Great Han Empire

Chapter 768: A Storm of Troubled Heroes

Although a nightmare couldn't explain anything, it was enough to make Yuan Shu feel more and more uneasy. He even smelled the bloody smell of failure and saw the shadow of death approaching him step by step.

I first failed to hold the emperor hostage, and then I was unable to attack Dingtao for a long time. The three armies Zhang Xun, Qiao Rui, and Sun Ce have not yet arrived in Yanzhou because of various wishes. It seems that Yanzhou's strategy will continue to be postponed, and the development of the situation is far from what I expected.

Fortunately, the situation in Hebei is developing in a direction favorable to him.Thinking of this, Yuan Shao felt very bitter. Regardless of whether General Li Hong believed in him or not, at least so far, General Li Hong kept his promise. If the capture of the Central Plains fails this time, he can only blame himself for his incompetence.Am I really inferior to Yuan Shao?Am I even inferior to the offspring of that eunuch?
There are more than 3 troops in Xuzhou, Liu Bei took 2 away, and he used [-] troops to attack from three directions at the same time, but he was blocked continuously. Why?Is it because the attack time is too short?There is not much time left for myself. It has been more than ten days since the attack was launched. Cao Cao and Liu Bei should have gotten the news and started to retreat.If Cao Cao and Liu Bei safely withdraw across the Yellow River before the end of this month, and he fails to capture Xuzhou and Yanzhou for a long time, then his own failure will be inevitable.

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While Yuan Shu was thinking wildly, Li Ye, Yan Xiang, and Ji Ling walked into the big tent one after another.

"Is there any news?" Yuan Shu casually wiped the sweat off his face, motioning for the three to sit down and talk.

"The grain and grass in Xuzhou are still being transported to Dongwuyang." Li Ye said in a low mood, weakly, "It has been more than half a month, and Sun Ce has not captured Guangling. It is unimaginable. Liu Bei stationed heavily in Pengcheng and It is understandable why Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui were unable to attack Xiapi for a long time, but why was Sun Ce also unable to attack for a long time? Did Liu Bei have heavy troops stationed in Guangling? According to our investigation, Chen Deng had only 3000 men, and Sun Ce also said that Chen Deng had only 3000 people can go down in one go, but why hasn't he won Guangling yet?"

Yuan Shu forced a smile, "This kid may be in some trouble."

Li Ye sneered, "I told you a long time ago, don't entrust him with such an important matter, but you didn't listen. Sun Ce has won many victories in recent years, but these victories are not due to him alone. If Without people like Sun Ben, Zhu Zhi, and Cheng Pu, would he have won the battle? Because you feel guilty about Sun Jian's death, you have been looking at Sun Ce differently. We understand this, but you can't..."

"Okay, okay..." Yuan Shu waved his hands repeatedly at Li Ye, "I believe that Bo Fu (Sun Ce), he will take Guangling soon. As long as Guangling is taken, he can quickly go north to meet Qiaorui Go down to Xiapi, join Zhang Xun to take down Pengcheng, and then rush to Yanzhou to join us to take down Dingtao. Whether he can go north is directly related to whether we can occupy the Central Plains. Bofu is not a child, he knows the seriousness of the matter."

Li Ye wanted to say more, but Yan Xiang who was sitting on the side stopped him, "The matter has come to this point, it's useless to talk more, let's think of a remedy."

"How to fix it? We tried to attack Dongping and Jibei, and cut off the grain road from Xuzhou to Hebei, but Xia Houyuan didn't know when 1 horses appeared in his hands, and beat us into a mess." Li Ye said angrily, "Cao Cao and Liu Bei have already taken precautions against us. If we continue to delay like this, we won't last long."

Then he looked at Yuan Shu and Yan Xiang, and asked very solemnly: "You don't expect Li Hong to wipe out Cao Cao and Liu Bei in Hebei, and give us the Central Plains, do you?"

Ji Ling smiled wryly.Yan Xiang sighed softly.

Yuan Shu's eyes lit up, and he said without hesitation: "This is entirely possible. Once the northern army goes crazy, Cao Cao will only die."

Li Ye scoffed.

Yuan Shu didn't take it seriously, and waved his hand and said, "It's better to ask for others than to ask for yourself. If we win Dingtao, we'll win half the battle."

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In September, Wei County, twenty miles southeast of Qingyuan City.

When Cao Cao heard that Ma Teng was back, he could hardly believe his ears.After he was stunned for a moment, he rushed out of the camp like flying.

