Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 69 The Battle of Huangmen Pavilion

At the beginning of February, spring is warm and flowers are blooming. At this time, seven or eight days have passed since Cao Cao's army occupied Wancheng.

Cao Cao's main force was on the west bank of the Fei River north of Wancheng, and Cao Ren and Le Jin were sent to attack Chaoyang, Huyang and other places to intercept Liu Biao's reinforcements.

Cao Ren didn't rush to take revenge from the beginning, but sent a large number of cavalry to investigate, and then asked about the local situation.

After Zhang Xiu surrendered, he naturally knew everything and said everything, and revealed all the deployment of Liu Biao's peripheral troops at the southernmost tip of Nanyang.

Of course, Liu Biao did not deploy troops in Nanyang in history, but there were not many troops on the front line, and they were basically concentrated in the west of the Dabie Mountains.

That is, Biyang, Pingshi, and Wuyin in the northeast of Huyang are Tanghe County, Biyang County, and Sheqi County in later generations.

When Cao Cao conquered Nanyang for the second time, he broke through these places, and finally reached the forefront city of Liu Biao's main force, Huyang County, and captured the defender Deng Ji alive.

And behind Huyang, there are three cities, Caiyang, Fancheng, and Dengxian, which serve as the outer barriers of Xiangyang. Liu Biao can be said to have deployed heavy guards here.

Therefore, Cao Cao's three expeditions to Nanyang have never reached this area, and the farthest is Huyang, so he is still afraid of Liu Biao's strength.

However, although it is impossible to directly attack Liu Biao's main force, it is still necessary to intercept the opponent's reinforcements halfway, so Cao Cao also discharged Cao Ren and Le Jin, ready to fight Liu Biao.

This time he came to Nanyang to solve his worries and get rid of Zhang Xiu.The second is to bring Nanyang into his sphere of influence, so as to prevent Liu Biao from attacking his rear.

Therefore, he was prepared to clash with Liu Biao from the very beginning, otherwise, he would not have moved in full force, and would have deployed heavy troops in Runan to support him.

After a few days of investigation, Cao Ren got the news that the current guard of Huyang is a little-known little man named Gan Ning, who has about 5000 people under his command, and the Huangmen Pavilion where the second Deng and Chen family lived is located in Huyang. north.

After learning about this, he rushed to Xinye without stopping.

Deng Mao, the county magistrate of Xinye, had already abandoned his official position and fled. After Zhang Xiu surrendered, almost all the county magistrates attached to Zhang Xiu around Wancheng surrendered to Cao Cao. Only Deng Mao ran back to his clan and hid.

By February [-], Cao Jun scout cavalry had already appeared on the outskirts of Huangmenting and Huyang to scout the terrain and position.

Because Deng Mao took away all the official documents, maps, and archives of the county when he ran away, Cao Ren had to conduct an on-the-spot investigation. He ran outside several times with the scout cavalry to survey the terrain.

In the early morning of the [-]th, after Cao Ren returned from investigating the enemy's situation in Tangzi Township in the southwest of Huyang, he immediately called a meeting with several of his generals.

At this moment, several of his generals Cao Yong, Chun Yudao, Zhai Yuan and others gathered together.

In the mansion of the Xinye County Government, Cao Ren sat cross-legged on the porch, and placed several porcelain cups and bowls from the county government on the wooden board.

"Brother, what are you looking at?"

Cao Yong asked.

He is also a relative of the Cao family, but he belongs to a side branch, and his status is not high, but he joined Cao Ren when he organized rangers in his hometown to do harm to the countryside.

Seeing them approaching, Cao Ren said, "I'm thinking about how to attack Huyang, so come here."

The three of them moved closer.

Cao Ren pointed to a porcelain bowl and said, "This is Xinye."

Pointing to a porcelain cup in the south of Xinye: "This is Huyang."

Then he pointed to a porcelain pot on the east side of the two pots and said, "This is the Huangmen Pavilion."

The location of Huangmen Pavilion is very interesting. It is just east of Xinye County and just north of Huyang County.

So if it is connected with Xinye Huyang, it will become a triangle relationship.

Cao Ren continued: "I have already asked the local people about the current situation of Huangmenting. They built a manor, and now they have moved the people from the village to Huyang to guard the manor."

Cao Yong said with a smile: "It's just a small manor, do you need to worry about it? I'll bring 1000 people there to level the manor."

"You do not understand."

Cao Ren waved his hand and said, "I heard from the local people that the Huyang guard has a deep friendship with the Deng family and often goes to and from the Huangmen Pavilion. Do you think it is easier to attack a village or a city?"

"What do you mean brother?"

"I waited for a feint attack to attack Huangmen Pavilion in a big way, attracting Gan Ning to help, and ambushing him halfway."

