Chapter 172 Cao Cao uses his troops, the whole world is watching [Subscribe]

"On the eastern front of Yanzhou, Huang Zhong and Huang Hansheng are the main generals, and Taishi Ci and Le Jin are the left and right vanguards. In the northeast, Xiahou Yuan will lead 20,000 troops to prevent unrest in Qingzhou."

"Yanzhou's west and south are under the command of Yu Jin and Xiahou Dun. Xuzhou has no support from any direction and is isolated and surrounded. What can we do?"

"Xuzhou Mu's second son and the elder Yue Weng have both gone to great lengths to secretly enter Yanzhou to carry out their mission..."

The above is a letter written by Cao Cao to Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou.

Letters are a strategy.

Tao Qian was not very courageous and had a lot on his mind, otherwise he would not have fallen ill from worrying about Cao.

But he had been in Xuzhou for several years and had a good base among the masses.

Cao Cao learned from history and did not use harsh military tactics against Xuzhou.

He wrote a letter to Tao Qian, intending to persuade him to surrender.

When Tao Qian saw the letter, he felt heavy-hearted.

Cao Cao blocked all directions of operation and communication in Xuzhou.

There is no one to help.

In the letter, Cao Cao also pointed out the strengths and weaknesses of several important defense locations in Xuzhou, which were the defenses of Xuzhou that he learned about through Gan Dao Ren.

Tao Qian was horrified by the consequences of his father-in-law and his son being captured and Cao Cao knowing the strength of Xuzhou's defenses.

You have to know that a state’s defense cannot be adjusted just because you want to.

The rotation of troops involves the transportation and distribution of baggage and food.

A rotation of defense takes at least one or two months.

And adjusting your deployment during wartime is equivalent to carrying baggage with you, giving the enemy a chance to pounce on you and attack you.

So even though Tao Qian knew that Cao Cao had taken control of Xuzhou's defense, he was unable to respond in time.

He thought about it over and over again, but could not find a good solution, and his worries grew.

The morale of the Xuzhou army was low, and they naturally retreated faster on the battlefield.

By the end of November, Huang Zhong's army had occupied a small area in the northwest of Xuzhou, and the advantage in the battle was quite obvious.

On the other side, Zhang Liao sent troops towards Chang'an at a faster speed.

At present, Sili Prefecture, where Luoyang and Chang'an are located, is in a state of chaos.

Zhang Liao led the most elite veteran soldiers of Yanzhou, as well as part of the 100,000 troops originally drawn from the Qingzhou army, a total of 30,000 men, into Sili.

With 10,000 light cavalry as the vanguard, they advanced quickly.

The melee between the Chang'an Imperial Guards and the Liangzhou Army resulted in almost no complete defense line outside Sili.

Even a strategically important military location like Hulao Pass was only garrisoned by a small number of troops.

Zhang Liao went there again in the name of serving the king. After hearing the news, the emperor in the palace sent him several urgent reports a day, urging him to hurry up and meet him at all the checkpoints along the way.

Hulao opened its gates to welcome Zhang Liao, who then ordered his troops to stay and occupy the fort.

He continued his march with his troops and arrived in Luoyang.

It is worth mentioning that Luoyang, the largest city in the world at that time, originally had a population of one million, but it was relocated over the years. In addition, part of it was forcibly taken to Chang'an by Dong Zhuo, and it was often attacked by troops from the surrounding areas. Now the residents are scattered and it is as dilapidated as an isolated city.

North of Luoyang was the territory of Zhang Yang, the governor of Henei.

To the east, Zhang Yang's area is next to Zhang Yan of the Black Mountain Army.

After Zhang Yan surrendered to Cao Cao, he received support from soldiers and food supplies, and upgraded his weapons to better ones. He was no longer the beggarly soldier he used to be.

Cao's camp gave some of the armor and weapons that were eliminated in Yanzhou to Zhang Yan to arm him.

Zhang Yan now also boasts of having "strong soldiers and powerful horses".

He armed an elite force of nearly 50,000 men, each wearing half an armour and armed with spears.

When Zhang Yan received the order from Cao Cao to assist Zhang Liao in commanding troops, he was overjoyed and showed his courage. He pushed 30,000 troops westward to threaten Zhang Liao's troops.

Zhang Yang watched Zhang Liao's troops easily occupy Luoyang, but did not dare to move.

Zhang Liao advanced westward and took control of Hulao and Luoyang without much effort.

The troops continued to move forward.

