Great Han Empire

Chapter 801
In early March, Hanoi, Pinggao city.

The sound of fierce war drums soared into the sky, and then there was an earth-shattering roar from the sky above Pinggao City. Accompanied by piercing screams from far to near, a huge black arrow cloud fell from the sky.

"Hush..." The sound of sharp arrows tearing through the air was thrilling.

"Dong Dong..." The sound of sharp arrows hitting the shield, nailing the city wall, and penetrating through the doors and windows of the tower was terrifying.

Panicked and mournful roars came and went, instantly converging into waves of turbulent waves that hit the crumbling city wall continuously.

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Zhu Ling opened his eyes suddenly, rolled over and sat up.

The extreme physical and mental exhaustion went deep into the bone marrow, and the soreness and pain all over his body made him groan involuntarily.The fierce battle for several days has seriously exhausted his physical strength. At this moment, Zhu Ling is sitting on the couch in a daze, his mind is blank, he can't tell whether he is in a dream or in reality, whether it is day or night.

There were dense "ding dong" sounds and bursts of sharp whistling, like a violent storm suddenly approaching Pinggao City.Heavy rain?It's raining?Zhu Ling closed his eyes, shook his numb head, unable to support his tired body, and slowly fell down on the couch.

"Bang Dang..." With a sound, the door of the house opened, and the two wooden doors slammed into the wall fiercely.

Several figures swarmed in.

Zhu Ling opened his eyes again, and his stiff and slanted body suddenly regained strength. Like a beast waiting to be devoured, he stood up with a "huh", "The enemy attacked?"

"My lord, the Northern Frontier Army continues to attack, and the East Gate is in a hurry." Panting, Wu Zheng rushed to Zhu Ling's side, bowed and shouted, "My lord, go to the East Gate to have a look."

Zhu Ling cursed bitterly.

Last year, I and Guo Tu wrote to Yuan Shao again and again, requesting to attack the northern border army stationed in Huaicheng, but Yuan Shao didn't agree for some reason, and it dragged on until winter, and nothing happened.Originally thought that Yuan Shao would launch a counter-offensive this year to drive away the Northern Army, but Yuan Shao still remained silent, not even showing signs of increasing troops.It's all right now. After more than a year of recovery, the Northern Xinjiang Army took the initiative to call on the door.Zhu Ling really didn't understand why Yuan Shao was not in a hurry when the northern army was about to reach Luoyang?Do we have to wait until the northern border army Chen Bing Huanghe, approaching Luoyang, before the army counterattack?

"Is there any news from Luoyang?"

"No." Zhu Ling's long history shook his head, feeling anxious, "Master Guo Tu sent a letter saying that he urgently sent three letters a day to Luoyang asking for military support, but Luoyang has not responded yet."

"A bunch of idiots." Zhu Ling gritted his teeth, pointed out the door, and said angrily, "People in Luoyang should come and see how the Northern Army attacked the city. Such a violent attack is enough to show that the Northern Army The determination to attack Luoyang."

"My lord, don't talk nonsense. The Northern Xinjiang army is attacking day and night, and the arrows and stones are like rain. Our casualties are too great. We should ask Luoyang for help." Wu Zheng wiped the sweat from his face and urged loudly, "Siege the city now It was Zhang Liao and Zhang Xiu, and when the other troops from Jizhou rushed to the city, we couldn't hold on."

"How many casualties have we had so far?" Zhu Ling turned to look at Chang Shi who was following him as he walked out the door.

"My lord, there are nearly a thousand casualties." The long history said painfully, "The northern border army has dozens of stone cannons, and that thing has done too much damage to us."

"Master Yuan is too biased." Wu Zheng scolded angrily, "Luoyang and Chang'an both have stone cannons, but they refused to give them to us. If we also have stone cannons now, how can the northern border army be so rampant?"

"Okay, don't say a few words." Zhu Ling glared at Wu Zheng, "You go to the west city to deploy troops to reinforce the east city, go quickly."

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Zhang Liao sat on the horse, covered his mouth, and coughed non-stop.

In the past few days, he was overseeing the army attacking the city day and night, and he was so tired that he hugged the leather mattress and lay down on the ground to sleep casually, but he caught cold.

"Are you still dizzy?" Peng Lie asked with concern.

When the court first appointed Zhang Liao as the commander of the camp and Peng Lie as his deputy, Peng Lie had a lot of dissatisfaction. He once wanted to write to the general to transfer him out of the camp, but a series of things happened later that made him change his attitude toward Zhang Liao. the opinion of.Zhang Liao was kind, tough, and strict in running the army. He won the trust of the soldiers in the camp in a short period of time.With the start of the Jizhou War, Zhang Liao's excellent military skills were brought into play, which made Peng Lie and Liao Lei, generals from the Yellow Turban Army, feel ashamed.After the Battle of Jizhou, Zhang Liao followed Yan Liang to fight in Hanoi.After Yan Liang was ordered to leave, he alone commanded [-] southern troops to capture Hanoi before winter, which caused a great sensation in Hebei, and many generals of the northern border army looked at Zhang Liao with admiration.Zhang Liao's outstanding military skills and impressive record won the trust of the soldiers of the Northern Xinjiang Army.

