Chapter 275 Peace Negotiation
On the Hejian Plain in Jizhou, three armies gradually converged into one place, and finally formed an army of less than 80,000. This army had shining scales, spears like a forest, and fluttering flags. On the largest flag, there were the emblem of the Natural Religion and the two big words "Xuan Xia" on both sides.

With Yuan Shao's army withdrawing, there was no more obstacle in front of Xuan Xia. The three armies of Xu Chen, Zhang Baiqi and Wang Dang were able to gather together, and now it was obviously Xuan Xia's turn to attack.

However, when the army first gathered, the atmosphere was not as relaxed and joyful as imagined, but rather extremely serious and heavy.

"In the Battle of Changshan, our army was careless and fell into Cao Cao's ambush, resulting in the loss of more than 10,000 brothers. I have an unshirkable responsibility for this battle. Even if I die, I cannot apologize. Master, please punish me!"

As soon as the armies gathered, Zhang Baiqi saw Xu Chen, and he knelt down with red eyes, then began to blame himself and apologize.

Everyone around was silent. The loss of 10,000 soldiers was a huge loss for Xuan Xia. It could be said to be the most tragic loss the Yellow Turbans had ever suffered.

Zhang Baiqi was left with only self-blame and regret in his heart, but this could not make up for the lives of ten thousand brothers. If he had not been careless, this could have been avoided.

Guan Hai and Zhang Rao who were standing behind him looked at each other, sighed, then knelt down and asked for punishment.

"Tian Shitou." Xu Chen looked at the three of them and frowned.

Tian Shitou, who was standing by, then stepped forward and said, "I'm here."

Xu Chen said in a deep voice: "According to military law, how should the responsibility and punishment for this battle be determined?"

Tian Shitou pondered for a moment and said, "According to military law, if a defeat is caused by improper command, the responsibility should be determined based on the post-war impact and the extent of the war damage. In the Changshan battle, our army lost more than 10,000 soldiers. Even if this was just a simple tactical mistake, it should be recorded as a serious offense, demoted, and sent back to the military headquarters for review and study."

At this point, Tian Shitou paused and added, "Of course, this is just my personal judgment. The actual determination of responsibility and punishment still needs to be determined through formal procedures by the military."

Xu Chen nodded and said to the three of them: "Punishing you will not bring back the soldiers who died in this battle. What you need to do is to reflect on yourselves, avoid making such mistakes again, and perform better on the battlefield. Only in this way can you comfort the countless sacrificed Yellow Turban heroes!"

Zhang Baiqi's body trembled, and he nodded heavily: "I understand."

Zhang Rao and Guan Hai also agreed.

The people around didn't have much to say about this matter. Zhang Baiqi, Guan Hai and Zhang Rao did fight ugly in this battle. With the combat power of the Changshan Yellow Turbans, they would have been able to break through Cao Cao's defense line and rush to the battlefield to support him. In this way, Xu Chen's main force of the Yellow Turbans would not have been so passive.

Zhang Baiqi had the advantage but lost miserably, which not only hindered the other two battlefields but also directly caused the loss of 10,000 brothers.

If their actions did not violate any military discipline and they simply fell into a trap and lost the battle, the punishment waiting for them now would definitely not end there.

Wang Dang felt quite emotional about this matter. He remembered that he had made the same mistake of underestimating the enemy and being ambushed during pursuit, but the consequences were not so serious. At that time, it was also reviewed by the military as a negative example in front of the entire army. He did not expect that Zhang Baiqi would follow in his footsteps today.

What awaits Zhang Baiqi and his men is not only a military review, but also demotion and sending them back to the military to relearn. Their future will also be greatly affected, and it will not be easy for them to climb back up.

Zhang Baiqi and the other two certainly understood this. Zhang Baiqi did not feel dissatisfied with this and even felt a little ashamed.

Compared with the ten thousand brothers who died, my current punishment is really insignificant.

Zhang Rao also accepted everything calmly, but Guan Hai's eyes flickered, as if he had some different thoughts.

The three men were guilty, so the subsequent battle had nothing to do with them. After they all withdrew, everyone turned their conversation to business.

After fighting to this point, Bohai alone obviously cannot satisfy Xuan Xia's appetite, and Xu Chen wants to take this opportunity to expand the results of the victory.

Now I have 80,000 troops in my hands, which is enough for me to do a lot of things.

Everyone walked into the tent and sat down one by one. Xun Chen was the first to understand Xu Chen's idea and stood up to start the discussion.

"My lord, now that Yuan Shao has withdrawn his troops to resist Yuan Shu, he has no more energy to stop us. Our army can take advantage of the situation and advance to capture Hejian in one fell swoop. We can even take advantage of his illness to kill him and pursue Yuan's army again. If we can defeat Yuan Shao, we may be able to capture Jizhou."

At this time, Xun Chen's tone gradually became excited, and he was already immersed in beautiful imaginations: "By then, Xuan Xia will occupy Youzhou and Jizhou, and can threaten Guanzhong in the west, look down on the world in the south, and it will be easy to take Qingzhou in the east. In this way, great achievements can be expected!"

After the words fell, everyone present had different expressions. They all understood that this was not a delusion.

