"Forty thousand!" The corners of Wang Xu's mouth drew an arc, as if he was smiling: "In addition to the subordinate of Hongnong Taishou Xu Rong, there are also 10,000 people brought by Henan Yin Dongzhao from Luoyang, and the rest of the soldiers are not to worry, and their truly qualified combat power is only more than 20,000 people." ”

As he spoke, he paused for a moment, his gaze moved slowly, and finally fixed on Zhou Zhi's body: "This Lushi County is the only way for Hongnong to lead to our Wuguan, and it is also the spike in the northeast of our army, threatening our right flank at all times, and even Shangluo and Shangxian are within its threat range, if we don't take it, it will be difficult for our army to attack Chang'an in the northwest with peace of mind." ”

"Zhou Zhi, your Western Legion has 50,000 people, 10,000 veterans, 20,000 newly trained recruits, and 20,000 Southern Barbarian armor guards who are extremely strong in combat but difficult to command, this Lu clan will hand it over to you, can you be confident?"

"Yes!" Zhou Zhi was prepared, and decisively got up and said: "Judging from the current battle situation, the main force of the Cao army is trapped along the Yellow River, Si is in the north, and there are also soldiers from Bingzhou Assassin Shi Gaogan, Xu Rong is unlikely to have large-scale reinforcements arrive in the short term, so it is impossible for him to defend the lonely city, and he will definitely fight!" ”

"What if he really sticks to the Lu clan?" Wang Xu interrupted.

Zhou Zhi replied: "His troops in Lu's county seat, the rear of Hongnong County has been completely empty, if he can't defend it, I will divide 5,000 troops to curb his return and completely cut off his contact with all parties." The Lu clan was originally a dangerous city on the front line, and it was expected that it would not dare to gather too much food, and at most it would be more than a month, and its army would collapse by itself! ”

"What if they hold on and unexpectedly hoard a lot of food and have enough supplies?" Wang Xu asked again.

"If that's the case, then the Lu clan is a chicken rib. The attack is more than worth the loss. It's better to give up. Leaving 30,000 soldiers as a containment, divide 20,000 troops to the north, take the empty county capital Hongnong in the rear, and then attack the counties, seize their money and materials, and burn all those who can't be taken away! ”

Zhou Zhi's eyes flashed, and he replied like a stream: "Wait for it to be severely damaged, and completely cut off its rear force." If the battle situation in Chang'an is settled, the Lu family can only sit and wait for death, and the battle can be decided without a fight. ”

Wang Xu smiled with satisfaction, looked at Xu Shu and Fa Zheng for a moment, nodded and said, "This method is very good, but for Xu Rong, sticking to the Lu clan is tantamount to waiting for death, and he will definitely fight." And intends to break our army, and then threaten Wuguan. forced us to attack the soldiers and horses on the Chang'an side to retreat, and finally cooperated with Chang'an Zhong Xuan to completely defeat our army back to Wuguan. ”

As he spoke, he took a deep breath, and his face gradually became solemn: "Therefore, he will definitely fight with you and defend himself from the enemy." And Xu Rong, you should also know that he is a wise and brave general, when the princes begged Dong, his service Dong Zhuo once caused the princes' coalition to suffer heavy losses and was almost defeated by him. I teamed up with Cao Cao and Liu Bei to deal with it, and only then did I try to capture it, but unfortunately I was one step slower, and it was taken by Cao Cao first, and I have been serving Cao Jun for many years. ”

"If you go with superior forces, but the army is defeated, it will not only affect the overall situation of the Northern Expedition, but also make Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and others who are approaching Chang'an suffer from the enemy on their backs, and be cut off from the way back, the consequences are unimaginable, I think you understand what defeat will mean."

Zhou Zhi put away the smile on his face and nodded seriously: "Understand, you should be killed according to the order!" ”

Wang Xu saw the fearless firmness in his eyes, and after looking at each other for a long time, he finally shouted in a deep voice: "Okay, the rebellious general Zhou Zhi, the Jianzhi general Huang Xu, and the Yamen general Wang Xiong take the order!" “

"The last general!" All three stood up and saluted.

