Take precautions, be prepared, the battle situation in Yecheng has not yet been sent to Deputy Director Tao, and it is Yi who has the right to make decisions in Xuchang that has already arranged for Gao Shun and Xun Chen, and led 20,000 Xuchang garrisons to go north to Liyang directly through Guandu to reinforce Chen Zhi's team who launched an attack on Yuan Tan's army with a lone army.

When Deputy Director Tao led the main force back to Xuchang, the Xuzhou army in Yanzhou also began to mobilize grain and grass on a large scale, and the emergency grain and grass hoarded in Dingtao and Changyi were loaded on ships, escorted by the Xuzhou veteran Lu You, from Jishui into Juyeze, and then transported from the Guhe River to Puyang, just waiting for the main force of Xuzhou to arrive in Puyang, it can be sent to Jizhou through the Baigou River at any time, and directly sent to Yecheng City.

At the same time, in the territory of the five counties of Xuzhou in the rear, the largest mobilization of grain and grass in the history of the Xuzhou army was also launched, with thousands of grain and grass loaded with grain and grass, respectively, from Xiapi, Huaiyin, Donghai, Pengcheng and Langya and other grain producing areas, some of them were sent to Qingzhou through Shushui and Yishui to supply Zang Ba's partial division, and more were sent from Surabaya to Juyeze, and then sent to Puyang, and the person who carried the grain was simply directly Cao Bao, the former chief general of Xuzhou. All of a sudden, on the transportation waterways of Yanxu and Hebei Prefectures, from east to west, from south to north, there were all the grain and troop transport ships of the Xuzhou army, which were densely packed like crucian carp crossing the river, almost more than the swimming fish in the river.

As early as after the disastrous defeat of the Jizhou army and Cao's army in the second decisive battle, the slogan of capturing the three prefectures of Hebei was already sounding within the Xuzhou army -- although Xuzhou was rich, it was still in terms of population and economy. It is still necessary to inferiorize the three points of Jizhou, which has a better foundation, and the two states are horse-producing places, and it is not surprising that the jackals and hungry tigers in Xuzhou have the idea of coveting Jizhou and the three states when their strength is sufficient. And after the paralysis of Da Yuan Sangong, this call reached the highest point, but the hypocritical and righteous Deputy Director Tao took care of his reputation and couldn't pull his face to be ungrateful and robbed his father-in-law's house, so he missed the opportunity to enter the army again and again.

But now, the Xuzhou army no longer has any scruples, and Yuan Tan, who is now in charge of Jizhou, not only has a grudge with the Xuzhou army. also slaughtered Deputy Director Tao's mother-in-law Liu. If the Xuzhou army does not send troops to take revenge, it will have no way to explain to the people of the world. Therefore, without consulting Deputy Director Tao's opinion, it was Yi who guarded Xuchang and Chen Deng, who guarded Xuzhou, and he had already arranged the movement of grain and grass and troops immediately. Not for anything else. It is to prepare for the main expedition to the north as soon as possible. Let Deputy Director Tao invade Jizhou immediately after returning to the northern line, which will not only give the severely injured Yuan Tanjun a chance to breathe, but also lay a solid foundation for annexing Jiyou and the three states in one fell swoop!

It was Yi and Chen Deng who prepared first. First, because Deputy Director Tao had given them the power to make decisions in Xuchang and Xuzhou, and second, because they knew the timing of Deputy Director Tao's scheduled dispatch of troops, it was not surprising to make this preparation. And Chen Zhi immediately took the initiative to attack Yuan Tanjun, which showed that he was able to take charge of the general's talent, because Deputy Director Tao did not give Chen Zhi a similar order, and at the same time, Chen Zhi's troops were not much, a total of only 20,000 troops still had to defend the important town of Puyang and the important place of Liyang, relying on the city and the Yellow River to protect themselves, but the progress was definitely insufficient.

Under such circumstances, Chen Zhi still resolutely launched an attack, because Chen Zhi believed that he had two functions in launching an attack at this time, one was not to give Yuan Tanjun a chance to breathe, forcing Yuan Tanjun, who had just taken Yecheng, to immediately start fighting again, and there was no chance to rest; The second is to use practical actions to tell the county defenders and local gate lords in the north of Jizhou who have not yet surrendered to Yuan Tan, telling them that the Xuzhou army has started a war against Yuan Tan, and the future of the Yuan Tan army, which has been greatly injured, may not end well in the future.

