43. The history of war is that people are becoming more and more like fast shooters
The first snow in the winter of the second year of Chuping came earlier than usual. The horse-drawn carts loaded with grain took away the last traces of nostalgia and reluctance from the farmers' hearts.
Seeing that Li Shushi led Lu Bu as his general, accompanied by generals such as Yue Jin, Cao Chun, Fang Yue, who were among the best in the Bingzhou Army, young talents like Guan Qiu Xing, Yang Jun, and young talents that Li Shushi had devoted great efforts to cultivate. General Jiang Xu, personal guards Pan Sen, Galen, Jiawen, Zhao Xin and Ashram, who was born in the original Gandhara army and changed his Chinese name to Li Qing to follow the local customs, brought with them 20,000 troops and a mighty army. Hanoi entered the territory of Wei County.
However, except for successfully withdrawing the troops who were originally trapped in Weijun and some of the powerful people who supported themselves from the battlefield of Weijun, their own side had no achievements. Not only was the probing attack on Gongsun Zan easily blocked by the opponent, Moreover, there is no good progress on both wings. No, it can even be said to be facing a big dilemma.
Yuan Tan is now under tremendous pressure from Liu Beijun.
I don’t know what kind of benefits Gongsun Zan promised Liu Bei, which made Liu Bei’s army change from his previous calm style as if he had taken gunpowder. The almost life-threatening attack suddenly pushed forward the front line that was still within the territory of Zhongshan Kingdom. Arriving in Changshan. And due to some unexpected factors, Liu Bei's army in Changshan not only was not affected by the away battle, but instead felt a little anti-visitor. For some reason, they were very familiar with the terrain and used this advantage to trick Yuan Tan's army one after another. several times.
It can be said that if Jiang Qi had not performed beyond his level under heavy pressure and led the cavalry in several roundabout movements that interfered with Liu Bei's judgment, Yuan Shao might have been in danger of being made dumplings by Liu Bei's army.
But even this is just to maintain the front line in the north of Changshan. Not only do you need to worry about Liu Bei's army's next move, but you also need to pay attention to whether the enemy from the west will make any moves.
As for the other side, Gongsun Zan's move of sending Tian Kai and Shan Jing to lead troops to raid Pingyuan County can be said to have greatly exceeded Yuan Shao's expectations.
For Yuan Shao, Qingzhou was originally the next battle in his plan. In fact, in his plan, although a smelly and hard stone like Gongsun Zan would definitely be a stumbling block for him to reach the peak of success, he also knew it very well. Gongsun Zan, who lives in Youzhou, not only has an army that is as tough as their commander's character, but also has an unclear relationship with the surrounding foreign races. Although Yuan Shao can use them to play tricks when he is far away from those forces, But if he was asked to lead his troops deep there, he was not confident that he would be able to completely straighten out the relationship there.
Not to mention that there is another Liu Yu in Youzhou who also gives Yuan Shao a headache and doesn't know how to deal with it.
Therefore, Yuan Shao does not intend to touch the forces in the north until his power is not completely sufficient.
To deal with the chaotic and complicated forces in Qingzhou, Yuan Shao still used his own diplomatic methods as before.
Only this time, the methods he usually used were completely at a disadvantage in front of the soldiers directly sent by Gongsun Zan. After all, Qingzhou has been one of the most chaotic areas in the Han Dynasty since the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Although it did not happen like Liangzhou, Large-scale rebellions like those in Yizhou or Jingzhou are also not like those in Bingzhou (formerly) and Youzhou, which require constant vigilance against foreign invasions. However, Gong Jinghe, the former prefect of Donglai who later became the governor of Qingzhou and died in office, As Gong Jing's predecessor, Qingzhou Governor Chen Zhong's quarrel was a big joke in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The government here has always been quite chaotic. Even now, there is a famous scholar Zang Hong who has excellent moral character and ethics. Being the governor of Qingzhou still doesn't have much effect.
After all, strictly speaking, although Zang Hong, the governor of Qingzhou, has retained the most personal integrity in the past ten years, he is the only official not appointed by the legal court, even though the princes of Guandong are emphasizing that
The imperial court that had been manipulated by Dong Zhuo was illegal and should not exist. However, in the eyes of many people, those who appointed local officials without authorization seemed to be more qualified to be called traitors.
If it is a powerful being with a lot of troops, because he cannot afford to offend him, he will have to obey orders even if he has no choice. Even if he goes against the will, he will not have much courage. But if it is replaced by someone who wants status but no reputation, and wants strength but no
A powerful official, for the sake of his reputation, may appear to be courteous to you, but in fact, it is probably to the extent that the water in my well will not offend the water in your river, but the water in your river will not even think about controlling my three-thirds of an acre of land.
well water.
