Cao Cao led 30,000 troops, set out from Xudu, and rushed straight to Pengcheng.

Yuan Shao was also dispatching troops and preparing to march towards Xuzhou.

The first soldiers of the Yuan family to send troops were Commander Yuan Tan who set out from Qingzhou.

He had previously borrowed three thousand soldiers and horses to Liu Bei, but he didn't expect that Liu Bei was destroyed by Pang Tong without staying in Mount Tai for a few days.

Mount Tai belongs to the southernmost county in Qingzhou.

After passing Mount Tai, it is Xuzhou's territory.

Yuan Shao divided his troops into three groups, while Cao Cao divided his troops into two groups. A total of five large armies advanced towards Xuzhou. As long as any one of them broke through the defense line, they could face Pengcheng.

No matter which team arrives in Pengcheng, the battle to defend Xuzhou will most likely end in failure.

Although the other two teams from the Yuan family in Hebei have not set off yet, Lu Bu, who is in Xuzhou, has broken down their intentions.

General barracks in Pengcheng Military Camp.

Lu Bu asked someone to make a big sand table in the barracks.

The sand table is a whole reduced version of Xuzhou.

At the bottom of the sand table is Huainan, adjacent to Xuzhou.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Huainan County was under the jurisdiction of the Yangzhou Governor and was once the foundation for Yuan Shu's success.

Unfortunately, Yuan Shu was a brainless person and had few capable people under his command, so he dared to be the emperor.

If Yuan Shu had not become emperor, relying on his foundation in Huainan to recruit talents in the name of supporting the Han Dynasty, even if he would not be as strong as Yuan Shao, Hebei, at least he would not be able to easily defeat him.

Lu Bu, who came to this era and rewritten the direction of history, gradually strengthened his strength by defeating Yuan Shu.

Triangular flags were inserted on the sand table.

The flag is divided into three colors: white, black and green.

In later generations, the small flags on them would mostly be blue and red.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, red dye was very expensive, and only the nobles could wear red clothes. Most of the clothes worn by the people were dark clothes that were not dyed.

The three colors of white, black and green are chosen because the three colors of cloth heads are the easiest to find.

The brightest green represents the army under Lu Bu.

Black and white represent Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's army respectively.

The black and white small flags form a surround the green flag. Judging from the sand table, the situation is very unfavorable to the green small flag.

Those who sit in the barracks are all Lu Bu's staff.

When the staff arrived at the barracks, they were all shocked.

This is the first time they have seen a sand table.

When I first saw the sand table placed in the barracks, the staff all surrounded me and discussed the use of this sand table.

It was not until Lu Bu walked into the barracks and told them that this sand table was a shrinking model of various places where war was about to break out, that the staff suddenly realized that the small flag inserted on the sand table corresponded to the deployment of the military forces of both sides.

"Maybe you will find it strange, why do I want someone to create such a thing." The staff sat around the sand table in the barracks, and Lu Bu walked around the circle behind them: "Please come here, not just to view the sand table, nor just to use it to analyze the enemy situation. I plan to establish a system, a system of planning before using troops from today."

Sitting facing the sand, the staff didn't say anything.

Since they came here, they found that Lu Bu had not even invited a military general.

Everyone sitting here is a talented person who is good at strategizing, not a general who charges with courage.

There were many people sitting in the barracks, but no one spoke.

Even a wise and thoughtful man like Chen Gong and Pang Tong did not expect what Lu Bu would say next.

"In the past, we were all strategists and generals who provided advice, and the general led the troops to fight." After coming behind Chen Gong, Lu Bu held his shoulders with both hands, and his eyes circled everyone's faces: "But today, I want to change this way of combat, and I want you to experience a brand new combat deployment."

Everyone still didn't say anything, they were all waiting for Lu Bu to continue to speak.

"The strong enemy is right in front of you." Let go of the hand holding Chen Gong's shoulder, Lu Bu walked from beside him to the sand table, and said to the edge of the sand table: "Today I want to discuss countermeasures with you and discuss how to deal with the enemy's attacks in various places."

"Shi Yuan." His eyes fell on Pang Tong's face, and Lu Bu said, "You were already in Mount Tai, so you were invited back to tell everyone, how did you defeat Liu Bei in Mount Tai, and what was the situation there?"

Pang Tong originally went to Mount Tai with Chen Dao.

They destroyed Liu Bei on Mount Tai, and then they were preparing to fight Yuan Tan. Unexpectedly, Lu Bu sent someone there and invited him back.

Confused Pang Tong returned to Pengcheng. Before he could catch his breath, he was summoned to the military camp by Lu Bu.

When he came to the barracks and saw the sand table, his reaction was exactly the same as everyone else.

The novelty aroused his interest. After watching the sand table for a while, Pang Tong didn't understand the use of putting such a thing in the barracks at that time.

Lu Bu asked him to tell everyone about his experience of fighting on Mount Tai.

Pang Tong stood up: "Actually, I have nothing to say. When fighting with Liu Bei on Mount Tai, I only feel that Liu Bei is too weak, so weak that as long as he runs into him, once the two sides start a war, he will definitely be defeated and flee."

When Pang Tong said this, everyone whispered and nodded to say yes.

Many of them had encountered Liu Bei on the battlefield, and the one who left the deepest impression on them was the escape that Liu Bei was best at.

