On the third day of October in the first year of Wude, Zhang Xiu led an army of 30,000 under his command and officially launched an attack on Yingchuan, the scope of Zhang Yan's power.

Now it is October weather, the north has been immersed in a cold, the wind from the northwest is constantly howling, but there is no snow for a long time, Rao is so, in the cold wind like a knife, people can still feel the cold of winter.

Compared with previous years, this year's weather is more abnormal, in such a cold weather, God did not snow, so that some people are worried about the harvest next year.

If God doesn't even snow, there will be no good harvest next year.

Zhang Xiu took 5,000 cavalry first, galloping on the way to Yangzhai, the county town of Yingchuan County, due to the cold weather, people generally do not go out, so there is basically no one on the road, and everywhere they pass is also desolate.

However, the cold wind like a knife has always been with Zhang Xiu and others, and he is unwilling to leave for a moment.

The fierce north wind continued to blow, and the cold wind was biting, reaching the heart and spleen, making people feel a chill all over the body. And Zhang Xiu's hands were almost unconscious, and it was difficult to even pull the reins of the horse, and his teeth were uncontrollably playing up and down with a fast-paced sound, and his face was more like being cut by the sharp north wind, which was extremely painful.

Not only Zhang Xiu, but also his five thousand cavalry were also enduring this biting cold, but fortunately there was no snow, otherwise, once the snow fell, the horses would not be able to walk freely in the snow, and they would also be trapped by the heavy snow, and then they would want to attack with lightning speed. I'm afraid it's harder than climbing to the sky.

This time in the past. Zhang Xiu and his subordinates will nest in the barracks. Roasting a bonfire, expelling the cold, occasionally bringing a bowl of delicious and piping hot broth, and drinking a pot of warm and warm hot wine, that kind of day is called a day. Now they are marching in this kind of ghost weather, and the soldiers, including Zhang Xiu, are complaining that Liu Biao led the army to choose the wrong day. This kind of ghost weather is really torturous weather.

Zhang Xiu's ears always sounded the voice of his subordinates complaining, although he was not happy in his heart, but he didn't say anything, just reprimanded a few words.

After that, there was only the sound of horses' hooves galloping and the whirring wind, and everything was so quiet.

Zhang Xiu raised his head and looked at the sky. The sky was overcast, with lead-gray clouds dense together. The pressure was very low, and the oncoming wind was still howling angrily, and the faces of the people who were blowing hurt in pain.

Zhang Xiu and his subordinates are all from the northwest, and they have long been accustomed to this cold weather, but in recent years, since they took refuge in Liu Biao's account and settled in Nanyang, they have gradually become familiar with the climate of Nanyang, and forgot that the bad weather in the northwest may be pampered, and when they suffer from this bad weather again, they are a little uncomfortable.

Sure enough, it was hunger, cold and embarrassment that aroused the thief's heart, and he was full of wine and food and lust. Although Zhang Xiu trained the army in Jingzhou as usual in the past few years, he never fought a battle, and compared with the time when he followed his uncle Zhang Ji, he did not fight without fighting, but he lacked a belligerent spirit.

This time, as Liu Biao's vanguard general, Zhang Xiu vaguely realized his shortcomings, and the pampering in the past few years has also made the whole army a little too comfortable, and it seems that he can never return to the warlike army of the past.

In the past few years, too many things have happened, and the remnants of the army he brought over have all become the backbone of the army, and they have all married wives and children in Nanyang, and they are all family people, so they have concerns.

In this expedition, whether the soldiers can still be as fierce as before, for Zhang Xiu, everything is unknown.

"Tell the order to go down, speed up, and get to your destination before the snow falls." Zhang Xiu said to the herald beside him.

The herald nodded, and immediately conveyed Zhang Xiu's order, although these cavalry complained about the weather, they still listened to Zhang Xiu's words, and they all hurried up their horses and accelerated their advance.

Zhang Xiu took the five thousand cavalry, non-stop towards Yangzhai City, along the way through the father city, Jiaxian, did not take any action, he only has one goal, that is, Yangzhai City, not willing to waste time in the county along the way, nor willing to prematurely startle the snake.

In Yangzhai City, Yingchuan Taishou Yang Xiu did not know about Zhang Xiu's attack with troops, and he also ordered the soldiers guarding the city to open the city gate as usual, although it was already a cold winter, but Yangzhai City was still very lively, the people in the market were still shopping, and there were many shops on both sides of the street, everything was immersed in a peaceful atmosphere, and they did not know about the impending disaster.

Suddenly, a cavalryman galloped from outside the city of Yangzhai, because he was wearing the uniform of the Han army, so the soldiers defending the city had no worries at all, and let him enter the city.

The cavalryman galloped quickly, and after entering Yangzhai City, he soon rushed into the bustling inner city, facing the bustling crowd on the street, the knight did not slow down, but kept waving the whip in his hand, whipping the horse's back, as if he still felt that the horse was running too slowly, and shouted loudly to get out of the way of all the pedestrians in the street.

