Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 324: Fake White Horse
Before the beginning of modern history, on the land of China, the northern regimes moved south five and a half times, and successfully unified China five times. They were the Jin Dynasty's conquest of Eastern Wu, the Sui Dynasty's conquest of Chen, the Song Dynasty's conquest of Southern Tang, the Yuan Dynasty's conquest of Southern Song, the Qing Dynasty's conquest of Southern Ming... and "half time", which was when the Jin Kingdom crossed the Yangtze River to hunt down Zhao Gou at the beginning of the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty.
In the end, Zhao Gou fled to the sea for several months to avoid another Jingkang humiliation. Although the Jin Kingdom was successful during this period, it ultimately failed to completely occupy the south, but instead signed a joint agreement with the "stubborn" Zhao Gou.
Before modern times, there were only two and a half times that the southern regime crossed the Yellow River to pacify the north. The first time was when Cao Cao conquered Yuan. For Bai Tu, Cao Cao was in the north, but for Yuan Shao, Cao Cao was in Henan.
The other time was Zhu Yuanzhang's Northern Expedition. As for the remaining half, it was the Northern Expedition of the Eastern Jin Dynasty after the Battle of Feishui. At the peak of the expedition, they had reoccupied Yecheng and there was hope of pacifying Hebei. However, with the death of Xie Xuan, the person in charge, and Liu Laozhi being recalled by the court because of a defeat, Hebei fell again not long after.
If the Yangtze River and the Huai River are the warm and cozy cotton-padded jackets and heart-protecting armor of the south of the Yangtze River, then in comparison, the Yellow River is obviously not friendly to Henan.
First, the Yellow River's riverbed made it virtually impossible to engage in a naval battle, and given the weather in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Yellow River was sturdy enough to be crossed on horseback in winter.
The second is that there is no strategic fulcrum on the south bank of the Yellow River. Unlike the south of the Yangtze River, there is Nanjing in the lower reaches, Wuchang in the upper reaches, and Hefei in Huainan. In comparison, Henan is completely flat. Facing the advantage of Hebei's war horses, it is difficult for it to stand up.
This is also the reason why the Northern Song Dynasty was constrained by the absence of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun...
At this time, Yuan Shao occupied four states, Qing, Ji, You and Bing. In terms of people and land, he was the leader among the princes, far superior to the Central Plains, which had become increasingly impoverished since the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
Now, with such an overwhelming force, even if it is a white map, no one can say that Cao Cao will definitely win as in the script.
In March of the fifth year of Jian'an , Yuan Shao mobilized his "million-strong army" to Liyang, forced a crossing of Baimajin, and headed for Baima County in Yanzhou...
The number "million" is of course a bit of a lie , but according to the investigation and assessment of the General's Office's Fengwei, there are still 300,000 troops, including 50,000 cavalry - more than half the 30,000 previously estimated by the General's Office staff!
There are nearly 30,000 specialized cavalry mobile forces alone, and another 20,000 mobilized with other arms.
In this regard, Yuan Shao, who was wealthy and powerful, had each of his infantry armies with hundreds or even thousands of cavalry as spearheads.
Cao Cao claimed to have assembled 500,000 troops in Baima County, but in fact, it was 80,000 troops dispatched from various places, as well as the local garrison of Baima County. At the same time, he was also ready to overdraw the manpower of Baima County at any time...
The general in charge was Xiahou Dun, a general under Cao Cao!
Such a large-scale battle could not be launched in Baima County. The two sides fought in several small battlefields along the Yellow River in the Baima area, with a camp of more than ten miles...
It is said that the smoke from Yuan's army's cooking, if it was in the upwind direction, could have made Cao's camp pitch black.
However, when Cao's army was in a panic, Xiahou Dun sat on the commander's seat in the main camp every day, with a majestic look at Yuan's army from afar, and sometimes with a sneer on his face, as if he was looking at an insignificant opponent.
Even every day, he would sit on the high platform, in full view of the public, openly accept military intelligence reports and calmly give commands and dispatches.
Xiahou Dun's performance spread from one person to ten people, and from ten to a hundred people, which calmed Cao's army and even... shocked Chunyu Qiong who was commanding the front army.
