Chapter 463 Sneak across the Yellow River and take Cao Wei directly
Author: Playing with Basilisk
Chapter 463 Sneak across the Yellow River and take Cao Wei directly
The sky is clear, the fields are vast, and the grass is blown by the wind, and cattle and sheep can be seen low.
In 228 AD, on February 8th, the first year of Jianxing of the Han Dynasty, the grass was growing, orioles were flying, and the spring was warm and the flowers were blooming.
The warm breeze blows and the warm sunshine shines on the earth, bringing a peaceful, peaceful and vibrant scene to Guanzhong.
Guanzhong Zuofengyi, the hinterland of the Han Dynasty's once endless plains has now become a vast grassland.
From Dong Zhuo's rebellion to Li Jue, Guo Si and Han Sui Ma Teng's rebellion in Chang'an, more than thirty years have passed, and the entire Guanzhong area has a population of more than two million, with very few left.
Tens of thousands of square kilometers of land have become barren. Only wild grasses and basil swaying in the wind are left, still telling stories of the past.
Heyang County is located on the west bank of the Yellow River. The county seat was abandoned more than 20 years ago. Among the ruins, Deng Ai stood on a low slope and looked across the river.
The Yellow River has rolling waves, and soil erosion in the upper reaches of the river was not serious in the Han Dynasty, so the color of the water was sometimes turbid, sometimes clear, and very clean.
Through the sunlight reflected on the blue water surface, Deng Ai could see the endless hills on the other side of the river towering into the clouds.
The mountains extend along the course of the Yellow River from north to south, with undulating hills and lush forests. The banks of the Yellow River are also covered with vigorous weeds, basil, and countless vines hanging down, like a primitive jungle.
I'm afraid no one has been here for hundreds of years, or no one has ever been to this mountain range. It is overgrown with thorns and weeds, and the vegetation grows wildly, making it almost difficult to open a road.
Like most of the previous raids he had participated in, Deng Ai was still at the front of the entire team.
He is now half-crouching and half-kneeling in the weeds. One hand is holding the straight blade hidden in the grass, and the other is resting on the knee of his right leg. His eyes are drooped, his eyes are calm and calm, quiet and calm.
Waiting patiently for the scout to return.
A guard next to him held a reed in his mouth. The weeds were only knee-high, so he had to hunched over his tall body to barely hide himself.
Not just Deng Ai and his guards, but everyone was like this.
Maintaining this awkward posture made the soldiers feel uncomfortable. After a while, their necks became sore and stiff. They did not dare to move their bodies and could only turn their neck bones slightly. The crowd heard many subtle noises when the joints rubbed together.
The clicking sound.
A guard on Deng Ai's left side poked his waist with his hand. When he turned his head slightly to look, the guard pointed into the grass.
There is a skull in the grass.
This is something that can be seen everywhere in the Guanzhong Plain. The famine caused by Dong Zhuo's rebellion and the rebellion of Li Jue and Guo Si, and the plague killed more than hundreds of thousands of people in Guanzhong?
A large number of corpses are left uncollected by the roadside, cities are deserted, villages are withered, the world is in chaos, and human lives are sometimes not as valuable as weeds.
"came back."
One of the guards whispered.
Deng Ai raised his head to look around and saw a small boat floating on the Yellow River among the waves in the distance.
After about two or three quarters of an hour, the boat swayed close to the shore.
The upper reaches of the Yellow River are actually not as wide as imagined. The average width in the Guanzhong area is about 100 meters. This section is slightly wider, less than 200 meters, which is incomparable with the Yangtze River.
However, the speed of the river is really fast, and the boat must remain stable in the vast river water. If you are not careful, the boat may be destroyed and people may die.
Deng Ai has already lost several of his men.
Fortunately, the boat came over smoothly this time. The three scouts on the boat hurried ashore, ran to Deng Ai and gasped: "General."
"how?"
"The way has been found."
"Where can we go?"
"Dong Ting!"
"Dong Ting?"
