Gou writes entries in the Three Kingdoms

Cao Cao was overjoyed. He lifted Guo Jia up with both hands and let him sit on the couch next to him.

He said to Guo Jia with a sincere face: "Fengxiao must have known about the current situation. Yuan Shao's 15-strong army set out from Liyang, has already invaded Baima, Yanzhou, and is heading towards Puyang."

"Although I have 20 troops in Yanzhou, they need to be divided into different places. There are only [-] troops stationed in Puyang. How should I defend against the enemy?"

Guo Jia listened to Cao Cao quietly and said calmly: "Puyang has 10 troops, which is more than enough to defend Yuan Shao's 20 troops. What are you worried about, my lord?"

"Yuan Shao also has many wise men under his command. Tian Feng, Ju Shou and others are all wise men. I am worried that if Yuan Shao's army does not attack Puyang, but instead attacks other counties?"

Cao Cao turned around and pointed at the map on the wall, "The war is taking place in our Yanzhou territory. Yuan Shao can choose the city to attack at will, but our army can only struggle to deal with it."

Guo Jia looked at Cao Cao's worried look and nodded with satisfaction, agreeing with Cao Cao's analysis.
"My lord is extremely worried. If 10 troops are stationed in Puyang, Yuan Shao will definitely not attack Puyang directly. Instead, he will try to mobilize us out of the city to wait for the opportunity."

Speaking of this, Guo Jia's eyes sparkled, he struggled to get up from the couch, and walked to the map.
"Yuan Shao wants to mobilize our army, why can't our army mobilize Yuan Shao?"

"When two armies confront each other, the one with the initiative can find more opportunities."

Guo Jia looked at Cao Cao and said, "During the battle between my lord and Liu Xuan, wasn't it because Liu Xuan took the initiative and had to defend the city?"

"Liu Xuan's original intention to attack Xuchang was to rescue Jincheng and Chilechuan. This plan of encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao successfully forced the lord to mobilize troops and horses to defend Xuchang, and the troops sent to the grassland had to return to defend Xuchang. .”

Hearing this, Cao Cao asked tentatively: "Fengxiao means that we also come to surround Wei and save Zhao?"

"Why not?" Guo Jia said firmly, "Yuan Shao's army entered Yanzhou. Since we can't predict where he will attack, we will force him to go to only one place."

"which place?"

Guo Jia raised his hand and pointed to Jizhou in the north, "Yecheng!"

Everyone followed Guo Jia's gesture and looked at the map. They saw that Yecheng was located to the north of Hanoi County in Sizhou, not far from the north of Yuzhou.

After Guo Jia mentioned this, others suddenly felt enlightened.

Xun Yu clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Wonderful, the plan of paying filial piety is really wonderful. Our army only needs to detour to Hanoi County and directly attack Jizhou from the southwest. The troops will be directed towards Yecheng, which is Yuan Shao's home base. He has to Get back on defense.”

Guo Jia raised the corner of his mouth and said, "That's exactly it."

Cao Cao stood up happily and said, "Okay, then we will send troops to Yecheng and let Yuan Shao have a taste of besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao."

Although this plan was not a profound one, it was very effective. Cao Cao was led by Liu Xuan's plan and was finally defeated in Yuzhou.

The plan was finalized, and Cao Cao immediately summoned his generals to prepare for the expedition.

In the late autumn of 203, Cao Cao followed Guo Jia's plan and left only [-] troops to garrison Puyang.

He personally led [-] elite troops, detoured northward from Hanoi, and entered Jizhou, aiming directly at Yecheng.

As expected, Yuan Shao's 15 troops in Yanzhou did not attack Puyang directly, but went south to capture Chenliu.

After losing nearly 4 horses, they had just captured Chenliu. Unexpectedly, as soon as the army entered Chenliu, urgent news came from Hebei that Cao Cao's [-] troops had crossed the river and the vanguard was approaching Yecheng.

This news immediately put Yuan Shao at a loss.

Yecheng was his home base. Although there were 5 troops stationed there, Yuan Shao did not dare to take risks.
Because most of his family members, assets and money were hoarded in Yecheng.

If Cao Cao really tried his best to capture Yecheng, it wouldn't be worthwhile for him to defeat ten Chenliu.

So Yuan Shao ignored Tian Feng's dissuasion to continue the attack and ordered 3 cavalry troops to withdraw from Yanzhou and return to Yecheng to aid.

Unexpectedly, Cao Cao's large army did not go to Yecheng at all.
The forward troops only pretended to attack twenty miles away from Yecheng, then turned around and joined the Chinese army. The [-]-strong army raided Liyang at night.

There were only [-] defenders in Liyang, and they were defeated by Cao Cao in a single battle. Not even a mouse escaped.

Yuan Shao's [-] cavalry passed the White Horse in panic, preparing to go to Liyang to reorganize their troops and continue marching. Cao Cao controlled the surrendered Yuan Shao troops in Liyang to open the city gate and let [-] Yuan Shao's cavalry enter the city to rest and reorganize.

When 3 people entered the city, Cao Cao's [-] soldiers came out. Arrows rained down from the city walls. The [-] cavalry knew that they had been tricked and fought back out of the city, risking their lives.

