Chapter 141: Killing Zaozhi, coming to Xudu for the second time, shocking Guandong!
The moment the whistle sounds.
It was as if the quiet night was suddenly awakened, and there were constant whistles in the wilderness.
All the farmers immediately dropped their farm tools and ran in a panic towards the city or surrounding farmhouses, while the Diannong army hurriedly began to gather.
"what happened?"
In Yingyin City, Zao Zhi, the military commander appointed by Cao Cao, was counting some data.
He and Han Hao suggested farming to Cao Cao, so Cao Cao appointed Ren Jun as Diannong Zhonglang General and Zao Zhi as his deputy, responsible for the entire farming affairs.
Suddenly, Zao Zhi heard loud whistles inside and outside the city. He didn't even have time to put on his armor and hurried out of the mansion.
Someone came to report: "Report, there are enemies coming from the west!"
"How many people and horses."
"five hundred."
"Only five hundred people?"
Zao Zhi immediately asked people to bring horses and hurried up to the city wall to watch.
They saw that there were indeed only 500 enemy troops outside the city. After driving away the Diannong army in the west of the city, they began to destroy farmland.
"hateful!"
When Zao Zhi saw this scene, his eyes turned red.
Cao Gong is now in Guandu. He is already in short supply of food. Now he is counting on harvesting summer millet in September and transporting it to the front line. Now the enemy has actually attacked the rear and destroyed their farmland. How can Zao Zhi swallow this sigh of relief.
"General, be careful of fraud."
The people on the left and right advised: "What should we do if there is an ambush outside their city?"
ambush?
Zao Zhi calmed down instantly and said, "We must figure out where this enemy comes from."
Someone said: "General, this must be the team from Kunyang that pretended to attack Yangzhai."
"oh?"
Zao Zhi asked: "How do you say this?"
The man analyzed: "General, think about it, the latest news is that Shen Chen from Kunyang sent people north to pretend to attack Yangzhai, but in fact the main force went south to Dingying, and together with Liu Bei killed the governor of Runan and defeated the captain of Yang'an.
They are currently in Zhaoling. Therefore, they are currently fighting with General Xiahou in Jianqiang, so they will not be able to come to Yingyin. Only the feint attack force from Kunyang can come."
Recently, Shen Chen once again attacked the east and west, using partial troops to attract Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian, and then the main force went south to join Liu Bei to kill Man Chong. The news of defeating Li Tong had already spread throughout Xudu. For this reason, Xia Houyuan, Li Dian, Cai Yang and others
The lord's force went south to Jianqiang to confront the main force of Liu Bei's army.
Zhaoling is directly south of Xudu, while Yingyin is directly west of Xudu. They only received the news this morning that Liu Bei had arrived at Zhaoling the day before yesterday and was confronting Xia Houyuan and the others, so it was impossible to appear here today.
So the man naturally thought that this was the Kunyang team that pretended to attack Yangzhai, and took advantage of the emptiness in the north of Xudu to bypass the Yingyang area of Jiaxian County.
This inference is actually very reasonable. After all, it is much farther from Dingying to Yingyin than from Kunyang to Yingyin. One is more than 120 kilometers, and the other is only 80 kilometers.
The news they got this morning was lagging. They only knew that Liu Beijun arrived at Zhaoling the day before yesterday. Normally, according to the rest time, he should rest for a day or two before setting off. Who knows that Shen Chenjun's iron feet would never set off.
After Ying arrived in Zhaoling, she walked more than 80 kilometers to the outside of Yingyin City in two days.
So after hearing the man's well-founded analysis, Zao Zhi nodded and said, "You're right. Since there are ambushes outside the city, there shouldn't be too many. Well, gather people and go out of the city immediately to eliminate this enemy."
"only!"
When you receive an order, you should immediately act according to Zao Zhi's instructions.
There are indeed more than a thousand soldiers in Yingyin. With a little organization, they can form a team of tens of thousands of soldiers. Even if they have no weapons and equipment and no training, a group of rabble will be of no use. Therefore, Zao Zao He only did not summon the farmers.