Deng Ai inserted the knife in his hand into the ground, took out the map from his waist and spread it out.
Dongting is located in the southeast of Fenyin County, directly south of the hills in the distance, and directly north of Puban where Xu Huang is located.
Converted to the location of later generations, it was almost in the area of Sunji Town, Linyi County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province.
The mountains on the other side of the river are Baiyu Valley in Linyi County in later generations, which is a land of high mountains. Going north through the mountains is Ronghe Town in Wanrong County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province in later generations. It was called Fenyin in the Han Dynasty.
Strictly speaking, this mountainous area is not very big. It just stretches long from north to south and is relatively narrow from east to west. The mountains are steep and forested, and there are no roads.
Deng Ai spread out the map and asked the scouts: "Where is the road?"
The scout pointed at the map and replied: "The forests in this mountain are too lush. We fought through thorns and thorns all the way. Hundreds of brothers went around and around. Finally, we cut a road all the way through the ravine here. From this mountain crevice, it is
Dong Ting.”
"Um."
Deng Ai looked at the direction pointed by the scout and said, "Very good, you go and rest first."
"yes."
The scout went to the rear.
The guard said to Deng Ai: "General, this is a great opportunity."
"I know."
Deng Ai nodded, waved his hand and said, "Go back first."
Saying that, he turned around and left.
To the east of Heyang County, the rural pavilion outside the city was in ruins. Among the ruins, several Han soldiers were crouching at the intersection.
After a while, more than ten fast horses came back from the deserted road covered with weeds in the distance.
"call out!"
Deng Ai whistled.
The soldiers who were originally nervous retreated one after another.
The horse quickly passed through the entrance of the village and arrived at a simply repaired wooden house in the center of the village.
The house had long since become old and dilapidated, so it was barely repaired with wooden boards to make it usable.
At this moment, Jiang Wei, Huo Yang, and Wu Dang were talking around the table.
Hearing the noise, the three of them turned around and saw Deng Ai.
Shen Chen gave the task of this raid to six of his best disciples, asking each of them to lead 2,500 people, for a total of 15,000 people.
In addition, Pound would bring 20,000 people across the river from Pishi and still carry out his plan.
Shen Chen will still attack Pu Ban.
Just like in history, Deng Ai sneaked into Yinping with 30,000 people, and Zhong Hui was restraining Jiang Wei on the front battlefield. Only in this way can he cover his teammates' attack.
Now these fifteen thousand people are scattered in several villages around Heyang, and are led by six people: Deng Ai, Jiang Wei, Shan Yi, Huo Yang, Wu Dang, and Wu Tao. They are all now generals.
Shen Chen gave the command to Wu Dang because he was the oldest, but he also knew that Deng Ai and Jiang Wei were smarter, so he would listen to their opinions more carefully.
At this moment, Shan Yi and Wu Tao went further north to conduct reconnaissance in the direction of Xia Yang, and now the three of them were studying the geographical situation.
In the past month, they have sent people to and from both sides of the Yellow River many times, and have detected a large amount of information. By drawing maps, they have made a very clear survey of the terrain in this area.
Jiang Wei pointed to the map and said: "From the topographic point of view, this mountain is not very high, but it is densely forested. It is almost difficult to walk on the jungle road, and there are countless poisonous snakes, insects and ants in the mountain forest. The best way to go is here, which can reach Fenyin."
"But there are enemies stationed in Fenyin. It would be too risky to attack Fenyin directly. It would be great if we could find a road leading to Dongting."
"It's more difficult. There's still no news coming back from there."
"The main reason is that there are high mountains and dense forests, and there are no roads at all. Unlike the direction leading to Fenyin, at least a few decades ago, there seemed to be a ferry to Heyang here, and there were some roads."
"Master Shijun will set out to attack Puban tomorrow. If the road has not been discovered yet, it seems that we can only take Fenyin first."
A few of them were chatting.
There are countless valleys and hills and mountains on the other side of Baiyu Valley. It can be said that it is wrapped in jungle. The scouts have been busy for a long time but have not been able to find a road.
