In April of the first year of Han Jianxing, Zhuge Liang went to the "Teacher Table" and officially decided to go north to Cao Wei.

Nanyang had sufficient troops, with a total strength of 150,000.

The main force was personally led by Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, and there were dozens of generals such as Zhang Fei, general Ma Chao, general Ma Chao, general Gan Ning, general Lu Chang, general of Zhengbei, and general Wen Ping of Zhengdong.

Previously, Gan Ning was the head of the four expeditions, four towns, four towns, and four peace and four pings, and after Huang Zhong died of illness, he was added to the rear general with military merits.

Therefore, at present, the general position of the Southern Han Dynasty is naturally second to none Guan Yu, the generalissimo and general of the world's soldiers and horses, followed by Shen Chen, the general of the hussars, and then Zhang Fei, the general of the chariot and cavalry, and Ma Chao, the general of Wei.

After that, there were the four generals of Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Pang De, and Gan Ning, and then Lu Chang, Wen Ping, Wu Yi, Wu Ban, Gao Xiang, Dong Ju, Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Zhang Ren, and other four expeditions and four towns.

It turned out that there were still Huang Zhu and Zhang Xiu, but both of them died of illness. Therefore, in recent years, middle-level generals such as Kou Feng, Huang Quan, and Liao Hua have been replaced, and now they are all going out with the army.

In addition to the luxurious lineup of generals, Zhuge Liang also has a staff group, Shangshu's left servant shoots Ma Liang, his right servant shoots Zhou Budo, Zhongshu's right Cheng Cai Du, and Kewen Kewu, although he leads troops to fight, he can also be a staff officer of Pingbei General Huang Quan.

Don't think that Ma Liangzhou does not doubt that Cai Du's official position is very low, in fact, the Taiwanese officials of the three provinces are already deputy ministers, and the left and right servants of the three provinces and the left and right officials are the deputies of the three high-ranking officials, and the left and right servants are from the third grade, and the left and right are from the fourth grade, so it can be said that this lineup is very strong.

If it weren't for Xu Shu and Pang Tong needing to sit in the central government, and Fa Zheng's condition was critical, it was very likely that he would not survive this year, and the Southern Han Dynasty would be regarded as a nest dispatch. Not to mention that there is still Shen Chen on the western front, and there is still Guan Yu on the eastern front, which can be described as a desperate bet to eliminate Cao Wei.

By the middle of April, Zhuge Liang's army had all assembled, weapons and equipment and heavy grain and grass were ready, everything was ready, and the vanguard general Gan Ning led 10,000 people, and went north to Yecheng first, ready to start attacking Henan.

And when Zhuge Liang in the south led the northern expedition of the army, the battle in Hedong at this moment also reached a white-hot stage.

Shen Chen was afraid that the whereabouts of Sun Li's eight thousand cavalry were unknown, so he didn't rashly launch a three-bread raid at the beginning, he was afraid that Sun Li would suddenly appear at a critical moment and disrupt the rhythm of his attack, so he had been investigating Sun Li's movements.

Cao Zhen was afraid of where Pang De went after breaking Zhu Ling, if Pang De did not go to Puban, but came to Lei Shou Mountain to help Shen Chen, then Shen Chen's troops would be greatly increased, which was obviously not conducive to Cao Zhen launching a surprise attack, so he was also investigating Pang De's news.

The two sides sent a large number of scouts, horse scouts, and spies to each other to find out where the extra troops of the other side had gone, and it was not until mid-April that Cao Zhen knew that Pang De was actually in Xie County.

"Xie County."

In the Cao military camp of Leishou Mountain, looking at the information that the scout had risked his death to get back, Cao Zhen looked at the location of Yutu County, and then sneered: "Shen Chen seems to think that he can eat Xu Gongming, so he sent Pang De to cut off his retreat." ”

General Liu Zhu said: "Governor Dadu, General Xu does not have much food and grass in the city, and now he has been besieged for more than two months, I am afraid that he will not be able to support it for long, we must make plans in advance." ”

"Hmm"

Cao Zhen pondered for a moment, he knew that Xu Huang was indeed in danger now.

After the granary of the Usucheng headquarters was burned, the grain and grass in Puban City lasted less than half a year at most, and now more than two months have passed, which means that Xu Huang will basically run out of grain in three months at most.

Needless to say, Yuan Shao's grain and grass in Wuchao were burned, and his main army of 80,000 only lasted for more than a month before it broke up and surrendered.

Shen Chen probably also understood that Xu Huang would not last long, so he put Pang De in Xie County to block Xu Huang's retreat.

In this way, as long as Xu Huang is eliminated and Zhu Ling is added, then the entire annex state will be unimpeded.

