Chapter two hundred and ninety-six the hatred of the wife
"My lord, has Yuan Shang led his army to aid Pingyuan?"
Chen Deng had already guessed the content of the information without reading it, but when he spoke, there was a slight wheezing sound in his lungs, which was obviously a sign of illness.
"If Yan Liang hadn't invaded Xudu, why would Yuan Tan have withdrawn his troops, and how would Yuan Shang have found time to rescue Pingyuan."
Liu Bei threw the parchment on the table, with a hint of hidden hatred in his brows.
Chen Deng picked up the parchment and scanned it briefly. His dry lips were slightly raised, but he was a little disapproving.
"Yan Liang killed Liu Qi and took over Jingzhou. With this man's greed, it is unjustifiable not to take advantage of the Yuan family's infighting to profit from it. Why should my lord worry about such an expected thing."
Chen Deng's tone was calm and confident, as if he had everything under control.
The fine lines on Liu Bei's forehead were dark, but he sighed and asked: "Now that Yuan Shang's army is coming, how does Yuan Long think our army should respond?"
Chen Deng coughed a few times and said calmly: "Yuan Tan withdrew his troops without even calling. He clearly wanted the lord to contain Yuan Shang on his own. With the current situation, the lord should preserve his strength and take advantage of the opportunity. He must not compete with him."
Yuan Shang confronts him head-on."
Liu Bei nodded slightly, deeply convinced. Obviously, Chen Deng's words of "preserving strength and taking advantage of opportunities" spoke to his heart.
"Then according to Yuanlong's intention..."
"For the present plan, the lord should leave a capable general to control the Jinan Kingdom and defend it according to the Yellow River. The lord should withdraw his troops and return south as soon as possible to relieve the siege of Shouchun. If there is a loss in Shouchun, he will not move.
The master’s foundation. But it’s also a big loss, so don’t give up easily.”
After being reminded by Chen Deng, Liu Bei suddenly realized.
More than a month ago, Sun Quan's green eyes suddenly reneged on the agreement and ordered Zhou Yu to lead tens of thousands of troops to quickly move northward and surround Shouchun City.
Although Xuzhou General Zang Ba and 7,000 soldiers and horses were present in Shouchun City, the Wu army was so powerful that Zang Ba defended it for more than a month and sent people repeatedly to ask for help.
For Sun Quan, Shouchun City was the key to his expansion of territory and his ability to enter the Central Plains, but for Liu Bei, Shouchun was just a piece of fat.
However, the attractiveness of Shouchun and even Huainan is simply not the same as that of northern places such as Qingzhou and Jizhou.
Therefore, in the Northern Expedition with consecutive victories, Liu Bei ignored the siege of Shouchun and preferred to sacrifice Huainan to defeat Yuan Shang and occupy Jizhou, the royal land.
But as there is currently no hope of capturing Jizhou, for Liu Bei, if Shouchun falls again, it will be enough to cause him heartache.
After pondering for a long time, Liu Bei sighed softly, "What Yuan Long said is absolutely true. Just follow your words and withdraw your troops and return south tomorrow."
Although Liu Bei gave the order to retreat, his words contained regret and some hidden hatred.
His eyes scanned the hanging map and unknowingly stopped at Jingzhou.
That treasure land with a household registration of millions and countless talents was originally planned by Liu Bei, but now it was stolen by Yan Liang, a rebel general of the Yuan family.
It felt like the fat in his mouth was snatched away by others, which made him extremely uncomfortable.
But now, seeing that the great cause of conquering Hebei is about to be realized, it is Yan Liang who has ruined his grand plan.
Unable to calm down his hatred, Liu Bei suddenly thought of his two charming wives again.
At this moment, they must have all become the playthings of that thief Yan Liang.
When he thought about the beautiful body that originally belonged to him, but was being ravaged by Yan Liang, Liu Bei felt a pain like being pricked by needles in his heart.
On the surface, he could pretend that Mi Gan's two daughters were dead, but in his heart, the shame of being a man made Liu Bei remember this hatred all the time.
"Yan Liang, I, Liu Xuande, will have to settle the matter with you sooner or later because of my hatred of seizing my wife. I think you can continue to be rampant for a few more days, huh—"
With his back to Chen Deng, Liu Bei's narrowed eyes were filled with cold murderous intent.
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Liu Bei's resentment did not affect Yan Liang's mood at all. He was living a leisurely life in Kunyang.
With an army of more than 40,000 people, sufficient food and grass, and high morale, the initiative is completely in his hands.
Although Yan Liang did not attack Yuan Tan, he did not make it easy for the eldest son of the Yuan family.
With Ma Yunlu by his side, Yan Liang's days in Kunyang were naturally relaxed and relaxed.
In addition to being cool and unrestrained, Yan Liang sent out outstanding cavalry generals such as Lu Lingqi and Wen Chou to lead thousands of elite cavalry and gallop freely in the rich land of Yingchuan County.
Attacking various counties, plundering Dingkou, harassing Yuan's army, raiding grain roads... The Yan family's elite cavalry wreaked havoc on Yuan Tan as if they were in an uninhabited country.
Although Yuan Tan also had an army of 40,000, due to two defeats by Yan Liang, he lost almost all of his cavalry, and was completely at a disadvantage in terms of mobility.
Facing Yan Liang's cavalry, who acted so recklessly and almost humiliatingly, Yuan Tan gritted his teeth with hatred, but had no choice but to do anything.
The angry Yuan Tan once sent thousands of troops to try to block Yan Liang's attack on Xinji County south of Xudu, but was defeated by a thousand cavalry commanded by Wen Chou.
After this defeat, Yuan Tan completely gave up hope of taking the initiative and ordered the entire army to stick to the city and camp, allowing Yan Liang to attack and plunder.
Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.
The latest information from Jizhou was once again sent to Yan Liang's case.
Just as Yan Liang expected, Liu Bei quickly crossed the Yellow River south and withdrew Qingzhou within a few days after Yuan Tan withdrew his troops.
After Liu Bei withdrew his troops, he left Zhang Fei and Sun Li with more than ten thousand troops to guard the Jinan Kingdom on the south bank of the Yellow River. He led his army back south and rushed to Huainan at starry night.
Liu Bei withdrew his troops in this way, and Yuan Shang's threat from the eastern front was eliminated. The counties that originally submitted to Yuan Tan all returned to Yuan Shang one after another.
Yuan Shang, whose reputation was restored, gathered tens of thousands of elite soldiers and recaptured Liyang, an important town on the north bank of the Yellow River, and finally drove all Yuan Tan's forces out of Hebei.
Yuan Shang, who has stationed troops in Liyang, is constantly mobilizing grain and grass from Yecheng, and there are strong signs of crossing the Yellow River south to launch a counterattack against Yuan Tan.
The situation is under control. According to Tian Feng's speculation, Yuan Tan will have to divide his troops on Baima and Yanjin to prevent his good brother from crossing the Yellow River south.
But what Yuan Tanjun did a few days later surprised Yan Liang.
In the central military tent, Yan Liang showed the scout's information to everyone, with a sneer on his knife-like face.
"Not only did Yuan Tan not divide his troops, but he also mobilized all the troops from Xudu to advance towards me, Kunyang. This is quite interesting, what do you think?"
Wen Chou snorted coldly, "We were originally afraid that Yuan Tan would be unable to retreat. Now that he has come to die on his own initiative, wouldn't it be playing into our hands? Brother, why are you hesitating? Let's use all the troops to kill him and leave no one behind."
Wen Chou was framed by Yuan Tan and was criticized and excluded by Guo Tu and others, and was finally forced to surrender Yan Liang.
Wen Chou kept this old grudge in mind all the time. Now that the opportunity was right in front of him, he naturally wanted to vent his suppressed anger.
Yan Liang was not in a hurry for a decisive battle. After all, Yuan Tan had not divided his troops, and the combat effectiveness of his 40,000 troops was still considerable.
Moreover, Yan Liang vaguely felt that something was not quite right about Yuan Tan's advance.
"If Yuan Tan was confident of defeating us, he would have taken the initiative to attack when the situation was favorable earlier. Now Yuan Tan is showing signs of attacking from the south. When he is facing enemies from both sides, Yuan Tan has taken the initiative to attack. People think that Yuan Tan's move is quite suspicious.
.”
Xu Shu also expressed doubts about Yuan Tan's motives for sending troops.
With Xu Shu's view of the meeting, Yan Liang's suspicion became even more serious.
According to the current situation, Yan Liang, who has concentrated all his troops, has obviously higher combat effectiveness than Yuan Shang. There is no doubt about this.
Under normal circumstances, Yuan Tan's approach should be to leave some troops to defend the Xudu front line, and then concentrate his troops to go north, first repel Yuan Shang's weaker enemies along the way, and then try to deal with Yan Liang.
However, Yuan Tan now went in the opposite direction, planning to defeat the powerful Yan Liang army first, and then deal with Yuan Shang.
"If you want to imitate me and not follow common sense, then there must be a conspiracy..."
Yan Liang stared at the map, his eyes burning, scanning the vast mountains and rivers up and down.
Suddenly, Yan Liang seemed to have thought of something, and hurriedly asked: "Yuan Zhi, how many cavalry units does Yuan Tan have available?"
Xu Shu counted with his fingers, "There are probably more than a thousand riders."
"More than a thousand cavalry, if used properly, are enough."
Yan Liang nodded slightly and pondered for a moment. A sneer appeared at the corner of Yan Liang's lips, "It is true that all of Yuan Tan's subordinates are not ordinary people. Yuan Zhi, I'm afraid I'll have to work hard for you this time."
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Xiangcheng, Yuan Jun’s camp.
Yuan Tan's 40,000-strong army moved here two days ago. The city is located south of Ru River and is only more than thirty miles away from Kunyang.
Forty thousand troops backed Xiangcheng and set up five camps along the Ru River. The momentum was quite huge.
In the Chinese army tent, Yuan Tan was pacing back and forth, his solemn face flashing with uneasiness.
At the moment of panic, Xin Pi stepped into the tent, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, General Cen and a thousand cavalry have all gathered. Please give me the order to send troops."
Yuan Tan stopped, was silent for a while, and asked: "George, are you really confident in this plan?"
"Yan Liang's army is all gathered in Kunyang, and we are coming for a decisive battle with such great fanfare. How could that dog thief guess that the king would have another plan?"
After swallowing his saliva, Xin Pi saw that Yuan Tan was still hesitant, so he added: "Besides, if this plan is successful, Yan Liang can be driven away in one fell swoop. Even if it is risky, he should try it. The situation is urgent, so please don't do it again."
hesitate."
In the north, Yuan Shang was watching eagerly and was about to send his troops southward at any time. In the south, Yan Liang supported his troops and refused to retreat. Liu Bei and his men retreated again, entangled with Sun Quan and unable to send troops and horses to help.
Yuan Tan knew very well what kind of dilemma he was facing at this time.
He has no choice.
The hesitation gradually disappeared, and pride gradually grew on Yuan Tan's face.
"Yan Liang, if you repeat the same trick again and again, I will retaliate today and make you suffer the consequences."
After the decision was made, Yuan Tan suddenly raised his head and said sternly: "Pass this king's order and order Cen Bi to set off immediately. He must attack the new country for me." Registered members of Piaotian Literature recommend this work.
