Chapter 161: Jingshui Alliance
In the morning, around eleven o'clock.

The fog finally cleared.

On the west bank of the Jing River, scouts from all sides retreated one after another.

On the city of Chiyang, Ma Wan looked at the Changping Temple where almost all of its troops were wiped out, and then looked into the distance.

If the generals in the west wanted to rescue Chiyang, they had to find a way to cross the Jing River; the same was true for Duan Wei in the north, who was blocked by the river.

Southeastward, beyond Chi Yang's sight, on the Chi Road.

Zhong Yao led his troops forward, sitting on the chariot with an expressionless face.

The biggest difference between Guanzhong and other places is that there is a mature road network here. Even if the roads are out of maintenance, they are still carefully built roads.

Therefore, the army in Guanzhong can rely on water transportation to transport large amounts of supplies.

The speed of a ship traveling in reverse is also faster than the speed of infantry marching, so theoretically speaking, the Guanzhong forced march depends on the physical limits of the soldiers rather than the speed of transporting supplies.

When an army marches to fight a war, it is a big move, and the biggest limitation is always the various supplies and equipment.

Zhong Yao was mentally prepared, but he didn't expect the Tiger Tooth Army to march so fast.

They had almost gotten rid of their dependence on Weinan for supplies. Ever since Li Kan's head was cracked, they had been eating the grain stored by the generals in Weibei, using the military supplies and equipment saved by these people, and even their auxiliary troops were their own troops.

"Report~!"

A messenger came from the north and shouted in front of Zhong Yao's carriage: "General Duan's troops have passed Huangbai City. The vanguard is no less than 2,000 cavalry and is marching up the north bank of Baiqu!"

"Explore again!"

After Zhong Yao finished speaking, he reached out to untie the map barrel, took out the cowhide map, spread it out, and squinted his eyes.

He didn't believe that Duan Wei dared to break off relations with the Tiger Tooth Army. It was just a Huangbai City, which was not something Duan Wei could quickly capture.

The supplies in Huangbai City are sufficient to support the long-term garrison of the Tiger Tooth Army.

Duan Wei came from afar, and Chiyang Ma Wan was surrounded and killed by the Tiger Tooth Army. If the confrontation is long-term, who will provide food for Duan Wei?

If the confrontation lasts for a long time, we don't have to worry about the Tiger Tooth Army sending troops from the east to attack Niyang.

Even if they couldn't capture Duan Wei's lair, they could still block Duan Wei's baggage train, or disturb the rear and make Duan Wei's front-line troops lose their will to fight.

Duan Wei has no strategic depth, and his main force dares to go out; even if Black Bear does not take action, the Qiang and Hu further north will seize the opportunity to plunder.

Don't expect the Qiang and Hu people to understand the saying "the lips and teeth are interdependent". These people may even be thinking of robbing Duan Wei to show their goodwill to the Tiger Tooth Army.

While Black Bear was building the Lantian camp, he invited Wang Wei's troops from Jingzhou to move into Duling on the west side, leaving Zhao Yun's troops from Liu Bei to guard Lantian, barely strengthening the flanks and rear.

Zhong Yao slowly rolled up the map. He had already concluded that Duan Wei was definitely not here to fight the Tiger Tooth Army this time!
Duan Wei can't afford to lose. Which of the Guanzhong generals doesn't have a family to support?

Who is like Black Bear, changing his name and starting a business alone?
Even if the generals in Guanzhong started their business alone and are now forty years old, they have many wives and concubines, and hundreds of children, relatives, friends, and confidants. If there are good options, who would be willing to take them to ruin together?
Duan Wei is definitely not alone. Too many people need the shelter from wind and rain supported by Duan Wei to survive.

Considering Duan Wei’s age, how much ambition does a man who is nearly sixty have to achieve great things?

Zhong Yao felt that Duan Wei had dug a hole for him.

While he was thinking, the messenger came again: "Report~!"

The messenger was about to speak when he turned around and saw Hei Xiong and Tai Shi Wengong riding their horses galloping towards him from the side of the road, so the messenger shut up.

