It takes less than four hours to storm the city from midnight to break through at noon, and most of the time is spent leveling the battlefield and pushing siege weapons. A real siege is only an hour long.

After He Bai led the army into Xingyang, the whole city shouted "Long live". Since ancient times, there has never been a city that has been breached so easily by the defenders and the defenders. Attacking a city with 8,000 people and 1,000 people only took half a day to break the city, which is even faster.

He Bai ordered Fu Xing to collect the spoils of war in the city, and Zhang Liao to be in charge of chasing down the defeated soldiers with Du Lei, who intercepted him in the east of the city. Half a day later, good news came. The sentence came to the county government jubilantly and said to He Baiyu:

"My lord, our army broke through the city of 1,000 people with 8,000 people, and its own casualties were only more than 30 people, and the difference between gains and losses is very large. A total of more than 460 enemy troops were killed and more than 130 were subdued. There are more than 580 good horses, 400 rhubarb crossbows, and 420 pairs of intact fish scale iron armor. 30,000 stone of grain and grass, 30 million yuan of money, and countless other materials for defending the city. ”

Not long after, Zhang Liao and Du Lei also led the troops back to Xingyang, Zhang Liao said happily: "Lord, in the pursuit battle, a total of 317 enemies were killed, 64 enemies were captured, and only a dozen horsemen were missing. There were 366 good horses and 381 iron armors. The battle of Xingyang is considered to have been completed. ”

He Bai smiled: "I overpower the widow city with heavy troops, if I can't do my best, then I am too incompetent." It is necessary to know that the Xiliang army has many cavalry, and it is better at mobile field warfare, but it is useless to defend the city and fight, not to mention that it is still guarding the empty and worthless Xingyang City. If you go to a mobile field battle, I still have a headache for a thousand cavalry Xiliang Army, and if the lonely city is trapped, it will become a situation of closing the door and beating the dog. It is calculated that the battle with the front of Bishui Pass is a problem with the tactical arrangement of the enemy's main general, not that our army is powerful, and you must not make this mistake when you are the main general in the future. ”

"Wow. We will keep in mind the lessons of the defeat of the Xiliang army. The generals replied.

He Bai couldn't help but sigh: "It's a pity that the Xiliang army was defeated too quickly this time, so that the soldiers besieging the city lacked experience in bloody battles, which inevitably disappointed me, it seems that it is not a good thing that the siege equipment is too well prepared." ”

Zhang Liao laughed and said: "The lord's words are really suspicious. Does it have to be that our army has suffered too many casualties for the lord to rejoice? ”

He Bai smiled: "That's right, that's right, this soldier is still trained slowly, and it can't be used to practice in bloody battles." The herald ordered that the officers and men in the city could hold a small banquet tonight, and tomorrow the whole army would hold a big celebration banquet to celebrate our army's victory in the first battle. And ordered the soldiers to make persistent efforts and create brilliance. ”

"Whoa." The generals were overjoyed to surrender their orders.

In addition to continuing to pick out 500 Xiliang good horses to send to Beihai, He Bai also sent a herald and ordered the navy to send a 30-ship Mengchong ship to listen to the order. After preparing to attack Bishui Pass from the Yellow River.

Besides, after Hua Xiong got the support of Wang Fang's first army, his prestige was restored, and he was overjoyed, and after turning around a few times in the pass, he hurriedly called Zhao Cen and Li Su, and said: "Brother Li, Brother Zhao, the main camp of the He army is gradually consolidating, but I don't see it waving his troops to attack, I think it is mainly attacking Xingyang City." Xingyang has few soldiers, and it will be broken soon, and he is afraid that he will use the Tiger Prison to commit Luoyang. I am afraid that there are few soldiers in the Tiger Prison Pass, so I intend to lead the soldiers and horses of the headquarters and Brother Wang to support, and the Bishui Pass will be guarded by Brother Li and Brother Zhao. ”

Wang Fang said unhappily: "Brother Hua, Xiangguo ordered me to come, but I came to defeat He Bai. But you told me to guard the pass, when will I be able to defeat the rats in the Kanto region? ”

Hua Xiong bowed his hand and said: "Brother Wang, you don't know, then He Bai is the vanguard of the Kwantung army, there are many fierce generals under his command, and the soldiers and horses are sharper, and he is not an enemy that can be broken for a while." We need to guard the pass first, kill their soldiers, slack their morale, and then wave their troops to break them. When He Bai is defeated, the Kanto rats will be terrified, and it will be easy to break. ”

Hua Xiong is still the governor of the front-line defenders of Bishui and Tiger Prison, and Wang Fang is not easy to oppose for a while, so he has to obey his fate. Zhao Cen bowed his hand and said: "Brother Hua just go forward, Bishui Pass has my own Zhao Cen and Brother Li to guard, and I will not let the Kanto rats fly across Bishui Pass with one person and one horse." ”

Huaxiong was overjoyed, thanked him repeatedly, and led an army of more than 8,000 horsemen with Wang Fang, went southwest out of Bishui Pass, and then turned to Tiger Prison Pass. When he heard that He Bai's soldiers and horses were camped on the front line from Tiger Prison to Xingyang, he also thought about whether to sneak attack at night, so that He Bai could not attack the city with peace of mind.