After a night of fighting, less than half of the 3 people escaped.

Cao Cao won the first battle and the whereabouts of his troops had been exposed. He simply stopped marching cautiously and pressed back south. He recaptured the White Horse Ferry and blocked Yuan Shao's army south of the river.

Baima Ferry, Yuan Shao's military camp.

After being tricked by Cao Cao, most of his [-] troops were lost, and Yuan Shao was in a terrible mood.

Originally, this was a must-win situation. I had both a strength advantage and a morale advantage. Cao Cao had just been defeated in Xuchang.

The city of Yanzhou was constantly being conquered by him. Unexpectedly, Cao Cao made a desperate move and left Puyang undefended.

The army detoured to Hanoi and pretended to attack Yecheng, setting up an ambush on their way back.

Yuan Shao was a little annoyed and regretted not listening to Tian Feng.

But then I thought about it, Tian Feng had obviously reached this point, but he didn't insist on stopping him.

As a counselor, this is incompetent.

So Yuan Shao reprimanded all his subordinates, and singled out Ju, Shou and Tian Feng for criticizing Sang and Huai.

After the scolding and anger subsided, Yuan Shao knew that to solve the current crisis, he still had to rely on these counselors.

He put on the look of a good leader with an open mind and said,

"At this time of life and death, you all need to work together to tide over the difficulties with me. How should we fight the battle in front of us?"

"Yuan Hao, tell me what you think first."

Tian Feng lowered his eyebrows and thought for a moment before replying,
"My lord, although our army was defeated for a step first, we still have more than [-] combatable troops. Compared with Cao's army, we are not far behind."

"What's more, Cao Cao intends to trap our army south of the river. Although our army is besieged on all sides, as the saying goes, if we put it to death and survive, the sad soldiers will win."

"As long as my lord has the courage to fight, I believe that the soldiers of Hebei will be able to break through Cao Cao's blockade and return to Jizhou."

After hearing Tian Feng's words, Yuan Shao felt a little better and asked hurriedly,
"What Yuan Hao said is reasonable, but when it comes to the specific details of this battle, how should we deploy it?"

"Our army wants to return to Hebei. The only option at present is to break through Baima. Cao Cao's army has formed a formation north of the river. If our army attacks north from Baima Ferry, Cao Cao's army can attack on the bank. This is the most difficult point."

Tian Feng stroked his beard, suddenly his expression changed, he raised his head to see Yuan Shao,
"Lord, didn't Liu Xuan send someone to deliver [-] sets of alloy steel armor earlier? Why don't we use these [-] fully armed soldiers as the vanguard, brave the rain of arrows, rush to the other side of the river, and lay a stronghold for our army on the north bank? , so that the army can cross the river safely."

"When we arrive in Hebei, we will have a decisive battle with Cao Cao's [-] soldiers, and our army's chances of victory will be greatly increased." Yuan Shao instantly turned from worry to joy, "As Yuan Hao said, then I have full confidence in fighting Cao Cao in Hebei. We are sure to defeat Cao Cao. But, can these five thousand soldiers really break through the White Horse Ferry?"

After Yuan Shao finished speaking, Yan Liang immediately came out of the tent.

"Lord, these five thousand soldiers are all in our army. I have absolute confidence in them. Why not let the last general lead the five thousand soldiers as the vanguard to fight a way for the army."

"Okay! With General Yan Liang as the vanguard, Cao Cao's soldiers are nothing more than chickens and dogs."

Yuan Shao immediately ordered Yan Liang to be the vanguard across the river, and the rest of the soldiers were assembled to prepare to cross the river back to Jizhou for a decisive battle with Cao Cao.

White Horse Ferry,

Cao Cao's 8 troops are still fortified on the north bank, intending to trap more than [-] Yuan Shao's troops in Yanzhou.

At the same time, all ministries in Qingzhou and Yuzhou were mobilized to encircle and suppress Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao also knew this, so he quickly gathered a lot of ships to break through Cao's defense before the encirclement was formed.

The five thousand soldiers led by Yan Liang were covered from beginning to end in alloy steel armor.
Following Yan Liang's order, the fleet immediately sailed to the north shore.

The river is not wide, but the river banks are somewhat high, so Cao Cao's defenders have a great advantage in defending from a high position on the north bank.

However, these advantages are all offset by alloy steel armor.

Attacks from the shore are nothing more than bows, arrows, crossbows, etc. As for the trebuchet, Cao Cao took a long-distance detour to Hanoi, so naturally he could not bring such a heavy instrument as the trebuchet.

Five thousand soldiers braved the rain of arrows from the north bank and managed to rush to the river bank with basically no damage.

Yan Liang was worthy of being a brave general in Hebei. He was the first to land on the shore, and with a powerful sword, he cut into several pieces the four or five defending Cao soldiers in one round.

Encouraged by Yan Liang, the soldiers behind him also jumped off the ship and started the landing battle.

The soldiers who can be selected to wear alloy steel armor are naturally the best of the best.

The 5000 people came ashore and gradually established their position.

