sovbooks Chapter 1425 Ambush
Chapter 1425 Ambush
Chapter 1425 Ambush
Yecheng, an ancient city built on the south side of the Zhang River, was favored by Cao Cao more than 30 years ago and became the founding capital of Cao Wei.
In the 15th year of Jian'an, after Cao Cao unified the north, he built the Bronze Sparrow Tower to demonstrate his authority and entertain scholars.
In the 18th year of Jian'an, after Cao Cao was named Duke of Wei, he expanded Yecheng and built the Golden Tiger Tower to the east of the Bronze Sparrow Tower as a military command center.
In the 19th year of Jian'an, after Cao Cao was promoted to King of Wei, he built Bingjing Tower to the west of Tongque Tower, which had both storage and military functions.
The three platforms stand side by side, with the walls of Yecheng as their base, close to the Zhang River, overlooking the north and south banks of the Zhang River. At the same time, they control the most important ferry crossing around Yecheng - Yecheng Ferry.
Yechengjin was the main passage connecting Yecheng with the military fortresses on the north bank - for example, the Xuanwu Pool naval base built by Cao Cao on the north bank of the Zhangshui River.
Zhang Bao stopped his horse on the north bank of Yechengjin and looked at the three towering platforms in the south.
The ferry under the horses' hooves was in a mess.
The tip of the gun lifted up half of the charred iron chain, at the end of which was tied a bridge pile that was also burnt black.
There used to be a wooden bridge connecting the Zhang River to the Tongque Tower here, but now only a few burnt-bare bridge piles remain sticking out of the middle of the river, like the jaws of a giant beast with its teeth pulled out.
After Cao Cao expanded Yecheng, Yecheng Ferry became a special passage for Cao’s rulers because it could lead directly to Tongque Tower and into Yecheng.
At this time, this passage has been completely destroyed.
Nothing was left to help cross the water.
It was obvious that the Wei army in Yecheng had received the news in advance and destroyed this passage, which symbolized the imperial power of Cao Wei, without any scruples.
Without a telescope, Zhang Bao could guess that from the tower on the other side of the river, countless pairs of eyes were staring at him, both openly and covertly.
In the Xuanwu Pond not far away, the fire was still burning and thick smoke was billowing out.
The wreckage of the ship formed a black carpet on the surface of the pool, and the burnt keel stood out like ghost hands.
After confirming that the ferry could not cross the river, Zhang Bao asked:
"Is there a ferry nearby?"
In fact, even if the ferry had not been demolished, Zhang Bao had no intention of forcing a crossing from here.
The city wall of Yecheng and three high platforms stand by the water.
If you want to cross the river from here, you have to force the crossing and then attack the city, and you have to choose the most difficult place to attack.
There is no other effect except sending the soldiers to their deaths in vain.
Hearing Zhang Bao's question, the guide quickly replied:
"Yes, in addition to this ferry, there is another ferry about a hundred miles to the east, and two ferries, one large and one small, to the west."
Seeing that Zhang Bao didn't say anything, the guide continued to explain:
"The ferry crossing in the east is called Chizhangjin, which is one of the ferry crossings guarding Qingzhou and Jizhou. From there, you can go directly to Qingzhou by water."
Zhang Bao's expression changed when he heard this.
However, he still asked:
"What about the west?"
"More than 40 miles west of Yecheng, there is a small ferry called Sanhu Ferry. Most people cross the river from there. Many peddlers in the west market of Yecheng cross the Zhang River from Sanhu Ferry to sell silk and cloth to Bingzhou."
"Sixty miles to the west, there is a large crossing called Liangqijin, which is the key point connecting Bingzhou and Jizhou. When Yecheng sent troops and transported food to the foothills of Taihang Mountain, they all passed through there."
Zhang Bao was overjoyed and said without thinking:
"Send the order, go to Liang Qijin immediately!"
Seeing that the Han army did not stay on the other side of the river but continued to move westward, the Wei army watching on the Bronze Sparrow Tower breathed a sigh of relief.
"Quick, add more dry manure!"
