On November 8, Liu Bei was in Linfen.

He was accompanied by many Lang officials of the Shaozhuang faction in the west, who were all ordered by the little emperor Liu Xie to go north to join Hu Zhen's army to participate in the later battles.

Because of well-known reasons, since the outbreak of the Weiyang Palace Rebellion in the Kansai Imperial Court, the forces of the ministers and eunuch groups that were previously the two poles of power in the center of Kansai have all collapsed, but Dong Zhuo, as a foreign vassal, seized the opportunity to go to Luo in one fell swoop, and even relied on the Empress Dowager Dong to become a relative to hold power, which can be described as a moment of power.

However, the scope of the Weiyang Palace rebellion actually stayed at the top, and the internal and external armies of the West Garden, which were the core armaments of the center at that time, were actually not compromised. At that time, when Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, the upper and lower forces were only tens of thousands, and they could not suppress the Xiyuan Army.

Therefore, at that time, Dong Zhuo and Liu Xie, who were eager to revive the Han industry, formed a tacit understanding, knowing that they could not repeat the mistakes of the Kanto, so they formed a dual pattern of the martial arts family with Dong Zhuo as the Taishi Mansion and the public family headed by Liu Xie.

In the relationship between the martial family and the public family, on the surface, it relied on the contact of the Empress Dowager Dong. But in reality, that layer of false relatives does not bring any sense of security to both parties.

So not long after Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, after he confided to Liu Xie that he wanted to take the great Han Dynasty again, Liu Xie swore to the ancestors in front of the temple:

"If Master Dong does not live up to my Han family, my Han family will not abandon the Dong family for generations."

Even, Liu Xie personally wrote this oath on the blood edict and enshrined it in the Taimiao, so that future generations will not forget it.

It is precisely by virtue of this blood oath that Dong Zhuo and Liu Xie maintain the superficial balance. Liu Xie used Dong Zhuo's strength to purge a group of court ministers and promote the Han family. And Dong Zhuo also relied on the legitimacy given by the little emperor to constantly annex the forbidden army in Xiyuan.

In this process, the two sides have been very tacit. Not only did Dong Zhuo sit firmly in the position of the Grand Master, but even the little emperor also absorbed a group of directly subordinate armed forces from the Xiyuan Forbidden Army in the process and rebuilt the Northern Army.

In order to completely control this newly built northern army, Liu Xie placed all the sons and daughters of the clan in this army. But how many generations have the descendants of Liu already been clothed and fed, how can they still have half a year of heroic spirit? So at that time, Liu Xie could only cultivate these people from scratch, hoping to get one or two generals.

It was against this background that Liu Bei rushed over with the remnants of the army from the Cuihan Channel.

For Liu Bei, Liu Xie can be said to know quite well. After hearing that Uncle Liu, the most capable of fighting in the clan, rushed west, Liu Xie directly issued several edicts, ordering each pavilion along the road to prepare everything needed by Uncle Huang and others.

And when Liu Bei took Zhang Fei and others to Dongpingguan in the eastern suburbs of Chang'an, Liu Xie even personally went out of the city ten miles to welcome Liu Bei's arrival.

It can be said that for Liu Bei, Liu Xie gave infinite respect.

This also made Liu Bei, who was worried about the future, quickly settle down and began to serve as the lieutenant general of the Northern Army.

It is also by relying on the training of these fierce generals brought by Liu Bei that the military literacy of Liu's children has been rapidly improved.

This change naturally made Dong Zhuo very vigilant.

After that, Li Ru suggested that since the little emperor wanted to train all the children of Liu, it was better to send them to Hu Zhen's army, after all, strong generals would never be born on the battlefield.

When Dong Zhuo suggested that the little emperor send Zhu Liu to the front, Liu Xie certainly understood the true meaning of this, but there was one thing that Dong Zhuo did not say wrong, that is, no matter how good the training is, war experience is needed.

So Liu agreed and asked Liu Bei to rush to the front line with fifty Northern Army officials. And in order not to weaken the name of the emperor's uncle, Liu Xie even gave Liu Bei the title of a confessor.

In other words, Liu Bei came to the front line to sacrifice the army in the name of the Son of Heaven.

In fact, at that time, even Liu Xie didn't think that Liu Bei and his gang could make any achievements, and the expectation for them was that they could give Zhu Liu an intuitive experience of large-scale warfare.

But the facts will prove how far Liu Bei and them can go.

Liu Bei and the others set off from Chang'an at the end of October, and they had already passed the Dragon Gate at the beginning of the eleventh.

When they crossed the Yellow River and went ashore, they began to continue along the Fenshui.

In Linfen, Liu Bei met Wang Chang, the captain of Linfen.

At first, Liu Bei was relatively unfamiliar with Wang Chang, after all, he had not been in Guanxi for a long time, and this Wang Chang was not a fierce general on the battlefield of Cuihan, so he only treated Wang Chang as an ordinary person.

