Great Han Empire

Chapter 850 The Heroes of Troubled Times Compete in the Central Plains
Late at night, the general camp.

The big tent is brightly lit.Zhang Yan, Qu Yi, Lu Bu, Yushi, Fan Li, Sima Yi, Wei Yan, Grand Chanyu Liu Bao, Zuo General Huyan Yuanjia and others sat around and were discussing the attack strategy.

At present, the left, middle and right armies are advancing side by side, all advancing to the front line of Yingoushui and Langtangqu.

The gutter water, the Honggou water, the Langtang canal, and the river (bian) water meet in Junyi City.The gutter water flows down from the north and flows into Junyi, a place where the four rivers intersect. From there, the water that crosses and continues southward to Yuzhou is the Langtang Canal.The Honggou water flows into the intersection from the southeast, and the river flows southeast to Huai and Si.

The main force of the middle road is now stationed in the upper reaches of Langtang Canal. Tens of thousands of troops are confronting the rebels at the city of Junyi and Kaifeng, pointing directly at Henan.

The army on the left stationed troops at the Langtang Canal and threatened the three places of Yingchuan, Chen and Liang in Yuzhou from Xiangyi, Jiwu and Yucheng to protect the main battlefield of Yanzhou.

The army on the right stationed troops in the lower reaches of the gutter water, stationed in Yanjin, Suanzao, and Wuchao, and confronted the rebels in Yuanwu and Yangwu cities on the other side of the gutter water.

"Two days ago, Yueqi School Lieutenant Qin Yi cooperated with Gao Lan and Lei Chong's army to attack Fengqiu. The rebels couldn't resist and immediately withdrew through the sewer water. Our army pursued afterward, intending to kill Honggoushui and threaten Zhongmou. The rebels desperately wanted to die. Counterattacked and fought fiercely with us in the area of ​​Sanling Pavilion. Due to the tenacious resistance of the rebels, our army suffered heavy losses and had to retreat to the east bank of Yingoushui. "

Wei Yan pointed to Zhongmou City on the map and drew a circle around it, "Now all the rebels are gathered within 150 miles of Zhongmou City. There are many rivers and ditches here, and the defense line is extremely stable. In addition, it is far from Luoyang and Yuzhou. They are very close, and their troops and supplies can be quickly replenished." Wei Yan looked at the crowd, shook his head, and said, "At this point in the battle, our advantage is running out, while the rebel army's advantage is gradually overtaking. We, it's the same as we expected, we can't beat it."

In the past month or so, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei quickly joined forces. While they stubbornly blocked our attack, they actively adjusted their battle strategy and continuously transported troops, money and food from various states and counties to the Central Plains battlefield.On the contrary, due to the continuous fighting in our army, each unit suffered losses to varying degrees. The physical strength of the soldiers has reached the limit, and they are exhausted up and down.Facing the strong defense of the rebels, if we continue to fight, we can imagine the huge losses.Secondly, the supply of food and supplies for the army began to be tight.In the early stage of the battle, we used all the troops in Hebei.The Central Plains battlefield, Guanzhong battlefield, Kanxi battlefield, Hanoi battlefield, Henan battlefield, Xuzhou battlefield, and even the Youzhou battlefield thousands of miles away will consume food, grass and military equipment. The imperial court's financial expenditure is too large to support it.

Fortunately, we completed the planned goal in the shortest time, reached the Henan border and occupied Yanzhou, formed a decisive battle with the rebels, and will quickly enter a stalemate on the battlefield.This bought us precious time to win the decisive battle.

===

It has been more than two months since Lord Yan Liang led his army to attack Pinggao City in Hanoi and cross the Yellow River to the south. We have successfully completed the first two goals of the Central Plains War.The first goal is to quickly advance to the front line of Dingtao and Changyi, so that the army can gain a foothold in the Central Plains and continue to fight the rebels.The second goal is to attack and advance to the front line of Junyi and Chenliu, so as to quickly form a decisive battle situation and consolidate and stabilize Yanzhou.

Now that both of these goals have been accomplished, it's time for the final battle.The purpose of the decisive battle is the only purpose of this Central Plains War, which is to severely injure the rebels, eliminate the rebel forces as much as possible, and prepare for the pacification of the world.

From the formation of the decisive battle situation to the start of the decisive battle, both sides need a period of time to accumulate troops and stockpile food, grass and weapons, and both need to obtain a clear advantage before the decisive battle.The amount of troops and food is crucial to the victory of the war.The reason why we were able to achieve amazing results in the early stage of the battle was because we had absolute advantages in terms of military strength and food and grass, but now we are losing these two crucial advantages.

