Chapter 732 Zhoudu
Generals such as Guan Yu and Heifu have the power to decide the situation, so when Heifu's army report was sent to Kyoto, he had actually sent fifteen thousand troops to the southeast.
After Zhang Chong recovered from the collapse of the Eastern War, he immediately realized that the rhythm of the war had changed dramatically.
Originally, with Hei Fu and Guan Yu in the Central Plains, he could calmly confront Yuan Shao without being affected by the rear.
But now with Guan Yu's defeat and Heifu going south, the originally balanced situation in the east has changed, and his pressure in the east has suddenly become several times greater than before.
Therefore, there is only one method left for Zhang Chong to break the game, and that is to hit quickly.
In judging the situation at the time, Zhang Chong realized that the conflict between Yuan Shao and Ju Yi was about to surface after learning that Ju Yi in the south had retreated, so this gave him a window period.
That is to take advantage of the time when Yuan Shao consolidated Ju Yi and led his troops north to attack the enemy forces to the west of him first.
It turned out that the reason Zhang Chong did not take the initiative to attack Kansai was because he had seen through the background of the Liangzhou martial arts group represented by Dong Zhuo.
These powerful people who gathered together did not see the Han Dynasty at all. What they did was the interests of their own group.
Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for them to take the initiative to attack Heluo despite casualties. On the contrary, their most likely chance is to fish in troubled waters and take advantage of the situation while they are facing off with Yuan Shao.
Therefore, Zhang Chong only postponed the threat from Guanxi at the beginning. After all, he would not come forward if he did not fight Yuan Shao to death.
But now the situation has changed. Against the background of possible collapse in the east, he needs to end the war in Heluo as soon as possible.
Otherwise, Hebei in the heart of the country will be threatened by the Qingzhou Army.
Therefore, he first set his sights on the Guanxi Army, and decided to use the cavalry to defeat the Guanxi Army first, remove the threat from the west and the unstable factors on the battlefield, and then quickly return to Heluo to aid Heluo and fight Yuan Shao on the shore of Luoshui.
So, he discussed in detail with He Kui, Xun You and others, and finally made such a tactical arrangement.
Using Zhao Yun's He-Controlling Army as bait, he took the initiative to enter the Weihan Passage to seek a decisive battle with Kansai. After Zhao Yun attracted frontal attention, he led his main force of eight thousand cavalry to quickly rush along the north bank of the river to the other side of Hongnong, then crossed the river and flew to seize Shaanxian County, and then turned back to attack the Guanxi soldiers.
In this way, the strength of the Guanxi Army in Xiaohan will be wiped out in one fell swoop, and this natural barrier of Xiaohan will be completely captured.
Having made this arrangement, Zhang Chong quickly gathered the lieutenant generals and the sudden cavalry, and set out from Mengjin on May 8th. They traveled two hundred miles a day, wrapped in armor and carrying coins, and arrived at Hongnong Shaanxi County in only three days. The sun on the other side.
Dayang means Yang of the Great River.
It has the meaning of Maojin and Maochengjin since ancient times. Since the Spring and Autumn Period, this place has been the most important ferry in the middle section of the river.
"Qin Bo attacked Jin and returned from Maojinji. He sealed Wei's corpse and returned."
The reason for this is because of the importance of Hongnong opposite Dayang.
Shaanxian County is the transportation hub of the western section of the Western Henan Corridor. It is the intersection of the north and south roads of Weishan Mountain. From here, you can go to Hangu in the west and directly to Guanzhong; or to Xin'an in the east; or to Yiyang in the southeast, and then to Weihan. from the mountains to the Yiluo Plain;
It can be said that whoever controls Hongnong controls the Weihan Channel.
Moreover, when the river passes through this section of the river bed, the river bed is narrow, only more than seventy feet wide, making it easier to cross.
In addition, there is another piece of information that Zhang Chong doesn't know, but it is very beneficial to his actions.
That is, Kansai has hoarded a large amount of corn in Hongnong Shaanxi County. These corns are used to support frontline sergeants. From this point of view, once Zhang Chong successfully captures Hongnong, he can not only block the Xiaohan Road, but also Obtain food for the subsequent attack.
But when Zhang Chong traveled five hundred miles to this point and saw the Zhuozhuo River rushing eastward, he encountered a problem.
When he and a group of cavalry stopped at the ferry on the north bank of the river, Li Fu, who had previously divided his troops to defeat Dayang and other small towns, also came back.
He ran over with a young man and said to Zhang Chong:
"Your Majesty, the general was tortured after defeating Dayang. They all said that there are no boats at this ferry. This young man joined the army nearby and said he knew the situation."
So Zhang Chong looked at the young man.