Chen Zhi's self-assertive military action made Yuan Tan Gongzi more disgusting and uncomfortable than eating flies, let's fight, the army is tired and the grain and grass are insufficient, and if he continues to fight, the army will only be more tired and the food and grass will be more insufficient, and he will miss the opportunity to quickly recover the entire territory of Jizhou; Let's not face the battle, let Chen Zhi take Dangyin and Anyang, Yecheng, which has already lost the important land of Liyang, has no periphery to defend, not to mention, the main force of Yuan Tan's army will not dare to go north at will, to attack the Jizhou counties that refuse to surrender and exterminate the remnants of Yuan Shang. Forced to be helpless, and after hesitating again and again, Yuan Tan Gongzi still stubbornly led his army south to meet the battle, trying to repel Chen Zhi and recapture the Liyang important land, so as to resist the 'possible' northward invasion of Xuzhou's main force.

Why do you say possible? Because our Yuan Tan Gongzi still has a naïve fantasy, I hope that my brother-in-law, Deputy Director Tao, can give him a chance to breathe, and I also hope that the Jingzhou army can entangle the main force of Xuzhou in the battlefield on the southern front, so that he has time to eradicate the remnants of Yuan Shang, integrate the forces of Jiyou and Sanzhou, and revive the glory of the Yuan family.

After personally leading 30,000 troops south to meet with Chen Zhi's team, Chen Zhi, who was wise and brave, was not stupidly anxious to fight with Yuan Tan, but led the army to fight and retreat, luring Yuan Tan Gongzi to Liyang City little by little, and then taking a defensive position under Liyang City to deal with Yuan Tan's army, entangled Yuan Tan's team like a leper dog, desperately delaying time and consuming Yuan Tan's army's little grain and grass, and also buying time for the main force to go north.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of Chen Zhi and Yuan Tan's entanglement, the 20,000 reinforcements led by Gao Shun and Xun Chen gradually began to approach Liyang, and when Gao Shun's team was about to arrive at the White Horse Ferry, the main force of Xuzhou led by Deputy Director Tao finally returned to Xuchang City in triumph, and Tao Ji, Cao Hong, Shiyi and Chen Qun, who stayed in Xuchang, were not ambiguous, and immediately forced Emperor Han Xian to lead hundreds of civil and military officials out of the city for ten miles to greet him, and congratulate Deputy Director Tao on his achievements in the southern expedition.

In this regard, Deputy Director Tao was not very appreciative, and after returning to the city, he smiled and complained to Shiyi and others: "Why bother? I didn't see the ugly face of our Son of Heaven, I was about to cry, and after the ambush, the faces of those people were as ugly as they were, and I also wasted time bowing and bowing, and everyone was uncomfortable. ”

"My lord. Although everyone is uncomfortable, it is definitely not a matter of adding to it. Shi Yi looked solemn and replied: "The etiquette is extremely humane, through the country, the community, the people, the heirs, the people, the courtesy, the courtesy." The Celebrity. Wei also. The audience is born, the degree is the rule, solemn and solemn, and the major festival of politics. The lord is now the third duke. The first of the hundred officials. If you don't take the lead in keeping the etiquette and obeying the rules. How can we educate the people and govern the country? How can you follow the law and command hundreds of officials? So Yi thinks. Etiquette is tedious and time-consuming, but it must never be abandoned. ”

"Lord, Mr. Ziyu is right." Chen Qun also echoed: "Your Majesty knows that you hate cumbersome and trivial writings the most, and you like to be informal, but now it is different from the past, in the past, the lord could act casually in Xuzhou, but now in Xuchang, he must restrain his words and deeds and pay attention to the influence." For example, today's events, we actually know that the lord doesn't mind whether the Son of Heaven personally goes out of the city to greet him, but we still forcibly invite the Son of Heaven to lead hundreds of civil and military officials out of the city to greet him, not for anything else, just to reflect the lord's noble identity and noble status. ”

