In early autumn, the climate in Henan is still hot.

The time of the Huan Wen Northern Expedition was already the middle of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the Xiaoice River period at the end of the Han Dynasty was almost over to the end of the Western Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, at that time, Rushui and Yingshui in Henan were very abundant, and they could use the Huai River to go north.

But at this time, it was at the peak of the Xiaoice River, and natural disasters continued. There was a severe drought in the Huainan area in the first two years, which led to the collapse of Yuan Shu, and the Runan area was not much worse.

There was a large amount of farmland along the banks of Rushui and Yingshui, and at that time, the people basically lived near the river, and the residents needed a large amount of river water for drinking and watering, which caused the flow of Rushui and Yingshui to drop significantly.

And in the wilderness near rivers such as the Yingchuan River in non-Runan, such as the large area between the two rivers, it is almost a wilderness, and even if there is countless land to cultivate, no one has cultivated it.

Therefore, when Shen Chen led his men and horses to separate from Liu Bei, he walked along dozens of square kilometers of land between Rushui and Yingshui, all the way to the north.

There are almost no people for hundreds of miles along the way, and the flow of water in the main veins of several rivers in Yingchuan has been greatly reduced, not to mention those tributaries of the canals.

The most important thing is that since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the war that lasted for decades destroyed almost the entire land of Henan, coupled with the drought and famine, the people were cannibalistic. The once rich land of people and roads is long gone.

The once unbridled and well-groomed roads have been replaced by overgrown forests and wildly growing weeds. Most of the villages were in ruins, and the howls of wild dogs, jackals, and tigers filled the wilderness.

In the wilderness, there are occasional lonely figures, and when you see the army from afar, you can hide in the mountains like frightened rabbits.

Most of the time, all they could see was the weeded post roads surrounded by abandoned villages, dried up canals, bones everywhere, uncultivated farmland that had become wasteland, and lonely graves in the wilderness.

The whole world seemed to be a barren place.

However, the closer this phenomenon gets to Xudu, the more it will improve.

Because Shen Chen knew that Cao Cao had a large-scale tuntian around Xudu, and there were tens of thousands of tuntian households alone, the closer he got, the easier it was to be exposed.

By the 10th of July, the army had passed through Xiangcheng and headed north to Yingyang. The surrounding area is already Cao Cao's Tuntian District, less than 40 kilometers away from Xudu, almost past Yingyin, and then to the city of Xudu.

For this reason, Shen Chenjun slept in the open air, marched in the field during the day, and slept in a leeward place at night, often with tigers and wolves and mounds as companions.

At that time, the land of China was far from being dominated by humans, human beings lived along the rivers, and in the wider wilderness, tigers, wolves and wild boars were everywhere.

Therefore, marching like this tests not only the endurance of the soldiers, but also their willpower.

Like the original 1,900 soldiers of Huangmen Pavilion, they were still able to insist on walking at such a high intensity, while Gan Ning's 2,100 steps were a little bit less meaningful, far from keeping up with Shen Chenjun's speed.

On the afternoon of July 11, the army passed through Yingyang, and there were still more than ten miles to reach Yingyin.

In later generations, this place was the Yanluo Expressway in the west of Xuchang City, which was a wilderness, their location was covered by a dense forest, and the road ahead was overgrown with weeds, and they needed to keep exploring to find the direction.

Because of the proximity to Yingyin, Shen Chen personally went forward to investigate the situation, and at the same time, the soldiers also walked for a morning, just to rest.

After the army stopped, the soldiers of the Yellow Gate Pavilion silently formed their own squads to find a suitable resting place, and at the same time took out dry food and water one after another.

Gan Ningjun was a little scattered, and one by one seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, sighing and finding a piece of grass to lie down.

In fact, after arriving in Yexian, everyone's grain and grass are the same.

When I ran, I brought twenty days of dry food and two days of water, some wheat cakes with pickles and jerky, although it was not much, but the food was much better than before, at least some meat to eat.

It's just that the Ganning Army has not been rectified, and it still has some backward habits of the old warlord ranks. Eight Chinese Net

Those middle- and lower-level officers beat and scolded the low-level soldiers and exploited their jerky, which made the internal situation of the Ganning Army not very good.

Even Gan Ning himself saw that his soldiers were lazy and lazy, and after walking for a day, he casually found a place to lie down, unlike Shen Chenjun's well-trained, which made him feel very embarrassed, so he beat the soldiers.

Shen Chen was standing on a hillside looking into the distance, this was a wilderness, and in the distance, he could faintly see a looming city on the horizon.

There were a large number of fields outside the city, and the villages were connected in a line, and it was obvious that this was already where Cao Cao had reached the tuntian, and there might be an enemy ahead, so he turned his horse's head and returned to the station, and was about to call a few clever scouts to go over on foot, when he heard a wailing sound from behind.

"What's going on?"

After he sent a few scouts forward to explore, he walked over to look, and saw that in the weedy wasteland on both sides of the post road in the rear, the soldiers of his Huangmen Pavilion had all found a place to sit down and rest in an orderly manner, but the Gan Ning army was scattered, and now it was a mess.

