"Sir, do you think what Gao Gan said is credible?" Jiao Touch couldn't get an idea, so he could only ask Chen Deng.

Chen Deng pondered for a moment and said, "He is right. The city defense of Yanmen Pass is really good. Even if we can win, we will pay a huge price. ”

"If you can recover Yanmen Pass without using swords, that's the best."

"Give it a try?" Jiao asked him.

"Hmm."

Chen Deng nodded and said, "Try it." But set a time. Within half a day, the winner must be decided. Beware that the senior cadres are trying to delay time, and are actually waiting for reinforcements from Taiyuan Jinyang. ”

Chen Deng's words are to the point.

Why did Gao Gan suddenly make this request? The real purpose is to stall for time. The later the time, the more beneficial it was for him, and when Jinyang's 20,000 reinforcements arrived to help defend the city, he would no longer be afraid of Jiaojiao.

However, Chen Deng's eyes were vicious, and he had been wary of this point early, and the time for fighting generals was only stipulated within half a day.

"Half a day, half a day." After Jiao Touch's response, Gao Gan said: "My ten generals will not arrive at Yanmen Pass until tomorrow, so the fight will be held tomorrow, I don't know if it is possible?" ”

Gao Gan thought to himself, one more day of delay is a day.

"This kid has to inch in." Jiao Yan looked at Chen Deng: "Sir, do I promise him?" ”

"Promise. Anyway, it's only a day and a half. It is impossible for the reinforcements of the high cadres to arrive so quickly. After noon tomorrow, the battle will end, and we will be defeated or defeated but not get the Yanmen Pass, so we will forcibly attack the city. Chen Deng said.

"Okay."

Jiao Touch relayed Chen Deng's words to Gao Gan.

The two sides reached a verbal agreement, and tomorrow morning in front of the Yanmen Pass, a nine-on-nine battle will begin.

......................

......................

Kettle off.

After Yuan Xi captured Huguan, he sent Li Dian's wolf cavalry to attack and rescue Yuan Shang in Huguan. I thought that Yuan Shang would be killed and defeated, but I didn't expect that at the time of the battle, Yuan Shang's troops were hiding in the mountains, making Li Dian's wolf cavalry unable to annihilate the enemy.

He stayed at the foot of the mountain for two days, and sent scouts into the mountain to investigate and search, but he found no trace of Yuan Shang's army. As a result, the whole army returned to Huguan and reported the battle to Yuan Xi.

"This is Yuan Shang's advantage in merging states." Yuan Xi looked at the generals in the tent and said, "You should know by now, why did I enter Yuan Shang with heavy troops, right?" With fewer troops, can you stop him? ”

"The lord is wise."

Many of the generals present believed that although Yuan Shang's annex had 100,000 troops, its combat effectiveness was weak, and it was by no means an opponent of the Jizhou army. It only takes tens of thousands of iron cavalry and siege warriors to be invincible. And Yuan Xi mobilized more than 200,000 soldiers and horses for this war, which is really a bit overkill.

However, when Li Dian attacked Yuan Shang, Yuan Shang hid in the mountains, making it impossible for Li Dian to annihilate him. This incident made them see that Yuan Xi was prescient. If you want to completely exterminate Yuan Shang, you have to encircle and suppress them and block those mountain passes.

"After the capture of Huguan, the door of the state was opened. The battle we are going to fight next will be very difficult. I demand that Yuan Shang be completely annihilated, and not a single enemy soldier can be let go. In particular, he must not be allowed to escape into the mountains. Otherwise, in the future, he will be like Zhang Yan, developing and growing under our noses, posing a threat to us, but we will not be able to encircle and suppress him. Yuan Xi said.

Zhang Jaw took out the map and placed it on the desk: "Judging from the topography of Bingzhou, there are too many places to enter the mountains. If Yuan Shang is defeated, he can leave at any time. ”

"yes..."

Yuan Xi had already studied the map.

It is basically impossible to block all exits into the mountain. However, it is possible to block some important places, and then send fast cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry troops to form an encirclement. Maybe you can block Yuan Shang.

"Generals, put aside the matter of encircling Yuan Shang first. Let's take Shangdang County first. Shangdang is the first big county after Huguan, and I have more than 100,000 heavy troops, if I want to expand all of them and besiege Yuan Shang, I must first capture there. Yuan Xi looked at Gao Ran on the side: "Pass the order, early tomorrow morning, the whole army will go north and take the party directly." ”

"Yes."

Gao Ran had already passed down the order, and left a lieutenant behind to guard the Huguan and watch over the captives who surrendered.

"Lord, what should Chun Yuqiong do? He's still waiting for you to summon him. Jaw opened and whispered.

"Go down first and prepare for the expedition. Call him in by the way. ”

"No..."

The congregation will get up and leave.

Zhang Jaw went to pass Chun Yu Qiong to see him.

Chun Yuqiong was very worried in her heart, and she didn't know what Yuan Xi's attitude towards him would be. Because he rebelled against Yuan Shang after all. No lord likes people with long brains, and Yuan Xi should be the same.

But thinking about it carefully, Chun Yuqiong has no regrets.

Because according to the situation at that time, if he didn't surrender and even lost his life, what kind of fame and great deeds would he talk about?

"The last will meet the lord..." Chun Yuqiong walked into the hall and gave a big salute to Yuan Xi, and by the way, even the title was changed.

"I am very glad that you can sacrifice the pot and submit it to me. Speaking of which, you are a veteran under your father's account, and ten years ago, you commanded the Xiyuan Army with your father in Luoyang and confronted Dong Zhuo. It's a battle-hardened experience. Yuan Xi smiled.

"Do you remember this?" Chun Yuqiong's eyes were a little moist.

"Of course I do."

Chun Yuqiong said with a guilty face: "The last general will serve Yuan Shang, and it is also a last resort. Cao Cao sent someone to send the last general to Yuan Shang, the last general.... Chun Yuqiong wanted to explain what happened back then.

Yuan Xi waved his hand and smiled: "You are not wrong about this. ”

In fact, Yuan Xi also felt a little guilty in his heart, when he exchanged Cao Ren and Cao Cao for prisoners, if he said one more name, maybe Chun Yuqiong would be his general.

But at that time, Yuan Xi thought that Chun Yuqiong was a waste, so he didn't bother to mention this condition.

So much so that Chun Yuqiong was later given to Yuan Shang by Cao Cao as a gift for peace talks with Yuan Shang, and became Yuan Shang's general.

"Now that you have submitted to me, I have only one request for you, do you know what it is?"

"Please let the Lord know."

"Loyalty!" Yuan Xi's face became very serious: "I need your absolute loyalty." You remember, I can not care about your past, I can forget everything before, as long as you are absolutely loyal to me in the future, I will reuse you. Just like Cao Cao's generals Li Dian, Le Jin, and Yu Ban, they were all Cao Cao's generals, and they also rebelled against Cao Cao and took refuge in me. But I still reuse them. ”

"The Admiral understands." Chun Yuqiong said excitedly: "The last general must be loyal to the lord!" ”

He raised his right hand and swore: "If there is half a point of dissent, heaven and earth will not tolerate it!" ”

"What position do you want? Is it to serve in the army? Or go to the local area and be a guard? Yuan Xi asked directly.