The shortage of our decisive battle force is obvious to all. We know this, and the rebels also know it. This is the main reason why the rebels dared to fight us in Henan, but there is one thing that the rebels would never think of. We still have reinforcements. Our reinforcements are the iron cavalry of the Hu tribe on the desert.

When this iron cavalry will go south, and how many troops will go south, will depend on three aspects. Whether a lord Xianyufu can drive Kebixiong to the Great Xianbei Mountain to relieve his threat to the tribes of the Hu tribe in the desert. Can you agree to recruit a large number of Hu Qi to go south to the Central Plains? Third, when will the rainy season on the desert end.Generally speaking, when July falls, the rainy season in the desert should end. If Hu Qi wants to return to the desert before the heavy snow comes, that is, in November, then they only have three months to go south to the Central Plains. In the first two months, Hu Qi actually participated in the war for only one month, that is, the month of September.

If the decisive battle is scheduled for September, then we are still nearly four months away from the decisive battle.

In four months, we will continue to fight against the rebels. The food and grass consumption of 10,000+ troops and hundreds of thousands of civilians is a huge number.

===

According to our original plan, part of the money and food for the decisive battle in the Central Plains came from the imperial court’s past reserves, part from the property collected by the imperial court after the spring harvest in May, and part from the allocation of counties and counties in Yanzhou and Qingzhou.Things in Qingzhou are easier to handle. After all, its strength has been greatly restored with the help of Hebei in the past two years. However, Yanzhou has just experienced war, and it will take some time to appease the people and collect taxes and corvees.One of the important reasons for our eagerness to quickly form a decisive battle with the rebels on the Central Plains battlefield and face off for a long time is to win enough time to stabilize Yanzhou, so as to obtain part of its wealth.

Since Cao Cao defeated Master Lv Bu and took control of the whole territory of Yanzhou, under the rebellious governance of Cao Cao and others, a series of recovery measures have been implemented, such as organizing refugees to farm, digging ditches, encouraging business, salt and iron monopoly, and last year combined with the army to garrison The military system was changed to the scholar family system. These measures greatly stabilized counties and counties and increased wealth and income.It has been five years since Lord Lu Bu lost to Hebei, and Yanzhou has hardly suffered any major disasters.In order to prevent the Yellow River from bursting, Cao Cao ordered the excavation of the Yellow River North Levee to flood Jizhou and protect Yanzhou.When he went north to crusade against Hebei, he took advantage of the opportunity of the alliance with Liu Bei and Tian Kai, and asked Tian Kai and Liu Bei to provide him with most of the grain and supplies on the pretext that Yanzhou was poor. part of the food.After Yuan Shu turned his back and attacked Yanzhou, he only occupied a few big cities because of his limited force, and did not deal a fatal blow to Yanzhou.Then Cao Cao and Liu Bei were defeated from Jizhou and returned to the Central Plains, and jointly attacked Yuan Shu.At that time, Yuan Shu occupied many counties and counties in Xuzhou. Liu Bei asked Cao Cao, and of course he was obliged to undertake all the food and supplies of the Yanzhou Army.In the past five years, although Cao Cao sent troops repeatedly, he cleverly took advantage of the situation at that time and used various means and methods to effectively protect Yanzhou counties and counties and save Yanzhou's wealth.

After the northern border army crossed the river and went down the river, due to its very fast speed, they attacked the city and pulled out the stronghold all the way, roaring down, and did not burn, kill and plunder unscrupulously in Yanzhou. It didn't do much damage either.Because many places are too far away from Chidao and the city, the local people don't even know that the Northern Xinjiang Army has occupied Yanzhou.

According to the speculation of Zhang Miao, Liu Yi, Chen Gong and other former officials of Yanzhou, if the northern army can quickly occupy and stabilize Yanzhou, and let the people in all parts of Yanzhou be able to plow and harvest as usual, then Yanzhou's wealth this year can at least be free. It can save a large amount of relief money and food that Hebei is going to allocate to stabilize Yanzhou.

Calculated in this way, the imperial court will be able to give us a clear answer by the end of June whether the army's food, grass and supplies can last until the decisive battle.If nothing else, it shouldn't be a problem for us to persist until October on the Central Plains battlefield.After October, the autumn harvest is over, and the wealth of counties and counties in Hebei will be put into the treasury. At that time, no matter whether the decisive battle is over or not, as long as we do not lose, even if it is a draw, we can firmly control Yanzhou.

