Chapter 381: The River Flows East, All the Heroes Die In November of the seventh year of Jian'an, just as Yuan Shao was plotting to take Guanzhong, Guan Yu under Liu Bei's army suddenly appeared again and disrupted Yuan Shao's plan. The story begins when Qin Zhen went north. At that time, Qin Zhen followed Xun You's advice and adopted the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao. Afterwards, in addition to speeding up the march of his troops northward, he also sent two messengers to inform Guan Yu and Liu Bei's armies respectively. After delivering the letter, the messenger headed north and then east, and arrived in Luoyang city right under Yuan Shao's nose. Ever since Xu Shu entered Luoyang City, he has been gathering nearby bandits and armed forces, ready to march northward at any time. Because now their territory has formed a U-shape, there is an extra piece in Qingzhou in the east, and after the capture of Chenliu and Luoyang, there is another piece here. That is to say, before they completely captured Yanzhou, Yuan Shao's troops could break into their heartland, Yuzhou, from Yanzhou at any time. Therefore, after capturing Luoyang, they must occupy advantageous terrain so that they can gain an advantage when fighting against Yuan Shao in the future. Under such circumstances, it would be most appropriate to seize many counties south of Dongjun while Yuan Shao's main force is in the west.

But Xu Shu was different. After careful consideration, he felt that seizing Yanzhou was far less better than seizing Hedong and then Bingzhou. After all, their main attack direction was not the Central Plains. After Liu Bei captured Chang'an and Luoyang, he would most likely continue to use these places as his capital. If they miss the opportunity now and choose to seize the Central Plains, then when they send troops from Guanzhong in the future, Yuan Shao will be able to continuously harass Yanzhou with his cavalry. But if they seize Hedong and Henei now, they can defend themselves in the mountains and attack Yuan Shao from Bingzhou and Central Plains. As long as they have enough troops, they only need one battle to conquer the entire Hebei area. With this idea in mind, Xu Shu began a long period of preparation until Guan Yu arrived. Guan Yu's arrival made Xu Shu realize one thing: Qin Zhen's idea might be the same as his, both wanting to seize Bingzhou first. Therefore, before Qin Zhen's messenger arrived, he and Guan Yu had prepared troops for more than a month. As soon as Qin Zhen's messenger arrived, the two led their troops to attack Henei again. On October 19th, when Xun Chen was on his diplomatic mission to Chang'an, Guan Yu and Xu Shu had already led an army of 60,000 to cross the Yellow River from Mengjin Port to the north. On October 20th, before the army had crossed the river, Guan Yu led his troops to launch a fierce attack on Wen County, and Wen County fell that day. On October 24, Heyang, Yewang and Bo counties were successively captured by Guan Yu. Yuan Shang realized it later and hurriedly led his troops to resist. On October 27th, Yuan Shang was defeated and fled to Weijun. Guan Yu personally led 5,000 troops across Wangwu Mountain and attacked Jiangxian County in Hedong. On the fifth day of November, Jiang County was attacked by Guan Yu, and Xu Shu's army captured most of the cities in Henei. At this time, the news had just reached Yuan Shao's camp. At this time, Yuan Shao was attacking Chang'an fiercely because he was angry about Xiahou Dun's false surrender. When he heard the urgent news from the east, he was shocked and ordered a withdrawal. But when Ju Su saw this, he hurriedly persuaded Yuan Shao not to retreat, because Guan Yu's start of mobilizing troops meant that Qin Zhen might have arrived in Chang'an. If they retreat now, they will be pursued by Qin Zhen. Then they will be blocked by Guan Yu in front and pursued by Qin Zhen from behind, and they will be completely defeated. If we can capture Chang'an now, not only will Qin Zhen retreat, but even Guan Yu will find it difficult to fight for a long time and can be defeated slowly. This time, Tian Feng again held an opposite opinion from Ju Shou. He felt that there were 60,000 troops in the city and they could not be defeated in a short time. It is still time for them to withdraw now while the enemy has not yet encircled them. If they do not withdraw now and allow Liu Bei's army to encircle them, then once Ma Teng and Han Sui rebel, their entire army will be wiped out. The two wise men, who had already passed away at this time, tried to persuade Yuan Shao with different opinions, which made it difficult for Yuan Shao to make a decision and he did not take any action for several days.

