I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 238 God of War Duan Yan
Yuan Shu's side made rapid progress, and the cavalry camp's combat readiness also progressed rapidly. Soon, more than 90% of the preparations had been completed, and they were basically just waiting for the order for the army to march.

In addition, as a cavalry commander, Yuan Shu was also one of the important generals in this expedition. Therefore, during the war preparation period, when Duan Xing held a military meeting, he would also take time to attend to understand Duan Xing's arrangements for the war and the latest military intelligence.

The first few times went quite smoothly. After listening to the military deployment reports from the generals of various departments, Duan Xing also planned the route from Luoyang to Pei State. He also had his own judgment on how many supply points there were along the way, the size of the enemy, and so on.

Just as Yuan Shu had imagined, Duan Xing did not think that the enemy he faced this time was only Wang Ji. He believed that there were at least two other enemies to consider along with Wang Ji.

Zhang Hao, Prime Minister of Liang, and Cao Shao, Prefect of Dongjun.

Wang Ji was the adopted son of Wang Fu, Zhang Hao was the nephew of Zhang Feng, and Cao Shao was the nephew of Cao Jie. These three people were equivalent to the direct relatives of the eunuchs. They relied on the relationship with the eunuchs to rise to power and do all kinds of evil. During the period when the eunuchs were in power, they hunted down and killed party members and other loyal people on a large scale, and committed numerous crimes.

It can be said that even if they voluntarily surrendered, handed over the money and property obtained through corruption, behaved well, gave out other accomplices and became tainted witnesses, the most they could do was to ensure that their families would not be implicated and could live as commoners, but they themselves would inevitably die.

This obvious thing does not need anything else to prove, everyone knows it.

Now that Wang Ji has announced a rebellion, he will definitely contact these two people, and these two people will definitely follow Wang Ji in rebelling.

The three counties are all located in the densely populated and economically prosperous Central Plains, so if the three join forces to squeeze the local area, they can at least mobilize 20,000 people. In addition, Dongjun has an arsenal and will not lack weapons and equipment, so the gap between the two sides will not be reflected in the level of weapons and equipment.

From this perspective, this campaign must at least be prepared to deal with the coalition forces of the three counties, and we must also guard against the emergence of rebel forces in other places.

Duan Xing and Yuan Feng both thought that this was good enough.

However, on November 12th of the first year of Zhengshi, when the army's preparations were almost complete, Duan Xing once again convened an emergency military meeting of the entire army less than half an hour after the previous military meeting ended.

Yuan Shu felt a little surprised by this, thinking that the meeting had just ended, so why were they calling for another meeting?

Are there some issues that haven't been made clear?
So he immediately rushed to Duan Xing, and seeing Duan Xing with a serious face, he announced a new news to all the officers.

"The latest urgent news is that the enemy the army will face this time is not three counties and kingdoms, but four counties and kingdoms, as well as a provincial governor. In addition to Cao Shao, the governor of Dongjun, Zhang Hao, the prime minister of Liang, and Wang Ji, the prime minister of Pei, there is also Liu He, the governor of Jiyin, and Jiong Fei, the governor of Yuzhou. These five remnants of the eunuchs have colluded with each other!
What's worse is that the banner they raised was to restore the Han Dynasty and attack the Yuan family. They also claimed to overthrow the false emperor and restore the throne of the deposed emperor, claiming that the Yuan family betrayed their master and usurped the throne. Such treasonous words were actually spoken out of their mouths. It was really abominable! However, the speed at which they united was indeed beyond the court's expectations."

After Duan Xing finished speaking, everyone was surprised. Many officers paused and turned their eyes to Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu's expression remained unchanged. He was similar to Duan Ying. He was not surprised that these people united. He was just surprised that they united so quickly.

But this is not something that is unexpected. If you really think about it, perhaps only the strong desire to survive can explain it.

Of course, if we have to say it was unexpected, Yuan Shu did not expect that Liu He, the prefect of Jiyin County, was also involved in this matter.

When the liquidation list was being discussed, Liu He was indeed on the list because he was the son-in-law of the eunuch Cheng Huang and was a member of the eunuch group.

However, considering that Liu He's brother died in the Party Persecution and was a member of the party, and also considering Liu He's status as a close relative of the royal family, Yuan Feng's solution was to dismiss him from his official position, let him return home and be idle, and not to employ him again, that was all.

Yuan Shu also supported this decision.

So from the beginning to the end, Yuan Feng and Yuan Shu had no intention of killing Liu He. However, Liu He took the initiative to join the rebellion of the remnants of the eunuchs, raised the banner of rebellion, and opposed the Luoyang court.

This outrageous act is truly shocking.

Yuan Shu guessed that Yuan Feng would be confused when he heard the news.

Although the news was surprising, Duan Ying was not panicked.

As a person who was closely tied to the Yuan regime, he could never accept the possibility of the restoration of the eunuch regime, so he was determined to get rid of these remnants of the eunuchs at all costs, and soon came up with a new countermeasure.

“In addition to these five people, there are probably other people who will also participate in this rebellion. Once the remaining eunuchs in various places learn about the news of Wang Ji and others raising an army, it is estimated that there will be many people who will respond to the rebellion. It is likely to form a trend and appear to be very powerful.