Ma Teng was in a panic, and the smell of blood and sweat on his body made people sick.Cao Cao didn't dislike him, hugged him and yelled, very excited.So far, only Ma Teng has fled back with more than 100 cavalry in the East Road Army, and the whereabouts of the others are unknown.Cao Cao asked carefully, and was surprised to find that Ma Teng didn't know much about the situation on the Dongguang battlefield.Ma Teng told Cao Cao that Tian Kai and himself broke up after fleeing to Pingyuan City.He returned to Ganling to join the army, but Tian Kai felt ashamed to see Cao Cao again, and returned directly to Qingzhou with a hundred people.

Cao Cao could not hide his disappointment.He originally thought that Ma Teng would bring back the final outcome of the Dongguang battlefield, but he still liked it in vain.He estimated that Xiahoudun and Wenpin had already been defeated, and the only ones who could escape back to Qingzhou were probably Zang Ba's army.

The unexpectedly rapid defeat of the East Army completely disrupted Cao Cao's deployment.Now the troops of the Northern Xinjiang Army on the Dongguang battlefield are rushing rapidly, and the Northern Expeditionary Army can no longer escape the fate of being besieged.Cao Cao regretted this unceasingly, heartbroken.However, what made him feel regretful was not that he divided his troops to attack so that the entire army of the East Road was wiped out, but that he regretted that he had not retreated two days earlier.If he withdrew south immediately after receiving the news of Yuan Shu's betrayal, the northern army would not be able to surround him no matter what.One wrong step, one wrong step.

According to Ma Teng's narration, the Northern Frontier Army used at least 9 to [-] troops for encirclement and suppression in the Xiaoliangting Battle, so there is no doubt that in order to defeat the Northern Expedition Army, Li Hong must start from the West Road. The troops were drawn on the battlefield, that is to say, the Northern Frontier Army in the direction of Wei County is currently weak. Cao Cao's strategy of urging the army to retreat westward, then join Yuan Shao, and withdraw to the Central Plains from the direction of Liyang and Puyang is correct.

At this time, the scouts discovered the Northern Xinjiang cavalry in the direction of Ganling City. This news further confirmed the intention of the Northern Xinjiang Army to encircle the Northern Expeditionary Army in the area of ​​​​Ganling City.

After discussing with Liu Biao and Liu Bei, Cao Cao urgently wrote to Yuan Shao, asking him to immediately withdraw his troops from Yecheng and southeast to the area of ​​Weicheng, so as to join up with the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army and retreat back to the Central Plains together.

Cao Cao was worried that the northern Xinjiang cavalry would detour to Guantao and cut off his retreat, so he ordered the army to march overnight, trying to reach Weicheng as soon as possible.

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On September, Wei County, ten miles southeast of Yecheng, Pingyang City.

Yuan Shao gently flapped the cattail fan in his hand, with a leisurely expression.

Tian Feng, Guo Tu, Feng Ji, Xin Ping and others debated fiercely around the case for several weeks.

"The current situation in Hebei is unprofitable for us. We should withdraw as soon as possible, so as not to have long nights and dreams and suffer unnecessary losses." Feng Ji seemed very excited, and kept pointing his hands on the map.

The main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army is currently besieging and annihilating Tian Kai on the Dongguang battlefield.Tian Kai has 5000 people. If the Northern Army wants to eat them, it will need at least double its strength, and it will take some time.Even if the Northern Frontier Army successfully divided Tian Kai's army by using the terrain and shortened the time for annihilating the enemy, it is still very difficult to turn around and surround Cao Cao after finishing Tian Kai.However, our goal has been achieved, and now whether it is Li Hong in Hebei, Cao Cao, Liu Bei in the three alliances, or even Liu Biao in Jingzhou, their strength has been severely damaged.

Yuan Shu has achieved nothing in Yanzhou now, neither holding the emperor hostage nor occupying the entire territory of Yanzhou.In this case, Cao Cao will of course withdraw to the Central Plains at all costs.After Cao Cao returned to the Central Plains, he would immediately compete with Yuan Shu.We just have to wait patiently for a while, and when they are both defeated, we can start attacking the Central Plains.

Feng Ji's opinion was supported by Xin Ping et al.

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Tian Feng raised objections.

Since the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army is in the Dongguang battlefield, why didn't Cao Cao go directly south to Ganling and withdraw to the Central Plains from the direction of Dongwuyang?Why did he want to go far away, join us, and retreat from Liyang and Puyang in Wei County?

