Chapter 283 Separation
Hulao Pass, also known as Sishui Pass, is an important pass in the east of Luoyang. It was named after King Mu of the Western Zhou Dynasty who imprisoned a tiger here. It is connected to Songshan Mountain in the south and the Yellow River in the north. The mountains are intertwined and it is a natural barrier. It is like "one man guarding the pass, ten thousand men cannot open it", and it has been a battleground for military strategists in all dynasties.

Wagang advanced by land and water, and was unstoppable all the way to Hulao Pass, but after reaching Hulao Pass, they were blocked by the natural barrier.

He first tried to persuade the defenders to surrender, but after being rejected, he began to build siege equipment.

Unfortunately, the fortress had just been completed and there was no time to attack the city when Wei Xiaoju led his troops to Hulao.

After seeing the siege equipment outside the city, he immediately recruited 500 brave warriors, launched a surprise attack at night, and burned most of the siege equipment.

Zhai Rang was furious and ordered the craftsmen to speed up the production of siege equipment, working day and night.

Three days later, after the equipment was completed, a strong attack on the city gate was immediately launched.

Wei Xiaoju responded calmly and organized his soldiers to defend the city tightly. The Wagang army attacked the city for several days and suffered heavy losses.

At this time, Yang Sui again advised Zhai Rang that the Wagang Army was good at field and naval battles but not at attacking cities, so it would be better to take a detour through Mengjin and enter the Luoyang Basin from a floating bridge.

After hearing this suggestion, Zhai Rang thought it was a good one.

But Hulao Pass did not want to give up, so it decided to take a two-pronged approach and sent Xu Maogong to lead more than 10,000 naval forces to take the Hebei route.

Xu Maogong also led his troops to successfully capture the north city of Heyang Floating Bridge.

Before the Cao Wei Dynasty, there was no bridge in Mengjin, so the ferry on the north bank had no fortification. The Heyang City of the Han Dynasty was 50 meters west of Mengjin, far from the river. This was also because fighting with your back to the river was a taboo in military strategy.

If there are enemies near a river, the defending party usually does not adopt the tactic of crossing the waterway to meet them on the other side. Instead, they usually wait for the enemy to wade across the river, or wait until the enemy is halfway across the river and then attack, or take advantage of the chaos after the enemy has crossed the river and launch an attack when their troops are not in order.

However, the situation changed after the bridge was built. If no defenses were set up on the other side in the above situation, one end of the long bridge would be controlled by the enemy. If the bridge was burned, a huge amount of manpower, material resources and financial resources would be wasted in rebuilding it.

Therefore, after the bridge was built, Cao Wei successively built cities on the north bank, south bank and in the center of the river in order to control the important channel connecting Luoyang and Hebei. They are collectively called the "Three Cities of Heyang".

Among them, Beicheng, also known as "Beizhongcheng" or "Heyangcheng", was the seat of the General of Beizhong during the Cao Wei period and was extremely strategic.

After Xu Maogong captured Beizhong City, he immediately sent someone to inform Zhai Rang who was fighting fiercely at Hulao Pass.

Zhai Rang was preparing to send reinforcements to Xu Maogong, allowing him to capture the South City in one go and then drive straight to Luoyang.

But before the reinforcements were sent out, 15,000 Yan cavalry led by Duan Yihong bypassed Xingyang and the eastern foot of Mount Song and appeared on the Hulao battlefield.

Subsequently, an attack on the Wagang Army was immediately launched.

Six thousand armored cavalry were divided into six teams, all led by fierce generals, and charged straight into the Wagang army formation.

Nine thousand light cavalry followed behind and attacked.

Right in front of Hulao Pass, they rushed straight towards the Wagang Army formation.

The sudden appearance of the Iron Cavalry made most of the Wagang Army that was attacking the city fall into endless panic. The Iron Cavalry lined up in front of them, rushing towards them like a tide. Their iron hooves stepped on the ground like thunder, and thousands of horses neighed and roared in the wind.

Although the Wagang Army was large in number, they could not resist such a surging torrent of armored troops. Fierce generals such as Yuchi Gong, Xue Wanche, Xue Wanjun, and Duan Wuchen all led the charge into the battle line.

In order to boost morale, Zhai Rang was supervising the battle several miles below Hulao Pass, but Yuchi Gong saw his flag and rushed towards him. Shan Xiongxin, a brave general of the Wagang Army, saw that Yuchi Gong was so brave that no one else could match him, and being confident of his own bravery, he rode his horse directly to meet him.

