Chapter 127: Joining the Company, Victory, and Grand Opening [Subscription Request]

"Filial piety."

Xun Yu came out of the provincial government to meet Guo Jia.

The two of them met politely.

When Xun Yu saw that Guo Jia was sleepy, he knew that he had been sleeping in the car again and had just woken up.

Guo Jia has three major hobbies: sleeping first, drinking second, and beauties third, which complement each other.

After getting drunk, find a beautiful woman and sleep with her. After waking up, have another drink, forming a closed loop.

"Yuan Benchu ​​doesn't like you." Xun Yu said in a teasing tone.

Guo Jia denied it: "I don't like him. He lacks decisiveness. He wants fame but also wants to do dirty things. It's not fun."

Xun Yu laughed and said, "Why don't you go and join them?"

“You won’t know until you go.”

Guo Jia countered: "You have become a Sima in Yanzhou. I never realized that you are so good at scheming. I heard people say that you were promoted the fastest and held the most important position in Yuan Shao's army."

"Are you envious?" Xun Yu asked.

The two walked into the house, and Guo Jia asked quietly, "What kind of person is the governor of Yanzhou?"

Xun Yu thought about it seriously and said, "I think it's good." He turned around and looked at Guo Jia walking with a steady scholar's pace, and urged him:

"Hurry up, I'll come pick you up, and I'll have to save time going to the bathroom, but you're not the type who can be busy."

Guo Jia smiled and quickened his pace a little.

"When you enter the study, don't look at the women around the governor." Xun Yu reminded.

Guo Jia sneered: "Women are only for their own temporary pleasure. I came here to do something. Besides, what kind of women have I not seen?"

You have never seen the two people in the study... Xun Yu brought Guo Jia into the mansion and heard voices coming from the study from afar.

Chen Gong is in the study.

He came to give direct advice, blaming Cao Cao for sending out troops without authorization and being the first to provoke a war during such a chaotic time.

One side has its own sycophants who agree with the emperor in everything and fawn on him.

Naturally, there are also those who are upright in character and dare to speak their mind and say what is on their mind.

But when Chen Gong arrived at the governor's mansion and was taken into the study, Cao Cao said before he could even open his mouth:

“Gongtai came over, but he wanted to say that I shouldn’t have taken the lead in raising an army.

Shouldn't you have declared war on all four sides at once, been arrogant and conceited, and dragged many surrounding counties into war?"

Cao Cao spoke first...and Chen Gong's momentum weakened a little.

"The governor of the state is raising a large military force and sending troops to all directions at the same time. Is this the right thing to do?"

Cao Cao: "If I don't raise an army, will the enemy attack me?"

Chen Gong said nothing.

He saw clearly that if Yanzhou did not take action first, this war was inevitable.

But I still feel that what Cao Cao did was wrong. If he had to mobilize his troops to attack the front line, the consumption and losses would have been much smaller.

The common people and nobles were less affected by the war.

Cao Cao: "Raising troops in all directions is a strategy. If we don't attack Xuzhou first and occupy a favorable position, how can we have the opportunity to cooperate with the troops of Chenliu later, alternate between real and fake, and easily capture Yuzhou?"

"Attack Xuzhou first, and then you can easily take Yuzhou, with minimal losses."

Cao Cao was willing to explain these two sentences because Chen Gong had the merit of supporting him to become the governor of Yanzhou.

You can't become a governor and then forget other people's contributions.

But there is no need to explain further. If you understand, then you understand. If you don’t understand, there is no need to force it.

Chen Gong wanted to scold but failed, which made him feel a little uncomfortable, but what Cao Cao said made sense.

The good thing about Chen Gong is that he obeys reason and his own beliefs and is not stubborn.

He then said, "I came here rashly. The governor should use his troops to serve the people and take the current situation into consideration, which is the right thing to do."

Xun Yu had already come in from outside, so Chen Gong said goodbye. He still felt suffocated when he left, and he only started to blame before he was choked back.

"Feng Xiao is here?"

Cao Cao had sharp ears and could hear clearly what Xun Yu and the other man were talking about outside the mansion.

Guo Jia came in from outside and suddenly saw Cai Wenji and Diao Chan kneeling on the left and right behind Cao Cao.

My God, there is such a divine woman in the world... Guo Jia's sight first fell on Cai Yan, and he was already astonished. Then when he saw Diao Chan, he felt a sudden explosion in front of his eyes, and had an unbelievable feeling.

However, even though the shock was so great, Guo Jia quickly regained his composure and looked away.

On the surface, you couldn't even tell how much his expression changed.

He came here to seek work. If he didn't care about it, he would be asking for trouble. Guo Jia has always been clear-headed.

He then sat down and didn't look at her again.

Cao Cao observed from the side and was quite fond of his character.

