The army did not move, the grain and grass went first, and Chen Cheng had already made a lot of preparations for this expedition. In addition to building a military station on the road from Hongnong to Henan and stockpiling a lot of materials, he also sent people to dredge Luoshui and built several wharves along the way. In addition, Yang Xiu was also sent to Nanyang in advance to serve as the taishou, so that he could have an additional supply route and buy some grain from Jingzhou.

Although millions of stone of grain had been prepared, Chen Cheng had always been "anticipating the enemy with leniency". You can prepare it in advance and use it, and you must not say that you need it when the time comes.

Xu Rong and Lu Fang both made rapid progress, the former had been stationed in Henan for two years, and had already sent people to find out the situation of Yanzhou's roads and rivers clearly. In the staff office of the Second Legion, a huge well-made sand table was placed, on which even the larger villages were marked.

Although Lu Fang was temporarily in charge, he was not as well prepared as Xu Rong, but with Yan Xiang, a person who was familiar with the situation in Yuzhou, he was also making rapid progress. In contrast, Chen Chengbu, who was pushed all the way over in Yanzhou, seemed much slower. There are basically only two things he did, one was to send cavalry to cover the battlefield and not let the enemy know how many men he had brought; The second is to pack most of the local scholars and heroes and send them to the Western Regions.

In each county, except for one or two poor families, no matter whether they are virtuous or foolish, they all go to the Western Regions to travel. And it's the kind of tourism that you can never come back all year round, and in the future generations, I don't know how many people will be envious. If it weren't for the organization of his own people to transport grain and grass, those poor men and officials would also be packed out.

When Chen Cheng's troops in the middle were advancing unhurriedly, Xu Rongjun had already penetrated half of Yanzhou and reached the vicinity of Dongjun. Here, they encountered Chun Yuqiong and Yuan Tan's blocking soldiers. Xu Rong's army had more than 40,000 people, the main force was 5,000 soldiers from the Second Army and 10,000 soldiers from Xiliang and Guanzhong, and the rest were cavalry recruited from the Sanhe region and infantry from Hongnong and Henan.

Hedong Taishou Yang Feng, and Hanoi Governor Lu Bu also led thousands of cavalry to serve under Xu Rong's account. Although Hanoi Taishou Zhang Yang did not dare to offend Yuan Shao, after the imperial court gave the order, he did not dare to resist, so he handed over the elite cavalry to Lu Bu and asked him to take it to Yanzhou to fight.

Under Xu Rong's command, there are also many Xiliang cavalry, so he can occupy a lot of initiative on the battlefield, and the eight tiger squat cannons he brought have never come in handy. After hearing that a large army of the enemy had finally appeared in front of him, Xu Rong immediately let the troops deploy and led the cavalry out to reconnoitre.

Although Chun Yuqiong is not a first-class general, he is also battle-hardened, and he also sent rangers to find out the situation of the enemy army. The Xiliang Iron Cavalry and the Jizhou Jiaqi fought for the first time, but it was on the boundary of Yanzhou. The cavalry on both sides chased each other and fought each other, and soon, the Xiliang cavalry drove the Hebei cavalry away and seized most of the information control on the battlefield.

In this kind of small-scale cavalry battle, the Xiliang cavalry, which is more numerous and better equipped, has always been able to have an advantage. Moreover, Lu Bu and Xu Rong personally led the elite cavalry forward, so the cavalry of Jizhou was quickly defeated. However, before withdrawing from the battlefield, the cavalry of Chun Yuqiong's army still found enough information.

"Xu Rongjun has about thirty or forty thousand, which is about the same as us," Yuan Tan said excitedly: "We should take the initiative to attack and annihilate the enemy!" ”

Chun Yuqiong was a little hesitant, "But the lord ordered us to just block the enemy, if we rush into battle, I am afraid that the lord guild will not be happy." ”

Yuan Tan smiled: "Don't you know what your father is like?" As long as the battle is won, there will be only reward, and there will be no blame! Even if my father blames me, I'll just bear it! ”

Chun Yuqiong immediately fell in love, Yuan Tan urgently needed a record to prove himself, why shouldn't he? When he first arrived in Hebei, he was still Yuan Shao's close comrade-in-arms, and after a few years, he has now fallen to the point where Yuan Shao will only send him to play if there is no one at hand.

Both of them had the need to make contributions, and they immediately hit it off and threw Yuan Shao's blessings out of the clouds. They didn't enter the city to defend, and directly outside Puyang City, they set up a position, ready to fight the enemy!

Xu Rong took Lu Bu to the vicinity of Puyang to reconnoitre, and couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw that the Hebei Army had been deployed. Although he brought eight tiger squat cannons, the power of that kind of small cannon was not enough, and it could still come in handy in field battles. If the enemy hides in the city, these small cannons will not be able to knock on the gate of Puyang City.

If you bypass a fortified city with heavy troops, the supply line will be completely exposed to the enemy's attack, which is a very dangerous behavior. When things go well, it's okay, but once the situation is reversed, the lone soldiers and horses are in danger of being wiped out. There are a lot of cavalry under his command, and there is no need to worry about the danger of annihilation, but those infantry are also elites who have been trained hard, and they can't just be thrown to the enemy.

