Weishi County is located about 100 kilometers northeast of Xuchang and less than 60 kilometers away from Zhongmu County where Guandu is located. It is the closest city to the Guandu front line except Kaifeng.
The reason why Ren Jun had to go north from Weishi to transport grain instead of Kaifeng or Chenliu was because Kaifeng and Chenliu were the right-wing front line of Guandu.
Historically, these two counties were garrisoned by Zhang Xiu, and Zhang Xiu's Xiliang cavalry was used to contain a large number of Yuan Shao's cavalry.
Coupled with the protection of Xiahou Dun on the left wing, which isolated a relatively safe grain road in the middle, Ren Jun was able to barely transport grain and grass from Xudu to Guandu.
Otherwise, he would have been defeated long ago by the overwhelming Yuan army, and not even the dregs would be left alive.
Now that Zhang Xiu did not participate in the war, Cao Cao had to put Xiahou Dun in the Chenliu area of Kaifeng to protect the safety of Guandu's right wing, while the left wing was left to guard in Aocang and other places.
Fortunately, Cao Cao does not lack cavalry now.
In the Battle of Yanjin, Wen Chou sent five to six thousand war horses, and later Zhong Yao from Guanzhong gave him another two thousand, adding a large number of cavalry to Cao Cao, and he could barely resist Yuan's army's attack on the grain road.
However, it was precisely because Zhang Xiu did not participate in the battle and lacked a bit of support that Yuan Jun caused great damage to Weishi, Kaifeng and even Yanling and other places in the rear.
The people in these places moved southward to places such as Yingchuan or Chen State, leaving this area desolate.
From the proliferation of Chinese civilization to the late Han Dynasty, the Chinese nation was far from conquering the earth.
The once fertile fields have now been replaced by lush weeds and endless forests. No one has built embankments on rivers or dug new canals. The fields have been submerged by the water overflowing from the Wei River and turned into swampy lakes.
The only people active in this vast wilderness, apart from the occasional official messengers who traveled back and forth between the Guandu front line and Xudu in the rear, were only groups of jackals and hungry tigers.
Without food, those wolves and tigers even dared to rush onto the official road and attack the people passing by. Only dozens of scouts on horseback and armed with swords could make them restrain themselves slightly.
Shen Chen led 3,000 infantrymen and walked arduously in the wilderness. Everywhere, we could see wild grass and basil as deep as half a man's height, swaying in the wind like an ocean. He also had to pass through several kilometers of primeval forest.
Fighting with tigers and wolves.
It was impossible for him to take the relatively better official road. There were too many scouts coming and going on the official road. Cao Cao had to communicate with Xu Du every day, and Weishi was the intermediate station, so he could only choose to move forward in the wilderness.
After many unexpected twists and turns along the way, and even losing a few soldiers, we finally arrived at Weichuan Pavilion to the north of Yanling and south of Weishi on October 22nd.
The location of this place is probably east of Weichuan Town of Weishi and west of Zhuqu Town. There are large rolling hills and lush forests. The villages that were once south of the post road have become ruins. The barren fields have long been left uncultivated by wild animals.
Their paradise.
Wild deer, hares, wild deer, river muntjacs, raccoon dogs, wild boars, pheasants, wild ducks, there are countless of them. Jackals, tigers and leopards will shuttle at will and scare countless birds when they walk into the forest. If it weren't for the rammed earth post road, which often has messengers
The scouts were coming and going, and besides being relatively clean, those who didn't know better thought it was a desolate and inhabited southern mountain forest.
It was the end of October, and it was early winter. The mountains and fields were turning yellow and brown, withered leaves flying in the air, and a thick layer of dead branches and leaves accumulated in the forest. A scout who was delivering a message to Xudu suddenly noticed a group of birds in the distance and became suspicious for a moment.
When I looked again, I saw a herd of deer passing by, so I felt relieved and continued on my way.
Shen Chen led three thousand troops and lurked in the forest about a hundred meters away from the official road.
This jungle stretches for several kilometers, seemingly endless, connecting the hills and mountains on the left side of the road. It is autumn and winter, and it is not rain or snow. If a fire is set, it will turn into scorched earth within a few kilometers.
"It's a good place to set a fire."
The soldiers in the forest were scattered at various ambush points under the leadership of their respective squad leaders, while Shen Chen and Gan Ning and Zhang Fei inspected the terrain.
This time, Zhang Fei volunteered to come here, saying that he wanted to change his mind and would no longer act recklessly.
In fact, it was because he was too bored during this period and did not fight every day. He and Gan Ning were also very idle. Now that they heard that there was going to be a war, they were naturally very excited.
