Xiahoudun led his troops to stay in Lu County for a few days, patiently waiting for the scouts sent to bring back accurate news from the plains and Gaotang.

When Xiahoudun learned that Beihai Kong Rong had sent five thousand infantry to reinforce Tian Kai, he couldn't help frowning.

In the novels of a certain Luo in later generations, the one-eyed Xiahoudun is just a reckless man who is often calculated and brave and unscrupulous, but in the official history, Xiahoudun is always the first general under Cao Cao, and his status is above Zhang He, Le Jin, Yu Ban, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Xu Chu, Li Dian and other famous generals.

After Xiahoudun learned that the guards of Gaotang County were replaced by Kong Rong's subordinate Sun Shao, he did not have half a contempt, he thought that since Kong Rong dared to send troops to reinforce Tian Kai blatantly at this time, it means that Kong Rong must have a basis for confronting Yuan Shao and Yanzhou in Jizhou, whether Kong Rong's basis is Xuzhou or Youzhou, in short, the situation in Qingzhou is becoming more and more complicated.

Xiahoudun sent people to Gaotang to meet the guard general Sun Shao, reminding Sun Shao to quickly rate the army to withdraw to Beihai and not to wade into the muddy waters of Qingzhou, otherwise it would bring many disasters to Kong Rong in the future.

Although Sun Shao is not famous now, he is a bull man who does not lose to Xiahoudun in history, and when Sun Quan became king, he was worshiped as the first prime minister of Wu. In terms of status, the prime minister is three points more powerful than the general.

Sun Shao saw that Xiahoudun wanted to salute with him before he soldiers, so he generously put the envoy sent by Xiahoudun into the city, and also received the envoy with the etiquette of entertaining guests. The messenger sent by Xiahoudun to see Sun Shao was named Xiahoulian, and he was Xiahoudun's younger brother. Xiahou Yuan is Xiahoudun's brother, that is, his cousin.

Xiahou Lian said to Sun Shao: "I heard that the yellow turbans were raging in Beihai, why didn't Sun Gongcao help Kong Xiang protect the territory and the people in Beihai, but he was in a dangerous place like Gaotang, where soldiers were rampant?" ”

Sun Shao said calmly: "Kong Xiang was entrusted by Lord Taifu and had no choice but to send troops to reinforce Tian Kai. As a minister, Sun only knew that he would abide by the order, and if he blocked the way of your army, he would block the way of your army. I can only say sorry. ”

Xiahou Lian reminded Sun Shao and said, "Isn't Sun Gongcao afraid that our army and Chun Yuqiong will join forces to take Gaotang first?" ”

Sun Shao said: "Yuan Cao's alliance is a well-known thing in the world, Sun does not doubt the possibility of Cao Jun and Yuan Jun joining forces, but our army is not alone, isn't your army afraid that Youzhou Iron Cavalry will come to help in the war?" ”

Xiahou Lian touched Sun Shao's soft nail in Gaotang, and returned to the camp to carefully report the scene when he met Sun Shao to Xiahoudun. After listening to this, Xiahoudun said: "Sun Shao is not simple! Now it can be determined that Youzhou has intervened in the Qingzhou war, and the lord's goal is Xuzhou, and our army must not fall into Qingzhou too deeply, so we can only move with the camera to see if we can outwit Gao Tang. ”

In the next few days, Xiahoudun sent 2,000 troops to fight outside Gaotang City every day. The momentum was very large, but he did not launch a real siege battle, but only beat a few war drums from a distance, and waited until the afternoon to call out the troops.

Although he guessed that Xiahoudun was so transferring troops to fool Chun Yuqiong near the plain, it was not ruled out that Xiahoudun would adopt this paralyzing tactic to reduce the vigilance of his own soldiers, so he passed down a military order to divide the defenders in the city into three groups. One of them was on duty at the head of the city, one was resting in the camp, and the other was practicing in the city.

