Chapter Twenty-Four: The Burning of the River
said that the relationship was broken, but can this friendship really be broken? Cao Cao and Yuan Shao both knew that no one would leave behind in this big battle, and some would only do their best to fight to the end. As for the winner or loser, only God knows. From this moment on, I am afraid that only the winner will live and the loser will die.
The things above Bianshui are naturally unknown to Gao Ye who has taken down Qinghe now. It's just that even if Gao Ye can know, how can he understand Cao Cao's mood at the moment? However, Gao Ye didn't have time to understand Cao Cao's mood now, after all, the sentry reported that Zhang He and Gao Ran had already led 50,000 troops and came from Liyang to Ganling. And He Mao and Wang Mo, who were beaten away by Cao Cao in Puyang, were the vanguard of Zhang Hejun. Judging from the military reports received now, Yuan Xi, who retreated north from Yangxin, and the defeated army that fled from the plains, have also joined Zhang He's soldiers and horses at this moment. Coupled with the mobilization of soldiers and horses in the north of Jizhou, I am afraid that in the hands of Zhang He at this time, there will be no less than 100,000 people.
Now in Gao Ye's hands, there are no more than 50,000 soldiers and horses, after all, Yuan Xi was defeated, and Yangxin, Leling, and even the entire county of Pingyuan County were occupied by Gao Ye. Yu Ban, Xu Huang, and Zhang Liao were on the side, and Xiahoude and Xiahoushang crossed the river with all the remaining soldiers and horses. Therefore, in the face of Zhang He's 100,000 soldiers and horses, Gao Ye also had to be careful. After all, Zhang He's use of soldiers is not comparable to the previous Yuan Xi, Xin Bi and others.
And the most important point is that Liu Bei, who couldn't be killed, disappeared again. There was also a military report before, saying that Guan Yu led 5,000 troops and was going to Eping to kill, but it didn't take long to receive the news of Guan Yu's return to the army. With this news, there was also a military report that Puyang was recaptured and Liu Bei retreated to Dunqiu. Who would have thought that only a few days later, Liu Bei, who was still in Dunqiu, would disappear without a trace, almost the same as after he escaped from Cao Ang at that time, and there seemed to be no news of him in the world. But the last time Liu Bei reported the news, he gave Puyang to Yuan Shao, making his side's deployment for more than a year almost useless. This time Liu Bei disappeared again, who knows if he will be somewhere, and suddenly come to such a hand again. Although Liu Bei's disappearance is likely to be the credit of Cao Cao's counter-plot, who can know if Yuan Jun will come to a plan? At this time, Gao Ye really wanted to hear Xu Shu's opinion, but there was no way, Xu Shu was sent to Mount Tai by himself, and he was originally going to fight against Yuan Jun with Zang Ba. But now, Zang Ba has a new task, and without Xu Shu by his side, he is really afraid that Zang Ba will not be able to complete it. Fortunately, for the current battle situation, Gao Ye already had a plan in his heart, and for a while, the troops were arranged, and the entire Ganling was busy.
Zhang He, on the other side, was even more depressed, he led his troops westward this time, mainly to resist the soldiers and horses of the high night. But after thinking about it carefully, Zhang He's heart couldn't help but be a little nervous, after all, Gao Ye is a famous Han general, and he has almost no defeat for so many years, and he really doesn't dare to say that he is 100% confident that he can block Gao Ye's attack. That's all it takes, but who would have thought that before this battle started, he was reprimanded by Yuan Shao first. In the final analysis, it's not because of Liu Bei's guy. It was clear that Guo Tu's messenger was incompetent, but Yuan Shao imposed the responsibility of Liu Bei's escape on himself. Now that Yuan Shao is around, Tian Feng and Fu Zhu, who are friendly to him, are all in prison, and the two of them who are friendly to themselves have naturally become a thorn in the side of Guo Tu and Feng Ji. Zhang He sometimes even suspects that the reason why Liu Bei ran away was because Guo Tu deliberately ordered someone to pass the news to them and let the three brothers escape, in order to frame himself!
But for this, Zhang He really blamed Guo Tu. Thinking about how shrewd Liu Bei was, he had long seen that Wang Mo and He Mao were wary of themselves in every way. Especially after the defeat of Puyang, Liu Bei's feeling became more and more obvious. When he heard that Yuan Shao summoned the three of them to serve in front of the tent, how could he not guess the fact that his situation was worrying? When it comes to charging in front of the battle, intrigue and trickery, Liu Bei may not be good at it. But when it comes to politics, there are a few opponents in the world who are his opponents. Hearing the news almost instantly, he figured out the ins and outs of the matter, if he didn't even have this ability, how could he sit in the position of Emperor Zhaolie of Shu Han?
But all this is already in the past, whether it is Gao Ye or Zhang He, they both want to kill Liu Bei at this moment, but unfortunately neither of them knows where Liu Bei is now. What made Zhang He even more depressed was still to come, and two days later, Zhang He, who finally met Yuan Xi, finally reached more than 104,000 soldiers and horses. But in the same way, although he is the commander of this road of soldiers and horses, but now that he has Yuan Xi, the second son, by his side, and he is ordered to be the supervisor of this road of soldiers and horses, he is afraid that the commander will exist in name only.
Zhang He of the Chinese army thought so at this time, and Wang Mo and He Mao in the forward were quite confused at this time. The two of them received the military order to rush to Ganling as soon as possible and look for fighters on their own. If you can't do anything, you can wait for the army to arrive and then make plans. Gao Ye's name is now like thunder, so it is not prudent for the two of them to march along the way. It's just that when I arrived at the city, I saw that there was no one at the head of Ganling City, and the four doors were wide open, which made Wang Mo and He Mao suspicious, and they didn't know what Cao Jun's situation was.
