Cao Cao crosses Wu Dalang

Chapter 649
After a whole day of tossing, it was easy to cross the Black Mountain Gorge.

In the setting sun like blood, those leather rafts drilled out of the dark canyon one after another, as if returning to the world from the nether world.

When they got close to the shore, the boatmen almost collapsed from exhaustion, and some of the soldiers on the raft were too frightened to stand up.

Looking around, there are swollen eyes and white faces everywhere. The white is scared, and the swollen is crying.

All of them were downcast, as if they had lost a big battle, and their morale was extremely low.

Lao Cao ordered several rafts to be stacked up, and climbed up by himself, as if standing on a high platform.

He just stood tall like this, his face sinking like water, until Hua Rong, Shi Bao, Qu Duan, Yao Xing and others all arrived one after another, seeing that none of the famous generals were lost, his expression improved a little.

When the raft came out again, Lao Cao asked people to count the losses. More than two thousand officers and soldiers were lost. The food, fodder and war horses were difficult to calculate for a while.

After hearing this, Lao Cao looked up to the sky with a sad face and sighed: "Whoa! The great Huaxia, Erlang, an elite warrior of the Han family, went to the Xixia expedition with Wu in order to go to the national calamity, and now he is on the way to death. It's a fault!"

Standing on a high place, in front of all the soldiers, he stomped his feet vigorously a few times, then beat his chest, and shouted loudly: "The pain kills me, the pain kills me!"

However, he secretly let out a long breath in his heart.

At the beginning of crossing the river, the worst plan in his mind was to lose % of the horses.

Now the actual loss is less than %, and all the famous generals are intact. With this result, he really feels lucky.

Right now, all this heart-wrenching and heart-wrenching posturing is actually seventy-eight percent acting——

It's like "cutting hair to replace the head" and "I like to kill people in my dreams" back then.

After all, with so many people killed, it would be fine if they died in battle. Since they are soldiers, it is their duty to die before the battle or immediately, and anyone can understand it.

It's just that such a way of dying in an overturned water is unavoidable for people to feel aggrieved, not to mention that everyone who survived was also frightened by the boss, so naturally there is a lot of dissatisfaction in their stomachs.

Lao Cao compared his heart with his heart, knowing that at this moment, if he didn't show some hurt emotions in time, the soldiers would probably show anger.

His attitude, in the eyes of all the soldiers, really felt a little comforted.

At least the general still has everyone's lives in his heart.

Lao Cao yelled "It hurts me too" a few times, and tears rolled down proficiently.

Shi Qian glanced around, leaned closer to Hu Sanniang, and said in a low voice: "Sister-in-law, you should say a few words at this time, so I said,'It is a feat to destroy a country for thousands of miles. I am a woman, and I will not hesitate to die. , you are the commander in chief, what is your attitude towards this woman?"

Hu Sanniang said "ah", she understood, nodded again and again, took a deep breath, jumped up, and jumped to Lao Cao's side.

She is tall and beautiful, and she has been with Lao Cao for a long time. Who doesn't see her in the eyes of all the soldiers?
Although he is still wearing a thin armor and phoenix helmet, his body is water-stained, his hair is disheveled, and his face is pale, which makes me feel pitiful even more.

But Hu Sanniang said loudly: "Husband, you are the commander of the army. How can you behave like this woman? You led us to attack the capital of Xixia Kingdom by surprise. The dangerous way is also to avoid the army, and less robes will die in battle, I am a woman, and I am willing to die, let alone these warriors under your command?"

When Cao Cao saw Hu Sanniang showing her face in public and giving a generous speech, he was very surprised: when did this woman open her seven orifices?
Immediately shouted: "Although I am the commander-in-chief, I have a big heart. Seeing these good men die here, how can I not feel sad? Forget it! After the Western Xia is pacified, I will return to my hometown and build a Pingxi here." The Martyr's Shrine is dedicated to the dead brothers and the boatmen, so that they can receive eternal incense to show their merits, and if they have family members, they will also be heavily compensated!"

Hu Sanniang felt that this should be the case, she nodded immediately, and said boldly: "You can fight at ease, the affairs of these good men will be taken care of by wives."

He and his wife sang together, how honest and simple are the soldiers below?I felt much more comfortable immediately.

They clasped their fists together and said: "Marshal Wu is so benevolent and righteous, we will not be in vain if we sacrifice our lives for you."

Someone shouted: "Thank you, General Hu, for building a temple for the dead brothers."

Seeing that the morale had been greatly restored, Lao Cao felt certain in his heart, and asked people to bring out the drinks prepared in advance, so that everyone could drink to keep out the cold.

The next day, all the troops boarded the raft again and headed north again. In a few days, they passed Qingtong Gorge and Lingzhou one after another.

