In the early morning of the next day, the Han army ran wild all night, and everyone was half tired and half dead.

Where is the Goshatsu Ferry?

In the north of Gongyi City in later generations, it is sixty or seventy kilometers away from Luoyang, and the distance is very far.

The soldiers traveled from the afternoon to almost dawn the next day.

The Yellow River is rough, and the embankment along the south bank is a piece of rammed earth, and there is a wide official road on the bank, which is now overgrown with weeds.

Further south, there are wild hillsides, the forest is relatively sparse, and there are only a few wild grass basils, gently swaying in the wind.

Soil erosion in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River is more severe than in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, after all, after the city of Sanmenxia, Luoyang and the bustling Henan and Hebei rivers, where the forests on both sides of the river have been almost cut down.

Therefore, the flooding of the Yellow River in the Han Dynasty appeared in the middle and lower reaches of the region, and today's embankments are all left by Wang Jing, a water conservancy expert in the Eastern Han Dynasty, to control the Yellow River for 800 years.

Shen Chen stopped on a small hillside and looked at the direction of the ferry port in the north, the Wushejin ferry port was just a small ferry, some boats were moored at the ferry, there were pavilions and sheds, and a few fishermen could be seen resting by the river.

The fishermen rely on the Yellow River for food, but they will not follow Cao Rong to Yecheng. Fishing on weekdays, when you meet guests who want to cross the river, you will earn some money to cross the river, and there are countless such fishermen along the Yellow River at various ferries.

Although he could see some figures, Shen Chen did not see any trace of Cao Rong, he turned around and saw that the Han soldiers were exhausted one by one, so he ordered the soldiers to rest in place, and he went down the hill with Deng Ai Jiangwei and a few guards to the ferry.

Soon came to the ferry, the fishermen on the shore saw several generals and military officers coming from afar, they were very nervous, these years there are countless bandits, everyone they meet is an uncle, they can't afford to provoke, and they are restless for a while.

But no one dared to escape, if the other party did not have malicious intentions, if you fled, it would be offended to the other party, and the fishermen still had to rely on the ferry to eat to earn money, which annoyed the military master, even if you can escape to the river, you must always dock.

So even though they were all scared, they all stood there and waited.

After a while, Shen Chen came closer, turned over and dismounted, patted his cloak and dust, and stepped forward and said, "Is the shop at the ferry?" ”

A middle-aged man in his forties, with a hunched body, came out of the shed and said with a flattering smile: "Generals, are you tired?" ”

Shen Chen glanced behind him, and a knight understood, so he took out a bit of broken silver from his waist and handed it to him.

The Han army was paid for the army, and the military pay included the five-baht coins rebuilt by the southern Han Dynasty, the gold and silver collected from Zhuti County and Yongjia County, and the Shu brocade produced in Shu County, although gold and silver were not legal tender at that time, they were more precious than five-baht coins.

But after the end of the Han Dynasty, the postal system was almost destroyed, although the southern Han Dynasty has rebuilt the postal system, but the system network only includes Yizhou, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Guanzhong is too far away and there are no people, so there is no new post station, naturally can not send express.

Therefore, if the soldiers of that era had money on their bodies, they would hide it in the corners of their clothes and sew it up, and if they died in battle, they would either rummage through the nameplate when their soldiers collected the corpses of their soldiers, and their fellow villagers would bring them back to him in the future, or they would be searched by the enemy if they were defeated.

Shen Chen took the broken silver, walked to the table in the shed and sat down, put the broken silver on the table, and said: "It's a little tired, but I still have military orders, so it's inconvenient to eat and drink, I want to ask the store, have there been a large number of soldiers in the past two days?" ”

The middle-aged man glanced at the broken silver, nodded and said, "Someone has been here." ”

"Where did you go?"

"To the east, they are all on tall horses."

"What's the place to the east?"

"That place can be famous, Chenggao County, Tiger Prison Pass, the place where the princes of the Eighteenth Road called back then."

"It's really famous, in addition to our Wushejin ferry, are there any other ferries over there?"

"Yes, Fan Tingdu and Hu Tingdu are in Xingyangjuan County, and they must be more than a hundred miles away from us."

"Are those the big ferries? How many people can pass? ”

"They are all small ferries, and the big ferries on our side of Henan are Mengjindu, Pingjindu, Yanjindu, and Baimadu, and there are dozens or hundreds of people who can go in other places, but there are not tens of thousands of people."

"How many of them are there?"

"I don't know, I'm afraid there are thousands of people, all wearing black armor. It was the black-armored cavalry of Great Wei. ”

"You know?"

Shen Chen was more surprised, Cao Wei's black-armored cavalry were all elites, although these elites had killed a lot of themselves, but ordinary people at the bottom might not recognize them.

The middle-aged man said with a smile: "Let's make a living at this ferry, and the guests who come and go from the south to the north receive a lot, and naturally see a lot." ”

"Yes, thank you."

