After Zhang Fei taught Lu Bu and Yuan Tan a lesson, he learned that nearly 100,000 Daqian troops were riding in Lihu. He was worried that he would be surrounded in Juyang, so he could only take the remnants of Lu Bu's army back to Dingtao. And the news of Lu Bu's defeat came Reported in advance to Dingtao Allied Forces Headquarters.
After the coalition headquarters heard the news, they just cursed a few times and asked Zhang Fei to lead the army back after learning that half of the cavalry was still there. There was no way there was too much bad news during this period. Lu Bu and the others were already defeated like this. It's nothing.
The Daqian army swept across the entire Yanzhou, and two or three cities fell almost every day. Thousands or even tens of thousands of soldiers were defeated and captured. In just over half a month, the company army had lost nearly 100,000 troops. Lu Bu this time Defeat was nothing among these defeats, and Lu Bu's defeat also confirmed that Dongjun had been captured by Da Qian's army. Otherwise, Huanglong, who besieged Puyang, would not have come to Lihu to surround Lu Bu's army.
In addition, they already knew that Wang Yong had led an army of 50,000 to attack Wuyan City in Dongping State. Apparently, the Xiahou Dun tribe stationed in Dong'a had also been completely wiped out by Wang Yong. Through these two pieces of information, the coalition forces knew that the Daqian Army had completely captured the entire Dong'a. The 50,000-strong army stationed in Dongjun has been completely wiped out. Now everyone is busy thinking about how to turn the tide of the war.
In the coalition tent, Guo Jia expressed his opinion on the situation at hand: "Judging from the current battle situation, we have blocked the large army at Tai'an on the eastern front. Relying on the geographical advantages of Mount Tai and the superiority of troops, it is difficult for Li Gang to Although Yang Feng on the western front who broke through the Taishan line occupied Chenliu County, he was blocked from Zhongmou City. Yang Feng did not have enough troops and it was difficult to continue to penetrate into Yin, Henan."
"But the middle line is currently the most dangerous. Please take a look!" Guo Jia pointed at the map and said: "After the Daqian Army conquers Lihu, it will be less than 300 miles away from Dingtao, where we are located. At most, it will be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Juyang and Chengyang on the north bank of the Pushui River will be captured by the Daqian Army. In this way, the Daqian Army's battle line is still 120 miles away from Dingtao, and the Daqian Army only needs to capture Juyang and Chengyang. After crossing the Pushui River and marching for at most three days, the army will arrive at Dingtao City, which means that we will soon face the main force of the Dagan Army.
"The eastern and western fronts of this war were relatively advantageous to us. Only on the central line we lost nearly 100,000 troops. It can be said that the center line fought the hardest and suffered the most serious losses in the entire battle. But the 100,000 troops helped us win the battle. It’s time to build up our troops. Let’s gather heavy troops on the front line of Dingtao and Changyi, and organize a solid line of defense on the central battlefield.”
"The Daqian army traveled a long way from Hebei and attacked hundreds of miles in just half a month. However, the morale of their army was still at its strongest. We almost failed to win a single battle in the field. Even in the battle of defending the city, in the Even the strong forts cannot withstand the artillery of Daqian Army. Now we are exchanging space for time, stretching the general’s logistics line, and marching for a long time to fatigue the soldiers of Daqian Army. While our army is in Dingtao, The Yanzhou army on the front line of Changyi waited for work and relied on the strong city to continue to block Lei Gong."
"But we are not without danger, because too many soldiers were annihilated and captured in the early stage, even more than we can bear. Now the troops concentrated on the front line of Dingtaochangyi do not even exceed 200,000, and the strength is almost the same as that of Lei Gong's attack! Look The one we defend should have the advantage when we go up, but this experience does not apply to Lei Gong."
"Although both Dingtao and Changyi have high walls and deep pools and have been reinforced with masonry and cement, judging from previous combat experience, it is difficult for our fortresses to defend against the attack of Lei Gong's artillery! Judging from the news we have received earlier, Lei Gong's attack
They brought more than 2,000 artillery pieces this time, and no one can guarantee that Dingtao and Changyi can withstand so many artillery attacks!"
At this time Liu Bei said: "Our army's artillery is about to reach Dingtao, and we will have the power to counterattack by then. Judging from the intelligence we have obtained, the gunpowder in Lei Gong's hands is not unlimited, and Duan Peng, who fought against Lu Bu, does not have unlimited gunpowder."
How much gunpowder, if not for the sudden appearance of Huang Long, Duan Peng's 50,000 cavalry were almost defeated by Lu Bu. It can be seen that the amount of gunpowder in Lei Gong's hands is also limited. Judging from the difficulty of making artillery and the frequency of Lei Gong's release of artillery, the amount of Lei Gong's gunpowder should be
It will not be more than ten times ours! Although the artillery in our hands is limited, but with the help of the city defense, we may not be unable to fight against Lei Gong!"
