"What? The enemy bypassed us overnight and headed straight for Kunyang? ”

It was night, and Cao Hong did not rest.

During the day, he had noticed that the enemy troops outside the city were beginning to clean up the camp, so he kept a close eye on it.

After dark, a large number of scouts were sent out to reconnoitre.

Soon the scouts returned, Shen Chenjun first pretended to retreat, and after retreating for more than ten miles, he went west to the Lushan area of the Funiu Mountains, and after dark, he went north in the direction of Kunyang.

The place they bypassed was more than ten kilometers away from Yexian, but Cao Hong had a group of cavalry scouts under him, who had been following him with his tail hanging and immediately reported when he found out about the situation.

Hearing this news, Cao Hong was greatly surprised, and the left and right lieutenant generals immediately gathered around him and said, "General, will they attack Kunyang at night?" ”

"It's possible."

Cao Hong frowned and said, "But it is not ruled out that they will pass by Kunyang directly and attack Xudu." ”

"Attack Xudu?"

One lieutenant general was surprised: "How is this possible? They are only 10,000 horses, and now there are nearly 10,000 people guarding Xudu, isn't this self-defeating? ”

Cao Hong groaned: "But Xu Du is also big now, and nearly 10,000 people may not be able to hold it." ”

In ancient times, the city was actually not large, with an average of 2-3 square kilometers.

Like Changsha City, the urban area was only 5 square kilometers during the Republic of China, and it was even smaller in the Han Dynasty, less than half of the Republic of China, but it was already the most prosperous city in Jingnan.

Originally, Xuchang was just a small county town in Yingchuan, with a height of three or four meters and an area of two square kilometers, which was a very small ordinary city.

But later Cao Cao moved the capital to Xuchang, and the Son of Heaven and Wang Jia, the three princes and nine kings, and the world's major families settled in one after another, resulting in a surge in the population of the city, overcrowded, and the ministers and magnates did not even have a place to live.

So Cao Cao began to expand the city, using the original city as the inner city as Liu Xie's palace, and built an outer city outside the city for the ministers and the people to live.

According to historical records, after Cao Cao's expansion, the outer city of Xuchang was five times that of the inner city, which means that the total area of Xuchang now has reached 12 square kilometers, and the city wall of the outer city alone has reached a length of 12 kilometers, and it already has the atmosphere of an imperial capital.

But the problem is that to reach this level, it was before Cao Pi forced Liu Xiechan to concede, and then moved the capital from Xuchang to Yecheng. That is, it was not until 220 A.D. that the entire city could be built into this state.

Now that Cao Cao has just set the capital of Xuchang for only four years, where did he get the money for large-scale expansion?

Therefore, at this time, Xuchang was empty of inner and outer cities, but the walls of the outer city had not yet been built, and there were only a large number of houses. m.jújíá?y.?? m

That is to say, now only Liu Xie's palace in the entire Xuchang has a city wall, and there is no city wall to protect it outside, so it is a virtual thing, and you can directly enter it.

If Shen Chen really decided to surprise attack Xuchang, for Cao Hong, it would indeed be a matter of urgency.

"His 10,000 people, dare to run 300 miles to Xudu?"

The lieutenant was incredulous.

Cao Hong said coldly: "What else is there that Shen Chen doesn't dare to do?" ”

"This ......"

Everyone is right when they think about it, Shen Chen and Cao Cao are mortal enemies, although it is dangerous to attack Xu Du, but once it succeeds, then Cao Cao will be destroyed, and it is really possible for him to be a madman.

Cao Hong pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Are you sure there are only 10,000 of them?" Are there any civilians who accompany the army? ”

"Nope."

The scout replied, "We've been following since before dark, and there are no people." ”

"Do you have a cart or a horse?"

"Not either."

"Are you sure they don't have baggage?"

"I can see it clearly, I really don't, but their soldiers all have bags on them."

"Is that so?"

Cao Hong lowered his head and thought about it.

Then there are only two situations in front of him.

The first is to attack the east and west, pretending to attack Xu Du, but actually ambushing him.

The second is that the other party is really preparing to surprise attack Xudu.

In ancient times, warfare did require a certain number of people to help escort grain and grass.

For example, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty fought the Xiongnu, with a total of 600,000 troops, of which at least 400,000 were people who transported grain and grass.

There are also Zhuge Liang's several northern expeditions, which require a large number of people to transport grain and grass in the rear, and often withdraw due to lack of food.

But they have to do it as a last resort because they are fighting long distances or the roads are difficult and dangerous.

Normal plain warfare, unless a large-scale campaign of more than 100,000 horses like Yuan Shao, requires people to escort grain and grass. Otherwise, there is no need for a small-scale war with tens of thousands of people.

