Anyang is unusually lively: the people and horses wrapped in yellow scarves all the way enter from the gate of the county town that is open day and night, and soon the originally sparsely populated county town is bustling, and there are some signs of prosperity. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoAlthough everyone understands that this prosperity is only due to the large number of customers in the city, the small people in the mountains and wilderness, who are forced to make a living, still get up early and sell their mountain goods and other goods to the city. For a while, people came and went in Anyang City, and the sound of shouting and shouting was not noticed, which made people feel prosperous here.

It's just that this prosperity is only superficial. Looking at the Yellow Turbans coming and going, looking at the sharp blades they held in their hands, there were several people at both ends under the rule of the Yellow Turbans, where did they not understand that these people who entered the city were the elite of the Yellow Turban Army.

"It looks like there's going to be a war, and it's going to be a big war." This was known not only to the soldiers, but also to the Yellow Turban soldiers who had entered the city.

"Who's the opponent this time?" The soldiers who came later did not know much about this question, so they went to ask the soldiers who came first. Although the Yellow Turban forces have their own subordinates, and there are incidents of attacking each other from time to time in the large and small upper forests in Runan, but after Liu Pi became the commander of the Yellow Turbans, such things are much less, and most of the people who obeyed Liu Pi's recruitment this time are Liu Bi's periphery and allies, so the various forces that come to Anyang are somewhat related, and they are not so cold to each other.

"Why didn't your general tell you?" The soldier who came first asked rhetorically, and when he saw that the other party was slightly stunned, he kindly explained to him: "It may be the order of Commander Liu Pi." Everyone is the same, and it is only here that we understand who we are fighting and why we are fighting them. According to our general's explanation, this is due to the fact that there are many commanders who come to participate in the war, and their relatives are different from each other. Commander Liu Pi was somewhat worried that someone had leaked the news. ”

Roughly explained in this way, the doubts in the hearts of the people were completely dissipated. Then he became more interested in the enemy he was about to face: "Who are we going to fight?" actually made Liu Pi so cautious. ”

"I heard that it is the small county commander named Li Sheng in the south, he is not very old, but he is quite famous in Jingzhou. In fact, where do we people know who he is? I only know that such a small guy as him dares to say that he is going to exterminate all our Yellow Turbans. That's a big joke. But it also annoyed Commander Liu Pi. The soldier who came first said lazily and lazily, and put on a look of indifference—he didn't seem to be too worried about the battle that was coming.

"Why not worry?" Some people find this strange.

"What is there to worry about." When asked, the soldier who came first couldn't help but roll his eyes: "We have 10,000 soldiers and horses!" And the other side heard that there were only a thousand people. With such a large disparity in forces, what do we have to worry about? Do you still think that each of them is a pilot? Even if you are a flying general, there is no day of death? ”

Such a sharp rebuttal was naturally not what the ordinary soldier himself meant. They also heeded the encouragement of the superiors above and said so. Of course, the specific statements between them vary according to their different personalities, but the meaning of what they say is very similar. They told them in their own words what their commander had told them, and they were sure that it was true, so they said it with great certainty, so that the new soldier suddenly regained his composure from his panic, and from calm to arrogance. Encouraged by each other, they were convinced of this: "I will never lose." ”

With such a belief, the morale of the army naturally soared. This made the generals who came very happy. They don't care if they planned it themselves. As long as they saw that the morale of their army really went up, their hearts were calm. They were all men who had led soldiers for several years, so how could they not know the importance of morale in battle? Seeing that the current situation was so gratifying, and the contrast between the strength of the enemy and our forces was so huge, they didn't think much of the guy on the other side was the same thing, and how to get the most military merit in this battle was the biggest task in front of them. They began to secretly fight each other, in order to get a good errand for their team when Gong Du ordered to set off. For this reason, an undercurrent quietly spread among the heavy generals.

Gong Du is not ignorant of this undercurrent. But he didn't do anything about it, but completely resigned himself to it. Because he felt that the competition between these people was very beneficial to his next step in sending troops to the battle.

