The situation in Hebei has become a mess. As the war progresses, the Han army's original idea of suddenly pulling out the malignant sores is no longer realistic. More and more knowledgeable people have discovered that the matter of pacifying the thieves has begun to turn into a mess.
A protracted battle.
With this understanding, the elites of the Han Dynasty did not want to unite as one and work together as one, but to eradicate the hostile forces first and shift the intersection of the struggle from the outside to the inside.
The same logic appeared in Taiping Dao. In this plane, due to the sudden rise of the Taishan Army, the Yellow Turban Army was not defeated by the Han Army in a short time, but their original plan of three groups to attack Luoyang almost failed.
.
The Ruying Road is either destroyed or disabled, the Nanyang Road is no longer listened to, and only the Hebei Yellow Turbans still retain their strength.
Knowing that the Han Dynasty could not be destroyed for a while, the upper echelons of the Yellow Turbans in Hebei also began to fight against each other. The final outcome ended with the Zhang brothers eradicating the powerful faction in the sect by force, and Wei Fao fleeing the Julu Han army.
During this process, the Taishan Army passively participated in the civil strife between the two parties.
In the former, during the internal rebellion of the Han army, General Zhang Chongxue sang at court at night and killed another famous Han army commander, which made the Han army outside the city feel frightened and either left or surrendered. The main force of the Han army in Henan was also involved in the operations of the Henan family.
He collected it for his own use and is now preparing to sell it to people from Hebei and go south to Shangluo.
The latter, the Taishan Army's mission to Guangzong, under Dong Zhao's control, actively or passively caused the Guangzong Rebellion to explode into an uncontrollable situation. Now Guangzong's Hebei Yellow Turbans rely on their spiritual call to command the entire religion.
Already bankrupt at the bottom.
Therefore, this time, Taishan Army became the big winner in this series of events.
The singing of Chaoge on a snowy night allowed the Taishan Army to directly take the initiative in the southern confrontation line of defense. The Henan Han Army stationed in Qishui was semi-surrounded. If they did not go south as soon as possible, they might not be able to leave.
What's even more terrible is that the Han army in Henan knew nothing about these.
In addition, the victory of the Taishan Army in a series of battles in Hanoi also spread to the Yellow Turbans in Hebei. A large number of lower-level Yellow Turbans, who had been disappointed with the top brass, became more and more interested in the Taishan Army. After learning about the invincibility of the Taishan Army,
In addition to their military exploits, they also knew what they stood for.
Especially the one about dividing fields to households, which immediately won the support of the Yellow Turban Army at the bottom.
Therefore, this wave of Taishan troops won. Some people won, and others lost. This time, the two people who lost the most were the Beizhonglang general Lu Zhi and Sun Jian.
Because Lu Zhi was originally from Hebei, he was the one that the Henan family wanted to abandon. When they were plotting this matter, they directly excluded Lu Zhi.
It is conceivable what kind of blow Lu Zhi's Hebei Army will face after the Han Army in Henan withdraws from Hebei. That's not all. The main force of the Han Army in Hebei is composed of ten thousand elites from the five schools of the Northern Army.
These people are not from Hebei!
When these people realized that Hebei would become an abandoned place by the imperial court, these troops from the Fifth Academy must take advantage of the opportunity to withdraw through the passage of Taihang Mountain. They did not want to die in Hebei.
Therefore, it is conceivable that Lu Zhi's army is doomed this time.
Lu Zhi's side suffered a huge loss, and Sun Jian was no exception.
He was an abandoned son who was regarded as an outsider, and he was about to attack Yecheng with a thousand warriors. He was once a heroic warrior in Jianghuai, but now he was fighting with a group of strangers in Hebei, but this time he was not loyal to the country.
Instead, he fought for himself and his brothers.
…
On November 12, the sixth year of Guanghe year, a dozen miles northeast of Lin County.
A cavalryman was walking on the field.
This cavalry army is Sun Jian's tribe who set out from Qishui camp seven days ago, with a total of 1,300 cavalry.
Sun Jian told no one about the march route. He only asked the cavalry to go west along the Qishui River after leaving the camp. When they saw the hills and valleys, Sun Jian took them and started to turn north.
This trip lasted five days.
Today they just walked out of the mountain road and started galloping on a large plain.
At this time, Sun Jian looked at the land of Hebei, where the mountains were dancing with silver snakes, but only the vastness remained, and the frustration he felt for the past few days was gone.
He was thinking, among all the great heroes who have great luck and great achievements, which one is going smoothly? Gaozu was defeated in Pengcheng, and Zhongzu was able to escape from Jicheng. But what happened in the end? Both of them went through tribulations and jointly created
In the past four hundred years, the Han Dynasty has conquered the world.
So, I really agree with that sentence. Destiny will not let down those who persevere.
