Time passed in blood and fire, and ten days passed in a blink of an eye.

The end of the year is approaching, and the cold winter of Sanjiu is coming.

In recent days, the cold has been unbearable, and the princes' armies have stopped attacking the city continuously, and cats have lit fires in the camp to keep warm, and they are reluctant to go out.

In the tent of the commander of the Chinese army, a pot of charcoal fire baked the big tent warmly.

"The whereabouts of the Hangu defenders in the past ten days are secretive, it doesn't seem to be Li Thief's usual style of acting, according to the guard, not moving at all, it's quite abnormal!"

On the left side of the big tent, Lu Bu was drinking and eating meat, his thick eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and he said thoughtfully.

At this moment, there are only three people in Yuan Shao's central army marshal tent, namely: Yuan Shao who is in a high position, Lu Bu on the left side of the tent and Zhang Yan on the right.

Now the most powerful princes of the allied towns and towns have gathered together, and the matter of discussing must be the battle of Hangu and how to send troops to attack the city.

For more than two months in a row, the three of them often got together to discuss the battle, while the other princes rarely participated in the siege of Hangu Pass because their own strength was too weak and their voice was not enough. Perhaps this was the so-called self-knowledge, or perhaps they did not want to be humiliated in public, but in the last two months, the other four princes rarely came to discuss the war. Because the storming of Hangu Pass has little to do with them, and they are powerless, it is better to avoid it, so as not to be criticized; After all, they don't have the strength but still talk nonsense, which inevitably makes people think that they don't have backache when they stand and talk, and they have ill intentions.

"Bong thought about it too much. So far, although the casualties of our allied troops are twice as many as those of the Xiliang army under the command of Li Thief, Li Thief's soldiers and horses are not as strong as our allies. So. Now the situation faced by the Li thief is no different from ours, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses have been lost, and the consumption of money and food is huge. I'm afraid it's the same as us, and it's just barely holding on. ”

As he spoke, Yuan Shao shook his head slightly with a gloomy face, and a trace of worry and anxiety flashed in his eyes. For half an hour, he had been drinking, and he had no interest in the meat on the table, and he seemed preoccupied. I don't know what to eat.

Ever since the storming of Hangu Pass, Yuan Shao's face had completely lost his smile, and his face was gloomy all day. As if someone owed him hundreds of thousands of stones, grain and grass, he was depressed and depressed all the time. And the Allied forces continued to attack the city, except for the loss of troops. Never an inch. During this period, only two sieges reached the top of the city, and the remaining forty or so sieges were in vain, and nothing was achieved except heavy casualties. Such an unfavorable situation invisibly put huge pressure on Yuan Shao, making him unable to eat, sleep, suffering, and full of worries.

Therefore, in just over two months, Yuan Shao's face was haggard. His temples had turned pale, and the change in his appearance silently reflected the tremendous pressure on his heart. The grain, grass, baggage, and equipment needed for the army of three or four hundred thousand princes. He had to supply them all, and it was okay for a month or two, but for several months he was overwhelmed and miserable. However, the grain and grass and baggage are insufficient, and he can still barely maintain it, and the most helpless and powerless thing for him is that the war is stalemate, the Hangu Pass cannot be attacked for a long time, and the princes of various towns are secretly intriguing, and the contradictions between them are becoming more and more intense, and they are gradually becoming white-hot, and they are quite falling apart. This is the key to Yuan Shao's worries.

In the past two months, the princes of each town have thrown half of their soldiers and horses into the siege battle, suffering heavy casualties and greatly losing strength, so that the entire Allied camp is shrouded in gloom and gloom, morale is low, and fighting spirit is sluggish. However, the fierce battle reached such a point, the allies could not stop, there was no way to retreat, and there were only two ways in front of them: first, to retreat to the east of the river, and the alliance was dissolved on the spot; Second, he bravely attacked Hangu Pass, did not break Hangu and swore not to give up, and fought to the end with Li Li and the Xiliang army under his command.