After hearing Shen Chen's words, Gan Ning said, "Then why don't we simply attack with fire?"
Shen Chen smiled and said: "Fire is uncontrollable. If it's just this area, maybe we can use fire. But the surrounding trees stretch for dozens of miles. If we use fire, where will we escape to?"
"Forehead"
Gan Ning thought the same thing. Although there were many swamps and lakes around, the swamps and lakes were full of dense weeds. In the event of a fire, anyone who got in would be directly burned. It was too dangerous.
Shen Chen looked around. He had long noticed that fire could be used to attack this place. However, it was autumn and winter in the north. If a fire broke out, it would spread quickly and be almost impossible to extinguish. It would have little impact on the ecological environment. Playing with fire and burning yourself It would be a big deal if it was gone.
Although there were situations where Liu Bei set fire to Bowangpo and Lu Xun set fire to Yiling, these were special circumstances. The mountains and forests of Bowangpo were not as vast as those on Weishi's side. Once Liu Bei's army set fire to it, they retreated from the fire area and even Able to pursue.
The Battle of Yiling was located in the south. The air in the south was humid in summer, making it less likely to cause wildfires. It was also located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and had frequent rainy seasons. Therefore, Lu Xun only burned down Liu Bei's camp and did not cause large-scale wildfires.
The situation on Wei's side is that there are many mountains, forests, and grasslands. It is autumn and winter, and the weather is dry. The entire area is like a powder keg, and it can easily stretch for dozens of miles.
So unless he plans to die with Cao Cao's reinforcements, he still can't attack with fire.
After all, if you send a few people to light a small fire, no one will be burned. It takes three thousand people to set fire at the same time to cause a huge flame in a short time. If the wind direction is wrong, or the fire spreads faster than people can run, then these three thousand people will also It has to be explained here.
"If we cut down the surrounding trees and pile them on the road, and let the soldiers carry hay, and set the hay on fire when the enemy passes by, wouldn't it be possible to only burn Cao's army and not us?"
Gan Ning suddenly had an idea. Although he was a military commander, he was also from a wealthy family. He was well-read in poetry and books, so he was not stupid. He could just create artificial isolation zones to prevent fire.
Zhang Fei noticed the sound of horse hooves in the distance, touched his chin and said, "I'm afraid it won't be easy. There are too many Cao Jun scouts coming and going on this road."
Shen Chen received Gan Ning's suggestion and fell into deep thought. After a moment, he asked: "Uncle Xingba, can you understand the song of birds?"
"Birdsong?"
Gan Ning was very happy at that time. He pointed to the colorful brocade feathers on his head and said: "I have eight hundred brocade sailors under my command. They can do all kinds of birds and animals, let alone bird songs. When I was in Bajun, I took them hunting everywhere. Birdsong can even attract hundreds of birds to flock to their feet.”
Shen Chen said: "If we cut down the trees on both sides of the road and dig channels to divert water from the surrounding lakes and swamps to isolate the flames, and only burn the road and both sides, and then let the soldiers carry hay and lie down in the road, when Cao's army arrives, then Burn it immediately, maybe we only need to burn the battlefield and it won’t hurt ourselves.”
"What about the scouts coming and going?"
Zhang Fei asked.
This post road is the only way for the Wei family to go to Yanling. There are countless messengers between Xudu and Guandu, and they are not fools.
Shen Chen said: "We can use birdsong to transmit the sound. When the scouts come, we will stop. Once the scouts leave, we will continue."
His idea was very simple. He laid an ambush on the road, with hills to the north and forests to the south. Leave the trees for a hundred meters between the forest and the road untouched. After a hundred meters, cut out an isolation strip of tens of meters.
The forest is so dense that as long as you don't enter the forest, it's hard to see anything unusual. And the amount of work is not very large. You just need to make sure that the flames don't catch up when your own people retreat.
So in terms of method, this is completely feasible.
Whatever they wanted to do now, they set out on October 21st and separated from Liu Bei at Pingning Pavilion. It was October 22nd at this time. Although he didn't know when Cao Cao's reinforcements would arrive, he and Liu Bei had agreed It will be October 23rd to attack Xudu again, so there should be plenty of time.
So Gan Ning asked the Jinfan thieves who knew the song of birds to spread out and lurk among the official roads. Once they found messengers coming and going from Cao Jun, they would immediately blow their whistles and imitate the songs of birds. The mountains and jungles were already full of bird sounds, and they only knew how to do it. Communicate in bird language that your own people can understand.
Therefore, when they were cutting down trees for construction, Cao Jun's scouts and messengers had no idea that in the jungle a hundred meters away when they passed the post road, someone was cutting down trees and digging ditches. They only felt that the birds were chirping constantly, and the animals in the forest seemed to be more active recently.
