Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 155
By September, Yuan Jun's camp had been completely built, and the camp, which was several times stronger than Cao Ying, shocked Cao Jun greatly.

In the early morning of this day, the gates of most of Yuan Jun's camps were opened, densely packed, and countless Yuan Jun soldiers came out of each camp, and under the command of generals at all levels, they began to gather on the north bank of Guandu River.

The camp structures of both sides were built on the Guandu River, three or four miles apart, and there was a huge open space in front of Yuan Jun's camp. Tens of thousands of Yuan Jun lined up, crowded and boundless.

Yuan Shao personally led the troops to march, and their diagonally opposite bank was Cao Jun's camp, so naturally they could not forcefully cross the river to attack Cao Jun's camp. Under Yuan Shao's command, the army went west along the Guandu River, crossed the river upstream, and launched an attack from the northwest of Cao Jun.

Cao Cao also led his troops out of the camp to defend. He originally wanted to use some fortifications built outside the camp to the north to fight back. However, the strength gap between the two sides was too large. Soon after the battle, Cao's army was defeated and had to retreat to the camp.

In the camp, Cao Jun fought back Yuan Jun with bows and arrows, Yuan Shao ordered people to build wall towers outside the camp, piled up earth hills, and shot arrows at Cao camp from a high place.Arrows fell like rain, covering the sky and the sun, almost submerging the entire northeast camp of Cao Ying. The soldiers in Cao Ying had to walk with shields covered, and the morale of the army was very low.

This situation lasted for several days, and it was not until Cao Cao used a catapult to bombard Yuan Jun's wall towers and earth mountains that the situation was restored.Yuan Shao secretly dug a tunnel leading to Cao Ying, and Cao Jun dug a long trench in the camp to defend. The two sides fought back and forth for seven or eight days.

"Bang bang bang!"

In Cao’s camp, which is three or four miles long, earth hills were built. There were catapults on the earth hills, which continuously projected huge boulders. upstairs.

All of a sudden, sawdust flew across the sky, screaming again and again.Many archers couldn't even groan, they were smashed into pieces by the stones, torn apart, and even more of them jumped off the wall of the earth mountain when they saw that the situation was not good.

However, the height of this kind of building is often several feet or even more than ten feet high. Jumping from it will break your leg at least, or kill you at worst. Therefore, Yuan Jun suffered heavy casualties.

"Ming Jin!"

The 50-year-old Yuan Shao frowned, looked at Cao Ying with deep eyes, and there was a trace of solemnity and worry in his eyes.

When he was in Yangwu, Ju Shou once said that the northern army had many soldiers, but they were not as brave and good at fighting as the southern army;The southern army is good for quick battles, and the northern army is good for slowing down.Therefore, our army should fight a protracted war and delay the time.

At that time, Yuan Shao believed that he had many troops and powerful forces, and he could completely wipe out Cao Cao all the way, and he should not be timid, so he didn't follow Ju Shou's advice, and his army marched southward.

After several days of fierce attack, Cao Jun's tenacity was beyond imagination. He sent a large number of soldiers and horses to besiege Cao Ying from three sides, and even one of Cao Jun's camps was not broken.

Obviously, Yuan Shao's vain attempt to annihilate Cao Cao in a short period of time was shattered, and it would be nothing but a waste of troops if he continued to fight.

Therefore, he had no choice but to withdraw the troops at Mingjin, the army withdrew to the camp, and then thought of other ways.

As for the soldiers returning to Yangwu, that is absolutely impossible.

Just like Yuan Shao didn't listen to Tian Feng's words and was predicted by Tian Feng, but he didn't reuse Tian Feng when he returned, but killed him instead.

Now the bold words have been spoken out, saying that Cao Mengde is just a mantis as a chariot, overestimated his strength, but now he has not been able to conquer, riding a tiger is hard to get off, he Yuan Benchu ​​can't afford to lose this person.

Soon Yuan Jun's soldiers retreated like a tide. After they retreated, Cao Cao, who was watching Yuan Jun's situation on the distant earth mountain, also breathed a sigh of relief, and said in a deep voice: "Send the order to gather the enemy's arrow clusters and dig the ravine deeper. .”

"Report!"

