Yuan Shao was busy fighting Qingzhou and Yanzhou; Yuan Shu was busy attacking others, then busy being attacked by others, and then he was busy being the emperor; Dong Zhuo was busy opening a film in Hedong County, busy opening a film in Hongnong County, and then busy building a fortress on the west side of Hangu Pass, as if he was preparing to build a second Tongguan; Liu Bei and Cao Cao were also very busy, busy expanding their territory.

What about Gongsun Zhan?

In fact, Gongsun Chan is also very busy, Gongsun Chan is fighting cattle across the mountains, picking up Leping Country with his skillful hands, and by the way, he rounded Shangdang County, and after all, Gongsun Chan also has three counties on hand, with a population of three or four million, although he is still a little embarrassed compared to his neighbors Yuan Shao and Lu Bu, but it is no longer a day to hide in a corner and look up to people.

When Yuan Shao was busy expelling the Yellow Turban and annexing Jizhou, Gongsun Chan also took the opportunity to pick up the cheap, at least those important checkpoint bases in the Taihang Mountains were all taken away by Gongsun Chan, with this invisible urban belt formed in the mountains, the connection between Shangdang County and Leping Kingdom was even closer.

Gongsun Chan quickly digested the newly acquired land and population, and his opponent Zhang Liao was also suffering losses, Gongsun Chan and Yuan Shao made peace, so that Gongsun Chan had no worries, there was the Yellow River in the south, and whether it was Yuan Shu and Lu Bu, there was no kung fu to deal with Gongsun Chan now, so all the ambitions and desires of Gongsun Chan had to be borne by Zhang Liao.

To be honest, Zhang Liao's troops at hand may not be less than Gongsun Zhan, but the territory that Zhang Liao has to protect is much larger than Gongsun Zhan, and Zhang Liao also has to face the attacks of the Xianbei tribe and the company tribe north of Yanmen, as well as the Xianbei tribe in the northwest of the Xianbei River. As a result, Zhang Liao's situation is quite difficult.

Looking at the south again, almost all three sides of Taiyuan County are Gongsun Zhan's territory. Gongsun Zan is also good at cavalry warfare, Zhang Liao must use more defenders to protect this long front, in order to ensure that Taiyuan is not lost, Jinyang is not lost, and at the same time, it is also necessary to ensure that the road from Jinyang to Xinxing and then to Yanmen is unblocked.

On the other hand, Gongsun Chan has a comprehensive campaign initiative, and the battle line can attack from three sides from Xihe to Leping. You can even use Taihang Mountain to operate mobile troops to Xinxing County and Yanmen County to attack and harass, such a large choice. Gongsun Chan didn't know how to choose.

In this state of serious strategic imbalance, war is already an inevitable thing, and not only Zhang Liao is fully aware of this possibility, but even Pang Yuan, who is far away in Jibei, has a clear understanding of this.

"General. Now the main forces of our army are about to move westward. Thrown into the big battle with Yuan Shu, and Gongsun Zan should have completely eaten the territory of the previous period after this period of repair, due to the obvious strategic advantage, there is nothing to stop his ambitions, so we must reconstruct the strategy of the northern theater. ”

Lu Bu frowned and looked at the map, but Bingzhou was his hometown, but now it gradually fell into the hands of an outsider. What's even more hateful is that this outsider is still a bereaved dog driven out by Fang Zhiwen. But it is such a lost dog, but now it has made him anxious, Lu Bu is no longer willing to admit it, but he also knows in his heart that he is still far inferior to Fang Zhiwen.

Although Lu Bu doesn't want to admit Pang Yuan's problem now, he still needs to face it, the best way is to shrink, give up the periphery to strengthen the core, and then fight a defensive war and a war of attrition with Gongsun Zhan, and wait until the Central Plains is stable, which is the end of Gongsun Zhan!

"Strategic contraction, focus on the defense of Taiyuan, Yanmen, Yunzhong and Dingxiang four counties, these four counties are densely populated, the distance between the cities is short, the defense of the troops has become relatively simple, but the difficulty of the enemy's attack is rising sharply, and after abandoning the north of Yanmen, we can break away from contact with the Xianbei people in the north, liberate a large number of cavalry to go south and west, as for the Hexi Xianbei in the direction of Shuofang, the trouble caused to us now is very limited."

Pang Yuan narrowed his eyes and thought for a while: "What does the general mean to give up Yanmen to Gongsun Zhan?" ”

"Hehe, how is it possible, he doesn't dare to take Gongsun Zhan if he is a gut, this kind of place that concerns the interests of my Han nationality naturally cannot be easily given up, only when it is handed over to Fang Zhiwen can I rest assured."

"But if it is, if we start a war with Fang Zhiwen in the future, the location of Yanmen will become very important."

