Just as Xun You expected, this battle will greatly damage the morale of the coalition forces!
In the next few days, Yuan Shao spent time building camps and boosting morale, and did not attack Hulao Pass.
On the fifth day, Dong Zhuo finally led his 40,000 troops to Hulao Pass.
"General Wei, thank you for your hard work! We made General Wei wait three more days. Our family is very ashamed!"
Don Zhuo took the initiative to apologize for not hitting the smiling man, so Liu Zhang naturally couldn't care too much.
"Okay, okay, if Dong Xiangguo comes a few days later, Liu Zhang will have no choice but to abandon the pass and leave!"
Dong Zhuo was so embarrassed that he could only apologize and laugh on the sidelines. Now that he was seriously short of troops and horses, he no longer had the absolute advantage in military strength. Liu Zhang's attitude was even more important to him!
"Haha, General Wei is joking. We heard that General Wei showed off his power in front of Yuan Shao and beat the traitor to escape in embarrassment!"
Dong Zhuo's eyes and ears were everywhere in Hulao Gate, so Dong Zhuo knew something about the situation, and Liu Zhang had no curiosity.
"Wherever, please come to Dong Xiangguo."
In the Hulao Pass Yamen, the small room already seemed a bit crowded. Dong Zhuo sat on the main seat impressively.
Liu Zhang consciously gave up his position. He didn't want to get into trouble with Dong Zhuo because of these trivial matters. After all, things like defending the city could be avoided in the future.
However, Liu Zhang's status did not decline, he just sat slightly below Dong Zhuo. They were the only two people sitting in the whole room, and everyone else stood on both sides.
"General Wei, you both know Fengxian and Wenyou. Let me introduce them to you."
As soon as Dong Zhuo finished speaking, two generals walked out from the left.
"This is Li Jue and this is Guo Si. They are our family's most trusted generals."
Li Jue and Guo Si all bowed their hands to Liu Zhang and saluted.
"Meet General Wei!"
Liu Zhang was naturally familiar with the names of these two people, but this was indeed the first time they had met each other in such a long time.
"Two generals, no courtesy! I heard that Dong Xiangguo has an elite cavalry under his command, called the Flying Bear Army. It must be commanded by the two generals Li Guo, right?"
"good!"
Dong Zhuo answered the question for the two of them, waved his hand, and the two returned to the team.
"This time our family has brought 20,000 flying bear troops, 10,000 Bingzhou wolf cavalry, and 10,000 infantry, in order to defeat Yuan Shao, a man who eats everything inside and outside!"
Liu Zhang touched his chin lightly and did not answer Dong Zhuo's words, but told him about the situation here.
"Dong Xiangguo and Yuan Shao claimed to have an army of more than 200,000, which is nonsense. According to my observations in the past few days, the coalition's troops should be around 150,000."
"One hundred and fifty thousand..."
A trace of sadness appeared on Dong Zhuo's face, but Liu Zhang knew that Dong Zhuo must be pretending. How could he not know the situation here?
"Yes, Dong Xiangguo, the enemy's army is strong. If we attack by force, there will inevitably be accidents..."
Dong Zhuo also saw that Liu Zhang did not want to go out of the city to fight Yuan Shao! But if Liu Zhang did not use his cavalry, how could he defeat an army of 150,000 with only 30,000 cavalry?
At this time Li Ru stood up and saluted Dong Zhuo and Liu Zhang.
"Dong Xiangguo, General Wei, there is an open area outside Hulao Pass, which is suitable for cavalry to attack! If we send out the Flying Bear Army, Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry and General Wei's Wufeng Camp Cavalry, we will definitely be able to kill everyone!"
Li Ru's words just hit Dong Zhuo's heart. Just now Dong Zhuo had been hinting at Liu Zhang and wanted him to bring it up himself, but Liu Zhang had no intention of doing so.
"General Wei, what do you think? Are you willing to go out of the city and fight?"
I thought that since the words had already been said, Liu Zhang would bite the bullet and agree even if he didn't want to, but Liu Zhang didn't think much and refused directly.
"I do not want to."
