In the valley a few miles away from Zikou Pass, two thousand Wei soldiers were lying on the ground in a state of confusion. They were all sweating profusely and panting, showing that their physical strength was extremely exhausted.

Zhang He was also sitting on a pine tree, breathing heavily, his eyes fixed on the beacon smoke rising from the valley to the north, with a look of reluctance on his face.

He led his troops to come for reinforcements. There were few stops on the way, but he arrived a step too late despite his haste. When he was about to arrive at Zikou, he suddenly encountered dozens of defeated soldiers. Only then did he learn that the Han army had rushed into Zikou Pass and killed them.

Most of the defenders, but only about a hundred people in the pass were still resisting to the death.

Zhang He was so angry and angry that he almost vomited blood. Fortunately, he was a general with both wisdom and courage. After venting his anger, he quickly calmed down and began to remedy the situation.

He originally wanted to take advantage of the Han army to break through the pass, but when his footing was not stable, he quickly led his troops to recapture the pass. Unexpectedly, he only walked half a mile away when he met several defeated soldiers who had escaped from Zikou Pass.

They heard the sad news that Qu Bin was dead and that the Han army had occupied the pass, and then they heard the cheers of the Han army that filled the sky.

At this time, the last glimmer of hope in Zhang He's heart was shattered. The Han army was outnumbered and their morale was high. At this time, it was no longer wise to lead the army to kill again. Zhang He had to order the troops to stop advancing. It turned out that

The ground rests.

Wei Yan saw that the enemy troops had not arrived for a long time, so he immediately sent his scouts to investigate. Only then did he know that Zhang He's troops had set up camp on the top of a mountain several miles away, and they would not kill Laizikou Pass in a short time.

So Wei Yan ordered Jin Jin to withdraw his troops, and asked his eldest son Wei Zhang to lead his troops to stay in the pass and resist defense. He himself led the rest of the troops to camp outside the pass, intending to rest for a night before attacking Zhang He's tribe.

Unexpectedly, on the second day, the scouts reported that Zhang He had led his men and horses to retreat to the south early in the morning. By this time, they had gone deep into the valley and were far away.

"Father, do you want to send troops to pursue us?"

Wei Yan shook his head: "No need, let Zhang He escape. Huh, this man has always been good at judging the situation. He knew that he would not gain anything by staying and fighting with our army, so he retreated to avoid our army's attack."

"Your Majesty, Zhang He must have wanted to wait for the large group of troops in Ziwu Valley to arrive before attacking Zikou." Mao Zhong, who was sitting at the lower left, analyzed.

Wei Yan nodded and said, "Yes, Zhang He must have had this idea."

"Then we just sit and wait for the Wei army to attack?" Wei Zhang said with a worried look on his face.

Wei Yan said: "Don't worry, Prime Minister Zhuge will not let Zhang, He, Cao Zhen and others get out of the valley easily. As long as we guard the entrance, it will be a great achievement. The nearly 100,000 Wei troops in the valley are not something we can handle with our small force."

Besides, there are still many Wei troops in Guanzhong that have not been wiped out, so our main focus should be on the north."

As soon as he finished speaking, a junior high school officer came into the tent and reported: "Report, Wei General Fei Yao has led thousands of cavalry to attack Zikou Pass from the northeast. We are now less than twenty miles away from our army."

"What am I talking about? The enemy troops in Guanzhong are enough to keep us busy." Wei Yan looked at Wei Zhang, and Mao Zhong and the two said: "Zhang'er stayed behind at Zikou. Uncle, let's go to meet with Cai Xiang first, and then

Let’s face Fei Yao again.”

Cai Xiang, Guanju Yamen General, was the deputy general of the Liangzhou Army and Mao Zhong's deputy. He was ordered to lead 3,000 troops to stay in the forest where Wei Yan and the others ambushed yesterday.

Half an hour later, Wei Yan and Mao Zhong led their troops to join forces with Cai Xiang and intercepted Fei Yao's tribe on the way. When the two armies met, it was obvious that there was a fierce fight.

Both sides were cavalry, and their strength was roughly equal, around five to six thousand men. However, the Han army had a slight advantage with hundreds more men.

In addition, the Han army's sharp horses made it easier to charge and kill. After half an hour of fierce fighting, the Wei army gradually became unable to resist and fell into a disadvantage.

