In the early morning of September 23, smoke suddenly rose from Cao Jun's camp. In the dark night, the smoke was not visible, but the smell of fireworks in the wind could not be concealed. The Bafu stationed many scouts south of Cao Jun's camp, and they soon smelled the choking smell.
If you make rice in the middle of the night, something unusual will happen and something will happen. Although the scouts did not know the military situation, they did not dare to delay at all and immediately sent the news back to the Han army camp.
At this time, Liu Bei was still sleeping soundly. After being woken up by his followers, he was quite tired. But when he learned that Cao Jun seemed to be plotting, he was suddenly startled. He immediately sent troops to various ministries to wake up the generals and subordinates and ask them to come to the tent. discussion.
The Han army's camp is now adjacent to Wenchang Pavilion, and it is only thirty miles away from the Cao army's camp. For the knights and horses, the distance is only two quarters of an hour. Therefore, if there is any change between the two sides, every minute of time must be fought for. While Liu Bei was waiting, he thought to himself, could it be that Cao Cao was desperate and planned to kill my camp in the middle of the night? But he immediately rejected it. Cao Cao's army had few troops. Once the camp failed, it would be impossible to evacuate. Even if Cao Cao wanted to make a desperate move, he would not choose such a reckless tactic. But if not, what would Cao Cao plan to do?
After all the staff arrived, Liu Bei consulted them on the matter. Zhu Hao, the captain of Zhaoyu, also believed that Cao's army would not go into battle. He said: "Although Cao's army has made some changes, it is impossible to send thousands of people to camp at night. And Cao Man is a man who knows the army, so he will never do it." Doing such a stupid thing." But as for Cao Cao's intentions, it was difficult for him to guess, "Since I don't know how to build a camp, I might as well wait for a while. I believe there will be news soon before dawn."
Everyone said that this was a prudent statement, and Liu Bei also agreed, so he asked Huoying to prepare food first. While eating with his subordinates, he waited for the news from the frontline scouts.
Nearly an hour passed like this, and news from the front line came almost every moment, but the message was elusive: after Cao Cao made the meal, there was no movement in the South Camp, and even the number of soldiers patrolling the camp did not increase or decrease. As if everything was business as usual. Everyone agreed that something was out of the ordinary. It was unsettling that Cao Cao was so peaceful. The generals who originally had a negative attitude towards Cao Ying could not help but have doubts at this time, wondering if Cao Cao really had the will to fight?
But when it came to Mao hour, the stars in the sky had faded, and some yellow-white water appeared in the sky in the east, but there was still no movement in Cao Ying. No one had had enough sleep and had been waiting for most of the night. At this time, they could not help but feel groggy and yawning.
At this time, Xu Shu suddenly stood up and said, "No, could it be that Cao Cao sent his troops to the north?"
Before everyone could react, Xu Shu stepped forward and said to Liu Bei: "Now the imperial court is encircling Hebei in three ways. The most effective one is General Zhenbei on the North Road and his party. Presumably after the news came, the bandits were unwilling to give up and wanted to take advantage of Duan Gong. If your footing is not stable, take advantage of the sun to strike."
Liu Bei quickly sent scouts around to Chonghe City to investigate. When he came back, he reported that a large number of soldiers' footprints had been found in the north of the city and had gone north.
Hearing this, Xu Shu blamed himself again: "Oh! Since the thieves are making food, they must take action. If they don't go south for a long time, they must go north. I didn't expect it! It has been two days since the thieves made food. After an hour, everyone who should have left must have left, and we can no longer catch up!"
After hearing this, Liu Bei comforted him and said: "Duan Zhongming is also a man who knows the military. He has never suffered a major defeat. Even if Cao Cao's thieves send troops north to assist, I think it will be difficult to win."
