Overlord!

Lu Xun's plans are full of the energetic and daring style of young people.

Regardless of Gao Lan, who was huddled in Licheng, and ignored the main force of the Zhao army in the south, the entire army gathered in Hebei, and wiped out all the troops that the Zhao army could gather in Jizhou in one fell swoop!

If this plan succeeds, Jizhou's defense line will collapse and the entire east will be completely empty.

Especially after opening up the supply road and receiving reinforcements from the north and south, Zhou Yu's troops will no longer be able to retreat to the two counties. Once the army moves west, it will directly threaten the empty Yecheng.

If Yuan Shao doesn't want to move the capital by then, he will have to hurriedly mobilize the elite garrison on the southern front to return reinforcements.

The Song army followed and took advantage of the situation to cover up the killing, and the Zhao army was bound to collapse.

But Zhuge Liang believed that Lu Xun's strategy was not entirely due to recklessness. It was a careful consideration of the situation and an accurate measure of people's hearts and ability.

Gao Lan is not the kind of famous general who can turn the tide, and he may not even have thought that he can help the building collapse.

Otherwise, he would not have huddled his troops in the Licheng area.

It can be said that Lu Xun's judgment is an absolute fact. The possibility that Gao Lan sent troops from Licheng and suddenly sent troops to fight the Song army for a decisive battle is extremely slim.

So Zhuge Liang caressed his chin, looked at Lu Xun and said: "Our generals have been ordered by Song Gong, each to lead a heavy army, to attack Yuan Shao in the north. We should make a decision when the opportunity arises, work together, and be loyal to the country. I can join forces with the Zhou Governor, but Zhou Is the governor aware of Zhao Jun’s deployment?”

Although they were both members of the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang had always been in charge of the Qingzhou front line on the East Road and did not know much about the war situation in Jizhou.

That is to say, he opened up the front line of Leling and connected with the Bohai Song Army. Especially where his garrison was very close to Zhou Yu's army, only one or two counties separated, so news could be communicated in time.

Otherwise, several armies usually advance together, and each can only set a predetermined goal and march separately, without being able to communicate with each other at all.

Lu Xun immediately spoke and said: "At this time, our army is marching to the north, just like the Han army general Wei Qing and others entered Mobei in three routes, but I have an even greater advantage. Our two armies have already joined forces, and the Bohai Sea, which is the focus of the attack, has been explored. Yuan Jun deploys."

"Unlike me, who works together as one, Yuan's army is divided into two groups, and they are not connected to each other."

"Among them, the rebels who retreated from Qingzhou were commanded by Yuan Tan and withdrew westward from the plains to the boundaries of Qinghe State."

"The bandit army from Wei County, with Yuan Shang as its commander, stationed troops in the Guanjin area of ​​Anping State."

Zhuge Liang looked up at the map in surprise: "Is the rebel army dividing its forces for defense?"

Anping State is located to the north of Qinghe State. Just looking at the deployment of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, it seems that Yuan Shang is to defend Zhou Yu and Yuan Tan is to defend Zhuge Liang.

The two brothers were unwilling to cooperate, and they seemed to have tacitly chosen an opponent each, hoping to make do with the war.

But how could their opponents do what they thought?

Zhuge Liang immediately said: "This is my God-given opportunity. Our army should join forces to defeat the enemy's defenders one after another, killing the enemy and overthrowing the army first."

The destruction of Yuan Xi's 20,000 elite soldiers was already a devastating defeat for Zhao State, which was enough to cause turmoil in the entire court.

You know, so far, Zhao Jun has lost more than 30,000 troops.

More than 30,000 elite soldiers!

This is a loss that is enough to shake the backs of kings and princes no matter which dynasty or generation they were in.

If a Northern Expedition resulted in the loss of 30,000 elite soldiers, Sun Ce's ambition to sweep across the world would be severely damaged, and the Northern Expedition might even be forced to stop.

If a prosperous dynasty loses 30,000 elite soldiers in the southwest or northeast, it may take more than ten years for the place to change its color, and there will be no discussion of conquest in the court.

