Baishankou, between Baishan Mountain and Danhan Mountain, is one of the three main passes of the Mobei grassland to the south of Youzhou, the Baishankou terrain is precipitous, and the two sides of the mountain winding up are the Great Wall, which can be called easy to defend and difficult to attack.

However, due to the good relationship between the Yuan group and the Ma Yue group, the guards of the Youzhou soldiers in Baishankou have been relatively lax, Yuan Shao just let the Youzhou assassin Tian Yu symbolically send three hundred county guards to garrison, and its main purpose is not to defend the south of the Mobei Iron Cavalry, but to block the attack of horse thieves, but Tian Yu is still more cautious, and privately increased the defenders to 5,000 people.

In the mountain pass, two Youzhou soldiers were lazily leaning on the watchtower, patrolling the vast prairie in the north without focus, and suddenly, one of the Youzhou soldiers seemed to have discovered something, and stood up with a sigh of instigation, and the Youzhou soldiers next to him were startled, and said angrily: "Niu Laosan, you fucking want to scare Lao Tzu to death?" ”

"Second Xiong, do you look at the north?"

Niu Laosan pointed to the vast desert in the north, and his tone revealed inexplicable unease.

"What the hell? Look at what scares you. Xiong Lao Er looked disapprerovingly in the direction of Niu Lao San's finger, and then turned his head casually, and said disdainfully, "Isn't it just a group of wild horses, it's worth making such a fuss...... Uh, wait! ”

Xiong Lao Er suddenly snorted, then turned his head again as fast as he could, and finally gasped and said to Niu Lao San: "God, that's riding...... Cavalry! ”

"A lot of cavalry!" Niu Laosan responded in horror, "Damn, Lao Tzu has lived for half his life, and he has never seen so many cavalry, looking at the momentum, I am afraid that there will be tens of thousands?" ”

"Quick!" Xiong Lao Er almost jumped up, "What are you doing in a daze, hurry up and blow the trumpet to warn!" That must be the Mobei Iron Cavalry coming over! ”

"Woo woo woo ......"

Suddenly, the desolate and distant sound of the horn rushed into the sky, and the Youzhou soldiers stationed in the barracks hurriedly rushed out of the tent, assembled into a scattered formation behind the barracks, stood in the camp and looked condescendingly out of the mountain pass, only to see that a large group of cavalry had emerged on the prairie of Guangmao, and the black pressure was like a dark cloud sweeping from the north.

Countless moving horse heads converged into the vast ocean, thousands of horses galloping, iron hooves churning, that majestic momentum, the sound of hooves that resounded through the world, it was simply suffocating, making people tremble from the depths of their souls!

"Oh my God!" A Youzhou elementary school groaned like a dream, "I want to go home, I don't want to die here!" ”

A hissing inhalation sounded in the Youzhou military camp for a moment, and almost all the Youzhou soldiers showed a look of horror in their eyes, looked around in panic and then instinctively retreated, and then retreated again.

"The general is gone!"

In the panic, a soldier suddenly shouted.

The Youzhou soldiers who were panicking heard the sound and looked back, only to see a Youzhou military general galloping backwards surrounded by more than a dozen cavalry soldiers, and the Youzhou soldiers immediately exploded, shouted and turned around and ran, and slipped away from the front position of the camp in less than a moment, leaving only an empty camp and swords, guns and halberds thrown all over the ground.

……

Jixian County, Assassin's House.

When Tian Yu had just returned to Jixian County from Yecheng and discussed with Zhang Yan how to resist the southern invasion of the Mobei Iron Cavalry, a small school suddenly panicked and said: "General, the big thing is not good!" ”

Tian Yu shouted: "What are you panicking about? Talk about it slowly! ”

"General." The little colonel gasped and said, "The Baishan Pass has been lost, and more than 100,000 Mobei Iron Cavalry have already passed the chase and are heading to Zhuo County." ”

"Huh?"

"What!?"

Tian Yu and Zhang Yan lost color at the same time.

