The sharp north wind blew through the mountain forest, making the trees rustle.
On the hills in the distance, Liu Bei led an army of 50,000 people, plus more than 10,000 people who had retreated from the front line, and about 60,000 more people faced Cao Jun.
Cao Cao's army was around 100,000.
Qishan Road is a relatively spacious road, with a large number of valleys, flatlands, and hills along the way, which is almost the area around Qinling Town, Qinzhou District, Tianshui City, Gansu Province.
Along both sides of the road, densely packed camps were built, various fortifications were constantly erected, and countless trees were cut down.
After noon, near the end of the afternoon, Liu Bei waved his flag on the top of Qishan Mountain in the distance and issued an attack order.
A group of people and horses slowly descended from a small hill in the southeast of Lucheng City. The flag above said the word "bandit". The leader was in his thirties, tall and powerful, and he was the deputy general Zhonglang.
Kou Feng.
When Liu Bei was stationed in Changsha County in his early years, he once had the idea of accepting Kou Feng as his son, but Mrs. Gan happened to be pregnant with Adou, so she gave up the idea.
Although he did not accept him as his son, because Kou Feng was brave and good at fighting, Liu Bei loved him very much and treated him like a son, so he often called him "Fake Son".
At this moment, Kou Feng took the order and came to Zhang He's formation with a group of troops, shouting and provoking.
However, the road in the second half near Wudu Shimoben is extremely narrow.
He now calls himself a widower.
Zhang He said in confusion: "Liu Bei's army at the bottom of the mountain doesn't seem to be an elite force."
Soon, Cao Zhang also led a group of troops to fight out from Cao's army camp in the northeast, heading towards Kou Feng, who was shouting and cursing in the open space directly in front of Lu City.
Cao Cao laughed proudly.
Immediately afterwards, the people from behind rushed over. There were about three to four thousand people on both sides. Looking from the top of the mountain, it looked like two small black dots crowded together, in a messy way.
Therefore, since the great plague began in the world the year before last, Shen Chen told Zhang Zhongjing that the source of the plague was that the corpses of dead people were left unattended and gradually decomposed to the point where they gave birth to the plague.
After Dong Zhuo's Rebellion, "In the summer of the fourth year of Chuping, there was a great epidemic."
"well."
"How brave!"
Cao Cao was the first to call himself Gu, because only people above the county level could be called Gu, so after Cao Cao welcomed Han Xian Emperor Liu Xie and was named Wupinghou, he started to call himself this way.
"Okay, you are really my good boy."
But unexpectedly, the east gate of Lu City opened, and Wu Lan, the city's defender, led his troops out and launched a surprise attack on Cao Zhang's right wing.
Cao Jun also retreated to the rear one after another. The soldiers continued to guard in the front. In the direction of Cao Jun's main camp four or five miles away from Lu City in the rear, they were building a camp intensively.
The sky is getting darker and darker, the sun slowly sets, and the sky and the earth gradually become dark.
Therefore, even if the remaining 70,000 soldiers are not strong soldiers, the 100,000 soldiers accompanying Cao Jun are still enough to win the battle and crush Liu Bei's troops.
So doctors who came from the south to the north at that time spread propaganda every day, telling the people and nobles in the north that they must remember to restrain the corpses to prevent the disease.
After a while, Liu Bei's army dispatched hundreds of scout cavalry and brought back the bodies of the soldiers who died in the battle.
"snort."
Cao Zhang seemed to have the upper hand, but Kou Feng was not weak either. He found opportunities to counterattack from time to time, and continued to fight back and forth.
"I see."
The other part is 50,000 horses selected by Shen Chen from the 200,000 Jingzhou Army left behind by Liu Biao, plus Zhang Xiu's Xiliang Army and Shen Tao's Huangmen Army, a total of 60,000 people are currently stationed there.
In Nanyang, he was controlled by Shen Chen and fought with Cao Hong.
Kou Feng then found the right opportunity to defeat Cao Zhang's offensive, turned his horse's head and left.
