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—————— Yecheng. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

After more than half a month, Fang Shao is revisiting his hometown.

On the day after Jiang Wei's 5,000 cavalry set off, Fang Shao led 60,000 cavalry to set out, and after meeting Wei Yan's 10,000 horses, the 70,000 army once again slaughtered Yecheng.

When Fang Shao had just completed the siege of Yecheng, Jiang Wei from the south sent good news.

As Fang Shao expected, no one in the Wei State expected that the Han army would go straight through the hinterland of the Wei State, give way to the city, and take the Liyang Fortress directly.

Because Jiang Wei came quickly, the only 600 defenders in Liyang City thought that they were their own people, and they didn't even have time to close the city gate, so they were rushed into the city by the 5,000 cavalry led by Jiang Wei, and after a massacre, they successfully occupied this important town on the north bank of the Yellow River.

The original plan was only to capture Liyang, but Jiang Wei had a sudden inspiration after succeeding, and when the enemy on the other side had not yet reacted, he sent a group of men and horses to quickly cross the river, and burned the hundreds of ferries gathered at the Baimajin ferry on the south bank with lightning speed.

In this way, even if Cao Ying led the army back and wanted to cross the river to recapture Liyang, the collection of ferries would have to delay for a while.

Jiang Wei did an excellent job of completing the task given to him by Fang Shao, which gave Fang Shao a reassurance, and now he could deal with Xiahou Xi in Yecheng with peace of mind.

So, after learning the news of the fall of Liyang, Fang Shao ordered Deng Ai, Guan Xing and others to divide their troops to attack the strategic passes in the east and west of Yecheng, in case Cao Ying could not capture Liyang, and instead took a detour from Hanoi County in the east or Yangping County in the west to rescue Yecheng.

Although the Han army has experienced the previous defeat, the morale has been low, but the situation of the Wei people in Yecheng is not much better, and now they are suddenly killed back by the Han army, and under the hopelessness of foreign aid, the people in the city are already panicking.

Now that the siege is over, it is only a matter of time before the capture is over, and the only thing that worries Fang Shao is the supply of grain and grass.

Since the start of the war last winter, the war has lasted for nearly half a year, and the physical condition of the soldiers is still secondary, and the key is that the supply of food and grass has gradually been exhausted. In fact, after the Battle of Jingcheng Pass, Liu Bei had already planned to withdraw his troops due to lack of grain and grass, but he decided to continue the war only because of the capture of hundreds of thousands of stones of grain and grass left by the Wei army.

However, after several months of war, the captured grain and grass have also been exhausted, and now it is spring, and the strong laborers in Guanzhong have all gone to the battlefield, and spring ploughing is bound to be affected, and this year's summer grain production has become a foregone conclusion, and it is naturally very unfavorable to the Han army to drag on like this.

Fang Shao had considered this when he was preparing to implement the counterattack plan, but after Liu Bei woke up, he provided him with a solution.

In the Chinese military tent, Fang Shao looked at the secret letter in his hand again and again, his eyebrows were deep, as if he was thinking about something.

While he was groaning, Ma Jian hurriedly entered and arched his hand: "Da Sima, the news has just come from the south that Cao Ying has led his division back and has entered Dongjun. ”

Fang Shao came back from his thoughts, nodded and said: "It seems that Cao Ying is planning to give up Xuzhou and defend Yecheng, and sent an order to Jiang Wei, ordering him to guard Liyang, and never let Cao Ying cross the Yellow River north with a single soldier." ”

Ma Yan agreed, but there seemed to be a little suspicion in his expression, Fang Shao saw it clearly, and said with a smile: "Young Chang, if you have any opinions, it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

Ma Jian paused for a moment, and then said: "Da Sima, Cao Ying, this thief is very slippery, now he must know the intentions of our army, I am thinking, according to the wisdom of this thief, he knows this, why did he come to attack Liyang according to our plan?" ”

Fang Shao realized something: "What you said is reasonable, do you think that Cao Yingming's attack on Liyang is fake, but he secretly has other plans?" ”

Ma Jian no longer beat around the bush, and said bluntly: "I think that although Cao Ying enters Dongjun, he may not attack Liyang, and it is very likely that he will go to Yingchuan through Dongjun, and then cross the Yellow River from Yingchuan north to Hanoi County, and then go west to rescue Yecheng." ”

Hanoi County is a long and narrow terrain at the junction of Taihang Mountain and the Yellow River, and Wangwu Mountain in the west is connected with Hedong County and Wei County in the east.

