Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1355 Breaking Through Tongguan Pass

In March, Northern Shaanxi.

Meng Qiaofang was only a step away from capturing Wubao, but after all, it was no match for the weather. Just when the Jin army was about to drive Wang Guangtai's more than 2000 remnants into the Yellow River, a large number of Ming Dynasty reinforcements, supplies, and money finally crossed the Luliang Mountains.

Since mid-February, the Ming army facing the Yellow River has sent reinforcements to northern Shaanxi at a rate of 2000 people or [-] grain ships every day.

The situation in northern Shaanxi has returned to the situation where the Ming army fought more and more. It is already impossible for the Jin army to seize Wubao Ferry, and it may be pushed back.

At the beginning of March, the Ming army at the ferry had recovered to 6000 people. Wang Guangtai began to organize troops to counterattack. The morale of the Jin army under the command of Meng Qiaofang was exhausted, and they were forced to retreat after a few days of fighting.

At this time, Li Laiheng from Wubao and Wang Yongqiang from Suide took advantage of the situation to fight back. The Jin army lost more than 2000 people and retreated to Yanchuan County in Yan'an Prefecture.

In mid-March, a garrison army of more than 5 people, under the leadership of Zhang Wenheng, the minister of the Ministry of War of the Kingdom of Jin, set off from Chang'an and marched northward to the boundary of Yan'an Mansion.

The military strength in Guanzhong was tight, and northern Shaanxi fell into a passive situation. After Meng Qiaofang set up camp in Yanchuan, he did not dare to ask Chang'an for support, because he knew that Tongguan and other places were also in a tense situation. However, he recently received news that Chang'an sent another [-] troops, which really made him happy.

Although the garrison army was like the guards of the Ming Dynasty, tens of thousands of people could be driven all over the place by thousands of regular officers, but at this moment, Meng Qiaofang was no longer picky.

He was walking back and forth in the camp that day when a soldier outside the tent reported, "My lord, Zhang Shilang from the Ministry of War has arrived."

"Please come in!" Meng Qiaofang said happily immediately.

Not long after, a man in his 40s walked in, saluted and said, "I have seen the prince."

"Zhang Shilang, don't be too polite. Did His Majesty send you to reinforce this king?" Meng Qiaofang eagerly stepped forward, holding his arm and asked, "How is the situation in Tongguan, Wuguan and other places?"

Zhang Wenheng didn't answer, but took out a secret decree from his sleeve and presented it to Meng Qiaofang, "Your Majesty, it's hard to explain in one word. This is a secret decree from His Majesty, you should read it first."

Hearing this, Meng Qiaofang accepted the secret order with some doubts, unwrapped the wax seal and took out the inner page to read, her brows furrowed.

After reading it, Meng Qiaofang didn't say a word, walked to the edge of the map in silence, stared at the map for a while, then turned her head and said, "Okay! This king knows what His Majesty means."

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Hanzhong, Nanzheng and Shuwangfu.

In January, Wu Sangui entered Huguang in one fell swoop, intending to strike first, defeat Hao Yaoqi, change the situation of Hanzhong being flanked by two sides, and reverse the situation in Hanzhong, but his attack did not achieve the intended goal.

Although Wu Sangui plundered Yunyang Mansion, seized a large amount of supplies, and even almost broke into Xiangyang, he still failed to defeat Hao Yaoqi's main force in the end, so he had no choice but to retreat to Guanzhong.

The Ming Dynasty was strong, and small local failures and material losses would not affect the overall situation.

As soon as Wu Sangui retreated, Hao Yaoqi followed and recovered the entire territory of Yunyang, and then the army entered Hanzhong, and did not venture deep into the Baihe Xiazhai in the east of Xing'an Prefecture. They steadily set up solid camps and slowly moved forward. .

Time entered February, and the snow on Daba Mountain had just melted. He Tengjiao, who was gearing up, urged Ma Jinzhong to lead the Sichuan Ming army to attack Hanzhong in three ways.

The Ming army sent 2 troops each way. Ma Jinzhong went out of Jinniu Road to fight to Pingyang Pass, Wang Yuncheng went out of Micang Road to attack Qingshi Pass with [-] people, and Bai Wenxuan went to Lizhi Road with [-] troops to attack Baxian County.

Nearly 12 Ming troops attacked Hanzhong from multiple directions, and the Jin army was in a hurry everywhere. However, Wu Sangui didn't like passive defense, so he didn't divide his troops to intercept. A group of 6 people are mainly cavalry, and they are gathered together to prepare for who will fight whom, and break them one by one.

At the end of February, Wu Sangui deliberately let go of Qingshiguan, led Wang Yuncheng's troops forward, and then defeated Wang Yuncheng in the middle reaches of the Laozhu River. Back to Qingshiguan line.

