On the night of June 15th, a full moon hung high in the sky. The night sky was clean and almost cloudless. Only the sparse and distant stars twinkled. The wilderness on the north bank of the Yi River looked vast and calm under the deserted moonlight, and the sound of horse hooves suddenly sounded. Get up, come through the night, and go away as the night closes.
More than 20 people including Chen Caozhi, Ran Sheng, Shen Chiqian, Su Qi, and 300 people from the Di Qin envoy Xi Bao formed a half-mile-long column and galloped past the ruins of the Xia and Shang Zhou Dynasty ruins in the southern suburbs of Luoyang. The echo of horse hooves came from the ancient observatory, short and lonely.
Qin envoys Xi Bao, Chen Caozhi and others rode ahead. Xi Bao knew the geography of Luoyang well and asked Shen Chiqian loudly: "Master Shen, not far ahead is the Yi River. Has your father arranged a boat for us to cross the river?" "
Shen Chiqian said: "My master originally planned to send Master Chen and envoy Xi across the Yishui tomorrow. Unexpectedly, the Yan army attacked at night. He was in a hurry and was unprepared——"
"Hey, what can we do?" Xi Bao sighed sadly before Shen Chiqian finished speaking.
Shen Chiqian said: "Envoy Xi, don't worry. It won't rain for more than a month in the Yiluo area. There are some sections of the Yi River where the water is only four feet deep. You can cross the river by running water. Just follow me."
Xi Bao's worries turned into joy. Crossing the river on horseback was much faster than taking a boat. He immediately followed Shen Chiqian and ran southward.
It was about fifteen miles from the southern suburbs of Luoyang to the north bank of the Yi River. The horses were galloping. In less than two seconds, they saw the sparkling Yi River in the distance under the moonlit night. Everyone slowed down their horses and suddenly saw a small group of people walking along the river bank from upstream. Running towards him, he stopped in front of everyone. Someone shouted urgently: "Young Master—Young Master—"
Chen Caozhi, Shen Chiqian and others hurriedly reined in their mounts. Shen Chiqian looked forward and asked, "Shen Fu, what's the emergency?"
There were about fifteen or six people who came, and the leader was a private soldier of the Shen family. He bowed and reported: "I received a whistle immediately and said that Sima Yuexi, the Grand Prime Minister of Yan, led his troops from Yanshi across the Yishui River at night and headed west quickly. Now they have reached the front between Gaoya and Ningdu on the south bank of Yishui River. In order to cut off the retreat of the Luoyang defenders, a Yan army sneaked to the west of Luoyang City. Waiting for dawn and Murong Chui's cavalry to besiege Luoyang City - Young Master, It’s impossible to cross this Yi River!”
Shen Chiqian was surprised and said: "The Yellow River is in the north of Luoyang City, and the Yan army is blocking it on the other three sides. What should we do?" Looking at Chen Caozhi, he asked: "Master Chen, how about we return to Luoyang?"
Chen Caozhi asked Xi Bao: "What good advice does Xi Changshi have?"
Xi Bao was anxious and angry. If Chen Caozhi had listened to his good advice yesterday and not gone to Luoyang, but had gone directly south to Ruyang, how could he have fallen into such a dangerous situation! But it was inconvenient to complain at this time, so he just said angrily: "Now that we've reached this point, what else can Xi have to do? He definitely can't go back to Luoyang, and there's no way to survive if you catch a turtle in a jar——"
Shen Chiqian's face darkened and he said, "Why is Ambassador Xi talking like this!"
Xi Bao sneered and said no more. He would never return to Luoyang anyway. However, he was afraid of encountering the intercepting Yan army when he led the delegation back to Mianchi. In this dark night, he had no idea where to go in a hurry.
Chen Cao said: "Murong Chui's cavalry is almost at the foot of Luoyang City. We cannot go back. From here to the south, the area is open. As long as we avoid the Yan army ambushing from Ningdu to Gaoya on the other side, we can easily enter the boundary of Yingchuan ——Chiqian, please quickly order people to conduct sentinel inspections and select the section across the river."
