The mighty army marched northward along the avenue, stretching for several miles with no end in sight.
The battle flag with the word "Yuan" flies proudly in the setting sun.
Yuan Fang sat on his red rabbit horse and walked slowly with his head held high. As he walked, he discussed the future strategy with the counselors and generals on his left and right.
Walking to a place, Yuan Fang suddenly saw a manor in the mountains beside the road. The scenery looked very familiar.
"Where is the manor in front of me? Why does it look familiar?" Yuan Fang asked.
"Go back to my lord, that's Zhenjiazhuang." Zuo Zuo replied.
Is Zhenjiazhuang
Yuan Fang suddenly realized that many memories came to his mind.
Thinking back when he first passed through Zhenjiazhuang, his father-in-law Zhen Yi looked down on him.
The second time he went to Zhenjiazhuang, he had already raised an army to stand on his own feet. He rushed to capture Zhen Mi, but his father-in-law Zhen Yi was frightened.
It was now, when he passed through Zhenjiazhuang for the third time, the situation had undergone earth-shaking changes, and he had become the lord of Jizhou.
Things in the world are really unpredictable.
"Since you are passing by, let's pay a visit to my father-in-law." Yuan Fang smiled and turned his horse in the direction of Zhenjiazhuang.
Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun hurriedly led dozens of horses to follow.
These dozens of cavalry soldiers, all wearing white horses and silver robes, carrying silver spears, and wearing long swords with silver handles on their waists, are all silver in color. Following Yuan Fang like this, they are very dazzling and majestic.
This is because Yuan Fang remembered that Gongsun Zan had a light cavalry called Baima Yicong, who were extremely powerful in combat and once famous in the world.
In the battle of Jieqiao, although Baima Yicong was destroyed, its once powerful fighting power was still there. But it cannot be buried.
After the fall of Gongsun Zan, Zhao Yun became the only general who was proficient in training white horses to obey.
Now that Zhao Yun has surrendered, Yuan Fang wants to ask Zhao Yun to train another group of white horse righteous followers to serve as his personal cavalry.
But now Yuan Fang has not yet captured Youbin. There is no horse-producing land in Youbin, so it is impossible to form a large-scale cavalry of all-white horses. Therefore, we can only select dozens of white horses for Zhao Yun to train first, and then expand them on a large scale after capturing Youzhou in the future.
The red rabbit takes the lead. The white horse followed, and dozens of riders rode away like the wind, arriving straight at the gate of Zhenjiazhuang.
The sound of gongs suddenly sounded in the village, and hundreds of servants guarding the courtyard, seeing soldiers approaching, climbed up the walls of the village one after another. Nervous defense.
Zhuge Liang rode forward and shouted loudly: "General Sima is here to visit Duke Zhen. Why don't you pass the news soon!"
When the servants on the wall of the village heard the name "General Sima", they were at a loss at first, and then their expressions changed with horror.
General Sima, isn¡¯t he the son-in-law of their Zhen family? Is this the new lord of Jizhou, Yuan Fang, who has just ascended to the position of one of the great princes in the world?
The servants were so frightened that they rolled over and rushed to tell Zhen Yi.
In the lobby of the village, Zhen Yizheng was sitting opposite her son Zhen Yao. Both father and son had sighs and sorrow on their faces.
"I really didn't expect that just over a year ago, Yuan Benchu ??unified the three states of Hebei and led 200,000 troops south to attack Yuan Fang. How majestic and majestic he was. In the blink of an eye, he was forced to die by Yuan Fang. It¡¯s simply unbelievable that the family has been destroyed.¡±
Zhen Yao was filled with emotion. There was a look of disbelief on his face, and even though he racked his brains, he couldn't figure out why.
Zhen Yi also sighed and said with shame: "No matter what, Yuan Shao's destruction is a foregone conclusion. Now it seems that we did miss the mark at the beginning. This Yuan Fang is the most outstanding son of the Yuan family, and he is the real hero." , Not to mention Yuan Xi and others, even Yuan Shao is far behind him. "
"Father, we supported Yuan Xi before and offended Yuan Fang. Now that he has captured Jizhou, will it be detrimental to our Zhen family?" Zhen Yao suddenly became worried.
