Gao Shun and Zhang He raced against time, led 20,000 horse infantry to march quickly, and after resting for three and a half hours at night, they hurried again, even eating, and gnawing dry food while walking, and finally arrived at Shangluo in the early morning of the second day.

"General Gao, the last general will lead 10,000 people to Lantian first!" Zhang He was covered in dust, but his expression was full of energy.

"Go, the soldiers still have three days' dry rations on them, remember, if you don't take Lantian within two days, return to Shangyu quickly, I will take this city within today!" Gao Shun instructed.

"General Gao, rest assured!" Zhang He bowed, looked at Gao Shun sternly for a moment, then turned the horse's head and organized the soldiers to leave.

Gao Shun was also not idle, and ordered the 10,000 people left behind, as well as his personal guards, to rest in place for an hour.

At six o'clock, Huo Jun rode his horse to his side on time and reported: "General Gao, the time has come!" ”

Gao Shun suddenly stood up from the ground, turned over and stepped on the war horse, and pulled out the snake spear inserted in the ground: "I led the trapping camp to shoot outside the city, suppressing the city, and ordered Yang Ang to lead a battalion of sword and shield soldiers to set up a hook ladder in front, Yang Renqin led two school foot soldiers to the city, and the target was on the east gate, and you led the rest of the soldiers to block the Quartet city gate, and respond at any time!" ”

"No!"

In an instant, the soldiers who had been silent boiled and quickly approached the county seat of Shangluo.

Gao Shun and the two thousand traps of the camp were the first to go out, riding horses to the city, lined up in five columns, a hundred steps away, galloping back and forth around the city wall to shoot arrows, because the war horse galloped, there is a strong speed bonus, so the range of the run is the farthest, and it can be compared with the condescending advantage of the city.

There were only 1,000 defenders in Shangluo County, and there were only two or three hundred people who were really good at shooting. Although now I still have to pick up all the bows and arrows. Temporary resistance. But most of them couldn't shoot as far as a hundred paces, and as for the head, it was even more miserable, and not everyone could use a war bow.

Although there are still two or three hundred people at the head of the city who are good at shooting, compared with the number of trap camps that have reached 2,000, there is no comparison at all, and many crossbowmen can't even pull it apart completely. Among the Cao army on the head of Shangluo City, there are also few people who can really effectively pull away and use it.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Even if running is the most difficult way to shoot arrows, the accuracy of the trapping camp is still very guaranteed, and after the number theory, the Cao army at the head of Shangluo City was completely suppressed, with seventy or eighty dead and wounded, and the soldiers began to choose to hide rather than shoot.

Yang Ang had already taken advantage of this opportunity to lead a battalion of five hundred sword shield soldiers. Holding a shield in one hand and a hook ladder in the other, he quickly rushed to the city wall.

A hook ladder is actually a ladder made of tough bamboo or wood. However, one end of the ladder was watered with molten iron, which effectively prevented the enemy from cutting off the ladder, and there were also two large iron hooks, which were used to hook the city wall and prevent the enemy from overturning the ladder.

This is the simplest siege equipment, but also the lightest, this time Gao Shun Zhang cooperated to attack the vanguard troops, of course, it is impossible to carry heavy siege equipment.

By the time the trapped camp had shot all the twelve arrows in the quiver, Yang Ang had already led the sword and shield soldiers to rush to the city.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! ”

Dozens of big iron hooks at the top of the hook ladder hung on the wall of the city wall, the sword and shield soldiers held their shields above their heads, Yang Ren led the foot soldiers to follow behind, and immediately roared, commanding the foot soldiers to climb the ladder and quickly charge towards the city

The falling stones and sassal trees at the head of the city caused casualties to the soldiers, but because their numbers were too small and not concentrated, the lethality was not great.

The roaring siege battle began, and the battle-hardened soldiers of the Eastern Legion, extremely experienced, quickly rushed to the sparsely defended Shangluo City.

