Chapter 24: Battle on the Central Plains

Lu Hai said to Lu Gui with a little excitement: "When the meeting is held, you must agree to send troops. As long as most leaders agree to send troops, Fu Jian can't stop him. Fu Jian is extremely greedy for power, so he will not be relieved that others will lead the troops themselves. When Fu Jian's army leaves, we will immediately attack the royal army! Capture the small Di family and force other Di people to surrender to us!"

"Father, is this too hasty?"

"Hurried? Not hastily at all." Lu Hai's face hung a strange smile and continued, "You can win if you miss it. It will take at least one month for Fu Jian to assemble his troops, which means we have a full month to prepare. One month is enough."

While Lu Hai and Lu Gui and his son were discussing, Adou also listened clearly to the two of them on the roof.

"Haha, I didn't expect that the Lu family had a lot of ambitions. I originally wanted to pardon you so that your Lu family could return to the Central Plains openly, but now it seems that you, the remnants of Lu Zhi, would be good if you don't cause trouble for me!" Thinking of this, A Dou jumped and fell down lightly, and then several flashed and disappeared into the darkness.

Pu Lin walked into the room excitedly, but found that Adou was not in the room.

"Your Majesty? Your Majesty?" Pu Lin shouted softly.

The window suddenly opened, and a man in black rushed in from outside, scaring Pu Lin so much that he turned around and ran backwards.

"Mr. Pu, don't be nervous, it's me!"

Hearing Adou's voice, Pu Lin stopped and slowly turned around. Seeing Adou in his night clothes, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your Majesty, your outfit is..."

"Haha, I was so bored that I went out and walked around. I encountered some interesting things." Adou said, his face suddenly became serious, and he asked, "Pu Lin, I ask you, do you want to be the King of Di?"

"Be the Di King..." Pu Lin was stunned.

"If you want to be the King of Di, I will give you a King of Di!" A Dou said decisively.

"Your Majesty, but Fu Jian's side..." Pu Lin was obviously moved.

"Don't worry, I have my own way to do it on Fu Jian's side."

During this period, Fu Jian was not idle either. He summoned some tribe leaders from time to time, exaggerating the losses of sending troops to the Di people. At the same time, he also stated that if he could not defeat Cheriji, he would be retaliated and other words. In short, he persuaded everyone not to support sending troops.

As for Lu Gui, there was no movement, he just stayed at peace and did not walk around with others.

Finally, it was time for the second meeting.

"Everyone, tell me your opinion!" Fu Jian said.

"King, Yongzhou is much stronger than our Western Regions. I think this is a great opportunity for us Di people. We can go to the Central Plains without having to farm."

"King, although Yongzhou is better than the Western Regions, the Han emperor did not let us go in vain. The Han people also asked us to send troops to fight Cherikhi. It would be fine if we could defeat Cherikhi. If we could not defeat, even Yongzhou would be occupied by Cherikhi, and Cherikhi would definitely take revenge on us in the future. At that time, we might not be able to stay in the Western Regions."

Everyone expressed their opinions, some supported and some opposed, and everyone quarreled endlessly.

Fu Jian smiled with satisfaction. This was exactly the effect Fu Jian wanted. So far, Lu Gui had not spoken yet, and everyone had already started arguing. If Lu Gui, the heavy boss, came out to express his opinion again, the argument would have been even more powerful.

Thinking of this, Fu Jian asked, "Lu Gui, what do you think?"

Lu Gui stood up and said, "King, I think that if we send troops, our clan will suffer serious losses regardless of the outcome."

Fu Jian nodded with satisfaction and asked, "Do you don't support sending troops?"

"Your Majesty, it is precisely because sending troops to Liangzhou will cause us heavy losses, and the outcome is still unpredictable. So I think that our clan should do our best this time to have one more chance of winning."

"What? Are you supporting the dispatch of troops?" Fu Jian looked at Lu Gui with a surprised look.

Others also looked at Lu Gui incredibly. Lu Gui and Pu Lin have always been incompatible, but now Lu Gui actually supports Pu Lin. Could it be that Lu Gui has changed his nature?

"Lu Gui, you have to think it through!" Fu Jian said hurriedly.

"Your Majesty, I think very clearly."