Faced with these two choices, the princes of the towns who joined the alliance were indecisive and hesitant to make a decision, and they could not make up their minds. Attack, Hangu Pass is one of the best in the world, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Dissolve and withdraw from the alliance, the princes are well aware of Li Li's strong and domineering temperament, and they are very jealous of Xiliang's strong military strength and the habit of retribution; Once the allied forces are disbanded, Li Thief will definitely march eastward after relieving his strength, sweeping away the princes of various towns and taking revenge.

Because of this, the princes of all towns are in a dilemma of riding a tiger, suffering from gains and losses, and are at a loss, so they have to grit their teeth and hold on, and persist until now. Fortunately, there is Yuan Shao in front of them, and it will not be their turn to worry about it for a while, after all, Yuan Shao is the leader of the alliance of princes, and bears half of the supply of grain and grass for the alliance; As long as Yuan Shao can still support it, they naturally have nothing to say. When you really can't hold on, someone naturally takes the initiative to jump out.

It was precisely the princes of all walks of life who held such thoughts that caused Yuan Shao's pressure to increase dramatically, and he almost single-handedly supported the entire alliance of the princes. All the pressure and problems were borne by him alone, and he was so overwhelmed that he could not relax for a moment, and he could not sit still, and he could not sleep and eat.

This is the first time that Yuan Shao has personally experienced the tremendous pressure and the embarrassing situation he faces as the leader of the princes' alliance since he served as the leader of the princes' alliance twice. In addition, he is over fifty years old, his time is no more, his body is getting old day by day, and there is such a heavy burden on him alone, which makes him exhausted and overwhelmed.

Therefore, in just a few months, Yuan Shao has lost his previous high-spirited overlord posture, and his old state is fully revealed, with a straight face all day long, and his heart is heavy.

Yuan Shao's haggard face fell in the eyes of Lu Bu and Zhang Yan, but they did not have the slightest sympathy or pity in their hearts, let alone the slightest respect for Yuan Shao. On the contrary, they are now always on guard against Yuan Shao, and they have to be up to twelve points every time they discuss the account, for fear that they will be accidentally calculated by Yuan Shao for a while, and they will become the unjust leader of the next storming of Hangu Pass. Therefore, whenever Yuan Shao deliberately belittled Li Li and Xiliangjun, they couldn't help but be more careful, never answering lightly, let alone belittleing Li Li in a big way. Because in their opinion, Yuan Shao's wanton belittling of Li Li was to lure them into being deceived; Yuan Shao had used this trick countless times before, inducing them to send troops to attack the city, but the result was that they lost their troops and suffered heavy casualties.

Therefore, at this moment, when they heard Yuan Shao's words denigrating Li Li again, Lu Bu and Zhang Yan were silent, drinking and eating meat by themselves, but they never answered the question, and they were not fooled anyway.

"Ahem!"

waited for a long time, but did not see a response from Lu Bu and Zhang Yan. A look of annoyance flashed in Yuan Shao's eyes, but he felt helpless, and suddenly a sense of powerlessness crossed his mind. It made him feel more and more physically and mentally exhausted. So he cleared his throat with a clear cough, and then asked in a deep voice: "It's almost the end of the year, I don't know what the two generals think about the current war, and how should we deal with ourselves?" ”

Hearing Yuan Shao's old tune repeated, Zhang Yan and Lu Bu glanced at each other, looked at each other, and a trace of suspicion appeared in their eyes.

After a little thought. Lu Bu said in a calm voice: "Our army has been fighting with Li Thief for more than four months, and the soldiers have been frustrated and their morale is low. There was an urgent need for some recuperation. In addition, it is the middle of winter and the weather is cold, and the soldiers can't even hold their weapons steadily after walking out of the camp, so it is really not suitable to fight again. Therefore. Lu thought that our allies could not fight again for the time being. Take a good rest, regroup, and fight to the death with Li Thief when the spring flowers bloom next year. ”

Lu Bu's remarks were decent and had no new meaning, but they were indeed the actual situation of the Allied camp, and they also expressed the hearts of all the soldiers.

