Chapter 807: Capturing the Thief
At first, in order to attract the attention of Wei Jun in Jingyang and Linjing, Guan Ji specially asked people from the engineering battalion to smash the city for several days.
The wall of Wushi City facing Xiaoguan has only been cleared away from the original stones and mud. There is no time to repair it now.
So Cao Zhen did not go to Xiaoguan, but went north to the Jingshui River and followed the Jingshui River directly to the southeast. Even if Feng Yong deployed a garrison here, there was no chance to resist.
In this case, the army of Xiaowei Mansion will be completely blocked in Anding.
Unless Feng Yong can break through Cao Zhen's army before Xian Yufu comes from behind to make his own dumplings.
Otherwise, he could only lead the army south along the Jing River again, then turn north, return to Jingyang, and finally go to Yuezhi City.
Then we go over mountains and rivers from Yuezhi City, exit the Great Wall in the north, and enter the desert.
At that time, I hope that I can have the luck of Huo Qiqi and find all the way to Helan Mountain, and then find the road back to Longyou from there.
But this time, Feng Yong's luck was not too bad. When he led the army and rushed all the way to Wushi City, he found that the time here was quiet and peaceful.
Let alone the Wei army, not even the Wei army sentries have been here.
Before arriving at Wushi City, I hoped that Cao Zhen would not arrive here so soon.
But when Cao Zhenzhen didn't come here to block him, Feng Yong became a little hesitant again.
While reorganizing his army in Wushi City, he sent out sentries to Xiaoguan.
On the other hand, Guan Ji was able to let go of her worries a little.
"It seems that Cao Zhen is really as expected. His original intention is not to plot against the king, but to raid Longyou."
Although the previous guesses are extremely confident, at least half of them are to appease everyone.
Now that she saw that Cao Zhen was as expected, Guan Ji breathed a sigh of relief.
Feng Yong was still a little worried. He asked with some doubts: "If it were me, I would turn back first and cooperate with Xian Yufu to eat up Anding's army, and at the same time regain Anding."
"Cao Zhen's current move has given us more room to maneuver. Why?"
Guan Ji held a long whip in her hand and pointed at the position of Xiao Pass on the sand table: "Because he has a big appetite. He wants to capture Xiao Pass and also want to eat us."
"And his original intention was to raid Longyou, but now he is forced to go north. He wants to at least capture Xiao Pass as a backup plan."
Xiaoguan is the only pass east of Longyou Mountain for the Han Dynasty.
It is also a nail wedged into Guanzhong by the big man, stimulating the nerves in Guanzhong all the time.
There are Xiao Pass in the north and Long Pass in the south. As long as the Han Dynasty has these two passes, they can cooperate with each other at any time to attack Qixian County.
On the other hand, if Cao Zhen captured Xiao Pass, it would be equivalent to closing a door for the Han to enter the pass.
At that time, Cao Zhen can concentrate on defending Qian County and preventing the Han from entering Guanzhong from Long Pass.
“As long as Xiao Pass is captured, stability can be achieved without a fight.”
Guan Ji is becoming more and more like a general. At least in this battle, she can completely take Cao Zhen's thoughts into consideration.
“He has exposed himself in advance now, so the time left for him to attack Xiao Pass is shorter than expected. He must seize the time to prepare to attack Xiao Pass.”
“Otherwise, when the prime minister of Hanzhong reacts and sends reinforcements to Longyou, his plan will be in vain.”
Guan Ji drew a circle around Xiaoguan, "Looking at Anping, the only place that can accommodate a hundred thousand troops to fight is the Xiaoguan area."
Anding was the intersection area of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia in later generations. There was a very famous term in later generations called the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and most of Anding County was included in it.
The terrain here is undulating, with many mountains and ravines, and little flat land, which is not conducive to the deployment of large armies.
When Feng Yong led his army out of Xiaoguan, he and Guan Ji's troops separated into two groups. In fact, there were also terrain reasons.
There is no exact data yet on how many people Cao Zhen brought over.
But if he really deliberately planned to raid Longyou, then at least more than 50,000 people would be needed.
Because there are 50,000 regular Han troops in Longyou.
“If Cao Zhen marches eastward to Wushi City first, then his army will not be able to deploy in the Jingshui River Valley, which is equivalent to giving up his advantage.”
“So he must be pretending to attack Xiaoguan at this time, forcing us to go to rescue Xiaoguan, and at the same time, he is preparing for a decisive battle with us on the flat ground under Xiaoguan.”
Fortunately, when Guan Ji said she wanted to stay in Pingxiang, she didn't agree. She must be pulled out!
Feng Junhou was extremely happy.
He looked at the large flat land east of Xiaoguan on the sand table and finally smiled:
“A decisive battle on the ground? This is a good method!”