The marching team continued as usual, and Zhong Yao ordered the vehicles to leave the queue and go to the side of the road.

The chariot stopped, Black Bear drove his horse closer, controlled Lu Bu to move forward, and used his halberd to force back a dozen of Zhong Yao's guards and followers.

At this moment, Lu Bu's body was still covered in blood, and when he pointed his halberd at the guards, blood was dripping from the corners of his arms and clothes.

Black Bear took out four silver general seals from his harness and threw them to Zhong Yao. He threw them accurately and all of them landed in Zhong Yao's arms.

Then came three official documents written by Zhong Yao to Yan Xing, which were also thrown into Zhong Yao's arms.

Fortunately, Zhong Yao was wearing armor and did not feel any pain.

Zhong Yao's face changed slightly. At this time, Black Bear raised his hand and took off his mask: "Lord Yuan Chang, you said you want to rule the country with a government. I think it's good and I am willing to cooperate with you to give it a try. But why do you always want to win over outsiders and use them to check and balance me? Do you really want to ride on my head?"

Pointing to the south-east of Chang'an City, Black Bear said, "Don't learn from Wang Yun. He only wanted to check and balance this and that. How many people did he kill?"

Zhong Yao held the seal of Wuyi Duwei, looked at the blood-soaked 'Taishi Wengong', and said decisively: "Duan Wei's vanguard of 2,000 cavalry has passed Huangbaicheng, I am willing to go and talk to him."

Seeing Black Bear's cold expression, Zhong Yao immediately said: "If the general can get Duan Wei's support, the generals in the west can be defeated. From then on, Guanzhong will be united and no one will be able to shake the general's position."

"Unification gained through deception with words is far inferior to unity gained through killing with swords."

Black Bear rode closer and looked at Zhong Yao: "Give me the army, you go to Shangluo to welcome Wang Can. When you come back, I will take care of this place, and then we will work together to clean up Chang'an. I know you like calligraphy, when Wang Can digs out Cai Gong's posthumous letter, I will allow you to copy it."

Zhong Yao stared at Black Bear in a daze, frowned and advised: "Don't exhaust all the things. I think the general now has the prestige to unify Guanzhong. If there are any more twists and turns, it will be too late to regret."

"Twists and turns? Do you mean Yuan Tan attacks me?"

Black Bear bared his teeth and said, "I wish he would come and fight me sooner rather than later. Yuan Shang was concerned about the relationship between brothers, but I am not. Yuan Tan's survival will only benefit Cao Cao, not Yuan Shang and me."

"As for Duan Wei, I will handle it myself. I can talk to him more easily, so you don't need to bother Lord Yuan Chang."

"Lord Yuan Chang, you keep talking about the imperial court and the country. What does this have to do with the men and women in Guanzhong? I'll go and talk, and it will be settled in a few words, saving me the trouble of running back and forth."

"Since the general has made the decision, after the unification of Guanzhong, I will make a petition with the other generals, asking you to take over the position of Zhenbei."

Zhong Yao held the square seal in both hands and handed it over. Black Bear drove his horse closer and reached out to pick up his collection. He said to Zhong Yao: "Mr. Yuan Chang is not a peddler. He should be able to understand the meaning of life. Since ancient times, who can avoid death? You should die a worthy death. Don't make it difficult for me."

"Yes, if not for the general's sake, then for Cai Bojie's sake, I will take care of my health and not act on impulse."

Zhong Yao made a promise, but Black Bear was still worried: "I am not worried about Lord Yuan Chang, I am worried about others. When Lord Yuan Chang passes through Lantian, change a group of guards."

"Thank you for your kindness, General."

Zhong Yao bowed, and Black Bear nodded: "See you later at the foot of Chiyang City. I'm going to see Duan Wei."

After saying this, he turned the horse's head and whipped it with his right hand, then sat down and rode away with all four hooves. Tai Shi Wen Gong followed him with the Fang Tian Ji on his shoulder.

Zhong Yao turned around to look at the place where Tai Shi Wen Gong had stopped his horse. There were blood stains dripping on the ground, which were about to form a patch.

