In this year (AD 215), Cao Zhen was thirty-nine years old and Liu Xie was twenty-three years old. Cao Zhen was the general of the Eastern Dynasty and the Western Conqueror, and his position was only lower than that of Cao Pi. Liu Xie, on the other hand, entered the court and participated in political affairs when he was eighteen years old. Now that he has ascended the throne and led the government and the public, he is extremely majestic and majestic.
Cao Zhen was originally the son of Cao Cao's brother-in-law Qin Shao. After Qin Shao died for Cao Cao, Cao Zhen was adopted by Cao Cao. Because he was proficient in military affairs at a young age and made shocking remarks from time to time, Cao Cao took a special view of him. He called Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu both Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu's Thousand Mile Horses. He often told Cao Pi that if he were to succeed in the military affairs of the DPRK a hundred years later, only Zi Dan would be the best. I can bear it. Cao Zhen also often praised himself as Wu Han and Feng Yi, hoping to assist Cao Cao and his son to achieve great achievements. However, after the Battle of Pingcheng, the military situation of the Eastern Dynasty deteriorated sharply. After the Battle of Xindu, Cao Cao was defeated by Liu Bei, and was eventually trapped in Linzi and even captured alive. The Eastern Dynasty no longer had a sizeable place in Hebei.
At that time, most of the trusted generals in Cao Cao's tent, those well-known warriors who were known as tiger warriors and ten thousand enemies, except Li Zheng who died early, such as Cao Ren, Xu Zhu, Dian Wei, Wen Ji, Zhu Ling, Cao Hong, etc., died in the battle. On the battlefield with the Western Dynasty, the counselors from the north and the south who were famous for their wisdom in the Eastern Dynasty, such as Tian Feng, Shen Pei, Guo Jia, Xun Yu and others, also died due to various reasons. The only remaining generals in the Eastern Dynasty were Xia Houyuan, Lu Zhao, and Zhang He.
"If a man wants to accomplish great feats, why should he fear that the enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered? Even though the Western Dynasty is now powerful, didn't the marshal defeat Liu Bei in Beipi with a mere 50,000 men?" Cao Zhen encouraged morale like this when training troops in Liaodong. , and discussed the future campaign strategy with Cao Pi. Within two years, they successively conquered Fuyu and Goguryeo. They also made good friends with Murong Xianbei and Kushan Guanbu Xianbei, and miraculously pulled out an 80,000-strong army from Liaodong, which made him happy for a while. Incessantly. But unexpectedly, at this moment, his ambition was shattered like a dream.
After receiving the news of the deaths of Xia Houyuan and Zhang He, Cao Zhen went out for a slow walk around the city, only to find that the earth was also covered with autumn frost, with scattered yellow flowers and dead leaves, creating a lonely and desolate scene. He thought to himself that life is like a flower falling on a branch, it only lasts for a moment, and will eventually wither to the ground. This is probably the same fate for himself, a group of remnants of the Eastern Dynasty who are begging for a living in Liaodong. But he immediately cheered up and thought, even so, a man should die like Tian Heng, how could he be as miserable as a woman?
So he began to think about how to withdraw from the siege. Juyong and Jingxing have been defeated, and the Han army is likely to encircle him in Zhuoxian. If you want to encircle him in Zhuoxian, you are just asking for death. Therefore, we can only retreat to Liaodong and wait for the opportunity to fight again next year. But it is easy when you come, hard when you leave. Now you are surrounded by enemies on all sides. If you want to forcefully retreat towards Lulong, you will inevitably fight with Zhao Yun's troops along the way. If the Han army in the city takes advantage of the situation and comes out to pursue, if you are not careful, your bones will be buried. here. Therefore, although Cao Zhen planned to evacuate, his behavior was uncharacteristic and he began to order all the armies to attack the Han army in Zhuoxian County in turns and beat drums day and night to tire out the defenders. This move was indeed effective. For about four or five days, the defenders in the city were struggling, and even the flags were often crooked.
