Yuan Xi waved his hand, asking the ordering soldiers to raise the flag, and ordered Zhao Yun to circle back from the enemy's flank.
"Young Master, there is an urgent report!" Guo Jia, protected by his soldiers, also rode his horse to the front of the formation and reported, "Mr. Yuan sent someone to send an urgent report, and asked the Young Master and General Han Meng to attack Jixian!"
Yuan Xi frowned, took the order document, and asked in confusion, "Why did my father suddenly order another attack on Jixian County?"
"It says that Liu Yu sent people to ask for help. Soldiers from all over the country are fighting with Gongsun Zan's army, so we can only go with Han Meng's cavalry to rescue." Guo Jia said and handed another letter to Yuan Xi and said , "This is what Mr. Feng Ji asked the herald to bring."
"I originally estimated that Liu Yu would be defeated, but I didn't expect that he would lose so quickly." Yuan Xi was speechless after reading the letter. "Mr. Feng said that Liu Yu led tens of thousands of people to besiege Gongsun Zan but failed. Instead, he was surprised by Gongsun Zan and defeated him. We will be defeated. Now we are trapped in Ji County and beg our army for help."
Liu Shouqi was like this during the Five Dynasties period. He was defeated dramatically. He talked about benevolence and righteousness on the battlefield, so that the soldiers who were like wolves and tigers had morale. The soldiers fought to the death as a meritorious service.
"The key to rushing to rescue this time is to fight quickly. Without any support, our army broke into Gongsun Zan's hinterland. Our army is not sure of defeating Gongsun Zan." Guo Jia then asked, "Then what happened to Han Meng?"
Yuan Xi put the letter away and said: "Our army is the right route army. Ju Yi, who attacks from the left, has 6,000 infantry and cavalry. He is the left route army. Han Meng's troops are attacking Zhuoxian now and have more than 5,000 infantry and cavalry. It’s for the middle route army. My father asked the three armies to advance together to help Liu Yu, and that’s it.”
"The total of the three armies is only more than 15,000. When we arrive at Ji County, Gongsun Zan will probably have more troops than ours. Who can Mr. Yuan say to control the three armies?" Guo Jia asked, these more than 10,000 people are Yuan Shao The maximum amount of troops that can be mobilized.
"Ju Yi!"
"Major General, do you still want to fight?" Zhang Liao asked anxiously, "The enemy's formation will be repaired soon!"
"Send an order for the whole army to break away from the enemy and advance at full speed." Yuan Xi ordered: "Take the grain and fodder captured at the back with you. Ignore the rest, let's go straight to Jixian."
Koto.
At present, Jiangdong is governed by various places. Under the governors of various places, local powerful people and aristocratic families are intertwined. To put it bluntly, Jiangdong is in chaos. It is almost the same as the situation during the Warring States Period, when princes fought in chaos.
Sun Jian's tiger eyes were vivid and shining, and he stared at the flags placed on the sand table. He was silent for a long time. The atmosphere in the lobby was a bit depressing, and he did not dare to speak.
It was not until half an hour later that Sun Jian seemed to have an idea. Around the sand table he left, people knelt down and sat at the top of the table in a serious manner. Everyone quickly returned to their seats and sat down solemnly.
"Everyone, we must capture Yan Xing and Xu Sheng. I was negligent last time. This time we capture Wucheng and other places again. Do you have any good strategies?" Sun Jian, who is as tall as a tiger, asked majestically.
"Lord, when are you going to send troops?" Everyone was silent, and Cheng Pu asked with his hands in hand.
"The earlier the better, but the three armies have not moved, so food and grass go first!"
Sun Jian did not answer directly, but turned his head and stared at Gao Dai, and asked softly: "Now I have 20,000 elite Jiangdong soldiers and horses under my command, plus the soldiers who have surrendered from these counties, there are 30,000. Food, grass and baggage have become a big problem. If you want to start a war, you must have sufficient food warehouses. Gaojun Cheng, does my Wu County have enough food and grass?"
Gao Dai has always been in control of Wujun's people's livelihood and finances. Ask him about this and he will know best. To feed the army, the consumption of food and grass is very different between not fighting and starting a war. Once a war breaks out, the consumption of tens of thousands of troops will completely It's an astronomical number.
In this era, the most feared thing in war is lack of food, which ultimately leads to failure.