Ma Yan's worries reminded Fang Shao that it was obvious that his worries were not superfluous.

Fang Shao thought for a moment, and then said: "Youchang is right to be worried, Cao Ying's fight is very slippery, then I will allocate another 5,000 soldiers and horses to Anguo to strengthen the defense of the junction between Wei County and Hanoi." ”

Ma Yan's suggestion was taken seriously by Fang Shao, and there was a secret joy on his face, and he said: "When Fang Cai Tan came in, he saw that Da Sima seemed to have something on his mind, and he guessed that Da Sima was worried about attacking Ye. ”

Ma Tan's ability to observe faces and perceive people's hearts is indeed extraordinary.

Fang Shao laughed, and handed him the letter in his hand, "Since you know my heart well, then I won't hide it from you, you can take a look at this letter first." ”

Ma Jian took the letter and took a closer look, and couldn't help but show a little surprise on his face, and said strangely: "Da Sima, this is a letter written by Chen Qun to His Majesty." ”

Fang Shao nodded and asked with a smile, "Then look at this letter, is there anything unusual?" ”

Ma Yan got Fang Shao's prompt, read it again and again, frowned, and muttered: "This letter is full of the great truth of 'thinking of the common people' and 'not hurting the people', it seems that he just wants to use this as an excuse to persuade His Majesty to withdraw from the army, and it doesn't seem to have any deep ......."

After speaking, Ma Yanyi's eyes lit up, and his frowning brows immediately relaxed, and he said excitedly: "This letter seems to be ordinary, but it is actually a secret letter with secret words hidden!" ”

Fang Shao nodded slightly, and there was a bit of approval in his eyes: "Then can you decipher the secret words hidden in this letter?" ”

Ma Tan unfolded the letter, folded left and right, and after some fiddling, re-unfolded the stacked letter, and the original flat letter showed the creases of Taoism, and after a glance, Ma Tan's face showed a smug smile.

"Da Sima, please take a look." Ma Yan held the letter in front of Fang Shao, pointed to the creases on it and said: "Rearrange these words together according to these creases, it is exactly eight words - 'If you remember the old friendship, you will definitely return'." ”

"If you miss the old friendship, you must return, if you miss the old friendship, you must return......" Ma Tan's expression suddenly lifted, and he said happily: "It turns out that this is not a letter of persuasion, but a letter of surrender." ”

It turned out that long before the Beiying Incident, Liu Bei received this secret letter from Chen Qun, and because it was a confidential matter, Liu Bei did not disclose anyone, but only hid the letter on his body in private.

In fact, Liu Bei did not decipher the code words in the letter, but he felt that Chen Qun was the kind of person who had a clear distinction between public and private, and now at this critical moment, he would actually think of writing to himself, although every sentence in the letter was full of hostility, and every sentence was conceived for the Wei State, but Liu Bei felt that Chen Qun's move was itself releasing some kind of positive signal to him.

Later, when the incident broke out, the matter could only be delayed, and after he woke up, after hearing Fang Shao's strategy, he thought that this letter might be useful, so he gave it to Fang Shao secretly.

At first, when Fang Shao got the letter, it took him a few hours to unravel the secret words hidden in the letter, but he didn't want Ma Jian to crack it in less than a cup of tea at this time, this insight really made Fang Shao secretly amazed.

"Yes, this is exactly the letter that Chen Qun wrote to His Majesty, what do you think?" Once the mystery is solved, Fang Shao is no longer obscure, and has the heart to listen to his opinion.

Ma Jian held the letter and looked at it for a while, and said: "Chen Qun hid the meaning of surrender in the letter, obviously for fear of being discovered by Cao Qun and arousing suspicion, which is also in line with Chen Qun's cautious surname. ”

Fang Shao nodded: "That is to say, Chen Qun saw that the Wei State was in danger, did he really want to submit to my Han Dynasty?" ”

"Chen Qun first did His Majesty, then Lu Bu, and then Cao Ying, this person is obviously the same as those famous people of the scholar clan, they are all people who judge the situation and size up the situation. Now that the Wei State is in danger, and the trend of our country to dominate the world has gradually become clear, in this case, it is also wise for Chen Qun to choose a new master for the benefit of his own clan. What's more, the first lord of Chen Qun when he came out was His Majesty, and he was also His Majesty's old department, and now he hopes that His Majesty will take care of the old friendship and accommodate his return, which is reasonable. ”