"This"

The generals looked at each other.

Director Chunyu said cautiously: "General, I'm afraid he won't come to help."

Cao Ren laughed and said, "It's better if we don't come to help, then first break Huangmenting to avenge the murder, and then go south to attack Huyang City."

"Well, that's true."

"Elder brother is more thoughtful."

"That's it."

Several people thought for a while, and it seemed that this was the reason, so they nodded in approval.

In fact, Cao Ren also thought about it at the very beginning. Huangmen Pavilion was just a rural pavilion, so there was no need to go to all lengths, just send a small group of troops.

But when I learned about the relationship between Gan Ning and Deng Hong, and learned that Gan Ning often went to Huangmen Pavilion to have fun, I had another idea.

That is to take the initiative to attack Huangmen Pavilion in the name of revenge, but actually ambushe Gan Ning's army on the way.

It would be best if Gan Ning came, and it doesn't matter if he doesn't come, anyway, Huangmen Pavilion itself is going to be destroyed.

Therefore, after deciding on the attack plan, he sent Cao Yong as the vanguard, leading 2000 troops, pretending to be 5000 troops, and marched out of the city in a mighty manner, heading towards Huangmenting.

Cao Ren himself led 3000 troops to the left bank of Bishui, preparing to ambush on the only way to rescue Huangmenting in Huyang.

At the same time, he wrote another letter, sending someone to shoot into Huangmenting's manor, which probably meant that he had a personal enmity with Shen Chen, if Huangmenting handed over Shen Chen, the war could be avoided.

At three o'clock in the morning, Shen Chen received this letter.

"Ha ha."

At this time, in a cave dwelling on the mountain behind Huangmen Pavilion, clan elders gathered together.

There are two clan elders, the Deng Brothers and the Shen Clan, as well as Deng Zhao and Shen Zhen. Looking at the letter that was shot into the manor, Shen Chen sneered and said: "This is a trick of the weak enemy, hand me over, they will The entire clan will not be spared either."

Compared with Deng Hong, people like Deng Zhao who have fought wars are more bloody. He roared: "Cao Ren has a blood feud with our old Huangmenting villager. Today we will let him die here!"

"Okay, three years of operation, just today."

"Ah Chen, tell me, what we should do is up to you."

"This battle requires his Cao family to pay a price, not only for hundreds of relatives gathered in Zenyang, but also for hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou."

Everyone had a mortal enmity with Cao Ren, and shouted one after another.

In fact, Shen Chen didn't know where Cao Ren had the face to claim to have enmity with him, just because he lost an ear?

What about the lives of hundreds of relatives of Deng and Shen gathered in Huangmen Pavilion and Zenyang?
What about the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou?

Perhaps in the eyes of their aristocratic families, the lives of the people at the bottom are not as important as his one ear.

But Shen Chen will tell him today that you, Cao Ren, are nothing.

Seeing that the clan elders were filled with righteous indignation, he immediately said: "Uncles, don't worry everyone, I am sure of winning this battle. Follow the plan first, uncle, you lead people to the manor tower to stand firm first, and wait until the situation is not good. Withdrew to the back mountain."

"it is good."

Deng Zhao nodded. He is the cousin of Shen Chen's mother, Deng Shi, so Shen Chen wants to call him uncle.

Shen Chen said to his father Shen Zhen again: "Father, you lead someone to meet uncle, and after he withdraws, immediately enter the cave and secure it with a cage."

"Well, I see."

Shen Zhen nodded, he had been a soldier before and knew what to do.

Shen Chen looked at the crowd again and said: "Uncles, this battle is about the life and death of Huang Menting, please stay calm and stay in the basement and don't go out. When Uncle Xingba's army arrives, Cao Ren will die without a place to die! "

"it is good."

Everyone obeyed orders.

At the moment, everyone began to perform their duties. Deng Zhao led 500 people to the main gate of the manor, where a certain number of bows and arrows were stored for temporary defense.

After all, Huangmenting's manor is not a city wall. There are only some wooden platforms inside, and there are arrow towers at the four corners of the east, west, north, and south.

About an hour later, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, Cao Jun's arrival was seen on the western horizon.

Outside the manor are fields and countless rural farmers. There used to be more than 2 people here at the time. It was like a town. There was even a street in the west of the manor, which was used as a bustling market.

But at this moment, there was no one there, and Cao Jun followed the post road all the way to the market. All the soldiers, under the leadership of officers at all levels, began to occupy the main roads with good training.

They occupied all the markets outside, and then Cao Yong personally led the team to the outside of the manor, and shouted to the inside: "The general has an order, hand over Shen Chen, surrender to avoid death!"

"call out!"

What greeted him was an arrow.

Cao Yong drew his knife to parry, and said with a sneer, "You're going to kill yourself, attack!"

