My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 312 If the enemy can go, I can go too~!

In this era, the Yellow River was not yet the 'Yellow' River, but the mother river recognized by the Chinese nation: the Great River.

In the upper reaches of the Yellow River, which was later called the Loess Plateau, there are still large tracts of grassland and even jungle.

The waters of the great river are still clear;

Compared with the 'Yellow River' of later generations, the great river of this era is different in many ways.

The only thing that is exactly the same as the "Yellow River" of later generations is the huge and turbulent water flow. Just hearing the movement of the water flow will inevitably generate a fear from the depths of the soul.

——Fear of water is an instinctive fear that originates from the soul of all primates, including humans.

Even though water is indispensable for survival, and even farming and animal husbandry after the emergence of civilization are inseparable from water, humans have always had the highest awe for water resources.

Because as early as in ancient times, even in primitive times, the cruelty of nature has engraved the horror of "water" into the human soul and even in the genetic inheritance.

In this era, apart from the eastern and southern coastal areas, which had the highest reverence for the ocean, people who had lived in the inland for a long time - whether they were the Chinese agricultural civilization in the Central Plains or the nomadic civilization on the grasslands - all had the highest reverence for the rivers.

Outside Hangu Pass, the eastern gateway of Guanzhong, the great river flowing from east to west makes Hangu Pass one of the most important passes in the world today and even in Chinese history.

Even in later times, the majestic Hangu Pass still enjoys the reputation of being able to be blocked by one man against ten thousand.

In the vast Kanto region, the tributaries of the great rivers nourish the land, which is more barren than Guanzhong and Bashu, and support most of the Chinese civilization.

Even the grassland.

Even the grassland, which was the habitat of nomadic people for thousands of years, still relied on this mother river of Chinese civilization to have its first extremely suitable pasture.

——Hetao.

It is also called Henan by the Han people today and the Chinese civilization today.

The scenery is beautiful, and although it cannot be said to be spring-like all year round, at least the climate is suitable;

Even in the coldest months of winter, nomadic people living in their tents do not have to worry about dying in their sleep.

It was late August in autumn, the rivers were still surging and the grasslands were still green.

The various tribes in the south of Mu that had not followed Chanyu Ting in the attack on Mayi, but were responsible for the remaining garrison - mainly the tribes attached to the Right Wise King, the 'Right Four Pillars' of the Eight Pillars of the Xiongnu, had finally finished a busy day.

——Or find friends, or wrestle or hunt with old acquaintances from neighboring tribes;
He would have sex with women in his own tent, others, or even women from other tribes, and have a great time.

All in all, another boring, tedious, yet extremely fulfilling and enjoyable day has passed.

At night, the young and strong men dressed in Hu robes and with Hu swords tied around their waists gathered in the center of the tribal camp and sat around the campfire.

The grassland is in very good condition this year.

After the "great battle" last year - and even in the past few years, countless blood, bones and flesh have nourished the grassland, making this year's grass and water particularly lush and abundant.

The cattle and sheep are fat enough, and the milk they produce every day is enough for the herdsmen to share with the slaves!
The horses are extremely strong. After running wildly for half a day, they still have the energy to "wait for an opportunity" at dusk and find a pretty mare to spend the night with.

This is the case with livestock. The young and strong herdsmen who control and own these livestock and almost do not need to undertake production and labor tasks are naturally even more radiant and energetic!
Gathering around the campfire, watching the women of the tribe dancing around the campfire, the herdsmen also generously took out the dried meat that they had treasured for a long time, and drank it with the kumis that the chief had rarely given them - they ate meat and drank wine with big mouthfuls, and were very happy.

In a sense, this scene is similar to the agricultural civilization in the Central Plains, where a grand banquet was held after the autumn harvest to celebrate together.

It's all peaceful and harmonious.

But no one noticed: it was precisely in this dark night when the atmosphere of the bonfire party became more and more heated and the moonlight became brighter and brighter;

On the boundary line between Henan and Beidi counties: on the east bank of the river more than thirty miles west of Chaona Sai - on the east bank of the river, which should have been empty, or where there should have been scattered small tribes camping, tens of thousands of black shadows suddenly appeared from nowhere in the blink of an eye!
Unlike the nomadic people on the grasslands—or even any other creatures: they walk upright and have a human-like appearance!

But they don't walk alone, but mostly in pairs, 'connected' together with a long log as thick as a thigh.

