Author: The guy with the razor blade

Let’s talk about why Cao Hong appears here.

It turned out that when he was fighting with Zhang Xiu, he saw a large number of Xiliang cavalry swarming around. Cao Hong did not dare to fall into the enemy's encirclement, so he had to withstand Zhang Xiu's offensive and paid a lot of price to escape.

But when he escaped back to his own army, he found that Cao Cao was missing to avoid the enemy general's pursuit.

If Cao Hong hadn't heard Hou Cheng and Song Xian's dissolute voices, he might not have been able to find his master. Whether Cao Cao could have survived is unknown.

Now that Cao Hong has returned to the throne, he is guarding Cao Cao. Although he is not a strong guard like Dian Wei and Xu Chu, Cao Hong's ability is enough to protect Cao Cao from the siege and wait for the support of others.

Cao Hong walked to fight a bloody path for Cao Cao. Along the way, many Xiliang cavalry came to kill them, but their horses' legs were cut off with a knife, and both men and horses were overturned to the ground.

Not long after, Cao Hong snatched a group of Liangzhou horses, and gathered a group of Dongjun soldiers around him, forming a dense military formation, like a millstone for mincing meat. No matter how many people came to kill, they were all killed.

Facing multiple ambush attacks, the Dongjun Army was caught off guard and caused some confusion. However, as long as Cao Cao, the number one leader, was not dead, they could always stabilize the morale of the army and regroup.

The Xiliang soldiers and horses who attacked the Dongjun army were frustrated, and the other two princes were not easy to mess with. Guo Si and Li Jue could not push back at all, and they also suffered setbacks and lost a lot of soldiers and horses.

As the general, Xu Rong, although he was fighting with Cao Ren, most of his mind was still focused on the battle situation here. Seeing that the situation was a little out of control, he had no choice but to force Cao Ren back with a feint shot, then he directly withdrew from Cao Ren's attack range and issued an order

Order to retreat.

They all adopted the strategy of ambush but failed to capture the three opposing princes. Any further delay would only increase casualties.

Moreover, they had delayed Dong Zhuo for a long time, enough for most of the troops to enter Hangu Pass and Tongguan and head to Chang'an City.

As Ming Jin's trumpet sounded to withdraw his troops, several Xiliang troops retreated to the west like a tide, and many soldiers lost their lives in doing so.

Lu Bu, who was in a state of embarrassment from the beating, unleashed a powerful blow, and Fang Tian's painted halberd swept across the world. With one halberd, he forced back the attacking coalition generals, and then urged the red rabbit horse under him, as if he was riding a ball of divine fire.

It left a fiery afterimage on the ground.

"Lü Bu's horse is so fast that we can't catch up." Huang Zhong was somewhat envious of Lü Bu's red rabbit horse and said unhappily.

Others also nodded in agreement, and then rode back to their respective camps.

"Is Brother Meng De in serious trouble?"

Li Ji divided his troops to repel Li Jue's Xiliang cavalry, and then led his troops over. On the way, he encountered Cao Cao's small group of troops.

Cao Cao, whose face was covered in blood, was a little embarrassed, with a trace of panic in his eyes, but when he saw Li Ji's army, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Brother An Minxian, I have nothing to do, can you tell me how to get my generals?"

Cao Cao has not yet reunited with the clan generals he sent out, so he can't help but feel a little worried.

Li Ji did not join his generals, so how could he bump into Cao Cao's generals? He had to shake his head and replied: "Our military generals have not returned, nor have they seen General Xiahou and others."

After hearing Li Ji's words, Cao Cao's expression suddenly darkened, and he couldn't help but began to worry about the situation of Xiahou Dun and others.

However, his worries were obviously unnecessary. It didn't take long for them to see their respective generals appear in their field of vision. Although their auras were a little sluggish, their eyes were full of energy, and it seemed that they had not suffered too many changes.

"Lord, we might as well do our duty and keep Lu Bu out." Li Cunxiao and others returned first and reported to Li Ji.

Li Ji nodded happily and patted their shoulders one by one to express relief.

When Sun Jian returned to his army in Changsha, he learned that his eldest son Sun Ce was fighting alone with Guo Si in the rebellious army. Instead of scolding him, he laughed loudly and called "a tiger father has no dog son."

When Li Ji saw Cao Cao's envious eyes, he thought he suddenly said something like "having a son should be like Sun Bo Fu".

After waiting for a while, the three groups of troops basically reunited their defeated and fleeing soldiers, and the dispatched generals returned to the formation one by one.

