Early the next morning, Man Pet said goodbye to his family and took a few relatives to take office.

I don't know if it's because they sincerely believe in Legalism, they have a lot of property, and there are some subordinate peasants, but they don't have a large number of armed forces, so they can't talk about any force. Not only the Manchu family is like this, but also many families and heroes in Shanyang, they are still accustomed to calling for wind and rain in the system, and with the support of the assassin and the county guard, they can do whatever they want, without support, they can only stand aside.

If there is a strong force, Zhang Jian will not flee away like a lost dog, just hide in the mountains and Zeli next to him, even if the imperial court sends a large army to suppress him, he will not be found for a year and a half. Liu Biao made the history of Jingzhou Thorn, and entered Yicheng with a horse, and there was no part to accompany him. On the contrary, it is a place like the Juye Li family that has no scruples, recruiting rangers, raising thousands of customers, and running rampant in the township.

This may be a continuation of different thinking. When the imperial power is still stable, no matter how powerful the strong and powerful are, they dare not go against the government, the Taishou has no parts, but the Taishou can summon the county soldiers, the Taishou can not do it and there is a history of thorns, and if the history of the thorns is not good, you can also ask the court to mobilize more people, any of the heroes can not bear it, sooner or later it will be over, and the advantages of being an official are obvious, so the Shanyang family is used to being an official and looks down on those local tyrants who recruit subordinates.

Sun Ce was able to sweep all the way with three thousand paces and almost never encountered decent resistance, and it was also for this reason. If he met Juye Li, he would not have been able to do so easily, and the reason why he hadn't met him was just because of a coincidence. Juye is in the northwest of Sanyang, next to the famous Junoze, and nearly 100 miles away from Changyi.

Man Chong kept his promise to Yuan Tan and did not leak a word of Yuan Tan's arrangement. But Sun Ce verified his guess from the side: Yuan Tan was sending additional reinforcements and using the forces of the entire Yanzhou to fight him, and the total number of troops would reach more than 50,000, or even more.

He owns a large state like Yuzhou, but he can't realize its potential, and the main force he can use is less than 30,000 people, and more than half of them are the Jiangdong soldiers he has just formed. There were less than 30,000 soldiers in the county, and they were scattered all over the country, so they could not concentrate on fighting. Sun Ce can appoint the Taishou and the Minister of State, but he cannot arrange military marquis and lieutenants in the county soldiers, and the middle and lower-level officers who control the county soldiers are still local heroes. Sun Ce had limited control over the county soldiers, and it was okay to protect the place, and once he left the local expedition, there would be many problems.

In the final analysis, it is because Yuzhou Haoqiang looks down on Sun Ce and is unwilling to support him. If Yuzhou falls into the hands of Yuan Tan, with a population base of more than 6 million, how many people can Yuan Tan organize? I dare not say more, 100,000 should not be a problem.

This situation is not new now, Sun Ce has long been mentally prepared, and it is included in the whole plan.

Soon, Yuan Xu, the Taishou of Jiyin, led more than 15,000 people to arrive, less than thirty miles away from Changyi.

Sun Ce immediately ordered Lü Fan to meet the battle, and he led his cavalry to monitor Yuan Tan in Changyi City.

——

Liang Ting.

Lu Fan stood on the platform that had just been erected with his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth, looking up at the horizon in the distance from time to time.

From Dingtao to Changyi, this is the only way. After receiving Sun Ce's order, he rushed here to set up a formation.

He claimed to have more than 10,000 people, but in fact there were only more than 5,000 people, less than half of Yuan Xu. However, he is not afraid at all, he has been guarding Suiyang for more than two years, and he has experienced several large and small battles, and he was besieged by Yuan Tan's 50,000 troops not long ago, and he has become accustomed to this situation.

Liang is a small country, originally there were not many households, the highest time was only more than 80,000 households, after a few years of yellow turbans, state and county scuffles, the actual household registration was less than 60,000, and there were about 10,000 county soldiers, but Suiyang is a critical place, and there can be no mistakes, so he left half of the people to the deputy general Qiao Bao and asked him to guard Suiyang. Qiao Bud is Qiao Rui's younger brother, with average ability, but loyalty.

Smoke and dust faintly appeared on the horizon in the distance, and it was relatively low, which was a sign of the presence of foot soldiers.

A scout galloped over and reported the latest news, verifying Lu Fan's guess.

Lu Fan exhaled, sat down, and pinched his sleeves. In his sleeve was Sun Ce's order, which was only a few words: Win first and then lose, and preserve your strength. He understood Sun Ce's intentions, but he felt a little pity. After running such a long way, but he couldn't fight happily, and he had to lose to Yuan Xu, a talker, it was really embarrassing.

——

Yuan Xu leaned against the wall of the carriage, swaying his body as the carriage advanced, drowsy, until he was woken up by the county official Wang Si.

"Fu Jun, it's called Liang Ting in front, and the striker reported that Lu Fan is here to set up a formation."

Yuan Xumuran came back to his senses for a long time. "How many people are there in Lu Fan?"

"Comparable to our army, there are more than 10,000 people." Wang Si paused for a moment, and then said, "However, I suspect that it is a suspicious soldier." ”

Yuan Xu looked at Wang Si and couldn't help but want to laugh. Wang Si is very young, not yet twenty years old, and he only joined the company not long ago. "You've led soldiers?"

Wang Si frowned, very unhappy, but still endured his temperament. "Fujun, Suiyang has so many people, and the number of Haoqiang is also limited, and the number of troops is roughly numerous. I heard people say before that there are only more than 10,000 people in Suiyang, and now that Lu Fan is on the march, how can he take them all away and leave no one to defend the city? ”

Yuan Xu thought about it and felt that it made sense. He looked at Wang Si again. "The herald ordered all the troops to be on guard and prepare for battle. Let's explore Lu Fan's reality first, if he really doesn't have enough troops, we may be able to defeat him. ”

Wang Si replied and turned around. Yuan Xu got off the bed, picked up the books that fell on the ground, got out of the carriage, and stretched. Looking at the soldiers advancing on both sides, he pounded his sore waist and sighed. He hated this kind of life more and more, if it weren't for Yuan Tan being trapped in Changyi City, if it weren't for the fact that Changyi was only two or three days away from Dingtao, he really didn't want to come.

He didn't want to fight, let alone fight Sun Ce. The last time I went to Xiao County to fight with Liu Bei, I was beaten by Sun Ce. If it weren't for luck and heavy rain, they would probably have been trapped and killed in Xiao County by Sun Ce. The night's escape haunted him, and the desperate screams of the soldiers who had been engulfed in the swamp before they died lingered in his ears, making him not want to go through it a second time.

"Maybe I should give up my official position, go back to my hometown in Ruyang to study, and sit back and watch the success or failure." Yuan Xu thought to himself. He and Yuan Shu are half-brothers, and Sun Ce is Yuan Shu's designated heir and Yuan Shu's son-in-law. He doesn't want to make a contribution, he just wants to read quietly, Sun Ce shouldn't be difficult for him. If you really can't do it, ask Yuan Quan to intercede, Yuan Quan always has to give this face.

This thought had been in Yuan Xu's mind for a long time, but he didn't dare to mention it, for fear that Yuan Shao would hate him. What kind of person Yuan Shao is, he still knows it. If Yuan Shao feels offended, Yuan Shao will win the world in the future, and he will not have a good result.

"Knock knock...... Knock knock knock ......"

The sound of war drums in front of him sounded, interrupting Yuan Xu's thoughts. Yuan Xu smiled bitterly, cheered up, got out of the car, stepped on the war horse led by the guards, and prepared to meet Lu Fan.