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The Han army occupied the Hangu Pass and did not continue to attack Luoyang. Zhao Yun ordered his deputy general Wu Yi to lead 15,000 troops to guard the Hangu Pass and Yiyang line to prevent the Luoyang Cao army from counterattacking Hongnong County. He led the Wanhan army to turn south and kill towards Xuchang.

This is Liu Jing's Central Plains strategy. It is not about attacking Luoyang or capturing Xuzhou, but about concentrating the army and taking Xuchang. As early as last year, during the Nanyang tentative attack, Liu Jing's attempt had been faintly exposed to seize Xuchang.

This was a strategy formulated by Liu Jing two years ago. At that time, the Xiahou family, who supported Cao Zhi, failed. Xiahou Dun was removed from the position of governor of Yuzhou, and Cao Zhen replaced him in Xuchang, which gave Liu Jing an opportunity.

Cao Zhen is far from being compared with Xiahou Dun in terms of qualifications, experience and command. Liu Jing once competed with Cao Zhen in Hefei. Knowing his ability, he would guard Xuchang, which was undoubtedly giving Xuchang to the Han Dynasty.

Especially Cao Zhen's emphasis on the use of greedy wealth-like generals like Le Qun made Liu Jing decide to break the deadlock from Xuchang first. However, Xuchang is the southern capital of Cao Wei after all, and it is of great significance to Cao Wei. Once the Han army attacks Xuchang, Cao's army will inevitably come to rescue.

It was precisely because of this that Liu Jing decided to attack two external rescue sites first, one was Xuzhou and the other was Luoyang. It was relatively simple to deal with Xuzhou. He took advantage of Zhang Li's weakness and instigated this general, so that 20,000 Han troops could enter Chengfu County. This was like a wedge under Cao Ren's nose, which restrained Xuzhou's army and prevented Cao Ren from going to rescue Xuchang.

The second is Luoyang, which captured Hangu Pass, posed a threat to the west of Luoyang, restraining Xu Huang from going south to rescue Xuchang, and another important chess was Wu Lan and Leng Bao's army. They attacked Hanoi County, occupied Mengjindu, and were responsible for intercepting reinforcements from Ye County to the south.

On the surface, the Han army attacked from various points, Hedong, Luoyang, Nanyang, and Shouchun, but looking at the essence through the phenomenon, we will find that the Han army finally targeted Xuchang.

Of course, there are also wise figures in Cao Cao, such as Cheng Yu, Zhong Yao and others, so Liu Jing must complete the strategic siege as quickly as possible and take advantage of the relatively slow news. Before Cao Cao had time to deploy, he captured Xuchang in one fell swoop. Once the external deployment was completed, Xuchang became a meal for the Han army, and 70,000 Han troops would hunt Xuchang, the bear of the Central Plains.

The day after Zhao Yun's Wan army rushed south, quickly heading south from Luoyang to Xuchang. There were two main lines, one was the main road, from Luoyang to Chenggao, and from Xinzheng to south. This was the plain line and the most important official road in the Central Plains region.

The other line is the Xiangcheng Line, from Yiyang, Xincheng to Liangxian, and finally along the Rushui River to Xiangcheng, turning north to Xuchang. This line is slightly secondary and is biased, but Zhao Yun led the Han army to the Xiangcheng Line.

In the early morning, the sky was not bright yet, and thick mist like white milk covered the Rushui and the surrounding mountains. This was the hilly and mountainous area between Liang County and Xiangcheng. The Rushui winded among the low mountains like a jade belt.

A rapid sound of horse hooves broke the tranquility of the morning. Birds flew in a fright. Yu Han cavalry appeared on the official road in the distance. The horses ran on the official road, and the horses flew over and mud splashed everywhere. "Joy! Jia!" The soldiers kept urging the war horses, and Yu cavalry disappeared in the distance like a gust of wind.