There were not many generals in the Xiliang army that came for this sneak attack. The most fierce Lu Bu was stopped by Li Cunxiao and others. Unless he fell into the enemy's encirclement, it would be difficult to lose his life.

Although no generals died here, the three groups of troops also lost a lot of soldiers under the attack of the Xiliang cavalry.

Especially along the way, Cao Cao was not only targeted by Lu Bu's Bingzhou Army, but also received special care from Xu Rong and Zhang Ji. Not only did he have to flee in embarrassment, but his troops also suffered greater losses.

However, Cao Cao was somewhat gratified that his most elite unit, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, did not suffer much loss. Instead, it had the most brilliant record, ranking first in the number of Xiliang Cavalry killed.

"Xu Rong knew that he could not stop us, so in order to preserve the remaining troops, he could only issue an order to retreat. But his ambush plan has been successful and bought Dong Zhuo a lot of time to move westward."

Li Ji glanced at the messy battlefield and couldn't help but frown.

Sun Jian leaned over and asked, "Xu Rong's troops are mainly cavalry. Although the battle consumes a lot of physical strength, it is not something that our large army can catch up with. If we want to pursue, we must send cavalry to fight."

"The total size of our cavalry may not be much stronger than the opponent's, and we may not be able to gain the upper hand if we pursue and engage in battle. To defeat the Xiliang cavalry, we must either rely on stronger cavalry or a larger number of infantry, but any of our conditions

Neither can be achieved.”

Cao Cao took Sun Jian's words and continued to add.

"In that case..."

Before Li Ji could finish what he said, Li Cunxiao appeared with two weapons in his hand and said loudly: "My lord, I am willing to lead the Eighteen Flying Tigers to pursue the enemy. If I don't succeed, I will be benevolent."

"Is it too risky to lead only the Eighteenth Cavalry?"

A glint flashed in Li Ji's eyes, and he didn't seem to directly refuse the other party's request. Instead, he felt that it was too risky to take this person with him.

He knew that Li Cunxiao's intention to pursue the Xiliang Army was actually to complete his breakthrough mission, and the Eighteen Flying Tigers were one of the conditions for the breakthrough mission.

However, it is a long way from Chang'an. If the damage is too great, the risk of going wild in Chang'an will be too great.

[Mission] The Eighteen Flying Tigers ride down Chang'an (Li Cunxiao's exclusive breakthrough mission)

[Task Description] Li Cunxiao led the Eighteen Flying Tigers into one of the enemy's giant cities and caused great damage.

[Task Reward] After completing the task, Li Cunxiao's four-dimensional data will be randomly increased by one to ten points, and any three personal characteristics will be upgraded to color.

This was the first time that Li Ji saw that a breakthrough mission could increase his data panel by up to ten points. For example, Lu Bu, who was also a peerless general, could only increase his data panel by five points at most.

If Li Cunxiao's bravery value is really raised to 110 points, he can truly be said to be unparalleled in the world and will not be afraid of being surrounded by five Lu Bu.

Of course, the higher the rank of general, the higher the risk. If you want to destroy a huge city among the enemy, and you can only lead eighteen cavalry, you will die anyway.

There are currently only two giant cities in the Huaxia District, one is Luoyang City, and the other is Chang'an. Luoyang City has been burned down by Dong Zhuo, and its level has dropped by more than half. In theory, there is only the giant city of Chang'an.

If Li Cunxiao wanted to complete his breakthrough mission, he could only go wild in Chang'an City under Dong Zhuo's rule, but how could Dong Zhuo watch helplessly as the hostile generals wreaked havoc in his city.

Once Li Cunxiao appears in Chang'an City, I am afraid that he will directly mobilize the army in the city and strangle them unreasonably in the city. At that time, Li Ji will lose such a general and he will probably cry without tears.

However, if Li Cunxiao is allowed to walk out of Chang'an City alive, then Li Ji will have more confidence to conquer the earth and become the most loyal minister of the Han Dynasty.

Li Ji weighed the pros and cons, then gritted his teeth and said: "Cunxiao, not all of the Eighteen Flying Tigers can follow you to pursue the Xiliang Army. I will send another five thousand Ya'er Army to accompany you."

"The last general takes command!"

Li Cunxiao said with joy, holding up his hands, then got on his horse and went to the rear, ordered five thousand Ya'er troops to march out, and went to pursue the enemy.

"Brother An Minxian, you did this without consideration."

Cao Cao was not optimistic about Li Ji's decision. He believed that such a small number of troops and horses would not have any effect. On the contrary, they would lose all of them, and the gain would not be worth the loss.

