Chapter 640: Break through Lantian Valley

In March of the fifth year of Tiantong, Deng Jun Li Siye's department and Deng Han's unit met in Feng County, Fufeng County, Guanzhong, and joined forces, with a total of 300,000 troops heading eastward, heading towards the capital of Qin Chang'an City. In horror, the king and ministers of Qin urgently summoned Wu'an Jun Bai Qi to return to Chang'an.

After receiving the edict to return to the court, Bai Qi discussed with the generals and arranged for the generals to govern the country. Li Jin led 30,000 troops to cut off the rear, and his command led 70,000 main army back to Chang'an.

On March 20, the fifth year of Tiantong, Bai Qi had already led 70,000 main army to retreat quietly last night. The Deng army did not expect Bai Qi to retreat, so they did not notice it. Moreover, Bai Qi also left his own banner to confuse Deng army.

On this day, Deng Jun Tianning Guard General Zhang Fei and military advisor Xi Zhicai came to the front camp when they had nothing to do. They climbed up the camp wall and looked at the Qin army's Lantian Valley camp in the distance.

"Military advisor, we have been here for more than a year. When will we be able to attack? I don't know what the general is afraid of. Isn't it just Bai Qi? What's there to be afraid of? If I ask me to directly suppress the army and kill Bai Qi on the horse. If we continue like this, General Li and His Highness King Jin will all fight to Chang'an City." Zhang Fei couldn't help but complain.

Over the past year, the southern army led by Murong Ke has been blocked by Bai Qi from Lantian Valley and cannot advance. Zhang Fei advised Murong Ke more than once, wanting to forcibly break through the Qin army's Lantian Valley camp, but Murong Ke refused, so he could only stare at the Qin army camp and stare at it.

If it were just like this, Zhang Fei might not have any complaints, but over the past year, the three armies have attacked Guanzhong, and all the armies have made good progress. They are not the western army. They are simply unstoppable. They not only annihilated all the main forces of the Qin army's western front, but also captured Xiliang, the Qinlongxing land, which was the most popular. The almost eastern army also took down Henan County and is now attacking Hangu Pass. Even Deng Han's army, which had just formed an army, joined forces with Li Siye and prepared to advance eastward to Chang'an. However, the southern army has not made any movement. Zhang Fei was so anxious that he had no action and all the credits were stolen.

"General, don't be anxious. General, the General of the Cavalry has his own opinions. I'll wait for the opportunity." Xi Zhicai said.

Zhang Fei said: "I know this too. I don't have any complaints about the General of the Cheqi, but it's not a solution to just waste it. We are here to make achievements, and we are not here to accompany Bai Qi to play with big eyes."

Xi Zhicai smiled. Of course, he knew that Zhang Fei would not have any complaints about Murong Ke. Although Zhang Fei was a veteran of Deng State and the first group of generals to follow Deng Sheng, he was only later than Yue Fei and others in terms of qualifications. However, after Deng Sheng established the guard system, Murong Ke was the General of the Lingser Guard, and Zhang Fei was a general under Murong Ke, so Murong Ke was Zhang Fei's old leader, so Zhang Fei was still very convinced by Murong Ke.

"General, Bai Qi is unpredictable to the use of troops. Although he has less troops than ours, this is Guanzhong. If we really fight, our chances of winning are not great. Besides, there is actually not any harm in confronting Bai Qi here. At least we drag Bai Qi tightly to Lantian Valley. Otherwise, the West Road Army would not be so easy to take Xiliang and Guanxi. Moreover, my subordinates have a premonition that the opportunity we have been waiting for for a long time will soon appear. Jie Shi has his own place to perform the general." Xi Zhicai smiled and said.

"Military advisor, that is to say, half of the contributions of the Western Army are as good as ours?" Zhang Fei was immediately happy when he heard this, and he felt less depressed. Moreover, hearing that the opportunity would come soon, Zhang Fei felt much more relieved. Although Xi Zhicai said that he had just a premonition, but after working with him for many years, Zhang Fei also had a certain understanding of Xi Zhicai's ability. He said it was soon, that was soon.

At this time, Xi Zhi noticed something was wrong with the Qin army camp, so he pointed to the Qin army camp and said to Zhang Fei: "General, look, something seems wrong with the Qin army camp?"

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong?" Hearing this, Zhang Fei looked in the direction that Xi Zhicai pointed, but did not find anything, so he asked in confusion: "Military advisor, I think it's no different?"

