Chapter 587

……

At the same time Yuan Shao dispatched his troops.

Huchuquan, Zhang Yan, and Tatedun also did not rest.

Huchuquan was quite unhappy about Budugen marching south first to attack Bingzhou.

The locations where the Southern Xiongnu and the Xianbei lived were both north of Bingzhou.

Therefore, a competitive relationship already existed between the two families.

Once he saw his old rival Budugen dispatch troops first, how could Huchuquan still be able to hold his temper?

Furthermore.

The news that Liu Bao was killed by Gu Yi had already been sent back to the Southern Xiongnu.

Although Huchuquan did not have much affection for this big nephew Liu Bao.

But no matter how unbearable Liu Bao was, he was still a person of the Southern Xiongnu, and the son of Huchuquan's elder brother Yufuluo.

This just happened to give Huchuquan an excuse to mobilize his army to march south.

Under Huchuquan's deliberate mobilization.

The call to dispatch troops within the Southern Xiongnu could be described as unprecedentedly high.

An army of one hundred thousand was soon prepared, intending to march south to take Yanmen Commandery of Bingzhou directly!

……

On the Wuhuan side.

Tatedun soon responded to Yuan Shao's call to dispatch troops.

The cooperation between him and Yuan Shao was in a honeymoon period, so naturally, he would not stand by and watch.

Furthermore.

Tatedun could be considered a foreign person with some foresight.

He knew deeply that Gu Yi would not allow the existence of the Wuhuan.

Therefore, only by binding himself tightly to Yuan Shao would the Wuhuan have the possibility of further growth.

Otherwise.

If Yuan Shao were defeated by Gu Yi.

The Wuhuan would definitely not be able to block Gu Yi's massive military edge.

Based on such considerations.

Tatedun decided to personally lead one hundred thousand Wuhuan iron cavalry to pass through Jizhou and arrive in Bingzhou.

……

Inside Mount Taixing

Compared to the positivity of Huchuquan and Tatedun.

Zhang Yan appeared uninterested.

As the undisputed strongest mountain bandit king in the world, Zhang Yan's development behind the scenes appeared very arduous.

First of all.

His base was located in Mount Taixing, which spanned more than half of Jizhou.

Although it was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

It also destined that he could not get support from local aristocratic families and powerful clans like other warlords.

Therefore, Zhang Yan could only ever be a mountain bandit, and could not become a decent warlord.

Furthermore.

If the north were completely unified by one force, a big mountain bandit king like Zhang Yan would definitely not be allowed to remain.

Whether it was Yuan Shao or Gu Yi.

After integrating the north, they would not allow Zhang Yan to continue to partition in his original form.

Helping Yuan Shao now was only because Gu Yi was too strong and Yuan Shao was too weak, and Zhang Yan wanted to balance the gap between the two sides.

But if Yuan Shao really wanted Zhang Yan to fight Gu Yi to the death, that was completely impossible.

The principle of a cunning rabbit having three burrows was something Zhang Yan had kept in mind since he was young.

Thus.

After some discussion with several Black Mountain bandit commanders under his command, Zhang Yan decided to dispatch fifty thousand troops.

Compared to Yuan Shao's army of one hundred and fifty thousand, and the one hundred thousand troops of Tatedun, Huchuquan, and Budugen, Zhang Yan undoubtedly dispatched the fewest men.

Besides this.

Zhang Yan deliberately slowed down his marching speed, intending to be the last to arrive at the alliance location.

……

In this so-called military alliance.

The only warlord who did not dispatch troops was Cao Cao.

It was not that Cao Cao didn't want to dispatch troops, but that he fundamentally couldn't dispatch troops this time.

Ever since Cao Cao was driven to Qingzhou, Zhao Yun and Zhang Song in southern Xuzhou would occasionally lead a portion of their troops to invade the border of Qingzhou.

If this time, Cao Cao chose to respond to Yuan Shao.

Likely, just after he led his troops to leave Qingzhou, his old nest in Qingzhou would encounter a fierce attack from Zhao Yun and Zhang Song.

Therefore.

Regarding the military alliance of these five parties: Budugen, Huchuquan, Yuan Shao, Zhang Yan, and Tatedun.

Cao Cao could only shout and cheer from behind this time.

He couldn't help with anything on the front battlefield.

However.

Although there was no help from Cao Cao's troops this time.

Yuan Shao was still full of confidence.

Adding the five forces together, they dispatched a full five hundred thousand troops!

It could be said that almost all the vital forces of the entire north participated in this battle that was about to begin.

And among them, there were the three great foreign cavalry tribes: Wuhuan, Xianbei, and Southern Xiongnu.

Whether looking at it horizontally or vertically, Yuan Shao felt that the winning rate this time was much higher than in the past.

……

The news that all the troops of the north were raised naturally could not be hidden from Gu Yi.

In fact, a few days ago, he had already started preparing for the northern expedition of the large army.

The sixty thousand troops led by Zhang He, Zhang Xiu, and Lu Bu were just the vanguard.

Gu Yi's main army intended to dispatch more than two hundred and fifty thousand this time!

Plus the sixty thousand vanguard troops led by Zhang He, Zhang Xiu, and Lu Bu, totaling three hundred and ten thousand troops!

After several years of development.

Gu Yi, who had a large family and business, actually had more than this number of available troops under his command long ago.

But Gu Yi deeply understood the principle that "troops are in quality, not in quantity."

Three hundred and ten thousand elites were enough to deal with the five hundred thousand troops of Yuan Shao and others.

In terms of talent, besides Zhao Yun and Zhang Song who were stationed in Xuzhou to guard against Cao Cao.

Almost all the talents under Gu Yi who were in Chang'an participated in this upcoming decisive battle.

To the extent that many old people who followed Dong Zhuo in battle in the beginning also voluntarily signed up for this decisive battle.

The massive movement caused Old Dong, who was enjoying his old age at home, to have his heroism stirred up as well.

But after thinking about it, Old Dong still decided to stay behind in the rear.

For one, accompanying his old age, Old Dong's physical condition was no longer suitable for a long expedition.

For two, with his granddaughter's husband Gu Yi away on an expedition, there had to be someone virtuous and prestigious who could oversee the overall situation to guard the home, right?

Although Li Ru was qualified enough to handle most things.

But compared to Old Dong, his prestige was naturally somewhat insufficient.

Soon.

The army of two hundred and fifty thousand, under Gu Yi's personal leadership, left Chang'an and headed toward the vicinity of Hedong.

After arriving in Hedong, they would continue to head north to Bingzhou. ===== CHAPTER 588 =====