On October 28th, light snow fell, which meant that winter had truly entered.
In fact, after the beginning of winter more than ten days ago, the temperature has dropped sharply, but it has not reached the point of severe cold. Therefore, patrolling guards from Wei and Han near Julu City still often encounter them in the wilderness, at intervals.
Some conflicts broke out, but they were not enough to affect the overall direction of the war.
However, after the first snow falls every year, even the war will enter the winter break. The two sides at war will focus on getting through the cold winter. As for the war, we will talk about it next year.
After the light snow, heavy snow followed. In just a few days, the area around Julu was covered in ice and snow fell for thousands of miles. Snowflakes like goose feathers poured down from the sky, dyeing the ground with a layer of silver.
If you stand on a high place and look around, the scenery you can see at this time is believed to be very spectacular.
In the face of the power of nature, mortals are powerless, especially in this era, so in this snowy weather, both the Han army and the Wei army were idle, whether they wanted to or not.
Including Zhao Hongrun, the prince of the Wei Kingdom, had nothing to do. He ordered people to prepare some wine and food in front of the porch of the main hall of the city guard palace. Accompanied by his concubine Zhao Que, he cooked wine and enjoyed the snow to pass the time.
.
In this era, cooking wine and enjoying the snow was a hobby for those who considered themselves elegant. For example, Zhao Hongrun’s sixth brother, Zhao Hongzhao, once invited his colleagues from the Yafeng Poetry Club to enjoy the snow and drink while reciting poems and having fun.
, this is indeed an elegant thing in contemporary times.
And what was Zhao Hongrun doing back then? Well, he took Shen Yu, Wei Jiao, Lu Mu and other clan guards to the pond in the palace to smash ice, or throw snowballs and have snowball fights, deliberately picking those that he could not see.
The eunuchs and female officials who liked them threw snowballs at these people.
"...Back then, there was a pock-faced female official in the Shang Gong Bureau. She was very hateful, not to mention ugly, and she especially liked to bully others. The backstage of her Shang Gong Bureau was the Queen, and she ran rampant in the palace. It was better
The concubines and palace maids dare to be angry but dare not speak out.
But I didn't want to do this. That day, Shen Yu, Wei Jiao, Lu Mu and I were hiding behind the rockery. When the old woman passed by with several palace maids and chamberlains, we covered her face with snowballs and humiliated her.
She was completely frightened at the time..."
Holding a cup of hot wine, Zhao Hongrun hugged Zhao Que in his arms and told with great interest all the misdeeds he had done in the palace. Zhao Que chuckled and asked repeatedly: "What happened next?"
"Then?" Zhao Hongrun took a sip of hot wine and said with a smile: "After we succeeded, we ran away. From a distance, we could still hear the old woman roaring over there, who was it, who was she..."
"Giggle." Zhao Que covered his mouth and laughed a few times, then blinked and said, "I have long heard that His Highness was a tyrant in the palace back then. I thought someone was maliciously slandering me, but I never thought...
…whee."
Faced with his woman's teasing, Zhao Hongrun laughed and explained without hesitation: "The main reason is that I was too busy. At that time, I couldn't leave the palace... What fun can there be in the palace?" As he said, he shrugged.
He shrugged and continued: "Just like now, do you really think that I am sitting here drinking and enjoying the snow because I like it? Or because I have nothing to do? I don't think I can learn what Sixth Brother does in this life.
"
Hearing this, Zhao Que bit his red lips, rolled his eyes slightly, twisted his soft body twice on Zhao Hongrun, and then said in the latter's ear in a seductive tone: "Then... Your Highness and my concubine are here.
Is it okay to go inside?"
Seeing Zhao Que's charming eyes and expression of love, Zhao Hongrun pretended not to know and asked, "What are you doing in the house?"
Zhao Que has been following Zhao Hongrun for several years, and in front of outsiders he has a face that avoids strangers, but in front of the man he loves, he is still a little shy and shy about speaking out what is in his heart.
Until she noticed Zhao Hongrun's narrow eyes, she couldn't help but yelled: "Your Highness!"
"Hahaha……"
Zhao Hongrun laughed.
At this time, there was a sound of footsteps coming from one end of the porch. Zhao Hongrun and Zhao Que turned their heads and saw Generals Wu Ji and Zhai Huang from the Shang Shui Army walking towards them.
