Bingzhou was so big that the barbarians could not penetrate deep into the hinterland when they attacked the border.
Bingzhou is also very small, so small that the food it grows is simply not enough to feed itself.
Bingzhou borders Liangzhou to the west. The geographical features are desolate and windy and sandy.
But the east side is not much better, with high mountains and bitter cold wind and frost everywhere.
Since the founding of the country by Jianzuo of the Eastern Han Dynasty, while the aristocratic clans have gradually risen, their military armaments have gradually relaxed. They no longer have the style of the Ming Emperor who conquered the Huns in the north and restored the style of the Western Regions.
If the Central Plains is strong, the Yi and Di will be subjugated; if the Central Plains is weak, the Yi and Di will be rampant.
Faced with the weak defense of the border areas, the Hu people outside the Great Wall were naturally not polite. Whenever autumn was high and the horses were fat, they would go south to invade the border areas and kill and plunder officials and people.
Especially when Tanshihuai Xiongcai unified the grassland, he set his sights on the fertile soil in the south after the Golden Tent Palace in Danhan Mountain, and went south to plunder almost every year.
For decades, the people of Bingzhou were miserable, with nine out of ten houses empty.
Of course, the soldiers and civilians of Bingzhou did not think about counterattack, but they ended in failure every time.
Over time, the Han Dynasty gradually lost control of the three counties of Shuofang, Wuyuan and Yunzhong on the border of Bingzhou. But even so, the Hu people were still not satisfied and continued to extend their tentacles southward, once trying to capture Yanmen County.
Zhang Liao lived in this environment during his childhood.
Witnessing the brutality of the Hu people, Zhang Liao became a minor official in the county when he was young. Whenever the Hu people went south, he would mount his war horse and fight for his homeland.
In one of the battles, Zhang Liao encountered a nine-foot-tall, brave man.
With just a square-shaped halberd in his hand, he killed the barbarians and made them call them father and mother. Wherever you go, ghosts and gods make changes!
Zhang Liao remembers it very clearly.
In that battle, he killed fifty barbarians. He thought he had killed the most thieves, but he was not half as many as that guy.
After the war, when Zhang Liao was feeling regretful, the man came forward to befriend him.
He said that his name was Lu Bu, his courtesy name was Fengxian, and he was from Jiuyuan County, Wuyuan County.
Oh, it turns out he is a despicable foreigner. Why did he come to our Yanmen County?
At that time, the young and energetic Zhang Liao was not convinced by Lu Bu, and agreed on the spot that the next time the barbarians invaded, the two sides would compete again to see who could kill more.
Lu Bu immediately looked up to the sky and laughed, happily agreeing.
So the two got to know each other.
Um, by the way, there was a person accompanying Lu Bu at that time. His name was Gao Shun, whose courtesy name was Gongyi.
Although his military force is mediocre, he is very good at leading troops in battle.
It's just that Gao Shun kept a straight face every day and refused to drink even at the celebration banquet. He was very unsociable, so Zhang Liao was very cold towards him at first.
But after getting along for a long time, Zhang Liao found that although Gao Shun was silent and could not be beaten with three sticks, he was very reliable in doing things and could trust him at any time.
In the fifth year of Zhongping, Zhang Yi, the governor of Bingzhou, led the army and people to resist the invasion of the Hu people, but unfortunately he was killed in battle. Later, the imperial court sent another governor to take office, namely Ding Yuan and Ding Jianyang.
Ding Yuan is better than Zhang Yi, at least he knows who the real talents are.
After he took office, he promoted all three of them, appointing Lu Bu as Chief of Staff, Zhang Liao as Chief Officer, and Gao Shun as Qu Junhou.
Then, Ding Yuan gave Zhang Liao another task, asking him to go to the capital to accept the leadership of General He Jin.
After arriving in the capital, Zhang Liao realized that Ding Yuan no longer wanted to eat sand in the inhospitable place of Bingzhou. He only wanted to curry favor with He Jin and then become an official in the capital.
And he was Ding Yuan's meeting gift to He Jin.
But it doesn't matter to Zhang Liao, Luoyang is better than Bingzhou anyway.