There are only two possibilities for Cao Cao to do this.One is that Tian Kai on the Dongguang battlefield has been defeated, [-] adults have been wiped out, and the iron cavalry of the Northern Army has rushed to Ganling City ahead of Cao Cao, blocking Cao Cao's retreat. He has no choice but to We can only turn to us and withdraw to the Central Plains together after joining us.The second is that Cao Cao has seen through our intentions. In order to ensure that he can continue to occupy the Central Plains after defeating Yuan, he wants to use this method to lead the Northern Army to the Weijun battlefield. He hopes that the Northern Army will surround us and eat us. .

In addition, there is another question we must consider. If we withdraw now and leave Cao Cao in Jizhou, will Li Hong do what we want and continue to encircle Cao Cao at all costs?Li Hong is not an idiot, he will not kill Cao Cao for us, and hand over the Central Plains.I can say with certainty that as soon as we withdraw, the Northern Frontier Army will release Cao Cao back to the Central Plains. In this way, we will surely end our enmity with Cao Cao, and the Central Plains will be full of wars. In the end, everything will be healed. Take the Central Plains easily.

Therefore, not only can we not retreat now, but we have to make full preparations for Cao Cao's retreat, so that we can use our tactics, drag Cao Cao in Hebei, and let the Northern Xinjiang Army eat them, so that we can take advantage of Yuan Shu's failure to occupy Yanzhou so far and quickly defeat Yuan Shu took Yanzhou, and then occupied the entire Central Plains.

If the Northern Xinjiang Army wiped out Tian Kai, then there are only more than 5 Cao Cao left.The strength of the Northern Xinjiang Army has been damaged after the complete annihilation of Tian Kai. If Cao Cao is encircled and wiped out again, its strength loss will be even greater. This will give us enough time to stabilize the Central Plains.

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Although Tian Feng's opinion was supported by Guo Tu, there were three crucial issues that were very difficult. If these three issues were not handled properly, Yuan Shao might suffer heavy losses or even be in danger of annihilation of the entire army.

The first question is whether Tian Kai has been defeated.If Tian Kai has been defeated, the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army has already encircled from the two wings. At this time, Cao Cao can only turn to Yuan Shao in order to escape the fate of being wiped out. surrounded by.

The second is whether the Northern Xinjiang Army is determined to annihilate Cao Cao.If the northern army surrounded Cao Cao, saw Yuan Shao run away, and deliberately withdrew from the encirclement to release Cao Cao, then the matter would fall short, and there would be endless troubles in the future.

The third is that in order to force the northern army to make up their minds to destroy Cao Cao, Yuan Shao himself has to sacrifice part of his troops, but is Yuan Shao willing to sacrifice this part of his troops?How to ensure that Yuan Shao can quickly defeat Yuan Shu after sacrificing this part of his troops?
Because Tian Feng's suggestion contained too many uncertain factors, Yuan Shao weighed for a long time and could not make a decision, but Tian Feng's words were right, if he ran away, Li Hong would most likely put Cao Cao back.Li Hong's letting Cao Cao back and Cao Cao breaking out with his own help are completely different things, and will produce two completely different results on the Central Plains battlefield.

Just when Yuan Shao was at a loss, a shocking news suddenly came from Yanzhou.Yuan Shu captured Dingtao and captured the emperor.

The fall of Dingtao was not caused by Yuan Shu's army, but by the rebellion of the defenders in the city.In the Yanzhou army, there was a captain who was a disciple of Bian Rang, the great Confucian of Chenliu. In order to avenge his teacher, he suddenly defected, opened the gate of the city, and let the Yangzhou army in.Yuan Shu took control of the Son of Heaven and occupied most of Yanzhou, and the situation changed drastically.

Yuan Shao had no way out, so he had to go to Weicheng to join Cao Cao.At this time, no matter what purpose Cao Cao had for withdrawing from Wei County westward, he had to make a gesture of supporting Cao Cao in order to maintain the alliance between the two.

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In September, Julu County, Guangzong City.

After Sima Yanzhi received the urgent report from the various armies, he immediately explained to Qu Yi the current positions of the various armies.

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Master Zhang Yan urgently reported that Yuan Shao was retreating, and he would lead the [-]th Battalion of [-] Northern Army soldiers in pursuit.

The army of the two adults Wang Dang and Xu Huang has reached the north bank of the Qing River, forty miles away from Guantao.Since Cao Cao's vanguard army had already arrived at Qingyuan City, the two adults decided to block the rebels at Daliuxu, [-] miles in front of Guantao City.

