Xiahou Yuan is very unhappy now, quite unhappy.

Lu Xun and Zhang Ren's movements were very fast, and after Xiahou Yuan arrived in Wugong City, they had already collected almost all the rafts along the Weishui River, and they were now across the water from him, but they were out of reach. These days, Xiahou Yuan sent people to collect rafts in the distance, preparing to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river at night. As a result, the pontoon bridge had just begun to take shape, and Zhang Ren suddenly sent someone to carry tung oil, secretly took a boat from the upstream and went down the river at night, and burned the pontoon bridge that was about to be completed to the ground.

Looking at Xiahou Yuan, whose face was getting more and more gloomy, Cheng Yu's heart was also a little abrupt. In most cases, Xiahou Yuan is considered a world-famous general. He fought bravely, took the lead, and squandered money with righteousness, and often won the death force of soldiers. In addition, he is very knowledgeable and humbly listens to the opinions of his advisers, and generally rarely suffers. Of course, this is the majority of the case.

What are those non-most cases? It was when Xiahou Yuan lost his cool. In fact, Xiahou Yuan has all the characteristics of being a famous general, but he also has a fatal flaw as a general: impatience. Once the fire is attacked, Xiahou Yuan will fight to the death with the opponent at all costs. Of course, because of his brother's bravery, there are not many people in the world who can block this move of Mad Dog Fist. But not much does not mean that there is nothing, in Cheng Yu's opinion, that Zhao Feng in Sichuan has prepared some conspiracy, just wait for Xiahou Yuan to lose his calm, and drill into it.

In fact, Cheng Yu and Guo Jia both vaguely proposed to Cao Ying, thinking that the impatient Xiahou Yuan was not very suitable for guarding one side, and it was better to replace it with Xiahou Yuan or Cao Ren, who had a more calm surname, to sit in Guanzhong. But Cao Ying also has unspeakable secrets, firstly, Cao Ren needs to guard against Liu Bei in Liang County, and secondly, Xiahou Dun is a rare general with internal political talents, and he is really inseparable from him in Tuntian, Hebei. Moreover, Guanzhong is an important place, and unreliable clan generals cannot be trusted, so Cao Ying let Xiahou Yuan sit in Guanzhong.

Now that the pontoon bridge had just been burned by Zhang Renyi, Xiahou Yuan was suddenly seriously unhappy. Cheng Yu looked at Xiahou Yuan, if he ordered the whole army to swim across the Wei River and fight the Sichuan army to the death, Cheng Yu would not be surprised.

However, Xiahou Yuan was not so impulsive after all, and rubbed his head slightly, Xiahou Yuan asked Cheng Yu: "Mr. Zhongde, in your opinion, what should we do now?" ”

Cheng Yu pondered for a while, and finally said: "General, it seems that it is unrealistic to cross the river by pontoon bridges at present, so let's build a raft first!" "Although the rafts along the Wei River have been collected by Lu Xun, as long as there are trees, they can build ships. No matter how ruthless Lu Xun and Zhang Ren are, it is impossible to cut down all the trees in the entire Guanzhong. Xiahou Yuan knew that there was no way out, so he could only accept this suggestion first, and sent someone to inform Zhong Xuan of Chang'an to send craftsmen to build a raft without mentioning it.

"Report to the general, Jicheng Wei Assassin Shi urgent letter!" Just after Xiahou Yuan gave the order, a junior colonel rushed to report. Xiahou Yuan took the letter and opened it, and was shocked.

"General, is Han Sui's gang in trouble again?" Cheng Yu saw that Xiahou Yuan's whole person stood up, and hurriedly asked. Xiahou Yuan shook his head, but handed the letter to Cheng Yu, who was also very surprised when he saw it.

"Zhao Botao led tens of thousands of troops to walk on Longxi Avenue and soldiers to Jicheng?" Cheng Yu was a little incredulous. "Could it be that the Sichuan army here is just making a feint?" Vice General Han Hao couldn't help frowning when he heard this.

