Chapter 9 Chasing the Central Plains in the middle of September, Cao Cao led his army day and night, from Chenliu County in Yanzhou to the south, through Yuzhou Liang State, Pei State to Xuzhou Pengcheng.

Ren Jun, who stayed in Pengcheng, went out of the city to greet him, and learned that the coalition army was defeated in the Central Plains and that Pingyang Pavilion lost 100,000 horses in the first battle, and he couldn't help but be stunned and his face was full of horror.

"What about Xuzhou? Can the Northern Frontier Army show signs of attack? Cao Cao didn't want to mention the sadness of the Central Plains anymore, and immediately asked about the recent situation in Xuzhou.

"The Northern Frontier Army has begun to attack." Ren Jun barely calmed down his emotions and reported to Cao Cao that Chen Gong and Zang Ba's two armies attacked Xuzhou together.

"Now Zihe (Cao Chun) and Bo Ning (Man Chong) are staying in the city to block Chen Gong, and Zhongquan (Xiahou Ba) and Zitai (Liu Xun) are leading their troops to Tancheng in the East China Sea, intending to block Zang Ba's army in the Jiqiu area."

"Zang Ba hit Kaiyang so quickly?" Cao Cao turned his head to look at Xun Yu and the others in surprise,

"Does he grow wings and fly? According to the calculation of time, if he and Chen Deng crossed the river together to fight the Ganling Kingdom in Jizhou, he would have just received the news of our defeat in the Central Plains. Could it be ......" Cao Cao suddenly thought of something, hesitated for a moment,

"Didn't he go to Jizhou and stay in Beihai all the time?"

"He must have been in Beihai all the time, and he didn't go to Jizhou at all, we were deceived." Xun Yu said without thinking,

"Chen Deng is either killed by the scheme, or he is arrested by Zang Ba."

"My lord, immediately send troops to the East China Sea, I am afraid that it will be too late." Guo Jia also said eagerly,

"Zang Ba has long been prepared to attack Xuzhou, and the two adults, Xiahou Ba and Liu Xun, may not be able to stop it. We have just taken Pengcheng and Xiapi, and the other counties do not know that Xuzhou has changed hands, once the Xuzhou army in the East China Sea and Langya knows the truth and defects to the battle, Zang Ba may drive straight into Pengcheng and kill Pengcheng. Cao Cao thought for a while, and did not immediately order the army to support the East China Sea, but asked Cao Hong to rush to Liucheng with a large group of men and horses.

Chen Gong's army is more than a hundred miles away, and he must be dealt with first no matter what. After Cao Cao entered the city, he sent someone to invite Guan Yu into the palace.

When Guan Yu arrived in Pengcheng, he found that something was wrong, Jian Yong and the officials of Xuzhou Mansion didn't see it, and it was Ren Jun who went out of the city to greet Cao Cao, obviously Xuzhou had been controlled by Cao Cao's people.

It seems that Cao Cao was ready to wait for an opportunity to seize Xuzhou long before the decisive battle in the Central Plains. Guan Yu was weak at the moment, so he could only hold back his anger and not say a word.

Cao Cao spoke bluntly in front of Guan Yu and told the conflict between himself and Yuan Shao.

"In order to survive, I decided to take the opportunity to take Xuzhou. My purpose in doing this is not to occupy Xuzhou and drive Xuande and you away, but to prevent Yuan Shao from annexing Xuzhou. Once the Central Plains War was won, Yuan Shao's strength would double, and I, Xuande, and Liu Biao in Jingzhou would be annexed by him one by one sooner or later. Xuande and I will bear the brunt of the battle, and we will be the target of Yuan Shao's killing as soon as the war ends. However, if I take Xuzhou first, Yuan Shao will not be able to sweep Jianghuai in the near future, let alone kill Xuande. On the contrary, he will help Xuande attack me and recover Xuzhou. ”

"As long as Xuande returns to Xuzhou, I will return Xuzhou to him. Then I went to Jiujiang and went to Yangzhou to find a place to live. After I defeated Yan Xiang and captured the two counties of Jiujiang and Lujiang, I could not only attack Yuan Shao's strength, but also build three alliances with Liu Biao in Jingzhou and Brother Xuande to compete with Yuan Shao, so as to prevent him from usurping the Han Dynasty. Cao Cao repeated what he had said in Junyi City that day to persuade Liu Biao to send troops to attack the Northern Frontier Army.

