Chapter 33 He Qi

Cao Chong looked at the map and was silent for a while. He felt that 15,000 people attacked He Qi's troops. Although he had the advantage, it was still a bit unlucky. Once he could not fight quickly and was entangled by He Qi, Sun Quan and others saw that the truth and forceful attack on Xiling City were only 2,000 people in Wenpin. It is hard to say whether he could defend Xiling City. You must know that after the 8,000 people who went to He Qi, Sun Quan still had more than 30,000, and 2,000 to 30,000, it seemed unsafe.

Seeing him silent, Pang Tong showed a hint of relief on his face. He felt that Cao Chong had become more calm during this period, thought about things more thoughtful, and thought about everything carefully. Sometimes he doubted whether the boy in front of him was really only fourteen years old, or that the Cao family was young, and looked fourteen years old, but in fact he had grown up. Otherwise, why would he be like an adult in every word and action? He was really premature?

Cao Chong didn't know that Pang Tong was doubting his age. He drew a few strokes on the map and said slowly: "Shi Yuan's plan is very bold and creative. It is a good idea to put Xiling City not defending and attack He Gong Miao's troops first. But I have two points to add, please refer to it."

Pang Tong smiled and said, "Please speak, General."

Cao Chong raised his head and said with a calm expression: "Immediately ordered Le Zhe Chong's troops to advance to Yiling, and march eastward with his might, so that Cheng Pu's troops in Hanyang would not dare to act rashly. He hurriedly wrote to Hefei and Guangling and asked them to send troops to Lujiang County to attract Jiang Qin's attention."

He turned around and said to Zhang Song: "Immediately disperse the news, and say that all soldiers from Nanjun, Nanyang, Runan and other places, whether they are in Zhou Yu's army or Liu Bei's army, as long as they are willing to turn back, they will be granted land according to the regulations and implement the new recruit system."

Zhang Song and Pang Tong looked at each other and immediately bowed and bowed: "No."

Cao Chong turned around and looked at Deng Ai who had been listening and smiled and said, "Shi Zai, what do you think?"

Deng Ai's face turned red: "Young Master. I..."

Cao Chong did not laugh, waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter, what's up to you, what's up to me."

Deng Ai heard this and then leaned closer, stretched out a finger to point at Bachigu on the map and said, "I think the Jingshan Army is not good at attacking, so it's better to send them here to harass He Qi's rear." He stopped at this point, raised his head and looked at Cao Chong's face. Cao Chong nodded with a smile: "It's reasonable, continue."

Deng Ai looked at Pang Tong and Zhang Song again, and saw that they were also listening with a smile on their faces, the tension in his heart slowed down a little, and his speech became much more flexible. He took a breath and said, "Since He Gongmiao is in harmony with Sun Zhongmou, we will try our best to kill He Gongmiao and hit Sun Quan's thoughts. It is better to surround him and fight him one by one. He just wants to make He Gongmiao feel distressed. Let him have the remaining energy to return to Danyang and cause some trouble for Sun Zhongmou. Therefore, our army only needs to defeat him, and then the Jingshan army cooperates with Hefei and Guangling Earthly Branches to pursue him all the way, making him hurt and hate him in his heart."

After he finished speaking, he withdrew his fingers and rubbed his hands, and looked at Cao Chong and others with a little nervousness. Cao Chong looked at the map and smiled without saying a word, but Pang Tong nodded repeatedly and admired him very much. Zhang Song smiled and patted Deng Ai, who was about the same height as him, and then smiled and said, "Young Master, this guy has a clear idea, a good sense of overall situation, and has far-sightedness. He will definitely be a general in the future."

Chen Deng was very interested in the Cai family's printing workshop, but he heard that the printing workshop was kept confidential to the public. Most people couldn't get in at all, so he couldn't help but hesitate. When Cai Mao invited him to drink, he took advantage of his happiness to mention it. Unexpectedly, Cai Mao agreed when he heard it. He said that Cao Chong once said that the printing workshop was an important place and that ordinary people were not allowed to enter, but Chen Yuanlong was not an ordinary person. So he could make an exception. Chen Deng was overjoyed and went to take a look the next day. When he saw it, he opened his eyes. He found that the workers who were quick to use the words in a very short time, and then painted a layer of ink. A sample was printed, and after a special person checked it, he could send it to the printing. The two printing workers cooperated. One was printed in one breath.

Only then did he know why the Winter Solstice poetry collection only took one month from the start of printing to the publication of the book.

