Ju Yi and Gao Lan told what they discovered about the enemy, and they also discovered something suspicious.
Jushou confirmed what the two people said. Cold sweat broke out from his back and he shouted: "It's bad, my lord has fallen into a trap!"
Ju Yi frowned and asked: "What does the two or three thousand elite cavalry lurking in Hebei have to do with the bluff on the other side? Are they waiting for Mr. Yuan to cross before he attacks?"
"Be the first to ambush in Yanjin. When the main force of our army crosses the river, we will surely kill the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses who land first." Jushou pointed to the other side and said, "Those two or three thousand elite cavalry came and went without a trace. , like a dagger waiting for an opportunity to stab the enemy behind with a fatal blow."
"Ah! It's broken!" Gao Lan exclaimed. “It’s so hard to prevent, how should we deal with this crisis?”
Jushou's spine felt chilly. As soon as he sent troops from Yecheng, the Jizhou army was plotted by Cao Cao one after another. If it weren't for the spies within our own side, then it would be Cao Cao's side. Their ingenuity and stratagem are really terrifying! This southern expedition may be in doubt.
"Sir, I wonder when the Qingzhou Army will arrive?" Gao Lan asked. The reinforcements he was thinking of were the Qingzhou Army. After all, Yuan Xi's Qingzhou Army was still on the outside.
Jushou shook his head and sighed, "The journey from Qingzhou Army to Dongjun is more than twice as long as our journey from Yecheng to Dongjun. The two sides raised their troops at the same time, and regardless of the interception of Yanzhou Army on the way, it would still take five days. To reach Puyang, water from afar cannot quench our thirst nearby."
"Since it's too late to report the news, what should we do? We can't just sit back and wait for death, right?" Gao Lan asked worriedly.
Jushou pointed to the other side and said decisively: "Cao Cao's troops are not as large as ours, and the troops he left behind at Baima Jin are certainly not as large as ours. Let's cross the river at night and capture the empty Yanzhou Army camp! It can also be regarded as a plan to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao. ”
"Sir, can you guarantee that the number of people on the other side is far less than 10,000? Is it too risky?" Ju Yi asked.
"If the other side has sufficient troops, it means that my lord is safe there! But according to many signs, it is very likely that the troops on the other side are empty. My lord, the whole army will not be defeated, but I am afraid that we will suffer some losses. If we capture Baimajin, If we wait for the Qingzhou Army to join forces, we can still stabilize the unfavorable situation, so we have to cross the river." Jushou analyzed firmly.
Ju Yi and Gao Lan were both generals with keen battlefield senses, and they agreed after thinking for a while. So the three of them sent scouts to report the news to Yuan Shao, and also sent scouts along the river to look for the Qingzhou Army. The next step is to organize the troops to prepare for the night attack.
The night is dark and cloudy.
It happened to be the end of the month, and the moon set after midnight. It was dark at the Yellow River crossing, except for the lights of the camps on both sides. It can be said that you can't see your fingers. But all he could hear in his ears was the sound of the river roaring like a beast from far and near. This further accentuates the frightening silence all around.
In a section of water above Baimajin, more than two thousand Jizhou soldiers, under the command of Gao Lan, carried the temporarily built wooden boats to the shore. *****The terrain here is very uneven and broken. After being washed by the river, the smallest drop between the bank and the river surface reaches more than ten meters.
Jizhou soldiers carefully lifted the small wooden boat and raft to the shore. Wait until the shore of Buudai is densely packed with people. They lowered the boats and rafts into the water, and more than 300 people crossed the river, and more than 2,000 people just went down the river.
More than two thousand Jizhou soldiers rowed hard to the south bank. They had to seize the river bank as quickly as possible, otherwise what awaited them would be endless rain of arrows and the fate of capsizing and killing people.
There are bonfires on both sides of the river banks in Liyang and Baimajin. When they were more than fifty steps away, the Yanzhou Army discovered the boat crossing the river. Suddenly the war drums sounded loudly, and the soldiers guarding the shore also raised their crossbows and fired arrows into the middle of the river.
