This shouting pulled Liu Xin's thoughts back, yes, "one will succeed and ten thousand bones will wither", "the people will suffer, and the people will suffer", these words used to only stay in books, and now in the face of countless soldiers who died in battle, he really felt how cruel the reality is, if you want to compete for the world, these things are unavoidable, Liu Xin secretly warned himself that he should be more cautious in his future decision-making, his position is different, he must think twice about everything he does, and he must feel like walking on thin ice.

But I heard Zhang Fei shouting there again: "I'm so angry, there are so many horses, and there are few of them useful." ”

It turned out that Liu Xin felt sorry for the casualties here, but Zhang Fei felt sorry for the war horses on the ground, many of these war horses had their hooves cut off, and they no longer had the ability to gallop, and some were injured by arrows, or trampled by random horses, and there were less than a thousand horses left who could really continue to ride, seeing Zhang Fei stomping his feet there like a child, Liu Xin also seemed to be infected, smiled, and said: "Okay, Yide, don't feel distressed there, when we take Chang'an, we will continue to send troops, so that those Qiang and Huns know, What a mistake they made to help Dong Zhuo, some of those nomads are war horses, and they are afraid that we will not succeed when the time comes. ”

Chen Gong was upright, and when he heard the meaning of Liu Xin's words, he seemed to be going to rob those nomads, and hurriedly said: "Lord Qi, presumably these nomadic cavalry are also forced by Dong Thief's Yinwei, and they have to send troops to fight against us. ”

In fact, Liu Xin does not agree with Chen Gong's statement, he also talks about benevolence and righteousness, but it depends on who he is talking to, of course, he can talk about benevolence and morality to benevolent and righteous people, but he can only see each other with his fists against jackals, these nomadic tribes on the grassland have been the biggest threat to the Han nation for thousands of years, and they have repeatedly destroyed the Han regime in history, so that the Han people have become their slaves, Liu Xin does not have much good impression of them in his heart, he only thinks about not letting history repeat itself, however, he did not refute Chen Gong's words, The current occasion was not suitable for a debate with him, so he had to smile and say, "Gongtai, do you think I look like a robber?" ”

Chen Gong also smiled embarrassedly: "It's the subordinates who are too worried." ”

Early the next morning, Liu Xin continued to move forward, did not encounter any obstacles along the way, and soon arrived at the bottom of Hechi City, but saw that the city gate was wide open, not a single defender could not see, several fires broke out in the city, and the billowing smoke went straight into the sky.

Kuai Yue arched his hand on the horse and said, "Lord, be careful of fraud in the city. ”

Seeing the scene in front of him, Liu Xin somehow remembered the empty city plan, for the Three Kingdoms period who implemented the empty city plan, in later generations there are many experts and scholars who have demonstrated, some say that Wang Ping used the empty city plan, some say that Wen Ping used the empty city plan, and even said that Cao Ying used the empty city plan, anyway, they all think that Zhuge Liang has not used the empty city plan, since Zhuge Liang has not used the empty city plan, then how can Dong Zhuo come up with the empty city plan, Liu Xin only thought about it for a while, and then said decisively: "Hechi must be an empty city now." There is no need to worry about it, and you should not disturb the people after entering the city. ”

His judgment was not wrong, Hechi was really an empty city, and it was very empty, there was hardly a living person in the whole city, there were dead bodies lying everywhere in the streets and alleys, many male corpses had their heads cut off, and some young female corpses were defenseless, and the death was terrible, Liu Xin was stunned by the scene in front of him, this was a massacre, a brutal massacre in the face of unarmed civilians,

The soldiers finally extinguished the fire in the city, and rescued a dying boy from the ruins, and learned from his intermittent words that it was the Qiang soldiers and the Hun soldiers who had just been defeated yesterday who had done all this.

Liu Xin couldn't help but think of the sad and indignant poems made by Cai Yan in history, the scene of "the horse's head hangs the man's head, and the horse carries the woman behind" seems to be right in front of him, and he can't help but say hatefully: "This group of animal husbandry, this revenge will not be avenged, I swear not to be a man." ”

Chen Gong, who was worried that Liu Xin would brutally suppress these nomads just now, was speechless when he saw everything in front of him, and an extremely sad and indignant mood spread among the Han army, and the soldiers were furious and asked for battle, however, at this time, Liu Xin's mind became more and more sober, he knew very well that the current target was Dong Zhuo and Liu Xie, and it was not yet time to clean up these grassland tribes.

Soon there was a report from the exploration of the horse, Dong Zhuo set up two large camps in front of Sanguan, and Sanguan became a horn, on the left is Li Dao and Beigong Boyu, on the right is Guo Yan and Liu Bao, all of them are deep ditches and high bases, heavily guarded, and put on a posture of wanting to hold Liu Xin for a long time.

