Xiaoqi

"Tattoo!"

The sound of rumbling horses trampling came from far and near, shaking the ground slightly and causing ripples in the puddles on the road.

"Ah! It's over, we can't escape!" The moment they heard such a huge rumble of horse pedals, more than [-] young and strong people were completely desperate, and they stood there motionless.They stopped running and completely gave up the last chance of escape. There were Wuhuan cavalry in front and behind, and they stretched their heads and retracted their heads. It was better to stand here and wait for death than to run away desperately.

Yes, the moment they heard the sound of horses stepping ahead, they knew without even thinking about it that the cavalry that was rushing forward must be Wuhuan or Xianbei, and it was absolutely impossible to be Han cavalry anyway.

For three years, Shanggu County has not heard such a big movement of Han cavalry for three full years.And Guangning City is a border city that was long ago abandoned by the State Shepherd Gong Sun Zan. In the past three years, apart from sending people to collect taxes and food, not a single soldier was sent. Even the city guards were spontaneously formed by the people. up.There were originally a large number of people, more than 500, but they could not withstand the siege and harassment of the Wuhuan people for three days. Every day, the defenders were shot to death. This is a horrible scene today.

"Why are you blocking the way of my army? Get out of the way quickly, and you will die. The Wuhuan bandits are right behind you!"

With a fast horse galloping towards him, tens of thousands of war cavalry followed behind him, and the young men who stood there waiting to die were dumbfounded.All of them looked confused, their eyes were wide open, and they stared straight at the war cavalry in front of them like black clouds overwhelming the city, standing motionless in the middle of the road.It wasn't until the white horse general who was leading the horse uttered a word of reprimand, the young and strong people suddenly came back to their senses. A man in his 30s standing in front of the white horse general lost his voice with a dull expression: "Shenbing from the sky, is this the Han army? White horse cavalry?"

Looking at the dull-looking young peasants in front of him, General Baima frowned slightly, and then he noticed that these people were covered with bloodstains, and he saw a group of Wuhuan cavalry coming on horseback two hundred paces away behind them. He also brandished a bloody short-handled machete in his hand.In an instant, he understood everything, his brows relaxed, and he said in a harmonious voice: "I am Zhao Yun and Zhao Zilong from Changshan, and I am under the general's command, not under Gongsun Zan's. Let's get out of the way and wait for someone to kill these people." The Wuhuan barbarians who have done evil, let me tell you in detail!"

"General?" The middle-aged man looked confused, but he came to his senses and knew that the cavalry in front of him was the Han army.Immediately, he hurriedly told the people behind him to retreat into the puddle by the side of the road, to make way for General Zhao Yun, for the cavalry of the Han cavalry, and let them go over and chop up these Wuhuan beasts alive.

"All the officers and men obey the order, kill them all, leave no one alive! Kill!"

Following Zhao Yun's order, the five hundred soldiers who followed behind him rode their horses to charge, and instantly fought with the Wuhuan cavalry.Maybe it was really red-eyed, the more than [-] Wuhuan cavalry were like the young and strong men of Guangning City. They clearly saw the large cavalry coming from the opposite side wearing Han army armor and holding Han battle flags, but they did not Not believing what he saw in front of him, he rushed to catch up abruptly.

As a result, the soldiers under Zhao Yun's tent charged him with a knife and chopped off his head.Just like they wantonly beheaded and slaughtered the people before, in the face of the five hundred cavalry who were swift like the wind, the Wuhuan cavalry had not yet recovered from their horror, before they were beheaded and fell off their horses to death.

Zhao Yun didn't make a move in person, there were just over [-] stragglers, there was no need for him to go out in person, let alone a large army, the [-] soldiers under his tent were enough to kill them all.Taking advantage of the time when his own soldiers attacked, Zhao Yun calmly asked the middle-aged man about the situation, accompanied by the man crying with tears in his eyes, Zhao Yun was filled with righteous indignation and anger.When he flew into a rage and was about to order his own soldiers to kill these inhuman beasts alive, he found that all the Wuhuan cavalrymen had been killed, not a single one was left alive.

