Chapter 10 Winning the Central Plains Section 83||On the sixth day of the fourth month, Xin Ping walked out of the palace and discussed with the general Li Hong about surrender.

The general Li Hong was concerned about the safety of the palace, and his attitude was very polite, with kind words and comfort, and assured that Yuan Shao and the officials of Luoyang would be pardoned by the Son of Heaven, and could even serve in the imperial court.

The soldiers of the army can be disarmed and returned to the field, or they can become the army of the imperial court after reorganization. Li Hong's tolerance and commitment made Xin Ping grateful,

"I will go back immediately to make arrangements, and lead my troops to withdraw from the palace early tomorrow morning and camp in the Northern Army outside the city." As soon as Xin Ping finished saying this, Li Hong's face immediately changed,

"Where's the first brother? Isn't Brother Benchu in the palace? Zhang Baiqi, Wang Dang and others searched for a day on the battlefield in Nancheng, and they found the bodies of Yuan Shang, Yuan Wei, Yuan Zhong, Wang Qiu, Lu Kuang, Wei Zhan, Gao Xiang and other dozens of Luoyang officials, but they did not find Yuan Shao's body.

After Li Hong received the report, he decided that Yuan Shao was either in Nanyang or still in the palace, and immediately had a trace of luck in his heart, who knew that Xin Ping's words completely shattered his luck.

Xin Ping shook his head gloomily.

"Where is he? In Nanyang? Li Hong asked eagerly.

"On the fourth day of the first month, when the city was broken the day before yesterday, he died." Xin Ping told Yuan Shao about Yuan Shao's sudden stroke and paralysis, and after delaying for half a month, he finally ran out of oil and died of the lamp.

"Yuan Shang took the body of his first brother out of the city?" Li Hong tried his best to control the shock in his heart, trying to keep his face calm, he hoped that Xin Ping would not say anything

"Yes", but Xin Ping nodded resolutely. Li Hong sighed bitterly, turned to look at Jiang Ji who was standing behind him, and glanced at him.

Jiang Ji comprehended, bowed down, and went straight to the battlefield in Nancheng.

"General, isn't the army that broke through the siege completely annihilated? Could it be that Xianfu (Yuan Shang) and Meng Qian (Yuan Wei) ......" Xin Ping's eyes were suspicious, and he said half of his words cautiously.

Then I felt that it was very inappropriate to ask such a question, and took back the rest of the words. If the breakout army was completely annihilated, Li Hong should have known the news that Yuan Shao had died from the captured Luoyang officials, but why didn't he know about it?

Could it be that Yuan Shang and Yuan Wei broke through successfully? Regardless of whether they succeeded in breaking through or not, they held on to the palace for three days and fulfilled their promise.

Even if you meet Yuan Wei in the future, there is nothing to be ashamed of. There are many priceless treasures in the palace, especially the millions of books and canons in Dongguan and Yuntai, which must be preserved no matter what.

In addition, there are 5,000 soldiers in the palace, more than 8,000 lightly and seriously injured soldiers, and 40,000 or 50,000 people.

I surrendered Hebei for the sake of the Great Han. Even if Yuan Shao is still alive, he can't resent me.

"It was too dark that night, and your men temporarily changed the direction of the breakout, which caught us by surprise, and as a result, part of the army managed to escape from the encirclement." Li Hong waved his hand and smiled indifferently,

"At present, we are pursuing them west along the Luoshui River, and if nothing else, we will surround them in the area of Qinglong Mountain and Yiyang." Li Hong did not dare to tell the truth, and he was not sure of the sincerity of Xin Ping's surrender at the moment.

Before Xin Ping and the rebels did not withdraw from the palace, he wanted to make Xin Ping and the rebel soldiers feel safe as much as possible.

Xin Ping could hear that Li Hong was lying to him, but he didn't care now. Even if he withdrew to the camp of the Northern Army with his army and was killed by the entire Northern Xinjiang Army, he accepted his fate.

Yuan Shao is dead, many brothers and friends are dead, and no one can stop Li Hong from pacifying the world today.

There is not much difference between being alive and dead. With his own family background and his own status, he surrendered to the enemy immediately when Yuan Shao's bones were not cold, and his reputation was already ruined, and the Yingchuan Xin family would be ashamed and ashamed of it, and he would also be scolded by the scholars, and life would be worse than death.

Whether it is the rebel camp or Hebei, there is no place for its own existence, and no one will trust themselves and reuse themselves.

In order to live, he could only choose to stay in Hebei, survive, and suffer from bullying and humiliation. This is the price of surrender and apostasy.

