Hebei has many generals, and Yuan Shao's intention to take Qingzhou echoes Cao Cao's ambition, and Lu Bu naturally does not dare to be careless. Xu Yan and Wang Kai, who were sent to Cao Cao and Sun Ce respectively, had sent back the news that Cao Cao had agreed to form an alliance against Yuan, while Sun Ce, on the contrary, explicitly refused.

However, after inquiring in detail about Xu Yan, who was the envoy to Cao Cao, Chen Gong, the mastermind of Lu Bu, strongly advised Lu Bu to guard against Cao Cao, and absolutely could not agree to Cao Cao's suggestion that the two families join forces.

"Gongtai, why is that?" Lu Bu asked puzzled.

"Lord, Cao Cao is cunning by nature, and don't forget that we have an enmity with that Cao Cao, how could he agree to ally with us to fight against Yuan so happily. The fact that his troops and horses were mobilized so quickly can only show that he was prepared. Maybe he didn't want to join Lu to fight against Yuan, but was ready to join Yuan to fight against Lu. ”

“…… Gongtai, is there any basis for what you say? ”

"My lord, the heart of guarding against others is indispensable. At present, there is only the lord and Cao Cao left in the Central Plains, since Cao Cao could unite with the lord to crusade against Liu Bei before, then why can't he unite with Yuan Shao to deal with the lord together? What's more, it's easy to invite God and it's hard to send God, if you let that Cao Cao into Xuzhou, then Cao Cao suddenly makes trouble, how is the lord going to deal with it? ”

"Hmm...... Gongtai's words are indeed reasonable, but how to refuse so that Cao Cao does not seize the handle? Lu Bu asked Chen Gongdao in embarrassment.

"This matter is not difficult, just politely decline, and at the same time, you can order Zang Ba to garrison Xiaopei to guard against the surprise attack of Cao's army."

"Well, the meaning of that public platform is to stabilize Cao Cao and break Yuan Shao first. So what about Sun Ce? ”

"Sun Ce is digesting Jiangdong right now, and he can't afford to go north for the time being, but just in case, he can order Cheng Lian to lead his troops to Guangling to monitor Jiangdong."

“…… Okay, all according to Gongtai, then I will lead the main force to the north to break Yuan Shao first, and then clean up Cao Cao. ”

"The lord is slow, and the palace still has nothing to say." Chen Gong hurriedly stopped Lu Bu and said.

"Do you have any suggestions?"

"The lord, Yuan Cao is powerful, although the lord is brave, I am afraid it is difficult to be an opponent. Since Yuan Cao can join forces, why can't the lord seek foreign aid. ”

"Gongtai, you are confused, looking around Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, who dares to join forces with me? Liu Biao's dog guarding the house, Gongsun Zan has been defeated, Sun Ce is busy combing Jiangdong, I have no help to find. ”

"My lord, why don't you come forward to the court?"

Lu Bu was asked. It is true that Liu Biao and Sun Ce can't count on it, but this doesn't mean that Lu Bu can't find a helper. But the problem is that Lu Bu is a person with strong self-esteem, he left Chang'an without hesitation, and he was holding back his strength to mix up his personal appearance so that Chang'an could be impressed, but now he has to ask the court for help, and before he reached the point of exhaustion, Lu Bu couldn't put down this face.

Lu Bu refused to ask the court for help, and Chen Gong was also a courtier. As a strategist, Chen Gong was well aware of the importance of the court's support to Lu Bu at this time, just as Lu Bu was to the court. Although he didn't dare to guarantee that the imperial court would respond to Lu Bu's needs at this time, it was indeed when Lu Bu took the opportunity to ask the imperial court for benefits, but Lu Bu had a good face and refused to open his mouth to the imperial court, and the great opportunity could only be watched slip away from his eyes.

