Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

The decisive battle in Yanzhou had actually begun a long time ago. Over the past month, while both sides were gathering troops and food, the first arriving troops had conducted several small-scale probings. The Tang army had hardly suffered any losses, and the Cao army's defenses in Qinting and Dong'a were also broken. Cao Ren, Cao Cao's cousin stationed in Qinting and the Yue Cavalry General, was unable to retreat and was killed by Xu Huang.

The northern defense line of Cao's army was completely broken. Because Cao Cao took the initiative to gather his troops for a decisive battle, after Qinting and Dong'a, Dongping State, the entire county of Rencheng State, Juancheng and other places were successively captured. The Tang army pushed the front line all the way to the vicinity of Changyi City in Shanyang County, south of Daye Lake. At this point, almost the entire Yanzhou fell into the hands of the Tang army.

Since the war started in the spring, except for the heavy casualties suffered by the Tang army when attacking Puyang and Lihu, the Tang army has been chasing and suppressing Cao's army almost all the way. The momentum of victory has been obvious. In addition, with the invincible cavalry, the arrogant spirit of the whole army could not be suppressed.

Although Lü Bu had received Amo's warning, how could he deal with this situation? Should he let the Tang army deliberately suffer a defeat to warn the entire army?

Lu Bu did call a few officers over to give them a scolding, but it had little effect. They promised to be modest and cautious, but in several encounters with Cao's army, they still took the opportunity to chase and kill Cao's army indiscriminately. Cao's army seemed to be really weak, and they were beaten to a pulp every time.

Lu Bu could use military rules and regulations to restrain the behavior of his soldiers, but he had no way of restraining people's thoughts. This arrogance of thinking that he was invincible had accumulated over many years. Unless the other side dealt a heavy blow to the Tang army, it could not be cured by words.

Another point is that after completely defeating Cao Cao in this decisive battle, it was time for the King of Tang to be promoted, and the civil and military officials who followed him in his campaigns also had to be comprehensively upgraded. Therefore, whether they were senior officers or junior officers, they all wanted to gain more merit in this final battle, so much so that they completely regarded the Cao army as a stepping stone for their promotion.

Just ask yourself, who would take a stepping stone seriously?

"How could Cao's army really be so weak? Cao Mengde deliberately sent out a force every day to test them. Each time, they were defeated, and the next day, the situation remained the same. It was obvious that the enemy was deliberately showing weakness, hoping to encourage our army's arrogance and inflict a heavy blow in the final battle."

In the central army tent, Jia Xu also felt that something was wrong these days. In addition to the daily test battles outside the camp, some time ago, a group of Qu Yi's men encountered a group of Cao's army on the way to the camp. After defeating them, the general led his men to chase them all the way and was so bold that he chased them directly to the gate of Cao's camp. If he had not brought too few troops at that time, he might have dared to attack the camp directly.

This is not the only incident of this kind that has happened recently. Even the usually steady Zhang Liao felt that Cao Cao was digging his own grave if he dared to come for a decisive battle, not to mention generals like Qu Yi and Gan Ning who were already very arrogant.

Among the several military district commanders, except for Taishi Ci who did not come to participate in the battle, only Gao Shun remained neither arrogant nor impatient. He neither competed for military merits nor did he express any contempt for Cao's army in his words.

However, not all of Gao Shun's captains and Sima officers were like him. Zhang Yan, Cao Xing, Li Li and others all wanted to win credit because after defeating Cao Cao, someone had to lead the military affairs of Xuzhou, Yanzhou and even Yuzhou, and these people all wanted to be promoted to military district commanders.

The Tang army treated Cao's army as prey, and took pleasure in hunting, chasing and teasing them!

"Does Wenhe have any way to deal with them?" Lu Bu asked with a headache.

Jia Xu shook his head. "There's nothing we can do. We can't let any of our forces suffer a crushing defeat. All we can do is for the king to do his best to coordinate the overall situation in the decisive battle."

"Our army has 100,000 soldiers, while Cao's army has over 100,000. If such a large-scale battle begins, the command systems of both sides will collapse immediately. Even if I had the power of a god, I would not be able to command them. Only the commanders and captains of each unit can make their own arrangements for the local battle situation. If the army is too dismissive of Cao's army, they may fall into the enemy's trap, resulting in defeat at best and annihilation of a local battlefield at worst."

Jia Xu also knew that in such a large-scale war, the role of the commander-in-chief would become smaller and smaller as the war progressed to the end. Even counselors and military advisors would be of little use. When the two armies were facing each other, even if you had the most sophisticated and perfect tactics, it would be difficult to deploy the armies at this time.

Jia Xu sighed helplessly, "We can only hope for the bravery of the Tang army. I wonder when the princess will be able to return?"

Speaking of his wife, Lü Bu's melancholy expression changed. "She, Zhongkang, Zilong and their group have already arrived in Chenggao. The 30,000 Shu troops are led by Yide and Mengqi respectively. They should be at Hangu Pass by now. Amo wants them to go directly south from Luoyang to Yingchuan."

Jia Xu nodded. "That's a good option. If we defeat Cao's army in this battle, we can prevent him from joining forces with Cheng Yu in Nanyang."

Lu Bu laughed and said, "Wenhe subconsciously believes that our army will win this battle, right?"

Jia Xu was stunned and speechless!

…………

At this time in Cao's camp, Cao Cao was also asking about the itinerary of Zhang Mo and her group. Hearing that she would be back soon, Cao Cao's brows unconsciously sank. This battle of Yizhou made him look at this woman with admiration again. Not only did she fight so decisively, but her grasp of people's hearts was almost magical.

She calmly sent Liu Bei to the barbarian land and captured more than 30,000 of his Shu soldiers without bloodshed. She not only calculated Liu Bei's heart, but also Liu Biao, whom she had never met, and she knew him thoroughly.

"The troops of both sides have almost gathered. I think the Tang army is getting too arrogant. Why not lure them out for a decisive battle in the next two days?" Cao Cao asked.

"My lord, are you worried that something unexpected will happen when Princess Tang returns?" Xun You asked Cao Cao.

Cao Cao nodded. "This woman is no ordinary person. She always has the ability to change the world. We have to be careful. We can afford to spend a few days on her!"

Xun You said casually, "No matter how capable she is, can she really control the movements of troops on a battlefield of over 200,000 people? My lord, there is really no need to be so afraid of her."

Cao Cao touched his nose awkwardly and said, "I just thought it would be better to have less trouble than more."

Xun You glanced at his somewhat uncomfortable expression, but without exposing his intention, he explained, "The Tang army already sees us as prey. They're having a great time right now. If one day the prey suddenly disappears, the hunters will surely feel very frustrated. It's not impossible for you to have a decisive battle in the next two days, my lord. However, I think we should wait a few more days. During these days, our army should just hold our ground and wait until they've gathered enough strength. That way, we can more easily lure them into a trap on the day of the decisive battle."

Xun You's plan sounded reasonable, but Cao Cao was also worried that doing so would only further boost the morale of the Tang army. However, at this point, Cao Cao had no other options, let alone a retreat. He could only continue with Xun You's counterattack plan. He suppressed his uneasiness and said, "Let's follow Gongda's advice and wait a few more days!"