Seeing that Xu Rong did not urge the army to assault from the front, but sent five hundred cavalry to conduct tentative attacks in both directions, Fang Yue couldn't help but sneer on his face, and Jia Xu's analysis of Xu Rong's personality sounded leisurely in his ears: Xu Rong is a tough person, cautious but not brave enough, and is good at using troops.

In most cases, Xu Rong's personality can be said to be an excellent quality that the main general must have!

However, nothing is absolutely absolute. When an army faces a desperate situation of being surrounded by enemies, it is definitely a disaster for the main general with such a personality. If the main general is too cautious, it is impossible to break through rashly before figuring out the details of the enemy, and it will not inspire soldiers to launch an assault in a certain direction at any cost!

In the Liangzhou army.

Ambush was discovered at the same time in both directions. Cheng Yin and Yang Qiu's tentative attacks were both hit by the enemy's head-on attack. A small commotion suddenly occurred in the Liangzhou army. Fortunately, the officers pressed their arms in time and did not cause riots. A small school clerk immediately stepped forward and said to Xu Rong: "General, judging by the density of arrows just now, the ambush in the reeds in front is only four or five hundred archers at most. The military situation is urgent, so you can quickly assault from the front."

Xu Rong shook his head and asked back with a serious expression: "How do you know that these four or five hundred archers are all the ambushers of the enemy? What's more, apart from these four or five hundred archers, can't there be traps on the official road ahead? He attacked from the front so hasty, which is not taken by the wise."

The little school urgently said, "There is no time! Instead of waiting for death, it is better to fight to the death, and the general will give the order!"

"Don't be reckless." Xu Rong said in a voice, "Before exploring the details of the enemy, you must not attack rashly, pass our orders, and condemn 500 cavalry, divide them into two teams, and attack forward bypassing the trapped horse pit."

With Xu Rong's order, five hundred cavalry took the order to attack.

However, in the end, the two teams of cavalry returned again. Near the ambush that appeared just now, two teams of archers emerged like ghosts from the ground. There were also horse pits in front of the two teams of archers. Now, the densely populated horse pits have been connected into a line, almost blocking the left side of the Liangzhou army.

At this time, Xu Rong made up his mind to break through from the front regardless of everything. Unfortunately, half an hour had passed! When the Liangzhou cavalry launched a strong attack from the front, smoke and dust suddenly soared into the sky on the way, and Jia Xu's 10,000 cavalry finally chased after him.

Hangu Pass.

Hangu Guanxi is located in the Plateau, facing Juejian in the east, Qinling in the south, and rivers in the north. It can be said to be a powerful pass in the world. It is quite a man who is at the pass, and ten thousand men cannot open their spirits! The famous Chang'an Ancient Road passes through the pass through the pass. The Qin army defeated the Guandong coalition forces several times here, with millions of ambushing troops and blood flowing.

Qin Shihuang, the emperor of the age, started his journey from Hangu Pass, and finally swept across the six kingdoms, unified the country, and opened up the imperial era that lasted for two thousand years!

The scorching sun is like fire, and the ancient road in Chang'an is in full swing.

There was no breeze in the four fields, and the air was filled with suffocating heat!

A sudden sound of hooves suddenly sounded, shattering the silent valley. More than a dozen soldiers watching the walls suddenly opened their eyes that were slightly black due to the scorching sun. They looked forward to the end of the western mountains. Suddenly, a ghostly horse emerged from the vast horizon and were galloping towards Hangu Pass.

The cavalry ran to Guancheng like a whirlwind. When the guards on the gate were about to ask, the knight on the horse suddenly shook twice and fell down from the horse. When the knight's body fell from the horse's back, the guards on the gate found that there were three wolf-tooth feather arrows inserted on his back, which were too deep. The originally green battle robe had already been dyed dark red by blood.

The defending soldiers were hesitating, and a small school was on the way to patrol the pass. After asking the reason, he looked down at the pass for a moment, and suddenly frowned and said, "Hey, this person's back looks so familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere? But I couldn't remember it all at once, hiss~~"

When Xiao Jiejing frowned and thought hard, the knight who was originally lying on the ground and was silent and as if he was dead suddenly moved for a moment, then slowly raised his head. After seeing the knight's face, the little school shouted: "God, isn't this General Zhang Xiu? Quickly, open and close the door!"

Chang'an.

Gao Shun pressed his sword and stood above the enemy building. Behind him, fires were rising everywhere, and the sound of killing sounds shook the sky. The prosperous and noisy ancient capital of Chang'an had already crawled at his feet.

