Mobei grassland.

Horses' hooves churned, blood and flesh flew everywhere!

Xu Shao rose up with a knife to slash the horse thief in front of him, and when he was about to urge the horse to advance again, two wolf tooth arrows swept into the air, with the experience of a hundred battles, Xu Shao instinctively turned to one side, avoided the heart of the heart, and the sharp arrow cluster was coldly nailed into his waist ribs.

Bone-eating cold waves are coming, and the power is rapidly fading.

Two more horse thieves howled and rushed over, the bright sabre flashed dazzling cold light in the light of the remnant sun, Xu Shao's expression was cold, it seemed that it was impossible to escape death today.

Xu Shao is not afraid of death, as a veteran, he has long been able to talk and laugh about life and death, the only thing he feels unwilling is that after he dies, no one will be able to protect the safety of his wife and son, if he lets his wife and son have an accident in his hands, it will be difficult to look at him even if he dies!

"Woo woo~~"

Just when Xu Shao thought that he was going to die, a long horn suddenly sounded again on the vast snowfield, and the horse thief who was howling and rushing forward like a tide immediately turned his horse's head and fled into the distance, and disappeared from Xu Shao's field of vision in less than a moment.

"Whew!"

Xu Shao let out a long sigh of relief, only to feel a collapse and fall from the horse.

"General, reinforcements, our reinforcements are coming!"

The two soldiers who had survived the battle struggled to lean over, pointing to the vast snow field in the north and shouting to Xu Shao, Xu Shao looked in the direction of the soldier's finger, and sure enough, he saw a faint black line appearing from the snow field, and in less than a moment, the faint black line had turned into a large group of galloping cavalry.

"His grandmother's!"

Xu Shao crossed the horse chopping knife and cut off the arrows of the two wolf tooth arrows inserted in the ribs of his waist, this movement hurt so much that he frowned, and couldn't help cursing viciously, looking around, almost all the three hundred iron horsemen he brought were killed on the battlefield, and now Xu Shao and the two horsemen behind him were left!

But the price paid by the horse thieves was even heavier, at least a thousand horsemen were piled up!

"Sigh Rhythm ~~"

In the neighing of horses that resounded in the sky, the two strong horses rushed up the mountain like a gallop, and the two Angzang generals on horseback shouted at Xu Shao: "The left and right guards of the left and right of the left and right of the north of the Han desert come to greet them, where are the eldest lady and the son?" ”

Xu Shao stretched out his hand and weakly pointed to the carriage on the top of the mountain behind him, and gasped: "It's ~~ in the car." ”

The curtain of the carriage suddenly opened, and Liu Yan's shadow appeared from the carriage, followed by the young Ma Zheng, and the left and right guards who came to escort him hurriedly turned over and dismounted, knelt on the snowfield, and said respectfully: "Knock to see Madame, knock to see Gongzi." ”

"Get up." Liu Yan said with a suffocating hand, "The two generals have worked hard. ”

"Mrs. Xie."

The left and right guards bowed again, got up and stood on one side, and the left iron guard solemnly said: "Respectfully ask the lady and son to go on the road, the general will lead the army to arrive soon." ”

"Wait." Liu Yan waved her hand, walked up to Xu Shao, and said, "General Xu Shao, let the concubine take a look at your arrow wounds." ”

Xu Shao hurriedly struggled to get up, half-knelt on the snow and responded: "Mrs. Hui, the last general's injury is fine, and I also ask Mrs. and Gongzi to go on the road early and rush to the old camp of Wanhu on the left." ”

"It seems that the general's injuries are indeed not serious, but the bleeding must be stopped first." Liu Yan said this and said to Ma Zheng, "Zheng'er, bring the hemostatic appointment for my mother." ”

Ma Zheng sighed and hurriedly returned to the carriage to get the medicine.

