The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

It was updated yesterday, more than twelve o'clock in the evening. Somehow it didn't show up. I am used to making changes on the uploaded page. The changes made yesterday were not saved. I have something to do today. I wanted to write something in the afternoon, but it took another hour or two to make changes. Maybe not today. These few sentences and the notes at the end of the section are beyond the word count, not money.

——

Zhu Jun said that he had brought 30,000 people, and Huangfu Song had brought 50,000 people, but it was just an exaggerated and empty phrase used by military strategists. Bocai's Yellow Turbans were only tens of thousands, and there were 80,000 imperial divisions in the imperial court. No matter how you looked at it, the battle was won, and the "revolt of thieves" might soon be pacified.

Xu Zhong, Jiang Qin, Chen Bao, Gao Su, Liu Deng and others who followed Xun Zhen out, their attention was not on "30,000" and "50,000", because they learned from Xun Zhen that Zhu Jun only brought Ten thousand people came, and their attention didn't even stay on Zhu Jun for too long. Their eyes all fell on the Yueqi Camp and the Sanhe Knights brought by Zhu Jun.

The Yueqi battalion has a small number of 700 or 800 cavalrymen, but the equipment is extremely well-equipped.

The knights wore pockets with red cherry blossoms, black armors, and crimson battle robes. Armored crossbows, all riding high-headed horses, the war horses wear horse armor.

Horse armor is very rare. Although the horses worn by the knights of the Yueqi Camp are not complete sets of horse armor, it is something Jiang Qin, Chen Bao, Gao Su, and Liu Deng have never seen before, which is extremely rare.

General Fubo Ma Yuan said: "The horse is the foundation of the army and the great use of the country."

After the turmoil at the end of the Qin Dynasty, there was a shortage of good horses in the early Han Dynasty. In order to resist and fight back against the invasion of the Huns, the empire vigorously established horse administration. First, in the period of Wenjing, the "horse restoration order" was promulgated to encourage folks to raise horses, and special horse administration institutions were set up at the central and local levels. Wusun Tianma and Dawan Tianma greatly improved the horse breed, and at the same time, alfalfa was introduced from the Western Regions, and the horse breeding industry was unprecedentedly prosperous.

Since this dynasty, although the scale of raising horses is not as good as that of the previous dynasty, the foundation is still there.

The horses that the hundreds of knights rode were all good horses, seven feet high, handsome and majestic. Emperor Zhao of the former Han Dynasty issued a ban on horses over five feet nine inches in height from leaving the customs. A horse that is eight feet tall is a dragon, and a horse that is five feet and nine inches tall is a good horse, not to mention a horse that is seven feet tall. The horses that Jiang Qin, Chen Bao and others rode were only seven feet high, and even Xun Zhen’s mount was only seven feet high. Well-equipped, although there are only more than 700 knights, walking with halberds, the spirit of dragons and horses makes people feel dazzled and fascinated.

The Yueqi battalion is well-equipped, although the Three Rivers Knights are not as good as it is, they are not bad.

Most of the thousands of Mikawa knights wore armor, wielded halberds and knives, and nearly half of them had bows and arrows. This is the credit of Huangfu Song. At the earlier meeting of the ministers, he petitioned the emperor to hide money in the middle, and the horses in the West Garden would be assigned to a group of soldiers, and the emperor would follow. Except for some of the horses that these three river knights ride, the rest are horses from the West Garden.

Gao Su's eyes almost popped out, and she was envious. Chen Bao sighed: "On the day of Xuanjia, the red flag is in the sky, the halberd is like a forest, and the horse is like a dragon. When I see Master Wang now, I know that I was arrogant in the past."

Regardless of whether Zhu Jun was in a hurry to attack the thieves in the south because he despised the Yellow Turbans or because, as Xun You said, he was afraid that if he stayed in Yangzhai for a long time, his morale would drop. After all, he was a man who had led soldiers and fought battles. : "It tends to be exhausted by the day, and those who pass through the day and night are exhausted." He took his troops from Yangzhai to Xiangcheng County for a day, and the soldiers were also exhausted, so he decided to go south the day after tomorrow and let the soldiers rest for a whole day.

