Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1341 Position
Since Yuan Shao's death and the loss of Jizhou due to the conflict between Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, Ju Su has become more restrained and cautious than when he was under Yuan Shao. Especially when speaking to Yuan Xi, both his words and attitude are respectful. The domineering arrogance of the former Jizhou strategist is almost no longer seen.

This is certainly because Ju Shou had a relatively gentle personality, and after seeing the disastrous consequences of the infighting among Yuan Shao's eight advisers, he became much more restrained. But the most important point is that as the earliest adviser to follow Yuan Xi, Ju Shou was one of the people who understood Yuan Xi's character best.

Yuan Xi seemed to be kind to others, but in fact he was very persistent in many aspects. In order to achieve his goals, although he could not be said to be unscrupulous, he was extremely decisive in many cases.

As a subject to Yuan Xi, all Ju Shou could do was to be honest and do his job well, and not overstep the line in anything, so when Yuan Xi asked Ju Shou if he had any favorite cliques, Ju Shou stopped talking without even thinking.

This made Yuan Xi feel that he was now becoming a true emperor step by step. Even old subordinates like Ju Shou who had always followed him were in awe of him, not to mention other people.

That is to say, Zhuge Liang, Lu Xun and a few others, because of their similar age, did not have many concerns about Yuan Xi. But who knows whether the relationship between the monarch and his subjects will be as harmonious as it is now in ten or twenty years?
Yuan Xi couldn't help but sigh in his heart. There were only a few rulers and ministers who got along well with each other like Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang in later generations in the thousands of years of history. That was why they were praised so much by later generations.

He stood up and said to Ju Su, "Prime Minister, please send a letter to Gao Gan and Zhang Liao, asking them to start conquering the eastern part of Liang Province and advance step by step to see how Wei responds."

Hedong County.

Ma Chao felt that his good days for the past year were coming to an end.

Because the Jin army deployed its troops on the border between Hedong County and Bingzhou, it began to move westward to capture the various tribes in Liangzhou.

In fact, Ma Chao didn't care much about the eastern part of Liang Province. After all, his territory was now in Hedong and Zuofengyi, and he was confronting Henei County occupied by the Jin army through Luoyang on the border.

Over the past year, the two sides acted in tacit understanding. Whenever the Jin army advanced a little westward from Luoyang, Ma Chao would retreat a little. After a few days, Ma Chao would come back a little, and the Jin army would retreat a little. The two sides never crossed the Luoyang line.

Now the Jin army went to attack the eastern part of Liang Province, which was Han Sui's territory. Ma Chao and Han Sui had always had some conflicts, so Ma Chao wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between the two tigers.

But he was not a fool. He knew that if Beidi County and Anding County in the eastern part of Liang Province were lost, Chang'an would be directly threatened, so Cao Wei would definitely let him deploy defenses in advance.

Sure enough, a few days later, an urgent report from Chang'an was sent to Hedong, ordering Ma Chao to gather all his forces and march north to Bingzhou to cut off the retreat of the Jin army that was attacking Liangzhou.

Ma Chao cursed his bad luck inwardly. The timing chosen by Jin State was extremely bad. It was already the beginning of autumn. Even if he recruited soldiers to Bingzhou now, there would only be one or two months left for the battle.

The Jin army clearly wanted to take advantage of the time difference, but Cao Wei could only respond passively. Moreover, who knew that the Jin army would choose to attack the most desolate Liang Province at this time after a year of recuperation?

Moreover, this tactic of blocking time was like a fight between street thugs, but Cao Wei had to deal with it with all its strength, because no one could say whether the Jin army would take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on Chang'an after conquering Anding.

Ma Chao had no choice but to hold his nose and drag his feet in Hedong to mobilize troops. At the same time, he had to think carefully about a problem. It was obvious that his passive attitude could not last forever. He would definitely face a choice in the future. What should he do then?

In fact, since the Battle of Yecheng and the death of Cao Cao, Ma Chao has realized that Cao Wei is on the decline and has thought about a way out. He has only two choices: one is to change his lord, and the other is to become the lord himself.

There is almost no chance for him to establish himself in the world now. In Liang Province, the only province he is familiar with, Ma Chao's power is not as strong as Han Sui's. Unless something unexpected happens and Han Sui dies suddenly, Ma Chao will have a chance to get his hands on what Han Sui left behind.

But Han Sui has always been in good health, so this idea is not realistic in the short term, and the other option is even more troublesome.

Today, the world is in the midst of a conflict between Jin and Wei, which is almost a replica of the conflict between the two Yuan states. But the difference is that Ma Chao and Jin have a deep hatred. One massacred Jizhou, and the other massacred Ma Chao's base camp, Jicheng. Neither side will give in now.

To the extent that Ma Chao has always regretted that if he had not massacred Jizhou at the beginning, perhaps he would have a way out now. However, now he is in a difficult situation.

After a lengthy preparation phase, he finally took more than 10,000 soldiers and prepared to go to Bingzhou for a visit.

However, when he reached the vicinity of Wangwu Mountain from Hedong, he met his old rival Xu Huang who had come from Luoyang to stop him.

Xu Huang had already led his troops to the north of Wangwu Mountain to set up defenses. He occupied a favorable position and shouted to Ma Chao, who was leading the troops: "Ma Chao, I am here on the orders of my lord to stop you!"

Ma Chao was furious. He swung his spear and shouted, "My iron spear hasn't drunk blood for a year. You think I can't fight anymore, right?"

