Wang Men fled eastward for most of the day with more than two thousand horses, and Han Meng and Wen Chou pursued him until dusk.
"General Wang, the boundary of Fangcheng is just ahead. Should we go straight to Jixian from here, or rush to Guangyang and then return to Jixian?" asked the deputy general next to him.
Wangmen hesitated for a while, Fangcheng might also be besieged, and it might have fallen now, and he was thinking about it.
"No, enemy attack!" the deputy general shouted, and he saw figures emerging from the weeds ahead.
Sure enough, arrows shot out from the grass all around, and thousands of soldiers stood up. Their uniforms and armor were not exactly the same as those of the Jizhou Army. Wangmen exclaimed: "Qingzhou Army!"
The Qingzhou Army of more than a thousand men roared and retreated while exchanging arrows. Wangmen's troops were already marching with vigilance and vigilance, but they were caught off guard and the team was thrown into chaos, and many of the horses in the front were damaged. The Wangmen were afraid of another ambush and did not dare to order a rush advance. They could only watch helplessly as the Qingzhou soldiers left.
The sound of horns and the sound of horse hooves came in waves, and there was indeed an ambush ahead. After a while, about three to four thousand horsemen came out in two long dragons. The two leading generals are Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao.
Zhao Yun saw clearly the king's men who were wearing fine armor in front of them, so he picked up his spear and rode straight towards the enemy general. The cavalry behind him simply followed and attacked the enemy force fiercely.
Zhao Yun blocked the flying arrows and adjusted his horse's running route from time to time. Once he got close to the range of Zhao Yun's spear, a little cold light shot out. Wherever he passed, the surrounding enemy cavalry were stabbed one by one and fell off their horses. survived.
Seeing the incomparable brave Zhao Yun, Wang Men also broke out in a cold sweat, so he shouted, and more than two thousand cavalry rushed forward in a small team, trying to break through this area.
But the terrain here is not open. As soon as the two parties spread out, it immediately became a stalemate melee.
Zhao Yun, on the other hand, kept a close eye on the king's gate, and the king's gate kept moving and mobilizing soldiers to intercept the hundreds of horses behind Zhao Yun. The king's family was frightened by Yu Zhaoyun's martial prowess, and had been struggling to escape from his pursuit in the rebellious army.
Gradually, the Wangmen's attention was focused on Zhao Yun in front. On his right wing, there was a small team of more than a hundred cavalry, which was also approaching quickly.
Zhang Liao, the leader, charged forward without any scruples, slashing and scolding with a long sword. It reflects a kind of majesty and heroism that is different from Zhao Yun.
When using a sword, you should pay attention to the domineering and wild momentum, which can cut through the Huashan Mountains. Once he got close to the king's gate, Zhang Liao screamed and slashed his forehead with the sword with unparalleled speed.
In shock, Wang Men also raised a halberd to block. He felt that the tiger's mouth was numb and blood was rising. However, he finally escaped this fatal blow, but it was not over yet.
Two war horses crossed each other and just when Wang Men wanted to take the opportunity to distance themselves, Zhang Liao slashed him in the back of the head with his backhand.
With a "thud!", the tip of the knife struck Wangmen's iron helmet, which made him dizzy. His eyes darkened and he fell off his horse.
The king's soldiers wanted to rescue the commander, but Zhang Liao's subordinates and Zhao Yun came and blocked them. And captured Wangmen. In this small-scale ambush, Yuan Xi's army won.
Wen Chou and Han Meng also led their troops to pursue them, but Wangmen's cavalry only broke through with more than 500 cavalry. The rest were trapped in the rebel army. As soon as the main general Wangmen died, they surrendered and died. Two quarters of an hour later, the battlefield became silent.
Wen Chou and Han Meng were surprised and annoyed. They chased for most of the day but failed to wipe out the cavalry. Unexpectedly, the Qingzhou Army, which occupied the advantageous location, got a big advantage.
But they also saw the Qingzhou Army's impressive combat power, and at this moment our protagonist appeared.