"Lord!"
Gao Dai stood up, cupped his hands and said: "Our harvest in Wu County last year was pretty good, but since the year before last, various places have no longer respected the jurisdiction of the county governor's office, so the surrounding counties cannot pay taxes. The only one that can control it is Wu County." Compared with our granaries in Lou County, our granaries are not sufficient, and most of them are old grains from the past.
However, if the lord wants to fight with all his strength, his subordinates must try their best to move and guarantee support for three months. The war must be resolved within three months, otherwise Wu County will face a huge food problem. "
The population density of Wu County is relatively high, with a combined population of nearly 800,000 in the thirteen counties. The economy is relatively prosperous compared to other places, and there has never been much war. It is only in the past few years that they have started to go their own way, so even if Sun Jian is They had just settled in, had not undergone any training and recuperation, and had enough food to support an army of tens of thousands for three months.
"Good!" Sun Jian's eyes sparkled, he was slightly happy, and he praised: "Kong Wen is a great talent. If you can win this battle, you can take the lead."
Three months of support would be enough for him to resolve the war in Wu County. With his strength, he did not believe that Yan Xing and Xu Sheng could support his three-month attack.
"My lord, you have given me too much praise. This is Dai's duty!" Gao Dai had just begun to welcome Sun Jian into Wu Commandery. Perhaps it was just to quell the chaos in Wu Commandery and force him to go away from the war. He was even ready to be dismissed from office along with Sheng Xian after Sun Jian arrived.
But Sun Jian's unwary trust in him made him gradually return to his heart and fully support Sun Jian.
"Now that there is enough food and grass, we only need half a month to prepare before we can send out troops, so a certain family plans to officially send out troops in early February! We will fight quickly and capture the entire Wu County in one fell swoop." A cold glint flashed across Sun Jian's eyes. said loudly.
"How many troops do you plan to send, my lord?" Cheng Pu asked with a brow.
"This battle requires speed. We must fight on two fronts, attacking Youquan all the way and Wucheng all the way!"
Sun Jian was silent for a moment, stood up, walked to the sand table again, pointed with his hands, squinted his eyes, and said: "This battle, a certain family personally went out to fight with 20,000 troops. I personally led 10,000 troops and went west to defeat Wu Cheng Yanxing and Yi. male!"
"Here!" Han Dang looked shocked and stood up.
"As the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army, you lead ten thousand troops. The attack is based on fists. We cannot allow the two of them to unite. The war must be ended within two months!" Sun Jian said firmly.
"No!" Han Dang nodded.
"Gongfu, you go with me, Ling Cao, you assist Lord Justice, Yanxian, you are the proud son of the Gu family, now that you have entered our county governor's house, I will never treat you badly, you let Han be the military chief, assistant His attacks are by fists, are you willing?"
Sun Jian began to order generals. Ling Cao was Ling Tong's father in history, the Yuhang general who killed Yan Xing's brother, Yan Baihu, and Gu Tan, named Yanxian, was a direct descendant of the Gu family.
"No!" Everyone nodded suddenly, and Gu Tan replied with an expressionless face, but there was a hint of brilliance in his eyes that no one else could see.
He didn't believe that Sun Jian trusted him so much. Sun Jian must have a motive for this, but he couldn't refuse, and he was unwilling to refuse. Seeing the true strength of Jiangdong Army, he still had to do it.
"De Mao, when a certain family goes to war, Wu County and the county governor's office will be left to you. Kong Wen and Junli will assist you. No trouble will occur in Wu County!" Sun Jian looked at Cheng Pu with trust.
Even now, Cheng Pu is not only his early counselor, but also his most trusted person.
"No!" Cheng Pu and others nodded firmly.
At the same time that the Yuan Army and Liu Yu allied forces were attacking Youzhou, Sun Jian, the new governor of Wu County, started a campaign to regain Wu County. He personally led the army southward, taking Yanxing of Wucheng County and Xusheng of Youquan County.
This is considered the Jiangdong tiger's first battle since Xuzhou returned to Jiangdong years ago. All the powerful princes in Jiangdong are watching with eager eyes. Naturally, they do not think that Yan Xing and Xu Sheng can compete with Sun Jian, but together with the war, it can be regarded as a battle. You can understand Sun Jian's strength from the side.
■■■
Jixian Prefecture Mufu.
