On the hill where the general's camp was located, Cao Shuang was climbing up and looking into the distance, observing the garrison positions of his camps up and down the hill.
"Report to the general." Not long after, the herald climbed up the hillside and came to Cao Shuang's side to reply: "The governor and General Xiahou Ba have arrived at the central military tent."
"Okay, let's go meet them now." Cao Shuang adjusted his armor and tassels, turned around and strode towards the mountainside camp.
In the Chinese army's tent, Xia Houxuan and Xia Houba were all sitting on their beds, waiting for Cao Shuang's arrival.
Cao Shuang looked around and found that everyone who was supposed to come was here, and then he said:
"Everyone, we have now penetrated deep into the Tangluo Road. As for how to deploy next, Gu believes that further discussion is needed, so Gu has called everyone to gather here. There are no outsiders in the tent at the moment. What do you think? If you have any concerns, just speak up."
There are indeed no outsiders in the camp.
Sima Zhao, Sima Fancan from Zhengxi Prefecture, Deng Ai and Le Fang who joined the army have been arranged by Xia Houxuan to patrol the camp and are not in the tent at the moment. As for Guo Huai, he had already separated from the army.
At this moment, in addition to Cao Shuang, Xia Houba and Xia Houxuan's uncle and nephew, there were only generals Deng Yang, Ding Mi, and Yang Shiying who joined the army, Xia Houxian, the military commander of Xifu, Li Sheng, the chief historian, and He Kui. There were ten people including Xia Houfeng, the chief bookkeeper. The four army commanders, Su Mu, Wang Cheng, Niu Sheng, and Han Qianwei, were accompanying them outside the tent.
"General, please take a look." Xiahou Ba, the Protector of the Conquest of Shu, pointed at the map accompanying the army and said: "Go forward five hundred miles from the camp and you will reach this place - Xingshi Mountain."
Everyone looked at the hilltop pointed by Xiahou Ba. This place was not only one of the exits of the Tangluo Road, but also a place that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Not only did it have a convenient water source, but there were also small hills around where small villages could be stationed to provide support. More importantly, this is the throat of Lecheng, the eastern gate of Han Dynasty.
Xiahou Ba continued: "If we can occupy Xingshi Mountain in time, it will be equivalent to opening up this Luogu Road. Here we can attack and retreat. Based on this, we can take Hanzhong just around the corner. The general suggested , taking advantage of the fact that our army entered the valley not long ago and the enemy has not yet found out the specific whereabouts of our army, we sent a surprise force to move forward quickly to occupy this place first!"
Cao Shuang was thoughtful. He frowned and thought for a while, and seemed to have made up his mind.
"Wang Cheng, Su Mu, Niu Sheng, and Han Qianwei obey orders!"
"The general is here!" The four elite commanders of the Chinese Army heard the call and immediately entered the tent.
"I order the four of you to lead an army of 5,000 each, and join forces with General Xiahou Ba's 30,000 forwards. At Yin Shi next morning, we will rush straight to Xingshi Mountain without any mistakes!"
"I will obey the general's order!"
After Xia Houxuan saw the four people leaving the tent, he pointed at the army map and whispered his other plan:
"General, please see, in addition to the main road leading to Xingshi Mountain, you can also reach here by following the golden waterway to the southeast!"
Cao Shuang looked up and saw that where Xia Houxuan was pointing, there was no place name marked on the map. He couldn't help but be confused. Before Cao Shuang could ask, Xia Houxuan continued to explain:
"In these days, I arranged for the elite soldiers of the Xifu to dress up in disguise. From the local people, I learned that this place is called Huangjin Gorge. It is a mountain peak where Golden Water flows into Han River. On the mountain peak, there is a front The small pass that had been abandoned in the Han Dynasty was called Huangjin garrison. The west and east sides of Huangjin garrison were close to the Han River and Mianshui River, and each had a valley. The locals called the west canyon Xiaoxia and the east canyon Daxia. The gorge is the best place to hide an ambush. Not only that, by heading westward from Huangjinshu all the way against the Han River, not only do you not need to worry about water sources, but you can also directly reach Lecheng, the eastern barrier of Hanzhong!"
After hearing Xia Houxuan's words, Cao Shuang's eyes lit up with a light:
"Taichu wanted to lead a single force south along the Golden River Valley, quietly capture the Golden Guard, and then coordinate with General Xiahou Ba from Xingshi Mountain to attack Lecheng in one fell swoop!"