Xu Shao had no choice but to let Liu Yan apply medicine and bandage him, and then respectfully invite Liu Yan and Ma Zheng to board the car and go on the road and march towards the old camp of 10,000 households on the left.

Less than ten miles to the north, more than 10,000 Mobei cavalry led by Zhou Cang also came to the guard frame, Zhou Cang personally escorted Liu Yan and Ma Zheng back to the old camp, and ordered the left and right iron guards to follow the horseshoe prints left on the snow field to pursue the horse thieves, but this group of horse thieves is really cunning, and after fleeing to the east for dozens of miles, they turned into dozens of small strands and scattered, the left and right iron guards knew that there would be no result if they chased down, so they had no choice but to lead the troops back to the old camp without mentioning.

……

The old camp of 10,000 households on the left.

Liu Yan said to Zhou Cang: "General Zhou Cang, the concubine sent Zheng'er to the old camp of Jiluo Mountain this time, it was on the order of her husband to let him taste the pain of ice and snow outside the plug, the general must not care about Zheng'er's identity as a son, take care of him everywhere, and sympathize with him, it would be against his father's good intentions." ”

Zhou Cang arched his hand in the south and said solemnly: "Madame, don't worry, the last general knows it." ”

"Alas, Zheng'er, this kid is good at everything, but Mr. Guan Ning is a little dead-eyed, and he should be allowed to endure more hardships and have more experience." Liu Yan smiled bitterly, "And this kid likes to get to the bottom of everything, and he will have to bother the general in the future, and the concubine is here to thank her husband and Zheng'er first." ”

"Madame, why do you need to do that?" Zhou Cang hurriedly got up and said, "Serving the lord and wife is the duty of the last general. ”

"Nurse." Liu Yan turned back to the middle-aged woman behind her and said, "Go and call Zheng'er." ”

The middle-aged woman answered, went out of the account and came back, her face was slightly flustered, and said, "Madam, the son is gone." ”

"Huh?" Liu Yanfang's face was pale, "Wasn't you still playing outside the tent just now?" ”

"yes." When the nurse saw Liu Yan's face change, she became more and more panicked in her heart, and said in a worried voice, "I was still building a snowman just now, and this blink of an eye is gone." ”

"This, this~~" Liu Yan said hurriedly, "You go and find it." ”

"Madame, don't panic." Zhou Cang said, "This is the old camp of Jiluo Mountain, horse thieves will never dare to come to make trouble, not to mention that there are cavalry patrols around the old camp, if Gongzi wants to run out of the camp, he will definitely be discovered by these patrol cavalry, and now no one has come to report the news, indicating that Gongzi is still in the old camp, and the last general will send someone to find it." ”

Liu Yan said: "There is General Lao." ”

……

There is a piece of dilapidated felt bags on the right side of the old camp in Jiluo Mountain, which are more worn and older than the felt bags in other areas, these worn felt bags can not block the cold wind whistling in addition to the rain and snow, and most of the slaves who live in the felt bags are slaves with vegetable faces and dull expressions.

Most of these slaves were wearing heavy shackles and shackles, and they were strung together like grasshoppers in heavy chains, and if no one unchained them, they didn't even want to act alone, so they didn't need to be guarded at all, and they couldn't run away even if they wanted to.

Most of these slaves were Xianbei and Xiongnu, and there were also a small number of Han Chinese (who were caught as horse thieves).

At the beginning, the three ten thousand households caught the Xianbei and Xiongnu men were all killed, but later after the rise of commerce in Hetao, Guanzhong, and Mobei, the three ten thousand households changed their practices and sold the captured foreign men as slaves to Guanzhong and Hetao in exchange for a large amount of grain, cloth, iron tools, armor, and so on.

An extremely inhumane business practice has begun to sprout!

That is - the slave trade!

In the ancient history of China, the slave trade did not exist, but the Chinese civilization, which was a country of etiquette, has always been extremely resistant to this anti-human trade behavior, but the pyramid system implemented by the horse butchers in the Mobei grassland has completely changed this situation!

