Chapter 239 Joy falls from heaven
The time was pushed forward half a month.
Youzhou, after reading the "unexpected" information handed over by Jia Xu, Tian Ze showed a meaningful smile.
"Feng Xiao, as expected, you are right."
The situation that Tian Ze is facing now is very similar to the situation when Cao Cao faced Yuan Shao’s two sons in Hebei after Yuan Shao’s death.
Although they are powerful, if they want to send troops south again, even if it is just to attack southern Hebei, they will probably be attacked by the princes of the Central Plains.
When faced with a strong enemy, it is instinctive for the weak to unite.
The more fiercely Tian Ze attacks, the more united the princes in the Central Plains will be.
Especially when Tian Zegang won the Battle of Hebei and was at the peak of his popularity.
Therefore, Guo Jia suggested that Tian Ze temporarily give up the southern Hebei region, wait and see, and wait for the princes in the Central Plains to kill each other.
As expected, within two months of Tian Ze's silence, the princes of the Central Plains began to fight among themselves and even resorted to the act of "letting the wolf into the house".
"There are many heroic leaders in the Central Plains, and precisely because of this, they will not be content with the status quo. As long as we don't force them, internal strife is inevitable." Guo Jia said with a faint smile.
"But I didn't expect Cao Mengde to take the initiative to lure us to attack southern Hebei. He's really not afraid of my becoming more powerful." Looking at the so-called intelligence full of useful information in his hand, Tian Ze shook his head slightly.
Rather than being intelligence, this was more like a private letter from Cao Cao to him.
He directly analyzed the world situation after Liu Bei went south from his perspective, pointed out how rare the opportunity was, and suggested that he go south to southern Hebei.
"He was forced into a corner." Xun You silently expressed his sympathy and understanding.
"Yuan Benchu almost stole Xuzhou from Cao Cao, which not only reduced Cao Cao's development space, but also took control of the Central Plains. If Cao Cao didn't think of a solution, he would become a vassal of Yuan Shao."
"Instead of sitting and waiting for death, it is better to fight hard."
"Although Cao Cao's plan this time allowed us to grow stronger, it leveled the gap between us and Yuan Shao, and did not consume too much vitality. It can be regarded as a brilliant move, and the calculation is extremely sophisticated and almost impeccable."
Guo Jia added: "Besides, Ji'nan was going to be lost sooner or later. Without the danger of the Yellow River and lacking cavalry, they simply cannot resist us here."
"If we lose some of them earlier, it will only slow down Yuan Shao's development speed, which is actually a good thing for Cao Cao."
"This is a good thing for us, but I'm afraid Yuan Benchu will be furious." Cheng Yu said.
"However, Liu Bei's control over Jingzhou is ultimately a hidden danger. We have to take over Yizhou faster, otherwise if we really let him occupy the natural barrier of Yizhou, it will be a lot of trouble." Guo Jia said.
Tian Ze nodded when he heard this: "If we take over Ji'nan now, we can prepare to take over Sili next year, and then plan for Yizhou."
Although Tian Ze was surprised that Cao Cao plotted against Yuan Shao, he thought it was normal after thinking about it.
Just like when the Three Kingdoms period came, Sun Quan launched a surprise attack on Liu Bei's Jingzhou.
Although the two sides are allies, can they remain mentally balanced when they see the other side growing stronger while there is no progress on their own side?
Although Sun Quan's sneak attack almost completely cut off the possibility of Wu and Shu defeating Wei and unifying the world, from his point of view, wasn't it a wise move?
Did he have a chance to unify the country? Very little. He couldn't even take Hefei, while Shu Han was advancing triumphantly.
If he had not launched a surprise attack on Jingzhou, perhaps Shu Han would have occupied Xiliang, Sili and even part of the Central Plains, and its strength would be comparable to that of Cao Wei. What would he do then?
From the original Shu Han and Dong Wu, which were of similar strength and worked together to resist the powerful Cao Wei, it became the powerful Shu Han and Cao Wei, and the relatively weak Dong Wu.
Would Sun Quan still be qualified to be Liu Bei's ally at that time? Would Liu Bei still recognize this ally? Would Liu Bei not have the idea of directly conquering Wu?
Sun Quan understood this very well.
Food is the original sin.
When he realized that he was a weak player and could not win this game, he could only choose to plan from the standpoint of self-preservation. Backstabbing the rising Shu Han and taking Jingzhou became his inevitable choice.
