Chapter 1061: The road to Shu is difficult, but it is not difficult with a traitor leading the way
Jiange is the name of a county.

Jiange County is located at the break of Dajian Mountain, with steep cliffs on both sides towering into the clouds.

Jianmen Pass is built on a Shu Road with two walls facing each other, shaped like a gate. Combined with the steep cliffs on both sides, it is named "Jianmen Pass".

Such steep cliffs are not unique to Jianmen Pass.

There are dozens of mountains around Jiange County. All of them look like unsheathed swords pointing to the sky. They are steep, strange and difficult to climb.

Therefore, Jianmen Pass has always been known as "one man guarding the pass, ten thousand men cannot break through."

Historically, if the Central Plains dynasties wanted to invade Shu, they had to rely on Shu traitors to lead the way so that they could enter smoothly.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Former Shu Kingdom was destroyed by Li Cunxu of the Later Tang Dynasty because of the emergence of the Shu traitors.

Later, after Li Cunxu's death, Meng Zhixiang, the governor who guarded Shu, established the Later Shu.

When Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Northern Song Dynasty forced the Later Shu to surrender, he also used traitors from Shu.

Even in the novel "Snow", Xu Xiao was able to conquer Western Shu only under the leadership of the traitor Zhao Changling.

Su Mingzhe always cared for his soldiers, so before leading the army to attack the Kingdom of Shu, he had ordered people to bribe the traitors of Shu.

That night.

The Shu traitor arrived and presented the defense map of Jianmen Pass in recent days:

"Tang Clan's Tang Noble pays respect to our Emperor. Long live the Emperor!"

"My dear Tang, please stand up!"

Su Mingzhe faced the Shu traitor with a gentle expression, offered him a seat and served him tea.

Not long ago, Tang Gui followed his elder brother to Chang'an City and met the Han Emperor. When he saw him again, he still felt fear.

He bowed cautiously to express his gratitude, then half-sat down on the chair with his buttocks pulled back, sitting upright, his calves still trembling under his robe.

Seeing that he looked reserved, Su Mingzhe smiled and said:
"Lord Tang, if we can capture Jianmen Pass in one battle, your Tang family will surely have made an indelible contribution. I promised to give your Tang family the fief of Gongjing County, and I will never break my promise."

Gongjing County is the "Salt Capital" that has been producing salt since the Qin and Han Dynasties and is extremely rich.

When Tang Gui heard the word "Gongjing County", his legs stopped shaking immediately and he replied excitedly:
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace. Reporting to Your Majesty, the eunuch Wang Chengxiu is currently stationed at Jianmen Pass. This Wang Chengxiu rose to power by flattery and has no real ability. All city defense tasks are handled by the five guards below. My eldest brother Tang Fu is one of the five guards. According to the city defense distribution map, my eldest brother will be in charge of the city gate defense tasks after three o'clock tomorrow night..."

Tang Gui reported everything his elder brother had told him.

"not bad, very good……"

Su Mingzhe listened to Tang Gui's report and nodded with satisfaction.

Having the traitor Tang Clan from Shu leading the way really saved me a lot of trouble.

On the second day.

Su Mingzhe ordered his men to cut down trees and make ladders and other siege tools, while at the same time he ordered his men to climb the surrounding cliffs and look into the city, as if preparing for an attack.

It was night in a blink of an eye.

Of the 50,000 Han troops, except for 10,000 cavalrymen who stayed in the camp to guard, the remaining 40,000 all held bamboo strips in their mouths and quietly approached Jianmen Pass.

The total distance was five miles, and the army did not need to bring any siege equipment, so they arrived in less than half an hour.

There was no movement in the city, so Su Mingzhe led the vanguard camp to the wall of Jianmen Pass.

The gate tower of Jianmen Pass is three stories high. When viewed from a distance at night, it looks like a ferocious prehistoric beast.

The army held their breath and waited quietly for the traitors from Shu to open the gate.

It was midnight.

Torches flickered on the city walls.

Su Mingzhe led the vanguard camp and, regardless of danger, was the first to climb up the city wall using the hanging basket.

