Wang Yu was full of fighting spirit, but the mental state of the army was not optimistic.**
At present, Wang Yu's number of troops in the East China Sea is quite adequate. He has one thousand personal guards, plus Zhang Jia, the 3,000 Yulin army led by Xu Sheng, and the 4,500 county soldiers left by Tao Qian, as well as one
Qian Danyang's veterans totaled 10,000 soldiers. Compared with the coalition forces of Que Xuan and Cao Bao, they were about one to two. For Wang Yu, who was used to pitting weak enemies against strong ones, it could be considered an evenly matched battle.
His idea was good, but there were not many people who thought the same as him. Except for a thousand personal guards, not to mention the soldiers Tao Qian left behind, even Zhang Jaw's troops seemed a little depressed and had low morale.
Not everyone can face the challenge of a powerful enemy in a strange place with strange comrades.
This is the disadvantage of military expansion.
Those veterans who had been following Wang Yu in his conquests since Luoyang did not need to be mobilized to fight. As long as they looked at where Wang Yu's flag was pointing, they would rush forward without hesitation.
However, Zhang Jiao's soldiers and horses are mainly surrendered troops. They defeated the drowned dogs in Langya before and were just pardoned. Their fighting spirit is still above the level. But now they have gone through a long march to defend Tancheng, which is different from themselves.
How can they boost their morale when they can't even reach a place with eight poles?
The Xuzhou Army was even worse.
The county soldiers didn't have much fighting power, and they were capable of fighting, but there were only a few hundred veterans who could fight. The Danyang soldiers had good equipment and combat power, but when they thought about the enemy they had to face, their morale was completely lost.
Cao Bao was worried that Wang Yu would destabilize his army with the Danyang soldiers he received. On the other hand, the more than a thousand Danyang soldiers in Tancheng were also listless at the thought of fighting against his fellow villagers and friends.
Basically you can't count on it.
After accompanying Wang Yu on the school grounds, his open-jawed face became very embarrassed, and the other people's faces also didn't look good. Xu Sheng wanted to share the teacher's worries and explained in a low voice: "Brothers are mainly too tired.
, not..."
"Wen Xiang, stop talking!" he opened his jaw to interrupt Xu Sheng, cupped his fists and confessed to Wang Yu: "This general is not good at running the army, please punish me, my lord."
"Forget it, this is because I didn't think carefully enough. I can't blame Jun Yi." Wang Yu was indeed a little careless. Historically, Tao Qian asked Xuzhou, Cao Bao and others to do nothing, so before leaving, he mainly focused on
Zang Ba and the local tycoons were involved, but they were unexpectedly forced to come by Cao Bao and Que Xuan, whose name he had never heard of. Therefore, preparations for the war were not sufficient.
If he had thought of this earlier, he would definitely have made a different arrangement, sending Xu Huang's troops with more determined combat capabilities to Xuzhou, and letting Zhang Jha go to Jibei to assist in the defense.
However, it is too late to say anything now. He can either use the existing resources to fight Cao Que and stabilize the East China Sea; or he can only follow Zhuge Liang's suggestion and avoid the edge for the time being. There is no other option.
way.
While comforting the ashamed Zhang Jia, Wang Yu considered the cards in his hand and began to formulate a strategy.
"The transportation of money and food can stop..." As he thought, orders were issued one after another like a stream of water.
"Stop? My lord is worried that it will be too late... Actually, we can call on more manpower..."
Tao Qian stored grain in the mountains to keep it secret. Maling Mountain is not high. But the mountain stretches for more than two hundred miles from north to south. Not to mention hiding money and grain in it, even if he hides tens of thousands of troops, it is not impossible.
It's possible. However, it's easy to hide things little by little, but it's difficult to move them out.
Previously, Wang Yu thought about whether he could grab some time to transport all the money and food into the city, and then fight to defend the city, waiting for Langya Yulin's rear team and Xu Huang to arrive for reinforcements.
Pang Tong was responsible for this work, and about 30% of the work had been completed so far. Now Wang Yu suddenly ordered it to be stopped. Pang Tong thought it was because the progress was too slow, which aroused his dissatisfaction, so he was very panicked.
Wang Yu shook his head and explained: "That's not the problem. Tancheng is a big city in Xuzhou. If the soldiers and civilians in the city are not mobilized to help defend, the defense will not be complete at all. Now that the military's morale is so high, mobilizing the soldiers and civilians to assist in defense will be more dangerous, so we can only give up.
Defend the city and lead a decisive battle outside the city with reliable troops."
"Isn't this... a huge disparity in military strength?" Zhuge Liang reminded softly.
