The night was deep, the bright crescent moon hung in the dark sky, and a cavalry force of about 1,000 people was slowly stepping on the bright moonlight, steadily moving westward. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info behind this cavalry team, followed by tens of thousands of infantry, but their military system is very mixed, some people are neatly armoured, weapons are sharp, and some people are just wearing ordinary civilian clothes, but holding some rusty bronze utensils in their hands.

This is the Yanzhou coalition army headed by Bao Xin, Cao Cao and others, this sortie, in addition to Cao Cao's headquarters of 5,000 people, Weizi has 3,000 men, and Bao Xin has 24,000 troops, Shanyang Taishou Yuan Yi, Dongjun Taishou Qiao Mao, Yanzhou Thorn Shi Liu Dai, Guangling Taishou Zhang Chao and others have also sent 1,000 or 2,000 troops to help, so the total strength exceeds more than 35,000 people, although most of the soldiers are new recruits who have not been in battle, but the victory is more, since the original Wu set off, along the way to attack the city and pull out the village, Under the leadership of Cao Cao and others, they defeated the garrison left by Zhang Ji and Li Meng in Yuanwu, and it can be said that this is the juncture of this coalition army.

Among the cavalry troops, several men were dressed in rich and sturdy armor, and it was immediately clear that they were the leading generals of this coalition army.

The first person, with a dignified face and three long beards fluttering with the breeze, has the demeanor of an elder, he is the Jibei Prime Minister who once proposed to Yuan Shao to send troops to attack Dong Zhuo when Dong Zhuo led the army into Luoyang, and is now Bao Xin who is the general of the broken army by the righteous army.

The person behind Bao Xin, with a calm face, is not tall, but his eyes are like torches, his expression is extraordinary, and his complexion is slightly dark. Although his face was cold, there was a light smile on the corner of his mouth, as if nothing in the world could defeat him. This person is the captain of Xiaocai, Cao Cao, who was promoted by the righteous army as the general of Fenwu at this time, is also the mastermind who proposed the westward expansion of the coalition army.

The person next to Cao Cao had a white and delicate face, and a pair of narrow eyes were bright and shining, which was very good. He is Chen Liuxiaolian's Weizi, the word Xu. This person is quite talented, the court recruited him as the third duke, he disdained, but he has been facilitated by Cao Cao since he was a child, when Cao Cao raised troops in his own army, he devoted all his family property to fund Cao Cao, and later in order to find allies for Cao Cao, he went to another friend who grew up with Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and others, Chen Liutai guarded Zhang Miao, so that Zhang Miao also agreed to raise troops and jointly conquer the "national thief" Dong Zhuo. This time Cao Cao proposed to go west, he was the first to agree, and did everything possible to persuade Zhang Miao to give him 3,000 men and horses to march with Cao Cao.

Behind them was a young man of no more than twenty years of age, who was tall and knew at a glance that he was a powerful master. This person is Bao Xin's younger brother, Bao Tao, although he is nineteen years old this year, but since he was fourteen years old, he has followed his brother to the battlefield to kill the enemy, and he is brave and extraordinary, and now he is regarded as a general by the princes.

Since the march of the great army, the starry night march, even the generals who once led the troops to fight, are now inevitably difficult. Bao Xin rubbed his dry eyes, rubbed his hands again, and yawned softly on the horseback, they hadn't slept for more than ten days.

Although Cao Cao also looked tired, he was in good spirits, he glanced at Bao Xin, and asked with concern:

"General Bao is tired? Why don't you put the army to a halt and rest for a few hours before marching? ”

Bao Xin smiled slightly, waved his hand and said:

"Day and night, I am not the only one who is sleepy, now Dong Zhuo is shrinking in Luoyang, and most of his generals are in the south, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity cannot be missed, we should do our best."

Cao Cao immediately bowed his hand to Bao Xin with a little respect, and in order to reduce his sleepiness, he took the initiative to talk to Bao Xin. To be honest, Cao Cao and Bao Xin were not very familiar with each other before, originally Bao Xin was Yuan Shao's old acquaintance, and now since the rise of the princes of Zhonglu, Bao Xin is not close to Yuan Shao, but he is willing to take the initiative to lead the army to walk with him, which makes Cao Cao very confused.