But his delay gave Qin Zhen an opportunity, and on November 13, the seventh year of Jian'an, he launched an attack on Yuan Shao's camp. Before this, Yuan Shao had not learned about the movements of his troops. The reason for this was that Qin Zhen fled into the mountains after arriving in Lantian. It should be said here that Lantian is located to the west of today's Lantian County. It is the only way to Chang'an and is located between two mountains. But after Qin Zhen arrived here, he learned that news from the east meant that Yuan Shao would definitely withdraw his troops, so he chose to advance in a roundabout way. Instead of attacking Chang'an from Lantian, they took a detour through the valley east of Lantian to the west of Zheng County, which is today's Weinan City. This was also Qin Zhen's usual method. Instead of advancing along the normal route, he would often predict the enemy's reaction and ambush the enemy on the route they must take. This trick usually works wonders when one can accurately predict the enemy's intentions, but unfortunately this time he met Yuan Shao, the indecisive monarch. Faced with the urgent news from the east, Yuan Shao did not make a decision immediately, which made Qin Zhen fall into thought. After all, if Yuan Shao withdrew his troops directly, the fastest way for him to return would be to pass through Tongguan and cross the river at Fenglingdu. But if Yuan Shao keeps delaying, he might choose to go north first, pass through Puyang and cross the Yellow River directly to the east, bypassing his current ambush site! In other words, if Yuan Shao did not react, it would mean that his ambush would most likely fail, and he had to take the initiative to attack! After careful consideration, he finally decided to let Xun You enter Chang'an City and join him in attacking Yuan Shao's camp. Originally, as Cao Cao's military advisor, Xun You could not be released. However, Qin Zhen was certain that Xun You would not rebel again, and only by releasing him could he achieve the greatest results. So under his decision, Xun You was able to return alone, enter the city of Chang'an, and reunite with Xun Yu, Guo Jia and others. When everyone gathered together, they couldn't help but ask about each other's well-being. But when everyone asked how he came back, Xun You said: "It was because Qin Zhen took me with him when he went north. I saw that there was no defense on the road, so I concluded that the lord would definitely surrender to Liu Bei, so I helped him!" "Qin Zhen has led his troops to the east of Hongmen, intending to cooperate with our army to defeat Yuan Shao, so he sent me here." As soon as he said this, everyone's faces looked a little strange. Although Cao Cao had ordered them to surrender, they had not yet signed up to serve Liu Bei before Liu Bei surrendered. But Qin Zhen didn't care about anything and just asked Xun You to come and ask for their help, which was obviously not in line with the surrender procedure. However, Xun You saw that everyone was like this, so he simply said in a deep voice: "Now that Lord Cao has died for state affairs, he is still making plans before his death." "Since you have already agreed to surrender, why are you still hesitating? If we don't defeat Yuan Shao now, the war will never end, and it will harm the people of Han Dynasty." After he made this statement, Xun Yu nodded in agreement. Guo Jia, Jia Xu and others were speechless and had to agree to this plan. In this way, the two sides agreed on a time and attacked Yuan Shao's army at night. Nearly 80,000 soldiers besieged Yuan Shao's 40,000 soldiers. That night, Xiahou Dun first ordered Xu Huang to lead an army of 5,000 to pretend to attack Yuan Shao's camp. However, they were discovered by Yuan Shao's soldiers, who chased them out of the camp and fought. Xu Huang pretended to be defeated and retreated. Yuan Shao was already upset at this time, and when he heard that the enemy dared to raid the camp, he ordered his troops to pursue them. As a result, the 8,000 men in charge of the pursuit were ambushed by Cao's army after they had chased for five miles. This time, in order to completely defeat Yuan Shao, a total of more than 40,000 troops were dispatched from the city. With 40,000 troops besieging 8,000, Yuan Shao lost more than 2,000 troops after just a short while. When the news reached the camp, everyone was shocked. Without waiting for anyone to think, Yuan Shao personally led his army out of the camp to rescue his troops. However, as soon as he looked west, Qin Zhen saw an opportunity and ordered Taishi Ci to lead his troops into Yuan Shao's rear camp. As Yuan Shao had left and the army was empty, Taishi Ci directly broke into Yuan Shao's rear camp and set fire along the way. Suddenly, the fire spread to the sky. Yuan Shao looked back and was shocked. He led his troops to the camp to put out the fire. However, Xiahou Dun came up with his troops and held him tightly. In other words, Yuan Shao was outwitted by Qin Zhen and Xiahou Dun without realizing it. When Yuan Shao was preparing to return to the camp, his entire rear camp had been completely lost. As soon as Yuan Shao returned to the camp, countless soldiers and horses rushed out in the darkness, and the entire Yuan Shao camp was surrounded by densely packed soldiers and horses.

