Chapter 369: Guan Yu mobilizes his troops to attack Luoyang Yangcheng County, under the jurisdiction of Yingchuan, is located in the later Dengfeng City. This place is the location of Huanyuan Pass, the gateway to Luoyang. This place was a relatively desolate land before the Eastern Han Dynasty, until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty when Emperor Ling of Han established eight passes in the counties around Luoyang. Because the road here is dangerous and narrow, with twelve bends, winding around and around, it is called Huanyuan Pass. At the time when Qin Zhen was attacking Nanyang, a troop under the flag of Cao's army was advancing along the mountain road. At this time, Xu Shu was sitting on a huge rock, eating wheat cakes with water, while the soldiers around him were silently carrying supplies. Suddenly, the trees in the distance moved, and Deng Zhan emerged from them. He stepped forward and bowed, saying: "Prime Minister Xu, we have found the way ahead. From here, we can go west for thirty miles and pass Songshan Mountain and reach Huanyuan Pass." "There are not many soldiers at this pass, and the defense is very lax. As long as we capture this place, our army can enter Luoyang!" Listening to Deng Zhan's words, Xu Shu took out a handkerchief from his arms, wiped his mouth, and sipped his saliva, saying: "From here, go west for thirty miles? If the whole path is just like this, won't it take us two more days to complete the whole journey?"

As soon as he asked the question, Deng Zhan smiled and shook his head, saying, "It won't take two days. If we travel tonight, we can arrive tomorrow!" "Because the weather is still cold now, the trees are not lush. After this place, there is a small river in the mountains. It is quite easy to go along the river." "Our army's carriages and horses cannot pass through, so we must carry our loads and move forward. Otherwise, we may reach the pass tonight!" Faced with the conclusion given by Deng Zhan, Xu Shu carefully calculated the time and ordered the march. If they hurried, they might be able to reach Luoyang before June! That’s right, the destination of Xu Shu’s troops at this time was none other than the heartland of Cao’s army - Luoyang! The story goes like this, and it has to start from the time when Qin Zhen sent out his troops. It was said that in mid-March, when Qin Zhen started his army, he informed Guan Yu of his intentions. At that time, Guan Yu and Xu Shu had already arrived in Pingyu City. Although the troops had not been mobilized, Runan, Chen and Pei had a total of 120,000 troops. This is because the Central Plains is difficult to defend, so Guan Yu and Xu Shu have been expanding their armies over the years. Among these 120,000 troops, Guan Yu was the leader, with 60,000 soldiers under his command. He had always been the main force in guarding against Cao Cao. Although the rear seemed calm when Liu Bei led his troops to fight in all directions, in fact, there were constant frictions between Guan Yu and Cao Ren. After all, the territories of Liu Bei's army and Cao's army in the Central Plains were intertwined, and the situation was complicated and changeable. In addition, before Cao Cao moved the capital, there were heavy troops stationed in Xuchang. Once the war broke out, Runan where Guan Yu was located would be the first to bear the brunt. This meant that Guan Yu had to have the ability to defend against Cao Cao alone, so Guan Yu's own troops even exceeded the regular garrison in Shouchun. This is also the reason why Guan Yu intended to mobilize troops directly when he heard the emperor's request for help when the secret decree was sent. There was no other reason. He had the strength to attack Xuchang directly and destroy Cao Cao's lair in one fell swoop. All he lacked was Liu Bei's order. The result was contrary to expectations. The Yidaizhao incident did not make Liu Bei determined to go to war with Cao Cao, and Guan Yu had no choice but to keep his troops in place. Unexpectedly, this wait would last another two years. Seeing Qin Zhen killing people everywhere, Guan Yu was naturally jealous. Guan Yu wrote to the emperor many times requesting to fight, but Liu Bei refused each time, saying that the time was not right. Guan Yu had no choice but to continue training his troops and recruiting talented people. When he heard that Liu Bei had taken Jingzhou, he was about to submit a petition again, but unexpectedly, he received an appointment from Liu Bei to serve as the governor of Huainan. Guan Yu thought that he still had a chance to fight in Runan. If he moved to Huainan, how would he have the chance to lead his troops to war? So he insisted on not going, but fortunately Qin Zhen wrote a letter to persuade him, and Guan Yu reluctantly went to take over Huainan. What he didn't expect was that Qin Zhen's strategy of underestimating the enemy was to transfer him to Huainan. Only five months after he arrived in Huainan, Qin Zhen sent him a secret letter asking him to prepare to mobilize troops.

