Shu Han Confucian General of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 185 The Story of Tanhan Mountain

"Father, the sentinel came to report just now. After crossing the river and going more than 80 miles ahead, we will be the lair of the Xianbei people in Danhan Mountain!" Cao Zhang hurriedly ran over from the troops hurrying along a narrow mountain road. Said to Cao Cao of the Chinese army.

"Okay, did the Xianbei people find out?" Cao Cao asked in a deep voice.

"I haven't found any sentry horses from the Xianbei people yet, and they would never have imagined in their dreams that we would take a small path and kill them in their lair," Cao Zhang said with a smile.

"Prime Minister, but this time it's not just Xianbei. It is said that Ke Bineng has already borrowed troops from Karasuma, and the two coalition forces are no less than [-]. If we don't act first, I am afraid that within half a year, they will also send troops to the south." Jia Xu, who was in charge of intelligence, said calmly.

"That's why I want to hit him for not getting a foothold!" Cao Cao laughed.Looking at the time of day, Cao Cao ordered the whole army to cross the river and put down their flags and drums. When night fell, the whole army marched out and went straight to the camp of the Xianbei and Karasuma coalition forces.

"King Karasuma Tadun, this person is also bullying the weak and fearing the hard. In the past, when Gongsun Zan was around, he did not dare to be stubborn; after Gongsun Zan died, Yuan Shao sent his daughter to marry him, and after Tadun he invaded our border again." Another scribe who accompanied the army laughed. .If Zhao Feng, Guan Yu and others were here, they would definitely be surprised.This person is none other than Zhuge Liang's Lumen Mountain classmate, Meng Jian and Meng Gongwei who offered to flood Jiangling.

"Hmph, Yuan Benchu ​​had 70 soldiers, but bowed his head and surrendered to the aliens in northern Xinjiang. He is really hopeless!" Cao Cao said with some disdain.

"Yuan Shao is of course not worth mentioning. After the matter in northern Xinjiang is resolved, my lord can send troops south to wipe out Liu Bei in the first battle and rule the world!" Meng Jian was half flattering, half telling the truth.

"Gongwei, you have been in Jingxiang for a long time, and you have also served as an aide under Liu Pan. In your opinion, if you want to attack Liu Bei alone, how should you enter the army?" Cao Cao seemed very bored, and asked as he advanced.

"Take Jingxiang!" Meng Jian said decisively, and then explained in detail: "Jingxiang is the belly of the world, a place that military strategists must contend for. If you can capture Jingxiang, you can confine Liu Bei to the southeast corner, and there is nothing to fear .”

"Jingxiang Guan Yunchang and Zhuge Liang are here, I'm afraid I can't figure it out in a hurry." Jia Xu frowned slightly.

"Prime Minister, don't worry. Two years ago, I offered a plan for Guan Yu to flood Jiangling, killing and injuring 20 people in Jingzhou. This has already caused Guan Yu to lose the hearts of Jingzhou. If the Prime Minister leads an army to attack, righteous soldiers will definitely rise up to respond to Wang Shi! At that time, Guan Yu's internal and external troubles will inevitably come. The battle is in chaos, isn't Jing Xiang within easy reach?" Meng Jian said confidently.

"Not necessarily. Man said that Guan Yu is not a brave and foolish person. Brother Zhuge Liang is also an outstanding person in the world. Even Li Yan in Nanyang, Li Tong in Wancheng, and Hao Zhao in Wuguan are not ordinary people. With these people, if you want to It is not easy to capture Jingxiang easily. Moreover, Liu Bei is the best at buying people's hearts, and the flooding of Jiangling has been a long time ago. It may not be feasible to expect this to cause civil strife in Jingxiang." Jia Xu is in charge of intelligence, and knowing these things is naturally better than Meng Jian is more, after all, the latter has been away from Jingxiang for more than two years.

Meng Jian heard the words and was about to refute, Cao Cao had already waved his hand to signal the two to stop the quarrel, and then ordered everyone to prepare for a short rest after crossing the river, and then attacked the enemy camp at night.

