Great Han Empire

Chapter 803
"How is the stockpiling and transportation of food, grass and military equipment going?" Li Hong asked Wang Ling to write an order for Gao Shun, then turned to look at Jia Xu, and asked the question he was most concerned about. Master Ce?"

"I've already seen it, and the imperial decree has been given to him." Jia Xu said unhurriedly, "According to the order of the court at the beginning of the year, grain, grass and military equipment from the four counties of Hedong, Taiyuan, Shangdang, and Yanmen are being continuously transported to Jizhou. , together with Jizhou's grain, grass and military equipment, they will be stationed in Handan, Yecheng, Ganling, Xindu and other places, and then the imperial court will allocate them uniformly."

"At present, Mr. Guo Ce is organizing civilians to transport food and supplies from Chidao to Youzhou in the north. Some of these supplies will be used by the Youzhou Army, some will be transported to Liaodong by sea, and some of the food will be used for relief. Wait until April for the main force After the army goes south, Jizhou will no longer send food, grass and supplies to Youzhou."

"The grain, grass, and military equipment in the counties and counties in the north of Jizhou are being transported by water to Ganling City in the south of Jizhou through the Zhongxing Canal. After the spring plowing ends in April, the counties and counties in the north of Jizhou will recruit a large number of civilian workers, and at the same time transport grain, grass, and supplies to the Central Plains by land and water."

"The grain, grass, and military equipment in the eastern counties of Jizhou have been transported to the seaside and are being loaded. Mr. Guo said that it is estimated that in a few days, all [-] large ships will be fully loaded and ready to go."

Li Hong thought for a while, and said to Jia Xu: "Look, did you tell Song Wen, the prefect of Bohai County, to supervise and lead the fleet to go south and enter the Yellow River immediately?"

Jia Xu nodded, "Since the food and supplies have been loaded, I think it is better for the fleet to enter the Yellow River earlier, so as to avoid accidents in the Central Plains and we are caught off guard. Let the fleet be stationed in the area of ​​Gaotang City, which is farther away from the battlefield of crossing the river. close."

"Master Song Wen always thought that the fleet was going north to Youzhou." Tian Chou said suddenly, "Now we suddenly ordered him to go south, he must be very confused. In order to ensure that the whereabouts of the fleet will not be exposed, we should explain clearly to him. In case something happens in the middle, it will affect the overall situation."

Li Hong was silent.Seeing Li Hong looking at her, Jia Xu shook her head slightly.

"Spring plowing and spring harvest are about to begin, and government affairs are busy. Let Mr. Song Wen stay in Bohai County." Li Hong pointed to Wei Yan and Sima Yi, "You two immediately go to Bohai County to take over the fleet. Change direction immediately after going out to sea, quickly Go south."

Wei Yan and Sima Yi bowed to accept the order.

"For more than a year, the imperial court collected, purchased, and built hundreds of large ships through various methods, and with the addition of large and small ships from the coastal counties and counties of Jizhou and Youzhou, it barely got together [-] sea-going ships. "Li Hong said solemnly, "These thousand and five hundred large ships are very important to us. They are directly related to whether the army can cross the south of the river on time and quickly, and there must be no mistakes."

"Please rest assured, General, Master Wei and I will bring the fleet to the battlefield smoothly." Sima Yi bowed again, full of confidence.

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In the middle of March, Yuzhou Peiguo, Qi (qi) city.

Cao Cao and Liu Bei commanded an army to storm Qicheng, and the two sides fought bloody.

Li Ye, Yang Hong, Zhang Xun, Qiao Rui and others vowed to stick to it, and the battle was fierce.

As time went on, rumors about Yuan Shu killing the king and usurping the establishment, and Yuan Shao's plan to kill his relatives and lead his army to attack Jiujiang County spread throughout the Jianghuai area.The soldiers were panicked and their morale was getting lower and lower.

At this time, a shocking news suddenly came from Shouchun.Yuan Shu fled Jiujiang County with his family and the relatives of many close relatives, and was sailing to Hebei by boat.The defenders of Qicheng were in chaos.Although Li Ye and others repeatedly refuted the rumors, and even killed dozens of officials who took the lead in confusing the morale of the army, they still couldn't stop the morale of the army.

Liu Xun, Mei Gan, Lei Bo, and Chen Lan got in touch with Cao Cao in secret. After receiving Cao Cao's promise, the four led their troops to surrender, opened the city gate, and let Cao Cao's army into the city.

The soldiers who had already lost their fighting spirit dropped their weapons one after another.Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui led their personal guards to break through desperately, but they were outnumbered and all died in battle.Li Ye and Yang Hong led the army to guard the government office to the death and resisted stubbornly.Soon Li Ye died of an arrow, and Yang Hong was hacked to death by Cao Jun.

Cao Cao successfully captured Qicheng, killing three thousand enemies and taking nearly ten thousand prisoners.