The initiator of the pyramid system, the horse butcher, and Zhou Cang, Pei Yuanshao, and others, who strongly supported the system, did not know that their bloody plundering of the steppe peoples was giving birth to a slave trade that lasted for thousands of years! With the prosperity of industry and commerce in the Guanzhong and Hetao areas, as well as the rise of a large number of pastures and farms, the demand for slaves increased rapidly.

The increase in the demand for slaves further stimulated the population plundering of Xianbei in the west, Dingling in the north, and Buyeo in the east, so that in the late period of the rule of the horse butchers, the strong demand for slaves became the biggest incentive for the Han nationality to expand abroad! Tens of thousands of armed forces, whether official or civilian, crossed the vast Gobi Desert and the barren desert and began to extend their black hands to the hinterland of West Asia, as well as to Africa and Europe...... But this is all an afterthought, and it is impossible for the current Zhou Cang to know.

Although the horse butcher is a man of the future and has been influenced by modern civilization, in essence, he has already integrated into the era of the time and has become a complete barbarian! The horse butchers who had fought in the mountains of corpses and blood never thought there was anything wrong with depriving the men of the defeated peoples of their lives or selling them into slavery.

Sympathy, the horse butcher wants to sympathize with those defeated peoples, but who will sympathize with the Han nation? This is a troubled time, a world of the jungle! After all, a person's strength is limited, even if the horse butcher is a traverser, he can't change the laws of survival in this world at all!

……

In the sound of small footsteps, the figure of Pony Zheng suddenly appeared outside the slave camp.

The young Ma Zheng was obviously curious about this different felt bag, and even more curious about the person in the felt bag with a dull look and heavy shackles on his body, and was about to take a few steps forward to inspect it, when Ma Zheng suddenly tripped over something under his feet, and then fell heavily on the snow.

Ma Zheng got up, and suddenly found a tuft of black hair not far away, which seemed to be human hair, Ma Zheng was affected by Guan Ning's surname was extremely benevolent, and hurriedly picked up the snow with his hands, and sure enough, he found a human body that was almost frozen, and it was this person who tripped him just now.

The man was dressed only in tattered cloth, and his entire right chest was exposed to the air, and there were horrific arrow sores on it, with black blood oozing out of the sores that had not yet healed. The young man's face and lips had been frozen and bruised, but he still couldn't hide the heroic spirit that flowed from between his eyebrows, and it was conceivable that this young man must have been dignified and good-looking when he was healthy.

"Hey, big brother, are you okay?"

Ma Zheng stretched out his hand and gently pushed the young man, who actually moaned softly.

"What? What did you say? ”

The young man's lips moved lightly twice, and Ma Zheng put his ear to the young man's mouth, listened intently for a long time, and suddenly stood up with a happy face, and then trotted away, and in less than a moment, he returned with a large pot of steaming beef soup.

Under the influence and teachings of Guan Ning, Ma Zheng was very enthusiastic about saving people, and patiently fed the hot beef soup into the young man's mouth with a spoonful, the young man's vitality was indeed strong, and he was so seriously injured by arrows that he was frozen half to death, and he could still drink the beef soup in a big gulp.

After a while, half a can of beef soup was drunk by the young man, the hot soup was down, the young man's complexion improved slightly, he miraculously opened his eyes, gently bowed his head to Ma Zheng, and said thank you in an imperceptible voice, Ma Zheng was very happy, and when he wanted to get something to eat again, Zhou Cang had already taken Liu Yan to find here.

