Soldiers come to the world

From Puqi to the east is a low and gentle hilly area, covered with endless forests, sparsely populated, but this is the only way to go from Changsha County to Jiangxia County, so in the vast mountain forest, there is another official road, winding It meanders into the distance, leading to Yangxin County in Jiangxia County.

At dusk, the drizzle shrouded the land in the south of the Yangtze River, and the chill was piercing. After two days of rain, the road became muddy and muddy, making it difficult to walk. On this official road with few pedestrians, [-] Cao troops were marching eastward with difficulty. .

The chief general Zhu Ling rode on a horse, urging the horse to a high place from time to time, and looked around the terrain. At this time, Cao Jun had arrived in Yangxin County, Jiangxia County, about [-] miles away from the county seat. The terrain in this area is complicated, and the surrounding mountains are dangerous. There are many deep ravines, and in the middle is a narrow and long basin with a radius of more than ten miles. From the map, after passing this area, there is a wide and flat plain in front of it.

Even though he had been marching for three days, Zhu Ling was still vigilant, lest he be ambushed by Jiang Xia's army. He knew that Puqi's defenders had retreated, but on the muddy official road, he could always find traces of the army marching.

In other words, Jiang Xia's army did not withdraw in front of them, indicating that Jiang Xia's army either withdrew to the south, or there was another road leading to the east, and Jiang Xia's army was walking side by side with them.

But at this time, Zhu Ling was more anxious to find a place to camp. His soldiers had been marching for a day and night, and they were exhausted, but they still couldn't find a dry place suitable for camping. They didn't bring tents, so they had to find a dry place. to rest on the spot.

"General!"

A cavalryman rushed from the front and reported loudly: "General Qi, General Ma found a pine forest next to the official road ahead, with an area of ​​hundreds of acres. The forest is very dry and suitable for camping."

Zhu Ling was overjoyed, and quickly ordered: "Speed ​​up the march, rest and camp in the pine forest ahead!"

The pine forest that Ma Yan found is located five miles ahead. It is a black pine forest covering hundreds of acres. The pine forest is covered with a thick layer of pine needles. It is dry and warm, and there is a strong rosin. The most precious camping ground.

Twenty thousand Cao troops entered the pine forest and cheered immediately. The soldiers ran around like horses staking a field. Everyone found a piece of dry pine needles that belonged to them. They were already exhausted. They unloaded the rice bags and weapons and gathered together to drink water. Chatting and waiting to eat, many soldiers were so exhausted that they didn't even think about eating. They took off their wet armor, wrapped them in blankets and fell asleep.

But as the general, Zhu Ling is well aware of the responsibilities on his shoulders, and he is extra cautious. In fact, when he got cold, he was not very satisfied with this black pine forest. It was surrounded by forests, and it was difficult to find the enemy. There was no river protection on the high place, so it was easy to be attacked by fire. Thinking of the unknown whereabouts of the enemy troops, he became extremely worried again.

Looking at the darkened sky and the cold autumn rain, Zhu Ling could only sigh helplessly. Although this pine forest was not an ideal place to camp, it was impossible for him to find a new campsite. The only way to ensure safety was to rely on scouts to patrol. .

Zhu Ling walked around and saw the soldiers gathered in groups of three or four, not resting together according to their respective battalions. It was very chaotic, and he was extremely dissatisfied. It was the responsibility of the lieutenant general to station the camp. Yan failed his duty, he shouted loudly: "Let Ma Yan come to see me!"

After a while, the deputy general Ma Yan rushed over. Contrary to the general Zhu Ling, Ma Yan was very worried about being attacked by Jiang Xia's army at the beginning, so he was very careful whether he was marching or camping.

But after three days of marching, his vigilance also began to decrease. They had already marched for hundreds of miles. If Jiang Xia's army wanted to ambush them, it would have been a long time ago. They would never wait hundreds of miles without moving.

