In early summer, a heavy rain last night washed the valley fresh and made the trees green.
Walking along the Mingshui River, the hydrangeas, camellias, basils, mulberries, roses, and flowers on the roadside are scattered and colorful. The afternoon sun shines down, and spots are reflected from the shade of the trees.
If in the past, peasants working in the fields, merchants and hawkers doing business, driving ox carts and carriages, went for outings outside the city, wealthy people would have been constantly coming and going.
But nowadays, the world is in turmoil. If it is Changshan Zhongshan in the north of Jizhou, it is still somewhat popular. But in the Yellow Turban disaster-stricken area in the middle of Jizhou, it is not an exaggeration to say that there are ten houses and nine empty houses. Not to mention people on the road, even wild dogs
Not many.
In the past few days, when there were the most deaths, the mass graves outside counties in various places were the favorite places for wild dogs. Often, there would be dozens or hundreds of wild dogs wandering around in a mass grave, eating human flesh until their eyes were red.
Wolves are also scary. Occasionally they will find the courage to attack in groups when encountering lone pedestrians.
Liu, Guan, Zhang and Chen were riding horses and walking in front of the team. A long line of soldiers wearing Zha armor, holding spears and swords, and holding general flags lined up and marched slowly along the official road. Although it was early summer, but
The sun is not too hot yet, and there are shade trees on both sides of the road, so it’s not too hard.
As a low-level officer, Liu Bei does not have a flag dedicated to him. To put it simply, he does not deserve to have a flag. He belongs to the Yiqu troops under the command of Tunqi Sima Meng Zhen, and the team number is the Forward Army under the Qianjun.
Holding a banner with the word "Meng" in it, he was at the forefront of the 30,000-strong army.
However, Meng Zhen can be regarded as taking more care of Liu Bei, because Liu Bei's troops suffered heavy losses in the siege of Yiyang, and more than 200 of his elite troops were killed or injured. Although more than 2,000 new troops were added later, they were all newly surrendered prisoners and had far greater combat power.
They were not as good as the veterans Liu Bei carefully selected from Youzhou, so Meng Zhen placed them at the end of the forward army.
Zhang Fei took off the water bag from the left side of the saddle, unscrewed it and gave himself a sip. After a few sips, he burped with pleasure. He handed the water bag to Chen Mu and said, "Fourth brother, you don't take it with you when you go out."
A water bag. I sweat so much on a hot day. Come on, take a few sips."
Chen Mu smiled politely, took the water bag, turned around and covered his face with his wide sleeves, pretending to take a sip, but actually did not drink. The water bag was made of pig bladder, and Zhang Fei drank it with his mouth.
However, as a modern man with a slight mysophobia, he really couldn't muster up the courage to use a pig's bladder to drink water that others had drunk.
After he finished "drinking" the water, Liu Bei was very confused about the order that was suddenly conveyed earlier this morning, and asked Chen Mu: "Fourth brother, you said before that your master would not besiege Guangping, but would send troops to Jize as soon as possible."
.Why did you suddenly say that you are going to attack Quang Binh this time? I don’t quite understand.”
Chen Mu wiped his mouth politely and returned the water bag to Zhang Fei before calmly saying: "It's very simple. I judge that Zhang Jiao will abandon Guangping because Guangping is not easy to defend. If Zhang Jiao is smart, he will definitely
The decisive battle will not be held in Guangping. At most, it will be front-line contact, and the two sides will test each other's strength. Since General Lu sent the cavalry out, he must also know Zhang Jiao's intention, so I think the decisive battle will be at Jize."
"what about now?"
"Now?"
Chen Mu sneered: "Now let's leave it to fate. If you're lucky, you can trap Zhang Jiao. If you're not lucky, just wait for a year and a half."
Liu Bei was shocked and said: "Why did the fight take so long?"
Why else?
Chen Mu knew the reason just by looking at the various officials and celebrities who had come to the city in the past few days.
Since ancient times, the imperial court and various parties have been under pressure to remotely control frontline troops. Not to mention the most famous one, Song Er of the Song Dynasty, whose posthumous title was the Shenggong Shengde Civil and Military Emperor, is another typical example.
It is a huge joke to blindly command a representative figure through a remote control, and then dare to carry out the vigorous Yongxi Northern Expedition with just a formation diagram.
In fact, Chen Mu didn't know the predicament Lu Zhi was facing now, but through some clues, he could also infer that the imperial court and local officials must have been restricting him.
