The news of Fang Zhiwen's withdrawal from Xuzhou and Lujiang was directly notified to Yuan Shao by Fang Zhiwen, although Yuan Shao scolded Fang Zhiwen for being unjust, but he also knew that it was time to hurry up and stop, and if he continued to entangle, there was really going to be a big battle with Cao Cao, and Yuan Shao immediately gave Yan Liang and Gao Gan an order to withdraw the army immediately.

It's just that this retreat is a retreat that can be retreated if you want to?

Yuan Shao should actually thank Xu Huang, if it wasn't for Xu Huang who annihilated Xiahoudun's cavalry, now Xiahoudun's cavalry must have appeared near Pei County, firmly trapping Yan Liang and Gao Gan.

Now that Xiahoudun has no cavalry available, Xu Chu will not dare to ignore the infantry he is retreating from Linyi for a while, Fang Zhiwen's people have never been good people, if he is too careless, maybe he will be destroyed by Murong Fang's own infantry.

In order to set a trap to lure Gao Gan, the troops deployed in Peiguo were too few, and only Liang Xing's cavalry could arrive in time, although Le Jin had thousands of heavy infantry in his hands, it was used to defend Pei County, and Fu Zhu was a bare-bones commander, but under Yan Liang's quick rescue, Gao Gan forcibly retreated desperately, and Liang Xing only took some advantage, and finally let Gao Gan and Yan Liang converge, and then ran all the way back to Zou County without looking back.

Although Cao Cao did not seize Gao Gan and Yan Liang because of the lack of mobile forces near Peiguo, he did not seize Gao Gan and Yan Liang to form a favorable opportunity for war, but the matter has already been troubled, and the probability of Cao Cao taking the initiative next is quite large.

Yuan Shao's side stepped up preparations for war, and at the same time denounced Gao for doing bad things. demoted the senior cadres by a few levels, but they still stayed in the army to make meritorious contributions.

In fact, Cao Cao couldn't be happy here, and he had said that he had a shot in Xuzhou. Then he came back to the horse pistol and stabbed Yuan Shao off the horse in one fell swoop, but no one thought that Xiahou Yuan was defeated again and again, and Xiahou Yuan was even more annihilated, which made Cao Cao's careful arrangement a mess.

The loss of tens of thousands of cavalry is heart-wrenching enough, and the snatching of hundreds of thousands of civilians is even more infuriating. What's even more hateful is that the originally beautiful horse gun made a nondescript one, and it would have tempted Gao Gan to Pei County, if it could have been sticked, it was possible to stick Yan Liang to it, and then form a battle to annihilate these two new forces, then there would be a big hole in Yuan Shao's eastern defense line. Cao Cao was able to advance along this big opening. Divide Yanzhou into two parts.

What a beautiful strategic idea this is, who knows that because of Xiahoudun's failure, it will be completely out of shape, Gao Gan ran back, Yan Liang also withdrew, the beginning of the war was not fought well, and the whole rhythm was completely chaotic.

In the Prime Minister's Mansion in the city of Qiaoxian, Cao Cao is convening a meeting of his staff. Discuss the unsatisfactory situation at hand.

Cao Cao looked up at the map slightly, and Xi Zhicai, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Yan Xiang and others also stared at the huge map and thought silently.

"Hey! ~It's a pity1 Cao Cao shook his head and sighed. It was difficult to hide the disappointment in his heart, as well as some complaints about Xiahoudun, and those who heard it were silent, Xiahoudun's status was different, so it was better not to get involved.

"Lord, it's useless to talk more now, now that our rhythm has suddenly stopped, if we still follow the original pace, it is obviously a little out of place, and my subordinates think that we should readjust our strategy."

"Realigning strategy?" Cao Cao pondered for a while, then raised his head and said, "Gongda is talking about adjusting the strategy, does this mean that the entire war will be reformulated?" ”

Xun You nodded: "Yes, the situation is different, it is necessary to redefine the strategy according to the current situation, the original strategy is undoubtedly very exciting, but the times are changing, why should the lord hold on to it1."

"Hehe, it's just a pity, it's just a pity, Gongda is reasonable, you might as well let go of the restrictions, don't be limited by the original strategy, and imagine how to defeat Yuan Shaoquan to take Yanzhou in the shortest time at the lowest cost, and the Qingzhou part, and drive it back to Hebei completely."

Everyone nodded, this time it is much better, at least there is no restriction of the original strategy, and there are more methods and strategies that can be used.

"Lord, the so-called battle is undoubtedly a murderous trick, and the ultimate goal is to destroy the opponent's army, therefore, the subordinates think that they don't need to be limited to one city and one place, but try their best to fight with Yuan Shao, relying on the strong combat power of our army, to eliminate Yuan Shao's living force, as long as Yuan Shao's army is gone, the territory will naturally be ours1

Cheng Yu doesn't know much about war, but he has a high enough strategic vision, and this sentence is undoubtedly to the point.