At this time, the Yanzhou army entered Chang'an, and the attention of people all over the world was attracted to the situation in Chang'an!
The Liangzhou army besieged the city, and the generals inside and outside Chang'an were fighting for profit and had been fighting in Chang'an for some time.

The Liangzhou army has already occupied most of Chang'an's defense.

But the imperial palace, the core of the city, was never conquered.

The reason was that Liang Province was also divided into different factions. Generals such as Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou each established their own faction, making it difficult to form a unified and powerful fighting force.

Knowing that the Yanzhou army was approaching, the Liangzhou generals discussed and sent a group of troops to fight Zhang Liao.

One hundred miles east of Chang'an.

In the morning light, scouts from both sides went out in all directions.

The Yanzhou army that came to Chang'an was led by Zhang Liao himself, because the vanguard was composed entirely of light cavalry and was flexible and mobile.

Three years after leaving Luoyang, Zhang Liao was already 24 years old, had fought in many battles, and was at the peak of his prowess.

He held a divine halberd in his hand and was dragging his horse backwards. He was riding a divine horse called Gray Shadow.

Cao Cao searched all over the world for horse farms to find a good horse for Zhang Liao.

In history, Zhang Liao, together with Gray Shadow, was famous throughout the world and was known as Zhang Babai.

"The governor said that we must not only win this battle, but also win beautifully and completely defeat the enemy."

Zhang Liao lightly squeezed his horse's belly and advanced slowly under the morning sun. Behind him, 10,000 elite cavalrymen followed him, and their momentum grew stronger and stronger.

With the best generals, equipment, and a strong army of veteran soldiers, Zhang Liao was confident of victory.

"The soldiers of Liangzhou have committed countless atrocities in recent years, slaughtering women and children, and each of them has killed ordinary people. We will defeat the enemy from the front, and strangle the enemy with swords on both wings, leaving no one alive!"

The generals under his command agreed in unison, and were eager to fight!
At the end of Zhang Liao's sight, the Liangzhou Army had already revealed its whereabouts, pressing towards him like a black line.

The troops of Liang Province are still a powerful force.

But in the past two years, they have been bearing the world's infamy, experiencing internal turmoil and a series of changes in their leaders.

In Cao Cao's words, they lack cohesion.

Such an army has no will to fight to the death and no sense of honor.

The two armies are getting closer as the iron hooves are pounding!

Following Zhang Liao's orders, the Yanzhou army slowly raised their spears.

A gray shadow suddenly rushed forward, and Zhang Liao stood out from the crowd, leading the troops at the front of the queue.

The thousands of riders behind him slowly spread out, forming a huge triangle.

The triangular sharp arrow formation is like a sharp arrow, ready to be launched.

This is the most offensive formation.

The leader of the Liangzhou troops was Li Jue's nephew Hu Feng! He was about the same age as Zhang Liao and had a fierce look on his face.

The Liangzhou Army was once the most powerful army in the world, and Hu Feng also had the confidence and assurance to defeat Zhang Liao.

As he was riding, he suddenly raised his spear, pointed it at Zhang Liao, and slashed it across the air, meaning that he wanted to hunt down Zhang Liao in the battle.

boom--

The gray shadow rushed towards the enemy camp with all his strength.

The army behind him was beating.

The two armies faced off in the wilderness!

"Whoever gets close to where my Liangzhou troops are will be killed!"

Hu Feng shouted loudly and urged his horse to gallop towards Zhang Liao!
Two hundred feet, one hundred feet... Both armies raised their spears forward and tucked them under their armpits to reduce the impact, preparing for the most brutal collision.

On the flanks, the troops of both sides began to speed up, trying to seize a favorable angle of collision.

At this time, Zhang Liao devoted all his efforts to promoting military tactics.

The thousands of troops behind him gathered together and turned into an invisible tide of soldiers, rolling in front of the queue like shields!
Even the halberd in Zhang Liao's hand shone brightly, as if he was holding lightning and entering the world!
Boom!

The two armies came into close combat.

Seen from above, Zhang Liao's assembled troops were extremely powerful, and the enemy forces confronting him were suddenly overturned.

At this moment, the shouts of thousands of troops overlapped!
Spears collide!

kill! !
Zhang Liao's eyes were fixed on Hu Feng, and Hu Feng also stared at him.

The two sides immediately fought.

Zhang Liao swung his halberd and thrust forward.

Hu Feng raised his spear, trying to push away the halberd, and then the spear tip went around the halberd shaft and pierced through it, combining offense and defense, and he could pierce Zhang Liao's throat with it!
But the tip of his spear hit Zhang Liao's halberd, and it felt like it was hitting a mountain.

