The next day, soldiers and horses from the Han army camp went out to cut down trees and collect rolling stones.

However, there were not many soldiers and horses out of the camp, only seven or eight thousand.

At the head of Xiyang City, Wang Ling and a group of generals watched from the top of the city.

A partial general said: "Shu County went out of the camp to cut down trees and collect rolling stones, it seems that they are preparing to build a return cannon and attack my Xiyang City, but why did they send this little manpower, it seems that there are only seven or eight thousand people at most."

The Shu army came with 40,000 horses this time, if most of the 40,000 horses were dispatched, the return cannon and rolling stones would be ready in less than five days, and it would take at least ten days to use only seven or eight thousand horses like him. ”

When the generals heard this, they were also a little puzzled and discussed this issue.

"The Shu army came from afar, and it should be tired, so there were fewer soldiers and horses dispatched on the first day, and there should be more by tomorrow."

"Zhuge Liang is unpredictable in his use of soldiers, who knows what his idea is, since we can't guess it, don't guess, lest we fall for him."

"Yes, we just need to be careful and wait for reinforcements, and we can't be suspicious because of the slightest movement of the Shu army."

Wang Ling clapped his hands and said, "Okay, okay, don't guess, I protect the city with sandbags, what kind of character Zhuge Liang is, he should be able to know the pros and cons of this method."

Now that midsummer has just passed, there is no cloud, there will be no heavy rain in a short time, if Zhuge Liang sends a large number of soldiers and horses to return the artillery in three or two days, he will have to wait for a long time to attack the city, so that the army needs to wait for the opportunity, which is somewhat damaging to the army.

And send a small number of soldiers and horses, take turns to act every day, just in time to build the return cannon when the autumn rain comes.

In this way, the soldiers are busy every day, and there will be no damage to the morale of the army, and when the reinforcements of our army arrive, the Shu army will take turns to act, and it will not be too tired. I think this is Zhuge Liang's intention.

I sent someone to Jiangxia eight days ago to ask for help, according to the distance calculation, it will arrive in seven or eight days, you must patrol carefully these days, do not relax in the slightest, just wait for the reinforcements to arrive. ”

"No!" The generals will take the command.

At this moment, Zhuge Liang was not in the camp, and when the sky was just dawning, Zhuge Liang went to observe the terrain under the protection of Zhao Yun, Chen Dao, E Huan and other generals, and chose an ambush position.

Tonight, Zhuge Liang will lead the army out, this ambush location must be selected in advance, and further determine the route of the march, this matter is very important, the slightest accident is discovered by the Wei army scouts, the operation will fail.

Zhuge Liang is a person who likes to do things by himself, so he did not entrust this matter to others, but went to find it in person.

Xiyang City is located on the banks of the Huang River, a branch of the Huai River, while Shouchun City is located on the banks of Feishui, a branch of the Huai River.

The Huai River is relatively straight, between the two cities, along the Huai River, it is basically a straight line distance, and between two points, the straight line is the shortest.

People live in the water, so there are more cities along the Huai River, and the roads are relatively flat, so it is more convenient to supply and march. Therefore, if the Wei reinforcements arrived, they must have marched along the Huaishui.

However, along the Huaishui coast, although the roads are wide, there are areas with large drops, and the two sides of these areas are mountains, and the roads are difficult to travel, so it is the most suitable for ambushes.

Zhuge Liang's trip was to find this kind of terrain, determine the ambush location, and then plan the marching route.

The group walked along Huangshui and headed all the way north.

There are mostly some wide fields on both sides of the Huang River, of course, there are many hilly areas, but the mountains are not precipitous, and the hunters often haunt, it is difficult to hide tens of thousands of soldiers, and it is not suitable for ambushes.

By noon, the group ran north for sixty miles, and gradually entered the Huai River for rescue.

Zhao Yun felt a little hungry in his stomach, stopped as soon as he pulled the reins, turned back to Zhuge Liang and said, "Da Sima, come down and rest for a while." ”

"It's good!" Zhuge Liang is a literati after all, although he is eight feet tall and has a strong physique, but after all, he is more than half a hundred years old, and he has been riding a horse for most of the day, and his body is a little unbearable, so he nodded and stopped.

The group stopped, turned over and dismounted, and sat on the side of the road to share dry food.

Zhao Yun took a sip of water and said to Zhuge Liang: "Da Sima, although there are mountains along the way, most of them are hilly areas, and in another hour, if you can't find a suitable place for ambush, you won't be able to lead your troops out of the camp tonight." ”

"Hmm!" Zhuge Liang nodded and said, "If you can't find it in an hour, send someone back to the camp to tell them that the operation will be canceled tonight, and we will continue to look for it." ”

"Yes!"

"Hey...... What was that? ”

The group was munching on dry rations when a cavalryman suddenly stood up and looked around.

Zhuge Liang put down the dry food in his hand and groaned: "It seems that someone is singing!" ”

When everyone heard this, they listened attentively, and sure enough, they heard someone singing on the road ahead, but the accent was a local dialect, and they couldn't understand what the Han army was singing.

But after a while, I saw two people coming up on the road ahead, a group of father and son, dressed as hunters, and the two of them were carrying prey on their shoulders, the son was carrying pheasants and hares, and the father was carrying a roe deer.

Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up when he saw this, and said to Zhao Yun: "We have traveled all the way, the mountains and forests along the way are mostly hills, and there is no such large game. ”

"Yes, let's ask!" Zhao Yun nodded, called a soldier with a digital Jiangxia accent, and asked him to call the father and son over.

When Zhuge Liang and the others came out, they naturally didn't wear military uniforms, and the group was all freshly dressed and angry, pretending to be rich people to hunt and hide people's eyes.

When the father and son saw that they were greeted by someone, they were not afraid, and came with the Orion on their shoulders.

The soldier who was familiar with the Jiangxia accent inquired about the father and son, and then figured out the situation, it turned out that more than ten miles ahead, it was the junction of the Huang River and the Huaishui, and the terrain was quite different, so the surrounding mountains and forests were steep and steep, and there was more game in the mountains than in other places.

It's just that in the land of poor mountains and bad waters, there are often fierce beasts infested, and the nearby people do not dare to go into the mountains to hunt, the father and son are bolder, so they dare to go into the mountains to hunt, but fortunately, the harvest is quite rich, and they return safely.

Zhuge Liang asked the father and son to give some money, and then set off to the front to inspect the situation.

Walk only more than ten miles, a group of people come to the destination, here is the place where the river water converges, the terrain on both sides of the Huang River is higher, and the terrain on both sides of the Huai River is lower, the two rivers converge to form a T-shape, the right corner, a high mountain is raised, the mountain forest is steep and precipitous, and the end can not be seen at a glance.

Zhuge Liang looked at the mountain and was overjoyed: "Xiyang is located on the east bank of the Huang River, and if the Wei army reinforcements arrive, they will pass through this mountain." This mountain can be an ambush for our army! ”