On June 20, in the mansion of Hefei City and County, Huainan, Guan Yu has always felt a little restless and depressed recently.

He didn't know why, as if he felt something was wrong, but he couldn't tell.

Is it a delusion?

He said to himself in his heart.

Guan Yu thought about the recent military situation in Huainan, at present, Cao Wei was completely driven out of Huainan by him, and only Jiujiang Shouchun and Xiquyang were still garrisoned by Cao's army.

Due to the problem of food, grass and armaments, it is not easy to go north, so he is now reorganizing military affairs.

Although the offensive was stopped, it was obviously impossible for Cao Wei to launch a counteroffensive, because Huainan was recently in the rainy season in the middle and lower reaches of the Huai River and the Yangtze River.

The heavy rain poured down, leaving Huainan full of swamps and lakes, the roads were slippery and difficult to navigate, and the grain and grass and the army could not pass at all, and Cao Wei could hardly march over.

In recent years, the weather has become more and more strange, Huainan is a rich land for thousands of miles, and in the past ten years, it has either been rainstorming or drought.

According to Xiaoqing, it seems to be called the Xiaoice River period, which caused the weather to change greatly, either cold or hot.

Therefore, if the two sides want to fight, whether they go south or north, they have to wait for good weather.

Since you can't fight, then what's there to worry about?

Guan Yu thought to himself.

Could it be that his own death is imminent?

Thinking of watching the death of his friend Zhang Liao a few days ago, Guan Yu was inevitably a little sad in his heart.

Recently, I heard that Huang Zhong, Jia Xu, Zhang Xiu, Huang Jie and others have died of illness one after another, and some veterans have also been sick, and life is always so impermanent, which is embarrassing.

"Father."

Guan Ping was processing the official documents next to him, and when he saw Guan Yu sitting on the main seat looking at the documents in his hand, he seemed to be a little absent-minded, so he asked, "Is my father worried about something?" ”

Guan Yu put down the paperwork and sighed: "Maybe I'm worried about your third uncle." ”

Guan Ping smiled and said: "Although the third uncle has a reckless temperament, there are two deputy ministers watching, and there will be nothing wrong." Cao Wei is now trying his best to provoke and want to force the third uncle to fight a decisive battle, but even if the decisive battle is held, what chance can they have? The hussar general sent all the cavalry over. ”

"Hmm."

Guan Yu smiled and said: "Xiaoqing has helped a lot in Guanzhong, if he hadn't trained an elite cavalry, I'm afraid that when Cao Pi's army is overwhelmed, the third brother may be under pressure." ”

Guan Ping said: "Father, now that the Cao army has built a defensive line north of the Huai River, should we also make a feint to help the third uncle relieve the pressure?" ”

"Hmm."

Guan Yu groaned and nodded: "Well, maybe you can give it a try." ”

The two of them were talking.

Suddenly, a messenger came from outside to report: "Report." ”

"What?"

"Your Majesty sent an envoy to summon the general back to Xiangyang."

"Call me back to Xiangyang?"

Guan Yu wondered.

He was preparing for military affairs, and he was still thinking about attacking Henan at the end of the year, so why did he suddenly call him back?

Guan Ping was also puzzled and asked, "Why did Your Majesty suddenly summon my father back?" ”

The messenger said, "Your Majesty is not in good health, and I would like to see the general." ”

"Huh?"

Guan Yu suddenly got up from his seat, frowned and said to Guan Ping: "No wonder I always feel restless recently, Your Majesty was unwell last year, I have to go back and call Wei Yan over." ”

"Yes."

Guan Ping hurriedly ran out.

After a while, Wei Yan was hurriedly summoned in, and arched his hand and said, "General." ”

"Bun Chang."

Guan Yu had already changed his clothes at this time, and said to him with a serious face: "Your Majesty urgently summons me back to Xiangyang, you are temporarily the main general, in charge of military affairs in the army, remember, unless you have to do so, you must not take the initiative to attack." ”

"Yui."

Wei Yan was busy.

Historically, Wei Yan had an arrogant temperament and was at odds with Yang Yi, and was finally killed by Yang Yi after Zhuge Liang's death.

But under Guan Yu, no matter how arrogant he is, he has to coil up.

With this great god on his head, Wei Yan naturally did not dare to be as proud as Zhuge Liang's subordinates.

