I practiced magic in the Three Kingdoms

"What do you mean by that?"

Xun Zhan's words obviously successfully touched Gongsun Zan's heartstrings and touched his heart.

Seeing that Gongsun Zan's tone had softened, Xun Zhan's mouth curled up slightly, and he clearly had Gongsun Zan in his grasp: "General, you heard it clearly, so why do you need me to repeat it?"

Long before his mission to Youzhou, Xun Zhan had already collected intelligence in advance and had figured out Gongsun Zan's background and character, so he was able to guess Gongsun Zan's thoughts in one fell swoop.

Gongsun Zan had no idea that Xun Zhan came prepared. He narrowed his eyes, slightly clenched his ten fingers, and his originally tough attitude also changed slightly.

There is no doubt that the conditions offered by Xun Zhan did make Gongsun Zan somewhat tempted.

Although the White Horse Volunteers were now active in Youzhou and famous beyond the Great Wall, Gongsun Zan himself was still under the control of Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou. In name, he was still Liu Yu's subordinate and needed to obey Liu Yu's orders.

But what annoyed Gongsun Zan the most was that Liu Yu was a civil servant who advocated peace, and especially towards the Wuhuan people, he adopted a conciliatory policy.

At the beginning, Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju led the Wuhuan people to rebel together. In the end, Zhang Chun was killed by Wang Zheng. Zhang Ju fled to the outside of the Great Wall and there was no news of him again. Only the Wuhuan people were left alone. After burning, killing and looting, Liu Yu chose to forgive them.

This move was absolutely unacceptable to Gongsun Zan, the pro-war faction. After all, Liu Yu was from Qingzhou, and it was the local nobles and common people in Youzhou who suffered the most from the Wuhuan. What qualifications do you, an airdropped official, have to represent the local forces of Youzhou and forgive the Wuhuan and other foreign races who harassed the northern border of the empire?
The Wuhuan looted 100,000 Han people at one time. Which of the Liaoxi soldiers under Gongsun Zan did not have a blood feud with the Wuhuan?
Therefore, the contradiction and conflict between Gongsun Zan, the pro-war faction, and Liu Yu, the pro-peace faction, were simply irreconcilable. Gongsun Zan's dissatisfaction with Liu Yu had a long history, and Liu Yu also disliked Gongsun Zan, the biggest destabilizing factor in Youzhou, and had long wanted to get rid of Gongsun Zan.

For this reason, Liu Yu even withheld Gongsun Zan's military expenses, and Gongsun Zan retaliated by allowing his troops to plunder local areas to collect food and grass. The relationship between the two sides can be said to be constantly deteriorating, and a war is bound to break out within a few years.

Seeing that civil war in Youzhou was inevitable, Gongsun Zan began to think about expanding his territory, because only with a larger territory, more population and resources could he train more troops and increase his bargaining chips and chances of winning against Liu Yu.

So when Yuan Shao sent a letter saying that Yecheng could be attacked, Gongsun Zan happily led his army to attack.

But before Gongsun Zan started to attack, Han Fu was so frightened that he gave up his position as governor. As a result, Yuan Shao, who was well prepared, took advantage of the opportunity.

Because of this incident, Gongsun Zan was so angry that his brain blood vessels almost burst.

Now Xun Zhan came again to ask for help in capturing Qingzhou. Although Gongsun Zan was tempted, he also suspected that this was the other party repeating the same old trick and trying to make a fool of him again.

With such suspicion, Gongsun Zan looked at Xun Zhan with doubt in his eyes: "Would Yuan Benchu ​​be so kind? He tricked me into attacking Yecheng in the same way, but in the end he took advantage of me. I mobilized a large army but didn't get any benefit at all."

A truly wise person often has a thicker skin than a city wall.

Therefore, facing Gongsun Zan's questioning and teasing, Xun Zhan remained calm and composed: "It is precisely to thank the general for his kindness that my master decided to return the favor and help the general take over Qingzhou. Isn't the friendship and trust between people based on reciprocity? Do you agree with me, general?"

"Haha, reciprocity? I don't believe it."

Gongsun Zan sneered and silently observed the changes in Xun Zhan's expression. At the same time, he was also guessing Yuan Shao's true motives in his heart.

