Cao Hong had been paying close attention to Shen Chenjun's sudden actions.
After dark, at dusk, he sent general Li Kuang to pursue him. Since Shen Chen retreated his troops first and then took a detour, Li Kuang was faster than them in terms of time.
In less than half an hour after Gan Ning set up an ambush in Lushan, he had already chased him, and then a thousand men fought against two thousand ambush troops.
The loss of this one was not great. Li Kuang confirmed the number of the opponent and hurried back to report the news to Cao Hong.
At the same time, Liu Dai stationed in Kunyang and Wang Zhong stationed in Wuyang were suddenly awakened by sentry scouts set up outside the city in the middle of the night. They learned that thousands of torches were passing through, and they did not dare to If he was neglectful, he immediately sent someone to contact Cao Hong.
Since the people sent by Liu Dai and Wang Zhong to report the news were galloping, and the forty kilometers lasted almost less than an hour, so before it was dark, at the end of Pingdan, Cao Hong got two pieces of information.
First, as he expected, about two thousand troops of Shen Chen's army stayed behind to break up the rear. Second, their main force seemed to have passed Kunyang and headed straight towards Xiangcheng.
After getting these two pieces of information, Cao Hong was very excited. He couldn't be wrong. Shen Chen must have chosen to take Xudu directly, and he must pursue it immediately.
At that moment, he shouted: "Give me the order to leave the city and go north immediately to return to Xudu's aid."
"only!"
All the soldiers raised their hands in unison.
When he suspected that Shen Chen might take Xudu directly, Cao Hong had already ordered the Huotou Army to cook food all night, and then wait for the soldiers to sleep until three quarters of the day, that is, get up at four o'clock in the morning to eat.
It was the end of the day, about five o'clock in the morning, the sky was slightly bright, and the soldiers had already eaten breakfast, and they were all full of energy.
After giving the order, the whole army attacked, and at about eight o'clock in the morning, they arrived near Lushan.
Just like before, almost as soon as they approached, countless soldiers and horses started making noises.
Cao Hongyi was not afraid and ordered the attack.
There were only 2,000 people in the ambush here. Seeing that there were so many enemies, they collapsed instantly after the encounter and started to retreat like crying for their fathers and mothers.
Seeing this situation, Cao Hong laughed and said: "Shen Chen, you still want to trick me into taking Xudu directly? It's just a small trick, chase!"
"The general has orders, chase!"
Li Kuang and other lieutenants immediately issued attack orders.
There was no formation in the pursuit, and Cao's army quickly dispersed, chasing the scattered Gan Ning army everywhere.
But as they approached Mount Lu, countless arrows suddenly rained down from the dense woods on the hillside, catching Cao's army off guard.
"Cao Hong, you have fallen into a trap, kill!"
Gan Ning rode on horseback and suddenly rushed out from the forest on the left. Thousands of people and horses behind him shouted: "Kill!"
"Kill!"
The loud shouts of killing echoed through the entire battlefield in an instant.
Gan Ning's army, which had been pursued before, immediately turned around and struck back. Cao's army had no formation, and the battlefield was divided in an instant, each fighting on its own.
"What?"
When Cao Hong saw this, he was shocked.
Cao's army was first in disarray, and then was shot at indiscriminately. Their morale was low, and they all began to retreat.
Li Kuang quickly said to Cao Hong: "General, we are ambushed, retreat quickly."
"withdraw!"
Cao Hong immediately ordered the troops to retreat south and prepare to escape back to Ye County.
Gan Ning pursued them for more than 20 kilometers, from morning to noon, killing and scattering nearly 2,000 Cao's troops.
Fortunately, after struggling to escape, Cao Hong finally ran back to the outside of Ye County. Since it was determined that Shen Chen planned to "take Xudu directly", there were no soldiers left in the city.
At this moment, there was a sudden rain of arrows on top of the city, and Gan Ning's deputy general Lou Fa shouted: "Lou Fa is here, Cao Hong is here to take your life!"
