Chapter 174

Chapter 174

The 20,000 troops in Jin City were meant to contain and exhaust Xiao Mu's massive army, but the true fortress blocking Xiao Mu's advance south was Long Xing Path and its six passes.

Because Long Xing Path was extremely treacherous, the four middle passes could accommodate at most 1,000 garrisoned troops, with only the Golden Tail and Lion Mouth passes at the two ends capable of holding 3,000.

The Golden Tail Pass was even more critical than Jin City. After the loss of Tai Yuan and the death of three generations of the Meng family in battle, out of caution, Imperial Uncle Dou hastily dispatched his son-in-law, Mei Huaixin, to defend the Golden Tail Pass.

Mei Huaixin was twenty-five years old, hailing from a renowned military family of this dynasty. He was not only skilled in both literary and martial arts but also possessed a face as handsome as Pan An, which led to him being chosen as Imperial Uncle Dou's son-in-law.

Upon his arrival, the original commander stepped down to vice commander but, harboring resentment towards Mei Huaixin, a young aristocrat, often voiced complaints in private.

Mei Huaixin appeared humble but secretly had someone lure the vice commander into drunkenness. He then swiftly had the vice commander executed for violating military discipline, using it as a demonstration. The 3,000 soldiers were so intimidated that they became obedient. When Mei Huaixin ordered them to strictly observe military discipline, they dared not drink or gamble. When he commanded them to train for two hours daily, they dared not slack off.

As Xiao Mu's army broke through the third northern fortress of Jin City and camped outside the city, Mei Huaixin also heightened his defenses against the enemy. Several patrols walked along the pass walls day and night, with sentinels watching from distant ridges.

"General, the enemy is approaching! They are just ten li from the mountain!"

"How many troops?"

"About 40,000, all infantry!"

Mei Huaixin was quite surprised. Did Xiao Mu dare to bypass Jin City and directly attack here with his main force? Wasn't he afraid that, during a stalemate, the Jin City garrison would attack from behind, sandwiching his forces? The road from the mountain pass to the Golden Tail Pass was flanked by high mountains. Once Xiao Mu's army was blocked, even if they could break through, they would lose seventy to eighty percent of their troops.

Or was it that the old general, intoxicated by previous victories, was overconfident that leaving over 10,000 troops could trap the 20,000 defenders of Jin City?

Mei Huaixin instructed the sentinel, "While they haven't entered the mountain, take a detour to inform Liao Hongan, the Jin City garrison commander, to block Xiao Mu's retreat."

The sentinel left with the order.

Mei Huaixin prepared his 3,000 garrison troops for battle.

The Golden Tail Pass wall stood six zhang high, with a moat three zhang wide and one zhang deep dug in front. With the drawbridge raised, even if the enemy charged through the arrow fire to the moat, they would waste time building a bridge, increasing casualties.

To prevent the enemy from setting fire to the mountains, the trees on both ridges near the Golden Tail Pass had been cut down, and the sparse patches of grass wouldn't burn easily.

Mei Huaixin stood on the high wall, calmly watching Xiao Mu's army approach the pass.

Unable to scout the terrain around the inner passes, Xiao Mu had already sent scouts to investigate the Golden Tail Pass, knowing there was a wide moat.

For this, Xiao Mu had carpenters rush to build a high-wheeled cart with a board four zhang long. The cart, including the entire board, was coated with a layer of fire-resistant mud.

The cart had no horses and was pushed by fifty soldiers bending under it.

To protect the first row of soldiers from arrows, two rows of shield bearers were placed in front of the cart.

Meanwhile, a team of archers and shield bearers were also arranged on both sides of the cart to buy time for the soldiers to build the bridge over the moat.

Mei Huaixin said, "They're well-prepared. Fire arrows!"

A volley of arrows rained down, hitting the shields and cart like hail. One or two shield bearers fell, and new ones immediately replaced them.

Through waves of arrows, the "cart" still reached the moat.

Mei Huaixin commanded the archers to shoot regular arrows while preparing the next row of archers with fire arrows.

At this point, the Right Route Army soldiers should have gone down into the moat, but just as Mei Huaixin hoped they would jump in, an enemy archer shot a fire arrow into the moat.

With a loud "boom," a wall of flames suddenly erupted from the moat.

The Right Route Army soldiers had already withdrawn in preparation.

Xiao Yan laughed at the wall, "Nice fire attack, but we saw through it. Let's see what you do when the fire burns out. How will you add fuel then?"