"General Wen and General Han, are you okay?" Yuan Xi's voice came from afar. He brought Xu Chu and other personal guards, as well as Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao to Wen Chou and others, and said with cupped hands.
"Second Young Master, your people are really brave." Han Meng said, "I didn't expect that the enemy troops we had been chasing for most of the day were surrounded and killed by you in less than two quarters of an hour."
"It's not that the two generals were chasing after them. They were attacked from both sides, causing the morale of the army to be in chaos. I just took advantage of the two generals and couldn't get on the stage." Yuan Xi said with a smile, "This two-person attack to defeat the enemy The generals should take the first place. After I go back and report to my father, I will ask for credit from the two generals."
"That's how we thank the Second Young Master." Wen Chou said, cupping his fists.
He and Yuan Xi were old acquaintances. They could not be said to be very close, but they still had some friendship. He was a rough and straightforward person, and his feelings for Yuan Xi were not bad, so he was not in a bad mood.
Zhuo County.
In the prefecture's yamen, the lights were dim and flickering, and Ji Yong was pacing back and forth anxiously. During the day, a cavalry reinforcement was seen coming out, and the morale of the defenders suddenly rose to the highest point.
At one point, someone even proposed to go out of the city and attack the Jizhou military territory. However, more than 5,000 cavalrymen could not securely defeat the Jizhou army.
Ji Yong cautiously chose to wait and see. Right here in the waiting room. Unexpectedly, the situation changed drastically in an instant, and the Wang family fled in embarrassment due to greed for merit. The morale of the defenders on the city, which was originally high, fell to the extreme in an instant.
The feeling of grasping hope and suddenly disappearing made the defenders extremely desperate. If the Jizhou army had not been exhausted after a long battle and the siege equipment had been damaged a lot, it would have been hard to say whether the defenders on the city could have withstood the attack as long as they continued to attack.
"Sir, our reinforcements are finished. Sir, how should we continue to fight this battle?" the deputy general asked.
Ji Yong's face was extremely ugly and he said, "Wait and see, General Gongsun will have more reinforcements than this one."
"Sir, are there really going to be reinforcements?" County Lieutenant Zhang Du asked.
Ji Yong was told a sore point and said sternly: "Why not? As long as we hold on for a while, reinforcements will arrive, and the Jizhou army will definitely collapse without a fight."
The deputy general exchanged glances with Zhang Du and asked: "My lord, do you still want to deceive me? General Gongsun abandoned us. Is this cavalry a sudden one, or is it a team that cuts off the military food route in Jizhou? Follow-up reinforcements are basically impossible. There won’t be!”
"Nonsense, what proof do you have? Do you want to disturb the morale of the army by talking nonsense?" Ji Yong said angrily.
Zhang Du took out a document from his arms and said, "This is General Gongsun's reply to our request for help. Why don't you show it to us, sir?"
Ji Yong's face changed drastically, he pointed at him with trembling hands, and said quibly, "Even so, what do you want? We have no way out, we can only stand firm."
Zhang Du sneered and said with a sneer, "That's not necessarily the case. Sir, just because you have no way out, doesn't mean we have no way out!"
When Ji Yong heard that this was wrong, he immediately became alarmed. He was just thinking about how to deal with the two of them, but the lieutenant behind him had already put his hand on the handle of the knife at his waist. There was a flash of cold light, red blood splashed, and Ji Yong's head was chopped off.
The next day, Yuan Xi met Yuan Shaodi at the camp outside Zhuoxian City.
When he, Wen Chou, Han Meng and others led the troops to the gate of Zhuoxian County, they learned the news that Zhuoxian County had been captured. At this time, all the civil and military personnel under Yuan Shao gathered together. In the big account, there was also Zhang Du, the county captain who had just presented the city.
Yuan Xi, Han Meng, and Wen Chou were ordered by the general to return their orders and then report the battle situation to Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao asked: "Xianyi, our cavalry attacked the king's gate just before noon, how could you lay an ambush so accurately?"