Even if the dynasty of later generations had more than two million troops, all of which were strong professional troops, and lost 30,000 people in a battle, it would be time to consider nuclear tying the opponent.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang believed that the next step in the Northern Expedition was not to expand the territory but to win a few key battles.

If we can win a few big victories similar to the Battle of Kuangting, Yuan Shao's army will turn from prosperity to decline soon.

Yuan Shu was so powerful in the early stage that he was defeated by Cao Cao several times in Kuangting. He lost tens of thousands of troops and then fled for hundreds of miles in a hurry to Shouchun.

Lu Bu controlled almost all of Yanzhou, but he lost consecutive battles with Cao Cao. After a few battles, he lost Yanzhou in embarrassment and defected to Liu Bei in Xuzhou.

The same is true for Yuan Shao's situation in Hebei!

Lu Xun was filled with admiration and said: "What the general said coincides with the Governor of Zhou. The Governor of Zhou also said that the main purpose of the army should be to kill the enemy and overthrow the army."

"Yuan Xi's defeat will cause turmoil in Youzhou. The righteous troops of the princes will go south, and there will be more than ten thousand Hu cavalry to help the battle. If Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang are defeated, Zhang Yan and other heroes will surely raise their troops and return."

Zhuge Liang looked happy and asked, "Are there more than 10,000 Youzhou troops going south to help in the battle?"

Lu Xun nodded and explained: "It was Xian Yufu who joined forces with the rest of Liu Yu's troops and gathered more than 30,000 people. The main force of his army was ordered by General Zhao to not directly enter the Bohai Sea and attack Zhuoxian County, but the more than 10,000 sudden cavalry came from Chang. The commander-in-chief Shi Tianyu was sent to serve under the governor of the Zhou Dynasty."

It is understandable that the main force of Xianyu's auxiliary troops did not go south.

After all, the supply capacity of a route has an upper limit. If 100,000 troops gather along the coast of the Bohai Sea, it will cause the logistics pressure here to directly collapse!

Counting Yuyang's more than 30,000 people, Zhou Yu's 30,000 people, and Zhuge Liang's more than 20,000 people, this is almost 100,000 infantry and cavalry.

Concentrated on a narrow supply line, it was a disaster.

Of course, the more troops, the better. The more troops that can quickly maneuver to the battlefield, the better!

And this sudden cavalry perfectly meets Zhuge Liang's needs.

Zhuge Liang immediately stood up and said: "With this army going south, Yuan Tan will be caught unawares. Our army should defeat Yuan Tan first, and then go north from Qinghe to cut off Yuan Shang's return!"

Ye County, the capital of the Zhao family, is in the southwest and has always enjoyed geographical advantages due to its proximity to the Yellow River.

But now that the front is in the north, it will be difficult for Yuan Shang to directly return the capital of Zhao once he is cut off by Qinghe State!

Before the war with Hebei, Jiangdong still didn't understand why Yuan Shao established his capital in Wei County and the founding name was Zhao.

Jiangdong counselors thought that he considered the land of Yan and Zhao as his foundation, so he took the character Zhao as the country's name.

It wasn't until the army marched into Hebei and more and more intelligence gathered that everyone understood the whole story better.

Yuan Shao's proclaiming himself emperor was very much in line with the traditions of the Xia Dynasty. He still used the location of the fiefdom as the name of the country. He transferred the four counties of Ye County, Liang Qi, Wu'an, and Sheguo from Wei County to Zhao State.

Originally, Wei County and Zhao State were connected together in the Han Dynasty, and Ye County was only more than a hundred miles apart from Handan, the capital of Zhao State.

He transferred Ye County to the State of Zhao, which immediately transformed the State of Zhao from a small country with six counties into a large county with ten counties. Then he took Zhao as his country name and changed his name to Yuan and proclaimed himself emperor.

