Because Yuan Shao has strong soldiers and horses and sufficient supply of backup, he is suitable for a long-term duel with Cao Zhi.
On the contrary, Cao Zhi made it clear that after fighting so many battles, he was forced to start a decisive battle with Yuan Shao, and his backup supplies were definitely not as good as Yuan Shao's.
But on the contrary, a quick battle and a quick decision should be exactly what Cao Jun wants. Although Yuan Shao has many troops and horses, they are not necessarily his opponent.
But in this kind of waiting that requires patience, Yuan Shao's counselors have good strategic ideas and plans, but they are afraid that Yuan Shao will not be able to persist: impatience, contempt for opponents, rashness, suspicion, etc. are all Yuan Shao's fatal injuries.
And the motto is also the fatal wound of the entire Yuan Army.
When Xu You was worried about Yuan Shao's persistence, Cao Zhi's subordinates also considered his patience:
First of all, Xun Yu, who was stationed in Xudu in place of Cao Zhi and was in charge of the government, sent a letter to Cao Zhi, encouraging Cao Zhi: "Perhaps in honor of the order, the envoy will decide whether to advance or retreat. I secretly thought that Yuan Shao had gathered in Guandu to have an affair with Duke Ming.
To determine victory or defeat, the weak should be treated as the strongest. If it cannot be controlled, it will be taken advantage of. This is the great opportunity of the world. Or if you look at Yuan Shao, he is generous on the outside but cautious on the inside. He allows others to doubt his heart, and it is not enough to achieve great things. Today
Although the army is numerous, it cannot be used. How can the public's strength and wisdom be used? Although it is difficult to feed the army today, it is not as good as that of Chu. The Han is between Xingyang and Chenggao. At this time, Liu and Xiang Mo were willing to retreat first.
If you retreat, your momentum will be compromised. Now, with a crowd of ten or ten, draw the ground and defend it, choke it to prevent it from advancing. Seeing that the momentum is exhausted, there will definitely be changes. When this is used strangely, it must not be lost. Only understand
Check it out!"
The meaning of Xun Yu's letter is to encourage Cao Zhi to have the patience and confidence to persevere. In the letter, Xun Yu analyzed that the Battle of Guandu was an extremely important battle for Cao Zhi and Yuan Shao. It can be said that the success of hegemony depends on this.
In one fell swoop, Yuan Shao gathered all his troops in Guandu to decide the outcome with Cao Zhi. Cao Zhi should use his weakest troops to block his strongest troops. If he could not defeat him, he would definitely be defeated.
He took advantage of the opportunity, and this decisive victory in the world was a great opportunity for both sides. Although Yuan Shao's troops were numerous, they could not be used by Yuan Shao. Xun Yu believed that with Cao Zhi's martial prowess and wisdom, no one could join him! Now!
Although his military strength is smaller than that of Yuan Shao, in terms of logistics supply, there is a shortage of weapons and food and grass that Cao Zhi was famous for before. Unlike the turbulent meeting between Chu and Han in Xingyang and Chenggao, or Cao Zhi's
Zhi was at his peak during the Battle of Chibi. But Cao Zhi now had the advantage of drawing territory and defending the city. Guandu, the choke point, tightly grabbed Yuan Shao's throat, preventing Yuan Shao's troops from advancing any further.
When the time comes when Yuan Shao and his army and horses are exhausted, the situation will definitely change. At that time, it is time to use ingenuity. Cao Zhi will definitely be able to defeat Yuan Shao in one fell swoop and achieve hegemony. Xun Yu asked Cao Zhi not to lose or give up this time
Opportunity, I hope he will show the greatest patience and confidence, overcome all difficulties and welcome victory.
Xun Yu's letter was very encouraging, and Cao Zhi was really moved after reading it. Cao Zhi felt very relieved to have such a wise and resourceful friend helping him. However, Xun Yu used his
Wisdom has predicted the development of the future Battle of Guandu, but it has not been explained what the specific strategy will be used or when this opportunity will arise. Moreover, the most critical thing is how Cao Zhi will overcome the various difficulties at present, Xun Yu also did not say.
The number one adviser under Cao Zhi just kept encouraging him, explaining that they had great hope in the general direction and encouraging him to stick to it to the end.
After reading the letter, Cao Zhi was happy for a while, and then forwarded the letter to Jia Xu, who was left by Cao Zhi to serve as a military officer after arriving with the reinforcements. Facing the difficulties in front of him, Cao Zhi couldn't help but sighed and carried his hands behind his back.
, walking around in the tent.
After reading the letter, Jia Xu saw that Cao Zhi was still worried, so he continued Xun Yu's encouragement and explained to Cao Zhi: "The public's wisdom can defeat Shao, courage can defeat Shao, employment of people can defeat Shao, and decisiveness can defeat Shao. There are these four
What's the point of winning and attacking without results? But it's all because Ming Gong wants to be foolproof! In my humble opinion, if Ming Gong can find a good opportunity and deliver a fatal blow to the enemy, the situation will definitely change!"
When Cao Zhi heard Jia Xu's more pragmatic words, he immediately became interested, and was about to sit down and discuss with him how to create a sneak attack plan on Wuchao in advance. Suddenly, Xu Chu rushed into Cao Zhi's tent in a hurry:
"My lord, my lord, the enemy has changed their formations again, they have changed their formations again!"
"Oh, it's changed again! Hey, just change it, it's not the first time!" Cao Zhi turned his head and replied half-heartedly.
