Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The sun shines through the gaps in the clouds, and there is a cool breeze.

Shi Wengong and Cao Hong's troops boarded the ships in the afternoon. The battle of Yinzhou was over, but there was no news from the other two western states. According to the plan, the cavalry began to reinforce Shuangzhou westward after resting, while Hua Rong, Wei Dingguo, Sun An and Shan Tinggui went north to take Xianzhou. The main force of the Jin army suffered serious losses, and they were not to be feared with the remaining troops in Xianzhou.

On the road east of Yanjin City, the army was slowly entering the fort. Liaodong was a vast area with few people, and from the beginning there was no plan to abandon these forts after the war. With the garrison there, some people would be willing to live here in the future. More people followed Lu Bu's central army into Yanjin.

The warhorse galloped into the state government office, and Lü Bu jumped off the horse. A personal soldier came over and hurriedly took Red Hare to the stable to rest: "I really want to fly to Liaoyang Prefecture right now, but unfortunately..."

Lu Bu walked into the lobby and stretched out his arms.

"The general is responsible for Liaodong, so he can't do everything as he pleases." Yu Cheng led his men to help him take off his armor: "In fact, I think that instead of the general returning to Liaoyang Prefecture..."

After taking off his heavy armor and handing it to a personal soldier, the young guard continued, "Why not let Brother Deng Fei come north as well? After all, the war is not over yet..." He thought of something and smiled, "The general is not the kind of person who will not fight back after being beaten. You must continue to go north."

"You know me well. Let him come here..." Lu Bu smiled, pondered for a moment, and said with some interest: "Okay, send a message to Liaoyang Prefecture and ask Li Zhu and Fang Xuedu to escort him here. All matters concerning Liaoyang Prefecture will be temporarily handed over to Wang Zheng."

"Yes, I'll do it right away." Yu Cheng responded happily, and then hurried out to pass on the order and have someone write an official document.

As he was talking, officials kept coming in quickly from outside, placing books of documents concerning military and political affairs on the table. Lu Bu took a look at them with a headache, and his joy at the success of the war disappeared in an instant.

Some people sat down resignedly. The casualties from last night to this morning had been roughly counted. Nearly three hundred infantrymen were killed, and another five hundred were seriously injured. More than two thousand cavalrymen were reduced by one tenth. This amount of casualties could be considered a great victory. The next step was to provide pensions and replenish troops.

There were also post-war promotions, documents for the allocation of grain and fodder for the northern attack on the Jin Kingdom, the selection of garrisons for the cities and forts in Yinzhou, the selection of officials, the detention of prisoners, and so on, all of which came flooding in during the day.

No matter if someone hasn't rested yet...

Forget it, now only I can deal with these, it is better to lead the troops to the west to assist Xiao Haili, Xi Sheng and others.

With these thoughts running through his mind, Lu Bu resigned himself to writing down his opinions with a pen. He began to think that Yu Cheng's suggestion was very good. Once Li Zhu and Fang Xue got through it, his life would be easier in the future.

The noise in the room died down, leaving only the sounds of documents being read and corrected.

The situation became clearer like the weather, and battle reports from the front line were sent in one after another through the exchanges of the cavalry.

On the day of Jichou in midsummer, Lu Bu's troops in Liaozhou and Yinzhou began to squeeze towards the two states in the middle from the east and west. Wanyan Min, who was leading his troops to attack the city, was greatly surprised when he received the news from the scouts. He quickly called back the troops fighting on the front line and urgently retreated thirty miles to set up camp.

On Gengyin, the victory of Yinzhou was fermenting. Wanyan Min, who was focusing on gathering military information, learned that Aguda had died in battle and his brother Wanyan Gao had been defeated. He did not dare to stay in the central part of Liaodong and retreated. Xiao Haili, Bian Xiang, and Han Qinghe, who had learned the situation, hurriedly led the army north to try to delay Wanyan Min's march. The two sides fought several battles fifty miles away. The Jin army did not dare to entangle and broke away. Wanyan Xigunai was the rear guard and died in battle. On the same evening, the cavalry of Liaozhou and Yinzhou met in Shuangzhou and immediately went north to pursue without rest. They marched eighty miles and caught up with Xiao Haili's troops who were resting.

On the last day of midsummer, Wanyan Min returned to Qingyun with the remaining 13,000 soldiers and horses. In less than two hours, Xiao Haili, Bian Xiang, Han Qinghe, Du Fu, Shi Wengong, Yuan Lang and others led 9,000 soldiers to besiege the periphery. On the one hand, they sent fast horses to notify Xi Sheng to escort food and grass to Qizhou for support, and on the other hand, they sent cavalry to inform Lu Bu, who was still in Yinzhou, of the military situation.

On the same day, Hua Rong and others led 5,000 soldiers and horses to besiege Dongping, Sizhou. Shangguan Yi was the vanguard and climbed the city wall and took it down with one blow.

……

On the first day of early autumn, the sunlight was noticeably hotter than usual, and the occasional wind seemed much weaker.

On both sides of the Liaohe River, a large number of people began to migrate. Some were trying to escape the war, while others, seeing that the war was about to end, went south to live with their relatives and prepare for the future. However, everyone was avoiding the several military states where the war was headed.

As one of the commanders of the southern expedition, Wanyan Sheng inevitably stopped in Qingyun County. More than half of the enemy troops outside were cavalry. If they had just started to march south, he would still have the confidence to lead his troops out of the city to fight them. But now the army in the city was unstable and morale was low. If they went out now, they would most likely be defeated. However, staying here...

"Anban Bojilie." Wanyan Yinshuke's voice sounded outside the house, and a figure with gold earrings walked in from the door: "The guards on the city wall found that the enemy was cutting down trees in the forest on the west side and transporting them to the rear camp."

"Hmm? Let's go to the city wall and take a look."

Wanyan Sheng stood up with a rather grim look on his face, and pulled Wanyan Yinshuke outside.

The people in the city had been called up to help defend the city. Most of the people walking on the streets were Jin soldiers, but they had lost their former vigor and looked quite listless.

Wanyan Sheng seemed indifferent. He mounted his horse with his personal guards and quickly ran to the city wall. When he looked into the distance, he saw teams of a hundred cavalrymen patrolling in the distance from time to time. They were the troops sent by Xiao Haili outside Dongping City.

His pupils contracted, and Wanyan Aguda's fourth brother took two steps forward, looking at the figure transporting wood in the distance with a normal expression.

"The Southern Army seems to want to attack the city." Wanyan Yinshuke walked behind him and said.

"We will definitely attack the city." Wanyan Sheng didn't look back. He leaned his hands on the parapet and looked down at the city. "The wall of Qingyun is not very high. Even if the enemy doesn't have siege equipment, they can still pose a threat to us with just wooden ladders."

He stood up and looked at the panicked soldiers in the distance, frowned, then turned to look at Wanyan Yinshuke and lowered his voice a little: "If we don't find a way to break out, you and I may die here. Now the people in the city are in a panic, and the morale of the army is low. We can't resist the offensive of the Southern Army."

Wanyan Yinshu's eyes flickered, he clenched his fists, and looked into the eyes of the person opposite him: "I've heard of Ban Bojilie." (End of this chapter)