When Wang Yun learned that Li Jue, Guo Si and others had led their troops to Huaili, he felt that the situation was a little bad, but he could not be completely sure whether they had bad intentions towards Chang'an, so he reported this matter in the morning court.

Liu Xie looked at the fact that there seemed to be one missing among the ministers, and asked:

"Why is the Secretary of the Shangshu Lang Zhong Yao not in the court?"

Sima Fang replied after hearing this: "Your Majesty, Lord Zhong was infected with a serious illness a few days ago and had resigned from his post and went home to recuperate."

In fact, anyone with a discerning eye can see that Zhong Yao's illness was not as serious as his statement said. It was because of Cai Yong's death that he took his anger on Wang Yun, so he would rather give up his high-ranking officials than be an official in the same court as him.

Zhong Yao was not in the court, and the lack of a resourceful and decisive counselor was a great loss for Liu Xie. At present, the motives of Li Jue and Guo Si were unclear, and the court did not have too many troops to adjust. If it were Li Jue and Guo Si were really planning to rebel, the consequences would be extremely serious, and by then Chang'an would fall into long-term turmoil again.

Sima Fang and others could see that Li Jue and Guo Si were definitely coming for Chang'an:

"Your Majesty, it is not only Li Guo who led his troops eastward, but even Ma Teng, Han Sui and Zhang Ji who were entrenched in Xiliang have clear trends. Many signs are already very clear. If they don't seek Chang'an, why do they do this?"

After hearing his words, Liu Xie thought it made sense, and Fu Wan also agreed with Sima Yi’s thoughts:

"Weichen believes that the most appropriate way at the moment is to send General Huangfu Song to lead his troops to guard the Yicheng and Xianyang on both sides of the Yellow River. If Li Guo and others do not move, we will not move. If they want to rebel, we will raise an army to annihilate them."

It is obviously a very good suggestion, but there are many ministers who are plagued by war and are afraid that if the war starts again, they will fall into a displaced situation. Dong Cheng is one of them. He proposed to Sima Fang and others:

"Your Majesty, the court has not made a clear decision on Dong Zhuo's old subordinates. I think they may not necessarily attack Chang'an, but if we send troops rashly to confront them, they may arouse their fear and be forced to rebel!"

At this time, Wang Yun thought of something and went out to start the process:

"Report to your Majesty, according to the opinions of the empress, it is better to send Hu Zhen and Yang Ding, who are also Dong Zhuo's old subordinates, to lead the royal army to guard the Fucheng and Yuji on the south bank of the Yellow River to monitor them. If Li Guo and others are just outside the Yellow River, we will station on the spot and send Dong Zhuo's old subordinates to appease them, so as not to cause trouble."

This was the only suggestion that the main warlord and the two factions could accept. Although Liu Xie felt a little unsure, he still agreed. So he personally issued an imperial edict to order Hu Zhen and Yang Ding to throw 5,000 people each to approach Yuji and Meicheng.

After the court was dispersed, Sima Fang came to Zhong's mansion to visit Zhong Yao who was recuperating at home, and informed Zhong Yao of what he had discussed in the court. After hearing this, Zhong Yao calmly said nothing, poured the teacup and gently pushed the teacup to Sima Fang and said with a smile:

"It seems that Sima Gong doesn't have many relatives in Chang'an, right?"

Sima Fang felt that Zhong Yao's words were a little strange: "Why did Yuan Chang say this?"

Zhong Yao smiled mysteriously again: "I remember that it seems that it was not. The young masters had already returned to their hometown when they moved the capital. By then, when the city of Chang'an was broken, you could run away alone."

Now Sima Fang heard the hidden meaning in Zhong Yao's words: "Do you mean that Chang'an City is in danger?"

Zhong Yao stood up and walked to the window, pushed open the window, looked up at the dark clouds in the sky:

"Hu Zhen and Yang Ding were originally Dong Zhuo's old subordinates, and they had a good relationship with Li Jue and Guo Si. What's more, as you said, the total strength of Li Guo, Ma Han and Zhang Ji and his son has exceeded 60,000. The court can only send 5,000 troops to them each, which is that Hu Zhen and Yang Ding turn against each other or refuse to fight."