After listening to the report, Liu Xin snorted coldly and said: "Beigong Boyu and Liu Bao, these two traitors have not gone back, if they fall into my hands this time, you will definitely be told to survive, you can't die, the three armies obeyed the order, went to the front of the pass to set up a company camp, do not break Dong Zhuo, and swear not to be a teacher." ”

Dong Zhuo did adopt Li Ru's suggestion this time, Liu Xin's army came from Xiangyang, the Shu road was difficult and dangerous, the supply was very difficult, and it was inevitable that it could not be held for a long time, so he set up camp in Sanguan and took a defensive position, of course, now this situation is also no way for Dong Zhuo, after all, he lost three battles in a row, and they all lost very badly, the morale of the three armies was low, and they could only refuse to defend by risk, Dong Zhuo mobilized a total of 550,000 troops on this expedition, and after a few battles, some people and horses were lost, and there were still as many as 370,000, In addition, when he moved Liu Xie out of Luoyang, he looted and amassed countless money and grain, and this place is close to Chang'an, he is confident that he will drag Liu Xin down.

Although Liu Xin also dispatched the three major armies, and lost 20,000 horses in several battles, he also had to take into account the defense of Chengdu, Hanzhong, Jiameng Pass and Yangping Pass, as well as Fuxian and Hechi, and inevitably dispersed some troops, so that there were only 120,000 men and horses gathered outside Sanguan, of which there were more than 13,000 cavalry that could not be used as a last resort. Huang Zhong led the cavalry and infantry to defend the rear camp, which stored a large number of military supplies, equipment, grain and grass, in order to prevent Dong Zhuo from sending Lu Bu to attack suddenly, only Huang Zhong was there to guard, Liu Xin was the most assured, and Wei Yan was responsible for transporting baggage from Chengdu to the front.

The two armies held each other in front of Sanguan for more than three months, and there were more than 20 battles in the middle, although Liu Xin won more and lost less, but he couldn't take a step forward.

Liu Xin feels that his current situation is a bit like Cao Ying and Yuan Shao in Guandu in history, he is the same as Cao Ying, the number of troops is small and fine, but Cao Ying's situation at that time was much more difficult than him, Cao Ying's was 70,000 to 700,000, and Liu Xin was 120,000 to 370,000, and Cao Ying's grain and grass were in serious shortage, but Liu Xin was rich in money and food.

However, Liu Xin didn't feel that he was much easier than Cao Ying in history, although Dong Zhuo was brutal and murderous, he could listen to the opinions of his subordinates, and he could let his subordinates use soldiers, unlike Yuan Shao, who was scheming and decisive, wide and taboo inside, especially, after a few battles, Liu Xin realized that he was too misled by his memory, he always thought that Li Dao and Guo Yan were not any big deal, and he didn't put them in his eyes. Maybe their personal martial arts are not worth mentioning, but they have quite a set of arrangements for troops, and Liu Xin's several active attacks have been thwarted by them.

This kind of stalemate situation is Liu Xin does not want to see, he is not as good as Dong Zhuo in terms of troops, what he hopes most is to mobilize the enemy, and then look for opportunities to concentrate on breaking through one by one, the first few big victories, except for the battle against Beigong Boyu and Liu Bao is to win more with less, in other battles, Liu Xin does not suffer in local forces, now, Dong Zhuo has shrunk his forces together, and rarely takes the initiative to attack, this stalemate situation makes Liu Xin a little dilemma,

Seeing this scene, Chen Gongjin said: "Lord Qiqi, my subordinates think that General Zhao Yun can lead an army to attack Wuguan, Dong Zhuo will definitely divide troops to reinforce after hearing the news, and he may find a fighter at that time." ”

Liu Xin pondered for a long time, and finally shook his head and said: "Zilong is responsible for defending the north gate of Xiangyang, once the attack on Wuguan fails, it will give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of it, endangering the safety of Xiangyang. ”

Kuai Yue also got up and said: "Now that the weather is getting hotter, it is not suitable to use soldiers, why don't you retreat to Yangping Pass for the time being, refuse to hold on to the pass, and then try a good strategy later." ”

Zhang Fei got up and said loudly: "We have been fighting for so long, can it be that we have only suffered a little setback and will not be able to retreat, if we want to withdraw, you will withdraw, and I will never go back if I don't take the pass." ”

Liu Xin glanced at Zhang Fei, only to see that the beard on his face was upside down, his two eyes were as big as a wine cup, and his appearance was very scary, so he smiled unconsciously, and said: "Yide, don't be impatient, the matter of retiring from the army is not in my consideration for the time being, we are in difficulty, he Dong Zhuo's words must not be easy, let's compete with him in endurance, see who lasts longer, Xenodu, there is something for you to do, there are not many people in Hechi, and a lot of land has been barren, Go and recruit some people from Hanzhong to come to Hechi, give them the fields and grain seeds, and let them take root here. ”

Kuai Yue quickly understood what Liu Xin meant, and said happily: "Lord, please rest assured, your subordinates will definitely live up to their mission." ”

Most of the people in other places are now living and working in peace and contentment, but the people of Hanzhong and Fuxian have not tasted the sweetness of the new deal, and are still living a life of hunger and a full meal, and now there is an opportunity to support their families, they will naturally not let go, although there is a confrontation between the two armies to the north of Hechi, but within a few days, Kuai Yue still recruited a large number of people who voluntarily moved to Hechi, after all, it is better to have a full meal than to starve to death,

The news of Liu Xin's reclamation and farming in Hechi quickly reached Dong Zhuo's ears, of course, this news was deliberately released by Liu Xin, just to let Dong Zhuo know that I, Liu Xin, want to take root here in Hechi and fight you to the end, he wants to force Dong Zhuo to move first,