With an order, 1000 people behind him slowly walked out of the market, rushing towards the manor like a surging tide.

At the same time, in the north and northwest corners of the manor, there were other Cao soldiers attacking the manor separately.

The reason for this is that the design of the manor of Huangmenting is very particular. The south is the Shahe River, and the east is the back mountain. There are only two sides that can be attacked, that is, the west and north of the manor.

There are many structures like this in the cities of the Han Dynasty, surrounded by mountains and rivers, easy to defend but difficult to attack.There are even crazy ones, like Xiangyang City, which is completely built on the water. Hanshui protects all sides of the city, and ships have to rely on boats to get out of the city.

It's just that Huangmen Pavilion is not a city after all. Even the walls of ordinary county towns are usually more than two feet, that is, four meters.Those in Chang'an and Luoyang are more than five or six feet long, while Huangmenting Manor is only one foot four, or 3.2 meters.

Not to mention ordinary ladders at this height, even well-trained soldiers can climb up with the help of two people.Therefore, it is almost impossible to defend Cao Jun soldiers coming from all directions.

"Let the arrows, let the arrows, let the arrows!"

Standing on the built-in platform, Deng Zhao kept waving the ring sword in his hand.

Although the soldiers trained all day long and had also experienced fighting with the Yellow Turban Army, they were still slightly behind the elite soldiers like Cao Jun. They were all very nervous, and their shooting speed and accuracy were much worse.

Fortunately, there are still some old soldiers. When the soldiers were recruited, they were mainly young and old soldiers who had been on the battlefield. These old soldiers had excellent psychological quality and killed many enemies.

The clusters of arrows fell like raindrops, and many of Cao Jun's soldiers who rushed to the front fell to the ground.But these soldiers were not afraid of death, braved the rain of arrows and carried the ladders all the way, and soon several ladders had arrived outside the manor.

At the time of the original design, the manor planned to dig a trench to draw in the water from the Shahe River, because the Shahe River itself flows from north to south, from Bishui to Wushui, which is the tributary between the Tang River and Baishui in later generations. The moat is very convenient.

But later Shen Chen overturned this idea. He believed that the manor was of little significance to stick to it. In a large-scale war, the enemy could easily break through the manor and enter it.It would be better for the moat to be wider and deeper, but the flow of the Shahe River is very small, and the average water depth is between half a meter and one meter, so it cannot afford the task of a moat at all.

So without the moat blocking the situation, Cao Jun easily killed the manor.

Deng Zhao swung his knife and went up to kill. At this moment, someone came to report: "Boss, the north of the manor has been breached."

"Where are they?"

"Already coming this way."

"So fast? Retreat, retreat to the back mountain!"

Knowing that the other party had broken through the north gate of the manor, Deng Zhao ignored other things and immediately ordered to retreat.

The soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, jumped down one by one, took their weapons and equipment, and ran towards the back of the mountain.

By the time Cao Yongshou came in, the manor was already empty.

"What about people?"

He was puzzled and looked around, but there was no one there.

Since Houshan is a forbidden area of ​​Huangmenting, non-clan members are not allowed to enter, so even the villagers who joined Huangmenting later did not know what is in Houshan, only that they are not allowed to go there, so Cao Ren did not know Shen Chen The real defense point is in the back hill.

A soldier came to report: "Sima, they ran to the mountains over there."

He pointed to the mountain road behind the manor.

Cao Yong raised his head and saw several small hills standing on the east side of the manor. The mountains did not look high, the high ones were only forty or fifty feet high, and the short ones were only twenty or thirty feet short. There seem to be many rammed earth towers hanging from the top of the mountain.

"Strange, what is that!"

A low-level officer built a pergola with his hands and saw those high towers.

Cao Yong said: "No matter what it is, let's attack it first. The general said that the entire Huangmen Pavilion will be leveled."

"only."

Many military officers expressed their understanding. Under Cao Yong's order, they began to gather troops and marched towards the back mountain.

At this moment, Shen Chen was standing on top of a Qionglong cage.

The view here is wide. Although there is no telescope, he can already see the dense black spots coming towards the back mountain in the distance.

The exterior and interior structure of the Qionglong is like a pagoda, but the difference from the pagoda is that there is a door under the pagoda, while the outside of the Qionglong is sealed and can only be entered and exited by tunnels.

In the Qionglong ruins in Gansu in later generations, people discovered that this thing can not only defend against the enemy, but also live.

Livestock can even be raised at the lowest level, and livestock dung can be used to grow grains. During the Qing army's attack on Jinchuan and Jinchuan, Qionglong caused the Qing Dynasty to suffer a lot, and it was not captured for several years.

So Cao Yong would never have thought of what he would encounter if he continued to attack in the direction of the back mountain.

(End of this chapter)