Sun Jian also admitted that Zhang Chong, the canal commander of Taishan Army who he had never met before, was such an indomitable hero. He went out with tens of thousands of people to fight in Wenshui, conquered Heji in the north, and attacked the Central Plains in the south. Finally, he marched north to Dahe.
, compete with the Han army here. Not only are they not stretched, but they are getting stronger and stronger.
A true hero.
But it's a pity that he, Sun Jian, attacked this kind of person this time. If he moved to another place, he would definitely be able to talk to this person and make him a confidant. But now, Zhang Chong can only be his enemy.
As for Sun Jian, he is not ashamed to say that he also claims to be a great man of his generation. He and Chong are the only heroes in the world. As for the rest, they may not be worthy of their reputation, or they may have been protected by their ancestors. In short, they are not as good as the two of them who started from scratch.
Now, like Cao Cao, Xun You and others use their family authority to control him. He, Sun Jian, is like an ant, with no ability to fight back, but that's it.
What did the other generation rely on? It was family background and the authority of the Han Dynasty. But Sun Jian had already predicted that the world would be in chaos, and all the logic of the peaceful and prosperous times would be overthrown in troubled times. In troubled times, who cares how noble you are? No.
Let’s see whose sword is stronger.
Since Sun Jian knew this, why didn't he save his troops and horses for the future? Why did he still have to put himself in danger and attack Ye?
The real reason is not complicated. Sun Jian just wanted to be famous.
After all, the Han Dynasty has been powerful for more than four hundred years, and a strong man who can hold up the banner of the Han Dynasty will naturally be more likely to win the recognition of the people than other ambitious people.
What does Sun Jian have? Soldiers or money? He has neither. Sun Jian's only chance in troubled times is this battlefield at Yecheng.
When all the armies retreated to Qishui, only Sun Jian advanced with a light force. If he was not a loyal minister, who would be? If he was not an indomitable hero, who would be?
So don't think Cao Cao and Xun You are plotting against Sun Jian. But Sun Jian's heart is also clear!
He is vigorous and vigorous, well versed in the art of war, and with the drive he has honed from the bottom up, when the time comes, he will immediately leap over the dragon's gate.
Just like that, under the blue sky and white snow, with thousands of cavalry and retinue behind him, Sun Jian waved his whip and pointed in the direction of Yecheng in the distance, with great pride:
"That's the Dragon Gate."
Han Dang and others on the side were confused.
But Sun Jian did not explain to them, but continued to say to the generals:
"Heroes in the world are born in our generation. In this era of great strife, it is time for us to raise our whips to clear the air, restore peace to the world, and let future generations sing about our merits."
At this time, Han Dang and others understood. They all stood guard around Sun Jian and shouted:
"I am willing to work with my lord to spread military power all over the world."
Among the shouting crowd, Sun Jian's nephew Sun Bi was also among them. It turned out that although he was scolded by Sun Jian, he was unwilling to accept it and infiltrated into the selection.
Only when Sun Jian led his troops out of the camp did he know that Sun Ben was already there. Although Sun Jian was angry, it was not easy to send Sun Ben back to the camp, otherwise he would accidentally reveal his departure.
Everyone shouted for a while, which relieved a lot of their inner depression.
Many of them already knew that they and others were going to attack Yecheng this time. Of course they knew what kind of mission it was. It is no exaggeration to say that if Sun Jian had not been leading the troops, one-third of the group would have been scattered.
people.
However, in the final analysis, they were mostly recruited by Sun Jian, and they had shared weal and woe with Sun Jian for a long time. With Sun Jian taking the lead, they maintained a certain fighting spirit.
Here, Lu Fan, who serves as the wise general in the army, asked Sun Jian in a low voice:
"Lord, the situation is very clear now. If we attack Yecheng this time, the sea will be brighter and the sky will be brighter. The Han Dynasty will have follow-up in Hebei. If we fail, the consequences will be unimaginable."
The consequences of what Lu Fan said were unimaginable. Whether it was their consequences or the consequences of the Han Dynasty, he did not say. But Sun Jian understood what Lu Fan meant.
He smiled at Lu Fan and said:
"You mean, if we fail to attack Yecheng this time, is there any way out? That's what you mean."
Lu Fan nodded.
But Sun Jian shook his head and confessed directly:
"To be honest, Zi Heng, I really haven't thought of any way out."
This sentence made Lu Fan stiffen on the horse. He finally managed to squeeze out a smile and wanted to say it to Sun Jian. But Sun Jian raised his whip and waved it to stop him.
Sun Jiandao:
"I understand what you mean. It's nothing more than thinking about defeat first in order to win. But Ziheng, let me tell you a personal story of mine."
Lu Fan listened attentively.
"I sold melons to my father back then. Once I was walking on a mountain road carrying two baskets of melons, and ran into a monkey mountain. Zi Heng, you are from Runan, so you may not know how powerful the vicious monkeys are in our area.
