The Jagged Cavalry of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 501 500 Jingzhou Storm (12)

At the same time that Zhang Xiu surrendered to Yang Xiu, Liu Biao led the Central Route Army, and the troops marched in three routes, heading towards Pingyu, the county town of Runan County.

The county towns passing by along the way learned that Liu Biao was leading an army, and the county magistrates of all counties surrendered one after another. They even led their subordinates to meet Liu Biao's army outside the city. They warmly welcomed Liu Biao's arrival. He also expressed the bitterness of being oppressed by Zhang Yan in recent years, and he is even more grateful for Liu Biao's arrival. Perhaps the big man will have a new tomorrow.

Liu Biao's mood at this moment is not to mention happy. The words of the officials, like honey, poured more into Liu Biao's stomach, and also made his inner vanity extremely inflated, as if he really became the savior. The great savior of the Han Dynasty.

As the saying goes, do not hit smiling people, since the officials of the counties came to surrender on their own initiative, there is no need for Liu Biao to attack them, because Liu Biao's goal is Pingyu, and he doesn't care about the county towns along the way, and he doesn't want to just stop there waste time.To be honest, the purpose of dividing the troops into three groups is to create momentum, so that the enemy does not know how many soldiers and horses he has come, and gives the enemy a sense of oppression.

Facts have proved that his goal has been achieved, because these county magistrates who voluntarily came to surrender are the best proof.

Liu Biao's journey was very smooth, and he did not encounter any resistance along the way. On the contrary, the enemy troops took the initiative to curry favor with him, which rekindled the ambition of his youth in his heart.

When the army arrived in Pingyu, Yuan Huan, the prefect of Runan, led the officials of the county and lined up ten miles away from Pingyu County to welcome the arrival of Liu Biao's army.

Liu Biao had received a message from Yuan Huan early in the morning. Yuan Huan, like the officials from all over the country who had surrendered to him, also came to surrender on his own initiative.

Moreover, Liu Biao had heard of Yuan Huan's name for a long time, because Yuan Huan was very famous in the Jianghuai area, and he had sent someone to invite Yuan Huan to be an official in Jingzhou. Unfortunately, Yuan Huan was within Yuan Shu's sphere of influence at that time, although He agreed to Liu Biao, but was forcibly detained by Yuan Shu, and then took refuge in Zhang Yan's account.

Since ancient times, Runan has had the danger of "backing the mountains, facing the Huai River, and controlling Yingcai". He also served as the prefect of Runan. After Xu Huang was transferred, Zhang Yan sent Yuan Huan to Runan as the prefect, which has been up to now.

Liu Biao led an army and came from the south in mighty strength. When Yuan Huan saw Liu Biao's army coming, he immediately asked his subordinates to make arrangements for welcome.

After meeting each other twice, Yuan Huan walked up to Liu Biao in person, and bowed respectfully to Liu Biao: "Your envoy has come a long way, and the journey must have been very hard. I have already warmed up the wine, so please move your entourage over there. , take a sip of warm wine to dispel the chill from your body."

"It's still Yuan Taishou who is thoughtful. Since Yuan Yuan has arranged everything, if I don't go, it will be too disrespectful to Yuan Yuan." Liu Biao laughed.

As soon as the words fell, Liu Biao followed Yuan Huan to a simple tent that had already been set up. A bonfire was raised inside the tent. As soon as he entered the tent, he felt warm, and there was a jar of fine wine hanging on the shelf above the bonfire. , the aroma of wine is overflowing, and the aroma is tangy, quite a different kind of charm.

"My lord, please sit down!" Yuan Huan said respectfully to Liu Biao.

Liu Biao and Yuan Huan sat on the floor, facing each other like this, and between them, there was a small table, just big enough for them to put fine wine.

After the two sat down, Yuan Huan took down the warm wine and poured it for Liu Biao himself. Liu Biao took a look at the small table and there was nothing else on it except the jar of fine wine and the two cups, so he went Hehe smiled and said: "Fine food and wine are indispensable, but unfortunately there is only good wine here, but no good food. It seems that Yuan Taishou is still not prepared enough."

Yuan Huan said: "This place is only temporarily set up to make you clean up the dust. When I get to the city later, I will definitely not let you down."

As soon as the words fell, Yuan Huan picked up the wine bar filled with hot wine in front of him, and said to Liu Biao: "Emissary Liu, after drinking this glass of wine, Yuan is the envoy's subordinate, and the envoy will lead the army to arrive later. At the time of Pingyu, I also hoped that the Lord could strictly restrain his subordinates, and never do things that harm the people, so as not to arouse public anger."

Liu Biao nodded. He had already received Yuan Huan's letter of surrender, which clearly stated the reasons for Yuan Huan's surrender.

Although Runan is a battleground for military strategists, Zhang Yan left very few soldiers here. Facing Liu Biao's mighty army, Yuan Huan could not contend with it, and he did not want the city to be destroyed, so he chose surrendered.

Liu Biao was very happy after receiving the letter of surrender from Yuan Huan, because Yuan Huan had always been the talent he wanted, but because Yuan Shu kept Yuan Huan in Huainan, Liu Biao and Yuan Huan missed each other.

However, what Liu Biao didn't expect was that after a few years, he could meet Yuan Huan again, and it was still in this way.

Liu Biao raised the wine jue, and together with Yuan Huan drank all the wine in his stomach, a warm liquid poured directly into his body, making him feel refreshed, and he couldn't help laughing.

People are in good spirits on happy occasions, and so is Liu Biao.Before the expedition, Liu Biao still had some doubts, wondering whether he could attack Pengcheng.

