Great Han Empire

Chapter 847 The Heroes of Troubled Times Compete in the Central Plains
In May, Xuchang, Yingchuan County, Yuzhou.

News from various battlefields quickly spread to Xuchang.The tide-like offensive of the northern army made the atmosphere in Xuchang more and more tense, but the successful evacuation of Dingtao and Zhang Fei by Cao Cao and Liu Bei, and the successful attack by Yang Ping on Changyi eased the suffocating atmosphere a little bit. , and even vaguely feel a glimmer of hope and joy from it.

In the Shangshu Terrace of the Xinggong Palace, Yuan Shao sat around with Jushou, Feng Ji, Yuan Zhong, Wang Lang, Hua Xin and others to discuss the current situation.

Since Cao Cao and Liu Bei withdrew to the battlefield in the north of the Central Plains, the troops on the front line of Yancheng have greatly increased, and it is more and more likely that we will stick to Yancheng and counterattack Baima.Xun Yu and Zhang Fei blocked the Northern Border Army on the front lines of Bocheng and Kaocheng, and the blocking battle on the battlefield in the south of the Central Plains had already begun.

On the battlefield in the middle of the Central Plains, because of Yuan Xi's indecision, tens of thousands of troops were stranded in the Zhongmou and Junyi areas for a long time without determining their main attack direction. He had neither Xin Ping who went north to support Yancheng nor Xu who went south to support Chenliu. Yau, let alone advancing eastward to meet Cao Cao and Liu Bei's retreat, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Instead, when the northern army killed Jiyang and the east line was approaching Chenliu, they were able to quickly gather troops to meet the main force of the northern army.

Now the battle situation in the Central Plains is developing in the direction we planned. Although Chen Liu was accidentally lost, the second line of defense was successfully established in the shortest time, and its blocking force is far greater than our initial assumption.This unexpected result came entirely from the unexpected retreat direction of the Yanzhou Army.Who would have expected that Cao Cao and Liu Bei would lead their troops to retreat northward?As a result, the battlefield in the north of the Central Plains gained more troops. They happened to block the stormy attack of the Northern Army. Otherwise, with the strength of Xin Ping Gao, I am afraid that Yancheng would have been lost, and Henan would soon be threatened by the Northern Army.

At this moment, the two sides are about to enter a difficult confrontation, a war of attrition. If we can grit our teeth and survive this most difficult and painful period, we can immediately gain the advantage on the battlefield, and then launch an overwhelming counterattack.

The most urgent task at the moment is to establish a third line of defense on the front lines of Xingyang and Zhongmou, so that after the Northern Xinjiang Army breaks through the second line of defense, it can continue to block the enemy.

The establishment of the third line of defense will deepen our defense depth and ensure that we have sufficient time to stockpile supplies, recruit soldiers, and accumulate sufficient money, food, weapons, and powerful weapons for the upcoming confrontation, war of attrition, and subsequent counter-offensive war. of troops.

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It will take some time to establish a third line of defense so that after the Northern Army breaks through the second line of defense, they can still block the Northern Army in Xingyang and Zhongmou. , Repeated battles and defeats.To regain this precious time, the coalition forces need to fight tenaciously, unite as one, and have correct offensive and defensive strategies.Whether it is planning to replace defense with offense, or to defend to the death based on the fortified city, it is necessary to immediately give clear, accurate, and decisive orders to the three battlefields in the north, south, and middle.

Yuan Shao, Jushou and others carefully analyzed the situation, and agreed that the only way to stop and slow down the attack speed of the northern army was to fight a confrontational war of attrition with the northern army.

At present, the follow-up troops of the Jingzhou Army, under the command of Kuai Yue, Deng Yi, Liu Pan and others, have entered the territory of Yingchuan, and will soon reach the front lines of Zhongmou and Kaifeng.

Xu Miao (qiu) of Runan also led his army to Chen State, and his army will directly reach the Xiangyi and Yongqiu lines in Chenliu County, so as to cut off the connection between the southern battlefield of the Central Plains and the central battlefield, and attack the flanks of the northern army on the central battlefield. .

Guan Yu from Xuzhou and Ji Ling from Yangzhou are on their way to support Bocheng and Kaocheng. It is estimated that they will join Xun Yu and Zhang Fei in the next few days.

