Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 123 Attack on Xiangcheng
Cao Hong has been paying close attention to Shen Chenjun's sudden actions.

After dark, that is, at dusk, he sent general Li Kuang to chase after him. Since Shen Chen retreated first and then detoured, Li Kuang was faster than them in terms of time.

Almost less than half an hour after Gan Ning set up an ambush in Lushan, he had already chased him, and then 1000 people fought with [-] ambush soldiers.

The loss of this one was not big, Li Kuang confirmed the number of opponents, and hurried back to report to Cao Hong.

At the same time, Liu Dai who was stationed in Kunyang and Wang Zhong who was stationed in Wuyang were also suddenly awakened by the sentry scouts outside the city in the middle of the night. Neglect, immediately send someone to contact Cao Hong.

Because the people Liu Dai and Wang Zhong sent to report the news were galloping fast horses, and the [-] kilometers took less than an hour, so Cao Hong got two pieces of information before dawn, that is, at the end of Pingdan.

First, it was as expected, Shen Chenjun had about 2000 troops left behind.The second is their main force, which seems to have passed Kunyang and is heading straight for Xiangcheng.

After receiving these two pieces of information, Cao Hong was very excited. He couldn't be wrong. Shen Chen must have chosen to go straight to Xudu, and he had to pursue him immediately.

Immediately he shouted: "Give me an order to leave the city and head north immediately, and return to aid Xudu."

"only!"

All the soldiers bowed their hands in unison.

When he suspected that Shen Chen might go straight to Xudu, Cao Hong had already ordered the Huotou army to cook food overnight, and then waited for the soldiers to sleep until three o'clock in the morning, that is, to get up at four o'clock in the morning to eat.

At this time, it was the end of Pingdan, about five o'clock in the morning, the sky was slightly bright, and the soldiers had already had their breakfast, and they were full of energy.

With an order, the whole army attacked. It was about eight o'clock in the morning, and they arrived near Lushan.

As before, almost at the moment they approached, countless soldiers and horses clamored.

Cao Hongyi was not afraid and ordered an attack.

There are only 2000 ambush soldiers here. Seeing that there are many enemies, they collapsed instantly after the first fight, and began to retreat as if crying for their father and mother.

Seeing this situation, Cao Hong laughed and said, "Son, Shen Chen, you still want to trick me into taking Xudu? It's nothing more than a trick, chase after me!"

"The general has an order, chase after him!"

Li Kuang and other lieutenants immediately issued an offensive order.

There was no formation in the pursuit, and Cao's army quickly dispersed, chasing and killing the scattered Gan Ning army everywhere.

But when they approached Mount Lu, in the dense forest on the hillside, countless arrows rained down suddenly, which caught Cao Jun off guard.

"Cao Hong, you have been tricked, kill!"

Gan Ning rode on his horse, and suddenly rushed out from the forest on the left, with thousands of people behind him clamoring, "Kill!"

"Kill!"

Shocking shouts of killing resounded through the entire battlefield in an instant.

The Gan Ning army, who had been hunted down before, immediately turned around and fought back. Cao's army had no formation, and the battlefield was divided in an instant, and each fought independently.

"what?"

Seeing this situation, Cao Hong in the rear turned pale with fright.

Cao Jun's formation was scattered at first, and then he was shot indiscriminately. His morale was low, and he began to retreat one after another.

Li Kuang hurriedly said to Cao Hong: "General, we are ambushed, retreat quickly."

"withdraw!"

Cao Hong immediately ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops, and ran south to prepare to escape back to Ye County.

Gan Ning pursued him tail-to-tail, covering a distance of more than 20 kilometers. From morning to noon, he chased and killed nearly 2000 Cao troops.

Fortunately, after running hard, Cao Hong finally ran back to the outside of Ye County. Since it was confirmed at that time that Shen Chen planned to "take Xudu directly", there were no soldiers and horses in the city to stay behind.

At this moment, there was a sudden rain of arrows on the top of the city, and it was Gan Ning's lieutenant Lou Fa who shouted: "Lou Fa is here, Cao Hong will take his life!"

"what?"

Cao Hong's eyes were about to burst, never expecting that Ye County had already been occupied.

But he didn't know that Shen Chen came out with 3000 troops this time, and he brought 6000 to the north, Gan Ning brought 1000 to set up an ambush, and left [-] in Duyang.

He just went out in the morning, and it didn't take long for Lou Fa, who blocked Yang, to occupy Yecheng, blocking his escape route.

At this moment, there are wolves in front and tigers behind, Cao Hong has no choice but to fight to the death.

And just when Cao Hong was in desperation, by noon, the soldiers of Huangmenting had arrived in Xiangcheng extremely exhausted.

From clearing up the camp during the day to setting off at about six o'clock in the evening, the soldiers of Huangmenting had been walking for eighteen hours.

It is 80 kilometers from Ye County to Xiangcheng, and it is a flat and plain terrain, with almost no obstacles, and an average of 4.4 kilometers per hour.

But the soldiers were still very tired. If they hadn't practiced like this every day before, they might have collapsed and collapsed long ago.

Shen Chen is also a pair of iron feet.

At the age of 15, he has been insisting on walking, and the soldiers also gritted their teeth one by one when they saw his figure.

Walking has something to do with physical fitness, but belief is also very important.

Those who walked on foot in later generations walked hundreds of kilometers a day. Compared with the setbacks of our army during the Long March in history, there are countless little ghosts younger than him who can still keep up with the big army. What a problem.

It wasn't until the afternoon when he saw Xiangcheng from afar that Shen Chen took a long breath and said to Shen Zhen beside him, "Father, tell the soldiers that Xiangcheng is just ahead!"

