In May of the tenth year of Jian'an, Shen Chen asked Liu Biao to resign and resigned from the position of Zhonglang General, but he did not return to Longzhong Township, but went to Jiangxia at the invitation of Liu Qi.

Liu Bei was sent to Jingnan by Liu Biao on the pretext that the southern barbarians rebelled and needed him to suppress it.

Originally, he wanted Liu Bei to go to Chenxian and Qujiang in Guiyang County, that is, Chenzhou, Hunan and Shaoguan in Guangzhou.

It is remote and inaccessible, and Liu Pan's army is stationed in the area of Liling and Youxian, and can watch over him at any time.

However, Liu Bei used the excuse that there were many prisoners in Yizhou and could not bear to kill the prisoners, and now the soldiers and horses were bloated and the grain and grass were insufficient, so he stopped in Xiangnan County, that is, the area of Xiangtan City, Hunan in later generations.

Then, at Xu Shu's suggestion, he sent someone north to find Liu Biao for grain and grass supplies.

The reason is simple.

As the so-called emperor is not short of hungry soldiers, not to mention that Liu Bei is working for Liu Biao, blocking Cao Cao in the north, fighting Liu Zhang in the south, and now going south to help you Liu Biaoping the rebellion in the south, how can it mean it.

Moreover, Liu Xian had more than 10 million grains in stock, the treasury was full, and the four or five million people under Jingzhou's actual control continued to provide him with taxes, and he was not short of money and grain.

However, Liu Biao refused to provide Liu Bei with further supplies.

First, Liu Bei repeatedly asked him for it, which made him a little bored. Second, he was afraid that Liu Bei, the emperor and queen, would turn against the water, and he would be an enemy if he was given it.

So I found an excuse to send it away.

So Liu Bei simply stationed in southern Hunan on the grounds of lack of materials, and he didn't move his nest because of his procrastination.

And in the process of fighting in the south, the war in the north has entered a white heat.

When the first rays of sunlight shone on the earth in the early morning of May 26, Yuan's army began to launch a general attack.

When Cao Ying's camp did not flood the Seventh Army, the entire camp was washed away, and everyone was forced to move to the high ground, but a thick layer of water was accumulated in the camp.

Although the terrain in the southeast was lower, Xiahoudun listened to the advice of Guo Jia, Dong Zhao, Mao Jue and others, and dug and built a large number of aqueducts in an attempt to divert water to Jishui in the southeast.

But they obviously underestimated the flow of the Yellow River during the summer flood season, and the mighty water rushed in the direction of Cao Ying, and could not be discharged at all.

If you look at the entire Cao camp from a high altitude, you will see that Cao Cao's camp is crisscrossed by more than a dozen camps, and there is a vast ocean of Ze country everywhere, the water is knee-deep, and the soldiers can only choose to stand on the earth mountain and the higher ground.

The tents were all flooded, they couldn't sleep well, and the morale of the soldiers in the camp was very poor.

Yuan Shao's army was digging a canal from the northwest to divert water to irrigate Cao's camp in the southeast, and they themselves launched an attack from the dry highlands in the northeast, trying to take advantage of this opportunity to formally annihilate Cao's army.

At the beginning of the sunrise, the east is white, the dawn breaks, located in the northeast corner of Cao Ying, the general Zhang He's camp, the soldiers of Liangshi Youzhai come out of the barracks with wooden hoes.

They received an order, and Zhang He's rear camp also began to spread the stagnant water, and they wanted to go over and expand the canal they had dug before.

Qu Junhou of Youzhai took two captains to inspect the camp to see how the construction inside his camp was.

Zhang He's current status as a partial general is not high, and he is always a demoted general. And it is facing the Yuan army, so there are not many soldiers in the configuration, only three songs totaling 1,500 people, divided into three parts, left and right and the rear camp, arranged in a zigzag shape, towering in the easternmost part of the entire Cao camp.

Now in the summer flood season of the Yellow River, the Yuan army dug up the river, a few days ago tens of thousands of Yuan troops lined up outside the camp, blocking Xiahoudun to harass their excavation team, Zhang He's side is a little more idle, because he is far away from the Yuan army.

The ancient camp is not a simple matter, the camp is scattered, even if there are only 1,500 people, there are three camps, let alone 40,000 or 50,000 people, and the camp stretches for seven or eight kilometers.

From west to east, from south to north, Cao Ying's camp is as dense and scattered as a starry dot, and Zhang He's camp is four kilometers away from the village.

In fact, even if Yuan Shao dug up Pushui and Jishui, and led a large amount of river water to flood Cao Ying, the Cao army affected was only half. The other half of the terrain was high in the northeast, and Cao's army, which was placed in the east like Zhang Hejun, was not attacked by floods.

