Great Han Empire

Chapter 828 The Heroes of Troubled Times Compete in the Central Plains
Whether the Northern Xinjiang Army can win the Central Plains War does not depend on how many counties and counties it captured and how many cities it occupied, but whether it can defeat its opponent in the end. If it fails to deal a devastating blow to the opponent, it will eventually fail , unable to gain a firm foothold in the Central Plains.

At present, the results achieved by the Northern Xinjiang Army are of no fundamental help to the entire Central Plains War.The Great War in the Central Plains is just the beginning, and the difficulties we have encountered are only temporary. As long as we maintain our superiority in military strength, the Northern Frontier Army will be defeated sooner or later.

Judging from the overall battle situation, we are now at a disadvantage.The states and counties have not yet formed an alliance, the armies of the states and counties have not yet assembled, and the advantages in military strength and wealth have not yet been revealed.If we want to quickly turn our disadvantages into advantages, we must curb the offensive of the Northern Xinjiang Army as soon as possible, and block the Northern Xinjiang Army on the front line of Dingtao and Changyi, so as to buy time for turning the tide of the battle.

At present, we must not only preserve our troops, avoid the decisive battle with the Northern Xinjiang Army, but also prevent the Northern Xinjiang Army from attacking and drag the Northern Xinjiang Army to the Central Plains battlefield. Therefore, we have only one countermeasure at this moment, and that is to temporarily abandon most of Yanzhou. Abandon Changyi, and instead assemble heavy troops on the front lines of Baima, Dingtao, and Chengwu. Focus on holding on to the city and reset the blocking defense line.

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Guo Jia was about to describe the deployment of troops in detail, but Cao Cao interrupted him by raising his hand, "Wait..." He beckoned to the guards standing on both sides of the curtain, "Come here, hold up the map."

The two guards hurried to the case table, picked up the map, and stood facing the generals.Cao Cao and Liu Bei stood behind Guo Jia, Xiahou Dun and others also stood up and surrounded the map.

Guo Jia was also not humble, walked to the map, and continued: "The northern border army now has obvious advantages, with strong cavalry, a brave army of infantry, and sufficient food and supplies. On the contrary, our disadvantages are very serious. Yuan Shao's main force was dragged on the battlefield in Henan, while Kansai and Hanoi were under attack, and Luoyang was in danger. Except for the army staying in Yanzhou, the rest of our army was more than 400 miles away from the battlefield. Liu Biao's army in Jingzhou was even more distant from the battlefield. Far."

"After 7 of us rushed to the battlefield, we were exhausted. If we rushed to fight the Northern Army just to block the Northern Army on the front line of Dingtao and Changyi, it would be tantamount to using our own disadvantages to attack the advantages of the Northern Army, and defeat was inevitable. "

"What is our advantage at present? It is time. We have enough time at our disposal. Secondly, we still have cities, and a sufficient number of cities. We only need to stick to the city, tenaciously block the northern army, and delay the attack speed of the northern army. , Delay the time for the Northern Xinjiang Army to stabilize the front line, then our disadvantages on the battlefield will be reversed immediately, and we will be able to quickly control the initiative on the battlefield."

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"As I said just now, after the northern border army advances to the front line of Dingtao and Changyi, under the circumstance that the number of infantry troops is insufficient, they must gather two groups of infantry from the attacking army to attack one of the cities." Guo Jia pointed to the map. Changyi City above, "Obviously, this city must be Changyi."

The three cities of Puyang, Dingtao and Changyi formed a conical formation in the west of Yanzhou.Dingtao has a cone tip, while Puyang and Changyi have cone feet.If all three cities are captured, the Northern Xinjiang Army will be able to use this conical formation to form a decisive battle with us.

Now that Puyang has fallen, the right grain road of the Northern Xinjiang Army has been guaranteed, and the right wing of the army has been protected.Their top priority now is to quickly take Changyi, so as to ensure the smooth flow of grain roads on the left side of the northern border army and the protection of the left wing of the army.

The Northern Army first attacked Changyi, and the troops in the direction of Dingtao must be empty. In order to ensure that the army can surround Dingtao while taking Changyi, the two cavalry on the left and right of the Northern Army will surely go south to kill Cheng at the fastest speed. Wu and Liangqiu are on the front line, preventing our army from returning to help.

If we want to break the attack strategy of the Northern Xinjiang Army, we can only abandon Changyi, quickly march northward with a large army, and occupy the city to block the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry.The rest of the army quickly detoured Liang Guo, and went straight to Dingtao from the west side of Chengwu City.

