In the south of Zikou Pass, hundreds of Wei soldiers were holding shields and carrying cloud ladders, rushing towards the low but cramped wall.

On their heads were rain of arrows and heavy rocks. When they were next to each other, they were either dead or injured. However, the attacking Wei soldiers seemed to be careless and charged forward one after another, regardless of casualties, and sacrificed their lives.

At this time, Zhang He, who was watching the battle in the back formation, looked unpredictable on his face, and he was proud and sad, and he was both self-blame and excited.

What is proud of is that all the soldiers under their command are not afraid of life and death, and have not insulted the reputation of the elite of the Great Wei Dynasty. What is sad is that the soldiers are so ants-attached to attack the enemy, and the casualties are too great. At this moment, corpses all over the ground have fallen outside Zikou Pass.

Zhang He blamed himself for not leading his army to arrive in time, and even Zikou Pass was occupied by the Han army. If the reinforcements he led arrived one hour earlier, it would probably not be as passive as today.

As for the reason why Zhang He was still excited when this situation was unfavorable, it was mainly because he was a veteran who had experienced many battles. He encountered fierce battles, difficult battles and many dangerous battles in his life, and he would no longer be in chaos due to temporary defeat.

Although his army's way back was cut off, he was still able to remain calm at this time. Even after seeing his subordinates fighting bravely, the passion in his heart was awakened, and he wished he could take the sword himself and fight side by side with the others.

However, Zhang He was a general of the first army after all. He would not fight in person unless he had no choice. He set up the central army tent on a mountain hundreds of steps away from Zikou Pass, and followed Wei Zhang's previous attack strategy and divided the troops into ten teams and took turns to ensure that the fierce offensive continued.

At present, the Wei army in Ziwu Valley was in a critical moment. After discussing with Cao Zhen and Liu Ye, Zhang He decided to use his superior forces to break through Zikou Pass regardless of casualties, and at the fastest speed, the main army that was still more than a hundred miles away was withdrawing back to Chang'an to clear the obstacles.

However, the Han army was not a vegetarian. Wei Zhang personally guarded the wall to command the command center to fight. Although he had heavy armor to protect his body, the arrows of the Wei army under the gate were also fierce. He was accidentally cut through the left cheek by a cold arrow shot from the shot.

The captain of the guard Cui Wan was frightened when he saw the major general being injured. He hurriedly approached him and advised him to bandage the wound. However, Wei Zhanghun didn't care and refused. He still took a bow and arrow to find an opportunity to shoot the enemy.

When the Han army around him saw that the chief general was so brave, they were all excited, and they followed suit and shouted to fight fiercely.

As night fell, everything in the world returned to silence. Except for the crows and the wailing of soldiers, there seemed to be no other sound in a few miles.

Although the Wei army divided into ten teams to attack in turn, most of them were exhausted and exhausted from the battle in the morning to the present.

Zhang He wanted to ignite the night battle, so that the fierce offensive continued to stop, but seeing that the soldiers had no strength, he had no choice but to order the troops to withdraw so that the troops could rest for one night.

But the more you drag it down, the situation will become more unfavorable to the Wei army. The Han army in Chang'an is close to you, and you can send reinforcements to arrive within one day. Zhang He estimated that the reinforcements of the Han army were probably on the way.

He was anxious and couldn't fall asleep for a long time. Zhang He had to sit up from the couch, put on his clothes and go outside the tent. While looking at the dim and unclear astrological signs in the northern sky, he was thinking about ways to break the situation.

In fact, he was not the only one who had insomnia tonight, but was in a military camp a hundred miles away. The Wei State Grand Marshal Cao Zhen and military advisor Liu Ye were also worried about the current situation.

Both of them frowned and their faces were heavy. Although they sat opposite each other across the stove, the precarious situation seemed to make them feel no warmth, but instead their hands and feet were cold.

