In a sense, Yuan Shao's hesitation is understandable, because from his perspective, fighting or retreating are both options, but they all have their own difficulties...
If he really wants to fight, the good thing is that he now has a strong force, a slight advantage in strength, and more importantly, he has a good location (Zhangshui has just opened up), which is enough to fight; but the bad thing is that if it happens again,
With a huge defeat like Liang Qi's in the first battle, Yuan Shao's situation would really be out of control.
And if you don't take risks, just abandon Guangzong and retreat across Qinghe (the name of the river, the origin of the name of Qinghe County), and return to Qinghe County behind you. Relying on the Qinghe River, dozens of cities in the plains will be defended, which will certainly avoid the danger.
Just like the previous situation where the city of Liang Dynasty was completely defeated, this would undoubtedly give away Wei County, Anping Kingdom, and even the entire Hejian Kingdom. Some of the Hebei forces in the camp such as Jushuo and Zhangzhi were still alive and well.
The entire land was suspected of being sold.
To put it bluntly, Yuan Shao still refuses to admit that he is afraid of Gongsun Xun, and his trip to the east is basically an escape. And once he deceives himself, the people below will have nothing to do... There is really nothing they can do.
This is because in this feudal era, everything is based on personal dependence. The clans in the local countryside, the tribal system in the army, the subordinate officials and the conquest system in the civil service make the people below unconditionally dependent.
When you go to the next layer of people, you will be prosperous and suffer losses, and finally it will pass down to the only person.
This man was once the emperor, but now he is the princes of various places.
And the reason why Yuan Shao is so powerful, and the reason why his "Four Generations, Three Gongmen and Many Old Officials" are so useful is this... Because if people in this world want to do something, they are not good or don't want to be the only one.
If you are a good person, you will naturally find someone to rely on and ask him to lead you to do this thing.
In fact, if you think about it, you will know that when the scholars were made unbearable by the emperor and his domestic slaves, people naturally chose the Yuan family; but when they accidentally got away with it and took away the imperial power
When Dong Zhuo collapsed and created Dong Zhuo, in order to oppose this eternal weirdo and violent warriors, people further directly chose Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu; and when Gongsun Xun suddenly emerged, he led a group of fringe warriors in the northern border counties to successfully replace Dong Zhuo.
After that, and after declaring that they would punish the noble families and powerful people in the world, these people gathered closer to Yuan Shao in order to oppose this person whom they feared but could not find a reason to oppose.
However, success depends on failure, and the success of the public family is also the failure of the public family... Yuan Shao's origin, character, and abilities are there, so he integrates these forces and rises very quickly, just like he did in Guandong before.
Just like the coalition forces suddenly rose up, this time his localization and warlord strategy also succeeded instantly, making many people see the hope of suppressing Gongsun Xun in a short period of time.
But at the critical moment, everything about this person made it difficult for those people to control him easily, and they could only sigh with their hands.
After all, Yuan Shao is not Liu Biao, Tao Qian, or Cao Cao.
In another time and space, Liu Biao relied on the Jingxiang clan to annihilate the powerful (clan thieves) and quickly completed control of the Jingzhou area. He was said to have carried a hundred thousand soldiers and marched across nine counties. However, once he died, those local clans would kill him.
Orphans and widows were easily betrayed; the same was true for Tao Qian, who was born in a wild county in the south. His style was stubborn and arrogant, and he had soldiers. It was easy to suppress Xuzhou in the early stage, but once he grew old, the power of Xuzhou still fell to the local family.
In the hands of the powerful; it is Cao Cao. What happened to him when he first raised his troops in another time and space is a perfect example. His acquisition of Yanzhou relied on the "gifts" of people like Chen Gong and Zhang Miao. But once Bian Zang was killed, he was ready to
He was really in charge, but he was easily betrayed by these two people, and the entire Yanzhou was taken back. He could only rely on Xun Yu to offer Yingchuan to gain a foothold...
Compared with these people, the biggest difference between Yuan Shao is that he is naturally the king in this system. Others can sell their territory and power to him based on certain logic in these personal dependence systems, but no one can easily betray him.
, and can't really control him, at least the control strength is limited.