Fighting on both sides, Lu Bu lacked skills, and he could only choose one first, Yuan Shao of Hebei became the first choice, Lu Bu gathered the Flying Bear Army under his command to go north, and Chen Gong accompanied him, as for Cao Cao's side, Lu Bu could only be handed over to Chen Deng to deal with. In terms of the distance of the relationship, in fact, Cao Bao is closer than Chen Deng, after all, Cao Bao's daughter is now married to Lu Bu, and Cao Bao and Lu Bu are Weng sons-in-law. It's just that Cao Bao's ability is really not as good as Chen Deng, and the nest also needs a confidant to sit in the formation, and Lu Bu can't rest assured that he will be handed over to others.

Lu Bu led the army north, and when he learned that Lu Bu was coming with the army, Yuan Shao, who originally hoped that Lu Bu would deal with Cao Cao first, couldn't help but curse a few times in his heart. Intersecting Mo Reverse is not as important as his own great cause, although he has not yet turned his face with Cao Cao, Yuan Shao already has the idea of weakening Cao Cao. It's a pity that Lu Bu, who has no eyesight, found him first, which made Yuan Shao quite dissatisfied.

Lu Bu's martial arts, Yuan Shao is clear. At the beginning, it was difficult for Yuan Shao not to be impressed by Lu Bu's performance before the Tiger Prison, but this did not mean that Yuan Shao was afraid of Lu Bu. In Yuan Shao's eyes, Lu Bu is just the courage of a horseman, and now he has a million male soldiers, thousands of generals, and two fierce generals Yan Liang and Wen Chou, although Lu Bu is brave, but it is difficult to support alone, Yuan Shao at this time did not put Lu Bu in his eyes.

Knowing that Lü Bu was heading north, Yuan Shao immediately contacted Dong Cheng and urged Dong Cheng to open the city and surrender before Lü Bu arrived in Qingzhou. After Dong Cheng received Yuan Shao's order, he immediately launched an operation, and the first thing to solve was Lu Bu's uncle and nephew Zhang Ji who remained in Qingzhou.

Since returning to Lu Bu, Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew have had a good life, Lu Bu has reused the two, and he has even instructed Zhang Xiu in martial arts for a while. So he still has a certain loyalty to Lu Bu and Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew. This time, he was ordered to garrison Qingzhou, and Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew also did a good job. But the two of them are martial artists after all, not as careful as Jia Xu and Li Ru, and they can discover Dong Cheng's hidden evil intentions in advance through clues.

Fortunately, Zhang Ji's wife Zou is still quite smart, although she doesn't know Dong Cheng's plan, but out of a woman's intuition, when Zhang Ji was about to take Zhang Xiu to the banquet, Zou persuaded Zhang Ji: "Now that Yuan Shao's army is pressing the border, and people's hearts are floating, how can your uncle and nephew not be in the army, it is better to leave Boluan in the army to preside over the overall situation, in case of accidents." ”

Zhang Ji nodded yes when he heard this, and ordered Zhang Xiu to stay, while he took more than a dozen relatives to Dong Chengfu. Zhang Xiu, who was left behind, was not unhappy because his uncle did not take him to the banquet. Speaking from the heart, Zhang Xiu is not interested in that Dong Cheng, but because both parties are working for Lu Bu, he did not tear his face, but it was just the kind of friendship that met and nodded.

There was nothing to do in the army, Zhang Xiu was reading a book in the camp tent, and no one paid attention to it when he was young, but when there were more people fighting, Zhang Xiu understood the truth that there is a sky outside the sky and there are people outside the world. In terms of martial arts, Zhang Xiu can't compare to Lu Bu, and he can't compare to fierce generals like Huang Zhong and Dian Wei around the Son of Heaven. is his fellow disciple Zhao Yun, and Zhang Xiu is also sighing to himself. But Zhang Xiu didn't want to admit defeat, if he couldn't compare with martial arts, he would be better than leading the troops. If you can't be a fierce general, then be a general, and your achievements will not be low in the future.

