Before dawn the next day, Kang Shuoli led an army of 50,000 to attack Loufan Pass. Through the tentative attack during the day, Chuluo Khan also discovered that with their current siege ability, Shanyang County is indeed difficult to capture. Instead of siegeing Shanyang County meaninglessly, it is better to find another shortcut. Attacking Loufan Pass is a good choice.

Loufan Pass is the third defensive line of the Sui army. The reason why it is separated from Shanyang County is because Shanyang County is the northern gate of Loufan Pass. If Shanyang County does not take down Shanyang County, it will be easy for the Sui army in Shanyang County to cut off the rear route and cut off the logistics supply of the Turkic army.

However, Chuluo Khan finally used a strategy of rights and interests to divide his troops into two groups to attack Shanyang County and Loufan Pass. Dividing his troops means that they will be defeated one by one. This is also a solution. If Shanyang County was not difficult to capture, Chuluo Khan would never use this inferior strategy.

Loufan Pass is about eighty miles away from Shanyang County. The Turkic army has already alarmed the defenders of Loufan Pass. They are waiting for the arrival of the Turkic army.

After the expansion, Loufan Pass can accommodate 5,000 soldiers at one time, but it is impossible to defend this pass by just 5,000 people. Because the soldiers guarding the city are constantly decreasing, the number of defenders on the city must continue to increase. To ensure that Loufan Pass is not lost, at least 30,000 troops and sufficient materials must be used as reserves. But in fact, Loufan Pass has only 10,000 defenders, 5,000 troops stationed in the city and 5,000 reserve troops stationed outside the city.

The head general of Loufan Pass was originally Fan Wenchao, but unfortunately fell into the city during the city defense drill a few days ago and was seriously injured. He has been sent back to Shanyang County for healing. The new head general Wei Wentong rushed to Loufan Pass the day before yesterday.

Currently, the deputy general of Loufan Pass is Wang Xuanjing, the general of Yingyanglang. Wang Xuanjing is a general of Yuchi Gong and is known for defending the city. The reason why Zhang Xuan did not directly promote Wang Xuanjing as the main general was that the soldiers guarding the city were Pei Xingyan's third guard, and Wang Xuanjing belonged to the second guard. In addition, he lacked his qualifications, so he might not be able to command ten thousand soldiers.

Wei Wentong is the eighth guard general, and he is also good at defending the city. Zhang Xuan originally wanted to appoint him to guard Loufan Pass, but it was not hindered by Pei Xingyan's repeated recommendations, so he still asked the general Fan Wenchao, who was recommended by Pei Xingyan, to guard the city. Since Fan Wenchao was in trouble at the critical moment, Zhang Xuan did not hesitate to appoint Wei Wentong as the commander general of Loufan Pass.

Moreover, he and Pei Xingyan had a very good relationship and sent him to replace Fan Wenchao. Although Pei Xingyan felt uncomfortable, at least he would not resist and would not break up each other and make a big mistake.

The Northern Sui Army already has an army of 400,000, and various relationships are becoming increasingly complex and have many factions. As the head coach, he needs to coordinate and balance the relationship between the generals so that they can cooperate well.

On the top of the city, Wei Wentong, accompanied by deputy general Wang Xuanjing, was deploying some defenses in detail. Wei Wentong was cautious, serious, and thoughtful, and belonged to the same type as Wang Xuanjing. The two could talk, but Wang Xuanjing had very little qualifications and could not be compared with Wei Wentong, the famous "Flower Sword General".

It is also for this reason that Wang Xuanjing was very low-key in front of Wei Wentong and rarely used his ideas. Only when Wei Wentong asked him would he say a few words.

The two came to a giant catapult under the city. The original owner Fan Wenchao did not want to install a catapult, so he preferred to use a yellow crossbow, but this aroused Zhang Xuan's dissatisfaction. Finally, after negotiation, Fan Wenchao decided to install a multi-giant catapult at Loufan Pass.

The trencher is divided into five types according to the range and size. One is a small trencher, also known as a portable trencher. It is mostly used on warships and scouts. The second type is called a medium trencher. This trencher is widely used. The biggest feature is that it can be moved. The third type is called a large trencher, and the fourth type is called a heavy trencher. These two trenchers are essential for defending the city and are also the most numerous at present.

The last type of catapult is the giant catapult. It is huge in size, up to three zhang high and has a throwing rod of six zhang. It can throw a huge stone weighing 100 kilograms three or four hundred steps away. It is a powerful weapon for siege and defending the city. Due to its large area, this giant catapult requires a hundred people to move. Even if it is improved, it requires fifty people to pull it and cannot be placed on the top of the city. It is usually installed under the city wall and launches huge stones from the city.

Fan Wenchao finally used a giant catapult to avoid affecting the transportation channel he arranged at the city wall. In addition, the other ten catapults can only be operated by 500 soldiers and do not take up too much manpower, which is a result of a compromise.

