Chapter 89 Chapter 87 Driving the Tiger to Devour the Wolf

Chapter 89 Chapter 87 Driving the Tiger to Devour the Wolf

Chapter 89
The strategy of driving the tiger to devour the wolf is actually to let Shangguan Si, Miao Yuan and Zhang Fang die together, eliminating two unstable factors for Luoyang.

As for why Shangguan Si must be eliminated, the reason is very simple: this guy has gone too far!

The soldiers were allowed to burn, kill and loot, and many wealthy families were affected. Although this time they were restrained and only sought wealth and did not harm others, they still incurred public anger.

In addition, he held the prince hostage and looked extremely ambitious, so it was normal for everyone to be afraid of him and plot to get rid of him.

Before leaving, Wang Yan also gave some messages.

Gou Xi, the lieutenant general of the Northern Army, did not dare to return to Luoyang. He turned to Xuchang halfway and defected to Sima Hu, the King of Fanyang. No one knew where this news came from, but it should be true.

In Yecheng, Sima Ying wanted the emperor to issue an edict to depose Crown Prince Sima Tan and Empress Yang Xianrong - this was most likely revealed privately by Wang Cheng, a Zhonglang official in Yefu.

Pei Kuo and Pei Xia rushed back to Hedong to wait and see what the situation was like - this news must have come from Pei Xia because he was Wang Yan's son-in-law.

Because of the unusual movements of Sima Teng of Bingzhou and Wang Jun of Youzhou, Sima Ying, after hesitating for a long time, recommended Liu Yuan, the Left Wise King of the Xiongnu, as the General of the Champion, in charge of the military affairs of the five departments, and Yuan's son Cong as the General of the Crossbows. The emperor agreed to it - this was revealed by Wang Cheng.

After Sima Ying won a great victory, he questioned Sima Yao, the King of Dong'an, who had advised him to surrender. Yao was speechless and was killed. In this matter, Sima Ying was not as magnanimous as Yuan Shao, after all, he killed people only because he lost the battle.

Various pieces of information came from all sides, revealing the huge network of relationships of the Wang family of Langya.

This energy is amazing.

The accumulation of several generations of aristocratic families should not be underestimated.

Previously, I saw Zhang Fang's people killing the sons of noble families like killing chickens, which was a bit too contemptuous. In the end, Zhang Fang, who seemed so majestic, might be killed by these people.

Thinking of this, Shao Xun became more determined to build an army from scratch.

He wanted the officers and soldiers to form a community of interests with him. Without this group, everyone would be bullied, forcing everyone to stick together.

Only magic can defeat magic.

At present, the most effective way to counter the aristocratic family system is the system of conferring titles based on military merit. This was also the direction of development during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and was also one of the important factors in the gradual decline of the aristocratic family system after it reached its peak in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

By the Sui and Tang dynasties, the so-called aristocratic families no longer had many manors, lands, and troops, and gradually became decorations that depended on the imperial power. If the aristocratic predecessors of the Wei and Jin dynasties saw this, they would probably laugh their heads off, saying, "How can you be called an aristocratic family?"
"Sima." Chen Yougen walked in and saluted.

"Inform the boys in the training team not to train too hard these days so that the soldiers can retain some strength." Shao Xun said as he wiped his ring-handled sword.

"Is there going to be a war?" Chen Yougen was stunned and asked.

"Yes." Shao Xun nodded, and gave an additional explanation to his confidant Chen Yougen: "Wang Yifu wants to kill Shangguan Si and order him to go out of the city to fight Zhang Fang. Regardless of victory or defeat, we will take action. Shangguan Si and Miao Yuan are dead this time."

Chen Yougen got excited when he heard this and said, "I've disliked Shangguan Si for a long time. What kind of a person is he? In the Taiji Palace, he dropped his weapons and knelt on the ground, begging for his life, but now he's in a state of despair. He deserves to die!"

"He has offended everyone, why should he not die?" Shao Xun was always amazed at such people who lacked political acumen.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were Dong Zhuo, Li Jue, and Guo Si. Now there are Zhang Fang, Shangguan Si, and Miao Yuan. What were they thinking?

After a brief analysis, we all know that we are not capable of controlling the situation, so why do we still force it? Is it driven by the desire to vent?

During the Han Dynasty, there were people like Wang Yun who deceived the warlords and made them run around in circles. At this time, there was Wang Yan.

Wang Yun felt elated after killing Dong Zhuo, but he didn't know what would happen to Wang Yan.

In the afternoon, Shao Xun accompanied Mi Huang and Wang Bing to meet He Lun again.

