As Jia Xu judged, after Cao Cao received Xiahou Yuan's corpse, he didn't care about what he thought in his heart, but he didn't care on the surface, and he immediately ordered the three armies, accusing Xiahou Yuan of not being good at using soldiers, and he was always known as 'General Baidi' in the army, that is, the meaning of an idiot general, to show that the loss of Pubei and Xiahou Yuan's death were not worth mentioning.

On the other side, after Gongsun Xun set up camp in Pushui, he immediately issued a clear military order, preaching the three armies, but it was a "Confession of Guilt"!

The reason why it is an edict rather than an edict is because the edict is exclusive to the Son of Heaven...... In the report, Yan Gong directly admitted that because of his own pride and complacency, he underestimated the enemy's gaffe, so he was confused by Cao Cao, and fell into the latter's plan to break the wrist of the strong man, so that the time and space advantages brought by the surprise attack of the Hebei army in the early stage were all buried, and the decisive battle opportunity of dozens of days was wasted for the sake of 5,000 cavalry, so that the Cao army completed the construction of military defense depth.

A strange and fundamentally symmetrical battle, in terms of tactical results, was undoubtedly an absolute victory for the Yan army, who used the absolute superiority of forces in the local battlefield to completely annihilate an enemy army and capture the enemy's general; But from a deep strategic point of view, it was undoubtedly the success of Cao's army, because they barely stabilized their position in Gongsun Xun's surprise attack and established a lifelong defense line.

However, in the face of this battle, the coaches of both sides said that the other side won and they lost, and then desperately criticized and self-criticized...... The fact that the war is so strange can only show that both sides had some unrealistic expectations of the war before, and then they have come to their senses at this time.

In fact, after Cao Cao's "Order of General Baidi" and Gongsun Xun's "Confession of Guilt" were issued, the biggest shock was still those senior generals below the commander of the two armies.

The generals of the Cao army, who were born in Peiliang, naturally gradually became resentful of the same enemy, and Lu Su, Liu Ye and others, who came to Chenliu as reinforcements, understood Cao Cao's hardships and were shaken by it, and on the other hand, the generals of the Yan army also fell into panic and tremors.

The former pushed the work, saying that Xiahou Yuan's death was actually the joint efforts of all the generals; The latter reviewed, for the sake of the generals, who should not risk the arrows themselves, and ignored the army.

In this regard, Gongsun Xun did not send it, but only ordered the whole army to set up a defensive line on the north bank of Pushui, and then improve the camp, and confront Cao Cao across the river in the area of Sujube and Pingqiu in the upper reaches of Pushui.

It is said to be a confrontation, but in fact, it is a test of each other while pooling forces.

In just a few days, to be precise, at the beginning of June, the number of armies on both sides of the two large camps of Suzao and Pingqiu, separated by a Pushui, reached an unbelievable level - Pubei was 65,000 people who participated in the siege of Xiahou Yuan, plus 20,000 auxiliary soldiers who came to support them, and 5,000 people who were standing there, the number reached 90,000; Pu Nan was originally the 50,000 soldiers who originally supported Xiahou Yuan (Cao Cao brought 20,000 from Chen County, Lu Zijing brought 30,000), and after Liu Pan, Huang Zhong, Wen Ping and others took Liu Biao's support in place, there were also 70,000 field elites, plus tens of thousands of local people who were hurriedly gathered under the local battle, the total number should be no less than 100,000!

In addition, downstream of Pushui, all the way to Puyang and Baima, there were troops on both sides to confront each other along the way.

Xu Huang and Zhang Jaw led 15,000 people to live in the four cities of Pubei, and on the opposite side were Li Tong and Wen Ping led the army to live in Kuangcheng, Pucheng, Changyuan and other cities, and then Gao Shun lived in Baima and Lejin lived in Puyang.

In a confrontation of this scale, both sides were a little nervous, and the temptation never stopped from beginning to end, and the small elite troops kept crossing the river to try, but it was always difficult to gain a foothold...... The army is even more hindered by the rising tide in summer, and it is extremely difficult to calmly dispatch in person.

However, on this day, as Sizhou Mu Lougui came from the west of the gutter, Guo Jia, the deputy envoy of Jing'antai, also came to Pushui from the direction of Baima.

