Three Kingdoms

Growth is a long road, just like every child's remaining face is tender and tender, but it is difficult to say whether it will develop smile lines or horizontal flesh.

The two or three days before Fei Qian left Chang'an were basically smooth sailing.

Perhaps it was because of Fei Qian's sudden action that Zhong Shao and others in Chang'an did not react, or did not want to react at all...

Fei Qian really didn't have much interest in staying in Chang'an, fighting against the people of the Anti-Xiliang Alliance, and biting and licking the hair out of his mouth. However, on the way to evacuate, Fei Qian discovered some interesting things.

Zhang Liao's agility and Zhao Yun's caution are both a habit and a talent.

For this march, basically, Zhao Yun took on the task of being on duty. Whether it was setting up camp or guarding and other marching matters, they were all arranged in an orderly manner. Before dawn every day, you can see that Zhao Yun is already arranging various things, wherever needs to be tidied up, wherever needs to be tied up, wherever needs to be fed, where horses need to be fed, and wherever needs to be lit for cooking, taking care of everything down to the smallest detail.

For Zhang Liao, he seems to be doing more patrolling and scouting. While Zhao Yun was arranging things in the camp, Zhang Liao basically went out with a dozen riders, and then came back covered in dew. He seemed to have answers about the way forward, where to pay attention, and where to stay. After everyone finished eating If you cook it early, you can go on your way with peace of mind.

Moreover, Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun had different methods of managing their soldiers.

Zhao Yun is taciturn most of the time. Although he takes care of many complicated matters, he often gives some brief orders, but the soldiers all obey them. If the soldiers cannot do something, Zhao Yun will help him without saying a word. Every day The first to get up, the last to rest, patrolling the camp, watching the soldiers finish eating, Zhao Yuncai hurriedly took a few bites, these things were naturally seen by the soldiers, so they were very convinced.

Compared with Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao is more open-minded. Basically, except when he is doing business, Zhang Liao smiles the rest of the time. Sometimes he will sit and chat with the soldiers, and then say that they are happy and laugh together. When he saw that the soldier was disobedient and unfavorable, he immediately took action, but instead of helping, he slapped him away, and then gave a few pointers. It is strange to say that the soldiers also followed this trick...

The two people have different approaches and different ways of leading troops, but the interesting thing is that no matter which one they are, they seem to have established a good prestige in the hearts of the soldiers.

What’s even more interesting is that Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao are actually old acquaintances!

As early as in Luoyang, Zhang Liao and Fei Qian talked about a man he met who was good at marksmanship while traveling in the North, and he was actually talking about Zhao Yun...

Thinking about it, Zhao Yun's marksmanship seems to be to use the least effort to achieve maximum benefits, while Zhang Liao is extremely powerful no matter what the situation is. Having said that, can he learn some tricks from Zhao Yun?

Hundreds of birds facing the phoenix spear technique?

Hehehe...

However, Fei Qian's relaxing and freehand thoughts were quickly shattered by a not-so-good reality.

"Juchishui is ahead of us! Junhou, the pursuers behind us are only half a day's journey away from us at most. Taking a few detours will probably waste a lot of time..." Zhang Liao squatted on the ground, picking up a piece of flakes with his hands. He said while drawing simple shapes on the dirt with small stones.

Since yesterday, Fei Qian's retreat has been filled with smoke and dust. Apparently, a large number of cavalry are chasing Fei Qian's whereabouts. Under the banner of Li Jue, these chasing guys were obviously riding two horses. They came very fast. At first, they may not have found the traces left by Fei Qian and others. They wandered around for a while, and then followed. The imprints followed all the way.

Fei Qian also didn't expect that Li Jue would give up attacking Chang'an and instead turn around to chase him!

Although the entire Guanzhong area is called the Guanzhong Plain, the terrain is not horizontal. It is at a slightly inclined angle, with the northwest higher and the southeast lower. Therefore, the Qin State took advantage of the geographical characteristics to build the Guanzhong Plain in this place. Zhengguo Canal connects Jingshui and Jushui, and now, this east-west Zhengguo Canal has become a problem that Fei Qian is facing now.

The reason why Guanzhong can be irrigated and form an important water canal in the fertile fields is naturally not comparable to the small ditches dug out in the fields. At that time, the Qin State used countless civilians, and according to the rigorous Qin Dynasty at that time, Urinary properties, the bottom and sides of the canal are not made of ordinary fired green bricks, but stone strips quarried in the mountains. They have been washed away by Jingshui for so many years and are still intact...

