Soldiers come to the world

The fire in Ye County burned for three days and three nights. On the top of Yewan City, Cao Hong’s gaze was very serious. He watched the fire in the distance for a long time under the night. Wancheng was nearly [-] miles away from Ye County, and he could still see it so clearly. You can imagine the intensity of the fire.

Just as Cao Hong returned to Wancheng from Fancheng, he encountered Ye County being attacked, which made him suspicious and worried. It won’t be a fire escape, it should be attacked by the Jingzhou army.”

After a pause, Lu Kuang suggested again: "Ye County has little influence on the overall situation of the battle. The general suggested not to tell Fancheng for the time being, so as not to shake the morale of the army."

Cao Hong shook his head, "Zixiao is the chief general, how can we hide him, and Jia Xu is also in Fancheng, they know what to do, send someone to Fancheng to report immediately!"

Lu Kuang agreed, and just as he was about to leave, Cao Hong stopped him again, "Also, immediately increase the guards of the grain convoy, and strengthen the scouting of the grain road!"

"As ordered!"

Lu Kuang left in a hurry, and Cao Hong looked at the flames in the distance again. He slowly gritted his teeth and said to himself in a low voice: "Bastard, if you have the ability, go and cut off my food supply!"

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It is about two hundred miles from Wancheng to Fancheng. There is a flat and spacious official road leading directly to the north and south. Vehicles and horses usually come and go in an endless stream. It is the most important commercial road connecting Jingzhou and the Central Plains.

Since Cao Jun went south and the Battle of Fancheng broke out, this official road was requisitioned by Cao Jun, and the main road became deserted. Vehicles and pedestrians were rarely seen anymore. All the business travelers took the small road, and only the army or military food convoys were on the official road. interest.

To a large extent, the war was fought with logistical support. Cao Jun's [-] troops marched south, and there were thousands of war horses, which consumed a lot of food and grass every day.

The grain and grass are mainly transported from Wancheng through official roads. During Cao Jun's southern expedition, Cao Jun requisitioned more than [-] ox carts and [-] deer carts from the three counties of Nanyang, Yingchuan, and Runan, and sent them to Fancheng every day. Transport grain.

On the morning of the third day after the fire in Ye County, two thousand Jiangxia cavalry took a small road around Wancheng and headed south.

Early in the morning, it began to rain lightly, and the distant mountains were like a daisy, as if covered with a thin layer of gauze. The green leaves and grass were washed by the rain, and became more lush and lush, quite a bit of "plain forest desert" The artistic conception of smoke like weaving'.

At noon, the rain gradually became heavier, pattering, gray-white rain and fog enveloped the ground, and the distant mountains and hills became blurred.

Liao Hua and Li Fu led the cavalry all the way south and came to the vicinity of Hekou Town, which is the only way to go to Fancheng. A massacre turned Hekou Town into a dead town. Although the corpses have been buried, there are still bloodstains in Hekou Town , Eerie.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the soldiers cherished their horses and went into the town to hide from the rain, but they unexpectedly found that the town was empty, the doors of the shops were open, and the shops were in a mess.

Riding on the horse, Li Fu carefully watched the broken shop doors and the bloodstains on the walls on both sides, shook his head and said to Liao Hua: "There must have been a looting and massacre here, all the people in the town were either killed or ran away. "

Liao Hua sneered and said, "Cao Jun crosses the border like locusts, is it possible to escape?"

He immediately ordered the cavalry, "Everyone find a place to rest!"

Soldiers entered the shop one after another, fed grass and water for the horses, buried pots and cooked rice, and were busy for a while. Liao Hua and Li Fu also went into a shop to rest. I trust a lot, and discuss almost all military affairs with him.

"Master Bo thinks that the rain will affect Cao Jun's food delivery?"

Li Fu smiled and said: "The people who are in charge of transporting grain and grass are all civilians recruited from nearby counties and counties. Cao Jun is not a person who cherishes the fragrance and cherishes jade. If the grain transport is interrupted and Cao Ren is angered, who can afford it? General Liao, don't worry! There will be a food convoy coming soon."