"Not to mention the generals, the quality of the thieves' soldiers is not as good as our army, and the disadvantage of the cavalry after Xiahou Yuan's troops were surrounded and annihilated is even more obvious......"

On the morning of this day, that is, the second day after Guo Jia had just entered the confrontation with the Zhongpushui camp, the large-scale high-level military meeting officially began, but after the generals were called to the Chinese army's tent by Gongsun Xun, it was Guo Jia who first explained to the generals the latest information obtained by Jing'antai.

"How many cavalry are there?" Just as Guo Fengxiao was talking eloquently in the tent, Gongsun Xun, who was sitting at the top, suddenly interjected and asked.

"There should be more than 10,000 ......," Guo Jia immediately explained.

"How can there be so many, haven't we been cut off from the horse business for several years?" Some people are curious to ask, but it is Cheng Lian. "We've got all the horses in our hands, right?"

"It's true, but although the Central Plains and Jianghuai don't produce horses, there were generally horses before the world was in turmoil." Guo Jia also explained seriously. After the turmoil in the world, the number of horses in the Central Plains decreased sharply, and the princes of the Central Plains were not fools, so they naturally wanted to collect war horses to domesticate and breed intensively...... The Cao and Liu families, as well as the previous Tao Qian, both set up horse supervisors in the land of Tuntian, but after six or seven years, the quality of the war horses grown up locally is a little insufficient, but it cannot be said that the lack of horses is impossible. And now that the three princes have joined forces, it is no problem for the three families to get together a total of 20,000 horses. ”

Everyone bowed their heads.

"But it's worth mentioning." Guo Fengxiao came here and paused slightly. "Among them, Cao Mengde is the most northern, in the name of the alliance leader in the past few years, he has repeatedly asked Xuzhou and Huainan for good horses, and he has gathered an elite guard cavalry, about 3,000 people, known as the tiger and leopard cavalry, led by his brother Cao Chun himself."

The word tiger and leopard riding attracted a burst of obvious ridicule, but when they heard the word Cao Chun, many people in the tent couldn't help but feel a little different, and the superposition of the two caused a commotion.

It turned out that Cao Chun was also a famous person on the wanted animal card, but he was a winter chicken, and alongside him were Chen Wu, Xu Sheng, and Dong Xi.

Among them, Cao Chun needless to say, his person is Cao Ren's brother, Cao Jinzhi's cousin, 27 years old this year, because of the prominent family, in Cao Song when he was a lieutenant, he was a Huangmen squire without being crowned, and when Dong Zhuo was in turmoil, he happened to be crowned, and he has been active with Cao Cao, and he is very famous in the Central Plains and even in Hebei.

As for Chen Wu, his family has always been a big family of Lujiang, his father was Liu Bei's former general in his early years, and served as the captain of Danyang, but he died at the hands of Shanyue in Danyang County two years ago, when Chen Wu was only sixteen years old, he happened to be in the army, and when he saw his father die in battle, he simply raised a knife and led his father's old department to fight back, and he was actually the enemy of his hand!

After this incident, Liu Bei was so brave that he actually allowed him to lead the army at the age of sixteen, and he accompanied him, like a righteous son, and now he was able to go out with Lu Su. Its 3,000 people, all recruited in the hinterland of Huainan Lujiang, the iron armor is complete, all of them are the so-called 'armor', Liu Bei's side has always been elite, and painted black, so it has always been called 'Lujiang Xuanjia'!

On the other hand, it is Xu Sheng.

Xu Shengnai is a native of Langya, in the early years the family moved south to avoid the rebellion of Mount Tai and the Yellow Turban, and when he went to Guangling, he happened to hear that Liu Bei was in Huainan for the government and Qingming, and many Xuzhou people went to defect, so they no longer crossed the river, but turned to Huainan, and then lived in Jiujiang Shouchun. And Xu Shengqi was brave from Liu Bei at that time, and his entourage swept Huainan, with many meritorious achievements, plus young and heroic, like to ride a white horse, wearing white armor, so Liu Bei is very loved, and it is also used in front of him.

Its 3,000 people, all recruited with Jiujiang, are also complete in iron armor, but most of them are painted as plain, so they are called 'Jiujiang Sujia'. And Xu Zhang's two departments together, in addition to the three thousand Peinan veterans in Liu Bei's hands, the elite headquarters of the general life, that is, the famous 'Huainan Shangjia'!