When Cao Cao got off the earth mountain, the scouts came to report: "We found that Yuan Jun had a large number of grain and grass vehicles sent to Yuan Ying at Yanjin Ferry!"

Cao Cao pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly: "Okay, let's explore again."

Then he turned and left.

That night, Yuan Shao's grain truck was attacked by Cao Cao, but fortunately he had countless vehicles, and Yuan Jun's grain trucks crossing the river from Yanjin, Liyang, Juanxian and other ferries were countless, only a small part was lost, not How much damage will it do.

On the second day, Yuan Shao also heard the news that the grain truck had been attacked. In the general's camp, Yuan Shao looked at the official document and said to his subordinates: "The trial and dispatch has mobilized a new wave of grain and grass. When it was transported to the front line, it was sent Cao Jun destroyed it, and there is still a large amount of food and grass in the future, the food road must not be cut off, Chun Yuqiong."

"The end is here."

Chunyu Qiong stood up and cupped his hands and said.

Yuan Shao said: "I order you to lead an army of [-] to escort the grain trucks to the north, and first store the grain and grass in Wuchao."

"only!"

Chunyu Qiong took orders and left.

Jushou quickly persuaded: "Minggong, you can send Jiang Qi to lead a team outside Chunyuqiong to prevent Cao Cao from attacking."

"No need."

Chunyuqiong hadn't gone far, when he heard this, he said hastily: "The general will be able to protect the food and grass well."

"okay."

Yuan Shao nodded: "Go."

"Follow the order."

Chunyu Qiong left happily.

At this time Xu You stood up again and said: "At the beginning, Cao Cao's troops were few, and he concentrated all his strength to resist our army. Xu was guarded by the rest, and his defenses were empty. If he sent an army to advance lightly and attack overnight, he could capture them. Xudu. After occupying Xudu, welcome the emperor to attack Cao Cao, and Cao Cao will surely be captured. If he does not break up immediately, it will also make him unable to take care of both head and tail, and he will be exhausted, and he will definitely be defeated."

"Hahahahaha."

Yuan Shao laughed conceitedly and said, "Ziyuan, have you forgotten that Cao Cao is just an eunuch, a fool. Back then, he followed me like a servant boy, but he was worthy of competing with me in the north? Now Xu There are countless letters sent to me. I know that his army has no more food and grass. Then I will send someone to cut off his food supply. In less than a month, I will be able to capture Cao Cao and humiliate him in front of him. Why bother? How about dividing up the troops to attack Xudu?"

Xu You thought it was the same, then smiled and said: "What I said at the beginning is very true. Cao Cao was friends with us when we were young. If he captured him alive, it must be very interesting when we meet again."

"It's natural."

Yuan Shao nodded proudly and said, "Pass down the order to send cavalry south to raid Cao Cao's food road."

"only."

All the soldiers agreed with a loud bang.

The entire Guandu seemed to be surrounded by Yuan Jun at this time.

Yuan Shao's earth hills and camps were almost built to the gate of Cao Jun's camp, and the banners covering the sky seemed to have no end in sight.

There are [-] elites under his command, and there are more than [-] or [-] generals above the rank of lieutenant. Among them, Gao Lan, Zhang He, Chun Yuqiong and others are the main generals.

At the same time, a large number of cavalry and infantry went south to invade Weishi, Yuanling and other cities, and the farthest even reached the Yanling area, continuously plundering Cao Cao's grain roads and harassing the rear cities.

In addition, in Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and Yanzhou, there were small groups of Yuan Jun's troops to attack and harass, and the whole of Henan was raging with war.

Xu Du each had three princes and nine nobles, aristocratic families, and the letters sent to Yuan Shao's camp were as many as snowflakes, piling up like a mountain.

If it weren't for the Yingchuan family headed by the Xun family to gather private soldiers and work hard to maintain the order in Xudu, I am afraid that the family members in other places would have rebelled in the rear and the backyard was on fire.

The Battle of Guandu was not only a battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, but also a dispute between the Yingchuan family and the foreign family.

The Xun family, the Guo family, the Chen family, the Zhong family, the Yu family, the Han family, and the Yingchuan tyrants, large and small, all supported Cao Cao, so Cao Cao moved the capital to Xudu, which brought great political pressure to the Yingchuan family. Benefit.