"Ling'er and the three of them commanded 50,000 horse infantry of the Western Legion, and immediately rushed to the Lu clan, be sure to block Hongnong Taishou Xu Rong, and protect the safety of the right side of our Northern Expedition army."

"No!"

"Bing Cao is engaged in Fa Zheng!"

"In!"

"Let you join the military of the Western Legion and walk with Zhou Zhi!"

"Obey the orders of the lord!"

Several people did not delay, and after receiving the order, they hurried away.

Wang Xu brought the 90,000 troops to Wuguan, in the blink of an eye, there were only 10,000 guards left, and only Dian Wei, Xu Sheng, and Yan Liang were on the side among the generals.

Hanzhong, Yangpingguan!

The sky was cloudy, and the rain poured down, and although it was not heavy, it made the ground muddy.

The majestic Yangping Pass stands majestically among the lofty mountains and mountains, like the ancient beasts of the desolate wilderness that hovers and stands, hideous and huge, the terrain is extremely steep, and the tall and magnificent city wall even makes people have a sense of desperate depression, at least at this moment, the Xiliang soldiers under the city feel so in their hearts.

Looking from afar, I saw that the gate was closed and closed, all of which were densely packed with human figures, tall siege vehicles, siege towers, and rushing cars, all over the outside of the pass, some of which had been damaged to the point of not being shaped, and some of which were staggering and persisting.

The murmur of rain dripping could not hide the sound of the battle at this moment, and the high-pitched horns and heavy war drums roared and shook the earth.

In the rear of the Xiliang Army under the pass, there was a chariot under the command of the commander of the Chinese army, Han Sui was standing on it, with a worried look on his face, and a young man was accompanied by him, his face was calm, he looked joyless and sad, and he was indifferent to the fight on the pass.

"Zhongda, it's been ten days since my Xiliang Jian'er attacked Yangping Pass, and the casualties have been as high as more than 26,000 people, and there are countless minor injuries, so the price is really high." Han Sui stared at the fierce battle on the gate and said lightly.

"If you break through Yangping Pass and attack the land of Hanzhong, the general's gains will far exceed what he has lost!" A smile appeared on Sima Yi's calm face, and he spoke comfortingly.

"But if you can't attack it, what then?" Han Sui asked.

Sima Yi smiled calmly: "The general's crusade against rebellion this time is to do things for the imperial court, hasn't Gong Cao already promised that General Bao will be the rear general and lead the Liangzhou pastor?" In the future, the general will defend Liangzhou, which is also justified, and Cao Gong also promised that after Yuan Shao was pacified, he would help the general crusade against Liangzhou's rebellion, isn't it? ”

Who is the rebellion, both of them know very well in their hearts, that is, Ma Teng, who separated Liangzhou from Han Sui, the two families have been fighting for many years, and no one can help anyone.

Han Sui is not stupid, there are three reasons why he sent troops, one is to loot the rich Hanzhong, wealth, population, and materials are what he needs, which is a great temptation. The second is to ask for the official position of the imperial court. He needed a stronger appeal. Let more people in Liangzhou be willing to follow him. As for the third, Cao Cao's support. Over the years, the Ma family has produced many talents, and he has gradually felt powerless and weak, and he is very worried about being defeated by Ma Teng.

The most important thing is that he learned from the intelligence that Jingzhou is indeed in a low period now, and his troops are stretched thin, and he is sure of success.

But this time to fight down. He felt that the loss was a little bigger, Cao Cao's support was only a possibility, he didn't know what the battle between Yuan and Cao would be, and he didn't know if Cao Cao would really keep his promise even if he won.

Therefore, what he can actually get is what he considers, such as looting wealth, materials and official positions, but if the losses completely exceed the gains. Then of course he won't do it. Now, Jingzhou, which I thought was weak. However, he showed strong combat effectiveness, only 30,000 people were stationed in Yangping, and in just ten days, he suffered more than 26,000 casualties, and the number of siege equipment damaged was also extremely large.