But He Jin soon sent Zhang Liao to Hebei to recruit troops. Zhang Liaoyu readily agreed to this task. Who knew that by the time Zhang Liao came back from Hebei, the world would have changed.
He Jin died, and even his old boss Ding Yuan also died, at the hands of Lu Bu.
Zhang Liao immediately found Lu Bu and asked him why he wanted to kill Ding Yuan.
But Lu Bu laughed it off and didn't take it seriously at all. He even showed off to Zhang Liao the red rabbit horse he just got and countless gold and silver treasures.
Zhang Liao was also laughing, but there was a little more sarcasm in his smile.
From that moment on, Zhang Liao understood that he and Lu Bu were no longer on the same journey.
…
Seeing Lu Bu, Zhang Liao couldn't help but have these memories come to mind.
It's really sad that the childhood friends who used to be friends now have to meet on the battlefield.
Although Zhang Liao knew that such a day would come from the day he surrendered to Liu Bei, he was still filled with emotion when he actually arrived in front of the battle.
"General, shall we join the war?"
At this time, the soldiers behind him saw Zhang Liao in a daze and asked tentatively.
Only then did Zhang Liao come to his senses, nodded helplessly, and ordered: "Listen to the order and charge the whole army!"
When the words fell, the complicated expression in Zhang Liao's eyes disappeared, leaving only a touch of determination.
Fengxian, although you and I were once close friends, we are not the same people after all!
In today's battle, I have no choice but to offend.
"kill!"
Zhang Liao jumped on his horse and rushed out first, brandishing his sword.
On the other side of the battlefield, Lu Bu couldn't help but show a trace of hesitation in his eyes after seeing Zhang Liao coming to help.
"Wenyuan..."
After Xu Rong was defeated and returned to Luoyang, he reported Zhang Liao's rebellion to Dong Zhuo. Lu Bu didn't believe it at first, but later he had to accept this fact.
Today's encounter on the battlefield made Lu Bu feel a little confused.
Wen Yuan, are you and I going to fight each other in the end?
But Lu Bu was not very worried.
First, Zhang Liao only had 3,000 men under his command, which was not enough to form an encirclement against him in a short period of time.
Of the two, there are people on his side who can stop Zhang Liao.
Just when this thought flashed through Lu Bu's mind, Gao Shun, who was in the Chinese army, had already reacted quickly.
"Cheng Lian, Wei Xu, you two lead a thousand troops and horses, and follow me to stop the enemy's reinforcements!"
The moment Gao Shun saw Zhang Liao, he had already stirred up a storm in his heart, but on the surface he remained calm and even made a decision on the spot.
Lu Bu's fighting style has always been brave and tough, and he almost always takes the lead in every battle. Therefore, the task of commanding the army fell on Gao Shun most of the time.
"only!"
Wei Xu and Cheng Lian immediately clasped their fists and accepted the order.
Gao Shun ordered again: "Hou Cheng, go and help the general to kill the enemy general. At the same time, tell the general that it is not suitable to stay here for a long time. The enemy army is not far away, so it is better to retreat early."
"only!"
After Hou Cheng took the order and left, Gao Shun mounted his horse and led a thousand troops to fight Zhang Liao.
Looking at Gao Shun who was leading the army to attack, Zhang Liao said loudly: "Zhengyi, you are no match for me, you'd better surrender quickly!"
"When we meet on the battlefield, everyone is his own master. Wenyuan, I'm offended!"
Gao Shun said coldly, with a trace of unbearability flashing in his eyes, but the spear in his hand was not slow and stabbed straight at Zhang Liao.
Zhang Liao sideways dodged the shot and sighed: "In that case, I have to take you down first."
Having said that, he also gave up his desire to be merciful, and only took advantage of those with a long sword.
Gao Shun was good at commanding troops, but his martial arts skills were lacking a lot. After less than fifty rounds of fighting with Zhang Liao, he was already a little unable to resist.
Fortunately, Wei Xu, who was on the sidelines, came up in time and fought Zhang Liao with Gao Shun. It was a draw.
On the other side of the battlefield, Xiahoudun and the others were not so lucky.
