Tiger Guards

Chapter 261 A Gathering of Heroes
When Zhao Yun evacuated from Zhending County, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Han Ju and Han Xun each led hundreds of cavalry to approach, surrounding him like a pack of wolves, following him step by step.

Zhao Ji also led the knights to come to support and set up battle array at both ends of the road.

Zhao Yun's troops shuttled through the area, and after passing Jingxingkou, they joined up with the remaining knights and more than 3,000 prisoners. They pushed and transported various equipment and supplies and began to evacuate along the Jingxing Road.

Zhao Yun personally led more than 200 cavalrymen to cover the rear. When he arrived, Yan Liang and Wen Chou were already two miles away.

Zhao Ji ignored it and ordered the teams to evacuate separately. He would evacuate with Zhao Yun.

Even during the final evacuation, two flag officers followed behind the entire evacuation team.

Zhao Ji's flag officer Gao Yanglong held a battle flag with a purple center and red border embroidered with the word Zhao in gold. Zhao Yun's flag officer was replaced by Xia Houlan, who held the common battle flag with a red background and black word Zhao.

Yan Liang and Wen Chou followed him all the way until they reached Jingxing Pass, where they had to stop pursuing him.

The camp here was filled with debris, firewood, and horse manure, which were set on fire, and the smoke and flames blocked the road.

The visibility is poor, and if you go deep, these burning obstacles will become obstacles and sources of danger when evacuating.

On Baoduzhai, Zhang Nan climbed up to look out, watched the troops withdraw, and immediately wrote a military letter.

Only after confirming that the Bingzhou knights had evacuated and burned the beacon towers along the way did Zhang Nan send a messenger down the mountain.

As for how to redeem captured officers such as Yuan Xi, Gao Gan, Qian Zhao, Jiao Chu, etc.... Zhao Ji has not considered it for the time being, and neither has Yuan Shao.

It is obviously not suitable for negotiations in the near future. If Yuan Shao's army is defeated, there will be no point in redeeming it.

Only when the foundation is consolidated and the hostages' influence decreases can they be redeemed at a lower price.

It's impossible for Zhao Ji to escort Gao Gan and Yuan Xi to Luodu for execution, right?
Before killing Yuan Shao, there is no real significance in getting rid of Gao Gan and Yuan Xi. Instead, it will stimulate Yuan Shao to use limit-breaking means to target Zhao Ji's relatives.

If Yuan Shao is killed in the future, it will not be so important whether Yuan Xi and Gao Gan are killed or not.

Therefore, Yuan Shao never worried about the lives of Yuan Xi and Gao Gan. He only cared about the safety of the Hebei army, which was the foundation of his family's survival.

In this way, the greatest achievement of the Battle of Zhending was cutting off one of Yuan Shao's horse legs in Wuji County.

Yuan Shao has a broken leg... If Gongsun Zan doesn't come to fight this winter, all the Han and Hu leaders in Youzhou will despise him.

As the eldest brother of Youzhou, Gongsun Zan had to maintain his dignity as the eldest brother.

If you lose this dignity, you will become a breathing dead person just like Li Jue and Guo Si.

It took Zhao Ji thirteen days from rushing from Shangdang to Zhending to start withdrawing his troops.

In order to catch up with the plan to reinforce Lu Bu, after withdrawing the troops past Shangai, Zhao Ji took Zhao Yun and more than 500 knights, each with three horses, and traveled overnight to Shangdang Huguan.

The entire Shangdang army had been divided into two. The Tiger Infantry Army and some cavalrymen moved northwards and arrived at Jingxing Road, and then headed west along Jingxing Road towards Taiyuan Yuci.

The Tiger Infantry Army also joined the retreating infantry and cavalry, prisoners, wounded soldiers, and civilians, and all of them would go to Jinyang to wait.

All kinds of troops had to go to Jinyang to maintain closed camp training, meritorious officers and soldiers had to wait for rewards, and newly formed troops had to go there for training.

Jinyang has better medical resources, which facilitates the recovery of wounded soldiers; civilians and prisoners can also immediately find a job to make a living when they go there.

It seemed that Xu Huang was directing the movements of various troops in Shangdang, but in fact it was Jia Xu who was in control.

In order to facilitate Zhao Ji's southward march to support Lu Bu, Jia Xu, under remote control, organized a huge army of more than 7,000 cavalry for Zhao Ji, which was almost the limit of logistics.

In addition to the more than 5,000 cavalry arranged by Zhao Ji himself, Jia Xu also transferred a mixed team of more than 1,000 cavalry.

The soldiers of this mixed knight team came from the coalition forces of six counties and were selected from more than 4,000 infantry and cavalry.

