A.D. 183 (6th year of Guanghe), early February.

Not long after the New Year, the soldiers and civilians of Bingzhou were still immersed in this rare calm.

In the spacious conference hall of Jinyang City, all the officials gathered together. This time it was different from before, the atmosphere was not so depressing, Ding Yuan sat on the main seat, with a hint of smile on the corner of his lips, this year not only the crops were harvested, there was no war outside the Seychelles, and according to the report, there was more exciting news, the so-called people are in good spirits when they are happy, and this happy event naturally makes Ding Yuan's thorn history red.

Ding Yuan said loudly: "The main purpose of calling everyone here today is to inform a few pieces of information, and at the same time, to announce a thing. After seeing everyone listening to him with bated breath, Ding Yuan continued with satisfaction: "According to the report, because the son of Tanshi Huai and Lian failed to suppress the Xianbei East and West Division, the Xianbei Alliance has a tendency to split. At the same time, in order to regain their homeland, the Southern Xiongnu took advantage of the situation to launch an attack, and Lian's prestige was not enough, except for the tribes attached to him, the other tribes did not send troops, so this year except for a small group of Xianbei people to invade, there was no war. Now that winter has begun, the grassland is cold in winter, and it seems that this year can have a peaceful year. ”

Tian Xing hurriedly went out to congratulate and said: "I have this peaceful year in the state because of the great talent of the adults, so the favor of God is really gratifying, I wish me and the state a good harvest and health every year, and may the adults live a long life!" ”

All civil officials and military generals also spoke up one after another.

Although he didn't like Tian Xing's personality, everyone loved to listen to flattery, and Ding Yuan couldn't help but be happy: "Thank you, in fact, these are not only my credits, but mainly due to God's blessing of my Han Dynasty and your efforts." ”

As soon as the words fell, there was another voice of praise for merit for a while.

After a while, Ding Yuan felt that it was almost over, and then stretched out his hand to signal everyone to be quiet. Then he said, "One more thing. Now that the Saiwai grassland has become a chaotic situation, I have decided to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to send troops on an expedition outside the Saiwai to exterminate Xianbei and other alien races, or at least to make them unable to intrude on our Han frontier. ”

As soon as these words came out, there was an uproar in the conference hall, although from some recent actions, many people had noticed that Ding Yuan seemed to be going to make a big move, but at most they only thought that it was a preparation to prevent the Xianbei people from going south, and they did not expect that it was actually to counterattack the grassland.

Ding Yuan stretched out his hand again to signal everyone to be quiet, but obviously this time it didn't have much effect, and there were still a lot of buzzing whispers coming from below.

It was still Tian Xing who came out and said: "My lord, this matter must not be done." The prairie ......"

Before Tian Xing's words could be finished, Ding Yuan suddenly stood up and interrupted: "This time I am not asking for your opinion, but to give an order. At the same time, I had already received the Emperor's decree a month ago. Listen to the command! The tone of his voice was unquestionable, and the momentum of Captain Wu Meng burst out.

Suddenly, there were no other voices in the hall, only the answers of everyone: "Xiaguan (the last general) is here!" ”

Ding Yuan said majestically: "Ling, and Lu Bu, the commander of the state cavalry, is the commander of the expedition." Cheng Lian and Hao Meng accompanied them, led the elite to ride 5,000, and after the first month of the coming year, they set out to fight on the grassland! Your mission is only one word, kill! ”

Lu Bu, Cheng Lian, Hao Meng and others came out of the queue and responded: "No! ”

Ding Yuan continued: "Ling, Gao Shun, Wei Xu, Song Xian, and Yu Tao each have 5,000 foot soldiers to Shuofang, Wuyuan, Yunzhong, and Dingxiang to garrison and blockade the caravan. Other Hu people were temporarily detained. ”

The four of them also responded loudly.

Then Ding Yuan issued a series of logistical orders, and for a while, the plan for the expedition to the grassland in the spring of the following year officially began.

It has been nearly three days since the expedition, but it has not yet reached the nearest Xianbei tribe gathering place, the grassland is still relatively cold at the moment, and there is even a lot of snow in some places, and the nomads are still recuperating at the moment. Lu Bu and they just wanted to take advantage of the fact that the activities of all the Hu people were not too frequent at this moment to suddenly attack, and they would not be able to defeat the Xianbei people, otherwise when the weather warmed up and the snow melted, Lu Bu and these people could not say that they had eliminated the living force of Xianbei, and it would be a question whether these people could get out of the grassland alive.

In addition to Cheng Lian and Hao Meng sent by Ding Yuan, Lu Bu also brought Zhang He out, and even Zhao Yun and Tai Shici among the three elementary schools were also brought out by Lu Bu, only Zhang Liao was left at home by Lu Bu and handed over to Tian Feng to teach because he was too young.

