The Rebirth of Lu Bu in the Legend of the Heroes of the Later Han Dynasty

Niu Fu led the Xiliang army in Guanzhong and marched towards Luoyang under the banner of "avenging Dong Zhuo and clearing the emperor's side".

Also accompanying him was Dong Yue, the prefect of Hanzhong. Dong Yue was Dong Zhuo's younger brother and one of the five former commanders of Liangzhou. He was good at siege warfare, so Niu Fu transferred him from Hanzhong as his vanguard force. Dong Min, who had previously escaped from Luoyang, succeeded Dong Yue and became the new prefect of Hanzhong.

After a long period of management, Cao Cao in Yanzhou had an army of one hundred thousand under his command.

Dong Zhuo's death and the news that Li Jue and Guo Si had taken control of the government reached Xu County, Yanzhou. Cao Cao immediately summoned his ministers of civil and military affairs.

"Everyone, now that Dong Xiangguo is dead, Li Jue and Guo Si have stolen the power of the government. I intend to send troops to attack Luoyang and rescue the emperor. Please tell me what you think." Cao Cao said to the civil and military officials.

Xun Yu, the leader of the civil servants, was the first to speak, "This is a great responsibility given to Duke Ming from heaven. Duke Ming is the successor of Cao Shen, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty. It is our duty to exterminate the rebels and revive the Han Dynasty. I think Duke Ming should send troops."

Cao Ren, the leader of the military generals, continued, "My brother thought that our army should be divided into two groups, attack Hulao Pass all the way to Luoyang, and attack Xuzhou all the way east. As for Yanzhou, we can send a large general to guard it. Yuan Shu has no courage in Yuzhou. Come and get it.”

Cao Cao stroked his beard and said, "Wen Ruo, Zi Xiao's words are just what I want. Hu Zhen is a brave and foolhardy man. He can be defeated by just one general leading the troops. Who is willing to go?"

Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun, and Xiahou Yuan all eagerly competed to seize the position of general.

After much thought, Cao Cao decided to put Cao Ren in command, with Li Dian and Le Jin as deputy generals, and lead 30,000 troops to Hulao Pass. On the other hand, he was the commander-in-chief, Cao Chun and Cao Hong were deputy generals, Chen Yu, Xun You, and Guo Jia were military advisors. Xia Houyuan was in charge of food and grass, and led 50,000 troops to Xuzhou.

As for the Yanzhou base camp, Xiahou Dun and Xun Yu guarded it together, leaving 20,000 troops to prevent Yuan Shu from Yuzhou from sneak attacks.

Cao Cao's ambition was revealed at this moment. This was his best opportunity. If everything went well, he could become the overlord of the Central Plains who owned the three states and held the emperor in power to control the princes.

Lu Bu of Bingzhou got the news relatively late. At this time, he had no intention of going south to Luoyang. On the one hand, there were two major warlords in Hebei, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan. Xianbei in the north was still eyeing them. At present, the Bingzhou army did not have the strength to unify the north. On the one hand, he still adopted the previous tactics, sending small-scale troops into the grasslands to attack the Xianbei tribe. On the other hand, he sent more troops to the border to prevent Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan from attacking. He was waiting for an opportunity, waiting for Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan to start a war, and he would reap the benefits.

Yuan Shao of Jizhou adopted Xu You's suggestion. On the one hand, he won over the gentry in Jizhou and asked them to provide money and people to work for him. On the other hand, he asked Yan Liang and Wen Chou to lead their troops to continuously encroach on the land of Qingzhou and seize this source of salt and iron. For several months In a short time, it has occupied most of Qingzhou.

The other half of Qingzhou was in the hands of Gongsun Zan's general Tian Kai. Gongsun Zan transferred Liu, Guan, and Zhang to Tian Kai, and also sent Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci and other generals to Qingzhou. He decided to start a big battle with Yuan Shao here. This battle will determine who will become the overlord of Hebei. Wuhuan and Goguryeo have negotiated peace with Gongsun Zan. The three parties have stopped fighting and begun trade. Youzhou cavalry has been able to continuously expand and regain its strength of tens of thousands.

Tao Qian of Xuzhou was in great distress by the Taishan bandits from Langya County within the territory. These Taishan bandits were originally the Taishan generals headed by Zang Ba, the representative of a wealthy family in Taishan County of Yanzhou. They defended themselves in the Taishan area and resisted. The government also plundered the people and participated in suppressing the local peasant uprising, becoming a special force formed in this special area. After Cao Cao took charge of Yanzhou, he spent a lot of energy fighting the Taishan bandits and finally drove them out of Yanzhou.

The Taishan bandits fled to Langya County in Xuzhou. The leader of the bandits, Zang Ba, recruited Sun Guan, Wu Dun, Yin Li, Chang Xi and other local powerful people to continue to oppose the government and became the biggest headache for Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou.

When he was in his prime, Tao Qian also had the ambition to help the world. He participated in the battle to pacify the Qiang and Hu in Liangzhou and suppressed the Yellow Turban Uprising, which can be regarded as the fame he won on the battlefield. However, after entering his 60th year, he felt that his energy was not as good as before, and his two sons were ineffective, so he had to reuse the Mi family of the Xuzhou gentry. Mi Zhu was the head of the Mi family. He was good at business and financial management. His younger brother Mi Fang was young. After practicing martial arts and having a brief knowledge of the art of war, now that Xuzhou's army was small and there were only a few generals, he could only use his small talents to make the best use of them. In this way, Mi Fang became the chief general of the Xuzhou army.

Xuzhou's reputation as one of the richest in the world made it a piece of fat in the eyes of the princes. Cao Cao and Yuan Shu both coveted the land of Xuzhou. Taking Xuzhou meant that they could form a large army.

After Yuan Shu was defeated at Hulao Pass, he returned to Nanyang and worked hard to recruit troops again. Now he had Yuzhou and Yangzhou, and he often clashed with Liu Biao in Jingzhou. His general Sun Jian had recovered from his injuries and recruited troops again. After defeating the Danyang soldiers, Yuan Shu decided to use troops against Jingzhou. After capturing Jingzhou, he would become the overlord of the south.

After Dong Zhuo's death, the world was in chaos and became turbulent.