Compared with Xuzhou and Qingzhou, Yuzhou, as a place in the Central Plains, naturally received more attention in the eyes of the Han court.
For example, the construction of official roads and post stations has obviously increased a lot, especially the area near Yingchuan County, which has always been the focus of infrastructure construction.
There are four roads connecting Yilu and Wuyang. There are three post roads extending from Wuyang, which can go directly to Kunyang in the north, directly into Nanyang County in Jingzhou in the west, and even pass through Dingling and Linzhou in the east.
Ying two cities can reach Xudu City.
It's just that because it is located in a plain area and the city itself is small and has low walls, even if it is of great strategic significance, generally it is not the northern gateway to Yingchuan. Even if it is heavily defended, Kunyang and Ding will basically be considered more.
There are two big cities in the mausoleum.
Gao Lan led his army to Nandun City first, then turned southwest and walked on another official road.
Although the road has not been repaired for some years due to the war and is overgrown with weeds, it does not hinder the cavalry's march.
When there was no cement asphalt in ancient China, the technology was backward. Compared with now, building roads is not simple. The official roads built have certain size requirements. Generally, the dimensions of ancient roads are divided into three types: "rail, step, and foot".
For example, in the Seven Kingdoms during the Warring States Period, because the vehicles in the six kingdoms were of different sizes, the roads built by each country were naturally different according to the carriages and horses.
Until Zulong Hunyiyu, in order to further strengthen centralization, it was required that "books have the same text and vehicles are on the same track", and the distance between the two wheels of the vehicles was unified to six feet, thus further unifying the size of the roads, basically between cities
The official road is required to be about three feet wide. In order to facilitate drainage, it must have roadbeds higher than both sides of the road, as well as beautiful green pines and pavilions for people to rest.
Since Wang Zheng had spoken first, in order to speed up the march, Gao Lan and Yan Ran chose to take the official route as much as possible. However, although Runan is still within Yuan Shu's sphere of influence, in order to avoid possible exploration by Cao Jun, this army basically remains
Staying up all day and coming out at night.
Not long after, they came to a tributary near the Lishui River. At this time, Gao Kanyan and Yan Ran looked at each other and smiled, knowing that they were not far from their destination.
The Lishui River is a tributary of the Yuan River in the Dongting Lake system of the Yangtze River Basin, and the name of Wuyang City is said to have come from the fact that Xia Yu's town was located on the Lishui River (also known as Wushui).
The water in this tributary is not deep, and you can cross it with a skin bag. Guo Jia has told them before that Gao Lan and others were well prepared and soon arrived at the east bank of Lishui River.
Wuyang is not a fortified city. According to Wang Zheng and Guo Jia's previous discussions, after Xiahou Dun captured Kunyang, it is not expected that there will be too many troops stationed here. In order to achieve the strategic goal of defeating the enemy in one battle, the only obstacle is actually
It lies in the Lishui River.
Guo Jia, who was originally from Yingchuan, Yuzhou, gave extremely important opinions in this regard.
His hometown of Yangzhai and Wuyang are not close to each other in the north and south. Ordinary people may not understand it. However, Guo Jia is a talented man with a rare ambition. Even Qingzhou Beihai, which is thousands of miles apart, is treasured by him. The mountains and rivers in Yuzhou,
Naturally, it is even harder not to defeat this genius.
Before Gao Lan and others set off, Guo Jia pointed to the map of Yingchuan and said that if the Heavenly Army wanted to forcefully cross the Lu River, they could first select the deepest places and mark them, and then combine the intelligence to select Cao Jun from them.
Defend the weakest area, this is the first step.
After these words were spoken, everyone was stunned.
When people cross a river, they usually choose a way to cross the river when they reach the river. If the water is shallow, you can walk. If the water is deep, a temporary pontoon bridge will be built based on the depth of the river and the distance between the two banks. Therefore, the priority for crossing the river must always be to choose a place with shallow water level.
When it comes to getting through, where is the truth in giving up the easy and choosing the difficult?
Guo Jiaze shook his head and said, the key to this battle is not only to take down Wuyang, but also to take it down quickly, without letting any fish slip through the net, so as not to scare the snake and make Xiahou Dun in Kunyang alert.
If we want to descend Wuyang quickly, how to cross the Lishui River is the key. If we want to forcefully cross the river, the first consideration is to prevent Cao Jun on the other side from discovering it in advance or even attacking him halfway across the river.
You all know that places with shallow water are better, and Cao Jun also knows that, so the defenses are definitely strongest in places with low water levels. On the contrary, the deeper the water level, the harder it will be for the enemy to cross the river, so the defense will be relaxed.
Therefore, if you want to attack quickly, you can't choose a place with shallow water, you can only choose a place with deep water.