It is said that the local tycoons of the Han Dynasty were very strong. At that time, the royal family was majestic and powerful, and there were often fights between local tycoons and local officials who came from other places to take office. In the current troubled times, local tycoons are trying their best to increase their strength in order to protect themselves.
Today, the collapse of order is by no means as simple as the decline of imperial power and the separatism of local princes.
In addition, the Yellow Turban Army later took advantage of the princes and was busy fighting Dong Zhuo for 300 rounds in the Henan area, neglecting the great opportunities behind them. Not to mention their resurgence, some forces were even able to gather soldiers to capture several counties and towns.
And when the princes went back to their homes to find their mothers, they discovered that the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou and even Yanzhou and Xuzhou had turned into a prairie fire. If they wanted to put it out, they didn't have enough elite soldiers and generals at this time.
The Yellow Turban Army has integrated with some local powerful men and bandits. Not only has its ability to control the local area increased, but its combat methods have also become more flexible.
The most important thing is that the occupation of many soldiers in the army that is still nominally the Yellow Turban Army is no longer the Yellow Turban Army, which is not only a single occupation but also weak in strength and has a worrying future for development. Instead, it is a formal occupation in the army.
So for Zang Hong, perhaps the most glorious moment in his life should be the moment when he stood on the altar and presided over the Allied Alliance Ceremony. As for now, it is quite difficult to keep him in the evening.
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Zang Hong, the dignified governor of Qingzhou, was like this, and the big and small powerful people in those places felt even more precarious.
So compared to Yuan Shaojun, who sounds beautiful but is far away in his mind no matter how he looks at it, what do they think of Gongsun Zanjun, who is right in front of them and looks quite powerful, and more importantly, gives them a strong sense of security?
Why does it feel so friendly?
This is especially true after some thornheads and small groups of Yellow Turbans or bandits were defeated by Tian Kai and Shan Jing.
Although with Chunyu Qiong's troops gradually in place, Yuan Shao also had some abundant troops to mobilize, but due to the sudden collapse of the situation on the northern front, these surplus troops had to be sent to the seemingly more dangerous battlefield in the north.
It has to be said that from leading a group of subordinates to attack Dong Zhuo to being attacked by a group of people with evil intentions, Yuan Shao experienced a roller coaster ride in more than a year, which made him and his co-father to the south
The half-brothers also received a sap in the head when they were most proud of themselves. The bloody look can basically make the scene enter the restricted level.
And it is also very similar that after Yuan Shu lost his number one general Sun Jian, he had to face Liu Biao, who although suffered a heavy loss but gained confidence and was ready to sharpen his sword against Yuan Shu, whether it was the wealthy land of Nanyang Basin or Nanyang
As the county is a sacred and inseparable part of Jingzhou, Liu Biao obviously had enough reasons to direct his butcher knife at Yuan Shu.
As for Yuan Shao's side, Gongsun Zan's army has basically ended the autumn harvest. Although they encountered several harassments from Yuan Shao's army during this period and suffered certain losses, overall they were still within the acceptable range of Gongsun Zan. In addition, from Yu Qing
With the unexpected gains in the state and the good news from the friendly army Liu Bei, the morale of Gongsun Zan's army, which had dropped slightly due to the setback of the attack, not only returned to the pre-war level, but even increased slightly. This news obviously did not make Yuan Shao happy.
However, after all, he was born as a commoner and suffered a lot when he was young. Yuan Shao did not collapse because of such a huge setback. It can be said that these setbacks inspired the pride and enthusiasm in his heart, which was just to resist the family.
The unyielding heart that boiled over during the injustice was now rekindled, allowing Yuan Shao to stand up again.
After learning from the painful experience, Yuan Shao and the group of advisers around him who never believed that they were weaker than others finally completely gave up the internal fighting mentality originally caused by complacency and used all their talents to fight against the enemy.
Unfortunately, before Yuan Shao could take any new action, an unexpected arrival once again caught Yuan Shao off guard.
This is the unexpected winter snow mentioned at the beginning of this chapter.
Even modern warfare cannot completely offset the huge impact of weather on warfare.
If a general chooses to land on a beach in stormy weather, uses heavy tanks to charge in groups when the permafrost melts, or orders aircraft to take off in thunderous or foggy weather... even these tactical actions
It is not completely impossible to achieve, but unless the tactical value of these actions is really astonishing, the general who issued the order will only be able to face his colleagues in a head-to-head manner the next day.