Just like the day before yesterday, the emperor's angel came to give orders, and local officials also surrounded him every day.
With these two clues, Lu Zhi did not go to Jize to set up an ambush, but instead went to besiege Guangping with great fanfare. He could figure out the reason with his fingers.
But of course Chen Mu would not say this to Liu Bei. He just said: "Zhang Jiao attacked the city in Jizhou, burned the government offices everywhere, killed officials, suppressed the imperial soldiers and horses, attacked powerful manors. He gathered a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry, food, grass and luggage. His
Our troops are also well equipped and have sufficient food and grass. Compared with the rabble in the six counties of Henan, if Zhangjiao cannot be defeated in one battle, it will naturally take a long time to fight."
Zhang Fei put down the water bag and said carelessly: "Brother, there is no need to worry. If Zhang Jiao dares to come out to fight, I will stab him in the intestines with a spear and take out his heart and liver to drink."
Liu Bei knew that Zhang Fei was joking and smiled: "I'm just afraid that Zhang Jiao won't come out."
Guan Yu's narrow red phoenix eyes narrowed slightly and said: "Fourth brother has always had strategies, but do you have a way to defeat Guangping?"
"Guangping is built next to the Ming River. It is easy to break. It is the spring flood, and Guangping is flooded. However, there is a sluice in the city, so a two-pronged approach must be taken. On the one hand, the dam is built, and on the other hand, the city is stormed, so that the enemy has no time to worry about it."
Chen Mu looked at the billowing Mingshui River not far from the official road. The Mingshui River poured into the Bohai Sea from west to east. There was a big sharp turn above Kuzhang. The water flowed rapidly from south to north. When passing by Guangping, it passed by at a fast speed.
A buffer of tens of miles will be slower and can be used to build dikes.
The water is stored like this for several days, and the downstream is blocked before the gate is opened. After the gate is opened, the flood will naturally rush into the city along the Guangping moat channel.
You must know that the ancient moat was not stagnant water, but was dug manually. The water of the Guangping City moat came from the Mingshui River next to it. A canal was dug from the Mingshui River to form a circle, and a canal was also introduced into the west section of the moat to flow into the city.
, to facilitate the people in the city to use water for daily life, so once a flood occurs, Guangping City will be unstoppable.
At the beginning, Chen Mu said that Zhang Jiao had a middle and lower strategy to defeat Lu Zhi, and the middle strategy was water attack.
It's just that if Zhang Jiao also uses water to attack the strategy, then the place to store water cannot be on the upper reaches of Ming River, but can only be on the edge of Guangping City. After all, the outside of the city is occupied by the army, and he cannot do it under the eyes of the army.
Build dikes.
Therefore, even if we can attack with water, the force cannot be too huge. At most, it will be a small torrent that can overwhelm the army's formation and not drown a few people.
But there is no need to drown people, as long as the offensive of the officers and soldiers is stalled and they are in a hurry.
The Yellow Turban Army took advantage of the chaos to counterattack and almost won.
It's just that Zhang Jiao didn't think of this, so now the situation has to be reversed, and the officers and soldiers can use water attacks.
Of course, many things are not as simple as imagined.
The wisdom of the ancients cannot be underestimated. Generally, the water channel leading from the moat has a sluice the size of the city gate, commonly known as the water gate.
"Han Shu·Xunli Zhuan·Zhao Xinchen" records: "The trustworthy ministers visited the water springs in the county, opened ditches, raised water gates and raised water in dozens of places, and irrigated the area." This is what the Han Dynasty people said about the water and springs in the county.
Clever use of water gates.
Normally, water gates and sluices are used to control the amount of water. Once there is a flood, the sluices are closed immediately so that the city will not be flooded.
Therefore, Chen Mu's strategy seems simple, but is more complicated to implement. The enemy must not know that they are storing water. In this way, two-pronged preparations must be made, while attacking the city to attract the enemy's attention, and not allowing them to observe the movements here.
, while storing water and building a pond, waiting for the opportunity to open the gate and release the water.
"Then should I mention it to Master?"
Liu Bei hesitated.
As a low-level officer, he was not qualified to meet the coach, but after all, there was a teacher-student relationship. In ancient times, teachers and students had the same names as father and son, so it was not considered over the line to go to Lu Zhi.
Chen Mu shook his head and said: "That's not necessary. General Lu is not a fool. I know it, and he must know it too. It's just that he has too many concerns."