Qingtong Gorge is also an extremely dangerous place on the Yellow River, but this gorge is only ten miles long, which is not the same as Heishan Gorge.

But even so, 200 people were lost. The sum of the losses before and after is not inferior to a big battle, but there are no wounded soldiers.

At this time, it has been eight days since they set off from Lanzhou, and they are only a short distance away from Xingqing Mansion.

Seeing that the sun was sinking to the west, he happened to meet a reed marsh, so Lao Cao ordered him to anchor here, hid the army in the reeds, and called Huang You to discuss the strategy of attacking the city.

Huang You followed Zhong Shizhong for nearly 20 years, and went to Xixia several times with the army. Although he never actually went to Xingqing Mansion, he was familiar with its general situation, so he described the situation of Xingqing Mansion in detail to the old man. Cao et al.

Xingqing Mansion was originally Huaiyuan County, Lingzhou in the Song Dynasty. It is adjacent to the Yellow River in the east and Helan Mountain in the west. It is also a beautiful place.

In the fourth year of Xianping (1001), Li Jiqian, the leader of the party, occupied this place. 20 years later, his son Li Deming built a palace here and named it Xingzhou as the capital.

It wasn't until Li Yuanhao, the son of Deming, officially proclaimed himself emperor and founded the country, that the name of Xingqing Mansion came into being.

It was built for a hundred years and repaired in several dynasties. Now the city has a circumference of eighteen or nine miles, a moat of ten feet wide, two gates in the north and south, and one gate in the east. The wide streets and long roads are divided into more than squares.

It's just that Xixia is barren after all. Even in the capital, except for the palace and dignified mansions, the rest of the houses are low earthen houses.

"Shizhang City River?" After hearing this, Lao Cao's eyes brightened, and he thought about it: "The land in the northwest is no better than Jiangnan, and the Shizhang River is really not narrow! Xingqing Mansion is only twenty or thirty miles away from the Yellow River. If the river does not run through the Yellow River, how can it have such a majestic water potential?"

It is a common practice for the city rivers to connect to nearby rivers, just like the city rivers in Bianjing and Zhengzhou all lead to the Yellow River, and the city rivers in Suzhou connect to the canal.

Huang You also understood Lao Cao's meaning, but he was puzzled and said, "Wu Shuai's intention is to go straight to the city on a raft? It's just..."

Seeing that he was hesitant to speak, Lao Cao chuckled, held his arms and said, "Old Huang, you and I are now a life-and-death friendship, what can't we say face to face?"

He is really familiar with his win-win methods, a small movement warms Huang You's heart, and he immediately expresses his concerns.

"In the end, the general felt that doing things like this would certainly have the effect of being unexpected, but the raft couldn't carry ladders, etc., and the city wall was so high that it was difficult to fly on it."

Cao Cao smiled and said: "So that's the case, General Huang, relax. Many of my brothers are talented people. No matter how high the city wall of Xingqing Mansion is, how is it compared to Yanmen Pass?"

After finishing speaking, he turned around and shouted: "Shi Qian!"

"Here's my little brother!" Shi Qian grinned, showing a mouthful of broken teeth, and jumped in front of him.

Seeing his clever appearance, Cao Cao immediately felt at ease, and said with a smile: "My good brother, you quit your hard work today, let Zhang Liang pick you up, and go to scout the way for the army. By the way, take a look at the city wall, and have a plan in mind."

"Little brother has an order! Let's go now, brother just care about peace of mind."

Shi Qian clasped his fists, pulled Zhang Liang to the river, untied a small raft, and the two rode on it, and floated far north along the golden river under the setting sun.

Shi Qian went there until Tianguang returned the next day, but he and Zhang Liang came back from the land with the raft on their backs.

Reported to Cao Cao: "Brother, my little brother made it clear that the city river in Xingqing Mansion really leads directly to the Yellow River, and even large ships can enter it. The place where it enters the river is the ferry of the Yellow River. , there are five thousand Xixia army guards here to prevent the Song army from crossing the river."

When Lao Cao heard this, he was startled at first, and then smiled and said, "Since it was to prevent the Song army from crossing the river, they must have been transferred now?"

Shi Qian said in admiration: "What my brother said is right! Li Qianshun is only worried about not having enough soldiers and horses. All the soldiers who can be transferred will be killed with him to the Song Dynasty. Now the prince Li Ren'ai is sitting in the city. This son He is only thirteen or fourteen years old, and he is assisted by Li Yuchang, the Prime Minister of the country. There are only five thousand soldiers and horses, four thousand of which are Ma Kui's troops."

Seeing Cao Cao's puzzlement, Huang You said hastily, "The Ma Kui army was formed by the Empress Dowager Liang's selection of healthy women from various villages, that is, the female army of Xixia."

