Shu Chen

Chapter 167 Golden Knife
Autumn and August, the last ten days of the month.

The sky was as black as a curtain soaked with ink.

Countless raindrops hang down straight down, beating on the rocks and trees of the Qinling Mountains, making crackling noises.It complements the sound of Jin Ge here.

The offensive and defensive battle between Wei and Han has lasted for more than a month.

The progress of the war is also developing in the direction Wei Da Sima Cao Zhen hopes.

As the supreme commander of the war, after he gave the order to attack regardless of casualties, Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Nishu, finally did as he wished, and led the last mobile force, the Tiger Infantry, to Baozhong County in Hanzhong County.

In other words, the surprise soldiers he conspired, the nearly [-] cavalry stationed behind Xiaoguan in Anding County, can make great achievements!

The scouts and Xizuo found out that Nishu's troops guarding outside Xiaoguan were only the two troops of Xuanwu and Xunyu led by Zheng Pu, the Shu captive general.

But only five thousand soldiers!

Even if Saidao fell into camp, it would be impossible to stop the [-] elite tigers led by Wei Ping and Dai Ling!
It is even more impossible to contain the more than ten thousand cavalry soldiers led by the Xianbei Qifu tribe and the Xiongnu Baosai master Hu Bojuzizhi!

Once Wei Ping and Dai Ling leave Xiaoguan suddenly, divide their troops to trap Zheng Pu's tribe in Nishu, and advance to Lieliu City on Guanlong Road; let the Qifu tribe and the Hun cavalry drive to the Changli River Valley, and let Ni Shu Weiyan, Wu Ban, Chen Shi and other ministries have all cut off the back roads to the north of the Weishui River!

Let them either be trapped to death, and wait for the food and fodder to be exhausted and the soldiers to mutiny and die.

Either resolutely go out of the city, break through the dangerous pass, and be killed and injured in the heavy encirclement and suppression by various ministries of the Wei army!

The only way to survive is to surrender!
Even the Gao Xiang and Ma Dai tribes in Longxi County had difficulty retreating because they were on the front line, and the Wei army took the lead in driving them to Qishan Road in Wudu County, cutting off their retreat back to Hanzhong.

In other words, as long as there are no accidents, Ni Shu's nearly [-] troops in Longyou, Longxi and other places will be wiped out by the Wei State in one fell swoop!
Because Ni Shu had no reinforcements to save him.

Several armies of the State of Wei attacked Hanzhong County, and restrained Zhuge Liang, Li Yan and Zhao Yun, the prime ministers against Shu, in Hanzhong.

Moreover, Wei's military strength is sufficient to offset the geographical advantage of Nishu.

If they dare to mobilize an army to help, Hanzhong County will be broken through!
However, Zhuge Liang, the prime minister against Shu, would he give up Hanzhong for the land of Longyou?

Cao Zhenxin has his own answer.

Because Longyou did not guard, Hanzhong County was still able to support it.

Once Hanzhong falls, the land of Longyou will also be reduced to an enclave, and neither Ba nor Shu will be stable.

Don’t you see, after Emperor Wu Cao Cao captured Hanzhong County in the past, even if Liu Bei, the lord of Shu, was still there at that time, there were dozens of surprises in Shuzhong every day!
Now that Liu Bei, the former lord of Shu, has died, and the Shu Kingdom, which has suffered repeated defeats in Xiangfan and Yiling, has once again ushered in the loss of several counties and tens of thousands of soldiers. How can the hearts of the people be at ease!Perhaps, if after the Wei State captured Hanzhong County, there would be a rebellion in the land of Bashu, and countless people would come to Wei State to beg for surrender, and would be willing to act as guides, gaining the title of title and the prosperity and wealth of their descendants!

"Come on!"

Cao Zhen, who had made up his mind, summoned his subordinates and sent the order to Anding County to let Wei Ping and Dai Ling lead the army out of Xiaoguan.

Although, it is not the best time to let Wei Ping and others leave Xiaoguan.

If he can let the various ministries attack for more than ten days, it will be more difficult for the soldiers and horses of the various ministries guarding Hanzhong County in Nishu, and the effect will be even greater after completely killing them.

But he couldn't wait any longer.

In the Qinling Mountains and Hanzhong County, it has been raining for more than ten consecutive days.

Sima Yi's troops who attacked Huangjinxia, ​​Dongdaemun, Hanzhong County, could no longer form a strong containment due to the torrential rain that made the water flow more turbulent.Let Zhao Yun, the former general against Shu, do his best, and send more than [-] people to support the Hanzhong North Exit of Tangluo Valley-the Liu Min tribe of Shu who was attacked by General Fei Yao and was in danger.

Moreover, although the continuous torrential rain made it difficult for the Yuanrong Crossbow against Shu to exert its combat power, it also made it more difficult for the Wei army to continue fighting.

The slippery valley road made it easier for soldiers rushing forward to fall.

The most deadly thing is the continuous supply of food, fodder and luggage.

The grain, fodder and supplies he had previously hoarded on the small flat land in the middle of the Baoxie Valley were slowly exhausted during the battle that lasted for more than a month, and the Sanfu of Guanzhong had already started to deliver them.