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu from Jiangdong have already replied to the letter, clearly expressing their willingness to lead the army northward to support them. However, the Jianghuai war has just stopped, and the Jiangdong armies need time to rest and raise food and grass, so they ask the court for a period of time.In addition, considering the enmity between Jiangdong and Jingzhou, the two expressed concern about the safety of Yuzhang County in the letter.What if Huang Zu in Jiangxia took advantage of the opportunity of the Jiangdong Army to go north and sent troops to attack Chaisang and Peng Ze?The implication is that I hope Yuan Shao will come forward to persuade Liu Biao to cut off the Jingzhou army's attempt to attack Yuzhang County.In fact, Liu Biao was also worried that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu would take the opportunity to join forces to attack Jiang Xia. If Zhou Yu didn't leave, Sun Ce would not dare to leave either. He was worried that Zhou Yu would be bad for him.

Yuan Shao then decided to discuss the matter with Liu Biao, and asked Liu Biao to personally tell Sun Ce and Zhou Yu that as long as the two sides joined forces to fight against Hebei, the Jingzhou army would never attack Jiangdong.With Liu Biao's promise, I believe that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu's Jiangdong Army will soon be seen on the Central Plains battlefield.

Now that the second line of defense has been completed and reinforcements from all walks of life are continuously heading north, the coalition forces have a solid city, enough troops, and enough food and supplies to last for a period of time. Fight a war of attrition.

On the other hand, the northern border army, as the combat time increases, the closer they are to the hinterland of the Central Plains, their advantages are being lost, and their disadvantages are constantly expanding.

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For more than a month, the Northern Xinjiang Army attacked the city and pulled out the village, leaping forward thousands of miles, and paid a heavy price.In order to seize the opportunity, the army marched and fought day and night, and they have not had a day to rest. The infantry and knights were exhausted and their physical strength had reached their limit.Especially Yan Liang on the northern battlefield. They went south to open up the Henan battlefield a month in advance. They were already exhausted from fighting, and now the soldiers are exhausted.

As the battlefield continues to stretch forward, the food roads of the Northern Xinjiang Army are getting longer and longer, more and more civilians are pouring into Yanzhou, and the consumption of food, grass and military equipment is also increasing.

The number of cavalry used by the Northern Xinjiang Army this time was more than we estimated, especially the Huns, who accounted for almost half of the cavalry.Such a huge cavalry army consumes far more than its infantry army.This is the Central Plains, not the northern Xinjiang. The food for the barbarians and fodder for war horses are very limited, and a large part needs to be transported all the way from northern Xinjiang.Not to mention the consumption of iron cavalry on the battlefield in the Central Plains, the consumption of the peasants on the way to transport cattle and sheep and other livestock and horse fodder to the Central Plains is an astonishing amount.

Looking at the burning, killing and looting of Northern Xinjiang cavalry in Chenliu, you can see the difficulties faced by the Northern Xinjiang Army.The one who attacked Chen Liu was Zhao Yun, who had an excellent reputation, and that iron cavalry was also the elite of the northern border army. What did they do when they were short of food and grass?From this, one can imagine the Huns, who came to the Central Plains far away from the frontier fortresses, and they were not acclimatized to the environment. If there were problems with food and horse feed, what would they do?Will they obey military discipline more than the elite cavalry of the Northern Border Army?impossible.Li Hong will pay the price for this bloody killing.He made great achievements because of Hu Qi's bravery, and he will also be defeated by Hu Qi's ferocity.We can assert that Li Hong will definitely lose this battle, and he is doomed.

In addition to the above two irreparable disadvantages of the Northern Xinjiang Army, there is another more important disadvantage, which is their fear.

Hebei hastily launched the Central Plains War under insufficient conditions, and had no confidence in winning at all.They fear failure, and they cannot afford to fail.Once the Northern Xinjiang Army is defeated in the Central Plains and suffers heavy blows, Hebei may lose the opportunity to conquer the world, and it may be defeated.The fear of failure by Li Hong and the generals of Beijiang caused the attack speed of the Beijiang army to be terrifying.

Now, the soldiers of the Beijiang Army can no longer fight, and the money and food of the Beijiang Army have gradually become tight. In order to occupy and stabilize the entire territory of Yanzhou, the strength of the Beijiang Army is no longer enough.The northern army, from Li Hong to the commanding general, knew their own dangers, so they used the power of the northern army to the extreme. Their primary goal was to seize the entire territory of Yanzhou before the coalition forces formed a strong counterattack force. , and then form a favorable situation for the decisive battle in the Central Plains, so as to give us a fatal blow when our foothold is not stable.