"Report~~" Suddenly, the school roared shrillly and rushed up the city tower. "General, the inner city of Chang'an has been broken, and the remaining enemies in the city have been eliminated!"

"Yes, OK." Gao Shun nodded and said in a deep voice, "Come."

A personal soldier stood up and said quickly: "What are the general's instructions?"

Gao Shundao: "Immediately send ten fast horses to the ten counties of Liangzhou to find the whereabouts of the lord's army. Once they find the lord's army, they will immediately inform Chang'an that it has been captured."

"Affect the order."

The figure of the personal soldiers had just left, and the junior school rushed to the enemy tower with exhaustion on his face, holding a blood-dropped head in his hand. Although the head had left his body, it had a look of eyebrows and eyes and a ferocious expression. I thought it would be extremely painful before coming to die. The junior school came to Gao Shun quickly and said proudly: "General, I am lucky that the villain has not been humiliated."

"Well, I'm back." Gao Shun nodded calmly and asked, "Is this Zhang Xiu's head?"

The school answered: "That's right."

Gao Shundao: "Where are the other bandits?"

The little school said: "Most of the remaining dozens of bandit soldiers have been killed and given their heads. Only one of them has excellent martial arts skills. He has defeated nineteen brothers of our army one after another, and then fled from the encirclement. However, this person was hit by three poisonous arrows by villains. If the doctor did not treat him in time, he would never have lived for ten days."

Jia Xu's 10,000 cavalry arrived at Lianghekou in time and formed a siege against Xu Rong's army.

Xu Rong finally found in pain that there were five thousand ambush soldiers in the reeds. Five thousand elite infantry formed a hideous and terrifying horse-resisting formation on the official road, like a giant beast covered with iron thorns, firmly jammed the Liangzhou army's escape route eastward based on the favorable terrain.

On the contrary, although there were trapped horse pits in the wilderness on the right, there were actually only more than a thousand ambush soldiers! However, at this time, Jia Xu's 10,000 cavalry had already chased him, and it was too late to break through.

Three days later, more than 5,000 Liangzhou troops, hungry and tired, were trapped and exhausted, were destroyed under the assault of Ma Yue's army. Xu Rong was desperate and drew his sword and committed suicide. When Fang Yue killed the enemy's formation and appeared in the Liangzhou Central Army, he found that Xu Rong had already died. Poor a generation of famous generals, but ended up committing suicide. Sadly.

Jia Xu ordered people to bury Xu Rong with great burial, and engraved the words "Tomb of a famous general Xu Rong" on the tombstone so that Xu Rong's descendants could come to worship and worship.

The army rested overnight. The next day, it was dawn. Jia Xu was about to divide his troops into two groups. One of them was led by Fang Yue and stayed to continue attacking the counties in Guanzhong. He personally led 8,000 light cavalry to Wuwei and meet Ma Yue. Suddenly, he saw Fang Yue full of joy and came in a hurry. He could not wait to scream from a distance: "Military advisor, good news, great news!"

"Oh?" Jia Xu asked happily, "What good news?"

"Military advisor, the scout team found a fast horse sent by General Gao Shun to Liangzhou to report the victory near Mei County, which brought the latest news of Gao Shun's army." Fang Yue strode to Jia Xu and stood firm, waving his arms and shouting, "Chang'an City! General Gao Shun's army has captured Chang'an!"

"This is true!"

Jia Xu was also happy when he heard this and said, "Okay! What a Gao Shun! I originally only hoped that his troops would restrain him and mobilize Xu Rong's army, but he didn't expect that this suspicious soldier actually captured Chang'an City. Hahaha, this is really a surprise!"

Fang Yue said: "Military advisor, once Chang'an is captured, Fufeng, Fengyi, and Jingzhao are at your fingertips. Guanzhong will soon become the lord's territory, haha~~"

After ecstasy, Jia Xu quickly returned to his original calmness. After a moment of contemplation, he said to Fang Yue: "Although Chang'an is broken, it can be said that it was a sneak attack. After all, our army has limited troops and cannot divide its troops to attack and conquer cities and land everywhere. The old thief Dong Zhuo has been in Guanzhong for many years, and all counties are controlled by his confidants. It is unrealistic to try to capture them all in an urgent manner."

Fang Yue said: "If you can't fight in a hurry, then fight slowly. Anyway, the melee between Dong Zhuo and the 18th Kanto warlords will not end for a while, and our army has time."