By the afternoon, Gan Ning and his soldiers had destroyed hundreds of acres of farmland, causing a loss of more than a thousand dan of grain and grass based on an output of about three shi per acre. This made Zao Zhi extremely distressed and urged the soldiers to attack again and again.
But when Gan Ning saw that the enemy had really left the city, he immediately roared, causing people to blow bone whistles. The soldiers who were destroying farmland began to gather on the post road.
"Array up!"
Gan Ning was riding on horseback, holding up the sword in his hand.
If you run directly back towards the dense forest where Shen Chen's army is ambushing, the enemy will definitely not be fooled, so you have to fight first and pretend to be defeated in order to lure the enemy deeper.
Here, Zao Zhi led the army out of the city. His Diannong army was twice as many as the enemy, so he began to form a formation and press forward.
But when they got close, Gan Ning's army immediately ordered to fire arrows.
His formation is different from Zao Zhi's. Zao Zhi's is composed of spearmen in front, and his is the sword and shield men. Then the crossbowmen hide behind the sword and shield men. When the order is given to release arrows, the sword and shield men squat down. , revealing seventy or eighty crossbowmen behind it.
"Boohoo!"
Dozens of bows and crossbows fired in volley, hitting the spearmen at the front of Zao Zhi, causing chaos.
"Um?"
Seeing this situation, although he was confused as to why the enemy did not have swords, shields and crossbows, he could not miss the opportunity. Gan Ning seized the opportunity and immediately shouted: "Kill!"
"Kill!"
Five hundred soldiers charged forward. The distance between the two sides was only thirty or forty steps, and they were fighting together in an instant.
Zao Zhi desperately ordered the soldiers to stay steady, but the previous rounds of crossbow shooting caused chaos in the front. The soldiers avoided the rain of arrows, causing the formation to scatter and not obey the command at all.
Gan Ning's army took advantage of the situation to cover up the attack, and he himself rushed directly to the direction of the enemy's flag with the word "Zao" erected. With the help of his personal guards, he cut a bloody path and came to Zao Zhi. The battle only lasted a few rounds. He then beheaded Zaozhi under his horse.
The general was beheaded, and the soldiers in the field were suddenly in chaos, and the entire battlefield became one-sided.
Soon they won the victory.
In the distance, Shen Chen saw that the two sides were already fighting together. He originally planned to ambush Gan Ning when he retreated, but unexpectedly, he seemed to have won the battle, so he quickly sent people to kill him.
Suddenly the entire battlefield was in chaos. Thousands of people were either killed, fled, or knelt down to surrender.
After half an hour, the situation seemed to have stabilized.
Gan Ning beheaded Zao Zhi with one blow and was breaking the banner with the word "Zao" in it. He turned around and saw Shen Chen leading the army, so he held the banner and said with a smile: "I didn't expect the Yingyin defenders to be so weak. He was killed instantly."
Shen Chen looked around and saw the equipment of the Yingyin defenders, and said: "This is because Cao Jun moved almost all the supplies to Guandu, and the only supplies in the south are also with Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian, so there is a shortage of bows." Crossbows and shields. But this is a battle outside the city. If we attack the city, it will definitely not be that easy for us."
"That's true."
Gan Ning nodded and said, "Ah Chen, what should we do now?"
Shen Chen looked into the distance, pointed at Yingyin City and said: "Without further delay, let the soldiers stationed in Yingyin first. Everyone has traveled a long way to attack and fought hard again. We are very tired. Let's rest in the city for half an hour. , leave one more troops behind, and the rest will move forward to attack Xudu."
Gan Ning scratched his head and said: "When I came here before, Ah Chen, you kept saying that soldiers are valuable and fast, but how come you have arrived outside Xudu City and you have to rest first?"
Shen Chen smiled bitterly and said: "There is nothing we can do. We have been walking for two days from the day before yesterday to now. We have not had much rest. There are more than 200 people with foot problems. Now the soldiers are definitely My legs and feet are sore. Although Yingyin is only a short distance away from Xudu, people are not made of iron."