"Anyway, no matter how much trouble they make, they can't make too much trouble. Instead of bothering with their miscellaneous affairs, it is better to wait quietly in a good place early for the moment of attack. Gong Du thought so. His so-called good place is just the drum tower on the edge of the Ya in Anyang County. It is the highest place in the county, and you can stand there and enjoy the view of the entire county without anyone disturbing you. The feeling of being completely high and then ascending really made Gong Du intoxicated. Therefore, as long as he has time, he will go up to the top and look down on the railing to feel the incomparable "nobility".

"We've won this battle." Standing against the railing, feeling the cool breeze from above, and looking at the hot training scene in the west of the city, Gong Du's ears seemed to sound the loud shout. His heart and his men generally had no doubts about the outcome of the war.

"Not necessarily. The second master needs to know the truth that arrogant soldiers will be defeated. A hoarse and shrill voice sounded, and it suddenly deeply damaged this picture scroll of "the fierce general looks at the distance by the railing, and his thoughts are full of emotion" - although Gong Du's martial arts are not very good, he is quite brave, and he is very fatal in fighting.

"Is it a military advisor? What are you doing here? As soon as he heard this voice, Gong Du reflexively frowned, and asked unhappily. He really loved and hated this man who was sent by his brother-in-law to help him. He admired this man's talent and knew that all the things in this man's head were used to supplement his own shortcomings. But he was very disgusted with this man's words, because this man's words were always so cold, so vicious: he always spoke to you in a mocking tone, and always poured the most cold water on you when you were most interested, so that your heat would suddenly be zero.

"What a headache." Gong Du muttered this in his heart, and turned around to look at the small pavilion behind him. The pavilion is not lit and is completely in shadow, but the only ladder that can make people go up and down the drum tower is on the gap in the pavilion. If the people below don't come, it's enough, and if they do, they must come out of the shadow of the small pavilion. Therefore, Gong Du was facing right there.

As the sound of tapping the ladder finally disappeared from far and near, I saw a skeleton figure slowly emerge from the darkness, slowly revealing that "very distinctive" appearance: he is not tall, because he is a Luo pot, and he can't straighten up no matter what, which seems to be caused by his love of reading. The almost long face was embedded with ordinary facial features, making his clear black eyes the only bright spot on his face. He was dressed in a cyan checkered brocade robe, and he held a gourd-style handful in his hand. This is the dress that the current person makes, but this kind of dress is a bit polite to others, but it always makes people laugh here.

He shook in front of Gong Du step by step, and bent down his already bent body and arched his hand towards Gong Du. "I've seen the second master." He said lightly. Although it was a salute, people did not feel the respect in his salute at all.

"That's it." Gong Du had long been accustomed to his coldness, and he waved his hand lightly to signal him to stand up first, "Is there anything wrong with Master Mao?" He asked. He knew that he wouldn't come to him for nothing.

"There's news from the east." Mao Shun said without any emotion, reached out and took out a piece of silk cloth full of words from his arms and handed it directly to Gong Du.

"Oh!" Gong Du replied casually, and quickly took the silk cloth from Mao Shun's hand. Because it was news about his enemies, he didn't dare to be careless at all. I saw that the silk cloth was clearly remembered in black and white in very neat italics: how Li Shengjun left the city, how he rushed back after a few hours because of the heavy rain, and how the enemy's reinforcements entered the city—everything that happened in Xinxi three days ago was described word for word, without any exaggeration or omission. As far as intelligence reconnaissance is concerned, the intelligence work of the Yellow Turban Army has undoubtedly reached an extremely high level.

"Looks like we have nothing to worry about." After reading the information, the corners of Gong Du's mouth curled slightly because of excitement, and he directly came to such a conclusion from between the lines of the silk cloth.

"How?" Mao Shun asked lightly. He had also read this information, but after reading it, he felt faintly uneasy in his heart. While he hadn't figured out what was unsettling so far, he didn't think there was anything exciting about it anyway.