Wei Wentong patted the thick wooden frame of the trencher and smiled and said, "I used a large trencher to deal with the Wagang Army at Hulao Pass. At that time, eighty trenchers were installed at the top of Hulao Pass, and the killing effect was very great. Unfortunately, there were only ten frames here. Can General Wang know why General Fan only installed these ten frames at the beginning?"

Wang Xuanjing bowed and said, "General Fan is more concerned about using the yellow crossbow to defend. Installing these cross-cattering machines is also General Pei's requirement. He believes that the catapult consumes too much force and occupies too much land, and there is no force and place in the city, which is not conducive to defense."

"This idea makes sense, but General Fan doesn't quite understand the power of the catapult. The catapult is not only lethal, but also has a great deterrence to the enemy soldiers."

As he was speaking, a low horn sound suddenly came from the distance, and a soldier shouted on the top of the city: "The enemy is here!"

Wei Wentong turned around quickly and walked quickly towards the city.

In the wilderness in the distance, it was like a dark cloud covering the earth. The dark Turkic army appeared ten miles away from Loufan County. The low horn sounds kept echoing in the sky, and the shouts were like tsunamis.

The Sui soldiers on the city were already on guard. Loufan Pass, like Zihe Great Wall Pass, is also located between two mountains. However, Loufan Pass is still narrow and only two miles wide. There can only be two thousand soldiers standing side by side at the city. However, unlike Zihe Great Wall, Loufan Pass has two city walls, north and south, and below is a urn for soldiers to eat, accommodation and store supplies.

The rebuilt north city head was two meters wide and could accommodate two rows of soldiers. There was a special material passage five feet wide in the middle. The Sui army deployed two rows of soldiers on the north city wall, with crossbow soldiers in front and bow soldiers in the back.

At the same time, one thousand soldiers were deployed on the southern city wall, mainly using the yellow crossbow, so five thousand soldiers were actually deployed to defend the city.

In addition, in order to make the most of the space, Fan Wenchao demolished all the temporary material warehouses in the barracks in the city, installed ten giant catapults, which were controlled by 500 people, and there were 500 people to provide logistics support, transport supplies, rescue wounded people, etc. In fact, there were 6,000 soldiers in Loufan Pass, and the gate of the south city of Loufan Pass was open, and 4,000 candidate soldiers were stationed outside the city. Once the soldiers guarding the city were killed or injured and reduced, the candidate soldiers would be filled immediately.

On the top of the city, Wei Wentong and Wang Xuanjing stared at the army in the distance for a moment. Wang Xuanjing suddenly said, "This is not the army of the Turkic Khan!"

"How can I see it?" Wei Wentong asked.

"It's very simple. I didn't see the golden wolf-headed banner. In terms of the size of the soldiers, there were only 50,000 or 60,000 people. If the Turkic Khan arrived, there wouldn't be only such a small number of troops."

Wei Wentong nodded, "You are right. It is indeed not the main force of the Turkic army. The main force of the Turkic army should still be besieging Shanyang County. It must be that Shanyang County is difficult to capture, so they turned to the idea of ​​attacking Loufan Pass and wanted to break through from Loufan Pass."

Speaking of this, Wei Wentong sneered, "Shanyang County cannot be captured, is it so easy for me to attack Loufan Pass?"

At this moment, someone later reported, "General, the general, the general has sent someone to deliver a letter."

Wei Wentong was stunned and asked quickly: "Where is the sender?"

Soon, a soldier who delivered the letter quickly walked forward, knelt down on one knee and saluted: "Report to General Wei, General Wei, the general's emergency order!"

He presented a letter roll with both hands. Wei Wentong quickly took the letter roll and opened it. He hurriedly read it. He was stunned. Wang Xuanjing next to him saw that Wei Wentong had a strange expression and asked in a low voice: "General, what did the general say?"

Wei Wentong smiled bitterly and handed the letter to Wang Xuanjing, "You can read it yourself!"

Wang Xuanjing took the letter and read it, and he was stunned. He saw that there was only one sentence on the letter: "Preserve the letter for five days and then abandon the pass!"

Wang Xuanjing was really unable to accept that they had to abandon the pass in five days. He pondered for a moment and said, "General, what does the general mean?"

Wei Wentong did not answer him immediately, and asked the soldiers who sent the letter and said, "Where is the Grand Marshal now?"

"The Grand Marshal is now Jingle County, Loufan County and arrived last night."

Wei Wentong nodded and said to Wang Xuanjing: "I probably understand the general's intention. This is the general's game of chess. No matter what, we will be on the verge of the sport for five days."

Wang Xuanjing also nodded, "Since the commander has the order, we should strictly abide by it."

Wei Wentong turned around and ordered: "Bang the drum for me, and the whole army is ready to enter the battle!"

...
Chapter completed!