Jia Xu shook his head and said, "The general is a bit wishful thinking. Not to mention that the Western Region General Wang Yuan's Western Regions coalition will soon reach Liangzhou. Our army must draw elite troops north to Wuwei and join the lord. Even if Wang Yuan's army does not have Wang Yuan's army, Dong Zhuo will definitely be dispatched to condemn the army after hearing that Xu Rong's entire army was wiped out, Guanzhong and Liangzhou have fallen."

"Dare you dare to return to Guanzhong?" Fang Yue said disbelief, "Are you not afraid of Luoyang falling?"

Jia Xu said: "The general's idea is too simple. The princes of the town formed an alliance due to interests and fought against each other. How can they simply look at it? If the lord captured Liangzhou and the news of Guanzhong spread all over the world, the seventeen Guandong princes would probably remain silent and wait for Dong Zhuo to return to Guanzhong, first fight with our army to lose both sides, and then reap the benefits of the fisherman and send troops to capture Luoyang in one fell swoop."

"Uh~~" Fang Yue said in surprise, "So that's it."

"So~~" Jia Xu's eyes sank and said in a calm voice, "The most urgent task is not to guide the three auxiliary places, but to concentrate all efforts to capture Hangu Pass! As long as General Gao Shun can capture Hangu and then firmly hold this natural danger of the pass, even if Dong Zhuo abandons Luoyang and personally leads 150,000 troops back to the army, it will be difficult to step into Guanzhong."

Fang Yue said: "If you can successfully attack Hangu Pass, it will be a vital force to pinch the old thief Dong Zhuo's throat."

"Then~~" Jia Xu waved his hand and said in a narrow voice, "After the lord's army defeated Wang Yuan, then return to Guanzhong to slowly guide the three auxiliary personnel and collect all the land."

"Thank you for your guidance from the military advisor." Fang Yue said excitedly, "I understand."

Ten days later, Hulao Pass.

The Central Army’s tent.

Dong Zhuo sat on the case, Guo Si, Li Kui, Yang Feng, Fan Chou, Li Ru, Li Su, Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Song Xian, Cheng Lian, Zhao Cen and others were on both sides, discussing matters, and the atmosphere in the tent seemed a bit solemn, and the generals looked worried. Even Li Ru, who had always been conceited by his wisdom, couldn't help but frown and fell into deep thought.

In a shocking battle before Hulao Pass, Ju Yi, eight thousand first climbed the camp and defeated 20,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalry, and was immediately famous all over the world. Inspired by the first climbed the camp, the 18th Kwantung Army increased their confidence and continued to launch an endless attack on Hulao Pass. Especially the stone throwing machine transported by Cao Cao, the prefect of Qiao County, from the rear, made the defenders at the pass suffer a lot.

The situation in Dong Zhuojun is becoming more and more serious.

However, the only thing that is thankful is that after the shocking battle, Yuan Shao hid the first camp and refused to let Ju Yi go to war, and refused to send the first camp to seize the city. If Yuan Shao had spared no expense and was willing to send the first camp to seize the city, Hulao Pass would have been broken by the 18th Guandong Alliance Army.

Guo Si stepped forward and clasped his fists and said in a voice: "Lord, we must find a way to destroy the coalition's stone throwing machine. If we allow it to attack endlessly, no matter how strong the wall of Hulao Pass is, it will probably be smashed! Moreover, letting the coalition's stone throwing machine launch an unscrupulous attack on Hulao Pass, but our army is helpless, which will seriously weaken our morale."

"It is probably not easy to destroy the coalition's stone throwing machine." Li Shi shook his head and said, "The valley was narrow before Hulao Pass, which was not conducive to cavalry assault. The coalition only needs to send a small number of elite infantry to build an indestructible line of defense in front of the rock throwing machine formation. It is not easy for our army to break through this line of defense."

Dong Zhuo disagreed and said, "The coalition's stone throwing machine is not enough to worry about. Our Grand Tutor has sent people to transport 18 stone throwing machines from Chang'an to Hulao Pass. It will be transported soon. Once these eighteen stone throwing machines arrive, the good days of the coalition will come to an end. However, it is unlikely that if you want to rely on these stone throwing machines to repel the coalition."

"Of course it is not enough to rely on stone throwing machines to repel the coalition forces. However, the 18th Kanto Alliance gathered more than 300,000 troops, and the amount of military rations consumed every day must be huge." Li Ru said this, a trace of sinister glanced leisurely across his eyes, and said in a calm voice, "If our army can explore the place where the Qing coalition troops stationed the grain, and then send out surprise troops to burn the food, the 18th Kanto Alliance troops have no food to eat, and they will definitely retreat without fighting."