Tai Shi Ci, who is lively and active by nature, has never stopped since he went out with the army, and he is so excited that he always pesters Lu Bu and others to ask questions, compared to Tai Shi Ci, Zhao Yun seems to be much calmer. Lu Bu had the intention of training the two little guys, so he ordered the two to follow the scouts for reconnaissance missions, the scouts at that time were scouts in today's words, which were not the elite of the army could not serve, and they were all highly dangerous tasks, and Zhao Yun and Tai Shici really did not disappoint Lu Bu, in just three days, the two of them grew rapidly, almost completely mastered the skills of scouts, and could even carry out reconnaissance missions independently.

On this day, the sun was about to set, Lu Bu ordered the army to camp on the spot to rest, summoned Cheng Lian and Hao Meng to discuss the military situation. Before this expedition, Lu Bu had already made sufficient preparations, not only hired someone to draw a more detailed map of the grassland, but also hired several merchants and rangers who had been walking on the grassland for a long time as guides.

Lu Bu spread out the map drawn on sheepskin, and marked dozens of large and small circles with cinnabar pens, these circles are all known gathering places of the Xianbei tribe, Lu Bu pointed to one of the small circles and said: "You see, we are now one day's trip to this nearest Xianbei tribe, this tribe is probably less than a thousand people, which is a very small branch of the Xianbei tribe. Let the troops rest well today, set out early tomorrow morning, rush to the vicinity of this tribe in the afternoon, and wait until night to attack them. ”

The others nodded their heads when they heard Lu Bu's arrangement.

A middle-aged man with a big beard opened his mouth and said, "Lord Duwei, why did you attack at night? So what if there is a fish that slips through the net? "This person is one of the guides hired by Lu Bu, named Zhang Shan, originally a wealthy merchant with more than ten years of experience in trading on the grassland, but when he was traveling the year before last, the entire caravan including his family was killed by the Xianbei people, and he was the only one who pretended to be dead and escaped.

Last year, I heard that Lu Bu was recruiting guides for his expedition to the grassland, so he volunteered to sign up and didn't take a penny, hoping to kill more Xianbei people and avenge the unjust death of his family.

Lu Bu explained: "Brother Zhang, tomorrow's battle will be the first battle of our army's expedition to the grassland, if it is attacked during the day, there is no shelter on this grassland, and the enemy will inevitably notice it, causing unnecessary damage to the soldiers. Launching a surprise attack at night, on the one hand, can effectively reduce losses, and on the other hand, it is convenient for our army to arrange an encirclement, and the entire tribe can be wiped out. ”

After listening to Lu Bu's explanation, Zhang Shan nodded in understanding, while the other guides also had expressions of sudden realization.

Zhang Shan continued: "Lord Duwei, the villain has a request, I ask the lord to give the villain a weapon tomorrow, I want to kill the enemy with my own hands." As he said this, Zhang Shan's eyes burned with a raging fire, a flame that could only be extinguished with the blood of the enemy.

Lu Bu nodded and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, Brother Zhang." You'll be with me tomorrow. ”

Just when Zhang Shan opened his mouth to thank him, there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves, everyone looked over, only to see three knights riding fast horses rushing here, about to reach Lu Bu and the others, the knights pulled the reins, stopped the horses, and then almost at the same time rolled the saddle and dismounted, knelt on one knee in front of Lu Bu, led by a knight said loudly: "Scout team, the third team comes to report!" ”

Lu Bu raised his hand, motioned for the knights to get up, and said, "Speak." ”

The three knights stood up, and the two behind them were Zhao Yuntai Shi Ci, but they were standing behind the knight at the head without squinting at the moment, and the person at the head said respectfully: "Lord Hui, the target has been investigated clearly, the total population is less than 1,000, the young and strong men are less than 400, and the rest are women, children and the elderly, more than 800 horses, and 1,000 cattle and sheep. Among them, there are nearly 500 horses that can be directly used as war horses as adults. ”

Lu Bu said strangely: "How did you probe so carefully? ”

Hao Meng said next to him: "Haha, my lord, you don't know this, this kid was the captain of my archery team, with extraordinary eyesight, known as a marksman, but this kid thought that the archers were not exciting in the back row of the battlefield, so he insisted on being a scout, and in less than half a year, he accumulated military merits in the military exercise and became the scout captain." ”

Being able to accumulate military merits in half a year, and in peacetime training, from an ordinary non-commissioned officer to a scout captain, such a person is definitely a talent, Lu Bu asked with interest: "Interesting, boy, what's your name." ”

Because Lu Bu has been brave and extraordinary in the battle against the Hu people in recent years, and has almost never been defeated, he has long been called a "flying general" by the military and civilians of the state, and he is the idol of countless young people. ”

"Cao Xing?" Lu Bu secretly thought in his heart, "This person turned out to be Cao Xing, the guy who shot Xiahoudun into a one-eyed dragon and was known as the God of Arrows in Bingzhou." Thinking of this, Lu Bu praised happily: "Well, young man, it's very good, do a good job." ”

The idol's praise made Cao Xuan even more excited, and he hurriedly replied loudly: "Yes, my lord!" ”

Lu Bu stood up and said: "All departments listen to the order, according to the previous subordinates, prepare their own preparations, and launch a surprise attack tomorrow night, this time no enemy can be caught!" ”

Everyone in the tent replied in unison: "Order! ”