Chapter 910 Crossing the River
Ren Rang is a rising Youyi general in the Jinquan Army. At this time, he is leading a Youyi team of about fifty riders on the south bank of Zishui River.
As the leading outpost of the entire army, Ren Rang must explore the direction leading to the enemy's camp, and any outposts encountered by the enemy in the process must also be marked.
Behind them, the Taishan Army, numbering about 10,000 people, was struggling to cross the river.
Because of the rain yesterday afternoon, the water level of the ferry downstream of the Zi River rose sharply, so it took the Taishan Army longer to cross the Zi River.
At this time, it is very important for Ren Rang Youyi's team to be the first to cross the river. Once they are exposed to the enemy's view, the Taishan Army crossing the river is likely to be discovered, and the entire army is at risk of being cut off.
But it was precisely because of this that Jin Quan specially ordered Ren Rang to shoulder this task.
Ren Rang's father was Ren Yun, a cavalry general who died in the Battle of Changshe. At that time, he covered Chen Huan's troops to withdraw from Changshe, but he was killed in Sun Jian's army in the process.
Ren Yun was one of the three earliest cavalry generals of the Taishan Army. His premature sacrifice is often regretted, but fortunately, the tiger father had no dog son. Ren Rang, who followed his father in the army since he was a child, showed his extraordinary riding and archery talents. .
Among the second generation, it can be said that he is outstanding.
Ren Rang also has an advantage, that is, he is relatively older among the second-generation children, so when most of the children are studying in schools or military schools, Ren Rang has already completed six years of military study and joined early. Arrived in the army.
And when is it now, it is the end of the great unification war. Being able to participate in this largest decisive battle is a qualification in itself.
Not to mention that his father Ren Yun had many friends in the army, and he died protecting his old brother Chen Huan, so Ren Rang had to take care of his old brothers when he first arrived in the army.
Coupled with his excellent riding ability, he can become a general in an army at his age.
Ren Rang is very precocious.
Not only because he already has a full beard at his age, but also because he is mentally precocious.
Ren Rang works hard, and he understands that the legacy of his father's generation will be lost if used, so he does not dare to slack off even a little bit because of his background.
After crossing the river, Ren Rang waited on the bank for the brothers behind him to come over.
He felt the caress of the breeze on the shore and watched the Zi River flow calmly to the east, as if it had never stopped for thousands of years. Everything was so calm and peaceful.
Some flying catkins blew from the reeds on the shore and made it tickle on Ren Rang's face.
After a sneeze, the brothers who were crossing the river had already gathered around him.
Ren Rang nodded, then turned around and groped towards the south.
In the absence of navigation, how can the troops who have been meandering accurately find the established target? The answer is to rely on sentry riding.
The sentry riders must first clarify the general direction, then open a fan and travel separately. After running for twenty miles, they will turn back regardless of whether they encounter enemies.
After the Sentinel Riders return to meet each other, they will confirm each other's intelligence. If one party encounters the enemy camp, the task will be completed. If not, then they need to continue to move forward until the enemy camp is found.
Fortunately, in the Central Plains, there are mountains, rivers and lakes to determine the approximate location, and then rely on the sun to determine the direction, so there are not many people who get lost.
But if the troops enter the grassland, finding the barbarian camp in that vast area is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
That's why Li Guang got lost so many times when he went out to the fortress.
It is precisely because of the high requirements of sentry scouts that all the people who can serve the entire army are veterans.
This is the case for any of the fifty knights You Yi. The one with the shortest military experience is three years. It can be said that every one of them is experienced and worthy of trust.
After the entire team had crossed the river, Ren Rang began to assign sentinel tasks. He divided the team into five groups and went to the five southwest directions to scout the location of Cao's camp.
After turning back within about 20 miles, Ren Rang led nine people to scout along the southwest direction.
The area on the south bank of Zi River is actually very fertile. As the core area of Qi State at that time, it was developed early.
But unfortunately, due to the war, everything they could see along the way was overgrown with weeds and desolate. They even saw an abandoned temple, and they didn't know which wild god was enshrined in it.
Ren Rang and the others did not stay here longer, but continued to go deeper to the southwest.
The further we got here, the more difficult the road became. Ren Rang could see a lot of damaged carts piled up on the road. Judging from the degree of weathering, it must have been a while.
At this time, Ren Rang also felt quite disdainful towards the so-called Lord of Qingzhou, Cao Cao.