"The enemy's forces are still so small. Originally, they only had 1,000 soldiers and horses, but now they have increased their troops, and they have only increased by 1,005, which is still far inferior to us. I think we've won this battle. Gong Du laughed confidently, and said the reason for his inner happiness in an extremely majestic voice.

"Won? Not necessarily, right? Somehow, I always felt a little uneasy in my heart. Seeing Gong Du's proud appearance, Mao Shun couldn't help frowning: "I think the second master still has to be careful, the enemy on the other side is not as simple as you think." I just got another piece of the latest information about them, I wonder if the second master is interested in this? ”

"Another piece of information?" Gong Du heard Mao Shun say this, and couldn't help laughing: "Did you kid go through other people's old things again?" ”

"That's kind of intelligence. It is entirely possible to infer the present personality of the enemy from his past experiences. Mao Shun shook his head gently, he argued in a low voice, and saw that Gong Du's mind was not here, so he had to sigh helplessly, and asked again: "Is the second master willing to listen?" ”

"Since you're suggesting so, I'll listen to your clichés." Gong Du pursed his lips indifferently and reluctantly agreed. Unlike his brother Liu Bi, who admired Mao Shun for everything, Gong Du only admired one aspect of his thinking about military strategy. He didn't understand anything other than fighting, and he didn't look down on it at all. Especially for the past stories about characters in various regions that Mao Shun carefully collected, he was even more scornful.

"What is of use to us what is already in the past? If you have this spare time, you might as well check with me to see if there is any change in our potential enemy. Several times, Gong Du scolded Mao Shun so loudly. However, this had no effect, because for Mao Shun's move, Gong Du's brother-in-law Liu Bi supported him tightly.

"Li Shengzi Xu, a native of Runan, a disciple of the great Confucian Sima Hui, was ominous in his early years, and said that he was the righteous son of Zhuge Xuan and the grandson of Li Yinggong. Last year, he was crowned and was promoted as the commander of Xiyang County by Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao. Due to the Xiyang Rebellion, he led two thousand and a half soldiers to the woman. At that time, there were 5,000 people entrenched in Xiyang, including Zhang Wu, Chen Sun, Liu Ji, and Zhou Yan. Li Sheng fought with him, and in March Liu Ji and Zhou Yan died, and Zhang Wu and Chen Sun negotiated peace with them. Liu Biao took Li Sheng's meritorious service and crowned him as the Sima of other departments, leading the four counties of Jiangxia and northern Xinjiang. Since Gong Du was willing to listen, Mao told Gong Du about Li Sheng's past by the way. He knew that Gong Du was extremely disgusted with long speeches, so he only briefly mentioned some of them, but he focused on one of Li Sheng's most important "merits" - confronting Zhang Wu, Chen Sun and other 5,000 people with 2,500 men, and forcing Zhang Wu and Chen Sun to negotiate peace with them.

"Looks like this guy has some skills." Because of Mao Shun's key introduction, Gong, who knew Li Sheng a little, had to admit this: "With 2,500 troops, Zhang Wu and Chen Sun can be forced to negotiate peace with them, which is powerful enough." I'm not as good as him. He sighed, because he understood that he and his brother Liu Pi had no way to take Zhang Wu and Chen Sun in the past few years, and if it wasn't for Zhang Wu and Chen Sun deciding to go to the south to develop this time, I was afraid that his side would not be able to order all the Yellow Turban Army in Runan like this.

“…… So you want to! Is it so easy to deal with such an enemy? Seeing that Gong Du paid some attention to Li Sheng, Mao quickly made up such a sentence by the way. He hoped that Gong Du would be able to face the other party completely. Because the uneasiness in his heart told him that there must be something that he ignored in a series of actions on Li Sheng's side, and this neglected part was likely to become the cause of his failure.