He said nothing and once again raised the level of Tai Shi Wen Gong's deterrence. Fortunately, there was only one such person.

If he gets injured or disabled in the future, General Tiger Fang will lose his tiger teeth.

The black bear went straight north, crossed the Baiqu wooden bridge, and moved upstream along the Baiqu.

Soon they encountered knights patrolling the outer perimeter, and these knights retreated or withdrew.

After walking for more than ten miles, we saw a curtain set up on the bank of Baiqu.

Flags are flying here, and the south bank is the Qingzhou military camp.

Guo Tai, who was stationed in the camp, had already mobilized the Qingzhou soldiers to leave the camp and line up along the canal outside the camp. On the north bank, Duan Wei sat upright on a Hu bed, with curtains behind and on both sides, and in front of him were the four large square formations of Qingzhou soldiers on the south bank, in blue, red, yellow and white.

The guards near the curtain did not stop him, and Black Bear led Lubula's horse in front of the curtain.

The military officers standing on both sides of Duan Wei all looked sideways at Lu Bu, but Duan Wei just glanced at him casually.

He followed his brother when he was young. What kind of strong fighters hasn’t he seen?
Then his eyes fell on Black Bear's face, and Black Bear raised his hand to take off his golden mask. Duan Wei saw it and asked loudly: "Is Black Tiger Fang in person?"

"it's me."

The black bear dismounted and raised his right hand as if swinging towards the south bank. People around him were confused.

Four cards spun and landed near Guo Tai on the south bank. Due to the great distance, no one on the north bank could clearly see how many more figures appeared in the array two miles away.

Then Black Bear turned his head to look at Duan Wei and said, "Mr. Duan, could you lend me the blue, red, yellow and white flags?"

Duan Wei nodded to the guard and said with a smile: "I have heard that you are good at training soldiers and commanding troops in battle in a unique way. You can command troops with flags, which is a great advantage."

"Mr. Duan only heard about it, and didn't see it with his own eyes, so there are bound to be misunderstandings."

Black Bear took the four flags and asked Duan Wei, "We came in a hurry, so it's not easy to practice the flower formation. So I will practice the anti-cavalry formation for you, Mr. Duan."

Duan Wei nodded, he was also a little curious.

Anyway, Black Bear is now under the control of his central army. No matter how brave and powerful Tai Shi Wengong is, he can only protect Black Bear to break out. What can he do to him?
The enemy's army was on the south bank, making it difficult to attack the north bank.

Not only Duan Wei, but also the accompanying troops on the north bank and the Qiang and Hu servant troops all approached the shore to watch the battle.

Black Bear placed four flags in front of him and waved the blue and red flags. The blue and red teams on the south bank immediately began to gather and gather. Under Black Bear's flag command, they changed into a marching column and moved with spears erected.

When the Green and Red teams changed their positions with their spears raised, Black Bear picked up the Yellow and White flags and also ordered them to abandon their linear formation and gather together to form a marching column with their spears raised.

Afterwards, they picked up flags of different colors and commanded the teams on the south bank. The formation change was completed in less than half a quarter of an hour.

The previous large horizontal formation that was close to the river channel was transformed into a hollow square formation facing outward on all four sides.

Then he gathered four flags and waved them together, forming four human walls of a hollow square array. They began to gather with the hundred-man team as nodes, forming circular arrays.

Twenty-eight small circular formations were placed on the flat ground on the south bank. Duan Wei looked at them with a frown.

How could it not be clear? Both of these formations of the enemy were designed to counter cavalry, especially the current scattered star formation, which had a great inhibitory effect on the Qiang cavalry.

Duan Wei saw that the military officers on his left and right looked a little unnatural, so he said, "The army is strong only when it gathers and disperses normally."

So Black Bear put down the four flags, and picked them up one by one to wave and turn. The four large square formations of green, red, yellow and white gathered together again to form a diamond formation.

"Hahaha, wonderful, very wonderful!"

Duan Wei got off the couch, approached Black Bear and asked, "Could you lend me some instructions?"