"Your Highness, Madam Que, you two are so elegant."
From a distance, Zhai Huang greeted Zhao Hongrun.
From the side, the East Palace Guards, who naturally had a discerning eye, brought two tables and mattresses from the house and placed them on the porch, where the two generals Wuji and Zhai Huang sat.
"There's no such thing as enjoying yourself. It's just idleness."
Holding Zhao Que in his arms and burying his head on his chest, Zhao Hongrun pointed at the wine that was boiling on the stove and gestured towards Wu Ji and Zhai Huang. Then, he saw many stains on Wu Ji's armor.
Bingshuang asked casually: "Have you been out of the city?"
"Ah." Wu Ji nodded, used a spoon to scoop out wine from the copper basin filled with wine on the stove, filled a cup for Zhao Hongrun, Zhao Que, Zhai Huang and himself, and then explained: "Just
As your Highness said, the general had nothing to do and simply took the cavalry out of the city to spy on the movements of the Korean army..."
Zhao Hongrun glanced at Wu Ji and asked funnyly: "So, is there any movement from Han Jun?"
Wu Ji shrugged, flattened his lips and said, "Nothing happened at all."
Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but shook his head, stretched out his hand and tapped Wu Ji, then pointed at the heavy snow still falling outside, and said rather speechlessly: "That's what you think the Korean army will do in this kind of weather."
After hearing this, Wu Ji quickly defended: "My misunderstanding, Your Highness, I didn't go out of the city because I thought the Korean army would do anything. I just stayed in the city for too much time and wanted to go out to see if I could hunt a game or two."
, after all, I can add two dishes to His Highness, right? As for spying on the movements of the Korean army, this is just by the way."
"Oh?" Zhao Hongrun raised his eyebrows and asked with interest: "Then, what's the gain?"
Wu Ji's face showed a bit of embarrassment, and he said: "I don't know why, I searched for more than half an hour and found nothing."
Zhao Hongrun rolled his eyes speechlessly and asked angrily: "Didn't you say that three generations of your ancestors were hunters?"
Seeing that Zhao Hongrun's words were full of doubts about himself, Wu Ji quickly said: "It's not without gain. At least today I found bear's claw marks in the forest. I think there must be bears in that area. I will bring a few soldiers with me tomorrow.
Go search and find out..."
If an ordinary person said this, Zhao Hongrun would definitely advise the other party not to seek bad luck from bears, lest they be bitten by bears, but for Wu Ji, a fierce general who can fight tigers and bears, killing a bear is really a big deal.
It's not a difficult task. After all, there are some talented and fierce people in this world who are indeed much more powerful than tigers, wolves, bears, and leopards.
"I am looking forward to it."
After joking with Wu Ji for a while, Zhao Hongrun turned his attention to Zhai Huang.
Unlike Wu Ji, a general who didn't care much, although Zhai Huang was the deputy general of the Shang Shui Army, he actually had full authority to handle all military affairs within the Shang Shui Army. He would definitely not be as idle as Wu Ji.
Seeing Zhao Hongrun turn his attention to himself, Zhai Huang, who had been smiling and saying nothing, finally said: "I came here this time to ask for your Highness... whether we should take any action after the heavy snow passes.
, prepare in advance for the decisive battle in the coming spring."
In terms of weather, after the heavy snow, the temperature will actually rise slightly and last until the slight cold. Generally speaking, there are still about ten to twenty days. During this period, military measures can actually be taken.
It's mobile, but of course it's not as convenient as spring, summer and autumn.
After listening to Zhai Huang's words, Zhao Hongrun thought for a moment and said seriously: "The logistics of food and grass transportation for the Korean army should be extremely tight. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of people and 780,000 or 80,000 horses for the 50,000 heavy cavalry alone.
We need to eat, this person eats horse chews, and the pressure on food and grass must be greater than that of our army... In fact, I have also been considering in the past two days whether to take some action against the Korean army's food routes."
In Zhao Hongrun's view, winter is not conducive to using troops, but on the other hand, it is also a good opportunity to defeat the enemy through tactics such as attacking grain roads.
After all, in this winter, once the army rations run out and the army sergeants have no food to eat, they will inevitably collapse. Do you really expect the army sergeants to go hungry? Impossible!
