Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 194 Battle of Kuang City (1)

In May of the tenth year of Jian'an, Shen Chen resigned to Liu Biao and resigned as General Zhonglang. However, he did not return to Longzhong Township, but went to Jiangxia at Liu Qi's invitation.

Liu Bei was sent to Jingnan by Liu Biao on the pretext that the barbarians in the south rebelled and needed him to suppress it.

Originally, I wanted Liu Bei to go to Chenxian County and Qujiang, Guiyang County, which is later Chenzhou, Hunan, and Shaoguan, Guangzhou.

It is remote and inaccessible, and Liu Pan's army is stationed in Liling and You County, and can guard him at any time.

However, Liu Bei used the excuse that there were too many prisoners in Yizhou, and he couldn't bear to kill them. Now that the soldiers and horses are bloated and the food and grass are insufficient, he stopped in Xiangnan County, which is the area around Xiangtan City, Hunan Province in later generations.

Then, at Xu Shu's suggestion, he sent someone north to look for Liu Biao to ask for food and supplies.

The reason is also very simple.

As the saying goes, the emperor is not short of hungry soldiers, not to mention that Liu Bei is working for Liu Biao, blocking Cao Cao in the north, fighting Liu Zhang in the south, and now he is going south to help Liu Biao put down the rebellion in the south.

Moreover, Liu Biao now has more than tens of millions of grains in storage, the treasury is full, and the 500 million people actually controlled by Jingzhou provide him with taxes continuously, so there is no shortage of money and food.

However, Liu Biao rejected Liu Bei's request to provide more supplies.

As a result, Liu Bei repeatedly asked him to beg for it, which made him a little annoyed.Second, he was afraid that Liu Bei would turn against him after he became emperor, so he would be an enemy.

So I found an excuse and sent it away.

So Liu Bei simply stationed in southern Shonan on the grounds of lack of supplies, procrastinating but not moving.

And in the process of wrangling in the south, the war in the north has entered a fever pitch.

When the first ray of sunlight shone on the earth in the early morning of May 26, Yuan Jun began to launch a general offensive.

When Cao Ying's camp was flooded with the Seventh Army, the entire camp was washed away and everyone was forced to move to the high ground, but a thick layer of water was accumulated in the camp.

Although the terrain in the southeast is lower, Xiahou Dun followed the advice of Guo Jia, Dong Zhao, Mao Jie and others, and dug and built a large number of diversion canals, trying to divert water to Jishui in the southeast.

But they obviously underestimated the water flow of the Yellow River during the summer flood period. The mighty water flow was rushing towards Cao Ying, and it could not be released at all.

If you look down on the entire Cao Ying from a high altitude, you will see more than ten camps criss-crossing Cao Cao’s camp, and there is a vast ocean everywhere, and the water is as deep as knees. Soldiers can only choose to stand on earthy mountains and higher ground. .

The tents were flooded, and they couldn't sleep well. The morale of the soldiers in the camp was very poor.

While Yuan Shaojun dug and built canals from the northwest to divert water to Cao Ying in the southeast, they themselves launched an attack from the dry highlands in the northeast, trying to take this opportunity to formally annihilate Cao's army.

At the beginning of sunrise, the east was white, and the dawn was breaking. It was located in the camp of General Zhang Yun in the northeast corner of Cao Ying. Soldiers from Liangshi Youzhai came out of the barracks with wooden hoe.

They received the order, and the back camp where Zhang Xi was located also began to accumulate water, and they wanted to go there and expand the canal dug before.

Qu Junhou of Youzhai took two captains to patrol the camp to see how the internal construction of his camp was going.

Zhang Xi's current status as a general is not high, but he is a general.And it is facing Yuan Jun, so there are not many soldiers deployed. There are only three camps with a total of 500 soldiers. They are divided into three parts, left and right, and rear camp.

Now during the Yellow River flood season in summer, Yuan Jun dug the river. A few days ago, tens of thousands of Yuan Jun lined up outside the camp to prevent Xiahou Dun from going to harass their digging team. On the contrary, Zhang Yun was a little more relaxed here, because he was far away from Yuan Jun.

Ancient camps were not a simple matter. The camps were scattered and scattered. Even if there were only 500 people, there would be three camps, let alone 5 to [-] people. The camps stretched for seven or eight kilometers.

From west to east, from south to north, Cao Ying's camps were as dense and scattered as dotted with stars, and Zhang Yun's camp was only four kilometers away from the main village.

In fact, even if Yuan Shao dug Pushui and Jishui and flooded Cao Ying with a large amount of river water, only half of Cao's army was affected.The other half of the terrain is high in the northeast, and Cao's army deployed in the east like Zhang Yun's army did not suffer from floods.