"No!" Xi Zhicai explained: "General, look, it's noon now, and it's lunch time. Logically speaking, the smoke generated by the Qin army's 100,000 troops must be very large. But you see, although the smoke generated by the Qin army now is also quite large, it is far inferior to that of the 100,000 people. Moreover, the defense in the Qin army camp today is much looser than before."

"It seems that this is really the case!" Zhang Fei also noticed the abnormality when Xi Zhicai reminded him.

"General, the Qin army must have divided the troops. Let's go and report to the General of the Cheqi!" Xi Zhicai said excitedly. The opportunity that had been waiting for a long time finally appeared.

The two of them came to the Central Army's tent with excitement and told Murong Ke truthfully about the discovery.

When Murong Ke heard this, he looked very serious and asked, "Mr. Xi, are you saying that the Qin army divided the troops?"

Xi Zhicai nodded and said, "Yes, General. Judging from the various situations today, the Qin army must be divided. Now General Li Siye and His Highness the King of Jin are gradually approaching Chang'an City. Chang'an is empty in defense. If you want to defend the city, Qin must draw troops from the border. The Qin army in Hangu Pass only has tens of thousands of Qin troops, and there are hundreds of thousands of general Xue outside the pass. Given Qin 10,000 courage, he dare not transfer troops from Hangu Pass, so he can only transfer troops from Lantiangu."

"Who is the Qin army camp now under the banner?" Murong Ke asked again.

Xi Zhicai thought for a while and replied: "It's still Bai Qi's banner!"

"That's wrong. General Li Siye and His Highness King Jin have a total of 300,000 troops. When they are heading for Chang'an, no one except Bai Qi will be able to rescue Chang'an. If Qin really draws troops back to Chang'an, there is no reason to keep Bai Qi." Murong Ke said in confusion.

After Murong Ke said this, Xi Zhicai was a little suspicious of his judgment. After careful analysis, he said: "General, his subordinates think that the Qin army has three possibilities for this action."

"What three types?" Murong Ke asked.

"First, that is, Bai Qi just asked the general to lead his army back to Chang'an, and he left behind to confront our army. Second, that is, Bai Qi had actually led his army back to Chang'an, but in order to confuse our army, he deliberately left a banner. Third, that is, Bai Qi deliberately made a division of troops and lured our army to attack." Xi Zhicai said.

Upon hearing this, Murong Ke paced back and forth a few steps and asked, "The military advisor thought that what kind of possibility is the greatest!"

"I think the second possibility is the greatest!" Xi Zhicai said with confidence. Although he proposed three possibilities, Xi Zhicai was still very confident in his initial thoughts.

"How can I see it?" Murong Ke asked.

Xi Zhicai replied: "As the general said, the current dilemma in Chang'an is in Chang'an, looking at the Qin State, Bai Qi cannot keep it. Therefore, if he really wants to help Chang'an, Bai Qi will never pretend to be others. Therefore, the first possibility is not great, and the third possibility is not great, because if Bai Qi really wants to lure our army to attack, he should hide his banner, because Bai Qi knows very well that as long as he is still in Lantian Valley for one day, our army will not attack easily."

Murong Ke nodded and said, "The military advisor of Xi is reasonable!" After careful analysis, Murong Ke gradually agreed with Xi Zhicai's view, so he said, "The military advisor of Xi, beat drums and gathers generals, and the central army's tent discusses matters!"

"Here!" Xi Zhicai responded, and then went out and ordered people to beat drums and gather generals.

The generals of Deng's army who heard the sound of drums came to the central army's tent. Murong Ke's strangeness of the Qin army and Xi Zhicai's analysis all told the generals.

Everyone had heard this and fell into deep thought. After a long time, General Lu Feng of Yongning Guard stepped out and said, "General, the general thought that the analysis of the military advisor of the Xi army is reasonable. Bai Qi should have led his army to leave Lantiangu."

"What do you think?" Seeing that Lu Feng affirmed, Murong Ke asked everyone again.

"I will discuss it at the end!" everyone agreed.

But Ling Jing, a military advisor of Jinwu Guard, said: "General, although Bai Qi is likely to return to Chang'an, Bai Qi's use of troops is unpredictable. We still need to be careful to avoid falling into Bai Qi's trap."

Murong Ke nodded and said, "That's natural, Zhang Fei obeys the order!"

"The last one is here!" Zhang Fei stepped out and replied.

