Li Yan took more than a dozen entourages to set off from Hanguguan, trekking all the way through mountains and rivers, and after more than ten days of hard climbing, he successively crossed Bear's Ears Mountain and Funiu Mountain, and finally appeared in the territory of Danshui.

After seeing Tian Chou, the first thing Li Yan said was: "Gongzi has led the army through Hangu Pass, hurry up and reorganize his subordinates and go to Chang'an for reinforcements!" ”

Tian Chou was not surprised by this, and said: "Some time ago, Ding Guan, who was staying in Chang'an, had already sent someone to send someone to bring the news that Dong Thief had been executed, so I began to ask Deng Hai, Chen Gui and others to prepare secretly, and now it can finally come in handy!" ”

Danshui is only more than 500 miles away from Chang'an, and the speed of news transmission between the two places is much faster than that from Chang'an to Youzhou. Before the war in Youzhou in the first half of the year happened, Liu He sent Ding Guo to secretly return to Chang'an, secretly pay attention to the situation in the Sili area, and provide major information to Youzhou and Danshui at any time, so Tian Chou secretly kept in touch with Ding Guo.

Li Yan was shocked when he saw the mountains of grain, weapons and armor in Zhaojiawu Fort, he really couldn't imagine how Tian Chou could raise such a huge amount of war materials in just one year.

Tian Chou told Li Yan that half of these materials came from the official treasury of Danshui, Shangmi, Nanxiang and Shunyang, and the other half were "extorted" from various dock forts, and as for those various weapons and armor, some came from the workshops of Fengxiang City, some were captured from the rout of Yuan Yin and Zhang Xun, and some came from the rural ironware shops.

Although these weapons and armor cannot be compared with the standard equipment of the regular infantry in Youzhou, they are several times stronger than the weapons held by the Yellow Turban homeless people who are making trouble in various places.

What really shocked or incredible Li Yan was the overall quality and mental outlook of Shen Xijun.

More than 10,000 soldiers of the Shenxi Army gathered from various townships and villages, and they were completely different from the troublemakers who attacked Danshui County, not only neatly dressed and sturdy, but also with firm eyes and strict discipline.

Although he didn't know the true combat strength of this army, Li Yan saw a wave of enthusiasm and yearning in the eyes of the soldiers.

"Danshui has been a strong army since ancient times, and this army can become a real strong army as long as it has been tempered by several actual battles!"

At the end of the oath meeting, Li Yan said to Tian Chou.

On the third day of Li Yan's arrival in Danshui, 10,000 Shenxi infantry secretly set out from Sanheting and attacked Wuguan, which was guarded by only a few hundred soldiers.

On the same day that Tian Chou led his army to the expedition, Liu He, who was stationed in Tongguan, received an urgent report from the direction of Chang'an, and learned that Wang Yun had transferred Lü Bu back to Chang'an City as a defender, and ordered Xu Rong, Hu Zhen, and Duan Xuan to form a coalition army of about 40,000 to block the troops of Li Dao, Guo Yan, Zhang Ji, and Fan Chou west of Fengxiang City.

Liu He couldn't help but scold: "Wang Yun, this old horseman!" How could the main force be sent to fight a decisive battle with Li Guo and the others when the troops were at a disadvantage? Isn't this forcing Hu Zhen and Duan Xuan to fall to Li Dao and Guo Yan? ”

Guo Jia rarely dismantled Liu He's platform this time, but frowned and said: "Although Xu Rong has the talent to command the army, it is a pity that there are not too many soldiers under his command who obey the command, and this time I am afraid that he will die in the hands of Li Dao and Guo Yan." ”

Liu He couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, and was impressed by Guo Jia's keenness.

In history, Xu Rong was killed by Wang Yun, an old bastard. At that time, Li Dao and Guo Yan gathered more than 100,000 troops to fight Hu Zhen and Xu Rong's troops in Xinfeng, but Hu Zhen was defeated and surrendered, but Xu Rong was killed in the battle, the main reason was that Xu Rong did not have many soldiers who really obeyed his orders.

