Chapter 166: Annexation by the Princes
(Transition chapters, important!) )
Let's say that Ma Chao used strange soldiers to seize Tongguan at the cost of 20,000 surnames, and history was completely rewritten. Dong Zhuo fought against the water when there was no way to retreat, and took Li Ru's suggestion to divide 40,000 cavalry to launch a surprise attack on Nanyang County, Yingchuan County, Chenliu County, and Dongjun County around Luoyang.
Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew led 20,000 iron horsemen straight to Nanyang and Yingchuan, and a bloody storm immediately set off everywhere they passed. These Xiliang Qiang soldiers are the most brutal, burning and killing silver and plundering all kinds of evil, and in the name of the Son of Heaven, the cities along the way are unimpeded, and the villages and counties of several counties are all suffering, and countless money and grain are plundered!
Guo Yan and Li Su led 20,000 iron horsemen straight to the area of Chenliu and Dongjun to wreak havoc, also burning, killing and looting, except for a very few counties that were spared, most of the counties did not escape the doom.
After receiving the news, the princes of all walks of life who were stationed at Bishui Pass and Tiger Prison Pass immediately became confused and raised troops to rescue them. For example, today's situation is gradually becoming clearer, everyone says that they are coming for King Qin, but who really works hard for King Qin? Even the big Han horses didn't work hard, but put heavy troops in Tongguan, who doesn't know the heart of the pass? Under these circumstances, the princes gradually understood that the Han family was irretrievable, and began to turn their goals to developing their territory and strengthening their own strength.
However, it was said that Dong Zhuoyan's general, Xu Rongde, led 10,000 elite soldiers to ambush near Yiyang City at the foot of Songshan Mountain, and was catching up with Yuan Shu and Sun Jian, who were retreating in a hurry. 10,000 ambush soldiers came out of the mountains and forests on both sides by surprise, and Yuan Shu's and Sun Jian's troops were immediately defeated. Fortunately, Sun Jian, Liyi, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu and others fought hard to kill, and finally escaped with the remnants of the army at dawn.
Counting the troops, nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses were killed and most of them were scattered, and less than 10,000 remained. The unlucky Yuan Shu was hit by a stray arrow, and his injuries were extremely serious, and he died before he reached Wancheng after a bumpy ride.
After Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew led the troops to plunder, Nanyang County has been greatly damaged at this moment, and even some villages and county towns have become empty cities. After a little discussion, the two took Yuan Shu's coffin to Ruyang to seek refuge with Yuan Shao.
After Zhang Ji's uncle and nephew plundered Nanyang and Yingchuan, they led the army straight to Yuan Shao's base camp Runan County, and met Yan Liang and Wen Chou, who were left behind. The two armies launched a fierce confrontation, Zhang Ji was killed by Yan Liang in the chaos, Zhang Xiu was also defeated by Wen Chou, fortunately, there were subordinates Hu Che'er desperately rescued him before he escaped with his surname, and nearly half of the 20,000 cavalry were lost. After retiring from the army, Zhang Xiu was afraid that Dong Zhuo would be punished, so under the advice of his adviser Jia Xu, he led the rest of the troops to settle in Wancheng, and sent troops to Jingzhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou from time to time to loot, which was considered to be half out of Dong Zhuo.
And Guo Yan and Li Su sent troops to Chen Liu, which was quite smooth at the beginning, looting countless materials, but they got carried away and went deep into Dongjun alone. Among the princes of Kwantung are Liu Dai, Chen Liu, Zhang Miao, Dongjun Taishou, Qiao Mao, and Cao Ying, the general of Fenwu, all four of whom are mixed in Yanzhou, how can they let Guo Yan and Li Su do whatever they want? Under the siege and interception of several soldiers and horses, after several encounters, the two also lost most of the trilogy, and only a small part of the stolen grain was transported back to Luoyang, and most of them were left behind. The two of them led seven or eight thousand troops back to Bishui Pass, and did not dare to send troops easily.
However, Yanzhou was already a place that was seriously damaged by the Yellow Turban, and after the Xiliang cavalry burned and looted without scruples, the situation became more and more unoptimistic. Liu Dai, the assassin of Yanzhou, borrowed food from Qiao Mao, the Taishou of Dongjun, but failed, so he raised troops to attack Qiao Mao by surprise, and then watched Wang Qiu as the Taishou of Dongjun.
Cao Ying stationed troops against Chen Liu, and guarded against Dong Zhuo's army with his friend Chen Liutai Zhang Miao.