Defending Dingtao is tantamount to delaying the attack speed of the Northern Army, delaying the conical formation of the Northern Army, and delaying the time for the Northern Army to fight us.

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"However, when Puyang and Changyi are lost and the left and right flanks of the army are completely exposed, it is very unrealistic for us to rely on our own strength to defend Dingtao." Draw down, "Even if Liu Biao's Jingzhou army arrives, it will be very difficult for us to defend this line, because the Northern Xinjiang army will not give us so much time. If it wants to fight us decisively, it must quickly capture Dingtao , Chengwu, in order to use the solid conical formation to form a strong and continuous attack force."

Therefore, we should take advantage of the time when we are sticking to Dingtao to quickly unite with Yuan Shao to form a second arc-shaped defense line on the front lines of Baima, Yanxian, Fengqiu, Chenliu, and Xiangyi to block the second round of attacks by the northern army.

Whether this line of defense can be held is directly related to whether we can block the attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army, whether we can win enough time for the allied forces to resist Hebei, and whether we can completely reverse the current battlefield situation that is extremely unfavorable to us.

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"However, the northern border army has already considered the huge obstacle this line of defense will pose for them to capture the Central Plains, so they sent troops south to cross the Yellow River to attack Henan as early as mid-March." Guo Jia shook his head and said helplessly, "We have arrived Today, we can see the great effect of the northern border army's attack on Henan on the Central Plains battlefield."

The Northern Frontier Army attacked Henan. First, it deceived us and diverted our attention from the Central Plains to Henan, making us completely ignore the possibility of them attacking the Central Plains. Second, it restrained our troops. Yuan Shao's main force was dragged by them. When we arrived at the battlefield in Henan, we couldn't wait to start the Jianghuai war.As Yuan Shao's main force returned to aid Henan, the Northern Xinjiang Army then completed their third goal of attacking Henan, which was to capture Puyang and cover the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army to attack Dingtao and Changyi.Now we see the fourth goal of their attack on Henan, which is to prevent us from establishing a second line of defense in the shortest possible time to prevent the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army from capturing the Central Plains.

General Yan Liang of the Northern Xinjiang Army led an army of [-] to attack Henan, and within a short period of time relied on the powerful terrain of Chenggao, Xingyang, and Aocang to complete the conical formation.Although Yuan Shao's return to aid was very fast, the main force of the northern Xinjiang army quickly went south to the Central Plains, forcing Yuan Shao, like us, not to want to wear down his troops prematurely.There are many reasons for Yuan Shao's reluctance to lose his troops, but at present, it seems that his choice is completely correct.If he and Yan Liang fight to the death, not only will the alliance fail to succeed in fighting Hebei, but even if the alliance succeeds, we will lose our absolute advantage in military strength.

"My lords, please take a look at the deployment of troops on both sides." Guo Tu pointed to the map and said, "Yuan Shao and Yan Liang are facing each other in Henan. Cao Ren, Xia Houyuan and the main force of the northern border army are facing each other in Dingtao and Changyi. Our army is still returning to Yanzhou on the way."

At this time, Yuan Shao's army could not eat Yan Liang. His main force was in the Henan battlefield, and we wanted to build a second line of defense in the near future. Yuan Shao had to withdraw his troops from the Henan battlefield and return to Yanzhou, but he could not withdraw.Yuan Shao was unable to retreat, and was unable to defeat Yan Liang of the Northern Army on his own, and it was difficult for us to stop the Northern Army from continuing to attack on the front lines of Dingtao and Chengwu, so the result of the Central Plains War is self-evident.

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Guo Jia looked at Cao Cao, Liu Bei and the generals in the tent, and said with a serious expression: "From the Jizhou War the year before last to the beginning of the Central Plains War this year, Li Hong's use of troops has reached an unimaginable level. This layout can be described as There is no strategy left, if we want to defeat him, in addition to sticking to Dingtao and quickly building a second line of defense, we must defeat Yan Liang as soon as possible and build a third line of defense."

"Build a third line of defense?" Cao Cao asked in surprise, "If Liu Biao's Jingzhou army can quickly rush to the Chenliu and Xiangyi lines, the second line of defense should be able to stop the Northern Xinjiang army."

"Without the help of Yuan Shao's army, the troops of Baima, Fengqiu, and Chenliu in the north of the second line of defense are very weak, and they can't stop the Northern Army at all. This is also one of the purposes of the Northern Army to open up the Henan battlefield." Guo Jiarong He said suspiciously, "The Jingzhou army has traveled thousands of miles and needs time to rest and cannot immediately enter the battlefield. However, our army of about 20 people is all concentrated in the Central Plains, and the supply of food, grass and supplies will definitely not be available in the short term."