Sun Jian also nodded in agreement with Cao Cao's idea, "The thieves are powerful, so the people should withdraw their troops."

"Two virtuous brothers, there is no need to worry, I trust Cunxiao's judgment." Li Ji waved his hand and replied.

Seeing Li Ji's insistence, the two had no choice but to give up.

After some discussion, the three of them decided to lead their troops back to Hulao Pass and join Yuan Shao and others to prepare for the march to Luoyang City.

But when the three of them returned to Hulao Pass, they found that the pass that used to be crowded with people was now empty, with only one general left to guard Hulao Pass.

Li Ji, the new general in charge of Hulao Pass, knew that he was Yuan Shao's confidant general Yan Liang, but Yan Liang's injury had not healed and his face was still a little pale.

"On the second day after you left the camp to pursue Dong Zhuo, my lord and others decided to break camp immediately and head to Luoyang City to prevent Luoyang from suffering more damage."

While Yan Liang was introducing the situation, there was a hint of joking at the corner of his mouth.

These three people were trying to coerce many princes to pursue Dong Zhuo, but in the end they were defeated and lost a lot of troops and horses. The high spirits before setting off have now become so miserable.

Li Ji and the others keenly noticed the changes in Yan Liang's expression, but they did not refute out loud because they had been taught by Yuan Shao and were well aware of Yuan Shao's temper.

If Yuan Shao really knew that they had returned in failure, he would definitely laugh at them in public and make the three of them lose face.

But they didn't care about this, because they also learned from Yan Liang that the first thing Yuan Shao did when he went to Luoyang was to hold a big banquet to publicize to the world the glorious record of the coalition forces defeating Dong Zhuo.

How could Li Ji and the others endure Yuan Shao's tricks? Even if they lose face, they still have to go to Luoyang City to see the evil Yuan Shao.

What's more, it's not in line with the style of the three of them to just go back to their own territory without going to Luoyang City, so even if they end up breaking up unhappy, they still have to go to Luoyang City.

at the same time.

Now that the city of Luoyang has been shrouded in fire, it is almost in ruins. Even if many princes and soldiers arrive later, they can't save much damage.

After extinguishing the fire, under the auspices of Yuan Shao, the various princes stationed most of their troops in the wilds, and then led their own soldiers into the city to find a relatively well-preserved place to hold the banquet.

Not all the princes attended Yuan Shao's banquet. Except for Li Ji, Cao Cao and Sun Jian who did not arrive, there were also Han clan clan members such as Liu Dai and Liu Zhang who did not attend. They went to the burned ancestral temple together and cried bitterly.

Kneel down and worship your ancestors.

A banquet was held in a relatively complete mansion. Yuan Shao, who was sitting at the head of the table, held up his wine glass and smiled at the princes below: "Everyone, this time we conquer Hulao Pass, retake Luoyang City, and defeat Dong Zhuo. Then.

Dong Zhuo fled to Chang'an like a bereaved dog. Tongguan and Hangu were Dong Zhuo's dog cages. To celebrate the victory of this battle, you all drink with me."

"please!"

Yuan Shao is a person who is very good at mobilizing the atmosphere. After he said this, most of the princes below suddenly became happy, grinned and raised their wine glasses to Yuan Shao, and started drinking.

They seemed to have been immersed in the joy of victory, but they forgot their purpose of defeating Dong Zhuo and never remembered that they came to rescue the emperor.

Of course, some princes still maintained their rare clarity. Gongsun Zan stood up and said disdainfully:

"Alliance leader, please don't forget the purpose of this trip. We only drove Dong Zhuo to the Chang'an area and did not rescue His Majesty. Now we have to continue our march and invade Chang'an to rescue His Majesty."

Gongsun Zan's words directly disturbed the entire banquet. The originally fiery atmosphere suddenly cooled down a lot, and some princes still had a little dissatisfaction on their faces.

It was a rare opportunity to take a break and have a drink, but you, Gongsun Zan, jumped out and ruined the atmosphere without knowing what was good.

Yuan Shao was also a little unhappy. He felt that Gongsun Zan was losing face by doing this. He was not considered the same thing as a descendant of the Yuan family in Runan and the leader of the alliance.

However, Yuan Shao did not have an attack. He suppressed his anger and pretended to be kind and said: "Prefect Gongsun, there is no need to be too impatient. We should advance step by step. The soldiers have just fought a battle and need to rest. Moreover, Meng De and the others are all

They have gone to pursue Dong Zhuo, and we still need to wait here for their return."
Chapter completed!