Sang Yang smiled: "Whether Dong Zhuo will attack the rebels alone, we don't know. ”

"Ma Teng must have crossed the river this morning, otherwise he would have done too obviously."

"The rebels will definitely retreat because they have several channels of information. If they don't withdraw, will they wait for our 30,000 cavalry to attack them? ”

"The rebels are most likely to retreat south. Because the thunderous Qianghu cavalry in June will appear along the Weishui coast at any time, and they can meet them. The possibility of going north is the least, because there are many mountains in the north, the road is not easy to walk, the infantry will seriously delay the retreat of the rebels, and behind them there are tens of thousands of our cavalry chasing, and the rebels are vulnerable to attack. ”

"As for Xian Yufu Duwei not arriving at Yiguo as scheduled, and Li Zhonglang not arriving at Chiba Ridge, Lord Taiwei has already thought of an excuse. He said that he had temporarily changed his plan, and that he had already sent you to cross Weishui to the south, advance along the south bank of the Weishui River, and attack Chencang. ”

"Dong Zhuo and Ma Teng, even if the captain gives an order, the two of them will refuse to go north to Duyang on the grounds that Li Zhonglang did not arrive and the troops are not enough. Although the relationship between the two of them is not good, they have a good relationship with Beigong Boyu in private, and they will not take this opportunity to chase him. What's more, Beigong Boyu still has 50,000 horses in his hands. ”

Li Hong smiled lightly: "Lord Taiwei's excuse is really good. We arrived at the south bank of Weishui? Ha ha...... Who will go to the south bank of Weishui to find us. What a good way to put it. ”

Sang Yang said worriedly: "But this trick won't last a few days." As long as our troops rush to Chencang, and you haven't arrived yet, I'm afraid Lord Taiwei's nonsense will ......."

"When the lies are intercepted, and then Beigong Boyu receives the news, how can it be counted as more than ten days, right? In another five or six days, Beigong Boyu may be solved. Li Hong said confidently, "By the way, Master Sang, let's eat something, we're about to hurry." ”

Sang Yang looked at the black cake in his hand with a sad face, not knowing how to swallow. Li Hong and Zhao Yunsan ate it in two bites.

"Li Zhonglang, you have been eating this?"

"yes." Li Hong said, "We ate this thing from Youzhou to Jizhou, and from Jizhou to Xiliang." The troops are very poor, and it is quite good that everyone can eat this every day, which is much better than the troops who eat two meals a day. ”

Zhao Yun took out a piece of dried meat patty from his backpack and handed it to Sang Yang, and said apologetically: "Our conditions can't be compared with Taiweifu, so my lord, you will be there for a few days for the time being." When this battle is over, we may be able to capture a little loot, and then we will open meat for the adults. ”

Mulberry sheep held a hard black cake in one hand and a fishy dried meat cake in the other, and almost vomited out last night's meal. He was born in a family of eunuchs, and he has eaten this kind of thing since he was a child. He stared blankly at the things in his hand, unable to eat them, and did not dare to throw them away.

Zhao Yun saw his embarrassment and hurriedly took back everything in his hand.

Seeing that Li Hong had already led the horse to the river, Sang Yang hesitated for a moment, looked at Zhao Yun, and asked in a low voice, "You adults have been eating this?" ”

"Yes." Zhao Yun replied, "He has three meals a day, all of which are this, and it has never changed since the day I followed him." ”

"You're always at war? These things were all dry rations for the cavalry, and they were only carried on their bodies when they were fighting. You're at war all the time? Sang Yang asked in disbelief.

"I heard from the old man that since the Lord returned to Luronse to serve as a soldier, he has been fighting and has not stopped. I started fighting with adults in November last year, and I couldn't imagine anything from Youzhou to Liangzhou. Zhao Yun smiled, "But follow the adult, happy, follow the adult to fight, more happy." ”

"Li Zhonglang is so saving, he must have a lot of savings? Does he have a family? Sang Yang asked casually.

Zhao Yun glanced at him and burst out laughing, "My lord is telling a joke." My family never takes a salary, it is reserved for the wounded barracks to improve food or reward meritorious soldiers, otherwise it is used as military salary, anyway, he never takes a salary. Adults often say that he is alone, and it is useless to ask for money, as long as he eats enough every day. The adult lost the memory of the past when he was in Xianbei, and he forgot all the things in the past, even his father and mother, so the adult has neither relatives nor wives. ”

Sang Yang asked in disbelief: "Li Zhonglang never spends money?" ”

Zhao Yun smiled and said, "Generally, he doesn't need money." He stayed in the barracks every day, and there was no place to spend money. ”

"Li Zhonglang knows how to fight?"

