Chapter 7 Wind and Thunder Stirring Section 16 On June, Qin Ting. Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Yuan Shu and Liu Pet gathered to discuss matters.

The situation in the three battlefields now appears to have basically achieved the initial objectives. Cao Cao and Liu Bei in the middle of the road have successfully attacked the front line of Fagan, Leping, and Liaocheng, and they are still one hundred and fifty miles away from Ganling Kingdom.

Tian Kai on the east road used 20,000 horses to contain the northern Xinjiang army, which was more than twice his number, and only Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and Zhang Yang on the west road were blocked from attacking, and so far they have not been able to achieve good results.

However, it was precisely because they successfully pinned down the most powerful main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army that the Yanzhou Army and the Xuzhou Army were able to attack successfully in the middle.

"The next attack strategy is to contain the two wings and attack in the middle." Cao Cao said excitedly,

"After more than ten days of fierce fighting, our troop deployment has been fully exposed, and under the fierce attack of our attacking armies from all sides, the Northern Xinjiang Army is very passive. In order to change this passive situation, Li Hong will immediately adjust his troops, and draw troops from the battlefields on the east and west flanks to support the middle road and block our attack on Ganlingguo. In order to quickly take the Ganling State and attract more Northern Xinjiang Army to support the middle route, so as to help the armies of the eastern and western flanks of the battlefield to successfully kill Yecheng and Nanpi, and prepare for the next step of the three routes of the army marching together to join the division in Xindu City in the middle of Jizhou, Cao Cao suggested that troops should be immediately transferred from the western battlefield to strengthen the strength of the middle route army.

Liu Biao's Jingzhou Army and Ma Teng's Iron Cavalry will turn to the middle battlefield, join the Yanzhou Army and the Xuzhou Army, and attack and advance towards the Ganling Kingdom with a force of more than 80,000 people.

This was originally agreed, and Liu Biao and Ma Teng had no objections, and immediately agreed. If the army in the middle can quickly capture Ganling City and force Xindu, the Northern Xinjiang Army will have to draw more troops to support the middle road.

In this way, Yuan Shao on the battlefield on the western road will soon be able to break the current stalemate and quickly advance to Yecheng.

And Cao Cao can also take the opportunity to divide troops to support Tian Kai and help Tian Kai quickly kill Nanpi. In this way, the medium-term attack objectives of the Northern Expeditionary Army were all achieved.

Cao Cao looked up at Yuan Shao and said with a smile: "Brother Benchu, whether I can capture the Ganling Kingdom as quickly as possible depends on whether you can launch a more fierce attack on the battlefield on the Western Road." Yuan Shao smiled lightly,

"I immediately ordered Zhang Yang and Han Hao to join forces and take down Neihuang first. After the defeat of Neihuang, the back road of the Northern Xinjiang Army was cut off, and the grain and grass could not be supplied, so Zhang Yan had to withdraw if he did not withdraw. Cao Cao nodded happily, then turned his face to look at Yuan Shu,

"Highway, no matter what, you have to ensure that the grain and grass are continuously transported to Hebei, this is no joke." Yuan Shu smiled,

"If the Prime Minister is not at ease, you stay in Yanzhou, and I will go to the front to command the army." Cao Cao stroked his beard and laughed.

Yuan Shu looked unhappy. The locust plague broke out in May. About a dozen counties in Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Qingzhou and Jizhou have been ravaged by locust plagues.

Xuzhou and Qingzhou were relatively lightly affected, while Jizhou and Yanzhou were severely affected. In the face of the war and poison, in order to prevent the locust plague from affecting Hebei, Jizhou simply burned the crops that had not had time to be harvested on the ground, and evacuated nearly one million people to the inner county.

Yanzhou was not so lucky, with a locust plague of more than a month and a drought that lasted for half a year leaving Yanzhou with nearly one million victims.

But the great luck in the misfortune was that at this time the Great War of the Northern Expedition began. All the victims were conscripted as civil servants, and a small number of old, weak, women and children were gathered in a few grain and grass transit camps to do what they could.

The war has temporarily freed these victims from the threat of starvation and death, and also temporarily freed Yanzhou from the danger of collapse.

