And this time, Han Baohu obviously did the opposite.

He did not line up outside Yangping Pass, but used the strong city of Yangping Pass as his sole and last support. After all, Han Baohu's command is mainly composed of new soldiers and old and weak, and if they line up outside the pass, they will basically be killed by Xiao Shilian by chopping melons and vegetables, and today's battle in the city is enough to prove this.

Therefore, it is reasonable for Han Baohu to simply rely on Xiongguan to defend it.

This also made Xiao Shilian more vigilant against this opponent who was inconspicuous before, and if he could have such an awareness, this person was definitely not easy to deal with.

"Today's casualties are already seven or eight hundred, and it is estimated that Han Baohu's side also has five or six hundred losses," Tang Zhong said slowly, "General, do we want to continue the attack tomorrow?" ”

Xiao Shilian's hand lightly tapped on the table, and said in a low voice: "Don't panic for the time being, there is no news from Guanzhong, and if we attack rashly, it may not have a good effect." ”

After a pause, Xiao Shilian turned around and ordered in a low voice: "The contact with Guanzhong must be maintained, and someone must be quickly sent to report the battle situation here to the Marquis of Hanzhong." ”

Several responsible generals took orders, and Niu Hong said in a deep voice: "General, there is not only one way from Hanzhong to Guanzhong, Yangping Pass, why does the general ······?"

In Niu Hong's impression, whether it is Xiao Shilian or Li Xinchen, what they are good at is the tactics of advancing with light troops and breaking through the enemy's defense line with lightning speed, why do they have to attack Yangping Pass this time?

You must know that there are many roads to choose from Hanzhong to Guanzhong, such as Chencang Road, and such as Xiegu, these roads lead to Longyou and Guanzhong respectively, and even the nearest one has been to Lantian, the gateway of Chang'an City.

With Xiao Shilian's temperament, how could he keep staring at Yangpingguan?

Xiao Shilian just smiled, but did not speak, he knew very well why, but he couldn't explain to them at this time, there were many people, if the news leaked, I am afraid it would directly affect the implementation of Li Xinchen's entire plan.

Coughing lightly, Xiao Shilian said in a deep voice: "Han Baohu's thousands of soldiers and horses are stationed in Yangping Pass, whether it is to attack Chencang or go straight to the pass through the valley, in the end we still have to face this army, and the more important problem is that in that case, it is more likely to be in the enemy's north-south attack, but it is better to just break through Yangping Pass." ”

Xiao Shilian's reason can be said to be very clumsy, but Niu Hong and Tang Zhong subconsciously glanced at each other and nodded in agreement. Everyone knows that Xiao Shilian just casually found a reason, which means that the reason can't be recruited by too many people, but according to Xiao Shilian's application, it seems that he is confident.

And Xiao Shilian immediately ordered: "Tomorrow, all battalions will reorganize their troops and horses, sum up their experience, and rush to the city for the first attack, which shows that this Yangping Pass is not impenetrable, as long as we can catch the flaws of Han Baohu, then this Yangping Pass will belong to us sooner or later." ”

"No!" The generals responded in unison.

Xiao Shilian waved his hand: "Niu Hong, Tang Zhong, you stay for a while, and the rest of the people will disperse." ”

When everyone left, Xiao Shilian glanced at the guards standing at the door, and the guards understood, and asked the soldiers patrolling outside the door to take a few steps outside.

And Xiao Shilian stretched out his hand on the map at this time: "The reason why the soldiers are under Yangping Pass is because the Marquis of Hanzhong has no intention of entering the customs from here at all." ”

"This ······" Niu Hong was stunned for a moment, Xiao Shilian was willing to tell him Li Xinchen's overall strategic layout at this time, so that Niu Hong felt trusted, but he couldn't understand this sentence.

Don't take Yangping Pass, don't take Chencang Road, what does Li Xinchen plan to do?

You must know that Guanzhong is the lifeline of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and only by entering Guanzhong can you completely win the victory, otherwise the capture of any of the remaining important towns is just taking advantage, and in the future, when the Northern Zhou Dynasty recovers, it will still have to face the absolute superiority of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

"Entering Guanzhong at this time will only make Yang Jian and Yu Wenxian, who have been completely opposed, try to cooperate again or maintain a tacit understanding," Xiao Shilian said in a deep voice, "It is not necessarily beneficial to us, and more importantly, compared to Guanzhong, where the enemy is heavily armed, there are other more empty places that are worth using." ”

"Xiangyang?" Niu Hongjiu has been in Hanzhong for a long time, of course he understands the status of Hanzhong as a thoroughfare, and as soon as Xiao Shilian opened his mouth, he had already guessed where Li Xinchen's purpose was.

Hanzhong mainly connects Bashu, Guanzhong and Xiangyang, so in addition to Bashu and Guanzhong, only Xiangyang remains. And indeed, as Xiao Shilian said, at this time, there are the main armies of Wei Xiaokuan, Wei Chi Hui and others in the Guanzhong, and more importantly, without the obstacles of the Bashu Mountains at the beginning, these two armies can easily exert their original combat power, and it is naturally impossible for Li Xinchen to want to transfer the two armies as before.

Once Li Xinchen rashly rushes into Guanzhong at this time, then it is very likely that Wei Chi Hui and Wei Xiaokuan, who originally met each other with swords, will temporarily put aside their disputes and deal with Li Xinchen in unison. After all, they all participated in the Battle of Bashu at the beginning, but they knew very well that Li Xinchen had a few catties and a few taels, and it was easy to ask God to send God, so it was best to "send him away" as soon as possible.

In contrast, the number of defenders in Xiangyang has reached an unprecedented weak time, and there are not many soldiers and horses of the Northern Zhou Dynasty around, most of them have already followed Wei Chi to the north, and there is no time to return at this time.

If Li Xinchen attacked Xiangyang at this time, or went down the river, the threat to the defenders of Xiangyang would of course be fatal. If you can take Xiangyang at this time, open up the entire defense line of Shuishui, and put pressure on Guanzhong in the direction of Yangping Pass and Wuguan at the same time, of course, it is better than attacking Guanzhong recklessly now.

Thinking of this, Niu Hong's face showed a smile, he had to say that Li Xinchen's strategy somewhat similar to "sounding the east and attacking the west" was indeed unexpected, perhaps in the eyes of many people, the most important thing to win Hanzhong is to directly attack Guanzhong, Guanzhong is the Central Plains, no one would have thought that Li Xinchen would transfer troops to the south at this time, and because of the obstruction of Qinling, it would be even more difficult to transfer troops from Guanzhong to support Xiangyang for a while.

Tang Zhong's understanding of the northern war situation was obviously not as clear as Niu Hong's, but he was also roughly aware of something at this time, and he was thoughtful.

It seems that they have been waiting for the two of them to understand. Xiao Shilian bowed slightly: "That's right, it's Xiangyang, our task is mainly to contain the enemy's Guanzhong army and attract their attention." ”

After a pause, Xiao Shilian said with a smile: "So we let Han Baohu feel that this Yangping Pass is our main direction of attack, Han Baohu does not move, Wei Xiaokuan does not move, then we will not move, as for the direction of Xiangyang······"

As he spoke, Xiao Shilian's gaze moved along the map: "The Marquis of Hanzhong will be personally responsible." ”