Hebei, thirty miles southeast of Liyang.

A large army lined up with its back to Liyang.

In front of the big array, Yuan Tan stood under the handsome banner, staring straight ahead without blinking.

Beside him was a wilderness with no end in sight.

It was only past winter, the footsteps of spring had not yet come, the grass buds had not yet come out of the soil, and the wilderness was bleak, and there was no smell of life at all.

The harsh wind blew past Yuan Tan, rolling up the battle flag, and the flirtatious "hulala" sounded.

The wind in early spring was still very cold, and wearing heavy armor, Yuan Tan couldn't help but shrink his neck.

"Can Xianfu have an army coming?" Looking ahead, Yuan Tan asked a staff member beside him.

Standing beside him was Guo Tu, who had accompanied him to escape from Yecheng earlier.

Holding his fists and bowing, Guo Tu said to Yuan Tan: "Qiyu Gongzi, Xianfu Gongzi led the army, which has reached fifty miles west of our army, and formed a corner with our army. ”

"Xianfu has arrived?" Looking at Guo Tu in surprise, Yuan Tan asked, "Why don't you know?" ”

"The subordinates also got the news just now!" Putting down his hands, Guo Tu said: "I was about to present it to my son!" ”

After staring at Guo Tu for a moment, Yuan Tan turned his face again and looked at the vast expanse in the distance.

As far as the eye could see, there was still a vast expanse, and there was no shadow of Cao Jun at all.

It has been more than two hours since he led the army here, and when he learned that Cao Jun was here, he planned to defend the city and fight Cao Jun to the death.

But when he learned that Cao's army was unfavorable in the siege of Xudu and was forced to withdraw from Hebei, he changed his mind.

Cao Jun had recently lost Xudu, and their morale must have been very low, and when Cao Jun rushed to Liyang, Yuan Tan was confident that Cao Cao would be defeated in one go.

Fifty miles away from Yuan Tan's army, another army was slowly approaching Liyang.

The leader of this army is none other than Yuan Shang.

Yuan Tan killed Feng Ji, although Yuan Shang was unhappy in his heart, but Hebei belonged to the Yuan family after all.

Once Yuan Tan is defeated by Cao's army, his lips and teeth are cold, he will definitely face the situation of being alone against the enemy.

It is imperative to rescue Yuan Tan.

It's just that when Yuan Shang sent his troops, he was worried that Yuan Tan would take advantage of the situation to seize Yecheng, so he left the trial match, and he personally led the army to come to help.

The team marched slowly, and Yuan Shang did not say a word all the way.

The staff and generals who followed him, seeing that he had no words, would not send him up to beg for trouble, and they were all silent, just riding their horses forward.

Yuan Shang led the army on the expedition, and there was another person who accompanied him on the expedition.

This person is none other than Yuan Xi, who had been to Luoyang earlier, was detained by Liu Wei and returned to Yecheng alone.

Among the brothers, Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan both have heavy troops, and Yuan Xi has no quarrel with them in the past, and he has not deliberately developed his power, and there are not many generals under his command.

In terms of ranking in the family, Yuan Xi is Yuan Shang's second brother, but in terms of status, now Yuan Shang is the lord of Hebei, and Yuan Xi is just a general under his jurisdiction.

Following behind Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi also did not say a word all the way.

Since returning to Yecheng, he has rarely received news from Luoyang.

But before this expedition, Luoyang sent a message, Liu Wei asked him to lead his troops and horses to withdraw all the way south and enter the territory of Daqin when he could not defeat Cao Cao.

Yuan Xi didn't know what Liu Wei was selling, but he knew one thing very well.

That is, with their brothers, they could not defeat Cao Cao at all.

Especially this time, in Yuan Xi's opinion, Yuan Tan should have defended the city, and Yuan Shang led the army to launch a surprise attack from behind Cao's army.

Cao's army attacked the city without breaking it, and was attacked and killed from behind, and it will definitely withdraw.

As long as the siege of Liyang is relieved, this battle will be won by the Hebei army.

But Yuan Tan made a mistake of great joy at this time, and learned that Cao's army was frustrated in the area of Xudu, and immediately decided to go out of the city to meet the enemy.

Most of the soldiers and horses of the Yuan army are newly recruited soldiers, while the soldiers of the Cao army are all warriors who have fought on the battlefield for many years.

There is no need to compare the combat strength of the two sides, so that they can distinguish which is stronger and which is weak.

"Second brother!" Leading the army forward, Yuan Shang suddenly said to Yuan Xi on the side: "Cao Cao is crusading against Liyang, we will wait for the leader to come to the rescue, if the eldest brother does not move when I am fighting with Cao Jun, what should we do?" ”

Yuan Shang said a word, and Yuan Xi was stunned.

He didn't expect that Yuan Shang would be afraid of these at this time.

Comparing hearts to hearts, since Yuan Shang has concerns, Yuan Tan is afraid that it will not be much better.

Turning his head and looking around, Yuan Xi said to Yuan Shang: "This place is empty, which is convenient for the army to deploy. Our army should quickly move closer to the eldest brother, the two armies are looking at each other from afar, once the battle with the Cao army is engaged, the eldest brother will have no reason not to come to help! ”

Nodding his head, Yuan Shang waved his hand and shouted to the army behind him: "Speed up!" ”

With his order, the soldiers of the Yuan army behind him accelerated their pace, and the cavalry rode on horseback, but they didn't feel anything, but they just suffered those stubborn infantry.

