Chapter 7 Wind and Thunder Stirring Section 20 The Northern Expeditionary Army, under the command of Cao Cao, successively crossed the Qinghe River and the Qianshui River, advanced two hundred and fifty miles in twelve days, and rushed directly to the city of Xindu.

The successive victories have doubled the confidence of the officers and men of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and their morale has been unprecedentedly high. In mid-August, Cao Cao convened the generals in the Zaoting Chinese army camp, thirty miles from the Xindu city.

According to the scouts' investigations, the Northern Xinjiang Army abandoned the city of Dongguang (now Cangzhou) in Bohai County and reduced all its forces to the line of Nanpicheng in Bohai County.

Due to the critical situation in the direction of Xindu City, Gao Shun and Li Su, the generals of Northern Xinjiang stationed in Nanpi, had already crossed the Jiangshui River with a cavalry army of 15,000 infantry and rushed to Xindu City to support.

At present, there are only 5,000 cavalry of the northern Xinjiang generals Wu Xiong and Guo Hua in Nanpi City. Cao Cao believed that the conditions were ripe for dividing his troops to attack Nanpi in the east and entering the rear of the Northern Xinjiang Army.

"Now, more than a dozen generals of northern Xinjiang, including Liyi, Yan Liang, Wang Dang, Wen Chou, Zhang He, Gao Lan, and Li Su, have gathered under the city of Xindu, and nearly 100,000 troops of the northern Xinjiang infantry cavalry have set up a large camp that stretches for ten miles with the city of Xindu as the center." Cao Cao said happily,

"Our fierce attack in the early stage was very effective, not only forcing the Northern Frontier Army to the city of Xindu, but also forming a decisive battle with them again. In addition, the northern Xinjiang troops in the direction of Bohai County and Hejian Kingdom were also attracted to the city of Xindu by this decisive battle that was about to begin. ”

"When we were in Ganling City, we wanted to fight a decisive battle, but Li Hong was unwilling. At this point, Li Hong wanted to fight a decisive battle, but we didn't want to. Cao Cao smiled and said,

"Starting tomorrow, the Eastern Route Attack Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army will take advantage of our attack on Xindu City and rush east to Nanpi City. Then he entered the Hejian State and defeated Lecheng, threatening the rear of the Northern Frontier Army, waiting for an opportunity to cut off the retreat of the Northern Frontier Army. Cao Cao's proposal was approved by Liu Biao, Tian Kai, Liu Bei and Ma Teng, and after some deliberation, it was finally decided that Tian Kai, the general of the left chariot cavalry, would be the commander of the army on the east road, and Ma Teng, the general of Zhenxi, would be the deputy.

The East Road Army consisted of 10,000 Qingzhou soldiers, 10,000 Jingzhou troops, 10,000 Xuzhou troops, 10,000 Yanzhou troops, and 5,000 Guanzhong Iron Cavalry, a total of 45,000 cavalry.

These 45,000 troops are now on the south bank of the Jiangshui River, and they have not killed Xindu City. After they crossed the Qinghe River in the south, they would travel three hundred miles eastward along the south bank of the Zhangshui River and kill Nanpi City.

The 30,000 Yanzhou troops and the 30,000 Qing, Jing, and Xu armies remaining under the Xindu City will pretend to be 100,000 troops and launch a frantic attack on the Xindu City in response to the surprise attack of the East Road army.

The next day, more than a dozen generals of the Eastern Army of the Northern Expedition were ordered to rush to the Zaoting camp. Xiahoudun and Li Dian of the Yanzhou Army, Zou Wu and Tian Yong of the Qingzhou Army, Zang Ba and Sun Guan of the Xuzhou Army, Wen Ping, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan and others of the Jingzhou Army sat on both sides of the big tent and listened carefully to Cao Cao's arrangements for the battle on the East Road.

