Great Han Empire

Chapter 812 The Heroes of Troubled Times Compete in the Central Plains
Yan Xiang's hurried figure appeared in the garden.

After Yuan Shu fell ill, Mr. Li was in charge of both the military and government affairs.After Li Ye died in Qi (qi) city, Yan Xiang took full charge of Yangzhou's military administration.

Yan Xiang walked to the side of Yuan Shu's soft couch, and waved his hand to signal the surrounding guards and servants to retreat to a distance.

"My lord, Cao Cao has a letter to send." Yan Xiang unfolded the letter in his hand and read it softly.

Cao Cao explained the current situation in Jianghuai, Central Plains and Hebei in detail, and believed that Yuan Shu's defeat was a matter of one day, and there was no possibility of survival.In the letter, Cao Cao advised Yuan Shu to face up to the reality, in order to save the people of Jiujiang County from suffering from the war, it is better to surrender as soon as possible.Then he made a suggestion to Yuan Shu.If Yuan Shu is unwilling to surrender, he can leave Jiujiang County and go wherever he wants, including his hometown in Hebei or Runan.Cao Cao said, as long as you leave Jiujiang County, I absolutely guarantee that your life will not be threatened in any way.

Yuan Shu kept his eyes closed, as if he was asleep, without any expression.

"My lord..." Yan Xiang yelled in a low voice, "My lord, how do we reply Cao Cao?"

"Northern border army attacking Henan?" Yuan Shu was weak and his voice was very low.Yan Xiang didn't hear clearly, and hurriedly put his ear to Yuan Shu's mouth, "My lord, what did you say?"

"I have a hunch..." Yuan Shu panted a few times.Because of his mood swings, he coughed violently, "The leopard is about to go south to the Central Plains, and Cao Cao is going to die."

Yan Xiang raised his head in disappointment, feeling very sad in his heart.Yuan Shu's condition has worsened recently, and he is often dizzy and talking nonsense, and now he has another attack.How could Li Hong attack the Central Plains?Could it be that Yuan Yao's cry could impress Li Hong, make Li Hong change course, and lead the army south to attack the Central Plains?

Recently, under the siege of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu, the situation in Jiujiang County has become more and more severe.Many of Yuan Shu's subordinates began to flee Jiujiang County, and some secretly wrote to Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Ce and others, intending to surrender after the fall of Jiujiang.Only a small number of people are still loyal to Yuan Shu, vowing to live and die together with Yuan Shu, but these people may also betray Yuan Shu as time goes on.The city of Shouchun is perilous.

Now I admire Yuan Shu very much. He took the first step and sent many family members of his trusted subordinates to Hebei.Although nominally this is to protect the relatives of his subordinates, in fact it is also a disguised threat.After the family members of these people arrived in Hebei, they had nothing to worry about. They either fought to the death with Yuan Shu, or fled to Hebei after being defeated.There is no way out for betraying Yuan Shu or surrendering to Cao Cao. At this moment, the lives of the family members are in their own hands, and this is an important reason why Yuan Shu can still stick to Jiujiang County.

However, people are not as good as heaven, and Yuan Shu's physical condition is getting worse day by day, and he may die at any time. This makes some people who are loyal to Yuan Shu have to plan for themselves in advance.After all, once Yuan Shu died, the army was torn apart, and everyone went their separate ways.If you don't want to be buried with Yuan Shu, the best way is to flee as soon as possible or abandon all illusions and resolutely seek refuge with Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and others in order to save your own life.

Now, Xun Zheng has received many letters from Cao Cao and Xun Yu. Once Yuan Shu is defeated, it is a foregone conclusion to defect to Cao Cao.He has a very good personal relationship with himself, and he has advised himself more than once to present a letter to Cao Cao as soon as possible to make a way out for himself.

Li Ye's younger brother, Li Shu, would not surrender to Cao Cao because his elder brother was killed by Cao Cao, so he took advantage of his opportunity to be stationed in Hefei, secretly communicated with Zhou Yu and Lu Su, and planned to lead his army to defect to Zhou Yu when the time was right.Now he has refused to obey Yan Xiang's orders.

Yuan Yin and Zhang Jiong, who were stationed in Liyang, were moved by the advice of their former friends Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong. They heard that Sun Ce had made a promise to them to guarantee their safety.

Liu Bei's subordinates, Sun Qian and Mi Zhu, frequently appeared in Dangtu during this period, and they had close contacts with the generals Ji Ling, He Yi, Liu Pi and others who were stationed on the front line of Dangtu and Yinling. It is said that Liu Bei had secretly crossed the river to meet Ji Ling , It seems that some kind of agreement has been reached between the two.

The wind and rain in Jiujiang County are raging, and Yuan Shu's fate of defeat is irreversible.

Yan Xiang sat beside Yuan Shu, thinking about it, feeling sad from his heart, and tears wet his eyes involuntarily.He grabbed Yuan Shu's skinny hand, choked up and said, "My lord, how can I save you..."

