Xia Houyuan, Cao Ren, and Cao Chun's soldiers marched quickly to Zhu'a, Jinan, and finally saw the Yellow Turban Army behind the palace.
"All troops, form up!" Xia Houyuan shouted immediately after spotting it.
When Xiahou Yuan's army was ready, Cao Ren and Cao Chun's cavalry were also ready to attack.
At this time, far away from the west, a large group of Jizhou Army in gray and black uniforms, the Yuan Army's equipment was indeed excellent.
Xia Houyuan immediately ordered the entire army to be on alert.
The large group of Jizhou soldiers seemed to turn a blind eye to the Yellow Turban Army and went straight to surround the Yanzhou Army.
When they got closer, Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan saw that the other side had about five thousand soldiers.
After seeing them, the Jizhou Army quickly formed a defensive formation.
After a while, a general at the head of the Jizhou army, with more than a hundred cavalry, galloped towards Cao Chun and Xia Houyuan.
Xia Houyuan, Cao Ren, and Cao Chun approached and saw that the opposing general was a majestic and strong young general with a special big ax on his horse.
Because he had seen him in the Kwantung Allied Army camp, Xia Houyuan recognized the other party as Xu Huang, who was under Yuan Xi's command.
Xu Huang stepped forward on his horse, clasped his fists on the horse, and said, "Why are you three invading my territory in Jinan, Qingzhou?"
"General Xu, please forgive me for pursuing the Yellow Turban thief so far." Cao Ren said in return.
"The Yellow Turban thieves have fled to our Qingzhou territory, and our army will destroy them. You three please lead the army and return to Yanzhou."
Xu Huang replied without being humble or arrogant.
"General, what you said is wrong. The Cao family and the Yuan family are allies. Naturally, we should help eliminate the Yellow Turban thieves who have fled to Qingzhou to prevent them from harming Qingzhou counties." Cao Ren said without giving in.
"Please go back and ask Caozhou Mu to write a letter to my lord, allowing you to enter Qingzhou territory to help annihilate the Yellow Turbans. Otherwise, the general will not dare to let you cross the border privately without my lord's order." Xu Huang also said tit for tat.
Cao Ren tried to negotiate with Xu Huang again, but Xu Huang politely rejected their requests.
Cao Chun was annoyed and said angrily, "We have been chasing the Yellow Turbans so far, how can we go back empty-handed!"
"The whole army is ready!" Cao Chun ordered.
More than a thousand Yanzhou Army knights immediately drew their weapons and prepared to charge.
Cao Ren was surprised. He didn't expect Cao Chun to really want to fall out with the Jizhou army.
In fact, Cao Chun just wanted to assume an offensive stance and test the Jizhou Army's reaction.
Xu Huang snorted and raised the long ax.
Later, the Jizhou Army received instructions and also made offensive postures.
Cao Chun stretched out his hand to make a slight gesture, and a hundred men behind him suddenly mounted their horses and attacked Xu Huang with their halberds.
Xu Huang looked coldly at the hundreds of Yanzhou Army generals who were approaching on horseback. When he was close and the opponent swung his halberd and couldn't change the move, he raised his ax handle and opened the tip of the halberd.
The next moment, the long ax slashed along the body of the halberd towards the arm of the general.
The two horses missed each other, Xu Huang's wrist shook, and the long ax went straight up to chop the head of the hundred generals.
In an instant, a head flew up, and the horse ran away with the headless body.
"Mighty!" the Jizhou army shouted in unison.
The soldiers of the Yanzhou Army were shocked by Xu Huang's bravery, while Xiahou Yuan was aroused by him.
The war horse ran, and Xia Houyuan also slashed at Xu Huang with his sword.
Xu Huang did not move his horse. When Xia Houyuan rushed towards him, the long ax came first and was sent directly towards Xia Houyuan's chest.
Xu Huang's ax was faster, so Xia Houyuan had to stop his chopping movements and use the handle to block Xu Huang's axe. Xu Huang's backhand chop made Xia Houyuan's hands numb.
Xu Huang also suppressed his inner breath, shouted again, and struck Xia Houyuan's head with the long ax.
Xia Houyuan was so shocked that he broke into a cold sweat. He had never expected that Xu Huang was so skilled in martial arts and had perfect control over his strength.
Xia Houyuan was forced to fully return to defense and lasted more than thirty rounds.
Cao Chun saw that Xia Houyuan was at a disadvantage, so he quietly urged his war horse to approach Xu Huang. When he got close, his horse suddenly exerted force, and Cao Chun stabbed Xu Huang with his spear.
