The first month of the thirteenth year of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty (200 years).

Tian Yu dismounted from Baima, Zhang Yanke Yanjin, Quan Cong, and He Qi only led 600 remnants to retreat to the sea under the response of Jiang Qin's naval army.

February.

Gao Shun, the general of Xiliang, led an army of 100,000 (50,000 elite Tuntian, 30,000 Xiliang iron cavalry, and Yuan Tan's 20,000 Hebei army) as the left road, out of Runan to attack Qingniu Pass, Fang Yue led an army of 100,000 to the right, out of Shanyang to attack Pengcheng, Ma Yueqin led 200,000 cavalry troops for the middle road, through Qiaojun, Peiguo was fierce and approached Shouchun.

……

Pengcheng.

Tai Shi Ci stood proudly at the head of the city, and looked back, the originally prosperous and lively Pengcheng had become an empty city at this time.

As early as the end of last year, the people of Pengcheng, Yaoxi, and Donghai counties north of the Huai River have been forcibly requisitioned to Huainan, and all of a sudden, a cold smile appeared on Tai Shici's face, even if the Liang army defeated the three counties of Xuzhou in Huaibei, it was just a barren land, and they couldn't find a grain of grain from Huaibei at all!

In the sound of hurried footsteps, Colonel Wu Jun hurriedly rushed up to the city tower and said to Tai Shici: "General, the Liang army has been found thirty miles north!" ”

"Is it finally here?" Tai Shi Ci bowed his head slightly, and suddenly shouted, "Pass the order, set fire, and withdraw the whole army to Huainan!" ”

Tai Shi Ci gave an order, and the Wu army, which had been waiting for a long time, set fire to the city, and when Ma Dai, the vanguard of the Liang army, led 20,000 cavalry to kill outside Pengcheng, the entire city had already been reduced to ashes.

……

Qian County was also reduced to ashes in a fire.

Surrounded by Jia Xu, Li Su, Kuai Yue, Lu Su and others, Ma Yue rode his horse and walked among the ruins of the city, and all that appeared in front of everyone was the blackened scorched earth and the ruins full of greenery.

"My lord." Jia Xu's eyes were worried, and he jumped to the horse, "This is the scorched earth strategy of the strong wall and clear the wilderness." ”

Ma Yue subconsciously tapped the saddle with his whip, and suddenly looked up to the sky and laughed: "Hahaha, it seems that Sun Quan'er has really grown up, and he has actually learned to plunder the population, but this population migration is a double-edged sword, in the long run, a large number of people can certainly improve the strategic potential of Jiangdong, but in the short term, it will bring a heavy burden to the logistics of Dongwu, does Dongwu have so much food to supply these people who moved south?" ”

"Understood." Jia Xu on the side suddenly sighed, "It's worthy of Zhou Yu!" ”

Ma Yue's heart jumped, and he hurriedly turned around and asked, "What does Wen He understand?" ”

Jia Xu said: "Zhou Yu's defensive strategy. ”

"Oh?" Ma Yue hurriedly said, "Wen He is coming quickly." ”

Jia Xu said: "Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan are Zhou Yu's first barriers, taking advantage of the opportunity of our army to attack Hebei and the Central Plains to forcibly move the people of Xuzhou and the counties of Qian County and Runan to Huainan. ”

Ma Yue said: "And then? ”

Jia Xu said: "Then the Wu army will fully retreat to Huainan and prepare for a decisive battle with our army in Huainan!" ”

"Decisive battle with our army in Huainan?" A cold light flashed in Ma Yue's eyes, and he said in a deep voice, "Wen He said that Sun Quan and Zhou Yu decided to abandon the vast area north of the Huai River?" ”

Jia Xu said: "Huaibei has many plains, which is conducive to cavalry maneuvering, and the Huainan River is vertical and horizontal, and the water network is dense, the power of the Mobei Iron Cavalry will be greatly reduced, and the Dongwu Navy is like a fish in water, and the power is doubled, General Gan Ning's Jinfan Navy is only 5,000 people, and the tens of thousands of sailors in Dongwu are at a significant disadvantage, but I am afraid that it is difficult to play a role." ”

