Chapter 296 Force Yuan Shao to seek peace

"Marquis Liang!" Zhang Xiu was anxious and knelt down on the ground, saying excitedly, "Yuan Shao's 500,000 army (actually 150,000, known as 500,000) is coming in large numbers, and Bingzhou is in danger! I hope that the Marquis Liang will send troops to rescue him because of the Bingzhou army, which belongs to the Liangzhou lineage, is too late."

Ma Yue remained silent, his eyes showing a look of embarrassment.

Zhang Xiu said again: "Bingzhou is the gateway to Hetao. If you lose your lips, you will feel cold. Yuan Shao's ambitions will be. If you annex Bingzhou, you will definitely turn your attention to Hetao. In this way, the old camp of Lianghou's Hetao may be peaceful forever. The survival of Bingzhou is related to Hetao's safety. Where can Lianghou think of it three times!"

"Oh~~" Ma Yue sighed long and stepped forward to help Zhang Xiu up and said, "It's not that Gu is unwilling to send troops to rescue him, but Gu really has no soldiers to send at the moment."

Zhang Xiu said: "The Liang Hou governed Hetao, Guanzhong, and the total number of troops in Liangzhou was no less than 100,000. The 20,000 troops stationed by Caisangjin were even elite troops in a hundred battles. If the Liang Hou could lead this elite troops to Jinyang north and then order Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao to lead two 10,000 Iron Cavalry from the north and south to attack, how could Yuan Shao's army be defeated?"

"The general doesn't know anything." Ma Yue shook his head and sighed, "There are more than 100,000 troops garrisoned in Hetao, Guanzhong, and Liangzhou under Gu's rule. However, the food and grass are scarce and the military capital is not enough. You can't let Gu's army go hungry and fight against Yuan Shao's tiger and wolf army with both hands, right?"

"The three ten thousand households in Mobei do have tens of thousands of cavalry, but they have to deal with the Dingling people in the north, the Fuyu people and the Xianbei people in the east. Recently, there have been horse thieves in Mobei again. Dozens of horse thieves are rampant on the grassland. The three ten thousand households have been harassed and are overwhelmed. How can they draw cavalry to the south?"

"The 20,000 Liang troops stationed in Caisangjin can go north to Jinyang at any time, but the general thinks that there are only 20,000 troops. Even if Ling Shu's 30,000 Bingzhou troops, the total strength is only 50,000, and the strength is only one-tenth of Yuan Shao's army! This little force is not enough to even stuff people into teeth."

Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew have been paying attention to the trends in Hetao, Mobei, Guanzhong and Liangzhou, so Zhang Xiu knew that the horse butcher was not making up lies! Since the Battle of the Twenty-Three Routes Alliance to Defend Horses, the Liangzhou Legion has indeed been severely damaged. Now is the critical stage for rest and recuperation. If the plan to recuperate is interrupted at this time, it means that more than three years of hard work will be wasted.

Zhang Xiu also knew about the incident of horse thieves in the three tribes of Mobei. The spies and horse probingers of the Bingzhou Army were also spread all over the corners of the Mobei grassland.

It was because he knew that Ma Yue did not make up lies that Zhang Xiu seemed particularly disgusted after hearing this and asked helplessly: "Does Liang Hou plan to stand by and watch?"

"It may not be." Ma Yue said, "If Uncle and Nephew Xian could listen to Gu's words, Gu would have a way to help Bingzhou Army escape this disaster!"

Zhang Xiu said anxiously: "I wish to hear it."

Ma Yue said: "Four words, retreat is advance!"

"Retreat as advance?" Zhang Xiu thought for a moment and then understood Ma Yue's implication and said in a lost voice, "What does Liang Hou mean is to let Bingzhou army retreat to Hedong County?"

Jinyang, the official residence of Zhang Ji, the governor of Bingzhou.

After Caisangjin met Ma Yue, Zhang Xiu quickly led three thousand elite cavalry to Jinyang. When Zhang Xiu arrived in Jinyang, Yanmen County and Xinxing County had fallen one after another. Zhang Xian and Lei Xu led the remaining troops to retreat to Yangqu, Guangmu, and Yuan Shao's army had already arrived in Mengxian, only fifty miles away from Yangqu.

As soon as Zhang Xiu walked into the side hall, Zhang Ji asked anxiously: "Yuan Jin (Zhang Xiu's name is made up), has the Liang Hou agreed to send troops to rescue him?"

