Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1261 Encounter
Early that morning, Zhao Yun, as the vanguard, arrived first with his troops. After meeting Gao Shun in Bei, he said that Zhuge Liang's central army would arrive after noon.

The two asked why Zhuge Liang came so quickly. After Zhao Yun explained, the two realized that Zhuge Liang rode lightly because he wanted to take advantage of the Xianbei's unstable foothold and catch them off guard.

Zhao Yun finally said, "The military advisor said that the Xianbei have been running around for a month and are extremely tired. Their fighting power is less than half of what it was before. So their goal in the next few days must be to eat well and rest, and recover their fighting status as soon as possible."

"The military advisor will not give them this opportunity, so the whole army is marching in a hurry. Please organize the troops immediately. Once the military advisor's central army arrives, we will immediately join forces and march out to directly raid the Xianbei and Wuhuan coalition forces in the Bailang Mountain and Liucheng area!"

Gao Shun and Qubei immediately took orders and went out to organize their troops. At the same time, they began to grumble in their hearts: it was true that the Xianbei had not had time to rest, but didn't Zhuge Liang lead his troops all the way from Yijing to chase them? It was true that the Xianbei were tired, but wasn't the Jin army the same?
Soon their questions were answered. When they saw the mules and horses all over the mountains when Zhuge Liang arrived, they realized that Zhuge Liang had requisitioned all the livestock in Jicheng to travel. They could not help but sigh at his courage. You must know that this battle would leave no way out. If there was a mistake, the Xianbei would have enough strength to counterattack and Youzhou would fall into chaos again.

Zhuge Liang summoned several generals and said in a deep voice: "This time, the lord has ordered that as far as possible, no one and no horse should be spared, and all the hidden dangers of the Xianbei should be eradicated."

"In order to achieve this goal, although it is difficult to use troops in winter, once the enemy is defeated, they will have no way to escape and can only die in the ice and snow. It can be said that now is the most difficult time, but also the best opportunity."

"I hope you will all work together to defeat the barbarians and achieve unparalleled achievements!"

Everyone shouted in response. Zhuge Liang waved his hand and said, "Generals Zhao and Liu (Qubei) will lead the left and right front troops, General Zhang will lead the center front troops, General Gao will lead the center troops, and General Qian Zhao will lead the rear troops. Set out immediately!"

The generals accepted the order, but at the same time they were confused. Qian Zhao was recruited by Yuan Xi the year before last, and had been in charge of border guards ever since. Although he had fought against foreign enemies several times, he had no experience in major battles. However, this time he was in charge of the rear army and was on par with other generals. It seemed that Yuan Xi was training him intentionally.

Including the thousands of people that Gao Shun had brought with him before, Zhuge Liang brought 20,000 people. Nearly 30,000 people, under his command, braved the ice and snow and rushed rapidly towards Liucheng.

At the same time, in Liucheng, Tadun was tied up and thrown into a prison cell. He shouted angrily, "Where is Lou Ban?"

"I want to see Louban!"

He was guarded by two warriors of high status in the tribe. They advised him, "Your Majesty, the Han Chinese have a saying that a man who knows the current situation is a hero. Now that Your Majesty is in prison, do you still want to struggle fearlessly?"

"Soon, the Chanyu will join forces with the Xianbei to defeat the fierce tiger, occupy Youzhou, and establish the Wuhuan nation. When the time comes, a general amnesty will be granted to the tribe, and the king will naturally be released."

Tadun shouted, "You are confused. How can the King of Jin be defeated so easily?"

"He can easily defeat the Xianbei. Do you think the Wuhuan can really defeat him?"

"Why not?" A voice sounded, "I think Lord Tatun has lost his edge since he gave up the position of Chanyu, and he no longer has the ambition to plan for the future of our Wuhuan."

Tadun looked carefully and saw that it was Lou Ban's close minister Dizhi, so he shouted angrily: "Dizhi, you actually set up a banquet, drugged my wine, got me drunk and imprisoned me!"