Unfortunately, Xun Zhan was so smart that his expression remained the same, so Gongsun Zan could not guess what he was thinking. At the same time, he continued to say, "General, why should we be suspicious of each other? Yecheng has just surrendered, and I am in charge of the central government and have to face the threat of the Black Mountain Army. I am unable to use troops against foreign countries. The only thing I can do is to send some weapons and money to help you. After all, if the Yellow Turban bandits like Zhang Rao become powerful, it will not be a good thing for you and me."

In order to gain Gongsun Zan's trust, Xun Zhan even exposed his own shortcomings and confessed the fact that Yuan Shao's army was temporarily unable to expand. After all, it would take some time to completely transform Jizhou into their own territory after occupying it.

Be it the appointment of officials or dealing with the local factions in Jizhou, it is impossible to accomplish it overnight.

Gongsun Zan believed Xun Zhan's words to some extent.

"Is this true?"

"Of course it is true. If you do not believe it, General, we can sign a covenant and make it public to the world to show our Lord's sincerity."

"Hmph, forget about the covenant. I don't think you dare to play any tricks in front of me."

Based on the intelligence information he had collected, Gongsun Zan made a rough assessment of the situation and came to the same conclusion as Xun Zhan, so he agreed to join forces with Yuan Shao to repel Zhang Rao, drive the Yellow Turban Army of Qingzhou out of Hebei, and drive them back to the south of the Yellow River.

As for signing any alliance with Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan directly rejected it.

Because in his opinion, it is just a piece of waste paper. Not only is it useless, but it will also restrict his hands and feet.

Deep down in his heart, Gongsun Zan was planning to launch an attack on Jizhou after he successfully expelled Zhang Rao. He wanted to capture Yecheng while Yuan Shao was still unstable, take over Jizhou, and then go north to compete with Liu Yu, and finally dominate the whole of Hebei.

If this plan succeeds, maybe in the future the Liu family's kingdom of the Han Dynasty will become his Gongsun family's!

Therefore, Gongsun Zan would never sign an alliance and tie his own hands and feet.

Xun Zhan's eyes flickered slightly, as if he had guessed Gongsun Zan's plan, but Xun Zhan chose to remain silent, obviously he had his own plans in mind.

The two forces, each with their own ulterior motives, joined hands in secret.

A few days later, Zhang Rao, who had gathered 300,000 people and run rampant in Qingzhou for several months, finally suffered a heavy blow.

Gao Gan, the defender of Bohai City, held his ground and successfully held back Zhang Rao's main force with more than 10,000 troops.

Gongsun Zan led 20,000 infantry and cavalry to launch a surprise attack from behind, defeating the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou south of Dongguang and beheading more than 30,000 of them.

Wherever the iron hooves went, the enemy soldiers' corpses were scattered all over the ground and the army was completely defeated.

In just one battle, the Baima Yicong demonstrated their powerful offensive and lethality. This elite cavalry, which had been trained through years of bloody battles with the world-famous Youzhou Tuqi of the Wuhuan people, finally showed their edge on the battlefield within the team, killing people in all directions and sweeping across the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army with a domineering attitude.

"Run for your life!"

"General Baima is coming!"

The Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou panicked and fled across the river. Many of them were drowned in the turbulent river. Except for a few of Zhang Rao's confidants who successfully escaped by boat, a large number of Yellow Turban soldiers in Qingzhou threw away their armor and weapons and completely lost their fighting spirit.

Upon seeing this, Gongsun Zan waited patiently until the Yellow Turban Army of Qingzhou was halfway across the river before launching an attack. With only minor losses, he successfully defeated the main force of the Yellow Turban Army of Qingzhou under Zhang Rao, killing tens of thousands of people, capturing more than 70,000 people, and seizing countless chariots, armor and property.

The once powerful Zhang Rao was quickly defeated and driven back to his hometown in disgrace.

Gongsun Zan's reputation and powerful military strength attracted worldwide attention.

Wang Jing, who was still stationed in Yanzhou, naturally received this intelligence: "Twenty thousand troops defeated three hundred thousand and seized all the Qingzhou territory north of the Yellow River. Gongsun Bogui's battle was truly world-famous and stole the limelight."

Gongsun Zan defeated Zhang Rao so easily that shocked all the princes in the world. Although everyone used the Yellow Turban Army to improve their military achievements, it was too outrageous that Gongsun Zan defeated 300,000 in one go.

Except for Wang Jing who had "foreseen" this result, Xun You, Guo Jia and others still had expressions of disbelief on their faces. Guo Jia was even more curious about Gongsun Zan, and asked Wang Jing: "My lord seems to have guessed that Gongsun Bogui can win a great victory. Could it be that his White Horse Volunteers really have such ability?"