This is a battle without suspense, just one round of impact, the head of Shangluo City is already loosely defended, with heavy casualties, Gao Shun immediately led the trap camp to dismount, and landed in the city, not to mention the Cao soldiers at this moment, even if it is Cao Cao's elite troops, they have to fight a few shivers in the face of the trapped camp.

When Gao Shun calmly climbed to the top of the city, he successively picked up three or five Cao soldiers and flew down from the city wall, and the Cao army collapsed and hurriedly surrendered.

After the battle, the Eastern Army lost only a few dozen people, but the Cao army lost more than 300 people, and most of the rest became prisoners.

Gao Shun led his troops into Shangluo and immediately began to rectify the city defense and seize supplies.

But after most of the day, after arranging a qiē, he began to worry about Zhang He's safety, and after thinking about it, he finally decided to catch up overnight.

At that time, he ordered Huo Jun and Yang Ren to lead 5,000 soldiers to stay in Shangluo, and he took another 5,000 people and his 2,000 soldiers from the trapped camp, and after nightfall, chased to Lantian in the northwest.

Lantian Valley, is a large undulating valley, has disappeared in later generations, but now it is green mountains and green waters, lush vegetation, there are many mountains and strange stones, the south is the Qinling Mountains, now this era is called Nanshan, the northwest is Lantian County, the southeast is Shangluo County, it is just in the middle of the two counties.

When Gao Shun was stationed in Shangluo, Zhang He took 10,000 soldiers to this place, hid in the depths of it, four or five miles away from the road, bathed in the glow of the sunset, and rested leisurely.

"General Zhang, it's been a long time since you rested, so when will Cao Cao's reinforcements come?" Fu Tong looked a little impatient and asked.

"Don't worry, it should be soon!" Zhang He closed his eyes and said lightly: "We set off early yesterday morning, and the Cao army of Shangxian County will definitely get the news as soon as possible, so fast and galloping to pass it, Zhong Xuan should know it in most of the day, that is, in the evening or night." ”

"When I was in Hebei, I had some understanding of Zhong Xuan, he was a capable person, with his means, at most one night, he would definitely be able to urgently mobilize the soldiers, and Shang County Xiahoude and the five thousand Cao Army He could not care, not to mention that if Shangluo and Shang County were lost, we would be equivalent to opening up a road to Chang'an, he would definitely send reinforcements, if he set off at dawn today, then the reinforcements would march at full speed, and they would definitely pass through this place tonight, and now we need to see who the commander of the support army is, and at what speed."

"I see!" Fu Tong was finally relieved and his heart was settled. "General Zhang, then why don't we set up an ambush and defeat this support army?"

"What's the use of ambushing this support army?" Zhang He shook his head. said with a smile: "The lord asked General Gao and me to sneak into Wuguan. He suddenly ordered me to lead the troops to attack. We must take Shangluo and Shangxian, not to annihilate the enemy, but to hope that we will open a way. ”

"Since this is the case, we will completely open this passage and connect it directly to Chang'an! As for the annihilation of the enemy, how can we fight 20,000 people? Can you take down the entire division? Our task is to pave the way for the Lord's army and annihilate the enemy. It's up to the lord to worry about. ”

"So what are we waiting for now?" Fu Tong asked.

"Wait for the reinforcements of the Cao army to pass through this place and go to Shangluo!" Zhang He's eyes flashed, but he didn't continue to explain, and then waved his hand: "Fu Tong, you go to supervise the various departments again, and you must not expose where we are." Also, tell everyone once again that if you meet people on the next way, you must say that we are Cao Jun, and the people will not recognize the army. We don't care much about what the passing army will do, and we must not leak half of it ourselves. Whoever leaks kills whom. ”

"Good!" Fu Tong bounced up from the ground, patted the grass clippings on his body, and left passionately.

As a middle-level general, it is always happy to follow a general who can fight, saving worry, effort, and tangible credit.

