Li Yan, dressed in battle armor and carrying a spear, hurriedly walked in front of Cao Zhen, and without waiting for him to speak, he was already the first to speak: "General Cao, something is wrong!" ”

"What?" Cao Zhen frowned: "What's wrong?" ”

"Shangda must have fallen!" Li Yan said hurriedly.

"Hey!" Cao Zhen sighed, glanced at him, and said helplessly: "I also thought of this, but there is no way to lose it, now Gao Shun led the troops to appear here, obviously Shang County, Shangluo are all lost, they have a full 20,000 people, if we occupy the power of the city again, we have more than 20,000 soldiers and horses, how can we take it by force?" Besides, what if he came to the rescue in a hurry this time and didn't bring siege equipment? ”

"What's more, it won't take long for the main force of Jingzhou to arrive, our strength is not enough to resist, and when we find an opportunity to save Xiahoude's defeated army, we will retreat to Lantian first, and then make plans after reporting to Chang'an."

"General Cao, wrong, wrong!" Li Yan anxiously took over the words: "Shangluo will inevitably be lost, but Shang County will never be lost." ”

"Huh? What do you mean by that? Cao Zhen looked at him in amazement.

Li Yan thought about it and hurriedly said: "General Cao, look, the Shangxian garrison was originally to guard and monitor Jingzhou, so there are 5,000 soldiers stationed there, and the city defense materials are relatively abundant, how can it be possible to break the city in just two days and two nights?" Gao Shun is not a vanguard army, with a strength of only 20,000, and the siege equipment he brings is at most a light thing such as a hook ladder, breaking the county town garrisoned by 5,000 elites in two days? It couldn't be, did they fly in? ”

"Unless Xia Houde took the initiative to go out of the city to meet the enemy and was defeated! But Xia Houde's personality, General Cao also understands. Calm and cautious. Facing Gao Shun, a famous general. It is absolutely impossible for him to meet the battle with inferior troops, not to mention that Chang'an has already given him a death order and stuck to the city, Xia Houde is by no means a person who dares to disobey. ”

After hearing this, Cao Zhen also felt that there was some truth, but after thinking about it, he couldn't help but say: "Then if there is a change within Shang County, or someone is rebelled by Jingzhou." It's possible to combine the inside and the outside! ”

"No, it won't!" Li Yan shook his head and said with a wry smile: "In fact, the best proof is that we have not met any people who have reported the news so far. ”

"The one who told the news?" Cao Zhen realized a little and opened his eyes wide.

"yes!" Li Yan nodded, and then said: "Gao Shun has a total of 20,000 people, plus his trapped camp, it is only 22,000, such a force, it is possible to capture the city in one day." Blockade up to 5,000 people so that none of them can escape, and there is not even a single person to report the news? ”

"It's incredible! Less than two thousand soldiers. So as long as it is fast enough, ruthless enough, and our side can't respond to the situation, then 10,000 people can be blocked, but 5,000 people, if there are no 40,000 or 50,000 soldiers and horses, how can they all be blocked without leaking. General Cao has been through the battle formation, and he must have known very well that the difference between 2,000 and 5,000 is not just a little difference in numbers, in the breakout battle, it is a world of difference."

"Therefore, there is no news of the loss of Shangxian County, it must be because there is nothing to do there, and even Xiahoude doesn't know where the Jingzhou army has gone!"

"I see!" Cao Zhen was silent, of course he knew in his heart that a bad premonition had faintly risen at this moment. "Since Shang County has not been lost, it can be proved that Gao Shun dared to appear here, and it proves that Shangyu was lost. Then it means that the other party bypassed Shang County and directly seized Shangluo, so it seems that it is reasonable, after all, Shangluo only has a thousand defenders, and with Gao Shun's ability, it can be won in three rounds at most! ”

"But they seized Shangyu like this, but let Shangxian contain them behind them, sandwiching themselves in the middle, isn't this self-inflicted death?"

"What if they continue to fight Lantian, or even Duling?" Li Yan said suddenly.

"Oops!" Cao Zhen finally reacted, his face was full of anxiety: "This Jingzhou raid made us unable to mobilize, and there were only more than 1,000 people in Lantian County, if it occupied Lantian, it would be tantamount to opening up a direct road to Chang'an for the Jingzhou army, and containing the throat of our troops, and even allowing the 5,000 people of Xiahoude in Shangxian County to become a lone army behind enemy lines, reversing the shape." ”

As he spoke, Cao Zhen hurriedly turned his horse's head: "No, let's go, we must return to Lantian immediately." ”

"It's late!" Li Yan hurriedly dissuaded: "General Cao, it's too late!" ”

"Late? Why? Cao Zhen was puzzled.

"If Gao Shun really has the heart to attack Lantian, he will never delay it until now, I'm afraid that when we come, we will already attack Lantian." Li Yan smiled bitterly.

Cao Zhen was surprised, and said in astonishment: "We came along the way, and we didn't meet the enemy, if we go around the distant path, but it will be twice as long, and it is rugged and difficult, it can't be so fast, it's too late for us to rush back now, why is it too late?" ”

"If the other party really has this intention, it is already a situation of breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat, if you can't quickly take Lantian, when our army is dispatched and the army is dispatched, they have neither to rely on, nor to support the rear, they don't even have food to eat, and the retreat is cut off, isn't it really a dead end, so how can it leave us room for us?"

