June of the third year of Zhongping, the Great Han Dynasty (186 AD).

＝＝＝

The 50,000 troops of Beigong Boyu have been wiped out, and now the Anding County of Liangzhou is within reach. Geng Bi, the governor of Liangzhou, immediately asked to see the Grand Marshal Zhang Wen, and asked to send his own Wudu to regain Anding County with his troops. Zhang Wen immediately agreed.

Geng Bi had 40,000 troops in his hands, but now they were on the front line, only Ma Teng's five thousand troops were still stranded in Xian County. So Geng Bi sent Ma Teng with three thousand cavalry to join Wudu to regain Anding County, and the remaining two thousand cavalrymen were the personal guard camp for him.

Bian Zhang and Han Sui led their troops to retreat all the way, and gave up all the cities they passed.

The general Zhou Shen of the debauchery led 20,000 elite soldiers from the Northern Army, 10,000 county and state soldiers from the Liangzhou Commander Xu Rong, 10,000 border soldiers from the Western Commander Qu Yi, and 5,000 Jincheng County soldiers from the Jincheng County were engaged in Huaxiong, with a total of 45,000 people, and they chased them all the way.

Fu Xie, the prefect of Hanyang County, successfully entered Yicheng, the Hanyang County capital, with three thousand troops borrowed from Jingzhao Prefecture.

Geng Bi, the governor of Liangzhou, led two thousand cavalry to Long County, the governor's prefecture in Liangzhou. Long County is also in Hanyang County, very close to Youfufeng County, only a hundred miles away.

Zhou Shen was ambushed in fear, so he was careful along the way, and the marching speed was not too fast.

After Bian Zhang led a 70,000 army to retreat to Pingxiang City, he suddenly stopped. Zhou Shen hurriedly gathered a large army and stationed at Pingxiang City. His troops were not as large as the rebels, and he could siege the city, but the attack seemed to be insufficient. Zhou Shen hurriedly sent a fast cavalry to Dong Zhuo and Huangfu Hong's army, urging the two armies to quickly arrive in Pingxiang to meet and prepare to attack the rebels.

At this time, Dong Zhuo, Huangfu Hongzheng and the 30,000 Qianghu led by June Jinglei were facing each other near the Shohu Valley, and they couldn't even get away.

Zhou Shen hurriedly asked the Grand Marshal Zhang Wen for help, and asked Li Hong, the general of the Central Army to attack the enemy, to lead his troops westward quickly.

＝＝＝

At this time, Li Hong's troops had arrived in Yong County.

Li Hong took Xian Yufu, and Zuo Yan hurried into the government office. Sang Yang came out and greeted each other for a few words.

"Mr. Sang, what is the battle situation in Hanyang?" Li Hong asked.

"It's very bad. Bian Zhang didn't fight with us at all. They have retreated to Yuzhong City. It's not known whether they will retreat to the Yellow River. If they cross the Yellow River and go deep into the hinterland of Jincheng County, this battle will be difficult to fight. Jincheng is their old nest. The terrain is complex and the transportation of food and grass is difficult, which is very unfavorable to us." Sang Yang said with a wry smile.

Li Hong said in surprise: "Retreat to Yuzhong, you have already reached the Yellow River? Is it more than a thousand miles away from us?"

"Yes." Sang Yang said, "Even if you march at the fastest speed, it will probably take more than ten days to reach Yuzhong. The road there is very difficult."

"Does there be a support force in Pingxiang City?" Xian Yufu asked.

"No. General Dong and Huangfu's troops have chased Liu Yue Jinglei to Longxi County. Now only Prefect Fu has three thousand soldiers on his hands in Hanyang County, and Lord Geng has two thousand cavalry on his hands."

Li Hong shook his head secretly.

"General Zhou is going deep alone, it's dangerous." Zuo Yan said in a low voice.

"The rebels retreated quickly, very quickly, we had to chase after them, otherwise what should we do? Let them return to Jincheng County in a swagger? They didn't want Hanyang County at all and gave up all the cities. The rebels' determination to withdraw their troops was completely beyond our expectations." Sang Yang said worriedly.

"What do Lord Taiwei think about the latest battle situation in Xiliang?" Li Hong asked.

Sang Yang glanced at him and said, "The Grand Marshal believes that he must hit Bian Zhang hard and drive away the June thunder. Otherwise, the matter of plagiarism will probably be difficult to achieve results in a short period of time."

Li Hong pondered silently.

The figure of the Taiwei Zhang Wen appeared at the entrance of the study room.

＝＝＝

Yuzhong City is located on the bank of the Yellow River, at the easternmost end of Jincheng County, thirty miles away from the Warriors City in Hanyang County. The most dangerous place between the two cities is a five-mile-long Kuiyuan Canyon, which is the only passage to Yuzhong City.