"Xiangcheng is just ahead! Everyone, work harder, and you will be able to go to the city to rest soon."

Shen Zhen immediately turned around and shouted.

"Xiangcheng is just ahead! Everyone, work harder, and you will be able to go to the city to rest soon."

"Xiangcheng is just ahead! Everyone, work harder, and you will be able to go to the city to rest soon."

"Xiangcheng is just ahead! Everyone, work harder, and you will be able to go to the city to rest soon."

The soldiers kept shouting back, and soon all the 3000 people got the news, and their morale soared, their legs and feet seemed to be relieved of pain, their bodies were no longer tired, and their speed was much faster.

At this time, Xiangcheng was still in the normal state of the city gates, and suddenly saw an army on the official road in the distance, guarding the city were soldiers from the county government, there were not many people, only a dozen of them.

Seeing this scene, everyone was at a loss and just watched.

Now Cao Cao has mobilized his main force to the north for a decisive battle with Yuan Shao. The rear is really empty. There are only 9000 people in Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang in Nanyang, and about 1 people in Xudu after that.

Therefore, a large number of cities in Yingchuan are undefended, and there are only dozens of county yamen who are used to maintain law and order and arrest robbers, which is the so-called head-catching yamen.

These people have no fighting power at all, and they don't even know whose troops are coming from the opposite side.

They didn't know it was the enemy army from Nanyang until they approached, but naturally it was too late, not to mention they were at a loss, even if they were prepared, closing all the gates of the four cities would be useless.

Soon Shen Chen occupied Xiangcheng, and while sending people to appease the people, he immediately occupied the county government office to let the soldiers take time to rest.

At the same time, the person Cao Hong Kuaima sent to report to Xudu had also arrived at this time.

Because of the delay in the news, the people who stayed behind in Xudu at this time were Xia Houyuan, Li Dian and Xun Yu. Xun Yu was sitting in Shangshutai, and the news reached him first.

And the news he got was that Shen Chenjun had bypassed Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang, and headed straight for Xudu.

Seeing this situation, he immediately consulted with Xia Houyuan.

"Lingjun, what's the matter?"

Xia Houyuan came in a hurry.

Xun Yu was the first person to sit in the position of Shangshuling, known as Lingjun.

Because he sits in Shangshutai, handles government affairs in an orderly manner, and is respected by others, so everyone calls him Lingjun.

Shangshutai is the Chengguang Hall in the inner city. The inner city was originally demolished, and now several palaces have been built.

When Xia Houyuan came in, he saw Xun Yu's face was very serious, and he was thinking carefully with a bamboo slip in his hand.

Hearing Xia Houyuan's voice, Xun Yu said in a deep voice: "Lieutenant of the Military Academy, something is wrong. Nanyang Shenchen led 1 people and came directly to Xuchang bypassing Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang."

"what?"

Xia Houyuan, who had just been appointed by Cao Cao this year as a marching lieutenant, and was in charge of transporting grain and grass in the rear with Xun Yu, was taken aback and said, "Is the news true?"

"Hard to say."

Xun Yu said: "General Li Feng said that he sent 1000 troops to pursue them. After encountering the 2000 troops left by Shen Chen, Liu Dai from Kunyang and Wang Zhong from Wuyang also saw thousands of torches going north from Kunyang in the middle of the night. .”

"Is that so?"

Xia Houyuan frowned and said: "Calculating the time, they should arrive in Xiangcheng at night, and Xiangcheng may pass on the news tomorrow."

Xun Yu said: "The enemy must not be allowed to come to Xudu now. Xudu has no city walls, and there is no protection outside the city. Countless people and the three princes and nine ministers live here, let alone the emperor. So even if they did not attack the inner city where the emperor lived City, even if you go to the outer city, the shock caused will definitely not be small, and may even affect Duke Cao."

"so what should I do now?"

Xia Houyuan asked.

Xun Yu pondered: "If the news is true, they must be exhausted after a day's rapid travel. You should immediately lead your troops to Xiangcheng overnight. General Li Feng and Liu Dai and Wang Zhong will chase after you, so that you can surround the enemy back and forth. In Xiangcheng, don't let them threaten Xu Du's safety, but I'm afraid that the news is not true."

"What does Ling Jun mean?"

Xia Houyuan asked tentatively, "Should we send someone to check?"

Xun Yu suddenly said: "We must go. Xiangcheng is only 120 miles away from Xu. Even if the horses are exhausted, you must check for me whether the enemy has arrived in Xiangcheng."

"it is good."

Xia Houyuan nodded: "I'll send someone there immediately."

Immediately ordered a team of scout cavalry, and rushed to Xiangcheng.

The stamina of horses is actually far inferior to that of humans. They can reach a speed of 40 to 60 kilometers per hour in a full sprint, but this speed cannot last for a long time, at most a few minutes.

Generally, you can run without rest for 20 minutes to 30 hour at a speed of 30 to 1 kilometers per hour.

Therefore, in ancient times, a post station was often set up every [-] miles. The post station raised horses, and the horses galloped at full speed. At the next post station, the horses were changed without changing people.

But even so, there are often cases of running dead horses, so now the scouts are asked to run [-] kilometers to Xiangcheng. In the case of no post station on the way, a [-]-kilometer round trip is indeed a dead horse.

Of course, it doesn't really happen that the horse dies halfway and can only run with its feet, because between Xiangcheng and Xudu, there are two cities, Yingyang and Yingyin, so the scouts can still run in the two cities. Change horses to investigate.

It's a pity that Shen Chen also included this, so he marched 80 kilometers forcibly, entered Xiangcheng at noon, took the time to rest, closed the city gate, and put on a "Shen" banner.

The result is that even if the scouts are exhausted, they can only get false information in the end.

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(End of this chapter)