Chen Deng felt that there were many things to see in Xiangyang, but he had no chance. Cao Cao's appointment was sent to Xiangyang, so he had to hurry and set off to Guangling. In Hefei, he met Zhang Liao, who had just arrived in Hefei from Changshe, and at the same time received a letter sent by Cao Chong. He simply sent a fast horse general Xiahou to recruit him. Several people sat down to discuss and understood the intention of Cao Cao's mobilization this time. Zhang Liao, Li Dian and Wen Hui, the new Yangzhou governor, decided to leave Wen Hui to guard Hefei City. Zhang Liao and Li Dian immediately went south and rushed into Lujiang County. Chen Deng returned to Guangling and contacted Zang Ba's Qingxu Shui Army. Chen Bingjiang bluffed and made a stance to attack Danyang County opposite. Xiahou said, but he brought three thousand Guangling elite soldiers. He went to Liyang and rushed straight to Xiang'an in Lujiang County, and was surrounded by lakes.

The prefect of Lujiang was originally Sun Ben. Sun Ben made great contributions in the war, but then he was defeated in the Hule Juejian. However, although he was unable to set fire in Haosou, he did not lose too many people. Compared with merits and demerits, he was still a person who made meritorious. However, because he had a deep fear of Cao Chong, he showed a cowardly mentality of not optimistic about the future in front of Sun Quan several times, which made Sun Quan very unhappy, so he transferred him from Lujiang and replaced Jiang Qin as the prefect of Lujiang. Sun Ben was an old minister in Jiangdong, with outstanding meritoriousness and always had a good reputation. He was very prestigious in Lujiang. This made many people a little dissatisfied with the new prefect Jiang Qin.

Jiang Qin had just taken office and did not dare to take action, so he could only take it slowly. Unexpectedly, the situation did not allow him to take it slowly. Zhang Liao and Xiahou said that the two armies quickly entered Lujiang County and caught him off guard. In less than a few days, Shu County, the capital of Lujiang County was lost. Jiang Qin was defeated. When he retreated, he was chased by Zhang Hu and a thousand iron cavalry. After he finally got rid of the iron cavalry by the terrain, he originally had less than one thousand left. Seeing that Zhang Liao and Xiahou could not stop the step by step, Jiang Qin could only retreat to Juchao and defend him continuously, and at the same time asked Sun Quan, the Jiangxia land, for emergency help.

His messenger walked the eight-foot road.

He Qi met a messenger and learned that Lujiang was in a hurry, he immediately had an idea. He also sent a messenger to the Sun Quan camp of Zhanggonghu, asking him to move his troops to Lujiang, cooperate with Jiang Qin to defeat Zhang Liao and Xiahou Cheng before returning to Xiling. His reason was that Lujiang was well-known. Once the wheat was lost, the Cao army would have enough military rations. It would be difficult to recapture Lujiang by then. Lujiang was lost, and the natural danger of the Yangtze River would be greatly detrimental to Jiangdong. He is now at the west end of the Bachi Road, and can march for two days to reach Wan County to support Juchao. He has been in Lujiang for more than half of the terrain and has a slight advantage in military strength. He will definitely defeat Cao's army and recapture Lujiang.

He Qi's reasons seemed to be sufficient, and he believed that Sun Quan would agree. Even if he did not agree to his entire army moving to Lujiang, most of his troops could be allowed to enter Lujiang County. He did not expect that Sun Quan outside Xiling City was furious.

Sun Quan arranged for He Qi to station in the east of Xiling City, forming a junction with the army to block Cao Chong's reinforcements, but he did not expect He Qi to set up the camp at Guishan Peak, which was more than a hundred miles away from Xiling. Sun Quan naturally thought that He Qi was preserving his strength, wanting to sit in the mountains and watch the tiger fight, but not wanting to lose his strength. He occupied Guishan Peak, probably just wanted to enter the Baqi Road at any time to go back to Danyang and return to his fiefdom.

This made Sun Quan angry.

Lu Xun stopped Sun Quan in a timely manner. He did not make any suggestions. As his identity, it was not suitable to let Sun Quan bow to He Qi. As long as he calmed Sun Quan, Sun Quan would naturally make the most appropriate arrangement. As expected, after overturning the pen and ink on the case, Sun Quan sat alone for a long time and finally called Lu Xun in: "Boyan. Look, if you ask Gong Miao to transfer 4,000 people to assist Gong Yi (Jiang Qin) in defending Lujiang, Zhang Liao and the others have only 8,000 people. It is unlikely that they will be able to capture Juchao. When the war here is over, it should be too late to press back to Lujiang."

Lu Xun laughed in his heart, but replied respectfully: "The lord's arrangement is very good. I think He Gongmiao can understand his lord's thoughts."

