Let Yuan Shao and Cao Cao kill both sides, and then sit back and defend the advantage. This is the consensus of most people in the hall. After a year of fierce fighting, both sides suffered heavy casualties, but Yuan Shao still had an army of 500,000, and Cao Cao was still able to gather 300,000.
Army. At this time, if Liu Xin suddenly declares war on these two people, it is very likely that the two people will join forces. In that case, Liu Xin will face the pressure of an army of 800,000 special teachers. In fact, it is more than that. The North
The various states were the places where the population of the Han Dynasty was most concentrated. If Cao Cao and Yuan Shao joined forces and jumped over the wall in a hurry, they could even form more armies.
Killing one thousand enemies will result in eight hundred losses. Although the Han army was well-trained and well-equipped, facing eight hundred thousand or even millions of enemies, its own casualties were definitely not a small number. Although most civil servants were worried
, but all the generals were gearing up and preparing for a big fight.
The war is imminent, and it is necessary to eliminate differences and unify ideas. Looking at the parties with different opinions, Liu Xin waved his hands and said: "There are no two days in the sky, and there are no two emperors in the country. Now there are three emperors in the Han Dynasty. Isn't it right?"
A joke that has never happened in ancient times? Since I have ascended the throne, I will not tolerate this situation continuing, and it is inevitable to use force! However, what really prompted me to make this determination were the two urgent military messages.
!”
Just now at the head of Chang'an City, Liu Xin had already mentioned the two urgent military messages, and stated that it was precisely because of these two urgent military messages that he would rather be misunderstood as a person who broke his promise than to ascend the throne and gain the throne.
Master Wang.
In fact, even without these two urgent military messages, Liu Xin would have proclaimed himself emperor. His purpose in doing so was not to give those with ulterior motives the opportunity to obstruct him. However, the two urgent military messages came instead.
Liu Xin is an excellent excuse. Liu Xin wants to tell the world through these two urgent military messages that the reason why he can't wait to be emperor is not because he is greedy for power, but because he endures humiliation and bears the burden. He would rather sacrifice his reputation than stand up to fight against foreign aggression.
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However, no one knew the specific contents of the two urgent military reports. Since we were going to use force against Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, we naturally had to let everyone know what happened there, so Liu Xin wanted to explain it to everyone.
Originally, Yuan Shao was stronger than Cao Cao, but by setting up his capital in Puyang, Cao Cao concentrated his superior forces and solved the two major problems of insufficient troops and supplies. However, Yuan Shao's advantage lay in his bows and cavalry, and he still controlled the initiative on the battlefield.
Later, Cao Cao used the imitation stirrups and imitation trebuchets "pirated" from Liu Xin to gradually reverse the situation, and the two sides were in a stalemate again.
The war that lasted for a year not only brought huge casualties to both sides, but also the loss of food, grass, soldiers and armor was astronomical.
Taking Cao Cao as an example, 30% of his food supply relied on smuggling from the Mi family. In order to purchase this smuggled food, in just over half a year, Cao Cao used half of the gold, silver and jewels he obtained by robbing princes' tombs.
Coupled with the consumption of the war itself, Cao Cao was now short of not only food and grass, but also money.
Yuan Shao's situation is slightly better. He can be self-sufficient in food, but he has many cavalry and archers under his command. Although the cavalry is powerful, war horses are a waste of money. Moreover, Yuan Shao does not have horseshoes to protect horse hooves.
Equipment, compared to the Han cavalry under Liu Xin, the lifespan of Yuan's horses was only half, and the wear and tear was also quite alarming. Although a large number of archers can form a powerful long-range attack capability, the huge consumption of arrows has made Yuan Shao feel a bit overwhelmed.
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Cao Cao and Yuan Shao both felt that the battle was becoming more and more difficult, and they both wanted to end the war as soon as possible, but they did not want to compromise with the other party. Because whoever compromises first must admit that the person supported by the other party is the true master of the Han Dynasty. In this way
As soon as they came, they lost the convenience of holding the emperor hostage to control the princes.
In order to get rid of the current predicament, the two men could only use external forces to put pressure on each other. The current situation could not be more obvious. The world has been divided into three parts, and Liu Xin is destined to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers and tigers. There is definitely no hope.
.So, both Cao Cao and Yuan Shao set their sights on the grasslands in the north.
The first one to take action was Yuan Shao. The Yuan family was benevolent to Wu Heng, and Wu Heng had many connections with Xianbei. These two grassland peoples naturally became the targets of Yuan Shao's struggle. Yuan Shao promised that as long as Puyang City was conquered, his children's wealth would be
Let them take the silk.
Although Cao Cao did not have the power like the Phantom Secret Agent, he was fighting fiercely with Yuan Shao, so he inevitably sent some scouts to sneak into Yuan Shao's rear to get the news. Soon he learned that Yuan Shao had sent envoys to Wu Heng and Xianbei. Wu Heng and Xianbei
Both tribes are nomadic cavalry who are good at riding and shooting. Although he also has a sizable cavalry and is equipped with imitation stirrups, there is a huge gap compared with the two grassland tribes where everyone is a soldier. Cao Cao thought
His purpose was to use nomadic cavalry to deal with nomadic cavalry, so he sent an envoy to the Huns and promised that after the incident was completed, the Huns would be allowed to separate from the Han and stand on their own.