When the two horses met, Yuchi Gong avoided Shan Xiongxin's stab and knocked him off his horse with a stab of his spear. Then he rode straight towards Zhai Rang.

Zhai Rang's son Zhai Sixun and nephew Zhai Tong stepped forward to fight with Yuchi Gong, which gave Zhai Rang a chance to escape.

Although Zhai Rang escaped, the Wagang Army was completely disrupted by the Yan Army's iron cavalry. The defeated soldiers fled in all directions, and many soldiers fled to the riverside ferry docks, which caused crowding and trampling. In this battle, more than 80,000 Wagang troops on the Hulao battlefield were scattered and fled in all directions.

The Yan army’s cavalry killed more than 10,000 people, and countless others trampled on each other or jumped into the river and were washed away. Less than 10,000 people fled to the north bank by boat.

There were more than 30,000 prisoners.

More than twenty Wagang generals were captured. Zhai Rang's brother Zhai Hong, who was also the main advocate of the march to Luoyang, and his son Zhai Heng were both killed in the battle.

Zhai Rang himself boarded the ferry and headed for the north bank. Along the way, he looked south frequently with tears in his eyes. When the boat was in the middle of the river, it collided with his own fleeing boat. The boat sank and Zhai Rang drowned.

"I regret not listening to Mr. Yang's advice" also became Zhai Rang's last words.

At his peak, he controlled three states and had an army of 200,000. But now he left his hatred for the river.

After hearing about the battle at Hulao, Xu Maogong quickly withdrew his troops back to Dongjun.

More than 20,000 remnants of the defeated Wagang army also returned to Puyang one after another, and there were sounds of wailing and crying all the way.

At this time, the situation in Puyang was very delicate.

Although Zhai Rang's son Zhai Sixun was extremely brave, he was still young and had no prestige, so he was unable to subdue the crowd.

The Wagang Army was composed of complex factions, including old men who had followed Zhai Rang in the uprising, leaders of the rebel army who had defected from various places, and the remnants of the Hongnong Yang family and the Qi county rebels.

Zhai Rang died and more than half of the army was lost, so the vast areas of Yanzhou, Qingzhou, and most of Xuzhou fell into a brief vacuum period.

Although the various factions did not immediately split apart, there were some disagreements on how to proceed in the future.

Zhai Sixun said that he could not convince the people, but Eastern Yan was his enemy, so he wanted to go to the Li family of Western Yan.

However, Yang Sui said that the Yang family and the Li family had a feud and refused to join the Li family.

The people of Qi County said that they had a history with Li Yuanhui, the general of the Southern Expedition of Liang County of Western Yan, and that the Li family occupied Guanzhong and seemed to be unifying the country, so they were also ready to join the Li family.
"Li Yuanhui and I have a blood feud, so it is impossible for him to defect to Western Yan"

Yang Kan, the commander of the Yang family army, clearly stated his position.

Murong Sanzang, the son of Murong Xuan, the former governor of Qi, said, "In that case, we all worked together under Lord Zhai in the past. Although we have different opinions now, we must not hurt the harmony. Why don't we agree to split up the army? Those who want to join the Li family can go with me and General Zhai to see the Duke of Liang and the Duke of Dunhuang. Since you have a grudge against the Li family, why don't we go our separate ways and go our separate ways? How do you think?"

Yang Kan and Yang Sui looked at each other, and Yang Sui said, "Okay, in that case, just as General Murong said, we will each lead our troops and leave Qingzhou. How do you think it will stay with us?"

Zhai Sixun said immediately: "In the beginning, it was all planned by Yang Changshi that we were able to take Qingzhou. Now that Qingzhou is given to the Yang family, I have no other choice."

Perhaps because Zhai Rang himself had a relatively upright and positive image, the split of the Wagang Army did not lead to bloody conflict. In fact, it was also because neither side had absolute power to swallow the other.

Qingzhou and half of Yanzhou became the territory of the Yang family.

The Wagang Army composed of Zhai Sixun, Xu Maogong and other fellow villagers from Hua County, together with Qi County's Murong Sanzang, Jia Xiong, Qin Bogui, Qin Zhongyu and others, totaling about 30,000 soldiers and horses, as well as half of Yanzhou and most of Xuzhou under their control, became the stepping stone that Zhai Sixun and others wanted to offer to the Li family of Western Yan.

When the envoy arrived in Yingchuan to ask for a meeting and reported the news that the remaining Wagang people wanted to offer land and submit, Li Yuanhui was stunned.

No kidding?

Is it so easy to conquer the world?
(End of this chapter)