Logically speaking, among the three places, Longmen Ferry, Pubanjin, and Fenglingdu, the best solution for crossing the river is of course Pubanjin, because the water flow there is gentle.
Unlike Fenglingdu, you still need to face the natural danger of Tongguan after passing there.
As for Longmendu, there is a Yellow River Gorge surrounded by mountains in the north, and a flat plain in the south. The river water level is very different. It was the place where Dayu controlled the water.
According to the locals, there are three-foot waves even if there is no wind, and the water flow is much faster than that of Pubanjin.
Therefore, it is not unreasonable for Xian Yufu to personally take charge of Pubanjin after seeing through Feng Thief's scheme.
Especially after this autumn rain, even Pubanjin has seen a lot of water rise, let alone Longmen Ferry?
More importantly, due to the limitations of the times, whoever has more information will have greater initiative.
General Guan started from Yanmen County and swept all the way south, causing great chaos in the entire Bingzhou and Sizhou-related areas.
Let alone the military situation in various places, even Luoyang is completely confused about what the current situation is in the Hedong area.
Jiang Ji had a keen sense of smell and retreated to Zhiguan, avoiding the fate of being hit head-on by Feng Jishi.
But similarly, he also lost the opportunity to find out the news about Hedong.
Jiang Ji knew that Governor Feng or General Guan would most likely be waiting for him somewhere.
But he had no idea where they were or how many people there were.
As for Xian Yufu who was guarding across the river, it was even more impossible to know how many people Feng Thief had brought with him on the other side.
So what if we successfully send the detailed work to Hedong?
Hedong, as one of the largest farming counties, is now surrounded by war and chaos. There are countless thousands of farmers who have risen up in various places.
(Shi Bao: The big dog owner in Hedong, I, Shi Zhongrong, am back again!)
Those so-called rebels may not have the courage to go into battle and face the Wei army.
But in the name of the Han army, I still have the courage to borrow some money and food from the Wuzhai of the Haoyou family. Not only is it there, but it is also very big.
Xian Yufu was not even sure whether Guan Tie and Feng Tie led their troops southward in tandem, or whether they led their troops southward together.
In such a chaotic situation, do you still want to find out how many available soldiers Feng Thief has on hand?
No useful information could be transmitted from Luoyang, no reliable information could be found through careful investigation, and the troops on hand were not enough to secure the entire section of the river airtight.
Xian Yufu faces the notorious Feng thief, what can he do?
Naturally, priority should be given to defending locations that are easy to cross the river.
Feng Jishi's prediction of the three-layer cake, coupled with the Yi Congjun led by Liu Hun and the Hu people gathered along the way, created a huge momentum on the east bank.
This made Xian Yufu believe his own judgment: Feng Thief's intention was most likely Pu Banjin.
Based on this judgment, General Guan once again used the "surprise" characteristic and chose a time when it was least possible to carry out a forced crossing.
The river water rushing down from the mountains and canyons stirred up quite a lot of waves, causing the raft to sway.
The soldiers on the raft had to lower their center of gravity as much as possible to prevent their feet from becoming unstable and falling into the river.
After crossing the center of the river, the Wei army on the other side panicked and began to shoot arrows at the river.
Some rough waves caused great difficulties for the Han army to cross the river, but they also created obstacles for the Wei army.
With the cover of the waves, the people and horses swimming in the river were rarely harmed by the arrows of the Wei army.
On the contrary, it was the soldiers on the raft who were targeted by the Wei army's bows and crossbows.
Although a huge wooden raft had been erected at the front of the raft, soldiers were still constantly being hit by arrows thrown from the air by the opponent's archers.
A camp commander stood up from behind the big pillar, braving the rain of arrows from the Wei army, and wanted to see how far it was to reach the other side.
Unexpectedly, an arrow hit him like lightning. The commander was unable to dodge and was immediately shot in the shoulder.
He could only hear a scream, and because he had subconsciously tried to avoid the arrow feathers, his body swayed too much. He couldn't stand still and fell over into the river.
The waves in the river were already bigger than usual, and the paddling of dozens of rafts stirred up waves of all sizes.
Tunchang fell into the river, a wave came over, and immediately swallowed him.
According to common sense, this village chief is basically sinking to the bottom of the water to feed the fish.
What is unexpected is that after the wave, a head actually emerged from the water again. Who is it if it is not the village chief?
The raft coming up from behind stretched out a bamboo pole tentatively, and the captain used his last bit of strength to grab the bamboo pole tightly.
“Still alive!”
Someone on the raft was shouting.
“Pull up!”
