Chapter 186 The war in the north gradually breaks out, Cao Cao compromises with the noble family

A few days later, Shen Chen went north and returned to Huangmenting.

Huangmenting's soldiers and horses were recruited again, but the number was still maintained at 3,000.

The soldiers' daily training mainly focuses on exercising their physical fitness, martial arts, and bow and arrow. They are an elite special forces force similar to the Wudang Feijun, nicknamed: "Huangmen Soldiers."

Leading troops to go on an expedition again is not a simple matter. All types of provisions, baggage, weapons, and arrows must be fully prepared.

Therefore, Shen Chen had to ask Liu Biao for supplies during this period, and could not set off until he was fully prepared.

Liu Bei also received an invitation from Liu Biao to attack Liu Zhang.

Originally, he wanted to refuse in the name of his fellow clan, but Liu Biao gave him the entire north of Nanyang, which was regarded as a favor.

Under Xu Shu's persuasion, Liu Bei finally reluctantly agreed.

So he led his troops south in a mighty manner.

At this time, the situation in the world also began to change.

The first is the Yangzhou battlefield. Huang Zu's water battle was fierce, but Sun Quan chose to retreat strategically. Instead of fighting him in the open terrain of Penglize, he retreated to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

At that time, the water surface of the Yangtze River from the Shaxian section to the Chaisang section was extremely wide, with the narrowest point being more than one or two kilometers, and the wide part even four or five kilometers.

What is even more exaggerated is Penglize. In later generations, Poyang Lake had an area of ​​nearly 4,000 square kilometers under normal water levels. In the Western Han Dynasty, Penglize had more than 10,000 square kilometers, and in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it had an area of ​​7,000 or 8,000 square kilometers, twice the area of ​​Poyang Lake.

Therefore, fighting the Jiangxia Navy with a large number of people on such a vast ocean-like lake would be a big loss for the Jiangdong Navy.

Therefore, retreating to Anqing and Songyang areas for strategic defense is a good choice.

The two sides were in a stalemate, so Huang Zu could only occupy Xunyang, Chaisang, Liling, Pengze and other counties around Penglize, and look for opportunities to attack again.

Liu Pan, on the other hand, withdrew his troops and retreated to the Yuhan area.

He was too brave and fought all the way to Qiantang, but they held the city and defended it, causing Liu Pan's army to stretch its supplies along the route too long.

Although the places they passed along the way were the territory of their ally Shanyue, so the food route would not be robbed, the food and grass consumption was huge and it was difficult to maintain, so they had to retreat to the vicinity of Nanchang.

This means that Jiangdong has entered into a strategy of comprehensive contraction of defense.

There was little movement on Liu Zhang's side, and Cai Mao was unable to defend. Although there were several tentative engagements, they almost left in one battle. The two sides were in a stalemate for nearly a year, and still could not make any progress.

Therefore, the war situation in the south was temporarily in a tug of war. Although Liu Biao was one against two, his capital was too strong. Even if he was one against two, he would not lose at all.

The reason lies in population.

Although Sun Quan occupied Yangzhou, he was unable to capture Kuaiji in the south of Yangzhou and south of Yuzhang. Jiujiang and Lujiang were devastated by Yuan Shu, and only Wu County and Danyang County were in better condition. They also absorbed Xuzhou due to the massacre. And many people migrated here.

In this way, the territory occupied by Sun Quan was actually only four and a half counties in Yangzhou, and the population under his rule was about three million. However, a large part of them were people hidden by aristocratic families who did not pay taxes, so the population he really controlled was only one million.

Liu Zhang was similar. His actual territory was only Bajun, Shujun, Guanghanjun, Qianweijun and other places in the north of Yizhou.

Zhuti County, Yuexun County, Zangke County, Yongchang County, Yizhou County and other places in the south of Yizhou, which were later known as Guizhou and Yunnan, were not under his control. It was not until Zhuge Liang later pacified the Southern Barbarians.

Among them, Hanzhong County was simply separatized by Zhang Lu. In addition, there were countless large Bashu families, making Liu Zhang's nominal population four to five million. The actual population excluded Hanzhong and southern Yizhou, and then eliminated the family control.

Population, the real population it has is almost a million people.

On the other hand, Liu Biao pacified Jingnan and sent his cronies as governors of various counties in Jingnan, effectively controlling the Jingnan area. There is also the Nanyang Basin. Even if the northern part of the Nanyang Basin is given to Liu Bei, there is still a large area that can be cultivated.

land and sufficient population.

Especially the more than 300,000 farmers and millions of acres of farmland.

To a certain extent, these farmers were equivalent to Liu Biao's own private property, similar to the hidden population of aristocratic families.

With this support, even if the population of aristocratic families is excluded, at least five to six million people belong to Liu Biao under his rule.