And Xu Sheng, this time, naturally followed Lu Su's expedition!

As for Dong Xi, it was Sun Ce's department, and he was originally a Huiji, but he had always looked down on the Zhu father and son, but admired the courage of the Sun father and son, and when Sun Ce marched into the Huiji, he simply led his hometown children to kneel down in front of the Gaoqian Pavilion on the county boundary to greet him. Therefore, Sun Ce was overjoyed, and seeing that he was very brave, he simply asked him to lead 3,000 Huiji disciples, together with another general Ling Cao, who led 3,000 Wujun disciples, as a standing vanguard.

It is said that this setting itself was modeled after Liu Bei's Huainan Second County Shangjia.

It's just that this time Sun Ce went north, because Ling Cao was old and steady, he specially stayed to take care of the rear, which made Dong Attack stand out, and he was able to tie up with the other three to rank four chickens!

"There are only a limited number of animal cards, only fifty cards except for the Four Seasons cards." Gongsun Xun, who was sitting sideways in the chair of the first lieutenant, waited for the tent to calm down, and only then did he remind him a little. "Included in it are naturally the heroes of the enemy, but there are also reasons that are affected by the status and function of the other party, such as these four chickens, because they are all famous armor and famous horses...... And many heroic figures are not included due to space, but they can not be despised either, such as the previous Ding Fei, 40,000 or 50,000 field troops, complete on foot and horse, several famous generals in Hebei, was actually blocked by a county order for a while, isn't this lesson enough? Don't put the cart before the horse. ”

As soon as these words came out, how could the generals sitting on both sides of the tent dare to be lazy at this time, and quickly got up together and said yes, and the sound of armor colliding was heard for a while.

"Sit down, Feng Xiao will continue!" Gongsun Xun raised his hand to signal.

"Whoa!" Guo Jia also did not dare to slack off. "In any case, the enemy cavalry is like this, and the quantity and quality are not enough to compare with our cavalry...... However, the enemy army also has an advantage, that is, the cities around the Central Plains are too dense! For example, in Chenliu County, in addition to a sour jujube controlled by our army on the north bank of Pushui, there are also twenty-one cities in the hands of Cao Jun! Our army is for attacking, the enemy army is for defense, and the advantage of defending the city, needless to say, is that once the auxiliary soldiers and the people have a strong city, with stable and good officials, it is enough to replace the field elite of our army, and the biggest disadvantage of the enemy army will be wiped out! For example, Liu Xuande sent a total of 120,000 troops to help Cao Cao, of which only 30,000 field elites were fully equipped and had combat experience, and 30,000 were trained and armed...... But now its troops are divided into three, the elite retinue of Cao Cao to the camp on the other side, the auxiliary soldiers are divided into various cities with Cao Cao's magistrates, and the people go back and forth to Huaishang to transport grain and grass, so they must no longer underestimate the combat strength of 30,000. ”

There was silence in the tent for a while, because this was the serious issue that Gongsun Xun said in his previous "Accusation of Guilt" - Cao Cao used the time that Xiahou Yuan fought for to successfully do this.

"Total strength!" In the silence, Gongsun Xun held his chin and continued to ask sideways.

"Yes!" Guo Jia bowed his head in response, and then looked up. According to Jing'antai, the information summarized is roughly as follows...... Cao Jun was originally prepared to mobilize 100,000 people, and this time the loss was more than 10,000, and there should be 80,000 or 90,000 people, but his people lived in the base, and the people's replenishment should be limited to logistical preparations; And Liu Bei's power is slightly larger, and this time he was able to send 120,000 people; Liu Biao sent 30,000 soldiers and 30,000 auxiliary soldiers, a total of 60,000 people, and his people were responsible for transporting grain and grass to Nanyang, and the people were not easy to calculate; Only Sun Ce is the simplest, the 20,000 people almost poured out, and Jiangdong has had frequent wars in recent years, so they should all be regarded as soldiers...... And all together, it's still about 300,000! In the past, although our army had small victories and annihilated the enemy, it did not shake the overall situation. ”

"Rough distribution and arrangement." Gongsun Xun continued to ask.

