The World of Yellow Sky

Chapter 720 The Battle of Yanxu
In the fourth year of Chuping (193), October [-]th, autumn.

Chen Du, Tingwei Mansion.

It was dusk, and most of the houses in Tingwei's mansion had been extinguished, only a few places were still dimly lit.

Slight footsteps sounded, and two guards with lanterns in their hands and knives on their waists walked slowly through the corridor, looking around vigilantly, and they did not miss any possible problems.

Even though they were in a safe hinterland, these guards did not relax their vigilance at all, and still abided by their duties to patrol the government office.

Li Cheng gently closed the window and stopped looking out of the window.

The lights flickered, and there were many bamboo slips on his desk.

Li Cheng glanced around again, walked around slowly, scanned the house, and then sat down on the mat again.

There were many lights in the room, but he only lit one.

Sitting on the table, Li Cheng simply sorted out the bamboo slips on the desk, and then moved the lamp towards him.

Then he reached into his bosom and took out a small wooden tube.

Li Cheng held the wooden cylinder with both hands and exerted lightly, the lid and body of the cylinder were separated, and a roll of paper rolled into a ball fell out of the wooden cylinder.

Li Cheng put the wooden tube in his arms with one hand, and picked up the scroll that fell on the desk with the other.

Slowly unrolling the scroll, Li Cheng frowned slightly, his eyes constantly changing with the flickering lights.

The sound of footsteps came again, and the distance was not too close. Li Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly, lifted the scroll in his hand and placed it on the light in front of him.

The yellow paper was ignited as soon as it encountered the light, but Li Cheng's attention was not on the burning scroll in his hand, but outside the house.

The footsteps soon passed away again, and the guards in Ting Wei's mansion did not have a long time to patrol.

The roll of paper was not big, but it was burned up after a short period of time, and there was not much ashes left, so it was quickly cleaned up by Li Cheng.

Li Cheng was sitting at the table. This was the first time he received a secret order from Taipingdao after he entered Chendu.

On the secret order, not only the seals of the Eagle Wolf Guard and the Privy Council were printed, but also Xu An's private seal was printed, which was enough to show the importance of the matter.

And the order in the secret order also made Li Cheng feel a little troublesome. He knew that if he acted according to the secret order, once it was done, the entire Han court would undergo earth-shaking changes.

It seems that all forces in Hanting are cooperating with each other now, and the frontline troops will fight bravely, but in reality, in Chendu and other places, there are already undercurrents surging.

Li Cheng is now an official in Ting Wei's mansion, and he can also get in touch with some secrets of the court.

Now Chen Du is divided into three factions.

One faction is headed by Sun Jian, supplemented by Yuan Shu, Cheng Pu, Zhu Zhi, Sun Ce and other generals who hold military power, most of them come from Henan and Yangzhou.

If it was only Sun Jian who only held military power, his influence would not be great.

But because of Yuan Shu's reasons, its influence on the court is quite deep. After all, the Yuan family has four generations and three generations, and its disciples and old officials are all over the world.

Yuan Shao's proclaiming the emperor in the north did not make Liu Xie feel too uncomfortable with Yuan Shu. Liu Xie's trust in Sun Jian and Yuan Shu already made the other two factions feel uneasy.

The second faction is dominated by Liu Chong, supplemented by Guo Jia, Xi Zhicai and others, and many generals and schools support Liu Chong.

Above the temple, many high-ranking officials were partial to Liu Chong, and Sikong Zhang Xi, one of the three princes, also stood with Liu Chong.

Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou, and Liu Yao, the new governor of Yangzhou, also supported Liu Chong.

The third faction is the Chang'an faction headed by Wang Yun, supplemented by Huangfusong, Gai Xun and others.

Wang Yun is the current Situ of the Han court, and Huang Fusong is the current captain of the Han court. The officials and powerful families from Chang'an all support them.

Their respective families are also influential, not to mention that they are all veterans and have high reputations themselves.