So on the surface, Yizhou plus Yangzhou have a total population of more than 8 million to almost 10 million. But the actual situation is that Liu Zhang and Sun Quan have a combined population of less than 3 million, which is different from having a population of 5 to 6 million.

Liu Biao of the population is deadlocked.

The huge power gap made it impossible for the two to attack Jingzhou. Even under Liu Biao's strategy of defending from the west and attacking from the east, Sun Quan retreated steadily and even lost half of Yuzhang County, which was a heavy loss.

The situation in the south is generally like this, while the situation in the north is beginning to become turbulent.

Cao Cao moved his capital to Chenliu, far away from Nanyang. Except for Liu Bei who occasionally went north a few times and returned without success each time, Henan and other places fell into a state of recuperation.

After withdrawing from the Battle of Cangting, Hebei was also recuperating. Yuan Shao's health was no longer in good condition. He had been dead for two years at this point in history, but now he died of illness because his spirit was not broken.

But after all, at this age, even Cao Cao is fifty, let alone him.

Coupled with the extreme climate of the Little Ice Age, winters in the north were extremely cold. The older you get, the lower your immunity. A slight cold can easily kill you.

Therefore, Yuan Shao's health deteriorated every winter, and he was in his fifties, like a man in his sixties or seventies.

This day was late May in the ninth year of Jian'an, a hot summer's day. Yuan Shao was sitting in the backyard of the general's residence in Yecheng, admiring flowers.

After recuperating for a period of time in the spring at the beginning of the year, his mental state has improved a lot.

Although his hair is visibly gray, he moves his muscles and bones every day and plays swordsmanship in the yard. He still has a vague demeanor like when he was young and dared to draw a sword to confront Dong Zhuo.

The yard was filled with precious flowers and plants, and golden carps were swimming in the pond next to it. Yuan Shao sat cross-legged, feeling the warm afternoon sunshine.

It's nice weather today.

Normally it would be extremely hot in summer, and I would be sweating profusely after standing there.

But at this moment I just felt warm and comfortable all over my body.

"Father."

A middle-aged man in his thirties walked into the courtyard, came to Yuan Shao, raised his hands to him and said, "The senior officials are almost here."

"Where are you?"

Yuan Shao asked.

The man was Yuan Shang, the third son of Yuan Shao, and he replied: "We have arrived in the Kingdom of Zhao."

"Where's Huchuquan?"

"He and General Guo Yuan attacked Hedong."

"Um."

Yuan Shao nodded slightly: "How about Han Sui and Ma Teng?"

"Already contacted."

Yuan Shang replied.

Yuan Shao said: "How about asking them to send troops next month?"

"I'll send someone to take care of it now, kid."

Yuan Shang said.

"Go ahead."

Yuan Shao waved his hand.

"only."

Yuan Shang handed over his hands and turned to leave.

Not long after, another middle-aged man in his late thirties walked into the hospital.

He handed over his hand to Yuan Shao and said, "Father, our troops, horses, food and grass are all ready, and we can go south from Qingzhou at any time."

"Well."

Yuan Shao nodded and said: "You will go to Qingzhou in the next few days to make preparations."

"yes."

This middle-aged man is Yuan Tan, who is now the governor of Qingzhou. This time he returned to Yecheng to supervise the transportation of grain and grass supplies back to Qingzhou in preparation for the war.

At this moment, Yuan Shao was sitting on the banquet admiring flowers and fish. Before he left, he couldn't help but said: "Father, I."

"Go ahead."

Yuan Shao waved his hand and said: "You brothers must live in harmony with each other. We will attack Cao Cao this year. This battle is extremely critical. If you can help my father to eliminate Cao Cao, my father will naturally be happy."

"I see."

Yuan Tan left reluctantly.

After watching him leave, Yuan Shao stood up, his expression neither happy nor sad.

The current situation in Jizhou is actually more complicated than that in Jingzhou.

Jingzhou's local aristocratic families supported Liu Cong, and Liu Biao also liked Liu Cong more, so Liu Cong came to power smoothly.

However, Yuan Tan did not get along with the Jizhou native faction and had a good relationship with Xin Ping and Guo Tu of the Yingchuan faction. As a result, the counselors under Yuan Shao's support for Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were very divided.

In this complicated situation, Yuan Shao's wife got involved again.

Although Yuan Shao himself likes Yuan Shang who looks more like him, Yuan Shao knows very well that now that there is a powerful enemy, it is definitely not the time to hastily establish an heir, otherwise it will inevitably intensify the internal strife between the Yuan Tan faction and the Yuan Shang faction.

So recently, both Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang had been very active, and he just turned a blind eye.

However, Yuan Tan has been in Qingzhou for a long time, and Yuan Shang has a good relationship with senior officials, so Yuan Shao cleverly hinted to them that whoever can work harder and help him defeat Cao can become his heir.
To be continued...