"The enemy's layout can be roughly divided into five sections! From west to east, they are Nanyang Lu Bu and Cai Mao, about 20,000 or 30,000 people, including more than 10,000 soldiers; Yingchuan Sun Ce, 20,000 soldiers, 10,000 auxiliary soldiers, a total of 30,000 people; Chen Liu, Jiyin, Dongjun, or from the front to the west of Lei Ze, for Cao Cao personally led, Lu Zijing deputy, about 60,000 soldiers, 60,000 auxiliary soldiers, countless people; and Lei Ze and Ono Ze went to Mount Tai, led by Xiahoudun, with 5,000 soldiers and more than 20,000 auxiliary soldiers; Further east, it is the Langya area of the East China Sea in Xuzhou, which was supervised by Zhou Yu, and there were about 5,000 soldiers and 10,000 sailors of the Cao and Liu families who were originally stationed in the East China Sea, and later Liu Bei reinforced 10,000 auxiliary soldiers......"

"Do you understand?" Gongsun Xun suddenly interrupted Guo Jia's narration, and then frowned at the generals in the tent.

"My subordinates roughly understood." Two generals below the military division, one of the most senior, Tian Chou, the general of Wuhuan Zhonglang, hurriedly got up and spoke. "Bonghyo should want to emphasize...... Now Cao Cao is fighting locally, and there are dense cities as shelter, so the Minfu can't take the previous number of 100,000 to copy rigidly, because it is convenient for them to replenish...... The key to this battle is to destroy their remaining 90,000 soldiers and 90,000 auxiliaries, right? ”

"General Tian's words hit the bull's eye." Guo Jia bowed his head slightly. But that's not all...... In fact, before this trip, Jing'antai had discussions in Yexia, and they all thought that this war was not as good as before, because both sides had a foundation and could be supplemented! ”

"I understand the meaning of filial piety." Another general, Yuyang Tianyu, suddenly woke up. "You Jing'antai want to say that if this war continues to stalemate, the war is likely to form a stable circulation, just like the business of the Amway...... I mean, because both sides have production capacity, once the stalemate continues, the people can make up for the auxiliary troops at any time, and the auxiliary soldiers can also fight in the field if they are more trained, and the so-called number of soldiers, auxiliary soldiers, and people is only limited to the scale of logistics, not static! ”

"What do you mean by that?" Some people are still ignorant, such as Yuwen Black Otter.

"That is to say, if we defeat their 20,000 elites in a battle, but we do not break through the opponent's camp." Gongsun Xun was in person, and naturally someone would explain earnestly, such as Zhang Liao, who immediately spoke at this time. "Then the original 90,000 soldiers of that generation did not become 70,000 after 20,000, but it will immediately become 80,000 after a slight supplement, and in a few dozen days, the armor or something will be complete, and it will be 90,000 again...... It's as if this time they wiped out Xiahou Yuan's 5,000 cavalry and more than 10,000 auxiliary troops in Pubei, and if they couldn't quickly break through the camp, the enemy's 300,000 troops would actually recover to 300,000 people soon, but they would just lose 5,000 horses. ”

Yuwen Black Otter is still ignorant.

"The Central Plains has a large population, and it is no more limited than the grassland population." Tian Yu couldn't help but interject and explain. "You can see that your tribe has enough people, but it can only afford to raise ten horses, so as long as the horse does not die, only one knight dies, there are still ten horsemen in your department!"

Yuwen Black Otter suddenly realized.

"You can teach." Gongsun Xun suddenly spoke, and he didn't know if he was praising Tian Yu or Yuwen Black Otter.

And with his words, the tent, which was originally a little commotionous, was quiet for a while, but Gongsun Xun stopped talking again.

"So how do you end this battle?" After a long time, Zhang Liao couldn't help but ask the two military advisors who were sitting still.

He didn't dare to ask Gongsun Xun.

"If you want to end this battle, there are only three ways." Xun You was asked, but he didn't hide it, but directly laughed and spoke. "One is to hold on, fight each other with logistics, and wait for one side to be unable to support it; One is to force up, let the main elite field forces of the two sides face off head-on, and defeat the opponent's most elite troops in one battle; And the other one is ......"

