Looking at the mountains and rivers

The fifth year of Yong'an, the third day of December.

The red military flag undulates among the snow-capped valleys, which is extraordinarily dazzling. The sergeant holding the military flag at the front of the team wears a heavy silver helmet, revealing only a pair of pitch-black eyes.

Behind him, the armored army stretched in an orderly manner, moving slowly in the valley.This is an army of 5 people, all of whom are young soldiers selected from the forbidden army. The leader of the team is Chen Yan, the former commander of the Habayashi Guard. invasion.The Chen family has been generals for generations, he has led troops for many years, and he has always been calm. At this moment, he is stationed on a horse from a distance and looking out on the hillside.

It has been snowing here for several days, and the north wind mixed with snow particles hits the face painfully. These young guards have lived in Jian'an for a long time, and they have never suffered such pain. Although they did not complain, they all shrank their necks, showing The trend of depression is coming.

A black steed at the end of the team passed the slow-moving team and rushed straight to the front, keeping pace with the soldiers holding the flag. The soldiers on the black horse gave a muffled laugh under their heavy helmets and asked, "How are you doing?" Do you want to change with me, my job is much easier than yours."

This was the first time Wei Changxuan met Chen Shao on the marching road. He had been appointed as the vanguard of the flag from the very beginning, and the hand holding the flag was already frozen stiff and almost unconscious.But he didn't know what position Chen Shao was assigned to, so he asked, "What are you doing in the rear army?"

Chen Shao patted the saber on his waist with a smile: "I was ordered to hold the sword and press the battle."

In the army, the vanguard has always taken the lead in charging, but the commanding officer in charge of the formation has to hold his sword at the end of the line, and anyone who retreats past the line will be killed immediately.Wei Changxuan thought for a while, and said with a wry smile, "It seems to be easier than me."

"Our march is really slow this time," Chen Shao said with a smile, and his face became serious again, "Yanyu's army has been besieging Anyang for more than a month. If we continue to take our time, it may delay the military opportunity."

Wei Changxuan also nodded solemnly, he hesitated: "I don't think the general is very enthusiastic, and he hasn't ordered to speed up the march so far. He thought it was always like this."

Chen Shao frowned: "Uncle has always been strict in governing the army, this time he is slack for the first time, it's not his nature, I suspect... there are other reasons for this."

"However, the border is so dangerous, if General Yuchi can't hold on and loses Anyang, wouldn't something big happen?" Wei Changxuan showed a bit of worry.

Chen Shao sighed: "There is no other way, we are in the army, we can only act according to military orders." He looked up at the sky, "However, judging from the marching map, we will arrive in Anyang in five days at most. "

Wei Changxuan nodded, he switched hands, raised the banner high, and instigated the gale under his crotch to speed up.

Most of this army is light infantry, there are more than a thousand light cavalry, and ten thousand heavy infantry follow the heavy battalion in the rear army.This journey was indeed not fast, it took more than a month from Jian'an to Anyang, which was fine in normal times, but it was considered procrastination during wartime.

After walking like this for another two days, a muddy river suddenly appeared in front of him. Chen Yan, who was riding on a horse, pointed to the river from a distance and said to the disciples of the imperial army who had just come here: "There is the Wuding River, and after crossing the river is Anyang. .”

Wei Changxuan vaguely felt that the name of the river was a little familiar, as if he had seen it in Yang Yan's random copybook. It was a poem with a strong emotion but infinitely sad: Swear to sweep the Xiongnu regardless of oneself, five thousand Diaojin Mourning Hu Chen.The poor bone beside the Wuding River is still a person in a boudoir's dream.Thinking of this line of poem at this time, it seemed a little ominous, he shook his head hastily, and pushed these distracting thoughts to the back of his mind.

When the army reached the river, they saw that the turbid river water was not only dark yellow mixed with mud, but also had a heavy red in it.Wei Changxuan raised his eyes, and rode forward a few steps along the river bank, only to see that the ray of red became thicker and thicker, and finally spread to the entire river, the deep red river flowed slowly, stinging everyone's eyes .

Wei Changxuan's heart was beating violently. It seemed that someone was talking behind him, shouting something, but he couldn't hear him. He urged the strong wind and ran forward quickly, and finally ran to the corner of the river beach.

The scene he saw at that time, until a long time later, he could not forget, hundreds of thousands of corpses piled up in the narrow river bend, the blood under their bodies flowed down the river, staining half of the river surface red.

"These are the corpses of soldiers who died during the battle. They flowed down the upstream river, got stuck in this bend, and piled up there." Chen Shao followed him at some point, and whispered behind him, "Wei Changxuan, have you smelled the strong smell of blood in the wind, I just now feel that I am really going to the battlefield."

