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At dusk, an army of ten thousand people was marching eastward on the rugged mountain road about fifty miles east of Xicheng County. This was the Hanzhong army led by Zhao Yun. He accepted Liu Jing's order and went east to march to Mumen City, open up the Shangji Road, and attacked Guangwei County, where Cao's army had weak strength, thereby cutting off the connection between Guanzhong and Longxi.

This is also the main reason why Liu Jing brought the two armies of Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun at the same time. Whether it was a strong attack on Shangfanggu or a strong attack on Jicheng, the Han army was in an unfavorable position and would inevitably suffer heavy losses. Especially Cao Cao deployed 200,000 troops in Guanlong, and the Cao army would continue to come and replenish Longxi's troops. However, the Han army became less and less and less, and eventually failed to support the Northern Expedition.

It was precisely because of this consideration that Liu Jing would not attack Shangfang Valley to death, but would divide his troops to attack Cao's weak parts. This is Guangwei County, especially Shangqi County. Once Shangqi County is captured, the Han army will have a foothold in the Wei River Valley and can attack one point and break the overall situation.

It is about 150 miles from Xicheng to Shangqiu County. The mountains are high and the valleys are deep, the road is difficult, and the supplies are difficult to pass. Especially the next eighty miles, it is necessary to turn over and cross the ridge. Even wooden cows are difficult to walk on that dangerous mountain. Therefore, each soldier carries five kilograms of dry food for their five days of consumption.

Of course, five kilograms of dry food are far from enough. Once the Han soldiers cannot conquer Shangji County, the Han soldiers will face the risk of food being cut off, so they must establish a grain supply point in the middle. In fact, this grain supply point naturally exists, that is, Mumenzhai located 60 miles away.

Mumen Village is located in the eastern section of Mumen Valley. It was a supply camp specially built by Xun You two years ago to implement a series of plans. It provided supplies to the 50,000 troops led by Xu Huang at that time. After Liu Jing's first northern expedition failed, Mumen Village officially became a fortress defended by Cao's army and was further expanded and reinforced. Currently, 5,000 troops were stationed, and together with Shangbi County, they were guarded by General Zhang He.

With the Han army marched, the army was gradually reaching Mumen Valley. Mumen Valley was about seven or eight miles long, and at the end of the valley road was Mumen Village.

At this time, Fa Zheng urged him to come forward and said to Zhao Yun: "General Zhao, there is Mumen Valley in front of him, so why not stop and camp?"

Zhao Yun looked up at the sky. The night was gradually coming, which was indeed not conducive to the march. He said to his personal soldiers: "Go and notify General Zhang and stay on the spot."

When the order was heard, the army stopped marching. Zhang Ren found an open space, arranged for soldiers to rest in the camp, and sent Yu Ming scouts to patrol nearby to investigate the enemy situation.

In a big tent that had just been built, Zhao Yun, Fa Zheng, Zhang Ren and Liu Zheng discussed countermeasures in front of the map. Zhao Yun said to the people: "When I left, the provincial governor made it clear that Xun You had been deploying defenses for more than a year, with only a few soldiers and many soldiers, and there were no loopholes in defense. Although it was Mumen Village, there would be a fierce battle, but once I considered that since the provincial governor asked us to go east, he just didn't want to lose too much. If I suffered heavy losses to open the host, what's the point? Therefore, I don't want to attack Mumen Village this time."

Speaking of this, Zhao Yun looked at Fa Zheng, saw Fa Zheng as if he was thinking about it, and then asked with a smile: "The military advisor of the Fa is good,"

Fa Zheng smiled and said, "Once we marched smoothly, we didn't see any signs of ambushing the Cao army. This shows that the strategy of the Cao army in Mumenzhai is very simple, just to defend it. It can be said that this is to respond to all changes with the unchanging situation. It should be Xun You's strategy, but Xun You would not have imagined some situations."

Everyone asked together: "What's the situation?"

Fa Zheng smiled and said, "That is, we have the most elite army like the Eagle Strike Army. Even if there are no loopholes in the defense of Cao's army, we will create loopholes."

Liu Zheng's face was flushed and he knew that he would take the lead in this battle, which made him very excited. In fact, this was Liu Jing's meaning. Liu Jing knew that it was difficult to go to the host, so he specially handed over the Eagle Strike Army to Zhao Yun to give them a chance to make great achievements. Fa Zheng also understood Liu Jing's intention and proposed to use the Eagle Strike Army to break through Mumen Valley.

But Fazheng can't come up with a plan for the specific attack method.

Mumen Village is located on the hillside of a steep mountain, facing down, looking down at Mumen Valley, and also cut off the road to the east. The entire camp covers an area of ​​about acres and has a wooden and stone structure. After two constructions, the camp becomes extremely solid and solid, and can withstand the bombardment of catapults. A meter-high sentry tower is built in each corner of the camp, with sentries patrolling day and night, very careful.

At the first update, several black shadows appeared in the valley about one mile away from Mumen Village. They were quick and agile and quickly climbed up to the canopy of a big tree. The person who was the scout Ren Ping, who was now Liu Zheng's deputy general and the scout in charge of the Eagle Strike Army.

Ren Ping stared at the enemy camp not far away for a moment and couldn't help but shake his head. With his experience, he could not find the flaws of the camp. At this time, his eyes fell on the steep mountain behind the camp. If he had to find the flaws, then there was some hope in this mountain.

When the city was attacked, the mountain beside the city became the key to capturing Licheng with a catapult, but this mountain obviously did not have such an opportunity. The mountain was full of stones, bare and without trees, and was very steep, with a long straight slope upwards.

This made Ren Ping a little discouraged. At this time, a subordinate said: "Boss, why not climb up the mountain to see if there is any chance."