Xin Ping was disheartened and said goodbye to Li Hong. Zhang Yan, the general of the Right Guard, personally rushed to the battlefield of Nancheng and urged the soldiers of all departments to carefully search for Yuan Shao's body.

At this time, most of the corpses on the battlefield had already been buried. The floating corpses on the Luoshui River are almost extinct after two consecutive days of salvage.

It was obviously unrealistic to dig up the grave again, and Zhang Yan and Jiang Ji had a headache for it. Since Xin Ping said that Yuan Shang took Yuan Shao's body out of the city, then Yuan Shao's body must have been on the battlefield of Nancheng, but the soldiers began to search from the place where Yuan Shang died in battle, and searched for about a mile, but they found nothing.

At dusk, there was still no news, Zhang Yan was very helpless, and said to Jiang Ji, go back and tell the general, just say that it sank to the bottom of the water and could not be found.

Jiang Ji was overjoyed and agreed repeatedly, he couldn't wait. The two were about to return to the city, and Wang Dang sent someone to urgently report that Yuan Shao's body had been found.

In the chaos, Chen Lin fled into the mourning platform with Yuan Shao's body. Lingtai is the head of Sanyong Palace, it is the place where the present dynasty observes the celestial phenomena and worships the gods of heaven and earth, the building is magnificent, and it occupies a large area.

That night, the battlefield was in the area of Sanyong Palace, and Chen Lin and a team of guards escorted Yuan Shao's body and fled to the Lingtai.

This team of guards later died in battle, and Chen Lin, because he was familiar with the Lingtai, took Yuan Shao's body and hid in the wall to escape the catastrophe.

Today he was so hungry and dizzy that he had to come out and surrender. When Li Hong heard the news, he was very happy and ordered Yuan Shao's body to be buried in the coffin, and the bodies of other people such as Yuan Shang were buried directly at the foot of Beibi Mountain.

On the seventh day of the fourth month, Xin Ping and Xun Chen led the army to surrender, and the Northern Xinjiang Army successfully occupied the south and north palaces, and was protected by the army led by the later general Yushi.

On the eighth day of the fourth month, the Son of Heaven issued an edict to the world to recover Luoyang, and advised all rebellious people to focus on the community and accept the appeasement of the imperial court, so that the world could be stable as soon as possible.

On the same day, the Son of Heaven issued an order to reward the soldiers of the army, pacify the surrendered rebels, and repatriate the people to various places one after another.

On the same day, the Son of Heaven issued an edict ordering Henan Yin Linghu Shao to repatriate the captured people as quickly as possible, let them go home to reunite with their relatives, and carry out spring plowing as much as possible to reduce the burden of relief for the imperial court.

On the ninth day of the fourth month, the Son of Heaven and the general Li Hong convened a meeting of the generals in Xingyuan. The Battle of Luoyang lasted 14 months from March last year when the army began to attack the eight passes on the periphery of Luoyang.

In addition to the two prefectures of Guanzhong and Qingyan to contain the battlefield, the imperial court invested a total of 340,000 troops, requisitioned about 5 million people, and consumed countless grains, grass and ordnance.

Hebei's financial endowment was completely exhausted. It took about five months for the army to conquer the eight passes on the periphery of Luoyang, with 280,000 troops invested, and a total of 17,000 casualties in the four battlefields of Hanoi, Henan, Guanxi, and Yingchuan, of which 8,000 were killed.

It took about nine months for the army to conquer Luoyang City, with 230,000 troops and 15,000 casualties, of which 9,000 were killed.

In the 14-month battle, the army destroyed about 60,000 enemies, of which about 15,000 were captured, and rebels such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Wei, Feng Ji, and Xian Pei were all killed in this battle.

After this battle, the imperial court recovered Luoyang, basically occupied the Central Plains, and laid the advantage of pacifying the world.

At present, the army does not have the conditions to take advantage of the victory to go south, in addition to the inability of the imperial court to support the financial endowment, the situation in Guanzhong is also extremely urgent.

Since Liu Bei, Liu Zhang and other rebels led their troops to attack Guanzhong in the north, Han Yi and Yang Qiu in Western Xinjiang rebelled again, and together with the Qiang people in Western Xinjiang, they posed a serious threat to the security of Guanzhong.

Therefore, pacifying the western frontier and defending Guanzhong has become a top priority. A few years ago, there was a fierce debate in the imperial court over how to put down the rebellion and best promote the development of Zhongxing's great cause after the army recovered Luoyang.

At that time, many ministers in the DPRK and China opposed the general's strategy of first stabilizing the northwest and then going south to quell the rebellion, but now it seems that the imperial court must suspend the counterinsurgency and instead concentrate on stabilizing the northwest and two frontiers, so that the people of Hebei can recuperate and recuperate, and the imperial court can recover.

