Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 137 You have grown up, boy

On June 26, Shen Chenjun took advantage of the darkness and suddenly went north to Fucheng.

Neither Xia Houyuan nor Li Dian knew about this news.

In fact, they have deployed scouts around Kunyang, but they are not being sent to the city now, and the surrounding scout posts have been pulled out.

Even the nearby common people and villagers were relocated to Nanyang. Once a stranger appeared near Kunyang, he would be arrested.

Therefore, when Lou Fa led 500 troops all the way to Fucheng County, it was not known to the people of Fucheng.

Father City did not return, and there were almost no guards in the city. The county magistrate and other officials of all sizes escaped from the east gate overnight and reported to Xiangcheng.

Lou Fa did not plunder the people, and his banner was "Liu Biao, the Hussar general of the Han Dynasty, followed the clothes and belts to attack the Cao bandits, the benevolent and righteous division of Jingzhou welcomes the emperor, and will never take a grain of the people."

The reason for playing Liu Biao's banner is because Shen Chen and Gan Ning are now Liu Biao's generals in name. At this time, Liu Biao's main force is still in Jingnan, and there is no way to conquer Zhang Xian, so he can't send people to support Shen Chen.

However, when he heard that Shen Chen had defeated Cao Hong and Xia Houyuan, beheaded two Cao generals, and had a [-]-[-] fight with Cao Cao in Ziyun Mountain, he immediately worshiped him as Zhonglang General.

At present, there are not many Zhonglang generals under Liu Biao's account, only Han Xi, Wenpin, Lu Jie, Liu Pan and others are senior generals second only to Cai Mao, Zhang Yun and Huang Zu.

Now Shen Chen is already a general at a young age, surpassing the middle and lower ranks, which is enough to show that Liu Biao attaches great importance to him.

Under the banner of Liu Biao, Lou Fa arrived in Jia County on June 27 and headed for Yangdi.

Xia Houyuan and Li Dian were really shocked when they heard the news, and quickly sent people to pursue them.

On the night of June 27th, Shen Chen took Gan Ning, Deng Zhao, Shen Mi and others to the east.

His current total strength is only 700. There were originally many wounded soldiers. The seriously injured have been sent back to Nanyang, and the slightly injured have recovered after more than a month of rest. Now the total strength is [-].

In terms of troop arrangement, Shen Zhen served as the general guarding Kunyang with 1000 men, and Lou Fa led 500 men to the north, so now Shen Chen has [-] troops under his command.

On June 28, when Lou Fa learned that Xia Houyuan and Li Dian each led two or 3000 troops to conquer him, he immediately returned to his father's city.

At the same time, Shen Chen's army had already arrived at Dingling overnight. After taking control of Dingling, they only rested for half a day, and then went east to Yancheng on the night of June 28. These places are very close, about 35 kilometers from Kunyang to Dingling. It is 35 kilometers from Dingling to Yancheng, [-] kilometers in two days, more than enough.

By June 29th, Shen Chen had already occupied Yancheng.It was not until this time that Xia Houyuan and Li Dian got the news and hurriedly led the troops south. The problem was that they were still in Jiaxian County, 120 kilometers away from Yancheng, which was too far away.

And they analyzed a fatal problem, that is, they had to consider what Shen Chen wanted to do.

The news they got at this moment was that Shen Chen's division was heading north, while the main force was going east.This is very similar to a pincer attack, with Xia Houyuan and Li Dian defending Xudu's road in the middle, so Shen Chen's army pinches Xudu from the left and right sides.

And the left side is obviously a partial division, and the real main force is in the east.From Yancheng all the way to the north, Xudu can be reached in two days' journey after Zhaoling Liqiang. This strategic intention is too obvious.

Therefore, both of them returned to the defense immediately. Xia Houyuan and Li Dian both brought only two to three thousand soldiers, and Xiangcheng and Linying still had two to three thousand defenders. Instead of going to Yancheng, he went to Luiqiang County first, wanting to set up defenses in advance to prevent Shen Chen from going north.

This arrangement is actually not a problem, because Xia Houyuan and Li Dian must ensure the safety of Xu Du.Now that Shen Chen's main force appeared in the south of Xudu, they had to ensure the safety of the south of Xudu. What's more, Liu Bei was also preparing to attack Xudu in Runan recently.

But they overlooked one thing.

That is, Shen Chen and Liu Bei actually knew each other, and their friendship was not shallow.

Back then, Shen Chen and Liu Bei only met once in Xuzhou, which to a large extent gave an illusion, including Cao Cao himself.

Thought the two of them belonged to nodding acquaintances.

You must know that Chen Qun and Chen Deng are still Liu Bei's old subordinates. They belong to former students and former officials. This friendship should be deeper, but now they are all working for Cao Cao in Cao Ying.

Liu Bei was in Runan, and Chen Deng, as the prefect of Guangling, did not respond to him.

So they didn't know at all that this was a trap set by Shen Chen. He never thought of going to Xudu, but planned to join Liu Bei first.

On June 20th, Shen Chen’s army set off again after a day’s rest. This time they only brought [-] days of dry food, and they traveled lightly. They didn’t even carry camp tents. In the city, or sleep in the wasteland in the wild.

In just three days like this, by the early morning of July [-]st, he was already less than twenty miles away from Dingying.

At this moment in Dingying City, Man Chong, who just woke up not long ago, was full of worries, and he just had a casual breakfast, and then immediately went to work in the county government office, dealing with various official documents.

As the prefect of Runan appointed by Cao Cao, he actually did not rely on Li Tong's power in the process of pacifying Runan.