Yuan Shao did an impeccable job in reforming the etiquette, rules and regulations of the Yuan Dynasty, but the core issue was the choice of the crown prince's country. The abolition of the elders and the establishment of the young caused turmoil in the hearts of the people of Zhao.

Even Yuan Tan himself felt resentful and unhappy!

When the Song army decided to choose him as their target, he was still furious at Yuan Shang's arrogance in Guangchuan County.

Pingyuan is very close to Qinghe State. He led his army from Qinghe State and attacked Pingyuan County eastward. Then he led Yuan's army to Qingzhou to compete with Tian Kai, Liu Bei and others under Gongsun Zan for the land of Qingzhou.

At the beginning, the enemy troops also moved south from the Bohai Sea to threaten Yuan Jun's flanks.

But he didn't expect that as time passed, different enemy forces would cause the same dilemma to him in the same direction!

Originally, he was responsible for the frontline defense of Qingzhou, and was supposed to confront Zhuge Liang in the Le'an and Qi areas.

As a result, with a transfer order from Yecheng, he was forced to lead more than 10,000 elite infantry and cavalry back from Qingzhou, preparing to cooperate with Yuan Shang to destroy the Song army in Bohai.

This was enough to make Yuan Tan furious. He angrily said to his adviser Guan Tong: "Your Majesty granted Jizhou to Yuan Shang, and used it as the basis of the country to govern the heart of Jizhou. He was incompetent to control the people, so that The Song army was galloping, and Jin Xugu came to rescue him. He actually gave orders to me, my elder brother, and asked me to move to Guangchuan and obey his orders! This is tolerable, but it is unbearable!"

Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang have been fighting for a long time, but as Yuan Shao established Yuan Shang as the prince of the East Palace, Yuan Tan's subordinates fell apart again. A large number of civil servants and generals took advantage of the situation and switched their families to Yuan Shang.

After the Song Army launched its Northern Expedition, Yuan Tan's general Liu Xun even rebelled in the Luoyin area. All counties responded. There were rebels in Le'an, Qi, Pingyuan, Jinan and other places in Qingzhou, so this made In two months, Zhuge Liang and Zhang Liao captured half of Qingzhou, while Yuan Jun huddled around Licheng.

Faced with this situation, Yuan Tan was depressed for a time and sighed: "Now that Juzhou is betraying, how can it be so ungrateful and evil!"

However, it was Guan Tong who firmly followed him and even abandoned his wife to join Yuan Tan's army to advise him, which restored Yuan Tan's confidence.

Facing Yuan Tan's anger, Guan Tong persuaded him: "Moving to Guangchuan may not necessarily be the intention of the East Palace. Previously, we guarded the east boundary of Qinghe River. There were no mountains and rivers to rely on, so the transportation of grain and grass was inconvenient. We were stationed in Guangchuan, on the same level as Yecheng. Being connected by water is what the imperial court expected."

After hearing Guan Tong's persuasion, Yuan Tan finally felt a little better. Although Guangchuan is further away from Ye County than Qinghe County, it is more than a hundred times more convenient to transport food!

Qinghe goes north from Ye County and meanders directly to Guangchuan. The famous Jieqiao battlefield is on this river, probably near the junction of Wei County and Qinghe Kingdom.

Now that the spring has warmed up, the water level has risen, and the grain and grass transported from Ye County and Wei County can be transported very conveniently to Guangchuan City to provide supplies to Yuan Tan.

If there is harmony between the two brothers, Yuan Shang should station troops in Guangchuan, where Xiu County is to the north.

There is no doubt that the geographical situation of Xiuxian County is important. It is the throat of the four countries and is an important military town in Hebei. Zhou Yu sent troops to seize it as soon as he conquered the Bohai Sea.

If the Zhao army can station 50,000 troops here, it will be absolutely foolproof, at least the Song army will not be able to easily defeat the Zhao army.

But the two brothers disliked each other. Yuan Tan stationed his troops here, and Yuan Shang led his troops to station further north, relying on the Zhang River for supplies.

Therefore, Yuan Tan looked disgusted and said: "A common man has no regard for the overall situation. How can such a person carry the weight of the country?"

