Great Han Empire

Chapter 291
Heng Ji rushed back to Gaoping City first with Fengyun cavalry.The Xianbei did not mobilize their troops to attack Shimen Pass, which allowed them to retreat back calmly.

Koji followed closely behind.After dusk, the Xianbei people stopped attacking immediately, and the law day deduction and Yanli tour obviously did not want to suffer too much loss.

Li Hong arrived at Gaoping City at dawn.Due to the consecutive days and nights of running around, Li Hong and his subordinates appeared exhausted.

After exchanging pleasantries with Qu Yi and other generals, he immediately asked, "Where's Kuangfengsha? He's the closest to Gaoping City, why hasn't he arrived yet?"

"He probably turned his eyes red, and ignored the order again." Qu Yi shook his head helplessly and said, "When he was in Gaopingchuan, he disobeyed orders and attacked in violation of orders. Although these pre-zero Qiang people were brave and good at fighting, , but all of them are arrogant and arrogant, taking military discipline as a joke and doing whatever they want."

Li Hong smiled and said, "Then how did you deal with it?"

"How dare the lower officials deal with it?" Qu Yi glanced at Li Hong, and replied cautiously, "Your Excellency, let's see."

Although Kuang Fengsha violated military discipline, he was his subordinate after all, and with Kuang Fengsha's special status, Qu Yi certainly hoped that Li Hong would be given a lighter punishment.

Li Hong smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Qiang people value righteousness. As long as we treat them like brothers, after a long time, we will naturally obey what we say."

"Shouyan..." Li Hong shouted to Zheng Xin who was standing nearby, "Immediately send someone to take my seal ribbon to Muxia Pass, and tell Kuangfengsha to withdraw quickly."

===

"My lord, why did you let them withdraw overnight?" The prefect Kong Chang asked with a bow, "Abandoning the three gates will open the gates in the gate, and the consequences will be disastrous."

"What if we don't withdraw?" Qu Yi said angrily, "In Xiao Guan's arsenal, there are only [-] long arrows, and the total number of sabers and halberds is less than [-], and the shields are all rotten. You let us fight with our bare hands. fight?"

Kong Chang probably also knew this situation, and his expression was rather helpless.Li Hong smiled, but did not speak.

"My lord, in order to get to the Northland as soon as possible, we didn't bring food, grass and luggage." Heng Ji explained, "The number of weapons we carry is very limited, and we can't last two days with only such a few weapons. Moreover, The rations of our 2 people are also a problem. Abandoning the three gates is also a helpless move."

"After fighting all the soldiers, it will be impossible to fight the following battles." Tie Yue added, "Only we have people, and sooner or later we will defeat the Xianbei people."

Kong Chang nodded and said: "I fought against Qiang people and rebels in Xiliang, I know what you said is true, but the question is, where are we going to retreat before the food and supplies arrive? place?"

Everyone turned their attention to Li Hong.

"Withdraw past Liupan Mountain." Li Hong smiled, "We have been withdrawing past Liupan Mountain."

Everyone was stunned.

"My lord, why do you want to withdraw from Liupan Mountain?" Tongzi cried out in desperation, "Withdraw from Liupan Mountain, we will have no danger to defend, and the army of Xianbei will be hard to resist once it falls."

"My lord, we now have 4 people, and we can definitely stick to Fanting Mountain and Chaona area. Moreover, Master Yushi will rush to Liupan Mountain with food, grass and luggage. We have the ability to keep the Xianbei people in the north of Liupan Mountain , why give up?" Tie Yue also said excitedly, "My lord, we are facing 12 Xianbei people, 12 Xianbei iron cavalry, as long as they cross Liupan Mountain, with our 7 people, they can basically resist Can't live."

Li Hong looked at the crowd and said, "We now have 10 people, not 7."

"10 people?" Qu Yi asked strangely, "Do we still have reinforcements?"

Li Hong did not answer, and continued: "It is precisely because the Xianbei people have 12 cavalry that we have to retreat all the way until the Xianbei people's 12 army is out of touch."