This is the truth.
They arrived outside Yingyin City at noon, and after only resting for less than half an hour, they immediately attacked the city. It was about two o'clock in the afternoon, and they spent the night sleeping outdoors in the south of Yingyang yesterday.
Then we walked all morning again today, crossing Yingyang and rushing to Yingyin. Although the distance was only about 20 kilometers, it was still a big burden for the soldiers.
The soldiers of Shen Chen's army could barely hold on, but the two thousand people of Gan Ning's army were indeed very hard. After all, they themselves were not trained, and they were not like Shen Chen's army who had a lot of meat and fish to supplement their protein. Many of them were out of shape. Being so thin, it’s hard to persist until now.
At that moment, the army entered the city, rested for half an hour, and then chose a song that was difficult to continue with the soldiers and horses, and stayed to garrison Yingyin City. At about three o'clock in the afternoon, Shen Chen and Gan Ning came again. Set off.
The distance from Yingyin to Xudu is too close, because Yingyin County in the Han Dynasty was the center of Xuchang City in later generations. Xudu in the Han Dynasty was located more than ten kilometers east of Yingyin, and it can be reached almost in the blink of an eye.
The wilderness to the east of the city was densely populated with farm households. At this time, the news of Yingyin had already spread to all directions, and Xu Du got the news immediately.
The residence of Shangshu Ling in the outer city.
At midnight, thirty-seven-year-old Xun Yu, wearing a silk robe, knelt down at the table and processed official documents.
Recently, he did not work at the Shangshu Desk in Chengguang Hall in the inner city because Cao Cao put Liu Xie under stricter supervision, so Xun Yu worked at his residence every day.
Spices were burning on the table, filling the room with fragrant aroma.
Xun Yu liked this kind of fragrance very much. Not only did he usually smoke it when reading official documents, but he also used spices to wash and smoke his clothes.
Therefore, the bamboo mat he sat on often left a scent, hence the idiom Xun Ling Liuxiang.
At this time, the incense burner seemed to be burned out. The servants on the side quickly used bamboo sticks to poke the remaining ashes in the incense burner. A few weak sparks flickered and then went out.
He helplessly turned his gaze to Xun Yu. Xun Yu looked at the summer wind blowing in from the window to disperse the fragrance, sighed, and waved his palms.
The servant quickly fetched a handful of new spices and threw them into the furnace, then lit them with charcoal and lay on the ground blowing on them as hard as he could.
There was no incense-making technology in the Han Dynasty. According to historical records, column-shaped incense did not become popular until the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. Therefore, when people burned incense before the Tang and Song Dynasties, they simply threw the spices into the incense burner and burned them, which was a huge waste of spices.
Nowadays, the imperial court is in short supply of supplies and spices are also very scarce. Xun Yu has recently reduced the amount of spices used.
Just like people in later generations often like to light up a lonely cigarette when thinking about problems, without the fragrance, it will be difficult for Xun Yu to concentrate on dealing with the problems he faces. Once the fragrance in the room is insufficient, it will be easy to
It's confusing.
So no matter what, you still have to use it a little bit.
After a while, the new spices burned again, and the aroma in the room increased slightly. Xun Yu rubbed his hands, reached out and took out another roll of documents, and skillfully pulled apart the outer silk rope.
At this moment, there was a rush of footsteps in the corridor outside. The sound came from the front hall and got closer and closer. The person seemed to be running at full speed in the mansion.
This made Xun Yu frown. He hated it most when others acted in a hurry. It was better not to do things in a hurry. It was easy to make mistakes in a panic.
Sure enough, because there is a threshold at the entrance of the hall, when the visitor ran to the hall, he stepped on the threshold and was knocked down. He fell heavily into the hall below Xun Yu, and his clogs flew out.
Xun Yu's face was not very good-looking. "The Book of Rites" says: "When a noble official comes in or out of the king's house, he does not follow the threshold."
