Gao Shun pondered for a moment, looked back at Xun Di, and asked, "Is there a reward for the scout?" ”

The scout replied that Zhu Ling was retreating in the direction of Yangdu with his army. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info" Xun Di replied, "Zhu Ling lost too much in this battle, not only did he lose more than half of his troops, but he also lost all his grain and grass, so I guess he won't stay in Yang for too long." Yangdu is a small city, it is impossible to have grain and grass, he can only withdraw to the county to govern Kaiyang City in order to regroup his troops and hold on to the city. ”

Gao Shun turned his gaze to Zang Ba. Whether Zhu Ling will evacuate Yang City in a hurry, Zang Ba's opinion should be more reliable, after all, he and Zhu Ling have worked together for many years, and they are too familiar with Zhu Ling's character.

Zang Ba shook his head and said, "In my opinion, Zhu Ling will not withdraw to Kaiyang City, he will definitely stay in Yangdu to block our attack." ”

Gao Shun glanced at the guards behind him. The two guards took out the map and spread it out in front of everyone. The generals gathered in front of the map.

The horsewhip in Zang Ba's hand pointed to Kaiyang City on the map, and said to everyone: "Everyone, please see, Kaiyang City is located at the confluence of the Yishui River and the Wushui River. If you want to take Kaiyang City, you must first take the two cities of Yangdu and Linyi, and attack from the north. ”

"Kaiyang City is a hundred miles away from Yangdu and sixty miles away from Linyi, and the transportation of grain and grass is convenient, so Zhu Ling does not need to retreat to Kaiyang at all. As long as he holds Yangdu and Linyi, he can block us from capturing Kaiyang and the entire territory of Langya County. Zang Ba looked up at everyone, "In addition, Zhu Ling has an arrogant temperament and will not admit defeat easily. He was a little defeated in this battle, and he was unwilling, so he would definitely stick to Yangdu and wait for an opportunity to launch a counterattack. ”

"Zhu Ling is defending Yangdu and Linyi to the death, forcing us to attack the city, which will drag us on the front line of the Yishui River." Li Yi frowned and said, "In this way, it will be difficult for us to capture Langya County and force the East China Sea in the near future, let alone force Liu Bei to divide troops to support Zhu Ling." If we can't quickly contain the forces in Xuzhou, it means that we can't respond to the Central Plains battlefield and fail to complete the orders issued by the lord. No matter how well this Jucheng fights, it's useless, and there is no credit at all. ”

Gao Shun thought for a long time and said slowly: "Two days ago, Chang Yuchun sent a letter from Xingyuan. At present, we must not only assume the responsibility of containing Xuzhou's troops, but also quickly move north into Lu and Rencheng, and stabilize the southern counties of Yanzhou. In addition, it is necessary to divide troops into the southern part of Taishan County, so that he and Wei Yan and Guan Hai can attack Taishan County in the north and south, and strive to take Taishan County in the shortest possible time and stabilize the northeastern counties of Yanzhou. ”

Zang Ba and the generals looked at each other, and their faces were embarrassed. It is too difficult for Chang Yuchun's order to be fully implemented. Occupying Langya County is a headache now, let alone waving troops north to attack Yanzhou.

"Kaiyang can't fight." Gao Shun said, "Although Zhu Ling suffered a lot of losses in this battle, he still has at least half of his troops, as well as the grain and grass accumulated in Kaiyang, if we forcibly attack, our troop losses will be too great." The army is insufficient, not only can we not contain the forces of Xuzhou, but also cannot go north to attack Yanzhou, so Kaiyang cannot be attacked, but can only outwit. ”

"What is the general's plan?" Wu Dun asked excitedly. At this time, he had admired Gao Shun to the extreme. Jucheng's victory was entirely due to Gao Shun's clever plan. If it weren't for Gao Shun's strategy, the 50,000 army would attack Jucheng, where Zhu Ling's 35,000 army was stationed, and there would be no chance of winning at all.

