Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 124

As night fell, Xiangcheng was silent.

The city has been occupied by Shen Chen's army. Except for a small number of soldiers guarding the gates and taking turns to guard the 3000 troops, most of them are taking the time to rest.

They arrived in Xiangcheng from noon to about nine o'clock in the evening, nearly eight hours, and the soldiers got enough sleep.

On the contrary, Shen Chen only slept for four or five hours during this period, and it was still intermittent, getting up every hour on average, patrolling the gates of the city, and then going around to appease the people.

Zhang An Min Bang was posted everywhere in the city. Shen Chen also personally led soldiers to visit famous old men or Confucian scholars in the city, and told them that he came to attack the Cao bandits in the name of the emperor because of his clothes and clothes. It is not against the party, nor will it harm the people.

What's interesting is that at the beginning, the old men and Confucian scholars couldn't believe it and were unwilling to cooperate.But when Shen Chen told them that he and Sima Hui were good friends, their attitudes changed drastically, and they were all willing to cooperate with his actions.

Sima Hui was from Yangdi, and Yangdi was only [-] to [-] kilometers away from Xiangcheng. Everyone knew his name as Yingchuan. After hearing that Shen Chen and Sima Hui were friendly and made a promise, they naturally believed Shen Chen's words.

After Shen Chen's army entered the city, Qiu also did not commit any crimes. Except for occupying the county government mansion for rest, the discipline of the soldiers was strictly restrained, and they did not violate the interests of the people in any way.

The reason why Huangmenting soldiers have such a high quality is due to the high personal quality of the officers and the fact that they are small in number and easy to command.

The officers of Huangmenting come from the clan team of more than 100 people that was first formed from Xuzhou to go south. They are all descendants of the second clan of Deng Shen and Lao Huangmenting. They are the most obedient and the highest quality people.

After arriving in Nanyang, Shen Chen asked them all to learn to read and write, and when they went down to the grassroots, each officer must control and restrain the soldiers in his team.

Before this expedition, he wrote a piece of paper and asked to make dozens of copies, all of which were handed over to each officer. The content of the paper was naturally three major disciplines and eight precautions. Those who are relatives can only be beheaded with tears.

Under such solemn disciplinary requirements, after three thousand soldiers marched into the city, they naturally showed the temperament of the Yue family army "not to break the house from freezing to death, and not to plunder to death from starvation". No matter how tired they were, Shen Chen won Only the county government dares to rest.

At midnight, Shen Chen returned from his last patrol on the city wall and arrived at the county government office. At this time, the soldiers had almost rested and had already gone up to the city wall to guard. Only a small number of soldiers who needed to guard the city gate during the day were still in the county government office. The mansion is lying all over the place.

It's not that he doesn't want everyone to sleep on the city wall, but it's the season of spring and summer, Yingchuan belongs to the hinterland of the Central Plains. Lie down and rest.

After arriving at the county government office, Shen Chen began to make a summary.

The strategic purpose of going north alone this time is to mobilize the defenders in Ye County, Kunyang, Wuyang and other places to force them out of the city for a decisive battle.

If things go well, then Gan Ning should have wiped out Cao Hong's troops by now, leaving only the Cao troops in Kunyang and Wuyang, and the Xudu Cao army who may come to fight at any time.

Shen Chen believed that it was absolutely impossible for Cao Jun of Xudu to let him appear near Xudu, so the possibility of coming to Xiangcheng was extremely high, even at night.

Therefore, according to the time calculation, in about an hour or two, he must evacuate Xiangcheng and return to Kunyang to attack Liu Dai.

So can we do a fake show and really capture Xudu?
Before Gan Ning proposed this idea, Shen Chen gave the answer that it is unrealistic. Going to the north to attack Xudu can fool Cao Hong, but not Liu Dai and Wang Zhong. They are right behind. You have to go through Kunyang to attack Xudu. People are not blind.

So once he attacks Xudu, he will face Cao Hong, Liu Dai, Wang Zhong, and Xudu's defenders on two sides. Even Li Tong and Man Chong in Runan will come back and fall into a three-way trap.

At that time, even if they hit the vicinity of Xudu, it would be meaningless.There is a high probability that they will be surrounded and wiped out by Cao's regiments, so under the circumstances at that time, it was absolutely impossible to directly capture Xudu.

what about now?

Shen Chen quickly thought about the words now.