At that time, Yuan Shao was preparing to deal with Cao Cao, and people responded from everywhere in Yuzhou. In the land of Runan, countless former officials of the Yuan family rebelled, and all the magistrates of the counties all joined Yuan Shao. Cao Cao didn't completely trust him either.

Therefore, at that time, Man Chong was also secretly guarding against Li Tong. He recruited 500 men and horses to put down the former officials of the Yuan family who were making trouble in the surrounding area, and captured more than 2 people and [-] soldiers.

The people were placed in the fields by him and ordered to cultivate, and the soldiers were called into his command.

But these soldiers were formerly the soldiers of the Yuan family's former officials. Firstly, their combat effectiveness was not very strong, and secondly, they were also unstable factors. Therefore, he recently learned that Liu Bei had actually summoned tens of thousands of horses in Runan, and he had already led his troops to the north. Arriving at Shangcai, I was very sad.

Fortunately, Cao Cao wrote to him a few days ago, and he has arranged for the general Cai Yang to lead 3000 horses to help, and they will arrive in Dingying soon, so he can hold on for a while.

Now he is waiting for news from Cai Yang at the Dingying County Government.

"Report!"

At this time, a soldier came in a hurry, entered the hall and knelt down on one knee and said, "Your Majesty!"

"Is General Cai Yang here?"

Man Chong asked immediately.

The soldier said: "It's Liu Bei who sent troops. The scouts discovered his abnormal movement this morning. They came from Shangcai to Dingying. According to the route, they should arrive outside the city in the afternoon."

"what?"

Man Chong frowned, wandered back and forth in the hall for a few steps, and then said: "Quickly, ask someone to notify General Li and ask him to send someone to help."

"only!"

The soldiers immediately went out to convey the order.

Man Chong's face was extremely serious. After thinking for a moment, he immediately left the mansion, changed into the Hufu armor that was convenient for combat, and prepared to lead the troops to the south of the city to wait for Liu Bei's arrival.

At the same time, Liu Bei's army is not far from Dingying, and Pingyu is very close to Dingying, about 50 kilometers away. He walked more than 30 kilometers from Pingyu to Shangcai the day before yesterday. In the early morning of July [-]st, set off from Shangcai to attack Dingying.

The distance between Shangcai and Dingying is less than [-] kilometers, even if you walk slowly, you will arrive in one morning.

Wait until the third quarter in the corner, which is about ten o'clock in the morning on July [-]st.

At Yingyang Pavilion, ten miles away from Dingying, several cavalry came galloping on the wide loess post road.

Liu Bei is at the front of the team, while Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Tai Shici command the troops at the rear, with Zhao Yun and a young general beside them.

In addition, his subordinates now include Jian Yong, Sun Qian, Mi Zhu, Mi Fang, Shi Ren, Liu Yan, Yuan Wei, Xia Houzuan, etc., and the young general, Chen Dao, was recruited in Pingyu. .

Seeing the cavalry galloping forward, Chen Dao, as Liu Bei's current personal guard squad leader, rode forward and said, "Stop!"

The people who came were Shen Chen's cousin, Shen Tao, and several scout cavalry. When they saw Chen Dao, they looked at the banners of Liu Bei's troops behind them. The banners of "Liu", "Guan", "Zhang", "Taishi" and others were clear, so they asked : "But Duke Xuande's team?"

"Who are you?"

Chen Dao asked.

Shen Tao replied: "I am a member of General Shen Zhonglang under Hussar General, and I am here to pay a visit to Duke Xuande."

"Let them come over."

Liu Bei naturally also heard this sentence, and quickly asked Chen Dao not to stop him.

When Shen Tao got close, she got off her horse and saw Liu Bei who rescued Huang Menting back then, tears welled up in her eyes, she knelt down on one knee and said, "Mr. Xuande, I haven't seen you for many years, and he is fine recently."

"you are?"

Liu Bei looked at him suspiciously, it seemed familiar, but after all, it was only a one-time relationship, and the memory was not very deep.

Shen Tao said: "I am Ah Chen's elder brother Shen Tao. Back then, Cao Ren mistook my parents and younger brother for Ah Chen's family and killed them. If it was not for the help of Mr. Xuande, the thousands of people in Huangmenting would have died. died a long time ago.”

"I see."

Liu Bei sighed and said, "It was a coincidence that year. If the ship hadn't been damaged, it wouldn't have saved Mr. Xiao and your people. No kind person would have watched this matter."

Shen Tao wiped away her tears and said: "Benevolence and righteousness, we and the people of the clan will keep in mind, Ah Chen is now waiting for Gong in Dingying, please come with me."

"go!"

With a wave of Liu Bei's hand, the army marched mightily to the north.

At this time, Shen Chen's army was less than ten miles away from Dingying. He asked Gan Ning to lead the soldiers to continue to set off, while he and Deng Zhao's trusted knights flew southward like flying.

When he arrived at a pavilion about a mile away in the east of Dingying City, he could already see the densely packed army from the south coming north.

Shen Chen was riding on horseback, the sun was just rising, when looking at him from south to north, he could only vaguely see a silhouette.

A few knights stood on a high slope in front of the pavilion, surrounded by villages and fields, and there were still many people outside the city, because they all heard that they were soldiers and horses of Liu Shijun.

Liu Bei has been the shepherd of Yuzhou for several years, and his reputation for benevolence and righteousness has always been there. So when he came to recruit soldiers, he quickly recruited many troops, and many celebrities came to join him, so the people did not flee.

At this moment, Shen Chen was watching from a distance. At the end of the road, the familiar generous figure was getting closer and closer, slowly approaching in front of him.

"Sir."

The man smiled and said softly in a gentle and mellow voice: "You have grown taller, and you have grown up too!"

(End of this chapter)