Great Han Empire

Chapter 703
In mid-April, Hedong.

General Li Hong arrived at Pubanjin camp.

Xu Rong, Qu Yi, Yu Shi, Yang Feng, Hua Xiong, Sun Qin, Wang Dang, Zhang Baiqi, Jiang Wu, Mustafa, Yu Du, Guo Daxian and other generals from northern Xinjiang went out ten miles to meet them at the Yuanmen.

Li Hong has not been back to Hedong since he led the army to attack Jizhou. It has been about three years since he and Xu Rong, Yushi and other northern Xinjiang generals stationed in Guanxi and Hedong have seen each other. Everyone is very happy to meet again after a long absence. .

The army of the Western Expedition was composed of [-] cavalry troops.

General Li Hong commanded the Black Panther Yicong Camp, Huben Camp, and [-] cavalry from Jiang Wu and Mustafa, making a total of [-] soldiers for the central army.

Xu Rong, Yang Feng, and Zhang Baiqi commanded [-] infantry as the army on the left, and Qu Yi, Sun Qin, and Wang Dang commanded [-] infantry as the army on the right.

Pang De, Wei Jun, Liu Ming, Kuang Fengsha, and Nie Xiao commanded [-] cavalry from Xiaoguan to Chang'an. Once they join the army, they will be merged into the left and right armies.

Yushi and Huaxiong were ordered to lead [-] troops to garrison Kansai.Because of the tense situation in Kansai, the two left Pubanjin that night.

At this moment, Chun Yuqiong is leading an army to attack Xin'an, while Zhang Ji's army in the direction of Tongguan and Taolin Fortress is in panic because of the chaos in Guanzhong.In order to ensure that the army can smoothly advance westward to King Qin, Li Hong asked the two to do their best to defend Kansai without any loss.

=

The next day, Yang Hua, the school captain of Lou Chuan, reported urgently that Huangfu Li, the visitor servant, escorted Zhu Jun's coffin to the opposite bank of Pubanjin.

General Li Hong, General Xu Rong who conquered the west and other generals from northern Xinjiang rushed to the ferry in mourning clothes.

Zhu Mu wailed loudly while supporting the coffin, and fainted several times.Li Hong was also very sad when he thought of Zhu Jun's help to himself and Beijiang.

Xu Rong blamed himself very much, covered his face and wept.When the general left Kansai, he repeatedly asked him to protect Zhu Jun, but he failed to do so.

Zhu Mu bid farewell to General Li Hong and escorted his father's coffin to Jinyang for burial, expressing that he would be in mourning for three years.

=

On the third day, the emperor's decree was delivered to Pubanjin.

Guo Si joined forces with Xiliang to rebel against Han Sui and Ma Teng to attack and kill Baling Beiwu camp. Li Jue defeated Bashui, Huangfusong was seriously injured, and his troops were severely damaged. General Xu Rong, who was conquering the west, was asked to quickly advance westward to King Qin.

Also delivered at the same time was an imperial decree to General Li Hong.

At the same time, Pound's urgent report was also sent to Pu Banjin.A fire broke out in the city of Chang'an, the city was destroyed, and the army lost its target, so they had to join forces with Wang Fang and Huangfu Hong's army to station troops in Gaoling.

=

"How dare Li Jue set fire to Chang'an?" Li Hong was so angry that he threw his fist on the table and roared like thunder, "I want to kill this traitor who has ruined the country."

Chang'an City was burned, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Han Sui, and Ma Teng's troops all entered Guanzhong, and the situation in Guanzhong suddenly changed again.

"Li Jue burned the fire absolutely. If he can't keep Chang'an, it's better to burn it with a fire, to show his determination to perish with the emperor. The city of Chang'an was destroyed, and the foundation of the great man Half of it was destroyed, which was a great blow to the big man. We lost the opportunity to capture Guanzhong, and it will be even more difficult for King Qin to go west." Tian Chou looked at the depressed generals in northern Xinjiang, and smiled helplessly. "Yuan Shao and Han Sui rushed into Guanzhong while Li Jue and Guo Si were in conflict. Their intention was not to serve the king, but to seize the land in Guanzhong. Their purpose is still very different from ours. I think we should retreat to the second best. Let's take the emperor to Hedong as soon as possible."

