Chapter 422 Reunion of old friends and attack on Chang'an
Chapter 422 Reunion with old friends and attack on Chang'an
Author: Playing with Basilisk
Chapter 422 Reunion with old friends and attack on Chang'an
Guan Yu is sixty-four this year.
The red rabbit horse you praised is already thirty-nine years old.
The average age of a horse is about thirty-five years old, and the longest age can reach sixty years old.
But even so, Red Rabbit Horse is already at an advanced age, its originally lustrous hair has faded, and its face is haggard and weathered.
In fact, Guan Yu did not want Red Rabbit to follow him this time, because Red Rabbit also produced some offspring, including several good horses that could participate in the battle.
However, when Guan Yu put Red Rabbit in the stable at home and picked another horse to prepare for the expedition, Red Rabbit seemed to notice something. His originally gentle temper became a little restless, and he even stopped eating and started a hunger strike.
The groom who raised the horse had no choice but to report the matter to Guan Yu.
After Guan Yu learned about it, he felt very distressed and came to feed the red rabbit himself. He finally took it with him on this expedition. Even though it was a little thin and its speed was far less than before, it could still carry him slowly on the battlefield.
At this time, he had completed the three-way Northern Expedition and had been recuperating in Yangzhou for several years. He was able to afford the grain and grass for the Northern Expedition. However, in order to save the cost of transporting grain, he still had to go to Hefei to fight with Zhang Liao.
In fact, with the current strength of the Liu Bei Group, it is not impossible to bite the bullet and go north by land to bypass Hefei City and go straight to Shouchun and other places.
But in that case, at least more than 100,000 civilian laborers would be needed along the way to support his thousands-mile attack on Jiujiang County. Moreover, even if he could do this, the 20,000 troops in Hefei City would not just watch like this, and would definitely harass the grain road.
Therefore, Hefei became the first threshold for his Northern Expedition.
Guan Yu gently held Red Rabbit under the horse's belly. Red Rabbit seemed to have sensed his master's thoughts, and accelerated his pace slightly. He rode out of the crowd and rode at the front of the large group, arriving on a hillside.
Coincidentally, this hillside was the same hillside where Sun Quan stayed at the beginning, only 800 meters away from Hefei City. At that time, Sun Quan was a little dissatisfied with this place and felt that he could not clearly see the situation in Hefei City, so he swaggered to Hefei.
On a slope less than 200 meters away.
Then.
At this time, Guan Yu also arrived on the hillside and could not see Hefei City very clearly in the distance. Therefore, he made the same choice as Sun Quan and led thousands of guards, slowly heading towards the city less than 200 meters away from Hefei City.
Advance on the hillside.
On Hefei City, the warlord Xue Ti looked at the scene in the distance and said to Zhang Liao: "General, Guan Yu has come all the way and is so entrusted. Why not make a surprise attack like he did when he attacked Sun Quan?"
Historically, Xue Ti and Zhang Liao always guarded Hefei. During the Jianxing period, they followed Sima Yi to conquer Shu and lived until Cao Rui's Qinglong period.
At this moment, he saw that Guan Yu had made the same mistake as Sun Quan, so he wanted to repeat his old trick.
However, Zhang Liao shook his head and said: "Yun Chang is definitely not as stupid as Sun Quan. If he goes to war, I am not sure. Besides, his army is extremely tight. Once he is delayed, I may not be able to escape."
Xue Ti thought for a while and said: "Although Guan Yu is known as the enemy of ten thousand people, he is old after all. How can he still have some of the strength of his youth? Maybe he can beheaded while he is old."
Zhang Liao glared at him and said: "Although a hero is old, he is still a hero. What's more, I am already fifty-six this year, and my strength is far less than before."
Xue Ti said nothing.
After a while, Guan Yu's army arrived at the gate of Hefei City.
About 10,000 people came over, and the remaining people set up camp about four or five miles outside the city, preparing for a long siege.
But even though there were only more than 10,000 people, the Han army was still powerful. Generals such as Guan Ping, Wei Yan, etc. were guarding the left and right sides. Flags were fluttering. The troops stretched for two miles and were arranged in several formations. They were waiting solemnly.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Liao pondered for a moment and said: "Open the city gate."