However, the foreign aristocratic family naturally does not allow the Yingchuan family to dominate. For them, there is no difference between Cao Cao's power and Yuan Shao's power, and there are many old officials of the Yuan family who climbed to the high branches of the Yuan family, which is of greater benefit to the family , so they are more willing to stand by Yuan Shao.

It's just that the foreign families don't have enough roots in Yingchuan, and their property, fields, and population are all in other places, which is not as good as the local advantages of the Yingchuan family, so most of the rebellions like this were suppressed without causing too much trouble.

But even so, it dealt a great blow to Cao Cao's rule, and the foundation was turbulent, like a solitary boat in the sea, stormy and might capsize at any time.

By mid-September, the situation became even more unfavorable for Cao Cao.It is the season of late autumn, the autumn wind kills everything, and everything withers.

Yuan's prestige is extremely high, and the mighty army entered the river like a huge net, and he seemed to have wiped out the Henan area. From Yuan Shao's army entering Guandu in July to September, the two sides had a stalemate for more than two months and more than [-] days, causing the people to wither. People's livelihood is difficult, and countless people have migrated from Henan to Hebei.

There are endless wars and wars.A large number of people from Yingchuan, Chenliu, Chenguo, Liangguo, Runan and other places migrated to Nanyang and even Jiangdong because Yuan Jun and Cao Jun fought in these places, causing the population of Henan to drop sharply again.

These days, in Wuyang, Kunyang and other places, Liu Bei and Shen Chen accepted tens of thousands of people, and groups of people from the north took care of the old and the young and fled to the south.

They never refused the people who came from Henan. In just one month, a large number of people migrated to the south and were resettled in Wancheng, Xi'e, Bowang, Zhixian, Duyang and other places. One after another, I don't know how many refugees are migrating.

The migration of people in ancient times was actually an extremely terrifying thing. Organized and disciplined like Huangmenting collected the food of the entire clan and redistributed it, after all, only a small number of people.

When most people fled, they didn’t have time to bring much food. They dragged their families with them, and they didn’t have much property. Many people starved to death on the way. Even aristocratic families would suffer losses. It is destroying the lives of the people all the time, making people's lives fall like sand and dust.

For this reason, Shen Chen asked Huang Menting at the rear to transport a few more batches of the grain accumulated in the past few years. In fact, his grain and grass have always been enough. Before he sent troops, he had 600 million shi in stock, and it has been almost a year since he dispatched his troops. Time, and only consumed less than 50 stones.

Most of them are still short of meat, so they have to sell some old grains and exchange them from Xiangyang for a large amount of dried pork, beef, and chicken and send them to the front line to supplement nutrition for soldiers.

Otherwise, based on his calculation of sending 30 troops, at most he would consume less than 20 shi, grain and grass in one year, which would be more than enough for another [-] years of fighting.

Now suddenly there are tens of thousands of refugees to help, and although there is a surplus of military rations in the city, they cannot always be replenished with military rations, so Shen Chen asked the rear to urgently transport another 50 shi to Duyang to resettle the people and let the people live in Nanyang. Re-establish villages in the north, take root and increase population.

It's just that there are many refugees, and there are always various things.Most of the people were still very simple and kind, but when they lined up, it was unavoidable to be messy. It happened that Zhang Fei was in charge that day.

On September 21, outside Kunyang City, since last month, Liu Bei and Shen Chen ordered the soldiers to open porridge shops to help the people, and also asked the officials in Bowang, Duyang and other places in the rear to recruit civilian husbands to build porridge shops for the fleeing people. home.

Zhang Fei and Gan Ning were congenial, both of them were indifferent and didn't care about the life and death of the refugees. They either hunted in the mountains all day, or led the cavalry northward for reconnaissance in the name of guarding against Cao's army.

On weekdays, Liu Bei took Shen Chen, Guan Yu, Mi Zhu, Jian Yong, Sun Gan and others to work, but today everyone was busy, because not only Kunyang, Wuyang and Ye County were dealing with refugees, and the work of resettling refugees in the rear had to continue. Constantly, so Kunyang is short of manpower, so let Zhang Fei take care of it for a day.

Unexpectedly, he has never been in charge of things. When others are busy, the order is in good order, but when he is around, he knows to drink on the sidelines. The soldiers in the city did not come out to maintain order. They need to guard against Cao Jun who may come.