He thought that Jiang Xia's army must have rushed to Yangxin County from another small road. It was impossible to set up an ambush in the wilderness hundreds of miles away, hold on to the city, and wait for work with ease. Zhu Ling's caution is not so much cautious as it is He was afraid of Jiang Xiajun in his heart.

Ma Yan was eating dinner, but Zhu Ling sent someone to find him. He was still holding a kettle in his hand, chewing pancakes and mutton in his mouth. He ran to Zhu Ling before he drank two sips of water and took the last piece of pancakes. Swallowing it down, he burped for a long time, couldn't help but fart, and saluted vaguely, "See General Zhu!"

There is a saying in the Cao army, which is called "the first class is Xiahou Cao, the second class is Chu Huangliao, the third class is Le Li, and the fourth class is Yuan Shao." ’ That is to say, Yuan Shaojun’s surrendered general ranks only fourth in Cao’s army.

Ma Yan is Yuan Shao's surrendered general. Although he was named Guanneihou, his status in Cao's army is not high. He is only Xiahouyuan's general. Although Zhu Ling was also a Yuan Shao's general, he surrendered early, but his status is far away. Much higher than Ma Yan, as famous as Xu Huang, Zhang Liao and other generals under Cao Cao, he belongs to the second-class general.

Zhu Ling saw that Ma Yan only cared about eating and drinking, but didn't care about the chaos of the soldiers. His heart was burning with anger. If it was because Ma Yan was Xiahouyuan's general before, he could bear the dissatisfaction in his heart, but now he Seeing Ma Yan hiccupping and farting in front of him, he couldn't bear it any longer, and shouted, "Take it down!"

More than a dozen soldiers rushed forward and pressed Ma Yan to the ground. Ma Yan shouted: "Will I not give you a meal?"

"As a lieutenant general, but not caring about the camping of soldiers, is this your fault?"

"I found the place to camp, and I have done my duty, but the general led his troops here after dark. It was dark and the road was slippery, and in the forest, the soldiers rushed in, but the general stood aside and didn't care. Could this be me? Responsibility?"

Zhu Ling was furious. What Ma Yan meant was his responsibility. He ordered: "If you commit the crime below, give me a heavy blow with thirty army sticks!"

The soldiers began to beat him with sticks, but Ma Yan gritted his teeth and said nothing. After a while, after thirty sticks were beaten, the soldiers picked him up again.

Zhu Ling asked coldly again: "Let me ask you again, have all the scouts been dispatched?"

Ma Yan lowered his head and said bitterly for a while: "Six scout teams have been dispatched to investigate a radius of five miles."

"Too little!"

Zhu Ling's voice became more severe, and he scolded: "At least ten scouts must be sent, and the range of five miles is too small, let me expand it to ten miles."

"Humble...obedience!"

Ma Yan reluctantly turned around to leave, but Zhu Ling stopped him again, "Stop! There are other things."

Ma Yan stopped, and said coldly without looking back: "Is there anything else for General Zhu?"

Zhu Ling pointed at the soldiers around, and angrily reprimanded Ma Yan: "Look at the chaos around you. The soldiers can't see the generals, and the generals can't see the soldiers. What if there is an enemy attack? Reorganize it for me immediately. If you dare not obey orders, I will kill you immediately!"

"As ordered!"

Ma Yan agreed bitterly, and limped away with the support of a soldier. He was full of resentment, and reorganized the army. How could this be possible? It was getting dark, and gathering the whole team would only cause more chaos.

What's more, it was still raining outside, so he couldn't call the soldiers at all. It was clear that Zhu Ling was looking for an excuse to kill himself, which made him extremely hateful.

Looking at Ma Yanyuan's back, Zhu Ling snorted coldly, and if he dared to be perfunctory to himself, he must kill him.

