Chapter 1003 Crossing the River
About thirty miles west of Wuzhangyuan, there is a stream that flows into the Wei River from the Qinling Mountains, called Fengxi.
Compared to the Weishui River, Fengxi is not too big, but it is very famous.
Because there is a stone platform in this stream, it is called Diaoyutai.
It is said that this platform was where Jiang Taigong, who assisted the Zhou Dynasty in destroying the Shang Dynasty and settled the Zhou Dynasty for 800 years, fished.
The Wei River reaches here and turns a corner to the south, but the Qinling Mountains extend a section of its veins to the north.
The flat land between the remaining Qinling Mountains and the Wei River is less than five miles, which is the narrowest part of this area.
Not far to the east of Diaoyutai, there is a grain storage ground for the Han army.
So after Wu Ban led the army to Diaoyutai, he stationed here, firstly to protect the place where grain was collected, and secondly, to rely on the terrain to block Qin Lang.
On the second day after Wu Ban set up camp, the scouts sent to the front to investigate the situation had already dealt with the Wei army's scouts.
Before the Battle of Xiaoguan, the scouts of the Wei State had a strong psychological advantage against the scouts of the Shu State and the Wu State.
Because the great Wei cavalry is the best in the world, this is the confidence of Wei cavalry.
After the Battle of Xiaoguan, the Kingdom of Shu seemed to have a powerful cavalry army overnight.
And it’s so powerful that the world has never seen before.
This battle completely changed the psychology of the soldiers of Shu and Wei.
Especially those soldiers like Qin Lang who had faced the charge of the cavalry, truly understood how terrifying the ghost cavalry was as if summoned from the underworld.
So this time, he led the army into Wuzhangyuan and was cautious all the way.
When he learned that there was a Shu army ahead, he immediately ordered the entire army to stop and at the same time sent a large number of scouts to investigate.
“Peng!”
An arrow flew past not far from the Wei Jun scout with a sharp sound of breaking through the air. The Wei Jun scout on horseback shook his body subconsciously and cursed in a low voice.
Looking up, the Han scout in front was hanging the crossbow on his horse, and at the same time taking out the special soft bow for the horse, his movements were easy and smooth.
In the past, Wei's scouts could make a judgment at once. The other party had at least ten years of elite equestrian scouts.
But it’s different now.
The Shu Lu's Army is popular as a horse pedal.
It allows cavalrymen who have only learned riding skills for one or two years to perform actions that only ten-year-old cavalrymen could do before.
“This is not the work of the Son of Man!”
The Wei scout cursed in a low voice.
Shu captives like to make things that are hard to guard against - whether it's a crossbow or a stirrup.
It's simply impossible to win without force.
He spurred his horse and ran a few steps away. He was sure that there were still people ambushing the opponent.
Just like there are companions behind you.
Acting alone may seem heroic, but it is a foolish act.
The Wei scout walked around twice and made a provocative move toward the opposite side.
The Han army scout seemed to be unable to bear it anymore and rushed forward a few steps.
Just when the Wei scout thought that the other side was about to be fooled, the Han scout laughed strangely.
Instead, he fastened the soft bow to his waist, and then picked up the crossbow again. He actually used his feet to help, trying to load the crossbow again on horseback.
The Wei scout couldn't help but cursed loudly, then hit his horse and ran away.
Every time you encounter the Han army, you will receive one more round of crossbow arrows than the opponent, which is already very uncomfortable.
Now that the other party is making such a difficult move, it's hard to say if it doesn't work, but if it really does happen, it will only make you feel more uncomfortable.
Since you can’t get any advantage, you might as well leave.
The maniacal laughter of the Han army scouts came from behind.
This is just a microcosm of the scouts from both sides looking for information.
But when the two armies were facing each other, Qin Lang became a little worried:
“We haven’t found out how many Shu captives there are on the other side?”