Having said this, the news of Cao Cao's division of troops reached his ears, and all the generals in the tent were extremely excited. The generals headed by Yuan Tan asked for orders: "Isn't this the situation planned by the Bafu? Send troops in three directions, causing the thieves to focus on one and miss the other. Now the thieves dare to divide their troops in front of our army, they really don't know life or death! Our army can be ten With twice the force, we sent out troops to besiege, but the thief still has three heads and six arms, and he can't escape his grasp!"
Fazheng also followed up and said: "Ming Gong came here with an army of 300,000, and everyone in the world thought that no one could defeat him. But on the way east, if you can't conquer Puyang in the first place, you will have to confront the thieves close to each other and gain nothing. I'm afraid that everyone in the world will think that Ming is unstoppable." Is it okay that the public is incompetent and relies entirely on the dragon head's plan?"
Zhang Xian agreed: "Now that the bandit army is poor and weak, it is an opportunity for the soldiers to make contributions. All the armies are seeking wealth. If they hesitate to move forward, they may lose the hope of the three armies!"
Xu Shu objected: "Now is the moment of decisive victory, how can we act like this? Before Puyang goes down, we can see that the bandit army is not just a bunch of people. If our army comes out because of wealth, how can we not underestimate the enemy? Once the behavior is To be at a loss is to waste the lives of soldiers in vain! Please be careful!"
After Liu Bei and others finished speaking, they found that Xun You, Chen Wang Liu Chong, and Jianping General Dong Cheng were speechless. He knew that Xun You was avoiding suspicion because Xun Yu had defected to the enemy, so he asked Liu Chong and Dong Cheng for their opinions.
Liu Chong said: "The general is a minister of the country and the lord of the overlord. He goes to the battlefield in person and does his own thing. How can we comment on it? If there is an enemy in front, the general gives the order and we will fight to the death."
Dong Chengze said: "I thought the Yuan family had been cultivating Hebei for several years, so they had to expect the enemy to be lenient and be prepared for a protracted war."
Liu Bei waved his hand to indicate that he understood, and then issued an order to the generals, ordering those who agreed with the attack to stand on the left, and those who disagreed with the attack to stand on the right. For a time, most people were standing on the left. Liu Bei twisted his beard and smiled and said: "People are eager to fight, so they can fight!" Then he ordered all the troops to go back and prepare. Today, the generals will rest for a day, prepare for another day tomorrow, and then go out to attack the day after.
After the generals left, Liu Bei left behind Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and his close confidants such as Chen, and military and military staff such as Fazheng, Xu Shu, Xun You and others to secretly discuss the battle. Talking about what everyone had just discussed, Liu Bei said: "I I am 80% sure of attacking the camp this time. Even if there is two dangers, this battle is worth it to bring peace to the world! The generals really want to fight, and only Dong Cheng, a close official of the emperor, is unwilling to fight. Although Ting Jian is here He gave many warnings before setting out for the expedition, but the war situation on the front line is ever-changing and he cannot predict it all."
Xu Shu said: "Having said that, Ming Gong, you still need to be more careful. The bandits must have many plans when they divide their forces like this. If our army doesn't surround his camp on all sides and starve him to death, then there will be no risk, so there is no need to win decisively." What if we lose the battle?”
When Liu Bei heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little moved. He was about to continue sending scouts to find out how many people were left in Cao's camp. But at this time, the scout came uninvited and reported to Liu Bei: The remaining Cao army suddenly abandoned the camp and ran to the west. The Cao camp that was originally left behind was burned to the ground. Liu Bei hurriedly left the camp to take a look. His main tent was standing at the highest point in the camp. He could see black smoke billowing from the sky to the north. The smell of ashes was also vaguely permeated in the wind. Luo Bei was resting in the forest. The birds also noticed something was wrong, and now they all fluttered and flew, shouting in the cold wind.
Liu Bei naturally knew the meaning of this. His face was livid, and he went back to his account and said to Xu Shu: "Cao Cao also knows that dividing his troops is unfavorable. Now he has led his troops to go west. It seems that Yuan Zhi's strategy will not work." Zhang Fei asked: "Take that. What should we do next?" As soon as he spoke, he knew the answer, "If big brother sends troops to chase, I am willing to be the vanguard."
