On July 15, the 10th year of Jian'an, after seven days, Shen Chen arrived at Shiling.
Seven days ago, that is, on July 8, he set out from Lingyang. After confirming that Sun Quan had escaped, he made a calm arrangement at the entrance of Jinghu Lake and Shushui River.
First, the fleet docked on the right bank of Shushui River, that is, to the east of Shushui River. Then Qu Gan was sent to lead a thousand soldiers to take the boat north to the direction of Jingshui River.
He himself led the remaining 3,000 troops and began to move southward toward Yixian County along the land route along the Shushui River.
Due to the recent light rain in the south of the southeast hills, which is later Huangshan City, the road is muddy and slippery, making the forward speed very slow. In addition, there are countless hills on the right bank, with high mountains and dense forests, and long distances, making the journey extremely slow.
On the contrary, Lu Meng and Xu Sheng's troops were faster, because although Yunxi was not connected to Shushui at that time, it intersected with another river called Qingxi in the southeast of Shitai County in later generations.
The upper reaches of this river is Jinghu Lake, so Lu Meng and Xu Shengbing split into two groups, took a boat all the way from Qingxi River to Jinghu Lake and arrived at the entrance of Jinghu Lake in advance.
In addition, take the land route all the way to the upper reaches of Shushui, start walking from south to north, and go overland to the entrance of Jinghu Lake and Shushui.
Then the two of them interacted with each other at the same time, one south and one north. Lu Meng still took the boat to go south by water, while Xu Sheng went north by land. On July 13th, the two met at Wuliting.
Neither side saw any trace of Shen Chen's boat, so they concluded that Shen Chen did not enter Shushui and returned to the entrance of Shushui and Jinghu Lake.
In fact, Shen Chen not only saw Lu Meng's fleet there, but also on the hillside in the distance.
But at that time, the mountains were high and the forests were dense, so Lu Meng had no idea that someone was watching them silently to the east of him.
"General!"
Zhang Nan raised his head and glanced at the sky, pointed to the mountains hidden in the mist in the distance and said: "I just asked the Shanyue guide. After passing the mountains here, walk more than 20 miles on the mountain road and you will reach Wu." It’s over.”
Shen Chen looked into the distance and said, "Well, the eldest son is waiting for us in Wuling. It's not easy to come here. We have to walk through mountains and rivers, and we can only walk thirty miles of mountain roads every day."
"yes."
Zhang Nan said with a smile: "Although walking on the mountain road is tiring and slow, the general's move of abandoning the ship and walking has deceived the people in Jiangdong. They must have gone north to Jingxian County."
Shen Chen nodded and said: "It's natural. Qu Gan walked to Jushui to She County. It will take several days for Jiangdong Army to catch up with us. We will meet up in She County and wait for the meeting with General Liu Pan's troops. Head south from Po River back to Nanchang."
"only."
Zhang Nan said hesitantly: "General Huang"
"Don't worry, as long as Zhang Hong is in our hands, Jiangdong can only exchange it for General Huang."
Shen Chen turned around and looked at the vast team behind him. There were soldiers carrying Zhang Hong in a sedan chair and following the team forward.
Zhang Hong was relatively old and it would be too much for him to walk dozens of miles of mountain roads every day, so he could only carry him reluctantly by taking turns carrying the sedan.
When the team was about to cross the stone ridge, a sharp whistle suddenly came from behind.
"Enemy attack!"
This is a warning that the enemy is coming.
There are dense trees on the top of the mountain, and Shushui in the distance is also obscured by the forests on the left and right banks, making it difficult to see clearly.
Zhang Nan said to Shen Chen: "General, Jiangdong Army must be chasing us."
"It came so quickly."
Shen Chen looked around, looking at a hilly hillside on the river bank, pointing at it and saying: "Let the soldiers go to that hillside to defend the enemy with bows and arrows."
"only!"
Zhang Nan took action immediately.
A large force of more than 3,000 Jiangxia navy troops were on the stone ridge in front, with a small group of scouts behind them.
However, the scouts did not ride horses, and the mountains were high and the forests were dense, so they could not report to the commander in front through flags, smoke, etc., so they could only use whistles and horns.
Although it is fast and convenient to use voice to convey information, it can also be conveyed to the pursuers in the rear, letting the pursuers know where the person is.
At this moment, about four or five miles away from the stone ridge, hundreds of small boats were floating on the water.
Lu Meng was on a tug-of-war ship.
Shushui is no better than Qingshui and Jingshui. Its narrowest point is only twenty or thirty meters, and its widest point is not more than forty or fifty meters. It is a small and medium-sized river. The lower river is much wider near the Jinghu port, with a length of two to three hundred meters. meters in width, but can become narrower as you go upstream.
Therefore, their big ships cannot get in, so they can only use small boats such as Lucai, Jiaotu, walking boats, scouts, yachts, flying boats, etc. Among them, the first three types of boats can carry twenty or thirty people, and the latter three can carry up to seven or eight people.