Li Su said: "In this way, the disadvantage of the Wu army can be made up to a great extent. ”

Lu Su said: "I think it is necessary to remind the prime minister again, it is best to end this war before June!" ”

"Thank you Zijing for the reminder." Ma Yue said, "Lone understands, most of the soldiers of the Liang army are northerners, and it is difficult for northerners to get used to the rainy climate in the south, once the war drags on until June and cannot end, there is a high possibility of an outbreak of epidemic in the army (the so-called epidemic is the epidemic surname cold that often breaks out in the south at the turn of spring and summer, in ancient times when there were no antibiotics, colds were also very deadly, and large-scale outbreaks in the army were even more devastating). ”

……

Shou Chun.

Tai Shi Ci strode into the military tent, hugged his fist at Zhou Yu and said: "The governor of the capital, the people of the three counties of Qianjun, Runan and Huaibei have all moved to Huainan, with a total of more than 3.69 million people. ”

"Okay." Zhou Yu bowed his head and said, "General Taishi has worked hard, please go down and rest first." ”

"The last will be retired."

Tai Shi Ci waved his hand, turned around and walked away.

"The Grand Governor." Tai Shi Ci had just left, and Xie Jing, who was in charge of intelligence spying, entered the big tent and said to Zhou Yu, "The movements of the Liang army are roughly clear. ”

"Oh?" Zhou Yu hurriedly said, "Speak quickly." ”

Xie Jing gasped twice and said: "The total strength of the horse butcher's army is between 400,000 and 500,000, of which Gao Shun led more than 100,000 troops to attack Qingniu Pass on the left road, Fang Yue led more than 100,000 troops to attack Xuzhou on the right road, and the horse butcher himself personally led more than 200,000 cavalry troops as the middle road, approaching Shouchun, and now the army has just passed through Qian County, in addition, the 100,000 army led by Xu Huang seems to have shrunk back to Nanyang. ”

"Hehe, that's right." Xu Shu on the side smiled and said, "The horse butcher still doesn't dare to take Cao Ying lightly." ”

The veteran Huang Gai said in a deep voice: "However, the three-way army of Ma Butcher, Gao Shun, and Fang Yue is not easy to deal with, and there are four or five hundred thousand people in total, which is almost more than six times the size of our army." ”

"The horse butcher's intentions are already obvious." Lu Meng glanced at Zhou Yu and analyzed, "I led more than 200,000 troops to attack Shouchun, obviously trying to attract the main force of our army to Shouchun, and then ordered Gao Shun and Fang Yuebing to attack Qingniu Pass and Xuzhou in two ways, trying to break through from the two flanks first, and then detour to Shouchun's flank, and finally divide into a combined attack to form a three-sided encirclement of Shouchun." ”

"That's the advantage of having more soldiers." Huang Gai sighed, "If there are many horse butchers, they can divide their troops unscrupulously, but our army has few soldiers, but we can only concentrate our troops to defend a few strategic places, although Huaiyin is blocked by Huaishui, Hongze Lake, and Baima Lake, and there is a naval army to contain it, but the battle line that needs to be defended is too long, and it may be difficult to stop Fang Yue's hundreds of thousands of troops with only the eight thousand elite soldiers of the three generals (Sun Yi)." ”

Lu Meng said: "The most worrying thing is actually the Qingniu Pass, although the Qingniu Pass is dangerous, and there are 5,000 elite soldiers led by Major General Ling Tong to guard it, but it is facing more than 100,000 elites led by Gao Shun, a famous general of Xiliang!" Gao Shun has experienced a hundred battles and has never been defeated, and the three thousand fallen soldiers are especially sharp and unstoppable. ”

"The generals don't have to worry, the governor of this capital has already had a perfect plan." Zhou Yu said loudly, "If the horse butcher doesn't come, if he really dares to raise 400,000 people to attack, he will die without a place to be buried!" ”

……

Qian County.

