After the hunting team of 500 people separated, Wei Yan and Cao Xiu walked side by side, gradually heading deeper into the mountain forest.
Although Cao Xiu was walking, he was thinking about how to escape. However, he was so close to Wei Yan that he could not escape immediately.
When Cao Xiu was in trouble, a tiger roar suddenly came from the mountain forest. Cao Xiu had an idea and hurriedly said to Wei Yan: "General Wei, did you hear it?"
Wei Yan nodded and said, "I didn't expect tigers to appear here. It seems I need to be more careful when entering the mountain."
"General Wei, why don't we get rid of this evil beast to prevent it from coming out to harm others in the future?" Cao Xiu suggested.
Wei Yan pretended to be deep in thought and said: "Okay, listen to this voice, it should be not far away. I will attack from the front, you go around to the back, and then join forces to kill the tiger."
Cao Xiu's face lit up with joy and he said hurriedly: "Okay, I'll go right away."
After speaking, Cao Xiu turned around and left.
"Wait!" Wei Yan suddenly called Cao Xiu from behind.
Cao Xiu was startled and stopped hurriedly. He was startled and looked back, seeing Wei Yan throwing a bow and arrow.
"You don't need a bow and arrow for hunting. Do you want to fight a tiger with your bare hands?" Wei Yan said.
Cao Xiu breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed the bow and arrow. Seeing that Wei Yan only had a long sword, he thought to himself: "Wouldn't it be better if I shot Wei Yan to death right here and then escaped?"
While he was thinking, Cao Xiu also held the bow and arrow tightly with both hands, and was about to attack. Suddenly he saw Wei Yan unhooking a repeating crossbow from his waist. He was shocked and quickly gave up the idea. If he attacked Wei Yan at this time, he would probably
As soon as he drew his big bow, Wei Yan's crossbow arrow had already shot through him.
Cao Xiu finally gave up his plan to shoot Wei Yan. After all, it was too risky. He cupped his fists towards Wei Yan and said, "Thank you, General Wei. I'll go now."
"Well, go ahead."
Cao Xiu turned around and walked away, crawling forward in the snow nest.
When Wei Yan saw this, a strange smile appeared on his face, and he turned and left.
Not long after they separated, Cao Xiu could no longer see any Chinese soldiers. When he fled towards Hanyang County, he encountered a few scattered Chinese soldiers who came out to hunt along the way. He hid in a snow nest and waited for the soldiers to pass by.
, came out again by himself. As the sky gradually darkened, he heard Wei Yan's shouts from the mountains, and thought to himself: "If I just leave like this, Wei Yan will definitely think that I have escaped, and will definitely lead his troops to chase me.
…”
After Cao Xiu thought for a while, he pulled out the sword from his waist and cut open a piece of his shirt, making marks like claws. Then he cut his arm again, getting a little blood, and cut the shirt off.
After being stained with blood, he found a cliff and fumbled around it until it looked like traces of a fight. Then he took off one of his combat boots and placed it on the edge of the cliff.
After some arrangements, it looked like he was fighting a tiger, and then he fell off the cliff after being defeated. He threw his shirt down the cliff, rolled down again, and then deliberately acted like a tiger carrying away its prey.
Then he left quickly.
But after walking for a long time, Cao Xiu suddenly remembered that he was still on the snow. No matter how he walked, he would leave a long mark. Finally, by chance, he scraped off the bark of a towering tree, and the bark showed an arc.
Cao Xiu lay down on the big tree bark, and he could just go down the high slope, and the traces left on the snow did not look like people had walked on them. So, Cao Xiu lay on the big bark and rushed down the high slope.
After descending the mountain, he fled as fast as he could.
It was freezing cold on this day. He took off his shirt, cut his arm, and left one foot bare. It was understandable in such a harsh environment. However, Cao Xiu had always held on to his heart.
A belief, vowing to send news about the Chinese army to Hanyang County.
When we walked in the middle of the night, I was already freezing. I saw a hut in front of me, and the lights were still on in the hut, so I walked desperately towards the hut.
When he arrived at the door of the hut, Cao Xiu was already exhausted, cold and hungry. He slapped the door of the hut and weakly shouted: "Open the door... open the door quickly..."
The door of the hut opened, and an old hunter walked out. Seeing Cao Xiu lying at the door, almost frozen, he hurriedly brought Cao Xiu into the house. The old hunter placed Cao Xiu next to the bonfire and patted Cao Xiu.
Then he wrapped himself in a quilt and gave Cao Xiu the broth cooked on the campfire.
Cao Xiu's lips turned purple from the cold and his whole body was shivering. He squeezed out a thank you from between his teeth and drank the broth without feeling it was hot.
"Slow down, slow down, don't burn it!" Seeing Cao Xiu's popularity, the old hunter hurriedly said with concern.
Half an hour later, Cao Xiu gradually regained his warmth and was full. He sat there warming himself by the fire for a long time and then asked, "My father-in-law, do you have any horses here?"
"There is only one bad horse. Where is the general going?" asked the old hunter.
"My father-in-law, I am the prefect of Wuwei and General Cao Xiu of Anxi. I need to go to Hanyang County now and would like to borrow your horse. I wonder if I can borrow it?"
"Oh, it turns out to be the governor, I'm disrespectful." The old hunter knelt down and bowed.
"No need to be polite, father-in-law, where is this place? How far is it from Hanyang County?"