The wolf smoke became thicker and thicker, and with the help of the ten-foot-high platform, the wolf smoke could be clearly seen dozens of miles away.
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Liangqijin, as one of the key throats connecting Jizhou and Bingzhou, was the ferry where Zhang Liao's troops transported troops when Cao Cao pacified Bingzhou.
Seeing the importance of this ferry, Cao Cao set up a ferry commander here, stationed 500 soldiers, and built six beacon towers facing the Golden Tiger Tower in Yecheng.
However, after Cao Cao completely pacified the north, Jizhou became the rear base of Cao Wei, the importance of Liangqijin declined, and the number of troops stationed there also decreased.
When Cao Rui came to power, due to repeated defeats in the west, he had to withdraw a large number of troops from the rear to supplement the front line, and Liang Qijin once abolished the Jinwei.
After Sima Yi took control of Hebei, smoke of war rose in Taihang Mountains, and the importance of Liang Qijin was once again highlighted.
But Sima Yi could never compare with Cao Cao.
And the Wei army at this time could not be compared with the Cao army in Cao Cao's era.
Faced with Ji Han's strong pressure, Hebei's military strength was inevitably stretched to the limit.
Therefore, although Sima Yi re-stationed troops in Liangqijin to help transport troops, horses and food, the number of people was no more than a hundred, and most of them were old and weak.
Thanks to the advance smoke warning from Yecheng, by the time Zhang Bao led his troops to the ferry, the hundred or so people had all retreated to the other side.
Before retreating, they set a fire, apparently intending to destroy the wooden bridge and all the large and small boats around the ferry.
However, because Zhang Bao was leading a cavalry force with a very fast speed, the garrison only had time to destroy the suspension bridge mechanisms on both sides and burn part of the bridge.
Seeing the arrival of the Han cavalry, the Wei soldiers who were destroying the bridge on the opposite bank immediately fled.
What was left for Zhang Bao was a broken bridge with both ends destroyed, leaving only the middle part standing in the center of the river.
The ferry bridge still emitting black smoke in the water and the backs of the Wei army fleeing away on the other side seemed to be mocking Zhang Bao for being a step late.
Zhang Bao's face looked somewhat unfriendly. His Zhangba Snake Spear pierced heavily into the charred bridge pile. The wood chips raised by the spear tip were mixed with the pungent smell of kerosene.
The smoke signals lit in Yecheng were enough to give the ferry defenders a day and a night to carry out destruction.
The bad look in his face was simply because the little bit of luck in his heart did not come true.
However, this place was not destroyed as completely as Yechengjin, so it may be useful.
Most importantly, there were no defenders on the other side.
In other words, as long as he built a pontoon bridge before the arrival of the pseudo-Wei reinforcements, he could control the throat of Jizhou leading to Taihang Mountains, and thus threaten Sima Yi's retreat.
With this thought in mind, Zhang Bao no longer hesitated and shouted sternly:
"Get the raft and build a bridge!"
The roar even drowned out the sound of water.
The raft, originally a means of crossing water popular in Liangzhou, had become one of the strategic materials of the Han army after being discovered by a man named Feng.
When not in use, it does not take up too much space and is light in weight.
When you need it, just inflate it and pair it with the Nanxiang brand hemp rope. It is extremely convenient whether used as a swimming tool or for building a pontoon bridge.
Compared to cutting wood on the spot to make a raft, it is several times faster.
So it is natural that it becomes a must-have item for marching.
From Liangzhou to Bingzhou, and then to the outside of the Great Wall, countless grasslands and pastures provide sufficient foundation for this.
Someone took out a bamboo tube with a pointed tip and combined it with a wooden handle with a colloid on one end to make an air pump.
Amid the "puff puff" sound of air pumping, the originally shriveled skin bag quickly swelled up with the rising and falling sound of air pumping.
The advantage that Ji Han had over Wei and Wu did not come from one, two, three, four, five or six new things, but from the advantage of a complete and systematic operating system.
Organizational capabilities, production capacity, distribution of rights, promotion system, resource allocation... and so on are all components of this system.