Xia Houxuan's eyes were full of confidence at this moment. He nodded towards Cao Shuang and continued:
"Yes, if our army attacks Lecheng, the main force of the Shu thieves will definitely be attracted to the east. Regardless of success or not, Hancheng to the west of Hanzhong will definitely be empty. If General Guo Huai successfully passes through the Baoxie Road, he can just attack the west in one fell swoop. Yangpingguan and Hancheng, when the time comes, the two cities of Hanle will be lost, and the isolated city of Hanzhong will not be in the possession of my great Wei Dynasty?"
The two cities of Han and Le, one in the west and the other in the east, are like the left and right hands of Hanzhong. They were two new Guan cities with dangerous terrain built by Zhuge Liang in order to strengthen the defense of Hanzhong.
The more Cao Shuang listened to Xia Houxuan's strategy, the more excited he became. He held Xia Houxuan's arm tightly and couldn't help but think:
"Hanzhong is the northern gateway to Shuchuan. If Hanzhong is captured, Zitong and Chengdu in the south will be opened wide. If Taichu's plan comes true, you and I will definitely become famous in history and become famous generals!"
Cao Shuang checked the route Xia Houxuan mentioned on the map again, then stood up and issued the order:
"Taichu, you will lead your 10,000 troops down the Golden Water and conquer the Golden Garrison in one fell swoop!"
"Yes!" Xia Houxuan thought to himself. Although this plan is a bit risky, if it can succeed, the chance of winning this battle will be at least 70%. Thinking of this, Xia Houxuan couldn't help feeling nervous.
In the early morning of the next day, the Wei army's phalanx was divided into three under the leadership of Xiahou Ba, Cao Shuang, and Xiahou Xuan, and began to stir up dust again, quickly heading south.
"Brother Taichu!" Sumu Mu, the army commander who was about to follow Xiahou Ba south to Xingshi Mountain, immediately stepped forward and came to Xiahou Xuan's side: "This time the army goes out, you, the general, and the two ministers Deng and Ding are coming with the army. Do you think there will be any changes in the capital?"
"Over there at the Chancellery, He Yan is in charge. There are two imperial guards in the palace, Cao Xi and Cao Xun, so there won't be any problem. His Majesty also has Wei Lie and Cao Yan beside him, plus Bi Gui, the Sili school captain. With the outer cover, nothing will happen to the capital." Xia Houxuan frowned slightly and said, "What I'm worried about is this expedition.
Su Mu, you and the vanguard will go to occupy Xingshi Mountain later, so be careful. "
"Yes. Brother Taichu, please take care, Su Mu is going!" Su Mu said, and then rode forward to catch up with the forward.
————
Xiegu Road.
Guo Huai and his 30,000 Yongliang army were slowly marching through the narrow Baoshui River Valley.
Guo Huai raised his eyes and looked at the still narrow valley road ahead, with many thoughts in his mind.
After all, he is still a Taifu.
Even if he doesn't betray his colleagues to the enemy's thieves, he will never really let Cao Shuang win this battle. The reason why he insisted on marching to Xiegu Road was to allocate part of his troops to weaken Cao Shuang's chances of winning.
"The whole army listens to the order and camp on the spot!" He slowly and steadily issued the order to stop the march to the whole army.
————
After another ten days of trekking through mountains and rivers, the Wei army's forward was finally less than a hundred miles away from Xingshi Mountain.
Xiahou Ba looked at the cold moon hanging high in the sky.
The night dew is heavy. Traveling day and night, the Wei army, which had been running wildly for more than ten days, was extremely exhausted. Some soldiers even fell behind because they were too tired to rush on the road a few days ago. Therefore, Xiahou Ba's team was in urgent need of rest.
"Report to General." At this time, a veteran scout came on horseback: "It has been detected that most of the Shu army in front is stationed on the plain three hundred miles south of Xingshi Mountain."
Xiahou Ba nodded. The Shu army camp was not far from Xingshi Mountain. It seemed that the Shu captives were not stupid and knew the importance of Xingshi Mountain. However, even if the Shu captives had calculated everything, they did not know that they were almost there. Xingshi Mountain is already here. After the forward army rests, it will take no more than two days to reach Xingshi. Even if the Shu army has discovered their traces now, they lack horses and cannot reach Xingshi within two days, even if they can fly. rescue.
