"Lord, according to our spies, Yuan Shao has urgently mobilized a large number of military horses and rushed to Hanoi in the past two or three days since we sent troops from Hujiao Pass. It is estimated that at least 100,000 troops will now be added to Hanoi County. And, we don't see it on the surface, but in fact the guards are gradually increasing at the crossings on the other side of the Yellow River that we have now captured. This added a lot of difficulty to our assault on their crossing. ”

Shi Ah reported to Leo.

"Oh? So, Yuan Shao is ready to be on guard now? ”

"It should be, now, among the intelligence probed by the spies, it is difficult to carefully find out the true situation of those Yellow River crossings on the other side of the river. We don't know what the terrain of the crossings were, the number of troops guarding them, and so on. Because, after Yuan Shao had already sent troops to block the news, no one could enter or leave those ferries again, and even the north bank of the Yellow River, dozens of miles along the river, no one was allowed to move. The people living on the north bank of the Yellow River have also been confined to their villages, and at most they can only move around their villages. All the people who left their villages were arrested and punished as spies. ”

"What? In order to guard the ferry on the north bank of the Yellow River, Yuan Shao actually made such a gesture that even the people living along the river had to be grounded? This, how many troops does he have to mobilize to be able to do this? Lewy said in surprise.

"Lord, it doesn't take much effort to control the banks of the Yellow River on the other side. Because, we can see it from this side of the river. On the north bank of the Yellow River, along the river to the lower reaches of the river, there are some continuous mountain ranges. In addition, most of them are in areas with difficult terrain. In the mountains on the other side, there are not too many people living there, and Yuan Shao only needs to send people to guard the crossings of various mountain roads, and he can basically control the mountainous areas along the river on the other side. Also, controlling the ferry is also equivalent to controlling the boats on the other side of the river. They did not allow the boat to leave the port...... Well, our spies are now having a bit of a hard time getting the information across the river in time. Estimate. In a day or two, it will be difficult for our spies to send back information. Shi Ah replied.

"Hmm...... By the way, so how many ships do we get now? If we were to cross the river and attack, how many soldiers would we be able to transport at one time? Leo Yi thought about it and asked.

"Not ideal." Shi A said with a bitter face: "The Yellow River crossing we have captured. There are very few ships. We interrogated some of the captured Cao soldiers and learned that they had destroyed a lot of ships when we began to seize these Yellow River crossings. Also, Cao Bing, who left the ferry and fled downstream, took most of the boats with him. So, now, we have only found dozens of ships, and. Most of them are small civilian boats, as well as a few larger ferries. Summing up. It can transport up to 1,000 people across the river at one time. ”

"In addition, we tried to cross the river on a bamboo raft, which was very risky, whether we used a double deck, it was extremely strong and sturdy, but when we got to the river, we couldn't withstand the impact of the Yellow River, and when we got to the river, most of them were washed away. In order to test the endurance of the bamboo raft we built, two of our soldiers fell into the water and went missing, and they have not been found yet. Shi Ah added.

"That's it......" After Liu Yi heard it, he couldn't help but feel a little helpless, to be honest, Liu Yi didn't know how many times he crossed the Yellow River, but every time, he took a boat to ferry, and he didn't try to use a bamboo raft. In this way, depending on the situation, it is unlikely that you can cross the river on a simple bamboo raft.

The section of the Yellow River, the section of the river at the junction of Luoyang and Bingzhou, is relatively gentle. It is precisely because it is gentle, which makes it not too difficult to merge the state and Luoyang. This is also in history, the Huns Zuoxian King was able to easily lead an army from Bingzhou to cross the Yellow River to sack Luoyang. If the rivers in that section of the Yellow River basin are turbulent, it will not be easy for the alien races outside the village who are not good at water to cross the Yellow River and capture Luoyang.

Liu Yi did not pay much attention to the water transport in the Yellow River Basin, which is mainly the Yellow River Basin, which is divided into sections, and a certain section of the river is more suitable for boating, but most of them are not suitable for boating. The most suitable middle and lower reaches were not in Liu Yi's control, so Liu Yi did not build a large shipyard near Luoyang. In addition, sending troops from the Luoyang waterway to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, there is a rapids like a waterfall, so Liu Yi simply did not consider attacking Hebei from the waterway. Of course, Liu Yi can take advantage of the convenience of the Yuanzhu warship, and can enter the Bohai Bay by sea, and then enter the Yellow River, but at present, although the New Han Army can do such a long-distance voyage, the cost is too high, and Liu Yi also thinks that there is no need for that for the time being.

