The next day!
Last night, a light drizzle suddenly started falling in the middle of the night. After a day of fighting, the area outside Mengjin Ferry had become a muddy mess.
"General, we never expected Liu Wei's cavalry to be so strong. We underestimated him from the very beginning!"
Under the cover of Chunyu Qiong and five hundred cavalry, Yuan Shao and He Jin left the battlefield and requisitioned a large manor five miles away from Mengjin Ferry as their lodging for the night.
When the remaining troops were counted, it was found that there were not many infantrymen left with them, and even the three hundred elite troops left on Beiman Mountain were almost gone.
The two stared at each other, utterly frustrated.
"Benchu, how could Liu Wei be so vicious as to use warhorses to break our formation?"
He Jin muttered to himself.
There is an extreme shortage of warhorses in the capital, and a single horse can fetch an astronomical price of one hundred taels of silver.
Liu Wei, on the other hand, immediately brought out over a hundred warhorses, tied them with straw, and charged into battle.
The chances of these warhorses, with burning straw on their bodies, surviving were almost zero.
That's ten thousand taels of silver in one go!
If it were silver ingots, they could probably kill someone.
"General, Liu Wei has defeated the Southern Xiongnu and the Xianbei Tuoba tribe at the foot of Yinshan Mountain. He certainly won't be short of horses!"
"I heard that Dong Zhuo of Bingzhou bought tens of thousands of warhorses from Liu Wei."
"His guards each have two horses, and there's a shortage of boats to cross the river, so they certainly won't let all their warhorses cross. They might as well just make use of it!"
Yuan Shao had accurately analyzed Liu Wei's thoughts. However, aside from the fact that his cavalry charged into battle, Liu Wei's fighting strength was truly formidable!
This must be acknowledged.
This was the first time Yuan Shao had witnessed the ferocity of the iron cavalry from beyond the Great Wall, and he conceived the idea that he must also build his own cavalry force.
He Jin then continued:
"If even his hundred cavalrymen are so formidable, I've heard he has 50,000 troops beyond the Great Wall, with at least 10,000 of them being cavalry!"
"If these ten thousand cavalrymen were to enter the Central Plains, wouldn't we be even more helpless against them?"
Yuan Shao sighed:
"We have ways to deal with the counter-strategy of different troop types! General, it's not that we made one mistake that led to a series of mistakes!"
He Jin asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Yuan Shao said, "The cavalry on Mount Beimang cannot exert their power. We have also deployed strong bows and crossbows in advance. Even if we fail to kill Liu Wei, we can set the mountain on fire. Moreover, there are tens of thousands of troops surrounding us at the foot of the mountain."
"If someone in Luoyang hadn't launched an assassination attempt last night, alerting Liu Wei, we could definitely have killed him on Mount Beiman."
He Jin sighed helplessly, "It's all He Miao's fault. Who knew he wouldn't listen to orders! It must be my big-breasted, brainless sister who instigated this. Confucius said, 'Women and petty men are the most difficult to deal with,' and it's true."
Yuan Shao shook his head and said, "The Empress has repeatedly ruined our plans; there's no use saying anything now!"
"All the troops we can mobilize right now are here. Liu Wei has entered the ferry crossing and can cross the river at any time."
"After he crosses the Yellow River, I'm afraid we'll never have such a good opportunity again."
He Jin said, "Fortunately, he is going back to the borderlands. With Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo, two generals, in Bingzhou and Liangzhou, he will not pose a threat to the Central Plains for the time being."
"In the beginning, you must guard the Three Rivers (Hedong, Henan, and Henan) and the Three Auxiliary Regions (Jingzhao Yin, Youfufeng, and Zuofengyi) under the jurisdiction of the Commandant of the Capital Region!"
"With Liangzhou, Bingzhou, and Sili under our control, we can ensure the safety of the capital."
Yuan Shao said dejectedly, "Are we just going to give up like this? Just watch him cross the Yellow River?"
"What can we do? It's raining now, and the roads are muddy. If these troops go to attack again, it's tantamount to sending them to their deaths."
He Jin said with a dark face, "If we lose all five hundred cavalrymen, we'll be too ashamed to face Luoyang when we return!"
"Jian Shuo will arrive with his troops soon; we have no chance left!"
Yuan Shao once served in Jian Shuo's Western Garden Army. Although Jian Shuo was a minor eunuch with no fertility, he was tall, strong, and very robust.
Jian Shuo is now one of Liu Hong's trusted confidants.
At this time, Yuan Shao was still a passionate young man with no intention of disloyalty and still respected the imperial decree.
When his former superior led his troops, Cao Cao was persuaded to retreat.
No matter what Yuan Shao is like, he can't disobey the emperor's order now!
"I won't let Liu Wei leave so easily!"
Looking at the Mengjin Ferry in the distance, shrouded in drizzle, He Jin said bitterly, "He Miao recruited a thousand assassins before his death."
"While they may not act without a reason on the battlefield, they are adept at assassination."
"After we get to Luoyang, I will gather them and have them try to assassinate us again along the way. If that fails, we'll have to give up!"
Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao immediately agreed: "General, I think it's a good idea!"
Yuan Shao had been lost in thought all night.
He failed to kill Liu Wei, so Liu Wei will definitely put him on his kill list in the future.
Liu Wei commanded troops in the border regions, while Yuan Shao, despite holding the title of Commandant of the Capital Region, possessed a pitifully small army.
One must have their own army and influence; it's definitely not easy to operate in the capital or its surrounding areas.
Yuan Shao was already considering becoming a governor.
Now that he saw He Jin was frustrated, after echoing his sentiments, he quickly followed up with the following suggestion:
"General, Youzhou is currently under the jurisdiction of Liu Yu, the Minister of the Imperial Clan, while Han Fu, the Governor of Jizhou, is standing in the middle, watching from both sides. This is disadvantageous to us!"
"Everyone says that Ji Province is the granary of the world. I want to go to Ji Province so that I can coordinate with the General in the court! In addition, my younger brother Yuan Shu is in Nanyang and can keep an eye on Liu Biao in Jing Province!"
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