Faced with the pursuit and interception of 100,000 elite men, of the 200,000 Yellow Turban prisoners of war, only less than 150,000 escaped from Daguguan alive.
The pursuit of the Han army continued, and Dagu Pass naturally became the first barrier against the Han army.
But fate is not as good as fate. Although the defender of Dagu Pass is not very capable, he actually destroyed all the defensive equipment after breaking through the pass, which greatly compromised the defense of Dagu Pass.
Although Xiang Yu knew that Dagong Pass could not be defended for a long time, he still left 20,000 dead soldiers to delay. While he led most of the people to slowly retreat to Yanzhou, he was preparing to deploy a second line of defense at the Hulao Pass ruins.<
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Xiang Yu knew that the Han army would not let them escape safely back to Yanzhou, and that neither Dagu Pass nor Hulao Pass could hold out for long, but now he could only do his best, and he would be able to escape as much as he could in the end!
In front of Dagong Pass, the Han army's camp, and inside Lu Zhi's tent.
Hearing that the other generals objected to attacking the city immediately, Li Shimin stood up with a cold face and said in a deep voice:
"Lord Zhou Mu, the general believes that we should take advantage of the moment when the rebellion is not yet firmly established and make an all-out effort to recapture Dagong Pass. If we hesitate to advance, it will be difficult to seize the pass."
Seeing someone standing up to sing the opposite, Lu Zhi rubbed his temples with a headache and said: "The Honshu Mu naturally knows what General Li said, but the siege machinery has not yet arrived, so it will be difficult to attack Dagu Pass rashly." At this time, Yang Jian also stood up and retorted with a look of displeasure: "What Zhou Mu said is different. With the combat power of those prisoners of war, how can they be my elite opponent?"
"That's right."
Li Shimin nodded and continued to add: "Xiang Yu is not in Dagu Pass. As long as our army concentrates elite troops and strong generals to launch a fierce attack, we can recapture Dagu Pass without relying on weapons."
"This?"
Lu Zhi's face suddenly flashed with wavering. After hesitating for a while, he said: "Honzhou Mu thinks it's better to be on the safe side. As long as we wait a day or two for the siege equipment to be delivered, why take the risk?"
Lu Zhi's procrastination made Yang Jian very dissatisfied, and he immediately shouted: "Master Zhou Mu, if you wait, Xiang Yu will run away."
Seeing that Yang Jian dared to speak rudely to Zhou Mu, Lu Zhi's men immediately said angrily: "How dare you, Yang Jian, pay attention to your attitude, how can you talk to Zhou Mu?"
Anger suddenly flashed in Yang Jian's eyes, and he was about to curse back but was stopped by Li Shimin.
"How dare you, Governor Yang, you, the captain, can call him by his first name?"
Under Li Shimin's cold gaze, the captain flinched, but Li Shimin was not prepared to let him go.
"Yuanba, throw this person out!" Li Shimin said calmly.
"Okay, second brother!"
"You, what are you going to do? No...ah!"
Under the gaze of all the generals, Li Yuanba threw Lu Zhi's confidants out in such a grand manner. This was simply a slap in Lu Zhi's face.
Now no one dared to stand up and speak, and Lu Zhi's face suddenly became extremely ugly, but there was nothing he could do about Li Shimin and Li Yuanba.
Li Shimin and Yang Jian both came to seek revenge against Xiang Yu. They also knew that Lu Zhi did not want unnecessary casualties, but the possibility of allowing Xiang Yu to escape was non-negotiable.
Li Shimin knew that he had gone too far, but since the purpose of establishing his power had been achieved, he naturally would not really break up with Lu Zhi.
Li Shimin immediately bowed and said respectfully: "My lord, our Li and Yang families have a blood feud with Xiang Yu. Now that our enemies are so close, the general and Governor Yang are indeed a little out of control. Please forgive me."
