Chapter 579: Meeting

In mid-March, both sides of the Liaohe River were covered with green grass. Although it was only an inch long, from a distance, it looked like a huge green carpet, covering the entire land. The Liaohe River, which looks like a green belt in the middle, seems to disappear on the earth and is no longer so conspicuous.

Among the boundless green, dots of white, yellow, and red flowers stand proudly in the sea of ​​green, perfectly dotted, reflecting the blue sky and white clouds, making the colors rich and colorful.

"It's so beautiful!" Yan Peng couldn't help but admire this vast expanse that he had never seen in Hejian County. Although he was a military commander, he had a rich family background and extraordinary literary talent. Seeing such beautiful scenery, he couldn't help but feel relaxed and happy. .

Sun Xiao was not so romantic. Looking at Yan Peng's appearance, he smiled and said: "I think it will be more beautiful if there are countless villages, countless people, countless fertile fields, cattle, men plowing and women weaving."

Yan Peng rolled his eyes silently. If he really wanted to add these to such a paradise, it would be full of tackiness and it would no longer be as beautiful as it is now. However, thinking about the purpose of this trip, he couldn't help but feel a little depressed. , Yes, when I came here, didn’t I just want this place to look like what Sun Xiao said.

What a pity for this beautiful scenery.

Looking back behind him, he saw the queue of the Second Army winding like a long dragon. It had been more than a month since they entered the grassland. These soldiers were still in high spirits and did not have the pain of leaving their hometown as he had worried about. But he was still a little worried. Although there were mountains and hills on the Hetao Plain, most places were still plains. Under this kind of terrain, the Donghu cavalry was naturally at home. But for the infantry, every battle will be a hard fight. Opponents can choose the battlefield. Choose the time to fight and conquer the Eastern Army. But he can only defend himself with his back.

Different from the blind optimism of Sun Xiao and others, Yan Peng consciously looks further. Zhengdong Mansion seems to be prosperous now, but in fact it is surrounded by crises. At the moment, it is just taking advantage of the chaotic situation to get back among the heroes. Occupying a position, once the situation stabilizes, no matter which force it is. They all have an overwhelming advantage against Shangzheng Dongfu.

No wonder Governor Gao couldn't wait to start the Hetao Plain.

But a few years ago, Governor Gao led his army to raid Shannan County of Qin State, captured it in one fell swoop and handed it over to Zilan, which was a stroke of genius. This battle not only ensured that Zhengdong Mansion would no longer be threatened by the west, but also silently However, he extremely powerfully provoked the discord between Zilan and Zhao Wang Wuji.

In Yan Peng's view, although Zilan won Shannan County almost for nothing, while guarding the western gate for the Eastern Army, she was also jealous of the King of Zhao in Handan. It can be said that the gain outweighs the loss. However, there is a saying that goes well, a child is not a fish, how can one know that a fish knows happiness? Maybe the situation in Daijun. Although Zi Lan knew that Gao Yuan's move was suspected of harboring evil intentions, she still had to grit her teeth and take it.

Gao Yuan's move,

Zilan had to form an alliance with him, not only to deal with the threat of the Qin people, but also to face the suspicion of King Zhao.

The current Zilan is finally no longer the Zilan who has endured for decades, and is no longer the Zilan who humbly retreated for the sake of the State of Zhao. Obviously, King Zhao was using a borrowing knife to divert trouble to the east. It has completely angered Zilan, causing the relationship between the two to be already fragile. A sharp chop with a knife,

The little bond that held them together was completely broken. Or maybe Zilan now plans to replace King Zhao.

The Qi State colluded with Donghu and wanted to use Donghu to put pressure on the Yan State, so that they could take advantage of the situation and plunder the Yan-Qi border. The King of Qin wanted to take over the world. In early March, South Korea was finally captured by Li Xin in Xinzheng, and the country was officially declared subjugated. The hearts of the people in the Wei State were In panic, Zhao Mu led the main force to the border of Zhao and Wei. As long as the Qin State made any move to attack the Wei State, the Zhao people would invade the Wei State. The Chu State, which had always been more peaceful in the south, finally took action this time. , began to mobilize troops and horses to the border of Qin and Chu, but the Chu people had not fought for ten years. It is still unclear whether they could be defeated in front of the Qin general Meng Tian.

Among the seven kingdoms in the world, South Korea has died. Wei, Zhao, and Chu have initially formed a strategic alliance against Qin, but this alliance is also extremely fragile. Especially King Huai of Chu, who looks forward and backward, and is not a decisive leader. If the Chu people are half-hearted, Zhao Zhao alone can Wei, I don’t think it can withstand Qin’s power.

Troubled times are indeed imminent.

This time the Northern Field Army went to the Hetao Plain. In addition to the more than 3,000 infantry and cavalry that Xu Yuan had taken the lead in setting out a year ago, there were the 4,000 Hejian County soldiers he led. Sun Xiao led the 3,000 elite troops from the group headquarters. , will be stationed in Dayan Lake and build a city in Dayan Lake. In this way, the First Army, the Second Army and the group army headquarters will form an irregular inverted Z-shaped city chain in the Hetao Plain. This will be Zhengdong Mansion Develop the west bank of the Liaohe River and sit in a pattern of looking west to the east.