It is precisely because of the above reasons that Cao Cao and Liu Bei's adventure to withdraw to the north, and Zhang Fei and Yang Ping's surprise attack on Changyi all miraculously succeeded.In addition to the subtlety and boldness of their own strategies, the northern border army blindly pursues the speed of attack in order to quickly occupy Yanzhou and form a decisive battle situation as soon as possible. Psychology directly led to many mistakes in battle command.

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"This is a sign, a sign of failure." Ju Shou said during the analysis, "From the current development of the battle situation, it can be inferred that Li Hong made a serious mistake in the strategy of the war, and the reason for this mistake was his It was caused by the lack of confidence in the victory of the Central Plains War and the fear of failure."

"Because Hebei has not yet captured the strength of the Central Plains, when Li Hong made a decision, the first thing he thought of was what to do if he failed? If he failed, how to minimize the loss, how to restore Hebei's vitality in the shortest time, how to make the Hebei can continue to launch the second big southward conquest. Li Hong's decision-making under this mentality is obviously very conservative." Ju Shou pointed to Dingtao and Changyi on the map, "Northern Xinjiang Army is in At the beginning of the war, the troops were divided into two groups, each to take Dingtao and Changyi, and then..." His hand then pointed to Chen Liu, "The two armies merged into one and rushed into Chenliu with the same purpose, to take the city first, Occupy Yanzhou and look for a place to advance and retreat in the Central Plains. That is to say, even if the Northern Xinjiang Army is defeated, because it still has a city as a barrier and a depth of more than 1000 miles, it can ensure that its army returns to Hebei safe and sound. "

"So, so far, the Northern Army's top priority is speed and time. It doesn't care whether to annihilate our coalition forces, but wholeheartedly wants to take Yanzhou and win the advance and retreat before our coalition forces support Yanzhou. , and then it will face the counterattack of our coalition forces immediately. It needs enough troops to block our counterattack, stabilize the front line, and wait for a decisive battle. From this point of view, it is even more unwilling to encircle and annihilate its opponents in Yanzhou. It will take time to do so Once we are allowed to reach Dingtao and Changyi ahead of schedule, the northern army will not be able to fight for a long time, so we have to withdraw to Hebei."

"The purpose of fighting for time and speed is to occupy Yanzhou. Occupying Yanzhou is to have no worries about advancing and retreating, and to cope with defeat." Ju Shou said, "For more than a month, Li Hong achieved his first victory at the beginning of the war." We have also achieved the goal of establishing a second line of defense to block the attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army. Now, Li Hong will pay the price for his extremely conservative attack strategy."

"Li Hong missed the opportunity to severely injure Cao Cao and Liu Bei in Dingtao, and the opportunity to encircle and wipe out Zhang Fei and Yangping in Changyi. As a result, we gained strength and quickly completed the construction of the second line of defense. On the contrary, his two-wing armies fell into a After getting out of the predicament, the advance speed was greatly slowed down, and the distance from the central army was widened. Since the three armies could not get close to form protection and support in a short period of time, the main central army that had rushed forward to Chenliu's line immediately became the target of our attack. "

Ju Shou punched Chen Liucheng on the map, "Our counterattack will start from here."

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Yuan Shao and the others looked excited, talking non-stop around the map, and laughter that had not been heard for a long time came from the meeting hall of Shangshutai from time to time.

"I think there is nothing wrong with Li Hong's attack strategy. After all, he is not strong enough and has no absolute advantage in military strength. He wants to occupy Yanzhou, stop our counterattack, and fight us decisively. With his current strength, of course You have to count them one by one with your fingers. It is very rare for him to be able to fight today." Yuan Shao smiled and said to Jushou, "If it were you and me, would you have the courage to fight this battle?"

"If Li Hong loses too much of his main force in the Dingtao and Changyi areas, especially the infantry army, he will be unable to fight in the Junyi, Kaifeng, and Chenliu areas." Feng Ji pointed to the Chenliu area on the map. The big and small rivers said, "There are six big rivers and big canals here, the Bishui River, the Suishui River, the Langtang Canal, the Honggou River, the Yingou Water, and the Wo River. Going forward to the Zhongmu area, there are also the Jialu River and the Putian River. Ze. If there is no infantry army that is almost the same as ours, after he hits the river, he can only stop and wait for us to attack him. In this way, Li Hong will lose the initiative on the battlefield. He chose this The conservative attack strategy seems to be a helpless move."