Therefore, the people responsible for distributing food were temporarily recruited from the refugees, and some were small officials such as military logistics documents, which made the scene chaotic, and the hungry people surrounded the porridge stalls to rob them.

"Damn, these untouchables."

Zhang Fei was furious when he heard that, he rushed over with dozens of guards, raised his whip and beat him indiscriminately.

But the hungry people are in a mess. Some people have been hungry for several days, and the queue is long and they don’t know when they will get their wheels. This is why they are hungry and crazy to snatch them. Now they are beaten again, regardless of the pain. Food must be licked clean.

At this time, Liu Bei and Shen Chen Guan Yu came back from the situation where the refugees in Wuyang had been resettled. Seeing this situation, Liu Bei was furious: "Yide, stop!"

Seeing Liu Bei coming back, the surrounding soldiers hurried up to hold Zhang Fei back, but Zhang Fei was still cursing.

When the surrounding people saw that Liu Bei was still leading a group of troops, their faces suddenly showed fear, and none of them dared to line up anymore. They dragged their families and stood far away. The army has already hurt them enough in troubled times. Deep, so that they instinctively have fear.

"Yide, what are you doing?"

Liu Bei rushed over, snatched Zhang Fei's whip, pushed him once and glared at him, saying, "We, the teachers of benevolence and righteousness, came here to save the people of Li, and we are not cruel people, but you beat the people because you want to trap them." Am I unrighteous?"

Zhang Fei argued: "Brother, why do I want to trap my brother into injustice? But these unscrupulous people, let them line up to get it, but loot them one by one, no different from the mob? If they don't beat them, I'm afraid they are grabbing porridge now. The food in Huicheng will be emptied by them."

Looting?

Liu Bei frowned.

Helping the people is one thing.

But if the common people loot, that is the mob.

Don't say that Liu Bei is a man of benevolence and righteousness, he is not a saint.

Even the Holy Mother would not want all her food to be robbed.

So he also changed his color, looked at the people who were beaten, and asked sternly: "Everyone, I gave you food for the sake of morality, and I also resettled fields for you in Nanyang, so that you can have a home." Plowing the land, why looting grain?"

There was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy with a yellow and emaciated face who was beaten and bleeding, knelt down and kowtowed, crying: "General, we also know that the general is benevolent and righteous, but we have been starving for several days, and we are almost starving to death. We have no choice."

"Yide?"

Liu Bei was furious, turned to look at Zhang Fei and said, "Didn't I ask you to give food to those most in need first? Why can't they get it first?"

"Forehead"

Zhang Fei was obsequious, looking left and right.

As soon as Liu Bei saw him like this, he knew that he had made a mistake again, and was so angry that he raised his horsewhip to whip, but Zhang Fei looked away and lowered his head, not daring to dodge.

Seeing this situation, Liu Bei couldn't bear it anymore, so he threw away the whip. His mood was already very bad, and he hated iron and said: "Yide, you have missed me again!"

"Brother me"

Zhang Fei showed a look of shame.

He can ignore the people and soldiers, but he can't ignore his brotherhood with Liu Bei and Guan Yu.

At this time, Shen Chen had arranged for Sun Qian and others to reorganize the queue of the victims, let the hungry people eat first, and then asked people to bandage the wounds of the hungry people beaten by Zhang Fei and serve them porridge.

After things were in order, he came over and said seriously: "General Zhang, I know that you don't love the people or your subordinates. But when you were in Xuzhou, you have already missed Xuande's important affairs because of these. Do you want to do it again today?" Repeat?"

"I"

Zhang Fei lowered his head and was so reprimanded that he dared not make a sound.

Shen Chen said again: "Wanmin and the soldiers are willing to come to seek refuge because they trust Duke Xuande, but you treat him violently. Don't you embarrass Duke Xuande? At that time, when everyone will be divorced from virtue, who will come to serve Duke Xuande again? What about helping the Han family together?"

Zhang Fei's face was red and he was speechless.

Shen Chen continued: "Your matter, if it is small, it is cruel, if it is big, it will hinder Xuande's benevolence and righteousness, and extend righteousness to the world. If things go on like this, Xuande's reputation will save the Han Dynasty. Your great achievements will all be defeated by you!"

