The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 197 Thirty thousand versus one hundred and one hundred thousand, the Battle of Guandu officially begins!

After Hua Tuo examined Cao Hong's injuries, he said to the people around him:
"General Cao's wound has festering. All you need to do is cut away the dead flesh with a sharp knife and sew up the wound with thread."

"So it's natural and safe."

Cao Hong saw this and said:
"In that case, please use the knife, sir."

Cao Hong was also a seasoned warrior, and he was not afraid when he heard about Hua Tuo's treatment.

Hua Tuo was a little hesitant, so Cao Hong asked:

"Mr. Hua hasn't moved yet. Do you think I'm afraid?"

"...No, it's just that using a knife to cut away the pus and flesh is bound to cause pain."

"I have a prescription that can alleviate the general's pain."

At this time, Li Yi asked:

"Mr. Hua, do you want to use Ma Fei San?"

"Exactly."

Ma Fei San is currently in the trial stage, and Hua Tuo is not sure about the dosage.

But Cao Hong was a warrior and had suffered external injuries, so there was no better "experimental subject" than him.

Unaware of the situation, Liu Bei and Cao Hong both asked what Ma Fei San was.

Li Yi then briefly summarized it. Zhang Fei, who was beside him, also said that this medicine was indeed miraculous.

"……Um."

Liu Bei nodded, thinking to himself that this Ma Fei San could actually relieve pain. If it was used in the army, how many soldiers could it save?

After all, during marches and battles, many people who were said to have died from serious injuries were actually killed by the pain.

If Ma Fei San can really relieve pain, it is indeed worth promoting throughout the army.

At that time, Zhang Zhongjing was beside him and was also very interested in this thing. He asked hurriedly:

"I wonder what herbs you use as an induction, sir?"

Hua Tuo did not hide anything and was happy to share his experience with his colleagues.

“…Take three qian of Achyranthes bidentata, one qian of jasmine root, one liang of angelica, half a liang of calamus, and two jin of ragweed, and simmer over low heat for half an hour.”

"……Um."

Zhang Zhongjing listened carefully, and after only a few words, he was surprised to find that Hua Tuo's medical attainments were not inferior to his own.

So he wanted to find a talent. "Mr. Hua has such knowledge in medicine. Have you ever thought about coming to Xuzhou to serve as an official?"

Hua Tuo had long lost interest in being an official and was about to refuse when Li Yi suddenly interrupted him:
"We will discuss this matter later. Please treat the injured first, Mr. Hua."

As long as I don't give you the chance to refuse, you won't be able to refuse me.

Hua Tuo then returned to Cao Hong's bedside and asked him whether he wanted to use Ma Fei San.

Cao Hong decisively refused:
"This thing can paralyze the victim and make him unconscious. My right arm is injured and I will be knocked unconscious by this thing."

"If I can't lift a sword in the future, how can I contribute to Cao Gong's career?"

Hua Tuo said sternly:
"This thing only has a temporary effect, it will never cause lifelong harm."

Cao Hong insisted on not agreeing to use the medicine, not to mention that he had never seen or heard of this medicine in his life.

Hua Tuo couldn't persuade him, so he had to give up and use a knife instead.

Li Yi came over and said to Cao Hong:
"General Zilian fought on the battlefield, not even fearing swords, spears, swords, and axes. How could he be afraid of a soup of medicine?"

Cao Hong said sternly, "Of course I am not afraid, but I can still cut away the dead flesh without using this thing."

Li Yinai smiled and said:
"I would like to make a bet with you. If you dare to use this 'Ma Fei San', I will lose you ten taels of gold."

"If you dare not use it, General, you can give me ten taels of gold. What do you think?"

Is this true?

When Cao Hong heard this, his eyes lit up and he stood up from the couch in pain.

He looked full of energy as if he had never been injured, which surprised everyone present.

"...Hahahaha, everyone says that you, Li Ziyu, are resourceful and good at predicting people's hearts."