Defeating 300,000 Yellow Turban troops is nothing.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, which of the rising heroes and heroes did not fight one against ten or one against a hundred, and used the Yellow Turban Army to achieve great success?

A group of refugees who had not received formal military training, had no organization and discipline, lacked weapons, armor and logistical supplies, and were like a pile of loose sand.

No matter how many people there are, they are just losers in the eyes of the strong.

What's more, the noble families and wealthy families all have magical skills to suppress their luck. The ancestral magical skill of the Gongsun family in Liaoxi, "Nine Battles of the Prairie Land", is a powerful skill derived from the battlefield. It is said to be derived from the fire military force in "Six Forces of Military Struggle", but it has its own unique and mysterious power. It can be used in conjunction with military tactics, and its power is extraordinary.

Gongsun Zan was even more of a genius. He showed his talent at a young age and was both literary and martial. In the end, he was appreciated by the prefect Hou, who did not despise Gongsun Zan's status as a bastard and even married his daughter to him and supported him in his official career.

As it turned out, Gongsun Zan's father-in-law was quite visionary.

Now that Gongsun Zan was able to win so quickly, he was seen as an extremely formidable and powerful enemy by the princes of the world.

A horizontal comparison will show that in history, it took Cao Cao nearly two years to pacify Yanzhou. At the beginning, he was even suppressed several times when facing the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou and was at a tactical disadvantage.

Because Cao Cao had just started his army not long ago, and he had not yet trained a main force that was good at fighting.

In the cold weapon era, the training of elite troops required at least two to three years of training and polishing, otherwise it would be difficult to form combat effectiveness. No matter how much brainwashing they received, they would still be nothing more than a rookie troop that could not fight any tough battles.

In the Three Kingdoms world where all kinds of magical skills exist, the training of elite troops is extremely costly. It involves not only the skills, but also various elixirs, as well as the personal qualifications and talents of the soldiers.

If you want to dominate the world, military power always comes first.

Looking at the legendary generals, heroes in troubled times, and even founding monarchs in history, if we peel off the surface of those subjective legendary stories, we will find that they all have one common feature, that is, they personally presided over military training.

The reason why Gongsun Zan is so powerful today is because he has in his hands an army that he personally trained and had experienced hundreds of battles and was always victorious - the White Horse Volunteers!
"The White Horse Volunteers are extraordinary. It is said that Gongsun Bogui gathered his best archers and trained them after seven years. Although there are only 3,000 of them, their strength is extraordinary."

Wang Jing recalled the information about Gongsun Zan and the news he had heard from Xu Rong in his mind. After all, Xu Rong was from Youzhou and knew something about the two major Gongsun families in Liaodong and Liaoxi.

Since he was young, Gongsun Zan had been fighting against the Hu people on the Youzhou border of the Yanhan Dynasty for many years, especially the Wuhuan people, who were also good at cavalry combat and hunting shooting.

You should know that the Wuhuan people started out as mercenaries for the Yanhan Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, they were famous throughout the world for their Youzhou cavalry. They were first-class strong soldiers who were born to participate in wars.

In order to fight against the powerful cavalry of the Wuhuan people, Gongsun Zan also used the resources of the Gongsun clan in Liaoxi to train a powerful cavalry unit.

After being tempered by iron and blood, the White Horse Volunteers had become very powerful and often won victories in foreign wars. They were well-known throughout the northern border and made the Hu people shudder at the mention of them.

After listening to Wang Jing's description of the White Horse Volunteers, Guo Jia was also filled with amazement and admiration for this army, but then shook his head and sighed: "What a pity, a hero on this side is brave but not wise. I dare to predict that Gongsun Bogui will be defeated by Yuan Benchu ​​in the end."

Xun You also came to the same conclusion as Guo Jia: "Yes, it is a pity to have powerful troops but no strategy."

Wang Jing smiled and looked at Guo Jia: "Fengxiao, if you were Gongsun Bogui, how would you act?"

Guo Jia answered without hesitation: "If I were Gongsun Bogui, why would I attack Qingzhou now? I should return to Youzhou, destroy Liu Yu first, then use all the financial and human resources of Youzhou, and then contact Yu Du of Heishan and Zhang Rao of Qingzhou to encircle Jizhou together. As long as Yuan Benchu ​​is destroyed, the land of Hebei will be easily within our reach."

