Great Han Empire

Chapter 589: Troubled Times Heroic Chapter Dangerous
In the early morning, Xiaopingjin Pass.

Wu Xiong rode on a war horse, and with the help of the faint light of the torch, he tried his best to look at the rushing Yellow River in the distance.

The river wind howled, the waves rolled, and a coolness of late autumn suddenly invaded Wu Xiong's whole body.He shivered involuntarily.

At the end of September, after the northern army forced Mengjin and Xiaopingjin to pass, Wu Xiong, who was stationed at Xiaopingjin, immediately wrote to Guo Bang, who led the army to encircle the pass, and asked him what he meant.We are all brothers, why do we suddenly meet each other?Guo Si wrote back and said, I don't know why?The Son of Heaven has a decree, and Lord Xiangguo has a military order. I can't help myself, brother. Don't blame me.

Wu Xiong lost contact with Yan Liang and could not know the details, but he knew that the 3000 troops of himself and Xiang Cheng could not hold the two passes, so he did not hesitate to send someone to Han Hao on the other side of the Yellow River. call for help.After the general and Yuan Shao shook hands and made peace, Liang Baiwu and others withdrew back to Hedong with an army of [-].According to the agreement between the two parties, the northern army did not cross the Yellow River, and Yuan Shao provided a certain amount of rations to Wu Xiong who was stationed in Mengjin and Xiaopingjin.If there are any changes between the two parties, they must be notified in advance.

In his letter to Han Hao, Wu Xiong said that the general seemed to have fallen out with the imperial court. Today, the emperor has issued an order, and Dong Zhuo has issued an order. The [-] Northern Army is at Mengjin and Xiaopingjin Pass, and the war is imminent.Following Lord Yan's military order, I asked Lord Han for help, hoping that Lord Han would come to help quickly to ensure the safety of Hanoi.

On the day the letter was sent, Han Hao replied. He said that he had no right to decide on the matter of leading the army across the river to help each other.Wu Xiong waited for five days, Mengjinguan had already started a fierce battle, but Han Hao still didn't send any news.

"My lord, the river wind is too strong, why don't you put on your cloak?" The guard behind him whispered while holding an old purple-red cloak.

Wu Xiong looked up at the sky, then gently shook the whip in his hand, stretched out his hand to touch the scar on his face, and fell silent.This is the commemoration left by attacking the Huns in the cloud last year, and it is also his glory.When others called him Wu Dascar, he didn't feel angry or inferior at all, but rather proud.However, when he touched the scar on his face today, he didn't feel any glory. On the contrary, he was full of confusion and hesitation, and even a little fear. He felt like he was walking in the dark night, unable to see Clear the road ahead, also can not identify the direction of progress.

How could the Northern Army attack us?How could the emperor order to attack the general?

"My lord, go back, the northern army may be about to attack the city." The guard turned to look at the pass where the flags were flying, and said anxiously, "At the beginning of the year, Lord Yang fought against them, and the prefect Wang Kuang still ate him." It’s a shame. Now that they see us being besieged by the Northern Army, how can they help us before they are too happy?”

Wu Xiong didn't want to explain.At this time, Yuan Shao was fighting fiercely with the Yellow Turban Army such as Bai Rao and Yu Du. If Mengjin and Xiaopingjin fell, the Northern Army would have to cross the river to attack. He was sure that after Yuan Shao received his request for help, he would deploy troops to help him defend the pass no matter what.

Another personal guard saw that Wu Xiong hadn't spoken for a long time, so he asked cautiously: "My lord, why did the northern army attack us? At the beginning of the year, we came all the way from the desert to defend Luoyang. Order to beat us? Could it be that we are all rebels like them?" Pointing to the other side of the river, the guard said in bewilderment, "The general first said that Yuan Shao was a rebel and wanted to beat him, and then he said that Yuan Shao was not a rebel. Reconciled with him. Tell me, is it because of this incident that the emperor..."

"That happened in May." Wu Xiong turned to look at him and said with a smile, "If the Son of Heaven wanted to beat us, he would have done so long ago. Don't wait until now. Don't make wild guesses. Let me ask you, do you believe it?" General, do you still believe in the Son of Heaven?"

"Of course it's the general." The two guards said loudly in unison.

"Then what do you still doubt? The general will never be a rebel, and the emperor will never attack the general. As for why the Northern Army attacked us, I don't know. Now General Yan Liang is probably the same as us, and was also attacked by the Northern Army." Surrounded in a tiger prison, we can't get definite information, so we can only stand firm and wait for help."

