The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

"The most romantic of the Three Kingdoms (

Dingling and Yanxian are bordered, Dingling is in the southwest, and Yanxian is in the northeast, and the two county towns are less than a hundred miles apart.

Lü Bu's troops went out of Dingling, and within two days, they reached the border of Yanxian county.

Although Lü Bu and Sun Jian are currently fighting at Dingling and Yanxian, and the military discipline of Lü Bu's troops is not good, they do not do much to burn, kill, loot, and many local people are scared away, but at least in Dingling County. After walking a mile or two, I came across a village and village. In the village, I could see some villagers who could not leave their hometown and escaped into the mountains because of their old age and weakness. After twenty or thirty li, you can almost see the county seat of Yanxian County. There are still very few people along the way. It is actually a village in Daoshang, ten rooms and nine empty, and few people live.

Lü Bu said to Cao Xing and the other generals in disdain: "This must be Sun Wentai's strategy of 'hardening the walls and clearing the fields', but our army has enough food, but why should it come from Yan County?"

"The grain is sufficient" and so on, but Lu Bu is not a big talker.

During these months and months in Runan, he had been aggressive and reckless, and he had indeed obtained a lot of grain and grass. He asked Yuan Shu several times for grain. Although Yuan Shu did not give him the amount he asked for each time, and the grain given to him was due to the fact that he was an official. Most of their greed for ink is old grain, even moldy and inedible, but there is always something edible, and it further enriches Lu Bu's grain storage, so when he came to Yingchuan, the grain he brought with his army was enough. He used the whole army for ten months.

After arriving in Yingchuan, the generals under his tent, except for Gao Shun, successively plundered the people of Dingling, Wuyang, Yanxian and other places, and almost robbed a little of the food rations left in the homes of the people in these places. It was empty, and the next spring, although the wheat in the field was still "green crops" before the harvest season, it was also harvested by the soldiers rudely. These young crops are almost edible. , because, according to a rough estimate, the food he currently has in the army is at least enough for the troops he brought to Yingchuan for half a year.

Cao Xing joined in the fun, took out a sentence he had heard, and satirized Sun Jian, saying: "This is the so-called 'with the heart of a villain, save the belly of a gentleman'!"

These words are used here, and they are nondescript, but most of Lu Bu's generals are rude and illiterate, but no one thinks it is inappropriate, and they all laugh.

If the phrase "to save the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain" is really used to describe one of Sun Jian or Lu Bu, let alone the fact that there are few people in Yan County, in fact, "the villain" Heart" is Lu Bu. The reason why Lu Bu's troops entered Yanxian and saw few people along the way was not because Sun Jian wanted to "reinforce the walls and clear the fields". These people were indeed sent by Sun Jian and brought them into the city, but to protect them.

In fact, when Sun Jian's decision was made, it also aroused the opposition of many of his generals.

First, there is no large spare space in Yanxian city to accommodate so many people; secondly, so many people have entered the city, although they all bring food rations, but if the battle in Yanxian is protracted, then it is obvious , the rations they bring will be exhausted sooner or later, so, at that time, will Sun Jian's troops need to distribute their rations to them? This "affects" the defenders.

However, Sun Jian insisted.

He privately said to the generals: "The reason why I am able to live in Yuzhou is the power of virtuousness. Runan and Yingchuan are both famous counties in the sea. There are many You surnames and famous people in these two counties, so we can check their inner views. , they are really contemptuous of me.

"Since my generation despised me, and I am a Jiangdong man, how can I stay loyal for a long time? Therefore, if you want to occupy Yuzhou with me for a long time, there is only one way, that is, you must change the opinion of Yuzhou scholars towards me. My family I am not a gentry, and I am not their kind. I am not good at Confucian classics, and I am not good at talking, and I am even more incapable of doing so. So if I want to change my generation's view of me, I can only focus on the aspect of benevolent people and love for the people. Let’s get started. This time, Lü Bu committed cruelty to Yingchuan, and slaughtered the people of Yingchuan. This is a great opportunity for me to declare benevolence and righteousness, to show that I am different from him! Therefore, despite the objections raised by you and others, they are all justified, but they are in the long run. For the sake of it, I can't follow it!"