Because the Zhengguo Canal needs to provide a large amount of water, the cross-section is not small. Although the Jingshui River is said to be clear, in fact the entire line of the Jingshui River flows through the Loess Plateau. Although the vegetation is still okay, in fact the mud carried in the water The sand is actually not that small. It has accumulated over the years and there is a lot of silt at the bottom of the Zhengguo Canal. This silt has become the biggest problem restricting the Fei diving route.

"Now we have to go there, either by going around the Zhengguo Canal bridge in the north of Wannian County, or by taking the ferry at Juqishui..." Zhang Liao marked two places on the simple map on the ground.

Fei Qian thought for a moment and said, "What's the water level of Juqishui?"

Zhang Liao said: "Although the water has risen a bit now that summer is about to begin, it has been diverted by the Zheng Guo Canal, so it has not risen much. With a cowhide rope, people and horses can cross."

Fei Qian looked at the crude drawings on the ground, frowned and thought. When he set out from Chang'an, he did not choose to take a detour to Chiyang and then take the original route because that route was farther and took longer, and now he takes this route. A road is relatively close, and now it seems that it is closer, but it seems that the risk is greater.

"Zilong, what do you think?" Zhao Yun was mostly silent. If he didn't ask, he would probably not speak.

Zhao Yun pondered for a moment and said: "It is convenient to take the Zhengguo Qu Shiqiao Road in Wannian County, but I'm afraid it is not easy to walk. It might be better to cross Juqishui..."

When the Zheng people built the Zheng Guo Canal, their main purpose at that time was to delay the progress of the Qin people, so they spent a lot of manpower and material resources. Therefore, the several stone bridges built along the Zheng Guo Canal are stable and reliable and are still in use today, but that is In this way, it became Fei Qian's current problem.

Continuing down the Zhengguo Canal, let alone the fact that the Zhengguo Canal is an irrigation canal and has no obstructions around it. The cavalry brigade following behind will naturally notice where they are going from a distance. Speaking of Wannian County alone, what exactly is it now? Who controls it is a question worth pondering.

Is it Chang'an and others, or Xiliang and others?

If there are no pursuers behind, Fei Qian and others will not be afraid of what Wannian County will do. Even if the stone bridge here in Wannian County cannot be crossed, there is still a way to go north, but now that the pursuers are approaching, leaving There is not much space and time left for Fei Qian and his party.

Either go through Wannian County, or cross Juqishui, or take a detour. After all, Fei Qian and his party are not two horses, and they will be overtaken sooner or later.

Turn around and fight?

Not a smart move.

Unless the chasing Li Jue is a pure reckless man, with the advantage of one person and two horses, as soon as Fei Qian turns around, he will immediately go around. When Fei Qian and his party's horsepower is exhausted, Fei Qian and others will When the nightmare comes, there will be no place to retreat. If you are not careful, you will be buried in Guanzhong!

Zhang Liao had personally led the scouts several times, and even fought against the scouts sent by Li Jue. Of course, with Zhang Liao's methods, these Li Jue's scouts did not get any benefits, and they did not dare to go too far. Get close, otherwise they will wander nearby.

Therefore, we can only take advantage of the current stall, whether crossing the Zhengguo Canal or crossing the Juqishui River, we can use the terrain to throw off the pursuers behind us for a certain distance. As long as we are close to Pinyang, we can take the outer route to Baishuigou or the After crossing the mountain road and returning to Sucheng, we could escape Li Jue's pursuit.

Detours are unavoidable. Even if we don't care about the extra distance traveled, the horsepower consumed during the period of being chased is a problem.

It is even more undesirable to leave people behind to break off the rear, because according to the current situation, the number of people is not superior, and there is no place to borrow on the terrain. Leaving behind to break off the rear, although it is possible for the large force to escape the pursuit, but the rear-cutting troops It is also very dangerous...

It would be great if Mr. Zhang was here. He could just yell and run away safely.

Putting aside unrealistic thoughts, Fei Qian looked at the patterns on the mud and thought.

The dark mountain shadows in the north can already be seen to some extent. If you can cross the Juqishui, you can go directly north to Pinyang, and you can meander among the mountains and hills, hiding out of sight. Although Guanzhong is flat, there are still many trees on the mountains and hills to the north. With the shelter of these trees, you can basically escape the sight of the scouts.

"Let's go to Juqishui!" Fei Qian made the decision, "But we need to clean up our tails first..."

Cleaning the tail does not mean turning around and fighting, but cleaning up the traces left by the horse's hooves and so on.

Because Juqishui flows on the Guanzhong Plain, although the water flow cuts a river ditch in the land, it is not of the type of natural moat. In some places where the river water is relatively slow, it is a place where the river can be crossed.