Once the sound of fighting broke out here, Ju Yi, who was guarding the other side, ordered the remaining nearly 8,000 soldiers to cross the river. In addition to more than a thousand people crossing the river in small boats, they also connected the boats into pontoons to allow large groups of troops to cross the river.
After discovering the sneak attack by the Jizhou Army, a general ran out of the Yanzhou Army camp. It was Li Dian who was appointed by Cao Cao to stay here.
Li Dian shouted and ordered the soldiers to form formations to fight back in an orderly manner. The crossbowmen fired intensively. Keep enemy soldiers away from the river bank. The spearmen formed a dense formation and drove the enemy soldiers who came ashore into the river.
To say that the Jizhou soldiers suffered some losses, they all landed individually in small boats, and the soldiers who jumped off the shore were not in formation, and they all attacked in a scattered manner. Therefore, many people were forced into the water by Yanzhou soldiers.
Gao Lan also jumped off the shore. With a round shield in one hand and a spear in the other, he blocked a few feather arrows, then backed up the mountain and stabbed five or six more Yanzhou soldiers to death. Following Gao Lan were all his own soldiers. More than a hundred of them were agile and coordinated well.
Their shields, daggers, and spears cooperated with each other. Finally occupied a place to stay. Then the Jizhou soldiers who disembarked and landed formed small formations one after another. Cover the landing of subsequent troops and horses.
Li Dian was sweating on his forehead. At first, they drove back the Jizhou soldiers two or three times. But the opponent has many people, and he only has more than 4,000 soldiers and horses available. Slowly, the Jizhou army expanded the area where they landed, causing the Yanzhou army to disperse.
In this way, the disadvantage of having fewer soldiers was fully exposed. No matter how brave the Yanzhou soldiers were, no matter how good Li Dian was in overall command, loopholes in the Yanzhou soldiers' defense line finally appeared.
The pontoon bridge, which was exchanged for more than two hundred lives, was also built. The first person to rush was Ju Yidi's "first camp". They followed one after another, blocked the arrows with their shields, and then formed a small cone-shaped formation. They broke through the Yanzhou soldiers' defense line and attacked the opponent's central army.
Li Dian was still calm. He asked his own soldiers to make up for the gaps and struggled to support the weak defense line due to the lack of soldiers.
A middle-aged civil servant in civilian uniform came behind Li Dian and said worriedly, "General Li, if this continues, I'm afraid we won't be able to see the light of day! We should make arrangements early in the morning."
Li Dian looked at the clerk and said anxiously: "Mr. Dong, my lord, they only said that Yuan Shao was a suspicious soldier in Liyang, but they did not expect that they would actually attack."
That civil servant was Dong Zhao who took refuge with Cao Cao after Zhang Yang's death. He said anxiously: "The enemy's strength is three times ours! We can't defend this place. It's better to retreat temporarily and preserve our strength before asking Puyang for help." Reinforcements.”
Li Dian was very hesitant and said tangledly, "What should I do if I throw away Baima Jin and the master blames me?"
Dong Zhao clapped his hands and said anxiously: "If this continues, our army will inevitably be wiped out! Besides, it is not our fault that Yuan Shao's army is not expected to cross the river. If the lord succeeds in Yanjin, the white horse will become insignificant. If Yuan Shao and the others did not go to Yanjin. Our small number of troops cannot withstand tens of thousands of Jizhou soldiers!"
After a large number of Jizhou Army troops landed ashore, especially after they first ascended the camp to organize a surprise attack. The casualties of the Yanzhou Army increased. In just two quarters of an hour, the Yanzhou army's defense line was forced back more than twenty steps. The Jizhou army occupied the river bank, and its advantage became more and more obvious.
Li Dian let out a long sigh and said, "I hope that as my lord expected, the main force of the Jizhou Army will land in Yanjin!"
