Chapter 9 Chasing the Central Plains Section 9 Yan Xiang's hurried figure appeared in the garden. After Yuan Shu fell ill, both the military and the government were in charge of the Li owner.

After Li Ye died in Qicheng, Yan Xiang was fully responsible for the military administration of Yangzhou. Yan Xiang walked to Yuan Shu's soft couch and waved his hand to signal the surrounding guards and slaves to retreat into the distance.

"My lord, Cao Cao has a letter delivered." Yan Xiang unfolded the book in his hand and read it softly. Cao Cao gave a detailed account of the current situation in Jianghuai, the Central Plains and Hebei, and believed that Yuan Shu's defeat was already an overnight matter, and there was no possibility of survival.

In the letter, Cao Cao advised Yuan Shu to face up to the reality and to surrender as soon as possible in order to save the people of Jiujiang County from the scourge of war.

Then he made a suggestion to Yuan Shu. If Yuan Shu is unwilling to surrender, he can leave Jiujiang County and go wherever he wants, either in Hebei or in Runan.

Cao Cao said, as long as you leave Jiujiang County, I absolutely guarantee that your life will not be threatened in any way. Yuan Shu kept his eyes closed, as if he was asleep, without any expression.

"Your Excellency......" Yan Xiang shouted in a low voice,

"My lord, how do you think we reply to Cao Cao?"

"The Northern Frontier Army is attacking Henan?" Yuan Shu was weak and weak, and his voice was very small. Yan Xiang didn't hear clearly, and hurriedly put his ear to Yuan Shu's mouth,

"What did you say, my lord?"

"I have a hunch...... Yuan Shu gasped a few times, and he coughed violently because of his mood swings,

"The leopard is about to go south to the Central Plains, and Cao Cao is going to be finished." Yan Xiang raised his head in disappointment, very sad in his heart.

Yuan Shu's condition has worsened recently, and he often has a dizzy mind and babbles, and now he has another attack. How could Li Hong attack the Central Plains?

Could it be that Yuan Yao's crying could move Li Hong, make Li Hong change his course, and lead the army south to attack the Central Plains?

Recently, under the siege of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu, the situation in Jiujiang County has become more and more severe.

Many of Yuan Shu's subordinates began to flee Jiujiang County, and some of the secret secretaries Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Ce and others planned to surrender after the fall of Jiujiang.

Only a small number of people are still loyal to Yuan Shu and swear to live and die with Yuan Shu, but these people may also betray Yuan Shu over time.

Danger lurks in Shouchun City. Now that he admires Yuan Shu very much, he took the lead and sent many of his cronies and subordinates to Hebei.

Although nominally this is to protect the relatives of his subordinates, in fact it is also a disguised threat.

After the families of these people arrived in Hebei, they had nothing to worry about, and either fought to the death with Yuan Shu, or fled to Hebei after being defeated.

Neither the betrayal of Yuan Shu nor the surrender of Cao Cao had a way out. At this moment, the lives of the family members are in their own hands, and this is an important reason why Yuan Shu can still hold on to Jiujiang County.

However, people are not as good as heaven, Yuan Shu's physical condition is not as good as day by day, and he may return to heaven at any time, which makes some people who are loyal to Yuan Shu have to plan for themselves in advance.

After all, as soon as Yuan Shu died, the army was torn apart, and everyone went their separate ways. If you don't want to become Yuan Shu's funeral object, the best way is to flee as soon as possible or abandon all illusions and resolutely join Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and others, in order to save one of his lives.

Now, Xun Zheng has received many letters from Cao Cao and Xun Yu, and once Yuan Shu is defeated, it is a foregone conclusion that he will defect to Cao Cao.

He had a very good personal relationship with him, and advised himself more than once to offer a letter to Cao Cao as soon as possible to excuse himself and leave a way out for himself.

Li Ye's younger brother Li Shu was killed by Cao Cao because his brother was killed, and of course he would not surrender to Cao Cao. So he took advantage of the opportunity of his garrison in Hefei to communicate with Zhou Yu and Lu Su, intending to lead the army to defect to Zhou Yu when the time was right.

Now he had refused to obey Yan Xiang's command. Yuan Yin and Zhang Jiong, who were stationed in Liyang, were moved by the advice of their former friends Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, and heard that Sun Ce had made a promise to them to ensure the safety of their lives.

Liu Bei's subordinates Sun Qian and Zhu frequently haunted Dangtu during this time, and had close contacts with the generals Ji Ling, He Yi, Liu Pi and others stationed on the front line of Dangtu and Yinling.

It is rumored that Liu Bei had secretly crossed the river to meet Ji Ling, and it seemed that some kind of agreement had been reached between the two. Jiujiang County was stormy, and the fate of Yuan Shu's defeat was irreparable.

Yan Xiang sat beside Yuan Shu, thinking about it, and after thinking about it, he was sad in his heart, and tears involuntarily moistened his eyes.