"It can't be!" Tian Yu said angrily, "Baishankouzi is in a dangerous terrain, and there are five thousand elite soldiers stationed in Jiao Touch, how can it be lost?" ”

"General." Xiao Xiao said miserably, "Jiao Jian ran away early!" ”

"Damn Scorch!" Tian Yu was furious and said, "General Ben must kill him." ”

"I don't need it." The little colonel said gloomily, "Jiao Touch's defeated army has been caught up by the Mobei Iron Cavalry and the entire army has been wiped out, and Jiao Touch has also died in the chaos. ”

"General Tian!" Zhang Yan said, "Now we can only gather troops to defend Zhuoxian, if the last barrier of Zhuoxian is lost, the entire Jizhou will be exposed to the iron hooves of the Mobei Iron Cavalry, you must know that Jizhou is a horse and Pingchuan, except for a few big cities There is no danger to defend, let the Mobei Iron Horse ride into Jizhou, our army will be gone." ”

"I'm afraid it's too late." Tian Yu said miserably, "Mobei Iron Cavalry rides like the wind, and when we gather an army in Zhuoxian, they are afraid that they will have already entered Jizhou, and with the cunning of the horse butcher and Jia Poison, even if we gather a large army to put on a posture of stubborn defense, they may not stay in Youzhou and do too much entanglement with us!" After all, the horse butcher has only one goal, and that is Yecheng. ”

Zhang Yan said in a panic: "Then what now?" ”

Tian Yu said in a deep voice: "There is no good way to do it now, but to go south to Jizhou with the troops of Youzhou and prepare to rescue Yecheng." ”

"Huh?" Zhang Yan lost her voice and said, "What about Youzhou?" The hasty march of the army will inevitably reveal flaws, and it is easy to be taken advantage of by the Mobei Iron Cavalry, but I am afraid that the whole army will be defeated before it reaches Yecheng. ”

"So......" Tian Yu looked up at Zhang Yan, his face slightly pale, and said in a deep voice, "Does the general want to see death and not save himself?" ”

"Brother Guorang doesn't have to be agitated with words!" Zhang Yan said angrily, "Although the last general is born as a black mountain thief, he also knows the word loyalty, the first lord treats the last general well, and now the lord is in trouble, how can the last general not be saved?" Since the general has made up his mind, he will hurry back to Yuyang, and the Black Mountain army will follow the general south to Yecheng. ”

"Good!" Tian Yu said loudly, "General Ben is waiting for the general's army in Jixian County. ”

……

Upper Valley County, Zhuolu.

Ma Yue rode his horse up the dirt slope on the right side of the official road, pointed to the open plain in the northeast with a horse whip, and said to Jia Xu: "Does Wenhe remember this grassland? ”

Jia Xu said: "How don't you remember, in the battle of the grassland on the dam, the lord defeated Liu Yu's 30,000 Youzhou elites with thousands of horses!" The ironclad chariot set up by the lord is still fresh in my memory. Later, in the siege of Xuchang, it was precisely by virtue of the crossbow array restructured on the basis of the main public chariot that Cao Ying's 70,000 army was completely annihilated! ”

"In retrospect, it's like a dream." Ma Yue showed a slight look of emotion, and suddenly turned back to Ma Zheng and said, "Zheng'er, do you know why your father sent you to Mobei?" ”

"The child knows." Ma Zheng bowed respectfully to Ma Yue, and said loudly, "Although my father raised troops in the Central Plains, he flourished in Mobei, and my father relied on the invincible cavalry to lay the foundation today!" The father sent the child to Mobei, hoping that the child could understand the cavalry and know how to use the cavalry! Since the child came to Mobei, he practiced martial arts during the day, studied military books at night, and followed his two uncles to participate in hunting every month, learning the flexible use of cavalry tactics in actual combat, and never dared to relax. ”

"Butsy." Pei Yuanshao suddenly said, "Zheng'er is young, but he is already good at cavalry warfare, when he attacked Ding Zero in the north last winter, Zheng'er led 900 light horsemen to drive more than 2,000 miles, beheaded more than 10,000 people, and captured tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and horses!" ”