Zhao Yun thought for a while and nodded. He looked at the mulberry sheep and asked, "Do you really not eat it?" ”

Sang Yang glanced at the dry meatloaf in disgust, swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva, shook his head, and said resolutely: "Don't eat it." ”

＝＝＝

In the morning, Dong Zhuo led his troops to Luofengling again.

Bian Zhang and his troops have already withdrawn. The battlefield was littered with the corpses of soldiers on both sides and the remains of war horses.

Dong Zhuo ordered his subordinates to immediately bury the corpses, clean up the battlefield, and clean up the loot.

"How much do we lose?" Dong Zhuo sat on a tree stump and asked Li Dao.

"General Hui, 3,224 soldiers were killed and more than 600 wounded." Li Dao said loudly, "The enemy has killed more than 7,800 people......

Dong Zhuo interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and said with a smile: "It's not bad, it's not bad...... What about reinforcements? Have they crossed the Dushui River? ”

"Ma Teng's troops have crossed the river and are rushing to Chiba Ridge. With his foul temper, he probably won't come to see the adults. Guo Yan said.

"What about the leopard?" Dong Zhuo asked curiously, "What about his troops?" ”

Nobody knows.

At noon, Li Su rushed to Luofengling.

After listening to Li Sudi's narration, Dong Zhuo was speechless for a long time. Li Su didn't dare to make a sound. To be honest, he didn't do this according to Dong Zhuo's intentions, he was a little afraid that Dong Zhuo would lose his temper and beat himself dozens of boards.

Dong Zhuo stood up, patted Li Su's shoulder, and praised: "Shaoshen (Li Su's words), fortunately, you are clever, and you will run to see the captain immediately." Although we did not achieve our goal, at least we knew that Li Zhonglang was unwilling to offend us and did not expose our shortcomings in front of the captain. In other words, Li Zhonglang can still be won over and used. ”

Li Su was afraid that he would say the wrong thing, so he did not express his opinion.

"Rushing to Duyang?" Dong Zhuo walked back and forth on the grass with his hands behind his back, then stood in front of Li Su and said, "Taiwei asked us to attack Duyang?" Is the captain confused? After we attacked the rebel camp, we suffered heavy casualties, where are the troops to rush to Duyang? Ma Teng is late, Li Zhonglang is still missing, they should be asked to attack Du Yang, what do you say? ”

Li Su nodded and said cautiously, "The general is very reasonable. We've fought a war and we're going to rest for a few days. Then we will send our troops to the city of Yiguo to see if Lord Taiwei can help. ”

Dong Zhuo laughed and sneered: "Lao Bian has already run back to Liangzhou, and Lord Taiwei doesn't need help." ”

Soon, Li Ru, who was stationed in Meiyang City, sent someone to deliver the news. Beigong Boyu retreated.

Early the next morning, Taiwei Zhang Wen sent someone to deliver the order. Cancel the plan to attack Duyang. Dong Zhuo's troops and Ma Teng's troops immediately set off for Yiguo City.

＝＝＝

Meiyang is about 100 miles away from Yiguo City, and Xiaohuaili is nearly 200 miles away from Yiguo City. Han Sui's troops and Zhou Shen's northern army were set up in almost the same amount of time. Before Zhou Shen's troops arrived at Wugong City, Han Sui's troops had already left Yiguo City.

Bian Zhang's cavalry rushed to the foot of Qishan at dusk and joined the main force.

Han Sui looked at Bian Zhang, who was dying and unconscious, and his heart ached.

In the middle of the night, Bian Zhang slowly woke up to a bleak and sad flute sound.

Han Sui sat quietly alone in the night, bathed in the faint moonlight, silently playing the flute, thinking about his thoughts.

"If Zhang Wen's Jizhou reinforcements hadn't arrived in time, and if Beigong Boyu hadn't delayed the rendezvous time, we wouldn't have been so embarrassed, and you wouldn't have been so seriously injured." Han Sui grabbed Bian Zhang's hand and said slowly.

Bian Zhang sighed bitterly and whispered: "Wenyue, don't doubt Boyu, how many years have we been friends, don't you have any trust at all?" ”

Han Sui stared blankly at the dim candle flame and did not make a sound for a long time.

"Listen to Yang Qiu, Cheng Yi and a few people said, are you going to fight with Zhang Wen in Qishan?"