Juqishui is not very wide, and the river beach is also relatively narrow. Although there were some vegetation, it could not hide the figures of Fei Qian and his party. Six hundred people gathered on the river beach, which made them extremely conspicuous, which dispelled Fei Qian's original idea of ​​a slight counterattack.

This kind of terrain is indeed a paradise for cavalry.

No matter what maneuvers are performed, in this kind of weather, smoke and dust will be produced, which is equivalent to giving the opponent an early warning, and thus it becomes a competition over numbers. Although Fei Qian is against Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, or his cavalry, They are all very confident, but the numerical disadvantage cannot be made up for by confidence.

Now that Li Jue is leading a large number of cavalry in pursuit, although Fei Qian doesn't know Li Jue's specific arrangements, he also guesses that the offensive on the Hongnong side may be difficult, otherwise Li Jue's cavalry troops will never be able to suffice. To such an extent.

Therefore, at this time, you must be more cautious and tense up to deal with it, otherwise it will not be good to invest easily and form a situation of cheating. After all, Fei Qian feels that these human resources in his hands are still more valuable.

Therefore, perhaps the current retreat makes people feel a little cowardly, but Fei Qian still believes that it is the right choice to fight for a more advantageous battle. Why fight with the opponent at a disadvantage?

Nowadays, on the river beach of Juqishui, you can vaguely see the traces left by some old wooden piles, and you can also see the stone strips picked up by people on the river beach, which should be used as stepping stones or to tie up boats. , but now the river beaches on both sides are empty and deserted, only the rushing water surrounds Fei Qian and others.

The sky gradually darkened, Zhang Liao waved his hand slightly, and more than ten soldiers who were more familiar with water had already wrapped ropes made of cowhide around themselves, and then jumped into the water with all their strength and swam towards the other side.

As long as the tough cowhide ropes are pulled up on both sides of the river, the soldiers and war horses can cross the river along the cowhide ropes. Of course, the leather and iron armors need to be removed first, tied with empty water bags, floated over, or directly Hoist along the cowhide rope to the other side.

Therefore, crossing the river is still very cumbersome, and the most important thing is that we must not be attacked at this juncture, otherwise it will be a disaster.

So now all the people are looking around while preparing to cross the river.

After a while, Zhao Yun came back with more than 20 horses. He lowered the branches tied behind the horses and threw them into the water. After a while, the leaves of those branches slowly floated downstream along the current.

The smoke and dust behind them dissipated soon after being blown by the wind on the river. Even if there were some remnants, they were basically invisible in the gradually darkening night. The Li Jue troops who followed were lost. Guided by smoke and dust, they have to stop and observe the traces on the ground. After sweeping aside the leaves and branches, it will cause certain difficulties for these trackers, but they can buy some time.

The soldiers who swam across the river fixed the long cowhide rope.

Zhang Liao did not hesitate to take the lead in crossing the river with his war horse. He felt the leather rope and pulled hard to see if it was firm. Then he grabbed the leather rope with one hand and held the horse with the other, heading toward the river. Go to the opposite side.

Basically, except for humans, all mammals can swim innately, so you don’t have to worry too much about war horses. What you need to worry about is people...

Well, strictly speaking, even human beings can do it when they are born. However, due to the different living environment in which they grew up, this instinct has undergone some changes since then, so some people can do it, and some people have become landlubbers.

Now there is a cowhide rope that can be grasped above the river, which is basically enough for these soldiers, but it is still not a small difficulty for Fei Qian.

As the leading soldiers arrived on the other side, it was Fei Qian's turn...

"Damn it..." Fei Qian murmured in a low voice. He just stepped into the water and felt a chill. "...I must bring more old ginger with me next time I march..."

After pulling Pisuo forward for a few steps, the horse and man finally entered the river completely.

The four hooves of the war horse started to flapping naturally, and it swam forward with a splash, while Fei Qian used the cowhide rope to keep his head above the water and paddled forward with all his strength.

At first, Fei Qian thought this was nothing, but after actually entering the water, he realized that even if the current is not large, the force pulling him downstream is not small. If there is no cowhide rope to limit the fixed direction, it is possible to follow the current. It will deviate from the direction, making it impossible to successfully board the other shore. Once washed away from this area with slower currents, it may be difficult to reach the shore again!

Although it is almost summer, the river water is constantly washing over the body and face, which still makes people feel a little chilly. The war horse shook its head uneasily. Fei Qian grabbed the cowhide rope and used the strength of the war horse to move forward. Being in the river, he felt that the sound of rushing water became the only sound between heaven and earth. .

After swimming for nearly half of the time, Fei Qian felt his arms begin to feel faintly sore as his strength was depleted, and his forward speed could not help but slow down...