"It should be like this, but why did Zhao Feng take Longxi, it was to make a wedding dress for Ma Teng!" Xiahou Yuanyu shook his head and said. Although he succeeded in concealing himself, Xiahou Yuan didn't think that Zhao Feng's strategic intentions were very clever, after all, he wouldn't get much benefit from doing this.

"Not only that, I think he wants to take down the counties of Longxi and then defeat Han Sui. In this way, it will be possible to march from Longxi to Guanzhong in the future. After all, Cheng Yu had a more long-term vision, and suddenly saw most of Zhao Feng's true intentions. It is indeed more convenient to march from Longxi Avenue to Guanzhong, but only by occupying Xiliang can a stable source of war horses be obtained, which is also one of the main reasons why Zhao Feng is in a hurry to take Qishan Avenue, which Cheng Yu failed to see.

"There are only less than 10,000 defenders in Jicheng, and most of them are county soldiers, so it will inevitably be lost after a long time. As a top priority, I should lead my men to rescue Jicheng first! Xiahou Yuan immediately made a decision. Looking at the surrounding generals, Xiahou Yuan finally said to Cheng Yu and Han Hao: "Mr. Zhongde, General Han, I'll leave it to you here, I will leave 20,000 horses and horses with you to guard the camp, just guard against the attack of the Sichuan army, and build a raft at the same time." After I save the danger of Jicheng, I will break the enemy again! ”

"Don't worry, general, everything here is with me!" Cheng Yu nodded. At that moment, Xiahou Yuan himself led 30,000 cavalry to rush to Longxi to rescue, leaving Cheng Yu and Han Hao to lead 20,000 foot soldiers here to deal with Zhang Ren across the river. At the same time, Cheng Yu also hurriedly wrote a military newspaper to inform Zhong Xuan of Chang'an and Cao Ying of Xuchang.

The street pavilion was important, Zhao Feng looked at the surrounding terrain and was noncommittal. Beside him, Ma Jian had already gushed out: "General, I think it is still stationed on the mountain, condescending, and it will definitely be able to hold the key place." Xiahou Yuan rescued the troops here, and he was bound to attack the mountain, so we occupied the key terrain, wouldn't we wait for work? ”

"Young Chang, there is no water on the mountain, what can I do if the water is cut off?" Zhao Feng looked at the barren mountain in the distance and said leisurely.

The terrain of the street pavilion is very strange. From east to west, it was an avenue leading to an open field, perfect for a large army to attack. And this mountain is also strange, because five mountain roads finally converge on this open land. Once the opponent breaks through to any of these five mountain paths, it is equivalent to letting the opponent drive straight into Longxi.

As for Jieting City, it is on the side of the avenue, but Jieting City is indeed too small, with less than 1,000 residents. Zhao Feng suddenly understood a little why Ma Tan wanted to be stationed on the mountain, because Jieting City was too small, and even if the residents in the city were emptied, it would only be enough for thousands of people to be stationed. And if it is stationed on the avenue, then it can only be fought against the infantry and the opponent's cavalry.

"What about cutting off the water source, the so-called putting it to death and then rebirth. Once the sergeants cut off the water, they will inevitably fight bravely to kill the enemy, Xiahou Yuan's reinforcements came from afar, and the army is not strong, our army can win a complete victory! Ma Jian said with confidence.

I see! Zhao Feng finally understood now. Why did Ma Tan try his best to garrison the mountain in history, he not only wanted to defend the street pavilion, but also wanted to defeat the opponent in one fell swoop. At this time, Wang Ping said: "This is inappropriate, it is too dangerous, the general is still stationed in Jieting City, or he should go down to the village to block Xiahou Yuan!" ”

As in history, Zhao Feng brought Ma Tan and Wang Ping, the partners of the street guarding pavilion, with him. Zhu Ran led an army of 10,000 to take Linwei County, Pang De led an army of 30,000 to attack Jicheng, Gao Xiang led an army of 5,000 to pacify the rest of the counties, and he led an army of 25,000 to guard the street pavilion. As he expected, Wang Ping and Ma Jian still disagreed.