Bian Zhang's face looked very ugly, and he was completely thin. Although his injuries did not worsen, there was no sign of recovery. Bian Zhang lay on the sickbed all day long, suffering from pain.

Han Sui walked in slowly and waved his hand to signal the two doctors to leave.

"Old Bian..."

Han Sui gently grabbed Bian Zhang's hand and shouted in a low voice.

Bian Zhanghui held Han Sui's hand and forced a smile: "Wen Yue, I feel very painful, very painful, I really can't stand it."

Han Sui shook his head in pain, patted his arm and said, "Old Bian, hold on for a while, and when we finish this battle, we will return to Jincheng."

Lao Bian closed his eyes, moaned a few times, and asked in a low voice: "Boyu, is there any news about Boyu?"

Han Sui's eyes suddenly burst out with anger, and the muscles on his face twitched a few times. He suppressed his anger, let out a long sigh, and whispered: "There's news."

Lao Bian opened his eyes in surprise and then saw the anger on Han Sui's face. He was shocked and asked hurriedly: "What happened to Bo Yu and Wenhou?"

Han Sui nodded, let out a long sigh again, and said in a low voice: "We just got the news that they were ambushed by the leopard Li Hong near Lingtai Mountain in Anding County and their entire army was wiped out."

Lao Bian was stunned. He stared at the roof blankly, and had not made any noise for a long time.

"Are they all dead?"

"No, they were all caught." Han Sui said angrily, "These two people ruined 50,000 of us at once."

Bian Zhang smiled helplessly and said, "It's good if you haven't died, it's good if you haven't died. Wen Yue, Bo Yu and the others can't get back, so our encirclement and annihilation plan will be invalid."

"Yes, Lao Bian, I'm here to discuss this matter with you." Han Sui calmed down his anger a little and said slowly, "Zhou Shen's troops have already set up a camp outside the city."

"Wen Yue, what are you going to do now? Cut off his food route?"

"Yes, I plan to cut off their food route." Han Sui thought for a moment and said, "Yang Qiu, Chengyi, Liang Xing, and Ma Wan's troops are now ambushing the Tuo Ridge outside the city. If the Han army intends to cut off our food route, we can just ambush them and take the opportunity to annihilate some of the Han army's troops. Then I ask Yang Qiu and others to block both ends of Kuiyuan Canyon and completely cut off the Han army's food supplies."

"When did you choose to occupy Kuiyuan Gorge?" Bian Zhang asked, "Will you wait for Zhou Shen to attack the city?"

"The Han army chased after him all the way, and the food and grass they brought were limited. According to my prediction, it will not exceed ten days. So I plan to let Zhou Shen attack for a few days first. What do you think?"

"Assiege?" Bian Zhang said: "We have few troops now, and the soldiers are not as elite as Zhou Shen's troops. Once the fight starts, we will suffer a lot of casualties. It is best to think of a way to make the enemy think that we are short of food, so that in order to avoid losses, they may only siege but not attack."

Han Sui closed his eyes slightly, and a smile flashed across his face.

＝＝＝

Outside Yuzhong City, the Han army's camp continued for several miles.

In the central army's tent, a group of generals surrounded the case, looking at the map spread on the case, and were arguing fiercely.

Zhou Shen was about fifties, tall and thin, with a long face that was serious and hesitant. The wrinkles on his forehead were very deep, as if he had been thinking about problems. He was born into a noble family and joined the army since he was a child. He served as the guardian at Yanmen Pass in the northern border for many years.

He glanced at Sun Jian, who was handsome and said in a gentle tone: "Mr. Sun, if we siege the city, there seems to be no need to cut off the enemy's food route."

"I agree with the general." Hua Xiong said cautiously, "We have arrested several rebel messengers and knew that they were asking for food from Jincheng. This shows that there is indeed a shortage of food in the city, and the news we have received is true. Since the city is short of food, we can just siege the city. The city is surrounded by us, so why do we still want to intercept the enemy's food route?"

Hua Xiong is from Jincheng County. He is in his twenties, has a strong figure, a slightly dark skin, a pair of big eyes, and his eyebrows are black and thick like two small charcoal. He is good at martial arts, is sophisticated and cautious, and is very famous in Jincheng County.

Hua Xiong just finished speaking, Qu Yi continued: "Mr. Sun asked to bring 10,000 people to Tuoling to cut off the enemy's food route. I don't think there is any need for this. Since we know that the enemy is short of food, we should concentrate our troops, attack the city with all our strength, consume the enemy's forces, and attack the enemy's morale, so as to wait for the support to come and encircle and annihilate. At this time, dispersing troops to cut off the enemy's food route will not only delay time and delay the opportunity to fight."