Shen Chen stood up, left the broken silver on the table, and walked out of the shed directly.

He was actually tired and sleepy and thirsty and hungry at this time, but he didn't eat and drink here because he couldn't do that.

Now the soldiers are drinking water from the kettle and eating the dry food in the dry food bag behind the hillside, and he drinks wine and eats meat here, what do the more than 10,000 soldiers think?

Therefore, sharing weal and woe is one of the most important rules of a general, and never treating them differently from soldiers is the basic quality of a general.

Soon he returned to the army, looking at the soldiers who were already lying on their backs, Shen Chen did not let them get up immediately to continue the pursuit, but discussed with Deng Ai Jiangwei.

He squatted on the hillside and looked at the east, and said to Deng Ai Jiangwei: "Cao Rong is here to chase Chuquan, we got the news after all, it was a day late, and now he himself should have gone east to prepare to return to Yecheng, we are foot soldiers, they are cavalry, and they may not be able to catch up." ”

Deng Ai said: "Metropolitan Governor, Cao Rong may not be willing to let Hu Chuquan run away like this, and the last general suspects that he may still be patrolling the ferries, or crossing the Yellow River and looking for it in the area of Hanoi County, maybe there is still hope." ”

"Hmm."

Shen Chen nodded and said: "The nearest ferry to the east is Fanting Ferry, all of which are small ferries, Cao Rong has thousands of cavalry guards around him, if he wants to cross the river, he will probably take Yanjin Ferry north of Yuanwu, if he doesn't cross the river, he should still be patrolling the Yellow River, we can indeed try to chase it." ”

"But now the soldiers have marched all night, and the men are tired and tired, and I am afraid that they can no longer pursue."

Jiang Wei said worriedly.

In such a tired and sleepy situation, if you forcibly catch up, even if you catch up with the Han army, how much combat ability will you have? I'm afraid that the Cao army will be defeated if it charges the Han army a little, and the gains for Cao Rong really outweigh the losses.

Shen Chen thought for a moment and said: "Let the soldiers rest and sleep for four hours, and then the soldiers will divide into two routes, follow me all the way to the east, and cross the river all the way north to Hanoi County." ”

"Yui!"

And they gave up their commands.

This is the best way, because I don't know the specific movements of Cao Ei, so it is safe to act at both ends.

At that moment, the Han army rested in the field at the Wushejin ferry for a morning.

In the afternoon, Shen Chen continued to chase east with 6,000 people, the horse's endurance was indeed inferior to that of people, but the explosive power was much stronger than that of people, and it was still relatively reluctant to chase on two legs, not to mention that not every army of the Han army was a yellow gate pawn with iron feet.

Deng Ai and Jiang Wei took 9,000 people to the west to return to Pingjin Ferry to find a boat to go to Hanoi County, and after arriving in Hanoi County, Deng Ai and Jiang Wei divided their troops again, and Jiang Wei led 4,000 people to Keiguan.

Deng Ai continued to look east.

Now that Pang De has killed outside Jiguan, there are more than 10,000 people on his side, Jiang Wei can completely fight with him to attack the defenders of Cao Wei in Jiguan, and let Pang De in first.

However, Shen Chen and Deng Ai's pursuit of Cao Ei did not go well, and Cao Ei sent people to search for Huchu Spring, and Cao Ei was infested everywhere on both sides of the Yellow River in Yin and Hanoi County.

From time to time, the two would encounter a small group of Cao Jun's troops, and Cao Jun ran away when he saw them, although they also caught a lot of Cao Jun's tongues, but they didn't know where Cao Rong was, and they wasted time in vain.

In this way, on June 16, at three o'clock in the morning, at the Yanjin ferry north of Yuanwu County, Cao Rong wiped the sweat on his forehead, looked around at the surging Yellow River in the north, licked his white lips, and said to the left and right: "There is no trace of Huchuquan everywhere, could it be that this guy is missing?" ”

The attendant said, "Your Majesty, maybe this person has found a small boat and crossed the river without crossing the ferry, and I am afraid it will be too late to chase it now." ”

Cao Rong took the kettle handed by the guard, poured himself a mouthful, and said viciously: "It's not a pity to die in this fight, I'm afraid that he will do bad things." If Shen Chen can be completely annihilated in this battle, Great Wei will have no worries. If this fang goes to snitch, this is a curse. ”

"Report!"

At this time, a number of horsemen galloped over and reported to Cao Rongyu: "Your Majesty, thousands of Han troops have appeared in the direction of Chenggao in the west. ”

"Where did the Han army come from?"

Cao Rong instinctively said something, but then he came to his senses and said: "It is estimated that Shen Chen sent the army from Yuban Dao to feint to attack Luoyang, but damn, just in time for this time, I mobilized Luoyang's army to search for Hu Chuquan." ”

Because Yuban Road was too far away, at first Cao Rong only heard that Shen Chen's main force went to Bingzhou from Qinshui, and there was a partial division to attack Hanoi County from Keiguan Road.