"I'm going to lose to Cao this time when I set up a bet!"

After saying this, he turned to Hua Tuo and said loudly:

"Mr. Hua, can you give me that 'Ma Fei Tang' to drink?"

When Hua Tuo saw that Cao Hong agreed to be a test subject, he was delighted and immediately cooked the Ma Fei Tang.

Then he said to Li Yi gratefully, "Thank you, my lord."

"...Haha, you were the bear that ruined the miracle doctor before, now I'm using a living person to experiment with you, so we're even."

Li Yi also understood Cao Hong's character as a "money-seeking governor".

It is so valuable that even Cao Cao sighed, "How can my family's wealth be as rich as Zi Lian's!"

With ten taels of gold, it was easy to capture Cao Hong.

After a while, Hua Tuo gave the cooked Ma Fei Tang to Cao Hong to drink.

Cao Hong picked up the bowl and reminded before drinking:

"Marquis Li Tan, don't forget that you owe me ten taels of gold."

With just one word, he drank the medicine in one gulp.

After a while, Cao Hong felt dizzy, but he did not faint.

After learning from the last lesson, Hua Tuo reduced the dosage of the medicine.

He started to operate the knife before he even numbed the person.

"General Cao, don't be afraid."

After Hua Tuo finished giving the instructions, he began to cut the flesh with his knife, bit by bit.

Cao Hong frowned. He could feel the pain from the sharp knife cutting his flesh, but it was not strong.

Liu Bei witnessed the whole process and was secretly shocked.

“Is this medicine really so miraculous?”

Then I remembered Li Yi's request last year for me to allocate funds to Xuzhou's medical care and increase funding.

Liu Bei was conflicted for a long time at the time, and although he finally agreed to allocate funds, it was only for Li Yi's sake.

Rather than looking at it from a medical and pharmacological perspective.

Now it seems that he underestimated the talents of the alchemists of this era.

On the other hand, one has to admire Li Yi's foresight.

at the same time,

Cao Cao knew that there was a spy among him, but he did not make it public. He only called the guards including Xu to his side.

He said to the crowd:
"We have won two battles against Yuan Shao before, and Yuan's army has temporarily retreated to Yanjin."

"There will be no war in the short term. I think you have been working hard these days."

"So, while we are at the banquet, I order you to take a day off."

After he finished speaking, all the guards expressed their gratitude.

After that, Xu He called all his partners over and discussed:
"Since receiving the order from Lord Yuan, we have been waiting for the opportunity to take action."

"Cao has dismissed his guards. If we don't strike now, when will we strike?"

So Xu Ta and others took advantage of darkness and sneaked into Cao Cao's camp.

Seeing Cao Cao lying on his side on the couch, everyone drew their swords, surrounded the couch and hacked at the man on the couch.

After chopping for a while, he suddenly felt something was wrong and immediately pulled back the quilt.

To his surprise, he found that the person hit was not Cao Cao, but just a scarecrow.

"No, I fell into a trap!"

As soon as he finished speaking, fire broke out all around him.

Before Xu and his men could react, a group of warriors armed with swords broke into the tent and tied them up one by one.

Cao Cao, escorted by Cao Ren, strode into the tent.

His face was very heavy, and he said angrily:

"Just as Li Ziyu expected, you guys really want to harm me!"

"Now Henan and Hebei are at a stalemate. I know it must be Yuan Shao who instigated you to come and assassinate me."

"But I have treated you well, why did you betray me?"

One of them stood up and shouted:
"You are a thief who deceives the emperor and deceives his superiors. Everyone in the world wants to kill you."

"Are we the only ones?"

Cao Cao was furious when he heard this, and ordered two warriors to drag the man out and beat him up.

After two hours, his skin and flesh were torn apart, blood was all over the ground, and he was beaten to death.

Cao Cao asked Xu Ta again, and Xu Ta said:
"I am a subordinate of General Ben Dian, not a subordinate of you, Cao Cao."