This is moral kidnapping.

Zhang Fei had a violent personality, and he didn't use his brain when he was in trouble in his early years. In his later years, he was killed by his subordinates because of this incident.Wake him up early now, kidnap him with the loyalty of Liu Bei and his brothers, and save his life in the future.

"Achen."

Seeing that Shen Chen trained Zhang Fei like his grandson, Gan Ning said, "The matter is not that serious. We are helping the disaster victims, but there are countless disaster victims in the world. How much can Xuande Gong save?" What? Now that the disaster victims loot, Yide has no choice but to do it, and no one will feel that Xuande is not benevolent because of this."

"No!"

Shen Chen raised his voice countless times, looked around, walked up to the hungry people who had been wounded by Zhang Fei and had just bandaged them and were devouring them, pointed at them and said, "They will think that Mr. Xuande is not benevolent. Obviously, Xuande and I The public promised to give them food, but made them stand in a long line and almost starved to death, and were beaten for no reason, is this a righteous thing?"

The few hungry people were startled, and quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "We all know the name of Uncle Liu's benevolence and righteousness, we must not have such a heart."

"I know you don't have the heart."

Shen Chen said: "But is this the way to help the world? Since we want to help the world, we must treat everyone with generosity, how can we beat them with a whip? If this matter spreads, what will the world think of the emperor?"

While speaking, his voice became louder and louder, and the surrounding people, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and others all looked at him.

"People all over the world are suffering because of the vassal lords from all over the world. If we don't love it, who else will love it? If we beat the hungry people today, the world will think that Xuande is not benevolent. If General Zhang makes some mistakes tomorrow, no one will Following the emperor's uncle's great achievements, the great man's country collapsed."

Shen Chen delivered a passionate speech, the voice spread, and countless people slowly gathered together.

He simply stood next to a carriage board used to store corn, looked down at the crowd and said loudly: "I want everyone to know that Liu Huangshu is not only for the great Han Jiangshan, he cares more about the great Han people. Although I am not talented , I would like to pour food and grass to save it. But if you want to win the hearts of the people, how can you not treat the people with sincerity? What happened today was my negligence, and I apologize to everyone!"

Say it.

He bent down and bowed to Wanmin.

Liu Bei was also very moved, jumped on the carriage, and said to everyone: "I did not discipline my good brother, and I also apologize to everyone!"

It doesn't matter if Shen Chen bowed and saluted, but Liu Bei bowed and saluted, that scared countless people.

The people around immediately fell to their knees and shouted: "Please don't blame yourself, Uncle Huang. We were the ones who were rude and ran into the porridge shop to loot it. I will never do this in the future."

"Everyone please get up quickly."

Liu Bei hurriedly got out of the carriage to help many people.

Zhang Fei blamed himself for embarrassment, while Guan Yu urged him to apologize. He sincerely apologized to the hungry people he had injured.

For a while, many people praised Liu Bei and Shen Chen for their benevolence.

We must know that although Shen Chen was very famous in Jingzhou, his fame at that time was spread from north to south, and rarely spread from south to north.

Except for a few cases like Gan Ning, most of them, like Zhang Liaozhi, Liu Bei's incomparable benevolence and righteousness, and Guan Zhang's bravery against ten thousand enemies, are all their fame in the north, not in the south.

The reason why Liu Bei went to Nanyang to receive Liu Biao's courtesy and the support of all the people is in itself the foundation of his reputation in Pingyuan, Xuzhou, Yuzhou and other places.

Therefore, Shen Chen's reputation in Jingzhou could not spread to the north at all.

Even if he fought Xudu twice, it was only in Yingchuan and Runan that the folks knew that there was such a powerful general in Nanyang who fought outside Xudu.

However, the northerners know little about his talents, poetry, and military achievements.

Even north of the Yellow River, few people know his name.

But after today, the people who fled in the north praised him, and the reputation of being anxious and righteous naturally spread.

more importantly.

Shen Chen not only spread his fame, but also taught Zhang Fei a lesson so that he would not dare to beat soldiers and common people easily in the future. Coupled with the support of Liu Bei and Guan Yu, this also laid the foundation for him to lead Liu Bei's army in the future.

(End of this chapter)