"It's better to be broken than to be whole." Li Hong gritted his teeth, waved his hands and roared, "Am I afraid of that bastard Li Jue? Go and invite Lord Huangfu Li here, I have something to say to him."

"What is the general going to do? It is very inappropriate to send troops to attack Li Jue and rescue the emperor at this time. It is very likely to endanger the life of the emperor, and it is even more likely to force Li Jue and Guo Si to make peace, and then join hands with Yuan Shao and Han Sui to deal with us " Xu Rong hastily persuaded, "Let's wait, the situation in Guanzhong will definitely change."

"Li Jue burned Chang'an, aroused public outrage, and became the target of public criticism. He will soon become a loner and be attacked by Zhang Ji, Wang Fang, Huangfuhong and others. He should know better than anyone else how the situation in Guanzhong will develop." Chen Wei looked at the furious Li Hong, and said nervously, "General, as long as you give him a promise at this time, Hedong is his only escape from disaster. He may still be lucky, but if the general sends his troops to fight , everyone in Guanzhong is in danger, and the situation will be reversed immediately."

Li Hong calmed down a bit, and gave Chen Wei an appreciative glance, "Li Jue is already a doomed person, even if I promised him, he would not dare to come. Do you believe it?"

Chen Wei bowed his head and remained silent.

"The emperor wants to be saved, and I want to be saved in Guanzhong." Li Hong looked at the generals, categorically saying, "This kind of rebellion is getting more and more rampant. If they don't kill them, how can the big men save them? Today they dare to burn Chang'an, tomorrow they dare to kill the king , to usurp the country. I tell you clearly today, I will not let a rebel survive, I will kill them all, and there will be no one left."

=

"Lord Huangfu, return to Baling immediately and present this memorial to Your Majesty." Li Hong handed the letter to Huangfu Li and said angrily, "Tell Li Jue to escort Your Majesty to Hedong immediately, Otherwise, I will let him die without a place to bury him."

Huangfu Li hesitated for a moment, shook his head and smiled wryly, "General, how is this possible? Li Jue is not an idiot, how could he come to die? General, you have tens of thousands of powerful soldiers in your hands, just cross the river west and drive away Yuan Shao and Han Sui , Guanzhong will be restored to stability. By doing this, aren't you forcing Li Jue to burn everything?"

"You asked me to listen to Li Jue? Do you still have the emperor in your eyes? Do you still have a conscience? Do you still know about loyalty and treachery?" Li Hong asked repeatedly, furious, "In order to defend the territory and stabilize the country, my soldiers in northern Xinjiang, Are you crazy to let them fight bloody battles for a rebel who burned Chang'an after they fought in the south and north and made countless meritorious deeds?"

Huangfu Li was ashamed and speechless.

"Go and tell Li Jue, tell Guo Si, I am in Hedong now, and my [-] troops are at the Pubanjin Ferry. If they want to save their lives, send your Majesty to me as soon as possible, otherwise I will kill his nine clans. Yes, you tell Yuan Shao and Han Sui by the way, if you don’t want to die, get out of here as soon as possible, otherwise I will let them die under the city of Chang’an.”

Huangfu Li's eyes were pleading, and he bowed and said: "General, please think carefully, if you do this, the emperor may be killed, Guanzhong may be destroyed, the big man may be overthrown, general..."

"I'm impatient, I've had enough." Li Hong stood up abruptly and shouted loudly, "Even if everything is destroyed, I will not hesitate."

=

The wind howled, and the sky was full of crying.