The Yellow Turban Army, which was active in Mount Tai and other places, was unable to rise again and regain its momentum of sweeping the Central Plains because of the lack of these victims.

Cao Cao couldn't wait to launch the Northern Expedition when the locust plague in the Central Plains was at its worst, and now it seems that he did the right thing.

He successfully used the re-establishment of the imperial system to expand Yanzhou's power, and used war to disperse and circumvent the crises faced by Yanzhou, and at the same time, he also gained great prestige among the governors and county officials in various places, which Cao Cao probably did not expect.

In the past, the military discussions were dominated by Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao said the same, but this time the Qinting military discussion, Cao Cao's prestige completely overshadowed Yuan Shao.

This time, Cao Cao not only successfully solved the threat of the disaster victims and the Yellow Turban Army to the Central Plains, but also took the lead in capturing several cities in Hebei and completed the goals set before the war.

At present, the greatest impact on the war is the ongoing drought. Although the terrible locust plague is nearing its end, the drought continues, no one knows when it will rain, and more and more counties are suffering from drought from north to south.

The drought has withered the crops in the fields and left the Central Plains hungry. On the contrary, except for some counties along the Yellow River, Hebei's other northern counties and counties were not affected, and as long as Hebei supported it until the autumn harvest and autumn planting, the grain harvest would be abundant, and they would be able to drag this war all the way, even until next year, but the army of the Northern Expedition could not afford to drag it out.

As the war continues, the various fronts will gradually lengthen, and the consumption of grain, grass and ordnance will become greater and greater.

Once the drought lasts until October, when the affected counties in the Central Plains cannot even complete the autumn planting, the war will have to face a cruel reality, it may be lost.

Or to put it nicely, this northern expedition returned in vain. Therefore, before the end of September, whether or not the Northern Frontier Army can inflict heavy losses and occupy the city of Xindu will become the key to determining the victory or defeat of this great victory.

The capture of Xindu City, the whole line of the army advanced to the south of the Zhangshui River, which was equivalent to occupying half of Jizhou, which was a very big blow to Hebei.

If the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army suffers another heavy blow at this time, Jizhou will be at your fingertips. After taking Jizhou, no matter how long the drought in the Central Plains lasts, the army of the Northern Expedition can solve the money and grain on the spot, so that the rebellion can be destroyed, and the world can be determined in the near future.

Long before the attack, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others discussed this issue, and Yuan Shao's opinion at that time was that if the drought lasted until September, and the Northern Expeditionary Army failed to destroy the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army, the whole line would retreat in order to preserve its strength, and Xu Tu would attack again.

After all, after Hebei was hit by this heavy blow, it would not be able to recover its strength in the short term, and it was even more impossible to attack southward. Now, Cao Cao has postponed this until the end of October.

Cao Cao believed that it would be too difficult to defeat the Northern Xinjiang Army in four months, and that retreating before the autumn harvest and autumn planting in Hebei would give the Northern Army time to regain its strength as soon as possible.

Therefore, in any case, it is necessary to drag out this war until the end of October, so that the southern counties of Jizhou will not be able to harvest and plant in autumn, and Hebei will bear a heavy burden of disaster victims.

There were many people in Hebei, and they suffered heavy losses, and the strength of the Northern Xinjiang Army was greatly damaged, and riots may break out in Jizhou.

Hebei is in chaos, Li Hong is too busy to take care of himself, and his strength will be weakened even more, so we will have the opportunity to capture Jizhou again.

In addition, Li Hong will be very anxious when he sees that we are going to drag out the war until October, and he is bound to fight a decisive battle with us for the sake of Hebei's safety.

And it is this decisive battle that we need. As long as we hit the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army, Jizhou can be lowered.

Even if we and the Northern Xinjiang Army are evenly matched, the Northern Xinjiang Army will inevitably go into chaos because it has lost the time for autumn harvest and autumn planting, and its strength has been greatly damaged.

Cao Cao's suggestion was successfully passed, and Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Liu Biao had no opinions. Everyone happily parted and went their separate ways to the battlefield.

Yuan Shu returned to Changyi and urgently summoned Li Ye and Yang Hong to discuss matters.