However, although it has considerable political influence, it does not have much military power.

Although Wang Yun, Huang Fusong and other officials served in the Chang'an court, they were coerced by Dong Zhuo after all.

Now that Liu Bian has abdicated, and there are many highly respected officials in Chang'an, who is qualified to liquidate them?
Always loyal to the emperor of Han, whoever is the emperor is loyal to whom.

Now the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty has been established, and there is only Liu Xie.

Although Empress Dowager Dong and Empress He did not fight each other, this kind of struggle did not continue to Liu Bian and Liu Xie.

Both of them are in the deep palace. Although they are in the emperor's family, the relationship between the two is not much weaker than that of ordinary brothers.

Therefore, Liu Xie did not have any prejudice against these officials serving in the Chang'an court. On the contrary, because Wang Yun and others escaped from Chang'an with Liu Bian, Liu Xie also praised Wang Yun, Huang Fusong and others for commending them.

Today, Hanting occupies the land of five states, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, and Jingzhou.

The governors of the prefectures are Sun Jian, Mu of Yuzhou, Cao Cao, Mu of Yanzhou, Tao Qian, Mu of Xuzhou, Liu Yao, governor of Yangzhou, and Liu Biao, Mu of Jingzhou.

Liu Yao, governor of Yangzhou, and Liu Biao, shepherd of Jingzhou, supported Liu Chong.

Xuzhou Mu Taoqian supported Sun Jian.

Yanzhou Mu Cao Cao remained neutral, and had never publicly stood in line on any occasion.

Liu Bei's position in the Youzhou Cavalry Army is also very important. Like Cao Cao, he also maintained neutrality and did not take part in the disputes between the three factions.

Wang Yun did not have the support of local officials at the governor and prefect level, but only had influence in the court.

It's just that Wang Yun and Liu Chong seem to have reached a consensus, and Li Cheng can be regarded as Wang Yun's confidant, so he got some information.

With the increasingly fierce battles in Yanzhou, Xuzhou, and Qingzhou, some people expressed their opinion to the emperor, thinking that Sun Jian, as the coach, should go all out to deal with the rebel attack, but he is a bit powerless as the post of Yuzhou pastor. Yuzhou animal husbandry.

Among all the candidates, Gai Xun was the one with the highest voice.

Gai Xun used to be the governor of Hanyang County in Liangzhou, and then moved to be the prefect of Hanyang. .

Whether it was Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, he had always been extremely strict with Huangfusong and Lu Zhi, but if anything went wrong, he would be punished immediately.

However, when Gai Xun was recruited into the court as the captain of the captives, Gai Xun pointed out Liu Hong's mistakes in politics many times, but there was no dispute between the two.

Coupled with Gai Xun's behavior all the time, no matter it was Dong Zhuo's behavior after he disrupted the capital, or Dong Zhuo's behavior after he occupied the capital, Gai Xun became the best candidate for Yuzhou Mu.

It's just that the only change now lies in Gai Xun. Gai Xun doesn't seem to have any intention of taking over as Yuzhou Mu.

The situation in the court of the Han court is complicated. There is no open competition among the three factions, but the secret fighting is getting more and more intense. However, the three parties are now maintaining a certain degree of restraint, and there is no further expansion of the dispute.

And the secret letter passed by Xu An is to add another fire to the current Han court, to put the disputes between the three parties on the bright side thoroughly, to make the three parties fall into mutual suspicion, and then exacerbate disputes.

And the best way is a well-planned murder.

In order to cooperate with his actions, the entire Yingwei Tiqi lurking in the Han court can be driven by him.

The Eagle Guard administrators from all over the Hanting have received secret orders from Taipingdao. These Eagle Guard riders have all received the news. As long as they receive the order with the code written, they will fully cooperate at all costs.

at all costs……

The lights were flickering, and Li Cheng's face was flickering in the orange firelight, cloudy and sunny.

