Great Han Empire

Chapter 802
In March, Changshan Kingdom, Qianqiu Pavilion.

On the land of Hebei in the early spring, the sun is shining and everything is recovering. The warm and elegant emerald green gradually covers up the cold black daisy. On the endless tender yellow grass, you can see the colorful smiles of nameless flowers everywhere, and flocks of birds. The children are chasing the white clouds excitedly in the blue sky, and their joyful cries fill the field full of vitality.

The mute and a few soldiers were sitting in the thick bushes, breathing the fresh air, talking and laughing in low voices.

On the road in the distance, cars and horses were like dragons, and there was a din of people. Countless peasants were driving carts, carrying heavy burdens, and heading north.

"They transported grain to the north during the day, and we marched south at night." A muscular young man in his 20s lowered his head and spat out a weed in his mouth, then pointed at the chaotic crowd in the distance, bewildered Asked, "You say, what is going on here? If the battlefield is in the south, how can the food be transported north? If the battlefield is in the north, why do we march south again? Where is the battlefield?"

"Tuozi, you don't know such a simple question?" A strong man in his 30s sitting next to the hunchback said with a smile, "The grain and grass are transported north, of course the battlefield is at the frontier."

"Ba Jin, then why did we go south?" The hunchback gave him a disdainful look, "At the end of last year, we went out to the desert to fight the rebellious Xianbei people, but the trip was delayed due to heavy snow, and we have been stuck in the Feihu Fortress. Frontier fortress, we should continue going north now."

"Humpty, you've been fighting with me for several years, why are you still so stupid?" The mute lay on the grass, stretched his waist comfortably, and cursed indistinctly, "Now we're going south, It means that the rebels in the Central Plains are going to attack us again, and we are going to the banks of the Yellow River to block the rebels' attack."

"Oh...really?" The hunchback rubbed his head, thought for a while, and still didn't understand, "My lord, there are seven battalions in Jizhou, with [-] troops, why should we go south? We should go to the frontier to fight the barbarians. "

"Beating barbarians is mainly about iron cavalry. Even if we go, we will just follow behind to escort food, grass and luggage. It's boring." Ba Jin shook his hand and said, "Ten years ago, we followed the general into the desert and ran thousands of miles. I almost didn’t win any battles, and the cavalry took all the credit.” Thinking of the past, Bajin still brooded, “It’s better to go to the Yellow River to fight rebellion, there are credits and rewards…”

"Hey..." The mute stretched his legs and kicked his feet, "I married a woman last year, did I go bankrupt?"

"I'm going to be a father, and I want to save some money for my baby." Bajin pushed aside the dumb long legs, and said happily, "War in the south, you will have a lot of credit and rewards. Don't you want to go to the south to fight?"

The dumb man ignored him, and took advantage of the situation to hunch the hunchback again, "Do you understand, kid? Don't just think about fighting and killing people all day long, but also think about meritorious deeds and rewards. You will be able to build money in the future when you are rich." The house marries a wife, do you know that?"

The hunchback didn't speak, and slowly lay down on the grass with his head in his arms.

=

In the first month of March, Dongjun County of Yanzhou, Dongwuyang and Huangting on the north bank of the Yellow River.

Huang Tong was fully armed and stood at the front of the team.A hundred soldiers stood behind him, solemn and silent.Hundreds of men, women and children in the village gathered around, reluctantly looking at their relatives, and there were soft weeping sounds from the crowd from time to time.

Huang Tong took one last look at his family.The mother-in-law's tears kept flowing, she was distraught.The child in his arms was dazed and ignorant, and was opening a pair of fat little hands, swinging up and down towards him, calling "Dad" in a childish voice, trying to pounce on his father's broad chest.The three-year-old son held his mother's trousers and looked at him pitifully. His little nose was constantly wriggling, and the snot might flow down.Huang Tong looked at the child silently. At this moment, he had an impulse to rush up and touch the child's head to wipe off the snot hanging from the child's lips.

Huang Tong's heart twitched, and his eyes slowly became moist.He tried his best to squeeze out a smile, waved at the child, took another deep look at the tearful woman, turned around resolutely, strode towards Chidao, and never looked back.

The soldiers followed behind him, walking in a single file, although their steps were heavy, they did not hesitate.

Stick saw Dahei.With the support of his wife and daughter, Dahei stood by the side of the road.He was very haggard, with sunken eye sockets, and the expression on his face was extremely complicated, with worries, pain, and heartbreaking helplessness.Dahei suffered from a serious illness last year. When the conscription order was sent to the village, his 15-year-old son had no choice but to pick up his father's sword.

