Guan Yu has four in sixty this year.

The boasted red rabbit horse is also thirty-nine years old.

The average age of a horse is around thirty-five years old, and the longest can be sixty years old.

But even so, the red rabbit horse is already at an advanced age, with dark and shiny hair and a haggard face.

In fact, Guan Yu didn't want Chitu to follow this time, because Chitu also bred some offspring, among which there were a few good horses that could participate in the war.

However, when Guan Yu put Chitu in the stable at home and chose another horse to prepare for the expedition, Chitu seemed to notice something, and his originally mild temper was a little restless, and he didn't even eat food and began to go on a hunger strike.

The horseman who raised the horse had no choice but to report the matter to Guan Yu.

After Guan Yu learned about it, he was very distressed, and personally came to feed the red rabbit, and finally brought it with him on this expedition, even if it was slightly thin and weak, and the speed was far less than before, but it could still carry him slowly on the battlefield.

At this moment, the three-way Northern Expedition, Yangzhou has been recuperating for several years, and he has been able to afford the grain and grass of the Northern Expedition, and in order to save the cost of grain transportation, he still has to go to Hefei to fight Zhang Liao.

In fact, with the current background of Liu Bei Group, it is not impossible to grit his teeth and bypass Hefei City by land and go north to take Shouchun and other places.

But in that case, at least more than 100,000 people along the way would be able to support him to run thousands of miles to Jiujiang County, not to mention that even if he could, the 20,000 troops in Hefei City would not just look at it, and would definitely harass the grain road.

Therefore, Hefei became the first threshold of his Northern Expedition.

Guan Yu gently clamped the belly of Chitu's horse, Chitu seemed to feel the master's heart, slightly accelerated his pace, came out of the crowd, rode at the front of the team, and came to a hillside.

Coincidentally, this hillside is the same hillside that Sun Quan stayed on at the beginning, and it is only 800 meters away from Hefei City. At that time, Sun Quan was a little dissatisfied with this place, and felt that he could not see the situation in Hefei City clearly, so he swaggered to a slope less than 200 meters away from Hefei.

And then......

At this time, Guan Yu also arrived on this hillside, overlooking Hefei City, and he couldn't see it very clearly, so he actually sat on the same choice as Sun Quan, and slowly moved towards the hillside less than two hundred meters away from Hefei City with thousands of guards.

On the city of Hefei, the overseer Xue Yi looked at the scene in the distance and said to Zhang Liao: "General, Guan Yu came from afar, and he was so big, why don't you raid like he attacked Sun Quan at the beginning?" ”

Historically, Xue Yi and Zhang Liao have been guarding Hefei, and they also followed Sima Yi to cut down Shu during the Jianxing period, and lived until the Qinglong period of Cao Rong.

At this moment, he saw that Guan Yu had made the same mistake as Sun Quan, so he wanted to repeat his old tricks.

However, Zhang Liao shook his head and said, "Yun Chang is definitely not a stupid person like Sun Quan, if he fights, I am not sure. What's more, his army is extremely well-organized, and once it is dragged, I am afraid that it will be difficult for me to get out. ”

Xue Yi thought for a while and said, "Although Guan Yu is known as the enemy of ten thousand people, he is old after all, and he can still have the strength of his youth?" Perhaps, while he is old, he can be beheaded. ”

Zhang Liao glared at him and said, "Although the hero is old, he is still a hero." What's more, I'm in my fifties this year, and my strength is far less than it was at the beginning. ”

Xue Yi didn't speak.

After a while, Guan Yu's army had already swept to the city of Hefei.

There were about 10,000 men and horses, and the rest of them began to set up camp about four or five miles outside the city, preparing for a long siege.

But even if there were only more than 10,000 people, the Han army was still strong, Guan Ping, Wei Yan and other generals guarded the left and right sides, waving flags, and the team stretched for two miles, lined up in several formations, and waited solemnly.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Liao pondered for a moment and said, "Open the city gate." ”

Xue Yi was shocked: "General, what is this going to do?" Just now, when Guan Yu was young, the general didn't go to battle, could it be that now that he has set up a position, the general is going out of the city to face the battle? ”

"I've been friends with Yun Chang for many years, how can I not go out to meet each other this time of life and death?"