With the efforts of 3,000 people, this project only lasted less than a day. On October 23, they dug out an isolation belt of several hundred meters with water canals on both sides to protect the safety of the soldiers. .
If you stand on the road and look into the jungle, you will feel that there are some differences than before, but the isolation zone is inside the forest, and if you don't look carefully, you can't see any difference from before.
Shen Chen started the fire attack plan with peace of mind.
On October 25th, in the early morning, a sharp bird call pierced the sky, causing the surrounding birds to cry.
On the official road, Ren Jun led his army slowly south on foot. It was more than 40 kilometers from Weishi to Yanling. They set out yesterday and walked more than 20 kilometers. They rested overnight at Fanting, twelve miles away from Weichuan Pavilion. , set off again in the early morning.
After lunch, they arrived near Weichuan Pavilion, which was less than ten kilometers away from Yanling County. After about three pavilions, they arrived at Yanling.
The soldiers of Cao's army moved forward slowly. The reason why they did not march in a hurry was that they had to conserve their physical strength and maintain contact with Xu Du at all times to prevent Shen Chen's army from Xu Du from suddenly coming north to intercept him.
As a cautious person, Ren Jun did not send anyone to investigate.
There were too many forests along the way for him to check. The most important thing was that there were a lot of messengers traveling through this official road every day. On average, there was one team every hour, and there were no reports of any abnormalities at all.
So now he is just hurrying along.
After passing the hilly corner ahead, Ren Jun suddenly heard the chirping of a group of birds, but he didn't care. It was normal for a large group of people to pass by the jungle and trigger the chirping of birds.
At this moment, a large number of dry grass and dead trees suddenly appeared on the road ahead. Ren Jun suddenly became vigilant. How could there be so many dry grass and dead trees suddenly appearing on the road for no reason?
If you look closely, you will see that the dry grass and dead trees suddenly burst into flames, and there was a sudden loud whistle all around, as if thousands of troops and horses were rushing out.
"Beep beep beep beep!"
In the forest on the hilly slopes on the right side, people suddenly appeared, and someone shouted: "Fire arrows!"
"The enemy is attacking, raise your shield!"
Ren Jun roared almost instinctively.
"Boohoo!"
Arrows rained down on them like a rain of arrows.
While Cao's army was preparing for the rain of arrows on the right, a large number of soldiers rushed out of the forest on the left, holding hay in one hand and fire sickles in the other. After lighting them, they began to throw them onto the road.
At the same time, they did not forget to set fire to the ground on both sides of the post road. The ground was full of dead leaves and grass. It might not have any impact if one person lit it. It could be stamped out with one foot, but when thousands of people lit it at the same time, the fire "swish" He jumped up immediately.
Shen Chenjun threw hay onto the fire one after another, and thick smoke began to spread everywhere. The smoke was mixed with rolling flames. The flames jumped up to three or four meters high, and the sound of crunching branches kept ringing.
"Withdraw, withdraw, withdraw!"
In fact, after discovering Shen Chen's army appeared in the forest on the left, Ren Jun knew what was going on and quickly ordered the soldiers to evacuate despite the rain of arrows.
Unexpectedly, just as the army turned around and prepared to escape, fire broke out from behind.
To the west of the post road is the small hill. The hill is not high, the highest point is only twenty or thirty feet. The forest is dense, and there is also a fire below.
To the east of the post road was the woods where Shen Chen's army was ambushing. The flames not only burned both sides of the post road, but also spread towards the woods. Soon the surrounding area turned into a sea of fire, and the monstrous heat wave seemed to devour everything around it. .
"Chen Chen!"
Seeing this scene, Ren Jun immediately knew who was behind the conspiracy. His face was darkened by the smoke, and he roared on his horse: "The trees here spread for tens of miles, and you can't even think of running away!"
"General Bu Lao is worried about you."
The two sides were no more than a hundred meters apart, and the voices could be vaguely heard. Shen Chen ordered the soldiers to quickly evacuate to the back of the isolation zone, while turning back and shouting: "If I can escape by chance, I will come here to build a tombstone for the general."
After saying that, the voice was getting farther and farther away.
In fact, the isolation zone can at most make the fire spread slower, and it is difficult to completely block the fire, so the surrounding forest of several square kilometers is destined to be reduced to ashes.
Shen Chenjun in the forest was also running for his life. The fire in the rear had burned near the isolation zone and was temporarily blocked by the isolation zone and the canal. However, there were countless hot things in the forest that would fly and scatter. These were impossible to be blocked by the isolation zone, so the fire in the rear was Forests will still catch fire, it's just a matter of time.