At the same time, in order to boost morale, Cao Zhen summoned his soldiers to practice martial arts and shoot willow trees, and the winner was rewarded with raw meat. He personally drew a three-stone strong bow and shot at the target, and the arrows were not missed. He also ordered the knights to move away from the pole and fight with poles. Drummers also beat cowhide drums to cheer up, and the sound shook for more than ten miles. Many people from the surrounding villagers came to watch. They were either shocked by the martial arts scene, marveled at it, or clasped their hands to pray to God. The Han troops on the city also saw this and thought that Cao Zhen would step up the attack before reinforcements arrived. Zhong Yu and Lu Yu were a little frustrated and determined not to go out of the city to provoke the Liao army.
At this time, the Liao army actually encountered great difficulties. Just when Cao Zhen was bluffing, Zhao Yun and Sima Yi's troops in the east led their troops to continuously attack the grain road between Lulong and Zhuoxian. Although they were not successful every time, they There are also many gains. The Liao army's logistics were gradually unable to support them. Although Cao Zhen was anxious in his heart, he did not dare to show it on his face. Instead, he secretly ordered many mounds to be piled up in the camp, and only the top layer was covered with a layer of wheat. Demonstrate worry-free logistics to soldiers.
Finally, in late October, Xindu's army approached Zhuoxian County less than fifty miles away. One night, Cao Zhen suddenly ordered the entire army to abandon the camp and go north. Just when the Han army in the city was still unaware of the reason, the last Liao army burned the camp below the city. Fires and smoke suddenly rose. From a distance, the sea of fire rose into the sky, as if It's like swallowing up the entire Zhuoxian city.
The fire made it difficult for the defenders in the city to leave, and even led approaching reinforcements to think that Zhuoxian had fallen. He quickly sent all his scouts to see what was going on, without caring about anything else. This gave the Liao army a chance to escape. Since there was not much food and grass in the army, Cao Zhen simply ordered the entire army to move upstream from the Baoshui River Valley in the north, intending to cross the Yanshan Mountains first, and then go east to join Luzhao's headquarters.
Wei Yan, who was leading the army at the front, was very anxious when he received the scout's report. He said to his subordinates: "Your Majesty came with the power of Mount Tai, aiming to wipe out the razers and kill all the bandits. If he is allowed to leave like this, I'm afraid there will be disaster." Blame it. What can we do? We can only pursue it urgently." The generals also believed this, so they asked him to fight and expressed their stance. However, Wei Yan also had concerns, so he picked Liang Shuang out from his subordinates and said to him in detail: "This pursuit, The important thing is to make your ambition clear to Your Majesty, not to kill the enemy. I will give you eight thousand light cavalry, and you have to hurry up and chase. If you have a chance, fight. If you don't have a chance, follow you. After chasing for three hundred miles, you will come back. Cao Zhen is a wise general after all. Be careful. His plan fell into place."
Liang Shuang had been in Nanfu for several years and was a veteran general under Wei Yan. However, he had never had the opportunity to make meritorious deeds recently. At this time, he was very excited when Wei Yan reminded him. He clasped his fists and said back: "General, don't worry, I will fulfill my mission. "That day, he led his troops to trace the Liao army. When they saw the mountains, the sky gradually turned gray. Probably because of the mountains blocking them, they did not feel the raging north wind, but they saw white snow spots falling. It turned out that it had started to snow again.
Liang Shuang was afraid that they were too far away and the traces of the Liao people would be covered up by the heavy snow, so he ordered his subordinates to ride fast and enter the Baoshui River Valley when there was still no snow on the grass. The next day, they immediately climbed to the north of Mount Ankou and looked at the abrupt cliffs to the east. On the cliff, curls of green smoke and specks of sparks can be seen vaguely. When Liang Shuang saw this, he knew that there was probably the rear camp of the Liao army.
