Great Han Empire

Chapter 866 The Heroes of Troubled Times Compete in the Central Plains
Fengqiu City.

Just as the soldiers of the northern border army on the front lines of Fengqiu and Wuchao were about to fight to the death, they were surprised to find that the rebels did not continue to attack when they were in dire straits.

Zhang Ying, Gao Lan, Gao Shun, Zhang Liao and other northern generals couldn't believe it. Did something happen to the rebels?Judging from the morale of the rebels in the past two days, they have no reason to give up such a good opportunity to attack.

Fortunately, the Northern Xinjiang Army got a chance to breathe.While Zhang He ordered the ministries to strengthen the defense line, he urged Zhang Yan to send reinforcements again.

In the afternoon, Lu Bu led Yang Yi and Guo Xun's two battalions of reinforcements to Wuchao in a hurry, and took over the command of the battlefield from Zhang He.That night, Wang Dang also led his army to arrive and stationed in Fengqiu City.

Zhang Yanshu told Lu Bu that the main force of the army had withdrawn to Yuanwu and Yangwu cities, and would cross the gutter water tomorrow and withdraw to the line of Yanjin and Suanzao. Lu Bu must stick to it for another day.

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Under Fengqiu City, the Yanzhou army camp.

All the ministries of the coalition army were unwilling to continue to follow Cao Cao's order to forcibly attack Fengqiu and Wuchao because they were worried that they would lose too much. As a result, Cao Cao's plan to break through the Jishui River to capture Yanjin and Suanzao to encircle the northern army failed.

Cao Cao was worried about this.The failure of this plan means that the northern border army can smoothly withdraw to the bank of the Yellow River. Yuan Shao can easily win the Central Plains War without suffering a major loss in his own strength. He will be the biggest beneficiary of this Central Plains War. And if he doesn't escape from the battlefield in time, he may become the first target Yuan Shao wants to eliminate.From the quarrel in the military meeting today, one can see his current position in the coalition forces. No one regards a down-and-out prime minister who has lost his territory as a character anymore.After the end of the Central Plains War, Yuan Shao's reputation was in full swing. As long as he turned the contradiction on himself, people like Ji Ling, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei would rush forward without hesitation, and settle their old and new grudges together.

Cao Cao, Xun Yu and others urgently discussed the countermeasures.

"Yangwu, Yuanwu, Suanzao, Yanjin and other places are only more than 100 miles away from Wuchao and Fengqiu, and the reinforcements from the Northern Xinjiang Army can arrive within a day." Xun Yu sighed and said helplessly, " Today we have a one-day truce, which means that we have missed the opportunity to break through the defense line of the Northern Xinjiang Army. The situation will be very different tomorrow."

"Perhaps the northern border army will retreat tomorrow, and there may not be bloody battles in Fengqiu and Wuchao." Guo Jia pointed to the map on the table and said, "But we can be sure of one thing, the northern border army will withdraw to Yancheng, After the white horse line, we must defend the city in this area."

The northern border army went south to the Central Plains to fight for half a year, so of course they didn't want to return empty-handed.In order to pacify the world in the future, they must do everything they can to occupy Yanzhou.Although Zang Ba of Qingzhou has defected to us again, and the northern army is under the enemy's back and forth, it is difficult to occupy Yanzhou, but Zang Ba is not trustworthy, and he may betray us again at any time and seek refuge in Hebei. Firmly occupying Baima and Puyang poses a threat to Henan and the western counties of Yanzhou, so it is impossible for Yuan Shao to occupy the entire territory of Yanzhou in a short period of time.

The retreat of the Northern Xinjiang Army was directly related to the burning of grain and grass in Wuchao and Gushi.They originally transported grain and grass by water and land, but because Liu Bei, Gao Gan and others took the opportunity to send troops to recover most of Hanoi and occupied two important crossings on the Yellow River, Yanjindu and Qingshuikou, the waterway grain road was cut off.There are 10,000+ troops on the Guandu battlefield, and it is obviously difficult to transport grain and grass by land alone. Therefore, after the grain and grass accumulated in Wuchao and Gushi were burned, the Northern Xinjiang Army could not support it immediately, and our timely counterattack was clear. This clearly exposed our plan to intercept them at the front line of Yanjin and Suanzao for encirclement and annihilation. In this unfavorable situation, the Northern Xinjiang Army had no choice but to retreat.

However, the retreat of the Northern Xinjiang Army at this moment does not mean that they have completely lost the initiative on the battlefield. On the contrary, their retreat is precisely to reverse the current unfavorable situation on the battlefield in order to regain the initiative on the battlefield.

