Although Hu Zhen was proud, he was still not at ease after all, so he turned his face back and looked at Wen and Sun cavalry in the distance. It wasn't until more than half an hour later that he received a report from the scouts that Wen and Sun cavalry had indeed returned to the barracks, and he was relieved.

After bypassing the hill and going further, there was no place to ambush on the road, and Hu Zhen and his troops arrived safely and soundly to the west of Taigu Pass. When he arrived in Guanxi, he was a few miles away from the side of Wu Jing and Sun Ben's camp, and Hu Zhenling chose a place to set up camp.

The camp is safe, Hu Zhen sent people to sneak to Guanzhong, communicated with the guards in Guanzhong, and told the guards: I have raised my strength to the army, Xu Rong will also arrive, you are in Guanzhong alive, don't worry about Wen Chou and Sun Jian anymore.

When the Taigu guard received the news, he was overjoyed and hurriedly ordered people to spread the news among the army, so he said: "Hu Zhenti's 50,000 people have arrived, and Xu Rongti's 50,000 people are also coming." He also said, "Wen and Sun were defeated by Lu Bu, and their sharpness has been lost, and they are expected to retreat soon." ”

With the news of Hu Zhen's arrival, the morale of the Taigu defenders was boosted. However, it was said that in Hu Zhen's camp, all the generals gathered in the commander's tent to discuss the military.

One of them held his head high and said in a loud voice: "General! Our army has arrived, General Xu is also coming, the current plan should be to first break the opposite Wu Jing and Sun Ben battalions, so that after General Xu arrives, our army can be connected with other troops into a battalion, a total of Wen, Sun! ”

Hu Zhen looked and saw that it was Hua Xiong, a senior general in his army, who spoke.

Taking Go as an analogy, the two troops of Hu Zhen and Xu Rong are like two chess pieces, and when the two chess pieces are connected together, of course, they will definitely have more "qi" than when they are a single chess piece, and if there is more "qi", it will be difficult for the enemy to kill them. And Wu Jing and Sun Ben's camp is between Hu Zhen and the upcoming Xu Rong, and they are put in Go. This is "breaking", using one of your own chess pieces to disconnect the opponent's two chess pieces, so that they are not connected, so that they have less "qi", which is beneficial to themselves and can win more easily.

Hu Zhen and Hua Xiong don't know Go. doesn't know how to "play", but the way of Go is secretly in line with the art of war, so he doesn't know chess, but it doesn't affect him at all, and both of them feel that the Wu Jing and Sun Benying in front of him are eye-catching and uncomfortable, and they both want to take it off.

Hu Zhen agreed with Hua Xiong's opinion, but after pondering for a while, he said: "There are only 10,000 people in my department, and they have only arrived." Don't fight in vain, and wait for Xu Rong to arrive, and then discuss the affairs of Wu Jing and Sun Ben's camp. ”

Hu Zhen is the chief general, and what he says is a military order, and Hua Xiong and others agreed in unison. In the afternoon of the next day, a military report came: Xu Rong and Lu Bu had arrived.

Xu Rong also came with 10,000 people to ride, but this 10,000 steps ride has his own part. There is also Lü Bu's merger of the state army, -- Lü Bu used to speed up the march. Only two or three thousand horsemen were brought first, and the rest of the troops were temporarily handed over to Xu Rong to command, Xu Rong had returned these soldiers of the state army to Lu Bu after meeting Lu Bu, so in fact, there are now about 5,000 people in Xu Rong's army, and Lu Bu's subordinates have now increased to more than 6,000 people.

Dong Zhuo successively mobilized Hu Zhen, Xu Rong, and Lu Bu to help Taigu this time. The three of them are all lieutenant generals, with the same rank, and an army is facing the enemy, and it is impossible to leave it without an owner, so they are together with the order. Dong Zhuo also issued an appointment order, with Hu Zhen as the protector of the capital, Lu Bu as the cavalry governor, and Xu Rong as the infantry governor, but Hu Zhen was the main one, and Lu Bu and Xu Rong were the auxiliaries.

