The Taishan Army pursued along the north bank of the Daling River, while the Wuhuan people sent troops from both north and south banks of the Daling River at the same time.
After Zhang Chong saw the mobilization of the Wuhuan people, he immediately realized that once they counterattacked with the Wuhuan people on the north bank, the Wuhuan people on the south bank could easily penetrate behind their own side and cross the river, thus forming a front and rear double-team for him. trend.
Seeing this, Zhang Chong immediately dispatched Xi Shen's Flying Leopard Army with thousands of men to cross the river to the south and intercept Wuhuan on the south bank.
The Daling River is in the dry season at this time, and some sections are even drying up.
But even so, because the Taishan Army had not surveyed this waterway before, Xi Shen was taking a great risk in crossing the river.
What's more serious is that once Xi Shen's troops cross the river, they will be really far away from the Chinese army, and no one knows what the situation is on the south bank.
In other words, Xi Shen is a pawn crossing the river, advancing but never retreating.
When Xi Shen received this military order, he was still hesitating. Huang Xu, one of his four generals, was embarrassed:
"Captain Lieutenant, your Majesty's fate is very strange. Now we are facing a battle, and we are required to cross the river and go south. After all this trouble, not to mention the dangerous water conditions, even if the Wuhuan people attack us halfway across the river, our Flying Leopard Army will not die. You also need to peel off the skin.”
Xi Shen looked at the Wuhuan people on the opposite south bank from a distance. When he saw that they did not come forward, they just stopped at a distance, and he had a problem in his heart.
But he still asked another general around him, Wu Xian, who was also a fourth general:
"Old Wu, tell me, how do you fight this?"
Wu Xian was from Juancheng. He had followed Xi Shen since he was in charge of Heji, and he had the deepest grasp of Xi Shen's thoughts.
He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then responded:
"The king asked us to cross the river, naturally considering the overall situation. Now because of the obstruction of the river, the Wuhuan people on the opposite side took advantage of their numerical advantage to set up battles on both the north and south banks. This is like the two claws of a crab. If the south bank is ignored, That soldier will come and poke us in the butt. That’s why the king let us cross the river.”
It was still Huang Xu, he muttered in a low voice:
"Then why did our troops go south? Why didn't Le Jin's cavalry army go?"
The sound was very small, and only the three people present could hear it.
But the two people, including Xi Shen, neither agreed nor scolded, but this itself also shows their attitude.
In fact, Xi Shen has special characteristics in the Taishan Army.
The first is that he joined the Taishan Army in his early years. Before Zhang Chong and others went east to Mount Tai, Xi Shen and a group of evil teenagers joined them.
As the Taishan Army developed and grew, the evil boys of the past quickly took up important positions. Although there were many evil boys later who gradually stayed away from Xi Shen. But there are still a lot of people around Xi Shen, forming a certain mountain.
For example, he now has four major generals, namely Huang Xu, Wu Xian, Qiu Gong, and Li Hui.
These people rely on Xi Shen's side urgently, and they are both prosperous and devastated.
In addition, Xi Shen is also the only military commander in the Taishan army, besides Guan Yu, who can take charge of the local area. Previously, Zhang Chong was not allowed to let Xi Shen take charge of Heji because of Dong Fang's conservative administration.
Although Zhang Chong later transferred Xi Shen to the cavalry army, Xi Shen's influence still penetrated into the local and political circles. He promoted many smart and capable field officials in the Heji area, and these people later grew into the backbone of Taishan's military and political system.
In addition to these two reasons, his relationship with his chief disciple Duman is also quite ambiguous.
This allowed Xi Shen Yue to gradually form a hilltop of his own. Although this hilltop was still very small and only within the scope of the Flying Leopard Army, it was still a bad sign.
At this time, Huang Xu's speech just now was exactly what this mountain meant to protect its own interests.
Xi Shen stroked his beard and narrowed his eyes slightly. He had already seen that Fei Jun, who came to report the news from the opposite side, was a little restless. Only then did he speak:
"You report to the king for me, saying that I, Xi Shen, will definitely complete the task of crossing the river to stop the enemy."
With this reply, the flying army breathed a visible sigh of relief, and then galloped back.
After seeing Fei Jun carrying the flag and leaving, Huang Xu on the side wanted to speak again, but Xi Shen stopped him. He only had one sentence:
"Our army will win this battle!"
After saying that, he took the lead in crossing the river to the south bank with the big military flag and drum horn.
Under such circumstances, Huang Xu, who was born as a bad boy, could only sigh and caught up with Xi Shen. He could only sigh in his heart at the military leader's confusion.
Our whole army only has the wealth of a thousand men, and we risk it just because of the king’s words? It's really not worth it!
No one knows whether this unconventional thought is just Huang Xu's idea or whether it represents Xi Shen's intention.
When Xi Shen led his army to the north bank of the Daling River, he said to several cavalry officers on the side:
"Because our army is crossing the river, someone must lead the team to cross the river first and hold the front beach position for the entire army to cover the brothers behind to cross the river. This task is very important. Which of you can take on it?"
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At this moment, the dozen or so cavalrymen present fell silent.
