It's not like Liu Bei didn't send someone to contact Zhu Jun.
As he marched, he sent a messenger to Anyi to determine whether Zhu Jun was really dragging Niu Fu.
Unfortunately, time did not wait for me. He was unable to go to Anyi to support him and could only continue to march.
The reason has also been mentioned. The distance and time are not enough. Looking for Zhu Jun means losing an opportunity to attack Chang'an. The food and grass are not enough to support the coalition forces to reach Anyi.
So I decided not to stop doing anything and march to Chang'an.
The army crossed the Wei River in the north of Zheng County and arrived at Xiagui County, which was later known as the northern part of Weinan City. As long as they crossed the Jinghe River from the west of Xiagui County, they arrived at Zuofengyi County.
The people in Xiagui County were not completely evacuated. Chang'an already had a large population, but millions of people from Luoyang suddenly arrived, making the surrounding area even more crowded.
Even if Xu Rong wanted to strengthen the walls and clear the country, he would have to see if there was any room around Chang'an that he could move to.
Unless he commits a massacre.
But even if Xu Rong was mad enough to imitate Cao Cao, he didn't have that many troops to do it, so there were people in Xiagui, Zuofengyi, Yangling, Changling and other places, so there was nothing he could do.
When Xiagui County learned that the coalition forces were coming, the defenders fled immediately. The streets were in chaos. The wealthy families had fled long ago, and the only ones left were the poor who could not escape.
When the coalition soldiers entered the city, they saw a rather miserable scene. In the streets and alleys and under the walls, there were densely packed people sitting and lying down to escape. These people were unkempt, ragged, expressionless, and empty. His eyes had no energy at all, they just looked ahead blankly.
There is sewage everywhere in the city, and there is not even a mouse in the sewage, because all the food in the city has been eaten, except for the rotting and smelly dead bodies; the people who are still alive are like walking zombies, without a trace of what a human should have. Vitality and smell.
Dong Zhuo moved the people of Luoyang to Chang'an, but he didn't care about their life or death at all, and randomly dumped them in the cities around Chang'an. The population of Jingzhaoyin grew up overnight, which was difficult to digest from any angle.
Even if it is a landlord's manor economy, there are only so many fields in the Guanzhong Plain, and it is winter, so there is no need for these people. The large population is like livestock. The first to die are the elderly and children, and then the women. The young and strong may be They could still join the army or work as slaves, but more people died quietly this winter.
After the defenders withdrew, the remaining order in the city was broken. The streets were full of beatings, smashing, and shooting. Even when the coalition troops entered the city, many people turned a blind eye to them. Instead of freezing to death or starving to death this winter, it was better to It is better to do something before dying so that your death will not be too miserable.
Liu Bei looked around at the apocalyptic scene in the city with a very ugly expression. He had no idea that after Dong Zhuo moved the population to Chang'an, the situation would be like this. Everything was like a hell on earth, and the small county was full of tragedies.
He didn't understand that since Dong Zhuo didn't need these people at all, why did he have to forcibly move them here and let them fend for themselves?
Just to prevent the Kwantung Army from getting these people?
What is the difference between acting like this and animals?
"Brother, look."
Guan Yu suddenly grabbed Liu Bei and pointed not far away.
Liu Bei looked for the sound and saw a woman under the east wall.
The woman was sitting on her knees in the mud beside the wall with her legs bent, her dark, dirty and tangled hair spread out. Her coat and pants were already torn and dirty.
He stuffed his withered breast into the mouth of the child in his arms.
The child's thin, strip-like hands were exposed to the cold wind, and his fingers were curled up like chicken feet, as thin as bones. His eyes were closed tightly, and his bloodless face and lips were covered with a layer of blue-grey.
No matter how much his mother teased him, he didn't react at all. The black breasts were stuffed into his mouth over and over again, and slipped out from the corner of his mouth over and over again...
"this......"
Liu Bei was deeply shocked by this scene.
