Xi Zhicai was sitting in the main seat, looking through a pile of information sent by the scouts. On the left and right were former Taiping Taoist advocates, Li Dian and Yue Jin, who had only served Cao Cao for a short period of time.
"The decree came out from Luoyang, ordering counties and counties to arrest anyone involved in Taiping Dao activities. This actually caused those who still had doubts about Zhang Xiaowei's recruitment to surrender." Xi Zhicai, dressed as a scribe, sat behind the desk.
He flipped through two pages of information and looked at Zhang Jue: "The statistics from two days ago show that there are eight thousand Taiping Taoists who have surrendered to the lord. I wonder if the number is true?"
Zhang Jue had already changed out of his nondescript Taoist robes and was dressed more like a military doctor. Hearing this, he responded: "Because Guan Cheng has been looting the treasury, there have been thousands more superficial Taoist disciples in the past two days."
To avoid being angered by local officials, the total number has exceeded 10,000."
"In this case, according to the instructions of the lord, you are allowed to form a separate army and name it 'Qingzhou Army'. Any Taiping Taoist disciples recruited in the future will be incorporated into this army. However, this army will not incorporate cavalry. Do you know why?"
Zhicai handed Zhang Jue a tiger talisman and asked at the same time.
"Well, do you want to free up horses for the 'Tiger and Leopard Riders' of the two Xiahou generals?" Zhang Jue took the Qingzhou Army Tiger Talisman and put it away properly before asking tentatively.
"No, because the 'life and death talisman' needed to heal a horse is five times that of an ordinary person." Xi Zhicai said seriously: "General Zhang's troops would be in a dilemma of whether to save the people or the horses first, so they will not be equipped with horses."
"..." Zhang Jue was stunned.
"Hahaha!" Li Dian, who was standing next to him, suddenly laughed and bumped Le Jin with his shoulder: "What are you standing there for? Just laugh."
"What's so funny?" Le Jin looked confused.
"Strange, my sixth sense tells me that I should laugh at this moment..." Li Dian muttered a few words, then laughed again: "Hahaha!"
"Hmph, forget it," Xi Zhicai waved his hand: "If Wenruo or Fengxiao were here, they would definitely find out how ridiculous those words were - now, all generals, listen to your orders."
Li Dian quickly stopped laughing, and Zhang Jue also gave up thinking about why he was not equipped with cavalry, and waited for orders with the generals present.
"Order, General Le Jin will be the vanguard and lead five thousand cavalry to pursue Guan Cheng and his 'Taiping Army' who are causing trouble to the feudal states." Xi Zhicai issued an order.
"The general will definitely destroy him and capture him as quickly as possible!" Le Jin stepped forward to receive the order.
"No, you are only allowed to win this battle, not chase. If the opponent starts to run away instead of taking a stance to fight, then immediately stop attacking and rest on the spot." Xi Zhicai said.
"Huh?" Le Jin looked confused again.
"General Li Dian, I order you to lead another five thousand cavalry to follow Le Jin's troops. When he defeats the enemy, you will pursue him. However, you are not allowed to engage in direct combat with the enemy. Once the enemy stops, send a message to General Le Jin.
Let him come forward to fight." Xi Zhicai issued another token.
"Uh... a strategy for weary troops?" Li Dian shook his head and accepted the order.
"You can keep guessing~" Xi Zhicai chuckled and turned to Zhang Jue: "General Zhang Jue led all the Qingzhou soldiers under his command, carrying twice the baggage weight, and followed the two generals, raising more flags and receiving the supplies dropped by the other party.
and persuaded the prisoners to surrender."
"Military advisor, you can rest assured that those 'Taiping Army' are just under the guidance of Guan Cheng. There are many people in our army who are familiar with them, and they will be able to persuade most of them to surrender," Zhang Jue said.
"Now, everyone can take a guess, what if Guan Cheng escaped all the way without giving us a chance to fight?" Xi Zhicai raised his hands and asked Shi Shiran.
"Uh huh..."
————
Jinan, Prime Minister's Office.
Cao Cao, Cai Wan, Yuan Shao, Cao Ren and Dian Wei are discussing the next plan in front of the map. Cai Yan and Cao Ang are also present.
"Meng De, Guan Cheng has at most three to five thousand men, why did he send out 20,000 troops for a conquest?" Yuan Shaozheng asked Cao Cao while teasing little Cao Ang.
"Because the Prime Minister of the Feng Kingdom is only allowed to have a maximum of 20,000 soldiers," Cao Cao looked at his son who was pinched in the face and wanted to cry, and said helplessly: "If you like children, why don't you get married and have one yourself?"
"Humph, no, those noble ladies from aristocratic families are all like monkeys." Yuan Shao began to pull Cao Ang's face to both sides.
Are you qualified to tell others?
These words swirled around Cao Cao's lips, but in the end he didn't say them out.
"If the upper limit is 20,000, just by making a big fanfare during the march, people will think that Jinan is defenseless at this time." Cao Ren took up the topic that Yuan Shao had forgotten: "But even if Jinan doesn't have a single soldier,
I, Cao Zixiao, will not let them even step into the city!"
"Well... I believe that Zixiao is worthy of being the 'iron wall of the Cao family'." Cao Cao could only agree.