The strategic significance of his pretending to capture Xudu lies in the fact that he is well aware of the current situation in Xudu.

The inner city is Liu Xie's palace, and the people and officials all live in the outer city. The current wall of the outer city has not been repaired, and the defense is useless.

Therefore, no matter whether he really wanted to fight Xudu or pretended to fight, as long as he appeared in the Xiangcheng area, the entire Cao army in Yingchuan, Runan, and Nanyang would be mobilized and frantically gather here.

Just like Li Yunlong's attack on Ping'an County, it is impossible for the surrounding Cao Jun to gamble on this chance, so as long as he is in Xiangcheng, Cao Jun will come, and he must come.

If you take advantage of this opportunity, make a time difference.When Xudu's Cao Jun went south to Xiangcheng, he chose to go north to take Xudu directly, which is interesting.

But Shen Chen had to consider another question.

Even if Cao Jun from Xudu will come, definitely not all of them, some of them will definitely stay behind.

Even if my 3000 people kill Xudu, at most it will cause a great shock to Xudu. As long as the remaining defenders of Xudu persist for a period of time, my 3000 people will still be destroyed.

So Xu still can't go.

Shen Chen now has two options: safe and radical.

It is very risky to go straight to Xudu, but once it succeeds, the benefits will be great, and it can even directly destroy Cao Cao.

Safe is to follow the original plan, go south to join Gan Ning, annihilate Liu Dai and Wang Zhong, occupy Ye County and threaten Cao Cao's rear.

Considering the benefits, Shen Chen still didn't choose to be aggressive.

Because first of all, Zhenbei went to destroy Cao Cao's rear, and welcomed Liu Xie to Nanyang. Liu Biao had a rebellious heart, and he was afraid that he would hate him to death. If he was not sure, he would turn against him. With his strength, he could not compete with Liu Biao. .

Secondly, Xu Du was forced. Cao Cao must have no intention of fighting the battle of Guandu, and he may even go south immediately to defend. Then Yuan Shao's large-scale attack will inevitably cause Yuan Shao to seize the whole of Henan. At that time, it will not be Cao Cao who will occupy the north, but Yuan Shao .

Yuan Shao's strength is much stronger than Cao Cao's, which will be more harmful to the follow-up. Maybe the whole north, including Guanzhong, Henan, and Hebei, will fall into Yuan Shao's hands before the 12th year of Jian'an.

Even if Yuan Shao died of illness after two years in history, what if he defeated Cao Cao and died prematurely without falling ill?So we have to consider this issue.

At present, the best situation for Shen Chen is to neither let Cao Cao deal a fatal blow to Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu, nor let Yuan Shao live too comfortably. developmental time.

Thinking of this, Shen Chen gave up his radical ideas and turned to be steady.

Time passed by minute by minute.

At this moment, Shen Tao rushed to report: "General, the county magistrate is here."

"Let him in."

Shen Chen knelt on the mat, staring at the front door solemnly.

After a while, the county magistrate came in, bowed his hands flatteringly to Shen Chen: "I don't know why the general summoned you?"

Shen Chen got up and cupped his hands to the north and said: "I was ordered by the emperor to King Qin, but the food and grass were not enough, and I was going to withdraw my troops to leave. I disturbed the county lord and invited Haihan, so I invited the county lord to come here to make amends."

The county magistrate was overjoyed, but said on his face: "How can you bother the general with some trivial matters?"

Shen Chen said: "One must not be rude, since seeking out thieves out of righteousness, how can you bother the common people? So I prepared some property, with the heart of the county."

After finishing speaking, he clapped his hands, and a servant came in with a plate in the hall on the right.

When he went to the city to appease the people, Shen Chen also inquired about it. This county magistrate is not a good person. Because he was born in a small and medium-sized family in Zhaoling, Runan, and has a history with the powerful and powerful in Xiangcheng County, he often oppressed good people together. Quite greedy for money.

This is also the reason why they want to occupy the county office, otherwise, if the county magistrate is a virtuous person respected by the people in the county, it will definitely be disgusting to do so.

Seeing that the young man was a servant of his county yamen, the county magistrate lifted the plate, revealing bright gold, and immediately showed a greedy expression, but said: "You will not be rewarded for nothing, and I appreciate the general's kindness." gone."

Shen Chen smiled and said: "I don't mean anything else, just to express my apology to the people of Xiangcheng, please forgive me for my rudeness, don't refuse."

