Chapter 9 Chasing the Central Plains Section 48 Xu You angrily left the camp of the Northern Xinjiang Army and returned to Xuchang. The failure of the peace negotiation was expected by Yuan Shao, and he did not blame Xu You.

Regardless of whether the Northern Frontier Army accepted the peace negotiation or not, the purpose of the coalition forces was the same, that is, to drag on the war indefinitely.

If the Northern Frontier Army is willing to negotiate peace, the coalition forces can get a breather and reduce their losses. Now that the Northern Xinjiang Army is unwilling to accept the peace talks, the battles on the front line of the ditch and the Langtang Canal will continue to be tense.

Although this may lead to the continued retreat of coalition forces on local battlefields, it will no longer affect the overall situation. At present, the strength of the two sides on the battlefield is close, the coalition forces rely on the favorable terrain to fortify layer by layer, the soldiers are waiting for work, and the attack and defense are brave, and the situation of confrontation will continue for a long time.

In late May, with the arrival of reinforcements from all walks of life, the superiority of the coalition forces in terms of strength became more and more obvious, and the offensive of the Northern Xinjiang Army weakened.

On the battlefield in the middle of the road, because Jingzhou's follow-up reinforcements arrived on the battlefield, the coalition army reached 90,000 troops, which was a clear advantage over the 60,000 infantry cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army.

Seeing that it could no longer threaten Junyi and Kaifeng, the Northern Xinjiang Army immediately retreated to the east bank of the Langtang Canal. On the battlefield to the south, the situation has taken a turn for the worse due to the sudden increase in the strength of the coalition forces.

Jiangdong reinforcements finally came, but Sun Ce and Zhou Yu did not. The two are young and have too little qualifications, and in recent years, they have fought with Liu Bei and Liu Biao one after another, and they have formed a grudge against each other.

They were worried that they would be bullied by a group of old guys after arriving at the battlefield in the Central Plains, so they simply made an excuse and said that the southern Shanyue rebelled and would not come.

The commander of this support army was the veteran general Zhu Zhi, Sun Ce's cousin Sun Fu (Sun Ben's younger brother) and Lu Su as his deputies, and they brought 10,000 men to join Xun Yu, Xu Xuan and others in Suiyang of Liang State.

Soon, Guan Yu and Ji Ling also arrived with their troops. In this way, the Yanzhou Army, the Xuzhou Army, the Yuzhou Army, the Jiujiang Army and the Jiangdong Army of Yangzhou were gathered in Suiyang, Liang State, with a total strength of more than 50,000 people.

Xu Xuan was ordered to be the commander of the army on the southern battlefield. His qualifications and prestige are unmatched, and the generals of the army unanimously support him.

Xu Xuan immediately commanded the army to move north along the east bank of the Suishui River, stationed troops on the line of Ningling, and confronted the Northern Xinjiang Army across the river.

The Northern Frontier Army only had Yan Rou's 30,000 infantry cavalry on the southern battlefield, and was at a disadvantage in terms of strength, so it could only hold on to the city.

Yan Liang on the battlefield in the north continued to attack the two cities of Yuanwu and Yangwu. After Zhao Yun supported the northern battlefield, Yan Liang's strength reached 55,000.

And after Cao Cao's defeat in Yancheng, the coalition army suffered heavy losses, and there were still more than 40,000 people left. Although the strength of the two sides is basically close, the morale of the coalition forces is low and they have always been at a disadvantage.

At the beginning of June, when the battle front was stable and the battlefield situation improved, Yuan Shao invited Cao Cao, Liu Bei and other ministers to Xuchang to meet the alliance.

Considering that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu in Jiangdong could take care of the overall situation and send troops to support them thousands of miles away, and the new Yangzhou Assassin Yan Xiang actually only controlled one county in Jiujiang, Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, Cao Cao and others discussed with him, and specially invited Sun Fu and Lu Su to rush to Xuchang to meet the alliance on behalf of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, who actually controlled Lujiang County and the four counties of Jiangdong.

In June, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Yuzhou Thorn Shi Yuan Wei, Yangzhou Thorn Shi Yan Xiang, Sun Fu, and Lu Su gathered in Xuchang to serve the Son of Heaven and Zhensheji.