Unlike Le Jin who likes to charge forward, Cao Ren is more willing to defend, but not to protect someone like Dian Wei, but to protect a specific location. Cao Cao once sent him secretly to try his skills in those "village chiefs fighting" and found that
The more important the location for the warring parties, the better the protection effect of Cao Ren. In a certain fight, he alone protected the residence of a certain "village chief" as the base camp for nearly half a day. The "village chief" still has it until now.
I'm looking for that "iron wall" from the beginning.
"After all, the divisions between states and counties are only administrative divisions, and there is no wall blocking the borders. Yanzhou in the west has little oil and water, while Yuzhou in the south is heavily defended. Xuzhou is gathering troops to wipe out the various Taiping Road branches, ordering Taoist disciples to
They all fled one after another." Cai Wan raised his hand and crossed the map, "So, there will be three groups of 'Taiping Army' from other states and counties to attack Jinan."
"It's ridiculous to say that the Qushuai and the altar masters who really obeyed the orders of Jizhou Julu General Altar have either surrendered or simply defended. On the contrary, the small Qushuai who usually had no ambitions have raised troops to attack the government. Their actions have caused those who have surrendered to
The survivors are in a very dangerous situation." Cao Cao paused and continued: "Perhaps most of the surrenderers will eventually seek refuge with the local officials who captured them like Zhang Jue did. After all, no one hopes that someone may save their life in a critical moment.
'Fu Shui' disappears."
"Uh... So, if the imperial court fails to suppress Taiping Dao and instead orders the arrest of all users of 'Fu Shui', wouldn't it mean that it is an enemy of the entire world?" Yuan Shao seemed to have finally come to his senses and said: "... Why do you use
Looking at me like this?"
So, Benchu was just slow to react, but he was not stupid at all. Cao Cao sighed: "No, it's nothing. Just keep poking Ang'er in the face."
"Eh? What did you do to Ang'er? Why does he look at you like he's looking at the person who killed his father?" Along with a golden light that no one else could see, the "double" appeared in the hall and opened his mouth to say something that Cao Cao didn't know.
How to answer.
"Oh, by the way, Xi Zhicai's plan went very smoothly. When Guan Cheng and his 'Taiping Army' were being chased, they exposed all of his hiding places in a panic and the goods he stole have been recovered.
Most of them will soon be driven into the territory of Beihai Kingdom. Haha, I wonder how those descendants of Confucius who have been studying all day and have never carried out proper military preparations will deal with this group of rebels who have jumped over the wall." "The substitute" said with gloating.
In any case, it is impossible for them to be soft and ask for help from the leader of Jinan Kingdom. The title of the leader of Beihai Kingdom is the same as that of the leader of Jinan Kingdom, and his name seems to be...Liu?
Well, at least they are far apart in terms of the degree of love from their respective fathers.
————
In the southeast of Jinan County, at the junction of Qingzhou and Xuzhou, there is a temporary and crude military camp that can accommodate about 20,000 people.
"Hey, Brother Dun, you said that the lord has sent out all his troops, then doesn't he have any troops to defend the city?" Xia Houyuan stood on the high platform deliberately built in the military camp and looked around, and at the same time he was not confident.
He turned to Xiahou Dun beside him and said, "What if I accidentally miss an enemy army?"
"Then I will die to apologize." Xiahou Dun said in a tone that was not joking at all.
"No -" Xia Houyuan screamed exaggeratedly.
Although the soldiers passing by the high platform could hear the screams, they did not even look up as if they were accustomed to it.
"My lord has handed over his most elite troops to our brothers. If we let the enemy pass, how can we survive to see our lord?"
There is a bit of fanaticism.
"I have indeed never seen this kind of cavalry..." Xia Houyuan muttered and continued to look at it.
This kind of heavy cavalry was built by Cao Cao in Jinan for three years and countless materials. It took into account the advantages of both "mountain cavalry" and "trapped camp", and covered all knights and war horses with sophisticated heavy armor.
, especially with strengthened frontal protection, they can attack the gun array or arrow rain without hesitation. The heavy lance they carry can penetrate any obstacles blocking their charge route. Even if they are trapped in a tight siege, they can also use secondary weapons, single-handedly.
Use the thick-edged saber on the back to eliminate the surrounding enemies. The only thing that may cause them to lose their combat effectiveness is that the knights and horses themselves are exhausted, or they encounter a powerful "unparalleled general".
"The name of this cavalry is really problematic." Xia Houyuan took another look, then looked around to try to find possible enemies: "What 'tiger and leopard cavalry' are, I'm not talking about. The generals under the lord's account now, except
Zhang Jue, who can't tear up a few tigers and leopards? The master's naming skills are really not good... Hey! An enemy is really coming."
A large amount of smoke and dust rose up on the roads leading to Xuzhou and Yuzhou at the same time. At this time, most people from all over the country were ordered to capture Taiping Road. People of this size were either official troops or fleeing "Taiping troops", depending on the number.
, both sides are more than twice the size of tiger and leopard cavalry.
"If we let them join forces, they will be in big trouble," Xia Houyuan bared his teeth, "Brother Dun...Brother Dun?"
Xia Houyuan turned his head, only to find that Xia Houdun had jumped off the high platform and ran towards the military camp: "I will not let go of anyone who hinders Meng De's hegemony!"
