"Today it is better to work together to prepare for thieves. Fortunately, there will be no external difficulties. To attack each other internally is to avoid pitfalls and fall into wells." [Book of Jin·Chu Hui's Biography]
At this time, a melee was going on down the valley. Although Zhang Meng relied on the superiority of the cavalry, it was difficult to turn around in the narrow mountain road, so he had to fight and retreat all the way.
Cheng Yin turned around, holding an arrow between his fingers, and shot it out, hitting a Hu Qi in the belly of his horse. He then attached another arrow. As he was drawing the bow string to its full length, unexpectedly, an arrow flew over from the right.
, Cheng Yin hurriedly used his bow to block it, but the arrow cluster hit his carved bow and broke it.
Cheng Yin was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat. He quickly dropped his bow and took a few steps back on his horse to avoid the flying arrows. He never dared to come closer to the front again.
Zhang Meng, who was in the distance, put down his bow reluctantly, and finally gave up the last thought of defeating the enemy. He gathered his cavalry together and charged into the weak encirclement behind him with all his strength. He killed several people on the way and finally managed to exit the valley.
.
Fortunately, the cavalry left outside the valley and pursued into the woods had not yet encountered an ambush, so Zhang Meng was able to evacuate with the rest of his troops angrily and unwillingly.
Cheng Yin regained his strength, swept away the annoyance of being closely pursued just now, and chased the candidate and thousands of rebels out of the valley. After a symbolic pursuit, he regained his strength and returned to the original mountain road.
Xu You, wearing a green shirt without any armor, was riding gracefully on his horse. He said to Cheng Yin and the candidate who came over: "This fierce warrior has the reputation of his father, but I don't know that when he was fighting cocks and horses at home, I was already in Guandong."
I followed Yuan Jun to attack Dong Zhuo. On the battlefield, I saw more enemy generals than he killed, but an ambush made him retreat hastily, which shows that he is only so capable!"
As an old friend and counselor of Yuan Shao, he subsequently experienced several battles such as the Guandong Alliance to challenge Dong, and the battles with Gongsun Zan such as Longcuo and Jumashui. Although Xu You's strategies were mostly overshadowed by Tian Feng and others, there was no
Something more outstanding, a record that determines victory or defeat. But he has seen too many big scenes more tragic than this and various strategies. Naturally, he will not take this small valley ambush seriously at this moment.
On the contrary, in front of the frightened Cheng Yin and the candidates who came with Xu You as reinforcements, he seemed calm and confident.
Cheng Yin cupped his fists at Xu You and said, "Thank you so much, Mr. Xu, for saving your life!"
Xu You gave him a stern look, his triangular eyes showing unabashed alienation. He nodded slightly and said, "General, you're welcome."
Cheng Yin didn't take it seriously, and then said the same to Hou Xuan: "Thanks to Brother Hou for arriving in time, otherwise, I would really die here."
"Brothers, you and I have always supported each other. Under morality, how can we sit back and watch defeat and ignore it?" Hou Xuan shook his head and sighed: "If Li Kan was still here, he would definitely make the same decision as me."
Cheng Yin, Hou Xuan, and Li Kan all had a lot of money. Taking advantage of the chaos in Hedong in recent years, they recruited refugees wantonly to expand their troops, and by doing so, they became relatively powerful new tycoons in Hedong. Because of this,
The class has risen too quickly and the foundation is insufficient. In the eyes of the great tycoons who have lasted for at least a hundred years, they are still just rural landowners who became prosperous overnight. In order to increase their momentum, the three of them became sympathizers with each other, and even became brothers in private.
.
Until last year when Huangfu Song conquered the White Wave and Yellow Turbans, the three of them had done great military service and took the lead, but Huangfu Song calculated them as cannon fodder, and they used this in an unobservable way to show the emperor his attitude towards weakening the local power.
Li Kan's death was largely due to this reason. Cheng Yin and Hou Xuan have always regarded Huangfu Song and even the imperial court as objects of hatred. In their eyes, the imperial court not only took the opportunity to weaken its own strength,
They worked hard but received no corresponding reward, and they also lost a brother forever. So under the instigation and encouragement of Xu You, Fan Xian and others, they quickly agreed to join the ranks of the rebels.
Hou Xuan is a man who values loyalty, and the reason for his rebellion is mainly to take revenge on the imperial court for Li Kan's death. However, only Cheng Yin knows that the real cause of Li Kan's death is his own failure to save others and adding insult to injury, rather than being plotted by others.