He grabbed Yuan Shu's thin hand, choked up and said,

"My lord, how can I save you......" Yuan Shu's eyes showed gratitude, and he tried his best to squeeze out a few words from his throat,

"Meng Wen, tell them that if you want to save your life, you have to endure until the last moment, otherwise, all of you will die. Remember, remember ......"

"My lord......" Yan Xiang gritted his teeth and said bitterly,

"Forgive them, they can't help it......" Yuan Shu smiled faintly,

"I don't blame them, I don't blame anyone. I've struggled for more than ten years to stay alive, and now I'm finally free, and I'm happy. ”

"Adult......" Yan Xiang's heart was wrenched and speechless. Yuan Shu slowly closed his eyes, and a tear quietly dripped down.

At the end of March, Yanzhou, Dongjun, Cangting. Xiahou Yuan galloped sixty miles from Dong'e City to the bank of the Yellow River.

Yesterday, news came from Chiping in Jibei that a huge fleet of ships had suddenly appeared on the Yellow River, with more than 1,000 large ships, including more than 50 building ships.

The flotilla was divided into ten small fleets, which stretched for more than a hundred miles in front and behind. These large ships were all ships of the sea, each with a deep draft, and apparently loaded with a large amount of cargo.

Xiahou Yuan was not only surprised, but also angry. Jibei Kingdom is close to Pingyuan County, although there is Jishui between it and Pingyuan County, but the huge fleet of more than 1,000 large ships appeared on the Yellow River, and it was not discovered until the fleet entered Jibei Kingdom, which is incredible.

What about your scouts? What are your scouts doing? Xiahou Yuan shouted at the Jibei Mansion who came to deliver the letter.

This incident happened suddenly and was too important, and the minister of Jibei specially sent his own chauffeur to deliver a message to show that he attached importance to this matter.

The driver explained that since the Yellow River thawed last month, the Northern Xinjiang Army patrol iron cavalry in Pingyuan County has been scattered between the Jishui River and the Yellow River.

As long as the scouts crossed the Jishui River, they were either killed or wounded, and the losses were very large. There were only a few thousand troops in Jibei, and the number of scouts was limited, so he didn't dare to send scouts later.

At the same time, the scouts of the Northern Xinjiang Army crossed the Jishui River in large numbers to explore the territory of the northern country. In order to snipe at them, the army of Jibei had to let their scouts operate in the territory, so during this time, they neglected to explore the Yellow River channel in Pingyuan County.

After discovering the flotilla, the Chiping defenders sent small boats to approach the flotilla to investigate, but they were shot back by the ship's guards with long arrows.

According to the description of the Chiping defenders, he suspected that this fleet was the fleet that Hebei had assembled in Bohai County, Jizhou a year ago, to transport grain to Youzhou.

What is puzzling is that if this fleet is the fleet that transports grain from Jizhou to Youzhou, how could it suddenly appear in the Yellow River?

Is it to deliver food to the Northern Xinjiang Army that is attacking Henan? This answer obviously does not stand up to scrutiny, because to transport grain to the Northern Xinjiang Army attacking Henan, it can be transported from Handan and Yecheng in Jizhou, and there is no need to travel thousands of miles to send it to Henan by ship from the Bohai Sea.

Xiahou Yuan thought that there were more and more people from the Northern Frontier Army who had recently crossed the river to the south to investigate, but it was difficult for his own scouts to cross the Yellow River and infiltrate a hundred miles away from the other party, and his heart suddenly became vigilant.

Could it be that the Northern Xinjiang Army wants to attack Yanzhou? But to attack Yanzhou, is it necessary for the Northern Xinjiang Army to be so brazen and mobilize the army to requisition the shipping fleet?

There is only a Yellow River between the two places, and even if the Northern Xinjiang Army wants to cross the river to fight, it will not need to call more than 1,000 large sea ships to the battlefield.

Xiahou Yuan couldn't figure it out, so he immediately rushed to the bank of the Yellow River to check it out for himself. Large boats with full sails sail and fast on the rough river.

The boatman's trumpets were in unison, and the huge cries were scattered in the wind, and the majestic roar could be clearly heard standing on the shore.

On both sides of the big boat, hundreds of wooden oars flew up and down, setting off bursts of waves. Xiahou Yuan rushed to the embankment with a team of iron horses, stopped his horse, and pointed straight ahead with the whip in his hand.

"Is there any sign of movement in Wu Xiong's army?" Wang Zhong took a few breaths and shook his head again and again,

"There is no movement in the direction of Tobuyang."

"Have the scouts crossed the river to investigate in the past few days?" Xiahou Yuan asked loudly.