Cao Cao was dizzy, thinking that if he had won a few battles and occupied a few cities, he would be invincible in the world. It's ridiculous. Yuan Shu then carefully explained the situation of Qin Ting's military discussion,

"Cao Cao's intention to drag the war until October is obvious, he wants to gamble, and wants to drive Li Hong to monopolize Jizhou. It seems that this black-skinned dwarf has a lot of ambitions. In addition, the armies of all walks of life stayed on the battlefield in Hebei for an extra month, and the consumption of troops and money and food was very amazing, once the battle was lost, it would be difficult for everyone to recover in the short term after everyone returned, but this was of great benefit to Cao Cao's domination of the Central Plains. He now has nothing but tens of thousands of horses, he is a shameless bachelor, and his losses should be the smallest, and the advantage should be the greatest. This kid is very cunning. ”

"Since everyone knows Cao Cao's intentions in their hearts, this battle may not be able to drag on until the end of October as he wishes." Li Ye looked at Yuan Shu and asked after a little deep groaning,

"Cao Cao suddenly made this suggestion, did he have other purposes?"

"Other purposes?" Yuan Shu waved his hand disdainfully,

"It doesn't matter what his purpose is, he does what he does, and we do ours. Send someone to Yangzhou immediately south, and tell Qiao Rui, Zhang Xun, Sun Ce, and others to be ready to attack Xuzhou in July, and only to launch an attack as soon as my order arrives. ”

"My lord, let's wait, don't rush to mobilize the army and expose our intentions in advance." Yang Hong dissuaded,

"If Cao Cao and Liu Bei can't reach Ganling in July, they can return to the Central Plains at any time, and the Northern Frontier Army may not be able to stop their retreat."

"If in July, Cao Cao has not yet hit Ganling City, he can go to die, what is he still alive for?" Yuan Shu said with a smile,

"Cao Cao wants to delay until October, but Li Hong is unwilling to delay, Li Hong will definitely have a decisive battle with him in advance, and Cao Heipi is dead this time."

"And what about here?" Li Ye asked.

"There's no rush here...... Yuan Shu said quietly,

"Xun Yu, this guy is better than ghosts, I have to find a way to drive him out of Changyi first." Yuan Shao returned to Puyang and urgently summoned Tian Feng, Guo Tu, Feng Ji and others to inform them in detail of the relevant details of the Qin Ting military conference.

"Cao Cao was so easy to fall for the scheme?" Tian Feng twisted his beard and pondered.

"We fought to the death in Liyang, Changshoujin, and Puyangjin, and were defeated in Neihuang and Pengting, these are all bloody facts, why shouldn't Cao Cao be fooled?" Yuan Shao said with a smile,

"If it were me, I also believed that the other party had the sincerity to crusade against the rebels and attack Jizhou."

"What now?" Feng Ji asked,

"Liu Biao and Ma Teng are gone, our forces are reduced, and if we continue to attack, our losses will be even greater."

"Yes, if we can't quickly approach Yecheng, even if Cao Cao hits the Ganling Kingdom, he will not fight alone, and continue to lead the army to kill the Qinghe River and attack Xindu City." Xin Ping pointed to the map and said,

"Cao Cao can't stay away from Yanzhou, Yuan Shu won't dare to make a move, and if Yuan Shu doesn't do it, we won't have a chance."

"Even if Yuan Shu does it, if Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Liu Biao can't suffer heavy losses, we still don't have a chance, the Central Plains can't get it, and Jingzhou can't get it." Guo Tu shook his head and said,

"Don't forget, our army is also in Jizhou now, and the opponent is still Zhang Yan, who is the strongest elite of the Northern Xinjiang Army."

"Our key is how to successfully reach Yecheng without avoiding losses, and at the same time make Cao Cao's mid-lane army completely annihilated or suffer heavy losses." Yuan Shao lightly deducted the case with his middle finger, and said thoughtfully,

"Do you have a plan?"