After calm analysis, Sima Fang felt that what Zhong Yao said was as if it was the reality that was about to happen. He immediately said goodbye to Wang Yun's house, General Zhong Yao's thoughts were informed to him. After hearing this, Wang Yun waved his hand and smiled:

"Sima Gong, you are too worried. I treat Hu Zhen and Yang Ding well. They will not betray the court."

However, the fact is exactly the opposite. Hu Zhen and Yang Ding led their troops to the garrison. When the trip was halfway through Hu Zhen and Yang Ding received a large number of gold and silver treasures sent by Li Jue, and declared that everyone was a brother who shared weal and woe and did not want brothers to fight.

After considering it, Hu Zhen ordered the army to station on the spot. After five or six days of use, he returned. According to what Jia Xu compiled, Li Guo and others had no intention of rebelling. It was just that there were Yellow Turban Remnants gathered in Huai to rebel, and he was going to quell the rebellion.

Now the lords and factions of the court were completely relieved, but their optimism did not last long, and they received Ma Teng and Han Sui's troops from Wudu to gallop towards Meicheng, as well as the emergency military situation where Zhang Ji was about to arrive in Lantian.

Without further ado, Wang Yun could order Hu Zhen and Yang Ding to rise up again and return to Jicheng to defend the enemy. According to Zhong Yao's suggestions, with Sima Fang's strong recommendation, Wang Yun ordered Xu Rong, a famous general with great military achievements, to lead 8,000 troops to support them.

After arriving at Meicheng, Hu Zhen, Yang Ding and Xu Rong respectively arranged their troops in the west, north and east directions of Meicheng. The news reached Li Jue Camp, and he felt a headache for Xu Rong's battle. Because Xu Rong was a famous general in a hundred battles, he not only defeated Cao Cao's pursuers in the Battle of Bianshui, but also almost captured Cao Cao alive, but also defeated Sun Jian, who made Dong Zhuo extremely troubled in Liangdong. Although he was not from the Yongliang faction, he was deeply loved by Dong Zhuo and was a very difficult person to deal with.

That night, the messenger urgently reported to Li Jue, Guo Si took down Xianyang and had already crossed Xinfeng on the bank of the Yellow River. In order to avoid being attacked from both sides, Xu Rong immediately ordered his army to go to Xinfeng. Hu Zhen and Yang Ding promised him to defend the city of Fu. Xu Rong thought there was no worries. Even if they were not useful, they could withstand it for a while, so he went to Xinfeng to block the attack with peace of mind.

After arriving in Xinfeng, Xu Rong found that he was one step late. Most of Li Jue's troops had crossed the Yellow River, but not many troops could stand on the shore, so he intended to capture them in one fell swoop while they had not yet fully arrived.

After several hours of fierce battle, although Li Jue and Guo Si's troops were exhausted, they relied on their advantage to fight attrition with Xu Rong. Seeing that he was already in an advantage, Xu Rong ordered them to drive them to the Yellow River in one go.

At this moment, there were violent shouts of killing in the west of Xinfeng, and the soldiers shouted at Xu Rong:

"General Xu! That is the flag of the Western Liang Army!"

Xu Rong turned his head and saw a big "horse" written behind him. The banners with the word "Han" filled his vision. The leader was a general wearing silver armor and brocade robe, with a red tassel and a tiger's helmet on his head and a silver spear, and was attacking him on a white horse.

Before he could think about how the Xiliang army came here, Xu Rong turned his head to meet the enemy.

"Who will come!"

The man replied, "Ma Mengqi of Xiliang!"

When he first saw that person was extremely handsome and didn't look like a general who had been through the battlefield for a long time, he underestimated the enemy. He never thought that after dozens of moves, the big knife in Xu Rong's hand was cut off by his spear, and he was also knocked down and then roared to death by a shot.

Hu Zhen, Yang Ding, Li Jue and others colluded, resulting in the Western Liang army being able to march directly to attack Xu Rong's troops in Xinfeng. Xu Rong was defeated and died, and Xinfeng lost the Western gateway to Chang'an City was opened.
Chapter completed!