In early November, Jingzhou.

Later general Yuan Shu and general Sun Jian were very happy when they received the news that Yue Fei had ceded Yuzhou.

Sun Jian immediately asked Sun Ben and Zhu Zhi to rush to Yangzhai City with 1,000 soldiers and horses, and Yuan Shu also asked Liu Xun to accompany him with 3,000 soldiers and horses. At the same time, Yuan Shu sent a letter to the officials of various counties and states in Yuzhou, saying: "This time, the general Sun Jian was stationed in Yuzhou and led the history of Yuzhou's assassination, but he was ordered by the imperial court, so don't make trouble for no reason." If it angers the hussar general, affects the great cause of courting King Dong Qin and saving Sheji, the consequences are unknown. ”

Sun Jian knew that the hussar general was willing to give up Yuzhou this time, and specially asked the imperial court to issue an order, and Yuan Shu made a lot of efforts from it. He knew how to repay his kindness, and at the same time, he fulfilled the promise he had made in the past, and immediately led the army to attack Liu Biao.

Kuai Yue, Huang Zu, Wen Ping and other Jingzhou generals led the crowd to meet the enemy, and the two sides fought in Deng County, thirty miles away from Xiangyang City.

Sun Jian and Ji Ling led an army of 15,000 to storm for three days. Sun Jian's general Zu Mao was unfortunately killed, Sun Jian was filled with grief and indignation, so he personally led 2,000 Changsha soldiers to march forward and fight bloodily. The Jingzhou soldiers could not resist, retreated to Hanshui, and retreated into Xiangyang City to hold on.

Sun Jian's anger at the defeat of Yang Zhai City was heartily vented at this time, and he commanded his army to cross the Han River, besiege Xiangyang City, and launched a stormy attack. Liu Biao couldn't resist it, and ordered Huang Zu and Wen Ping to lead their own guards to fight out of the encirclement and recruit reinforcements from other counties.

Yuan Shu learned that Sun Jian had won consecutive battles and that Xiangyang was in sight, and wrote to Sun Jian to congratulate him on his victory. Yuan Shu said in the letter: "After getting Jingzhou, you and my brother have no worries. After the hussar generals, Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan and others fought in Jizhou, we immediately entered Luoyang, courted King Dong Qin, and achieved great achievements. ”

Soon, Huang Zu moved from Jiangxia to rescue soldiers and rushed to Xiangyang to rescue Liu Biao.

After Sun Jian heard the news, he led an army of 5,000 to meet the attack. Huang Zu was defeated and fled. Sun Jian led the army in fierce pursuit, intending to annihilate them all, and when he chased to Da Xian Mountain near Xiangyang City, Huang Zu, who had nowhere to escape, was red-eyed, and simply returned to fight to the death with his personal guards. In the fierce battle, several of Huang Zu's men shot Sun Jian with crossbows. Sun Jian couldn't dodge, was hit by several arrows, and fell off the horse on the spot.

Huang Gai, Ling Cao and others were enraged, led the army to fight to the death, and desperately snatched back Sun Jian. But he didn't expect that at this moment, Wen Ping also led the army back to Xiangyang, and the two sides immediately started a bloody battle. Because Sun Jian was hit by an arrow, the life and death of the Nanyang soldiers and the Changsha soldiers were unknown, and the army was in turmoil and retreated. After Ji Ling personally broke off, he covered the army to withdraw across the Han River and retreat to Chaoyang City.

Back in Chaoyang City, although Sun Jian did not die, he also fell into a coma and still did not wake up for seven days.

Huang Gai, Ling Cao and others wrote a letter to Yuan Shu, wanting to borrow troops to fight again, and repay the blood debt. Yuan Shu replied: "I don't have enough troops, and it's in vain to fight." I plan to ask the hussar general for reinforcements, and when I fight Xiangyang again, I will kill Liu Biao. ”

Zhu Zhi and the others knew that Yuan Shu was just perfunctory words. Now that the hussar general is fighting with Dong Zhuo in Guanxi, and he is going to fight with Gongsun Zan in Jizhou, where can there be reinforcements? If the hussar general had spare strength, he would not give up Yuzhou at all.