The Son of Heaven Longyan Dayue issued a decree to reward him, from Yuan Shao to the generals above the captain level of the coalition army, they were either promoted or added to the ranks, and those who had been promoted to the limit would increase their food.

In short, the court was full of laughter, and Xuchang was immersed in a festive atmosphere, without the slightest tension covered with war clouds.

In this alliance, Yuan Shao's prestige reached the extreme, and from the top to the bottom, from the Son of Heaven to ordinary officials, all pinned their hopes on him to defeat Hebei and revitalize Sheji.

Yuan Shao became the pillar of the Han Dynasty for a while, and became the mainstay of saving the Han Dynasty from falling down, and everyone tried their best to flatter Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao was smiling, polite to everyone, not shocked by honor and disgrace, and calmly handled, quite the demeanor of a good minister.

Cao Cao is now sending people under the fence, looking up to people and snorting, although he is much snubbed, but he can only swallow his anger and follow Yuan Shao in a low voice, lest he offend Yuan Shao.

At the military meeting after the alliance, the atmosphere seemed very relaxed, and the Son of Heaven and Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Liu Bei and many other ministers talked and laughed and were full of spirit, as if victory was imminent, without the slightest worry.

Cao Cao sat alone, barely accompanied by a smiling face, depressed, and his eyebrows were very melancholy. He explained the current situation to the ministers.

He gave a detailed account of all the battles in the past three months, made a brilliant exposition on the occurrence, development, and advancement of the Central Plains War, speculated and analyzed the attack strategy of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and summed up the successes and failures of his own blocking strategy.

Thanks to the concerted efforts of all the adults and soldiers, we went through more than three months of bloody battles before and after, and finally blocked the attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army on the border of Henan, the ditch water and the Langtang canal.

At present, with the change of many conditions on both sides in terms of troops, money and food, the superiority of the Northern Xinjiang Army is gradually being lost, and when the superiority of the Northern Xinjiang Army is lost, we will launch a counteroffensive and send them back to Hebei.

Fu Zhu then put forward the strategy of protracted confrontation, with defense as the mainstay, offense as a supplement, and a combination of offense and defense, so as to firmly drag the Northern Xinjiang Army on the battlefield and drag them down.

Once the conditions for a counteroffensive are ripe, they will gather heavy troops on the frontal battlefield to seek the opportunity to fight a decisive battle with its main force, strive for a decisive victory in a battle, and completely defeat the Northern Frontier Army at the lowest cost.

"At present, on the battlefield in the Central Plains, we have 180,000 troops, and we have an absolute advantage. As the states and counties continue to recruit troops, we will have more and more troops, and the states and counties are doing their best to prepare and deliver the money and food to support the protracted confrontation between the armies. By the end of the autumn harvest in October, our grain and grass reserves will be even more abundant. Frustrated Professor looked at Cao Cao, and a sneer lifted at the corner of his mouth,

"Some people may think that our strategy to break the enemy is too conservative, and we should take advantage of the fact that the Northern Xinjiang Army is now short of troops, food and grass, and soldiers are exhausted, and quickly launch a counteroffensive. We thought so, too, but given the strong force of the Northern Frontier Army and the fact that they had already occupied Yanzhou and gained thousands of miles of depth, the counteroffensive could turn into a protracted offensive war. Especially in the Great Plains, the power of the Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry will be exerted to the extreme, which will greatly increase our casualties and the difficulty of the attack, and the advantages and disadvantages of the two sides will be reversed again, and we may lose the opportunity to defeat the Northern Frontier Army as a result, and may even be defeated back to Henan again. In this defeat, we have lost our troops, and it is simply impossible to accumulate troops and food and grass like today. In other words, we can't afford to lose, we can't afford to consume. As long as we lose, we will inevitably lose the Central Plains, then Luoyang, and then the entire Sheji. ”

"Taking a step back, even if we defeat the Northern Frontier Army in this way, and we exchange the lives and blood of 100,000 people, or even more, for victory, in the end, all we get is a ruined Yanzhou. By then, everyone will be scarred and will need time to recuperate. When we regained our strength, Hebei was also lively. He is going south to fight the Central Plains again. How long will this endless crusade be? ”