"This place is called Baligou, and it is far away from Hanyang County. Normally, it can be reached in two days by horseback, but this year the snow is so deep that it is extremely difficult to reach even if it takes only four or five days on horseback."
"Baligou? Why did I only walk such a short distance?" Cao Xiu naturally knew Baligou, because he was still in Wuwei County.
However, Cao Xiu had his own way, because he was surrounded by Wei cities. He only needed to arrive at the nearest county town and ask the county magistrate to notify the scouts to deliver the message.
Afterwards, Cao Xiu temporarily requisitioned the old hunter's poor horse, put on a fur coat and hunter's boots, and then hit the road, heading towards the nearest county town.
…………
Not long after Cao Xiu escaped, Wei Yan led his people to the cliff. Seeing the mess left by Cao Xiu, he deliberately arranged a scene to confuse him.
He deliberately acted as if he had been killed by a tiger, so that I would think that he was taken away by a tiger."
"General, according to Cao Xiu's schedule and the bad weather, he must not be able to go very far. What should we do now?" asked his subordinates.
"Take the prey, go back to the cave dwelling for a delicious meal, and then return to Wuwei City after dawn tomorrow. No matter how fast it is, it will take two days for the news to reach Hanyang County. We will use these two days to wait for Xia Houyuan."
Wei Yan smiled.
As soon as he finished speaking, Wei Yan took the people back.
The next morning, Wei Yan returned to Wuwei City. Taishi Ci had been waiting at the gate of the city. When he saw Wei Yan coming back, he asked, "Wen Chang, how are you?"
"Cao Xiu believes it is true. He believes that Xia Houyuan will come to attack Wuwei City soon. We are just waiting here to relax. General, what's going on on the other hand?"
"Don't worry, according to your plan, I have asked Pang De and Chu Yan to go to the old suspicion formation. As long as Xia Houyuan dares to send troops, we can completely eliminate him." Tai Shici said happily, "Wen Chang, you have worked hard.
Come on, go into town and get warm."
………………
At the same time, Huayin City.
Guo Jia and Sima Yi sat face to face, with the table full of food. Guo Jia poured Sima Yi a glass of warm wine and said: "Zhongda has worked hard all the way, but there is still some distance to go to Liangzhou. The fastest is the fastest."
It will take about five days to arrive. The Northwest Army has already captured Wuwei City and cut off Liangzhou in the middle. It seems that there are indeed wise men in the Northwest Army."
Sima Yi just arrived in Huayin today, and the journey was very dusty. If it hadn't been for the heavy snow, according to his normal itinerary, he should have arrived in Liangzhou long ago. The temperature difference between the north and the south is large. Although it snowed in Jingzhou,
It was only a few feet deep. Unexpectedly, it was half a person deep in the northwest, which also slowed down Sima Yi's journey a lot.
He picked up the cup of warm wine and said respectfully to Guo Jiabi, "Thank you, Lord Taiwei."
After saying that, he drank it all in one gulp. Then he said, "Sir Taiwei, don't you know if there is a shortcut from Huayin to Liangzhou?"
"Go to Linjin, Chongquan, Lianshao, Wannian, Gaoling, Yunyang, and then cross Jingshui to reach Anding County in Liangzhou." Guo Jia replied.
Sima Yi thought for a while and asked, "Do you have a map?"
Guo Jia asked someone to bring over the map, spread it out on the ground, and pointed it out to Sima Yi one by one.
However, Sima Yi's eyes did not pay attention to the place Guo Jia pointed to, but noticed the Wei River on the edge of Huayin, because the Wei River is connected to the Jing River, and the birthplace of the Jing River is in Anding County, which happens to be adjacent to Liangzhou.
At the junction of Hanyang County, the state capital.
After looking at it, he asked: "Sir Taiwei, judging from the current weather, both the Weishui River and the Jingshui River should be frozen, right?"
Guo Jia nodded and said: "Three feet of ice can be used for the army to walk..."
Suddenly, Guo Jia looked at the map again, frowned and said: "Zhongda, this is a dangerous move..."
"How can you catch tiger cubs if you don't enter the tiger's den? How many soldiers and horses are there in Xiahouyuan, Liangzhou?" Sima Yi asked.
"Less than thirty thousand."
"Your Majesty Taiwei, Zhongda is asking for a loan of 10,000 cavalry from Your Majesty Taiwei. I would like to ask Your Majesty Taiwei for your accommodation."
"Ten thousand cavalry? Where did I get the ten thousand cavalry? There are only a few thousand cavalry stationed at Huayin Pass and Bashang now, and the war horses are all in Tongguan."
"Sir Taiwei, I'm talking about the Huns soldiers who are still stationed in Linjin City." Sima Yi said.
Guo Jia pondered for a moment, then looked at the map and said: "Zhongda, if you really want to go, I won't stop you. As the saying goes, soldiers are quick, so I will write a letter and you will arrive in Jincheng with the letter."
However, I believe that Huchuquan will be happy to send troops. However, if Hanyang County cannot be captured, I am afraid that you will be in danger, and your life may be in danger."
Sima Yi smiled and said: "If Hanyang County can be captured, the Kwantung Army will also be of great benefit. The Taiwei can also attack Chang'an. When the 200,000 northwest troops move south, Qinzhou will be at your fingertips!"
Guo Jia smiled and said: "Okay, if that's the case, then it's settled. I'll wait for your good news!"
The two discussed it and agreed on a time in private. Then Guo Jia wrote a letter and asked someone to protect Sima Yi and then went to Linjin City.