People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 260 Opportunity
The end of the Han Dynasty was an era of constant war. Xuanxia, ​​a divine kingdom that suddenly emerged, was also under constant external pressure. Not only did its carefully planned alliance system encounter obstacles from the Xiongnu and Xianbei, but Zhang Baiqi, who was far away in Changshan, also felt the pressure from Yuan Shao.

Zhang Baiqi has been guarding Changshan for more than a year and finally got everything back on track. There are sufficient military households in all towns and counties. These military households will conduct a small training session every ten days and a intensive training session once a month under the organization of grassroots officials of Xuanxia, ​​ensuring the output of relatively qualified soldiers in Changshan.

When necessary, Zhang Baiqi can recruit these soldiers for short-term, high-intensity training at any time. Combined with generous military treatment and sophisticated and complete equipment, it is enough to raise the combat effectiveness to a considerable level.

Xuan Xia allocated 30,000 troops to Changshan. These 30,000 troops were enough for Zhang Baiqi to accomplish many things, and he did accomplish a lot.

Over the past year, he not only withstood Yuan Shao's subsequent small-scale battles against Changshan, but also, on this basis, began to annex the Five Elements Mountain.

This was different from his struggle with Zhang Yan's Black Mountain Army several years ago. At that time, both groups were in a difficult situation to survive and neither could do anything to the other.

But Zhang Baiqi is now different from the past. Although the number of troops under his command is not even as many as the Yellow Turbans of Changshan, his combat effectiveness has skyrocketed.

It is a very difficult task for the officers and soldiers and Yuan Shao to clear the Five Elements Mountain, but for Zhang Baiqi, as long as he has combat power, this task will be very simple. He has been in the Five Elements Mountain for many years and already knows the Black Mountain bandits inside and out.

In the past six months, he sent Guan Hai and Zhang Rao, who were arranged by Xuan Xia, to lead 5,000 troops each to attack from both sides of the Five Elements Mountain, while he himself led an army of 10,000 to support the rear. In this way, he pushed forward all the way and conquered many Yellow Turban forces, big and small. Recently, he even directly killed Yu Du, who had been following Zhang Yan.

As the war progressed, Zhang Baiqi became more and more proud and grievance-filled, and all the grievances he had suffered at the hands of the Black Mountain bandits were finally vented.

But soon things took a turn that he had not expected, and this turn made him extremely angry.

Originally, if the current momentum continued, Changshan would have a chance to subdue the Black Mountain Army in one fell swoop. After that, they could move east and west based on the Five Elements Mountain. Whether it was against Guanzhong or Jizhou, Xuanxia would have a considerable degree of initiative.

The remaining forces such as Zhang Yan were simply unable to stop him. When he was about to achieve his goal in one fell swoop, an external force suddenly appeared.

"The fact that Zhang He and Gao Lan can appear here in Wuxing Mountain can only mean that Zhang Yan has led his people to join Yuan Shao!"

When he heard the news, Zhang Baiqi was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

It was already extremely shameless for Zhang Yan to betray the Yellow Turbans and defect to the imperial court. Today, when he saw that he was about to completely subdue the Black Mountain Army, this guy ran towards Yuan Shao without hesitation.

Zhang Baiqi clearly remembered that just a year or two ago, it was the Black Mountain Army that joined forces with the Xiongnu and the Chang'an court to attack Yuan Shao. At that time, the two sides attacked each other for more than half a year before the war ended.

Zhang Yan would rather join Yuan Shao, who had a deep hatred for him, than submit to himself, which made Zhang Baiqi want to curse.

Could it be that in this guy's eyes, the former Yellow Turban brothers were so despicable?
Zhang Rao was speechless for a moment, feeling somewhat resentful towards Zhang Yan. After fighting for such a long time and finally achieving complete success, an unexpected obstacle would probably ruin all the efforts.

The Black Mountain Army has attracted strong reinforcements, and it will not be easy for Changshan to completely conquer the Five Elements Mountain.

Originally I could have made great achievements, but now I am afraid that it has become a delusion.
When Guan Hai heard this, he somewhat understood the Black Mountain bandits' choice.

If I were a Black Mountain bandit, I would probably do the same. After all, according to the Xuanxia Yellow Turbans' tactics, surrendering to them would not be as easy as I imagined.

I am the most true portrayal of myself. My thoughts of enjoying happiness and pleasure were just a dream. Instead, I have to abide by various rules and constraints. This year has made me feel uncomfortable.

If you want to pursue wealth and glory, Xuanxia is not a good choice.
Of course, these thoughts only existed in Guan Hai's mind. On the surface, he was still very indignant: "Although Zhang Yan is the leader of the Black Mountain Army, he cannot easily make such a decision for the Black Mountain Army. It can only be said that all the soldiers in the Black Mountain Army have the intention to surrender to Yuan Shikai. They are a group of treacherous guys and are unworthy of the name Yellow Turban."