But he couldn't speak out, so he could only follow the candidate and blame others for the crime. The Baibo bandits had been destroyed, so naturally the imperial court should bear this responsibility.
This was the deepest secret he kept in his heart. At this time, the candidate mentioned Li Kan inadvertently. In connection with the candidate's generous help and his own ruthlessness, the shame that had been hidden in Cheng Yin's heart for a long time suddenly emerged.
Come up.
He casually expressed a few perfunctory words, then stopped lingering on this topic, and turned to ask Xu You: "Mr. Xu, the Imperial Army is well-armed and overwhelming. Although we have retreated slightly from the pursuing troops, we are still in a critical situation."
Among them. And Yuan Jizhou has yet to leave Huguan. The situation in Hedong is no longer conducive to us. What should we do? Xu Junke has to think of a good strategy."
Xu You pondered: "Yuan Jun is still fighting fiercely with Zhang Liao in Huguan. Even if Fan Xian leads the army to attack from a flank, it will be difficult to succeed. And the situation Hedong has fallen into today is really beyond my expectation.
…”
"Huh." The candidate snorted coldly at this time and said: "It was all well said, but who knew that Fan Xian couldn't wait and had to raise troops in advance, which even made us act a little hastily. In the current situation, he, Mr. Fan,
You have to bear half the responsibility!”
Xu You couldn't help but frowned. If Yan Qian hadn't revealed his identity to the imperial court that day and exposed their plan, Fan Xian wouldn't have taken the risk and struck preemptively. Although the incident went smoothly at first, they quickly followed the plan.
He took over Hedong and recruited young men from all over the country, preparing to wait for Yuan Shao to conquer Huguan.
But they made a miscalculation. First, they did not expect that the imperial court would send troops so quickly; second, they did not expect that Wang Yi had already prepared defenses in Pishi, Puban and other important ferry counties, which made them unable to attack for a long time; third, they did not expect that
Zhang Liao was not troubled by the situation in Shangdang, and resolutely chose to defend Huguan regardless of the fate of the powerful Shangdang.
If you choose the wrong time to rebel, then no matter how good the preparations are in the early stage, it will be useless. Xu You is actually not optimistic about the next war. After all, Cheng Yin and others can never defeat the Northern and Southern Army alone.
What's more, the opponent still lost the natural danger of the Yellow River.
However, Xu You would not say those words that would damage morale. Instead, he said calmly: "What's so difficult about it? The two generals still have 20,000 soldiers and horses. After recruiting young men and horses along the way, there will be four or five
Ten thousand people, we will retreat to Jiexian for the time being. It is the only way from Puban to Anyi. The mountains and rivers are in harmony, so we can rely on dangers to hold the key points to resist the enemy's invasion."
He glanced at Cheng Yin, who was still worried, and added: "In addition, I also sent a message to Fan Jun, asking him to lead his 20,000 elite troops back to Hedong and join us in one place. By then, there will be 70,000 in Hedong.
Fightable soldiers should be stationed in the city. Although the northern and southern armies are elite, the court is not willing to let them invade the city, right? I predict that they will be surrounded but not attacked, and there will be a stalemate, hoping that we will collapse without a fight.
It won’t be too late for me to take action by then.”
"Even so, we can't wait too long." Cheng Yin was not good at military planning. Hearing that Xu You's words were reasonable, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly asked: "What if Fan Xian hasn't come yet?"
, what should we do if we can’t support it any longer? The imperial court may be reluctant to let the imperial army attach to the city, but Wang Yi still has thousands of county soldiers under his command, who are enough to fight to the death."
Xu You said disapprovingly: "Fan Jun heard the news and knew that Hedong was in danger, so he must march quickly. The road to Hedong was built by Wang Yi, smooth and smooth, and the Sushui River connected Wenxi, Anyi, Jiexian and other places, both by water and land.
If everything goes well, we will arrive in a few days. General, there is no need to worry at this time, not to mention that even if it is really critical, we can go north to Anyi via Sushui. Although the walls of Anyi are broken, they are high and wide, and there is food and grass in the city.
, far from being comparable to Jie County, this is the place where we will finally hold our ground."
Only then did Cheng Yin completely put aside his worries, gathered his troops with the candidate, and retreated all the way to Jie County.