The cavalry roared away from the street, rolled up a cloud of dust, slapped the pedestrians' faces with the wind, and after breaking through the inner city, he turned a corner and galloped away from the Taishou Mansion in Chaoyang Zhaicheng.

The cavalry came to the gate of the Taishou Mansion, hurriedly reined in the horses, quickly turned over from the horses and jumped down, and walked towards the Taishou Mansion in a panic.

At this moment, Yang Xian was in the hall of the Taishou Mansion to review the official documents sent by the counties, and while giving instructions, he made notes in a small notebook, recording some good suggestions, as well as the person who made the suggestion, and preparing to commend and reward them at the meeting at the end of the year.

"Urgent—"

"Urgent—"

The voice came from far and near, and when Yang Xiu raised his head, he saw a person wearing a Han army uniform, panting in front of him, his face was pale, and his face was panicked, it was his scout.

When the man entered the hall, he hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "Lord Qiyu Taishou, report urgently, report urgently......"

"Speak quickly!" Yang Xiuzhi said that if it wasn't for an urgent report, he would definitely not have trespassed into the Taishou Mansion without permission, and he also guessed that this urgent report must be a big matter, otherwise, as the captain of the scout, he would not have come to report it in person.

"Our army found a large number of Liu Biao's troops, and the leader was Zhang Xiu, the Taishou of Nanyang under Liu Biao's account, with 5,000 cavalry in the front, less than 30 miles away from Yangzhai City, and another 25,000 troops in the back, also coming towards Yangzhai City."

When Yang Xiu heard the news, he immediately frowned, surprised that Liu Biao actually fought without declaring a war, and there was an army of 30,000 people, and the leader was still Zhang Xiu.

"Come, immediately send an order to the soldiers defending the city, raise the drawbridge, close all the gates, no one is allowed to enter or leave the city without my order, and immediately gather all the troops in the city, and assemble them all in the school field!" Yang Xiu was crisp and neat, without the slightest hesitation, and ordered directly.

As soon as the order was issued, the soldiers who were originally resting in the barracks because of the cold weather had to all gather and stand on the cold school field to accept Yang Xiu's review.

Yang Xiu boarded the platform of the school and glanced at the three thousand soldiers in front of him, these soldiers used to be militiamen, and last year, because of the shortage of troops, they became a real regular army, but they were okay to protect the territory and the people, if they wanted to fight, none of them had ever fought.

However, this time to defend Yang Zhai City, it can only rely on them.

Yang Xiu stood on the platform of the generals, and said loudly: "This mansion has just received the news, Liu Biao sent Zhang Xiu to lead an army of 30,000 and go straight to Yangzhai, the front 5,000 cavalry is already less than thirty miles away from here, and it will arrive in a moment, you are the only army in Yangzhai City, whether Yangzhai City can be captured by the enemy this time depends on yours!" Raising troops for a thousand days and using them for a while, this government hopes that you can show ten times the courage to defend this city, which is equivalent to guarding your family. In addition, I have already sent for help, and as long as we can hold out until the help arrives, we will be able to repel the attacking enemy. ”

Yang Xiu in the past few years as a guard, Yang Zhai City, and even the entire Yingchuan, are well governed, Zhang Yan has ordered three times to transfer Yang Xiu to Pengcheng as an official, but because the people are reluctant to Yang Xiu, on the book of the people, to stay Yang Xiu, and Yang Xiu is not willing to leave Yingchuan, so give up.

However, at the junction of Yingchuan and Nanyang, although Yang Xiu and Zhang Xiu have not met, they have been friends for a long time. Because of Yang Xiu, at the junction of Nanyang and Yingchuan, a mutual market was set up, which could be used by the people of the two places to buy what they needed, and to promote the exchange of the people of the two counties.

In addition, Liu Biao has always shown an extremely obedient appearance to Zhang Yan, so Zhang Yan did not set up heavy troops at the junction with Liu Biao, but only set up a standing militia for the purpose of maintaining law and order. But last year, when the army was insufficient, Zhang Yan turned the militia into a regular army in one go, and this is the army.

However, this kind of army has never fought a war and has never encountered a war, and when the war really comes, it is unknown whether it can become an important force to defend the city and confront the enemy army.

However, between Yingchuan, Runan, and Chenliu, Liu Chong, the king of Chen, who was located in Chen County, had an army of 5,000 men and was responsible for protecting the security of this area. Since Liu Pet was attached to Zhang Yan, he has been courteous to Zhang Yan, and Zhang Yan did not seize Liu Pet's army, but let Liu Pet continue to command the army, and shouldered the role of maintaining law and order in the surrounding area.

The henchmen sent by Yang Xiu went to Chen County to ask Chen King Liu Pet to send troops to support.

However, after all, Liu Pet's army is not Zhang Yan's descendant troops, nor is it under Zhang Yan's command, whether it can come to support is still unknown, because the 5,000 troops of Liu Pet are King Chen's personal guards, not a regular army, nor a militia, but only Liu Pet's.

Yang Xiu was worried, so he sent someone to Henan closest to him again, asked for help from Henan Yin Zhanghong, and sent someone to report to Pengcheng, hoping that Zhang Yan could dispatch troops to come to support. (To be continued......)