"My lord wants to beat them?" Qu Yi asked in surprise.

"I will not let Helian go this time no matter what." Li Hong said firmly, "To fight Helian, we must first ensure that we are strong, otherwise we will not be able to beat him, so I will not let the soldiers go. Life wasted in vain defending the pass. In addition, the closer He Lian is lured away from the pass, the less vigilant he will be, and the less likely he will escape back to the Yellow River."

"But, will His Majesty agree with your lord's idea?" Kong Chang asked worriedly.

"I'll take care of your Majesty's affairs." Li Hong waved his hand and said, "As long as Helian is killed, all problems will be solved."

"Zhong Yuan, tell everyone carefully."

======================
After Kuangfengsha led more than 4000 people to Fengyi Mountain, he met Yan Rou.

He thought the same as Yan Rou and the others. He was worried that Helian and Tuobafeng would be the first to encircle Gaoping City and cut off the escape route of Qu Yi, Heng Ji and others, so he ordered the army to temporarily stop at Fengyi Mountain so that Assist Yan Rou to stop the enemy.

After dawn, the scouts came to report that the Xianbei people occupying Muxia Pass had not left the pass, and there was no sign of moving on.

Yan Rou, Kuang Fengsha and the others were in shock, wondering why the Xianbei people didn't take advantage of the victory to pursue them.After discussing for a while, several people hurriedly led the army to retreat to Gaoping City.

On the way, they received an urgent letter from Li Hong urging the withdrawal of troops.Knowing that Qu Yi and Heng Ji's army had returned to Gaoping safely, they were overjoyed and hurried to Gaoping City to meet Li Hong.

We are very happy to see each other again after more than four months apart.

Li Hong put his arms around Xiaolan's shoulders, looked at it again and again, and then said in surprise: "You have grown up again."

After Xiaolan saw Li Hong, he was very excited, pulled him to talk non-stop, and smiled happily.

Yan Wuwei joked at the side: "This kid has an amazing appetite, he is so hungry that he even grabs the horse food. Don't just look at his growth, go and see his horse, it is so thin that only bones are left. "

The crowd burst into laughter.

Li Hong pointed to Zhang He and said, "Junyi, I asked you to go to Jizhou with Hutou, why don't you go?"

Before Zhang Yun could speak, Yan Rou immediately said loudly: "My lord, it's too much for you to transfer both of my subordinates away. Wen Chou and Zhang Yun, one of them must be kept anyway. I won't let him go."

Li Hong smiled and said to Zhang He: "It's fine not to go. Even if you arrive in Jizhou, you don't have time to go back to Hejian Kingdom. This time, we turned back when we reached Xindu City. Next time I have a chance, I will let you go back." Take a look at my hometown in Jizhou."

Zhang He thanked repeatedly gratefully.

When Kuangfengsha, Jiuyangpi, and Zhanma saw Li Hong approaching, they hurriedly knelt down and pleaded guilty.

Li Hong helped them up one by one, and after exchanging pleasantries, he asked with a smile, "Okay, what's wrong with you?"

Kuang Fengsha glanced at Qu Yi in surprise, but didn't make a sound.

Li Hong looked back at Qu Yi, who had an extremely unnatural expression, then looked at the three of them, and said with a smile, "Master Qu told me that you are brave and good at fighting, and that you killed the Xianbei people with fear. Didn't you say that you have any guilt?" His face darkened, he turned around and asked, "Yun Tian, ​​what are you hiding?"

At this moment, Qu Yi and Heng Ji knew that Li Hong was not willing to punish Kuang Fengsha, and he was even less willing to disclose Kuang Fengsha's violation of military discipline.When employing people at this time, it is understandable for Li Hong to deliberately protect Kuang Fengsha.

Since Li Hong didn't want to pursue it, Qu Yi was of course very happy. He smiled cheerfully and said, "Shuai Qu was probably a little too happy to see the lord come back, and he was confused, haha..."

Everyone laughed.

Li Hong introduced Li Wei, Xie Ming, Song Wen and others, and then discussed the military situation.

