Chapter 7 Wind and Thunder Stirring Section 15 Plains County, Gaotang City. Tian Kai looked at the letter in his hand in disbelief, and then looked up at Guan Jing.

"What's wrong? What happened? Tian Kai handed the letter to Guan Jing,

"Plains City is empty."

"Plains City is empty?" Guan Jing's face changed, and he hurriedly read the letter.

"Tian Yong and Zou Wu crossed the river smoothly, and then successfully advanced forty miles to reach Pingyuan City, and now they found that Pingyuan City was an empty city." Tian Kai frowned, looked down at the map on the desk,

"Could it be that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao attacked successfully, and Li Hong transferred the two armies of Wang Dang and Gao Shun to the two battlefields of China and the West? Li Hong gave up the eastern battlefield? How is this possible? Tian Kai said to himself with a wry smile,

"What does Li Hong want to do? Lure the enemy deeper? ”

"Advanced Plains City." Guan Jing put down the letter,

"At present, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Biao, and Liu Bei have no news to send, and we don't know the development of the entire battle situation, so there is no way to speculate about Hebei's true intention to abandon Pingyuan City."

"However, if we are successful, Plains City may be surrounded by the Northern Frontier Army overnight." Tian Kai was very hesitant,

"According to our information, there are 20,000 horses of Wang Dang and Gao Shun opposite us, as well as Li Su's 155,000 iron cavalry, and the strength of 35,000 people can completely block us under Pingyuan City, and there is no need for them to abandon Pingyuan City."

"Indeed." Guan Jing nodded again and again,

"According to the planned attack strategy, the main direction of attack of the Northern Expeditionary Army is Yuan Shao's west road and Cao Cao's middle road, and our attack on the east road is only to contain the 35,000 men and horses of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and not let these 35,000 men and horses support the two battlefields in the middle and west. If this intent is to be revealed, it should also be within five to ten days of the start of the attack, not now. Now that Liu Bei's army had just crossed the river, it was impossible for Li Hong to know that Liu Bei's Xuzhou army was participating in the middle attack. In other words, these 35,000 men and horses must still be in Plains County. ”

"However, I think it's better to take the opportunity to take Plains City. No matter what tricks Hebei plays, after ten days, the direction of our attack is completely exposed, and Li Hong will definitely draw troops from the warships in the east. At this time, we can attack and retreat, and we can completely contain the 35,000 troops in the northern frontier. Tian Kai thought about it for a long time, but still didn't agree,

"Don't take any chances. If Li Hong's purpose is to eat us, then after we are besieged in Pingyuan City, the Northern Xinjiang Army may put more troops into the eastern battlefield. Once he eats us, and then turns around to fight Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, it will be much easier. Guan Jing did not insist.

The Northern Frontier Army is not an army that can be defeated in a fight, and it must have their intentions to abandon Plains City.

"Tell Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Biao and Liu Bei, please rest assured that we are attacking Pingyuan City." Tian Kai said,

"Please let them tell us about the battle as soon as possible." At the end of May, Handan, the general marched. Sima Fu Gan was making a detailed summary of the battle situation in the past ten days.

On the battlefield on the West Road, the right general Zhang Yan, the general of Long Xiang Zhao Yun, the general of Li Feng Jiang Wu, and the general of Fenwu led 50,000 northern troops to block Yuan Shao's Henan army, Liu Biao's Jingzhou army, Zhang Yang's Hanoi army and Yuan Wei's Yuzhou army.

Yuan Shao's generals Han Qiong, Zhu Ling, and Tao Sheng led an army of 20,000 to attack Liyang, and they were currently pinned down by the 5,000-strong army of Yu Poison, the lieutenant of the middle base, and did not advance an inch.

Yuan Shaoqin led Yuan Wei, Gao Gan, Gao Rou, Yuan Zhong and his generals Ma Teng, Pan Feng, Zhao Fu and other 40,000 troops to attack and cross the river from Changshoujin and Puyangjin in the direction of Puyang.

Yuan Shao is still in Puyang, and the army has not been able to gain a foothold on the north bank of the Yellow River. Liu Biao's 20,000 Jingzhou troops crossed the river from the direction of Muniudu and entered Hemu City, and Zhang Zhen, the captain of Huben, blocked the attack in the direction of Dunqiu and Weiguo City.