But if you want to become a qualified general, it is far from enough to rely on personal martial arts, Zhang Xiu does not read the Four Books and Five Classics, but only reads the war strategy of the military books, and then practices it on the battlefield. And Zhang Ji naturally has a supportive attitude towards Zhang Xiu's idea of studying. Zhang Ji has no children under his knees, and regards Zhang Xiu as his successor, seeing Zhang Xiu begging for progress, he is too late to be happy, how can he stop it.

Zhang Xiu led the troops to deal with military affairs during the day, and at night he would read with candles, which made him sleep later than others. Estimating that the hour was not early, Zhang Xiu put down the book, habitually called a few guards to patrol the camp with him, and would rest after confirming that there was no abnormality. It is precisely because of this habit that Zhang Xiu's life was saved.

As usual, Zhang Xiu led people to patrol the camp, and at this time, except for the patrol people, the camp was basically asleep. Zhang Xiu saw that there was nothing abnormal in the camp, so he prepared to go back to the tent to rest. But I didn't want someone around me to suddenly snort.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Xiu then asked.

"General, my subordinates seem to have seen a flash of fire outside the camp."

"Where?" Zhang Xiu looked in the direction of the man's finger, and there was no fire outside the camp. Zhang Xiu looked carefully, to make sure there was no fire, and thought that the person was dazzled, but he didn't expect that when he was about to look away, a little light suddenly appeared in the dark night, although the news was very fast, but Zhang Xiu could be sure that he was indeed not dazzled.

"Quick, go wake everyone up." At this time, it was wartime, Zhang Xiu was already sensitive, and he was already suspicious of Dong Cheng's sudden banquet for his uncle and nephew. Why did the good guy suddenly have a treat? In the past, well water did not interfere with river water.

"General......

"Go!" Before Zhang Xiu's words fell, he saw a sudden fire outside the camp, and then he heard the sound of killing.

"Enemy attack! Hurry up and meet the enemy in a collective manner! Zhang Xiu gave an order, and ran in the direction of his tent. He was patrolling the camp, not going to war, and he didn't have any horses and blades with him.

By the time Zhang Xiu appeared neatly with his own soldiers, Yan Liang's soldiers and horses had already entered the front camp. However, with Zhang Xiu's appearance, Yan Liang could only stop there. In order to solve Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew, Dong Cheng's plan was to pretend to invite Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew to the mansion for a banquet, ambush 200 knife and axe players at home, and kill Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew in one fell swoop. It's just that I didn't expect Zhang Ji to go to the meeting alone, leaving Zhang Xiu to stay in the camp.

It's just that Yan Liang didn't put Zhang Xiu in his eyes, as a famous general in Hebei, he naturally has the pride of a famous general. Yan Liang learned that Zhang Xiuren was known as the Gun King of the Northland, and he couldn't help but feel a little itchy, so he ignored the advice sent by Dong Cheng, and still attacked Zhang Ji's camp according to the original plan.

"Who are you?" Zhang Xiugun pointed at Yan Liang and asked.

"Hebei Yanliang, you are Zhang Xiu?"

Hearing that the other party called himself Yan Liang, Zhang Xiu immediately realized that his uncle Zhang Ji was probably already fierce at this time, and Zhang Xiu, who had no intention of fighting, ignored Yan Liang's provocation and killed him with a wave of his army. Yan Liang originally wanted to kill the generals before the battle, but he didn't want Zhang Xiu to give him this opportunity. Seeing Zhang Xiu's army coming, he had no choice but to lead the army to catch up.

20,000 against 3,000, although Yan Liang was brave, he couldn't stand Zhang Xiu's command of the cavalry to charge and kill continuously. Zhang Ji's 20,000 horses followed Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew to fight in the south and the north, and they had a lot of combat experience, even if they were compared to Gongsun Zhan's White Horse Yicong. Although Yan Liang killed dozens of generals, he still couldn't stand Zhang Xiu's army and horses, and had to lead the army to defeat. And Zhang Xiu didn't chase after Yan Liang, since Yan Liang appeared here, how much of Yuan Shao's army lurked nearby with the help of Dong Cheng I don't know, Zhang Xiu didn't dare to stay here for long, and he led 3,000 cavalry to the city to rescue his family.