"I ordered you to lead our troops to attack the Qin army camp first. If the Qin army is defeated in one battle, you should not pursue it and retreat immediately. But if the Qin army strives to resist, you will launch a large-scale attack. Jinwu Guards and Yongning Guards will support you at any time." Murong Ke said, if Bai Qi really leaves, the remaining troops will be cut off and buy time for Bai Qi to withdraw to Chang'an. In this way, you will strive to resist the Deng army's attack. On the contrary, if the Qin army is defeated in one battle, it means that it is likely that it is the trap of the Qin army, so Murong Ke would explain Zhang Fei in this way.

"Here!" Although I don't know why Murong Ke made such a arrangement, Zhang Fei still accepted it. After all, after being held in for so long, he can finally fight a war seriously. Zhang Fei doesn't want to miss this opportunity.

After everything was arranged, Zhang Fei led 50,000 Tianning Guards out of the camp and rushed straight to the Qin army camp.

Now in the Qin army camp, there are only 30,000 soldiers and Meng Tong, two Qin generals, Xing Cong. In order to better monitor the movements of the Deng army, Meng Tong and Xing Cong simply lived at the beginning of the camp gate. When they saw Zhang Fei leading the Tianning Guard to come, their hearts were suddenly sank.

"I didn't expect that Deng's army would discover so soon. General Xing, you should gather the entire army immediately. I will guard the camp gate. There will inevitably be a fierce battle today. The emperor has just left for a while, and the camp must not be lost." Meng Tong said to Xing Cong.

"Okay!" Xing Cong responded, then left the camp gate and returned to the central army to organize troops.

When Zhang Fei led his army to the Qin army camp, he looked at Meng Tong on the wall and said disdainfully: "The whole army obeys the orders and I will break through the Qin army camp!"

"Kill!" Zhang Fei gave the order, and tens of thousands of Deng troops rushed towards the Qin army camp like a tide. Meng Tong did not dare to be careless and quickly asked the archers to shoot arrows to fight back. The two sides launched a fierce battle.

In the Deng army camp and the central army tent, Murong Long, the commander of the personal guard who was sent by Murong Ke to supervise the battle, saw the situation of the war between the two sides, and returned to the central army tent.

"What's wrong?" Murong Ke asked hurriedly when he saw Murong Long coming back.

Murong Long said: "General Zhang Fei has led his army to attack the camp, and the Qin army's resistance is also very tenacious, and no one has taken advantage of it. General Deng Qiang and General Lu Feng asked the general whether they want to support General Zhang Fei."

Before the war, Murong Ke said that if the Qin army resisted hard, it means that Bai Qi had left Lantian Valley. At this time, the Jinwu Guard and Yongning Guard would need to go up and join forces with the Tianning Guard to attack the Qin army camp. After seeing the Qin army resisting tenaciously, Deng Qiang and Lu Feng thought about whether it was time to go up and support.

Murong Ke thought for a while and said, "No, it's not the time. Let them wait any longer. Without the military orders of our general, no one can act rashly!"

"Here!" Murong Long responded, and then conveyed Murong Ke's military order to Deng Qiang and Lu Feng, and then they suppressed their attack.

Zhang Fei's attack on the camp lasted for a long time. In the evening, Murong Ke saw that it was too late, so he ordered the Jin to withdraw his troops. Zhang Fei then led his army back to the camp.

As soon as he returned to the camp, Zhang Fei said to Deng Qiang and Lu Feng with dissatisfaction: "Didn't you say that if the Qin army fought hard, would you support me? Why is it missing?"

Zhang Fei was quite cautious when he first fought. When he saw that the Qin army was resisting tenaciously, Zhang Fei knew that he had responded to Murong Ke's words, so he ordered the entire army to attack, and at the same time he was looking forward to reinforcements from Deng Qiang and Lu Feng. However, he waited left and right but could not wait for the people from the Jinwu Guard and Yongning Guard to come, but finally waited for the sound of Mingjin withdrawing the troops. This made Zhang Fei very depressed.

Deng Qiang and Lu Feng were very embarrassed when they heard this. At this time, Murong Ke said, "I will not let them send troops. General Zhang, don't blame them!"

When Zhang Fei heard that this was Murong Ke's order, he became even more puzzled and asked, "General, why is this?"

Murong Ke explained: "Bai Qi is very cunning. I was worried that this was Bai Qi's trick, so General Deng and General Lu remained unmoved. But now it seems that Bai Qi has really left Lantian Valley. General Zhang, how much is your Tianning Guard losing today?"

Zhang Fei replied: "The casualties are about 2,000, but not many people died in battle, probably only a few hundred people. The Qin army's arrow rain was very dense, so it was difficult for brothers to get close to the camp wall."