Guan Tong advised: "Why don't you consider the overall situation when the king is seriously ill? Since ancient times, fighting between brothers has been the way to defeat."

"Husbands are brothers, right and left hands. For example, when a man is about to fight and his right hand is cut off, and he says, 'I will win,' how can this be done? If a husband abandons his brother and does not kiss him, who in the world will kiss him! If there is a slanderer, we will make friends with him. During the fight, in order to gain the benefit of the day, I hope that I will make you stop your ears and not listen. If you kill a few of the sycophants and become friendly with each other, and control the four directions, you can run rampant in the world."

It is difficult to evaluate the disputes between the Yuan family and other prominent clans.

Now that Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are at odds with each other, and Yuan Tan and Yuan Shangfu are at odds with each other, wouldn't it be a pity to contradict each other and benefit the enemy?

Guan Tong could only persuade his brothers to stay within the wall and resist their insults from outside.

Those with far-sighted ideas in the civil and military affairs of the Zhao family would all advise in this way.

It's a pity that these two brothers didn't listen at all!

Yuan Tan also had an angry look on his face when he heard this, and said: "I and Yuan Shangshi can't coexist, so don't talk about it anymore. Now I think it's hard for the country to defeat the enemy. What good strategy do you have?"

Guan Tong also wants to have a good plan!

But the correct way of war is to win with more. How can the two brothers defeat nearly 100,000 enemy troops by dividing their forces like this?

Before Guan Tong could sort out Yuan Tan, Yuan Tan's personal guards suddenly rushed to the tent and said in panic: "Your Majesty, the situation is critical. The Song Army's cavalry came out of the southwest of Guangchuan and occupied Qinghepu, threatening our army's rear. !”

"What!" Yuan Tan and Guan Tong no longer cared about the dispute with Yuan Shang, and stood up in shock.

Qinghepu is where Qinghe and Jiangshui meet, and is an important supply hub for Yuan's army.

Although Yuan Tan was stationed in Guangchuan County, he knew that he could not defend an isolated city, so he led his army to garrison on the border of Qinghe County to the west of Xiuxian County, relying on dangerous places to camp.

If they don't defend here and allow the Song army to enter and exit freely, no one knows where they will march along Jiangshui and Qinghe.

The location here is similar to Chaisang in Yuzhang County. Drawing ground here and guarding it is to choke the Song army and prevent them from entering.

This is the best arrangement Yuan Tan can do with a small number of enemies. Otherwise, if the Song army enters Qinghe and divides its troops to advance, Yuan Tan will be even more unable to resist and can only sit back and watch the city fall.

But how could the Song Army cavalry appear in Qinghepu without anyone noticing?

Yuan Tan's first reaction was that Yuan Shang did it deliberately.

He immediately asked vigilantly: "Could it be that Yuan Shang wants to borrow a knife to kill someone?"

Guan Tong immediately said: "Donggong will not play tricks on the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, but no matter what, we must immediately send troops to repel the Song army and ensure that Qinghepu is under our control."

Yuan Tan also knew this, so he temporarily suppressed his suspicion and said: "Order five thousand elite soldiers and come with me to Qinghepu!"

The arrival of Song Jun was so weird!

If Yuan Shang hadn't deliberately opened the defense line and exposed a flaw, the Song army could advance straight in.

The size of the Song Army's cavalry should be limited, so Yuan Tan was very decisive and wanted to recapture this choke point in one fell swoop.

Yuan Tan still has confidants. Regardless of their talents and moral character, his subordinates Hua Yan and Kong Shun are at least respected by Yuan Tan and dare to die for Yuan Tan.

Kong Shun led his army first and soon arrived at Qinghepu. When he saw the Song army, a fierce battle broke out immediately.

Yuan Tan led his army to follow. Not even halfway through the journey, he received a good news from the front: "The pioneer Kong Shun has defeated the Song army, and is pursuing with light troops, driving north for more than ten miles!" (End of this chapter)