Ma Yue said to Jia Xu: "Wenhe, Zhou Yu's forcible requisition of the people of Huaibei to Huainan seems to have nothing to do with the decisive battle between the two armies?" ”

"No, of course Zhou Yu's move has another meaning!" Jia Xu said in a condensed voice, "It is impossible for Zhou Yu to pin all his hopes of victory on Wu Jun, who is less than 70,000, he must have other arrangements!" If I guess correctly, this arrangement must be related to the millions of people who have moved into Huainan, my lord, there are at least millions of young and strong laborers among these millions of people who have moved south! ”

"Millions of young and strong laborers?" Ma Yue's heart jumped, and he said awe-inspiringly, "Some of them understand!" ”

……

Xiangyang, Cao Ying's official residence.

Liu Ye said to Cao Ying: "Lord, make a reward, Xu Huang's 100,000 army has returned to Nanyang. ”

"And that's to be expected." Cao Ying nodded and asked Liu Ye, "How is the war in Huainan going?" ”

Liu Ye said: "There is no news about the specific movements of the Liang army, but according to the information collected before, it can be analyzed that the army of hundreds of thousands of horse butchers marched into Huainan within two months. ”

Cao Ying said: "In other words, the battle of Huainan is already on the line, so can't you stop it?" ”

Liu Ye said: "It should be like this. ”

"Hahaha." Cao Ying looked up to the sky and laughed three times, and said loudly, "The hundreds of thousands of troops of the horse butcher have been pinned down by the Wu army in the Huainan area, and the time to enter Sichuan is at the right time. ”

Pang Tong said: "If the lord wants to take Xichuan, he must leave a general to guard Xiangyang." ”

Cao Ying asked, "Who can Shi Yuan think can guard Xiangyang?" ”

Pang Tong said: "If it is not General Zhang Liao, it is not enough to take on this important task. ”

"Hmm." Cao Ying nodded and shouted, "Zhang Liao, Wen Ping, and Wei Yan listen to orders!" ”

Zhang Liao, Wen Ping, and Wei Yan flashed out of the ranks, and responded sharply with their fists clenched: "The last general is here." ”

Cao Ying said: "With Zhang Liao as the main general, Wen Ping and Wei Yan as deputy generals, and lead 20,000 troops to defend Xiangyang." ”

"The last general commands."

General Zhang Liaosan agreed with a bang.

Cao Ying stood up, his eyes swept over the faces of the generals, and shouted: "The rest of the generals will lead their own troops and follow the lonely army to attack the river!" ”

"Yes!"

The generals responded with a bang.

……

February of the thirteenth year of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty (200 years).

Taking advantage of the fierce battle between the Xiliang army and the Wu army in Huainan, Cao Ying ordered Zhang Liao to defend Xiangyang, and ordered Wei Yan to guard Xinye, Wen Ping to guard Fancheng, and Xiangyang to fight each other's horns, in order to resist Xu Huang's 100,000 Sichuan army, and when all arrangements stopped, Cao Ying then raised 30,000 Jingzhou elites to plot Xichuan, and Yong'an Taishou Zhang Xiu urgently ordered Zhang Ren, a famous general in Sichuan, to lead 30,000 troops to camp in Yubeipu, preparing to defend to the death.

……

Fish belly pool, the big tent of the Chinese army.

Zhang Ren is used to sitting with the case, and Wu Lan, Lei Tong, Zhang Yi, and Zhang Wei will be on the left and right.

Not far from the front of the barracks is the Yangtze River that flows eastward, the river water in this area is deep and rapid, the whirlpool is numerous, the walls on both sides of the bank stand thousands of miles, only a narrow post road carved by the ancient Shu people from the cliff winds through the depths of the white clouds, this precipitous scene is already dizzy to look at from afar, let alone march on it.