Standing on the embankment, Li Hong looked at the dense crowd of refugees on the other side, and at the innocent people who helped the old and the young to come crying all the way. The anger in his heart erupted uncontrollably. In the past, all rebels were trampled to death.

He clenched the horsewhip in his hand tightly, and slammed it on the river embankment, frantically whipping again and again, as if he was whipping those heinous rebels.

Lou Chuan Captain Yang Hua came trotting all the way.He stopped far away, looked in horror at Li Hong's distorted face due to extreme anger, saw him roaring and whipping the mud on the embankment vigorously, and saw the splashing mud flying in the air, feeling very afraid in his heart.

"Did you know that Chang'an City was burned?" Li Hong asked loudly, pointing to the other side of the Yellow River.

Yang Hua couldn't believe it, he was stunned, and then he felt a burst of severe pain attacking his whole body instantly.Trembling all over, he swallowed hard, "Really?"

"Where's your boat?"

"The boat is transporting grain on the Fen River." Yang Hua replied blankly before he woke up from the extreme shock.

"There is no need to transport food for the time being, and the army will not cross the river this month."

"Don't cross the river?" Yang Hua was startled, "Why? General, we should kill the emperor, save the emperor, and kill all those damn rebels, General..."

"Immediately send out the building boats to bring all the refugees from Guanzhong to the east of the river. Do you hear me?" Li Hong waved the whip violently in the air, making a piercing whistle, "Send someone to tell the people in Guanzhong on both sides of the Weishui River to say The frontier army is about to enter, and the Guanzhong will flow blood into rivers, and let them all flee to the east of the river. There are no more people in Guanzhong, and the rest is to kill, wantonly kill, kill them all, I see who else dares to fight with me Guanzhong."

"Okay..." Yang Hua suddenly understood, and he shouted excitedly, "Okay, General, I'll do it right away."

Yang Hua ran away.

"Zitai..." Li Hong turned his head and glanced at Tian Chou, "Urgently tell Zhang Yan to order Zhao Yun to bring his iron cavalry to Hedong, hurry up."

"General, Zhao Yun has led his iron cavalry across the south of the river to support Lu Bu, and he is probably not in Jizhou now."

"No matter what method is used, Zhao Yun must be rushed to Hedong by the end of this month." Li Hong whipped his whip to the ground, "I will let Guanzhong's corpses litter the fields."

=

In mid-April, Yanzhou.

Lu Bu reined in his horse suddenly and stopped, raised his head and shouted wildly: "Brothers, regroup, regroup..."

The sound of war drums shook the whole field.

The army that was retreating rapidly stopped suddenly.

Wei Xu, Song Xian and other generals rode horses along the Chidao and went to their headquarters to reorganize the army.

Zhang Miao, Zang Hong, Wu Zi, Chen Gong, Liu Yi, Xu Si, Wang Kai and others rode out from the chaotic army and gathered around Lu Bu one after another.

"My lord, why did you stop?" Chen Gong asked out of breath, "This place is still fifty miles away from Chengshi City. Once we enter the city, we can rest. The armies of Cao Cao and Yuan Wei are rushing towards us from the left and right wings. , if we are entangled by their forward army, our entire army may be wiped out."

Lv Bu stood on his horse and looked around, full of grief and indignation.

=

The army fought bloody battles with Cao Cao outside Juye City for several days, but due to insufficient troops and Xuzhou Mu Liu Bei's sudden withdrawal of troops, the breakout failed.

Before Liu Bei withdrew his troops, he sent a letter to Lu Bu.Last month, Yuan Shu suddenly led an army to attack Xiapi and Guangling counties.The defensive forces in the two counties are weak and vulnerable, and they are in urgent need again and again.Liu Bei had no choice but to withdraw his troops and go south for support.

At present, Cao Cao and Yuan Wei's army has obvious advantages, and Lu Bu is single and weak. Failure will happen sooner or later. Therefore, Liu Bei suggested that Lu Bu, while he still has thousands of troops and the rear road is still under his control, he should go to the direction of the Yellow River as soon as possible. Retreat, and even cross the Yellow River when necessary, and station troops in the north of Dongjun.