"You can't say that." Gong Du shook his head vigorously, "When Zhang Wu, Chen Sun and Li Sheng fought, they were already in Xiyang, although it was close to Runan, it was still a different place after all, and it was not as convenient as Runan to deal with all kinds of things, which cannot be compared with our situation today." Moreover, at that time, the comparison between Zhang Wu, Chen Sunjun and Li Sheng's department was two to one, and the gap between the two sides was not as big as the gap between us and Li Sheng's department now. This made Li Sheng's strategy useful to Zhang Wu and Chen Sun at that time. But now, with such a big gap in strength, the other side's strategy is only scratching the itch after all, and it will not have any effect on us at all. Gong is still persistent about the ownership of victory. Because of the disparity in strength, he didn't think that the opposing army could have the level of one as ten.

Seeing that Gong Du was still so stubborn, Mao Shun was a little speechless, but he still wanted to persuade him.

"Second Master still only thinks that the other party only has such a thousand and five hundred troops? I heard that after taking over Xiyang only last year, Li Sheng recruited troops and trained people. According to our estimate of Xiyang's strength, Xiyang can afford to raise at least 8,000 people. That's about the same as the number of troops we have now. Even if Li Sheng couldn't send all 8,000 people for the safety of the territory, he could still send 4,000 to 6,000 troops. In order to persuade Gong Du, Mao Shun slightly exaggerated Li Sheng's strength. He knew that Gong Du didn't care much about things other than the battle, so he made the situation very clear little by little. However, as soon as he said it so clearly, he suddenly remembered what he had forgotten: "Second Master, what if Li Sheng uses the submersible strategy?" ”

"Runners?" Gong Du raised his eyebrows unnaturally when he heard this.

"That is, to use a part of the army as a force in the open to confuse us, and secretly mobilize more troops to hide. When we thought that the opponent's strength on the surface was all their strength and we were complacent, the opponent's strength in the shadows suddenly burst out to give us a fatal blow. Mao Shun saw that Gong Du was a little incomprehensible, so he explained in detail.

"Sure enough, it's a sharp ploy." Gong Du nodded in shock, his brows furrowed tightly, he was always like this at first: "Do you think the other party is likely to use this trick?" ”

"Yes." Mao Shun nodded in various ways: "The other party's Li Sheng is a very person, and it is not impossible for him to use this trick." Runan is mountainous, and there are many trails, and if they really want to hide, we don't know where they will hide. ”

"Hmm. Is there a solution to that? "Gong Du felt troubled. He always felt a headache about the other party's possibility of lurking in the dark. Because it's the unknown, and people are always a little afraid of the unknown.

"If that's the case, we just need to find a way to test out their hidden forces." Mao Shun thought for a while and said.

"How to tempt?" Gong Du asked eagerly.

"Just let the people and horses of Yuxin, Fubo, and Yuanlu speed up the assembly. They are also all teams that responded to the call of the uncle. Mao Shun said with a strange glint flashing in his eyes.

"Three places, such as Yuxin, Fubo, and Yuanlu?" Gong Du pondered for a moment and then came to his senses: "These three places are located to the east of Huaishui, and there is no direct road connection to Anyang. If its troops are to be gathered in Anyang, they must definitely pass through the new breath first. As long as they are pushed tightly, they will have to move quickly towards Xinxi, and in this way, they will have to face Xinxi's army. ”

"As long as the people of these three counties and Xinxi fight a triumvirate, then you can understand some of the enemy's strength. How can it be said that there are more than 3,000 people in these three counties, and their strength is not something that Xinxi's 1,000 and a half can compete with. Thinking of this, Gong Du also laughed: "Strategist, you are fighting this abacus." ”

"That's true." Mao Shun admitted, and he whispered another reason for doing so: "Anyway, the two soldiers and horses except for Xiao Xin are not convinced by us. ”

"That's, that's." Gong Du nodded again and again, "It's time to give these guys a little bitterness." He quickly instructed Mao Shun: "The military advisor will leave all this to you." ”

"Okay." Mao Shun agreed very quickly.