He stood there for a long time, opening his mouth and trying to make a sound, but found that nothing could come out.
There was only one pair of eyes, already soaked with tears, blurring the vision.
Suddenly, the tangy aroma of meat came to my nostrils.
The numb people nearby seemed to suddenly come to life, with a greedy look in their eyes. They followed the smell of meat and found someone cooking a pot of soup inside a wooden door.
Seeing someone breaking in, the broth owner held a knife with red eyes and said viciously: "Get out, I paid for this with my son."
Everyone saw the pale arms and legs of the child rolling up and down in the soup, human oil flowers floating on the water, the smell of meat overflowing, and even half of the head rising and falling with the rolling boiling water, with two empty eyes.
Looking at them with awe.
Yi Zi eats each other!
Liu Bei watched all this blankly.
In his limited memory, he only remembered that there were records in "Zuo Zhuan" and "Historical Records", such as when the Chu Dynasty conquered the Song Dynasty, "we exchanged our sons for food, and the bones were analyzed for cooking."
There were three other families, namely Jin, Han, Wei, and Zhao, who besieged Jin Aigong in Jinyang for more than a year. "The three kingdoms attacked Jinyang for more than a year, and diverted Fen water to flood the city. The city was not flooded for three times. A cauldron was hung in the city.
Cooking, changing food and eating."
In addition, I still vaguely remember that during the reign of Emperor Huan, there was a severe drought in Hanoi, the land was bare for thousands of miles, and the people changed their sons and ate each other.
But whether you read these things from history books or hear about the disaster during the reign of Emperor Huan, they are just a few cold words. How can it be more shocking to see it with your own eyes?
Only at this moment did Liu Bei understand how difficult the lives of the people who were moved from Luoyang were.
In other words, they are no longer as good as livestock or even weeds.
At least the livestock are fed, and the weeds can take root and sprout.
"Brother, big brother."
Guan Yu pushed him gently and woke Liu Bei up.
"ah?"
Liu Bei glanced at him blankly, and only then did he realize that tears were streaming down his face.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "It's time to go."
Guan Yu reminded in a low voice.
"oh."
Liu Bei wanted to press the horse's belly to urge Lu to leave, but found that his legs were shaking and he could no longer move.
It was Guan Yu who patted Lu on the buttocks before letting the horse continue to move forward.
But after leaving Xiagui for a long time, Liu Bei could not forget those two scenes.
Like a red-hot iron, it was deeply engraved in his mind, like a tarsal maggot, lingering...
...
...
How could Xu Rong not know that Liu Bei was taking a detour to Gui?
Seventy thousand horses are marching on the plains in a mighty manner. As long as they are not blind, they will definitely send scouts to monitor the horses.
So when Tan Ma reported back, Xu Rong tapped his chin and said: "It's expected."
Duan Xuan said: "It seems that the coalition forces are coming from the north of the Wei River via Yangling and from the Wei Bridge. Should we set up an ambush in advance?"
"Setting up an ambush?"
Xu Rong glanced at him and asked: "Do you want me to wait for these 30,000 soldiers and horses to ambush others' 70,000 soldiers and horses? Weiqiao is not a dangerous place. When the water dries up in winter, even the big river can flow across it.
land, let alone the Weihe River.”
"That......"
Duan Xuan didn't quite understand. Since he chose to lure the enemy deeper and did not lay an ambush, what was the point of luring the enemy deeper?
Xu Rong smiled bitterly and said: "Our army is small and we can only defend the city. The Kwantung Army has little food. As long as we hold on for two or three days, they will retreat on their own."
Duan Xuan wondered: "If that's the case, then why are we still in Baqiao and not rushing to Chang'an?"
"Of course I want to go to Chang'an."
Xu Rong thought for a moment, then stood up and said: "I will take 10,000 people to Zuo Fengyi. You stay and guard Baqiao. You must guard this place. Do you understand?"
Guard Ba Bridge?
Didn’t the Kwantung Army attack from the north?
Did they divide their forces?