In less than an hour, a raft had been pushed into the water, and ten Han soldiers who were excellent swimmers had jumped on board shirtless.
"Horizontal rope!"
The people on the shore twisted the hemp rope and the iron chain that the Wei army had not had time to destroy into a traction rope and threw it onto the raft.
As the raft continued to approach the other side, the first floating rope was pulled across the river by the suicide squad.
"Quick! Get all the rafts hooked up!"
The shirtless soldiers began to string the sheepskin rafts together with hemp ropes soaked in tung oil.
Although the Wei soldiers destroyed the bridge deck before fleeing, the bridge piers standing in the water were basically preserved, which saved a lot of trouble in building the pontoon bridge.
As long as the buoyant rope is tied to the bridge pier, it can be firmly fixed.
The bridge deck in the middle of the river that had not been damaged was dismantled and laid on the raft, saving a lot of effort in logging.
Looking at the floating bridge extending towards the other side, Zhang Bao standing on the shore had an idea in his mind:
Although his brother-in-law was a little lustful and had a bad character, he used sweet words and flattery to coax Sanniang and Si Niang into marrying the same man at the same time.
But anyway, his abilities are indeed rare in the world...
When the setting sun dyed the water surface red gold, the last rope buckle was tied tightly to the pile, and the floating bridge spanned the two banks like a huge python.
The soldiers on both sides cheered.
"Test the bridge!"
The vanguard cavalry led their war horses and began to test the crossing.
Just in case, both people and horses had inflated sheepskin rafts tied to their bodies.
The horseshoes of the war horses were specially wrapped with linen to prevent slipping.
The moment the first war horse stepped onto the floating bridge, the sheepskin raft made a teeth-grinding friction sound.
The ten war horses successfully reached the other side.
"Cross the water!"
The sun had already slipped to a place not far above the top of the mountain, and there was only one pontoon bridge. It was impossible for the entire army to cross the river before dark.
But Zhang Bao needed to hurry and build a camp on the south bank just in case.
By the time the setting sun touched the top of the mountain, nearly three thousand soldiers and horses had crossed to the other side.
"Go, send out a thousand men to cut wood in the forest ahead, arrange another thousand to transport the wood, and the remaining thousand to dig trenches."
Although time is a bit tight, at worst we can just rush through the work after dark.
Because night blindness was not a big problem for the Han army.
Zhang Bao had just finished making arrangements when he heard the sound of thunder coming from upstream.
Zhang Bao was somewhat puzzled and was about to look in the direction of the sound, but unexpectedly the warhorse under him suddenly stood up.
The moment Zhang Bao was so frightened that he pulled the reins hard, he felt something was wrong!
In many cases, the sensitivity of war horses is often far superior to that of humans.
Suddenly, in the dense forests not far from the south bank and in the reed marshes upstream and downstream, war drums roared, flags fluttered, and shouts of killing came from all directions.
"No! There's an ambush!"
Zhang Bao was shocked and angry, but his shouting was drowned out by the noise.
At the same time, the figures of Wei army's crossbowmen emerged like ghosts in the dense forests and reed marshes.
"Meet the enemy! Raise your shield!"
Fortunately, the Han troops that arrived at the south bank in advance were all elite troops. Although they were caught off guard, after a period of chaos, they were able to quickly retreat to the shore and begin to form a battle formation.
"Pumppump!"
The Wei army that surrounded them from three sides had already started shooting arrows.
Arrows flew like locusts.
For a moment, the sky over the south bank darkened.
It seemed as if night had arrived early.
The Han army's shield formation had not yet been fully erected when someone was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground with a scream.
Amid the rain of arrows, stones whizzed in and smashed the cowhide shields, causing them to explode. The flying copper nails embedded into the faces of the soldiers behind them, nailing their eyeballs to their cheekbones.
There is actually a Thunderbolt car on the opposite side.
This shows that this was by no means a temporary ambush, but was premeditated.
Zhang Bao was so angry when he saw the miserable state of his soldiers:
"You bastard! How dare you bully me like this!"
There was endless regret and guilt in the roar.
