Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 425
In 225 A.D., the fifth year of Han Zhangwu, and the end of the sixth year of Wei Huangchu, the Southern and Northern Dynasties started a large-scale confrontation.

Under the slogan of imitating Guangwu and revitalizing the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei launched a three-way northern expedition, sending troops from Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yizhou, Liangzhou and other places, and launched a fierce attack on Cao Wei's Guanzhong, Henan, and Huainan lands.

Xia Houmao, Cao Zhen, Zhong Yao, Xu Huang, Zhu Ling and others guarded against Shen Chen in the West Front Pass.Cao Xiu, Zhang Liao, Zang Ba, Lu Qian and others resisted Guan Yu in Huainan on the Eastern Front.

On the central line in Henan, the front line was led by the new hussar general Xia Houyuan, the general who conquered the south Xia Houshang was the deputy general, and Cao Pi personally went to the rear of Chendu to supervise the battle.

Liu Bei adopted a steady and steady tactic, slowly attacking Henan, and then occupied Yingchuan, Runan County and other large areas of territory. In Yanling, Changshe and other places, he began a protracted confrontation with the main force of the Cao army.

The trenches on both sides have been dug for dozens of miles, and the camps are so long that they can't see the end at a glance.There are hundreds of camps, large and small, so you can know the scale of both sides.

From the dispatch of troops at the end of 225 A.D. to the end of February 226 A.D., Liu Bei's main force had covered less than half of Yingchuan County, confronting Cao Jun head-on.

Although the main force did not start an all-out war, the battles behind the enemy lines continued frequently.For example, Liu Bei called on the people in Yingchuan, Henan and other places to revive the Han Dynasty and rebel against Cao Wei, which made Cao Pi's rear rebels continue, and Cao's army was devastated.

And Cao Jun also took advantage of the mobility of having a large number of cavalry to constantly harass the Han army's grain roads. At the most exaggerated time, he even blocked the passage in the Nanyang Basin. A large number of cavalry roamed around and attacked the rear. If Ma Chao hadn't personally escorted the grain and grass, the front line might be in danger of running out of food. .

Fortunately, although Cao Pi's advisers are cunning, Liu Bei's advisers are even better. The two sides are constantly fighting, you come and go, and they still maintain a balance of power. Even if Liu Bei has 1 fewer troops than Cao Jun, they are still moving forward , not falling behind.

This situation continued until April of the sixth year of Zhang Wu, and the Huainan battlefield was the first to change.Because Zhang Liao communicated with Guan Yu many times, Cao Xiu was worried. Afterwards, Guan Yu besieged Hefei several times and almost broke into the city.

Hefei is a small city, which is more conducive to defense.However, the number of soldiers and horses of Guan Yu was several times that of Zhang Liao, and there were always some flaws. Guan Yu found the loopholes and almost hit the top of the city, making the city of Hefei almost shaky.

Under a sense of oppression, Cao Xiu decided to give up continuing to stick to Runan, but personally led tens of thousands of troops, together with Zang Ba and Lu Qian's troops, rushed towards Hefei to help.

At the beginning of May, Cao Xiu led the army through Shouchun to Chengde, and arrived at the rear of Hefei, which was less than [-] kilometers away from Hefei City.

There are two reasons for him to come. One is to help Zhang Liao and relieve the pressure on Hefei.

Two.

He was also afraid that if Zhang Liao voted, he asked Xue Ti to keep an eye on Zhang Liao's situation to avoid bad things from happening.

Now that he has arrived in Hefei, even if something happens, he can make up for it as soon as possible.

So I violated the previous deployment and arrived in Huainan in person.

Guan Yu then let Wei Yan continue to surround Hefei City, and he led an army of [-] to build a camp in the north of Hefei, preparing to meet the enemy.

The two sides continued to be locked in a standoff.

But at this time on the Guanzhong battlefield, the fourth day of May is the midsummer season, and at the end of the corner, the sun hangs high in midair, bringing scorching warmth to the earth.

At the end of last year, the weather was a bit cold, and the soldiers were still able to attack the city of Chang'an bravely by relying on a wave of blood to drive out the cold.

But with the arrival of summer, the weather became hotter, and the morale of both the Han army and the Wei army dropped a lot. The sound of cicadas in the forest outside the city was endless, and the gathering of mosquitoes was unbearably disturbing.

Sweltering heat and exhaustion have become the common feelings of all soldiers. Even if Shen Chen has attacked Chang'an at least six times a month in the past six months, it is difficult to mobilize everyone's emotions. routine.

In the middle of the morning, at the beginning of the end of the middle of the day, with the sound of the drums and horns, the Han army camp a few miles south of Chang'an City suddenly woke up from the death-like silence. The gates of the camp slowly opened, and groups of soldiers began to emerge from the camp. line up.

The soldiers of the Han army bowed their bows and unsheathed their knives, and there were everywhere the clattering of armored leaves, anxious and angry urging, neat shouts, short and hasty orders and sharp police whistles.

In this chaos, no one paid attention to the small river flowing around the camp on the west side, and no one expected that there is now a long line divided into three rows, crouching quietly one by one by the river. On the gentle slope, and then headed west of Chang'an City.

