Chapter 310: The Poison's Strategy to Repel the Enemy
Cao Cao was very cunning and took Li City first. However, Cao Cao also made a fatal mistake.
The mistake was that Zhang Liao's troops in Licheng were too small.
Li City is not a fortified city, and the city does not have much food and grass. Zhang Liao only has a thousand soldiers. If Yan Liang intends to attack the city, he can capture Li City in just a few days.
However, what happened after Li City was captured?
At that time, Cao Cao simply led his army to retreat to Xicheng, west of Li City. His army was still putting pressure on Nanyang, and General Yan Liang was still in a passive defensive position.
Yan Liang was not willing to see such an unpleasant situation.
Therefore, Yan Liangcai wanted to besiege Li City and not attack it. Cao Cao had no choice but to lead his army to the designated place to fight his Yan family army. In this way, Cao Cao was led by Yan Liang.
Nose goes.
This is the strategy proposed by Jia Xu to change from passive to active.
With Lu Lingqi's resourcefulness, it was natural that she could not guess Yan Liang's intentions. Even a strategic general like Zhang He couldn't help but look puzzled when he heard that Yan Liang decided to besiege Li City instead of attacking it.
"It's worthless, it's worthless. I'm sorry for my stupidity, but I really don't understand what my sworn brother means." Lu Lingqi said blankly.
Without any hesitation, Yan Liang glanced at Jia Xu, who was stroking his beard and smiling to himself.
Jia Xu then coughed a few times and unhurriedly explained Yan Liang's deep intentions to the generals present.
After listening to Jia Xu's explanation, the generals were still savoring its meaning, but Zhang He's eyes lit up first.
He nodded and said: "If Cao Cao raises a large army to rescue us, we can wait and force him to fight a decisive battle. If Cao Cao ignores Zhang Liao and does not rescue him, it will chill the hearts of all his generals. This plan of my lord will definitely make Cao Cao fall into trouble."
The dilemma is really wonderful."
Of all the generals, Zhang He was indeed the best at making strategies, and his ability to comprehend was superior to others.
After he explained this, the other generals such as Lu Lingqi and Huang Zhong suddenly realized.
Lu Lingqi's somewhat suppressed emotions suddenly rose again, and the hunting fire of revenge burned in her clear eyes again.
Lu Lingqi felt excited at the thought of a decisive battle with Cao Cao and a head-on confrontation with the enemy who killed her father.
At that moment, she said with emotion: "Since my sworn brother has an idea, I feel relieved. Don't worry, sworn brother, if Cao Cao really dares to come to a decisive battle, Lingqi will behead the old thief for his sworn brother, even if she goes through fire and water."
Lu Lingqi's hunting and fighting spirit also infected the other generals.
Veteran general Huang Zhong also came out, cupped his hands and said: "My lord, when I was in Jingnan, I heard that Cao Cao had countless good generals. Now I will fight with these old bones to have a good meeting with the so-called fierce generals in Cao Cao's camp."
Huang Zhong was eager to make a name for himself in Yuan. Needless to say, the other two generals Chou and Zhang He, who were originally Yuan Shao's generals and had old grudges with Cao Cao, were naturally very passionate and expressed their willingness to fight to the death for Yan Liang.
In the big tent, the rising fighting spirit was surging. Even though Yan Liang was as calm as water, he gradually became excited by this burning fighting spirit.
In his arrogance, Yan Liang stood up and laughed loudly: "You all have such determination, I am really pleased. Okay, let's fight side by side, let Cao Cao see the real power of our Yan family army, let's
He paid a heavy price for this invasion!"
"I am willing to fight to the death for my lord——"
"I am willing to fight to the death for my lord——"
The angry and generous roar, rumbling like thunder, could be clearly heard throughout the camp. When the soldiers of the Yan Family Army heard it, the blood in their chests was boiling.
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One day later, Cao Cao's 30,000-strong army also pursued Li City. Unfortunately, Cao Cao was a step too late.