"Zheng'er, you're really naughty." Liu Yan took a step forward and hugged Ma Zheng, and said angrily, "Why don't you run around without saying a word to your mother?" ”

"Mother." Ma Zheng pointed to the young man and said to Liu Yan, "The child saved someone." ”

Liu Yan looked in the direction of Ma Zheng's finger, and saw the dying young man, especially the arrow sore on the young man's right chest particularly attracted Liu Yan's attention, Liu Yan is the tall foot of the miracle doctor Hua Tuo, and is one of the best surgeons in the world, and it can be seen at a glance that the arrow sore on the young man's body is a fatal injury, and it is at least an old injury from two years ago!

But it is a miracle that young people have been able to live to this day!

Meeting Liu Yan's gaze, the young man gently bowed his head.

Zhou Cang, who was behind Liu Yan, took two steps forward and shouted involuntarily: "Come on, carry this sick ghost down!" ”

"Yes!"

The two pro-soldiers stepped forward in response, and when they were about to lift the young man, Ma Zheng dodged in front of him, and said hurriedly: "Uncle Zhou Cang, even if this big brother is a prisoner, but it is also a life, as the saying goes, saving a person's life is better than creating a seventh-level floating slaughter, how can we see death and not save it?" ”

"Mother." Ma Zheng said to Liu Yan again, "Your medical skills are excellent, and you will definitely be able to save this big brother, right?" ”

Liu Yan turned her gaze to Zhou Cang and asked, "General Zhou Cang, what's going on?" ”

Zhou Cang explained: "Last autumn, the last general and Lao Pei jointly pursued a group of horse thieves, all the way to 300 miles deep into Dai County, and finally surrounded this group of horse thieves in the deep mountains, and finally even the mountain thieves were also served, and the young man was imprisoned in the dungeon by the thieves at that time. ”

"The last general saw that he was young, and he looked like a talent, although he was not lightly ill or brought back to the old camp, but he didn't expect that after returning to the old camp, this guy's illness was even worse, and there was only one breath left, and the old camp's Lang Zhong was not good at all kinds of treatment, and the last general was helpless, so he had to throw him here and leave him to fend for himself."

"As long as it's not Xianbei and Huns." Liu Yan breathed a sigh of relief and said to Zhou Cang, "Please carry this person back to the big tent, and the concubine wants to see the injuries on his body." ”

Zhou Cang hesitated: "Madam, you are tired from far away in Mobei, so let's forget it." ”

"Nope." Liu Yan smiled faintly and said, "The family teacher often said to the concubine that the doctor's duty is to cure the sick and save people, how can he not save him when he dies?" ”

"Okay." Zhou Cang was helpless, and said to the soldiers behind him, "Carry this sick ghost back to the big tent." ”

……

Yecheng, dungeon.

The old man came to the depths of the dungeon with a pot of wine and a few small dishes, laid out the sprinkled vegetables in front of Tian Feng in the same way, and said with a sigh: "Military Master, today is the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve (195 Chinese New Year's Eve), the villain can't help with anything else, so he can only prepare this little wine and food, which can be regarded as celebrating the New Year for you." ”

Tian Feng said happily: "It's hard work." ”

"Eat, eat."

The cell boss said with a gloomy expression, thinking in his heart that this might be your last.

Tian Feng took a sip of hot wine, felt a lot of relief in his stomach, and asked the cell leader: "Cell leader, do you think that this army division has been dying for a long time, yes or no?" ”

"Ugh."

The cell boss sighed and fell silent.

Tian Feng smiled, shook his head and said, "Don't worry, the life of this army should not be extinguished, or he should be released from prison in a few days." ”

"Strategist, you made the general angry this time." The cell boss said, "It is impossible for a wise military advisor like you not to know the surname of the general, and the general likes to listen to some compliments, like the likes of discipline and trial, isn't it just by relying on Fengying to pat the horse to gain the trust of the general?" Strategist, you shouldn't say something that the general doesn't like to hear and make him angry. ”

"The lord's surname, how can Feng not know? But there are some things you can't help but say! Tian Feng muttered, "Horse butcher, he's a wolf!" Three years ago, the 23rd Route Coalition Army attacked Ma Yue, and the horse butcher lost his troops and lost his vitality, which was the best opportunity to destroy the horse butcher, but the lord was indecisive and missed the opportunity! ”

