At Tiger Cage Pass, all the dukes quieted down. After the sneak attack failed, the dukes took the initiative to retreat ten miles and set up camp.
The main camp was also gloomy. Of the remaining seven dukes, Sun Jian was injured and spent all day in his own camp. Qiao Mao and Zhang Chao were afraid of following in Gongsun Zan and Wang Kuang's footsteps, so they claimed to be ill and stayed in their own camps.
Cao Cao, Tao Qian, Kong Rong, and Bao Xin sat in the tent silently.
After a long time, Cao Cao said,"Today, we lost 50,000 troops for nothing." "Now, we have the same number of people as the Western Liang army. He suffered a few consecutive defeats. What do you think we should do?"
"Why don't we just defend here and send soldiers to train outside the pass every day to hold off his 150,000 soldiers?”Tao Qian was more than capable of defending, and the countermeasure he thought of was also a safe one, but it was exactly what Cao Cao wanted.
If the vassal army could advance triumphantly, he would definitely charge forward. However, in this situation where they were bound to lose, he was happy to continue in this stalemate. He would make a decision only when the news came.
In Tiger Cage Pass.
Dong Zhuo no longer had any worries. He stayed in his temporary mansion, eating, drinking, and having fun all day. He handed all the military affairs and government affairs to Li Ru, and he was fully responsible for them. Of course, he wouldn't be at ease if he gave it to someone else.
Ever since Lu Bu had wiped out the sneak attack, he had taken the initiative to stay behind the pass, leading 25,000 cavalrymen to set up camp.
Li Ru originally wanted him to continue to participate in guarding the pass, but then he thought about it. He had been in the limelight enough, so it would still depend on his own performance. Thus, he let Lu Bu go. His 25,000 cavalry was useless in defending the city anyway.
Lu Bu immediately scattered all the cavalry and used the method of one old man leading four new ones to start training the cavalry again. The training task was handed over to Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, and Zhang Xiu. He spent the whole day with Dian Wei, sparring with him.
Unlike the peace in Tiger Cage Pass, the battle in Mushui Pass was raging.
Yuan Shao had arranged for him to have fewer guards, so it was easier to attack Mushui Pass. Thus, the moment they came up, they began to command the army to attack. After fighting for two consecutive days, there was no progress. They had only just filled up the moat.
Fortunately, he was still young and easily accepted other people's opinions. He listened to the advisor's suggestion and asked Ma Teng to lead his troops to the back of the pass to carry out a surprise attack. On the front, his attacks were still as fierce as a rainbow.
After two days of fierce attacks, the defenders of the pass had gotten used to their method of attack. It was not time for him to eat and sleep when he was defending the city.
The third watch of the night was the time when the soldiers slept the deepest. Yuan Shao and the others suddenly launched a fierce attack. An army of 20,000 people set up ladders and pushed siege vehicles, rushing to the pass. Behind them, tens of thousands of archers had already drawn their bows.
Li Cui and Guo Si quickly organized the soldiers to resist and sent people to wake up the sleeping soldiers.
It was also at this moment that Ma Teng's 30,000 soldiers suddenly charged out from behind the pass.
The confused soldiers were suddenly attacked from the front and back, causing chaos. The guards at the pass were infected by the soldiers below and began to want to run. The result of the unstable morale was that the soldiers of the vassal army easily climbed up the wall.
The Western Liang soldiers immediately began to flee. Li Cui and Guo Si suddenly thought that if they didn't run, they would die here. Thus, he hurriedly led his personal guards and fled towards Tiger Cage Pass.
During the chaotic battle, Li Su directly fled to Luoyang. Zhao Cen was killed by Ma Teng's spear. Hu Zhen saw that the situation was hopeless and immediately surrendered to Yuan Shao.
In this battle, more than 10,000 of the 80,000 Western Liang soldiers were killed or injured, and more than 20,000 were captured. The remaining 50,000 soldiers were taken to Tiger Cage Pass by Li Cui and Guo Si, and Li Su brought back more than 5,000 soldiers to Luoyang. The rest fled in all directions.
Two identical strategies had resulted in two completely different outcomes. Looking at the battle report, Cao Cao hid in his camp and slammed the table, cursing Yuan Shao for being shameless.
Dong Zhuo, who was on Tiger Cage Pass, was also so angry that he jumped up and cursed. He cursed at Li Cui and Guo Si.
Fortunately, Dong Zhuo wasn't so angry that he became muddle-headed. After listening to Li Ru's suggestion, they abandoned Hulao Pass and retreated to Luoyang. This was to prevent Yuan Shao's army from charging over again and wrapping him up like a dumpling.
And Yuan Shao had forgotten his name after winning a battle. Instead, he ordered the soldiers to rest, missing the opportunity to surround Dong Zhuo.
Although Dong Zhuo was preparing to retreat to Luoyang, he was still furious at the complete defeat of Li Cui and Guo Si. Thus, he left the two of them at the pass and strictly ordered them to lead their remaining soldiers to defend Tiger Cage Pass. They could only retreat when Dong Zhuo returned to Luoyang.
Ignoring their pleas, Dong Zhuo jumped into his own carriage and started to retreat.
