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Spring is blooming, and the ice and snow are melting. Covered by ice and snow in a winter Youzhou land, everything awakens and is rejuvenated, lush and lush.

Right Beiping County, the abandoned city has now been renovated, tens of thousands of Han troops stationed in the city, and with this city as the center, quickly recovered the counties, expelled the barbarians, and resettled the displaced people.

Like Youbeiping County, Yuyang, Guangyang, Shanggu County and other counties also successively stationed in the Han army, repairing the city, accepting displaced people, repairing houses, and actively restoring people's livelihood.

By April, when the flowers were blooming, the entire Youzhou had not yet been recovered except for the two counties of Liaoxi and Liaodong, and the other counties were occupied and recovered by the Youzhou army one after another. As for the land of the three counties of Liaodong vassal country, Lelang County and Xuansu County, it is currently beyond the reach of the whip chief, and it is temporarily under the rule of Gongsun Du of Liaodong. Despite this, the people in the border county are still rejoicing and sincerely admiring: the Youzhou army, which has been languishing, has finally risen up, the soldiers are fast, the iron horses are vertical and horizontal, and the battle is tough, all of them are pure masters of "leverage"!

In mid-April, Li Li led his army all the way north to Lulongsai (present-day Xifengkou, Hebei), a border pass guarding the hinterland of Youzhou. The soldiers who accompanied him out of the city this time were the reorganized Youzhou Battalion cavalry and Wurui Battalion, plus Zhao Yun's 20,000 former troops and 10,000 Jinqi Guard Iron Cavalry, a total of 100,000 troops. Coincidentally, among the 100,000 troops, there happened to be 50,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry troops. In addition, there were more than 2,000 defenders at Lulongsai Pass, but these defenders were already frightened by the barbarian iron cavalry. Negligible.

To this day, the Eastern Expeditionary Army under Li Li is truly 200,000 troops. The headquarters has 130,000 soldiers and horses, and integrates 70,000 infantry cavalry of the Youzhou army. It adds up to a full 200,000. As for the more than 30,000 rebels under Yan Rou's department, only 10,000 soldiers and horses remained after excluding the old, weak, sick and disabled; There were more than 80,000 troops under Gongsun Zhan's account, and more than 50,000 people were left after screening. The remaining 30,000 horses were re-trained and reorganized into Youzhou County Government soldiers, which were controlled by Guo Jia, the assassin of Youzhou.

Since then, the army under Li Li has increased by 100,000 again, with more than 600,000 troops, and its strength far exceeds that of other princes. It is truly a standout, far ahead of the world's leaders.

However, the news of the change of ownership in Youzhou has not yet been made public. This is not Li Li's trickery. Intentionally leaving a hand for the princes of each town, but a month ago he received a secret report that the leaders of the Wuhuan tribes and the leader of the eastern Xianbei Su Li were in collusion and attempted to jointly send troops to attack Youbeiping. and Jizhou Yuan Shao's army flanked Gongsun Zan before and after. Capture Youzhou in one fell swoop.

Up to now, Wuhuan Shan has sent 30,000 troops to Yudun, and the three kings tribes such as Nanlou, Sufuyan, and Wuyan have each sent 20,000 troops, totaling 90,000 people who control the strings gathered in Liucheng (now Jianchang, Liaoning). Immediately after the Wuhuan army, Suli, the leader of Xianbei in the east, sent 30,000 troops, allied with Wuhuan, sent troops three days ago, and went straight to Youbeiping. It is expected to arrive in front of the Luronsai Pass in two days.

On the east floor of the city of Lu Longsai, Li Li and Gongsun Zhan stood side by side. Railing overlook. But seeing the beautiful mountains and rivers, the river water is blue, the leaves are green and the flowers are red, a spectacular and beautiful landscape picture jumps into the eye, it is refreshing to see, and the pride arises spontaneously.

"Splendid mountains and rivers, Xiongguan Fortress, this is a natural good battlefield for the Han people given by God!" Overlooking the moat under the gate, Li Li was full of pride, scolded Fang Xuan, and seemed to be looking forward to the upcoming war.

Gongsun Chan turned his head to look at Li Li's side face when he heard the sound, and he felt a lot of emotion in his heart, as if he saw himself more than ten years ago. At that time, like Li Li at this moment, he didn't take the barbarians outside the Saiwai in his eyes at all, he had no fear of war, put life and death aside, was positive and optimistic, and fought bravely.

However, more than ten years have passed, and the barbarian tribe still exists and is getting stronger and stronger, but his grandson Zan has entered middle age, his blood has faded, his ambition is not there, and his heart has declined. If he hadn't followed Li Li to Lu Longsai this time, I am afraid that he would never climb this tower again in his life, let alone face more than 100,000 barbarian iron horsemen again.

Looking back at dusk, Gongsun Chan was ashamed, with mixed feelings and mixed feelings in his heart. At this moment, he didn't know whether he should rejoice or complain, he was still the lord of Youzhou at this time last year, but now he has become a pawn under other people's accounts; He had been upset and worried when he heard about the barbarians, but now he longed to lead his troops in a big battle with the barbarians. This kind of contradictory and complicated thoughts lingered in Gongsun Zhan's mind, making him very distressed.

The older people get, the more afraid they are of death, this is Gongsun Zhan's deepest feeling. When he was young, he almost never knew what "fear" was, and he moved forward bravely, not afraid of life and death; After he killed Liu Yu and took charge of Youzhou Mu himself, he spared his life and no longer went to the battlefield in person, let alone took the lead and charged into battle. He couldn't experience these feelings before, and it wasn't until he followed Li Li that he realized his cowardice and cowardice in recent years.

