Chapter 108: The Captain of the Baggage

Hanoi County, Huai County, Prefecture.

With a creaking sound, Xu You and Chen Lin pushed open the door of the study room. Yuan Shao was sitting inside the room and waved to them, "Ziyuan, Kong Zhang, are you here? Come, come and sit down."

After Xu You and Chen Lin sat down, Yuan Shao picked up a letter from several cases and handed it to them. He frowned and said, "The battle report at Hulao Pass is not going well."

"Well? Didn't Zhou Yu kill Hua Xiong in front of the formation and then defeat the Xiliang cavalry? I heard that the equipment for siege has also arrived in the past few days. Why... what happened?" Chen Lin was a little stunned.

"Oh..." Yuan Shao sighed lightly and said, "After the siege tower arrived, the city was about to break out, but Dong Zhuo's adopted son Lu Bu led 3,000 elite soldiers to arrive, and his efforts were in vain. Moreover, Lu Bu was braver than Hua Xiong, and he picked up fifteen generals of our coalition, which made our army's morale depressed. He stayed in his door all day and did not dare to face the battle."

Xu You closed his small eyes for a moment, made a thoughtful look, then slowly opened it, and said, "Lu Bu is from Jiuyuan County, Wuyuan County. Because of his bravery, Ding Yuan was appointed as the cavalry commander. Later, he was appointed as the chief clerk and treated him as the chief clerk. After Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo entered the capital at the same time, Dong Zhuo was startled by his bravery and lured him with a high official and a rich salary. Lu Bu killed Ding Yuan, joined Dong Zhuo's disciple, and recognized Dong Zhuo as his adopted father."

Yuan Shao curled his lips when he heard this, but did not say anything. Chen Lin couldn't hold back and asked, "Ziyuan, we know all of what you said."

Xu You was unmoved and continued to say slowly: "Although Lu Bu is brave and good at fighting, he is not a scheming person, and he is snobbish and changeable. In my opinion, this person is not worth worrying about because his weakness is too obvious. On the battlefield, personal courage cannot change much. As long as Meng De and others can take advantage of Lu Bu's weakness, victory will not be a problem."

Yuan Shao was overjoyed and said hurriedly: "Then please ask Ziyuan to make a detailed plan. We will send it to Meng De with a quick horse to try to break the ghost head and tiger prison as soon as possible. In this case, Xu Rong must return to Luoyang, and the siege of Wen County will naturally be resolved."

Xu You got up and paced back and forth in the house for a few steps, and said hesitantly: "I have a premonition, I don't know whether to speak or not."

Yuan Shao replied: "Ziyuan, please speak."

Xu You said: "If Hulao Pass is broken and Luoyang is not at risk to defend, Dong Zhuo will definitely be very passive! However, Dong Zhuo is a jackal, and Li Ru around him is full of wisdom and will not wait until the last moment to prepare. If Luoyang cannot be defended, their best choice is to retreat westward to Chang'an, with Hangu Pass as a barrier, with the entire Guanzhong area and Liangzhou as their base, and they will make a comeback soon. And I guess... they are already preparing to evacuate Luoyang at this moment..."

"Escape from Luoyang?" Chen Lin was shocked when she heard this. After thinking about it carefully, she felt it made sense, so she hurriedly said: "The Xiliang Army is a tiger and wolf army. They will not hand over a wealthy and complete Sanpu area to us. In addition to plundering, they are afraid that they will migrate the people in large quantities into Guanzhong and allow us to get an empty city! In this way, the people will suffer."

Yuan Shao said disapprovingly: "If they move the people to Chang'an, we will attack Chang'an. As long as Dong Zhuo is destroyed, those people can still return to Luoyang?"

Chen Lin said silently.

Xu You stepped in front of Yuan Shao and whispered: "By the beginning, I judged that Dong Zhuo would order Xu Rong to withdraw his troops back to Luoyang soon, leaving only a small number of troops to monitor our army at the Yellow River Ferry. If we can attack all the troops in Henoi at this time, and at the same time, we will lead 10,000 elite troops to quietly go around the upper reaches of the Yellow River and attack Hangu Pass. When our army occupied Hangu Pass, Meng De and others captured Hulao Pass again. In addition, Sun Jian attacked from south to north, the momentum of closing the door and fighting dogs was completed. Why worry about the immortality of Dong's thief?"

Yuan Shao pondered for a while after hearing this, and after thinking about it repeatedly, he said decisively: "This plan cannot be done. Our army cannot perform such a great danger. Although it is a magical achievement, if Dong Zhuo sees it, it will be that the sheep enters the tiger's mouth. It is better to adopt a steady method. When the coalition forces in the east break through Hulao Pass, we will cross the Yellow River south, join forces with them to take Luoyang first, and then attack Chang'an. Our army is in a vast way, and it will only destroy Dong's thieves day and night."

Xu You sighed and stopped talking.

Before Hulao Pass.

Lu Bu was dressed neatly every day and led the Western Liang cavalry out of the pass to challenge, but he saw the "Fight-free sign" hanging high in the barracks of the Kwantung Alliance.

Lu Bu rode his horse back and forth in front of the barracks, yelling insults. When he rode on the red rabbit horse, controlling the horse with superb riding skills, his face was full of pride and complacent.

In the coalition camp, there were also generals who couldn't stand Lu Bu's face and shouted that they wanted to go out to fight him one-on-one, but they were all pulled back by their respective chief generals. Everyone knew it well that when they went out to fight Lu Bu, there was only one result, that was death.