These people are all intermediate and advanced cavalrymen above the rank of captain, and they know very well that this is not only important, but also very dangerous.
The first team to cross the river would have to create a safe passage for the entire army, which was already very dangerous.
And then you have to defend the front beach position while getting wet?
The subtext of this statement is that the knights who are the first to cross the river must wear armor to cross the river, otherwise they will not have time to wear it when they reach the other side.
You must know that defending the beach position is different from attacking!
You can maneuver back and forth in the cavalry battle, and if you can't beat them, you can go in the opposite direction. But to defend the position, they had to dismount and form a formation. Without armor, how could they stop the cavalry charge? So despite Xi Shen's understatement, everyone present knew very well that the person who took on this task could have a narrow escape from death.
Xi Shen was a little annoyed when no one spoke for a long time. He was usually very kind to these cavalry generals, but now he assigned a task and no one took it?
Just when Xi Shen was about to directly appoint a general, Wu Xian next to him took over.
Wu Xian clasped his fists and said loudly:
"Captain Lieutenant, I am willing to lead my team to take on this task. I am from Juancheng myself and was born by the water since I was a child. Most of the knights in our team are from Heji. They have good water properties. Even if they really fall into the water, they will be Chance of Survival ”
In fact, Xi Shen knew that what Wu Xian said was nonsense.
No matter how good you are in water, you are still alive after falling into the water even if you are wearing iron armor?
But Xi Shen is not Zhang Chong, nor Zhang Dan, Guan Yu, or Ding Sheng. He is a results-oriented person.
Even though he was reluctant to take risks, he knew that he could only let Wu Xian go at this time.
After all, if you don't choose someone who has volunteered for military service, and insist on naming him, the army will think it's unfair for him to ridicule Shen.
Although he didn’t know why Wu Xian was rushing to do this, Xi Shen still nodded:
"Okay, you will lead your team as the pioneer. I can't give you any other promises. That's what the king has to do. I'm just telling you that after your team crosses the bank, I will lead the team across the river next!" ”
Wu Xian glanced at Xi Shen complicatedly and nodded vigorously.
After that, he took the fifty cavalry of his own team and took the lead in crossing the river, and he was the first.
……
Before Zhang Chongchuan, he had watched a drama in which there was a very testing game called the Deathly Glass Bridge.
Every piece of glass you step on could lead you to fall into the abyss.
This kind of uncertain death is more cruel than real death.
And now Wu Xian's behavior of leading the team across the river is essentially like this.
But there are two pieces of good news.
The first is that Wu Xian's team is so united that they are even willing to sacrifice themselves for Pao Ze. The second is that they have horse silk and rope in their hands.
Before crossing the river, Wu Xian told the brothers that the horse string in his hand was used to measure the water level, and once he could cross, he would tie the horse string in place to mark the water level.
Then the people walking in front carried hemp ropes, and then the people behind tied the ropes to the horses, so that after the whole team crossed the river, they could form a hemp rope chain, so that the brothers behind could follow this chain. A piece of hemp rope to cross the river safely.
In this way, after doing what he could, Wu Xian took a hemp rope and prepared to take the lead in crossing the river.
But at this moment, a knight nicknamed "Skinny Monkey" from his hometown suddenly jumped in front, held the hemp rope and began to ride his horse and jump into the water.
Wu Xian was stunned for a moment, and then he saw the subordinates behind him all starting to scramble for position and start crossing the river on horseback.
At this time, Wu Xian's tears finally broke down. He could only cry silently, then wrapped the hemp rope in his hand and walked at the end.
Because of the angle of view, Wu Xian couldn't even see the back of the thin monkey at the front. He could only follow the hemp rope safety line tied to the lower door in front and then wade across the river.
A moment later, when Wu Xian finally stepped on the beach on the south bank, he eagerly wanted to find the back figure in the crowd, but he couldn't.
Wu Xian was out of breath, and his heart seemed to be clenched tightly.
He sat helplessly on a stone, staring blankly ahead.
There, countless Wuhuan people were gathering. It couldn't be said to be very neat, but the crowd was even terrifying.
The Wuhuan Tuqi have been fighting in all directions with the Han army for a long time, although the most elite and knowledgeable Tuqi have withered away with the defeat of the Zhenbei Army.
But the Wuhuan tribe soldiers in front of them still have flags, golden drums and horns.
Therefore, what Wu Xian saw at this moment was that the Wuhuan people on the opposite side were waving their flags and blaring their horns. From time to time, they could see troops being mobilized.
Suddenly, someone tapped Wu Xian on the shoulder. He looked up and saw that it was Colonel Xi Shen.
Xi Shen didn't say much. He had seen the scene of crossing the river just now. He didn't have any comfort. He just looked solemnly at the Wuhuan people opposite.
"These Wuhuan people are just waiting for us to cross the river and go south."
At this time, Wu Xian said.
Yes, Xi Shen also discovered this.
These Wuhuan people had no intention of attacking while they were crossing the river, but just watched quietly, in order to let the Taishan Army on the north bank divide half of its troops to go south.
Thinking of this, Xi Shen glanced at the apricot-yellow banner on the other side with confusion, and said calmly:
"So, the king is in danger!"