As mentioned above, although Sun Jian is a military general, he is not like Lu Bu. He established the world purely on the basis of martial arts and basically has no political acumen. He also has certain political knowledge and ambition. Therefore, what should he do about himself? In order to control Yuzhou for a long time, he also often considers it, and what he said to the generals under the account is the conclusion after his consideration.

Sun Jian's remarks, first said "right surname, famous person", and then said "benevolent people love the people", one is the gentry and the other is the common people. Often times, the "loving the people" in the mouths of those in power, or in the mouths of vassals and assistants, and the "people" they love are actually "nobles".

That is to say, when Sun Jian said "kindness and love for the people", he did not refer to ordinary people. The "people" in his "loving the people" mainly referred to the scholars from the Yuzhou counties such as Runan and Yingchuan. In other words, in essence, his "loving the people" is to safeguard and protect the interests of the literati families in Yuzhou's counties.

For this reason, the people of Yan County who were brought into the city by him were inherently ordinary people, but he valued the gentry who lived outside the city the most. There was really not enough free space in the city to accommodate so many people who came into the city. Sun Jian vacated all the places such as county temples, doting pavilions, Chuanshe, etc., and dedicated them to those families of scholars outside the city of Yan County. There are not too many gentry in the county, and the gentry are married to each other. The gentry outside Yan County all have relatives and friends in the city, and some go to live with relatives and friends, because the living environment of these gentry families who enter the city is still the same. Very good, at least one person can live in a house, as for the other small people in Qianshou, they gather and settle down, and they are all housed in various streets and "city" in the city.

The living environment is different, and the daily treatment is also different. Noble families had official cooks to cook for them, and officials and servants to serve them. Ordinary people’s families lived in the open air, crowded, eating, drinking, and Lazarus in a pile. , then they should contribute to the defense of the city, and Sun Jian chose a thousand strong people from them to assist in the defense of the city.

These need not be said.

It is only said that Lü Bu led his troops, drove straight in, and swaggered to the west of Yan County.

Sun Jian had already heard the news and had already climbed to the top of the city. Sun Xiang, Sun Hao and other clan sons who served in the city, and Cheng Pu, Han Dang, Zu Mao and other generals under Sun Jian's tent, followed him and visited Sun Jian a few days ago. The three scholars from Guo, Xin, and Xun were also on the side, and they looked down from the city and watched the appearance of Lv Bu's army.

But seeing the long snake, I am afraid that there will be more than 20,000 cloth troops and cavalry, arriving from the west.

It was noon, the spring sun was shining brightly, and the sun was shining far and near. The young crops in the fields on the north and south sides of the road had been harvested cleanly by the Wei Yue Department earlier. Now the wheat fields seem to have been bitten by dogs, with black and yellow spots in some places. In the soil, there are still green straws in some places, and in some places there is a big hole. It was not caused by what the Wei Yue Department did. The scenery is very ugly.

And in the wheat fields on both sides, Lv Bu's soldiers and horses rolled up in the dust, the golden drums sounded in unison, the banners and flags were like forests, the front was the soldiers, the rear was the baggage, and the marching momentum was extremely strong. Not only did they march on the road, but in the fields, there were also soldiers and horses of Lü Bu who were on the march. Most of the soldiers on the road were infantry, while those in Tanaka were mostly cavalry. Compared with the infantry, the number of cavalry is small, but the cavalry is on horseback. If you look around, you can see all over the place are high-headed horses and horses, or wearing armor, or cloth, or holding spears, or bows and arrows. In terms of prestige, the cavalry troops with a small proportion are better than the infantry troops with a large proportion.

Sun Jian took a closer look.

In the queue of the soldiers of the cloth army, the soldiers in front were walking with spears and shields, followed by archers, and then large ordnance, towering ladders, tall catapults, crash carts wrapped in iron on their heads, etc. There are about twenty cloud ladders, and there are only four or five catapults with the least number of crashes. These weapons are large and heavy. At least four or five people are needed to push them, and more than ten fighters are needed. In the slow advance, they are like beasts that are about to devour people. It gave people a strong shock, and in the end it was the team of heavy trucks, which could not be seen at a glance.

A general's flag with red letters embroidered on a black background and a height of more than ten feet fluttered in the ranks of infantry and cavalry.