Xue Ti was shocked and said: "General, what are you going to do? Just now the general did not go out to fight when Guan Yu was young. Is it possible that now that he has set up his battle array, the general wants to go out of the city to fight?"
"Yun Chang and I have been friends for many years. How can we not go out and meet each other during this life-and-death battle?"
Zhang Liao waved his hand and said, "I can go out alone."
Xue Ti was even more frightened and said: "The general's safety is at stake in Hefei. If Guan Yu suddenly attacks the general, what should we do?"
Zhang Liao said with a smile: "Yun Chang is upright and upright, how can he be a villain who secretly makes cold arrows? Don't worry, Overseer, I will come back as soon as I go."
After saying that, regardless of Xue Ti's dissuasion, he climbed off the city wall alone, got on his horse, ordered the city gate to open, and rushed out of Hefei toward the hill over there.
On the hillside in the distance, Guan Yu was observing the city of Hefei.
In fact, he had no plans to attack the city today. When he got outside the city, he would definitely set up camp first and then prepare to attack the city.
However, the enemy often chooses to launch a surprise attack when our army is encamped, so experienced generals will choose to lead a part of their troops in a defensive formation.
Guan Yu took this opportunity to observe the situation in Hefei City, hoping to find a breakthrough point for attacking the city.
However, at this moment the city gate opened, and a horseman suddenly rushed out.
Looking from a distance, Guan Yu knew that Zhang Liao was coming, so he said: "No arrows are allowed!"
"The general has an order not to shoot arrows!"
The messenger immediately shouted.
As a result, many archers who were originally alert and ready to draw their bows put down their crossbows.
After a while, Zhang Liao came closer. He raised his head and looked at Guan Yu on the hillside. He saw that his temples were gray and his face was old. He was a little dazed for a moment. After a while, he smiled bitterly and said: "Yun Chang, I haven't seen you for many years. You are old, which is sad.
.”
"Wenyuan."
Guan Yu also said: "It is natural for people to grow old eventually, so why should they be sad because of it? If you can fulfill your long-cherished wish and do something more meaningful before you die, as Tai Shigong said, you will be happy after your death."
If it is heavier than Mount Tai, it will be enough."
"Yun Chang's words make sense."
Zhang Liao calmed down and then said: "This time Yunchang came all the way to attack Hefei. I didn't go out of the city to persuade Yunchang to retreat. I can see my old friend, so that's my wish. We'll see you on the battlefield later. Stay safe.
It’s destiny.”
He said that without too much nonsense, he turned around and left.
Zhang Liao did not come out this time to say anything to Yun Chang, hoping that he would withdraw his troops, because this in itself was the most meaningless words.
Guan Yu was a Han general and Zhang Liao was a Wei general.
Now that Cao Wei has replaced the Han Dynasty and Liu Bei has inherited the Han Dynasty, Cao Wei and Ji Han are already fighting to the death for the sake of the Han Dynasty, and there is no room for maneuver.
Even if the two of them are good friends, it is impossible to stop fighting because of their friendship.
So I can see my old friends again in my old age.
Good.
Zhang Liao and Guan Yu just exchanged a few words and went back quickly.
However, Xue Ti, who was far away in Hefei City, frowned and had some doubts in his eyes.
With the establishment of the Ji Han Dynasty in the south, some generals who harbored the Han Dynasty actually defected, such as the former Donghai County and the current Licheng County guard Cai Fang, Xia Houyuan's general Yan Cai, Lujiang Chief Lu Xi, Yunyang Chang Li Jane wait.
Moreover, Cao Pi's army, which had surrendered in the Battle of Jingzhou, basically surrendered. Even Yu Jin's family members escaped unnoticed, making Cao Pi furious.
Therefore, in the past two years, Cao Wei was extremely sensitive to the rebel generals in Nantou, especially those who had close ties with the Southern Dynasty.
However, Zhang Liao was a senior general of Cao Wei. Xue Ti had worked with him for many years and knew his character. Moreover, since his family members were all in the north, the possibility of defecting was still low, so Xue Ti did not think deeply about this aspect.
However, such abnormal contact was still very taboo, so Xue Ti hesitated and decided to report the situation to Cao Xiu after going back tonight.