Cao Cao, Liu Biao and others were most worried about the unity between the various armies on the East Road. So Cao Cao repeatedly explained the reason for letting Tian Lu be the commander of the army on the Eastern Road.

Tian Kai is familiar with many generals in northern Xinjiang and knows a little about their use of troops. Tian Kai is familiar with the iron cavalry and can make many effective counterattacks against the northern Xinjiang iron cavalry.

Tian Kai had fought in Jizhou for two years, and was especially familiar with the terrain around Bohai County, which could help the army quickly complete its combat objectives.

Cao Cao, Liu Biao, and Liu Bei repeatedly warned their subordinates that they must obey Lord Tian Kai's military orders and not disobey in the slightest.

The generals were full of confidence in the victory over the Northern Xinjiang Army and made a promise. Guo Jia then stood up and explained in detail the deployment of the Eastern Road Operation, and finally he said three unpredictable key issues that may affect the Eastern Road Operation.

The first is the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry. According to the information we have received, there are currently two battalions of Zhao Yun and Jiang Wu's Saiwai Iron Cavalry and Zhang Yan's two battalions of Iron Cavalry on the West Road battlefield.

Among Zhang Yan's two battalions of iron cavalry, the most powerful is the Hu cavalry battalion, which is said to be the most elite black panther battalion in the northern Xinjiang iron cavalry that year.

On the opposite side of us there are the Hun iron cavalry commanded by Liu Ming, the right virtuous king of the Huns, and some of them are the iron cavalry brought by Gongsun Zan from Youzhou.

According to our estimates, there were about 30,000 iron horsemen on the battlefield in Jizhou. Now the iron cavalry on the battlefield on the west road is restrained by Yuan Shao, and Yecheng is more than 500 miles away from Xindu, even if Li Hong wants to send iron cavalry to support, the number is limited.

In addition, in order to attack our grain routes, Li Hong must order Zhao Yun and Jiang Wu to lead the iron cavalry to frequently haunt our rear, so there is almost no possibility that Zhao Yun and Jiang Wu will support the Xindu battlefield.

After the rebellion broke out in Liaodong, Gongsun Zhan went back immediately, it was impossible for him to go back alone, and part of the Youzhou Iron Cavalry must have been taken away by him.

In this way, the total number of iron cavalry that Li Hongneng put into the battlefield of Xindu should be between 10,000 and 15,000.

Of course, this is our estimate, and perhaps the actual number will be more than twenty thousand. At present, we have no effective way to deal with the iron cavalry in northern Xinjiang, and we can only use the cooperation of the chariot array and the arrow array to block the iron cavalry from charging the formation.

Therefore, this time you are going eastward, although you have to rush for time and speed, you must pay more attention to the surprise attack of the Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry to prevent the Pengting fiasco from appearing again.

As long as the Nanpi is successfully defeated and the army quickly crosses the Zhangshui River to the north, then the initiative on the Jizhou battlefield will be completely controlled by us.

The second is the topography of Bohai County. Although the topography of Bohai County is basically an endless plain, there are many rivers in its south, especially within the 150 miles from the Pan River to Dongguang, except for the Yellow Flood Area, there are four large rivers and as many as a dozen small rivers.

The year before last, the Yellow River burst its banks and some rivers were diverted, which made the terrain here very complicated. Therefore, after the army enters the Pan River, it is necessary to ensure the distance, and when crossing the river, the two armies must protect each other and strictly prevent the sneak attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army.

You may think that the complex terrain here will also limit the Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry, and the more dangerous the place, the safer it may be, but don't forget that this is the place of the Northern Frontier Army, and they are far more familiar with the terrain here than we are.

As long as the Northern Frontier infantry use the river to divide the army, the encircled soldiers will be torn to pieces by the powerful Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry.

The Iron Rider is a sharp arrow, which can be used not only on the plains, but also on narrow battlefields.