Due to the successful raid of the Changshui battalion at Pengting, the Jingzhou army lost more than 2,400 people and hastily withdrew to Hemu City, and there is no sign of attacking the north again.

Han Hao of the Hanoi Army led 10,000 horses to attack Neihuang City. General Zhang Yan originally planned to let Infantry Captain Chen Jian and Captain Hu Qi Xian Feng ambush Han Hao in the Yellow River, but because General Lü Bu and Captain Chang Gong failed to contain Zhang Yang, Zhang Yang quickly retreated, resulting in the failure of the ambush.

However, Lord Chen Jian still killed 1,300 people on the south bank of the Yellow River. With the efforts of General Lü Bu, Hanoi Taishou Zhang Yang led an army of 10,000 to stop at Feng Ting on the Huanshui River, and finally met with General Lü Bu.

Although Zhang Yang did not make any promises, he obviously could not refuse General Lu Bu's request, so Zhang Yang would not take the initiative to attack us in the near future.

Of course, if Yuan Shao's army reached the Neihuang and Fanyang areas, Zhang Yang would have no excuse, and his army would immediately participate in the attack.

On the battlefield in the middle, the left general Lu Yi led the military general Wei Jun, the right virtuous king Liu Ming, the mighty general Zhang He, the general Wu Yi Gao Lan, the martial general Wen Chou, and the Wu Rui Zhonglang general Xu Huang 50,000 cavalry troops to meet Cao Cao's Yanzhou army and Liu Bei's Xuzhou army.

Cao Cao's 40,000-strong army crossed the river from the direction of Cangting, and is currently fighting fierce battles with 30,000 troops including Wei Jun, Liu Ming, Gao Lan, and Xu Huang in the area of Dongwuyang and Yangping.

Cao Cao's army was blocked under the cities of Dongwuyang and Yangping, and has not been able to break through so far. Liu Bei's 20,000 troops crossed the river from Chipingjin and killed Liaocheng, Zhang He and Wen Chou relied on the Luoshui River to lead the army to block, and the two sides are still fighting fiercely.

On the battlefield on the east road, the 45,000 troops of the Hulie general Yan Liang led the cavalry general Wang Dang, the Zhichong Zhonglang general Gao Shun, the Yangwei Zhonglang general Zhang Liao, the Wufeng Zhonglang general Li Su, and the Heiling Wang Loulu army to meet Tian Kai's 20,000 Qingzhou army.

At present, there has been no fighting on the battlefield of the Eastern Road. Judging from the ten-day battle, the rebels mobilized a total of 160,000 troops in seven states, and if you add the Yangzhou Yuan Shu army, which was in charge of transporting grain and grass in the Central Plains, the total strength of the rebels is about 180,000 troops.

We have invested 145,000 troops, and we are slightly inferior in terms of troop strength. The rebels attacked on three fronts in seven directions, which was quite different from our previous expectations.

We originally thought that the rebels would concentrate their main forces on both flanks and adopt the strategy of attacking on several fronts to attract us to invest our forces on both flanks, so as to cover Cao Cao in the middle to enter the Ganling Kingdom as quickly as possible and destroy our overall defense.

Therefore, we put the main forces on the battlefield on both flanks, intending to attack Yuan Shao on the west road, lure the enemy deep and inflict heavy losses on Tian Kai and Liu Bei on the east road, forcing Cao Cao's attack in the middle to be uncovered and had to give up halfway.

But now the rebels are focusing on the middle of the battlefield, and they are the first to attack, which is very surprising to us.

In addition, their practice of deploying heavy troops on the west road and only placing Tian Kai's Qingzhou army on the east road also contained our troops well.

At present, on the battlefield in the middle lane, we have an army of 50,000, of which 40,000 infantry soldiers were recruited after the implementation of the new soldier system last year, and their combat effectiveness is not strong.

And Cao Cao and Liu Bei's 60,000 troops are the remaining elite after repeated battles in recent years. Although the large armies on the battlefield in the middle are now relying on the strong cities to hold on, there is no point in fighting like this.