Many people comment on the counselors of the Eastern Han Dynasty, with Zhuge Liang, Guo Jia, Sima Yi, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Xun Yu, Jia Xu and others first of all. But they don’t know that in these troubled times, wise and resourceful people are like crucian carp crossing the river, as bright as the vast stars.
Lu Zhi can create the famous Fanyang Lu family in the future as a commoner. How can he be a person who has gained fame in vain?
In terms of intelligence alone, he is definitely no worse than many top counselors. It's just that as an official in the government, he can't help himself.
Chatting along the way, Guangnian is only a few dozen miles away from Guangping, and the army will arrive in an instant.
Just after noon, Lu Zhi began to set up camp on a flat ground three miles outside Guangping City. Tens of thousands of troops were busy in an orderly manner.
Zhang Jiao received the news and came to the city gate with his sick body supported.
Flags were fluttering outside the city, and Lu Zhi's army began to cut down the trees outside the city and build trenches, fences, horse barriers and other defense fortifications. Rows of tents were raised, indicating that they were prepared for a long-term war.
Zhang Bao on the side saw this scene and said happily: "Brother, Lu Zhi's army is setting up camp. If we send people out of the city to rob the camp, we will definitely win. I am willing to be the vanguard."
Zhang Jiao shook his head and said: "Second brother, Lu Zhi is very cautious in his military tactics. How could he not take precautions? I guess he must have an ambush."
Qu Shuai Yu Du said: "Good Master, if Lu Zhi has an ambush, just try it first. Why don't you send a force of troops to attack Lu Zhi's camp. If you can attack Lu Zhi's camp, all the troops from behind will come out and kill him by surprise."
.If there is an ambush, retreat quickly and there will be no losses."
"That makes sense."
Zhang Jiao touched the long beard on his chin and agreed: "Zhangba Zuo, Liu Shi, order you two to lead five hundred cavalry out of the city to meet the enemy. Second brother, you and Yu Duzuo Colonel Yang Feng will lead the army and follow the cavalry.
, If the offensive at the front goes well, we will attack in a large scale; if it does not go well, we will coordinate with the two generals Zuo and Liu."
"only!"
Digital Qu Shuai should be at the same time.
Guangping city is small and cannot accommodate too many people. Zhang Jiao only has 30,000 to 40,000 troops in the city, and the rest are scattered in Quzhou, Julu, and Guangzong areas. Therefore, even though he seems to have a large number of troops, he has a large number of troops.
One hundred thousand people are actually scattered in various places and cannot be gathered together.
It was precisely because Guangping could not accommodate so many people that Zhang Jiao thought of retreating to Julu and using the tall city of Julu to concentrate his defense. After all, Jizhou did not produce cavalry, but the official army had cavalry, so a fierce battle in the wild would be defeated.
However, taking advantage of the fact that the army had just arrived outside the city and had not yet established a stable foothold, Zhang Jiao still spent a lot of money and decided to send out only a few hundred cavalry to try his luck and see if he could steal a home.
soon.
The city gates of Guangping were wide open, and two yellow turban generals, Zuo Mouzhangba and Liu Shi, rode out of the city with five hundred cavalry armed with spears and swords.
There are many plains in Jizhou, and cavalry charges on the plains can easily be noticed.
Almost as soon as they made some movement, the Lu Zhijun spy who was sent to investigate discovered the situation and immediately went back to report it.
When Lu Zhi's army learned that the enemy was invading, the commander-in-chief Lu Zhi slapped the table and said coldly: "Well done."
"Where is Meng Zhen!"
"Humble."
Meng Zhen walked out from the array of several mid-level officers.
Because he belonged to the subordinates of Bao Hong, the commander of the Tun Cavalry School, he could only be called "humble", which later evolved into a humble position.
"I order your forward troops to meet the enemy. I promise defeat but not victory."
"only!"
Meng Zhen took the order and left.
"Wu Lan, Bao Hong, Zhongji, Prince Service."
"The end will be here."
Wu Lan Bao Hong's collection of prince uniforms and four senior military officers came out.
They are the junior generals under the main general Lu Zhi and the secondary generals, so they can call themselves so.
"When Meng Zhen's forward troops are defeated and the enemy pursues them, each of you will lead your troops to attack from all sides!"
"only!"
Many generals filed out, each receiving their own orders and preparing to go out to fight.