Xu Huang, of course, glanced sideways at Cao Chun. He swung Xia Houyuan's knife away, then quickly hit the tip of Cao Chun's spear with his ax and pressed the spear down.
The two horses crossed each other, and Xu Huang used his strength to send the long ax to Cao Chun's chest in the direction of Cao Chun.
Cao Chun quickly put the gun back and protected his chest.
The blades and gun bodies collided, and Cao Chun was shocked to the point where his blood boiled.
Xia Houyuan hurriedly slashed at Xu Huang with his sword to rescue Cao Chun.
Although Xia Houyuan and Cao Chun were quite good in martial arts and riding, they were still far behind Xu Huang. However, Xu Huang could handle Xia Houyuan alone, but it was difficult to deal with two people at the same time.
However, the lord's military order was issued, so Xu Huang rushed towards the two of them without fear, but the more he fought, the more he relaxed his hands and feet.
After a few more moves, Xu Huang shouted and deflected Cao Chun's gun, and then forced back Xia Houyuan's rescue.
Xu Huang put the edge of the ax close to Cao Chun's neck and said coldly, "You'd better leave quickly, so as not to hurt the harmony between the Cao and Yuan families."
Cao Chun clenched his fists and looked at Xu Huang without fear, "It's because I'm not as skilled as others. If you want to kill me, I'll kill you!"
Xia Houyuan saw that he would not get any benefit, and he was worried about turning against the Jizhou army. "General Xu, stop it. We will retreat first, and we will make plans after consultation between you and my two masters."
He snorted and took back the long ax, "Sorry, I won't send you far!"
Cao Chun glanced at Xu Huang hatefully, rode his horse back to his headquarters, and led the Yanzhou army back to Jibei City with Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan.
Early morning, Yingxian County, Mount Tai.
When Xiahou Dun and Le Jin led their troops to attack, they discovered that the Yellow Turban Army had completely escaped during the night.
Li Tong, Li Dian, Yue Jin, Xiahou Dun and other generals quickly led their troops to pursue them.
The Jizhou Army no longer rested, and three thousand cavalry lined up directly passed by the Yanzhou Army and pursued the Yellow Turban Army.
After Cao Cao received the military report from Cao Ren, he ordered a rapid march to Jibei, and they arrived at Jibei City in one day.
What surprised Cao Cao was that Cao Ren, Cao Chun, and Xia Houyuan came out to greet him. Things were not going well at this time.
Xia Houyuan's armor was in disarray, and there were cuts in his shirt. The most important thing was the slumped and ashamed and angry look on the three people's faces.
"Zixiao, Zihe, Miaocai, what's going on?" Cao Cao grabbed Cao Ren's hand and asked.
Cao Ren clasped his fists and said in shame, "My subordinates are useless. I pursued the Yellow Turban thieves to Zhu'a, but were blocked by the Jizhou army, causing the Yellow Turbans to flee into Qingzhou."
Then Cao Ren told Cao Cao and others the whole story.
"What a shame, Yuan Xi, boy, do you really want to swallow up a million Yellow Turbans by yourself? He even turned against our army!" Cao Cao said with some anger and confusion. Yuan Shao didn't even dare to do this. How could Yuan Xi have the courage? Cao Cao would not know that Yuan Xi was the second most inspiring man to Li Shimin, and he was very courageous.
"All signs indicate that Yuan Xi is indeed going to swallow this Qingzhou Yellow Turban." Cheng Yu said aloud.
"Where did they get the food to provide the millions of Yellow Turban thieves for the winter? Could it be that Yuan Benchu would provide Yuan Xi with such a sum of food?" Cao Cao asked in confusion.
Xun You shook his head and said helplessly: "I don't know whether Yuan Shao will allocate food, but if Yuan Xi wants to swallow a million Yellow Turbans, he will have his arrangements. What we have to decide now is whether we should fall out with the Jizhou army or not. And enter Qingzhou to capture the Yellow Turban thieves."
Cao Cao couldn't make a decision for a while. After all, the Yuan family was as big a giant as the United States today, so he asked the civil and military officials what countermeasures they had.
"Is the Jizhou Army's attitude very firm?" Cheng Yu saw Cao Cao's concerns, so he turned to Cao Ren and asked.
"Yes, they have set up defenses in the Zhu'a area. They are not trying to scare me. They are indeed ready and planning to fight us."
Cao Cao asked again: "Can we cross Qingzhou from another place to catch up with the Yellow Turban bandits?"
