A sergeant quickly ran in front of Dou Hua, who was leading his troops to run quickly. He reined in his mount with a long neigh from the horse beneath him. After making a circle on the official road, he continued to run towards Tongguan with Dou Hua, and then

Reporting the situation loudly: "Reporting to the general, our army has arrived at Huayin. It is another eighty miles to reach Tongguan! General Tong, may I ask the general to rest temporarily?"

"There are still eighty miles. It seems that we can reach Tongguan before dark!" Dou Hua slowed down his mount a little, looked at the sergeants who were still marching quickly on the official road, couldn't help but sigh, and then ordered: "Your Majesty

The sergeant will rest temporarily in Huayin and set off immediately after replenishing food and water!"

It is almost noon now, the weather is very hot, the soldiers can no longer move at a fast speed, but maintain a certain reasonable speed. They have been running continuously for more than an hour, and the men and horses are very tired.

I sweat a lot and need to drink more water and food.

It's all because of the damn weather, otherwise he wouldn't be in such a mess. It's too hot, and Dou Hua can't order the horse to run at full speed. If he lets the horse run fast, he might finish it in half an hour, and many horses will fall on the road one after another.

He couldn't get up either, as would many sergeants.

In such weather, in order to maintain the speed of travel and prevent soldiers or horses from falling down on a large scale, they must have proper rest and supplement food and water. If they sweat too much, the problem of drinking water for people and horses is no matter what.

No matter what, it needs to be supplemented and solved.

Fortunately, there are many experienced officers in the army. Yesterday afternoon's march provided them with experience, and they worked out a way of marching that combines fast and slow, plus a short rest. This can ensure that the entire team moves quickly without causing a large number of

People and horses fell to death due to excessive heat and excessive physical exertion. Many people understand that haste makes waste, but when it comes to trouble, many people don't know what to do unless they are very experienced.

But no matter how experienced people are, they will be anxious when encountering such a situation. Not only Dou Hua wishes he could get his wings and fly to Tongguan, but also the chief officers and sergeants at all levels under his command. Just being anxious is useless.

The two hundred and seventy-eight miles from Chang'an to Tongguan cannot be saved.

Although the weather was cool at night, it was dark and the moon was obscured by clouds. Three thousand people and horses were marching together, but they couldn't move fast no matter what.

Last night, we only traveled less than a hundred miles. Including the journey yesterday afternoon, we were about two hundred miles away from Chang'an. The remaining eighty miles were a very long journey for these three thousand sergeants.

It was a big test. After all, 3,000 troops and horses were marching continuously, which required a lot of physical strength. They didn't sleep last night. No one knew how much fighting power they would have if they marched to Tongguan at such a speed.

If they ran as fast as they could, they probably wouldn't need to participate in the battle after they arrived at Tongguan, and they could just lie down at the top of Tongguan City.

But everyone understands that the defenders of Tongguan are still eagerly waiting for their follow-up reinforcements. They must strive to reach Tongguan City as soon as possible and ensure that they still have the strength to fight after arriving at Tongguan!

While Dou Hua was leading his army, he also asked people to inquire about the situation. Through the information passed through the post station, he roughly understood the battle situation ahead. Tongguan was still in the hands of our Tang army and had not yet fallen.

According to the latest intelligence analysis, Tongguan has not yet reached its most dangerous stage, and the rebels have not even reached the new Tongguan City. As long as they speed up their march, they will definitely be able to reach the new Tongguan City before the city is broken.

Also in a similar mood to Dou Hua was Zhang Jian. The 5,000 men and horses led by Yang Guozhong's confidant basically maintained a similar speed to Dou Hua's tribe and ran fast on the official road. They were about forty miles behind Dou Hua's tribe. , a fast traveling distance of about an hour.

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Near noon, the fire in Hantongguan City was almost extinguished.

Just when the fire in the direction of several city gates slowly died down, but some wooden structures in the city were still burning, Cui Qianyou ordered Li Qian and Cheng Wei, the two generals who commanded the outposts, to lead their troops from the already devastated city. Enter the city from the east gate and south gate, prepare to control the remaining fire in the city, and then occupy the entire Hantongguan City.

This will be a relay point for their attack on Tongguan City in the Sui Dynasty. The men, horses and materials for follow-up support will be gathered here. If the battle ahead is unfavorable and they retreat, they will also gather here.

In the unlikely event that the Tang Army counterattacks after gaining an advantage, this place will also be a fortress to resist the Tang Army's counterattack.

However, after Cheng Wei and Li Qian led their troops into Tongguan City of Han Dynasty again, they found that Cui Qianyou's plan was a bit "whimsical".

Several city gates were burned to a complete mess, and the wooden gates were definitely missing. Even the gate towers on the city wall were completely destroyed. Looking at it, most of the buildings in the city were destroyed by the fire, and some were still burning. Han Tongguan City has been completely destroyed!

If their attack on Tongguan City in the Sui Dynasty was unsuccessful and the Tang army counterattacked, the ruined city would not be of much use unless it was repaired immediately.

After reporting the initial situation to Cui Qianyou who was behind, Li Qian and Cheng Wei ordered the sergeants to enter the city cautiously.

Before entering the city, the city gate and the burned debris near the gate must be cleaned up. Those burned or unburned things are still very hot and can easily burn people. There is enough hay piled near the city gate. By the time the people and horses were in the fire, they had been burned into charcoal, which was indistinguishable from the burning residue of hay and wood. The rebel sergeants were cleaning up the ashes all over the ground with a frightened look.

Regardless of whether it was the east gate, the south gate, or the north gate where no large-scale battle took place but was opened by the rebel sergeants who rushed into the city, the scenes were similar, and they were all horrific scenes.

The poor people who died in the fire were all rebel sergeants, not any Tang army sergeants.

When Pang Zhong and Li Fudou led their troops to withdraw from Tongguan City in the Han Dynasty, they did not evacuate all of them, leaving no one behind.

Even as the two thousand troops withdrew one after another, dozens of dead soldiers were left in many key places in the city. These dead soldiers, determined to die, were ready to light hay, oil barrels and other flammable materials when the rebels rushed into the city. They had no intention of escaping, but planned to live and die with Han Tongguan City. The noises such as the sounding arrows and other signals that harassed the rebels at night and made the rebels make wrong judgments were caused by them.

However, things turned out better than initially expected. When the rebels entered the city, the hanging oil lamps and candles ignited the flammable materials, inflicting heavy losses on the rebels. These dead soldiers who planned to live and die with Tongguan City also suffered After setting fires in many places, they took advantage of the chaos of the rebels and escaped from the city from the west gate and fled back to Suitongguan City. They were very lucky, and no one was injured or killed.

The rebel soldiers who died in the fire could only be left as ashes and scattered in Tongguan City, and were cleared away like garbage.

However, when the rebels cleaned up the burned remains near the city gate, opened up the road into the city, and marched into the city, something unexpected happened again.

There was a trap dug not far from the city gate. The sergeants who rode in front of the trap opened the trap when their horses' hooves stepped on it. Dozens of riders fell into it. There were many people inside the trap.

There were sharpened bamboos and pieces of wood stuck upside down. The fallen horses and soldiers were all impaled by the upside-down weapons. Many of them had one or several sharp pieces of wood or bamboo pierced through their bodies.
Chapter completed!