When both sides are full of soldiers and food, and are interested in the world, but are limited in the pace of expansion by the other side, fighting becomes inevitable.
For the majestic three states, occupying all the strategic places in Henan, the right side only a wind candle of Tao Qian, the left side is to keep into the immovable Liu table, although the lower side of the mountain Yue cross-cutting, but can not affect the overall situation of Lu Bu potential, the more this encounter dragged on the later, the strength gap will be bigger, and also more favorable to him.
He could have stayed out of the fight in Hebei and waited for them to fight each other, but he was able to develop elsewhere: with his central position in the Guandong region, he could have gone straight to Sili and taken the emperor; he could have held the favor of Xuzhou and waited for the rabbits; he could have gone south and invaded Jingliang....... I asked which of the existing lords could have fought back against the raging Lu Bu's power if they had fought alone. If you are fighting alone, you can still have the power to fight back against the raging Lu Bu?
It was naturally impossible for Cao Cao not to see through this.
For Yuan Shao, the situation is much worse: compared to the historical situation when he settled Hebei, holding the four states of Hebei, Hebei, You and Qing, with hundreds of thousands of troops, abundant food and grass, and announcing his break with Cao Cao, what he has now is only one state of Jizhou, and the plains of Qingzhou, which he has completely controlled.
But this battle can't be not fought, because the time difference has no chance to exist: not to take advantage of Lu Bu has not yet established a firm foothold in Yanzhou, and unite with Gongsun Zan to drive him away and suppress him, is it still waiting for another year and a half, thinking about the Henan Yin that can be taken at any time, and then ask the insatiable tiger to raise enough energy, and then gradually eat away the rest of the power?
In the same period of time, Yuan Shao, who only had one place in Jizhou and was facing internal and external troubles, even if he tried his best to accumulate strength, he could never defeat Lu Bu.
If Qingzhou, where the three parties are now fighting, is also captured by Lu Bu, then the three forces that are besieged and trapped in Hebei will only be left to struggle for survival, and there will not even be a glimmer of life left.
From the point of view of the art of war, the best time to go on an expedition should be the moment when the opponent is not as well prepared and lacks in strength, rather than having to wait until he is ready.
In addition, Yuan Shao had to be passive to send troops, the reason for the hasty war, is the fragile alliance relationship: full of personal hatred, do not know far-sighted Gongsun Zan at any time may be torn face, taking advantage of the rear of the empty attack JiZhou, to temporarily stabilize him is already not easy, how can we not as soon as possible to fight for it?
The good thing is that there is no Gongsun Zan echo, the black mountain army Zhang Yan of the state will not be able to support, even if they have the intention to not be able to set off any waves, the rear is temporarily considered to be stable.
Because of the early preparation in their hearts, when they learned of this news, all the people who had already settled in the restored Zhen City and didn't have to be aggravated in the tent anymore were all silent.
Lu Bu is accustomed to the expressionless face, to this expected thing, also very calmly without expression; Guo Jia without trace with Yan Qing threw a playful winks, Yan Qing then seized the Lu Bu does not pay attention to the gap, happily thrown back; Zhang Liao and Gan Ning is bright, to this near at hand to build a career of the opportunity to jump up and try.
"It's the middle of winter, and it's still freezing outside, so why don't you take some time off and make plans for spring? Yuan Shao is also too unable to pick the time."
The hall was ablaze with a red-hot fire pit, so warm that only a tunic was needed over a thin shirt, and Yan Qing complained so, but his face was devoid of worry.
It is almost conceivable that nearly two months have passed since the conclusion of the alliance, in which Cao Cao has labored hard, not to mention having to endure the obstruction of Yuan Shao's strategists, who were busy struggling for power within the country, and to persuade the indecisive Yuan Shao to send troops as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, Yuan Shao was indecisive and delayed for so long before he made up his mind to give up the naive idea of waiting for the enemy to come and fight with Lu Bu, who was pressing him step by step to the death.
In fact, Yan Qing also knew very well that Yuan Shao was wise to choose not to wait until spring plowing.
In the year he got Yuzhou, Yan Qing, who had the unconditional backing of Lu Bu, made the decision with ease, relying on his wealth to gather so many stragglers, and supplying improved farming tools, plus reducing taxes just to increase the rate of reclamation of the wasteland.
In the first year, they were still struggling to make ends meet, as if it was a charitable deal to buy people's hearts and minds, but when the second year came, the returns that these originally penniless wastelands brought them were so rich that they even exceeded Yan Qing's expectations.
That is, last year (the fourth year of Chuping), after the autumn, to see them earn pots full of money, and won the popularity of the people's vassal eyes are green, can not help but follow the example of Yan Qing's method of cantonment.
Though not the essence, with this example in place, it is still possible to imitate it in a decent manner.
Yan Qing see in the eyes, than for this may weaken their advantage in the locust plague and worry, more, on the contrary, feel happy: First, just started to implement this measure of other families can not catch up with their first step saved by the family's strong background, two is to these a disaster that affects all of the people of China, he can not only consider personal interests, but also hope that the impact can be reduced to a minimum, not like the history of the The tragedy of people competing with each other for food was so gruesome and horrible.
Guo Jia heard Yan Qing say this, smiled wickedly: "Benchu brother can make up his mind, has been invaluable, for this painstakingly Meng De has not yet said something, how Chongguang complained on?"
Yan Qing knows that although Guo Jia's statement sounds mean, but on the history of the many times to give up the God-given great opportunity to attack Cao, only in the letters sent to speak out of turn, arrogant attitude, has been saying more to do less, tied hands and feet, so much so that procrastination to the battle of Guandu had to be attacked with the front of the Yuan Shao, but it can be said to hit the nail on the head.
