Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

As night fell, Cao Hong was still watching every move of Shen Chenjun from the high oar.

His battle was actually no smaller than Shen Chen's army. The camp stretched for more than ten miles from north to south, connecting Kunshan to the north and Wuyang to the south, almost blocking the entrance to Nanyang.

And if Shen Chen's army starts building barracks now, it will also stretch for more than ten miles from north to south, and the battlefield and camp line will be extremely long.

However, as a veteran on the battlefield, Shen Chen would definitely not give the opponent too many openings, so although the camp line was very long, he did not spread out the camp immediately, but set up the camp vertically.

Vertical camping means setting up camps along the east and west banks of the Lishui River. After the first part of the camps are set up, the camps are spread out in the north-south direction.

Cao Hong has been observing on the high oar for more than two hours, watching Shen Chen's army set up camp impeccably, he has not shown any action for a long time.

Zhao Yan had heard the news and rushed over, and watched with Cao Hong for a while, and when it was almost dark and the sun was about to set, he said, "General, Shen Chen is probably here for a decisive battle this time."

"Ah."

Cao Hong responded, and said, "The last time he came, he must have guessed that Ji Ping and others would not be able to do anything, and they didn't even do fortifications, but this time, he started digging trenches."

"Why did he suddenly come to attack again? Our camp is well-prepared. Does he think he can break our camp?"

Cao Hong's deputy, General Fenwei Deng Zhan was puzzled.

Zhao Yan smiled and said, "You still don't know that the King of Wei defeated Liu Bei's troops in Xiliang and took back Tianshui County. He has already entered Qishan and confronted Liu Bei at the junction of Wudu and Tianshui County."

"I see."

Deng Zhan suddenly realized: "Liu Bei knew that he was no match for King Wei, so he asked Shen Chen to send troops to Henan in order to gain a certain offensive and force King Wei to withdraw his troops and return to defense."

"Yes."

Cao Hong nodded slightly and said, "Brother sent me a secret letter last month. Once Shen Chen takes the initiative to attack, I won't be able to hold out. Shen Chen must not be given a chance to attack us."

"But they seized the upper reaches of the Li River."

Deng Zhan frowned and said, "These tens of thousands of people eat and drink every day, and all of them are discharged into the water. We are in the downstream, and the water source is broken, and they will be smoked to death by them."

Lishui flowed from the direction of Yecheng, and Shen Chen also sent troops from there, which meant that Shen Chen's army would definitely occupy the upper river mouth.

They are in the downstream, drinking water, cooking, washing, and even the ditch water used to make the moat river comes from Lishui. So many people eat, drink and scatter into the river, they are in the downstream just suffer.

Zhao Yan thought for a while and said: "General, this is indeed a big problem. Before that, we used several tributary canals of Lishui River plus Lishui River, which was enough. As soon as Shen Chen came, Lishui River was occupied. We Reuse the water they used, and the soldiers may get sick."

There is no need to say how important it is to fight for water.

For example, Liu Bei wants to defend against Cao Cao in Lucheng, not because of how good the geographical environment is. In terms of danger, the wooden doorway and Tietang Gorge behind him are many times more dangerous than Lucheng.

But Lucheng is the exit of Qishan Road. After going south from Lucheng and crossing Qishan, there are several roads going straight to Wudu.

Secondly, the water source is relatively rich there. There are several river branches such as the West Han River and the Wei River. outside.

Otherwise, as far as Cao Cao goes south to Qishan, there will be many trails leading directly to Wudu. As long as he can supply food and grass, then Wudu County and even Yinping County, which have just been steadily captured, will be handed over.

Cao Hongjun was stationed at the exit of Nanyang, and the water sources were Lishui, Lishui and Wushui. Wushui was located in the south of Wuyang, and Wuyang was used for Wuyang defenders to obtain water.Fushui is located in the north of Kunyang, and the Kunyang garrison diverted water into the city, so there was no need to worry about the water source.

However, Cao Hong's main force in Taiting happened to be in the middle of the two cities, and the distance between the north and the south was tens of miles.

Previously, they relied on the Lishui River, which is also in the middle of the two rivers, and a few ditches dug north of the Lishui River to divert water, but now that Shen Chen has occupied the upper reaches of the Lishui River, they have lost an important water source, and they have to consider the future. question.

Cao Hongsi thought: "You can ask the civilian husband and the auxiliary soldiers to continue digging new canals in the north to solve the water problem in the camp."

"That's all."

Zhao Yan said: "But we must beware of Shen Chen and his fellow sending people to attack the people who dug the canal."

