Tai Shici led the army, and as soon as he arrived in Xiangyuan County, the scouts came with the news that Huguan had been broken by Yuan Shao, and Zhang Yang fled back to Shangdang in embarrassment.

Surprised, Tai Shi Ci hurriedly asked the scout how the pot pass was breached.

The scout told the story, saying that Yu Ban led the army to Dangyin, threatening to capture Yecheng, Yuan Shao suddenly withdrew from Huguan on the grounds of rescuing Yecheng, Zhang Yang and Zhang Yan believed it, and soon Zhang Yan led the army back to Montenegro.

After Zhang Yan's army went away, Yuan Shao pretended to be a black mountain thief and came to Huguan City, Zhang Yang thought that Zhang Yan was going and returning, so he neglected to take precautions, and was rushed open by Yuan Shao's army and killed in Huguan.

Zhang Yang couldn't resist it, so he had to lead the army back to the party.

Tai Shi Ci was anxious when he heard the scout's story, and he hurriedly ordered the army to speed up, and Yuan Shao must not be allowed to conquer Shangdang, otherwise, what is the meaning of the purpose of his trip?

However, Xiangyuan was still two or three hundred miles away from Shangdang, and even if Tai Shici led the cavalry first, there were only more than a thousand people, and the three thousand infantry could not reach at the same time as the cavalry.

And Huguan and Shangdang are close at hand, Yuan Shao conquered Huguan, pressed the border with a large army, Shangdang lost its barrier, and faced the siege of tens of thousands of Yuan troops, I am afraid that it will not last long.

So, Zhang Hong dissuaded Tai Shici in time and said to Tai Shici: "General, even if we rush back at this time, I'm afraid it will be too late." Now what the general has to think about is not how to save Zhang Yang, but how to return to Luoyang safely from Shangdang. ”

Zhang Liao said: "General, what the military advisor said is right, once the party is broken by Yuan Shao, we will be alone in the depths." You have to think of a complete solution. Returning to Luoyang is. Our army has no foothold in the state. Now Yuan Shao is in the south and Cao Cao is in the north, if the two armies are flanked, our army is likely to be annihilated in Bingzhou. ”

"Then you say, what should we do?"

Zhang Hong said: "If our army goes all the way south from this road, it will inevitably meet Yuan Shao's army, and moreover, our army will enter the state." It is very likely that Yuan Shao already knew that once he eliminated Zhang Yang, he would send troops to attack us. I don't know, in addition to this way, is there any other way to avoid the party? ”

When Zhang Hong said a paragraph, his eyes looked at Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, who were from Bingzhou and were far more familiar with the terrain here. In Zhang Hong's opinion. It may be for this reason that Zhang Yan sent Zhang Liao and Gao Shun to come together.

Zhang Liao frowned. Although he is a native of Bingzhou, he has not had much time in Bingzhou, since the army, he has been fighting in the south and the north, and fighting in the east and west.

Gao Shun is far more than ten years older than Zhang Liao, and he is from Orion, when he was young, he used to cross mountains and mountains, but also in order to seek extremely rare prey, and crisscross the mountains, so he is very familiar with the terrain of Bingzhou.

When he saw Zhang Liao's embarrassed face, he said: "I know a road, but this road is too steep and very rugged, not suitable for war horses to walk. Even on foot, there is a risk of danger. This road can not only bypass the upper dang, but also lead directly to Hanoi. ”

Tai Shi Ci frowned for a moment and asked, "You mean to say that if you take this road, you can't take a war horse?" ”

Gao Shun nodded.

Tai Shi Ci refused: "How can this be done, I have already lost more than 900 cavalry in Jinyang, and now I have to abandon all the war horses, after I go back, how can I wait for the main bus?" These war horses are not easy to come by, how can they be easily discarded? It's better to go all the way to the south, our army is an elite division, even if it encounters Yuan Shao's army, what is there to worry about? It's a big deal to fight with them and fight out of the party! ”

Zhang Hong saw that Tai Shici was a little arrogant, so he persuaded bitterly: "The general must not be rash, although the war horse is not easy to come by, it is also particularly important to preserve the strength." If everyone is dead, what's the point of having these war horses? ”

"Strategist, I'm ......"

"General, I know that you are a horse lover, but at this moment, you have to make a choice. I thought it would be better to kill all these horses, let all the sergeants have a full meal, and then take the rest of the horse meat away, march lightly, and be led by General Gao, take the trail, and avoid the party. When I return to Luoyang, I will ask the lord for my guilt! Zhang Hong said.

"I am the main general, how can I let the military advisor bear the responsibility for my crimes? The military advisor is right, the most important thing is to preserve strength, then according to what the military advisor said, General Gao will lead the way, and all the military divisions will take the trail. It's just a pity that there are so many good horses......"

The decision was made, and the whole army was led by Gao Shun, so Gao Shun let the army return along the original road, and after walking for more than thirty miles, it began to change the route, and the road became narrower and narrower.

It was only when the horses could no longer move forward that it was advisable to kill all the horses.

Tai Shi Ci killed all the horses with tears, distributed the horse meat to the soldiers to eat, and there was a water source nearby.

The road Gao Shun chose was indeed narrow enough, rugged enough, and there was also a section of the cliff. This section of the road is located between Taihang Mountain and Huo Tai Mountain, is an extension of the two mountain ranges, plus there are streams in the mountains, fierce beasts, the road is tortuous, so few people walk.

Just because few people walk doesn't mean no one walks. When Gao Shun was a hunter, he accidentally discovered this road, although it was dangerous, but he was a master of art and courage, so he often traveled on this road.

