All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 346: General Hou, I’m here to see you off!

"Is there anyone who dares to stay?"

Looking at the military camp where Chen Ran’s troops had been greatly reduced but were still stationed, Chen Ran said with a smile, “Who is so bold?”

"Looking at the flags, this must be Cao Cao's camp."

"This person is loyal to the Han Dynasty." Chen Ran was not being sarcastic, he was sincere.

Although the Cao family eventually seized the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao initially just wanted to be a Han minister and a general who conquered the west.

Later on, I could only say that it was fate and time. When you reach that position, you will naturally have that kind of thoughts.

"In that case, let's go out of the city and meet Cao Mengde."

Chen Ran didn't have a good impression of Cao Cao, but because they had the same interests and hobbies... ahem, he saw that Cao Cao was also a celebrity, so he wanted to try to see if he could get some benefits from him.

The troops outside the city included not only Cao Cao, but also Yuan Shu, Sun Jian, and Cao Cao's good friend Zhang Miao, the prefect of Chenliu.

Yuan Shu had a large number of troops and his base camp in Nanyang was not far away and there were no hidden dangers, so he stayed to take advantage of the opportunity.

Sun Jian had no choice. His food and grass needed to be provided by Yuan Shu, and he couldn't leave unless Yuan Shu left.

Moreover, he failed to find the imperial seal and had not yet developed any great ambitions.

Cao Cao was unwilling to give in and was still trying to find a solution.

Zhang Miao was a man of great loyalty and righteousness, so he took the initiative to stay and accompany Cao Cao.

When Chen Ran led his troops to approach Cao Cao's camp, Yuan Shu, Sun Jian and Zhang Miao all sent troops to come closer as a precaution.

"Please ask Cao Mengde to come out and speak~~~"

Chen Ran was skilled and courageous, so he sent someone forward to call for help.

When Cao Cao really came out, he rode his horse forward to meet him alone.

Cao Cao wanted to go forward, but everyone around him tried to dissuade him. Cao Cao said, "It's okay. A proud man like Chen Ran would not do such a dirty thing."

He saw clearly that Chen Ran dared to stay in Luoyang, and he must have great ambitions.

Such people usually value their reputation and would not carry out sneak attacks. The most important thing is that if they really want to take the head of a general amidst thousands of troops, it is not impossible.

Both men approached alone, obviously wanting to have a conversation.

Yuan Shu, who was watching from a distance, immediately shouted, "Who is Cao Mengde? He is just the descendant of a eunuch. Why should he see him and not me? I am the legitimate son of the Yuan family!"

According to the concept of status and hierarchy of that era, Cao Cao at this time was indeed not qualified to be compared with Yuan Shu.

But the question is, which time traveler would be stupid enough to like Yuan Shu?

"I'm Cao Mengde."

Cao Cao raised his head slightly, half-closed his eyes and said, "What do you want from me?"

'Meet Cao Cao, a character from the novel. He is a man of outstanding ability and extraordinary charm. He single-handedly quelled the chaos in the north at the end of the Han Dynasty. He has mixed reviews and is a great hero of the world. He is suspicious, likes to be popular, and often kills his friends.'

'Note: You can modify two of the words.'

"Suspicious and popular. This is the label of Prime Minister Cao, and it is hard to change. As for often killing friends..."

Thinking of this, Chen Ran turned to look at Zhang Miao who was looking around not far away. "Chen Gong, Xu You, Lou Gui. There are too many good friends killed by Prime Minister Cao."

He simply changed "often destroying friends" to "beloved friends".

Cao Cao looked at Chen Ran opposite him in confusion. He called him out, but he just gestured without saying a word. What was he trying to do?

"Cao Mengde."

Chen Ran said with a smile, "Yuan Shao has left, why are you still staying?"

"Humph."

Cao Cao got angry whenever this matter was mentioned. Yuan Shao abandoned the noble cause of eliminating the thief Dong and rebuilding the court for his own benefit and just left. He really despised him.

"Cao is devoted to the country and wants to eliminate the traitors for the emperor and the court!"