"Reporting to my father, it just so happened that our army fought hard and captured Fangcheng the day before. I led my elite cavalry and a vanguard to join the Chinese army. When we were at Kangting between Zhuoxian and Fangcheng, we scouted The report said that Gongsun Zan was found riding suddenly in Youzhou. I thought it was Gongsun Zan sent to attack the rear of our army, so I set up an ambush on the spot to drag down my father Hongfu and win by luck." Yuan Xi followed Guo Jia's instructions and answered one by one, neither humble nor arrogant. And don’t take credit or be arrogant.
"Okay!" Yuan Shao said, "This is God helping me to kill the enemy. Let Gongsun Zan's sudden cavalry fall into the hands of my son Xianyi. Kill such a large group of cavalry. How much more can Gongsun Zan have? It can be done quickly. Mobilize the troops and horses? As Mr. Gongyu said, our army will have no worries! It should be rewarded."
"Father!" Yuan Xi said quickly, "This time we were able to surround and annihilate the remnants of Gongsun Zan's cavalry so quickly. The two generals Wen Chou and Han Meng were on the ground. They fought hard and pursued from the rear, which had long since exhausted their vigor and combat power. All. Our Qingzhou Army just took advantage of this. This achievement should be attributed to the two generals."
Seeing Yuan Xi crediting others, Yuan Shao agreed with a smile and asked Chen Lin to record their achievements. When Wen Chou and Han Meng thanked them. I also have a better impression of Yuan Xi.
"Zhang Du, it's really rare for you to abandon the secret and turn to the bright side." Yuan Shao said, "Now I appoint you to take the post of Zhonglang General, stay in the army and serve, and also recruit and surrender those who are dissatisfied with Gongsun Zan."
In fact, Yuan Shao was quite talented, but his later defeat was overshadowed by Cao Cao's achievements, just like Li Yuan's talents were also outstanding, but later overshadowed by the achievements of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin.
Zhang Du knew that the reason why he received such courtesy from Yuan Shao was because of his help in recruiting Gongsun Zan's army garrison generals from various places.
But he promised firmly. If he could recruit and surrender a few more people, he would be able to gain a foothold in the Jizhou army.
Of course Yuan Shao was happy that all Gongsun Zan's subordinates had surrendered, and after a period of reorganization. These Youzhou soldiers are completely elite soldiers. In this way, the Jizhou Army completely occupied Zhuo County and directed its troops towards Ji County, Gongsun Zan's hometown.
"Look, everyone, how should we send troops to attack Guangyang?" Yuan Shao asked. After this battle, his confidence increased greatly. He wished he could immediately go to Jixian to kill Gongsun Zan.
"My lord, our army is in urgent need of rest and reorganization after a big battle, and a batch of grain and fodder was cut off from the country. While resting and reorganizing the troops, we can allocate another batch of grain and fodder from the river to store up." Jushou said, "Gongsun Zan has shrunk to Ji County and submitted On the defensive. Our army does not need to rush to attack."
Yuan Shao wanted to win quickly. But I also know that this matter cannot be rushed. Just as he was about to give the order, a herald ran in to report.
"General. Great news from Yuyang from Lord Wuhuan Tadun!"
Hearing this, Yuan Shao suddenly became energetic. He stood up and eagerly took the emergency document. Although the Han scribes on it were unsightly, Yuan Shao could understand it after all.
He laughed loudly and said excitedly, "Tadun, Yan Rou and others have already conquered Yuyang and are leading their troops to attack Jixian County in Guangyang. It seems we don't need to wait any longer and go directly to Jixian County to besiege Gongsun Zan!"
Everyone below was also excited by the news. Gongsun Zan's front and back had been breached, and now he could only defend Jixian County. Yuan Xi was even more surprised. He didn't expect that Yuyang, which Gongsun Zan had been running for many years, would be breached so quickly.
"Who is the guard of Yuyang, and how did the Wuhuan people attack the city?" Yuan Xi asked cautiously.
Yuan Shao smiled and read the victory report that Tadun sent to him. Yuan Xi frowned when he heard it. The article was full of rhetoric about how Tadun led his troops to fight hard, without any description of the battle situation.