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On December 16, the fifth year of Zhang Wu, Guan Yu had just arrived at Hefei City and Liu Bei was still marching into Henan.
At this time in Guanzhong, Shen Chen had already taken the lead in launching an attack outside Chang'an City.
In the camp, the chief generals of each department came for a meeting. Except for Yu Jin, who was only responsible for training troops and not commanding them, all the major generals except Hanzhong were here.
The current situation on Shen Chen's side is that the 80,000-strong army is mainly divided into three parts. One is Shen Chen himself, located in the southwest city of Chang'an, the other is Huang Zhong's tribe, located twenty miles southeast of Chang'an, and the last is Zhao Yunpang's tribe, located in North of Chang'an City.
Of the three, only Shen Chen, Zhao Yun and Pang De camped outside Chang'an City, while Huang Zhong was close to the Duling area, because Lantian County was to the southeast of him, and Cao Zhen controlled Lantian and the entrance to Lantian Valley.
In addition, in the Wuzhangyuan area at the exit of the rear inclined valley, Li Yan was responsible for supervising the transportation of grain and grass for the rear army. In Hanzhong, there were officials such as Wang Fu, Liu Qian, Fei Yi, Fu Kuang, and Li Xiu, and the garrison generals passed the grain from Hanzhong through Chencang. Dao and Baoxie Dao were transported to Guanzhong.
At this moment, in General Shen Chen's tent, he was sitting high on the throne.
On the left and right are Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun, followed by Pang De, Ma Dai, Li Yue, Lei Ding, Dou Mao, Niudan, Yang Qun, Ma Yu, Jiang Yuan, Ren Shen, Yan Zhi, Ding Li, Bai Shou, and Liu He, Deng Tong, Huo Yang, Wu Dang, Wu Tao, Shan Yi, Deng Ai and other generals.
Jiang Wei joined relatively late, and although he was valued, his status was not as good as that of Deng Ai and others who had already served as mid-level generals in the army, so he was assigned to sit on his knees next to him, with a desk to do paperwork and transcripts.
"The scout reported that the enemies we have to face now mainly come from three directions. One is of course Chang'an City. There are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the city. According to the information found in Luoyang, the total number of troops in Chang'an City should be 50,000. The food and grass are enough to sustain us for a year or two."
"The second direction is to the east of Chang'an City. There are several troops such as Xu Huang, Zhu Ling and others. Their number is not large, about 10,000 to less than 20,000. They are scattered in several cities east of Chang'an City. , control the rear food route and retreat route for Xiahou Mao."
"The third direction is the Wei army in Lantian County and Lantian Valley. The commander is Cao Cao's adopted son Cao Zhen. The number of troops is about 30,000 to 40,000. It is said that he may not have much food and grass, and he should report it internally. It can only support half a year's expenses."
Shen Chen looked around at the people below and asked: "The soldiers think which one I should take first is better."
The generals below looked at each other, but no one spoke.
Seeing that there was a lot of discussion in the venue, but no one spoke first, Shen Chen said with a smile: "You don't have to worry, just speak freely. Even if you say something wrong, it doesn't matter."
At that moment, Lei Ding stood up and said, "Grand Governor, do you think we should attack Xu Huang, Zhu Ling and others first?"
"oh?"
Shen Chen asked: "Why?"
Lei Ding looked around and said with a naive smile: "They have few soldiers."
"Hahahahaha."
Everyone burst into laughter, the reason was indeed very simple.
Shen Chen also laughed, waved his hand downwards and motioned for Lei Ding to sit down and said, "Although General Lei is not thoughtful in his thinking, he has taken the biggest step by having the courage to think. I will reward him with ten gold coins!"
"Thank you, Commander-in-Chief."
Lei Ding was overjoyed. He was a general of the Di people. He had previously responded to Ma Chao's call and led his tribe to join Liu Bei's group. He was now a Fengyi general.
Although Lei Ding has no culture, he is quite popular with people because of his recklessness.
Shen Chen looked at everyone and said, "Xu Huang and Zhu Lingbu are the directions that should be least attacked. Does anyone know why?"
"Because it's hard to fight."
Zhao Yun responded: "If we mobilize the main force to attack, and the enemy's main force is behind us, then the food route will be in danger of being cut off. If we only send a small group of troops to attack, we will lack large siege equipment, and the number of soldiers and horses will not be much different. Under such circumstances, it is impossible to break into their city."