===

I heard that the imperial court had issued a decree to let Polu General Dong Zhuo lead his army from the Great Wall Fortress in Shangjun to Lingzhou in Beidi County, so as to cut off the enemy's retreat and force the Xianbei to withdraw their troops. The opinions of several commanding generals diverged again.After all, everyone is still very afraid of the powerful Xianbei people, and they are not sure whether the Han army will find an opportunity to annihilate them after the Xianbei people cross Liupan Mountain.

Since the imperial court had a clear strategy to defend against the enemy, why did it take the risk of giving up the natural danger of Liupan Mountain?As long as you stay on the front line of Liupan Mountain and North Korea, and wait for General Dong Zhuo to attack successfully, the Xianbei people will naturally withdraw their troops.Although the price of sticking to the defense is high, there is no need to take risks, let alone offend the court and cause unwarranted disasters.

The generals who supported Li Hong's abandonment of Liupan Mountain believed that it would be more risky to pin his hopes of defeating the Xianbei on the ignorant Dong Zhuo's army.If Dong Zhuo failed to attack Lingzhou, or if he did not take Lingzhou for a long time, and his army suffered heavy casualties and lost strength in the process of holding on, then the entire northern border of Beidi County and Anding County would surely fall.In other words, all the invasion goals of the Xianbei people were achieved.After that, it is impossible for the Han army to take back these lands in a short period of time in terms of the current national strength of the Great Han Kingdom.It will take a long, long time just to gather another [-] troops.

"Put the victory on others, and want to get something for nothing. In the end, we must be the unlucky ones." Zhang He said loudly, "No one will hand over the victory. The victory depends on our own blood and sweat, and it depends on us to fight bravely. to get it."

Li Hong did not join the debate, he stood silently in front of the window, looking at the blue sky.He suddenly thought of Feng Xue's eyes, those blue eyes that were intoxicatingly blue.

Yan Wuwei walked gently behind him, and said with a small body: "If you want to kill Helian, this is the only chance."

Li Hong nodded.

"You said back then that as long as Helian is killed, Fengxue can return to Xianbei and Tanyue Valley."

Li Hong thought for a while, then nodded again.

"Then why are you hesitating?" Yan Wuwei said, "For the sake of the wind and snow, we also have to withdraw from Liupan Mountain."

Li Hong remained silent.He thought of what He Yong told him when he left Jizhou.He Yong said that the best thing to do is to end the war in Xijiang within two months, otherwise, the food and pay will be cut off, and the defeat will be hard to recover.He Yong's words are by no means alarmist.He remembered that when the rebellion was suppressed in Xijiang last year, there was no food and salary, but the Taiwei Mansion kept it secret.If he hadn't taken a sudden action to suppress corruption and confiscated a large amount of stolen money, and saved the emergency, not to mention the subsequent Yicheng battle, it would have been a problem whether his army could return to the Zixiu Mountain camp smoothly.If the same thing happens again, it will be a catastrophe for the army standing on Liupan Mountain, and there will be no way out.

"Don't fight any more." Li Hong said loudly, "Order all the ministries to quickly withdraw to Chaona City."

=====================

Dong Zhuo's army was ordered to go northward, rushing all the way along the Luoshui River, and drove six hundred miles to reach the Great Wall Fortress of Baiyu Mountain.

In the big tent in the army, Sima Li Ru put down the documents in his hands, leaned over and looked at the map carefully, and did not speak for a long while.

"The general ordered us to proceed slowly, but His Majesty urged us to proceed quickly. These two orders are completely different. Who do we listen to?" Hu Zhen looked around, then looked at Dong Zhuo, and asked respectfully.

Dong Zhuo's expression was indifferent, he stroked his beard and said, "Let's hear what Lord Sima has to say first?"

"Let's go slowly." Li Ru said, "The army of the Xianbei people is attacking the three passes. Their morale is high and their strength is strong. It is very bad time to attack Lingzhou at this time. The Xianbei people know that we have cut off their retreat. He must be furious and fight back all the way, we bear the brunt, and the loss must be heavy."

