After sending away Li Guangbi, Li Yuguo and others had completed their corrections and planned to attack Ningyang, the first city after Hulao Pass.
Ningyang and Xuchang are both the only way to enter Yanzhou, and it is already a part of Yanzhou. As long as any city is opened, it can be used as a breakthrough, and everyone occupying Hulao Pass means that they have a reliable backing. .
Nowadays, Jingzhou only needs to pass through a few key cities to deliver supplies to Hulao Pass, passing through Huarong Road, Ruyin, Weinan, and Huai County. These four important places are guarded by Li Hugo's team.
Huarong Road is guarded by veteran general Huang Zhong.
Ruyin is guarded by General Guan Sheng.
Weinan was guarded by General Liu Du.
Huai County is guarded by Yang Paifeng.
This grain road that runs through four places is guarded by four generals, so it can be said to be foolproof. The reason why Huai County sent a female general is because Huai County is remote and easy to defend but difficult to attack, and Li Hugo is currently employing On this occasion, all those who can fight are concentrated in one place.
Pang Tong said: "Lord, I think it is better for us to attack Ningyang with a large force, while Li Rusong leads the troops to attack Xuchang, because Xuchang is the only place we must pass to enter Yanzhou, and it is also where the Yanzhou army attacks Hulao Pass. With a passage, General Li Rusong and his soldiers and horses can prevent the enemy from sneak attacks to a certain extent, whether they are attacking, fighting, or occupying the city to defend themselves."
"Okay, then I'll do as you say." Li Hugo said.
At this time Lu Bu spoke, and Lu Bu said: "Xian son-in-law, I think it's better to go and deal with Xuchang. General Li Rusong is young and strong. He should be placed on the frontal battlefield. But there will definitely not be any place like Xuchang." The troops and horses are focused on guarding, but I don’t have many of my men left now, and Xuzhou’s reinforcements are still on the way.”
"That's not bad." Pang Tong said, "But General Lu, don't be afraid of 10,000, just be afraid of the worst. Now you have 30,000 men. Otherwise, we will allocate 50,000 soldiers and horses from Jingzhou to you?"
Lu Bu laughed loudly: "Shiyuan, you are too underestimated. After all, I am also the most brave general in the world. I am just a prosperous person, so don't worry!"
Seeing Lu Bu's confidence, Li Yuguo nodded and said, "Well, it's your father-in-law's turn."
"It doesn't matter, we are all one family." Lu Bu said.
Lu Qiling said, "Dad, how about I stay with dad too, what do you think, dad?"
"No, no, no, the martial arts you used to fight Ran Min must be used together with Bo Long to bring out the best. You and Bo Long cannot be separated, otherwise the martial arts will be useless." Lu Bu said.
Lu Qiling also knew the stakes and agreed to her father's arrangement.
The soldiers were divided into two groups, and Li Yuguo led his troops to Ningyang. On the way, Lu Qiling randomly picked a wild fruit on the roadside and peeled it with a knife. Suddenly, she accidentally cut her finger.
In fact, cutting her finger was nothing. What was important was that she suddenly couldn't help but tremble in her heart. She didn't know why, but she was very panicked.
She stared deeply at the fork in the road where her father left, gritted her teeth, and stopped talking.
"Qiling, what's wrong with you?" Li Huguo asked.
Lu Qiling put her finger in her mouth and said, "It's nothing. Let's continue on our way."
After three days of trekking, Li Yuguo arrived at Ningyang City. Ningyang's defenders were not many, only 30,000 soldiers and horses, so Li Yuguo captured Ningyang effortlessly, which surprised everyone.
"This battle is too easy." Zhao Yun said, "At Hulao Pass, the soldiers and horses of the Sima Army still resisted tenaciously, but in Ningyang, this is not an ordinary place. They are attacking Xuchang. It was a stepping stone, and we won it so easily.”
"There are two places, Ningyang and Xuchang. One place must be strong. Relatively speaking, the Bingma Di beef jerky in the other place is far from enough. If you put it this way..." Pang Tong looked a little ugly.
Lu Qiling also felt that something was not good, especially the feeling of the father-daughter connection, which made her feel very uncomfortable, like a stone in her heart that could not come up or go down. She said, "Is it my father's side? "
"No!" Li Yuguo stared angrily, "Come and see!"
When everyone came to the sand table, Li Yuguo pointed at Xuchang and said: "The soldiers and horses from Xuchang divided into two groups and defended Ningyang all the way. Didn't we just hear that this time Sima Yi sent an army of 300,000 people to the front? Come, but we only encountered 50,000 cavalry. In other words, at least 250,000 people went to Xuchang, and Xuchang only had 50,000 cavalry from your father. It would be very disadvantageous for cavalry to attack the city. If the enemy takes control After your father, he then took the opportunity to march towards Hulao Pass along Xuchang, captured Hulao Pass, and surrounded us from both front and rear. Aren't we being surrounded by iron barrels, and then it is difficult to advance or retreat?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone's expressions became ugly. Li Rusong said: "Cousin, what do you think we should do?"
Li Yuguo gritted his teeth. It was difficult for him to make a decision now, because he currently only had 180,000 soldiers and horses. He was already in a dilemma. At this time, Pang Tong said: "I have a plan. General Xu Da brings 100,000 people. We continue to attack in the direction of Xuchang, but we turn back to Hulao Pass and take a shortcut to help General Lu Bu, what do you think?"
"Okay, what about Ningyang? We finally took Ningyang, and we just let it go?" Li Yuguo asked.
At this time, a brave general came out of the crowd. The opponent was Gan Ning, who was accompanying the army. Gan Ning did not follow Jiangdong's army northward, but stayed with Li Hugo. Gan Ning smiled bitterly: "Lord, let me defend the city. , my water ghost troops didn’t help much, but if the defenders happen to be there, I can help.”
"Is this really good? You have no experience in defending a city?" Li Hugo said very worriedly. After all, Gan Ning was his brother.
Gan Ning smiled and said: "Don't worry, my lord, even if you have never eaten pork, haven't you seen pigs running?"
"Haha, you are calling eldest brother a pig!" Zhao Yun was amused.
"No, no, I was just making an analogy." Gan Ning said quickly.
Li Yuguo also smiled: "Okay, since Xingba is so determined, I'll ask you to defend Ningyang. The other brothers will follow the military advisor's arrangements and divide their troops into two groups!"
"Yes!" All the soldiers stood up straight.
But on Lu Bu's side, he encountered unprecedented trouble. When Lu Bu came to the gate of Xuchang City, he looked up and was so angry that he immediately wanted to rush to the city gate and kill him, because there was his enemy on the tower.
Seven young military generals slowly walked out, and the leader was Yang Dalang. Yang Dalang said: "It's an old man like you who is sending himself to death! Look what this is!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a rope was hung on the city gate, and on this rope, hanging eight heads, they were Lu Bu's eight best generals, his eight brothers of life and death!