At this point, he nodded heavily:
"If he wants to fight, then fight! Cao Zhen doesn't have enough time, and we don't have enough time either. Otherwise, everything will stop when Xianyufu comes from behind!"
Cao Zhen was anxious, and Feng Yong was also anxious.
After all, no one knows how long those wallflowers in Linjing City can block Xian Yufu.
“I’m sending you the order to rest in Wushi City for a day and set out for Xiaoguan tomorrow!”
“No!”
The crowd will respond with great joy.
“Erlang, you stay.”
Zhao Guang didn't understand why his brother would leave him alone and call him "Erlang" in front of everyone in the army.
“Brother, what’s the matter?”
Feng Yong sat down on the commander's seat a little tiredly, pointed to the seat below, and said, "Sit down first."
Seeing his brother's appearance, Zhao Guang knew that something important was going on.
He sat down with some anxiety and looked at his brother.
Feng Yong said slowly, "In this battle, the armored horse in your hand is the most important thing. At this time, try not to have any problems with any of the horses."
Zhao Guang was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "I understand."
Feng Yong smiled, raised his head, and said something off-topic:
“Think about the sixth year of Jianxing, when I first fought against Cao Cao’s thieves, I met the New Fifth Army led by Zhang He. I heard that there were also veterans of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry at that time.”
“When I was pacifying Jincheng, I met Liangzhou cavalry again. I have already met two of the three strongest cavalrymen in Wei.”
"The remaining one is the Hebei cavalry that has not been seen yet. After the Battle of Longyou, Cao Rui transferred many soldiers from Hebei."
"So I think Cao Zhen should have a lot of Hebei cavalry in his hands at this time."
Feng Yong said this and looked at Zhao Guang, "In the first two times, I didn't have cavalry in my hands, so I could only use Mo Dao to deal with them."
"Now I not only have the Mo Dao, but also the cavalry battalion that I have painstakingly built. Therefore, I want to fulfill my wish and defeat all the cavalry in Wei. Erlang, are you willing to help me?"
Even though his brother’s tone was calm, Zhao Guang’s blood boiled with excitement. He stood up suddenly:
“Without his elder brother, Zhao Guang would not be what he is today. In the past, Zhao Guang always relied on his elder brother, but today Zhao Guang can charge into battle for his elder brother, and he will not regret it even after nine deaths!”
Feng Yong shook his head and stretched out his hand as a gesture of comfort: "It's unlucky to be immortal. All you need to do is help me defeat the cavalry in Cao Zhen's hands. Do you understand?"
Two days later, in the Wei army camp under Xiaoguan City.
“Report! Report to Grand Sima, there are Shu captives under the banner of Feng appearing in the southeast!”
Cao Zhen, who was inspecting the preparations for attacking Xiaoguan, heard this, and a smile appeared on his face after the plan succeeded:
“Has this Thief Feng finally arrived at your door?”
"I originally thought it would take at least two days for him to arrive, but I didn't expect him to arrive so quickly. The rumors that this thief is good at leading troops to attack are true."
Guo Huai, who followed Cao Zhen, smiled and said:
“From the general’s perspective, Thief Feng is probably not leading a surprise attack this time. He is leading his troops to die!”
Guo Huai was almost left in Longyou back then, but he relied on the Hu tribes he had supported a few years ago. It also happened to be a severe drought at that time and the Wei River bottomed out, so he was able to escape back to Guanzhong along the Wei River.
The escape from the Longyou Battle really made him embarrassed.
Moreover, I heard afterwards that the Hu tribes who supported him were uprooted by Feng Thief.
Therefore, Guo Huai also deeply hated Feng Yong.
After waiting for a long time, I finally waited until today.
Although it may take a few days to avenge Longyou, it does not prevent him from making fun of him at this time to vent his anger a little.
The people around him laughed when they heard this.
Cao Zhen, on the other hand, after laughing, said:
"The army led by Feng Thief is the elite of the Shu captives. I heard that this man is cunning and vicious, and he is good at using soldiers. We should not underestimate him."
"Fortunately, this thief was too careless this time and dared to go deep into the pass alone. If we can get rid of this thief this time, it will be a great harm to the Wei Dynasty."
Shu captured Zhuge Liang, who was good at governing the people, which already made the Wei Dynasty quite afraid.
I never thought that a few years ago, there would be a Feng thief who was not only good at making money, but also good at running the army.
In recent years, the Shu captives have no longer returned to the decline after the Yiling War, but have become more and more prosperous, which is really depressing.
If we can get rid of Feng Thief and his elite soldiers this time, the Shu captives will lose one of their arms.
"Da Sima cleverly used a clever plan to wait for work, and allowed the Wei soldiers to take the opportunity to recharge their batteries. On the other hand, Feng Thief's retreat was cut off, and the morale of the army was definitely unstable."