"Xuangao, after Liu Bei brought the main force of the Xuzhou army to the Jianghuai battlefield, is there only Zhu Ling's army left in Xuzhou?" Gao Shun turned his head and asked Zang domineering.

"Chen Deng of Guangling County still has 5,000 people." Zang Ba immediately said, "The incident of Sun Jian's attack on Xuzhou the year before last made Liu Bei very wary of Jiangdong. Since Sun Ce dared to betray Yuan Shu, of course, he could also betray the alliance and fight Xuzhou again. In addition, Jian Yong in Pengcheng still has some people. Pengcheng is located in the southern part of the Central Plains, bordering Yanzhou and Yuzhou, and it is natural to garrison and defend. ”

"Where's Tokai-gun?" Gao Shun asked, "Donghai County is the largest county in Xuzhou, and the county governance of Tancheng is the location of the Xuzhou Thorn History Department, and it is also the main storage area of Xuzhou's grain and grass baggage. ”

"Since the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army uprising, Langya, Donghai, these counties adjacent to Mount Tai have been robbed repeatedly, so Tao Qian moved the Thorn History Department to Pengcheng. Now Xuzhou's Thorn History Department is still in Pengcheng, and Xuzhou's grain and grass baggage are mainly stored in Pengcheng. Zang Ba looked at Gao Shun and said thoughtfully, "To the north of Donghai County is Langya County, where Zhu Ling's army is located. To the west is the state of Pengcheng, with Jian Yong's army. To the south is Gwangling County, where Chen Deng's army is located. Therefore, there is no need to garrison heavy troops in the East China Sea. ”

"There are no heavy troops in Tancheng in Donghai County?" Gao Shun asked again.

"Nope." Zang Ba shook his head affirmatively, looked at Gao Shun and asked in surprise, "Doesn't the general want to travel five hundred miles long distance, capture Tancheng, and cut off Zhu Ling's retreat?" ”

"Okay?" Gao Shun smiled modestly, "You have been in Xuzhou for more than ten years and are very familiar with Xuzhou, do you say it's okay?" If this strategy works, we will not only cut off Zhu Ling's retreat and cut off his supply of grain and grass, but also directly threaten the hinterland of Xuzhou, and Pengcheng will directly face our attack. In such a critical situation in Xuzhou, Liu Bei was bound to divide his troops to support Xuzhou, so that we not only contained the troops in Xuzhou, but also forced Guan Zhuling's army away from Kaiyang without spending a single soldier, and easily took the entire territory of Langya County. ”

Xun Di, Li Yi, Wu Ba and others were enlightened, and whispered around the map. Yin Li and Wu Dun's eyes showed admiration.

Zang Ba was silent for a long time, and hesitated: "General, the biggest problem in running five hundred miles is not the hiding of the whereabouts of the army, nor the supply of grain and grass, but time. In order to achieve the goal of threatening the hinterland of Xuzhou and forcing Zhu Ling to give up Langya County to return to the East China Sea, we not only need surprise attacks, but also time. If Zhu Ling pinned his hopes for the rescue of the East China Sea on Pengcheng Jian Yong and the army that returned to Xuzhou, he could hold on to Kaiyang, and then wait for the opportunity to form a flank from the east and west. As a result, the battle situation in Xuzhou has formed a stalemate. Zhu Ling has time, but we don't have time, we need to make a quick decision. ”

Zang Ba's words hit the nail on the head and directly pointed out the crux of the army's current predicament. Time, what the army needs is time. The Great War of the Central Plains had begun, and Wei Yan's offensive in Jibei had also begun, and the general urgently needed Gao Shun's army to enter the southern counties of Yanzhou to stabilize the main force to attack the rear of the army as quickly as possible.