Cao Cao saw that between Bao Xin and his words, it was very hearty, and it was definitely not a different intention, so he couldn't help but ask:

"Yuan Shao Yuan Benchu is now in Liyang, the most powerful, General Bao and Ben Chu Brother are old friends, why don't you ally with Ben Chu Brother, but are willing to follow Meng Dexi into Xingyang?"

Now he Cao Cao is on the front line of the crusade against Dong Zhuo, even if Dong Zhuo's main force is not in Xingyang at this time, it is still extremely dangerous, and it is human nature to have such doubts.

Bao Xin sighed and said to Cao Cao:

"Meng De knows, in Xia Bao Xin for so many years, which talent is most known by the world?"

Cao Cao thought for a moment, then replied:

"General Bao's eyes are like torches, and he has heard that Jun's insight into people is no less than Nanyang He Yu, Liang Guoqiaoxuan and other famous people."

Bao Xin listened, laughed, and said:

"Meng De is too high-spirited...... However, when looking at people from below, we have always looked at them from the heart, so we can often see the essence of their people. He Gong and Qiao Gong also boasted of Meng De, and they longed for it at that time, and later after Jingshi and Meng De met, they were even more convinced of He Gong and Qiao Gong's words. ”

When Cao Cao heard this, his heart was extremely happy, but he was still silent on the surface, Qiao Xuan and He Yu both said that the world would be chaotic, and only a talent like him could help the people, and Qiao Xuan even said "I am willing to trust my wife". Cao Cao has always pretended to be disapproving in front of people, but secretly he is extremely complacent. Now, even Bao Xin said the same, and naturally he was even happier, but he still had a humble and humble attitude, and said ashamedly:

"He Gong and Qiao Gong are exaggerating, Meng De is just a stubborn person, although the family has a little wealth, but how can he achieve great things? But that Yuan Shao, Yuan Benchu, Meng De and him, have known each other since childhood, the Yuan family is a meritorious service, his person is extremely talented and learned, and can treat the people well, and now he is also promoted as the leader of the alliance. ”

Bao Xin smiled: "Why should Meng De be humble? To say that the Yuan family is indeed the fourth generation and the fifth duke (in four generations, five of them have become officials at the level of the third duke), but Yuan Shao is just the son of a concubine, in terms of bloodline, how can he compare with his brother Yuan Yi and his brother Yuan Shu? ”

Cao Cao nodded, although Yuan Shao is quite heroic, but the most regrettable thing is the identity of the concubine, therefore, even his younger brother Yuan Shu, just because he is the son of the concubine, often speaks disrespectfully to Yuan Shao, and even openly said that Yuan Shao is just his "slave" or something like that, which makes the relationship between the brothers very unharmonious.

But Cao Cao still pretended to be confused, broke the casserole and asked in the end:

"In that case, what does General Bao think?"

Bao Xin smiled happily: "Although Yuan Yi is studious and diligent, he is too straightforward and does not understand changes, and it is difficult for this person to become a great tool; Yuan Shu is quite eloquent, but his temperament is extravagant, and he attaches great importance to his family background, and he is not a flexible talent; Yuan Shaohong is elegant and can ask questions, but in fact, he has a taboo personality, and he can't trust people, even if he can flourish for a while, he can't maintain it, and he will eventually kill himself. Only Meng De, in my opinion, is the one who can lead the heroes of the world and set things right. ”

When Cao Cao heard this, he was overjoyed, and even if he concealed it deeply, this time he couldn't help but show a look of joy. He bowed to Bao Xin on horseback and said excitedly:

"General Bao is too praised, and Meng De is really flattered."

"Meng De is polite."

The distance between the two narrowed again.

