On the third day of September in the fourth year of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao led the army into Yanjin. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

On the same day, Kuai Yue, Zhu Ling, Zhou Cang, Ji Ling and others led their troops to pursue along the Pushui River to the north, and Cao Cao stayed behind to guard Fengqiu and Wuchao.

In the afternoon, Liu Biao and Xu Xuan rushed to Yanjin to meet Yuan Shao. After Liu Bei received the news from Yuan Shao, he also crossed the river and rushed to Yanjin City in the afternoon of the same day.

At the military meeting, Feng Ji analyzed the current situation in detail based on the news sent from various battlefields, and determined that the Northern Xinjiang Army had no intention of withdrawing the Yellow River at present, but was preparing to stick to the line of Baima and Yancheng and continue to pose a threat to Henan, so as to ensure that he could occupy most of Yanzhou and lay the foundation for the future capture of the Central Plains.

"Xuande has already said just now, after the loss of Qingshuikou, part of the cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army quickly crossed the river from Qingshuikou to meet Sima Ju, and quickly killed the east bank of the Qingshui River, and now we are blocking Jicheng. In addition, according to the reports of the defenders stationed in Junyi and Xiaohuang, their scouts found Li E's cavalry in the area of Dongdui and Jiyang. When the Northern Xinjiang Army retreated all the way north, this cavalry suddenly appeared on the line of Dingtao and Jiyang, the purpose of which was not only to protect Dingtao and Changyi, but also to help their main army stick to the line of Baima and Yancheng. If nothing else, this cavalry will attack the front line of Junyi, Zhongmu and Chenliu in the near future, striking at our rear and pinning down our forces. ”

"Judging from the deployment of the Northern Xinjiang Army, their intention is very clear, that is, they want to use the attack of their cavalry army on the battlefield on both flanks to buy time for themselves to hold Baima and Yancheng and stabilize most of the counties in Yanzhou." Feng Ji patted the map vigorously and said to everyone with a smile, "This strategy of the Northern Frontier Army is good. After we burned the grain and grass in Wuchao and the old city, their army was in turmoil, and in this critical situation, Li Yi was able to adjust the deployment in time and make such a good emergency strategy, which is indeed very strong. In the past few days, they have retreated rapidly, probably to preserve their forces as much as possible, so as to block us in Yancheng. In order to achieve their goal, they did not hesitate to send their most elite tens of thousands of cavalry to the battlefields on both flanks, so as to deter us and force us to divide our troops to help, which is also very powerful. ”

Feng Ji triumphantly stroked his beard and continued: "If we don't have the strange soldiers of Zang Ba and Chen Deng, knowing that Jizhou has fallen into a crisis and the Northern Xinjiang Army is in the predicament of being attacked by the enemy, we may really be fooled. After all, the appearance of the Northern Xinjiang cavalry on the battlefields of the two flanks of Hanoi and Yanzhou is a great threat to our continued northward attack on Yancheng. Once we lost successive battles on the battlefield in Hanoi and lost the protection of our flanks, and once Li E's cavalry entered Henan from Yanzhou and frequently attacked our grain routes, we could no longer attack, while the Northern Xinjiang Army could take advantage of this opportunity to gain a firm foothold in the Baima and Yancheng areas. ”

Feng Ji looked at Liu Biao and the others, and said with palpitations: "We are very lucky." After the Northern Frontier Army attacked Xuchang and burned our grain and grass, it was not clear that this sneak attack had dealt us a fatal blow. If they hold on to the front line of Yancheng and Baima until the middle of this month, that is, after more than ten days, we will have to retreat. Our existing grain and grass reserves simply cannot support the needs of the 200,000-strong army. We must wait until after the autumn harvest in October and when the grain is in storage, before we can attack again. The Northern Xinjiang Army has more than one month, and it can completely readjust its deployment and strategy. In the past, we suspected that September and October would be the most difficult times for the northern Xinjiang army to have food and grass, but recently we received news that the northern border counties had sent a large number of livestock to the north bank of the Yellow River, which could greatly alleviate their food crisis. If there is no problem with the food of the Northern Xinjiang Army, then it is difficult to say whether we will be able to beat the Northern Xinjiang Army back to Hebei in more than a month. ”

Yuan Shao's eyes turned to Liu Biao, and a trace of anger flashed on his face, which means obviously, according to the current situation of the coalition army, if he does not take this opportunity to drive the Northern Xinjiang Army back to Hebei in one go, then more than a month later, not to mention driving the Northern Xinjiang Army back to Hebei, it will be a problem if the coalition army is still there. Perhaps more than a month later, the coalition forces have dispersed in a hurry.

Liu Biao naturally understood Yuan Shao's expression, he turned a blind eye, and said with a comfortable expression: "There is still half a month to go, and we have time to drive the Northern Xinjiang Army to the north bank of the Yellow River. The problem now is that after the army crosses Yancheng, there will be a great plain in front of it. Although some of the cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army has already arrived at the two flanks of Hanoi and Yanzhou, they still have some cavalry directly opposite us, and it will be quite difficult for us to occupy Baima and Puyang. ”

Yuan Shao sneered.