Yu Jin is from Juping, Taishan. He is familiar with the terrain in this area and said, "I am afraid that the places in Jibei that can lead to Qingzhou have been fortified by the Jizhou army. In the east of Taishan County, there are many places that can lead to Qingzhou." Counties, but it may take ten days to make a detour to Mount Tai, so I’m afraid it’s too late.”
"Now the Yellow Turban thieves are like frightened birds. Ten days will be enough for the Jizhou army to defeat and surrender them." Cao Hong said angrily.
"How many Yellow Turbans have our army surrendered in so many battles in Yanzhou?" Cao Cao suddenly asked.
Cheng Yu thought for a while and then said: "Our army fought with the main force of the Yellow Turban thieves more than ten times and captured about 50,000 Yellow Turban men in total."
Should we turn against the Jizhou Army for the sake of millions of people? It was difficult for Cao Cao to make a decision. At this time, Cao Cao still followed Yuan Shao, the nominal leader of the alliance.
What's more, he has to rely on the Yuan family's momentum to do many things, just like Gao Huan, the Bohai Xianwu Emperor in the late Northern Wei Dynasty, relied on the Erzhu family's momentum to support his own momentum.
Millions of people are a big temptation, but fighting the Jizhou army for this purpose will obviously be thankless for Cao Cao's army, which has an unstable foothold.
"Tao Qian and Yuan Shu are watching from the sidelines. Now that we are at odds with the Jizhou Army, it will probably be a lose-lose situation for both sides." Cheng Yu said. In fact, he said it very euphemistically, that is, the Yuan family is now powerful and cannot compete with them for the time being.
Xi Zhong looked at the hesitant Cao Cao and said: "If you insist on entering Qingzhou, then our army must be determined to fight back, otherwise there is no other way."
Cao Hong flicked his horsewhip and said angrily, "We have risked our lives to kill the Yellow Turban bandits. How can it be that the Jizhou Army has been so advantaged! It's really hateful."
Cao Cao's face was uncertain. He looked at the crowd and then in the direction of Qingzhou in the north. Sometimes he clenched his fists, sometimes he frowned, and sometimes he sighed, which was very dramatic.
Zhang Liao's two thousand cavalry had already passed the Yanzhou Army at this time, and quickly engaged the rear army of the Yellow Turban Army, and started a battle with them.
Zhang Liao and Guo Jia led the cavalry to Qinshan, an open area at the junction of Qingzhou and Yanzhou, and began to pass through the Yellow Turban Army.
After Daqin Mountain, all the way to Qingzhou Tugu is mountainous, which is a good place to stop the attack.
Guan Hai was riding on his horse covered in blood. He looked at the injured brothers and felt really guilty.
"Big boss, where should we go next?"
"Where did He Qun take our family?" Guan Hai asked.
"The news came three days ago that after they attacked Zhu'a and Licheng in Jinan, they gathered their troops and headed towards Jinan." The deputy general replied.
"The thousands of Jizhou cavalry in front are rushing towards Jinan. I'm afraid they are setting up defenses there to prevent us from entering Jinan." Guan Hai said worriedly.
"Whatever, just kill Jinan City directly," the deputy general said;
"Have you noticed that the Yanzhou Army stopped pursuing it?" Guan Hai asked doubtfully.
"What's so strange about this? If the Yanzhou Army wants to enter Qingzhou, it will inevitably conflict with the local defenders. How can they pursue them without the approval of Qingzhou?"
"No, when we were fighting in Yanzhou, there was the Jizhou Cavalry Army. This shows that the Yanzhou Army and the Jizhou Army are in collusion." Although Guan Hai couldn't explain the reason, he felt that something was fishy.
"Whatever the Yanzhou Army and the Jizhou Army, let's get to Jinan soon, join He Shuai and the others, and then we can fight across Beihai together." Another little leader said.
Guan Hai couldn't think of a clue, so he could only ask the team to rush to Jinan City.
Let’s talk about the battle in Jiangdong.
Just as Sun Ce was heading north, Fan Neng, Yu Mi and others who had been defeated earlier gathered up the remaining troops, hoping to take advantage of Sun Ce's north attack on Moling to raid Niuzhu and regain the camp.
Sun Ce quickly returned to counterattack, defeated Fan Neng and other troops, and took advantage of the situation to attack Zuo Rong again. During the battle with Zuo Rong, Sun Ce was injured by a stray arrow and led his army back to Niuzhu.
