For a new faction that is increasing in the sun, it seems inconceivable to abandon the land of the city.

What's more, it is still an important place for soldiers to fight for in the West River.

But Yan Xing's serious expression didn't look like he was joking with Gan Ling.

In the west, after Ma Teng's threat to Chang'an was lifted, the most threatening Chang'an now is the soldiers and horses of Ganling, a garrison in Xihe, who has participated in stirring up the changing situation in Guanzhong many times.

In the past, Li Dao, Guo Yan and others would despise Ganling, but after Ma Teng's attack on Chang'an, Zuo Fengyi's Guo Yan had already woken up and realized that the side of the couch could not allow others to snore, and wanted to take advantage of the situation to use troops to take back Xihedi.

Stick to the land of the West River, Hedong must do its best, men should fight, women should be lucky, and Guo Yan's army will compete for power, regardless of victory or defeat for the time being, but the final victor will definitely not be Yan Xing and Guo Yan, but Li Dao, Zhang Ji and others who take advantage of the fishermen.

Withdrawing from the West River and turning to defend the Great River seems to be cowardly, but in fact it is only the heart of the enemy. Guo Yan got the Xihe land, whether it was difficult to fill the desire or was full of ambition, he would turn around and go to compete with Li Dao and Fan Chou for Chang'an, and when the situation turned around, the initiative would be transferred back to Yan Xing's hands.

A group of scholars in Hedong, for the land of the West River, Xi Zhicai thought that Yan Xing could follow the example of Emperor Gaozu, enter the Han Dynasty and cut off the plank road, showing no intention of reviewing, in order to serve Li Dao, Guo Yan and others to fight, and then wave the army to the west, and also set the three Qin.

Wei Qi believes that Hedong Tuntian, the new soldier recruitment, is only the initial results, if this sudden start of the war, spread for many years, I am afraid that it will shake the foundation of Hedong again.

Yan Shi pointed out that according to the celestial phenomena and climatic signs since the beginning of autumn, although there is a bumper harvest this year, I am afraid that there will be a large-scale drought in the coming year.

In order to stabilize the situation in Xihe and ensure that the soldiers and horses of Xihe can retreat to the east of the river safely, Yan Xing had to rush to Linjin City to personally support the overall situation.

And this is the real reason why Yan Xing came here to stabilize the situation!

After Yan Xing confided to Gan Ling the purpose of his personal rush to Linjin City, the room was silent for a while, and Yan Xing did not explain too much.

It is difficult to explain the reasons for the final decision of the Heibei shogunate to the soldiers, but they only know that "fighting for land and killing people; Fighting for the city and killing the city" The soldiers with the rough truth will not care about the gains and losses behind the war, and only know the relationship between honor and disgrace if you kill the enemy and lose your land.

But Gan Ling must understand, because he is the guard of Xihe and the minister of the humerus that Yan Xing relies on.

Under Yan Xing's blazing gaze, Gan Ling's face turned a little pale, but he quickly reined in his spirit and returned to Yan Xing's choice, he thought about the situation in front of him, sighed lightly, and said in a deep voice:

"Gao Shuo and Xia Yu are the generals under the command of Guo Yan, judging from the use of troops in the past few days, they are not brave people, they dare not attack the fortifications, but they see the advantage of advancing quickly, and they like to take advantage of the situation to attack, although they have retreated to the west bank of Luoshui at the moment, but the army and the people have retreated, and the movement is not small, it is difficult to hide the scouts they sent, and they will take advantage of the situation to march into the army."

"I'm asking them to take advantage of the situation!"

When Yan Xing heard this, the light in his eyes was revealed, and he was not worried, and continued:

"Husband fights, courage also. The withdrawal of the soldiers of Xihe cannot be a disgraced abandonment and defeat, we need to defeat Gao Shuo and Xia Yu, and then we can calmly retreat across the river. Therefore, now we also need a reason for the soldiers to withdraw their troops, a reason to allow Gao Shuo and Xia Yu to pursue for profit! ”

···

A few days later, on the west bank of Luoshui.

Gao Shuo rode on a tall horse, commanded the 15,000 horsemen who marched to the camp, crossed Luoshui, and marched in the direction of Linjin City.

