Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 244 Ma Chao: An emperor whose army is inferior to mine, huh!
Midnight.

The north gate of Jinyang City slowly opened, and the three thousand Jinyang defenders left the city quietly without even raising torches. They hurriedly evacuated under the cover of darkness under the dim moonlight.

On the city wall.

Guo Yuan was watching the military camp where Han Sui and Ma Chao's troops were stationed in the distance. He was relieved until the other side's camp showed no sign of moving after the troops withdrew completely.

"It seems that their vigilance is not that high. We can withdraw 3,000 people today and more tomorrow. After repeating this several times, all the defenders in the city can be evacuated."

Guo Yuan thought secretly in his heart, feeling a little relieved.

His choice to defend Jinyang City for so many days and not to confront Ma Chao and Han Sui head-on was the right one.

The other party really relaxed his vigilance against him.

However, just as Guo Yuan had this lucky thought, he suddenly heard shouts and the sound of galloping horses coming from the north!
Upon hearing the sound, Guo Yuan hurriedly climbed up the city gate tower, looked toward the north outside the city, and was immediately shocked!
In the dark sky, arrows burning with fire fell from the sky like a rain of fire, falling into the army and causing countless casualties!

In addition, outside the hills on both sides of the retreating army, a large number of cavalry suddenly emerged and rushed towards the troops!

As they were retreating in a hurry and were attacked by a rain of arrows at night, these 3,000 soldiers were killed by numerous cavalrymen before they could even organize into a formation!

"What's going on! Where did the enemy come from?!"

Guo Yuan was filled with anger when he saw this. He grabbed the deputy general by the collar and roared, "Didn't you send out scouts to investigate before withdrawing the troops? How could there be an ambush?"

The deputy general said palely: "General, I sent scouts to investigate the situation, but, but I really didn't find anything unusual."

"I don't know when they ambushed there..."

Guo Yuan's face turned pale, but he also knew that now was not the time to pursue responsibility, so he immediately ordered: "Beat the drums! Tell them to retreat immediately!"

There would be no chance of winning if they were ambushed by cavalry on the plain. Only by retreating back to the range of Jinyang City's arrows would the soldiers have a chance of survival.

Although I know that there will be heavy casualties, I don't care about it now. I will withdraw as many as I can!

Soon, drum sounds were heard from the Jinyang city walls.

Hearing the sound, the soldiers retreated.

But how can a man run faster than a horse?
After such a retreat, they had no time to form a military formation and their army was even more disorganized. They were slaughtered at will by the Liangzhou cavalry that came from behind and had no power to fight back at all.

In the end, all three thousand soldiers were lost outside the city of Jinyang, either killed or captured, and no one was able to successfully escape.

The ground was covered with blood and corpses.

At the same time, a large number of Liangzhou cavalrymen holding torches arrived outside Jinyang City.

Leading the way was a young general with a heroic face, a muscular body and a strong waist, who looked very powerful and majestic - it was Ma Chao!
He held a blood-stained spear in one hand and made a provocative gesture of wiping his neck towards the city gate tower with the other hand. Then he laughed and led thousands of cavalry back to the barracks.

“Ma Chao!!”

Guo Yuan was so angry when he saw this scene!
I can’t wait to lead my troops out of the city!
But reason forced him to suppress this impulse.

At the same time, he also realized one thing deeply.

Ma Chao and Han Sui did not relax their vigilance against him at all, so he had no chance to retreat!
Thinking of this, Guo Yuan couldn't help but sigh, looking in the direction of Youzhou, and muttered to himself: "My lord, for now, I can only defend the city and cannot go to help you."

……

Liangzhou Army, central military camp.

After the victory, Ma Chao led his army back to the camp, his face full of joy and happiness. He ordered people to bring wine and celebrated with his subordinates.

"Guo Yuan has been hiding in Jinyang City. It will be a relief to destroy his 3,000-strong army in a battle tonight!"

Ma Chao held the wine jar and smiled at the generals.

The emperor repeatedly ordered him to keep a close eye on Guo Yuan and not let him leave Bingzhou, so he did not dare to relax for a moment and deployed many spies outside Jinyang City.

He heard that scouts came out of Jinyang City and were spying on the situation outside the north side of the city. He guessed that Guo Yuan was going to make a move, so he and Pang De each led 2,000 soldiers to ambush outside the city. Sure enough, he waited until Guo Yuan withdrew his troops!
Tonight's battle can be said to be the biggest victory since the two sides fought, and our side suffered basically no losses.

Pang De said: "General, Guo Yuan was so anxious to withdraw his troops. It must be that the situation in Jizhou was becoming increasingly unfavorable to Yuan Shao, so he had to take the risk to rush to help."

"The most important thing for us right now is..."