The raft kept paddling toward the other shore, with no intention of stopping to save people. It was just along the way, and it was business to rush to the other shore as soon as possible.
The village chief subconsciously held on to the bamboo pole tightly and allowed the people on the raft to continue to retrieve the bamboo pole.
He knew that once he let go of his hand, his fate would not be so good next time.
“Hit by an arrow!”
The people on the raft finally pulled the commander back, and when they saw the half-broken arrow feathers on their shoulders, they exclaimed again.
“Wow!”
The chief of the village spit out a big mouthful of yellow soup and said intermittently:
“No muscles or bones were injured…”
Before he finished speaking, he passed out.
Someone used a dagger to pry open the clothes around Tuen Chang's wound. When he saw that the silk lining was brought into the flesh by the arrow, he couldn't help but grin:
“What a great fate!”
Life is indeed great.
If it had been anyone else, he would have been hit by an arrow and fell into the river, and he would have been dead long ago.
Who knew this guy was only slightly injured?
There were two things that saved his life.
The first one is silk lining, which is a treatment only given to elite military personnel who have made meritorious service.
The second is the rattan armor he wears.
The rattan armor worn by the village chief is a specialty of Nanzhong.
Take the old vines from the mountain, soak them in water for half a month to a month, then take them out to expose them to the sun, and then soak them in tung oil for a year.
After weaving it into armor, you need to use tung oil for daily maintenance to prevent it from losing its oiliness.
Although this kind of vine armor is not as protective as iron armor, it is extremely tough and is considered a rare armor.
More importantly, it is very light and not afraid of water. When wearing this kind of rattan armor to cross a river, even if it falls into the water, it can even help soldiers float on the water.
It can be called a water battlefield armor with the function of a life jacket.
But it also has shortcomings.
First, production is extremely time-consuming, and it also consumes manpower and material resources.
The second is the fear of fire.
It goes without saying that they are afraid of fire, but this thing has never appeared on a large scale on the battlefields of the Han and Wei Dynasties.
Wei Guo has never even seen this kind of rattan armor, so how could he possibly know what its weaknesses are?
And now Wei’s impression of Han is: local tyrants are rich!
Not to mention the armored ghost knight who was summoned from the underworld by the ghost king.
They are the elite armored soldiers of the Han army. Not only are they close to the Wei army in terms of quantity, but they even surpass the Wei army in quality. They are extremely thickly armored and well-trained.
So Wei Guo never thought that the Han army would be equipped with this kind of useless vine armor that only the poor would wear?
Not to mention that this kind of rattan armor is not easy to make, and most of the materials are produced in Nanzhong.
That is to say, Xinghanhui was very wealthy, which allowed the production of rattan armor to form an industrial chain.
That’s right, it’s the industrial chain.
There are three pillar industries in South China: sugar cane, tung oil, and tea.
Where there is flat land, grain is grown; where there is more rugged land, sugar cane is planted; where there are mountains, tea or tung trees are planted.
There are some villages that specialize in weaving this kind of rattan armor and use it to offset taxes with the government or exchange for grain with the Xinghan Association.
The production of rattan armor is a subdivided industry chain in the tung oil industry.
Oil-impregnated rattan beetles from Nanzhong and sheepskin airbags from Liangzhou played an extremely important role at this critical moment.
Because they gave way to the soldiers crossing the river, they greatly reduced the fear of falling into the water and even increased their courage a lot.
“Wow!”
The first raft finally hit the west bank.
"kill!"
Some impatient Han soldiers jumped directly from the raft into the waist-deep water. As soon as they shouted the word "kill", they were shot into hedgehogs by arrows on the spot.
Looking at the ferry that was surrounded by obstacles such as antlers and fences, the leading Han army commander shouted loudly:
“Don’t rush!”
“Raise the pillars! Arrange in formation!”
…
“Dong dong dong!”
The tall soldiers struggled to hold up the large raft, which was only one head shorter than an adult, and jumped from the raft into the water.
The soldiers on the raft also jumped off the raft one after another and followed closely behind the raft, lowering their heads and trying to keep themselves under the protection of the raft.
No matter how big the raft was, it was impossible to cover all the soldiers on the raft.
Coupled with the fact that the Wei army occupies a favorable location, arrows are flying like locusts at this moment.
Compared to the time when they were in the river just now, the Han soldiers faced many times more arrow fletches.
Just a few dozen seconds after jumping off the raft, continuous screams were heard, and many Han soldiers were hit by arrows and fell into the water.
Traces of blood-red began to mix with the turbid yellow water, creating some kind of alluring water ripples.