Although the food and supplies in Wuchao and Gushi were burned, there is still food and grass in Jizhou, as well as in Baima and Puyang, as well as in Dingtao and Changyi. As long as the Northern Xinjiang Army retreats to the line of Baima and Yancheng, it will take 10,000+ steps Cavalry can be replenished in time.We have said in the past that September is the most difficult time for the Northern Xinjiang Army's grain and grass. After the autumn harvest in October, their shortage of food and grass will be alleviated to a certain extent. Therefore, the Northern Xinjiang Army is actively withdrawing its 10,000+ troops This is a very wise move. In this way, they retreated hundreds of miles, close to the Yellow River, which not only saved the food consumption of the civilians during the long-distance transportation, but also made the army in a safer place where they could withdraw to Jizhou at any time. At the same time, they can quickly regain the initiative on the battlefield and confront us again on the front line of Baima and Yancheng.

"If there are no accidents, the northern Xinjiang cavalry will soon appear on the battlefields of Hanoi and Yanzhou in order to attack our two wings, slow down our attack speed, attack our grain roads, and prepare for the counterattack after October." Guo Jiaju Putting both hands together, put your right hand on the line of Dingtao, Jiyang, and Donghun, and your left hand on the line of Jixian, Huojia, and Huaicheng, "Have you seen it, my lords?" Two traces were drawn on the map, "When the Northern Xinjiang Army attracts all our troops to the front lines of Yanjin, Suanzao and Yancheng, then their cavalry will take advantage of our empty troops behind and decisively attack from the two wings of the battlefield." Attack and threaten the hinterland of Henan."

Guo Jia looked at Xun Yu and asked softly, "What should Yuan Shao do at this time?"

"Split the troops back to defend Henan, and prevent the northern cavalry from attacking the two wings of the battlefield." Xun Yu was surprised and delighted, "Our chance has come."

"Yes, our chance has come." Guo Jia looked at Dian Wei and Xu Chu and said with a smile, "You two adults had a good fight today. Without today's fight, the conflicts in the coalition forces would not have erupted, and neither would we. Become the target of public criticism. Now that we are not welcome in the coalition forces, and the adults have also been deprived of the command of the battlefield, is it necessary for us to fight the enemy bravely at the forefront of the battlefield?"

"After the Northern Xinjiang Army has withdrawn from the Fengqiu and Wuchao lines, the various ministries of the coalition forces will follow up, and we will naturally stay at the end." Guo Jia patted the two cities of Jiyang and Donghun on the map vigorously, "Now we are eagerly looking forward to The appearance of the northern Xinjiang iron cavalry. As long as they call and start attacking Junyi and Zhongmou, our army at the end will be ordered to go south to stop them."

"We will leave the battlefield, and we can quickly go south to attack Xuzhou." Cao Cao was very excited, and he punched the table, "After Feng Xiao said this, the messy situation suddenly became brighter. Feng Xiao, you still have a clear head what."

Guo Jia smiled faintly, and waved his hands repeatedly at Cao Cao, "Let's not rush south, absolutely not."

"After the cavalry of the Northern Army came out from the two-wing battlefield, Yuan Shao could clearly see the intention of the Northern Army. The Northern Army had no intention of retreating to Hebei, and Li Hong was even more unwilling to give up Yanzhou. They still had to confront the coalition forces and fight decisively. But Yuan Shao saw the northern border cavalry appearing on the two-wing battlefield. The powerful enemy in northern border that he feared most was no longer on the frontal battlefield. How could he not fight decisively? For him, at this moment, he wants to take all the Central Plains and become his own king There is only one way out, and that is to defeat the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army and drive Li Hong to the north bank of the Yellow River. Once the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army is defeated, it will lose its effect on the battlefields on the two wings of Hanoi and Yanzhou. The Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry can only return quickly. Withdrawal, the other troops of the Northern Border Army stationed in the counties and counties in the northeast of Yanzhou will also retreat back to Jizhou under Yuan Shao's advance, so Yuan Shao will fight desperately no matter what."

"If we want Yuan Shao to make up his mind to fight a decisive battle with the Northern Army, we must guard Junyi and Zhongmou for him, so that he has no worries, and let him go to the decisive battle wholeheartedly. Regardless of the outcome of the decisive battle, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and other departments of the coalition army will We will suffer heavy losses, and we..." Guo Jia pointed around, "Except for Lord Xiahouyuan's 7000 troops, the 1 people here will be unscathed. We can take the food and grass of the coalition army and head south to Xuzhou in a big way. At this time, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and the others are scarred and overwhelmed, how can they have the strength to chase us down?"