Cao Cao knew that Liu Xin abolished the Xiongnu Chanyu and divided it into five tribes. Read the full text of Concubine Ce. In Cao Cao's view, the Huns must hope to restore the royal court and will definitely agree to his request. Moreover, Cao Cao is different from Yuan Shao.
After all, he could see further. Therefore, Cao Cao did not ask the Huns to enter the Central Plains, but asked them to send troops to the Xianbei grassland to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao.
Xianbei was originally just a grassland tribe dependent on the Xiongnu. Later, the Xiongnu was defeated by the Han and divided into two branches, the north and the south. The Xianbei took the opportunity to rise and occupied a large area of grassland originally controlled by the Xiongnu. Therefore, the Huns and Xianbei people had a feud. Cao Cao
Thinking about it, the Huns had no reason not to agree to such a request.
However, Cao Cao ignored one thing. The battle where the Han army broke into the grassland a year ago had already frightened the Huns. Now they are not attached to Liu Xin, but have completely surrendered to Liu Xin. After receiving Cao Cao's messenger
, Hu Chuquan did not hesitate at all, and immediately handed over all Cao Cao's envoys, including people and letters, to the Sixth Army Corps stationed in Prairie New City. At this time, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao, the chief and deputy commanders of the Sixth Army Corps, had already gone because of the move.
Chang'an. The other generals who stayed in the new city did not dare to neglect, so they reported directly to Liu Xin with a red chicken-feather letter.
After explaining these two things clearly, Liu Xin said in a deep voice: "After a year of fierce fighting, the Cao and Yuan families are exhausted. If we don't take action, they will stop fighting in a short time. While he is sick, we must
His fate! I believe that the time has come now, and the great Han Dynasty cannot continue to be divided like this!"
Chen Gong cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, Pei Chen thinks that we can wait until after the autumn harvest to use troops to avoid missing the farming season."
Liu Xin sneered and said: "This time I plan to win decisively outside the country. I will never allow the enemy's soldiers to step in. How can it affect the people's farming? Let's look at the northern states. Are young and strong men raped?
If you are drafted into the army, you will be captured as a civilian. Those who farm are old and weak women and children. How many harvests can they get in a year? Even if the weather is good, they still have to endure excessive taxation. I am afraid it will be better if there is no autumn harvest. After the autumn harvest, their lives will be worse.
More sad."
After a pause, Liu Xin continued: "My status is different now. I have to consider not only the people of Jing, Yi, Yang, and Liang states, but also the people of the world. Therefore, this battle must be fought
Fight, and the sooner you do it, the better!”
Zhang Fei slapped the table in front of him, stood up, and said loudly: "Brother is right! He should have been beaten a long time ago!"
Jushou hurriedly reminded: "General Zhang, it's time to call your Majesty."
Zhang Fei then said sarcastically: "Yes, yes, your Majesty is right."
Liu Xin waved her hands disapprovingly and said: "Yide, Zilong, you guys listen, no matter what happens, we were brothers in the past, we are still brothers now, and we will definitely be brothers in the future!"
As soon as these words came out, in addition to Xu Huang, who was still escorting his family members on the way, Zhang Fei, Zhang He, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and Zhao Yun all stood up excitedly, while Huang Zhong, Guan Yu, Zhang Liao and others looked at them with eyes.
Full of envy.
Liu Xin raised his hand, motioning for everyone to sit down, and then began to mobilize troops. Liu Xin was not good at specific combat command, but he knew that in order to win the frontline battle, a stable rear was more important.
, so he first did not dispatch troops to attack Yuan and Cao, but first consolidated his own territory.
Huang Zhong and Wei Yan led the fifth army to go south today to defend the five counties of Yingchuan, Runan, Jiujiang, Xiapi, and Guangling. These five counties spanned the three prefectures of Yu, Yang, and Xu, and were separated from Chenliu and Chenzhou under Cao Cao's control respectively.
The country, Qiaojun, Pengcheng, and the East China Sea are bordered. If Cao Cao sends a force south and breaks through here, it will be able to penetrate directly into the flank of Jingzhou and threaten Jiangnan. Jingzhou is the foundation of Liu Xin, and the silk and tea of Jiangnan are
And porcelain is Liu Xin's most important source of wealth. The scenes of Lu Bu and Cao Cao's sneak attacks on Xiangyang are still vivid in his mind. The thought of them still makes Liu Xin frightened, and he has to guard against them.
The Fifth Army Corps had just withdrawn from the Western Region and was stationed at the training base in Yiwu. They had not had time to rest and recuperate. However, what Liu Xin was about to face was a big battle, a fierce battle. It was obvious that the entire army would be mobilized, so there was no time.
The Fifth Army Corps was left to rest and recuperate.
Yingchuan and other five counties not only occupy a large area, but also have an extremely long battle line. Although there are a lot of 100,000 people, there are not many people assigned to each point. To defend such a long defense line, against Huang Zhong and Wei Yan
It was a huge challenge. However, this was not a key point of contention between the two armies, so it was impossible for Liu Xin to place more troops here. In order to reduce the pressure on Huang Zhong, Liu Xin transferred Taishi Ci and Man Chong
passed, and the local armies of these five counties were also unified under the command of Huang Zhong.