Anlu County is located in the north of Jiangxia County, due to the north of the Huaiyang Mountains, it separates Anlu County from the Central Plains, forming a semi-closed state of Anlu County, in the years of the Great Northern War, except for the Battle of Chibi, the rest of the battles did not have much impact on Anlu County.

Although there are many mountains in the northern part of Anlu County, most of them are hills, and they are not as lofty as Qishan, and there are many passages between the hills, which can pass through the hills and valleys to the north.

Yiyang County is the northernmost county of Anlu County, and it is also the ancestral hometown of the general Wei Yan, here is the Tongbai Mountains, the terrain is high in the west and low in the east, in the easternmost part of Yiyang, but it is a plain as wide as 100 miles, the Huai River meanders through here, dividing this plain into Anlu County and Runan County.

At this time, in the south of the Huai River on the plain, there stands a huge military camp covering an area of thousands of acres, this is a plate wall type military camp that the Han army spent nearly two months to build, the camp wall is two zhang high, and every 100 steps to build a sentry tower, the big camp is close to the Huai River, standing on the sentry tower, you can clearly see the small county of Anyang on the other side of the Huai River.

Anyang County has been occupied by the Han army, as the outpost of the Han army's Northern Expedition, because Yiyang County is the birthplace of the Huai River, the Huai River is not wide in this area, and it is easier to cross the river, so the Han army built three pontoon bridges on the Huai River for this purpose, connecting Runan County and Anlu County closely.

This time, Anlu County will become the main battlefield of the Han army's Northern Expedition, the Han army has increased its troops to 80,000 in Yiyang County, Liu Jing also came to Anlu County to sit in town, and Cao Jun also realized that Runan will become the main battle, Cao Cāo has also increased his troops to Runan County to 100,000, and Cao Cāo himself also rushed to Ancheng to command the Central Plains War that was about to break out.

The time gradually came to the beginning of November, the Central Plains region has entered the cold winter, the upper reaches of the Huai River began to freeze, but the ice is very shallow, can not walk directly on the ice, but in the territory of Runan large and small rivers are thick ice, the cold wind is cold, the earth is gloomy.

About fifty miles north of Anyang County, in a hilly area with large woods and farmland, a scout patrol of ten cavalry was hiding in a wooded area to rest and have lunch in the leeward of a mountain col.

They lit a fire and roasted a small wild boar they had hunted, and the wild boar was crackling, golden and fragrant, and the soldiers could not bear it, and they cut off a piece of meat with their knives and sat down by the fire to feast on it.

The cavalry scout commander named Wang Xing, who was from Anlu County, and the scouts he led were basically locals who were very familiar with the surrounding environment, and their task was to monitor whether Cao's army was heading south.

Wang Xing was gnawing on the hind legs of a wild boar, when he looked up, he found that ten of his subordinates were roasting and eating meat, he was a little dissatisfied, and kicked a soldier, "Wu Si, it's your turn to be on duty, go and sentry!" ”

The soldier had no choice but to cut off another piece of meat and walk towards the col while eating, at this time, another soldier smiled and said: "Tun Chang, on such a cold day, do you think Cao Jun will go south?" ”

Wang Xing wiped the oil on his mouth and said: "This is not certain, we are now in Runan County, on other people's territory, if there is a Cao army, I am not surprised at all." ”

"Tun Chief, why do you want to fight in winter?" Another soldier asked vaguely.

"You ask me, who do I ask?"

"I guess I want to attack Xudu, I heard that there are also fifty or sixty thousand troops on the Xinye side, and the two sides are attacking, just like the two big pincers of a scorpion."

"It's impossible to fight Xudu, otherwise what's the point of Jiangdong sending troops?"

The soldiers argued, and then the tun commander Wang Xing scolded unhappily: "Don't fart, eat meat, eat enough to patrol the outpost, if you miss Cao Jun, everyone's life will be difficult to protect." ”

At this moment, the soldiers who ran to the sentry just now ran in a panic, "I saw the Cao army, there are many troops." ”

The people jumped up in fright, and immediately became a mess, and did not care to eat meat, and when they had extinguished the fire, they got on their horses one after another, and urged their horses to run out of the col.

On the edge of a forest on the hill, ten scout cavalry looked into the distance, and sure enough, they saw a Cao army, about 5,000 people, marching south along the official road in the distance, obviously in the direction of Anyang County.

"Wu Si, you take the four brothers to continue to monitor Cao Jun, and the rest follow me!"

Tun Chang Wang Xing turned his horse's head, led four cavalrymen to urge the horse to run down the hills, and galloped towards Anyang County on a small road

At this time, Liu Jing inspected Anyang County, which is a small county with a population of hundreds of households, built on the high ground on the north bank of the Huai River, the city wall is less than 100 steps away from the Huai River, the city is narrow, the circumference is more than ten miles, and the city wall is also quite dilapidated.

The county itself has no military strategic value, but because the three pontoon bridges are built close to the county seat, the small county of Anyang has become a bridgehead, which plays a protective role in the three pontoon bridges, and its military role is artificially created.

Anyang County currently has 5,000 garrison troops, commanded by the school captain Liao Hua, at this time Liao Hua is accompanying Liu Jing to inspect the county, he pointed to the city wall and said: "Anyang County was destroyed by the Yellow Turban Army Liu Pi in about five years of Jian'an, and then it was simply built, after more than ten years it has been dilapidated, and some of the collapsed city walls have been repaired, and some of the collapsed city walls have been completed, and the broken city bricks have also been replaced, but to completely rebuild, it will take at least half a year, and it is too late to come up." ”

Liu Jing nodded and said: "Relying on an Anyang County to block the main force of the Cao army is obviously unrealistic, the role of Anyang County is to protect the pontoon bridge, but the main force of the Cao army is coming, even if they don't burn the pontoon bridge, we have to burn it, our strategy is to confront the Cao army, not to fight, you must first understand this." ”

"Humble duty understands!"