This has created the strange situation in his camp today - Yuan Shao cannot completely control the people and things below him like Gongsun Xun, but the people below him cannot easily get rid of Yuan Shao and question Yuan Shao.
Of course, this is only one of the problems. The biggest problem is that times have changed... At the beginning of the second year of Jian'an, no one no longer doubted that no matter how noble or powerful a person was, an arrow on the battlefield was enough to kill him.
He turned into a cold corpse, thereby changing the balance of all political forces and determining the fate of everything.
A previous big defeat was the fundamental reason why all these problems were exposed.
The only ironic thing is that Yuan Shao himself was one of the instigators who destroyed the old order and spoke with a knife... In the past, he was the one who took the lead in attacking Nangong in Luoyang City and started killing people.
"Our army has sufficient strength and the Zhang River as a barrier, why can't we fight?" Feng Ji asked angrily, raising his hands, and the person opposite him was Guo Tu.
"The reason is very simple." Guo Tu sighed slightly as he clasped his hands. "Yuan Tu, the current situation is that winning can only stop General Wei's offensive to the west and north of Zhangshui, but once defeated, it will be difficult to deal with it.
The situation... Of course, I also understand your mood. You have worked hard in Anping for a long time, and if you abandon Zhangshui, Anping, Weijun, or even Hejian to survive in troubled times, you will definitely feel uncomfortable. This is just like
After Julu's defeat that day, Xu Ziyuan even lost his mind. But the overall situation is the overall situation, and this battle is not worth fighting head-on!"
"This is different!" Feng Ji's face turned red in a hurry. "That day, Xu Ziyuan was defeated after a battle of wits and courage with Dong Zhao and Zhang Fei, and then he lost half the county and ten cities... But if we don't fight today,
, they retreated and lost three counties. What about the next time? There are only nineteen counties in total, and one will go down and the other will go up. In the future, they will retreat faster and lose more! This matter must not be the first of its kind.
…”
"It's already opened!" Unexpectedly, Xu You, who was sitting on the sidelines, didn't pay attention to Guo Tu's taunting. His words even seemed to be in agreement with Guo Gongze's, and both wanted to retreat. "Aren't we just starting from Wei?
Did the county retreat? Do you think that we really failed to attack by defending this time? Under the defeated army, if there was even half a chance to attack, why would we look left and right between Zhanghe and Qinghe? How would a Guangzhou without any reserves be able to do so?
We can’t even take down Zong’s old city? Is Shen Zhengnan a god? Guarding an old city that has been in disrepair for so long, how can he be able to destroy it so calmly? Isn’t it that we have no fighting spirit at all?”
"But today we have an army of 80,000 people, and we have the geographical advantage, but we dare not fight. How will the people of the world view our Ming Gong?" Feng Ji turned to look at Xu You, still indignant. "Xu Ziyuan, you must have suffered.
The bribery from the north failed, so why are we here to mess up the morale of our troops?"
"Yuan Tu!" Xu You, who was sitting aside, was still not angry, but raised his head and sighed slightly. "The last person who said that about me was Chen Gongtai before the Liang Qi War... His words that day were different from what you just said.
In comparison, the words of eighty thousand are just replaced by one hundred thousand, and the words of having favorable geographical location are replaced by being backed by a fortified city!"
Feng Ji suddenly froze, and the Zhongjun tent immediately became silent. For a while, the only sound was the rapid breathing of the people and the sound of the wind blowing the big flag outside the tent.
"If I can stop my decline by dying, why would I hesitate to die?" Feng Yuantu was silent for a while before speaking in a low voice.
"The problem is that after you die, who else can I rely on?" Xu You asked in a low voice. "Chen Gongtai died in Liang Dynasty, Jushu was thrown into Yecheng, and you die again... Do you want to count on those people?"
People? They are loyal now because Benchu has not yet collapsed. Once Benchu fell into an unspeakable situation, how did they deal with the Korean Festival? And the current situation of Benchu today, isn't it because these people are doing it for themselves?
Is it because of his family's personal interests and forcing him to rush for quick success?"
Feng Ji was speechless. The expressions of Xun Chen, Xin Ping, Guo Tu, Shi Yi, Xi Lu, Cui Yan, Chen Lin, Peng Miao and others beside him all changed at first, but then they all looked different... Some people were angry,
Some were shy, some were calm, some sighed, and some just sneered.