At this time, Yan Liang had urgently mobilized 3,000 troops and horses from Wancheng to help, and ordered Xu You to rush to Wancheng from Xiangyang to guard Wancheng on his behalf.
This means that at this time, Yan Liang's troops gathered in Li City had reached an unprecedented number of 40,000.
So Yan Liang ordered 10,000 soldiers and horses to besieged the former city of Li, completely cutting off Zhang Liao's troops from the outside world.
Yan Liang himself set up a camp of 30,000 troops in the northwest of Li City to confront Cao Cao.
Because Cao Cao had to maintain the grain road leading from the county to the northwest, his 30,000-strong army could only set up a camp twenty miles outside Li City to form a confrontation with Yan Liang's army.
Except for the 10,000 siege troops, 30,000 vs. 30,000, and the number of cavalry is equal. On the surface, Yan Liang and Cao Cao are evenly matched.
As for Cao Cao, he was worried about the threat from the Xiliang army, so he had to keep Xiahou Yuan's heavy troops on the Chencang front line.
In order to defend Yuan Tan's army in Xudu, Yan Liang had to leave Xu Shu's 10,000 troops in Kunyang City.
Yan Liang's advantage is that he is playing at home, has sufficient supplies of food and grass, and transporting food is not a problem.
As for Cao Cao, although he had to transport grain from Guan to Nanyang via Wuguan, because Cao Cao had been resting and recuperating over the years, Guan's economy had recovered very quickly, and the grain he had stationed was quite abundant, so the problem of grain and grass in a short period of time would not hinder his use of troops.
As a result, the two sides formed a confrontation on the front line of Li City.
This confrontation lasted for half a month in the blink of an eye.
In half a month, Yan Liang issued letters of challenge to Cao Cao several times, asking Cao Cao to engage in a decisive battle.
Of course Yan Liang is not afraid of a decisive battle. He has strong soldiers and horses, and his elite soldiers are no less powerful than Cao Cao. He also has sharp weapons such as repeating crossbows and crossbow chariots. A large-scale battle in the wilderness will naturally be beneficial to Yan Liang.
But Cao Cao did not dare to challenge.
Cao Cao's original intention of invading Nanyang was to reap the benefits, use wisdom first, and obtain the greatest benefits with the least sacrifice.
If Qingjun fought Yan Liang in a decisive battle, even if he won, it would be a tragic victory in which he killed a thousand enemies and suffered 800 losses. For Cao Cao, who had finally recovered a few percent of his strength from the defeat of Guandu, this kind of victory
He would not choose a "self-inflicted" decisive battle unless it was absolutely necessary.
However, what makes Cao Cao depressed is that at this time, he is unable to fight decisively, and even if he wants to use tactics, he cannot.
Because his army was firmly stuck in Li City by Yan Liang, he had lost the initiative to strike first and could not use any means at all.
In desperation, Cao Cao could only choose to send light cavalry to harass Yan Liang's grain road.
However, Yan Liang did not deploy troops to strengthen the defense of the grain road. Instead, he used his own methods to control his own body and also sent some light cavalry to harass Cao Cao's grain road.
Aren't you, Cao Cao, competing for grain and grass? Well, you burn ten carts of grain for me, and I'll burn ten carts of grain for you, and we'll see who has the richest family.
At dusk, Yan Jun’s camp.
At night, in the big tent, Yan Liang warmed himself by the stove and sipped wine brewing on the stove, feeling comfortable and relaxed.
When the curtains were raised, a gust of cold winter wind came into the tent. Jia Xu, whose face turned red from the cold, got into the tent and hurriedly rubbed his hands together and went to the stove to warm himself.
"Come and drink a cup of hot wine to warm yourself up." Yan Liang poured a cup for the poisonous man.
Jia Xu drank a glass of wine, the redness on her face gradually faded, and her body gradually warmed up.