Before Pang De finished speaking, a soldier hurried into the tent and reported to Ma Chao: "General, an urgent imperial edict has arrived from Yecheng, 500 miles away!"

When the generals heard the words "five hundred miles in a hurry", they were all shocked. Even Ma Chao put down the wine bottle in his hand and said, "Hurry and bring the people here!"

The soldiers turned and retreated.

A moment later, a postman with two yellow flags with flying dragons on his back walked into the tent. When he saw Ma Chao, he unfolded the imperial edict and read it out: "I order the censor: Yuan Shikai is disloyal. I want to first conquer Jizhou and then send a large army to attack him."

"However, the battle situation is difficult and dangerous. In order to prevent Guo Yuan from leading his troops to help, Ma Chao is ordered to continue to delay Guo Yuan's army! If he is allowed to leave Bingzhou, he will be punished for dereliction of duty!"

The wording of this imperial edict was harsh.

The words between the lines reveal a meaning - no matter what, Guo Yuan's army must be trapped in Bingzhou, at all costs!
After the imperial edict was read, the postman fell unconscious.

The 500-mile express route is slightly better than the 800-mile express route, as it won’t kill you, but it is still a huge strain on the body.

After the postman was taken away to rest, the generals in the account began to discuss the situation, and many of them showed dissatisfaction on their faces.

"We have not slackened in our attack on Bingzhou, but Your Majesty has sent us orders again and again. Does this mean that he doubts our ability or does he not trust us?"

"That's right. We just killed 700 of Guo Yuan's men and captured more than 2,000 soldiers."

"It seems that in His Majesty's eyes, we are still rebels after all. He has been on guard all the time, fearing that we will not work hard enough."

"If I had known this would happen, I would have been more comfortable in Liangzhou."

……

Many generals expressed their dissatisfaction.

Obviously, he had great objections to this imperial edict.

Even Ma Chao didn't say anything. He looked at the imperial edict on the table with a gloomy expression.

After hearing the contents of the imperial edict, not only the generals, but even he himself felt depressed.

From the very beginning, he was uncomfortable with his father Ma Teng and several brothers being sent to Yecheng as hostages.

Their Ma family dominated the Liangzhou and Guanzhong areas, had a strong military force, and were an extremely powerful vassal state in the world. Even Yuan Shao at his peak had to respect them.

If there had not been Han Sui, they could have fought for supremacy over the world. Why should they have to endure the bullying of a weak emperor?

What’s more, we don’t know whether this emperor is real or fake, let alone whether he is Lu Bu’s puppet!
At the moment, the imperial edict has a more direct commanding attitude. To put it nicely, it is an order, but to put it bluntly, it is like treating him like a dog!
"He is just a prince whose territory is not as big as mine, and whose troops are not as numerous as mine... Humph!"

Ma Chao snorted in his heart and drank the wine in the glass.

After hearing the complaints from his generals, Pang De shouted, "Shut up! Do you think you can comment on the emperor's decree?" He then bowed to Ma Chao and said, "General, this decree is so severe. It shows that the emperor is going to make a big move next. It's right to be cautious."

Ma Chao glanced at him and said calmly, "I, the general, will obey your orders and delay Guo Yuan. There is no need for you to remind me."

"My father and two younger brothers are in Yecheng. Can I just ignore them?"

"Okay, everyone, please step aside."

After saying this, Ma Chao waved his hand and told everyone to go back and rest, ending the celebratory banquet.

……

While the battle in Bingzhou was tense, the situation in Youzhou also changed. Although Zhang Yan led the Black Mountain Army to desperately stop Yuan Shao's army from withdrawing, he was ultimately unable to stop it.

One reason is that the elite troops of the Black Mountain Army had suffered heavy losses in the previous war. The members with some combat effectiveness had suffered heavy casualties. Those who remained were a motley crowd and were no match for Yuan Shao's army at all.

The second point is that Yicheng is located on the border of Youzhou. After retreating from Yicheng, Yuan Shao's army can quickly return to Hejian County. The Black Mountain Army cannot cross the border to fight against Yuan Shao's army, because once they lose the retreat route of Taihang Mountains, they can only wait for death.

Therefore, Yuan Shao finally withdrew to Hejian County.

Lecheng County, prefectural government office.

"My lord, the emperor has issued an order stating that you have a rebellious heart and are a traitor who is rebelling against the emperor. Your positions as general and commander-in-chief have been dismissed."

"In addition, all officials and soldiers who follow the lord will be regarded as traitors if they do not surrender. This decree has already had a great impact in all parts of Jizhou. Many people are discussing this matter, and even the soldiers in the army are a little agitated."

"The situation... is quite unfavorable."

Yan Liang reported to Yuan Shao all the information he had learned during this period, and even used more euphemistic words.