Xi Bao nodded in agreement. The Qin army under his command was not familiar with the terrain here and was inconvenient to scout, so they had to rely on Shen Chiqian.
Shen Chiqian looked at the 300 Qin troops behind him and said: "There are so many people and horses that it is easy to alarm the Yan army on the other side. Except for a few leaders, everyone else dismounted and walked. The horses were left where they were, and Shen Fu led the men. These horses went around to the lower reaches to cross the river, and then met at the foot of Nanhengling." After that, Shen Chiqian dismounted first, and Su Qi and two of his men also dismounted.
All the Di Qin cavalry looked at each other in shock. No one was willing to dismount. The horse was equivalent to half the life of the cavalry. How could they be separated easily?
The Prime Minister, Shi Xibao, was a civil servant and quite talented among the Di people, so Fu Jian sent him as an envoy to Jiankang. Xi Bao had never fought with his own hands on the battlefield and did not have such deep feelings for his mount. Moreover, he was the leader. There is no need to dismount, although I think it is a bit too cautious for the troops to cross the river in batches, and once the Yan army finds them, it will be difficult to escape without mounts, but Chen Caozhi and Shen Jin's son are here, and Xi Bao does not believe that they will harm themselves——
Chen Caozhi urged: "Xi Changshi, please make a decision quickly. Since Qin and Jin have formed an alliance, we should work together to help each other."
Xi Bao looked at the misty moonlight on the other side of the Yi River. After a moment's hesitation, he ordered the accompanying Qin army to dismount, and two commanders and twenty sergeants led the horses across the river together with Shen Fu and others.
When the soldiers of the Qin army saw the order from their superiors, they had no choice but to obey, dismounted one after another, and the three hundred cavalry became infantry.
Shen Chiqian said: "The Yan army on the south bank of the Yihe River is concentrated directly south of Luoyang. The higher you go upstream, the less defensive you become. We will go eastward along the north bank for more than ten miles. There is a shoal there for crossing the river. You can follow me. ." As he said that, he strode eastward. Chen Caozhi and Ran Sheng rode their horses to follow, while Su Qi and others followed closely on foot.
Although Xi Bao found it a bit confusing to go eastward at this time, he could only listen to Chen Caozhi and Shen Chiqian since he was here. Chen Caozhi, who was well received by King Fu Tian and was known as the talented man of Jiangzuo, couldn't just throw himself into a trap, right?
Xi Bao never expected that Chen Caozhi was going to throw himself into a trap, and he had just tried every means to keep the horses of the Di Qin soldiers, but it was because he did not want these horses to be captured by the Yan army along with the three hundred Qin troops. The Qin soldiers It doesn't matter if they are captured, and this is also Chen Caozhi's purpose of creating disputes between Qin and Yan, but it is better to keep the three hundred horses in the hands of the Jin army. You cannot "borrow the enemy soldiers to steal grain". Jiangdong is short of Horses, these three hundred war horses are not a small number——
Without the clutter of large groups of war horses, the journey was much quieter. The flowing water was heavy, and the distant mountains under the moonlight on the other side were silent. Chen Caozhi, Xi Bao and a group of more than 300 people took advantage of the groves on the south bank of the Yi River to hide and quietly walked towards the lower reaches of the Yi River. , after walking about ten places, we saw the bright moon setting in the west and the sky getting darker and darker. We heard Shen Chiqian say: "There is a high cliff on the other side. After this section, there will be no Yan army. We can cross the river quietly and go to Nanhengling." It's only fifteen miles away from here. When we meet up with Shen Fu and others, we can head off."
Chen Cao said: "I want to rush to Yingchuan as soon as possible and ask Governor Gao to send troops to Luoyang."
After walking for several more miles, the full moon set from the direction of Luoyang City, and the stars in the sky disappeared together, leaving darkness everywhere.
In half an hour, it will be dawn.
Shen Chiqian, who was leading the way, quietly turned to the north, and Xi Bao and other Qin troops did not notice it. They walked in darkness for more than an hour, but they did not know that this place was close to the boundary of Yanshi County. Several scouts from Ran Sheng and Shen Chiqian came and went to scout. In case of a sudden encounter with the Yan army, it would not be a good idea to rain down arrows without saying a word.
