In the narrow valley road, a long serpentine cavalry force was galloping.

The ground is quite flat, but the towering cliffs on both sides are only a few feet apart, so that this valley road through Longshan can only accommodate two horsemen in a flat row at most.

In the hollow, the sound of horses' hooves echoed.

Xiahou Yuan glanced up at the top of his head, only to see that at the end of the mountain, the sky was as continuous as a line, and occasionally one or two larks would pass by from the line of sky, but it was only fleeting.

Xiahou Yuan reined in the horse's hooves, stopped on the side of the road, and scanned every soldier who hurried past in front of him with a solemn gaze, and shouted: "Speed up, give me a little faster." ”

While he was speaking, a general galloped over with a mixed expression on his face.

Before the man could get closer, Xiahou Yuan asked in a loud voice, "Boji, what is the situation in the street pavilion, is there an enemy army stationed there?" ”

That person was none other than the marching Sima Guo Huai.

Guo Huai reined in the horse's hooves, panting, and said with a worried face: "General, our scouts have reported that there are already enemy troops stationed in the street pavilion, and according to the locals, they just arrived two days ago. ”

Xiahou Yuan frowned and muttered, "It's still a step too late." ”

A few days ago, Xiahou Yuan received the news that Liu Bei's army had left Qishan, drove straight into the counties of Longxi, and besieged Jicheng, the place of Tianshui Zhi.

This news naturally surprised Xiahou Yuan, and after discussing it with Zhang He, Guo Huai and others, everyone agreed that Duke Wei had fallen for Liu Beisheng's plan to attack the west, and that the capture of Nanyang was false, and the battle for Guanlong was true. As for Zhang Fei's subordinate who confronted him in Chen Cangzhong, looking at the recent combat effectiveness of the period, Xiahou Yuan concluded that the purpose of this army was just to drag his main force of Guan Long in Chen Cang.

Of course, Xiahou Yuan knew that his main force was Chen Cang, and the only county soldiers in Longxi counties were less than 20,000 and their combat effectiveness was quite weak.

Therefore, Xiahou Yuan immediately made a decision, leaving Zhang He to lead 10,000 soldiers and horses to hold Chencang according to the danger, and he personally led 40,000 foot horsemen to ride back to Longxi in the starry night. And with Xiahou Yuan's ability, he naturally knew the important surname of Jieting, so he left 20,000 foot soldiers and then left, he first brought nearly 20,000 cavalry, and rushed all the way to the middle of Longshan to seize Jieting.

Still, it was two days late.

Xiahou Yuan really didn't expect that the enemy's advance was so fast, and the counties of Longxi had not yet been pacified, so he hurriedly went to Jieting to block the Longshan passage, which made Xiahou Yuan feel more and more that he had indeed fallen into Liu Bei's long-planned trap.

However, he was Xiahou Yuan, and this news alone was not enough to discourage him, so he asked again: "How many people are there in the enemy army?" ”

Guo Huai said with a smile: "This is exactly the good news that Huai reported to the general, Ma Chao's soldiers and horses are obviously not enough, and the enemy troops stationed in the street pavilion this time are no more than seven thousand." ”

Xiahou Yuan's face swelled with disdain again, and he snorted coldly, "The city walls of Jieting City are low and vulnerable, and the terrain of the general entrance of the five roads is flat and wide, with only 7,000 foot soldiers, how can I stop my 20,000 iron horsemen." ”

Guo Huai's face sank again at this time, and he sighed: "However, the bad news is that the enemy army did not defend the city, nor did they set up a village at the general entrance of the five roads, but relied on the street Tingnan Mountain, according to the dangerous camp. ”

This news couldn't help but change Xiahou Yuan's color slightly, when he was crisscrossing Guanlong, how many times did he walk the road of Jieting, what is the terrain here, Xiahou Yuan couldn't be clearer, and he also knows the terrain of Nanshan quite well. Therefore, when he heard that the enemy army was holding on to Nanshan, Xiahou Yuan realized that the enemy he faced this time would be an extremely difficult bone to gnaw.

However, the matter has come to this point, and only one step at a time counts.

So, Xiahou Yuan took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "I can't care about that much, I ordered the whole army to move forward quickly, and let's rush to the street pavilion first." ”

After half a day, 20,000 iron horsemen finally ran out of the narrow valley road of Longshan and arrived at the street pavilion at the general entrance of the fifth road. As soon as I got out of the valley road, I suddenly opened up in front of me, and walked along the flat land on both sides of the gurgling Qingshui River, and after a while, the small town of Jieting was in front of me, and the steep Nanshan also entered the eyes of Xiahou Yuan.

Next, Xiahou Yuan allocated 1,000 soldiers and horses to occupy Jieting City first, and then ordered the whole army to surround Nanshan. While looking around the mountain to inspect the soldiers, Xiahou Yuan couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh.

"General, could it be that there is a good plan to break the enemy?" Guo Huai was puzzled.

Xiahou Yuan asked disdainfully, "Boji, have you ever inquired about who the main general of the enemy army is this time?" ”

Guo Huai replied: "It is said that the main general Fang Shao and the deputy general are called Wang Ping. ”

Xiahou Yuan said disapprerovingly: "Do these two have any reputation? ”

I don't know if Xiahou Yuan has been fighting in Guanlong for a long time and is not familiar with Jing Yi's affairs, or if he deliberately expressed disdain.