Liu Yu kept pacing back and forth. He looked plain, with gray hair simply tied up with a wooden crown. He was dressed in burlap clothes, and even his shoes were made of straw rope. If he appeared in the street market, most people would regard him as an ordinary old man in the market.
"Sir, it's time to eat. You haven't eaten two meals." The servant put the food table on the table, which was just a bowl of wheat rice and two plates of plain vegetables.
Liu Yu picked up the pottery bowl, took two bites of rice, put down the chopsticks again, and sighed helplessly.
"Sir, is the food not good? How about I ask the cook to prepare some roast meat?" the servant asked.
He had followed Liu Yu for many years and knew that Liu Yu was frugal. His daily meals consisted of vegetarian vegetables and whole grains, and he only added one or two meat dishes during major festivals. But Liu Yu had been working hard for several days now, so he had to consider his master's health and persuade him to eat something good.
"Sir! Tian Chou is back!" A middle-aged scribe hurried to Liu Yu to report.
"Qi Zhou, is this true?" Liu Yu stood up and asked anxiously: "Where is Zitai?"
The middle-aged civil servant named Qi Zhou pointed back and said, "Sir, look, Mr. Tian is right there!"
Liu Yu looked over and saw a handsome young man in his early twenties walking quickly.
"Sir, Tian Chou lived up to his expectations and successfully arrived in Chang'an, and presented the seal to His Majesty the Emperor." Tian Chou bowed deeply to Liu Yu and replied.
"Zitai, you are so loyal, courageous and resourceful that you managed to accomplish this." Liu Yu excitedly lifted Tian Chou up and asked him to sit on the couch together as a sign of respect.
"Sir, you are still so frugal. It's hard for us in Youzhou to have a state pastor like you!" Tian Chou sighed as he looked at the food.
Liu Yu patted Tian Chou on the shoulder and said with emotion, "Zitai, it's rare for you to risk your life and come back to Jixian in such a chaotic situation."
"Sir, I bypassed Gongsun Zan's army from the back and came in through the east gate." Tian Chou wondered: "Why did Gongsun Zan attack our Youzhou army and garrison those tens of thousands of troops?"
"Oh, it's hard to put it into words!" Liu Yu let out a long sigh, slightly embarrassed.
"Zitai, let me tell you." Qi Zhou pulled Tian Chou over and said, "After the defeat of Jieqiao, Gongsun Zan concentrated his power in the south of Ji County. You know this. It's just that you went to Chang'an at the beginning of the year. , Gongsun Zan became increasingly domineering and often clashed with my garrison."
"No, this might be Gongsun Zan's trick!" Tian Chou said anxiously: "Gongsun Zan has been plotting to seize Youzhou from me for a long time. If he does this, he will definitely provoke a dispute and find an excuse to attack us!"
"As Zitai said, this was an excuse for him to seize our Youzhou." Liu Yu looked a little depressed and continued, "At that time, Gongsun Zan and the Yuan family were at war again, and Yuan Benchu sent someone to make an appointment. We will jointly annihilate Gongsun Zan. After consulting everyone, I agreed to eliminate this serious problem."
"I'm not sure Yuan Benchu has any good intentions, but in this way we can get rid of the enemy that threatens the door first. That's right. Why is Gongsun Zan leading troops to attack Nanmen City now?" Tian Chou asked in confusion.
"I'm ashamed to say it." Qi Zhou said with a look of remorse on his face, "Because of his lax words, the secret of attacking Gongsun Zan was leaked. Gongsun Zan led his troops to attack Xinyu's barracks at night. We discussed and gathered all the troops in Jixian County. Attack Gongsun Zan’s lair in the south of the city, it will be too difficult to capture the earth city.”
"Youzhou is in danger!" Tian Chou immediately guessed what happened next and took over the message and asked, "The result was that the Tucheng could not be taken, but Gongsun Zan was allowed to take over our Xinyu garrison?"
Qi Zhou looked ashamed and said, "We wanted to take advantage of Gongsun Zan's lack of troops to cut off his retreat, but we didn't want to provoke Gongsun Zan to fight back. Our soldiers are also incompetent. Tens of thousands of people are no match for thousands of people."
"Sir, what emergency strategy has been adopted?" Tian Chou asked anxiously, "When I came back, Gongsun Zan had gathered thousands of soldiers to surround the south gate and west gate."
