Three days later, Yang Rui and the other large player organizations finally took over Hangu Pass.
Actually, it couldn't really be considered as taking over. Cao Cao's troops had retreated overnight. According to Yang Rui's investigation, Cao Cao had already made preparations in Tong Pass and to the west, which was why he gave up on Hangu Pass.
That day, Yang Rui and the CU Alliance rushed to Hangu Pass. Not long after, Yang Rui obtained information about Cao Cao's rear through his flying pet unit. The other party had indeed acted quickly and had already taken control of Tong Pass. However, Yang Rui didn't know how he had done it.
At that time, Yang Rui determined that Cao Cao would definitely give up on Hangu Pass. It was only a matter of time. Hangu Pass was so far away, and Tong Pass was only a narrow valley. They only needed to defend one end. If they defended Tong Pass and then Hangu Pass, it would only be a waste of energy.
Yang Rui and the other player organizations couldn't do anything to Cao Cao for the time being. If they mobilized the central army to continue the pursuit to the west, not only would it cause a lot of trouble, but it might also cause the west of Tong Pass to merge. However, if they only mobilized the flexible cavalry vanguard, they couldn't do anything to Tong Pass.
The main reason was that Yang Rui didn't want to tilt his forces to the west. After all, there were still vassals in Jizhou, Yuzhou, Jingzhou, and Bingzhou who weren't content with their positions. Handing over Cao Cao and the west to the large player organizations wasn't a bad choice.
Thus, after Tong Pass, Yang Rui once again handed it over to the leaders of the large player organizations, such as Dragon Soul. Yang Rui himself led his troops back to Luoyang and the east.
At this point, Yang Rui's campaign against Cao Cao came to an end. Yang Rui successfully drove all of Cao Cao's forces out of their traditional sphere of influence. However, he still couldn't uproot them completely. Instead, Cao Cao had drifted to the west of Tong Pass. Even though it was more difficult for Cao Cao to grow stronger again, they were still a significant threat.
Moreover, Cao Cao's subordinates seemed to have received some kind of order or reached some kind of consensus. In almost every battle in every city, Cao Cao's subordinates had become slippery and slippery. They basically ran away regardless of the cost, not giving Yang Rui more chances to capture and kill them.
In the whole battle, Wang Xiang, the commander of Kaifeng County on the east of Henan, was the only one who was captured by Dian Wei. The other Cao Cao's generals all fled. Yang Rui failed to capture any of them even though he had a lot of mobile cavalry. Cao Cao's generals seemed to have been taught by Cao Cao and were good at escaping too.
However, the entire battle could be considered to be very successful. The three vanguard cavalry units displayed their flexibility and maneuverability very well. They interspersed and cut Cao Cao's forces into a mess, creating the conditions for the rear army to seize the city.
As for the central army, their performance in seizing the cities was commendable as well. They achieved their goals with the smallest price, and the generals in charge of the army also received a significant boost in their strength.
Of course, the prerequisite for both of them was that they had sufficient supplies. Especially during the cold winter season, Yang Rui's abundant supply of supplies allowed him to break through the shackles and achieve the first success of using troops in winter. The entire process took less than a month in the game.
It was worth mentioning that the cold environment became Yang Rui's weapon to defeat the enemy. It was exactly because of the cold that the surrounding nobles were unable to interfere at all. It was also because of the cold that Cao Cao's troops were significantly affected in terms of supplies and combat ability.
For Yang Rui, the victory was of great significance. The Yin District of Henan was successfully captured and combined with the defense of Henei County. The area under Yang Rui's jurisdiction was greatly expanded, but the number of defense nodes was not increased by much.
Firstly, the defense of Hulao Pass could basically be relaxed, and the defense of Hangu Pass could be handed over to the large player organizations. The additional defense nodes were nothing more than the Dongling Pass that bordered Jingzhou and the area that bordered Yuzhou.
Secondly, due to the existence of the large player organizations, Yang Rui had a very good isolation effect. Not to mention Hangu Pass, the player organizations could also take care of the northwest and southwest areas.
Cao Cao's forces in Luoyang Royal City were removed. While Yang Rui mobilized his troops to defend Dongling Pass and Yuzhou, he immediately headed to Luoyang Royal City to meet Liu Xie again.
On one hand, Yang Rui wanted to reassure Liu Xie. On the other hand, he wanted to prevent Liu Xie from being as restless as he was in history. After all, he had sent a decree to Yang Rui before.
As for Luoyang Royal City, Yang Rui did not plan to defend it to the death like Cao Cao. Instead, he planned to develop it into a trade center. Liu Xie just had to stay there. If there was no need to, he could forget about issuing any decrees.
Developing Luoyang Royal City into a trade center could increase the flow of resources and people, as well as restore life to the region in Si Li Province.
On the other hand, Yang Rui wanted to meet Liu Xie because of the matter of talents. Yang Rui's territory had expanded by a lot. Just like when he was mobilizing people to Dongling Pass and other places, whenever he needed people, he would feel a great lack of talents.
Currently, Liu Xie did not have any other Marquises or factions by his side. Yang Rui decided to talk to Liu Xie about promoting filial piety and integrity and talent. The Han Dynasty's influence still existed, and the talents he gathered could all be used by Yang Rui.
"… Brother Donghai's words are indeed reasonable. Talents are crucial to the nation, especially in the current difficult times of the Han Dynasty. The promotion of filial piety and integrity and talent has been abandoned for many years, so it should be restarted as soon as possible. Moreover, it is most suitable for the esteemed Brother Donghai to handle this matter …"
After Yang Rui met with Liu Xie, he told him about his plans. Naturally, Liu Xie did not disobey, especially after Yang Rui reassured him. Liu Xie's attitude toward Yang Rui became even more cordial. He could still sense the difference between Yang Rui and Cao Cao.
Several years ago, Yang Rui had used the Han Dynasty to organize a promotion of filial piety and integrity and talent. From it, he had obtained many useful life professions and even high-level strategists like Liu Ba.
Now that the young Emperor Liu Xie had entrusted the promotion of filial piety and integrity and talent to Yang Rui, as long as he handled it well, Yang Rui believed that he would be able to obtain more and higher-level talents.
The promotion of filial piety and integrity was carried out from the bottom to the top, and the scale was also relatively large. However, the various Marquises would definitely not easily bring out outstanding historical figures.
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