However, the "misunderstanding" that occurred in Yanmen was finally eliminated. The Xianbei army continued to move south, still with ten thousand-man troops as the vanguard. However, this time the leader was replaced by Murong Xiong.
Gao Gan, the governor of Bingzhou, learned a lesson this time. He did not allow the Xianbei people to enter Taiyuan City, but allowed them to camp outside the city. Gao Gan inevitably sent people to lead sheep and carry wine to reward them, and the Xianbei people drank the wine. , gnawing on the roasted lamb leg, still not satisfied, and clamoring for women from the senior officials. The senior officials had no choice but to send people to collect 3,000 young women in Taiyuan City and send them to the Xianbei military camp outside the city.
As the subsequent Xianbei armies arrived one after another, the three thousand women appeared to be "more monks and less rice", and the Xianbei people in Taiyuan City could not enter, so they started to harm the villages on the outskirts of the city. Many women, from the elderly over fifty years old to the bottom Girls under the age of ten were all rushed into the military camp. The sound of women wailing could be heard for miles.
At dusk, more than ten white pigeons rose into the sky from a courtyard in Taiyuan City, circled for a while, and flew south. Outside the city, a group of Xianbei knights passed by on horseback, immediately carrying the stolen gold and silver cloth and crying. woman, suddenly, someone shouted: "Look, pigeon.1,"
These Xianbei people were all excellent archers. They took off their bows one after another. There was a "whoosh" sound, and many pigeons fell down. Most of the pigeons had two or three arrows stuck in them, and some pigeons even had even Nearly ten arrows were inserted, but two or three pigeons still escaped the disaster and flew southward with flapping wings.
The Xianbei people like to eat beef and mutton, but the pigeons are too small to suit their appetite. They shoot the pigeons as a game to show off their archery skills.
At dusk, it should be the time when tired birds return to their nests. This group of pigeons came unexpectedly. A curious Xianbei cavalryman stepped forward on his horse and picked up a dead pigeon. He saw a reed pipe tied to the pigeon's leg. The Xianbei soldier I untied the reed tube in confusion, and unexpectedly found a small note hidden in the reed tube. There were some strange symbols drawn on the note. In fact, it was just a few sets of Arabic numerals, but these Xianbei people didn't recognize it.
The Xianbei cavalry passed the strange note to each other. No one understood what the symbols meant. After looking around, they threw the small note into the dust. However, they did not know that this small note Important information is recorded on it. These Arabic numerals each correspond to a word in "The Analects of Confucius". As long as you have a copy of "The Analects of Confucius" published by the Han Dynasty Printing Company and find the corresponding page number, row and column, you can put the small note on it. The information is translated,
On the evening of the next day, the information recorded on this small note was placed on Liu Xin's Long case. Liu Xin Long Yan was so angry that he stood up and shouted: "Quickly pass the information to Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Tian Feng and Guo Jia. , Cheng Yu comes to see you."
Jushu, who was standing opposite, raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty, please calm down. I think that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao have signs of joining forces. If these Xianbei cavalry are participating in the battle of Yuan Cao, after passing Yanmen, they should turn east and enter Jizhou should not appear in Taiyuan. Now, these Xianbei cavalry appear in Taiyuan with only one goal, and that is to continue southward and invade our Hedong."
Liu Xin said bitterly: "I don't care where their goal is, as long as they dare to harm our Han people, I will make them pay the price."
At this time, Zhang Liao and others had hurried over. After hearing the news, Cheng Yu raised his hands and said: "The Xianbei army is all cavalry. From Taiyuan to the Hedong border, it arrives in the morning and evening. The ministers thought that Puzi and Yong'an should be strengthened. The defense of the four counties of Xiangling and Yize and Hanoi County cannot be taken lightly. Therefore, Wei Chen suggested that we postpone the plan to send troops to Yecheng and deal with these Xianbei cavalry first."
Guo Jia shook his head and said: "Zhongde's words are wrong. Wei Chen believes that the plan to send troops to Yecheng should not be postponed, but should be expedited."
Tian Feng nodded and said: "It's just that the burden on the shoulders of generals Zhang and Gao will be heavy. If the east of the river is lost, the Xianbei people will let Ma Luoyang fall. The words of filial piety are a bit too risky."
Zhang Liao and Gao Shun both raised their hands and said: "I have received great kindness from Your Majesty and have never been able to repay it. I am willing to defend the two counties of Hedong and Hanoi to the death and never let Luoyang suffer any loss."
Liu Xin stood up, turned to look at the Han territory map hanging behind him, and suddenly said in a deep voice: "No, you are not going to defend, but you should take the initiative to attack."
"Take the initiative." Everyone was shocked. Most of the Han cavalry had participated in the battle against the Xiongnu, and they were somewhat confident in dealing with these nomadic cavalry. However, the Fourth Army only had 10,000 cavalry, while the Xianbei cavalry on the opposite side reached nearly 20 With a crowd of ten thousand, even if the Han cavalry is more heroic, if ten thousand against two hundred thousand, there is definitely no chance of victory. However, although the Han infantry has long been researching and training on combat methods against cavalry, let them deal with Cao Cao or Yuan Shao's cavalry. Maybe there is no big problem, but when it comes to dealing with nomadic cavalry, everyone is unsure.