Throughout the hundreds of years of war in the Central Plains, no army has been able to continue fighting when it ran out of rations.
Therefore, it is also a good strategy to sneak attack on the Korean army's food road and put the Korean army into the embarrassing situation of running out of food and grass.
The only problem is that this good strategy is like a clear chess piece on the table, not to mention that among the Korean troops on the opposite side, there are Han Yang, the Marquis of Dangyin, Qin Kai in Yuyang, Ma She in Shanggu, Le Yi in Beiyan, and Sima in Daijun.
Wait a minute, those are all generals who are dedicated to fighting, how could they not be on guard against this move?
Furthermore, when they came to the hinterland of Korea this time, the generals of the Shangshui Army and the Yanling Army did not bring winter clothes to keep out the cold. This was also the reason why the Wei Army expelled the Korean civilians after they captured Julu, Xingtai, Shaqiu and other counties.
, the reason why they moved to Handan was to free up civilian houses for Wei soldiers to live in so they could survive the cold winter.
When the weather is cold and the ground is freezing, letting the soldiers walk in the snow wearing cold armor is simply forcing them to die.
It was precisely with this in mind that Zhao Hongrun did not order a sneak attack on the Korean army's food road.
At this time, Zhai Huang said: "Your Highness, I have an immature idea here, and I would like to ask Your Highness to correct it." As he said that, he took out a piece of paper from his arms and handed it to Zhao Hongrun.
Zhao Hongrun didn't know what was going on, so he took the piece of paper, spread it out and glanced at it twice, with a look of surprise on his face.
This piece of paper is actually a drawing on which a strange-looking carriage is drawn. The reason why it is said to have a strange shape is that the carriage has no wheels and only has two skis imitating the sleigh.
As for other parts, it is not much different from an ordinary carriage.
"Did you draw it? Tell me what you have in mind." Zhao Hongrun said with great interest, because the drawing drawn by Zhai Huang reminded him of something, something in Wei Jun's current situation.
, or something that can work wonders - a troop carrier.
After listening to Zhao Hongrun's words, Zhai Huang then explained: "The final general also had a sudden idea... In terms of the ability to move in ice and snow, the horse-drawn sleigh chariot designed by His Highness was the first to recommend, but this thing cannot block the wind and cold, and our army
There are no sergeants
Winter clothes to keep out the cold, so the general thought, if a horse-drawn sleigh chariot is equipped with an ordinary carriage compartment, and a stove is lit in the compartment, will this allow the soldiers to run on the snowy fields in this cold winter, waiting for opportunities to make sneak attacks?
Where is the Korean army?”
"Well..."
Holding his concubine Zhao Que lightly in his arms, Zhao Hongrun looked at the drawing in his hand and thought deeply.
Indeed, according to the troop transport chariot designed by Zhai Huang, the Wei army can move freely on the snowy fields. Even if it snows heavily, as long as the doors and windows are closed, the soldiers in the vehicle will not be greatly affected - as for pulling
To ride on the war horses, you can make the troop carrier slightly more compact and use four-horse horses to ride on it. When the wind and snow come, just put the war horses into the car. It is a bit crowded, but at least you can survive the wind and snow.
Disaster.
"Interesting, somewhat interesting..."
He gently patted the back of Zhao Que, the concubine in his arms, and signaled her to get up. Then Zhao Hongrun took the piece of paper and walked into the palace, found the pen and ink paper, and based on Zhai Huang's drawing, according to his point of view
Provide improvements.
Next to them, Wu Ji, Zhai Huang, Zhao Que and others who followed him into the house stood quietly aside, for fear of disturbing the thoughts of His Highness in front of him.
After deleting, deleting, and revising like this, a full moment passed before Zhao Hongrun handed the improved drawings that he thought he was quite satisfied with to Zhai Huang and said, "Ask the soldiers to build according to this drawings, or maybe
It can work wonders.”
Seeing that His Highness in front of him recognized his suggestion, Zhai Huang was overjoyed. Even Wu Ji felt a little itchy. The two of them bid farewell to Zhao Hongrun together and prepared to tinker with the kind of luck that would allow Wei soldiers to move unimpeded in the wind and snow.
Military carriage.
"Personnel carrier... personnel carrier..."