Although Liao Hua didn't really understand what Liu Jing meant, he knew one thing very well, as long as he faithfully carried out Liu Jing's orders, it was enough, and as for what to do for Lu, it was not something he considered.

At this moment, a soldier came to report, "Qiqi Prefecture Mu, a cavalry scout has returned, saying that the enemy situation has been discovered!" ”

Liu Jing was stunned for a moment, and then ordered: "Bring a scout to see me." ”

The city gate opened, several scout cavalry entered the city, and Wang Xing, who was the leader, was quickly brought to Liu Jing, who asked with a smile, "What enemy situation have you found?" ”

Wang Xing didn't expect to meet Liu Jing, he was a little nervous in his heart, and hurriedly knelt down on one knee to report: "About 5,000 Cao troops are coming south along the official road, and it should be twenty miles away now." ”

'Five thousand Cao troops, which is equivalent to the strength of Anyang County, what does Cao cāo mean? Liu Jing thought about it, and then said to Wang Xing: "Continue to investigate, try to explore farther, and report the situation at any time." ”

"Yes!"

Wang Xing saluted, got up and walked away quickly, and then Liao Hua said: "It is estimated that Cao Jun is here to test our reality?" ”

Liu Jing nodded, "If my expectations are correct, there must be a large group of cavalry behind them, once the defenders of Anyang meet the battle, the cavalry of the Cao army will be copied from behind, destroy Anyang County and the pontoon bridge, take the first place, annihilate the five thousand Han troops in Jiangbei, and boost the morale of Cao's army." ”

"The meaning of the state pastor is to deal with the enemy army with the same position, and to defend the city of Anyang."

"I'm just guessing, I don't know the true intentions of the enemy, it's better to defend, but the pontoon bridge needs to be strengthened, if the situation is not good, you can give up Anyang at any time and retreat!"

Liao Hua hugged his fists and said: "I understand my humble duties, and I also ask the state pastor to return to the south bank immediately." ”

Liu Jing turned on his horse, and under the escort of hundreds of personal soldiers, he ran out of the city gate and walked along the pontoon bridge to the south bank

The vanguard of the 5,000 Cao army quickly killed Anyang City under the leadership of the general ban, and indeed as Liu Jing guessed, the purpose of the Cao army was to annihilate the 5,000 Han army in Anyang City, and use the victory of the first battle to boost morale, Yu Ban was only the vanguard, and his task was to burn the pontoon bridge.

Behind the ban, the cavalry of the Cao army is ready, and once the Han army in the city goes out of the city and fights fiercely with the Cao army, the Cao army will quickly kill and cooperate with the forbidden army to annihilate the Han army.

At this time, Yu Ban led 5,000 Cao troops to approach the first pontoon bridge of the Han army, located one mile east of Anyang City, guarded by 500 soldiers, 500 soldiers holding crossbows, ambushed behind bunkers, nervously watching Cao Jun slowly kill.

The 5,000 Cao army led by Yu Ban had been lined up in an attack formation, 1,000 soldiers with large shields in their hands lined up in two rows, forming a shield wall and slowly advancing forward, behind the sword and shield army were 1,000 crossbowmen, and then behind were 3,000 spearmen.

Yu Ban was among the crossbowmen, and he waved his war knife and shouted: "Press it up and destroy the pontoon bridge!" ”

With the rumbling of the war drums of the Cao army, the Cao army began to run, and the five hundred defenders fired arrows into the Cao army's formation, and the dense arrows flew away, shè towards the enemy group, but the effect was not great, the shield array of the Cao army withstood the first round of shè attacks from the Han army's crossbowmen, and less than twenty people were hit by the arrows.

At the same time, the crossbowmen of the Cao army also began to release arrows, and the overwhelming arrows shè towards the bridgehead bunker, suppressing the five hundred Han troops to the death, seeing that the Cao army was getting closer and closer, the Han army marquis shouted, "Retreat!" ”

The five hundred Han troops at the head of the bridge left the bunker one after another and ran south along the pontoon bridge, and the dozen or so people who ran behind were hit by random arrows and fell to the ground screaming, and the soldiers of the Cao army rushed through the bunker and completely occupied the first pontoon bridge, and soon, the raging fire burned on the pontoon bridge, and thick smoke billowed out.

At the head of the city, Liao Hua looked at the burned pontoon bridge in the distance, and saw Cao Jun turn around and kill the second pontoon bridge, he clenched the handle of the knife, he couldn't be passive like this, once the three pontoon bridges were burned, they couldn't go back, but whether to attack or retreat, Liao Hua couldn't make up his mind for a while.

At this moment, the scout cavalry Wang Xing rushed back from the north again, and said loudly under the city: "Quickly report to General Liao, there is an urgent enemy situation!" ”

Liao Hua walked quickly to the head of the city, and the probe asked, "What did you find?" ”

"I found that the main force of the Cao army, about 100,000 people, is coming to this side, and it is less than thirty miles."

Liao Hua was taken aback, as soon as he turned around, Cao's army had already occupied the second pontoon bridge, and the situation was extremely critical, Liao Hua immediately ordered: "Get out of the city immediately and evacuate to the south bank!" ”