Stick looked at Xiao Hei who was walking ahead.Xiao Hei carried a saber and shield on his back, held a spear, and walked quickly with his head down.The weight on his body was so heavy that his thin body bent a little.

"Xiao Hei..." Stick shouted, "Your parents are here to see you off."

Xiao Hei stopped in his tracks, turned his head and glanced at his relatives, and tears burst out suddenly at this moment.He wanted to call his parents, but his throat seemed to be blocked by something, and he only let out a mournful sob.

Xiao Hei's mother and younger sister burst into tears.Dahei wanted to go up and hug his son, but he only took one step, and his thin body fell powerlessly on his wife's body.

A veteran grabbed Xiao Hei's arm and dragged him away.

Stick walked up to Dahei, "Uncle, I will bring Xiaohe back, just like you brought me back."

Looking at Xiao Hei's swaying back, a tear quietly rolled down Da Hei's face.

"Xiao Hei, come back alive."

=

On the same day, Tobu Yangcheng.

On the majestic city tower, flags fluttered.

Gao Lan, Lei Zhong, Li Feng, and Xiao En were stationed outside the horse city, quietly watching a group of cavalry galloping towards them.

"My lords Wu Xiong and Xiang Cheng are here, let's go and meet them." Gao Lan waved his whip, kicked the horse's belly lightly, and led his three subordinates to meet them slowly.

The two sides meet and greet each other.

"I'm not late, am I?" Wu Xiong said with a smile, "After receiving the general's order, Mr. Xiang and I immediately assembled 5000 troops, left Gaotang City, and came day and night."

"It's been a long time late." Gao Lan stretched out a finger and nodded in front of Wu Xiong's eyes, "If you arrived last night, I can still treat you to a table wine."

"Forget it." Wu Xiong waved his hands again and again, "I can't drink this wine since I was with Mr. Gao Shun. After a long time, I got used to it, so I won't drink it anymore."

"Stop drinking?" Gao Lan looked at him in surprise, "It seems that Lord Gao Shun is still strict in governing the army."

Wu Xiong let out a "hum", and the corner of his mouth curled up in disdain.

"What happened to Xia Houyuan on the other side?"

"No." Gao Lan said, "However, Xia Houyuan is probably very nervous about our move today, and he will probably transfer the main force to Cangting to garrison in the near future."

Wu Xiong frowned slightly, and asked in a low voice: "Brother Zhengqing, do you think the general is going to attack the Central Plains?"

Gao Lan smiled and shook his head noncommittally, "I heard that the general has left the fortress."

"Really?" Wu Xiong touched the scar on his face, and shook his head regretfully, "I don't understand. In the past, the general even defeated Murong Feng, but now he can't deal with a little Kirby bear. Mo Ming That's wonderful." Then he looked at Gao Lan and asked, "Are you leaving today? Has the army assembled?"

"I'll leave right away." Gao Lan nodded and said, "After receiving the order from the general, I ordered all the ministries to gather overnight. The army that was assembled first will go first and will not stay for a moment. After I arrive in Liyang, I will deploy defenses in Liyangjin, Changshou Jin (now in the area of ​​Xiwangbin, Puyang County, Henan Province) to prevent the rebels from attacking Jizhou from the direction of Baima and Puyang. After the handover of Master Xu Huang who was originally stationed in Liyang and me, he will rush to the battlefield in Hanoi under the leadership of Master Wen Chou. "

"The general went out to fight the barbarians by himself, but let the Jizhou army attack Luoyang. Isn't it clear that we need to fight on two fronts?" Wu Xiong spread his hands vigorously, and gestured in the air a few times, "Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others competed together. A cunning, once he sees an opportunity, he joins forces to attack Jizhou again, and things will be troublesome. The general said in the letter that taking down Hanoi and threatening Luoyang is to prevent the Central Plains rebels from attacking Jizhou, but I think the opposite is the case. It gave the Central Plains rebels an excellent opportunity to attack Jizhou."

Gao Lan was silent.After the Battle of Jizhou, the imperial court placed the three armies of Zhang Ying, Wang Dang, and Xu Huang in Wei County to help Zhang Liao and Zhang Xiu garrison Hanoi, threaten Luoyang, and prevent Yuan Shao from counterattacking. This deployment is enough to stabilize the situation in Jizhou, but today At the critical moment when the general was facing the counter-insurgency in northern Xinjiang, why did he suddenly change this established deployment and let Zhang Yun and other three armies enter Hanoi and make a gesture of attacking Luoyang?Doesn't this make the situation in Jizhou precarious?

