Shu Han Confucian General of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 319
"Boss Zhang, I found the boat, let's go there together!"

In a field of reeds by the Yellow River, a soldier of Cao Jun rushed over and reported to a small officer sitting on the ground.Around them, dozens of soldiers were lazily sitting or lying on the ground.Hearing what the visitor said, the little officer raised his head and said, "Little Li, have you ever seen clearly that there are no sailors upstream and downstream?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhang, I've checked everything, and there's nothing. This boat belongs to an old man who fishes. I spent a lot of money before he agreed to come and take us across the river." Xiao Li quickly explained.

"In this case, let's cross the river!" Head Zhang nodded, and then he called everyone to get up, and walked carefully to the riverside, preparing to cross the Yellow River.

"Master, my boat is small, and it can only carry fifteen people at most at one time!" The old man who punted the boat saw that there were as many as seven to eighty people, and he was a little confused.Zhang Touer looked at the group of people behind him, and finally said: "Just make a few more trips back and forth, and I will wait more than you to pay!"

"Okay!" Stimulated by the money, the old man started rowing with vigor.However, what Zhang Touer didn't know was that as soon as he left with the first dozen or so people on the first trip, the rest of the people on the shore had already started chattering.

"Do you really want to go back to Hebei? I heard that many places have already been captured by Liu Bei. If we go back like this, can we win?"

"If we really want to go back, we will definitely have to fight Liu Bei. But if we don't go back, we will only have this dry food around us. If we eat all of it, we will starve to death."

Cao Hong took advantage of Jia Xu's plan of dividing the whole into parts, and distributed all the dry food to the soldiers, asking them to find ways to sneak across the Yellow River, and then regroup.If you return to Hebei, you will be rewarded a lot.This move is really powerful, even if the Jingxiang Marine Division works overtime day and night, it is still difficult to do everything.Liu Bei hastily ordered the confiscation of ships along the coast to prevent the enemy from crossing the river.

How the military situation is now, many people have already known through their own channels.The fall of Youzhou and Bingzhou, and the annihilation of Xu Huang's army and horses in Fancheng, many people began to feel drums in their hearts.Just when these people were chattering, someone exclaimed: "Look quickly, what happened to Mr. Zhang and his boat?" Everyone hurriedly looked into the river, only to see the small fishing boat full of people. After being hit by a storm, it was wobbly, and at first glance it seemed that it was about to sink.The people on the shore were terrified, and the people on the boat were even more nervous and shouted.

"This damn old man, he carried so many people at once, it's a disaster!" A corporal on the shore shouted anxiously.It seemed to confirm his words. At this moment, another wave hit, and the boat finally turned around and capsized.Zhang Touer waited for more than a dozen people to fall into the water, thumped a few times, and sank one after another. None of them returned to the shore, including the greedy boatman, who were also submerged in the Yellow River.The rest of the 60 people on the bank saw it and all felt their scalps tingling.

"What should I do?" It was a recruit who asked the question. Seeing that no one answered him, the man turned his head and looked around. Seeing the corporal leader who spoke just now, he immediately asked as if grasping at straws. : "Chen Wuchang, now that Chief Zhang is dead, what do you think we should do?"

This Corporal Chen is also a veteran, and these recruits still trust him on weekdays.Now everyone couldn't find the boat for a while, and Xiao Li just found this boat after searching and searching, and the dry food around him was almost exhausted.We are not sure whether we can find a boat to cross the river before the food is exhausted.Since you are not sure, your mind will come alive.It's just that it's inconvenient to explain in detail or clearly what this thought is.

Wuchang Chen looked at his comrades who looked expectant, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "I think that's it, let's surrender to Master Liu. I heard that Master Liu treats surrendered soldiers kindly, so let's go and surrender to him. When the war subsides, Find another chance to go back to my hometown in Hebei."

"That's the way it is!" Everyone knew that the dry food around them was enough for three or four days, and if they didn't surrender and waited until the food ran out, if they didn't want to starve to death, they could only go to the grass and rob the bandits.In fact, most people are not too disgusted with taking refuge in Liu Bei. After all, Liu Bei has a good reputation among the people at the bottom, and they are not worried about him killing soldiers.Now that the group of people have discussed it properly, they will go to Runan to join the enemy.

Similar things have happened almost every day since Cao Hong ordered the withdrawal of troops.After ten days, Cao Hong withdrew back to Hebei to gather his troops, only to find out that there were only 10,000+ of the 9+ army back.The rest were either intercepted or surrendered to the enemy.Cao Hong also knew that he was lucky to be able to keep most of the troops back to Hebei.If he was completely cut off like before, then he could only be trapped to death in Henan.

"Uncle Huang, what should we do?" Cao Zhang said bitterly when he saw the army gathering.Cao Hong bowed his head and calculated carefully, but finally sighed: "The 30 troops marching south, Xu Gongming's 5 troops lost all of them; Lost more than half? What is my face, Cao Hong, going to see His Majesty?"

"Uncle, don't be discouraged. We can gather more than [-] troops here. Even if we can't march south, we should still be more than enough to repel the enemy army in Youzhou in Bingzhou!" Cao Zhen Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit dull, he quickly remonstrated.