Lu Bu's plan to withdraw from Xuzhou to the south immediately fell through.Because he wasted time in Juye, Yuan Wei had already led his army to kill him. He was immediately flanked by Yuan Wei and Cao Cao, and fled in defeat.

=

Looking at the terrified officials of Yanzhou and thousands of soldiers, Lu Bu looked up to the sky and sighed, feeling disheartened.

"My lords, the Northern Frontier Army has not crossed the south of the river yet. We are doomed." Lu Bu cupped his hands and said, "Lü Bu is ashamed of the Son of Heaven, ashamed of his lord Wang Yun, and even more ashamed of your lords' trust in me. I have not been able to fight with your lords." I am very sorry to complete the great cause of King Xijinqin together."

"My lord, although the northern army has not shown any signs of going south, it does not mean that they have given up on Yanzhou." Zhang Miao comforted with a forced smile, "Today we have nowhere to go, so we can only cross the Yellow River north to seek refuge with the general. The general Sooner or later they will go south to the Central Plains, and sooner or later Yanzhou will still belong to us, don't be discouraged."

Lu Bu looked up at the sky, smiled lonely, "I'm not going, I'm going to rescue my brothers, those brothers who helped us break out of the siege, I can't leave them alone to escape."

Zhang Miao, Zang Hong, Chen Gong and others looked at Lu Bu with admiration, but could not say a word.

=

Wei Xu, Song Xian, Hou Cheng, and Cheng Lian came galloping on horseback.

"My lord, the army has been reorganized, shall we fight back?" Wei Xu asked loudly.

Lu Bu shook his head, "How many cavalry are there?"

"320 eight."

"Leave the cavalry behind." Lu Bu looked at the four of them and said calmly, "We came out of northern Xinjiang together. We are brothers, good brothers. You must listen to me."

"My lord, what are you going to do?" Hou Cheng asked in surprise, "You want to bring your cavalry back to Juye, rescue Wen Yuan, and rescue the besieged brothers?"

Lu Bu smiled, "I entrust Xiaoyue to you. If I die, you can take her back to northern Xinjiang together. Master Xu Rong and Master Zhao Yun will definitely take you in."

"My lord, they are already dead, already dead." Wei Xu roared hoarsely, "Why are you going back? Do you want to die?"

"My lord, if you want to go, we'll go." Song Xian said in a deep voice, "There are four of us, as long as one of us stays."

Lu Bu shook his head, "There are more than 3000 brothers here. You must take them safely to Hebei. And..." Lu Bu pointed to the officials in Yanzhou in the distance, "For more than a year, they have shared weal and woe with us and fought the enemy side by side. , We love each other deeply, we can’t ignore them. You have to take them and their families out of danger, lest they be killed by Cao Cao and Yuan Wei.”

"My lord..." Wei Xu felt sore in his heart, his eyes turned red, and tears immediately soaked his eyes, "My lord..."

"Four brothers, please." Lu Bu cupped his hands and said with a smile, "See you later."

=

With a roar, Lu Bu kicked the horse's belly fiercely, and the horse roared and shot out.

"Brothers, raise your spears, fight back, fight back..."

"Raise the battle flag, follow me back to the battlefield, and save our brothers..."

"Brothers, fight to the death, fight to the death..."

"Kill..." 320 Baqi roared like thunder, galloped his horse like flying, followed Lu Bu without hesitation, and charged between the sky and the earth.

=

Xiaoyue groaned and cried loudly, jumped on the horse with all her strength, and chased after him.

Chen Gong didn't catch her, and couldn't help screaming in fright, "Stop her, stop her..."

Wei Xu galloped wildly on his horse, stretched out his hand to lift Xiaoyue up from the galloping horse, and then hugged her, "He won't die, no one can kill him."

"He will die, and I will die with him."