He Tengjiao was very urgent at first, but after seeing Wang Yuncheng being defeated all the way, he became more cautious. The Ming army did not dare to go deep into the lone army, so they moved steadily and steadily.

At this time, the situation in Hanzhong, the Ming army was like a pack of wolves surrounding a fierce tiger.Although in terms of overall strength, the Ming army was stronger than Wu Sangui's Jin army, none of the troops dared to go up alone for fear of being scratched by the tiger or even killed.

However, although Wu Sangui deterred the Ming army attacking Hanzhong, the overall passive situation did not change. The various ministries of the Ming army marched steadily and steadily, only walking more than 30 miles a day. step closer.

By March, more than [-] people from Hao Yaoqi went to Hanyin, Bai Wenyuan went to Sishang, Ma Jinzhong went to Da'anyi, only [-] miles away from Dingjun Mountain, Wang Yuncheng regrouped at Qingshiguan, and headed south again Zheng approached.

These Ming troops built forts and forts all the way, and advanced slowly. Once they found Wu Sangui's main force, they immediately nested in a strong camp, while the other groups took this opportunity to advance forward.

In mid-March, as the various Ming armies approached Nanzheng, the wolves had already surrounded the tigers, forming a group attack.

At this time, Hanzhong Nanzheng, in the Shu Palace, Wu Sangui read a secret decree, raised his head with a sullen face, "The emperor wants me to lead the army to retreat from Dashan Pass to the pass, and participate in the ambush against the king's thief. look?"

"Withdraw to Guanzhong?" Wu Guozhu and the others couldn't help but change their expressions, "Isn't that equal to giving up Hanzhong?"

Many generals of the Wu army in the festival hall began to discuss.They withdrew from Sichuan to Hanzhong, and managed Hanzhong from scratch. They had just managed a foundation, and after only a few years, they were about to withdraw to Guanzhong again.

Wu Sangui looked at the secret decree again, raised his head and said: "The imperial court has sent [-] troops to Nanzheng, intending to use them to replace the king."

"My lord, what's the use of stationing an army? Once we leave, Hanzhong will definitely be lost." The generals below obviously didn't want to leave Hanzhong.

Wu Sangui did not refute, but nodded, "It is true that the Tunjun cannot be relied on, but now that Hao Yaoqi and He Tengjiao are approaching step by step, it is not good for us if the war continues like this, and if Guanzhong is defeated, then we will be trapped to death." Hanzhong."

The tragedy of Wu Jun is that the fate of Hanzhong is not in their hands, but depends on the result of the duel in Guanzhong.Even if Hanzhong defeated the Ming army and the Guanzhong Jin army was defeated, they would still be defeated.

The officers and men of the Wu army have been operating in Hanzhong for many years and have settled down. Now they are going to abandon their homes and businesses. Everyone is a little reluctant, and they all fell silent.

······
In mid-March, outside Tongguan.

Under the reflection of the setting sun, Tongguan's city wall was riddled with holes, the old wall collapsed everywhere, and the new wall was bombarded by heavy artillery at the place where the old wall collapsed, and many wall stacks were destroyed by shells.

Over the past few days, various ministries of the Ming army took turns to fight, like waves, attacking Tongguan again and again.Although they did not capture Tongguan, they had already put the Jin army in jeopardy, and it would be a matter of time before they broke the pass. All the generals of the Ming army did not doubt this.

On this day, Li Yuanyin came outside Wang Yan's tent and asked the guards, "Is the supervisor in there?"

"Going to see the wounded!" The guard replied, but then suddenly pointed to the distance, "I'm back!"

Li Yuanyin turned around and looked, only to see Wang Yan riding back on his horse. He hurried forward and saluted: "I see the supervisor!"

Wang Yan reined in his horse, got off the horse, and nodded, "Did Uncle Yuan come here on purpose to wait for Gu?"

Li Yuanyin followed him, walking into the tent, and said, "I am indeed looking for the state supervisor for something."

Wang Yan entered the tent, took off his golden helmet, untied his treasured sword, handed it to the guards, and then sat back in the commander's desk, before replying: "Do you have any ideas about tackling key problems? Uncle Yuan can speak directly."

Li Yuanyin immediately said: "Jianguo, the attacks in the past few days can be said to be violent. Zhongyong Town even completely occupied the old wall for a while, but in the end it all fell short. I think the key is that the Jin army blocked the door, and our army failed to attack the new wall. It was caused by opening a gap and allowing the army to swarm into the pass."

Wang Yan poured himself a glass of water, took a sip, motioned Li Yuanyin to sit down, and then nodded, "I remember Uncle Yuan said this before. Why, what can you do?"