=

In March, Handan, the general went to the gate.

The inside and outside of Xingyuan are heavily guarded.Within ten miles of the camp, patrolling cavalry roamed about, and no one was allowed to approach the camp.

General Li Hong entered Xingyuan at dusk.

Jia Xu, Fu Gan, Wei Yan, Wang Ling, Wang Chang (Chang) and others who rushed to Xingyuan to prepare for the preparations, and the eldest princess specially transferred Tian Chou, Sima Yi, Dong Zhao, Chen Gong, and others from the court to Xingyuan to help. Liu Yi and other ministers, Yang Qi, Yang Yi, Cui Jun, Jin Shang, Zhao Jian, Zhang Chao, Dong Fang, Wang Kai and other ministers who were in charge of appeasing the Central Plains after the army crossed the Yellow River, rushed to the Yuanmen to welcome them.

After exchanging pleasantries with Yang Qi, Yang Yi and other ministers, Li Hong immediately returned to the big tent and summoned the officials of the two governments to discuss matters.

Sima Fugan first reported the locations of the various armies.

The Northern Army commanded by Generals Qu Yi, Yu Shi, and Zhao Yun had already arrived in Changshan and the territory of Zhao State.Because the distance from the Yellow River is getting closer and closer, the army will act more covertly in order to hide its whereabouts, which will delay a certain amount of time.However, before the end of this month, the Northern Army can reach Tobuyang without any problems.

The Southern Army under the command of Generals Zhang Yan and Lu Bu has already crossed the Feihu Fortress. They will rush to the south of Liaocheng on the north bank of the Yellow River in Yanzhou East County before the end of this month, and station troops on the front line of the Tuhai River.

The cavalry of the four lords Yan Rou, Jiang Wu, Wei Jun, and Yang Ming have joined the army of the Xiongnu Grand Chanyu Liu Bao and Youxian King Liu Ming in Gaoliu City, and they are currently heading south at high speed.

General Zuowei Mr. Xian Yufu wrote back.The Youzhou cavalry army has been assembled. In the near future, under the leadership of Xian Yuyin, Gongsun Xu, Ying Qin, and Guo Hua, they will divide into two groups, from Lulongsai and Liaoxi to the north of Dayan Mountain advance.At the same time, Loulu, Ran Ran, and Lu Huanyang from Karasuma are gathering troops in the Baishan area, and Shemoci and Fuluohan from Xianbei are gathering troops in the Danhan Mountain area. Xianbei's Lightning River area is approaching, threatening Kirby Bear.

Lord Li Su was still in Zhuojun and Guangyang counties to supervise the battalion soldiers and civilian husbands to dig ditches.From last winter to now, after half a year of hard work, the two ditches connecting Juma River and Gushui River are about to be completed.

The troops of Master Zhang Liao and Master Zhang Xiu are still storming Pinggao City.The three adults Yan Liang, Zhang He, and Wang Dang have arrived in Huaicheng with the army and a large amount of food and supplies.A few days later, they will assemble an army of [-] to launch an attack, striving to take Pinggao City as soon as possible.

Lord Wen Chou and Xu Huang's troops are still on the front line of Liyang. After Lord Gao Lan leads the army to take over the defense, they will rush to Hanoi to join Lord Yan Liang.

Master Wu Xiong's army has arrived in Dongwuyang.Master Gao Lan is on his way to Li Yang at the moment.Master Gao Shun wrote back that his army had been assembled and he could contact Zang Ba at any time. The two sides joined hands to send troops to Xuzhou for the third time.

=

"What's the matter with Yuan Shao?" Li Hong listened carefully to Fu Gan's report and looked up at Wei Yan.

"The scouts dispatched to the south bank of the Yellow River have collected a lot of news recently. According to our inference, the troops from Henan and Yuzhou are gathering towards Zhongmou City." Wei Yan pointed his finger at the map, and his eyebrows flashed with joy, "General, As we expected, Yuan Shao may attack Jizhou from the direction of Baima and Puyang, trap our army in Hanoi, and force us to withdraw from Hanoi."

The strategy for the Great War in the Central Plains was agreed upon by the general after repeated consultations with the main officials of the two governments during his tour of the desert for more than a year.Dong Zhao and Wei Yan were one of the planners. They were familiar with the behavior characteristics of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Biao and others and their intricate relationship with each other, which provided great help in determining the strategy of the war.

