The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 233 Volume : Going out to battle
At this moment, Chang'an had also received the news from Sima Yi.

"Jingzhou, I didn't expect it to be here again."

Jingzhou's special geographical location meant that it was destined to be unable to stay out of the conflicts in troubled times.

As Sima Yi said before, the world is divided into three parts today, but Jingzhou wants to jump out of the Five Elements and not be within the Three Realms... Such behavior is obviously a bit naive.

After getting the information, Liu Xie immediately went to Beigong and came to the huge sand table.

"Jingzhou."

Liu Xie moved his eyes upward and looked towards the north again.

"Bingzhou."

Then move your gaze eastward.

"Yangzhou."

The originally chaotic situation was gradually sorted out in Liu Xie's mind and straightened out.

Abandoning all unimportant points, Liu Xie has already judged several situations in the world in the future.

"First, Jingzhou, Nanyang, Cao Cao."

According to Sima Yi, Cao Cao had already led his troops to Nanyang.

Nanyang served as a channel connecting Guanzhong and Jingzhou, and was also the southern capital of the Han Dynasty and the birthplace of Emperor Taizu Liu Xiu. The imperial court had no reason not to fight for it.

Moreover, Nanyang is full of plains after all, which is beneficial to the imperial court which is mainly composed of cavalry.

The current Hebei pseudo-imperial court has a fatal flaw -

Less horse!

The places in the north that produce horses are all secluded and cool.

Youzhou is still in the hands of Gongsun Zan, and Gongsun Zan is not so stupid as to trade a strategic resource like cavalry to Hebei. Therefore, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao should not even think about getting Youzhou war horses.

The war horses from Liangzhou...that was a resource that they had to tighten their belts before and refused to sell to Hebei.

The salt from Hedong could be sold to Hebei with confidence, but the war horses from Liangzhou had only been sold to Jingzhou, and Cao Cao obviously did not have the ability to obtain war horses on a large scale.

War horses, form cavalry.

And cavalry has always been a powerful weapon on the plains.

Nanyang has a flat terrain and no strategic locations to rely on. As long as the imperial court's Xiliang cavalry is sent there, the situation will surely be stabilized.

The reason why Liu Xie was sure that the battlefield was in Nanyang was because Liu Xie did not believe that Cao Cao could capture Xiangyang.

Attacking Xiangyang from the north... It's not that Liu Xie looked down on Boss Cao. If Boss Cao had already dominated the north and was going all out to attack Xiangyang, or if he had an invincible fleet that could easily destroy Xiangyang's defense system, then there would be a slight possibility.
But now, when Cao Cao has neither soldiers nor ships, what can he use to attack Xiangyang?
Not to mention……

The defenders of Xiangyang now are Wen Pin and Sima Yi.

Therefore, Liu Xie was extremely confident about the defense of Xiangyang.

Therefore, the importance of the entire Jingzhou battlefield was also transferred to the side battlefield by Liu Xie.

"The key is still Bingzhou."

Second, there is Bingzhou, Yuan Shao, and the Southern Xiongnu.

Bingzhou is different from Nanyang. There are mountains and rivers everywhere, making it difficult to deploy cavalry, which is a great loss to the court.

Sima Yi reported all the information he got from Xu You to the court.

Yuan Shao had two main routes to attack Bingzhou.

One route was from Hanoi, through Chenguan, and directly attacking the heartland of Hedong.

The most threatening force along this route was led by Zhang He and Gao Lan, but it was just a feint attack.

Yuan Shao knew exactly what he wanted.

Taiyuan!

Taiyuan is the core of Bingzhou!

With Taiyuan, the land of Hedong is just a ripe fruit that can be picked at any time.

Therefore, Yuan Shao had to accumulate heavy troops in the direction of Taiyuan from the beginning and take over this place.

"Xu You is dead, Yuan Shao will attack soon."

"Taiyuan and Hedong are mainly commanded by Li Jue and Guo Si. The combined forces of these two are no more than 10,000. Even if Zhong Yao can organize some militia, it would be no more than 20,000."

With more than 20,000 people, compared with the 100,000 troops that Yuan Shao had gathered with all his strength, they were obviously at a complete disadvantage.

Moreover, according to the information Sima Yi obtained from Xu You, Yuan Shao did not seem to intend to attack Taiyuan head-on, but to lay siege instead.

Since it is a siege, they must first "surround" and cut off the connection between Taiyuan and Hedong.

And between these two places, there is indeed a throat -

Jiexiu!

"call……"

Liu Xie let out a long breath.

The information Sima Yi obtained from Xu You was indeed extremely important.

Even though Xu You was not clear about the specific details of Yuan Shao's use of troops, the word "siege" had already allowed Liu Xie to glimpse the key to this war -

Jiexiu!

Whoever can occupy Jiexiu will be the winner of this war!
After sorting out the war in Bingzhou, Liu Xie headed towards Yangzhou.

Third, Yangzhou, Yuan Shu.

Since Yuan Shao had decided to head towards Taiyuan with all his strength, he must have been certain that Gongsun Zan could not pose much of a threat to him.

So if Liu Xie wanted to find an ally, he naturally could not pin his hopes on Gongsun Zan.

That old guy Yuan Shu...even though he's a bit unskilled and a spendthrift, his family is really rich!

Cao Cao has been pinned down in Nanyang, and Yuan Shao will also go to Taiyuan. The entire east will be a smooth road for Yuan Shu!
As long as Yuan Shu could move north from the Huai River, whether he went east to intimidate Xuzhou and Qingzhou, or simply went west to attack Chenliu and Xuchang where Cao Cao's old nest was, he could pose a huge threat to Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

Once there is a threat, no matter how unwilling Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are, they will have no choice but to retreat.