"Oh." Zhang Xiu sighed softly and asked, "Have you ever seen Liang Jun come to Jinyang with his nephew?"

"Ah?" Zhang Ji said in disgrace. "But Ma is unwilling to send troops to rescue him. This major event will be over."

Zhang Xiu said: "Although the Marquis of Liang did not send troops, he pointed out a way for his uncle."

"Oh, Yuan Jin, come on."

"Retreat to Hedong."

"This~~" Zhang Jiwei said, "Retreat to Hedong?"

Zhang Xiu said: "Uncle, it is said that if you keep the green mountains of firewood, you are not afraid of burning it out. As long as the army under your uncle is still there, are you still afraid that Bingzhou will not be taken back?"

"Monk Liang also said that once Yuan Shao annexes Bingzhou, his ambitions will inevitably expand further. Next, it is time to cross the Yellow River to attack Yanzhou. Yanzhou is Cao Cao's territory. Cao Cao is not a good guy to mess with. If Yuan Shao starts a war with Cao Cao, it will inevitably be a shocking and fierce battle. If this battle is fought, Yuan Shao will have no time to take care of Bingzhou's defense. At that time, his uncle can take the opportunity to counterattack Bingzhou."

Zhang Jidao: "But Hedong County has few terrestrial slums, so I'm afraid it's difficult to support 30,000 Bingzhou soldiers."

Zhang Xiu said: "Hedong County has a population of less than 50,000, and it is indeed impossible to support the 30,000 army. However, when our army arrives in Hedong, we can follow the Liang army to conduct military farming. Moreover, the Liang Hou promised to receive some military rations from time to time. Life may be harder, but it should be no problem if we keep going."

"But I'm worried about being controlled by the horse butcher." Zhang Ji said with concern, "If you really retreat to Hedong, once the horse butcher takes the opportunity to threaten it, then there will be Yuan Shao in the north, Cao Cao in the south, Zhang Yang in the east, and horse butcher in the west, our army will be in a desperate situation of being surrounded by enemies."

Zhang Xiu said sadly: "But is there a better way now? After all, you and my uncle and nephew are old subordinates in Liangzhou. If they surrender to Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and other warlords of Kwantung will inevitably be excluded and ended up in a bleak end. Although Liang Hou was cruel and bloodthirsty and notorious, he was still good to his subordinates."

Zhang Ji disagreed and said, "Did Yuan Jin forget Duan Wei, the prefect of Wudu?"

"Duan Wei is seeking death by himself, and he can't blame Liang Hou!" Zhang Xiu said, "My nephew also wants to advise his uncle. If he decides to follow Liang Hou, it is best not to have any other intentions from now on. From now on, he will follow Liang Hou to work together to seek hegemony. Perhaps he can shine on the party. Otherwise, he may bring disaster to the extermination of the clan."

Zhang Ji said unanimously: "Is there really no other way?"

Zhang Xiu asked back, "Did my uncle think that just 30,000 Bingzhou troops can resist 500,000 Hebei troops?"

Zhang Ji thought for a moment, gritted his teeth and said, "Forget it, let the entire army move towards Hedong!"

Caisangjin.

Ma Yue stood at the ferry with his hands behind his back, letting the cold wind blow on his face, looking up at the brilliant starry sky for a long time without saying a word, Jia Xu's figure appeared behind Ma Yue like a ghost, and asked coldly: "My lord is worried, Zhang Ji, and Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew will lead the army south?"

"You must be worried." Ma Yue sighed, "You did this to force Zhang Ji to the dead end. If Zhang Ji threw the can and threw it into Yuan Shao, it would be a handful of rice that would be lost."

Jia Xu said confidently: "Don't worry, lord, Zhang Ji will never surrender to Yuan Shao."

Ma Yue said: "Wenhe is so sure?"

Jia Xu said: "My lord, don't forget that Zhang Ji is a native of Wuwei, a genuine Liangzhou warlord. Since Dong Zhuo rebelled against the capital, the grudge between Liangzhou warlords and Guandong warlords has been around for a long time. This grudge cannot be resolved by saying that it can be resolved by untied. If Zhang Ji wants to defect to Yuan Shao, he will not be without scruples."

"And most of the 30,000 soldiers under Zhang Ji were Guan and Liang people. Even if Zhang Ji decided to surrender to Yuan Shao, would his 30,000 soldiers under him surrender?"