At present, although we have contributed to the formation of a decisive battle on the Central Plains battlefield, we do not have enough troops and money to carry out a decisive battle. Therefore, our current attack strategy is to replace defense with offense and confront the rebels for a long time.

===

Wei Yan looked at the crowd and continued: "As time goes on, the rebel army will have a clear advantage in terms of military strength and wealth, but because of this battle, regardless of the outcome, the pattern of the Central Plains will undergo major changes, and this change It will be directly related to the life and death of the rebels, so the most important thing for the rebels now is how to ensure their own survival strength in the process of defeating us together."

This kind of mentality of the rebels has been very prominent in the three battlefields of the North, the South, and the Middle East.They did not have the determination to resist to the death, and often retreated impatiently.If the rebels maintain this mentality, their counterattack power will be greatly reduced. Once we find an opportunity to defeat them one by one, they may collapse across the board.

From this point of view, I think it is very unlikely that the rebels will counterattack in the near future. Their countermeasures are probably to implement defensive delays, and to use our weaknesses in strength and insufficient food and grass as much as possible to expand our disadvantages to the limit. Then launch a decisive battle, in order to give us a fatal blow at the least cost.We took advantage of the passive defense of the rebels to assemble superior forces on local battlefields, consume a large amount of the enemy's vital forces, expand the advantages for the army, and ensure the creation of conditions for the decisive battle in September.In addition, our persistent attack is also a kind of suppression and blow to the morale of the enemy. It can make the rebels unable to form a unity in choosing the time to counterattack, and lose the opportunity of counterattack in vain.

=

After Wei Yan finished speaking, everyone in the tent had different expressions and remained silent. Only Yan Zhi was still explaining Wei Yan's latest analysis of the battle situation and the attack strategy proposed to Liu Bao and Hu Yan Yuanjia in a low voice in Hun dialect.Yan Zhi is now an official in the Grand General's Mansion, accompanying the Grand Chanyu Liu Bao.When Yan Zhi was very young, his elder brother Yan Rou and a group of horse thieves were running around in the desert and couldn't take care of him, so he was fostered in the home of a Hun subordinate, so his Hun dialect was very proficient and pure.This time when the general went south, he needed a person who was proficient in the Xiongnu dialect and could absolutely trust him to stay with Liu Bao, the commander-in-chief, and be responsible for explaining orders and drafting documents to Liu Bao.Qu Yi then recommended him to the general.

After listening to Yan Jie's explanation, Liu Bao suddenly asked: "After the desert cavalry went south, the number of cavalry in the army immediately accounted for an absolute majority. In the decisive battle, the cavalry should be the main attacking force. But judging from the current battlefield terrain, Iron cavalry is hard to use." He looked at the crowd and asked in bewilderment, "Does the general have a better attack strategy?"

"On this matter, we have the same doubts as Da Shanyu." Lu Bu looked up at Wei Yan, "Wen Chang, you have been with the general for the past two years and participated in formulating the strategy to attack the Central Plains. The understanding of this strategy is much more thorough than ours, tell me, how does the general want to fight?"

All eyes turned to Wei Ting.Here, only he knows the whole strategy of this war best.

Wei Yan thought for a while, then shook his head, "The general has kept secret about the decisive battle, and has never said anything specific to us."

"The general hasn't imagined how to fight a decisive battle?" Qu Yi asked, "The decisive battle is the ultimate goal of this Central Plains war. How can the general not have any specific ideas? You should think about it carefully."

Wei Yan thought hard for a moment, then suddenly said: "The general thought the same as the great Shanyu at the time, thinking that the battlefield of the decisive battle cannot exert the power of iron cavalry, and failure is inevitable."

"What?" Qu Yi stared, "Failure is inevitable? Since failure is inevitable, why did the general order to attack the Central Plains? Seeking death?"

"Forget it, forget it, everyone don't make wild guesses." Zhang Yan waved his hand, "There are two important points at present. One is to continue to attack Henan and keep suppressing the rebels, forcing the rebels to be unable to gather strength in the short term. The decisive battle. The second is to stabilize Yanzhou, restore Yanzhou to the state before the war as soon as possible, and increase the chances of winning the decisive battle by strengthening the rear of the army."

==
The generals then discussed the deployment of troops and the focus of attack, and then they all left.

