Chapter 428 Lure the horse deeper
Zhongtiao Mountain is located to the north of Pubanjin and is the junction of Hedong County and Hongnong County.
This mountainous area is not very big and is not insurmountable normally. But it is already November, and when the weather is freezing, even the locals don’t dare to go into the mountains.
Crossing the mountain at this time is basically the same difficulty as crossing Yinping secretly.
However, in Deng Fan's view, these are all acceptable.
Under the leadership of Deng Fan, three thousand Han troops, wearing white robes and winter clothes, quickly entered Zhongtiao Mountain. In the snowy mountains and forests, three thousand soldiers began to march southward with difficulty.
It is impossible to count how many of these soldiers froze to death in the mountains, and how many slipped and fell into mountain streams. Deng Fan only knew that he led his men to march on Zhongtiao Mountain for seven days, and his troops were reduced by nearly half!
When the three thousand Han troops walked out of Zhongtiao Mountain half alive, their total strength was only about a thousand people. Even Deng Fan himself was frozen to the point of losing half his life. If he had stayed in the mountains for two more days, Deng Fan would probably be dead.
However, due to serious attrition of troops, the original plan was only enough dry food for ten days. But it miraculously survived until now. This may be an extremely cruel surprise that Deng Fan did not expect.
After all, not everyone has the kind of luck that Ma Su has, and can find a way out wherever he goes.
But even at this point, Deng Fan's first reaction after waking up was to judge his current position.
"Quickly...explore...where we are...where we are now!" Deng Fan quickly issued an order, dispatched soldiers to patrol, and was ready for a final fight to the death.
To Deng Fan's joy, the scout came back soon and reported good news to him.
They had indeed crossed Mount Nakajo, and were now in the hinterland of Kabanjin. Not far from them was Hebei County, more than a hundred miles away from Fenglingdu.
"General Deng, do you need to conduct a detailed investigation of the strength of the Wei army? Now..."
At this time, Deng Fan's only surviving lieutenant hesitated and gave Deng Fan some prudent advice. However, Deng Fan flatly refused and drew his sword himself and said,
"I...I and we are already at...a place of death! If you retreat, you will die, if you advance, you will survive. There is nothing to hesitate!"
"Follow me and move forward with all your might. If I succeed, I will never treat you badly!"
At this moment, Deng Fan knew that he had only one choice. No matter whether the Wei army was empty or not, he had to fight. At this time, there is no time to hesitate, we must fight to the death like General Ma!
Encouraged by Deng Fan, the remaining thousands of Han soldiers had a hearty meal. Then the whole army threw away all their baggage, including marching pots, tents and other things, and went into battle lightly.
More than a thousand Han troops rushed in bloodthirsty, heading straight for Hebei County through the wind and snow. Because the Han troops all wore white robes, they were very concealed in the wind and snow.
In addition, the heavy snow itself was not suitable for military combat, and Hebei County was far away from the front line, so the Wei army's defense was extremely lax. It wasn't until Deng Fan led his men to rush more than ten steps near the city gate that the Wei army guards noticed something was wrong.
"Wait! Enemy attack!"
"It's the Shu Army! Be on guard!!"
"Why did the Shu army appear here? Has Tongguan been lost?"
The Wei army in Hebei County was completely unprepared. Before they could close the gate, Deng Fan took the lead and rushed into the city. For his own military exploits, Deng Fan almost went to great lengths. He killed several people with his own hands and still refused to retreat despite being hit by several swords. He forcefully dragged the Han army into the city.
At this moment, all the Han soldiers knew that they were in a dead end, and there was no other way to survive except struggling forward. Therefore, even though the hands of thousands of soldiers were so cold that they could hardly hold the handles of their guns, they still tried their best to rush towards the Wei army.
The Wei army in the county seat had originally been dispatched with a large number of troops to intercept the rumors of Ma Di's appearance at Pubandu. At this moment, the remaining nearly hundreds of troops are regular troops, and the rest are field soldiers who are weak in fighting will.
Under Deng Fan's desperate fight, Wei Jun could not hold on for less than half an hour. Everyone in the Han army was furious, and many soldiers continued to slash before dying in battle.
The whole battle went very quickly. In less than an hour, the Han army killed all the Wei soldiers who tried to resist, and captured more than a thousand soldiers who had lost their will to fight.
Deng Fan won the bet. He successfully bypassed the Wei army's defense line and penetrated directly into the hinterland of Pubanjin. Although the losses involved were huge, if the battle was won, then it was all worth it!
Deng Fan's next plan was to resupply on the spot and quickly reorganize and surrender his troops. Then he defended according to the danger and released the news, which plunged the entire Pubanjin of the Wei army into chaos.
As long as he stays here, it is only a matter of time before the Han army successfully defeats Pubanjin head-on.
However, when Deng Fan was about to order on-site reorganization, the deputy general suddenly ran over and reported to him,
"General, there are people in the city who call themselves the Yang family and want to see you."
"Yang family?" Deng Fan was stunned for a moment. At this moment, he didn't even notice that his stuttering had improved a lot.
"Could it be... the Yang family of Hongnong?"
"Of course!" The deputy general nodded heavily.
"What are they looking for me for?" Deng Fan suddenly frowned, and his intuition told him that things seemed not that simple.
But maybe this is good news?
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At the same time, Ma Su had been confronting Xinpi outside Huayin City for more than half a month.
From the confrontation in mid-October to now, Xinpi was almost nervous by Ma Di. In particular, Ma Su often came to give personal speeches in the middle of the night, and he was constantly interspersed with various abuses against Xinpi, which made this seventy-year-old comrade almost unbearable.
It stands to reason that Ma Su is already quite old, so why is he so high-spirited?
Xinpi was puzzled by this, but he knew that if Ma Di stayed stuck here, he would probably have to collect Sima Yi's body when he arrived in Chang'an.
This is another typical street pavilion problem. If you are anxious, Ma Su is not anxious. If you continue to delay, the situation will be extremely beneficial to the Han army.
Xinpi understood the truth, but saw Ma Di arrogantly walking around outside the city. Looking at the dense mountain forest behind him and the faintly appearing figure in the distance, Xinpi just didn't have the courage to go out of the city to fight.
What if this is a trap? Don't forget that Chang'an failed to support successfully by then, but instead used the troops it had at its disposal.
But at this moment, Xinpi suddenly received good news and bad news from behind.
The bad news is that the Han army seemed to have divided its forces and forcibly crossed the Yellow River from the north of Pujin Ferry, and there were Han army activities north of Zhongtiao Mountain. However, Xinpi was not very nervous about this. After all, there were many Pubanjin defenders, which were more than enough to block the gap in Zhongtiao Mountain.
The good news is that Luoyang has once again gathered tens of thousands of troops and horses, and they have all gathered near Tongguan.
In other words, the number of troops on the front line of Tongguan is now not only 30,000, but 70,000!
So Xinpi had a bold idea, a plan to plot against Ma Su.