Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 181 Seven wins and seven losses
After Liu Xun presented the city, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu left Chengpu in charge and continued to lead their troops north to Anfeng and sent troops to Gushi.

Bai Tu has already issued a message and will go out to runan to completely defeat Ni Zhong and give "justice" to the wolf-like pseudo-emperor Yuan Shu and the generals headed by Qiao Rui who were ordered to loot the people of Shouchun!
At this time, Shouchun's troops had also crossed Huainan, captured Anfengjin, and pushed into Ruyin. In addition, they started from Shucheng, passed through Anfeng to Gushi, and crossed Huaibei to Gepo...

The troops were divided into two groups, east and west, and launched an attack on Runan at the same time.

Seeing that Bai Tu was serious about taking action, Cao Cao had to send troops in advance - otherwise once Runan fell into Bai Tu's hands, there would be only a narrow Yingshui River between Bai Tu and Xu Du...

When faced with a Bai Tu who was stronger than Yuan Shu at his peak, Cao Cao could only consider whether to send protons to Yuan Shao or to send protons to Bai Tu!

Fortunately, although Yuan Shu is already a lost phoenix, he has the elites of Nanyang and Runan, so he will not be defeated quickly.

"Yuan Shu is really hateful. He even flirted with that white figure at this time!" Cao Cao said angrily.

Moreover, Yuan Shu had previously rebelled against the Han Dynasty and established itself on its own. This made Cao Cao, who controlled the justice of the court, cut off the opportunity to support him and could only choose to "race" with Bai Tu.

"Bai Tu has stored hundreds of millions of grain in Jiangdong. It is said that... he also uses some magical method to catch tens of thousands of fish in Wu County every day. I'm afraid he has already had the intention to intervene in the Central Plains." Liu Ye said.

"That's not necessarily true. If it weren't for Yuan Shu's atrocities in Shouchun, given the current situation in Jiangdong and Huainan, Duke Bai should continue to appease Shouchun." Xun Yu said.

"Hmph! Wen Ruo, do you still think he has no ambition?" Cao Cao said with some dissatisfaction.

Xun Yu smiled wryly when he heard this, and said, "It was Wenruo's fault to underestimate Duke Bai before, but now...it doesn't matter whether Duke Bai has ambitions or not."

"Hey, I was also deceived by his treacherous but loyal appearance. Now he has become big in Jiangdong, and has annexed Huainan. His military strength is even greater than mine." Cao Cao said with emotion.

On the contrary, Guo Jia, who had always been at odds with Xun Yu on this matter, now said: "My lord, there is no need to belittle yourself. Although Bai Tu has annexed Yangzhou now, compared to my lord, Bai Tu has seven defeats and my Lord has seven." Victory is enough to establish victory for our lord in Runan!"

"Oh? What seven victories do I have?" Cao Cao was surprised when he heard this.

"Bai Tugu is a man of great reputation and benevolence. He has declared before the war that he will not forgive Yuan Shu's old tribe for their surrender, but the lord is able to remember his merits and forget his faults, and he is able to take in everything. This is one of the reasons;
Nowadays, there is a severe drought in Huainan and the land is scorched. If Bai Tu wants to conquer Runan, he can only transport grain from the east of the Yangtze River, while the lord only needs to transport grain from the Central Plains. Xudu also has sufficient food and salary. Bai Tu's grain road is ten times longer than the lord. The second is also;
Bai Tu had never experienced hard battles in Jiangdong and Huainan, and mostly won by cleverness, while the lord's powerful army had been fighting in the Central Plains for several years. This was the third reason;

In the water conservancy land east of the Yangtze River, there are good boats and few horses. The lord's tiger and leopard cavalry have been trained. In the battle in the central plains of Runan, Bai Tu's cavalry will definitely be far inferior to the lord. This is the fourth reason;
In the land of Huainan, the severe drought has not yet eased, and the mountains in the east of the Yangtze River are in chaos. However, the government of Yanzhou is harmonious and the lord's rear is stable. These are the five reasons;
Bai Tu regards generosity as benevolence and allows Sun Ce and Lu Bu to form a group of tigers and wolves. However, the lord is lenient and fierce, and the army is united. This is the sixth chapter;

Bai Tu regards the people he sees as his parents and children, and becomes sad and angry if he is hurt or injured. However, the Lord cares about the people of the world and longs for eternal peace, so he can tolerate it for a while. This is the seventh chapter. …

With seven victories and seven defeats, even if Jiangdong has a hundred thousand soldiers and horses, how can he compete with the lord? "

After Xun Yu, Xun You, Liu Ye and others listened, they all looked at Guo Jia in surprise - can you really tell me this?
If you think about it carefully, you will find that many of these so-called seven wins and seven losses are ambiguous.

For example, Bai Tu's reputation as "unpardonable in case of surrender" will certainly make the generals involved in the Shouchun Incident arouse the desire to fight to the death against Bai Tu, but at the same time, it will also make Bai Tu sit to death and "do justice for heaven". "The reputation made the army and the people unite and share the same hatred of the enemy.

Jiangdong soldiers do have few horses, and in the flat Central Plains, cavalry can be said to be the decisive force. This is indeed more advantageous for Cao Cao, who has already formed the tiger and leopard cavalry, but... there is the "flying general" and Bai Tu is in the cavalry. On the other hand, it is not impossible to fight back.