Liu Bei lowered his head and asked: "Chasing, where should we chase? Where will they retreat to?"
Fazheng said: "No matter what, we have to cross the Jiangshui River to the west. This is not an easy task. Once our army catches up, it will be defeated in a hurry. Besides, do the rebels dare to let go of the Bohai Sea and let us wait to go north? Youzhou? In this way, the situation is determined! I guess that the westward movement is false, and the withdrawal to Nanpi is real! Nanpi is the Bohai County, and can accommodate tens of thousands of people to hold on. They must want to use this to strengthen the city and drag it to The reinforcements from the North Route have returned to calm the chaos!"
Xun You also agreed with this. He said: "The most urgent task is to send cavalry to Jiangshui first to search for the ships along the coast and prevent the enemy from crossing the river. Our army will then press forward to stop them from Nanpi. If they defend the city, , then attack them. If they fight in the wild, destroy them, and you will definitely win!"
In this way, the plan was quickly decided. Liu Bei immediately sent Zhang Fei to lead his cavalry straight to Zhangshui, and he himself sent his troops to inform all the ministries: the original rest plan was cancelled, and the entire army would break camp today and head west, straight to the south.
On the morning of September 25th, a group of Cao Jun scouts were ordered by Cao Cao to lurk in a place called Dongqu Township, about fifteen miles south of Nanpi City. Wearing the uniforms of the Han army brought from Yanzhou, they hid in the reeds of a sandy river and inquired about the movements of the Han army in the south.
They only stayed for one day. When it got slightly brighter the next day, the earth began to tremble faintly, and the noise of people and horses gradually came. A scout took a look at the edge of the reeds and said to the leader of the group: " No, the imperial army has arrived."
The leader of the scouts was Li Dian, the newly appointed uncle of Cao Jun. He exhaled and said to the four subordinates who were traveling with him: "They have finally arrived. It is estimated that the decisive battle is not far away. Let's go and inform Duke Cao!"
A group of five people jumped on their horses, with Li Dian in front and the other scouts behind, and galloped along the reeds towards Nanpi City. As soon as they came out of the reed swamp, they ran into the ranks of the Han army. Because they were wearing Han army clothes, the soldiers on the road did not stop them. They saw the Han army advancing in columns, stretching endlessly, with knights and horses all connected end to end, and brightly colored flags fluttering in the wind. It was so spectacular that they had never seen it before, and they couldn't help but feel frightened. After running for a while, I saw several horses running in front of me. I waved to them to stop with my bow and arrow.
Li Dian did not hesitate, he drew his bow and shot, knocking the leader off his horse, and then galloped his horse towards the river beach.
The leader of the cavalry next to him is Liu Bei's confidant Tai Shici. Taishi Ci said: "This must be a scout of the bandit army. Don't let him go!" He rode on his horse and waited for ten cavalry to chase him. He fired bows and arrows one after another, killing all the four scouts behind Li Dian. When he was about to shoot Li Dian again, he saw him jumping into the water on horseback, and soon jumped onto the other side, out of the range of Taishi Ci's arrows.
Seeing that he was free, Li Dian waved his sword several times at the Han army on the other side, and then rode away. This scene fell into the eyes of Liu Bei not far away. He smiled and said to Liu Xuan: "My son should be like this man, with a sword and a horse, and a sense of domineering!"
Liu Xuan nodded and said: "Since the scouts are here, the bandit army must not be far away."
Soon, Liu Bei received news that Cao Cao's army was lined up in front of Beipiting between Jiangshui and Zhangshui. It was not forming a camp and seemed to be about to fight with our army.
At the same time, Li Dian also crossed the Zhang River and reported to Cao Cao and his staff: "The thieves are coming from the north. They are only fifteen miles away from the pavilion. There are thousands of troops and horses, dazzling cavalry and armor, and a military appearance that is unprecedented in the world." Never seen before!”
