When night fell, Xiangcheng was silent.

The city has been occupied by Shen Chen's army, and most of the three thousand men and horses are seizing the time to rest, except for a small number of soldiers who guard the various city gates and take turns to garrison them.

They arrived at Xiangcheng from noon, and it was about nine o'clock in the evening, for nearly eight hours, and the soldiers got enough sleep.

On the contrary, Shen Chen only slept for four or five hours in between, and it was intermittent, getting up once an hour on average, inspecting various city gates, and then pacifying the people everywhere.

Shen Chen also personally led the soldiers to visit the old men or Confucian scholars in the city, telling them that he came to crusade against Cao thieves in the name of the Son of Heaven because of the edict of clothes, and he was by no means against the party, nor would he harm the people.

Interestingly, at first, the old men and Confucian scholars were incredulous and unwilling to cooperate. But when Shen Chen told them that he and Sima Hui were very good friends, their attitudes changed drastically, and they were willing to cooperate with his actions.

Sima Hui is a native of Yangzhai, Yangzhai is only thirty or forty kilometers away from Xiangcheng, his virtuous name Yingchuan is well known, and after hearing that Shen Chen and Sima Hui were friendly, and made a guarantee, he naturally believed Shen Chen's words.

After Shen Chen's army entered the city, he also did not commit any crimes, except for occupying the county mansion and using it for rest, the discipline of the soldiers was strictly restricted, and there was no infringement on the interests of the people.

The reason why the soldiers of Huangmenting have such a high quality is due to the extremely high personal quality of the officers and the reason that they are small in number and easy to command.

The officers of Huangmenting came from the first group of more than 100 clans formed from Xuzhou to the south, and they were all from the Deng Shen Er clan and the old Huangmenting, and they were the most obedient and high-quality people.

After arriving in Nanyang, Shen Chen asked everyone to learn to read and learn characters, and went down to the grassroots level, and each officer had to control and restrain the soldiers in his own ranks.

Before this expedition, he wrote a piece of paper and asked for dozens of copies, all of which were handed over to each officer, and the content of the paper was naturally the three major disciplines and the eight points of attention, and the officers must let the soldiers strictly abide by them, and those who violated the order, even if they were relatives, could only be killed with tears.

Under such solemn discipline requirements, after the three thousand soldiers marched into the city, they naturally showed the temperament of the Yue family's army of "freezing to death without breaking the house, starving to death without plundering", even if they were tired, they did not dare to rest until Shen Chen took the county government.

At close to midnight, Shen Chen returned from his last inspection on the city wall, and when he arrived at the county office, the soldiers were almost rested at this time, and they had already gone up to the city wall to garrison, and only a small number of soldiers who needed to guard the city gate during the day were still lying everywhere in the county government mansion.

It's not that he doesn't want everyone to sleep on the city wall, but now it's the alternate season of spring and summer, and Yingchuan belongs to the hinterland of the Central Plains, and the sun is still shining in the morning, and it rains lightly in the afternoon, so he can only let everyone lie down and rest in the county office.

After arriving at the county office, Shen Chen began to make a summary.

The strategic purpose of going north alone this time was to mobilize the defenders of Yexian, Kunyang, Wuyang and other places and force them out of the city for a decisive battle.

If things go well, then Gan Ning should have annihilated Cao Hong's troops by now, and only the Cao army of Kunyang and Wuyang remains, as well as the Cao army of Xudu who may fight at any time.

Shen Chen believed that it was impossible for Cao Jun of Xudu to let him appear near Xudu, so it was extremely possible to come to Xiangcheng, and it was even possible to come overnight.

Therefore, according to the time calculation, in about another hour or two, he must evacuate Xiangcheng and return to Kunyang to flank Liu Dai.

So can you really do a fake show and really capture Xudu?

Gan Ning put forward this idea before, and the answer given by Shen Chen was unrealistic, if you really go north to capture Xudu, you can deceive Cao Hong, but you can't deceive Liu Dai and Wang Zhong, they are behind, you have to pass through Kunyang to attack Xu, and people are not blind.

Therefore, once he attacked Xudu, then he would have to face a two-sided siege by Cao Hong, Liu Dai, Wang Zhong and the defenders of Xudu, and even Li Tong and Manzhong in Runan would come back and fall into a three-bread sandwich.

At that time, even if it hits near Xudu, it will be meaningless. There is a high probability that it will be surrounded and annihilated by the Cao army, so under that circumstance at that time, it would never be possible to take Xu Du directly.

And now?

The current word...... Shen Chen thought quickly in his mind.

