Chapter 193: The Enemy at the Gate
"Qian Zhao." Zang Ba said, his tone a little complicated.
Xun You was slightly stunned: "The new disciple Huangfu Song accepted?"
"Yeah." Zang Ba nodded with envy on his face.
The founding of the Jixia Academy, especially after the release of the Hundred Schools of Thought Inheritance List, attracted a large number of hermit scholars and people from various schools of thought.
Everyone can see that a transcendent place like the Jixia Academy is undoubtedly the best place to escape from the world, learn, study, and become famous.
Even Huangfu Song, who originally planned to retire in Chang'an, was tempted to go there.
Although Li Jue and Guo Si were two fools with violent temperaments and committed arson, murder and looting, they still respected Huangfu Song, the descendant of the "Three Great Masters of Liangzhou", and even gave him the position of Grand Marshal.
When Huangfu Song asked to retire from the world, the two agreed without hesitation.
They knew that Huangfu Song valued integrity and was careful about his reputation, and since he had spoken, he would definitely not go back on his word.
Huangfu Song came all the way to the Jixia Academy in Youzhou, and without any hesitation, he became the leader of the military strategists, preparing to rejuvenate his second spring in life in academics.
Tian Ze had complicated feelings towards this guy, a mixture of respect and disdain, so he simply decided to turn a blind eye to him.
Huangfu Song was a cautious man. He taught many military students, but he avoided meeting the more famous generals under Tian Ze for fear of being involved in scandals.
Zang Ba, who came from a grassroots background, was able to achieve what he has today thanks to his hard work in self-study and extraordinary understanding.
But he also knew that there was still some gap between him and those generals who came from an orthodox military background, so he also wanted to improve himself, but Huangfu Song refused to accept him.
In order to pass on the art of war and leave a good name for himself, Huangfu Song accepted three scholars with good qualifications and clean backgrounds as his disciples, one of whom was Qian Zhao.
It will only be two or three months before I am called upon to take up an official post.
Because he came from a noble family, had a good foundation and was very intelligent, Huangfu Song taught him all the theories of the religion and then allowed him to take up an official position. He only said, "Don't come to him to learn from me if you get into trouble."
After Qian Zhao joined the army, he directly served under Zang Ba. After being tested by Zang Ba, he was found to have a solid theoretical foundation and profound attainments in military tactics. Most importantly, he had a calm and steady temperament, and was good at both civil and military affairs, and was not a person who only talked about military affairs on paper.
After many tests in the army, Qian Zhao was promoted step by step with his outstanding performance and was directly appointed by Zang Ba as the defender of Tumen Pass.
"Since he is stationed there, it shouldn't be a big deal." Xun You felt relieved.
Who is Huangfu Song? Putting aside his character, his status in military strategy is the same as that of Lu Bu in a duel between generals.
Cao Cao, Sun Jian, Liu Bei, Dong Zhuo and others were all his subordinates, and even many of his methods of leading troops were learned from him.
Since Huangfu Song dared to release Qian Zhao, it proved that his ability must be good, otherwise he would lose face. Huangfu Song was such a face-conscious person, it was impossible for him to do such a thing.
"Zijing is quite talented, and his natural ability to pacify people can stabilize the morale of the army to a great extent. In terms of the ability to guard the pass, he is even better than me." Zang Ba exclaimed.
There are so many heroes in the world!
"That's good, but the extra troops should be deployed around Tumen Pass as much as possible to prevent any accidents. Also, arrange for someone to contact Gongming and ask him to pay more attention to the defense of Tumen Pass."
"I understand." Zang Ba nodded.
"We must remain vigilant in the next few months and guard against enemy sneak attacks. Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and Lu Bu have many capable people under their command!" Xun You warned.
"Don't worry, military advisor."
Zang Ba's eyes were full of caution. Li Ru's visit almost scared him. If the soldiers under Lu Bu were so elusive, he might not be able to resist them if he was relaxed. "It's a pity that the lord's gift 'map' can only be shared with one person, otherwise, we wouldn't have much pressure to defend." Xun You said with a little regret.
