The sky was dark and gloomy, and the heavy snow that had been falling all night finally stopped.
The world turned into a piece of white covered with silver, the forest withered and turned yellow, accumulated a thick layer of snow, and the branches formed beautiful rime, which brought people not only beauty, but also decay and cruelty.
In Qinghe Kingdom, Yuan Shao is launching an offensive against Qingzhou in full swing. In Hanoi County, Chen Mu is digging canals to prepare for flooding Anyang.
Only Zheng County is currently caught in a glacial fight between iron horses and horses.
Everyone knows that the decisive battle between Jizhou and Qingzhou is coming, and Yuan Shu in the south seems to be ready to make a move again, but Sun Jian has long since recovered from his injuries and returned home, and Cao Cao is also here. With them, Yuan Shu cannot cause any trouble.
On the Guanzhong side, Chen Mu also made a plan to drive away the wolf and swallow the tiger. At the same time, he asked Luoyang to send a message to Duan Xuan, ordering him to sit down and stabilize Huayin, and at the same time asked Han Sui and Ma Teng to attack Guanzhong.
I don't know if this strategy will work, but even if it doesn't, as long as Duan Xuan has no problems, at least Luoyang will be very stable.
Apart from Li Jue and Yuan Shu, the only one who has the ability to threaten Luoyang now is Yuan Shao.
Therefore, the Anyang front line is also making preparations non-stop.
As for Liu Biao?
Even if he had the courage to do so, he would not dare to come to Sili.
When the sky was vast and the fields were vast, and the gloomy weather enveloped the entire Zheng County, Yuan Jun once again launched a fierce attack on Gongsun Zan's camp.
It was obviously still at the beginning of the day, that is, around three o'clock in the afternoon, but the sky was gloomy, with dark clouds all over the sky, and the sky and the earth seemed to be in a black mist. The sudden bad weather disrupted all Gongsun Zan's plans.
.
He had no choice but to abandon Zheng County, which was within easy reach, with Xian Yufu, and prepare to retreat. But the retreat had just begun. Gao Lan and Zhang He seized the opportunity, launched a counterattack, and captured his former stronghold.
As the end of the Ye Dynasty came to an end, and seeing the front camp crumbling, Gongsun Zan gave an order from the middle camp, and two thousand elite soldiers who came from Yijing in the rear immediately assembled and set off to reinforce the front camp.
The distance between the two camps was less than a crossbow, and the two sentinels lined up and galloped, and the distance of four to five hundred steps was reached in an instant. There were also Yuan troops cruising near the side gate of the front camp, but they did not dare to face the two thousand guards in full formation.
He came up to intercept him and only fired a few symbolic arrows from a distance.
Reinforcements entered the camp here, and the Yuan army attacking the camp gate wall slowly retreated in an orderly manner. The tinkling sound of gold rang out, and the battlefield that was originally filled with screams and roars and the sound of weapons clashing suddenly became...
Eerily quiet.
Zheng County is very close to Yixian County, and the two sides are only separated by the Yishui River. It is cold and freezing, and the Yishui River has frozen. Gongsun Zan believes that this year's offensive should end here, and after returning, he will wait until the next spring to attack again.
But Yuan Jun obviously didn't think so. This was a good opportunity to defeat Gongsun Zan. Because it was difficult for cavalry to march in the snow, Gongsun Zan's weakness was that he had fewer infantry and more cavalry. Whether it was Xian Yufu or the barbarians attached to them, they dismounted.
The level of fighting is far worse than that of the Hebei soldiers by more than one or two points.
In particular, the Hebei Lancers are the world-famous halberd warriors. Halberds are also a type of spear. When two armies confront each other, such large spears with a length of more than three or four meters can occupy a huge advantage in hand length. Therefore,
Gao Lan and Zhang He obviously wanted to take advantage of the right time, place and people to defeat Gongsun Zan in one fell swoop.
After the support came from the middle camp, the Yuan Army retreated like a tide. However, they did not leave directly. There was a large group of Yuan Army soldiers in the rear, standing in a neat military formation like a dark cloud in the wind and snow. They looked like
It's like a piece of brown candy that can't be shaken off.