"However, now that Guan Yu's army is about to invade the north, the banks of the Yellow River cannot be left alone!" Xia Houba frowned.Everyone knew in their hearts that there were not many troops that the Cao Wei court could use.Cao Hong lowered his head and thought for a while, and finally sighed: "In this case, I'd better go back to Yecheng to see His Majesty first, and make sure the Yellow River defense line is safe, before making plans!"

Three days later, Cao Hong led the remaining 10,000+ troops back to Yecheng.Seeing Cao Hong's unlucky appearance, Cao Pi was also speechless for a long time, and finally sighed: "It's good that the emperor can come back, and the Nanzheng took Wancheng and Xuchang, which can be regarded as a gain. Now Liu Bei's troops are attacking in two ways. Youzhou and Bingzhou, the local garrisons are already overwhelmed, so please repel these two groups of troops as soon as possible!"

"I shall serve Your Majesty!" Cao Hong hastily agreed.After resting for only a few days, the army immediately dispatched two troops. One was led by Xia Houba with [-] troops to support Zhuojun, and the other was led by Cao Hong and Cao Zhang with [-] troops to support Shangdang and prepare to repel Zhang. Fei and Zhao Feng.

Cao Jun in Hebei could finally have a countermeasure, but Zhang Jai and others in Henan were almost breathless under the double pressure of Guan Yu and Liu Bei.Although what Cao Hong said before was more eloquent, compared with Zhang Xiu back then, Zhang Jaw now has a very difficult life.

When Zhang Xiu was in Wancheng, his opponent was Cao Cao, who only occupied the land of the four states, and he had Liu Biao as an ally behind him, so Zhang Xiu was able to jump around for a few years.Now the southwest sides of Wancheng are Liu Bei's sphere of influence. Although Henan County and Hongnong County in the south, and Xuchang in the east are his own family, the defenders are extremely limited.Relying on tens of thousands of people to guard this piece of foundation in Henan, Zhang Jaw really lacks confidence.

Youdao is afraid of what will come, just when Cao Hong began to withdraw his troops, Liu Bei's more than [-] people in Guanzhong immediately came out of Tongguan to knock on Hangu Pass.At the same time, the armies of Zhang Liao and Guan Yu also began to attack Xuchang, but Wancheng was left alone.Zhang Jai was very puzzled at first, but then he realized that once the land of Xuchang and Henan were broken, what else could he do if he was trapped in the isolated city of Wancheng?

The number of garrisons in Henan and other places was limited. Under Liu Bei's vigorous attack, Hangu Pass, Hongnong County, and Henan County fell one after another, and the defenders surrendered one after another.After half a month of desperate resistance in Xuchang, Xia Houshang was also broken into the city by Guan Yu. Xiahoushang committed suicide. In the land of Henan, except for the isolated city of Wancheng, there is no longer half of Cao Jun's stronghold.

Finally, one month after Cao Hong left, on this morning, a large group of people came from all sides of Wancheng, and surrounded the city with water.Seeing all this from the top of the city, Zhang Jai felt his scalp go numb.

"It's been a long time since I saw so many people!" Zhang Jai murmured. In his impression, he had never seen so many people except for the Battle of Guandu more than ten years ago.During the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao claimed to have an army of 70. Now Liu Bei has actually deployed more than 40 troops in Nanyang, and the two sides are almost evenly matched in terms of numbers.

Not to mention that Zhang Jaw was extremely shocked, the expressions of the other ordinary soldiers also changed drastically when they saw such a boundless army and horses.Surprisingly, the Han army did not attack the city.After setting up the camp, he came out of the army on horseback and came to the city alone.

"It's Gao Lan!" It didn't take long for Zhang Jaw to see clearly that the person who came was Gao Lan who was listed with him in the Four Courts of Hebei back then.Time flies, Yan Liang and Wen Chou among the four court pillars in Hebei have already died on the battlefield, and the rest of them, Gao Lan and himself, have to meet each other on a narrow road.

But seeing that Gao Lan didn't bring a weapon, or even a helmet, he went directly to the city and greeted loudly: "Brother Junyi, the old friend Gao Lan is here to visit, please meet him in Kaicheng!" He ordered the city gate to be opened to let Gao Lan in, and he himself went down to the city to greet him.

"Brother Junyi, you have been away from Qingzhou for decades, and brother Junyi is in Hebei. How are you doing these years!" After entering the government office, Gao Lan also asked with a smile.Zhang Jai gave a wry smile when he heard the words, and finally said shyly: "It was fine before, but now, being surrounded by Uncle Liu's army here, naturally it won't get better!" Zhongji is already an official worshiping General Zhenbei under Liu Huangshu's command, it really is a prosperous official!"

Four campaigns, four towns, four flats and four generals, four generals, are all second-rank in terms of official rank, only slightly inferior to Sangong.It was indeed not easy for Gao Lan to get to this point.Of course, Gao Lan also heard something different from Zhang Jaw's words.Envious, or excited?

So Gao Lan didn't talk too much, and said directly: "Junyi, you and I are old friends, brother, I will not be secretive in front of you, brother, this time, it is His Majesty who sent me to persuade my brother to abandon the dark and turn to the bright. Talent and learning are far superior to Gao Lan, if you can surrender, you will have a great career in the Han Dynasty in the future!"

(End of this chapter)