Yuan Shao had placed his main force at the front of Luoyang. This was not without benefits. Although Luoyang was now a ruined city, the advantage on this front line had already appeared. As long as all the feudal lords 'troops were reorganized, the general attack could also begin, even though it could have begun long ago.
After staying in Luoyang for three days, Anping received an urgent letter from Lu Fang. Zhang Fei was already very anxious, but when he saw this urgent letter, he felt even more troubled.
Zhang Yan, the leader of the Yellow Turban remnants in Shandong, led 80,000 troops to attack Hebei. Zhang Fei could not understand why he still had so many people after killing so many Yellow Turban. However, he couldn't be separated at the moment. Anping was his hometown, and he couldn't give up. Just as he was feeling anxious, Kong Rong received a similar letter. So on the same day, Zhang Fei, who had wanted to return, chose to stay. Kong Rong led his troops back to the North Sea to rescue. Because Kong Rong's troops were also very neat, Zhang Fei believed that he didn't have to worry too much about this problem in the short term, so he wrote a letter to Lu Fang. He could just recruit some soldiers to guard the Yellow River mouth. As long as the Yellow Turban did not cross the Yellow River, there would be nothing for him to do in Hebei.
Indeed, Kong Rong had a reason to go back, but in just two days, Sun Jian from Changsha and Liu Biao from Jingzhou had to go back. Zhang Fei still found Sun Jian's reason strange. However, because Zhang Fei was still very fond of Sun Jian, he did not suspect him. However, the next morning, when Sun Jian was about to say goodbye, he was stopped by Yuan Shao. The reason was-the jade seal!
"Hand it over!" Yuan Shao was very direct and directly said to Sun Jian, but he did not put Sun Jian in his eyes at all. Sun Jian was not willing to be outdone and retorted,"There's no jade seal! I didn't even see it!"
"Humph! Look at who this person is!" Yuan Shao sneered and called out a person. Sun Jian took a closer look and saw that it was his original subordinate, a man from Hebei. Now that he had told Yuan Shao about this matter, it was for the sake of his own use. Sun Jian sighed in his heart that he had not used the right person, but he was thinking about how to escape today. However, in his panic, he saw Zhang Fei run in and had a plan in his heart.
Zhang Fei saw that the topic of everyone's dispute was actually the jade seal, so he kept silent on the principle of not causing trouble. Although he believed that Sun Jian did not take the jade seal, sometimes intuition could help a person avoid trouble. It was this inexplicable intuition that allowed Zhang Fei to not be isolated by the princes.
Sun Jian originally wanted Zhang Fei to help him out of this predicament, but he never expected that the always upright Zhang Fei would also keep silent. He was a little annoyed, but he couldn't think of a way to escape. Bi had very few people in his hands now. If he could return to Changsha, it would be fine. If he couldn't, he wouldn't know his ending.
"Originally, I saw that General Sun was not a villain. He definitely did not have the jade seal. Why don't we let him make a poison oath so that we don't ruin our harmony at this moment?”The person who spoke was none other than Cao Cao. Cao Cao had his own plans. Currently, there were some powerful vassals from Xuzhou to Jingzhou. If a tiger from Jiangdong was placed in Changsha, it would be good even if there were a few years of peace. Although Sun Jian was a good person, there were probably not many people who would not be tempted by the Imperial Jade Seal. From all the signs, the Imperial Jade Seal was indeed in Sun Jian's hands.
"You!" Yuan Shao wanted to flare up, but he and Cao Cao were old friends, so he didn't blame them. He just stared straight at Sun Jian and said," Swear that we'll believe you first. If anything happens in the future, even the heavens will capture you!"”Sun Jian was naturally a little timid. The theory of ghosts and gods was a mystery. If one believed in it, there would be ghosts and gods. If one did not believe in it, there would be none. Unfortunately, Sun Jian believed in ghosts and gods, so he was a little hesitant at that moment. Fortunately, it was only a momentary pause. The other family members could not see it. However, Zhang Fei saw Sun Jian's eyes freeze and was shocked. He thought to himself that there was no perfect person in the world. He had also made a mistake!
"Heaven is a mirror! If Sun Jian hid the jade seal, he would definitely die under the sword in the future!”However, he spoke with such confidence that many dukes believed him. However, Zhang Fei became much more serious. He knew that he had discovered a weakness of his, which was his invisible naivety. Fortunately, he had discovered this weakness today. Therefore, while feeling vexed, he also felt a trace of gratitude toward Sun Jian.
On the same day that Sun Jian left for Changsha, Liu Biao also got up to go back. No one knew the reason, but it was not a good thing to lose several groups of people in a row. There was no problem in the overall situation. They just had to consider the route to Chang 'an. Yuan Shao was worthy of being the leader of the alliance. On the day he entered Luoyang, he sent a letter to Ma Teng of Xiliang to send troops to Chang' an. Ma Teng was a straightforward person. On the day he received Yuan Shao's letter, he said, He ordered 30,000 troops to go to Chang 'an.
After Dong Zhuo kidnapped the emperor and went to Chang 'an, he was even worse to the officials. However, because his power was still there, everyone only dared to be angry but did not dare to speak up. Although Dong Zhuo was afraid of the Guandong vassals, his subordinates were not convinced by the hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the Guandong. It was on the day Ma Teng left that Li Su decided to divide the vassals. The incident of Sun Jian obtaining the jade seal was planned by him. With the departure of Liu Biao and Sun Jian, the entire vassal alliance was a strong man in the north. Therefore, what they needed to do now was to create some small intersection between their interests, and the way to make them intersect was to be conferred official positions!
