Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 122 Trick Cao Hong out and kill him
"What? The enemy bypassed us overnight and went straight to Kunyang?"

It was night, and Cao Hong did not rest.

During the day, he had noticed that the enemy troops outside the city had begun to clean up their camps, so he had been paying close attention.

After dark, a large number of scouts were sent out to investigate.

Soon the scouts reported that Shen Chen's army first pretended to retreat, and after retreating for more than ten miles, they went west to the Lushan area near the Funiu Mountains. After dark, they went north to Kunyang.

The place they bypassed was more than ten kilometers away from Ye County, but Cao Hong had a group of cavalry scouts who followed them all the time, and immediately reported back after discovering this situation.

Hearing this news, Cao Hong was greatly surprised, and the left and right lieutenants immediately swarmed up and said, "General, are they going to attack Kunyang at night?"

"It's possible."

Cao Hong frowned and said, "But it doesn't rule out that they will pass through Kunyang directly and attack Xudu."

"Attack Xudu?"

A lieutenant general was surprised: "How is this possible? They only have 1 troops, and now there are nearly [-] people guarding Xudu. Isn't this a dead end?"

Cao Hong murmured: "But Xu Du is too big now, and it may not be able to defend it with nearly ten thousand people."

The ancient cities were actually small, with an average of 2-3 square kilometers.

For example, Changsha City had an urban area of ​​only 5 square kilometers in the Republic of China, and it was even smaller in the Han Dynasty, less than half of that in the Republic of China, but it was already the most prosperous city in Jingnan.

Originally, Xuchang was just a small county town in Yingchuan. The city was three to four meters high and covered an area of ​​two square kilometers. It was a small, ordinary city.

But then Cao Cao moved the capital to Xuchang, the emperor Wang Jia, the three princes and nine ministers, and the world's major families settled in one after another, resulting in a surge in population in the city, and the city was full of people, and the princes and dignitaries didn't even have a place to live.

So Cao Cao began to expand the city, using the original city as the inner city and Liu Xie's palace, and built an outer city outside the city for the residence of the ministers and common people.

According to historical records, after the expansion of Cao Cao, the outer city of Xuchang was five times that of the inner city, which means that the total area of ​​Xuchang has reached 12 square kilometers, and the wall of the outer city alone has reached a length of 12 kilometers. There is already an imperial capital. meteorological.

But the problem is that to reach this level, it was the situation before Cao Pi forced Liu Xie to abdicate, and then moved the capital from Xuchang to Yecheng.That is to say, it will not be until 220 A.D. that the whole city can be built like this.

It is only four years since Cao Cao made his capital in Xuchang, where did he get the money for large-scale expansion?
Therefore, at this time, Xuchang had no inner and outer city pools, but the outer city walls had not yet been built, and there were only a large number of houses.

In other words, only Liu Xie's palace in Xuchang now has a city wall, and there is no city wall protection outside, which is useless and can be entered directly.

If Shen Chen really decided to surprise Xuchang, it would indeed be an urgent matter for Cao Hong.

"With his tens of thousands of people, dare to rush three hundred miles to Xudu?"

The lieutenant couldn't believe it.

Cao Hong said coldly: "Is there anything Shen Chen dare not do?"

"This"

Everyone was right when they thought about it. Shen Chen and Cao Cao were deadly enemies. Although it was dangerous to attack Xu Du, once it succeeded, Cao Cao would have to be destroyed. That madman like him might really be able to do it.

Cao Hong pondered for a moment, then asked again: "Are you sure there are only [-] troops of them? Are there any civilians accompanying the army?"

"No."

The scout replied: "We have been following since before dark, and there are no civilian husbands."

"Are there any carriages and horses?"

"nor."

"Are you sure they don't have baggage?"

"Baby can see clearly, there is indeed no one, but their soldiers all have luggage on them."

"Is that so?"

Cao Hong lowered his head and thought.

Then there are only two situations before him.

