Before it was dark, the soldiers who went to conduct reconnaissance at Huangmenting came back.
Shen Chen celebrated his eleventh birthday a few days ago. Although his face still looks immature, his figure is getting taller and his physique is quite strong.
He is practicing archery recently.
Traveling back to the war years, it would definitely not be possible to study without practicing martial arts. Including those so-called scholars, in fact, each one has more martial virtue than the other.
Needless to say, Wang Lang and Xu Shu carried swords to kill people. Even Zhuge Liang and Wang Can also carried swords on their waists and practiced regularly.
In fact, Xianshan Academy also teaches fencing, and senior brother Pan Jun personally teaches the disciples how to practice fencing.
As a later high-ranking general of Soochow, Pan Jun's military prowess was quite good, and he was also very virtuous. He once wanted to kill Sun Quan's favorite Lu Yi, but Lu Yi was protected by Sun Quan, so he didn't hack him to death.
Therefore, under his careful instruction, the scholars in Xianshan Academy are all very powerful. Although they are not as good as those generals who fight on the battlefield, three or five people can't get close to them.
It's just that Shen Chen is relatively young and hasn't grown up in strength yet, so he has no one to spar with him on weekdays, so he can only follow the sword skills taught by Pan Jun to fight with the wooden man.
I have been practicing for more than a year now, and I have gained some martial virtue. My arms have become a lot stronger. In a few years, I should be able to show some strength.
However, sword training can only be said to be a bit of self-protection in close combat. The real technical skills must be archery.
After all, this is the only thing that can kill enemies from a distance, and it is much safer than fighting in close combat.
Gan Ning became Shen Chen's archery teacher and often took him hunting in the mountains.
Since becoming the guard of Huyang, Gan Ning has come to Huangmenting to eat and drink whenever he has nothing to do. The economy and handicraft industry here are very developed, and it has become the most prosperous market in several surrounding cities.
On this day, Shen Chen was practicing archery again. There was a huge school field outside the manor with a shooting range. It was where Deng Zhao, Chen Zhen and others usually trained.
Huangmenting's guard force has now grown to 1,200 people and is currently stationed near the school grounds.
At this moment, Gan Ning was supervising Shen Chen to practice archery. Apart from the two of them, there were also a large number of soldiers practicing in the entire school, but they were not practicing archery, but swordplay.
Use wooden swords and shields to fight against each other. In addition to practicing singles, there are also small-scale melees. Except that real swords and guns are not used, the real battlefield is simulated as much as possible.
Shen Chen's bow and arrows are small bows used by children. They are not as good as those two-stone strong bows. Even if they are fully drawn, they can only shoot thirty or forty meters. He is currently focusing more on practicing postures.
Archery posture is very important, so from the time he got up early in the morning to practice until now, he has not yet shot an arrow, but he has been standing for an hour.
Just when I was suffering from back pain and gritting my teeth, I suddenly saw a horse galloping towards the gate of the camp in the distance. It stopped when it reached the gate of the camp and hurriedly ran to Deng Zhao who was training soldiers.
Deng Zhao listened to the report, nodded, and then walked in the direction of Shen Chen. Shen Chen also caught a glimpse of this scene from the corner of his eye, and was about to put down his bow and arrow when he heard a "pop" sound.
Gan Ning's right arm was hit hard with a wooden board, and severe pain suddenly came over him, making him grin and said to Gan Ning: "Uncle Xingba, why did you hit me?"
Gan Ning snorted: "You should fight. A great general should be calm and composed. How can you be distracted by other things and look around when you are concentrating on studying?"
Shen Chen had no choice but to continue to maintain his archery posture.
Until Deng Zhao came over and said to him: "Ah Chen, the scouts are back. Cao Cao's army has indeed appeared in the Feishui area and is now stationed in Bowang County."
"Forehead"
Shen Chen glanced at Gan Ning. Gan Ning threw away the wooden board in his hand, indicating that he could rest. Then he put down his bow and arrow, sat on the ground and rubbed his arms, saying: "It seems that the war is about to start again, but we have a chance to take revenge." coming."