Zhao Hongrun stood at the window and looked at the heavy snow falling in the sky outside the window, thinking about the feasibility of using a troop carrier to sneak attack on the Korean army's food road.
To be fair, he believed that the feasibility of this was not low: even though his Wei army did not have enough winter clothes to keep out the cold at the moment, at most they could only find those from the houses in the city. However, considering the sneak attack on the Korean army's food and grass, in fact, the time for the Wei soldiers to actually attack was also
At that moment, more time was spent on searching and ambushing. In this case, the troop carrier could indeed help the Wei army stay in the ice and snow for a longer time.
The only drawback is that, first of all, the maneuverability of this kind of personnel carrier is definitely far inferior to that of a sled. It will naturally be overtaken by the Korean cavalry, and once it is overtaken by the Korean light cavalry, it will be very troublesome.
Don't look at the situation near Julu. Among the Korean troops, only the Shanggu Army has thousands of light cavalry. But don't forget that under the command of Acting County Governor Sima Shang, there are 50,000 heavy cavalry and 70,000 to 80,000 war horses - even if
In this kind of weather, heavy cavalry can only withdraw from the battlefield, but this does not mean that heavy cavalry cannot attack with their armor removed.
As long as the Korean army has enough winter clothing to keep out the cold, the heavy cavalry can be transformed into light cavalry.
Secondly, as Zhai Huang said, burning a stove in the carriage for heating is certainly a good idea, but Zhao Hongrun had to consider the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning for these soldiers.
Especially when the soldiers in the entire personnel carrier are sleeping with the stove lit, they may never wake up again after a sleep. Zhai Huang doesn't understand this. How can Zhao Hongrun not understand this?
What?
However, after weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Hongrun finally believed that the advantages of this kind of personnel carrier outweighed the disadvantages, especially in the current snowy weather. As long as it is slightly camouflaged with snow, it is very likely to deceive the eyes of the Korean patrol guards.
—Who would deliberately pay attention to a small snow hill passing by?
Thinking of this, Zhao Hongrun increasingly believed that this move was feasible and might give the Korean army a surprise.
On that day, the gates in all parts of Julu City were opened, and countless Wei soldiers followed the order and went out of the city to the nearby forests and cut down trees in the mountains.
Of course, the movement of thousands of Wei soldiers leaving the city at every turn could not be hidden from the patrolling guards of the Korean army.
No, not long after, Xu Li, the deputy general of the Shanggu Army, personally came with a group of cavalry to watch the movements of the Wei army from a distance.
At this time, some cavalrymen on the left and right speculated: "Vice-General Xu, the Wei army went out to cut wood in the city on a large scale. It may be because there is insufficient firewood in the city. Is this an opportunity for our army?"
Hearing this, Xu Li frowned and said nothing.
Under normal circumstances, this would certainly be a good opportunity.
If the Han army sends troops to prevent the Wei army from cutting wood and cutting firewood, causing Julu City to fall into a dilemma of insufficient firewood, although this is not enough to defeat the Wei army, it can add obstacles to the Wei army and make the Wei army only eat uncooked rice and drink cold water. Over time, the Wei army will
There will definitely be soldiers in the army who get sick - unless the Wei army is stupid enough to demolish the houses in the city and use them as firewood.
But the problem is that the Wei army did not have enough winter clothes to keep out the cold. In fact, neither did the Han army.
Don’t forget, the Julu Battlefield here is not the only battlefield in this battle for South Korea. In fact, in addition to the Julu Battlefield, Wei and South Korea also have two major battlefields: the "Xihe Battlefield" and the "Hanoi Battlefield".
The battlefield, especially the Hanoi battlefield, is the most critical battlefield.
Fighting on three fronts at the same time, Wei State was certainly in a situation where logistics and transportation were insufficient, but in fact the situation on South Korea's side was not much better.
This is also the reason why the four armies here, the Yuyang Army, the Shanggu Army, the Beiyan Army and the Daijun Army, ceased their activities as soon as it snowed - they were unable to fight the Wei Army in the ice and snow.
Thinking of this, Xu Li shook his head and said: "Forget it, it's freezing cold and the outcome is unpredictable, so don't worry about it. If the Wei army wants to cut down the wood for firewood, let them cut it down."
After giving the order, Xu Li stood still and watched from a distance for a while. Seeing that the Wei army was really just cutting down trees, he stopped staying and went to other areas for a routine patrol for a while before returning.
