Chapter 25: The Stormy Weather of Yu Guan (4)

  The next day, the troops continued to advance, and each team followed Li Chengzhong's requirements to continue the marching competition. This time, each team learned from their mistakes, although they still started with a mad dash, but not as chaotic as yesterday. Li Chengzhong still ran slowly with Jiang Miao, and was the first to arrive at the 10-mile mark.

  Closely following were Meng Xuzheng and Jiao Chengqiao's two companions, who seemed to have reached a tacit understanding. They set off together, rested together, and arrived together, subtly forming an alliance between the two groups.

  Next came Zhong Siliang's companions. After they arrived, Zhong Siliang gathered all the brothers together and whispered something in a low voice.

  Wang Dalar's partner was the sixth to arrive, and this time they didn't lose another person. Wang Dalar finally breathed a sigh of relief and came to report to Li Chengzhong with a smile on his face. But Li Chengzhong gave him a cold look: "Wait until you get into the top five before coming to talk to me."

  At the second ten-mile mark, when everyone else had run out, Li Chengzhong found that Zhong Sihai's partners were following closely behind him. He didn't bother with them and just kept running slowly with Jiang Miao, overtaking one by one those who were running ahead of them. When Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao arrived at the end of the second ten-mile mark, they looked back to see that all ten members of Zhong Sihai's team had arrived, taking first place this time.

  Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao were taken aback when they arrived, so the two brothers quietly came to ask Zhong Silang what was going on. Zhong Silang didn't hide anything, saying: "Brother Meng, Brother Jiao, who do you think always arrives first?"

  Jiao Chengqiao said: "It's just Ou and Meng Da, this time you guys have surpassed us, so I'll come over to ask."

  Zhong Silang coldly laughed twice, Meng Xuxing suddenly came to his senses and gave Jiao Chengqiao a loud slap on the head: "Fool! The first ones to arrive would naturally be Li Doutou and Jiang Duoquan!"

  Zhong Si Lang said: "Yes, so I thought about it and since we can't outrun Li Da Tou and Jiang Duo Guan no matter what, let's just follow them."

  Meng Xu Xing and Jiao Cheng Qiao nodded in unison, and the two of them also went down to discuss with their fellow brothers in a low voice.

  After resting for half a time, they continued to start the third ten-mile march. This time, following Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao without sprinting were Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao's two partners. Wang Dalang initially called out to all his brothers to run forward, but when he turned back, he saw that three partners' brothers were following Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao with a relaxed attitude. He was stunned, patted his forehead, and scolded himself for being "stupid". He quickly shouted at his brothers to slow down their pace and followed them on the side. This time, Wang Dalang finally got what he wanted, leading his partners to squeeze into the top four.

  Before departing in the morning, Li Chengzhong had ordered each person to bring a pancake on their body. At noon, Jia's army had marched thirty miles and had long since left the civilian cart team far behind. He then let everyone take out the pancakes and have lunch. In this era, people only ate two meals a day, one in the morning and one at night. The group originally didn't have the habit of eating lunch, but after running for thirty miles in the morning, they were both tired and hungry, and suddenly felt that the pancake was so fragrant and delicious.

  After resting for a while, Li Chengzhong waved his hand and let the brothers set off again. This time, all the brothers had learned their lesson and followed behind Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao, no longer daring to start running wildly. Li Chengzhong didn't run either; he just quickened his pace, marching in a "fast walk" rhythm, and the various groups also followed suit with a "fast walk". However, none of them had much experience with "fast walking", some people tried to hurry forward but ended up looking awkward, while others were a bit like the proverbial "Luoyang learning to walk" - often tripping over their own feet. The group would occasionally let out cries of "Ah yo!", and some even ran two steps before stopping to walk two steps, making the whole procession chaotic.

  It's strange to say, but this walking method looks slow, but in fact it's not much slower than jogging, and it doesn't feel as tired as before. As a result, I walked 15 miles in one breath. When it was time to rest, everyone dispersed and stretched their ankles before sitting down.

  At this moment, there are still fifteen miles away from Yu Guan. What is the situation in the city of Guan, no one is very clear. Jiang Miao came to Li Chengzhong's side and whispered: "Li Lang, do you want to send a few people to go ahead and investigate?"

  Li Chengzhong nodded, indeed needing to send a few people to take a look at the situation first. If there were Huren guards inside Yu Guan, and he led his troops in blindly, everything would be too late.

  Jiang Miao hesitated for a moment and said, "Why don't I go instead? This matter is quite dangerous." Jiang Miao was afraid that when Li Chengzhong gave the order, no one would dare to go.

  Li Chengzhong smiled: "No need." After finishing, he stood up and gathered the various partners to come over. He said: "There are still ten miles left, I will wait for you all there, whoever arrives first, I will allow them to be the first to go out of Yu Guan to investigate the enemy situation! How about it? Whether this opportunity can be grasped or not depends on your skills."

  As soon as Li Chengzhong announced that he would reward the first place winner, all the gang leaders rubbed their fists and cheered.

  Zhong Si Lang said: "You just watch, I will definitely be the first one to arrive!"

  Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao angrily said: "You haven't even run yet, Zhong Silang, how dare you boast! What makes you think you'll be the first?"

  Wang Daling also jumped up and down, shouting: "This time I must be first! I must be first!"

  ……

  Jiang Miao watched from the side, and couldn't help but feel a little dazed. How could something dangerous make everyone else think it was a good thing?