Before, he was still thinking about whether the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry would retreat directly into Puyang City after being expelled. Now, the enemy army did not retreat in the city, but went down outside the city, and it is not difficult to see from the location of the camp that the enemy does not want to become a corner to defend, but intends to have a decisive battle with his own side.

This is exactly what Xu Rong wants!

Xu Rong led the cavalry around Chun Yuqiong's department for a distance, and was even happier to see that the other party did not spend much effort to dig trenches or build strong camps. They were going around here, and they had long been seen by Chun Yu Qiongjun. A soldier and horse came out quietly from elsewhere, ready to go around to the rear and eat these Xiliang thieves who didn't know whether they were alive or dead.

But where is it so easy? Xu Rong is a general who is enough to take charge on his own, and Lu Bu is also a great general who is good at cavalry combat. Before the soldiers and horses in the circle were in place, they had already been discovered by Xu Rong and others. After getting the information from Tanma, Lu Bu asked Xu Rong for battle, he carried Fang Tian's halberd, sat on the back of the red rabbit horse, and said proudly: "Where can these Hebei people fight?" General, please let me lead my troops to defeat them! ”

They had come out to reconnoitre, so they had only two or three hundred cavalry, and the men and horses that had come around from the flanks numbered a thousand. However, whether it was Lu Bu or Xu Rong, they all felt that they could defeat the enemy by relying on these hundreds of cavalry in their hands.

Xu Rong nodded and said, "This place is too close to the enemy's camp, just defeat it, you can't fight!" ”

So this small cavalry divided into two wings, led by Lu Bu and Xu Rong respectively, and rushed towards the enemy army that appeared on the flank. The cavalry moved quickly and soon appeared in front of the enemy, and the Chun Yuqiong army, which was in line with the army, was caught off guard, and was severely attacked by Lu Bu and his troops, and then cut off by Xu Rong, and soon fell into chaos.

By the time Lü Bu rode a red rabbit horse and trampled back and forth in the infantry ranks, Chun Yuqiong's army had already collapsed. Then Lu Bu held Fang Tian's halberd and beheaded the enemy general. Xu Rong ordered the soldiers to blow the horn and summoned Lu Bu, who had been killed, back.

"Happy!"

Lu Bu was covered in blood, with a bloody head hanging from under the horse's neck, and the expression on his face was very happy, as if he had just done a good job,

Xu Rong asked, "Who is the enemy general you killed?" ”

Lu Buman said indifferently: "It's just a nameless general, it doesn't matter who he is!" ”

When the battle started here, Yuan Tan immediately rushed out with more soldiers and horses. But when he arrived, he only saw Xu Rong and Lu Buyang walking away. The eldest son of Yuan Shao whipped the routs with a whip on horseback and scolded: "You have several times more troops than the enemy, so you can still be defeated? Are you pigs? Pigs are smarter than you! ”

The beaten soldiers rolled all over the ground in pain, and an officer replied tremblingly: "The enemy will be Lu Bu, who is extremely brave, so he is invincible!" ”

Yuan Tan sneered and said contemptuously: "What kind of thing is Lu Bu? I'm the sister-in-law of the Yuan family, and I don't know how many times more noble than the martial artist of the state! On the battlefield in the coming day, I will behead him!" ”

Lu Bu once dominated Guanzhong, and he also made a great name on the battlefield, so Yuan Tan knew his deeds. But knowing that Yuan Tan is very disdainful of a defeated dog like Lu Bu. He........ Well, if Cao Cao wasn't too treacherous, how could he Yuan Gongzi be driven back to Yecheng? Of course, this is not the same thing as Lu Bu!

After Xu Rong and Lü Bu routed an enemy unit, the morale of the army was greatly boosted. Xu Rongjun is mainly based on the Sanhe cavalry and the government soldiers and county soldiers under the division of the army, not as brave as the Xiliang Iron Cavalry under Lu Fang, nor as fanatical as the non-commissioned officers and students under Chen Cheng.

Xu Rongjun had 40,000 troops, and when he came all the way, he left thousands of people stationed in various cities, and now he only has more than 35,000 people left. More than 30,000 men were stationed on both sides of a creek for miles.

Since the time when they were in the Northland, the Xiliang army had to build very strong defenses every time they camped, and this time was no exception. While the rangers continued to obscure the battlefield and create the fog of war for the enemy army, Xu Rongjun quickly established several large-scale camps with shovels, hacksaws and other tools carried by the army.

By daylight the next day, the reinforcement work continued, and it was not until late evening that the reinforcement work was completed. Although the camp is still very rudimentary, and its defense is far from being comparable to that of a tall and wide city, it already has sufficient defense.

If an enemy comes to attack, unless there are various siege equipment, it will definitely break the head and bleed.

This is what the Art of War says: first for oneself is invincible, and then one can win.

After building the camp, Xu Rong finally marched forward with his soldiers and horses, broke the formation in the field, and prepared for a decisive battle with Chun Yuqiong. Yuan Tan had been waiting for two days, and when he heard that the enemy had finally come out of the turtle shell, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and immediately found Chun Yuqiong and asked him to quickly go out to fight with his soldiers and horses. lest after a long time the enemy shrinks back.

But as soon as he entered the big tent of the Chinese army, Yuan Tan smelled a strong smell of wine.