For example, Sima Yi traveled thousands of miles to attack Mengda, and the average march in the mountains was 56 kilometers a day, and there would be no people in the rear to help transport grain, and his own soldiers carried dry food for a month.

Cao Cao went east to Xuzhou several times, and Liu Bei and Lu Bu went east to the east, but there were no people to transport grain and grass, and the troops themselves brought a few months of food, and often the war could only be fought for two or three months before they had to retreat.

In addition, before the Long March, our army prepared about 1.6 million loads of grain and 40,000 troops, which were also escorted by people without the help of civilian husbands, and could only be transported by our soldiers by hand or by horses and carts.

Everywhere along the way they were warlord land, there was no mass base, and no one helped our army, but they relied on two shoulders and a pair of iron feet to walk 25,000 kilometers.

It can be seen that in the Central Plains, there are often few people who help transport grain, and the troops carry it themselves.

Shen Chen went north this time, with an army of 10,000 people, only about 5,000 people, a total of 15,000 people, and about 2,000 weapons and equipment baggage trucks, about 1,000 grain and grass baggage trucks, totaling about 50,000 stones.

In addition, each soldier carried a bag and stored twenty days of dry food, so that, according to the record of "Juyan Hanjian", the soldier consumed 2.7 stone of grain per month, and he could eat for three months if he saved some food.

It stands to reason that he also consumed two months of grain and grass in Duyang, and there should be less than 20 days of grain left.

However, when he was blocking the sun with his troops, more than 200,000 stone grains and grass were successively transported from the rear, so his grain and grass did not decrease but increased, and it was very sufficient.

Cao Hong figured out that now Shen Chen did not bring a large amount of grain and grass to the north, only the soldiers carried a part of the rations, which meant that Shen Chen was likely to really plan to travel lightly and raid Xuchang.

You know, Xuchang is only 130 kilometers away from Yexian, and Hanli is about 300, and it is flat along the way, without any obstacles, which is not a long-distance run at all.

If Sima Yi marched at a speed of 56 kilometers a day, he would start in the morning and arrive in the afternoon of the third day. Not to mention that Sima Yi's speed is slow, during the Long March, our army had a record of 120 kilometers a day in mountainous terrain.

Therefore, Cao Hong must know whether Shen Chen really planned to attack Xuchang by surprise, or whether he was setting up an ambush to trick him out.

Thinking of this, Cao Hong immediately said: "First send someone to report to Xudu immediately, and then send a message to Liu Dai and Wang Zhong, so that they must be cautious, and Li Guo." ”

"The end will be."

One of Cao Hong's lieutenants stepped forward.

"Take a thousand men and horses, and immediately pursue them to see if they have an ambush."

"Yui."

Li Kuang was about to take the order and leave.

Cao Hong said again: "Slow. ”

"General."

Li Kuang turned back and gave his hand.

Cao Hong pondered for a moment and said: "If there are ambush soldiers, you must see how many men and horses the other party has, remember not to fight, and withdraw immediately if there is anything wrong." ”

"Understood."

Li Guo took the order and left.

Another lieutenant general on the side was puzzled: "What does this mean, general?" ”

Cao Hong said: "If Shen Chen really wants to raid Xu Du, he will definitely leave a little men to stop us, otherwise if we go to chase after us immediately, won't we be caught between Xu Du and us?" Therefore, the number of ambushes they have determines whether he really goes north or intends to ambush us. ”

The adjutant general was convinced: "General Gaojian! ”

.....．

.....．

When Cao Hong was arranging, Shen Chen was also arranging.

The army set out overnight, without bringing a large amount of grain and grass, leaving a thousand men to guard the sun, and each soldier carrying twenty days' dry food, all the way north.

On the way, Shen Chen said to Gan Ning: "Uncle Xingba, when you lead the main force to hide in Lushan, you must first send two thousand men and horses to set up an ambush in the road, and when the Cao army comes, immediately kill them and scare them away." ”

Gan Ning was confused and said, "Didn't this tell him that we had an ambush?" ”

Shen Chen said: "Cao Hong is also a veteran who has followed Cao Cao for many years, it is impossible for us to follow immediately because we have bypassed Ye County, and we will definitely wonder if we are setting up an ambush, so we will definitely send a small number of people to test it." If we use all our strength, he will understand that we are ambushing him, and he will have to expose a certain number of troops first, so that he will think that it is our forces that are stopping him. ”

"Oh."

