In the afternoon of the next day, Yan Liangqin led an army of more than 100,000 people, marched out of Xiapi, and rushed towards Tancheng in the north of Xuzhou.
Yan Liang's troops to capture Xuzhou this time were only 90,000, of which 20,000 were transferred to reinforce the defense of Pengcheng. When he captured Xiapi, his troops actually only numbered 70,000.
However, now Lu Meng has brought 40,000 Huainan troops, which greatly increased his military strength and the number of soldiers and horses has reached 110,000.
In addition, in addition to Lu Meng, Pan Zhang, Jiang Qin, Huang Gai and other Huainan generals also accompanied the army, making Yan Liang's group of generals even more gorgeous.
Yan Liang led such a luxurious army, with momentum like a rainbow, and drove northward, heading straight for Tancheng.
Xuzhou has five counties under its jurisdiction. Among them, Guangling County, Xiapi County and Pengcheng Kingdom in the south have all been placed under the control of Chu State. Only Langya Kingdom and Donghai Kingdom in the north are left under the control of Liu Bei.
The purpose of Yan Liang's army going north was naturally to seize these last two counties and completely drive Liu Bei's forces out of Xuzhou.
When Yan Liang led the Chu army to attack Tancheng, the seat of the East China Sea Kingdom, Liu Bei's 100,000 Yan army crossed Mount Tai and entered the territory of the East China Sea Kingdom.
At dusk that day, Liu Bei, who traveled under starry night, finally arrived at Tancheng.
In the lobby of the county government, Liu Bei, who was wearing golden armor and holding a sword in his hand, strode straight into the lobby, turned around with a flick of his sleeves, and sat at the top.
All the civil and military officials who followed him were busy bowing to greet him.
Liu Bei sat high on the throne, looking down at the ministers, looking very majestic.
"I have a small army and few generals. I was unable to defeat the Yan thief in a hard battle, which resulted in the fall of Xiapi. The country was lost. Please punish me, the king." Guan Yu had a sullen face, cupped his hands and came forward to plead guilty.
He kept pleading guilty, but he put aside the fact that Ziji repeatedly fell into Yan Liang's tricks, and simply attributed the loss of troops and territory to the "few soldiers and few generals".
Guan Yu's words were not so much an apology as an excuse.
Liu Bei frowned secretly, as if he was dissatisfied with Guan Yu's excuse, but Liu Bei did not show it at all. He only raised his hand and said: "Victory or defeat is a common thing for military officers. Yun Chang has done his best, so why should he blame himself. Get up."
Guan Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and after standing up, he handed over his hand again: "Your Majesty, now that Yan Thief has gained a new position in Xiapi, his foothold is not yet stable. Moreover, our army still has Zang Ba in Guangling, and we are looking for a way out. I thought that Your Majesty should raise his troops immediately.
Go south and attack Zang Ba from the north and south. We will surely defeat the Yan bandits in one fell swoop and regain the lost territory."
Liu Bei nodded slightly, his expression seemed to be Guan Yu's advice, which spoke to his heart.
Just when Liu Bei was about to speak, the soldiers outside the hall hurried in and shouted to the ground: "Report to the king. An urgent report from the south is that Zang Ba has surrendered to Yan Liang. The enemy general Lu Meng was able to lead the Huainan army north to join Yan Liang. Now Yan Liang is in charge
Lead an army of 110,000 people and rush toward Tancheng."
The shocking bad news once again hit Liu Bei's head like a bolt from the blue.
Zang Ba turned traitor!
Liu Bei's chest felt tight, his head felt dizzy, and he felt like vomiting blood on the spot.
Guan Yu, who had just proposed a plan to attack Zang Ba from the north and the south, was now full of shock and anger, and his eyes were wide open as if they were about to burst.
"Zang Ba, this thief, betrayed the country without remembering the kindness of the king. It is really hateful," Guan Yu cursed through gritted teeth.