Cao Hongdao: "Let Liu Zhu lead 3000 people to garrison from Kunyang to the southeast, and let Yan Ming lead 5000 people to guard the canal, and we will also intercept their troops in front. The canal is behind us, so it should be fine."

"Well, that's the best way."

Zhao Yan nodded, this arrangement is still very appropriate.

After all, Hushuiyuan is a bit far away, but the advantage is that they are behind them. As long as they block the road, it is difficult for the enemy to harass the civilians digging the canal behind.

At present, Cao Hong planned for the rainy day and ordered people to dig and build canals to the north immediately, so that he could save himself if the water source was cut off in the future.

On the other hand, there was no movement on Shen Chen's side, and they continued to build the camp for several days.

Camps sprang up one after another, and ditches began to be dug. Afterwards, Lu Chang's rear army brought a large amount of supplies, and the construction of the camps accelerated.

Originally, there were [-] soldiers plus tens of thousands of auxiliary soldiers, who ate, drank, and littered in the Lishui. Sure enough, within half a month, the Lishui was polluted, and the river gradually became turbid, with a faint smell.

Fortunately, Cao Hong made arrangements in advance and ordered the soldiers to store water in advance.After more than ten days passed, several new canals were successfully dug and built, and the water resource problem was solved.

At the beginning of April, after the camp of Shen Chen's army was built, they took the initiative to launch an offensive. All kinds of ladders, cloud towers, rush carts, wooden curtains, and nest carts were pushed out, and tens of thousands of troops lined up in front of the camp, roaring like tanks Long drove towards Cao Jun.

It was early summer, the weather was dry and clear, the sun was blazing, and the temperature was getting higher and higher. In the early morning, with the sound of various loud horns, gongs, drums, and whistles, the camp gates of Shen Chen's army opened.

Immediately afterwards, rows of soldiers walked out of the camp gate in a uniform manner. More than a dozen small camps surrounded a large camp in the center, and dense crowds began to gather outside the middle camp.

Shen Chen rode on the horse and slowly left the gate of the camp.

On his right are the troops of the Gan Ning army. The generals Zhou Jian and Wu Shuo each led thousands of people from the camp, and the flag with the word "Gan" was hoisted high.

And on his left are Lu Chang's troops, and the generals Han Hu and Zhao Jun also led the troops out of the camp and began to assemble the team.

Behind Shen Chen himself, under the leadership of the generals Liu Wei, Wang Jie, Li Ying, Huo Yang, Wu Dang, Wu Tao, Shan Yi and others, countless soldiers poured out like a tide and began to line up according to the command of officers at all levels.

The whole process was fast and tight, as if they had been trained countless times. In just a quarter of an hour, nearly [-] troops had already lined up.

Then a large number of siege equipment was pushed out by the peasants and auxiliary soldiers, and placed outside the camp.

Zhang Xiu led Xiliang cavalry to cruise around.

The main force of Shen Chen's army was assembled in the southeast of Cao Ying, because the south was Lishui, and Wuyang's defenders had to cross the river to come to support, so they were now stationed in the south of Lishui and watched from afar.

Cao Ying was facing a formidable enemy, and the generals of each camp issued warning orders at the same time, and various horns, gongs, drums, and whistles were heard endlessly.

"Go on!"

Shen Chen gave an order, and the army officially moved forward.

Tens of thousands of people kept silent and headed forward, only the roars, echoes, urgings, gongs, drums, horns and hurried footsteps of Cao Ying in the distance remained in the world.

The Nanyang Army moved slowly, the wheels were rolling, each soldier was wearing well-made small armor, and the weapons were also made of steel, with strong combat effectiveness.

On the other hand, the armor coverage rate of the Cao army is far lower than that of the Nanyang army. At least half of them wear leather armor at most, or small iron armors. Only the generals are eligible to wear the large steel armors. The two sides are facing each other head-on. Not afraid.

Cao Jun's battalions launched their defenses intensively. Groups of soldiers emerged from behind the crenels of the rammed-earth wall, with bows and stringed knives out of their sheaths, and the collision of armored leaves everywhere, looking nervously outside the camp.

At three moments in the middle of the corner, the rising sun was still hanging in the eastern sky, and the scorching sun shone on the earth. With a melodious horn sounding, the Nanyang Army's offensive officially began.

If you look down from a high altitude, you will see Cao Jun's camp that stretches for more than ten miles, and countless phalanxes begin to move forward.