Deng Zhao wondered: "Ah Chen, you don't want to go to war with Cao Jun. I heard that Cao Cao brought tens of thousands of tiger and wolf warriors this time. Our Huangmen Pavilion only has more than a thousand soldiers. How can we be his opponent?"
Shen Chen stood up and said: "Uncle, I called my father and my sixth grandfather to come over. Uncle Xingba, you come too, we are going to prepare for war."
"You are really ready to fight."
Gan Ning followed Shen Chen and said, "Shouldn't this matter be left to Liu Shijun to decide?"
Shen Chen sneered and said: "What can Commander Liu decide? If my predictions are correct, Zhang Xiu must have planned to surrender. By the time Commander Liu makes his decision, Cao Cao will probably have taken over most of Nanyang."
"Zhang Xiu surrenders?"
Gan Ning's eyes widened, he spat on the ground and said, "Sigh, the people of Xiliang are indeed capricious and unreliable."
Don't look at it, he first served Liu Zhang, then Liu Biao, and finally followed Sun Quan.
But Gan Ning is actually the kind of person who will do his best if he is reused. Liu Zhang and Liu Biao did not reuse him, but Sun Quan reused him, so he would naturally follow the person who reused him.
Before Zhang Xiu came to Nanyang, it cannot be said that he had a strong army and horses, at least he was a lost dog.
After arriving in Nanyang, Liu Biao not only did not annihilate him, but instead gave him food, grass and territory, and gave him most of Nanyang to rule. This was undoubtedly a very big gift.
If it were Gan Ning, he would have given up on Liu Biao long ago.
In the blink of an eye, Shen Chen said that Zhang Xiu would surrender. Although he didn't know whether it was true or not, Shen Chen's deductions were correct several times, which made Gan Ning feel very ashamed of Zhang Xiu's character.
Shen Chen said: "Everyone in the world is like grass on the wall swaying in the wind. It is normal to rely on whoever is strong. Now in the Guandong region, only Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are the strongest. It is not strange to rely on them. matter."
"Then we should report to Ambassador Liu at this time and immediately send troops to destroy Zhang Xiu and Cao Cao."
Gan Ning said.
Shen Chen smiled and said: "Liu Shijun will not send troops. The previous attack on Zhang Xiu resulted in the loss of troops. Now that Cao Cao is added, he will only stick to Xiangyang. However, I expect things may change. Let's wait and see."
After saying that, the two of them arrived at the inner hall of the school ground and sat there for a while. Shen Chen's father, Shen Zhen, Deng Zhao and Deng Hong came over.
Now the military chiefs of Huangmenting are Deng Zhao and Shen Zhen, while Deng Hong is in charge. Originally it was Deng Mao, but Deng Mao went to Xinye to be the county magistrate, so the clan affairs are currently handled by them.
Everyone came in and sat down. Deng Hong's face turned slightly pale and he said, "Ah Chen, is Cao Cao coming?"
"Well, yes, we at Huangmenting may have to experience the Xuzhou Incident again."
Shen Chen laughed at himself and said, "Cao Cao is really everywhere."
Deng Hong said in horror: "Let's move to Xiangyang."
"Moving to Xiangyang?"
Shen Chen shook his head and said: "It's impossible to run away just thinking about running. When I built Huangmen Pavilion, it was just for today."
"But now Huangmenting's soldiers only have a thousand soldiers. How can they fight against Cao Cao's tens of thousands of tigers and wolves?"
Deng Hong recalled the tragedy he had seen in Xuzhou and was very afraid of Cao Cao.
Shen Chen said coldly: "If Cao Cao gains power, even if he escapes overseas, it may not be safe. So for now, we can only fight against him, not to mention that things are not that bad yet, you just listen to my arrangements. ."
Deng Hong, Deng Zhao, and Shen Zhen looked at each other. Shen Zhen hesitated and said, "Does my son have any good ideas?"