The chirping of birds and roaring of animals that should have appeared, and even all the sounds that should have been made by human existence, disappeared on the east bank of the river that night.

There was only the deafening roar of the river and the ghostly black shadows...

"Send it to the three armies again!"

"——The horses hold their mouths in their mouths, and the people hold their mouths in their mouths. No one is allowed to make any noise!"

"Especially, you are not allowed to utter the words of the Han people!"

···
"Suying proceeds according to plan!"

"The captains of Cavalry A and Cavalry B are ready to go. Once the pontoon bridge is built, we will quickly cross the river!"

It was clearly a serious military order, but it sounded like a conspiracy by thieves - even the soldiers who were three or five steps away from Luan Bu only vaguely heard the general idea.

Afterwards, Luan Bu's order was passed on by word of mouth to every soldier. At the same time, the advance troops: Suiying Duwei, had also begun to take action.

In this era, whether upstream or downstream, whether it is the junction of Hetao and Beidi here, or the junction of Guanzhong and Guandong outside Hangu Pass, crossing the river is an extremely dangerous thing.

There is no other reason;

Except for officials and a very small number of nobles who had large ships capable of withstanding rapids and rolling waves, most people of this era could only cross the river on sheepskin rafts.

It is called a "raft", but in fact it is just a square floating object with an unknown length and width, a wooden frame and a sheepskin cover. Although it can accommodate three or four people, it can only be ridden by one person.

Even if you have this sheepskin raft, it doesn't mean that you can sit in it and then use your hands to paddle across the river. Instead, you have to hold tightly to the rope that spans the entire river and 'feel your way across the river' little by little.

Apparently, there were no ropes for people to wade across the river in the area east of Henan.

Even at this moment, the place where the soldiers gathered was a place where the water flow was slower, which the Han family had spent more than half a month to find with great difficulty.

But the relatively slow flow of water necessarily means that the riverbed here - that is, the distance between the two banks - is wider and the water is deeper than elsewhere.

Only a place like this - only a river area as deep and wider as this one - can the surging river water be calmed down a little.

Choosing a place where the water flow is slower is a necessary choice.

As for the disadvantages of doing so, they are also obvious...

"General!"

"The captain of the first division of the Sui camp reported: Here, the distance between the two banks of the river is nearly 200 steps - more than a mile!"

Hearing the adjutant's deliberately low voice reporting, Luan Bu just nodded slightly with a serious expression and did not respond.

The river is over a mile wide!
Two hundred steps!

This meant that some of the Han army's original plans had to be changed in a way that would make a lot of noise and would most likely affect the secrecy of the operation.

But Luan Bu knew very well: at this point, the bow was on the string...

"According to the original plan, Captains A and B of Suiying will each send a wading commander to cross the river first!"

"——After crossing the river, the Wading Armor Sima stayed behind and started to build a pontoon bridge."

"Sima Yi, patrol everywhere to prevent the news from leaking out!" The river was unexpectedly wide. The biggest impact on the Han army's operation was the construction of the pontoon bridge.

According to the original action plan of the Han Dynasty, the whole process of Suiying Duwei building a pontoon bridge is as follows.

First, use the 'wader', that is, someone who is good at swimming, to swim to the other side - no matter how far you swim, it counts.

Then, use long-range weapons with sufficient range and power, such as the recommended slingshot, to throw stones tied with ropes to the other side.

Once the stone is thrown over, it is equivalent to a rope connecting the two banks.

The 'waders' who had swam across earlier then untied the ropes tied to the rocks, and drove wooden stakes slightly away from the river beach, fixing the ropes connecting the two banks, and the preliminary work was completed.

At this point, the subsequent parts will be much easier.

The subsequent Suiying troops started from the east bank and fixed long strips of wood on three ropes spanning the two banks, laying the wood one by one towards the opposite bank until they reached the location where the floating bridge connected the two banks.

Compared with previous operations such as swimming across the river and throwing ropes with slingshots, this step is much less dangerous, but just a little more cumbersome.

According to the original plan, the slingshot responsible for throwing one end of the rope to the other side had an approximate range of two hundred steps.

——After all, it is a catapult, not a giant catapult for siege. The range of 200 steps is already a miraculous work of art.

But this range of 200 steps is only the range of a single stone projectile.

If it was on a rock and a thick hemp rope of more than 200 steps—more than 400 meters long—was placed on top, the range would be reduced by half, but it would still be discounted.