After listening to Guo Jia's strategy, both Gao Lan and Yan Ran were impressed, and Wang Zheng was secretly generous. Guo Jia, this genius, really always surprises people and does the opposite of everything.
The second step was to determine the current depth of the water at the selected location and the width of the two sides based on the water level changes in the Luan River in previous years, and build a pontoon bridge in advance. The third step was to not only prepare the skins at the military camp, but also to
You can find some villages to buy them and make them quickly to ensure that you have one cavalry man when crossing the river.
Among these three steps, the first and second steps are the most important. The third step is just a backup measure.
And when Gao Lan led his army to the deepest section of the river, he saw no Cao Jun sentries on the other side. Everyone once again admired Guo Jia in their hearts.
Since it was still afternoon, Gao Lan looked up at the sky. After thinking about it, in order to be sure, he still did not choose to approach directly. Instead, he stopped ten miles away from the east bank and waited until nightfall before quietly coming to the river.
side.
I saw from a distance that Cao Jun on the other side had built bonfires, and there were bonfires about every seven or eight miles. Under the night, this continuous bonfire looked like a winding fire snake. There were simple tents set up beside the bonfire.
Occasionally, I saw some of Cao's soldiers sticking their heads out to take a look. The cool breeze was blowing, and some faint movements could be heard.
Gao Lan lay on the bank and watched carefully. Not long after, Yan Ran also came quietly from the left and right.
"There are not many Cao troops guarding the bonfire on the left, about ten people." Yan Ran whispered: "It's also on the right side, it looks like a ten-man team. Captain Gao, how are you doing here? How many Cao troops are there?"
Gao Lan held out five fingers: "Fifty people."
"Ten people on the left, ten on the right, and fifty in the middle. Cao Jun's arrangement seems to be three bonfires and a hundred-man team..."
Yan Ran thought for a moment and suggested: "There are only seventy people in total, so it's not difficult to deal with them. Let's send people over quietly first, kill them, and then the main force will cross the river."
Gao Lan was more cautious, thought for a while and said: "Captain Yan, look, there are horses, wolf dung, and a water basin piled beside the bonfire. Cao Jun's method of calling the police must be to light wolf smoke during the day and extinguish the bonfire at night."
Having said this, Gao Lan looked up attentively, wanting to take a look at the distance on the other side, but the night was dark and he couldn't see anything.
He pondered and made a judgment: "A mere hundred or so people cannot hold the river. I dare to say that it is forty or fifty miles away and thirty or twenty miles close. There must be a large army of theirs ambushing around here. As long as it is
As soon as the signal is sent out to the garrison troops along the coast, they can be killed at any time. Therefore, the vanguard we send over must be extremely cautious and not give Cao Jun a chance to put out the bonfire."
Yan Ran nodded in agreement.
The two of them observed patiently again and found that every bonfire on the other side communicated with each other regularly. The communication time was once every half an hour, and the communication method was to beat the gong several times.
This time is enough.
In order to ensure a hit with one hit, Gao Lan originally wanted to use his personal guards. After all, he was also one of the most famous generals in Hebei. Naturally, the soldiers around him were all elites who had experienced hundreds of battles, but of course Yan Ran
When he suggested using the Tianzhu camp arranged by Wang Zheng, Gao Lan wisely shut up.
Although he was not in the system, he had been a head-on opponent with the Tianzhu camp not long ago, so he naturally knew how powerful these people were.
Soon afterwards, taking advantage of the darkness, the fifty second-order soldiers kept their bodies as low as possible and hid their bodies in the water. The teams successfully floated across the other side in batches with the help of skin bags.
The soldiers were wearing armor and carrying swords. There was some noise coming from the south, but it was covered up by the sound of gurgling water, so it was not exposed.
The soldiers were fighting hand to hand, using more hits but less, and it was an unexpected sneak attack. With the addition of a group of second-level soldiers, there was no doubt about the outcome. Even the more than 50 people in the Tianzhu camp were easily defeated without even a single casualty.
Cao Jun who was guarding the river fell.
This scene fell in Gao Lan's eyes, and he was once again amazed. He even couldn't help but think of not long ago, wasn't his family also defeated by a surprise attack like the Tianzhu Camp?
I can't help but feel a little disappointed.
However, even after he woke up, he secretly reminded himself that now he and Wang Zhoumu were in the same camp, and no longer had to worry about encountering such elusive enemies, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
He glanced at Yan Ran and extended his thumb sincerely: "Zhou Mu can train such a strong army, he is really a genius!"
...
Once the most difficult part is solved, the next part will become easy.
A few old soldiers pulled the pontoon bridge and set it up on the other side, with the cavalry in front and the infantry behind.