It was also Dong Cheng's hard work, and after successfully ending Zhang Ji's life, before he could order the city gate to be closed, he heard someone report that Zhang Xiu led the troops into the city. Dong Cheng was shocked, Zhang Ji's blood stains were not dry, Zhang Xiu entered the city, it was not suitable to stay here for a long time, and immediately escaped from the mansion with his cronies, changed into civilian clothes and hid in the house.

As soon as Zhang Xiu entered the city, his troops were divided into three routes, leaving 1,000 people to guard the city gate, 1,000 people went to Zhang's house to rescue his family, and he rushed to Dong's mansion with the remaining 1,000 men. As soon as he arrived at the door, he saw that the door of the Dong Mansion was closed, but at the moment, Zhang Xiu didn't care about any etiquette, so he rushed into the Dong Mansion first, searched for it, and found the body of his uncle that Dong Cheng had not had time to order someone to clean up.

Zhang Xiu couldn't help crying when she saw this, her parents died when she was a child, it was this uncle who adopted her, and she regarded it as her own, it can be said that everything Zhang Xiu has now is basically given by Zhang Ji, and the relationship between the uncle and nephew is not father and son but father and son. Now seeing his uncle's death, Zhang Xiu can't help but feel sad.

After crying for a while, Zhang Xiu stopped crying, took off his robe and wrapped the corpse, and then ordered left and right: "Burn this place for me!" ”

As soon as Zhang Ji died, Zhang Xiu became the principal, and his order was naturally unopposed, and not long after, a raging fire broke out in Dong's mansion, and Dong Cheng, who was hiding in the house, knew that there was a fire at home, and couldn't help jumping in a hurry. It's not that he feels sorry for a mansion, but that he escaped in a hurry, and he forgot to bring out the agreement he negotiated with Yuan Shao. If this is gone, if Yuan Shao turns his face and denies it in the future, he won't even have a credential.

But Zhang Xiu was still in the city, and Dong Cheng didn't dare to show up rashly, only when he learned that most of Zhang Xiu's men and horses had left the city, Dong Cheng couldn't wait to run home. But when I came, there was nothing left of the house that had been burned down. Dong Cheng wanted to cry without tears, but he didn't want to make trouble alone, just when Dong Cheng was thinking about how to let Yuan Shao fulfill his promise in the future, he suddenly heard an angry roar in his ears, "Dong Cheng! Come on! ”

Dong Cheng was immediately distracted when he saw the comer, turned around and was about to run away, but he had already asked Zhang Xiu to catch up, and he stabbed him in the back with a shot.

"You, you ......" Dong Cheng, who was not yet dead, tried to say something, but before he could finish speaking, he was beheaded by Zhang Xiu, who was eager to avenge his uncle. Looking at Dong Cheng, who was not blind, Zhang Xiu snorted, tied his hands to the saddle, and instructed left and right: "Now that the enemy is dead, I will leave the city immediately." ”

……

Before setting fire to the Dong Mansion, Zhang Xiu already knew from the captured Dong Mansion when Dong Cheng had left the Dong Mansion. Zhang Xiu knew that Dong Cheng was still in the city at this time, but he didn't have time to search for this person at the moment, because Yuan Shao's army would be killed at some point.

In order to lure out Dong Cheng, Zhang Xiu set fire to Dong's mansion. In fact, Zhang Xiu was not sure that he would be able to force out Dong Cheng, he was already ready to take people out of the city, but he didn't want Dong Cheng to appear when Zhang Xiu had already decided to leave. The enemies were very red when they saw each other, Zhang Xiu was a military general, and it was the year of the fight, and it was not a matter of effort to clean up a Dong Cheng.

Zhang Xiu knew that Dong Cheng still had an accomplice, but now that the mastermind had been executed, there were still soldiers and horses left by his uncle Zhang Ji outside the city who needed to be taken over by himself, so he temporarily let go of Wang Zifu, Chongji and others.