"Xun Yu has praised you highly. When you come to my Yanzhou, you will serve as the chief priest and participate in my military affairs. If you have other suggestions, you can also tell me."

Zhuge Liang also held a similar position as military advisor in the early period of Shu Han, which shows that it was an important position.

Guo Jia was stunned when he was directly given the position of military advisor.

After following Xun Yu out of the study, Guo Jia asked, "Does this governor always do things this way?"

Xun Yu glanced at him and said, "The governor must have known you in other aspects, and he would not make a decision lightly. The position of military advisor is not small, you should work hard and attend the meeting morning and night. The war is going on, you will start tomorrow morning, don't oversleep."

Guo Jia then went to a mansion assigned to him by Cao Cao and settled down.

……

In the winter of the first year of the Chuping period of the Han Dynasty, Gongsun Zan stationed his troops at Panhe River. Yuan Shao accepted the challenge and the war began.

The two sides have been at odds for a long time.

As early as when the princes were fighting Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao took the opportunity to take action, appointed Zhou Ang as the governor of Yuzhou, and sent troops to attack Yangcheng.

At that time, Yuan Shu sent Gongsun Zan's younger brother Gongsun Yue back to rescue Yangcheng. Gongsun Yue was shot and killed by a stray arrow during the battle.

When Gongsun Zan heard the news, he was furious: "My brother was killed by Yuan Shao." So he led his army to attack Yuan Shao.

Gongsun Zan's offensive was fierce and his power was felt all over the area north of the Yellow River.

At one time, all the counties and prefectures in Jizhou surrendered.

In order to ease the situation, Yuan Shao took the initiative to surrender and promoted Gongsun Fan, Gongsun Zan's cousin, to be the governor of Bohai in order to win him over.

But as soon as Gongsun Fan arrived in Bohai, he immediately changed sides.

Until this year, Gongsun Zan's military power grew and he stationed in Jieqiao. He appointed Yan Gang as governor of Jizhou, Tian Kai as governor of Qingzhou, Shan Jing as governor of Yanzhou (which did not happen), and assigned county governors and magistrates with the intention of controlling the four northern states.

Yuan Shao was forced into a corner with no way to retreat, so he personally led his troops to fight Gongsun Zan.

When Cao Cao returned to Changyi, the two armies were arrayed 20 miles south of Jie Bridge. Gongsun Zan's troops, with flags flying, were at their peak.

He arranged 30,000 infantry into a square formation, with 5,000 cavalry on each wing, among which the most elite White Horse Volunteers formed the backbone.

You should know that the Youzhou cavalry was a rare powerful army in the world. Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu relied on the Youzhou cavalry to sweep across the country and restore the Han Dynasty.

Gongsun Zan selected elite troops from the Youzhou cavalry and formed the White Horse Volunteers.

In recent years, he has been traveling across the north, invincible, and becoming increasingly arrogant, with the ambition to defeat all parties.

At this time, the two armies were facing each other, with weapons and spears facing the scorching sun, emitting cold light and an extremely murderous aura.

The sky is filled with war clouds and the blood is boiling.

Boom boom boom!
The sound of war drums could be heard for miles.

Yuan Shao ordered his general Qu Yi to lead 800 elite soldiers as the vanguard.

He himself led tens of thousands of infantrymen and formed a battle array in the rear.

Gongsun Zan, who was riding on a tall and strong white horse, looked at Yuan Shao's 800-odd elite troops in front of him and mocked him, "Yuan Shao doesn't know how to fight at all.

Let more than 800 soldiers line up in front, and my followers will be able to crush them with one charge and crush them into pulp."

However, Gongsun Zan did not know that Yuan Shao's arrangement contained great mysteries and a magic weapon for victory.

Qu Yi was a native of Liangzhou. He survived a near-death experience in the war against the Western Qiang nomadic tribe and was particularly good at using infantry to counter cavalry tactics.

The 800 warriors they selected as the vanguard were also elite veterans, and were highly targeted.

These eight hundred soldiers held swords in one hand and shields in the other, and were experienced in countering cavalry tactics and were not afraid of fighting.

More importantly, Yuan Shao had hidden powerful crossbowmen among the infantry in the rear formation. There were thousands of powerful crossbows, shining with cold light, ready to be fired.

The crossbow developed extremely rapidly during the Han Dynasty, and after several innovations, it not only had a long range, but could also shoot up to five hundred steps away.

It is two to three times farther than ordinary crossbows.

Some of the special crossbows carved by Mohist craftsmen are more powerful and can reach farther.

The Han crossbow also invented the "Wangshan", which is a "sight" that uses the vertical angle to calculate the distance to the landing point.

The arrows are incredibly accurate and never miss their targets.

The crossbow was Yuan Shao's greatest reliance and advantage.

Gongsun Zan, however, boasted that his White Horse Volunteers were invincible and that his cavalry could solve everything, and there was no targeted defense.