"Even if the ambush is successful, it will only hurt the flesh and blood of the Jizhou army. The real hard battle has not yet begun!" Dong Zhao said.
After hearing what he said, Li Dian clenched his spear with a serious expression and ordered his men to retreat slowly.
Yanjin Ferry.
There are more than 10,000 soldiers and horses left in Liyang. Yuan Shao brought more than 50,000 troops to Yanjin, and the remaining more than 10,000 troops were follow-up troops responsible for supervising the labor of civilians and escorting grain and grass and baggage, and were also on the front line in Jizhou.
Yuan Shao was riding on Mashan, pointing to the other side, and said: "Why are the people and horses in front of us so lazy! At this rate, how long will it take for more than 50,000 people and horses to cross the river?"
Cao Cao's army only had more than 500 people stationed in Yanjin, but Yan Liang led his troops to make a surprise attack and captured the Yanjin ferry in one fell swoop. Therefore, Yuan Shao's confidence greatly increased, and he kept urging his troops to cross the river, as if the results of Huaiyin Hou Han Xin's victory were about to be repeated.
It turned out that after Ju Yi and Gao Lan rushed to Baimajin's aid, Yuan Shao secretly withdrew Baimajin's Yan Liang tribe. Yuan Shao thought that his attack in the east and west was successful.
Under Guo Tu's instructions, Yuan Tan also kept urging his troops to cross the river. It is good to serve as a vanguard and make the first attack on Cao Cao's army camp.
Seeing this situation, Xu You, Feng Ji, Cui Yan, and Chen Lin also thought that Cao Cao had slacked off Yanjin's defense.
"My lord, you don't have to be in a hurry to cross the river!" Chen Lin advised: "It's already dark. Let the soldiers cross the river first. You won't be in a hurry to go there tomorrow morning."
Yuan Shao looked up and saw the setting sun and the red clouds. He said firmly, "Soldiers need to be quick. If you want to attack successfully, you will have to wait too long."
"It's impossible for 50,000 men and horses to rush at full speed to attack Cao Cao's camp. Just send 10,000 to 20,000 elite troops lightly equipped to attack. My lord doesn't have to personally take risks, just send a general to go." Feng Ji hurriedly said advised.
Yuan Shao's confidence greatly increased, and now the desire to win filled his whole mind, and he said decisively, "Why can't I do what the Marquis of Huaiyin could do in the past? I will personally lead my troops to capture Cao Cao's camp in Baima Jin, and let him see Look at my methods!"
Being a general is different from being a king. A general must take risks and be prudent. Emperor Taizong Li Shimin used troops differently when he was a general than when he was a king. Being a king involves thousands of people.
At this time, more than 10,000 people had crossed the south bank of the river, and Yuan Shao was even more impatient. Fengji, Cui Yan and others could not persuade him, so they left Fengji, Han Meng and Qianzhao to command the troops on the north bank of the river. The rest followed Yuan Shao across the river. If Fu Jian of the former Qin Dynasty did not cross the Huaihe River lightly, he would not be overturned.
Yan Liang asked his soldiers to bring a larger ferry. He personally acted as a personal guard for Yuan Shao and escorted Yuan Shao across the river.
There are too many coincidences or accidents in history. Often a small thing can change an entire era. If Yuan Shao crosses the south bank of Yanjin. Then this decisive battle in the Central Plains may have another outcome, but an accidental thing happened at this time.
Wen Chou was defeated and injured. The cavalry was either killed or dispersed, but later the main force of the Chinese army gathered some of the fled Wenchou infantry. These ugly stragglers were naturally taken in by brother Yan Liang. Yan Liang's Jizhou Army was the first to land. After landing, they also sent some scouts to explore the terrain.
Only the area near Yanjin Ferry is relatively flat here. The terrain in other places is very fragmented, with hidden ravines widely distributed. The scouts under Yan Liang's command were stimulated by the victory for a while, so naturally they became a little slack. They kept scouting forward and completely ignored some underground trenches.