Speaking of gunpowder, Liu Bei also looked helpless. The formula is now known to all the princes and forces in the Han Dynasty. At most, there is only a difference in power. But now the bottleneck of developing gunpowder is limited by raw materials. Charcoal is easy to get, but sulfur and saltpeter are difficult.
It was so difficult to get, even great princes like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were stumped by these raw materials.
Things like sulfur can only be produced in large quantities in places with active volcanoes. If Liu Bei had not occupied Yizhou, it would be difficult to find sulfur mines. Xu Wei was lucky in this regard. He found a sulfur mine in Bingzhou, plus Xi
There was a lot of saltpeter, which satisfied his need for gunpowder! Of course, at this stage of craftsmanship, it was impossible to satisfy Xu Wei's dream of firepower coverage.
The princes like Liu Bei were even worse. In order to keep it secret, they didn't even have many craftsmen who made gunpowder. In addition, the raw materials were not as many as Xu Wei's. They didn't pay as much attention to gunpowder as Xu Wei, so the quantity was naturally not as good as Xu Wei's.
Liu Bei had said this, and Guo Jia couldn't refute him. He could only say: "If it is true as the general said, our front line can be stable at Dingtao and Changyi. But this is not the purpose of this war.
It ends. It can even be said that this war really begins when it reaches the front line of Dingtao and Changyi."
"Because at this point, Lei Gong must disperse his troops to occupy Yanzhou, and the number of troops that can go to the front line must be reduced. Moreover, Da Gan's army assaults thousands of miles a month. Both the energy and morale of the soldiers are exhausted to the extreme. Lei Gong must let Da Gan
The soldiers of the army have been repairing for a period of time. There must be a stalemate on the battlefield, and this is the time to fight for consumption. Let's see who has more food and grass, more fully prepared weapons and equipment, and more artillery in hand, and food is the most important among them!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After listening to Guo Jia's words, everyone was silent, because Liu Bei and the others knew that it would be difficult for them to defeat Lei Gong if they were to consume them. Da Qian's army was already hoarded in Jizhou
Tens of millions of kilograms of grain, enough to feed 2 million people for a year.
As for the Han Dynasty, Yanzhou suffered from a severe drought for three years and did not have much grain reserves at all. The grain could only be transported by Liu Bei from Jingzhou, thousands of miles away. Not to mention whether Liu Bei had so much grain in his hands to sustain hundreds of thousands of people.
The army fought for a year. Even if Liu Bei really had so much food, it would be difficult for them to defend the thousands of miles of food roads after losing their field ability. The army only had to send thousands of cavalry to harass the food roads in the rear.
It's enough to make them run out of food.
Guo Jia continued: "When the war reaches a stalemate at the front line of Dingtao and Changyi, the coalition forces will have only two choices. One is to defeat either Yang Feng and Li Gang's army, and then the army will go straight into Dongjun and cut off the food supply of the Daqian army. Dao, as long as the food road is cut off and our hundreds of thousands of troops are surrounded on three sides, the 300,000 troops in the middle of the Daqian Army will be wiped out by our army. Lei Gong will be hit harder than ever before. At that time, he will definitely withdraw from the Central Plains and flee back. Hebei!"
Liu Bei thought for a while and said: "Brother Meng De, are you sure you can defeat Li Gang?"
Cao Cao shook his head and said: "It's difficult. Although the Qingzhou Army seems to have several times more troops than Li Gang, Qingzhou needs to maintain a longer front line. Now that Yanzhou is around, I, Qingzhou, will be attacked from both sides. Although Lei Gong only sent 300,000 The army attacks, but it does not mean that Lei Gong only has 300,000 troops. With the population of Hebei and the system of all-people soldiers in the Daqian Army, Lei Gong's military strength can be doubled, and more than 200,000 soldiers can be added in Jizhou alone. Now I not only In order to find a way to maintain the army on the front line of Mount Tai, the thousands-mile Yellow River defense line must not be relaxed, otherwise Yanzhou will end up with Qingzhou and me! These two lines of defense add up to more than 2,000 miles. The army in my hand is more than enough to protect itself, but not enough to attack!"
Cao Cao's face was solemn throughout the whole process. The 50,000 troops he brought to Yanzhou were annihilated by more than 10,000. This was nothing to Cao Cao. The worst he could do was support Yuan Shao, a young man, in return for the many sacrifices he had made for him. He was the scapegoat, but what really made him sad was that his cousin Xiahou Dun was defeated by Wang Yong and his life or death was unknown. He and Xiahou Dun had the best relationship among the brothers in the family.
After the coalition against Dong Zhuo was formed, Cao Cao used General Fenwu and appointed Xiahou Dun as his commander, who followed Cao Cao to Yangzhou to recruit troops. After Cao Cao established his power, he sent Xiahou Dun to garrison Baima, and soon he was promoted to Lieutenant of Chongxiao, leading Taishan County to be the prefect, and even even Taishan County. The army was founded by Xiahou Dun, and it can be said that the soldiers and horses that Cao Cao founded were all trained by Xiahou Dun. It can be said that the two sides have a life-long friendship, and now he doesn't know how to explain it to Xiahou Dun's family.