"It's different, it's different this time. Yuan Jun has built a city!" Xu Chu emphasized very seriously that the enemy's change of formation was unusual.
"fortification?"
This move, which sounded unimaginable, did attract the attention of Cao Zhi and Jia Xu. They immediately put down what they were doing and followed Xu Chu to Li Dian's west camp. When they climbed up to take a look, they saw that Yuan Jun was really building a city.
However, this city building is not building a real city in the traditional sense, but using sand and soil to build a wall with a bottom width of five feet and a height of three feet on the flat ground. This is actually a camp method called "city building".
"Ying method" is a flexible method that is on par with Cao Ying's wooden village.
In this way, Yuan Jun can not only move the overall formation forward again, but also conduct safer and more favorable offensive and defensive arrangements with Cao Jun at the same height.
When Cao Zhi arrived, Yuan Jun's earth and stone camp had begun to take shape. This method of building a city was simple and easy to construct. With the strength of Yuan Shao's troops, it only took half a day to mobilize thousands of sergeants to work together.
The prototype is built.
"When I came to inspect yesterday, there were no changes. In one night, the camp was almost built. Yuan Jun's speed is not slow!" Cao Zhi murmured to Jia Xu next to him.
But this was not what surprised Cao Zhi the most. What surprised Cao Zhi the most was what Yuan Jun was working on behind the camp.
"Gao Lu!"
"Ah? What did my lord say?"
Jia Xu didn't understand what looked like a watchtower to them, so he called out a new term, and couldn't help but ask in confusion.
"That kind of roofless watchtower is called a high oar. When it reaches a certain height and is connected, Yuan Jun will use it as an archery tower. Soldiers can stand on it, or they can surround our military camp at will.
Walk around the passage between the high oars at will, change directions and shoot arrows at the people in our military camp anytime and anywhere!"
Cao Zhi's explanation made the civil servants and generals surrounding Cao Zhi suddenly understand. According to the shape they saw, they had not figured out the purpose of this object just now, but now they finally understood. Indeed, as Cao Zhi said, Yuan Jun is
It is a historic breakthrough to use this "high oar" as an archery tower and high-altitude trench to launch some attacks on the back of Cao's camp where Yuan's army has been unable to reach.
"Quick, prepare bamboo pieces! With the enemy's speed, all the camps can be built in just one night, and the high oars can be connected into a long dragon tomorrow. We must also prepare for them before they complete their attack preparations.
Prepare!"
Cao Zhi couldn't let Jia Xu and others worry about Yuan Jun's new methods, so he immediately started preparing countermeasures. A familiar historical scene finally appeared, which made Cao Zhi not feel distressed or panicked, but on the contrary, he was very expectant and excited.
Because as a time-traveler, especially a time-traveler like Cao Zhi who understands the general history but does not know some of the details of the series, when he sees the historical time nodes that he has been thinking about in his mind for a long time finally appear.
This means that he can connect subsequent processes together.
This really surprised everyone, but Cao Zhi seemed very happy, because he was familiar with this attack and defense before traveling through time, and of course he knew how Cao Cao dealt with it in his lifetime.
So Cao Zhi ignored the surprise of his subordinates and ordered to collect bamboo pieces and build a bamboo raft shield connected in a circle on top of his camp. Outside, he took Jia Xu and asked anxiously: "How many days will it take for our army's catapult to arrive?"
Reachable?”
"Uh!" Jia Xu was stunned for a while, then he came to his senses and replied: "There are still about two days, and the first batch will arrive!"
Because the transportation conditions in ancient times were so poor, people had to walk for more than a month. Heavy weapons such as catapults and catapults, of course, traveled very slowly. It might take two months or even longer to climb over mountains and ridges.
.And for the Battle of Red Cliff, Cao Zhi transported all the catapults and catapults to the south. In the Battle of Red Cliff, these long-range weapons played a good and huge role, but now they have to be transported back to the north from the south.
It was so time-consuming and labor-intensive that by now, as many as 100,000 soldiers and horses who had participated in the Battle of Chibi had arrived in Cao's camp, but the catapults had not arrived yet.
"It's too slow, it might be too late!" Cao Zhi categorically expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of the catapult, then rolled his eyes and said to Jia Xu: "Gather the people and we'll build it on the spot overnight!"
"Ah? Worked all night, there's still time..." Jia Xu expressed his worries, but he still took action immediately. He summoned a group of soldiers who were familiar with the structure of the catapult, and led the people to search for available materials for half the night. According to
Cao Zhi asked for the construction of a ring-shaped bamboo raft shield, and tried to provide Cao Zhi with all the needs for building a catapult.
Of course, the chief architect of these things is Cao Zhi. Cao Zhi believes that the opportunity and his historical connection point have appeared, and nothing is impossible. Yuan Shao can mobilize hundreds of thousands of men to build city camps and high oars.
Of course, he could also mobilize his 150,000 soldiers to build an encircling bamboo raft shield and catapult overnight.
To say that the bamboo shield has little technical content, the catapult is different. It is also a confidential weapon in Cao's army. The blueprints and related technologies are only in the hands of a group of Cao Zhi's cronies. They have not yet arrived in Guandu at this time.
Instead, they were on the road, following the escort of catapults, catapults, and military ships on both water and land routes, rushing towards Guandu.
But Cao Zhi obviously couldn't wait. It wasn't that he was impatient to wait for them to arrive, but the changes in Yuan Jun had forced him to make protective preparations in advance.