Zhang Liao looked at Peng Lie gratefully, and reluctantly shook his hand, "I can still support it."

"Tonight, let the two adults Zhang Xiu and Fan Li continue to lead the army to attack?"

Zhang Liao looked up at Pinggao City in the distance, and asked with a frown, "Where are the troops of Lords Yan Liang and Wen Chou now?"

"Master Yan Liang has already set off from Ye City. Master Wen Chou is rushing to Liyang. After meeting with Master Xu Huang, he will lead the army directly westward to Chaoge City. If there is no accident, an army of [-] can arrive in ten days. Under the city of Pinggao."

"Ten days?" Zhang Liao thought for a while, then waved decisively, "Order the army to continue attacking."

=

In early March, Luoyang.

Yuan Shao, Jushou, Tian Feng, Shen Pei, Feng Ji and others had been discussing for several days, and they couldn't understand the intention of the Northern Army's sudden attack in Hanoi.

The news from Jinyang and Jizhou confirmed that the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army had left the fortress, and Jizhou was successively recruiting civilians and ships to transport food, grass and supplies to Youzhou.There are indications that the targets of Hebei's attacks this year are still the rebellious Xianbei people in the central and eastern parts of the country and the rebellious Hu people such as Karasuma and Fuyu in the east of Liaodong.

If the northern border is unstable, Hebei will not be able to go south to conquer the Central Plains. The decision of the northern border army to continue to quell the frontier rebellion is undoubtedly correct, but the question now is, why did the two large armies of Zhang Liao and Zhang Xiu stationed in Hanoi attack Pinggao City?
At present, the three cities of Heyang, Wenxian and Pinggao on the north bank of the Yellow River in Hanoi are controlled by their own army. There are 5 defenders, which are close to the strength of Zhang Liao and Zhang Xiu.If these two men did not have reinforcements, they would not be able to conquer Pinggao and other three cities. Chen Bing Huanghe directly threatened Luoyang.Now the Northern Frontier Army in Jizhou has seven battalions with [-] troops. Apart from Gao Shun in Pingyuan County and Gao Lan in Dongwuyang, only the [-] troops of Zhang Yun, Wang Dang, and Xu Huang can support Hanoi.If these three armies support Hanoi, the northern army will have [-] troops to attack the three cities of Hanoi, and the chances of winning will be greatly increased.

However, this presents an unbelievable situation. The Northern Xinjiang Army has to fight on the southern and northern fronts at the same time.The Battle of Jizhou has only lasted for more than a year, and Hebei has not recovered anyway. In the case of very tight wealth, will Hebei choose to fight on two fronts?

In fact, it is obviously impossible.So what is the purpose of Li Hong ordering the army to attack the three cities of Hanoi?Is it to contain your own troops and prevent yourself, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and others from taking the opportunity to jointly attack Jizhou?
Last year, the Central Plains was full of wars and frequent wars. Both Cao Cao and Liu Bei were exhausted at this moment and could not go to the northern expedition to Jizhou.

That being the case, Li Hong still has one purpose left. He restrained his troops, not to prevent himself from joining forces with Cao Cao and Liu Bei in the Northern Expedition, but to prevent himself from defeating the exhausted Cao Cao and Liu Bei when the Northern Army had no time to take care of the Central Plains. Liu Bei dominates the Central Plains.

After repeated analysis, Yuan Shao and the others finally determined that the real purpose of the northern army's attack on Pinggao City was to prevent them from seizing the Central Plains.

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"Zhang Liao's strength is limited, and it is difficult to last long." Tian Feng said, "In order to attract our main force, Li Hong must quickly recruit other troops from Jizhou to support Zhang Liao and Zhang Xiu before the war against rebellion in northern Xinjiang has begun. In this way, Our defense forces in Hanoi are insufficient, and the three cities such as Pinggao may be lost. Once the northern army invades the Yellow River and threatens Luoyang, our main force will have to cross the north to compete with the northern army for Hanoi."

"At this time, even if the northern army does not fight a battle and retreats slowly, he can still drag our army in Hanoi, and we will lose the best time to capture the Central Plains." Tian Feng looked at the map on the desk , clicking a certain position with his fingers, "Judging from Yuan Shu's current situation, he may be defeated at any time, so our main force cannot go north to support Hanoi now."

If the main army does not go north, the three cities of Hanoi will be in danger. How to use the main force of the northern army to fight the frontier fortress and quickly capture the Central Plains when they are unable to go south in a short period of time, and at the same time regain Hanoi and stick to Luoyang, which has become a difficult problem for Yuan Shao.