Zhang Yan personally sent Qu Yi out of the tent and expressed his gratitude for his trust and support.Qu Yi sighed, "We have fought with the general for more than ten years, have we not seen any dangerous scenes? But no matter when, we never thought that the general would fall suddenly. The general fell at this moment, It is almost a catastrophe for the Northern Border Army. Whether we can survive this disaster safely depends on you."

Zhang Yan nodded solemnly, "The general has never lost a battle, and it will be the same this time."

Qu Yi laughed, and turned to look at Sima Yi, "Zhong Da, do you have a plan to defeat the enemy?"

Sima Yi looked ashamed and bowed his head in silence.

"Take your time, don't rush, there are still four months." Qu Yi smiled, "I believe in you."

Qu Yi turned around and flew away, leaving in the dust.

===

Uncharacteristically, Master Hua Tuo stayed in the general's camp for several days, and had no intention of leaving.The general's condition is under control, he can eat a little liquid food, and he spends more and more time awake.

Master Hua Tuo inspected Li Hong's body carefully that day, and said to Li Hong, as long as you rest with peace of mind and don't overwork yourself, you will recover in a hundred days.

"Thank you, Master." Li Hong said gratefully, "Without Master, my life would be over."

"You killed too many people." Hua Tuo shook his head and sighed, "Although you guarded the frontier for the big man and protected countless lives, even though you once kept millions of homeless refugees alive in the northern Xinjiang. , although you have made great achievements, you can't hide your bloody nature, and you can't wash your blood-stained hands. No matter how many reasons you have for killing, you are a damned heinous person in my heart. You and Yuan Shao People like Cao Cao and Cao Cao are all bloodthirsty people, as long as you don't die, the big man will not be stable, and the common people will not have a peaceful life."

Li Hong sighed sadly.

"I didn't want to save you, but if you die, countless people in the world will die in the flames of war. Compared with those killed by you, these people are very innocent, and there are a lot of them. They shouldn't die, so you can't die either. "Hua Tuo said with a sad expression, "I saved you and let you kill people. The crime is heinous."

"Back then, Zhang Jiao was seriously ill and sent someone to look for me, but I avoided seeing him..." Hua Tuo paused for a moment, as if immersed in the memories of the past, his eyes were very sad, "I have been in pain. Although I didn't kill him But this is enough to make me feel guilty for the rest of my life. He died, and millions of people died miserably with him. My sin is too deep, and I can't repay it even if I spend my whole life." Hua Tuo stretched out his thin hand and gently put it away. After stroking Li Hong's forehead a few times, tears suddenly welled up in his eyes, "Seeing your sad and painful eyes and your loose long hair, I always think of him."

"Just like you, he has sad eyes, flowing long hair, and a compassionate heart full of violence and blood. He has great ideals, very lofty ideals, and he fantasizes about building a peaceful world. In that world, there is no disease, no war, no crying, no pain, no disasters, only happiness and joy. He was completely obsessed in the world preached by the "Taiping Jing", he gradually lost his way, and finally he went crazy It's..."

Hua Tuo looked up to the sky and sighed, "General, you are very close to that kind of self-destructive madness. If you can't find yourself, not only will I not be able to save you, even God will not favor you anymore, he will not Give life to you again and again."

Li Hong listened quietly, and suddenly realized in his heart that the Lingtai was empty, and the irritability and anxiety suddenly disappeared, and a calm and comfortable smile slowly surfaced on his face.

Hua Tuo gave him a deep look, then turned and walked out of the tent.

Li Hong stared at Anyan beside the couch, "Send off Mr. for me."

With murderous intent in his eyes, Anyan raised his leg and followed.

"I'm fine, let me go, sir."

Li Hong's weak voice suddenly rang in Ren Ren's ear.Ran Ran was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Li Hong with a suspicious look on his face.

Li Hong shook his head with a smile, "Go and get some silk for Mr. He needs it very much."

Ren Ran gave an "um" and reluctantly chased him out of the big account.

==
Xu You rushed to the front line of Kaifeng, shot a book at the northern Xinjiang barracks, and asked to see the general.

Zhang Yan didn't want to see him, and wasn't interested in his proposal at all, so he ordered the frontline generals to directly reject it.

"My lord, I think we can meet." Sima Yi persuaded, "Maybe we can get something from him."

"Then you go." Zhang Yan waved and smiled, "Look at what he said. I heard that this person is arrogant, conceited, and speaks harshly. You have to hold back and don't kill him in a fit of anger."