The leading military officer was half-crouched, leaning closely behind the raft, watching his comrades on the raft being helplessly exposed to the Wei army's crossbows.
His teeth were clenched and he was breathing heavily, trying to suppress his impulse.
The second raft soon followed.
With the lessons learned from the first raft, it was obvious that the impatient soldiers on the second raft did not jump out in advance.
But even so, the same casualties are inevitable.
Without any greeting or communication, the commander on the second raft took the initiative to join forces.
The wooden frames of the two rafts were put together, finally forming a small frame array.
The rafts behind them gradually followed up, and when the number of Han troops approaching the shore reached a sufficient number.
A school lieutenant who took the initiative to lead the army finally stood up, raised his spear, and shouted loudly:
“Come on! Come with me and knock the antlers away!”
As he spoke, he kicked open the supporting angles supporting the big canal, and together with his soldiers, he lifted the big canal and began to push it forward.
The soldiers, led by the captains of their respective teams, began to form small teams and rushed forward following the captain.
Standing on the east bank, Guan Ji held up a telescope and saw the soldiers rushing towards the Wei army's fence, falling to the ground one after another.
Her face became extremely cold, and her gaze hidden behind the telescope was extremely deep.
Whether it was the soldiers who fell into the water halfway across the river or the soldiers who were shot to the ground by Wei thieves on the other side, they were all trained by her with all her hard work over the years.
Watching them lose their lives before your eyes, it is impossible to say that your heart is not shaken.
But no matter how heavy the casualties were, she still had to seize the ferry when the Wei army was most likely to be careless.
She knew very well that this battle of forced crossing was likely to be the most costly battle since the Battle of Guanzhong, and even since the formation of the Liangzhou Army.
If we say that the real main force of the Liangzhou Army did not encounter any tough battles when it swept from Yanmen County all the way south.
So this time is the time to test the Liangzhou Army.
But no matter how heavy the losses were, the Liangzhou army could not retreat.
Because under the current conditions, we cannot expect to join the army righteously, let alone the barbarians who are being threatened.
The only one she can trust is the Liangzhou Army.
“The fourth batch, follow us!”
She held up the telescope and looked at the river again, and gave instructions in a calm tone.
The five hundred soldiers who had been waiting immediately pushed the raft into the river after receiving the military order...
Each raft, depending on its size, has fifty to more than a hundred soldiers.
Crossing the river is not a rush into the river in a swarm, it is an organized and batched attack.
It is necessary to avoid overcrowding and create a living target for the opponent, and it is also necessary to connect the troops in time so that the front army does not rush forward and the rear army fails to respond in time.
The telescope in Guan Ji's hands and the strong organizational ability of the Liangzhou Army can avoid this situation to the greatest extent.
But even so, the Han army's attempt to seize the ferry was still severely attacked by the Wei army.
After four or five consecutive batches, more than 2,000 elite Liangzhou troops crossed the Yellow River.
Except for the very beginning, when the Wei army was caught off guard, some of the antlers and fences on the periphery were destroyed.
What's left is no progress.
The Han army, which suffered heavy casualties, had to form a circle under the leadership of Yang Wanwan after seizing a small beach and wait for reinforcements.
Not long ago, the Wei army rushed out twice, trying to drive them into the river.
The three hundred cavalrymen who swam over played a big role.
Yang Qianwan’s war horse was shot to death in the last counterattack.
When the sun reached the top of the mountain, the two armies stopped their actions in unison.
However, the Han army had no time to rest because they did not have the same geographical advantage as the Wei army.
So they had to take advantage of the Wei army's rest and build a camp as quickly as possible.
Even the simplest camp is better than staying on the shore without any cover.
In addition to erecting the large frames that can be collected on the periphery as a temporary village wall, most of the rafts must be dismantled to form a fence.
This means that the Han troops guarding the west bank never thought of retreating.
“咣咣咣……”
There are strong soldiers who are working hard to pound thick wooden piles into the ground, so that the wooden piles are wedged into the soil as deeply as possible.
A hemp rope as thick as a baby has been tied to an old tree by the river. A raft carries the other end of the hemp rope and begins to paddle back.
General Guan, who had been guarding the shore, breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the reward from the west bank.
Even a smile appeared on his face:
"That's enough, just one night is enough! Tomorrow, the thief will understand what it means to be a real tiger and wolf master..."
Of course, the Wei army would not dare to underestimate the Liangzhou army, but they simply did not understand that what was truly terrifying about the Liangzhou army was not its extremely sophisticated armor and weapons, but its extremely powerful organizational capabilities.
