Time flows.

In the first year of Jian'an, in the spring of 195 AD, three years passed before the Second Puyang War.

On March 18, Zhuang Shaoyou, who had just finished spring ploughing, issued a military order, dispatched troops, and took the initiative to attack the princes of the world for the first time.

The war with the goal of pacifying Xuzhou and Yuzhou and eliminating Tao Qian and Yuan Shu began.

Mo Yu commanded the sailors to go south, preparing to cut off the connection between Xuzhou and Jiangdong.

At this time, the Sailor Corps under Mo Yu had expanded to nearly 50,000 people! It has five brigades, including two inland river brigades, two naval combat brigades, and one marine combat brigade.

The inland river brigade has a full establishment of 8,800 people, with five-masted warships and four-masted warships, and its main task is to supervise the waterways of the Yellow River. The naval battle brigade had an establishment of 11,600 men, with six-masted warships and five-masted warships cooperating, and its main task was coastal operations and pacifying the south of the Yangtze River, and the hypothetical enemy was the sailors of Sun Ce in Jiangdong and Liu Biao in Jingzhou. The Marine Brigade has an establishment of 8,000 people, and all of them are amphibious elites.

On March 20, the Tai Shi Ci Cavalry Corps and the First Infantry Corps of Lejin entered the territory of Liang State in Yuzhou, and Li Tong, the defender of Suiyang of Liang Guozhi, gave up resistance after receiving Cao Cao's military order, abandoned the city and retreated westward, passing through Chen County, and retreating to Yingchuan. At the same time, the Cao army stationed in Peiguo, Qiaojun, and Chenjun all received Cao Cao's military orders and retreated to Chenliu and Yingchuan.

The cavalry corps and the first infantry corps did not stop, and the first infantry corps went straight to Peiguo, and the soldiers pointed directly at Pengcheng, an important town in the northwest of Xuzhou! Tai Shici led a cavalry corps of 30,000 horses to continue south to Qiaojun, take Fuli, and threaten Xuzhou from the west.

On the northern front, Wen Pin commanded the Second Infantry Corps, which attacked Langya and Donghai in northern Xu from Qingzhou and Taishan in two ways.

In this war, Zhuang Shaoyou mobilized a total of four corps, including the naval division, with a total strength of 170,000, and the goal of the first stage was Xuzhou!

After three years of accumulation, Zhuang Shaoyou restructured his soldiers and horses again to meet the needs of future battles.

After the reorganization, Le Jin served as the commander of the First Infantry Corps, with the rank of lieutenant general, including the original First Legion Huang Zhong's department, the former Third Army Sun Guan's department, and 10,000 newly recruited soldiers, a total of 50,000 people! Huang Zhong and Sun Guan served as deputy commanders of the corps, with the rank of major general; The chief of staff is Xun You. It has four infantry divisions and units directly under the corps, such as tactical strike forces, guards cavalry battalions, and baggage battalions.

The Second Infantry Corps, the corps commander Wenpin, the rank of lieutenant general, including the former Second Infantry Corps Wenpin, the former Fourth Infantry Corps Guanhai Department, and an additional 10,000 recruits. Guan Hai and Zhou Cang served as deputy commanders, and Zhuge Jin joined Rong and served as chief of staff.

The post of Minister of Military Affairs was taken over by Hua Xin, and the post of Taishan County Taishou was taken by Sima Lang.

Lejin has old qualifications, rigorous style, and outstanding achievements in that year, so it is not a problem to be in charge of the First Army. However, the prestige of the Second Army Corps was insufficient, so Zhuang Shaoyou appointed Zhuge Jin, the old partner of the Second Army, as the chief of staff, so that the two joined forces to lead the Second Army. Guan Hai and Zhou Cang are both brave generals, and they are not the material to command thousands of troops.

The Third Infantry Corps, the corps commander Bao Xin, under the command of the old Fifth Army Corps, recruited 20,000 new soldiers, a total of 40,000 people, 10,000 fewer than the number of other corps, and the combat effectiveness was also weak as a whole, but the victory was unity. Because the deputy corps commander is Yu Ban and the chief of staff is Chen Gong, they are all Bao Xin's old subordinates.

Tai Shici's cavalry corps was expanded to 10,000 cavalry, with a total strength of 30,000, and everything else remained the same.