Zhang Ren carefully examined the map on the table for a long time, and suddenly raised his head and shouted, "Lei Tong." ”

Lei Tong hurriedly stepped forward and responded with a fist: "The end will be." ”

Zhang Ren asked, "Have you prepared the things that the general ordered you to prepare to start the fire?" ”

"Returning to the general." Lei Tong replied, "The fire oil, dry firewood, charcoal and other things that the general ordered to ignite the fire have been prepared. ”

"Hmm." Zhang Ren nodded, and then instructed Wu Landao, "Wu Lan, from today onwards, the post road will be cut off, no one will be allowed to wait or caravan to pass, troops must be stationed at all ferries, and regular patrols will be made on the river, and all passing ships will be detained, but anyone who finds a Jingxiang accent will be regarded as a snibbling on the spot!" ”

Wu Lan arched his hand and responded: "The last general will take the order." ”

Zhang Ren thought for a while, and then said, "Zhang Yi listens to the order." ”

Zhang Yi hurriedly stepped forward and responded: "The last general." ”

Zhang Rendao: "Select thirty elite soldiers from Badong to disguise themselves as local woodcutters and hunters, and lurk in the Yiling area to closely monitor the movements of the Cao army, but if they find anything, they will report immediately." ”

"The last general commands."

Zhang Yi agreed and took the order.

……

Yiling.

As early as three days ago, 30,000 Cao troops had already entered and camped here.

On a steep mountain peak on the left side of the river, Cao Ying and Pang Tong are inspecting the terrain under the support of Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, Cao Hong, Zangba, Zhang He, Huang Zhong, and the generals.

"The terrain in this area is so treacherous!" Cao Hong stretched out his hand to wipe the fog from his face, and said in a heavy tone, "The Sichuan army only needs to send an elite army to guard the post road, and our army will not be able to move an inch. ”

Cao Ying thought deeply and said: "In addition to this steep and difficult post road, I don't know if there are other roads leading to Xichuan?" ”

Pang Tong shook his head and said: "As far as I know, except for this post road, you can only climb the unclimbable Wushan." ”

Cao Hong frowned and said, "So our army has no other choice but to attack?" ”

Pang Tong said: "The young general doesn't have to worry, this post road is not conducive to our army's attack, but it is also not conducive to the defense of the Sichuan army, our army only needs to send a hundred battles elite as the forward, and advance forward with step-by-step tactics, and the Sichuan army can be forced to retreat to Yubeipu, and then go beyond Yubeipu is the Sichuan Plain of Pingchuan!" ”

On a cliff a thousand steps away.

Zhang Yi, who was dressed as an Orion, showed half of his head from behind the rock where he was hiding, staring at Cao Ying and the others in front of him with wide eyes and unblinking, and a soldier in woodcutter costume leaned out half of his body from behind Zhang Yi and asked Zhang Yi: "General, the one in red robe in front seems to be a general, did you sneak up and shoot him with an arrow?" If you can shoot him to death with a single arrow, it will be a great achievement. ”

A soldier chimed in: "Yes, according to the military discipline of Liangzhou, as long as we shoot and kill a general of the enemy army, we can also be generals!" ”

As soon as he said this, the more than 20 people behind Zhang Yi were all ready to move, as if the general's good fields, beautiful houses, and beautiful wives and concubines were already waving to them.

"No, the cliffs on both sides are bare, and if you touch it like this, you will definitely be discovered!" Zhang Yi shook his head and said, "Besides, although there are only seven or eight people on the mountain, it is easy to deal with, but don't you see that there are more than 100 people guarding thirty steps ahead?" Just touched it recklessly, I was afraid that before we could reach the gang, we should be shot into hedgehogs by the more than 100 enemy soldiers in front. ”

"General, wouldn't it be a pity to miss the opportunity like this?" The soldier who first proposed insisted, "If it doesn't work, you should try it, right?" ”

"Hmm." Zhang Yi frowned and pondered, "Let me think about it." ”

"General, those guys seem to be coming towards us."

Zhang Yizheng frowned and thought about it, a soldier behind him suddenly stretched out his hand and stabbed him, Zhang Yi looked down quickly, and sure enough, he saw that the red-robed general and the purple-robed scholar had gone down the dangerous peak with the rest of the generals and walked towards the cliff where they were hiding.