"In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary for Li Hong to draw heavy troops from the Western Battlefield to participate in the decisive battle of the Central Battlefield. In this way, the troops of the Northern Xinjiang Army on the western battlefield are less, and they can only retreat to Yecheng to hold on, and we can immediately kill Yecheng and fulfill our promise to Cao Cao. On the battlefield in the middle of the road, the strength of the Northern Xinjiang Army increased greatly, and even if Cao Cao had 85,000 men, he could not defeat Li Hong. Feng Ji said with a smile,

"It's just that even if the adults tell Li Hong in person that I will help you fight Cao Cao, Li Hong will never believe that there is such a good thing in this world." There was laughter in the tent.

"What method can be used to get Li Hong to draw troops from the battlefield on the Western Road?" Yuan Shao asked with a smile. The crowd was helpless.

Yuan Shao put 60,000 troops here, Li Hong is an idiot, and he will not rashly draw troops from the battlefield on the Western Road.

Only by blocking Yuan Shao can the Northern Xinjiang Army fight a decisive battle with Cao Cao with confidence. After the decisive battle, even if the Northern Frontier Army won the battle, it was still scarred.

At this time, the first task of the Northern Xinjiang Army was to increase the troops on the battlefield on the West Road, in case Yuan Shao took the opportunity to attack Jizhou, so there was nothing to be done here.

"Look, are we taking advantage of the publicity?" Yuan Shao asked. Tian Feng and the others looked at each other, but no one spoke.

"Don't get me wrong." Yuan Shao shook his hand,

"Although Zhang Yang and Lu Bu met, this did not affect my trust in Zhang Yang. I know Zhang Yang's character, and you also know his personality, even if Lu Bu has a life-saving grace for him, he will never betray me, and I still have this confidence. Yuan Shao picked up a roll of bamboo slips from the desk.

"This is Zhang Yang's letter to me. He had told me about his meeting with Lü Bu, and begged me to send someone to the Huanshui River to take over his command of the army, and that he would return to Hanoi to supervise the transportation of grain and grass. ”

"This trick may not work." Guo Tu thought for a while and said,

Although Lu Bu is from Northern Xinjiang, he has little power in Hebei, and Li Hong will not trust him. This kind of major matter related to the survival of Hebei, Li Hong is bound to be cautious and will not easily believe Zhang Yang's words. ”

"But Li Hong has always been dangerous, and in order to defeat Cao Cao quickly, he may take risks." Xin Ping said,

"If he retreats to Yecheng and holds on with 20,000 men, we will definitely not be able to take it in a short time. This is a foolproof strategy, why doesn't he dare to take risks? ”

"The retreat of the soldiers to Yecheng will have too great an impact on Hebei, and it will make the people of Hebei panic." Tian Feng pondered for a long time and said slowly,

"Unless it is absolutely necessary, or Li Hong has an absolute certainty of victory, he will not retreat to Yecheng." He looked at Yuan Shao,

"If you want to do it, you should be thorough and force Zhang Yang to rebel."

"Forced to fight back?" Yuan Shao looked at Tian Feng in surprise,

"It's not going to work."

"The trick of deception is too big a loophole, once it is discovered, it will backfire, and only by forcing Zhang Yang to win Li Hong's trust." Tian Feng said resolutely,

"After the deception, can the adults really trust him as much as they did in the past? Will the adults entrust Hanoi to him? I'm afraid you wouldn't dare, right? Yuan Shao's eyes suddenly showed a hint of annoyance.

"My lord, Lord Tian's plan, I think it's foolproof." Xin Ping persuaded him,

"Compared with the hegemony of adults, what is a flamboyance? People like Zhang Yang abound under the adult tent, and any one is better than Zhang Yang. To tell the truth, Zhang Yang's character is too cowardly, it is difficult to take on a big matter, and sooner or later he will bring trouble to the adults, so it is better to take this opportunity to drive him to Hebei, which can be regarded as saving the adults from a disaster. Yuan Shao was so angry that he slapped his palm on the case, his lips trembled for a long time, but he couldn't scold after all.

"You can do it." On the beginning of June, Jinyang. The general Li Hong reported the latest battle situation and the strategy of retreating from the enemy to the imperial court.

The eldest princess summoned the five ministers of Taifu Cai Yong, Da Situ Cui Lie, Da Sikong Liu He, the former general acting leader Da Sima Shi Xian Yufu, and Shang Shu Ling Zhang Fan to discuss urgently.