At this time, although he suddenly became the main general, he did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly went to lead the horse for Guan Yu.

Guan Yu then ordered Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao to be Wei Yan's deputy generals, and the rest of the generals were all in peace, stationed in Hefei and the surrounding cities, and took Guan Ping to Chaohu Lake and returned to Xiangyang by boat.

At this time, Shen Chen's side had not yet received an order.

Guanzhong is relatively close to Nanyang, almost a thousand miles away. And Xiangyang to Hefei is too far, more than 800 kilometers on the Yangtze River, nearly 2,000 Hanli.

But if he could not stand it, he could take the waterway, day and night, from the Han River to the south, and then along the Yangtze River to the east, the messenger took a fast boat to speed almost at a speed of more than 20 kilometers per hour, and the letter was sent to Hefei in just four days.

However, relatively speaking, during the three years that Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen presided over the government affairs in the south, they prepared to build carrier pigeon bases and post station systems in various places, so that Hanzhong, Shujun and Xiangyang could communicate quickly.

Although the Chang'an carrier pigeon base has not yet been established, there is already a communication between Xiangyang and Wancheng, which saves some distance, and Wancheng immediately sent fast horses to run directly from Wuguan to Guanzhong.

At the same time, on the third day, Zhang Fei, who was on the front line, got an urgent report from Wancheng and hurried to Xiangyang.

Five days later, the day after Guan Yu got the letter, Shen Chen received a notice.

In the partial hall of Chang'an Weiyang Palace.

Shen Chen was sitting on the main seat and was holding a military meeting with everyone.

It has been a year since he occupied Chang'an.

The Northern Expedition began at the end of the fifth year of Zhangwu, and then he broke through Chang'an City in May of the sixth year of Zhangwu, and then began to pass through Guanzhong.

Now, a year has passed, and Shen Chen has migrated people from Bashu, Hanzhong, Nanyang, Liangzhou and other places to the Guanzhong Plain, and began to launch a vigorous action to open up the wasteland for the 800 miles of Qinchuan, which has been deserted.

Guanzhong is now vast and sparsely populated, and the government did not forcibly relocate the people, but directly issued a decree, and the people who voluntarily migrated would receive food subsidies from the government, and then obtain a large amount of land for free.

Based on a household of five, a normal family needs to cultivate at least 28 acres of land in the future and 40 acres of land to sustain a living.

With the introduction of Champa rice and the full spread of manure technology, the productivity has been greatly improved, and now only 18 acres of the city and 26 acres of Han are needed, which can basically make a family of five live well.

Therefore, the population of the south has now increased greatly, especially after the abolition of the oral endowment and the calculation of the tax, the apportionment of the land into the mu, and the collection of only land taxes, the people's desire to have children has been greatly increased, and in addition to the post-war baby boom, the number of newborns registered last year alone reached more than 200,000.

When the population is large, the land resources are insufficient.

Cao Wei's forces are smaller than Liu Bei's group, but they occupy Henan and Hebei, which have the best land, and almost the entire North China Plain is under their control, and the cultivated land area is even more than that of Liu Bei's group.

Therefore, in order to expand the land, Liu Bei had to vigorously develop terraced fields in the south, while constantly squeezing the family's fields to relieve the pressure on land resources.

But this is obviously not a long-term solution, the terrace development is difficult, and it is too offensive to rob the family of the family's fields.

So we had to think of something else.

Now that Guanzhong is in hand, there is more than 30,000 square kilometers of land, which is more than enough to feed a population of 1 or 2 million.

In this way, not only can the population of Guanzhong be quickly enriched and the land pressure in the south can be relieved, but at the same time, it can also grow grain on the spot and provide grain and grass for the front-line army, so that there will be no need to transport grain from Hanzhong, Nanyang and other places for long distances in the future.

The reason for today's meeting is that Cao Wei's side has been dishonest recently, and the cavalry from Hedong has been dispatched to bypass the Chang'an defense line, sneak attack the military and civilian tuntian in the area of Youfufeng in the rear, and sabotage Shen Chen's grain plan.

Although this part of the cavalry was repelled by Zhao Yun, it had to be defended.