"This..." This time, Fu Jian really had nothing to say. Originally, Fu Jian thought Lu Gui would object 100%, but unexpectedly, Lu Gui agreed.

Pu Lin and Lu Gui, the most powerful tribal leaders among the two Di people, made a statement. Even if Fu Jian wanted to stop the troops, he had no choice.

"Well, just send troops!" Fu Jian sighed helplessly, and at the same time, he began to secretly make up his own small plan in his heart.

Liangzhou. Han army camp.

The dragon flag is hung on the highest flagpole, and you can see it when you walk several miles away. The emperor's golden tent is located in the middle of the Han army camp, and is guarded by Bai'er elite soldiers. The idle people are not allowed to approach half a step.

The Han army in the camp knew that their emperor had been here for a long time, and rumors about A Dou, such as a single cavalry to assist Guan Yu, defeating Zhou Tai and killing Lu Meng, making a big fuss in Runan, trapping Lu Xun to pacify the southern barbarians, and quickly spreading in the army. Everyone was curious about what this young and had achieved such a brilliant record looked like, is it the legendary three heads and six arms that swallowed several cattle a day.

But unfortunately, those vicious white-eared elite soldiers were guarding the golden tent around the tent. Except for Jiang Wei, Yang Yi and others, the others were not allowed to get close to them. The emperor was also very strange. He had been here for so long, but he had stayed in the tent, never came out, and never met the soldiers.

As for Cheriji, since he saw the dragon flag rising among the Han army, he immediately launched an attack on the Han army. In Cheriji's view, the raised dragon flag means that the Han emperor has arrived. As long as the Han emperor can capture the Han emperor, the entire Yongzhou will be his own.

From the moment the dragon flag was raised, Deng Ai realized that the situation was already very bad. Deng Ai had fought with A Dou and was almost killed by A Dou. His experience in fighting with A Dou told Deng Ai that A Dou was definitely planning and then moving, and whenever A Dou moved, it was often a fatal blow. So when he saw the dragon flag, Deng Ai felt that A Dou had already set a trap and was ready to beat the Qiang people in one fell swoop.

Deng Ai had an inexplicable sense of fear of Adou. Deng Ai did not want to die with the Qiang people, let alone since he was demoted to defeat, the Qiang people had begun to distrust Deng Ai, so Deng Ai simply said goodbye to Cheriji in the name of returning to Chang'an to recuperate and left the Qiang people.

Faced with the attack of the Qiang people, Jiang Wei also adopted a strategy of responding. If a Qiang general shouted to fight one-on-one, Jiang Wei would go out to fight, but if the Qiang people wanted to stand in groups, Jiang Wei would never go to fight.

Without Deng Ai, no Qiang general was Jiang Wei's opponent. As a result, several people were killed by Jiang Wei, and he lost his morale.

Cheriji once wanted to rely on his large number of people to attack the Han army camp. However, Jiang Wei also took measures to deal with it. The entire Han army camp was full of deer and horses and trenches, causing great trouble to the Qiang cavalry, which made the Qiang people return in vain for several attacks.

Finally, Jiang Wei waited for Wei Yan's reinforcements to arrive.

Although Wei Yan's reinforcements were not large, they were all elite soldiers who had gone through several wars. In addition to their well-equipped equipment, they were definitely first-class in quality.

After all, it was Jiang Wei's first time leading troops to fight, and his experience was far inferior to Wei Yan. Now that Wei Yan has arrived, Jiang Wei just handed over the command of the army to Wei Yan. At the same time, Jiang Wei followed Wei Yan to attack Wei Yan, and also learned how Wei Yan led his troops.

This time, Wei Yan brought four generals, Zhang Yi, Ma Zhong, Wu Ban and Fu Qian, and the lineup was quite strong. With Wei Yan, the Qiang people would not get much benefit when they came to fight alone. But as he watched the dragon flag fluttering in the Han military camp, Cheriji was really unwilling to give up like this.

Adou's emperor was in the golden tent.

The soldiers stood on both sides, the first one on the left was Wei Yan, and the first one on the right was Chen Zhi.

Chen Dao looked at the empty throne in the middle, and a fire of ignorance rose in his heart. Chen Dao glared at Zhang Yi behind him and whispered: "Zhang Yi, wait. If your Majesty loses half of his hair when he comes back, I will have to cut you alive!"

