Plain country.

Liu Bei returned to the plains after traveling all the way from Runan.

The army is vast and dusty.

After parting ways with Guan Yu, he traveled all the way day and night, and finally returned to Qingzhou within half a month.

Yuan Shao sent people south in the late autumn of September to intervene in the Runan battlefield with a bluff.

At that time, Liu Bei led his army north to confront his troops.

The two sides faced off for two months, until Yuan Shu was beaten to a pulp, and then Yuan Shao suddenly attacked Gongsun Zan. Liu Bei learned the news and immediately came back north.

He was in the Jiyin area of ​​Yanzhou at that time, more than 400 kilometers away from the plains, almost more than a thousand miles away. It was not easy to get back in half a month.

At this moment, there were only 20,000 people around him, thousands of whom were villagers brought by Xu Chu.

When Liu Bei came out of the plains, he brought 30,000 troops with him, and joined forces with Guan Yu's 20,000 troops, for a total of 50,000.

Now that they are back, Dian Wei has led 10,000 people, and Zhang Fei has led 5,000. Guan Yu's army has also gone to Luoyang, preparing to attack Jizhou from the west.

Therefore, in fact, Liu Bei's return did not add much strength to Qingzhou.

But being able to come back is already a good thing. The frontline troops are very tight now. With 20,000 people, there is more that can be done.

Chen Mu Xunyu came outside the city to greet him.

Then I saw a large number of soldiers at the front of the army, surrounding the military chariot. The military chariot was built by the general, and he set up a building and a canopy.

During the Battle of Guandu, Yan Liang attacked Baima County, riding in this kind of car, leading the army, and swaggering in front of Zhang Liao and Guan Yu.

Then Guan Yu went up and beheaded him. Looking at him in the midst of thousands of troops, he even chopped off his head.

Although there are no experts protecting Liu Bei now, there are no enemies around him, so it is naturally impossible for this kind of thing to happen.

Liu Bei got down from the car, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Zhao were leading the troops from behind. Zhang Fei, Dianwei, was also in Xuzhou, preparing to attack Lu Bu. There was only a big, round man and his bodyguards around him.

"Fourth brother!"

"Brother!"

"Ming Gong!"

"Wen Ruo!"

When the three met, they were immediately happy.

Counting the days, since Liu Bei went south to intervene in the battlefield in Runan in July, the two brothers have not seen each other for almost half a year.

Chen Mu saw the young and strong man beside Liu Bei and saw that he was very powerful. He asked curiously: "Brother, this young general is quite brave. Who is he?"

Liu Bei smiled and said: "This is the strong man I met when passing through Qiao County. His name is Xu Chu, Zhongkang. Come, this is my fourth brother Chen Mu, whose courtesy name is Zigui."

Xu Chu said in a loud voice: "Chu has met Dr. Guanglu, and has heard of Dr. Guanglu's name a long time ago. It is a pleasure to meet him today."

"Hahaha."

Chen Mu patted Xu Chu's strong chest, laughed loudly and said: "Okay, work hard in the army, and you will be useful in the future."

He didn't expect that Liu Bei would get an unexpected bonus from this trip, and he would get a young general named Xu Chu.

Although I don’t know what Xu Chu’s abilities are now, everyone grows up on the battlefield. As long as he doesn’t die, he will always have a chance to become a world-famous general in the future.

Everyone talked and laughed and returned to the city. Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Qian Zhao and others placed the soldiers and returned to the prefect's mansion. The soldiers gathered together and began to discuss matters.

Liu Bei sat high on the throne, Xu Chu stood beside him as a guard, Chen Mu Xunyu sat on the left and right at the bottom, followed by Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Qian Zhao and other generals.

"Ming Gong, this is what happened. Zang Ba is holding fast in Fuyang City. Although Xu Zheng led the army to sweep the Qinghe Kingdom, his troops are too small to go north to threaten Yuan Shao. Now Zang Ba is probably in danger."

Xun Yu explained the current situation. Because of Yuan Shao's sudden attack and the fact that Gongsun Zan's main force was not around, the situation was not good for them.

Liu Bei's face became serious, he turned to look at Chen Mu and said: "Fourth brother, now we should start attacking Jizhou immediately."

"no."

Chen Mu shook his head: "You have to prioritize things clearly. Brother, what do you think is the main purpose now?"

Clearly distinguish priorities?

Liu Bei thought for a moment and said, "Isn't attacking Yuan Shao our main goal?"

"of course not."

