Chen Mu deliberately exposed his whereabouts, firstly to gain prestige for himself, and secondly, because he could not really let Dong Zhuo go to Puyin to massacre his own clan first.
Although Dong Zhuo may not be so crazy as to attack his own clan now, he still needs to be prevented from threatening him with his own parents.
Therefore, he had to show his signs, attract the attention of Hua Xiong and Xu Rong, and at the same time buy time for another move.
Two days after leaving Yecheng, we went all the way north, passed through Linshui County on the edge of Fu River, and arrived in Handan.
When I think back to that year, I set off from Handan, went east to Guangping, and fought against Zhangjiao, it seems to be vivid in my mind.
The four brothers sat high on their horses and followed Lu Zhi's army to the east. Liu Bei once talked about how after the world was peaceful, the brothers would drink and have fun together, singing and dancing.
Five years have passed, and the rolling wheels of history have rolled by, and the land of China will usher in another round of devastation and broken territory.
Liangyin Township is located to the north of Yecheng and south of Handan, close to the Fushui Zhang River, with lush vegetation and reeds along the way.
On the wide plain official road, two thousand cavalry galloped past, throwing up countless flying dust.
People along the way dispersed to make way for them.
After entering Liangyin Township, it was already noon. The sun was scorching hot, and the cavalry had been running fast for several hours. The horses were already tired, and Hua Xiong had to give the order to rest for a while.
"Where is this place?"
Hua Xiong rode his horse to the bank of the Zhang River. He looked into the distance and saw thickets of reeds in the distance. The official road was located on the bank of the river. After crossing the river, he could still see the rolling hills and slopes.
The scouts sent to question the people came back and reported: "General, this is Liangyin Township, north of Yecheng. According to the report from the Linshui County Magistrate, Chen Mu and Zhang Fei passed by Linshui County in the morning, and the people along the way were also there.
I saw the large cavalry two hours ago."
Passing by here in the morning, according to the intelligence obtained, Zhang Fei has a thousand cavalry under his command. If he had not rested for two hours, he would have reached Handan by now.
I just heard that Zhang Fei's cavalry are all heavily armored cavalry. They are not as good as infantry when traveling long distances. They should not be able to go very far.
Looking at the hills in the distance, Hua Xiong thought to himself, it seems that it won't be long before he can catch up.
As a general of the Xiliang Army, Hua Xiong's status in the Xiliang Army is not high. At present, he can only be said to be a middle-level military general. His status is equivalent to that of Sima Mengzhen, the vanguard army when Lu Zhi went to the Yellow Turbans.
On Hua Xiong's head, there are also Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Ji, Fan Chou, Li Meng, Wang Fang, Xu Rong, Duan Xuan, Hu Zhen and Niu Fu, etc. These talents are the senior generals of the Xiliang Army.
This time when chasing Chen Mu, Hua Xiong also had to obey Xu Rong's orders.
Xu Rong followed closely with 5,000 infantry, and Hua Xiong's 2,000 light cavalry followed day and night. Following the emperor's edict, they provided supplies to the counties along the way, and their marching speed was much faster than Chen Mu's.
Information transmission was indeed underdeveloped in ancient times, but when large numbers of people traveled long distances, there was one thing they couldn't avoid, and that was supplies along the way.
A person will get tired sitting on a horse, and a horse will get tired after running for an hour or two. It not only needs to rest but also eats. In terms of endurance, even the best northern horses still cannot compete with humans and oxen.
Comparison of creatures with great endurance.
Therefore, no one can really hide in the wilderness. They must go to the county town to buy supplies. If they walk and rest along the way, the speed will be even slower.
Zhang Fei led a thousand mysterious heavy cavalry, and their daily marching speed was actually not much faster than the infantry.
Not to mention that the heavy armored cavalry troops themselves are not good at long-distance attacks, but his so-called thousand mysterious armored heavy cavalry is actually a large team of four thousand people.
A thousand heavy cavalry must be arranged with three thousand auxiliary troops. Ox carts and horse carts are used along the way to escort supplies, transport iron armor, grain and grass. The traveling speed is about seventy or eighty miles per day, which is about thirty kilometers when converted into kilometers.
For example, before they traveled from Huai County to Yecheng, the distance was only more than 300 miles, about 120 kilometers, and it took them four or five days. In modern times, it would only take half an hour by high-speed rail.
However, this could actually be regarded as Chen Mu deliberately delaying the march route, because the ancient infantry's marching speed limit was far more than seventy or eighty miles a day.
It can be called a march miracle in the history of our army, not to mention the legendary deeds of 120 kilometers in one day and night. In the Western Han Dynasty, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty fought against the Xiongnu, the border to Chang'an was more than 300 miles, and the infantry could reach it in three days, which was also an average
A marching speed of seventy or eighty kilometers per day.
Therefore, Chen Mu's march here can be regarded as advancing at a normal speed. On the contrary, the light cavalry led by Hua Xiong, although they had supplies along the way and could get enough rest in various counties, they rushed five to six hundred miles in a few days, which was considered a rapid march.
Except for the horses, every soldier gasped for breath and led his horses to the bank of the river beach, letting them drink water and rest for a while, and occasionally eat some grass to recuperate their tired bodies.
Hua Xiong also got off his horse and stroked the Xiliang horse given by Dong Gong. He was just stroking it out of habit, but he felt wet sweat on his hand between the mane.
Only then did he realize that his horse was too tired, so he led the horse to the river and let it drink from the river. When the horse lowered its head to drink, Hua Xiong turned to ask the scouts beside him: "What if we get to Handan?"
, how many miles are left?”
"About forty or fifty miles."
"It's noon now. If everything goes well, we should have no problem reaching Yiyang before dark."