However, Lu Bu did not retreat with him. Instead, he led the 25,000 cavalrymen to lie in ambush on the road leading to Luoyang from Mushui Pass.
Anyway, Li Ru would definitely suggest to Dong Zhuo to move the capital to Chang 'an. At that time, Luoyang would definitely be in chaos. If he returned, he would not be able to stop anything. Instead, he would be sent to grave robbing. It was better to leave far away.
With Jia Xu holding the fort and a troop of 15,000 people, they could easily protect the targets he had set.
Yuan Shao rested for a day before continuing to march toward Luoyang. On Cao Cao's side, Li Cui and Guo Si had fled to Luoyang the day before noon. They also successfully occupied Tiger Cage Pass. However, Yuan Shao had yet to send troops, and he did not dare to send troops alone to avoid being ambushed again. He could only stop at the gate.
Lu Bu waited for more than a day, but Yuan Shao's army did not arrive. He decisively gave the order to retreat. He did not want to waste time with them here. It must be known that the Xiongnu had been pillaging the Central Plains during the few days Dong Zhuo had moved the capital. Although he had sent troops to protect the Cai Residence, if anything happened and Cai Wenji was taken away, he would suffer a huge loss.
A distance of 40 miles was nothing to the cavalry. In two hours, they could see the tall and majestic walls of Luoyang City from afar.
The city was already filled with smoke. The Western Liang army must have begun to plunder and drive the people to Chang 'an. Who knew how many people would die in the wilderness along the way.
Outside Luoyang City, there were also small teams of Western Liang soldiers wandering around robbing people.
Lu Bu was just about to command the soldiers to set up camp on the west side of Luoyang. They saw a troop of soldiers from the north galloping over in carriages and horses, shouting for help. Upon closer inspection, it was Li Su, and Lu Bu hurriedly went up to greet him. Li Su panted and said,""There are Xiongnu soldiers pillaging behind us. Wen Hou, save us.”
It turned out that Li Su had been sent by Dong Zhuo to the northern part of the city to rob the tombs of past emperors. This was originally Lu Bu's mission.
He commanded the troops to make way for the excavation team of one to two thousand people. Lu Bu immediately rushed towards the north. Zhang Liao and Xu Huang didn't wait for his orders and immediately led a team of soldiers to surround him. Zhang Xiu led the logistics team of two to a thousand people to set up camp. After all, the soldiers had been living in the open for several days. They would definitely be extremely tired after the battle.
This group of Xiongnu soldiers who were looting in Luoyang only had five to six thousand people. They had come to the Central Plains to rob supplies in order to survive the winter. He didn't want to walk further and further until he reached Luoyang. It just so happened that Dong Zhuo had transferred all of Luoyang's troops to two passes. This Xiongnu team was planning to fish in troubled waters. After doing this, they planned to return to the grasslands.
He looked at the Xiongnu soldiers who were charging over while howling. Lu Bu laughed coldly as he commanded the cavalry behind him to charge forward.
These Xiongnu soldiers had fought hundreds of battles in the Central Plains. There were Yellow Turban soldiers, bandits, and local garrisons. However, when they saw the Xiongnu soldiers, the only thing they could do was turn around and run. Their cowardice had also caused the Xiongnu soldiers to become savage. Otherwise, they wouldn't have dared to venture deep into the mainland, and they wouldn't have seen Lu Bu's cavalry outnumber them by several times, and they wouldn't have even charged forward like crazy.
As the galloping horses galloped, the two armies collided violently. Not far away from the battlefield, two groups of 5,000 cavalry charged towards the rear of the Xiongnu army. Lu Bu planned to wipe out these Xiongnu people so that they would not harm the people of the Central Plains.
The Xiongnu soldiers only realized the difference when they faced the cavalry, especially their general. His sharp halberd was like the scythe of the Grim Reaper. All the Xiongnu soldiers who faced him were beheaded. It was already too late to escape. Twenty thousand against five thousand. If they could still escape, then Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang wouldn't be able to survive.
In less than two hours, the battle ended. He looked at the 2,000 captives and the 3,000 corpses on the ground. Lu Bu ordered his men to search through all their belongings and then ordered them to be executed.
Looking at the furious resistance of the two thousand men before their deaths, Lu Bu sneered and rode his Red Hare towards Luoyang. It wasn't that he was ruthless, but these Xiongnu people were really evil. Each of them had at least five lives in their hands. By killing them now, Lu Bu would only be helping them accumulate their merits.
Luoyang City was extremely chaotic. However, no one dared to stop Lu Bu and his personal guards. Even those soldiers who did not know him would wisely choose to dodge when they saw such a group of bloody cavalry.
The doors of the Fuma Residence were tightly shut, and Lu Bu's subordinates were standing on the walls. After leaving Dian Wei in his own home, Lu Bu rushed to the Imperial Palace.
The imperial palace of Luoyang City was divided into the north and south palaces. The emperor usually lived in Nangong, and Dong Zhuo also lived here. Thus, Lu Bu had rushed here.
At this moment, Jia Xu, Gao Shun, and Zhao Yun were all gathered in the command post of the Imperial Army commander. Lu Bu entered. He didn't bother with the formalities and directly asked about the current situation.
(There's another chapter tonight, so I'll try to update it a little earlier.)）
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。