As a result, orders full of urging continued to be sent to the letter.

"Damn, this still doesn't let people live, and it's so tight." Faced with almost three assembly orders a day, Zhao Shun, the leader of Yuxin, frowned tightly. He glanced at Cao Er and Liu Jing, who were sitting still beside him, and asked with a pout, "What do you think about this?" It doesn't seem like it's a simple matter of assembling. ”

"How?" Both asked at the same time.

The three cities of Yuxin, Fubo, and Yuanlu are all cities east of Huaishui and on both sides of Rushui, and because of the distance from Anyang and other places, the other forces in Runan are not much related, and they have a somewhat self-contained taste. Of course, due to the weakness of their own strength, they also understood that it was impossible to survive in troubled times with complete independence, so they superficially obeyed Liu Pi, the number one person in the Yellow Turban of Runan, while also strengthening the ties between the three cities. Under the strong sense of crisis and the deliberate overtures to each other, the three leaders became close as brothers.

At present, they obeyed the orders of Anyang's side, not to curry favor with Liu Bi and Gong Du, but for their own safety: compared to Anyang, Xinxin is closer to Xinxi, and weaker, and Zhao Shun is afraid that Xinxi's side will come to crusade against him. If such a situation really occurs, it will be absolutely impossible to resist it on your side. Zhao Shun didn't want such a situation, so he had to quickly gather the two brothers Cao Er and Liu Jing and their men, gathered 3,000 people, and made a group in Yuxinhug, putting on a posture that was ready to respond to the call of the commander of Liu Pi in Anyang at any time. Originally, they wanted to make the new side scruple and not attack their side. I didn't think that the attack on Xinxi had not yet arrived, but Anyang's urging was tighter than one by one.

"It's a cocoon." Thinking of the current situation, the three of them couldn't help but smile bitterly. They couldn't ignore Anyang's request, because if they refused, it would undoubtedly be clear to the Xinxi side that the original alliance was fake, and in fact the two sides had nothing to do with each other.

"That's going to make the new army come right away." All three of them knew this very well. They felt that they were in a dilemma, and from the first arrival of the urging letter they were in a state of unbounded distress.

"Anyang wants to kill us?" Cao Er and Liu Jing, who deeply understood how powerful the enemy of Xinxi was, couldn't help but think like this. They thought it was purely a trap on the part of the other party. But after hearing Zhao Shun say this at this moment, they immediately understood that things were not so simple. They immediately looked at Zhao Shun and quietly waited for the explanation of the big "wise man".

Faced with the concern of the two brothers, Zhao Shun gently shook his head, which had absolutely nothing to do with Sven, and began his own explanation: "Anyang's side definitely doesn't know much about Xinxi, and they are a little unsure of the level of the enemy on the other side, so they urge us. They didn't want us to go to Anyang quickly, but let us get in touch with Xinxi as soon as possible and fight such a battle, so that Anyang could understand the combat strength of Xinxi's side. ”

"Huh? So, they're using us as guns? Hearing Zhao Shun say that Anyang had made such a calculation, Cao Er and Liu Jing couldn't help but be furious. They were annoyed and asked Zhao Shun: "Can you disobey their orders?" ”

"Nope." Zhao Shun shook his head: "At the moment, we must not have a goal with Anyang's side." Not only can we not turn the other around, but we must also quickly follow the advice of Anyang and send troops to Xinxi. ”

"Why?" Cao Er and Liu Jing were puzzled. "Because the three places of Yuxin, Fubo, and Yuanlu are too far away from Anyang, we are equivalent to directly facing the threat of this new breath. Although with the strength of Xinxi's side, I am afraid that we will not be able to defeat Anyang, but it is still possible to vent our anger on our heads. We can't bear such anger, so we can only go to Anyang for shelter. The actual third is to give us an interface. ”

"I see." Cao Er and Liu Jing suddenly came to their senses: "Then we have to prepare immediately." ”

"Yes. I am going to prepare it immediately. We have to go as fast as possible.