Together with the more than 500 knights brought by Zhao Ji himself, they formed a huge cavalry of 7,000 cavalry.

When Zhao Ji, Xu Huang, Zhao Yun and Jia Tong led the cavalry in sections and headed towards Hanoi, Zhang Yang also sent the latest battle report from the Central Plains.

Lu Bu was stationed in Ge Township in the northwest of Liang State. After Cao Cao confirmed that Lu Bu had many new recruits from Liang State under his command, he immediately came to besiege him.

The two sides fought for several days, but Cao's army was unable to break through Gexiang.

The situation was critical, and Lu Bu formally surrendered to King Chen and asked for help. King Chen sent 10,000 troops to station in Ningling of Liang State, south of Ge Township, to watch over each other.

This gave great support to Lu Bu, and inspired the new recruits from Liang State under Lu Bu to burst out with fighting courage.

Basically, it was because of Prince Chen's flank threats to Cao's army that Lu Bu was able to gain a foothold.

While Prince Chen's main force was still deadlocked with Xun Yu, Chen Gong and Xiahou Yuan on the southern front also completed the construction of Deer Horns. There was confrontation and friction on the entire front, with both sides winning and losing, and they took this opportunity to hone their soldiers.

The war in Yan and Yu provinces did not stagnate like this. Yuan Shao withdrew the siege of Dongwuyang, and the governor of Dongjun County, Zang Hong, escaped. The nearby counties immediately attached themselves to Zang Hong and formed a sweeping trend.

The Menxia Province controlled by Zhao Yan rejected the proposal of the ministers to appoint Zang Hong as the governor of Qingzhou, and still insisted on retaining the arrangement of Zang Ba as the governor of Qingzhou, but instead transferred Zang Hong to the governor of Yanzhou.

Now Zang Hong has taken office as the governor of Yanzhou. This is an arrangement that is in line with Zang Hong himself and the wishes of the people of Yanzhou.

When Zhao Ji was about to arrive in Hanoi on his way south, the envoy sent by Zang Hong delivered a letter of thanks and asked about the next course of action.

When asking, Zang Hong proposed that the two sides meet in Puyang.

The eastern part of Dongjun, with Dongwuyang as its core, has been destroyed. Zang Hong is going to Puyang to build a new Yanzhou Provincial Government here.

Puyang is the core city in the western part of Dongjun, close to Chenliu. If managed well, it could cut off Cao Cao's connection with the Qingzhou garrison and their food supply routes. Crucially, Dongwuyang is located on the north bank of the Yellow River, making it subject to strong influence from Hebei.

Puyang is on the south bank of the Yellow River and is temporarily safe.

But if they go to Puyang and march on the north bank of the Yellow River, they will be too close to Yecheng... Zhao Ji does not want to irritate Yuan Shao's sensitive nerve.

That year, the Black Mountain Army fought a fierce battle with Yuan Shao, and once broke through Ye City, briefly occupying Ye City for more than three months.

If it weren't for Captain Tao Sheng of the Black Mountain Army who escorted Yuan Shao and his family members out of Ye City, Yuan Shao would have fallen apart in that battle.

Yuan Shao, who had suffered a great loss once, attached great importance to the safety of Yecheng.

Not to mention Dongwuyang City, even Puyang, Yuan Shao would have to take it when he had time.

Zhao Ji immediately proposed to go to Suanzao in Chenliu County for the alliance meeting. The heroes chose this place to hold the alliance meeting because the hub of the Central Plains water system was here.

This alliance meeting at Suanzao may actually stimulate the conscience of some of Cao Cao's subordinates.

The alliance between the three families was a bit shabby, so Zhao Ji sent a proclamation to the counties of Sizhou and Bingzhou, asking these county governors to come to Suanzao for the alliance.

Even though he was temporarily separated from Zhang Yang, Xue Hong, who was serving as the governor of Shangdang County, was also invited.

After doing all this, Zhao Ji began to march calmly again, silently praying that Lu Bu could hold on for a while longer.

It was impossible for Cao Cao to give up the two counties of Ru and Ying, nor was it possible for him to give up Chenliu. A decisive battle was bound to break out around Chenliu.

What Zhao Ji had to do was to connect Lu Bu's leg before the decisive battle.

Just as Zhao Ji entered Henei and marched towards Suanzao, Zhang Yang and Dong Cheng also joined forces and marched out of Hulao Pass and headed towards Xingyang.

Cao Cao took the initiative to withdraw Cao Hong and no longer allowed Cao Hong to control the Wanluo and Jingyu roads, which was considered an active gesture of goodwill to Liu Biao.