"I'm talking about Yanmen to the north of Yanmen Pass, and the old Yanmen County to the south is still under my control. And if there is really a war in the future, I think this battlefield will definitely be near the Yellow River, Fang Zhiwen will not put the war at home to fight, imagine it, if we defeat Yuan Shao to cross the river to the north, will Fang Zhiwen be indifferent? Seeing us annex Jizhou, I don't think it will be, he will definitely take Jizhou first, and then start a war with me near the left side of the Yellow River, if I have no heart to fight, then rule across the river with me, otherwise I will fight until I am unable to look north. ”

Pang Yuan smiled awkwardly: "The general's implication seems to be that he has always put himself on the weak side, can't our army take the lead in Jizhou?" ”

Lu Bu smiled bitterly, touched the hilt of the sword on his waist, and said slowly: "I don't want to think so, but Fang Zhiwen's strength is not the strength of the armed forces, but the strength of the whole

Pang Yuan glanced at Lu Bu, then looked down at the map, he didn't make a sound for a long time, the room was very quiet, and the chirps outside were even a little harsh.

"No matter what, no matter how strong Fang Zhiwen is, he will never joke about the interests of the Han people, the general is right, Yanmen can only be reassured when it is handed over to him, as for the future, let's talk about the future things in the future, and it may not be possible to rule across the river."

Pang Yuan's tone was slightly unwilling, how could he not see with his cleverness, Youzhou is really a behemoth, it is better not to touch him easily, Youzhou itself does not seem to actively participate in the Central Plains struggle, has been free from the political struggle in the Central Plains, and is more about strengthening economic and cultural exchanges with the Central Plains.

In an economic and cultural sense, Youzhou is obviously the Youzhou of the Han Dynasty, but militarily it has a clear attitude of listening to tunes and not listening to propaganda, and the political system is also quite independent and firm.

Speculating from the foreseeable future, the growth and growth of Youzhou has been difficult to reverse, not to mention, the population of Youzhou basically accounts for one-sixth of the entire population of the Han Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty is still fighting in various places, and the population growth rate is very low, on the contrary, the population growth rate of Youzhou is said to have been maintained above 6, every year, Youzhou will have nearly two million more people, which is only the birth population.

Thinking about this increasingly powerful Youzhou, Pang Yuan also has a sense of powerlessness and a sense of urgency, no matter how Youzhou is, first of all, the matter in the Central Plains must be solved first, otherwise how powerful Youzhou is, he may not even have a chance to give it a try.

Lu Bu shook his head, as if he was going to throw something out of his head:

"Okay, this is so decided, as for the specific timing, Wen Yuan can grasp it himself, and he can even use this to give Gongsun Chan an unexpected surprise."

"Hehe, yes."

"So, now let's talk about the matter of Jibei County, if the eastern and western theaters are reversed, the pressure on Jibei County is not small1

"That's for sure, but Yuan Shao is now also weak, from last year to now, Yuan Shao's conquest has hardly stopped, a large number of mobilization of troops and auxiliary armies, a large amount of payment for hiring inhuman troops, which will seriously affect Yuan Shao's production and inventory, therefore, reducing the intensity of the war is his first dazzle"

"However, the center of our army has moved westward, how can Yuan Shao not seize this opportunity?"

"Yes, so we must first set up a bureau to make Yuan Shao suffer, and then change the defense of true and false, so that Yuan Shao can't figure out the true movement of our army, and then our army will launch a fierce attack on Yuan Shu's army, which has been short of food and grass, with a thunderous momentum, and strive to quickly end the battle on the Western Front, so that Yuan Shao will lose the opportunity to fight on the Eastern Front1

"Oh, how can I make Yuan Shao suffer?" Lu Bu's eyes lit up

On 13 May, Lü Bu's cavalry suddenly appeared west of Zhongmu and raided a logistics transport team from Guancheng, and then pretended to be the defeated army of these logistics food teams in an attempt to sneak attack Guancheng.

Then Lu Bu fledged after showing off his might under the city, Zhu Jun was shocked, he was very worried that Lu Bu County took advantage of his lack of food and grass to counterattack, while busy strengthening the defense facilities, while stepping up the accumulation of grain and grass, and even robbing from the hands of the people, and at the same time hurriedly notified the defenders everywhere to carefully prevent Lu Bu's surprise attack.

Yuan Shao learned that Lu Bu had gone west, and after investigation, sure enough, the banners in the cities of Dong'e, Gucheng, and Gaoling were replaced by those of Wei Xu and Chen Gong, Yuan Shao thought that this was an opportunity, and launched a large-scale attack despite the dissuasion of Xu You and others.

Who knew that Lu Bu suddenly killed on the way, and once again ambushed Yan Liang's troops beautifully, this time Lu Bu's troops seemed to be more numerous, Yan Liang's 60,000 cavalry was almost all gone, and Yan Liang was only spared.

Zhang Jaw and Gao Gan hurriedly retracted, and Yuan Shao's offensive once again ended in a fiasco.

Soon after, Lü Bu's troops reappeared near Wuqiang north of Zhongmu, and successfully captured Wuqiang, Yuan Shao hesitated after learning the news, and finally did not instigate an offensive again, but concentrated the attack in the direction of Dong'e step by step, in an attempt to form a breakthrough.

It's just that this time, Lu Bu really went to the Western Front, and Yuan Shao undoubtedly missed a great opportunity.

Wu Qiang was attacked by Lü Bu overnight, allowing Lü Bu to drive a nail in the junction of Zhang Xun and Zhu Jun's troops, and then Lü Bu would use strong interspersed tactics in order to capture Xingyang in one fell swoop, completely tear apart the defense line of Yuan Shu's army, and open the door to march into Luoyang. To be continued...