After hearing this, Cao Cao did not disdain, but praised: "Li Qianshun is also a man who dares to bet! With a female army defending the imperial city, it can be seen that he is really going all out to complete his merits in one battle. If we don't Therefore, he might really be able to lay down such a huge foundation! If this person has such determination, after taking all of Qin's territory, he will work hard for a while, and he may not be able to compete with Jin Guo."

Hua Rong smiled at the side: "In terms of courage, is my brother less courageous than him? Traveling thousands of miles to take the king's city is a great achievement that the ancients have never had! What's more, brother's methods are even more brilliant. We have already waited for the soldiers to leave Tongguan After more than a month, the Xixia people are still ignorant of the unknown, even if the country is destroyed, it will not be wronged!"

Lao Cao laughed loudly: "Your brother is right, since I am here, Xixia will be destroyed!"

Immediately made a plan: "Yao Xing, Qu Duan, Huang You, Jiao Ting, Shi Bao listen to the order!"

The five were full of energy, raised their waists and clasped their fists: "The end is here!"

Cao Cao said: "Let you five, each lead a thousand soldiers and horses, kill him by land, surround him on the south, west and north sides, a total of five gates, bluff, but don't really attack the city, just don't let him go. If one person leaves, it will be credited."

He said again: "Sanniang, Huarong, and Shiqian all follow me. When it gets dark, they will take a raft to the east city and rob him in one fell swoop!"

Qu Duan was startled and said: "Marshal Wu, this is deliberately trying to catch a turtle in the urn!"

Lao Cao said with a smile: "I have spent countless twists and turns to get this. Naturally, I have to eat a piece of fat. Hehe, I will see how I can manipulate Li Ganshun when he captures all the concubines and officials who stayed behind in one fell swoop!"

Yao Xing and the others saw that he was very excited, so they couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. After noon, after the battle meal, as soon as the shadow of the sun moved, they led the army away.

Cao Cao was not in a hurry at this time, until it was getting dark, he led the army on the raft and went along the river.

However, since Xixia dispatched troops, it has been advancing triumphantly all the way. Today it wins a while, and tomorrow it will be the next victory. Over the past few months, there have been many successes, and the entire Xingqing Mansion has been immersed in carnival every day.

Anyone can see that the situation is good - the strong and the weak and the Liao are all vying for the soil of the Song Dynasty, how can he still have the strength to go west?
As for the Kingdom of Jin, although it is powerful, it has few people after all, occupying the huge land of Liao, and then taking the land of Song Dynasty, the belly has already swelled and rounded.

And Xixia's dispatch of troops this time is due to the right time, place, people and harmony. The west of Tongguan is in the palm of their hands. Maybe the fight will go smoothly, and Jin and Hanzhong will also start.

In this way, with the sudden increase in territory, how many more prominent and important positions will be created?
Therefore, those aristocratic children who have a little connection will squeeze into the front-line army in order to rob military merits, so that the magnificent capital of the country is actually very empty.

And Cao Cao's stealthy attack to seize Lanzhou, and trekking down the Yellow River, these actions are now showing their merits:
In the Longyou area, Li Zhu marched forward triumphantly, and Liu Qi joined his father Liu Zhongwu and led three or four thousand Hexi troops to help the battle. The envoys for help were still running wildly in the rugged mountain road, but Lao Cao had come to know nothing. Under the city of Xingqingfu.

At dusk, Song armies one after another appeared outside the five city gates in the south, north, and west of Xingqing Mansion.

Seeing this from a distance, the defenders hurriedly closed the city gate and warned the inside of the city.

Prince Li Ren'ai and Prime Minister Li Yuchang seemed to have received a blow to the head.

In any case, it is impossible to imagine that the Xingqing Mansion, which was never killed by the five armies of the Song Dynasty and hundreds of thousands of soldiers, would suddenly be surrounded on three sides when the news of success was spreading frequently.
After thinking about it and ruling out all the impossibilities, there is only one reason:
These Song troops were all Song troops who had been killed by the lord before. They didn't know how to get together in one place, because there was no way to retreat, and some of them were so bold that they thought of a trick to "surprise the Xingqing mansion".

"Seeing clearly" where the Song army came from, Li Yuchang roared angrily: "The general of Lingzhou should be killed! Thousands of people are crossing the river, and he turned a blind eye?"

Immediately wrote a military order to make people take a fast boat and go out from the east gate to cross the river to Lingzhou, and send the remaining soldiers and horses back to aid King Qin.

The messenger hurried out of the city, sailed against the current, and finally reached the Yellow River. Suddenly, he saw a large piece of rafts covering the river and going down the river.

The messenger was stunned, and turned his head to the sailing sailor, "Why are there so many rafts?"