In fact, the official titles during the war were not counted, but people like Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan were happy if you gave them a reason to run amok in a certain place.
In fact, Zhang Fei and Yuan Shao were the most powerful in Hebei. However, if one were to evaluate them objectively, Zhang Fei's strength was not as good as Yuan Shao's. Yuan Shao had only brought 60% of his troops to rescue the king, while Zhang Fei had moved almost all of his belongings. He had not learned how to use that trick.
If Gongsun Zan wanted to gain a foothold in Hebei, he had to defeat Yuan Shao and not Zhang Fei, because Yuan Shao was sandwiched between the two forces. Li Su's plan had to be said to be a success. On the day Gongsun Zan was appointed as the prefect of Beiping, Gongsun Zan led his cavalry back to Beiping. When Gongsun Zan left, Yuan Shao became irritated. He was the leader of the alliance, but he could not leave like this. However, on the third day, a document from the prefect of Xindu made him hurriedly summon all the vassals.
" Dong is now a trapped beast. It's autumn now, and it will take a month to capture Chang 'an. Why don't we return to our respective places and come back to deal with the bandits when spring comes?”Yuan Shao tried his best to make his voice sound gentle, but he did not know that these dukes knew what medicine he was selling.
"Since I was the alliance leader, how could I say such irresponsible words! The thief hasn't been exterminated yet. How can we live?" The person who shouted was Cao Cao. He glared at Yuan Shao." We have raised an army to revive the king's way. We have traveled thousands of miles, not for wealth and fame, but for the emperor who is under the control of the thief! Now that the country is weak and the enemy is strong, we don't think about how to enter the enemy, but how to live. This is not the way to be a minister!”
Under Cao Cao's furious roar, everyone lowered their heads and did not speak. It was likely that they all felt guilty in their hearts, but Yuan Shao had his own thoughts. Therefore, even if he became a disobedient person, no one could do anything to him!
Yuan Shao said,"We'll stop for another ten days. If we don't win, we'll go back."”
"Why ten days? Three days is enough!" Cao Cao was quick to speak and said a big lie, but it was too late to regret it.
Yuan Shao saw Cao Cao's arrogance and clapped his hands.""Good! We'll do as you say!"
Cao Cao's main force only had about ten thousand men. On the line from Luoyang to Chang 'an, ten thousand men were not enough for Dong Zhuo. In fact, the dukes had always neglected a problem, which was the combat strength of the soldiers. Although the combat strength of the Western Liang cavalry was not unparalleled in the world, in the confrontation between cavalry and infantry, the cavalry often won, with the exception of the Qin country. If an infantryman wanted to win against a cavalry, morale was a factor, but it was more reflected in equipment. For example, the Qin country's three-pronged crossbows, before the cavalry could even reach them, they would already be shot like hedgehogs. They had no advantage in mobility and impact. Therefore, if Cao Cao really wanted to win a battle before entering Chang 'an, he had to rely on Zhang Fei's strength. This was because among all the vassals in the east of the country, only Zhang Fei had the strength and ability to suppress the cavalry.
Zhang Fei also knew Cao Cao's difficulties, so he asked Guan Yu to divide half of his troops to lead Zhao Yun and Zhang Feng to attack Yongning. After the Xiliang army withdrew from Luoyang, they left 5,000 garrison troops in Yongning to restrain the vassals of the east of the country. If they took Yongning, Mianchi, Caoyang, Hongnong, and Jia County would be exposed to the tiger's mouth of hundreds of thousands of troops. Hangu Pass would become a waste pass, and it would take a few days to march to Chang 'an. However, it was not as sudden as taking Hulao Pass. The Western Liang army had long known that Zhang Fei had a weapon like the triple crossbow, so there would not be a repeat of what happened at Tiger Cage Pass. Coincidence would not happen again on the battlefield!
The mysterious loss of Tiger Cage Pass had caused the Western Liang army to have a very targeted arrangement at Hangu Pass and Tiger Cage Pass. They had to use the city walls and cavalry to exhaust the hundreds of thousands of troops in the east of the country. In order to prevent a sudden attack like what had happened at Tiger Cage Pass, Li Su's troops in Yongning and Caoyang were soldiers who had fought their way through hundreds of battles. Therefore, it was impossible for Cao Cao to take down these two cities without sacrificing some blood.
Cao Cao's soldiers did not have any advantage, so they could only rely on Zhao Yun's 2,000 black armored cavalry. Guan Yu's movements outside Yongning City were all according to Zhang Fei's arrangements. Now was indeed not the best time to attack. Cao Cao did not have much time, and neither did Zhang Fei. If they could not take down Dong Zhuo by autumn this year, they would not have any chance after winter and spring. With Dong Zhuo's influence in Western Liang, he could do it in spring! No, in just a month, they would be able to match the dukes in terms of military strength. Although the attacking side had the advantage, the losses were always greater than the defending side. The siege was originally ten times broken, five times surrounded, and twice lured. If they didn't even have the advantage in numbers, they would be lucky if they weren't defeated by Dong Zhuo, let alone crusade against him.
Since Cao Cao had made a promise, he had to do it. For the sake of victory in the next three days, Cao Cao's big move began.
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