Shen Chen looked around at everyone and said: "After a year of preparation, our grain and grass have been sufficient, and more than 10,000 cavalry have been trained in the rear, and the soldiers and food are sufficient, I want to enter Hedong, what do you think?" ”

Pang De was overjoyed and said: "Governor, I have long wanted to attack, the Cao army in Hedong has repeatedly harassed us, we can't bear it, we don't need to endure it anymore, we should break it in one fell swoop." ”

"Not bad."

Zhao Yun also agreed: "Dadu Governor, there is no danger to defend the land east of the river, and it is just right to move east and merge the state to threaten Cao Wei's lair." ”

"Hmm."

Shen Chen nodded approvingly, took out the map and said: "Xu Huang is in Pusaka, Zhu Ling is in Pishi, these two places are the places where the big river crosses, and it is not easy to hold the danger, it is not easy to attack strongly, it is best to bypass it." ”

Lei Ding, the deputy general next to him, looked at Yutu, his eyes widened and said: "Governor, the river is so long, is there no place to cross the river directly?" ”

"Huh."

Before Shen Chen could speak, Pang De smiled first and explained: "You haven't been to the big river, you don't know, there is a mountain range to the east of the big river, although the mountain is not high, but it is stopped by the river, and after crossing it, you have to climb the mountain, and it is easy to be ambushed by the enemy." ”

The location of this mountain is just across the Yellow River in Hancheng, Shaanxi Province, and extends all the way down to the riverbank, near Ronghe Town in Wanrong County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, and Sunji Town in Linyi County, Yuncheng City.

In fact, the mountain range is not high, it is a hill that extends along the bank of the Yellow River, and in later generations, even the west side of the mountain range is close to the Yellow River beach and there is a large area of farmland, which is a plain area fanned out by the Yellow River alluvium.

But in the Han Dynasty, it was still the waterway of the Yellow River, so after crossing the river, it was directly at the foot of the mountain range, and the army and supplies were not good to talk about, and there was a danger of being ambushed.

Therefore, at that time, the connection between Hedong and Guanzhong mainly relied on the Pubanjin ferry in Puban County, that is, the Yellow River ferry in the area of Puzhou Town in the west of Yongji City, Shanxi Province in later generations. The second is the Longmen Ferry in Pishi County, which is Hejin City, Shanxi Province in later generations.

Only then did Lei Ding understand the reason.

Shen Chen said: "Although the Cao army occupies these two important river crossings, there are more than 100 miles of land in the north and south of Pubanjin, and there are too many loopholes, so it is relatively easy to attack them. I plan to personally lead the army, cross the river from Pubanjin, and bring Zhu Ling to help. Pang De led a group of men and horses, crossed the river from Longmen, and attacked Pi's. Zhao Yun occupied Huayin and threatened Tongguan. ”

"Yes."

Pang De and Zhao Yun immediately received the order.

Shen Chen continued: "As I expected, Cao Zhen of Tongguan probably didn't dare to invade Huayin, he would definitely cross the river from Fengling and rush to the aid of Xu Huang, and then it would be just right to force him to fight a decisive battle." ”

Deng Ai said: "Dadu Governor, it is easy to cross the river, but it is not easy to win, Cao Jun will not sit still, if it is half-crossed?" ”

Although Hedong did not take it back, it leaked on all sides. Ma Chao had so many cavalry that he didn't intercept Cao Cao, let alone Cao Wei, who was currently transferring the main cavalry to the Henan battlefield?

Therefore, in the case of lack of mobility, Cao Jun would definitely not be able to intercept them from crossing the river if he wanted to set up a position directly on the other side of the river.

However, Shen Chen's army now numbered 70,000.

It was 80,000 before.

But more than 20,000 cavalry under his command were sent to the Henan battlefield, and only 50,000 foot soldiers remained along Chang'an and Zuo Fengyi.

Last year, Yu Ban continued to train troops in the rear, and recruited another 20,000 soldiers, and this year more than 10,000 cavalry were newly trained.

The 50,000 troops left behind in the Battle of Chang'an on Cao Wei's side lost more than 30,000, and only more than 10,000 people fled back, but later Cao Pi added 30,000 troops, which was probably still 100,000.

The soldiers and horses on both sides are almost not very large, but one thing is that Shen Chen's army wants to cross the Yellow River.

Even if some men and horses were left behind in the rear, and Zhao Yun was stationed in Huayin, and Pang De led some more people to attack the Pi clan in the east and west, the number of troops led by Shen Chen himself would not be less than 50,000.