Otherwise, the army will not only be blocked from going south to quell the rebellion, but it may also lose Guanzhong, and then Hebei may fall into a desperate situation due to the financial crisis.

Many of the generals of the various ministries could not accept the counterinsurgency strategy of the imperial court, and they believed that after conquering Luoyang, the army could immediately move south, sweep Jianghuai and Jingxiang, and completely pacify the world.

In order to enable the generals in the army to accept the counterinsurgency strategy of the imperial court and unconditionally obey the orders of the imperial court, Li Hong, Zhang Yan, Jia Xu, Tian Chou, Fu Gan and other ministers gave detailed explanations from various aspects, such as the situation in the world, the crisis in the northwest and Xinjiang, the astonishing burden borne by the people of Hebei in recent years, the embarrassment of the imperial court's financial endowment, and the many difficulties in military affairs.

Wang Dang finally said, what if we succeed in quelling the rebellion in the south? Succeeded in a year?

Zhang Yan asked rhetorically, what if it fails? The battlefield of the southward counterinsurgency was from east to west, with three or four thousand miles, the Huai River and the Yangtze River, and there were also strong sailors in Jingzhou, Bashu, and Jiangdong.

If we attack one point, the enemy will resist together, and if we attack in many ways, our strength will be scattered, and if we lose all the way, we will be defeated on all fronts.

Secondly, we have exhausted the imperial court's financial resources in the Luoyang War, even if we take a step back, assuming that the imperial court's financial endowment can still support a year, but hundreds of thousands of troops are fighting in the south, there are main offensive battlefields, there are containment battlefields, each battlefield is far away, the consumption is amazing, once defeated, Hebei will be devastation.

Hebei is in a slump, what can we do to stabilize and deter the two northwestern frontiers? Again, we rushed south to quell the rebellion, the terrain was unfamiliar, the water and soil were not adapted, the food and grass were insufficient, the soldiers were tired, the sailors were weak, the frontier was unstable, and so on, there were too many unfavorable factors, and with so many unfavorable factors, how could we think that we could defeat all the rebellions within a year?

The great cause of Zhongxing is related to the survival of the Han Dynasty, the survival of the society, and the survival of the people

"If". We are formulating ZTE strategies, and when implementing ZTE strategies, we will never allow any

"If", resolutely put an end to the luck mentality. Only by being down-to-earth and taking one step at a time can we ensure the success of the great cause of ZTE, the revitalization of the community, and the survival of the people.

Although Wang Dang and some of the generals were dissatisfied with Zhang Yan's explanation, they could not find a reason to refute it. My own ideas are indeed built on

On the basis of "if", the army is dangerous, and if it is defeated, it will be dead, and it is difficult to have a chance to start over. On the contrary, the strategy of the imperial court is very stable, the imperial court should consolidate the foundation and cultivate the yuan, consolidate and develop on the existing basis, and then promote the development of Zhongxing in a higher, deeper and faster direction when the strength is restored and the strength is strong.

The strategy of the imperial court has been established, and this military conference is just for the idea of unifying the generals of northern Xinjiang.

Therefore, after Zhang Yan and the others finished speaking, the general asked the generals of the army to obey the will of the Son of Heaven and the imperial court, faithfully implement all the orders of the imperial court, and then began to issue orders.

The left guard general Lu Yi and the right general Yang Feng commanded the four battalions of the Southern Army and the six battalions of the Northern Army of Zhao Yun, the general of Long Xiang.

The four battalions of Wuwei general Liang Baiwu and the four battalions of the town army general Zhang Baiqi, a total of 90,000 troops, rushed into the pass from the land and water roads and defended Kyoto.

Luoyang garrison 40,000 soldiers. Wu Feng's general Zhang He and Wu Meng's general Wu Xiong each led four battalions of men and horses from their headquarters to defend Luoyang.

There were 20,000 soldiers stationed in Kansai. The crossbow general Sun Qin led the four battalions of the headquarters to defend Guanxi. Later general Yushi led the four battalions of Wu Yi general Gao Lan and the two battalions of the captured general Xu Huang to immediately march east to Chenliu to help the former general Lu Bu defeat the rebels.

After Cao Cao, Yuan Tan and others rebelled and withdrew, the two generals Lü Bu and Yushi returned to the dynasty with Mustafa's Changshui camp.

Yanzhou garrison 60,000 soldiers. Dingtao was garrisoned by Gao Lan, Chen Liu was garrisoned by Peng Lie, Shanyang was garrisoned by Xu Huang, Rencheng was garrisoned by Wei Xu, and Lu State was garrisoned by Gao Shun.