"This matter is known to Lord Liu Biao and Lord Envoy Jun (Liu Bei)?" Guan Yu was dizzy by Cao Cao's words, especially when this matter was involved in Yuan Shao's possible usurpation of the Han Sheji, which made him feel even more complicated.

"Yes." Cao Cao nodded vigorously and said very calmly,

"If Yun Chang has any doubts, he can urgently write to Lord Liu Biao and Brother Xuande to confirm."

"However, now that the Great War in the Central Plains has been lost, Yuan Shao, like us, has been dealt a heavy blow, and we need to build a stronger alliance against Hebei, so the previous strategy can no longer be used. Although Cao Chun and others still took Xuzhou according to the original plan, Xuzhou is still Xuande's brother's. As long as Brother Xuande comes back and Xuzhou is safe and sound, I will take the army to Jiujiang. I will never break my oath and take the initiative to provoke infighting and overthrow the society, please rest assured. Guan Yu will be skeptical.

These things were too complicated, and it was the first time he had heard of some court insiders, and for a while he couldn't be sure whether what Cao Cao said was true or not.

When Guan Yu was in a trance, Cao Cao said his purpose,

"Zang Ba deceived us, Chen Deng is more auspicious and less auspicious, and now the situation in Langya is extremely critical, I need Yun Chang to immediately rush to the East China Sea and Langya Country to reorganize the Xuzhou army, and beat Zang Ba out of Xuzhou with Liu Xun and Xiahou Ba." This request is acceptable to Guan Yu.

Now the common enemy of the two sides is Hebei, it is the Northern Xinjiang Army, regardless of whether Cao Cao has the intention to occupy Xuzhou or not, in the current situation, the first priority of the two sides is to work together to hold Xuzhou, otherwise everyone will be finished together.

"I want to see Xianhe (Jian Yong) first." Guan Yu said,

"If you want to hold Xuzhou, you can't rely on the army alone." Cao Cao was very happy when he saw that Guan Yu agreed,

"Okay, I'll go with you to see Xianhe." People are under the roof and have to bow their heads, especially after the defeat of the Central Plains War, all parties are facing survival difficulties, and the society is also in danger.

In such a critical situation, of course, the two sides will try their best to release their previous suspicions and join hands to attack the Northern Xinjiang Army.

Jian Yong is an understanding person, so after he got Cao Cao's oath, he believed Cao Cao, and immediately came forward to convene the subordinates of Xuzhou Mansion at all levels, on the one hand, to raise food and grass for the army, and on the other hand, to inform the Xuzhou Prefectures that Prime Minister Cao Cao temporarily led the military and government of Xuzhou, and the two sides worked together to defend Xuzhou.

Cao Cao asked Xun Yu, Jian Yong, and Xiahou Yuan, who was gradually recovering from his injuries, to stay in Pengcheng, and asked Cheng Yu and Xiahou Yuan to rush to Xiapi with 3,000 men and horses to garrison Huaishui.

Let Mao Jue rush to Shouchun with a letter and ask for grain and grass from Yangzhou Thorn Shi Yanxiang. If Yan Xiang refuses to give it, then there is just an excuse to attack Jiujiang.

Cao Cao's deployment also won the trust of Jian Yong and Guan Yu to a certain extent. After arranging the affairs of Pengcheng, Cao Cao immediately went to stay in the city in person.

Guan Yu took 5,000 new soldiers and rushed to the East China Sea to meet Cao Bao to reorganize Xuzhou. Chen Gong saw that Cao Cao had personally killed him, and hurriedly withdrew his troops.