"Haha..." Cao Cao laughed, and patted Guo Jia's thin shoulder vigorously, "Everything is under Feng Xiao's control. Well, we will do as Feng Xiao said. Urgently tell Xia Houyuan to obey Yuan Shao's orders, Do your best to fight decisively. As for us..." He pointed to the generals around, "When Liu Biao arrives tomorrow, everyone will behave badly and confront him in everything, forcing him to leave us behind the army."

"My lord, although we will stay in the Central Plains battlefield for the time being, Xuzhou must be captured immediately." After the generals agreed, Guo Jia suggested again, "Now that Chen Deng is in Qingzhou, he is probably crossing the river with Zang Ba to attack Ganling Kingdom. Forcing the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army to return to aid, Jian Yong doesn't have many troops, Pengcheng is useless, it is the best time for us to capture Xuzhou."

Cao Cao did not hesitate at all, and immediately sent people south overnight, urgently telling Cao Chun and Ren Jun to join Liu Xun and Xiahouba as soon as possible, and seize the counties of Xuzhou at the fastest speed.

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The first day of September.

Li Yang.

Li Hong received a letter from Zhang Yan.Zhang Yan said in the letter that the army had withdrawn to the front lines of Yanjin and Suanzao.Yuan Shao's pursuit was very fast, and he bit Qu Yi tightly, but what was surprising was that the allied forces in Fengqiu and Wuchao suddenly stopped after two days of mad attack.In order to attract the allied forces from Fengqiu and Wuchao to Yanjin as soon as possible, Zhang Yan said that more time is needed.

Li Hong immediately ordered that the army rest for a day and not cross the river for the time being.

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Yanjin.

Zhang Yan heard that Liu Bei had assembled the main force to counterattack Qingshuikou, and immediately ordered Mustafa of the Changshui Camp to cross the river and rush to the battlefield in Hanoi to help Peng Lie defend Qingshuikou.

"Lord Yan Rou's iron cavalry has reached the line of Donghun and Jiyang, do you want him to make a proper attack?" Jia Xu looked at the map on the desk and said with a frown, "At this time, I should give Yuan Shao some good news. To prevent him from hesitating again after reaching Yanjin."

"Yuan Shao was very resolute in fighting Yangwu, Fengqiu battlefield should be given strong cooperation, why did he stop?" Zhang Yan still put the battle report in his hand on the table, and said puzzledly, "What is Yuan Shao thinking? Isn't it? What happened inside the coalition?"

"Although there are many conflicts among the various ministries of the coalition forces, this is the critical moment of the war, and no one dares to take their own lives as a trifle at this time." Jia Xu shook his head and said, "In my opinion, we probably retreated at Guandu. It was too fast, and the losses of the coalition forces in Fengqiu and Wuchao were too great, so Yuan Shao changed his mind and gave up the strategy of blocking us at Yanjin and Suanzao, and instead concentrated his forces to drive us across the Yellow River."

"If Yuan Shao really thinks so, our strategy of deceiving the enemy by deceiving the enemy will succeed." Zhang Yan said with a smile, "Give Ziyu (Yan Rou) an order to allocate part of his troops, and first fight against Xiaohuang, Junyi and Let Yuan Shao know that the main force of our iron cavalry has arrived on the battlefield on the two wings, and we are about to slow down his attack speed. I hope he can correctly judge the current battle situation and quickly gather troops to attack northward."

"For Yuan Shao, driving us across the Yellow River is not considered a victory in the Central Plains War. Only after occupying Yanzhou and taking the Central Plains can he truly win the Central Plains War. So starting from this point, Yuan Shao No matter what, he will go north to seek a decisive battle." Jia Xu said, "Since he has caught up now, there is no possibility of turning back."

"My lord, Liu Bei is still continuing to attack in the direction of Yanjindu. After Mustafa crosses the river, if Master Peng Lie and Mustafa quickly defeat the rebels and drive the rebels to the west bank of the Qingshui River, Liu Bei's army is very likely to retreat after we withdraw." After defending Yanjin, they gave up crossing the river and instead counterattacked Sir Peng Lie, beat him all the way to Chaoge City, threatened Jizhou, and cooperated with the main force of the coalition forces to attack on the frontal battlefield from the flanks." Sima Yi said from the side, "Sir, should you The book tells Lord Peng Lie not to attack Jixian County and Huojia area before we withdraw to Yancheng, so as not to affect the decisive battle on the main battlefield."