Then Cao Cao has occupied Qingzhou for so many years, and he still doesn't understand the importance of roads? It seems that he is just a mediocre person who only knows how to be militaristic.
Once he really thought about it in his heart, Ren Rang did not dare to slack off in his behavior, because he understood that the more military leaders devoted themselves to the people's strength, the better the soldiers in their hands would be. After all, all the good things were given to the army.
But even though young Ren Rang is young and mature, he still lacks insight into world affairs.
Ren Rang felt that Cao Cao did not build roads because of the experience of the Taishan Army. After the Taishan Army stabilized the place, they would organize the people to repair the roads and smoothen the logistics.
Only when the roads are connected will this place slowly come to life.
But Ren Rang didn't know that this kind of simple thinking was very rare because it required a powerful army behind it.
For Taishan's army, the roads were repaired and his army could move anywhere quickly.
But have you ever thought that for the weaker party, spending people's energy to repair roads is a kind of chronic suicide.
Because your roads are repaired, that powerful army can use your road network to quickly rush into your sphere of influence.
Unfortunately, compared with the Taishan Army in the north, Cao Cao was the weaker one. Not to mention, the Taishan Army has a larger cavalry force than Cao Cao. If Cao Cao clears the road at this time, he would be really stupid.
Therefore, the abandoned carts that Ren Rang saw on the road at this time were deliberately done by Cao Jun to hinder the march of Taishan Army.
When Ren asked them to ride to a forest, they suddenly heard a puff of smoke coming from in front of them.
Ren asked them to hide in the forest quickly.
After a while, the sound of people and horses neighing could be heard outside, and from time to time, the figures of cavalry flashed past the forest.
Ren asked them all to hold their breath and put bits on their horses.
They are Youyi, they are here to detect intelligence, not to directly clash with the enemy in the wild as a cavalry force.
Therefore, they need to avoid this Cao army.
But at this moment, Ren Rang, who was lying in the forest, saw the enemy's flag, and his heart was shocked:
"This is the flag."
Thinking of this, he nodded and asked Brother You Yi next to him to climb the tree to observe.
This brother You Yi is a Goguryeo warrior. He used to climb trees in the mountain towns in his hometown. After catching the look of the team leader, he took off his armor and climbed the tallest tree wearing only single clothes.
Once he gained a higher field of vision, the Goguryeo warrior immediately had a clear view of the situation outside the forest. The number of enemy troops was probably more than a hundred, including both infantry and cavalry. Judging from the carriage and baggage, this should be an outpost force. They probably received some military order to shrink towards the main camp.
So the Goguryeo warrior quickly got down from the tree and reported the situation to Ren Rang.
Ren Rang knew very well that since there was a flag on the opposite side, it would definitely not be that simple. Because this is at least a configuration that only the first battalion leader has.
It stands to reason that if he can capture the camp general outside, then Cao Jun's military layout on the south bank will definitely be clearly understood.
But there were ten times as many people as him, so he couldn't risk the lives of his brothers.
Compared with the fierce attack in the past, today's Taishan Army is indeed more and more stable and conservative. This is actually the result of people's hearts.
Everyone knows that the world is about to be unified, but who of them is willing to die in this last war?
Thinking of this, Ren Rang could only suppress his restless heart and try to endure it.
The sounds of people and horses outside quickly disappeared, and they continued to march in the southwest direction, leaving ruts along the way.
After a long time, Ren Rang and the others emerged from the forest.
Looking at the ruts that disappeared into the sky, Ren Rang already understood where the enemy's camp was.
So, he snorted and quickly returned with his team.
There, Jin Quan and Xie Hui's 10,000-strong army had already crossed the river and were waiting for information from Ren Rang and the others.
……
At this time, on the night crossing downstream of the Zi River, Jin Quan and Xie Hui's army of ten thousand people were resting on the shore.
Because the pontoon bridge was not built but was forcibly crossed, the army's baggage was basically left on the north bank. Jinquan and the others only crossed the river with about three days' worth of food and supplies.
Jin Quan and Xie Hui, one of them belongs to the Youping Army under the command of Ding Sheng, and the other belongs to the Daibei Army under the command of Dong Fang.
But no matter which side they belong to, these two legions are stationed on the inside all year round, so the equipment supply and military uniforms are very good.
At this time, more than ten thousand officials and soldiers gathered on the south bank. The fluttering apricot flags and bright yellow military uniforms together formed an impactful scene.