As expected, Tang Fu, the leader of the Tang Clan, took over the city defense with his men. Seeing that Su Mingzhe, as the Han emperor, actually led the troops, he could not help but feel surprised and frightened, and hurried over to ask for instructions:
"Your Majesty, do you want to open the city gates now and allow the army to enter the city?"

"No need so early!" Su Mingzhe expanded his spiritual sense and found that although Tang Fu led the team to control the north gate of Jianmen Pass, he had only about two thousand soldiers under his command.

The entire Jiange garrison consisted of a total of 80,000 troops.

To prevent any eventuality, Su Mingzhe ordered:
"Let the Yi Nu army climb up first, wait a while, and then open the city gate!"

Currently, there are a total of 120,000 Han Kingdom's righteous slave army. Su Mingzhe brought 10,000 of them to attack Shu this time.

The Yi Nu Army was trained by Su Mingzhe for two or three years, and the combat effectiveness of each soldier could reach the level of ordinary generals.

As long as these Yi Nu soldiers were allowed to climb onto the city walls, even if the Tang Clan went back on their word, they would not be able to recapture the Jianmen Pass.

Of course, the Tang Clan had finally established contact with the Han Kingdom, and now that they had become traitors to Shu, there was no way they could go back.

Soon, as everyone was waiting anxiously, the time came to the hour of Chou.

More than half of the 10,000 Yi Nu soldiers have already climbed up the city wall.

At this point, the two thousand "Shu traitor rebels" led by Tang Fu were no longer a threat.

Waited for a while.

The time has come to Yin hour.

All 10,000 Yi Nu soldiers climbed up to the city gate, and Su Mingzhe then asked Tang Fu to open the city gate and let other Han troops enter the city.

As the city gate slowly opened, the other Shu troops finally discovered that the city wall of Jianmen Pass had been lost.

The army was defeated like a mountain.

Three quarters past the hour of Mao.

Su Mingzhe met the captured Shu army garrison commander and Tianxiong Army governor Wang Chengxiu.

When Wang Chengxiu saw Tang Fu and Tang Gui, brothers beside Su Mingzhe, he cursed inwardly, "Only dogs can harm me." Then, he showed a flattering smile on his face, knelt down with a plop, and said with a charming smile:
"Your servant Wang Chengxiu pays respect to His Majesty the Emperor of the Han Dynasty and wishes His Majesty long life and good health!"

"Are you Wang Chengxiu?"

Su Mingzhe looked at the young governor of the Tianxiong Army with curiosity.

After the current Shu Emperor Wang Yan ascended the throne, he favored eunuchs and appointed a large number of eunuchs to lead various military forces.

Because of his youth and handsomeness, Wang Chengxiu was the favorite of the Shu Emperor Wang Yan, and therefore he controlled the most powerful Tianxiong Army of Shu.

At this moment, Wang Chengxiu heard Su Mingzhe's question and kowtowed and replied "yes".

"Get up and untie him."

Su Mingzhe sensed that Wang Chengxiu was a favored eunuch and was in very weak health, so he waved his hand and asked the military counselor to question him.

At this point, Wang Chengxiu didn't dare to hide anything.

No matter what the military counselor asked him, he answered it in detail.

After a while, Dou Xingzhi, the military counselor, turned around, bowed to the commander's seat and said:
"Reporting to His Majesty, if Wang Chengxiu has not concealed anything, after passing Jiange, the Shu area can be conquered!"

"Well, in that case, let's make the next plan!"

Su Mingzhe did not feel the slightest sense of accomplishment in destroying Shu.

Wang Yan, the Emperor of Shu, was a typical tyrant. He favored eunuchs, was greedy for beauty, was extravagant and wasteful, and was fond of ostentation.

It should be very easy to destroy a country led by such a tyrant.

Three days later.

Su Mingzhe led 5,000 Yi Nu troops and 30,000 surrendered soldiers to Jinguan City.

As expected, facing the fierce Han army, the Shu Emperor Yan no longer had the courage to resist. He simply wore a linen robe, held the letter of surrender, seal, golden book and other items, led the civil and military officials, walked in front of the Han army, and surrendered.

(End of this chapter)