In the New Year of the twenty-third year of Jian'an, a heavy snow shrouded the land of Jingnan, with snow flakes flying, cold winds howling, and the sky becoming gray.

The heavy snow that is commonplace in the north every year is extremely rare in Jingnan, especially in Lingling County, the climate is warm, the four seasons are like spring, in the coldest December, the north is already a land of ice and snow, but here is still a murmuring stream, and the mountains are full of green.

But this year's weather was a bit unusual, with a cold winter and a heavy snowfall on New Year's Day that hadn't been seen in decades.

The mountains and land of Lingling County are covered with snow, and the houses in each county are also covered with thick snow, this snow is a bit unexpected, the streets and alleys are full of snow sweepers, but the happiest are children, many of whom are seeing snow for the first time in their lives, they play and laugh, roll on the snow, build snowmen, have snowball fights, adults and children play happily.

Lingling County, here is also the most important transportation hub in the south of Lingling County, Lingqu communicates Xiangshui and Lishui here, Lingling County can only be regarded as a medium-sized city, but in the past few years, the Jingzhou government and the Han army have jointly carried out large-scale expansion and transformation of Lingling County, increased the height and widened the city wall, and built a strong warehouse city in the city, since last year, from Xiangdong County, Helin County, Guiyang County and Lingling County to transfer official grain concentrated here, stored nearly 150,000 stone grain.

On the eve of the New Year, a 30,000-strong Han army quietly settled in Lingling County, this army is the Jingzhou Han army withdrawn from Jiangdong, 50,000 Jingzhou Han troops after several months of rest, regrouped in December, the troops are divided into two routes, all the way south to Lingling County, commanded by the veteran Huang Zhong, the sword pointed at Cangwu.

The other 20,000 people entered Yuzhang County and deployed in the vicinity of Fucheng County, which was close to Luling County, under the command of the general Wei Yan and the deputy general Liao Hua, and the target was Luling County.

This is an extremely sensitive military move, especially after the capture of Jiangdong, when the attack on Jiaozhou has gradually become the general trend, the two armies went south respectively, and the troops were close to the border of Jiaozhou, which contained so many meanings that even a three-year-old child could guess that the Han army was preparing to attack Jiaozhou.

The large camp of the Han army was set up in the wilderness outside Lingling County, consisting of thousands of large tents, and the sudden heavy snow caught this army a little unprepared, and the entire camp was covered with heavy snow, and the soldiers were all dispatched to clear the snow in the large camp.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Huang Zhong and several generals were standing in front of the sand table to discuss the military situation, among the generals, in addition to Liu Zheng and Wang Ping, there were also two generals from Jiangdong, Jiang Qin and Zhu Heng.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have just received a warrant from His Royal Highness the King of Han, in addition to congratulating you on the New Year, I also hope that we will take a military action against Cangwu County in a few days, pay attention, not to launch an offensive, but to take a certain military action, in short, to let Liu Bei know about our existence."

Huang Zhong picked up the wooden pole again and pointed to Guangxin County, the county of Cangwu County on the sand table, and said to everyone: "According to the information of the scouts, the Jiaozhou army has deployed more than 10,000 troops in the Guangxin area, commanded by Guan Yu, and it is obvious that it is to defend us from going south, since the other party is prepared, we can't be too hasty." ”

Everyone has experienced a hundred battles, understand Huang Zhong's meaning, from Lingling County to the south by 100,000 mountains blocked, the mountains are steep, the road is rugged, the march is extremely difficult, the brigade of heavy grain and grass from the land route is extremely difficult to enter, even with wooden oxen can not bear the distance, can only take the Ling Canal into Lishui, and then south into Cangwu County, once the Jiaozhou army is prepared, they will inevitably block Lishui, so that their baggage transportation is in danger.

At this time, Wang Ping pondered for a moment and said: "We can use the method of attacking Longxi to build a transit military city at a dangerous point in the south, and store materials and military rations, so that there is no need to unload in Guangxin, we can establish a stronghold on the Lishui River, and gradually transport the army, food and materials to the south." ”

Huang Zhong nodded, "His Royal Highness the King of Han also means this, the establishment of a new city can not only be used in the war, but even after the war is over, it can also be converted to civilian use to communicate the connection between Jiaozhou and Jingnan." ”

When Huang Zhong said this, his eyes turned to Liu Zheng, and said with a slight smile: "My plan is that the Eagle Strike Army will take the land route and go to Guangxin County first to disturb the Jiaozhou Army, so that the Jiaozhou Army will not dare to go north, so that it can build the city with all its strength in the middle of Lishui, although His Royal Highness the King of Han did not say it explicitly, but I believe that this is what he meant." ”

Liu Zheng nodded, "Humble will lead the Eagle Strike Army to set off early tomorrow morning." ”

At this time, Wang Ping said on the side: "The number of five hundred eagle strikes is too small, and I can also lead five thousand barbarians to support General Liu, so that Guan Yu will not dare to go north lightly." ”

Huang Zhong readily agreed, "This plan is feasible!" ”

In the evening of the same day, the Han army slaughtered pigs and sheep, and opened 10,000 jars of wine, held a New Year's banquet for 50,000 Han troops, everyone drank wine and ate meat, a drunk party rested, the next day before dawn, Liu Zheng and the deputy general Ren Ping led 500 eagles to carry dry food and set off, to hundreds of miles away, across the 100,000 mountains of Cangwu County Guangxin County marched quickly.