First, our losses are too great, and second, we will not be able to achieve our goal of annihilating the enemy. On the battlefield on the western road, we are also an army of 50,000, although we are all elite divisions of the Northern Xinjiang Army, but in the face of the crazy attack of Yuan Shao and Liu Biao's 80,000 troops, the losses are also amazing after a long time.

Moreover, if the loss of these 50,000 people is too great, it will have too much impact on the imperial court's plan to pacify the world in the future, so we must also choose to retreat at the appropriate time.

We had 45,000 men on the battlefield on the eastern road, and we voluntarily abandoned Plains City. Originally, it was planned to lead the army of Tian Kai and Liu Bei to Nanpi City to be surrounded and annihilated, but now it seems that it cannot be realized.

Liu Bei joined the attack on the middle battlefield, and Tian Kai's troops were weak, not only did he not go north, but he also did not enter the plain city, which was really helpless.

Because there were many mistakes in our early estimates, there were also many mistakes in the deployment of troops.

We put the strongest forces against the strongest forces of the rebels, and put the weakest forces in the middle of the rebels' strength, so now there is a very passive situation on the three battlefields.

Li Hong saw that Fu Gan had finished speaking, and set his eyes on Jia Xu. Since Yu Peng left, Jia Xu has been in charge of the two governors as the right middle general.

Li Hong has always been unfamiliar with him, but he has heard Li Wei talk about him for a long time. At that time, there were three people around Dong Zhuo who were very talented, Changshi Liu Ai, Sima Tianyi and Jia Xu.

Liu Ai and Tian Yi died one after another, but Jia Xu was lucky to go to northern Xinjiang with the Son of Heaven. Jia Xu is Dong Zhuo's former official, and he has a very close relationship with Li Dao and others, so after he arrived in Jinyang, he was immediately given a cold reception.

But Li Wei valued him very much, and recommended him again and again to the eldest princess and Li Hong. This is the reason why Jia Xu first became the right servant of Shangshu.

After Yu Peng left this time, Li Hong originally planned to let Tian Chou lead the history of the two governors on his behalf, but Li Wei was anxious to write to Li Hong and strongly recommended Jia Xu.

Li Hong was a little unhappy about this. Yu Peng's words that day shocked Li Hong a lot, so he not only accepted Yu Peng's request and sent Yu Peng to the desert, but also transferred Shangshu's left servant Zhu Mu from the imperial court and asked him to replace Tian Yu as the Taishou of Hanbei County, which was actually to weaken Li Wei's power in disguise and make it easier for the northern Xinjiang forces to be controlled by himself.

Even the officials of Northern Xinjiang have disobeyed the yang and yin when they speak by themselves, so what will they do in the future? He transferred Tian Yu to Taiyuan to serve as Taishou, which was tantamount to hinting to Li Wei that he wanted to balance the civilian factions in the northern Xinjiang forces and promote a group of scholars from Youzhou.

For this reason, he also wrote to the eldest princess, saying that Taiyuan County is now equivalent to Jingzhao Yin and Henan Yin in the past, and the Taishou of Taiyuan County should be the secretary of the two thousand stones, and he should participate in the discussion.

And the eldest princess thought that Tian Yu had stayed in the desert for eight years and had governed Hanbei County very well, and he deserved this heavy reward, so she agreed without hesitation.

It is said that Li Wei should be able to understand Li Hong's thoughts, at this time, it is really inappropriate for him to come forward to recommend Jia Xu as the governor of the two prefectures, and Li Hong also intends to let Tian Chou come back, which is even more inappropriate.

The relationship between Li Hong and Tian Chou is too close, especially involving his wife Xiaoyu and Tian Chong, who died in Sunset Plain, so in Li Hong's heart, Tian Chou is his younger brother, and Fu Gan, the son of Master Fu Xie, is his other younger brother.

This is up and down Hebei, and everyone knows it. Therefore, Li Wei did this, which would make people think that he was deliberately cultivating his own power.

Li Hong called Tian Chou, showed him Li Wei's letter, and asked for his opinion. Tian Chou smiled slightly after reading the letter.

