Three Kingdoms: Ancestors of the Han Dynasty

(Han Wei Chencang confrontation map, in the comments)

On the north bank of the Weishui River, the Wei army camp was crowded with people, countless soldiers came and went, and a large number of banners fluttered in the wind; a large group of cavalry roared past the camp, bringing up billowing smoke and dust; Around the pontoon bridge.

Basically, the army crosses the river as a pontoon bridge. What is a pontoon bridge?It is to use wooden planks to connect the hulls to form a wooden bridge across the river, and the formation speed is very fast.Several boats can be used on wider water surface, which can be connected when used and dismantled when finished.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the boat bridge was also an instrument that only Zhou Tianzi could use (Note ①).In the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin built a pontoon bridge in Caishiji in order to destroy the Southern Tang Dynasty. He used thousands of boats. The whole bridge is about 6 kilometers long, which can be regarded as the crown of ancient pontoon bridges.

For the Wei army who controlled Guanzhong, the Weishui River was often under their control, and it was not difficult to form a pontoon bridge.What's more, it's autumn and winter, except for the rainy days in the past few days, it's basically sunny, the Weishui River drops, the flow speed is more gentle, and the pontoon bridge is easy to form.

Xia Houru was wearing black armor and a yellow battle robe made of Shu brocade, standing on the earth barrier built by the bank.Zhao Yan was not far away, and he was also standing beside Xia Houru. The two of them looked at the Han army camp on the west side of the Lishui River and the south bank of the Weishui River.

Around hundreds of elite soldiers in armor, holding spears and holding their chests up, surrounded the high earthen platform airtightly.

Xia Houba came on his horse, then got off his horse, walked up to the mound, slightly raised his head to look at Zhao Yan and Xia Houru who were in front of him.Compared with Xia Houru, Xia Houba has a lot of respect for Zhao Yan.

Xiahouba and Xiahouru are of the same generation, but Xiahouru is a little older.That's why Xia Houba didn't really respect this person of mediocre ability and was not an elder, and usually he only respected him as the commander-in-chief of the army.

But Zhao Yan is different. Zhao Yan, together with Yangzhai Xinpi, Xuchang Chen Qun, and Dingling Du Xi, are called the Four Great Scholars of Yingchuan.Fleeing to Jingzhou due to the war, Liu Biao heard about Zhao Yan's name and invited him to become an official. However, Zhao Yan believed that Liu Biao was short-sighted.

After Cao Cao greeted the Han Dynasty and presented the emperor in Xuchang, Zhao Yan believed that Cao Cao would definitely be able to help China, and finally his family returned to the north and joined Cao Cao's tent.

Zhao Yan was tactful and often served as the military governor, coordinating Zhang Liao, Le Jin and Yu Jin.During the Battle of Chibi, Zhao Yan supervised and led Yu Jin, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Li Dian and other seven groups of troops.As for Zhao Yan's pinnacle in life is to help Xu Huang break the siege of Xiangfan and save the crisis.

Therefore, even though Xia Houba is a general and a family member, he is still a little afraid at the same time as Zhao Yan.

"Dare to ask the military commander, when can we cross the Qianshui River and attack Liao Hua's camp?" Xiahouba asked, clasping his hands.

Zhao Yan stroked his beard and said, "Don't worry, Li Fu's army is crossing the river from the upper reaches of the river. Besides, Junlin (Xia Houru) has not yet crossed the river to pretend to be a soldier to attract Huang Quan."

This time, Xia Houru was the commander-in-chief of the army, so he crossed the Wei River and attacked Huang Quan's camp as a fake soldier.Xia Houba, who was brave in combat and familiar with the generals of Western Shu, led the elite to join forces with Li Fu and besieged Liao Hua.

"promise!"

"Wow!"