"If you want to kill or behead me, please do as you please!"

Cao Cao laughed and said:

"Dian Wei is my subordinate. Since you are Dian Wei's subordinate, am I not your master?"

Xu gritted his teeth and glared angrily:

"How dare you, a lecherous thief who covets other people's women, say that?"

"If you hadn't stolen Aunt Zhang Xiu, how could General Dian have died trying to save you?"

"I have received great favor from General Dian, and I am just about to kill you, old villain!"

As mentioned before, the soldiers in the late Han Dynasty were basically private soldiers, most of whom were fellow villagers or brothers of many years.

Private equity soldiers develop special emotional bonds in special times.

Xu Ta was only loyal to Dian Wei, and had no good feelings towards Cao Cao, who killed his elder brother.

Just in time, Yuan Shao extended an olive branch to him, so he took the opportunity to break free from Cao Cao's control.

In this way, not only can he avenge his big brother, but he can also use Cao Cao's head as a gift to seek wealth and glory in the future.

When Cao Cao saw Xu Ta exposing his ugly deeds, he was furious and ordered his men to cut off Xu Ta's tongue.

Then he beheaded the rest of the people together.

After a while, someone reported that Xu Ta and others were dead.

Cao Cao felt regretful again, thinking that he had let Dian Wei down, and now killing his old subordinates, he was even more unfair to him.

He ordered his men to collect the bodies of Xu Ta and others and bury them back in Yingchuan, together with Dian Wei.

After dealing with Xu He, Cao Cao was planning to go and see how Cao Hong's operation was going.

Suddenly, a scout came to report that Xiahou Dun at the Guandu front line was in urgent need of help, saying that he had seen a large number of Yuan troops approaching.

Cao Cao was startled and said:
"Although we won two battles against Yuan Shao before, we didn't suffer any serious damage."

"I have already retreated to Guandu, but Yuan Shao attacked us so quickly."

"It must be because they got the food and grass from Yecheng that they dared to advance so quickly."

Cao Ren on the side asked:
"Will you please let Lord Xuande know?"

Cao Cao shook his head and said:

"If Xuande knew, he would lead troops to help."

"Since Yuan Rang is in urgent need of help, you can lead the troops to the front line to provide support."

"We will deal with it after we have resisted Yuan's attack."

He then ordered his troops to reinforce Xiahou Dun's camp at the front line.

……

On the other hand, Yuan Shao had previously lost Yan Liang and Wen Chou, and the entire army was shaken.

Therefore, Yuan Shao could not advance immediately and only stayed in Suanzao for some time.

While resting the soldiers, he sent people to Yecheng to urge the supply of food and fodder.

Shen Pei quickly sent the food over. After Yuan Shao got the food, he first ordered his army to station at Guandu.

Then he led a large army to catch up.

When Yuan Shao was about to send out his troops, Tian Feng came out to advise:
"The loss of Yan Liang and Wen Chou earlier shook the whole army."

"It is enough to prove that our Hebei soldiers are not as resolute as Henan soldiers."

"Successive setbacks have left morale low."

"Now we should wait quietly for the right time, and do not raise a large army rashly, as this may lead to disadvantages."

Pang Ji scolded:

"My lord, you are raising a righteous army. Why did Tian Feng say such an ominous thing?"

Tian Feng and Ju Su were both members of the consumption faction, and Ju Su had been stripped of his military power by Yuan Shao before.

Tian Feng himself was more stubborn than Ju Shou. Although he knew that Yuan Shao was displeased with him, he still tried to persuade him:

"Although our army is large, it is not as brave as theirs."

"Although their army is well-trained, their food and fodder are inferior to ours."

"The enemy has no food, so it is better to fight quickly. Our army has food, so it is better to defend slowly."

"If we can spare the days and months, the enemy army will be defeated without a fight!"

You must know that Cao and Liu had voluntarily given up the area south of the Yellow River and north of Guandu.