Although it is still within the scope of bearing, it is difficult to say if it continues, if it can't win Yangping Pass in the end, and only get an official position, the gains outweigh the losses.

After pondering for a moment, Han Sui finally shook his head: "Zhongda, if the loss is too great, please forgive General Ben for being unacceptable." ”

Sima Yi actually didn't care whether he could capture Yangping at all, he only cared about whether he would cause huge losses to Jingzhou and contain a large number of Jingzhou soldiers and horses. Therefore, after thinking about it for a while, he opened his mouth and said: "I know that the general is very embarrassed, so it is better to inform Cao Gong of the details here, and ask him to immediately allocate 200,000 sets of armor and weapons, and 300,000 stone grain, and send them to Xiliang immediately." ”

"Oh?" Han Sui was finally attracted, this temptation was not small for him, what Xiliang lacked most was food and iron tools, not to mention that the quantity was so huge. "That's true!"

Sima Yi smiled, and a gleam flashed in his eyes: "If the general doesn't believe it, why don't the general personally send someone to write a letter in his own hand?" Now that the enemy is present, Cao Gong has a lot to rely on the general, and he will inevitably agree to this. ”

"That's great!" Han Sui immediately smiled.

In his mind, if he really can't break through Yangping Pass, then it's a big deal to defend here, and when Cao Cao sends those things, it's not too late for him to attack again, if Cao Cao doesn't send it out, then he won't have much loss.

But for Sima Yi and Cao Cao, the point is not what Han Sui can do at all, but to hold Jingzhou to the death. The long distance of this letter and the large amount of material allocation are excuses to delay enough time.

Sima Yi did not do anything fake, and personally wrote a letter, all in the tone of persuading Cao Cao to agree, Han Sui was deeply satisfied after reading it, and sent someone to Yanzhou immediately.

It's just that Sima Yi knows very well in his heart that although Cao Cao can scrape together this batch of materials, it is impossible to send them out, and with his character, he must be full of promises, but in fact, he delays time in every possible way.

Han Sui's heart was relieved, and he continued to command the soldiers to attack the crumbling Yangping Pass.

Sima Yi is far-sighted, the surface is silent, but in fact, he has a lot of thoughts, and he silently mutters in his heart: Jingzhou's troops are dragging on, and there will inevitably be reinforcements coming soon, but Jingzhou's military generals are really terrible, I boast that my strategy can determine the world, but I was first blocked by Tian Feng, Huang Zhong, Wu Yi, Zhang Ren and others, and now I stopped outside Yangping Pass, with 100,000 elite divisions with countless sophisticated siege equipment, I couldn't even take Yangping Pass, which was only 30,000 people. ”

This Wei Yan coped with the law, defended well, and was able to take the lead bravely, boosting morale, and there was no flaw in the town guard, he was really a famous general. Wang Xu has these people to assist, even if Cao Gong defeats Yuan Shao in the future and wields his army to the south, I am afraid it will be difficult and dangerous......

When Sima Yi was stunned and thinking about his thoughts, Wei Yan on Yangping Pass was indeed standing by the city wall and fighting bravely against the wind and rain.

"General Wei, the Western Liang soldiers suddenly strengthened their offensive, and the eastern city wall was understaffed, and Huo Du couldn't hold it anymore!" A general with a bearded face, covered in blood and tattered armor, was rushing to the moment at this moment, it was Bolong.

"You bring another song of reserve soldiers to the top." Wei Yan waved his hand and cut down two or three Xiliang soldiers, wiped the rain mixed with blood on his face, and shouted loudly.

"There are no more soldiers." Bauron's face was mournful, and the rain slid down his cheeks and into his mouth. "Now there are no reserve soldiers except for the soldiers who have been rotated, but those soldiers have just been replaced for less than an hour, and they are not strong at all."

ps: The state of the code word today is extremely poor, Yan zhòng lacks motivation, roaring...... (To be continued......)