Hangu Pass has a long history and has been reinforced throughout the years. After various natural disasters, it has stood still to this day. The fire released by Shangguan Sheng's army is far from being the worst damage, and it has been extinguished in time, leaving only charred traces and the long-lasting smell of smoke. {[([Net]

Han Ruzi once again came out at night. When she passed through the city, she couldn't help but think that even if the enemy had a hundred times the advantage of military strength, she might not be able to conquer it in one fell swoop. Why did the commander easily fall into the hands of the enemy as soon as he died? The assassin could not have such power, and something must have happened in the middle.

He guarded outside the city gate and observed for a while. Although the soldiers under Han Xing were not as strong as those of the South and the North, they were all regular soldiers dispatched from the frontiers and various places. They were definitely not a mob that scattered after a fight.

Han Ruzi had already asked, but these soldiers didn't understand why they had disintegrated. In everyone's memory, they all followed others and could not find the initiator.

Due to the serious shortage of horses, Han Ruzi could only take away nearly 2,000 people. In addition to the original soldiers, there were 3,000 people. The rest were left in the city and assigned generals and assigned only one task, waiting for the arrival of General Cui Hong.

According to the news sent from behind, Cui Hong will be able to arrive at only half a day at most.

Han Ruzi chased the front troops, Cui Teng sat on the horse and shaking, and the King of East China yawned, "Your Majesty, when are you going to run?"

"Until defeated Shangguan Sheng." One thing Han Ruzi regretted the most was that after hearing that Hangu Pass was lost, he did not send troops immediately. He wasted three days of discussing countermeasures with the ministers and making various preparations, which led to the delay of the opportunity to fight.

His enemy is no longer Shangguan Sheng, who is irritable and brave but has other people, who not only stole the sword of Taizu in the capital, but also gave advice for Shangguan Sheng.

The more hidden the enemy, the more you have to press forward step by step so that the other party can reveal their true face. However, Chai Yue’s five thousand troops are far from enough, and his prestige is not enough, so he may not be able to obtain the support of the Luoyang defenders. The more Han Ruzi thinks, the more uneasy, so he has to chase after him overnight.

A sudden noise appeared in front of him, and soon ended. A cavalry came over and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, someone is stopping you in front of you, claiming to see Your Majesty."

"Do you have a name?" Han Ruzi was surprised. Another purpose of his hurrying along the way was to avoid "blocking". Unexpectedly, in Guandong, there were still people blocking him on the roadside in such a late night.

The cavalry thought for a while, "Qu...What? He spoke too quickly, I didn't hear it clearly."

Han Ruzi led the guards to the roadside, asked the army to continue moving forward, and then said to the cavalry who delivered the letter: "Take him here."

It was Qu Zixi, who was covered in dust and had only one servant beside him, not even a horse. It seemed that he had been walking for a long time. As soon as he saw the emperor, he pushed away the escort soldiers, spread his arms, slowly bent and closed them, and then bowed and refused to kneel down.

"I am the doctor of the Imperial College, Qu Zixi, paying homage to Your Majesty, long live my emperor."

Cui Teng was unhappy when he saw it and said angrily: "It's fine if the common people don't know etiquette, but how can the doctor of the Imperial College dare not kneel down when he sees him?"

Although Qu Zixi looked a little embarrassed, he still did not lose his demeanor when speaking. He said slowly: "Your Majesty will definitely have extraordinary things to do when he marched at night. I met with military courtesy, which is in line with etiquette."

Cui Teng was speechless, and Han Ruzi jumped off his horse, went forward and smiled and said, "I haven't seen each other for many days since I left the capital. I want to rush to Luoyang to quell the Shangguan Sheng Rebellion. Mr. Qu rushed to the road overnight. Why?"

"I am here to tell Your Majesty not to pay attention to Luoyang first. Unfortunately, the mount was lost on the road, my legs were weak and I was not walking fast. Fortunately, I met Your Majesty here and did not delay major issues."