Because of the composition of the soldiers of the Eastern Wu and the problems of their private subordinates, he saw no hope of crossing the Yangtze River, but a surprise attack on Shu Han was still possible.
If Shu Han becomes weak and Eastern Wu becomes strong, Sun Quan can once again take the initiative in the alliance and sit firmly on the Diaoyutai.
Moreover, if Jingzhou is captured, Jiangdong will be safe thanks to the natural barrier of the Yangtze River.
Although Sun Quan's choice ruined Shu Han and cut off his own slim chance of conquering the world, it made the Three Kingdoms completely stable and the regime of Eastern Wu continued smoothly for decades. From Sun Quan's point of view, it is really hard to say whether it is a gain or a loss.
The same is true of Cao Cao today.
Yuan Shao used the power of the situation to force Cao Cao to give up attacking Xuzhou. If he took control of Xuzhou, he would inevitably force Cao Cao to stab him in the back.
There is no such thing as taking advantage without suffering any loss.
You do the first day, I do the fifteenth. No one should think about it.
"I'm afraid Yuan Benchu knew that his theft of Xuzhou would lead to Cao Cao's backstab, but he had no choice." Jia Xu said dimly.
The so-called allies are just offensive and defensive alliances due to the situation, and there are calculations behind the scenes.
Cao Cao wanted to block Yuan Shao in Jizhou and Qingzhou and occupy Yanzhou and Xuzhou. In this way, Yuan Shao would be working for nothing.
The two of them schemed against each other, but they didn't dare to break up. So much so that even the "information" was passed on in a veiled manner, which was really funny.
"Without Cao Cao's help, Yuan Benchu will not be able to defend southern Hebei. As long as we take over Jizhou and divide it by the river, the pressure on our garrison will be much less." Cheng Yu said.
"There is civil unrest in the Central Plains, and we must not miss this opportunity." Tian Ze stood up slowly, looking towards the south with a smile.
"Order Guan Yu to lead his own troops and the troops of Le Jin and Ma Teng, with Xun You as the military advisor, and a total of 150,000 troops to advance southward, capture Bohai, Anping, Qinghe, Pingyuan and other places, and occupy the north of the Yellow River."
"Xu Huang led his own troops and Zhao Yun's troops, a total of 100,000 troops, to march to the southwest of Jizhou, and captured Zhao, Wei, Julu and other places, also using the Yellow River as the boundary."
"Zang Ba's troops should prepare for the attack in case Cao Cao sends out his troops."
"promise!"
Everyone was quite excited when they heard Tian Ze's deployment.
With an army of 300,000 soldiers marching south, even if Yuan Shao had extraordinary abilities, he could not make any waves.
"My lord, the Xianbei suffered a heavy blow before and are no longer able to pose an effective threat to the Great Xianbei Mountain. Can Zhang He be withdrawn from the offensive and defensive alien forces in the northern grasslands?" Cheng Yu suddenly asked.
Although Tian Ze has many talented generals under his command, the only ones who can serve as commanders and command an army of more than 100,000 are Xu Rong, Guan Yu, Zhang Liao, Zhang He and Xu Huang.
Zang Ba and Gan Ning can only be considered half, as both have great limitations. One is suitable for mountain warfare, and the other is suitable for water warfare.
Now the work of attracting refugees from the south is coming to an end.
Once all the areas north of the Yellow River were taken, Gan Ning would only need to lead the navy to assist, and then send a general to lead an army of more than 100,000 to garrison, which would make it difficult for the princes of the Central Plains to go north.
At that time, Tianze will be able to free up a large number of defensive troops.
These extra troops urgently needed a good commander, so Cheng Yu wanted to withdraw Zhang He from the northern border.
Tadashi nodded.
"Then transfer Zhang He back, and let Pang De lead the Great Xianbei Mountain, with Guan Hai as his deputy."
"Zhang He will lead his troops to temporarily station in Shangdang, and form a corner with Zhang Liao stationed in Taiyuan, which will also facilitate the attack on Sili later."
Cao Cao's move was a blessing from heaven for Tian Ze. Although he only took half of Jizhou, it was of great significance. It allowed Tian Ze to completely occupy Hebei and fill the gap.
Hebei's dominance has been fully achieved.
"Gongtai, you will have to work hard to resettle the refugees in Jizhou." Tian Ze looked at Chen Gong, who was much thinner than before, and said softly.
"Yes!" Chen Gong said with a dark face.
I knew it!
(End of this chapter)
