The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 554 How to Lose

"Time waits for no one. Who knows what will happen in the future? While the current situation is good, we must quickly establish a firm foothold here, then eliminate the Kushans, conquer Parthia, and build our own legacy." Yuan Shao said in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao, Lu Bu and Gongsun Zan all nodded.

What Yuan Shao said was exactly what they thought.

Living under someone else's roof is not a long-term solution after all.

They were all heroes of the time, how could they be willing to be dependent on others? They were extremely eager to conquer Parthia and establish a kingdom.

Even though I knew this was Tian Ze's plan, it was still the same.

Mutual benefit and having value to be utilized may not necessarily be a bad thing.

In the current situation, if you want to change from a chess piece to a chess player, you have to cooperate with the chess player, defeat other chess players, and take their positions.

"Benchu ​​is right. When the opportunity comes, we must seize it. I'm afraid there will hardly be another Majesty in this world." Cao Cao said quietly.

There are too many cases of a father being as good as his son.

The founding monarchs are usually extremely capable and courageous, but because of this, their successors often suffer the consequences and rarely become successful.

Cao Cao has always been very concerned about Tian Ze's eldest son Tian An.

It was not just Cao Cao. All the princes, powerful families, civil and military officials, and scholars under Tian Ze had already paid great attention to the future first heir to the empire.

Although Tian Ze intended to restore the power of the prime minister and use the cabinet as the center of the world to limit the power of the emperor.

However, the Confucian idea of ​​ruler-ruler relationship and subject-subject relationship that has been passed down for hundreds of years is not so easy to change.

Moreover, Tian Ze’s own existence is a bug for the system he wants.

If you can’t do it yourself, how can you expect others to do it?
Not to mention that Tian Ze himself is very conflicted about this.

However, in the eyes of Cao Cao and others, Tian Fang was a qualified king who could maintain the status quo.

He has a gentle and kind personality, is also very capable, and most importantly, is very willing to listen to Zhuge Liang.

Once Tian Ze left, no matter whether Tian Fang was still in power or Zhuge Liang and others, in Cao Cao's view, the outcome would be the same for himself and others.

Da Qi's plan of westward expedition will inevitably stop.

There are too few "fools" like Tian Ze in this world. There is probably only one person in the history who can hold such power.

Cao Cao and others once hoped that Tian Ze would die suddenly, but now they hope that Tian Ze will live a hundred years.

But that is unrealistic, they will eventually lose the help of Da Qi.

And once there is no Da Qi as a backing and without Tian Ze's magic, the difficulty of the Western Expedition will increase dozens of times.

Cao Cao and others were naturally anxious and hoped to find a place to settle down as soon as possible.

It doesn't have to be too big, but it should at least be more than half of the original Han Dynasty's territory. Otherwise, how can it be qualified to be called an empire?
Cao Cao and others were not clear about what the emergence of trains and railroads, as well as the dense water network of Da Qi, meant.

The future will surely be a time of great contention, where the strong will become stronger and the weak will perish. If we sit back and wait for death, I am afraid we will soon be wiped out.

Who wouldn't want long-term peace and stability when establishing a dynasty? Cao Cao and others naturally had to consider what would happen after their death.

Therefore, their desire for the Western Expedition was even greater than Tian Ze's. They thought about it day and night and dreamed about it.

"In the past six months, we have almost taken root here. After the autumn harvest, we will have enough food to go to war." "We must try to defeat the Northern Huns before Your Majesty defeats Liu Bei." Yuan Shao said in a deep voice.

In the past, they were enemies of Tian Ze and they all felt deeply desperate.

Now as Tian Ze's subordinates, they just feel that this feeling of having access to resources is so comfortable.

After a wave of autumn crops, the harvested grain will be enough for at least three years, and there is also spring crops to be harvested.

This means that even if they mobilize all their young and strong men to fight, they can fight for a year and a half and rest for half a year.

The people under their command are not as "pampered" as the people of Da Qi, who need to eat meat for every meal, which is simply a luxury.

For them who used to be hungry all year round, being able to eat their fill and eat meat occasionally is already like heaven. What else do they need a bicycle for?

Moreover, small ships are easier to turn around, small teams are more efficient, and with the same population, the power they can squeeze out is much stronger than that of Da Qi.

So Yuan Shao set his sights on the Northern Huns without hesitation, ready to take them down in one fell swoop.

"A broken ship still has three thousand nails. The Northern Huns are not easy to deal with." Cao Cao said in a deep voice.

"According to our intelligence, the Northern Xiongnu has a population of about 400,000. Although they only have about 80,000 young and strong cavalry, if pushed to the limit, they can mobilize all their people to fight."

"Moreover, the area where the Northern Huns are located is mainly plains and hills in the south, but the west and north are vast grasslands and deserts, so there is a large strategic space."

"Although we have a lot of cavalry under our command, if the Northern Xiongnu adopt guerrilla warfare, I'm afraid we won't be able to accomplish our mission and will be easily harassed by them continuously."

Gongsun Zan and Lu Bu both nodded slightly.

Having fought against the Hu people on the border for many years, they knew very well that the most critical issue in fighting against the Hu people was not to defeat the enemy, but to find and hold the enemy.

The Hu people come and go like the wind. If you can defeat them, you fight them; if you can't, you run away. If there is no way to find them, you will be led by the nose and dragged to death.

They are not familiar with the surrounding terrain, and it is not their home ground. There are also powerful enemies such as Kushan and Parthia who cannot be alarmed for the time being.

It was already difficult to defeat the Northern Huns, as their hands were already tied.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao smiled faintly and said, "Don't worry, Meng De. Since I dare to bring this up, I must be certain about it."

After saying that, Xun Chen and Xu You stood up calmly and bowed slightly to everyone.

Cao Cao saw this, with a little envy and fear in his eyes, and said in a complicated tone: "Yes, how could we forget that You Ruo and Zi Yuan are here."

The talents of these two people are that one is good at collecting intelligence, and the other is good at misleading the enemy.

“It would be even better if Wenyou could help us.” Yuan Shao said with a faint smile.

Li Ru and Xun Chen's talents are both very strong individually, and they are even more powerful when combined together. Wouldn't it be easy to defeat the Northern Huns?
As early as half a year ago, he had arranged for Xu You to infiltrate the intelligence system into the surrounding areas, including the Northern Huns, with large amounts of gold, silver, wine, tea, etc.

He did not dare to say that he knew everything about the Northern Huns' movements, but at least he had a pretty good grasp of their troop deployment.

In this situation where the enemy is in the open and I am in the dark, and I have the advantage of intelligence hack, Yuan Shao really doesn't know how he can lose.

Ju Su, who was standing by, obviously noticed Yuan Shao's mood change and suddenly spoke out.

"My lord, I suggest that we let the King of Wei command this battle. After all, the King of Wei's talent is more suitable for this kind of encirclement and annihilation battle."

(End of this chapter)