Li Hong looked happy, and hurriedly asked, "Are you sure?"

Wei Yan nodded, "That's for sure. The key issue now is that we must take down Pinggao City immediately. When Yuan Shao's army rushed to Baima and Puyang to attack Jizhou, Lord Yan Liang's army immediately crossed the river to attack Chenggao and Xingyang. Prison Pass." Wei Yan put both hands on the map, one hand on the Heyang and Wenxian areas on the north bank of the Yellow River, and the other on the Hulao Pass area on the south bank of the Yellow River. It threatens Luoyang in both the east and north directions."

"Yuan Shao would never have imagined that we had accumulated food, grass and military equipment in Hanoi for four months, let alone that we dared to ignore the danger of annihilation of the entire army at this time, cross the Yellow River south to attack the hinterland of Henan, and threaten Luoyang from two directions " Wei Yan smiled contemptuously, "Yuan Shao is in a dilemma at this time. If he continues to attack Jizhou, Luoyang will be in danger. If he withdraws to protect Luoyang, he may lose the opportunity to occupy the Central Plains."

"Yuan Shao is in a dilemma, but Cao Cao, who is far away in Jianghuai, is very happy, so he can continue to attack and kill Yuan Shu without any scruples."

"Wait until April, no matter what the war in the Jianghuai area is like, and no matter how Yuan Shao chooses." Wei Yan clenched his fist with his right hand and lightly thumped Dongwuyang on the map, "Our 150 southern and northern armies, [-] foreign cavalry , The [-] troops will launch a cross-river attack at the same time from Dongwuyang and Chiping (chi) in Yanzhou Dongjun, a total of [-] miles long, to attack the Central Plains."

"At this moment, Jizhou's [-] troops are holding Yuan Shao in Hanoi and Henan in the west of the Central Plains, Gao Shun Zangba's [-] troops are attacking Xuzhou in the direction of Qingzhou to contain Liu Bei, and Yuan Shu is holding Cao Cao and Liu Bei back in Jiujiang County between the Jianghuai River The main force of the army." Wei Yan waved his hand vigorously, with arrogance, "A [-] army will go south to the Central Plains, and it will come down with one drum."

=

Wei Yan's high-pitched voice hadn't finished yet, and excited cheers resounded in the big tent.

Li Hong smiled lightly and waved his hand to signal for everyone to be quiet, "Sweeping the Central Plains seems easy, but if you want to gain a foothold in the Central Plains, occupying a few counties is useless. You must annihilate the army of the rebels. This is the key point of this war." The real key." Then he pointed to Wei Yan and asked, "Is there news from the Jianghuai direction?"

"Yuan Shu's army is still standing on the front line of Qi (qi) city." Wei Yan replied, "Cao Cao is obviously very worried about Yuan Shao, and he is not very determined to attack. As long as we fight Yuan Shao, Cao Cao will have no worries."

"Have you delivered the letter to Yuan Shu?" Li Hong looked at Tian Chou.

"It has already been sent out." Tian Chou replied, "However, in the past two days, news came from the Central Plains and Jianghuai that Yuan Shu killed Liu Chong and declared himself emperor."

Li Hong was stunned for a moment, a little unbelievable, "The news is reliable?"

"Cao Cao posted a dissenting document against Yuan in the Central Plains and Jianghuai. Maybe he has already severed all ties with Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu lost Yuan Shao's support, coupled with the killing of the king, it is inevitable that many people will betray him, and many of his subordinates may betray him in order to survive. Moon, we're in big trouble."

Li Hong thought for a while, then shook his head, "This matter is not credible. What's the point of Yuan Shu being self-reliant at this time? If he did this, he would not only push himself to a dead end, but also cost the lives of the Yuan family and the nine clans. He also buried his subordinates and the nine clans who followed them. This must be Cao Cao's treacherous plan, wanting to destroy Yuan Shu's interior, trying to easily defeat Yuan Shu to preserve his strength, and at the same time planting an excuse for himself to attack Yuan Shao in the future."

Tian Chou hesitated for a moment, and suggested: "General, it is better to let Gao Shun enter Qingzhou in advance and join Zang Ba to attack Xuzhou. Regardless of whether Yuan Shu kills the king or stands on his own, we must help him at this moment, and we cannot let him die immediately, so that It has affected our strategy of attacking the Central Plains."

Li Hong nodded in agreement, "Order Gao Shun to enter Qingzhou immediately."

=

I recommend Si Yuke's new work "Golden Snake", if you have time to read it.

(End of this chapter)