Shang Shu ordered Zhang Fan to arrive first and presented a secret letter. After the eldest princess finished reading it, her face showed hesitation,

"Since the general has denied this plan, we ......"

"The general has the idea of a general, and he doesn't adopt this plan because the general is upright and unwilling to do such a small thing. However, this plan was obviously beneficial to the general's defeat of the rebels, so the minister felt that His Highness should still adopt this plan. What the general does not want to do, the minister can do. ”

"You?" The eldest princess smiled coquettishly,

"You're not going to do it. Are you planning to go to Huangfu Li? Zhang Fan was slightly surprised.

"Your Highness didn't say it, I really didn't think about it. This person is a perfect fit. The death of Lord Huangfu Song is directly related to Ma Teng, and Huangfu Li definitely wants to take revenge. Let Huangfu Lishu tell the Guanzhong people to spread rumors, and Ma Teng can definitely be killed. ”

"His three-year mourning period has not expired, isn't it good for you to disturb him?" The eldest princess frowned lightly and said worriedly,

"Besides, if the general knows about this matter, he may be unhappy, so let's wait and let the adults discuss it." Then she looked at the secret letter in her hand,

"Fu Gan is revengeful, and he doesn't think about everything, it's too reckless. Don't do it in this matter, lest the general blame Fu Gan in the future. Later, the general asked, and pushed it away. "On June, Guanzhong, Fufeng County, Chencang.

General Zhenxi, Liangzhou Mu Han then led 3,000 elite cavalry to suddenly enter the pass. Ma Teng's son, Ma Chao, the governor of Fufeng County, was caught off guard and hurriedly led his troops to block the attack.

The two sides met in Chencang. Ma Chao rode out of the city alone, and the disciples worshipped Han Sui. Han Sui sat on the horse and accepted it calmly, because Ma Chao was indeed his disciple.

"Sir, before my father left, there was a book for Mr. Yu. Mr. replied to the book, you and my brother will never kill each other, ...... today" Ma Chao was terrified, walked to Han Suima and bowed down and asked,

"Why does Mr. Today ......?"

"Meng Qi, you misunderstood, I didn't come to attack Guanzhong, let alone kill your father and brother." Han Sui slowly dismounted and patted him on the shoulder with a kind expression,

"The imperial court has a holy decree for me, listen to me send troops to Guanzhong, contain Yuan Shao's troops, and help the general defeat the rebellion." Ma Chao heard

The word "rebellious" showed an angry face, but he still bowed his head respectfully and remained silent. Han Sui smiled slightly,

"Although there is a bit of a misunderstanding between me and your father, we are brothers after all, and I will not fight with him, but I can't resist the order, so I brought my troops here. But that's all I have to say, I'm not going to go any further. Ma Chao raised his head in surprise and shouted gratefully,

"Sir......" Han Sui waved his hand and said with a smile,

"I can't go any further, but you can, this is your place."

"Sir, go and live in the city." Ma Chao respectfully saluted,

"I haven't seen him in almost two years, and I have a lot of things I want to ask him."

"I can't go, it's not good for you." Han Sui shook his head,

"I heard you have a baby?" Ma Chao blushed and smiled shyly.

"I'm going to be here for a while." Han Sui pointed to the big camp behind him on the bank of the Weishui River, and said with a kind smile,

"If you have time, bring the child to me." Ma Chao nodded happily,

"Sir, may I come to see you often?" Han Sui touched his head affectionately,

"Of course." On the end of June, Chang'an. After more than a year of restoration in Chang'an City, except for the burned Weiyang Palace, which was burned down, some other government offices and residences have been rebuilt, and the residents in the city have gradually increased.

But compared with when Dong Zhuo moved the capital to Chang'an, the city was still very deserted. The population of Sanfu was about 500,000 at the time of Emperor Xiaoling, and after several years of wars and continuous disasters, the population decreased dramatically.

Although Yuan Shao tried every means to move back from Jingzhou and Yuzhou, there are only 70,000 or 80,000 people now, including some troops stationed in Guanzhong.

