Chapter 240 Entering the game personally
When Yuan Shao heard the news that Tian Ze had led an army of 250,000 soldiers, led by Guan Yu and Xu Huang, to march south to Jizhou, his face turned pale.
Unwilling to give up, he immediately sent a message to Cao Cao and Liu Bei.
The result was naturally not as expected.
Liu Bei was busy taking over Jingzhou, so he had no time to care about his trivial matters.
Moreover, Tian Ze had already sent him a letter, stating that he only wanted the land of Ji'nan. Yuan Shao could not defend this land and would lose it sooner or later. Tian Ze did not attack the Central Plains, so Liu Bei naturally could not protect Yuan Shao.
As for Cao Cao, that is even more impossible.
He was the one who planned this matter, so how could he shoot himself in the foot?
Unless Tian Ze really went south to the Central Plains, Cao Cao would not care even if Yuan Shao was killed by Tian Ze.
You, Yuan Benchu, now remember to consider the overall situation. When you stole Xuzhou, you didn't consider the feelings of your ally at all, and didn't even leave a sip of soup for yourself.
If you hadn't been so outrageous, would I have stabbed you in the back?
It's not so easy to get a bargain.
Yuan Shao, who suffered the backlash, had to bear it alone and gathered heavy troops in Qingzhou and southern Hebei.
Although Yuan Shao still has an army of more than 400,000 at his disposal, nearly 100,000 of them are newly acquired soldiers from Xuzhou who have not yet been reorganized and cannot be deployed.
Not only that, but tens of thousands of troops will be stationed in Xuzhou just in case.
The number of troops that could be mobilized was no more than 200,000, and there were very few well-trained veterans among them.
In the battle of Hebei, most of Yuan Shao's elite troops were killed, and the actual losses were far higher than they appeared.
The troop strength comparison was almost one to one. The opponent was the extremely elite Tian Ze Army, while our side was mostly composed of new recruits and lacked cavalry. Southern Hebei was a plain. How could this battle be fought?
Yuan Shao had only one option, which was to defend to the death.
Even though Yuan Shao is weak now, he still has the support of the Jizhou families, and his power is deeply rooted. Even if he declines, he will not be easy to deal with if he insists on defending.
You know, in history, even after Yuan Shao's death, it took Cao Cao eight years to unify Hebei, which was not much less time than the time it took to pacify the Central Plains.
With Gao Gan and Gao Lan as generals, they adopted a strategy of fighting and retreating, relying on the solid city and vast strategic buffer for defense.
Yuan Shao personally took charge of the rear, while Shen Pei and Ju Su took overall command, relying on considerable forces to stop the enemy at every level. When they were forced into a desperate situation, they used all their skills.
Defending the city, fighting in the streets, harassing from behind, and setting up ambushes...
If the enemy sent out a large army to besiege, they would leave a small force behind to bluff and launch a counterattack against the enemy's weak points. If the enemy was short of troops, they would send more soldiers to defend the place to the death, and if they could not hold on, they would flee.
An army will not fight unless it has five soldiers, and a city will not be surrounded unless it has ten soldiers.
When Yuan Shao was willing to sacrifice troops and cities, it really gave Guan Yu and Xu Huang a headache.
"how?"
Guan Yu had just led an army of 50,000 and surrounded Xindu County before Yuan Shao's army withdrew. He then sent scouts to investigate the situation.
After the scout explained the situation, Guan Yu frowned.
There were 5,000 defenders in the city, so they couldn't escape anyway. But Yuan Shao had no intention of coming to rescue them, and didn't give them any chance to surround and attack the reinforcements.
Not only that, Yuan Shao actually started to go around and prepare to attack Anping County.
"Is it just bluffing again?"
Guan Yu glanced at the red dot on the "mini map" and couldn't help but frown.
"But we must be on guard." Xun You sighed and said, "Yuan Shao will not be stingy with these thousands of troops." This time with the army, he finally understood why Guan Yu, with his ability and the "small map", was restrained by Gao Lan. The opponent's style of play was too rogue.
It was purely a tactic of adding fuel to the fire, sending soldiers to their deaths to slow down their attack.
If they continued to attack cities one after another, they would have to wait until winter to take over southern Hebei. Moreover, this was when they had sufficient siege equipment.
"Yuan Shao's main force should be near Ganling County. If Shou Cheng leads the cavalry to attack them by surprise, will there be a chance to destroy them?" Guan Yu asked.
"Don't have such thoughts. In this battle, we have the advantage. If we continue like this, we can take over southern Hebei this year. There is no need to rush." Xun You shook his head while looking in the direction of Ganling.
It is a well-known fact that Yuan Shao is good at fighting against the wind.
I'm afraid 20,000 cavalrymen are not safe.
Moreover, a surprise attack on Ganling would inevitably require passing through Jie Bridge, which is an extremely suitable place for ambushing cavalry.
"Yuan Shao's fighting style injures 800 enemies but 1,000 of his own. Although it slows down our attack speed, the damage to himself will definitely not be small."
"We just took a little longer. We can afford to wait for half a year."
When you have the advantage, who would want to try a sneak attack? Just push forward and win. Why give the enemy a chance to take advantage?
Guan Yu frowned when he heard this, but he had to nod.
South of Jie Bridge, Yuan Shao was anxiously waiting for news from the spies, but Guan Yu had been advancing slowly and had not shown any signs of being impatient or reckless.
"My lord, I'm afraid we won't get the opportunity we want." Ju Su stood south of the Pan River, looking at the rushing river and the narrow boundary bridge, and couldn't help but sigh.
"Gong Yu, Guan Yu has an arrogant personality. If we don't try to provoke him, perhaps we can succeed." Shen Pei asked with a little reluctance.
"It's difficult." Xu You casually handed over a piece of information.
"Xun You is the military advisor of Guan Yu's army. He has a long history under Tian Ze and has a calm temperament. I'm afraid Guan Yu's army will not fall for this trick. Unless..."
Seeing Xu You hesitated to speak, Yuan Shao smiled faintly: "Just say it, it's nothing more than using me as bait."
"My lord, please forgive me!" Xu You quickly pleaded guilty.
Everyone present knew this truth, but they all tacitly did not mention it. Only he said it out loud.
Yuan Shao waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. If I don't get involved, how can I reverse the situation?"
"Gong Yu, I'll leave this matter to you. I just need one chance, a chance to kill Guan Yu." Yuan Shao said in a deep voice.
Although the loss of southern Hebei was inevitable, Yuan Shao was unwilling to surrender like this.
He knew very well what the consequences would be if all of Hebei was returned to farming, and he knew even more clearly how huge a force Tian Ze would be able to release after he was freed from worries because of the natural barrier of the Yellow River.
Therefore, he wanted to take the opportunity to cut off Tian Ze's arm and break the "fastest sword" of Guan Yu, Tian Ze's subordinate.
Compared with the invincible Zhang Liao and the well-disciplined Xu Huang, although Guan Yu was a little too tough and had certain flaws, his military power was really too sharp.
In the battle of Hebei, even though Gao Lan had a large army under his command, he was still forced to retreat step by step, and lost nearly two counties in a short period of time. The pressure on Hebei still scares Gao Lan to this day.
Yuan Shao would not be able to sleep well unless he got rid of this sharp knife.
"Don't worry, my lord. I will do my best." Ju Su said solemnly.
Looking at the turbulent water of Pan River in front of him, Ju Su couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
(End of this chapter)