Wei Zi has been listening to the conversation between Cao Cao and Bao Xin, and Wei Zi deeply agrees with Bao Xin's evaluation, and he said approvingly:

"What General Bao said is true, even in the next place, he agreed early on that Brother Meng De is a genius. Now, Brother Meng De can look at the overall situation and take advantage of the fact that the main force of Dong Thief is heading south to take Aocang to the west, which is really a clever move. It's a pity that Zhang Mengzhuo (Zhang Miao) has limited troops, so he can only let him lead 3,000 men and horses to help. ”

Cao Cao patted Wei Zi's shoulder affectionately on the horse:

"On the issue of military strength, why should Zixu be concerned? That Qiao Mao, Liu Dai and the others all had their own plans, and Meng Zhuo only recruited more than 10,000 troops in total this time, and sent more than 3,000 people to follow me at one time, which was also something he could do. What's more, Meng Zhuo must also stay in the sour date, if it weren't for him, who else would our rear be handed over to with peace of mind? ”

Weiz nodded, but Bao Xin sighed and said with a little regret:

"Now Dong Zhuo is tyrannical and unreasonable, and it is a critical juncture for the heroes of the world to jointly kill this thief. But how many people can really sacrifice their lives for the court and the country? ”

When Cao Cao and Wei Zi heard this, they were also silent: among the princes of the Jujube Guild, in addition to them, how many people really came to please the thief? Even Sun Jian, the Marquis of Wucheng, who was recognized as a loyal minister of the imperial court and a good general in the world, didn't he kill Wang Rui, Zhang Shi and others, and included other people's soldiers and horses into his own camp, just to strengthen himself. The rest of Liu Dai, Qiao Mao, Yuan Yi and others have their own abacus. Because of this, although Dong Zhuo acted perversely and provoked the anger of heaven and man, there is still no soldier and horse that can threaten Dong Zhuo, who is far away in Beijing.

It's already the second watch day, at this time the fatigue of the brigade has reached the limit, most of these soldiers are only temporary conscripts, more than ten days of rapid marching make them physically and mentally tired, many people really can't walk, simply fall to the ground and fall asleep, even if the military academy beats and scolds them, it's useless.

Cao Cao knew that these newly recruited soldiers were overwhelmed, and now they could only rest on the spot, and today they had traveled more than 100 miles in a tortuous day, and they should rest for a few hours, so he ordered the brigade to rest in place and continue to march until dawn.

Wei Zi looked ahead, in the distance of dozens of miles, across the Bianqu, it is Xingyang's Zhongmu, now if you can advance to Zhongmu one step earlier, you can occupy a favorable position one step earlier, at that time, even if Dong Zhuojun arrives urgently, you can deal with it without hurry, so, Wei Zi said to Cao Cao and Bao Xin:

"I am willing to lead the army into Xingyang first, and then meet with General Bao and Meng De in Zhongmu tomorrow."

Cao Cao persuaded: "Why should Zixu be in a hurry? If thou shalt rest here with the army for the rest of the night, and then march again. ”

"Chi is changing, although the main force of the Dong thief army is far away in Liang County, but he is worried that the situation will change, so he plans to enter and occupy Zhongmu in the starry night, and connect with Zhongmu Ling Yang Yuan."

Bao Xin thought that what Wei Zi said was very true, and besides, the three thousand people Wei Zi brought were different from Bao Xin himself and the soldiers recruited by Cao Cao, who were originally professional soldiers who could march overnight, so he said to Cao Cao:

"Mengde, looking at it from below, what Zixu said is very reasonable."

Cao Cao also thought that it was true that he should avoid long nights and dreams, so he nodded yes.

Among Bao Xin's team of more than 20,000 people, more than 2,000 people were originally elite soldiers, and these people could continue to walk, so Bao Xin ordered his brother Bao Tao to lead more than 2,000 people to set off with Weizi.

As a result, the Yanzhou coalition army was divided into two teams, one route was led by Wei Zi and Bao Tao with a total of more than 5,000 elites, and rushed to Zhongmu overnight, while Bao Xin, Cao Cao and others led the remaining 30,000 horses, temporarily resting in the same place, and after sunrise, marching to Zhongmu and joining Wei Zi's front army.