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The wolf smoke from the beacon towers in Gaonu County rushed straight into the sky, from the Great Wall beacon towers in the north to the Zhongnan Mountain beacon towers, more than a dozen beacon towers lit the wolf smoke. In August, the beacon towers were full of fire, and the threat from the north quietly arrived.

Gaonu County is the Yan'an County in later generations. It is surrounded by water in the north and is located at a high terrain. The city is tall and wide and very strong. In particular, a horse-faced wall is built every fifty steps, making Gaonu County more conducive to defense.

At this time, five thousand defensive soldiers were nervously carrying out their final combat preparations. They used wooden boards to transport huge square stones, stacked them up layer by layer, sealing the only inner gate of the north city gate. In addition, the Han army brought buckets of turbulent oil to the stones on the city wall to store the stones indoors, and arrows piled up like mountains.

The catapult at Mibou Cityhead began to squeak and check. The power of this medium-sized catapult was not huge. It could only throw a huge stone weighing 50 kilograms to the front. However, it was very suitable for the defense of Gaonu County. It had very few manpower first. It was winding with a winch. It only took ten people to control a catapult. There were 80 such catapults installed on the entire cityhead, and twenty were deployed in each of four directions.

In addition, ten smaller catapults were deployed on the defense line on the south bank. Their range was only two steps and they could be thrown into the area water, posing a threat to the Hu people crossing the river.

Qunshui was the first defensive barrier of the Han army. The Han army deployed a thousand people on the south bank of Qunshui and built a small defensive castle. They used the powerful yellow crossbow as a defensive weapon to shoot giant arrows up to five feet long and fifty steps away. Although the newly invented bee crossbow is also powerful, the penetration power of the yellow crossbow is stronger when used in defense along the river.

Gao Nu Governor Zhang Ren stood on the high wall and stared at the smoke of the beacon towers in the distance, and he had an indescribable expectation in his heart. This was the moment he had always dreamed of. When a man went north to fight against the barbarians, he looked forward to a battle with the Huns, even though he had no regrets.

The sentries on the beacon towers at the city wall blew a low trumpet, which was a signal of discovering the enemy situation. Thousands of Han troops on the city wall became nervous and stood at the battlements and looked north.

Zhang Ren also saw that a black line appeared in the north, about ten miles long, and was slowly advancing to the south. Gradually, the overwhelming military flags appeared. The sound of 100,000 war horses stomped on the ground formed a roar within a radius, like low muffled thunder. The boundless Hun cavalry finally appeared on the grassland.

The sound of horns, war horses neighed, and the Hun cavalry exceeded 100,000, with great momentum and murderous aura, heading straight into the sky. Zhang Ren stared for a moment and shouted: "The water defense line in the command area is ready for combat"

When Zhang Ren saw the golden wolf-headed flag, he couldn't help but feel secretly shocked. This was the legendary Xiongnu King's flag. Its appearance means that the Xiongnu Khan was here in person. This information is very important. He must report it to His Highness the King of Han immediately.

"Look at General, sheepskin raft," a soldier shouted at the north bank of the district water.

Zhang Ren also saw that the Huns' army had already prepared sheepskin rafts on the north bank of the district water. Zhang Ren immediately realized that the Huns were going to cross the river to attack, but this would relieve Zhang Ren. If the Huns were eager to attack and did not make sufficient preparations, it would mean that they were not determined to seize Gaonu County.

Perhaps they wanted to put pressure on the city and attacked Zhang Ren and thought to himself.

Zhang Ren's guess was not wrong. The purpose of the Huns army was to siege the city and attack aid, forcing the main force of the Han army out of Guanzhong, and fight against them on the vast grasslands in the pass. The reason why they chose Gaonu County was because Liu Qubei received news that the leader of Gaonu County was Zhang Ren, one of the core generals of the Han army, which shows that Gaonu County was important to Liu Jing. Once Gaonu County was in danger, the Han army might come to aid.

Nomads always care about efficiency when fighting. After deciding on something, they will devote themselves to doing it in a hurry, paying attention to the sound and catching people first, and paying attention to the speed of soldiers. Before the army set up camp, Huchuquan ordered the capture of the water in the area, destroying the first line of defense of the Han army, and putting pressure on the Han army.

Hu Chuquan stared at the tall and strong city wall from afar. He knew that even if he captured the county town, his army would suffer heavy losses and not worth the gain. He wanted to fight with the main force of the Han army and seize Chang'an, rather than a small expedition city.

However, it is not difficult to seize the defensive castle on the south bank of the Shui River. They have enough troops and cross the river rafts, so they can completely seize the south bank and break through the first defense of the Han army. According to the combat practice of the Huns, the first battle was attacked by the Jie people.

The Jie people's army was composed of eight thousand elite soldiers. The army leader was still the Shitan who was defeated by the Han army last time, but this time, the Jie people's chief Shi Le also followed him to fight in person.