The most conspicuous of course is Lv Bu's general flag, which is located in the middle of the infantry marching formation. On the flag of four or five feet long and of similar width, Lv Bu's official rank is vertically embroidered. Bi Sansi, the prefect of Runan", and finally the word "Lu".

General Fenwu, Jiajie, and Yibi are three officials. After Lü Bu assassinated Dong Zhuo, Wang Yun invited him to the court and appointed him an official position; the prefect of Runan, needless to say, it was Lü Bu who invaded Runan. , after occupying the Runan half of the county, Yuan Shu gave him the official position.

The generals and flags surrounding Lü Bu were three or four li long and one or two li wide. Among the marching troops of the generals, the generals were Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Gao Ya, Fanyi, Cao Xing, etc. The banners of the generals of the Bu army, the embroidered characters on the banners are just like those on the flag of Lv Bu generals.

In addition to the numerous general flags, and according to their orientation, there are military flags painted with the images of the four elephants such as Qinglong and Xuanwu, and there are also military flags painted with images of tigers and other images. , all kinds of flags, no less than a hundred.

The three scholars who followed Sun Jian to watch the situation of the cloth army were all shocked and pale when they saw such a magnificent scene in front of them.

The scholar surnamed Guo said in a trembling voice, "When did Lu Bu's troops become so numerous? Did he transfer troops from places such as praise and letter?"

When Lu Bu first entered Yingchuan County, there were not so many soldiers and horses.

The rumor that Sun Jian's army was besieging the letter of praise was spread by Sun Jian's people. Sun Jian knew very well about the current instability in Lü Bu's army. He laughed and said, "What kind of soldiers are transferred from the letter of praise? I'm not talking to you and others. Is that right? Hong Zi and others are now sending troops to the letter of praise, so it would be good for Lu Bu not to send troops to the letter of praise!"

"Then why did his troops become so many?"

Sun Jianyao pointed to the troops behind Lü Bu's army, and said, "Please take a closer look, although the soldiers in the front of the Bu army are rich in armor and weapons, the soldiers at the back are all wrapped in bad clothes. Those soldiers must be him in Dingling and Wuyang. Waiting for the county to plunder into the army."

The scholar surnamed Guo looked at it for a long time, and found that if Sun Jian said it, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The general is saying that there are not so many soldiers in the Bu army, and the extra ones are the civilians in the army who are trapped by him? "

"Isn't it? If it wasn't for these people who were coerced by him, how could he have so many troupes?" Sun Jian looked at the surnamed Guo, and saw that he was still panicked, knowing that he was being led by the elite troops of Lv Bu. The momentum was frightened, so he comforted him and said, "Although the military appearance of the current cloth army is prosperous, what kind of fighting power does it have to cover the people? You, please wait for a few days, and wait for me to destroy Lu Bandit and avenge the tragic death of the Yingchuan elders and elders in his army!"

In the end, it is the elites under Lü Bu's account, who are all men of tigers and wolves, and they are indeed strong and vigorous. The worries of the scholars surnamed Guo cannot be completely eliminated by Sun Jian's words. Also, I heard that Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, etc. are all powerful generals under their tents, and they are also the warriors of the state, and now they are all here from Lv Bu, Duke Ming, I am afraid it is not easy to win this battle, right?"

Sun Jian laughed loudly, but he was completely different from this scholar surnamed Guo. Not only did he have no fear, but instead, he was in high spirits and said, "Guo Jun, you are wrong!"

"Oh?"

"I was in Runan on Nangri, and I wanted to fight with the main force of Lu Bu for a long time, but he was afraid of me and avoided fighting, so that I have been unable to complete my efforts in one battle, and wiped out his troops in one battle. In line with my heart, I can take this opportunity to take advantage of the advantages of Yan County to annihilate it!"

Lü Bu told Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and others that he had long wanted to find Sun Jian's main force for a decisive battle, but Sun Jian avoided and did not fight. In the end, which of the two of them said is true, and who said false? But only the two of them knew about it, and outsiders had no way of knowing.

When a scholar surnamed Guo saw Sun Jian's confidence, he asked him and said, "The Bu army has already left the city, so dare to ask Duke Ming, when do you plan to fight with him?"

"And wait for the fighter."

"When will there be a fighter jet?"

"When he is proud, it is time for me to wipe out his fighter jets!"