"This" Zhen Yi frowned deeply, with a worried look on her face, and it was difficult to judge.
Just when the father and son were worried, the servants outside rushed over and reported the news of Yuan Fang's visit.
The father and son of the Zhen family immediately changed their expressions in shock. The father and son were so frightened that they thought Yuan Fang was coming to retaliate against them.
The two of them were panicking, but they had no choice but to bite the bullet and hurried to the door of the mansion to greet Yuan Fang.
When he came out of the village gate, he saw Yuan Fang had dismounted and was sitting under the big locust tree in front of the village gate, drinking the small wine in his bag.
On both wings, more than ten White Horse Volunteers and pro-army warriors stood solemnly.
The father and son of the Zhen family hurriedly stepped forward, knelt on the ground, and said in a trembling voice: "The common people pay homage to the general."
"Everyone, get up. There's no need to be so polite." Yuan Fang said calmly.
Zhen Yi and his son supported each other and stood up, not even daring to breathe a sigh of relief, let alone look at Yuan Fang. Both father and son were trembling slightly. In just one bow, their backs were sweating profusely.
"My father-in-law, I see you are sweating. You must be very hot. Come on, take a sip of wine to relieve the fever." Yuan Fang was very close to him and held out the wine bag in his hand.
Zhen Yi was startled. She didn't dare to accept it. She quickly waved her hand and said: "The common people are not thirsty. Thank you so much, General. The common people will never dare to accept it."
Zhen Yi still had some courage, and Zhen Yao was so frightened that he trembled all over and hid behind his father, not daring to breathe.
Yuan Fang smiled, poured himself a sip of wine, and said with emotion: "Back then, I rushed to your village and robbed Mi'er. When we got married, father-in-law, you couldn't take a sip of our wedding wine. It's really a pity to think about it."
Yuan Fang just sighed casually, but Zhen Yi listened with fear and embarrassment, thinking that Yuan Fang was pointing out his sin in a roundabout way.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Zhen Yi¡¯s legs went weak and she knelt down on the ground. She cupped her hands and said tremblingly: "It was the common people who misjudged the situation at the beginning. The common people deserved death. Please forgive me, General."
"Zhen Yi looked down on Yuan Fang, the illegitimate son of the Yuan family, but today she is kneeling down and begging for mercy. It is really ironic.
Yuan Fang, however, has no intention of doing anything to Zhen Yi. After all, Zhen Mi is his legal wife and she gave birth to little Yuan Zhi. For Zhen Mi's sake, Yuan Fang will not do anything to the Zhen family.
"I, Yuan Fang, am happy with my grudges and want to give Mi'er some face. Your Zhen family will be destroyed. Get up." Yuan Fang waved his hand.
Zhen Yi let out a long breath, and Fang began to stand up tremblingly, eager to welcome Yuan Fang into the manor and sit on the table.
It was almost dusk at this time, and Yuan Fang also wanted to go in and have a rest. At this moment, a scout on horseback rushed over and handed a piece of information on silk to Yuan Fang.
Yuan Fang glanced briefly and frowned slightly. He said, "I still have military affairs to attend to. I'm just passing by today. I'll visit you another day."
After saying that, Yuan Fang got on his horse, followed by a group of white horses, and drove away like the wind.
Until Yuan Fang left for a long time. Only then did the Zhen family's father and son come back to their senses. They both took a long breath, as if they had walked away from the gate of hell and almost collapsed.
"If I had known this, I should have chosen him in the first place. I am really unworthy of being the richest businessman in Hebei. To be so blind, I am really blind to my old eyes~~"
Looking at Yuan Fang's retreating figure, Zhen Yi sighed, feeling extremely ashamed and self-blame.
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"Master, has something happened?" Zhuge Liang asked curiously on the road.
"See for yourself." Yuan Fang threw the information to Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang slowed down his horse. He lowered his head and glanced a few times, and his expression suddenly changed.
This piece of information was a secret letter from Dong Zhao, saying that Xinpi, the governor of Hanoi, had surrendered a county in Hanoi to the emperor of Luoyang.
And that day, Liu Xie, the emperor, had decided to send an army of his own imperial guards to cross the Yellow River north into Hanoi and take over the defense of the entire Hanoi.