As soon as the words were finished, a scout rode into the town on horseback and reported to Liao Hua, "General Qi, we found an enemy grain transport team ahead. There are about [-] ox carts, ten miles away from us!"

Liao Hua and Li Fu looked at each other, and they smiled at each other. As expected, the opportunity came. Liao Hua immediately ordered, "Send the order, get on your horse and get ready to go!"

The cavalry mounted their horses one after another, covered their bodies with tarpaulins, turned their horses and galloped out of the town, like streams of water quickly converging into small rivers, and rushed out of Hekou Town.

Hekou Town was built on the official road, and the wide official road passed through the middle of the town, dividing the town into two. Hidden in the woods.

About half an hour later, a team of bullock carts like a long snake slowly walked south. The road was muddy, and the bullock carts were moving very slowly.

Generally speaking, in addition to ox carts, there are also deer carts for grain transportation on official roads. The so-called deer carts are human-powered unicycles.

Most of the convoys transporting grain are mixed ox carts and deer carts, but today the grain carts on the official road are all ox carts, and the two ox carts drive side by side, full of grain and grass. Wrapped in black oilcloth, a driver drove the ox cart slowly.

There are more than a hundred cavalry guards on both sides of the ox cart, and every few ox carts, there will be a soldier holding a spear, watching both sides vigilantly.

When Li Fu came out of the small town, he was silent in thought, as if he had something on his mind, at this moment, he was staring at the grain cart, his brows furrowed even deeper, Liao Hua noticed his abnormality, and asked, "What happened? "

Li Fu shook his head, "I can't tell, I just feel something is wrong."

He looked into Liao Hua's eyes and said, "I was thinking, when we burned Cangcheng in Ye County, the smoke rose up to [-] feet high and could be seen from hundreds of miles away. Didn't Wancheng know? If they knew, would they have thought of it? Our next attack target."

Liao Hua understood what he meant, and his brows frowned, "Are you saying that this food team has a little too few guards?"

Li Fu nodded, turned his eyes to the slowly approaching bullock cart, and said to himself: "At most three hundred people, if it is normal, these soldiers are enough to prevent hungry people and bandits, but now they should know our existence , still so careless and negligent, it is inconsistent with emotion and reason."

"And these ox carts seem to carry the same things. The forage should be piled high, and the grain carts should be heavy, but they all have the same shape. What will be under the tarpaulin? Is it grain or ambushes?"

Liao Hua was startled, and looked carefully. The more he looked, the more suspicious he became, and he ordered a village chief behind him: "Take a few brothers to go around the back of the last ox cart, shoot the ox cart with crossbow arrows, and see what happens. reaction!"

"Follow the order!"

The head of the village waved his hand and rushed away with two cavalrymen. After a while, he rushed to the back of the last bullock cart. Immediately, Cao Jun's cavalry guards rushed to intercept them. The three of them had excellent riding skills and bypassed Cao Jun's cavalry.

On the other side, they gradually approached the ox cart. Ten steps away, the three men raised their crossbows and shot vigorously, and three arrows shot into the ox cart powerfully.

There was a scream in the bullock cart, and the oilcloth was lifted suddenly, and there were five Cao Jun crossbowmen hiding inside, two of them were shot and fell into the bullock cart, and the other three jumped out of the bullock cart in shock, looking around in a daze.

"Damn it!"

Liao Hua cursed, it really was the bait, if they charged forward, the crossbowmen of the bullock cart would shoot their arrows at random, and their casualties would probably be nearly half.

"not good!"

Li Fu's expression changed, and he immediately said: "Leave here quickly, how can Cao Jun have no soldiers to respond?"

Liao Hua also realized that the opponents were almost all crossbowmen. If there were no soldiers to respond, they would be slaughtered. Cao Jun would never be so careless.