Zhang Rao sighed and looked at Zhang Baiqi: "Baiqi, what should we do now? Gao Lan and Zhang He have stationed 30,000 troops in front of us, and they look like they are ready to fight to the death. Should we fight?"

Zhang Baiqi paced back and forth in the military tent, and after a long time he sat back in his seat with a grim look on his face.

Although he was unwilling, he also knew that it was unwise to continue fighting.

"We can't fight. This place is far away from Changshan but very close to Yuan Shao. Once we get into a tough battle, it will be difficult for us to escape. Now the Black Mountain Army and Yuan Shao are in ambiguous collusion, and the combined strength of the two sides cannot be underestimated. It is not something we can handle with our 20,000 troops. I'm afraid... I'm afraid we can only retreat for the time being." The big tent was quiet for a while, and several people were annoyed. The military merit that was about to come to their mouths was lost just like that. No matter who it was, it would be uncomfortable.

However, this was not the most uncomfortable thing for them. After all this trouble, things became worse.

"After the Black Mountain bandits surrendered to Yuan Shao, he allowed Yuan Shao to control the southern Five Elements Mountain, which made it even more difficult for us to deal with them in the future. If we had known this would happen, we would have just stayed put and guarded Changshan. Now we have helped Yuan Shao a lot." Guan Hai shook his head, looking very unhappy.

Zhang Baiqi disagreed: "It's not that simple. If we don't do this today, Yuan Shao will definitely take the initiative to attack the Black Mountain Bandits in the future. That guy will not just stay in Jizhou."

Zhang Rao nodded in agreement: "It can only be said that the Black Mountain bandits have completely betrayed the Yellow Turbans and even regard us as enemies. Otherwise, if they had submitted to Xuan Xia today, it would be another matter."

Zhang Baiqi sighed: "In this case, we can only retreat. All the struggles in Jizhou are the struggles between Xuanxia and Yuan Shao. From now on, Xuanxia and Yuan Shao will be in the north and south of the Five Elements respectively. The final victory or defeat will be determined by the overall situation."

Zhang Rao and Guan Hai were both unwilling, but there was nothing they could do. For Changshan, they could fail to defeat the Black Mountain Army, but there must be no mistakes in the rear.

If we get entangled with the enemy here and are attacked by Yuan Shao from the rear, the result will be more harm than good.

The Yellow Turbans in Changshan saw no hope of attack and had to retreat, while Zhang He and Gao Lan did not pursue them.

For Yuan Shao, gaining the Black Mountain Army's allegiance was already a huge gain, and there was no need to expand the conflict with the Yellow Turbans in Changshan.

Yuan Shao already had a strategy internally, which was to avoid Xuan Xia's edge, doing the easy things first and then the difficult ones. Now he was concentrating on making equipment and thinking of ways to prepare cavalry, and would not provoke Xuan Xia and bring trouble upon himself.

But cavalry is not that easy to deal with. Both horses and soldier training are big problems.

But after the Black Mountain Army surrendered, a large number of people within Yuan Shao's organization suddenly realized that the cavalry that had troubled them might have been found.

In the government office in Yecheng, everyone gathered around the map with excitement on their faces. Tian Feng was the first to point to Bingzhou.

"Governor, after the Black Mountain Army surrenders, our army will have a smooth road to Bingzhou. Bingzhou is where the Xiongnu Yufuluo is entrenched. As long as our army successfully subdues them, we will have cavalry that can fight. In the future, whether we dominate the south or resist Xuanxia in the north, we can do it!"

Tian Feng accurately discovered the key point, which also made Yuan Shao's eyes light up.

Instead of spending a lot of time planning cavalry, it is better to directly conquer the ready-made ones, and Yu Furo is obviously an excellent choice.

At least Yuan Shao knew very well that Yu Furuo was in a very sad situation now.

Just a year or two ago, it was he who personally defeated his and the Black Mountain bandits' attack.

If it were just that, it would be fine. The relationship between the Xiongnu Khan Huhuquan and Yufuluo outside Bingzhou was also very tense, otherwise Yufuluo would not have stayed in the Han area today.

When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, the old Chanyu sent Yufuluo to Han territory to assist the imperial court in suppressing the rebellion, but the old Chanyu died in the rebellion not long after. Eventually, Huochuquan inherited the Chanyu throne, and Yufuluo was named the Right Wise King.

Yufuluo may not be willing to accept such a result, and Huochequan is even more afraid of him, so that the relationship between the two Xiongnu forces is tense.

Yu Furuo now has no external help and is relatively weak. As long as I launch an offensive, it will not be difficult to subdue him. At the same time, I can take over Bingzhou and strengthen my strength. This is really killing two birds with one stone.

Without any need for many counselors to advise him, Yuan Shao slammed the table without hesitation and said, "Pass on my order, immediately assemble the army and enter Bingzhou, and make sure to capture Yu Fuluo!"

(End of this chapter)