"My lord, a letter from Duke Xun!" Cao Zhen hurried forward and handed Cao Cao an urgent letter.Cao Cao took a look, but there was a hint of joy between his brows.Xun Yu said two things in the letter. One is that Jizhou and Bingzhou have been rebuilt over the past year, and people's livelihood has been greatly restored. Only Youzhou's new government has settled, and people's livelihood has not yet been fully restored.Right now, these three states plus half of Qingzhou have a population of no less than 500 million, and 30 Yuan Shao surrendered troops have also been incorporated.At the same time as the reorganization, [-] new troops were recruited, and they were conducting drills under the command of Yu Jin and Zhang Jai, who had just defected; moreover, Yecheng had been rebuilt, fully meeting the requirements for building a capital city, and could be moved at any time.

"Wen Ruo alone, why worry about the uncertainties!" Cao Cao muttered to himself when he saw this.Having Xun Yu is equivalent to having a stable rear, allowing Cao Cao to devote all his energy to the frontline battle.At this moment, the scouts sent earlier had returned.

"Prime Minister, the Xianbei and Karasuma allied forces have suddenly gathered, and they seem to have discovered us!" The scout reported to Cao Cao sweating, with wounds on his body, and apparently ran back after escaping the chase.

"My lord, the military situation is unclear at the moment, what should we do?" Xu Huang became a little anxious when he heard this.

Cao Cao's expression was calm and composed, and he ordered in a steady voice: "Send the order, immediately gather the troops, and we will fight them here to the death!"

"My lord, the military situation is unclear right now, so it's not appropriate to march!" Xu Huang hastily remonstrated.Cao Cao waved his hand to indicate that he was not in the way, and Jia Xu also nodded aside and said: "The people of Xianbei gathered suddenly, they should have discovered us just now. If they had discovered us a long time ago, they could have killed us just now when our army was crossing the river. Caught off guard."

"Look, everyone. There is a high mountain ahead. I will lead all the infantry and Zhongkang to stand firm here to attract the Xianbei army to attack. Gongming, Shanyu, and Zihe, each of you lead your cavalry to disperse. Wait until tomorrow morning, when the Xianbei army After a fierce battle all night, when people are exhausted, we will turn around to the back of the Xianbei people and fight out, and we should attack the Xianbei army from inside and outside!" Cao Cao quickly drew up a battle plan.

"My lord, this matter is too dangerous, let me lure the enemy!" After hearing the plan, Cao Chun was the first to remonstrate, and Xu Huang's generals also hurriedly dissuaded him.

"If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you catch tiger cubs? All the generals will command the army and cannot escape. I will do the job of luring the enemy. Gongming, when I raise the banner and blow the horn, you will lead the army to fight out. Here Before, you must not act rashly!" Cao Cao said in a deep voice.Xu Huang and others are familiar with Cao Cao's character, and know that once he speaks in this tone, there is really no need to discuss it, and they can only obey orders.At most, please Xu Chu Haosheng to protect Cao Cao.

"Zhongkang, we only have more than 1 people, and the Xianbei coalition army is no less than [-]. Are you afraid?" Looking at the hastily arranged positions, Cao Cao didn't seem to worry about the disadvantages of the war at all, but joked in a joking tone.

"My lord, don't worry, I, Xu Chu, have never taken them seriously!" Xu Chu said proudly.Behind him, the [-] Tiger Guards and the rest of the elite thousands of infantry stood in formation, ready to fight at any time.There are more than a thousand people who are still taking the time to build a position. Antlers, fences, and caltrops are all placed, and a few more trenches need to be dug deeper.

"Light the torches and tell Ke Bineng that I'm right here!" Cao Cao ordered.Immediately tens of thousands of torches were lit, illuminating this nameless mountain as bright as day, and it was extremely eye-catching in the dark.

"Look, my lord!" A Xianbei young handsome pointed to the distance and said urgently.Without his pointing, Ke Bineng had already seen the flaming mountain peak.The corners of his eyes twitched slightly, and Ke Bi Neng turned his head and said to King Karasuma who came to help the battle: "Brother Tadun, there should be Han people who came to attack in front of us. It seems that there are not many of them. Dare to stick to it."

