In mid-winter November, the icy cold north wind howled across the vast surface of Dongting Lake, blowing countless ripples like waves.
Rolling waves hit the shore, submerging the wild slopes on the shore of Zikou Lake. Apart from the fishing villages, most of the shore is covered with weeds and basil taller than people. It is the cold winter, and the original green color has been interspersed with yellow and brown.
Swaying gently in the cold wind.
The wind blew the reed flowers on the shore of the lake away, and the large ships on the lake swayed. In the white fog, the defenders of Zikou spotted countless ships coming towards Zikou.
.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
The horn sounded for a long time, and the entire Cai Mao army in Zikou seemed to be shaken.
But after a while, the sharp and harsh horn sound was quickly replaced by a desolate and simple gentle tone.
Immediately afterwards, the originally noisy camp seemed to become quiet again. Many soldiers had already put on their military uniforms, picked up their swords, and quickly returned to the camp.
Cai Hao slowly walked out of the camp, looked around and said, "What happened? Why did you first sound the trumpet that the enemy was approaching, and then quickly say it was one of your own?"
"Lieutenant, we have sent someone to investigate."
The attendant replied: "The sound of the horn came from the bank of Qingcao Lake in the north. It is four or five miles away. It may take a while before the response can be heard."
"Um."
Cai Hao put his hands behind his back and nodded slightly: "Instruction, let each battalion be more careful and send more people to patrol the surrounding areas."
"only."
The attendant went to deliver the order.
At this moment, Cai Du and Hu Zheng happened to come over.
Seeing the two of them coming, Cai Mao opened the tent curtain and walked in. When the two of them entered, he was already sitting cross-legged on the tent's captain's seat.
"Zimu, Yuheng, you are here."
"Ming Gong, uncle."
The two of them bowed their hands.
"Sit down."
Cai Mao motioned for them to sit down.
After Hu Zheng sat down, he said: "Ming Gong, I don't know why?"
"I've already sent someone to ask. Let's wait for the news."
Cai Hao waved his hand and said: "Let's not talk about it for now. It has been four days. Is there no news about Han Hu and Wang Jie?"
According to the order, Han Hu and Wang Jie were supposed to set off on October 25th and rendezvous with him at Zikou on the 28th, but now four days had passed since the original rendezvous date.
"No news yet."
Hu Zheng shook his head, with some ominous premonition in his heart, and said worriedly: "Ming Gong, none of the scouts we sent have returned, is it possible?"
"It's probably because of the attack."
Cai Mao's face turned grim: "Shen Chen is most accustomed to setting up ambushes. A few days ago, Wang Jie of Hanhu wrote a letter to report that they successfully captured Zuotang and Linyuan, and said that the enemy would withdraw their troops directly. At first I thought it was because of them
Knowing that we have few troops and not daring to defend, it seems that we may have set up an ambush long ago."
Cai Du frowned and said: "Uncle, it seems that we have underestimated Liu Pan. We used to think that Jingnan only had 20,000 troops, but now there are so many more people suddenly coming out. If something unexpected happens to Wang Jie of Hanhu, is that right?
.”
"It doesn't matter."
Cai Mao was not completely incompetent. What he lacked was incomplete information. At least there was no problem with his tactical arrangements. At this moment, he also understood what Cai Du meant. He raised his left arm to stop Cai Du and said, "A few tricks are enough."
If you can't scare me, send someone with my order to march into Yiyang."
Hu Zheng wondered: "Ming Gong, now that Han Hu Wang Jie's partial division has been attacked, the enemy must have known our plan. If we attack Yiyang now, won't we be trapped outside Yiyang City, which will take a long time and be difficult to break through?"
.”
Cai Mao smiled and said: "Of course I know this, but I don't think there is much food and grass in the city. They ambushed Wang Jie of Hanhu on the road from Yuan to Yiyang in the north. They will retreat to Yiyang and besiege the city."
"I see."
Hu Zheng thought so. They had previously sent out a large number of scouts to spy on the defenders in Linyuan, Hanshou, Yiyang and other places. The total number of people in Linlin was less than 6,000.
Now most of these troops have withdrawn from the direction of Linyuan to Yiyang. If they want to ambush Hanhu and Wangjie, they must not be less than ten thousand people. Now there are suddenly more than ten thousand troops in the direction of Lanxi. This means that in the direction of Lanxi, there are more than ten thousand troops.
There are more than 20,000 Liu Qi's troops in Yiyang.
Including Liu Pan's garrison in Luo County, it is conservatively estimated that Liu Qi's army in Jingnan is more than 30,000, and may even be more than 40,000. Although this is far from the estimated 20,000, it is not
There is no strength to fight.
After all, their main force is now in Yiyang, and Zhang Yun's tens of thousands of troops are behind him. Even if Liu Pan has more than 20,000 troops for some reason, Cai Mao thinks that he can easily handle it.
However, Hu Zheng was still a little hesitant. He hesitated for a moment and said to Cai Hao: "Ming Gong, I have been tossing and turning in the past few days. I can't sleep at night and I am a little worried."
"If Yuheng is worried about anything, why not tell him and listen?"
Cai Hao picked up a glass of water on the table and poured some of it into the inkstone. The servant next to him understood and immediately began to grind the ink. There was a charcoal basin next to him. He seemed to feel that the smell was a little uncomfortable, and he pinched a handful of spices.
Throw it into a basin and the fragrance will immediately overflow.