The strategic significance of his feigned capture of Xudu is that he is very aware of the current situation in Xudu. Eight Chinese Net

The inner city is Liu Xie's palace, and the people and officials live in the outer city, and the current city wall of the outer city has not been repaired, and the defense is useless.

Therefore, no matter whether he really wants to fight Xu Du or fake it, as long as he appears in the area of Xiangcheng, the entire Cao army in Yingchuan, Runan, and Nanyang will be mobilized and frantically converge here.

Just like Li Yunlong fought Ping'an County, it was impossible for the surrounding Cao Jun to gamble on this chance, so as long as he was in Xiangcheng, Cao Jun would come, and he had to come.

If you take advantage of this opportunity, make a time difference. When Cao Jun of Xudu went south to Xiangcheng, he chose to go north to take Xudu directly, which is interesting.

But Shen Chen had to consider another issue.

Even if the Cao army of Xudu comes, it will definitely not be all, and they will inevitably stay in some of them.

Even if his 3,000 people kill Xu Du, at most it will cause a great shock to Xu Du, as long as the remaining defenders of Xu Du hold on for a while, his 3,000 people will still be destroyed.

So Xu Du still can't go.

Now in front of Shen Chen, there are two paths to choose from: safe and radical.

Radical is to take Xu Du directly, which is very risky, but once it succeeds, the benefits are also very large, and it can even directly destroy Cao Cao.

It is safe to follow the original plan, go south and join Gan Ning, and after annihilating Liu Dai and Wang Zhong, occupy Yexian to threaten Cao Cao's rear.

Considering the benefits, Shen Chen still didn't choose to be aggressive.

Because first of all, he really went north to destroy Cao Cao's rear and welcomed Liu Xie to Nanyang, Liu Biao had the heart of usurpation, and he was afraid that he would hate him to death, and he might not be able to compete with him with his strength.

The second is that Xu Du was forced, Cao Cao must have no intention of fighting the battle of Guandu, and may even immediately go south to defend, then Yuan Shao's large-scale attack will inevitably cause Yuan Shao to seize the entire Henan, and it will not be Cao Cao who will occupy the north at that time, but Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao's strength is much stronger than Cao Cao's, which is more harmful to the follow-up, maybe it will not take until the twelfth year of Jian'an, and the entire north, including Guanzhong, Henan, and Hebei, will fall into Yuan Shao's hands.

Even if Yuan Shao died of illness after two years in history, what if he won the battle against Cao Cao and died prematurely without getting sick? So you have to think about it.

At present, the best situation for Shen Chen is that Cao Cao can neither let Cao Cao deal a fatal blow to Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu, nor let Yuan Shao live too comfortably, it is best to let them still confront each other in the north for a few more years, and give Shen Chen enough time to develop.

Thinking of this, Shen Chen gave up his radical ideas and turned to stability.

Minutes and seconds passed.

At this time, Shen Tao hurriedly came to report: "General, the county order is here." ”

"Let him in."

Shen Chen knelt on the seat and stared awe-inspiring at the door in front of him.

After a while, the county commander walked in and flattered Shen Chen and said, "I don't know what happened when the general summoned him?" ”

Shen Chen got up and arched his hand to the north and said: "I am the king of Qin, but the food and grass are insufficient, and I am ready to withdraw my troops and leave, and I will disturb the county and invite Haihan, so I invite the county to come and make amends." ”

The county commander was overjoyed in his heart, but said on his face: "How can you bother the general with some trivial things?" ”

Shen Chen said: "People must not be rude, if they are righteous and beg thieves, how can they disturb the people? So I prepared some belongings to respect the county. ”

After clapping his hands, a small servant came in in the hall on the right with a plate.

When he entered the city to appease the people, Shen Chen also inquired, this county order is not a good person, because he was born in a small and medium-sized family in Zhaoling, Runan, and has a strong old relationship with Xiangcheng County, so he unites together and often oppresses the good and is quite greedy for money.

This is also the reason why they want to occupy the county office, otherwise, if the county magistrate is a virtuous person who is respected by the people of the county, it will definitely be disgusting.

Seeing that the little guy was a slave in his county office, the county respected the plate, revealing the bright gold, and immediately showed a greedy look, but said on his lips: "There is no merit, I understand the general's kindness." ”

Shen Chen smiled: "I don't mean anything else, I just apologize to the people of Xiangcheng, and ask the county lord to forgive me for being rude, don't refuse." ”

"This ......"

The prefectural order hesitated for a moment.