General, Brother Zhong Yuan is not recommending Lord Jia, but showing you his heart. At this time, apart from him, who would dare to recommend to you a senior official outside the northern Xinjiang to serve as the governor of the two provinces?

Li Hong said, this is what I am not happy about. Why did I want to play the eldest princess to transfer Zhu Mu and Yu Peng out of the court?

I just want to warn him to be more restrained and not to be self-assertive, which is not good for him.

Now he is the Great Si Nong, sometimes I can talk about him, in the future, he will be the third duke, how else can I say him?

If his self-righteous character is not changed, sooner or later he will suffer. Tian Chou said with a smile, I have time to persuade him in private.

However, let Lord Jia concurrently lead the two governors, I also agree, this can make the former ministers of Chang'an feel safe and make them trust the general even more.

Li Hong saw that Tian Chou had no opinion, so he asked Jia Xu to lead the two governors. If this battle can be won, as the history of the two governors who directly assisted the general, its great contribution can be imagined.

Jia Xu was very grateful to the general for trusting him. Jia Xu is old, doesn't speak much, is humble and cautious, and is indifferent.

After getting along for a few days, Li Hong liked his indisputable personality very much, and often chatted with him about the past Xiliang, and they admired each other.

"What does Master Jia think about the situation in front of you?" Jia Xu arched his hand and said: "Before the war, we had a three-step strategy, the first step was to block, the second step was to drag, and the third step was to annihilate the enemy. At present, although the battle situation is not as smooth as we expected, it is basically still within the controllable range, and this small passivity in front of us does not have much impact on the overall situation. Compared to the rebels, they were more passive, because Cao Cao on the middle battlefield had not yet taken Dongwuyang and Yangping, and they were still far, far from their goal. ”

"The key now is how to change from passive to active, in addition to the appropriate adjustment of troop deployment, there is also a very important point is to preserve strength. It is not worth it for us to devote our limited forces to such unnecessary attrition. ”

"Let them in now?" Li Hong shook his head,

"It's too early to let it in, for the people of Jizhou, the rebels have hit the front line of the Qinghe River so quickly, which shows that the rebels are very strong, and it is easy to cause them to panic. It's hard for me to guarantee that there won't be problems in the rear. From the perspective of the imperial court, I would rather sacrifice the lives of some soldiers than let the innocent people be frightened and even cause a wave of flights. I have to make the people feel that Jizhou is safe. Jia Xu was silent for a while, then pointed to the map and said, "Then put Cao Cao in Ganling City, so that the rebels' intentions can be partially realized." In this way, Yuan Shao's attack would be weakened, and the losses of the Northern Army on the battlefield on the western route would be greatly reduced. "The rebels' target was the central part of Jizhou, and if they took the Xindu City of Anping, they basically took most of Jizhou.

But in order to achieve this goal, the three armies must cooperate with each other and maintain the right distance so that they can support each other.

If we put Cao Cao into the Ganling Kingdom first, it is equivalent to disrupting the distance between the three rebels, so that our opportunity has come.

After Cao Cao entered the Ganling Kingdom, he entered the stage of stalemate with us. At this time, in order to continue to go north, he must get the cooperation of the left and right wings, and he will constantly urge Yuan Shao to attack Yecheng.

At the same time, in order to block Cao Cao, we must transfer troops from the east to support the middle battlefield. As long as our reinforcements rush to Ganling Kingdom, and Yuan Shao has already approached Yecheng, Cao Cao will definitely divide his troops to support Tian Kai in this foolproof situation, so that Tian Kai can take advantage of the weak strength of the East Road battlefield to storm Nanpi.

The opportunity to annihilate the enemy lies in this mobilization, and the passivity of our current forces has thus been transformed into a strategy to lure the enemy.

Li Hong, Tian Chou, Fu Gan, Sima Yi, Chen Qun, Yuan Jian and others already understood what Jia Xu meant, and couldn't help but nod again and again.

"It seems that in order to stabilize the people's hearts, I, the general, am going to move to Ganling Country." Li Hong said with a smile.