This is true for modern wars, and the outcome of ancient wars is often affected by the weather.
Therefore, the great strategist Du Mu said it well - "The east wind refuses to deal with Zhou Lang, and the bronze bird spring locks Er Qiao deeply."
Although we don’t know how much this sentence has to do with the real Battle of Chibi, we can just treat it as watching the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
What made Yuan Shao most speechless was that the biggest impact of this winter snow was not in the marching operations that people usually understand, but in another place that Yuan Shao had never thought of before...
Not to mention a digression, the weather in Dahan these days is getting weirder and weirder year by year. Except that the territory under Li Shushi's jurisdiction seems to be blessed by something, at most it is just a few floods in summer and a few floods in winter.
Apart from dozens of heavy snowfalls, other disasters such as drought, locust plagues, and epidemics are basically invisible.
There are certainly human factors in this (such as the various doctor training courses offered by a certain "miracle doctor" Loli, and the large number of medical-related books "borrowed" by Li Shushi from Luoyang), but it has to be said that it is different from other areas in the Han Dynasty.
In comparison, the weather here in Li Shushi is obviously the result of cheating.
Other areas not only have to experience increasingly cold winters, but also have to withstand occasional typhoons, droughts, locust plagues, and famines caused by these disasters. If not handled well, large-scale epidemics will break out.
The start of spring is getting later every year, and we have to wait hard for the ground to thaw before we can sow the seeds into the fields. After a long growing period, we have to get the grain grains back before the cold wave comes earlier every year.
warehouse, otherwise the harvest of a year of hard work will be destroyed by the cold, even if the landlord’s family
Faced with such a situation, it is difficult to have enough surplus food to last more than two years. Therefore, during the autumn harvest in recent years, not only are the local powerful and powerful people unwilling to fight, but even the monarchs must use it for various reasons.
This matter was made a top priority, and some of the conscripted soldiers were disbanded to handle the food harvest.
For this reason, in the face of winter that is much earlier this year than in previous years, and in the face of the weather where it is obviously still autumn, but the snow has begun to fall, even if Yuan Shao wants to fight, he has to wait until he is sure.
After knowing that the food on his own territory could be packed into his own granary, he was in the mood to have sex with Gongsun Zan across from him.
Fortunately, the person opposite had the same thoughts as him, so the originally turbulent Jizhou territory suddenly experienced a rare calm, and several forces fell into a strange truce.
The snow was not too heavy, and although it spread freely, it did not accumulate when it fell to the ground.
But this is a very clear signal, marking the early arrival of winter this year.
By the time everything was settled, not only had the best opportunity to attack been missed, but Yuan Shao had obtained very reliable information - Shan Jing from Qingzhou brought nearly 7,000 troops to the Gongsun Army's base camp in Nanpi to assist in the battle.
Although this will greatly affect the strength of the Gongsun Army in Qingzhou, at this time, the victory or defeat on the main battlefield is far more important than the flanks. As long as the victory is determined on the main battlefield, the flanks can survive even if they temporarily suffer some losses.
To make up for it, even though he knew there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, Yuan Shao did not take any more countermeasures in the end.
In this way, with the tacit understanding between the two parties, more than half a month before the Winter Festival, the thunderous war drums once again played in the land of eastern Jizhou.
The strategic goals of both sides in this battle are to weaken the other side's military power as much as possible, thereby breaking the strategic balance that currently exists between the two sides. Based on this, the tactical goal of both sides is to strive to defeat the other side's main force and do their best to kill as much as possible.
The opponent's elite soldiers will kill important enemy figures if given the opportunity, thereby shaking the enemy's power structure.
Because of this consideration, the two sides did not carry out various small-scale tests as before, but instead took direct action with the main army and faced off across the river on both sides of the Qinghe River flowing through the Bohai Sea.
Gongsun Zan's army chose Yan Gang, the governor of Hejian, as the vanguard. In addition to supporting Gongsun Zan's five thousand powerful private army, Gongsun Zan also handed over the command of one thousand white horse Yi followers to the other party, allowing the other party to use them flexibly according to the situation.
Gongsun Zan's base camp was stationed in Dongguang County, adjacent to Qinghe, in the Bohai Kingdom. His troops included more than 8,000 soldiers who were brought from Youzhou during the expedition and later transferred from Youbeiping and Western Liaoning.
Five thousand Qingzhou troops, and nearly a thousand Qian archers hired by Gongsun Zan with funds obtained from Hejian and Bohai counties.