Zhang Yi was so scared that he shivered. He hurriedly lowered his head and did not dare to look at Chen Dao.

Zhang Yi has been with A Dou for some time, and since A Dou ascended the throne, Zhang Yi's status has also risen. Except for a few big bosses in the Shu army, whoever saw Zhang Yi respectfully called General Zhang.

But Chen Dao didn't care so much. Zhang Yi was also valued by Liu Bei and selected as the Baier elite soldier and became Chen Dao's subordinate. For so many years, the commander of the Baier elite soldier has always been Chen Dao, so Chen Dao was Zhang Yi's old boss. Faced with the scolding of this old boss, Zhang Yi could only lower his head and listen.

"Brother Shuzhi, you can't blame Zhang Yi for this matter. Zhang Yi also obeyed Your Majesty's orders." Wei Yan hurried out to smooth things over, and at the same time helped Zhang Yi defend himself: "Besides, you don't know about our Your Majesty's character. Brother Shuzhi. Your Majesty has outstanding martial arts skills and was still rampant in the hundreds of thousands of Cao's army back then. If Your Majesty really wanted to leave, Zhang Yi would not be able to stop him."

"Brother Wen, our Bai'er elite soldiers are responsible for defending Your Majesty's safety, which is different from marching and fighting. If you lose for a while, you will be able to find a few more victories in the future. But if our Bai'er elite soldiers are not careful, the ones who will be compensated will be your Majesty! If we lose once, we will never have a chance to turn the tables. Therefore, our Bai'er elite soldiers cannot tolerate any carelessness. Because we can't afford to lose, once we lose, the entire court will lose all the way!" Chen Dao said solemnly.

"Hehehe, General Chen Dao said it well!" Then, applause came from outside.

Zhang Yi hurriedly raised his head. Zhang Yi was so familiar with this voice!

"Your Majesty, it's Your Majesty back!" Zhang Yi was the first to rush towards the tent door. Immediately afterwards, Chen Da, Wei Yan and others looked at each other and walked out.

"Your Majesty, you're back!" Seeing that there was no damage on A Dou's body, Zhang Yi breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Chen Dao's barrier had passed and his head was saved.

"Ah, Wei Yan, you are here too!" When A Dou saw Wei Yan, he walked over with a smile. Then, A Dou immediately noticed that behind Wei Yan was a young man in his early twenties.

"You are Jiang Wei, right?" A Dou asked.

"My minister, Jiang Wei, see Your Majesty."

"Haha, you are Jiang Wei? OK, very good!" Adou looked at the pillar of the late Shu Kingdom carefully.

"Yes, it's true that a hero is a teenager!" A Dou couldn't help but use the tone of a senior elder. But A Dou forgot that he was younger than Jiang Wei.

Jiang Wei always felt a little weird when he was praised by someone younger than him as a hero, but the other party was the emperor. Jiang Wei hesitated for a long time before he spoke up and said: "Your Majesty is wrong, and Wei is ashamed of taking responsibility."

"Okay, don't walk here and stand. Let's go in." A Dou said, strode into the scene.

"Your Majesty, where have you been these days? I am very worried when you left so quietly." Wei Yan asked.

"Am I, I've gone to the Western Regions."

"Western Regions!" Chen Dao was so scared that he shook his body and almost stopped. The general next to him also looked at A Dou with a strange expression.

For the generals present, the Western Regions is a very distant word. Even Jiang Wei, who lives in Tianshui, is still very unfamiliar with the two words "Western Regions". Everyone mainly knows the Western Regions from historical books. For the generals present, most of them only care about the achievements established by General Fubo Ma Yuan and Hou Banchao Dingyuan.

The Western Regions are unfamiliar to everyone. In the eyes of these generals, the Western Regions should be a barren land, with poisonous insects, birds and beasts everywhere, and some even think that the Western Regions are full of mountain spirits and monsters. So when everyone heard that Adou went to the Western Regions, they were all so surprised that they couldn't believe their ears.

Jiang Wei was a little more rational. Jiang Wei was from Tianshui and had seen many merchants traveling between the Western Regions. Jiang Wei knew that the difference between the Western Regions and the Central Plains was not too big, but there were horse thieves everywhere in the Western Regions. At the same time, Jiang Wei also knew that the caravans who came back from the Western Regions and passed through Tianshui were all carrying a lot of wealth.