Even counting the Zhang Jaw Army, which had a low fighting spirit, the Qingzhou Army only had four thousand. It was a bit reluctant to face an enemy five times as large as itself in a field battle. You know, Cao Bao's main force was the world-famous Danyang warriors!
The quality of Que Xuan's soldiers is not low, and their equipment is exaggerated. No matter how you look at it, there are no obvious weaknesses.
"In matters like war, it's useless to just look at the superficial numbers. You have to fight to know the outcome." Wang Yu waved his hand and looked at Zhang Jia, with a look of trust in his eyes: "It's just that the military morale is low.
, It’s just a small matter, I believe in Jun Yi and the athletes in Jizhou.”
"The last general is willing to lead his troops in a fight to the death!" Zhang Jia felt a rush of heart, took a step forward, and boldly asked for a fight.
"Jun Yi's courage is commendable." Wang Yu nodded slightly, but did not respond enthusiastically. His voice was slightly cold, and military orders came out one after another.
"From now on, all the armies are in rest and recuperation. Zilong and Wen Chang allocate manpower to guard... Send an order to Gaotang to cancel the plan of the Wind and Fire Cavalry to go south for rescue... Hansheng led his troops across the river to temporarily take over from Gongming. At the same time, he ordered Gongming to lead the troops.
We have an army of 10,000. We will immediately go south to capture Pei, leaving two counties behind to suppress Pengcheng’s army. We must not allow the enemies of Yuzhou to sneak past! In addition, select a few prestigious people from the county soldiers to come to see me..."
"Here!"
"As you command!"
With the issuance of these military orders, a huge storm affecting Yan, Yu, and Xu Shuzhou began to gather and sweep across.
…
The mountain rain is about to come, but Cao Bao is in high spirits.
"Hahahaha, everyone in the world says that King Pengju of Taishan is like a god in his military skills. Only when you actually see it do you realize that the rumors are false. His military training is indeed good, but in the final analysis, he is just good at playing tricks. As Chen Biejia said,
As long as we deal with it calmly, don't be impatient, and suppress it with the force of an upright teacher, what kind of trouble can a child make? It's a pity, it's a pity..."
"What's the pity?" Among Tao Qian's confidants, Xu Dan was the best at making fun of him. As soon as he heard Cao Bao's words, he understood what he meant.
Cao Bao shook his head and said plausibly: "It's a pity that Xu Gongqing and Yuan Benchu were both outstanding heroes in their time. As a result, one was fished in troubled waters by a child on the battlefield, and the other neglected to take precautions. He was attacked by a child, so that his reputation for life was lost, and his property and life were not saved.
…In the final analysis, it’s all caused by pride and carelessness.”
"It makes sense." Zhang Jie also clapped his hands and smiled: "Conspiracy and tricks are indeed not omnipotent. As long as you hold your ground and don't expose any flaws, you will not waver even if you suffer a small loss. In the end, it is the enemy who panics and loses his footing.
.Leopard. This time, we want to be famous all over the world. If we can capture and kill Wang Yu'er, then..."
When he got to the point where he was proud, he began to have wild thoughts. He almost drooled. Xu Dan was not much better, and looked red-faced, as if he had just done something bad. Cao Bao was very calm, but what came out of his eyes was
In the light, it could be seen that he was also very excited.
"Ahem," seeing these three idiots talking more and more outrageous, Chen Gui couldn't stand it anymore. He coughed twice, drew attention to himself, and said slowly: "Three generals, we should wait until the celebration.
It’s not too late to discuss it after we’re done, why don’t we discuss the strategy in detail first?”
"What's there to discuss?" Zhang Qiao waved his hand impatiently, and then poked at the map with his finger: "Wang Yu has already thought of escaping. Otherwise, why would he leave all the county soldiers in the city?
Are you leading your direct troops to the mountains? Isn’t it just for the convenience of escaping?”
"Yes." Xu Dan also agreed: "He tried all his methods, but he couldn't do anything to us. He already wanted to retreat. He just held on for the sake of face and fear of embarrassment. He knew that Xuzhou's soldiers were unreliable, so he
They were left in the city, and if as soon as the army arrived and we shouted, the city would open and surrender, wouldn't he have an excuse to run away?"
Chen Gui interrupted Xu Dan's endless boasting and asked: "So, General Xu agrees with me and agrees that your army will attack the city?"
Xu Dan's face suddenly turned dark.
The smile on Cao Bao's face disappeared: "Mr. Chen, why are you so stubborn! If you want to convince, you should also convince Que Xuan. Since he is an alliance army, he must show some sincerity. He can't just let us contribute and do it himself.
Watch it?"