"The June thunderbolt is coming." Han Sui nodded and said, "After his 30,000 cavalry arrives, we have an army of 100,000, and we can fight a decisive battle with the enemy." Now that Zhang Wen's hundreds of thousands of troops have all caught up, if we don't fight and stop them in Qishan, I'm afraid that after retreating to Xiliang, it will be difficult for us to hold Hanyang County. ”

Bian Zhang closed his eyes and said slowly: "Now that the troops are panicked and demoralized, at this time, the decisive battle with Zhang Wen in Qishan and Fengxiang is not the enemy's intention." ”

Han Sui sighed and said in an almost desperate tone: "Old Bian, if we don't fight, we will retreat all the way, and our morale will become more and more low, and Han * Ben will not be able to hold it." Hanyang can't hold it, the door of Xiliang is wide open, and Zhang Wen's hundreds of thousands of troops will rush in. At that time, I am afraid it will be difficult for us to find an opportunity to hit Zhang Wen hard. After Zhang Wen occupied Hanyang, he immediately relied on Zhou Shen's Northern Army and Li Hong's Jizhou Army to conquer everywhere and regain the lost territory. And our strength is not good, so we can only give up the Xiliang counties we occupied before, retreat to Jincheng, barely stabilize our position, and temporarily hold a corner. ”

Bian Zhang opened his eyes and said weakly: "We just lost for a while, losing thousands of horses, and Zhang Wen only added 50,000 horses, and the two sides are still almost the same in strength." Wenyue, you seem to be too persistent, too concerned about the place we have now. You must know that we retreated in a hurry, not because we couldn't defeat them, but because we couldn't afford to lose or lose, and if we want to survive for a long time, we must have soldiers, troops, and strength, so we retreated. Even if Bo Yu and we meet, in the face of the frontal resistance of more than 100,000 troops, we still have to retreat after a long and fruitless battle, Zhang Wen still has to wave his army to pursue, and this situation will still appear today. ”

Han Sui withdrew the hand holding the side chapter and pondered. Am you thinking wrong?

Bian Zhang glanced at him and said solemnly: "If we want to occupy Xiliang, if we want to achieve victory, we must occupy an absolute advantage in troops. We must do everything possible to destroy the enemy and achieve superiority in forces at the minimum cost, instead of a face-to-face decisive battle with the enemy, which will meaninglessly consume our existing strength. ”

Han Sui was suddenly shocked, and his face was ashamed.

"Old Bian, I'm really getting stingy."

Although Bian Zhang was in pain, his eyes showed a look of joy, and he trembled his lips and said, "Wenyue, do you know what to do?" ”

Han Sui smiled bitterly and said worriedly: "Old Bian, you can't die, you die, how can I support myself alone?" ”

Bian Zhang's face showed a calm expression, and he said calmly: "It's good to be dead, it's good to be dead, it's good to be dead." ”

Han Sui looked at him sadly, not knowing how to comfort him. Bian Zhang couldn't support it and fell into a deep sleep. Han Sui sat for a while and quietly walked out of the tent.

He summoned more than a dozen generals such as Yang Qiu, Liang Xing, and Ma Play overnight to the big tent in the army to discuss matters.

"We withdrew our troops overnight, non-stop along the way, and retreated as fast as we could." Han Sui glanced at everyone and said firmly and forcefully.

The generals thought that Han Sui convened the meeting and was preparing to meet the pursuing soldiers, but they didn't expect that it was completely different, Han Sui asked to retreat, and he retreated quickly. Everyone was a little unacceptable for a while, and they all looked at Han Sui, hoping to hear his explanation.

"I discussed it carefully with Lao Bian and decided to give up the idea of a decisive battle. The decisive battle, for us, the losses are too great. So we simply retreated in stride, retreated sharply, and lured the enemy into pursuit. The faster we retreat, the faster the enemy will chase. The farther we retreat, the longer the distance the enemy will pursue. If the enemy pursues too long a distance, the several pursuers following us will have problems covering and supporting, and their transportation of food and grass will become more and more difficult as the distance increases. At this time, it was our turn to strike and beat them hard. ”

Han Sui stood up, beckoned his subordinates to gather around the desk, pointed to the map spread on the desk, and said, "I will order June Thunderbolt to lead the Qianghu cavalry along the south bank of the Weishui River to launch a harassing attack along the border between Hanyang County and Longxi County, and induce Zhang Wen to divide his troops to pursue." At the same time, Kuaima informed Boyu and Wenhou that after they withdrew to Anding County, they would immediately lead their troops to march into Hanyang County from the direction of Wuzhi, and induce Zhang Wen to divide his troops to pursue again. ”

"Where do we retreat?" Yang Qiu asked. Yang Qiu was a burly man, dark and tall, with a full beard. In the past, he was a horse bandit who roamed the northwest, with hundreds of brothers under his command, mainly active in the desert of Wuwei County and the Yellow River.