Zhang Yi's gaze inadvertently swept over a two-person high boulder on the edge of the cliff, and his heart suddenly moved, and he turned around and beckoned, "Come here." ”

Under the cliff, Cao Ying and Pang Tong talked while walking, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu followed behind the two of them, and the group was walking over unconsciously, and more than 60 Cao Jun's personal soldiers in charge of the front road were very vigilant to search the rock crevices and bushes on both sides of the mountain road, and even the cave that could only allow raccoon cats to enter and exit had to poke inside with spears for a long time.

As for the cliff dozens of feet high above his head and the apes were also worried about climbing, Cao Jun's own soldiers never thought that there were people hiding on it.

When the group was walking, they suddenly heard a shocking noise overhead, and when they looked up urgently, they saw a huge black shadow that had carried a screaming roar, and smashed down on the top of Cao Ying and Pang Tong's heads with the momentum of Mount Tai.

"Father-in-law, be careful!"

"Be careful, lord!"

Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu were the closest to Cao Ying, the two of them shouted loudly and jumped forward to hug Cao Ying, the three of them hugged each other and rolled down in the rock recess on the inner side of the mountain road, Cao Hong was two steps behind Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu, and saw that the two had already knocked down Cao Ying, and it was too late to save Pang Tong again, Cao Hong had just knocked down Pang Tong, and the huge stone had already fallen down.

Zangba, Zhang He, and Huang Zhongsan, who were more than ten steps behind, watched the boulder viciously smash on Cao Hong and Pang Tong, and then exploded with a bang.

"Boom!"

Everyone was in shock, there was a loud bang on the hanging, and another boulder fell from the sky, but it was much smaller than just now, this time, Zangba, Zhang He, and Huang Zhong found the figure of Zhang Yi and others on the cliff, Huang Zhong unloaded the iron tire bow from his back as quickly as possible, pulled the bow and arrows, and shouted coldly: "Wait for a certain to shoot through the throat of the guy in front!" ”

As soon as he spoke, he heard a buzzing explosion, and the sharp iron arrows had already broken out of the string and shot towards the cliff like lightning.

On the cliffs.

"Brothers, smash, smash!"

When Zhang Yi lifted a boulder weighing more than 100 catties and wanted to smash it down the cliff, suddenly a piercing scream swept from the cliff, and the cold light flashed, Zhang Yi's throat was pierced by a sharp arrow the thickness of a thumb, and a drop of blood slowly slipped down the three-edged arrow cluster with cold light, reflecting a poignant color under the light of the remnant sun.

"Boom."

Zhang Yi's arms weakened, and he lifted the boulder in the air and fell with a bang, tumbling and tumbling down the cliff.

"General!"

"General!"

The soldiers behind Zhang Yi hurriedly came forward, and when they tried to hold on to the crumbling Zhang Yi, a terrible break through the air followed, and in an instant, more than a dozen soldiers died under Huang Zhong's arrows, and the remaining soldiers stumbled and fell off the cliff when they fled in panic, and fell into flesh. At this time, Zangba and Zhang Hecai hurriedly rushed forward, turned over the gravel pile on the mountain road with their hands and feet, and dug out Cao Ying, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu from the stone recess.

Cao Ying and Cao Zhen were unharmed, but Cao Xiu was already dead of anger.

After throwing Cao Ying and Cao Zhen into the stone recess on the inner side of the mountain road, Cao Xiu struggled to open his arms, trying to hold up a living sky for Cao Ying, Cao Zhen and his son with his body that was no harder than a stone, and finally sacrificed his young life, a sharp gravel ruthlessly cut through his back armor, brutally cutting open his back.

After rescuing Cao Ying and Cao Zhen, Zangba and Zhang He dug out Pang Tong and Cao Hong from the rubble.

Cao Hong's head and torso above the waist have been completely smashed into meatloaf, only the torso below the waist and his legs are still constantly swinging and twitching in a pool of blood, which particularly reflects the coldness and cruelty of death, Pang Tong's torso below the waist has also disappeared completely, but miraculously there is no breath, when Zhang He and Zangba dug him out, he was actually conscious and could still speak.

(To be continued)