This means that when entering or exiting the door, be sure not to step on the threshold.
The servant stumbled on the threshold, which was a very rude behavior, which made the most reasonable Xun Yu feel even more uncomfortable.
However, the visitor didn't seem to care at all. He crawled into the hall and shouted in the hall: "Dalang, it's not good. A messenger came to report that at the beginning of the day, there were enemies who killed Yingyin."
Outside the city!"
"What?"
Xun Yu stood up from the desk. He originally wanted to scold the slaves for not respecting his previous teachings and running around the mansion, but when he heard the urgent situation, he couldn't care about anything else and said quickly: "Let the messenger come in."
"Yes Yes Yes."
The slave stood up again and ran away in a hurry without looking for the flying clogs.
"How could this happen? How could this happen?"
Xun Yu walked around the room anxiously. Ying Yin was very close to Xu Du, and the enemy actually came to Ying Yin. This made Xun Yu, who was originally very calm, a little anxious and wanted to know the situation as soon as possible.
Soon the messenger came in. He was sent by Zao Zhi. Zao Zhi had just received the news at that time, so he immediately sent someone to Xudu to report the news.
Therefore, the news that this messenger knew was that five hundred people suddenly came outside Yingyin City and were destroying farmland. In order to protect the farmland, Zao Zhi was preparing to lead his army out of the city to fight. Now he didn't know what the situation was like on Zao Zhi's side.
"Sure, Yingyin must have been broken."
Xun Yu's face turned slightly pale when he learned that Zao Zhi had gone to war.
The messenger hurriedly said: "General Zao had not left the city yet, let alone a thousand men against an enemy of five hundred."
"You should go back to Yingyin first and then check the news."
Xun Yu did not answer the messenger's question, but asked the messenger to go back to investigate the situation. After thinking for a long time, he immediately left the mansion and went to Ren Jun's army, which was stationed outside the city.
At the same time, after Shen Chen defeated Zao Zhi, the army rested for an hour and set off again.
Zao Zhi sent a messenger to Xudu to report the news. He went on horseback, a 20-kilometer journey. If he rode fast, he would arrive in an hour. Therefore, when Xun Yu got the news, Shen Chen had just set off not long ago.
But although his infantry had not set off long ago, the scout team had already spread out and was galloping around Xudu.
When the scouts in red Han military uniforms appeared near Xudu, which was exactly the same as the scene in early April this year, the most well-informed major families got the information one after another, and Shen Chenjun appeared outside Xudu again.
Xudu is now extremely empty, with only Ren Jun's thousands of peasant soldiers, some imperial palace guards, and a few tribes of aristocratic families.
But the tribes of aristocratic families often only have a few hundred people. After all, there are only a few aristocratic families like Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu who can gather tens of thousands of troops. Even the Hongnong Yang family, who is as famous as the Yuan family, Yang Biao was tortured like this by Cao Cao. , there was no force to resist, which shows that the private armed forces of the wealthy families are not too strong.
certainly.
It's not that they have no strength at all.
It's just that they are in Xudu, and the large amount of land, property, talents, and reputation they own are not in Yingchuan.
The Yingchuan family, such as the Xun family, the Guo family, and the Chen family, all supported Cao Cao.
The other aristocratic families, their lands, properties and tribes are all in other places, and only a few like Han Hao, Ren Jun, Li Dian and Xu Chu participated in Cao Cao's army with hundreds or thousands of clan tribes.
Therefore, the private armed forces of wealthy families like them in Xudu City are actually very small, and the power they can organize is also very limited.
Therefore, to a certain extent, the current Xudu City is indeed in danger of being destroyed.
For a time, Shen Chen came to Xudu twice and shocked Guandong!
I was probably mistaken. Seeing that there was a severe drought in Huainan and Yuan Shu was killed, I thought Sun Ce would not be able to take the boat to go north. But it didn't matter. Sun Ce was dead anyway, so he couldn't go north either.