It was almost the end of October, and on this day, Liu Yu returned to his tent after inspecting all parts of the city with Cheng Xu.

Cheng Xu persuaded Liu Yu and said: "My lord, Kebineng's troops are now less than a hundred miles away from Macheng, and our army sent 10,000 soldiers and horses from Wei Cao Peng to Gaoliu a few days ago, and now the remaining troops are almost equal to Yan Rou. Macheng and Ningcheng are divided into the north and south banks of the water, and they have always been interdependent, but now Yan Rou's attitude is unclear, and the situation is extremely unfavorable to me. The lesser of two evils, it is better to agree to Yan Rou's request and show him to the court as the captain of Wuhuan, so that Yan Rou can be used by us, and Ke Bineng will naturally retreat in the face of difficulties. ”

Liu Yu frowned and was silent, as if he was not enthusiastic about Cheng Xu's suggestion.

Cheng Xu continued: "If you don't agree to Yan Rou's request, when Kebineng leads the army to come, the two of them will collude in private, and when the two wings of our army are attacked, they will immediately fall into the predicament of being surrounded, and the situation will become very critical!" ”

Liu Yu saw that Cheng Xu was speaking for Yan Rou, and it was estimated that other people would have more such thoughts, so he sighed and explained: "Yan Rou is cunning and untrustworthy, especially unbearable than Gongsun Zhan, if I agree to his request today, he will make other requests tomorrow, for this kind of greedy person, it is absolutely not to be taken lightly!" ”

"My lord, but if we don't agree to Yan Rou's request, it will be difficult to pass this level at this time! Even if Yan Rou is ambitious, he has been towards us in the past, and he has never done too many perverse things, and this time he personally led 20,000 soldiers and horses to follow the lord south to Jizhou, which can be regarded as a meritorious achievement. Wei You continued to persuade.

"Hmph, it's good that you don't mention it! Yan Rou led his troops south to Jizhou this time, did he do less to harass and harm the local people? Liu Yu's face turned cold and said coldly.

In Ningcheng, Yan Rou stretched her neck and waited for news from Houma City for more than half a month, but Liu Yu was sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai and had not spit out until now, which made him feel very annoyed.

Yan Rou said to the cronies beside him: "Liu Yu, that old thing, still refuses to agree to my request, in order to give him a little power, I will send you to take people to Danhan Mountain immediately, and after seeing Kebineng, tell him like this......"

The cronie nodded in agreement, turned around and prepared to pay the bill. At this moment, someone outside the tent reported: "Adult, small one has an urgent military intelligence report!" ”

"Quickly enter the account, tell me in detail!" Yan Rou shouted.

"Lord Qiyu, according to your orders, I recently took my brothers to reconnoiter in the area from Fuyang to Zhuolu, and yesterday I found a team from the east, this team has a thousand cavalry guards outside, all of which are carriages and ox carts, and the ruts left behind are very deep, and scattered grain particles are scattered on the side of the road!"

"Can you see each other's flags and costumes?"

"Lord Qiyu, the small ones can see clearly, this team is wearing the clothes of Youzhou soldiers, with a banner with the word 'Liu', it is certain that they are coming from the direction of Jixian County, this is to transport military food and materials to Liu Yu who is stationed in Macheng."

"Well, you did a great job this time! Come on, reward 100 yuan, 10 stone of grain! ”

After the leader of the sentry probe left happily, Yan Rou said to the henchmen around him who had not yet left: "The situation has changed, don't go to Danhan Mountain for the time being." Liu Yu's grain transport team will be able to reach the south of Quang Ninh in three days, this area is at least 80 miles away from Macheng, but only 15 miles away from Guangning, as long as we send 3,000 soldiers and horses to disguise themselves as bandits and ambush on the side of the road at night, we can rob this batch of grain and grass military materials! ”

The henchman hurriedly persuaded Yan Rou: "My lord, if we do it at this time, even if Liu Yu has no evidence, he will definitely think that we did it." If we rob this batch of grain and grass military materials transported from Jixian County, our relationship with Liu Yu will take a sharp turn for the worse, please think twice! ”

"Hmph, what's there to be afraid of? Liu Yu, that old man doesn't know how to lift, don't blame me for not saving face for him! This time I went out to rob the grain, and you personally led the team, and when the time came, I only grabbed the grain and grass and military funds, don't kill people easily, and when the grain and grass are in my hands, see if Liu Yu doesn't come to beg me! ”

Yan Rou had already made up her mind and did not listen to the persuasion of this henchman.

However, it was said that Xiahoulan took office a few days ago, and after receiving the military order to escort grain and grass to Macheng, he cautiously escorted the grain transport team all the way to the west, and finally came to the place where the Qiushui and the water control converged in the north of Zhuolu County on this day.