After the last defeat of Jie people, Shi Tan led his army to withdraw the Jie people's headquarters without authorization, which aroused serious dissatisfaction among the Huns. The chief of the Jie people, Shi Le, was forced to apologize to Huchuquan and promised that the Jie people would do their best this time.

At this time, Hu Chuquan turned around and looked at Shi Le, the chief of the Jie people, and said, "I hope this time, the Jie people will not disappoint me again."

Shi Le was stared at Hu Chuquan's cold gaze and sweated in cold sweat. He hurriedly bowed and said, "I will supervise the battle myself, and the last incident will never happen again."

Shi Le had no choice. His tribe originally lived west of Jinshan and was a tribe under the Kushan Empire. However, the war between the Huns and the Yuezhi people affected them. They became prisoners of war for the Huns, and the entire tribe was taken to the east together and became vassals of the Huns.

It can be said that they were slaves of the Huns, and they were treated differently by the Huns because of their bravery in combat. Once they lost their advantage in combat, they would be abandoned by the Huns without hesitation, and even their tribes would be destroyed. Therefore, even if Shi Le had a thousand hatred towards the Huns, he would not dare to offend them at all.

Hu Chuquan nodded, "Since you want to supervise the battle yourself, why don't you go?"

Hu Chuquan was really worried about Shi Tan. This person was Shi Le's son. Although he was young, he was smart and cunning. He would do everything possible to preserve his strength and refused to attack with all his strength. Shi Le had to supervise the battle.

That's it, Hu Chuquan was still worried, and said to Hou Meili, the Right Gudu, "You are also supervising the battle. If the Jie people refuse to attack with all their strength, you can report it to me."

"Zun Ling" Mei Li led several cavalrymen to gallop away.

Watching Shi Le was even more frightened. He didn't expect Hu Chuquan to supervise him as his own person. This was actually a warning. He didn't dare to hesitate anymore and urged his horse to run towards the north bank of the Nei Shui River.

The north bank of the district water, the eight thousand Jie soldiers were still preparing. They brought a large number of sheepskin rafts. Before crossing the river, they needed to blow the sheepskin rafts enough. The stone tan was very complicated. The last time he suffered a severe blow in Guyuan County, not far from Gaonu County, and lost seven thousand brothers. This was a heavy blow to the small number of Jie people. This time the Huns forced them to be the vanguard and attacked the city. It is conceivable how many people could be left after this battle.

Shi Tan couldn't help but sighed softly. At this time, his father Shi Le slowly urged him to come forward and glanced at him and said, "You don't have to sigh. If you win this battle, we Jie people will get a generous reward, enough to compensate for the combat losses."

"But what if the southern expedition fails?" Shi Tan asked his father in a low voice.

Failure Shi Le did not consider this issue. He pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you think this Nanxing will fail?"

"The arrogant army will be defeated. This time Hu Chuquan is proud, and he only led a 100,000 troops to fight in the south. He underestimated the enemy of the Han army. I am not optimistic about this southern expedition, and"

Speaking of this, Shi Tan looked at both sides, then whispered to his father: "I suspect that Liu Qubei set a trap for Hu Chuquan this time."

"Don't talk nonsense." Shi Le was shocked and waved his hand in a hurry to stop his nonsense.

Shi Tan sneered and said, "Liu Qubei fought with the Han army. How could he not know how powerful the Han army was? He actually encouraged Hu Chuquan to bring only 50,000 troops south, and he himself only brought only 50,000 troops. This is not a pitfall."

"Stop saying it." Shi Le interrupted Er sternly and quickly winked him. Then Shi Tan discovered that a cavalry was running towards them, a soldier sent by Hu Chuquan.

"Chief, Shanyu ordered you to go to war immediately and do not delay any further."

Shi Le cursed in his heart, but had to smile and said, "Please tell Shanyu that as long as the sheepskin raft is ready, we will send troops immediately."

The cavalry rushed away, Shi Le sighed and said to her, "Don't think about reducing losses anymore, be prepared to do your best."

Shi Tan gritted his teeth and said nothing. Soon, a thousand-man commander rushed to report: "Report to the chief, the raft is ready."

Shi Le patted his shoulder and said, "Go."

Shi Tan pulled out the battle sword, urged the horse to run to the army, staring at the river surface, and saw a layer of white mist rising from the river surface, which made him extremely excited. He raised his battle sword and shouted: "God is blessing us, the river surface is foggy. This is the best time to attack. You must seize the south bank as fast as possible. You are not allowed to turn back after the battle. Those who dare to return will be killed."

The eight thousand Jie soldiers yelled together, Shi Tan waved his sword and shouted: "Strike"

Several horns sounded, one after another, echoing in the valley on the north bank.

Thousands of attacking Jie soldiers rushed towards the shore. The shore was filled with sheepskin rafts of all sizes, as big as warships, and they could ride on several people, and the small ones could also ride on two people. There were wooden rafts tied to the rafts. The soldiers sat on the rafts and rowed rafts across the river. Countless rafts were thrown into the river. Jie soldiers shouted and jumped into the water, climbed onto the rafts, and rowed to the other side.
Chapter completed!