Qu Yi was also a northern man in his twenties. He was tall and strong, majestic, rosy in his skin, and handsome appearance. He was the Minister of the former dynasty, Ju Tan, and changed his surname to Qu. He was a versatile man in civil and military affairs, especially his martial arts skills. He was chivalrous and upright, brave and fighting. He led his troops to fight against the Qiang and Hu on the frontier, and made many military achievements. He worked as a military officer in Jincheng County until he became a commander in the western region. He was a brave and warlike general.

"Let's take a step back, even if we don't attack the city and use more than 40,000 people to surround Yuzhong, can the food transported by the enemy still break through the siege and fly into Yuzhong City? Lord Sun repeatedly asked to lead 10,000 troops alone to Tuoling to cut off the enemy's food route. Do you don't believe our Xiliang troops? Do you think we are secretly cooperating with the enemy?"

Sun Jian laughed and said, "The Chief Commander is so serious. Yuzhong City is short of food, which is obvious. But Yuzhong City has 70,000 rebels, and they can break through at any time, especially when we surrounded the city and the troops are dispersed."

"I led my troops to be stationed in Tuo Ridge, which can cut off the enemy's food route and the enemy's route of breaking through and fleeing. Once the rebels in the city learned that the food route was cut off by us, they would be panicked and risk breaking through. At this time, I blocked them in Tuo Ridge and delayed their escape speed. You can quickly lead your troops to come and surround the enemy in Tuo Ridge. You should know that annihilation of the enemy in the field is much easier than siegeing the city."

Qu Yi shook his head and said, "Mr. Sun, if you don't attack the city, the enemy will concentrate the main force to break through. They cannot continue to stick to it without food and grass. You have analyzed this matter very well. But have you considered it? Lao Bian and Han Sui would not have imagined such an obvious thing? He would turn a blind eye to such an important place in Tuoling? Can you be sure that they did not ambush the troops in Tuoling in advance, waiting for you to fall into the trap? With their strength unscathed, they retreated thousands of miles and gave up the entire Hanyang County, but suddenly defended in the small town of Yuzhong. But the Yellow River, why? Is it because they have no food and grass?"

Zhou Shen, Sun Jian and others were speechless.

"General, Lord Sun, and Commander Qu's words make a lot of sense." Xu Rong said slowly, "Lao Bian and Han Sui are famous in the Western Xinjiang. They will not lead their troops to retreat thousands of miles without any purpose. He must have wanted to lure the enemy into the depths and find opportunities to defeat us."

The most impressive thing about Xu Rong is his wide and thick appearance. Not only is he simple-looking, but his figure is like a door panel, and he also has a pair of fat and big hands. Although he is only in his twenties, he looks even more like a person in his thirties. Xu Rong is generous and righteous, steady and down-to-earth in his work, and is very popular. He is from Xuantu County, Liaodong, Youzhou, and is from a minor official. He was a filial official because of his filial integrity. Later, he worked as a military officer in Hanyang County, Liangzhou and made many military achievements on the frontier. Last year, he was with Huangfu Song to fight and was recommended by General Left Cheqi and Cavalry as the commander of the Liangzhou Governor's Office.

Xu Rong looked at everyone and continued, "Why did he suddenly stop in Pingxiang City? His purpose was to wait for our teams to gather together, and then lure us into Jincheng County and eliminate them together."

"Now we are just speculating that the food and grass in Yuzhong City are not good, and there is no definite evidence. If we know that the rebels have insufficient food and grass, we have to do two things: divide the troops to guard the food and grass, or trap the rebels in the city. Whether it is divide the troops to cut off the food and grass or siege the city, we cannot fight quickly and decide quickly. If we cannot fight quickly, we have to stay here for a long time. After a long time, our food and grass supply needs to be replenished. If they cut off our food and grass, what should we do? We have no other way except to retreat quickly. When we are short of food, we are the opportunity to annihilate us."

Zhou Shen listened to Xu Rong's analysis attentively, nodded in praise, and asked, "Mr. Xu, what about your opinion?"

"My opinion is the same as that of the general. It is also a besieged city, but we must send troops to occupy both ends of Kuiyuan Canyon to ensure that our army's food channels are unobstructed. In this way, no matter when the subsequent reinforcements arrive, we have enough food and grass supplies, so it is absolutely no problem for us to surround Yuzhong City."

"Don't you attack the city?" Qu Yi asked loudly, "Zi Lie (Xu Rong's name), it is important to defend Kuiyuan Gorge, but we can also appropriately concentrate the main force to launch an attack. Let's attack and see if Lao Bian and others will break through?"

Hua Xiong smiled and said, "Brother Yuntian (Qu Yi's name) is fake to attack the city, is it true to grab the merit?"

Sun Jian chuckled softly.

He glanced at the three of them contemptuously and said, "Three sirs, it is probably fake to attack the city, and it is fake to defend Kuiyuan Gorge. It is even more fake to siege the city. Is it true that the enemy is right?"

Xu Rong smiled faintly and ignored him. Hua Xiong smiled, and the expression on his face looked very warm.
Chapter completed!