Then he shook his head sighing, "This leopard is unstoppable in the desert, but he will not be able to do it in the Central Plains. Now on the frontal battlefield, we have [-] troops. If Brother Yidu (Kuai Yue) and Meng Yu (Xu Wei) Brother, if we can arrive, we have nearly [-] troops on the front lines of Junyi, Kaifeng, and Yongqiu. How can leopards stop them?"

"We don't need to fight him now, just keep him out of Henan and drag him in the territory of Yanzhou." Yuan Shao said, "Given the lessons learned from the battle of Jizhou the year before, we'd better be conservative, so as not to lose troops or generals." He pointed at Jushou, He said to everyone, "Just now he talked about the disadvantages of the Northern Border Army. What we have to do now is to make the Northern Border Army's disadvantages worse and worse. The best strategy is to surrender without fighting."

"Don't you want to take advantage of the favorable situation in front of you to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army?" Wang Lang asked strangely, "After the Jingzhou Army and the Runan Army arrived on the battlefield, we have an advantage in strength. Now on the frontal battlefield, the Northern Xinjiang Army One part of the army's main force is attacking Junyi, and the other part is attacking Kaifeng. If we use a part of our troops to contain and block the Northern Army under Junyi City, and surround Chenliu with the main force from Kaifeng and Yongqiu, we should be able to inflict heavy losses. Li Hong, take back Chen Liu."

"Chenliu doesn't do much for us anymore." Yuan Shao laughed, "Before the second line of defense is established, we hope to use Chenliu's solidity to slow down the attack speed of the Northern Army to help us deploy troops in Henan Time, but due to the rapid formation of the two flanking battlefields in the north and south, the second line of defense has been strengthened, and the role of Chen Liucheng is no longer obvious. As for the attack, as I said just now, the best is to win without fighting. The time for our counterattack has not yet come. Now we are delaying, dragging Li Hong to death, and dragging the Northern Xinjiang army to death."

"If we want to counterattack, it must be fatal, and we must beat the northern army to nothing, so that we can conquer Hebei and pacify the world in the shortest time." Ju Shou sighed, "If we continue to fight like this, the world will be pacified, and the country will be a piece of land." There are ruins, so no matter what happens in this battle, we must completely solve Li Hong."

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On the middle battlefield, due to the close strength of the two sides, the terrain is ten steps unfavorable to the northern Xinjiang cavalry. In a short period of time, neither side can break the deadlock, and a confrontation has formed.

The coalition forces wanted to drag the war on forever, but the Northern Xinjiang Army would not agree. They were eager to break the border situation and force the coalition forces to fight as soon as possible.In order to form a decisive battle situation as soon as possible, the Northern Xinjiang Army could not open up the situation in the middle, and the focus of attack would immediately shift to the two flank battlefields.In order to get closer to the main army in the middle, and at the same time to cooperate with the main army to break the stalemate, the Northern Xinjiang Army on these two battlefields is bound to launch a fierce attack.

Judging from the current battlefield situation and the deployment of troops on both sides, the focus of the Northern Xinjiang Army's attack must be the northern flank battlefield.

If Yan Liang's army breaks through Yancheng and goes to Yanjin and Suanzao, it will directly threaten Henan.In order to block Yan Liang's attack, Yuan Shao had to deploy troops from the second line of defense to garrison the third line of defense. In this way, the stalemate on the battlefield would be broken, and the coalition forces might retreat across the board and stick to the front lines of Xingyang and Zhongmou.

At present, there are 4 troops from Cao Cao and Liu Bei on the north side of the battlefield, and 5 soldiers from Xin Ping Gaogan, with a total strength of [-]. It should not be a problem to block Yan Liang's army, but what they are most worried about is not the fierce Yan Liang, but just now. Cao Cao withdrew from Dingtao.Both Cao Cao and Liu Bei lost their troops on the Yanzhou battlefield, but Liu Bei still has Xuzhou and can make a comeback, while Cao Cao has nothing but the tens of thousands of horses in his hands.Facing Yan Liang's attack, Cao Cao's attitude towards the battle can be imagined.No one would be willing to give up all their money at this time.