"Really?" Ma Yue's expression moved, and he said to Ma Zheng, "What Uncle Yuan Shao said is true?" ”

Ma Zhengcheng replied in fear: "When Ding Ling attacked in the north, the main cavalry of Ding Lingren had been wiped out by two uncles, and the child led nine hundred cavalry to chase and kill was just a remnant of the defeated army, and he really didn't dare to take credit. ”

"Hmph, is that true?" Ma Yue said, "So, my father is really going to test you!" What is the essence of cavalry warfare? ”

Ma Zheng hurriedly said: "How dare the child get an axe in front of his father? ”

"If you want to say it, you can say it!" Ma Yue frowned and said unhappily, "You don't look like a gentleman." ”

"In this way, the child has become a traitor." Ma Zheng shook his body and said loudly, "The child thinks that the essence of riding combat is a fast word!" Thousands of miles of roundabouts, long-distance attacks, in the impossible place of surprise troops prominent, attack the enemy in defenseless, can be described as no sign and disadvantage! Of course, my father's heavy armored iron cavalry was another matter, and the tactics were very different from those of the light cavalry. ”

"It's kind of interesting." Ma Yue said, "Then you might as well talk about it, how should the battle of Hebei be fought now?" ”

Ma Zheng said: "In the battle of Hebei, the child thinks that the heart is the top, and the city is the bottom!" ”

"Oh?" Ma Yue exchanged glances with Jia Xu and said, "Go on." ”

Ma Zheng said: "The 120,000 people in Mobei are all cavalry, the advantage of cavalry lies in speed, in field warfare, if it is used to attack the city, it can be said that it is good to attack the enemy with its own short, and the wise man does not do it, this so-called siege is the next." Yuan Shaoxin died, the two sons stood side by side, the old Yuan family's hearts were fluctuating, the determination to die would be invalid, and the soldiers had no fighting spirit to the death, if there was a fine cavalry at this time suddenly under the city of Yecheng, and make Yecheng a lonely city isolated from the outside world, it would definitely be able to give the old Yuan family and the people of Yecheng in the city a heavy psychological blow! Once the psychological defense line of the old Yuan clan collapses, it is very likely that they will surrender without a fight, and even if they are unwilling to surrender, the resistance encountered by our army when attacking the city will be much weaker. ”

"Hmm."

Ma Yue couldn't help but nodded, although there was no expression on his face, but he secretly thought in his heart that Ma Zheng might not lose to Sun Quan if he said that time, even if he died immediately, there was nothing to worry about.

Jia Xu on the side obviously also thought about it, and stepped forward to ask: "I also want to ask my son, if Yuan Shang really surrenders the city, how should he deal with it?" What should be done with Yuan's old department? And what should the people of Yecheng and Hebei do? ”

Comparatively speaking, Ma Yue cares more about Ma Zheng's military strategy, and Jia Xu obviously cares more about Ma Zheng's strategy, after all, a large area of the country laid by Ma Yue will be governed by Ma Zheng in the future, and if Ma Zheng does not have an excellent political strategy, it is difficult to govern the world well. If Ma Zheng only makes good use of soldiers and does not manage government well, he will inevitably become a tyrant who is reckless in the future, which is by no means a blessing for the people in the world.

Ma Zheng replied without hesitation: "If Yuan Shang really surrenders the city, he thinks that he should move Yuan Shang to the court as an official, and choose another capable person to be the assassin of Ji, You, He, and Qing Zhuzhou, and then use a large number of Hebei celebrities to restore the stability of the four states of Hebei as soon as possible, and then open a warehouse to distribute grain to help the people, and widely select cool officials to rectify public order, so that the people's minds are determined, which can eliminate the bandits and eliminate the invisible, and can also retain the vitality of Hebei to the greatest extent." As for the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Yuan family's old army, they categorically could not continue to garrison Hebei, and had to go south to the Central Plains with the army. ”

Jia Xu stroked the willow whiskers under his chin, and his eyes showed a happy look.