Cao Ying was like the Great Wall. A large number of Cao soldiers raised their heads, raised their bows and arrows, and aimed at the enemies outside the camp.

But Shen Chen's army naturally didn't attack blindly. One after another, the wooden curtains were pushed to the front of the team. Under the protection of the wooden curtains, the rear catapults, as well as the catapults used to attack the camp gates and fences, were also heading towards the battlefield.

The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and they waited until they were about a hundred steps away, within the range of bows and arrows.

"Fire arrows!"

Cao Hong stood on the high oar above the camp and gave an order.

With the sound of the fast-paced horn, the archers on Cao Ying let go of their arrows one after another.

"Buzz!"

Countless bowstrings stretched back at the same time.

Immediately afterwards, thousands of arrows drew a splendid arc in the air, and countless dense black spots formed a terrifying arrow net, sweeping towards Shen Chen's army.

Shen Chen raised his head and looked at the rain of arrows covering the sky in the distance, but did not give any instructions, because it was too late for any instructions.

"Ding ding dong ding ding ding dong ding ding dong!"

Accompanied by the crisp sound of the arrows penetrating into the wood, and the slight shaking of the tails of the arrows' wings, a large number of arrows landed on the wooden mantle, making a jingling sound.

A small part of them were shot at Shen Chen's army. However, in front of the Nanyang army, where even ordinary soldiers were wearing small vest-like armor and already wearing iron helmets, the damage caused by this round of arrow rain was almost negligible. A few unlucky ones were shot in the foot, and almost no one died.

Cao Hong looked at this scene in the distance, his face was livid.

The elite soldiers guarding the frontier in the Han Dynasty were equipped with excellent equipment. They wore a scarf on their heads, also called Futou, which was a cloth cap.However, Zhajia is worn on the body to protect the chest, abdomen and shoulders, which is generally called a small Zhajia.

Then hang the first knife around the waist, hold spears and spears, and when fighting nomads, because of the armor, the combat effectiveness is very high.

Generals usually have multiple iron helmets, called iron helmets.

High-ranking generals, just like those played in the TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in later generations, will cover the whole body armor from top to bottom, like a deep garment with a curved train, and the hem is like a skirt, sewn with iron sheets. This is the big Zhajia, which is very thick , only generals wear it.

But these soldiers' equipment used to be provided by the imperial court. Only the Central Northern Army and the elite frontier soldiers deployed in Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Liangzhou would have it. Where can ordinary county soldiers get such good things?
And after the collapse of the Han Dynasty, the princes rebelled, and the major princes divided up a large amount of territory. Limited by resources, the equipment was far inferior to the elite northern army of the Han Dynasty.

Although decades later, Cao Cao unified the north and obtained a vast land.However, because he had too many troops and his finances were tight, good equipment would naturally be used by his main force first. For example, Cao Hong's army deployed on the front line in Nanyang was far inferior to the troops Cao Cao personally led in Xiliang.

Therefore, for Cao Hong in this battle, the equipment is already at a disadvantage.Even if he had 3 more troops than the opponent, he had no intention of leaving the camp to fight a decisive battle with him, so he could only hide in the camp obediently.

At this moment, the rain of arrows continued to scatter, but the harvest was very small. Afterwards, the Yunlou of the Nanyang Army approached, and the archers on it were condescending and began to shoot arrows at Cao Ying.

Yuan Shao used this kind of thing in the Battle of Guandu. It is a mobile tower, usually three or four stories high, and some are more than five stories. It is built of wood into an arrow tower, with ladders underneath. The top is like a small house, which can prevent arrows, and then shoot arrows out of the window.

Later generations generally call it a ladder.

Hundreds of ladders approached Cao Ying, separated by the guard trench outside Cao Ying, and thousands of archers fired arrows from above.

Immediately, thousands of arrows formed an arrow rain formation not inferior to Cao Jun's, and fired towards Cao Ying.

Because the height of the ladder is much higher than that of Cao Jun’s camp, Cao Jun had to shoot from his back if he wanted to shoot the Nanyang Army, but the Nanyang Army could shoot arrows downward from a high place, which was far better than Cao Jun’s in terms of range, strength and angle. .

Under such circumstances, when the rain of arrows from the Nanyang Army fell, the archers on the wall of Cao Jun's stronghold suffered heavy casualties.

This dilemma can't help but remind Cao Hong that Cao Cao once recalled the Battle of Guandu.

At that time, Yuan Shao shot arrows in this way, so that Cao Jun's soldiers had to move with their shields when walking in his camp.