Because if Cao Zhen wanted to go to the state for defense, since Shen Chen had already occupied Hedong, he could not go to Hedong County, so he could only go to Shangdang from Yiguan in Hanoi County.

Not to mention the long distance, when they arrive, I'm afraid that Shen Chen's army will soon reach Luoyang.

Therefore, if you want to defend Luoyang, you have to defend Hedong, and if you want to defend Hedong, you have to defend Xu Huang.

Thinking of this, Cao Zhen no longer hesitated, looked at the generals and said: "Yes, it seems that you have to act according to the plan, where are Sun Li and Zhou Sheng?" ”

"The end will be."

The two stood up and saluted.

Cao Zhen said: "You immediately detour Zhongtiao Mountain and raid the rear of Shen Chen. According to the schedule, you will first rest in Dayang County for three days, raise your horses, and then bring ten days of dry food, and on April 20, you must arrive at Leishou Mountain! ”

"Yui!"

The two of them should have given up.

Cao Zhen looked around and said: "Everyone, we have been staying here for more than a month, and we have also built some siege equipment, in the next few days, we will storm Shen Chen's camp, contain his soldiers and horses, and create opportunities for Sun Li and Zhou Sheng. ”

"Yui!"

The soldiers rushed down.

Cao Zhen was personally blocked by Shen Chen in Leishou Mountain, and the other party's camp was extremely cleverly arranged, criss-crossed, and all kinds of fortifications were complete, and it was difficult to attack it.

So at first, Cao Zhen didn't have the idea of attacking the past at all, but this did not prevent him from starting to improvise the equipment.

In more than a month, tens of thousands of troops built dozens of cloud towers, and hundreds of wooden curtains, rushing cars, nest cars, trench bridges, and ladders.

Although for a battle of tens of thousands, these weapons are relatively few. Because in the course of continuous combat, such equipment can easily be consumed.

Once the enemy's camp is not breached, it is difficult to take back so many weapons against the enemy's arrow rain when retreating, so the siege equipment is often getting better and better, and the cloud tower must be at least hundreds to support.

But if it's just a few days of fighting, it's probably enough.

Soon the next morning.

Cao Jun, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly woke up from the dead silence, the sound of war drums resounded throughout the camp, the gates of each camp were opened one after another, and a column of soldiers wearing black armor slowly walked out.

Some of them lined up in a line, some pushed all kinds of siege equipment, and some rode on horseback and scattered in the direction of the periphery, gathering their formations one after another.

The Han army sounded the horn and bone whistle almost the moment they made a move, Shen Chen got up relatively early, and was in the tent to deal with some of the remaining official documents from yesterday, when he heard the sound of the horn and the bone whistle, he immediately walked out of the tent.

It happened that the messenger outside hurriedly came back to report the news, and saw Shen Chen come out of the tent, knelt down on one knee and said, "Report, Dadu Governor, Cao's army is coming." ”

"Go and order the generals to be solemn."

"Yui!"

The messenger immediately went to deliver the military order.

Their numbers were small, fifteen thousand, and the camp was therefore relatively small, seven or eight.

Shen Chen's main camp was only 4,000 people, and Deng Ai and Jiang Wei were both leading the army in their own battalion at this time, so at this time, Shen Chen's side only had some personal guards to follow.

Surrounded by a group of guards, Shen Chen came to the outer camp gate to watch the situation.

After boarding the high turret, I saw that outside the Cao army camp in the distance, I don't know how many people had gathered at this time, and I could hardly see the end at a glance.

The dense Cao army formation is like a vast and boundless black forest, from east to west, from Leishou Mountain to the bank of the Yellow River, I am afraid it must be seven or eight miles long.

The most terrifying thing is that there are rows of rushing cars in front of the team, and the vehicles are not several layers high, but are framed by simple four-wheeled vehicles, which belongs to the simple version of the rushing cars.

The full version of the punch is used to deal with the city wall, and it is obviously impossible to build so much in just over a month, so it can only be done in this simple version, and it still has some effect on ordinary fences.

In fact, in the middle of these carts was a huge log that sharpened the front and then smashed the fence of the camp by ramming.

The actual power is actually quite average, after all, Shen Chenjun is not downhill by thrust alone, and without acceleration, it is not easy to destroy the special fence by relying on thrust inertia alone.

However, if it hits many times in a row, it can break the camp, so it can be said that the rushing car is more restrained by the Han army camp.

However, Shen Chen was well prepared and dug a large number of trenches in the front camp, and it was extremely difficult to rush over.

At this time, Deng Ai and Jiang Wei had already hurried over, and seeing that Shen Chen was watching the formation of the Cao army from the high tower, Deng Ai stepped forward and said, "Governor, why did the Cao army suddenly attack today?" ”

"Didn't they think they could break through our camp by building some equipment?"

Jiang Wei was also puzzled.

