1st of March.
Wen County, filial piety.
Cao Cao had wanted to take a look at his sponsor, Sima Fang's children, and see if he could kidnap Sima Lang.
Chen Xuan was also quite curious about Sima Lang, who had a good reputation in history.
At the same time.
He also wanted to see the person who caused the people of the world to no longer dare to call themselves loyal, the person who caused the two Jin Dynasties to only dare to "rule the world with filial piety", and the person who caused the continent to sink.
Sima Yi.
He was naturally not afraid of Sima Yi looking down on him.
The Sima Yi of this time and space would never have that chance.
However, when Chen Xuan arrived, the chief told them that Sima Lang had slipped out from under Dong Zhuo's nose two months ago and led his clan to Yanzhou to seek refuge.
Chen Xuan slapped his head.
He had forgotten about this matter.
This was recorded in history.
Indeed, with his brain, if he didn't take the initiative to think, he would always miss something.
Forget it.
At the very least, it meant that he was still a normal person and not a pervert who had been modified by the system.
The first day of the third month, dusk.
Cao Cao's 16,000-strong army was split into five divisions, each with 3,000 men.
During the battle at Mushui Pass, Cao Cao had captured 6,000 prisoners.
Currently, there were about 5,000 captives who were already capable of fighting.
Under Chen Xuan's suggestion, Cao Cao had already begun a series of reforms to the army a few days ago.
Giving preferential treatment to prisoners and not allowing discrimination and bullying of Western Liang's surrendered soldiers was one of them.
However, to be able to bring over 5,000 elite soldiers from Western Liang into the country in such a short period of time was completely beyond Cao Cao's imagination.
Moreover, Cao Cao had also discovered that after the initial stimulation of the system.
The morale of his soldiers was much higher than he had imagined.
Not only that, even after he proposed crossing the river, there was not a single deserter.
Even Cao Cao himself was filled with excitement and battle intent.
Chen Xuan was also quite satisfied with the current state of the soldiers.
Reforming the army, increasing the cohesiveness of the army, and getting rid of the bad habits of the army all needed time to settle down.
At this time, the reform had just begun, and many measures had not yet been implemented. The soldiers had not yet seen the determination of the upper echelons to reform.
Therefore, it could not produce an immediate effect.
The current increase in morale was largely not a product of the reform.
More importantly, it was the 20 points of morale bonus given by the system's special feature, Army Soul.
It would take at least half a month to thoroughly implement the reform.
At that time, their morale might not have been boosted by the system, but they would have been able to catch up to the level of the system now.
[Military Spirit] lasts for 10 days after activation. Cooldown: 10 days.
On the first day of the third month, Cao Cao announced that he would cross the river and fight.
Thus, Chen Xuan activated the characteristic on the first day of March to prevent the morale from plummeting.
This meant that they had to take down Mengjin Pass before the 10th of March.
As for the ambush against Dong Zhuo, it didn't matter anymore without the halo.
He had about half a month to thoroughly implement the reform and win the battle of Mengjin Pass.
The morale of the Cao army would definitely reach an unprecedented height. In the future, there would definitely not be any problems with morale.
Successive victories would bring great confidence to the soldiers, and they would even have faith in the commander.
As for the details of the reform, they were temporarily put aside.
2nd of March.
Chen Xuan and Cao Cao crossed the Yellow River at night and boarded Mount Mang to inspect the camp.
At the same time, they sent people to station and hide on Mount Mang to observe the patrol patterns of the people patrolling the Yellow River.
3rd of March.
Cao Ren deployed 3,000 troops south of Wen County, on the opposite bank of Mengjin Pass.
Chen Xuanjian's strategy.
He ordered Cao Ren to build a camp by the Yellow River and disguise the camp as a ten-thousand-strong army.
At dusk, Xu Rong, who was on Mengjin Pass, floated into the Yellow River and observed Cao Cao's camp up close.
Cao Ren stood in formation on the shore to resist.
It was aggressive.
Xu Rong quickly reported the news to Dong Zhuo.
Li Ru first rushed to Mengjin Pass, then to Hulao Pass for inspection, and finally to Luoyang.
It was still Chongde Hall.
"Do you mean that Cao Cao wants to attack Tiger Cage Pass?" Dong Zhuo asked.”
"I can't rule out this possibility." Li Ru replied," The Cao army on the other side of the Mengjin Ferry seems to have ten thousand troops.
"Actually, it was just Cao Cao's order to put on a show.
"This is enough to show that Cao Cao's intention is not Meng Jin.
"It's just a diversion."
" I knew Cao Cao wouldn't be so bold." Dong Zhuo sneered and said coldly,
"Even I wouldn't dare to cross the river so recklessly, let alone a puny Cao Cao?
"But you were the one who said Xu Rong was suspected of colluding with the enemy.
"Xu Rong has already been transferred away by us.
