Mi Han

Chapter 726: Zhang He's Thoughts on Changing the World
As Zhang Yi expected, just a dozen miles after Zhang He led his troops away from Xinye City, rain began to fall slowly from the sky.

Zhang Yi learned from Zhou Tai that according to his understanding of the weather in Nanyang County, the rain would only get heavier and would not stop.

After hearing Zhou Tai's analysis, a solemn look appeared on Zhang Yi's face.

I am really afraid of what will happen.

In order to conceal his tracks, Zhang He did not lead his troops along the official road.

Even the official roads of the time cannot be compared with the asphalt roads of later generations.

As the rain gradually fell, the mountain road under the feet of tens of thousands of Han troops became muddy.

This greatly affected the marching progress of the Han army.

Although the Wu army had marched in heavy rain before, their situation was different from that of the Han army.

No matter how heavy the rain is, a large section of the journey from Xiakou to Yong'an is by water.

The Wu army had a large number of technologically advanced warships.

Those warships ensured the Wu army's marching speed to the greatest extent.

But the Han army did not have this advantage.

They could only rely on their own feet, climbing over mountains and crossing ridges step by step, walking on the muddy mountain roads.

I think people who grew up in rural areas in later generations should have an understanding of how difficult it is to walk on muddy roads.

The most important thing is that since it was a surprise attack, tens of thousands of Han troops set out with weapons carried with them.

Given the physical fitness of the Han army, it is not impossible for them to carry all their equipment and launch a surprise attack nearly a hundred miles away.

However, the harsh weather conditions made a task that was usually easy for the Han army become difficult at the moment.

After walking for more than ten miles, many Han soldiers felt numbness in their calves and soreness in their hands.

Not only ordinary soldiers, but also generals with slightly worse physical fitness have this feeling.

Some Han soldiers even slipped and fell into the mountain stream below due to carelessness.

Those Han soldiers who fell down let out screams of fear before losing their lives.

And those roars, with the help of the depth of the mountain stream, lingered in the ears of tens of thousands of Tiance soldiers for a long time.

After enduring for a long time, Zhang Yi finally couldn't bear it anymore.

Zhang Yi strode forward to Zhang He and asked for his orders:

"General, let the men rest for a while!"

"At least we can wait until the rain subsides before our army continues its march."

Zhang Yi was afraid that if they continued to march like this, the non-combat casualties of the tens of thousands of Tian Ce troops would become more and more serious.

This was a heavy blow to the combat effectiveness and morale of the Tian Ce Army.

However, Zhang He's determination still exceeded Zhang Yi's expectations.

“Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back.

Now that I have led the army out, I must capture the city and return."

Zhang He was not unconscious of the screams caused by the Han army falling into the ravine.

But Zhang He knew that this was an inevitable and necessary sacrifice.

Just after leaving Xinye City, he sent out a number of scouts to follow the army and observe the status of the Wei army outposts ahead.

When each scout returned, they reported to Zhang He that the Wei army's sentries were in a careless state.

What does this prove?
It proves that Mi Yang’s judgment is correct!

Since it is the right judgment, why should we give up such a great opportunity because of some necessary sacrifices?
Zhang He looked at his feet that were soaked in mud, his eyes did not waver in the slightest.

Then Zhang He lifted his foot with force and dropped it heavily on the muddy road, splashing a few drops of water.

"Follow me and keep going."

Zhang He's attitude made Zhang Yi close his eyes helplessly.

Seeing that Zhang He did not change his mind, all Zhang Yi could do next was to walk around the team with several generals and boost morale with words.

Listening to the footsteps gradually getting faster under Zhang Yi's encouragement, a smile appeared on Zhang He's face without anyone noticing.

Although Zhang Yi had advised him frankly several times, Zhang He not only did not dislike Zhang Yi in his heart, but rather liked him quite a lot.

This is not because Zhang Yi is Mi Yang's confidant, but because every word Zhang Yi says is based on public spirit.

Such qualities are rare in Cao Wei.

For those who possess such qualities, the future will surely be bright.

Since Zhang He came to the Han Dynasty, he found that the Wei ministers who had surrendered previously were all doing the same things.

That is to find potential stocks in the Han Dynasty, make friends with them, and teach them your abilities.

This is the surrendered Wei minister who is considering the future of his family.

Among those Wei ministers, the most successful one was Yu Jin.

After the Battle of Gong'an, Yu Jin almost disappeared from the eyes of the world, but he was always very active in the capital of the Han Dynasty.

Whenever someone visited him, Yu Jin would mention the glorious days he and Mi Yang had spent in Gong'an.

As more and more people talked about it, and since Mi Yang had never expressed his dissatisfaction with this matter, gradually almost every Han official knew that Yu Jin and Mi Yang had a good relationship.