Although most of the population in these areas were relocated, they were able to be used by the Yuan family as war zones.

What Tian Feng meant was that he hoped Yuan Shao would absorb the land that Cao and Liu had voluntarily given up.

They were the ones who lost the land, so they are the ones who should be anxious and attack.

But therein lies the problem. Although Yuan Shao lost two generals in succession, from the perspective of the overall battle line, he was making continuous progress.

Therefore, anyone who stands in Yuan Shao's perspective would hope to expand the results of the war as quickly as possible.

Yuan Shao angrily scolded Tian Feng:
"Ju Su previously slowed down the morale of our army. How dare you do the same again?"

So he ordered his men to lock up Tian Feng and put him in prison. After he had pacified Henan, he would deal with Ju Shou and Tian Feng together.

So he ordered that the remaining 110,000 troops be sent to the Guandu front line.

After arriving at Guandu, they set up camp in the east, west, south and north directions.

The spies gathered information and reported it back to Cao's camp.

At that time, Cao Cao had led his troops to Xiahou Dun's camp. Xiahou Dun's camp was set up at the front line, next to Guan Yu's camp.

Both sides sent their trusted generals to the front line to defend the city in order to show their determination to fight to the end.

When Cao Cao heard that Yuan Shao was coming with an army of 110,000, he was shocked and hurriedly sent someone to ask:
"Has Xuande arrived?"

Although Cao Cao was as steady as an old dog before he arrived, he was still very panicked when he actually arrived at the front line and saw Yuan Shao's army.

Soon, someone reported that Liu Bei had led his troops to provide support.

Cao Cao then felt relieved and immediately led his civil and military officials to invite Liu Bei to discuss military affairs.

As the saying goes, force can defeat skill.

No matter how brave the Henan army is, no matter how wise Cao Cao and Liu Bei are.

But there is one reality that cannot be ignored.

That means Yuan Shao had 110,000 soldiers, a full 110,000 combat-capable soldiers.

Everyone can join the battlefield.

Cao Cao had 10,000 men, Liu Bei had 10,000 men, and Li Yi brought 10,000 men from Qingzhou.

The total number is 30,000.

It should be noted that
Whether it was Yuan Shao's 110,000 troops or Cao Liu's 30,000 troops, they were merely the number of people confronting each other on the Guandu front.

It's not that both sides can only mobilize so many people.

Yuan Shao marched southward in a large force, divided his troops and occupied other counties and prefectures, as well as the troops left behind in the native land, leaving at least 200,000 troops available for mobilization.

In addition to the Guandu front, Cao Cao and Liu Bei each had tens of thousands of people guarding important locations.

Liu Bei had more soldiers and horses than Cao Cao, but he had just conquered Qingzhou, which stretched the depth, so he had to leave some people to garrison.

When they heard that Yuan Shao had brought an army of 110,000 people from Guandu County alone.

Both Cao Bing and Liu Bing were deeply shocked, and many of them showed fear on their faces.

The reason is very simple. If Yuan Shao could mobilize so many people in Guandu County, how many people could Yuan Shao mobilize in other places?

Can they really win this battle?

The lower-level soldiers were only concerned with eating and killing the enemy, and were unaware of any military secrets.

The people who should really worry about this issue are the senior military leaders of Cao’s and Liu’s camps.

"According to reliable information, the number of troops Yuan Shao brought to Guandu is as high as 110,000."

Cao Cao's brow was filled with discontent, and he told everyone the news with a heavy heart.

"I have known Yuan Shao since I was young, and I know that Yuan Shao never gives up until he achieves his goal."

"Now that we have killed two of his generals, he will lead his army here to take revenge personally."

"As Cao expected, Yuan Shao's main forces are here."

What this means is that defeating these 110,000 people can reverse the offensive and defensive situation.

Now Cao and Liu are both being beaten, isn't it just to avoid Yuan Shao's edge?

Withdraw the battle line to Guandu, shorten their own supply line and lengthen Yuan Shao's supply line.

