Great Han Empire

Chapter 700
In March, Pingyuan City.

Spring is cold.

10,000+ refugees crowded on both sides of the road outside the city. There were huge crowds of people, crying loudly.

Li Hong was shocked and stopped his horse suddenly.

"General, the general is here..."

Seeing the general's battle flag and the armored cavalry army from a distance, the refugees suddenly shouted and rushed from all directions.

"What's going on here?" Zuo General Qu Yi saw the crowd of people rushing in like a flood, and his face suddenly changed, "The cavalry line up, line up, protect the general..."

The war drums beat instantly, the horns blared, and three thousand black leopards galloped in a hurricane like a flat ground, encircling Li Hong and a group of Hebei military and political officials.

"Where is Wang Heizi? Where is Wang Heizi? This kid wants to die, but he even indulged the refugees to make trouble. Does he not want to live anymore?" Qu Yi's handsome face was flushed, and he kept roaring, extremely angry.

Li Hong looked at him coldly, his eyes full of suspicion.

The last time Qu Yi and Zhang Yan had a very unpleasant quarrel, the main reason was that Zhang Yan firmly opposed going south to suppress the rebellion.After Zhang Yan went to Jinyang, he talked to Qu Yi several times. Apart from warning him not to be arrogant, he also secretly reminded him not to interfere in Hebei's political affairs, so as not to cause trouble for himself.Qu Yi admitted his mistake at the time, and his attitude was very sincere.He let go of the past, and continued to entrust him with the important task of supervising the military affairs in Hebei and the commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army.But since Lu Bu and Cao Cao fought fiercely in Yanzhou, and the Central Plains were in chaos, his faults occurred again.He repeatedly asked to go south, and even encouraged Wang Dang, Sun Qin, Peng Lie, Yu Digen and other Yellow Turbans to write letters to him under the joint name of the generals, strongly urging to go south to fight.He rejected Qu Yi, Wang Dang and many other generals of the Southern Expeditionary Army's request to fight.

The situation in the world has changed too fast in the past two years. Now for Hebei, the most important thing is not to occupy the Central Plains, but to occupy Guanzhong immediately.In order to allow the generals of the Southern Expedition Army to understand Hebei's strategy for Zhongxing Sheji, I have called Qu Yi and other generals of the Southern Expedition Army several times for military meetings, but it seems that Qu Yi, Wang Dang and others still did not understand Hebei Zhongxing Sheji's strategy, let alone understand his own intentions.

"Hmph..." Li Hong sneered, raised the whip in his hand and patted Jifeng's shoulder, "Order Yicong soldiers not to take out weapons to threaten the people." Then he pointed to Tian Chou, Fu Gan, and Wang Ling behind him He said, "Follow me to the front and have a look."
"General, it's too dangerous ahead, let me ask." Qu Yi hastily stopped, "These people are refugees from Xuzhou and Yanzhou. Last year, they escaped to Hebei through untold hardships. They thought they could live a better life. Days, out of the sea of ​​suffering, who knows that just after a winter, the general will send them back. They are very frightened, unwilling to leave Hebei, and refuse to board the ship, so..."

Li Hong was startled.At the beginning of the year, Tian Kai and Liu Bei sent letters one after another, saying that Qingzhou and Xuzhou had suffered serious population loss due to the war, and the land was barren and uncultivated. They asked themselves to repatriate some refugees, and they agreed without hesitation.Did I do something wrong?Don't these people who are far from their homes want to go back?Is this just my own wishful thinking?

=

The refugees fell to their knees on the ground, surrounded by endless darkness, begging and crying one after another.

"Cao Cao killed tens of 10 of us in Xuzhou. We managed to escape, how could the general have the heart to send us back? Does the general want us to die?"

"When we returned to Xuzhou, that murderous demon Cao Cao would definitely come back. Either he drove us into the river and drowned us alive, or we were eaten by him as vegetables. General, please save us."

"Yanzhou has been fighting for so many years, and everyone has died. Where can there be food? Cao Cao's army rations are not millet, but people. It is us people. We are Cao Cao's army rations."

"General, don't drive us away. Even if we starve to death, we will die in Hebei, so we can leave a whole body. If we die in Yanzhou or Xuzhou, not to mention the corpse, even the bones will be swallowed by those wicked people. go down."

Li Hong walked slowly among the refugees, listening to the helpless cries of the refugees, his heart was as painful as a needle prick, and his eyes were already blurred by tears.

"General, when did you fight the Yellow River? When did you kill that demon Cao Cao and save us?" One after another, the skinny refugees lay on the ground, shouting hoarsely, while kowtowing vigorously, many of them had a slap on their foreheads. Bloody.