Shen Chen said: "Father, don't panic. If what I predict is correct, Cao Cao will definitely send people to attack Liu Shijun's barrier around Xinye. Huyang is also the direction of attack. At that time, we can retreat into the back mountains and deal with the enemy. When their attack is weak, Uncle Xingba will attack and annihilate them in one fell swoop."
"How do you plan to arrange it?"
Gan Ning asked.
Shen Chen expressed his thoughts again.
Nowadays, Huangmenting is quite prosperous, but the people living outside the village are all farmers and farmers who depend on them. The real core is still the more than a thousand original people of Huangmenting.
Therefore, Shen Chen planned to move most of the people in Huangmenting to Huyang County first, leaving the fields unattended. They then led more than a thousand village elders from Huangmenting to move to the back mountains, and then arranged for soldiers to be stationed in the back mountains. Among the Qiongcong and watchtowers, we used the terrain to hold on.
Although Deng Hong and others still felt that this situation might not be sustainable, Shen Chen tried his best to arrange the matter. In the end, they had to follow Shen Chen's method, sending people to evacuate the people while starting to move forward. Carry grain and grass supplies in the mountains.
The back mountain is actually not high, only about a hundred meters high, and the short hills are only twenty or thirty meters high. There used to be a lot of trees on it, but now they have been cut down, and military camps have been built on the hillside, with fences and fences. Encircled by walls.
There are not only cave dwellings and blast furnaces under the mountain, but also a large number of buildings and underground passages. At the same time, a large number of underground caves and underground palaces were dug and a lot of materials were stored for dealing with the enemy.
Although it is said to be a solid fortress, in fact the terrain and area are not large. There was a famous battle in World War II later called the Battle of Iwo Jima. That tunnel battle was really powerful. More than 20,000 Japanese troops hid in the tunnels, which caused huge damage to the US military. Casualties and injuries, the entire mountain was hollowed out.
Of course, Shen Chen did not have the ability to build a tunnel of that level, so the entire back mountain area that was dug out was less than one square kilometer. About twelve Qiong cages were built at high altitudes, each of which could accommodate five people. Ten soldiers were active inside.
There is an arrow opening on the top of the cage, and a hole for spears on the bottom. There is no entrance from the outside, and you can only enter through the underground passage. The underground passage is controlled by the agency, making it almost impossible to enter from the outside.
Therefore, as long as there is enough food, a camp like this with full defense capability will be completely impossible to be breached by the outside. Even irrigation will not work. There are drainage facilities underground, as well as vents and safety exits.
Therefore, if it is really defended, the defensive power of the fortress built by Shen Chen is still very impressive.
Soon, a few days later, most of the people in Huangmenting began to move to the Huyang area for a short period of time. The entire Huangmenting made preparations for the war. Every household hid in the caves in the back mountain, and the army also moved in.
At the same time, from the direction of Wancheng, an army of about 5,000 people came towards Xinye, mighty and mighty, like a torrent, intending to crush Huangmenting into powder.
It was Cao Ren who led the team in this operation.
Historically, Cao Cao actually did not send Cao Ren to attack Huyang Xinye and other places, but Cao Hong.
At that time, Cao Hong was the vanguard and defeated Wuyang, Bowang, Duyang, Biyang, Pingshi and other counties. Then Zhang Xiu surrendered, rebelled against Cao Cao because of Mrs. Zou's incident, and drove Cao away.
In November of the second half of the second year of Jian'an, Cao Cao ordered Cao Hong to attack Nanyang again.
However, Cao Hong was defeated by the coalition forces of Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao and retreated to Ye County.
So Cao Cao personally campaigned against Zhang Xiu for the second time, captured Huyang, and captured Liu Biao's general Deng Ji alive.
So in fact, it was not Cao Ren who came this time, but Cao Hong.
However, Cao Ren had a personal grudge against Shen Chen, so he snatched this mission from Cao Cao, sent troops to the new territory, and headed towards Huangmen Pavilion.