"Lianghou!" Zhang Xiu was in a hurry, knelt on the ground, and said excitedly, "Yuan Shao's army of 500,000 (actually 150,000, known as 500,000) is coming, and the state is in danger!" I also hope that Lianghou will send troops to rescue him for the sake of the same Liangzhou army, and I am afraid that it will be too late. ”

Ma Yue was silent, his eyes embarrassed.

Zhang Xiu said again: "And the state is the gateway to the Hetao, the lips are cold, the teeth are cold, Yuan Shao's wolf ambition, if the annexation of the state is bound to set his sights on the Hetao, in this way, the old camp of Lianghou's Hetao may be forever Ning, and the survival of the state is related to the safety of the Hetao, Lianghou thinks twice!" ”

"Alas~~" Ma Yue let out a long sigh, stepped forward to help Zhang Xiudao, "It's not that Lone is unwilling to send troops to rescue, but right now Lone really has no soldiers to send." ”

Zhang Xiudao: "Lianghou under the rule of Hetao, Guanzhong, Liangzhou garrisons accumulated no less than 100,000, Cai Sangjin stationed 20,000 troops is the elite division of a hundred battles, if Lianghou can lead this elite division north to Jinyang, and then order Zhou Cang, Pei Yuanshao, two 10,000 households to lead 100,000 Mobei iron cavalry south, north and south, how can Yuan Shao's army be undefeated?" ”

"The general doesn't know." Ma Yue shook his head and sighed, "There are indeed more than 100,000 garrisons in Hetao, Guanzhong, and Liangzhou under Gu's rule, but there is a shortage of food and grass and unorganized military resources, so you can't let Lone's army go hungry and empty-handed to fight with Yuan Shao's tiger and wolf army, right?" ”

"The three Wanhu in Mobei do have tens of thousands of cavalry, but they have to deal with the Ding Ling people in the north, the Fuyu people and the Xianbei people in the east, and recently there have been horse thieves in Mobei, dozens of horse thieves are rampant on the prairie, and the three Wanhu have been disturbed, and where can the cavalry go south?"

"The 20,000 Liang troops stationed in Caisangjin can go north to Jinyang at any time, but the general thinks about it, this is only 20,000 horses, even if you add Uncle Ling's 30,000 and state troops, the total is only 50,000 horses, and the strength is only one-tenth of Yuan Shao's army! With this amount of troops, it's not enough to even stuff people's teeth. ”

Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew have been paying attention to the trends in Hetao, Mobei, Guanzhong, and Liangzhou, so Zhang Xiu knows that the horse butcher is not making up nonsense! Since the battle of the 23rd Route Alliance, the Liangzhou Army has indeed suffered a great injury, and now is the critical stage of recuperation, at this time, if the plan of recuperation is interrupted and forced to send troops, it means that more than three years of efforts will be in vain.

Zhang Xiu also knew about the horse thieves in the three departments of Mobei, and the annihilation and exploration horses of the state army were also all over the Mobei grassland.

It was precisely because he knew that Ma Yue did not make up nonsense that Zhang Xiu was extremely discouraged when he heard this, and asked helplessly: "So Lianghou is planning to stand by and watch?" ”

"Not necessarily." Ma Yue said, "If Uncle Xian and nephew can listen to Lone's words, Lone will have a way to help the state army escape this catastrophe!" ”

Zhang Xiu hurriedly said: "I want to hear it." ”

Ma Yue said: "Four words, retreat is advance!" ”

"Retreat as advance?" Zhang Xiu thought for a while, and then understood the meaning of Ma Yue's words, and said in a lost voice, "What does Lianghou mean ~~ let the Bingzhou army retreat to Hedong County?" ”

……

Jinyang, and the state of the assassin Shi Zhang Ji's official residence.

After Cai Sangjin met Ma Yue, Zhang Xiu hurriedly led 3,000 fine horsemen to Jinyang in a hurry, and when Zhang Xiu arrived at Jinyang, Yanmen County and Xinxing County had been lost, Zhang Xian and Lei Xu each led the remnants of the army to retreat to Yangqu and Guangmu, a military town in the north of Taiyuan County, and Yuan Shao's army had arrived in Meng County, only fifty miles away from Yangqu.