His own troops were insufficient, and he couldn't defeat Cao Cao at all, so he could only give up the strategy of attacking Xuzhou. Chen Guan urgently told the general Li Hong to ask for reinforcements in case Cao Cao took the opportunity to counterattack Yanzhou.

In late September, Zang Ba's attack on the East China Sea was blocked, and he retreated to Kaiyang in Langya. Guan Yu and Liu Xun did not continue to attack because of food and grass, but stationed troops on the hill and confronted the Qingzhou army.

In September, Henan. The Northern Xinjiang Army wanted Hu Qi to return to the desert as soon as possible. The speed of its infantry army was very fast, but then the fighting on the various battlefields gradually stopped.

After Yuan Shao led his army to Yuzhou in a hurry with Liu Biao, because of the limited strength and low morale, he could only order more than 30,000 people to stick to the line of Guancheng, Xingyang and Aocang.

Faced with a strong city, the exhausted division of the Northern Xinjiang Army had neither sufficient physical strength, sufficient food, grass and ordnance, nor absolute superiority, so it could only abandon the attack.

Soon, Yan Liang led the army to retreat to Yuanwu and Yangwu. Lu Bu retreated to Zhongmu and Junyi. After Liyi and Yan Rou rendezvous, they led their army all the way south, connecting Kaifeng, Chenliu, and Yongqiu, and then went south along the Langtang Canal to kill Xuchang.

At this moment, Liu Biao and Xun Chen had already met in Xuchang, and the two gathered about 30,000 people and stationed troops in Yanling City on the north bank of the Weishui River.

Koji hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to abandon the attack and led his army back to Chenliu. In September, Dingtao.

After the general moved to Dingtao, Li Hong immediately took the officials of the two prefectures into Xingyuan. At the first military meeting of Dingtao Xingyuan, Jia Xu analyzed and summarized the successes and failures of the Central Plains War, in which he mentioned a thing that made everyone feel very lucky.

Liu Pan, the general of Jingzhou, was captured by Gongsun Xu's men in the process of fleeing, and in his conversation with Jia Xu, he told about the attack on Xuchang led by General Yan Rou with iron cavalry.

In that sneak attack, the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry burned the grain and grass camp in Xuchang, which plunged the coalition army into a grain and grass crisis. Although Yuan Shao and Liu Biao concealed this incident, Liu Biao later feared that the army would be defeated on all fronts, and he went against the norm and actively sought a decisive battle.

In other words, even if we hadn't tricked the coalition forces into burning the grain and grass in the old city and Wuchao, the coalition forces would have launched a decisive battle.

In the seven-month battle, the Northern Xinjiang Army successively invested 60,000 troops in the north and south, 80,000 infantry soldiers in seven battalions of Jizhou (10,000 of which were new soldiers used to supplement the army), 20,000 Qingzhou troops, and 110,000 Hanhu iron cavalry, a total of 270,000 troops.

So far, the infantry has suffered more than 50,000 casualties, killed about 200,000 enemies, and captured 45,000 of them.

For this war, the imperial court requisitioned about 1.8 million people, more than 70,000 baggage carts, more than 3,000 ships, and the consumption of various materials such as grain, grass, livestock, and ordnance was even greater.

Fu Gan then made a report on the deployment of troops and the battle situation in each battlefield. After 100,000 iron cavalry returned to the desert and the border fortress, only 120,000 foot cavalry remained on the battlefield of the Central Plains.

Now there are 65,000 cavalry troops of Liyi, Lu Bu, Yan Rou, Yan Liang, Zhao Yun, and Jiang Wu on the battlefield in Henan.

On the battlefield of Hanoi, there were 30,000 cavalry troops of Wen Chou, Wang Dang, Zhang Liao, Peng Lie, and Mustafa. The southern counties of Yanzhou have 25,000 men and horses from Gao Shun, Xu Huang, Guan Hai, Chang Xian, and Wu Dun.

