Winter goes to spring, and in a blink of an eye, it is the second year of Zhongping. Before and after the Yellow River was unsealed, the official and military camps were already busy, and Huangfu Song was nervously arranging the crossing of the river. It is not a trivial matter for an army of 80,000 to prepare to cross the river, first of all, a large number of boats must be prepared, Huangfu Song has requisitioned all the official ships and civilian fishing boats in the Yanzhou area, but because most of the boats are small fishing boats, each boat can carry up to five or six people, even if thousands of boats are requisitioned, they can only carry seven or eight thousand people at most, and at least more than ten round-trips are possible to transport the 80,000 troops to the north bank, not to mention a large number of horses, grain and grass, ordnance, baggage, etc., if you really rely on these fishing boats to cross, It would take four or five days at the earliest to allow the whole army to cross the Yellow River, and it was obvious that it would be difficult to transport the army across the Yellow River quickly if it relied on ferries.

What's more, according to the scout's report, in order to prevent officers and soldiers from crossing the river to the north, Zhang Jiao had gathered more than 100,000 Yellow Turban troops on the north bank of the Yellow River, and was heavily fortified at several Yellow River crossings, and appointed his right-hand men Wan Bing and Wu Huan as commanders to be responsible for the defense of the entire north bank of the Yellow River.

In view of this, the plan to use the ferry can only be put on hold, and there is another way to cross the Yellow River, which is to build a pontoon bridge over the Yellow River. The biggest advantage of erecting pontoon bridges is that the large army can continuously march to the north bank of the Yellow River through the pontoon bridge, and can throw 80,000 troops to the opposite bank in a very short time. However, one of the disadvantages of erecting a pontoon bridge is that it takes a long time, and a certain area on the other side of the river must be controlled, otherwise the pontoon bridge has not been erected and is very vulnerable to damage by enemy troops.

Most of the generals agreed to adopt the second plan, which was to build a pontoon bridge, but how to find a breakthrough on the north bank of the Yellow Turbans, which was closely controlled by the Yellow Turbans, and effectively control the area during the period when the pontoon bridge was erected, was a matter of opinion. But there was a lot of discussion, and no one came up with a feasible plan.

Huangfu Song frowned secretly. glanced at Liu Ze beside him, Liu Ze was contemplating at this time. did not participate in the heated discussion of everyone, Huangfu Song said: "Runde has a good plan? ”

Liu Ze didn't answer, but asked, "General Huangfu can think about where to build a pontoon bridge?" ”

Huangfu Song said: "The water flow of Baima crossing is gentle, and it is the most suitable for erecting a pontoon bridge. ”

Liu Ze glanced at Cao Cao, Cao Cao looked confident, obviously he had already thought of a way to deal with it, Liu Ze thought in his heart that since Cao Cao had an idea, there was no need to say it himself, and it was not a good thing to be too sharp. Nai Dao: "Although the lowly position has some ideas, it is immature. But Brother Meng De seems to have a good plan? ”

Cao Cao didn't shirk it, and said: "The lower officials think about a plan, the general can move the Shuai camp to Linyi, and set up a company camp in Linyi for dozens of miles, gather all the big ships at Chiping Ferry, and put on a posture of crossing the river in Chiping, which will definitely attract the Yellow Turban soldiers to focus on defending Chipingdu." The main force of our army can be hidden in the Wating area south of Baima, and send a crack death squad. Quietly crossed the Yellow River at night, took the opportunity of the unprepared guards to seize the Baima ferry on the north bank of the Yellow River, Chipingdu and Baimadu were separated by hundreds of miles, and the main force of the Yellow Turban could not reach Baima in one day even if they returned to help. If you are well prepared, it should not be difficult to build the pontoon bridge within 12 hours. ”

Huangfu Song was overjoyed and said: "The sound of the east and the west - a wonderful plan, a wonderful plan!" Mende's plan is very much in line with me. Min Taishou, can you be sure that the pontoon bridge will be built in one day? ”

The new Dongjun Taishou Min Gong is responsible for erecting the pontoon bridge this time. Seeing Huangfu Song asking, he hurriedly got up and said, "As long as there is no interference." The pontoon bridge was built within one day. ”

Huangfu Song said: "There is no joke in the army? ”

Min Gong said generously: "I am willing to make a military order, and if the pontoon bridge is built an hour later." The lowly man came to see the general. ”

Huangfu Song nodded approvingly: "Okay, then there is Lao Min Taishou." From now on, Min Taishou can prepare the materials for building the pontoon bridge, and the officer will order all battalions to cooperate, and within ten days, be sure to prepare to stop. ”

Min Gong bowed and said, "No! He took the token and turned and walked back.

After arranging the construction of the pontoon bridge, the top priority left was how to control the beachhead on the north bank of the Yellow River, which had to be at least five miles deep enough to facilitate the assembly of the army after crossing the river. It may not be too difficult to seize this beachhead, but the difficult thing is how to hold on to this position for twelve hours. Huang Fu Song set his eyes on Cao Cao, this plan was made by him, and naturally Huang Fu Song had to inquire about him first.

Cao Cao hesitated a little and said, "General Huangfu can select warriors from each battalion to take on this important task. ”

Huangfu Song's face also became solemn, this task of attacking the fortification is indeed not easy, even if the main force of the Yellow Turban Turban can be transferred away with the strategy of attacking the east and the west, at least tens of thousands of troops will be left near Baimadu. It is indeed not easy to send a strange army to fight a bloody way out of this tens of thousands of enemy troops and control a beachhead.