No matter how fierce the fire, once the fuel was gone, it would be extinguished. With a cold wind, the next time the "cart" advanced, the bridge would surely be built.

Mei Huaixin pursed his lips. Xiao Mu was indeed an old fox, but the fire in the moat was just an added bonus. If it killed a hundred or so enemy soldiers, great. If not, it was just a missed spectacle.

Once the moat was smoke-free and after waiting another hour, Xiao Mu had the "cart" set off again.

As they built the bridge, arrows flew from both the wall and below. In the exchange of arrow fire, the Right Route Army soldiers climbed over some of their fallen comrades and finally placed the cart bridge over the moat.

The first wave of vanguard troops advanced with ladders and battering rams.

After an hour of battle, the Right Route Army sounded the retreat.

Mei Huaixin had his casualties counted and found that over 300 had been killed or wounded in just one exchange.

"Reporting to the general, there are about 1,200 bodies below."

Mei Huaixin felt slightly relieved. No matter how fierce the Right Route Army's attack was, even if they exhausted all 3,000 of his troops, the Right Route Army would lose over 10,000 men.

If the Golden Tail Pass became indefensible, he would retreat to Eagle Claw Pass, defending one pass at a time. Eventually, he would exhaust Xiao Mu's entire force with the sacrifice of 10,000 troops across six passes. Moreover, he still had Liao Hongan's 20,000 troops as reinforcements.

Mei Huaixin shared this analysis with his soldiers to boost their morale.

In the afternoon, the Right Route Army attacked the city again, with another hour of intense assault. Another thousand bodies littered the area below the pass, and only 2,400 defenders remained on the wall. Although the Right Route Army's main force hadn't engaged that day, Mei Huaixin's over 2,000 defenders had been continuously drawing bows and pushing ladders, leading to significant physical exhaustion.

As dusk approached, the Right Route Army launched another fierce attack.

Mei Huaixin was commanding on the north wall when a sentinel from the south wall ran over, "General, Eagle Claw Pass has sent 300 reinforcements!"

Mei Huaixin frowned. He had only sent word for the passes behind to prepare for battle. Why had Eagle Claw Pass sent reinforcements without orders?

Were they trying to curry favor with him, or did they hope that the Golden Tail Pass alone could stop Xiao Mu's army, saving Eagle Claw Pass from battle?

As he pondered, an arrow suddenly flew toward him. Mei Huaixin dodged in time and, glancing at the new row of bodies on the wall, coldly said, "Bring them over!"

A sentry received the order and ran to the southern city wall, commanding the soldiers below to open the city gate.

The battle was urgent, and since only two hundred soldiers led by two commanders of hundred households had arrived, the sentry didn’t bother with pleasantries. Seeing that all three hundred men were carrying bows and arrows, he led them straight over.

Mei Huaixin didn’t know Tong Gui or Qi Yun, but he couldn’t even clearly remember the face of the commander at Eagle Claw Pass. So, he merely glanced at the bows on the backs of the three hundred men and pointed to the walls on both sides, commanding, “Line up along the wall and replace the nearest archers!”

Qi Yun and Tong Gui exchanged a glance and each led their men quickly toward the walls. Only when they were close to the defending soldiers did they suddenly draw their sabers from their waists and start killing anyone they saw.

The defenders were busy dealing with the enemies below and didn’t expect to suddenly be attacked by their “own men.” Some were killed before they could even turn their heads, while others turned their bows in a different direction before falling to the ground. During this time, the three hundred elite soldiers of the Right Route Army easily killed six to seven hundred defenders before engaging in direct confrontation with them.

Mei Huaixin was both shocked and furious, realizing he had fallen into the enemy’s trap. He continued to command the defenders to intercept the enemies below while personally charging forward with his saber.

The opponent he chose was Qi Yun.

Qi Yun laughed as he fought, “Looks like you’re having bad luck today. I’m much harder to deal with than the other guy.”

Mei Huaixin asked, “How did you get behind us?”

Qi Yun replied, “If you order your men to stand down, I’ll tell you.”

Mei Huaixin stopped speaking and his attacks became more vicious.

As they started to fight among themselves on the wall, the pressure on the Right Route Army below was greatly reduced. Xiao Yan had already climbed halfway up a ladder and, catching sight of Qi Yun, laughed loudly, “Qi Yun, you’ve already earned the first merit by taking the last five passes. Let me claim the vanguard merit this time, don’t fight me for it!”