Seeing that Li Shimin had given him a step up, Lu Zhi finally looked a little better after hearing this, but he was even more wary of Li Shimin and Yang Jian.
"We must find a way to check and balance the Li and Yang families, otherwise I will be sidelined sooner or later." Lu Zhi thought to himself. He has discovered this now, but facing the emperors of the two dynasties, what can he do even if he knows?
"Report...to the state shepherd, the champion marquis led three thousand cavalry to come to help."
Lu Zhi was immediately overjoyed and said quickly: "Let the champion come in quickly."
After a while, I saw Qin Hao and two generals walking into the tent, smiling and saluting: "Qin Hao, the governor of Nanyang, pays homage to Luzhou Mu."
Three months ago, Lu Zhi was Qin Hao's deputy general, but now he is several levels higher than Qin Hao. Naturally, Qin Hao has no objection to this. After all, who is older and qualified to be senior?
"My nephew, you are here at the right time. Since you joined the army, you have gone through dozens of battles, large and small, without ever being defeated. Do you think you should take the risk and attack immediately, or should you be cautious and wait for the siege equipment to be in place before attacking?"
When Qin Hao heard this, he couldn't help but curse in his heart: Old fox, you are trying to use me to block the gun.
Before entering the account, Qin Hao also saw the captain who was thrown out. After entering the account, he saw that the atmosphere was so solemn. With Qin Hao's intelligence, it was not difficult to guess what happened.
Qin Hao smiled lightly, and then said seriously: "Sir, I believe that as long as Xiang Yu can be killed, it is worth paying any price, and we must attack immediately."
Seeing that Qin Hao was not on his side, Lu Zhi could only nod helplessly and said: "In that case, let's do it. As for the main attack mission, you, General Shimin, will be responsible for it."
Li Shimin glanced at Qin Hao gratefully, then stood up and said in a deep voice: "No!"
Seeing this scene, Qin Hao sighed in his heart. Lu Zhi, the state pastor, is probably the most useless one among all the state pastors.
On the surface, Lu Zhi, as a state pastor, is the most powerful person in Sizhou, but in fact, he has been almost eclipsed by Li Yuan and Yang Jian.
Before Dong Zhuo left Sizhou to quell the rebellion in Liangzhou, he took the initiative to "dedicate" 50,000 elite troops to the imperial court. It was precisely because of his "loyalty" that Li Yuan and Yang Jian were able to serve as governors.
After all, Dong Zhuo paid such a high price, if your court still doesn't show its support, it will definitely be unjustifiable.
In troubled times, if you have soldiers, you have power, but Dong Zhuo took the initiative to give away his military power. At that time, many princes did not understand Dong Zhuo's behavior and said that Dong Zhuo's move was quite stupid.
But what’s the result?
Those 50,000 Liangzhou troops have already been stamped with Dong Zhuo's brand. As long as Dong Zhuo doesn't nod, no matter who the court sends to take over, it's impossible to take away the military power from Li Shimin.
Among the 100,000 soldiers and horses left by the imperial court to garrison Sizhou, only 60,000 were actually in the hands of Lu Zhi, the state pastor, while the other 40,000 were divided among the hands of Li Yuan and Yang Jian.
In other words, Dong Zhuo didn't pay any price, got two governor positions for nothing, and also had 40,000 troops. It was a sure profit without losing anything.
Nowadays, 90,000 of Sizhou's 150,000 troops belong to Dong Zhuo's faction, so life for Lu Zhi, the state shepherd, will naturally not be easy.
Qin Hao had already guessed that Dong Zhuo had bad intentions, but the Qin family and Dong Zhuo both belonged to the Kansai faction. Moreover, in Qin Hao's view, there would be nothing wrong with another group of heroes challenging Dong.
"Zhang Jiao has completely destroyed the foundation of the Han Dynasty. Let Dong Zhuo tear off the last fig leaf of the Han Dynasty." Qin Hao thought in his heart.