"Report~~" As soon as Jia Xu finished speaking, his personal soldiers rushed forward and knelt down and said sternly, "Marquis Liang, Jinyang urgently reported."

Ma Yue's expression moved and said sternly: "Tell me."

The personal soldiers said: "The Bingzhou army has left the city and headed south at night."

"Okay! That's great!" Ma Yue said fiercely, "Immediately sending Ma Chao and Xu Chu to act as planned and prepare to take over the Bingzhou army."

"Affect the order."

The personal soldiers agreed and took the order and left.

Watching the figures of the personal soldiers go away, Ma Yue stroked his hands and smiled: "Haha, it seems that Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu are both sensible people."

"Congratulations to the lord for adding another general under his tent." Jia Xu also smiled, "Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew must have come to vote for him this time. Zhang Ji is old, it's better not to mention it, but Zhang Xiu is young, promising, brave and resourceful, and is a rare talent for a general. The lord only needs a little knock to guard one side."

"Yeah." Ma Yue nodded, "Since the Bingzhou Army has gone south, it is time to negotiate with Yuan Shao next. What conditions should Wenhe thinks that he should propose so that he will not anger Yuan Shao and will not let himself suffer a loss?"

Jia Xu smiled treacherously and said, "Then we must first understand the purpose of Yuan Shao's dispatch of troops to Bingzhou."

Ma Yue said: "Summary."

Jia Xu said: "Xu thought that Yuan Shao had sent troops to Bingzhou for only three purposes. One was the army and horses that coveted the Jinzhong army's horse farm; the second was to test the lord's reaction; the third was to attack Zhang Yang from both sides and capture the natural danger of Huguan! Xu thought that the third point was the focus of Yuan Shao's dispatch this time."

"Only with Huguan guarding the gateway to the west of Hebei and Youzhou as the barrier to the northern part of Hebei, Yuan Shao dared to go south with peace of mind."

Ma Yue nodded and said, "Well, Wenhe's analysis makes sense. Although capturing the Huguan natural barrier was Yuan Shao's main purpose of sending troops to Bingzhou, Yuan Shao is very proud of his face, so it is unlikely to let him withdraw from the Yanmen, Taiyuan, Xinxing, and Leping counties that had been captured without any cost. However, it is still feasible to fight a tough battle in Xihe County, let Yuan Shao learn about the Liang army's troops and force Yuan Shao to sign a ceasefire agreement."

Jia Xu said: "The battle in Xihe County must be fought, and we must teach the Hebei army a severe lesson, otherwise it will not be enough to dispel Yuan Shao's desire for luck! If the two generals Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao can dispatch the Mobei cavalry to support it, then the one who is eager to seek peace should be Yuan Shao, not the lord."

"Haha." Ma Yue's mouth suddenly burst into a smirk and said to Jia Xu, "Wenhe, we think of going together again. Long before the troops were sent to Bingzhou, Gu had already condemned the envoy to Mobei. According to the time calculation, Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao should almost send troops. In the future, two groups of Mobei cavalry would cross the Great Wall from Shanggu and Daijun area, threatening Yuan Shao's retreat."

Jinyang.

The Hebei army conquered Bingzhou Prefecture without bloodshed, and Yuan Shao stood at the head of Jinyang City with his sword. He felt that he was full of passion and had a strong spirit that could be determined by the army.

"Report~~" Suddenly, a small school rushed up the city tower and knelt down and said quickly, "General, the vanguard army has captured Pingtao (now Pingyao Ancient City). The Bingzhou army is retreating to Xihe County in panic. According to detailed reports, Xiliang Iron Cavalry was found in Xihe County. General Zhang He asked whether to continue pursuing?"

"Chasing, continue chasing!" Yuan Shao waved his hand and said loudly, "Send the order and the army advances at full speed!"

"Affect the order."

The school responded loudly and turned around and left quickly.

Tian Feng, who stood behind Yuan Shao, walked up to Yuan Shao with concern and said to Yuan Shao: "Lord, because the war is progressing smoothly, our army's march is too fast, resulting in too large gaps between the armies. General Zhang He's vanguard, the light cavalry, has advanced to Pingtao, but General Yan Ming's baggage team is still far away in Yanmen. Now the 150,000 army has stretched in a long snake shape for hundreds of miles. Once attacked by the Western Liang Iron Cavalry, it is hard to deal with the head and tail."

