After the army made some preparations and everything was stopped, the time had entered the middle of April, the sky was getting warmer, and it was already early summer.

Guo Bin led 700 cavalry, went east out of Yangzhai County, passed through Changge, and went straight to Changshe.

Because of the small number of people, coupled with the fact that they went out day and night along the way, the scouts of the Yellow Turban Army encountered were all used as practitioners and were cleaned up by a group of cavalry under Guo Bin. Therefore, when they arrived at the periphery of the Changshe, the Yellow Turban Army did not receive any news.

handed over a group of cavalry to Guan Yu to lead, set up a simple camp in the mountains, and lurked, while Guo Bin took Zhang Fei and climbed the mountains on the outskirts of Changshe, accompanied by Xi Zhicai, Guo Jia, and Xun Yu, to check the situation between the enemy and us.

The battlefield situation of Changshe is quite different from that of Yang Zhai. The north of Yangzhai County is a big mountain, the so-called big mountain is the famous Qinling Mountains, there is Yingshui flowing slowly in the east of the county, and its source is in the Qinling Mountains.

Changshe is also located at the foot of the Qinling Mountains, and is sandwiched by two rivers running north-south, the east is Wei (pronounced: you) water, and the west is 潩 (pronounced: yi) water. Both Weishui and Yishui are tributaries of Yingshui, both originating in the Qinling Mountains, and flowing into Yingshui in the southeast of Yingchuan County, at the junction of Runan County and Chen County, and entering Huaishui after running through the entire Runan County.

As a result, the Changsha has formed the topography of two rivers and one city.

Because the north is the Qinling Mountains, the terrain is high, and the surrounding area of Changshe City has become a situation of high in the north and low in the south.

Where Guo Bin and the others are located is the edge of the mountain in the north of Changshe City. As far as the eye can see, I can see two large rivers stretching out into the distance like two arms, and the Changshe City in the middle of the arms looks low and dilapidated.

To the north of Changshe City, there are tents that stretch for dozens of miles. If you see these tents scattered irregularly in the north of the castle in the future, you may mistakenly think that this is a super-large campsite. And the people who went in and out of it were wrapped in yellow scarves and ragged clothes, reminding Guo Bin all the time that this was the Yellow Turban Army camp besieging Changshe.

Putting aside the arrangement of the "military tents" in the "big camp", and don't find fault with this huge camp and the fact that there is no wall, just looking at the geographical location of the big camp, you can know that the commander of the big army actually put a lot of effort into it.

Daying is located in the north of Changshe City, because it is high in the north and low in the south. Therefore, although standing in the camp of the Yellow Turban Army cannot talk about overlooking the Changshe, it has an advantage in the terrain. Because if the army in the city of Changshe wants to attack the camp, it must climb the slope to do so. Moreover, the north side is the upstream of the water and the river, and the village can ensure the cleanliness of drinking water, and it is more convenient to get water, just dig a ditch from the river, and you can continuously supply drinking water in the camp.

Fortunately, it is at the source of the river, and the amount of water is not very large, otherwise if the Yellow Turban Army dug the river embankment to divert water to irrigate the city, the Changshe may have been lost.

Not only that, because it was early summer, the wind at this time came from the northwest, and the Yellow Turban Army camp was in the upwind direction of Changshe City. The so-called smooth sailing is not just a nice thing to say, but also has a positive meaning in reality. If the wind is down, not only is it not afraid of the enemy's fire attack, but even the smell of going to the toilet can waft into the enemy's camp; The Shunshui not only ensures the cleanliness of the water source, but also ensures the supply of drinking water, and can also attack the enemy along the water.

Fortunately, due to the limited knowledge of the people at this time, ordinary people did not know that decomposing corpses could cause a terrible epidemic, which allowed them to turn Changsha into a dead city without a single knife or shot.

It may be because to the south of Changshe City is Yingyin and Xuchang, which are occupied by the Yellow Turban Army, and the Yellow Turban Army only set up tent camps in the north and west of the city, while the east and south of the city are a smooth road. The so-called siege of the Yellow Turban Army turned out to be like this. Or is it that Bo Cai, the leader of the Yellow Turban Army, has seen the so-called "encircling the division must be que" in the war book in the war book, right?

Seeing such a situation, even Guo Bin couldn't help but shake his head again and again, and said to Xi Zhicai beside him: "Changshe Town, if you can besiege it with these 200,000 Yellow Turban Army, with the spirit of winning the first battle, although the Yellow Turban Army is untidy and undertrained, it can only rely on the numerical advantage, and in less than a month, the official army can be cornered." Now the south gate and the east gate are unguarded, although there must be an ambush on the way, but if the officers and troops break through with all their strength, they will definitely not be able to resist. ”

Xi Zhicai nodded and said: "What the lord said is true, if the southern road army of the imperial court to exterminate the Yellow Turban can be besieged here, so that it cannot be heard, then the city will definitely collapse without a fight." ”

Guo Jia said: "Yes, for example, only our army has carrier pigeons today, which can transmit messages from the air with flying pigeons, and the Yellow Turban Army is to set up tents on all sides of the Changshe Society, which can also prevent the transmission of information in the city." In the long run, the morale of the army will collapse. ”

Xun Yu said: "If this is the case, then the officers and troops must seek a decisive battle as soon as possible to avoid a shortage of food and grass and a weakening of morale." ”

Guo Bin nodded and said, "Guo Da, you take my letter and enter the city of Changshe to contact General Zuo Zhonglang, you must hand it over to General Huangfu in person, and you can come back only after taking the reply." Do you remember clearly? ”

Guo Da, who had been standing at the side, stepped forward and said in a muffled voice: "Order!" The villain will personally hand over the letter to General Huangfu, and take the reply party back. ”

At that moment, Guo Da commanded Guo Er and others to unfold the pen and ink they carried with them and the simple tables, chairs and benches, Guo Bin considered the words and tone, and began to write.