As soon as Zhang Xiu walked into the side hall, Zhang Ji asked eagerly: "Yuan Jin (Zhang Xiu's table characters, apocryphal), did Lianghou promise to send troops to rescue him?" ”

"Ugh." Zhang Xiu sighed softly and asked rhetorically, "Uncle has ever seen Liang Jun come to Jinyang with his little nephew?" ”

"Huh?" Zhang Ji said discoloredly, "The horse butcher is unwilling to send troops to rescue, and this major event is over." ”

Zhang Xiu said: "Although Lianghou did not send troops, he pointed out a way out for his uncle. ”

"Oh, Yuanjin come quickly."

"Retreat to the east of the river."

"This~~" Zhang Ji was embarrassed, "retreat to Hedong?" ”

Zhang Xiu said: "Uncle, as the saying goes, if you keep firewood, you are not afraid of no firewood, as long as the army under my uncle's command is still there, are you still afraid that the lost annexed state will not be able to be taken back?" ”

"Lianghou also said that once Yuan Shao annexed the state, his ambitions are bound to expand further, and then it is time to cross the Yellow River to the south to attack Yanzhou, Yanzhou is Cao Ying's territory, Cao Ying is not a guy to mess with, if Yuan Shao and Cao Ying start a war, it will inevitably be a shocking battle, if this battle is fought Yuan Shao will have no time to take care of the defense of the state, at that time, my uncle can take the opportunity to counterattack and merge the state."

Zhang Jidao: "But there are few poor people in Hedong County, so I am afraid that it will be difficult to feed 30,000 soldiers and soldiers." ”

Zhang Xiu said: "The population of Hedong County is less than 50,000, and it is true that it cannot feed an army of 30,000, but our army can follow the example of the Liang army in Hedong to carry out tuntian, and Lianghou also promised to receive some military rations from time to time. ”

"Uncle Ke is worried about being subject to the horse butcher." Zhang Ji said worriedly, "If we really retreat to Hedong, once the horse butcher takes the opportunity to threaten us, then there will be Yuan Shao in the north, Cao Ying in the south, Zhang Yang in the east, and the horse butcher in the west, and our army will fall into a desperate situation on all sides." ”

Zhang Xiu said gloomily: "But is there a better way now?" After all, you and my uncle and nephew are the old department of Liangzhou, if they surrender to Yuan Shao, Cao Ying and other Kwantung warlords, they will inevitably be excluded, and finally end up dismal. ”

Zhang Ji said disapprerovingly: "Did Yuan Jin forget that Wudu was too guarded by Duan Xuan?" ”

"Duan Xuan is looking for death by himself, and he can't complain about Lianghou!" Zhang Xiu said, "The little nephew also wants to persuade his uncle, if he decides to serve Lianghou, it is best not to have any dissenting intentions from now on, and from then on he will follow Lianghou to conspire with hegemony, and maybe he can still glorify the court, if not, he may invite the disaster of extermination." ”

Zhang Ji said gloomily: "Is there really no other way?" ”

Zhang Xiu asked rhetorically: "Uncle thinks that only 30,000 Bingzhou troops are enough to resist 500,000 Hebei troops?" ”

Zhang Ji pondered for a moment, gritted his teeth and said, "That's it, quickly order the whole army to move towards Hedong!" ”

……

Caisangjin.

Ma Yue stood solemnly at the ferry, letting the cold wind blow on his face like a knife, looking up at the brilliant starry sky, silent for a long time, Jia Xu's figure appeared behind Ma Yue ghostly, and asked coldly: "The lord is worried, will Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew lead the army south?" ”

"I can't help but worry." Ma Yue muttered, "Lone is doing this, it is forcing Zhang Ji to a desperate road, in case Zhang Ji breaks the jar and breaks the surname of Yuan Shao, it will really be a handful of rice to steal chickens." ”

Jia Xu said confidently: "Don't worry, my lord, Zhang Ji will never surrender to Yuan Shao." ”

Ma Yue said: "Why is Wen He so sure? ”

Jia Xu said: "Don't forget, my lord, Zhang Ji is a Wuwei person, an authentic Liangzhou warlord, since Dong Zhuo's rebellion in Beijing, the grievances between the Liangzhou warlords and the Kwantung warlords have a long history, this grievance is not that it can be solved by unraveling, if Zhang Ji wants to defect to Yuan Shao, it is impossible to have no scruples in his heart." ”

"And most of the 30,000 soldiers under Zhang Ji are from Guan and Liang, even if Zhang Ji decides to surrender to Yuan Shao, will his 30,000 soldiers surrender with him?"