Guo Huai had no choice but to say: "I heard that Fang Shao is a very important strategist under Liu Bei, when Liu Bei captured Hanzhong before, he relied on this person for advice, and not long ago in the battle of Xiangfan, it is said that Guan Yu also had this person's plan, so as to shock Huaxia." As for this Wang Ping, I only heard that he was only a young general under Zhang Lu, and later when Liu Bei won Hanzhong, he was promoted to a higher level, as for what reputation he had, I don't know very well. ”

Xiahou snorted coldly, "A strategist with no name, an unknown pawn, hum, Ma Chao used the two of them to guard important places such as the Street Pavilion, it seems that he is the same as before, he is still just a brave and unscrupulous horseman, and he really hasn't grown at all." ”

In the face of Xiahou Yuan's self-confidence, Guo Huai was very cautious, "General, I look at the situation of this Nanshan, it is really an easy place to defend and difficult to attack, that Fang Shao will camp in this mountain, it seems that he also knows a lot about the art of war, and we should not underestimate it." ”

Xiahou Yuan laughed, "Boji, you really think too highly of this surnamed Fang. This Nanshan is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, but Boji didn't see it, the enemy army is located in a high mountain, and the source of water is only the Qingshui River under this mountain, and our army can easily cut it off, and at that time, we only need to besiege but not attack, and when the enemy army is sleepy and thirsty, it will not take long to be in chaos without a fight. ”

Hearing Xiahou Yuan's words, Guo Huai thought about it carefully, and couldn't help but smile, "What the general said is extremely true, well, it seems that the person surnamed Fang thinks he is smart, but he doesn't know that he is smart but he is mistaken by cleverness, and he is really killing himself." ”

So, on the day of arriving at Jieting, Xiahou Yuan surrounded Nanshan, and at the same time cut off the road from Nanshan to the Qingshui River to get water, after two days of siege, the remaining 20,000 foot soldiers also arrived at Jieting, and the Cao army in the place of Jieting reached as many as 40,000, Xiahou Yuan calmly surrounded the 7,000 Han army into an iron bucket.

One day, two days, three days, and five days passed, but the Han army on the mountain did not collapse because of the water break as Xiahou Yuan expected. Looking down the mountain, I saw the Han soldiers stationed on the slope of the mountaintop, all of them were full of energy, and they could not see the slightest lack of water.

On the sixth day, Xiahou Yuan began to be a little unable to sit still, so he organized several tentative attacks. The result is of course obvious, the condescending, occupying the dangerous Han army, only need to calmly drop arrows on the crescent-shaped platform, and kill the Cao army who is squeezed on the narrow slope and difficult to attack, after paying the price of more than 1,000 casualties, Xiahou Yuan had to give up the idea of attacking.

"Grandma's, Lao Tzu cut off the water source, why is the enemy still not chaotic, could it be that these Yizhou soldiers have trained the ability not to drink water?"

Xiahou Yuan at the foot of the mountain fell into a puzzled situation, while Fang Shao on the mountain was comfortably taking a cold bath.

"Sir, this spring is still a little cold, do you really want me to pour it?" Ahsan asked, holding the barrel high and frowning.

The shirtless Fang Shao waved his hand, "What are you afraid of, taking a cold shower is good for your body, don't talk nonsense, hurry up." ”

Ah Shan had to grit his teeth and pour a bucket of spring water on Fang Shao's body.

In an instant, the cool spring water poured all over his body, only making Fang Shao shiver with cold, but the refreshment that followed made the blood veins all over his body feel extremely comfortable.

A few days ago, Fang Shao speculated the root cause of the defeat of the Street Pavilion in history, and the reason for that failure was not Ma Tan's incompetence, nor how great Zhang He was, the key was the failure of the pair of Ma Tan and Wang Ping.

Ma Tan has always followed Zhuge Liang's side, according to the current statement, that is the confidential secretary next to the leader, who is a high-level elite. As for Wang Ping, although he has some military talent, he is a very rough man, according to historical records, Wang Ping's surname is irritable, and he does not get along well with many colleagues.

Therefore, when Zhuge Liang parachuted an elite of a high-level organ like Ma Jian to the front line and became Wang Ping's boss, one was a literati with a bit of leadership, and the other was a rude military general with a short temper.

Therefore, Fang Shao probably calculated that after Ma Jian occupied Nanshan, he knew that the Wei army would definitely cut off the clear water source of the Qingshui River, so he divided 3,000 troops to let Wang Ping stick to the dark water source of this mountain spring halfway up Nanshan, and led the main force to hold Nanshan.

However, because of the contradiction between the two, Wang Ping did not take Ma Tan's order too seriously, when the Wei army discovered this dark water source and came to attack, Wang Ping decisively gave up and led the army to retreat to the west of Nanshan Xiazhai, which led to the complete cut off of Ma Tan's water source, which led to the defeat of Jieting.

What is the suspicion of history, this is only Fang Shao's own speculation, but in fact, sticking to Nanshan is the best choice to stick to the street pavilion.

However, this time, Fang Shao changed his deployment, he ordered Wang Ping to lead 4,000 people to garrison Nanshan, while he himself personally led 3,000 people to guard the dark water source.

A day later, the depressed Xiahou Yuan finally discovered the secret.

(To be continued)