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To the south of Lu'an County is a continuous hilly mountainous land with endless forests. Between the mountains, there are countless passages passing through the mountains, flat official roads, but there are also rare sheep intestine paths.

That morning, in a lush hill, a team of about ten cavalrymen were running northwards. This was a relatively flat abandoned official road. Pedestrians and merchants had frequent exchanges, but due to the war, few people appeared on this official road.

This team of cavalry was the scout of the Han army. Deng Ai, the scout, was the Han army's tooth general. Deng Ai joined Pang De's cavalry. He was originally a military marquis, but he made a contribution to shooting the Qiang King Ahsu in Lingzhou and was promoted to the tooth general. This time he volunteered to lead a scout team to Lu'an to investigate the situation.

They had been in Lu'an for a long time and had some important lines. For example, the number of Cao's patrols was greatly reduced, and there were only two thousand troops left in Lu'an County. These were signs that Cao's army gave up on Lu'an's retreat eastward, but Deng Ai did not dare to be careless, because this might also be Xu Huang's plan to lure troops. He still led the scouts to Cao Cao's military camp to investigate.

The Cao army was mainly deployed in the city of Lu'an County, but some troops were also deployed outside the city. Among them, there was a garrison in Bo'an Fort on the west bank of Lu'an Water. It asked people to guard the main throat route from Anlu County to the west to Lu'an County. Lu'an County is the west gate of Chaofei area, so no matter how Cao's army used the strategy, Cao's army would never give up Bo'an Fort easily.

If Cao's army withdrew from Bo'an Fort, it means that Cao's army would give up Lu'an City. Before leaving, Deng Ai learned about the importance of Bo'an Fort, so he decided to go to Bo'an Fort to visit Cao's army.

At noon, the scout cavalry team arrived at the Lu'an River. The Lu'an River is a big river leading to the Shaopi Lake in the north. However, it originated from the Dabie Mountains in the south, and the areas flowing through are all deserted mountains and wilderness. The shipping value of the upstream is not very high. It is not until the downstream of Lu'an City that a large number of civilian ships appeared and went to Shouchun through Shaopi Lake.

The cavalry found a wooden bridge, ran westward across the bridge, and ran several miles away. The cavalry team approached Bo'an Town, a commercial town that emerged due to the major traffic arteries. There were about 60 or 70 households. On both sides of a main street in the town were filled with hostels, taverns and brothels, doing business of merchants and pedestrians from south to north.

About two northwest of the town, the tall and sturdy Bo'an Fort stands tall. Bo'an Fort is located on a rock, facing the high point, looking down at the westward official road below. From outside the town, everything is normal for Bo'an Fort. There are Cao's flags on the top of the city, and sentries are patrolling back and forth, but Deng Ai doesn't believe this appearance. He must go into the castle and take a look.

Half an hour later, Deng Ai disguised himself as a young fisherman, and with another soldier, carrying two loads of fresh fish bought from the fisherman, and walked quickly towards Bo'an Castle.

After passing through the town, the town was deserted. Due to the impact of the war, most of the shops were closed. Only one hostel could barely open for business, but there were few customers. A yellow dog was sleepy and lying at the gate.

Deng Ai walked out of the town and came directly to the military fort. According to normal experience, when they were still dozens of steps away from the castle, the soldiers above should shout sternly, but no one stopped them today. Deng Ai looked at each other with his subordinates, and his subordinates raised their heads and shouted: "Is there anyone in the city?"

Deng Ai has a Nanyang accent and is inconvenient to speak, but his subordinates are locals. He spoke with a pure Lu'an accent. After a while, a soldier stretched out his head and asked lazily: "What's the matter?"

"My brother Li Erlang, give him some fish."

Nicknames such as Li Erlang and Zhang Gou are common in this area. The Cao army soldiers stayed at the door for a while and shook their heads and said, "Your brother is not in the castle, so they have been transferred to another place."

Deng Ai was secretly happy and winked at his subordinates. He shouted again: "It's hot, so these fish cannot be released for a long time, so I'll give them to you guys."

The soldier laughed, "Thank you, put the fish at the door and we will pick it up later."

This obviously did not want them to see the situation in the castle. Deng Ai and his men put down their fish bonnets and retreated. They walked into a dense forest, quickly climbed up a big tree, and carefully checked the movements in the Buwai Castle.

After a while, the castle gate opened, and two soldiers came out and moved the fish bonnet in. Just as they opened and closed the door, Deng Ai could see clearly inside the not-so-large castle, and there was no soldier in the castle.

It was afternoon, and there were no soldiers training in the castle, and there were no soldiers standing guard or training in the castle. Wherever the soldiers went, were they hiding in their rooms to rest.

Of course there is also this possibility, but this possibility is really small. This is Xu Huang's subordinate. He will never allow such lazy soldiers to exist. If this possibility is ruled out, the only possibility is that the soldiers are transferred away, leaving only a few soldiers to guard the castle. Deng Ai thought in his heart that they need to enter the castle to find out what is going on.

At night, Bo'an Town was even deserted, and even the last hostel was closed. There was only a dilapidated lantern with dim lights swaying in the night breeze.

Deng Ai left two people to take care of the war horses. He led the remaining twenty-seven soldiers through the town and quickly ran towards the castle. The scouts soldiers were well-equipped, not only with the best weapons, but also with many equipment that ordinary soldiers did not have, such as the Shangcheng Hook.

Several claw hooks were thrown to Xicheng. They observed for a long time in the afternoon. For an hour, there was no patrol soldier on Xicheng. By night, the Xicheng was even darker.