Seeing that it was getting late, Xiahou Lan drove his horse to the car where Gongsun Ji was riding, and said in a respectful tone: "Lord Gongsun, it's getting late today, so let the team camp here?" ”

Gongsun Ji, who was drowsy in the car, stretched out his hand and lifted the curtain, looked around, frowned and said: "This place is the place where the two rivers meet, the terrain is flat, and the wind is too strong at night. ”

Xia Houlan patiently explained: "My lord, Fang Cai has already personally investigated everywhere, and I feel that although this place is a little windy, because there are two sides of the water, we only need to concentrate on defending the north at night, and the east side where we came all the way is a safe area. We have already arranged it, and at night we will take out some of the winter clothes that were transported to Macheng by car to keep out the cold for the soldiers and people, so that everyone should not be frozen by the cold wind at night. ”

Xiahou Lan arranged it like this, which can be described as thoughtful, but it made Gongsun Ji even more displeased in his heart. Gongsun Ji asked with a calm face: "Xiahou Sima, how can you privately use the military funds transported to Macheng?" ”

Xiahou Lan saw that Gongsun Ji was in trouble, and replied calmly: "Lord Qiyu, when Lan left Jicheng, Gongzi granted the right to arbitrarily decide on the spot, and there are four other military marquis to testify on this matter!" ”

"Good, good! Since Childe has given you the right to arbitrarily decide on the spot, you can decide for yourself, so why bother to make noise again! Gongsun Ji said this sentence angrily, and with a "swish", he pulled the curtain down from the inside, and didn't want to look at Xiahoulan again.

For Gongsun Ji's rudeness, Xiahou Lan turned a blind eye, and now ensuring the safety of the grain transportation is a first-class matter, and he can't afford to deal with such a small-bellied person.

"Tell me to go down, and camp here tonight. All the wagons loaded with grain were parked on the side of the water, and the wagons loaded with fodder and clothing were parked in order on the north side, with the men in the middle, and the cavalry holding the east, and the four marquis still leading the camp for an hour at night, as had been customary in the previous days......"

Xiahou Lan gave various orders in an orderly manner, and he couldn't see that he was just a small team leader under Gongsun Zhan a month ago, but now he has become a military commander in charge of a thousand cavalry.

According to the military system of the Han Dynasty, the team led 50 troops, and the army Sima commanded 4 or 500 troops, and Liu He made an exception to let him lead 1,000 troops, which shows that he has more trust in Xiahoulan. You must know that Liu Bei is now under Gongsun Zhan, that is, a single department, and after serving as Minister of Anping this time, Gongsun Chan was willing to send 2,000 men and horses to him.

The night was uneventful.

On the morning of the second day, after the team had eaten, Xia Houlan was about to lead the team to continue westward, but a dilemma was placed in front of him.

Zhuolu is located at the confluence of the water and the water, and after the confluence of the water and the water, it flows to the east and becomes the water. From the map, the team continued to march northwest along the Qiushui, and arrived at Macheng in five days.

The question Xia Houlan is now facing is whether to put the speed of the march first, or the safety of the team first.

If you want to be fast, then follow the wide and flat river beach on the north bank of the river; If it is to ensure safety, it is a difficult dirt road between the water control and the water to go to Macheng.

Xia Houlan looked at the topographic map, frowned and pondered for a long time, and finally made up her mind.

"Pass my order, and today the team will march west along the water control!"

A military marquis who had been in the army for a long time couldn't help but say out of opposition: "Xiahou Sima, please forgive me for being rude. Macheng is in the northwest direction, but the water control is going to the southwest direction of Ban's, we should follow the revenge water upstream! ”

Xiahou Lan nodded calmly, then pointed to the section of the water on the map that was close to Guangning City and said, "A few military marquis, please look here!" This section of the river beach is 80 miles away from Macheng, 15 miles away from Guangning City, and 20 miles away from Ning County, Yan Rou's 20,000 horses are now entrenched in Ning County and Guangning area. ”

Another military marquis shook his head and said: "Impossible, no matter how bold Yan Rou is, he will not dare to come and rob the grain, this is the food for Lord Taifu, if he does this, it will be equivalent to a complete break with the Han people, and there will be no place in Youzhou in the future!" ”

The third military marquis also continued: "Xiahou Sima may not know, Yan Rou is a Guangyang clan, his clan and younger brother are still living in Guangyang, if he dares to hijack the grain team, it will be an enemy of millions of Youzhou people, and the entire Yan family will be spurned by tens of thousands of people, and life is better than death!" ”

Xia Houlan listened to the words of these two military marquis, and fell into hesitation for a while. After a long time, he spoke: "What you said is not unreasonable, so we marched along the south bank of the Bitter Water, and immediately sent fast horses to report to Macheng, so that Lord Taifu could send a team to meet us when we arrived in the Quang Ninh area!" ”

After hearing this, several military marquis felt that it was safer for Xiahou Lan to make such an arrangement, so they followed the order and urged the soldiers and men to set off.

After the four military marquis left, Xiahou Lan turned around and whispered to his own soldiers: "Li Er, I have an extremely secret task for you to do, be careful on the way, be sure to bring my message to the eldest prince or Zhao Duwei!" ”

"Although Brother Xiahou has commanded, I, Li Er, have put my life aside since the day I left Zhending with you."

"You immediately find a people's clothes to change into, and then rush back to Jicheng, tell Gongzi or Zhao Duwei, and say that in order to prevent Yan Rou from posing a threat to Taifu, I suggest that someone be sent to Guangyang immediately to control Yan Rou's people!"

"Li Er received the order, and he will never live up to the trust of Brother Xiahou!"