Bai Xiaowen sent out the Winged Cavalry, ostensibly as an advance force to arrange lodgings in Jizhou for the Son of Heaven to stay.
As for their true purpose, only the four members of the White Phoenix Team knew.
After briefly resting at Huguan Pass, the Son of Heaven was invited to Tunliu City, only a short distance away. Of the twenty thousand Youzhou Army soldiers, only around sixteen thousand remained after several battles, and they were all recuperating in Tunliu City.
Bai Xiaowen then asked about Guo Yuan's campaign in Bingzhou. Bingzhou bordered the Sili Commandant's Department (Sili Province), and the two belonged to the Yuan Clan and Cao Clan factions respectively. While the main forces of both sides were locked in a decisive battle at Guandu, Bingzhou and Sili Province were naturally also on the verge of war.
However, Sili Province was weak in troops, while the Xianbei occupied the commanderies and prefectures of Bingzhou. Neither side had the strength to launch a major offensive.
As the western battlefield, the fighting between Bingzhou and Sili Province was actually of little consequence. Everything depended on the outcome of the Guandu battlefield in the east.
Thus, Guo Yuan guarded Huguan Pass, while Gao Gan, the Inspector of Bingzhou, did not remain in Jinyang City (present-day Taiyuan, Shanxi). Instead, he stationed his troops in Xiangyuan, over a hundred li from Huguan Pass and Tunliu.
As soon as the Son of Heaven had settled in, Gao Gan, the Inspector of Bingzhou, received Guo Yuan's report and hurried over.
Using the excuse of protecting the Son of Heaven's safety, Bai Xiaowen had the emperor temporarily stay within the Youzhou Army's camp. Although Gao Gan had displayed considerable loyalty to the Yuan Clan in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Bai Xiaowen still had