Cheng Lian did not expect that Ma Chao's surprise attack would be so decisive and acted more quickly than the Huns and Xianbei people, so he naturally had to pay the price of his life.

However, when Cheng Lian died, six or seven days had passed since the day he sent troops to Hetao. In addition, the large-scale cavalry pursuit was extremely wide, and it was often maneuvering hundreds of miles.

So when Ma Chao finally killed Cheng Lian, he had already chased him to the bank of the Yellow River bordering Shangjun and Yunzhong County. He had a mileage of one state from the main battlefield of the southern line (about the same distance from south to north as the entire Bingzhou)

In addition, Cheng Lian's troops are cavalry after all, and even if the main general is killed, they will scatter birds and beasts, and chasing and annihilation of the remaining enemies is very troublesome. Ma Chao can only choose to capture the big and let the small, and sweep away the enemies that remain in the rear that may pose a major threat.

Those small groups of less than a thousand cavalry fled to the Bingzhou cavalry, and they could only let go for the time being, and they could not catch up. Perhaps they would continue to plunder in Hetao, live in a mixed place with the Xiongnu Xianbei people, and gradually become nomadic.

It is also possible that they will choose to rely on robbery for a period of time first, and then try every means to take a detour back to Bingzhou and return to the team Lu Bu.

These are no longer what Ma Chao has time to plan now. I guess when the Hanoi-Shangdang battle is completely over, I will be busy this winter. Only then can these Bingzhou cavalry be eliminated, either annihilated or encircled and forced to surrender.

At present, Ma Chao needs to go east immediately along the Wuding River, try to cross the Yellow River from Lishi County, harass Lu Bu's retreat, and work with Zhang Fei to completely fight back Lu Bu's rescue of Zhang Liao.

Considering the long journey, it is impossible to rush to attack without any effort when returning, and you have to gradually maintain the state of the army. Therefore, when you come, you are rushing for four days and going for seven or eight days is a must.

Lu Bu is not Cheng Lian. If he doesn't keep a good condition, he will run into him, which is to give him a haircut.

...

All of the above took Ma Chao more than ten days. In addition, the main legion around Cheng Lian was basically wiped out, and the deserters could not go back to notify Lu Bu for the time being.

Calculate the days, it was already two days after Cheng Lian died when Lu Bu arrived in Linfen. As for the news of Cheng Lian's death, it was six days later, and three more days later, Ma Chao's troops arrived.

Overall, it is roughly such a timeline.

So, on the day he arrived in Linfen, Lu Bu was only surprised when he saw Zhang Fei's banner and realized that Xu Huang's back was not empty, and Linfen was not so easy to surround.

The military intelligence provided to him by the upper class of Yuan Shao's camp also misjudged the scale of the enemy's situation, which led to him being slightly passive now.

With Zhang Fei here, it would be of no value to seize time to block Xu Huang's back road. Lu Bu also knew the simple military strategy of "one who seeks profit for a hundred miles can get on the general". On the first day, he chose to set up a camp steadily, let the troops rest well, and sent patrols to guard Zhang Fei's robbery camp.

Zhang Fei also knew Lu Bu's power. He was now a general of chariots and cavalry. He was so impulsive when he was not in his twenties, so he did not act rashly at all, and both sides were at peace.

After a day of rest, Lu Bu also slightly adjusted his mentality from the initial resentment.

"Isn't it just that I met Zhang Fei? Liu Bei's troops were there and fighting on multiple fronts. Even if Zhang Fei was here, there would be only 20,000 or 30,000 people at most. I heard that since Yuan Shao lost his troops in Hanoi, he has increased his urging against Cao Cao.

He wanted Cao Cao to stay in Yingchuan, and Runan's 80,000 troops could not be satisfied with defending Gao Shun, and they wanted to attack Wancheng, Xinye and other places.

What's more, it has been proved that Wang Ping is not in the Dabie Mountains, and Cao Cao must turn defense into offense on the front line between Runan and Huainan, otherwise Yuan Shao would not be able to explain it.

One is rising and the other is getting worse, and Liu Bei's total reserve force must be in short supply. I may not be able to take over Linfen City, but I am still not afraid of blocking the west bank of the Fen River and forcing Zhang Fei out of the city to fight with me."