After the army walked to Dongguang in a group, there was a horse Pingchuan in front, and the army could kill one hundred and twenty miles directly, and kill to Nanpi City unimpeded.

But this one hundred and twenty miles is the most dangerous place, and the Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry can exert its most powerful power.

Therefore, when you leave Dongguang, you do not keep the distance between the armies, but abandon the distance, and keep the front and back closely together, so as not to give the enemy any opportunity to take advantage of it.

The third is speed. Speed directly determines whether the Eastern Raid can be successful. The 45,000-strong army traveled 300 miles long distance, and it was too difficult to keep the Northern Frontier Army from knowing, so speed decided everything.

If the army can reach Nanpi before the Northern Xinjiang Army can react, capture Nanpi, and smoothly cross the Zhangshui River to the north, then the victory of Jizhou is decided.

Of course, if the Northern Frontier Army preempts us and blocks our way north to Hejian State, then even if we capture Nanpi, we will not be able to cut off the rear road of the Northern Frontier Army.

If these three key issues can be resolved, we will win this battle. In mid-August, Cao Cao personally went to the city of Xindu and commanded a large army to attack the city.

The Northern Xinjiang Army concentrated 150 stone cannons, 2,000 ballistas, and 10,000 strong archers to bombard the city indiscriminately.

It was the first time for the Northern Expeditionary Army to see such a thrilling scene, and everyone felt a chill to the bone, as if the scorching sun overhead had been swallowed by this dense arrow stone.

Cao Cao finally believed Yuan Shao's words at this moment. He knew why Yuan Shao had been fighting in the direction of Puyang for more than a month and had not been able to reach the north bank of the Yellow River.

Today, the Northern Expeditionary Army besieging the city could not approach a hundred steps below the city at all, and the force of the Northern Frontier Army was too strong.

Cao Cao ordered the siege to be halted. If you continue to fight like this, it is no different from sending you to death. In the evening, Cao Cao gathered everyone in the big tent of the Chinese army to discuss the method of attacking the city.

If you can't attack strongly, it doesn't mean that you won't attack, you must make a full posture of attacking the city, contain the northern Xinjiang army in Xindu City, and cover the attack of the army on the east road.

So, everyone used all the tricks they could think of, even digging tunnels, anyway, as long as there were fewer deaths, it would be enough to make the Northern Frontier Army feel threatened.

In mid-August, the general Li Hong, Jia Xu, Tian Chou, Sima Yi and others arrived at Hejian County to govern Lecheng.

Zhao Yun, Lu Bu, Yan Liang, Jiang Wu, Li Su, Wei Jun, Liu Ming and other generals who arrived here in advance came out to greet them.

The Minister of the Hejian State is also among them. Li Hong and the generals greeted each other. Li Hong saw that Gao Shun was exhausted, and asked a few words with concern.

Gao Shun first set out from Nanpi with his army, and rushed 300 miles to Xindu City, and just set up a large camp, he immediately received an order to travel 200 miles to Hejian Kingdom.

The soldiers didn't fight a battle, so they ran around, like headless flies, full of anger.

Gao Shun was also resentful in his heart, but when he saw the gathering of generals in the city, he immediately understood that the war had begun.

"Do you have a grudge?" Li Hong asked with a smile,

"I don't think you're looking at you right." Gao Shun smiled awkwardly,

"Not anymore."

"General, Ziping has a good temper, if it were Wu Xiong, he would definitely yell at you." Yan Liang said with a smile,

"It's a good thing you had the foresight to not let that kid run back and forth for five hundred miles like a madman." Li Hong laughed, and the depression of months disappeared with this joyful laughter.

Seeing so many brothers who followed him to fight all over the world at once, the joy in his heart was naturally self-evident.

Li Hong pulled Wei Zheng and chatted for a long time. Wei Zheng is now a county official, and he can't participate in this kind of confidential military discussion, although he also wants to catch up with the general, but when he saw Tian Chou coming in and out several times, he knew that all the generals in the big tent were waiting for the general, so he hurriedly resigned and left.