Tao Qian and Kong Rong, as well as Gongsun Zan and Zhang Chao, did not mention their respective territories, and the most proud person was Yuan Shao. Because Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Xu You, Feng Ji and others presided over the rear work, the loss of Yuan Shao's base camp was minimal. Immediately, in the name of the alliance leader, Kong Ling was abolished as a driver in Yuzhou, and he took the post of pastor of Yuzhou, basically controlling the entire Yuzhou.
Ma Chao was not idle, Dong Zhuo's move was obviously to give up Guanzhong, although it was a little unexpected to him, but it did not have much impact on his plan. After the princes of all walks of life retreated, Ma Chao began to dispatch troops to plot against Qinchuan, which is 800 miles away. First of all, Xu Huang was transferred to Hedong as a county lieutenant, and 10,000 troops were stationed in Fenglingdu. Hedong Taishou is still Wang Yi, because of Dong Zhuo's cruelty and inhumanity, coupled with the political capital of the Empress Dowager Yongle, Wang Yi chose to submit to Ma Chao, so Hedong County was also included in Ma Chao's sphere of influence.
Subsequently, Zhao Yun and Zhang He were stationed in Changshan County and Hejian County respectively. If Gongsun Chan does not get rid of this scourge, there will always be a threat to his rear, but it is really not appropriate to start a war on multiple fronts in front of him, so the main role of the two is to prevent Gongsun Chan and the Qingzhou Yellow Turban thieves.
After solving the defensive problem, taking the opportunity to win Guanzhong is the main thing. To this end, Ma Chao will be judged, Wang Shuang and his two will be transferred to Tongguan with an army of 40,000, plus Tian Feng, Zhang Yan, Lejin, Zhang Liao, Ma Dai, Ma Tie Six people 90,000 troops, a total of 140,000 troops entrenched in Tongguan and Fenglingdu.
Xu Huang was left to guard the fortress of Fenglingdu, Tian Feng and Ma Dai guarded Tongguan and were responsible for dispatching grain and grass, Huang Zhong and Chen Zhihui were to defend the southern gateway of Jizhou, and they personally led the generals such as Xianpei, Lejin, Zhang Liao, Zhang Yan, and Ma Tiewangshuang to lead an army of 80,000 to take the empty Chang'an.
Fan Chou, who was guarding the pass, was busy resisting Han Sui's attack, leading 30,000 remnants of his army to defend Xiao Pass and Dasan Pass. And now the entire Xiliang has basically fallen into the hands of Han Sui, Han Sui waved 50,000 troops and stationed in Anding County, neither attacking nor withdrawing troops, so that Fan Chou was in a dilemma. Niu Fu, Yang Feng, Yu Fuluo and others set up two lines of defense between Huayang and Weinan between Chang'an and Tongguan, garrisoning 20,000 troops to guard them layer by layer, trying to make the last trapped beast fight.
Dong Zhuo saw that Guanzhong could not be saved, and he did not want to make a senseless sacrifice, so he asked Fan Chou and Niu Fu to completely give up resistance, and cooperated with the generals' families and the money and grain of the government treasury to retreat from Wuguan to Jingzhou.
After Wang Rui, the assassin of Jingzhou, committed suicide, Dong Zhuo promoted Liu Biao, a candidate in the Northern Army, to be the assassin of Jingzhou. Liu Biao had the status of a clan relative of the Han family, and his reputation was also high, and after taking office, he received the support of the local great families Cai and Huang, and soon gained a firm foothold in Jingzhou. But because history has changed dramatically, Liu Biao's fate is a little sad, and he has become Dong Zhuo's little brother. First of all, before the butt sat firmly, Zhang Xiu seized the Nanyang portal, and then Fan Chou and Niu Fu led 50,000 troops out of Wuguan into the hinterland of Jingzhou, looting all the way to Luoyang.
Although Liu Biao hated Dong Zhuo deeply, Jingzhou was under Dong Zhuo's nose, and there was no danger to defend at all, and he had just taken office in Jingzhou for less than half a year, and he had weak soldiers and few generals, and the people were not attached, how could he dare to fight against Dong Zhuo? Not only did they dare not speak out against Fan Chou, Zhang Xiu and others, but they also had to provide money and food support to Luoyang, and a huge Jingzhou completely destroyed Dong Zhuo's logistics supply base.
Although Dong Zhuo successfully retreated from the coalition army of the Kwantung princes, his own losses were not small, not to mention the loss of his hometown in Guanzhong, but also the loss of 50,000 elite soldiers. But the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, he lost Guanzhong and Chang'an and other three auxiliary places, but got Jingzhou and Luoyang, Hongnong, Henan Yi, Hanoi and other rich places, in short, it is equivalent to changing the territory, and there is still a useful Son of Heaven and ministers in his hands, and the strength is still not to be underestimated. (To be continued.) )