Obviously, Henan has long been prepared for a protracted war.

However, stretching Yuan's army's front line is only a stopgap measure. It is still unrealistic to narrow the productivity gap between the two places in this way.

As the chief strategist in Henan, Li Yi came out to express his opinions.

"Although Shao's army is large, there is no need to be afraid."

"Our troops are all elite soldiers, and each of them can defeat ten with one."

"So our army is better off fighting quickly. If we delay for too long and run out of food and grass, we will be worried." Liu Bei chimed in:
"What Ziyu said is exactly what I want."

"Although our army has retreated to Guandu, the food and fodder in Xuzhou, which was transported from Xiapi to Guandu by water, still suffered considerable losses."

"If we delay any further, we may not be able to kill Yuan's army."

Xuzhou had finally accumulated some wealth over the past few years, and it was all used in this battle.

If it weren't for the need to repair the Hangou River and the Shaobi Canal, Xuzhou could have stored more grain.

However, the construction of water conservancy projects did promote the development of agriculture.

The situation is not critical yet, so Xuzhou has not mobilized a large number of troops.

Therefore, whether in Guangling or Huainan, although the people there were affected by the war, it did not seriously harm their farming.

That is,

As long as Guandu can hold out long enough, a new batch of grain will be shipped in when the harvest comes.

Cao Cao opened his mouth and said:
"Since Yuan Shao is personally leading the troops here, let's first test the quality of his main force."

Liu Bei followed his advice, selected some soldiers and horses, and ordered the troops to advance with drums beating.

Take the initiative to attack Yuan Shao's camp.

Yuan Shao personally led his army to meet them, and they formed battle arrays on both sides.

Pang Ji advised Yuan Shao:
"My lord, Cao Cao and Liu Bei have few soldiers, and now they are attacking us, there must be something fishy going on!"

Yuan Shao gritted his teeth and said loudly:

"Since I have personally led the army to Guandu, I only wish to die in battle here, and I will never return without success."

So he ordered General Pang Ji to go to the camp first and get it.

This vanguard camp originally consisted of 800 people, and has now been expanded by Yuan Shao to 2,000 people.

The Xiandeng Camp was originally led by Qu Yi, but he was later killed by Yuan Shao because of his great achievements.

After killing Qu Yi, Yuan Shao took personal command of the camp and expanded and improved it.

Every soldier in the camp is equipped with a long sword and a bow and crossbow.

Especially the bow and crossbow, which is a weapon that is difficult to master.

However, all the soldiers in the Xiandeng Camp were good at archery and had extraordinary physical strength, so this Xiandeng Camp was also an extremely elite force under Yuan Shao.

In the Battle of Jieqiao that determined the fate of the north, Yuan Shao used this vanguard camp to defeat Gongsun Zan's proud White Horse Volunteers.

Soon, the first batch of men were brought over.

They are all vigorous and full of fighting spirit.

It has been nine years since the last Battle of Jie Bridge.

now,

The old sword is shown again in front of the battle line, and its cold light is as sharp as before.

The only difference was that Yuan Shao had a few more white hairs between his temples.

"My fellow soldiers, you have all fought with me for many years."

"I assure you today that the battle at Guandu will be the last one."

"Win this battle, and there will be no more disputes in the world!"

"I want you to take off your armor and return home, without having to endure the burden of war!"

All the pioneers said in unison:

"Follow the general to the death!"

"Follow the general to the death!"

"..."

good.

Yuan Shao nodded with satisfaction. His ability to motivate people was still very strong.

Seeing that the pioneers had been mobilized to fight, Yuan Shao immediately divided them into two teams.

Each team consisted of one thousand men, who were lying in ambush behind the infantry formations and stationed under the gate flags.

Afterwards, after three drum beats, Yuan's army strode forward.

Yuan Shao, wearing a golden helmet and golden armor, a brocade robe and a jade belt, stood in front of the battle.