After understanding this idea, July 29th, which is the third day after Lu Bu arrived in Linfen, it was also the day when Cheng Lian died in battle on the northern front.

Lu Bu's army further advanced, while Wei Xu and all the infantrymen were about 25,000 people in the north, blocking the banks of the Fenshui River Valley, camping along the river, and holding on to the camp, preventing Zhang Fei from leaving the city, cutting off Lu Bu's food route and way back.

Lu Bu himself led another 25,000 men, including more than 20,000 cavalry and 35,000 infantry to camp on the east bank of the Fen River east of Linfen City, and cut off the tributary of the Fen River east of the Fen River.

As mentioned earlier, the 水水 and even Houma County along the river were the key to the grain roads of Xu Huang, Guan Yu and others before. So Lu Bu cut off the 水水水, which cut off Xu Huang's way back and grain roads.

Lu Bu and Wei Xu's camps were very close, but they formed a river support at the Sancha River estuary between the Fen River and the Wushui River. They were closer than the ordinary "strike force" and supported faster. They would never give Zhang Fei the opportunity to break through each time difference.

After all, one can learn from one's mistakes. Last winter, outside the Yewang City, Zhang Liao and Tuo Yi also camped in the "steering corner" of the Sancha River estuary, one blocked the downstream of the Qinshui River and the other blocked the Danshui tributary of the Qinshui River.

As a result, because the location selection was not accurate enough, Guan Yu beaten the time difference in the attack on the battalion. The counter-espionage letter sent by Zhuge Liang to Que Yi disrupted Que Yi's rescue rhythm. In the end, Yuan Jun's losses were not small, and Wen Chou arrived to stop the loss.

Lu Bu knew too much about Zhang Liao’s experience half a year ago, so he naturally could not step into the same pit twice. He and Wei Xu had to join the group closer.

In order to ensure the speed of support between the two battalions, Lu Bu even ordered the camp to build a simple bridge across the Fen River and the Shui River in the camp immediately.

Among these two rivers, the water of the water is less than twenty meters wide, and the water of the Fen River is larger and eighty meters wide. Therefore, the water of the water can be simply built with wood directly on the water of the water of the water. The water of the Fen River needs to line up the grain ships and troop transport ships brought by Lu Bu in a slow flow, and wooden boards are laid to make floating bridges.

All of this is to either let Zhang Fei sit and watch him block Xu Huang, or force Zhang Fei to take the initiative to go out of the city to fight, and at the same time fight with the main force of the Bingzhou Army, which has a total force of 50,000 led by him and Wei Xu, so that Zhang Fei is in a state of weak force and has to undertake the task of taking the initiative to attack.

...

"Lu Bu wanted to take advantage of my anxious fear of my second brother's safety, so that I could let Linfen City not defend, take the initiative to go out of the city to cross the river to attack his camp and fight with him.

Unfortunately, how capable the second brother is, we don’t know how much military ration he had previously stored. Even Xu Huang seemed to have just been cut off from his back these days, but he had saved a lot of food to be transferred in Houma County before.

Zhang Liao has starved to death three times, and his second brother and Xu Huang cannot starve to death! If you can afford to waste, we will accompany you to waste. The situation is getting more and more entangled. The layers of people and horses are blocked in Taihang Mountains, and the entire Bingzhou and Hedong are really in chaos."

On the other side of the Fen River, Zhang Fei from Linfen City, saw Lu Bu's deployment adjustments and put down his telescope, still calmly.

He hasn't gotten a chance to fight for more than a year. Since his eldest brother ascended the throne and became emperor, he has never fought a war himself. His second brother has been in stalemate on the front line of Hedong and Hanoi, but he was left in Hongnong and stalemate with Yuan Shaojun in Luoyang.

Because of the danger of the slightest, both sides have been sitting in meditation and consuming nothing. This kind of life is simply too terrible.

But the elder brother didn't think anything was there, so he said to him: "My brothers have been fighting for more than ten years, and now they are about to share wealth with their two brothers. My brother has already been a general of chariots and cavalry, so what's wrong with resting?

