Seven days later, Han Xuan's 30,000-strong army arrived at the foot of Yema Slope, and a sentinel from the front came to report: "Report to the general, the Sichuan army is camped on the west bank of Yuanshui River, less than ten miles away."
General Yang Zhi reined up his horse and said, "General, at such a close distance, we should march quickly. The whole army will go straight to the Sichuan Army camp. The last general is willing to be the vanguard." Yang Zhi had long been dissatisfied with Han Xuan's slow marching speed.
It took Han Xuan four days to reach Yuanshui, but it took Han Xuan seven days. He had to send out several spies along the way, which greatly delayed the march and made the generals in Jingzhou feel itchy and miserable.
"No." Han Xuan waved his hand, pondered for a moment, and asked the soldier who reported the news: "I have lived in Jingnan for a long time. I know that there is a stone slab bridge on the Yuanshui River. It was built by the pre-Qin Dynasty. Is it still there?"
"Report to the general that although the stone bridge is old, it has not been damaged by the Sichuan army."
"Yes." Han Xuan stroked his goatee and said, "Liu Zhang knew that my army was coming, but he didn't demolish the stone bridge. There must be some fraud involved. Let's investigate further."
"yes."
The cold wind was biting, blowing the dead grass and leaves, and the generals were already impatient, but Han Xuan was unmoved. He knew very well that as long as he didn't make a big mistake, the Jingzhou army would capture Changsha, and he would be the prefect of Changsha.
Well, he didn't want to be ambushed just for the sake of taking credit, he would rather take it one step at a time and be more secure.
The spy finally came back, and he hurriedly reported: "General, it's not good. The Sichuan army has built an embankment five miles upstream of the Yuan River. The Yuan River is almost exhausted. It is possible that the embankment will be opened to release water."
When the generals heard the soldiers' words, they couldn't help but be shocked. Yang Zhi also secretly thought that it was a good thing that he didn't lead the army to rush over, otherwise he would definitely be buried in the belly of the fish.
Han Xuan laughed loudly: "I told you, how could Yizhou Butcher be so kind as to leave us a stone bridge? The terrain in this area is very familiar. Liu Zhang is self-righteous. There is water stored five miles away, and we can go straight to the field."
Mapo, detour upstream of the Yuanshui River and attack its back, we will definitely catch the Sichuan army by surprise."
Yang Zhi paid his respects and said: "General Shenwu, this time we must make those with evil intentions suffer the consequences.'
The Jingzhou army marched up the Yema slope, and Liu Zhang's command post was located on a high mountain in the south opposite the Yema slope. He drank and had tea with Fazheng, and had a panoramic view of the situation of Han Xuan's army.
Fazheng smiled and said: "My lord is wise, Han Xuan has indeed fallen into the trap."
Liu Zhang smiled slightly and drank tea while watching the Jingzhou Army climb the hill from a distance. When the Jingzhou Army reached the center of Yemapo, a soldier next to Liu Zhang took a red flag and raised it high.
Thousands of Sichuan soldiers came out, all with bows and arrows, shooting rockets into the wild horse slope, and setting fires everywhere. After a while, the fire started, black smoke rose, and the dead grass and leaves all over the mountain were burning.
The Jingzhou soldiers were unexpectedly thrown into chaos. Han Xuan, who thought he had avoided the water attack and everything was fine, was even more confused. He never thought that the Sichuan army left the stone bridge to attack him by the water, so he naturally thought of going up the mountain to surround the Sichuan army.
, and then fell into the natural fire scene of Yemapo.
The fire took advantage of the wind, and the biting north wind blew down the mountain, blowing the fire and spreading. From Liu Zhang's perspective, the top and bottom of Yemapo Mountain looked like two elongated lines of fire. The difference was that the line of fire continued at the top.
It spread downwards, but the fire line down the slope stopped. It had to rely on soldiers to continuously fire rockets and add firewood to continue burning.
Han Xuan's tens of thousands of soldiers were like sheep frightened by wild wolves, running around in panic on Yemapo. Seeing the line of fire approaching step by step, the space to run became smaller and smaller. Black smoke billowed, and the mountain wind blew.
Entrance and nose, almost unable to breathe, and it was about to become a barbecue in the mountains, some soldiers finally found the exit, and they all rushed towards Yuanshui.