"Actually, the Western Regions are not much different from our Central Plains, just the rain is less and the wind is stronger! But this time, I have not gone to the Western Regions in vain. I have brought back great news." A Dou said with a smile.

"I dare to ask your Majesty, what good news is?"

"I want to fight Dingliangzhou!" Adou said, taking a breath, and then said, "But there are still many details here that need to be discussed for a long time. I can't work alone. Zhang Yi listened to the order and immediately sent someone to Chang'an to invite the Prime Minister to come over, saying that I have important matters and need to discuss with the Prime Minister in a good manner."

Tongguan.

After several days of travel, when Deng Ai returned to Tongguan, he was already in turmoil. However, Deng Ai did not go to rest, but went to see Cao Zhen as soon as possible. He also carefully told Cao Zhen about his journey to Liangzhou.

"So, Liu Chan has arrived in Liangzhou?" Cao Zhen asked.

"Not only Liu Chan has gone, but on my way back, I also met Wei Yan's reinforcements and were marching towards Liangzhou." Deng Ai replied.

"Okay, now Liu Chan's attention must be focused on Liangzhou and fighting Cheriji. The Qiang people under Cheriji are good at fighting, and there are also a large number of people. Even if Liu Chan wins this battle, it must be a tragic victory. I happened to take advantage of this opportunity to send troops to Yongzhou. Even if I can't regain Chang'an, I will still be in trouble for a few years, and Liu Chan will not be able to recover!" Cao Zhen's face showed a hint of joy.

"Report..." The school suddenly pulled Changyin and ran in, came to Cao Zhen, knelt down and said, "Grandmaster, Your Majesty has sent an envoy and is waiting outside."

"Hurry and invite me." Cao Zhen said hurriedly.

Just a moment later, the messenger came over. When Cao Zhen saw that the old acquaintance was coming, the minister Wang Chang.

"So it's Lord Wang coming. Come in and invite someone to come and serve tea!" Cao Zhen hurriedly greeted him.

"Grandmaster, Your Majesty has an order, please accept the order!" Wang Chang's face did not look very good.

Cao Zhen hurriedly knelt down, while Wang Chang began to read the imperial edict.

Cao Pi's imperial edict was not much. The first half said that Cao Zhen made great contributions to guard Tongguan and said a lot of unnutritious encouragement. This was basically the same as the saying "He who is in accordance with the heavens and the emperor's edict said", which was nonsense. It was not until the end of the imperial edict that Cao Zhen got to the point of the matter immediately and ordered Cao Zhen to return to Xudu immediately, and at the same time, he wanted to transfer Cao Zhen's main force back to Xudu, leaving only 10,000 troops to guard Tongguan. As for Tongguan, Xiahou Ba replaced Cao Zhen.

Cao Zhen took the imperial edict and a hint of worry appeared on his face. Cao Pi actually transferred the main force to Xudu, which means that Cao Pi was going to give up Yongzhou.

Cao Zhen approached Wang Chang and asked softly: "Mr. Wang, what happened? The victory or defeat of Yongzhou is still unknown. Why did Your Majesty transfer the army back?"

"Grandmaster, I'll give you a clear idea first. This matter is of great importance. If it is spread, it will affect the morale of the army. You know it and I know it." Wang Chang said in a low voice.

Cao Zhen knew that Wang Chang was Cao Pi's confidant, and his news should be very accurate, so he immediately said: "Mr. Wang, please."

"That's right. Fifteen days ago, Sun Quan ordered his generals Sun Shao and Bu Zhi to raid Hefei. General Cao Ren personally led his troops to support Hefei from Shouchun, but unexpectedly, he encountered the ambush of Wu general Xu Sheng and Zhang Cheng on the way. General Cao Ren was defeated and led his troops back to Shouchun, but found that Shouchun had been occupied by Wu general Quan Cong and Ding Feng. Now, all the land in Huainan has been obtained by Jiangdong. General Cao Ren had to return to Cai. After General Cao Ren retreated to Xia Cai, he was unable to get sick and could no longer be in charge of the affairs, so His Majesty urgently recruited the Grand Commander to go back." Wang Chang explained.

"What, do you mean Shouchun is lost? The whole Huainan is lost?"
Chapter completed!