"good."
Shen Chen nodded and said, "Since Xu Huang and Zhu Lingbu cannot attack, who should be attacked more safely?"
"Grand Governor, I understand, we should attack Cao Zhen!"
After Lei Ding arrived, a second person immediately shouted cleverly: "Because they have little food."
"Then why can't Chang'an be attacked?"
Shen Chen asked back.
The man said without hesitation: "Of course it's because Chang'an has many soldiers and sufficient food, and the city has high walls and thick walls, so it's not easy to attack from the front."
Shen Chen smiled and said: "Compared to Chang'an, Lantian will be more difficult to fight. Not only is the county seat backed by mountains, but there are also problems such as narrow roads and numerous passes. As for grain and grass, there is a road connecting Zheng County to the east of Lishan Mountain. To Lantian, this road is just behind Lantian County and can supply Cao Zhen with grain."
This road was the Guanzhong Ring Road from Lantian County to Weinan City in later generations, located in the northeast of Lantian County. To the north of Yushan Town in Lantian County in later generations, the road was flat and wide, leading directly to Weinan City. It was unrealistic to cut off Lantian's grain and grass supply.
"Then we can only attack Chang'an?"
The soldiers were talking a lot.
Chang'an City has high walls and thick walls, and there is a lot of food and grass inside, which indeed put a lot of pressure on them.
"Let's take a look at the map. The area from Nanyang to Shangluo has wide roads, many cities, and a valley terrain. It is the best place to go in Wuguan, but here!"
There was an erected wooden board behind Shen Chen with a map hanging on it. He stood up and pointed to the southeast of Lantian County on the map and said: "This place is bounded by Zhongling Mountain to the north and Lantian Valley to the south. It is surrounded by mountains and the mountains are extremely steep. , between the two mountains, there is a narrow road of nearly three hundred miles, the terrain is like a thin line of sky, easy to defend but difficult to attack, almost similar to the Baoxie Road."
All the soldiers looked over.
It can be seen that the graphics on the map cannot be as clear and standard as the satellite map, including the mountains and mountains. Shen Chen only used mountain shapes to represent them.
But they have all walked through Baoxie Road and Chencang Road. The terrain is similar to Baoxie Road, so they have a deep understanding of it.
The place Shen Chen pointed to was naturally the road from Shangluo City to Lantian County in later generations.
The road from Shangluo City to Nanyang is relatively wide, but the direction from the northwest into Guanzhong is extremely narrow. The road can be said to be a canyon with a line of sky and a desperate situation. There is a situation where one man is blocking the pass and ten thousand people are unable to open it.
"Cao Zhen is mainly entrenched in Lantian County and Lantian Valley. It is very difficult to attack by force, but Lantian County must also put enough pressure on them."
Shen Chen looked around at everyone, and finally fixed his gaze on Huang Zhong and said, "General Huang."
"The end is here!"
The old man was in his seventies and was full of energy. He stood up and held up his hands.
Shen Chen said: "Order your troops to surround Lantian and then penetrate the grain road behind Lantian to cut off the grain and grass in Lantian City and force Cao Zhen to retreat into Lantian Valley."
"only!"
Huang Zhong took the order.
Shen Chen looked at the crowd again and said: "Although Chang'an City is tall, the city is too wide and there are too many directions to attack. Tomorrow I will personally lead the army and attack from the south of the city, Zhao Yunpangde."
"The end is here!"
Zhao Yunpang stood up and responded.
"You two separate your forces, guard against Xu Huang and Zhu Ling's reinforcements in the east, and attack the north and east of the city with your main force."
"only!"
The two of them responded.
Shen Chen looked around the crowd and said: "Chang'an is a tough nut, but it is also the toughest one among the three. The ancients said that siege the city ten times, but in a place like Chang'an City, the length of the city is nearly a hundred miles. I don't believe that there are 50,000 people in the city. If we can cover everything, there will always be flaws. This is the beginning of our duel with the enemy, and it is also an opportunity for you to seize the opportunity. Success or failure depends on it. Attack the city tomorrow!"
"only!"
The generals responded with a roar and their morale was high.