"Report~~" Jia Xu's voice fell, and suddenly a pro-soldier stepped forward, knelt on the ground and said sharply, "Lianghou, Jinyang is urgent." ”

Ma Yue's expression moved, and he said sharply: "Speak." ”

The soldiers said: "The Bingzhou army has already left the city and is heading south under the starry night. ”

"Good! That's great! Ma Yue slammed the knot and said, "Immediately order Ma Chao and Xu Chu to act according to the predetermined plan and prepare to meet the state army." ”

"Yes."

The soldiers agreed and took the order.

Seeing the figure of his own soldiers go away, Ma Yue stroked his palms and smiled: "Hehe, it seems that Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew are all understanding people." ”

"Congratulations on adding another general to the lord's account." Jia Xu also said with a smile, "Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew must be devoted to voting this time, Zhang Ji is old, don't mention it, but this Zhang Xiu is young and promising, brave and strategic, is a rare general's talent, the lord only needs a little beating, it is enough to defend one side." ”

"Hmm." Ma Yue nodded and said, "Since the Bingzhou army has gone south, it is time to negotiate with Yuan Shao next, what kind of conditions does Wen He think Gu should put forward so as not to anger Yuan Shao and not let himself suffer?" ”

Jia Xuzhen said with a smile: "Then we must first understand the purpose of Yuan Shao's troops and annexation of the state." ”

Ma Yue said: "Go on." ”

Jia Xu said: "I think that Yuan Shao's purpose of sending troops to merge states is nothing more than three, one of which is to covet the military horses of the military horse farm in Jinzhong; second, it is to test the reaction of the lord; Third, it is to attack Zhang Yang on both sides and capture the Huguan natural danger! I think the third point is the focus of Yuan Shao's troops. ”

"With Huguan guarding the western gateway of Hebei, and Youzhou as the barrier in the north of Hebei, Yuan Shao dares to go south with confidence."

Ma Yue nodded and said: "Well, the text and analysis are very reasonable, although the capture of Huguan Tianwei is the main purpose of Yuan Shao's troops to merge the state, but Yuan Shao has a good face, so it is impossible for him to withdraw from the Yanmen, Taiyuan, Xinxing, and Leping counties that have been captured at no cost, but it is still feasible to fight a hard battle in Xihe County, let Yuan Shao understand the soldiers of the Liang army, and force Yuan Shao to sign an armistice agreement." ”

Jia Xu said: "The battle of Xihe County must be fought, and the Hebei army must be taught a hard lesson, otherwise it will not be enough to dispel Yuan Shao's luck!" At this time, if the two generals Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao can dispatch the Mobei cavalry to respond, then it should be Yuan Shao who is in a hurry to seek peace, not the lord. ”

"Huh." The corners of Ma Yue's mouth suddenly burst into a smile, and he said to Jia Xu, "Wenhe, we want to go together, long before the army was sent to merge with the state, Gu Wei had already sent an envoy to Mobei, from the time calculation, Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao should almost send troops, or in many years, the two Mobei cavalry will cross the Great Wall from Shanggu and Daijun and threaten Yuan Shao's back road." ”

……

Jinyang.

The Hebei army conquered Jinyang without bloodshed, and Yuan Shao stood at the head of Jinyang City according to his sword, only to feel full of pride, and he had the courage to go to the front of the soldiers and the world to be determined.

"Newspaper~~" Suddenly, a small colonel rushed up to the city tower, knelt on the ground and said quickly, "General, the forward army has conquered Pingtao (now Pingyao Ancient City), and the state army is retreating to Xihe County in a hurry. ”

"Chase, keep chasing!" Yuan Shao waved his hand and said loudly, "Pass the order, the army will advance at full speed!" ”

"Yes."