Mei Huaixin’s face changed drastically, and he instinctively looked toward the direction of Eagle Claw Pass.

Seizing the opportunity, Qi Yun swung his saber and wounded Mei Huaixin’s arm.

Mei Huaixin retreated several steps, and Qi Yun casually killed two soldiers who rushed toward him, then said to Mei Huaixin, “Don’t believe me? I can let you go see for yourself.”

Unfortunately, even if Qi Yun was willing to let him go, Xiao Yan and the others who had gradually climbed onto the wall would not spare the son-in-law of Imperial Uncle Dou.

As the last rays of the setting sun disappeared, the Jinwei Pass, which was difficult to attack and defend but could only hold three thousand defenders, fell completely into the hands of the Right Route Army.

Jincheng.

The defending general, Liao Hongan, had slept soundly. The next morning, just as he was about to send a scout to investigate the battle situation at Jinwei Pass, a small soldier from the city defense ran over, “General, there’s a man outside the city claiming to be an emissary sent by Xiao Mu, saying he has a big gift for you!”

Liao Hongan stroked his beard and smiled, “Xiao Mu must have realized that Jinwei Pass is a hundred times harder to take than the three northern fortresses, so he’s trying to bribe me. Bring the man in, let’s see what kind of good thing he’s sent me.”

Two soldiers escorted the emissary in, and behind them were six wooden boxes carried by others.

Liao Hongan raised his eyebrows slightly. Six boxes of jewels? Old Xiao Mu is quite generous, but he would never betray the imperial court even if he accepted the gift.

After examining the wooden boxes, Liao Hongan looked at the emissary in front of him. Though the man was burly, he had a handsome and likable face. Liao Hongan signaled his subordinates to let go of the emissary and asked arrogantly, “Did Xiao Mu send you to be a persuader?”

Qiao Changshun smiled, “I’m both a persuader and here to offer you a great future.”

Liao Hongan bowed toward the south, “I serve the Emperor. Whatever Han Zongping could offer me, the Emperor has already given me. Why would I betray him and join you rebels?”

Qiao Changshun remained calm, “General, you should take a look at the six boxes first.”

Liao Hongan signaled his subordinates.

Six soldiers stepped forward and opened the boxes one by one, revealing—six heads. They were the heads of the six commanders of the six passes along the Longxing route.

Liao Hongan stood up and stretched his neck to see, and upon recognizing the identities of the six men, he fell back in shock, his mouth wide open, unable to make a sound for a long time.

Qiao Changshun spoke slowly, “At the beginning of the month, we sent a special force to cross mountains and rivers, and through night attacks, we took the five southern passes one after another. Jinwei Pass was the last one taken last night. Now, our vanguard has already set out for Lion Mouth Pass. General, even if you were to lead all your men to chase us, what could you do? Even if you catch up, you’ll have to attack the passes first, and with just two thousand men, how could you succeed? There’s still over ten thousand enemy troops outside the city!”

Liao Hongan’s face turned ashen. The six passes had already been occupied by Xiao Mu’s army. Even if he chased them, he would have to attack the passes first, and with just two thousand men, he couldn’t hope to succeed. There were still over ten thousand enemy troops outside!

Qiao Changshun continued, “You won’t be able to catch up with us, and even if you continue to serve Imperial Uncle Dou and manage to defend Jincheng, he will still blame you for the loss of the Longxing route. Either way, it’s a dead end. Why not surrender with your twenty thousand men? When General Han captures the imperial court, you’ll be greatly rewarded, and new high-ranking positions and generous salaries will await you. You’re a wise man, General. You should know what to choose.”

Sweat appeared on Liao Hongan’s forehead as he struggled internally.

Qiao Changshun glanced at the map on his table and took a few steps forward, pointing at the Tiger Mouth Pass east of Luoyang, “Imperial Uncle Dou has stationed fifty thousand troops here to block General Lu Gong’s seventy thousand men. But once we emerge from the mountains, we can attack from behind. By then, General Lu won’t even need to attack Kaifeng or Xingzhou. He can come straight to join forces with us. One force will besiege Luoyang, and another will head west to Xiaohan and Han Zongping’s forces. Given the situation, do you really think Imperial Uncle Dou still has a chance?”

Liao Hongan shook his head with a bitter smile.

An hour later, Liao Hongan opened the city gates and surrendered.