On the battlefield in Henan, the fighting had basically stopped because both sides were exhausted. On the battlefield of Hanoi, the army commanded by Van Chou and Wang Dang was attacking, and Huai Cheng had now been conquered.

However, in the process of attacking Pinggao, the army was seriously hindered due to the constraints of troops, grain and grass, and other reasons.

At present, it seems that it will not be possible to take Hanoi completely before the beginning of October. On the battlefield of Xuzhou, our two-way attack army was completely blocked.

Cao Cao's retreat to Xuzhou was very fast, far exceeding our expectations. In mid-September, Chen Gong and Wu Dun withdrew to Rencheng.

In late September, Zang Ba's attack on the East China Sea was blocked, and he had to retreat to Langya.

"Zijun (Wen Chou) can I have the latest battle report?" After Li Hong listened to Fu Gan's report, he immediately asked.

"Lord Wen asks for reinforcements." Fu Gan glanced at Li Hong and saw that there was no anger on his face, so he explained the situation on the battlefield in Hanoi.

"On the battlefield in Hanoi, there were Liu Bei's Xuzhou army, Gao Gan's Yuzhou army, and Gao Rou and Zhu Ling's Hanoi army, and the three armies together had at least more than 20,000 people. We don't have an advantage in numbers. Although we won the Central Plains War and the morale of the coalition forces was low, the loss of Hanoi meant that Luoyang was under our attack, whether it was Yuan Shao or other generals of the rebels, they knew that Hanoi could not be lost at this moment. Therefore, after Liu Bei retreated to Pinggao, with the support of the rebels on the other side of the Yellow River, he held the city and was very difficult to fight. Li Hong turned his head to look at the jade.

"When will the 40,000 captives be used?" After the Battle of Pingyang Pavilion, Jade began to be responsible for the reorganization of prisoners.

He shook his head,

"For the sake of safety, it's better not to use these captives for the time being." Li Hong frowned,

"In any case, take Hanoi before winter comes. What are your countermeasures? ”

Now Yuan Shao sticks to Henan, Liu Biao sticks to Yuzhou, and Cao Cao sticks to Xuzhou. The rebels are scattered and underfed, and they are no longer a threat to us. Zhang Yan said after a little muttering,

"Draw troops from the battlefield in Henan to support Hanoi." Li Hong thought for a moment and nodded,

"Then let Zishan (Yan Liang pointed to the jade and said,

"Among the captives, how many Yanzhou soldiers are there?"

"About seven thousand people." Jade asked worriedly,

"The general wants to send them to the battlefield of Hanoi?"

"Don't be afraid, use it boldly." Li Hong said with a smile,

"Yanzhou is now in our hands, you don't have to worry about them defecting and running to Luoyang. In addition, He Yi was asked to go with 5,000 Jiujiang troops. ”

"Then I will personally lead the army to Hanoi."

"No, you still stay in Dingtao with Wen Chang (Wei Yan) to train and surrender soldiers, and go to Hanoi to fight, I ...... it" Li Hong smiled and looked at Sima Yi who was sitting on the side,

"Zhongda, how about handing over these twelve thousand people to you?" Sima Yi was stunned, almost unable to believe his ears,

"General, you are ...... Say me? Everyone in the tent looked at the young Sima Yi in unison, with praise, suspicion, and envy.

In the Northern Xinjiang Army, the only person who can lead an army of 10,000 people at the age of 20 is Sima Yi today, except for Zhao Yun when he was young.

"You go and unify the army, don't stay with me." Li Hong waved at the excited Sima Yi,

"On the battlefield of Hanoi, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Wang Dang, Zhang He, Gao Lan, Zhang Liao, Zhang Xiu and other adults are all fierce generals, follow them and learn hard, you will be inexhaustible for life." Sima Yi turned over and knelt down, wanting to say a few words of gratitude and allegiance, but because he was so excited, his mind was blank and he forgot what he wanted to say.