……

"Call all officials to discuss matters!"

After Liu Xie had figured out the situation, he summoned all the officials to discuss matters in the North Palace. When everyone heard that Liu Xie summoned them to the North Palace instead of the Weiyang Palace, they actually guessed that it was probably related to the war.

Now, the Beigong, which was originally the palace used by Emperor Wu of Han to "gallop in Pingle, watch the chicken and ball games, and watch the dogs and horses race", has been completely destroyed by Liu Xie and turned into a military training ground.

When everyone saw that the two pillar generals Lu Bu and Niu Fu were here, and the five Northern Army captains Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Xu Huang, Pang De and Zhang Xiu also arrived one after another, they knew that something big had happened.

When Shangshu Ling Jia Xu and Shangshu Pushe Xun Yu saw that everyone had arrived, they couldn't wait to ask, "Your Majesty, what happened?"

Because Sima Yi delivered the information directly to the emperor, even they who controlled the court's secrets did not know what Liu Xie was going to do today.

"No rush, just wait."

Hearing Liu Xie say this, Jia Xu and Xun Yu both paused, obviously thinking of something.

"Your Majesty, have you even invited the Grand Master?"

Before the thought in his mind could disappear, the eunuchs outside the door sang: "Grandmaster Dong Zhuo has arrived!"

All the officials came together to greet him, and Liu Xie also came to the front of the hall in person and helped Dong Zhuo sit next to him.

After Dong Zhuo sat down, Liu Xie slowly told him the information sent by Sima Yi.

"Yuan Shao is actually going to send troops again?"

"Cao Cao has actually arrived in Nanyang?"

"Fortunately, Liu Biao still has his heart set on the Han Dynasty, otherwise it would be dangerous!"

"..."

From the moment they stepped into the gate of North Palace, they knew that today's event would not be a small matter.

But the scale of this war obviously still caught everyone off guard.

"Everyone, please be patient."

Liu Xie took out the most prominent issue of Jingzhou for analysis.

"With Xiangyang fortified in the south, Cao Cao will not be able to march straight in and capture Jingzhou."

"Most of the land in the north of Nanyang is flat, which is most suitable for cavalry. Therefore, we only need to send a general to lead the troops."

Liu Xie looked at Zhang Xiu at this moment.

"The closest person to Nanyang is General Zhang Ji, who is stationed at Wuguan."

"You can lead the troops and go to Nanyang with your uncle Zhang Ji to stop Cao Cao!"

Zhang Xiu immediately stood up and said, "Yes!"

In Liu Xie's opinion, it was enough to have Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu, uncle and nephew, guard Nanyang.

Mainly Bingzhou in the north...

"Based on the scale of the troops Yuan Shao sent out, Li Jue and Guo Si would definitely not be able to resist."

"At least we need to transfer Xu Rong's troops, Lu Bu's troops, and Niu Fu's troops to Bingzhou so that we can fight against Yuan Shao's army."

Liu Xie looked at Dong Zhuo beside him at this moment——

"Master, what do you think?"

Li Jue, Guo Si, Xu Rong, Lu Bu, Niu Fu.

These people together almost make up the entire Xiliang Army.

In terms of numbers and combat power, they were naturally able to resist Yuan Shao.

But this was not what Liu Xie asked.

But the commander-in-chief.

Now we are facing the same problem as the Battle of Hedong a few years ago.

That is, apart from Dong Zhuo, no one could suppress these arrogant and powerful generals at the same time and deploy them in a unified manner.

If they are transferred to Bingzhou together, someone will be needed to lead them to prevent them from becoming disunited and fighting each other.

And this person can only be Dong Zhuo.

When Dong Zhuo heard that Liu Xie was going to transfer all the troops from Xiliang to Bingzhou to guard against Yuan Shao, he had already guessed what he was going to do.

indeed.

After all, apart from Dong Zhuo, no one had the ability and reputation to command the entire Xiliang army.

Now that Yuan Shao's army was approaching, they had no choice but to send all of the Xiliang army to Bingzhou.

The imperial court could do without anyone now, but it could not do without Dong Zhuo.

"His Majesty."

Dong Zhuo's voice sounded somewhat resentful.

During this period, Dong Zhuo finally found a rare bit of peace.

It's hard to stabilize things, but now he is asked to go into battle again?

Dong Zhuo now would become anxious and crazy even if Liu Wansheng was out of his sight for a quarter of an hour, let alone an expedition that would take several months?

Dong Zhuo felt uncomfortable when he thought that he would not be able to see Liu Wansheng for several months.

"Master."

Liu Xie naturally knew Dong Zhuo’s helplessness.

If it wasn't absolutely necessary, Liu Xie himself didn't want to let Dong Zhuo go to the battlefield again.

After all, fighting a war is a time-consuming and laborious endeavor.

Dong Zhuo is now old, and his health is deteriorating, making it difficult for him to sustain high-intensity warfare.

But this time, the entire Xiliang army had to be mobilized to meet the enemy. Apart from Dong Zhuo, no one else could do the job.

"We are doing this for the sake of future generations."

"Does the Grand Master want Wansheng to be born in troubled times, grow up in troubled times, and live in fear in troubled times?"

"For their sake, we must end the war in our generation."

"If we win this battle, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao won't be able to launch an offensive against us anymore!"

(End of this chapter)