"If you want to fight, you must beat the Northern Xinjiang Army to a slump, beat him so that he has no strength and courage to go south to the Central Plains, and beat him to the point of dying defeat and imminent defeat. The only way to achieve this goal is to fight a decisive battle, gather all the forces that can be gathered, and destroy the main force of the Northern Frontier Army in a decisive battle. ”

"So......" said the ministers, looking at the ministers, in earnest words,

"We weighed the pros and cons carefully, and finally gave up on the active attack. Or use a solid defense to drag down and wear down the Northern Frontier Army, and patiently look for opportunities for a decisive battle. As long as we grasp the weakness of the Northern Frontier Army, we will definitely be able to exchange the greatest results for the minimum cost. "Fu Zhu is very concerned about the two battlefields of Xuzhou and Guanzhong, these two battlefields are the east and west wings of the entire Central Plains battlefield, whether these two battlefields can pose a threat to Hebei, will be directly related to the success or failure of the Central Plains War.

If the Northern Xinjiang Army is unable to break through on the Central Plains battlefield, his eyes will naturally be cast on the east and west flanks, in order to break the confrontation on the Central Plains battlefield with victory on the flank battlefield.

We are the same, we also want to use these two battlefields to threaten the Northern Xinjiang Army, so as to promote the Northern Xinjiang Army to make mistakes on the Central Plains battlefield.

At present, on the battlefield of Xuzhou, Chen Deng led 10,000 horses to compete with Zang Ba's Qingzhou army, and his strength was obviously insufficient, let alone defeating Zang Ba and threatening Qingzhou and Yanzhou.

Therefore, Fu Zhu suggested that some men and horses from the Yanzhou Army should be transferred back to Xuzhou. The reason why the Yanzhou Army was transferred to the Xuzhou battlefield was because the Yanzhou Army was eager to defeat the Northern Xinjiang Army and recapture Yanzhou, and their desire to fight was very strong.

In comparison, the Xuzhou army is not too big to attack Yanzhou, and this mood and mentality of the Xuzhou army will seriously affect their understanding and implementation of the imperial court's orders.

After Cao Cao listened to the words, his face was extremely ugly. Yuan Shao couldn't wait to make a move on himself. Yuan Shao's reason in front of the public was very sufficient and reasonable, and it played a more decisive role in the outcome of the war, and he could not tolerate his own opposition and rejection.

Cao Cao finally understood why Yuan Shao resolutely disagreed with his resignation as prime minister. As a prime minister, he can't ignore the safety of the society because of his own selfishness.

Now that Yuan Shao is taking the post of prime minister, he is taking the big victory and defeat, and threatening himself with the safety of the society, and he has no room for maneuver at all.

Now the main force of the Yanju Army is in the northern battlefield of the Central Plains, and the people and horses of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and Yang Ping are in the southern battlefield of the Central Plains, which has been divided into two.

At this moment, the Son of Heaven is sitting high, and the ministers are in four columns, how dare Cao Cao hesitate for half a minute, and immediately agree,

"Everything should be in accordance with the will of the court." After finishing speaking, he set his eyes on Liu Bei. The smile on Liu Bei's face was a little stiff, and it was estimated that his mood was as bad as Cao Cao's.

The Xuzhou Army was also divided into three on the battlefield in the Central Plains. Originally, Liu Bei wanted to discuss with Yuan Shao after this military meeting and transfer Guan Yu's army back to Xuzhou, but Yuan Shao didn't give him a chance at all.

If the Xuzhou army on the battlefield in the Central Plains suffered heavy losses in this battle, there was almost no possibility for Liu Bei to return to Xuzhou.

"The imperial court plans to let Lord Cao Hong take 10,000 people south to the Yangxia garrison of Chen State in Yuzhou, and let Cao Chun and Yang Ping rush to Pengcheng, Xuzhou with 8,000 horses, and meet Jian Yong and Chen Deng, and go north from Pei County and Xue County, frequently attack Shanyang, Rencheng, Dongping, Lu and other counties, and wait for an opportunity to defeat Zang Ba and recapture Langya County." Frustrated Professor said calmly,

"The Prime Minister's command of the army north of the chasm water to defend Yan Liang is crucial to stabilizing the Central Plains battlefield, so the imperial court decided to let Lord Liu Pan lead 10,000 troops north to Yangwu to fill the defensive void left by Lord Cao Hong after he went south." Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei in front of the Son of Heaven, of course, spoke in unison and agreed.

