Chapter 195: Concealing the truth
Xu You's talent is focused on intelligence collection, integration and judgment, which is very comprehensive. The only drawback is that it requires a lot of money. The more money you have, the more intelligence you can get.
But the key point is that although Yuan Shao was richer than Cao Cao and other princes, the money and food he had was still stretched to the limit to supply an army of nearly 400,000.
However, before the battle started, Yuan Shao spent a lot of money to let Xu You get some information about Tian Ze just in case.
Now that chaos has become an inevitable outcome in the world, almost all the princes have arranged spies and have their own unique intelligence systems, and many strategists have outstanding skills in intelligence.
For example, Jia Xu, Guo Jia and Xun You under Tian Ze, Xi Zhicai and Mao Jie under Cao Cao, Jian Yong under Liu Bei, etc.
As for the talents of the civil and military officials under the various princes, as long as they are not too difficult to guess, and have shown them, there are basically clues to follow, so it is not impossible to figure them out.
However, it is difficult for people with extraordinary talents like Tian Ze, and those who are used to hiding behind the scenes like Jia Xu and Xun Chen to obtain intelligence.
Yuan Shao was really curious about Tian Ze's talent, so he gritted his teeth and rewarded Xu You with a large amount of gold and silver, and only then did he find out some of Tian Ze's natural abilities.
"Although we have not yet fully explored Tian Chengshou's talent, based on his previous battles and performance, we have speculated that it should be related to the map." Ju Shou reported the situation, but avoided the main point and removed the existence of Xu You.
Although they were allies at the time, they would soon become enemies, so Ju Su naturally could not expose himself.
"He has been to the Taihang Mountains in person before. He has probably mastered the terrain here. All the paths have been blocked and monitored."
"The few paths we knew about earlier, even though they could only accommodate one person, were blocked."
"So, don't worry about the small road. The road we can find can only be a trap prepared by the other party for us. At present, there are only two roads in front of us, Huguan and Tumenguan." Ju Su sighed.
At this time, he had to admire Yuan Shao's wisdom.
If they didn't know this news, perhaps they would really consider the issue of the small road.
After all, the Taihang Mountains are so large, steep and towering, there must be some unknown paths. If we find them, at least we can establish contact with Lu Bu's army.
It would be good to have one hundred more soldiers to support him, which would have a completely different meaning. As for the logistics issue, Lu Bu is not short of money and food now.
Cao Cao was jealous of the money and food this guy earned from selling to foreigners from Tian Ze.
"That may be difficult." Xi Zhicai frowned.
Attacking the checkpoint by force is a very bad strategy.
Even though they had several or even dozens of times more troops, they were unable to deploy them on the dangerous and narrow official roads around Huguan, and the only tactic for attacking the city was to adopt the tactic of adding fuel to the fire.
Given the height and solidity of Huguan, there was no way to break into the city, and it was also extremely difficult to break into the city. As long as the enemy had a few thousand defenders and there were no internal problems, it would not be difficult for them to hold out for three to five months.
"The defending general Zang Ba is a brave general under Tian Ze. He is good at using strange tactics, but he is also quite steady. I heard that Xun You and Taishi Ci have already led their troops into the Taihang Mountains. I'm afraid it's unlikely that they can trick them into leaving the mountains," said Ju Su.
"What's the situation at Tumen Pass?" asked Cao Cao.
"The military strength of Tumen Pass is slightly weaker, but the pass is equally dangerous, and its strategic significance is far less than that of Huguan."
"Huguan controls a wide area. Controlling Huguan can radiate the entire southern part of the Taihang Mountains. Tumenguan, on the other hand, cannot achieve this effect. It can only be said to have opened up the passage between Jizhou and Bingzhou."
When Cao Cao heard this, a gleam of light suddenly flashed in his eyes, and he looked at Yuan Shao and Ju Su meaningfully.
"I guess you two must have already made a plan."
Yuan Shao smiled slightly. As the greatest leader of the late Han Dynasty, how could he just decide to fight to the death at Huguan, which was obviously a tough nut to crack? Naturally, he had already made a plan.
"Tian Chengshou has deep roots, abundant money and food, and strong military force. He is extremely steady in using his troops, and we can't find any flaws at all. Even if we win this battle, we are powerless to attack Youzhou. We can only block his attack." "However, precisely because he seeks stability, he has to consider too many things and dares not take risks." Yuan Shao said in a deep voice.
"Guan Yu and Xu Huang led their troops to garrison the northern and northwest of Jizhou, and the rest of the main force had to attack Bingzhou. The troops he could mobilize were relatively limited."
"Youzhou has many elite soldiers. If Tian Ze concentrates on defense, we will not be able to outlast him, whether it is money or manpower. Therefore, we must attack where he must rescue and lure him out of his hole."
"Envoy Yuan is right, but the relatively limited number of troops that can be mobilized from Tian Ze you mentioned is probably no less than 50,000." Xi Zhicai said dimly.
There is nothing wrong with the analysis, but the opponent has too much capital, and even a little bit of military force will be enough to give them a headache.
"So, we need another strategy," Ju Su said.
"True and false, concealing the truth from the world." Cao Cao said calmly.
"General Cao is indeed a man of extraordinary wisdom." Ju Su said with a smile.
"Benchu, how many troops are you going to send out this time?" Cao Cao couldn't help but ask.
"Three hundred thousand." Yuan Shao said lightly.
Cao Cao's mouth stiffened slightly.
very good, very powerful!
As expected of the two great tycoons in the north, they sent out troops in units of 100,000. I am afraid that my troops can only be used as a detachment in the eyes of the other side.
"It seems that Envoy Yuan is very afraid of Tian Chengshou!" Xi Zhicai said meaningfully.
"You don't understand now, but you will understand in the future." Yuan Shao said with a complicated expression, and his right hand couldn't help but grasp the hilt of the sword.
"Tian Chengshou is very powerful! Very powerful! So powerful that I feel that if we don't put all the troops we can use to fight, there will be no hope of winning this battle."
Youzhou was isolated in the north, far away from the Central Plains, and the princes of the world had little communication with it.
Although everyone knew that Tian Ze was very strong, they were more impressed by how much money he had, and did not have a very deep understanding of his civilian and military strength.
After all, I am already busy with the current situation and have no time to care about so many things.
Only Yuan Shao, the unlucky guy who had fought against Tian Ze many times, openly and secretly, knew how great the pressure was to be Tian Ze's neighbor and how strong Tian Ze was.
The more he learned, the more desperate Yuan Shao became.
Therefore, when Tian Ze went south to Bingzhou this time, Yuan Shao was more anxious than Lu Bu. He immediately contacted Cao Cao and Xianbei without any hesitation.
"Tian Chengshou, is it really that scary?"
Seeing Yuan Shao's serious look, Cao Cao's attitude changed and he asked solemnly.
"What do you think of a person who can quietly build a new Han Dynasty in the north, with more than 10 million people, more than 1 billion acres of fertile land, and no less than 500,000 soldiers?" Yuan Shao asked back.
"What makes me most desperate is that he is too stable!"
(End of this chapter)