Therefore, Zhu Zhi wrote a letter to Yuan Shu again, in which he said: "My lord's life and death are unpredictable now, and it is useless to stay in Yuzhou, and my subordinates plan to take the lord back to Eastern Wu to recuperate, and if the lord can recover, he will fight side by side with General Yuan in the future; If you can't wake up, you can also return to your roots. ”

Yuan Shu saw that Sun Jian hadn't woken up for so long, and knew that he was afraid that his life would be difficult to protect, so he agreed to Zhu Zhi's request. Let his subordinates escort the unconscious Sun Jian back to Soochow.

………………

In mid-November, Li Yi was still teasing his newborn son and daughter in Quanzhou, but a flying pigeon came.

The letter was sent by Li Jing to report on the current situation in Jizhou.

Li Jing said in his heart: "After Gongsun Zhan defeated the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army in the south of Dongguang City, he openly broke with Yuan Shao and led a large army to attack Wei County, intending to occupy the entire territory of Jizhou. So far, I have not received any letters from Gongsun Zhan, but Yuan Shao's letters asking for help have been one after another. ”

"Yuan Shao was fighting fiercely with the Yellow Turban Army of Montenegro at this time, and I had no time to think about anything else, so I decided to lead the army to block it. Although the Northern Xinjiang Army had the idea of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight in the past, at this moment, curbing the rapid expansion of Gongsun Zhan's power has become a top priority. If Gongsun Chan is allowed to defeat Yuan Shao and occupy most of the counties and counties of Jizhou, his strength will increase sharply, and he will inevitably be at a disadvantage when Northern Xinjiang conflicts with him in the future. ”

Li Jing said in the letter: "Gongsun Chan threatened to recruit 100,000 troops from the Yellow Turban Army captives, if this statement is true, the Northern Xinjiang Army is not strong enough to defeat Gongsun Zhan, and I hereby ask the Lord to immediately order General Xu Da to lead the army south, and at the same time send Saiwai Iron Cavalry to Jizhou to help." ”

The sudden change in the situation in Jizhou surprised Li Yi and the officials in the palace.

Xu Maogong sighed: "After Yuan Shao killed Bai Huan, the Black Mountain Yellow Turban Army was like going crazy, fighting from August to the present, without rest in between, and there was a posture of not giving up if Yuan Shao was not killed. If Yu Xuan, Zheng Gu and others do not quit after the heavy snow falls, then General Li Jing's army of more than 20,000 people will be very dangerous. ”

"Originally, we expected Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zhan to fight first, and then we would benefit. It's good now, Gongsun Zhan completely annihilated the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army, and his strength increased dramatically, but Yuan Shao was entangled by the Black Mountain Yellow Turban Army, and he couldn't take care of it at all. The situation in Jizhou turned over in a blink of an eye, and it became a showdown between us and Gongsun Zhan. Liu Bowen also shook his head again and again, "This is really something I never expected, people are not as good as heaven." ”

"Li Jing's decision is right." Jia Xu smiled bitterly, "We must fight this battle, even if we defeat it, it will be worth it." I wonder if General Xu Da can support in time? ”

"It's too late, our reinforcements don't have time to rush to the south of Jizhou." Xun Yu pointed to the map and said helplessly, "General Xu Da arrived in Pingcheng half a month ago, and in order to return to Changshan as soon as possible, he chose the road from Flying Fox Fortress to Zhongshan Kingdom, and then from Zhongshan Country back to Changshan. If everything is in order, General Xu Da and his army can reach Changshan in a month. ”

"After the heavy snow fell, Taihang Mountain could not be crossed, so I could only choose to take the Flying Fox Fortress. It's a lot of detours, but it's the most time-saving shortcut. Xun Yu explained, "Also because of the heavy snow, it will take at least more than a month for the iron cavalry outside the Saiwai to meet General Xu Da." ”