As early as an hour ago, Xia Yu had already led the five thousand elite horsemen in the army, trekked across Luoshui, and went to pursue the retreating guards of Linjin City.

In the past few days, although Gao Shuo and Xia Yu retreated to the west bank of Luoshui, but the scouts sent to Linjin City have never been lacking, and they were worried at first that after the Pingbei general Yan Yan personally led the army to Linjin City, they would raise troops to attack their invading soldiers and horses, but after waiting for a few days, the guards of Linjin City did not move at all.

The scouts sent out to spy on the enemy also reported that in addition to a cavalry entering the city that day, in the remaining days, in the direction of the Hejin Ferry, there were no reinforcements coming to Linjin City, but the households in Linjin City, who were guarded by hundreds of thousands of families, collectively migrated to the direction of Hejin Ferry.

This made Gao Shuo and Xia Yu more and more surprised in their hearts.

They then ordered scouts to attack the guards escorting the households, and finally learned from the mouths of the captives that in the past few days, the so-called reinforcements had only 1,000 cavalry into the city, and it was not the Pingbei general Yan Yan who led the army in person.

And the Xihe guard Gan Ling was wounded by an arrow in the chaos in the city that night, and now the wound is sick, and he is already seriously injured and can not handle military affairs, so the heart of the army in the city is unstable, and the soldiers and civilians in Xihe will hurriedly retreat and cross the river.

The guards and people of small cities such as Heyang and Xiayang had already crossed the river and retreated to the east of the river in the past few days.

After repeatedly confirming this news, Gao Shuo and Xia Yu really saw the benefits, where can they still deal with it safely, and immediately divided the army into two parts, one led by Xia Yu, to pursue the Xihe soldiers and civilians who retreated to the Hejin Ferry, most of them were led by Gao Shuo, and went to occupy Linjin City, which had become an empty city, and was bound to take advantage of the fire at this time to rob and bite off a piece of fat from the Xihe defenders.

It's a pity that Gao Shuo led a large group of men and horses to cross Luoshui, and after less than ten miles, Xia Yu was already chasing all the way, and was ambushed by Yan Yan, the general of Pingbei, and the sergeants were killed and wounded, and they were retreating in a hurry according to the original road.

Gao Shuo suddenly heard the news and was shocked, but the knight sent by Xia Yu in front of him was unkempt, and the horse ran so much that he lost his bow and arrow, which was indeed a real ambush defeat, so Gao Shuo ordered again in a panic, and the army turned around, crossed the river again and returned to the west bank, and sent cavalry to meet Xia Yu's defeated army.

After the first battle, Gao Shuo and Xia Yu agreed that the previous withdrawal was a trap set by Yan Yan, Gan Ling and others, purely to induce their own troops and horses to attack, so in the next few days, they did not dare to rashly send troops to attack Xihe.

It wasn't until the scouts in the army finally entered Linjin City, retrieved the banner of the defenders of Linjin City, and determined that the Linjin City, which was closed with the city gates, had gone to the empty city, and it was really just an empty city, that Gao Shuo and Xia Yu suddenly realized that the previous situation was also true, and then they crossed Luoshui for the third time and led the army to the direction of Linjin City.

And the men and horses of the West River have crossed the river in batches and retreated to the east of the river in these days.

···

On the vast river, Gan Ling, who was already "sick", was lying in the cabin, with "injuries" on his body, he could not lead the army, and could only lie in the cabin alone and wait for the ship to dock, when there was no loneliness, Ma Yunlu suddenly walked in from outside the cabin, and she shouted:

"Uncle Gan, don't pretend to be sick, get up for me!"

Ma Yunlu approached the cabin with a big grin, not at all, since she helped Ganling defend against the enemy that night, the conversation between the two was finally no longer limited to cold words, but also able to laugh a few words.

Gan Ling saw that it was Ma Yunlu who arrived, smiled bitterly, stretched out his hand to signal her to be quieter, and said with a smile:

"General Ma, why are you here?"

"Hmph, I heard that you were injured by an arrow, so I came to see you."

Ma Yunlu found a random place to sit down and looked at Ganling.