Today, Zhuang Shaoyou has a total of three infantry corps, one cavalry corps, and one sailor corps, with a total strength of 220,000! In addition, there are about 20,000 local garrisons, which are unprecedentedly powerful, with a total population of nearly 8 million!

Hearing that Zhuang Shaoyou's army was pressing, Xuzhou Mu Taoqian fainted on the spot, and after being rescued by the doctor, he was already terminally ill and couldn't move while lying on the couch.

The hearts of the people in Picheng under the Xuzhou Governance Office fluctuated, and the three pillars of Xuzhou, Chen Qi, Mi Zhu, and Zang Ba jointly suppressed the situation, and finally stabilized the situation, but the three of them had different opinions on whether to send troops.

Chen Jue is the main peace, Zang is the main battle, Mi Zhu is hesitant!

On March 22, the Wenpin Army took Ju County, surrounded Langya, and the defenders in the city were 20,000 people.

On the same day, the Lejin Army besieged the northwest town of Pengcheng, and the 20,000 defenders of Pengcheng held on to the city, but they could hold out for a while.

On March 23, Taishi Ci Iron Cavalry appeared south of Xiapi, connecting Xiapi City with Guangling, an important town in the south of Xuzhou, and Xuzhou was in danger!

On March 25, Xuzhou Mu Taoqian died of illness, and his last words: surrender!

The general Zang Ba returned to the field, and Chen Jue and Mi Zhu reached an agreement and decided to follow Tao Qian's will and surrender to Zhuang Shaoyou.

On March 26, Zhuang Shaoyou was outside Pengcheng and met with Chen Deng, the envoy of Xuzhou, with Le Jin and others.

Chen Deng won Zhuang Shaoyou's appreciation with his outstanding wisdom and flexible adaptability, won a lot of benefits for Xuzhou's Haoqiang, and directly touched Zhuang Shaoyou's bottom line.

Chen Deng, on behalf of Xuzhou Haoqiang, officially attached himself to Zhuang Shaoyou, announced that he would abide by the laws formulated by Zhuang Shaoyou, support the imperial examination system, disband Xuzhou Haoqiang's soldiers and horses, and only retain an appropriate amount of family guards. Zhuang Shaoyou promised to protect the safety of the lives and property of the Xuzhou Hao, reorganize all the soldiers and horses in Xuzhou, give Xuzhou Haoqiang the same business qualifications, and open up the open sea trade. But Zhuang Shaoyou will buy most of the land in Xuzhou's Haoqiang at a price of 30% above the market price, ensuring that the arable land in Xuzhou is in the hands of the central government.

On March 28, Zhuang Shaoyou led his army into Xiapicheng, the capital of Xuzhou, and the three corps went to various parts of Xuzhou to take over the defense of Xuzhou and reorganize the soldiers and horses of Xuzhou.

Subsequently, Zhuang Shaoyou ordered Xuzhou to be divided into two counties, northern Jiangsu and southern Jiangsu. Northern Jiangsu County was served by Pengcheng celebrity Zhang Hong as the county guard, and Chen Deng served as the county guard of southern Jiangsu, and his father Chen Qi served as the deputy general staff of the General Staff Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs. The wealthy Mi Zhu served as the deputy director of the Department of Commerce and Trade of the Administration Department, and his grade changed from four grades to Zhou Tian's deputy.

After dealing with the affairs of Xuzhou, Zhuang Shaoyou personally went to visit the general Zang Ba who had returned to the reclusion, knew it with reason, moved it with affection, and gave Zang Ba enough face, so that he could go out of the mountain again and join the second legion, serving as the deputy commander of the corps, with the rank of major general, and he was also a positive fourth product.

At this point, Xuzhou was completely included in Zhuang Shaoyou's command.

Tao Qian died of illness, Xuzhou surrendered without a fight, and the world was shaken!

The forces that were close to Zhuang Shaoyou could no longer sit still.

Huainan Yuan Shu has 100,000 troops, and once again calls on the heroes of the world to crusade against Zhuang Shaoyou! Cao Cao immediately responded with cavalry, and his elite was exhausted, 60,000 soldiers and horses were transferred to Chenliu and Yingchuan, while Liu Biao of Jingzhou joined the coalition army, but only sent 20,000 crossbowmen to participate in the battle, and his attitude was very ambiguous.

Yizhou Mu Liu Yan did not make any response, and Dong Zhuo fought with Ma Teng for hegemony in the northwest in Xiliang.