The young man was very excited, and then he lay on the ground and said to Zhang Chong:
"My name is Han Yi. My father was the Yellow Turban Marshal of Hedong. He was later killed by Dong Zhuo's traitor. Later, Xiaomin took my father Buqu and a hundred young men of the Yellow Turbans to lurk in Zhongtiao and plundered Hedong. This time, Bing Bing came. I, the Yellow Turban, came here to join the army.”
Zhang Chong was under a lot of pressure at the moment, and there wasn't much time left for him, but looking at the Yellow Turban orphan, he still showed enough patience.
He patted Han Yi on the shoulder and told him not to be nervous and to tell him slowly what he knew.
Han Yi killed people on the 12th, and now dozens of officials and officials from Hedong died in his hands, but they were still extremely nervous in front of Zhang Chong.
With Wang Zhang's encouragement, he told what he knew.
It turned out that there were boats at Dayang Ferry, but later Duan Yan, who was based in Huayin, ordered the boats from Longmen Ferry to be lowered to Pujin, and at the same time, all the boats from Dayang Ferry were gathered at Fenglingdu where he was. .
In Duan Xuan's words, Longmendu and Dayangdu were close to the front line and could easily be taken advantage of by the Taishan Army, so they made this move.
But after Zhang Chong heard Han Yi's words, and combined with the internal situation in Kansai that Fazheng had told him in detail before, he vaguely understood that this might be a power struggle between Duan Xuan and Guo Si.
After all, wherever the boat is, the ferry will naturally be used to transport supplies. And whoever controls the military resources will naturally have what he says.
Although Duan Xuan and Guo Bang were both members of the Liangzhou Warrior Group, they were not from the same source.
People like Guo Si are all attached to Dong Zhuo and are his old friends, while Duan Yan debuted at about the same time as Dong Zhuo and was a strong general in Guanxi during the Liu Hong period.
Therefore, Guo Si represents the new Liangzhou warriors, and Duan Suan represents the old Liangzhou warriors. Although the two factions have the same overall interests, they still have serious conflicts.
Zhang Chong was thinking about this, but at the moment, it didn't seem to be able to help him overcome the current problem.
So, he asked Han Yi:
"Do you know where there are boats around here?
And Han Yi's words were just as Zhang Chong expected:
"King Zhang, it has long been forbidden to go down the river in this area. If there are only one or two small boats, the common people can still find them. But if you want to find a boat that can supply thousands of horse troops to cross the river, I am afraid that you will not be able to find it even if you search all over the area. .”
Zhang Chong nodded, looking at the headless crowd of knights behind him, and seeing several knights around him frowning, he smiled casually:
"Since we don't have a boat, we will make our own boat. How can a living person die from urination? Let's go, we have just broken through Dayang City and see if there are any boatmen in the city."
Sometimes the importance of the leader is like this. When everyone is confused and has no idea, the attitude of the leader determines the direction.
We must have the determination to overcome all difficulties. Since there are no conditions for crossing the river, we must create conditions.
As a result, the cavalry dispersed one after another and went to search nearby forests for suitable wood; some returned to Dayang City to check on the iron materials and carpenters in the city.
And Han Yi looked at the busy but orderly knights, and his admiration for the Taishan Army increased in his heart.
At this time, Zhang Chong called him again and said with a smile:
"Didn't you say you could get two small boats? You might as well try dragging them over first."
Han Yi came to his senses and responded hurriedly.
...The climate along the river in this world is humid. Although it has been a lot colder in recent years, it has also made spring and summer seem much warmer.
Along Dayangdu, reeds are swaying in the river breeze, water birds are looking for food on the waterside, and you can even see several carp jumping out of the water from time to time, which is a pleasant scene.
But at this moment, an annoying sound of footsteps came, frightening the swimming fish and waterbirds to scatter in all directions, ruining the beautiful scenery.
A young man's voice had the sharpness unique to the voice-changing period, and he said:
"General Xu, tell me how you fought the Zhongrenting War before. I heard about it when I was in Hedong. If it weren't for the distance and my young age, I would have gone to join you then. Hey, you guys The Taishan Army is our hope for Taiping Road.”
It was the young man Han Yi who said this, and the person accompanying him turned out to be Xu Huang, the general of the Flying Tiger Army.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Chong attached great importance to the task of retrieving the ship and asked Xu Huang to personally lead people to go with Han Yi to retrieve it.
Xu Huang didn't say anything. In fact, he didn't agree much with Han Yi, the Yellow Turban orphan, because he was from the Han army and was completely different from these Yellow Turban party members.
Even if the Sanhe Knights hadn't gone south, Xu Huang might have been the one who killed Han Yi's father and brother.
Therefore, he was quite silent along the way.
But Han Yi next to him was very active. After he learned that Xu Huang was a hero who participated in the Zhongrenting War, he admired Xu Huang very much and pestered him along the way to talk about the war.
Xu Huang was not kind enough to satisfy the young man's curiosity, but kept comparing the conditions of the nearby water with the officials around him.