Huang Quan's army on the south bank responded, and while the flag was waving, a large number of troops headed towards the boat bridge.Liu Yin rode a war horse, ordered the cavalry to be the vanguard, and led the infantry behind him, trying to prevent the Wei army from crossing the river.

Liu Yin rode on a war horse, found Zhao Guang who was leading the army forward, and shouted: "General Zhao, Huang Cheqi ordered you to burn the bridge so that you won't lose it easily. I will be behind and cover for the general."

Hearing this, Zhao Guang arched his hands towards Liu Yin, turned his horse's head, and did not order the messengers. He rode up and shouted to the Han army in the headquarters on the road: "Everyone obeys orders, only bring flint, sulfur, and dry firewood. Discard all the shields, armor and other items on your body, and rush to the boat bridge quickly."

The officers in the army shouted military orders to each other, ordering their men to throw things into the road.Zhao Guang took the lead directly, took off his armor, and led hundreds of elites ahead.

The cavalry arrived at the place where the boat bridge was built first, holding bows and crossbows, and shot towards the soldiers of the Wei army in the small boat.Zhao Guang's troops followed closely behind. Since there are as many as five Wei Jun pontoons, Zhao Guang's troops also divided into five, rushed to the pontoons, arrived at the Han soldiers first, and threw the flammable items on their backs. On the boat bridge.

On the Weishui pontoon bridge, the generals of the Wei army quickly ran towards the opposite bank. On the small boat, the generals of the Wei army held bows and arrows and shot towards the Han army on the shore to cover the army.The crossbowmen under Liu Yin arrived first and shot towards the Wei army on the river and the boat bridge.

Holding the arrow blocked by the shield, Zhao Guang threw the lighted torch directly on the piled up flammable objects, and the flame instantly shot up into the sky, burning the boat bridge.

"Ah!" A crossbow arrow shot directly at Zhao Guang's arm, and he let out a scream, blood staining his clothes.Zhao Guang was sweating coldly, and he struggled to lift his shield to block the arrows. Seeing this, the guards behind him stepped forward and formed a shield wall to protect Zhao Guang.

However, the cheers of the Wei army not far away reached Zhao Guang's ears, and the soldiers of the Wei army poured the sand on their backs on the burning boat bridge to form a small mound, blocking the flame from burning.Holding their shields and wearing armor, the generals of the Wei army quickly stepped across the wooden bridge. The boat bridge near the river was scorched and difficult to pass.

Liu Yin's troops directly led people to kill them. The soldiers of the Han army raised their spears to form a dense forest of spears, and started fighting with the soldiers of the Wei army. Arrows whizzed past in the air.The soldiers of the Wei army waved their weapons and slashed and killed the enemy, trying to break through the blockade of the Han army infantry.The two sides are on the riverside, you come and I fight back and forth.

It is a pity that in the downstream direction, the Wei army formed three pontoon bridges. From a distance, the soldiers of the Wei army looked like a long yellow dragon heading towards the south bank of the Weishui River.Due to the long distance between the pontoons and the enemy troops ahead, Liu Yin's troops had no time to reinforce them, so they could only use their geographical advantages to kill and wound the Wei army soldiers who were already fighting fiercely together.

Zhao Yan turned his head to look in the direction of Wuzhangyuan, only to hear the low sound of horns coming from a distance, it seems that Sima Yi has led the crowd to attack Zhuge Liang's troops.

Seeing that the soldiers of the Wei army were gaining foothold in Weinan one after another, Zhao Yan said to Xia Houru, "General, the time has come. The general can lead the soldiers to cross the Wei River with great fanfare, and raise the tooth flag high to attract Huang Quan's troops."

Xia Houru nodded slightly, and turned his gaze back to the Han army camp on the south bank. The cold wind blew up his cloak, and the ivory flag behind him blew.Xia Houru drew his long sword and pointed it at the south bank, shouting, "Cross the river!"
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① "The Book of Songs · Daya · Daming": "Welcome to Wei in person, build a boat as a beam."