Li Hong has been sending him out of Yuanmen,

"I'll visit the house in the evening, and we'll have a good chat." Sima Fu Gan reported the latest battle situation to the generals.

On the battlefield on the West Road, the right general Zhang Yan led 20,000 northern troops to confront Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao has not fired a single arrow since his troops came to Yecheng, and it seems that he is sincerely willing to cooperate with us to defeat the rebels.

On the battlefield in the middle, the left general Lu Yi sat in Xindu City, commanding the 30,000 troops of Wen Chou, Wang Dang and Xu Huang to hold the city and contain the main force of the rebels.

There is no movement on the battlefield on the eastern road so far, and we have not yet found any signs of the rebels dividing their forces to attack Nanpi.

In accordance with the general's order, we gathered an army of 95,000 cavalry this time to prepare to inflict heavy losses on the rebels on the battlefield on the eastern road.

Now, the 20,000 iron horsemen of Zhao Yun, Jiang Wu, Mustafa, and the four adults are on standby on the front line of the Zhangshui River.

The fifteen thousand iron horsemen of Li Su, Lou Lu, Lu Huanyang, and Gongsun Xu were on standby near Gaocheng in Bohai County.

The 10,000 iron cavalry of Wei Jun and Liu Ming are on standby in the Wuyi and Guanjin areas of Anping Kingdom, and their iron cavalry is also responsible for returning to the capital at any time.

The armies of Gao Lan, Zhang He, and Zhang Liao had secretly crossed the Jiangshui River and lurked in the Yellow Flood Area a hundred miles away from Dongguang City.

Qin Yi and Zhang Zhen's 10,000 elites of the Northern Army had already rushed to the bow of the Hejian Kingdom to stand by. Lord Gaoshun's army has also entered Gonggao City.

They also bear the heavy responsibility of returning to the capital at any time. Our battlefield is in Dongguang. Dongguang is about two hundred and fifty miles away from Xindu City, and there are yellow floods and more than a dozen rivers in the middle, even if Cao Cao wants to rescue, it is too late in time.

Although the road from Dongguang to Nanpi is a flat horse and suitable for iron cavalry combat, the rebels must have taken precautions since the defeat of Pengting, and if we forcibly attack with iron cavalry, I am afraid that the losses will be great.

The terrain on the road from Panhe to Dongguang was complicated, and it was difficult for us to quickly and completely annihilate the rebels, so we chose the battlefield at the junction of the two terrains, interspersed and divided the enemy army with infantry troops, and surrounded and annihilated the enemy army with iron cavalry.

After Sima Fu Gan finished explaining the strategy of attack, Yan Liang immediately asked, "If the rebels don't divide their troops, what will we do?" Fu Gan stretched out his hand to Ganling Kingdom,

"Regardless of whether there is a battle of Dongguang or not, the army must kill the Ganling Kingdom before the end of August, cut off the retreat of the rebels, and surround the rebels between the Jiangshui River and the Qinghe River, and must be completely annihilated." Yan Liang raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise, "This is the reason why the Great General asked us to resolutely withdraw to Xindu City?" ”

"Yes, without enough depth, we will not be able to make a detour back to the rear of the rebels and complete the encirclement."

"The rebels have 100,000 people, even if we use the two big rivers to surround them, but the rebels are cut off from food and grass, and they are bound to break through desperately, and it is impossible for us to annihilate them all." Yan Liang said without hesitation,

"Unless we fight the Battle of Dongguang first, we can't eat these 100,000 people."

"The battle of Dongguang will definitely be fought, as long as we have enough patience." Li Hong said with a smile,

"The Battle of Ganling will definitely be fought, unless Cao Cao withdraws now. As for Yuan Shao, it depends on whether he runs fast or not. The generals immediately boiled with enthusiasm and cheers.

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