It was not until Yan Liang took the lead that the two armies officially engaged in battle. At the same time, Yan Liang and Xiahou Dun also fought for more than a hundred rounds in front of the formation!
Yan Liang initially had some reservations about Xiahou Yuanrang, who treated the million-strong army as nothing. He instinctively thought that perhaps it was a trick to confuse the enemy, or perhaps he was just ignorant and fearless...
However, after Yan Liang arrived at the front line, he discovered that Xiahou Dun not only handled military affairs on the command platform, but also did morning exercises there every morning. He would use huge stones weighing thousands of pounds to train his upper arms... and he did it without any armor!
This made Yan Liang very shocked. He thought that this man's supernatural power was not as good as that of his brother Wen Chou, who also had natural supernatural power.
After Xiahou Dun saw Yan Liang from afar, he threw away the stone mountain, and with his muscles shining with sweat, he shouted, "Foolish man from Hebei, do you dare to fight?"
Yan Liang was originally a fierce general under Yuan Shao. When he met Lu Bu in front of Hulao Pass, Yuan Shao was lamenting that Yan Liang and Wen Chou were not there.
Moreover, compared to deploying troops and generals, Yan Liang is better at personal bravery. How could he withstand Xiahou Dun's provocation?
Unfortunately, he did not notice that after seeing him accept the challenge, Xiahou Dun showed a moment of unnaturalness on his face, so he was very cautious about Xiahou Dun, otherwise... he was afraid that Xiahou Dun would not be able to last more than a hundred rounds!
Xiahou Dun's fake armor already has a second effect - not only is it admired by his own side and feared by the enemy, but it will also be affected by the opponent's degree of fear. The more cautious and respectful the enemy is towards Xiahou Dun, the more they will be suppressed in strength.
Yan Liang probably didn't expect that the "fierce general" who had fought with him for hundreds of rounds actually didn't even have a military token...
Lu Kuang, who was holding the line in Yuan's army, saw that an enemy who could beat several of his Yan Liangs was blocked by the powerful Xiahou Dun. He became anxious for a moment and secretly stretched out his arm . A short crossbow arm unfolded on his arm armor. At the same time, laser arrows gradually condensed in the grooves on the arm armor!
He actually took advantage of the unpreparedness of both parties and shot a hidden arrow at Xiahou Dun...
However, they didn't know that at this time Xiahou Dun was most concerned about the noises around him - after all, it was the "Fake Wei Armor" itself that was fighting, and Xiahou Dun was just sitting around doing nothing.
When Xiahou Dun heard the sound of a laser arrow, he immediately shrank his neck...
The arrow was originally going to hit Xiahou Dun in the face, but the retracting of his neck saved his life - the laser arrow was nailed to the center of his eyebrows, and a piece of the helmet of the fake armor fell off here, with a "gem" embedded in it.
After all, the fake armor was meant to be gorgeous, but this time it was this gorgeousness that saved his life. Although the gem was a bit "brittle", it also removed most of the power of the laser arrow when it shattered...
After slightly piercing the center of the eyebrows, the laser arrow shattered into pieces. The arrow of this armor saved the trouble of pulling out the arrow and cleaning the wound.
"Ah!" Xiahou Dun screamed, blood gushing out of his forehead and grimacing in pain.
However, in Yan Liang's opinion, Xiahou Dun, when shot in the forehead by an arrow, actually let out a loud roar and looked furious. Not only did he not retreat, but he fought even more courageously... What a ruthless man!
It's no wonder that Yan Liang had such a serious imagination. After all... the fake armor was fighting automatically. So even though Xiahou Dun felt like cursing in pain and was even more concerned about his injuries, his skills were not affected at all.
The grinning at this time would naturally not be understood as pain.
When he thought of this, Yan Liang felt even more afraid of him, and then... he felt that the other party was getting braver and braver as the battle went on!
Are there such strong-willed people in the world?
Yan Liang was secretly shocked, and after starting over, he said, "Considering that you are a good man, you should not die from an arrow. I will allow you to go and heal your wounds!" After saying that, he turned around and went back to the battle formation.