Zhang Fei was also cautious when fighting on the first day, so there were not many casualties.

"Okay, General Zhang tomorrow, you will continue to lead the army to attack the camp. Then the Jinwu Guard and Yongning Guard will send troops!" Murong Ke said.

"General, I've agreed, but I really have to support me. Don't let me wait in vain!" Zhang Fei said to Murong Ke with great concern, for fear that Murong Ke would cheat him again.

"Don't worry, I won't let you suffer a loss this time!" Murong Ke smiled and said.

The next day, Zhang Fei continued to lead the army to attack the camp. This time, Zhang Fei was no longer cautious yesterday. He directly let the sword and shield soldiers stand in front, rushed towards the Qin army's camp wall with the rain of arrows, and started a close battle. Finally, there were relatively large casualties on both sides.

After two more hours of fighting, Murong Ke saw that it was almost done, so he ordered the Jinwu Guard and Yongning Guard to send troops to reinforce. With reinforcements, the Deng army's offensive became more and more fierce. However, there were 30,000 Qin troops in the Qin army camp, and the Lantiangu camp was built by Bai Qi, so how could it be so easy to break? After a day of hard fighting, the Deng army had to retreat after thousands of casualties.

However, Murong Ke did not give up, but ordered the army to continue attacking. He attacked fiercely for five consecutive days, and finally knocked on the gate of the Qin army's camp. The two armies fought fiercely again in the camp. Without the gate, the Qin army's advantages were all lost, and the number of people was at an absolute disadvantage. How could it be the opponent of the Deng army? So after fighting hard overnight, all 30,000 Qin troops were wiped out, but the Deng army was not easy. In order to break through the camp, the Deng army suffered more than 40,000 casualties. This small Lantian Valley camp became the largest Shura field since the war started in Guanzhong.

After breaking through the Qin army camp, Murong Ke asked someone to clean up the battlefield, and he brought a group of generals back to the central army tent. Although he fought hard for many days, the generals of Deng army were not tired at all. After all, it had been more than a year since he was here, and finally he had broken through the Qin army camp.

"Everyone, now Lantian Valley has finally taken it down. What do you think our army should do next?" Murong Ke asked.

"What else can I do? Maybe I'm going to attack Huanglong and attacking Chang'an City. Now Bai Qi is huddling in Chang'an City. Our army can attack Chang'an City directly with a strong momentum. Maybe we can take Chang'an City before General Li and His Highness Jin." Deng Qiang said excitedly.

"That's right!" Deng Qiang's proposal received support from many people.

Lu Feng didn't think so, and he came out and said, "General, General Deng said, the last general would not agree with what he said!"

"Oh? I wonder what General Lu thinks?" Murong Ke asked when he saw a different voice.

Lu Feng said: "After Bai Qi returned to Chang'an, there are tens of thousands of Qin troops in Chang'an City today, and our army has only more than 100,000 points left after this battle. It is impossible to use this little force to break through Chang'an City."

"Haha!" Murong Ke said to everyone with a smile: "You guys, you have to learn more from General Lu. They all say they are fighting Chang'an. Why don't you think about it? With our current strength, how can we fight?"

When everyone heard this, they looked ashamed.

Murong Ke said, "It is impossible to fight Chang'an. At least it cannot be done now. At least we have to wait until General Li Siye and His Highness King of Jin arrive in Chang'an. But we cannot do anything. I decided to go east to Hongnong, advance to Hangu Pass, and attack Hangu Pass with General Xue. As long as we take Hangu Pass, General Xue's eastern army can enter Guanzhong. When we are in charge of Hangu Pass, we will gather three armies, six or seven hundred thousand elite troops, and a mere Chang'an City, aren't it easy to capture?"

"But General, Hangu Pass is not easier to fight than Chang'an City?" Zhang Fei said, Chang'an City has tens of thousands of Qin troops, and Hangu Pass also has tens of thousands of Qin troops. Moreover, in terms of steepness, Hangu Pass is far better than Chang'an City. If you really fight, it may not be easier to fight than Chang'an City.

"That's natural!" Murong Ke said: "It's not so easy to seize tens of thousands of Qin troops to guard Hangu Pass, but Hangu Pass is not big, and it's not easy to accommodate tens of thousands of Qin troops. There are not many places to stockpile grain and grass, so all the grain and grass in Hangu Pass are supplied by Zhuchengs of Hongnong County. As long as we take down the entire Hongnong County, we can cut off the Qin army's food and grass. By then, even if the Qin army is not beaten to death by our army, we will starve to death!"
Chapter completed!