"What?"
Cao Hong's eyes were filled with tears. He never expected that Ye County had also been occupied.
But he didn't know that Shen Chen came out with an army of 10,000 people this time, and he led 3,000 people to the north. Gan Ning led 6,000 people to set up an ambush, and left a thousand people in Duyang.
He had just gone out in the morning, and it didn't take long for Lou Fa from Du Yang to occupy Yecheng, blocking his retreat.
At this moment, there were wolves in front of him and tigers behind him. Cao Hong had no choice but to fight to the death.
Just when Cao Hong was in desperate situation, by noon, Huangmenting's soldiers had arrived in Xiangcheng extremely exhausted.
From packing up the camp during the day to setting off at about six o'clock in the evening, the soldiers at Huangmenting had been walking for eighteen hours.
The road from Ye County to Xiangcheng is 80 kilometers, and the terrain is flat and plain with almost no obstacles. The average walking distance is 4.4 kilometers per hour.
But the soldiers were still very tired. If they hadn't practiced like this every day before, they would have collapsed and collapsed.
Shen Chen also has a pair of iron feet.
At the age of fifteen, he kept insisting on walking. When the soldiers saw his figure, they gritted their teeth and persisted one by one.
Walking is related to physical fitness, but belief is also important.
Those who walked on foot in later generations could cover hundreds of kilometers a day. Compared with the setbacks our army suffered during the Long March in history, there were countless brats younger than him who were still able to keep up with the large army. This is not a big deal. What a difficult thing.
It wasn't until he saw Xiangcheng from a distance in the afternoon that Shen Chen took a long breath and said to Shen Zhen beside him: "Father, tell the soldiers that Xiangcheng is right ahead!"
"Xiangcheng is just ahead! Everyone, work harder, we will be able to enter the city to rest soon."
Shen Zhen immediately turned around and shouted.
"Xiangcheng is just ahead! Everyone, work harder, we will be able to enter the city to rest soon."
"Xiangcheng is just ahead! Everyone, work harder, we will be able to enter the city to rest soon."
"Xiangcheng is just ahead! Everyone, work harder, we will be able to enter the city to rest soon."
The soldiers kept shouting back, and soon everyone of the three thousand people knew the news. Their morale soared. Their legs and feet seemed to be no longer sore all of a sudden, their bodies were no longer tired, and their feet were moving much faster.
At this time, Xiangcheng was still opening its normal city gates. Suddenly, an army was seen on the official road in the distance. The people guarding the city were the county government's anti-robbery soldiers. There were not many people, only a dozen people.
Seeing this scene, everyone was at a loss and just looked at it.
Now that Cao Cao has mobilized all his main forces to the north for a decisive battle with Yuan Shao, the rear is really empty. The gates of Nanyang are only Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang with a total of eight or nine thousand people, and then Xudu has about ten thousand people.
Therefore, a large number of cities in Yingchuan are undefended. There are only dozens of county government soldiers who are used to maintain public security and detect thieves, which are the so-called arresting government officials.
These people have no fighting ability at all, and they don't even know whose troops are coming from the opposite side.
They didn't know it was the enemy from Nanyang until they got closer, but of course it was already too late. Not to mention they were at a loss. Even if they were prepared and closed all four city gates, it would be of no avail.
Soon Shen Chen occupied Xiangcheng, and while sending people to pacify the people, he immediately occupied the county government office, allowing the soldiers to take time to rest.
At the same time, the people sent by Cao Hong to report the news to Xudu had also arrived at this time.
Because there was a lag in the news, the people left behind in Xudu at this time were Xiahou Yuan, Li Dian and Xun Yu. Xun Yu was sitting at the minister's desk, and the news reached him first.
The news he received was that Shen Chenjun had bypassed Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang and headed straight for Xudu.
Seeing this situation, he immediately called Xia Houyuan for discussion.