"Mr. Ziyu and Changwen are reasonable, and I will really pay attention to this aspect in the future." Deputy Director Tao, who was not good at this aspect, smiled awkwardly, admitted his mistake, and quickly changed the topic, and asked Shiyi: "Mr. Ziyu, what is the latest situation of our army's current army and grain and grass mobilization?" Chen Deng's side, how much food has been sent to the front line? How many additional troops were sent to the front? I didn't have good news on the road, and I didn't have time to make a detailed summary. ”

"Please rest assured, your northern expedition, whether it is food and grass or troops, will be very sufficient."

Shi Yi smiled, and hurriedly introduced the mobilization of the army and grain and grass, and the result was just as Shi Yi said, Deputy Director Tao's military food and troops for this northern expedition were indeed extremely sufficient, plus the grain of Dingtao and Changyi, just the rear of Xuzhou, the first batch of more than 1.8 million Hu military rations were sent to the northern front of Yanzhou, enough to supply the 150,000 army for half a year, plus the grain and grass supplied by the counties of Yanzhou to the front line, even if the grain and grass consumption of the people in the waterway transportation is excluded, it is enough for the 150,000 army to have no shortage of grain and grass for half a year, And Chen Deng has also written to explain that he has not used all the grain stored in Xuzhou, let alone purchased the surplus grain of the people in Xuzhou, so if necessary, Chen Deng can also immediately arrange for grain and grass to be transported to the front line.

At the same time, Chen Deng did not use the grain and grass of Huainan and Guangling to ensure the needs of the battlefield on the southern front. In addition, in Qingzhou, the Zang Ba team with the grain producing area of Beihai has been able to achieve most of the self-sufficiency in grain and grass, plus the 400,000 Hu grain and grass sent to Qingzhou by Chen Deng through Shushui and Yishui, Zang Ba's partial division can basically support the battle for more than half a year, support the winter wheat harvest in the next year, and the consumption of grain and grass is not included in the frontal battlefield in Yanzhou.

In terms of the army, plus the team brought to Puyang by Lü You, the rear of Xuzhou sent a total of more than 40,000 troops to the front line, led by Cao Bao and Lü You respectively, although these 40,000 troops are not as good as Deputy Director Tao's main force in Xuchang in terms of combat effectiveness, but they are also competent for auxiliary work. In addition, the Xuzhou army has 40,000 Zang Ba's troops in Qingzhou, Liyang has 40,000 Chen Zhi and Gao Shun's troops, and Xuchang has more than 20,000 garrisons, and finally with the nearly 100,000 main forces brought back to Xuchang by Deputy Director Tao, in fact, the army that Deputy Director Tao can use has reached an astonishing more than 230,000! Of course, more than two-thirds of these 230,000 troops are auxiliaries, and it is impossible for all of them to be put into the Jizhou battlefield.

"Chen Yuanlong is really Xiao He's talent, amazing!" After reading the grain and grass collection and army mobilization statistics of Shiyi, Deputy Director Tao suddenly blossomed with joy and said in a loud voice: "I can't imagine that after our army transferred millions of grain from Xuzhou to Xuchang in the first half of the year, Chen Yuanlong could still supply so much grain and grass in one go without using Huainan and Guangling grain and grass, and this skill is probably only comparable to Xiao He in the early Han Dynasty." ”

"Lord, I want to boast about myself here, and Yi is doing a good job in Yingchuan." Yi, who has always been serious, rarely showed a smile and said: "This year, Yingchuan Tuntian has collected more than 700,000 grains of wheat and millet, because it is necessary to ensure the needs of the imperial court, it is not counted in the grain supply of Yanzhou counties, but even if the needs of the imperial court are removed, plus the surplus of grain and grass from the lord's southern expedition, Yingchuan can also provide more than 400,000 grains and grass to the lord to help the lord unify the three states of Hebei." ”

