The weather in December was very cold. It had snowed several times in Chen Country. It had snowed a few days before Liu Chong sent out his troops. It had just melted, so the thawed soil was very muddy and not very easy to walk on.
The troops had been marching for 10 hours since midnight. The intensive training they had undergone over the past few days had shown its effects. The entire troop had marched for more than 100 miles and was already close to Chen County. They were resting in a forest about 30 miles away from Chen County.
After walking for such a long distance, other than the soldiers on guard, the others sat together according to their units. They packed up and took out the food they had prepared to replenish their energy. Because they had already entered the Cao army's warning range, Liu Chong did not let them start a fire to rebel, so the food for the troops could only be dry rations and spring water. However, after walking for such a long distance, his body was already hot and his stomach was hungry, so the dry food did not feel so uncomfortable.
Under Sun Shou's leadership, the vanguard had already gone to investigate the vicinity of Chen County. Liu Chong was anxiously waiting for their information. Fortunately, they were marching in the territory of the Chen Kingdom, so the geographical advantage was still in his hands. If they went deep into the territory of Yanzhou, Liu Chong did not know if it would be so convenient. Other than a rough map of Yanzhou, everything else was supplemented by soldiers who had been to Yanzhou, especially Chenliu. However, there was one thing that Dian Wei had originally stayed in Chenliu, and he had also stayed in the mountainous area where Chenliu and the Kingdom of Chen met for a period of time. Therefore, he had some understanding of Chenliu's geography. This was also one of the reasons why Liu Chong promoted him to the position of personal guard station commander.
"Your Highness! You should eat something too!" The one who spoke was Little Cabinet. During the march, he had been following the horse team in the rear. Otherwise, although he had also trained with Liu Chong, he had not really trained according to the requirements of the special forces. It was difficult to keep up with the marching speed of the entire army by walking.
"How is it? Little Cabinet, you can still take it, right?" Reaching out to take the jerky and dry food that he handed over, Liu Chong took a fierce bite. He chewed hard and swallowed it down before drinking a mouthful of ice water.
"It's alright! It's just that my butt hurts!" Little Cabinet said as he touched his butt. This was for sure. After only basic riding training, it was already good enough for him to stay on the horse and not fall off. He was still far from being like a real cavalry.
"Haha! You brat, I told you not to follow me! This war could not be compared to being in the Imperial Residence. Not only was it tough, but there was also the danger of losing one's life at any time.”Liu Chong joked.
"His Highness is already here. How can I hide behind him?”Little Cabinet puffed out his chest, his face full of pride.
"Haha! You brat!" Liu Chong looked at his serious expression and did not attack his confidence anymore.
He chewed another mouthful of dry food and quickly ate the food in his hand. He felt that he had recovered some strength and was much more energetic.
"Report! Captain Sun is back!" The guard outside reported.
Liu Chong's eyes lit up, and he looked pleasantly surprised. It seemed that he had a good eye. It was right to let Sun Shou be the vanguard. In less than two hours, he had already brought back the information.
"Quickly get him over here!" Liu Chong said loudly.
"Yes, sir!"
Soon, Sun Shou arrived in front of Liu Chong and bowed.""Greetings, my lord!"
"Get up quickly. Have you investigated the situation clearly?”Liu Chong asked impatiently.
"Yes, sir! My lord!"
"Hurry up and tell me!" Liu Chong would not pretend to be calm like some people. As a soldier, he knew what kind of leader soldiers liked, so he said directly.
"Looking at the size of Cao Cao's camp, there are about 100,000 soldiers. Cao Cao's camp has many banners, but I don't see Xia Hou. This morning, the Cao army had already begun to attack Chen County, but they were forced back. Many people died. I sent someone to count the carts carrying the corpses. There were about five thousand people. However, the Cao army did not seem to be prepared to continue attacking. After the various battalions withdrew their troops, other than routine checks, there were no signs of mobilization. There might not be another attack in the afternoon.”Five thousand people, and it would take hundreds of carriages to transport them. One could imagine how intense the battle was.
"So many? Was the Cao army this fierce on the first day?”Liu Chong was shocked. As the saying goes, if one kills 1,000 enemies, one will lose 800 of their own. Even if the city defenders suffered fewer casualties, there would be at least 1,000 to 2,000 casualties. Moreover, those who died at the beginning were all soldiers with a certain level of combat strength. The number of soldiers in the city was so much less than Cao Cao's army. At this speed, it would be difficult for them to hold on for more than ten days.
In fact, Liu Chong had another question that echoed in his mind. The Cao army should not have fought so hard unless there was something special that made them so anxious.
"Could it be a lack of food? That's great! However, he still needed to confirm it!”Liu Chong thought.
"Yes, this subordinate is also very puzzled. Seeing that there are not many siege weapons below the city, there are only some scaling ladders and so on. It should be that the Cao army suddenly began to attack. I didn't expect the city to be fully prepared, so there were so many casualties.”Sun Shou shared his analysis. After all, he had fought with the refugees for a period of time, so he had his own understanding of some signs on the battlefield.
" That's right." Liu Chong nodded in approval." Tell me everything else. Don't leave anything out!"”
Any action on the battlefield would not be aimless. Smart people could get some important information from the enemy's clues and judge the enemy's next move. Just like forensic autopsy, the unknown places on the corpse might be the key to solving the case. On the battlefield, a small matter might affect the final result.
"In addition, this subordinate also discovered that other than the large carts transporting the corpses, there were also some large carts leaving the camp in the direction of Yangxia. There were about 500 carts, and there were 1,000 guards accompanying them. I don't know if they were transporting food from the rear, but I've already sent 20 people to follow them.”Sun Shou reported.
"Yangxia direction?" Liu Chong's interest was piqued. If Cao Cao's camp's rations were to be transported from Yangxia, it was obvious that it was an important storage location. Could it be that Cao Cao had stored all the rations collected by the army there? It wasn't impossible. Yangxia's defensive conditions were very good. In the past few years, Luo Jun had also repaired it. The granary was also in existence. It was less than 200 miles away from Chen County, which was beneficial for the transportation of grain.
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