In addition, the accompanying Zhu Liu's disciples said that this Wang Chang was just Hu Zhen's lackey, and it was not worth mentioning. So Liu Bei was quite contemptuous at first.

But soon, in his relationship with Wang Chang, he immediately realized that this person was a rare talent. Zhu Liu's contempt for this person is obviously unfair.

First of all, Wang Chang's first feeling to Liu Bei was that he was energetic. This is what Liu Bei saw in many outstanding talents in the past, such as Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Zhong Xuan and others, all of whom had strong energy to deal with government affairs.

And the same is true for Wang Chang, when Liu Bei first met him, this person was still dealing with the paperwork of grain. According to his left and right, Wang Chang has been working since last night, and the lights have been changed three times, and he is still working.

Originally, Liu Bei thought that Wang Chang would inevitably be sluggish, but when he officially met with this person, Wang Chang could answer everything Liu Bei said.

After so many years of experience, Liu Bei has grown into the current Uncle Liu Huang. In addition to gaining the so-called fame, Liu Bei also summed up his own set of views on people.

Many people will despise the so-called energetic and think that the talent of governing lies in the outline and the rule. However, Liu Bei believes that real talents can only do practical things if they have abundant energy, otherwise they will always be a clear stream.

At this point, Liu Bei has suffered a loss.

In addition, it is very rare that Wang Chang is not a lackey of the Dong family as Zhu Liu said, but on the contrary, he has enough respect for the Son of Heaven.

It is also on the basis of your appreciation of him and his respect for you that Liu Bei and Wang Chang talked a lot.

One of the chats talked about what Wang Chang was most worried about.

Wang Chang was worried about the main force of the Guanxi Army, which had already advanced to the Taiyuan Basin, and he said that recently, the thieves in the Baibo Valley often came out to plunder the grain routes, and although he counterattacked several times, he did not cause much damage to the Baibo thieves.

And as far as he knew, the army of Taishan's army had already reached Taiyuan, and from there to Jiexiu, where Hu Zhen was located, almost a horse was flat. In such a battlefield environment, it was too risky to fight a decisive battle with the Taishan army, which had a huge cavalry.

Liu Bei didn't know what Wang Chang was worried about, but he knew the strength of the Taishan army better than Wang Chang.

In his short life, the most world-class commander Liu Bei has ever seen is his mentor Lu Zhi, but even so, his mentor was still defeated on the battlefield of Zhongrenting.

And just ask? So who is more dominant, Hu Zhen or his teacher? Who is more united in the Kwantan Army or the Northern Army?

So the answer is very clear, that Hu Zhen is no match for the Taishan army.

At this time, Liu Bei had some awareness of the dangers of his profession.

After that, Liu Bei and his entourage rested here in Linfen for another day, planning to set off with the convoy sent to the Yongan grain station base in front on the second day.

But just when Liu Bei was about to take Liu Lang's officials to investigate the danger outside the city, someone came from Wang Chang and said that Wang Chang was invited.

So, Liu Bei saw Wang Chang again, and at this time he learned a bad news.

"You said Yong'an grain was burned?"

At this time, Wang Chang was a little flustered, but he still maintained his basic composure.

Hearing Liu Bei ask like this, he nodded slowly, afraid that Liu Bei would not be able to deal with the situation here, and explained:

"From here to Jiexiu, although it is only more than 200 miles, there are many mountains and mountains, and it is difficult to supply and transport. The only way to transfer military supplies is along the Fenshui Bird Road. In order to support the Jiexiu, our army specially set up a grain platform in Yong'an, which is behind the Bird Mouse Road, and it is transported in sections. ”

After Liu Bei listened to this introduction, he directly asked a key point:

"Captain Wang, you just tell me how long the grain of the front-line army will be able to support after the Yong'an grain is destroyed."

Wang Chang sighed and said with difficulty:

"Ten days."

Liu Bei stood up all of a sudden, and immediately asked:

"Captain Wang, how many people are in your department now? How much grain can be used to support it? After the collapse of the army on the front, what is your strategy? ”

When Wang Chang saw Liu Bei's posture, he was puzzled:

"I'm afraid, the situation will not deteriorate to this extent. In the end, the grain can still support for ten days, and with Hu Shuai's ability, he will definitely be able to withdraw the army safely. ”

Liu Bei didn't want Wang Chang to be so naïve, so he asked:

"Let me ask you, if nine people eat food for ten people, do you think that in the end, only one person will not be able to eat it? If that Hu Zhen can keep the matter of the empty grain to the end, things will still have a turnaround. And once the news of the imminent end of grain spreads throughout the army, the collapse of the army is imminent. ”

Finally, Liu Bei also said something like this to Wang Chang:

"People live for hope. If there is no hope, even if reason tells them that they can live a few more days, people will still choose the worst outcome. ”

"This faith is more precious than gold."