Coughing lightly to signal the two not to stop discussing, Zhao Feng himself said: "I have decided, this time I will lead an army of 20,000 troops to be stationed at the crossing, and Zijun you will lead an army of 5,000 to be stationed in Jieting City to think that it is a corner. Xiahou Yuan's march was known for its speed, and I believe that he must have come with cavalry at the beginning, and he must have not brought siege equipment. When Zijun was defending the city, when he was in a hurry, he waved his army to cover his rear. We only need to stay here for twenty days, and we will be a great achievement! ”

"No!" When Wang Ping heard this, he went to lead the army to guard the street pavilion without mentioning it, and looked at Ma Yan, who was a little dissatisfied in front of him, Zhao Feng frowned slightly and said: "Youchang, are you unwilling that I don't agree to be stationed on the mountain?" ”

"The last general will not dare!" Ma Tan said stupidly, but the unconvincing in his words was still clear at a glance.

"Young Chang, let me ask you, if we are besieged by the enemy army on the mountain and cut off the water source, once the army's morale is disordered and the street pavilion is lost, what should I do if the Northern Expedition is successful?" Zhao Feng said in a deep voice.

"Not necessarily!" Ma Tan was a little disapproving.

"You said it yourself, it may not be so, and if it does, what should you do?" Zhao Feng raised the decibel level of his voice and asked, Ma Jian opened his mouth when he heard this, but he couldn't say anything more.

"If that's the case, we'll be sinners!" Zhao Feng snorted. Looking at Ma Yan, who was still a little unconvinced in front of him, Zhao Feng continued: "Since ancient times, offense can be surprisingly successful, but defense is still stable. Why do you blindly take risks while defending the palace, if you fail, it will not be self-destruction of the Great Wall! ”

"The general's teachings, I have remembered them!" The official level crushed people to death, and Ma Jian could only obediently obey Zhao Feng's arrangement now. At that moment, Zhao Feng ordered people to seize every minute to build a defensive position, dig the earth as a cover, equip all kinds of bows and crossbows, plus trenches, thistles or something, in short, all the tricks that can be used are used, and do everything possible to create trouble for Xiahou Yuan. There was no way, this avenue was too wide, and Xiahou Yuan was enough to throw thousands of people at a time and rush straight to his camp. If you don't do more obstacles, then directly confronting the opponent's ironclad cavalry with flesh and blood is no different from sending them to death.

While Zhao Feng was busy building his position, Wang Ping did not rest in Jieting City. In addition to his own name, Wang Ping knows no more than ten words. Naturally, he didn't know that when Meng Fuzi described a city as small, he used words like "three-mile city" and "five-mile Guo". However, this street pavilion city is indeed a three-mile city, but there are very few rivers in the Xiliang land, so even the five-mile Guo is not served. The city was built of loess, and the height was estimated to be less than two zhang, and the width of the city wall was less than one zhang. Wang Ping looked down at the top of the city, and even felt that even if he jumped, he would not necessarily fall to his death.

To the north of them, Pang De was waving his army to attack Jicheng, and the defenders of Jicheng, led by Wei Kang and Jiang Xu, resisted desperately, and Pang De was afraid that it would be difficult to capture in a hurry. At the same time, Zhu Ran had already taken Linwei County, firmly controlled several important ferries, and cut off the passage into Longxi from the waterway. As for Gao Xiang, who swept the counties, it was still relatively smooth. But the key to success or failure depends on the final ownership of the street pavilion.

Fortunately, Xiahou Yuan still had a few days to arrive, and Wang Ping and Zhao Feng were busy racing against time to build the city and position. In the evening four days after arriving at Jieting, Tanma finally sent back the news: Xiahou Yuan's army was less than a hundred miles away from Jieting, and it would probably arrive at Jieting as early as tomorrow morning.

(To be continued)