After receiving the letter, Guan Yu was overjoyed. He immediately began to collect food and supplies, and sent them to Pingyu as cargo. After preparing for half a year, he finally received a secret letter from Qin Zhen, saying that he was about to launch a full-scale attack on Cao Cao and that he could go to Pingyu first. Afterwards, Guan Yu immediately ordered Xu Shu, Kan Ze, Zhu Zhi, Xu Kun, Jiang Qin, Zhu Ran, Pan Zhang, Guan Ping and others to go north. Guan Yu waited in Pingyu until March, when he received another letter from Qin Zhen, saying that he would go north to attract the attention of Cao's army and let them wait for an opportunity to act. Although Guan Yu was eager to fight, he knew that this battle was related to the situation in the world and was of great importance and he could not be careless. So after receiving the letter, Guan Yu kept tracking the enemy's movements until Cao Ang came to reinforce him. He knew the time had come and prepared to send troops. But at this moment, Xu Shu persuaded Guan Yu to stop and said bluntly: "The military advisor is a great commander of the army. Cao Ang cannot stop him." "Now that he has sent out 20,000 reinforcements, they will definitely not be a match for the military advisor. I predict that Cao Ang will be defeated, and the enemy will certainly need reinforcements." "Your Excellency has an important mission in this battle. Whether we can win or not depends on you. You must be a surprise force and do not act rashly!" Xu Shu had been working with Guan Yu for a long time, so Guan Yu would not ignore the opinions of this founding father and simply continued to wait. In late April, they received news that Cao Ang had been defeated and Cao Ren had once again sent reinforcements to Nanyang. After receiving this letter, Guan Yu summoned everyone to discuss the strategy of advancing, hoping to capture Chenliu and Yingchuan counties in one fell swoop. Many people put forward suggestions, such as sending the main force to take Xuchang first, or dividing the troops to march north to take Yongqiu first and then seize Chenliu. But while everyone was discussing the plan, Guan Yu proposed a shocking strategy: to take Luoyang first, cut off the connection between Cao's army in the north and south, and completely annihilate Cao's army in the Central Plains! When this plan came out, everyone was shocked. They were surprised at Guan Yu's appetite and also surprised at the ruthlessness of this plan! Because at this time, the territory under the command of Cao's army had a characteristic, that is, it was divided into inside and outside the pass in the north and south, and was blocked by mountains. Luoyang was the central hub connecting the north and the south for Cao Cao. Once Luoyang was lost, it would be like a needle piercing the heart of Cao's army. Not only would Cao Cao's northern and southern armies be blocked, but Cao Ren and Cheng Yu in Yingchuan and Chenliu counties would also have their retreat completely cut off. At that time, if these troops wanted to withdraw, there would be only two ways: either to recapture Luoyang, or to return from Nanyang via Wugu Pass. On one side of these two roads are their troops, and on the other side are Qin Zhen's troops. If both ends are blocked, Cao's army in the Central Plains can be trapped. Once everyone thought about it, they felt that this plan was very effective, but it was also very risky. If they were not careful, the troops that launched a surprise attack on Luoyang would be wiped out. However, Guan Yu said that this time he would personally lead the army north to attack Luoyang. His original words were: "This battle is a battle to see whether our army can welcome back the emperor. Right now, my eldest brother is fighting in Hanzhong, and my military advisor is also fighting in Nanyang." "If I had not been ordered, I would have given up. Now that I have been given this important task, I will do my best. How dare I not repay my elder brother with my life?" "In this battle, I will go north and pretend to be a soldier of Cao's army. If we can capture Luoyang, then great things will be accomplished!" As soon as he finished speaking, everyone said no, saying that Guan Yu was the commander and should not take risks easily. Xu Shu also stepped out and said: "You are right. As the commander-in-chief, how can you risk your life? This battle should be led by a relative." "First, Cao Ren and Cheng Yu are both afraid of your power. If you are here to contain them, they will be protected from attack." "Secondly, you hold an important position as the leader of the three armies. If they knew that you had arrived in Luoyang, they would attack with all their might." "At that time, the prince was in Luoyang, like a hostage. How dare we not rescue him? This would ruin the whole thing!"