Li Yuanyin quickly took out a picture from his chest and laid it out in front of Wang Yanshuai's case. Wang Yan glanced at it and saw that it was the defense map of Tongguan. He immediately became interested, put the teacup aside, and looked carefully.

Li Yuanyin pointed to the blueprint, "Please look at the supervisor. We thought that Tongguan had two walls. The old wall was blown up, and there was a new wall. In addition, the blasting of the old wall was not successful, so we terminated the plan to blow up the city."

The Ming army had only a few ways to deal with Jiancheng.The soft method is to recruit and surrender, and disintegrate the enemy from the inside. The hard method is to bombard the city and then dig tunnels to blow up the city.

Wang Yan frowned, "That's what happened. There was an explosion at the end of last year, but Tongguan was reinforced by the Jin Army, so the explosion was not successful. In addition, the old wall was blown up and there was a new one, so the tunneling stopped. Come down." Wang Yan looked up at Li Yuanyin, "Why, Uncle Yuan wants to blow it up again?"

Li Yuanyin knew that the previous explosion made Wang Yan lose confidence in the bombing of Tongguan, and quickly explained: "Jianguo, I really want to blow up again, but it is not the old wall, but the new wall." Li Yuanyin hurriedly pointed Drawings, "The old wall has collapsed in many places, and there is no need to bomb it again. Zhongyong Town completely occupied the old wall yesterday, which also shows that the old wall is not a problem. The key is the new wall behind. It has not been directly bombarded by artillery, so the wall is still intact." Relatively complete."

Wang Yan took a sip from the water glass, remained silent for a while, and then asked after a while, "Tongguan is extremely strong, and the effect of blasting the old wall in front is not obvious. Can the new wall be blown down?"

Seeing that Wang Yan was obviously moved, Li Yuanyin hurriedly said: "Please look at the supervisory country. The new pass city was built by the Jin Kingdom in the past two years. It is taller than the old pass city, but it is much narrower. I think you can give it a try." I thought that Jin Guo built such a pass city in such a short period of time, it must not be as strong as the old pass city, and the new wall was built behind the old wall, so it would not have to withstand shelling. I believe Jin Guo never thought about building it so strong .”

Wang Yan thought for a while, anyway, there are many soldiers in the Ming Dynasty, and the material resources are also sufficient, so why not give it a try?Thinking of this, Wang Yan couldn't help but nodded, "Okay, then Uncle Yuan will fry it again."

After Li Yuanyin took the order, the Ming army began to dig the ground again, but during this period, the Ming army's attack on Tongguan did not stop.

The Wuzhong Army, the Wuwei Army, and the Zhenwu Army should all be training troops, attacking in turn, and exhausting the Jin army in the form of wheel battles.

On March 25, the Ming army continued to attack the city. With the sound of war drums, nearly ten thousand soldiers rushed towards Tongguan under the cover of artillery, carrying equipment.

At this time, Li Yuanyin had dug the tunnel to the foot of the new wall and buried the gunpowder.

Just as the Ming army and the Jin army were fighting to the death on the battlefield, an earth-shattering explosion sounded from under the new wall. The violent explosion caused billows of smoke and dust to fly, and gravel flew across it, tearing people's liver and gallbladder, and the momentum was terrifying.

The morale of the soldiers of the Ming army was greatly boosted, and before the gunpowder smoke cleared, they rushed over the old wall to the explosion site, but after rushing closer, they found that the gap was not big, only about three feet.

The Ming army and the Jin army were fighting to the death here. Tang Tong, Bai Guangen and others went into battle in person, and blocked the Ming army that had already charged up the new wall.

The Jin army managed to hold the pass, but although the Ming army did not break through Tongguan, it was the closest to breaking the pass, which really scared Tang Tong.

After the battle, Bai Guangen, covered in blood, followed Tang Tong and returned to the big tent.

"It's impossible to go on like this, it's too dangerous, and the casualties are too great." Bai Guangen threw his helmet on the seat, "If the Ming army comes again like this, we may not be able to withstand it."

Tang Tong put the helmet aside, supported the handsome case with both hands, and buried his head between his arms. He was silent for a while, then suddenly raised his head, "Your Majesty's plan should have been almost implemented, we are holding on for a few days, As soon as the order comes, withdraw immediately..."

The attack of the Ming army was thwarted again, but the Ming army was not discouraged. Instead, they fought more and more courageously. They had already smelled the breath of victory and realized that the Kingdom of Jin was about to be overwhelmed.

After the attack on the 25th, Wang Yan called all the generals to discuss matters, summed up his experience, and when preparing for the next attack, he made the final decision and kicked through Tongguan.

Liu Fangliang was the first to speak, "If the gap is bigger today, we will rush in. I suggest that the tunnel can continue to be dug, and one or two places will be blown up, and we will definitely be able to rush into Tongguan."

