In peacetime, Yuan's Zuihou army withdrew from the south bank of the Yellow River, and Yuan's army returned with a feather, although Yuan Shao died, but his strength was not damaged much.

Yuan Jun relied on his frustration to save so many people. However, Zhang Yan hated frustration, if it weren't for him, he might have defeated all these remnants.

When Fu Zhi led a group of Yuan troops to evacuate the south bank of the Yellow River, Zhang Yan led the cavalry to the shore and watched Fu Zhu and the others leave.

It's no wonder that Zhang Yan is not surprised, it's just that the Yuan army's arrow array is too strong, and the army led by Fu Zhu is all crossbowmen, each with a crossbow machine in his hand, which can shoot three arrows at a time, and instantly becomes an army equivalent to 30,000 people.

And this kind of crossbow machine loading arrows is very fast, the operation is also very simple, plus under the command of the frustrated, the crossbowmen shoot very regularly, not giving people a chance to be idle, when the arrows are loaded after shooting here, the side makes up for this time gap, cooperate with each other, the arrows are like rain, so that Zhang Yan has suffered a lot.

It is also strange to say that such an army composed of crossbowmen was not included in the position of elite soldiers, and it was not used by Yuan Shao, which shows Yuan Shao's mediocrity.

However, this also made Zhang Yan see a message, it seems that he was deliberately passing on to him through this battle, telling him that the army in Hebei is very strong, don't cross borders, otherwise, you will have no return.

The frustrated fleet became farther and farther away, and Zhang Yan waited until the army was completely gone, and then left Baima, leaving Li Dian to garrison here, and the rest of the men all returned to Puyang.

This battle. Zhang Yan held on to his position as the overlord of the Central Plains. and the Yuan clan in Hebei also formed a close match. At least at this stage, Zhang Yan can't eliminate the Yuan family, and the Yuan family can't eliminate himself.

But in Zhang Yan's heart, if he wants to eliminate the Yuan clan in Hebei, he doesn't need to do it at all. Yuan Shao died, and when he died, he did not leave a last word at all, so who will take over Yuan Shao's position has become the target of Yuan Shao's sons.

Zhang Yan is familiar with history. Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang are bound to fight each other for power, and Zuihou is even more fighting, he only needs to wait for good news on the south bank of the Yellow River, and wait until the two Yuan are defeated, and then he will not be too late to send troops.

At that time, Zhang Yan will lead his iron-blooded cavalry and sweep through Hebei, and it will be easy. At this stage, he doesn't have to do anything, just defend the line. Consolidate the interior of the domination territory.

In Puyang City, Zhang Yan did not hold a celebration banquet. Because in his opinion, although Yuan Shao's main force was defeated, the danger still existed, at least, Xiahoudun still occupied Hanoi, Zhang Yan still entrenched in the Montenegrin area, and Qingzhou's defense was still very weak.

So, Zhang Yan sent Xu Chu to lead the Fourth Army to Qingzhou to assist Zang Ba in defending Qingzhou, and asked Zang Ba to reorganize Qingzhou soldiers and horses, and began to recruit soldiers and establish the Qingzhou Army.

And the most headache for Zhang Yan is the rebel bandit Zhang Yan in the Black Mountain area of Hanoi, this person who used to be attached to him, but now he has become an accomplice in this war.

At this moment, Zhang Yan's elite army was gathered in Puyang, and he was ready to personally lead the army into Hanoi, first attack Xiahoudun, and then eliminate Zhang Yan.

As for the merits in this battle, he had them all recorded in the credit book, and after he completely eliminated Zhang Yan, he would return to Pengcheng and then give another reward.

Therefore, Zhang Yan stayed in Banhe and the original soldiers and horses to garrison Puyang, and he led the four armies of Tai Shici, Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun, together with his own guards and pro-army, a total of five armies, from Suojube to the north and went to Hanoi.

On the same day, Zhang Yan rested in Puyang for a day, although it was said that it was the strength of the five armies, but in the big battle with Yuan Shao, in addition to the guards and pro-army, the strength of the remaining four armies were damaged to varying degrees, among which Gao Shun's army suffered the most casualties, at present, there were only more than 6,000 people in the first army, and the remaining nearly 4,000 people were all killed in the big melee.

In addition, Zhang Liao's army lost more than 3,000 people, and Tai Shici and Xu Huang did not suffer much loss because they entered the war late. However, this time they came with all the cavalry, a total of 4,000 cavalry, and now there are more than 3,500 cavalry left. The infantry remained in the Henan area to defend the pass.

In total, the strength of the five armies combined, only 25,000 people, has shrunk by almost half.

However, for the sake of command convenience, the various departments still maintained the original unchanged establishment, and were commanded by four generals, Tai Shici, Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun.

However, Zhang Yan transferred Gan Ning under Zhang Liao's account and Lu Meng under Gao Shun's account to his own guards as officers, and let Gan Ning serve as Zhonglang General, and Lü Meng served as Gan Ning's deputy and served as a staff general.

Gan Ning and Lü Meng were all promoted step by step by relying on their exploits in these wars, and Zhang Yan's guards lacked capable cadres in the army, so they transferred Gan Ning and Lü Meng over, and they were also very easy to use.

Gan Ning is brave and good at fighting, and his force is no worse than the existing five tiger generals, but because he joined the army late, he can only be temporarily wronged. And Lu Meng started step by step from the grassroots level, when he followed Gao Shun, he repeatedly made military exploits, coupled with his wisdom, he was deeply loved by Gao Shun, and repeatedly recommended Lu Meng to Zhang Yan, saying that he would inevitably be a generation of famous generals in the future.