"The general will definitely come to rescue us." The two guards said confidently, "Maybe he has already crossed the Yellow River."

Wu Xiong smiled, with a look of worry on his face.This is Luoyang and Gyeonggi, no matter how powerful the general is, he would not dare to do whatever he wants here.Did the general already know that Luoyang's northern army was under attack?Can the general come and save us?Wu Xiong sighed quietly, feeling suffocated in his heart.Three thousand soldiers, here are my three thousand brothers, can I bring them back to northern Xinjiang safely?
A fast horse came galloping from the pass.

"My lord, Mr. Han is in a hurry to write."

Wu Xiong took the bamboo slips handed over by his personal guard, turned his head to look at the gorgeous morning glow rising from the east, and suddenly felt great pride in his heart.General, I will definitely take the brothers back.

=

The sun rises.

When Xiaopingjin closed the gate, the sound of drums suddenly shook the sky, and the sound of killing was like thunder.

The black arrows were like huge black clouds, overwhelmingly pouring down on the city wall.

"Kill..." Following Zhang Ji's order, thousands of Northern Army soldiers, under the cover of archers, carried the siege ladder and rushed towards the pass.

The Northern Xinjiang Army's shield players were in front and the archers were in the back. Braving the sky full of arrows, they rose up to fight back.

"Let the arrows... release the arrows..." Commander Sima Mengsi pointed at the soldiers of the Northern Army swarming under the pass, and roared wildly, "block them in the moat, block them in the moat..."

The Northern Army built a ladder bridge over the moat as quickly as possible.The siege soldiers rushed across the moat and climbed rapidly along the ladders.

"Kill..." Wu Xiong threw his shield and smashed the enemy who jumped up into the air, and then chopped off the opponent's head with a knife, "Kill...kill them for me..."

The fierce battle begins.

=

Dusk, Luoyang, Bi Guiyuan.

Quick horses rushed into the big tent, "My lord, Hanoi soldiers suddenly appeared at Mengjin Pass and Xiaopingjin Pass. The two lords Li Jue and Guo Si have ordered the army to stop attacking."

Dong Zhuo snorted coldly, and asked disdainfully, "How many soldiers can this rebel Yuan Shao have? Is it Han Hao from Heyang?"

The courier was dripping with sweat, "We saw Han Hao's battle flag on both passes."

Dong Zhuo waved his hand vigorously, "Go back and tell Li Jue and Guo Si that I will personally rush to Mengjin to supervise the battle tomorrow morning."

=

Li Ru once again persuaded Dong Zhuo to contact Li Hong immediately, "We have attacked Hedong for eight days, and our goal has been basically achieved. The next step should be to fight and talk with Li Hong, so that you can concentrate your main force to go south and capture Yingchuan and Nanyang. Now we There is really no need to waste our troops on attacking the three passes. Do you want to give up fighting south and cross the river to attack Yuan Shao instead?"

"According to the time calculation, Li Hong has already arrived in Linfen. We should discuss with him as soon as possible so as not to delay the opportunity." Tian Yi also persuaded, "Yuan Shao will not let us cross the river to attack and threaten his survival. The harder we attack, Meng Jin The more reinforcements He Xiaopingjin will have. Time waits for no one, and the adults still make a decision."

Dong Zhuo was determined not to follow.

Now Yanqing and Xu Sanzhou are in full swing; Yuan Shu has been attacked by Dong Yue, and he can't take care of both ends; Yuan Shao's reinforcements have arrived at the pass and are facing enemies on three sides;The more battlefields, the greater the price paid by all parties, and the shortage of money and food will follow, especially the food in the three prefectures of Hebei, Henan, and Jing, which will soon become the object of snatching by all parties.

If there is less food, the battle will be more intense, the war will be longer, and the battles will continue one after another.Ant thieves from Qingzhou and Heishan, Yanqing and Xu Sanzhou's counter-insurgency army, Yuan Shao from Hanoi, Han Fu from Jizhou, Yuan Shu from Jingyu, Sun Jian and Liu Biao, Li Hong from Northern Xinjiang, and even Liu Yu from Youzhou, will all join this party. In a bloody, brutal and protracted battle for survival.

We not only want to grab this year's grain, but also destroy the spring plowing in various places, making them lose next year's grain, making them fight with each other, and making them lose the grain in three or even four years' time.