What will happen to Ma Zheng in the future, Jia Xu does not dare to assert, but Jia Xu believes that Ma Zheng will at least not become a tyrant who is reckless.

Ma Yue tapped his palm with a whip, and suddenly raised his head and shouted: "Ma Zheng, take charge of the order!" ”

Ma Zheng and Guan rushed forward.

Ma Yue shouted: "With Ma Zheng as the main general, Guan Qi as the deputy general, lead 30,000 iron horsemen to the south first, and go straight to Kou Ye City!" ”

"Command!"

Ma Zheng and Guan Qi agreed with a bang and took the order to leave.

"My lord." Li Su couldn't help but step forward and persuaded, "Although Gongzi Zheng is familiar with military books, proficient in military strategy, strategy, and good governance, but after all, he is young and has never had the experience of leading a army alone, is it too risky to only send Gongzi as his deputy general?" After all, Guan Gongzi is only a few months older than Gongzi Zheng, and he secretly thinks that he should still send a general who can recruit and fight well. ”

"Ziyan doesn't have to worry too much." Ma Yue shook his hand and said, "Although Ma Zheng is Lone's son, Gu can't help but admit that this kid has the demeanor of a general, not to mention that Ma Zheng has Zhao Yun and Xu Shao by his side, two fierce generals, to protect him!" This time, Lone let him lead an army to attack Yecheng for a long time, just to see if he could do what he said and surrender to the enemy of Yecheng without a fight! ”

Saying this, Ma Yueruo asked Li Su meaningfully: "Don't Ziyan think that this battle is of great significance to Gongzi Zheng, and even more so to the entire Liangzhou Legion?" ”

"Uh......" Li Su was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly said, "I understand, I understand." ”

Li Su is also a smart person, and he can understand it at one point.

Obviously, Ma Yue wanted to achieve two purposes through this battle of Yecheng, one was to cultivate and exercise Ma Zheng's ability to lead the army alone, and the other was to establish Ma Zheng's prestige in the Liangzhou Legion, that is to say, from now on, Ma Yue has officially clarified Ma Zheng's identity as the son.

……

Chen Liu, Yuan Tan's official residence.

Xin Ping said to Yuan Tan worriedly: "Lord, make a careful return, the 100,000 elites led by Gao Shun, the general of Xiliang, have already entered Xingyang, and it is only less than five hundred miles away from Chen Liu!" Among these 100,000 elites, 30,000 are Xiliang Iron Cavalry, and if the light cavalry advances, it will only take three days to kill Chen Liucheng. ”

"Huh? 100,000 elites? 30,000 Xiliang Iron Ride! Yuan Tan's face suddenly turned pale, and he said in a panic, "How can this be resisted?" How can this be? ”

"So far, the only way to ask Wu Jun for help is to ask for help." Xin commented, "When crusading against Cao Bao, the lord once helped Sun Quan, and now that the lord is in trouble, Sun Quan will not die without help, right?" Also, the lord should also send someone to Hebei to test Yuan Shang's reaction, it is said that Yuan Shang is also facing the threat of 100,000 Mobei iron cavalry, if possible, the two should still join forces to fight the enemy. ”

Xin Bi said: "What the second brother said is extremely true, the lord can send an envoy to Yecheng as soon as possible. ”

"What? Send an envoy to Yecheng? Yuan Tan said angrily, "This is impossible, this is absolutely impossible!" Lone would rather die in battle than bow his head to Yuan Shang'er for help! ”

Xin commented: "Lord, the overall situation is important. ”

"Shut up!" Yuan Tan said angrily, "Xin Ping, it's all your bad idea, you shouldn't have asked Wu Jun for help in the first place, if you asked Liang Jun for help, why did you come to this disaster?" You obviously wanted to kill Lone, and deliberately pushed Lone to a dead end in order to fulfill Yuan Shang's kid, right? Well? ”