"If the general is willing to rush to Ganling Kingdom to command, then we will be more accurate in grasping the opportunity, and the chance of winning this battle will be greater." Jia Xu twisted his beard and smiled,

"Yuan Shu's kind of nonsensical thing is unreliable, if there is, we can take advantage of it, if not, it is simply a trap, and we can't give up. We must take advantage of the opportunity of Yuan Shu in the Central Plains to turn this matter into reality, so that Cao Cao can believe it at the right time, so that he can take care of one thing and lose the other, and even if he makes mistakes, it will be difficult for him to be undefeated. Li Hong couldn't help but laugh when he thought of Yuan Shu's annoyed and angry appearance,

"When I was in Luoyang, Yuan Highway asked Zitai (Tian Chou) to bring me a sentence, but I didn't expect that I would use this sentence on him today, I think I'm really sorry for him." Tian Chou laughed.

Sima Yi approached Tian Chou curiously and asked, "Brother Zitai, what did Yuan Shu let you bring?" ”

"Yuan Shu said that national politics is fraud, and the truth of the soldier's trickery is the same." Tian Chou said with a smile,

"This time, regardless of whether Yuan Shu lied to us or not, we will lie to him first." Sima Yi's eyes lit up,

"Since we can use this trick on Yuan Shu, why can't we use it on Yuan Shao?" Li Hong looked at him, and then looked at Jia Xu.

Jia Xu's face darkened, he glanced at Sima Yi out of the corner of his eye, and sighed softly.

"Lord Xu Rong and Ma Teng have been friends for many years, and he is an honest person, so he may not agree." Tian Chou patted Sima Yi lightly and whispered,

"Many generals over there, including General Pound, have more or less something to do with Ma Teng. If they knew that the general did this deliberately, it would not be good for the general. In addition, Zhang Yang is General Lu Bu's old friend, they are considered brothers in life and death, if we kill Zhang Yang on the battlefield, General Lu Bu can understand, but kill him in this way, I'm afraid it will be ......" Fu Gan suddenly stood up, and said with a very resolute expression: "General, I want to go to Hedong." ”

"Nope." Li Hong refused.

"General......" Fu Gan knelt down violently,

"I must go to ......"

"Your father died on the battlefield, and if you want to kill Ma Teng, you must kill him on the battlefield with dignity." Li Hong shook his hand and gave him a head look,

"If I let you go to Hedong, your father will be ashamed under Jiuquan." Fu Gan gritted his teeth and said loudly: "Then I will go to the Changshui Camp or the Huqi Camp, and I will kill him on the battlefield." ”

"Nope." Li Hong refused again.

"General......" Fu Ganjun's face was red, and his eyes were wide,

"Why not? Can't I be an Iron Knight? ”

"No, unless I'm dead." Li Hong said angrily. Fu Gan was so angry that he turned around and ran out. Tian Chou gave Sima Yi a look, and Sima Yi then chased him out.

"General, if the Marquis of Zhuang Jie knew that you doted on Yancai (Fu Gan) like this, he might not be happy." Jia Xu hesitated for a long time, but couldn't help but gently persuade.

"I owe Master Fu too much." Li Hong shook his hand and said sadly,

"Maybe I've been on the battlefield for a long time, maybe my brothers have died too much, I don't want to hear familiar people in the names of the dead anymore, I'm not as strong as I used to be." Jia Xu, Tian Chou and others looked at each other speechlessly.

At the beginning of June, Dongbu Yang. The fire on the city wall is still burning, Daxu is still fluttering in the air, and the colorful battle flags are still dancing in the wind, but the soldiers of the Northern Xinjiang Army have begun to retreat.

The stick was covered in blood, and lay under the corner of the city wall crying,

"Why go? We didn't defeat, why retreat? ”

"You kid still won't let people live?" Huang Tongyi kicked him in the leg and scolded angrily,

"Military orders are like mountains, and military law is ruthless, do you know? You disobeyed military discipline and cut off your head alone, but the bowl is a big scar, but one of our team members accompanied you to cut off your head, which is dozens of scars. ”

"I'm not leaving." The stick cried bitterly,

"A hundred people came out of the tun together, and now there are only sixty-four people left, I want revenge, I won't leave."

"Stinky boy, do you want your aunt to be widowed and your little brother to have no father?" Huang Tong was angry, and he raised his foot and wanted to kick him again.