Let me tell you this, instead of falling into Tiger Mountain, you should not enter Monkey Mountain. Because tigers are arrogant and will not kill you when they are full. But this group of monkeys is different. As long as they break in, they will swarm and tear you apart.
broken."
Lu Fan was still listening. He knew that the master would not tell a story casually. There must be a metaphor behind the story.
So Sun Jian continued:
"At that time, I entered the Monkey Mountain by mistake. I just passed a mountain peak, and then I saw a large group of mountain monkeys densely packed on the slope below. I was twelve at that time, and I was only as big as three or four monkeys, so you can imagine
You know how dangerous I was at that time."
"The several times I fought for my life in the future were bloody, but every time I think back, it was the most dangerous time in my life when I encountered a group of monkeys on a narrow road in the Monkey Mountain."
"I was panicking at the time. I knew I couldn't defeat these mountain monkeys. But I didn't dare to run, because I would be caught and torn apart by these beasts within a few steps. So what did I do?"
Having said this, Sun Jian stopped and turned his head to ask Lu Fan.
Lu Fan was very smart. He thought for a while and said:
"My lord has done it with those monkeys."
Hearing this, Sun Jian laughed and told Lu Fan:
"Smart, but instead of going down to fight these beasts, I slowly squatted down and picked up a stone."
"Then guess what, with just such a move, all the monkeys on the opposite side ran away with a huff and a puff."
Finally, Sun Jian said to Lu Fan seriously:
"This is my story, and do you understand this?"
Lu Fan hesitated and asked:
"My lord, are you saying that sometimes the enemy only looks big but is actually as timid as a mouse? As long as we charge fiercely, the enemy will definitely become frightened?"
Sun Jian smiled and shook his head:
"Zi Heng, you are indeed resourceful, but you also have a lot of thoughts. In fact, I don't have so many ideas. Let me tell you, when I squatted down to pick up stones, my intention was never to scare those mountain monkeys, but to scare those mountain monkeys.
It’s me, Sun Jian, who is really about to fight them to the death. In the end, either I, Sun Jian, will be able to kill them all, or I, Sun Jian, will be buried in this monkey mountain.”
Sun Jian said to Lu Fan:
"This is what I, Sun Jian, do. I am fearless. When I encounter the enemy, I would rather die on the way to charge than live behind. But it is precisely because of my fearlessness that I am the one who survives in the end."
After Sun Jian finished telling this story, Lu Fan began to truly understand what kind of person his lord was.
If it is said that a general should be benevolent, righteous, wise, courageous and severe, then my lord has already eaten the word courage to his bones.
"Fearless, fearless."
Lu Fan chewed these two words silently, feeling that his thinking and structure were improving. He began to gain some insights of his own things that he couldn't understand before.
This time, the Lord truly risked his life to survive. Just like when Han Xin fought his last battle, he inspired the courage to fight to the death in a dangerous situation.
Lu Fan was still thinking about it, but he might as well have said to Sun Jian:
"This time is also strange. Although I took the initiative to say this about the attack on Yecheng, I always feel that I said it under the guidance of that person named Xun You."
Lu Fan was unsure:
"Are they trying to provoke the lord?"
Sun Jian nodded at first, then shook his head, he was unsure:
"I can't tell, but I have a feeling that these people want to transfer me away from the camp on purpose. But why do they want to transfer me away?"
Sun Jian didn't understand. Lu Fan had less information than Sun Jian, and he couldn't understand it even more.
In the end, Sun Jian and Lu Fan were speechless for a moment, and just walked with the army.
Suddenly, a group of winter deer appeared out of nowhere and ran in groups in front of Sun Jian's team.
Sun Ben, who was in the army, had never seen such a scene before. He led a dozen soldiers, wearing helmets and bows, shouting and going to hunt the herd of winter deer.
How could these winter deer take those dozen four-legged and two-headed beasts seriously after they had avoided so many dangers along the way?
Among the deer, there was a particularly majestic stag, who was the leader of the group. He shouted, accelerated suddenly, and then led the group to rush through this place.
Suddenly an iron arrow with feathers pierced the air and pierced the stag's neck directly.
The one who shot this arrow was none other than Sun Ben. He happily led his guards to pick up the deer carcass and ran back to present it to Sun Jian. As for the remaining deer, they scattered and fled after the death of the leader.
Sun Jian happily accepted Sun Ben's prey, and after some effort, he led his army and continued walking.
Lu Fan, who was next to Sun Jian, glanced at Sun Jian and then at Sun Bi, and his understanding of Wuwei became deeper.
Sun Ben was ignorant and fearless, but Sun Jian was fearless. I don't know how much higher the latter was than the former.
As a result, Lu Fan's admiration for his lord Sun Jian deepened.
In this way, after walking for half a day, they finally stopped.
But we have already arrived at "Yecheng Pass" ahead.