Chen Mu smiled and said: "Our main purpose is to rescue Zang Ba and Gongsun Zan. As for how to rescue them, it depends on the method used, and attacking Yuan Shao is only one of them."

"So that's it..."

Liu Bei, who was evaluated by great men as being unable to distinguish between priorities, seemed to understand but had some vague understanding.

Chen Mu continued: "The latest report from the Military Intelligence Department is that although Gongsun Zan successfully moved north, he was blocked in the Hutuo River. When Yuan Shao learns the news, he will definitely give up Fuyang and go north immediately, so we should take action immediately

.”

Liu Bei immediately asked: "How to act?"

"Brother, you should do this first, then do this, and finally do that... In this way, you can definitely turn things around."

Chen Mu put together the plans he had made before, and he already had a careful plan to save the soldier Gongsun Zan and eliminate Zang Ba's siege of Fuyang.

Strictly speaking, with Oli's support, as long as there are no catapults, there will still be no problem if Fuyang City persists for ten more days.

Because of the supply of food and grass in the city, we can probably last about ten days.

But with the telescope, some information inside Yuan Shao's military camp can be easily detected. According to the secret report from the Military Intelligence Department, Yuan Shao has been stepping up the production of catapults, which will be put into use on the battlefield soon. By then, Fuyang will be in danger.

Therefore, troops must be sent north immediately to rescue Zang Ba.

As for Gongsun Zan, there is another way.

After hearing Chen Mu's strategy, Liu Bei nodded and muttered: "Okay, just do what the fourth brother said."

At that moment, the army rested outside the city for a day and then began to move non-stop.

.......

.......

Zhang Wu.

At this time, it was already the eighth day of Gongsun Zan's journey north.

Fuyang is very close to Zhangwu, about 60 kilometers away. Calculated as Hanli, it should be about 150 Hanli.

Normally, it takes about two to three days for an army to travel.

Then why did Gongsun Zan stay away for so long?

First, because he did not ride lightly on the road, but had a large army with heavy baggage, so he could only take the main road, so he went to Zhangwu City and attacked Yitian City.

Second, Yan Liang's large army was not in the city at all, but occupied the ferry near the Hutuo River north of Zhangwu City.

The Hutuo River disappeared in later generations, and the Machangjia River was rebuilt on the original river course in the late Qing Dynasty.

But in the Han Dynasty, this river was extremely important because its downstream part merged with the Zhang River to form a new river.

Just like Cao Cao did not set up an ambush on the Yellow River during the Battle of Guandu, but set up an ambush on the Guandu River.

Yan Liang and Shen Pei were not stationed in Zhangwu City at all, but occupied the ferry on the other side of the Hutuo River. They built camps and fortresses on the north bank of the river to block the ferry.

As a large river where two medium-sized rivers from the Han Dynasty converged, this section of Bohai County has larger currents, wider river channels, few ferries, siltation, and a gentle terrain. It can be said that it is heavily fortified and easy to defend but difficult to attack.

It took Gongsun Zan three days to arrive at Zhangwu, then one day to capture Zhangwu City, rest for one day, then go north for more than seventy miles, and arrived at the Hutuo River on the fifth day. However, Yan Liang blocked him on the other side of the Hutuo River, and he lost control of his advance and retreat.

, it is difficult to go north.

Compared with the Qingzhou Army, which has a large number of ships, the Youzhou Army is composed entirely of infantry and cavalry. The army has more than 20,000 people. Without a ferry, it is impossible to cross.

There are many reasons why the ferry can be called a ferry. One is because its location was chosen, which can be said to be the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancients.

Not all large rivers are fast and mighty; there are also places where the water flow is gentle and easy to cross.

Therefore, this place was chosen as the ferry to facilitate the safe movement of ships.

Second, the ferry facilities are complete.

Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there have been many ways to cross the river.

There are those who build bridges, those who punt boats, and those who pull ropes, and there are also those who chain the boats across the river as pontoons like Cao Cao.

Boat traffic will naturally be safer and more convenient if it has complete facilities.

It is too difficult to cross the bridge without a ferry.

Otherwise, during the Battle of Guandu, why did Yuan Shao have to fight through Guandu by force?

Can't we take a detour?

It's because Guandu is the name of a ferry.

At that time, Cao Cao set up a defense camp at Guandu on the south bank of Honggou Water, the Chu River-Han boundary.

Honggou Water has only one ferry crossing, Guandu, and it is almost impossible to cross it from other places.

Yuan Shao could only confront Cao Cao head-on in Guandu.
To be continued...