This road leads directly from Xiangyuan to Tongba, and after passing Tongyuan, the road becomes much smoother and wider, and it is said that it was dug by the people who lived here in ancient times.

But no matter what, now this road has created convenience for Tai Shi Ci and them, although the cost is more than a thousand war horses, but as long as the soldiers do not die, they have preserved their strength, and there will still be war horses!

Under the leadership of Gao Shun, after a day of hard walking, a group finally got out of this rugged road, and then it was a wider road.

Now. Tai Shici and more than 4,000 others. It's already on the west side of the party. When they arrived in Yishi County, they walked south along the Qin River, and it took another three days to reach Hanoi.

The road was very bumpy, but fortunately, there were no difficulties, except for some wounded soldiers who accidentally fell off the cliff on the road. There were basically no casualties.

After arriving in Hanoi, Tai Shi Ci regrouped his team and managed to get in touch with the scouts, only to learn that Yuan Shao had broken the Shangdang, Zhang Yang had been killed, and his subordinate Hao Gu led the remnants of the army to join the Montenegrin army Zhang Yan.

Zhang Yan blocked the pass in the Taihang Mountains and successfully blocked the southern invasion of Yuan Shao's army. At the same time, Zhang Yan also got in touch with Yu Ban and intended to lead the army to take refuge.

Tai Shici asked Zhang Hong to write a letter of guilt. Send someone to Zhang Yan, who is far away in Pengcheng, and leave behind 2,000 soldiers. He took the initiative to stay in Hanoi, and the troops were stationed in Yewang, waiting for Zhang Yan's punishment.

Zhang Hong, together with Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, led the army to the south and returned to Luoyang, Zhang Hong still stayed in Henan City, and Zhang Liao and Gao Shun returned to Chenliu and Jiyin respectively to serve as their guards.

After Yuan Shao captured Shangdang and Taiyuan, he left 10,000 troops under Cao Cao's command, and Cao Cao was responsible for conquering and annexing the prefectures, while he led the army back to Yecheng.

Yuan Shao led the state pastor himself, and sent his nephew Gao Gan to Bingzhou as an assassin, garrisoned the party, and asked Cao Cao to assist Gao Gan in managing the state.

Tian Feng, Fu Zhu, Xian Pei, Guo Tu and other strategists opposed Yuan Shao's decision, but Yuan Shao insisted on going his own way, and thought that Cao Cao had great talent, and the state was bordered by the Xiongnu in the west and Xianbei in the north, and Cao Cao and his army were in charge, so he would be much more relieved.

……

Pengcheng, the General's Mansion.

For half a month, Zhang Yan has been paying close attention to the war in Bingzhou, and when he learned that his aid to Jihua in Bingzhou ended in failure, he demoted Tai Shici's official position to Zhonglang General. But what made Zhang Yan gratifying was that although the trip did not succeed in rescuing Zhang Yang, it was actively attached to Zhang Yan, the leader of the Montenegrin Army.

So, Zhang Yan became the Son of Heaven and named Zhang Yan as the Zhonglang General. And let Yu Ban lead the army back to Puyang, and all the generals returned to their places to continue to defend.

Tai Shi Ci's request to stay in Hanoi was agreed to by Zhang Yan, who then ordered Wei Qi to be the Taishou of Hanoi, reorganized Hanoi, and sent someone to inform Zhang Yan to let Zhang Yan lead the Montenegrin army and people to be included in Hanoi and enrich the population of Hanoi.

In addition, Zhang Yan is also paying close attention to the alliance with Liu Biao and Sun Ce. Recently, Yuan Shu has ordered people to make imperial robes and dragon crowns privately, and is secretly preparing for the enthronement.

In order to get rid of Yuan Shu, Zhang Yan, in the name of the Son of Heaven, issued an order to win over Liu Biao and Sun Ce.

Among them, plotting against Sun Ce was the most important thing, and Zhang Yan gave Sun Ce a big promise, that is, once Yuan Shu was eliminated, he would order Sun Ce to be the pastor of Yangzhou and put him under the jurisdiction of Yuan Shu's existing Huainan.

Liu Biao's reply has already arrived, he originally had a disagreement with Yuan Shu, and recently because he took in Zhang Xiu's army, his strength has increased greatly, as soon as he received Zhang Yan's letter, he decisively agreed to Zhang Yan's request, and prepared in secret.

However, Sun Ce never heard back, and even the messenger sent to deliver the letter did not return.

After dealing with Tai Shi Ci and some things in Hanoi, Zhang Yan sighed heavily, Sun Ce's attitude was very important to him, if Sun Ce agreed to act as an internal response and overthrow Yuan Shu, it would be much easier for him to deal with Yuan Shu. If Sun Ce disagreed, then he had to choose someone else.

In fact, Zhang Yan also knew that Sun Ce must hate himself, if he hadn't interfered with Sun Ce's good deeds of capturing Jiangdong, Sun Ce would have occupied half of Jiangdong now.

However, considering the situation at the time, Zhang Yan would rather have an ally like a pig, Liu Xuan, than a neighbor like a tiger and wolf.

Jiangdong is a treasure land, and if it is occupied by Sun Ce, it will definitely become Sun Ce's capital. Therefore, he does not want to see this situation appear, and he wants to control Jiangdong in his own hands in order to lay the foundation for himself to occupy Jiangdong in the future.

Just when Zhang Yan was still worried about whether Sun Ce was willing to cooperate with him, Captain Si Li, and the chief of the General's Mansion, Shi Jia Xu, walked in from outside, holding a letter that had not yet been opened, and hugged his fist towards Zhang Yan and said, "Lord, Jiangdong secret report!" (To be continued......)