Wang Dang pounded his fist, unable to hold back, as if he wanted to lead his troops in pursuit immediately: "Before, they took advantage of their numbers and I didn't even have a chance to vent my anger. Now that the offense and defense have changed, I can't let them have an easy time no matter what!"

Lu Ping nodded: "I think we can first take Hejian step by step, and then go south to attack Yuan. Now Cao Cao and Zang Hong are both busy with their own things. Yuan Shao is no match for our army with his own strength. As long as we can win this battle, Jizhou will be in our pocket." Wang Dang and Lu Ping, the Yellow Turban generals, had a better understanding of the general trend of the world than the aristocratic elites like Xun Chen under the mature military system of the Yellow Turbans.

Among the Thirteen Prefectures of the Han Dynasty, Jizhou was the most coveted. Although after taking Hejian and Bohai, together with the original Changshan and Zhongshan, they had almost taken over half of Jizhou, they still felt it was not enough.

This is the most prosperous land in Shenzhou, with vast fields and sufficient population. After taking over Jizhou, Xuanxia's strength will take off again.

According to Xun Chen's idea, after reaching this point, cleansing China is something that can be truly foreseen.

Xu Chen stared at the map and calmly gave the order: "Follow this plan, we must take Hejian as soon as possible, and then march south to fight Yuan Shao to the death!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the tent responded loudly. After they became strong enough, they would be extremely eager for new wars. They needed to constantly expand their territory to achieve the great cause of Xuanxia, ​​and they also needed more military exploits to earn a future for themselves.

Afterwards, the army advanced rapidly all the way, successively capturing many counties and towns in Hejian, and encountered almost no strong resistance.

In order to deal with Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao did not dare to hold back at all and used almost all his strength to resist Yuan Shu. Therefore, Hejian was almost in an air defense state, which enabled the Yellow Turbans to advance so rapidly.

Of course, the current occupation does not mean anything. Only by truly defeating Yuan Shao’s main force can Xuanxia truly gain a foothold. Otherwise, after the Xuanxia army retreats, Yuan Shao can still attack again.

While the Yellow Turbans were attacking Hejian, Yuan Shao was trying his best to resolve Yuan Shu's crisis.

After leading hundreds of thousands of troops back, the armies of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu fought in the wild, but the two sides did not directly start a war.

Although the two brothers disliked each other, they were not blinded by the conflict.

After all, Yuan Shu was just a troublemaker. With so many heroes competing with each other, no one wanted others to become stronger.

Yuan Shao's previous momentum was already terrifying enough, and Yuan Shu certainly did not want to watch Yuan Shao seize Youzhou again. Otherwise, who else in the world could compete with him for supremacy, and the position of the head of the Yuan family would have to pass from his legitimate son to Yuan Shao's illegitimate son.

Now, Yuan Shu's goal has been achieved. He doesn't need to pay any price at all. Just by pretending to do so, he can scare Yuan Shao back without stopping.

As the situation changed, Yuan Shu's thoughts also changed.

"Mr. Yuan, at dawn today, the Yellow Turban envoy Ju Su disappeared. He must have escaped. I have sent people to hunt him down, but I don't know if we can catch up with him."

In the Yuan army camp, Yan Xiang came hurriedly and brought Yuan Shu some not-so-good news.

Yuan Shu frowned upon hearing this: "This guy is really smart, and he ran away at the right time. He is just a messenger, so it doesn't matter. If you can catch him, chase him. If you can't catch him, that's fine. But the soldiers who were in charge let him escape, which is dereliction of duty. Send my order to arrest him and flog him fifty times!"

Upon hearing this, Yan Xiang hurriedly bowed and agreed. He felt the same emotion as Yuan Shu. Ju Su was really perceptive. If he had left a day later, he would not have been able to leave even if he wanted to.

Last night, an envoy sent by Yuan Shao arrived here, wanting to make peace with Yuan Shu.

Although Yuan Shao was forced to lead his army back to stabilize the situation, he did not want to really fight with Yuan Shu. The threat of the Yellow Turban Army was still a thorn in his side. Even if he hated Yuan Shu to death, he could only hold his nose and make peace at this time.

If we start a war with Yuan Shu and let the Yellow Turbans take advantage of the situation and reap the benefits, then everything will be over.

Now, all Yuan Shao is considering is to stabilize his own territory so that he can plan for the future.

His envoys entered Yuan Shu's camp, and the peace talks they discussed were completely unknown to outsiders. While Yuan Shu and Yan Xiang were still considering it, Ju Su had already had a premonition and escaped on horseback that night. His quick reaction was so quick that even Yan Xiang had to admire him.

If he had been a step later, Ju Su would have never been able to escape, because Yuan Shu had already agreed to peace talks.

"Tell Yuan Shao's envoy that I can agree to the peace talks. Yuan Shao can just focus on dealing with the Yellow Turbans. I will never send troops to cause trouble."

Yuan Shu's mouth curled up, and he sneered when he said this: "Not only that, if he is unable to deal with the Yellow Turbans, I might even lend a hand."

Hearing this, Yan Xiang's expression relaxed a little: "Mr. Yuan is wise. Now it is Xuan Xia's momentum that is unstoppable. If Xu Chen defeats Yuan Shao and takes Jizhou, that is also something we don't want to see. Our army only needs to watch from the sidelines as a third party, and we can control both sides."

(End of this chapter)