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The news from the Central Plains reached Qicheng in time.

The northern border army gathered heavy troops to attack Hanoi, and Yuan Shao was gathering troops and horses to prepare for a counterattack.

Cao Cao believed that the northern Xinjiang army's attack on Hanoi was just a containment strategy. The purpose was to ensure the stability of Jizhou, so that the main army of northern Xinjiang could concentrate on quelling the rebellion in northern Xinjiang. He sent troops to the Central Plains when Jianghuai attacked Shouchun.Cao Cao wrote to Xun Yu, Xiahoudun, Xiahouyuan and others who were stationed in Yanzhou to take precautions, and at the same time ordered the army to rest on the spot and give up attacking Shouchun for the time being.

Guo Jia put forward a different opinion.

"Now everyone believes that Hebei will continue to put down the rebellion in northern Xinjiang this year. There are many facts to prove this point. For example, at the end of last year, Hebei recruited a large army to go out, and dug a ditch connecting Juma River and Gushui River in Youzhou to transport grain and grass by sea. At the beginning of the year, Jizhou transported grain northward from both land and water routes at the same time, and now the northern Xinjiang army is attacking the three cities of Hanoi to threaten Luoyang, etc., but there is a question that I don’t know if you have thought about it carefully. How big is the rebellion in northern Xinjiang?”

"The earliest news we got was that the Central and Eastern Xianbei jointly promoted Kirby Bear as the King of Xianbei, and then the Liaodong Rebellion broke out. We can regard these two events as one thing, that is, Kirby Bear wanted to retake the desert. Deliberately taking advantage of the opportunity of the Jizhou War when the northern army was unable to go north, deliberately provoked the frontier war. The area of ​​​​this rebellion is limited to the north of Dayan Mountain and the area of ​​Liaodong, from which we can infer the scale of the rebellion.”

"According to the information we got, after the battle in Jizhou was over, Li Hong immediately went north to appease Zhuhu. With the power of Jizhou's victory and his own illustrious reputation, no one in the desert dared to fight with him except for the lifeless Kirby bear. In other words, Li Hong stayed in the desert for a year last year, and he can definitely defeat Kirby with all the Hu cavalry."

"Is Kobe Bear as powerful as Murong Feng? Is he as strong as Murong Feng? Murong Feng was defeated in the sunset, so why should he fight against Li Hong? I heard that Kobe Bear was saved by Li Hong Yes, with the huge disparity in strength between the two and their irreversible personal friendship, Li Hong can definitely appease Kobe Bear."

"Even if Kobe Bear is unwilling to be appeased, even if Li Hong's attack is blocked, but according to Li Hong's consistent principles, he must use Hu to fight Hu and take the opportunity to weaken the strength of the Hu people. He must recruit the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army Go north to the desert? The Jizhou War has just ended, so is it necessary for Hebei to exhaust its extremely scarce wealth for a small-scale rebellion?"

"So, I personally think that Li Hong put down the rebellion in northern Xinjiang as early as last year. Everything we see now may be fake, and Hebei deliberately made it for us. Their real purpose is to attack Central Plains."

Guo Jia's words startled everyone, and the big officials were dumbfounded.

=

"If the rebellion in northern Xinjiang is not put down and the frontiers are unstable, Hebei will not be able to go south to attack the Central Plains." Mao Jie questioned, "In order to conquer the Central Plains as soon as possible, it is normal for Li Hong to attack the rebellious Hu tribe at any cost. If it were us, we would Will make the same choice. Although the Central Plains is now full of wars, it seems that the opportunity is good, but once the Northern Frontier Army goes south, the parties who are attacking the Central Plains will immediately let go of their past differences, shake hands and make peace, and join forces again for their own survival. Resisting Hebei. The northern border army had many obstacles before and the Hu people rebelled later. It is considered lucky to have no success. If there is a little carelessness, the whole army will be wiped out, and it will lose the strength to compete in the Central Plains. Li Hong has always been He likes to take risks in military operations, but this time the life and death of Hebei is at stake, so he never dares to take such risks.”

Cao Cao, Cheng Yu, Cao Ren and others nodded repeatedly.

Guo Jia had no idea, he thought for a long time, and said slowly: "In the eyes of your lords, the Hu people are always very strong, so strong that one Kirby bear and two Xianbei tribes need Li Hong to use nearly ten The tens of thousands of troops have gone out to fight, but have you ever thought about it, since the sunset, who has the wealth to support nearly [-] troops to go out to fight? No, even if the three states of Hebei have not been severely damaged by the Jizhou war, they are still the same. There is no such huge financial resources."

"That is to say, from the scale of the northern border rebellion, Li Hong should not need to use the main force of the northern border army, but from the perspective of Hebei's wealth, the main force of the northern border army has no way to go to the desert thousands of miles away." Guo Jia swung a thin fist vigorously, "No matter how you look at it, all of this looks like a deliberate scam carried out by Hebei."

