Your Majesty, please spare Diao Chan; your yang energy is too strong.

I never expected that he would see right through me.

However, it doesn't matter that he saw through it. The plan was good, but he overlooked a huge problem.

That means Zhou Heng's current strength is far beyond what they can easily control.

Do you really think Zhou Heng is the same Zhou Heng as before?

Before he left, Xuzhou had nearly 20,000 troops.

Troops were reinforced again during this period.

Even Zhou Heng didn't know the exact number of troops.

Not to mention what he has in his hands now.

With the divine Zhang Liao and the divine Zhao Yun by their side.

Trying to hold onto yourself is simply wishful thinking.

As for Liu Bei and Lü Bu, if it were before, he would naturally be very worried.

But now, things may not be so simple.

It's important to know that Xuzhou has experienced very rapid development during this period.

With the support of the Mi family, one of the four wealthiest families, and Yuan Shu's dowry, their army grew daily.

According to the latest news from Xuzhou, the number of troops stationed there now exceeds 40,000.

There are 40,000 soldiers, even if they are all new recruits.

Even if Lü Bu and Liu Bei joined forces, taking over Xuzhou would not be an easy task.

Not to mention, it would be impossible to take Xuzhou in a short period of time.

Almost impossible.

When he returned to Xuzhou, he had 12,000 men from the Zhen family and 5,000 men from the Black Mountain Army, bringing his total force to nearly 20,000.

They also had the support of Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao.

With the help of Mi Zhu from within and without, Lü Bu, with only a few thousand troops, and Liu Bei, with ten thousand troops, are now in a precarious situation.

How could they possibly resist the attack of their own tens of thousands of troops?

It wasn't that Zhou Heng hadn't considered his own capabilities.

It is Zhou Heng, whose strength is increasing every second.

As long as we have money and food on hand.

Soldiers are just a number.

He no longer took Lü Bu and Liu Bei seriously.

If you want to die, I can send you on your way early.

.............

What happened next was pretty much as Zhou Heng had predicted.

Cao Cao withdrew his troops from the Jianghuai region.

Support Yanzhou.

This greatly reduced the pressure on Yuan Shu, and he even sounded the horn for a counterattack.

Yuan Shu was not about to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of Cao Cao withdrawing his troops.

They immediately rallied and launched a counterattack.

This caused Cao Cao heavy losses; of his 200,000-strong army, almost a quarter was lost.

If it weren't for Guo Jia's plan...

Such a large-scale retreat could very well turn into a complete failure.

This caused Mr. Cao great distress.

Although the cost was considerable, it was still well worth it.

At least we can ensure that we don't lose Yanzhou.

It's good enough that we can withdraw; why bother with anything else?

As for the losses suffered in the battle against Yuan Shu, they should naturally be repaid to Yuan Shao.

At that moment, he vented all his anger on Yuan Shao.

For a time, Yuan Shao's situation was extremely precarious.

Especially after Yuan Shao withdrew from the border defenses, losing nearly half of his troops.

No matter how powerful Han Meng is.

It was also impossible to stop Cao Cao's 200,000-strong army from attacking.

Although Cao Cao lost nearly 50,000 troops during the retreat, he still deployed a considerable number of troops in Yanzhou.

Previously, Cao Ren had been sent back with 30,000 troops.

So I still have more than 200,000 yuan on hand.

In just a few months.

They then marched directly into Wei Commandery.

Their military might pointed directly at the city of Ye.

Add to that Zhang Yan's 100,000-strong army already waiting beneath Ye City.

The entire city of Ye was almost completely surrounded by an army of 300,000.

Furthermore, Zhang Yan has been frantically increasing troop numbers during this period.

The more you understand your current situation, the better.

Zhang Yan dared not be careless in the slightest.

He bet almost all of his chips.

A million-strong army from Montenegro has been mobilized.

The number of combat-ready soldiers is close to 200,000.

For a time, Yuan Shao was almost surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Fortunately, at the crucial moment, Yan Liang withdrew from Youzhou with 100,000 troops.

That's how the situation was alleviated.

However, this temporarily relieved the pressure on Jizhou.

However, there is pressure from Youzhou.

That's increasing day by day.

It should be noted that before Yuan Shao rose to power, Gongsun Zan was the most powerful warlord in the land.

He had nearly 500,000 armored soldiers at his disposal.

However, due to the betrayal of powerful families, Gongsun Zan suffered repeated defeats.

That's why they lost Ji Province and Bing Province one after another.

Don't underestimate Gongsun Zan.

At his peak, Gongsun Zan was incredibly powerful.

He was betrayed by powerful families.

That's why they suffered repeated defeats.

Now that Yan Liang has withdrawn his troops from Youzhou, Gongsun Zan has gained a great opportunity to alleviate his predicament.

There are also signs of a counterattack.

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan and obtained a million units of grain from Gongsun Zan.

More than 300,000 soldiers surrendered.

This is why Yuan Shao was able to rise to become the most powerful warlord in the land.

Even if it's not their peak period now.

Gongsun Zan still had nearly 400,000 troops under his command.

With Yan Liang's withdrawal, the pressure on Youzhou has increased significantly.

How could Wen Chou alone possibly hold off Gongsun Zan's nearly 400,000 troops?

Things took a turn for the worse.

Gongsun Zan, however, could not possibly let go of such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Kill you while you are sick.

His troops launched a counterattack.

Even though Yuan Shao had the strong support of powerful clans.

However, the disparity in troop strength was enough to give them a splitting headache.

In just a few months.

They almost drove Wen Chou out of Youzhou.

They could only retreat to Bingzhou.

If we retreat any further, we'll have to retreat directly to Jizhou.

For a moment, even someone with Yuan Shao's temperament couldn't help but feel a sense of being surrounded by enemies.

You should know that this happened a few months ago.

He was still the second most powerful feudal lord in the land.

This left Gongsun Zan with nowhere to turn, neither to heaven nor to hell.

How long has it been?

It has already reached this point.

Youzhou has fallen completely, and Jizhou has also lost most of its territory.

Gongsun Zan's army of 400,000 men besieged Bingzhou.

In addition to his 100,000-strong army, Zhang Yan also besieged Ye City.

The remaining 100,000 troops successively conquered Changshan County, Hejian County, and Bohai Kingdom, and their advance was aimed directly at Ye City.

Cao Cao launched an attack from Dongjun, inflicted a major defeat on Han Meng at Julu, and his army was already at Weijun.

It can be said that the entire Ji Province is still under Yuan Shao's control.

Only the Zhao State of Qinghe remained, consisting of two prefectures.

Except for its capital city Ye, Wei Commandery has been completely lost.

Zhongshan is still in the hands of the Zhen family.

It's really no different from losing it.

This left Yuan Shao completely dumbfounded.

If he had known this would be the outcome, he would have rather been killed than offend Cao Cao at this time.

Unfortunately, it was too late to regret it.

The best course of action at present is to withdraw from Ji Province and retreat to Bing Province.

But in this way...

Qingzhou was essentially cut off from Yuan Shao completely.

The beginning and the end cannot be taken into account.

This is a cardinal sin in military strategy.

Therefore, Yuan Shao was unwilling to withdraw from Ji Province, even at the cost of his life.

If Jizhou is truly withdrawn...

That would mean he has completely withdrawn from the stage of history.

There was absolutely no possibility left.

Withdrawing from Ji Province means abandoning Qing Province.

How could Bingzhou alone survive the encirclement of three powerful warlords?