Duan Xuan didn't know very well, but he nodded: "Okay."
At that moment, Xu Rong led 10,000 elite troops, crossed Baqiao, passed through the eastern suburbs of Chang'an, and headed north to Zuo Fengyi.
Dong Zhuo currently has more than 100,000 troops under his command. Faced with the threat from the Kwantung Army and Zhu Jun, he is also expanding his troops, and his troops are already close to 200,000.
These soldiers and horses are mainly concentrated in Chang'an, Zuofengyi, Yangling, Changling, Anling, Jiaocheng, Xinfeng, Xiagui and other cities surrounding Jingzhao.
However, the newly recruited soldiers and horses were not very powerful in combat. For example, the Xiagui garrison had three to four thousand people. When they encountered Liu Bei's army, they did not even dare to resist and abandoned the city and fled.
Therefore, Dong Zhuo's main combat power was still Luoyang's old base, the southern army and the northern army plus the Xiliang army and the state army.
Currently, there are said to be 60,000 people in Chang'an City, but in fact only 20,000 are veterans. The 40,000 new soldiers are of no great use at all.
When Niu Fu went to fight Zhu Jun, he brought 80,000 people there, half of them veterans of the Xiliang Army and half of the new troops. They were defeated by Zhu Jun's army of more than 100,000 and couldn't find the north.
Originally there were 100,000 veterans, but when Liu Bei entered Guanzhong, nearly 10,000 were lost in the battles of Hangu Pass, Huxian, and Tonghe. Therefore, Xu Rong and Duan Xuan had only 30,000 veterans under their command.
Xu Rong's deployment of troops was very simple. He decided to block the attack in stages at Zuofengyi, Yangling, Changling and other places to delay the Kwantung Army's route. The final decisive battle was chosen in the north of Chang'an City.
On the second day, just after mid-morning, outside Zuofengyi County, on the desolate horizon, a sea of people slowly approached the city.
Xu Rong looked into the distance with neither sadness nor joy, but his subordinates Zhang Xiu, Li Meng and others had very solemn expressions.
There are only 20,000 people in the city, and their combat effectiveness is extremely low.
Without any prelude or preparation, the war just started.
Intense drums were pounding and horns were blasting.
Liu Bei's army divided into three groups and moved towards the south and north of the city. This was to surround Zuo Feng Yi and attack the city from all sides.
When the troops and horses were ready, as if given an order, the whole army attacked.
Although Liu Bei also built some siege equipment when he was in Huayin County, they were not comparable to the situation outside Hulao Pass. There were less than a thousand ladders in total.
After fighting hard for half a day, the coalition forces left more than a thousand corpses and retreated like a tide.
Looking at the retreating Kwantung Army in the distance, Xu Rong said without hesitation: "Withdraw troops and go to Yangling!"
His subordinate Zhang Xiu asked in confusion: "General, it is not difficult to defend the city today, why did you abandon the city?"
"Without abandoning the city, the Kwantung Army bypassed Zuo Fengyi, occupied Yangling and Changling, and replenished their army supplies. Even if we go out of the city to sneak attack on their rear, can we defeat them?"
Xu Rong glanced at him, Xiliang people are simple-minded and don't consider practical problems at all.
His task of delaying time at Zuo Fengyi has been completed, and the Kwantung Army has been wasted for another day. However, if he continues to stay at Zuo Fengyi, the danger of insufficient troops will eventually be exposed.
Once the Kwantung Army came to their senses and directly bypassed Zuo Fengyi to attack Yangling, should he go out of the city to pursue or continue to defend the city?
If you go out of the city to pursue him, you won't be able to defeat him in a field battle.
If we defend the city, we can only watch Yangling and Changling fall.
There is still a lot of food and grass in these two cities. If it is captured by the Kwantung Army, this plan will be seriously damaged. This is something Xu Rong cannot allow.
I just hope that Lu Bu can come back soon!
Xu Rong looked to the west.
Dong Zhuo's most important unit, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, should be back soon.