Sun Quan snorted, without saying much. He asked Lu Xun to draft the document with some help. Lu Xun quickly wrote it and handed it to Sun Quan for a while. Sun Quan looked carefully, thought for a long time before sighing softly, stamping a seal and giving it to He Qi. At the same time, he urgently wrote to Liu Bei and asked him to set off from Sha Xian to rush to Xiling City to participate in the encirclement of Xiling City.

He Qi took a look at Sun Quan's letter, then threw it on the desk, closed his eyes for a long time without saying anything. Sun Quan agreed to send troops to rescue Lujiang. But he only agreed to send half of it, asking him to leave 4,000 people, and immediately left Guishan Peak to move closer to Xiling, saying that he had received news that the troops of General Tiger Power Li Tong had arrived in Xiling, and the five thousand troops of General Henghai Zhu Ling also entered the Jiangxia realm. If he was allowed to enter Xiling City, there would be more than 10,000 generals in the city. With his more than 30,000 people, it was impossible to take Xiling, so Sun Quan asked He Qi to block Zhu Ling's troops a hundred miles away from Xiling City in any case, and he could not reinforce Cao Chong.

He Qi thought for a long time, but couldn't think of any reason to refuse. Four thousand people were supporting Lujiang. It was indeed difficult to fight Zhang Liao and the others back, but it was not difficult to defend Juchao. If Zhu Ling's men arrived at Xiling, Xiling would really become a wall of iron.

No matter from any aspect, he could only accept Sun Quan's orders to block Zhu Lingdi's reinforcements. Or it was really unreasonable.

He Qi divided 4,000 soldiers and handed them over to his eldest son He Da, and asked him to go to Lujiang. He took the remaining 4,000 people to go to Yetuo Ridge to intercept Zhu Ling. Yetuo Ridge is located north of Guishan Peak, and the two highest slopes are rolling like a camel. Some people also say that there were wild camels here, so they were named Yetuo Ridge. As for where they got their name, no one knows. This is the intersection of Dabie Mountain and Jingzhou Mountain. The mountain is not too high, and there may be gentle slopes. He Qi is very careful about this terrain that is very suitable for cavalry charges, and asked his second son He Jing to take a

Thousands of people went first, and carefully investigated to avoid being ambushed. He studied Cao Chong's several military use and found that he liked to use cavalry to raids. There were no established cavalry in Jiangdong and did not have enough means to slam the cavalry. Therefore, He Qi was particularly careful. You should know that Xiling City was only fifty miles away on the other side of Yetuo Ridge. Cao Chong was ambushing two thousand iron cavalry on the south side of Yetuo Ridge, and caught Guan Yu who had left the city to fight alone, and was caught off guard. The terrain on the north side was more suitable for cavalry ambushing than on the south side. How could he not be guarded?

His second son, He Jing, was in his early twenties and was young and fierce. He just gave birth to a son He Shao last year. He was very excited when he was a father. Their He family had a genetic problem and loved to enjoy it. Even though they were in the military, they never relaxed their requests. Like the horses He Jing rode, spears, swords, and armors He Jing wore were all exquisite and luxurious, which made people think that this kid was particularly rich. But if you think he was a playboy, that would be wrong. The father and son of their family were all military experts, and they would never be vague when fighting, otherwise Sun Quan would not be reluctant to use it and would not dare to use it too much.

He Jing was very careful. The scout sent out fifty miles, and the soldiers were not allowed to unarm the armor, and they were not allowed to walk around casually even when they were resting. They sat in the combat position and could enter the battle at any time when there was any abnormality. Most of these soldiers were from mountain to mountain, crossing mountains and ridges as if they were walking on flat ground, brave and good at fighting, and good at using short swords and crossbows. After being incorporated by He Qi, they were trained strictly, and their combat power should not be underestimated. The He family was living a comfortable life in Jiangdong with these ten thousand elite soldiers.

He Jing had reason to believe that as long as these 4,000 people were not attacked, even if ten thousand people surrounded them, it would be unlikely to swallow them in one bite. But although he was confident, he was not conceited. He moved forward steadily with his usual small mentality and constantly sent scouts to keep in touch with He Qi from the five miles away.

He was very careful not only because of his good combat habits, but also because he was a little curious and aweful towards the boy from Baili to Baili. However, even if he was not convinced, he did not dare to underestimate his opponent. Even if Cao Chong received the news, he would not take it lightly.

But despite this, he was still a little uneasy. He always felt that someone was peeping at him in the dark, like a evil wolf, with a green and fierce light. He watched him step by step into the trap of death. He was a little puzzled. There was no enemy force fifty miles away. Where did this uneasiness come from? After thinking about it, he could only explain that he seemed to be suppressed by the young man who had just made his debut for a year, and he was a little afraid from the bottom of his heart.

