The west of Huaicheng, on a wide plain.

The fertile fields have been abandoned and overgrown weeds.

The Liang army's 30,000 elite troops rushed straight to the west along the avenue, scattering horses within a radius of thirty miles, exploring any possible movements.

Under the banner of the "Taishi" character, Zhang Xiu wore iron armor and a red cloak, and held a large gun, and looked like Taishici.

"Dadada." The horses in front of him galloped and reported: "Report to Your Majesty. Gao Lan ran towards the western county town and sent thousands of cavalry to harass him. He was about to arrive."

The horse probe was riding a horse to report the news, and the horsepower was abundant, but the cavalry was not slow either.

"What did you say?" Zhang Xiu widened his eyes and then became furious. Gao Lan, you, with 50,000 elite soldiers, don't even dare to fight?

Zhang Xiu quickly calmed down his anger. He felt the ground start to tremble and the opponent's cavalry came.

"Just form a round formation. The iron armored soldiers are outside, and the archers are inside." Zhang Xiu ordered without hesitation.

Because they were marching rapidly, they did not bring shields and could only use iron armored soldiers as human shields. The opponent's cavalry must be coming to harass him and will definitely shoot arrows instead of rushing over to fight.

It would be great if it was a fight... Damn it.

With Zhang Xiu's order, 30,000 elite soldiers formed a round formation. The iron armored soldiers knew what this meant, but they simply executed the order. On the battlefield, the most taboo thing is to defeat. They have iron armor protection and may die, but most of them can survive.

How can you be afraid of death when you are a soldier and eat food?

"Taishi", "Gao" and "Fan" are surrounded by three flags, and Zhang Xiu is surrounded by hundreds of cavalrymen to watch the situation.

Soon he saw the Yuan army cavalry. The cavalry did not even shoot arrows, but instead pulled their horses to watch not far away.

It was like a frightened bird. If he sent a few cavalry to fight, the other party would definitely run away.

Zhang Xiu sighed and ordered: "Change the formation, Fan Chou, you are broken. Let's go back to Huaicheng."

"promise."

Fan Chou, Gao Shun's promise and immediately went down. Soon after, Zhang Xiu led the Qimen, Yulin and Hu Ben's army to go first, and Gao Shun followed, Fan Chou broke the back and returned to Huaicheng.

Yuan's cavalry still did not take action, and they all raised their heads to watch Zhang Xiu retreat.

Zhang Xiu quickly returned to Huaicheng, left his big gun, picked up his helmet and threw it to a tiger soldier, and said annoyedly: "If my cavalry crossed the river, I will be able to eat Gao Lan today."

Zhang Xiu sighed in his heart.

It's so tiring to be famous. When I first appeared with Dong Zhuo, Ma Teng and Han Sui didn't know about it. They killed it so happily at that time.

Now, generals like Gao Lan ran away when they saw me...

"Your Majesty. Military advisors, please go back immediately. There is news in the south." A tiger came to report.

"Huh?" Zhang Xiu's eyes narrowed slightly. Yuan Shao had withdrawn his troops. I saw Gao Lan with my own eyes. What news is there in the south?

He didn't care about his anger, so he put on his helmet again, led hundreds of light cavalrymen, stirred up a strong wind and headed towards the county magistrate's mansion.

"What's the matter?" Zhang Xiu handed over the helmet to a tiger bent and walked into the hall with great strides. The advisers sat kneeling on both sides.

"Your Majesty. News came from Chen Gong. Zhang He did not retreat, but attacked our crossing army. Wen Chou also went southeast, and Cao Cao would probably follow him."

Ju Su bowed his hand, then picked up the cloth in front of him and handed it to Zhang Xiudao.

Zhang Xiu glanced at him and frowned. This was really unexpected. They expected that Yuan Shao would withdraw his troops because they made a judgment based on Yuan Shao's personality.

Zhang He and Wen Chou actually sent troops?

Zhang Xiu asked Hu Ben to come in and unbutton his armor, then sat cross-legged on the coach's seat, and fell into deep thoughts.

Not very good, not very good.

It is beneficial to change the war offensive and defense as soon as possible.

The war in Hedong, Hanoi and Nanyang counties has been going on for a long time. This year, the fields are abandoned, and a large number of people fled to the rest of Sili.

In this situation, both sides have arranged millions of soldiers in Hedong and Hanoi counties, intertwined with each other, you have me and I have you.

The war was in a stalemate, and Zhang Xiu was not afraid.

But it is possible to fight for two years.

Although he is currently suffering from thick blood and has a lot of food, he can allow the fugitives to fill his stomach and avoid starving to death. However, these three counties are all places with high grain production, and if they produce grain in less than one year, they will suffer a lot of losses. If the offensive and defensive reversal, the war can be carried out on the territory of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Sun Jian.

"Zhang He. I am worthy of being a famous general in Hebei." After sighing, Zhang Xiu patted his knees with both hands and said to Xun You: "The Xi Zhicai who wrote to Luoyang asked him to send envoys to maintain his rituals. He ordered the general Pang De, the Western Expedition, to dispatch 20,000 troops to the governor of Shuofang, to attack Yanmen Pass from north to south, and to relieve our pressure."

"No." Xun You replied and wrote down.

Zhang Xiu then started to ponder again.

The war has only been further expanded. In Qinzhou and Liangzhou, he has arranged 80,000 elite soldiers.

But very few can move.

If the countries in the Western Regions, the Xianbei people in the north and the Qiang people who were still restless, if they mobilize too many troops, Liangzhou and Qinzhou will also be in chaos.