Liu Bei slapped the case fiercely and shouted: "Quickly pass on this king's order to go to Yecheng and kill all Zang Ba's nephews without leaving any one alive."
Zang Ba, as a military general in the outer town, and Guan Yu, would always send his nephew to Yecheng as a hostage. Liu Bei hated Zang Ba's betrayal, so he killed him.
At this time, Zhuge Liang said calmly: "Zang Ba followed Tao Qian in his early years, later surrendered to Lu Bu, and later served Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. This thief was originally a desperado and had a repetitive nature. Now he sees power.
Something is wrong, so it is reasonable to surrender to Yan Liang. Your Majesty, please calm down and don’t hurt the Holy Body with your anger."
Zhuge Liang's words were of course intended to comfort Liu Bei, but these words were extremely harsh to the ears of the furious Liu Bei.
"Commander Kong Ming, what you mean by this is that you are mocking the king for his inappropriate employment of personnel?" Liu Bei asked displeasedly.
Zhuge Liang was startled. He didn't expect Liu Bei to misunderstand him, so he hurriedly said: "How dare you, a humble minister? Liang never meant this."
Liu Bei swallowed his saliva, his expression softened slightly, he glanced at the ministers and said, "Now Zang Ba has committed treason, and traitor Yan has come with an army of more than 100,000 people. Do you have any strategies to defeat the enemy?"
All the ministers lowered their heads and remained silent.
Zhuge Liang originally wanted to say something, but thinking about Liu Bei's misunderstanding just now, he felt unhappy, so he kept silent.
Looking at the silent ministers, Liu Bei's brows became darker and darker, and his expression of disappointment and coldness became heavier.
In the silence, Sima Yi stood up, raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty, Yan Liang is coming with more than 100,000 troops with the remaining power of a great victory. I'll forgive you for saying it bluntly. With the current morale of our army, what we have to consider is not recovering.
Losing territory is about how to force Yan Liang back and keep the two counties of Xu Bei intact."
At the critical moment, Sima Yi's words gave Liu Bei a glimmer of hope, even though Sima Yi's words were not pleasant to listen to.
"Then according to Zhongda's opinion, how should I drive away the traitor Yan?" Liu Bei said while holding back his displeasure.
Sima Yi cupped his hands and said: "I think that the reason why Yan bandit dared to attack Xuzhou unscrupulously is because we are at odds with Cao Cao, so that he will have no worries in the west. I feel that ruguo can allow Cao Cao to send troops again, and we can win over Xuzhou."
, then Yan Liang is surrounded by enemies on both sides and must withdraw his troops.
Zhuge Liang was slightly shocked, because what Sima Yi said was exactly the plan he had in mind, but he didn't want it to be done by Sima Yi.
Liu Bei remained silent over there, seeming to have been persuaded by Sima Yi.
Zhuge Liang didn't wait for Sima Yi to say anything, and hurriedly said: "What Zhongda said is actually the plan that Liang has been brewing. For Cao Cao, Yan Thief is his biggest enemy, and Cao Cao must not want to see Yan Thief."
After conquering the city and plundering the territory, Liang thought that the king only needed to send an eloquent person to Luoyang to discuss the interests with Cao Cao, and he would be able to persuade Cao Cao to send troops to Xudu to contain Yan Liang."
Zhuge Liang's words made it seem as if he was the first to think of the plan to deal with Cao Cao, and Sima Yi was plagiarizing his plan.
Sima Yi frowned slightly, his brows showing displeasure.
At this time, Liu Bei's thoughts were clear, and he pondered again and again, and then said: "The military advisor's words are reasonable. How can I let Cao Cao take care of himself? It's time for Cao Cao to do something."
The plan was decided, and Liu Bei wrote a letter and sent Sun Qian Pegasus to Luoyang to state the interests to Cao Cao.
At the same time, Liu Bei also seized the opportunity to build deep ditches and high fortifications on the front line of Tancheng to resist the fierce attack of Yan Liang's 110,000 victorious army.