Li Yan shook his head and explained: "If it is unexpected, it will definitely take our reinforcements into account early, so they must also take the main road, and will not give us a chance, as for the method, it is also simple, there are so many mountains and valleys along the way, hide in them, wait for our army to walk, and then return to the main road, go straight to Lantian, isn't it easy?" ”

"If that's what you say, we're in trouble." Cao Zhen sighed, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

Li Yan's face was also not good-looking, and he pondered for a long time before he said leisurely: "General Cao, it's useless to think too much now, it's better to quickly think about how our support army can safely withdraw to Duling!" If we are not careful, I am afraid that not only Lantian will be lost, but even we will have to be ambushed. ”

"What about the five thousand men of Xiahoude?" Cao Zhen asked.

"It is best to send a few sergeants to inform them and let them try to lead their troops back to Duling, Duling is the southeast gate of Chang'an, and now there are 3,000 people stationed there, and there is a brave general Chen to garrison, so it should be safe for the time being." Li Yan said.

When Cao Zhen heard Chen Zhi's name, he showed a slight smile: "Yes! At the beginning of the battle in Nanyang, Chen Zhi fought with Zhao Yun in Jingzhou for seventy or eighty times, desperately entangled, and finally made Liu, Guan, and Zhang arrive, thus seriously injuring Zhao Yun. I'm afraid there won't be Zhao Zilong. It's remarkable. Luckily, there was that battle. Otherwise, everyone probably wouldn't know that Liu Bei was hiding such a capable person under his command. ”

Li Yan then smiled and said: "Guan and Zhang Nai are Liu Bei's brothers, so it's not easy to force them too aggressively, but Cao Gong played His Majesty and Bao Chen's arrival in this division, I'm afraid it was intentional, and now that Jingzhou is attacking, it really comes in handy!" ”

Cao Jun's camp. is named after the Han court, so many people do not call Cao Cao the main duke, only his henchmen call him like that.

"That's it, don't talk about that!" Cao Zhen quickly waved his hand and said hurriedly: "Although Chen Zhi is powerful, after all, there are few soldiers, we still have to send someone to inform him quickly, so that he can take precautions as soon as possible, and we ourselves must evacuate this place before dawn." ”

Soon, Gao Shun, who was miles away, received a report from the Sentinel. Yan Cao's army did not advance but retreated, and the cavalry was delayed. The foot soldier is in front, and he retreats the way he came.

Gao Shun was silent for only a moment, and immediately realized that Cao Jun might have guessed some of the situation.

At the same time, according to the neatness of Cao's army, there was no sign of battle, and he did not see any Jingzhou defeated army fleeing back, he also speculated about Zhang He's approach, and he was even more worried that Zhang He's surprise attack would not succeed, but would fall into a crisis.

After hesitating for a long time, he decisively led his troops to follow forward, with the elite trap camp as the front, harassing from time to time, not asking for anything else, only eager to delay the speed of his retreat as much as possible, although he did not understand the situation in Lantian, but he knew that the more time, the better.

On the eve of dawn, when Gao Shun was still pestering Cao Zhen's troops and slowly marching on the road, Lantian had already fallen in just half an hour.

Zhang He led the troops to quickly rush to the city by night, and divided five thousand soldiers to quietly seal the west, south, and east gates of Lantian County, and swarmed to the city wall from the north gate.

It's just that they don't understand how this army came to be and what happened to them.

There were also seven or eight hundred sleeping Cao soldiers, who were even more hurried, but before they could put on their battle armor, a large number of soldiers from the Eastern Army had already rushed into the barracks.

Because of the full preparation, the number of Cao's army was too small, and there were no fierce generals here, it was impossible for anyone to rush out, and the entire Lantian was completely blocked in an instant.

After Zhang He entered the city, he directly slashed the unknown young general who was guarding the city, took away his official seal, and then rushed to the county government and snatched the county seal.

At this time, the time is early in the morning, because it is late autumn, and the dawn is relatively late, and there are still about two and a half hours before dawn.

Zhang He was covered in blood, and when he left the county government, he immediately rode his horse and galloped straight out of the north gate.

Seeing the soldiers assembled outside the north gate from a distance, he immediately asked, "Feng Xi, are you ready?" ”

"General Zhang, all the 2,000 cavalry, plus the 3,000 foot soldiers, have changed into the armor of the local garrison of the Cao army, and only the yellow scarf around their necks is used to distinguish them! On Lantian's side, Fu Tong has already led the remaining 5,000 soldiers to completely blockade it. Feng Xilang replied.

"Okay, I'll lead the cavalry first, you follow with the footmen, remember to be as fast as possible!" Zhang He ordered in a deep voice.

"Order!" Feng Xi responded loudly.

"Let's go!" Zhang He shouted.

The only two thousand cavalry moved, and they could be said to be the best soldiers in the resting place, because they did not participate in any battles except for hurrying, and Zhang He had only one order for them, seize a qiē time to rest, and then rest!

Now, it's finally time to come in handy.

Duling County is about forty miles away from Lantian County, the cavalry maintains a constant speed, and it can be reached in more than an hour, which is of course not the speed of a rapid sprint, if it is a fast horse, it will arrive in a few quarters of an hour, if it is a rare BMW horse, faster!

But the fast horse is rushing at full speed, without stopping, and the horse must be constantly changed along the way, otherwise the horse will run slower and slower until it runs to death.

Now there is still a war, of course, it is impossible to run at full speed, just keep jogging at a high speed.

When the flickering firelight on the wall of Duling County appeared in the distance like stars, Zhang He looked at the sky that was still pitch black, and finally smiled: "Finally caught up!" (To be continued......)