Xun Zhen worked overtime last night and set up a simple camp for Master Wang, accompanied by Xu Zhong, Jiang Qin, Chen Bao, Liu Deng and others. They rode tens of thousands of paces into the camp to rest. Xun Zhen and Li Zan accompanied the captain of the cavalry school, a cadre of officers, and officials of the county government into the county temple.

In the county temple, Li Zan said that the county sergeants and people had prepared a banquet to welcome Master Wang, and invited Zhu Jun and Prefect Wen to the banquet in the evening.

Zhu Jun refused. He said, "I came here on an order to pacify the thieves, and the thieves have not yet been pacified. How can I have a banquet first?"

Li Zan knew that they had military affairs to discuss, so he said goodbye and left without much interruption.

Zhu Jun personally escorted him out, and said to him at the entrance of the temple: "My father is just on the festival, and it is a pity that he was harmed by a traitor, and the whole world thinks about it. This time, before I left the capital with General Huangfu, General Huangfu asked the court to say that it would benefit the party/ Forbidden, the Son of Heaven is wise and has approved this play. Presumably, there will be an expedition against the public in the near future. After the rebellion is over, the place will be withered, and in the future, the court will rely more on the goodness of the public!"

When Zhu Jun said this, Prefect Wen, Xun Zhen and others were all on the side. Hearing him say: "General Huangfu asked the court to say that it would benefit the party/prohibition", Xun Zhen's heart skipped a beat, and said, "Is the Dangzhou going to be released?" Although he remembered that the party was released during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but at this time I was still very surprised when I got the confirmed news. This is good news.

The Xun family is a prominent family in the world, and once the party is entangled, many people in the family will be confiscated by the imperial court or the government. His Yue family, the Chen family in Xu County, is also a high-ranking family in the world, and many people will also be confiscated. He used to befriend. The network of people under him, such as Li Zan's family, will also be subject to expropriation. The old saying goes: Celebrating with the crown, clansmen, Yue family, friends and friends.

After sending Li Zan away, everyone returned to the temple hall to discuss the dispatch of troops tomorrow.

Xun Zhen first reported: "The subordinates were ordered by the general to cut down wooden sacks. From yesterday afternoon to this morning, a total of more than 600 trees were cut and more than 5,000 earth sacks were made, which was enough to cut off the flow of water and enable the army to cross the river."

Ru water is not wide, and now in spring, the river is not deep. The best way to cross the river is to cut off the river from the upper stream.

"Very good." Zhu Jun nodded and asked, "Has there been any changes in the thieves in the past two days?"

"The thief soldiers should be known that the general has arrived. The thief Qu Shuai He Man left Wuyang and returned to Kunyang, where he joined forces with the thief Qu Shuai Bocai. The thief soldiers from the father city also left the city last night and went to Kunyang. The sun has gone."

"The thieves from the father city have left the city?"

"Yes."

Sun Jian said, "It seems that the bandit soldiers want to join forces in Kunyang and fight me to the death."

Zhu Jun smiled contemptuously and said, "The rabble is also worthy of fighting my master to the death? The thieves abandoned the father's city, but it saved the general's strength!" , said, "Tomorrow going south, we will take our father city first, and then attack Kunyang. ..., Lord Wenfu, what do you think?"

Rushui has a tributary named Shushui (now Shahe), which is flowing between Fucheng and Kunyang, so if you want to attack Kunyang, you must first go to Fucheng.