At noon, with the help of 800 soldiers, all the more than [-] civilians killed by the Wuhuan thieves were collected and buried, and all the looted property was returned to the surviving civilians.

Immediately, Zhao Yun's unparalleled cavalry stationed in Guangning City, and sent a large number of scouts to inquire about intelligence in Shanggu County.Zhao Yun is the vanguard general of the Xiliang Army's eastward expedition to Youzhou, and the unparalleled cavalry under his tent are the vanguards of the former army who opened roads and bridges in every mountain.

Chapter 943 Brother Kong Huai, Together

Guangning City, on a mass grave ten miles outside the south gate.

Zhang Liao, who was dressed in military armor, stopped at the foot of the mountain, looking up at the more than 1000 graves in front of him with deep eyes, his expression was extremely painful, and there was a sharp murderous intent in his eyes.

Beside him is a middle-aged general in black armor. He is thin and thin, with a thin face. He lacks the aggressiveness of a general, but adds a bit of a scholar's frail temperament.He is Yan Rou, the leader of the Youzhou rebels who was elected by the various tribes of Wuhuan as the Sima of Wuhuan.

Behind Zhang Liao stood a group of Xiliang generals: the vanguard generals Zhao Yun and Ma Dai, the commanders of the Feiyan Qingqi Battalion Zhang Yan and Xu Huang, Dong Yue, Wang Dang, and Sun Qing.

Three days ago, the Xiliang army entered Guangning City, and the scouts immediately found out where Yan Rou's rebel army was. Zhang Liao, the chief general of the Chinese army, sent an envoy to invite Yan Rou to come to the camp to discuss the joint dispatch of troops.

It's called discussing the joint dispatch of troops, but in fact it is to recruit Yan Rou's rebels.Yan Rou had no objection to joining the Xiliang Army, but he did not agree to send troops to conquer the Tadun tribe entrenched in Shanggu County.On the other hand, Zhang Liao advocated resolutely exterminating them. Even if he backed off a step, he would first exterminate and then appease, behead their leaders, confiscate weapons and horses, and then subdue their subordinates, and then disperse them.

On this issue, the two sides have great differences, and neither can convince the other.When the dispute persisted, the military adviser Guo Jia came forward to mediate and invited Yan Rou to go to the random graveyard in the south of the city.

Today is the first seven memorial days for more than 800 people in the city who died tragically at the sword of the Wuhuan cavalry not long ago. The sky is drizzling and the autumn wind is bleak.Very cold.

At the foot of Lema Mountain, Zhang Liao, Yan Rou and his party of more than [-] people stood quietly at the foot of the mountain and watched the people pay homage to their relatives who died innocently.Hearing the mournful and helpless cries in my ears, my heart was extremely painful, filled with indignation, and my heart was filled with anger.

Until the end of the sacrifice on the mountain, Guo Jiace rode up to Yan Rou's side, whispered the tragic experience of the people in Guangning City six days ago, and then kept silent.Without any persuasion, it is up to Yan Rou to make her own decision.

Just as Yan Rou was frowning angrily and thinking about it, Zhang Liao said in a low tone: "This scene in front of you may not be a big deal in the eyes of General Yan. It's not uncommon, and I'm afraid I'm used to it. There are more than 1000 innocent people in these more than 1000 graves." The people will be buried here forever, maybe they are lucky, at least someone will collect and bury their corpses after death; compared with them, the innocent people who died in the wilderness are even more miserable. There is no place to die, and they are reduced to jackals and wild dogs Over the years, General Yan must have seen this kind of scene countless times, and he has long been numb."

Speaking of this, Zhang Liao turned his head to look at Yan Rou, raised his hand to signal that he didn't need to explain, and continued: "For those of us generals who have been licking blood all the year round, we have long been used to parting between life and death. Killing or being beheaded is the same thing. It was expected. From the time we chose to embark on this path of killing, we should have the awareness to die on the battlefield. We have already put life and death aside. However, Zhang can tell General Yan frankly that since my lord raised his troops, There has never been a massacre of innocent people in our Xiliang territory, and with our hundreds of thousands of Xiliang troops stationed at the frontier, how can we allow the barbarians to run amok at night?"

