The incident of Huang Zu became a small episode in the friendly and peaceful coexistence between Zhang Yan and Liu Biao, for Zhang Yan, this battle, with less to win more, played the prestige of his army, in the next few years, Jingzhou's naval army was still very jealous of Zhang Yan's army.

But that's all for later.

Zhang Yan stayed in Anhui County for three days, all of them lived in his father-in-law's mansion, and during these three days, Zhang Yan saw all the relatives of Qiao Gong, and Qiao's mansion became more respected because of the son-in-law of the general.

Three days later, Zhang Yan met with Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Lu Su, Gan Ning, Su Fei, Lu Meng, Zhang Wu, Chen Sun and others one by one.

Then, Zhang Yan led the army back to Pengcheng, and the trip was all regarded as a tour.

Before leaving, Zhang Yan gathered Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Lu Su together, with Zhang Liao as the governor, Gao Shun as the deputy governor, and Lu Su as the staff officer, and completely entrusted this area to Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Lu Su.

After that, Zhang Yan left Lujiang with confidence.

A few days later, as soon as Zhang Yan returned to Pengcheng, he received a secret report from the right general and Puyang Tai Shou Yuban, which said that Yuan Shao of Hebei was secretly assembling troops and horses, and within a month, he had transferred troops to Liyang twice, and Yu Ban was keenly aware that Yuan Shao seemed to be preparing for the southern expedition.

Coincidentally, the next day, General Zuo and Qingzhou Thorn Shi Zangba also sent a secret letter, which said that in the past month, Yuan Shao continued to increase troops on the plains, and Yuan Tan was even more active in training soldiers and horses. There seems to be some big move.

Another day later. Tiger Lie's general Tai Shi Ci sent a secret message from Hanoi. Yuan Shao wantonly Xiangshang Party increased troops, and Cao Cao even went from Jinyang to Shangdang, which seemed to have the intention of conquest.

The three secret letters are all linked together, and it is not difficult to see that Yuan Shao in Hebei is already ready to move, and the intention of wantonly increasing troops is to march south?

From the first year of Jian'an to the third year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao has been at peace with Zhang Yan. Across the river, Zhang Yan's troops entered Hanoi and Hedong, and the surrender of the Montenegrin Army, in a sense, limited Yuan Shao's development, and also realized the strategy of encircling Yuan Shao from the flank.

Over the past three years, the Central Plains has been developing with great concentration, agriculture has been greatly restored, public order has been stable, and the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment. The days when there was no war were so peaceful.

And Yuan Shao, who is located in Hebei. In the past three years, we have also actively carried out tuntian, so that the grain and grass are sufficient. In the past year, Yuan Shao has continued to recruit 100,000 soldiers and horses, making his total strength as high as 400,000, which is undoubtedly a huge number, and it also makes him even stronger.

If Yuan Shao really wanted to march south, then it would undoubtedly be a huge challenge for Zhang Yan, who only had 130,000 troops.

Therefore, Zhang Yan immediately replied to Yu Ban, Zang Ba, and Tai Shici, and asked them to send a detailed investigation to find out the exact truth, as well as the total strength of the troops in Shangdang, Liyang, and Pingyuan, and let them strengthen their precautions.

To this end, Zhang Yan mobilized the Second Army and the Seventh Army to rush to Puyang to garrison, and the Ninth Army rushed to Gaotang County, Qingzhou to garrison.

The second army is the soldiers and horses of the tiger wing general Xu Huang, Xu Huang is now the Taishou of Runan, as soon as he received the order, he immediately led the army to Puyang, and handed over the government affairs of Runan to Runan Linglai to manage on his behalf.

The Seventh Army was the soldiers and horses of the rebellious general Chen Ying, who was now the Taishou of Yingchuan, and since taking office, he has governed the Yingchuan area in an orderly manner. As soon as he received Zhang Yan's order, he immediately asked Yang Xiu to exercise the power of Taishou instead of him, and he led his troops north to garrison Puyang.

The Ninth Army is the soldiers and horses of the general Lu Dai, who, like Xu Huang and Chen Ying, also serves as the Taishou and is the Taishou of Guangling.

In addition, Zhang Yan also ordered Xu Chu's Fourth Army, as well as Zhao Yun and Xu Sheng's guards, to be ready at any time, and once the war broke out, they would immediately go to the front.

Counting Zhang Yan's two guard armies, Zhang Yan has a total of thirteen armies, Tai Shici's first army has been staying in Hanoi since the beginning of its formation, and there are Zhang Yan's Montenegrin army next to each other, plus the Taihang Mountains are obstructed, most of the passes are garrisoned by the Montenegrin army, so Zhang Yan is not worried about Hanoi at all, on the contrary, he is worried about Puyang and Gaotang.

The 10th Army of Yokono General Li Dian was stationed in Puyang and was under the command of the Right General Yu Ban.

As the left general Zang Ba, since the reform of the military system, Zhang Yan has been pursuing a policy of elite soldiers, Zang Ba's army is mostly bandits, bandits, and his subordinates only obey Zang Ba's orders, in the absence of Zang Ba's orders, Zhang Yan can not mobilize them, these soldiers and horses, in a sense, have become Zang Ba's private soldiers, and it is very unlikely that they will be scattered and reorganized.

In addition, Zhang Yan did not integrate Zang Ba's troops into the regular army out of comprehensive considerations such as food and salary, but used it as a militia.

