Great Han Empire

Chapter 587: Troubled Times Heroic Chapter Dangerous
Everyone was surprised.

The candlelight flickered, the figures swayed, and the strong murderous aura that fell from the sky suddenly enveloped the entire big tent, making people suffocated and unstoppable.

Li Hong's expression was stern, his eyes stared fiercely at Pound, the muscles on his face twitched violently a few times involuntarily, a cold chill surged out from the depths of his heart, and instantly spread throughout his body.

Zhang Wen and others immediately stood up and said goodbye.

===

Pound's hasty and nervous voice echoed in the military tent.

General Zhechong Yushi, the agent of Linfen Xingyuan, made an urgent report.Yesterday morning, Duan Yan's army stationed on the opposite bank of Pubanjin launched a fierce attack on Pubanjin. Liang Baiwu and Yang Zhen were caught off guard and lost the ferry.Now the two are commanding the army to counterattack.At the same time, Niu Fu's army attacked Fenglingdu from Hongnong County, and Fan Chou's army attacked Maojindu.Li Yun and Yang Chun, who were stationed at Fenglingdu, and Li Yao and Liao Lei, who were stationed at Maojindu, are now leading their troops to stop them.

Yushi said, I first received an urgent report from Pubanjin and Liang Baiwu in Xingyuan, Linfen. I thought it was a conflict between the soldiers of the two sides, so I didn't pay enough attention to it.After receiving urgent reports from Fenglingdu and Maojindu in the afternoon and evening, I realized that Dong Zhuo's army was attacking Hedong from three directions.

Yushi estimates that the number of Dong Zhuo's army currently attacking Hedong is about 3. In other words, every ferry that is attacked is now bearing the heavy blow of the opponent's [-] army.The northern border army stationed [-] soldiers at each crossing, which could barely hold it for the time being, but once Dong Zhuo increased his troops, the three crossings would be unable to hold it.Therefore, Yushi ordered to urgently recruit [-] garrison soldiers to support the three battlefields, but considering that the autumn harvest in Hedong had already begun, Yushi asked Li Hong for his opinion on whether to recruit more garrison soldiers to ensure the safety of Hedong.

===

"It is not advisable to conscript soldiers in the fields in Hedong, so as not to affect the autumn harvest." After hearing Yushi's urgent report, Li Hong immediately said to Zhu Mu, "Ding, write back to Master Yu and tell him that the grain in Hedong is limited, and there are northern borders. With a large army stationed there, and the Yellow River is naturally dangerous, if Dong Zhuo wants to take it by force, he will have to pay a heavy price, so Hedong is not Dong Zhuo's goal, Nanyang and Yingchuan are Dong Zhuo's real goals."

"Master Yu knows this very well." Xu Rong said solemnly, "Dong Zhuo's army attacked Hedong from three directions. The situation should be very critical, but Lord Yu only recruited [-] troops. It can be seen that he has seen This is Dong Zhuo's feint. After Dong Zhuo attacked Yuan Shu, the balance was immediately destroyed. He knew that we would definitely attack him in our rage, cut off his retreat, and force him to retreat to Chang'an, so he simply took the first step. , to attack us first in order to take the initiative." Xu Rong looked at Li Hong, and then said, "I see, what Master Yu means is to ask you whether you want to forcefully cross the Yellow River immediately, capture Hangu Pass, and cut off the retreat of Dong Zhuo's army. road."

"I know, so I told him not to call up soldiers to farm the fields." Li Hong said, "We need enough troops, armaments and food to cross the river and capture Hangu Pass, but it will take at least one month of preparation. More than a month Later, Dong Zhuo had already grabbed food from Nanyang and Yingchuan, and if we fought again, it would be a bloody battle between the two sides. After a long time, we had no choice but to return because of lack of food and grass.” Li Hong then spread out The map on the case table points to the desert outside the Great Wall, "If we send troops back from outside the Great Wall, it will cost more. Even if we abandon the northern border, the two sides will use 10,000+ troops to fight in the Gyeonggi area, and we will be the ones who will lose the battle in the end."

Li Hong shook his head and sighed, "Dong Zhuo must occupy Nanyang and Yingchuan this time, otherwise he will not take the initiative to break the check and balance, let alone attack us."

===

"Fatty Dong chose the right time for this attack, and he hit our vital point right away." Zhu Mu thought for a long time but couldn't find a countermeasure, so he couldn't help but hit the table in anger, "We were all fooled." I thought he didn't dare to fight in two directions at the same time. Who knew that he had already recruited Han Sui and Ma Teng, and had already arranged troops in secret. We were all deceived by Dong Zhuo. This month our attention is focused on The eldest princess and the veteran ministers from Chang'an completely ignored the mobilization of the northern army in the capital. We should have thought that Dong Zhuo would fight back."