Zhang Liao waved his hand and said, "I'll just go out alone." ”

Xue Yi was even more shocked, and said: "The general's body is in danger of Hefei, if Guan Yu suddenly attacks the general, what will it be?" ”

Zhang Liao said with a smile: "Yun Chang is bright and fair, how can he be a villain who secretly uses cold arrows, don't worry, I will go back when I go." ”

Ignoring Xue Yi's dissuasion, he got off the city wall alone, rode on horseback, ordered the city gate to open, and rushed out of Hefei alone, heading towards the hill over there.

On the hillside in the distance, Guan Yu was observing the city of Hefei.

In fact, he had no plans to attack the city today, and when he arrived outside the city, he would definitely set up camp first, and then prepare to attack the city.

However, the enemy often chooses to launch a surprise attack when our army is encamped, so experienced generals will choose to lead a part of their men and horses in a defensive formation.

Guan Yu took this opportunity to observe the situation in Hefei City, wanting to find a breakthrough point for attacking the city.

However, at this moment, the city gate opened, and a horse suddenly rushed out.

From a distance, Guan Yu knew that it was Zhang Liao coming, so he said, "Don't let go of arrows!" ”

"The general has an order, not to release arrows!"

The herald immediately shouted.

As a result, many archers who were originally vigilant and ready to draw their bows put down their bows and crossbows one after another.

After a while, Zhang Liao came to the front, raised his head and looked at Guan Yu on the hillside, seeing that his temples were white and his face was old, he was a little stunned for a while, and only after a moment did he smile bitterly: "Yun Chang, I haven't seen you for many years, you are old, it's sad." ”

"Wenyuan."

Guan Yu also said: "When people eventually get old, this is a natural thing, so why be sad because of this." If you can fulfill your long-cherished wish before you die and do something more meaningful, as Taishi Gong said, death is heavier than Mount Tai, it is enough. ”

"Yun Chang has a point."

Zhang Liao cleaned up his mood, and then said: "This time Yun Chang came to attack Hefei, I didn't want to persuade Yun Chang to withdraw from the army, I can see my old friend, and my wish has been fulfilled. ”

Saying that he didn't talk too much nonsense, Le turned his horse and left.

Zhang Liao didn't come out this time to say something to Yun Chang hoping that he would withdraw from the army, because this was the most meaningless word in itself.

Guan Yu was a Han general, and Zhang Liao was a Wei general.

Now that Cao Wei is the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bei inherits the Han family, then for the sake of the Han Dynasty, Cao Wei and Ji Han are already endless, and there is no room for maneuver.

Even if the two of them were friends, it was impossible for them to stop because of their friendship.

So I can look at the old people again in my old age.

Very good.

Zhang Liao and Guan Yu just exchanged a few words of greeting, and then went back quickly.

However, Xue Yi, who was far away in Hefei City, frowned, and there was some suspicion in his eyes.

With the establishment of the southern Ji and Han courts, in fact, there were some generals who had the Han family in mind, such as the former Donghai County, the current Licheng County guard general Cai Fang, the Xiahou Yuan general Yan Cai, the Lujiang master Lu Xi, Yunyang Chang Li Jian and so on.

Moreover, the Cao army, which had surrendered in the Battle of Jingzhou before, was basically surrendered. Even Yu Ban's family members fled unnoticed, which made Cao Pi very angry.

Therefore, in the past two years, Cao Wei was extremely sensitive to the rebels in Nantou, especially those who had close ties with the Southern Dynasties.

However, Zhang Liao was a senior general of Cao Wei, Xue Yi had worked with him for many years, knew him as a person, and his family was in the north, so it was unlikely that he would defect, so Xue Yi did not think deeply about it.

It's just that this kind of abnormal contact is still a big taboo, so Xue Yi hesitated again and again, and decided to report the situation to Cao Xiu after going back tonight.

.......

.......

On December 16 of the fifth year of Zhang Wu, when Guan Yu had just arrived in Hefei City, Liu Bei was still marching into Henan.

At this time, Shen Chen had already taken the lead in attacking outside Chang'an City.