"A few people went, but none of them came back." Wang Zhong shook his head again and again. Hou Yuan's face changed, and he said angrily: "Since no one has come back, how do you know that Wu Xiong is still in Dongwuyang?" ”

"My lord, the Northern Xinjiang Army has a very strict blockade of the Yellow River, and there is a Fengtun within five miles, and it is difficult for the scouts to go ashore. Even if you reach the other side, it is difficult to go deep into the area of Dongwuyang and Yangping. There was the Dongwuyang camp of the Northern Xinjiang Army, from the old man to the child, when they saw strangers, they interrogated them, and it was difficult for the scouts to find out what news. Wang Zhong said helplessly,

"Your Excellency, you know all of this. If we want to get news about the Northern Frontier Army, we can't rely on scouts. Xiahou Yuan frowned, and the whip in his hand was suddenly raised.

"My lord, Wu Xiong's army is indeed still in Dongwuyang." Wang Zhong's head shrank subconsciously, and his hands shook vigorously,

"A few days ago, a scout was lucky enough to go to Gulongju and found that there were many people who came from other places, and I heard that a beacon tower was going to be built on the north bank of the Yellow River in the area of Dongwuyang."

"How many people?"

"It is said that there are tens of thousands of people, and there are thousands of makeshift tents." Wang Zhong said,

"On that day, Wu Xiong happened to go to Gulong to gather people, so ......" Xiahou Yuan felt a faint sense of unease.

Spring ploughing has begun, Hebei did not seize the time to rush to plant at this time, but recruited the people to rush to Dongwuyang to repair the city and build a beacon tower, which is too abnormal.

"My lord, the fleet is docking." The captain of the guards suddenly shouted,

"The flotilla stopped." Xiahou Yuan was stunned in his heart, and involuntarily looked up at the sky. The sun is still a long way from the West Mountain, and before dusk arrives, why does the fleet dock?

Could this be the end of the fleet? Could it be the main force of the Northern Frontier Army? Xiahou Yuan was taken aback by this strange idea of his own.

Surrounded by a group of guards, Sima Yi walked up to the embankment with a smile and a smile.

"It's better to stand on the ground." He stood on the ground with his feet and chopped it a few times,

"After staying on the ship for a long time, I realized the benefits of being down-to-earth." Wu Ye, the middle candidate of the Northern Army, stood in front of the ferry, smiling,

"Zhongda, you're late." But Ma Yi gave up his hand again and again,

"We've been working day and night, not resting a day, so it's too late? When did you arrive? ”

"It's not late, it's not late, it's just that you adults are anxious, living like a year, and complaining." Wu Ye laughed,

"We arrived last night. Koji-sama said that if you don't arrive at the scheduled time today, he will break your legs......"

"Luck, luck......" But Ma Yi asked with a smile,

"How many adults have arrived?" Wu Ye shook his head, lowered his voice and said, "General Zhao Yun's iron cavalry will arrive in Dongwuyang tomorrow afternoon. ”

"Where's the general?" Sima Yi asked casually.

"I don't know." Wu Ye helped Sima Yi jump onto the horse and said very excitedly,

"As soon as you come, the great war begins. We will build the bridge tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow we will be able to go south to the Central Plains. Sima Yi looked at the crowded ferry, and warned with a smile,

"Beware of leaks, your head will fall off." East County of Yanzhou, north bank of the Yellow River, Yiyiju (now five miles southwest of Liaocheng).

The general Li Hong sat under the big tree, laughing and talking casually with Yan Rou, Wei Jun, Yang Ming, Da Dan Yu Liu Bao and other generals.

Several big households in Shan Yuting, most of the lieutenants needed Liu Bao and Yang Ming to explain to them because they couldn't understand the Chinese language.

Several people sat together, gesturing and chattering, and laughing constantly. In the distance, 30,000 iron cavalry soldiers were scattered along the mile-long river, encamped.

"It's about eighty miles from Chiping." Li Hong drew a simple topographic map on the ground with a horsewhip,

"We galloped eighty miles eastward, then crossed the river to conquer Chiping and Linyi, and then we went directly into Dongping. We can't afford to delay too long in Dongping, lest we lose the opportunity to capture Changyi. ”

"If we don't have enough time, we can stop fighting the city-state." Yan Rou said,

"After arriving in Changyi, we only need to divide an iron cavalry to protect the grain route and prevent the army of Ren Chengguo from threatening from the flank." A few people were talking, and the horses galloped in.

Lu Bu sent the news. Wei Yan has already led the fleet to dock, build a bridge tomorrow, and cross the river the day after tomorrow.

"Zhongda and Wenchang are so powerful, the time is not bad." Yan Rou blurted out praise.

"We came early, and the army was stationed on the river more than a hundred miles long, which was easily exposed, so it was best to arrive at the same time as the arrival of the various armies." Li Hong said with a smile,

"The day the enemy knows our purpose one day later, we will have one more day to sweep through the Central Plains."

"Herald ......" Li Hong stood up,

"Tomorrow all the armies will arrive at the place where the river is scheduled to be crossed."

"No longer hiding the traces of the army?" Yang Ming asked.

"There's no need for it." Li Hong shook his hand,

"Urgently tell Tian Chou, Chen Gong, Ke Ma Yi, and Wei Yan, and start building bridges immediately." Jump to