Xiang Yu's army originally gathered all the fierce generals of the Yellow Turbans, but after the troops were divided and went south, those generals also returned to the command of their respective commanders.
Nowadays, except for generals such as Long Qie, Zhongli, Yu Ziqi, etc., Xiang Yu does not have many generals available. The only counselor is still with Zhang Jiao, so the civil servants are even more pitiful.
At this time, Xiang Yu was most in need of men, and General Ji Bu, who had just been rescued, was naturally used by Xiang Yu.
Since Ji Bu was Zhang Jiao's confidant, Xiang Yu naturally could not completely trust him.
Currently, Ji Bu's biggest role under Xiang Yu is to mediate the relationship between Xiang Yu and Zhang Liang.
For example, in the current situation, Xiang Yu will definitely not take the initiative to seek peace with Zhang Liang, but Ji Bu will become the bridge between the two.
However, even so, it is difficult to heal the wounds between the two. The generals of the Yellow Turban South Road Army have had conflicts for a long time, and now they are irreconcilable.
————
Guangcheng Pass.
After learning that Qin Hao had been captured alive, Lu Zhi immediately jumped up and down in a hurry, but when he heard Liu Bowen say that Qin Hao had done it deliberately, Lu Zhi was completely confused.
"Are you saying that Shan Xiongxin faked his surrender? The prince-in-law was also captured on purpose?"
Lu Zhi looked in disbelief, even suspecting that the two men were joking with him, but could such a joke be made easily?
Liu Bowen nodded and said solemnly: "That's right."
Lu Zhi's eyes widened and he immediately became furious, but he did not dare to speak too loudly, so he could only curse in a low voice:
"It's just nonsense. Don't you know how many chain reactions it will have if the coach is captured? What a blow it will be to the entire army? You just sent out the coach just for one possibility. Don't you two have any brains?
?..."
The extremely angry Lu Zhi sprayed both of them in the face with smearing star, but Liu Fang and the two did not dare to show any dissatisfaction and could only let Lu Zhi scold them.
Lu Zhi scolded him for half an hour before he stopped. Liu Fang and Liu Fang looked at each other with wry smiles in their eyes.
"Yes, we all know what you always said, but my lord has no choice. To complete the imperial court's plan, we must do this." Liu Bowen explained respectfully.
"Wait."
Lu Zhi was stunned when he heard this, and quickly asked: "Do you think it's the imperial court's big plan?"
After the two looked at each other, Fang Xuanling stood up and explained: "That's right. According to common sense, with my lord's qualifications, it is impossible to serve as the commander-in-chief of the South Route Army. However, the imperial court arranged for my lord to be the commander-in-chief. The old general did not doubt it.
Is there any intention?"
"With the achievements made by the prince-in-law, it is not impossible to serve as the commander-in-chief of the army, but it is indeed not enough in terms of qualifications."
Lu Zhi lowered his head and pondered for a while, then asked: "Can you tell me why?"
"That's because..."
After listening to Liu Bowen's explanation, Lu Zhi couldn't help but take a breath and then fell into deep thought.
That is really a huge plan. If it succeeds, it will definitely destroy the Yellow Turbans in one fell swoop. It is no wonder that the imperial court made such a weird move, and Qin Hao did not hesitate to take risks.
Such a shocking plan was definitely not thought up by the DPRK. Lu Zhi knew very well the moral character of the officials in the DPRK, and it was absolutely impossible for him to formulate such a plan.
If you are not a member of the court, then only Baijia is left. But who among Baijia has so much energy that your Majesty can gamble with the life and death of a big man?
"It's him."
Lu Zhi opened his eyes and said to himself: "It must be him."
As a member of Baijia hidden in Confucianism, Lu Zhi naturally knew some of Baijia's secrets, and the only one in Baijia who could influence Liu Hong was Guiguzi Wang Xu.
"I see, you couldn't hold it any longer in the end." Lu Zhi said with a hearty smile.
Liu Bowen and Fang Xuanling looked at each other with a trace of doubt in their eyes. Little did they know that Lu Zhi, who knew the whole story, already knew more than them.
What Liu Bowen and Fang Xuanling knew was told by Qin Hao, but what Lu Zhi knew was not even known to Qin Hao.
"Who is the 'him' the old general refers to?" Liu Bowen asked.
Lu Zhi did not answer, but asked: "What should we do next?"
Seeing this, Liu Bowen knew that Lu Zhi didn't want to leak that person's information, so he didn't continue to stalk him.
"Next we have to abandon Guangcheng Pass and retreat to Nanyang to join forces with General Zhu Jun, otherwise we will expose our flaws."
"If you just give up like that, won't the Yellow Turbans be suspicious?"
"Due to the capture of the coach, the morale of our army has suffered an unprecedented blow. Even if we have Xiongguan in hand at this time, we will never be able to defend it. The Yellow Turbans must also know this, so they will definitely not have any doubts."
Lu Zhi nodded and asked: "Then what?"
"Abandon Nanyang, let 300,000 Yellow Turban elites join forces, and then continue to lure the enemy deeper. Nanyang is facing a flanking attack from the northeast, so a strategic retreat is completely reasonable."
"It's two hundred thousand." Fang Xuanling corrected, while Liu Bowen rolled his eyes helplessly.
Xiang Yu's 20 troops are elite, and the other 100,000 Yuzhou Yellow Turban Army are much worse.
————
In just a few days, the news that Qin Hao was captured alive in front of the battle spread throughout the world. The Yellow Turbans beat gongs and drums to celebrate, while the Han Dynasty was naturally filled with mourning.
Who would have thought that the invincible champion Hou would be captured alive by the enemy so hastily. This was a huge blow to the entire Han army, and the one most affected was naturally Qin Wen, the commander of the Han army's eastern route.
p>
Since the news of Qin Hao's capture was confirmed, more than half of the officials in the Chang'an court proposed to seize Qin Wen's military power, and the most active one among them was Yuan Feng.
If Qin Wen's military power is taken back, Yuan Shao is most likely to become the commander-in-chief, and the Yuan family can also control the military power of 200,000 Han troops.
Wang Yun, Cai Yong and others who had a good relationship with Qin Wen rarely stood up to oppose this time, but it was not because they didn't want to, but because they didn't dare.
Qin Hao is Qin Wen's only son. If Qin Wen surrenders to the enemy for his son, the blow to the Han Dynasty will be fatal, so Wang Yun and others dare not speak for Qin Wen.
Qin Wen, the Marquis of Taiyuan, who had made many military exploits for the Han Dynasty, seemed to have been abandoned by the civil and military forces of the Han Dynasty and the Manchu Dynasty. He really responded to the saying that everyone would push him down.
"Your Majesty has decreed that Qin Wen, the Commander-in-Chief, continue to serve as governor of the war east of Hangu Pass, and he was appointed Governor of Bingzhou, General of Hussars, promoted to the rank of County Marquis, and granted the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households."
After Zhang Rang read out Liu Hong's decree in front of the civil and military officials of the court, the court immediately exploded.
"How is this possible?"
Yuan Feng had a look of disbelief on his face. He simply couldn't believe that this decree was made by Liu Hong.
"Is this still the same foolish king?" All civil and military officials in the dynasty thought this way.