There are indeed a lot of siege equipment on the opposite side, but they have much more defensive equipment than on the opposite side, such as rolling stone and wood, lime and fire oil, as well as horses, thistles, trenches, bows, crossbows, bed crossbows, and so on.

Cao Zhen once made a tentative attack, but before he could even come to the outer trenches, he was shot by arrows that covered the sky and the sun, and he never dared to attack again.

Shen Chen said in a deep voice: "Let's take a look again, see what tricks that Cao Zhen plays." The soldiers will block the water and cover the earth, so you will go back to your respective camps to defend first. ”

"Yui!"

Deng Ai and Jiang Wei left first.

Soon the bustling Cao army in the distance officially began to start, and the army slowly moved forward, with rows of wooden curtains used to resist arrows in the front, followed by rushing cars and cloud towers.

After about two quarters of an hour, they were getting closer and closer, and soon they were less than a mile away, and they were already within range of the bed crossbow.

"Bed crossbow ready."

"Hurry up, come up."

"Pull the strings, don't stick there."

"Three hundred steps forward!"

All kinds of voices filled the camp.

Bands of soldiers emerged from behind the battlements of the rammed earth wall, bows and swords unsheathed.

Everywhere there was the whirring clash of ironclad leaves, anxious and irritated urges, neat shouts, and the short and urgent sound of orders and shrill whistles.

Under the command of officers at all levels, some of the Han soldiers went to pull the winch of the bed crossbow, some wore Qi bows and crossbows to stand on the cloud platform, and some climbed the high oars to condescendingly.

But after everyone was in place, the south of the originally noisy Han military camp lined up, but it became quiet again.

The arrows on the bed crossbow were aimed at Cao Jun in the distance, and the sharp arrows reflected a suffocating white light in the early summer sun.

When Cao's army was about a mile away from the Han army's camp, Cao Zhen ordered the whole army to stop.

He rode on horseback and first looked at the situation of the Han army camp for a while, and his eyes swept around, as if he was looking for a weak point to break through.

But after looking at it for a long time, he saw countless heads emerging from the wall above the Han army camp staring at them, and the other party had a large number of high towers arranged on the inside of the camp, and the bed crossbows on them were aimed in their direction, and they seemed to be fired at any time.

"Boom!"

With a loud bang, an iron-headed crossbow arrow with the thickness and length of a tree trunk tore through the sky, cutting a brilliant arc in the sky, and then fell sharply downward, landing in the open space about fifty paces away from Cao Zhen.

Cao Zhen was calm, turned his head and said to his subordinate general Gao Jian and smiled: "The Han army is quite uncontrollable, the distance is so far, could it be that they still want to shoot me?" Hahaha. ”

"The general's momentum is enough to make the Han army embarrassed."

Gao Jian patted his ass.

Cao Zhen laughed and said, "Go to someone, tell Shen Chen, see if he has the courage to go out of the camp to fight me!" ”

"Yui!"

Gao Jian sent a knight.

At this time, there was some confusion on the side of the Han army, because as the first arrow was fired, many people instinctively wanted to release the crossbow trigger on the bed.

But there was no military order from above, so the big guys were looking around, not knowing what was going on.

Over there, Shen Chen's general Yan Zhi was scolding, and just now a sergeant shook his hand and didn't stabilize the trigger, and sent it away, causing the crossbow arrow to fly out directly.

This situation is relatively common on the battlefield where the two sides are extremely nervous, not only the bed crossbowmen, but also the crossbowmen who encounter this situation more, so Shen Chen did not send anyone to blame.

At this moment, the knight of Cao's army quickly approached that side, and with a beautiful leap across the trench, and was about to continue on, when an arrow fell in front of him, and his wings swayed in the wind, and the knight glanced at the arrow, turned his head and left.

There are some unwritten rules on the battlefield that knights who come to deliver the letter will not be killed, but they include persuasions, war letters, and other requests, and if they refuse, just shoot an arrow directly in front of the knight to show their attitude.

So the knight knew that the other party would not come out for a decisive battle, so he left with a sense of humor.

Cao Zhen naturally saw this scene, waved his hand, and said lightly: "Order, attack!" ”

"Attack!"

Gao Jian roared angrily.

The herald immediately blew the horn.

The sound of the horn "Woo woo" resounded in the sky.

The soldiers of Cao's former army began to push the wooden curtains, approached the edge of the trench, and began to build planks to help the soldiers and vehicles pass.

They completely entered the range of the Han army's bed crossbows, and Shen Chen also gave an order, and suddenly hundreds of huge bed crossbows made a loud tom sound when they were fired, and the iron-headed crossbow arrows with the thickness and length of the trunk of a tree shot towards the enemy with a howling sound like a ghost crying wolf.

The Great War began.

(End of chapter)