"What is the general's plan?" Zang Ba looked at Gao Shun with a solemn expression and asked, "Attacking the East China Sea, Xuzhou is in an emergency, Liu Bei will definitely divide his troops to help, the problem is how to make Zhu Ling quickly retreat to the East China Sea, so that we can immediately divide our troops to the north." ”

Gao Shun said with a smile: "This method, for other princes, except for Sun Ce and Zhou Yu in Jiangdong, is almost difficult to achieve, but for our northern Xinjiang, it is very simple." Nine years ago, the lord did this once; And four years ago, the lord had such an action again, and the other two parties at that time were Cao Cao and Liu Bei. ”

Listening to Gao Shun's words, a flash of lightning flashed in Zang Ba's mind, and a buried memory in his heart resurfaced.

………………

Jiyin County, Yanzhou, Dingtao.

The four gates of Dingtao City are wide open, the flow of people is like a tide, the carriages and horses are like shuttles, a lively scene, but because of the lack of laughter and laughter in this lively atmosphere, the air is particularly depressed and tense.

Cao Ren stood on the city tower, looking at the Jishui River in the distance, anxious.

After receiving the news that the Northern Xinjiang Army crossed the river to the south to attack the Central Plains, Cheng Yu, Cao Ren, Mao Jue and other civil and military officials who remained in Yanzhou began to prepare for the battle. The fortified walls cleared the wilderness, evacuated personnel and property, urgently recruited soldiers, requisitioned people's husbands, stockpiled grain and grass, asked Yuan Shao and Liu Biao for help, and so on, the urgent things to be solved piled up, and the people were almost breathless, but with the urgent reports coming back from the front line one after another, everyone was not only out of breath, but felt suffocated and desperate.

In the face of the powerful Northern Xinjiang Army roaring down like a mountain and a sea, and in the face of Hebei, which has been carefully planned for more than a year, these civil and military officials under Cao Cao actually know very well in their hearts that this battle has been lost, and if they want to regain the lost advantage and avoid the fate of defeat, they must not only block the Northern Xinjiang Army on the front line of Dingtao and Changyi, but also need strong backup, and need to mobilize all the forces that can be mobilized to join forces to fight against Hebei, a powerful and almost irresistible enemy.

The next thing to consider in the future is to use the existing forces to contain the offensive momentum of the Northern Xinjiang Army and stop the fierce tiger of the Northern Xinjiang Army.

Cao Cao's subordinates stayed awake day and night for this, trying their best to find a way to stop the attack.

However, worse news was delivered to Dingtao, and Puyang was lost.

The loss of Puyang meant that the Northern Xinjiang Army had a closer route to transport troops and grain and grass, and the crisis in Dingtao suddenly intensified.

Although there were not many battles with the Northern Xinjiang Army, it was these few encounters that left a deep impression on Cao Ren. Especially in the two battles with the Northern Xinjiang Army the year before last and last year, he lost too badly. Therefore, for the Northern Frontier Army, Cao Ren has a fear from the bottom of his heart.

Cao Ren sighed, pointed to the boats on the Jishui River, and said to Mao Jue beside him, "Is that the grain transported from Chengshi City?" ”

"This batch is grain, and the next batch is the family members of the government officials." Mao Jue hated and said, "Li Yi's methods are cruel and he continues to slaughter the city. Yanzhou suffered this catastrophe, and I don't know which year it will be able to recover. ”

"A little food should be set aside for Miaocai." Cao Ren said, "Whether Chengshi City can be defended is directly related to the safety of Dingtao and Changyi, so I want Miaocai to withdraw to Chengshi City as soon as possible, so as not to be continuously chased and beaten by the Northern Xinjiang Army, which will cause the whole army to be exhausted and lose Chengshi City in a blink of an eye." I can't afford to lose it. ”

Mao Jue shook his head and said, "Time is too tight, let's let General Xiahou temporarily hold on to Chengyang for a few days." ”

"How many days?" Cao Ren smiled bitterly, "A few days later, the city will be under the Northern Frontier Army." (To be continued.) )