Chen Gui still wanted to argue: "But..."
"There is no but!" Cao Bao waved his hand and said in a cold voice: "Mr. Chen, you must know that this general is now actively asking to face Wang Yu's main force and is bearing the greatest pressure. Why are you still struggling? In short,
, I will never give in on this matter!"
At this moment, the army was only fifty miles away from Tancheng. Judging from the information fed back from the front, Chen Gui believed that Wang Yu intended to fight, and formulated a strategy based on the intelligence. However, Cao Bao and the others disagreed, and neither agreed with Chen Gui's point of view.
I don't like his strategy either.
Intelligence showed that Wang Yu divided his forces. The Xuzhou army was left to defend the city, while Qingzhou's direct troops went up to Maling Mountain and established defensive positions on the mountain.
Chen Gui's countermeasure was to first concentrate the main force, that is, Cao Bao's 15,000-strong army to attack the city, while Que Xuan's troops would confront Wang Yu and contain the Qingzhou army. After Tancheng was captured, the two armies would either join forces or join forces.
Attack from two sides and attack the Qingzhou Army on Maling Mountain.
But Cao Bao and three others were very resistant to this plan.
Although Chen Gui's reason sounds good, he said that the defenders in the city and Cao Bao's army were originally from Paoze, and they would not be too willing to fight. When they found that things were impossible, they might surrender quickly. Without Tancheng,
The Qingzhou Army suddenly became a lone army. Under the attack of the two armies, at most it could only manage to retreat without continuing to entangle in the East China Sea.
These principles are recognized by Cao Bao and others. The problem is that the actual situation must be taken into consideration, and things are not that simple.
Defeating Wang Yu is just the beginning. The Qingzhou Army will definitely not give up in the future, and it will be people like themselves who will bear the brunt. For the future, this battle must not only attack the enemy as much as possible, but also preserve its strength and maximize profits.
The defenders in the city may indeed surrender in the end, but before that, they will probably have to go through a hard battle. After all, Wang Yu rushed to Tancheng before Tao Qian died. The morale of the soldiers and civilians in the city will not be too high, but it must be
Above the level.
You know, siege warfare is very expensive. How did Yuan Shao lose in the first place? Didn't he consume so much strength in Gaotang City that he didn't have enough troops to defend the river bank, and was finally succeeded by Wang Yu in a sneak attack?
More importantly, the oil and water for attacking Tancheng is too small.
If you want to make a profit from this battle, you can only rely on the money and food that Tao Qian hid. The intelligence in Tancheng is very clear. The Qingzhou Army moved about 30% of the money and food into the city. After realizing that it was too late to finish the move, Wang Yu simply took the risk.
The money-dispersing boy distributed all the money and food in the city to the soldiers and civilians in the city.
This move made Cao Bao very depressed.
Wang Yu's dispersion of wealth, on the one hand, improved the morale of Tancheng's soldiers and civilians, making them more active in defending the city and with stronger fighting spirit. On the other hand, after capturing Tancheng, Cao Bao could not get enough benefits.
Yes, money and food are in the hands of the people, and he can rob them. But the problem is that he came to seize the East China Sea to become a prince and make this place long-lasting. He robs things as soon as he enters the city. Regardless of his reputation, the people must have
Fight to the end.
The people's support was gone. After conquering Tancheng, Wang Yu patted his butt and left. He turned around and led his army to find a place. He should cooperate with others internally and externally. How could he resist internal and external troubles? Who should he ask to reason with?
If he didn't know about the existence of this money and food, Cao Bao wouldn't be worried, but now he has no choice but to worry.
Contained by Que Xuan?
As soon as the city was captured, Wang Yu ran away again, and Que Xuan took advantage of the situation to go up the mountain. Didn't all the money and food in the mountain belong to Que Xuan? It's so close to the water!
Therefore, although he respected and admired Chen Gui very much, Cao Bao still firmly disagreed with the other party's plan. He said that unless Que Xuan was willing to obey his command and attack the city together and send troops to contain Wang Yu, he would have to attack by himself.
Mountain.
Of course Que Xuan couldn't do this. He and Cao Bao were allies with the same interests, not vassals. What's more, he was the emperor. Although he was just a self-proclaimed one, he couldn't be a lowly follower, right?
So, we were at a standstill on this issue.
Chen Gui tried to persuade Cao Bao to no avail, and finally had no choice but to sigh, told Cao Bao and the others some things to pay attention to during the battle, and went on his own regardless of the three people's attempts to stay.
Of course Cao Bao was unhappy, but he could only let it go, shook his head, put aside the unhappiness in his heart, and continued to discuss with his two partners, looking forward to a better future.