"Don't worry, my lord, we have [-] soldiers, and it will only take a day or two to level this mountain. Let us go up and chop off Cao Cao's head, and then march south to the Central Plains for fun! "Ta Dun looked at the distant mountain peaks, and said with some disdain.

"Kill!" Following Ta Dun and Ke Bineng's orders, one hundred thousand coalition troops rushed towards the small mountain where Cao Cao was located.Accompanied by the howling of wolves unique to the Xianbei people, these barbarians with disheveled hair and only wearing animal skins and leather armor rushed forward like a pack of wild dogs.Even if it was Xu Chu who was killed by thousands of people, he couldn't help but be secretly shocked when he saw it in the dark.

"Fire the arrows!" After the opponent entered the range, the defenders' bows and crossbows began to show their power.Although there are no crossbows and crossbows, Cao Cao does not only have ordinary crossbows.The two powerful crossbows, the stepping crossbow and the bed crossbow, are enough to penetrate the light shields of these cavalrymen.Along the way, the Xianbei people and Karasuma people were shot down from time to time, but the latecomers continued to press on.These bloodthirsty nomads will never be scared away by such a small setback.

Since this setback is not enough, let's be more ruthless.Braving the rain of arrows, when the Xianbei people crossed the trench and rushed to the front of the position, they were greeted by the big shields that had been erected and the gleaming guns between the shields.

The sound of "puchi puchi" meat cutting sounded one after another, and the first batch of hundreds of Xianbei people who rushed forward suddenly turned into dead souls under guns.But there are as many Xianbei people as ants, and if one dies, two will be replaced, and the pressure on the defenders will be quite high.At the same time, the defenders on the top of the mountain also began to use bows and crossbows to suppress the offensive of these Xianbei people from a distance, trying to reduce the pressure on their front-line comrades as much as possible.Xu Chu led the reserve team, ready to check for gaps at any time.

"What a tough Han!" Ke Bineng and Ta Dun saw that Cao Cao's banner had been standing upright, and their own warriors who rushed up turned into corpses and were carried down, they were also secretly shocked.It was only then that he realized why Ke Bineng, who had been so prosperous all these years, lost so badly in Youzhou before.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, they are few, we will definitely be able to take them down." After adjusting his mood, Ta Dun didn't know whether to encourage Kebi Neng or himself.Ke Bi Neng nodded, but there was a trace of uneasiness in his heart.

"No, why does Cao Cao only have infantry, where did his cavalry go last time?" Ke Bi Neng suddenly thought of this question.It is impossible for a lone army to go deep into a sneak attack, with only infantry and no cavalry.

At this time, Cao Cao's cavalry, led by Xu Huang and others, detoured to both sides of the Xianbei army, preparing to attack them.Although Ke Bineng didn't know, but just in case, he still sent scouts to investigate.However, the visibility in the dark night was really poor, and it was impossible for these scouts to probe too far.

"My lord, these barbarians attacked really hard!" Xu Chu also sighed after wiping the blood and sweat off his face.The Xianbei people who encountered stubborn resistance fully showed their wildness, and rushed up the mountain screaming one by one.Even if there is a sharp sword in front of him, he can't care about it.Once before, several Xianbei young commanders led a team to open a gap from an area with a relatively gentle slope. Fortunately, Xu Chu arrived in time to fill the gap.

In just one cup of tea, 28 people were killed by Xu Chu's tiger knife, including three Xianbei young commanders, and this crisis was resolved.Even though these Xianbei people were brave and good at fighting, they had to retreat temporarily to avoid the edge when they met a fierce man of Xu Chu's level.

"Zhongkang, hold on for another hour, and it will be dawn soon!" Cao Cao said in a deep voice.It is not dawn, once the cavalry fights in the dark night, it will be difficult to distinguish the enemy from ourselves.We must wait until dawn, and at the same time, the Xianbei army is exhausted after a night of fierce fighting, and then let Xu Huang and the others fight out, in order to achieve the best results.Xu Chu nodded and continued to fight fiercely.Afterwards, Xu Chu recalled the battle and said that this hour was the longest in his life.