These words were naturally righteous, no matter what happened in the future, but he really thought so in his heart at this moment.

"You only have a few thousand men." Chen Ran looked at the army behind Cao Cao and said with a smile, "What can you accomplish?"

"Although there are few people, they are all loyal and righteous men of the Han Dynasty!"

Cao Cao was full of confidence. "With the help of General Hou and others, we may be able to destroy the rebels!"

"Then have you ever thought that cooperating with Yuan Shu would offend Yuan Shao?"

This sentence instantly made Cao Cao fall into silence.

You have to know that Cao Cao is Yuan Shao's younger brother. If he follows Yuan Shu now, it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction.

"If you want to eliminate the rebels, just chase Dong Zhuo." Chen Ran laughed again, "What's the point of surrounding Luoyang City?"

Cao Cao rolled his eyes and said, "Do you think I don't know the art of war? With your troops in Luoyang, who would dare to chase and kill Dong Zhuo?"

The city is dead, but people have legs that can move, so if they want to take a detour, they can.

But the problem is, if we take a detour and the enemy comes out of the city to chase us, what should we do if we are attacked from both sides?
Not to mention cutting off the retreat and food supply lines, the so-called detour would be a dead end.

Anyone who understands the art of war will not do such a thing.

Chen Ran gestured to Yuan Shu's troops in the distance and said, "You think Yuan Shu will help you? Don't dream. The Yuan family wants the Han Dynasty to be torn apart so that they can fish in troubled waters. It will be no good for you to get involved with him."

"Humph!"

Cao Cao naturally knew what the Yuan family was thinking, but at this moment he would definitely not show his weakness in front of Chen Ran. "Don't try to sow discord. Cao will never be fooled!"

"up to you."

Chen Ran shrugged. "I asked you out today just to tell you that I will mobilize a large force for a decisive battle in three days. Yuan Shu and others will surely flee first by then. Don't ruin yourself by trying to be a hero."

Cao Cao was very confused by this and asked, "Why are you saying these things to me?"

The two sides are now in a hostile relationship, and he doesn't understand what Chen Ran means.

"Because you are useful to me."

Chen Ran’s response was straightforward: “It will be useful to keep you.”

The core of the late Han Dynasty was in Guandong, and the core of Guandong was in Hebei. Hebei was also the main population gathering place of the Han Dynasty.

The Yuan family, with three generations of officials, has too much influence and power, and Chen Ran has to find a way to curb it.

Cao Cao was an important link in blocking Yuan Shao from moving south.

Before Chen Ran has gathered all the forces and become strong enough, he must be kept around to hold back Yuan Shao.

After saying that, Chen Ran simply turned his horse around and went back to the city, leaving Cao Cao standing there in a daze.

"I, Cao Mengde, have actually been looked down upon by others like this!"

An angry Cao Cao returned to the camp and was furious.

Fortunately, everyone tried to persuade them and the anger gradually subsided.

Soon, envoys from Yuan Shu and others arrived and asked what Chen Zihou had said to them.

"In three days, he will leave the city for a decisive battle." Cao Cao responded simply, "He also said that the general will mention escape."

Yuan Shu, who heard the news, was almost driven crazy.

"How can this be! This is too much! How can I, Yuan Shu, run away?!"

Yuan Shu, with a red face, shouted at all the generals, "Get ready. Three days later, we will have a decisive battle with Chen Ran. I will definitely chop off his head!"

One of the reasons why he stayed was that his old nest, Nanyang, was very peaceful and few people caused trouble.

Secondly, Yuan Shao had finally left, and he also wanted to experience what it was like to be the leader of an alliance.

Although there were only two or three kittens left, they were still enjoying themselves very much.

What Yuan Shu didn't know was that the only reason Chen Ran didn't send anyone to Nanyang to stir up trouble was to target him!

Chen Ran’s first expansion direction was the Nanyang Basin, which was rich in resources and had a large population.

While talking to Cao Cao, he was also trying to provoke Yuan Shu so that he would leave with shame.