"If you are afraid of losing your life in my hands, then retreat quickly and I will spare your life!"

Xu Huang laughed loudly and said, "Ma Chao, you are so arrogant!"

“How many times have you won over the years?”

Ma Chao was so angry that he rushed forward and shouted, "How dare you!"

"Take my shot and see if you can still win with your words!" Seeing Ma Chao coming at him aggressively, Xu Huang waved his hand and a dense group of archers emerged from behind him, aiming at the direction where Ma Chao was rushing.

When Ma Chao saw this, he immediately turned his horse and cursed: "Xu Huang, you have no moral principles!!"

"We agreed to a duel, but you used a powerful bow and a large crossbow instead. This is really a shame for warriors!"

Xu Huang sneered after hearing this and said, "Who promised you a duel?"

"When two countries are at war, as a military commander, it is natural that I must fulfill military orders first. Kill!"

After hearing this, the soldiers of the Jin army rushed forward and fought with Ma Chao's army.

Most of Ma Chao's troops were cavalry. Seeing this, he quickly ordered everyone to retreat and keep some distance, and the two sides started shooting at each other from a distance.

The battle lasted for most of the day and was called off only after dark. However, because both sides stayed far away, there were not many casualties. So the next day, both sides fought a protracted war of attrition as usual.

The situation in Liang Province can be imagined due to Ma Chao's delay. Han Sui had previously recruited a lot of troops from Xiliang and sent troops from Wuwei County, where they encountered the Jin army in Anding County.

These two sides were not like Ma Chao and Xu Huang who just worked without putting in any effort. Instead, they used all their strength from the beginning, trying to defeat the opponent in the shortest time possible.

What surprised Han Di was that the Jin army along the way did not seem to be strong. After the battle, the Jin army actually began to retreat.

Han Sui initially thought that it was a ploy to lure the enemy, but after investigation he found that the enemy this time was not the Youzhou soldiers, the absolute main force of the Jin army, but a coalition force composed of the Huns and surrendered Qiang people, led by the General Liu Qubei. Judging from their configuration, they were just trying to take advantage of the situation before winter.

After hearing the information, Han Sui couldn't help but sneer in his heart. It would be fine if it was just the main force of the Jin army, but you little cats and dogs dared to bully the Xiliang soldiers. Are the Xiliang soldiers no good, or do you, the useless ones who have been beaten by the Xiliang soldiers for decades, dare to come to the table?

He immediately ordered the entire army to pursue and attack the Jin army, trying to wipe it out within half a month. This was also because Cao Wei promised that if Han Sui could defeat the Jin army and take back the northern land, he would let Han Sui rule Liang Province for generations!
Driven by interests, Han Sui offered a generous reward and promised that if the Jin army could be completely expelled from Liang Province, each of his subordinates would be promoted three levels.

As a result, the Xiliang soldiers were all excited and pursued the retreating Jin army relentlessly until they reached Beidi County, where they were suddenly attacked by an ambush of the Jin army.

Han Sui should have been very careful. During the pursuit, he had been sending out spies to detect the enemy's ambushes. He only dared to lead the main force after making sure it was safe. However, he still neglected one thing along the way.

To the south was Ma Chao's army on the border of Zuo Fengyi and Hedong County.

In Han Sui's opinion, these two places were under Ma Chao's absolute control, so he dared to pursue with such confidence. However, he did not know that Ma Chao had overdone it this time. After he and Xu Huang had already achieved offensive and defensive results, Ma Chao retreated a little too much this time, so that he gave up the northward passage of Hedong.

Xu Huang did not go north either, but instead pressed forward slightly and placed an ambush troop coming from Luoyang into the passage. Ma Chao, who thought that the other side was cooperating with him, knew nothing about this.

This ambush force entered Bingzhou at a very fast speed. The Wei army along the way had no time to give any warning, and they suddenly reached the flank and rear of Han Sui who was pursuing them.

Moreover, the people who came were beyond Han Sui's expectations. Han Sui roughly knew the locations of all the powerful generals in the north. For example, Zhang Liao was in the Heishan Youzhou area, Gao Lan was in Yecheng, and Zhao Yun, the general, was in Yijing. There were not many other generals who could pose a threat to Han Sui.

But Han Sui was the most unexpected person to appear.

Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun did not stay in Yijing, but came to Luoyang secretly, and went to Hedong via Hanoi at a very fast speed.

The reason why he came here in person was, firstly, to take the enemy by surprise, and secondly, Zhao Yun himself had walked this road ten years ago, when he welcomed the emperor back to the east, killed Li Jue, defeated the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, and became famous in one battle.

Now that he was taking this route again, he was naturally more familiar with it than anyone else, so he successfully raided the flank of Han Sui's army.

When Han Sui saw Zhao Yun's flag, he instinctively felt that something was wrong. He didn't believe that Zhao Yun had come in person, so he sent several deputy generals to stop him.

Zhao Yun was nearly forty years old at this time. Although his physical strength was not as good as that of a young man, his experience in battle was already profound. In addition, he had not fought a serious battle for several years. This move was as powerful as thunder and lightning, and he killed two generals of the Xiliang Army at the first sight.

The remaining generals retreated in fear. Only one general who was as powerful as Zhao Yun rushed forward. He thrust his spear straight at Zhao Yun and shouted, "Enemy general, stop being so arrogant. I will show you how powerful I, Han De, am!"

With a "puff", the next moment Zhao Yun's iron spear pierced into Han De's eye socket and stabbed him off his horse.

(End of this chapter)