Pang De's 20,000 people, combined with the Shuofang Governor's headquarters, can form an effective army and continue to attack Yanmen Pass.

Yanmen Pass is a northern pass, and it may not be possible to attack, but it can attract some troops from Yuan Shao.

Zhang Xiu thought of the soldiers and horses in Yizhou again.

Since I pacified Bashu, I ordered Gan Ning and Zhou Yu to train the navy for a long time. I should have some combat effectiveness.

Only this part of the troops can be dispatched to harass Jiangling, Nanjun, Jingzhou. Force Sun Jian to mobilize his troops to resist can also reduce the pressure in Nanyang.

"Let Xi Zhicai send envoys to uphold the rituals and order Zhao Yun to lead 80,000 elite troops in Bashu to go south along the waterway. Remember, the infantry must cooperate with the navy. The navy cannot leave the infantry."

Zhang Xiu raised his head and ordered.

The Battle of Yiling was a painful lesson. The reason why Liu Bei failed was that there was no water and Lu went hand in hand.

Both sides can attack or defend.

"promise."

Xun You replied and remembered again. Seeing that Zhang Xiu did not continue to give orders, he bowed to Zhang Xiu and turned around and went out.

Zhang Xiu looked around at the remaining advisers and laughed: "Although I have a strong national strength and many soldiers, I don't have to be distributed around to set up defenses. There are few soldiers and horses that can be dispatched. They are unwilling to pull out troops and fight me to decisively."

"If they use a million soldiers and a half hundred thousand soldiers, the two sides will start a hearty battle on the plains. I promise to win. Unfortunately, they won't. In the current situation, winning by making a plan is the best. Will you come out?"

The advisers were very confident in Zhang Xiu and did not think that Zhang Xiu was bragging.

Zhang Xiu's power is equal to Xiang Yu, while Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Sun Jian are not Gaozu and Han Xin.

But Zhang Xiu also said that these three heroes would not have a decisive battle with Zhang Xiu.

It was the fighting style in the Spring and Autumn Period. The two princes mobilized their troops and horses, unfolded their formation, and then roared together to launch a refreshing decisive battle.

The national war will definitely win or lose.

At that time, chariots were used to decide the outcome. A car was also called a car.

A country of ten thousand chariots is used to describe a large number of war chariots and a strong national strength.

Fa Zheng had thought about it for a long time and bowed his hands and said, "It's better to leave it."

"How to leave me?" Zhang Xiu nodded.

The so-called alliance is a huge flaw. There are so many ways to disagree. Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Sun Jian can disagree.

Yuan Shao and his subordinates can get apart.

"Yuan Shao has three legitimate sons. Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, and Yuan Shang. Yuan Shao loves his youngest son Yuan Shang and alienates his eldest son Yuan Tan. Yuan Tan is very unwilling to join the expansion of civil and military forces. Guo Tu is Yuan Tan's person."

"Which Feng Ji, Shen Pei is Yuan Shang's man."

"The two sides are fighting. Now Guo Tu is Wen Chou's military supervisor. If Wen Chou, Zhang He will win a great victory in the south. Guo Tu's reputation will be great. Then Yuan Tan's momentum will also rise. This is what Shen Pei and Feng Ji doesn't want to see."

Fa Zheng bowed to Zhang Xiu and said with a smile.

Zhang Xiu laughed and nodded. There are many sons here, not the root of destruction. It is whether the lord can suppress the ministers, hold the lonely (son), and fight with their own swords.

He did not establish an eldest son, but established a legitimate son, which was the root cause of all this.

A legitimate one does not establish a eldest son. A legitimate one does not establish a young son.

"Xiaozhi. You probably don't want me to send someone to directly to Shen Feng and Feng Ji Tan?" Zhang Xiu said with a smile.

Fa Zheng wanted to take a look at Zhang Xiu very much, but he held it back. In the past, Zhang Xiu was the Grand Sima, but now Zhang Xiu is His Majesty. How could he take a look at Zhang Xiu?

Fa Zheng took a deep breath, shook his head seriously and said, "Although Feng Ji and Shen Pei each have their own shortcomings, they are not really stupid and are also considered loyal ministers. If Your Majesty directly sends someone to talk to them, it will be counterproductive."

"It's better to spread rumors in Jizhou, saying that if Guo Tu defeated the Liang army and supported Yuan Tan as his heir, he would definitely massacre all the discipline and the soldiers would be full of the family. The two would inevitably be frightened and lobby Yuan Shao to withdraw his troops. Once Yuan Shao wanted to withdraw his troops, Zhang He would be a martial artist? What's the use of it?"

"Your Majesty can also work in both ways. I heard that Xu You is greedy for money. Your Majesty has countless treasures in the palace. It is better to choose one or two and send someone to lobby Xu You. He also promised Xu You that after the matter is completed, the Hou will be granted ten thousand households and be the founding father. He may be moved."

Zhang Xiu narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then looked up at the other advisers. The advisers did not respond at all, so they just agreed.

And this matter is costless.

Spreading rumors requires strength. As for Zhenbao lobbying Xu You. Is that a matter that can be settled with money?

"Leave the rumor spread to you." Zhang Xiu raised his head and Fa Zheng said.

Then, Zhang Xiu glanced at Sima Yi and said, "Zhenbao. I have someone take it from Luoyang. Zhongda. You disguise yourself and go to contact Xu You."

Sima Yi instinctively felt a chill on his body, but he didn't think much about it. After all, Xu You was also a first-class adviser, and it was reasonable to send an eloquent person to talk to Xu You.
To be continued...