When Yuan Shao saw this, he hurriedly took his nephew Gao Gan and rushed along the bloody road. After they had walked more than ten miles, they suddenly saw the troops of Huo Jun and Xu Sheng rushing out from the north and south. After a fierce battle, Yuan's army was covered with corpses and blood flowed like a river. Zhang He fought desperately and finally protected Yuan Shao from the encirclement and broke out of Weinan. After walking for another ten miles, they saw Wei Xu and his men leading the army. They charged and Yuan Shao was unable to resist. He shouted in haste, "If we don't fight to the death, we will be captured!" Amidst a burst of shouts, he personally led his soldiers to charge and fight hard, and escaped from the siege. Gao Gan and Zhang He were both wounded by arrows, and all the soldiers were killed or wounded. Seeing the miserable state of his soldiers, Yuan Shao cried bitterly for a while and fainted. After everyone gave him first aid, Yuan Shao finally woke up and vomited blood again, shouting: "I have fought dozens of battles, but I never expected to be in such a mess today! This is destiny's will for me! With the situation now, I might as well die!" After saying this, he drew his sword and was about to commit suicide. Seeing this, Zhang He hurriedly stopped him and said in a deep voice: "Let me fight to the death and rescue you." Then he mounted his horse and led Yuan Shao all the way eastward. When they reached Tongguan, they saw Tian Feng fleeing there. When Yuan Shao saw Tian Feng, he grabbed his hand and said with great regret: "I regret not listening to Mr. Tian's advice earlier. This has led to our current defeat!" When Tian Feng heard this, he sighed and then asked where Ju Su was. Someone told him that Ju Su had fallen into the hands of the enemy and had not escaped. When Yuan Shao heard this, he fell backwards and lost consciousness. Only Tian Feng saw this and sighed, then ordered the troops to withdraw. When they reached Hedong, they heard that Guan Yu had already captured Anyi. Tian Feng had no choice but to lead Yuan Shao into the Huns' territory. This place originally belonged to the north of Hedong, and after the Huns surrendered, it became the Huns' territory. However, as Cao Cao conquered the Huns, this place returned to Han territory. However, after decades of scourge by the Huns, the place was already deserted. When Tian Feng and others brought Yuan Shao here, the soldiers were out of food and had to eat each other. After marching for half a month, almost all the soldiers were killed, with only about a thousand soldiers left, and nearly a quarter of them were eaten by their own people. Even his nephew Gao Gan died due to his injuries, and was nearly eaten up by his own soldiers. He traveled all the way to Jiexiu before arriving at Yuan Shao's territory. In order to please Yuan Shao, the county magistrate slaughtered pigs and sheep and brought a plate of meat. Unexpectedly, when Yuan Shao saw it, he vomited uncontrollably. Thinking about the defeat and the death of Gao Gan, he felt hopeless and started to vomit and have diarrhea. He could no longer eat and it was obvious that he was going to die. When Tian Feng and others saw this, they were greatly shocked and hurried to hear what had happened, only to see Yuan Shao lying on the couch, unable to speak. After holding it in for a long time, his face suddenly turned red, he screamed, and vomited more than a bucket of blood. He died with his eyes open. On December 23, the seventh year of Jian'an, less than half a year after the death of the treacherous hero Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, the overlord of Hebei, died in Shangdang, Bingzhou at the age of 49. Compared to the original history, Yuan Shao died half a year later, but his character was just like the original history and he never had a successor until his death. This also meant that Tian Feng and others didn't know who was in charge, so they had to support Yuan Shao's coffin and walk towards Weijun, which in turn led to civil unrest in Hebei. Of course, these are all later stories. Long before Yuan Shao returned to his territory, Qin Zhen, with the power of a great victory, joined forces with Xiahou Dun and others. In this battle, Yuan Shao's army of more than 40,000 soldiers was almost wiped out. After Yuan Shao left, his troops were in chaos and were driven to the bank of the Yellow River, with countless people jumping into the river. More than 20,000 others were captured and several thousand were killed, while the casualties of Qin Zhen and Xiahou Dun were less than 5,000. After the victory, Xiahou Dun finally met Qin Zhen again, but time had passed so quickly that they were speechless when they met again. Because Liu Bei had not arrived, Qin Zhen did not move into Chang'an, but instead brought his troops to Changling, forming a pincer attack with Chang'an.

At this point, Ma Teng and Han Sui had no chance of winning. At Lu Xun's suggestion, Qin Zhen sent an envoy to persuade Ma Teng to surrender. However, at this time Ma Teng was in grief because of Ma Chao's death. Even though Han Sui and others tried to persuade him, Ma Teng refused to surrender and insisted on fighting. Upon seeing this, Qin Zhen followed the historical tactic of sowing discord and wrote a modified letter to Han Sui, and also let Ma Teng know. As mentioned earlier, Ma Teng and Han Sui had an old grudge against each other. The two families had fought each other, which led to Ma Teng's wife and children being killed by Han Sui. The two armies joined forces because of their interests. At this time, Qin Zhen had alienated Ma Teng, and he still thought that Han Sui had tipped off his defeat that day. In a rage, he led his troops into Han Sui's camp and killed him. After Han Sui's death, the coalition forces collapsed. His son-in-law Yan Xing, in order to avenge Han Sui, led his troops to Changling and joined Qin Zhen's army. At this time, it was December of the seventh year of Jian'an. Ma Teng's army mutinied, and Qin Zhen led his army to pursue. Ma Teng was defeated. When they reached Yong County, they encountered Liu Bei's troops heading north. In desperation, Ma Teng ordered his generals Pang De and Ma Dai and others to surrender to Liu Bei, and then he committed suicide. By the first month of the eighth year of Jian'an, all the heroes in the world, including Ma Teng, Han Sui, Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao, had been wiped out by Liu Bei's army, and there were no more strong enemies within the four borders. ps: This book is about to be completed, and I wish you all a happy New Year and all the best! (End of this chapter)