Sima bowed to accept the order.

===

Xu You entered the North Xinjiang army camp alone, and when he saw a young man in his 20s receiving him, he said rudely, "All the people from Hebei died?"

Sima smiled slightly, "I heard that a dying person came to Luoyang. The Hebei people in the camp were worried about getting bad luck, so they rushed away. The general had no choice but to let me, the groom, pick him up."

Xu You glared at Sima Yi and sneered, "No matter how many years a barbarian has been in Dahan, he is still a barbarian. He can't even say a word about people except feeding horses."

"If the Sima family in Hanoi doesn't speak human language, then what the adults spit out is probably animal language." Sima Yi retorted.

Xu You was stunned for a moment, then looked at Sima Yi up and down, "Who are you from the Sima family?"

"Second brother, Sima Yi."

Xu You looked at him in surprise, shook his head and sighed: "Ten years, ten years in the blink of an eye. Is your father okay?"

"Father is in good health." Sima Yi immediately put on a respectful smile, "Father often mentions Uncle, and misses Uncle very much. How is Uncle?"

"Recently?" Xu You waved his hand angrily, "Are you trying to piss me off on purpose, kid?"

Sima Yi pretended to be a slip of the tongue, and repeatedly cupped his hands, "Accidentally kicked my uncle out of Chenliu, and made my uncle suffer. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"Did you do that?" Xu You heard this, and suddenly became angry, and cursed angrily, "How could your father raise such a cruel bastard like you? At that time, I was thinking, how could Zhao Yun do such a thing?" Doing such a shameless thing?"

"Haha..." He smiled triumphantly, "In order to kill such a stubborn rebel like Uncle, of course I have to use some extraordinary means."

Xu You was dizzy, his vision went dark, and he almost fell off his horse.

===

Sima Yi refused Xu You's request to go to Chen Liu to meet the general.

"Uncle, you are a well-known rebel in the imperial court, and you are Yuan Shao's right-hand man. Can a person like you go back to Chenliu? To be honest with you, the general will never agree to a peace negotiation. Your idea is too naive. Now, do you think the general is an idiot, he will believe your words?"

Xu You didn't take it seriously, "Do you think that I came here alone to negotiate a peace? I still understand Li Hong's temper a little bit. He wouldn't be as stingy as you said, and arrest me and chop me up."

Sima Yi looked at him thoughtfully, "It turns out that Uncle is in trouble."

Xu You sneered, noncommittal.

"For the sake of losing Chen Liu?" Sima Yi asked.

Xu You narrowed his eyes and remained silent for a while, "You just need to let me go to Chenliu to meet the general, so why bother?"

"I want to save you, Uncle." Sima Yi took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Xu You, "Take a look, it may be helpful to you."

Xu You took it over and looked at it, without any expression on his face, "If you want to kill me, there is no need to use such despicable means."

"Master Uncle misunderstood, I am not so stupid as to be so stupid. I volunteered to meet you just because of this letter of apology. At this time of the Central Plains War, you still think that Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others are still running for their lives Opportunity?"

"You are too confident." Xu You smiled, "As long as you give me time, I will have no problem beating you."

"But will Yuan Shao give you time? Will he still trust you?" Sima Yi asked with a smile, "You came to Chenliu alone, what do you want to prove? To prove your loyalty to Yuan Shao, or to prove your loyalty to the big man?" Loyalty? If you want to prove your loyalty to the big man..." Sima Yi picked up the letter and waved it in front of Xu You's eyes, "You'd better write your name on it, so as not to cut off your own path .”

Xu You was very firm and refused to sign the confession form.

"Uncle, even if you defeat Hebei and Yuan Shao occupies the Central Plains, how long can you live? No one in the world knows Yuan Shao's heart? Your loyalty to the big man will make you die without a place to die."

Xu You's eyes showed pain, and he sighed dejectedly, "Take me to Chenliu, don't waste time."

"You write your name on this confession form." Sima Yi did not back down, "Otherwise, you will surely die when you arrive in Chenliu. Because even if the general doesn't kill you, I will kill you. I don't have a general." Heart, I will never let such a rebel like you return to Luoyang to help the evildoers."

Xu You charged at the crime, "Why don't you kill me here?"

"That's different." Sima Yi smiled and shook his hand, "Killing you here will make you lose face and damage your reputation. I think it's better to kill you in Chenliu."

Xu You was dizzy, his eyes darkened, he was shaking with anger, and almost vomited blood.

====
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(End of this chapter)