Ma Yan analyzed a lot of things freely, Fang Shao thought so, and said with a smile: "The words of childishness have won my heart." Now Yecheng is strong, Xiahou Xin is quite capable, I am worried about how to break through Yecheng quickly, since there is Chen Qun to do the internal response, Yecheng will be easy. It's just that now Yecheng is surrounded by us, and the seven gates are tightly guarded, unless Chen Qun takes the initiative to contact us, I don't know how to reply to him. ”

Ma Tan smiled faintly: "This matter is easy, didn't Chen Qun hide the secret words in the letter, then we will still use this trick." Da Sima Ke wrote a letter to the soldiers and civilians of Yecheng to persuade him to surrender, with a hidden reply in it, and then copied his thousands of seals and shot them into the city together, with Chen Qun's wisdom, he could naturally crack it. ”

Hearing Ma Tan's strategy, Fang Shao was very pleased, and couldn't help but praise: "Youchang is really resourceful, okay, it's up to you." ”

………… Xuzhou, Pengcheng.

Lu Meng, who was on the giant fighting ship, was watching the hot construction site on the shore.

In view of the fact that Xiapi City could not be captured for a long time, Sun Quan had to allocate 50,000 horses to order Lü Meng to command, intending to break through the barrier northwest of Xiapi to prevent Wei reinforcements from moving south.

After Lü Meng led his army to Pengcheng, he decided to change the siege strategy according to his thoughts in the past few months, to be precise, he invented a new set of siege tactics.

Lü Meng ordered the requisition of tens of thousands of people near Pengcheng to serve as soldiers, and ordered them to build a dam around Pengcheng, and after the dam was built, they would dig the embankment of the Surabaya River and fill it with water, and then the huge warships of the Wu army could enter the embankment from Surabaya and drive directly to the city of Pengcheng, turning a siege battle into a boarding battle on the water.

Flooding the city with water has been a tactic since ancient times, but the previous flooding tactics were nothing more than digging up the river embankment, so that the flood flooded the city without purpose, but because the city of Pengcheng was on the high ground, and the surrounding plains were open areas, even if the river embankment was dug up, it was only soaked to the root of the city wall.

The novelty of Lü Meng's flooding tactics was to besiege the city and build a dam, so that he could gather enough water around the city to allow his ships to sail in, and then with the help of the height of the ships, the soldiers could easily climb the city and fight.

Wu Jun drove those people to work day and night, and hundreds of people died every time, and now two-thirds of the dam has been built.

Originally, Lü Meng was worried that the reinforcements led by Cao Ying had already arrived before the dam was completed, but the latest intelligence showed that Cao Ying had to lead the army back to Liyang halfway in order to deal with the danger of Yecheng, so the Wu army could continue to build the dam with peace of mind.

"Send an order down and tell them to speed up the progress again, and it must be completed within seven days." Lu Meng ordered sharply.

When Huang Gai, Cheng Pu and other veteran generals passed away one after another, and Han Dang was dying of old age, Lü Meng, who was deeply appreciated by Sun Quan, became the commander of the eastern front of Wu.

After urging the ship for a while, Lu Meng ordered the fighting ship to return to the water village.

The camp of the Wu army is built according to Surabaya, the dry village is ten miles away, the south is Pengcheng, the water village and the dry village are connected, echo each other, and get the wonder of the village.

The boat docked, and just when Lu Meng had just disembarked, he saw Pan Zhang coming with a solemn look on his face.

When he ran to the front, before he dismounted, he shouted: "General Lu, something is wrong!" ”

"Wen Jue, what's the fuss." Lu Meng looked displeased.

Pan Zhang turned over and dismounted, gasping for breath and said: "General Lü, the latest urgent news from the south, the Wei army suddenly appeared on the east bank of Surabaya and has captured Lu County. ”

"What!" Lu Meng was taken aback, "Didn't the scout report that Cao Ying had already led his division back to the north?" Where did a group of soldiers and horses come out of nowhere, and after we went around our army without us noticing, they captured Lu County so quickly? ”

Pan Zhang wiped the sweat from his face, and continued: "It is said that it is thousands of Wei cavalry who captured Lu County, they came too fast, and the defenders were rushed into the city before they could close the city. ”

Lu Meng's face changed, and he realized at this time that he might have fallen for Cao Ying's suspicious tactics.

Cao Ying did lead the main army to return north, but he ignored that there was still a cavalry in the Wei army. Those thousands of cavalry must have bypassed Pengcheng, avoided their own reconnaissance range, rushed thousands of miles to their rear, and captured Lu County with lightning speed, in order to cut off their own way back.

