Chapter 234 Death is not a pity
After receiving Liu Bei's request for help, Liu Biao wrote a letter to Huang Zu without hesitation, ordering him to help.
Huang Zu and Liu Biao were still in their honeymoon period at this time, so he naturally agreed without hesitation to the order from Liu Biao, who had been grateful to him for his help.
Yuan Shu attacked Jiangxia some time ago. Although he did not gain any advantage from Huang Zu, he also killed many local people, which made Huang Zu very angry.
Even without Liu Bei's request for help, Huang Zu would not let Yuan Shu have an easy time. He now directly dispatched most of his troops to attack Lujiang, and retaliated with thunder and lightning.
The armies of both sides set out at the same time, catching Yuan Shu off guard. He lost most of his territory and was defeated.
"Damn it! Liu Bei, a mat weaver and shoe seller, and Huang Zu, a dilettante, actually dared to bully me like this!" Yuan Shu was furious when he learned the news from Runan.
At this time, his main energy was focused on the southern part of Xuzhou, and he never expected that Liu Bei and Huang Zu would suddenly attack at this time.
When Yuan Shao took over Xuzhou, the one who reacted the most was not Cao Cao or Liu Bei, but him.
As the eldest son of the Yuan family, Yuan Shu had always been at odds with Yuan Shao. After Gao Lan led his troops into Xuzhou, Yuan Shu quickly assembled his troops and stationed them around Guangling County.
Yuan Shu was not a fool. Although he was not very good at fighting, he had vision. He saw early on that Runan was easy to attack but difficult to defend, and was not a place to live for a long time, so he set his strategic core in the Jianghuai area.
This place is backed by the Huai River in the north and the Yangtze River in the south. It can attack the Central Plains when advancing and defend Jiangdong when retreating. It is definitely a strategic location.
When Yuan Shao took over Xuzhou, which was separated from him by the Huai River, he was naturally very resistant.
If Yuan Shao had not sent an envoy in time to express his intention of alliance and had not been humble in his words, he would have already led an army of 300,000 to the north to attack Xuzhou.
He doesn't care about the overall situation of the world.
But even though Yuan Shao bowed his head, Yuan Shu still did not let down his guard, and most of his troops were still concentrated in the Guangling area to guard against Yuan Shao's sneak attack.
But now, Yuan Shao was silent, but Liu Bei and Huang Zu attacked.
"My lord, Liu Bei and Huang Zu are attacking us together. We must repel them quickly. Otherwise, if we show signs of weakness, I'm afraid Yuan Benchu will take the opportunity to attack us." Yan Xiang advised.
"Yuan Benchu has just conquered Xuzhou. Although he has 200,000 troops stationed there, half of them are newly surrendered soldiers and cannot be fully utilized. Our army occupies the strategic location of the Huai River. It is enough to leave 100,000 soldiers and horses to garrison in Guangling, and the rest of the troops can be sent there!" Yang Hong said.
Hearing this, Yan Xiang frowned and said, "My lord, Sun Ce has become a powerful force in Jiangdong. We must be on guard. It is best to leave some troops to garrison there."
With the assistance of Zhou Yu, Sun Ce fought wars in Jiangdong and was helped by generals such as Cheng Pu and Huang Gai. In a short period of time, he managed to conquer a large territory, occupying Wujun and Danyang and had an army of tens of thousands.
Although he was still subordinate to Yuan Shu on the surface, in reality, like Sun Jian before him, he had long been at odds with him and was just waiting for an opportunity to break away.
Upon hearing this, Yang Hong glanced at Yuan Shu's expression calmly, and when he saw him nod slightly, he changed the subject.
"Ming Shang is right, but if this is the case, our army may not have enough manpower. Liu Bei and Huang Zu are coming together, so we need to distinguish the priorities and send troops appropriately."
Having served under Yuan Shu for so long, Yang Hong had already seen through Yuan Shu's true nature.
Although he is not a mediocre person, his ability is not very strong. It is only because of the strong foundation of the Yuan family, coupled with his talent and temperament, that he develops quite smoothly in the early stage.
Many local tyrants and bandits came to join him, and Yuan Shu accepted them all and treated them very well. His power expanded rapidly, and it became so powerful that he seemed to dominate the Central Plains.