After receiving the general's order, Master Zhao Yun has already led his troops to Guantao and Weicheng, preparing to join Jiang Wu, Wei Jun and Liu Ming to gather [-] cavalry to stop the rebels.

In the next three days, Master Zhang Yan's [-] Northern Army, Wang Dang and Xu Huang's [-] infantry troops, and Zhao Yun's [-] cavalry will have a total of [-] troops on the front lines of Guantao and Weicheng in the next three days.The [-] troops will take on the important task of preventing the rebels from breaking through and outflanking Yuan Shao.

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Master Wen Chou's [-] troops have chased to Linqing Pavilion and fought fiercely with the rebels. Later, they will detour to the northwest of Qingyuan and Guantao to encircle Cao Cao.

The two leaders of Karasuma, Lou Lu and Lu Huanyang, have been ordered to rush to Fagan and Yuancheng to cut off Cao Cao's southward retreat.

Masters Zhang Zhen and Qin Yi have led their troops to Ganling City, and they will be ordered to penetrate to the southeast of Qingyuan and Guantao to outflank Cao Cao.

The two adults Yan Liang and Gao Lan will arrive at Beiqiu and Linqing Pavilion tomorrow and encircle Cao Cao from the east.Lord Gao Shun's army will join Yan Liang in three days.

In the next three days, [-] troops from Qingyuan and Guantao will surround Cao Cao.

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After receiving the order, Lord Lu Bu will lead [-] cavalry to gallop five hundred miles to surround Yuan Shao on the Yin'an, Fanyang, and Neihuang lines in the south of Weijun.

Masters Zhang He and Zhang Liao are leading their troops across the boundary bridge. Two days later, they will reach the line between Guantao and Weicheng and encircle Yuan Shao from the north.

In mid-September, when Lord Yan Rou's 12 Southern Army arrives in Wei County, we will gather [-] troops to encircle and wipe out Yuan Shao.

After defeating Yuan Shao, we turned around and surrounded and wiped out Cao Cao.

According to our prediction, by the end of September, we will end the war in Jizhou.

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Qu Yi and Tian Chou looked carefully at the positions of the various armies on the map, with extremely solemn expressions.

"We were worried that we would expose Yuan Shao's intention to encircle and annihilate Yuan Shao too early, and let him run away after he noticed it, so we didn't arrange troops to outflank the Guantao and Weicheng lines to the west." Yan Zhi continued, "Arrange the iron cavalry of Master Lu Bu in The Neihuang and Fanyang lines are just in case. If Yuan Shao wants to run away, we will let Lord Lu Bu rush to the Heishan area first to stop Yuan Shao from retreating to Hanoi County."

"When will Yan Rou's army reach Yecheng?" Qu Yi's hand kept tapping on the black mountain on the map, full of worry.

Yan Zhi shook his head, "It's nearly [-] miles from Jinyang to Yecheng. According to the number of miles per day, it will take eight days at the fastest, but since the army will cross the Taihang Mountains, it will take at least ten to eleven days, so... ..."

Qu Yi shook his head, "It's been too long, Yuan Shao will definitely run away. If it doesn't work, 10 people will fight 6 people."

Tian Chou smiled wryly, "The terrain around Guantao and Weicheng is not good. There is a big river Gudu on the right and Qinghe River on the left. The widest part between the two is less than [-] miles, and there are more than a dozen small rivers in the middle, which is very unfavorable for cavalry combat. If Yuan Shao's army is huddled together, it will be difficult for us to hit them hard, so we must ensure the absolute superiority in the number of troops, first use the infantry army to tear through his defense line, and then use the iron cavalry to charge and kill them."

"If we can securely surround Yuan Shao, why don't we attack Cao Cao first?" Yan Zhi asked.

Tian Chou smiled, "If we can't wipe out Yuan Shao, we can't wipe out Cao Cao, so we must fight Yuan Shao first."

Yan Zhi looked at Tian Chou and Qu Yi suspiciously, wanting to ask but dare not.Qu Yi patted his head lightly, "Think about it, and you'll know why."

At this time, a quick horse sent an urgent letter from the general.

Qu Yi's face immediately changed after reading it, "Yuan Shu took down Dingtao."

Tian Chou was startled, and hurriedly took the letter from Qu Yi, "Is it true?"

"The news sent by the disciples of Dazhitang cannot be false." Qu Yi cursed angrily, "This battle is getting harder and harder to fight."

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(End of this chapter)