() In the front army, as the curtain of the tent was raised, a tall general walked up to Dong Zhuo. This man was the confidant general Hu Zhen who accompanied him on the expedition. When the latter saw him coming in, he

He quickly asked: "How is it? How much food is left in the army?"

"If we save a little, it will be enough for half a month." Hu Zhen said with a wry smile: "But in this case, the morale of the army will inevitably be frustrated. I am afraid it will be difficult for the army to continue heading west." Indeed, if the soldiers do not have enough to eat,

Food will definitely affect morale. Everyone is worried that if they continue to move forward, they will be courting death.

When Dong Zhuo heard this, his gloomy face became even more ugly: "Wencai, have you sent someone to check back? Why haven't you seen anyone sending food?"

Hu Zhen shook his head: "Looking at the situation, something must have happened. According to the previous practice, this food and grass should have been delivered five days ago, but today there is no trace. It is obvious that the Qiang people really took action."

"Didn't I already send two thousand cavalry to rescue them? How come they don't come back to report, and why don't they see any food?"

At this time, Li Ru on the side had no choice but to speak: "Lord, I'm afraid that something unexpected has happened to those two thousand riders."

"This is impossible! No matter how strong the Qiang people are, they can't swallow my two thousand elite riders!" Dong Zhuo stood up suddenly, as if he wanted to convince himself. This made the other two people indifferent.

Dare you say anything more.

Just when the situation in the tent was getting a bit dull, someone opened the curtain again and entered. It was Li Que, another general under Dong Zhuo. He was a man with a high nose and hawk-like eyes, and a cold expression, but at this time he also

He looked very uneasy: "Lord, something big has happened!"

"What?" Dong Zhuo looked at him immediately and asked worriedly.

"More than thirty cavalrymen who were sent to protect the back road came back, and they were all injured..." As soon as Li Que said this, he saw Dong Zhuo ignoring others and immediately walking out of the tent. This made him

Several other people looked worried.

Dong Zhuo walked outside and saw several men with blood-stained uniforms being helped off their horses. These elite knights who had followed him for many years and killed the enemy were overwhelmed. At this time, each one of them was stumbling, and they were obviously carrying

He suffered a lot of injuries. At this time, when people saw Dong Zhuo coming, they all bowed down: "My lord..."

Dong Zhuo stabilized his mind and then said in a majestic voice: "What's going on? You were ambushed by the enemy? Where are the other troops?"

"Lord... we turned back to the original route, but unexpectedly we were ambushed by the Qiang people and were surrounded from all sides. After several attacks, we were able to escape and come back. The others are probably in danger!" the leader said.

General Pi said with a sad face: "Our retreat has been cut off by the Qiang people!"

"What?" After hearing this, Dong Zhuo's face finally changed completely and turned white. He had held out a glimmer of hope just now, but he didn't expect that it would become a foregone conclusion in a blink of an eye. The escape route was cut off, and two thousand elite cavalry were killed.

He was actually ambushed by the enemy. What was even more difficult for him to accept was that, in this case, the grain and grass transported from the rear were probably taken by the Qiang people...

"What...what should I do about this?" For a moment, Dong Zhuo's heart was confused, and a deep worry emerged from the bottom of his heart, and even turned into fear.

"My lord, please don't be alarmed!" Li Ru had no choice but to speak out and shouted loudly: "My Lord, as long as we retreat, we will have a chance to preserve our strength and come back again, Lord!

"

"Go back? Didn't you hear that our retreat has been cut off by the Qiang people? Why should we go back?" Dong Zhuo, who was already distracted at this time, completely lost his ability to judge.

"No, Lord, the matter has not reached the point of no return!" Li Ru didn't think so: "Based on this situation, it can be inferred that the Qiang people used the method of cutting off the grain roads against our five armies, and they

How many men and horses are available to intercept our entire army of 100,000? As long as we move fast enough and return to the army immediately while the Qiang people disperse their troops and we still have some food and grass, we may be able to escape.

!”

"My Lord, I think Wen You's words are true. This is the only way for us to preserve ourselves. Please give the order as soon as possible." After Hu Zhen and Li Que looked at each other, they each supported Li Ru's view.

After all, Dong Zhuo was not like ordinary people. After losing his composure just now, he quickly adjusted his mood. After taking a deep breath, he nodded and said: "What you said is correct. We are in deep danger at this time. There is really only one way to retreat.

Even if I was scolded by the imperial court afterwards, I would not care about this much. I have given orders to the general that the three armies will now prepare pots and cook meals on the spot. After a full meal, they will return to the army."

"Here!" The generals around him immediately agreed loudly, and then went to make arrangements.

But Dong Zhuo's face was still very heavy. Even if he could retreat safely this time, his grand plan would still be blocked because of this. He was afraid that it would be impossible to take a further step in his official career.

Seeing his father-in-law sigh, Li Ru opened his mouth and wanted to say a few words of comfort, but in the end, no words came out.