"He won't die." Wei Xu stopped his horse, looked at the dust flying in the distance, and shouted hoarsely, "He won't die..."

Two lines of teardrops slowly rolled down from Wei Xu's eyes.

=

Zhang Liao smashed the enemy into the air with one punch, turned his head and shouted wildly: "Form the formation, form the formation, don't disperse, head to the northwest, hurry...quick..."

The drums of war came to mind intensively, resolutely and fearlessly.

Li Feng and Xue Lan took the lead, each leading a team of personal guards to break through to the northwest.

Hundreds of soldiers formed a barrel formation, fighting fiercely, brave and invincible.

=

Looking at the bloody battlefield, Lu Bu was overwhelmed with excitement and tears filled his eyes when he heard the sound of fierce drums and brutal fighting.

"Brothers, kill in, kill in..." Lü Bu pointed his halberd forward, his voice hoarse, "Kill..."

320 Baqi was like a long arrow screaming sharply, shooting into the bloody battlefield.

Xu Chu and Cao Chun each led a team of iron cavalry, and blocked them head-on from both wings.

The long halberd whistled, and the wind and thunder blew up. Lu Bu smashed Xu Chu's saber down with a single halberd.Xu Chuhu roared, and raised his knife to block it. "When..." There was a loud noise, the tip of the knife, Xu Chu couldn't bear the thunderous blow, his strong body flew upside down, and a mouthful of blood spewed out from his mouth.

"Kill..." Lu Bu roared wildly, the halberd still had no strength left, and "Pu Chi..." pierced through the enemy soldiers.The corpse flew up, rushing into the sky with a stream of blood.

=

The sound of war drums shook the mountains.

Cao Jun suddenly became confused and retreated to the two wings.

Li Feng and Xue Lan intuitively felt that the pressure in front of them was relieved, and the speed of their charge suddenly accelerated.

Lu Bu's long halberd swept across, killing eight people in a row, and the eight heads screamed in the air, which was soul-stirring.Li Zheng tried his best to meet him, but he was knocked down by Lu Bu as soon as he closed his horse.

Cao Jun couldn't resist, so he had to let him kill all the way, invincible.

Li Feng, Xue Lan, and the bloody soldiers suddenly saw Lu Bu kill them, they were all shocked, and they shouted wildly, and everyone's morale was like a rainbow for a while.

"Go out...brothers...follow me and go out..." Lu Bu raised his halberd high and galloped his horse as if no one was in the land.

=

"Okay, he's a man, okay..." Cao Cao stationed his horse on the high slope, clapped his hands and shouted, "Order all the ministries to surround them on all sides, and kill Lu Bu, kill Lu Bu..."

In an instant, the war drums were like thunder, and the sound shook the sky.

=

The fierce battle became more and more fierce.

Lu Bu and his hundreds of soldiers were surrounded by Cao's army, and their defeat was imminent.

"Wenyuan...Wenyuan..." Lu Bu stared at a pair of blood-red eyes and kept yelling, "Follow me, follow me..."

"Fengxian, go to the west, go to the west..." Zhang Liao staggered behind him with two knives in his hands, trying to show him the direction to break out of the encirclement.

Suddenly, Zhang Liao tripped over the corpse under his feet, fell headlong into a pool of blood, and his helmet fell far away.

"Wen Yuan..." Lu Bu exclaimed, and the long halberd slammed back, knocking down the two Cao soldiers who rushed forward. "Get up...quick..."

Zhang Liao didn't move, he was lying on the ground with all his attention, listening carefully.

"Wen Yuan, let's go..." Lu Bu roared and killed another person, "Let's go..."

Zhang Liao jumped up suddenly, pointed to the distance and shouted frantically, "Fengxian, iron cavalry, iron cavalry..."

=

The sunset is like blood.

On the horizon in the distance, an army of iron cavalry, covered in fiery red clouds, rolled towards them like a roaring bloodthirsty beast.

=

(End of this chapter)