Of course, this kind of mentality cannot be told to others. He Jing just kept reminding himself in his heart and encouragement.

When the sun sets west, the scouts came to report. There are still three or five miles before you can walk out of Yetuo Ridge. In front is a large area of ​​relatively flat grass slopes. Although it is more suitable for cavalrymen to gallop, it is difficult to hide their bodies. The grass on this grass slope is not as tall as the legs and there are not many big trees. It is okay to hide a few scouts. It is impossible to hide thousands of people.

He Jing breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that the uneasiness in his heart had finally disappeared. He raised his head and looked at the sunset that was about to set, thinking that his uneasiness was probably due to the depressed atmosphere in the valley, which scared him a little. He urged the soldiers to speed up. After a while, he left the ridge and stood on the endless grass slope, he felt relaxed and happy. He was extremely happy, and he almost shouted a few loudly before he was happy.

"Notify the general and be safe all the way." He Jing happily ordered the messenger next to him. The messenger responded and turned around to inform He Qi. After receiving Ping'an's report, He Qi also accelerated his pace and quickly left Yetuo Ridge. When he was walking in the valley, he always felt a little uneasy, but he didn't know where the uneasy came from. When he arrived outside the valley, he finally let go of his hanging heart and breathed a sigh of relief.

After walking through this grass slope and passing through a valley that is only ten miles away, he could intercept Zhu Ling's reinforcements and successfully complete the task assigned to him by Sun Quan. He believed that with his 4,000 troops, he would take advantage of the favorable terrain and wait for work. There was no problem with the 5,000 troops who intercepted Zhu Ling's 5,000 troops. Even when Zhu Ling saw him, he would retreat without fighting. After all, 5,000 people had no advantage over 4,000 people. With Zhu Ling's combat experience, he would definitely find other ways and would not fight hard with him. Otherwise, even if the road was opened, there would be few people who could reach Xiling City, which would have no effect at all.

Therefore, He Qi was very relieved. He discussed with He Jing and prepared to camp here and scatter the scouts. Zhu Ling's reinforcements were said to be still in Jigong Mountain a hundred miles away, and it was estimated that they would not arrive until the night after tomorrow. They still had enough time to prepare.

When the soldiers who had walked on the mountain road for two days heard that they had set up camp, they immediately became busy. The camp quickly took shape. He Qi spread a piece of brocade felt on the grass, put on a small table of vermilion paint, and put on a pot of wine to taste it with great pleasure. He looked at the setting sun hanging on the tip of the west mountain and closed his eyes comfortably.

Isn’t it great to have such beautiful scenery and wine in life?

He Qi spread the fine wine on his tongue, savoring the wonderful taste of the slightly sweet and sour wine in the Western Regions, and exclaiming joy. This kind of Western Regions wine is the inventory that his He family has stored for fifty years. Now the Western Regions are no longer available, and this kind of fine wine has been cut off. His inventory like this, let alone Jiangdong, is only a handful of them, even the Central Plains, which makes him not feel happy in life.

"Father, the big tent has been laid, let's get in." He Jing looked at He Qi enjoying it from afar, and did not dare to disturb him. He walked up to him and waited quietly, waiting for him to open his eyes before saying softly.

"No hurry, come and try this wine, it's true that the fragrance of the teeth and cheeks is left." He Qi looked at his calm second son, very happy, waved to let He Jing sit down, and the personal soldiers next to him immediately poured a glass of He Jing. The dark red wine rippled in the crystal cup, emitting a gem-like light.

"Thank you, father." He Jing quickly thanked him, and then carefully picked up the valuable crystal wine glass.

"This wine has to be pleasing to the eye with this crystal cup, and the lacquer ear cup will lose the enjoyment of the eyes." He Qi smiled happily.

He Jing took a sip of wine and was about to laugh, but he heard a faint and rapid sound of horse hooves in his ear. He couldn't help but raise his head in surprise and looked into the distance. He saw a fast horse running towards him like lightning. Although the war horse had tried its best, it was almost four hooves flying into the air, the knight on the horse still waved the horse whip and beat the horse without any pity, as if he was about to squeeze out the last potential of the war horse.

He Jing was shocked. He turned around and looked at He Qi was about to speak, but saw He Qi frowned behind him. When he looked back, he was suddenly frightened. Several fast horses were running wildly from different directions. The knights on the horse were desperately whipping the war horse under his crotch.

He Qi and his son looked at each other, and immediately put down the wine glass in their hands and stood up with a loud noise. Several war horses rushed to them almost at the same time. The scouts on the horse couldn't even hold the horse, rolled off the horse, and spoke in panic.
Chapter completed!