Cao Cao said proudly: "In this battle, we not only want him to lose Jingzhou, but also Hanzhong. When we take Hanzhong and Nanyang, it will be the day Liu Bei is overthrown. By then, what will Sun Quan and his like care about? In this world,
, will eventually belong to the poor!"
Under the candlelight in the camp, Liu Bei was wearing a black and red royal robe with a crown on his head. He looked around and said, "I want to attack Cao's army at night. What do you think?"
At this time, Cao Cao also ordered to withdraw his troops.
The front section of Qishan Road near Tianshui is relatively open, so it can accommodate more than 100,000 troops.
The surrounding generals and counselors all surrendered.
Therefore, when scouts collect corpses, they often stagger the time to avoid further fights. This can be regarded as an unwritten rule that has been introduced in the past two years.
Others include Huang Zhong's 20,000 Changsha warriors inherited from Liu Pan, Zhang Fei's 10,000 Xiliang cavalry, Samoko's 10,000 Wuxi barbarians, and Huang She's Jiangxia navy.
"Um?"
But in the distance, the outcome has been decided.
Therefore, more than 60% of the 70,000 troops brought by Liu Bei now are not first-line elites, but second-line county soldiers and Qiang Di people recruited by Ma Chao. Most of them make up the numbers.
It was from that time on that both the enemy and ourselves had the habit of collecting corpses.
Then there was the war between the princes in the Central Plains, and the people were in dire straits. The bodies of dead and wounded soldiers in various places were not collected, which led to the continuous plague.
These people were combined into one, and after screening, the remaining 50,000 elite soldiers were left, currently under the control of Guan Yu, and now facing off at Baoxie Road with the 60,000 elite soldiers brought by Cao Cao from Guandong.
Cao Zhang, who was also about thirty years old, stood up, raised his hands and said, "My child is willing to kill Liu Bei's fake son and bring his head to his father."
Especially in large-scale battles, when tens of thousands of people were killed or injured in a battle, the result would be a place full of rotting corpses, causing a rampant plague.
His temper becomes increasingly erratic in his later years.
Even the scattered weapons on the battlefield were collected, leaving only bright red bloodstains on the spot, telling others that a small-scale war had occurred here.
Among them, there are several branch trails such as Tietang Gorge Trail, Mumen Trail, Yangxi Trail, Han Gorge Trail, Longmen Trail, and Luogu Trail.
soon.
The road is rugged and difficult to travel, easy to defend and difficult to attack, so it is not an exaggeration to call it a bird's road.
The only ones who can really fight inside may be Zhang Fei's and Ma Chao's cavalry and Li Hei's more than 10,000 soldiers who have been trained for many years.
Liu Bei held a military meeting to discuss.
It was the same with Cao Jun. Hundreds of scout cavalry came out.
Although Cao's army was much more numerous than Liu Bei's army, with a total strength of 170,000 to 120,000, and more than 100,000 to 60,000 on the battlefield in Lucheng, they had just arrived in Lucheng and had not yet set up their formation, so it was inconvenient to take the initiative to attack.
However, the number of 20,000 soldiers and cavalry was relatively small. Samoko followed Shen Chen in Nanyang, and the Jiangxia Navy was an elite first-line naval force. On land, its combat effectiveness was no different from that of second-line county soldiers.
Historically, after the Battle of Hanzhong, he scolded Liu Bei every day and purged many of Liu Xie's Han officials.
Liu Bei sighed: "It's not like I don't know soldiers, so I certainly know. But I'm afraid that the longer we delay, the more disadvantageous it will be to our army."
Hearing Zhang He's call beside him, Cao Cao answered.
At the end of the sentence, Liu Bei shook his head.
The front line consumes so much food and fodder. When the stored food is used up, there is a fear that the food and fodder from the rear will not arrive in time, forcing Liu Bei to give up the dangerous Qishan Road.
It is common for the grain transport soldiers to climb up mountains, down mountains and up mountains again every day, traveling ten miles a day.
It was getting late at this time, and both sides withdrew their troops. It was a draw, and no one took advantage.
