Under the command of Cao Cao, the Northern Expeditionary Coalition Army successively crossed the Qinghe River and the Jiangshui River, advanced 250 miles in 12 days, and went straight to the city of Xindu. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

The successive victories have doubled the confidence of the officers and men of the Northern Expedition Alliance, and their morale has been unprecedentedly high.

In mid-August, Cao Cao convened the generals in the Zaoting Chinese army camp thirty miles from Xindu City.

According to the scouts' exploration, the Northern Xinjiang Army abandoned Dongguang City in Bohai County and shrank all its forces to the line of Nanpicheng in Bohai County.

Due to the critical situation in the direction of Xindu City, the northern Xinjiang generals Gao Changgong, Hao Meng, Xun Di, Li Yi, and Xian Yuyin stationed in Nanpi have led an army of 40,000 foot cavalry to cross the Jiangshui River and rushed to Xindu City to support.

Cao Cao believed that the conditions were ripe for dividing his troops to attack Nanpi in the east and enter the rear of the Northern Xinjiang Army.

Cao Cao said happily: "Now, Guan Yu, Zhang He, Gao Changgong, Xu Huang, Li Zhong, Sun Guan, Xian Yufu, Yan Rou, Xun Di, Hao Meng, Li Yi and more than a dozen generals of Northern Xinjiang have gathered under Xindu City, and nearly 100,000 Northern Xinjiang infantry cavalry troops have set up a camp that stretches for ten miles with Xindu City as the center. ”

"Our fierce attack in the early stage was very effective, not only forced the Northern Xinjiang Army to the city of Xindu, but also formed a decisive battle with them again, in addition, the troops of the northern Xinjiang 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 Yi was unwilling. At this point, Li Yi wanted to fight a decisive battle, but we didn't want to. Cao Cao said with a smile, "Starting tomorrow, the Eastern Route Attack Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army will take advantage of our attack on Xindu City, and quickly enter Nanpi City, and then enter the Hejian Kingdom to defeat Lecheng, threatening the rear of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and waiting for an opportunity to cut off the retreat of the Northern Xinjiang Army." ”

Cao Cao's proposal was approved by Liu Biao, Gongsun Zhan, Liu Bei and Ma Teng, and after some deliberation, it was finally decided that Gongsun Zhan, 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 30,000 Gongsun troops, 25,000 Jingzhou troops, 10,000 Liu Bei troops, 50,000 Cao Cao troops, and 5,000 Xiliang iron cavalry, a total of 120,000 foot cavalry. These twelve armies are now on the south bank of the Jiangshui River, and they did not kill Xindu City, after they crossed the Qinghe River in the south, they will travel three hundred miles east along the south bank of the Zhangshui River, and kill Nanpi City.

The 50,000 Cao Army, the 25,000 Jingzhou Army, the 20,000 Gongsun Army, the 10,000 Liu Bei Army, and the 5,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalry, a total of 110,000 troops, will pretend to be 230,000 allied 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.

Cao's generals Xiahoudun and Li Dian, Gongsun Army's Wang Men and Zou Dan, Liu Beijun's Zang Ba and Xue Lan, Jingzhou Army's Wen Ping, Gan Ning, Wang Wei and others 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 making Gongsun Zan the commander of the East Road army.

Gongsun Zhan was familiar with many generals in Northern Xinjiang and knew a little about their use of troops. Gongsun Zhan was familiar with the iron cavalry and could make many effective counterattacks against the northern Xinjiang iron cavalry. Gongsun Zhan 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 General Gongsun'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.

Xi Zhicai then stood up and explained in detail the deployment of the Eastern Road operation, and finally he talked about 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 36,000 iron cavalry of Zhao Yun and Lu Bu's two cavalry regiments on the battlefield on the western road. In addition, there are two cavalry regiments of Zhang He and Gao Changgong, also 36,000 men and horses, as well as the iron cavalry of a cavalry corps of the so-called garrison army in northern Xinjiang, plus Li Yi's personal guard iron cavalry, the total strength of the iron cavalry in northern Xinjiang on the Jizhou battlefield is about 96,000 people.

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 Yi wants to send iron cavalry to support, the number is limited.

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

As for the cavalry corps of the garrison, because of the lack of training and the lack of combat effectiveness, it is unlikely that Li Yi will send it to the battlefield.

In this way, the total number of iron cavalry that Li Yi can put into the battlefield of Xindu should be 42,000 cavalry.

Of course, this is our estimate, after all, Li Yi may also send out the 18,000 cavalry of the garrison. In this way, the cavalry of the Northern Frontier that appeared on the battlefield would reach 60,000 cavalry.

At present, we have no effective way to deal with the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry, and we can only use the mutual cooperation of the chariot array and the arrow array to block the Iron Cavalry from rushing into the formation, so this time you are advancing eastward, although you have to rush time and speed, but you must pay more attention to the surprise attack of the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry, so as 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.

The generals 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 the generals should not forget that this is the place of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and they are far more familiar with the terrain here than we are.

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 it could be killed unimpeded to Nanpi City.

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, after the generals walked out of Dongguang, they did not maintain the distance between the armies, but abandoned the distance, and closely linked the front and back, 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 100,000-strong army traveled 300 miles long distance, and it was too difficult for the Northern Xinjiang Army not to find out, 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 visited the city of Xindu and commanded a large army to attack the city.

The Northern Xinjiang Army concentrated 150 catapults, 2,000 crossbow carts, and 10,000 strong archers to bombard the city indiscriminately.

It was the first time for the Northern Expeditionary Coalition 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, and he knew why Yuan Shao had not been able to reach the north bank of the Yellow River after fighting in the direction of Puyang for more than a month. Today, the Northern Expeditionary Coalition 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 Yi, Xu Maogong, Liu Bowen, Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Xun You, Xu Shu, Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi and others arrived at Hejian County to govern Lecheng.

Zhao Yun, Lu Bu, Zhang He, Chang Yuchun, Li Jing, Gao Changgong and other generals who arrived here in advance came out to greet them.

Li Yi and the generals greeted each other. After that, Li Yi saw that Gao Changgong was exhausted, and asked a few words with concern.

Gao Changgong first set off from Nanpi with his army, and rushed to Xindu City for 300 miles, 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 Changgong himself was also angry 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 Yi asked with a smile, "I don't see you in the right eyes." ”

Gao Changgong smiled awkwardly and said, "Not now." ”

"Lord, Changgong has a good temper, if it were Ziping, he would definitely yell at you." Lu Bu smiled, "It's good that you had the foresight and didn't let that kid run back and forth for five hundred miles like a madman." ”

Gao Shun doesn't look at the name with a shun character, but his temper is not smooth at all, on the contrary, he is very irritable, which is comparable to Zhang Fei's temper. As the elder brother, Lu Bu naturally knows the situation of his righteous brother.

Li Yi laughed, the depression of the past few months disappeared with this joyful laughter, and when he saw so many brothers who followed the world to conquer the world, the joy in his heart was naturally self-evident. (To be continued.) )