Cao Cao hurriedly led his troops back to the Changyuan camp, but found that nothing happened except for the smoke of gunpowder left behind by the fierce battle, the corpses, and the pungent smell of blood in the air.

Huang Zhong led the soldiers of Yuan's army headquarters to storm Cao's camp to attract the main force of Cao's army, causing Cao's soldiers to panic and no longer be able to fight Yuan Shu wholeheartedly in order to rescue him.

When the scout reported that Cao Cao was galloping back with his troops, he also decisively ordered a retreat.

The First World War passed.

Both Yuan and Cao suffered heavy losses in this battle, and then set up camp for confrontation, with Kuangting and Jishui as the junction.

……

Yuan Shu and Yuan Yao rode back to the camp side by side, and along the way, the father and son had words that seemed to be inexhaustible.

During the conversation, Yuan Shu was extremely satisfied with his son's performance now.

He didn't expect that Yuan Yao insisted on leading the crowd into the west, and really persuaded the Xiliang army to go out of the Guandong and enter the east, and arrived at a moment when his own situation was in danger.

Repelled Cao's army and preserved the main force.

His heart was filled with emotion at the moment, and he was extremely excited.

This son of his own family really gave him a long face, and he had a chance......

"Yao'er, how did you convince the Xiliang Army to get out?"

After pondering for a long time, Yuan Shu couldn't help it after all, and couldn't help but smile.

Hearing that his father mentioned this matter, Yuan Yao pondered for a while, and then slowly used the power of the important ministers in the court to induce the princes of Liangzhou to raise troops to rebel, causing the Western Liang Army to mobilize heavy troops to quell the rebellion.

Then he himself was dividing and dividing one by one, persuading the self-reliant Xiliang generals to unite and send knights out of the customs to help.

In the end, Yuan Yao's smile became thicker and thicker, and he said with a smile: "There are many factions in the Xiliang Army, and as soon as Dong Zhuo died, the contradictions became more and more acute, and now he still controls the supreme power, naturally no one can tolerate anyone." ”

After some explanation, Yuan Shu's face became more and more joyful.

But then, Yuan Yao couldn't help but solemnly arch his hand and said, "Father, what have you discovered after this battle?" ”

"What?"

"The gap between the quality of the generals and the soldiers."

Yuan Yao said in a low voice: "If it weren't for General Liu Xiang's unfavorable battle situation and the defeat of Kuang Ting, how could my father rush forward the army and let Cao Cao seize the opportunity to deploy heavy troops on the other side of the river?" ”

"Like Liu Xiang, Le, Liang Gang and other generals in our army, but it is difficult to compare with the generals of the Cao army at all."

At this point, he paused, couldn't help lowering his voice again, and said: "And the combat power of soldiers is often related to the quality of generals. ”

"This is not possible in our army at all."

"This is still secondary, the most important thing is that the child led the Xiliang Jing cavalry from behind the Cao army's army to take the opportunity to cover and kill, but even so, our army can only fight to a draw, so that the enemy can easily withdraw from the battle circle and leave safely."

"This is already a great failure, and if we continue to fight, there will not be much result, so according to the child's opinion, our army should decisively withdraw from Yangzhou, and sweep the lands south of the Yangtze River based on Huainan, Huaibei, and Runan County, and peep into the Central Plains."

"Internally, we will expand the number of soldiers, reform the military system, rectify the soldiers, improve the overall combat strength and cohesion among the soldiers, and externally recuperate, and then send troops to fight when the situation in the Central Plains changes greatly."

"This is more advantageous to our army's current competition!"

For a while, Yuan Yao's words of migrating to Yangzhou solemnly fell off.

Yuan Shu heard the news, but fell into silence.

There is no such thing as a sharp refutation from the past......

After this battle, even if Yuan Yao didn't mention it, he could see where his own problems were......

Recall that if it weren't for Yuan Yao's sudden help, his side would have suffered a miserable defeat today.

For today's defeat, there is also an element of Yuan Yao's indulgence.

In fact, he had already received the unfavorable news of Kuangting Liu Xiangzhan, but he held his mind and did not send troops to support, but waited for him to send a request for help, and rushed to the rescue when Yuan Shuqin led the main force to fight against Cao's army.

All this was done to make Yuan Shu understand that now, the combat strength of the soldiers under his command is difficult to compete with Cao's army, and the Yanzhou scholars unanimously support Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, not them.

Then there is no other benefit in continuing to fight.

However, he gave up the counties of the Central Plains that competed for wealth and went to the remote area of Yangzhou for development, but he was slow to make up his mind......

After all, it is extremely difficult for those who can hope to take the Central Plains to pay attention to the rest of the realms.

Yuan Shu is not as prescient as Yuan Yao, and knows the advantages of Yangzhou, which has limitations.

Yuan Yao seemed to see the hesitation in Yuan Shu's heart, and he also knew that his strength was far superior to Cao Cao's, and even his momentum was ...... Yuan Jun can be said to have received a lot of help.

Even the Huns and Montenegro thieves sent troops to respond, isn't it quite simple to take the Central Plains in such a situation?

But why was Yuan's army defeated in the original history?

Regardless of the other factors, the essential reason is one, Kuangting Liu Xiangzhan was unfavorable, Yuan Shu personally led the main force to help, but he could not defeat Cao Jun, but was beaten in all directions.

It was the problem of the combat strength of generals and soldiers that prompted Yuan Yao to resolutely move to Yangzhou for steady development.

Because, he knew that as Cao Cao's power had developed, the next would be a period of strong expansion for him, and if the combat strength of his own soldiers could not be greatly improved, he could only follow the old path.

However, reforming the military system and changing the blood in the army will not be achieved overnight, and it will take sufficient time......

How can all this be carried out without a solid rear foundation?

On the other hand.

Yuan Yao often wanted to replace Liu Xiang and his ilk, but because they had been following Yuan Shu for a long time and had strong qualifications, it was difficult to replace them.

Therefore, letting them experience a major defeat and lose their prestige among the army will be very good for the subsequent reforms.

If Liu Xiang Kuangting's situation was unfavorable this time, and it almost led to the defeat of the whole army, it was enough for Yuan Yao to declare a "death sentence" against him.

"Father, don't hesitate, Runan is the ancestral home of my Yuan family, Huainan is also a place where elite soldiers and strong generals have been produced since ancient times, and the counties in the south of the Yangtze River do not have too strong forces that can threaten our army, so it is very good to use it as a base."

Yuan Yao continued to persuade.

He really didn't say this nonsense, the Jianghuai region was indeed full of talents during the Three Kingdoms period, and strong generals were frequent.

It seems that Zhou Yu, Lu Su, the governor of Eastern Wu, and Lu Meng are all from Jiangbei.

The vast majority of the twelve tiger ministers of Jiangbiao are from the land of Huaisi.

This is also one of the reasons why Yuan Yao went to Yangzhou.

At least you can replenish your own strong generals and replace them with new blood.

Seeing that his father still couldn't make up his mind, Yuan Yao pondered for a moment and couldn't help but say, "Does my father ever know the origin of the retreat?" ”

In a word!

Yuan Shu suddenly realized, and then observed Yuan Yao's confident expression, and couldn't help but say:

"What Yao'er said is very true, let's prepare to move to Yangzhou next, right?"

Note: Retreat and retreat, from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Jin and Chu States competed, and the Jin State took the initiative to retreat three rounds (about ninety miles) to avoid the edge of the Chu army, and then won the Battle of Chengpu and broke the victory of the Chu army.