Qingzhou garrison 20,000 soldiers. Linzi is garrisoned by Zangba, and Beihai is garrisoned by Guanhai. Wuwei General Wen Chou and Xiaocai General Wang Dang led four battalions of men and horses to support the Yingchuan battlefield and help Zuo General Yan Liang defeat the rebels.

After Liu Biao and others rebelled and withdrew their troops, the two generals Yan Liang and Wen Chou returned to the dynasty together with Jiang Wu's Ula Iron Cavalry.

Yingchuan garrison 70,000 soldiers. Yangzhai was garrisoned by Wang Dang, Luyang was garrisoned by Zhang Xiu, Kunyang was garrisoned by Ji Ling, and Xuchang was garrisoned by Song Xian.

If the number of people in each department is insufficient, it will be made up after the autumn. Except for the northern and southern armies, after the battle situation stabilized, half of the officers and men of the remaining battalions were stationed in the camp, and half of the officers and men cultivated at home, and they were rotated regularly.

On the 10th day of April, the various units of the Northern Xinjiang Army left Luoyang in a hurry and rushed to various battlefields. On the tenth day of the first month of April, the general ordered that all kinds of heavy equipment in the Luoyang War should be returned to the border county passes, some of which were deployed in Luoyang City and Luoyang Baguan, some of which were deployed in Chang'an City and Guanzhong Sisai, some of which were deployed in the front of the battlefield, and the remaining part were stationed in the Luoyang arsenal.

He also ordered the ordnance workshops in Hedong, Jizhou and other places to continue to manufacture them, and stationed them in the four major arsenals of Chang'an, Yecheng, Jinyang and Jicheng respectively to prepare for the needs of the battlefields in various places.

On April 15, the Son of Heaven issued an edict allowing Chen Lin to send Yuan Shao's coffin to Yuan Shao's hometown of Ruyang, Runan for burial, and issued an edict to appease Liu Biao, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Liu Zhang, Yuan Tan, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu and others.

If you are appeased, you will not be blamed in the past, and you can still worship the marquis and build the great cause of Zhongxing together. In April, the battlefield of Yingchuan.

The Jingzhou army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Kunyang, and Liu Biao was enraged and rushed to the Luyang front line to command the battle.

Although the Jingzhou army lost the opportunity to take the lead in Yingchuan, as long as Cao Cao, Yuan Tan and others on the battlefield on the east road could capture Chenliu and form an east-west flank attack on the northern Xinjiang army on the Yingchuan battlefield, the Jingzhou army still had a chance to seize Luyang and open up the gallop road with Luoyang.

However, in early April, bad news came from the direction of Wuguan, and Li Yun and Zi of the Northern Xinjiang Army took the initiative to attack and defeated Xu Xuan and Yuan Jing.

Xu Xuan led the army to retreat, the Northern Xinjiang Army pursued fiercely, and the two sides fought fiercely again at Sanhu Pavilion in the north of Danshui City.

During the battle, Yuan Jing was unfortunately killed, and the Nanyang army was forced to retreat to Danshui. If Danshui is lost, the northern Xinjiang army can threaten Xiangyang in the south, and Wancheng can be attacked in the east, and the situation in Nanyang will be tense immediately.

Liu Biao had no choice but to return to Wancheng and lead the army to support Xu Xuan with Deng Yi and Han Xun. In mid-April, Wen Chou led 20,000 horses from Dagu and Guangcheng to the south, and quietly rushed to Niulan Leiting at the foot of Huoyang Mountain.

Yan Liang and Zhang Xiu got the news and urgently dispatched Zheng Bao in the direction of Guangcheng, Jiang Wu and Ji Ling in the direction of Kunyang, and Lu Mian in Zheng County, and gathered about 20,000 troops to secretly rush to the vicinity of Luyang City.

On the 8th, Wen Chou and Ji Ling each led a large army and launched a surprise attack on the rebels from the south and north of Luyang City.

Kuai Yue, Yuan Xi, and Wen Ping were caught off guard and hurriedly responded to the battle. At this time, Yan Liang led the army out of Luyang City and attacked and killed from the front.

Three armies surrounded the Jingzhou army and attacked fiercely. Kuai Yue ordered a retreat and personally cut off the rear. The Jingzhou army had nearly 40,000 troops, while the Northern Xinjiang Army had less than 50,000 troops, and there was no advantage in terms of strength and could not inflict heavy losses on the Jingzhou army.

But just when the people of Jingzhou thought they were safe, the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry suddenly came out and cut down the rear army of the Jingzhou army.

The rear army of Jingzhou was in chaos, and the soldiers discarded all the grain and grass and baggage, and ran away with their heads. Kuai Yue is in the rear army at the moment.