"Now the horse butcher has sharp claws and full wings, and it is not easy to provoke! The current strategy should be to leave Zhang Ji as a strategic buffer with the horse butcher, and at the same time reach some kind of tacit agreement with the horse butcher, try to avoid breaking with the horse butcher group prematurely, and then contain it! ”

"Then the general was sentenced to put Huguan, Yanmen, and Youzhou in danger, and took advantage of the opportunity when the horse butcher was recuperating and could not make a big move, and gathered a large army to go south to the Central Plains, eliminate Cao Ying, Lu Bu, Liu Biao, Sun Jian and other warlords who divided one side, and annexed Yan, Henan, Xu, Jing, and Yang Prefectures!"

"In the end, I will pour the power of Kyushu into a fight to the death with the horse butcher, and the world will ...... But it can be determined! ”

……

Yecheng, the General's Mansion.

Yuan Shao was feasting at the mansion for Feng Ji, Ju Pei, Xu You, Zhang He, Jiang Qi, Han Meng and other civil and military henchmen, singing and dancing during the banquet.

Feng Ji got up and said to Yuan Shao: "My lord, General Tian Yu sent Ma Lai to report that the horse thieves led by his brother Tian Yue have made great gains, and they have looted dozens of caravans, more than 100 tribes of all sizes, and killed thousands of horse butchers!" Tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and livestock were plundered. ”

The judge also smiled: "Now that the Mobei grassland under the rule of the horse butcher is in chaos, where can the army be sent south to merge with the state?" Only Tian Feng would pedanticly think that the wolf of the horse butcher should not be easily provoked, and now our army has provoked it, but what is the result? ”

"There is still some truth in the words of the military advisor, but the caution is too much." Yuan Shao said this, his eyes showed a slight unbearable color, and he said to the judge, "Zhengnan, invite the military division out of the prison in a few days, the army will soon go on the expedition, there is no military division with the army, and the general has no bottom in his heart." ”

Although the judge was unhappy, his face did not show any color, and he responded respectfully: "Obey." ”

……

Just after the first month of the ninth year of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty (196), three warlord melee battles broke out in Kyushu at the same time.

Yangzhou.

Sun Jian on the table of the Son of Heaven led Yangzhou herd, under the pretext that Lujiang was too guarded by Liu Xun did not obey the order, personally led 20,000 troops to cross the river to the northern expedition, Liu Xun heard the news and urgently asked Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao for help, Liu Biao heard the news and urgently reprimanded Cai Mao and Zhang Yun to lead the Jingzhou Navy down the river to rescue the Lujiang River, Sun Jian heard the news and took Zhou Yu as the commander, and led the Dongwu Navy to trace the river to meet the Jingzhou Navy at Hukou.

The scuffle between Sun Jian's group, Liu Biao and Liu Xun group was about to break out.

Yanzhou.

After Lü Bu's army invaded Liang, Cao Ying hurriedly re-used Guan Yu, and led the army to resist with Guan Yu as the general, Guan Yu was ordered to live up to expectations, and finally defeated Lü Bu in the battle of Mengxian County, and the Xuzhou army's offensive was frustrated.

When the offensive of the army of Lü Bu South Road was frustrated, the army of the North Road led by Cao Bao and Zhang Liao was like a bamboo, and Cao Hong, who had high hopes for Cao Ying, was defeated in successive battles, lost his troops and lost his generals, and retreated from Taishan County to Dongjun, and the passage from Xuzhou to the Yellow River was opened by Zhang Liao, but unfortunately, the Yellow River was frozen in the first month, and the military aid promised by the horse butcher could not be transported by water.

Cao Hong was defeated in successive battles, and hurriedly sent sixteen fast horses to Cao Ying to report to him.