Also because Xiahou Dun did not know whether he was alive or dead, Cao Cao did not dare to let his army go deep into Yanzhou to fight with Lei Gong. He had too little capital to afford the fight, and as Cao Cao said, now Yanzhou is captured by Xu Wei, Cao Cao is in danger The level is not much worse than Yuan Shao. Now he is also worried that Xu Wei will raid Qingzhou for him, so he has to find a way to protect his hometown!
Cao Cao and Liu Bei looked at Yuan Shao, obviously wanting to launch a counterattack, and they could only rely on Yuan Shao to cut off the food route of the Daqian army.
But Yuan Shao also looked depressed! The Daqian army was attacking his territory. Because Lei Gong mobilized troops several times faster than the coalition forces expected, the coalition forces could only trade space for time and let the elite soldiers fight to the death at the forefront of Yanzhou. The attack of the Daqian Army had an extremely obvious effect. These soldiers helped the coalition forces gain half a month of assembly time, but this half month still caused heavy casualties to the coalition forces, losing nearly 100,000 troops. The coalition forces lost these 100,000 troops. More than 80,000 men belong to him. It can be said that this war has just begun, and Yuan Shao has already lost almost one-third of his troops!
And now he was asked to take the initiative to attack Yang Feng's tribe. With the ferocity of Da Gan's army, he wanted to destroy Yang Feng's 50,000 troops. He was afraid that he would have to pay twice the price. If he really paid such a high price, even if he won this battle. It is estimated that there will be nothing left, let alone maintaining the territory of these three states.
But it was difficult for him to refuse such a request. After all, it was him who was being attacked by Thunder God. Cao Cao and Liu Bei were considered friends enough if they could bring their own dry food to help him. It was also difficult for Yuan Shao to ask Liu Bei and the others to do more.
At this time Xu You said: "It will be very difficult to completely cut off Lei Gong's food route. Lei Gong has 100,000 cavalry in his hands, and his mobility is far superior to that of our coalition. The distance between Lei Gong's three fronts is not far, probably It's only about five or six hundred miles away. If the cavalry attacks with full strength at this distance, it will take at most two or three days to support Yang Feng's army. After all, the distance between our Dingtao and Chenliu is only 500 miles.
In such a short period of time, it is difficult for our coalition forces to wipe out the 50,000 elite Lei Gong in one battle! And the most important point is that if Lei Gong finds that his food route is in danger, he will probably mobilize more troops from Hebei. Come to support, the Daqian army has a fleet at hand, and the Yellow River waterway has almost become their inland river, which makes it very difficult for us to completely cut off Lei Gong's retreat. Unless Jingzhou supports our troops to encircle and suppress Yang Feng!"
Liu Bei's face became solemn. After Yuan Shao's Yanzhou Army was annihilated, the armies in Dingxiang and Changyi were almost all Liu Bei's Jingzhou Army. Yuan Shao only got a small number of troops from Xuzhou to Dingtao, and now Xu You also wanted Liu Bei to support Yuan Shao, so Liu Bei's army would really come to the Central Plains.
This is extremely dangerous for Liu Bei and the Xiangyang court. If they win, it will be easy to say, but if they are defeated, the entire south will definitely be in turmoil. Although Liu Bei supports Yuan Shao, he does not want to sell himself to support him.
Guo Jia thought for a while and said: "It is difficult to cut off the food route of Daqian Army, so we have to continue to retreat and establish a second line of defense to block Daqian Army. Our army lacks cavalry protection, and the Changyi and Dingtao front lines are actually It is not safe. If we want to protect the safety of the grain road, we must retreat to a city with a river. Our grain and grass need to be transported to the front line through waterways, so that we can effectively isolate the threat to us from the Thunder Cavalry."
"And it can also reduce the people's consumption of food and grass. If we continue to retreat at the same time, the food road of the Daqian army will be longer, and our consumption of food will be reduced. Yanzhou is our territory, although many of our armies have been Lei Gong encircles and suppresses them, but as long as the scattered remnants are organized, they are enough to threaten the safety of Lei Gong's grain road."
Yuan Shao was surprised and said: "I still want to retreat!"
Dingtao and Changyi are about to leave Yanzhou and reach Yuzhou. If they continue to retreat, they will really give up the entire Yanzhou to Lei Gong.
Guo Jia said firmly: "That's right, the Central Plains is flat, and we are no match for the Lei Gong Cavalry, but if we retreat to a place with rivers and mountains, we can rely on the terrain and rivers to fight the Lei Gong Cavalry, and even defeat the Lei Gong Cavalry. We want to retreat to Liang Guo and Peng Ze relied on the terrain and strength there to establish a second line of defense to block Lei Gong's offensive actions."