The sky was dimming, and someone suddenly heard shouting: "There is an army of Yan ahead on the right, there is an army of Yan ahead on the right -" Before the words could be heard, the sound of hoofbeats was heard suddenly coming from a distance not far away.
Xi Bao and others were shocked. The three hundred sergeants under him were all cavalry. They could attack but not defend. Now without horses, they could neither attack nor defend. Then they heard a Jin soldier shout: "Chen Yu, Xi Envoys, please go first on horseback while I wait on foot. We won’t be able to escape anyway, so fight to the death!”
Chen Caozhi said decisively: "How could I abandon you and escape alone!"
Although the Di Qin sergeants under Xi Bao resented Chen Caozhi and Shen Chiqian for putting them in a desperate situation, they were in awe of Chen Caozhi's unwillingness to escape alone. They only heard Chen Caozhi say loudly: "Yan's soldiers are numerous and powerful. , it’s the cavalry again, we can’t escape if we leave, so don’t fight hard and lose your life in vain——”
While they were talking, a large group of Yan Army cavalry approached, stopped within a stone's throw of Chen Caozhi and others, and shouted in Luoyang Zhengyin, "Who is coming?"
These officers and soldiers of the Yan Army were also puzzled. The Luoyang defenders only had 800 people. Why did hundreds of sergeants suddenly appear here? Could it be that the Luoyang defender Shen Jin wanted to turn the defense into an attack and attack Yanshi first?
Chen Caozhi said to Xi Bao: "The matter has come to this. Don't panic. We are ambassadors of integrity. We must not fall short of the majesty of a great country and make mistakes first." He raised his voice and said, "Chen Caozhi, ambassador of integrity of the Jin Dynasty, is here!"
The Prime Minister of Qin Dynasty, Shi Xibao, had no choice but to bite the bullet and shout: "Xi Bao, Ambassador of Qin's Chijie, is here."
The leader of the Yan army was a partial general under Dazai Sima Yuexi. He also heard about the Jin envoy Chen Caozhi's mission to Chang'an. Taiyuan King Murong Ke sent troops to Luoyang because Chen Caozhi wanted to form an alliance with Qin. He did not expect that Chen Caozhi bumped into this place. The general was surprised and delighted. Wouldn't it be a great achievement to capture Chen Caozhi? There was also an envoy from Qin——
But I heard Chen Caozhi say loudly: "I am here now to ask for an audience with the King of Wu of your country——"
The general of Yan State was very surprised and asked: "Why do you want to see me, the King of Yan and Wu?"
Chen Cao said: "This matter is confidential and is not something you should know. All you have to do is bring a message to the King of Wu, saying that there is a gift here from an old friend whom the King of Wu had befriended thirty years ago - go and report it immediately."
The matter involved General Zheng Nan, King Murong Chui of Wu. The general did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly sent his trusted sergeants back to Yanshi City to report the news. At the same time, he dispersed his formation and surrounded Chen Caozhi and others. This group of Yan Army cavalry had Five hundred people, seeing that there were many people on Chen Caozhi's side, they did not dare to get too close, and only stood guard with an arrow. If Chen Caozhi and others wanted to escape, they would shoot with bows and arrows, and then mount their horses. Chase——
Xi Bao asked in a low voice: "Envoy Chen, are we just waiting to be killed like this?" He was filled with resentment. If Chen Caozhi hadn't left the 300 accompanying sergeants in Luoyang, then with the 300 Qin troops under his command, he would have But after defeating the 500 Yan troops, even if the men and horses had not crossed the river separately, they would not have been able to escape when they encountered the Yan army's cavalry. This Chen Caozhi is a mediocre person. Your Majesty and Wang Shangshu still want to take him Staying in Chang'an and appointing high officials would be a disaster for the country and the people. Fortunately, this man insisted on returning to the country, but now he has brought disaster to Xi Bao and these three hundred sergeants!
Chen Caozhi replied: "The enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered. It is a bad idea to meet with swords and soldiers. When I meet Murong Chui, I will have something to say. We are not captured, but came specifically to see Murong Chui. We are envoys." "