Wang Chang understood, so he bent down and waved to Liu Bei, and then said:

"The last general is willing to listen to the dispatch of those who advise, and those who hope to hear will not read the views of the portal, turn the tide of the tide, and save the lives of tens of thousands of my troops."

Liu Bei hurriedly helped Wang Chang up, and said:

"Who does Captain Wang think of me Liu Bei? I, Liu Bei, as a relative of the Han Dynasty, have long devoted my life to the great cause of reviving the Han Dynasty. Hugh said that these tens of thousands of troops are the essence of my Kansai, and the lives of these tens of thousands of people are a major matter in themselves. I, Liu Bei, will do my best to tide over the difficulties with Wang Chang. ”

After that, Liu Bei specifically asked Wang Chang if he had made a similar plan, and when he learned that Wang Chang had planned to build a defense line along the Fenshui with Yubi as the core, Liu Bei's appreciation of Wang Chang reached a higher level.

This place of Yubi, he had seen it when he was advancing along the Fenshui before, it was really a dangerous place.

At that time, he also sighed that who would build a barrier in this place, which could reach 100,000 troops, but he didn't expect it to be this Wang Chang in front of him.

Now that he heard that Wang Chang had a strategy, Liu Bei immediately asked Wang Chang to move all the grain and straw from Linfen to the south of Fenshui, and then stationed in Yubi. Then he and Wang Chang asked for 500 soldiers, and decided to drive forward to the area of the Bird Mouse Valley to meet the army.

Just now, Wang Chang's faction has actually handed over the command to Liu Bei. Wang Chang is a middle-level military official, and it doesn't matter if he has anything to do with it, there is only one Hu Zhen as a backer, and his life and death are still uncertain.

If he had decided to abandon Linfen and move south of Fenshui with Dingkou and grain, Wang Chang might have had no success, and would even be executed as a scapegoat for defeat.

But now that Liu Bei is making decisions, the result is different. In this case, Liu Bei, who has the endorsement of the Son of Heaven, is undoubtedly the best candidate. Although it is uncertain whether there is merit or not, at least it is not on my head.

So, with Liu Bei's support and the battle platform, Wang Chang immediately began to prepare.

Maybe this is the helplessness of the little people, being able to carry things is more important than being able to do things.

……

On the same day, Liu Bei set off north with his Langguan regiment and five hundred Linfen soldiers after a full meal.

Before leaving, he and Wang Chang asked for a military official who knew Youzhou, He, and Liang, and Liu Bei himself could speak Kyoto Zhengyin and Youzhou dialect, but he didn't understand He, Lianghua, so he only asked for such a talent, for fear of meeting Liangzhou officials, and it would be inconvenient to communicate.

They marched along the east bank of Fenshui.

On the way, Liu Bei also hoped that his conjecture was wrong, and felt that Hu Zhen, as a famous general in Kansai, should be careful and could save the day.

After all, Liu Bei knows very well that the current situation in Kansai is very good.

Liu Bei came from Kanto, and in his opinion, the Kwantung Imperial Court was already in the twilight, and because of the cooperation of Dong Zhuo and Liu Xie, Kansai showed a kind of vitality.

In Liu Bei's estimate, with the current situation, it doesn't take much, and Kyoto can be recovered in about half a year. At that time, with Longyi as the rear and Gyeonggi as the forward base in the east, the recovery of the Kwantung prefectures is just around the corner.

But who knew that at the critical juncture of the boom in Kansai, the Taishan army suddenly went south and merged with the state, and soon swept to Taiyuan.

Originally, if Kansai did not send troops, it would be a loss of one annexed state at most, and although the external geopolitical situation would deteriorate, the strength would not be reduced.

But now, if these 50,000 elite Kansai soldiers are left in Jiexiu, it will be a loss of muscles and bones. At that time, the situation in this world will really be given by the Taishan army.

At that time, how could he avenge his mentor again?

Thinking of this, he hurriedly urged his subordinates to speed up. Those officials also knew that the current situation was critical, and gritted their teeth and persevered.

More than 500 people went all the way north and stayed at a post station that night.

It was only twenty miles from Yong'an, which meant that they had traveled twenty miles in one afternoon.

When they stayed here, the officials of Zhu Liu Lang were fine, they were all riding horses, and those Linfen soldiers were quite complaining, cursing this stranger with a Youzhou accent in a low voice.

For these, Liu Bei has long been accustomed to it. It is still twenty miles away from Yong'an, and it has not encountered a single rout so far, which is good news.

But when Liu Bei and the others were staying at the post station, they heard a loud noise, Liu Bei groaned, and hurriedly went out of the post station to check out.

I saw that in the dark ridgeline in the north, a fiery dragon suddenly appeared, and countless men and horses were rushing from there.

(End of chapter)

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