But in reality, they are the real existence of Zang Ba's army, and they have been stationed in the Gaotang area, as for the payment of their military salaries, grain and grass, etc., they are all Zang Ba's wealth obtained through caravans and Liaodong trade.

It can be said that in the entire Zhang Yan's military system, Zuo General Zang Ba is the poorest one, because he has to find ways to support his own private army, and he can't use the government's money and food.

However, Zhang Yan also knew this situation, in order to appease Zang Ba's emotions, Zhang Yan would reward Zang Ba with a large amount of money every year, and this money was almost half of Zang Ba's annual military expenditure.

Because of this, Zang Ba did not have any complaints, worked hard, and got along very well with his subordinates Kong Rong, Wang Xiu, Buqi, Yan Jian and others, and with the assistance of these people, Qingzhou was governed in an orderly manner.

The rest of the armies were distributed in Lujiang, Jinling, and Yongzhou, among them, Zhang Liao's Third Army and Gao Shun's Eighth Army were stationed in Lujiang, and the two armies had just won the victory in the Lujiang self-defense counterattack and became famous.

The Fifth Army commanded by Henghai General Zhou Tai and the Sixth Army commanded by Hengjiang General Jiang Qin were stationed in Jinling County and were under the jurisdiction of General Hou, Yangzhou Assassin Shi, and Jinling Taishou Chen Deng.

Zuihou First Army, the Eleventh Army under the command of Niu Jin, is currently stationed in Chang'an City in Yongzhou to assist Yongzhou Assassin Shi Zhong Xuan to jointly govern Guanzhong.

As a general, Zhang Yan is also actively preparing for this upcoming war, three years of peaceful life, so that he gradually neglected his own training, and his body was slightly fat, in the past, he basically led the army himself, and now there are more famous generals and strategists, and sometimes, he doesn't need to go to the battlefield at all, but rises to a higher level of commander.

It can be said that now he is the key to victory or defeat on the battlefield, and his command plays a very important role in the entire war.

Therefore, Zhang Yan also used the time of the past few years to learn the art of war, and studied and studied the Art of War of Sun Tzu, Sun Bin Art of War, and even Liutao and Sanluo.

In addition, Zhang Yan also learned some ways to govern the country, in the past three years, he has gradually transformed from the reckless man who fought and killed at the beginning, and gradually transformed into a hero of the era, and truly has a great strategy, striving to become a figure who can govern the army and calm the people when he gets off the horse, and also hopes to become a pioneer of the times.

The news that Yuan Shao was about to move in Hebei was confirmed by Tai Shici, Yu Ban, and Zang Ba respectively in the following half a month, that Yuan Shao was indeed increasing his troops and actively training the army, which had the intention of marching south.

However, judging from the current information, it seems that Yuan Shao will not suddenly attack for a while, and he must be fully prepared before he can start a full-scale war, in order to defeat Zhang Yan in one fell swoop and seize the Central Plains.

For this reason, Zhang Yan decided to show weakness to Yuan Shao first, resigned from the position of Taiwei, gave it to Yuan Shao, and wrote a letter to send it to Chonghua Palace, asking Liu Xie to stamp the jade seal, and let Dong Cheng go to Hebei to announce the decree.

The news of Yuan Shao's large-scale increase in troops soon reached the ears of Liu Xie, the son of heaven, although he has not been concerned about political affairs for three years, he has not relaxed his collection of intelligence. Moreover, he also let Dong Cheng and Fu Wan secretly buy many small officials, once Zhang Yan has any news, he will soon know about it.

For this reason, Liu Xie specially sent someone to invite Dong Cheng and Fu Wan to Chonghua Hall to narrate, and after retiring everyone, Liu Xie asked: "You already know the news of Yuan Shao's wanton increase in troops, right?" ”

Dong Cheng and Fu Wan nodded, and said in unison: "I know." ”

Liu Xie suddenly asked: "The fourth and third dukes of the Yuan family, Yuan Shao is very different from Yuan Shu, and it is beyond my imagination that he can have such great achievements today." It's a pity that Yuan Shao didn't come when King Qin was king, which made me miss the opportunity to meet him. Now Yuan Shao is in Hebei, his troops are strong and strong, and he has the intention of marching south, but judging from the latest intelligence, Yuan Shao does not seem to have a reason to send troops to attack Zhang Yan. I have a holy decree here, which is written to Yuan Shao, let Yuan Shao take this holy decree, in the name of the Qing monarch, crusade against Zhang Yan, if successful, I can completely get rid of Zhang Yan's control, if it fails, it will also cause heavy damage to Zhang Yan. Moreover, according to Zhang Yan's character, once Yuan Shao launches an attack, Zhang Yan will definitely personally lead the army to resist, so that Pengcheng will be empty, and he will loosen his control over me, as long as Aiqing entangles the disciples to rescue me, I will definitely be able to escape from this cage! ”

After Dong Cheng and Fu listened to it, they all frowned, immediately knelt on the ground, and kowtowed again and again: "The ministers are willing to go to the soup for Bixia, and they will never give up!" ”

"Good! I'm glad I have such loyal servants as you. Liu Xiedao.

Dong Chengdao: "Bixia, rest assured, this time Zhang Yan asked me to take Yuan Shao as a lieutenant, just so that I can take Bixia's holy decree on the road, I believe Zhang Yan will not notice." ”

Liu Xie said happily: "So it's the best!" (To be continued......)