Hu Zheng said: "Ming Gong, I was just thinking that now Liu Bei has just entered Bajun, we will attack Jingnan immediately. Although Bajun is thousands of miles away from Jiangling, it is only two days' journey down the river.
this."
Cai Mao looked at Cai Du, who chuckled and said: "I forgot to tell Duke Yu Heng about something. When Liu Bei entered Sichuan, he took the land route and the ships were only hundreds of baggage ships. It took more than a month to reach the river.
Zhou. After we confirmed that he arrived in Jiangzhou, we prepared to attack Jingnan."
"Take the land route?"
Hu Zheng suddenly realized and said with a smile: "So that's it, that's it. Even if he gets the news, tens of thousands of troops, plus countless baggage, will never be able to come back without thousands of ships."
"Exactly."
Cai Hao nodded: "What's more, Liu Zhang is so helpless that he can be beaten outside Chengdu by Zhang Lu in just a few months. Liu Bei must be anxious that Liu Zhang will be destroyed, so he probably won't support Jingnan. Zhang Yun is watching over Jiangxia.
Liu Qi and Huang Zu cannot afford to cause any trouble."
"Ming Gong is wise!"
Hu Zheng bowed his hands and couldn't help but feel convinced.
In terms of tactical arrangements, Cai Mao did not miss much, although the only problem was that he did not wait an extra month or two to determine the situation in Yizhou, which lacked some certainty.
But at least in Cai Mao's view, even if Liu Bei has not yet attacked Shu County, he will definitely not be able to come back in a short time after hearing the news that Jingnan has been attacked.
So he thought he could sit back and relax. Even if Liu Bei tried his best, he would still be out of reach from Bajun to Jiangling.
"Report!"
At this moment, the attendant outside the door reported back.
"Come in!"
"Come on, Taiwei."
The attendant came in, knelt down on one knee and said, "This is General Wang."
"Wang Jie?"
Cai Mao was very surprised and asked quickly: "Where is he?"
"Wait outside the camp."
"Pass it in."
"only!"
The attendant went to do it immediately.
After a while, Wang Jie came in dusty.
After arriving in the tent, he knelt down on one knee and raised his hands and said, "Greetings to the Taiwei."
"snort!"
Cai Mao was furious and said: "I ordered you to arrive at Zikou four days ago. Why did you arrive at this time? You are guilty of delaying the military plane and should be punished!"
Wang Jie hurriedly said: "Back to Taiwei, it was not that I delayed the military plane, but that I was ambushed in Hanhu and the entire army was wiped out. I had to return to Hanshou and sent people to Nan'an to ask General Sun and General Qian to send me a fleet.
.”
"Han Hu was indeed ambushed."
Cai Mao frowned immediately. He had expected it before. Now that he had determined the truth of the matter, he couldn't help but feel a little angry.
Hu Zheng said in surprise: "General Wang, didn't the Taiwei ask you to go to Linyuan to meet General Han first, and then come together to speak? Why was he ambushed, but you are safe and sound?"
Wang Jie explained: "It's a long way from Tang Dynasty to Linyuan. We should have gone to Linyuan first to meet General Han, but unexpectedly it rained heavily and delayed us for half a day. By the time we arrived at Linyuan, General Han had already gone. I
Immediately afterwards, the scouts sent happened to find the enemy ambushing in Yaoshan, and they had a lucky escape."
"Really?"
Cai Mao was suspicious for a moment, looked at him with squinted eyes and said, "You didn't secretly communicate with Tianmai?"
Wang Jie suddenly felt insulted and was furious. He bowed his hands, looked away and said, "If the Lieutenant doesn't believe it, just kill Jie yourself. Jie has already delayed the military plane. Even if he is punished with death, there is nothing he can say!"
"alright."
Cai Mao saw that his tone was serious and knew that he had resentment in his heart. He wanted to stabilize the morale of the army, so he waved his hand and said: "I can trust you, but after all, you have delayed the military plane. I thought that if you came all the way, you could be punished with death."
No, let Zhao Sheng control the troops and horses first. You will accompany the camp and let Zhao Sheng be the deputy general first. Do you accept this arrangement?"
"The last general is willing to submit."
Wang Jie's words were obviously a little angry.
It would be false to say you are encouraged.
Although he did delay the military plane, the problem is that he saved the team.
Han Hu's 8,000-strong army was wiped out, and even now his army has no survivors or dead bodies.
Although I was delayed for a few days, there was a reason for it, and now I have innocently seized the military power. How can I be convinced?
However, delaying the military flight was indeed an irrefutable reason. Although Wang Jie knew that Cai Mao suspected that he was colluding with his brother-in-law Tian Mai, he was really helpless when it came to delaying the military flight.
"Instruct all ministries to move out of camp before noon. They must arrive at Yiyang City before dark today."
Cai Hao saw that the attendant beside him had finished grinding the ink, so he took out a piece of paper and began to write a letter. After the letter was written, he stamped it with his Taiwei seal and said to the attendant beside him: "Send it to Jingling."
"only!"
The attendant put the paper into the wooden box, immediately left the tent and rushed to Jingling.
Cai Du on the side actually saw the content of the letter. He was a nephew after all. Cai Mao was not suspicious, so he knew what Cai Mao wrote.
However, Cai Du only glanced at the content. Even if it was a very important military aircraft event, he had no intention of passing the news on.
After all, his brother-in-law had already told him that he didn't need to do anything, just watch quietly like this.