"Commander-in-chief, why did you follow Shangguan Si out of the city?" He Lun asked somewhat dissatisfiedly, "There are many newcomers in our army's squads and squads, and they don't know each other very well. How can we fight and resist the enemy in the field?"

"If our army does not send people out of the city, the superiors may become suspicious." Mi Huang knew that this was not a good idea, but he still insisted: "Send the new people out. It doesn't need to be many, one thousand people will be enough. The lower army will also send out one thousand people, and you will temporarily lead them to go out of the city to resist the enemy."

After saying that, Mi Huang glanced at Wang Bing.

Wang Bing understood and immediately said, "I will allocate one thousand soldiers to you at that time."

Two thousand people were enough. Others had no idea how many deserters the Royal Army had taken in, and Shangguan Si would not place much hope on their fighting power.

Shao Xun didn't say anything.

He will definitely select these 1,000 people. As for who he will choose, is there any need to say? They are not from Luoyang City. After all, they have been rectified for six or seven months and are relatively trustworthy.

This time, they sent a newly formed 1,000 auxiliary troops. At a critical moment, trust is more important than anything else.

Seeing Wang Bing also stood up, He Lun knew that he could not change it and sighed heavily.

He knew very well that Wang Bing and Shao Xun would not be willing to give him their elite troops. In this battle that was doomed to fail, he had better think carefully about his escape route, so as not to die in confusion, which would be too unfair.

At this time, he was quite angry and had developed resentment towards Mi Huang, Shao Xun and Wang Bing.

Seeing that He Lun accepted the fact, Mi Huang breathed a sigh of relief.

In this conspiracy planned by Wang Yifu and in which they cooperated, no one was noble.

Every one of them was a ruthless person, scheming from the beginning to the end, even including Zhang Fang...

******
On the fifth day of September in the first year of Jianwu (304), north of Luoyang City, the sky was high and the clouds were light, with a gentle breeze.

On two post roads, one large and one small, a large group of soldiers rushed southward.

In the farmlands on both sides of the post road, cavalrymen galloped across the country, the sound of their hooves sounding like thunder.

Fifteen thousand infantry, six thousand cavalry, plus the defeated soldiers taken in along the way, the total army was twenty-seven or twenty-eight thousand people, this was Zhang Fang's full strength. The vanguard troops arrived at this time, a total of three thousand infantry, five hundred cavalry, and another three thousand cavalry were still in Mangshan, waiting for orders.

Zhang Fang led his personal soldiers to the outskirts of Luoyang City first. After a long inspection, he ordered to set up camp in the north of the city.

He had fought many battles and had played out several scenarios in his mind in an instant.

After seeing the soldiers on the city wall of Luoyang walking around in a panic, he snorted coldly and left.

Wang Yan, Shangguan Si, Miao Yuan, Man Fen, Chen Jing and Mi Huang also climbed up the city wall to look out.

For some reason, Shangguan Si suddenly felt a little frightened and said, "At this time last year, the Western troops were not very good. After a year, they have become much more powerful and well-organized. Why is that?"

Wang Yan was a little stunned.

In his opinion, aren't last year's Western soldiers the same as this year's Western soldiers? Why make such a fuss?
Mi Huang, however, had some insight. After a careful look, he explained to Wang Yan, "Western soldiers fight every year. They may not be able to perform well at the beginning, but they will always improve after fighting for a long time. This Western army has a strict flag and a strong military power. It is not a weak force."

Wang Yan suddenly realized that it was because he had fought too many battles and had gained experience. Thinking about it carefully, Hejian King Sima Yong did actively participate in the battles in Luoyang and sent troops every time, ranging from 20,000 to 70,000, so he had quite a lot of experience.

I heard that Huangfu Zhong of Qinzhou was still holding out and Chang'an also sent a large army to join the battle. The Western soldiers fought quite a few battles.

Of course, having said that, Luoyang fought more battles, but unfortunately they had just experienced a disastrous defeat at Dangyin, and the morale of the soldiers was low, so it was difficult to compare with others.

"Pass the order down, assemble the entire army, and go out of the city to resist the enemy." Shangguan Si suddenly gave the order.

Wang Yan was surprised when he heard this: "General Shangguan, what is this..."

Shangguan Si was very patient with his future "relatives" and explained: "The bandits have come from afar and have not yet established a firm foothold. We should attack them together to dampen their spirit."

Although he said so, he was actually thinking: gather a large number of troops, use the majority to defeat the minority, first defeat the enemy's vanguard, prevent them from setting up camp smoothly, dampen their spirits, and boost our own morale. As for whether to fight after Zhang Fang's main force arrives, he tends not to fight.