"Countless Xinyu Tun troops died and scattered, and one more unit fell, so they are considered dead. Soldiers from other places were too late to be transferred back, and now there are only 6,000 defenders in Ji County." Qi Zhou said worriedly.
"Who is coordinating the defense of Ji County?"
"General Xian Yuyin is leading the soldiers and people of Ji County to strengthen the city defense." Qi Zhou said, "My Lord has also sent people to ask Yuan Shao for help. If everything goes smoothly in two days, reinforcements will arrive."
"It's broken! This is not your way to survive!" Tian Chou said anxiously: "Sir, don't think about it, Gongsun Zan is a wolf guarding the door, and who is Yuan Shao? He is a tiger lying outside! Gongsun Zan is even more difficult to deal with."
"Zitai, are you saying that we are driving away tigers and devouring wolves?" Qi Zhou said indifferently: "In the first year of Chuping, the Guandong Heroes Alliance attacked Dong Zhuo. Since then, Yuan Benchu has been in contact with me and others, and he also wanted to support him during this period. Your Excellency is on the 95th, how could he have any ill will towards us?"
"Wrong, big mistake!" Tian Chou paused and said: "Sir, think about it, where is Han Wenju now? Yuan Shao once said that he wanted to gather the people of Jizhou to occupy the land of Hebei, and then go south to fight for the world. What about such a person? There is no intention to annex my Youzhou!"
When Tian Chou said this, Liu Yu broke into a cold sweat and said at a loss, "Here, what should we do?"
"Report! Sir, General Xianyu sent people to report, but the people in the city did not listen to dissuasion and insisted on going up the city wall!" A soldier hurried in to report.
Liu Yu had a headache and led a few people to the south of the city.
At this time, more than two thousand people of Jixian County gathered around the city gate, including strong men, young men, scribes, and even women and children. Carrying their own oil, door panels, hoes and other available materials, they all shouted that they wanted to live or die with the city.
Xian Yuyin, who was dressed in armor, shouted loudly: "Fellow fellows, I appreciate your good intentions. However, Mr. Zhou Mu has an order. The weapons are really dangerous. It is our soldiers' job to defend the city. Everyone, go back!"
An old man raised his hoe and said excitedly, "General, Mr. Liu is a rare good official. Mr. Liu comes to govern Youzhou, so we can live a good life!"
A Confucian scholar came out with an iron sword and echoed, "During the Zhongping period, it was Liu Shijun who protected everyone from the Wuhuan people. If it weren't for your control, Youzhou wouldn't be as prosperous as it is today. Gongsun Zan wants to seize Youzhou from Commander Liu, but none of us will agree!"
"No, no!" "Fight with Gongsun Zan!" "The city is here and the people are there!" The people were furious, which shows Liu Yu's status in their hearts.
"Fathers and brothers! Listen to me." Liu Yu walked out quickly, "Liu Yu understands everyone's thoughts. Over the years that I have been a state pastor, I have always thought about contributing to the court and this Youzhou. The local people are seeking profit!”
Seeing the support of so many people in the city, Liu Yu was also very excited and comforted, "As long as I, Liu Yu, are here, I will never let everyone suffer. The defense of the city is a matter of soldiers. I am afraid that the enemy will hurt everyone. If If you can trust these warriors, please go back and leave the city defense to them!"
"Sir, it's not that we can't trust these soldiers, we really want to protect our home together!"
Tian Chou came to Liu Yu's side and whispered: "Sir, the people's support can be used. Now the morale of the army and the people is high, so why worry about not being able to defend the city. In ancient times, there were people who used people's power to defend the city. We will lead a group of soldiers and civilians to defend the city and wait for other places. rush to the rescue."
"Zitai!" Liu Yu pushed Tian Chou away and said angrily: "Zitai, you also know that Gongsun Zan is a ruthless person. Did he kill few people? If the people help defend the city, once the city is broken, all the people in the city will be attacked. Slaughter, I have harmed them!"
This is the benevolence of Song Xianggong. Simple benevolence and righteousness cannot save the country. It must be supported by strong force, just like Emperor Taizong Li Shimin. Otherwise, the country will be destroyed and the family will be destroyed. It is not sad. Only the victors and the strong can Implement justice and benevolence.
"Sir! Gongsun Zan's army is closing in!" the soldiers on the city shouted.