"Yes, not only did the Shulu sent out a large number of scouts, but those scouts looked different from the previous Shulu scouts."
“What’s the difference?”
“Horses, weapons, etc., are all of the best, beyond what ordinary scouts can match.”
When Qin Lang heard this, he was subconsciously excited:
“The best choice? How good is it?”
The most elite group of people in the army, and the scouts must be among them.
Scouts may not represent the overall level of an army, but they can give a glimpse into the level of the elite of the army.
Before the scouts could find out more information, Qin Lang decisively ordered the camp to be set up.
“General, Da Sima asked us to come and attack the Shu captives. If we haven’t seen the enemy camp, wouldn’t it be bad to be so... uh, cautious?”
"There's nothing wrong with it." Qin Lang looked calm, "There are more soldiers than thieves in the army, so we still need to be cautious. How many people do we have?"
"If you act rashly and give the thieves a chance to break the situation in the pass, you will die without redemption."
The biggest advantage of Qin Lang is that he has always been very clear about his position, sticks to his duties and does not try to steal the limelight.
This is also an important reason why Qin Lang, both adopted sons of Cao Cao, was reused by Cao Rui, but He Yan was despised.
Da Sima's hundreds of thousands of troops were unable to do anything to Zhuge Liang. Qin Lang didn't think that the less than 40,000 soldiers he had on hand could change the situation in Guanzhong.
After all, since Sima Yi was able to hold off Zhuge Liang for so long with his martial arts water and the Weishui River.
Then Zhuge Liang can also do the opposite, using the Wei River and Wugong Water to block Sima Yi, and then secretly mobilize his army to turn around and deal with him.
In his opinion, sending Deng Ai and forcing back the Shu army was the only successful achievement of the Wei Dynasty since the war in Guanzhong began.
So even if the war situation is so corrupt now, no one can blame him.
As one of the people Cao Rui trusts most, Qin Lang knows one thing very well:
If the Battle of Guanzhong is fought like this, someone will definitely be unlucky later.
The more you don’t want to be the unlucky person, the more careful you must be to make sure you don’t make any mistakes, so as not to miss the mark.
With this in mind, after Qin Lang ordered the entire army to set up camp, he immediately ordered people to dig trenches, erect ramparts, lay deer antlers, and erect arrow towers...
Wei Jun's abnormal actions not only made Wu Ban confused about the opponent's thoughts, but Guan Xing and Zhang Bao were also a little unable to restrain themselves.
It’s just that the number of troops on our side is at most half that of the thieves, and before the war, the prime minister repeatedly warned not to advance rashly.
So after the three people discussed it, they sent out scouts to investigate the enemy's situation and quickly sent the situation to Wuzhangyuan.
After receiving the military report, Zhuge Liang smiled and said:
"Qin Lang seems to be attacking but actually defending, but this is timid. There is no need to worry about the east!"
At that moment, the three men of Wu Ban were asked to just guard Weinan and not to advance lightly. Then they sent someone to deliver a message to Sima Yi, asking only when the decisive battle would be.
Sima Yi wrote back and said that his side was not ready yet and had to wait for two more days.
Zhuge Liang was suspicious, so he sent out men and horses to try to cross the martial arts water.
Sima Yi reacted very quickly and repeated his tactics. He tried his best to block the place where the Han army crossed eastward.
This made Zhuge Liang more and more suspicious.
It's just that the opponent's strength is at least twice that of our own, and it also has a defensive location.
No matter how much the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty suspected that Sima Yi was stalling for time, he was still helpless.
Before Sima Yi could set the date for the decisive battle, an autumn rain began to fall again.
If we say that the rain in summer often pours down, the clouds will stop raining within two or three days at most.
Then the autumn rain is continuous, not to mention two or three days in a row, even five or ten days, which is not a common thing.
This is still at the foot of the Qinling Mountains.
If you are in the Qinling Mountains, it is not impossible to have a month of autumn rain.