"As Brother Ziyuan said, my Lord commands three states and nineteen counties. Not to mention anything else, there are 80,000 people under Guangzong City. With Qu Chang and above as scholars, there will be no less than four to five hundred heroes, two or three
There are hundreds of officials, but among the seven or eight hundred people, you are the only two who are loyal ministers?" Guo Tu sneered and turned to face Xu You.
"Don't sow discord." Xu You answered loudly without raising his head. "What I mean is that among these seven or eight hundred people, only one person, Feng Yuantu, is a loyal minister. Even I am a double-minded person who is greedy for money and wants to survive.
!No better than you!”
Guo Tu was speechless for a moment, standing there not knowing how to taunt him back.
"The crisis is ahead, so don't talk about these things." Xin Ping, who presided over the meeting, lamented in his heart for a while, and then reluctantly interrupted. "My lord has a headache, please let us discuss it, and the army can't delay it anymore... What should we do?
We must discuss it today and then launch it immediately..." As for this, Xin Ping couldn't help but look serious. "Should we fight or retreat?"
Guo Tu and Feng Ji, who had been arguing for a long time, fell silent for a moment, each speechless.
"What do you two mean?!"
The rest of them can't speak at all... Ming Gong is ill in bed, and enemy troops are coming at any time, so what's the point of having a dispute at this time?"
"Brother Zhongzhi, what do you mean?" Feng Ji still respected Xin Ping, who was also a member of Yuan Cong.
"Yes, then just listen to Brother Zhongzhi, right?" Xu You clasped his hands and sneered. "Although Brother Zhongzhi is an unpopular Yingchuan native, he is still half a Yuan Cong. He joined us more than ten years ago.
He had been busy with Benchu, and during this expedition, he left his only biological brother and most of his family members behind in Liang Qi, who was the first to bear the brunt. Based on this matter alone, he can probably be regarded as the second most loyal person in this account...
That’s good, you can say it now! Whatever you say is what you say, I won’t say anything anymore!”
"What can I say?" Judge Xin took a few breaths to calm down, and then responded with a serious face. "Don't you understand the current situation? When fighting in this place, if you are not careful, the whole army will be wiped out.
, so everyone wants to leave, but everyone also understands that we can't just abandon the land of three counties without making a move... The world is watching! Why did Duke Ming fall ill? He didn't understand these truths in his heart, and
Everything depends on him. Others can hide and fight, but he can't hide. This is why he developed an old disease!"
"So, Brother Zhongzhi is helpless?" Xu You was silent for a moment, and then continued to ask jokingly.
Xin Ping was furious for a moment, but couldn't help it.
"Whether it's Zhongzhi or you, it's normal that there is no good way." At this moment, someone suddenly spoke from behind the tent, but it was Yuan Shao who walked out with the support of the maid, wrapped in a scarf, causing everyone in the tent to be solemn.
Rong. "But you guys... no matter whether you have been with me for fifteen years like Zhongzhi, Ziyuan, Yuan Tu, etc., or whether you have been with me for several years like Ji Gui, Ziyu, etc., you are still a monarch and a minister, and you are finally eating me."
You have an official position, but you can't hide your personal interests at this time, right? If you can get something out of it, please give me some advice, I will definitely be grateful!"
As he spoke, Yuan Shao actually bowed his hands to many of his ministers, causing everyone to be frightened and confused, and they all returned the salute.
However, although everyone seemed to have no shortage of etiquette, when Yuan Benchu struggled to sit down, took the hot linen cloth brought by the maid, and covered his face with the cloth for a long time, no one responded.
There is only one Guo Tu, still talking about the dilemma.
Xu You looked desolate below, and finally couldn't bear it anymore: "At first, I have a plan, maybe we can fight, and we can avoid such a deadly place and retreat at the same time, but if Gongsun Wenqi sees through it like before
, and then I won’t be fooled at all, then I can’t..."
"At this moment, it would be good to have a feasible strategy." Yuan Shao grabbed the hot linen cloth from his lower body and threw it to the ground angrily. "Do I hope that I can't capture and kill Gongsun Wenqi here? Only when times are difficult will people become more aware...