The Colonel responded violently, turned around and walked away quickly.

Tian Feng, who was standing behind Yuan Shao, stepped forward with concern and said to Yuan Shao: "Lord, because the war is going smoothly, our army's marching speed is too fast, resulting in too large a gap between the armies, General Zhang He's forward light cavalry has arrived in Pingtao, but General Yan Ming's baggage team is still far away in Yanmen, and now the 150,000 army has stretched for hundreds of miles in the shape of a long snake. ”

"Xiliang Iron Rider?" Yuan Shao said disapprerovingly, "Borrow the courage of the horse butcher!" If General Ben doesn't attack the Hetao, he should burn high incense, is it possible that he dares to touch General Ben's moldy head? Isn't he afraid that General Ben will take advantage of the freezing time of the Yellow River to cross the river and march westward and take his old nest in the Hetao? ”

Tian Feng said: "Lord, Feng thinks that he should still order the army to suspend the pursuit, and wait for the follow-up baggage team to catch up and then advance steadily and step by step, so that is the best policy." ”

"No need." Yuan Shao said disapprerovingly, "This matter is so decided, and the military advisor has to say more." ”

"Ugh."

Tian Feng sighed and stopped persuading.

……

Ji Luoshan, the old camp of 10,000 households on the left.

Zhou Cang's eyes swept over the thirty-six thousand households under his command, and said sharply: "I just received the military order from the lord, let the three ten thousand households in Mobei gather the army to go south to Dai County and Shanggu to deal with the battlefield of the state, since this is the military order of the lord, there is nothing to discuss, after everyone returns to the camp, immediately gather the army, prepare two months of dry food, and rush to the old camp to assemble within ten days, but there is a delay~~ behead!" ”

"But general, this harsh winter has not yet passed, and the rations of the various departments are already very little, and now we are looking forward to the caravans in Guanzhong and Hetao being able to transport grain to Mobei as soon as possible to solve the urgent need, and where can we get two months' worth of dry food?" Thousands of households questioned, "And even if you can barely scrape together two months' worth of dry food, what's the use?" ”

"It is not far from the old camp of Jiluoshan to Shanggu and Daijun, and it will take nearly two months to go back and forth, and I have to go back almost as soon as I arrive in Bingzhou, so what can I help?"

[Some readers think that Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao's Mobei cavalry have not gone south to fight, and it is the swordsman who deliberately weakens the strength of the horse butcher, but in fact, it is not. Although the Mobei cavalry now has nearly 100,000 cavalry, and they are brave and good at fighting, in fact, these 100,000 cavalry cannot go south, and they are subject to logistics!

The Mobei cavalry can run rampant in the desert and fight the Xianbei, Xiongnu, Fuyu, and Ding Lingren to exterminate the species, because of the barbaric tactics of raising the war by war, but when going south to the Central Plains, the horse butcher in order to retain the vitality of the Han people will definitely not let the Mobei cavalry so poison the Central Plains, so it takes ten years of recuperation and ten years of rest, only after accumulating enough grain and grass reserves, it is possible to use this decisive force to enter the Central Plains battlefield, and this ~~ is also the decisive moment that the horse butcher is waiting for! ]

Zhou Cang glared at the thousand households coldly, and said in a deep voice: "This is not a problem for you to consider, what you have to do is to carry out the military order, that's all." ”

"Yes!"

Speaking of this, the thousand households had nothing to say, and immediately straightened their chests and agreed.

Ten days later, thousands of households from each ministry led their subordinates to gather in the old camp. For a time, the old camp of Jiluo Mountain was densely covered with felt bags, horses were neighing, and at night, piles of bonfires rose in the dark grassland, and the soldiers who had long been accustomed to the desert life sang and danced around the fire, just like a festival.

It was the first time Ma Zheng saw such a lively grassland night, and he was so excited that he drilled everywhere.

But no matter where Ma Zheng runs, he will be followed by a slender young man, this young man is Ma Zheng dug out of the snow down-and-out young man, and after Liu Yan's careful treatment, he was finally cured of arrow sores, but the rotten poison accumulated in the two years of old wounds took a long time to heal completely.