Deputy Director Tao laughed, even boasting is Yi is also good, since the army recovered Xuchang only about a year ago, is Yi can restore the agriculture in the Yingchuan area to this point, is Yi is humble again, said: "The lord has won the award, the agriculture in Yingchuan can be quickly recovered, in fact, the biggest credit is Cao Cao and Xun Youruo, Cao Cao's Xuchang Tuntian a large number of open up wasteland." When the raw land is planted into cooked land, it is naturally easy to recover. Mr. Youruo, the lord also knows that if it weren't for the Xun family taking the lead in supporting our army's tuntian, we would have to fight a lawsuit with local tyrants for several years just for land ownership. ”

Deputy Director Tao smiled and didn't speak, while Jia Lao Poison next to him said: "Lord, since Xuchang can also supply some grain and grass, our army might as well consider the third battlefield." Outside the Yecheng Battlefield and the Qingzhou Battlefield. Then open up the battlefield in Hanoi, send a partial division to attack Hanoi, threaten Yuan Tan's largest supply of grain and grass and Shangdang County, making Yuan Tan's head and tail even more difficult to care. ”

"It's time to open up a third battlefield." Deputy Director Tao nodded. I thought about it for a moment. Decides: "So be it." Let Hou Cheng, Sun Guan and Yin Li lead an army of 30,000 and send troops from Guandu to attack Huai County and threaten Shangdang. If you have the opportunity to attack the party, you will attack it, and if you don't have the opportunity, you will harass and destroy it, so that Yuan Tan will not be comfortable and at ease in Jizhou. ”

"There is no need to bring the 40,000 troops of General Cao Bao and General Lu You to Jizhou." Jia Lao Poison also suggested: "Let them stay in Yanzhou and transport grain to the front line, the weather is getting colder, although the rivers in Yanzhou will not freeze, but some sections of the river must be prevented from being navigable due to winter drought, and leaving more troops in the rear of Yanzhou can ensure that in case, let them use Yanzhou to sit on grain and supply on the spot to reduce the burden on the rear." ”

Deputy Director Tao never believed in his first father-in-law Cao Bao's ability to fight, so he immediately accepted this suggestion, and then Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao Poison, Shi Yi and Liu Ye and others carefully discussed, and decided to send 150,000 troops to attack Hebei Sanzhou on the same day, of which 30,000 were partial divisions, attacking Hanoi to threaten the party, Deputy Director Tao led 80,000 troops from Xuchang to the north, to meet with Gao Shun, Chen Zhi's team, and 120,000 troops to attack the front of Jizhou. Xuchang still retained more than 40,000 garrisons as reserves, and at the same time gave some troops who were too tired during the southern expedition a chance to rest. On the Qingzhou side, the division sent about 20,000 troops to attack the flank counties of Jizhou.

The number of troops was finalized, and it was decided that the troops would be sent north in three days, and they would rush to the Jizhou battlefield to fight Yuan Tan for a decisive battle. As for the five counties of Xuzhou in the rear of the main rear, Chen Deng, Xu Tan and others remained unchanged for thousands of years.

After discussing these things, it was getting late, and Deputy Director Tao, who was tired from the journey, was already yawning, Liu Ye, Chen Qun and others all obediently submitted their farewells, but Yi still refused to let go of Deputy Director Tao, and said to Deputy Director Tao: "Lord, on how to capture the three northern states, how to specifically combat and command, Yi can't give advice to the Lord in the rear, but in terms of how to quickly capture the three northern states, Yi has a sentence that I want to provide to the Lord for reference." ”

"Mr. Ziyu, please speak, you should listen to you." Deputy Director Tao hurriedly sat up straight and replied with a strong spirit.

"Yi thinks that as long as the lord implements the strategy of indulging Yuan Shang and killing Yuan Tan quickly, then the three northern states will be at your fingertips!" Shi Yi was categorical, and said: "Please note that what Yi proposed is to kill Yuan Tan quickly, not to destroy Yuan Tan's entire army quickly, as long as the lord can try to get rid of Yuan Tan first, then no matter how many remaining parties Yuan Tan still has, how many residual strengths, it will be nothing to worry about, Yuan Shang is even more so, as long as Yuan Tan dies, he is a loach in the small river ditch, and he will never be able to turn up any wind and waves." ”

"Why does Mr. Ziyu think so?" Deputy Director Tao asked in surprise.