I don’t tell some things to outsiders, and even Boya didn’t say it openly. Third brother, you are honest, so I won’t let you guess yourself—Yuan Shao, Cao, Sun Quan, these three families, I will give Yun Chang and you, and Boya, one of them will destroy the family, and you will be the most powerful minister in the future. I will also have an explanation. To avoid too many other people who want to be a county duke, and there will be no worries about being inequality.

Zilong can only follow Boya to be the deputy when he destroyed Sun Quan, so you should be content. After fighting Yuan Shao, Yun Changdu has worked hard for so long, so he should be the mainstay. When dealing with Cao Cao in the future, he will naturally make you the general.

Hebei will be handed over to Yunchang, Jiangdong, and Huainan will be handed over to Boya and Zilong. Jianghehuai will divide the land of Guandong from north to south into four pieces, and all of them will be divided for you."

It was only after Liu Bei showed up with him that Zhang Fei became calm.

Moreover, Liu Bei was afraid that he would go back to the battle after he was idle for a long time, so he was too impulsive to make contributions, so he sent Fa Zheng to serve as a military officer, so that Fa Zheng could control Zhang Fei's rhythm when necessary.

Zhang Fei's calmness is also related to his accustomed to the existence of Fazheng. Anyway, he knew that even if he was impulsive, he would be stopped.

"Xiaozhi, how do you think of fighting this battle? Brother, I told you to listen to you more when I am impulsive. Now we are not impulsive, but you might as well listen." Zhang Fei happily hugged his hands in front of his chest, looking like he was indifferent.

Fa Zheng followed Liu Bei, and it is his eighth year. His age is twenty-four years old, so his seniority is not very high. He has never reached the level of a deputy minister.

He carefully observed Lu Bu's layout and advised: "Since Lu Bu is not in a hurry, the general should not be in a hurry. Anyway, he will sooner or later hear the news of Cheng Lian's misfortune.

We were originally worried that Lu Bu would go deep into Wangwu Mountain to attack Xu Huang, or attack the grain land in Houma County, so we would have to go out of the city to respond to Xu Huang.

Now Lu Bu is not in a hurry. We can wait for General Ma Chao to clean up Cheng Lian and be able to attack Lu Bu in three lines with us. Moreover, in order to catch up with Cheng Lian, Ma Chao had a surprise attack before, and it was a configuration of three horses.

He had nearly 20,000 cavalry under his command, and only five or six thousand people caught up with the first battle with Cheng Lian. More than 10,000 people were transferred by friendly troops because of their horses. Now he is stationed in Xiayang, Shangjun, on standby.

Now we can judge that Ma Chao doesn't have to rush back to participate in the decisive battle immediately, so we can send an order to Xia Yang, so that Pang De can take Ma Chao's part of the horseless cavalry who were dismissed from horses and continue to head north.

You can transfer a batch of caravans to them, and first take the land route, and then pass the Longmenkou (Hukou) Waterfall and take the Yellow River water route to let them meet with Ma Chao. After Ma Chao annihilated Cheng Lian, he took a little rest and maintained his full power, took these people and restored his troops to 20,000, and then he could harass Lu Bu behind him.

If Lu Bu hears that Cheng Lian is defeated and Ma Chao threatens Taiyuan, wouldn’t the morale of the army be in chaos? He will have to leave if he doesn’t leave. Although we may not be able to fight to the death and annihilate Lu Bu, we can definitely bite the infantry in his army to pursue and severely damage one of them.”

After hearing this, Zhang Fei did not make a statement immediately, because he didn't know that Cheng Lian had just been killed by Ma Chao.

He subconsciously asked Fa Zheng: "Xiaozhi, are you so sure that Bo Qi can eliminate Cheng Lian so completely, so that he doesn't even have the chance to return to Taiyuan?"

Fa Zheng smiled and said, "The art of war is that those who know whether they can fight or not win. Lu Bu asked Cheng Lian to harass and distract our army's attention. He was overestimating himself and could not be said to be unable to fight. In a plain land like the Hetao Plain, if he was caught up by General Ma's breastplate cavalry, will there be any suspense in this situation of battle?"