Li Hong wanted to scream, he wanted to scream, he wanted to tell these poor people that he would immediately lead his army to cross the Yellow River and kill Cao Cao, but he couldn't do it, his lips trembled violently, and said a word Can't tell either.

=

"The general is about to lead his army to cross the Yellow River and kill the Cao bandits."

Suddenly, a passionate voice rose from behind Li Hong, "The general is invincible and invincible, and he will surely bring peace to the world."

Li Hong suddenly turned around.A tall and handsome young man was standing in the distance, raised his head to the sky, raised his arms and shouted.

The young man's roar infected the Yi Cong soldiers, and dozens of Yi Cong soldiers surrounding the young man suddenly raised their spears and shouted, "General...General..."

Inspired by the roar, more soldiers immediately joined the cheering ranks, "General...General..."

The thunderous roar instantly pierced through the clouds and cracked rocks, and went straight to the sky.

The refugees followed closely behind, cheering in unison with the iron cavalry officers and soldiers, their voices were hoarse, "General...General..."

"Kill the Yellow River and kill the Cao thief."

The earth-shattering roar reverberated over the Yellow River like bursts of spring thunder for a long time.

=

Koji waved his hand vigorously.Ji Feng hurriedly led a group of iron cavalry forward, struggling to squeeze a way out of the crowd.

Surrounded by Qu Yi, Zhao Yun, Tian Chou, Fu Gan and others, Li Hong then walked slowly towards the city gate.

Not long after, Wang Dang, who was sweating profusely, came up with a group of personal guards.

"Great General, the lower officials have failed in their duties, which frightened the General."

Li Hong smiled coldly, "Heizi, you are getting more and more powerful now, and you can even think of such a way. Do you not want your head anymore?"

Wang Dang plopped down on his knees, "General, the people of the Central Plains have suffered from wars and chaos, and their lives are devastated. The general should act as soon as possible with the power of thunder and lead the army south to eradicate the rebellion and stabilize the country." Then Wang Dang suddenly raised his head and pointed to the surrounding area. The cheering people shouted loudly, "General, I would like to lead the army to kill the Yellow River first."

Li Hong gave him a hard look, "Let's go, we'll talk about it when we go back to the city."

=

Arriving at the Pingyuan City Government Office, Li Hongfei got off his horse, looked up at the tall gatehouse, and said to Wang Dang dissatisfiedly: "You really know how to enjoy it."

Wang Dang smiled awkwardly, "General, when the brothers faced the rain of guns and arrows on the battlefield, they didn't even blink their eyes. They should also be allowed to enjoy it, otherwise, the soldiers will complain and their morale will be greatly affected."

Li Hong turned his head to look at Qu Yi, "The soldiers you lead are more and more like you. I think Heizi has been taught badly by you. I'd better take him away."

"Don't, don't..." Qu Yi waved his hands again and again, and said with a smile, "The army is about to go south to fight, how can the general change the general?"

"Who said that we will go south to fight soon?" Li Hong's face darkened, "Lü Bu can still hold on, so wait a little longer."

"Still waiting?" Wang Dang asked anxiously, "General, how long are we going to wait? Is Lu Bu dead?"

Li Hong ignored him, turned his head and waved to the two young and handsome subordinates behind him, "Come here, all of you, and get to know Mr. Wang."

"This is Fu Gan, the son of Lord Fu Xie, Marquis of the Zhuang Festival."

"This is Wang Ling, the nephew of the former Lord Situ Wang Yun." Li Hong pointed at Wang Ling with a smile and said, "If he hadn't yelled out of his wit just now, I would still be trapped among the refugees."

Qu Yi patted Wang Ling's shoulder appreciatively, "You have such talent at such a young age, your future is boundless."

Wang Ling hastily bowed and said a few words of humility.

Wang Dang knew that Li Hong didn't want to talk about these things now, so he used two young people as a shield.He bowed his hands to Fu Gan and Wang Ling, and then hurried into the mansion after Li Hong.

=

Qu Yi and Wang Dang did not wait for Li Hong to sit down and rest, but continued to ask about when they would send troops south.The two thought that since Li Hong had made his promise in front of 10,000+ refugees, of course he would not change his mind.

Sure enough, Li Hong took a step back and did not continue to insist on not sending troops, but he still did not agree to immediately go south to fight.

"When will Tian Kai and Liu Bei send troops?"

"Tian Kai wrote back that the remnants of the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou had recently been rampant near Mount Tai. He was worried that the hinterland of Qingzhou would be attacked by the Yellow Turban Army after the army left the country, so he did not gather the army for a long time." Wang Dang immediately explained, " Xuzhou Mu Liu Bei is eager for revenge, and he launched an attack on Cao Cao as early as the end of February, and he is estimated to be fighting fiercely with Cao Jun near Fei Guo in Taishan County."