"Hmm. What is General Zhang Yan's opinion? Yuan Shao bowed his head slightly, snorted noncommittally, and then turned his head to look at Zhang Yan. Ask softly.

"What General Fengxian said is very true." Zhang Yan responded: "In April, the continuous fierce battles have already overwhelmed the officers and men of each battalion. It also coincided with the severe cold season of March 9, and it was imperative for the whole army to rest and recuperate. In addition, our allied forces suffered huge losses in the face of successive battles, and the gap between the number of soldiers and horses and the Xiliang army under Li Thief was gradually narrowing, which was extremely unfavorable to the allied forces. Therefore, in a certain opinion, the princes of the towns took advantage of the rest of the army to mobilize reinforcements from the rear to reinforce; And Liu Bei's 50,000 troops stationed in Hedong County should also take this opportunity to cross the river, join forces with us and others, and strengthen the defense of the camp, so as not to leave an opportunity for Li Thief to take advantage of. How to decide, please ask the alliance leader to decide! ”

"Requisition Liu Bei's army to cross the river?" Yuan Shao frowned slightly, and said in a deep voice: "At this time, is it a little inappropriate to let Liu Bei lead his troops to cross the river to meet us?" Since both of you are determined to stop fighting and recuperate, why do you want Liu Bei to lead the troops here? When the decisive battle comes in the coming year, wouldn't it be better to let him attack the army of Li thieves as a surprise soldier? ”

"The alliance leader's words are wrong." Zhang Yan didn't care about Yuan Shao's face, shook his head and said: "Now the 300,000 soldiers in my allied army are all long-fought troops and tired, in such a harsh winter season, which prince is willing to garrison the camp?" Besides, we are now suffering from the enemy on the back of the abdomen, with the Hangu army led by Li Thief in front and the Xingyang enemy army led by Xu Rong in the back; If the Allied Dazhai is poorly defended and the camp is robbed by the army under the command of Li Thief, the consequences will be unimaginable. Therefore, it is false to recruit Liu Bei to cross the river and join forces with us, but in fact, he wants him to cross the river to defend the camp for our allies. ”

"It's ??? Let me think again. Yuan Shao hesitated.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Just as Yuan Shao frowned and pondered, a huge roar came into the tent, which startled him to come back to his senses suddenly, and Lu Bu and Zhang Yan, who were sitting under the tent, heard the sound and walked quickly to the door to look.

"Newspaper!"

A pro-soldier hurriedly rushed into the big tent and almost crashed into Zhang Yan, but fortunately, Zhang Yan was agile and dodged in time, kicked the pro-soldier out with a kick, smashed it on the pillars of the tent, and fell to the ground with a bang.

"A fool who doesn't know the severity of the matter dares to collide with General Zhang Yan! Whoever comes, pull this person down and behead him to show the public, so as to set an example! Yuan Shao shouted angrily.

"Ahem!" After landing on the ground, the soldier blurted out a mouthful of blood, struggled to get up, and said urgently with a mouthful of blood: "Bad thing, bad thing!" Feiyundu grain and grass camp walks the water, the fire is soaring to the sky, please make a decision quickly! ”

"Ugh! What did you say? Yuan Shao's voice changed, he walked in front of the pro-soldier in three steps and two steps, pinched the pro-soldier's neck, and shouted in disbelief.

The alliance leader was angry. What the soldiers said is good, the sky above Feiyundu is indeed full of fire, and the grain and grass camp of our allies has been robbed! Lu Bu said with an angry face.

"Jiang Qi, this is a big deal for me!" Yuan Shao rushed to the outside of the tent, and sure enough, he saw a thick smoke in the sky above Feiyundu, and the red firelight illuminated most of the allied camps: "You are still stunned, hurry up, hurry up and put out the fire!" ”

Lu Bu and Zhang Yan looked at each other: "??????"

When Li Li in Hangu Pass heard that there was a fire in the sky above Feiyundu, he laughed heartily: "What a fire in winter!" This fire came at a good time, and it burned well! Hahaha??????"

―――――― for details, I'll break it down for you next time. ―――――― (To be continued......)