By the time the day dawned, Zhang Xiu had already retreated to Linzi with his family under the escort of the army. Previously, Chen Gong sent a letter to Zhang Ji to take control of Linzi, because it would be the terminus of Lü Bu's army going north. Zhang Ji had already sent someone to secretly control the four gates of Linzi before his death, and it was normal for Zhang Xiu to go there at this time.

By the time Yan Liang arrived at Linji with the vanguard army, Zhang Xiu had disappeared, and the prince's suit, Chongji and others who took over Linji received Yan Liang. Knowing that Dong Cheng was killed by Zhang Xiu, although Yan Liang was furious on the surface, he was secretly happy in his heart.

Yan Liang is not only brave as a horseman, in terms of martial arts, he is slightly inferior to the righteous brother Wen Chou, but Hebei Siting Zhu is headed by him, which means that in terms of strategy, he is stronger than Wen Chou. In the romance, Guan Yu beheaded Yan Liang and Zhu Wen ugly, and Yan Liang died unjustly. There is a saying that Yan Liang was asked by Liu Bei before he was ordered to go to Baimapo, saying that if he saw his second brother Guan Yu in the army, he asked Yan Liang to take a message. As a result, Yan Liang saw Guan Yu, and was just about to tell Guan Yu what his eldest brother Liu Bei wanted him to bring to Guan Yu, but he didn't expect Guan Yu to chop it over without saying a word.

Nobody likes a traitor! For if you can betray someone today, you may betray me tomorrow. Although the cause of Dong Cheng's expulsion from the court is not widely circulated among the people, it is not difficult for a person like Yuan Shao who holds great power to know the truth of the matter, and Liu Xie did not have any control over this matter, so Yan Liang also knew about Dong Cheng from Yuan Shao's mouth.

As a qualified subordinate, figuring out the true intentions of your superiors is a compulsory course. The reason why Yan Liang can be valued by Yuan Shao more than Wen Chou is that Yan Liang can figure out Yuan Shao's true intentions. It was impossible for Yuan Shao to directly tell Yan Liang his dislike for Dong Cheng, but through the disgust expressed in his words, Yan Liang understood that his lord did not want to see Dong Cheng alive.

Originally, Yan Liang also planned to find an opportunity to secretly get rid of Dong Cheng, and then blame Zhang Xiu. After all, Zhang Ji died in the hands of Dong Cheng, and it is reasonable for Zhang Xiu to avenge his uncle. Even if Yuan Shao punished himself in order to appease people's hearts, he would not punish him too severely. didn't expect Zhang Xiu to take the initiative to do this for herself.

"The lord will never let Dong Zhou Mu die in vain, you wait and relax. Now that the lord's army has not arrived, you still need to help me stabilize the situation, so that you and I don't look bad when the lord arrives. ”

"General Yan, don't worry, we know what to do? I wonder if General Yan is ready to take advantage of the victory to pursue? Wang Zifu asked aloud. Since being sent to the poor place of Qingzhou by Dong Cheng, it is impossible for Wang Zifu and others to say that they are not dissatisfied with Dong Cheng. It's just that Dong Cheng is a state pastor, and they are just subordinates, in order not to damage their reputation, Wang Zifu and others can only endure hardship. As soon as Dong Cheng died, Wang Zifu and the others did not feel sad, but felt a little happy. Yuan Shao, who was previously contacted by Dong Cheng, but now that he is dead, Yuan Shao wants to control Qingzhou, so he needs to wait for others.

Yan Liang observed the words and looks, and saw that Wang Zifu and the others were insincere, and he couldn't help but feel a burst of disdain in his heart, and he didn't want to talk to these people, and said in a deep voice: "The lord has an order, and he ordered Yan to be the vanguard, and he naturally wanted to continue the pursuit." Ladies and gentlemen, the military situation is urgent, please forgive Yan for being rude. ”

"It's important to get down to business, General Yan walks slowly." Wang Zifu and the others couldn't wait for Yan Liang to leave quickly, and immediately congratulated him when he heard the words.