Several scouts were well trained and grabbed the Chang and climbed towards the city. After a moment, Deng Ai was the first to climb to the city. He carefully looked at both sides and confirmed that there were no patrol soldiers. He waved his hand and several soldiers jumped onto the city. They had already made arrangements. Several soldiers rushed to the city one after another and disappeared into the darkness.

A quarter of an hour later, several soldiers ran back and reported excitedly: "General, the city is empty, and no soldiers are present."

Deng Ai was overjoyed and whistled downwards. The remaining twenty people also climbed up the city wall along Chang. Deng Ai led his soldiers to run along the city head. They circled around, but there was no sentry on the city head.

Everyone got off the city again. The castle of more than ten acres was empty, with only a row of stone houses under the northern city. This was the soldiers' camp. The Han army scout kicked open the door and rushed in. After a moment, two soldiers were captured from the room. One of them, Deng Ai knew, and it was Cao's soldiers who answered at the top of the city at noon.

"Give me your life," two Cao army soldiers knelt down and shouted,

Deng Ai pulled out his knife, held down a soldier's throat, and said coldly: "Where are the other soldiers going, dare to tell a lie to make you die immediately."

"The villain dares not"

The soldier said with a sad face: "The rest of the brothers have been transferred away, leaving only the two of us to guard the city. We must raise a large flag, beat drums on time during the day, and patrol the city heads. At this time, the military marquis asked us before leaving, saying that it was the above provision."

“Where have they been transferred?”

"The villain doesn't know," another soldier said in panic: "Before leaving, the Junhou once complained that he was free in Bo'an Fort, and he would become a shrimp soldier and crab general when he went to Shouchun City. We all guessed that they were probably going to Shouchun City."

In fact, it doesn't matter where the Cao army guarded the fort. The key is that the Cao army gave up this crucial strategic fortress, so that there is no danger to defend west of Lu'an City. The Han army could rely on this castle as a logistics location, and it became much easier to conquer Lu'an City.

Once there was no Lu'an City, the west gate of Chaofei would be opened. This is a linked problem, so Bo'an Castle became an empty city. There was only one explanation, and Cao's army had given up on Lu'an County.

Deng Ai also had a certain strategic mind. He knew that without the restraint of the Jiangdong Army, the Han army could go north in large numbers. On the south of Hefei was Chaohu, and Cao's army could not stop the Han army from coming to the city. In this case, the western gate of Lu'an became meaningless. It was reasonable for Cao's army to give up Lu'an and withdraw back to Hefei.

Thinking of this, Deng Ai immediately said to a Changling Shi: "Immediately, Wan County will report to General Pang that Cao's army has given up Lu'an and withdrawn from Hefei."

The queen of heaven and the seven thousand cavalry led by Pang De arrived in Lu'an County first, and Huang Zhong's army escorted the food, grass and supplies, and slowly came to Lu'an. Without waiting for the Han cavalry to kill, the two thousand Cao army soldiers guarding Lu'an County also gave up and retreated eastward. The Han army occupied Lu'an County without bloodshed. A few days later, Huang Zhong led the army to Lu'an. The Han army then attacked eastward and cut off the water and land passage between Hefei and Shouchun.

At the water supply entrance to the northernmost water supply of Chaohu, the Han army has built a huge water village here. The water village covers an area of ​​thousands of acres, with more than seven warships of the Han army moored. A wall-shaped camp was built on the shore. The camp was nearly ten miles in circumference, which was enough to accommodate 100,000 people to station.

The water camp and the Daying Company became the logistics center for the Han army to attack Hefei. There were several huge tents in the Daying as warehouses, piled up with countless grains and grass and their own military supplies. To the east of the Daying, tens of thousands of Han troops were building a small city with an circumference of eight miles. It was built entirely to imitate the Hefei City, but the circumference was reduced several times. The city was five feet high and there was a moat that was wide by meter.

There were 10,000 Han troops pretending to be Cao's army to guard the city, and another 80,000 Han generals took turns to attack the city day and night to conduct actual siege training. This was also the experience of the Han army's northern expedition to Qishan Road. Simulating actual siege in Wudu County was the experience brought by this practical siege training that enabled the Han army to conquer the castles and successfully occupy Guanlong. This time, the Han army also had to copy the experience of Wudu County to Hefei.

Liu Jing immediately looked at the small Hefei city built not far away from a hill. He smiled and asked Fa Zheng, "Does Xiaozhi think this small city really look the same as Hefei city?"

Fa Zheng is the full-minded planner of this simulated small city. He hurriedly bowed and said, "Report to your highness, Weichen sent more than a dozen craftsmen to participate in the construction of Hefei City half a year ago, and knew the structure of Hefei City well. The small city built by Weichen is exactly the same as Hefei City, regardless of the city height, thick city, or moat."

Liu Jing nodded, pointed to the distance with a horse whip, and asked again: "How far is this place from Hefei City?"

"Report to Your Highness, it's about twenty-five miles."

"It's only twenty-five miles away, and it's easy for Cao's army to come over. So, Zhang Liao must have known about the construction of the Little Hefei City. How would he deal with it? Have the military advisor thought about it?"

"Weichen has considered it, but the large structure of Hefei's city has been completed and cannot be moved anymore. We can only improve in some details, such as building semicircular battlements, making it difficult for the siege hook to catch the city wall, and strengthening the number of water gate iron bars and the thickness of the city gate makes it difficult for us to break the gate with the siege ram, and tincture oil. Using tincture oil to deal with us will be a powerful weapon for Cao's army."

Fa Zheng pointed to the moat channel: "Hefei's biggest advantage lies in the moat. The moat is wide. We either build a floating bridge or use siege ships, but Cao's turbulent oil is a big threat."
Chapter completed!