Shen Chen saw that Gan Ning was whipping a soldier with a horsewhip, because this soldier fell to the back of the line when he was marching, and there was a difference of four or five miles between him and Shen Chen's army, which made him unable to hang his face.

The soldier was thin and weak, probably only eighteen or nineteen years old, and he was beaten and covered in blood, and pleaded bitterly.

The surrounding soldiers didn't seem to see it one by one, Gan Ning had a bad temper and was very murderous, and no one could persuade him if he was angry, so even if some people felt that the soldiers were pitiful, they didn't dare to persuade them.

"Stop!"

Shen Chen immediately stepped forward to stop him.

Gan Ning had already taken off the iron armor outside at this time, and he was wearing a linen short coat on his body, his knotted muscles were bulging, and his temper came up, and no one could pull him.

However, Shen Chen clasped the numb tendons on his shoulders, and with a little force, Gan Ning turned his head and glared, he was about to have a seizure, but when he saw that it was Shen Chen, he put down the horsewhip he raised again, and said to him angrily: "Ah Chen, this guy is lazy and slack, why don't I smoke him?" ”

Shen Chen saw that the shoes worn by the soldier had been torn, revealing the bloody toes, so he crouched down, took off the sackcloth from his body, helped the soldier wipe the bloodstains, and took off his cloth shoes, and a fishy smell hit.

It turned out that the long-distance running in the past few days had made his feet swollen and inflamed, and if he couldn't recuperate well, it was very likely that even his feet would die.

At that moment, Shen Chen said solemnly: "Uncle Xingba, you see, it's not that the soldiers are lazy and slack, but that he has a foot disease, and the soldiers have followed you to fight with their lives, but you don't sympathize with them, and you come up and beat them without asking the reason, doesn't it chill the hearts of the soldiers?" ”

Gan Ning was a little embarrassed when she saw this, so she had to say, "I don't know about this." ”

Shen Chen stood up and looked around, including Shen Mi, many soldiers of the Ganning Army looked at him, so he said, "Uncle Xingba led the troops by himself before, and I don't want to interfere too much. Now that I am a Zhonglang general, I want to ask Uncle Xingba, can I lead your team? ”

At the beginning, Gan Ning and Shen Chen were not actually subordinate to each other, Gan Ning was a military Sima under Liu Biao, and it was he who made a bet with Shen Chen at that time that if things were indeed as Shen Chen expected, and there was civil strife in Nanyang, he would listen to Shen Chen's arrangement in the future.

But at least nominally, the two did not have a direct subordinate relationship, and Shen Chen's words could only be suggestions, not orders. Now that he is about to arrive in Xudu and usher in a big war, how can the army be unstable because of some things?

Therefore, he had to find a reason to completely control Gan Ning's team.

Gan Ning's face was a little unpleasant, although he had always listened to Shen Chen's words, but now Shen Chen seemed to be directly asking for military power, which inevitably made him a little uncomfortable.

But from any point of view, he couldn't refute it. Like before, they bet that Shen Chen won. Then now Shen Chen has been appointed by Liu Biao as a lieutenant general, and Gan Ning is also a lieutenant under him, obeying Shen Chen's orders, from the perspective of law and reason, it is no problem.

So he had no choice but to say, "It's nature." ”

Shen Chen nodded, and then said loudly: "Since I am a general, then listen to my orders." People with foot diseases are now reported to me, and I will rearrange how many people there are. ”

He did not immediately issue any military orders prohibiting the beating and scolding of soldiers, but first gathered together those who were suffering from foot diseases.

The reason why this is so is because the officer class of the Huangmenting soldiers is based on his relatives, and these officers were first composed of the guards who went south from Xuzhou, and there were many relatives of the Deng Shen family in it.

Shen Chen strictly ordered them not to beat and scold the soldiers, abide by the three major notices and eight disciplines, and if they violated, they would be eliminated from the clan soldiers.

You must know that the status of the clan soldiers in Huangmen Pavilion is very high, and Shen Chen gave them a high honor. Therefore, for these people, once they are eliminated, it is more uncomfortable than killing them.

In addition, the newly recruited soldiers with good performance have a great chance of promotion, which will squeeze their living space, so that the clan soldiers do not dare to make any mistakes, so that there is no bad habit of the old warlords who humiliate, oppress, beat and scold, and exploit the low-level soldiers.

The Ganning Army is different, the tradition of the strict hierarchy of the army has continued since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, everyone is like this, and the high-level generals do not regard the low-level soldiers as people, and gradually it has become a habit.

Therefore, it was almost impossible to change it in a short period of time, just like the slave of the family, Shen Chen could only improve it temporarily, but not immediately.

He needs to seize power in the future, or when he has a lot of ability, he can only carry out reforms, and now he can only boil himself like a frog in warm water, first do a good job of himself, and then improve the military structure of Ganning and others by seizing military power.