"Retreat to Yuzhong in Jincheng County, around Jincheng." Han Sui pointed to the map and said.

Almost at the same time, everyone let out an exclamation.

"General, are we going to retreat more than a thousand miles in a row?" Liang Xing asked in disbelief. Liang Xing's father is Han and his mother is Qiang, and he grew up in the Qiang people. Liang Xing looks very straightforward and simple, and his appearance is extremely strong.

"General, don't want Hanyang anymore?" Ma Yu asked in surprise. Ma Wan is a Qiang person, and he is a Qiang person belonging to Zhangye County. He and his people had lived in the desert for many years, his skin was dark and red, and he was tall and slightly fat.

Han Sui glanced at everyone and said with a smile: "Don't want it, give up, give it all up." ”

"Why? That's what we've worked so hard to do. Ma Yu asked loudly.

"As long as the enemy is destroyed, these places and these cities are not all ours." Han Sui said with a smile, "The more the enemy occupies, the more dispersed the forces will be, and the easier it will be for us to attack them." Don't you all understand? ”

Han Sui returned to the big tent and walked lightly to Bian Zhang's side.

Bian Zhang opened his eyes and smiled at Han Sui. That smile is uglier than crying. Han Sui's heart trembled, and tears almost burst out of his eyes.

"Old side, we're leaving."

"Okay, okay." Bian Zhang said with difficulty.

"We have been retreating to Jincheng, and we have to walk for more than ten days, can you hold on?" Han Sui grabbed Bian Zhang's hand and asked in a low voice, "If it doesn't work, I'll ask June Thunder to take you to Longxi." ”

Bian Zhang grabbed Han Sui's hand, held it tightly, and said with all his strength: "Take me back to Jincheng, go back to Jincheng, I want to go back to Jincheng......"

Han Sui couldn't hold back any longer, and tears suddenly welled up.

＝＝＝

Zhang Wen looked at a handful of bamboo slips on the desk, and his mood was very heavy.

Tao Qian sat next to him, analyzing the latest military situation endlessly. Sun Jian and Huangfu Li sat opposite Tao Qian, their heads bowed, each thinking about their own thoughts.

The Xiliang rebels suddenly threw off their arms and retreated in great strides at a speed like an escape, which surprised the Han army up and down. The staff of the Taiwei Mansion were shocked, and there were all kinds of speculations and explanations, Zhang Wentou was dizzy, and he was a little at a loss for a while.

Pursue? Without figuring out the reasons, the reckless lone army goes deep, and the consequences are unpredictable, who dares to take risks?

Not chasing? If something really goes wrong within the rebels and causes the rebels to retreat in panic, this is the best time to annihilate the enemy. Those who hesitate at the critical moment and delay military aircraft may be held accountable in the future. However, if they catch up and fall for the enemy's tricks to lure the enemy, and the troops suffer heavy losses, should they not bear greater responsibility.

Zhou Shen, Dong Zhuo, Huang Fuhong, and Xu Rong all sent people from the front to send letters of request, asking Lord Taiwei to immediately give an order and the whole army to launch a pursuit operation.

Tao Qian was firmly opposed. In the current situation, it is easy to judge that this is a trick by Bian Zhang and Han Sui to lure the enemy, it is too obvious. 80,000 rebels were attacked by General Dong Zhuo's 10,000 cavalry, how much loss can they have? They hurriedly retreated, not because of General Dong Zhuo's attack on the camp, but because they knew that Li Zhonglang's Jizhou reinforcements had arrived in Xiliang, and they were facing a 150,000-strong Han army, and they no longer had any advantage. In this situation, where there is no chance of winning at all, they will withdraw if they do not withdraw. The rebels had no losses at all. Did Beigong Boyu's troops have any losses? Did the Qianghu cavalry with thunder in June have any losses? Since there are no losses, what did Bian Zhang and Han Sui run? Is there still a man-made rebellion in Xiliang?

Tao Qian believed that it was time to gather the troops together, proceed step by step, fight steadily, and march into Hanyang County in Liangzhou one after another. Then they began to regain the city and squeeze the rebels, aiming to drive the enemy across the Yellow River within a month. After Hanyang stabilized his position, he sent troops to Anding County in the north, Longxi and Wudu County in the south, and recovered the lost territory of Xiliang in turn. In this way, in the short term, not only can Sanfu and Chang'an no longer be threatened by the Xiliang rebels, but also can provide relief to the victims, appease the rebels, and strive to stabilize Xiliang before the end of the year.

Sun Jian immediately raised objections.