If Wang Yun sent Lü Bu to meet Li Guo and let Xu Rong guard Chang'an, the situation was likely to change.

What made Liu He even more speechless was that at this time, Wang Yun actually sent the only army controlled by the royalist Emperor Fu Song to attack Dong Zhuo's old nest Yiwu, and most of the forbidden troops left in Chang'an City were Dong Zhuo's old troops!

In Liu He's opinion, since Wang Yun controlled the court situation in Chang'an, every step he took was a rhythm of death, and basically others couldn't stop it if they wanted to.

The key is that Wang Yun still wants to pull Liu He over to cushion his back, which makes Liu He feel very unhappy.

Let Liu He deceive Tongguan and catch some Dong Zhuo's old department or something, he is very willing; Let the eldest prince rescue the Cai family's sister and the university scholar Cai Yong, and get the little emperor back to Luoyang again, he will not object; However, now Liu He has to face more and more troops from Li Dao and Guo Yan, and if he is not careful, he will lose all his money, and even take his own life.

Liu He has always wanted to take Xu Rong for his own use, but seeing the current situation in Chang'an, he didn't dare to go to the rescue lightly, so he had to ask Guo Jia.

Liu Hetian said to Guo Jia with a face: "Fengxiao, now I want to save Xu Rong's life, I don't know what the best way to do it?" ”

Guo Jia shook his head and said, "I'm just a hostage held by you, and I'm not your military advisor, why do I want to help you make ideas?" The last Tongguan incident has already made you cheaper, don't be greedy! ”

To be obedient is to listen to the sound. Liu He heard that Guo Jia didn't say anything to death, so he whispered to him: "I have told you the harm of congenital deficiency along the way, and now if you help me with ideas, I will teach you how to regulate your body, lest your heirs will not be prosperous and premature ejaculation!" ”

Guo Jia also whispered to Liu He: "Does your method really work? ”

Liu He patted his chest: "I lied to you that you weren't raised by my mother!" ”

"Okay, I'll trust you once this time. If you dare to play tricks on me, you will regret it in the future! Guo Jia was intimidated by the terrible consequences of "congenital insufficiency", and finally bowed his head to a certain obscene guy.

Guo Jia's idea for Liu He this time is still simple and practical, without too many fancy, it is still based on the mobility of the Youzhou cavalry interspersed at high speed, as well as the outstanding talents shown by Zhao Yun, Zhang He and other generals in commanding the battle.

Guo Jia suggested that Liu He give an order to Zhao Yun, who was stationed in Huayin, to lead his army to the north first, and then march at high speed from the north of Linjin to the west, bypassing Chongquan, Lianlao, Wannian and Gaoling, and suddenly appear in the rear of the combined forces of Xu Rong, Hu Zhen and Duan Xuan, and then make a big noise, falsely claiming that his side was the vanguard of Yuan Shao's army from Bingzhou to the south to reinforce Chang'an, so as to stabilize the military morale of Hu Zhen and Duan Xuan. If Hu Zhen still wanted to throw himself on Li Guo's side, then Zhao Yun could also see the opportunity to act and directly rescue Xu Rong, who was fighting alone.

At the same time as Zhao Yun was acting, dozens of Liangzhou prisoners could be released in the direction of Tongguan and let them flee back to Li Guo's army to report the news, so that Li Dao and Guo Yan would perceive the danger in their backs and dare not invest all their forces in the war on the Western Front, which could relieve a lot of pressure on the combined forces of Xu Rong, Hu Zhen and Duan Xuan.

If Li Dao and Guo Yan dared to send a force to attack Tongguan, Guo Jia also thought of a strategy to deal with it, so that this force would not return.

Liu He's side made an emergency deployment, and Zhao Yun immediately led 5,000 cavalry to withdraw from Huayin overnight and detour to the north according to the predetermined route, while at the same time, Li Wei, Guo Yan, Zhang Ji and others were not idle.