"Continuing to retreat is inevitable and necessary."

Cao Cao waved his hand angrily and cursed harshly.At this moment, he wished he could eat Li Hong alive.

"After Liu Biao's Jingzhou army arrived at Yingchuan, they could enter Henan nearby and attack Yan Liang from the direction of Zhongmou and Guancheng. Yan Liang was attacked back and forth, and was in danger of being wiped out at any time. He had no choice but to retreat." Guo Jia pointed to Xingyang, "After Yan Liang withdrew from Henan, we immediately established a third line of defense along the lines of Chengxingyang, Guancheng, Zhongmou, and Kaifeng."

Guo Jia frowned and thought for a moment, before hitting Zhongmou City on the map with his fist, "The decisive battle will most likely be in the Zhongmou area."

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Since he had to hurry the next morning, Cao Cao acted decisively and accepted Guo Jia's suggestion.

He exchanged opinions with Liu Bei, and then decided that Liu Bei would lead the army to Chengwu to restrain the cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army.Liu Bei once followed Liu Yu to the north to crusade against the rebels of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju, and fought many times with Karasuma cavalry.A few years ago, he and Gongsun Zan fought against the iron cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and he has rich combat experience in dealing with iron cavalry.

Cao Cao himself led the army to detour through Liang Guo, and directly killed Dingtao from the west side of Chengwu.Cao Cao personally wrote a letter to Xun Yu and Li Tong, asking them to give up Changyi at an appropriate time.

The generals immediately took orders to leave the account.Cao Cao and Liu Bei retained Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, and Sun Qian, and the four discussed together the memorial to the court, explaining and explaining in detail the analysis and countermeasures of the Central Plains War.

In addition, Cao Cao personally wrote a letter to Yuan Shao, explaining why he and Liu Bei could not rush to Xuchang to meet in person.

"Zhongde, you and Gongyou (Sun Qian) will be on the road tomorrow morning, and we will travel day and night to Xuchang." Cao Cao handed the letter to Cheng Yu and Sun Qian, and solemnly said, "This battle is related to the survival of the great Han society, we must work together Only by working together can Li Hong be defeated, so no matter how Master Yuan Shao and Liu Biao arrange, you must support Master Liu and me on behalf of me, without any obstacles."

Cheng Yu and Sun Qian bowed to accept the order.Liu Bei sat on the side and hesitated to speak.

"Xuande, what do you want to say?" Cao Cao asked strangely, "Is there anything else you and my brother can't say?"

Liu Bei smiled wryly, and said in a low voice: "Yuan Shaozuo asked the emperor to pardon Yuan Shu's subordinates, but not Yuan Shu. His intention is self-evident. He wanted to take this opportunity to win over Yuan Shu and his subordinates, and take Jiujiang County as his own. We fought for a long time, and finally drove Yuan Shu to a dead end, but in the end we had to give up Jianghuai because the northern army attacked the Central Plains. It is too much for Yuan Shao to take advantage of the fire so blatantly. If Yuan Shu is not dead, we will have no peace in the south of Xuzhou. The Central Plains War is more likely to cause unexpected changes. Could it be that Brother Meng De turned a blind eye to this matter?"

Cao Cao pondered for a long time, then turned his eyes to Cheng Yu and Guo Jia.

He really didn't want to offend Yuan Shao on this matter.The Northern Xinjiang Army is fighting Yanzhou, and he will soon be homeless.Under the current circumstances, if he wanted to take back Yanzhou, he had to rely on Yuan Shao's help.Having given such a beating to the Northern Border Army, I was extremely discouraged and extremely depressed, and even thought of bowing my head and obeying Yuan Shao.Thinking back on the ups and downs of the past ten years, the countless hardships of life and death, but in the end it was nothing, it is really depressing.I have repeatedly struggled in the face of adversity, and the passion of the year has long since cooled down, and what I get back is only endless sadness and disappointment.The distance between reality and dream is too far away, and my ambition has long been sunk, leaving only a trace of survival instinct.

Cheng Yu understood, and said to Liu Bei very cautiously: "Yuan Shao has Yuan Shao's strategy, and we have our own strategy. Hand over Jianghuai to Yuan Shao, not to mention the adults are not willing, even the tens of thousands of Yanzhou Army and Xuzhou Army soldiers are not willing. "

"What countermeasures does Zhongde have?"