Just when Huangfu Song was thinking about who to send to take on this heavy responsibility, Liu Ze arched his hand and said: "General Huangfu, I am willing to lead the people of my headquarters to act as a death squad. ”

Huangfu Song was overjoyed and said, "Okay, good! It's just that Runde's jurisdiction is all cavalry, and this time he crossed the river to fight, and the horses couldn't cross, but he was afraid that the army led by Runde would not be able to develop his strengths. ”

Liu Ze smiled indifferently, my five hundred bows are an unstoppable torrent of iron horses when I get off the horse, and when I get off the horse, I still have an elite foot battle of one block and ten, and said: "General Huangfu can rest assured, even if you get off the horse, my brothers are definitely first-class archers, and it is not difficult to fight a bloody road in the chaos." ”

The reason why Liu Ze took the initiative to ask for help was that in the camp of officers and soldiers, there were no special forces to undertake this kind of surprise attack mission, and the training of officers and men was mainly based on battle formation drills, and hundreds or thousands of people formed a phalanx, and there were rules for attacking and retreating in attack and defense. His subordinates have received several years of military training in various forms, whether they are foot combat, horse warfare, surprise warfare or even water warfare, and can complete different tasks.

Huangfu Song had no other choice for a while, picked up an arrow, and said: "Okay, Liu Ze listened to the order and ordered you to complete the preparations within ten days, and raid the camp on the north bank of the Yellow Turban on the first day of the first month of March, occupy the beachhead on the north bank within five miles and hold it for twelve hours, there must be no mistake!" ”

Liu Zegong received the order and said: "The last general will be ordered." ”

Huangfu Song said: "Runde, this battle is a heavy matter, if you can't win, then our army is trapped on the south bank of the Yellow River and can't advance an inch, so Xu Sheng is not allowed to lose, you must win this victory." You will dispatch all the boats, equipment, and other supplies used to cross the river, and I will select five hundred warriors from each battalion to fight to the death. ”

Liu Ze said solemnly: "General Huangfu, please rest assured, the last general will swear to complete the task and wait for the arrival of the army on the north bank of the Yellow River." ”

Then, Huang Fu Song ordered Zheng Tai to lead 10,000 troops to Linyi, and set up a large camp with enough 80,000 troops to be stationed in Linyi, with banners all over the place, and set up Huang Fu Song's handsome flag in front of the Chinese army tent. The warships were lined up with great fanfare at Epingdu, posing as a false impression of crossing the river from Epingdu, to confuse the Yellow Turban Army on the north bank. The rest of the main force of the army quietly marched into the Wating area, thirty miles south of Baimadu, and waited for the order to cross the river.

Sure enough, as Cao Cao expected, after the official army Chen Bing Pingdu, the Yellow Turban Army also deployed most of its troops to the north bank of Epingdu, and waited for it. The garrison of Baimadu was empty, and there were only more than 10,000 troops left, and even if the Yellow Turban Army that could rush to the aid within a few hours was added, the total number would not exceed 30,000. It seems that the plan to lure the enemy to the east was carried out quite successfully, and everything was ready, only the pontoon bridge was missing.

But for Liu Ze, these 30,000 Yellow Turban soldiers are not easy, including the 500 under his command and the death squad transferred by Huangfu, there are only 1,000 people, how to successfully attack and hold on to the well-guarded north bank of the Yellow Turban soldiers is indeed a big problem. First of all, the ferry boat is limited, and it is impossible to put all a thousand people on the north bank at once, and secondly, this is considered to be a boat to cross, and it is impossible to cross the river with such fanfare.

Liu Ze thought about it again and again, and decided that the first wave of attacks would be completed by himself and led by the Jinying Guard, quietly crossing the river in the middle of the night, secretly approaching the Yellow Turban camp with two small boats carrying twenty people each, and unexpectedly ending the coastal outposts of the Yellow Turban Army. Afterwards, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Guan Hai, and Wu Anguo each led a team to cross the river in turn and enter the battle.

Regarding Liu Ze's decision, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei immediately raised objections, opposing Liu Ze's personal involvement, and the two competed to be pioneers.

Who will be the vanguard, Liu Ze already knows in his heart, if he charges forward in front of the formation, he must not be compared with Guan Zhang's second general. But the surprise attack pays attention to being bold and careful, thoughtful, and decisive on the spot, and he is better than Guan Zhang in this aspect, not to mention that if the lord is the first, he will definitely inspire the soldiers to work together. So Liu Ze insisted on not changing the plan, and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had no choice but to give up.

In the past few days, Liu Ze has repeatedly sent Jinyingwei to sneak across the Yellow River to spy on the enemy, thoroughly understand the garrison of Baimadu and its vicinity, and also make detailed arrangements. On 29 February, news came from Huangfu Song that preparations for building a pontoon bridge had been completed, and Liu Ze was ordered to attack as originally planned.

At the end of February, the weather is still warm and cold, standing on the embankment of the Yellow River, the cold river breeze blows, making people shudder, looking at the north bank of the Yellow River, there are still a few traces of fire. Liu Ze stood in the wind, his face was solemn, and the generals behind him were also silent, even Zhang Fei, who usually loves to make noise, was not panting at the moment.

Pan Feng trotted all the way over and said, "Report to the lord, the forty-member team of Jinyingwei has been assembled, please instruct." ”

Liu Ze said in a deep voice: "Let's go!" ”

Forty members of the Jinying Guard, plus Liu Ze and Pan Feng, a total of forty-two people, left the Baima Ferry in two medium-sized boats and rowed towards the north shore. The night was dark, the stars were dim, and apart from the sound of the Yellow River, there was only the sound of oars lapping on the water. (To be continued......)