"This"

The county magistrate hesitated for a moment.

Shen Chen didn't give him time to refuse, and said, "I'm going to withdraw my troops and leave Xiangcheng, so the magistrate will leave now."

After that, he went straight to the outside of the hall.

"call out!"

After he went out, the sharp whistle resounded throughout the county government mansion.

The soldiers who were still resting woke up almost instinctively, and under the leadership of officers at all levels, they ran out of the county office and assembled at the gate.

At this time, there were only a few hundred soldiers resting in the county government office. After Shen Chen left the county government office, he ordered the messengers to quickly gather the soldiers and horses stationed at the gates of each city. In less than 10 minutes, the whole army assembled.

"go!"

With an order, Shen Chen led the army towards the east gate.

Three thousand soldiers lined up neatly, like a long snake, holding torches in front and behind, stepping on the ground of the rammed earth structure of the county town, making a rattling sound.

The people living in the county could not sleep at all that night, their doors and windows were closed, the dark streets were already empty, and they occasionally looked out from the urn or the wooden windows, even if there was an Minbang, they were carefully observing .

Soon the soldiers left through the east gate.

About an hour later, footsteps sounded outside the city again, and Xia Houyuan appeared outside Xiangcheng with 5000 troops.

Shen Chen guessed right, Xudu did not dare to send all the troops out, so Li Dian led 5000 people to defend Xudu.

In order to prevent panic and riots among the royalists in the city, Xun Yu ordered the news to be blocked, and Xia Houyuan cooperated with Cao Hong to handle the matter.

Many people think that Xun Yu is a royalist, but in fact he is a diehard loyalist of the Han family, not the emperor.

For him, it doesn't matter who is the emperor, as long as the world is the Han Dynasty.Therefore, even if it is a clothing belt edict, he must hold back to help Cao Cao.

Because he had been to Yuan Shao's place and knew Yuan Shao's virtues.If Yuan Shao wins, the world will not be the Han Dynasty.

And Cao Cao still needs the banner of the Han Dynasty at least for now, and he can't see any idea of ​​usurping the throne in a short time. Xun Yu naively thought that he was at most a powerful minister like Huo Guang.

So until Cao Cao said that Wei Gong had exposed his rebellious heart, he had been doing his best for Cao Cao.

Due to the difference in information, Xun Yu was unable to judge Shen Chen's true intentions, but to be on the safe side, he had to keep the enemy out of Xudu, so Xia Houyuan had to appear here.

The scouts from Xudu who came to investigate arrived in the afternoon. They were shocked when they saw the "Shen" flag on the top of the city.

Shen Chen didn't play tricks of going out of the city and then entering the city, but he didn't think it mattered, the art of war was fictitious, even if people knew that there were only 3000 people entering the city, the enemy would think it might be the vanguard, and there were troops behind, so Don't care if the number of people is exposed to Xu Du.

In the evening, Xu Du learned that at least three to four thousand people had occupied Xiangcheng.

And Xun Yu also confirmed that this might be the vanguard. He deduced according to the previous common sense that the enemy would not reach Xiangcheng until night, but if they appeared earlier, it was very likely that they were the vanguard troops marching in a hurry, and the main force was still in the rear.

So Xun Yu, Xia Houyuan, Li Dian and others discussed and made three solutions.

One is to have Li Dian stationed outside Xudu to guard against enemy raids.The second is to let Xia Houyuan hurry over and surround Xiangcheng first.The third is to send people to quickly contact Cao Hong, Liu Dai, Wang Zhong, Man Chong, Li Tong and others, and ask them to return to assist Xudu.

This is the result of poor information.

Xia Houyuan then set off at about five o'clock in the afternoon, and it was already past twelve o'clock in the evening when he arrived in Xiangcheng. It took three and a half hours, more than seven hours, to travel fifty highways in a hurry, and arrived in Xiangcheng.

It seems that it is only an average of seven kilometers per hour, which is not fast.

But you must know that Xia Houyuan's fastest record in history is "[-] in three days, [-] in six days", with an average speed of [-] kilometers per hour per day, excluding sleeping and eating, counting [-] hours of traveling time, which is an average of [-] hours per hour. Five kilometers per hour.

So Xia Houyuan at this time was already faster than his fastest time in history. When he arrived in Xiangcheng, most of the troops were exhausted.