Before the sailor could answer him, he got on a raft first, Hua Rong pointed to the messenger and said, "This must be the messenger asking for help, let him recognize Hua's magic arrow."

After finishing speaking, he took out a feathered arrow and put it on the string, opened the bow upwards, and felt the wind force.

The messenger saw Hua Rong drawing his bow from a distance, and asked in surprise, "Could it be that these fellows are Song soldiers? It's so far away, who is he going to shoot?"

Huarong adjusted the direction slightly, and with a throw of his hand, the feathered arrow went straight to the sky.

The messenger laughed when he saw it: "Do you think this guy is ridiculous? He thought he was..."

Before the words were finished, a feathered arrow fell from the sky, puffing into the messenger's throat.

There were colorful sounds on the raft, Huarong laughed and said, "Catch up quickly, don't let any one go!"

The boat here was about to flee back to the city, but the raft was going down the current, so fast?
There is also Huarong, who shoots an arrow from behind, and the arrows are all in vain. After a short time, all the sailors are shot down. .
The boat was empty, so it turned around on the surface of the water, and several rafts took the opportunity to catch up. A sergeant who knew water skills jumped into the boat, searched, and found the letter for help after a while.

Huarong took it and looked at it, and said happily: "This thing falls into my brother's hands, it must be of great use!"

Besides, in Xingqing Mansion, Prince Xixia and others, how do they know that the letter for help has been intercepted?
They were arranging to keep the door behind closed doors, waiting for reinforcements, when they suddenly heard the sound of armor, and everyone turned their heads to look, but it was a bald man in heavy iron armor, striding up to the hall.

The big man had a mocking look on his face, and he sneered: "You party members are really cowardly, no wonder even the Song people can bully you. I heard that the Song army who came to fight the city was only a few thousand people, and they were distributed in various sects. , wouldn't it just happen to break through each of them?
Li Yuchang, Prime Minister of the State, said unhappily: "The son-in-law of Wushu keeps you here to let you protect the princess. This is our country's own business. How can you speak?"

The big man shook his head and said, "It's because I can't trust your abilities that Wushu keeps me here! You say it's none of my business? Hehe, if the Song army invades and the princess is frightened, Wushu will definitely blame me in the future. You don't have to wait." Nonsense, I bring 50 people from my headquarters, and I will be able to defeat the enemy."

Li Yuchang looked angry, and was about to speak, but was held back by Prince Li Ren'ai.

Li Ren'ai said indifferently: "Minister of the State, Bu Jian is my brother-in-law's subordinate, not our general. How can we stop him from going to war? It just so happens that I have heard about the Jurchen generals for a long time, and I am about to see his demeanor." .”

It turned out that at the beginning, Aguda sent Wushu to Xixia to get married. Since he had never dealt with Xixia people, he couldn't figure out his habits. He was afraid that someone would challenge him bravely, so he specially appointed several famous warriors in the clan to become Wushu's subordinates. Will, come with him.

None of these preparations were used, Li Qianshun learned of Wushu's intentions, and the two hit it off immediately.

When the troops were dispatched, Wu Shu had to show his abilities, lead the troops to go to battle with Li Qianshun, and all the generals would go with him, leaving only this manger, and asked him to stay in Xingqing Mansion to protect the princess, so as to show his care for the princess pity.

Bu Jian was originally a warlike man, but now there are many wars, but he has no part, and his heart is already impatient. Today, he suddenly learned that the Song army came to besiege the city, but the Xixia people did not dare to fight. Isn't this scratching an itch?
Seeing that the Prince of Xixia allowed him to act on his own, he was ecstatic, laughed, went back and raised his knife and mounted his horse. He led fifty Jurchens under his command, randomly chose a nearby city gate, put down the suspension bridge, opened the door and rushed out, and saw a thousand people facing him. The Song army is a stone's throw away.

A general in front of the battle, holding a big knife in his hand, has a majestic and majestic figure.

Seeing Lie Xinxi, Bu Jian turned back and smiled and said, "This guy seems to be a brave general. When I take his head and make a wine glass, everyone can drink."

After finishing speaking, he rode his horse and rushed across the suspension bridge, screaming and killing him.

The Song general on the opposite side is none other than "Nanli Magic Sword" Shi Bao!
He expected that no one would dare to fight, but who would have thought that someone would kill him? He was slightly taken aback, and then he was overjoyed: "Hahaha, Shi is blessed! Everyone has come all the way here, and it is my Shibao who was the first to sell !"

Amidst the loud laughter, he patted the horse and greeted him with a sword dance.

This is exactly: the heavenly soldiers flew to the city of the chieftain, and the sound of singing and dancing was still heard in the city.The horse stepped on Helan, and the gallbladder burst, and the soldiers went out to Hu Chenqing.

(End of this chapter)