Crossing the river with so many people is by no means something that can be done in a short period of time, not only a large number of boats, but also pontoon bridges and various facilities.

Cao Jun only needs to build a sentry watchtower along the river bank to observe the situation on the other side of the river, once it is found that Shen Chen's troops have the idea of crossing the river, they will immediately assemble their troops, and when half of them have already gone ashore and the other half are still crossing the river, they will directly attack half-crossing, then the Han army will be very dangerous.

But Shen Chen naturally also took these factors into account, and said with a smile: "The Jingzhou Navy is no longer useful, now go to Jiaozhou to quell the rebellion and open up the coastal sea." Do you know why I transferred the craftsmen who made ships from the south to Chang'an at the beginning of this year? ”

Jiang Wei said: "The Metropolitan Governor wants to rely on boats to cross the river? ”

"Hmm."

Shen Chen nodded and said: "The boat can not only be used to transport grain and grass, but also to transport troops, although the disadvantage is that my troops have few good water people, but they are not used for water fights, and it is enough to cross the river." At that time, I will use chariots, horses, foot soldiers, and boats to form a moon formation, just in time to lure Cao's army to attack. ”

"But the moon array?"

Jiang Wei wondered, "What kind of formation is this?" ”

Deng Ai said with a smile: "This is the battle formation created by the Grand Governor, with ships docked, foot soldiers with chariots and disembarked, using ships and chariots to cover, on the shore to set up a formation, one can prevent the cavalry charge, the other can resist the enemy's infantry bows and crossbows, so as to carry out a counterattack." ”

At the beginning, Shen Chen used this formation in the battle of Xiangfan, but Yu Ban was too timid to fight, resulting in the uselessness of the Moon Formation.

Jiang Wei suddenly admired: "The Metropolitan Governor really uses soldiers like a god. ”

Pound presented the sycophant and said: "The Metropolitan Governor should write a military book again, now the times have become different, horses have stirrups and saddles, the previous military books have no use for these equipment, the Metropolitan Governor is the initiator, and it should be recorded for future generations to read and learn." ”

"General Pang's words are very good, most of the capital oversees the art of war, and it is not worse than the predecessors, so he should write a military book."

"Yes, yes, most of the Metropolitan Governors are powerful and powerful, and they should be famous for a hundred generations."

"I think it makes sense."

The soldiers below suddenly had rainbow farts, which made the venue exaggerated.

Shen Chen smiled and waved his hand and said: "The book of war and the like, wait until I calm the world for Your Majesty in the future, let's talk about it, now the top priority is to rectify military affairs and prepare for the expedition, I want to raid Hedong in August, within this year, to take the state, I want to let Cao Wei's Hebei and Henan lands be under my army at any time, you understand?" ”

"Yes!"

All the soldiers roared in unison.

Once the state is captured, then Hebei can be captured from Taihang Bacheng to the east, and Luoyang and Henan can also be attacked from Taihang Bacheng to the south.

At that time, Tongguan will be broken from the rear, and the defense line will naturally be meaningless, and the entire Cao Wei will face the threat of Shen Chen's troops.

So this battle is crucial.

At that moment, Shen Chen was about to announce the adjournment of the meeting, and ordered Pang De and Zhao Yun to act according to the order.

Zhao Yun was stationed in Huayin, and Pang De was stationed north to defend Zuo Fengyi.

On the surface, the two of them were to prevent the enemy from continuing to sneak attack the rear, but in fact, Shen Chen continued to build ships in Chang'an, and then the soldiers, horses, grain and grass could be transported to the Yellow River through the Wei River, and officially launched a war against Cao Wei to seize Hedong and Bingzhou.

But at this time, a messenger hurriedly came in from outside the door, came to the hall and reported: "Report, a letter from Nanyang, Your Majesty has summoned the Metropolitan Governor to go to Xiangyang immediately." ”

"Your Majesty summoned me?"

Shen Chen wondered, and suddenly realized that something was wrong, and immediately asked, "How is Your Majesty's health?" ”

"The prime minister said that His Majesty is emaciated, and he has been sick in bed for the past month and can't get off the ground."

The messenger replied.

Shen Chen sat back on the seat and looked at the south with sad eyes.

Xuande Gong's limit, is it coming?