He knew that the iron cavalry in the northern frontier was powerful, so he turned around with a team of guards and ran desperately to the nearby mountains and forests.

In a panic, Kuai Yue accidentally fell off his horse with an arrow and passed out on the spot. The guards rescued him back to the camp.

Although the doctor tried his best to rescue him, Kuai Yue was old, and after falling from his horse, he was trampled on by the war horse and broke his ribs, and he died that night.

The Jingzhou army lost its commander, and the army was disheartened. Wen Ping made a quick decision and withdrew his troops overnight and returned to Wancheng.

When Liu Biao heard that Kuai Yue had died, he was grieved and hurriedly returned to Wancheng to pay respects. In this battle, Jingzhou first lost Pang Ji, and then Kuai Yue, and his vitality was greatly damaged.

In late August, messengers from Hebei rushed to Wancheng. Liu Biao heard that Yuan Shao died of illness and Luoyang fell, and he was so shocked that he couldn't afford to get sick.

The news reached Xiangyang. The Xiangyang court was shocked. Cai Mao, who acted as the chief lieutenant, sent a letter to Liu Pan and Liu Zhang in Chengdu, asking them to urgently tell Liu Bei to stop attacking Guanzhong, and instead concentrate on attacking Longxi and occupying Western Xinjiang.

Kuai Liang heard that his brother had died in battle, and hurried back to Jingzhou to mourn. In April, Chen stayed on the battlefield. Lü Bu led his army to attack the Jiangdong Army, and after severely inflicting heavy losses on the rebels, the morale of the rebels was low, and Cao Cao, Sun Ben, and Yuan Tan were in a dilemma, struggling on the battlefield of Chenliu.

If they continued to fight, Cao Cao and Yuan Tan were worried that they would lose too much and would not be able to hold their territory in the future, so they did not dare to attack the fortifications with all their might.

If he continued to stalemate with the Northern Xinjiang Army, not only would he not be able to achieve the purpose of the attack, but he would also be more likely to give Lu Bu an opportunity to suffer heavy losses again.

Sun Ben gradually came to his senses from the pain of losing his loved ones and the shame of defeat, and after he regained his senses, he had the idea of retreating, and he wanted to return to Jiangdong.

The strength of the Northern Xinjiang Army is too strong, and it is not an opponent at all in the head-on confrontation and repeated defeats, so it is better to withdraw as soon as possible to enhance its strength, and rely on the Yangtze River natural danger and the long-term confrontation of the Northern Xinjiang Army as the best policy.

Cao Cao also wanted to withdraw, but Cheng Yu and Guo Jia persuaded him to wait. Luoyang is strong, and the longer the Northern Xinjiang Army fights, the greater the losses, and the more serious the financial crisis in Hebei.

When the Northern Frontier Army is dragged down by Luoyang, the opportunity for our counteroffensive will come. At that time, the Northern Frontier Army was crumbling, and we could hack it to the ground with a single sword.

As for Lu Bu, he is just a barbarian, although he relied on his own good cavalry to seize the opportunity, but as long as we find an opportunity, we will definitely be able to kill him and completely turn the tide of the battle.

Cao Cao was determined to fight again. In early April, Lü Bu considered that Chen Liucheng's defense was stronger, and ordered Peng Lie to lead his army to withdraw from Yongqiu.

Cao Cao and Yuan Tan hesitated in Yongqiu for several days, and after being sure that there was no danger, they led their army to Chenliucheng.

In mid-April, Yushi, Gao Lan, and Xu Huang led 30,000 reinforcements to Kaifeng, got in touch with Lü Bu, and prepared to flank the rebels.

Lü Bu told Jade that the rebels had a large number of troops and a tight defense, and it would be unfavorable for them to forcibly attack. In order to save grain and grass and ensure the smooth spring plowing of Yanzhou County, it is better to force the rebels to withdraw from Chenliu as soon as possible.

Jade agreed to Lu Bu's suggestion, ordered 30,000 troops to deploy in Langtangqu, made a situation of flanking the rebels, and wrote to Cao Cao that our army had conquered Luoyang, Yuan Shao was dead, and the main force would soon enter Yanzhou eastward.

The sudden appearance of reinforcements from northern Xinjiang on the west bank of the Langtang Canal surprised Cao Cao, who immediately withdrew to Yongqiu.

Jade's letter was sent to Yongqiu, and Cao Cao was suspicious. Yuan Tan was worried about his father's safety, and his mind was in turmoil.

Sun Ben was anxious and urged Cao Cao to withdraw his troops. Cao Cao said, Luoyang's solidity, we know, Li Hong is powerful, powerful in cavalry invincible, when it comes to attacking the city, he may not be comparable to us.