"Haha~hahaha~" Lu Bu whistled out of the camp and said loudly: "You are a rat, I don't want to fight with you! Come on, win and return to the city!~~"

Outside Luyang City, Lushan Camp.

Sun Jian divided Yuan Shu's 30,000 new recruits into six teams, and he led one team with Sun Ce, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Zu Mao and Han Dang to train on the playground separately.

"Ah~~Hey~~" Dao Shield stood with his hand and waved his knife, and silver light suddenly flashed on the playground.

"Squeak~~Puff~~" The archer stood like a pine tree, stretching his bow and pulling the strings, and he had to pull it hundreds of times a day, until his arms could not be lifted.

"Hey~~ah~~" The spearman stood solemnly like a forest. When he heard the order from the school, he neatly stabbed the spear in his hand forward, with its mighty power.

Accompanied by Ji Ling, Lei Bu, Chen Lan and other generals, Yuan Shu came to the playground every day to watch the soldiers' training. Seeing that 30,000 new recruits were completely renewed under the training of Sun Jian's troops, their mental outlook was also renewed and their skills and tactics were becoming more and more progressive. Yuan Shu smiled with satisfaction.

Xingyang City, Zhou Yu’s military camp.

At this time, Xingyang had become a major place for the transfer of the Guandong Alliance Army's supplies. A large amount of food, grass, arrows, and siege equipment were continuously transported from various parts of Guandong, restocked in Xingyang City, and then Zhou Yu's troops transported these supplies according to the needs of the front line.

In order to strengthen defense, Zhou Yu ordered Zang Ba to lead the scout camp to expand the range of detectives to a radius of thirty miles every day. Once there is any disturbance, they will report it immediately.

Zhou Yu lived to lead two thousand Dongjun soldiers to the Dongjun camp, stationed on the Tushan outside the city, forming a horn with Xingyang City and supporting each other.

The life Gao Shun led the eight hundred camps to be responsible for escorting the baggage to the front line of Hulao Pass.

Zhou Yu personally led the remaining troops to guard Xingyang City.

Although some subordinates were dissatisfied with Cao Cao's arrangements, they complained that our army should be sent as elite troops to attack Hulao Pass instead of resting behind and transporting food, grass and supplies all day long. Wouldn't they become the "basket captain"?

Hearing such complaints, Zhou Yu always replied: "The army has taken the lead before moving the food and supplies, which shows the importance of food and supplies to an army. The responsibility on our shoulders is heavy."

On this day, Gao Shun transported food and grass back from the front line of Hulao Pass and came to Zhou Yu to report the situation. Before he could reach Zhou Yu's residence, he heard a sound of an guqin coming from the house. The sound of the zither was melodious, as if the mountains were rising up, the eagle flew alone, and as if the water was gurgling, winding and twisting.

Gao Shun knew that Zhou Yu was playing, so he slowly walked to the door of the house where Zhou Yu lived and stopped.

The sound of the piano came to an abrupt end, and a clear voice came from the inside: "Is General Gao outside the door? Please come in quickly."

Upon hearing this, Gao Shun pushed open the door and walked in. He saw Zhou Yu sitting upright behind the desk. There was a guqin on the desk and agarwood was lit on both sides of the desk. The smell in the house was very pleasant.

Zhou Yu asked with concern: "This trip has been hard, everything is going well, right?"

Gao Shun nodded and said, "Everything went well, but now the soldiers of the coalition forces are all afraid of Lu Bu's force, no one dares to respond, and their morale is depressed. If this continues, there will be a change."

Zhou Yu's face suddenly became solemn, and he asked, "Is it true that Lu Bu has arrived at Hulao Pass?"

Gao Shun replied affirmatively: "Lu Bu showed off his power in front of our military camp. How can he still be fake if he sees it with his own eyes?"

Zhou Yu got up and walked back and forth in the house, saying, "The red rabbit among horses, and the Lu Bu among people. Lu Bu was born in poverty and had extraordinary physical strength. He has been practicing martial arts since he was a child and was good at riding and shooting. He is indeed a brave general with great martial arts skills. Only one of our troops can beat him..."

"Oh~Who is that person?" Gao Shun seemed very interested.

"Wang Yue!" Zhou Yu replied in a deep voice: "He went to the Yellow River Ferry to receive the items that Dong Zhuo sent to redeem Dong Min, and he should be able to come back today."

Before Zhou Yu finished speaking, with a "creak", Wang Yue pushed the door and walked in, following Li Su.

When Wang Yue met Zhou Yu, he reported: "Five thousand taels of gold and ten thousand war horses have been received."

"Okay!" Zhou Yu suppressed the excitement in his heart. This was a lot of wealth. He could not have achieved such great gains by learning from later generations of people who had used hostages. It seems that he would have to do more such business in the future.

"Pan Hu!" Zhou Yu called out loudly.

"The last one is here!" Pan Hu hurriedly walked in from outside the door.

"You should immediately bring it to Lieutenant General Dong Min and hand it over to this Lord Li Su."

"Get order!" Pan Hu bowed, turned around and walked out of the room.

Li Su walked up to Zhou Yu and whispered: "General Zhou, I have something important to discuss with you..." After that, Li Su looked around and looked at Wang Yue and Gao Shun with his eyes.

Seeing Li Su's appearance, Zhou Yu thought that something important must be done. He was not afraid of his small moves with his martial arts skills, so he winked at Wang Yue and Gao Shun.
Chapter completed!