Chapter 9 Chasing the Central Plains 47th Festival Late at night, the Great General's Camp. The inside of the big tent is clear. Zhang Yan, Lu Yi, Lu Bu, Yushi, Fan Li, Sima Yi, Wei Yan, Da Dan Yu Liu Bao, Zuo General Hu Yan Yuanzhu and others sat around and discussed the strategy of attack.

At present, the left, center and right armies are advancing in unison, all advancing to the first line of the ditch water and the Langtang canal. The gutter water, the chasm water, the Langtang canal, and the Bishui River meet in Junyi City.

The ditch water flows down from the north and flows into Junyi, the place where the four rivers intersect, and the Langtang Canal continues south to Yuzhou.

The chasm water flows into the intersection from the southeast, and the Bishui River continues to flow to Huai and Si along the southeast.

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

The army on the left was stationed in the middle of the Langtang Canal, threatening Yingzhou, Chen, and Liang in Yuzhou from Xiangyi, Jiwu, and Yucheng to protect the main battlefield in Yanzhou.

The army on the right was stationed in the lower reaches of the Yin Gou River, stationed in the areas of Yanjin, Suozao, and Wuchao, and confronted the rebels in the two cities of Yuanwu and Yangwu on the other side of the Yin Gou Water.

"Two days ago, Qin Yi, the captain of the Yue cavalry, cooperated with Gao Ran and Lei Chong's army to attack Fengqiu, but the rebels could not resist it, and immediately withdrew across the ditch water. Our army then pursued, intending to kill the chasm water and threaten Zhongmu. The rebels fought back desperately and fought fiercely with us in the area of Sanling Pavilion. Due to the very tenacious resistance of the rebels, our army suffered heavy losses, so we had to retreat to the east bank of the ditch water, and stationed troops on the line of Fengqiu and Junyi, and confronted the rebels across the river. Wei Yan pointed to Zhongmu City on the map and drew a circle around it.

"Now all the rebels are gathered within 150 miles of Zhongmu City, where there are many rivers and ditches, and the defense line is extremely solid. In addition, this place is very close to Luoyang and Yuzhou, and their troops and grain and grass can be replenished quickly. Wei Yan looked at everyone, shook his head and said,

"At this point in the battle, we have little advantage left, and the rebels are surpassing us little by little. It was the same as we had expected, and we couldn't move. "In the past month or so, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei quickly joined forces, and while stubbornly resisting our attack, they actively adjusted their tactics and continuously transported the troops, money and food of various prefectures and counties to the Central Plains battlefield.

On the contrary, because of the continuous fighting, all units of our army have suffered losses of varying degrees, and the physical strength of the soldiers has reached the limit, and they are exhausted from top to bottom.

In the face of the strong defense of the rebels, if we continue to fight, the losses can be imagined. Second, the supply of rations, grass and baggage for the army began to be tight.

In the early stage of the operation, we used all the troops in Hebei. The Central Plains Battlefield, Guanzhong, Guanxi Battlefield, Hanoi Battlefield, Henan Battlefield, Xuzhou Battlefield, and even the Youzhou Battlefield thousands of miles away all had to lose grain, grass and ordnance, and the imperial court's financial expenditure was too large to support.

Fortunately, we achieved the predetermined goal in the shortest possible time, hit the border of Henan, occupied Yanzhou, formed a decisive battle with the rebels, and quickly turned into 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 the southern crossing of the Yellow River in Binh Gao City, Hanoi, and we have successfully completed the first two objectives of the Central Plains War.

The first goal was to quickly advance to the line of Dingtao and Changyi, so that the army could gain a foothold in the Central Plains and continue to engage the rebels.

The second goal is to attack and advance to the line of Junyi and Chenliu, so as to quickly form a decisive battle situation and consolidate and stabilize Yanzhou.

Now that both objectives have been accomplished, the next step is the showdown. The purpose of the decisive battle is the only purpose of this Central Plains War, which is to inflict heavy losses on the rebels, eliminate the rebels' strength as much as possible, and prepare for the pacification of the world.

From the formation of a decisive battle situation to the beginning of a decisive battle, both sides need to accumulate troops and accumulate grain, grass and ordnance for a period of time, and both sides need to achieve a clear advantage before the decisive battle.

The number of troops and the amount of food and grass are crucial to the success 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 superiority in terms of troops and food and grass, but now we are losing these two crucial advantages.