"Hey, haven't you seen this yet?"

For the first time, Gan Ling was so unnatural by Ma Yunlu's gaze, he smiled in disguise and looked away.

"Why are you withdrawing when you're not sick?"

Ma Yunlu said with some annoyance, she was at least in the land of Guanzhong when she was in Jincheng, but as soon as she crossed the river and entered the east of the river, it was already the land of Guandong, and it would be even more difficult to return to Liangzhou at that time.

Ma Yunlu knew that the other party didn't want to meet her at all at this time, and she didn't want to let herself go back to Liangzhou easily, so she could only run to see Ganling, who was originally very hateful in her eyes, but now compared with the Pingbei general who pretended to be unfathomable and stingy at first sight, Ma Yunlu felt that Ganling had more true temperament.

Gan Ling waved his hand helplessly, and said in response:

"You don't have to ask about this matter, don't whisper about military affairs."

Ma Yunlu raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and said angrily:

"Hey, you don't want to shirk my questioning, originally I was in Linjin City, and I also helped you wait for the enemy to defend the city, but now the general of Pingbei doesn't want to meet with me, and he also withdraws soldiers and people from the cities of Xihe, I don't understand, why do you agree?"

Seeing that Gan Ling was silent, Ma Yunlu only rolled his eyes, stimulated him and said:

"Could it be that you have been stabbed by rumors and have been deprived of military power by the Pingbei general, so you can only pretend to be sick, lying alone in the boat, silent?"

Gan Ling heard Ma Yunlu's blind speculation, rolled his eyes, and opened his mouth to justify, but when the words came to his mouth, he saw the corners of Ma Yunlu's mouth that were proudly hooked, and suddenly fell silent again.

In the past few days, Gan Ling has been ill, in addition to finding a reason for Xihe to withdraw his troops and stop fighting, he also took this opportunity to meditate on these problems at a deep level.

Yan Xing decided to withdraw his troops from Xihe, in addition to the reasons he said to himself, there should be another thing that Yan Xing did not finish, that is, Hedong has another direction to use troops in the coming year, and because of this, Yan Xing was unwilling to fight on two fronts, and fought to the death with Guo Yan's army in the land of Xihe, but after a small victory, he withdrew his troops in time and returned to Hedong.

It's just that this is still Gan Ling's personal speculation, he looked at Ma Yunlu's curious prying eyes, then smiled, gathered his thoughts and said:

"Hedong is actually not bad, General Pingbei wants to make friends with General Andy It is a mutually beneficial thing, you can be treated with courtesy when you arrive in Hedong, haven't you yet arrived in the land of Kanto, when you arrive in Hedong, you can just go to see the victory of the mountains and rivers in Hedong, as for paying homage to General Pingbei, after arriving in Hedong, I will ask the general to see for you."

Ma Yunlu didn't get the answer she wanted, she was a little indignant in her heart, she wouldn't easily believe Ganling's words, but Ganling was tight-lipped, the water couldn't be splashed, she tried a few more words, or was taken away by Ganling to dissolve, she had to set her eyes on Ganling's "sick" cabin.

The boats at the Hejin ferry are limited, ordinary soldiers and people can only cross the river by wooden poppy, and only the generals and military officers can cross the river by boat, while other boats are overcrowded, and only the boat where General Pingbei and Gan Ling are located is on a small number of people.

This cabin is a temporary place for recuperation in Ganling, but no one came to disturb, Ma Yunlu is not polite, greedy and clean, it occupies a corner, she looked at the wooden box bamboo basket in the cabin, Ganling is the general, Rong Ma is scared, there is no family for the time being, and there is no family business, and there are only a few large wooden boxes and bamboo baskets with the ship, which are nothing more than Ganling's armor, clothing, goods, military books and other things.

Ma Yunlu stayed in the cabin of Ganling, looked left, looked again, looked at and played with the military books and swords in the Ganling box, and chatted with Ganling, suddenly her eyes flashed, and her attention was cast on the several wrenches in the box, she reached out and took out a wrench, and after carefully looking at it in her hand for a long time, she asked out loud:

"You said that these wrenches, arm coats, and swords were all given to you by General Pingbei?"

