Not to mention Cao Cao couldn't believe it, Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, Chen Qun and other civil and military officials also couldn't believe it!
They had just mobilized an army to enter Xuzhou. Before the second batch of armies could be mobilized, let alone a close encounter with Liu Bei, their own Taishan County was lost?
And it was lost so silently!
Yes, Taishan County has always been in a state of overcrowding. It has many mountains and few plains. It is not rich in grain production, has many bandits, and has inconvenient transportation...
But no matter how many shortcomings Taishan County has, it is still Taishan County of Yanzhou, not Liu Bei’s Taishan County!
What's more, although Taishan County has many shortcomings, one thing is that it is a strategic location. Whoever truly captures this place can take the strategic initiative.
Taishan County can attack Qingzhou Licheng and Linzi to the north.
From Taishan County to the south, you can attack Xuzhou Langxie County and govern Kaiyang.
To the west of Taishan County, you can attack Sheqiu, Gangxian, Zhangxian, and Dongping in Yanzhou along the Wen River. Jibei Kingdom, Dongping Kingdom, and Jiyin County are all on the offensive route.
The most important thing is that this is Juye Ze, the main grain producing area in Yanzhou. It has been the place where people in the Central Plains have gathered since ancient times. It is the hometown of Emperor Yan, Jingwei's reclamation of the sea is mentioned here, and it is also here where the Yellow Emperor fought against Chi You. Chi You was killed and his body was destroyed.
There are two burial places, one on the south bank of Onozawa, nine miles northeast of present-day Juye City, and one on the east bank of Onozawa.
Once Liu Bei attacks Yanzhou through Taishan County, the entire Yanzhou, except Dongjun, will be within the radiation range. Let alone capture Xuzhou, the entire Yanzhou will probably be left in the cold.
The reason why we didn’t pay attention to Mount Tai before was ultimately due to the problem of the Taishan thieves. There are millions of Taishan thieves, and no one dares to lead an army to pass through Mount Tai rashly. That is tantamount to putting food routes and logistics on the Taishan thieves’ knife edge, which is purely seeking death!
Cao Cao and his group simply couldn't figure out when and how Liu Bei defeated these million Taishan thieves!
This is different from the Yellow Turban bandits on the plains. As I said before, the party and state couldn't do it back then, and they can't do it now either.
No one can answer how the irritable wife Cao Taishan was lost, just like no one knows why Qingzhou developed so fast.
"My lord, the problem now is not how Taishan was lost. Liu Bei was able to defeat the four million Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou so quickly. What's the secret to timing it? If there had been a plan in place, it would not be difficult to deal with the millions of bandits in Mount Tai." Xun Yu was the most popular one.
The first person to recover from the frightened and angry mood immediately reminded Cao Cao, "The problem now is to deal with Liu Bei's possible attack on Yanzhou using Mount Tai as his base."
Breathe in!
Cao Cao took two deep breaths and then nodded to Xun Yu, "Wen Ruo reminds me that I can't distinguish priorities."
"I suggest that while sending spies towards Taishan County to understand the situation in Taishan County, we can also transfer the troops and horses that are going to be mobilized to Xuzhou to Wenyang County of Lu State to cut off the Wenshui River and Lu County to cut off the land route.
When it is clear that Liu Bei's side is false and true, I do not recommend rushing into the army." Xun You analyzed.
Cheng Yu also nodded and gave suggestions from his own perspective, "Indeed, the Taishan side can be passively defensive, but the Xuzhou side should speed up the progress and try to block Liu Bei in Qingzhou. I am afraid that Liu Bei will use a two-pronged approach and has already sent troops.
It’s evil.”
"It's best to urge Yuan Shao. If he launches his force from Pingyuan County, then Liu Bei will have to maintain a defensive posture in Mount Tai to deal with Yuan Shao's army." Chen Qun thought of a solution from the external environment.
