Chapter 346 Unfounded Worry
On the side of Gaotang County, in the camp, Zhao Yun stood in front of the camp, holding a spear and riding a horse, looking at the four powerful armies of princes in the distance, and a rare hint of excitement appeared in his usually calm eyes.
"Zilong, don't be careless. We have achieved our goal. Next, we just need to hold on until our lord arrives." Xun You said in a deep voice.
Zhao Yun nodded.
Although his blood was boiling, he remained calm.
He would never be able to defeat the four princes if they came out together, so he had no intention of taking the initiative to attack, but was prepared to defend this place to the death.
Xun You felt relieved when he saw this.
No matter when or where, Zhao Yun is always the most reassuring person.
Although Liu Bei and Sun Ce arrived faster than they expected, which added a lot of risks to the battle, he believed that Zhao Yun could hold on.
At this time, Guan Yu's army had already moved south to Jinan, Zang Ba's troops had established a foothold in the Taishan Mountains, and Zhang Liao's army must have also moved south from Bingzhou to Yanzhou.
Zhang He's troops were stationed in Sili, Xu Huang's troops were stationed in Jizhou, and Gan Ning's troops were in a stalemate with Zhou Yu and Yuan Shao's remaining troops in Qingzhou.
Tian Ze himself stationed his troops in Ganling, ready to provide support at any time.
With Gaotang where Zhao Yun is located as the core point, Tian Ze's nearly 700,000 troops have arrived. It is truly a huge force, like a huge encirclement, aiming to capture all the princes in the Central Plains in one fell swoop.
Yuan Shao was at the front of the formation, wearing golden armor, with a red cloak fluttering in the wind behind him, looking very majestic.
Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Ce all lagged behind him half a step, looking at this "Great Alliance Leader Yuan" with sharp eyes.
Yuan Shao was terribly strong at this time, sweeping away the apparent indecision of the princes when they were fighting against Dong Zhuo. The pressure and feeling he brought to Cao Cao and others were completely different.
"This is the true face of Yuan Benchu." Cao Cao and others murmured inwardly.
The scale of this battle was so huge that it was beyond their expectations.
Originally, they planned to take advantage of the opportunity to send troops when Tian Ze attacked Gongsun Zan, but they did not expect Tian Ze to take action first.
Although Tian Ze sent only a small number of troops and had no real intention of seizing the Central Plains, Liu Bei and others could see through his sinister intentions.
They wanted to use the Taishan Mountains as an inducement, constantly bleeding them, and thus slowly weaken their strength.
Therefore, after noticing Tian Ze's movements, Liu Bei and Zhou Yu made their own judgments and choices almost at the same time, and led the main force of the army north without hesitation.
He wanted to take advantage of the situation and force Tian Ze to withdraw his troops.
But they never expected that Tian Ze was determined to fight this battle. During the time when they were reorganizing their troops in the past few days, he did not even order Zhao Yun to retreat.
There was no other way. As long as Zhao Yun withdrew, Zang Ba would be trapped in a jar. How could Tian Ze be willing to give up?
Although it was beyond his expectations, since the situation has been pushed to this point, he cannot show weakness.
Zhang Liao's army, which served as a reserve, and Tian Ze, who personally led his troops to the front line to support the battle, were both ready to take action.
Including the troops of Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Zang Ba, and Gan Ning, the six major legions faced against the four princes, with the troops of Xu Huang and Zhang He supporting them from behind.
This lineup is already the ultimate lineup that Tian Ze can come up with.
Zang Ba had made things a bit too big, and with both sides unwilling to give in, the battle between Tian Ze and the Anti-Tian Alliance was unexpectedly triggered ahead of time. Now, even if they wanted to stop, it was impossible.
"We only have fifteen days." Yuan Shao turned his back to Cao Cao and others as well as hundreds of thousands of soldiers, his eyes full of determination and resoluteness.
"After fifteen days, we can either defeat Zhao Yun's army and cross the Yellow River to attack Jizhou. Or we can only return to our various places to defend and end this battle ahead of time."
Yuan Shao had a clear view of the situation.
He had already known about Guan Yu's dispatch of troops. With his ability, Gao Gan could only hold out for half a month at most. Besides, winter was coming and they were running low on food and grass. Whether for logistical reasons or to cope with the drought next year, they had to end this battle in a short time.
Unless they have a chance to attack Jizhou and rob money, food and people, there is no point in them continuing to tangle with Tian Ze.
During this period, their reforms and explorations have begun to show results.
At the very least, Tian Ze's perfect winter planting method ensured that they would not starve to death in the face of drought and locust plagues even though they had a large number of people and fields under their command.
Considering the drought predicted by Tian Ze, they could not miss the period before winter. Otherwise, they would face the same dilemma next year as this year, with sufficient troops but not daring to send them out easily.
All together they had more than one million men and horses, but now only half a million had gathered together.
Although there was a need to defend all sides in preparation for Tadazawa's attack, the bigger problem lay in logistics.
Sun Ce came with a light force and achieved remarkable success by burning the Wenshui River, but he brought very little food and fodder, and his logistics were completely guaranteed by Yuan Shao.
Liu Bei's situation was naturally not much different.
The places where Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were located were much poorer than the south of the Yangtze River, so naturally it was even more difficult for them to survive.
In order to ensure the logistics of this 500,000-strong army, at least 300,000 young and strong men are needed, and the cost of food for the men and horses is incalculable.
In order to fight against Tian Ze, Yuan Shao and his men had already exhausted a lot of their resources and could not maintain much. The current coalition army was like Cao Cao before the Battle of Guandu, and could only win quickly and greatly.
"Let's go forward and challenge him first. If we can defeat Zhao Zilong, we won't have to worry about this battle." Cao Cao said.
Everyone knows that Zhao Yun is brave, but there is no clear understanding of how brave Zhao Yun is.
Among the generals under Tian Ze, although Zhao Yun's ranking is not low, he is still below Zhang Liao and others.
Although his previous performance was amazing, it was still within expectations. Cao Cao did not think Zhao Yun would be that strong.
Because they now have gathered the best generals from all over the world.
Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Xu Chu, Xiahou Yuan, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and Sun Ce.
If seven people attack together, even Lu Bu will be in trouble.
Although it was a bit unethical, but now that things had come to this point, Yuan Shao and his men had already resorted to every possible means.
It’s because there are so few good generals on the opposite side.
Yuan Shao gave Yan Liang a slight signal with his eyes, and he immediately rode forward.
"Yan Liang from Hebei is here. Does Zhao Zilong dare to fight him?"
Hearing Yan Liang's challenge, Xun You frowned.
He didn't think that Yan Liang was just trying to fight Zhao Yun in a duel.
After all, although Cao Cao and others were not fully aware of Zhao Yun's martial arts, they at least knew that he was definitely not someone that Yan Liang could kill, and the worst outcome would be a draw.
Now both sides are racing against time, Yuan Shao and others will not do such a waste of effort.
If so, the purpose is probably...
Xun You wanted to stop him, but when he looked at Zhao Yun who was eager to fight, he smiled at himself.
I am really worrying too much.
(End of this chapter)