Prefect Wen didn't know if he heard some comments from the court ministers about him from Zhu Jun's mouth. Since Zhu Jun arrived, he has been restless, and now he cheered himself up and replied: "The general's clever plan is exactly what it should be. "

"After taking down the father city, rest for a night, and then set off for Kunyang the next day. If you want to reach Kunyang, you need to cross the Shushui. Xunyu, when you cross the river, you bring your troops and horses to bluff, pretend to be the main force, and go to Kunyang. The other side pretends to cross the river, and I will lead the main force to sneak here to dive across the Shushui." Zhu Jun seemed to have made a plan, he pointed to ten miles northeast of Kunyang, and continued, "After crossing the Shushui, if the thief goes out of the city to welcome I will fight the thieves in the wild, and if the thieves can't retreat, I will surround the city and attack them!"

Xi Zhicai couldn't help but ask: "What if the thief took advantage of our army to cross the river and attacked him halfway?"

Xi Zhi is the history of Cao Youbing. Although his official position is not high, he is an official of Cao Bing, so he can participate in the military.

Zhu Jun glanced at him and said with a sneer, "If the thief hits halfway, I can just use the old Huaiyin Marquis to drown the dragon with water!"

During the battle between Chu and Han, Han Xin fought with the fierce general Long Qie, a subordinate of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, in Weishui. Pretend to be defeated. Long Qie shouted: "I know it is also timid." Lead the Chu army to pursue. When Han Xin saw him chasing, he ordered his soldiers to release water at the Jueyan. The Chu army was cut through from the middle and panicked. Han Xin took advantage of the situation to counterattack, and Long Qi was killed.

Xi Zhicai thought to himself, "The Wei water is fast, so the Marquis of Huaiyin succeeded in this plan, and the Shushui..." He had never seen the Shushui, so he didn't know how the water flowed. Although he disagreed with Zhu Jun's plan, he kept his mouth shut. Xun Zhen had seen Shu Shui, but he looked at Zhu Jun's resolute expression and remained silent.

Everyone in the hall had no objection and said, "No."

In this way, Zhu Jun ordered all his subordinates to prepare for the war, sent out cavalry to dive across Rushui, and then went to Fucheng, Kunyang, and Wuyang to investigate the enemy's situation.

In the middle of the night, the sentry returned, bringing the same enemy situation as what Xun Zhen reported.

He Man and the thieves from his father city have arrived at Kunyang and Bocai, with a total of more than 40,000 soldiers on both sides.

Since the enemy situation has not changed, the battle plan does not need to be changed.

Early the next morning, the whole army crossed the river with food.

Xun Zhen left Xun You with Le Jin, Wenpin and other Qu to guard Xiangcheng and Jia counties, and led the rest of Xu Zhong, Jiang Qin, Gao Su, Chen Bao, Liu Deng and other Qu to the south with a total of 2,000 troops.

Zhu Jun did not use him as the vanguard, but ordered Sun Jian to lead the troops first. Xun Zhen's main task was to cut off the Rushui River so that the army could go south. He planned to cross the river at Chenshi, and he took his followers to the upper reaches of the river in the third watch, and piled tree trunks and soil bags into the river, cutting off the flow of water. An hour ago, Zhu Jun inspected the river, and the river had stopped flowing, revealing the wet and soft bottom.

At the hour of dawn, Sun Jian led more than 1,000 people from his headquarters to go first, followed by the infantry, followed by the Yueqi Camp and the Sanhe Knights Hall.

Before Sun Jian was summoned by Zhu Jun, he was in the county seat of Xiapi. He recruited more than 1,000 people he brought. Some of them were young villagers like Zu Mao who followed him in Xiapi, and some were recruited business travelers and Huaisi. Elite soldiers. Compared to the 67,000 Gyeonggi Zhuang Yong who were temporarily recruited, his troops were more elite because many of them followed him to quell the rebellion between Xu Shao and Xu Chang. So use him first.

After the whole army crossed the river, Xun Zhen took 2,000 people from the headquarters with him at the end.

When the foot soldiers and knights brought by Zhu Jun crossed the river, Xun Zhen, Xun You, Xi Zhicai, Xu Zhong, Gao Su, Liu Deng, Chen Bao, Jiang Qin and others stood three or four miles upstream and watched. I saw that the army was very strong. In the morning sun, when you turned your head and looked back, the river was like ribbons, sparkling, and you looked down, with halberds like forests, the sound of war drums, and the neighing of thousands of war horses. Miles away.