"Dong Zhuo asked Zhang Wenwen and several old ministers to come to northern Xinjiang, probably to divert our attention, so that he can quietly adjust the deployment of troops in the capital area." Li Wei said, "Dong Zhuo chose to attack at the end of September, it is indeed very good. We This place is busy with the autumn harvest, Yuan Shu is busy competing with Liu Biao for Jingzhou, Yuan Shao, Han Fu, Liu Dai and others are busy fighting the Yellow Turban Army, none of the three parties has deployed heavy troops around Gyeonggi, and no one can stop his attack."

"Now Henan Yin's autumn harvest is just beginning. Dong Zhuo beat all the food to him to make military rations, and the common people were driven away by him and became refugees. In this way, even if he ran out of military rations, he could still arrest refugees for cooking. No matter how he fights, he can maintain the rations of the army for a month. After a month, he has occupied Nanyang and Yingchuan, and with enough money and food, he will be even more confident."

"Originally our strategy of checks and balances was to suppress and weaken Dong Zhuo's strength, but now that we give him such a blow, the checks and balances we barely established after months of hard work have not only been destroyed, but the situation has suddenly reversed. It has become the target of being suppressed and attacked by Dong Zhuo." Li Wei pointed to the map and said, "Now the situation in Gyeonggi has returned to the state of war and confrontation at the beginning of the year, but the strength of all parties has undergone great changes."

"Northern Xinjiang was deeply affected by the Gyeonggi crisis and the imperial court's westward relocation. The military resources of the frontier army and the relief of the frontier counties were all cut off. As time went by, Northern Xinjiang was not only struggling, but was on the verge of collapse. At the beginning of the year We could give up the victims, risk the destruction of Luoyang, join forces with Yuan Shao and others, and concentrate all the main forces to hit Dong Zhuo hard, but we missed that opportunity, so that we are now stepping into a desperate situation. What about Yuan Shao? He is the last Miserably, he failed in the first battle against Dong, and then the Yuan Clan's split strength was greatly reduced, and then he fell into a melee with the Yellow Turban Army. For several months, he not only made no progress, but was getting farther and farther away from Luoyang. Where is Yuan Shu? Like Yuan Shao, he suffered a serious loss of strength, but the good thing is that Nanyang did not suffer from the disaster of the Yellow Turban Army, but Yuan Shu had nothing to do, insisted on competing with Liu Biao for Jingzhou, and finally handed over to Dong Zhuo a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This time, not only could he not keep Nanyang, I'm afraid I can't even save my life."

"Looking at it now, Dong Zhuo is still smarter than us. He has the emperor in his hands and an army of 10,000+, but he keeps his head down, endures and retreats, even if he has no food or drink, he endures it. He has endured until today, and finally gave him such an opportunity. If there were no Yellow Turban Army in Heishan and Qingzhou, Yuan Shu's willful actions, and the Yuan Clan's split, Dong Zhuo would not have the opportunity to fight again in Gyeonggi. ?”

"Now that the balance of checks and balances has broken down, the alliance with Yuan Shu is beyond reach and useless. After Beijiang lost the three-party check and balance with Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shu, the alliance with Yuan Shao immediately lost its meaning. Now we have broken with Dong Zhuo, and Dong Zhuo Surrounded in the north with Yuan Shao's Dong Dajun, where is our way out? Should we just sit and wait for death, or do we still fight?"

===

Li Hong looked at Li Wei with a serious expression, and laughed, "What do you mean by being trapped? We still have a chance. As for Yuan Shao, he is in crisis now, and he will not break the alliance with us. However, he sees that our advantages are exhausted." Go, it is very likely that they will take the opportunity to blackmail us."

"What can he blackmail us? It's just that we fight Dong Zhuo and Luoyang, and he gives us food and grass." Zhu Mu said disdainfully, "Then there is the matter of the emperor's order. Just now, my lord has already told the eldest princess's mansion that the emperor and Sheji, We can only choose one. But now that we have given Dong Zhuo such a fight, we have no choice but to choose one, because we only have one Jizhou to rely on."