"This great general is brilliant and powerful, and the Xiliang army is brave and good at fighting. The last general has heard about it for a long time." Yan Rou's cheeks were flushed, her ears were hot, and she nodded in embarrassment.

Zhang Liao nodded slightly, then turned his gaze to Guo Jia who was beside Yan Rou, and said no more.Indeed, this kind of persuading others to change their minds is not his specialty. He is far inferior to the quick-witted and articulate military advisor Guo Jia.So Zhang Liao stopped talking, and directly handed over the matter of persuading Yan Rou to Guo Jia.

Guo Jia nodded in understanding, took over the conversation, and said with a smile: "It is said that Liu Yu, the governor of the state, was kind to General Yan when he was alive. Therefore, the general is determined to avenge the old governor of the state. He has led the old governor of the state to fight against Gongsun Zan for many years. To this day, General Yan took the initiative to submit to my lord, which is a wise move, and the next lord welcomes General Yan to join our army." After speaking, Guo Jia bowed his hands and was very close.

Yan Rou hurriedly raised her hands to return the salute, and said in a respectful voice: "The military advisor is over-reputed. Thanks to the military advisor and General Wen Yuan's perseverance, the last general was able to serve under the general's command this time. It is the honor of the last general. I will invite the military advisor in the future." Give support to all the generals. The last general will thank the military advisor first." After coming to the Xiliang army camp for nearly two days, Yan Rou discovered that the military advisor Guo Jia had an extraordinary status in the army, and his prestige was faintly higher than that of the chief general Zhang Liao .So he didn't dare to neglect Guo Jia, he was very respectful and careful.

Guo Jia shook his head with a smile, and said: "General Yan is too flattering to Guo. My lord has always been just and strict. He treats all subordinates and soldiers equally, rewards and punishments are clear, and the army is strict. A general's talent must be reused and made new achievements. At that time, it was the day to worship the general and make him a marquis, and Guo was convinced of this."

After a pause, seeing Yan Rou cupping his hands to express his thanks, Guo Jia nodded his head in return, then changed the subject and said with a smile: "In the past, Mr. Liu Yu tried his best to promote the strategy of tolerance, benevolence and gentleness, and advocated appeasement of the barbarians outside the Great Wall, and not to use weapons. It is indeed right to govern in this way. After all, the world was not in chaos at that time, and many barbarians were in awe of my great man, and it was impossible to appease me. However, at this time and at that time, the world is in chaos, the Han court is collapsed, and the princes from all walks of life are independent and independent, and they are no longer able to suppress There are many barbarians. In this chaotic world, it is definitely not the best policy to use softness and appeasement.

Let's not talk about the graves of these unjust deaths in front of us, just say that the barbarian tribes have repeatedly plundered the border counties, wantonly plundered, murdered and set fire.Faced with this situation, it would be too pedantic for us to extend favors and indulge our tenderness.Right now, these barbarian tribes are like a pack of hungry wolves. No matter how many favors he gives them, he doesn't want too much. On the contrary, his appetite is getting bigger and bigger, and he is making progress. In fact, they are just a pack of wolves with unfamiliar eyes.The situation is so bad, and they are not wiped out, but appeased. This move is undoubtedly to support the bandits, and they will suffer from them sooner or later.I wonder if General Yan thinks so? "

"This..." Yan Rou was speechless and wanted to argue a few words, but felt that her defense was too pale and her thoughts were too simple.To this day, with Gongsun Zan facing enemies and losing his ambition, the Wuhuan and Xianbei tribes are indeed becoming more unscrupulous and doing whatever they want.Is everything just as Guo Jia said? To appease them at this time is undoubtedly raising tigers to cause trouble and causing endless disasters, and it is completely useless.

But Yan Rou had her own problems. After Liu Yu was killed, he was hunted down by Gongsun Zan, but was rescued by Wu Yan, the leader of the Wuhuan tribe. The old Ministry, thus forming the current army of more than [-] people.Right now he still has a lot of Wuhuan soldiers under his tent, and the war horses in the army are also sponsored by the Wuhuan tribe, and they are very close to each tribe of Wuhuan.At this time, it was really embarrassing for him to turn around and fight the Wuhuan people.The Han people have always put faith first, and he, Yan Rou, is by no means a person who will avenge his kindness, otherwise he would not insist on avenging Liu Yu.

