White horse.
A massive map was spread out on the floor of the central army tent.
Zhang Liao and Xun You looked at the map, their brows deeply furrowed.
During this time, rumors about Zhang Xin's death spread extremely quickly.
Xun You had gone to Henan to ask Wang Meng and confirmed that Zhang Xin was fine, but Yuan Shao, Han Fu, Liu Dai, and others did not think so.
After Liu Dai learned the news, he immediately refused to withdraw his army as he had originally promised, and instead dispatched Wang Hong, the Administrator of Dong Commandery, with ten thousand soldiers to garrison Puyang.
According to the original plan, after Zhang Liao's army entered Dong Commandery, they should have crossed the river from Puyang.
After reaching the north bank of the Yellow River, they would then take the road thru Wei and Dongwuyang to reinforce Pingyuan.
This route was also the route Zhang Xin took when he first took office.
With Wang Hong occupying this area, the Qingzhou Soldiers would be unable to advance and could only settle for crossing the river from White horse.
However, Han Fu had already dispatched his general Qu Yi to lead troops and garrison Liyang.
Liyang and White horse face each other across the river, and with Qu Yi stationed there, it would be very difficult for the Qingzhou Soldiers to cross the river.
Even if they forced a crossing, Puyang is only twenty to thirty li from White horse, and Wang Hong could completely take advantage of Zhang Liao's crossing to launch a surprise attack from the rear.
At that time, with Qu Yi in front and Wang Hong behind, Zhang Liao's army would be attacked from both sides.
Attack Puyang directly?
That wouldn't work either.
Zhang Xin had run off with his personal guard camp, and the Wuhuan Cavalry had also returned home.
Xu Rong's Xiliang Soldiers and the remaining Luoyang Soldiers were all with Zhao Yun, and Zhao Yun's army was still in the process of retreating.
To prevent Dong Zhuo from sending cavalry to raid them, Zhao Yun's army was moving very slowly, probably still not out of the Xiaohan Ancient Road.
The White Wave Yellow Turbans needed to resettle and manage over a hundred thousand common people in River East, and they wouldn't be able to come over in a short time.
Now, Zhang Liao's forces consisted only of the Qingzhou Soldiers, Xuzhou Soldiers, and the Qing Province's Military Farm (military farming units).
These three forces, after losses from several battles, now only numbered around eighteen thousand men.
Puyang was not only a ferry crossing but also the administrative seat of Dong Commandery, with high and deep city walls.
Eighteen thousand soldiers facing a commandery seat with ten thousand defenders had no advantage.
Moreover, their withdrawal was to return and save their homeland, not to attack cities in Yan Province.
As for taking a detour from other places?
That was even less feasible.
Looking at the map, Yan Province did have more than one commandery bordering Qing Province, but apart from Dong Commandery, the other commanderies and kingdoms like Mount Tai and Jibei were separated from Qing Province by the Mount Tai mountain range.
The mountain roads of Mount Tai were treacherous and difficult to travel; if it were just a few scouts, using such small paths to transmit messages would be fine.
But for an army to march, there were simply no such conditions.
If they had to take a detour, they would only be able to go around the Mount Tai mountain range, enter Beihai from Langya Kingdom in Xu Province, and then go to support Pingyuan.
This way, the original journey of over four hundred li would increase to over a thousand li!
If it were just like this, then so be it.
Qu Yi and Wang Hong belonged to two different factions, and there was certainly no cooperation between them, so there was still room for tactical maneuvers.
What troubled Zhang Liao and Military Advisor Xun the most was that the morale of the army had become a problem...
First, there were the Xuzhou Soldiers.
These Xuzhou Soldiers were originally under Tao Qian; they had come to Zhang Xin's side to assist in suppressing Dong Zhuo under Tao Qian's orders.
Now that Dong Zhuo was suppressed, what did your Qing Province's affairs have to do with us Xu Province people?
According to Yu Jin, the Xuzhou Soldiers had been clamoring to return home during this time.
Zang Ba and others also became restless, secretly contacting the generals and officers who were originally under their command.
Zhang Liao had no choice but to allocate some Qingzhou Soldiers to Yu Jin to keep an eye on the Xuzhou Soldiers.
But the morale of the Qingzhou Soldiers was also not optimistic.
Their home base was attacked, and their families' lives were uncertain.
They returned to rescue, but were then stalled outside the city.
Recently, there were also constant rumors that Zhang Xin had died.
Even tho Zhang Liao and Military Advisor Xun had debunked the rumors, saying that ent, a soldier walked in.
"General, Military Advisor, Sun Yu Province has sent an envoy."