And due to the relationship between going upstream, ships must rely on human oars to sail.
But even so, the speed is much faster than walking.
Shen Chen and the others walked for seven days from Lingyang to Shiling, more than 200 miles away. However, Lu Meng and the others took the water route for twelve hours, changing rowing crews day and night. In just one and a half days, they arrived from Jinghu Lake and Shushuikou. Caught up with them.
Almost as soon as he heard the continuous whistles and horns, Lu Meng perked up and immediately shouted: "The enemy is in front, chase after him!"
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
Continuous sound of horns sounded, and many soldiers who had been rowing last night and resting during the day were woken up from their sleep in hundreds of small boats. Many people were sleeping in their clothes, scurrying out of the cabins of the small boats. Rush out.
At the same time, Shen Chen had also led the Jiangxia navy to ambush on the right bank. On the hills, about twenty or thirty feet away from the river, the soldiers lurked one after another, drawing their skills and shooting arrows.
The main combat weapon in water warfare is bows and arrows, so many sailors in the navy are often excellent archers.
At this moment, hundreds of warships were approaching in a mighty manner, and countless soldiers of Jiangxia Navy were waiting seriously. Almost as soon as the enemy entered their range, a sharp whistle sounded.
"call out!"
"Fire the arrow!"
Clusters of arrows fell like raindrops, covering almost the entire river surface.
Lü Meng held a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. He stood on the bow of the ship and looked at the rain of arrows. He shouted angrily: "Avoid the arrows!"
The same sound of trumpets sounded.
The Jiangdong naval forces hid in the cabins one after another or put up planks of wood to resist.
For the navy, avoiding and resisting arrows is almost an instinctive reaction for many people. Before the horn sounds, countless soldiers have already made arrangements in advance.
Only a few lucky ones were hit by arrows and fell into the water, which did not cause much trouble to the Jiangdong Navy.
At the same time, Xu Sheng in the rear had also ordered the fleet to dock. They planned to go to land from the right bank, which is the direction Shen Chen and others came from, and launch an attack on the rear of Shen Chen's army.
"Cover on both sides!"
Shen Chen marveled at Jiangdong Army's excellent military quality. Even if they were caught in an ambush, they were not afraid of danger and even launched a counterattack.
However, he was not a vegetarian, and immediately ordered the soldiers to start retreating to the top of Shiling Mountain.
At the same time, people were sent to collect stones and prepare for a defensive battle.
The rain of arrows was still falling, and Lu Meng ordered to move closer to the shore despite the rain of arrows. At this time, the densely packed Jiangdong Army disembarked from the boat with shields in hand and seized the beach, preparing to launch a fierce attack on the hilly defense line occupied by Jiangxia Navy on their left and on the right bank of Shushui River.
The hills are very high from the ground, up to twenty or thirty feet, which is about four to sixty meters, and they are densely forested, which is not good for the attackers, but it is also bad for the defenders.
Therefore, Shen Chen began to lead the soldiers to quickly move and evacuate towards the higher stone ridge.
The higher you climb up the stone ridge, the fewer trees there are, because starting from the halfway up the mountain, this mountain ridge is filled with huge rocks. From the foot of the mountain, you can see the exposed white rock walls, and there is a forest of huge boulders on the top of the mountain, with many rocks, so it is called The local Shanyue people call it Shiling.
However, although there were rocks everywhere when climbing up the mountain, it was not a cliff. There was a slope at the top. The local Shanyue people had a road that could pass through, so half an hour later, the army reached the top of the mountain smoothly.
The top of the mountain is more than a hundred feet above the ground. You can vaguely see that the Jiangdong Army at the foot of the mountain behind has occupied the hill they were defending just now and is chasing them to climb to the top of the mountain.
And if you look to the south, you can still see the shadow of the blue mountains in the light mist. That is Wuling, which is less than twenty miles away from Shiling.
"Pile up all the rocks."
"Quick, quick, quick!"
"This way, they're coming soon."
"Prepare!"
Under the command of officers at all levels, the soldiers built a large number of stones near the top of the mountain.
There are almost no trees around the top of the mountain, and you can have an unobstructed view of at least twenty feet below. Although it is a slope, the view is very good, and you can already see dense figures emerging from the dense forest and chasing up the mountain road.
Shen Chen hung the ring-shou knife on his waist and joined the troops who were laying stones. Almost as soon as the pursuers left the dense forest, with an order, the rolling stones started to fall down.
"Boom!"
Lu Meng raised his head and saw countless boulders weighing twenty or thirty kilograms, rolling down from the top of the mountain with a thunderous sound, carrying countless dust and sparks hitting the rocks, like a flooding flood that drowned them. .
At this time, it was almost too late to give any orders, because the only sound left in everyone's ears was the rumble of rolling stones. A huge stone was attacking Lu Meng, and he almost instinctively threw himself aside.
As soon as he dodged, the unlucky person behind him was a bodyguard behind him. The bodyguard felt a black shadow flash in front of his eyes, and his whole body felt as if he had been hit hard. He flew up and lost consciousness.