Since Cao Cao's large army was still building camps in the rear, and only Zhang He's, Xia Houyuan's and Cao Zhen's troops were in the forward position, the defense was more than sufficient and it would be unreasonable to take the initiative. Therefore, Cao Cao did not dare to order the entire army to attack and could only let Xia Houyuan rescue them.
"King Wei Shengming!"
Cao Cao and Liu Bei were both watching the battle from the top of the mountain. They saw both sides going back and forth, and they fought for more than ten times in an instant.
Then came Sun Quan. Because Cao Cao wanted to win over him, he inherited the title of his elder brother Wu Hou and began to call himself an orphan.
Liu Beijun and Cao Jun's soldiers who were responsible for collecting the corpses did not fight after they met. They basically held a shield and a crossbow on their back, maintaining a vigilant posture and began to collect the corpses.
This battle will probably last a long time.
But now that he has become the King of Hanzhong, he has moved ahead of Sun Quan and is on par with Cao Cao. This means that he has skipped the stage of being a county prince and a prince, claiming to be an orphan, and has begun to call himself a widower.
In the past, unless we won a battle, otherwise we would have to withdraw our troops even if we won. The bodies on both sides were often left uncollected and left exposed in the wilderness.
When Xia Houyuan roared and rushed over with his soldiers, the sound of ringing gold also sounded in Lu City, and Wu Lan withdrew back to Lu City, leaving more than a thousand corpses of both the enemy and the enemy on the battlefield where Cao Zhang and Kou Feng fought.
Cao Cao stroked his beard and laughed and said: "You can just break it and test Liu Bei's background. Remember, if Kou Feng is defeated and flees, you must not pursue him deeply, lest he lures the enemy deeper."
Because of the first-come-first-served relationship, Liu Beijun arrived first and carefully collected the bodies while Cao Jun watched from a mile away.
"Although we have stockpiled a large amount of grain and grass in Hanzhong, it is not easy to store grain and grass. We will run out of grain for at most one year, so grain and grass cannot be cut off. On the other hand, Cao Cao is now stationed in Guanzhong, and grain and grass can be replenished on the spot, so there is far less trouble than we have.
"
They came to collect the corpses of their colleagues, started fighting again, and continued to throw away the corpses. Then they continued to collect the corpses, and the price continued to increase. There was no point in repeating this cycle.
At this moment, Cao Cao watched the battle at the foot of the mountain and gradually gained the advantage. His face was full of pride, and he was cursing and talking about big-eared thieves and people selling shoes and houses.
"If the confrontation lasts for a year, I'm afraid I will retreat back to Wudu."
About eight miles away from the front line of Lucheng, in the tent of the commander of Liu Bei's army in the rear camp, Liu Bei was sitting high, with Fazheng, Jia Xu, Deng Zhi, Yang Yi, Ma Liang, Zheng Du, Jiang Wan and others below.
The two sides seemed to have formed a relatively tacit unspoken rule.
This point is written in the preface of Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases", including Dong Zhuo's migration of people to Guanzhong, which caused a great plague in Guanzhong, Cao Cao's massacre of Xuzhou, which caused a great plague in Xuzhou and Huainan, etc.
Huang Xuer roared angrily and flew towards Kou Feng on flying horse.
Cao Cao said coldly: "Selling a child will only make the fake son reject his father's father. If Jun Yi goes to war, won't Liu Bei laugh at me for using a general to bully children? Where is Huang Xu'er?"
However, there are so many trails in the rear, which seems easy to defend, but it also increases the difficulty of transporting food.
The two sides were originally only two or three miles apart. In just ten minutes, Cao Zhang led his men and horses to the front.
The real main force of Liu Bei's army is divided into two parts. One part is the elite infantry he recruited in Nanyang and Changsha and Wu Yi's Dongzhou soldiers.
After Liu Bei's army collected the corpses, Cao Jun came up and took away the corpses of their colleagues.
"hehe."
For example, after the Jiping rebellion, when the Han officials were asked if they had put out the fire, those who put out the fire stood on the left, and those who did not put out the fire went to the right. The ministers all stood on the left. As a result, Cao Cao said that they were rebels and killed them all.