"The matter of Jizhou can now be handed over to the eldest princess." Li Wei said, "Yuan Shao said that the emperor was not born by the first emperor, but he never said that the princess was not born by the first emperor. At the beginning of the year, Yuan Shao tried every means to fight Dong Zhuo with us. He has been invited to northern Xinjiang, so it is impossible for him not to admit the eldest princess. With the eldest princess, plus Zhang Wen, Cui Lie and other veterans of the Han Dynasty, and the grand master Liu Yuliu of Youzhou, we need money and food for Jizhou. It’s settled. If Han Fu doesn’t give it, we’ll take advantage of the winter when the Yellow Turbans have a truce with them and simply occupy Jizhou.”

Li Hong, Xu Rong and Zhu Mu looked at him in surprise.

Zhu Mu shook his head and said, "Zhong Yuan, are you in a hurry to overthrow the Great Han Society?"

Li Wei knew that he had made a slip of the tongue, and smiled awkwardly, "Our months of hard work have been wasted, and now we still have to join hands with Yuan Shao, I should have known this..." He shook his hands mockingly, "Forget it, don't say it, don't say it, Dong Zhuo is Dong Zhuo, he is not comparable to ordinary people, we underestimate him too much. What should we do next? Shall we fight Luoyang or Chang'an?"

"If we can borrow money and food from Jizhou, and then embezzle some of the funds for farming, we can launch an attack on Dong Zhuo in about November." Xu Rong said slowly, "But we have limited troops, so we can only attack Dong Zhuo. The crucial point, and the result of hitting this vital point must be beneficial to northern Xinjiang."

"Luoyang." Li Hong said, "fight Luoyang, drive Dong Zhuo back to Chang'an, and then open up the connection between northern Xinjiang and Jing and Henan. As long as we can occupy Hongnong County and Henan Yin, and control Luoyang, we will basically solve the problem." The wealth crisis in northern Xinjiang."

"But..." Zhu Mu said worriedly, "If Dong Zhuo becomes aggressive and burns Luoyang down before he retreats to Chang'an..."

Li Hong and the three of them looked at each other in blank dismay, all feeling terrified.The reason why they didn't want to fight Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao at the beginning of the year was because they were afraid that Luoyang would be destroyed after the melee in Gyeonggi.In today's situation, if Luoyang is destroyed, the consequences are self-evident.

===

"Dong Zhuo will send someone here soon." Li Hong thought for a while and said, "The four of us have a plan in mind, so we have never mentioned Yan Liang and Wu Xiong in Luoyang, and our seven thousand northern soldiers, because We all know that Dong Zhuo didn't dare to kill them. Dong Zhuo hit Hedong to test our reaction, test our patience, and test our attitude towards him attacking Yuan Shu. He knew that we didn't dare to fight him for the time being, relying on our situation in Luoyang Seven thousand generals."

"Dong Zhuo only needs one month to turn around. The 12 northern and southern armies have paid enough and are full. If we want to fight again, it will be very difficult." Li Hong thought of Dong Zhuo, thinking of him like a small mountain. With a majestic body, he couldn't help laughing, "Gongding, the last time you saw Dong Zhuo in Chang'an, did he get fat?"

"It's not fat, but very fat." Zhu Mu gestured exaggeratedly, "I heard from Tian Yi that he was very nervous after returning to Chang'an, and couldn't sleep all night, so he spent a lot of time drinking , eating and drinking non-stop, within two months, he became a huge fat man."

"Well, it's hard to be a human being, and it's even harder to be a prime minister." Li Hong sighed, "We must understand Dong Zhuo. First of all, he doesn't want the great Han society to be destroyed by him, that's for sure. What's the benefit? However, when we want to destroy him, Dong Zhuo has no community in his heart. He thought to himself, I can't survive, so why do I need community? Do I leave this great country to my enemies? ?”

"So we have to put on a smiling face and show a submissive look, so that Dong Zhuo will reduce his hostility towards us, and he will not feel that we want to destroy him. At this time, he will definitely not want to tear us apart. It's embarrassing. There are still many enemies around us. When we fight, who will be better in the end? Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and many people who want to kill Dong Zhuo. Before Dong Zhuo finishes killing these people, he will only suppress and Weaken the strength of Beijiang, and when he is strong enough, he will fight us to the death."

"But we will never let him become stronger. In order to buy enough time for us to send troops, in order to kill him before Dong Zhuo becomes stronger, we must stabilize Dong Zhuo now, and the best way to stabilize Dong Zhuo is to let Dong Zhuo To fight Yuan Shu, to fight Yuan Shao, and we have to create opportunities for him to continue to conquer. How to create opportunities for him? That is to let the Yellow Turbans entangle Yuan Shao and stalk him. Han Fu lost Yuan Shao’s support, he may not Dare to be as arrogant as you are now. This person firmly supports Yuan Shao to depose the current emperor and opposes us everywhere. If Yuan Shao is dead, this person will probably be honest. If Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are all dead, then after we defeat Dong Zhuo and occupy Luoyang, we will be able to Use the eldest princess to raise the banner of begging Dong Daqi, and get money and grain support from various states and counties."