This fundamentally improved Yu Jin's status in the Han Dynasty.

When Liu Bei died, Yu Jin, a surrendered general, was ranked higher than Zhao Yun and others in mourning for Liu Bei.

With such a good example before him, it was impossible for Zhang He not to follow suit.

And after observing him many times, he had such expectations for Zhang Yi.

Since the expedition, every word he said to Zhang Yi was actually a teaching.

Thinking of this, Zhang He gathered his strength again and climbed towards the top of the mountain.

Since he was very familiar with the terrain of northern Jing, today's marching route was personally determined by Zhang He.

This marching route can avoid most of the Wei army outposts and greatly shorten the distance, but it is quite rugged and difficult.

But Zhang He believed that the Tian Ce Army behind him would not let him down.

Back in Yizhou, didn't Zhang Fei lead his troops over mountains and across rivers, suddenly attack him and beat him up?
The Han army was able to do it before, so there is no reason why they can’t do it now.

It was unknown how long they walked, but when it gradually darkened, tens of thousands of Han troops finally walked out of the dangerous dense forest.

After walking out of the dense forest, Zhang He asked someone to count the number of people.

After counting, Zhang He discovered that the Han army was missing hundreds of people.

Almost all of these hundreds of people died on the road due to various reasons.

The bad weather in this world is sometimes more ferocious than wild beasts.

In addition to the hundreds of deaths, Zhang He also learned that many people in the army were injured.

Most of these people were attacked by poisonous insects and ferocious beasts in the mountains and forests.

After learning about the current situation of the Han army, Zhang He felt happy instead of worried.

Today's march can be said to be extremely difficult.

Zhang He was mentally prepared for the serious casualties.

But unexpectedly, the reduction in staff was much better than he expected.

Zhang He couldn't help but secretly praise the elite troops of the Tian Ce Army in his heart.

Zhang He then made battle arrangements.

Zhang He first ordered Zhou Tai to be the vanguard and lead an army of 3,000 to capture a village below as quickly as possible.

Zhang He, who was familiar with the Wei army's outposts, knew that the village was occupied by Wei troops and was a hub for communication between Wancheng and Bowang.

After Zhou Tai led his troops away, Zhang He let the remaining troops rest well.

The remaining troops had not rested for long before Zhang He learned that Zhou Tai had captured the village.

After learning the news, Zhang He quickly arranged other tasks.

"Zhou Tai led his troops to rest in the village, and when the rain stopped, he sent troops from behind to seize the sentries and important roads between Wancheng and Bowang."

After arranging Zhou Tai's tasks, Zhang He turned his gaze to Liu Yin.

“You lead more than a thousand people to stay here to take care of the wounded and always be vigilant about our army’s retreat.

If you find anything unusual on the back road, be sure to report it immediately."

After finishing this step, Zhang He turned to look at Zhang Yi who seemed to be thinking about something, and said to him:
"You will lead the remaining 5,000 soldiers and go with me to Bowang."

After hearing Zhang He's words, Zhang Yi immediately expressed his acceptance of the order.

Soon, it was completely dark.

Taking advantage of the darkness, Zhang He led his troops towards Bowang overnight.

Even though it was dark, many Han soldiers could not see their surroundings clearly.

But from the wet feeling on my body and the loud sound of rain in my ears, I could tell that the rain had not decreased in intensity, but was getting heavier.

Plus, day and night are two different environments.

Although the Tian Ce Army strictly followed the food standard of "one meat every seven days" set by Mi Yang, this could only slowly improve the Tian Ce Army's night blindness, but was not enough to allow the Tian Ce Army to see at night as well as in the daytime.

For people today who are superstitious about ghosts and gods, when night falls, some of the deep-seated fears in their hearts will be unconsciously triggered.

Even the most elite soldiers are no exception to this.

In particular, the Tian Ce Army had never entered Jingbei. For them, the environment they were in was completely unfamiliar and pitch black.

An unknown sense of terror is slowly invading the hearts of every Tian Ce Army soldier.

And this sense of terror tends to be detonated after an incident occurs.

As the rain got heavier, strong winds started to blow on the road.

The strong wind even blew away the general's flag.

When marching in the dark night, the military flag is the guiding light for the entire army and their spiritual sustenance.

So when the military flag was blown to pieces, many Tian Ce members couldn't help but exclaim.

When Zhang He heard the exclamations of the Tian Ce Army, his first reaction was to turn around and calm the troops.

But before he could make any move, Zhang Yi took the lead, running in front and behind the team like day, constantly shouting:

"I am Zhang Yi. Today I am following the orders of the Grand Marshal. Don't worry!"

Zhang Yi's words were quite simple, but the information they revealed was not simple.