"Use the bed crossbow!"

"Tie the rope to the tail of the crossbow arrow and shoot it directly to the other side!"

Luan Bu made his decision, and even though the others had doubts about the impact of this plan, no one spoke out against it.

--no way.

The original slingshot was not a small movement;

Now that there are not enough catapults, we have to use the backup plan: the crossbow, which makes more noise, but it is also a last resort.

In the final analysis, reducing noise and avoiding being discovered by the Xiongnu on the other side - the riverside areas of Henan Province - is what one should "do as much as possible" in this battle.

If you do it, the follow-up will be easier; if you don’t, the follow-up will be more troublesome and difficult.

But building a pontoon bridge and crossing the river for the army was not discussed at all.

You can't cancel the operation just because you're afraid the noise will be too loud and alarm the other side?
Again.

The arrow is on the string and must be fired.

At this moment, the two-wheeled rickshaws pushed forward by the soldiers, carrying huge crossbows, were ready to go.

There were no sudden sounds of 'plop' or 'plop'.

After receiving the order to start the operation, the waders simply entered the water quietly at the shore.

As for what happens next, whether it is freestyle swimming or diving - it all depends on one's ability. Anyway, the sound of water flow on the water surface is already quite loud.

After they swam to the other side and gathered together, the two wading Sima teams, which originally had 500 people each and a total of 1,000 people, were reduced to less than 700 people.

Before the battle even started, the two Sima armies had suffered more than 30% casualties.

But the soldiers had no time to feel sad. They had to seize the time and continue to carry out the follow-up work according to the plan.

- Send out 400 men to carefully search the surrounding area to see if there are any lost Huns "observing in secret" nearby;
The remaining three hundred people sent a signal towards the east bank with fire, and then walked farther along the river to avoid being shot by the crossbows that were about to be fired.

Bang Bang Bang!
Bang Bang Bang!
Bang bang bang! ! !
A series of loud noises made the Han army soldiers on both sides of the river hold their breath subconsciously. It was clearly the cool autumn leaves, but I don’t know how many people had sweat on their foreheads.

——It’s too noisy!

Even though there was a large river, nearly a mile long, and the entire river surface served as a buffer, the waders on the other side still felt that the crossbows were not fired from the other side, but from their ears or three or five steps behind them.

Soon, the waders reacted and immediately began to search and patrol around.

After two incense sticks of time, a fleeting fire lit up again on the other side of the river.

Keep moving!

Although the crossbow made a lot of noise, it also saved the wading soldiers a lot of trouble and saved the army a lot of time.

——The terrain of the Hetao region is higher than that of the north!

Even though the distance was less than a mile, the height difference between the two sides of the river was still several feet!

The crossbow on the east side shot out a huge arrow. Even though it was thrown at an upward angle, it still pierced diagonally into the soil on the west side.

And the piercing is very deep!

The waders no longer need to send dozens of people to pull the ropes, dig holes, bury stakes, and fix ropes;
The huge arrow with a rope tied to the tail and shot deep into the ground by the crossbow is the perfect fixed stake.

After a simple inspection and some additional fixings, the construction of the pontoon bridge officially began.

Pieces of driftwood appeared on the river surface and were arranged in an orderly manner to form platforms.

During this period, there were still occasional sounds of heavy objects falling into the water.

Sometimes it’s wood;

Sometimes it's people.

However, time was running out. Both the soldiers of Suiying who were busy on the river and the combat troops who were ready to go on the river bank could only observe a moment of silence for the victims, and then turn their grief into anger, which was the most primitive source of courage for this battle.

After nearly an hour, the river surface, which was originally covered in silver under the moonlight, was now filled with fifteen floating bridges that were thirty to five feet wide and more than two hundred steps long.

——These pontoons are very unstable!

When people step on it, the bridge deck will float up and down violently, and there are no guardrails or handrails - it is just a bare log floating bridge.

But this is already the limit of this era.

In this ancient era, building such a floating bridge on the river surface at night in less than an hour was already the limit, even a miracle...

"Cross the river!"

"The Cavalry Commandant will cross first, and then scatter around to patrol and be on guard!"

"Whether on foot or on horseback, no one may cross abreast, but must cross quickly in the middle of the bridge!"

"Before daybreak, we must set up camp on the other side and complete repairs!!!"

(End of this chapter)