"We walked slowly all the way, fifty miles a day, for ten days and a half months. After half a month, the Xianbei people and Li Hong had already been exhausted from fighting, and their strength was greatly damaged. At that time, we will attack again, not only can we go smoothly To capture Lingzhou, you can also beat the Xianbei people who have suffered a huge loss in strength, and take the opportunity to gain more military merits."

Li Ru paused for a while, and continued: "The imperial court only wanted to drive out the Xianbei people as soon as possible, and they had no confidence in winning. They all pinned their hopes on the blocking of Li Hong's army. Valuable. Even if we took down Lingzhou and drove away the Xianbei people, our contribution is far less than that of Li Hong's army."

"We traveled more than 1000 miles to fight, and it turned out that others deserved the credit. This is naturally unreasonable. Therefore, we waited until Li Hong's army was basically lost, and even the power to pursue was gone. General, this army, then all the credit will be ours."

Li Ru smiled lightly and said: "As for Li Hong, after his strength has been greatly damaged, it has become difficult. How the general wants to deal with him is the general's business, which has nothing to do with us, but this favor, the general will definitely take care of him in the future." Give it back to us." He picked up the bamboo slip, carefully rolled it up, and put it in Dong Zhuo's hand, "The general put it away, maybe it will be useful in the future."

===

"Master Hou sent a letter saying that Taiwei Zhang Wen has been dismissed, and the military affairs are now temporarily handled by Shangshutai. Lord Huangfusong is now Shangshutai's Shangshuling." Li Su said, "Master Huangfu personally commanded the battle in the western borders. He will definitely see our intentions. If he makes irresponsible remarks in front of His Majesty..."

Li Ru shook his head and said: "Although the imperial court has repeatedly issued orders to urge them, they also know that the mountain road is difficult and cannot walk fast. Moreover, once we enter the western foot of Baiyu Mountain, we basically lose contact with the imperial court. He wants to find us. If we can't find it, we can only stare blankly. In the future, if we win the battle, forgive him, Huang Fusong, and he won't dare to talk too much."

Everyone in the tent nodded repeatedly.

"Changsheng, once we lose contact with the imperial court, we will have no way of knowing the stable battle situation, so how can we grasp the timing of the attack?" Dong Zhuo thought for a while and asked, "If we want to wipe out the Xianbei people to the south of the Yellow River, what is the timing of the attack?" Very important."

"At present, Li Hong has at least 10 people in his hands. In addition to the dangerous terrain of Sanguan and Liupan Mountain, it will not be a problem to defend for a month or two." Li Ru said, "But the timing of the attack is really difficult to grasp, especially the general said We must wipe out the Xianbei people to the south of the Yellow River." He looked up at Changshi Liu Ai, with a subtle sarcasm on the corner of his mouth, "Does the general have the determination to wipe out the Xianbei people to the south of the Yellow River?"

Dong Zhuo nodded, and said very confidently: "I took the class a few days ago, and I will win this battle."

He pointed to Liu Ai who was sitting next to him and said: "Wen Qi also used to look at the sky to make a divination, and he was sure that there was such a good omen."

Li Ru finally couldn't help but let out a sneer.

Liu Ai is Dong Zhuo's long history, and he and Li Ru are Dong Zhuo's right-hand men, but the relationship between the two has always been bad, and they insult each other.Liu Ai is in his 40s, of medium build, weak in appearance, and gentle in temperament. He is proficient in spells and familiar with yin and yang, and is relied on by Dong Zhuo.Li Ru studied ancient Chinese classics, while Liu Ai studied modern classics, so their views are very different.

Most of the officials in the Han Dynasty were scholars who studied the classics, and most of the scholars at that time studied Jinwen Jingxue, and Jinwen Jingxue used Chen Wei (read chen, wei) to explain the classics, so it became common practice for scholars to study art.