One is to attack Xu Du in a pretense, but actually ambushe him.

The second is that the other party is really preparing to surprise Xu Du.

Wars in ancient times did require a certain number of civilians to help escort food and grass.

For example, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty fought against the Xiongnu with a total of 60 troops, of which at least 40 were civilians who transported grain and grass.

In addition, Zhuge Liang's several Northern Expeditions required a large number of civilians to transport food and grass in the rear, and they often retreated due to lack of food.

But they had to do it because they were fighting long distances or the roads were difficult and dangerous.

In normal plain warfare, unless there is a large-scale campaign of more than [-] horses like Yuan Shao, civilian husbands are needed to escort food and grass.Otherwise, there would be no need for small-scale wars involving tens of thousands of people.

For example, Sima Yi rushed thousands of miles to attack Mengda, marching an average of 56 kilometers a day in the mountains, and there would be no civilians in the rear to help deliver food, and his soldiers would carry dry food for one month.

Cao Cao conquered Xuzhou and Liu Bei and Lu Bu several times, but there were no civilians to transport food and grass. The troops brought their own food for a few months, and often the war could only be fought for two or three months before they had to retreat.

Also, before the Long March, our army prepared about 160 million dans of food and 4 troops. There were also no civilians to help escort them, and they could only be carried by our soldiers themselves or transported by horses and carts.

The places along the way were all warlord lands, without a mass base, and no one to help our army, but they just relied on two shoulders and a pair of iron feet to walk [-] kilometers.

It can be seen from this that when fighting in the Central Plains, there are often very few civilian husbands to help transport food, and the troops carry it themselves.

Shen Chen went north this time, with an army of 1 people, he only mobilized about 5000 civilians, a total of [-] people, and brought about [-] weapons and equipment trucks, and about [-] grain and grass trucks, totaling about [-] shi.

In addition, each soldier carried a bag on his back and stored 20 days of dry food. In this case, according to the records in "Juyanhan Bamboo Slips", the soldiers consume 2.7 stones of food per month, and they can eat for three months if they save some food.

It stands to reason that he also consumed two months of food and grass in Duyang, so there should be less than 20 days of food left.

But when he stationed troops to block the sun, more than 20 shi of grain and grass were transported from the rear one after another, so his grain and grass did not decrease but increased, which was very sufficient.

Cao Hong figured that now Shen Chen did not bring a large amount of food and grass to the north, only the soldiers took part of the rations with them, which meant that Shen Chen might really plan to travel light and make a surprise attack on Xuchang.

You know, Xuchang is only 130 kilometers away from Ye County, and the Hanli is about [-] kilometers. The road is flat, without any obstacles, and it is not a long-distance raid at all.

If Sima Yi marched at a speed of 56 kilometers per day, he would start in the morning and arrive in the afternoon of the third day.Not to mention that Sima Yi's speed is considered slow. During the Long March, our army had a record of 120 kilometers a day in mountainous terrain.

So Cao Hong had to know whether Shen Chen was really planning to surprise Xu Chang, or if he was setting an ambush to trick him out.

Thinking of this, Cao Hong immediately said: "Send someone to report to Xudu immediately, and then send a message to Liu Dai and Wang Zhong, telling them to be careful, and Li Kuang."

"The end is here."

One of Cao Hong's lieutenants stepped forward.

"You lead 1000 troops and immediately pursue them to see if they have laid an ambush."

"only."

Li Kuang was about to take orders and leave.

Cao Hong said again: "Wait a minute."

"General."

Li Kuang turned back and cupped his hands.

Cao Hong pondered for a moment, then said: "If there is an ambush, you must see how many troops the opponent has, remember not to fight, and withdraw immediately if something goes wrong."

"clear."

Li Kuang took the order and left.

Another lieutenant at the side asked puzzledly, "What do you mean, General?"