More than 2,000 cavalrymen dismounted one by one with their titles and bells on their horses, pulled their mounts, and crossed the river. The old soldiers who crossed the river first had already set up a warning, and someone calculated the time. When the time came, they struck the gong a few times.
Stay in touch with other campfires.
There are a total of two pontoon bridges. One of them has a slight error. The bridge is too long, so it took a little trouble. Fortunately, it was not delayed in use. Fortunately, it is too long. If it is short, there is no way, and it can only be abandoned. Regardless.
In other words, in the slow flow of night, more than 3,000 people were in an orderly manner, and they all crossed the river in nearly an hour.
Gao Lan left ten people behind and ordered them to continue beating the gongs on time and wait until dawn before leaving. He left two fast horses for each of them to facilitate their pursuit of the team.
After passing Lishui, Wuyang was already less than a hundred miles away. In terms of the confrontation between the two armies, it was considered very close.
Similarly, this also means that Gao Lan and others have officially entered Yingchuan County and entered Xiahou Dun's sphere of influence. Naturally, they did not dare to take the official road again. They then went out again day and night, and changed to the mountain and forest roads until
Late at night the next day, he appeared outside Wuyang City.
After several days of rapid march, both men and horses were exhausted, and it was obviously impossible to launch an attack immediately. Even if the soldiers could withstand it, the horses could not. The horses had no impact, and the power of the cavalry was reduced by most.
The two immediately held a brief military meeting and unanimously decided to rest for two hours and launch a surprise attack at five o'clock.
So far, the entire attack on Wuyang has been as smooth as the countless war operations of the Heavenly Army in the past.
However, the opponent this time was somewhat different after all.
That night, at four o'clock and three o'clock.
The two men who were sleeping in the tent suddenly received an urgent report that the soldiers on guard had encountered Cao Jun's night sentry!
It was a coincidence that the location where Gao Lan and other garrison troops were stationed was in a forest covered with vines, and the outer edge of the forest was covered with low shrubs.
And just in front of a cup of tea, on both sides of the bush, the soldiers of the Heavenly Army on guard and the night guard of Cao Jun patrolling the bush came face to face!
Caught off guard, both parties were stunned on the spot. The moonlight reflected their expressions, as if they were the same as a mirror. They were both surprised, confused, and horrified...
It's also a bit baffling.
The next moment, Cao Jun came to his senses first, and the night sentry turned his horse and left. However, just as the horse's hooves were lifted, the Heavenly Army who came back to their senses also made a prompt decision. In an instant, they raised their bows and nocked arrows. The night sentry fell down heavily in response
Falling to the ground, screams broke through the silent night.
As if the silver bottle was broken and the water burst out, the remaining dozen or so stunned enemies and ourselves reacted at the same time. Half of the night sentries walked back, and half of the night sentries rushed forward. Three Xuzhou soldiers, one ran to call for help, and two
One jumped over the bushes to avoid the rushing enemies, and shot arrows at the fleeing night sentries.
In the forest at night, there is a sudden movement from stillness to chaos, with people neighing and horses neighing everywhere.
Gao Lan was sleeping on the ground nearby. He woke up from his sleep, subconsciously drew out his long sword, and got on his horse. Before he opened his eyes, he had already run dozens of meters away. He did not use the control of his brain at all, and he had spent many years in the army.
, all this has long become his instinctive action.
"what happened?"
"Master, we have encountered an enemy!"
"Hurry up and notify Captain Yan!"
Gao Lan woke up completely and saw the fleeing night sentries gradually disappearing away. Dozens of awakened cavalrymen rode in pursuit. Unfortunately, they were blocked by vines and bushes and could not run out directly. They had to take a detour, which wasted time.
Seeing that it is too late to catch up.
"Where's the archer? Let me shoot!"
Dozens of crossbow arrows were fired at once, but the distance was too far after all, and only two or three of them were shot down, and they escaped quickly and disappeared out of sight in the blink of an eye.
After an encounter, all three sentries on the Tianjun side were killed. Among the ten night sentries on Cao Jun's side, excluding the two who escaped, six were dead and two were captured.
After asking about the situation, Gao Lan's face was so gloomy that it was about to drip.
At this time, Yan Ran also drove his horse and rushed over. His expression was not only solemn but also disbelieving:
"Why did Cao Jun arrange sentinel cavalry at night?"
No wonder he was so surprised...
Since the Wang Zheng uprising, among all the powerful enemies that the Heavenly Army has encountered, no one has been so vigilant!
"This is not the time to talk about this!"
Gao Lan's face was as dark as water, and he said coldly: "Since it has been exposed, we can't delay any longer..."
"Send orders to all ministries, the infantry to form formations, the cavalry to mount their horses, and rush to attack the city immediately!"