Zhang Mingzhen also said: "We have a lot of people. I suggest that several tunnels can be dug together. As long as one tunnel is successful and the Jin army does not find it, and another one is blown up, we will definitely be able to break into the pass."

Wang Yan listened to everyone talking, and most of them felt that the tunnel was dug well, and they agreed to continue to bomb the city, "Since this is what he meant, then Uncle Yuan will continue to dig the tunnel, but the attacks of the ministries should not stop, but the intensity of the attack can be Lower it."

"I understand!" All the generals took orders.

Wang Yan nodded slightly, and then asked: "By the way, has the grain and grass from Jiangnan arrived?"

"Reporting to the supervisor, a new batch of military rations is already on the way, and we can arrive in Luoyang within five days." Li Suiqiu got up and saluted.

Wang Yan nodded, "Guanzhong is in a food crisis. After we enter the customs, if we want to gain a firm foothold, we have to distribute food relief."

"Food is the heart of the people. I know the importance and must ensure that the food is delivered on time."

After hearing this, Wang Yan was basically satisfied. He had plenty of soldiers and food, and he had no new problems.After the decision was made, Wang Yan ordered everyone to go back separately, and only waited for another bombing before concentrating on capturing Tongguan in one fell swoop.

Li Guo and the others went out of the tent one by one, but when they reached the gate of the camp, a cavalryman with an urgent flag on his back galloped to the front of the camp of the Chinese army and shouted loudly: "There is an urgent military situation, and the supervisor must be notified immediately." .”

Li Guo and the others who came to the gate of the camp were taken aback for a moment, and couldn't help asking: "What military situation?"

"Sun Dudu crossed the river from Pujin Pass, and has entered the pass!" The soldier said, and was led by the officers in front of the camp gate to Wang Yan's tent.

"Where is Sun Shoufa entering the customs?" Everyone was in an uproar, and they turned back to Wang Yan's handsome tent.

In the tent, Wang Yan held the military newspaper to watch. The soldier who delivered the letter knelt on one knee in the tent, and many generals around held their breath, waiting for Wang Yan to finish reading.

The 30 Ming troops in Henan did not enter the pass, and Sun Shoufa of Pujin Pass had less than 2 feints. How could he enter the pass?This is too damn incredible, too surprising.

Wang Yan looked it over quickly, and waved the soldiers to retreat, "You have worked hard all the way to send the letter, go down and rest first."

As soon as the soldiers retreated, Wang Yan immediately said to the crowd: "Sun Shoufa has already crossed the river from the pontoon bridge and occupied Zhaodu Town and Jixintan on the west bank of the Yellow River. He is going south to capture Sanhekou, cross the Weishui River, and encircle Tongguan."

This should be a happy thing, but the faces of the generals in the tent are not good-looking. They have been attacking head-on for so long, and the credit for getting it, why did it fly into the hands of Sun Shoufa?

"Jianguo, how did Dudu Sun cross the Yellow River?" Li Guo couldn't help asking with a frown.

Wang Yanneng sensed the emotions of the generals, "After Li Laiheng occupied northern Shaanxi, Meng Qiaofang assembled an army of 1 to counterattack and transferred 6000 from Tongzhou. We stormed Tongguan, but Tangtong couldn't stand it. [-] people were dispatched to support Tongguan. Sun Shoufa found that the number of Jin troops on the other side had decreased, so he asked people to use sheepskin rafts to cross the river from the upper reaches. Then cross the Yellow River."

Everyone's aura was vented. If this is the case, it is really possible. The Jin army fortified everywhere, and the troops were dispersed. If the east wall is torn down to make up for the west wall, there will always be problems.

It's just that everyone thought that the duel was at Tongguan, but unexpectedly, there were key changes elsewhere.

"Jian Guo, if this is the case, then we can't wait for the tunnel to be dug, we have to attack immediately, even day and night." Li Guo was silent for a moment, then suddenly cupped his fists and said.

Wang Yan came to his senses, "It's because I'm afraid Tang Tong will run away!"

"If Sun Shoufa captures Sanhekou, crosses the Weishui River, and outflanks Tongguan, Tang Tong will definitely flee when he gets the news!" Liu Fangliang also agreed with Li Guo's opinion.

Wang Yan nodded, and was about to say something when the curtain was lifted suddenly, and a member of the Ming Dynasty suddenly entered the tent to report: "Jianguo, there is something strange happening at Tongguan!"

Hearing the words, Wang Yan couldn't help punching the table, "The Zhongyong and Zhongzhi armies organize an attack immediately, don't leave Tang Tong!"

(Because of the title, Tongguan must be broken, and two chapters will be released in one chapter, and there will be no more tonight.)
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(End of this chapter)