On March 27, Dong Zhuo's troops, which had been advancing at an unstoppable pace, suddenly turned around and left. This was unexpected by the Qiang people, so they had to send a small group of cavalry to harass Dong Zhuo's army along the way to prevent them from returning. Although these troops were hostile to Dong Zhuo's troops, they

The casualties suffered by Dong Zhuo's army were not great, but Dong Zhuo's army was completely overwhelmed by its unpredictable attacks and harassment, making it difficult for them to turn back quickly.

At this time, the battle situation in Xiliang suddenly changed drastically. The Qiang rebel army, which had been shrinking, suddenly launched a frontal fierce attack on the other four armies on the same day that Dong Zhuo's army retreated.

At this time, the morale of these four armies was greatly reduced because they had cut off the supply of food and grass. Facing waves of attacks from the rebels, they were quickly defeated. Even the famous general Huangfu Songzhe

Under such circumstances, it was difficult to keep the army safe, and thousands of troops were lost in one day.

The reason why there was such a tragic failure was that in addition to the loss of food and grass, the internal instability of the four armies was also the key. You must know that among the five armies that the imperial court sent to quell the chaos, apart from Dong Zhuo's army, Qing Yi

Except for se, which was composed by his own tribe, the other four routes were formed by combining people from all directions.

For example, as Generalissimo Zhang Wen, the troops were very mixed. In addition to the tens of thousands of troops he brought from Chang'an, there were also some troops dispatched from Xiliang, and others from other states and counties.

The people and horses coming. These groups of people and horses are mixed together in one place, and they are solid in victory.

Although they can still unite as one and deal with the enemy, once they are in defeat, it will be difficult for them to work together. Even Zhang Wen, the leader, can't get all the generals to obey orders, let alone the difficulty in supplying food and grass at this time.

, all the soldiers were already dissatisfied.

Therefore, after being attacked by the Qiang people, the tens of thousands of troops were reduced to a pile of scattered sand. After a fight, they were defeated and fled backwards in a hurry. What surprised them even more was that not only were the enemies in front of them extremely ferocious, but their retreat was also

There are always Qiang cavalry harassing us from time to time, which is another layer of damage to the army.

From the end of March to the beginning of April, in just over ten days, all 100,000 Han troops were repulsed by the enemy. Except for Dong Zhuo, who still retained strength along the way, all other routes were seriously damaged. Not only were everything recaptured before

The enemy took it and was killed by the Qiang people, which made people panic. It seemed that it would be difficult to stand up again.

After mid-April, all four groups of troops retreated to the east of Jincheng County. More than half of the troops and horses were lost, and those who escaped had no fighting spirit. It was impossible to counterattack. The only thing that could be done was to

Stand firm and wait for the court's reinforcements to arrive.

At the same time, in order not to lose too many troops, the situation of Dong Zhuo's army became even more unbearable. With the defeat of the other four armies, the Qiang people were finally able to spare enough troops to round up Dong Zhuo's army. April 15th

On the same day, 60,000 Qiang troops formed an encirclement against Dong Zhuo's army. The latter's army was forced to retreat to a place called Wangyuan Xia. At this time, Dong Zhuo's army had been reduced sharply from the previous 23,000 to

Less than fifteen thousand.

The sharp reduction in military strength is not without its benefits, that is, the loss of food has also been reduced a lot, so until this time, Dong Zhuo's army has not run out of food. But if this continues, it is not a long-term solution. Seeing that there is no way out,

There was not much food and grass left in the army, so Dong Zhuo's only way was to send out elite soldiers to break out, and then ask for reinforcements and food from the rear, hoping to reverse the situation of the war.

??????????

But at this time, Ma Yue, who was determined to save Dong Zhuo, had begun to speak with his actions.

Not long after he sent a reminder to Dong Zhuo in the past few days, Ma Yue knew that the Qiang people's poisonous plan had been completed. After all, it was not possible for the Qiang people to kill all the grain security teams. So at the end of March,

Someone has already come back with this amazing news.

After receiving the news, Ma Yue went to Niu Fu to discuss it. Niu Fu could not come up with a countermeasure for a while, so he had to order someone to report the matter to the court first, and then discuss it with other counselors under Dong Zhuo's command. But these people

What else can be done?

Ma Yue, on the other hand, after some thinking, began to make some preparations. Although he didn't know whether these preparations could help Dong Zhuo, who didn't know what to do now, he still had to do it for the sake of his own development.

On April 22nd, Niu Fu also found Ma Yue and brought him the worst news - Dong Zhuo's army was trapped in Wangyuanxiao. The army's food was about to run out and they were in urgent need of reinforcements from the rear.

support.

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Because there is no room for the protagonist to play in this paragraph, I have written it briefly. In addition, the content is slightly different from historical facts, but it is also for the development of the plot. I hope you will not delve into it, as passers-by will hide their faces in shame and leave.
Chapter completed!