In short, he regretted it and wanted to rely on the strong city to drive Zhang Fang away. As for whether he had broken his promise to Wang Yan, he didn't care so much.

The order was quickly passed down, and the soldiers from various camps who had been prepared long ago left the city one after another.

Shangguan Si came down from the city wall, riding a horse, and brought with him his 5,000-strong central army.

Three thousand people from Miao Yuan's tribe, one thousand people from Chen Jing's tribe, two thousand people from Man Fen's tribe, and two thousand people from He Lun's tribe joined together one after another.

The entire army had 13,000 men, most of whom were infantry. The cavalry from various units were put together, but there were less than a thousand of them, which was a bit shabby.

But it was enough, the enemy's vanguard was only three or four thousand infantry and cavalry.

With three times the number of troops, we can overwhelm the minority with our numbers and defeat the weak with our strength, and victory is certain.

Wang Yan looked at the city wall for a while, his face looking a little confused.

Today is not the day we agreed to take action.

Before Zhang Fang's main force arrived, Shangguan Si launched an attack with his entire army, intending to take advantage of the situation. In this way, even if a battle took place, Shangguan Si would probably not suffer too many losses, and he might even capture a group of bandits, making his army even more powerful.

In this case, can we still do anything to him?

Will Chen Jing, Man Fen and others change their minds at the last minute?
Wang Yan was subconsciously feeling a little uneasy, and was already thinking in his mind how to further feign compliance with Shangguan Si if the situation changed.

Oh, what a mistake! Why are there so many accidents?

Chu Zhong often ridiculed me for being ignorant of military affairs, and now it seems he was right.

The rumbling sound of drums woke Wang Yan up.

He opened his eyes wide and stared outside the city.

More than ten thousand people were arranged in a square formation in a chaotic manner.

There were 3,000 soldiers in the front army, 3,000 soldiers on each wing, 2,000 soldiers in the rear formation, and 3,000 soldiers in the rest formation. He didn't know that this was the standard square formation since the Cao Wei Dynasty, but he thought it was a bit like a variant of Bagua.

After the formation was arranged, the rhythm of the drums suddenly accelerated.

The army of more than 10,000 people, under the command of Shangguan Si, marched forward and rushed straight towards the Western Army.

The Western Army, which was camping, assembled hastily and sent out cavalry to harass and block the enemy to buy time.

Shangguan Si also sent out cavalry, and the two sides collided head-on and started fighting before the infantry.

The drumbeats continued, and the two sides were getting closer and closer.

The sound of dense arrows breaking through the air could be heard on the battlefield, and soldiers were constantly falling down with screams.

Wang Yan clung to the top of the city wall, his fingers slightly curled up, as if he wanted to pick off a piece of it.

After a while, the two sides finally came into close combat.

Wang Yan watched intently.

It turned out that the confrontation between tens of thousands of people was so grand and the process was so cruel.

"Pushe, our army is going to win." Chief Justice Zhou Fu came over and said with a complicated expression.

Shangguan Si really has some strength under his command, no wonder he is so arrogant.

After the 3,000 soldiers of the Central Army engaged the enemy, they were in a stalemate at first, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. But as time went on, the Western Army gradually lost its strength and retreated, and by this time, its formation was already in disarray.

The Luoyang Central Army is indeed powerful!

Zhou Fu sighed, they were much stronger than the hereditary soldiers of Xuzhou, but it was a pity that they were basically wiped out - there might be quite a few stragglers and defeated soldiers, but in terms of organization, the central army was indeed gone.

"Kill!" Warm cheers suddenly broke out on the battlefield.

Zhou Fu and Wang Yan looked in the direction of the sound.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The drumbeats became more and more intense. This was the signal to pursue the enemy.

The morale of more than 10,000 people was greatly boosted. They ran in a line in the direction where the enemy soldiers were fleeing, shouting loudly for a fierce fight.

"We won." Zhou Fu said expressionlessly.

Wang Yan didn't say anything, just frowned and thought hard.

The enemy's escape became more and more chaotic, and the pursuers became more and more scattered. There was a serious disconnect between the front and the back, and the formation was loose and no longer as strict as before.

At this moment, there were shouts of people and neighs of horses on Mangshan Mountain.

After a while, one team of cavalry after another slowly came down.

After roughly assembling the team, they ran in small steps, gradually increasing their speed, and encircled the pursuers on both wings.

"It's over..." Zhou Fu's mind went blank.

He didn't expect that Zhang Fang had this preparation, and that there would be such a surprise in this battle!
After being shocked, Wang Yan suddenly turned his head and found that Mi Huang was gone!
He did not dare to delay and called several people on the spot, ordering them to go look for Governor Mi separately.

(End of this chapter)