He can conquer Luoyang, and he still forcibly conquers it, do you believe it? Sun Ben said, don't count on Liu Bei.

If Li Hong did not conquer Luoyang now, but stopped for the time being, and turned to consolidate the periphery of Luoyang, then things would be even more troublesome.

Since he sent troops to support Chen Liu, of course he would also send troops to support other places. Now even if Liu Bei enters Guanzhong, how long can he hold on?

After Li Hong defeated Liu Bei and defeated us, he sat under Luoyang City and waited, until the people in Luoyang City starved to death, and Luoyang was his.

Guo Jia said that Western Xinjiang is now in chaos, and Guanzhong is not only threatened by Liu Bei, but also the wealth of Hebei cannot support Li Hong to besiege Luoyang for many years.

According to your method, the people in Luoyang City have not starved to death, and Hebei has already collapsed first. However, he agreed with Sun Ben's suggestion and immediately withdrew his troops.

The reinforcements of the Northern Xinjiang Army have arrived in Chenliu, no matter whether Li Hong conquers Luoyang or not, Chenliu's battle will not be able to be fought, so it is better to withdraw to Suiyang first and see how the situation develops.

Cao Cao and Sun Ben both asked to withdraw, and Yuan Tan was lonely and had to return to Suiyang together. In late April, Hebei messengers arrived and rushed to Suiyang.

When Yuan Tan received the bad news from his father, he was overwhelmed with grief and wept bitterly. He hurriedly said goodbye to Cao Cao and Sun Ben, and hurried to the border of Yingchuan to welcome his father's coffin.

Cao Cao and Sun Ben quickly withdrew their troops. The two discussed on the road and unanimously decided to immediately send someone to ask the emperor of Chang'an and the imperial court to plead guilty, and get through the current crisis first.

It took more than a year for the Northern Xinjiang Army to attack Luoyang, and its vitality was greatly damaged. Now that there is a rebellion in the western Xinjiang, it is very unlikely that they will attack Jianghuai in the south in the short term, and it should be no problem to take the initiative to ask for a crime and peace.

Cao Cao sent Mao Jue north. Sun Ben had no choice but to cut first and then play, and asked the veteran Cheng Pu and Mao Jue to go north together.

At the same time, he wrote to Sun Quan and asked him to send another messenger to Chang'an. In early April, the 800-mile fast rider sent the news of Luoyang's victory to Guanzhong.

Liyang City was boiling, and the eldest princess and the ministers were elated, smiling and congratulating each other. After Xu Rong of Chang'an City received the good news, he immediately wrote to Chen Canghuaxiong, Ma Chao, and Hao Zhao, and to Shanghuang Fuli, Pang De, and Wei Jun, asking them to hold on, and Luoyang reinforcements arrived soon.

Xu Rong also wrote a letter to Han Yi, Yang Qiu and other Western Liang rebel generals, telling them that the Son of Heaven and the Great General had conquered Luoyang, and that the main force of the army was rushing to Guanzhong day and night, hoping that they could focus on Western Xinjiang and the Han Dynasty and return to the imperial court immediately.

Xu Rong promised that as long as you change your ways, the Son of Heaven and the imperial court will definitely forgive you for your sins and still use them.

Han Yi, Yang Qiu and other Xiliang people scoffed at it and didn't believe it at all. If it is said that Li Hong killed Yuan Shao in the decisive battle, they believe it, but if it is said that Li Hong commanded the army to capture Luoyang City, it is a joke.

However, at this moment, Han Yi was eager to return to Jincheng, and behind him there was the Northern Frontier Army eyeing him, so the Xiliang Army was pinned down in Yicheng and couldn't move.

In order to reverse the situation, Han Yi sent Ling Ru to Shangqi to discuss with Huangfu Li. Ling Ru said to Huangfu Li, you also know the current situation in Western Xinjiang, and the top priority is to drive out the Qiang people, but now Chang'an has neither an army to advance westward, nor grain and grass ordnance to us, but Liu Bei and Liu Zhang have both an army and grain and grass, and they also take the initiative to join forces with us to attack the Qiang people.

Is it to wait for the Qiang people to gain a firm foothold in Jincheng, Longxi, Hanyang and other places, or to take advantage of the fact that the Qiang people are not firmly established, and then beat them back?

Huangfu Li is from Xiliang, and Pang De is also from Xiliang, and they understand the feelings of Han Yi and the generals of Xiliang very well.

Like Han Yi, they also wanted to kill the Qiang people as soon as possible and regain their territory. But the reality is very ruthless, the imperial court has exhausted everything in order to attack Luoyang, and it is in urgent need of recuperation, and hundreds of thousands of troops have been fighting continuously for more than a year, and they are also in urgent need of rest, and in the short term, it is impossible for the army to move west to Pingqiang.