Gan Ling looked at the sword and good bow in the box, smiled and said:

"Yes, most of the utensils in this box were rewarded by the general, you helped me defend against the enemy in the official temple that night, I haven't been rewarded, if you have a favorite, you might as well say it, I can also give it to you to repay you——"

"Don't."

Ma Yunlu suddenly interrupted Gan Ling's words, then got up again, said "go" in his mouth, and walked out again.

Gan Ling was stunned for a moment, although he noticed something strange, but in the end he didn't see any problems, this lady of the Ma family is estimated to be used to being arrogant in the Ma family, and she is a heroine who fights on a horse on a cool ground, and her temperament is also normal.

After Ma Yunlu left the cabin where Ganling was, he came to the bow of the ship alone, and the guards and soldiers of Ganling on the ship knew that Ma Yunlu's identity was special, and they did not restrict Ma Yunlu's freedom of movement too much.

At this time, the distance between Ganling's ship and Yan Xing's boat was not far, one after the other, Ma Yunlu stood here, just able to see Yan Xing's boat in front, and unexpectedly, Yan Xing happened to be standing in the stern direction.

Yan Xing didn't know that there was a pair of eyes behind him that were watching him, and he was surrounded by Ma Lin, Meng Tu, Dian Wei and other generals at this time, and these generals stationed in Xihe gathered together to listen to Yan Xing talk about the major events that happened in the Central Plains region in the past year.

Yuan Shu was defeated and retreated to Huainan, Cao Cao defeated Tao Qian, Gongsun Zhan killed Liu Yu, Yuan Shao defeated Montenegro, in the year that was about to end, many forces that originally seemed to be in the ascendant were defeated or turned to decline, and the Central Plains was full of heroes competing for deer, and behind the curtain of rise and fall of honor and disgrace, it was a desolate scene of "armor gives birth to lice, and all surnames die".

The generals will also lament the fate of those defeated forces, although they will return to Hedong, according to the shogunate's "settlement order" will be granted the specifications of the land, will also be entrusted with military affairs, but the evacuation of the West River, it is inevitable that there is still a faint sense of sorrow, at this time it is transformed into a sigh of melancholy in the troubled times.

Yan Xingzhou on the river, looking at the indomitable surging river, thought of his step by step from difficult steps to a hundred battles on the battlefield, how could he not have a sense of "years and times, ambition and day", but he believes that soon, there will be heroes and heroes who look down on the world to rise in this kind of turbulent times, and then sweep the Central Plains, and even the whole world, ending the movement of the entire troubled times.

"Whew-w-"

Yan Xing felt it, took the oars in the hands of the soldiers, sat at the stern of the boat and gently patted the side of the boat, leading to singing, his singing voice was different from the military music cymbals and songs, revealing a desolate and tragic atmosphere of the military soldiers.

Ma Yunlu, who was watching Yan Xing at the bow of the ship, was surprised to hear the singing voice of this Pingbei general, since he was lamenting the troubled times, and it seemed to be confiding his heart, and the generals such as Ma Lin, Meng Tu, and Dian Wei standing beside him also hummed along with Yan Xing's singing, and then turned into a chorus of hundreds of people and thousands of people.

"All the people are united in their hearts and the mountains can be shaken, but loyalty and righteousness are angry and bullfighting.

The Lord will kiss me better than my parents, and I will not be free to violate military law.

Ordered to reward and punish the letter, and dared to stay late when he went to the water and fire,

Report to the Son of Heaven to save the head of Qian, kill all the thieves and find a marquis! ”

Ma Yunlu's emotions were infected by the words of the soldiers in the army, she sang softly, in her more complicated eyes, the Pingbei general gently beat the rhythm with a wooden oar, and the singing of the soldiers, until the song was finished, Huo Ran got up, stood on the oars, the sun shone on his body, his figure was like a mountain in the light and shadow, compatible with the endless sound of the waves.

"Oh - those who can't clear the Central Plains and recover are like a big river!"

This last sound, like the symphony of gold and stone, shook Ma Yunlu's heart, she looked complicated, stunned, and then let out a long sigh.