Since the establishment of the Eagle Wolf Guard, there have only been two occurrences of "whatever it takes" in the order.

The first time was the resurgence of the Yellow Turbans in Sizhou. Xu You rushed to Qingzhou to command the Yellow Turban Army of Sizhou to revolt. An order came from the headquarters of the Eagle Wolf Guard in Bingzhou.

He ordered the Yingwei lurking in Jizhou to attract the attention of the Jizhou army at all costs, so as to cover Xu You's passage through Jizhou and enter Qingzhou to preside over the westward withdrawal of the Yellow Turban Army of the four states.

Jizhou Eagle Guards were severely injured because of this, and hundreds of people were killed or injured, but in the end, they successfully covered Xu You, and no one found Xu You's trace.

It wasn't until Xu You arrived in Qingzhou that the Han army woke up like a dream.

The second time was to assist the Taishan Yellow Turban Army, ordering all the Yingwei Tiqi left behind in the four states to act to provide information for the Taishan Yellow Turban Army.

In the end, most of the Yingwei's remaining strongholds in the four states were exposed, causing heavy casualties, but it allowed the Taishan Yellow Turban Army to turn the crisis into safety and gain a firm foothold.

This time, such words appeared above the order, which made Li Cheng's heart feel even heavier.

Li Cheng raised his head and looked at the dancing candles on the desk.

The war between the Han court and the Wei court lasted from the spring to the autumn of the fourth year of Chuping, and now they are about to be separated.

As early as March, Qingzhou Muyuan Tan personally commanded [-] Qingzhou soldiers and [-] Jizhou soldiers, a total of [-] people, and sent troops south to confront Cao Cao and Liu Bei in Zhu'a City in Pingyuan County.

Wei Jun Chen Bing [-] people were stationed in Zhu'a City, Pingyuan County.

Twenty-six thousand Chen soldiers of the Han army were stationed twenty miles south of Zhu'a City.

And at the same time, also in March.

Zang Ba also led the army to the east of Yunting.

Zang Ba led [-] soldiers and horses in his headquarters, [-] soldiers in Qingzhou, and a total of [-] soldiers.

The main general of the Han army was Zhu Zhi, who led [-] soldiers from Xuzhou and [-] soldiers from Danyang, although there was a difference of [-] between the two sides.

But Zhu Zhi had more elites, and Sun Ce was attacking Gai County in Taishan County in Gonglai Mountain not far from Langya Kingdom, and he had [-] soldiers under his command.

The two wars broke out almost simultaneously.

The battle between Zhu and A lasted until the first ten days of June.

The final result ended with the victory of the Han army. In the end, Yu Jin, the school lieutenant under Cao Cao, opened the situation. He commanded the cavalry army to defeat the right army of the Qingzhou soldiers in the first battle, and then the two generals Le Jin and Dian Wei rushed into the formation. The leader of the right army of the Qingzhou Army triggered a chain reaction.

The Qingzhou army was defeated like a mountain, and Yuan Tan was defeated all the way to Dongpingling, the capital of Jinan Kingdom, and then stopped the defeat. It is said that only more than [-] soldiers were gathered.

However, the Han army also suffered heavy casualties and was seriously injured, so Cao Cao only sent troops to capture Zhu'a and Licheng, and then did not continue to advance.

The five thousand Youzhou cavalry led by Liu Bei were all dispatched by Sun Jian. Without the cover of the cavalry, Cao Cao did not dare to go too far into Qingzhou. He was also worried that the Jizhou army on the north bank of the Yellow River would cut off their retreat when he attacked Qingzhou. .

The first battle of Zhu'a also caused Cao Cao's Yanzhou army to lose the ability to continue to forge ahead for a short time.

If the battle of Zhu'a can be regarded as a fierce battle, then the battle of Yunting is a real bloody battle.

In the Battle of Yunting, the two sides invested a total of more than [-] troops, with more than [-] Han troops and [-] Wei troops.

