ji obstructed him, he had to kill that boy surnamed Liang!Apart from that Buddha, there is probably no one else who can cause such earth-shaking changes in the vicinity of Gaodu.Xiangguo's expectation is not bad, this son is really a serious problem!

With an order, the cavalry walked towards the way they came, just like when they came.Almost at the same time as the fast horse, the news was also sent back to the Liang Mansion.

"The Huns retreated?" The group of Huns walked so fast, which greatly exceeded Duan Qin's expectations.He originally wanted to hold back this fine cavalry from the county, but unexpectedly, the other party only dropped a few corpses in front of Taihang Pass, and then returned home neatly.

This is a full 300 people!If the lord has not successfully captured the county, it will be troublesome.

However, the opponent was a fast-moving cavalry, and even if he wanted to stop him, he didn't have enough troops.Without hesitation, Duan Qin ordered: "Send a letter to the sentry on the mountain to inform the lord as soon as possible about the return of the Huns cavalry."

The sentry post on the mountain is also a secret weapon of the Liang Mansion.On the peaks that can be seen, set up checkpoints and prepare several signals in advance.Once the enemy's situation is observed, the pines and cypresses at the door will be brought down to give a warning.Such three or five sentry posts can easily pass on news, and they are not as noticeable as Wolf Smoke.It is most convenient in the mountainous area near Liang Mansion.

It was precisely because of this that he was able to notify Guo County Magistrate Kaicheng to take in refugees from nearby villages more than half a day in advance, and to make preparations for Taihangguan.And now, he wants to use the same method to let the lord get the news as soon as possible.

I only hope that the lord can successfully win the pass, and then there will be spare power to encircle and suppress this group of cavalry!

■

The sky is gradually getting darker. In the middle of August, there should be a half moon in the sky, but tonight there are many clouds, covering the stars and the moon, making the surrounding fields pitch black.

On the top of the city, several torches were lit, dimly illuminating the figures of the guards.This is the first pass in Baixing, and it is also the strongest one.As long as there are hundreds of people defending, they can resist several times, which is more than ten times the force.However, in such a fortified city, those Xiongnu elite soldiers who had just captured the top of the city did not relax their vigilance at all.People are constantly patrolling the top of the city, guarding the road that was finally acquired.

Of course, they didn't see any enemies.

The mountains and fields are silent, it seems that all living beings have fallen into a deep sleep, only the small animals that occasionally pass by make rustling sounds.From Zishi to Yinshi, the moon sinks to the west, and even the elite soldiers of the Huns couldn't help feeling sleepy.At this moment, dozens of black shadows that were as thick as the night came straight to the city wall through the dense forest.

This is not easy to do.Even the elite soldiers of the Huns would turn their eyes away at night.This symptom is called "bird blindness". Therefore, every night, bonfires will be lit in the barracks to strengthen security to prevent disturbances among soldiers who are as blind as birds.Similarly, because of bird blindness, there are very few cases where night attacks can be successfully performed.If it weren't for the real elite soldiers, who would dare to lead a group of half-blind people to attack other people's camps?

However, this group of people walked very briskly, as if they could see things in the dark, and after only a moment, they came quietly to the corner of the wall.In the darkness, a pair of blue eyes with faint fluorescence looked over.Those eyes were very much like wolf eyes that would only appear in the wilderness, cold and sharp, without emotion.However, seeing these eyes, those around him will feel at ease, and find their own position just like a pack of wolves following the head wolf.

There was no need to issue an order at all, and the group of people moved.Surrounding the city wall, four tall and strong soldiers squatted down, and someone stepped on their shoulders and climbed up immediately.Just as he stood firm, someone climbed up again.The top of the wall is only two feet high and low, and the folded ladder hooked to the top of the wall with ease.

Yiyan grasped the arrow stack with his left hand, and the hand crossbow with the other hand, and with a sudden force with one arm, he jumped onto the wall!This was so unexpected that the sharp arrow pierced the throat before the soldiers on the wall could even react.At the same time, three similar arrows were shot out, and three more people fell to the ground immediately!

At this moment, the first warning exclamation sounded suddenly.However, Yiyan ignored it, and with a flick of his hand, the iron claw hook with the rope was firmly placed on the arrow stack.After the claw hooks were placed, the soldiers below the city began to climb, and in just one breath, the number of people climbing up the wall doubled.First the crossbow, then the knife, this group of fierce wolves easily crushed all the Xiongnu elite soldiers defending the city!

The whole city boiled up.There are constantly awakened soldiers who want to rush to the wall and destroy the enemy.However, after occupying the high ground, it was a surprise night attack, and those soldiers who carried out from sleep were not unable to stop Yi Yan and others.After a quarter of an hour, the city changed hands!

"Yingzheng, all the Xiongnu soldiers have been killed." A deployment approached and whispered.

"Very good. Choose twenty to keep up, and before dawn, we must capture another city pass!" Yi Yan shook off the blood on the blade, and replied in a cold voice.

Like a pack of tireless wolves, they attacked another city gate that was still sleeping!