Cao Cao was the prime minister. After he arrived in Yancheng, he had the largest officials and the largest army. Liu Beixin commented that high-ranking officials should follow his command. If he said retreat, he would retreat. The others had no choice.

"Do we still have the strength to go north to support Yancheng?" Yuan Shao asked worriedly.

"No more." Feng Ji said, "There are more than 1 people in Gaorou Zhuling in Hanoi. They want to protect the capital and cannot move. Luoyang also has 5000 people from Zhao Rui and Lu Hong who just returned from Hanoi. With such a small number of troops, they can’t move. There are nearly 2 people in Kansai’s Master Chun Yuchun, and there are more than 5 people in Guanzhong’s Xiansi (Yuan Tan), who can’t move. The troops we can mobilize are all in the Central Plains battlefield. , more than 1 people, 4 people in Yancheng, and [-] people in Zhongmou, Junyi, and Kaifeng." Feng Ji looked at Yuan Shao and said with a wry smile, "Now Meng Qian (Yuan Wei) is recruiting soldiers in Luoyang, You Ruo (Xun Yi) Chen) is recruiting soldiers in Yuzhou. These recruits will not be fully recruited until the end of this month at least, so..." He shook his head, "We can only warn Cao Aman not to go too far."

Yuan Shao sneered, "At this time, if he still dares to confront me, I will kill him."

Jushou hurriedly dissuaded him.Due to the lack of strength of the prefectures and counties this time, the army from the northern borders had no choice but to form an alliance to fight against Hebei. This is the best time to rebuild the dignity of the emperor and the court.Your Excellency, as the Great General Sima of the imperial court, the leader of the alliance this time should learn the lessons of the failure of the Dong Dong, use the supreme authority of the emperor and the imperial court, properly handle the relationship between the imperial court and the officials of the states and counties, and bring everyone together. The power of the people gathered together, defeated the rebellion in Hebei, and then calmed down the world and revived the country.

"My lord obeys the emperor's orders to the world and needs the worship and obedience of the ministers. To achieve this, we must let everyone not only lose vested power and interests, but also gain greater power in the process of defeating Hebei and pacifying the world. Benefits." Ju Shou cupped his hands and said, "On the matter of Prime Minister Cao, adults should think twice, and don't ruin the chance of defeating Hebei because of small losses."
Yuan Shao looked at Jushou thoughtfully.

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In May, Handan, the general went to the gate.

Zhang Yan immediately rushed to the Central Plains battlefield after receiving the order from the general.

Although Zhang Yan thought it was strange, the attack on the Central Plains battlefield had entered a critical moment, and the decisive battle was about to take shape. It was indeed better to go to the front line to command than to sit in Handan Xingyuan.

Before leaving, he discussed the current battle situation with Jia Xu, Fu Gan and others who stayed behind in Xingyuan.

At present, the attack of the three armies did not go as smoothly as expected. The distance between the armies on the two wings and the army in the middle was too large, and it was easy for the rebels to take advantage of the opportunity to severely damage the main force in the middle.

"We must quickly make a breakthrough on the flanking battlefield and break the deadlock as soon as possible," Zhang Yan said to Jia Xu, "Judging from Yan Rou's letter, the rebel forces on the southern battlefield have not yet formed an advantage. You should immediately tell Yan Rou, Ask him to command the iron cavalry to rush to the River River, cut off the connection between Bocheng, Kaocheng and Xiangyi, and force the rebels to the south bank of the River River. cross the Rivers of Rivers and Rivers of Suishui at the same speed, occupy Huating and Gaoyang Pavilions, and cut off the connection between Yongqiu and Xiangyi. In this way, with the cooperation of the main force, Yongqiu can go down at any time, and then Yan Rou can concentrate Attack Xiangyi and threaten Yuzhou."

"On the northern front, the two sides are close in strength, but Cao Cao and Liu Bei may not dare to attack us, so you tell Yan Liang that you will attack at all costs." Zhang Yan frowned and said worriedly, "Cao Cao can successfully withdraw from Dingtao. It's not easy. If Yan Liang is careless, something will happen."

Jia Xu thought for a while and suggested, "I'll go to Baima myself."

"It's not too late, let's leave immediately." Zhang Yan agreed without thinking, "Junyan (Fu Gan) is in charge of the Xingyuan."

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(End of this chapter)