Xian Yufu hurriedly came to Gongsun Zan's camp. The two of them watched in the middle camp. Tian Chou, Guan Jing, Yan Rou, Ke Bineng and others also accompanied them to watch. They saw that all the Yuan troops were wearing cotton clothes. Although it was snowing heavily, they were crowded together.
, but didn’t feel cold.
Unlike the Northeast, where the temperature is minus 30 degrees, even in the Little Ice Age, the temperature in Hebei will not be that low. Therefore, more than ten degrees below zero is already the limit, not to mention it is still daytime.
Tens of thousands of people formed a dense battle formation, wearing cotton-padded clothes and jackets and armor. They were like a big furnace. Not only did they not feel cold, but they were even very hot, boiling with fighting spirit.
Seeing this scene, Xian Yufu frowned, wrapped himself in cotton-padded clothes, and said: "A few days ago, I only saw their generals wearing cotton-padded clothes. Now that ordinary soldiers have them, how could Yuan Shao possibly
Will there be so many reserves of cotton-padded clothes?"
"At least not all of them have them."
Gongsun Zan said solemnly: "Xuande introduced poisonous kapok in the Western Regions and promoted its cultivation vigorously. It has been more than ten years now. The output is quite abundant every year, and the accumulation is not a small amount. Qingzhou does not restrict people from purchasing cotton clothes, and I also
He often purchases large quantities and sells them to the north. Now that people in Liaodong are wearing cotton-padded clothes, it is not surprising that he has such a large reserve."
Xian Yufu shook his head and said, "Businessmen are harming the country."
Gongsun Zan glanced at him and sneered: "Without merchants, you wouldn't have cotton clothes to wear. Be content, at least most of our people have clothes to keep out the cold. But Yuan Jun had to equip these people. Xuande sent a message saying
Since we are already facing Yuan Shao's main force in Qinghe Kingdom, the pressure on our side will be much less."
As early as more than a hundred years ago, not to mention India, even the Han Chinese in the Persian Gulf had been there. There were even more frequent exchanges between the Western Regions, the Central Plains and India. In his early years, Liu Bei was funded by Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping before he rose to prominence. Later, after he became rich, he reciprocated the favor.
, helping them become big businessmen across the country.
They handle the salt trade, grain and grass trade, and cotton clothing trade in Qingzhou. Especially in the cotton industry, they cooperate with merchants from the Western Regions and plant it on a large scale in Shanshan State, west of Yumen Pass.
The Shanshan Kingdom was the Loulan Kingdom. It was renamed Shanshan in the Western Han Dynasty and was almost the Tarim Basin area in later generations.
Originally, there were more than fifty countries in the Western Regions during the Western Han Dynasty. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, they were fighting each other and annexing each other. Many countries perished, such as Jingjue, Nuqiang, Xiaowan, and Qiemo, all of which disappeared one by one.
In the long history.
After the end of the Involution, there are now only seven countries left in the Western Region, namely Wusun, Qiuci, Shanshan, Dayuan, Kangju, Daxia, and Dayuezhi.
Among them, Shanshan was closest to the Han Dynasty.
Han Sui and Ma Teng occupied the land of Yongliang, and after the cotton trade began, the two of them got a lot of the pie. In addition, the high transportation cost of traveling long distances all the way. Therefore, cotton, which was extremely cheap in later generations, was here
The price at that time was extremely expensive, comparable to silk. It is no wonder that even Yuan Shao, who was wealthy and wealthy, could not equip his entire army.
Xian Yufu was choked by Gongsun Zan. He wanted to fight back, but in his heart he was thinking about the unification of the emperor who was still in Luoyang, so he could only endure it. The two had different personalities, and one was a Youzhou Mu and the other was Huan Huanzhonglang.
General, there is a lot of overlap in power, so they can't get along at all.
Being able to work together now is just a matter of having a common enemy. If Yuan Shao falls, Xian Yufu can guarantee that he will be the first to report to the emperor and impeach Gongsun Zan for his many illegal activities and arrogant behaviors in Youzhou.