On the battlefield of Guanzhong, Yuan Tan's attack on Hedong stopped immediately after Yan Liang withdrew from the Henan battlefield.

Worried that the Northern Frontier Army's attack on the Central Plains battlefield would be blocked, he turned to concentrate his forces and attack the fortified positions. If Han Sui fell to the Jinyang court at this time, and Yang Feng in Hedong attacked one after the other, Guanzhong would be in danger without support.

If Guanzhong is lost, Kansai is in an emergency, and Nanyang is in an emergency, the battle situation will be shocked, and the defeat on the Central Plains battlefield will be inevitable.

Frustrated with a solemn expression, he said: "Generally speaking, if the Northern Xinjiang Army wants to fight Guanzhong, it must meet two conditions. The first is that Han Sui is loyal to the Jinyang court, and the second is that Han Sui is willing to send troops to help, and the Northern Xinjiang Army forms a flank situation. With the strength of the Northeast Frontier Army of Hedong, even if it broke through the natural danger of the Yellow River, it would be difficult to break through the resistance of Yuan Tan and Duan Xuan on the front line of the Weishui River. Once the war in Guanzhong does not progress for a long time, it will definitely affect the supply of grain and grass to the Northern Xinjiang Army on the Central Plains battlefield, so that the Northern Xinjiang Army will give us the opportunity to defeat them. Therefore, Hebei will be very cautious about whether to send troops to Guanzhong. ”

"Therefore, in the current situation, if you want to hold Guanzhong, there is only one way, to stabilize Han Sui." Pouting in disdain, he continued,

"The way to stabilize Han Sui is also very simple, that is, to give him food, give him money, and give him everything he needs."

Han Sui was stabilized, and he and Luoyang eyebrows were like glue, and the Northern Frontier Army did not dare to risk attacking Guanzhong no matter what. On the contrary, the Northern Xinjiang Army instead wanted to Chen Bing Pubanjin in case we went to fight him. ”

"We're going to hit him." Frustrated and waved his hand,

"After stabilizing Han Sui, we have no worries, of course we must send troops to threaten Hedong, so as to prevent Hebei from requisitioning troops from Hedong to support the Central Plains battlefield." Many of his suggestions were unanimously endorsed by the Son of Heaven and the ministers.

Yuan Shao ordered Xu Yu to go to Chen Liuyi to discuss peace and explore the movements of the Northern Xinjiang Army. The next day, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and other ministers bid farewell to the Son of Heaven and went to the battlefield.

Cao Cao was in a bad mood, sitting on the horse and shaking, listless. Xun Yu rode his horse behind him, worried.

He went back to Xuchang with Xu Xuan this time, and wanted to go to Xuzhou with Cao Chun, but Cao Cao was worried that something would happen to him and left him behind.

"Wen Ruo, the situation in Xuchang reminds me of one thing." Cao Cao suddenly stopped his horse and turned his head to Xun Yu and said.

Xun Yu looked at Cao Cao suspiciously, waiting for his next step.

"Back then, I was invited by Yuan Shao to crusade against Dong Zhuo with him. After arriving at the sour dates, Zhang Miao, Liu Dai, Qiao Mao, Yuan Yi and others sang with wine, and had no intention of making progress at all. Cao Cao smiled bitterly,

"Look at the atmosphere in Xuchang today, how similar it is back then. Perhaps, what does this already portend? Xun Yu understood what Cao Cao meant, and sighed in a low voice: "It is obviously inappropriate to give up the initiative to attack, to give up a quick decisive battle, and to drag down the Northern Frontier Army by defense." Because for such a long time, we are looking for the flaws of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and the Northern Xinjiang Army is also waiting for us to make mistakes, and the chances on both sides are the same. In addition, the Northern Xinjiang Army has been able to stabilize Yanzhou counties and strengthen its foothold in the Central Plains for such a long time, and it will become more and more difficult to defeat. ”