  This time, Li Chengzhong had Jiang Miao wait for the civilian team at this place and went on the road alone. He accelerated his pace from the beginning, much faster than last time. Each partner was affected by Li Chengzhong's change in pace and started to sprint, except for Zhong Siliang, who still led his team at the previous speed and finally took first place.

  Watching the cheerful and excited Clock Four Lang, each of his brothers felt a bit disheartened and could only stay in place with envy, gazing longingly at Clock Four Lang and others who were rushing to Yu Guan to investigate.

  When the sky was getting dark, one of Zhong Siliang's brothers ran back panting and reported everything to Li Chengzhong. It turned out that Yu Guan was already empty and no Huren were stationed there, only some city walls were damaged. The brother also told Li Chengzhong that Zhong Siliang had led his brothers into the pass since no one was guarding it.

  Li Chengzhong put his mind at ease and immediately ordered the army to set off. The resting place was less than five miles away from the Yuanguan city, and before nightfall, the entire army had entered the city. Calculating it out, the army had marched seventy miles in one day, which was still a comfortable distance, unknowingly already at the top speed of this era's marching army. However, Li Chengzhong was not satisfied, as in his understanding, only marching a hundred miles in one day could be considered a satisfactory rapid march.

  As it was getting late, he only roughly inspected the city wall and ordered each group to guard a section of the wall, arranged for people to keep watch at night, and rested on the city wall that night.

  The next morning, Li Cheng walked around the area and roughly understood the situation of Yu Guan. In Li's estimation, Yu Guan should be the Shanhai Pass of later generations, which is the easternmost end of the Great Wall. The pass city extends from the Great Wall to the seaside, but it does not extend into the sea like the Ming Great Wall. Instead, a pass city was built at a gap on the coast, blocking the passage leading to Pingzhou Prefecture.

  Li Chengzhong had visited Shanhai Pass before crossing over and saw the well-equipped military fortress, compared to which Yu Guan's main facilities were not so complicated. The entire pass was composed of two parts: one was the main pass stuck in the opening, and the other was a fortress built on a small hill next to the main pass. The main pass blocked the front, and the fortress assisted from the side, with a long wall connecting the fortress and the main pass, which could support each other at any time. The city under the pass was not flat, and it was impossible to pull in cloud cars, battering rams, or catapults. If you attacked the city with wooden ladders, it would be much more difficult, because Yu Guan's city wall was one zhang higher than Wei State's city wall. From this situation, Yu Guan was indeed a strong pass that was difficult to conquer.

  The Khitan people apparently set a fire after breaking through the Yu Pass, and everywhere was blackened by the burning. The gate had been burned to ashes, the door was wide open, and the city tower on the pass wall had also been completely destroyed. Fortunately, the main wall was made of large stones, so this fire did not cause much damage to the Yu Pass, and it could be used again after repairing the gate and the city tower.

  At this moment, a figure emerged from the narrow pass, and an old soldier with a white beard ran out crying. He was stopped by Wang Dalang. There were still people hiding above! Li Chengzhong suddenly felt a chill, if the Khitan people had hidden here last night, wouldn't...

  He signaled Wang Dalang to bring the person over, and the old soldier came forward, trembling with his lips, and reported the matter one by one. Li Chengzhong was suddenly enlightened and knew what had happened.

  Yuguan was not breached by the Khitan people, but rather it was opened up to them by the defending troops. According to old soldiers' accounts, at that time more than 20 Khitan cavalrymen were chasing a group of fleeing civilians who had arrived at the foot of the city wall. The commander of the garrison saw that the Khitan cavalrymen were still far away from the civilians and there was enough time to open the gate and let them in, so he ordered the gate to be opened. However, among these civilians were several Khitans who took advantage of the situation and rushed into the city, directly climbing up onto the city wall. The few dozen old and weak soldiers on the city wall were no match for these fierce Khitan warriors, and they were quickly killed or dispersed. At this time, the Khitan cavalrymen in the distance also charged forward, taking advantage of the momentum, and Yuguan was breached.

  After the Khitan people came, they slaughtered all the town soldiers and looted all the goods and equipment in Yu Guan. They drove away hundreds of civilians who were hiding under the pass and returned to the outside of the pass, setting fire before leaving. Fortunately, there was a cave on the cliff outside the fortress that could hold one person, and the old soldier hid inside in a hurry and escaped disaster. He didn't dare to come out while hiding inside, and last night he saw the brothers of Jiedushi enter the pass and was frightened again. It wasn't until dawn today that he saw clearly that they were his own people and finally came out.

  Li Chengzhong comforted Lao Jun and then gathered all the partners in Jia Du for a meeting.

  "The Khitans have sensed our weakness, they are probing the city to see how we react." said Zhong Siliang.

  "They've seen our banner, the Khitans will come again, they want to know if we can still fight." said Meng Xuzi.

  "Shouldn't someone go out and scout around? Take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the Khitan people?" suggested Wang Dalang.

  ……

  Listening to the crowd's suggestions, a defensive outline gradually emerged. Li Chengzhong decided to seize the time to rectify the troops, no matter what, before repairing the gate and the drawbridge, let Jia Du be able to face the enemy with an intact formation, in other words, at least on the surface! Now the Khitan people still have some unclear situation of Lulong Army, hoping that their own armor can deter the next wave of Khitan attack, at least also want to drag until the arrival of General Zhou Zhiyong's reinforcements.