At that time, it was also speculated that someone might come from Yusaka Road, but after all, it was far away and there was no news yet.

In addition, the matter of Hu Chuquan made him dizzy, and for a while he forgot about the possibility of Yu Bandao. Now he probably knows that Luoyang should have fallen, and it is very likely that this Han army is coming to chase him.

"Your Majesty, let's go."

The scout said, "Those Han soldiers have been searching for him to the east, and they are probably here to chase His Majesty. ”

Cao Rong shook his head: "What are you afraid of, we are all cavalry, how can they catch up, if you want to leave, you can leave at any time." ”

As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes and thought about it.

He judged that this Han army should be another army sent by Shen Chen to feint Luoyang, but he didn't expect that by chance, they broke through Luoyang, and learned that he was searching for Huchuquan on the bank of the Yellow River, so he came to chase him.

If he left directly, then this Han army would pose a threat, because his troops were still searching for Huchuquan and had not gathered together.

And if the Han army crossed the Yellow River, took the Kei Pass directly, and let Pang De's army enter Hanoi County, it would be a big trouble.

The armies of the two feints are like a bamboo, and they can enter Bingzhou from Taihang Mountain to raid Wuqiujian in the north, and they can harass Sima Yi's rear in the south, which will become very bad for the war in Bingzhou and the south.

Thinking of this, Cao Rong immediately shouted: "These people must not let them cross the river, if they can't find me, go north across the river to break through the Kei Pass, then it's called a bad thing, come to someone." ”

"Your Majesty."

The guards on the left and right immediately rushed over.

Cao Rong immediately made arrangements and said: "Send someone to the south to deliver a message to Sima Yi, ask him to send someone to come over and surround him, and then quickly gather the soldiers scattered all over the place to find Huchuquan to assemble, and the rest of the people will come with me." ”

"Your Majesty."

Someone said, "Your Majesty's body must not be moved lightly." ”

"It doesn't matter."

Cao Rong said coldly: "My grandfather has been fighting horses all his life, what is there to be afraid of? We will first entangle the Han army, and when reinforcements arrive, we will immediately annihilate the invading enemy and retake Luoyang. ”

"Yui!"

The soldiers of the Cao army were shocked.

At that moment, with Cao Rong's call, more than 2,000 Cao Wei elite knights turned their horses and headed west.

Thousands of horsemen rolled up Pinggang, and the hooves of horses rolling like thunder shook the whole wilderness.

By the afternoon, they were approaching Chenggao County, and on the distant horizon, they could already see countless dark shadows longing.

Cao Rong rode on horseback and looked from afar, but did not give the order to attack immediately, but stopped to watch.

At this moment, Shen Chen was also riding on horseback, and the Han army had already heard the galloping horses' hooves, and after the initial chaos of more than ten seconds, they quickly began to line up and wait solemnly.

Shen Chen saw hundreds of knights lined up in the distance, there was a horse on the hill, and several guards around him guarded it, because it was too far away, he couldn't see clearly, but just looking at the red cloak similar to Cao Cao, he instinctively made people think that that person was Cao Rong.

"General, it's Cao's cavalry."

A soldier said.

Shen Chen frowned and said, "Cao Rong will be in the army, pass on my orders, and outflank the left and right." ”

"Yui!"

The soldiers immediately acted in accordance with the military order.

The Han army immediately began to change formations, with about 6,000 men divided into 1,000 each, and the middle 4,000 men began to push forward in formation, while the left and right flanks moved into the wilderness to prepare to outflank.

Seeing this situation, Cao Rong did not immediately order an attack, but continued to observe the situation and wait for the opportunity.

After a while, the Han army came closer, and he let the soldiers start to retreat, and now he can't hang the Han army, because the horses are galloping over, and they are already a little tired, and the Han army can still walk if they want to go at this time.

So he can only choose to find a way to fight.

The cavalry slowly retreated to the east, this is the wilderness east of the Tiger Prison Pass, where the allied army of the Eighteenth Route Princes was once stationed, and the place was spacious and suitable for cavalry to fight.

They told the horses to retreat slowly to the vicinity of a tributary to the east of the river, where they crossed the river on foot and formed a formation on the other side of the river.

Soon the two sides got closer and closer, and Cao Rong's deep eyes stared and shouted: "Kill!" ”

"Kill!"

The Cao soldiers erupted in an earth-shattering roar.

Then, according to Cao Rong's deployment, hundreds of war horses rushed directly to the main formation of the Han army, and more than a thousand war horses launched an attack on the right flank of the Han army on the left.

Cao Rong did not intend to go head-to-head with the main formation of the Han army at all, but adopted guerrilla tactics and broke one wing of the Han army first.

(End of chapter)