He dismounted.
Both of them stopped talking and looked at Yuan Jun from a distance.
The front camp was commanded by two generals under Gongsun Zan, Tian Kai Shanjing. After adding some new troops to the middle camp, they immediately shouted to them to go up to the wall to add more men.
The corpses were cleared away, all the broken spears and spears were replaced, and boxes of arrows began to be carried to the wall. A new round of fighting was about to begin.
.......
.......
Qinghe Kingdom, Xiajin City.
This city is not big, about one foot and eighty high, and its outer perimeter is very simple, made of rammed earth. Compared with the city with brick walls, it is only slightly stronger than a wooden marching camp.
Qingzhou's catapults were enough to defeat it.
The reason for this is that Xiajin was not originally a city, but a pavilion, named Xia Pavilion, which belonged to a rural pavilion under the rule of Ganling.
However, due to its important geographical location, Liu Bei, Gongsun Zan and others occupied this place when they jointly attacked Wang Fen in the early years. Before the two sides fought at Geting, Xiajin served as the rear, and Chen Mu set up a simple camp here as a transit point for grain and grass.
It acts like a black nest.
After the Battle of Geting ended, Yuan Shao won a complete victory and drove the Qingzhou Army and Youzhou Army out of the Qinghe Kingdom. Xiajin was retained. Based on the original camp, Yuan Shao carried out simple expansion and turned it into
A small county town of rammed earth was named Xiajin City.
Xiajin City has now become a military town, with densely packed troops coming in and out. Soldiers are guarding and patrolling outside each camp. There are constantly new grain transport convoys and baggage convoys going back and forth to transport goods.
The snow on the official road to Ganling City has long been cleared away. There is a jungle about four or five miles north of the city. Less than half of it was cut down by the troops stationed there, leaving only dry tree stumps.
.
Yuan Shao stood on the city tower and saw his third son Yuan Shang emerging from the vast jungle from a distance, followed by dozens of followers, carrying many prey in their hands.
In such a world of ice and snow, it is not easy to hunt some hares and muntjac from the jungle that has been cut down by humans.
Shen Pei saw a slight smile on Yuan Shao's face. He knew that Yuan Shao loved his third son Yuan Shang very much, and because he was at odds with Yuan Shao's eldest son Yuan Tan, he strongly supported Yuan Shang's inheritance of Yuan Shao's family business. He raised his hand and said: "Congratulations Ming Ming
Sir, congratulations to Mr. Ming."
"oh?"
Yuan Shao wondered: "Where does joy come from?"
The judge's wife smiled and said: "Young Master looks exactly like Ming Gong, he is also extremely martial, and he has the appearance of a hero. Aren't you still happy?"
"Oh? Hahahaha."
After hearing this, Yuan Shao was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing and said: "Although Xianfu is similar to me, he is not very good at military affairs. If we talk about the appearance of a hero, he is still far from it. Let him practice for two more years."
Shen Pei immediately said: "Ming Gong, now is a good opportunity. The army is about to be sent to Qingzhou. Liu Xuande is just a guard dog. If Ming Gong comes in person, he will be captured. Why not let Mr. Shang lead the army to go out to make him familiar with it?"
Are you familiar with the military and know more about political affairs?"
"Well..."
Yuan Shao hesitated for a while. He loved his third son Yuan Shang very much. He brought him here this time because he was afraid that Yuan Shang would stay in Yecheng and conflict with his eldest son Yuan Tan.
After all, Yuan Tan had fought with him in the north and south in his early years and had certain military experience, so Yuan Shaocai left Yuan Tan in Yecheng to defend the rear while resisting Luoyang's attack.
However, he did not completely trust Yuan Tan. After some consideration, he transferred Guo Tu and Xin Ping to the front line, and placed Feng Ji and Geng Wu in Yecheng.
Guo Tu and Xin Ping were supporters of Yuan Tan. If they were here, Yuan Tan would probably dominate Yecheng.
Feng Ji had always been at odds with Yuan Tan, so Yuan Shao asked Feng Ji to supervise the army in Yecheng and divided half of the military power. The idea was to let Feng Ji supervise Yuan Tan.