Guangxin County is today's Wuzhou, Guangxi, Yushui, Lishui and Heshui meet here, Yushui leads directly to Panyu, which makes Guangxin County the most important transportation hub and population town in the north of Jiaozhou.

Guangxin County has 8,000 households and a population of nearly 60,000, which can only be a small county in the Central Plains, but in Jiaozhou, which is sparsely populated, this is the third largest city after Panyu and Jiaozhi, which is also destined to become the most important strategic town in the north of Jiaozhou.

Guan Yu led an army of 10,000 troops into Guangxin County from the end of October last year, and it was only two months after that, and his eldest brother Liu Bei told him when he set off that if the Han army wanted to attack Cangwu County, it would be at least March.

But now just after the New Year, the intelligence spies lurking in Lingling County sent a quick message from Feiying that tens of thousands of Han troops have been stationed in Lingling County, this news makes Guan Yu very nervous, he knows very well that with the financial resources of Lingling County, he can only bear 5,000 garrisons at most, and now tens of thousands of people are stationed, obviously not a permanent garrison, which is clearly the Han army is going to do something to Jiaozhou.

In the big tent of the military camp, Guan Yu paced back and forth with his hands uneasily, he had already sent someone to report urgently to his eldest brother Liu Bei, he received a reply from Liu Bei this morning, ordering him to strengthen the defense of the dangerous place in Lishui, to prevent the main force of the Han army and the baggage from going south by boat.

Guan Yu also fully agreed with the eldest brother's plan, from Jingnan to Jiaozhou separated by countless mountains and mountains, it was almost impossible to transport grain baggage by land, they used a plan to get the trust of Cangwu Taishou Wu Ju, so they were able to enter Cangwu County, the Han army wanted to go south, and could only rely on waterways, from the Lingqu to Lishui into Cangwu County.

Guan Yu pondered for a moment, and then said to his own soldiers: "Let my son Guan Ping come to see him immediately!" ”

After a while, Guan Ping hurriedly walked into the big tent and bowed down, "Please command, father!" ”

Guan Yu pointed to the map and said: "I'm worried that the Han army will move south from Lishui, and there are too few garrisons from Liren Fort, so you can lead 3,000 troops from your headquarters to rush to support Liren Fort." ”

"The child obeys!"

Guan Yu said again: "Be careful of ambushes along the way, and if you find a brigade, report it immediately." ”

"Father, rest assured, the child will be cautious."

Guan Yu told Guan Ping a few more words, and Guan Ping immediately ordered his troops to rush to the fort, a fortified place 200 miles away.

Although the defense has been strengthened on the waterway, Guan Yu is still a little worried about the land route, if the Han army is light troops, it will also come by land, at present, the Jiaozhou army has built more than a dozen passes in the mountainous areas in the north of Jiaozhou, and the garrison ranges from three to five hundred people, among which there is also a pass in the north of Guangxin County, called Sanbakou, there are three hundred garrisons, if the Han army goes south from the Lingling land route, Sanbakou is the first fierce battle.

Thinking of this, Guan Yu ordered the captain Zhang Zhi to lead 2,000 troops to reinforce Sanbakou, and sent 5,000 people to strictly guard the two waterways, and Guan Yu was a little relieved

The Han army actually had to pass through Linhe County when they went south by land, Linhe County was a small county, originally part of Lingling County, more than ninety percent of the land in the entire county is mountainous, and the mouth of the three dams is located at the junction of Linhe County and Cangwu County, and 'dam' is the local name for the basin, which has continued to this day.

The so-called Sanbakou, as the name suggests, is the entrance of three basins, from the south of Cangwu County to the north, after crossing the lofty mountains, the mountains disappear, the terrain becomes gentle, forming a large basin that can be cultivated, plus the water crosses it, there are abundant irrigation water sources, forming a rare agricultural area.

Sanbakou is located in the south of this agriculture, is a canyon more than ten miles long, in the valley mouth of the dangerous place, the Jiaozhou army stationed 300 soldiers, they not only guarded the valley mouth of the key point, but also controlled the front of the agricultural area, originally the tax to be handed over to Fengyang County, but under the threat of the army, the peasants living in the three dams were forced to hand over the tax to the Jiaozhou army.

That night, the peasants living in the dam rested early, and a heavy snowfall that had not been seen for decades made the three dams also dressed up in a world covered in silver, and the cold moonlight shone on the silver earth, making the earth as clear as day.

An army is winding from the north, walking fast, not affected by the thick snow on the ground, this army is from Lingling County rushed to the five hundred eagle strike army, the eagle strike army is the most elite special soldiers of the Han army, all of them are strong in martial arts, strong body, can be one enemy ten, climbing mountains and mountains for them is like walking on the ground, seven hundred miles away, they marched three days and three nights to arrive at the mouth of the three dams.

At this time, it was already two watches, and the nearest dwelling was three miles away, and there was silence in the wilderness, under the reflection of snow and moonlight, the He Shui in the distance was like a black satin spread in the undulating field, Liu Zheng pointed to a forest not far away, and ordered in a low voice: "Go into the woods and rest for an hour." ”

Five hundred eagle strike soldiers rushed to the woods, Liu Zheng found a flat boulder, and began to discuss with the deputy general Ren Ping the plan to seize the mouth of the three dams.