Cao Cao is really good at what he does, even Yuan Shao can be persuaded to this point.
Yan Qing raised an eyebrow and said, "I only lament that Meng De is acting up and failing to delay for some more time to see him sit in a trapped situation, allowing us to catch a turtle in a jar, that would be beautiful."
Guo Jia gave an exaggerated snort.
Lu Bu suddenly felt some tickling in his throat, and couldn't help but cough lightly, interrupting the frowning between the two strategists, and began to ask in a serious manner, "Who is the vanguard? How many troops are there?"
Yan Qing did not even need to take another look at the cloth, and directly said, "Yuan Shao with Yan Liang, Wen Chou led 30,000 elite pawns, is the vanguard, Guo Tu,审配其监军也, Gao Duan, Zhang He, Chun Yu Qiong there are more than 20,000, sit in the middle and rear of the army; Cao Cao since the leadership of its original department, which infantry of 30,000, crossbow soldiers of 3,000, 5,000 archers, cavalry 10,000 phased out, not assigned. "
Lu Bu nodded, "Where to?"
Yan Qing gave a subtle squat, "Guandu."
Cao Cao's painstaking efforts have not been in vain, Yuan Shao this time is out of the blue, really will be all the family belongings are staked out, and Cao Cao's remaining 40,000 people added, there are nearly 100,000 people, and most of them are elite, indeed not to be underestimated.
In the later stages of the battle, due to the high attrition of deaths and injuries, the population could not recover fast enough, and at the Battle of Red Cliff, Cao Cao's so-called 800,000-strong army was in fact heavily watered down to 200,000 or so at most.
Unlike the situation of misrepresenting the number of people and borrowing a name to bluff, the number of people that Yan Qing's eyes and ears have probed is a real number of people, and most of them are veterans who have been on the battlefield a couple of times, which is not comparable to the large number of people under Cao Cao's command in history, but in fact, their hearts are scattered, and they are always ready to fight amongst themselves.
Despite the historical battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao had 110,000 soldiers and horses (claiming an army of 700,000), and now that he is not long after the truce with Gongsun Zan, he is still able to squeeze out more than 50,000 people from the land of Jizhou, which is already out of Yan Qing's expectation.
However, compared to Lu Bu, who had combined the strength of three states and was able to mobilize an army of almost 200,000 without affecting the normal operation of the states, this was still a huge disparity in troop strength.
Not to mention that they were an elite division, and Lu Bu's was not in vain.
It is more reassuring to hear: after all, the battle of fewer than many is thrilling to listen to, and the scene can be enjoyed by future generations, and the conditions for achieving it are also incredibly demanding, requiring the right place, the right time, and the right people.
Even Cao Cao, who was favored by the heavens, fell hard at the Battle of Red Cliff after routing the unstoppable Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu.
However, Yan Qing was prudent and accustomed to it, especially since history had been stirred up and completely messed up, and he had lost the advantage of being a 'seer', and never thought that they could rest on their laurels and deal with it as they pleased when they had an overwhelming advantage.
Even after kidnapping Frustrated Professor, imprisoning Xun Yu Cheng Yu, and sending Zhou Yu to fish in the waters of Gongsun Zan's army, he was still careful, lest there be an oversight that would lead to a ditch.
Other than that, let's just say that Cao Cao, who is undersized and has a lot of heart, is the sole leader of the army that is not mobilized by Yuan Shao's order and may launch a surprise attack at any time, becoming a sharp blade against his throat.
I just don't know if Yuan Shao will still hoard grain and grass in Wu Chao after the butterfly effect - I guess it's impossible.
Yan Qing realizes with hindsight that they are now facing Yuan Shao in the same way that Yuan Shao faced Cao Cao in the Battle of Guandu. It's just that Yuan Shao has changed from the superior to the inferior side.
They have a large number of soldiers and food, and there is no worry, so they can play the war of attrition with peace of mind, and Yuzhou Yanzhou in the rear, the people's interest will not be affected too much, and the spring plowing will not be delayed, so it will become a constant supply of food and grass backing.
If Yuan Shao can't strangle them like Cao Cao who burned the crow's nest, and come to a quick decision, that little bit of Zan not easy to come home base is afraid that it won't last until the locusts come, it will be dragged down alive.
After all is said and done, I'm still most worried about Cao Cao, as well as Gongsun Zan, who I don't know when he'll kill his way into the fray, ah.
Lu Bu nodded his head slightly, and after pondering for a moment, he suddenly burst out, "Good!"
This sound was like a thunderbolt ringing in his ears, and everyone, including Yan Qing, was shaken, instinctively looking towards him.
Lu Bu's physique is tall and athletic, sitting is fine, standing up, really is a crane, extremely eye-catching.
Even if he only wears regular clothes and has no inch of iron in his hands, he still demonstrates his disdain for the crowd and his killing aura without any anger.
His facial contour was extremely profound, with sword brows and starry eyes clamped on his deep wheat-colored skin, and he said, "Yuan Shao's little child did not know the height of heaven, and intended to strike a stone with an egg; now that he is fully loaded and ready to go, how can we lag behind, and ask him to set up a show of authority for nothing?"
"--Transmit my order quickly! Gao Fuyi of Yuzhou, and Zhao Zilong of Yangzhou, all should immediately deploy their men."
As Lu Bu was giving orders in a majestic manner, Guo Jia, who had been in deep thought and silence, suddenly spoke up, "Lord, wait."
Author's Note: That said, I stayed up late last night to catch up on the Yuri on Ice update, even though I'm obviously working today!
Then I exploded as a firework ......
Sweet-ass!