After a while, the earth began to shake, and the sound of muffled thunder echoed in the valley, and ripples appeared on the wide Rushui River. Soon, a black cavalry team appeared in the distance, but it was no longer the remaining people, but thousands, or even tens of thousands of cavalrymen. Their speed was not fast, they did not gallop, but they were not slow, and they rode one after another, endlessly.

These are eight thousand cavalry led by the cavalry chief Pang De. Pang De did not participate in the battle to attack Hangu Pass, but waited for the order to go south outside Hangu Pass. His mission was to cut off the connection between Xiangcheng and Xuchang at the speed of the cavalry.

This is also an important step in the hunt for Xuchang chess game. Currently, Xuchang has tens of thousands of troops. Since the Han army in Nanyang has begun to attack Kunyang, Xuchang's Cao army has also gone south with 20,000 troops deployed on the front line of Xiangcheng and Kunyang. Xuchang is in the rear, with only 10,000 troops stationed.

After Zhao Yun conquered Hangu Pass, Pang De's eight thousand cavalry had to go south with a thunderclap, cutting off the retreat of the Cao army in Xiangcheng, so that the Cao army in Xiangcheng and Kunyang had no time to retreat to Xuchang. In this way, Xuchang had only 10,000 defenders, and Zhao Yun was responsible for breaking Xuchang.

The Cao army in Xiangcheng and Kunyang were surrounded by the Nanyang army hired, and Pang De's cavalry would cooperate to annihilate the Cao army in Xiangcheng in one fell swoop. This was a wise move. The key was speed. Before the Cao army realized the real purpose of the Han army, the Han army had already completed the siege of Xuchang.

Pang De was in the middle of the cavalry team. He looked at the sky. It was almost dusk. He ordered: "I ordered the whole army to speed up. You must arrive in Xiangcheng before dark!"

Eight thousand cavalry speeded up their marching speed. At this time, they were less than ten miles away from Xiangcheng. So far, no trace of Cao's patrol was found. It can be seen that Cao's army did not realize that the Han army would suddenly arrive from Luoyang.

...

Xiangcheng County, which is today's Pingding Mountain, is located southwest of Xuchang, about 80 miles away from Xuchang, and walking south for more than 40 miles is the most advanced defense point of the Cao army - Kunyang County.

Xiangcheng County is a large county with a wide city, but it is not a strategic location and has little military significance. Therefore, although the county town covers a vast area, it is not tall and solid. The city is only two meters high and the city gate looks relatively dilapidated.

However, Xiangcheng has become a logistics transfer site for Kunyang County, a major enemy city in the past one or two years. The county has hoarded 80,000 shi of military rations and a large amount of military supplies. Currently, there are 5,000 troops in the city, led by a captain.

At night, Cao's soldiers on the top of the city were patrolling back and forth. As tens of thousands of Han troops in Nanyang had crossed the border, they launched an attack on Kunyang County. The war broke out, and Cao's soldiers in Xiangcheng County were also particularly nervous, doubled the soldiers patrolling at night, changing from five patrols to one thousand patrols.

But no matter how much Cao's army attaches importance to defense, their focus is on Kunyang County to the south. No one wants to see that the Han army will come from behind.

At the south front of the city, the captain of Cao's army, Han Qing, was holding the battlements and staring at the south. He was very worried about whether Kunyang County could defend it, and also worried about whether Cao's army could withstand the Han army's attack this time.

Han Qing could only be considered an intermediate officer. With his status, he could not know that the Han army had launched an attack in Luoyang. His news could only be limited to the Nanyang front line. He only knew that the Han army sent nearly 50,000 troops to attack Kunyang, with a huge momentum.

However, what made Han Qing a little confused was that since the Han army in Nanyang launched an offensive against Kunyang County seven days ago, it seemed that it was a little thunder and rain. Although the Han army sent 50,000 troops, it did not do its best to attack Kunyang. It only launched two siege battles in the past seven days, which made Han Qing puzzled. Why didn’t the Han army try its best to attack Kunyang, but just stationed troops to build momentum? Are they waiting for something?