"No." Zhang Yan shook his hand, "If Peng Lie and Mustafa can't reach Jixian and Huojia quickly and defeat Liu Bei, I will punish them. The more fiercely we fight on the battlefield in Hanoi, the more violently we attack The more Yuan Shao believed in the fact that the main force of the northern Xinjiang cavalry had left the main battlefield, the more convinced Yuan Shao was. This is the best way to attract all of Yuan Shao's main force to the White Horse and Yancheng areas to fight us."

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The original Wucheng.

Yuan Shao commanded the army to cross the Jishui River and captured Yangwu, and then continued northward to the Yuanwu City.

Qu Yi led his army to retreat all the way, discarding a lot of luggage.

Xia Houyuan, Liu Pan, and Wenpin were in a dilemma, wondering if they were going north with Yuan Shao's army to pursue them.At this time, they received a letter from Kuai Yue, and learned that the coalition forces had stopped attacking on the front lines of Fengqiu and Wuchao.Kuai Yue did not explain the reason for the truce in the letter, but the three of them still guessed from Kuai Yue's tone that there might be problems within the coalition forces.The three discussed it.The current situation is very clear. The Northern Army is about to retreat to the line of Yanjin and Suanzao. Even if the coalition forces break through Fengqiu and Wuchao now, it is too late to capture Yanjin and Suanzao before the Northern Army. The original plan was to encircle and wipe out the Northern Army The strategy on the front line of Yuanwu and Yangwu has failed.The three immediately decided to follow Yuan Shao to the north, and wrote to Liu Biao to explain the reason.

On the same day, Xia Houyuan received a secret letter from Cao Cao.Xia Houyuan understood, led his army and ran all the way, and caught up with Yuan Shao first.

Qu Yi and Yushi saw that the allied forces were chasing them quickly, so they did not fight, and led their troops across the gutter to withdraw into Suanzao.

Yuan Shao immediately ordered all the ministries to cross the river overnight to attack and kill Suanzao.Xin Ping hurriedly dissuaded him. The army marched more than 200 miles in three days, and fought fiercely with the most powerful army of the Northern Xinjiang Army for about a day on the bank of the Jishui River. it is good.Yuan Shao categorically refused. Now that the Northern Army was being attacked on three sides, not only was the morale of the army weakened, but the soldiers were even more tired. Now was a good time to attack, and the Northern Army must not be given any chance to breathe.

Xia Houyuan was very active this time, and took the initiative to lead his army to cooperate with Yuan Shao's army to launch a fierce attack on the Northern Xinjiang Army on the other side of the gutter.

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Under Fengqiu City, the Jingzhou army camp.

After Liu Biao received Kuai Yue's letter, he was startled and angry, and flew to the foot of Fengqiu city overnight, summoned the generals from all walks of life to discuss matters, and redeployed the attack.

Cao Cao is the prime minister, so of course he would not surrender his status to the Jingzhou army camp to follow Liu Biao's arrangement, but for the sake of the overall situation, he still asked Xun Yu to bring Cao Hong, Shi Huan, Li Dian and others to the Jingzhou army camp to participate in the military meeting .

The scene of the military discussion was very chaotic, before Liu Biao could finish his opening remarks, Cao Hong and Ji Ling started arguing.In the past two years, Yuan Shu first took advantage of the Jizhou war to attack Yanzhou, and then the Yanzhou army and Xuzhou army counterattacked Jiujiang, Yangzhou. The enmity between the two sides was very deep.Cao Hong seemed to be doing it on purpose, and scolded Yuan Shu as soon as he opened his mouth. Without Yuan Shu's perverse actions, how could the Central Plains have such a bad situation today?He uttered a traitor, which immediately angered Ji Ling, and the two immediately quarreled in the big tent.Cao Hong was open-mouthed. After scolding Yuan Shu, he scolded Tao Qian again. If it wasn't for Tao Qian's help, Yuan Shu would have died a long time ago. How could he have escaped to Yangzhou and lost his life?Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and other generals of the Xuzhou army jumped up immediately, sneering back.Cao Hong still couldn't understand his hatred, and scolded Sun Ce and Zhou Yu from Jiangdong to the ground.How could Sun Fu and Lu Su bear it?Probably Cao Hong scolded so badly that Sun Fu was so angry that he even pulled out his knife.

There was chaos in the big tent, Liu Biao, Kuai Yue and others couldn't stop them, and no one listened to their hoarse voices.Kuai Yue hastily called for guards and forcibly dragged Cao Hong and others away.Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Cao Hong took his men away with a roar.

Liu Biao considered for a long time, and decided to put the Yanzhou army aside temporarily, and let Kuai Yue, Guan Yu, Sun Fu, Lu Su and others lead the army to continue the attack.

In the afternoon of the same day, the coalition forces launched an attack on Fengqiu and Wuchao again.

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