And the small-scale mountain torrents and landslides caused by the heavy rain washed away part of the plank road, making the transportation of grain and fodder less effective.

If it continues to delay, the people who are afraid of being conscripted into corvee will gather crowds to make troubles because of the hardship of hard labor, making the rear unstable.

Well, as for the morale of the soldiers of the Wei army, Cao Zhen is not worried.

Or rather, he doesn't need to worry.

In the face of Wei's military law, as long as the soldiers do not fall into a situation where they are bound to lose, their morale cannot collapse.

Because of the family members in the rear, they did not dare to collapse.

Whether one person died in battle, or the whole family was killed or reduced to slavery, they all knew the military law that had been in operation for decades.

Furthermore, Cao Zhen's method of motivating morale this time made the soldiers wish to die without hesitation.

If this battle is won, all the soldiers who died in the battle will be compensated, and no matter how the battle is won, everyone will be beheaded.

But if you are afraid of the battle and don't advance, and hear the drums and don't advance, you will be punished on the spot!

And hold the family members accountable!
How dare the soldiers spare their lives with such an order in front of the battle?

Therefore, although the Wei army now has only Baoxiegu Road, which can push the battle line to Jigukou, more than [-] people have died in battle.

However, such victories greatly boosted the morale of the Wei army.

Not only because more than [-] people died in the battle against Shu.

It's even more because once the Wei army captures Jigukou, there will be no harsh mountain roads!
Facing the flat land of Yimapingchuan in Hanzhong County, Wei State, whose military strength is still twice that of Nishu, made any general see the dawn of victory.Cao Zhen, who has been in the military for decades, learned that Zhuge Liang's banner appeared in Hanzhong County, the Prime Minister against Shu, and he firmly believed that the victory of this battle was coming.

However, it's a pity.

What he didn't know was that there was another reason why Prime Minister Zhuge Liang led the army to support Baoxie Valley in Hanzhong.

It was the military newspaper sent by Zheng Pu.

Said: "The plot is over, Xiao Guan will be my man's property!"

Of course, Zheng Pu's poisonous plan worked.

When Yang Yi dispatched materials in the center and sent people to drive two thousand sheep to Xiaoguan Road, he began to implement poisonous schemes.

It is to make people kill all the sheep and throw the corpses into the huge pit dug long ago.

Use ditches to draw Wating water to soak.

After the sheep carcasses had rotted for more than ten days, they dug ditches connecting the tributaries of the Jingshui River and poured corpse water into them during the cooking time of the soldiers and horses stationed in Xiaoguan against the Wei Dynasty.Once a day in the morning and evening.Once the time for Wei Jun to fetch water for cooking was over, he blocked the ditch to the east again, and stored water to soak the sheep carcasses again to keep the dead water poisonous.

And also let those who are good at climbing to follow, continue to closely observe the mountains on both sides.

It is good to determine the time when the plague broke out among Wei soldiers.

When the messenger sent the letter to the prime minister, it was the seventh day of the corpse water.

The subordinates saw that within a day, more than ten soldiers of the Wei army guarding the city wall of the pass fell to the ground for no reason.

In other words, the plague is already rampant!
Immediately, Zheng Pu had people bury the pits and ditches.

The soldiers who performed the work burned all their clothes and so on, bathed in soup and set up camp independently.He will return to the army only after confirming that he is in good health after one month.

Things like plague kill indiscriminately.

He doesn't seem to hurt others or himself.

As for burying the pit at this moment, wouldn't it be too early?
But no need to worry.

In the places where soldiers are stationed, soldiers are ordered to stay in one army camp; if one person is infected with a disease, it will spread to the entire army camp.

And there is an incubation period, once it shows signs, it can no longer be stopped.

Wei Jun can no longer stop it now.

The chief general who was appointed by Cao Zhen to take charge of Xiao Guan's conspiracy was Wei Ping.

After Dai Ling, who served as his deputy general temporarily, led the army to Xiaoguan, he handed over the supervision of defense to Dai Ling, and he rushed back to Linjing County, the prefecture of Anding County, to supervise the transfer of food, fodder and luggage.

Because he has been guarding An Ding.

Returning to supervise in person can prevent the Qianghu tribe and Haoyou from having troubles, and make those Li Shu who have been conscripted into corvee more dedicated.

At first, he received a letter from Dai Ling claiming that some soldiers in the army were sick, but he didn't realize that it was a plague outbreak.

From the hot July to the cool autumn and August, it is the season most prone to diseases.

It is not surprising that some soldiers contracted diseases.

At that time, he only asked Dai Ling to take precautions against the infection of the disease, and asked the county to recruit doctors to treat him.

The news that followed made his heart ashamed.

The [-] tigers stationed behind Xiaoguan, as well as the more than [-] cavalry of the Xianbei Qifu tribe and Hu Bo, the Xiongnu baosai master, all suffered from illnesses.

The spread was extremely rapid.

At the beginning, there were only a dozen soldiers, who claimed to be dizzy and weak in limbs.Overnight, hundreds of people developed similar symptoms.