"Your Majesty, what's wrong?"
Xia Houyuan came in a hurry.
Xun Yu was the first person to sit in the position of Shangshu Ling and was called Lingjun.
Because he sat at the Chancellor's desk and handled government affairs in an orderly manner, he was respected by others, so everyone called him Lingjun.
The Shangshutai is located in the Chengguang Hall in the inner city. The original inner city was demolished and now several palaces have been built.
When Xia Houyuan came in, he saw Xun Yu's face was very serious, holding a bamboo slip in his hand and thinking carefully.
Hearing Xia Houyuan's voice, Xun Yu said in a deep voice: "Military Lieutenant, something bad has happened. Shen Chen of Nanyang led 10,000 people and came directly to Xuchang, bypassing Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang."
"What?"
Xia Houyuan, who had just been appointed as a marching captain by Cao Cao this year and was supervising the transportation of grain and grass in the rear with Xun Yu, was shocked and said, "Is the news true?"
"Hard to say."
Xun Yu said: "General Li Feng said that he sent a thousand men and horses to pursue, and met the two thousand men and horses left by Shen Chen. Liu Dai from Kunyang and Wang Zhong from Wuyang also saw thousands of torches coming from Kunyang in the middle of the night. The sun rises northward."
"Is that so?"
Xia Houyuan frowned and said: "Calculate the time, they should arrive in Xiangcheng in the evening, and Xiangcheng may pass the news tomorrow."
Xun Yu said: "The enemy must not be allowed to enter Xudu now. Xudu has no city walls and no protection outside the city. Countless people and officials and ministers live here, not to mention the emperor. So even if they do not break through the inner palace where the emperor lives, City, even to the outer city, the shock caused will definitely be considerable, and may even affect Duke Cao."
"so what should I do now?"
Xia Houyuan asked.
Xun Yu thought: "If the news is true, they must be exhausted after a day's travel. You should immediately lead the troops to Xiangcheng overnight, with General Li Feng and Liu Dai Wang Zhong chasing after them, so that you can surround the enemy front and rear." In Xiangcheng, we must not let them threaten the safety of Xudu, but I am afraid that the news is not true."
"What does your Majesty mean?"
Xia Houyuan asked tentatively: "Do we still need to send someone to verify?"
Xun Yu suddenly said: "We must go. Xiangcheng is only one hundred and twenty miles away from Xudu. Even if the horses die from exhaustion, we must find out whether the enemy has arrived at Xiangcheng."
"good."
Xia Houyuan nodded: "I will send someone immediately."
Immediately, he ordered a group of scout cavalry and rushed to Xiangcheng.
In fact, the endurance of horses is far inferior to that of humans. They can sprint at a speed of 40 to 60 kilometers per hour, but they cannot maintain this speed for long, only a few minutes at most.
Generally, you can run at a speed of 20 to 30 kilometers per hour for 30 minutes to an hour without rest.
Therefore, in ancient times, a post station was often set up every thirty miles. The post station raised horses, and the horses galloped at full speed. They would change horses without changing people at the next post station. In this way, they could travel thousands of miles a day and deliver messages to the central government.
But even so, there are often times when the scouts are overrun. Therefore, if the scouts are asked to run fifty kilometers to Xiangcheng, without a post station in the middle, a round trip of 100 kilometers will indeed be overrun.
Of course, it doesn't really happen that the horse dies and can only run on its feet, because between Xiangcheng and Xudu, there are two cities, Yingyang and Yingyin, so the scouts can still run in the two cities. Change horses to investigate.
It's a pity that Shen Chen also took this into account, so he marched 80 kilometers and entered Xiangcheng at noon. Then he took the time to rest, closed the city gates, and changed to the big flag with the word "Shen".
The result is that even if the scouts are exhausted, they will only get false information in the end.
We had a passionate battle with the ferocious big dog and wasted some time. If you want to join the group, please come and join the group. The group number is: 1164517304