"After staying on the battlefield for a long time, I can't see the hope of defeating the Northern Frontier Army, the soldiers will be tired and tired of fighting, especially Liu Biao, Sun Fu, and Lu Su, who are far away from the Central Plains, and even if the Northern Frontier Army captures the Central Plains, it will not be able to threaten their survival for the time being, so they are the weakest in the war. The longer the time, the more they don't want to fight, and the more they don't want to fight, the more conservative they become, and once this conservative sentiment spreads, it will immediately affect the formulation of the offensive and defensive strategies of the army, and will affect the execution of the offensive and defensive orders by the soldiers, and the mistakes that lead to defeat will also appear quietly here. ”

"Yuan Benchu ignored Sheji, his mind was full of his own hegemony, and he didn't want to take the initiative to attack if he kept his strength, but he dared to think about how to weaken me and Liu Bei's strength at this time, so that after he defeated the Northern Xinjiang Army, he quickly took Yanzhou and Xuzhou." Cao Cao snorted dissatisfiedly,

"I really can't figure it out, what's the benefit of him doing this? The more he deploys his forces in this way, the less confidence we have to attack, and the stronger our desire to preserve our strength becomes. How can this battle be fought? After losing the battle and letting the Northern Xinjiang Army occupy Yanzhou, how many years can he keep Luoyang? Isn't this a rat's eye, a sacrifice to the end? Even if he wants to swallow us up and dominate the Central Plains, he must first drive the Northern Xinjiang Army across the Yellow River, right? He is so anxious, what big can he do? ”

"Now, Xuchang is blindly optimistic from top to bottom, thinking that he has the advantage of troops and wealth, and he can drive the Northern Xinjiang Army away if it drags on. What a joke. Is Li Hong a cat? Hungry and gone? He is a leopard and eats people when he is hungry. Cao Cao whipped into the air and scolded hatefully,

"Why are the stupidest people in the world in Xuchang? Don't they know that their opponent is a leopard? ”

"Forget it, let's take one step at a time." Xun Yu shook his hand and persuaded,

"If you are Yuan Shao, you are also facing the enemy in this way, which is beyond reproach. The key now is to defeat the Northern Frontier Army, only by defeating the Northern Frontier Army, it makes sense for us to preserve our strength, otherwise it is just fattening up and cutting off the head of the Northern Frontier Army, which is meaningless. In addition, the Yanzhou Army is divided into three, and from the current point of view, there is no doubt that defeat is imminent, but once this battle is defeated, as long as the three-way Yanzhou Army can stay all the way, we still have a chance to live, and even have a chance to turn defeat into victory and make a comeback. Xun Yu looked at Cao Cao meaningfully and said with a smile,

"Sometimes bad things turn into good things." Cao Cao suddenly realized, and his mood suddenly improved.

"Wen Ruo, do you suggest that Yuan Shao divide part of the Yanzhou army into the battlefield of Yuzhou?"

"Haha......" Xun Yu laughed silently,

"What? You don't have confidence in defeating the Northern Frontier Army? ”

"Yes, of course I'm confident." Cao Cao waved his fist and said,

"We will definitely be able to defeat Li Hong this time." On the beginning of June, Jinyang. During the Great War in the Central Plains, the Jinyang court appeared to be very united, and the various provinces cooperated closely with each other, coordinated with each other, and had a tacit understanding.

The emergence of this situation of unity and collective wisdom has a lot to do with the fact that the monk book ordered Li Wei to properly divide the functions of the internal and external dynasties and skillfully avoid the struggle for imperial power and relative power.

Before leaving Jinyang, the general sternly warned Li Wei not to snatch the power of foreign dynasties and to maintain the stability of the imperial courts.

Li Wei thought about this for a long time. The current official system and the structure of the imperial court were deliberately set up by the eldest princess in order to put the imperial power above the relative power.

The eldest princess wants to let the middle secretary replace Shang Shutai, and let Shang Shutai replace the foreign courts, so that the imperial power can be concentrated.

But the consequence is that the foreign dynasties have become decorations, and the three princes and nine ministers have become idle ministers. To put it more ugly, don't wait for the Son of Heaven to rule, the eldest princess can rely on the power in her hands and this new official system to gradually deprive the general of the military power, and he will be one of these ornaments in the future.

Li Wei immediately realized that he had made a mistake in this matter. The eldest princess is using the power of the general to promote the implementation of the new policy, including the implementation of the new bureaucracy.