This situation is exactly the same as the predicament at that time.

Fortunately, they have a relatively complete defense system, and there are trenches on the periphery that the opponent's attacking equipment cannot rush through.

Under normal circumstances, after the suppression of long-range firepower, the Nanyang Army will probably send out death squads, build trench bridges and start forcibly rushing into the camp.

But Shen Chen seemed to be just a tentative attack today, only shooting arrows and not charging.

Only after the long-range firepower was suppressed, the catapults and bed crossbows of the Nanyang Army began to attack, pressing forward violently, still inflicting heavy casualties on Cao Jun in terms of firepower.

Seeing this situation, Cao Hong was not to be outdone, and ordered his crossbows and catapults to be transported to the earth hill in Cao Yingzhong to fight back.

You come and go on both sides, and many people were killed and injured by the enemy and us, but Cao Jun's casualties were obviously greater.

After a while, Dongying was broken.

Due to the control of the upper reaches of the Lishui River, fearing that sewage would flow into the camp, Cao Jun blocked the trenches in the camp to the east of his camp, causing it to become a piece of land.

Without the trenches, the soldiers of the Nanyang Army could pass without the need for a trench bridge. Under the cover of the wooden mantle, some Nanyang Army soldiers killed outside the Dongying camp.

Although Dongying was defended by thousands of people, the Nanyang Army pinpointed the weak point to attack and smashed through the outer wall of the village with a charging cart.

It's just that what the Nanyang army didn't expect was that there was a wall behind the wall.

Cao Hong built the pavilion into a turtle shell.

Afterwards, using the walls of the camp, Cao Jun defended tenaciously and beat the Nanyang Army out.

In addition, Cao Jun's camp was properly arranged, and many camps formed horns with each other. The generals of other camps near the Dongying camp saw that the situation there was not good, and quickly supported them.

But even so, the morale of the soldiers in Dongying plummeted, and they were afraid that without the protection of the guard camp and trenches, their side would become the enemy's main attack point next time.

Fortunately, Cao Hong checked the omissions and filled in the vacancies, and immediately sent some reinforcements there, which reassured the Dongying soldiers.

The two sides kept fighting.

Time is slowly passing in the war between you and me.

From the three quarters in the middle of the corner to the early afternoon, the two sides fought back and forth for three hours, with the clanging arrows raining and the pounding sound of the catapult hitting.

Cao Jun's firepower was suppressed, and many people ran away with their heads in their hands, and they had to hold their shields to move when walking in the camp.

If the generals of the battalions hadn't issued the death order, and the officers at all levels desperately urged the soldiers to go up to the battalion for defense, perhaps the central camp on the front would have almost become unguarded.

At this time, the soldiers were so hungry that their stomachs were growling, their physical strength was close to exhaustion, and Cao Jun's morale almost fell to the bottom.

It wasn't until the end of noon that Shen Chen's army finally heard the sound of Ming Jin withdrawing his troops.

Clinking copper gongs resounded throughout the battlefield.

Hearing this sound, Cao Jun's soldiers seemed relieved and breathed a sigh of relief. Many of them almost collapsed behind the wall of the village, panting heavily, their clothes soaked by the water on their backs, and they didn't even bother to stand up.

Only Cao Hong stood on the high oar with a serious face, looking at the retreating enemy, his face was very ugly.

Today was only the first confrontation, and there were not many teams sent by Shen Chen's army to attack, more of them were duels on weapons and crossbows.

But even so, the [-] Cao army was suppressed too much to lift their heads.

The Kunyang garrison left the city in the afternoon to come to support them, but they were attacked by Shen Taohuang's soldiers sent by Shen Chen, and they were defeated and returned.

The Wuyang defenders watched from the other side. There was actually a bridge behind them, but they only dared to watch, because on the other side of the river, Shen Chen's disciple Huo Yang led 3000 people to watch them, and they dared to die if they came.

Therefore, although Cao's army was properly deployed and had far more people than Shen Chen's army, they were shackled everywhere. The reinforcements did not dare to act rashly, and Cao Hong did not dare to go out for a decisive battle.

This situation is really uncomfortable.

On the other hand, Shen Chen's army retreated, but their morale was high, they cheered constantly, and shouted "hohohoho", their momentum soared into the sky.

Under the leadership of the Jingzhou God of War in their minds, they fought less and gained the upper hand. How could this situation not make the soldiers extremely excited and overwhelmed?
For a time, the [-] Nanyang army was magnificent, and Cao Hong's [-] army was pushed to the ground to fight!