And the fatality rate is very high.

Sick soldiers died in about four or five days.

Such symptoms also let him understand what the so-called disease is.

Once a major epidemic broke out in the army, no general could contain the panic of the soldiers.And these elite soldiers who have been fighting with swords and spears for a long time will cause unbearable weight once they lose control.

Wei Ping, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, immediately ordered the county soldiers to block the road from Xiaoguan to Anding and enter Guanzhong.

Afterwards, while making an urgent report to Da Sima Cao Zhen, he led his bodyguards to Xiaoguan.

He wanted to be convinced by the soldiers with his prestige for a long time, and try his best to prevent the plague from spreading too widely.

It's just that, after half a day's progress, the bad news came.

General Dai Ling, who was over fifty years old, also fell ill and died.

Witnessing the death of Pao Ze one after another every day, and losing the restraint of the general, the soldiers finally rioted.

In desperation, some set fires and killed everywhere; some gathered crowds to rob supplies and wanted to escape to the Wuxiao forest in Liupan Mountain;

A very small number of them retained their reason and returned together to seek Wei Ping for medical treatment.

However, although their choices are different, the ending is without exception.

All died within a few days.

Because the cause of the epidemic was not the infection among the soldiers, but the food they ate every day.

It also makes Xiaoguan area like a ghost land.

Such a result made Wei Ping want to cry but had no tears.

In front of the corpses of countless soldiers who died in the Tao, he could not take the county soldiers to Xiaoguan to find out.

After all, when the news of the outbreak of the Xiaoguan epidemic came back, all the Li and Shu in the counties of Anding County were panicked.Some Haoyou have fled Guanzhong with their families.

If he forced those county soldiers to go to Xiaoguan, mutiny would be the inevitable result.

It is also impossible to explain to Da Sima Cao Zhen.

Yes, Cao Zhen's order to lead his army out of Xiaoguan has just been delivered
Fortunately, the epidemic did not spread to Anding County.

There are two sources and tributaries of Jingshui, which converge to form Jingshui more than a hundred miles behind Xiaoguan (now Pingliang).

Zheng Pu only let the soldiers discharge the poisonous water soaking the sheep carcasses during the cooking time of the Wei army stationed in Xiaoguan. Under the continuous dilution of the water flow, it was decomposed by another tributary of Jingshui River, and it was gone in Anding County. It's toxic.

However, the Qifu tribe of Xianbei in the Wushui (Qingshui River) basin and the Xiongnu tribe that thrived in the north of Chaona County and west of Gaoping County were five out of ten.

Because the cavalry of the Xianbei and the Huns, after the outbreak of the epidemic and the death of Dai Ling, they drove their horses back to their habitat in a panic, seeking the tribal witch doctor for the protection of the gods.

But Changshengtian abandoned them.

They and their mounts are also dead.

It also brought the source of the disease back to the tribe, and made countless tribesmen pay the price for their ignorance.

The Huns are still better.

Master Wei Baosai, Hu Boju, was in the prime of his life, and he didn't personally lead his tribe to Xiaoguan to follow the expedition, so he survived the catastrophe by fate.There is no ending of fighting for the position of the leader and killing each other.

That is, the tribe suffered heavy casualties and completely lost the ambition and strength to rise up during the struggle between Wei and Han.

The ups and downs of Xianbei were much worse.

The leader personally led the clansmen to Xiaoguan, but died on the way back.

Let the tribe that was quite strong fall into fragments.

His sons were all deprived of the right to compete for the position of leader.

The prestigious witch doctor in the tribe claimed that the dead leader who led the army to help Wei Guo attack the Han was the reason for the death of countless tribesmen in the tribe, and he was a sinner of the tribe!

The offspring of sinners cannot be blessed by the Longevity Heaven, nor can they become leaders.

Therefore, those who survived the begging tribe followed the law of wolves and started the process of choosing a leader.It also allowed Xianbei Lujie, who had been annexed not long ago, to take the opportunity to revolt.

In the area of ​​Wushui River Basin, those who survived the great epidemic ushered in the moment of killing each other with swords and spears.

The leaders of some small tribes were unable to compete and did not want to be killed, so they migrated back to the north to seek shelter from other Xianbei adults; or they entered the four Hexi counties of Liangzhou to join the local Qianghu tribe.

Regardless of the Xiongnu or the Xianbei, the word of mouth of the survivors after this disaster gave the Xiaoguan epidemic a mysterious color.

If you follow Wei to attack the big man, you will be punished by heaven!

This remark spread to the ears of the Li Shu of the Han family, and it became "Wei Guo's position is not right, not the destiny!"

Guanzhong is the place where the great Han established his country and set up his capital, and the aristocratic family is no stranger to the stories of the great Han.

For example, "The Prophecy of the Golden Sword".

There is a saying in the prophecy: "Liu Xiu sends troops to arrest the Taoist, and he is the son of heaven if he makes money and cultivates virtue."

"Hanshu": "Husband' Liu' is a character, Mao, Jin, and Dao are also."

(End of this chapter)