Many county residents watched from a distance and praised them in unison: "Master Wang is majestic and majestic! This time south, we will be able to pacify the south of the county and destroy the bandits!"

When the army arrived at the father city, there were no thieves in the city.

The city gates opened wide, and several county gentry who survived the military chaos greeted them outside the city. Seeing Zhu Jun, these people burst into tears, like seeing their relatives.

An old man over sixty years old, crying with snot and tears, bowed down in front of Zhu Jun's horse, weeping and said, "I didn't expect that I would still see Master Wang!"

Zhu Jun dismounted to help him up and asked his name. The old man claimed his surname Feng and cried bitterly: "After the thieves broke the city, countless civilians and civilians were killed and injured in the slaughtered county. Dozens of people in my family died and most of them died. General, please avenge my family and kill the thieves to pacify the chaos."

The father city Feng was the descendant of the big tree general Feng Yi. Feng Yi was listed as the twenty-eighth general of Yuntai and was a great hero of the Zhongxing Han Dynasty. His descendants were killed and injured in the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Zhu Jun was sighed. He helped the old man up and said decisively: "The thieves are brutal and outrageous. Jun's trip will break this robber, report it to the country, and kill the people and the people."

Xun Zhen had no sympathy for the old man surnamed Feng, unlike Zhu Jun. He was half sympathetic and half felt that they were to blame. He has been traveling for more than ten years, and he has also stayed in Xixiang for a year or two. He is very clear about how these wealthy families usually exploit and oppress the poor people. The rich have nowhere to stand, and the poor have no place to stand. At the time of "Peace", the poor people could only endure silently. Once they couldn't bear it any longer and rose up, then the fate of these wealthy families can be imagined. Bo Cai and He Man slaughtered all the surnames with their troops. Among them, the surnames of Xiangcheng and Jia counties helped Xun Zhen take the city, but their subordinates' bitter hatred of these tyrants was also a major reason.

When Bo Cai and He Man were in their father city, they not only slaughtered the entire family, but also plundered food from all directions, leaving the villagers without food.

Zhu Jun allocated some rations to Prefect Wen and asked him to help the people. Prefect Wen entrusted Zhong Yao and Wang Lan with specific responsibility for the implementation of this important task, and ordered them to stay in their father city to appease the people without having to go south from the army.

After staying in the county for one night, the army went south the next day.

Travel 20 to 30 miles to Jinche Township, which is only a dozen miles away from Shushui. It was getting late, and Zhu Jun ordered to rest here. In the evening, he invited Prefect Wen again and summoned the generals to discuss the matter of marching tomorrow.

"My father's city returned without a fight, and it can be seen that the bandit soldiers are already terrified. According to reports, the bandit soldiers are still in Kunyang City, and it seems that they have no intention of going out to welcome me. I decided to cross the river tonight! Xun, tonight at the third watch. , you bring your troops to play more torches and flags, and cross the water on the bank of the Shushui opposite Kunyang to attract the attention of the thieves. At the same time, I will lead the main force to sneak across the river ten miles northeast of Kunyang. Wait for me to cross the river. After crossing the river, if the thief soldiers meet me, you can take the opportunity to cross the water and copy the thieves' flanks. If the thieves dare not leave the city, you will join my main force and attack Kunyang together!"

"promise."

"Mr. Wenfu, you can be with me in the Central Army tomorrow, please watch the battle."

"Yes."

It was negotiated that the whole army was fed and slept well, and only waited until late at night to set off.

...

Zhu Jun held the last military meeting before the war in Jinche Township. In Kunyang City, Bo Cai and He Man were also discussing matters with Qu Shuai and Xiao Shuai.

The sentry sent to the other side of the Shushui River brought the military report that Zhu Jun had returned to his father's city and arrived in Jinche Township.