At this time, the military power in the hands of the general was a buffer between the imperial power and the struggle for power, and the general was like a peacemaker, maneuvering between the inner and outer courts, balancing the authority between the two.

When the new deal showed its powerful power and the eldest princess established supreme authority, the eldest princess turned around and used the new deal to restrain the general.

At this time, the foreign dynasty had already existed in name only, the eldest princess monopolized the imperial power, and the power of the Han Dynasty was integrated, and the military power in the hands of the general suddenly became the target of public criticism.

The eldest princess used the general's force to forge the New Deal, and when the New Deal was invincible, the general's force became an obstacle to the sustainable development of the New Deal.

The general has only three choices, either follow the New Deal and escort the growth of the New Deal, or be eaten by the New Deal and have no bones left, or take up his own force to destroy the New Deal.

What should the general choose? Obviously, before leaving Jinyang, the general was very keenly aware of the crisis.

The New Deal is a child of Northern Xinjiang and a child of the general, and the general has worked hard and hard for the growth of this child, and he will not destroy his own child for his own selfishness no matter what.

So he had no choice but to continue to protect the New Deal. But to protect the new policy is to hand over the military power, and the general will lose the only reliance on the eldest princess.

The authority of the eldest princess was unrestrained, and the first to bear the brunt of the harm was the imperial system, which was the foundation of the society and the existence of the new policy.

Before the general did not pacify the world, did not have Zhongxing Sheji, and did not fulfill the entrustment of the first emperor, the absolute authority of the imperial system could not be threatened in any way.

Otherwise, everything falls apart. The eldest princess cannot be equated with the absolute authority of the imperial system. But now that the Jinyang Imperial Court has merged the two, the huge crisis contained in this makes Li Wei shudder.

Li Wei suddenly came to his senses and immediately visited Prime Minister Cai Yong, Taiwei Xu Rong, and Imperial Historian Liu He, and carefully discussed the division of Xiangquan between Shangshutai and the foreign courts.

Once the functions of the governments are clarified, who should do what and who should not do what, then there will be no quarrel between the six Cao of Shangshutai and the three dukes and nine Qing Mansions.

Then Li Wei went to visit Xun You, the supervisor of the Central Library, and Liu Fang, the commander of the Central Library, to properly negotiate on the overlapping functions of the two governments.

With the efforts of Prime Minister Cai Yong, Shangshu Ling Li Wei, Zhongshu Jian Xun You and other ministers, the eldest princess agreed to this revision of the functions of the various governments aimed at balancing the imperial power, the relative power and the peace of the dispute between the relative powers.

In the new functions, Shangshutai has clear powers and responsibilities, which is equivalent to an intermediate institution of the inner and outer dynasties, although the functions have been reduced, but the authority is more centralized, which can effectively protect the power of the foreign courts, reduce the encroachment of the imperial power on the relative power, and also help the imperial power to restrain the excessive expansion of the relative power.

Li Wei was immediately respected by various factions in the DPRK and China in Jinyang, and his prestige was high. The stability, unity, and efficiency of the imperial court soon showed its might, especially at the critical moment of the Great War of the Central Plains, when this rejuvenated imperial court played an unexpected role in the advance of the army on the battlefield of the Central Plains.

The shortage of food and grass, which had been a great headache for the eldest princess in the past, was suddenly alleviated. Only then did the eldest princess understand that the shortage in Hebei was not grain and grass, but an effective system.

In the past, the confusion of the functions of the various governments caused many officials to blame each other, and one thing can be divided into ten things.

By the time it reached the court, it was estimated that the matter had already become out of control. After the Central Plains battlefield entered a state of stalemate, the eldest princess summoned the ministers to the Phoenix Terrace to discuss matters.

In this meeting, it was the Taiwei Xu Rong who explained the battle situation to the eldest princess and the ministers first. After completing the goal of taking Dingtao and Changyi in an early and quick battle, and rapidly advancing to the border of Henan, the first line of the ditch water and the Langtang canal, and forming a decisive battle with the rebels, our army had to stop and accumulate grain and grass due to the constraints of Hebei's financial resources and the long transportation of grain and grass.