In the camp, the commanders of the various departments came to have a meeting, except for Yu Ban, who was only responsible for training the troops and not responsible for commanding the troops, and now in Hanzhong, all the main generals came.

At present, the situation on Shen Chen's side is that the 80,000 army is mainly divided into three parts, one is Shen Chen himself, located in the southwest city of Chang'an, the other is Huang Zhongbu, located twenty miles southeast of Chang'an, and finally Zhao Yun Pang De's department, located in the north of Chang'an City.

Of the three, only Shen Chen, Zhao Yun, and Pang De set up camp outside Chang'an City, while Huang Zhong was close to the Duling region, because Lantian County was to the southeast, and Cao Zhen controlled Lantian and the entrance to Lantian Valley.

In addition, in the area of Wuzhangyuan at the exit of the rear sloping valley, Li Yan was responsible for supervising the transportation of grain and grass in the rear army, and in Hanzhong, there were Wang Fu, Liu Gan, Fei Yi, Fu Kuang, Li Xiu and other large and small officials, garrison generals transported the grain in Hanzhong to Guanzhong through Chencang Road and Baochu Road.

At this moment, in the tent of Shen Chen's main general, he sat on the throne.

On the left and right sides are Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun, and then Pang De, Ma Dai, Li Yue, Lei Ding, Dou Mao, Niu Dan, Yang Qun, Ma Yu, Jiang Yuan, Ren Shen, Yan Zhi, Ding Li, Bai Shou, Liu He, Deng Tong, Huo Yang, Wu Dang, Wu Tao, Shan Yi, Deng Ai and other generals.

Jiang Wei joined relatively late, and although he was valued, his status was not as good as Deng Ai and others, who had already served as middle-level generals in the army, so he was arranged to sit on his knees next to him, and there was a table to do the work of paperwork.

"Scout report, now we have to face the enemy is mainly in three directions, one is naturally Chang'an City, there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the city, according to the news that should be found in Luoyang, the total number of troops in Chang'an City should be among 50,000, and the grain and grass are enough to support for a year or two."

"The second direction is that there are several troops such as Xu Huang and Zhu Ling in the east of Chang'an City, and their number is not much, about 10,000 people, less than 20,000, scattered in several cities east of Chang'an City, controlling the rear grain road and retreat for Xiahou Mao."

"The third direction is Lantian County and the Wei army in Lantian Valley, commanded by Cao Cao's adopted son Cao Zhen, and the number of troops is about thirty or forty thousand. It is reported that his grain and grass may not be much, and he should report it, which can only support half a year. ”

Shen Chen looked around at the people below and asked, "The soldiers think it's better for me to take which one first." ”

The generals below looked at each other, but no one spoke.

Seeing that there was a lot of discussion in the audience, but no one was the first to speak, Shen Chen said with a smile: "You don't have to worry, you can speak your mind boldly, even if you say it wrong, it doesn't matter." ”

At that moment, Lei Ding stood up and said, "Metropolitan Governor, the last general thinks that they should attack Xu Huang and Zhu Ling first?" ”

"Oh?"

Shen Chen asked, "Why?" ”

Lei Ding looked around and said with a smile: "They have few soldiers. ”

"Hahaha."

Everyone burst into laughter, and this reason is indeed very simple.

Shen Chen also laughed, waved his hand downward and motioned for Lei Ding to sit down and said, "Although General Lei is a little thoughtful, he has the courage to think, which is to take the biggest step and reward him with ten gold!" ”

"Thank you, Governor."

Lei Ding was overjoyed, he was a general of the Di people, who had previously responded to Ma Chao's call to join the Liu Bei group with the tribe, and was currently a general of Fengyi.

Although Lei Ding has no culture, with this reckless energy, it is also quite happy.

Shen Chen looked at everyone and said, "Xu Huang and Zhu Lingbu are the most uncontrollable directions, does anyone know why?" ”

"Because it's hard to fight."

Zhao Yun responded: "If the main force is mobilized to attack, and the enemy's main force is in our rear instead, then the grain route is in danger of being cut off." It is impossible to break through their city if they only send a small force to attack, lack large siege equipment, and the number of soldiers and horses is not much different. ”

"Not bad."