Liu Xin pointed at the map and said: "Look here, there are densely populated cities, including Jiexiu of Taiyuan County, Wu County, Zhongdu, Jingling, Qixian, Daling, Pingtao, and Xihe County Zhishi and Pingzhou have Zhaoyuze in the middle. The Xianbei cavalry is good at field battles, but not good at attacking fortresses. As long as they capture this area, build defensive positions based on these cities, and make good use of them, they can completely drag the Xianbei cavalry to death. Here, we will look for opportunities to annihilate them."
Everyone looked in the direction of Liu Xin's finger, and sure enough they saw that there were seven or eight county towns of various sizes surrounding Zhaoyuze on the map. With so many county towns as support, even if they could not annihilate the Xianbei army, they could still delay their move south. speed to buy enough time for the battle in the east,
Looking at this map, Cheng Yu, who always seeks stability, also said happily: "Your Majesty is indeed very discerning. It is indeed better to set up defenses here than to set up defenses in Hedong. You see, behind this line of defense is Tongtian Mountain, the boundary. Mountain, Yangtou Mountain, and a second line of defense can be set up along this line to prevent the Xianbei army from entering Hedong territory."
Liu Xin clapped her hands. Several chamberlains had already carried something with great effort. Liu Xin pointed at the thing and said: "This is the geographical sand table of the four counties of Hedong, Xihe, Taiyuan and Shangdang. Take a look. You know, I only set the general direction, as for how to arrange the troops, it depends on you."
Everyone's eyes lit up when they saw this sand table. This sand table was so realistic. The cities, plains, mountains, rivers, and lakes in this area were all clearly visible. Yuan Jun's troop deployment was even marked. In order to make this sand table, the research institute Provided craftsmen, Phantom Secret provided map information, and worked day and night. It was just completed yesterday. Of course, this idea was proposed by Ma Yun.
Zhang Liao and Gao Shun immediately had countless ideas for deploying troops. They patted their chests and said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will never let the Xianbei people step even half a step east of the river."
Liu Xin waved his hand and said: "Time is tight, you should hurry up and prepare. Within three days, all these counties must be captured. In addition, I will allocate 20,000 people from the Corps of Engineers to you. We must Make sure to build the defensive position there before the Xianbei cavalry arrives."
Capturing nine counties in three days was not a difficult task for the well-trained Han army, but now they have to face not only Yuan Shao's army, but also the ferocious Xianbei cavalry. However, , Military Order Rushan, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and the others will only consider how to complete the task, without considering how much danger they will face.
In fact, during these three days, the Xianbei cavalry had enough time to advance to the Hedong border, but Kuitou suddenly stopped and refused to leave, because Yuan Shao originally asked the Xianbei cavalry to assist him in attacking Cao Cao, but now he suddenly asked them to change his position. In order to attack Liu Xin, but this change, the leader did not have much objection. The purpose of his agreeing to send troops was not only to establish his own prestige, but also to find out the path in and out of the Central Plains and learn the siege skills of the Han people. Therefore, regardless of It didn't make much difference to him which target he was asked to attack. However, Yuan Shao told Kuitou that he could not send troops to assist him and that they had to complete the attack on Hedong by themselves.
The Xianbei tribe raided the Han border almost every year, but they could only plunder Bingzhou and some small villages on the Youzhou border. They could only stare when they encountered the city. Of course, this was because they were small groups. , but the lack of siege equipment and skills is the most important factor.
Kuitou's original idea was to let his Xianbei cavalry clear out the Han army outside the city, while Yuan Shao's men and horses would attack the city. Now that Yuan Shao did not send troops to assist them, Kuitou would just catch him blind. However, Kuitou was not in a hurry. There was plenty of time to slowly negotiate with Yuan Shao. Anyway, Yuan Shao would provide all the food and drink. If that didn't work, he could send troops to plunder everywhere. As a result, 180,000 Xianbei cavalry stopped outside Taiyuan City. And these days, every day There are still many Xianbei cavalry driving over from Danhan Mountain one after another.
The three days that the Xianbei cavalry was stagnant under Taiyuan City were too valuable for Liu Xin. Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and others carried the sand table back to the camp, studied it overnight, and quickly formulated a battle plan.
The Fourth Army has 100,000 troops. Except for the 30,000 troops who are still staying in Sili and Liangzhou counties, all other troops have received orders to march from their respective stations to Yong'an County, Hedong County. The three troops originally assigned to the Fourth Army The Wan Engineering Corps also distributed swords, guns, bows and arrows and took over their defense area.
Throughout the three counties of Hedong, Hanoi, and Yingchuan, you can see troops deployed overnight. After nightfall, the torches held by the soldiers lit up half the sky red, and long dragons swam in the same direction.
At dawn, all 70,000 people of the Fourth Army participating in this combat mission had gathered in Yong'an County. Even Zhang Liao and Gao Shun came from Chang'an Constellation.