Little did they know that a Yanzhou army of tens of thousands of people was scattered and hiding in nearby valleys.
Two dozen soldiers from Jizhou rushed to a village two miles away from Yanjin. There were not many people here, only about thirty households. The aroma of rice wafted out from the village, and it was precisely because of the smoke from the village that these Jizhou soldiers were attracted here.
The toothy leader shouted and said happily: "Brothers, there is something hot to eat tonight!"
"Huangdan, stop yelling!" Another chief scolded: "We can see that there is a village here, and others can also see it. Act quickly, otherwise there will be so many people!"
The little leader nicknamed "Yellow Egg" was originally a hundred-man general of Wen Chou's army. After his subordinates were defeated, Yan Liang recruited him and was demoted to the rank of chief together with the original hundred-man general. The dozen or so of them are also the remnants of Wen Chou’s army.
Huang Dan grinned: "What a bastard, I told you not to call me by my nickname, are you looking for trouble!"
Shichang, whose nickname is Lepi, curled his lips: "Save your energy and go look for food!"
"Hehe. After eating hot food, why don't you find a woman to warm up?" A soldier said with a smile.
The other soldiers also burst into laughter. A group of more than ten of them began to enter villagers' homes with knives and rob them. When there was resistance, they raised their bright ring-shaped knives. If he continues to be stubborn, the knife will turn blood red.
Huang Dan and Shang Pi each brought a soldier and arrived at the largest family's house. After asking, I found out that the head of the family, who was in his fifties, was the village elder. The four bandit soldiers were not polite and shared the cakes freshly baked in the pot.
The mangy man chewed and cursed: "Damn it, there's nothing good about it! This is what your family eats!"
The gray-haired village elder trembled all over, "That's all. This is all we can eat. I am poor too...the harvest is not good..."
"I saw some chickens behind the house!" said a soldier.
"Okay, you still said no!" Mangyi's face turned red. "Isn't this tucked in and hidden? Hurry and cook all the chicken for the master and bring it out. If it is full for a while, hum!" said the mangy skin and put the steel knife on the table with a "snap" .
How could the village elder dare to resist? He honestly asked his wife and son to kill the chicken. Two quarters of an hour later, the first chicken was cooked. The four bandit soldiers wiped their hands, tore it open and ate it separately. By the time I finished the fourth chicken. They just stopped.
Ignoring the pained look on the village elder's face, Huangdan shouted: "Wrap up the rest for me!"
How can the village elder dare to say no and do it honestly?
At this time, a sharp scream rang out. It turned out that the mangy man glanced at a village woman in her early thirties, who was the village elder's daughter-in-law. Although her appearance is not very outstanding, his animalistic temperament has become stronger after having been suppressed for a long time.
Huang Dan cursed loudly. "If I had known earlier, we would have gone first!"
The son of the village elder also said that a man in his thirties could not bear such an insult. He ran outside and picked up a hoe, aimed it at the window and broke in! He smashed the stunned mangy skin until his brains burst.
Hearing the screams, Huang Dan and the other two rushed to the inner room with their swords, but the village man and his wife had already ran out of the window. Huang Dan was willing to let them go, and shouted at more than a dozen brothers in the village to round up the middle-aged villager and his wife.
But the villager was extremely familiar with the surrounding terrain. Although he brought a woman with him, he still kept some distance between Huang Dan and the others.
The dozen or so people in Huangdan were anxious. Robbery was not that important. As long as their superiors protected them, nothing would happen to them. But if a leader dies, his character will be completely different, and they may be implicated in the punishment.
As they ran, the villager took them to a nearby ravine, trying to hide or get rid of them.
In the blink of an eye, the couple disappeared. Huangdan was so anxious that he wished he could pull out all the grass around them. Level all the high ground. A dozen of them searched separately. Although I knew they were nearby, I couldn't find them after searching for a long time.