Ren Ping pondered for a moment, and this was right. Only after he came to the scene could he know whether there was a chance. He immediately ordered several men: "Everyone follows me to the mountain."

...........

The reason why this area is called Mumen is because there are two steep mountains at the end of the valley. The two mountains stand opposite each other and form a huge gate shape at the end of the valley. It is named Mumen Valley. The two mountains are called Nanmen Mountain and Beimen Mountain respectively. At the foot of Beimen Mountain, there is a bottomless crack and gully, which is beyond the reach.

If you want to pass through Mumen Valley, you can only pass through the hillside of Nanmen Mountain to cross this special Mumen Pass. The Cao army camp was built on the hillside of Nanmen Mountain, and it was cut off the necessary passage.

Ren Ping and others used the rope to climb up the top of the valley, walked several miles along the south side of the mountain, and came to the back of Nanmen Mountain. However, it was different from the steep and trees on the other side. The back was covered with huge trees, surrounded by mountains, and there was no way to go.

Five Han army scouts climbed up Nanmen Mountain from the back. They stood at the neck of the mountain and looked down. They were more than twenty feet high below. The cliffs were as sharp as knifes, making people dizzy. Tonight, the moonlight was bright and silver was spread all over the ridges. You can clearly see the situation in the Cao army's village. They were distributed narrowly on the mountainside, with the mountains back on the other side. The village wall was built. They were located behind the Cao army's village.

"Ren, do you think we can throw fireballs down and burn his damn camp?" a subordinate asked tentatively.

Ren Ping stared for a moment and shook his head, "Didn't you see a row of rafts nailed below? That's to beware of throwing objects from the mountain. The fireballs will be blocked by the raft. More importantly, there is no stone throwing machine here, and there is no place to stand."

Ren Ping observed for a moment, then said to his subordinates: "Let's go back and report."

When it was almost dawn, Ren Ping and his party returned to the temporary station, found Liu Zheng, and reported to him about the investigation last night. Liu Zheng immediately took him to Zhao Yun's tent. Soon, Zhang Ren and Fa Zheng also rushed over.

Ren Ping simply drew the terrain of the camp on the map and said to everyone: "There are actually two village walls in Mumen Village. The inner and outer village walls are about step apart. The walls are built very wide and about two meters high. They are very sturdy and can be placed on them. In addition, there are no catapults on the village walls, but there are bed crossbows on the outer village walls, which probably have more than trenchers."

"I heard that there is a very wide rock crack in Mumen Village, right?" Zhang Ren asked.

"In fact, there are two cracks. There is a gully less than meter wide in front of the exterior wall. It is a natural ditch and a suspension bridge. This crack is not a big problem. You can use a wooden board to mount it. The key is that the rock crack inside is about ten feet wide. Only one wooden bridge spans the crack. At present, the wooden bridge has not been demolished."

Everyone was silent. If the enemy directly destroyed the wooden bridge, the consequences would be unimaginable, but Cao's army did not demolish it, which brought a glimmer of hope to everyone.

"How do you know the situation in the village?"

Fa Zheng asked strangely: "Have you climbed the mountain?"

"We climbed the mountain behind the camp. The walls were slopes, but they were very straight, like knives, with rafts underneath, and could not shoot rockets or fireballs from a high place. It can be seen that Cao's army has also learned the lessons of Licheng."

Fa Zheng exchanged a glance with Zhao Yun and others, and Zhao Yun asked, "Can you go down the mountain from behind and enter Cao's camp?"

Ren Ping understood the meaning of the commander. He hesitated and said, "The stone wall is smooth, maybe you can go down the mountain with a rope, but it is easy to be discovered by Cao's soldiers at the foot of the mountain, and it becomes a living target."

Fa Zheng laughed, "It doesn't matter. Only by entering the back camp, we have a seven-point chance of winning in this battle."

He looked back at Liu Zheng, "General Liu, it seems that the provincial governor had a long time ago to let the Eagle Strike Army follow us."

Liu Zheng bowed and said, "I am willing to fight for my humble position."

During the day, the Han army did not take any action and rested for a day. As night fell again, 20,000 Han army was divided into two teams. Zhang Ren led the army in front and Zhao Yun led the 20,000 troops in back. The two armies entered the Mumen Valley one after another and ran towards Mumen Village several miles away.

The head of Cao's camp was Zhang He. He should be in Shangqiu County. However, after receiving the order from Xun You, the Han army would probably go to the host road to attack Guangwei County, and ordered him to be careful. It was precisely for this reason that Zhang He rushed from Shangqiu County to Mumen Village and personally presided over the defense of the Dazhai.

When the Han army temporarily camped at the entrance of the valley during the day, Zhang He received a report from the probe, which made him nervous. The Han army was indeed here, and there were tens of thousands of people, which made the pressure on his shoulders extremely heavy. They only had five thousand people, but the other side had tens of thousands of people. Can Mumenzhai still defend the troops of one to six?

Although Zhang He was full of worries, he still refused to give up easily and led his soldiers to build defense. They guarded the whole day. When night fell, Zhang He was a little tired and ordered his deputy general Wang Ying to continue monitoring, and he returned to the camp to rest.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, a soldier rushed over and shouted outside the tent: "General, I have discovered the movement of the enemy, they are going to attack."

As soon as Zhang He turned over, he lie down with his armor and without having to wear it. He grabbed the big gun and ran out of the tent.

Zhang He rushed to the outer wall in one breath, looked outside for a while, and asked Wang Ying in a low voice: "How many enemy troops have been discovered?"

"I can't see clearly, but the Sentinel said that the number of people should be large."

Zhang He looked up at the sky. Tonight, the sky was cloudy, and a bright moon was passing through the clouds, making the surroundings of the camp light and dark.
Chapter completed!