The two armies formed their battle arrays and faced each other from a distance.

Gongsun Zan was the first to give the order: "Attack! Capture Yuan Shao alive!"

Boom!

The ground was shaking, and grains of sand were lifted up and down by the resonance of the Youzhou cavalry trampling on the ground, jumping up and down.

More than two hundred feet away, Yuan Shao's soldiers calmly prostrated themselves under their shields.

After hearing Yuan Shao's order, thousands of powerful crossbows were fired at the Baima Yicong.

The dense rain of arrows instantly covered the sky!

Thousands of powerful crossbows appeared after the infantry moved sideways, and they attacked in rows.

For a moment, the void was filled with the sharp sound of vibrating bowstrings.

Gongsun Zan's army suffered an unexpected blow. The Baima Volunteers and Youzhou Cavalry were shot by powerful crossbows one after another.

The war horses fell down, and the knights on horseback were wearing armor and had difficulty moving. After falling to the ground, they were affected by the horses' movements, and the entire charging army fell into chaos.

It was not until this time that the eight hundred elite soldiers at the front of Yuan Shao's formation suddenly jumped up and swung their swords to kill.

Gongsun Zan in the back suddenly felt a chill.

Qu Yi's troops attacked with shields in hand and swords, and the cavalry in front of them fell down. They wielded swords to kill the chaotic Youzhou cavalry, and their attacks were accurate and ruthless, focusing on the gaps in the armor, such as the neck and other vital points.

Blood and screams filled the battlefield.

In the rear of the Youzhou army, Gongsun Zan felt a chill all over his body. The failure came so suddenly.

He led his invincible cavalry and thought that he could end the battle with a single charge.

However, the reality is just the opposite.

The Jizhou army fought with confidence.

Under the leadership of Qu Yi, they became more and more courageous as the battle went on.

The horn of retreat sounded from Youzhou, and the troops retreated in panic.

The Jizhou army counterattacked and beheaded Yan Gang, the Jizhou governor sent by Gongsun Zan, on the battlefield. They killed more than a thousand enemies and chased them all the way to Jie Bridge.

Gongsun Zan attempted to defend the Jie Bridge, but was defeated again.

Qu Yi led his men to pursue Gongsun Zan's camp and won a victory known in history as the Battle of Jie Bridge.

In this battle, Yuan Shao defeated the invincible Gongsun Zan with a weaker force, and his reputation grew even more.

The actual losses of both sides in this battle were not great, but it was a fatal blow to Gongsun Zan's morale.

The news soon reached Cao Cao.

There were actually quite a few twists and turns in the battle between the two sides.

It was not easy for Yuan Shao to win. He almost lost his life because after confirming his advantage, Yuan Shao underestimated his opponent and was almost killed. It was his strategist Tian Feng who pulled him away and saved him from death.

After reading the news of the battle, Cao Cao thought that if the two sides fought again, Gongsun Zan would lose again, and his mentality would collapse.

Yuan Shao has already begun his unification of the four states.

However, Cao Cao was eyeing more than one state. He had already set up a trap and was waiting for his opponent to jump in.

On the same day, Yuan Shu learned that Yuan Shao had won a great victory, but he had lost part of Yuzhou to Cao Cao.

Yuan Shu was eager to take back Yuzhou and defeat Cao's army.

The situation in several major states and counties changed repeatedly within a few days.

At the same time, Cao Cao took out the Moon Shadow Mirror in the study.

The previous entry mentioned that the Sun Shadow Mirror is located in Tomb No. 4. After killing Dong Zhuo, I got a guidance map and was about to take a look at it.

Ps: I see that many book friends often complain about Cai Wenji's name, so I will formally explain it (the following words are not counted)

I know that Cai Zhaoji was changed to Cai Wenji to avoid the taboo of Sima Zhao. But both names have arguments to support them. For example, there were many famous people in the same period whose names also contained the word Zhao, but they did not change it, so she was called Cai Zhaoji. Many historians do not agree with this.

Examples can also be found in some official history books.

For example, Ban Zhao, a talented woman who passed away before Cai Yan was born, and there are other similar examples, some from the same period, some earlier, and some later. It is precisely because of the careful research that Wen Ji, who has a wider audience and is known by more people, was chosen. Don't argue about this anymore, historians haven't figured it out.

And Wen Ji is the younger sister, I have also checked.

I won't write blindly unless it's a typo, because I've suffered this kind of loss before, and now I'm very cautious when looking up information.

In addition, I didn’t write about the war in detail before, and just skimmed through it. Some book friends felt that it was a bit of a waste. In fact, it’s because Cao Cao wants to expand. There have been many wars recently, and I have to make a choice. Otherwise, if I write about them all in detail, people will get tired of them because of so many wars.

This paragraph is pasted after the update, and does not count towards the paid word count. Please give me a vote~
(End of this chapter)