Not moving.

You must know that Zhang Liao gathered the strength of thousands of soldiers and used his unique military tactics to break through the enemy's thousands of waves.

It means that the military momentum can be accumulated continuously. Even if the enemy has thousands of layers of defense, they can be torn through. The more the battle goes on, the stronger the enemy will be. This is the same attribute as "resting while the enemy is tired" in the thirty-six magical powers of military strategists, which means fighting for a long time without getting tired.

The force of Hu Feng's spear was suppressed by Zhang Liao, causing it to deflect and fall.

He thought to himself that this was not good and ducked down.

Zhang Liao's halberd tip passed through his shoulder blade.

The armor on Hu Feng's shoulders was shattered by the halberd.

But Hu Feng still had enough strength to fight back, and he turned sideways and stabbed Zhang Liao under the armpit with his spear.

The next moment, Hu Feng screamed. Zhang Liao retracted his halberd, and the moon blade on the side flashed, cutting off Hu Feng's neck.

Half of his neck was cut off, and his head fell strangely on his shoulders. Blood splattered from his carotid artery was half a foot high.

Zhang Liao kicked out, and Hu Feng's body was kicked into the crowd.

"kill!"

Zhang Liao unfolded his halberd and broke into the enemy's formation.

Both sides fought bloody battle!

……

Yanzhou Prefecture.

Yu Wen strode into the study.

A while ago, someone from the Yu family was captured and was rescued by Cao Cao.

Although Yu Wen was not among those arrested, there were many people from the eldest branch of the Yu family.

He then rushed to Yanzhou to personally thank his "half-son-in-law" who had just arrived.

"My dear son-in-law, you are sending troops to Chang'an to help the king and welcome the emperor?"

Cao Cao was looking at a map, and waved to his father-in-law without any respect: "It's not to serve the king, but to come and see."

Yu Wen didn't take it as an offense and moved closer.

But Cao Cao drew a red circle at the location of Yanzhou on the map. To the north was Jizhou, to the northeast was Qingzhou, and to the east was Xuzhou.

To the west of Yanzhou is Luoyang.

The two are not far from each other, so when they were fighting against Dong Zhuo, they had to set up a camp in Suanzao, west of Yanzhou.

Another six or seven hundred miles west of Luoyang is Chang'an.

On the map, Cao Cao drew several red lines extending from Yanzhou to Chang'an.

Yu Wen was not completely ignorant of military affairs. After watching for a while, he began to understand a little.

Cao Cao sent troops to Chang'an in the name of defending the king and occupying territory.

The first benefit of moving Yanzhou's troops westward and expanding its control range is that it can increase Yanzhou's strategic depth.

The second advantage is that after occupying Luoyang and Chang'an, the strategic location is above Jingzhou, which gives us the geographical advantage to suppress Jingzhou.

To the northwest from Chang'an is Liangzhou, and to the north is Bingzhou.

Building a defense line based on Chang'an and Luoyang can also threaten multiple states and counties at the same time, with the military spearhead pointing towards the northwest.

Its strategic location and importance are self-evident.

Therefore, in the past Qin and Han dynasties, Chang'an and Luoyang were their capitals respectively.

That is the heart of the world.

When Yu Wen saw the nomadic areas of foreign tribes such as the Huns to the north of Bingzhou, Cao Cao also drew a red line pointing diagonally downward to Luoyang and Chang'an.

Looking at the map, this red line runs parallel to Zhang Liao's team.

The two, one above and one below, echoed each other from a distance, implicitly threatening several states and counties near Chang'an.

Yu Wen suddenly realized, "My son-in-law is an expert in military tactics and has great ambitions.

If I am not mistaken, the troops above are also from Yanzhou?"

Cao Cao glanced at his father-in-law, thinking that he had really seen through the mystery, but it turned out that he only saw that the troops above were also from Yanzhou.

The father-in-law looked thoughtful: "Who is leading this group of troops?"

"My personal army, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, has Zhao Zilong as its general."

Cao Cao said: "Zhang Wenyuan and Zhao Zilong, one positive and one strange, are like two spears piercing the western front.

Could it be possible that Mr. Yue could see how much trouble they would stir up in several northwestern states by taking advantage of the current situation? "

Yu Wen said proudly: "I didn't see it."

Cao Cao looked up and didn't realize it. Is it a very proud thing?
Yu Wen straightened his back and said, "Son-in-law, why don't you tell me what's so wonderful about it?"

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(End of this chapter)