The armor is already heavy, and it trots all the way, and the body is a lot of consumption.

Yuan Shang rode a horse and walked in front, he did not care about the hard work of the soldiers, but the speed became faster and faster.

Yuan Xi and the others who followed him also sped up, and the cavalry followed him like a shadow, and they didn't leave Yuan Shang's side for a moment.

The infantry, who only ran on two legs, was left behind after barely following for a while.

The army marching rapidly, walking in front of Yuan Shang and a group of staff, generals, and cavalry under his command.

Left far behind were the infantry of the army.

Seeing that the cavalry was getting farther and farther away, the infantry were a little anxious in their hearts, and the steps under their feet were much more messy than before.

Riding a horse and following behind Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi turned his head to look back, and found that the infantry had been thrown far away, and hurriedly shouted at Yuan Shang: "Xianfu, I'm waiting too fast!" ”

Hearing Yuan Xi's shout, Yuan Shang also glanced back.

Sure enough, I saw that the infantry was thrown far away.

Knowing that if he lost the infantry, relying on the cavalry, he would not be able to turn the tide of the battle at all, Yuan Shang hurriedly reined in his horse and stopped the march of the team.

Since the first battle of Guandu, the Yuan army and the Cao army have also experienced several battles.

But Cao Jun is like the nemesis of Yuan's army, every time he fights, it is the Hebei army that is finally defeated.

Looking back at the infantry who were speeding towards them, Yuan Shang's brows furrowed slightly, and a trace of anxiety appeared on his face.

Cao Cao had a large number of soldiers and horses, and if there was no Guandu to fight, Yuan Shang would not be afraid of Cao Cao.

The battle of Guandu has sharply reduced the number of troops in Hebei.

Many people were worried that the male in the family would be cut off by Cao Cao if he went to war.

Every time the Yuan brothers recruited soldiers, the people would hide the men in their families, making it several times more difficult to recruit soldiers than in the past.

In terms of the number of soldiers and horses, the total strength of Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan is still much less than that of Cao's army.

If he did it hard, Yuan Jun would definitely not be Cao Jun's opponent.

Regarding Yuan Tan's choice to set up a formation in the wilderness, Yuan Shang was also quite puzzled.

However, Liyang is Yuan Tan's territory, and he doesn't attach much importance to the gains and losses here, he just wants to help Yuan Tan keep Liyang, so as to stabilize Yecheng.

Waiting for a moment, the infantry got closer and closer.

Just as he turned his head to look at the infantry queue running over, Yuan Shang heard Yuan Xi beside him say, "Xianfu, do you feel that something is wrong?" ”

I always remembered in my heart whether Yuan Tan would stab him in the back, Yuan Shang already felt that something was wrong, and when he heard Yuan Xi say this, he hurriedly asked, "What did the second brother see?" ”

"The scout reported that the Cao army had approached Liyang, and our army came here and did not see any trace of the Cao army......" frowned slightly, Yuan Xi said to Yuan Shang: "Will Cao Cao bypass Liyang ......?" ”

was stunned by Yuan Xi's question, Yuan Shang thought for a moment, then shook his head and said: "It shouldn't be, Cao Jun crossed the Yellow River, and our army scouts were tracking all the way, and Cao Cao couldn't play any tricks if he thought about it!" It's just that I don't know how he didn't lead the army to fight until now! ”

Yuan Shang denied his speculation, and Yuan Xi frowned slightly and didn't say anything more.

The movement of Cao's army is really too strange, according to Cao Cao's previous military habits, when he arrives near Liyang, even if he does not fight, the two armies will arrive very close.

But this time, Cao Cao didn't let the army move forward, as if he was waiting for something.

The infantry queue had already reached behind him, and Yuan Shang waved his arm, rode his horse, and slowly moved forward.

The army followed behind Yuan Shang, slowed down a little, and advanced all the way towards Liyang.

Yuan Xi turned around the war horse, walked to the side of the team, and turned his head to look in the direction of Yecheng.

Yecheng is not very close to Liyang, and if there is news of the sudden appearance of Cao's army from there, Yuan's army will be powerless to help.

"Xianfu!" After looking in the direction of Yecheng for a while, Yuan Xi lifted the reins, caught up with Yuan Shang and said: "Brother is still a little worried about Yecheng, if you don't give me 10,000 soldiers and horses, I will lead the army back to Yecheng to assist the trial to consolidate the defense!" ”

Leaving the trial in the city, what Yuan Shang was afraid of was that Yuan Tan would suddenly attack.

Although Yuan Xi has always expressed that he does not have much ambition for Hebei, but the hearts of the people are separated, after all, he still doesn't know what Yuan Xi is thinking in his heart, he has 10,000 soldiers and horses, and asks him to help consolidate Yecheng, Yuan Shang really doesn't dare to think about it.

Smiling slightly, Yuan Shang waved his hand at Yuan Xi and said, "Second brother has too many concerns, our army scouts have already reported several times, and Cao Jun is near Liyang, how can he go to Yecheng again?" And Yecheng has a trial duke, thinking that even if Cao Jun arrives, it will be difficult to break through for a while. We just have to go to Liyang! ”

Yuan Shang said this thing, Yuan Xi knew that if he continued to talk about it, he was afraid that there would be a gap between the brothers, so he didn't say more, followed Yuan Shang, and marched all the way to Liyang.

On the way, Yuan Xi would turn his head and look behind him from time to time, looking in the direction of Yecheng with some concern.