Chapter 443

"The key is that the materials used to make these siege equipment were temporarily taken locally from Yique Pass;"

"The wood and such were all temporarily cut, not qualified air-dried timber;"

"They can only be used for emergencies. After this battle, if left for a period of time, these woods will have problems, and by then, they will also become semi-waste products;"

"In addition, transporting them back will inevitably cost a lot of Qian Liang, and it's not cost-effective!"

"You can't just look at how long we spent building them this time;"

"In fact, this is because the army brought very few craftsmen this time and didn't prepare qualified materials in advance;"

"And without the lathe equipment from the ordnance department, you get the illusion that these things are difficult and expensive to build!"

"In fact, if these things were handed over to the ordnance department to build, the shipping cost to transport them back would be enough to build another batch, and there might even be a surplus, so do you understand?"

In the end, it's just not worth it.

"Is that so?"

Zhao Yun was stunned; he really hadn't understood this information!

It seems he was negligent, and he should pay more attention to some things in the ordnance department in the future.

He doesn't need to know the technology himself, but some common sense things, as a general focused on by the lord, must be clear.

Otherwise, things like today might cause the lord unnecessary losses.

"The subordinate understands! I will go supervise it! I guarantee not a single part will be left for the enemy!"

Zhao Yun said solemnly.

"Hmm!"

Su Xuan nodded, then said: "Right! I didn't prepare to bring these Xiliang captives back directly this time, don't spread rumors!"

"On the contrary, tell Hansheng and Dian Wei to start reorganizing and training these captives on the spot;"

"The food treatment can be given according to our army's new recruit standard, and turn these surrendered troops into our troops as soon as possible;"

"I don't ask how much combat power they can exert, nor do I ask how high their loyalty is;"

"As long as they can basically obey orders, that's enough!"

"Later, we need to intercept a batch of the population from Dong Zhuo. With only the 10,000-plus troops we have in our hands, how many people can we manage to relocate?"

"If we can have 10,000-plus more troops, our subsequent tasks will be much easier."

Of course, he could also continue to dispatch troops from Nanyang.

But it's too late now!

He could indeed have dispatched troops in advance, but it wasn't necessary.

It's easy to arouse the wariness and vigilance of other warlords.

They would think, what are you, Su Xuan, trying to do?

The war is almost over, and you still want to increase troops here?

You wouldn't be trying to kill us warlords, would you!

By then, forcing these sensitive warlords to deal with him together would not be good.

Hundreds of thousands of troops, even if their combat power is average, can pile to death these 10,000-plus people.

So, don't leave handles for Yuan Shao and the others, and don't stimulate their fragile nerves.

"Is that so?"

Zhao Yun nodded knowingly: "The subordinate understands! I will go notify Hansheng and Dian Wei!"

"Hmm! Go!"

Su Xuan waved his hand with a smile.

Zhao Yun left Su Xuan, found Huang Zhong and Dian Wei immediately, and conveyed Su Xuan's order.

"Oh? The lord's idea is not bad!"

"Although this will affect the combat power of some of our troops, anyway, there won't be any hard battles to fight next, so let it drop a little!"

"It's good to be able to get double the troops to help!"

Huang Zhong replied with a smile.

The lord considers things for the long term!

Sure enough, they are only suitable for being generals and didn't consider these things in advance at all.

"It seems that in the future, I must pay more attention and learn more! Otherwise, it's hard to become a general who can handle things alone!"

Huang Zhong sighed.

"Indeed!"

Zhao Yun and Dian Wei on the side nodded in unison.

The lord has high hopes for them, and they cannot live up to the lord's intentions.

Work hard! Roll!

Afterward, Zhao Yun went to burn all the temporarily built siege equipment, floating bridges, etc., into charcoal. He still wasn't at ease and had people crush the charcoal, only then was Zhao Yun completely at ease.

Of course, the iron parts had already been removed by the army's craftsmen in advance.

These things could be brought back to be melted and reused.

The next morning,

Su Xuan opened his Pupil of Qi Luck from afar and looked toward Luoyang.

"Oh? It's finally started? Then we can also advance!"

Su Xuan saw the Great Han Qi Luck Golden Dragon beginning to move westward.

At the same time, he also saw the sky in the direction of Luoyang being reflected red by the firelight,

And the Qi Luck Golden Dragon let out bursts of mournful cries, further weakened.

The look toward Dong Zhuo and the others was even more resentful.

And the backlash and curses of Qi Luck on Dong Zhuo and Li Ru became even thicker.

"Set off!"

Su Xuan immediately ordered the cavalry to advance to Luoyang.

Leaving behind Dian Wei's 4,000 Xuanwu Battalion soldiers, leading the 10,000-plus Xiliang surrendered troops, training the ranks while advancing, following slowly behind.

At the same time,

At Hulao Pass, because Dong Zhuo's main army had almost all withdrawn, only Xu Rong and 20,000 ordinary troops were left.

According to Dong Zhuo's order, Xu Rong didn't intend to hold on either. He just blocked the coalition forces for a few days, and then after receiving Dong Zhuo's order to withdraw, he didn't hesitate to leave behind hundreds of old, weak, sick, and disabled, and then led the army to withdraw under the cover of night.

By the time the coalition forces discovered that the situation inside Hulao Pass was wrong, it was already the next day.

Then, Yuan Shao and the others launched a fierce attack on Hulao Pass, and in less than an hour, they successfully broke through Hulao Pass.

At this time, they realized that the enemy's main force had long since withdrawn.

"Damn! We've been played! Dong Zhuo and even Xu Rong have already withdrawn. It seems that something went wrong in Luoyang and Yique Pass!"

Yuan Shao's eyes were deep.

"But at least we took Hulao Pass, and the day of Dong Zhuo's defeat is not far off, right?"

Kong Rong on the side smiled and spoke.

As long as he could achieve results, he was happy.

Because this meant his reputation would go a step further.

He had been operating to improve his reputation his whole life, wanting to become the second sage of the Kong family.

In this chaotic world, this opportunity couldn't be better.

At the very least, he had to take the Kong family to a new level.

As for the matter of hegemony, he was actually not that concerned.

His purpose was never to compete for hegemony and become a warlord or even the Son of Heaven.

As long as his Kong family continued to improve their reputation and become the representative or even symbol of the Ru Sect, it would be enough.

As long as they could establish the golden body of the Kong family as the symbol of the Ru Sect, then no matter how the dynasties changed, their Kong family would exist forever, always transcendent and high above.

Even the Son of Heaven of the new dynasty in the future, if they wanted to stabilize the country, would have to look at the face of their Kong Mansion.

This is the ultimate goal that their Kong Mansion has always pursued.

"Alliance Leader! Not good! Something big happened in Luoyang!"

At this time, a messenger ran over quickly and reported to Yuan Shao: "Scouts sent news that in the direction of Luoyang, red light fills the sky, they suspect... suspect..."

"Suspect what?"

Yuan Shao frowned and shouted.