Cowardice is for death; Cowardice is relative to defending against barbarian invasions. These are all vividly reflected in Gongsun Zhan. It's just that he didn't want to admit it before and didn't dare to face it; Now that his status has changed, he realizes that he is so unbearable.

After being silent for a long time, Gongsun Zhan tried his best to calm down and said respectfully: "Although Lu Longsai is a Xiongguan fortress, it has been in disrepair for a long time, and I am afraid that it will not be able to withstand the more than 100,000 iron horsemen of the barbarians. Therefore, the last general built two large camps on both sides of the pass, and they were fighting each other and responding to each other, so that everything could be preserved. ”

Li Li turned his head when he heard this, nodded lightly thoughtfully, and said with a smile: "Bo Gui's strategy is very good, and it coincides with me. This time, we led an army of 100,000 to come, but it was absolutely impossible to garrison so many soldiers and horses in just one pass, and it was indeed necessary to divide the troops and be prepared. I wonder who Bogui thinks it is appropriate to send the troops out of the customs? ”

Gongsun Zhan didn't expect Li Li to be so cheerful, and asked him directly, and then he thought about it: "If the lord does not give up, the last general will ask Ying to lead 20,000 war cavalry to camp in the south and guard the left flank of the pass." General Zilong led his unequaled iron cavalry to camp in the north to guard the right flank of the fortress, while the lord sat here and led 60,000 cavalry to defend this pass. This is the foolish opinion of the last general, and I don't know what the Lord's will will be? ”

Li Li bowed slightly, and happily agreed: "This is very good." Bo Gui can lead the Youzhou battalion out of the pass and set up camp, Bo Gui is the main general, Xu Huang is the deputy general, and I will give you another 5,000 infantry to guard the camp. As for the camp in the north, there is a river in front of it, which is not suitable for gathering war horses, so Yan Gang can be sent to lead 20,000 infantry troops to camp. Yan Gang is the main general, Shi A is the deputy general, and it is enough to stick to the river, and it is not allowed to attack lightly. Does Bergui think this arrangement is appropriate? ”

"The lord is wise, and the last general can lead the troops out of the customs." Gongsun Chan was overjoyed and bowed down to answer without hesitation.

Li Li smiled and waved his hand to signal Gongsun Zhan to go by himself. After the four generals Gongsun Zhan, Xu Huang, Yan Gang and Shi A were ordered to leave, Zhao Yun walked to Li Li's side lightly and said in a low voice: "Youzhou has only been under the command of the lord for a few months, is it a little inappropriate to hand over the Youzhou battalion to General Gongsun at this time?" ”

Li Li shook his head lightly and smiled knowingly: "It's okay." Don't be suspicious of employing people. Sooner or later, he must be given the opportunity to lead the troops into battle, otherwise he will inevitably be restless and cranky. Rather than this, it is better to give him a chance now to see if he can still lead the army. If this battle is won, the Youzhou camp will be handed over to him to take over; On the contrary, it means that he is not suitable to lead the troops again, so as to completely cut off his thoughts of leading the troops alone. ”

Speaking of this, the smile on Li Li's face became stronger and stronger, and he said meaningfully: "In my opinion, Gongsun Chan was born to be a warrior on the battlefield, and he has no ability to govern states and counties, let alone the assets of the master. If he hadn't killed Liu Yu in vain, maybe he wouldn't be what he is now, and he would still be the white horse general who shocked Liaodong before. This person has only the blessings that he can't enjoy, but he doesn't have the hardships that he can't endure! Most of the generals who fought on the battlefield were like this, and Gongsun Chan is a living example. ”

Zhao Yun nodded as if he had realized something, then stepped aside and said no more. At this moment, Li Zhi, the commander of the guards, walked upstairs quickly, walked to Li Li's side and whispered softly.

"Hahaha!" Hearing Li Zhi's report, Li Li laughed loudly, and then waved his hand, beckoning Zhao Yun, Yan Rou, Ma Dai and other generals to follow, and then strode downstairs. As he walked, he said with a smile: "It's finally here, I've been waiting for him for two years!" ”

?????? In the main hall of the city guard's mansion, as Li Li led the generals to stride into the lobby, a tall scribe who had been sitting in the hall and waiting for a long time with a feather fan and a scarf on his head got up when he heard the sound and walked quickly to meet him.

"Foolish brother, meet brother! After a long absence, how is my brother doing lately? ”

"Hehehe! It's good, it's good for my brother! Li Li laughed heartily and leaned over to help him up, grabbed his arm, and said with a smile: "It's been two years, and I've finally brought my virtuous brother here!" After laughing, Li Li turned his head to Li Zhi and ordered: "Make a big feast, I want to wash the dust for Brother Kong Mingxian!" ”

It is true that this tall, dignified-looking young scribe holding a feather fan wearing a scarf on his head and pretending to be a commoner is Zhuge Liang who has just arrived in Youzhou. To be precise, he doesn't have an official position now, but it's okay to be dressed as a commoner. However, he didn't know that as early as last year, when Li Li's army went on the expedition, he was listed among the ministers who accompanied him on the expedition, and the so-called sacrificial wine of the Great General's Mansion was specially reserved for Kong Ming.

However, the news of Kong Ming's uncle Zhuge Xuan's death not long ago has been known to Li Li. According to the Han etiquette system, when the adoptive father dies, his son should practice filial piety and keep filial piety for two years; So Li Li sent Zhuge Jin to Nanyang County as a guard, acting as a guardian for the spirit, and to be filial piety. Because of this, Li Li was particularly happy about Kong Ming's arrival, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he was overjoyed.

―――――――― To be Continued ―――――――――――――― (To be Continued......