The shortage of our troops in the decisive battle is obvious to all, and we know this, and the rebels also know it, and this is the main reason why the rebels dare to fight us in a decisive battle in Henan.

But there is one thing that the rebels would never have thought of, we still have reinforcements, and our reinforcements are the iron cavalry of the Hu tribes on the desert.

When this iron cavalry will go south, and how many troops will go south, will depend on three aspects. The first is whether Lord Xian Yufu can drive Kirby Bear to Daxianbei Mountain and relieve him of the threat to the Hu tribes in the desert.

The second is whether the imperial court can agree to requisition a large number of Hu cavalry to the south of the Central Plains. The third is when the rainy season on the desert ends.

Generally speaking, the rainy season in the desert should end when July falls, and if Hu Qi wants to return to the desert before the heavy snowfall, that is, in November, then they will only have three months to go south to the Central Plains.

Excluding the two months on the road, Hu Cai's real participation in the war was only one month, that is, the month of September.

If the decisive time is set for September, then we are almost four months away from the decisive battle. For four months, we had to fight the rebels continuously, and the consumption of food and grass by hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of people was a huge number.

According to our original plan, part of the money and grain in the decisive stage of the Central Plains came from the past accumulation of the imperial court, part of it came from the wealth collected by the imperial court after the spring harvest in May, and part of it came from the allocation of counties and counties in Yanzhou and Qingzhou.

Qingzhou's affairs are a little easier, after all, its strength has been greatly restored in the past two years with the help of Hebei.

However, Yanzhou had just experienced the flames of war, and it took a while from pacifying the people to collecting taxes and servitude. One of the important reasons why we are anxious to quickly form a decisive battle with the rebels in the Central Plains battlefield and confront them for a long time is to gain enough time to stabilize Yanzhou and obtain a part of its wealth.

Since Cao Cao defeated Lord Lü Bu and took control of the whole territory, under the rebellious governance of Cao Cao and others, Yanzhou has implemented a series of restoration measures, such as organizing the accumulation of displaced people to settle fields, digging ditches, encouraging business, and monopolizing salt and iron.

It has been five years since Lord Lu Bu was defeated and left Hebei, and Yanzhou has hardly suffered much disaster.

In order to prevent the Yellow River from bursting, Cao Cao ordered the Yellow River to be dug up to flood Jizhou and protect Yanzhou.

When he went north to attack 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 grass under the pretext of being poor in Yanzhou.

In the early days, when he sent troops to Hebei, Yuan Shu also provided him with some grain and grass. After Yuan Shu turned against Yanzhou with one blow, because of the limited number of troops, he only occupied a few large cities, and did not deal a fatal blow to Yanzhou.

Subsequently, Cao Cao and Liu Bei were defeated from Jizhou and returned to the Central Plains and joined forces to attack Yuan Shu. At that time, Yuan Shu occupied many counties in Xuzhou, and Liu Bei asked Cao Cao, of course, to bear all the grain and grass burden of the Yanzhou army.

In the past five years, although Cao Cao repeatedly sent troops, he skillfully took advantage of the situation at that time and used various means and methods to effectively protect Yanzhou counties and save Yanzhou's wealth.

After the Northern Xinjiang Army crossed the river to the south, due to its very fast speed, it attacked the city all the way and roared down, and did not unscrupulously burn, kill, and plunder in Yanzhou, which protected most of the counties and counties of Yanzhou to a certain extent, and did not cause huge damage to the people of Yanzhou.

In many places, because they 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 Zhang Miao, Liu Yi, Chen Gong, and other former Yanzhou officials, if the Northern Xinjiang Army can quickly occupy and stabilize Yanzhou, and let the people in Yanzhou carry out spring plowing and spring harvest as usual, then Yanzhou's financial endowment this year can at least protect itself, and it can save the large amount of relief money and grain that Hebei is preparing to allocate in order to stabilize various parts of Yanzhou.

In this way, whether the army's grain and grass can support the decisive battle, the imperial court will be able to give us a clear answer at the end of June.

If nothing else, it should not be a problem for us to hold out until October on the battlefield in the Central Plains. After October, when the autumn harvest is over and the wealth of the counties and counties in Hebei is in the treasury, 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 situation on the battlefield in the Central Plains, we do not have enough troops and money for a decisive battle, so our current offensive strategy is to replace defense with offense and confront the rebels for a long time.