"What!?" Xin Ping lost his voice and said, "My lord, how can you say that? It's so chilling! In order to help the lord, even the family in Yecheng was abandoned, how could he have different ambitions? If you want to fulfill Yuan Shang's son, then why did the small family who stayed in Yecheng be wiped out? ”

"This ......" Yuan Tan was so speechless by Xin Ping's retort, and only after a while did he say, "Zhongzhi, Lone is also dizzy, and he speaks without thinking, don't take it to heart." ”

"Ugh." Xin Ping sighed, "Think about it carefully, the lord's words are actually not unreasonable, in order to help the lord achieve hegemony, although he sacrificed the family of Yecheng in the bottom, but he was not selfish, it was precisely because of the selfishness of the lord that he would persuade the lord to ask for help from Dongwu at the beginning." ”

"Oh?" Yuan Tan said, "What do you mean by Zhongzhi's words? ”

Xin commented: "In addition to asking for help from Dongwu, the lord actually has another choice. ”

Yuan Tan said: "Speak quickly." ”

Xin commented: "Surrender. ”

Yuan Tan suddenly showed a fierce look in his eyes, and looked at Xin Ping speechless for a long time.

Xin Ping's expression was stunned, and he said calmly: "Looking at the current trend today, Prime Minister Ma Cheng is in the northwest and newly won Xichuan, regardless of population, money, food, military horses, Cao Ying, Sun Quan are unforgettable, if it is not bad as expected, the world will be owned by Prime Minister Ma in less than ten years, although the lord has the ambition to restore his father's business, but unfortunately his strength is not enough, if he surrenders to the prime minister or can also protect the wealth of the Yuan family, if he joins the Wu army to resist to the end, I am afraid that there is only a result of the burning of jade." ”

Yuan Tan's expression changed, and he sighed for a long time: "Is there really no other way?" ”

"My lord." Xin Ping Chang shook the ground and said, "This is the last chance, even if the lord surrenders the city and surrenders this opportunity, there may not be any good results." ”

"That's it." Yuan Tan Haoran sighed, "Xinbi." ”

Xin Bi hurriedly arched his hand and said, "The subordinates are here." ”

Yuan Tan raised his hand and said, "It's up to you to go to Xingyang." ”

"Under the command."

Xin Bi waved his hand at Yuan Tan, took the order, and saw Xin Bi's figure disappear outside the hall, Yuan Tan's upright body suddenly collapsed as if it had fallen apart, and he stumbled down on the seat, Xin Ping on the side shook his head, sighed again, turned around and silently withdrew from the hall.

……

Dongjun, Zhou Yu's big tent in the army.

Zhou Yu pointed to the map and said to the generals: "Before the dry season comes, the Yellow River will still be a natural barrier for our army to block the southward movement of the Mobei Iron Cavalry!" ”

Lu Meng said: "More than 100,000 Mobei iron cavalry plus more than 100,000 Hebei troops, as well as hundreds of thousands of war horses, as well as a large amount of grain and grass, to safely transport such a huge number of personnel and materials to the south bank of the Yellow River, it is necessary to have a huge fleet of ships for a long time to carry out round-trip transportation, which gives our army an opportunity to take advantage of." ”

Zhou Yu stretched out his hand and slapped it heavily on the map, and said in a deep voice: "Baima Port and Yanjin Port, from these two ports to the Central Plains is the closest, and it is the largest port on both sides of the Yellow River, as long as there is no accident, the horse butcher will inevitably choose to cross the Yellow River south from these two ports, so before the dry season comes, our army must hold these two ports!" ”

"The stakes are high for Baima and Yanjin, and there is no room for error." Zhou Yu said this, looked around at the generals and said, "Who dares to guard?" ”

"The last will go!"

"The last will go!"

Zhou Yu's voice fell, and Quan Cong and He Qi appeared at the same time.