Zhang Fei nodded unwillingly: "You have confidence in Bo Qi. If you go on, your eldest brother will have confidence in my second brother Bo Qi Zilong."

Fa Zheng was a little embarrassed and smiled apologized: "The general and Lu Bu can attract Lu Bu without doubt, which is also a contribution. If you feel that it is against common sense to stick to it and not fight, you can also attack for a few days, or make an appointment with the generals to fight. With the firm confidence in Lu Bu's idea of ​​"Xu Huang, Guan Yu's military rations must not be much," he will spend it with us.

However, the general is a daughter-in-law after all, and he is in a chariot and cavalry. If he fights with the lord of a state like Lu Bu, he is unscrupulous. If His Majesty asks, I dare not say that I am trying to persuade the general to do this."

Zhang Fei thought about it and was idle. He had confidence in himself and wanted to try fighting with Lu Bu. At worst, both sides could let the crossbow soldiers shoot and withdraw the gold at any time.

That night, Zhang Fei sent people to Lu Bu camp with a very ancient style to issue a letter of war, asking Lu Bu to go to the west bank of the Fen River tomorrow, and he would also open the door to fight.

After receiving it, Lu Bu just laughed and couldn't help but feel eager to try it out. As the fact that the governor of Bingzhou, Lu Bu rarely attacked others himself, but Zhang Fei on the opposite side had a higher status than him in the Guanxi court, so it was very ancient to be willing to make a fight with him.

He is already in his forties, which is different from his early thirties ten years ago. His martial arts experience is becoming more and more pure, and his physical strength, especially endurance, is not the peak.

He briefly criticized the words on the war letter and shouted to the messenger: "Go back and tell Zhang Fei that whoever dares to fight tomorrow will call the other party three times!"

...

The next morning, Zhang Fei opened the west gate of Linfen City, which was the gate of Fen River. He led hundreds of cavalry out of the city from the west gate and went around to the northwest corner of the city. He relied on more than a hundred steps outside the city wall to form a formation and asked Lu Bu to come out of the formation and answer the battle.

Lu Bu said nothing about Zhang Fei's position selection. For such a position, both sides leaned directly against Fenshui, so there was no need to worry about being surrounded and chased in that direction.

"It seems that Zhang Fei is really timid. He just wants to compete with us in martial arts. If he feels he is unable to compete with him, he can retreat at any time. Moreover, he does not open the north gate but opens the west gate, so that he will not let me chase him.

He was afraid that my army would take the opportunity to bite his personal cavalry and penetrate the city, so he walked around the force and headed west to return to the city. The whole way there was a crossbow covered by walls and could not be pursued. There was no urn city in Linfen County. As long as the gate was taken, the city would be half broken."

Lu Bu thought to himself. In addition, when he saw Zhang Fei bringing hundreds of mobile and flexible cavalry out of the city, he felt more and more that Zhang Fei was insincere and couldn't help but laugh at him:

"Zhang Fei's husband! You asked me to fight to the decisive battle, but you only brought hundreds of cavalry out of the city. How sincere it is! I'm afraid that you have already thought about how to retreat after losing and how to cover you with the crossbow on the city. Coward, even if you go back alive today, these three calls of Nae Weng will be called to death!"

Zhang Fei was furious and wanted to scold him, but he heard a voice on the city wall behind him. It turned out that Fa was watching the battle. Several cursing players who were good at ears helped Zhang Fei pass the message and scolded Zhang Fei, the Fa Zheng sect, and said that the random words of Zhang Fei were adaptable to the situation.

After hearing this, Zhang Fei was very satisfied with Fa Zheng's improvisation of angering Lu Bu, and copied it directly: "Slaves of the Three Certificates! I have known that you have three Naiweng long ago, so there is no need to remind me. I recognize Naiweng too much and feel frustrated. Do you want to make up for it?"

Lu Bu was instantly touched by the scales, and roared and rushed up: "All thieves are looking for death!"

——

PS: Typhoon went out yesterday afternoon while it was not raining, but it still got a little wet, and it felt a little uncomfortable. I reduced the number of words a little in the past two days. Fortunately, there were more words a few days ago, and in the first few days this week, they were basically eight thousand words a day. So, I don’t owe any debts anymore.
Chapter completed!