But when he heard the news that Xingyang had been broken, he immediately extinguished the heart of the sneak attack and honestly guarded the pass. I also heard the news that Xingyang was broken in less than half a day, and I was even more worried about guarding the front line of Bishui and Tiger Prison.

On the third day of He Bai's attack on Xingyang City, he suddenly received a flying battle report from Sour Jujube. The battle report said that just five days ago, many Xiliang troops suddenly appeared outside Yangzhai City, Yingchuan County, and they seemed to have the intention of attacking the city. Yuzhou Thorn Shi Kong Ling, who had already heard that the Xiliang army had changed, was shocked and did not dare to face the opposite, so he abandoned the city and fled, wanting to retreat to Xu County. Unexpectedly, he was intercepted by the Xiliang army from Xinzheng in Yingyang, and the 30,000 Yuzhou soldiers were almost wiped out.

At this time, the middle gate of the first line of Yingchuan County was wide open, except for the whole county under the troops of the Xiliang Army, and the cavalry was sent to plunder Chenliu, Chenguo, Runan, and Nanyang counties. Even Tao Qian's army, which was stationed in Suiyang in Liang State and was convenient for food in Xuzhou, also encountered the scouts of the Western Liang Army.

It can be said that the encirclement of Dong Zhuo by the Kwantung coalition army has been torn apart, and the lands of Yu, Xu, Yang, and Jingshu are all under the front of the Western Liang army. The Western Liang army could even go from Chenliu to the south, after bypassing the sour jujube allies, or looting Yan and Qing, so that the entire alliance would be ruined.

Therefore, Yuan Shao, the leader of the alliance, wanted to ask his own troops to postpone the attack on Bishui and Hujiao, but move to the land of Yingzhou, first plug the breach, and limit the advance of the Xiliang army. If the Xiliang army can be driven back to Henan Yin, it is even possible to send troops to cut off the Xuanyuan, Dagu and other passes of the Xiliang reinforcements. The development of the war can be determined by He Bai after he arrives in Yingchuan.

He Bai looked at the letter in his hand with annoyance, he had just defeated the Xiliang army of 4,000 people, beheaded and captured less than 3,000 enemies, and the southern front had annihilated the 30,000 allied army. Coupled with the 20,000 troops under Wang Kuang's headquarters and the nearly 10,000 troops in the direction of Yingchuan, the alliance lost 60,000 troops in only two months. The magnitude of this defeat is jaw-dropping, almost unbelievable.

Thinking about it, Dong Zhuo regrets it now, the Kwantung region claims to have an army of 300,000 or 400,000 is really a rabble, why do you need to move the capital to force its front, just break it directly.

Regarding the combat strength of the allies, He Bai was completely skeptical. Even Cao Cao is a novice in military affairs at this time, who else can look at? Gongsun Zhan, who is in Jizhou, is not very enthusiastic about the alliance, and there is more Hanoi direction to pay attention to. And Tao Qian cautiously hid in Liangdi and did not come out, and there was almost no one in the sour jujube coalition army.

He Bai sighed, it seems that the whole battle against Dong is really up to him. So he summoned the generals under his command, handed the battle report sent by Yuan Shao to the generals to watch, and asked: "Lord Yuan ordered me to suspend the attack on Bishui Pass and transfer to Yingchuan County to make up for the gap in the encirclement of Dong Zhuo's army. However, we need a clear goal and plan for where our army will advance and how to fill the gaps. ”

After the generals thought about it, Huang Zhong first arched his hand and said: "My lord, I have lived in Nanyang for a long time, and I also know a little about the terrain of Yingchuan and southern Yin in Henan. Originally, the Yuzhou Confucian Shi garrison in Yingchuan Yang Zhai intercepted the Xiliang army, and its momentum was very good, but it was a pity that it fell short. Now the Xiliang army is attacking and looting in different ways, and the other army has many cavalry troops, and our army has many foot soldiers, so it is bound to not be able to divide troops and fight chaotically. It is necessary to attack the point that must be saved, so that they have to save it, so that the scattered Xiliang army can reunite and break it in one battle. ”

He Bai nodded, what Huang Zhong said was right, the Xiliang army was divided into more than a dozen shares, with about a thousand horsemen per share, coming and going like the wind, looting everywhere. There are only 5,000 horses in the army, and there are less than 700 people in the Martial Fighting Blood Cavalry and White Horse Righteousness, and the total number of cavalry will not exceed 6,500 horses.