Originally, the three of them surrounded Lu Bu and could hold it for a while, but after Hou Cheng joined the battle, the balance of victory began to tilt towards Lu Bu.
Although Hou Cheng's martial arts is not top-notch, he can still block one of them in a short time.
Now Lu Bu finally freed his hands and began to deal with Cao Hong and Xia Houyuan vigorously.
However, in just a short moment, there were several wounds on the two of them.
Cao Cao watched anxiously from behind, but he had nothing to do.
Although his 2,000 men and Zhang Liao's 3,000 men can defeat Lu Bu, his brother cannot wait so long. He is afraid that he will be killed by Lu Bu in a few moments.
"Fight!"
Cao Cao gritted his teeth, grabbed a spear from the soldiers, and prepared to join the battle group himself.
But at this moment, another troop of soldiers appeared in the distance.
It wasn't Zhang Fei who was out picking up corpses, nor was it the army leader Guan Yu, but Liu Bei and Zhang Heng came over with their own soldiers.
Long before the war started, Cao Cao sent people to the city to ask for help.
At this time, Liu Bei and Zhang Heng were exploring the terrain outside the city. When they learned that the enemy was coming, they quickly led their troops over.
When he was still hundreds of steps away from the battlefield, Zhang Heng had already understood the situation on the field. But what interested him the most was Lu Bu.
"It turns out to be a slave from the Sanjiaxing family... uh, no... it's a slave from the Sanjiaixing family!"
Zhang Heng was a little surprised and almost spilled the beans in his haste.
"Ziyi, what is a slave with three surnames?" Liu Bei asked doubtfully.
Zhang Heng couldn't help but burst into laughter and explained: "Mr. Xuande doesn't know what he knows. The enemy general who came this time is none other than Dong Xianzi, Lu Bu and Lu Fengxian."
Seeing that Liu Bei still looked confused, Zhang Heng knew that he had no idea who Lu Bu was.
But this is normal. At this time, Lu Bu was still unknown, so it was normal that he had never heard of it.
"Lü Bu was once the chief accountant of Ding Jianyang, the governor of Bingzhou, and he was highly appreciated. However, for a small profit, he killed Ding Jianyang and joined the Dong thief. He even swore an oath with the Dong thief as father and son. It is so important to recognize a thief as a father. On top, there really is no one in the world that can match him!
This man’s real surname was Lu, and he later took Ding Jianyang as his master, and now he recognizes Dong Thief as his father. What is this person if he’s not a slave with three surnames? "
"Hahaha……"
After listening to Zhang Heng's explanation, Liu Bei looked up to the sky and laughed. When he looked at Lu Bu again, his eyes were full of disgust and disdain.
“This man is ungrateful, turned his back on his master and turned to the thieves, and he deserves to die!
Ziyi, kill this thief with me! "
Seeing that Xiahou Dun and the others could no longer hold on any longer, Liu Bei pointed the horsewhip in his hand and ordered Tai Shici.
"As you command!"
Taishi Ci suddenly clasped his fists, his eyes filled with excitement. Pulling off the double halberds from behind, he rushed forward to help.
Since serving as Liu Bei's guard, Taishi Ci's relationship with Liu Bei has become increasingly close. Although he was trusted, he never got the chance to play in the previous battles, and he was already itching.
It's finally my turn to take action!
Taishi Ci looked at Lu Bu excitedly on the battlefield, and couldn't help but clenched the halberds in his hands.
"Ziyi, don't underestimate the enemy. Although Lu Bu is invincible, he does have courage that no one can match. There are only a few people in the world who can match him. If you are defeated, you must not show off your strength." Zhang Heng quickly reminded him. road.
Upon hearing this, Taishi Ci became even more excited.
Good, very good, the stronger Lu Bu is, the better!
How can you show your ability by killing a weak chicken?
"Don't worry, Chief. Although the general is poor in martial arts, he is still not taken seriously by ordinary people. Watch me capture this thief!"
Taishi Ci sneered and rushed out on horseback.
Lu Fengxian, I will kill you today to perform meritorious service and strengthen my reputation!