Shen Chen nodded and said, "Then since Xu Huang and Zhu Lingbu can't attack, who should be attacked?" ”

"Metropolitan Governor, I know, I should attack Cao Zhen!"

With Lei Ding, a second person immediately cleverly shouted: "Because they have little food." ”

"Then why can't Chang'an be attacked?"

Shen Chen asked rhetorically.

The man said without hesitation: "Naturally, because Chang'an has a lot of soldiers and enough food, and the city is high and the walls are thick, it is not easy to attack head-on. ”

Shen Chen said with a smile: "Compared with Chang'an, Lantian will be more difficult to fight, not only the county seat is backed by mountains, but also the roads are narrow and the passes are heavy. As for grain and grass, to the east of Lishan, there is a road connecting Zheng County to Lantian County, which is just behind Lantian County and can supply Cao Zhen grain. ”

This road is the Guanzhong Ring Road from Lantian County to Weinan City in the later generations, which is located in the northeast of Lantian County. In the later generations, north of Yushan Town, Lantian County, the road was flat and wide, leading directly to Weinan City, and it was a bit unrealistic to cut off the grain and grass of Lantian County.

"Then you can only attack Chang'an?"

The soldiers were talking.

The high walls of Chang'an City are thick, and there is a lot of grain and grass in it, which really puts a lot of pressure on them.

"Let's take a look at the map. From Nanyang to Shangluo, the road is spacious, there are many cities, it belongs to the valley terrain, it is the best place to walk in Wuguan, but here! ”

There was a wooden plank erected behind Shen Chen, and there was a map hanging on the board, he stood up and pointed to the southeast of Lantian County on the map and said: "This place is the mound mountain in the north, the Lantian Valley in the south, surrounded by mountains, the mountain is extremely steep, between the two mountains, there is a narrow road of nearly three hundred miles, the terrain is like a line of sky, easy to defend and difficult to attack, almost similar to the Bao Slope Road. ”

The soldiers looked over.

I saw that the graphics on the map could not be as clear and standard as the satellite map, including the mountains, and Shen Chen was only represented by a mountain map.

But they have all walked through the Bao Slope Road and Chencang Road, and the terrain is similar to the Bao Slope Road, and they have already experienced it deeply.

And the place that Shen Chen pointed to was naturally the road from Shangluo City to Lantian County in the later generations.

The road from Shangluo City to Nanyang is still relatively spacious, but the direction of entering Guanzhong to the northwest is extremely narrow, and the road can be called a desperate situation in the canyon.

"Allah Cao wants to entrench in Lantian County and Lantian Valley, and it is very difficult to attack them, but Lantian County must also give them enough pressure."

Shen Chen looked around at everyone, and finally fixed his gaze on Huang Zhong, and said, "General Huang." ”

"The last general!"

The old man was over 70 years old this year, full of energy, and got up and gave up.

Shen Chen said: "Order your troops to surround Lantian, and then go straight to the grain road behind Lantian, cut off the grain and grass in Lantian City, and force Cao Zhen to retreat his soldiers and horses into Lantian Valley." ”

"Yui!"

Huang Zhong took the order.

Shen Chen looked at everyone again: "Although Chang'an City is tall, but the city is too wide, there are too many directions that can be attacked, tomorrow I will personally lead the army and attack from the south of the city, Zhao Yun Pound." ”

"The last general!"

Zhao Yun Pound stood up and responded.

"The two of you will divide the part and strictly prevent Xu Huang and Zhu Ling's reinforcements from the east, and the main force will attack the north and east of the city."

"Yui!"

The two should go down.

Shen Chen looked around at everyone: "Chang'an is a hard bone, but it is also the best hard bone in the three, the ancients said that the siege is ten times, but in a place like Chang'an City, the length of the city is nearly 100 miles, I don't believe that the 50,000 people in the city can cover everything, there are always mistakes, this is the beginning of our duel with the enemy, and it is also the opportunity for you to seize the fighter, success or failure in one fell swoop, and attack the city tomorrow!" ”

"Yui!"

The generals responded with a bang, and their morale was high.