Two quarters of an hour later, Feng Xi, dressed as a simple mountain man, suddenly hurried over, found Zhang He, and immediately lowered his voice and said: "General Zhang, Cao's army reinforcements have arrived, go along the main road, and go straight to the direction of Shangluo." ”

Zhang He raised his eyebrows and asked urgently: "How many people?" ”

"Five or six thousand people, all cavalry, not very fast, but much faster than foot soldiers!" Feng Xi frowned.

"Who is the commander of the army? Have you ever seen it? Do you deny it? Zhang He asked again.

"Acquaintance, it's Cao Zhen!" Feng Xi replied.

"Cao Zhen?" Zhang He chattered to himself, fell into thought, and after a while, he shook his head decisively and said: "If you take people over there to take a closer look, the reinforcements will never be only five or six thousand, this must be the cavalry first, and there must be a large group of foot soldiers behind." ”

"Okay, I'll go and find out again!" Feng Xi said, not too long-winded, turned around and left.

"Five or six thousand cavalry, the reinforcements are at least more than 20,000!" Zhang He chattered to himself for a moment, and a meaningful smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

After another half an hour like this, Feng Xi hurried back again: "General Zhang really expected things like a god, and nearly 20,000 foot soldiers passed by just now. ”

"Good!" Zhang He suddenly stood up from the ground and urged, "You go and put on your armor immediately, and we are ready to go." ”

"No!"

After about two quarters of an hour, the sky was already dark, Zhang He set off again with 10,000 soldiers, walked four or five miles of dense forest, passed through the main road, and walked with Cao Zhen's reinforcements back, and marched rapidly in the direction of Lantian.

Because this place is only dozens of miles away from Lantian County, I walked for more than three hours, and at midnight, I finally arrived five miles southeast of Lantian County.

Zhang He looked at the sky, decisively took the soldiers away from the road, and rushed to a dirt slope to rest.

"Feng Xi, if there is no accident in Lantian, there should still be more than 1,000 people stationed, although it must be unprepared, I don't know that we have avoided their reinforcements and rushed here, but just in case, you still bring some generals with good martial arts, take off your armor, and pretend to be ordinary people to go around the county to investigate."

"No!" Feng Xi happily complied.

"Remember, don't be exposed!" Zhang He admonished.

Feng Xi smiled, patted his chest and said, "General Zhang, don't worry, if this little thing can't be done, I don't have to do it as a general!" Even if he dies, he will never leak half a sentence. ”

"Okay, then go, pay attention to safety, in half an hour, we will raid Lantian!"

At the same time, as early as an hour ago, the reinforcements led by Cao Zhen had already met Gao Shun, who had set out to chase Zhang He after nightfall, and the sentinels had already discovered each other from a distance before the two armies really met each other.

Cao Zhen was shocked when he got the report: "How could the Jingzhou army be here?" Could it be that Shang County has been lost? What's going on with Xiahoude, it's only been two days now, and a full 5,000 people are stationed in a small county town, but they can't even last three or four days? ”

Although he was shocked, he quickly calmed down, and after thinking for a while, he ordered the army to set up a position, and at the same time said to the herald beside him: "You quickly go to the rear and inform Li Yan, so that he can catch up with his foot soldiers." ”

Fortunately, Gao Shun couldn't figure out the situation of Cao Jun at this moment, so he didn't dare to act rashly, but retreated first, planning to wait for dawn to make a decision.

Half an hour later, Li Yan in Cao Zhen's mouth caught up with his foot soldiers.

If Wang Xu was present, he would definitely be able to recognize that this Li Yan was the one who served Liu Biao and fought against him, but escaped from him several times, and finally fled, and was also a famous general of the Shu Han Dynasty who was the same as Zhuge Liang in history, and was second only to Zhuge Liang.

After Liu Biao's defeat that year, Wang Xu wanted to reuse him and look around, but he mistakenly thought that Wang Xu hated him and wanted to kill him, so he fled with his family in advance...... (To be continued......)