Seeing so many corpses at once, many young men who looked heroic changed their expressions slightly. Their hands holding the spears trembled a little. river.

Behind them, the general Chen Yan looked solemn, he stared at the bloody river in front of him for a long time, and sighed softly: "For the princes and dukes in Jian'an City, this battle is only about their status. But they don’t know that what the frontline soldiers have to pay is such a river of blood and bones.”

This exclamation was just talking to himself. He had seen so many scenes like this on the battlefield, and he could no longer make any waves in his heart. He raised his eyebrows and signaled the herald to wave the command flag: "Cross the river."

On the eighth day of December, Yunxia Pass.

Yunxia Pass is the gateway to Anyang, relying on water as a pass, and according to the river as a dangerous place.Before reaching the foot of Yunxia Pass, many people were shocked by this majestic pass. This majestic pass is sandwiched between two mountains, and the river winds and circles. It is almost built up to the sky.

The person who came to greet him was not Yu Chixian, the general who defended the army here, but his son Yu Chifeng. This major general was covered in dust and looked rather embarrassed. He hurriedly greeted Chen Yan: "Father is still on the front line. To command the resistance against the enemy, General Chen is asked to lead the troops to set up camp here, and after Mingjin withdraws the troops later, General Chen is invited to go to the main tent to discuss the war together."

Chen Yan was not polite, just nodded: "That's fine, my soldiers have marched for many days and are about to rest."

Yu Chifeng was young and not good at concealing it. He glanced at the group of Forbidden Army soldiers huddling their shoulders in the snow in front of him, with a look of disdain in his eyes, and said coldly: "Yunxia Pass can't be broken for a long time, Yan Yu Khan is already very angry, and these days more troops are coming, and the attack is fierce, everyone who came from the Central Plains may be frightened, you might as well rest here for a few more days."

Chen Shao couldn't hold his breath, and said first: "We are all Dazhao's soldiers, and we are all going to fight the enemy on the battlefield. Do you think you Donghu people are the only ones who dare to fight?"

Yu Chifeng was silent, and his black and white eyes looked straight at Chen Shao: "I also want to know, they are all soldiers of Dazhao, why every time they shed the blood of Donghu people on the battlefield!" After saying this, he He didn't say any more, just bowed his head, and left here quickly.

Hearing this sentence, Chen Shao couldn't refute for a moment. He stared blankly at Yu Chifeng's leaving back, came back to his senses, and hurriedly looked at Chen Yan: "Uncle!"

Chen Yan only waved his hands at him indifferently: "Don't say much, and take people to set up camp."

Chen Shao could only bow his head and say, "Yes!"

For the next two days, Wei Changxuan did not receive a military order to go into battle.Their barracks were set up in the valley behind Yunxia Pass, only more than ten miles away from the battle ahead, and wounded soldiers were brought down continuously every day, but the tens of thousands of them seemed to be forgotten , was only ordered to be stationed at Taniguchi, and could not go anywhere.

In a sheltered corner of the camp, two tall young men stood side by side, talking in a low voice.

"I heard that General Chen and General Yuchi just had a brief chat the day before yesterday and then left the camp. It seems that he has no plans to take us into battle." Wei Changxuan stroked the handle of the knife at his waist back and forth, hesitantly said, "We Is the purpose of coming to Anyang this time to defend against the invasion of Yan and Yu? Seeing the heavy losses of the Donghu garrison these days, and we have been watching from the sidelines, I feel that we are a bit redundant."

Chen Shao was silent for a long time, and he nodded heavily: "Although Donghu's words are not pleasant to listen to, they are right. The 5 of us here look like we are going to fight a war. We are clearly here to watch a show! See Does that Yu Chifeng look at us, as if we are wastes who are greedy for life and afraid of death."

Wei Changxuan said sullenly: "There is nothing wrong with him looking at us that way. In a bloody battle yesterday, thousands of people in the Anyang garrison died, and even General Yuchi's own brother died outside the pass, but there was no movement at all here. Not even a Qingqi to explore the road was sent out."

Chen Shao obviously also heard about yesterday's events: "The situation at Yunxiaguan is already extremely dangerous, we can no longer stand by like this." He suddenly raised his head, "I'm going to ask my uncle what his plan is. "

After he finished speaking, he turned around and ran towards the main camp. Wei Changxuan was slightly taken aback, and soon followed.

In the tent, Chen Yan didn't look relaxed. He leaned over the table, looked at the sand table in front of him, and frowned, as if he was a little troubled.Seeing his nephew rushing in hastily, he asked impatiently: "You are not allowed to enter the Chinese army's tent without notification, Chen Shao, have you even forgotten this rule?"