"He was forced to come in a hurry by the Great Sima again. The division is tired and the army is old, and the number of soldiers is small. In this battle, the Great Sima will definitely be able to defeat the Shu captives and capture the Feng thieves!"
Qin Lang, who was originally sent to Qian County by Cao Rui, had been with the emperor for a long time and had learned the art of observing colors.
At this time, he saw that although Cao Zhen was urging everyone to be careful, his face looked proud. How could he not know what Cao Zhen was really thinking?
When Cao Zhen heard this, he couldn't help stroking his beard with his hands and smiling. It was obvious that these words deeply touched his heart.
“Have the siege equipment been properly prepared?”
“It’s time to return to Da Sima.”
Hearing this, Cao Zhen nodded: "Very good! If you want to defeat Xiao Pass, you must defeat Feng Thief first. Feng Yong is coming in a hurry, and I can't let him recover his strength."
“Pass my order, march tomorrow, defeat the Shu captives, and capture the Feng thief!”
“Destroy the Shu captives and capture the Feng thief!”
While Feng Yong and Cao Zhen were confronting each other at the foot of Xiaoguan City, there was a sudden movement in a patch of green grass on the hilltop east of the Middle Road.
Then several figures stood up. They were wearing grayish-green clothes, and even their faces were painted with some kind of dark green color.
Even if he stood up, if he hadn't been staring at the grass, he wouldn't have been able to see anyone standing there.
Those weird characters each made a gesture, and then slowly retreated into the mountains.
In an unknown valley, an army is staying there quietly.
"Report to the general, except for the occasional Wei army cavalry passing by, there will be no one else outside for the rest of the time."
The captain of the Dark Night Battalion reported to Huo Ge immediately after returning from reconnaissance.
Huo Ge nodded with an ugly face: "I understand."
After the people from the Dark Night Camp retreated, Huo Ge looked at Shi Bao: "Counselor Shi, where do you think this Cao thief's food team will stop?"
Although Shi Bao said before that he only went to Longchi Mountain specifically to pay homage to strange people.
But Huo Ge led people along and found that he was very familiar with this trail.
He was actually able to lead them out of the mountains as quickly as possible, and then found a secluded hiding place.
Of course, this is not the point. The point is that Huo Ge needs to find a suitable place to stay in the middle road as quickly as possible.
Because it is hundreds of miles (Hanli) from Qixian County to Xiaoguan. This is not a distance that can be covered back and forth in one day.
If it is true that General Guan said that it would take Cao Zhen less than ten days to get from Qixian County to Xiaoguan, then he must have sent the army to move quickly.
If the army is moving in a hurry, the baggage, food and other supplies cannot be so fast, so we can only follow behind and hurry up.
So the first thing I have to do now is to find the Cao thief's baggage team or grain and fodder team on the middle road.
Shi Bao was looking at the calm and disciplined soldiers around him, and was sighing in his heart for Feng Junhou's good military management.
Hearing Huo Ge's question at this time, he subconsciously said: "General Huo, please don't worry, I also know the suitable place to stay on the middle road this time."
“I think back then, in order to be able to smuggle goods... well, I mean, to save some time when transporting goods, and also to explore all the important routes through the customs.”
“Go out of this valley and go north along the water. There is a small village pavilion by the water. In those days, travelers returning to the middle road would stay there.”
"So if I think about it, if the bandit army is transporting food, that place must be a place to stay."
Huo Ge was overjoyed after hearing this: "That's great! I wonder how long it will take to get there from here?"
“It’s only half a day’s journey.”
“Okay! Dark Night Camp!”
“What are your orders, general?”
“Send someone immediately to go sixty miles north along the water to investigate!”
“No!”
Seeing the people in the Dark Night Camp starting to pack up their equipment and set out again, Shi Bao couldn't help but asked with some worry:
"General Huo, these soldiers have come over the mountains, so I'm afraid they're a little tired. In this dark night camp, we've been leading the way to investigate all the way, so I'm afraid they're even more tired."
“It’s only two and a half hours until dark now, and it would take a day and a half for others to come and go. Will this dark night camp..."
Huo Ge shook his head: "Commander Shi, please rest assured. The people in the Dark Night Camp are the elites led by the king. Others can say they are tired, but they cannot."
Hearing this, Shi Bao looked at the soldiers around him and couldn't help but sigh.
The people in the Dark Night Camp were wearing clothes that even Shi Bao, who had traveled a lot, had never seen before.
Not to mention that the dry food these soldiers eat now is actually mixed with brown sugar, which is coveted by the wealthy families of Anding.
After one bite, it is so delicious that people want to eat it again.
This kind of delicacies were used by Feng Junhou to supply the army's sergeants and soldiers.
(End of this chapter)