Li Hong tapped Luoyang City on the map, and said solemnly: "We not only want to take down Luoyang City, but also keep Luoyang City."

===

"Okay, then let's help Dong Zhuo and let him kill Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao as much as possible." Li Wei said excitedly, "How much troops does the general plan to use to attack Luoyang? Do you want to use the army outside the Great Wall?"

Li Hong shook his head and looked at Xu Rong.Xu Rong smiled slightly and said: "If Yan Liang, Wu Xiong and the 7000 Northern Xinjiang soldiers can come back, plus the current [-] troops from Hedong, and another [-] troops from General Qu Yi, we will have [-] people enough to take Luoyang gone."

Zhu Mu was overjoyed and asked, "Master Xu, is 7000 people enough?"

"Although the situation in Gyeonggi is complicated and changeable, as long as we can seize the fleeting opportunity, things will become very simple." Xu Rong said with a calm smile.

"We can't mobilize too many troops, so we have to seize the opportunity." Li Hong said with a smile, "We can't move the grain harvested in the autumn in northern Xinjiang. First of all, we must ensure that the people will have food when the fields fall fallow next year. We must Move the food in the Tuntian District of Jizhou. In addition, the eldest princess is required to come forward and send people to other counties and counties in Jizhou to buy grain, as well as the embezzlement of funds for the farming, and let the eldest princess handle it. These nonsense things are annoying , now it’s all right, I’m relieved. I just need to convince the eldest princess alone, and the rest of these headaches are the eldest princess’s.”

Li Wei and Zhu Mu looked at each other and smiled wryly, with a trace of worry flashing in their eyes.

===

Li Hong paid an overnight visit to the Eldest Princess, and then together with the Eldest Princess convened a discussion with the main officials of the Eldest Princess' Mansion and the General Hussar's Mansion.

The flames of war have reached northern Xinjiang, and it is impossible not to fight.Li Hong said, General Longxiang Xu Rong and I led the army south to the east of the river to fight, and Li Wei temporarily acted as the agent for the military administration in northern Xinjiang. All undecided matters will be consulted by Princess Yu, so don't consult me ​​again, so as not to delay the important matter.

Li Hong ordered Yang Wu General Yang Feng and Qiangnu Zhonglang General Sun to hold their festival talismans and rush to Shangdang Huguan to meet Zhenjun General Qu Yi, and led [-] troops from Huguan to Hedong for support.

In the early morning of the next day, Li Hong and Xu Rong went south to Hedong with [-] Black Panthers and [-] Tigers.

===

Facing the sudden war, the eldest princess and Zhang Wen, Cui Lie and others of the eldest princess's mansion had to work day and night for the survival of northern Xinjiang.

Cui Lie, Ma Rixun, Yuan Pang, and Chen Ji had many old friends in Jizhou. In order to solve the problem of money and grain in northern Xinjiang, the four of them were ordered by the eldest princess and under the protection of Wei Duan and five hundred tiger guards, Quickly go to Jizhou.

The eldest princess, Zhang Wen, Ding Gong, and Cai Yong lobbied the officials in the northern Xinjiang garrison, hoping to embezzle more money from the garrison funds to supplement military funds.

At the end of September, the discussions of the various prefectures in northern Xinjiang ended under the auspices of the eldest princess, and the officials in northern Xinjiang returned to their respective offices one after another.

===

October of the first year of Chuping of the Han Dynasty (AD 190).

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At the beginning of October, Bi Guiyuan.

Dong Zhuo rushed to Luoyang secretly.

"Can Hulao Pass be taken?" This was the first sentence Dong Zhuo said when he saw Li Ru, "Where is Yan Hutou?"

Li Ru hurriedly replied: "Yan Liang was surrounded by the army at Hulao Pass. Wu Xiong was surrounded by Li Jue and Guo Si at Xiaopingjin Pass."

"Is there a fight?"

"Not yet." Li Ru looked at Dong Zhuo who was so fat that he could barely see his eyes, and asked cautiously, "Should I go to Hedong immediately?"

"Don't go." Dong Zhuo waved his hand and said, "If the leopards don't come, they will starve to death."

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(End of this chapter)