However, what Guo Jia said is reasonable. Whether it is Wuhuan or Xianbei, these barbarian tribes have great ambitions and have the habits of wolves in their bones.They are born to only recognize the strong, have no mercy for the weak, do not know what is contentment, and do not know what kindness is.It was their nature to bully the weak, and killing and looting was their way of life. The reason why these tribes supported him in forming an army was simply to use his hand to defeat Gongsun Zan, who had always been tough.

Yan Rou understood all these principles, but he just couldn't cross the threshold of knowing how to repay his kindness.After all, the Wuhuan people saved him and gave him a lot of help, otherwise he would definitely not live today.

Seeing Yan Rou's distressed face, which seemed to be struggling violently and hesitating in his heart, Guo Jia smiled and said: "It seems that General Yan has something to hide, and he has deep entanglements with Wuhuan's various ministries, so he doesn't want to be an enemy. , Mr. Guo can promise you that you don’t need to participate in the battle against Wuhuan this time, and you don’t have to participate in the battle with more than [-] soldiers and horses. However, you must truthfully report what you know about the garrisons and military strength of the various tribes in Wuhuan , you must not hide anything. If you can do this, after the main force of Wuhuan is wiped out, you will still have a share of credit, and the lord will reward you for your merits and will never treat you badly. I wonder what General Yan wants?"

Yan Rou hesitated for a while, finally nodded lightly, and said in a low voice, "Forget it! Although Yan has received some favors from the leaders of the Wuhuan tribe, in the final analysis, they still use each other and each has their own plans. People who are not my tribe must have different hearts. Now These barbarians are becoming more and more rampant, burning, killing and looting are all evil, if we don't use the thunderbolt method, I'm afraid that the whole Youzhou will fall into the hands of the barbarians."

After making up her mind, Yan Rou said frankly: "There are thousands of Wuhuan soldiers in the last general's account. If you go out to fight against the Wuhuan tribe, you may be in danger, so you must be careful to prevent them from turning against you. How to arrange it depends entirely on the military division. , the end will be at your disposal!"

After Guo Jia heard the words, he smiled brightly and said, "General Yan understands righteousness deeply, and I admire it very much. Now that everything has been discussed, the general will follow me to see the lord. Hehehe"

Yan Rou was startled when she heard the sound, and said in a daze, "My lord? General? Is the general also in the army?"

"Of course." Guo Jia nodded in response, turned his head to look at the south gate tower behind him, pointed to the tall figure faintly visible on the tower, and said with a smile: "That is the lord. In fact, General Yan saw him when he entered the camp on the first day. At that time, he was sitting in the hall drinking with the generals, but the general had never seen the lord before, so he could not see the identity of the lord. Now the general has joined our army and served under the lord's command, so naturally he has to go to see the lord That's right. Does the general think so?"

"Good!" Yan Rou happily responded, and impatiently reined in her horse and turned around, then rode back to the city with Zhang Liao, Guo Jia, Zhao Yun and other generals.

Chapter 944

The cold wind is bitter, and the whizzing wind blade is wrapped with flake-like snowflakes. The first snow in the second year of Jian'an came quietly.

Snow flutters in the morning, dances all over the sky at noon, and heavy snow falls in the afternoon.

The biting cold wind danced with the snowflakes, sweeping across the land of the Northland, covering the fields and mountains with holy velvet flowers, and covering the whole Youzhou in the cold wind of ice and snow.

After one night, the road was blocked by heavy snow, and everything was silent.Shanggu County, which had been sharpening its knives, died down, everything was covered under ice and snow, and everything was terminated by this sudden heavy snow.Shanggu County and even the whole of Youzhou were immersed in a short but peaceful peace. The lights of swords and swords disappeared, the gold and iron horses disappeared, and the raging war stopped.Everything is brewing under the snowflakes, everything is waiting to explode, and everything is moving forward in an orderly and steady manner silently.

