Chapter 411 Confusion
A tall city suddenly appeared on the horizon.
The sergeants escorting the car looked at it from a distance and were quite shocked.
Many of them are refugees from Bingzhou and Jizhou. They crossed the river here many years ago and settled in Yunzhong, Kinmen, Tanshan, and Gancheng Siwu to reclaim wasteland.
This city did not exist at that time!
After walking for a while, we gradually got closer, and the whole city gradually came into view.
Carpenters are building a huge city gate.
The servants are digging the moat.
Craftsmen are installing a winch to drive the suspension bridge.
There are still people coming in and out, constantly sending bricks, tiles, wood and stones to complete the city defense facilities such as parapets and horse faces.
"Heyang Nancheng." Shao Shen read out the four sharp characters on the south wall.
My handwriting is quite good, better than my second uncle.
Several camps were set up outside the city, and at first glance they were all old acquaintances: either the Silver Spear Army, the field army recruited from various places, or even the Xuchang soldiers.
Xu didn’t need to practice today, so they started to go to the fields to harvest food.
Beans were planted in the ground, which made Shao Shen a little disappointed. There was unlikely to be much harvest.
However, in this war-torn world, it would be nice to be able to collect some miscellaneous food, so don’t think too much about it.
After two rounds of inspections, the team was allowed to go on the road.
They passed by the newly built post road on the east side of Heyang Nancheng, arrived at the ferry in less than a hundred steps, and then stepped onto the pontoon bridge.
"This bridge is too big..." Shao Shen was a little shocked.
During the war, it was very common to build simple pontoon bridges, but they were not so big and so strong.
Yes, this pontoon has only a slight sway and is very smooth to walk on.
The hull is also painted, and it is clear at first glance that it has been invested in. It is not a temporary pontoon that will be abandoned after the war.
The wind on the river was very strong, and there was a faint fishy smell.
After a while of burning incense, the floating bridge swayed slightly, but overall it can be said to be stable.
After walking for less than half an hour, the shaking became smaller again, and Hezhu was already in sight in the distance.
Another city has three big characters written on it: "中欬(tān) City".
Good guy! The cities are one after another.
Compared with Nancheng, Zhongli City is slightly smaller, but it has all the necessary facilities. Wengcheng, horse noodles, etc. are all available, and the Yellow River is its natural moat.
The city is in the shape of a long strip with two gates in the north and south.
After passing the south gate, we walked for almost a mile, and soon we were out of the north gate, and we were greeted by a brand new pontoon bridge.
The pontoon bridge is still under construction, but judging from how busy the craftsmen are, the progress should be very fast.
Standing outside the north gate, Shao Shen looked around and found that if nothing unexpected happened, the city itself would be difficult to attack head-on.
The reason is very simple: Hezhu is not big. After the city was built, in addition to small pieces of farmland, orchards, and vegetable patches on the east and west sides, there was very little open space outside the north and south gates, and a wall was built. The sheep and horse wall is used to house cattle, sheep, horses and mules.
If the enemy attacks, they really won’t even have a foothold, and they won’t be able to deploy their forces at all, let alone attack the city.
The motorcade stopped outside the north gate.
The civil servants went to deliver supplies with the defenders, while Shao Shen sat down and slowly enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the river.
"Where is Mr. Chen?" He sat for a while and felt bored again, so he grabbed a clerk and asked.
The literary official knew that he was Chen Gong's nephew, so he pointed to the west and said: "Over there."
Shao Shen opened his eyes and looked, but saw the wide river. , dozens of boats sailed upstream, slowly approaching another river in the west: Ma Zhu.
The boats are not big, each one can hold up to the sky if it can carry twenty people.
The boatmen rowed hard, and the boat swayed like a drunken man, slowly approaching Ma Zhu.
After a while, the drums sounded.
A group of lightly armored soldiers jumped off the boat, waded through the turbid river water, and moved slowly through the mud.
Shao Shen could see that they had worked very hard, but it was not easy to walk through the water. If they were not careful, they would be stuck in waist-deep water and unable to move.
The ships approached Ma Zhu one by one, and more and more soldiers jumped into the water, struggling to move forward wearing only leather armor or no armor at all.
There was a sound of trumpets on Ma Zhu.
Shao Shen is very familiar with martial arts, which is an order for archery.
"Alas! After this round of arrow rain, not many people who rushed to the island will survive." Shao Shen slapped his thigh and sighed again and again.
"It will be better at night." The clerk was also fascinated and said casually.
Shao Shen nodded slowly, then shook his head.
No matter day or night, it is actually very difficult to do this under the eyes of the enemy. "Mr. Chen is going to invade the north bank now?" Shao Shen asked.
“I don’t know either.” The civil servant smiled bitterly and said, “However, we have indeed been collecting ships recently, and the number has been no less than a hundred. Duke Chen even ordered carpenters to temporarily cut wood to build ships. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, as long as it can ferry people and horses across the river.”