Feng Ji glanced at Liu Biao with disdain, and said coldly: "Brother Jingsheng, the strongest army in the Northern Xinjiang Army is the cavalry, you don't want to fight with his cavalry, how will you defeat Li Yi and pacify the world in the future?" When you encounter the cavalry of the Northern Frontier, you lose confidence and dare not fight, so what will you do in the future? Do you want Li Yi to dominate the three states of Hebei and divide the Han Dynasty's Jiangshan Sheji into two? This time, we have nearly 500,000 troops, and we are well prepared, and the northern cavalry is divided into two flanks, and there are not many northern cavalry on the frontal battlefield. You don't dare to fight like this? ”

Liu Biao gave Feng Ji a taunt, the color on his face became ugly, and he gritted his teeth and said, "We will go north tomorrow." The first brother led the army to attack Yancheng, and I led the army to attack Taocheng and Wating line. ”

Taocheng and Wating are in the northeast of Yancheng, if the coalition forces break through the Taocheng and Wating line, the defense line on the flank of Yancheng will be broken immediately, and the Northern Xinjiang Army can only retreat again.

Liu Biao's proposal was agreed to by Yuan Shao, but Yuan Shao was also worried about being attacked by the Northern Xinjiang cavalry, although the number of Northern Xinjiang cavalry in front was not large, but there were still 20,000 or 30,000 people.

If this cavalry army is overwhelmed, the Jiujiang Army, the Jiangdong Army, the Runan Army, and the Jingzhou Army, which have never seen such a scene, are very likely to be the first to collapse. The collapse of these armies will immediately shake the morale of the entire army, thus causing the overall collapse of the coalition army, so he suggested that after the army captured Yancheng, it would go north in batches.

In this way, even if the vanguard army is defeated by the northern cavalry, it will not affect the follow-up army, and the northern cavalry will be greatly reduced after defeating the vanguard army, and can not insist on fighting again.

Yuan Shao's method was unanimously recognized by everyone. This time, there were nearly 500,000 troops in the north, and it was impossible for the Northern Xinjiang Army to hold Yancheng, so several people were full of confidence and immediately discussed the composition of the forward army.

Yuan Shao proposed that Cao Cao's Yanzhou army, Zhu Ling's Xuzhou army, Yan Liang's Henan army, Liu Pan, and Wenpin's Jingzhou army be put at the forefront. Most of the officers and men of these armies had participated in the Battle of Jizhou the year before last and had fought with the cavalry of Northern Xinjiang, and the use of the chariot formation was relatively skillful. With these people and the Northern Frontier cavalry taking the lead, even if they can't win, they won't be wiped out. If they can use the chariot formation to drag the Northern Cavalry and wait for the follow-up army to rush up and flank the front and back, it is very likely to inflict heavy damage on the Northern Cavalry.

Now that part of the army led by Liu Bei was fighting Sima Ju in Hanoi, it was impossible to cross the river, and in order to strengthen the strength of the vanguard army, Yuan Shao planned to let Cao Cao lead the Yanzhou army from Fengqiu to meet in a hurry north.

Liu had a difficult face on the surface, and talked about the fierce conflicts between Cao Cao and Ji Ling, Zhu Ling, Zhou Cang and others in recent days, and finally said: "In my opinion, forget it, Cao Cao is here and it's a bad thing." If Cao Cao arrives in Yancheng, the forward army will definitely be commanded by him, even if Zhu Ling and Zhou Cang follow Cao Cao's orders regardless of the overall situation, but once the cavalry from the north comes over and the battlefield is in chaos, will they still work together? At the moment of life and death, I'm afraid it's unlikely, right? ”

Yuan Shao immediately gave up when he heard this. The command of the coalition forces has been chaotic and is now in a very dangerous situation, and Cao Cao has been driven to a desperate situation by himself at the moment, once he goes crazy and does something unthinkable on the battlefield, the victory in hand is likely to be wiped out in a blink of an eye.

"It still works to let him stay in Fengqiu." Liu Biao said, "Although his losses in this attack on Fengqiu are very large, he recently transferred back 3,000 tigers and leopards from the battlefield in Xuzhou, and he still has 20,000 horses in his hands. When we attacked Yancheng and Baima, if Li E led the army to attack the area of Junyi and Zhongmu, we could let him go south to block and protect the grain route of the army. ”

Yuan Shao looked up at Liu Biao with a grim expression. Liu Biao had a ghost in his heart, and he wanted to rescue Cao Cao so that he could form an alliance with Cao Cao, Liu Bei and others to restrain Yuan Shao after the war, so he didn't dare to look at Yuan Shao, and immediately turned his head and took the opportunity to talk to Liu Bei to hide the panic in his heart.

"Brother Jingsheng, then so be it." Yuan Shao waved his hand and said, "We'll see you in Yancheng."

………………

On the fourth day of September, Liyang.

On the surface of the Yellow River, ten ship bridges rise and fall in the rolling waves, just like ten giant dragons ready to soar into the sky.

On the bridge of the ship, colorful battle flags were waved in the wind, and groups of cavalry soldiers led their horses and marched quickly towards the south bank of the Yellow River.

On the embankment of the big river, Li Yi stood on his horse, and the long cloak behind him danced wildly in the wind.

Behind him, more than a dozen generals such as Zhao Yun, Zhang He, Gao Changgong, Yue Yun, and Zhao Zhao lined up, looking intently at the marching cavalry.

"It's been ten years." Li Yi turned his head to look at Mu Guiying, and said with some emotion, "Ten years ago, we went north to the desert, and at that time we took such a huge cavalry army......"

"Ten years ago, we defeated the Xianbei people in Shan Yuting and revived the Han Tianwei, and today, we want to sweep the Central Plains with this army, exterminate the rebellion, and revitalize the Han Tianwei." Mu Guiying raised his horsewhip and shouted in the wind, "Anyone who offends my Han Tianwei will be killed." (To be continued.) )