After sending suspicious soldiers for three consecutive days, Xiahoudun suddenly led 10,000 soldiers and horses to the outside of Gaotang City on the fourth day. The defenders in the city were not demoralized because they took turns resting and on duty, and when they saw the sudden appearance of the army, the soldiers divided into three squads immediately went to the city to defend. -for-tat with Cao Jun outside the city, he did not fall behind at all.

Xiahoudun glanced at Sun Shao, who was in the midst of a battle at the head of Gaotang City, from a distance, and didn't say anything. Directly ordered the troops to retreat and returned to Lu County.

Sun Shao guarded Gao Tang without leaking, Xiahou Dun had no chance to take advantage of it, with the 10,000 soldiers and horses he brought, if he fought hard, he would not be able to take Gao Tang at all.

After Xiahoudun led the soldiers and horses back to Lu County, he sent Xiahoulian to meet Sun Shao, but this time Sun Shao was rejected from the city gate. Sun Shao said to Xiahou Lian at the head of the city: "Why did General Xiahou adopt such a trick to separate our army from the friendly forces in the plains? ”

Xiahou Lian had no choice but to return to Lu County.

It turned out that in order to deal with Sun Shao this time, Xiahoudun used a set of serial schemes. Before he officially sent troops to Gaotang, he first asked his brother Xiahou Lian to see Sun Shao on his behalf, wanting to shake and paralyze Sun Shao's determination to stick to Gaotang, and then deliberately sent a small group of soldiers and horses to attack and harass Gaotang every day, making Sun Shao think that he was just acting for Chun Yuqiong, the main general of the Yuan army, and had no intention of really attacking Gaotang. If Sun Shao let his guard down or was overly nervous in this process, then when Xiahoudun led 10,000 troops to the city of Gaotang, he would capture Gaotang in one go.

Xiahoudun led the army to appear outside Gaotang City without a fight, which was the second stage of the serial plan. In the eyes of outsiders, if Xiahoudun hadn't reached some kind of secret agreement with Sun Shao, how could Xiahoudun besiege Gaotang without attacking it? If Xiahou Lian came to see Sun Shao for the second time, Sun Shao also let him enter the city, it would make people even more suspicious whether Sun Shao had been bought by Xiahoudun and was ready to give Gao Tang to Xiahoudun.

Although Xiahoudun could not win Gao Tang through such a set of serial schemes, he could separate Sun Shao and Tian Kai, which was tantamount to shaking Tian Kai's military heart in disguise, and it was also equivalent to supporting Chun Yuqiong, and he also had a reasonable explanation for Yuan Shao.

After Sun Shao drank Xiahou Lian, he immediately sent someone to inform Tian Kai of the situation on Gao Tang's side, reminding Tian Kai not to fall for Xiahou Tang's divisive plan, and solemnly promised that as long as he was in Gao Tang for a day, he would not betray Gao Tang to Yuan Jun or Cao Jun.

Tian Kai was suspicious of Sun Shao's meeting with Xiahoudun's younger brother Xiahou Lian a few days ago, and after receiving Sun Shao's letter, he felt a little at ease. Tian Kai asked Guan Jing: "Is Sun Shao's words credible?" ”

Guan Jing told Tian Kai: "Regardless of whether Sun Shao is credible or not, we only need to stay in the plain, and when we can't hold it, we will retreat to Banxian." Even if Gao Tang is lost, we will only lose more than 1,000 troops, and Sun Shao will bring 5,000 soldiers from Beihai. ”

Tian Kai understood what Guan Jing meant, so he no longer secretly inquired about all kinds of news from the direction of Gaotang, and concentrated on defending Pingyuan County. Just like Guan Jing said, the 5,000 soldiers brought by Sun Shao were originally an unexpected help, and when they decided to fight against Yuan's army, everyone just had the idea of trying it out, if they really couldn't beat Yuan Shao's troops, the brothers and sisters directly withdrew to the Bohai Sea with the main force, anyway, someone had already promised to provide them with protection.