Ma Yan was extremely resentful, but he didn't dare to disobey the military order, fearing that Zhu Ling would find an excuse to kill him, so he reluctantly came to the scout camp, where hundreds of scouts gathered and rested, and he said to the scout general: "Up There is an order to send five more scouts to expand the range to ten miles, I have passed the order to you, if you refuse to carry it out, go and explain to the superiors yourself!"

Yajiang felt that he was full of anger and dared not resist, so he hurried to arrange scouts. It was easy to arrange scouts, but it was very difficult to reorganize the team. Thinking of Zhu Linghui's excuse to kill him, Ma Yan was angry and hated.

He had no choice but to bite the bullet and prepare to regroup. At this moment, a soldier rushed to report: "The Lord asked General Ma to come over."

Ma Yan returned to Zhu Ling's place again, and saw several scouts bringing an old man with a medicine basket on his back. Zhu Ling was interrogating him, and the chief scout next to him whispered to Ma Yan: "A few miles to the south, We found another trail, and found this herb picker, he has information on the enemy."

Ma Yan snorted coldly, pricked up his ears and listened carefully, only to hear the old man picking herbs say: "This morning, I saw an army of thousands of people rushing eastward along the path, and I saw them disappearing in the distance. Dare to lie a little bit."

"What carriage and baggage do they have?" Zhu Ling asked.

"With more than a hundred ox carts, full of various things, a little later than the army, but it also passed in the morning. I guess I went to Yangxin County, which is sixty or seventy miles away. I often go there to sell medicine."

Zhu Ling nodded, and asked the soldiers to take the old man down. At this time, he also let go of his heart, and said coldly to Ma Yan: "There is no need to regroup, let everyone have a good night's rest! Fourth shift Let’s start at five o’clock, and we must arrive at Yangxin County before dark tomorrow.”

Ma Yan cursed secretly in his heart, but he also breathed a sigh of relief, "Remember the humble job!"

． ． ． ． ． ． ．

The night was getting deeper and deeper, and it was gradually reaching the hour of the second watch. At this time, dozens of black shadows suddenly appeared in the southernmost part of the black pine forest. Sentinel points, each with two or three sentries huddled together to sleep.

A thin figure appeared above the head of the sentinel, like an ape. He held an extremely sharp dagger, and slowly climbed down from the tree, like a gecko. The throats of two sentries.

With a wave of his hand, dozens of black shadows were divided into five groups, and they rushed towards every sleeping sentry like a tiger. These black shadows were the most elite "Eagle Strike" army in the Jiang Xia army. All were resolved in an instant, and no one survived. The thin leader on the tree grinned, showing a row of white teeth, and gave everyone a thumbs up.

With a wave of his hand, he led the Yingji men and ran to the east again. The task of the Yingji army was to deal with the sentries on the east, west and south sides, and to create opportunities for the troops behind. Not long after the Yingji army left, a hundred Jiangxia soldiers flew Rushing, they rushed into the black pine forest and began to spray fire oil on the ground and trees.

The black pine forest was very quiet. Twenty thousand Cao troops were asleep. In a small tent, Zhu Ling was sitting alone in front of a wooden stake, looking at the map on the stake. At this moment, he already believed that Jiang Xia's army had withdrawn. Yangxin County, ready to block himself in Yangxin County.

The map shows some information about Yangxin County. The city has a circumference of fifteen miles, a city height of two feet, a moat, and only 500 troops stationed there. However, Xiazhi County is the center of Jiangxia’s fire oil refining, with 2000 troops. In contrast, Yangxin County is a little more relaxed.

However, Zhu Ling has two important tasks in Yangxin County and Xiazhi County, destroying Jiangxia Army's fire oil refinery and destroying pastures along the river. The most important fodder supply place for military horses, if this pasture is destroyed, it will severely damage Jiangxia cavalry.

Zhu Ling marked Yangxin County and Xiazhi County with two heavy crosses. At this moment, there was a sudden scream outside, and the army suddenly became turbulent. A soldier rushed over and reported loudly. : "General Qi, something is wrong, the black pine forest is on fire!"