...Zi Yuan, I am extremely ill and cannot cooperate with you. I can only let Yuan Tu, Zhong Zhi, Gong Ze, and the whole army obey your orders. Just do it and leave me alone!"
Everyone looked at each other, but they could only follow Xu You and bend down to take orders.
"Return to your Majesty!" On the seventh day of the first lunar month, Gongsun Xun led his army and marched for several days to the foot of Quzhou City on the right bank of the Zhang River. While he was still looking at the river in a daze, sentries and cavalry came one after another, bringing a slightly unexpected news.
"We followed General Zhang Yide and were ordered to seize the Quzhou Ferry and build a pontoon bridge, but there was no defense on the Zhang River. While General Zhang was building the pontoon bridge, he sneaked across the river with his sentry cavalry to check, but found that the river was ten miles away from the pontoon bridge.
, there are no ambushes anywhere, not even a single soldier of Yuan's army...so let me report back!"
"Yuan Benchu was so decisive?" Gongsun Xun came back to his senses and felt it was incredible. "It's just a symbolic battle, right? On the other side of the river that day, tens of thousands of Yellow Turban troops, old and weak, were trapped by the river.
, even though he knows he will die, he still knows how to fight back from the river to show his determination... He has an army of 80,000 people, is he really not afraid of being laughed at by everyone in the world? "
"Maybe there was an accident." Next to him, Dong Zhao thought for a moment and gave a reasonable explanation. "Yuan Jun's hesitation lies in Yuan Shao himself. On the one hand, he is already afraid of the emperor like a tiger, but on the other hand, he is desperate to save face... But before, Yuan Shao
There has always been talk of head ailments. I heard that Liang Qi was even more seriously ill after the war. This time, there was also a detailed report in Guangzong City that mentioned his illness. It seems that he was seriously ill for a while, which saved his advisers from arguing.
We simply retreated in the name of protecting him!"
Gongsun Xun slowly nodded: "That makes sense, but no matter what, the matter is over. The entire army will cross the river and march towards Guangzong!"
After saying this, the man continued to beat his horse and could not even enter the Zhou city, so he wanted to lead the troops across the river himself.
"Your Majesty!" At this moment, Lou Gui suddenly rode up to catch up and shouted to him to stop him. "Zi Heng and the young master are still behind you. Do you want them to cross the river or temporarily enter the city of Quzhou to settle down?"
"Just keep up." Gongsun Xun didn't look back. "If Yuan Shao retreats, there will still be more than ten thousand cavalry in our army. It's a good time to pursue and win. It doesn't hurt to let the boy see it... Besides, since
When you are in the army, how can you avoid fighting behind the scenes? Because he is my son?!"
Lou Gui nodded immediately.
In this way, the entire army crossed the river without mentioning it. When they crossed the Zhang River, they encountered the relief troops sent by Shen Zhengnan of Guangzong City. It turned out that just as they had guessed before, Yuan Shao's entire army had withdrawn from Guangzhou.
After descending from Zongcheng, we crossed the Qinghe River and entered Qinghe County.
Moreover, although Shen Zhengnan had a small number of troops, he made a small attack on the troops behind the palace, captured some survivors, and confirmed a piece of information that made everyone breathe a sigh of relief - Yuan Shao indeed suffered from a headache and was difficult to govern, and as early as
This happened a few days before the retreat, and everyone in Yuan's army knew about it. As for this retreat, there were corresponding rumors among the army.
Leaving aside the rumors, just based on the information we know, Yuan Shao's headache has worsened due to Gongsun Xun's military pressure, so the possibility of giving up military command has always increased, and this retreat is more reasonable.
Two days later, on the ninth day of the first lunar month, Gongsun Xun personally led the vanguard to the gates of Guangzong City. When he saw the Yuan Jun camp, which had been taken over by the judge, he no longer had any doubts and his mood improved a lot... because
In any case, as soon as Yuan Shao retreated, Wei County, Anping, and Hejian were all captured.
However, despite the excitement, Yuan Shao was seriously ill and avoided fighting, and missed the expected victory. This was indeed beyond Gongsun Xun's expectation and a little difficult to accept... because according to his plan, he would always win again no matter what.
A battle to break the opponent's heart.
"Your Majesty, do you want to pursue me?" Cheng Pu, as the commander-in-chief of the army at this time, naturally wanted to confirm the movement of the entire army.