If you want to restore the prosperity of Guanzhong, it is simply impossible to do it without more than ten years. The former Jing Zhaoyin's government office is now Yuan Tan's official office.

Yuan Tan sat in the study, looking through the urgent reports sent from all over the place, while stooping down at the desk and looking at the map. From the time Han Sui sent troops to Guanzhong and confronted Chen Cang with Ma Chao, the situation in Guanzhong suddenly became tense.

First of all, the Hebei warrior Pang De led the army out of Liupan Mountain and captured Linjing City in one day. The defender of Linjing City said that Pang De brought tens of thousands of troops, which were overwhelming and could not be stopped, so he had to abandon the city and leave.

Yuan Tan thinks that this person is lying, purely to find an excuse for his timidity. According to his information, there are only 3,000 iron cavalry at most in the area of Xiaoguan and Chao in the north of Liupan Mountain, and even if Pang De brings the Hu people from the desert to the south, its total strength will not exceed 10,000.

At present, several cities south of Anding County have all been lost, but none of them were defeated by Pang De, but given to him by his own subordinates.

The thought of these timid subordinates made him angry. When you return to Chang'an City, I will chop you into mashed meat.

However, this kind of bloody punishment is just thinking about it in my heart, I will not kill them anyway, and I have to rely on them to gain a firm foothold in Guanzhong and create a foundation.

The latest news sent shows that the world-shattering northern Xinjiang warrior has entered Guanzhong and is in Qi County.

Han Sui and Pang De had not yet thought of a solution, and Xu Rong in Hedong began to prepare for crossing the river to attack again.

In recent days, the warships of the Northern Xinjiang Navy have frequently haunted the Weishui River, apparently to probe the military situation. Now Han Sui is killing from the west, Pang De is killing from the north, Xu Rong is about to cross the river from the east, and Guanzhong is attacked from three sides, and he has a headache when he thinks about it.

Could it be that Hebei's strength is strong enough to fight in two battlefields at the same time? Since Hebei can fight in two battlefields, why didn't Li Hong throw all his strength into the Jizhou battlefield, but let the crusading army enter Jizhou?

The three-way attack here in Guanzhong must be Hebei's feint attack and containment strategy, in order to force my father to withdraw his army and force my father to give up this crusade.

Hebei did not have the strength to take Guanzhong. Changshi Liu Xian hurriedly walked into the study. Yuan Tan hurriedly got up to greet him, his expression was quite humble,

"What's the news from the west?"

"Han Sui only has 3,000 people." Yuan Tan's face changed, and he sat down slowly,

"Really? Reliable? Liu Xian nodded,

Ma Chao said that Han Sui brought 10,000 troops to Chencang, but in fact Han Sui only brought 3,000 people. Ma Chao said that he fought fiercely with Han Sui in Chencang day and night, but I got the news that Ma Chao and Han Sui have not fought so far. Moreover, the two have a close relationship, and it is said that Ma Chao also took his wife and children to visit Han Sui a few days ago. Yuan Tan was silent, his face suspicious.

He and Ma Chao have a good relationship, the two can talk very well and are called brothers.

"Ma Chao is deceiving adults." Liu Xian said nervously,

"Why did he deceive the Lord? It's a big deal. Yuan Tan thought carefully for a moment and waved his hand,

"Don't overthink it. Ma Chao is Han Sui's disciple, and it is normal for the two to get closer. Han Sui doesn't attack, Ma Chao doesn't fight, what's wrong with such a tacit understanding? That's good. Liu Xian wanted to explain a little more clearly, but was interrupted by Yuan Tan,

"If the west is safe, what about the north? How many iron horsemen did Pound bring? ”

"It's hard to find out." Liu Xian sighed,

"They are like horse thieves, coming and going, moving from east to west, maybe they will be killed under Chang'an City tomorrow morning." Yuan Tan laughed,

"So, Pound's purpose is to scare me? Then leave him alone. What about the east side? Is there any movement in Xu Rong's army? ”

"There are no signs of an attack across the river yet." Liu Xian said,

"I heard from the judge just now that he plans to go to Hedong to watch it in person." Yuan Tan was taken aback,

"Looking for death? No, no, no. "Jump to