"But general, what if they don't go to Yiyang, but directly cross the Ming River from Guangnian, sleeping in the open air along the way, and head north to Xiangguo?"
The scout took out the map, pointed at the markings on the map and said.
Hua Xiong looked at the map and saw that there were several large rivers in Jizhou that could not be bypassed from Luoyang to the north. Each of the Zhangshui, Mingshui, Fushui and Waishui crossed Hebei. There were only a few places where there were bridges for large troops to pass.
.
Therefore, the roads are fixed. Unless Zhang Fei's cavalry can fly, they can only use those bridges to cross these large rivers.
The only thing that is not fixed is whether the opposite side will not stop at all and continue north.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Because rivers such as Mingshui and Waishui also have many bridges, such as Xiangguo, which was later Xingtai City. Although there is no county seat in the upper reaches of Waishui in the south, there is a Suren Pavilion
, the water section here is very shallow, and sheep can swim across the river during the dry season.
There are also bridges across the Waishui River in Nanhe County and Ren County. If Chen Mu and Zhang Fei marched all night and did not stop in Yiyang, but went directly to Su Renting or other two counties, they might lose them and they would not know which way the enemy took.
the way.
So Hua Xiong pondered for a moment and said, "Then we have to work harder and catch up with them as soon as possible."
After resting for a quarter of an hour, Hua Xiong called on the soldiers to mount their horses and continue the pursuit.
They are light cavalry, while the enemy is heavy cavalry plus infantry, and their speed is much slower than them. As long as they intercept the enemy when they enter Waishui, there is still a chance to keep them in Zhao or Julu.
The cavalrymen who were lying or sitting got up one after another, shouted to mount their horses one by one, and returned to the official road again, heading north along the official road, leaving Mingshui towards Handan.
The cavalry started off with a roar, and thousands of horses' hooves beat on the ground, making a sound like rolling thunder.
The road winds along the jungle and mountains. The rammed earth road is in disrepair and is very bumpy. Moreover, Jizhou is now prosperous again. There are people coming and going on the road, and the cavalry's marching speed is not particularly fast.
There are rolling hills on both sides and countless wild grasses. After passing Liangyin Township, there are endless fields in the distance. Except for a few hills, there is endless plains.
Along the way, Hua Xiong looked for passers-by from time to time to ask about the situation, and the answers he received were that he had seen a large group of soldiers heading north two or three hours ago.
After hearing the news, Hua Xiong was refreshed and accelerated his pursuit.
But as they chased after them, they gradually deviated from the official road and headed toward the northwest of the Taihang Mountains. Villagers from the south of Handan said that the cavalry team did not go to Handan, but went to the west.
Direction to Wu'an.
Although he was surprised that Chen Mu and Zhang Fei had to take the rugged mountain road from Wu'an County instead of taking the broad road, Hua Xiong thought that Chen Mu was planning to take a small road back to Puyin, so he followed him to the west.
Half an hour later, the cavalry arrived at a sparsely populated hilly area with forested mountains and dense vegetation on both sides, making it look like a land of high mountains and lofty mountains.
Wu'an people should know that the further west you go, the more mountains and forests there will be. Because this area belongs to the southern chain of the Taihang Mountains and is full of mountains.
Especially during the Han Dynasty, except for Wu'an County, the area to the north and west for hundreds of kilometers was deserted and covered with rolling mountains. Except for the roads from Wu'an to the east to Yiyang or north to Xiangguo,
, there are no roads in other places.
Hua Xiong came here and looked around. He was wondering why Chen Mu ran into the mountains. At the end of the road ahead, at the corner between the valleys on both sides, he suddenly saw a horse grazing on the ground. Look carefully.
At first glance, I saw a strong man wearing a sun hat leaning under a tree beside the road, enjoying the coolness leisurely.
As if he heard the sound of galloping horses, the strong man took off his hat, glanced over there unhappily, and muttered something about why he came here. Then he stood up like a tiger, taking three steps and two steps at a time.
He grabbed the eight-foot-long steel spear stuck in the ground, got on the horse, reined in the horse and headed in the direction of Hua Xiong.
"Who are you?"
Hua Xiong saw him walking towards him without fear, one man on horseback and one spear on his back. As if seeing the large group of cavalry behind him as nothing, Hua Xiong felt wary in his heart.
Zhang Fei rode to a distance of thirty feet and grinned: "I am Zhang Fei from Yan!"
The sound was like thunder, causing the galloping horses to retreat in fright.
Is it Zhang Fei?
Hua Xiong narrowed his eyes. He had long heard that Zhang Fei was brave enough that no one would be worthy of him. Now that he saw him today, although he was brave, he didn't know if he could be brave enough that no one could be worthy of him.
"General, if Zhang Fei is here, his thousand profound armored heavy cavalry must also be here, be careful of ambush!"
The deputy general beside him reminded.
Hua Xiong nodded: "I know, you just need to rest where you are until I come forward to fight Zhang Fei. If something goes wrong, leave immediately."
Although they have two thousand light cavalry, the light cavalry cannot compete with the heavy cavalry. They have also been trekking for half an hour, and their horsepower has not yet recovered. Entering combat mode at this time is very big for the horses.
Therefore, Hua Xiong was not reckless and did not immediately order an attack.
But seeing Zhang Fei and Zhang Yide, who were famous for stabbing the eunuch Zhang Rang to death with a spear, in front of him, Hua Xiong, who already relied on his martial arts skills, still wanted to go up and try his luck. In his opinion, it was really not possible, so he turned around
When it comes to running first, a light rider will always run faster than a heavy rider.
"Who dares to come up and die?"
Zhang Fei suddenly launched a war roar and roared again. The leaves in the surrounding valleys fell rustling. Many people were shocked by the reverberating sound waves and their scalps were numb. They couldn't help but cover their ears.