Zhang Yan naturally knew that Lu Meng would be a famous general, but Lu Meng was still too young and needed some training, although he was smart, he was all clever, and he had never led troops to fight independently, so he let Lu Meng always follow Gao Shun and let him learn the way of using troops from Gao Shun.

Gao Shun is a famous general who has been ignored in history, this person is not only brave and good at fighting, but also very good at using soldiers, in the official history, he is the first general under Lu Bu's account, and the power of his trapped camp has also been known for a while.

However, Lu Bu is not very good at employing people, although Gao Shun is capable, he cannot be properly appointed, and Lu Bu likes to listen to slander very much, so Gao Shun is a talented person.

Originally, when the Five Tiger Generals were originally decided, Zhang Yan took Gao Shun into account, but he may have been influenced by the classical literary masterpiece Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and he was bent on leaving the position of a tiger general to Zhao Yun, so he did not let Gao Shun be a tiger general. But Gao Shun did not complain, and he looked like he was willing to be a son of a cow. Lead the troops rigorously. Fight bravely. After this war, Zhang Yan even considered promoting Gao Shun's official position. However, this is all for later.

The next day, after a night's rest, Zhang Yanqin led the Fifth Route Army, a total of 25,000 people, with dry food from Puyang City. For a total of seven days, taking advantage of the victory of the army, he officially embarked on the journey.

Zhang Yan led a large army from Yan County to the north to Ji County, Hanoi County, only 80 miles away from Chaoge and Dangyin counties, where Zhang Yan and other Montenegrin thieves were entrenched, and about 200 miles away from Huaicheng, the county town of Hanoi County, where Xiahoudun was located.

The reason why Zhang Yan chose to land from this location was to cut off the connection between Xiahoudun and Zhang Yan, and he left the troops of Gao Shun's army to garrison Jixian. blocked the main road between the east and west, but he led the rest of the soldiers and horses to rush to Huaicheng.

And before Zhang Yan arrived in Hanoi. Scouts have already begun to operate, sneaking into Hanoi from all over Henan to listen for news.

The news of Yuan Shao's death and the disastrous defeat of the army has not yet reached Hanoi, so Hanoi is still a calm image, and the news in ancient times was blocked, which is a common problem.

If Zhang Yan's army could have the same advanced information transmission technology as in the 21st century, then Zhang Yan might become the king of war, the undefeated emperor of war.

Unfortunately, he is not an inventor and does not know how to invent those high-tech things, such as satellites, computers, mobile phones, etc. He's just an ordinary guy who can invent something he knows, but he's almost illiterate when it comes to messaging.

And in this day and age, scouts have become the best way to get information around.

The scouts sent by Zhang Yan arrived in Hanoi the day before, and Zhang Yan was rapidly advancing towards Huai Thanh, and by noon, he had already arrived at the border of Huojia County.

Soon after entering the boundary of Huojia County, a scout rushed from a distance, Zhang Yan asked the soldiers to rest temporarily, met the scout, and asked, "What is the news in the direction of Huaicheng?" ”

"Lord Qi, Xiahoudun, who is stationed in Huaicheng, has retired from the army yesterday and entered the party from Tianjing Pass."

"Retirement? Xiahoudun is gone? When Zhang Yan heard the news, he was a little surprised and immediately asked.

The scout said: "Xiahoudun has indeed left Hanoi with the army, and he is in a hurry, I don't know if it is because of Weishenme. ”

Zhang Yan pondered for a moment, and immediately said, "Okay, I know." Send the order, all the scouts of your subordinates immediately go to the Shangdang area to inquire about the news, I want to know the movements of Xiahoudun and Cao Cao. ”

"Whoa!"

Xiahoudun suddenly retreated, so there was no need for him to go to Huaicheng. Since Hanoi does not have the strength of Cao's army, he can deal with the Black Mountain thieves wholeheartedly.

However, there was one thing that made Zhang Yan very confused, in the battle with Yuan Shao in the past two days, he only saw the figures of Xiahou Yuan and Cao Hong, but did not see Cao Cao. Cao Cao's whereabouts have become a mystery.

Zhang Yan asked the soldiers to rest in place, and after lunch, he returned the same way, and then sent someone to inform Jia Kui in Jiguan, asking him to lead Hao Zhao and others to attack Tianjing Pass, only by controlling Tianjing Pass in his own hands can he choke the main road leading to Hanoi from Shangdang.

After lunch, Zhang Yan led the army back the same way, joined forces with Gao Shun in Ji County, and then went to Chaoge together.

Yuan Shao was defeated in the war with Zhang Yan, and even he died in the Central Plains, and Zhang Yan's supremacy in the Central Plains was no longer able to be shaken.

And Zhang Yan, who was paying close attention to this war, suddenly became sad.

Zhang Yan never dreamed that Zhang Yan would defeat Yuan Shao, who had an army of 350,000 people in the Southern Expedition, and even Yuan Shao himself died on the battlefield.

Suddenly, a piece of news came that the regent Zhang Yan, personally led the army of the Five Routes, had arrived in Ji County, Hanoi, and was rushing in the direction of Chaoge, threatening to set foot in the Black Mountain and capture Zhang Yan alive!

As soon as he heard the news, Zhang Yan only felt trembling all over, although he had tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of people who depended on him, but compared to Zhang Yan's elite, it was simply vulnerable, Zhang Yan even defeated Yuan Shao's 350,000 army, not to mention these shrimp soldiers and crab generals?

Suddenly, Zhang Yan was a little annoyed and remorseful, feeling that she had listened to Cao Cao's slander and turned her back on Zhang Yan. I thought that Yuan Shao would defeat Zhang Yan, but I didn't expect Yuan Shao to be defeated by Zhang Yan, and now he has become the target of Zhang Yan's soldiers.

What to do? Is it war, or surrender? (To be continued......)