Newly cut wood is obviously not suitable for building ships. Over time, the ships will leak, deform, rot, etc. The piles will even fall apart in the middle of the river in serious cases, which is purely harmful to people.
But it’s fine for temporary use. I don’t expect it to last long anyway.
"What you said should be true." Shao Shen pushed the clerk aside, rushed to the grass on the shore, and looked up at the silver gun soldiers who were landing.
It took them a long time to finally rush to the river bank and then set up their formation on the spot.
The big shield is in front, the spear is pointed outward, and the archers are in the back, making gestures to draw their bows.
They even threw some things in front of the formation. Shao Shen guessed that they were simple antlers made of tree branches, which could be carried by one person. When there were no vehicles or horses, they could be used to temporarily block cavalry charges - in fact, as long as you think carefully, there are always more solutions than difficulties.
After the first group of people landed, the subsequent ships slowly rolled over, and the second group of soldiers began to land.
"This battle is too troublesome. I'm really anxious to death." Shao Shen scratched his head and head anxiously, wishing he could jump on Ma Zhu himself, wield a long-handled ax, kill all the enemies, and continuously expand the defense line.
"Dong dong dong..." Drums sounded from the other side.
Shao Shen immediately turned around and saw groups of sergeants getting up and heading to the ship.
That’s not the Silver Spear Army!
"Black Army." The clerk explained softly: "There were originally 1,200 people. Ten days ago, we expanded two buildings, and now there are more than 2,400 people."
"What? The black army doesn't even have iron armor. It's holding a dark 'wooden stick'. What on earth do they want to do?" Shao Shen was a little surprised.
"They are going to die." The civil servant gloated: "The army has not yet been formed, but its skills have not yet been completed. In the future, they will be the first batch to fight across the north."
"How can we see it? "Shao Shen asked: "If such a sparse army is forced by the enemy and driven down the river, it will not look good on Mr. Chen's face, right? I don’t feel bad at all.” The clerk chuckled and said, “More than a hundred ships can just carry two thousand and four hundred people.”
“Didn’t you say that you are still building new ships?” >
"Indeed." The civil servant replied: "Perhaps another batch of field troops will be dispatched to the battle in the future."
Shao Shen fell silent.
The battle across the river is really cruel, and it is easy to be attacked by someone who is half-crossed.
In his opinion, it is better to wait until winter, when the river is frozen solid, before sending troops northward.
However, there are also problems with this. It is inconvenient to obtain soil in winter, which makes it troublesome to set up camp or build a city.
“I don’t know what my second uncle is thinking, alas.” Shao Shen walked around anxiously.
"The emperor issued an edict and had to go north." The literary official explained.
"Huh?" Shao Shen was a little surprised. He really didn't know about this.
"What happened seven days ago." The literary official said: "The angel came to Zhongli City and read the edict in public. After Chen Gong received the order, he informed the whole army. If you wait a few more days, I am afraid that the Huns will know about it. "
"No wonder, no wonder!" Shao Shen stamped his feet and sighed: "No wonder I heard the people talking when I passed through Nancheng."
In fact, there was more than just discussion, there was also a faint sound of crying.
Every fool knows how risky it is to cross the river and attack Zhemati directly.
It is not that there are no Xiongnu scouts or agents on the south bank of the river. You will know after a little inquiry.
"What does the emperor's order mean?" Shao Shen was a little angry and said angrily.
The literary official shook his head and smiled bitterly.
It is true that the emperor's edict can be obeyed or violated, but it seems that Mr. Chen has no intention of refusing this time. The reason is probably because I am worried about having long nights and having many dreams. In short, this is the matter above. He doesn't know much about it and can't figure it out, so he just lets it go.
Shao Shen felt unhappy and was too lazy to read any more.
When we returned to the city gate, the delivered supplies had been delivered: preserved meat, cheese, and pickles sent by Guang Chengze.
There is also a small amount of rice sent by Queen Hui Yang's family.
Well, there are also two winter coats. Princess Xiangcheng asked him to give them to her in private.
The second uncle is really...
After waiting for Shao Xun for a day in Zhongli City, Shao Shen returned with the convoy.
On August 16th, they stayed overnight in Nancheng. The next day they saw thousands of soldiers from Xuchang breaking camp and setting off to the east, accompanied by a large number of craftsmen.
Asked them what they were doing, but no one was willing to tell the truth. But the "smart" Shao Shen had already seen through that they must have gone downstream to find a place to build a temporary pontoon bridge, because they brought a large number of bridge-building tools.
It’s just that after passing the Mengjin section, not only the river is more open, but the water is also quite fast. Can a pontoon bridge really be built? He had some doubts.
This battle made him a little confused.
After thinking about it, Shao Shen stopped in a hurry and asked his men to lead the convoy back. He went straight to Zhongli City, intending to persuade his second uncle.
(End of this chapter)