"But we can't afford not to fight this battle. We must keep Gongsun Zhan's army out of Wei County, and prevent Gongsun Zhan from driving Yuan Shao out of Yuan Shao and occupying most of Jizhou before the end of this year. Li Yi looked at Xu Maogong and the others, and said with a wry smile, "Now we can only hope that the heavy snow will come sooner, as long as the heavy snow comes, Gongsun Zhan's attack will have to stop, so that our reinforcements will have enough time to rush to Jizhou." ”

"What if the snow doesn't fall for a long time?" Guo Jia gritted his teeth in pain and smashed his fist on the case, "More than 20,000 horses, this price is too great." In my opinion, it is better not to fight as much as possible. Isn't there any other way for us to stop Gongsun Chan's attack temporarily? ”

"Gongsun Chan must know better than us the benefits of occupying Wei County as soon as possible and driving out Yuan Shao." Li Yi pointed to Luoyang on the map and said, "If this battle is not fought, after Yuan Shao loses Jizhou, he will first cut off our supply of grain and grass." In the case of lack of food, it is quite difficult for us to defeat Gongsun Zhan's army alone. ”

"In addition, the large army on the Kansai battlefield will also lose food and grass support. In order to strike at the northern frontier, Yuan Shao will definitely order the southern prefectures and counties to block the Chidao and detain the grain we have purchased. Yue Fei's army in Guanxi was defeated and returned to Hedong when there was no food, so Luoyang would be lost, and northern Xinjiang would be in danger of fighting on two or three sides. ”

"Therefore, we can only join forces with Yuan Shao now and drag Yuan Shao in Jizhou, even if he doesn't have the time and troops to come back to us, it doesn't matter. As long as Yuan Shao can help us survive the winter and let us hold out until April next year, we will have enough troops and time to defeat Gongsun Zhan. ”

"Will Yuan Shao raise tigers?" Xu Maogong asked, "We must guard against his rebellion." ”

"As long as Luoyang is in our hands, Yuan Shao will not be able to turn the sky." Li Yi said confidently.

Li Yi and Xu Maogong and others discussed it a little, and then hurriedly played the eldest princess and asked for credit for Gongsun Zhan. At the same time, the flying pigeon passed on Li Jing, telling him not to rush to a decisive battle with Gongsun Zhan, and to delay it if he could. As long as it drags on until it snows, the situation in Jizhou will be reversed.

Li Yi flew the pigeon again to pass the book to Yue Fei, told him in detail about the affairs of Jizhou, and asked him to contact Yuan Shu as soon as possible to help Yuan Shu quickly gain a foothold in Yuzhou, and let some of Yuan Shu's troops enter Luoyang at the appropriate time. As long as Yuan Shao did not occupy Luoyang, he would not turn his face with the northern Xinjiang for the time being, and he would not have the opportunity to attack Hedong and threaten the northern Xinjiang.

Li Yi personally wrote a letter to Yuan Shao. The letter repeatedly assured that there were only four counties in the northwest of Jizhou in northern Xinjiang. In the current situation, Northern Xinjiang and Jizhou must work together to defeat Gongsun Zhan. Li Yi did not reveal to Yuan Shao the news that the Northern Xinjiang army was about to reinforce Jizhou, but slightly revealed the intention of Northern Xinjiang to abandon Luoyang in order to avoid fighting on both sides.

At the same time, Feige sent a message to Xu Da, ordering him to do everything possible to rush south to support Li Jing. The flying pigeon sent a message to Zhao Yun and Lu Bu, who were stationed in Longcheng County, and Gao Changgong and Zhang Liao, who were stationed in Dongxianbei County, ordering them to lead their headquarters of 6,000 iron cavalry to hurry south and meet them at Gaoliucheng in Dai County.

Li Yi also wrote a letter to each of the county guards of the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate and the Liaodong Metropolitan Protectorate, with a very simple meaning: The more than 100,000 troops originally stationed in the prairie and the counties of Liaodong have gone south one after another, which will greatly shock the desert and the various ethnic groups in the border counties. (To be continued.) )