"Ming Gong's words, I can't understand it, why is it 'waiting for pride'?"

Lu Bu's troops had arrived, and the battle was imminent, so Sun Jian did not hide his pre-determined battle plan, saying: "So that Guo Jun will know that I have ordered Song Qian and Sun Fu to leave the next day after the troops arrive. The battalion fought, and then pretended to be defeated, in order to be proud of Lv Bu. Lv Bu was arrogant and arrogant, but now our army pretends to defeat him, I expect he will underestimate me and will attack the city in a big way. Song Qian and Sun Fu are attacking from inside and outside, it's easy to break!"

Sun Jian had already built a fort outside the city, and the fort and the city formed an horn. Song Qian and Sun Fu, who are now in the camp outside the city, are the main and lieutenant generals of this unit. Sun Jian allocated some of the elites of his army to them, but explained to them that when challenging, he should not use the elites, but the weak ones. He planned to use this strategy to make Lü Bu arrogant and arrogant. During the siege of the city, Song Qian and Sun Fu led the elites out of the camp again, and after attacking Lu Bu, he personally led the defending troops and cooperated with Song Qian and Sun Fu.

The scholars surnamed Guo heard about Sun Jian's plan, and exchanged glances with the scholars surnamed Xun and Xin. Although the three were not skilled in the military, a good strategy was like a good poem, and even those who were illiterate could recognize it. Heart said: "This plan seems feasible."

The scholar surnamed Guo said, "Ming Gong has a sincere plan!"

Sun Jian said in his heart, "Also despise me, and beg me to save Yang Zhai. This number is just talking about Shi'er, and it is also famous!" He was about to fight Lu Bu, his emotions were high, and he suddenly had a rare thought of teasing people. Asked the scholar surnamed Guo, he said, "Where is my plan?"

The scholar surnamed Guo did not expect him to ask such a question, and was stunned for a while, unable to figure out what was so wonderful in a hurry, and replied, "In short, it is wonderful."

Sun Jian stroked his beard and laughed.

...

Lü Bu's troops arrived outside the city of Yan County, three miles away from the city, and found a place to the west of Cheng that was not far from the water source, the distance was suitable, and the terrain was flat to camp. The task of building a camp was arranged, and Gao Shun led his troops to guard against Sun Jian’s sneak attack. Lu Bu led Zhang Liao, Cao Xing and other generals to gallop east, and also went to the vicinity of Yan County to check the garrison in the city. .

When Wei Yue besieged Yanxian before, because they obeyed Lv Bu's orders and did not attack the city with all their strength, the county town of Yanxian was not damaged much after a siege, but after Sun Jian arrived, he organized the people and soldiers. , The city wall was simply repaired and reinforced. Looking at it at this time, I saw that the black city wall stood under the clouds, surrounded by two waters in the distance, and it seemed quite solid.

On the top of the city, Sun Jian's general flag fluttered. The background color of the general flag is also black, and the characters are also red. After all, whether it is Sun Jian or Lu Bu, both of them are "Hanchen", so the color of the military flag used, The styles are normal.

At intervals, there is a crenel on the city wall. At this time, the crenel has been sealed with a wooden instrument, but not all of it. This kind of instrument, facing the inner side of the city wall, can be opened and pulled. mouth. The use of this kind of equipment is mainly used to help the archers guarding the stroke to defend against the arrows of the enemy sieging the city outside the city. The wooden instruments are yellow, the crenels are black, the yellow and black are mixed together, and the color of the view is uneven, which is very attractive.

The soldiers of the strong army with their helmets and armors are lined up behind the stacks, and they are densely packed. Looking up from the bottom, they can't see their full face, only their upper bodies showing the stacks, and the weapons they hold, some with With spears pointed upwards, they shone against the sun, and some held bows and arrows. Some of them saw Lu Bu and others peeping into the city, raised their bows and arrows, and tried to shoot arrows.

Lu Bu and the others were all wearing armor and were not afraid of arrows. Seeing them acting like this, not only did they not retreat, but instead pointed and laughed at each other, clearly showing an arrogant attitude that they did not take it seriously.