As for "treating lenient people with benevolence", this is even more true. Bai Tu does treat his subordinates and the wealthy families under his rule with a lenient and soft approach, but... this is also Bai Tu's political philosophy, and it is not without foundation. There are limits, but the bottom line is different from Cao Cao. Even if "strictness in troubled times" is a widely practiced truth, looking at the current situation in Jiangdong, how can we say that Bai Tu's generosity is a weakness?
Is Cao Cao's rule a good one?Haha, yesterday Xun Yu also heard that Han Emperor Liu Xie was about to be dismissed because of a lieutenant, and he was so angry that he smashed the vase!

The so-called seven wins and seven losses are mostly like this...

However, Cao Cao looked like he had already believed it. He swept away his previous dejection, and confidently began to discuss with others how to capture Runan before Bai Tu.

Xun Yu and others also probably guessed that Cao Cao deliberately cooperated to comfort the soldiers...

This far-fetched theory of victory and defeat obviously cannot really be used to predict victory or defeat, but it is good for appeasing people's hearts.

But no one noticed that Guo Jia's face turned a bit paler now!
At the same time, Guo Jia moved his lips slightly, seeming to mutter "Is there only five?", but no one else heard it.

At the same moment, Lu Bu, who was in the vanguard, suddenly found that the speed of his cavalry was somewhat weakened.

The experienced Lu Bu immediately ordered people to stop and check. It was found that the various values ​​​​of the war horse were not within the optimal range. The reason was unknown... maybe it was acclimatization?

After all the hard work over the past few years, although Lu Bu's cavalry were trained according to the Bingzhou riding method, there were very few Bingzhou horses in the war horses. Most of them were Jiangdong horses and Yunnan horses transported from Jingzhou...

It's just that Lu Bu faintly felt that it didn't seem like the water and soil were not acclimatized, but as long as the water source was not poisoned, he would be relieved.

Although it is not within the optimal range, it is still within the normal lower limit. However, many war horses are doing this at the same time, which reduces the cavalry's combat effectiveness by a few points.

……

At the same time, many of the generals stationed in various places in Runan were discussing Bai Tu's message to the world. In the past, entering the city and plundering it really made them happy, but now...

Bai Tu's message frightened them, and they would not be spared if they surrendered... Wouldn't that mean they would die if they lost?
Fear and anger began to spread in their hearts, and each of them cursed Bai Tu to use their lives to fulfill his own benevolence... Otherwise, why couldn't he forgive them?
"It is said that Cao Cao in Yanzhou is going to war with us... It would be great if I were also in the north. I might still survive if I lose to Cao Cao..." A little clever guy said what everyone was thinking.

……

At the same time, the morale of the human laborers in the team transporting grain in Huainan suddenly dropped. The real laborers also had the same idea in their hearts - it was such a hot day, so many small rivers were dry, but we were still allowed to Is it too much trouble for Mr. Bai to transport grain?

Of course, after this thought appeared, they were immediately suppressed in their hearts - how could they miss their benefactor so much?Now that the land at home has been depleted during the disaster year, I can have relief food to eat, thanks to my benefactor...

However, after having "distracted thoughts", even if there was no resentment, the speed of transporting food slowed down a lot.

Even the county captain in charge of the grain transport team said at this time: "Everyone is tired. Let's take a rest in the shade in front!"

The slower the speed, the greater the consumption of food and grass transported.

……

At the same time, a large number of "new recruits" under Bai Tu who had only undergone complete training but had not actually been on the battlefield or had only engaged in less intense battles began to feel uneasy about the war that was about to happen.

This time Yuan Shu has been forced to return to his hometown, and his subordinates are all true confidants. He should... not surrender again, right?

Can I really use what I usually train on the battlefield?

What if the battle is delayed because of me?What if I...die on the battlefield?
Although they immediately thought of the Protector's Shrine outside Jinling City, they thought of the land allocated to their families and the tax exemptions they would receive after becoming grassroots generals, they thought that even if they died in battle, their families would receive pensions, and they thought of the future of their children. Being able to study in the county school has dissipated a bit of the hesitation I had before...

However, recruit syndrome is still silently affecting the morale of Bai Tu's subordinates.

However, most of Bai Tu's subordinates are indeed such "new recruits", because of the previous grand strategy, even if they have been trained for a year or two, they have rarely seen any real blood!
……

At the same time, in the mountains and forests of Yuzhang, several Shanyue tribes who had been inactive had become more motivated as if spring had come recently. When they went down the mountain to trade with the Han people, their tempers became a little bit louder.

The temper that would only strike someone because of a gain or loss of a hundred dollars, suddenly became so irritable that I wanted to hit someone after losing eighty dollars...

"Trading conflicts" and "accidental killings" have always been the triggers for the outbreak of small-scale Han-Vietnamese conflicts. Sometimes a Shanyue chaos that caused disaster in several counties was basically a group fight of more than a dozen people... This Gao Shun's pressure increased a lot.

……

At the same moment, Cao Chun, who was training the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, suddenly felt that his cavalry had become much more powerful, as if they were performing beyond their normal capabilities, and he was a little surprised.

At the same time, every worker in the team that was transporting military rations to Cao Cao thought of something good, and their pace was a little faster.

At the same time, Cao Jun, who had experienced hundreds of battles, behaved calmly and a little excited about the impending war.

At the same time, Han Emperor Liu Xie, who had been beaten by Cao Cao many times recently and became more and more dissatisfied with him, but could do nothing, suddenly felt that the new cook Cao Cao had sent to the palace was not bad, and he felt a little better, belching to see Cao Cao also has a good-looking face, and his sense of struggle is slightly weaker...

(End of this chapter)