Seeing that the Liao army was about to break camp soon, one of his subordinates asked Liang Shuang if he wanted to take the opportunity to attack. After all, when the Liao army was breaking camp, it was often when an army's defense was at its weakest. Liang Shuang remembered Wei Yan's instructions before leaving, and wanted to shake his head and refuse, but then he thought, if he couldn't make a contribution this time, he might not have much chance to return to Xiangyang in the future. The warrior wanted to put his head in the river. How can you let go of seeking wealth and honor on the handle of a knife?
Therefore, he quickly ordered all the ministries to attack the Liao army's rear camp in two groups, east and west. However, just as he was mobilizing his troops, a gray-white shadow appeared in the pine forest to the northeast. The soldiers who were facing him took a closer look and realized that it was one or more people on horseback. The hoofs of the horses were on the withered grass and snow. Prance, almost no loud noise. The man on horseback is leaning on the horse's mane and moving forward, holding it with one hand and holding the bow with the other hand, jumping lightly with the horse's ups and downs on the snow.
Almost in an instant, the gray-white shadow had entered a stone's throw away, and a person stood out from the horse's mane. He held an arrow across his mouth, and another arrow was already on the string. Before the Han scout had time to draw his arrow, the opponent's arrow had already penetrated the back of his neck. The people behind saw someone falling on their backs in front and knew they were being attacked. For a moment, he called his comrades to form a defensive formation, but dozens of Liao cavalry were already rushing towards him with arrows. Similar scenes also occurred in various pine forests on the mountain road to the north. The Liao knight rode up to the deceased, jumped off the horse, took out a knife, cut off the head, tied the hair to the tail of the horse, mounted the horse and dragged it on the snow, dragging out dark blood stains. The surrounding Han army scouts formed formations and fired their dynasties into the sky to warn their colleagues to defend against enemy attacks.
But at this time, the Liao cavalry had already cut in from both sides along the direction of the Han column. They cut in from the side against the enemy's direction to cut off the column. Even though the Han army's line stretched for a long time and the resistance became increasingly fierce, the Liao army's soldiers and horses did not hesitate at all. Instead, they dug in one after another. And gradually, a whole continuous gray shadow appeared in the surrounding mountains and fields, and for a while, there was no end in sight. Only then did the fighting Han army realize that they had not encountered the Liao army's rear camp, but had broken into the Liao army's ambush.
Liang Shuang quickly changed his arrangements. In order to prevent his troops from being cut off and surrounded horizontally, he ordered the soldiers to disperse from the masses and flee in units of team leaders. He thought to himself that his men were all Qingqi, and they could easily escape as long as they were broken into pieces. However, he misjudged the determination of the Liao army. Cao Zhen knew that this battle was the key to whether he could safely return to Liaodong, so he personally supervised the formation on the front line. Seeing that the Han cavalry had the idea of escape, he simply ordered to blow the whistle No. 1, all the remaining light cavalry of the Liao army inserted into the center of the Han army and fought to the death with it.
Liang Shuang was originally at the back of the rear palace, but he was soon entangled by several Liao army knights. One of them rode his horse to his side, suddenly pulled the bow with his foot, and shot a Hulu arrow with a wide and flat arrowhead, hitting Liang Shuang head-on. The collision was so violent that the arrow cut straight into the neck and flew out from behind. Liang Shuang's head was completely cut off and thrown into the air. Blood spurted out and made a sizzling sound, but the headless corpse was still sitting upright on the horse's back, continuing to gallop up and down with the horse.
When the remaining Han cavalry saw this, they all lost their minds and ran away like crazy. Finally, they divided into dozens of small groups and ran into a small slope with sparse bushes nearby. The Liao people tried to continue the pursuit, but as night gradually fell and the surrounding rock walls became so steep, they had to slowly stop. They listened carefully to the sounds from the south. After everything was silent, they felt like waking up from a dream. Regroup and continue heading east along the planned path.