"Yes." Dong Zhuo nodded repeatedly, "Wen Xiu's words are very consistent with my intentions. You can sneak into the Yingchuan area in detail. It is necessary to explore the 18th Route Alliance's grain garrison in a short time, and then ~~"

"Report~~" Before Dong Zhuo finished speaking, a sudden sound of rapid footsteps sounded outside the tent. A figure flashed, and a dusty school rushed into the tent, knelt on one knee and said anxiously, "General Cui Lie sent an urgent report from Hangu Pass!"

"Hangu Pass?"

"Hangu Pass!"

As soon as the school finished speaking, Li Ru's face suddenly changed. Dong Zhuo jumped up in shock and said sternly: "Tell me quickly!"

The school gasped for a few breaths and responded: "General Cui Lie urgently reported that Gao Shun, the general of Ma Yue, led 20,000 light cavalry, and drove straight into more than a thousand miles in ten days, and suddenly appeared under Chang'an City. Zhang Xiu, the guard general of Chang'an, was careless and was successfully attacked by Gao Shun's army. Chang'an City~~ has been lost!"

"ah!"

"What?"

"Is Chang'an lost?"

"How is this possible!?"

"The city of Chang'an is strong and light cavalry can attack the city. How did Zhang Xiu defend the city?"

The generals in the tent changed in a daze, and in desperation, they started to clamor.

"Zhang Xiu misled me! Zhang Xiu misled me~~" Dong Zhuo screamed twice, and angrily punched hard on the table, and actually smashed the solid hardwood table into two pieces. A sharp wooden thorn pierced Dong Zhuo's palm, and blood suddenly dripped down. Dong Zhuo was unaware of it and shouted, "If it weren't for the sake of Zhang Ji's face, I would have beheaded him and showed it to the public!"

Unlike Dong Zhuo's anger, Li Ru was full of gloom and said to Dong Zhuo: "Lord, as the saying goes, one moves the overall situation. Since Gao Shun has succeeded in attacking Chang'an, it will inevitably affect the battle situation in Liangzhou. After hearing this news, General Xu Rong will inevitably lead his army back to Chang'an. In this way, the ten counties of Liangzhou will no longer be owned by the lord, and~~"

"Ah!?" Dong Zhuo's face changed drastically when he heard this. Then he realized the crisis that Chang'an's fall might have caused, and asked anxiously: "And how? Wen Xiu has something to say."

Li Ru took a breath and said in a calm voice: "And Ru suspected that Gao Shun's army was attacking Chang'an, which was probably due to the planning of Ma Butcher. The purpose was nothing more than to mobilize General Xu Rong's army and then find an opportunity to annihilate the enemy. As for Chang'an's fall, it might be just an accident. If things are as Ru's expected, then General Xu Rong's army's prospects are worrying."

Li Su took a breath of air and said in a lost voice: "General Xu Rong retreated in a hurry and was very easy for the horse butcher to take advantage of. If General Xu Rong's army fails, the situation in Liangzhou and Guanzhong will be worrying, and the foundation of the lord's rear is worrying!"

"Ah?" Dong Zhuo's face turned pale at first, but after a moment, he returned to normal and said disapprovingly, "Yuan Mao (Xu Rongbiao's name) has been following this Grand Master for many years and has experienced many battles. Last time, the Ma Butcher attacked Liangzhou, he was beaten to pieces by Yuan Mao and returned in vain? This time, the Ma Butcher may not be able to do anything to Yuan Mao."

Li Ru was silent and turned his head accidentally. Suddenly, he found that the school that came to report the news was still kneeling in front of the tent and had not left. Moreover, his expression was quite strange. He couldn't help but ask in a voice: "Why haven't you left yet?"

The school gritted its teeth and said, "Go back to the military advisor, General Cui Lie has some urgent matters to report."

"There is something urgent?" Li Ru's face changed again, and he said in a steady voice, "Tell me quickly."

After hearing what the school said, Dong Zhuo and the generals turned their heads one after another, and everyone's eyes refocused on the school. The school clasped their fists and said word by word: "After Gao Shun's army succeeded in a sneak attack on Chang'an, they immediately advanced eastward. They rushed hundreds of miles in five days, and suddenly appeared outside Hangu Pass five days ago."

"Ah!" Dong Zhuo said in a lost voice, "Hangu Pass has also been lost?"

If Hangu Pass is also lost, then things will be really troublesome.

Xiaoxiao said: "Fortunately, General Zhang Xiu promptly warned General Cui Lie to be warned against Gao Shun's siege tricks. Finally, he used the art of fire attack to break the enemy's siege ladder, and Hangu Pass was safe and sound."
To be continued...