The situation is more than unfavorable.
The impact of this decree was too great. The authority of the imperial decree issued by the emperor was self-evident. The word "rebel" alone was enough to make the soldiers in the army restless.

They joined the army just to make a living, at most to earn military merit and try their luck at wealth and fame, but suddenly they became rebels and wanted to fight against the imperial court.

Where does this make sense?

After listening to Yan Liang's report, Yuan Shao's face did not look good, because the situation was so bad that it was beyond his imagination.

Although he was a man of three generations of high officials and a role model for the world, his reputation was ultimately not as great as the influence brought by an imperial edict.

Plus there’s that rebellious son Yuan Xi causing trouble!

But he also knew in his heart that the root of the problem was that his control over Jizhou was not as strong as before. If Jizhou was still in his hands, even if the court said he was a traitor, the impact would not be so great.

Holding back his anger, Yuan Shao said to Yan Liang with a sullen face, "Spread the news. This is a forged imperial decree by Lu Bu and Yuan Xi. The emperor is being held hostage by them, so their decree cannot be taken seriously."

"In addition, quickly replenish the troops. Tomorrow we will attack Yangping and Guangping counties, and then attack Wei County to recapture Yecheng!"

Yuan Shao knew clearly that what he had to do now was not to make excuses to the outside world, but to stabilize the morale of the army, and then take Weijun with lightning speed and recapture Yecheng.

As long as we take back Yecheng, everything will be easy!

"promise!"

Yan Liang took the order and prepared to leave.

At this moment, Lu Xiang hurried into the hall and said anxiously, "My lord, it's bad! The emperor has sent tens of thousands of troops, divided into four armies, heading straight for Anping, Julu, Pingyuan, and Qinghe counties!"

"The governors of various counties have sent letters one after another, asking the lord to lead troops to rescue!"

This news caught Yuan Shao off guard.

He stood up suddenly, and said in disbelief, "After just experiencing the battle of Qingzhou, how could that villain Lu Bu and Yuan Xi reorganize their army and launch an attack so quickly?"

"Have you confirmed? Is the message correct?"

Lu Xiang took out four letters from his arms, presented them with both hands and said, "My lord, these are letters of request for help from the governors of the four counties. They all arrived today. Please have a look."

Yuan Shao grabbed the letters and started reading them one by one.

His expression became increasingly ugly.

Zhang Liao, Lu Bu, Yuan Xi and Zhang He were the main generals, with a total of 35,000 troops attacking. It was obvious that they wanted to capture the four counties in one go, and the ultimate goal must be Hejian County!

This attack... came too fast.

"My lord, even after reinforcements, our army only has 30,000 soldiers. Now four armies are attacking together. Which county should we rescue first?"

Jiang Qi asked with great concern.

The four counties are in danger, and no army can be easy to deal with. If the troops are divided, it may be difficult to defend the four counties. We must first pick one county to provide support.

Yuan Shao was also hesitant. He suppressed his anger and asked, "Didn't I send an order for Guo Yuan to lead his troops back to Jizhou? Why hasn't he returned yet?"

Guo Yuan’s troops are extremely important to him now.

Bingzhou can be lost, but Jizhou cannot be lost.

Because once Jizhou is lost, everything is lost, and it will be extremely difficult to turn the defeat around!
Yan Liang shook his head and said, "General Guo has not sent back any news yet, but... according to my guess, he must have been tied up by Ma Chao and Han Sui's Liangzhou troops and is unable to retreat."

"This piece of trash! How can he be so useless!"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao was so angry that he started cursing, and as he was cursing, the figure of Tian Feng flashed through his mind.

At this moment, he regretted locking up Tian Feng, because if Tian Feng were here, he would definitely be able to help him think of a way out of the impasse.

But Tian Feng was now imprisoned in Yicheng, and he was in Hejian County. Even if he wanted to find Tian Feng for advice, he would not be able to see him for a while.

Now he can only find a way to deal with the problem by himself.

After weighing the pros and cons for a long time, Yuan Shao raised his head and said decisively: "First send troops to help the nearest Anping County! At the same time, send a message to the governors of the other counties, asking them to resist with all their strength!"

Anping County is closest to Hejian County. We should first protect this nearby county and then solve the problems of the other counties.

This is the only way now.

"promise!"

……

Qinghe County.

The three thousand Tiger Guards and two thousand Yulin Guards led by Cui Yan and Zhang He had arrived outside Qinghe County, but they were only stationed outside the city and did not launch a direct attack.

Because Cui Lin had secretly returned to Qinghe County before the arrival of the army and instigated the major noble families and powerful people in the county to rebel.

They just had to wait for Cui Lin's signal.

(End of this chapter)