But now, along the way, he heard the wind and surrendered along the way, and even Runan, which is very strategic, surrendered, which increased Liu Biao's confidence many times, and he firmly believed that he would definitely be able to come to the city of Pengcheng and conquer today's The emperor was rescued from Zhang Yan's clutches.

At this moment, Cai Hao, who had been standing behind Liu Biao, saw Liu Biao's happy face, and a strange smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, thinking to himself: "Liu Jingsheng, your life is over, wait When you arrive in Runan, it is your time to say goodbye to this world."

Next, Yuan Huan said to Liu Biao: "The Shijun brought a lot of soldiers and horses this time. The city of Runan is small, and I am afraid it cannot accommodate so many soldiers and horses. If the soldiers and horses of the Shijun enter the city, it is very likely that the people in the city will be disturbed." The lower officials have already set up a camp outside the city for the emperor, so that the emperor can station the soldiers and horses he brought in the camp. In addition, Zhang Yan has a garrison in Qiao County, Pei County, with about 2 troops. People, if the news of my surrender to the envoy gets out, then the army of Qiao County will immediately come to the territory of Runan. When leading the army to advance eastward, there will be one less obstacle to advance."

Liu Biao pondered for a moment, then said: "What you said is very reasonable. Instead of being beaten passively, it is better to take the initiative to attack. Moreover, I am leading Jingzhou's elite, a mere [-] troops, and I still can't see it. Cai Mao!"

"What's your order, my lord?" Cai Mao immediately asked, clasping his fists.

Liu Biao said: "You should have heard what Yuan Taishou said. After a while, you can ask Yuan Taishou about the general situation of the army in Qiao County, and then dispatch elite troops to attack and clear this obstacle."

Cai Mao nodded and said, "The last general takes orders."

Liu Biao chatted with Yuan Huan for a while, and then left the big tent, leaving Cai Mao in the tent to plan with Yuan Huan about the Qiao County army.

When Liu Biao walked out, Cai Hao's face immediately changed color, and he walked quickly to Yuan Huan's side, and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong with you, why didn't you follow the original plan? Shouldn't Liu Biao be lured to the city, and then in the city?" Did you kill him after he fell asleep?"

Yuan Huan said: "You made the original plan. I didn't say that you must follow it. If you want to get rid of Liu Biao, you must listen to me. Otherwise, I will tell Liu Biao about your murder of Liu Biao!"

With a sound of "swish", Cai Hao instantly pulled out the sword in his waist, and put the cold and sharp long sword on Yuan Huan's neck. I can also kill Liu Biao. Do you believe that I will kill you now?"

Yuan Huan didn't change his face, looked at Cai Mao with a pair of deep eyes, and said with a sneer: "If you want to kill, kill it. I am not a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death. However, when I came here, I have already arranged subordinates. If I encounter If anything goes wrong, they will tell Liu Biao about your plot to rebel, and by then, your plan will never succeed!"

Cai Mao glared at Yuan Huan, it could be seen that he was extremely angry now, but he suppressed the anger in his heart, removed the long sword from Yuan Huan's neck, put it back into the scabbard, and said angrily : "You'd better be honest and don't play any tricks, otherwise, don't blame me for being rude to you."

Yuan Huan smiled and said: "Cai Dudu, it seems that you sent someone to find me. You did this for only one purpose, that is to borrow a knife to kill someone. Just imagine, after I killed Liu Biao, The army you lead will definitely be very angry. In case Governor Cai slipped his words for a moment, in order to wipe out the roots and completely let this secret disappear in this world, you will lead the army into the city and kill me together. Only in this way can you rest easy. Don't think that I don't know what you are thinking. It is precisely for this reason that I came up with this method. Let you lead troops to attack the garrison in Qiao County. In this way, I will also It's safe and sound."

After hearing what Yuan Huan said, Cai Mao was taken aback, and was even more shocked that Yuan Huan could understand his strategy, because what Yuan Huan said was exactly what he was going to do.

If Yuan Huan killed Liu Biao in Runan City according to the original plan, then Cai Mao would shout the slogan of revenge for Liu Biao, lead his army to the city, and kill Yuan Huan together. I know he has killed Liu Biao.

It's a pity that Yuan Huan disrupted Cai Mao's wishful thinking. Moreover, even if he wanted to kill Yuan Huan, it would be of no avail.

Seeing that Cai Mao was moved, Yuan Huan said, "Cai Dudu, if you really want to get rid of this matter, you'd better stay as far away from Liu Biao as possible. Only in this way will you not be implicated and no one will suspect you. to you."

Cai Mao thought that this was indeed the case, so he asked, "Why did you help me?"

Yuan Huan said: "I'm not helping you, I'm helping myself. We are now grasshoppers tied to a rope. If something happens, we can't escape you or me. However, I still need a promise from you... "

"What promise?" Cai Mao asked.

"I promise that after Liu Biao's death, you will voluntarily withdraw your troops and return to Jingzhou, and will not stay in Runan," Yuan Huan said.

Cai Mao said: "After Liu Biao dies, even if you want me to stay, I won't be willing. I have more important things to do. Staying here will only delay the big things!"

"In that case, I can rest assured. As long as Governor Cai follows my plan, Liu Biao will die tonight, and tomorrow morning, you will see Liu Biao's head hanging on the gate of Runan City." Yuan Huan said.

Cai Mao said: "Okay, remember your promise, if I don't see Liu Biao's head hanging on the city gate tomorrow, it will prove that you have broken your promise, and then don't blame me for being rude to you."

"Okay, we've made a deal," Yuan Huan said.

"It's a deal." Cai Mao also said affirmatively.

(End of this chapter)