"Xiliang Iron Cavalry?" Yuan Shao said disapprovingly, "Borrowing the horse butcher's courage! If this general doesn't attack Hetao, he should burn incense. Could it be that he dares to come and touch the general's bad habit? Aren't he afraid that this general will cross the river and move westward when the Yellow River is frozen and bring his Hetao nest?"

Tian Feng said: "Lord, Feng thought that the army should still order the army to suspend the pursuit. After the subsequent baggage team catches up, they will take steady steps and advance step by step. This is the best strategy."

"No need." Yuan Shao said disapprovingly, "This matter is settled, so don't say too much in the military advisor."

"well."

Tian Feng sighed and stopped persuading each other.

Jiluoshan, the left ten thousand households were old camp.

Zhou Cang's eyes flashed over the thirty-six thousand households under his command, and said sternly: "I just received the lord's military order, and asked the three lords in Mobei to gather a large army to go south to Dai County to support the battlefield in Bingzhou. Since this is the lord's military order, there is nothing to discuss. After everyone returns to the camp, they immediately summon the army and prepare for dry food for another two months. They will rush to the old camp to gather within ten days, but those who have delays are killed!"

"But General, the severe winter has not yet passed, and there is not much food left for each department. Now I am hoping that the caravans in Hetao can transport the grain to Mobei earlier to solve the urgent problem. Where can I get all the dry food for two months?" A thousand households questioned, "And what's the use if they barely collect the dry food for two months?"

"Daijun travels thousands of miles from Jiluoshan Laoying to Shanggu. It takes nearly two months to get back and forth. I almost had to go back and forth as soon as I arrived in Bingzhou. What can I do?"

[Some readers believe that Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao's Mobei cavalry have never gone south to fight, because the swordsman deliberately weakened the strength of the horse butcher. In fact, although the Mobei cavalry now has nearly 100,000 cavalry and is brave and good at fighting, in fact, these 100,000 cavalry cannot go south, and are subject to logistics!

The cavalry in Mobei was able to rampant in the desert and defeat the Xianbei, Xiongnu, Fuyu, and Dingling people because they adopted the barbaric tactic of fighting to support the war. However, when they went south to the Central Plains, the butcher of the horse would definitely not let the cavalry in Mobei poison the Central Plains so much in order to retain the vitality of the Han people. Therefore, they needed ten years of rest and ten years of rebirth. Only after accumulating enough food and grass reserves can they use this decisive force to enter the battlefield of the Central Plains, and this is also the decisive battle moment that the horse butcher of the horse was waiting for!]

Zhou Cang glared at the Qianhu coldly and said in a deep voice: "This is not the issue you need to consider. All you have to do is to execute military orders, that's all."

"Abide by the order!"

Speaking of this, there was nothing to say about Qianhu, and immediately straightened his chest and agreed with a loud promise.

Ten days later, thousands of households of each tribe led their subordinates to the old camp to gather. For a moment, the old camp in Jiluoshan was covered with felt bags, and horses were neighing. At night, bonfires rose on the dark grassland. The soldiers who had long been accustomed to life in the desert sang and danced around the fire, as if they were lively in the festival.

Once when Ma Zhengtou saw such a lively grassland night, he was full of excitement.

But no matter where Ma Zheng ran, he would follow him like a long-skinned young man. This young man was the down-and-out young man who was dug out of the snow by Ma Zheng. After Liu Yan's careful treatment, he finally cured the arrow sore. However, the decay of the two-year old injury requires a long time to treat medicine and stone to completely heal.

Unfortunately, this young man was actually a mute. Because he couldn't speak, no one knew what his name was, and he usually called him a mute.

The next day, Zhou Cang led a large army on his journey.

After the army left, the noisy and lively old camp of Jiluoshan suddenly became deserted. This time, the ten thousand households in the left side were dispatched in full swing. Except for the three thousand iron guards left behind in the old camp, all adult men went to the expedition. Only women and children under the age of five were left in the huge camp (all children over five went to Hetao Camp for training).

That morning, Ma Zhengfei was clamoring to hunt on Jiluo Mountain, but Xu Shao had no choice but to agree, but for safety reasons Xu Shao summoned three hundred iron guards to accompany him. After all, Ma Zheng was the eldest son of the lord, and his safety was great. Before Liu Yanlin returned to Hetao, he repeatedly reminded Xu Shao to protect Ma Zheng's safety, and Xu Shao of course did not dare to be careless.

Although Xu Shao was very cautious, something happened after he arrived in the mountains.
To be continued...