(Prophecy is the use of mysterious cryptic language and prophecy as God's revelation to tell people good and bad fortune, and the rise and fall of chaos, often with pictures and texts, also known as picture prophecy. Wei is an interpretation of Confucian classics from the perspective of religious superstition. )
The positions of civil and military officials in this dynasty are not fixed, and civilian officials can go out for the generals at any time, so this trend has also spread to the army.In the army, when general military officers above the rank of Sima study the art of war, they must learn the classics of the Yin-Yang family, and they must know the art of occupying the waiting room, otherwise it will be difficult to get promoted, and only those who are proficient in art can be regarded as generals.Many high-ranking generals in this dynasty vigorously recruited talents in magic arts when they went out to fight. This is not only to make up for their own deficiencies, but also to directly store their combat effectiveness.

Dong Zhuo knew how to count lessons very early on, and he also believed in Wu Zhi, and he would call Wu Zhu to inquire whenever he had any incomprehensible matters.Chang Shi Liu Ai did this specifically for Dong Zhuo, and was loved and admired by the soldiers in the army.

Dong Zhuo saw the displeasure on Li Ru's face, knew that he didn't believe this, and was about to start swearing, so he immediately said, "Chang Sheng, how sure do you think we can annihilate the Xianbei people?"

Li Ru gave Liu Ai a hard look, and said, "It depends on how Li Hong fights."

"If Li Hong is determined to defend to the death, the casualties on both sides will be heavy, especially the Xianbei, who are all cavalry, and they will suffer a lot from attacking passes and cities. But Li Hong will suffer even more. Due to his slow mobilization, his army entered Anding in batches. Every time we are at an extreme disadvantage, the losses must be even greater. Under such circumstances, when the Xianbei people heard that we had captured Lingzhou, they must retreat in a panic.

"If Li Hong intends to preserve his strength and retreat step by step, the losses for both sides will not be great, and we will not be able to fight well. If we attack early, we may be damaged. If we attack late, we will not only have no credit but will also be punished. So , the general had better not be too optimistic and think that we can wipe out the Xianbei people south of the Yellow River."

Dong Zhuo nodded with a stern expression.

=====================

The four gates of Gaoping City were wide open, and the city walls were empty, except for the fluttering battle flags.

Lü Ri Deyan, Yan Li You, Mu Gaiting, and Xu Gui stood side by side outside Gaoping City, in amazement.

"I have been fighting the Han people for decades, and this is the first time I have successfully reached Gaoping City." Xu Gui smiled wryly, "I can bet my head with you that the Han people must have conspiracy."

"You're scared." Yan Liyou touched her bald head, Se said with a smile, "You don't want to go to the city?"

"I won't go in." Xu Gui said resolutely, "If I want to go in, you go in."

Lv Ri Deyan gave him a strange look, and asked, "Are you afraid of being beaten by the Han people? Are you so timid?"

"Then you can't pass Liupan Mountain?" Mu Gaiting smiled, "You can't even pass Liupan Mountain?"

"I don't want to pass you." Xu Gui glanced at them and said seriously, "Thunderstorms in June have been raging in western Xinjiang for decades, and no one can beat him. Duan Jiong was so powerful back then, and he can only fight him. It’s just a tie, but this leopard beat him to death as soon as he arrived in Xijiang, and Bian Zhang and Beigong Boyu, who had 10,000+ people, were also beaten by him and fled in embarrassment.”

"The leopard always wins by odds. We can't use common sense to speculate on him. If he led his troops to defend here today, nothing would happen, but today he handed over a city, there must be a trick here."

"Yo, you're quite knowledgeable." Lv Ri deduced and teased, "No wonder you always lose battles, so you are so knowledgeable."

Xu Gui chuckled, didn't think he was disobedient, turned and left.

"What do you think?" Lu Ri asked.

"Leopards are short of troops and food. How can he not run in the face of our 12 army?" Yan Liyou sneered and said disdainfully, "If it were me, I could run faster than him."

"Haha..." Mu Gaiting laughed loudly, "Langtou is right. The Han people are generally shameless. They can't beat them, but they still insist on saying something for the sake of righteousness. They have a disgusting face. I see this leopard It's similar to us, if you can't beat it, you can't beat it, turn around and run away."