"He, you are not lying under the quilt at this late hour, but you are braving the cold wind to see me. You must not be just asking for a drink." Yan Liang said with a smile.
Jia Xu took a few sips of the fine wine and said with a smile: "I haven't slept well these past few days. I finally thought of a way to retreat from the enemy, so of course I was in a hurry to ask for a drink."
Strategies to defeat the enemy!
Upon hearing these four words, Yan Liang's spirit suddenly changed, and a hint of excitement flashed in his eyes.
Frankly speaking, Yan Liang didn't want to spend so much time with Cao Cao. Although he was in Licheng, his heart had already flown to Xudu.
If Cao Cao hadn't intervened, he might have been enjoying the happiness of an emperor in Xudu's magnificent palace.
At this time, Yuan Tan, taking advantage of the entanglement between himself and Cao Cao, had already sent a large army to Liyang to fight with his brother Yuan Shang. If Yuan Tan was relieved of his worries and could focus on Xudu, then he would be in trouble again.
A fierce battle.
Now that Jia Xu claims to have a plan to defeat the enemy, how can Yan Liang not be excited?
"He, I know you have a lot of bad water in your stomach. If you have any clever ideas, please tell me quickly."
When Jia Xu heard the word "bad water", a trace of embarrassment flashed across his face.
After coughing a few times, he said: "If we want to drive Cao Cao out of Nanyang, there are only two ways. One is to defeat him, and the other is to let him retreat voluntarily. The former seems to be difficult to do for a while, so why don't we
Change your thinking and consider the latter.”
"You mean, let Cao Cao take the initiative to withdraw his troops..." Yan Liang had already made a vague guess, nodded slightly, and signaled Jia Xu to continue.
Jia Xu then continued: "The only way to make Cao Cao retreat voluntarily is to make him suffer losses in the rear and have to retreat. Xiliang Ma Han was blocked by Xia Houyuan, so obviously he couldn't do it. As for Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, although they bordered Cao Cao
, but right now they are too busy taking care of themselves that they cannot threaten Cao Cao at all. Looking around the pass, there is only one person left who can make Cao Cao afraid."
Close the surrounding areas and threaten Cao Cao...
Yan Liang looked at Jia Xu's sly smile, his thoughts were rolling like lightning, and a name suddenly flashed in his mind.
"Zhang Lu! You mean, let Zhang Lu send troops to pass and force Cao Cao to retreat!"
Yan Liang's thinking was very quick, and he immediately understood Jia Xu's meaning after just a brief reminder.
Jia Xu nodded and said with a smile: "My lord's thinking is really broad. Yes, the person Xu is referring to is Zhang Lu."
Yan Liang's eyes sparkled with excitement, and his spirit became more and more exciting.
Zhang Lu had hundreds of thousands of Han followers and tens of thousands of elite soldiers under his command. If he took advantage of the empty state of the pass to send troops northward, it would indeed pose a great threat to the pass, and Cao Cao would have to withdraw his troops.
"My lord, please wait and be excited. Although Zhang Lu can threaten Cao Cao, he is also a thief who is sitting on the defensive. I haven't thought of how to persuade Zhang Lu to send troops."
While Jia Xu was proud, a hint of worry flashed across his brows.
His worries are not unreasonable. Historically, Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang were the same. They would fight back and forth in mountain dens like Shu. No matter it was dark outside, I would pretend not to see it anyway.
As a result, Zhang Lu, the ostrich, waited for Cao Cao, and Liu Zhang, the ostrich, waited for Liu Bei.
As Jia Xu said, it seems that it is not an easy task to persuade Zhang Lu to send troops.
Yan Liang's thoughts were racing, but he immediately revealed a sneer: "I don't need to worry about you anymore, I have already thought of how to persuade Zhang Lu to send troops."
Jia Xu thought hard for a long time, but couldn't figure out how to persuade Zhang Lu to send troops. However, Yan Liang had a plan in the blink of an eye, and Jia Xu couldn't help but have a strange look on his face.