At this moment, another messenger reported that another document and letter had arrived, saying that it was sent jointly by Yan Rou, the captain of Wuhuan School, and Xian Yufu.
Yuan Shao opened the letter and read it. His smile gradually disappeared, and finally he handed the letter to Jushou, Xunchen and others below.
Jushu took it and took a look, his face immediately filled with anger and he said, "This Tadun, who is no more than a Hu chieftain from a foreign country, dares to openly rob my people! He must be a barbarian!"
Everyone was puzzled. After reading the letter, Xun Chen said, "Yan Rou and Xian Yufu said that Tadun wanted to destroy Yuyang City and drove the Han people in the rough and equal areas to the north of Yuyang to the city. After guarding the people, Zou Dan took them in and raised them. The whole army went out of the city to find Tadun and Yan Rou for a decisive battle. In the end, they were defeated by the two troops in Yuyangdong."
This is not the first time that the Wuhuan people have done this. The Huns and Xianbei people have done it before, and everyone present has heard about it.
From the perspective of allies, it would be best to quickly defeat the city of Yuyang. Although they are both Han people, most of them regard the people in Yuyang as Gongsun Zan's side, so naturally there will be no great resistance. In war-torn times, human life is as cheap as grass, so Yuan Shao and the others will naturally not take this matter to heart.
Guo Tu rolled his eyes and said: "Those people are nothing more than best friends of Gongsun Zan's subordinates. Besides, we just drove them to Yuyang. Gongsun and Mr. must not alienate this ally for the sake of small things."
Xun Chen shook his head and said, "If that's all, it's fine. Zou Dan was defeated, captured and beheaded. Yan Rou and Xian Yufu said that Ta Dun took the lead in attacking Yuyang City. Not only did he loot Yuyang, but also More than 50,000 Han people will be selected and taken captive to Youbeiping as slaves."
After hearing this, everyone was silent for a while, but they couldn't say anything. This was not surprising in the border areas. Yan Rou was also kidnapped as a slave in Hu Di when he was young.
Yuan Xi felt cold in his heart. In the past, I had very little contact with the northern border areas, and the news I knew about the border areas was limited to the places that came from the imperial court. Although he knew that the situation in the border areas was critical, there were often raids by the Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes.
But now it was like something was happening in front of him, but he had no ability to stop it. This is a long-lost feeling of powerlessness. They were still too weak and had to let teacher Zhang Hong’s secret guards penetrate the grassland in advance.
Yuan Xi has been listening to everyone's arguments. Guo Tu supported Tadun and emphasized the importance of the alliance, while Ju Shou stated the dignity of the Han Dynasty. He advocated restraining Tadun.
Yuan Shao obviously wanted to use Wuhuan's power to pacify Gongsun Zan, and then follow Liu Yu's policy to appease the Wuhuan people in order to stabilize the northern border. Therefore, in the end, Yuan Shao adopted a tacit attitude towards this matter.
However, this also became a heartache of Yuan Shao, and he regarded it as a regret until his death, and asked Emperor Taizong Xuanwu Yuan Xi to avenge his shame, but this is a story later.
"General, this cannot be tolerated!" A clear voice sounded at this time.
Everyone looked and saw Zhao Yun standing up behind Yuan Xi. Yuan Xi secretly thought something was wrong at the first moment. Zhao Yun was also a generous and outspoken person, so naturally he couldn't understand Yuan Shao's thoughts. But it was too late to stop it at this point.
Zhao Yun bowed on one knee and said loudly: "General. Liu Bo'an is dead. Once our troops enter Youzhou and defeat Gongsun Zan, they will definitely take Youzhou as their territory. Then the Han people in Yuyang will no longer be loyal to Gongsun Zan, but to the general." The people under the rule are the subjects of the Han Dynasty. If we let them be taken captive by the Wuhuan people and ignore them, we will not only lose morality, but also make the border officials and people feel chilly!"
When someone said this, it hit his sore spot, and Yuan Shao's face darkened. Said, "I know everything you said. But the most important thing now is to defeat Gongsun Zan and then deal with Youzhou affairs."
