After Dong Zhuo retreated to Chang 'an, he finally killed all of Yuan Shao's family members in the capital. At the same time, he ordered all the troops resisting the alliance army to retreat back to Chang' an, giving way to the main road leading to the dilapidated Luoyang. Sun Jian took the lead to enter Luoyang, followed by some of the heroes. Most of them were preparing to return to their respective territories.
It was only later on that they heard rumors that Sun Jian, who was the first to enter the city, had discovered the Heirloom Seal. The news was secretly spread from Sun Jian's camp. Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu learned of this news from different channels. Regardless of whether Sun Jian had obtained this treasure or not, Sun Jian's rapid retreat from Luoyang and Luyang confirmed this matter. Therefore, under Yuan Shu's calculations, Sun Jian was finally going to encounter the fatal disaster that this peerless treasure brought to him. After all, with my current military strength, it would be difficult for me to gain the slightest advantage against Dong Zhuo's elite troops. Moreover, the hundreds of miles around Luoyang had been turned into a desolate land by Dong Zhuo. Guo Jia also felt that our army had achieved their goal of fighting, so he had the intention to retreat.
On the eastern battlefield, I finally understood part of Yuan Shao's intentions. It turned out that Yuan Shao was not aiming for Dong Zhuo, but was secretly trying to support Liu Yu as Emperor. Although Yuan Shao had spent a lot of effort running back and forth in the middle, it was a pity that Liu Yu was not muddle-headed. How could he be willing to be the puppet emperor? Yuan Shao's painstaking efforts to persuade him to advance were disappointed.
On the way back, I marched to Puyang and learned that Liu Dai and Qiao Mao had finally started a verbal dispute. Under the secret instigation of the Yuan brothers, it turned into a fight of force. The war was in Yan County. In the end, Liu Dai killed Qiao Mao and annexed his troops. Liu Dai appointed Wang Gong as the prefect of Dongjun. The news came that our army had just arrived near Puyang in East County. Guo Jia, who had been thinking about our military strategy after the war against Dong, thought that this was a good opportunity for us to intervene in Yanzhou.
"Ming Gong, this is a good opportunity to enter Yanzhou.”Guo Jia said," Although our army has less than ten thousand men, compared to Liu Yanzhou, our army can be considered elite. Moreover, Duke Ming has Zhao Yun and Dian Wei, who can fight against ten thousand men, and Wu Anguo, who is a fierce general. Their combat strength far surpasses Liu Yanzhou's. Moreover, half of Liu Yanzhou's army had just surrendered, and the morale of the army was not stable. It was not difficult to defeat Liu Yanzhou. In addition, Ming Gong was righteous and had the power to kill and live in Yanzhou's military affairs. Liu Yanzhou had killed the prefect without permission and had already lost the hearts of the people in Yanzhou.”Guo Jia analyzed from both military and political perspectives.
Although our army's previous strategy was to first settle Qingzhou, then Yan and Yu, the situation was stronger than the people. Now that we encountered such an opportunity, Guo Jia, who was extremely sensitive to timing, immediately realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we allow Liu Dai to gather the hearts of the people, it will definitely bring even greater pressure to our army's next attack. Therefore, from the current situation, there was no harm in fighting. However, I was worried that there would be a huge disparity between our forces and Liu Dai's.(Currently, our army only has around 7000 men, while according to the reports of the scouts and my estimates, Liu Dai has around 35,000 to 40,000 men, including around 15,000 Qiao Mao troops.) I was afraid that we might not be able to defeat him. The battle with Xu Rong had left quite a shadow in my heart, and I was worried that we might end up like dogs instead of tigers. However, Guo Jia insisted on speaking up, and I finally made up my mind.
Therefore, as the General of the Right and Commander-in-Chief of the Qing and Yan armies, I announced in Puyang that Liu Dai had killed an official of the imperial court without permission, relieved him of his post as the governor of Yanzhou, and would carry out a punitive expedition. Of course, I did not accept Wang Gong as the governor of Dongjun. Instead, I began to appoint officials who were not directly under my jurisdiction for the first time in the form above: At that time, Puyang was leaderless due to the death of Qiao Mao, the prefect of the city. I had the power of the Right General and the Commander-in-Chief of the Qing and Yan armies, so I successfully occupied Puyang, the capital of the East County. I recruited more than 10,000 soldiers in the city and handed them to Han Hao to lead the city defense. I received hundreds of thousands of stones of military rations and millions of dollars. What surprised me was that the famous Chen Gong was actually working in the prefect's office in the city. He had just accepted the appointment in Puyang. No wonder the people I sent couldn't find him.