Chun Yuqiong, who had retreated to Huang County, soon received Yuan Shao's latest instructions, asking him to temporarily stay where he was, pay close attention to the movements of the Zhenwu camp in the direction of the Bohai Sea, and then wait for the arrival of follow-up reinforcements. At the same time, Chun Yuqiong also received the news sent by Xiahoudun, and learned that Gaotang had not yet conquered, so he was naturally angry, but there was nothing he could do about Xiahoudun.

Xian Yufu, who patrolled the border area of Qinghe, Pingyuan and Bohai counties, received an order from the Jicheng Commander's Office, and he fully understood Liu He's intentions, knowing that his task was to send cavalry from time to time to scare Chun Yuqiong, and at the same time encourage Tian Kai to attract the main force of Yuan's army near Qingzhou.

In order to implement Liu He's intentions well, Xian Yufu sent back the news to Liu Zheng, who stayed in Nanpi, and asked him to send a pretended caravan from Nanpi City to send a batch of weapons and arrows to Pingyuan County to defend the city, which was regarded as a reward for Tian Kai's resolute confrontation with Yuan's army in the early stage. Xian Yufu himself led the cavalry to break into the Qinghe Kingdom, deliberately created some chaos near Yimu County, and then ran to the outside of Ganling City to make a fuss for half the night, and then arrogantly led the army to withdraw from the Qinghe Kingdom.

Ganling City is located more than 100 miles away from the west of Huang County, it is the seat of Qinghe State, and it is also the main city that provides grain and grass support for the Yuan army in Huang County.

Chun Yuqiong couldn't wait for the arrival of the follow-up Yuan army, and immediately sent his generals Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang brothers to lead 10,000 soldiers and horses back to Ganling City. In this way, the pressure and threat faced by Tian Kai, who was defending the plain, was reduced a lot.

When the soldiers and horses of all sides surrounded the Qingzhou Plain County, in the distant and vast territory of Liaoxi County, Youzhou, a military operation aimed at containing Gongsun Du of Liaodong was also unfolding.

Du Liao general Xian Yuyin handed over all the 3,000 light cavalry under his command to the deputy general Xu Huang, and ordered Xu Huang to advance quickly all the way to the east, and fight a way in the northeast area of Liaoxi County, where the Wuhuan people are entrenched and the Xianbei people in Liaodong are infested, until they reach Yangle City, which is at the junction of Liaoxi County and Liaodong vassal countries.

Xu Huang was not afraid of this order, and before leaving, he led his army to rob several Wuhuan tribes outside Lulongsai, and equipped each of the three thousand cavalry with three war horses, and then brought twice as many arrows as usual, and killed to the northeast majestically.

After Xu Huang led the army away from Linyu City, he entered the chaotic Hu people's mixed land, from Linyu City to Yangle City is a full 600 miles away, and there is no city on the road for Xu Huang to settle down, but this chaotic place is just suitable for Xu Huang's two axes to kill people.

In order to make the movement as big as possible, Xu Huang lined up his troops in horizontal formations several miles wide, and only forced the Hu tribes he encountered along the way to flee eastward, but he did not really pursue and kill, leaving these Hu people to fend for themselves.

The fleeing Hu tribe only saw the Han cavalry lining up in a formation several miles wide to kill, but they couldn't see the depth of the team clearly, and thought that there were tens of thousands of Han troops dispatched this time, so when they fled to one place, they would incite more Hu people to flee with them.

Occasionally, there are some tribes who are not self-sufficient and want to argue with Xu Huang, and when they encounter this kind of Hu tribe that is looking for their own death, Xu Huang immediately gathered soldiers and horses, mercilessly crushed the past, slaughtered all his people, and by the way, made some food and grass supplements. Today's 3,000 Youzhou cavalry, because of their sophisticated equipment and advanced tactics and training methods, can already be compared to the 10,000 cavalry of the Hu people outside the Saiwai in terms of combat power, and the ordinary Hu tribe can't withstand Xu Huang's round of impact at all.

Ten days later, Xu Huang led his troops to Linyang Lecheng...... (To be continued......)