"Did Mr. Duan understand the flag signal?"

"I understand a few of them."

He couldn't understand the full set of flag signals, but he understood the basic movements such as rotating the flag and swaying the direction.

As for the tactical instructions corresponding to the various flag signals, he was not clear about them.

Black Bear just smiled, stepped back five or six steps to make room, and then he observed Duan Wei waving the flag.

Just command the corresponding Taoist soldiers to take action according to the flag signals you set.

Duan Wei tested the four-color flags repeatedly. Looking at the square formation on the south bank that had been completely disrupted, he finally believed that the army trained by Black Bear could really be remotely controlled through these four flags.

The moment he was sure of his identity, he sentenced the Qiang Hu, Southern Xiongnu and other miscellaneous Hu who were entrenched in the mountainous areas of Beidi, Xihe and Shangjun to death.

With flag signal command, if a skirmish breaks out in mountainous areas or hilly areas, our side can quickly close the gap.

Due to terrain restrictions, no matter how many troops there are, there is not enough space for deployment.

Therefore, the efficient use of military force will inevitably have miraculous effects.

Duan Wei was still not satisfied, but he was afraid that if he continued to command, the troops on the south bank would collide with each other and cause accidental injuries.

He planted the four battle flags on the ground and stretched out his arms to invite Black Bear: "General, your courage and strategy are unrivaled in Guanyou. It is a great honor for the people of Guanyou to have you."

The two men came to the Huchuang and sat down. Black Bear then asked, "Zhang Heng and Yang Qiu have already reached the west bank of the Jing River. Why did Duan Gong teach me?"

"If the general can trust me, the dust will be settled tomorrow morning."

Duan Wei asked, "How should Zhong Yuanchang be placed?"

“Clothes are better when new, and people are better when old.”

Black Bear smiled and said, "He is going to clean up the ruins and remains of Chang'an. He likes to study calligraphy. Wang Can is about to enter Guanzhong. They are concentrating on this and have no intention of intervening in politics and military affairs for the time being."

"Yeah, people are not as good as before."

Duan Wei restrained his expression and asked seriously, "General, you have far-reaching ambitions. When Guanzhong is united, do you want to march forward to wipe out the bandits and support the country, or do you want to protect the country and the people and wait for the times to change?"

"I want to make great progress in Guanzhong, and when the people are prosperous, we can discuss other things."

Black Bear also restrained his expression and said sincerely: "I started from Liangpei and I am tired of the chaos in the Central Plains. If I could find a small place to settle down, I wouldn't have to travel around the world. Lord Duan, although I can command troops as fast as thunder and fire, I am actually a lazy person. I like to plant trees, raise geese, and fish."

Duan Wei obviously didn't believe it and laughed.

Black Bear did not explain, and continued: "Guanzhong is in chaos, as the saying goes, there is no construction without destruction. I am willing to swear an oath with Lord Duan by the Jing River. When the people of Guanzhong have two years' surplus food and two sets of clothes for winter and summer, I will send troops abroad."

“Two years’ savings and several sets of clothing are indeed a sight of prosperity.”

Duan Wei nodded and said, "General, if you can swear an oath on the Jing River, I will naturally believe it. That's all for today, and we will see the outcome tomorrow."

"can."

Black Bear stood up and placed four silver seals on the table in front of him: "I hope Mr. Duan can give me five tomorrow."

Duan Wei just smiled and stood up to see him off.

Then I saw Black Bear climb onto the horse and gallop towards Baiqu.

He leaped over the shore and flew two or three feet into the canal near the south bank. The horse under him paddled hard and soon reached the shore.

The next one was Taishi Wengong, who also jumped up with a halberd in hand and rode his horse, then landed in the shallow water on the south bank.

The dried horse's four hooves were stuck in the mud, and it struggled back and forth, stirring up large amounts of mud and sand.

The bloodstains on his clothes melted away in water, and a light red line appeared on the south bank of the water.

Seeing this scene, the cavalrymen watching on the north bank howled in excitement.

(End of this chapter)