Shen Chen didn't give him time to refuse, and said, "I'm going to withdraw my troops and leave Xiangcheng, and the county lord will say goodbye." ”

With that, he walked straight out of the hall.

"Whew!"

After he went out, a sharp whistle sounded throughout the county mansion.

The soldiers who were still resting woke up almost instinctively, and under the leadership of officers at all levels, they quickly ran out of the county office and gathered at the gate.

At this time, there were only a few hundred soldiers resting in the county office, and after Shen Chen left the county office, he ordered the heralds to quickly gather the soldiers and horses stationed at the city gates, and in less than ten minutes, the whole army was assembled.

"Let's go!"

With an order, Shen Chen went to the direction of the east gate with the army.

Three thousand soldiers lined up neatly, like a long snake, each holding torches in front and behind, stepping on the ground of the rammed earth structure of the county seat, making a sound of clinking.

The people living in the county town couldn't sleep at all this night, their doors and windows were closed, and the dark streets were already empty, occasionally looking out from the urns or wooden windows, even if there was an An Min Bang, they were all carefully observing.

Soon the soldiers left through the east gate.

After about an hour, footsteps sounded outside the city again, and Xiahou Yuan led 5,000 men and horses to appear outside Xiangcheng.

Shen Chen guessed correctly, Xu Du's side really didn't dare to send out all the troops, so Li Dian led 5,000 people to defend Xu Du.

In order to prevent panic and cause riots among the royalists in the city, Xun Yu ordered the news to be blocked, and Xiahou Yuan cooperated with Cao Hong to deal with the matter.

Many people think that Xun Yu is a royalist, but in fact he is a diehard loyalist of the Han family, not a diehard loyalist of the Son of Heaven.

For him, it doesn't matter who becomes the emperor, as long as the world is the Han family. Therefore, even if it is an edict, he must hold back and help Cao Cao.

Because he has been to Yuan Shao, he knows what kind of virtue Yuan Shao has. If Yuan Shao wins, then the world will not be the Han world.

And Cao Cao still needs the banner of the Han family at least for now, and he can't see any ideas such as usurping the throne in a short time, Xun Yu naively thinks that he is at most a powerful minister like Huo Guang.

So until Cao Cao said that Duke Wei exposed his heart of usurpation, he had been doing his best for Cao Cao.

Due to the difference in information, Xun Yu could not judge Shen Chen's true intentions, but for the sake of safety, he had to keep the enemy out of Xu Du, so Xiahou Yuan had to appear here.

The scouts who came from Xu Du to investigate arrived in the afternoon, and when they saw the "Shen" character flag at the head of the city, they were taken aback, and they didn't dare to delay time.

Shen Chen didn't play the trick of going out of the city and then entering the city, but he felt that it didn't matter, the art of war was originally false and real, even if people knew that there were only 3,000 people entering the city, the enemy would think that this might be the vanguard, and there were troops in the rear, so he didn't care about the number of people exposed to Xu Du.

In the evening, Xu Du learned that at least three or four thousand men and horses had occupied Xiangcheng.

And Xun Yu did think that this might be the vanguard, he inferred according to the previous common sense, that the enemy would not be able to reach Xiangcheng until night, but if he appeared in advance, it was likely to be the vanguard of the rapid march, and the main force was still in the rear.

So Xun Yu discussed with Xiahou Yuan, Li Dian and others, and made three ways to deal with it.

The first is to let Li Dian be stationed outside Xudu to guard against enemy raids. The second is to let Xiahou Yuan rush over and surround Xiangcheng first. The third is to send people to quickly contact Cao Hong, Liu Dai, Wang Zhong, Man Chong, Li Tong and others, so that they can return to help Xudu.

This is the result of poor information.

Xiahou Yuan then set off from about five o'clock in the afternoon, and when he arrived in Xiangcheng, it was already more than twelve o'clock in the evening, and it took three and a half hours and more than seven hours to rush to Xiangcheng by 50 highways.

It seems like it's only an average of seven kilometers per hour, which isn't too fast.

But you must know that the fastest record in history of Xiahou Yuan is "five hundred in three days, one thousand in six days", with an average daily speed of 70 kilometers per hour, excluding sleeping and eating, counting 14 hours of travel time, that is, an average of 5 kilometers per hour.

So at this time, Xiahou Yuan was already faster than he was the fastest in history, and by the time he arrived in Xiangcheng, most of the troops were exhausted, and the soldiers had physical strength, not to mention fighting, and they would be tired and paralyzed after walking a few steps.