The Jingzhou soldiers had completely lost their command. They jumped into the Yuan River and swam hard to the other side. At this moment, thousands of Sichuan soldiers suddenly poured out from the other side. They opened their bows and fired arrows. The Jingzhou soldiers who were still in the river were helpless. Those who resisted were killed in large numbers by sharp arrows. Their blood filled the slow-flowing river, and they turned into floating corpses and were washed downstream by the current.
"Okay, it's time for us to go down and have a look." Liu Zhang stood up and stretched.
Compared with Liu Zhang's leisure, the Jingzhou Army has reached the end of the line. The fire is getting bigger and bigger, and the living space is getting smaller and smaller. Almost all of them are blocked on the bank of Yuanshui River. Seeing that the fire is about to spread from time to time, Yang Zhi is unwilling to sit still and wait for death. Han Xuan asked for his order, gathered all the soldiers he could muster, about ten thousand people, and jumped into the Yuanshui River together, hoping to rely on the Jingzhou Army's water quality to break through the Sichuan Army's defense on the other side, which only had a few thousand soldiers.
But Yang Zhi forgot that the Sichuan army had also stored water upstream. Although it was not much, it was more than enough to deal with his messy drowned rats.
The sound of rumbling water sounded, and white waves rolled up in the Yuan River. The torrential flood mixed with dust and leaves swooped down. Under the horrified and defeated eyes of Yang Zhi and Jingzhou soldiers, it enveloped their bodies, along with The blood in the river rolled down like a leaf.
More than 10,000 soldiers were carried away by the river in Han Xuan's horrified eyes. Han Xuan fell to the ground. Seeing the fire getting closer and closer, he was helpless.
"Oh my God, what should I do? What should I do, my God?"
Han Xuan wailed in pain, and his younger brother Han Hao stepped forward and said: "Brother, the fire is getting closer and closer, and there are heavy Sichuan troops with crossbows in front. For this plan, there is only one way to go."
"What way?" Han Xuan stood up immediately and stared eagerly at his brother, who usually had many clever ideas.
Han Hao said slowly: "Surrender."
"What?" Han Xuan was furious. He rolled his sleeves and glared at Han Hao: "What did you say? I, Han Xuan, a well-known scholar in Jingnan and the leader of a wealthy family, went to seek refuge with the butcher of Yizhou? You are not only forcing me, Han Xuan, to die, but you are also forcing me to have all the people in Changsha. The wealthy family is at a dead end."
"Then if Brother is burned to death here, will it have any effect?" Han Hao asked back. Han Xuan was speechless. Han Hao smiled darkly: "Brother, when I said surrender, I didn't mean to surrender. Changsha still surrendered." With the eldest son's more than 20,000 soldiers and horses, and Zhang Yi's more than 10,000 remnant troops, it will not be easy for Liu Zhang to go to Changsha. We still have nearly 20,000 soldiers here. Brother, think about it, Liu Zhang only has a few thousand men, and he can recruit them Can we defeat our 20,000 troops? What’s more, they are all direct descendants of the lord from Jingbei, and they will not bow to Liu Zhang so quickly. We can wait for a change."
Han Xuan pondered for a while and felt that it made sense. Thick smoke drifted in. Han Xuan coughed several times and finally made up his mind and said: "Okay, let's do it like this."
Han Xuan sent a soldier with a loud voice to shout to the Sichuan army across the Yuanshui River to beg for surrender.
The soldiers of the Sichuan Army heard on the other side, and Shamoko said loudly: "My lord, the Jingzhou Army is already a turtle in the urn. Seeing that the fire has burned to their backs, they are too lazy to talk to them and just burn them down."
Seeing that Liu Zhang was silent, Xiao Furong scolded Samoko in a cold voice: "You are the only one who talks too much." Samoko immediately shut up.
Zhang Rendao: "My lord, I also think that Samoko's words are reasonable. Han Xuan is from a wealthy family in Changsha. If he surrenders to the lord, he must not be sincere."
Liu Zhang breathed out slowly and turned to Fa Zheng: "Xiaozhi, what do you think?"
Fazheng thought for a moment, then smiled and said: "My lord should accept the surrender. We don't have much water. If the Jingzhou soldiers hadn't rushed into the water, we wouldn't have been able to wash away the tens of thousands of them. Now the water will stop. If the lord doesn't accept the surrender,
, the Jingzhou soldiers were forced to cross the road, and the 20,000 people who were in desperate situation at that time were bound to cause casualties to us."
Liu Zhang nodded: "What you said makes sense, reply and accept your surrender."