Tomorrow morning, we will prepare to attack Puban and hold back Xu Huang's main force.
If they still haven't found a suitable road at this time, they can only go north to fight Fenyin, and then cooperate with Pang De to defeat Pishi first.
In that case, Xu Huang would definitely choose to withdraw his troops. If they could not break through Puban and kill a large number of Cao's troops, even if they captured the entire Hedong County, their next attack on Bingzhou would be blocked.
So it failed strategically.
At this moment Deng Ai walked in and said with a smile: "Good news."
"What good news?"
"Found a road to Dongting."
"Very good!"
The three people suddenly became excited.
Deng Ai said in a deep voice: "I just came back from the river. The scouts did find a trail, but the road is not easy to walk. It must be opened up. I think it's not too late. We will cross the river in batches this evening. After the army passes, While opening up the road and resting in place, tomorrow we can go around behind Cao Jun's stronghold wall and make a surprise attack on the rear."
"good!"
Wu Dang immediately made the decision, looked around the three of them and said: "Each of you go back to your own camp, gather the soldiers and set out. You must arrive at the crossing of the river before sunrise today."
"only!"
The three of them responded with a bang, and each returned to their own troops to prepare.
Soon in the evening, the six of them arrived at the Yellow River with the soldiers under their command, and began to cross the river in batches using rafts made on the spot.
The process is quite difficult, because spring is the flood season of the Yellow River, and the snowy mountains in the upper reaches melt, causing the water volume of the river in the middle section of Guanzhong to surge.
This is probably the reason why Xu Huang relaxed his vigilance and did not consider that they would choose to cross the river here.
After hundreds of people were killed or wounded, the Han soldiers struggled to cross the river and march into the mountains.
At night, the mountains were densely forested, and the sound of howling tigers and wolves filled the entire wilderness. The soldiers opened a road through the valley, and only lit torches when they entered the valley, and moved forward under the leadership of the scouts.
Compared with crossing the river, crossing the mountains was very hard, but at least there was no need to worry about losing one's life. The soldiers walked one foot deeper and one foot shallower, stumbling along the way.
It was not until late at night that Wu Dang ordered them to rest for the night in a valley. Under the leadership of six people, each tribe found a camp, which was about seven or eight miles from end to end, and scattered to rest.
The next morning, the Han soldiers ate dry food and began to climb mountains and valleys again. After climbing more than ten mountains in a row, Deng Ai stood on the highest mountain and looked to the southeast.
I saw endless green grassland beyond the lofty mountains that I didn't know how far away. Unlike Zuo Fengyi, there was actually a village in the distance. The village was built on the grassland and adjacent to a small river.
No fields were cultivated, but there were cattle, sheep and horses everywhere.
The guard next to Deng Ai said to him: "General, those people seem to be Hu people. We Han people should all be able to farm. Only Hu people don't know how to farm but herd."
"It's strange, but I remember that the Hu people didn't use wooden houses. They were tent houses made of cow and sheep skins."
Another guard wondered.
Deng Ai smiled and said: "It's not that the Hu people don't know how to use wooden houses, but the place they live in is a desert with very few forests and trees, so they all use tents. Who would choose a tent house if there is wood?"
"I see."
The guard nodded and said, "Where did so many barbarians come from here?"
Deng Ai said in a deep voice: "These should be the Southern Huns or the Qiang people from Beidi County of Anding County. When Cao Cao merged with the state of Kolue Pass in the middle of Xiliang, he moved a large number of Hu and Han people to the east of the river to cultivate fields and herd cattle, sheep and horses. The late emperor's rear supplies were the source of the battle in Liangzhou, so there is no need to worry about them."
"yes."
The guard responded.
The team continued to move forward, and Deng Ai was in the first position.
He volunteered to be a pioneer.
Jiang Wei wanted to fight with him, but he didn't.
Because Deng Ai is his senior brother.