"What's wrong with Luoyang?" Han Ruzi was shocked and thought that something happened in Luoyang again.

"Luoyang can hold on for a while, but His Majesty will not help but go to save the city at this time, but will instead encourage future troubles."

Cui Teng also jumped off his horse and said impatiently: "You are such a person who is talking so hard. What's going on? Just say it directly? Do you have to ask His Majesty to ask?"

Han Ruzi waved his hand and drove Cui Teng away, "Mr. Qu, don't blame him, he is so reckless."

Qu Zixi looked at Cui Teng's figure and walked away, as if he had some ideas, but in the end he just nodded and began to talk about the serious matter: "I came from Luoyang and saw many refugees and bandits along the way. They all went to besiege Luoyang after hearing the news, thinking that they could get a share of the pie, but there were not many guards under Shangguan Sheng. According to what I saw, besieging Luoyang was a trick to confuse the enemy. Shangguan Sheng's real goal was Ao Cang, which went east."

Like Mancang in the north, Ao Cang is also a city dedicated to storing grain. It is located in the center and its location is more important than Mancang.

Han Ruzi's face changed slightly, and Cui Teng, who was nearby, couldn't help but come over again, "Scholars only know how to talk empty talk. All those who serve in the army know that Ao Cang cannot defend, so they must occupy Luoyang first before they can occupy Ao Cang. Even if Shangguan Sheng really captured Ao Cang, he would not be able to leave the food and grass for a while. His Majesty was the right way to rush to Luoyang to support him."

Qu Zixi shook his head, "No, Shangguan Shengdong's intention to escape will not change. He occupied Ao Cang not to rob food and grass, but probably to destroy food and grass."

Han Ruzi had no hesitation anymore, turned around and ordered people to send horses to Qu Zixi's master and servant, and summoned the generals in the army to discuss matters on the roadside.

Cui Teng was not very happy when his idea was not accepted and muttered: "Thank you to capture Ao Cang to destroy the food and grass inside? I don't believe it."

The Tokai Neptune next to him rode on the horse and sneered.

"Do you believe it?" Cui Teng asked with his head raised.

"certainly."

Cui Teng scratched his head, glanced at the emperor in the distance, and smiled at the King of East China Sea, saying, "Cui Family, you are the smartest, tell me what's going on?"

King Donghai lived in Cui's mansion since he was a child and was treated as a family. At this time, it sounded a little harsh. King Donghai was reserved for a moment and said, "Isn't this an obvious thing? What the emperor was most worried about was not Shangguan Sheng and thousands of guards, but refugees. That was a trouble of hundreds of thousands or even millions. If you were not careful, there would be endless troubles. If you resettle refugees, you had to use food..."

"Hasn't you opened the warehouse and released grain long ago?" Cui Teng said.

"That's just a stopgap measure. Different implementations are different in various places. Shangguan Sheng can also recruit a large number of refugees to attack Luoyang, which means that the food is not released enough."

Cui Teng scratched his head again, "Shangguan Sheng shouldn't have destroyed food. Wouldn't it be better to use Ao Cang's grain to win refugees and strengthen their power?"

"Idiot." King Donghai was never polite to Cui Teng, "You said that without Luoyang, it would be difficult to stand alone in Ao Cang. Shangguan Sheng did not have time to release grain to buy people's hearts? He just wanted to destroy grain, so that Da Chu had no grain available for a while, and the refugees would not receive relief, and then..."

"Oh, I understand. If there are too many refugees, there are too many bandits. If there are too many bandits, there will be soldiers to wipe out them. The world will be in chaos and Shangguan Sheng will be safe."

"Shangguan Sheng must have thought so." King Donghai glanced at the emperor in the distance and lowered his voice: "This move is easy for him. If I were to do so, I would attack Shangguan Sheng directly. If the evil is eliminated, the refugees will naturally be honest. What's the terrible thing about the remaining bandits?"