The flags, staffs and axes were very neat and orderly.

His trusted generals, Han Meng and Chunyu Qiong, protected Yuan Shao on his left and right respectively.

Yuan Shao urged his horse forward and shouted to the Henan Army:
"I want Cao Cao to come to the front of the battlefield and answer my question."

The scout quickly reported Yuan Shao's words back to the formation.

Cao Cao knew that Yuan Shao hated him, but now the two armies were facing each other, and if he did not dare to face Yuan Shao, it would affect the morale of the army.

He then ordered the front-row soldiers to tear down the gate flags, and Cao Cao personally urged his horse to go out into the battle.

Generals Le Jin and Li Dian guarded him, each holding a weapon, and guarding him from the front and back.

Yuan Shao pointed his whip at Cao Cao and cursed:

"Cao Cao! I have treated you well, why did you betray me?"

Cao Cao replied:

"I will welcome the king to Chendi, and in front of the emperor, I will recommend you to be the general."

"Now you are plotting rebellion and invading our Henan territory, but you are accusing me of being a thief. Why?"

Cao Cao is now a veteran in the officialdom, and of course he understands that he absolutely cannot admit in front of the soldiers of the two armies that he used to be Yuan Shao's younger brother.

Fortunately, there is no clear document for this kind of thing, and everyone just knows it in their hearts.

As long as you refuse to admit it, others can't do anything to you.

Yuan Shao raised the corner of his mouth slightly, revealing a sneer:
"If you, Cao Man, had no orphan, you would have died ten times."

"Although you claim to be the Minister of Works of the Han Dynasty, you are actually a traitor to the Han Dynasty."

"The crimes he committed are far more serious than those committed by Wang Mang and Dong Zhuo."

"Are you accusing me of rebellion now?"

"Everyone knows that you, Cao Man, have killed innocent people, been ungrateful, held the emperor hostage, tortured loyal ministers, and robbed the king's tomb!"

"Just for these five sins, you deserve to die ten more times!"

When Cao Cao heard this, he was speechless for a moment, thinking to himself that I, Cao Cao, am not the only one who is against you.

Liu Bei, who is allied with me, is right in the formation. Why is he staring at me and scolding me?

This kind of verbal attack must not be lost, it is related to morale before the battle.

Therefore, Cao Cao decided to once again take out the golden signboard of the Han Dynasty that had existed for four hundred years.

He fetched the emperor's edict, showed it to the two armies, and said loudly:
"Here is the emperor's edict!"

"Listen, soldiers! I am here to fight the enemy in compliance with the Emperor's order."

"I advise you to abandon darkness and turn to light as soon as possible, and don't persist in your mistakes."

"If not, I will exterminate all three clans and regret it too late!"

Yuan Shao also laughed and said:
"I will also fight against the enemy for the emperor!"

After he finished speaking, he actually took out an imperial edict and read it aloud.

The general meaning is that the emperor said that there were treacherous ministers around him, and asked General Yuan Shao to help him eliminate the treacherous ministers.

Cao Cao was shocked, thinking that Chen was firmly controlled by him and Liu Bei, and even if the emperor issued an edict, it would not be sent to Hebei.

"Yuan Shao, you are so bold!"

"How dare you forge an imperial edict in front of all the heroes in the world!"

Yuan Shao retorted:
"I have received the emperor's order to fight against the enemy for the country!"

"You are the real perpetrator of rebellion by forging an imperial edict!"

Cao Cao was furious when he heard this, and immediately ordered Li Dian and Le Jin to lead the troops to charge.

Over there, Han Meng and Chunyu Qiong also led their soldiers to fight back.

Upon seeing this, Liu Bei also drew his sword and led his troops to attack in coordination with Cao's army.

The two armies fought in one place.

On Liu Bei's side were Huang Zhong, Xu Huang and Zhang Liao, who were the first to charge in and fought bravely.

On Cao Cao's side, there were Li Dian, Le Jin and Lu Qian, who also took the lead and fought bravely.