Wang Jing nodded in agreement and said, "You are right. Gongsun Bogui was so stupid that he even chose the wrong opponent. He is really stupid."

In the current situation in Hebei, Liu Yu is pedantic and the Yellow Turbans have a bad reputation. Only Yuan Shao has both reputation and support from aristocratic families. He has both fame and power in his hands. Once he is allowed to take root in Jizhou, he will immediately transform into his complete form and become a powerful enemy that even Wang Jing will find difficult to defeat.

Gongsun Zan ignored such a serious threat and attacked Zhang Rao for a few pieces of territory. It can only be said that he has low IQ.

In Wang Jing's opinion, Gongsun Zan's only chance to unify Hebei is to take advantage of the fact that Yuan Shao has just captured Yecheng and has not yet completely won over the noble families and wealthy families in Jizhou. Only by doing so can he defeat Yuan Shao with his powerful military strength and eliminate this strategic enemy in one fell swoop.

But Gongsun Zan's choice was to be greedy for petty profits and take Qingzhou.

Now Gongsun Zan defeated Zhang Rao easily. It seemed like a glorious victory, but in fact he had completely lost the opportunity to use the Yellow Turban Army to contain Yuan Shao.

Xun You looked at the map for a long time, and then made deductions based on the intelligence he had collected. Soon his expression became serious: "My lord, Yuan Shao must have top strategists around him to plan his layout. Now that Gongsun Zan is attacking Qingzhou, Yuan Shao's main force can go all out to destroy Yu Du of Heishan. Once the Heishan army led by Yu Du is annihilated, Yuan Shao's army will no longer have any worries in Jizhou, and can calmly deploy troops to fight Gongsun Zan to the death."

Guo Jia also agreed with Xun You's opinion: "Gongsun Bogui is arrogant and will not tolerate any provocation. Yuan Benchu ​​only needs to make a little plan to lead the White Horse Volunteers to the battlefield where the cavalry is most disadvantageous."

The two top strategists, with each of their words, almost foresaw the outcome of a war between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao.

"It seems that Gongsun Bogui is doomed to fail."

Wang Jing laughed when he heard this: "Isn't this the most favorable situation for us? Yuan Shao wants to unify Hebei, how can I let him do that?"

Although Wang Jing and Gongsun Zan had no grudges against each other, the fight for supremacy over the world could turn even father and son and brothers into enemies, not to mention the fact that they had no friendship at all.

Therefore, Wang Jing felt no moral pressure to sacrifice Gongsun Zan.

In Wang Jing's view, Gongsun Zan's defeat was a good thing. It could not only contain and weaken Yuan Shao's power, but also create strategic opportunities for the Northern Army.

If possible, Wang Jing really wanted to call Gongsun Zan "good brother" in person.

Even brothers may not be able to do this kind of good deed of sacrificing themselves for the benefit of others.

Xun You and Guo Jia smiled at each other and agreed, "My Lord, you are right. If things really develop in this way, it is indeed the result we expect."

"With the strength of the White Horse Volunteers, it is not difficult for Yuan Benchu ​​to defeat Gongsun Bogui, but it is impossible to annihilate Gongsun Bogui's main force."

Guo Jia had also read a lot of military books and strategies, and knew that it was very common for infantry to take advantage of favorable terrain and defeat cavalry.

What's more, Qu Yi, a general under Han Fu, was a famous master of infantry combat tactics in Jizhou. He was born in a general family in Xiliang and had a very powerful halberd soldier called "Xiandeng" under his command. They were particularly good at the Qiang people's tactics, using spears and halberds as weapons, and were best at restraining cavalry.

The news that Qu Yi betrayed Han Fu and defected to Yuan Shao had also been transmitted back through the secret guards' intelligence network. Therefore, Guo Jia easily guessed Yuan Shao's subsequent strategic and tactical layout and foresaw the outcome of this battle in advance.

Xun You is even better than Guo Jia in terms of military tactics and strategies: "Gongsun Zan has a large number of cavalry under his command. Even if he fails temporarily, he can still retain his strength. But now he can no longer afford to fail. Once he fails, there will be no possibility of seizing Jizhou."

Guo Jia also agreed with this: "Yes, people's hearts are on the line. In Jizhou today, there are still many local nobles who are afraid of Gongsun Bogui's military power and are grateful for his contribution to protecting the northern border. They are willing to accept him into Yecheng. But the premise is that he must win on the battlefield. Once he loses, he will lose the people's hearts and the situation will be over." (End of this chapter)