It goes without saying that Tian Ze's talent can play a powerful role in combat, but unfortunately there are still some limitations and it can only be shared with one person at present.
Given Tian Ze's cautious character, he would naturally place all the troops in the most critical position, which is Guan Yu's army.
After all, there is almost no need to worry about the threat from the Xianbei. Lu Bu is the attacked party, and Cao Cao is far away from Youzhou. Tian Ze’s only worry is Yuan Shao’s attack on Youzhou. Sharing the mini-map with Guan Yu is undoubtedly the best choice.
They can attack when advancing and defend when retreating, and with Cheng Yu's assistance, they will definitely be safe.
"But fortunately, Bingzhou and the Yunchang Army are not too far away, so the news can be transmitted quickly. Even if we have any problems, we should have time to react and make up for it."
Xun You knew very well that this battle would be of a massive scale and there would probably be wars on all sides. At this time, how the various departments coordinated and how to deal with any problems that arose became the most critical issues.
With Tianze's small map, a large part of the risks can be avoided, and the speed of reaction and information transmission can be improved. It can be called a magic weapon for large-scale battles.
Just as Xun You and Zang Ba continued to prepare and deduce how to defend next, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and Lu Bu made their moves at the same time.
Yuan Shao personally led an army of 100,000, with Shen Pei as the commander, Yan Liang and Wen Chou as the vanguard, and brought Han Meng, Chunyu Qiong, Ju Shou and Xu You, marching westward from Yecheng, passing Shexian and heading straight for Huguan.
At the same time, Lu Bu also sent Hao Meng and Cao Xing to lead 20,000 infantrymen from west to east, passing Tunliu and heading straight for Huguan.
Cao Cao also led an army of 100,000, with Xiahou Yuan and Cao Chun as the vanguard, and took Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Zhu Ling, Xi Zhicai, Mao Jie, and Jia Kui, and marched from Henei to Linlu County in the north, heading straight for Huguan.
The three armies marched out at the same time without any prior arrangement, and their momentum was so huge that Zang Ba was immediately frightened.
"Military Advisor, do Yuan Shao and Cao Cao really want to meet with Lu Fengxian first and join forces to start a war with our army in Bingzhou? Aren't they afraid that our lord's troops will march to Jizhou?" Zang Ba couldn't help but feel a little confused.
More than 200,000 troops arrived all of a sudden, and were attacked from both inside and outside. Even if he was confident, he still felt enormous pressure.
"It's okay. Huguan is extremely dangerous. Even an army of 200,000 cannot deploy. We can hold on here and hold out for three months without any problem. By then, the lord will surely have taken action." Xun You said nonchalantly.
Huguan, which had been reinforced several times by Zang Ba, was impregnable, and the soldiers of Zang Ba's army were all elite soldiers. Huguan not only had sufficient food and grass, but also a large number of arrows, crossbows and various city defense equipment.
On the other hand, Hukou Pass, which originally had the potential to be a loophole, was abandoned as early as when Zang Ba entered the Taihang Mountains and was weighing the pros and cons of whether to adopt a double-layer defense or concentrate his forces.
It took a huge amount of manpower and nearly a year to completely block the pass and the surrounding roads, making them impassable.
Xun You was not worried at all about the enemy attacking the city.
Such a strong pass would never fall in a short period of time unless there were problems within the system or they were attacked by surprise.
If Yuan, Cao and Lu really took Huguan as their main attack direction, Xun You would actually relax a little.
Because this means that they have tied down an army of more than 200,000 with only ten thousand soldiers, and will definitely have an advantage in the next battle.
But Xun You was worried that this was just a trick.
Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were both cunning men, how could they adopt such a crude strategy?
In addition, Yuan Shao only dispatched 100,000 troops, and there were at least 200,000 troops hidden and waiting for an opportunity to move. Moreover, the backbone of Yuan Shao's army, Gao Gan, had not yet appeared.
(End of this chapter)