"Why?"
Li Ru was the first to ask.
"It's true that the terrain outside Hulao Pass is open, but have you seen where Yuan Shao's camp is located?"
Liu Zhang glanced at Li Ru angrily, "This guy is good at playing tricks, but if it's a march and a battle, Li Ru really can't do it!"
"What's wrong with this?"
Li Ru didn't understand Liu Zhang's meaning at all, but was quite dissatisfied with Liu Zhang's eyes.
"Hey, why don't you go to the city gate and have a look? Forty thousand cavalry, let alone whether they can defeat 150,000 horses, whether you can handle it is a matter of two opinions!"
Liu Zhang stood up, walked towards the map behind him, and kept making gestures on the map with his hands.
"This is Hulao Pass, and this is Yuan Shao's camp. He happens to be on the way to the camp. Our pass is less than 500 steps away from Yuan Shao's camp."
"Not to mention whether the 40,000 cavalry can stand down these five hundred steps. Even if we stand down, we will almost reach the gate of Yuan Shao's camp, right? How do you want to fight? Rush into Yuan Shao's camp?"
Li Ru did not expect this to be the case. He looked at Dong Zhuo again and found that Dong Zhuo was also very worried.
"Dong Xiangguo, Yuan Shao knows very well how powerful our cavalry is, so he doesn't leave us any room to use our cavalry!"
"On the other hand, Yuan Shao can attack Hulao Pass at any time, and he can retreat to the camp and rely on the camp to block our attack."
When Liu Zhang explained this, everyone in the room understood.
"General Wei, doesn't Yuan Shao become invincible by doing this? Isn't it impossible to crack it?"
These clearly reached the blind spot of Li Ru's knowledge, and he could only ask Liu Zhang to educate him.
Liu Zhang gave Li Ru a strange look, as if he was looking at a fool!
"Brother Wenyou, have you made a mistake? It's Yuan Shao and others who want to go to the capital to serve as king. Can't we just stay here? Isn't it good to remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing changes?"
When Liu Zhang said this, everyone also reacted.
Yes, they don't have to worry at all. As long as they hold Hulao Pass, Yuan Shao can only stare from below.
"no!"
Dong Zhuo spoke directly and directly rejected Liu Zhang's plan.
"What does Dong Xiangguo mean?"
"General Wei doesn't know. There are 80,000 troops in Hulao. Luoyang doesn't have that much supply of food and grass. The food and grass will be exhausted in a month at most! If we can't take Yuan Shao in a month, we have to retreat."
Dong Zhuo was definitely not short of food. He had robbed so much wealth in Luoyang, estimated to be no less than a million dan, so how could he be short of food?
Liu Zhang also understood. No wonder Dong Zhuo was so anxious. It turned out that he was reluctant to part with his food and grass!
"Dong Xiangguo, we are under pressure from food and fodder, and so is Yuan Shao! He has twice as much burden as us! As long as Yuan Shao runs out of food, they will definitely retreat. When we use up all our cavalry, we will definitely win a complete victory.
!”
Dong Zhuo shook his head, how could he do such a loss-making business!
"Not necessarily. Jizhou, Xuzhou, Yuzhou, and Yanzhou are all major grain-producing states. How can we compare with them?"
"Then I have no choice but to rely on Dong Xiangguo's clever plan!"
Since Dong Zhuo said that, Liu Zhang had no choice. Anyway, there was no way for him to fight Yuan Shao!
Dong Zhuo glanced at Liu Zhang indifferently and did not get angry. After all, in these extraordinary times, it was good that Liu Zhang could be on the same front with him!
"Wen You, immediately declare a challenge to Yuan Shao and ask him for a decisive battle tomorrow!"
"As you command!"
"By the way, doesn't he have a good relationship with Yuan Wei? Ask him if he wants Yuan Wei's head! Humph, we don't believe he can bear it!"
Li Ru's eyes lit up, this is indeed a good idea!
"General Wei, I invite you to go with our family to meet Er Yuan tomorrow!"
Liu Zhang nodded. It is estimated that tomorrow will be another day for fighting generals!