This ink, but there is still something to say.

The pen and ink is not a common pen, ink, paper and inkstone at this time, but a pencil newly developed by Guo Bin.

In order to meet the needs of wartime and prevent unpredictable losses caused by mistakes in wartime orders, Guo Bin specially ordered someone to develop a pencil that is easy to carry and conducive to writing.

Because in this era, the way of passing orders is mostly based on the herald soldiers who memorize the orders and then pass them to the commanders on the front line. This is not only a waste of time, it is easy to miss the fleeting fighter plane, but also may cause the error of the transmission of military orders due to the mistakes of the heralds, so Guo Bin thought of passing the military orders in written form.

The original delivery method was a wooden chalkboard with a lid, and as the name suggests, it was a commonly used chalkboard in later generations. This blackboard is very similar to the small blackboard that each student in the Fulong Villa School has, but in order to avoid blurring the handwriting due to rubbing, and also to facilitate transportation, a lid is specially added. The lid is made of thin wooden boards, not a clamshell made of hinges from later generations, but a small groove is cut into the upper and lower edges of the blackboard to resemble a push-pull box.

The entire blackboard and the lid are only one inch thick, which not only saves time, but also does not have the risk of mistakes in the summons, and does not have blurred handwriting due to scratches during the summons, making it easy to transport and write. By attaching a seal on the outside, the confidentiality of the message is also guaranteed.

This small box is easy to make, and it also eliminates the trouble of carrying pen, ink, paper and inkstone on the march, which is cheaper than silk books, and is more secret than bamboo slips, and has indeed solved Guo Bin's big troubles. It's just that it's still a little clumsy.

And this pencil was developed by accident.

Although Guo Bin is quite fond of calligraphy, he only uses it as a hobby, and if he uses a brush to record reading notes all day long, recording daily trivial matters and itineraries, it is difficult to be regarded as a "modern person" who is accustomed to using ballpoint pens. Not to mention that it is necessary to grind the ink and wash the pen, just the set of requirements for the action posture when writing makes Guo Bin's back ache.

In order to facilitate writing, in this era when there is no rubber, no plastic, and no advanced chemical technology, all Guo Bin can think of is a pencil. All he knew was that pencils were not made of lead, but of graphite. He ordered people to search for graphite ore, grind it into powder, and rinse it with clean water to remove impurities to obtain pure graphite powder, and then add a small amount of rosin to the graphite powder to increase its viscosity, and then heat and solidify this mixture, and press it into the shape of a pencil lead.

Then he asked a carpenter to cut out a standardized strip of wood about 20 centimeters long, and burned the iron strip, which was slightly thinner than the lead of the pencil, and placed it in the middle of the strip of wood, so that it burned a groove the thickness of the pencil. Then, put the pencil lead into the groove, and then glue the two wooden strips together, so that a pencil in the modern sense is made.

Because this kind of pencil could not be written on brocade silk, Guo Bin insisted on finding out the process of making Caihou paper back then, and opened a stationery factory in Yangzhai County. The factory can make both pencils and paper, and recently entered the stage of mass production, Guo Bin carried a large number of pencils and paper when he rushed to the Changshe, which were specially used for the transmission of military orders and giving away.

For this new product, Guo Bin likes to give gifts to friends and teachers, and he has never been stingy in this regard. Because his friends and division commanders are all leaders and faces in the court. Yuan Shao is the eldest son of the Yuan family in Runan, Cao Cao's grandfather Cao Teng, served four generations of emperors, has a certain reputation, Emperor Huan of Han was named the Marquis of Feiting, although his father Cao Song was Cao Teng's adopted son, but also inherited Cao Teng's marquis, the official to the captain. Wei Zhongdao is the son of the Wei family in Hedong, and Lu Zhi and Cai Yong are both Confucianists. Among these friends and teachers that Guo Bin met in Beijing, all of them were famous and powerful figures. Therefore, giving away new products to them is also a good way to expand their reach, and it is free advertising.

Guo Bin has never made a loss-making transaction, so why not do such a good thing?

This time he led the army to support Huangfu Song, out of habit, he also asked Guo Da to carry a large amount of paper and pencil as a gift to everyone in the army, not only Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun The two lieutenants will have, and the accompanying adjutants, Sima and others are also indispensable.

Fortunately, the Yellow Turban Army only set up tents in the north and west of the city, and Guo Dafang was able to sneak into the Changshe without any danger.

Receiving the news that Guo Bin led the army to come, Huangfu Song was very happy, and also rewarded the pen and paper brought by Guo Da to his generals. Then he wrote a reply letter and handed it to Guo Da. After hiding the letter close to him, Guo Da said goodbye to Huangfu Song, came out of the south gate of Changshe City, made a big circle, and returned to Guo Bin's camp.