Li Yuan also used the power of the Turks to attack Liu Wuzhou from a flank. He was also in the same situation at that time, and finally made some compromises. This can be regarded as Li Yuan's heartache and shame. Fortunately, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin finally made a comeback and defeated the Turks.
Fortunately, Yuan Shao also gave birth to a good son. Later, Emperor Taizong Xuanwu and Emperor Yuan Xi defeated Wuhuan and killed Tadun, which could be regarded as avenging his father Yuan Shao's shame. No wonder Cao Cao sighed, "I should give birth to a son like Yuan Xianyi. As for my son, he is far behind." Oh, woe, woe!
"Did the general agree to take back those Han people?" the upright Zhao Yun asked excitedly.
Yuan Shao snorted coldly. He said, "I have made my own decision on this matter. I don't need you as a general to interfere. Just go on."
"General!" Zhao Yun said anxiously, but the next moment Yuan Xi reached out to stop him, motioned Zhao Yun to step back, and said, "Father, Zhao Zilong only thinks about the Han Dynasty and my Yuan family's foundation. What he said may not be appropriate, but it is all This is what I said from the bottom of my heart, don’t blame my father.”
Guo Tugang wanted to stir up trouble, but Yuan Shao waved his hand and said, "Since he is dedicated to serving the public and is a meritorious general, we will not pursue him further."
After everyone dispersed, Zhao Yun followed Yuan Xi and Zhang Liao without saying a word. Yuan Xi didn't stop until there was no one outside the camp.
"Zilong, what you said just now is right." Yuan Xi looked at Zhao Yun who looked depressed and said calmly.
Zhao Yun widened his eyes and said in surprise, "Major General, do you think so too? But Yuan Cheqi..."
Yuan Xi turned around and said to Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao: "The remnants of the Xianbei, Wuhuan, Xiongnu and other tribes have moved in and settled on the borders of Bingzhou in Youzhou. This is always a disaster. Maybe one day they will be like Wang Mang who took advantage of it. In view of the turmoil in our country, we wantonly invaded and invaded."
Yuan Xi's guess was correct. The Eastern Han Dynasty was responsible for the subsequent Five Husties in China, and the Western Jin Dynasty only accelerated this process.
Yuan Xi paused and then said: "But now our military needs to use the power of the Wuhuan people to destroy Gongsun Zan. Father will not allow us to fall out with the Wuhuan people. Things have to be prioritized. After Hebei and the Central Plains are pacified, we will be free. It’s never too late to deal with border troubles.”
Although Yuan Xi said this, he did not expect that this would be a big problem that would trouble him in the near future. Just like Emperor Taizong Li Shimin did back then.
Five days later, the Jizhou Army officially marched to Jixian County, Guangyang.
In addition to leaving more than 7,000 soldiers to guard Zhuo County, 40,000 Jizhou Army and nearly 30,000 Qingzhou Army were stationed outside Ji County. After the battle, Tadun also took about 20,000 Wuhuan soldiers to station in the north of Ji County.
Yan Rou, Xian Yufu, Qi Zhou, Xian Yuyin and others gathered more than 40,000 people from the three-ethnic coalition and stationed at the foot of Ji County. For a time, the coalition army was very powerful.
Under the planning of Jushu and others, the Jizhou military camp was also very particular. Nearly 30,000 Qingzhou troops were present, and they set up camp south of the small town where Gongsun Zan was stationed. The Jizhou Army set up company camps on the east, north and west sides of the small town. In this way, the Jizhou army could not only trap Gongsun Zan, but also surround Jixian with Tadun and Yan Rou.
As soon as the Jizhou army set up camp, Tadun, Yan Rou, Xian Yufu and others came to see them. As the commander-in-chief of one side and the second son of the Yuan family, Yuan Xi naturally could not be absent. He brought Guo Jia, Xu Chu and other personal guards to the main tent of the Jizhou Army.
At this time, all Yuan Shao's men came to the Chinese army's tent, and all the leading figures in the crusade against Gongsun Zan were present.