"Zilong killed Xin Ping, and Xinpi held a grudge. He didn't want to surrender to his master, but instead surrendered to the emperor of Luoyang, but the emperor actually accepted it! The emperor doesn't know that we won Hebei with bloody battles, so why do we still want to reap the benefits of the fishermen?" Zhuge Liang wondered.
"That emperor, he sees that I am powerful. He has begun to be afraid of me, so he no longer stays in Luoyang and wants to take advantage of the opportunity to expand his strength." Yuan Fang sneered.
Zhuge Liang was shocked and suddenly realized.
Liu Xie in history was a very troublesome last emperor. He secretly manipulated rebellions several times and caused different troubles for Cao Cao.
Now he is afraid of Yuan Fang's great power and wants to expand his strength to prevent Yuan Fang from "usurping", which is also what Yuan Fang expected.
Unlike history, the emperor is now locked in a corner of Luoyang. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot incite chaos in Yuan Fang's territory.
Even so, Yuan Fang couldn't tolerate it. He fought bloody battles, but the emperor took advantage of the opportunity and wanted to steal the fruits of his victory.
"Master, the emperor wants to benefit others, so what should we do?" Zhuge Liang said solemnly.
Yuan Fang snorted coldly: "The emperor should keep his peace. I should respect the king and fight the barbarians, and give the emperor dignity. Now that he is afraid of me and wants to steal the fruits of my victory, I have to give the emperor a warning."
Having made up his mind, Yuan Fang immediately decided to change his established strategy due to this sudden change.
In Youzhou, Yuan Fang decided to send Yan Liang and Zhang Jia as generals, and Tian Feng as the accompanying army staff, and led an army of 40,000 to continue the attackExpedition to Youzhou in the north to deal with possible invasion by Gongsun Du and the Wuhuan people.
Yuan Fang himself led 50,000 soldiers and horses, turned back south from Quliang at starry night, and defeated Xinpi and captured Hanoi before the emperor took over Hanoi.
¡¡
The army of infantry and cavalry marched southward at a speed of more than two hundred miles a day, traveling southward at night and under the stars, and passed Yecheng without entering.
A few days later, the Leopard Cavalry Regiment led by Yuan Fang arrived at the east bank of Qishui first.
Crossing the Qishui River to the west, less than ten miles away is Chaoge City, the eastern gateway of Hanoi. Yuan Fang's tactic was to use leopards and light cavalry to cross the Qishui River first and capture Chaoge by surprise. Then the army marched straight in and swept the entire Hanoi.
At dusk, Yuan Fang rode his horse to the east bank of Qishui to inspect the terrain.
It was late autumn and early winter, and the water level in Qishui River had dropped significantly. If you rode a horse, you could barely wade across the river.
Scanning the direction of the west bank, no Hanoi soldiers were seen. It seems that Xin Pi did not expect that Yuan Fang had Dong Zhao as an internal agent. If he had known that he was going to surrender to the emperor, he would lead his Qingqi to arrive at starry night.
Just when Yuan Fang decided to wade across the river immediately, he suddenly saw a dust mist coming from the direction of Chaoge City from the west bank.
Yuan Fang opened his telescope and scanned the area, only to see dozens of Hebei troops on horseback, chasing a few civilian-looking people on horseback, galloping towards the river bank.
Among the civilians fleeing on horseback, there was actually a young girl.
Not long after, several civilians on horseback rushed to the river bank. With no way to go, they had no choice but to ride their horses into Qishui, hoping to wade across the river.
"The Hebei Army behind them quickly pursued them, fired arrows from the shore, and shot and killed the civilians mercilessly.
The civilians who looked like servants on horseback were hit by arrows and fell off their horses. They fell into the Qishui and were washed away. Only the girl was left lying on the horse, driving the horse forward with difficulty, and finally reached the middle of the river.
At this moment, an arrow shot through the air and hit the girl's left shoulder.
The girl who was hit by the arrow let out a cry of pain, then slipped off her horse, fell into the Qi water, and was swept downstream along the current.
Yuan Fang frowned, and after a moment's hesitation, he drove the red rabbit horse into the Qishui River, heading towards the fallen girl as if walking on flat ground.