What a risk!
Lu Meng hid under a reverse slope on a mountain wall. When he saw that the bodyguard's head had burst and he was dead, he felt a shiver in his heart.
The rolling stones were still falling, and accompanied by the constant rain of arrows, the Jiangdong Army who came up the mountain was beaten to pieces and fled.
Seeing this situation, Lu Meng had no choice but to retreat back and at the same time sent people to go around from the side of the mountain.
Time passed by, and seeing that the Jiangdong navy no longer came to die, Shen Chen also knew what they were thinking, so he took the time to prepare to go down the mountain from the south.
After there was no movement on the top of the mountain, Lu Meng gave the order to pursue again, but Shen Chen had already descended into the mountains and forests to the south.
Although the stone ridge is not big, it would take Xu Sheng more time to go around it from both sides, so Shen Chen would not waste time with them on the stone ridge, waiting for Xu Sheng and Lu Meng to surround the entire mountain. .
Seeing how cunning Shen Chen was, Lu Meng had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue the pursuit.
The two sides pursued each other in the jungles and mountains.
Fortunately, Shen Chen had the help of local Shanyue people and was able to find the road accurately, so he shuttled through the forest relatively smoothly. Lu Meng and Xu Sheng almost got lost in the jungle.
The sound of "woo woo woo" horns, "hoo hoo hoo" whistles, as well as the sounds of drums and gongs are endless, relying entirely on sound to provide direction.
"Um?"
At this moment, at a scouting point about twelve miles away from Wuling, a soldier suddenly pricked up his ears and said, "There seems to be a sound."
"What sound?"
Another scout said lazily: "This place has more mountains than You County, and there are countless jackals, tigers and leopards. Even if there are sounds, they are probably just the sounds of wild beasts in the mountains."
"No, it's the sound of a trumpet. Listen carefully."
The soldier with the sharpest hearing immediately climbed up a big tree, stood on the top of the tree and looked into the distance. After a while, he lowered his head and said to everyone: "There is really a sound of trumpets, and it seems to be our people."
"Can you figure out the meaning?"
A scout squad leader asked, and he indeed heard the vague sound of a horn.
"It seems so"
The scout listened carefully for a while, then opened his eyes wide and said, "Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack?"
"Enemy attack!"
There were a total of five people in the scout team, and the remaining four people suddenly became energetic as if they had woken up from sleep, and hurriedly started to pick up the horns in their hands and start playing.
In a matter of moments, the sound of horns echoed throughout the forest like sea water, spreading to all directions.
"Report!"
Liu Qi's residence in Wuling.
At this time, he placed his camp on the mountainside of Wuling Mountain, which stretched for several miles from the mountainside to the foot of the mountain. It was filled with flags of Liu Biao's army and covered with a large number of camps.
Liu Pan had more than 20,000 troops in Nanchang. When he heard that Liu Qi was there this time, he immediately led 15,000 troops north along the Po River, deep into the hinterland of the southeastern hills, conquered Shixin, and repelled Huang Gai's troops. .
He then sent general Huang Zhong and eight thousand men north to Yi County to meet Liu Qi.
The current situation is that Liu Pan has defeated Huang Gai, leaving a few troops stationed along the Zhejiang line, pretending to attack Qiantang, but in fact he is leading the main force on the way north to Yi County.
Therefore, the current movement of the Jiangxia Army is very clear. Shen Chen led 3,000 troops deep behind enemy lines and is withdrawing to Wuling. There are 8,000 Liu Pan's troops led by Huang Zhong in Wuling.
At the same time, Liu Pan himself was still along the Zhejiang route and was on his way to Yi County.
In the Wuling camp, hearing the continuous sound of horns, Liu Qi immediately said to an eight-foot-tall veteran with a gray beard next to him: "Old General Huang, this must be General Shen."
This veteran was Huang Zhong, who was just sixty years old this year. He squinted his eyes and listened carefully for a moment and said: "No, the sound of the horn seems to be an enemy attack."
"Could it be that General Shen hasn't arrived yet and the enemy's pursuit has arrived?"
Liu Qi frowned.
Huang Zhong raised his sword and bow and said, "Let me go out and have a look."
With that said, he had already walked out of the tent.
With an order, three thousand men and horses were ordered together and headed towards the forest to the north.
Brothers, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that there will be 20,000 new updates every day on the 4th and 5th. The bad news is that each chapter will be 4,000 words in these days because we have to write crazy words in advance. There is no way. Things have changed. I
My health is not very good now. In addition, according to the plot, it has already embarked on a high road. You can probably guess the following plot. There is no more Three Kingdoms, only the Southern and Northern Dynasties, so it is expected to end in about 2 million words. I will finish it as soon as possible.
Yes, after I finish writing, I also want to go to the hospital for a formal physical examination. I feel that all kinds of problems appear in winter. It may be related to my two or three packs of cigarettes a day, and my mental state is not very good. I hope everyone can bear with me.