Cao Cao and everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, the more he pondered carefully, the more doubts he had, and the confidence in his heart gradually disappeared.If Guo Jia's judgment is correct, then the Central Plains is in jeopardy?

"It's less than a year and a half since the battle of Jizhou the year before last." Cheng Yu was full of doubts and couldn't accept Guo Jia's guess for a while. "Hebei has recovered so quickly? Does it have the strength to attack the Central Plains?"

"Since it has the strength to go to the frontier fortress, of course it has the strength to attack the Central Plains." Cao Cao frowned deeply, and kept knocking on the table with his right hand, "If the main force of the northern border army suddenly appeared on the north bank of the Yellow River, we would be beyond our reach. The Central Plains was given to Li Hong." He turned his head to look at Guo Jia who was lost in thought, and asked in a low voice, "Feng Xiao, what do you think, should we immediately return to the Central Plains, or continue to attack Yuan Shu?"

"If Hebei really attacks the Central Plains, with our current strength, we can't resist the Northern Border Army's attack, and there is no point in retreating to the Central Plains immediately." Guo Jia replied, "If we fight to the death with the Northern Border Army, Yuan Shaohe will benefit Liu Bei. Yuan Shao can take advantage of people and gain the Central Plains easily, while Liu Bei can take advantage of the danger and seize Jiujiang County."

"Continue to attack Yuan Shu?" Cao Cao asked immediately.

"Continuing to attack Yuan Shu will cost too much, and the situation in the Central Plains is confusing and changing rapidly. If something happens, we have no time to react. In my opinion, it is better to preserve our strength and kill Yuan Shu at the lowest cost. In this way, if Hebei attacks the Central Plains, our We can quickly return to aid and join forces with Yuan Shao, Liu Bei and others to fight against Li Hong. If Hebei does not attack the Central Plains, we are purely unfounded, so we should make good use of the current situation where Yuan Shao is being held back by the Northern Army and gain a foothold in Jianghuai."

"Soldiers enter the Huai River, threaten Shouchun, wait for the change." Cao Cao whispered to himself, unable to make up his mind for a long time.Once the Central Plains is lost, I will lose my place to live and live, and my life will be in danger.

=

In the middle of March, Hanoi County, Pinggao City.

Yan Liang, Zhang He, Wang Dang, and Xu Huang led their troops to the city of Pinggao and joined Zhang Liao and Zhang Xiu.At this time, General Li Hong's order also arrived.In his letter, Li Hong described in detail the importance of quickly capturing Pinggao City, and asked Yan Liang to quickly capture the city at any cost, and then start the battle of crossing the river.

Yan Liang discussed with several people, and then decided to attack all three.

The attack on the first day was like a violent storm, covering the sky and covering the earth, causing the defenders in the city to complain endlessly.

That night, Zhu Ling received a letter from Guo Tu, urging him to withdraw his troops overnight and attract the northern troops to Heyang and Wen counties.

The next morning, the Northern Xinjiang Army successfully entered Pinggao City.

Yan Liang immediately ordered to burn down the pontoon bridge on the Jishui River.Fan Li and Zhao Hu led their troops west along the Jishui River for [-] Li, across the river they confronted the troops of Guo Tu and Zhu Ling who were stationed in Wen County.

Wang Dang took the lead to lead the army to the bank of the Yellow River, ready to cross the river to attack Cheng Gao and advance to Hulao Pass.

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In the middle of March, Chenliu County, Yanzhou, Baima City.

Yuan Shao led his army to Baima.

Generals Jiang Qi, Meng Dai, and Han Meng of the Henan Army came out of the city to meet them.

"What's the movement of the northern border army in the direction of Liyang?" Yuan Shao asked impatiently when he saw Jiang Qi, "Is Xu Huang's army still on the other side?"

"Xu Huang's army has already left." Jiang Qi bowed and replied, "According to reports from scouts, the number of defenders in Liyang City is about 2000." kind.He is a friend of Jushou and is deeply appreciated by Jushou.He was able to lead the Henan Army because of Ju Shou's recommendation.

"Where is the direction of Changshoujin?"

"The troops in the direction of Changshoujin have increased."

Yuan Shao glanced at Jiang Qi in surprise, "Didn't Xu Huang's army leave? Why is there more troops there?"

"It's Gaolan's men and horses." Jiang Qi explained, "Xu Huang was ordered to go to the Hanoi battlefield, and the troops in Liyang's direction immediately became thin. In order to ensure the safety of Jizhou, Li Hong mobilized troops from Gaolan's army in Dongwuyang It’s normal to rush to Liyang’s first-line defense.”

Yuan Shao frowned and didn't say much, "How far is the army of Yuan Zhong, Gao Gan, and Gao Rou from Puyang?"

"There's still a day to go."

Yuan Shao nodded with satisfaction, "In two days, we will cross the river and attack Jizhou."

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(End of this chapter)