"Because of the Great War in the Central Plains, we had to withdraw our troops, but Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were still there. Yuan Shao issued an order to pardon Yuan Shu's subordinates in the name of the emperor at this time, just to prevent Sun Ce and Zhou Yu from continuing to attack Yuan Shu and occupy the Jianghuai River. Yuan Shao did not We would like to see Sun Ce and Zhou Yu occupy the Jianghuai River, but we also don’t want to see it, on this point, we are in agreement with Yuan Shao.”

Cheng Yu paused for a moment, looked at Liu Bei's face, and continued: "Because we agree with Yuan Shao, we should support Yuan Shao's decision and let Sun Ce and Zhou Yu retreat to Jiangdong first. Under the circumstances, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were forced to stop their troops for the time being due to their own lack of strength."

"During the Jianghuai War, Yuan Shu's subordinates were very divided. Liu Xun surrendered to the court and took refuge in the Prime Minister. Ji Ling and the Lord had close contacts. Li Shu and Zhou Yu were very close. Yuan Yin, Zhang Jiong and Sun Ce The relationship between them is also very ambiguous. At present, the only people who follow Yuan Shu are Yan Xiang, Yang Hong, and Liu Fu." Cheng Yu waved his hand with a look of disdain on his face, "When we withdrew troops from Jianghuai with Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, Jiujiang County was also lively. Yes. Yuan Shu has a lesson from the past. Once he gets a chance to breathe, the first thing he does is to eradicate the rebellion. What we have to do is to help Jiujiang County to cause chaos, and let Yuan Shu and his own subordinates bite dogs. Regardless of whether Yuan Shu put down the rebellion in the end, It was Liu Xun and Li Shu who killed Yuan Shu, and there is no force in the Jianghuai area that can resist us. When the dust settles in the Central Plains War, the ownership of Jiujiang County will probably be revealed."

Liu Bei suddenly realized, and nodded at Cheng Yu again and again, "Zhong De is right. There is a way to defeat others without fighting, so why go to war again. Be taught and be taught."

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The next day, when the army had just set off, Pengcheng Jianyong sent someone to send an urgent letter.

"Guan Yu was defeated in Jucheng, and more than half of his army was lost. He asked for reinforcements." After reading the letter, Liu Bei was horrified.

Cao Cao looked at Liu Bei in disbelief, and almost suspected that his ears had misheard, "Brother Xuande, do you see clearly? Is it the Northern Border Army or the Yellow Turban Army?"

Liu Bei handed the letter to Cao Cao casually, "Xianhe (Jian Yong) said in the letter that Gao Shun of the Northern Frontier Army and Zang Ba of Qingzhou will go south with the Yellow Turban Army, and they have already forced Yangdu to threaten Kaiyang."

Cao Cao took a hasty glance and exclaimed, "Yun Chang was seriously injured and seriously injured."

"His army has lost too much. Now if he wants to stop the Northern Xinjiang Army from attacking Xuzhou, he must immediately send troops back to help." Liu Bei said helplessly, "Brother Mengde, if the northern counties of Xuzhou are lost, the loss is not only Food and supplies, as well as the Central Plains. Once the Northern Army advances to the East China Sea and Pengcheng, it will not only have a great effect on the Northern Army's rapid stabilization of Yanzhou counties, but also go north to support the Central Plains battlefield."

Cao Cao looked up to the sky and sighed, feeling a sense of darkness.Gao Shun's Northern Border Army, Zang Ba's Qingzhou Army, and Guan Hai's Yellow Turban Army have at least 5 troops to go north to support the Central Plains battlefield.If these 5 people are allowed to advance smoothly to the Central Plains battlefield, their own force advantage will be drastically reduced.Now whether Gao Shun supports the Central Plains battlefield, or Liu Bei divides his troops back to assist Xuzhou, the balance of forces on the Central Plains battlefield will change.

"Xuande, how many people do you plan to send back? Are you leading the army back in person?"

"I plan to let Zhang Fei lead 1 people back to help Xuzhou quickly." Liu Bei shook his head and said, "Compared to the Central Plains War, which is related to the fate of the country, the safety of Xuzhou is nothing. I believe that with the power of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, the northern Xinjiang can be brought back. The army blocked Tancheng in the East China Sea to prevent the northern Xinjiang army from occupying Xuzhou, and went north to support the Central Plains battlefield."

Cao Cao patted Liu Bei's shoulder gratefully, heartbroken.

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(To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please visit www.CMFU.COM, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)
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