"He is a slave of our Xianbei people, so of course he has to have some of our Xianbei's temperament." Lu Ri deduced with a smile, "You two, who will enter the city?"

"I'll go ahead." Yan Liyou said, "I don't believe there is an ambush inside."

===

And connected to the news sent by the law day deduction, and immediately ordered someone to call Ye Lao.

"You take [-] iron cavalry, ask a few Qiang people to lead the way, and rush to Fanting Mountain overnight." He Lian pointed to the eastern foot of Liupan Mountain and said, "We will close the door to hunt leopards."

Ye Lao is more than 40 years old, tall, with a thick back, a thick black beard on his purplish red cheeks, and a pair of small eyes shining brightly.Without saying a word, he bowed and resigned, and went out to gather his troops.

Tuoba Feng and Tuoba Hui hurried over after hearing the news.

"Your Majesty still insists on taking Fanting Mountain?" Tuoba Feng asked.

"Then tell me, what reason do I have for not taking Fanting Mountain now?" He Lian asked back, "The leopard gave up Gaoping City, other than insufficient troops, what reason is there? From Gaoping to Chaona, from Chaona When we get to Fanting Mountain, is there any other place for him to ambush us?"

"What if the leopards have people stationed in Fanting Mountain?" Tuoba Feng asked, "As long as the leopards hold us back in the city, they can gather troops to eat up the king's [-] cavalry."

"If he had reinforcements stationed in Fanting Mountain, why did he give up Gaoping City in such a hurry? Gaoping City is a major city in the western Xinjiang. It should be no problem for 2 people to hold on for ten days. Why did he hand it over?"

"He wants to abandon Liupan Mountain?" Tuoba Hui stared at the map and muttered to himself, "Could it be that he wants to abandon Liupan Mountain?"

"Impossible." Tuoba Feng said without hesitation, "Hanting will not abandon Liupan Mountain no matter what. Once Liupan Mountain is lost, Guanzhong is in our pocket. What is the leopard leading the army to do? Why not?" Go directly to guard Chang'an City."

"Why can't he abandon Liupan Mountain?" He Lian looked excited, his eyes sharp, and he tapped his fingers on the map on the desk and said, "It's only a little over 100 miles from Gaoping to Liupan Mountain, but there are 12 of us gathered. No matter how he fights, he will lose. If he wants to defeat us, he must disperse our forces. How to disperse?"

Pointing to Linjing, Helian said, "It's about 12 miles from Sanguan to Gaoping, from Gaoping to Liupanshan, and from Liupanshan to Linjing. Think about it, the terrain is complex and changeable along the way. Should we advance as a whole with an army of [-]? As long as we are negligent, we may be eaten by him. His intention has been exposed when he retreats again and again.”

"Originally, his army rushed to Gaoping in batches, which was a huge disadvantage in the blocking process, but now it has become a huge advantage. His tens of thousands of troops are distributed between Liupanshan and Linjing, and they can quickly arrive An ambush site to assemble."

"If the leopards withdrew past Liupan Mountain with their army, we might have to give up our strategy of attacking Chang'an City. Therefore, we must keep the leopards in the north of Liupan Mountain no matter what."

Tuoba Feng shook his head again and again, persuading him: "Your Majesty is too worried. If the leopard dares to abandon Liupan Mountain, then Chang'an City must belong to us, because at that time the emperor of the Han Kingdom has already killed him. Once the leopard dies, the Han army's morale will be destroyed." Chaos, why fight?"

"My lord, let's concentrate our forces and hurry to Chaona City. After taking Chaona City, we will only have the obstacle of Fanting Mountain. At this time, we really don't need to take the risk of taking Fanting Mountain. Once If you miss, it will shake the morale of the army."

Tuobahui also persuaded: "My lord, since the army went south, it has been invincible and invincible all the way. The morale of the soldiers is very high. If there is a sudden incident at this time, I'm afraid..."

And ignore them.

"We set off overnight to Chaona City."

"Order the law day deduction and banquet tour, and march into Chaona City tomorrow morning."

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(End of this chapter)