"Uncle!" Chen Shao bent down and gave him a military salute, "I'm really confused, so I want to ask uncle for advice."

Chen Yan raised his face, looked at him for a moment, then looked at Wei Changxuan behind him, waved his hands to signal them to come closer, and then said, "What do you want to say?"

"I just want to know, this time the emperor personally ordered his uncle to lead the imperial army here, whether he wants us to defend Anyang, or wait for Anyang to fall into Yan Yu's hands, just like a few years ago when he surrendered the Northwest Protectorate " He gritted his teeth and asked in a cold voice.

Chen Yan immediately reprimanded: "Nonsense! Naturally, we came here to defend the territory. How could we give the country to foreigners."

"If you want to defend the territory, why do you procrastinate all the way until you finally reach Anyang, but now you are shrinking your head in Yunxia Pass, and relying on the Donghu army to fight against the enemy outside. Our Chen family has been generals for generations, in terms of talent and bravery How can I lose to the Donghu people!" Chen Shao stepped forward, "Could it be that uncle considers the Donghu people as foreigners in his heart, so he doesn't bother to fight side by side with them?"

Seeing his nephew's righteous indignation, Chen Yan put his hands behind his back and asked, "According to what you mean, do you want to go to battle immediately?"

Chen Shao raised his face: "That's natural, we came here by the emperor's order, isn't it just to fight against the enemy?"

Chen Yan looked at him and smiled wryly: "My silly nephew, do you really know what the imperial order we are entrusting is?"

Chen Shao's face changed slightly, he seemed to understand a little bit, but he still couldn't believe it: "So it turns out that uncle has been reluctant to lead the army this time, is it because he obeyed the order?"

Chen Yan was silent for a moment, and slowly walked out from the shadow of the tent: "I know you are puzzled, and Chang Xuan is not an outsider, so it doesn't matter if I tell you."

When he said this, it was obvious that he had something hidden to tell. Chen Shao and Wei Changxuan immediately suppressed their voices, lowered their heads, and put on a posture of listening respectfully.

"This time I took orders from Jian'an to go out. Before leaving, the emperor summoned me alone and issued a secret decree to me." Chen Yan looked at the two young people with ignorant expressions, and shook his head slightly, "Yan Yu invaded Anyang. The emperor and several adults had expected it, and according to their intentions, they wanted to wait for the Donghu garrison in Anyang to lose tens of thousands before letting me lead this forbidden army to wait for the opportunity."

Chen Shao opened his eyes wide. He knew that waiting for an opportunity might mean retreating, so he couldn't help asking: "Are we really going to do this?" He pointed to the outside of the tent, "Uncle, have you forgotten what this place is? , This is the place where the elder brother's bones were buried!"

Chen Yan's expression was shocked. He thought of Chen Shao's elder brother. He was a brave and courageous young man. The person hangs high on the pole and fails to restrain himself for burial.

Chen Shao's eyes were a little red, and he tremblingly said: "Uncle, big brother is looking at us, the land he defended with his death is not used to make the emperor and those adults and Donghu guards feel angry !"

As if he expected Chen Shao to be so emotional after learning the secret decree, Chen Yan's face was still stern, and he whispered: "Chen Shao, how many times have I said, don't influence the judgment of the situation because of your personal affairs in the army."

Hearing that he said that this was a "personal affair", Chen Shao's expression was a little angry. He wanted to speak again, but was pulled back by Wei Changxuan behind him, and he whispered: "Look, the general is watching What about the sand table?"

Chen Yan did turn his head to look at the sand table again, he beckoned the two young men to come over, and asked: "In your opinion, after the Eastern Hu army loses tens of thousands of people, should we take over or find a way to retreat? "

Chen Shao was angry and closed his mouth tightly, unwilling to answer.

However, Wei Changxuan really lowered his head and took a closer look. He seemed a little hesitant, and asked, "General, at that time, can we really choose to advance or retreat?"

Chen Yan seemed a little surprised that he would ask this question, but there was approval in his eyes. He nodded and pointed to the center of the sand table: "You have reached the key point. Donghu currently has a garrison of 5 troops, and the court officials don't know the situation. , thinking that the loss of ten thousand people is only one tenth, which is nothing. But they don’t know that the defeat on the battlefield is like a mountain. When more than ten thousand soldiers are killed in battle, the morale of the army will plummet, and the situation will be difficult to control. By then I'm afraid that the Yunxia pass will be broken, and our mere [-] people have no way to advance or retreat, and they are all dead ends."