The two sides were deadlocked on the front line of Gonglai Mountain, Yunting Mountain and Jiwu Mountain, and neither was willing to retreat.

If Zang Ba retreats again, he will lose all his territory in Xuzhou and lose all the morale of the army. Therefore, Zang Ba is already a shrew this time.

Qingzhou Biejia Wang Xiu was transferred back to Qingzhou by Yuan Tan because of his previous defeat. Yuan Tan ordered his general Cen Bi to replace Wang Xiu.

Although Wang Xiu has a little understanding of military strategy, he is much worse than Cen Bi.

Cen Bi has been in battle for a long time and knows how to use troops. After a period of training, the Qingzhou soldiers have also increased their combat strength a lot.

The morale of the Wei army was like a rainbow. Although the Han army was better armed and had more elite soldiers, they were repelled several times in a short while.

If there were only Zhu Zhi, the Han army might suffer defeat in the battle of Yunting.

But the change of the matter lies in Sun Ce.

Seeing that the Wei army was in full swing, Zhu Zhi wanted to order the troops to withdraw, but Sun Ce believed that Zang Ba was brave and had so many guards that the enemy should not be underestimated, but it was unwise for Cen Bi to come to the battle in person.

Although the Qingzhou soldiers are much stronger than before, the generals of the Qingzhou soldiers are rare. If they can kill Cen Bi, they can easily turn the tide of the battle.

Until the end, Zhu Zhi decided to trust Sun Ce's judgment.

Then Sun Ce led three thousand Danyang soldiers to launch a counterattack against the Chinese army led by Zang Ba, after attracting the firepower of Zang Ba's army.

When attacking Yan Baihu in Yangzhou, Jiang Qin, Zhou Tai, and Ling Cao each led a thousand Danyang soldiers, and rushed from three directions to Cen Bi who was in the left formation.

Jiang Qin, Zhou Tai, and Ling Cao all joined the army when Sun Jing was crusade against Yan Baihu, and with the accumulation of military achievements, they were finally promoted to army commander and army marquis, and followed Sun Ce all the way north to help.

The three generals are all first-class fighting generals, and under their command are brave and well-armed Danyang soldiers.

Before Cen Bi could react, the three generals had torn three gaps in the formation of the Qingzhou Army's left army.

The morale of the Danyang soldiers was like a rainbow, and the front line of the left army of the Qingzhou Army fell into a short-term chaos.

Cen Bi wanted to withdraw from the front line, but Ling Cao had already caught up, and the generals guarding Cen Bi's surroundings did not even have Ling Cao's single-handed enemy.

Cen Bi was beheaded by Ling Cao, and the left army of the Qingzhou Army was also completely collapsed because of Cen Bi's death.

After receiving the news, Zang Ba had no choice but to flee northward with his troops and horses when he saw the army was in disarray.

The battle of Yunting came to an end.

Wei Jun's offensives on Yanzhou and Xuzhou all ended in failure.

Unlike the Yanzhou Army, which has no offensive capabilities, the Xuzhou Army and Yangzhou Army under Zhu Zhi's command are full of morale.

After Zhu Zhi got the order, he immediately sent his troops to the north, captured all the northern parts of Langya Kingdom in Xuzhou, and entered Qingzhou Prefecture.

The battle of Yanxu ended with a great victory for the Han army.

In the land of Sili, Sun Jian also successfully repelled the Wei army's attack.

At this time, the Wei army was facing the counterattack of the Han army.

If there is no external force to intervene, then the Luoyang area may be preserved, but Qingzhou is definitely difficult to preserve.

The secret order sent at this time was to cause civil strife in the Han court, thereby disrupting the deployment of the Han army, so that Wei Ting could get a chance to recover.

Two dogs fight, play off.

The more intense the struggle between Han Ting and Wei Ting, the more beneficial it will be for Taipingdao.

(End of this chapter)