"Get up, get up......" Li Hong beckoned,

"I'll leave tomorrow. When you arrive in Hanoi, lead the army to fight well, and think carefully about everything. Your every move now is directly related to the lives of 12,000 soldiers, so you must stop acting willfully. Sima Yi was taught again.

After the end of the military meeting, Dong Zhao, Tian Chou and other ministers of the DPRK and China, as well as Yang Qi, Chen Gong, Zhang Chao and other Yanzhou officials gathered in the big tent to discuss matters related to pacifying and stabilizing Yanzhou counties.

"Tomorrow, Feiyan, Fengxian (Lu Bu), Ziyu (Yan Rou), Wenhe (Jia Xu), Gongren (Dong Zhao), Zitai (Tian Chou) and other six adults will return to Jinyang to report to the Son of Heaven and the imperial court about the Central Plains War." Li Hong said to Yang Qi,

"If there are a few adults who have submitted a piece of music to the imperial court, let Feiyan and them take it back together." Yang Qi looked at Zhang Yan and the others in surprise.

Dong Zhao and Tian Chou were important ministers of Shangshutai, and the two of them had to return to Jinyang after the decisive battle in the Central Plains.

Zhang Yan and Lü Bu are the ministers of the Jiuqing of the Central Committee, one is Guangluxun, the other is Weiwei, and Yan Rou is the general of Zhenbei.

If these three people also returned to the imperial court after the war, it means that the Central Plains War would be over and would not be fought.

"General, won't you fight Luoyang this year?"

"If you can raise enough grain and grass for half a year for my 100,000 troops after the autumn harvest in October, I will launch a major battle to attack Luoyang at the end of October." Li Hong said with a smile,

"Boss, can you help me do that?" Yang Qi laughed,

"General, if Yanzhou can be self-sufficient this year, and don't want the imperial court to allocate relief, I will make a great contribution, where will I have food for you to eat?" Then his face perished, and he said solemnly,

"We all know that Hebei's financial endowment is exhausted, but if the army can't take advantage of the victory to attack Luoyang and let Yuan Shao catch his breath, the future battle will be very difficult. After all, Luoyang is the capital of the Han Dynasty, and there are eight dangerous passes, and it is impossible to enter without hundreds of thousands of troops. At that time, Yuan Shao led an army of more than 200,000 to attack Dong Zhuo and attack Luoyang, but he did not enter it for more than a year. If you hadn't sent troops to Guanxi to threaten Luoyang later, Dong Zhuo would not have retreated to Guanzhong at all. Yang Qi sighed,

"General, if you don't fight now, wait until next year, and things will be in trouble." Li Hong smiled helplessly,

"What do you want me to do? There is not enough food, there is not enough ordnance, and I am at a loss. If I could fight, would I stop outside the Tiger Prison and stop? ”

"What about Guanzhong? What's the situation in Guanzhong? Yang Qi said casually,

"If we can lay down Guanzhong before winter comes, then Yuan Shao will have no time to breathe."

"There's a problem in the game." Li Hong said lightly,

"We must discuss it with Han Sui first, otherwise we will ......"

"What's there to discuss?" Yang Qi's gray eyebrows suddenly raised,

"If he wants to close the gates, do we give them to him? He has been crisscrossing the West for more than ten years, and he is an old rebel, can you satisfy his **? Li Hong was silent, his heart was like heavy lead.

In September, Luoyang. Yuan Shao returned to Luoyang, feeling sad and angry, depressed, and lying on the couch for three days without getting up.

On the third night, Yuan Wei ran to Yuan Shao's mansion with a frightened expression.

"At the beginning, big things were not good. Han Sui and Ma Chao suddenly sent troops to Guanzhong and captured Chang'an. Yuan Shao was shocked, jumped up from the couch, and just wanted to speak, only to feel the Venus flying in front of him, dizzy, his body shook twice, and he fell to the ground.

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