He Man said: "After the Zhu thief entered Yingchuan, he did not stop and attacked Lunshi and Yangcheng one after another in one day. He arrived in Yangzhai four days ago, and arrived in Xiangcheng the day before yesterday. He crossed Rushui yesterday and only stayed in Fucheng. One night, we sent troops again early this morning, and we have arrived in Jinche Township. He came so fast! He is in a hurry to fight us. If my expectations are not bad, he will be late tomorrow, or tonight if he is early. We will cross the Shushui." He asked Pocai, "The thieves are about to cross, what's the master's countermeasure? Should we stay in the city, or go out to attack?"

Bo Cai looked at the account, was silent for a moment, and spit out four words: "Go out of the city to meet!"

"Go out of the city to meet?"

The Qu Shuai and Xiao Shuai in the tent immediately started to discuss.

Bo Cai patted the table a few times, made them quiet, and said, "Zhu Thief claims that he and Huangfu Thief have brought a total of 80,000 people. Although it is a false word, there will not be so many. It is estimated that there are 30,000 to 40,000 people. There are only more than 40,000 fighters. If you stick to the city and wait for the Huangfu thief to arrive, he will join forces with the Zhu thief. It will be 40,000 enemies with me. There is little food in the city, and there is no reinforcement outside. , will fail."

After being successively defeated by Xun Zhen, and being teased by Xun Zhen crossing the river, Bo Cai hated it to the bone, and wanted to avenge it for a long time. Now, he has completed the preliminary reorganization of the group, and the soldiers and horses of He Man and Fucheng have also arrived in Kunyang. More than 40,000 people, how can they fight against Zhu Jun. He said: "Therefore, in my opinion, it is better to take advantage of the Huangfu thief before he arrives, and now only the Zhu thief will come first, and we will take the initiative to go out of the city to meet him! If we win, we can attack Wuyang with all our strength, and once Wuyang, even if we get through. The road of Runan and Nanyang. In this way, even if Huangfu thieves come, we can advance and retreat freely, advance, fight with them, retreat, and go to Runan or Nanyang.”

A young commander asked: "The Fifth School of the Northern Army and the Three Rivers Knights brought by Zhu Thief should not be underestimated. If we take the initiative to go out of the city to meet the attack, and we win, what if we lose?"

"If you lose, you can still return to Kunyang and stick to the city."

Zhuqu Shuai and Xiao Shuai talked a lot. Some of them were timid and whispered, saying: "Zhu thief has thousands of knights under his command. We have less than a thousand horses. If we use infantry to fight knights, we may fail in the field!" He went out of the city to meet him, but he didn't dare to go against Bo Cai's intentions, so he kept watching He Man, hoping that he would stand up and oppose it.

He Man heard the comments of the young marshals, lowered his head for a while, then raised his head and said, "What the listing says is true!"

He looked around the tent, and said generously and fiercely: "As the master said, we have little food and no reinforcements. If the city is trapped and defended, we will sit and wait! Rather than waiting to die, it is better to fight to the death!"

Because of Xun Zhen, the Yellow Turbans failed to attack Yangzhai, and then they were thrown into Xiangcheng and Jiaxian counties. Now the entire army is trapped on the south bank of Rushui River, which is equivalent to being forced to death. He Man calmed down a bit, analyzed the enemy's situation for the Zhuqu and Xiaoshuai, and said, "Zhu thief led his troops from Luoyang and traveled hundreds of miles to attack two cities in a row. If he wants to attack Kunyang, he must first cross the Shushui. Although he has thousands of knights under his command, these cavalry will not be used when crossing the river, and the infantry he brings are recruited temporarily from the surrounding Luoyang, so there is no need to use them. Fear. We can fight him to the death while he crosses the river! Break his foot soldiers first, then kill his knights while we win."

He was right. No matter how many knights there are, they will definitely not be used when crossing the river. The Yellow Turbans can indeed take the opportunity to attack it.