"Blow the horn and raise the flag!" Seeing that the sky was getting brighter and the visibility gradually expanded, Cao Cao decisively issued this order.The melodious horn sounded far away, and Ke Bineng and Ta Dun couldn't help but change their expressions.

"Your Majesty, it's too bad, a group of troops is coming from the east!" A scout Ke Bineng sent in advance ran back in despair, and then the rest of the scouts also arrived one after another, telling Ke Bineng to go west and Someone from the north also came to kill.

"Hurry up, get the army ready for war, hurry up!" Ta Dun and Ke Bi Neng ordered hastily.But how can the attacking army quickly take over the battle?These prairie cavalry have extremely poor team combat capabilities. Once a battle starts, they will fight by instinct.It is a luxury to want to give orders quickly and have them carried out.

"Kill!" The army to the east was led by Xu Huang, and he himself even rushed to the front.The Xianbei people fired arrows at random, but he pushed them away with his shield, and then rushed into the chaotic Xianbei army.

"Crack!" With a sound, a Xianbei cavalryman was split in half by Xu Huang's axe, head and helmet.Seeing his bravery, the Xianbei people and Karasuma people hurried forward to flank him.Xu Huang was not afraid, and led his army to fight to the death.

At the same time, Cao Chun and Liu Bao's troops also rushed forward, and the Xianbei Karasuma coalition forces were attacked on three sides, and they were suddenly overwhelmed.Cao Cao on the hillside was condescending, seeing the situation clearly on the field, and immediately ordered Xu Chu to lead his men to the northeast corner where the Xianbei's strength was weakest.

The northeast corner is where Cao Chun and Xu Huang's coalition troops are located. While their personal combat power is strong, their coordinated combat capabilities are not comparable to Liu Bao's Huns cavalry.Therefore, Liu Bao's side is still inextricably linked, and the Xianbei Karasuma coalition forces have already fallen a little bit.

Now that Xu Chu's arrival suddenly became the last straw that crushed the Xianbei people.Riding on the ownerless horses of the Xianbei Karasuma people who died in battle, Xu Chu took the lead and rushed to the forefront.Wherever it went, the tiger's sword flew up and down, and Karasuma and the Xianbei people fell off their horses within a radius of one zhang.

"Zhongkang, aren't you protecting the prime minister?" After killing one person, Xu Huang found out that it was Xu Chu who came to help him, so he hurriedly asked.

"Prime Minister, there are two young masters and General Zidan!" Xu Chu only had time to say a word before continuing to charge.Xu Huang took the time to glance at the hillside, but he saw that Cao Zhang was holding a square halberd, Cao Pi was guarding Cao Cao with a long sword, and Cao Zhen was leading the Tiger Guards to fight.Cao Cao is firmly in the middle army, as safe as Mount Tai.

"Kill!" Realizing that Cao Cao was not in danger, Xu Huang put his heart down and rushed to kill with all his strength.After supporting the Xianbei army for half an hour, they finally couldn't hold on and began to collapse.Then the Xianbei and Karasuma people in other places also began to flee, Cao Cao ordered to pursue them with all their strength, Xu Huang and others led the army to kill Danhan Mountain, but Ke Bineng was forced to abandon his old nest and flee north.Xu Huang chased until the evening of the next day, but he didn't dare to venture forward due to lack of guides.In this battle, Cao Jun beheaded more than [-] people, captured more than [-] people, and captured all the luggage of the Xianbei people in Danhan Mountain, and returned with a big victory.

After this battle, Xianbei and Karasuma were seriously injured. The Xiongnu, Xiqiang and other tribes who had been oppressed by them before began to fight endlessly with them in order to compete for the position of the grassland hegemony.This prairie melee has lasted for decades.It is precisely because of this that the people of the Han Dynasty have been able to enjoy peace for decades.Cao Cao left Liang Xi as governor of Bingzhou, led Shao to assist him to fend off the Xiongnu and Xianbei, and the army retreated to Daijun to rest and reorganize, only then did it win and return to the court.

(End of this chapter)