"It is inevitable to cross the river to catch up. The key is to be slow or hasty." It was Shen Pei who spoke, and he responded with a loud voice. As always, he was not polite to anyone, but he always said something meaningful. "Slowly or hastily."
, we can wait for General Guan Yu to defeat several cities such as Dongjun Dunqiu and Weiguo, and then move his army northward from the other side of the Qinghe River. By combining the right and wrong, we will have nothing to fear... But the disadvantage is that the opponent may have already been there by then.
Having done a good job of defense, even if they must have entered various cities in Qinghe County, they still have to attack the city, which gradually becomes more and more laborious; and to rush, they are desperate to take advantage of the opponent's small cavalry and destined to be slow in movement, and directly force the crossing of Qingshui.
, catch up halfway, and attack in the field! The advantage of doing this is that once it succeeds, Yuan Jun will definitely be frightened, and the overall situation in Hebei will be settled! The disadvantage is..."
"The disadvantage is that if we fail to succeed, the situation in Hebei will be reversed. After all, we know nothing about the situation east of Qingshui, so there are some risks." Dong Zhao continued casually. "Zhengnan, we came here in a hurry.
, the enemy troops also suddenly withdrew, and detailed operations in the army are useless. We really don’t have any information on Qinghe, but you have been in Qinghe for a long time, and you are in Guangzong this time. Do you have any explanation?"
Shen Pei shook his head repeatedly: "Gong Ren, you think too much. Do you think everyone is as reserved as you are? I am really powerless in Qinghe. I just raided the opponent's rear army yesterday and followed the opponent to the bank of Qingshui. I could clearly see the opponent.
There should be some soldiers left behind to dig trenches and build camps on the other side of the river..."
"Did the bridge burn down?" Gongsun Xun suddenly remembered something. "I vaguely remember that I came here to level the Yellow Turban before. There is a bridge on the clear water east of Guangzong City..."
"No!" Shen Pei shook his head again. "The clear water is not as good as Zhangshui. The river is too small and it is easy to cross the river. We don't care about a bridge... Then the matter has come to this, why should they show their cowardice?"
Gongsun Xun nodded slightly, still a little hesitant.
"Then hurry up!" At this moment, someone suddenly spoke outside the tent, which caused everyone in the tent to look solemn. "With such hesitation, isn't it like Yuan Shao is worrying about gains and losses? Lords, in every battle, you win by five points.
That’s right, this is what you said back then. Our current situation is more than five points...not to mention that we are still a little short of a victory at this time to break the morale of the other army."
At the end of the story, the person who just entered the tent was Lu Fan and Lu Ziheng, who had been staying in Changping for many years. Since Chang Shi opened his mouth to participate in the military for the first time, everyone in the tent was speechless. They just looked at Gongsun Xun and invited him to come.
Just a decision.
However, many people immediately noticed the eleven or twelve-year-old boy who followed Lu Fan into the tent. The latter was too young and wanted to salute when he entered the tent. However, he was limited by the atmosphere and could only stand there with his hands tied.
In the corner, they waited blankly.
Gongsun Xun also noticed the arrival of his own son, but he didn't take it seriously. He just thought for a moment and nodded to Lu Fan: "As Zi Heng said, hesitation is the most taboo in military affairs. There is no need to avoid fighting at this time... Complete order
Army, keep the troops up all winter, but use them here for only a few days. Tomorrow we will cross the river and break the stronghold! It will be a great success!"
Everyone bowed their heads and obeyed.
————I am the dividing line between not knowing whether I should bow or not————
"Emperor Wen's name is Zigui, and he is also the crown prince of Emperor Wu. He was born in Zhongshan in the late autumn of the third year of Guanghe of the Later Han Dynasty... When the emperor was born, there were blue clouds that were as round as the hood of a car. All day long, those who looked at the aura thought they were the most precious.
Proof. He was eight years old, capable of literature. He had outstanding talents, and he had read the ancient and modern classics and hundreds of books. He was good at riding, shooting, and fencing. At the age of eleven, he carried a sword and joined the army to conquer Taizu. He was a man of that time.
Strange." - "Jiu Yan Shu". Volume 3. The Chronicles of Emperor Taizong Wen