In addition, Wating, where Yuan Jun is located, is more than ten kilometers away from the Kuangcheng area, so Zhang Yun's army is relatively comfortable at this time. Apart from routine work, he has nothing else to do on weekdays.

The morning whistle sounded, and the soldiers began to prepare for the day in an orderly manner.Some went to replace the soldiers who had kept watch last night, some began to patrol outside the village, and some continued to cut trees outside the camp according to the instructions.

There is very little water in the back camp, and the drainage of the canal is enough, and it will not affect the front camp.

Qu Junhou inspected the gate of the camp, and six soldiers stood upright with spears, all of them were expressionless and did not look sideways, like six stern door gods, blocking everything from the door.

The spacious training ground in the camp was cleaned up, no one could be seen and not a single sound could be heard.A tall flagpole was erected on the low military parade platform, and the black flag hung on it occasionally fluttered silently in the wind.

When the red sun came to the center of the sky, under the surprised eyes of Cao Jun who was patrolling around, the two soldiers roared all the way and rushed back to the barracks with each other.

The man's head and face were covered with blood, Cao Jun's clothes on his body were also dusty, loess, and dirty. One sleeve shoulder was torn off, revealing the crimson clothes inside, and his feet could barely stand on the ground. Being dragged by soldiers to run.

There was still a distance from the barracks, and a soldier saw Cao Jun on patrol from a distance, and shouted loudly: "Go and call the general! Our scout has been attacked, and there is an urgent matter! Hurry up!"

A sentry ran into the barracks.

A moment later, there was a rapid sound of copper bells in the barracks, and hundreds of fully armed Cao Jun soldiers emerged from the silent barracks, and they lined up on the training ground to gather for orders.

When Zhang Yun came to the right front camp, the Cao soldier who was carried over had already been placed in the tent, and the military doctor had just bandaged the wound.

In addition to the knife wound, the most serious one was the arrow wound. Fortunately, the shot missed and missed the vital point, otherwise he would definitely not be able to save his life.

"what happened?"

Zhang He asked immediately after he came in.

He knew the two people who came back carrying the wounded soldiers. They were the sentry soldiers he had placed on the outskirts, and they were also part of the personal guards he brought with him when he surrendered to Cao Cao.

"General."

The soldier replied: "We were on the outskirts as a sentry. This brother galloped up to him and fell off his horse with injuries all over his body. We brought him back."

Zhang Yun walked to the bed and lowered his head to test. The soldier on the bed lost a lot of blood, his face was pale, and he was seriously injured.

Someone fed him some water in a daze, and the military doctor stimulated the acupuncture points. After a while, he slowly came to his senses. He looked at the crowd in a daze. where?"

"I am General Zhang He, who are you?"

Zhang He asked.

The soldiers cheered up and hurriedly said: "I am a scout sent by the main battalion. Hurry up and inform General Xiahou that the Yuan army has assembled this morning and has rushed over."

"So fast?"

With a serious expression on his face, Zhang He walked out of the tent.

The left and right guards hurriedly followed, and someone looked around and whispered in Zhang Xi's ear, "General. Why not?"

"Go and inform General Xiahou!"

"General?"

"Didn't you hear?"

Zhang He glanced at him, and said coldly: "Go back to Yuan Shaona, do you want me to die?"

At the beginning, he was forced to rebel by Guo Tu, and he and Guo Tu were sworn enemies. I heard that Guo Tu was still reused by Yuan Shao. If he voted again, how could Yuan Shao treat him?What will Guo Tu do to him?

So Zhang Yun had no way to turn back, and could only follow Cao Cao one by one.

"only."

The guard had no choice but to answer.

After a while, the whining horn sounded.

More than a dozen Cao army camps in the surrounding area, including Zhu Ling, Wang Tu, Liu Zhu, Luzhao, Feng Kai, Xue Hong, and Zhang Xi, were shaken.

Xiahou Dun placed generals in the left and right battalions, Xu Huang and Cao Chun in the left battalion, Zhang Liao and Li Dian in the right battalion, and he was in charge of his own village.

At this moment, the right battalion suddenly blew the horn, and Cao Jun from all the camps of the right battalion began to gather outside the camp. Although many people didn't know what happened, it was natural for them to gather at the first time.

Over there, Zhang Liao and Li Dian also got the news of Yuan Shao's attack, and soon received an order from the main battalion to gather all the troops and prepare to start fighting.

Xiahou Dun, who was in the main battalion of the Chinese army, immediately ordered Xu Huang and Cao Chun from the left battalion to withdraw from the left battalion with all the generals and move closer to the right battalion.