There was a fierce battle between the two sides. The Henan soldiers were more resolute and their vanguards were more brave than those of the Hebei soldiers.

Therefore, they quickly gained the upper hand. The Henan coalition forces quickly suppressed the offensive of the Hebei army and counterattacked back to Yuan Shao's main camp.

"Capture Yuan Shao, make him a marquis, and give him a reward of 100 million!"

Every soldier in Henan remembered the bounty order in his heart, as long as he could get even a finger of Yuan Shao.

Then their lives would be over in an instant, and they wouldn't have to fight for their lives anymore.

"……snort."

Seeing that the Henan army was killing in a hurry, Yuan Shao remained calm in the face of the enemy. He turned his horse around calmly and retreated to the center of the army.

The Henan Army took advantage of the situation and pressed forward. Suddenly, Yuan's Army changed its formation, and the soldiers of the Xiandeng Camp behind Chen Yu's infantry suddenly rushed out.

The two wings had already set up their bows and crossbows. When the Henan soldiers reached the range, they coordinated with the other archers:
——Ten thousand arrows fired at once!
Whoosh whoosh!
The sharp arrow shot out as fast as a meteor.

"Ah ah ah..."

People kept falling to the ground after being shot by arrows.

After a row of bows and crossbows finished shooting, they immediately retreated, and the back row provided additional firepower.

As a result, arrows were fired continuously and bows and crossbows were fired simultaneously.

The archers in the central army rushed out to the front of the formation and shot indiscriminately.

The Henan Army launched two consecutive attacks but could never reach the center of the army.

Huang Zhong's horse was hit by an arrow in the right eye and could no longer fight.

Li Dian and Le Jin were both injured and could not charge forward anymore.

Upon seeing this, Cao and Liu sounded the horn to call back their troops and hurried south.

How could Yuan Shao be willing to give up?

Taking advantage of the situation, he ordered the cavalry to charge out, and the infantry followed up, and then drove the troops to attack.

In this battle, the Hebei Army won a great victory.

Cao Cao and Liu Bei each withdrew their troops and retreated to Guandu.

Fortunately, this battle was only to test Yuan Shao's strength.

Therefore, although Cao and Liu suffered some casualties, they were not seriously injured.

in contrast,

Through this battle, Cao and Liu came to a conclusion.

That is, if the army group fights head-on, the Henan Army really cannot defeat the Hebei Army.

They could only capture isolated or reckless troops like Yan Liang and Wen Chou as they had done before.

To summarize the reasons,
Although the overall quality of the Hebei Army is not as good as that of the Henan Army, it does not mean that there are no elite soldiers.

For example, the Xiandeng Camp that performed so powerfully today.

When the Hebei Army used its numerical advantage to fight large-scale operations, it was able to make up for the shortcomings of insufficient individual soldier combat effectiveness.

At the same time, Yuan Shao's ability to command in battle was also the best in Yuan's camp.

As the weaker party, it would be difficult for the Henan Army to gain the upper hand over the Hebei Army on the front battlefield if Cao Cao and Liu Bei could not catch Yuan Shao's mistake in time.

On the battlefield, it's all about who makes the mistake first.

Yuan Shao played very well today, so he took away the victory.

Although Cao Cao and Liu Bei were defeated today, they were not hit hard.

Failure is the mother of success. Today's defeat made the two of them understand what tactics to adopt next.

"Pass the order down, officers of all units, each guard their own camp, and are not allowed to go out into battle."

Cao Cao and Liu Bei issued orders almost at the same time, ordering soldiers at all levels to strictly guard the camps and not fight with Yuan's army.

He also asked his adviser Li Yi whether this approach was appropriate.

"The Yuan army is difficult to defeat head-on, so it is best to hold on and not fight."

Li Yi also supported the tactic of defending and waiting to attack.

The reason why he did not oppose Cao Liu's proactive attack today was because he also wanted to see whether the Henan Army could defeat the Hebei Army in a head-on battle.