Zhao Shun nodded and said. He immediately ordered the men and horses in the city: "Cook at the end of the day, and leave at the end of the day." ”

*****

The soldiers who filled their stomachs marched in a neat line to the south. At this time, the cloudy sky floated like drizzle, falling like a drum, which made the marching soldiers feel extremely uncomfortable. Since it wasn't raining heavily, it was impossible for the team to stop advancing. So, down to the lowest-level guys, up to Zhao Shun, Cao Er, and Liu Jing, they all had to brave the rain to move forward in the curtain of this rain.

It's been a long time since I've been out of the city, and the city in the north has disappeared from view. Although it is really dilapidated, and there is no oil and water to speak of, it is a place where he has lived for several years after all, and now that it has been abandoned, Zhao Shun's heart is still a little reluctant. He couldn't help but glance back in that direction, took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and once again gave the order for the whole army to accelerate forward.

"Huh?" Hearing this unreasonable order, Cao Er and Liu Jing suddenly felt a little weird, and they looked at Zhao Shun suspiciously.

"Today we have to get to the crossing of the Huai River. If it gets late and the rain starts to rain again, I am afraid that it will become more and more difficult to cross the river. Facing the two brothers who looked at him with surprised eyes, Zhao Shun made this explanation.

At this time, the rain became heavier and heavier, enveloping everyone in a smoky illusion. Gradually, the soldiers found that the ground beneath their feet became wet, waterlogged, and muddy. They were uncomfortable, but they still had to brave the rain as the order to rest never came down. Under the pouring rain, their clothes were already clinging to their bodies, making their already staggering steps due to the bad roads becoming more sluggish and clumsy. In the face of such a harsh marching environment, many people in the army have gradually complained. They thought they hadn't fought for years, and how could they endure this. Although he was still following the orders from above, he was already full of anger in his heart.

Traveling in the pouring rain, the team gradually moved away from the flat ground. This is a mountain road, although the boundary is not high, but it is indeed cut between the mountains and forests, but it is also very winding. There were more potholes on the ground than there had just passed. The road became more difficult, which slowed down the speed of the team. Three thousand people crowded together on this winding mountain road, moving at a speed comparable to that of a tortoise. From a distance, it looks like a fat caterpillar.

The soldier's face is bitter. The discomfort in their bodies and the hesitation in their hearts made their hearts as gray as this rainy day. Their commander didn't say why they were going out this time, or what they were going to do right now. They were only ordered to go out of the city, ordered to go south, and ordered to brave the rain to climb the mountains and mountains. They didn't have a goal, they just followed in a daze, moving forward without knowing what to do.

"Alas, it's really hard for them." Cao Er glanced at the brothers in the team behind him with pity, sighed, and turned his head. Truth be told, he didn't want to hide it from his brothers. But as far as the current situation is concerned, they can't hide it, after all, before the final result comes out, they are really carrying out a "suicide" march.

"How far is it from the ferry?" Cao Er couldn't help but ask Zhao Shun again. The rain in the sky was getting heavier and heavier, and the hard armor crackled as it hit his body. "I can't go on. You really can't be on the march anymore. "It's so uncomfortable to move on that Cao Er himself has the idea of giving up.

"Don't worry, you'll be there after this mountain." Zhao Shun wiped the rain from his face and said with a smile. He knows best how to go this way. Although the rain was so heavy that even he couldn't stand it, he knew that his destination was almost there, so he didn't care: "Let's everyone cheer up." When we got to the ferry, we renovated it and then we were ready to cross the river. Although the rain is a little more difficult now, it is not a trouble. Once we've crossed the other side, we'll have to be careful. It is said that the clever ones like to use tricks the most, and we should not fall for them. ”

"That's right." Cao Er and Liu Jing glanced at each other, nodded and said at the same time.

Because of hope, they finally laughed too. It's just that this smile is so stupid in the eyes of the group of people in the woods.