As long as we keep fighting and looting in the Kanto area, and provoke all sides to fight at all costs until the spring plowing in April next year, and turn Kanto, Yingchuan, and Nanyang into ruins, then we will be able to live in peace. Stay in Guanzhong with peace of mind, while others will be so tired that they won't even have time to catch their breath.For food and survival, they will fight in full swing in Jizhou, Yuzhou and Jingzhou.

Relying on the thousands of miles of fertile fields in Guanzhong and the years of plundering, we can recover our vitality within two to three years, and then we will fight in all directions, stabilize the country, and make great achievements throughout the world.

Li Ru and Tian Yi were secretly horrified.

=

"My lord, don't you want to occupy Nanyang and Yingchuan?" Tian Yi asked in surprise, "Why did your lord suddenly change his mind?"

"I never changed my mind, it's just that you didn't understand my original intention." Dong Zhuo laughed loudly, "Why did Huangfusong suggest that the emperor confer the title of Princess Changping as the eldest princess? Is it just to restrict Li Hong's power? A joke, there is no army, no force, how can the eldest princess restrict Li Hong's power? Look at me, who can restrict my power in today's world? Li Hong is the same, no one He can be restrained. There is only one way to restrain Li Hong, and that is to use the prestige of the emperor and the eldest princess, and the prestige of the veterans of Northern Xinjiang to divide and win over the generals of Northern Xinjiang. Then what? Then they will use these generals of Northern Xinjiang to oppose The loyalty of the emperor tried to persuade them to give up the northern border and attack Chang'an."

"I invited the Son of Heaven to honor nine generals and twelve Zhonglang generals in the northern border army. Why was I so generous? You didn't understand at the time. Hu Zhen, Niu Fu and others even lost their temper at me. I think I favor one over the other. Now? Now look again, these nine generals who hold festivals and false festivals, aren’t they the ones that the eldest princess and those old ministers are wooing? Northern Xinjiang may not be chaotic because of this, and Li Hong may not necessarily be because of this. And lose control of the generals in northern Xinjiang, but one thing is for sure, Li Hong will be caught in a dilemma because of this, should he give up northern border and attack Chang'an? Or try to protect northern border to maintain checks and balances?"

"After I occupy the prefectures and counties in Jing and Henan, although I can get rid of the crisis in Gyeonggi, I will divide my troops and garrison, which will lead to the emptiness of Chang'an. If Li Hong decides to give up the northern border and attack Chang'an, what should I do? Don't forget Well, it was Huangfusong's idea to bestow the eldest princess and send veterans into the Jin Dynasty. That is to say, a considerable number of people in the Chang'an court will become Li Hong's internal support. If these people are not eliminated, the court will be uneasy, and my life will be in jeopardy day and night. Save."

"So I fought in Hedong, lured Li Hong to Hedong, gave enough time for the eldest princess and the veterans to establish their own influence, restrained and favored Li Hong, so as to shake his determination, and forced him to fight in Chang'an or Luoyang. In this way As a result, I can not only drag Li Hong into a series of wars, consume his money and food, but also trigger internal strife in northern Xinjiang, trapping and killing the gang of rebels in the Chang'an court."

Dong Zhuo clapped his hands suddenly, and said excitedly: "A few months later, Li Hong can no longer speak with one voice, whether it is the military administration of Northern Xinjiang or the army of Northern Xinjiang. Although he can still control the overall situation, the respect he received Too many elbows are like a leopard that has lost its sharp teeth, it is enough to injure people, but it takes a lot of trouble to kill people."

Dong Zhuo then waved his hands and laughed, "What will happen next? Haha..."

"Li Hong has no money and no food. The same is true for Yuan Shao. The anti-rebel army in Yanqing and Xu Sanzhou, the ant thieves in Qingzhou and Heishan, everyone, except us, they have no food, so..." Dong Zhuo punched When they went to the case table, they shouted loudly, "When they fight, our chance will come, haha... They kill each other, and in the end, the survivors are dying. We have a knife, and we can go all the way effortlessly Kill the past and revive our great Han community."

"How...how? What about my idea?"

=

Li Ru and Tian Yi looked at the obese and arrogant Xiangguo with great admiration, silently thinking about what he just said, and were speechless for a while.

"So, the main purpose of your lord is to attack the east of the river?" Tian Yi asked softly.