Thinking that this Surabaya was not as deep and wide as the Yangtze River, the Wei army sank into the water with iron locks, and there was no need to completely block the water surface, so that the Wu army's big ships could not pass.

Once the water communication line is blocked, the 50,000 soldiers and horses in his hands will become a turtle in the urn, and even a few thousand Wei cavalry can easily ravage themselves.

"Damn Cao thief, he actually used such a poisonous trick to swallow all my 50,000 horses, hum, your appetite is really not small." Lu Meng scolded indignantly.

Pan Zhang said worriedly: "General Lu, if the Surabaya waterway is cut off, our army will be in danger, should you report to Pi as soon as possible, and ask the king to quickly divide his troops and horses to go north to recapture Lu County." ”

Lu Meng waved his hand and sneered: "The Wei army's move is to lure us to send the army of Xiapi to the north, so as to reduce the pressure of the enemy in Xiapi, if you listen to your words, then you will fall into the hands of the enemy." ”

Pan Zhang frowned and said, "Even so, then we can't ignore it and sit back and watch the Wei army cut off our waterway." ”

Lü Meng pondered for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "In this way, I will lead an army of 20,000 to the south by water, and personally go to recapture Lu County, I have the advantage of the water army, and it is difficult for the Wei army to give full play to its advantages even if it is a cavalry." Yu Jue, you lead the remaining 30,000 soldiers and horses to continue to besiege the city and build a dam, you must not delay the deadline for breaking Pengcheng, as long as Pengcheng is broken, even if Cao Ying leads the army to come again, there is no need to be afraid. ”

At that moment, the two discussed and stopped, so they divided their troops.

That night, Lü Meng led 20,000 Wu troops and hundreds of huge ships and ships to the south along Surabaya and slaughtered to Lü County.

Because Pengcheng and Lü County were only a few hundred miles apart, and the Wu army had the advantage of going downstream, they arrived at Lü County at noon the next day.

However, to Lü Meng's surprise, the Wei cavalry did not appear along the shores of Surabaya as common sense to stop the landing of the Wu army.

Lü Meng's 20,000-strong army landed smoothly, step by step, and the fortifications everywhere approached Lü County, which was full of flags.

In order to prevent the Wei cavalry in the city from suddenly attacking, Lü Meng set up strong bows and crossbows in accordance with the art of war, divided his troops to guard the flanks and rear, and 20,000 troops marched to the city.

With an order, the army began to attack the city.

According to Lu Meng's prediction, although the city of Lu County is low and the walls are low, the soldiers of this army are not good at attacking the city, and even if such a city is captured, it will have to pay at least three or four thousand dead and wounded, five or six days.

But to Lü Meng's surprise, his athletes successfully climbed to the top of the city without encountering any resistance, and then it took less than half an hour to seize control of the entire city.

The suspicious Lü Meng arrested the people in the city for interrogation, only to learn the news that surprised him even more, it turned out that on the second day after the Wei army captured Lü County, more than 3,000 Wei cavalry abandoned the city, leaving only the banners of the city and thousands of frightened innocent people.

In other words, the city that Lu Meng captured with a lot of pomp and circumstance was nothing more than an empty city.

"How can this be, the figure of Wei Jun? Didn't they go on a long journey to deceive our eyes and ears just to cut off our way back? Now that he has abandoned the city like this, has not all the conspiracy come to naught? ”

Lu Meng's face was full of suspicion, and after pondering for a long time, his face suddenly changed greatly.

"Oh no, it's a trick!"

………… The moon is setting in the west, the east is faintly white, the light of the stars is dissipating, and the dawn is coming soon.

Countless black currents galloped in the dimness, and in the rolling sandstorm, the sound of horses neighing and people wheezing was intertwined, faintly audible, like countless lonely souls and wild ghosts singing.

After rushing up to the dirt bag, the speeding current suddenly stopped, revealing their true faces, and thousands of iron horsemen stood horizontally on the top of the dirt bag, looking at it from a distance, and the eyes of the god of death were about to open the line before it.

Cao Zhen leaped forward, looking out at the silent Wu camp in front of him, and at this moment, his enemy was completely defenseless.

He remembered the majesty of the tiger and leopard riding across the world back then, when now, the iron horse that was once invincible in the world is now only the three thousand people behind him.

It's a lonely, wind-soaked army.

"Wen Lie, Zihe, your spirit in the sky bless us, the life and death of the Great Wei Kingdom will be fought here!"

Looking back at the warrior behind him for the last time, Cao Zhen turned his horse's head and rushed down without hesitation.

(To be continued)