Ling Ru's words made it difficult for Huangfu Li to answer, if it were him, he might make the same choice as Han Yi.

As for whether the people of Xiliang respect the Son of Heaven in Chang'an or the Son of Heaven in Xiangyang, it doesn't really matter.

For them, the most important thing is to keep their home and this beautiful territory. Ling Ru said that General Xu Rong advised us in his letter that we should give priority to the western frontier and the Han community.

Today's western Xinjiang has fallen under the iron hooves of the Qiang people, is it still necessary for us to have time to argue here about where the Son of Heaven and the imperial court should be honored?

Retaking the western frontier and defending the territory is the most important thing. Huangfu Li thought for a long time, and his heart moved.

He already understood the meaning of Han Yi and Ling Ru's words, but his power in Chang'an was too small, and if he wanted to help the Xiliang people quickly defeat the Qiang people and regain the territory, he had to get Pang De's support.

Behind Pound is the general, and only with the consent of the general can there be hope for the western frontier. Under the forced gaze of Huangfu Li and Ling Ru, Pang De nodded slowly,

"I'll write to the general immediately." In mid-April, Han Yi told Liu Bei the news sent by Chang'an as quickly as possible.

Liu Bei was very surprised, Luoyang fell so early, which greatly surprised him, and Yuan Shao died, and the pillars of the Xiangyang court fell, which was undoubtedly a fatal blow to the Xiangyang court.

If this news is true, there is no point in beating Chen Cang again. Liu Bei consulted with Zhao Ang, Liu Yan, Li Jun and others.

Liu Yan thought that this might be Chang'an's delaying tactic, the purpose was to stabilize Han Yi in order to keep the Shangqi defense line and ensure the safety of Guanzhong.

He advised to ignore it and continue the attack. Zhao Ang believes that whether this news is true or false has nothing to do with the overall situation.

At present, the Northern Xinjiang Army has deployed heavy troops on the front line of Dasanguan and Chencang, and it will definitely not be able to fight hard. The army could not break through Chencang, so Zhang Fei, who raided Chang'an from the Meridian Road, was very likely to be wiped out because he could not get the supply of grain and grass.

Therefore, in the current situation, the adults should change their strategy in time and occupy the western frontier instead, so as to maintain a continuous threat to Guanzhong, ease the tension in the Central Plains, Jianghuai and Jingxiang, and quickly promote the emergence of a confrontation between the north and the south, so as to gain time for the imperial court to restore its strength and make a northern expedition to the Central Plains.

Of course, if this news is true, adults should immediately change their attack strategy. Li Jun also tried his best to persuade Liu Bei to go north to Longxi with the main force and not waste time in Dasanguan anymore.

Liu Bei accepted Zhao Ang's suggestion, and while he sent someone to urgently tell Zhang Fei to lead the army to withdraw to Hanzhong, he hurried to Longnan to join the main force of the army, and at the same time asked Cao Bao, Liu Yan, and Li Jun to lead the army to continue the feint attack on Dasanguan.

Together with Zhao Ang, he led the army to the battlefield in Longxi. In mid-April, the Eight Hundred Miles Express Rider delivered Pound's letter to Luoyang.

Pound suggested that a plan to drive the tiger and devour the wolf should be implemented in the western Xinjiang. The Qiang people are like a pack of wolves, and Liu Bei and Han Yi are two tigers.

If the imperial court allowed the situation in the western frontier to get out of control at this moment and let the tigers and wolves occupy the western frontier, even if the army occupied Hexi and formed a commanding position against Longxi, it would be difficult to pacify the western frontier as quickly as possible at the lowest cost.

If the tiger is driven and the wolf is devoured by the tiger, the rest is a game of two tigers. For the people of Western Xinjiang, every inch of land in Western Xinjiang is as precious as their lives, and whoever can let them defend Western Xinjiang and their land is their friend, on the contrary, they are enemies.

Liu Bei can help them now, so he is a friend, but Liu Bei is an alien tiger, and Liu Bei needs all the things that Xijiang can provide him with to survive, so the people of Xijiang can't tolerate him.

Once the threat of wolves is lifted, Liu Bei is going to occupy their land, and the contradiction will come. Who can help them get rid of Liu Bei?

It's just us. Our strength is extremely strong, although it is currently difficult to pacify the western frontier, but our strength is enough to destroy the combined power of Liu Bei and Han Yi.

When the two tigers fight, it will be the day when we send troops to the western frontier. drove out Liu Bei, the imperial court's army was stationed in Western Xinjiang, the imperial court can help the people of Western Xinjiang to defend the land, the imperial court can help the people of Western Xinjiang to live a stable life, and the people of Western Xinjiang can give them what they need, so that Western Xinjiang can be stable.