Seeing that something was wrong, Fei Yao immediately ordered a retreat. Wei Yan led his troops in pursuit until they reached the gates of Chang'an City. Fortunately, Zhou Zhuo led his troops out of the city to respond in time, and Fei Yao's troops got rid of the Han army's pursuit and successfully withdrew into Chang'an City.

Even so, the Wei army suffered a lot of casualties in this battle. Of the 5,000 men and horses, only 3,000 at most had to flee into the city. The remaining people were either killed or captured by the Han army. It was considered a large force.

Lose or lose.

Since the division of troops, Wei Yan had won two games in a row and was extremely proud of himself. While he continued to lead his troops to form formations outside Chang'an City to frighten the enemy, he also sent envoys to Yang Qing's place in Huaili and Zhuge Liang's place on Tangluo Road to report the victory.

Outside Huaili City, the cries of killing were getting louder and louder, frightening the birds and beasts for miles around so that they did not dare to return to their nests.

Guan Xing led his army to fight out from the left wing, Wang Ping led his army to stop from the right wing, Tao Gong led his cavalry to outflank the flank, and Yang Qing, protected by hundreds of personal guards, stationed his horse on the hillside to watch the battle.

The Han army divided into three groups to block the Wei army that came out of the city. No matter how hard Xia Houru, Guo Huai, and Hao Zhao led their troops to fight, they still could not break through the Han army's defense line.

Since Xiahou Ru led the remaining defeated generals and Hao Zhao's troops and retreated into Huaili City, the Han army had built fortifications such as antlers, horse barriers, ditches and other fortifications on the only way to Chang'an, setting up a rough encirclement to prevent Xiahou

The Confucian army fled eastward.

The small pond in Huaili City is shallow and there is not much food and grass. It cannot supply the more than 10,000 Wei troops to hold on for a long time. Therefore, Xia Houru, Guo Huai and others understand that Huaili is not a place to stay for a long time, and they must withdraw to Chang'an as soon as possible, otherwise they will be annihilated by the Han army.

So after a day's rest, the Wei army fought out of the city and broke out to the east. Xiahou Ru originally thought that his army was composed of cavalry, and they would be unstoppable when they galloped to kill. Even if the Han army was well prepared, they probably would not be able to stop him and others.

Unexpectedly, Yang Qing had already expected this. When he saw the Wei army coming out, he first ordered his cavalry to entangle him, and then asked Guan Xing and Wang Ping to lead the infantry to attack from the left and right wings. In this way, he surrounded the Wei army and made it unable to do so.

protrude.

The morale of the Wei soldiers was not high to begin with, but after they saw that they could not stand out after charging for a while, their morale was even lower, and they were beaten back by the Han army. Xiahou Ru, seeing that the situation was not good, had to lead his army to withdraw into the city.

Fortunately, he had left a supporting force to prepare before he attacked, so the Han army could not take advantage of the situation to break through the city.

In the next few days, Xia Houru and others still refused to give up and tried all kinds of ways to break out of the encirclement. However, whether they changed the direction of the breakout or used the suspicious tactics of attacking from the east to the west, Yang Qing and others saw through them one by one and cleverly resolved them.

.

As reinforcements led by Liu Yin, Zhang Yi, and Yu She arrived one after another, more and more Han troops gathered outside Huaili City, making it more difficult for the Wei army to break through.

"Captain, there are more and more Shu troops outside the city. There are almost 20,000 to 30,000 people now. What should we do?"

"Alas, there is not much food in the army. If we continue without the Shu army to fight, we will starve to death ourselves."

"The Shu thieves are obviously going to annihilate us all in Huaili City. Can we just sit in the city and wait to die?"

"Then what do you think we should do? We have broken through several times in the past few days. No matter how hard the soldiers tried their best, they just couldn't break out."

...

In the lobby of the county temple, all the generals of the Wei army gathered here to discuss strategies to defeat the enemy. However, after repeated discussions, not only did they not come up with any good ideas, but they instead made everyone angry and sighing.

"Commander, the situation has reached its most critical moment. We must not sit back and wait for death. We must take action." Guo Huai, who had been silent all this time, suddenly leaned into Xia Houru's ear and whispered softly.
Chapter completed!