Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1111 Preparation
Seeing Gao Lan provoking him, Pang De became furious. He immediately spurred on his warhorse and raised his sword to chop at Gao Lan. Gao Lan blocked left and right, and seeing that he was gradually losing strength, he retreated while fighting.

How could Pang De give Gao Lan a chance to retreat? He immediately called on his men to charge towards Gao Lan's army. The two sides fought for more than half an hour. The number of soldiers brought by Gao Lan was not as many as Pang De's, and he was gradually losing the upper hand.

At this moment, a horn sounded and an army rushed out from the side. It was Chunyu Qiong who had arrived. He appeared at an extremely precise time and place, and immediately attacked the flank and rear of Pang De's cavalry, splitting it in half.

By the time Pang De wanted to respond, it was too late, so he had to gather the remaining troops and break out directly from the direction of Gao Lan's army. Although Gao Lan tried his best to stop them, nearly half of the Xiliang cavalry still rushed out.

Seeing that Pang De was about to escape, Gao Lan immediately shot an arrow, which hit Pang De in the shoulder. Pang De was protected by armor, and the tip of the arrow only penetrated three-tenths of the flesh. He gritted his teeth, broke the arrow shaft, and fled with the remaining troops.

Gao Lan, Chunyu Qiong joined forces to surround and annihilate the Western Liang army that was unable to arrive. The Western Liang army knew what was waiting for them next, and they all fought desperately with red eyes, causing considerable losses to Gao Lan, Chunyu Qiong and the other two.

Chun Yuqiong ordered his men to intercept the Xiliang soldiers while he said to Gao Lan, "The public execution the day before yesterday has pushed the Xiliang soldiers into a desperate situation. In the recent battles, most of the Xiliang soldiers fought to the death and would rather commit suicide than be caught. This is very troublesome."

Gao Lan heard Chunyu Qiong's faint complaint and thought to himself that it was no wonder. The losses from chasing and killing the fleeing soldiers were far less than those from dealing with the enemies who resisted to the end. The Xiliang soldiers were so stubborn that the losses of Jizhou soldiers were also much greater.

He shot and killed the Xiliang soldier who had run to the front in panic, and said, "My lord has his own reasons."

"When we were fighting in Jizhou before, the Xiliang soldiers would never kill an entire village like this. They broke the rules, so we must fight back."

Chunyu Qiong sighed, "That being said, when Cao Cao attacked, didn't he also massacre the cities of Jizhou?"

"In this world, whoever has the bigger fist can reason. If we are defeated by Cao's army, I'm afraid their revenge will be even worse."

Gao Lan smiled and said, "Then wouldn't it be enough to just fight with all your strength and win?"

"At worst, we will fight them to the death. Now they are afraid of being caught by us, so why shouldn't we do the same?"

"This vortex has begun to spin. Before it stops, I'm afraid no one will be able to escape."

"What's more, we have more reason to hate them. After all, they were the first to attack. Many of my family members were killed by the Xiliang soldiers. Otherwise, why do you think they fought like crazy in the past few battles?"

Chunyu Qiong saw the Jizhou soldiers with red eyes trying to stop the Xiliang soldiers. The two sides were entangled like wild beasts. When their weapons broke, they hugged each other and rolled on the ground, using their fists, knees, and even teeth to fight the enemy in front of them. He couldn't help but sighed, "It is true."

"Since this feud is irreconcilable, let's kill them all."

He rode out on his horse and charged straight into the ranks of the fleeing soldiers. Blood splattered wherever his sword passed, adding a touch of blood to the desperate situation of the Xiliang soldiers.

The news that the cavalry of both sides had fought to the death and suffered heavy casualties reached Xudu immediately. The advisers and generals who were discussing matters with Cao Cao could not hide their joy on their faces.

In their opinion, Xionghu was obviously confused. With a great battle imminent, he should have accumulated strength and waited for the enemy to tire themselves out. This was the best strategy in military tactics. However, Cao Cao's most powerful Tiger and Leopard Cavalry had not yet been deployed, and he only used Ma Chao's almost abandoned Western Liang cavalry. This triggered many of Yuan Xi's army's back-up cards that had been arranged in advance, exposing the entire troop deployment situation.

And the cause was that the Xiliang soldiers massacred several villages?
Xun You laughed and said, "Xiong Hu is still too young and can't keep his cool."

"He has paid such a heavy price just because of his momentary impatience. Even if he drives the Xiliang soldiers back, what does that matter?"

"On this battlefield, 10,000 or 20,000 people are just a drop in the bucket and cannot change the overall situation at all."

"What's more, Ma Chao is also a vengeful person. I heard that although he lost thousands of cavalry in the past few battles, most of his main forces are still alive. For the sake of face, he will only intensify his entanglement with the fierce tiger army next time."

"If the Tiger Army messes with him, the Xiliang Army will become a thorn in their side. When the war begins, they will immediately be at a disadvantage and no one will be able to save them."

Xiahou Dun, Cao Ren and others all laughed and agreed after hearing this. In their eyes, Ma Chao's Xiliang soldiers were just bait used by Cao Cao to lure Xionghu into making a mistake. Unexpectedly, Xionghu took the bait directly. This meant that the two sides had already lost the initiative in the confrontation.

If this continues, by the time Cao's army is ready for a full-scale war in two months, Yuan Xi's army will have been exhausted from fighting with Ma Chao's army. How can they deal with Cao's army that has been recuperating?
Cao Cao, who was sitting at the top, was also laughing. Ma Chao's performance and Yuan Xi's reaction were really beyond his expectations. He even thought it was fake news. Logically, a fierce tiger should not be so impatient!