But in order to achieve this strategy, the army must be completely withdrawn from the southern part of Western Xinjiang, so that the Western Liang army can do its best to join forces with Liu Bei to attack the Qiang.

This is the ultimate goal of Han Yi sending Ling Ru to Shangqi to persuade Huangfu Li and Pang De. But now Chang'an is the capital, and the security of Guanzhong is very important, so whether it is the imperial court or Xu Rong, who is responsible for guarding the security of Guanzhong, he will never agree to the army to withdraw from Western Xinjiang and shrink the defense line to the line of Chencang and Dasanguan.

At the end of his letter, Pound said that the population of Western Xinjiang was mainly concentrated in the two counties of Hanyang and Wudu, and that the population of other counties was no more than 10,000 or 20,000.

Last year, the imperial court withdrew more than 100,000 people from Hanyang County and Jincheng County in Western Xinjiang, so Western Xinjiang is now not only sparsely populated, but also extremely short of grain and grass.

At present, if Han Yi and Liu Bei want to defeat the Qiang people, they can only rely on the support of Hanzhong and Bashu, but it is very difficult for Yizhou's grain to be transported to Western Xinjiang.

In other words, it will take a long time for Han Yi and Liu Bei to recapture the two counties of Longxi and Jincheng, and the two armies will not only have to pay an astonishing price, but Yizhou will also pay an astonishing amount of money, which is only good for us.

In the future, if Yizhou is unwilling to continue to support Liu Bei, Liu Bei and Han Yi will not be able to defeat the Qiang people, and the final outcome can be imagined.

And after the Qiang people suffered a joint blow from them, they suffered great losses, their strength plummeted, and their threat to us was greatly reduced.

The benefits of this for our future westward march to counter-insurgency are self-evident. Li Hong and Zhang Yan, Jia Xu, Tian Chou, Fu Gan and others discussed for a long time, carefully weighed the pros and cons, and finally decided to accept Pound's suggestion.

Li Hong played the eldest princess and the imperial court in his personal name, and suggested that the offensive and defensive strategies of western Xinjiang should be adjusted before the army did not advance westward to Pingqiang.

For the northwest of Western Xinjiang, that is, the Hexi region, the policy of using Hu to control Hu was adopted, using the strength of the Xianbei and Xiongnu to defeat and drive out the Qiang people, recover and occupy Hexi, and establish a commanding advantage over the Longxi region of Xiliang.

For the southwest of Western Xinjiang, that is, the Hehuang region, the strategy of driving the tiger and devouring the wolf was adopted, using rebellious forces such as Liu Bei and Han Yi to defeat and drive away the Qiang people, and then taking advantage of the contradiction between Liu Bei and Han Yi to provoke the two tigers to fight, and then send troops to pacify the Western Xinjiang at the lowest cost.

In order to realize this policy, Li Hong suggested that the imperial court issue an edict to Yan Rou, the general of Zhenbei, asking him to command the Iron Cavalry Army to recover Hexi, and to supervise all border counties and desert Hu tribes to provide favorable support to the Hexi Expeditionary Force.

When asked, Li Hong suggested that the army stationed in Shangtai should be withdrawn to Chencang, and heavy troops should be stationed on the front line of Chencang and Dasanguan to ensure the safety of Guanzhong.

Li Hong also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Cai Yong, Taiwei Xun You, Left Cavalry General Xian Yufu, Right Cavalry General Xu Rong, and Central Scholar Chen Qun, explaining in detail the reasons for adjusting the offensive and defensive strategies in Western Xinjiang, and asking your Excellency to consider carefully and make a decision as soon as possible.

In April, on the battlefield of Yingchuan, the battlefield of Chenliu was frequently reported. Li Hongshu told the four generals Lu Bu, Yushi, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou to return to the imperial court as soon as the battle situation stabilized.

At the end of April, Xuzhou Mao Jue and Jiangdong Cheng Pu hurried to Luoyang to ask the Son of Heaven for their guilt. Xiao Tianzi received Tian Chou's guidance in advance and memorized everything he said, but Yang Xiu quietly pulled him aside,

"Your Majesty, don't give a good face to such a capricious villain. Your Majesty must beat them like dogs, scold them fiercely, otherwise these villains will bite you as soon as you turn your back. Xiao Tianzi sat on the seat, pouting and looking unhappy.

Mao Jue had just said a few words, and Xiao Tianzi suddenly got up, rushed to his side, and gave him a kick in the head.

Of course, the child's kick doesn't have much strength, but the little day 1/2|jumped to