Yuan Shu's eyes showed gratitude, and he tried his best to squeeze out a few words from his throat, "Meng Wen, tell them, if you want to save your life, you must endure until the last moment, otherwise, all of you will die .Remember, remember..."

"My lord..." Yan Xiang gritted his teeth and said in pain, "Forgive them, there is nothing they can do..."

Yuan Shu smiled faintly, "I don't blame them, nor anyone else. I struggled for more than ten years to survive, and now I'm finally free, I'm very happy."

"My lord..." Yan Xiang was heartbroken and speechless.

Yuan Shu slowly closed his eyes, a tear dripped quietly.

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At the end of March, Yanzhou, Dongjun, Cangting.

Xia Houyuan rushed sixty miles from Dong'e City to the bank of the Yellow River.

Yesterday, news came from Chiping in Jibei that a huge fleet suddenly appeared on the Yellow River. There were more than 1000 large ships, including more than 50 large ships.This fleet is divided into ten small fleets, stretching for more than 100 miles.These big ships are all ships at sea, each of them has a deep draft, and obviously loaded with a lot of cargo.

Xia Houyuan was surprised, but also very angry.Jibei Kingdom is close to Pingyuan County. Although it is separated from Pingyuan County by Jishui River, it is unbelievable that a huge fleet of more than 1000 large ships appeared on the Yellow River, and it was not discovered until the fleet entered Jibei Kingdom.Where are your scouts?What are your scouts doing?Xia Houyuan asked Biejia of Jibei Prefecture who came to deliver the letter loudly.

This matter happened suddenly and was too important, the Prime Minister of Jinbei specially sent his own driver to deliver a letter to show that he attached great importance to this matter.The Biejia explained that since the Yellow River thawed last month, the Northern Border Army in Pingyuan County has been patrolling cavalry all over the Jishui River and the Yellow River.As long as the scouts crossed the Jishui River, they would either die or be injured, and the loss was very great.There were only a few thousand troops in the Jibei Kingdom, and the number of scouts was limited, so they did not dare to send out any more scouts. At the same time, a large number of scouts from the Northern Frontier Army crossed Jishui south to investigate the territory of the Jibei Kingdom.In order to attack them, the army of Jibei had no choice but to let their scouts move in the territory, so during this period of time they neglected to investigate the Yellow River channel in Pingyuan County.

After discovering the fleet, the Chiping garrison once sent small boats to approach the fleet to investigate, but was shot back by the guards on the ship with long arrows.The Bie Jia said that according to the description of the Chiping defenders, he suspected that this fleet was the fleet assembled in Bohai County, Jizhou, Hebei a few years ago to transport grain to Youzhou.What makes people puzzled is, if this fleet is the one that transported grain from Jizhou to Youzhou, how could it suddenly appear in the Yellow River?Is it to deliver food to the northern border army that is attacking Henan?This answer obviously does not stand up to scrutiny, because to transport food to the Northern Xinjiang Army attacking Henan, it is enough to transport it from Handan and Yecheng in Jizhou, and there is no need to travel thousands of miles to Henan by boat from the Bohai Sea.

Xia Houyuan thought of the fact that more and more scouts from the northern border army crossed the river to investigate, but it was difficult for his own scouts to cross the Yellow River and penetrate a hundred miles away from the opponent, so he became vigilant.Is the northern army going to attack Yanzhou?But to attack Yanzhou, it is necessary for the northern army to so blatantly mobilize the sea fleet?There is only a Yellow River between the two places. Even if the Northern Xinjiang Army wants to cross the river to fight, it will not need to call more than 1000 large ships to the battlefield.

Xia Houyuan couldn't figure it out, so he rushed to the bank of the Yellow River to check for himself.

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Big boats with full sails were sailing fast on the choppy river.

The boatman's horns were uniform, and the huge shouts were scattered with the wind. Standing on the shore, one could clearly hear the majestic roars.On both sides of the big ship, hundreds of wooden oars flew up and down, setting off waves of spray.

Xia Houyuan led a group of cavalry up the embankment, reined in his horses and pointed his whip straight ahead, "Is there any sign of Wu Xiong's army being mobilized?"

Wang Zhong took a few breaths and shook his head again and again, "There is no movement in the direction of Dongwuyang."

"Did the scouts cross the river to investigate?" Xia Houyuan asked loudly.

"A few people went there, but none of them came back." Wang Zhong shook his head repeatedly.

Xia Houyuan's expression changed, and he said angrily, "Since no one came back, how do you know Wu Xiong is still in Dongwuyang?"

"My lord, the northern border army is very strict on the Yellow River. There is a beacon station five miles away. It is difficult for scouts to go ashore. Even if they reach the opposite bank, it is difficult to go deep into Dongwuyang and Yangping. There is Dongwu of the northern border army. In Yang Daying, from old people to children, they question strangers when they see them, and it is difficult for scouts to find out any news." Wang Zhong said helplessly, "My lord, you know these things too. If we want to get news from the Northern Xinjiang Army, we must rely on The scout's detection will not work at all."