In addition, the Wating where Yuan Jun is located is more than ten kilometers away from the Kuangcheng area, so Zhang Hejun at this time is still relatively comfortable, except for his routine work, there is nothing else to do on weekdays.

The whistle sounded in the morning, and the soldiers began their preparations for the day in an orderly manner. Some went to replace the soldiers who kept vigil last night, some began to patrol outside the village, and some continued to cut down trees outside the camp as instructed.

There was very little water in the rear camp, and the drainage of the canal was sufficient, but it did not affect the front camp.

Qu Junhou inspected the gate of the camp, and the six soldiers stood upright with spears, all of them expressionless and did not squint, as if the six slaughtering door gods blocked everything out of the door.

The spacious exercise ground in the camp was cleaned, and there was no figure to see or hear. A tall flagpole was erected on the low parade platform, and the black flags hung on it occasionally fluttered silently in the wind.

When the red sun head walked to the middle of the sky, under the surprised gaze of Cao Jun patrolling around, the two soldiers roared all the way and rushed back to the barracks with their own people.

The man's head and face were covered with blood, and the clothes on his body were also dusty and dirty, and the shoulder of one sleeve was torn off, revealing the crimson clothes inside, and his feet could barely step on the ground, and he was completely dragged by the soldiers.

There was still some way to go from the barracks, and a soldier saw Cao Jun patrolling from a distance, so he shouted loudly: "Go and call the general!" Our scouts have been attacked, and there is a matter of urgency! Fast! ”

A sentry ran into the barracks.

A moment later, a hurried brass bell rang in the barracks, and hundreds of heavily armed Cao soldiers emerged from the silent barracks, lined up in a row on the exercise ground.

By the time Zhang He arrived at the right front camp, the Cao soldier who had been carried over had already been placed in the camp tent, and the military doctor had just bandaged the wound.

In addition to the knife wound, the most serious is the arrow wound, fortunately, the shot missed and missed the vital point, otherwise it will definitely not be able to pick up a life.

"What's going on?"

Zhang He asked immediately after he came in.

He knew the two people who came back with wounded soldiers, they were the sentry soldiers he arranged on the periphery, and they were also some of the personal guards he brought with him when he surrendered to Cao Cao.

"General."

The soldier replied, "We were guarding the perimeter, and this brother galloped near, and fell down and dismounted, covered with wounds, and we brought him back." ”

Zhang He walked to the side of the bed, lowered his head and probed, the soldier on the bed lost too much blood, his face was pale, and his injuries were very serious.

Someone fed him some water in a daze, and the military doctor acupuncture stimulated the acupoints, and after a while, he slowly woke up, first looked at everyone in confusion, and then patted his face, and then asked quietly: "Where is this?" ”

"I'm General Zhang He, who are you?"

Zhang He asked.

The soldier perked up and hurriedly said: "I am a scout sent out by the main battalion, quickly inform General Xiahou that the Yuan army has assembled this morning and is coming." ”

"So fast?"

Zhang He's face was solemn and he walked out of the tent.

The guards on the left and right hurriedly followed, and someone looked around and whispered in Zhang He's ear: "General. Not as good as"

"Go and inform General Xiahou!"

"General?"

"Didn't you hear?"

Zhang He glanced at him and said coldly: "Go back to Yuan Shaona, do you want me to die?" ”

At the beginning, he was forced to rebel by Guo Tu, and Guo Tu was already an enemy who shared the sky, I heard that Guo Tu was still reused by Yuan Shao, and he voted again, what did Yuan Shao do to him? What will Guo Tu do to him?

So Zhang He had no way to turn back, so he could only follow Cao Cao one way out.

"Yui."

The guards had no choice but to respond.

After a few moments, the sound of a whining horn sounded.

More than a dozen Cao military camps around the surrounding Zhu Ling Department, Wang Tu Department, Liu Zhu Department, Lu Zhao Department, Feng Kai Department, Xue Hong Department, Zhang Xi Department, etc., shook one after another.

Xiahoudun placed generals in the left and right battalions, the left battalion was Xu Huang Cao Chun, and the right battalion was Zhang Liao Li Dian, and he sat in the village.

At this moment, the horn of the right battalion suddenly sounded, and the Cao army of each battalion of the right battalion began to assemble outside the battalion, although many people did not know what was happening, but it was naturally right to assemble at the first time.

Zhang Liao and Li Dian over there also got the news of Yuan Shao's attack, and soon received an order from the main camp to assemble all the troops and prepare to start the battle.