Just when the prime minister was looking at the misty autumn rain and feeling a little depressed, a small boat came from the east bank. Sima Yi sent a messenger again and sent a letter: The battle will begin after the rain.
After receiving this news, Zhuge Liang did not show his face.
According to the descriptions of local natives and my own experience, this kind of autumn rain may not slow down for five or six days.
In this case, the martial arts water will definitely rise again. If the battle is to begin after the rain, the martial arts water must be crossed before the battle can be fought.
Even if Sima Yi was kind enough to let him cross the water safely, would he dare to let the Han soldiers cross the water while the martial arts water surged?
If we put it off like this, it will take at least ten days.
Thinking of this, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty couldn't help but "tsk".
Compared to the continuous autumn rain in Wuzhangyuan, the autumn rain in Hedong and Hexi is much lighter. It only rained for two days in a row, and then the clouds stopped and the rain stopped.
Even so, Xian Yufu, who was stationed in Hexi, breathed a sigh of relief.
This time I finally made the right bet.
It seems that Feng Thief is leading his army south, intending to cross the river from Fengling and attack Tongguan, but in fact he wants to mobilize the defenders in Hexi and expose the flaws in the defense.
In the past few days, the thieves on the other side have tried to force the crossing several times. Fortunately, he personally led the army to defend Pubanjin and repelled the thieves' attack.
As for the news coming from Tongguan, Feng Thief made a big deal out of it from the beginning, saying that he wanted to build a raft to cross the river, but in fact, he has not actually crossed the river until now.
This made Xian Yufu further confirm his idea.
After this autumn rain, the river water has swelled a lot, making it easier to defend.
At the same time, he was a little happy:
Fortunately, there are Shu captives on the other side, not Wu bandits. Most of Feng Thief's men are from Xiliang. They may be unparalleled in land battles, but they are weak in water battles.
There are many people on the other side, but every time they cross the river, there is always chaos. They are often forced to retreat halfway across the river, which is not something to be afraid of.
The autumn rain had just stopped, and the Shu captives on the other side seemed to have no intention of crossing the river. After Xian Yufu inspected various places, he felt that he could sleep peacefully tonight.
On the second day, when the sky was just getting dark, a huge noise suddenly sounded on the east bank of the river, wow!
A huge raft was lowered into the water, then a second, then a third...
Yang Wanwan personally tied sheepskin bladders on both sides of his horse. There was no bow, no crossbow, and not even the most basic leather armor on the horse.
As for Yang Wanwan himself, he was only wearing a piece of leather armor, but this leather armor was silk leather.
It is made by the best cobbler in Xiliang.
Although it is a bit inferior to real iron armor, it is better than the light weight.
The most important thing is that it does not sink when exposed to water and helps to float on the water.
Zhao Guang came over and helped Yang Qian tie up the hemp rope with his own hands. He said with some envy:
“Wei Ran, if you successfully cross the river this time, you will be the first to achieve success.”
Yang Wanwan took the spear handed over by Zhao Guang, his face seemed to be happy or worried, and he glanced at the foggy water.
Compared to the past, I could see the clearness on the other side at a glance. At this time, the sky was not clear, and it was after the autumn rain, so the fog was extremely heavy.
Not to mention being able to see the other side, even the center of the river cannot be seen.
Yang Qianwan took out a breath, turned his head, and whispered to Zhao Guang:
“Yiwen, if we can successfully cross the water this time, there will be nothing to say. I will not embarrass our Xinghan Association.”
"If anything happens to me, I hope you can tell your brother that I can take care of my wives, concubines, and children left in the clan."
Having seen a lot of life and death before the battle, the two of them didn't have any taboos about whether they should die or not.
Zhao Guang patted his chest:
"Even if I don't need to say more, when has brother ever treated his brother badly? Is the Xinghan Meeting just a show-off? Don't worry!"
"If you are worried about your wife and children, I will go and tell General Guan that I am willing to cross the river for you."