"You are so brave!"

Di Zhi said quietly: "I am also following the order of Lord Shanyu."

"Lord Shanyu knows that the king has a close relationship with the Yuan family and is afraid that the king will do something bad, so he can only strike first."

"Once the overall situation is settled, the king will naturally understand the Chanyu's painstaking efforts."

After hearing this, Tadun sneered and said, "Is the situation already decided?"

"Do you think that with these 20,000 Wuhuan cavalrymen, we can really defeat the Jin army?"

Di Zhiyou said leisurely: "It's not 20,000, it's 100,000."

"We Wuhuan have 300,000 to 400,000 people in the four counties. With so many people, are we going to be slaves for the Han people for the rest of our lives?"

"Your Majesty, you have become related to the Yuan family, so you don't have to worry about your future, but what about the hundreds of thousands of Wuhuan people?"

Tadun sneered, "What tribe? Don't Louban and you also treat them as slaves?"

"The King of Jin is liberating the people of Youzhou and treating them the same as the Han people. How can this be called oppression?"

"Instead, you have always wanted to be slave owners and want your people to be your slaves for generations. Isn't this the reason why you rebelled?"

After hearing this, Dizhi sighed and said, "Your Majesty has been deceived by the King of Jin. The former Chanyu Tatun actually spoke for the Han people. This really makes me sad."

"The structure of our tribe has been inherited from our ancestors and has not changed for thousands of years. Now the king wants to attach himself to the State of Jin and turn our Wuhuan subjects into citizens of the State of Jin. This is really against the laws of our ancestors. This will lead to the extermination of the Wuhuan clan."

"Bullshit!" Tadun couldn't help but yell, "Why don't you open your eyes and see that for thousands of years, we have been herding sheep on the grasslands, while the Han people have done so much?"

"They farm and weave in the Central Plains, dig mountains and build rivers, while our people can only huddle in underground caves in the winter and burn sheep dung to survive!"

"Do you want to live like this forever?"

Di Zhi said calmly: "Of course not. The nobles in the Central Plains live much better than us. Lord Shanyu naturally knows that."

"So we must first occupy Youzhou, then attack the Central Plains, all the way south, kill their men, rob their women, and occupy their fields, houses, and ancestral lands."

"But all this is under the leadership of the Chanyu, not the short-sighted man like you who betrayed the tribe." "Just watch how the Chanyu joins forces with the Xianbei to conquer the Han people's land!"

Tadun struggled to stand up. He grasped the wooden bars of the cage with both hands and shouted, "You are crazy, you are all crazy. The King of Jin has even defeated Cao Cao. If you become his enemy, you will only end up dead!"

Seeing this, Di Zhi couldn't help but shake his head and said, "Your Majesty, you have completely become a dog of the Han people. You have lost the wildness of us Wuhuan. You'd better stay here honestly."

"By the way, your Majesty, you have no way out. Your wife, Yuan, has been executed by the Chanyu."

"So you are also an enemy of Jin at the moment. When you figure it out and stand with Lord Chanyu to kill the Han people, you will become our former Lord Tadun again."

After hearing this, Tadun roared, "Fuck your mother!"

"If you kill my wife, I will never be done with you!"

"Where's Lou Ban? I want to see him. I want to duel with him!"

"Let me out!"

Dizhi shook his head and turned away, "Your Majesty, if you refuse to change your ways, you will have to stay here for the rest of your life."

He walked out of the prison and heard Tadun's unwilling roar behind him. A mocking look appeared on his face. How could the Wuhuan tribe listen to the orders of the Han people? Only by being self-reliant and strong can the Wuhuan tribe truly succeed. The future of the Wuhuan tribe depends only on the Wuhuan themselves!

He went all the way to the king's tent and met with Chanyu Louban. He told him about Tatun. Louban was discussing with Juluo Hou and said, "Since he is stubborn, we should just ignore him."