Now Zuoying has been submerged into a lake and swamp, and the northwest direction of Zuoying is the direction where the enemy releases water. If they attack from here, Yuan Jun will have to fight in the water with his back on his back.

Guo Jia believes that Yuan Jun will definitely not fight them in the water, so he will definitely put the main attack direction on the right battalion. The left battalion only needs to arrange a small number of defenders.

However, in order to prevent Yuan Jun from temporarily blocking the river upstream, and then immediately attack Cao Jun's Zuoying after the water flow was drained by Caoying's diversion canal, they still deployed more than 1 horses in the main camp to support Zuoying at any time.

At the same time, when Cao Jun was tensely gathering his troops, Yuan Shao's army was almost in full swing. Except for the more than 1 people who stayed behind in the camp, the [-] troops were overwhelming, heading south like a flood.

Yuan Shang is riding on a horse at this time, his left hand is also Cao Jun's right hand, and a city can be vaguely seen on the horizon.

That was Pucheng, which was very close to Kuangcheng, and between the two cities was basically the camp of Cao Jun along the line.

But it is said to be a city, but it is actually a ruined wall.

More than 20 years have passed since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Dong Zhuo's Rebellion, and the vassals' hegemony.

Kuang City, Pucheng had long been ruined, leaving behind a pile of incomplete city walls which were erected by Cao Jun into a village wall, and the barracks were barely built for decoration.

Kuangcheng became the Zuoying village of Cao Jun, and Pucheng became the Youying village. Now there is not much of the appearance of the city, only the mottled walls of the village still have a few traces left by the years. .

Yuan Shang glanced around, his vision passed, and he saw a forest full of corpses on the road in the wilderness.

That was the scene after Cao Jun's scouts fought with Yuan Jun's scouts.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao sent countless scouts to each other. At first, because Yuan Shao had more horses and more scouts, he had the upper hand.

But then Cao Cao designed an ambush and killed a group of Yuan Jun's scouts, causing Yuan Shao's scouts to shrink back.

The war in Henan was tense last month. After Cao Cao arrived in Henan, Yuan Jun's scouts spread out again, pressing Cao Jun's scouts forward, which greatly reduced their scope of investigation.

This all-out attack was launched when Cao Jun's scouts were once again compressed to seven or eight miles away from Cao Ying. At this moment, Cao Jun would definitely not be able to react to the sudden onslaught.

It's just that even with such careful planning, there was still an accident.A group of Cao Jun's scouts came to the area of ​​Wei Township for some unknown reason. Yuan Jun's scouts couldn't catch up with them, and one of them escaped, causing the plan to be leaked. Cao Jun had already begun to gather.

However, this is not a big deal. Yuan Shang felt that when the morale of the Cao army was declining and there was no leader in the army, they sent out [-] elites, and it would be a matter of time before they defeated the Cao army.

At three o'clock in the day, today's sun is not considered vicious. Thirty thousand vanguard Yuan Jun arrived at the front line of Pucheng in a mighty manner, spreading out like a surging flood.

Yuan Shang rode his horse on a small hill and looked to the south. He saw that there were countless soldiers of the Cao army coming in and out of the Cao camp at this time. A large number of soldiers gathered in the north of the camp like black ants, and the banners fluttered. Arranged in countless phalanxes, they came to meet them.

These soldiers were actually Zhang Liao and Li Dian's troops from Cao Jun's Right Battalion who were the first to react. More than a dozen mid-level and lower-level officers, including Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Wang Tu, Liu Zhu, Lu Zhao, Feng Kai, Xue Hong, and Zhang Xi, each summoned their troops Will come to assemble.

In the further direction, Cao Jun's Zuoying Xu Huang Cao Chun Department is still in the process of transfer, so even if these Cao Jun are ready, the number of soldiers is far less than that of Yuan Shang.

"Sir, look."

Yuan Shang's general Su You pointed to the southeast in the direction of Cao Jun's left battalion.

At this moment, a large number of Cao's troops are migrating from the left camp like a lake and swamp to the right camp. Many camps in the front have changed owners and are now reluctantly undertaking defensive tasks. Most of the rear camps are still empty. Cao Jun wants to complete the transfer in a short time. Not that fast either.

Yin Kai, another general on the other side, said: "Young Master, take advantage of this opportunity, maybe we should launch an attack immediately. If we can defeat this part of Cao's army, we will be able to occupy their camp."

"Well."

Yuan Shang nodded approvingly, waved his big hand and said, "Attack."

"attack!"