Cao Ying urgently ordered Cao Ren to lead 5,000 elite soldiers north to Dongjun to rescue Cao Hong, Cao Hong got Cao Ren's help, and Puyang was strong to rely on, and finally stabilized the position, Cao Bao and Zhang Liao led the army to attack several times, so they immediately changed their strategy, and ordered the sergeants to dig deep ditches around Puyang City to prepare for a long-term siege.

and state.

Compared with the battlefields of Yangzhou and Yanzhou, the battlefields of Bingzhou are particularly treacherous, and the melee has not yet begun, and the intrigue between the forces has begun to heat up.

Yuan Shao's strategy was to divide the relationship between Ma Yue and Zhang Yang and Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu's uncles and nephews.

Its purpose can be summed up in one sentence, to disturb Zhang Yang, appease Ma Yue, and attack Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew! But at the same time, Yuan Shao was extremely jealous of Pei Yuanshao and Zhoucang Group entrenched in the Mobei grassland, so while appeasing Ma Yue, he also made himself clever and asked Tian Yu to send 2,000 cavalry to pretend to be horse thieves to harass Mobei.

Tian Feng was resolutely opposed, believing that this move was tantamount to covering his ears and stealing the bell, and would definitely annoy the horse butcher, thus promoting the comprehensive merger of the Liangzhou Military Group and the Bingzhou Military Group, which caused Yuan Shao to be furious and sent him to prison for the second time. However, as Tian Feng expected, Yuan Shao actually had no intention of killing him when he was imprisoned this time.

Yuan Shao's strategy is to divide, and the strategy of Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu's uncle and nephew is to form an alliance!

In order to obtain the assistance of the Liangzhou Army, Zhang Ji even did not hesitate to depreciate his identity and wrote a letter to Ma Yue with the title of a subordinate officer, in which Zhang Ji said that the Bingzhou Army actually belonged to the branch of the Liangzhou Army, and the two armies should share honor and disgrace and fight against strong enemies together! and hinted to Ma Yue that if the Liangzhou army could help the Bingzhou army repel the Hebei army, Zhang Ji would take Ma Yue as the main prince.

But at the same time, Zhang Ji was wary of Ma Yue everywhere, lest the Liang army take the opportunity to annex the state.

Different from Zhang Ji's two ends of the first rat, Ma Yue's intention to move north was actually very clear, that is, to give up the merger of the state, but to retain the vitality of the merge state army as much as possible, and let the merge state army use it for its own use.

As a person in the future, Ma Yue knows that Yuan Shao is actually not afraid, and the opponent who really makes Ma Yue jealous is Cao Ying, who is entrenched in Yan and Henan! Under the premise that the recuperation of Yong, Liang, and Shuo has not yet been completed, and the vitality of the Liang army has not recovered, Ma Yue's core strategy is to let Yuan Shao sit on the throne to contain Cao Ying.

Ma Yue knew that once Yuan Shao unified Hebei, he would inevitably set his sights on the Yellow River, so that the decisive battle between Yuan Shao and Cao Ying could not be avoided! And what Ma Yue was waiting for was the moment when Yuan Shao and Cao Ying fought a decisive battle, and the Liang army would be able to stab Cao Ying in the back with a limited number of troops (the rest and recuperation was not over, and the horse butcher could not organize an army of more than 100,000 to go out), and Cao Ying was killed with one blow!

Therefore, before Cao Ying is finished, Ma Yue is absolutely unwilling to weaken Yuan Shao's strength!

Shangdang Taishou Zhang Yang is the most left-right figure in the Quartet, not only Yuan Shao tried his best to win him over, even Zhang Ji and Ma Yue were sparing no effort to show favor to him, Zhang Yang knew that the reason why he was so popular was all because of the dangerous position of Shangdang County.

Therefore, Zhang Yang's strategy is actually very clear, that is, to stand still and wait and see!

(To be continued)