With everyone's approval, Pang Tong repeated the story of how he realized that Liu Bei had no intention of a decisive battle in Mount Tai, and then talked about how he disturbed Liu Bei's deployment and judgment, forcing him to make the wrong decision to go south to Xuzhou.

Everyone listened to Pang Tong's story silently. When he finished speaking, his eyes looked at Lu Bu standing in front of the sand table again.

Looking around everyone, Lu Bu asked, "How is it, have you heard it clearly?"

Several staff members responded, while more people didn't say anything.

"I can tell you more clearly." Lu Bu said: "The success or failure of killing enemies on the battlefield depends on wisdom and strategy. The wisdom and strategy of one or two people are limited after all. Even if you have the talent of Zhang Liang, you will have omissions based on one person's judgment of the situation on the battlefield."

"Does Chu Hou want us to gather everyone to discuss a resolution whenever a war is coming?" Chen Gong finally asked Lu Bu.

"It's still the public station that understands me." Lu Bu nodded with a smile and said to everyone: "I have said just now that from today on, I will establish a system. Whenever war is about to come, all strategists must act in accordance with the system agreement."

"Half Chu said so much, we don't know what system it is." The question was Chen Gong.

After following Lu Bu for many years, Chen Gong couldn't figure out what system he was going to propose.

Since everyone came to the barracks, Lu Bu kept keeping a secret. He kept saying that he wanted to establish a new system, but he never explained what the new system looked like.

"I want to subvert the former combat methods." Lu Bu said: "In the past, we were all military generals and counselors, mainly military generals and auxiliary counselors on the battlefield. Although we can make corresponding tactical changes to the enemy's deployment, we have always been passive in strategy. Marines and wars are not just about having a tactical advantage, but we must make corresponding adjustments from the entire strategic layout so that we can achieve victory in every battle."

After glanced around everyone's faces, Lu Bu continued: "The system I want to establish is called the General Staff Headquarters system. That is, whenever there is a big battle, the people who can be summoned must be summoned here, discuss how to arrange troops, how to make corresponding adjustments to the deployment of the enemy, and how to support each other in specific battles."

The General Staff Headquarters system first appeared in the early Northern Song Dynasty.

It was proposed by Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty Zhao Guangyi, and the Song army adopted this system in combat.

Because its role in specific combat cannot be underestimated and often determines the direction and success or failure of the war, it has been used by later generations.

However, Emperor Taizong of Song himself was an excellent strategist, but he was a very bad tactical executor.

The wars commanded by him were often made excellent strategic deployments in advance, but irreversible mistakes occurred in the final application of specific tactics, so that the Song army was defeated repeatedly.

Lu Bu planned to establish a general staff system, but of course he did not want any mistakes like Emperor Taizong of Song.

He had already made plans. After the establishment of the General Staff Headquarters system, he still followed the previous specific combat methods, and each army on expedition was followed by strategists to ensure the correct use of tactics.

Everyone sitting there were strategists. After Lu Bu explained, they probably understood Lu Bu’s intentions.

Everyone sat upright, Lu Bu stood beside the sand table, and then said to them: "I decided to cancel the title of military advisor from today and be replaced by the Chief of Staff. Whenever the Chief of Staff decides to make specific arrangements, the Chief of Staff will be the specific executor."

Always go on a war, the main generals are the final decision-makers, but Lu Bu subverted this.

He handed over the responsibility of specifically deploying the combat strategy to the military advisor who was renamed the Chief of Staff, and instead transformed the chief general into the specific executor of the strategy.

Everyone still can’t explain what role this change can play in specific combat, but they all know that it has made a subversive change in the past combat methods.

No one fully understood Lu Bu’s intentions, and of course no one would speak up easily.

"You should understand what kind of considerations I did this." Lu Bu continued: "I want to improve your position in the army and hand over the combat deployment to you, and the generals only have the right to modify the strategy in specific implementation. You say that you are advancing, no matter how dangerous the situation you are facing, the soldiers must move forward bravely, and you say that you retreat, no matter what advantage you have gained, the army must retreat. In other words, from now on, the Chief of Staff will be the final decision-maker of the strategy in the army, not the decision of the Lord in the future."

"Master Chu." Chen Gong spoke again: "It seems that it is not in accordance with the rules..."

"Rules are set by people and broken by people." Lu Bu said: "The rules will of course be different in different periods. The rules we set must be in line with the interests of the current stage. Once the rules set by others do not meet the interests of the current ones, they must be broken."

Of course, the strategists would not object to the general staff system proposed by Lu Bu.

After all, under this system, they are the ones who get the best interests.

They were once only a supporter in the army, and in the future, they will gradually become the main decision makers.

No one would object to the improvement of their own power, but some of the strategists present had not come back to their senses from the sudden change.

Lu Bu's decision has simply subverted the combat methods from ancient times to the present.

*********************************************

The so-called General Staff Headquarters is not the main thing to improve the position of strategists in the military.

More importantly, every time a war occurs, strategists will gather together to hold meetings to study how to deal with the enemy.

Everyone did not raise any objections, and Lu Bu said to them: "I decided that from today on all military personnel, the general staff system must be implemented. In case of combat, the combat meeting will be held first, and the chief of staff will preside over it."

Everyone's eyes fell on Lu Bu's face, waiting for him to continue the topic.

Lu Bu continued: "Every army must be equipped with sand tables to make specific combat deployment demonstrations. The name of the meeting is called the sand table meeting."
To be continued...