Now the soldiers of Shen Chen's army were divided into two groups, the north and the south. The soldiers on the hill first used bows and arrows to hold back Ren Jun's army. There were soldiers behind Ren Jun's army who took advantage of them to pass by and used dry grass and firewood to cut off their retreat.
At this moment, the entire post road was burning with flames on both sides, stretching for several miles. The soldiers of Cao's army were all panicking and trying to rush out of the sea of fire. What finally made them despair was that Shen Chen dug an isolation zone a hundred meters away from the forest, that is, It is said that it is almost impossible for them to break out of the sea of 100 meters of fire.
In the jungle, thousands of soldiers fled eastward as hard as they could. In addition to them, there were countless wild animals traveling with them. In the face of natural and man-made disasters such as fire, all creatures are equal, but at least there are isolation zones that play a certain role. buffer.
So half an hour later, Shen Chenjun escaped from the forest, and most of the animals also escaped, rushing into a wilderness plain, and then scattered towards the remote forests in three directions: north, east, and south. .
The soldiers of Shen Chen's army were now paralyzed on the ground from exhaustion. Marching in a hurry and escaping were completely different things. It can be said that they ran at least four or five kilometers in the past half hour, almost at a sprint speed of 100 meters. Behind them Those who run slowly always crawl out of the forest, for fear that if they slow down a step they will become mature.
Looking back at the forest, I saw that the forest nearby had not yet burned. In the distance, flames were already rising a few kilometers away. The mountains where I had been ambushed had now turned into a volcano. I just didn’t know if the men led by Zhang Fei and Gan Ning had escaped. .
There is no forest behind the mountains. The fire probably burned out the mountains that stretched for several kilometers, plus the forest here, because after passing this forest, there is a tributary of Weichuan River.
There are a large number of lakes around, and the ecological damage caused is only about seven or eight kilometers. It is much smaller than the damage caused by Guandu, Chibi, and Yiling.
Shen Chen gasped for breath, with sweat pouring from his head. After resting for more than ten minutes, he saw that the flames were spreading this way, so he waved and shouted: "Gather the order and evacuate to the south."
"Beep beep beep!"
The assembly whistle sounded, and many soldiers counted the number of people. They found that there were no losses and everyone was there, so they lined up and headed south.
To the south of Weichuan Pavilion is Nanxi Pavilion, and beyond that is Anling Pavilion, and then you arrive at the foot of Yanling City.
Shen Chen and Zhang Fei Gan Ning agreed to go to Nanxi Pavilion to meet up after setting the fire. At this moment, the fire was filling the sky behind them, and the fire dragon was sweeping across. There were even many dead leaves in the forest, which caused an explosion effect, and roaring and explosion sounds were heard.
They left Weichuan Pavilion and headed south, finally arriving at Nanxi Pavilion. They were originally worried about Zhang Fei, Gan Ning and the others, but they didn't expect them to be faster than themselves.
At this time, they had already occupied the pavilions and the surrounding dilapidated villages to rest, and everyone was extremely tired.
"Achen."
Seeing Shen Chen come back, Gan Ning went up and said, "How is it?"
Shen Chen said: "The fire is burning, and I'm afraid that none of Ren Jun's ashes will be left. Let's take a rest and go south to capture Yanling first."
"good."
Gan Ning came down and was about to deliver the order.
Suddenly the sound of horse hoofbeats sounded, and Zhang Fei came galloping with several horses. The knights around him basically led two or three horses, and they also held a Cao Jun in their hands. They laughed and said: "Hahaha, young gentleman, Xingba, look I caught something."
He threw Cao Jun to the ground, causing his nose to be bruised and his face to be swollen.
"Where did Cao Jun come from?"
Gan Ning was surprised.
Zhang Fei said: "I heard the sound of horse hooves just now, so I chased after them. They were a group of messengers. When they saw the flames, they tried to run away, but I killed them all and brought back a prisoner."
Shen Chen stepped on the man, put a knife on his neck and said, "Are you going to Guandu to deliver a message?"
The soldiers of Cao's army begged for mercy: "Spare your life, we are the messengers delivering a message to General Ren. Xudu has been surrounded. Xun Lingjun asked him to station in Yanling Ce Xudu."
Shen Chen grinned and said, "You can go back and tell Xun Yu that Ren Jun's entire army has been wiped out and Xu Du is isolated and helpless. Tell him to stop struggling and leave the city and surrender as soon as possible."
After saying that, he kicked Cao Jun away.
Someone next to him returned one of the messenger horses that he had captured before, and the messenger climbed onto the horse's back in panic and headed south.