"Hahaha, I have all of you, why should I be afraid of those people who weave mats and sell shoes!" Cao Cao laughed non-stop. There were many talents under his command, and they could quickly come up with countermeasures to compensate for each other.
Cao Cao made a three-pronged attack, and Yuan Shao was also a little surprised, so he sped up his actions to a certain extent.
Today, when Liu Xie is dead and the Han Dynasty no longer exists, the prince Liu Bei seems very annoying. As a prince, who doesn't have great ambitions?
On the other side, just as Liu Bei was dispatching, Zhao Yun and his 30,000 troops had just set off from Linqu. Wang Xuan, who was stationed in Linzi, received intelligence from Jizhou.
The entire Jizhou was the most ruthlessly infiltrated state by intelligence agencies. Unlike Cao Cao who only mobilized troops, Yuan Shao was detected by intelligence agencies as soon as he started mobilizing food, grass and troops.
Looking at the information, Wang Xuan was also a little bit embarrassed. Damn it, I didn't expect the situation to become so serious!
What is currently facing Wang Xuan is that he needs to use the power of Qingzhou to deal with Yuan Shao who occupies Youzhou in Jizhou and merge the state with him, and at the same time deal with Cao Cao who occupies half of Yuzhou in Yanzhou and is about to capture Xuzhou. This is simply a matter of using one state.
Even if Qingzhou has a strong foundation, it will never be able to cope with half of the Han Dynasty.
"Zhao Yun's troops should be withdrawn. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are attacking. We should defend first." Pei Qian frowned and said.
Looking at the civil servants who were still in Linzi, Wang Xuan shook his head, "In the current situation, it is absolutely impossible to defend on both sides. If we defend for a long time, we will lose. This is not only a matter of strength, but also a matter of momentum. Once we give up,
Everyone thinks you can’t do it, then you really can’t!”
"The current situation can only be one defense and one attack, and we must first completely eliminate all the princes along the way."
"What if when we attack one side with all our strength, the other side increases its troops?" Jia Kui asked.
"Do you think, if we show the strength to defeat both sides, will Cao Cao completely trust Yuan Shao, or will Yuan Shao fully trust Cao?" Wang Xuan's mouth was filled with a trace of ridicule.
"Uh..." Jia Kui shook his head after thinking for a moment. Trust is impossible without stabbing him in the back.
"Neither Yuan Shao nor Cao Cao can attract the wrath of our army for the sake of each other." Guo Jia then judged, "The most likely thing is to take the opportunity to expand our own strength and wait for the other two sides to suffer losses before intervening."
"Xiao Liang, what do you think?" Wang Xuan looked at Zhuge Liang with a smile.
Zhuge Liang's mouth twitched, but he replied seriously: "I don't know the specific strength of our side, but against Yuan Shao or Cao Cao, whichever side has the greatest advantage and can maximize gains while minimizing losses, then we will send troops to that side."
"How can you look so old-fashioned at such a young age? It's really boring!" Wang Xuan glared at Zhuge Liang and turned back, "You don't think so!"
"Yuan Shao!"
"Yuan Shao!"
Almost everyone agreed that Yuan Shao should be attacked first. After all, if Cao Cao was defeated, Zhang Ji would be able to help at most. It would depend on Liu Biao's mentality. If Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan, Lu Bu, and Zhang Ji were to be defeated, they could all contribute.
Moreover, since ancient times, conquering the world has always been from the north to the south, rather than from south to north. After all, there are a large number of horse-producing areas in the north, and the cavalry, as the king of land warfare, has a huge advantage in both attacking and pursuing.
.
After the discussion was finalized, Wang Xuan's first order was to send to Taixiang, asking Gan and Ning's navy to stop and wait for follow-up orders. The second order was to immediately send people to Mount Tai to look for Liu Bei.
Liu Bei did give Wang Xuan arbitrary power, but Wang Xuan didn't want to use it. It was too troublesome!