Although Shen Chen forbids classmates from bullying each other, respecting senior fellow students is also one of the rules.
Deng Ai used this to suppress him, but Jiang Wei had no temper at all.
About two more hours passed, and when it was nearly 3:00 pm on the afternoon of February 9th, the road ahead finally became clear.
They had been walking in the mountains and forests for a full day, covering thirty or forty kilometers on the mountain road alone, which shows how difficult it was.
In fact, the total length of the east and west sides of Baiyu Valley is less than 20 kilometers, but there are many mountains and dense forests. The soldiers have to open roads while climbing over mountains and ridges, which is much more difficult than walking on flat ground.
Deng Ai split the bushes with the knife in his hand. In front of him was a forest at the foot of the mountain. The forest was overgrown with weeds and there was a trickling stream.
But his eyes were fixed on the two horses by the stream.
The horse was tied to a tree nearby, and a hare that had been killed by an arrow was hung on the horse. Judging from the saddle style, it did not look like the Wei army, but looked like a horse of the Hu people.
After a while, two Hu men excitedly carried a shot elk to the horse's side.
Guanzhong has been abandoned for decades. After losing human destruction, the natural environment has grown rapidly. Weeds have brought the arrival of a large number of herbivores, and many wolves have appeared in the Guanzhong Plain.
Without farming civilization, this place seems to have turned into the Monan grassland, with herds of animals everywhere.
"It's a good harvest today."
"Yes, three hares, and a deer."
"You can exchange a lot of salt with the Han people."
"We can also change some oil."
"I heard that oil can be used for cooking. It was those Han people who said it."
"Stir-fried vegetables? Is it delicious?"
"Of course it's delicious. More than ten years ago, I followed Shan Yu and Duke Cao to attack Nanyang and captured a Han soldier who knew how to stir-fry. He later made stir-fry for me."
"Then try it when the time comes. Move from Monan to Bingzhou, and then move from Bingzhou to Hedong. Your life will get better and better."
"The Central Plains is really a God-given place. I really don't want to go back to the cold Monan."
The two barbarians communicated in Xiongnu dialect.
Because the elk was too big to use horses, they thought of dissecting the deer by the stream and taking the meat back into pieces.
So the two of them squatted by the stream and talked happily while cutting meat.
Then, while they were talking, two blades were quietly placed on their necks from behind.
A quarter of an hour later.
Wu Dang's troops arrived in this forest.
Deng Ai reported to him: "Brother, we just captured two nearby Huns. After interrogating them separately, we learned that Xu Huang released 300 people in Dongting, and then in Sangquan, Jie County, Xiacheng and other places. Some soldiers and horses were deployed along the way."
"Where is the specific location?"
"I've already asked clearly."
"very good."
Wu Dang nodded with satisfaction, pointed to the south and said: "Master should have arrived at Pu Ban today. Let's attack Dong Ting without further delay!"
Deng Ai smiled and said: "Don't bother me. I asked before. The Huns often go to places like Dongting Sangquan to exchange salt with the Han people. Today is the market, so if you disguise yourself as a Huns and go to Dongting, The other party will not suspect it at all."
After Cao Cao moved the Huns southward, Hedong was a place where salt was produced, so the Huns would exchange oil and salt with the Han people in Hedong.
The war started today because Shen Chen launched a surprise attack, but Xu Huang didn't know this.
Therefore, for Xu Huang and others, it is not war time at all, and they will not ban trade between the Huns and Han people.
After all, the Huns in Hedong were all southern Huns who were conquered by Cao Cao and moved inland. Most of the cattle and sheep supplies they grazed here were given to the Wei army, and many Huns even joined the Wei army to help fight.
Therefore, in Xu Huang's view, these Huns were no different from the Han people under his rule.
Hearing Deng Ai's words, Wu Dang frowned and said: "Disguised as Huns? But where did we get the horses and Huns' clothes?"
Deng Ai looked at the Huns tribe outside the forest with deep eyes, and said softly: "There are plenty of them there!"