It can be predicted that in the next few years, the tranquility of the Hetao Plain will be broken, and a series of bloody battles will inevitably break out. The Donghu people will not sit back and watch Zhengdong Mansion's actions in the Hetao Plain. If Zheng Dong is allowed to Dongfu succeeds, but Donghu is attacked on both sides and is strategically passive. Then, when Zhengdongfu is still in its infancy, destroying it in one fell swoop will be the first choice of the Donghu people.

The Northern Field Army, which has only more than 10,000 people, is at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength. The strength of a large Donghu tribe will not be weaker than that of the entire Northern Army.

This made Yan Peng a little anxious.

After joining the Eastern Expedition Army, he did understand the military strength of the Eastern Expedition Army, and also understood that the Hejian County soldiers were a level lower than the Eastern Expedition Army, but the absolute strength of both sides was there. No matter how good the Eastern Expedition Army was at fighting, its strength was there. Although it now controls the two counties of Hejian and Liaoxi, it is still difficult to support the ambitions of the Eastern Expedition Army with the strength of the two counties.

The construction of Dayan City, which is presided over by the Minister of Works Guo Quan, has started, and tens of thousands of civilians from Jishi City have arrived. This time, Sun Xiao brought a thousand troops from the headquarters of the group army to go together, but mainly to inspect the two garrisons of the First Army and the Second Army.

The garrisons of the First Army and the Second Army are about fifty miles apart, almost in a straight line, in order to control the Liaohe River and resist the Donghu people. Xu Yuan was ordered to build a city, and I hope he is not perfunctory. The city, of course, should be built as solidly as possible, but he has so few people and the time is short, so it is good to have a place to shelter from the wind and rain after he arrives.

A melodious horn sounded from the front, and with the horn, the sound of horse hooves came, and a group of cavalry suddenly jumped out from the horizon, with a big flag flying. It was the flag of the First Army of the Eastern Expedition Army.

It was Xu Yuan who personally led people to greet them.

"It's not far from the Vanguard City!" Sun Xiao smiled and said, "We can get to the Vanguard City today. We have been on the road for more than a month, and it's time to rest up."

"These guys look energetic." Glancing at his own army, Yan Peng was a little proud. After leading his army to Jishi City, he finally saw the training method of the world-famous Eastern Expedition Army. He was greatly stimulated and introduced the training method of the Eastern Expedition Army in its entirety. He personally requested Gao Yuan to send his personal soldiers to serve as instructors in the Hejian County soldiers. This was a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, it was to express his loyalty to Gao Yuan, and on the other hand, it really improved the combat effectiveness of the Second Army. The personal soldiers of the governor were the elite among the elites drawn from various departments.

After a month of special training, the combat effectiveness of the Second Army has indeed been improved. Yan Peng can feel this. Even he himself has become much stronger now. His strength, reaction and skills are incomparable to before.

"I am afraid it will take some time to recover to the best condition." Sun Xiao smiled. Compared with Yan Peng, he has much more experience. The soldiers of the Second Army are still in an excited state. When the freshness is over, the fatigue, homesickness and loneliness of the long march will come together. At that time, the whole army will fall into a trough. Only after this period of time can the army form real combat effectiveness.

While talking, Xu Yuan had led his troops to them. There were more than a hundred cavalrymen who came to greet them, and they were extremely brave.

Xu Yuan threw off his horse and strode to Sun Xiao. He hit his left chest with his right hand and said loudly: "Xu Yuan, commander of the First Army of the Northern Field Army, greets His Excellency the Commander."

Sun Xiao laughed and got off the horse. He saluted Xu Yuan first, then looked at Xu Yuan carefully and said: "I thought you were alone here, and you must be exhausted and skinny, but seeing your rosy face, you are doing well. Do you have any good news to tell me?"

Xu Yuan laughed, "There are a lot of good news, but Commander, can you allow Xu Yuan to keep it a secret for now?"

Sun Xiao laughed, "Good boy, you are still keeping it a secret. Well, it seems that you want to give me a surprise. Okay, I will, but I have to say that if this surprise is not big enough, I will not forgive you."

"Don't worry, Commander. This surprise must be big." Xu Yuan said with a smile.

"Come, let me introduce you to Yan Peng, the commander of the Second Army. We will be comrades in the future. You two should get close to each other!" Sun Xiao turned around and introduced Yan Peng to Xu Yuan. Xu Yuan had been in Hetao for a long time, but he had never seen Yan Peng.

"Commander Yan, nice to meet you!" Xu Yuan smiled and stepped forward to greet him. He took the opportunity to carefully look at this former Hejian County prince. If it were in the past, the two would have been people from two different worlds, but now, they are colleagues of the same level.

"Nice to meet you, Commander Xu, you have worked hard." Yan Peng returned the greeting with a smile.

Xu Yuan turned around and said to the generals behind him: "Hua Zong, Jia Wang, Sun Xiaoyi, Luo Lei, all come to see the commander and Commander Yan."

Following Xu Yuan's order, the four senior generals of the First Army stepped forward and saluted Sun Xiao in unison. (To be continued)