It seems to be a lot, but for the Xiliang army of nearly 20,000 people on the left side of Yingchuan, it is still too little, and it is impossible to conduct a cavalry pursuit battle with it. I can only find a way to gather them together and try to break them in one fight.

"I believe that the Lun City of Yingchuan County is the place where the Xiliang Army must be saved." After Huang Zhong drew on the ground with his fingers, he pointed to the sketch and continued: "Lunshi City is the necessary place for the two passes of Dagu and Yique in the eight passes of Luoyang. As long as the city of the Lun clan is guarded and the city of Yang is deterred, the Xiliang army will be like a fish in the throat, and it will not vomit or be unhappy. ”

Zhang Liao asked suspiciously: "Huang Duwei, Yangcheng is also a necessary place for Xuanyuan Pass, closer to Xingyang, why don't you take Yangcheng and deter the Lun Clan?" ”

Huang Zhong knew that Zhang Liao and He Bai were masters and slaves, but in private they were sworn brothers, and their relationship with He Bai was closer than his own. At this time, because of his youth, his thoughts are unknown, but his intelligence is not weak, and he will be the first general under the command of the lord in the future. So he explained in detail:

"The south of Xingyang is Jing County, and the south of Jing County is Yangcheng, and there are many high mountains and mountain trails along the way, which is inconvenient for the army. Now that our army is moving south, Xingyang is bound to re-enter the hands of the Xiliang army, and the grain road may be cut off. Therefore, the grain of sour jujube is bound to not be obtained, and it is necessary to detour to Yangwu, Zhongmu, Yuanling, and Xinzheng into Yingchuan, or open up the grain road that guards this road, or get in touch with the Yuan Highway in Nanyang, and eat the grain of Nanyang. ”

Zhang Liao nodded, indeed, the most taboo in the battle of the army is that the grain route is cut off, and the Xiliang army has many cavalry, how can it not know how to intercept the grain tactics, so the army must not take shortcuts for convenience. Ordinary commanders of the army still act with prudence.

However, when He Bai heard this, there was a roar in his mind, and he immediately thought of Sun Jian's defeat at the Xiliang Army because of lack of food. At this time, when he heard that the army was going south to Yingchuan, it was more likely that he would ask Yuan Shu for food, and he immediately knew the reason for Sun Jian's defeat.

Sun Jian should also be unable to attack the water pass in history, and turned to rescue Yingchuan, garrisoning in Liangdong, because of the lack of food and the army was in turmoil, and was defeated by the Xiliang army. Now that the army has also gone to rescue Yingchuan, wouldn't it be to repeat Sun Jian's mistakes.

He Bai anxiously asked, "Where is Liang County?" ”

Huang Zhong was stunned, pointed to the Lun Clan and said, "Liang City is a hundred miles west of the Lun Clan. ”

The county seat of the Central Plains is densely populated, so the distance between each county is not more than 100 miles, and the three counties of Liangcheng, Lunshi and Yangcheng just correspond to the county border of Yique, Dagu and Xuanyuan, and Lunshi County is the most important of them. Huang Zhong's vision is slightly the same as that of Sun Jian, who is a hero.

It's just that Yuan Shu didn't give Sun Jian's army food, would he give food to the army? He Baisi and his relationship with Yuan Shu in Luoyang City in the past, although the two are not very close, they are not bad, Yuan Shu should not be without military rations.

And according to the perception of Yuan Shu in this life, Yuan Shu is definitely not the legendary "dry bones in the grave". He was known for his chivalrous spirit in Luoyang, and he was willing to help others. As long as he believes that it is the right thing, he dares to do it boldly, and he has the courage to make a decision. This is countless times stronger than the indecisive Yuan Shao.

Moreover, he is a good hand in operating a network in Luoyang, with both soft and hard political skills, and can attract many forces and figures for his use. No matter who it is, he has no guilt and accepts it with humility. When he was in Luoyang, he brought a lot of people with him, even if some people were not in harmony with him by nature, he could be tolerant and not embarrassed, so it can be said that he was a corporal.

Yuan Shu opened the door and recruited talents from all over the world, and many people chose to defect to Yuan Shu when they were unsuccessful. I have received a lot of help from him. The reason why I can't get any well-known talents in Luoyang is precisely because of the absorption of Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shao is good at absorbing high-end talents with virtue and ability, and Yuan Shu is good at absorbing all kinds of low-status talents from the three religions and nine streams. From the point of view of absorbing talents, he is countless times more powerful than himself and Cao Cao. It's just that both of them are similar to the temperament of the little whirlwind Chai Jin in "Water Margin", as the children of nobles, they are high and can't understand people's feelings. Although he can win people, he doesn't know how to use people, let alone control people, so he finally perished.

This has always been He Bai's secret warning of himself, so although He Bai was skeptical, he still decided to believe Yuan Shu.