Thinking of this, Xiahou Ba felt confident in his heart.
"Instruct the three armies to camp on the spot, do not make fires, eat some dry food, and rest for two hours. Tomorrow, with titles and horses wrapped in hooves, they will rush to Xingshi Mountain at full speed!" Xiahou Ba waved his flag and issued a military order.
It was getting late, and the Wei army was already exhausted. In addition, the Shu army was still more than 300 miles away. The forward army rushed to occupy Xingshi Mountain. It seemed that it was inevitable. There was no need to rush at this moment. After the camp was established, they sent out scouts with the army to deliver orders to the general's headquarters in the rear.
The color of the night gradually changed from blue to pitch black.
At the gate of the forward camp of the Wei army, sentry horses, scouts, and messengers came and went from time to time, reporting the military situation in the front and rear at any time. At this moment, an officer galloped to the gate of the camp.
"Where is the general going?" The guard at the camp gate recognized the officer and knew that he was the red man next to the general, so he only asked symbolically, without even asking for the password.
"According to the order of General Xiahou, go to the front to survey the enemy's situation!" Before he could finish his sentence, the officer rode his horse and disappeared outside the camp gate.
——————
Wei Zhongjun's camp.
"General General, General Xiahouba is already a hundred miles north of Xingshi Mountain. He will arrive at Xingshi Mountain about the morning of tomorrow!" the scout reported.
Cao Shuang smiled and said: "Okay, tell General Xiahou that if we win this battle, I will personally go out and take credit for him!"
Cao Shuang felt extremely excited at this moment.
He thought to himself that after this battle, he would definitely be famous in history. Not only that, he would also completely replace the Sima family and become the only decision-maker in the Wei Dynasty.
At this moment, he couldn't help laughing as he thought about his glorious future.
——————
More than three hundred miles south of Xingshi Mountain is the Shu Han camp. The south wind blows, and the red fire flag in the camp is billowing in the wind.
Wang Ping, the general of Zhenbei, was sitting in his tent at the moment, closing his eyes to rest and listening to his subordinate Chang Shi reciting military classics.
Since his family was poor when he was young, no one provided him with enlightenment. Therefore, except for knowing a few simple characters, he had no ink in his mind.
It's just that although Wang Ping is not very literate, he loves to listen to people read books on the art of war, and this habit has been with him for many years and continues to this day.
"General Qi." A Shu army scout entered the camp.
"What are you doing, disturbing this general from listening to a book?" Wang Ping's gloomy and majestic words always made people tremble in their hearts.
"General, when I was patrolling the camp, I caught a spy from the rebellion of Cao Cao. He seems to be an officer!"
Thinking of the credit for killing the general and capturing the flag, the scout could hardly contain the excitement in his heart at this moment.
"What?" Wang Ping raised his thick eyebrows and narrowed his eyes slightly: "Bring him here!"
At this time, a Wei general was pushed into the camp, but he didn't seem to be afraid at all.
"Are you from Wei?" Wang Ping's eyes were cold and unflappable.
"Your Excellency must be General Wang."
There was no trace of fear in the Wei officer's tone and demeanor. He looked up at the eerie enemy general and said to Wang Ping word by word:
"I have important information, which I want to present to General Wang!"
——————
Early morning two days later.
Flags with gold characters on a black background were hidden in the darkness before dawn, quietly advancing along the valley.
The steep outline of Xingshi Mountain hidden in the morning fog finally became clearer and clearer in Xiahou Ba's eyes.
Most of the Wei army's forwards finally arrived at the foot of Xingshi Mountain.
"Soldiers, Xingshi Mountain has arrived!" General Xiahou Ba suppressed the excitement in his heart, split his command flag, and shouted loudly: "Every camp, prepare to climb the mountain and set up camp!"
At this moment, the first ray of dawn pierced the last trace of darkness.
Before Wei Jun could climb the mountain, he saw an incredible scene.
The top of Xingshi Mountain is flying a red flag right now!
Xiahou Ba only felt dizzy. That was the fire flag of the Shu army!
Xiahou Ba couldn't believe his eyes, he couldn't help but murmured:
"How is it possible! How is this possible? Even if most of the Shu army could fly, they would not be able to reach the target so quickly!"
Before Xiahou Ba could fully react, there were already loud shouts of killing in the valley, and a large number of Shu troops were spreading from the top of the mountain towards the Wei army like blazing flames!