With an order, Yoyo's horn blasted and shook the wilderness.

Countless flags waved.

The gongs and drums roared, and a row of siege carts, wooden curtains, and nest carts were pushed to the front of the formation.

Yuan Shang's [-] troops lined up neatly, stepped on the same pace, made a deafening sound, and walked slowly in the direction of Cao Jun.

In fact, they are still some distance away from Cao Jun, about three or four miles away, but the 3 people seem to be boundless, giving Cao Jun a huge sense of oppression in the distance.

Zhang Liao was riding on the horse, holding the sword tightly in his hand. He could feel the vibration of the horse's hooves on the ground under his crotch. This was not an earthquake, but the sound of more than 3 enemy horses walking at the same time.

In addition to infantry, Yuan Jun also had cavalry guards on the left and right flanks.

Yuan Shang's big banner stood in the center of the army formation, and there were countless Yuan Jun in the front row, three layers inside and three layers outside to guard Yuan Shang.

In this case, not to mention Zhang Liao, even Guan Yu with a red rabbit horse might not be able to kill him.

Li Dian came over and asked Zhang Liao, "General Zhang, General Xiahou hasn't delivered an order yet, should we retreat into the camp temporarily?"

Most of the rear of the camp is still empty, and if they retreat immediately, they can still rely on the camp to defend themselves.

But Zhang Liao said: "No, General Xiahou is letting the people from the Zuoying camp come over. At this moment, we will retreat in. If the people from the Zuoying camp crowd in again, it will cause chaos in the camp. We must stop them."

"But we have few soldiers, and our enemies outnumber us."

Li Dian frowned, he and Zhang Liao disagreed, wouldn't it be safest to go back and enter the camp to defend themselves?Are you still fighting in the wild with twice as many enemies as yourself?

Zhang Liao glanced at him: "If you are timid and leave by yourself, I am the backbone general, and I will command here!"

Li Dian was furious.

But now is not the time to lose your temper, so I have to keep silent.

In fact, when Zhang Liao first entered Cao Ying, his position was very low. He was a general of Zhonglang and Marquis of Guannei. When Zhang He surrendered, he was still a general and Marquis of Ting.

At that time, Cao Cao rearranged his official positions, and the Zhonglang general was only one level higher than the school lieutenant, and second to the lieutenant general and partial general.

But later Zhang Liao made many military exploits with Cao Cao. After the Battle of Guandu, Zhang Liao was promoted to the backbone general.

In terms of official position now, Li Dian is only a general. Historically, he will be promoted to general xenophobes next year after he and the already dead Le attack break the management contract. So at least for now, he really has no way to challenge Zhang Liao.

After Zhang Liao dismissed Li Dian, he watched from a distance and summoned Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Wang Tu, Liu Zhu and other generals and said, "Our army is moving camp. Yuan's army is attacking rapidly. We must stop them. The dead men attack their right flank to the east, you stand here, under the command of General Li!"

"only!"

All the soldiers agreed with a loud bang.

The deputy title of a general in the Han Dynasty was called Pianbi, and Li Dian was as old as Zhang Yun in terms of official position, but Li Dian also had the title of warlord, so he was regarded as the second in command.

Now Zhang Liao wants to make a surprise attack in person, so Li Dian can only command it.

On the other hand, when Li Dian heard these words, he still looked at Zhang Liao in surprise. He didn't expect that he didn't take the opportunity to take away the military power, but gave him the command right before the battle.

It must be known that the two had different opinions. Li Dian advocated entering the camp for self-defense, while Zhang Liao believed that the enemy must be kept out of the camp.

Now that the command power has been handed over to Li Dian, if he suddenly chooses to withdraw into the camp during the battle, it will be equivalent to selling Zhang Liao.

At that time, Zhang Liao's army will be alone, and the situation will be very dangerous.

It can be said that Zhang Liao entrusted his life to Li Dian, who disagreed with him. Once Li Dian had evil thoughts, that Zhang Liao would undoubtedly die.

"General Zhang."

Li Dian stepped forward and said, "Are you sure I will command?"

Zhang Liao looked at him seriously: "General Li, although you and I have different opinions, I believe in you."

"Thank you."

Li Dian cupped his hands and said in a deep voice: "However, I still believe in my judgment. If things change, I will order a retreat without hesitation."

"so be it."

Zhang Liao waved his hand and shouted: "My staff come with me!"

Behind him, three thousand soldiers from Zhang Liao's headquarters followed him, lined up outside the formation, and then galloped towards the wilderness to the east.

Seeing his leaving back, Li Dian ordered indifferently: "Send the order, the front army retreats!"

(End of this chapter)