He went to the barracks of the Valley Army.
When Xu Li returned to the military camp, Ma She, the guardian of the upper valley, was taking his son Ma Kuo and leading some soldiers to shovel the snow in the camp. They also swept the snow off some of the military tents to prevent them from being crushed by the heavy snow.
tent.
Just like Zhao Hongrun, Ma She, Ma Kuo and his son also had nothing to do, so they found something to do and stretch their muscles. After all, they were not like Zhao Hongrun, who took their concubine Zhao Que with them when they went to war.
Seeing Xu Li returning with his men and horses from a distance, Ma She stopped shoveling the snow, leaned on the wooden shovel, and looked at the former with a smile: "Back?"
"General, young general." Xu Li saluted Ma She, Ma Kuo and his son with clasped fists, and then recounted what he had seen when he led his team out on patrol today: "In general, there was no unusual movement on the Wei army's side, but I heard that there was one
The patrol team encountered Wei General Wu Ji..."
"Oh? Are there any casualties?"
Ma She, the guardian of the Shanggu Army, looked stern, but then relaxed. After all, he thought about it carefully, and as Wei general Wu Ji, it was really unlikely that he would pursue the patrolling cavalry of his Shanggu army.
Sure enough, Xu Li shrugged and said: "Then Wu Ji ignored our army's patrol cavalry and took dozens of them to the nearby mountains. Maybe he went out to hunt in the city to see if he could catch any prey.
"
"hehe."
Ma She, the guardian of the upper valley, smiled slightly and handed the wooden shovel in his hand to his son Ma Kuo. Then he and Xu Li walked towards the commander's tent and said, "This is the so-called practice. I think back then, when Wei Gongzi Run and Wei Gongzi Xuan first met,
It was also such a cold winter when we were at war with Korea. I heard that the two brothers went out hunting together, and I don’t know if they hunted anything... Is there any movement in Julu City?"
Xu Li heard this and said: "There seems to be a shortage of firewood in the city over Julu. At this moment, the Wei soldiers may be cutting down trees in the nearby forest and transporting them back to the city."
"oh?"
Hearing this, Ma She stopped and looked back at Xu Li, then nodded and said: "Well, it is indeed possible." After a pause, he smiled again: "It is said that Mr. Wei loves his soldiers as much as his sons, but today
But Wei soldiers are asked to go out to cut wood in such weather. It seems that Julu City is probably running out of firewood... It's a pity that God is not kind, otherwise, this is also a good time to send troops."
"yes."
Xu Li nodded in agreement.
Taking Xu Li to the commander's tent, Ma She also ordered the soldiers to cook wine, and then invited the generals to have a drink and chat. The topics of conversation were undoubtedly "Julu", "Wei Jun", "Wei Gongzi Run" and so on.
, Unlike Le Yi, who decides tactics by one person, Ma She is a commander who attaches great importance to the opinions of his generals. He is also the most knowledgeable general among the ten tycoons in Beiyuan. Perhaps this is related to his background as a minor official.
Because of this, Ma She's prestige in the Korean army is extremely high. Even though his strategy is not as good as Li Mu's, his bravery is not as brave as Lian Pi's, and his command on the battlefield is not as good as Le Yi's, his personal charm is still only second to Li Mu's.
These two misfits crowded in the back.
Just as Zhao Hongrun judged, Ma She, the guardian of the Shanggu Valley, really thought about the possibility of the Wei army sneaking up on him and the Han army's food route: "... Our army has many soldiers and horses here. Now that winter has come, it has become a burden. You must tell me
The sentries under my command are patrolling carefully. I think that with Wei Gongzi Run's wisdom and strategy, he will not fail to prepare for the decisive battle in the coming spring. It is very likely that he will attack our army's food route."
"Please keep this in mind until the end."
The generals in the tent said one after another.
However, what Mashe, the guardian of Shanggu, never expected was that even though he had repeatedly warned the cavalry under his command to serve as patrol sentries, a few days later, Wei troops would still attack their grain transport team.
But what shocked many Korean soldiers and generals was that the sentries who went out to patrol and search before and after the attack on the grain road did not find the whereabouts of the Wei army at all in this vast white snowfield.
Damn it!
Where are the Wei soldiers who attacked the grain road?