Li Hong was silent.

Qu Yi shook his head and said, "Currently Tian Kai is reluctant to send troops, Liu Bei's strength is limited, and Yuan Wei's army, governor of Yuzhou, has entered Yanzhou, and may have fought with Lu Bu. Now Lu Bu is in a very bad situation."

"General, give the order immediately, let's fight." Wang Dang urged anxiously.

"Don't fight for the time being." Li Hong looked at Wang Dang and then at Qu Yi, "I am responsible for the refugee issue. I didn't consider it thoroughly, so that you are helpless, but you are responsible for today's matter, especially Yun Tian. You two should prepare immediately and go to the place where there is a battle."

Qu Yi and Wang Dang looked at each other, stunned.

"General, is it true?"

"You two are crazy about wanting to fight, I will fulfill you." Li Hong pointed to Qu Yi and said, "You go to Kansai, and be with Zilie (Xu Rong) and Ziwei (Hua Xiong), and now your wish has come true ?"

Qu Yi said in surprise: "Okay, okay, it's a deal, it's a deal."

"What about me? Am I going to Kansai too?" Wang Dang asked hastily.

"You go to Hedong." Li Hong nodded and said, "You go and stay with Qizhi (Yang Feng) and Zhang Baiqi."

Wang Dang became anxious, "I'm going to Guanxi. There is no battle in Hedong, so I won't go to Hedong."

"There is no battle in Hedong, but it doesn't mean that there is no battle in Guanzhong." Li Hong smiled, "I will go to Hedong right away. We will meet in Hedong."

=

In mid-March, Li Hong returned to Handan.

"Is there any latest news from Guanzhong recently?"

"No." Zhu Mu handed Li Hong a letter, "This is an urgent report from General Xu Rong. In March, Chun Yuqiong led an army to attack Xin'an City. This is Yuan Shao's first attack on Kansai this year. It looks like he's going to make a move."

"Does anyone in Handan know about Qu Yi, Wang Dang, and Sun's departure from Jizhou?" Li Hong asked in a low voice while opening the letter.

"No one knows except me, Zhongyuan and Zitai (Tian Chou)." Zhu Mu said, "At present, everyone in Handan knows that General Yan Liang's army is moving southward from Zhongshan and Changshan, and will reach the north bank of the Yellow River by the end of March. "

Li Hong nodded, glanced quickly at Xu Rong's letter, and then opened the map on the desk, "Have Jiang Wu and Mustafa's cavalry arrived in Jinyang?"

"We've arrived, and we're heading to Hedong day and night." Zhu Mu sat opposite Li Hong, pointed to Hedong County on the map, and said, "Yu Du, Guo Daxian, and Liu Shi's [-] troops have already arrived in Linfen. After the three generals Yi, Sun Qin, and Wang Dang arrived, this army was led by General Qu Yi, and then went to Pubanjin to join Yang Feng, Yushi, and Zhang Baiqi's [-] troops. It was these [-] troops who attacked Guanzhong head-on. On foot and cavalry."

"Does Lingming (Pound) have any news?"

"General Pang De of Huwei, General Wei Jun of Xiangwu, and King Liu Ming of Rizhu are on their way to Beidi County." Zhu Mu pointed to Helan Mountain on the map and said, "The Qiang cavalry of Kuangfengsha and Nie Xiao will climb over by the end of this month. Helan Mountain, enter Beidi County from Lingwu Valley, and meet Pound." Zhu Mu swipe down the map, focusing heavily on Xiaoguan. Enter Xiaoguan, and then go down Liupan Mountain to kill Chang'an."

"Middle of April..." Li Hong said to himself, "It would be great if they could be faster. Whether they can successfully capture Chang'an and occupy Guanzhong depends on this iron cavalry."

"It's official, Jishu Yuxing brother (Xian Yufu) and Bogui brother, please complete the assembly of the Youzhou army by the end of April, and follow orders to go south at any time to attack the Central Plains."

Zhu Mu was slightly surprised, "The general intends to let Gongsun Zan lead the army again?"

"Yes, as long as I take down Guanzhong and save the emperor, the situation will be very favorable for Hebei. At this time, as long as I have enough troops, I can capture the Central Plains quickly." Li Hong patted Zhu Mu's hand, and said with a smile, "Trust me, brother Bogui will not betray the emperor, let alone the court. By the way..." Li Hong suddenly asked in doubt, "Why hasn't your father delivered the letter yet?"

Zhu Mu shook his head worriedly.

=

(End of this chapter)