After a conversation with Chen Gong, I temporarily convinced him to stay in Yanzhou based on my understanding of him. I appointed Chen Gong as the Don't Drive of Yanzhou and take charge of Yanzhou's affairs before Xun Yu's arrival. He will temporarily guard Puyang with Han Hao while I, Guo Jia, Zhao Yun, and Dian Wei will lead our elite troops to attack Liu Dai's army.
At this moment, Liu Dai's army had just swallowed up Qiao Mao's soldiers and was proudly leading the army towards Puyang. He still didn't know that our Beihai Army had already occupied Puyang and announced that they were attacking him. According to Guo Jia's plan, when Liu Dai is about to reach White Horse, our army will set up an ambush near the White Horse. This is a gentle hill area. I will set Vermillion Bird Camp up on the hill, while Tiger Infantry Camp and Dragon Stallion Camp will set up an ambush on both sides of the hill road. Zhao Yun will set up several hundred tiger leopard cavalry behind the hill.
When it was afternoon, Liu Dai's army finally arrived at my ambush. I allowed Liu Dai's front troops to pass through and waited for Liu Dai's middle troops. As the hills here were flat and there were no obstacles, Liu Dai's army marched without any precautions. From the hills, the pace of the infantry was starting to become chaotic. Clearly, they were exhausted from the long march. Liu Dai, who was riding a tall horse, was obviously still immersed in the joy of victory. He was talking loudly with his aides, and laughter could be heard from time to time.
Seeing that the time had come, I ordered the soldiers to strike the drum and advance. The strong archers of Vermillion Bird Camp were already prepared. Almost following the sound of the drum, over a thousand arrows flew like locusts towards Liu Dai's personal guards. The unprepared Liu Dai's personal guards suffered nearly half of their casualties from the first volley of arrows. Not long after the first volley of arrows, the Tiger Infantry Camp led by Dian Wei charged at Liu Dai like a tiger descending a mountain, leaving the Tiger Infantry Camp soldiers far behind. The few personal guards of Liu Dai saw that the situation was not right and reacted quickly. They quickly brandished their spears and sabers and surrounded Dian Wei.
Although Liu Dai's personal guards were strong enough to fight against dozens of people, they were far from being a match for the fierce generals of this era. Dian Wei waved the halberd in his left hand, blocking the spear of one of Liu Dai's personal guards. Blood flowed out from between his thumb and forefinger, and it had actually split open. The power of the halberd was so fierce! Immediately after, he used his right hand to swing the halberd and knocked away the broadsword of one of Liu Dai's guards who had been swinging his saber at him. Then, he swept his right leg out with lightning speed, and the two close to Liu Dai's guards were sent flying with miserable cries. It was obvious that they were breathing heavily.
In the blink of an eye, Dian Wei had severely injured two of Liu Dai's guards and disabled their offensive abilities. I could clearly see how powerful he was from the hill, and I felt an indescribable joy in my heart. If it wasn't for the fact that I was wandering around in the wild jujube tree, I wouldn't have been able to find this powerful general who charged into the battle, nor would I have used a hundred gold coins to buy this ugly, rough man with a huge appetite. It was laughable that Zhang Miao had eyes but failed to see. He actually gave such a fierce general to me for a mere 100 gold. No wonder he had achieved nothing in history. In the time I spent thinking, the Tiger Infantry Battalion soldiers had already arrived near Dian Wei, and Dian Wei had already killed more than ten of Liu Dai's personal guards. He was only a few dozen feet away from the panic-stricken Liu Dai!
At this moment, the cavalry of Zhao Yun's Tiger Leopard Battalion, who had been hiding behind the hill, had already reached the flank of Liu Dai's army. Zhao Zilong, who was riding on a white horse and holding a silver spear, was unstoppable. He forcefully broke through Liu Dai's army and charged towards Liu Dai's banner. Liu Dai's army, which had long been frightened by the battle cries from all directions, was finally in chaos. Liu Dai saw that the situation was hopeless. In order to save his life, he had no choice but to surrender to his army. His tens of thousands of soldiers were now in his hands! In this battle, our army captured more than 40,000 of Liu Dai's army, seized more than 50,000 stones of rations, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and more than 1,000 horses.
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