Li Dao divided the 70,000 army into three routes: left, middle and right, of which 20,000 soldiers and horses on the left were led by Zhang Ji, 30,000 soldiers and horses on the middle were led by Li Dao and Fan Chou, and 20,000 soldiers and horses on the right were led by Guo Yan.

Xu Rong, who was in charge of meeting the rebels, ignored Hu Zhen's opposition and strongly demanded that the three troops and horses be gathered in the area of Baling on the east bank of Bashui to achieve the goal of fighting to the death. Hu Zhen did not listen to Xu Rong's advice, and led 15,000 soldiers and horses from his headquarters to go out of Quyou, and Duan Xuan also moved ten miles west with 15,000 soldiers and horses, and stationed his troops in the Tongdao Pavilion. In this way, the 40,000 troops of the defender were also divided into three places, posing in a "pin" shape to meet the enemy.

In the case that his own forces are not superior, Xu Rong's suggestion to insist on bringing the three forces together is undoubtedly advisable, because once the 40,000 troops are huddled together and fight to the death, then even if the rebel army of 70,000 soldiers and horses surrounds it in a zigzag shape, it may not be able to swallow the opponent in one bite, and maybe because of the problem of unsynchronized command and coordination, it will bring a chance for the defender to counterattack.

It's a pity that Hu Zhen and Duan Xuan are on the same level as Xu Rong, and the three of them are not subordinate to each other, so no one is willing to listen to the command of others, so they cannot form a joint force and are doomed to failure.

After Li Wei got the news from the sentry detective, he stroked his palm and said with a smile: "Hu Zhen is just stubborn for his own use, Duan Xuan is seriously suspicious, and now only Xu Rong is left with 10,000 soldiers and horses to stop in front, and our army can easily attack under Chang'an City!" ”

Military advisor Jia Xu offered a plan: "You can send someone to secretly contact Hu Zhen, so that he will not have a frontal conflict with our army, and after the matter is completed, Chang'an can be shared." Duan Xuan is suspicious by nature, and it may be difficult to win him over, so he might as well send Zhang Ji to drive him away and force him to give way! ”

Li Wei adopted Jia Xu's suggestion and immediately sent his younger brother Li Ying to lobby Hu Zhen's army, and at the same time gave an order to Zhang Ji's troops south of Lishan Mountain, ordering him to lead his army into the Daoting and entangle Duan Xuan.

After Li Ying quietly met Hu Zhen, he sent Li Wei's handwritten letter to persuade him to turn back before the battle, but Hu Zhen sternly refused, but Hu Zhen did not kill Li Ying, but sent someone to quietly send him back to Li Wei's army.

Regarding Hu Zhen's interesting move, Li Wei was a little unsure, but Jia Xu saw through it at a glance. He said to Li Wei: "Hu Wencai still has some illusions about the direction of Chang'an, and he will surrender with just a beating." ”

Li Dao then gathered 30,000 soldiers and horses of the Chinese army, combined with Guo Yan's troops, and suddenly besieged Quyou. As soon as Hu Zhen's troops engaged with Li Guo's allied forces, there was a large-scale rout, and Hu Zhen had no choice but to surrender to Li Dao and Guo Yan.

After cleaning up Hu Zhen's troops, Guo Yan and Li Wei did not take Xu Rong, who only had 10,000 soldiers and horses, in their eyes, and they led their troops to attack the tomb and had a fierce battle with Xu Rong's troops.

Although Xu Rong had few troops, he relied on the protection of Baling City and calmly commanded the troops to fight, causing a lot of trouble to Li Dao and Guo Yan. After half a day of bloody fighting, because the troops were far inferior to Li Dao and Guo Yan, Xu Rong's troops suffered heavy casualties and gradually showed signs of defeat.

At the critical juncture, suddenly a cavalry of up to 5,000 galloped from the north, kicking up the dust, and the men and horses roared, heading straight to the city of Baling.