"King Wei."
Fazheng stood up and cupped his hands and said: "Cao's army is still building camps and fortifications at this time. Before the fortifications are repaired and repaired, it must be the most vigilant time, and they may not be able to send troops."
Seeing this scene, Cao Cao snorted coldly and said: "Go back to camp."
Here he was standing on the top of the mountain cursing.
After Liu Bei's army withdrew, those who returned to Lucheng returned to Lucheng, and those who returned to the camp returned to Yingzhai.
Wei Wang Luanjia then went down the hillside and went to the back camp.
"Father."
Of course, such a large-scale battle cannot be fought in a day or two.
"Go back to camp!"
Although Cao Cao also had some miscellaneous soldiers, his main force brought over 100,000 elite troops.
"Thief, please accept your fate!"
No matter how stupid Cao Zhang was, he knew what would happen if he led a target and chased into an army of tens of thousands, so he quickly said: "Wei, don't worry, father."
After receiving the order, Liu Bei's soldiers abandoned their helmets and fled to the rear.
Especially the terrain of this kind of mountain road can be said to be difficult for one man to pass.
"snort."
Only then did Zhang He understand the reason.
The north wind howled, making the trees on the hills rustle.
Cao Zhang was furious. After the victory, he temporarily forgot Cao Cao's instructions. He chased for several hundred meters before he remembered and quickly reined in his horse.
At that moment, he held a spear and walked down the mountain majestically.
Cao's army was caught off guard and was caught off guard, and returned with a heavy defeat.
It can be seen that at that time, he felt that his time was running out and became more and more cruel.
Xu Chu shouted and said.
Cao Jun's camp has only just been built, and the fortifications have not yet been excavated. It will take at least half a month to complete all the fortifications.
Liu Bei was a bit miserable. He had always been a Tinghou of Yidu and could not be called a loner, so he called himself me.
Cao Cao smiled and said: "All the elites in Liu Bei's army are in the hands of Guan Yu and Shen Chen. The troops mobilized are just county soldiers from Jingzhou. The southern soldiers are already weak, not as good as the northern soldiers, and they are not elite. How can they be defeated by few people?"
"
Both sides were on horseback, so they were much faster than the infantry behind them. Before the people and horses on both sides clashed, they were already fighting together.
For example, in the second year after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, "in the spring of the second year of Zhongping, there was a great epidemic."
Therefore, Liu Bei only needs to guard the Rongqiu Mountains and Qishan Mountains at the entrance to Qishan Road to prevent Cao Jun from advancing even an inch.
So Zhang He immediately said: "King Wei, the last general is willing to go to war!"
Kou Feng yelled and also raised his spear and stabbed him.
It wasn't that Kou Feng couldn't defeat Cao Zhang, but that the soldiers were at a disadvantage.
"It is already very difficult to transport grain and grass from Hanzhong, but the grain and grass from Hanzhong also have to be transported from Chengdu and Jiangzhou. There are mountains and ridges along the way for more than a thousand miles, and the road is rugged and difficult to travel. Just transporting grain from Chengdu and Jiangzhou to Hanzhong
It takes a month or two, and transporting it from Hanzhong is even more lengthy. Once it hits the rainy season in summer and autumn, there won't be a grain of rice for months."
Therefore, Cao's army was still quite vigilant at this time. A large number of temporary fortifications were built on the periphery closer to the battlefield. Many Cao's troops were also patrolling the camp back and forth to prevent night attacks.
But Liu Bei over there saw that the situation was not good and immediately ordered his troops to retreat.
"Your Majesty."
But Kou Feng called for formation in front of the camp. If he didn't go out to fight and drive him back, he might have unstable morale among the soldiers, thinking that Cao Cao was afraid of Liu Bei and didn't dare to fight.
Fazheng smiled and said: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. We have a plan, but Cao's army cannot hold on for long."
"oh?"
Liu Bei hurriedly said: "Xiao Zhi, please tell me."
Fazheng looked to the southeast with his profound eyes and said softly: "Your Majesty, have you not forgotten Sun Quan and General Zuo?"