Gan Ning nodded, suddenly seemed to be a little bit of a child, and said, "If our main force is exhausted, won't Cao Hong be scared away?" You must think that we are ambushing him, and when he retreats in the city, we will kill Xu Du directly, right? ”

Shen Chen rolled his eyes and said, "Attacking Xu Du is the most ideal situation, but what are we most afraid of?" It was the defenders of Yexian, Kunyang, and Wuyang who immediately followed, and when we were engaged with Cao's army in Xudu, they attacked our rear, and then they were flanked in front and back, and our army was defeated. Therefore, although this plan can deceive Cao Hong, but when our main force wants to pass Kunyang and Wuyang, they are not blind, and as soon as they report to Cao Hong, won't he understand? ”

"That's just as well."

Gan Ning pondered that he really thought too much, the main force could indeed deceive Cao Hong after Ye County, but there were also county towns such as Kunyang and Wuyang behind, and they were discovered when the main force passed, so the so-called ambush of Cao Hong would have to be exposed, so that he knew their true intentions, and he still had to catch up immediately.

So Gan Ning's statement is not reliable at all.

Shen Chen said: "The way of the art of war is the virtual and the real. What we have to do now is to convince Cao Hong that we are really going to raid Xudu. Instead of letting him know that we are ambushing him, otherwise, he will not be able to deceive the defenders of Kunyang and Wuyang, which is also the purpose of needing my partial division to go north, that is, to deceive the defenders of these two places, so as to deceive Cao Hong and kill him. ”

"Got it."

Gan Ning nodded, now he finally understood Shen Chen's intentions.

The army lit torches and hurried overnight, and in the middle of the night, that is, at more than twelve o'clock in the evening, they walked for about 2 hours and more than 20 kilometers, with an average speed of 5 kilometers per hour, which was about the same as the walking speed of ordinary people.

Yexian is about forty kilometers away from Kunyang, and to their left is the towering Lushan Mountain Range.

The soldiers in Huangmenting are okay, in addition to daily training, it is normal to train ten kilometers every day, and Gan Ning's troops began to have some sore feet, and their speed slowed down one by one.

Fortunately, they had already arrived at their destination, Shen Chen and Gan Ning separated, Gan Ning's army hid in Lushan, sent 2,000 people to set up an ambush on the periphery, and he led the main force to hide in the mountains behind, while Shen Chen took 3,000 people, holding three-pointed fork torches, and headed towards Kunyang.

Without the drag of the Ganning army, Shen Chen ordered a rapid march, and walked more than ten kilometers in less than an hour, and saw the city hidden in the darkness from a distance by the torches on the Kunyang city wall.

"Let's go!"

Shen Chen himself was also on foot, constantly urging the soldiers, their destination today was to pass through Kunyang and then to Xiangcheng.

Xiangcheng is located more than forty kilometers north of Kunyang, and after arriving here, there are only fifty kilometers left from Xudu, so as long as his people appear in Xiangcheng, it will inevitably cause a great shock.

"Brother Shen!"

"Hmm!"

Shen Changqing walked on the road, and when he met someone he knew well, he would say hello to each other or nod his head.

But it doesn't matter who it is.

There was no superfluous expression on everyone's face, as if they were very indifferent to everything.

on this.

Shen Changqing is used to it.

Because this is the Demon Suppression Division, it is an institution that maintains the stability of Great Qin, and its main responsibility is to kill demons and monsters, and of course there are some other side jobs.

Arguably.

In the Demon Suppression Division, everyone has a lot of blood on their hands.

When a person is accustomed to seeing life and death, then he will become indifferent to many things.

When he first came to this world, Shen Changqing was a little uncomfortable, but over time he got used to it.

The Demon Suppression Division is huge.

The people who can stay in the Demon Suppression Division are all powerful masters, or people who have the potential to become masters.

Shen Changqing belongs to the latter.

Among them, the Demon Suppression Division is divided into two professions, one is the town guard and the other is the demon exterminator.

Anyone who enters the Demon Suppression Division starts with the lowest level of demon slayer.

Then step by step, he is expected to become a town guard.

Shen Changqing's predecessor was a trainee demon slayer in the Demon Suppression Division, and he was also the lowest level of the demon slayer envoys.

Have memories of the predecessor.

He is also very familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Division.

It didn't take long for Shen Changqing to stop in front of an attic.

Unlike other places full of slaughter, the attic here seems to stand out from the crowd, and in the bloody Demon Suppression Division, it presents a different tranquility.

At this time, the attic door is open, and there are occasional people entering and exiting.

Shen Changqing only hesitated for a moment, and then stepped in.

Access to the attic.

The environment has changed in vain.

A burst of ink fragrance mixed with the faint smell of blood came to his face, making his brow furrow instinctively, but quickly stretched.

The smell of blood on everyone's body in the Demon Suppression Division is almost impossible to clean.