Zhong Yao was somewhat absent-minded. He looked around the hall and examined the walls and windows for a long time. Xun You saw him and whispered, "Yuan Chang, Ming Gong is still upstairs. What are you thinking about?"

Zhong Yao finally came back to his senses and said with a bitter smile: "I've gotten used to it over the past few years."

"Ever since I was assassinated in Huaicheng a few years ago, I have developed this habit. I always feel like someone is rushing in to assassinate me."

"They say a fierce tiger shouldn't be so reckless, but I think this is the fierce tiger style."

"That man appears to be kind and righteous, but he is actually very narrow-minded and vindictive. If you provoke him, he will retaliate a thousand times."

"Back then, Zhengli (Ding Chong) and I killed many of his spies in Huaicheng, and he came back to retaliate. Zhengli died, and I almost lost my life, too."

"That man is not a good person." Behind him was Ding Chong's eldest son Ding Yi, who heard the words and said, "My father was brutally murdered by his family, leaving me and my younger brother helpless. We are grateful for the support of the Prime Minister. This is an irreconcilable hatred, and I will avenge the Prime Minister and my father in the future!"

After Cao Cao became king, Zhong Yao was promoted from the Inspector of the Imperial Capital to the Minister of Justice, and then to the Prime Minister. His power was extremely great, far exceeding that of others.

But Xun You and others were not too afraid. Zhong Yao was also from the Yingchuan faction, and his achievements in the past two years were the best in Cao's camp. Not only did he defend Sili and block Yuan Xi's army from leaving Black Mountain, he also persuaded Ma Teng and Han Sui to surrender to Cao Cao and stabilized the situation in Liang Province. After Ma Teng's death, he offered advice to stabilize Ma Chao. His contribution to pacifying the two states was beyond the reach of anyone else in Cao's camp.

Zhong Yao said to Ding Yi: "You are still young, and you will have many opportunities in the future. You must learn to keep your composure."

"Xionghu is not a simple man. If you reveal a flaw, he will suddenly attack like a tiger hunting, and kill you with one blow."

His voice was not loud, but the hall was quiet and everyone could hear it.

Sure enough, Cao Cao's voice came, "I see that you look unwell, Mr. Zhong Ai. It seems that you have different ideas?"

Zhong Yao quickly turned to Cao Cao and bowed, "My Lord, this battle is of vital importance, and both sides will devote their greatest efforts."

"And the ones fighting now are only tens of thousands of cavalry, which is far less than one-tenth or one-twelfth of the future battle. The lord used Ma Chao to lure the fierce tiger into making a mistake, and the fierce tiger may have the same idea."

"The reason why you think Xiong Hu has been fooled is because he has deployed nearly 20,000 cavalry, which is equal to Ma Chao's Xiliang Army."

"Before this, Xionghu had never deployed tens of thousands of cavalry, and even more than five thousand was rare."

"So some people think that Xionghu was forced into a corner this time and revealed his trump card in advance."

"But Yao wants to ask you a question. Xionghu never used a large number of cavalry in all his previous battles. Is it true that he couldn't do it?"

"Is it possible that Xionghu just thinks it's unnecessary?"

"Let's not talk about anything else. During the Bingzhou War, the total number of You and Bing cavalry he mobilized was more than 30,000, right?"

"So Yao believes that Xionghu is not unable to bring out more cavalry, but he has always fought in the most frugal way!"

"If necessary, he can mobilize the cavalry with all his strength, and I'm afraid 50,000 is possible!"

After hearing this, Xiahou Dun couldn't believe it and said, "Fifty thousand?"

"Isn't the Prime Minister exaggerating too much?"

"From the Han Dynasty to the present, the only person who has used this number of cavalry is Emperor Wu. How could he, Xionghu, have the ability to mobilize so many people and horses?"

Zhong Yao replied: "I just roughly estimated it, it can't be accurate, but even if he can't come up with 50,000 people, it won't be less than 30,000. However, many of them are northern nomads, so it's impossible to have all the armor."

"Moreover, the cavalry needs a huge amount of food and fodder, and the battlefield in Jizhou is not enough to support this number of soldiers. Moreover, the battle for Jizhou mainly relies on the battle for cities. The role of cavalry in siege is limited, so a portion of it must be given to the infantry."

"If you mobilize the troops from the three auxiliary provinces of Liangzhou, you can also make up this number, but it is not necessary."

Everyone agreed with this. Although Jizhou was all plains, the battle ultimately came down to the gains and losses of cities and places. Pure cavalry could only decide the outcome of a battle, but not the ownership of a city.

Cao Cao said, "According to your opinion, how should we deal with this?"

Zhong Yao said calmly: "This phase of mutual probing is only the first step in the war. Yao suggests waiting and watching the situation and not exposing the strength and movements of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry too early."

"What's more, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry is still preparing for deployment, so it's really not suitable to attack rashly."

"Of course, we need to provide Ma Chao with some food and supplies, and at the same time order Han Sui to dispatch more soldiers from Xiliang to support him. This is a full-scale battle between the two sides, and it is not appropriate for Liangzhou to wait and see."

"Although Xionghu has sent out the Jizhou Army's generals, the most dangerous ones, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Gao Shun and others, have not appeared yet."

"At least we have to wait until they appear on the battlefield, and then we can launch a large-scale attack and completely destroy them."

"Yao suggested that within these two months, we should quickly recruit the generals near Xudu, such as Zhang Xiu and Yu Jin, to prepare for a decisive battle with the fierce tiger."

"Otherwise, if we don't have enough manpower by then, it will be too late to dispatch generals."

(End of this chapter)