"Hmm." Zhou Yu nodded and said, "The horse butcher Mobei Iron Cavalry attack is imminent, and the governor of this capital has no intention of defending it, so the two generals can raise 3,000 elite soldiers to go out overnight and seize Baima and Yanjin Port with the cooperation of the naval army." ”

"The last general commands!"

Quan Cong and He Qi agreed with a bang and took the order to leave.

Zhou Yu said again: "Jiang Qin listens to the order. ”

Jiang Qin flashed out of the ranks and shouted: "The last general." ”

Zhou Yu said: "Lead the naval army to cooperate with the two generals Quan Cong and He Qi to seize Baima and Yanjin Port, and then search all the fishing villages and ports on both sides of the Yellow River, and burn all the ships!" ”

"Yes."

Jiang Qin also took the order and left.

Seeing the figures of the three generals Quan Cong, He Qi, and Jiang Qin disappear, Zhou Yu's expression turned solemn, and he said in a deep voice: "Even if the sky is beautiful, the dry season of the Yellow River is postponed or even disappears, Quan Cong and He Qi can only hold on until the end of the year for the longest time!" However, there are still six months between the end of the year and the rainy season in June next year. ”

"I believe that everyone knows the materials and city defense facilities stored in Shouchun City, and in the face of the endless onslaught of hundreds of thousands of Liang troops, they can only hold out for two months at most, that is to say, before April, we must not let the Xiliang army of the horse butcher fight under Shouchun City, therefore, our army must build a second line of defense between the Yellow River and Shouchun."

Xu Shu said: "It needs to be pointed out that under the unfavorable situation of the Mobei Iron Cavalry attacking Baima and Yanjin, the horse butcher is likely to let Gao Shun and Xu Huang march to the Central Plains in advance, and Yuan Tan of Chen Liu's army is likely to surrender without a fight, and our army does not have to expect Yuan Tan's remnants to be defeated to withstand the attack of the Xiliang army." ”

Lu Meng frowned and said: "That is to say, the second line of defense is likely to be attacked by the Xiliang army before the first line of defense, and the second line of defense is not like the first line of defense with the Yellow River natural danger to rely on, especially serious is that the strength of our army is at an absolute disadvantage, if the troops are divided and fortified everywhere, in fact, there is no defense everywhere, as long as the Liang army breaks through any point, the entire defense line of our army will completely collapse." ”

"Well, Ziming's analysis is very reasonable." Zhou Yu said, "The Central Plains is vast, there are many cities, and our army has limited strength, so it is absolutely impossible to fortify everywhere!" Therefore, our army can only choose a few dangerous passes as the focus of defense, among which Qingniu Pass and Yingshang are dangerous, and if the Huai River is added, a solid barrier can be built north of Shouchun. ”

"Huh?" Tai Shi Ci shouted, "From the south bank of the Yellow River all the way to Qingniu Pass and Yingshang? Isn't that to give up the entire Central Plains to the horse butcher? ”

"Yes, it was not easy to lay down the Central Plains, and we must not give it up in vain!" The veteran Huang Gai also shouted, "And without the protection of the Central Plains, Xuzhou's flanks are also completely exposed to the Liang army's troops. In this way, won't all the achievements of the Northern Expedition be in vain? ”

"It is unwise to know that you can't keep it, and it is a last resort to abandon the Central Plains." Zhou Yu's words changed sharply, and then said, "Of course, all these concessions have a price, as long as our army can defeat the horse butcher under Shouchun City, we can turn the situation around in one fell swoop, and it is easy to recapture the Central Plains and Xuzhou!" But ......"

Huang Gai hurriedly said: "But how? ”

Zhou Yu said: "But what the old general said is not unreasonable, our army really can't easily give up the entire Central Plains!" The horse butcher has the invincible cavalry in the world, and I also have a unique naval army in Dongwu! The Central Plains and Xuzhou rivers are vertical and horizontal, and the water network is dense, and our army can completely follow the attack and harassment tactics of the 800 Liukou that the horse butcher relied on, and use the water army to carry out an all-pervasive attack on the Liang army! ”

……

(To be continued)