But this group of bandits is actually a motley crowd, living in the heart of the Central Plains, without much experience in military campaigns, with few generals and weak soldiers, and no knowledge of battle formations. No matter how many people they have, they cannot accomplish anything. I think that the number of their numbers can only affect the duration of the war, but cannot change the outcome.

Gentlemen, please do not be affected by these news. You must be sure that in this battle, the imperial court will win, the royal army will win, and the remaining eunuchs are just a group of dying insects. No matter how hard they struggle, as long as the imperial army arrives, they will surely collapse!"

Duan Xing was worthy of being a famous general. He had extraordinary aura and in a flash he dispelled everyone's doubts with absolute confidence. His powerful aura quickly swept away the worries that had just arisen in the officers.

Everyone immediately realized that their commander was the strongest general of the Han Dynasty who had fought 180 battles to quell the Qiang Rebellion, and was the most powerful soldier of the Han Dynasty at that time. Qiang, Xianbei, Xiongnu, no matter what kind of enemy, as long as they rebelled, they were crushed to dust under his iron hoof, and all enemies were beaten and screamed in his pursuit.

He is the great war god of this era, able to stop children from crying at night.

And what about the opponent?

Just a bunch of remnants of eunuchs.

Their masters have all been beheaded, and the heads of those great eunuchs are still hanging on the city gates of Luoyang to dry. They are almost turning into bacon. What kind of trouble can these remnants cause?
Strong self-confidence was quickly established, and Duan Ying immediately rearranged his tactics.

At the beginning, the tactic proposed by Duan Xing was to use Dongjun as the decisive battle point.

He believed that the rebels would gather in Dongjun, change equipment, and then march towards Luoyang. From Dongjun to Luoyang, it was basically flat with no mountains or rivers blocking the way, so he decided to lead his army along the Yellow River directly to Dongjun, engage in a decisive battle with the rebels, and decide the outcome of the battle.

The situation has changed slightly now. The number of rebels has increased, and from Pengcheng State to Dongjun, the counties and states controlled by the rebels are connected in a line. There is no obstacle to their need to go to Dongjun to replace equipment and strengthen themselves.

In this way, the rebels can even advance in groups.

For example, starting from Pei State, passing through Chen State and Yingchuan, and going straight to Luoyang.

Or they could start from Liang State, cross Chenliu County, and rush towards Luoyang.

The third route is to quickly concentrate in Dongjun, collectively change equipment in Dongjun, and then gather the main force and march towards Luoyang with all our strength.

The rebels may choose any of these three routes, but no matter which one they choose, there will be almost nothing along the way that can hinder them.

Originally, everyone estimated that the number of rebels would be around 20,000. Now with so many more assistants, Duan Yu raised the estimate of the possible troop strength of the rebels from 20,000 to 50,000, while retaining the possibility of around 70,000, and even felt that it might exceed 70,000.

"The rebels may seem powerful, but they are actually just trying to survive. Those who want to survive will inevitably resort to war and be desperate. They will inevitably force common people to join the army in order to increase their military strength as much as possible. Given time, it is possible that the number will reach 100,000, let alone 50,000."

Duan Xing's face was serious, and he said slowly: "In this case, my army may not be enough with only 20,000 people, and we cannot mobilize troops from other places in a hurry. The only three places that can be used as a support and catch up with the war are Yingchuan County, Chenliu County and Chen State.

Even if we immediately order the governors and prime ministers of the three places to recruit soldiers to help in the battle, not many soldiers can be gathered in a hurry. Even if there are 10,000 soldiers, our army only has 30,000 soldiers. This force is not enough. If we continue to recruit soldiers, it will take time.

The rebel army had already made the decision to rebel before me, and the initiative has been lost. I am worried that the rebels will be desperate and will try every means to launch an advance and a decisive battle as soon as possible. If my army does not attack in time, it may be invaded by the rebels and enter Sili. In this case, the situation will be bad.

But if we attack immediately, our army will face a disadvantage in terms of manpower. Although I am not worried about the combat effectiveness of the enemy army, they are numerous and powerful. For our army, this battle cannot be lost. I really don’t want to take risks...”

Duan Xing frowned and paced back and forth in the tent.

The generals in the camp fell silent.

Then, Yuan Shu stood up.

"General, I have many disciples under my tutelage, and most of them are brave and capable. They have followed me to raid the palace and eliminate the eunuchs, and many of them have made great contributions. I originally did not use them, and they are not soldiers, but now that I need them, I am willing to mobilize them urgently."

Duan Yu was stunned for a moment, and immediately thought of the group of great young men in the Yi Xin Hui Group under Yuan Shu.

When attacking the palace, he saw with his own eyes how brave and skilled in fighting the people under Yuan Shu were.

Then Duan Xing showed a look of joy.

"How many men can Captain Yuan mobilize?"

"In addition to the one thousand already with the army, another five thousand can be mobilized."

Upon hearing this, all the generals in the camp looked at Yuan Shu in surprise.

(End of this chapter)