The Bian people are an ancient ethnic group from the Northeast and have appeared in literary and historical materials very early.
Of course, the name "芊" is the same as the names "Qiang" and "Man". It is also a general reference. That is to say, the ethnic minorities in the northeast of Zhou Dynasty, that is, the border area of Yan State are collectively called "芊", while Hu "芊" directly refers to
At that time, most of the ethnic minorities in the north were.
There are many mountains and forests in the place where the Bian people live, so the Bian people are not only a hunting people, good at archery, but also excellent mountain troops, so they are very popular with the surrounding ethnic groups, whether they are Han people, Karasuma, Buyeo, or Samhan, as long as they are
If you have the ability, you are willing to hire some people to serve as important combat forces around you.
Therefore, although the reputation of the Qi people in the Central Plains cannot be compared with that of the Four Great Yicongs, their strength is definitely one of the best.
In addition, in addition to their initial combat effectiveness, another important reason why the Qi people are so popular is that they have a very famous technology in their hands, which is the Qi bow with a longer range and more powerful force.
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Although the horn bow is excellent in terms of range and power, without the advantage of horsepower, the horn bow is actually not the most outstanding bow weapon in infantry combat. Because its short bow arm and strong bow string have been enlarged
Difficulty when shooting from a rifle.
In fact, in order to pursue speed and accuracy in mounted archery, the riding bow does not need to be fully opened to shoot arrows, because with the help of horsepower, the lost range and strength will be replenished. On the contrary, the increase in shooting speed brings it
Greater tactical value.
The bow is the most perfect standard infantry bow weapon of this period. In addition to being unable to compare with the crossbow, the most legendary long-range physical attack weapon in the Central Plains, for ordinary powerful people who have no access to "high-tech weapons" such as crossbows,
The Hu tribe, the Qi people and the Qi bows they carried became the ideal weapons that these people flocked to.
Therefore, although Gongsun Zan spent a lot of money to hire less than a thousand Qian archers, the combat effectiveness of this army was enough to surpass that of 2,000 Han archers, which was another trump card in Gongsun Zan's hand.
In addition to the thousands of white horse Yi Cong assigned to Yan Gang, the remaining white horse Yi Cong, led by Gongsun Fan, cruised around Gongsun Zan's central army, plus the Karasuma cavalry brought by Gongsun Zan, and
Those horse archers who were regarded as the back-up of the White Horse Yi Cong and who also had a certain level of riding and shooting gave Gongsun Fan a unit that could play a considerable tactical role on the battlefield.
There is also a light cavalry of about 3,000 people, composed of foreign troops and Gongsun Zan's soldiers who are good at charge combat, led by another clan relative of Gongsun Zan, Gongsun Ke. Gongsun Zan ordered this force to cruise on the edge of the battlefield, preparing to use
Use it as the final force to crush Yuan Shao's army, or go into battle at other important moments.
In addition, Shan Jing also led more than 2,000 Qingzhou soldiers to garrison Lecheng City in Hejian together with Hejian County soldiers, not only as a force to contain Yuan Shao's army, but also to guard against the possibility of Yuan Shao suddenly abandoning the main battlefield and invading Hejian to cut off his retreat.
In this battle, Gongsun's army invested more than 30,000 troops. Although it cannot be said that they used all their wealth, it was still the majority of Gongsun's army. If there was a big defeat here, Yuan Shao might not be needed.
Just those foreign tribes that are usually suppressed by it can completely destroy it.
Therefore, in addition to gathering a large army to deal with the main force of Yuan Shao's army, Gongsun Zan once again sent a personal letter to Liu Bei, thanking Liu Bei's army for creating such a good decisive battle environment for him, and also hoped that Liu Bei's army could continue his efforts and completely eliminate the northern front.
The troops of Yuan Tan and Jiang Qi.
Of course, in the letter, Gongsun Zan also hinted to Liu Bei that he was willing to divide Jizhou equally with him.
Lu Bu also received a similar letter, but compared to Liu Bei's letter where emotions and interests were intertwined, Gongsun Zan only emphasized to Lu Bu that Yuan Shao would change his target if he defeated him.
Pointing directly at Bingzhou,
Therefore, the two are at loggerheads. For such a relationship, they hope that Bingzhou can also cause some trouble for Yuan Shao. Of course, after the war, Gongsun Zan will naturally express his feelings towards Bingzhou, but the specific "expression" in the letter is very vague and ambiguous.
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But no matter what, for his own future, Gongsun Zan really spent a lot of money this time. (To be continued.)