In this case, he had to consider whether the soldiers could fight again, so he let the soldiers rest about ten miles away from the city before sending people to investigate the situation.

Soon the horse scouts reported that there was no one on the top of the city, and there were no torches lit. The whole city was very quiet, the city gate was wide open, and there was no movement.

Xia Houyuan was very surprised to hear this situation. There was no one on the tower, and the gates were all open, which was really incomprehensible.

He didn't know if the enemy's main force had already entered the city at this time. It was dark in the middle of the night, and he couldn't find any people to ask about the situation in the city. .

After waiting for a quarter of an hour, the scout came back in a hurry and told him that there were no enemy troops in the city.

"What? They retreated?"

Knowing that there were no enemies in the city, Xia Houyuan immediately led his troops into the city, and learned from the county magistrate that three to four thousand people in the city had left an hour ago.

"Yes."

In the county government office, the county magistrate showed Xia Houyuan a flattering smile: "Thank General Hong Fu, the criminal who came to commit the crime must have heard the news that the general is coming, and said that he is going to retreat to Nanyang."

"Is that right?"

Xia Houyuan looked at the county magistrate suspiciously, and asked, "When did they come, how many people came, which door did they come in, how many people left, and which door did they go out?"

The county magistrate replied: "General, they arrived at about three o'clock in the middle of the day. There should be three or four thousand people when they came. They entered from the west gate. After entering the city, they occupied the county government mansion to rest. There were also three or four thousand people when they left. It took more than an hour. Leave before, go out through the east gate."

Enter by the west gate and exit by the east gate?
Xia Houyuan thought about this unusual information carefully. The south of Xiangcheng is Rushui, so the south gate is by the river, and the west gate is the connecting gate between Xiangcheng and Rushui.

Because Rushui passes south of Xiangcheng obliquely, and there is a small city called Sicheng opposite Xiangcheng, so after going out from the west gate of Xiangcheng, there is a bridge connected with Sicheng, and the people from the south come to Xiangcheng. , will pass here.

Shen Chenjun's entry from the west gate is in line with his marching route from the south to the north, so what happens when he exits from the east gate?
"You go down first."

Xia Houyuan sat on the table, thinking hard.

From the east gate, the next bridge across the river is Dongbugeng Township and Dingling County, seventy miles away. Is Shen Chenjun going to take such a long way back to Nanyang?
"Resignation."

The county magistrate surrendered to him, still thinking about how much the gold Shen Chen gave him was worth.

Xia Houyuan continued to sit and think in the room. At this moment, he suddenly noticed a servant at the door bent over, as if he had no spine, bent his body and poked his head.

There was a guard at the door. Seeing him sneaking around, he drew his knife and asked, "Who is it?"

"Let him in."

Xia Houyuan guessed that this boy might have something to say to him.

The servant really came in and kowtowed, "General, I have something important to report."

"You said."

Xia Houyuan said.

The servant said: "When the villain was serving them, he saw Shen Chen, the leader of the bandit who had invaded with his own eyes. He gave a lot of gold to the county magistrate, and asked him to tell the general that he withdrew his army."

"what?"

Xia Houyuan was shocked, and then furiously said: "This thief misunderstood me!"

Now think about it, if you go out from the east gate, if you don't go south and go north directly, isn't it Yingyang?

Although they didn't bump into each other when they came, what if the other party staggered the way and went straight to Xudu?
Thinking of this, Xia Houyuan immediately shouted: "Hurry up, gather the whole army and arrest the county magistrate for me."

All of a sudden, the whole Xiangcheng was flying like a dog.

Cao Jun's discipline was not as good as Shen Chenjun's, and there was a lot of commotion in the middle of the night, causing the people in the city to panic.

Soon the county magistrate was arrested, and the soldier said: "General, gold was indeed found in his room."

The county magistrate was shocked and said: "General, this is what Shen Chen put in the county government."

"You traitor, you actually secretly acted as an internal response."

Xia Houyuan drew out his saber, and said viciously, "Death!"

"General!"

The county magistrate was so frightened that he was about to explain that the knife was imminent.

Swish!
A white light flashed, and the county magistrate who committed crimes in Xiangcheng was killed.

Looking at his corpse, the servants not far away showed resentment in their eyes, and all Xiangcheng people hated this thief.

"Let's go back to Xudu."

After killing the county magistrate, Xia Houyuan immediately issued an order to go straight to Xudu.

(End of this chapter)