Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 140 Stabilizing the Army and Attacking Yingyin

In early autumn, the climate in Henan is still hot.

It was the middle of the Eastern Jin Dynasty when Huanwen made the Northern Expedition, and the Little Ice Age at the end of the Han Dynasty was almost over by the end of the Western Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, the Rushui and Yingshui in Henan area were very abundant at that time, and the Huaihe River Expedition could be used.

But at this time, it is at the peak of the Little Glacier, and natural disasters continue.In the past two years, the Huainan area suffered severe drought, which led to the collapse of Yuan Shu, and the Runan area was not much worse.

There is a large amount of farmland inhabiting along the banks of Rushui and Yingshui. At that time, most people lived near the river. Residents needed a lot of river water for drinking and irrigation, which caused the flow rate of Rushui and Yingshui to drop drastically.

However, the wilderness near the rivers such as Yingchuan in Feirunan, such as the large area between the two rivers, is almost a wilderness. Even if there are countless lands that can be cultivated, no one will cultivate them.

Therefore, after Shen Chen led his men and horses to part with Liu Bei, he walked along the tens of square kilometers of land between Rushui and Yingshui, heading north.

There are almost no people along the way for hundreds of miles. The water flow of several rivers in Yingchuan, even the main vein, has been greatly reduced, let alone the tributaries of the canals.

The most important thing is that since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, decades of wars have almost destroyed the entire land of Henan. Coupled with drought and famine, the people cannibalized each other.The prosperous land with dense population and well-connected roads in the past has long since disappeared.

The once continuous rice fields and neat roads have been replaced by overgrown miscellaneous forests and crazy-growing weeds.Most of the villages were turned into ruins, and the howling of wild dogs, wolves and tigers filled the wilderness.

Occasionally in the wilderness, a lonely figure can be seen occasionally, and when the army is seen from a distance, it hides in the mountains like a frightened rabbit and disappears.

Most of the time, they can only see abandoned villages around the overgrown post road, dry canals, bones everywhere, uncultivated farmland that has become wasteland, and lonely mounds in the wilderness .

The whole world seems to have become a barren place.

However, this phenomenon will improve as it gets closer to Xudu.

Because Shen Chen knew that Cao Cao farmed on a large scale around Xudu, and there were tens of thousands of farm households alone, so the closer they were, the easier it was to be exposed.

On the tenth day of the seventh month, the army passed Xiangcheng and went north to Yingyang.The surrounding area is already Cao Cao's Tuntian area, less than [-] kilometers away from Xudu, almost past Yingyin, and it is just under the city of Xudu.

For this reason, Shen Chen camped in the open, marched in the field during the day, and slept in a leeward place at night, often with tigers and wolves, and with mounds as companions.

At that time, the land of China was far from being dominated by humans. Humans lived along the rivers, and in the wider wilderness, tigers, wolves, and wild boars were everywhere. From midnight to midnight, you could even vaguely see the green eyes in the forest.

So marching like this not only tests the endurance of the soldiers, but also their willpower.

Huang Menting's original [-] soldiers were still able to persist in such high-intensity walking, but Gan Ning's [-] moves were a little less interesting, far behind Shen Chen's speed.

On the afternoon of July [-]th, the army passed Yingyang and arrived at Yingyin more than ten miles away.

In later generations, this area is the Yanluo Expressway area to the west of Xuchang City. This is a wilderness. Their location is covered by a dense forest. The road ahead is covered with weeds, and they need to keep exploring to find their way.

Because it was close to Yingyin, Shen Chen personally went one mile to check the situation. At the same time, the soldiers also walked all morning, just to take a rest.

After the army stopped, the soldiers of Huangmenting silently took out their dry rations and water one by one, each in small groups, looking for a suitable resting point.

The Gan Ning army was a little more scattered, and each of them seemed to be relieved, sighing and finding a piece of grass to lie down.

In fact, after arriving in Ye County, everyone's food and grass are the same.

When raiding, I brought 20 days of dry food and two days of water, some wheat cakes with pickles and dried meat. Although it was not much, the food was much better than before, at least some meat.

It's just that the Gan Ning army has not been rectified, and still has some backward habits of the old warlords.

Those middle- and lower-level officers beat and scolded the bottom-level soldiers and exploited their dried meat, which made the internal situation of the Ganning Army not very good.

Even Gan Ning himself saw that all his soldiers were sluggish. After walking for a day, they just found a place to lie down. They were not as well-trained as Shen Chenjun, which made him feel very ashamed, so he beat the soldiers.

Shen Chen is standing on a hillside and looking into the distance at this moment. This is a wilderness, and a city can be faintly seen on the horizon in the distance.

There are a lot of fields outside the city, and the villages are in a line. It is obvious that this is the place where Cao Cao farms, and there may be enemies ahead, so he turned his horse's head and returned to the station. He was about to call a few clever scouts to go on foot to have a look. , unexpectedly heard a wailing sound from behind.

"what happened?"