…
Three days later, the army led by Yan Liang arrived south of Tancheng.
According to Yan Liang's original prediction, Liu Bei was annoyed by the loss of Xiapi, and in a rage, he would take the initiative to fight Yan Liang.
There is a lot of water in the Tancheng area, and the terrain is far less flat than that of the Central Plains, which is not conducive to cavalry galloping. Liu Bei's cavalry cannot give full play to its advantages here.
In addition, Yan Liang has more soldiers and horses than Liu Bei, and his morale is far better than that of Yan's army. If Liu Bei wants a decisive battle, he will play into Yan Liang's plans.
But now, Liu Bei's deep ditch and high fortress made it impossible to avoid the battle, but it was somewhat beyond Yan Liang's expectation.
For several days, Wu Lianliang sent people to yell and scold him, and still used the old and the weak to lure him, but Liu Bei remained unmoved and did not dare to send a single soldier to attack.
In the tent, all the officials gathered.
"Liu Bei dug deep into the trenches and high bases, and started playing defense. Military advisor, do you think he is brewing a conspiracy?" Yan Liang glanced at Pang Tong.
Pang Tong stepped forward, stroked his beard and said: "Liu Bei has indeed become a little arrogant since he captured Youzhou, but he is not so arrogant that he has lost his mind. He should be very passionate. Based on his current strength
, it is extremely difficult to fight a decisive battle with us, so I am thinking that he is probably playing against Cao Cao."
As soon as he finished speaking, the troops outside the tent rushed in and handed over an urgent report from Wenpin.
Yan Liang waved his hand and ordered his soldiers to read it in public.
"General Wen is reporting urgently that Cao Cao in Luoyang has assembled 70,000 troops and has already entered Taigu Pass. There seems to be signs of attacking Luyang southward and wēixié Xudu."
As soon as the information came out, there was a lot of discussion in the tent.
Yan Liang sneered and said: "It seems that you really got what you said, Shi Yuan. The enemies Liu Bei and Cao Cao are now reunited and plan to deal with us together."
"Cao Cao has 10,000 cavalry. Once he goes south, it will be a huge threat to Xudu. No matter whether Cao Cao goes south or not, we must be on guard." Pang Tong's tone was a little solemn.
"How does the military advisor think this king should respond?" Yan Liang asked.
Pang Tong pondered for a while and then said: "It has been several months since the Spring War, and autumn is about to begin. If hundreds of thousands of peasants cannot return to their hometowns in time to collect grain, the next year's grain harvest will be affected. I think,
Now we have captured more than half of Xuzhou, and have defeated the joint attack of Cao and Liu on the front line of Xudu. If we don't accept the situation, we will withdraw our troops."
Yan Liang nodded slightly, Pang Tong's words were in line with his thoughts.
The war with Cao Liu will be long-term. Yan Liang must take a long-term view instead of just focusing on the immediate future.
For the current plan, the best choice is to end this war quickly to avoid affecting the autumn harvest and to accumulate strength for another fight.
"Having said that, I want to retreat, but Cao and Liu may not agree. I can't retreat alone." Yan Liang said worriedly.
Pang Tong said: "Although Cao Cao's troops are weak, as long as Liu Bei retreats, he will not dare to fight alone. What we have to do now is how to force Liu Bei to withdraw his troops and return north."
As he spoke, Pang Tong frowned, obviously he had no good plan at the moment.
Just at this time, pro-army troops outside the tent came to report again, saying that the mission fleet sent to Liaodong this spring had docked in Haixi a few days ago. The envoy Yi Ji had already rushed to the front line on horseback and was now outside the tent.
See you soon.
Yiqian is back!
Yan Liang's spirit was immediately shocked. He put aside the problems at hand for a moment and immediately issued an imperial edict to Yi Jie to come and meet him.
At this time, Yan Liang couldn't wait to find out whether Yi, through this trip, had successfully united with Gongsun Kang as he wished. (To be continued)