While confronting the rebels for a long time, he is preparing to find an opportunity to fight a decisive battle. The decisive battle requires troops, and it needs to be burdened with grain and grass.

On the issue of troops, the general and I have already petitioned the imperial court, hoping that the imperial court will requisition the iron cavalry of the Hu tribe from the desert.

At present, Lord Xian Yufu has led his troops to drive away Kirby Bear. After Kirby Bear arrives at Daxianbei Mountain, it will take at least next spring to return to Huoyunyuan, so it is safe in the desert this year.

The rainy season in the desert will probably end in July, and if the imperial court decides to recruit troops from the desert, it will have to issue an order now.

In this way, by the beginning of September, Lord Xian Yufu would be able to lead about 50,000 to 70,000 iron horsemen south to the Central Plains.

The matter of grain and grass is more troublesome. After the spring harvest in May, the Hebei provinces successively collected a lot of grain. With the existing grain and grass stockpile, it can support the autumn harvest in October.

But the problem now is that if the imperial court agrees to requisition Hu Qi south to the Central Plains, we will need to urgently transport cattle, sheep and other livestock from the counties outside the Saiwai to Jizhou.

There is also horse material, according to 100,000 iron horses, the consumption of horse material in a day is very amazing. No matter how hard we tried, the amount of food and horse feed could not support the Iron Cavalry Army for more than a month, so the decisive battle must be fast, and we really can't afford to let these Iron Cavalry return to the desert as soon as possible after the battle.

Ordnance is being intensified. The workshops in Hedong, Jinyang, Handan, Yecheng, and Xindu are all rushing to produce them day and night, which can fully meet the needs of the Central Plains battlefield.

In addition, in order to cooperate with the decisive battle on the main battlefield in the Central Plains, we must use other battlefields to strike and consume the enemy as much as possible, so that the decisive battle situation will develop in a direction favorable to our side.

For this reason, Yang Feng in Hedong and Zang Ba in Qingzhou had to fight several battles on the battlefields of Guanzhong and Xuzhou. Whether to recruit the Hu iron cavalry from the desert to the south, the debate in the imperial court was fierce, and the differences were also very large.

The killing and plundering of the Hu cavalry battalion in Chenliu had a great shock to Jinyang, and the ministers who opposed the requisition of Hu cavalry were even more justified, while the ministers who had an ambiguous attitude towards the requisition of Hu cavalry in the past almost fell to the opposition camp together.

Ministers such as Tingwei Zhang Miao and Dasi Nong Zhong Miao believed that even if Hu Qi was very tame and obedient when he went south, the victory or defeat in the Central Plains War was unpredictable.

Once we lose, who can guarantee that these Hu people will be so docile and obedient under panic and fear?

Originally, Hebei may have been a small defeat, and if these Hu people make a fuss, it will inevitably become a fiasco. The Hu cavalry who went south this time was not 10,000 or 20,000, but more than 50,000.

In that year, Zhang Chun and Su Fuyan, the king of the Karasuma people, led an army to attack Jizhou, and the Karasuma Iron Cavalry burned and plundered all the way along the galloping road, causing terrible damage to Jizhou.

If you let the Hu people come again this time, Hebei will definitely be finished. Prime Minister Cai Yong, Zongzheng Xu Shao and other ministers believed that there were many advantages to using Hu cavalry to fight, which could not only consume the strength of the Hu people, but also save the wealth of the imperial court.

But it is too dangerous, and it is better to order temporary recruitment. As Lord Taiwei said just now, we can think of ways to do it on the Guanzhong or Xuzhou battlefields, and if we can achieve major results on the Guanzhong battlefield and the Xuzhou battlefield, we may be able to change the situation on the Central Plains battlefield, so as to help the general defeat the rebels and win the Central Plains War.

In the face of the persuasion of the ministers, the eldest princess was also shaken, and she was very afraid. In her opinion, she would rather let the army withdraw to Hebei to plan another attack than take such a big risk.

The matter was not contested and the matter was dismissed. Taiwei Xu Rong was very anxious and at a loss. If the time is missed, Hu Qi will not be able to go south.

At this moment, Zhang Yan and Ko Yi hurriedly played the imperial court, and the general fell ill and Chen Liu, and he jumped to the end of the day