Starting from Qu'a in Jiangdong, and then entering the Bohai Sea through the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, this sailing distance is enough to go to the Wa Kingdom. If Liu Yi wants to attack Hebei and send troops by sea, then it is equivalent to going around the Central Plains and seeking the near and far, if it is not necessary, Liu Yi really will not be like this.

Liu Yi thought for a moment and said, "In this case, if we can only transport a thousand people and horses across the river at a time, we can not consider crossing the river to attack for the time being." In fact, we are now able to attract Yuan Shao's attention and let Yuan Shao increase his troops in Hanoi, which has already achieved half of our strategic objectives. Yuan Shao now has so many troops, and his increase in troops in Hanoi means that his northern defense line, or the defenders in the defense line in the Shangdang area, will be withdrawn and reduced. I believe that the generals will also be able to receive the situation, and they will definitely act on the opportunity. Perhaps, without us crossing the river to attack, they can all break through Yuan Shao's defense. I hope that Yuan Shao will continue to send more troops to Hanoi. ”

"Oh? In this way, our strategic purpose of sending troops from the Tiger Prison Pass this time has been achieved. Whether to attack Hanoi or not, there is no longer much point? Shi Ah also nodded slightly, and asked: "Then my lord, in this way, can we just wait for the good news of the generals to come?" If they can break through Yuan Shao's defense line in these ten days, then we can go back to the division, right? ”

"Back to the teacher? Haha, if Cao Cao didn't say it explicitly, he only borrowed these Yellow River crossings to give us ten days, then. After our Xinhan army breaks through Yuan Shao's defensive line, we can consider withdrawing our troops back to Tiger Prison. However, since he Cao Cao has something to do, he will only borrow us for ten days. Then we can't easily return these Yellow River crossings to them. Because in this way, it is equivalent to us showing weakness to Cao Cao a little, and he Cao Cao wants our New Han Army to do whatever he wants? Hehe, we can't let Cao Cao lead the way. We have to be willing to return these Yellow River crossings to them. "Liu Yi didn't know if he wanted to fight Cao Cao, anyway. In Liu Yi's heart now, he thinks that he really can't return these Yellow River ferries to Cao Cao lightly.

In fact, these Yellow River crossings. Even if it is handed over to Cao Cao or not, Cao Cao will not have any impact, and Liu Yi knows this. If Hebei is taken by its own New Han Army. So. The New Han Army was able to control the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. Cao Cao occupied the ferry on the south bank of the Yellow River, and he could not use it.

At that time, I am afraid that the two sides will have to discuss the issue of jointly using the Yellow River.

If Liu Yi now occupies these Yellow River crossings and does not return them to Cao Cao, then it will be more convenient for him to travel between the Tiger Prison and the Hebei region, and he will no longer have to be subject to Cao Cao.

At this moment, Liu Yi really planned to give up the attack on Hanoi from here. Because. Now that the conditions for crossing the river and attacking are not ripe, it is naturally impossible for Liu Yi to risk crossing the river.

Knowing that Yuan Shao's troops were on strict guard against the ferries on the other side of the river. He didn't have enough boats to transport the sergeants across the river for a while, how could Liu Yi know that it was not easy to attack, and still go to danger again?

"Wait! Now wait for news from Zhao Yun and Tai Shici to see if their attack goes smoothly. In addition, let's see if Cao Cao really dares to bring in 300,000 troops and horses to fight against us. Let's see if he really dares to send someone to assassinate me Liu Yi in the past ten days, and see what he Cao Cao can do with me Liu Yi after ten days! ”

Liu Yi finally made up his mind and let the generals leave.

In the next few days, Liu Yi chatted with Hua Xin in the north and south. And Hua Xin seems to be in the chest, and he doesn't say much about the military of both sides, and it seems that he deliberately doesn't talk about the war situation in Hebei.