A young commander said, "Of course it's a good idea to strike halfway, but how can we know where the thief Zhu will cross the river?"

"Zhu thief wants to cross the Kushui, but there are two choices. One, to dive near my Kunyang, and the other, to cross Kunyang far away."

"good."

"Tonight, we will send the valiant out of the city, and ambushed in several sections of the river near Kunyang suitable for crossing the river, and ordered all the troops to prepare for battle, ready to set off at any time. If the thief Zhu crosses near Kunyang, he will definitely be ambushed by my valiant. If you find it, once you find it, the brave will attack it first, and then the main force will go out of the city to help."

"What if the thief Zhu traveled far away from Kunyang?"

"If that's the case, it would be easier. The thief Zhu led at least ten thousand people. It's okay to sneak for a short distance, but it is difficult to hide their whereabouts in a long distance. We can send out sentries to monitor along the river. As long as we determine the position of his crossing, we will attack him. Of."

He Man's two methods are very reliable, and the Qu Shuai and Xiaoshuai in the account have no objection.

Bo Cai got up, and in the tiger's tent, he followed the sword order and said: "According to General He's plan, go into the night and go out of the city bravely, order all the troops to prepare for battle, and send out sentries! General, you take five thousand people to stay in the city."

He Man agrees.

Po Cai drew his sword, cut off a few cases, gritted his teeth, and said, "Avenge Xue Hun, set me up as Huang Tian, ​​and do it here!"

...

This evening, at the third watch, Zhu Jun led the team to leave first, out of the town of Jinche, without torches, with people holding pieces, horses holding bells, and heading northeast of Shushui in the dark.

At the fourth watch, Xun Zhen ordered his soldiers to carry more flags, one torch per person, deliberately lengthening the marching team, and slowly marched towards the opposite bank of Kunyang. Looking from a distance, it looks like a fire dragon, where does it look like there are only two thousand people? There are thousands of people.

Five more, to the location of crossing the river.

There were still two or three thousand of the earthen sacks Xun Zhen made in Xiangcheng earlier that were useless. He brought a few hundred, and Zhu Jun took the rest. Soil bag, cut off the water.

Standing by the river, he first looked at the northeast and thought to himself: "Zhu Junying has already reached the crossing point, and he is probably starting to cross the river." Then he looked at the Kunyang City on the other side, it was pitch black and no lights were on. It was also empty, no one was seen, he thought again, "Bo Cai and He Man will not fail to send sentries, I brought people here with great fanfare, they must know it, but there is no one on the other side, it seems that they are really going to shrink. In the city, they are unwilling to come out and fight with our army. Alas, if they go out to fight, they still have a chance of survival, if they are trapped in the city and wait for Huangfu Song to arrive, they will surely die."

While thinking about ~www.wuxiaspot.com~, I suddenly heard a faint drumbeat coming from the northeast, and there were shouts of killing with the night wind.

Frightened and startled, he turned his head to look north.

On the other side of the river, hundreds of figures appeared out of nowhere on the deserted shore. All of them banged on their weapons and shouted loudly. Some of them were holding powerful crossbows. the river, and shot in front of Xun Zhen's horse. The horse under his crotch was frightened and his hoof neighed in the dark.

——

1. Horse armor.

Cao Cao mentioned in the "Military Policy Order" that "in the beginning there were three hundred horse armors, but I couldn't have ten." Although it was a time of war, it can be seen that horse armor was scarce.

2. Horse halberd.

No. 132 Han bamboo slips unearthed from the Han tomb at Sunjiazhai in Datong, Qinghai, the inscription reads: "The halberd of men and horses", and the halberd of horses should be used exclusively for cavalry. The long-handled steel halberds unearthed in the Gudang Han Tomb in Hangzhou and other places are 225-250 cm long. The infantrymen use them a little too long, and they may be the horse halberds used by the cavalry. A bronze figurine with a horse and a halberd was unearthed from the Wei and Jin Tombs in the Wuwei Arena, Gansu Province.