And Xiahoudun of the main battalion of the Chinese army immediately ordered Xu Huang and Cao Chun of the left battalion to let them withdraw from the left battalion with all the generals and move closer to the direction of the right battalion.

Now the left battalion has been flooded into a lake and swamp, and the northwest direction of the left battalion is the direction where the enemy releases water.

Guo Jia believed that the Yuan army would definitely not fight them in the water, so it was inevitable that the main direction of attack would be placed on the right battalion, and the left battalion only needed to arrange a small number of defenders, and the defensive focus should be placed on the right battalion.

However, in order to prevent Yuan's army from suddenly temporarily blocking the river upstream and then attacking Cao's left camp as soon as the water flow was drained by Cao Ying's diversion canal, they still arranged more than 10,000 horses in the main camp to support the left camp at any time.

At the same time, just when Cao's army was nervously assembling the ranks, Yuan Shao's army was almost overwhelmed, except for the more than 10,000 people left behind in the camp, 70,000 troops were overwhelming, like a flood heading towards the south.

Yuan Shang was riding on a horse at this time, and the direction of his left hand was also Cao Jun's right hand, and a city could be faintly seen on the horizon.

That is Pucheng, Pucheng is close to Kuangcheng, and between the two cities is basically the camp along the line of Cao's army.

However, it is said that it is a city, but it is actually a ruined wall.

From the Yellow Turban Rebellion to Dong Zhuo's Rebellion and then to the princes' struggle for hegemony, more than 20 years have passed now.

Pucheng Kuangcheng has long been dilapidated, leaving a pile of broken city walls erected by Cao Jun into walled walls, and the camp was reluctantly repaired for decoration.

Kuangcheng became the left camp of Cao Jun, and Pucheng became the right camp village, and now there is no trace of the appearance of the city, only a section of mottled walled wall still has a few traces left by the years.

Yuan Shang glanced over, and saw a forest full of corpses on the wilderness road.

It was the scene after the Cao army scouts and the Yuan army scouts fought.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao sent countless scouts to each other, and at the beginning because Yuan Shao had many horses and scouts, they had the upper hand.

But later Cao Cao designed an ambush and killed a group of Yuan scouts, causing Yuan Shao's scouts to shrink back.

After the war in Henan was tense last month, and after Cao Cao personally arrived in Henan, Yuan's scouts spread out again, pressing Cao's scouts forward, reducing their reconnaissance area a lot.

This all-out attack was launched when the Cao army scouts were once again compressed to seven or eight miles from the Cao camp, and at this time, the Cao army would definitely not be able to react to the sudden onslaught.

It's just that even with such careful planning, there was still an accident. There was a group of Cao army scouts who arrived in the area of Wei Township for unknown reasons, and the Yuan army scouts could not chase and kill, and escaped alone, causing the plan to be leaked, and the Cao army had begun to assemble.

However, this is not a big deal, Yuan Shang felt that in the case of the declining morale of the Cao army and the absence of a master general in the army, it was only a matter of time before they 80,000 elites came out and defeated the Cao army.

At three o'clock, today's sun is not scorching, and the 30,000 vanguard Yuan army arrived at the front line of Pucheng in a mighty way, spreading out like a surging flood.

Yuan Shang rode a horse and stood on a small hilly slope, looking at the south, and saw that at this time, there were countless soldiers of the Cao army who were now in and out of the Cao camp, and a large number of sergeants were assembled in the north of the camp like black ants.

These soldiers were actually Zhang Liao and Li Dian of the right battalion of the Cao army who were the first to react, and more than a dozen middle- and lower-level officers such as Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Wang Tu, Liu Zhu, Lu Zhao, Feng Kai, Xue Hong, and Zhang Xi each summoned their generals to come and gather.

And in the farther direction, the left battalion of the Cao army, Xu Huang and Cao Chun's troops, are still in the process of being transferred, so even if these Cao troops are ready, the number of soldiers is far less than that of Yuan Shang.

"Childe, look."

Yuan Shang's general Su You pointed in the direction of the left battalion of Cao's army in the southeast.

At this moment, a large number of Cao troops are migrating from the left camp to the right camp like a lake and swamp, many of the camps in front have changed owners, and now they are barely undertaking the defense task, and most of the rear camps are still empty, and the Cao army is not so quick to complete the transfer in a short time.

Yin Kai, the general on the other side, said: "Childe, take advantage of this opportunity, maybe we should launch an attack immediately, if we can defeat this part of the Cao army, we can occupy their camp." ”

"Hmm."

Yuan Shangshen nodded approvingly, and waved his big hand: "Attack." ”

"Attack!"

At the sound of an order, a long trumpet sounded and shook the wilderness.

Countless flags waved.