Three days later, Chen Ran led more than 10,000 troops out of the city to confront Yuan Shu's army.

Cao Cao, Sun Jian and others went into battle to support Yuan Shu.

The troops of the later general Yuan Shu were mainly composed of the county soldiers of Nanyang County, the private soldiers of the Yuan family, and those recruited with money and food.

There are a lot of them, tens of thousands of them.

However, their actual combat effectiveness was very average. After all, the county soldiers in the Eastern Han Dynasty were almost all conscripted soldiers, which was completely different from the county soldiers in the Western Han Dynasty where all the people were soldiers.

After the battle started, Chen Ran arranged for Zhang Liao to take people to keep an eye on Cao Cao and other troops, while he himself led the elite troops, mainly the regular army of the Han Dynasty, and headed straight for Yuan Shu's banner.

Fighting Yuan Shu doesn't require any complicated strategies or tactics, you just need to go straight at him.

The reason is very simple, Yuan Shu is afraid of death.

As long as they could scare him into running away, the morale of Yuan's army would surely collapse, and a great victory would undoubtedly follow in the pursuit.

Generals under Yuan Shu including Qiao Rui, Liu Xie, Chen Ji, Lei Bo and others tried their best to stop him, but they were unable to stop the unrivaled Chen Ran.

Seeing Chen Ran's attack getting closer, Yuan Shu subconsciously wanted to escape.

General Ji Ling persuaded Yuan Shu, "My lord, if you leave now, the morale of the army will collapse! Just wait and see me kill this beast!"

Ji Ling, holding a three-pointed, double-edged sword, personally led his troops to stop Chen Ran.

It was also rare that he was able to withstand several rounds of attacks from Chen Ran.

But at this time, Yuan Shu behind him could not bear the pressure and simply ran away under the protection of Yuan's private soldiers.

The main general fled, and no matter how many troops there were on the front line, it was useless. The entire Yuan army fell into collapse.

Ji Ling sighed deeply, and instead of retreating, he advanced and fought desperately with Chen Ran.

The result was naturally self-evident, he was quickly stabbed and fell from his horse.

Cao Cao, Zhang Miao, Sun Jian and others were preparing to send troops to provide assistance, but they were all speechless when they saw tens of thousands of Yuan Shu's soldiers collapse and flee.

"Meng De, let's go." Zhang Miao pulled Cao Cao's horse reins and said anxiously, "When Chen Ran comes back to kill us, we won't be able to leave even if we want to."

Cao Cao, unwilling to give up, looked at the heavily guarded Luoyang City not far away, and waved his whip vigorously, "Go!"

Sun Jian ran faster than them.

It's like a joke. Yuan Shu, who had an army of tens of thousands, was defeated. What else can these small-scale armies of theirs think about?

Chen Ran pursued Yuan Shu relentlessly and kept chasing him all the way.

The Yuan family's private soldiers were very powerful and their constant counterattacks caused him considerable trouble.

But Yuan Shu was too incompetent. In panic, he just ran away, leaving all his private soldiers in vain.

After chasing for dozens of miles, they finally caught up with Yuan Shu.

This was because Yuan Shu felt too tired and stopped to rest, so he was caught up.

In fact, there were less than a hundred pursuers still following Chen Ran at this time.

Yuan Shu had hundreds of Yuan's private soldiers around him, so they could still fight if they really had to fight to the death.

But Yuan Shu kept begging, asking Chen Ran to spare his life in an ugly manner.

This kind of performance caused the private soldiers around him to secretly despise him, and their morale was extremely low.

"General Hou, I am here to see you off!"

Chen Ran rode his Red Hare and rushed into the formation at high speed, heading straight for Yuan Shu, but the resistance he encountered was very weak.

Chen Ran not only killed Yuan Shu, but also stabbed his cousin Yuan Yin to death.

The remaining troops of Yuan Shu all surrendered.

Chen Ran appointed Zhang Liao as the general and led the surrendered soldiers to Nanyang County, bringing this rich and populous place under his command.

From then on, the campaign of the eighteen princes against Dong Zhuo came to an end.

(End of this chapter)