"It is to break through the local defense chain and attack the core of the opponent." Gongsun Xun said. "If you break through Chen Liu, and hit Chen County, Cao Mengde will die! Because he won't be able to raise 100,000 soldiers by then! If you fight in Shouchun, my brother Xuande will not be able to support his 120,000 army, and he will either surrender or go to Jiangnan to survive...... It's just that, judging from the current situation, Cao Cao will inevitably rely on layers of cities, resist step by step, and try to avoid war! In this case, if you want to fight head-on, you may not be able to do it; If you want to break through the old stay, you will inevitably suffer heavy losses. ”

"How's that to be?" Tian Yu asked cautiously.

"Naturally, while advancing, we are seeking a decisive battle, what else can we do?" Gongsun Xun sneered. "Do you want to consume it? If it takes three years and five years, believe it or not, the whole world will wither! It only takes a year, and there is no chance that there will be a famine at that time, because the Central Plains of Hebei have lost their savings, and more than 100,000 people have died! ”

The generals were solemn.

"Of course, advancing and persecuting the decisive battle must be explained." Gongsun Xun suddenly laughed again, but he stood up and paced towards the tent, causing the whole tent to be nervous. "Cao Mengde has 70,000 soldiers, 70,000 auxiliaries, the soldiers are concentrated in the Pushui camp, and the auxiliaries are arranged in the surrounding cities to support them, and we now have nearly 90,000 soldiers in Pubei...... If I attack him, if he defends it, it will be equivalent to facing a crowd of 120,000 people, and he may not be able to win, and he may find a gap behind him to cut off food and other means; But on the other hand, if he comes to attack me, it will only be 70,000 people, and I will use 50,000 infantry soldiers and 20,000 auxiliaries to defend the city and water! So...... Uncle Zi! ”

Lou Gui, who had not said a word, immediately got up.

"I've already consulted with the two advisors before, and I'm even going to leave all the foot soldiers to you...... Let you guard the camp here for me, and the governors Xu Huang, Zhang Jaw, and Gao Shun, and guard Pushui! Gongsun Xun turned around in the middle of the big tent and ordered. Then I personally led all the 40,000 cavalry to bypass the territory of Sizhou and attack behind Cao Mengde! What do you think? ”

Everyone cheered up - yes, at this time, there is still Sizhou on the flanks to rely on!

"The advantage of our army is in the cavalry, and it is naturally feasible to go around from Sizhou." Lou Gui said in a deep voice. "But how far is the lord going to go around?"

"You don't have to go too far, enter Sizhou, go to Zhongmu, and hit Chen Liu!" Gongsun Xun replied casually. "What do you think?"

This Chenliu must refer to Chenliu City, where Chenliu County governs Chenliu County, not Chenliu County.

Lou Gui is a native of Nanyang, and he is quite familiar with the geography here, so after a little thought, he suddenly realized: "Is the lord going to go to the official crossing?" ”

Gongsun Xun was stunned: "Guandu? ”

"Out of Zhongmu, hit Chen Liu...... It is inevitable to go through the official crossing. "Lou Gui is right." Pushui Jishui meets in the upper reaches, and to the west of the Puji intersection, there is also a Wuchaoze, the summer water rises, the lord wants to avoid the main force of the Cao army to go to Zhongmu, whether it is to attack Chenliu in the east or Yingchuan in the south, he can only spare the intersection of Wuchaoze and Puji, cross the river from the upper reaches, and then go out of the chasm to cross the Guandu...... In fact, the minister has been thinking that if it weren't for the lord's first raid and disrupted the other party's design, Cao Cao would definitely set up a formation in Guandu first to strangle the south of Cheng Zhennan in Sizhou, because it was the junction of Sizhou and Yanzhou, and the first key point outside the Tiger Prison Pass. ”

Gongsun Xun was thoughtful.

————I'm a thoughtful dividing line————

"Taizu ruled the sea from his own domination, and his marching division was much more dependent on the law of Sun and Wu, and because of the strange things, the enemy won the victory, and the changes were like gods. When things are done, the hand is modest, the one who obeys the order is defeated, and the one who violates the religion is defeated. If you don't want to fight, then you will take the opportunity to win, and the momentum is overflowing, so every battle must be defeated, and the army is not fortunate to win. has used force in his life, but he is invincible, but Cao Cao can be relatively good. —The Book of Old Swallows. Volume II. Emperor Taizu Wu Benji