Gongs and drums roared, and rows of rushing carts, wooden curtains, and nest carts used for siege were pushed to the front of the battle.

Yuan Shang's 30,000-strong army was lined up neatly, stepping on the same pace, making a deafening sound, and slowly walking in the direction of Cao's army.

In fact, they were still some distance away from Cao's army, about three or four miles, but the 30,000 people seemed to be boundless, giving Cao's army in the distance a huge sense of oppression.

Zhang Liao rode on the horse, holding the big knife tightly in his hand, he could feel the vibration sound of the horses' hooves stepping on the ground under his crotch, this was not an earthquake, but the movement of more than 30,000 people and horses of the enemy walking at the same time.

In addition to the foot soldiers, the left and right flanks of the Yuan army were also guarded by cavalry.

Yuan Shang's Daxu towered in the center of the military array, and the number of Yuan troops in the front row was countless, and Yuan Shang was guarded by three layers inside and three layers outside.

In this case, don't talk about Zhang Liao, even Guan Yu with a red rabbit horse may not be able to kill it.

Li Dian came over and asked Zhang Liao, "General Zhang, General Xiahou hasn't delivered an order yet, do we want to temporarily withdraw into the camp?" ”

At present, most of the rear of the camp is still empty, and it can still rely on the camp to defend itself if it is withdrawn immediately.

Zhang Liao said: "No, General Xiahou is asking the people from the left camp to come over, at this time we retreat in, and the people from the left camp will crowd in again, which will cause chaos in the camp, and we must stop them." ”

"But we have few soldiers, and the enemy is twice as large as us."

Li Dian frowned, he and Zhang Liao disagreed, wouldn't the safest thing be to go back to the camp first? Do you still fight in the field with an enemy who is twice as numerous as you?

Zhang Liao glanced at him: "If you are timid and leave by yourself, I am the backbone general, and I will command here!" ”

Li Dian was furious.

But now is not the time to lose your temper, so you have to be silent.

In fact, when Zhang Liao first entered the Cao camp, his position was very low, he was a Zhonglang general and the marquis of Guannei, and when Zhang He surrendered, he was still a general and a pavilion marquis.

At that time, Cao Cao reordered the official positions, and the Zhonglang general was only one level higher than the school captain, second to the general and the partial general.

But later Zhang Liao followed Cao Cao to make repeated military exploits, and after the Battle of Guandu, Zhang Liao was promoted to the backbone general, although he belonged to the miscellaneous general, but he was also a genuine general, ranking above the generals and partial generals.

Now when it comes to official positions, Li Dian is only a general, and in history, he can only be promoted to a captured general next year after he and the dead Le attack and break the inheritance, so at least for now, he really can't argue with Zhang Liao.

After Zhang Liao retreated from Li Dian, he looked from afar, summoned Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Wang Tu, Liu Zhu and other generals and said: "Our army is moving the camp, Yuan's army is attacking rapidly, we must stop them, I will personally lead the dead soldiers to the east to attack their right flank, you hold this place, under the command of General Li!" ”

"Yui!"

The soldiers agreed.

The deputy title of the general of the Han Dynasty is biased, and Li Dian is as big as Zhang He in terms of official position, but Li Dian has the title of overseer, so he is considered the second-in-command.

Zhang Liao now wants to raid in person, and he can only be commanded by Li Dian.

When Li Dian heard this, he still glanced at Zhang Liao in surprise, but he didn't expect that he didn't take the opportunity to take away the military power, but gave him the right to command the battle.

You must know that the two disagreed, Li Dian advocated entering the camp to defend himself, while Zhang Liao believed that the enemy must be stopped outside the camp.

Now that he has handed over the command to Li Dian, if he suddenly chooses to withdraw into the camp during the battle, it will be equivalent to selling Zhang Liao.

When Zhang Liao is alone, the situation will be very dangerous.

It can be said that Zhang Liao put his life on Li Dian, who disagreed with him, and once Li Dian guessed in his heart, Zhang Liao would definitely die.

"General Zhang."

Li Dian stepped forward and said, "Are you sure that I will command it?" ”

Zhang Liao looked at him seriously: "General Li, although you and I have different opinions, I believe in you." ”

"Thank you."

Li Dian arched his hand and said in a deep voice: "But I still trust my judgment, if things change, I will not hesitate to order a retreat." ”

"So be it."

Zhang Liao waved his hand and shouted: "My headquarters is coming with me!" ”

Behind him, 3,000 soldiers from Zhang Liao's headquarters followed him, lined up the outside of the formation, and then galloped towards the wilderness to the east.

Looking at his departing back, Li Dian indifferently shouted: "Order, the front army retreats!" ”