Cao Hong said: "If Shen Chen really wants to raid Xudu, he will definitely leave some troops behind to stop us. Otherwise, if we go to chase immediately, won't we be flanked by Xudu and us? So the number of ambushes depends on the number of them." Is he really going north, or is he planning to ambush us?"

The lieutenant general was convinced and said: "Good advice, general!"

.

.

While Cao Hong was making arrangements, Shen Chen was also making arrangements.

The army set off overnight without bringing a lot of food and grass, leaving 1000 men to guard Duyang. Each soldier carried 20 days of dry food on his back and traveled northward.

On the way, Shen Chen said to Gan Ning: "Uncle Xingba, when you lead the main force to hide in Lushan, you must first send 2000 troops to set up an ambush in the road, and when Cao's army comes, kill them immediately to scare them away. "

Gan Ning was confused and said, "Didn't this tell him that we have an ambush?"

Shen Chen said: "Cao Hong is also a veteran who has followed Cao Cao for many years. It is impossible to follow us immediately just because we bypassed Ye County. He will definitely suspect that we are setting up an ambush, so he will definitely send a small group of people to test it out. If our main force goes out , he will understand that we are ambushing him, so we must first expose certain soldiers and horses, so that he will think that this is our force to stop him."

"Oh."

Gan Ning nodded, suddenly seemed to have an idea, and said: "If we use all our strength, wouldn't Cao Hong be scared off? He must have thought we were ambushing him. When he hides in the city, we will directly Wouldn't it be good to kill Xu Du?"

Shen Chen rolled his eyes and said: "Attacking Xu is the most ideal situation, but what are we most afraid of? The defenders from Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang will follow immediately, and when we are in Xudu with Cao Jun During the battle, attack our rear. At that time, they will attack back and forth, and our army will be defeated. Therefore, although this trick can deceive Cao Hong, when our main force is about to pass Kunyang and Wuyang, they are not blind and report to Cao Hongyi , won't he understand?"

"That's true."

After Gan Ning thought about it, he really thought too much. The main force passed through Ye County and he could indeed deceive Cao Hong, but there are counties such as Kunyang and Wuyang behind him. They have to reveal their secrets and let him know their true intentions, or they have to catch up immediately.

So Gan Ning's statement is not reliable at all.

Shen Chen said: "The art of war is the truth. What we have to do now is to convince Cao Hong that we are really going to raid Xudu. Instead of letting him know that we are ambushing him, otherwise, we will really attack Xudu." I can't fool the defenders of Kunyang and Wuyang, and this is the purpose of my division going north, which is to fool the defenders of these two places, so as to trick Cao Hong out and kill him."

"understood."

Gan Ning nodded, now he finally understood Shen Chen's intention.

The army lit torches and drove all night. In the middle of the night, that is, around twelve o'clock in the evening, they walked for about two hours and covered more than 2 kilometers. The average speed was 20 kilometers per hour, which was similar to the walking speed of ordinary people.

Ye County is about [-] kilometers away from Kunyang, and on their left is the majestic Lushan Mountains.

The soldiers in Huangmenting were alright. In addition to daily training, it was normal to train for ten kilometers every day. Gan Ning's troops began to have some sore feet, and their speed slowed down one by one.

Fortunately, they had already arrived at their destination, and Shen Chen and Gan Ning parted ways. Gan Ning's army hid in Lushan Mountain, and sent 2000 people to set up an ambush on the periphery. The man, holding a three-pronged torch, headed towards Kunyang.

Without the encumbrance of Gan Ning's army, Shen Chen ordered a quick march and covered more than ten kilometers in less than an hour. From a distance, he saw the city hidden in the darkness by the torches on the Kunyang city wall.

"go!"

Shen Chen himself was also walking, constantly urging the soldiers, their destination today was to cross Kunyang and then to Xiangcheng.

Xiangcheng is located more than 40 kilometers north of Kunyang. After arriving here, it is only [-] kilometers away from Xudu, so as long as his people appear in Xiangcheng, it will definitely cause a great shock.

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(End of this chapter)