The gleaming army, their armor shining with golden light, and all kinds of gorgeous military uniforms lying around, it seems that no army can defeat them.
At this time, the army on the south bank was still organized almost according to the order of the battalions, leaning on each other and leaning against the Zi River. From time to time, you could see command horses carrying yellow flags running back and forth between the battalions to communicate with each other.
It was under such an environment that Ren asked them to return here with the information and run all the way to the direction where the highest flag was hanging.
About two moments later, a baggage battalion holding axes began to move toward the nearby forest. They had just received an order from the camp, asking them to use the trees on the south bank to build a pontoon bridge so that the baggage on the north bank could be delivered as soon as possible. come over.
At this time, the Taishan Army was no longer afraid of exposing their targets. After the troops completed crossing the river, it was the Taishan Army that should be afraid now.
So Taishan Army's You Yi and Sentinel Cavalry began to move out again, and this time they were not avoiding as before, and began to search for Cao Army's sentries and wandering troops in a wider area.
While resting at Jinquan, a dense sound of horns suddenly came from the southwest.
At this time, Jin Quan was immediately arranging the marching order of each battalion. Suddenly he heard the horn and finally sighed:
"The war has begun."
Then he began to order that except for leaving one battalion on the south bank to assist the baggage battalion in erecting pontoon bridges, the other battalions were to advance toward the southwest in the order he had arranged.
Now that the war has begun, how can they be absent?
……
After successfully crossing the river at Jinquan, the Taishan Army upstream also successfully crossed the river earlier.
Like the Jinquan side, Zhang Heizi and the others did not encounter resistance from Cao Jun.
Today, the opponent of Zhang Heizi and his 10,000-strong Taishan Army is none other than Xiahou Dun, the core general of Cao's army.
As the core of Cao Cao's army, Xiahou Dun was not only Cao Cao's right-hand man in military affairs, but also a first-class general in the army.
His fighting style was like that of a fierce tiger, so Xiahou Dun was often addressed as "Tiger Commander" in the army.
Xiahou Dun was not only trusted by Cao Cao, he was also supported by his subordinates, not only because he was always on the front line, but also because he really cared about the feelings of his brothers.
No matter what orders Cao Cao gave, Xiahou Dun would fulfill them unconditionally. He was not greedy for money and complained like Cao Hong. He could be said to be the real pillar general of Cao Cao's army.
When Cao Cao arranged it in the upper reaches of the Zi River, Xiahou Dun already knew that there was a high possibility that the Taishan Army would cross the river from this section.
In order to complete Cao Cao's plan to send Taishan's army across the river to fight, Xiahou Dun did not choose to set up defenses along the river bank, but placed the determined battlefield at Huyangkou.
Yes, Xiahou Dun also saw the key location of Huyangkou, and even went to Huyangkou in advance to see the nearby situation.
Cao Cao did want to lead his troops deeper, but that didn't mean he would withdraw without fighting.
In this case, those Taishan troops on the opposite side are not fools, and they will definitely see that Cao Cao has other plans.
Lao Cao also knew in his heart that he was still taken seriously by the Taishan Army.
Otherwise, is it worth using three famous commanders and 60,000 elite men to defeat him in Qingzhou?
It was precisely because of this confidence that Cao Cao had to fight a blocking battle during the retreat, so that the retreat would be realistic.
Moreover, blocking warfare also has another function, which is to buy time for the army to evacuate.
After all, once the enemy pursues them too quickly, Cao's army may turn from a feigned retreat to a real retreat.
Therefore, Xiahou Dun received such a military order, asking him to fight the Taishan Army to see if Ding Sheng had improved over the years and whether it was worth Cao Cao's game.
But Xiahou Dun gave up the defense on the river bank, so he would not be able to get the Taishan Army to cross the river in time.
Xiahou Dun could only be sure that Taishan's army would cross the river, but he did not know when the other side would cross the river.
Therefore, in order to prevent his own side from being unable to respond in time, Xiahou Dun issued combat missions to the generals under his command in advance.
Once a war suddenly breaks out, these generals will know what they have to do instead of contacting the Chinese army for orders.
Not only that, Xiahou Dun also deployed a series of outposts on the periphery of each battalion, so that each battalion could have enough reaction time.
The above arrangements are enough to show that Xiahou Dun at this time is no longer just a warrior, but has truly grown into a commander.
Today, Zhang Heizi's opponent is such a person.