After he sent a few scouts forward to explore, he walked over to have a look, and saw that in the wasteland covered with weeds on both sides of the post road at the rear, the soldiers of his own Huangmen Pavilion found their seats and sat down in an orderly manner. Resting, the Gan Ning army is in disarray, and it is now in chaos.

Shen Chen saw that Gan Ning was beating a soldier with a horsewhip, because this soldier fell to the rear of the team during the march, four or five miles away from Shen Chen's army, which made him feel uncomfortable.

The soldier was thin and weak, probably only eighteen or nineteen years old, his face was covered with blood, and he begged bitterly.

None of the soldiers around seemed to notice. Gan Ning had a bad temper and was very murderous, and no one could persuade him if he was angered, so even if some people thought the soldiers were pitiful, they did not dare to persuade him.

"stop!"

Shen Chen immediately stepped forward to stop him.

Gan Ning had already taken off the outer iron armor at this time, and was wearing a short linen jacket, his body was knotted and his muscles were bulging, and his temper was rising, no one could hold him back.

However, Shen Chen tightly clasped the numbness on his shoulder, and exerted a little force. Gan Ning turned his head and glared. He was about to explode, but when he saw that it was Shen Chen, he lowered the whip and said to him angrily: "Ah Chen , this guy is lazy and slack, what is the military discipline if I don't smoke him?"

Shen Chen saw that the soldier's shoes were torn, exposing bloody toes, so he knelt down, took off the sackcloth from his body, helped the soldier wipe the blood, and then took off his cloth shoes. The smell hits.

It turned out that his feet were swollen and inflamed due to the long-distance running in the past few days. If he can't take a good rest in this situation, it is very likely that even his feet will die.

At that moment, Shen Chen said solemnly: "Look, Uncle Xingba, it's not that the soldiers are lazy and slack, but that he has a foot disease. The soldiers have followed you to fight with their lives, but you don't care about them. If you disagree with them, you come up and beat them. If you don't ask why, wouldn't it chill the hearts of the soldiers?"

Seeing this, Gan Ning was a little embarrassed, so he said, "I don't know about it."

Shen Chen stood up and looked around. Including Shen Mi, many officers and soldiers of the Gan Ning Army were looking at him, so he said: "Uncle Xingba led the army by himself before, so I didn't want to interfere too much. Now I am Zhonglang General, I want to ask Uncle Xingba, can I lead your team?"

At first, Gan Ning and Shen Chen did not belong to each other. Gan Ning was a military commander under Liu Biao. At that time, he made a bet with Shen Chen. Morning arrangement.

But at least nominally, the two of them had no direct subordinate relationship, and Shen Chen's words could only be suggestions, not orders.Now that we are about to arrive in Xudu and usher in a big battle, how can the morale of the army be unstable because of some things?

Therefore, he had to find a reason to completely control Gan Ning's team.

Gan Ning's face was a bit uneasy, although he had always listened to Shen Chen's words, but now Shen Chen seemed to be asking for military power directly, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.

But no matter from which angle he looked at it, he couldn't refute it.Like before they bet, Shen Chen won.And now Shen Chen was appointed by Liu Biao as General Zhonglang, and Gan Ning was also his captain, obeying Shen Chen's orders was no problem in terms of law and reason.

So he had no choice but to say, "It's natural."

Shen Chen nodded, and then said loudly: "Since I am a general, then follow my orders. Those with foot problems are now reported to me. I will make arrangements for how many people there are."

He did not immediately issue any military orders not to beat and scold soldiers, but to gather those with foot problems first.

The reason for this is that the officer class of Huangmenting soldiers is based on his relatives. These officers were originally composed of the guards who went south from Xuzhou back then, and there are many relatives of the Deng and Shen families.

Shen Chen strictly ordered them not to beat and scold soldiers, to observe the three major precautions and the eight major disciplines, and if they violated them, they would be removed from the ranks of soldiers from the clan.

You must know that Huangmenting's clan soldiers have a very high status, and Shen Chen gave them a very high honor.Therefore, for these people, once they are eliminated, it is more uncomfortable than killing them.

In addition, newly recruited soldiers who perform well have great opportunities for promotion, which will squeeze their living space, so that the clan soldiers dare not make any mistakes, so there is no possibility of insulting, bullying, beating, scolding, or exploiting the bottom soldiers. The bad habits of warlords in the old days.

The Ganning Army is different. The military tradition of strict hierarchy has continued since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. Everyone is like this. The high-level generals do not treat the low-level soldiers as human beings, and gradually it has become a habit.

Therefore, it is almost impossible to change things in a short period of time. Just like a servant of the family, Shen Chen can only improve temporarily, but cannot change immediately.

Reforms can only be carried out when he seizes power in the future, or when he has a lot of ability. Now he can only boil a frog in warm water, first do himself a good job, and then improve their army by seizing the military power of people like Gan Ning structure.