The big black standing aside hurried to pull,

"Forget it, forget it, he's still a child, if he fights a few more battles, and if there are more deaths, he will see it."

"What are you doing? Beating a soldier? A majestic voice suddenly sounded from behind the two of them. Huang Tong was startled and hurriedly looked back.

Lei Chongzheng looked at him with a grin. Next to Lei Chong stood a tall and burly, majestic man, who looked like a big man at first glance.

He was the one who spoke just now.

"Your Excellency......" Huang Tong and Da Hei hurriedly knelt down and saluted.

"Get up, get up......" Lei waved his hand again,

"This is Shogun Zuo." The two of them were dizzy and wanted to kneel down again to salute. Koji raised the whip in his hand and said loudly, "Excuse me." What's the matter with that kid? What are you crying about? I don't cry when I fight, but I cry when I don't fight, which is interesting. "The stick hears

The three words "General Zuo" have long been so frightened that they dare not cry. He always thought that the biggest official he had seen was General Wei Lie Zhonglang, but he didn't expect to see another general today, and it was General Zuo, who couldn't be bigger.

He forgot to kneel and salute.

"My lord, our team lost too much when we evacuated the river embankment, and more than a dozen brothers died during the days of defending the city, and everyone was a ...... of the villagers" Huang Tong said two sentences, his nose was sour, and he couldn't go on.

"Hmph......" Koji snorted coldly,

"Butcher Cao won't live for a few days. If he kills too many people, God will not spare him. ”

"Hurry up and get down." Lei Zhong reached out and touched the head of the stick,

"When we get to the river, we will kill him again."

"Shall we retreat to the Great River?" Huang Tong raised his leg in surprise and kicked the stick again,

"Let's go, let's go, it's a good place to kill, haha......" On June, Changshoujin. Yuan Shao, accompanied by Tian Feng, Guo Tu, Yuan Wei, Ma Teng and others, rushed to the Changshoujin ferry.

On the embankment, there were stalls of dried blood everywhere, and the strong smell of blood made people dizzy and unbearable.

Three miles in front of the ferry is a high slope, on which the Northern Xinjiang Army set up horse rejection and deer barricades, dug several deep and wide ditches, and erected hundreds of ballistas and dozens of stone cannons.

The 20,000 Yuzhou troops fought here for more than ten days, but they lost nothing but more than 2,000 corpses.

"These Black Mountain Yellow Turban thieves are more cunning than foxes, and after getting the ordnance of the northern Xinjiang, their strength has increased exponentially, and it is too difficult to fight." Yuan Wei sighed in frustration, at a loss.

"Now the direction of Liyang is blocked by Yu Poison, the direction of Puyangjin is blocked by Qin Yi, the direction of Neihuang is blocked by Chen Jian, the direction of Yecheng is blocked by Lu Bu, and here it is blocked by the bitter chieftain. Originally, he hoped that Liu Biao, who was in the direction of Hemu City, would be able to open up the situation, but after he gave a surprise attack to the iron cavalry in the northern Xinjiang and killed more than 2,000 people, he was unwilling to go north alone. Yuan Shao complained dissatisfiedly,

"Cao Cao has already taken Dongwuyang and Yangping, and is about to launch an attack on Ganlingguo, we are still on the embankment of the Yellow River, shame."

"If Zhang Yang can make a breakthrough in the direction of Neihuang or Yecheng, we will be able to stride north." Guo Tu said regretfully,

"It's a pity that he is still hanging around Montenegro, I don't know how he fought this battle?"

"Send someone to urge again." Yuan Shao thought about it, then pointed to Guo Tu and said,

"Gongzhi, it's better for you to go to Montenegro yourself."

"My lord, I heard that Zhang Yang and Lu Bu secretly met once." Gao Gan whispered. Yuan Shao was taken aback, turned his face to look at him,

"Where's the news?"

"Zhang Yang's subordinate Yang Chou said." Gao Gan leaned close to his ear and said,

"He has a good relationship with my subordinate Xia Zhao, and this news was brought to Xia Zhao by him."

"Where is Xia Zhao? Tell him to come to me at once. "Jump to