In the course of these few days, fierce battles broke out on the fronts around Quang Binh and Yangping.

In addition to the fierce battle on the battlefield, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were also a little anxious.

Let's start with Zhao Yun in Zhao State, Tai Shici in Guangzong, and Gongsun Zan in Guantao.

They successively received Liu Yi's general plan to attack Yuan Shao, and the three generals immediately rushed to Guangzong to discuss whether or not they would talk. In addition, Xi Zhicai also rushed to Guangzong and worked with them to formulate a general policy for attacking Yuan Shao.

Xi Zhicai also thinks that to defeat Yuan Shao, it is indeed only the last step now. Liu Yi's plan is not too much of a problem, launching an attack on Yuan Shao from three directions will definitely make Yuan Shao take care of one or the other, and the military horses on any side can break through Yuan Shao's defense line, and Yuan Shao will be finished. In other words, the straw that broke the camel's back now is near.

Xi Zhicai believes that most of Yuan Shao's current military horses are arranged on the line of Maocheng, Guangping, Yangping, and Huaxian, from west to east. These Yuan troops echo each other, no matter which city the New Han army attacks, they can quickly go to help, especially when Yuan Shao is in Yecheng, there is also a main army and horses, and they can also go to the front line at any time.

Therefore, he believes that it is still up to the three generals, each commanding the army and horses, and dividing the troops to attack Maocheng, Guangping, and Yangping respectively, attracting Yuan Shao's main army to come to help. If Yuan Shao's army can be attracted to help, then it shows that Yuan Shao can't care about the attacks of the New Han army on the other two sides in the west and south. Create a good opportunity for the military horses of Liu Yi, Qin Jie, and Dian Wei.

However, there is one point, Xi Zhicai is quite resolute, and he has to see it more accurately and thoroughly than Liu Yi. Because he believes that if he wants to really eliminate Yuan Shao, he must need the army of Zhao Yun, Tai Shici, and Gongsun Zan to break through Yuan Shao's defense line and enter Yecheng. If Yuan Shao ignored the attacks of Hanoi and Shangdang and held the northern defensive line, then he would not have been defeated too quickly. Because Xi Zhicai believed that whether it was from Shangdang or Hanoi, it was unlikely that the New Han Army would send too many military horses to kill Yuan Shao's forces at once. Even if the New Han army broke through the two defensive lines, Yuan Shao would have enough time to quickly mobilize his troops and horses to kill or drive away the New Han army that had entered his forces.

This is a matter of Yuan Shao's life and death, and the New Han Army has forced Yuan Shao into a desperate situation. So. It is impossible for Yuan Jun to be like before, and he will not dare to fight when he sees that the New Han Army is stronger. This, the dog jumped over the wall in a hurry. Rabbits bite when they are in a hurry. What's more, Yuan Shao, who is still a little arrogant in his heart?

Therefore, Xi Zhicai discussed with the three generals, thinking that they no longer had a feint attack situation, and if they wanted to attack, it would be a real attack. Sometimes, as long as it is a war, it is difficult to avoid casualties. Today's world is under the shape of shì. Now to fight Yuan Shao, or to fight those princes of Xiliang, to fight Liu Zhang of Yizhou and Zhang Lu of Hanzhong. In the future, which one will be considered light to fight Cao Cao? Doesn't it take sacrifice to fight anyone to have a chance of taking their turf?

The New Han Army has never been afraid of sacrifice, but is just accustomed to avoiding sacrifice as much as possible.

Xi Zhicai also did not want to slow down the pace of unifying the Han Dynasty. The problem of Jizhou. It can't be solved for a long time, and Yuan Shao can't let him struggle for too long. Therefore, he and his generals agreed that no matter how Yuan Shao dealt with the joint attack on all three sides, they would launch a real attack on Yuan Shao's northern defense line with as few casualties as possible.

The information on Yuan Shao's increase in Hanoi was naturally also sent to Xi Zhicai, Zhao Yun and others.

Everyone knew that since Yuan Shao had transferred some of his military horses to Hanoi, it meant that Yuan Shao's defenders on the northern defense line were less partial. Don't attack Yuan Shao now. When?