This is Jiang Wei's first time participating in a surprise attack. The Han army has not launched a surprise attack during a frontal attack for more than four months. Although the Cao army on the top of the city is still patrolling, the vigilance is obviously not as good as before, and the guard has relaxed a lot. .

Wu Tao, as his senior, told Jiang Wei: "Master said that today is the day when you will be a thief for a thousand days. The Wei army has been on guard for too long. This time, we must enter the city for a full-scale raid. Follow me when the time comes. Don't fall behind, after killing the top of the city, rush to the city gate immediately and open the city gate."

"Yes."

Jiang Wei wrote it down carefully.

Wu Tao is the captain of the stormtrooper, behind him are Huo Yang, Wu Dang and other seniors.

They are Shen Chen's first batch of disciples, and they started earlier than Deng Ai, so they have basically achieved their positions in the army as lieutenant generals, partial generals, and even Shan Yi is now a miscellaneous general because of his meritorious service in the battle.

It's just that Shan Yi's personality is relatively simple and reckless. Like Zhang Fei, he is only suitable to be a fierce general who charges into the battle, not a general who commands in front of the battle, so this time he is commanded by Wu Tao.

He brought a small number of people, less than 3000, divided into three echelons. Jiang Wei and the others are now in the first echelon, lurking outside the gate of Zhangcheng.

Ma Dai had raided from this direction before, but failed.

Shen Chen played psychology with the enemy once. The enemy felt that they had failed in a surprise attack from this direction once, and probably would not do it again, but he scored twice and continued to attack from the Zhangcheng Gate.

This is the same as the psychology of Sidu Chishui.

At this moment, Wu Tao told Jiang Wei about the situation of the subsequent raid, while standing by the river overlooking the direction of Nancheng, paying close attention to the actions there.

Shen Chen personally led the army in Nancheng, and had already left the camp to charge towards Pingcheng Gate, that is, Xi'an Gate.

Still as usual, first countless wooden mantles moved forward, then Yunlou and catapults, this time there were not hundreds of catapults, but nearly two thousand catapults, although it was not as good as the five catapults that the Jin army surrounded Bianliang. Thousands of vehicles, but also spectacular.

There are about a thousand vehicles piled up at the Pingcheng Gate. The Xuanping Gate in the northeast is the main attack direction of Pang De and Zhao Yun. There are also eight or nine hundred vehicles there.

Now the morale of the Wei army is even lower than that of the Han army. With such bombing every day, the top of the city is almost filled with stones. Anyone who is under this kind of fear will not last long.

If it weren't for Zhong Yao's continuous boost of morale, and Xu Huang and Zhu Ling's several sneak attacks to help, I am afraid that the city would not be able to hold on long ago.

Huang Zhong in the south also captured Lantian County. Although Cao Zhen personally led the army to take it back, Liangzhou cavalry rushed to help at any time, and returned home several times, so he could only continue to garrison in Lantian Valley.

Time passed quickly, and when it was the beginning of the end of the day and the end of the day, the war in the distance had become intense, and Wei Jun's attention was also attracted there.

There was silence in the grass, and Jiang Wei was half squatting and half kneeling in the weeds, holding a straight knife hidden in the grass with one hand, and resting on the knee of his right leg with the other hand, his eyes were drooping, his gaze Ping Ding looked calm, quietly and patiently waiting for the order to move forward.

Weeds are only knee-high, and he has to bend his tall body to barely hide himself.Maintaining this awkward posture made him feel uncomfortable, and after a while, his neck became sore and stiff.He didn't dare to move his body, he could only turn his neck bone slightly.Immediately he heard a small click as the knuckles rubbed against each other.

Shan Yi on his left stabbed him in the waist with his hand, and when Jiang Wei slightly turned his head to look, Shan Yi pointed into the grass.

Jiang Wei glanced at the direction Shan Yi was pointing at, grinned, and smiled silently. He didn't expect that senior brother Deng Ai, who used to be taciturn and serious, had such a side - he picked out an earthworm in the mud , Now it is attracting a large group of ants to move "eating".

But his attention was immediately attracted by a scream.

A crossbow arrow unexpectedly left the battlefield "unauthorizedly", and flew towards the place where the Han army was ambushing by the river inexplicably.

The originally neat team immediately became agitated. Some people were stunned and at a loss, some moved their positions in fear, and some swallowed hard and almost buried their heads in the ground.

In the orders of officers at all levels to "do not move", "be quiet" and "maintain the formation", the seven-foot-thick crossbow arrow almost flew past the soldiers' heads, and stuck in the river On the slope on the opposite bank, a big tree was shot down.

Most of the soldiers turned their heads to stare at the half-slanted "wooden stake" on the other side, taking a deep breath.It took a long while before someone muttered "Ji his mother", and then there was a low panting and cursing sound in the line.

Wu Tao and Deng Ai didn't turn their heads to look at the crossbow arrows. They are veterans now, let alone the commanders of the team. The crossbow bolts that appeared were exposed.