Hearing this, Yang Qianwan quickly waved his hand:
“It won’t happen, it won’t happen!”
“I have followed my brother for so long, and it’s so hard to get this opportunity as a pioneer. How can I give it to you?”
“Besides, you still need to lead the cavalry battalion. I’ll cross the river, and it’s your turn to take the field later.”
As he spoke, he glanced not far away.
But I saw General Guan riding a war horse and stationed on the shore, standing upright like a statue carved in stone.
The battle flag behind him whirred against the strong wind blowing from the river.
Judging from the news coming from Pubanjin, the main force of the Wei thieves is still guarding Pubanjin.
The other side seems to have seen through the monarch's plan to seize the opportunity to attack the east and attack the west.
But in fact, it was a feint for the monarch to go to Fenglingdu, but Pu Banjin's massive offensive was also a feint.
General Guan had already quietly sneaked back to Linfen and took over the reinforcements brought by the prince.
Then he saw the opportunity and led the rested army southward along the Fen River to Longmen Ferry.
Autumn rain seems to have made it more difficult to cross the river, but it also paralyzed the defenders on the other side.
Coupled with this heavy fog, it created a rare opportunity for crossing the river.
General Guan took advantage of this rare opportunity and made a decisive decision to cross the river immediately.
Wei Guo only focused on the weaknesses of its defense, and its fatal flaw was finally exposed at this time.
Even not counting Fenglingdu and only counting the distance between Pubanjin and Longmendu, it is still about three hundred miles.
Xian Yufu's separate attacks and cooperation against General Shangguan and Feng Junhou, coupled with the cooperation of Liu Hun, Zhao Guang and others, it would be a miracle if he could hold it, and it would be normal if he couldn't hold it.
“Water scouts, enter the water first!”
A dozen soldiers with excellent water skills crossed the mudflat and plunged into the vast yellow water.
They were scattered across the river a mile wide, among the rolling mud waves,
Gradually, their figures disappeared into the heavy fog, and nothing could be seen.
Just as the people on the bank stood on tiptoe and stretched their necks, anxiously waiting for the news, a sharp whistle suddenly came from the river.
“Two long and two short, the water is more turbulent than before, but it can be crossed.”
“Cross the river!”
The Han soldiers who had been waiting on the shore for a long time, after receiving the military order, began to lead the war horses into the river. The sheepskin airbags on the horses' backs immediately floated, helping the war horses swim towards the other bank.
The infantry stepped onto the raft one after another and began to row towards the opposite side.
Before and after Yang Wanwan, there was a bodyguard each, not just them, but others as well. The three of them formed a swimming group.
Thirty groups advanced side by side, and the river began to become lively. The sounds of horses and shouts kept coming, and people on the bank were frightened.
Seeing that the first row had pulled away some distance, General Guan immediately ordered:
"The second column!"
“Wow!”
The second batch of war horses began to enter the river.
Using sheepskins to cross the river was originally a method of crossing the river in the Hexi area. In addition, Feng Junhou planned and acted carefully. The horses and soldiers who entered the water were carefully selected.
As long as you follow the previous training, there will basically not be any big problems.
The Wei army guarding the west bank heard a whistle suddenly sounded from the river, and couldn't help but look at the river with some vigilance.
It’s just that the surface of the river is still hazy, and you can’t see anything clearly.
The companion yawned and asked vaguely:
"What's wrong?"
“Did you hear something sounding on the river?”
The companion laughed, "Are you confused because of the night watch? Isn't the river making noise every day?"
As he spoke, he muttered again: "Why hasn't the successor come yet? I'm almost exhausted..."
“The sound of a horse?”
"Um?"
“That’s the sound of a horse!”
In the heavy fog on the river, a dark crowd suddenly appeared, and there were horse heads floating in the waves...
The sound of horses braying is what they make.
“Enemy attack!”
A shrill voice rang out.
(End of this chapter)