Xia Houyuan frowned thickly, and immediately raised the whip in his hand.

"My lord, Wu Xiong's army is indeed still in Dongwuyang." Wang Zhong shrunk his head subconsciously, shaking his hands vigorously, "A few days ago, a scout ran to Gulongju by chance and found that there were many The folks who came from other places heard that a peak fire platform will be built on the north bank of the Yellow River in Dongwuyang."

"How many civilian husbands?"

"It is said that there are tens of thousands of people, and there are thousands of temporary tents." Wang Zhong said, "Wu Xiong happened to go to Gulong to gather the peasants that day, so..."

Xia Houyuan felt vaguely uneasy.Spring plowing has already begun. It is abnormal for Hebei not to seize the time to rush to plant at this time, but to recruit peasants to Dongwuyang to repair the city and build the beacon tower.

"My lord, the fleet is docking." The team leader of the guard cavalry suddenly shouted, "The fleet has stopped."

Xia Houyuan felt suffocated in his heart, and involuntarily raised his head to look at the sky.The sun is still far away from Xishan.Why did the fleet dock before dusk?Could this be the end of the fleet?Will the ship carry the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army?Xia Houyuan was taken aback by his strange thought.

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Surrounded by a group of personal guards, Sima Yi walked up the embankment talking and laughing.

"It's better to stand on the ground." He stood on the ground with both feet and chopped it hard a few times. "Only after staying on the boat for a long time will I know the benefits of being down-to-earth."

Standing in front of the ferry, Wu Ye, Marquis of the Northern Army, smiled all over his face, "Zhong Da, you are late."

Sima Yi cupped his hands again and again, "We travel day and night without a break, so it's too late? When did you arrive?"

"It's not too late, it's not too late, it's just that you adults are in a hurry, and you are complaining a little bit." Wu Ye laughed, "We arrived last night. Master Qu said, if you don't arrive on time today, he will interrupt you." Your leg……"

"Lucky, lucky..." Sima Yi asked with a smile, "Are all the adults here?"

Wu Ye shook his head and said in a low voice, "General Zhao Yun's cavalry will arrive at Dongwuyang tomorrow afternoon."

"Where is the general?" Sima Yi asked casually.

"I don't know either." Wu Ye helped Sima Yi jump onto the horse, and said very excitedly, "As soon as you come, the war will start. We will build the boat bridge tomorrow, and we can go south to the Central Plains the day after tomorrow."

Sima Yi looked at the bustling ferry, and warned with a smile, "Be careful if you leak the secret, your head will fall off."

=

Yanzhou Dongjun, on the north bank of the Yellow River, Yiyiju (now five miles southwest of Liaocheng).

General Li Hong sat under the big tree, laughing and chatting casually with generals such as Yan Rou, Wei Jun, Yang Ming, Grand Chan Yu Liu Bao.Several big households and captains of Shan Yuting needed Liu Bao and Yang Ming to explain to them because they couldn't understand the Chinese language.Several people sat together, gesticulating and chatting endlessly, laughing constantly.

In the distance, [-] iron cavalry soldiers were scattered along the river several miles long, camping.

"This place is about eighty miles away from Chiping." Li Hong drew a simple topographic map on the ground with a horsewhip, "We rushed eastward for eighty miles, then crossed the river to conquer Chiping and Linyi, and then we went straight into the Dongping Kingdom. In Dongping Kingdom, we cannot delay for too long, lest we lose the opportunity to capture Changyi."

"If we don't have enough time, we don't have to fight Ren Chengguo." Yan Rou said, "When we arrive in Changyi, we just need to send out an iron cavalry to protect the grain road and prevent Ren Chengguo's army from threatening from the flank."

Several people were discussing, and the fast horse galloped up.

Lu Bu sent a message.Wei Yan has led the fleet to dock, build a bridge tomorrow, and cross the river the day after tomorrow.

"The two boys Zhong Da and Wen Chang are very good, and the time is not bad." Yan Rou blurted out praise.

"We came early. The army is stationed by a river that is more than 100 miles long, and it is easy to be exposed. Therefore, it is best for the arrival time of the fleet and the arrival time of the troops to be on the same day." Li Hong laughed, "The enemy is one day late. Knowing our purpose, we can sweep the Central Plains in one more day."

"The order..." Li Hong stood up, "Tomorrow all the troops from all ministries will arrive at the scheduled crossing point."

"No longer concealing the traces of the army?" Yang Ming asked.

"There is no need." Li Hong shook his hand, "Urgently tell the four adults, Tian Chou, Chen Gong, Sima Yi, and Wei Yan, to start building bridges immediately."

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(End of this chapter)