Jushou, Tian Feng and others discussed repeatedly, carefully weighed the pros and cons, and finally decided to counterattack Jizhou from Baima and Puyang in Chenliu County, Yanzhou.

"My lords, please take a look..." Ju Shou pointed to the map and said, "The main force of the northern border army has already left the fortress, and there are only seven battalions in Jizhou. Gao Shun and Gao Lan are in Gaotang in Pingyuan County and Dongwuyang in Dongjun, respectively. Beware of Zang Ba in Qingzhou and Cao Cao in Yanzhou, they dare not move easily. Zhang Liao and Zhang Xiu are in Hanoi, fighting fiercely with us. Once the army of Zhang Yun, Wang Dang, and Xu Huang enters Hanoi, the defensive forces in the direction of Wei County in Jizhou will be quite small At this time, our main force can advance from the direction of Baima and Puyang, and go straight to Yecheng."

"We quickly cut off the connection between Jizhou and Hanoi, cut off the food and grass of the northern army, and trapped the army of Zhang He, Zhang Liao and others in Hanoi." Ju Shou looked at the crowd excitedly, and said with a smile, "At this time, the northern army only has Withdraw."

"We won't let them retreat and drag them to Hanoi." Tian Feng slapped his big hand on the map fiercely, "Tens of thousands of troops were trapped in Hanoi, and Li Hong had no choice but to recruit the main force of the northern Xinjiang army to rush south to rescue them. We will withdraw our troops after the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army goes south. The main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army has been tossing back and forth like this, and the time for countering the rebellion this year has been delayed. While Hebei lost Hanoi, it not only lost a lot of money, but also greatly delayed This is the footsteps of its southward struggle for the Central Plains."

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"In addition, crossing the river to attack Jizhou can help us quickly seize the Central Plains." The judge twirled his short beard lightly and smiled.

"At present, the army of Cao Cao and Liu Bei is fighting Yuan Shu in Qi (qi). Yuan Shu's defeat is only a matter of time. After Yuan Shu is defeated and returned to Shouchun, will Cao Cao and Liu Bei continue to attack Yuan Shu and completely defeat Yuan Shu and occupy Jiujiang County?"

The examiner stretched out his index finger and shook it slightly, "Cao Cao will not continue to attack, because our army is watching at the gate of the Central Plains. If the Northern Xinjiang Army does not come to the frontier this year to suppress the rebellion, we will not pose a great threat to him, but now It's a completely different situation here, we're too much of a threat to him."

"Yuan Shu has nothing left. He will fight back desperately. If Cao Cao wants to take Jiujiang County, he must suffer a lot. His loss is too great, which is equivalent to giving us the Central Plains. Cao Cao is not so stupid as this."

"In order to eliminate Cao Cao's guard against us and let Cao Cao attack Yuan Shu with all his strength, we planned to mobilize a large army to attack the Northern Xinjiang Army from the two directions of Pinggao and Aocang, but this strategy has a fatal weakness, we cannot mobilize too many troops , so as not to arouse Cao Cao’s suspicion.” The examiner spread his hands and smiled happily, “It’s all right now, the active attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army has helped us solve this problem.”

"We can pretend to be caught off guard, abandon Pinggao City, stick to Wen County and Heyang, lure the northern army to the bank of the Yellow River, and then recruit the troops from Luoyang and Yuzhou, quickly enter Chenliu County in Yanzhou, and divide the troops into three groups. , Crossing the river from Yanjin, Baima, and Puyang to attack Wei Jun in the east of Hanoi and Jizhou."

"The three cities of Hanoi are lost, and tens of thousands of troops from the northern border are about to attack Luoyang. There are good reasons for us to deploy our troops, and we also have good reasons for taking the opportunity to march into Chenliu County in Yanzhou. Even though Cao Cao still had doubts at this time, after we crossed the river and launched an attack, he There is no time to think about it, he, like us, has to rush for time."

"If he beats Yuan Shu before us and returns to the Central Plains, it will be very difficult for us to seize the Central Plains, but if he falls behind us, he will not be able to come back. He can only stay in the Jianghuai area obediently, and never want to set foot in the Central Plains." Central Plains."

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After discussing the details with everyone, Yuan Shao immediately told Guo Tu and Zhu Ling in Hanoi to hold on to Pinggao City for the time being, and abandon the defense immediately when the follow-up army of the Northern Frontier Army arrived at the city.

Yuan Shao also wrote a letter to Yuan Wei, Yuan Zhong, Gao Gan, Gao Rou, Xin Pi and others in Yuzhou to lead their own troops and rush to Zhongmou City, Henan Province immediately to assemble.

Yuan Shao urgently informed the commanders-in-chief of Luoyang and Henan armies Jiang Qi, Sui Zhan, Juhu and others, and each led their troops to Zhongmu City.

The next day, Yuan Shao left Jusuo to sit in Luoyang, and he took Tian Feng and others to the battlefield of the Central Plains.

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(End of this chapter)