Under Zhou Yu's planning, Sun Ce took the opportunity of being injured to release the news that he had died due to excessive injuries. Zuo Rong believed it to be true and sent his army to attack Niuzhu.
Sun Ce adopted Zhou Yu's strategy of "luring the enemy deep and setting up an ambush to annihilate them." As soon as the two armies came into contact, Sun Ce's army pretended to be defeated and retreated. Yu Zi thought that the enemy was unwilling to fight because the general was dead, so he led his army deep. As a result, They were defeated by Sun Ce's ambush and thousands of people were killed or injured. Only the leader, Yu Zi, escaped back to the base camp at night.
Zuo Rong learned that Sun Ce was still alive, so he stayed at the camp and did not dare to fight. Therefore, Sun Ce abandoned Zuo Rong and led his generals Cheng Pu, Lu Fan and others south to occupy Danyang, eliminating Sun Ce's rear threat. Then he led his army northward, captured Hushu, Jiangcheng, and Jurong one after another, and defeated Liu Liu. Yao was in Qu'a, Liu Yao retreated to Dantu, and Zuo Rong fled to Yuzhang.
After Sun Ce occupied Qu'a, his military orders were strict and no one committed any crime. The local people were very happy and did not reject Sun Ce. After all, Sun Jian is very prestigious here. When he saw the arrival of Sun Jian's son Sun Ce, he felt an instinctive feeling of closeness.
Sun Ce also issued a statement that anyone who came to surrender could join the army no matter what they had done in the past. So a large number of people came to join the army. In just one month, the number of people increased to more than 20,000. Sun Ce suddenly became the most powerful person in Jiangdong. powerful military group.
Liu Yao was afraid of Sun Ce, so he went back to Jiangxi and stationed at Pengze. At this point, the entire eastern part of Danyang County was owned by the Sun family and his son, and Sun Ce also began to plan to invade Wu County and Kuaiji County.
As the Jiangdong Tiger, Sun Jian guided Sun Ce's offensive strategy behind the scenes while recuperating from his injuries. Until now, Sun Jian's injuries can be considered half healed. However, it is difficult to tell about the internal illness for the time being, so Sun Jian has the final say in coordinating the overall situation. When the two armies were deployed and fighting, his son Sun Ce took command on his father's behalf.
Starting from Sun Jian's army in Changsha to attack Dong Zhuo, the Sun family's momentum in Jiangdong was like thunder. In this battle, Sun Ce, the son of the Jiangdong Tiger, shocked the world. Now tens of thousands of troops are about to return to Wu. This has spread throughout Wu County. .
When the tiger returns to the mountain, it will naturally dominate Wu County. No one in Jiangdong thinks that the weak Wu County Governor Sheng Xian has the ability to withstand the return of tens of thousands of troops from Sun Jian and his son.
Moreover, the Sun family originally had a good reputation in Wu County, and had some connections with several major families in Jiangdong. Han Deng and other aristocratic families would naturally understand how to choose based on the situation.
As for Yan Baihu and his ilk around Wu County, the Sun family and his son have not taken them seriously yet.
Qu'a began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and was named Yunyang City.
Qin Shihuang unified the six countries and changed Yunyang City to Yunyang County, and later changed its name to Qu'a. This is an ancient city with a long history. It was originally under the jurisdiction of Kuaiji County. Later, Kuaiji County was divided into two, and Qu'a County became Wu County. One of the thirteen counties.
Qu'a is also a large county town with thousands of county soldiers in the city. However, when Sun Ce's cavalry troops approached the city, Qu'a County Magistrate Han Deng did not offer any resistance and directly opened the city gate to welcome them in.
Han Deng, named Menghua, was from Yuhang, Kuaiji. He was nominally a subordinate of Sheng Xian, the prefect of Wu County, but in fact he was the Caotou King of Qu'a County and controlled thousands of soldiers and horses in Qu'a.
Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the imperial court's control over local areas has become weak. When the princes launched an army to attack Dong Zhuo on the 18th day of the Lunar New Year, the central government's control over local areas was completely cut off, and each area began to govern itself.
Han Deng has been the county magistrate of Qu'a County since the third year of Zhongping. He has been friends with Sun Ce's uncle Wu Jingnai for many years, and he was also an official brought out by Wu Jing. Wu Jing was in the city at this time, and when Sun Ce's troops came to the city, he began to He was persuaded to surrender to the Sun family. After Han Deng thought deeply, he decided to surrender to the Sun family.
The conquest of the Sun family and his son has come to an end for the time being.