However, in reality, although Yuan Shu had a large number of troops under his command, he had few good generals, and many of the troops were brought by generals who came to surrender. Yuan Shu did not recruit them into his own army, but let them manage it at will.
These generals are divided into complex factions and their combat capabilities vary.
Normally, they didn't feel like a big deal when dealing with a weakling like Liu Yao, or suppressing bandits and rebellions, but when it came to a tough battle, they became a mob.
This was also the main reason why Yuan Shu was defeated repeatedly.
Yang Hong was not optimistic about this battle.
Both Liu Bei and Huang Zu were not easy to deal with. With insufficient military strength, it would be a blessing for them to defeat one of them. To deal with both of them at the same time was nothing short of a pipe dream.
"Humph! Just two men, what's there to be afraid of!" Upon hearing this, Yuan Shu looked at Yang Hong with dissatisfaction and snorted coldly. Upon hearing this, Yang Hong shut up completely.
Good words cannot persuade a damned ghost. What he said before was indeed because of his own little thoughts, but this time he was completely considering Yuan Shu, and the result was as he expected.
"My lord, it is better to distinguish between the primary and secondary directions. In this way, you can have a place to advance and retreat." Yan Xiang also advised.
"Then we will focus on attacking Huang Zu," Yuan Shu said.
He had just had a fight with Huang Zu, and he was quite disgusted with Huang Zu who only knew how to defend himself and use his navy to launch surprise attacks.
Upon hearing this, Yan Xiang nodded.
This is what he thought too.
Compared with Huang Zu, who only occupied one county, Liu Bei, who controlled most of Yuzhou, was definitely much more difficult to deal with, so he would naturally have to pick on the weak ones first.
The best strategy is to defeat Huang Zu first and then join forces to attack Liu Bei.
Yuan Shu then ordered Ji Ling to lead an army of 100,000 to attack Huang Zu, and Zhang Xun to lead an army of 70,000 to fight against Zhang Fei.
As the number one general under Yuan Shu, Ji Ling was quite capable. Without considering the navy, he led the army to fight against Huang Zu who was fighting away from home and firmly gained the advantage.
Seeing the frequent good news coming from Lujiang, Yuan Shu couldn't help but feel pleased with himself, and even thought of taking the opportunity to capture Jiangxia and attack Jingzhou.
However, a bucket of cold water was soon poured on him.
Zhang Xun, who led troops to Runan, was defeated and almost his entire army was wiped out. Zhang Xun was killed, and the entire Runan was about to be completely lost.
"waste!"
Looking at the battle report in his hand, Yuan Shu was furious and said angrily.
"I lost 70,000 elite soldiers in one battle! Even if it was 70,000 pigs, it would take Zhang Fei several months to kill them!"
"Someone, come! Raid Zhang Xun's house. This kind of rubbish deserves death!"
Upon hearing this, Yan Xiang quickly waved his hand to dissuade him, saying, "Absolutely not! My lord, Zhang Xun died in battle for you after all. If you treat him this way, I'm afraid it will chill the hearts of the soldiers!"
"Hanxin? Look at what he has done. I trusted such a piece of trash in vain." Yuan Shu angrily threw the battle report on the ground and said hatefully.
Yan Xiang quickly picked it up, took a quick glance, and immediately understood why Yuan Shu was so angry.
Zhang Xun led an army of 70,000 to fight against Zhang Fei, and actually won several battles at the beginning.
Of course, this is obviously a tactic of the other party to show off their arrogance.
After Zhang Fei was defeated again, Zhang Xun led his troops to attack without hesitation, but was ambushed and surrounded by Zhang Fei.
If Zhang Xun had died in battle, it would have been fine. Dying on the battlefield could barely be considered a honorable death. With so many troops left, Zhang Fei couldn't kill many even if he chased them.
Unexpectedly, when he saw that the situation was hopeless, he led his troops to surrender without much fighting, and more than 50,000 soldiers became prisoners.
Zhang Xun also died in the end, not in battle, but was frightened to death by Zhang Fei's shout when he was kneeling and begging for mercy.
Even Yan Xiang didn't know what to say after reading this kind of thing.
It's really infuriating and ridiculous.
What Yuan Shu said was indeed right this time. This kind of trash deserves no death!
(End of this chapter)