"Yes, if you only kill Yuan Tan alone, how can you quickly take Sanzhou?" Liu Ye was also surprised and asked: "After Yuan Tan's death, Yuan Shang, who is the third son of Yuan Shao, will inevitably take the opportunity to sit big, and Yuan Tanyu, who has not surrendered, and Jiang Qi and Youzhou Jiang Qi are also likely to fall to Yuan Shang, how can they quickly take Sanzhou?" Why did Mr. Ziyu propose to deliberately indulge Yuan Shang? ”

"Yuan Shang can't sit big, even if our army deliberately indulges him, he won't have a chance to sit big." Shi Yi replied: "Whether Yuan Shang showed Yuan Shao's will back then is true or false, we and Yuan Shang know in our hearts, Jiang Qi, Gao Gan and these Jingzhou generals are also clear in their hearts, and they must hate what Yuan Shang did, so even if our army indulges Yuan Shang to sit big, these Jizhou generals will never fall to Yuan Shang, at least they will not really fall to Yuan Shang." ”

"There are only two situations that are most unfavorable to our army in this northern expedition." Shi Yi added: "First, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang brothers join forces in harmony, although this may not be great, but it is not completely impossible, especially when our army attacks Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan brothers at the same time, they are likely to join forces to protect themselves, but if the lord deliberately indulges Yuan Shang, this situation will never appear!" ”

"The second is that Yuan Tan has repeatedly broken and never died, Yuan Tan is Yuan Shao's eldest son and Yuan Shao's designated successor, inheriting the three northern states is justifiable, and there are old ministers of the Yuan family who support and assist there, so that no matter how many times our army breaks Yuan Tan, it will not be able to quickly pacify the three northern states. But if our army manages to kill Yuan Tan first, the situation will be completely different, Yuan Tan's remnants will be leaderless, and they will only fall into the bitter situation of fighting for themselves, easy to break through and easy to surrender, and Yuan Shang led our army into Jizhou to kill Yuan Tan, Yuan's old ministers must hate Yuan Shang to the bone, and would rather surrender to our army than serve Yuan Shang as the master! So before that, no matter how big he Yuan Shang sat on, he was a rabbit's tail and couldn't grow! ”

Speaking of this, Yi paused for a moment, and added: "Yi steals that once Yuan Tan dies, with Yuan Shang's personality, he will inevitably have inflated ambitions to annex Sanzhou, and even take the initiative to declare war on our army, giving my army an excuse to annihilate it." ”

Deputy Director Tao nodded, the tiredness on his face disappeared completely, and after thinking carefully for a long time, Deputy Director Tao suddenly said to Jia Lao Poison and Liu Ye: "Mr. Wenhe, Mr. Ziyang, do you still remember the tactics we originally envisioned for Yuan Tan to quickly break through Yecheng?" Although this tactic is a bit taken for granted and difficult to achieve in Yecheng, it seems to be appropriate to trap Yuan Tan to death? ”

"It's just right." Jia Lao Poison nodded, and said: "If our army can tactically force Yuan Tan to hold on to Yecheng, then the strategy of killing Yuan Tan quickly proposed by Mr. Ziyu has great hope of being realized." ”

"How can you force Yuan Tan to stick to Yecheng?" Deputy Director Tao began to think about this plan again, but after thinking about it for a while, Deputy Director Tao still shook his head and said: "The battlefield is changing rapidly, and it is too unrealistic for us to consider forcing Yuan Tan to stick to Yecheng now, so keep this matter in mind first, and wait for our army to arrive at the Jizhou battlefield." ”

Three days later, on October 26, the seventh year of Jian'an, Deputy Director Tao, who had just returned to Xuchang, led the army to the north again, leading 80,000 main forces to take the front of Jizhou, and Xuzhou General Hou Cheng and others led 30,000 troops from Guandu directly to the north, and directly took Huai County in Hanoi through Xingyang, plus the Zangba team of the Xuzhou Army that had already sent troops from Qingzhou to Jizhou, the Xuzhou Army actually marched into Jizhou with three main armies, and jointly sounded the death knell of the Yuan family that had been dominant in Hebei for more than ten years. (To be continued......)