As everyone knows, Zhang Yi was the favorite general of Grand Marshal Mi Yang.

In addition, everyone also knows how high Mi Yang's prestige is in the Tian Ce Army.

When Zhang Yi's shout rang out among the Han army, the exclamations that had been coming one after another soon gradually disappeared.

Thousands of Tian Ce troops believed that Zhang Yi would not falsely convey Mi Yang's orders.

And they believed even more that Mi Yang would not harm them.

After realizing this, no matter how dark the sky was or how heavy the rain was, the hearts of thousands of Tian Ce soldiers gradually calmed down.

After they calmed down, the speed of thousands of Han troops suddenly increased a lot.

By the third watch, thousands of Tiance troops were already quite close to Bowang City.

When he got here, Zhang He found a pond for raising poultry nearby.

After realizing this, Zhang He immediately ordered the Tian Ce Army to pick up stones on the ground and throw them into the pond.

Many poultry were sleeping in the pond when they were suddenly hit by stones flying around.

They felt pain in their bodies and soon started chirping one after another.

The loud cry almost perfectly covered up the sound of thousands of Tiance troops marching.

By around four o'clock in the morning, thousands of Tian Ce troops led by Zhang He had arrived at the city.

However, because the thousands of Tian Ce troops arrived too secretly and suddenly, the Wei troops on the city were all fast asleep and no one noticed anything unusual.

Seeing this, Zhang He did not delay.

Zhang He, who once led his troops to garrison in northern Jing, was familiar with the city defenses of Bowang.

He knew that although Bowang’s city defense was not bad, it had a fatal loophole.

Zhang He led the Tian Ce Army around to a part of the northern city wall, and then ordered his men to find the strong men in the army and start smashing down a certain part of the city wall.

After seeing Zhang He's behavior, Zhang Yi's face inevitably showed a look of confusion.

He admitted that the people he was looking for were all famous strongmen in the army.

But they are now destroying the city wall, how can they possibly destroy it?
But before Zhang Yi could be puzzled for long, with the help of the firelight, an expression of disbelief appeared on his face the next moment.

The strong men had not been hammering for long when holes slowly appeared on the wall they were hammering.

After noticing Zhang Yi's surprise, Zhang He smiled and explained:
"In the early years of Jian'an, the late emperor launched a northern expedition with the support of Liu Biao.

During that Northern Expedition, the emperor once occupied Bowang and approached Xuchang.

Later, Cao Cao led a large army to attack Bowang and forced the former emperor to retreat.

Although the Wei army successfully captured Bowang that time, it also caused damage to the northern wall of Bowang that was difficult to repair.

In addition, Cao Wei's defense line was in Fancheng in the past, and they never expected that Bowang would face the enemy one day, so they had never carried out major repairs on the city walls of Bowang.

When I was in Cao Wei, I once suggested that we should be wary of this.

But today, it is clear that my proposal has never been adopted.”

Zhang He slowly told the secret he knew.

When Zhang He finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Yi and said:

"Now that the city wall has been opened, I wonder if Boqi is willing to enter?"

As he spoke, it seemed that Zhang He wanted to give the credit of being the first to reach the summit to Zhang Yi for nothing.

Although being the first to reach the top means the first achievement, it also involves considerable risks.

But it was obvious that Zhang Yi was not afraid.

So Zhang Yi excitedly bowed to Zhang He, and then led hundreds of warriors into the city through the hole that had been smashed open.

After arriving in the city, Zhang Yi immediately led hundreds of warriors towards the city wall.

Due to the sounds of poultry and rain covering up the noise, the Wei army on the city wall did not hear any unusual movements, which caused them to remain in a deep sleep.

In order to ensure that Bowang could be captured without any risk, Zhang Yi showed no mercy to these sleeping enemies.

Under Zhang Yi's order, the Wei soldiers who were defending the city were soon killed in their sleep.

Before they died, they didn't even have time to issue a warning.

After clearing the Wei troops on the city wall, Zhang Yi hurried to the foot of the city and opened the city gate.

As the city gates were fully opened, thousands of Tiance troops, who had long been unable to contain themselves, rushed into Bowang City like tigers and wolves.

Coincidentally, when thousands of Tiance troops rushed in, the first rays of light in the early morning appeared.

"It's five o'clock.

August 30th, the sixth year of Huangchu!"

The night watchman's call for time echoed loudly throughout the city.

But soon, several night watchmen near the north wall showed expressions of horror on their faces.

Zhang Yi came to the night watchman with a sharp blade in hand, picked up the night watchman's wooden hammer, and struck the gong hard, saying:

“No!
It should be August 30th, the sixth year of Zhangwu!"

(End of this chapter)