The three generals did not hesitate and listened to Xi Zhicai's advice. Each sent his own troops.

When Zhao Yun first met Liu Yi, he was only a teenager, one or two years younger than Liu Yi. Now, more than ten years later, he is a young man in his twenties.

A person's peak is generally between his twenties and forties. At this moment, Zhao Yun, in terms of martial arts, should be at the beginning of his peak.

After more than ten years of conquest career, Zhao Yun has become more old and solid, and in his body, he can vaguely leave a kind of Shenyue like a mountain, but he has a sharp and introverted temperament, which is a little less sharp when he was a teenager.

Of course, the years of conquest do not seem to have left much vicissitudes on his face. is still so handsome, with sword eyebrows and starry eyes, a face like a crown of jade, and no beard.

Seriously, if you want to say that Zhao Yun is the first marshal of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Yi doesn't dare to have too many opinions. Liu Yi asked himself to be handsome and invincible, but if he was in front of Zhao Yun, he was still a little unconfident. Especially Zhao Yun's cool taste, Liu Yi can't pretend to come.

But at this moment, Zhao Yun exuded the smell of Jin Ge Iron Horse all over his body, and his eyes were fierce, staring at a city faintly exposed in the mountains in the distance.

That's Maocheng.

It is a mountain city built in the south of Taihang Mountain, and the mountain begins to gradually decrease to the south.

After Zhao Yun discussed with Xi Zhicai, Tai Shi Ci, Gongsun Zhan and other generals, he deliberately exchanged 50,000 military horses with Tai Shi Ci, and exchanged 50,000 cavalry with Tai Shi Ci for 50,000 mixed troops, and then immediately led the army back to Zhao State, and after a little adjustment of the army, he led the army to attack Maocheng. Now, it is only dozens of miles away from Maocheng.

Earlier, Zhao Yun also suffered a small loss from Yuan Shao, after capturing the Zhao State, Zhao Yun wanted to take advantage of the victory to pursue, waved his army to pursue Yuan Shao's defeated army, and prepared to kill Maocheng in one fell swoop and capture it. As a result, on the way to attack Maocheng, Yuan Shao actually dared to send troops to ambush in these mountains, killing Zhao Yun by surprise.

Of course, Zhao Yun was brave and invincible, not afraid of Yuan Shaojun's ambush, and counterattacked and defeated Yuan Shaojun. However, according to later statistics, the cavalry led by Zhao Yun actually suffered thousands of casualties. This is unacceptable to Zhao Yun.

However, Zhao Yun also knew that from Zhao to Maocheng, there were too many places that the enemy could ambush, which made people unguardable, and some hard battles were inevitable to fight, but Zhao Yun was still very angry, and the casualties of thousands of soldiers of the New Han Army made Zhao Yun's heart ache.

This time, although it was a planned and backward march, Zhao Yun was also quite cautious and resolutely did not let himself fall into the ambush of Yuan Shaojun's army again. Regardless of whether there will be an ambush by Yuan Shaojun ahead, he must first send someone to reconnoiter before leading the army forward.

As Xi Zhicai said, the current Yuan Shao has been forced by the New Han Army to have no way out, and he can't let go, and he is unwilling to surrender to the New Han Army.

The general of the Yuan army guarding Maocheng was Han Meng.

If Cao Cao did not agree to borrow generals, Yuan Shao planned to transfer Han Meng to Hanoi to deal with Liu Yi. However, Cao Cao has now sent several generals and a group of about 2,000 dead soldiers, as well as several mysterious people who Yuan Shao can't tell the history. In this way, Yuan Shao felt that there was no need to transfer his generals who stayed in various important cities to Hanoi. Not only did he not recall the generals, but instead sent a group of strategists to various towns. And for the first time, Yuan Shao completely delegated power, so that the generals and strategists of the towns guarding the defense line could decide how to fight the war, as long as they could win the battle and ensure that the defense line was not lost, he would have made a great contribution. If they were cowardly or ineffective in battle, and lost the city, allowing the New Han army to break through the defense, then they would be guilty of capital crimes, and their families would be killed.

Under such pressure, they can be allowed to play on their own. They also had to use their brains to think about how to fight this battle. (To be continued......)