Wei Yan looked at everyone and continued: "As time continues, the rebels will have a clear advantage in terms of strength and wealth. However, since no matter what the victory or defeat of this battle, the pattern of the Central Plains will undergo major changes, and this change will be directly related to the life and death of the rebels, therefore, the rebels' top priority now is how to ensure their survival strength in the process of joining forces to defeat us. This mentality of the rebels has been very prominent in the three battlefields of the north, the south and the central in recent times.

They have no determination to resist to the death, and often retreat in a hurry. If the rebels maintain this mentality, then the power of their counterattack will be greatly reduced, and if we find an opportunity to break through each one, they may collapse on all fronts.

From this point of view, I think there is little chance that the rebels will counterattack in the near future. Their countermeasure is probably to implement the technique of defensive delay, to make use of our weakness in terms of insufficient troops, food and grass as much as possible, to expand our disadvantage to the limit, and then to launch a decisive battle in order to deal us a fatal blow at the minimum cost.

We took advantage of the opportunity of the rebels' passive defense to gather superior forces on local battlefields and consume a large number of the enemy's vital forces, so as to expand the superiority of the army and create conditions for the transition to a decisive battle in September.

In addition, our protracted attack is also a kind of suppression and blow to the enemy's morale, which can make the rebels unable to form a unity in the choice of the time for the counteroffensive, and lose the opportunity to counterattack in vain.

After Wei Yan finished speaking, everyone in the tent had different expressions and was silent, only Yan Zhi was still whispering in Xiongnu to Liu Bao and Hu Yan Yuanji to explain Wei Yan's latest analysis of the battle situation and the attack strategy proposed just now.

Yan Zhi is now a Peng official in the General's Mansion, accompanying Da Shan Yu Liu Bao. When Yan Zhi was very young, his brother Yan Rou and a group of horse thieves ran around the desert and could not take care of him, so they fostered him in the home of a Xiongnu subordinate, so his Xiongnu dialect was very proficient and pure.

This time, the general went south, and he needed a person who was proficient in Xiongnu dialect and could be absolutely trusted to stay by Dadanyu Liu Bao's side, responsible for explaining orders to Liu Bao and drafting documents.

Koji then recommended him to the Shogun. After listening to Yan Zhi's explanation, Liu Bao suddenly asked: "After the desert iron cavalry went south, the number of iron cavalry in the army immediately occupied the absolute majority. In the decisive battle, the Iron Cavalry should be the main attack force, but judging from the current battlefield terrain, it is difficult for the Iron Cavalry to play a role. He looked at the crowd and asked, puzzled,

"Is there a better way to attack, the General?"

"On this matter, we have the same questions as Da Shan Yu." Lu Bu looked up at Wei Yan,

"Wen Chang, in the past two years, you have been following the general and participating in the formulation of the strategy for attacking the Central Plains, and your understanding of this strategy is much more thorough than ours, tell me, how does the general want to fight a decisive battle?" Everyone's eyes turned to Wei Yan in unison, and here only he knew the whole strategy of this battle best.

Wei Yan thought for a moment and shook his head,

"The general is very secretive about the decisive battle, and has never said anything to us specifically."

"The general didn't imagine how to fight a decisive battle?" Koji asked,

"The decisive battle is the ultimate goal of this Central Plains War, how can the general not have a specific idea? Think about it again. Wei Yan thought hard for a moment, and suddenly said: "The general had the same idea as Da Dan Yu at that time, thinking that the battlefield of the decisive battle could not exert the power of the iron cavalry, and defeat was inevitable. ”

"What?" Koji Yi glared at him,

"Failure is inevitable? Since defeat was inevitable, why did the general give the order to attack the Central Plains? Bring about one's own destruction? ”

"Forget it, forget it, don't guess." Zhang Yan shook his hand and said,

"At present, there are two priorities, one is that all units of the army continue to attack Henan, maintain the suppression of the rebels, and force the rebels to be unable to gather forces to seek a decisive battle in the short term. The second is to stabilize Yanzhou, restore Yanzhou to the state before the Great War as soon as possible, and increase the chances of winning the decisive battle by consolidating the rear of the army. The generals then discussed the deployment of troops and the focus of the attack, and then left one after another.