Cui Teng jumped on his horse, approached the King of East Sea, and laughed in a low voice: "So you can't be the emperor? You are thinking of a traitor, and your brother-in-law wants to be the world."

Cui Teng, who had always been dull, suddenly said something like this, and King Donghai was stunned. Then he became angry and hummed a few times, not daring to do anything.

Han Ruzi came out again, and this time he slightly accelerated his marching.

Hangu Pass was not particularly far from Luoyang. Han Ruzi led 5,000 troops and left in the middle of the night. He rested once in the morning. Then he kept running without stopping. In the afternoon of the same day, there were only more than 3,000 soldiers left behind.

Chai Yue had already chosen a place to camp, was inquiring about the enemy's situation, preparing to attack the next day, and was once again surprised by the emperor's rapid arrival.

"The chaos army was about seven or eight thousand, divided into more than thirty battalions, at least hundreds, and at most thousands, surrounding the Suwei Army camp." The Chu army camp was built on a small hill, and Chai Yue climbed up the high ground.

Han Ruzi could see the majestic city walls and the large camp outside the walls. From a distance, there seemed to be 40,000 to 50,000 people, but the arrangement was messy and there was no rules at all.

"What's going on in the city?" Han Ruzi asked. Luoyang City seemed to be very stable.

Chai Yue frowned slightly, "I sent someone to send a signal to the city, but I haven't received any response. I don't know why."

It is precisely because of this that Chai Yue was not in a hurry to attack. He only had 5,000 people. If he could get the help of the troops in the city, his chances of victory would be greater.

The rioters outside the city launched an attack and did not come to challenge them again after being repelled.

"What about the armor of the chaos army, how about the horses?" Han Ruzi asked again.

"There are two or three thousand horses, and there are enough soldiers and armor. I got the news that there are not many real refugees in the chaos, and most of them are bandits from all over the country. They seem to have known that they will attack Luoyang for a long time. They arrived a few days ago and hid in the nearby mountains."

"If the chaos continues, the refugees and bandits will be even more indistinguishable." Han Ruzi became more convinced that Shangguan Sheng had received guidance from experts, so he told Chai Yue about Qu Zixi's guess.

"Shangguan Sheng is indeed not outside Luoyang City." Chai Yue looked back and Qu Zixi did not follow him. Chai Yue whispered: "I have heard of Qu Zixi, a man with a high reputation among scholars, aloof and arrogant person, and often claims to be an unparalleled strategist in the world. Could it be... he is helping Shangguan Sheng?"

Han Ruzi didn't have much date with Qu Zixi, but there was a fierce confrontation between verbal battles. After thinking about it, he shook his head and said, "No, Mr. Qu is not such a person."

Chai Yue stopped saying more, "Since that's the case, what are your Majesty's plans?"

"My soldiers are in a hurry and can't walk far away. Later, I will lead the army to break through the camp of the chaos and open the way for you. You will lead the 5,000 troops from the headquarters to Ao Cang. No matter what, Shangguan Sheng cannot let Shangguan Sheng destroy the grain. If Shangguan Sheng sets a trap, Han Ruzi must consider this possibility. "I hope you can hold on for a while. Tomorrow morning, I will lead the Luoyang defenders, and maybe Cui Hong's army, to Ao Cang for support."

Chai Yue was shocked, "How can Your Majesty take risks in person? If there is any case, I will not be able to atone for my sins when I die. What's the use of even saving Ao Cang?"

Even Chai Yue became more cautious, and Han Ruzi understood the ministers' cautiousness a little. Those "habits" might mean that they really treated the throne as emperors.

"When smoke rises in the chaos camp, you will win this battle." Han Ruzi is full of confidence. Although he is not sure who the master around Shangguan Sheng is, he believes that this "master" is better at making pretentious things like a savage, but he does not know how to fight. (To be continued.)8
Chapter completed!