After building the pontoon bridge, he should immediately send out scouts to search the vicinity.
However, along the way from Juyongguan to Yecheng, the Wei army either surrendered or fled at the sight of the enemy.
Even if we encountered a city on the road, at most they would close the doors and not dare to fight, but most of the time the whole city would welcome us.
Over the years, due to the continuous victories, many people in the Han Dynasty had begun to look down on the Wei State.
Although General Zhendong had reminded Zhang Bao before setting out, Zhang Bao himself did not realize that he had underestimated the enemy because of the performance of the Pseudo-Wei army along the way from Zhuo County to Yecheng.
In order to prevent him from crossing the Zhang River, the defenders of Yecheng even burned down the Yecheng Ferry and the Xuanwu Pool, which further strengthened his belief that the Wei army would not dare to compete with the Han cavalry.
So it was understandable that the Wei army in Liang Qijin fled in panic.
Failure to send out scouts in time was a sign of his carelessness.
And at this moment, he finally paid the price for underestimating the enemy.
As the warhorse neighed, the hot and fishy horse blood sprayed on his face, making him taste the bitter taste of rust.
Fortunately, after suffering considerable casualties, the Han army's shield formation was finally established.
At the same time, the flood peak upstream finally arrived, and countless logs floated downstream.
These huge logs were cut into sharp edges and nailed with barbed iron hooks on their surfaces, specially designed to tear apart floating bridges.
The floating bridge let out a dying groan during the flood peak.
The oil-soaked ropes of the sheepskin rafts contracted back and forth under the huge force. Zhang Bao watched as the three rafts connected in series were lifted into the air and several soldiers on the bridge were twisted into a bloody knot.
Then, the iron rings of the piles on the shore suddenly broke off, and the anchor chain, under the action of inertia, smashed the heads of the two soldiers, and red and white were scattered everywhere.
Finally, the main cable finally exploded in the middle, and the moment of breakage made a mournful sound like a broken guitar string. The entire floating bridge was twisted into the shape of a dying giant python.
The sheepskin raft tossed on the waves like scales peeling off, and the wooden boards shattered into thorns all over the sky.
The Han troops on both sides were completely divided.
It was obvious that the Wei army wanted to eat up the Han army on the south bank.
Seeing that the threat posed by bows and crossbows to the Han army, which had already set up a shield formation, was greatly reduced, the sound of the Wei army's war drums changed again, and the Wei army's infantry began to charge.
His warhorse was dead, so Zhang Bao had no choice but to change to another horse. He stood on the shore with a spear in his hand, his eyes wide open, staring at the Wei army approaching from three sides, with veins bulging on the back of his hands.
It was rare for the Han army to form a shield formation in such a short time. It was impossible to stop them with bows and crossbows. They could only watch the enemy approaching without any scruples.
All Zhang Bao could do was to keep giving orders, adjust the formation, and prepare for a decisive battle.
"Stand still, hold your weapons, and listen to the orders!"
"As a man of the Han Dynasty, why should we fear life and death for our country?"
"Wind! Wind! Wind!"
"Gale!"
The more than 2,000 Southern Army soldiers finally showed the momentum that the elite Han Army should have.
In particular, Zhang Bao deliberately stood in the most conspicuous position under the flag, raised his gun and shouted, which gave great encouragement to the soldiers.
"Don't be afraid, as long as we hold out until dark, the thieves won't be able to do anything to us!"
The elite troops of the Han army had basically no night blindness and were not afraid of the dark.
But Zhang Bao didn't believe that the Wei army on the opposite side would be as brave as them and dare to fight them at night.
Although he was ambushed, Zhang Bao was not a novice in the battlefield. After all, he had fought in many battles.
Seeing that the opponent did not use the advantage to slowly wear him down, but was impatient to let the infantry rush up, Zhang Bao quickly thought of the key.
At this time, he held up the telescope and finally saw the flag of the opponent's commander clearly.
The big flag with the word "Guo" on it looked somewhat hideous in the afterglow of the bloody setting sun.
People on both sides subconsciously looked up at the setting sun, only to see that the mountain had already blocked half of the sun.