The fall of Zikou Pass had already made them very upset. Today, the school affairs suddenly brought bad news from Guanzhong. Most of the 30,000 cavalry under Xiahou Ru were annihilated by Yang Qing and Wei Yan. There was no force south of the Wei River to stop the progress of the Han army in Yongzhou's eastward advance, and Chang'an, the important town, could be surrounded by the Han army at any time.

Chang'an is the foundation of the Wei army on the Western Front. Once it falls, the more than 90,000 Wei soldiers in Ziwu Valley will become an isolated army without logistics support. Even if Zikou is recaptured and retreated to Guanzhong, the Wei army on the Western Front will be very likely to fall into a state of doom.

Cao Zhen also knew this well, so he invited Liu Ye, a wise man, to discuss strategies to defeat the enemy overnight.

"The purpose of "Zi Yang Gong, Zhuge Liang, Yang Qing and others is obviously to trap our middle army in Ziwu Valley, and then gather and annihilate it. In this way, there will be no more army west of Tongguan to fight against the Sichuan thieves, and sooner or later the entire Guanzhong area will fall into their hands.

Once the more than 100,000 troops in our hands are completely lost, the country will definitely be seriously damaged. Even if our Wei family has great achievements, such a serious loss will not be able to bear it.

The recovery of national strength cannot be done in a short period of time, but it will take at least several years. But after a few years, can the thief be extinguished?

As a royal general, fortunately, the emperor entrusted the important task to assist the country and the people and eliminated the unjust ministers. However, he was so short of wisdom that he had caused the king's army to be in trouble. This was a great crime.

The situation is extremely critical at the moment. I must not let these more than 100,000 troops be destroyed by Guanyou, nor can I destroy Your Majesty's foundation. I also ask Ziyang to use his wisdom and plan a clever plan to help me."

Seeing that he was sincere, Liu Ye was quite moved, but the army was trapped in the Ziwu Valley, and there was no medicine and food. Even though he had all his abilities, he could not perform at this time. He had to bow and answer, "Sima, for the sake of the current plan, there is no other way. Only by walking out of Ziwu Valley as soon as possible can the army turn danger into safety.

At present, there are interceptions in front and pursuers behind. In addition, the situation in Guanzhong is in corruption, Zhuge Liang personally led a large army to attack from Tangluo Road. The situation is already dangerous and the scattered troops must be concentrated as soon as possible.

Therefore, the most urgent task at present is to regain Zikou Pass at all costs and open up the road to turn around Guanzhong. As long as we return to Chang'an quickly, we will have the opportunity to turn danger into safety, or even turn defeat into victory."

"No, not bad, the most urgent thing is to take the army out of Ziwu Valley and return to Guanzhong.

Cao Zhen nodded repeatedly, and then used a wooden stick to pluck the charcoal fire in the stove, saying, "Zhang Yanyi has already started, but I don't know how the battle is going? We have to speed up the marching here. Starting tomorrow, the army will only rest for up to four hours a day, and travel no less than forty miles a day, so as to reach Zikou Pass in three days."

"It should be like this, Grand Sima Yingming." Liu Ye bowed and praised.

Like the Wei army in Ziwu Road, the Han army in Tangluo Road was also racing against time, traveling northward in starry night.

However, there are differences between the two armies. The mood of the Wei army commander Cao Zhen at this time can be described as four words of anxiety, but the mood of the Han army commander Zhuge Liang at this time was very happy.

Since the large-scale counterattack, there have been good news on the Han army. First, Yang Qing and Wei Yan led the cavalry to defeat Xiahou Ru's army. In the past two days, the successive reports of the Battle of Huaili and the Battle of Zikou were heard one after another.

The situation is very good, how can you not make Zhuge Liang happy? However, this does not mean that there is no trouble for the Han army.

After Zhuge Liang wanted to trap Cao Zhen's army in Ziwu Valley, he sent troops from Tangluodao to attack his flanks, cut off the Wei army into several pieces, and divided them into annihilation.

However, after actually walking, I found that although there is a path between Tangluo Road and Ziwu Road, they are all small paths that are convenient for pedestrians and business travelers to pass, and are not suitable for tens of thousands of troops to switch roads.
Chapter completed!