Soon people with foot problems reported to him, including more than 40 soldiers from Huangmenting and more than 200 soldiers from the Ganning Army. Shen Chen then dispatched more than 500 soldiers, plus these soldiers , a total of [-] people returned to Yingyang, occupied the city, and sought medical treatment.

The rest stayed and continued to prepare to attack Xudu.

After resting for about two quarters of an hour, a few figures suddenly emerged from the sparse forest ahead, and the scouts sent out earlier came back and reported to Shen Chen: "General, Yingyin City is seven or eight miles ahead. There are a lot of farmland around the city.”

"Is there any guard?"

"Yes, there are many Cao troops inside and outside the city."

"I see, it seems to be Cao Cao's field soldiers."

Shen Chen pondered.

In history, Cao Cao farmed fields near Xudu, and used the convenience of the upper reaches of Yingshui and Lishui to irrigate the soil, including surrounding Yingyin, Yanling and other places, all of which were his farms.

Shen Chen didn't know about these things before, but later he sent people to lurk in Xu Du and found out a lot of information.

When he first arrived in Xudu, he attacked from the southwest of Xudu, but he only reached the Linying area, and did not go around Xudu.

Now it is only twenty kilometers away from Xudu, so close at hand, those soldiers in the field are exposed to his soldiers.

And the leader of these garrison soldiers is called Ren Jun, the Diannong Zhonglang General who was appointed for Cao Cao. The reason why he was not in Xudu last time was to go north to transport food for Cao Cao.

In history, Cao Cao was very short of food, but it was not because of his lack of food and grass stocks, but because his rear food road was beaten to pieces by Yuan Shao.

It was Ren Jun who personally led the field soldiers to escort the grain road and resisted Yuan Shao's grain-robbing cavalry, which barely helped Cao Cao tide over the difficulties.

Now it's July. After harvesting the new crops in May, they have been sent to Guandu one after another. After June, the planting of corn will start again.

So Ren Jun returned to Xudu and urged all the farm households to start production.

Now around Yingyin, Xudu, and Yanling, there are tens of thousands of farm households, and Ren Jun has thousands of farm soldiers. Their combat effectiveness may not be as elite as Cao's army, but they should not be underestimated.

Gan Ning's hands were itchy, he stepped forward and asked, "Ah Chen, just kill him."

Shen Chen shook his head and said: "No, if they rush over there, they will definitely withdraw into the city. We don't have the ability to attack the city. If we cross Yingyang and go straight to Xudu, we will be attacked from both sides."

"How is that good?"

Gan Ning asked.

Shen Chen thought for a moment, and said: "Cao Cao is short of food in Guandu, if we destroy his cornfields, the enemy will come out of the city to fight, and we can defeat them."

Gan Ning opened his eyes wide, then gave a thumbs up and said, "Good idea."

The two agreed that Gan Ning would lead 500 people to attack Yingyin first. If it would be best if the Diannong army outside the city fought with them, Shen Chen would lead the troops to fight out.

The reason for this decision is that Ren Jun's Diannong army is currently in a scattered state, spreading all over the vicinity of Yingyin, Xudu, and Yanling.

If they went directly to Xudu without them killing them, then when Xudu's guards defended them, they would be flanked back and forth.So they had to take Yingyin down and have a way out.

At this time, the Diannong army around Yingyin estimated that there were only one or two hundred people in the west of the city, and counting the troops in the city and the east of the city, that is, the troops on the east bank of Yingshui, the total number would not exceed a thousand.

Gan Ning only led 500 people there, and destroyed the farmland, which could easily provoke the defenders in the city to go out for a decisive battle. At that time, Shen Chen would fight again, and the world would be settled in one battle.

Soon after the plan was perfected, Gan Ning led his troops and swaggered towards Yingyin to kill.

The planting method in the Han Dynasty was summer millet and winter wheat. The winter wheat was harvested in May of the next year, and then millet seedlings, that is, millet, were planted in June.Its growth cycle is three months, and it can be harvested in September, and then winter wheat can be planted.

So now at the beginning of July, it is not long after the summer millet is planted, and the farmers need to take care of the fields every day, irrigate, weed, and weeding, and they can't stop for a moment.

When 500 members of the Gan Ning Army appeared in the west of Yingyin City, there were a large number of farm households still working in the fields, and then they saw a mighty army marching towards Yingyin on the post road to the south. direction.

This is already the hinterland of Yingchuan, around Xudu.

Many people thought at first that something was wrong with Cao Jun stationed in Xiangcheng in the southwest, but what made them feel a little strange was that there seemed to be something wrong with the military uniform.

Cao Jun's military uniform is uniform black, but the military uniform of this army is red..

A small captain of the Diannong Army who was in charge of supervising the villagers in the fields became more and more surprised, and then thought about it in his mind, would Cao Jun's troops wear red uniforms?

red?

In the next second, his face turned pale, and then he took out the bone whistle and blew it suddenly.

"call out!"

The sharp whistle pierced the sky.

(End of this chapter)