Soon people with foot diseases were reported to him, including more than 40 soldiers from Huangmenting and more than 200 soldiers from the Ganning Army, so Shen Chen sent more than 200 people, plus these soldiers with foot diseases, a total of 500 people returned to Yingyang, occupied this city, and found a doctor for treatment.

The rest stayed behind and continued to prepare for the attack on Xudu.

After resting for about two quarters of an hour, a few figures suddenly emerged from the sparse forest in front of him, and the scouts who had been sent out to reconnoiter came back and reported to Shen Chenyu: "General, seven or eight miles ahead is Yingyin City, and there are a large number of tuntian fields around the city. ”

"Is it guarded?"

"Yes, there are a lot of Cao troops inside and outside the city."

"I know, it seems to be Cao Cao's Tuntian soldiers."

Shen Chen pondered.

Historically, Cao Cao used the convenience of Yingshui and the upper reaches of the water to irrigate the soil, including the surrounding Yingyin, Yanling and other places, which were his tuntians.

Shen Chen didn't know these things before, but later he sent people to lurk in Xu Du and found out a lot of information.

When he first arrived in Xudu, he attacked from the southwest of Xudu, but he only arrived in the Linying area, and did not go around Xudu.

Now it is only about 20 kilometers away from Xudu, close at hand, and those Tuntian soldiers are exposed to his soldiers.

And the commander of these Tuntian soldiers is called Ren Jun, a general of Cao Cao's pawn farmer, the reason why he was not in Xudu last time was to go north to transport grain to Cao Cao.

Historically, Cao Cao was very short of grain, but not because his grain and grass stocks were insufficient, but because his rear grain roads were beaten to pieces by Yuan Shao.

It was Ren Jun who personally led the Tuntian soldiers to escort the grain road and resisted Yuan Shao's grain robbery cavalry, which barely helped Cao Cao tide over the difficulties.

It is now July, and after the harvest of new grain in Tuntian in May, it has been sent to Guandu one after another, and corn planting will start after June.

So Ren Jun returned to Xudu and urged all the tuntian households to produce.

Now around Yingyin, Xudu, and Yanling, there are tens of thousands of Tuntian people, and Ren Jun has thousands of Tuntian soldiers in his hands, and their combat effectiveness may not be as elite as Cao's army, but they should not be underestimated.

Gan Ning's hands were itching, and he stepped forward and asked, "Ah Chen, let's kill it directly." ”

Shen Chen shook his head and said: "No, rush to kill the past, they will definitely retreat to the city, we don't have the ability to attack the city, if we cross Yingyang and go directly to Xudu, we will inevitably be attacked from front to back." ”

"How's that good?"

Gan Ning asked.

Shen Chen pondered for a moment and said, "Cao Cao is short of food in Guandu, if we destroy his corn fields, the enemy will definitely come out of the city to fight, and we can break it." ”

Gan Ning's eyes widened, then he gave a thumbs up and said, "Good idea." ”

At that moment, the two agreed that Gan Ning would lead 500 people to attack Yingyin first, and if the Diannong army outside the city would fight with them at best, Shen Chen would lead the men and horses to kill them, and if they did not fight, they would immediately destroy the farmland and force them out.

The reason for this decision is that Ren Jun's Diannong army is currently in a scattered state, scattered all over Yingyin, Xudu, and Yanling.

If they directly kill Xu Du, then when Xu Du's guard forces defend them, they will be attacked back and forth. So they have to take Yingyin down and have a way out.

At this time, the Diannong army around Yingyin only had one or two hundred people in the west of the city, and the total number of troops in the city and east of the city, that is, on the east bank of Yingshui, would not exceed 1,000.

Gan Ning only brought 500 people over, and destroyed the farmland, it was easy to provoke the defenders in the city to go out of the city for a decisive battle.

Soon the plan was perfected, and Gan Ning led the men and horses to swagger in the direction of Yingyin.

In the Han Dynasty, summer millet and winter wheat were harvested in May of the following year, and millet seedlings were planted in June. It has a three-month growth cycle and can be harvested in September, followed by winter wheat.

So now at the beginning of July, it is not long before the summer millet has just been planted, and the farmers need to take care of it in the fields every day, irrigating, removing insects, hoeing weeds, and not stopping for a moment.

When the 500 men of the Ganning army appeared in the west of Yingyin City, there were a large number of tuntian households still working in the fields, and then they saw that on the post road in the south, an army suddenly appeared in the direction of Yingyin.

This is already the hinterland of Yingchuan, around Xudu.

Many people immediately thought that Cao Jun, who was stationed in Xiangcheng in the southwest, had something to do with him, but what made them feel a little strange was that the military uniform seemed to be wrong.

The uniform of the Cao army is uniformly black, while the uniform of this army is red......

A squad leader of the Diannong Army, who was in charge of supervising those Tuntian people, became more and more surprised the more he looked at it, and then thought about it in his mind, what about the Cao Army's troops wearing red uniforms?

Red?

In the next second, his face turned pale, and then he took out the bone whistle and blew it suddenly.

"Whew!"

A shrill whistle broke through the sky.

"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.