The snowflakes are falling, washing the dust in the world, and slowly piling up into a thick snow-white carpet, recording the footprints in the tranquility, and silently telling the story of winter: it was a winter of heavy snow, and the snowflakes were floating and floating. , flutter

When the sky in Youzhou was covered with goose feathers and heavy snow, the sky in Huainan was covered with cloudy clouds, the beacon smoke was still there, the war was raging, and the tempering of blood and fire was still being staged.

After Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor in Shouchun, he was despised by the princes of the Tianzi towns and became the target of public criticism. Liu Biao of Jingzhou took the lead in attacking, and then Sun Ce of Jiangdong broke away from Yuan Shu and became independent. He sent troops to attack Lujiang and formally joined the alliance against Yuan Shu.

When the war fell into a stalemate, Jiangdong Sun Ce had already left the Lujiang camp.Quietly return to Jiangdong.The unsatisfactory battle in Huainan made Sun Ce realize that the crusade against Yuan Shu would not happen overnight, and Liu Biao in Jingzhou seemed eager to destroy Yuan Shu.Instead, they planned to plot Yuzhou under Yuan Shu's rule, and waited for an opportunity to expand its territory and strengthen its strength.In view of this, Sun Ce is not a mediocre person. Although he is very envious of the two counties of Jiujiang and Lujiang under Yuan Shu's rule, he knows that his foundation is in Jiangdong, and the rear has not yet been settled.He was unable to conspire against Huainan County.But Jingzhou Liu Biao's attempt to plot Yuzhou just reminded him, letting him know that the internal affairs must be settled first, and the urgent task is to quickly calm down Jiangdong.

So Sun Ce left some soldiers and horses to continue the feint attack on Lujiang.And he returned to Jiangdong with the other part to attack Danyang County, trying to take all the four Jiangdong counties into his pocket.In late autumn, Sun Ce suddenly led his troops back to Jiangdong.Raid Danyang County during the starry night.He expelled Yuan Yin, the prefect of Danyang appointed by Yuan Shu, and completely occupied the whole county of Danyang.Then he made persistent efforts to wipe out Yuan Shu's remnants in Jiangdong's counties and counties, and took about [-]% of Jiangdong's counties and counties under his command.

In the middle of winter, Sun Ce sent a secret envoy to Guangling, conspired secretly with Guangling prefect Wu Jing (his uncle), and joined forces with Guangling prefect Sun Ben (cousin) to betray Yuan Shu.After receiving the secret letter, the two immediately took Guangling soldiers and horses and money to defect to Sun Ce, which greatly increased Sun Ce's strength.It really has the strength to dominate Jiangdong.

Under the ebb and flow, Yuan Shu in Huainan lost large tracts of land such as Danyang and Guangling in just a few months.Coupled with Jiangdong Sun Ce's betrayal, it was like stabbing him in the back, causing Yuan Shu's strength to plummet, and his power was frustrated.At the same time, as Liu Biao increased his army by tens of thousands again, the pressure on Yuan Shu doubled, and the situation was not optimistic.But how did he know that Liu Biao mobilized heavy troops to besiege Jiujiang, but in fact he was besieging a point to help, threatening Shouchun openly, but actually waiting for an opportunity to annex Yuzhou, encroaching on Yuan Shu's territory step by step, and forcing him to hide in Jiujiang County, but he didn't know that his territory was being destroyed. Rapidly shrinking, the living space has become smaller and smaller.

When the reality of the battle in Huainan was unclear, the battle for Qingzhou, thousands of miles away, was in a fierce stage. Cao Cao's army and Jizhou army fought fiercely under the city of Linzi.After several months of fighting, Cao Cao took the lead and occupied most of the counties and counties in Qingzhou, while Yuan Tan only had Pingyuan County, Qi State, and some cities in Jinan State, and the remaining counties and counties fell into Cao Cao's hands.

Not only that, Cao Cao's army currently has an absolute advantage.Since the war, Cao Cao has successively mobilized 11 troops to participate in the battle, which is almost all the troops he can mobilize, leaving only [-] troops to stay in the counties of Yanzhou.It can be said that Cao Cao's expedition to Qingzhou was almost desperate, and he completely left his rear to the Xiliang army. Once the Xiliang army suddenly attacked, he could take Yanzhou almost effortlessly.