Although Cao Cao deployed a lot of crossbowmen on the shore, unfortunately the damage to alloy steel armor was too little, and he finally let Yan Liang occupy the north pier.

Yuan Shao's subsequent troops boarded boats to cross the river one after another. As more and more troops arrived on the north bank, Yuan Shao's army finally succeeded in crossing the river.

Subsequently, more than 10,000 people from both sides fought in Liyang for a month, with nearly half of them killed and wounded, and Cao Cao had no choice but to retreat to Yanzhou.

However, Yuan Shao had an army of 15 when he went on the expedition. When he returned to Yecheng, he had less than [-] fighting troops. His combat power was severely weakened and he was temporarily unable to attack south.

Cao Cao's situation was not much better. Yuan Shao's previous campaign in Yanzhou not only plundered a lot of money, but also destroyed large areas of fertile land and destroyed many cities.

Faced with such a big mess to clean up, Cao Cao was unable to fight anymore for the time being.

The two sides reached a tacit truce when winter came, and each of them recuperated.

Not long after Yuan Shao returned to Yecheng, he hurriedly sent his eldest son Yuan Tan to build Ye to find Liu Xuan.

It turned out that Yuan Shao returned to Jizhou and reviewed the battle with Cao Cao with his generals, but unexpectedly discovered that the [-] sets of alloy steel armor that Liu Xuan had given him were really useful.

The texture is hard and the weight is light, which does not affect the soldiers' tactical movements at all.

After a great battle, all the troops suffered heavy losses, but the five thousand soldiers led by Yan Liang, who fought non-stop from beginning to end, only lost less than 1000 people.

Most of these 1000 people were injured and retired, and no more than [-] soldiers were actually killed.

You must know that these five thousand soldiers participated in the landing battle across the river as a vanguard force, and in the subsequent battle, they fought against Cao Cao's elite tiger and leopard cavalry.

After such a brutal battle, the survival rate of soldiers exceeded [-]%.

No wonder Ji Ying was able to defeat Yuan Shao's thousand elites with 500 men.

So Yuan Shaodang immediately ordered his eldest son Yuan Tan to go to Yangzhou to meet Liu Xuan and ask for the five thousand sets of alloy steel armor that Ji Ying had promised.

In Jianye City, Liu Xuan heard that Yuan Tan was coming, and he was still a little curious about the young master of this family.
Then a banquet was held in the government office to receive Yuan Tan.

Yuan Tan and a group of soldiers came on horseback.

Arriving at the gate of the government office, Yuan Tan dismounted and threw the reins to the guard Liu Xuan outside the government office.

"Go, feed my young master's horse well, and brush it's hair again."

As he spoke, he looked at the ground with some disgust.
"The winter in the south is really annoying. There is rain and mud everywhere, and my clothes are all stained."

The guard held Yuan Tan's horse and was about to get angry, but he thought that this person was the person Liu Xuan wanted to entertain, so he endured it.

Yuan Tan put his hands behind his back and strode into the government office living room under the leadership of the guards.

At this time, Liu Xuan was sitting on the main seat, with a group of civil servants and generals below.
Yuan Tan walked in with his head held high and glanced at the people on both sides. There was no expression on his face.
When he walked up to Liu Xuan, he cupped his hands and said,

"Yuan Tan from Jizhou has met His Highness the King of Huaiyang."

Although he came to pay his respects, his expression was rather arrogant.

Liu Xuan looked up at Yuan Tan and saw that this young man was wearing fine clothes and wearing a jingle around his waist. Although he looked handsome, he could not hide the pride in his expression.

Liu Xuan didn't care about him either.Smiling and extending his hand to signal,

"Master Yuan, there is no need to be formal. Please take a seat."

After Yuan Tan sat down, the servants of the government office brought out all the wine and food as ordered.

Everyone drank and drank, and after three rounds of drinking, Liu Xuan asked Yuan Tan:

"Now that the cold winter is approaching, Mr. Yuan sent you to Yangzhou. Why?"

Yuan Tan put down the wine bottle and said to Liu Xuan: "When the King of Huaiyang and Cao Cao were in a stalemate in Xuchang, he sent Ji Ying to Jizhou to ask for help and begged my father to send troops to attack Yanzhou. Am I right?"

Liu Xuan frowned slightly. Yuan Tan's words were quite condescending, but he still said patiently:
"I did send Ji Ying to Yecheng to see Duke Yuan, but I just suggested that Duke Yuan seize the opportunity and send troops to Yanzhou instead of asking for help."

"They're almost the same," Yuan Tan raised his hand, interrupting Liu Xuan, "Ji Ying also brought five thousand sets of alloy steel armor at that time. He said that if his father defeated Cao Cao's troops in Yanzhou and Qingzhou, he would also send five thousand sets of armor to him. Thousands of sets of alloy steel armor.”

Yuan Tan stared at Liu Xuan with a half-smile but said: "Would the King of Huaiyang deny this? My father asked me to come here to bring five thousand sets of alloy steel armor. I also asked the King of Huaiyang to send someone to take inventory as soon as possible. I have the equipment so that I can go back and recover." (End of Chapter)