But it's a pity that this young man turned out to be a mute, because he couldn't speak, so everyone didn't know what his name was, and he was usually called dumb.

……

The next day, Zhou Cang led the army on the journey.

After the army left, the noisy and lively old camp of Jiluoshan was deserted all of a sudden, this time the left ten thousand households can be said to be pouring out, except for the three thousand iron guards who stayed in the old camp, all the adult men went out, and there were women and children under the age of five left in the huge camp (all the children over the age of five went to the Hetao camp for training).

……

On this morning, Ma Zhengfei was clamoring to go hunting on Jiluo Mountain, Xu Shao had no choice but to agree, but for the sake of safety, Xu Shao still summoned three hundred iron guards to accompany him. After all, Ma Zheng is the eldest son of the lord, and his safety is not trivial, Liu Yanlin also repeatedly told Xu Shao before returning to the Hetao that he must protect Ma Zheng's safety, of course Xu Shao did not dare to be sloppy.

Although Xu Shao was cautious, he still had a situation after arriving in the mountains.

Zhou Cang sent troops to chase down the horse thieves for a whole winter, and this would suddenly appear, and more than 600 horse thieves gathered into a black oppression, like a group of hungry wild wolves gloomily guarding the way to the mountains for the hunting party. The air in the mountains seemed to freeze, and Xu Shao could even clearly hear the wheezing sound of the horse thief on the opposite side.

"Damn it!" Xu Shao gritted his teeth and said, "It's this gang of horse thieves again!" ”

When Xu Shao was about to step forward, a big hand put heavily on his shoulder, Xu Shao struggled but did not move, the big hand was like a heavy mountain firmly pressed on his shoulder, so that he couldn't move, and turned back in shock, Xu Shao found that he was dumb when he reached out and held him.

"Dumb, are you looking for death?" Xu Shao said angrily, "Don't let go yet!?" ”

The mute's injuries were obviously not completely healed, and his face still looked a little pale, but a pair of dark eyes had regained their brilliance, like two bright lights, flickering with a palpitating cold flame.

"Protect your son!" The dumb man suddenly let go and shouted coldly, "This gang of horse thieves is dealt with by so-and-so!" ”

"Drive!"

With that, the mute pulled the reins of his horse fiercely and galloped away.

With a terrible howl, dozens of horseback thieves galloped out from the opposite side and met the mute.

"Uh, can you talk, not mute?" Xu Shao was stunned at first, and only when the dumb horse rode away did he burst into anger and said, "Damn, what the hell are you, why should Lao Tzu listen to you?" ”

Suddenly, the mute was less than a hundred steps away from the horse thief who was galloping forward!

At this time, a scene that made Xu Shao tremble appeared, only to see the dumb man tighten his legs around the horse's belly, the whole person stood upright from the horse's back, and at the corner bow, five sharp wolf tooth arrows shot out like meteors catching the moon, and the oncoming horse thief fell down in response!

What is especially unbelievable is that all five horse thieves were killed by arrows in the throat!

Xu Shao and the iron guards behind him gasped when they saw it, and they were stupid!

"Good archery!" The young Ma Zheng was so excited that his face turned red and shouted, "Shoot these horse thieves!" ”

If it is said that the best shooter in the Liang army is none other than the Wuhuan people's sentence tu, the sentence tutu can hold a five-stone bow, and can shoot four arrows at the same time, hitting different targets respectively, but the dumb man can shoot five arrows at a time, and accurately shoot the throat of the horse thief, this archery is simply amazing!

However, what shocked Xu Shao and the Mobei soldiers was still to come.

The horse's hooves were churning, and the dumb man easily dodged the indiscriminate arrows fired by the horse thieves, and then five more arrows were fired, and five more horse thieves turned over and fell off their horses, and they were killed with the same arrow! At this time, the dumb man was less than ten steps away from the remaining twenty or so horse thieves, and the dumb man raised his head to the sky and roared softly, and the bow was unsheathed, and the iron spear behind the saddle had already come to his hand.

Suddenly, the cold light of the forest reflected the lonely empty mountain, and the dumb iron spear passed, and more than 20 horseback thieves who swarmed forward were like waves splitting and falling under the horse, and no one could stop him!

(To be continued)