Chapter 61: There's Still a Trap

  A soldier rushed to the front of Duan Hua, who was leading his troops in a rapid advance. The horse let out a long whinny as it slowed down, and after circling on the official road, continued running towards Tongguan with Duan Hua. Then, loudly reporting the situation: "Reporting to General, our army has arrived at Huayin, and there are still eighty miles of road ahead before we can reach Tongguan! General Tong asks whether you would like to take a temporary rest?"

  "There are still eighty miles to go, it seems that we can reach Tongguan before nightfall!" Du Hua slowed down his horse slightly, looking at the soldiers on the official road who were still advancing quickly, and couldn't help but sigh, then ordered: "Order the soldiers to rest in Huayin for a while, replenish food and water, and set off immediately!"

  It's almost noon now, the weather is very hot, and the soldiers can't keep moving at a fast pace. They need to maintain a reasonable speed. After running continuously for more than two hours, both men and horses are exhausted, sweating profusely, and urgently need to replenish water and food.

  It's all because of this damn weather, otherwise it wouldn't be so miserable. It's too hot, and Duan Hua can't order a full-speed run. If they let the horses run fast, in half an hour, many horses would fall to the ground one after another and never get up again, and many soldiers would be the same.

  In such weather, to ensure the speed of progress, while avoiding soldiers or horses falling down on a large scale, proper rest and replenishment of food and water are necessary. Excessive sweating, drinking water for humans and horses is a problem that must be solved in any case.

  Fortunately, there were many experienced superiors in the army. Yesterday afternoon's march gave them experience and formulated a fast-slow combined marching method, plus short rest. This can ensure that the whole team marches quickly without causing a large number of people to collapse due to excessive heat and physical exhaustion. Many people understand the truth that "haste makes waste", but when it really happens, many people don't know what to do unless they have rich experience.

  But those with more experience, when encountering such a situation, are anxious and eager to take action. Not only does Duan Hua wish he could fly to Tongguan on wings, but all the officials and soldiers under his command feel the same way. However, anxiety is of no use, as the 200-280 miles between Chang'an and Tongguan cannot be shortened.

  Although the weather was cool at night, it was pitch black and the moon was covered by clouds. With three thousand horses and men marching together, they couldn't move quickly no matter what.

  Yesterday evening, they only marched less than a hundred miles, adding to the distance they covered yesterday afternoon, roughly two hundred miles away from Chang'an. The remaining eighty miles of road is a huge test for these three thousand soldiers, after all, three thousand horses and men have been marching continuously, with great physical exhaustion, and no one slept last night, at this speed, how much combat effectiveness will be left when they arrive at Tongguan, nobody knows.

  If we rush to run desperately, it is estimated that after arriving at Tongguan, there will be no need to participate in the battle, and all of them will lie down on the city wall of Tongguan.

  But everyone understands that the defenders of Tongguan are still waiting for their follow-up reinforcements, and they must strive to arrive at Tongguan City as soon as possible, and ensure that after arriving in Tongguan, they still have the strength to join the battle.

  Dou Hua led the army to advance, and at the same time, he sent people to investigate the situation everywhere. Through the intelligence transmitted by the post station, he roughly understood the battle situation ahead. Tongguan was still in the hands of our Great Tang army and had not fallen yet.

  According to the latest intelligence analysis, Tongguan has not yet reached its most dangerous moment. The rebels have not even arrived at the new city of Tongguan, and as long as they speed up their advance, they will definitely arrive at the new city of Tongguan before it falls.

  There was also Zhang Jian, who had a similar mood to Dou Hua. The five thousand cavalry led by Yang Guozhong's confidant basically maintained a similar speed with Dou Hua's army on the official road, and they fell behind Dou Hua's army by about forty or fifty miles, a distance that could be covered in about an hour of rapid advance.

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  Near noon, the big fire in Hantangguan City had almost been extinguished.

  Just as the fire in several city gates was slowly dying down, but some wooden structures inside the city were still burning, Cui Qianyou ordered Li Qian and Cheng Wei, the two deputy generals who commanded the vanguard troops, to lead their units into the city from the heavily damaged East Gate and South Gate, preparing to control the remaining fires in the city and then occupy the entire Hantangguan City.

  This will be a relay point for their attack on Tongguan, and subsequent reinforcements of men and supplies will gather here. If the battle in the front is unfavorable, they will also gather here.

  In case of an emergency, after the Tang army gained the upper hand and launched a counterattack, this place would also become a fortress to resist the Tang army's counterattack.

  However, after Cheng Wei and Li Qian re-entered the city of Hantanguan, they found that Cui Gan's plan was a bit "far-fetched".

  Several city gate caves were burned to a mess, the wooden city gates must have disappeared, and even the gate towers on the city walls were all destroyed. Looking around, most of the buildings in the city were destroyed by the big fire, some are still burning, Hantangguan City has been completely destroyed!

  If they attack Tongguan and fail to take it, the Tang army will counterattack, this broken city has little use unless it is repaired immediately.

  After reporting the situation they had just explored to Cui Qianyou in the back, Li Qian and Cheng Wei ordered the soldiers to enter the city with caution.

  To enter the city, the charred remains in and around the gate must be cleared away. The things that had been burned or not fully burned were still very hot, easily scorching people. There was a large pile of dry hay near the gate, unfortunately those who rushed into the fire had already been burnt to charcoal, and could hardly be distinguished from the ashes and burnt wood. The rebel soldiers were clearing away the ash with fearful expressions.

  Whether it was the East Gate or the South Gate, and even the North Gate direction opened by the rebel soldiers who had not yet engaged in large-scale battles but had broken into the city, the scenes were all roughly the same, all of which were a heartbreaking sight.

  Those who died in the great fire were all rebel soldiers and there was not a single Tang soldier.

  Pang Zhong and Li Fude did not withdraw all their troops when they retreated from the city of Hantang Pass, leaving some behind.

  As the 20,000-strong army retreated, dozens of martyrs were left in key locations within the city. These martyrs, who had made up their minds to die, prepared to set fire to flammable materials such as hay and oil barrels when the rebels broke into the city. They did not plan to escape but to live or die with the city of Hantanguan. The disturbing signals that misled the rebels at night were also created by them.

  However, the development of things was better than expected. When the rebels entered the city, the hanging oil lamps and candles ignited these flammable materials, causing heavy casualties to the rebels. The dead soldiers who were determined to die with Tongguan City also set fires in many places and took advantage of the chaos to escape from the west gate back to Tongguan City under the Sui dynasty. They were very lucky and not a single person was injured.

  The rebel soldiers who died in the great fire can only be left as ashes scattered within Tongguan City, and be cleared away like trash.

  However, just as the rebels were clearing up the remaining debris from the burnt city gate and opening up the road into the city, an unexpected situation arose again.

  Not far from the city gate, there were pitfalls dug out. The soldiers riding horses and rushing forward stepped on the pitfalls, which opened up when they were trampled by horse hooves. Dozens of riders fell into them. Inside the pitfalls, sharp bamboo and wooden stakes were inserted upside down. All the fallen warhorses and soldiers were pierced by these inverted deadly instruments. Many people were impaled through their bodies by one or several sharp wooden or bamboo stakes.

  Some people died instantly with a scream, while those who didn't die immediately were struggling constantly, wailing and howling continuously.