In this case, he had to consider whether the soldiers could fight again, so he let the soldiers rest about ten miles outside the city, and then sent someone to inquire about the situation.

Soon the scouts returned, but the city was empty, and there were no torches, and the whole city was very quiet, and the gates were wide open, and there was no movement.

Xiahou Yuan was very surprised to hear this, there was no one on the city tower, and the city gates were open, which was really incomprehensible.

At this time, he did not know whether the main force of the enemy had already entered the city, and the black lights were blind for most of the night, and he could not find the people to inquire about the situation in the city, so he was very anxious for a while, walked around, pondered for a long time, and let the scouts take the risk to take a look.

After waiting for a quarter of an hour, the scout hurried back and told him the news that there were no enemy troops in the city.

"What? Did they retreat? ”

When Xiahou Yuan learned that there was no enemy in the city, he immediately led his troops and horses into the city, and learned from the county commander that an hour earlier, three or four thousand men and horses in the city had left.

"Yes."

In the county government hall, the county commander showed a flattering smile to Xiahou Yuan: "General Hongfu, the thief who came must have learned the news of the general's imminent arrival, saying that he was going to withdraw to Nanyang." ”

"Is that so?"

Xiahou Yuanhu looked at the county order suspiciously, and asked, "When did they come, how many people came, from which gate did they come in, how many people left when they left, and from which gate did they go out?" ”

The county commander replied: "General Hui, they arrived at about three o'clock in the middle of the day, and when they came, there should be three or four thousand people, entering through the west gate, and after entering the city, they occupied the county government mansion to rest." Three or four thousand men departed more than an hour ago, and went out through the east gate. ”

West Gate In, East Gate Out?

Xiahou Yuan pondered this unusual information, the south of Xiangcheng is Rushui, so the south gate is the riverside, and the west gate is the connecting gate between Xiangcheng and the other side of Rushui.

Because Rushui passes diagonally from the south of Xiangcheng, there is a small city called Bicheng opposite Xiangcheng, so after going out from the west gate of Xiangcheng, there is a bridge to connect with Bicheng, and the people in the south will pass through here when they come to Xiangcheng.

Shen Chenjun's entry from the west gate was in line with his march route from the south to the north, so what about coming out of the east gate?

"You go down first."

Xiahou Yuan sat on the seat, meditating.

The next bridge to cross the river when this east gate goes out is Dongbutang Township and Dingling County seventy miles away, does Shen Chenjun want to take such a long detour back to Nanyang?

"Humble resignation."

The county order retreated to him, still thinking about how much the gold Shen Chen gave him before.

Xiahou Yuan continued to sit in the room and think, and at this time, he suddenly noticed that there was a servant at the door bent over, leaning over as if he had no spine and probing his brain.

There was a guard at the door, and when he saw him sneaky, he drew his sword and asked, "Who is it?" ”

"Let him in."

Xiahou Yuan guessed that this little guy might have something to say to him.

The slave really came in and knelt down and kowtowed, "General, the villain has something important to report." ”

"You say."

Xiahou Yuan said.

The servant said: "When the villain was serving them, he saw Shen Chen, the leader of the thieves, who came to attack, and gave a lot of gold to the county honor, so that he could tell the general that he had withdrawn his troops and left. ”

"What?"

Xiahou Yuan was shocked, and then said angrily: "This thief misunderstood me!" ”

Now think about it, isn't it Yingyang to go out from the east gate and go north directly without going south?

Although they didn't bump into each other when they came, what if the other party staggered the road and went straight to Xudu?

Thinking of this, Xiahou Yuan immediately shouted: "Quick, the whole army gathers, and I will arrest the county order." ”

All of a sudden, the whole Xiangcheng chickens flew and the dogs jumped.

Cao Jun's discipline was not as good as Shen Chenjun's, and the three watches in the middle of the night made a lot of noise, causing the people in the city to be extremely panicked.

Soon the county order was arrested, and the soldier said, "General, gold was found in his room." ”

The county commander was shocked: "General, this is what Shen Chen put in the county office." ”

"You traitor, you are secretly responsible."

Xiahou Yuan pulled out his knife and said viciously: "Death!" ”

"General!"

The county order was so frightened that he was about to explain that the knife was already coming.

Swish!

The white light flashed, and the county commander who did evil in Xiangcheng was killed.

Looking at his corpse, the slave servant not far away showed resentful eyes, and the people of Xiangcheng were all disgusted with this thief.

"Let's go, go back to Xudu."

After killing the county order, Xiahou Yuan immediately issued an order and went straight to Xudu.

"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.