Cao Hong also has more than 10,000 people here, enough to assist Xiahou Yuan in decisively controlling the Ru'nan battlefield.

As soon as Cao Hong withdrew his troops, Zhang Xiu, under the persuasion of Zhao Qi, broke away from Liu Biao and marched towards Wankou.

Li Tong, the great commander in chief of the mountainous area in the southwest of Runan, annexed the surrounding areas and forced the remnants of the Yellow Turbans to surrender. Now his army has more than 10,000 members.

Such a person was also won over by Zhao Qi, who formally raised an army to attack Cao Cao and also sent troops north to Wuyang near Wankou, and was about to join forces with Zhang Xiu.

Zhao Qi, who was nearly ninety years old, followed Zhang Xiu and was regarded as his military advisor.

Zhao Qi reluctantly accepted Zhang Xiu, and the two sides began to cooperate in depth.

Zhao Qi wanted to avenge his savior Sun Song of Beihai, so he and Liu Biao jointly recommended Sun Song to be the governor of Qingzhou. However, Sun Song, an acquaintance of Cao Cao, disappeared under Cao Cao's rule on his way to take office.

This revenge must be avenged. At Zhao Qi's age, he doesn't care about any far-reaching influence. Although he was born in Guanzhong, his family is very familiar with Liangzhou. Zhao Qi has no burden in accepting Zhang Xiu as his disciple.

The court's move to Luodu brought great pressure to Liu Biao... The most obvious thing was that the entire Nanyang was out of control, and the big families in Nanyang donated money and food, which greatly boosted Zhang Xiu's army.

Not only did the army's morale increase significantly, but there was also surplus food for transportation and supply to Luodu.

During the Sanfu Rebellion, no less than 100,000 households of victims fled to Nanyang.

These disaster victims were either recruited by Cao Hong or absorbed by the big families in Nanyang. There were also many refugees who now joined Zhang Xiu's army, causing Zhang Xiu's troops to expand rapidly.

The manifesto sent by Zhao Ji... Once a manifesto reaches a county, given Zhao Ji's current official position, the county has the obligation to copy it and inform the surrounding areas.

Therefore, this edict issued by the imperial court to attack Cao Cao and called on county governors and generals from all sides to form an alliance in Suanzao quickly spread to Nanyang and also to the two counties in the north of Jing and the four counties in the south of Jing.

Jingzhou is like this, divided into three parts: Nanyang, Jingbei and Jingnan, and the internal contempt chain is also like this.

Unfortunately, Zuo Ling, the prefect of Nanyang County who had successfully arrived in Hedong with the emperor after going through the hardships of the eastward migration, disappeared completely since he separated from Dong Cheng and came to Nanyang to take office with more than a hundred people.

With Zhao Qi's guarantee and recommendation, Zhao Yan agreed to Zhao Qi's proposal without Zhao Ji's confirmation, and appointed Zhang Xiu as the governor of Nanyang County and the general of Yangwu.

There is no need for Zhao Ji's confirmation. If the anti-Cao forces can be quickly strengthened, it will indirectly reduce the pressure Zhao Ji will face.

Under this general principle, when Zhao Yan dealt with many issues of official position adjustments, his priority was how to strengthen the anti-Cao forces rather than suppressing local heroes.

Forces from all sides are converging around Cao Cao. The longer Lu Bu holds on and the longer Cao Cao's main force is delayed, the more passive Cao Cao will become.

Compared with the encirclement and suppression of Cao Cao, the war between Yuan Shu and Liu Bei was less important.

Just when Yuan Shu and Liu Bei were deadlocked in Xuyi, Sun Ce landed.

As for Sun Ce, the first move he made after landing was to rush straight to Xia Pi. Under the joint instigation of Yuan Shu and Sun Ce, the Danyang soldiers in the city attacked and expelled Zhang Fei under the command of Cao Bao without Sun Ce having to take any action.

Fortunately, another Danyang soldier under Xu Dan was lent to Lu Bu by Liu Bei. Cao Bao was not strong enough, so Zhang Fei suffered little loss when he retreated, but his family did not have time to evacuate.

Sun Ce's first appearance in the Central Plains cut off Liu Bei's wings that were about to take off.

When Sun Ce reported his victory to Yuan Shu, he, under Zhang Zhao's persuasion, sent an envoy to the court and also sent an envoy to contact Liu Bei.

With Zhao Ji's family background, age and background, he could still dominate the world for a while...Sun Ce also had the ambition to seize Xuzhou and eye the Central Plains.

It would be even better if we could unite with Liu Bei, get rid of Yuan Shu, and then have Xu Yang as well, so that we can control the southeast and observe the changes in the world...

(End of this chapter)