At this moment, a sound of horse hooves came from afar, and a team of cavalry patrolmen rushed to the city and shouted, "Can General Han be there?"

"I'm here, what happened?" Han Qing asked loudly with his head protruding.

"Report to General, we found a scout of a Han cavalry, asking for another person to be outside our northern city."

Han Qing was stunned. How could the Han army scout cavalry go outside the northern city? Is the Han army going to sneak attack Xiangcheng? Han Qing suddenly became nervous. Xiangcheng had accumulated a large amount of food and military resources. Once the Han army really attacked Xiangyang, the consequences would be unimaginable. He had to figure out the true intentions of the Han army.

He asked loudly again: "Can this Han cavalry scout be there now?"

"Report to the general, I am still observing the terrain outside the northern city."

Han Qing was a little worried. The grain transport team from Xuchang was on their way to Xiangcheng. No accident happened. He immediately turned around and ordered a general and said, "You can lead a thousand brothers to pick up the grain team, be careful!"

"Abide by the order!"

Yajiang quickly stepped down from the city. After a moment, the north city gate opened, and a army of more than a thousand people rushed out and ran north along the official road.

...

Just as Han Qing sent his troops to arrest the Han army scouts, a team of grain transporters quickly came to Xiangcheng on the official road ten miles away. The grain transport team consisted of two thousand wooden cattle and carried 10,000 stones of grain.

The wooden ox invented by the Han army has long been spread all over the world. The Cao army has also built tens of thousands of vehicles, which are specially used for transporting military rations. From Xuchang to Xiangcheng, it is mainly based on plains, and it is very suitable for transporting grain with wooden oxes.

As the Han army launched a large-scale attack on Kunyang County, the situation on the front line of Kunxiang suddenly became tense. Cao Zhen urgently ordered another 20,000 shi of grain to Xiangcheng, so that Xiangyang's grain storage reached 100,000 shi to ensure the food supply of the main Cao army.

This Cao army grain transport team that rushed overnight was one of the two grain transport teams sent by Cao Zhen to Xiangcheng. The grain transport team consisted of a thousand people, two thousand of whom pushed the wooden ox grain truck, and the other thousand soldiers guarded the grain team on both sides. They set off at noon yesterday and were about to arrive in Xiangcheng. Although the night was already very deep, the grain transport team did not rest and was preparing to rush to Xiangcheng in one breath before resting.

Two thousand vehicles lined up in four lines and marched on a wide and flat road. The moonlight was clear and the silver light spread all over the earth, making the road particularly clear. There were large areas of farmland and woods on both sides, and a low hill in the distance.

The Cao army was walking silently and quickly, but it was not nervous. This was the rear and there would be no enemy troops. But just as they passed by a forest, a sudden sound of clamor sounded in the woods, followed by arrows and dense arrows shot towards the grain team marching on the official road.

Cao's ration team was caught off guard, and the soldiers of the escort surveillance team were shot and fell down. Screams sounded, and the grain trucks on the official road were suddenly in chaos, shouting desperately for the Cao's general: "Don't panic, line up to defend!"

At this moment, a large group of cavalry rushed out of the woods. They had already put away their bows and arrows, waved their spears and rushed towards the Cao army's rations on the official road. A Han cavalry also came to attack the left and right, and immediately destroyed the Cao army's defense line that had not yet been organized.

It turned out to be a cavalry. The Cao army soldiers were so scared that they fought and turned around and fled. However, the Han army cavalry came from all directions, leaving Cao army soldiers with nowhere to escape, so they had to kneel down and surrender.

There was almost no suspense when the Han army captured this grain transport team. In just one quarter of an hour, almost all of the Qiancao troops surrendered to the Han army, and the grain also became a supply for the Han army's cavalry.

At this moment, a scout cavalry rushed over and immediately reported to Pang De: "Report to General, a Cao army was found in the south, with about a thousand people, and it seems to be coming to pick up the grain team."
Chapter completed!