Sun Jian immediately saw Lu Bu and the others approaching. He paid close attention and watched for a moment. He judged that the leader of the group of cloth knights was riding a red horse, wearing black armor and wearing a red cloak. The man with the spear was definitely Lu Bu. After estimating the distance between Lu Bu and the city, Sun Jian knew that not to mention bows and arrows, even strong crossbows would probably not be able to shoot them, so he gave up his life to shoot the arrows and scared him. The thought made Sun Hao and Sun Xiang shout to Lu Bu.

Sun Hao and Sun Xiang took the lead and summoned a dozen or so loud personal soldiers to gather and tell them what Sun Jian had said. Afterwards, together with these personal soldiers, they shouted loudly to Lv Bu outside the city, shouting: " General Fenwu has come a long way to work hard, and there are not many good things to entertain in the city. There are a few citruses sent by the merchants in Jingzhou. My general dares to ask Fenwu to share ten, and Fenwu invites people to come down to the city to get them."

Lu Bu and others heard this.

Cao Xing said contemptuously: "This is Sun Wentai's trick to lure Duke Ming, saying, 'Dare to ask for ten citrus fruits', but it is obviously to coax Duke Ming to send someone to the city, so that he can make an archer shoot him! Humph, Dare to come up with such an obvious trick to say, is Sun Wentai deceiving Ming Gong without wisdom?"

Lu Bu sat on the horse majestically, but he had a different opinion. He smiled and said, "Sun Wentai is not a scheming villain, but also an honest husband! He will never use this trick to coax me." Calling Cao Xing, he ordered, "You Go down to the city and fetch me citrus!"

Cao Xing was full of reluctance, but the military order could not be disobeyed, so he carefully packed his lower clothes and armor, managed his energy, and patted his horse before galloping with great care. When he got to the bottom of the city, he saw a bamboo basket hanging over the city head.

When the bamboo basket fell in front of his horse, he fixed his eyes and saw that inside it was a pile of oranges and oranges? He leaned over and took them out one by one, no more or no less, exactly ten. Until he broke his horse and returned to Lü Bu, there was no arrow on the city head.

Cao Xing gave Lv Bu the citrus in his arms, and said with admiration: "Ming Ming really knows someone! Sun Wentai fruit is not shot."

Lu Bu really liked the tone of Sun Jian's gift of oranges, which made him feel like he was in a trance compared to the famous generals of ancient times who passed down elegant deeds to future generations~www.wuxiaspot.com~ He grabbed a citrus in his hand , leaned in front of his nose, smelled the fragrance, thought about it, and said: "As the saying goes, courtesy is good, and since Sun Wentai gave me citrus, I can't return it rudely. Just take the Bingzhou spirits from our army. , take a jar and give it to him!"

Cao Xing complied with his promise, galloped back to the army, took a jar of wine, and then went down to the city to relay Lü Bu's words to the city. It was probably the same bamboo basket just now, it hung down again, Cao Xing put the wine jar in it, watched the bamboo basket slowly being dragged up, and was about to go back.

It was still Sun Xiang, Sun Hao and the more than ten loud-sounding personal soldiers who shouted, and Cao Xing heard them shout: "My general is grateful for the gift from General Fenwu, and I have received a gift from General Fenwu. General Yu Fenwu!"

Cao Xing raised his face and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Your army has just arrived, and it will take two or three people to build the fort. Tomorrow at noon, our army's camp outside the city will attack the unfinished camp of your army! Please make preparations as soon as possible, General Fenwu. I was defeated by a fight!"

Cao Xing hurriedly turned around and returned.

There is no need for him to report back, Sun Xiang and others are shouting, Lu Bu has heard it, he laughed and said to Zhang Liao and others: "Sun Wentai's name is 'Jiangdong Tiger', if he is very ambitious, he will attack our camp tomorrow, let me tell you today, haha, haha , underestimate me too!"

Zhang Liao frowned and said, "Could this be Sun Jian's trick? He said he would attack my camp, but he did not attack it. What he did was to disturb Duke Ming's heart."

"It doesn't matter whether he attacks or not, our army will just take some precautions tomorrow."

After reading the city defense situation of Yan County, Lü Bu took Zhang Liao, Cao Xing, etc. to the east, west, and north sides of Yan County to inspect the terrain of these three sides. Afterwards, Lu Bunai, Zhang Liao and others returned to the place where the army had begun to build the camp.