Fifteen thousand men and horses, along with Wang Mo and He Mao, stood in front of the West Gate in a daze. Wang Mo had already ordered to send soldiers and horses to inspect all sides before making plans. He Mao stood in front of the door, and also hesitated and said: "You say, what kind of trick is Gao Ye playing, there was a return a few days ago, saying that it was a war in the city, so it was not lively, why didn't you even see a ghost today?" Didn't he withdraw because he had few soldiers and was poor? ”
When Wang Mo heard this, he also shook his head and said, "I don't know." Now that the four doors are open, I am afraid that there will be an ambush. Let's wait for the news to come back and see, if there is nothing unusual around, I will send troops and horses into the city carefully and check carefully. At that time, even if there was an ambush in the city, there were soldiers and horses outside the city to respond. ”
He Mao nodded and said, "This is indeed a good way." I hope that Gao Ye will withdraw, and we will take back Ganling, which is also a great achievement, just enough to offset our loss of Puyang. ”
"Hmph, when it comes to Puyang, I think of that Liu Bei! The lord ordered him to serve in front of the tent, and he fled with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Cunning, no wonder even Mr. Frustration is obsessed with him......"
The two of them suddenly talked about Liu Bei, both of them had the same hatred and hatred, and as for Liu Bei, he had been hacked to death several times in their mouths. With the arrival of the soldiers and horses, no matter inside or outside the city, there was nothing abnormal, and no Cao army was found. I heard that the soldiers in front of me reported that Wang Mo and He Mao were nervous at the moment, and they relaxed a lot.
“…… The general, despite this, is just that there are no people in the city, and I am afraid that he was taken captive by Gao Ye. In addition, the military camp in the city was also demolished, and the grain and grass were carried away, and now Ganling is a completely empty city. Look, General, are we going into the city or are we camping outside the city? ”
When Wang Mo heard this, he immediately smiled and said: "What can I do if the barracks are gone, since there are no people, I can just live in a private house." Ganling is a city in the end, there is a city wall, and Gao Ye is killed back, and we can defend it. One more thing, though, is to double-check the city to make sure there are no loopholes. I always feel that Gao Ye is acting like this, I'm afraid there is some kind of calculation. ”
The soldier promised and left immediately, He Mao on the side had already wanted to enter the city, so naturally he had no objection. It had been a morning of marching, and after this exploration, the sun was about to set. Therefore, Wang Mo gave an order, and the whole army entered the city. The 15,000 soldiers and horses were all resting in the private houses, and Wang Mo and the others temporarily stayed in the county government. On the one hand, Wang Mo asked He Mao to take people and carefully inspect them, and on the other hand, he wrote a military report and sent the matter of recovering Ganling to Zhang He and Yuan Xi in its original form. It wasn't until He Mao returned from another inspection that Wang Mo went to rest.
It's just that I haven't slept for long, and just after the first shift, a small school suddenly came to report that it was a fire in the city. Straight to sleep Zhengxiang Wang Mo quarreled. Wang Mo, who got up from the bed, rubbed his head and said impatiently: "What are you panicking, it must be that the sergeant was careless when he was cooking, and the embers were not extinguished." Just like that, you put out the fire, it's a disturbing dream at night! ”
"No, General, this, this is by no means a leak from the sergeant's cooking, there are many fires in the city now......"
When Wang Mo heard this, he was startled, and the little sleepiness that he had had suddenly turned into nothing, and hurriedly asked, "What the hell is going on, you explain it to me clearly." ”
"Yes, yes." The soldier hurriedly said: "At the beginning of the fire, General He has not yet slept peacefully, and General He also thinks like the general. Then they were asked to put out the fire, and they came from all over the city to report that it was a fire. General He felt that something was wrong at this time, and hurriedly ordered me to come and tell him, please make a decision! ”
When Wang Mo heard this, he was shocked and hurriedly asked the little school to help him with his armor. With the armor on his body, Wang Mo hurriedly ran to the front office, only to see that in the lobby, He Mao was pacing back and forth there, Wang Mo hurriedly rushed forward and asked: "What's going on, isn't it no problem to check it several times?" How is it possible that all over the city is on fire all at once? ”
He Mao just shook his head with difficulty when he heard this: "But I have carefully checked, there is no one in the city, and there is no hay and other things that cause fire in the houses, I don't know how to start a fire." It is because I have checked several times, my sergeants are tired again, the guards are lax, and the Cao army does not know that it has touched the city, and the Cao army has several rounds of rockets down, and it is reported that the east gate and the south gate have now been engulfed in fire, if you don't get up again, I will order the whole army to break through. ”
"Breakout, yes, breakout!" Wang Mo hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "I'm afraid this Cao army is coming from the southeast, so the southeast is the first to be attacked, and the fire is the largest. We will immediately reorganize our army and break through from the West Gate! ”
Before the words fell, another junior colonel hurriedly ran in and shouted: "General, no, General, the West Gate is also burning!" ”
"Hmph, it seems that this Cao Jun didn't want me to escape, so he came from the southeast and ran directly to the west. went to give the order, and the whole army immediately broke through through the north gate. ”
Wang Mo and He Mao gave an order, and the two of them naturally did not stay for a long time, and then escaped from the county office, went straight to the north gate, and looked back, only to see the entire south of Ganling City, the fire was soaring into the sky, and the dark night was reflected in a piece of red.