Since Hu Zhen is the main one, then when Lu Bu and Xu Rong arrive, they should send someone to meet Hu Zhen and obey the instructions. But for some reason, after Lu Bu and Xu Rong arrived at the east of Taigu Pass, they did not send anyone to meet Hu Zhen for a long time.

Hu Zhen was quite dissatisfied, and after waiting for a long time, seeing that there were still no envoys from Xu Rong and Lu Bu, he took the initiative to send one person to Xu Rong and Lu Bu's army for questioning. After sending someone, Hu Zhen waited for more than an hour, and the person who was sent for questioning came back, and with this person, there were two messengers sent by Xu Rong and Lu Bu.

Hu Zhen split his head and asked: "Why didn't General Xu and Lu Er send envoys to meet me and greet the military situation?" ”

The two envoys sent by Xu Rong and Lu Bu replied: "It's not that the second general didn't send an envoy to pay homage, but it was Sun Jian who suddenly sent troops to the front, so the second general needs to deploy a position first to prevent Sun Jian from raiding." ”

After listening to this explanation, Hu Zhen understood a little, and said: "On my way to Taigu, Wen and Sun Erzhuzi tried to ambush and attack me, but I saw through it, but they made thousands of steps to ride back in vain. ”

There is a reason why Hu Zhen specifically mentioned this sentence. Lu Bu arrived early and fought with Sun Jian twice, first defeating Sun Jian's general Cheng Pu, and then outnumbering the crowd, fighting with Sun Jian for half a day, and finally won or lost. As the main general of this battle, Hu Zhen came later than Lu Bu, not to mention, and there is still no military exploit at all, so in order to maintain his dignity and stabilize his position, Hu Zhen specially mentioned this.

The two envoys sent by Xu Rong and Lu Bu replied: "The matter of General Qiao Yingwen and Sun Fubing, the second general has learned from the military report, and they are all generals. ”

Hu Zhen laughed and said: "It's hard to distinguish the road in the dark, and the thieves are infested, so you two stay in my camp and go back after dawn tomorrow." ”

Among the two messengers, Xu Rong's envoy asked: "Before the villain came, General Xu ordered the villain to ask the general: Now that the reinforcements have arrived, when will the war start?" And how to start a war? ”

Hu Zhen said: "I have Taigu as a solid, and then Luoyang as a support, the grain is abundant, there is no labor to lose, and the one who urgently wants to fight is not in me, but in Wen and Sun, and wait for two days, wait for the situation of Wen and Sun to see Qingqing, and then discuss the attack." ”

Xu Rong's envoy said: "General Xu said: Wu Jing and Sun Ben are in the way of the two battalions of the general and the second general, which is really in the way. ”

That's what I mean. Since the second general also has this intention, then tomorrow the two of you go back, and say to the second general, tomorrow you and I will rest for a day, and the day after tomorrow, you and I will work together to break Wu Jing and Sun Ben's camp first, and then attack to challenge Wen and Sun. ”

The two messengers promised to be taken down to rest in their tents. Hua Xiong attended the battle again and said: "The day after tomorrow, Wu Jing and Sun Ben will be attacked, and Xiong is willing to attack first for the general." ”

Hua Xiong is a person who has entered Yingchuan, although he was only used by Dong Zhuo as a "virtual soldier" at that time, but he thought that this was a great feat, and even with Wen Chou and Sun Jian, he did not attach as much importance to Wen Chou and Sun Jian as Hu Zhen, so he was eager to try and repeatedly asked for battle.

Hu Zhen did not allow it, and immediately responded to his request. Early the next morning, the two messengers sent by Xu Rong and Lu Bu bid farewell to Hu Zhen and took Hu Zhen to write to Xu Rong and Lu Bu, ordering them to "work together with their own families tomorrow to break the military order of Wu Jing and Sun Ben" and return to the base camp. (To be continued.) )