"I just received news that thousands of Jin troops are stationed at Xuwu Pass, and reinforcements will arrive in a few days."

"I have discussed with King Zhuluo Hou and decided to strike first and take advantage of the fact that the Jin army has not yet been reinforced. We will take the initiative to destroy these Jin troops and then occupy Xuwu Mountain to resist the Jin army."

"Now we control the river mouth northwest of Xuwu Mountain. If we occupy Xuwu Mountain again, the Jin army will not be able to threaten Liucheng."

"I have decided to lead the army myself, and together with King Juluohou, we will fight back against the Jin army and defeat them completely!"

When he arrived, he saw that Lou Ban had made up his mind and knew it was difficult to persuade him, so he could only say: "The Jin army has many tricks. I hope the king will take care of himself and avoid being taken advantage of by the Jin army."

Lou Ban smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. We will first go to Bailang Mountain, a hundred miles north of Xuwu Pass, set up an ambush there, and then lure the Jin army over, annihilate them in one fell swoop, and then counterattack Youzhou!"

Juluo Hou said: "Sir, you are very brave and courageous. I will definitely help you defeat the Jin army!"

Lou Banqian said: "Your Majesty has more troops than the Wuhuan, so you should be in the center. I will support you from the side."

Zhu Luohou thought that Lou Ban was really cunning. He was obviously afraid of having too many troops and didn't want to fight in the front line, so he made excuses.

Under normal circumstances, Juluohou would not have taken the 20,000 Wuhuan cavalry seriously. But now, Juluohou had suffered a series of defeats, his soldiers were exhausted, and only 30,000 or 40,000 of the 100,000-strong army were left. Naturally, he would not argue with Lou Ban at this time, and said straightforwardly: "Then I will lead the way for the Chanyu and go to Bailang Mountain to set up the battle array first!"

Lou Ban was overjoyed when he heard this, and he also stood up and said, "Okay, I will lead the troops 20 miles behind the king to provide support!"

In a short period of time, fifty or sixty thousand people rushed out of Liucheng and headed towards Bailang Mountain a hundred miles away.

They had good thoughts, but two days later, when they arrived at the foot of White Wolf Mountain, they were stunned.

On Bailang Mountain, flags of the Jin Army were planted all over the mountain, and the infantry were setting up camps, turning Bailang Mountain into a huge camp. This side of Bailang Mountain was not high, with an altitude of only a few hundred meters, but the halfway point of the mountain was occupied by the Jin Army, which was spying on the passage below.

At the entrance of Bailang Valley, thousands of soldiers were lined up, blocking the road leading to Xuwu Mountain.

Seeing this, Suo Nu, who was following Zhu Luohou, said hurriedly, "The Jin army actually dared to leave Xuwu Pass and occupy Bailang Mountain in advance. If we want to bypass it, we will definitely be attacked by the Jin army on the mountain!"

Zhu Luohou's face looked extremely unhappy. He thought for a moment and said, "These should be the Jin troops at Xuwu Pass. I don't know what news they got, so they stopped them on the road in advance."

"But it seems that there are only a thousand people on the mountain. With only thirty or forty thousand of us, we can't take down White Wolf Mountain?"

"Send 10,000 soldiers to attack the mountain first and see if they can hold out!"

After hearing this, Suonu immediately selected 10,000 men, and the Xianbei cavalry rode to the foot of the mountain. They then realized that the horses could not move forward, so they had to abandon their horses and climb the mountain on foot.

These Xianbei soldiers had experienced many battles before and were already exhausted. They had finally rested in Liucheng for two days and had not yet fully recovered. Now they were ordered to climb the mountain, so they had no choice but to hold their bows and arrows and look for a place to rest as they climbed, full of complaints.

The ground was icy and slippery in winter, and the Xianbei soldiers fell one after another. Amid complaints, they rolled and crawled, gradually approaching the Jin army camp halfway up the mountain.

What greeted them was the fully armed trap camp.

(End of this chapter)