As long as Feng Ji is around, it will be impossible for Yuan Tan to want Gan Gang to act arbitrarily. At that time, Feng Ji will only need to secretly make a small report and issue another warrant of his own, which will be enough to make Yuan Tan lose power.
So even if the world knew that Yuan Shao disliked his eldest son but liked his third son, Yuan Tan had no choice but to stay in Yecheng and act as the mascot of the Yuan family.
But although he loved his third son, Yuan Tan's prestige was indeed much higher than that of Yuan Shang. He had always been hesitant on the issue of establishing a direct descendant or establishing a virtuous person.
If he agrees to the trial match today and lets Yuan Shang follow him to send troops, he will be able to achieve great feats once he wins. At that time, the two sons fighting will probably not be a good thing for the Yuan family...
"Ming Gong, a bird in a cage cannot see how vast the world is. If you let Master Shang just follow you and do nothing, even if he has talent, he will only be drowned in the end.
, Could it be that Mr. Ming just watched the young master doing nothing?"
Seeing Yuan Shao's hesitation, Shen Pei became more angry.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After a while, Yuan Shao looked at Yuan Shang in the distance who looked very much like himself when he was young, and shook his head with a slight smile: "Okay, from now on, let's conquer the east.
Xianfu leads an army alone. Zhengnan, then you will be the supervisor of the army, and Xianfu will be handed over to you."
“If you are worthy, you will live up to your destiny!”
Great joy at the trial match.
Not only did he not get along with Yuan Tan, but he also commented to Guo Tuxin that these people were mortal enemies. If Yuan Tan came to power in the future, he would definitely be the unlucky one. For the sake of himself and his family, he could only find a way to help Yuan Shang rise to power.
At this time, a group of cavalry suddenly ran over on the official road in the distance. The snow on the official road had long been cleared away, and the road turned into wet mud.
The horse galloped in the mud, splashing mud all over the knight on it. But the knight couldn't care less and rushed outside Xiajin City. Under the leadership of Yuan Shao's personal bodyguards, he came to him.
"Ming Gong, the latest news from the front."
The knight knelt down on one knee.
Yuan Shao said in a deep voice: "What news?"
The knight said: "Liu Bei reorganized his troops and withdrew from the county. Before leaving, he sent people to burn down the houses in the city, smashed down the city walls, and turned the county into ruins."
"What?"
Yuan Shao was horrified: "The county town was actually destroyed?"
"Yes."
The knight replied firmly: "The scouts in front saw with their own eyes that they used ramming cars to collapse the city wall."
A battering ram is a siege equipment similar to a Western battering ram, mostly used to attack city gates and demolish city walls.
Ancient city walls were not all made of masonry. For example, when Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall, they were built with stone and rammed earth, which was very primitive.
As the saying goes, Qin bricks and Han tiles, although brick city walls existed at that time, such as the stone city built by Sun Quan, most of the city walls were still rammed earth structures and would be damaged if hit by specific siege equipment.
On the contrary, today's Qingzhou has invented cement using lime. By firing wall bricks and pouring cement, it has re-reinforced large cities such as Pingyuan County and Linzi.
This was an epoch-making product in the late Han Dynasty, and its defensive power was astonishing.
Yuan Shao's original plan was to attack Quan County in a few days. When he heard that Quan County had been demolished and that all the enemies had withdrawn to Pingyuan City, he became very angry and said angrily: "Damn it, I originally planned to capture Quan County and use it as an offensive front line.
, I didn’t expect Liu Xuande to destroy the city, it’s really abominable!”
Shen Pei pondered: "It seems that this weather has also made them realize that their original plan to wait for the river defense on the north side of the river has failed. They guess that we are preparing to attack. Ming Gong, without further ado, we must send troops as soon as possible, otherwise,
When the rivers melt in the spring, they will continue to use those camps on those rivers, which will make it difficult for us to move!"
"Um......"
Yuan Shao nodded, looked to the east with deep eyes, and said softly: "It's time to fight to the death with Liu Xuande! Give me the order to send out troops tomorrow, and take the plain first!"