In any battle, especially when crossing a river, it is necessary to know the river course. If the direction and hydrology of the river cannot be determined, big trouble will occur when crossing the river.
Therefore, Xu Huang put all his thoughts here.
Han Yi led them to a reed bush, then pushed aside the reeds and got in. Not long after, he shouted excitedly inside:
"Yeah, it's really here."
Xu Huang's face darkened when he heard this. He didn't expect that this young man was so talkative that he dared to talk about things in front of the king without being accurate.
Xu Huang shook his head, and then waved for the team general to lead the people in.
It's not that he doesn't trust Han Yi, but he's used to being cautious on the battlefield.
And when Xu Huang's team led a dozen people into the reeds, their voices came from inside:
"Military Lord, the ship is here."
Then, they pulled out three ships, one more than Han Yi said.
At this moment, Han Yi did not feel any embarrassment about reporting the situation. Instead, he touched the three boats and sighed:
"This was left by my father and his friends back then. They said they would take us to the other side. But later my father died and he asked me to run to the south, but I didn't listen. I wanted to avenge them, so I stayed here. , I have stayed until now.”
Xu Huang was silent for a while, and finally said a word of comfort:
"Well, has the revenge been avenged? When we come back now, it means to avenge the enemy and retaliate against the injustice."
But Han Yi laughed and said proudly:
"I have avenged myself a long time ago. A total of sixteen people, including the traitor, were buried in the ground by me. I, Xiao Han, take revenge and I will not betray anyone else."
At this moment, Xu Huang admired this young man a little. After all, he had such a fierce temperament, just like him.
So, he checked the canoe and saw that except for some cracks, there was no problem, so he waved to someone to carry it back to the camp.
At this moment, there was already a commotion outside the ferry.
The Taishan Army was lucky. They first discovered a poplar forest in the northwest near the mountains, which not only solved the problem of materials for the Taishan Army's boats, but also solved the problem of firewood for the army.
At this moment, knights continued to carry the logs they had collected back to the camp.
The horses that should have been running across the battlefield were now dragging these logs, back and forth.
At the same time, the Taishan Army also found a large number of iron nails and many shipwrights in Dayang City. These were left behind at the time and were convenient for the Taishan Army at this moment.
In this way, with people, materials, and technology, the Taishan Army started logging outside the Dayang Ferry.
When Xu Huang came, Zhang Chong was talking to the generals about shipbuilding. They didn't want to be sophisticated, they just wanted to be able to cross the river and do it as quickly as possible.
After Zhang Chong saw Xu Huang dragging three boats over, he walked over with a smile, and then said to Xu Huang:
"Gongming, I'll give you a task."
And what about Xu Huang? Without even asking what the task was, he immediately clasped his fists:
"The General's orders."
……
In the afternoon of that day, Xu Huang sadly took Han Yi and quietly crossed the river with Fazheng and arrived in Shaanxian County, accompanied by ten generals.
When they emerged from the reed swamp, they saw Han soldiers guarding the river mouth not far ahead.
It seems that the Han army in Shaanxi County already knew that the Taishan Army had appeared on the other side. This is not surprising. At that time, Dayang City lit a beacon fire as soon as it discovered the appearance of the Taishan Army.
As long as the Han army in Shaanxi County is not blind, it is impossible to do nothing.
But for now, they only know that there are enemy troops on the other side, but they don't know exactly where the enemy is and how big the enemy is.
Therefore, these Han army officials who patrolled the river were also quite slack. After all, they all knew that there were no boats on this section of the river, so what if it was on the other side? Can you still fly over?
So it is the brothers on the Dayang side who are suffering.
But it doesn't matter. Beggar-thy-neighbor is the basic behavior of our Kansai soldiers.
When Xu Huang saw these patrolmen lighting bonfires again, he did not make much noise, but quietly retreated to the south road.
A group of people walked to the official road, and Xu Huang couldn't help but said to Fa Zheng on the side:
"Master Fa, are you reliable? You went to Kyoto on a bicycle before, but now there are so many of us following you. No matter how you look at it, there are some problems. How about I go into the city with you? Let them all wait outside?"
As soon as Xu Huang finished speaking, the young man Lang Hanyi disagreed. He said in a sharp voice:
"The general looks down on people, but we can also enter the city and kill people. We will not lose to you."
Xu Huang rolled his eyes and didn't understand why the king asked him to take this boy with him. Isn't this kind of wanton behavior a bad thing?
Fazheng, who had been silent since crossing the river, finally spoke when Xu Huang asked.
He looked at the vaguely visible Shaanxi County town:
"No, I have my own way. I came back this time just to tell those Liangzhou soldiers that I will take back whoever takes away from me. I will punish anyone who humiliates me tenfold."
As he said that, Fazheng's eyes were quite cruel.
As Xu Huang watched, he only had one thought in his mind:
"This person is a man who will retaliate for his anger. Let's avoid messing with him in the future."