Zhang Yan personally sent Koyi out of the big tent and expressed her gratitude for his trust and support. Koji sighed,

"We have followed the general to fight for more than ten years, and we have not seen any sinister scenes? But at any time, we never thought that the great general would suddenly fall. The fall of the general at this moment was almost a catastrophe for the Northern Frontier Army. Whether or not we survive this catastrophe is up to you. Zhang Yan nodded solemnly,

"The Great General has never lost a battle, and this time is no different." Lu Yi laughed, turned his head to look at Sima Yi,

"Zhongda, do you have a strategy to break the enemy?" Sima Yi's face was ashamed, and he bowed his head and said nothing.

"Take your time, don't rush, there are still four months." Koji Yi smiled,

"I believe in you." Koji Yi turned around and ran, leaving the dust. Master Hua Tuo was unusual, and stayed in the general's camp for a few days, and had no intention of leaving.

The general's condition was under control, he was able to eat a little liquid, and he spent more and more time awake.

On this day, after carefully inspecting Li Hong's body, Master Huatuo said to Li Hong, as long as you rest in peace and no longer overwork, you will be cured in a hundred days.

"There's Master Lao." Li Hong said gratefully,

"Without the master, my life would be over."

"You've killed too many people." Hua Tuo shook his head and sighed,

"Although you guarded the frontier for the Great Han and protected countless living beings; Although you have survived millions of homeless people in northern Xinjiang; Despite your merits, you can't hide your bloody nature, you can't wash your blood-stained hands. No matter how many reasons you have to kill, you are a damned heinous in my heart. You, like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, are all murderous people, as long as you don't die, the Han Dynasty will not be stable, and the people will not be able to live in peace. Li Hong sighed gloomily.

"I didn't want to save you, but if you die, countless people in the world will die in the war. These people are very innocent and very many compared to the people you killed, and they don't deserve to die, so you can't die either. Hua Tuo said with a sad expression,

"I'll revive you and let you go to murder, it's a great sin."

"Back then, Zhang Jiao was seriously ill and sent someone to look for me, but I avoided it......" Hua Tuo paused for a moment, as if immersed in the memories of the past, his eyes were very desolate,

"I've been miserable. Although I didn't kill him, it was enough to make me feel guilty for the rest of my life. He died, and as a result, millions of people died tragically with him. My sins are too great to be repaid for in my lifetime. Hua Tuo stretched out his thin hand, gently put it on Li Hong's forehead and stroked it a few times, and tears suddenly welled up in his eyes.

"Seeing your melancholy and painful eyes, seeing your long hair that is scattered, I always think of him."

"Like you, he has sad eyes, long flowing hair, and a heart that is compassionate and full of violent blood. He had great ideals, very lofty ideals, and he fantasized about building a peaceful world. In that world there is no sickness, no war, no crying, no pain, no all calamities, only happiness and joy. He was completely immersed in the world preached by the Taiping Sutra, he gradually lost his way, and he finally went crazy......" Hua Tuo looked up to the sky and sighed,

"General, you're close to that self-destructive madness. If you can't find yourself, not only will you not be able to save you, but God will not favor you anymore, and He will not give you his life again and again. Li Hong listened quietly, and suddenly realized in his heart that the spiritual platform was empty, and the irritability and anxiety suddenly disappeared, and a quiet and comfortable smile slowly floated on his face.

Hua Tuo looked at him deeply, turned and walked out of the tent. Li Hong looked at the arbitrariness of the couch,

"Send me sir." Arbitrarily showed a murderous intention, raised his leg and followed.

"I'm fine, let the gentleman go." Li Hong's weak voice suddenly sounded in any ear. He was stunned for a moment, and then turned to look at Li Hong, his face suspicious.

Li Hong smiled and shook his head,

"Go get some silk and give it to Sir, he needs it very much." arbitrarily

"Hmm", reluctantly chased out of the big tent. Xu You rushed to the front line of Kaifeng, shot a book in the northern Xinjiang military camp, and asked to meet the general.

Zhang Yan didn't want to see him, and she didn't have the slightest interest in his proposal, so she ordered the front-line generals to refuse directly.

"My lord, I think I can see it." Sima Yi persuaded,

"Maybe we can get something out of his mouth."

"Then you go." Zhang Yan waved his hand and smiled,

"Look what he has to say. I heard that this man is arrogant and conceited, has no one in his eyes, and speaks harshly, so you must hold back and kill him in a fit of rage. Sima Yi bowed down to receive the order.