Yuan Xi and Guo Jia both focused their observations on Tadun, Yan Rou and others. These people will be the ones who truly control the real power in northern Youzhou within a few years.
In the middle of the big tent, there were wine vessels such as statues and pots. Yuan Shao's soldiers brought the wine and filled it for everyone. Yuan Shao first toasted to Tadun and others as the master and leader of the alliance.
Tadun, who had a thick yellow beard on his face, wiped the wine stains from his mouth and said in broken Chinese: "General Chariot and Cavalry is too polite. We are here to avenge Mr. Liu. The hateful Gongsun Zan, we all I've tolerated him for a long time, now it's time to beat him up!"
"Haha, Lord Tadun is indeed very heroic." Guo Tu praised him, "The Wuhuan cavalry is famous all over the world, and the Wuhuan soldiers are also extremely brave. Our lord is also very envious, you can lead such a group of warriors!"
Tadun laughed and seemed to have taken in all Guo Tu's words. He was a fool on the outside and a deceit on the inside, no worse than An Lushan.
"Sir Tadun, since Gongsun Zan has retreated into the city, he will naturally unite his troops to besiege him. It will take time and effort for the three of us to fight separately, so." Yuan Shao tried.
Xian Yufu knew Yuan Shao's thoughts, so he said, "General Yuan, your reputation is unparalleled in the country, and you are the leader of the alliance. We are willing to be under your control."
He was actually at a loss. If they killed Gongsun Zan and avenged Liu Yu, they really didn't know where to go. At present, it seemed that joining Yuan Shao was the best choice.
Seeing this, Tadun agreed and said, "My troops are also willing to obey the command of Yuan Cheqi."
Yuan Shao handed over his hand in thanks, but he no longer cared about the title of alliance leader. When he attacked Dong Zhuo, his name as alliance leader was not worthy of the name. This time he wanted to take over the power.
So Yuan Shao said solemnly. "You all believe that Yuan is honored by me, but there is no joke in the army. Once you come under my command, you must obey military orders. If you can come under my control, we will create a great cause together. If you can't, you can just disperse."
When Gao Huan, Emperor Xianwu of Qi, was elected by the forces of the six towns, he did the same thing as Yuan Shao did today, and everything happened. Without constraints and regulations, it won't work, otherwise it will be a mess.
Tadun, Yan Rou and others all understood that Yuan Shao was seeking power, but the Jizhou Army and the Qingzhou Army were the strongest among the three parties in terms of numbers and combat power. They could only obey the orders of Yuan Shao, the most powerful.
Tadun was silent for a while and then said, "General Chariot and Cavalry, you are a hero with a high reputation. Not only are we willing to listen to your orders, but we are also willing to serve under your command. But I don't know if you can protect us Wuhuan people like Master Liu Yu. Benefit."
Yan Rou hesitated for a while. Most of the more than 40,000 troops under his command, whether they were Han people or Xianbei Wuhuan people, admired Liu Yu and enlisted in the army in order to avenge him.
After removing Gongsun Zan, most of them will return to the people. At that time, his power became the weakest, and Yuan Shao would obviously be the future overlord of Hebei. It is undoubtedly a wise choice to surrender at this time.
"General Yuan, I am willing to lead my troops to surrender and obey your orders." Yan Rou said generously.
Yuan Shao laughed loudly, asked someone to get the drinking utensils, cut his fingers and dripped blood. Tadun and Yan Rou also cut their fingers and made a blood alliance with Yuan Shao. Expressed his willingness to surrender to Yuan Shao and obey his orders.
Yuan Xi thought carefully below for a while, and he knew that Tadun's so-called affiliation was only a nominal affiliation, and in essence it was more like an alliance. But Yuan Shao's goal was also achieved.
"General, three watchtower carriages have been built!" a herald reported.
Yuan Shao laughed and said, "Do you dare to go and see the enemy situation in the city so that we can discuss the next step of attacking the city?"
He said this not only to see the enemy's situation, but also to show military power and weapons. He who can use people can control them.