On the Hebei side, Yuan Shao did not say a word about the attack on Zhuang Zhuwen, but immediately raised troops and united with Shangdang Lu Bu and Jinyang Zhang Yan to attack Liu Bei, who was entrenched in the Changshan area! Gongsun Zan of Beiping sent troops and horses to support Liu Bei, but he also failed to participate in the coalition army.

Jiangdong Sun Ce refused Yuan Shu's order to transfer troops and began to intensify the attack on Jiangdong. The five counties of Danyang, Wu, Yuzhou, Poyang, and Shixin in Yangzhou have fallen into Sun Ce's pocket. Now only Huiji County is still in the hands of Wang Lang, and Huiji Haoqiang fully supports Wang Lang to hold on to the danger, which can withstand Sun Ce's offensive.

The third alliance of Zhuang only had the participation of the princes of the three routes, with a total strength of 180,000, and there were not as many people and horses as Zhuang Shaoyou, and the coalition army could only be stationed in the heavy land to hold on, and did not dare to take the initiative to attack.

At the beginning of May, Wen Ping's Second Army Corps went west, passed through northern Jiangsu and Peiguo, entered Liang State, and was stationed in Suiyang City, threatening Chen Liu at all times. Tai Shi Ci led the cavalry corps to the west into Runan County, aiming directly at the ancestral home of the Yuan family, this time it was not to travel and destroy, but to occupy!

Lejin led the First Army through Qiaojun, all the way south, to the north of Huaishui.

At this time, while Chen was staying in the city, Cao Cao summoned his generals to discuss the battle situation.

Over the years, Cao Cao has worked hard to catch up with Zhuang Shaoyou as the goal, and has also achieved good results, so it must not be said that Cao Cao does not work hard. Now Cao Cao has a lot of talents, many civil ministers and military generals, elite soldiers, and he is also one of the few great princes in the Central Plains.

There are Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, Liu Ye, Mao Jue, Man Chong, etc., and there are Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, Li Tong, etc., with 50,000 elite infantry, 5,000 elite tigers and leopards, and 30,000 ordinary soldiers, with a total strength of more than 80,000. The vicinity of Luoyang, which occupies Sili, Nanyang, an important town in Jingbei, Chenliu in Yanzhou, and Yingchuan in Yuzhou, are all good places for wealth and talent.

It's a pity that Zhuang Shaoyou now has an army of more than 200,000, and after the reorganization of Xuzhou, his strength has skyrocketed again, and he has eight counties in Qingyanxu and Xuzhou, which are all super counties after the merger, with a total population of more than 12 million.

Compared with Zhuang Shaoyou, Cao Cao is inferior to the total strength, the quality of individual soldiers is slightly inferior, the gap in armament level is very large, the leading generals, the charging generals are barely equal, the comparison of strategists is barely equal, the accumulation of money and grain is very different, and the sailors...

No matter which one it is, he can't surpass Zhuang Shaoyou, and even in terms of personal ability, Cao Cao feels that he can't get Zhuang Shaoyou, and he has already made a conclusion when he was in Luoyang.

Listening to the gossip inside the tent, some wanted to fight to the death, some wanted to hold out, some wanted surprise attacks, some wanted to join forces, and some suggested surrendering, but no one could say to Cao Cao's heart.

The discussion for most of the day was fruitless, and Cao Cao was distraught and ordered his subordinates to disperse.

"Lord!"

Cao Cao sat on the ground and closed his eyes to recuperate, and when he heard a call from inside the tent, he was a little annoyed, but when he looked up, he found that the person who spoke was the military advisor Guo Jia.

Cao Cao remembered that Guo Jia did not express his opinion when he was discussing the matter in the account. Thinking of this, Cao Cao's eyes couldn't help but light up, and he looked at Guo Jia with hope, hoping that this young man could bring him a miracle, just like in the past few years, repeatedly let Cao Cao go against the trend in a desperate situation, defeat one opponent after another, and grow steadily in strength.

"Zhuang Shaoyou is very big, my heart is very worried, my heart is very worried! Just now the account is discussed, and those people have lost hope! Feng Xiao can be a good strategy to solve the current crisis? ”

Cao Cao hurriedly got up as he spoke, brought Guo Jia a pot of tea in person, and then looked at him with an earnest face.

Guo Jia's face turned red when Cao Cao saw it, and he barely cheered up and said, "Lord! I have three strategies for your reference! ”