When Guan Yu heard this, he realized that he is no longer the same as before. In the past, he could do whatever he wanted, but now with Liu Bei's status rising, he and Zhang Fei also rose in status. If the enemy knew that he was alone and deep in the enemy's territory, they might really launch a desperate attack. After thinking for a while, he simply agreed to Xu Shu's request. Just like that, after getting Guan Yu's promise, Xu Shu took more than 9,000 soldiers and led Deng Zhan, Fu Rong and other generals to disguise themselves as Cao's army and march north. Because Guan Yu had not yet mobilized his troops and the Central Plains was not on guard, Xu Shu escorted food and fodder northward. Whenever he met checkpoints along the way, he said that he was ordered to escort military supplies. Cao Ren obviously did not expect that Guan Yu would attack Luoyang directly, so the checkpoints along the way saw that the flags were all his own and let them pass. This allowed Xu Shu to have a smooth journey, bypassing Xuchang and entering Yangcheng directly. On the eighth day of May, he entered the Songshan Mountain Road. After marching for another ten days, they arrived at Huanyuan Pass. After hearing Deng Zhan's report, he knew that success or failure depended on this point, so he ordered the march to continue. After walking for another night, they finally arrived at Huanyuan Pass. This place was located between many mountains, and the pass was a wooden fortress. As soon as they arrived at the pass, they began to ask questions. Xu Shu followed the previous practice and asked Deng Zhan to step forward and answer: "Because Yuan Shao is attacking Henei very urgently and Chenliu is blocking the road, General Cao Ren ordered us to go north from here to reinforce Henei." Upon hearing this, the soldiers at Guanzhang immediately ordered the gate to be opened. Unexpectedly, as soon as the gate was opened, Deng Zhan and Fu Rong led their troops into the camp. There were only 300 soldiers stationed in the camp. How could they be a match for Xu Shu? In a short time, they were completely captured by Xu Shu. After entering the camp, Xu Shu asked about the military situation in Luoyang, only to find out that Luoyang was guarded by Wang Bi, a trusted confidant of Cao Cao, and had only 6,000 soldiers and horses. After hearing the details about Luoyang, Xu Shu no longer hesitated and continued to lead his troops towards Luoyang. However, Wang Bi was a famous scholar in Yanzhou and a close minister of Cao Cao. Although he was not well-known, he was deeply trusted by Cao Cao. In the original story, Wang Bi had always been working under Cao Cao. Before his death, Lu Bu pleaded with Cao Cao for mercy, but it was because of Wang Bi's dissuasion that he died. Later, Cao Cao was promoted to prime minister, and Wang Bi became his chief secretary. He supervised the military affairs of Xu County and led troops to guard the emperor, and was highly trusted. It was not until Geng Ji and Ji Miao rebelled that Wang Bi was seriously injured and died. Cao Cao became angry and killed all the rebels. In this timeline, after Cao Cao moved the capital, he appointed Wang Bi to guard the important city of Luoyang. Since taking office, Wang Bi has been working diligently and conscientiously. He checks the documents of all soldiers and horses passing by and does not dare to slack off in the slightest. As a result, on the night of May 27, he had already gone to bed when he heard soldiers outside the city reporting that troops were approaching the city. Wang Bi heard this and hurriedly stood up to ask the other party if he had brought the order. The soldier heard this and shook his head: "They said that the military situation was very urgent, and General Cao only gave them a verbal order, but they did not see any written order." When Wang Bi heard this, he thought to himself, no matter how urgent the military situation was, could it be that Cao Ren didn't have enough time to write a letter of command? "Besides the troops outside the city, are there any unusual movements reported from various places? Are there any urgent reports of troops from the four borders?" After listening to this, the soldiers shook their heads again. Not to mention urgent reports, foreign troops were rare in their Luoyang. After all, there are eight passes surrounding them to guard them. If the enemy attacks, how could they not know? Wang Bi was puzzled upon seeing this, and continued to ask for details, only to hear that this troop was carrying baggage. The baggage is of great reference value in judging whether an army is coming to attack a city. Because most of the time, an army that is trying to attack a city will not carry a large amount of baggage as a burden.

"How much baggage do they have outside the city?" Wang Bi asked again, trying to determine the identity of the soldiers outside the city. "They have a lot of baggage, more than a hundred carts, loaded with food, fodder, and tents, probably more than ten thousand tonnes!" The soldier answered again, which immediately made Wang Bi confused. Carrying ten thousand stones of food and fodder, it was obviously the army's rations. If the passes around Luoyang had not fallen and Cao Ren had not engaged in battle, was it possible for the enemy to bypass such a long road and arrive here? But why didn't this troop have a transfer order? Thinking of this, he went to the city wall to observe. At a glance, all I saw were soldiers wearing their military uniforms and their flags under the city. After thinking for a while, Wang Bi asked the generals under the city to come out and answer. Then a man came out and said: "Mr. Wang, General Cao is recruiting people because the north is in danger, so the general ordered us to go north to reinforce them." "It's true that the general didn't give us the order. It's not that we don't want to show it. We don't have it. There's no other way!" "My brothers and I have been traveling for days and are exhausted. We hope you will open the city gate and let us in to rest for a night!" "If you really don't want to open the city, please give us some wine and food to relieve our fatigue!" Lu Zhao was a young general under Cao Cao. Wang Bi had heard of this name before. Seeing him speak pitifully, he couldn't help but feel sympathy. Then I thought that there was indeed nothing unusual around, and this army came from the south, so how could it be an enemy? After thinking for a while, he said to the people below the city: "You may enter the city, but please do not disturb the people." After he finished speaking, he ordered the city gates to be opened, and as the gates opened, the soldiers and horses below the city immediately poured into the city. After a while, a sudden loud noise instantly turned Wang Bi's face pale. (End of this chapter)