"I still want to fight Yuan Shao." Dong Zhuo said triumphantly, "I will fight both of them. I want them to quickly consume all the money and food in Jizhou. Then I see what they will do? Do they want to fight Luoyang? Do they want to fight Chang'an? Okay, yes, let’s fight. I’ll go back to Guanzhong and fight them, but they always have to eat their stomachs to fight, right? You’ve been worried that they’d form a three-party alliance to fight me, haha... why don’t you think about it, this battle It took more than half a year to fight. How could they have the food to supply 10,000+ troops for half a year? But they don’t have so many troops, how can they defeat me? Haha... The leopards gave me half a year, and finally let me breathe, it’s just them themselves But it is getting worse and worse. Compared with the beginning of the year, they are not much different from refugees now. Haha, am I poor? Am I poor? This month, the grain harvest in Guanzhong is bumper. .”

"Haha..." Dong Zhuo looked at the two shocked subordinates, and the more he thought about it, the more complacent he became, and he couldn't help laughing, "In terms of fighting, you are much worse than me, haha..."

"My lord, the northern army's money and food must be guaranteed first, otherwise, if you do this, you will be drinking doves to quench your thirst and kill yourself." Li Ru reminded, "We will definitely use up this year's food in Guanzhong, and then we have to wait until next year. It can only be replenished when the winter wheat is harvested in May, so this month, the main force of the army must go south to Jing and Henan to plunder."

"Yuan Shu's troops are limited, and Kong Zhou (zhou) has no strength to restrain a chicken. Only one Sun Jian is a bit troublesome." Dong Zhuo said indifferently, "I asked Lu Bu to entangle Sun Jian, and let Dong Yue, Li Su, Hu Zhen, and Li The four men of Meng dug three feet of land in the area of ​​Nanyang and Yingchuan. With our current 3 or [-] horses, in just one month, the money and food in these two counties will be mine."

Dong Zhuo pointed to Li Ru and said, "Go to Hulao Pass tomorrow and keep an eye on that tiger." Then he pointed to Tian Yi and said, "Order Duan Yao, Niu Fu and Fan Chou to order them to attack every two days, and then attack three times a day. Don't stop when Tian is attacking. This time I just want to provoke the leopard to see what he can do with me? Fight me, he's still a little tender."

=

Hulao Pass.

It was Wu Qiuyi who was forced to be imprisoned by the soldiers.According to Li Ru's order, he set up a camp with 5000 people for several miles outside the pass, pretending to be an army of 2 to threaten Yan Liang.

Yan Liang sent people to inform Zhang Miao of Chenliu and Kong Ni of Yangdi that he hoped to get food aid from them, and at the same time ordered the captain Sun Luan to lead 1000 people to guard Xingyang, and himself to lead 3000 people to guard the tiger prison.

At dusk that day, Zhu Jun quietly rushed to the pass alone, asking to meet Yan Liang.

Zhu Jun explained the current situation in detail, "Dong Zhuo pretended to attack Hedong, threatened the general and [-] northern soldiers, in an attempt to hold back the general's strength, so that he could take the opportunity to lead the main force of the northern army to go south and occupy Yingchuan and Nanyang." He analyzed the consequences of Dong Zhuo's occupation of Yingchuan and Nanyang, and finally said, "I plan to launch a mutiny and kill Dong Zhuo so that no future troubles will come."

Yan Liang had a cold face, and a murderous aura suddenly shot out from his narrowed eyes.He let out a cold snort through his nose, and said in a low voice: "Without the general's military order, I will never leave the pass."

Yan Liang's arrogance and extreme distrust made Zhu Jun very annoyed. He suppressed his anger and continued to explain: "Dong Zhuo is now in Biguiyuan, with three thousand Xiliang cavalry and two thousand tiger guards by his side. I plan to fight with Wu Master Qiu Yi led his army into Bi Guiyuan late at night, I wonder if he is willing to help you with all your strength?"

Yan Liang shook his head, "9000 people fight 5000 people, there is no certainty of victory. If the two sides get into a melee, Li Jue, Guo Si, Lu Bu, Hu Zhen and others rush back to help, and we will be surrounded."

Zhu Jun sneered: "My lord is known as the tiger head, and he is the number one warrior in northern Xinjiang. Is he so courageous?"

Yan Liang stroked the short beard under his chin, and said calmly: "I have an eighty-year-old mother on top, and a beautiful wife and children on my bottom, so I must be a little timid, ashamed, ashamed."

===

(End of this chapter)