"What Zhong De said is very true, my lord, according to Zhong De's line of thought, as long as we attack it and save it, we can form a battle, and the key is that this place must meet several conditions to do so1

Xun You picked up Cheng Yu's topic with a smile, the corners of Cao Cao's mouth curled, and he asked with great interest: "Oh, then what are the conditions required by Gongda?" ”

Xun You stretched out his hand, pulled a finger and said, "First of all, this place is important enough, as long as we attack here, or try to attack here, we can make Yuan Shao sleepless and have to save 1."

Everyone nodded, this is what it should mean, if there is no such condition, how can it play a role in mobilizing Yuan Shao.

Xun You pulled down the second condition: "This place can't be a strong city, if it is a strong city, firstly, Yuan Shao may not be so nervous to send reinforcements, and secondly, it will be protracted when attacking, which is not good for our army." ”

"Anything else?"

"One more point, this place must have suitable terrain, preferably not very conducive to cavalry maneuvering, so that our troops can strike long and short.1

Cao Cao nodded noncommittally, and everyone turned their eyes to the map together, trying to find such a favorable place from the map, but unfortunately, such a key strategic node is generally a large city, which does not meet the point that it is not a strong city, and now Yuan Shao is still restoratively developing Yanzhou, so the main front is concentrated on three longitudinal fronts from east to west, relatively speaking, this is conducive to defense.

This time everyone shook their heads in disappointment, Xun You also sighed slightly, Yuan Shao put out three long snake formations, if you want to hit seven inches, then your outstretched hand may also be bitten by the other party, and from any place, you will be attacked by the enemy from both directions, this situation is actually not big, the easiest way is to also divide into three ways to attack, one by one the city to fight over, with a dignified combat power to overwhelm the other party, but this price and time, but this price and time, can be big.

Cao Cao frowned, looked at Xi Zhicai, who had not made a sound, and said, "Zhicai, do you have any ideas?" ”

"There are some, but they are not very mature, since the lord asks, then the subordinates say it, and the lord will see if there is anything wrong1

"Hehe, Zhicai just come."

Xi Zhicai cleared his throat and said: "My lord, the words of Shicai Zhongde and Gongda are very right, looking for a position that the enemy must save, forming a battlefield that is beneficial to me, and then destroying a large number of the enemy's living forces, this is very right." But this kind of thinking is a bit of a matter of course, how can there be such a good thing in this world, unless we are facing a stupid person, or we have overwhelming strength. ”

Cao Cao nodded, Xun You was a little embarrassed, Xi Zhicai took it for granted, probably referring to himself.

"Yuan Shao can get to this point, it is definitely not easy to get to the same time, this kind of idea of picking up cheap is probably difficult to realize, in fact, it is difficult for us to find his loopholes now."

"So Zhicai said that he can only fight?" Xun You asked a little unwillingly.

Xi Zhicai shook his head: "No, the battle is time-consuming, and the consumption is huge, so it's not a dazzle."

"Oh? What is the labor-saving way for that Zhicai to defeat Yuan Shao? ”

"As Gongda Shicai said, we are looking for such a labor-saving solution, so is Yuan Shao also racking his brains to find this way? If we can't find a loophole in Yuan Shao's defense, then can we take the initiative to give Yuan Shao a loophole, presumably he doesn't want the war to be protracted1

Xi Zhicai's words made everyone's eyes light up, this is to lure the snake out of the hole!

"Do you have a specific idea?"

This subordinate felt that the last two items of Gongda could be reversed with 1

"The other way around? It's to find a fortified city, and a place suitable for cavalry to fight, this"

Halfway through speaking, Cao Cao stroked his beard and pondered, but Xun You's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly: "Look for a fortified city, but don't storm it, as long as it is besieged, yes, use trench tactics to besiege it; The terrain that is conducive to cavalry can also be artificially turned into a place that is not conducive to cavalry combat, and as long as the enemy army comes out, then there is an opportunity to destroy the enemy's living forces. ”

"That's right, lead the snake out of the hole, then the most dangerous thing in this place is the Dingtao in the middle of the road, the largest number of troops, is the western line of Chenliu, from the topography, the water system around Chenliu is developed, Dingtao is relatively flat and open, the city is tall enough, and it is a strategic point connecting the east and west, and the subordinates feel that it is good to choose Dingtao."

Cao Cao showed a smile at the corner of his eyes, but he was not in a hurry to make a statement, but let everyone discuss the idea of being opened, as long as the idea was right, the rest was just a trade-off of pros and cons, Cao Cao glanced at Xi Zhicai with satisfaction, but found that Xi Zhicai looked serious and didn't know what he was thinking, and didn't seem to be interested in the discussion in front of him.

What Xi Zhicai thought about was actually a more distant problem, if there was no interference, defeating Yuan Shao was actually a very likely event, the question was, what would happen after Yanzhou arrived?

Did Yuan Shao lose his vitality when he returned to Hebei? Will Liu Bei join forces with Yuan Shao again? Will Sima Fang watch Cao Cao take the Central Plains? Will Fang Zhiwen let Cao Cao grow big in the Central Plains

These problems are intertwined, if they are linked at the same time, then Cao Cao will face a rather complex situation next, is Cao Cao ready to deal with this complex situation? To be continued