Xu You entered the camp of the Northern Xinjiang Army alone, and when he saw that he was receiving a young man in his twenties, he spoke disrespectfully at that time.

"Are all the people of Hebei dead?" Sima Yi smiled slightly,

"I heard that a dying man came to Luoyang, and the Hebei people in the camp were worried about bad luck, so they dispersed in a hurry. The general had no choice but to let me, the groom, pick it up. Xu You glared at Sima Yi

"Hey" sneered,

"A barbarian, no matter how many years he has been in the Han Dynasty, he is still a barbarian. Except for feeding the horses, he can't even say a word. ”

"If the Sima family in Hanoi doesn't speak human language, then I'm afraid what comes out of the adult's mouth is beast language." Sima Yi sneered at each other.

Xu You was stunned for a moment, looked up and down at Sima Yi,

"Are you the eldest member of the Sima family?"

"Second child, Sima Yi." Xu You glanced at him in surprise, shook his head and sighed: "It's been ten years, it's been ten years in the blink of an eye." Is your father okay? ”

"My father's health is okay." Sima Yi immediately put on a respectful smile,

"My father often mentions my uncle and misses him a lot. How is my uncle doing? ”

"Lately?" Xu Yu waved his hand angrily,

"Are you kid trying to kill me with anger?" Sima Yi pretended to be speechless, and gave up his hand again and again,

"I accidentally drove my uncle out of Chenliu and made my uncle suffer. Sorry, sorry. ”

"You kid did that?" When Xu You heard this, he suddenly hit him angrily and scolded angrily,

"How could your father raise such a ruthless bastard as you? At that time, I was thinking, how could Zhao Yun do such a thing that lost his conscience? ”

"Haha......" Sima Yi smiled triumphantly,

"In order to kill a stubborn rebel like my uncle, of course I have to use some extraordinary means." Xu You was dizzy, his eyes were dark, and he almost fell off his horse.

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

"Uncle, you are a famous rebel in the imperial court, and you are Yuan Shao's right-hand man, can people like you go back to Chen Liu? Let's tell you the truth, the general will not agree to negotiate peace at all, your idea is too naïve, do you think the general is an idiot, he will believe your words? Xu Yu disagreed,

"Do you think I'm here alone to negotiate peace? I still know a little bit about Li Hong's temper, and he won't be as stingy as you say, so he grabbed me and slashed me with a knife. Sima Yi looked at him thoughtfully,

"It turns out that my uncle is in trouble." Xu You sneered, noncommittal.

"For the sake of losing Chen's business?" Sima Yi asked. Xu Yu narrowed his eyes and was silent for a long time,

"You just need to let me go to Chenliu to see the general, where is there so much nonsense?"

"I want to save you, uncle." Sima Yi took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Xu You,

"Look at it, maybe it will help you." Xu You took it 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."

"Uncle misunderstood, I'm not stupid enough to be like this. I volunteered to meet you for this letter of apology. At this time today, do you think Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others still have a chance to escape? ”

"You're too confident." Xu You smiled,

"Just give me time, and there's no problem defeating you."

"But will Yuan Shao give you time? Will he still believe you? Sima Yi asked with a smile,

"You came to Chen Liu alone, what do you want to prove? Do you want to prove your loyalty to Yuan Shao, or do you want to prove your loyalty to Dahan? If you want to prove your loyalty to the Great Han......" Sima Yi picked up the letter and shook it in front of Xu You's eyes,

"It's better for you to write a name on it, so as not to cut off your own back road." Xu Yu was resolute and refused to sign the dedication form.

"Uncle, even if you defeat Hebei and Yuan Shao occupies the Central Plains, how long can you live? Yuan Shao's heart, who in the world doesn't know? Your loyalty to the Great Han will leave you with no place to die. Xu You's eyes showed pain, and he sighed,

"You take me to Chenliu, don't waste time."

"You put your name on this dedication form." Sima Yi did not back down,

"Otherwise, you will definitely die when you go to Chenliu. Because even if the general doesn't kill you, I will kill you. I don't have the heart of a general, and I will never let such a rebel return to Luoyang to help the abuse. "Xu Yu took the case,

"Why don't you kill me here?"

"That's different." Sima Yi smiled and shook his hand,

"Killing you here, you died a shameless death, it will damage your reputation, I think it's better to kill you in Chen Liu." Xu You's head was dizzy, his eyes were dark, he was so angry that he trembled all over, and he almost vomited blood.

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