He turned his head and looked around, only to see black soldiers appearing several miles away from the north and south, and they had already blocked both ends. Obviously, the other party had already set a trap to hunt them down.

At this time, a military marquis next to him suggested: "General, you can leave from the back of the town. There is a small wooden bridge in the north of the town, which can cross Bishui. I will guarantee that the wooden bridge will not be broken."

Liao Hua made a quick decision, "Bypass the bullock cart and return to the town!"

Two thousand cavalry rushed out from the woods. Instead of rushing towards the ox cart, they bypassed the ox cart from far south and rushed towards Hekou Town. A wooden bridge is hidden among more than a dozen dense weeping willows.

The cavalry quickly crossed the wooden bridge, and the last few soldiers set fire to the wooden bridge. The cavalry passed the east bank of Bishui. Liao Hua left a cavalry of 50 people to continue to harass the grain road, and the rest of the army stopped. Stay, and run directly to the south of Fancheng.

Liu Jing told Liao Hua in the information that there was a cavalry supply ship moored beside the Han River.

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Cao Ren, the general in charge of Cao Jun's camp in Fancheng, paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands behind his back. As soon as he connected to several express letters sent by Cao Hong from Wancheng, he learned that Cangcheng in Ye County had been burned down, and more than a thousand soldiers guarding the city It was annihilated. According to intelligence, the attackers were an elite cavalry force of more than [-] people.

Of course Cao Ren knew the origin of this cavalry. Before he dispatched the troops, the prime minister repeatedly told him to prevent Liu Jing from leading Jiang Xia's army to go north, especially to be careful of a cavalry of more than [-] men.

Now this cavalry finally showed up. They not only attacked Ye County and burned Cangcheng, but also escaped from the trap set by Cao Hong. Now they are missing.

Cao's army had occupied Fancheng for ten days, but the Jingzhou army on the other side showed no signs of counterattacking.

Although Cao Ren's mission was not to defeat the Jingzhou army and occupy Xiangyang, the mission Cao Cao gave him was to occupy Fancheng and maintain a deterrent to Jingzhou, but as a general, when he saw a weak brigade not far away, the kind of war The desire to torture him almost went crazy, but he didn't have a warship.

This kind of pain made Cao Ren hate Cai Mao even more. Although he had already surrendered to the prime minister, he deliberately burned the ferry. What kind of gesture was this, and he despised his order?

Just as Cao Ren was sighing in the camp, Jia Xu appeared at the door of the tent and asked with a smile, "General Cao, may I come in?"

Because of Cao Ang and Cao Anmin, Cao Ren and Cao Hong have always disliked Jia Xu. Cao Cao had a great heart to forgive Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu, but the other Cao brothers did not have such a heart.

Cao Ren was a little bit better. As the chief general, he had to be responsible for the entire Jingzhou war situation, so he was polite to Jia Xu who joined the army, but Cao Hong was not. Jia Xu was killed.

Every time Jia Xu made a suggestion, Cao Hong was the first to jump out to oppose it, and his attitude was very firm. However, Cao Hong's objection made it difficult for other generals to express their views. Cao Ren tried to persuade him several times to no avail, so he simply sent Cao Hong back to guard Wancheng. In order not to affect the situation of the war by their discord.

Cao Ren glanced at Jia Xu, forced a smile, and said, "What's the matter with joining the army?"

"I'm here to congratulate the general!"

Cao Ren was taken aback, "Why am I so happy?"

Jia Xu narrowed her eyes and smiled, "Isn't the general worried that there are no ferries? I will make a small plan and let the general collect hundreds of ferries for nothing."

Cao Ren was still confused, he didn't understand what Jia Xu meant.

. . . . . . . . .

That night, Cao Ren issued an order to abandon Fancheng and withdraw to Xinye County due to the surprise attack of Jiangxia cavalry on Nanyang County and the harassment of grain roads, which made it difficult to supply the army.

As the order to withdraw troops was issued, groups of Cao troops began to withdraw from Fancheng and marched towards Xinye County in the north.

. . . . . . . . .