If we can defeat them, the Battle of Guandu will be over soon.

But it turns out that
If Yuan Shao had not had great talent and a group of elite warriors, he would not have been able to become the number one prince in the world.

When Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Li Yi reached an agreement and unanimously decided to hold their ground and not fight.

The Battle of Guandu was destined to become a tug-of-war.

Nowadays,

Early February, 200 AD.

Yuan Shao won a battle today and successfully boosted the morale of the Hebei army which had been sluggish in recent days.

"...Ahem."

Yuan Shao returned to the camp and sat on the couch exhausted.

Since he defeated Gongsun Zan, he has rarely led the battles in person like he did today.

If Yan Liang and Wen Chou had not died, Yuan Shao would have desperately needed a big victory, otherwise he would never have fought as hard as he did today.

When Guo Tu entered the tent, he was about to congratulate Yuan Shao, but he saw that Yuan Shao looked unhappy.

He quickly poured a glass of water, brought it forward, and said with concern:
"My lord, are you okay?"

"...Ahem, nothing."

Yuan Shao waved his hand and tried to cheer himself up when he saw Guo Tu and others coming.

It seemed that he didn't want others to see that he was unwell.

"How's the battle going?"

Yuan Shao asked.

"Congratulations, my lord! Today, our army has killed Cao Cao and Liu Bei without leaving a single piece of armor, and seized countless food and supplies!"

"Cao Cao and Liu Bei have already led their troops back to Guandu and dare not come out!"

Cough cough cough...

Yuan Shao couldn't help coughing twice, and then asked:
"In this case, we can send Chunyu Qiong to lead an army to pursue the victory and attack Guandu."

This……

Everyone was surprised when they heard Yuan Shao's order.

"Lord!"

Pang Ji stood up and said:
"Hebei is strong, Henan is weak, and they won a match against Cao and Liu today."

"How can those two people go to fight?"

Snapped!
Yuan Shao threw the cup to the ground and said angrily:

"You guys don't understand what I'm saying?"

"Let's take advantage of the victory and pursue them. If Cao and Liu don't fight, then we will forcefully attack Guandu!"

This……

Everyone was stunned again. You looked at me, I looked at you, and everyone felt that the contrast of Yuan Shao today was too great.

During the day,
He commanded calmly and led his army to its first major victory since the war began, greatly boosting the morale of the Hebei Army.

Why is it that at night, Yuan Shao became like a different person and lost his mind?

Everyone knows that if you attack when the enemy is well prepared, you won't gain any advantage, right?

Guandu was the decisive battlefield carefully selected by Cao and Liu, and all the strength of Henan was put into it, whether it was defensive fortifications or military equipment reserves.

The wisest thing to do right now is to slowly digest the results of today's great victory.

If we attack rashly now, won't it be a waste of effort?
"Go quickly!"

Yuan Shao seemed to intend to drive everyone away.

With the lessons learned from Tian Feng and Ju Su, no one dared to speak out against them and they all retreated in agreement.

After leaving the tent, Xu You looked towards Yuan Shao's tent from time to time.

He stroked his beard, as if thinking about something.

“Aiyah, aiyah!”

At this time, Guo Tu suddenly came over.

Xu You and Guo Tu were not from the same core party, but they belonged to the same Henan faction and did not have much conflict of interest.

Xu You then asked:

"We won a game today. Brother Guo, you're fine. Why don't you look happy? Instead, you're sighing?"

Guo Tu smiled meaningfully, glanced at Yuan Shao's tent, and said nonchalantly:

"I heard that Mr. Yuan has been calling in doctors quite frequently recently..."

Xu You was shocked. "How come this happened? How come we didn't know about it at all?"

"……hey-hey."

Guo Tu smiled slyly again, "Of course Brother Xu doesn't know."

"Because Mr. Yuan summoned the doctor in secret and did not allow it to be disclosed."

……

(End of this chapter)