They poked out their heads concealedly through the dense woods and bushes on the left bank of the river, and looked towards the head of Chang'an City about a mile away. On their side, they just ups and downs, as if they were riding on horseback, and then went to the distance.

This is Zhong Yao's cavalry patrolling the city wall. The east and west walls of Chang'an City are six kilometers long, which means that even if all 5 people are placed on the city wall, it is only just right if each person occupies a width of 1.2 meters. Just fill the city.

But now most of the Wei army is fighting the main force of the Han army in the South City and North City. With such a long distance between the east and west walls, it may take tens or hundreds of meters to have a sentry tower, which is difficult to investigate clearly.

From the moment the crossbow arrows passed by, Deng Ai half straightened his body and began to carefully observe the situation of the city head in the distance and the Nancheng city in the south.

At this moment, a loud horn and a sharp bone whistle suddenly came from the distant city.

What can be seen at the same time is that the cavalry raised a black banner on the city head.

Now the voices on the battlefield are loud.

All kinds of horns, beating drums, and whistles filled the entire arena, and there was also the sound of a large number of "bang bang bang" boulders hitting the top of the city, all of which interfered with the progress of the enemy's military orders.

So in order to improve this situation, Zhong Yao adopted the method of adding semaphore with voice.

The east and west directions of the city are the most likely to be attacked by surprise, so use two colors of military flags instead. Once the city wall is so wide and attacked outside, it will be difficult for infantry to rush to the battlefield several kilometers away quickly, so thousands of cavalry at the top of the city are required Help at any time.

Now that the black flag is raised, it means one thing - the east of the city has been attacked.

"Look."

Deng Ai straightened up, and said to Wu Tao Shanyi and Jiang Wei on the left and right: "Cao Wei's city wall is full of their cavalry, and they are galloping south."

"It was General Ma who launched a surprise attack, and people were attracted by them."

Wu Tao analyzed: "They seem to launch a surprise attack earlier than the original plan. Could it be a temporary change?"

"Maybe it was discovered, maybe they seized the moment."

Deng Ai got out of the grass, twisted his sore neck from squatting for a long time, clenched the steel knife in his hand, and said in a cold voice: "But no matter what, now is our chance to take down the Zhangcheng Gate, We will be able to capture the city of Chang'an."

"Okay, let's go!"

Wu Tao waved his hand back, and officers at all levels immediately signaled to the teams to prepare for action.

Wu Tao and others at the front slowly got out of the woods on the left bank, and slowly climbed down the Lushui River Beach through the dense grass. They also carried a ladder, and they could use the ladder to go down.

Midsummer is actually the wet season for the rivers in Guanzhong. Because the water sources of large rivers in Guanzhong, such as the Yellow River and the Weishui River, often come from the melting of snow mountains, the flow of water in spring and summer is relatively high, which is more difficult than the dry season in winter. river.

But they already had a way to deal with it. In addition to carrying the ladder, each team also brought a wooden raft, borrowed water and oars, successfully rowed to the opposite bank, and then began to climb the opposite bank.

After they climbed from the river bed to the shore, they will face the second problem - this is a plain area about a mile away, and there are almost no shelters along the way.

"rush!"

Wu Tao raised the knife in his hand and pointed forward.

This section of the road is a grassland, Zhong Yao once sent someone to clear it, and the growth of weeds cannot cover the human body, so the distance of this mile cannot be sneaked by any skills, but only by luck and speed.

The soldiers carried the trench bridge and ladders and ran silently, trying not to make any noise to avoid being noticed by the cavalry on the city wall.

Fortunately, most of the cavalry patrols are now attracted by Ma Dai and the others in the east city, and this place is just in the convex city, so the vision on the left and right sides will be limited to a certain extent, and the people above did not notice it at the first time.

When the sound of gongs, drums and horns suddenly came from the top of the city, Wu Tao and the others had already approached the moat, built the moat bridge, and began to cross the river to the bottom of the city.

"Hurry up!"

Dozens of trench bridges were built successfully, and then the ladders with barbs were hung on the top of the city.

Wu Tao and Shan Yi took the lead, and began to crawl with steel knives in their mouths.

Their crawling speed was very fast, like eight-legged spiders climbing up rapidly, with a height of seven or eight meters, and they reached the top of the city in a few seconds.

At this time, there were even only a few enemies here, because most of the cavalry rushed to the east to help, and there was only a team of scouting cavalry tens of hundreds of meters away, resulting in a huge loophole in the defense.

This is also the disadvantage of guarding against thieves for a thousand days for a long time. No matter what, even if you still patrol every day, it is inevitable that the enemy will not attack for a long time and your vigilance will drop.

In addition, the patrol area is too long and too far away, and it is almost impossible to cover everything.

When Wu Tao and Shan Yi rushed to the top of the city, the soldiers behind continued to climb up. There was only a group of Cao Jun around.

Seeing this scene, Wu Tao was overjoyed and said: "Master's method has succeeded, hurry up, seize the city gate first, report to Master, and ask Master to send people over immediately!"

At present, three thousand soldiers quickly occupied the top of the city, and began to seize the city gate from the stairs of Zhangcheng Gate, preparing to open the city!
(End of this chapter)