"You still say that Cao Cao wants to attack Tiger Cage Pass.
"Could it be that Cao Cao is afraid of Xu Rong, and that we've been lured away by Cao Cao?
"Or could it be that Cao Cao has other agents waiting for him at Tiger Cage Pass?
"Our Western Liang Army has already been infiltrated by Cao Cao like a beehive?
"If that's the case, you're saying that this spy is my son Fengxian? Or Fan Chou?"
" This..." Li Ru was also puzzled and did not dare to answer randomly.
What was the purpose of Cao Cao's bluff?
The biggest possibility was that he wanted to attract the attention of the Western Liang Army to Mengjin Pass and then attack Tiger Cage out of curiosity.
Then how could Cao Cao attack Tiger Prison?
Nothing more than the use of Guanzhong garrison generals, inside and outside cooperation.
However, Lu Bu and Fan Chou had fought against the alliance army for days and killed nearly ten generals, so it was impossible for them to have any thoughts of rebellion against Dong Zhuo.
Li Ru was already in a mess.
He had thought about it, and there was indeed an extremely small possibility.
Cao Cao intentionally revealed a flaw, and all that fanfare of pretending to be an army of 10,000 was just for himself to see.
He wanted her to realize that he was pretending.
He wanted to make himself think that he was bluffing and let down his guard around the Yellow River.
If that was the case, then Cao Cao's goal was self-evident.
It was to attract his attention, then secretly cross the river from another place and attack Mengjin.
However, the possibility of this was too small.
Because Cao Cao's army was still at Tiger Cage Pass!
Could it be that he could summon another 10,000 soldiers?!
He had calculated that apart from the six to seven thousand soldiers outside Hulao Pass, Cao Cao could only mobilize three to four thousand men at most.
After all, how could the captives captured by Cao Cao at Lishui Pass surrender so easily?
Cao Cao did not dare to use the captives to cross the river.
As such, it was impossible for Cao Cao to take down Mengjin Pass with his 3,000 troops.
And what would happen after his thousands of men took down Meng Jin?
Quickly flee to Hebei? Then why did Cao Cao make things so exciting?
Or perhaps he would bring these thousands of people to attack Luoyang? Bullshit, was Cao Cao seeking his own death?
Thinking of this, Li Ru finally rejected this extremely small possibility.
"No matter what, it's better for my lord to be on guard against Tiger Cage Pass.
"Why don't we transfer another five thousand men from the other passes to Tiger Cage Pass?
"In the past few days, the vassals outside the pass have appeared calm on the surface, but in reality, undercurrents may not be surging.”
"You mean to say that it might be because of Cao Cao's instigation that the dukes deliberately show me weakness?" Dong Zhuo asked.”
"Not bad," Li Ru said.
Dong Zhuo pondered for a while." Then we'll do as you say. Take my Tiger Tally and send another five thousand men to Tiger Cage Pass."
"As long as we can hold on for another ten days, we can retreat in peace.
"Do you have a plan to retreat safely?”
"There is indeed a plan." Li Ru bowed his head and said.”
"Oh?" Dong Zhuo chuckled. Tell me."
"Collect oil and firewood.
"Burn Luo Yang's Eight Gates to ashes.
"First, use the fire to cut off the road and stop the Guandong rats from chasing after our army.
"Secondly, when we leave Luoyang from Chang 'an in the future, Luoyang will no longer be defenseless.
"Taking the heads of the rats in the east of the country is as easy as taking something out of a bag.”
Dong Zhuo was speechless.
Now, he had already followed Li Ru's plan and dug up the imperial mausoleum and the tombs of the noble families, earning tens of billions of dollars.
The citizens of Luoyang were already in the process of migrating.
In another ten days, they could all enter Hangu Pass.
All the farmlands around Luoyang were burned down.
Now, Li Ru had once again proposed a fire attack strategy, making plans in advance for the next time he would head east to Luoyang.
This son-in-law of his was indeed worthy of being called a poison warrior.
"Third, order Xu Rong to cover the rear for us.”Dong Zhuo's eyes widened.
"The other passes have all been burned down," Li Ru explained."It will be difficult for the jujube army to come and chase us for a while.
"If Mengjin Pass is burned, Cao Cao can still choose another place to land.
"If Xu Rong leaves with us, then Cao Cao and his thousands of troops can safely cross the river in small boats and harass our retreating army.
"Xu Rong would not be unwilling to show his loyalty to the lord.”
"Alright, as you said." Dong Zhuo thought for a moment and waved his hand. "Go and make the arrangements."
Li Ru was just about to move when he turned his body back.
"My lord, although there is no need to send more troops to Mengjin Pass, we still need to send more people from Luoyang to patrol Mengjin Pass day and night, as well as the river, just in case.”
"Alright, alright, I got it." Dong Zhuo didn't mind.
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