On the eastern front, on the route to Xuzhou, although Yuan Shao also sent heavy generals and troops, Yuan Shao himself and his most elite troops were still fighting against Cao Cao in the middle reaches of the Yellow River at Baima and Yanjin, as well as in other Central Plains areas.
Cao's army fought vigorously at the main port of Hebei.
Because in Yuan Shao's mind, although the pottery merchant was talented and the leader of the next generation, in his subconscious, he still believed that Cao Cao was more dangerous than the pottery merchant.
This is normal, after all, Cao Cao is a good friend who grew up with Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao is far more familiar with Cao Cao than he is familiar with the pottery merchant, and he also understands the dangers of Cao Cao better.
No matter how capable and talented Tao Shang is, he is just a kid in his twenties. In Yuan Shao's view, Tao is still a little behind compared to himself and Cao Cao.
Therefore, Yuan Shao came to deal with Cao Cao himself and handed over the Yellow River port that the pottery merchant was responsible for to his Hebei generals.
No matter how talented the pottery merchant is, he is far behind compared to the thousands of good generals under his command.
Unfortunately, some things are not as satisfactory as he thought.
Yuan Shao and Cao Cao fought several times, and both sides won and lost. However, after all, Yuan Shao had more soldiers and generals. Although Cao Cao's army was elite, there was indeed a gap in numbers. As time went by, Yuan Shao's army began to gain an advantage, and the balance began to gradually shift to the north.
tilt.
Yuan Shao personally took command of the battle at Baima Crossing, and ordered his elite soldiers to attack several times. However, Cao Cao was no ordinary person, and he blocked Yuan Shao's soldiers from Baima Cross.
"It's great to hide this from Cao Ah!" Yuan Shao was sitting in the commander's tent, muttering angrily to himself. The counselors and generals below did not dare to speak, for fear of offending him if they didn't say anything right.
"Send orders to Qu Yi and Wen Chou to immediately add more troops from the rear. Yuan will crush Cao Cao to death."
Jushou hesitated for a moment and said: "General, we already have hundreds of thousands of generals in the army. The current recruitment and deployment of men in Hebei is really too much. General, you can't increase the number of soldiers... Otherwise, the people will suffer
If the tax is too heavy, it may cause chaos."
"What a joke!" Yuan Shao frowned and said, "It's a matter of unification of the world and peace within the country. What's the point of paying taxes for two more years? After two years of hard work, you can have peace for the rest of your life. This simple truth, how can the people?
Don't you understand? Besides, with the strength of Hebei, even if we have millions of soldiers, why not?"
Jushou couldn't help but smile bitterly after hearing this.
People from different walks of life see things from different perspectives. People just want to have enough food and clothing. Many farming people really don't understand what Yuan Shao said.
But Ju Shou could not continue to say this, because Yuan Shao's anger had obviously reached the critical point, and continuing to say it would only be counterproductive.
Just as everyone was discussing what to do next, a scout hurriedly came outside the commander's tent to ask for a meeting.
"Reporting to the general, General Jiang Qi's troops at Licheng on the east line of the Yellow River were defeated. General Jiang was hit by an arrow from Tao's army and was seriously injured!"
Yuan Shao was shocked when he heard this.
Not only him, but all the civil and military officials in the tent were also a little confused.
Yuan Shang has many soldiers under his command, and Jiang Qi is one of the best. Although he is not as famous as Qu Yi, Zhang He, Wen Chou and others, he is by no means an ordinary person. It is an exaggeration to say that he has experienced hundreds of battles, but
Having gone through dozens of battles, that's definitely something.
How could such a person suddenly be defeated after less than a month since he went to Licheng?
"Who is the general Tao Jun who guards Licheng?"
Yuan Shao looked around and asked.
Guo Tu, who had always been responsible for spying on Yuan Jun's intelligence, heard this and stood up and said: "General, Tao Shang will dispatch all the troops and horses under his command to guard the passes. The generals in Licheng are Jiang Qin and Ling Cao.
.”
"Jiang Qin? Ling Cao?" Yuan Shao frowned and said, "Are these two people very impressive?"
Guo Tu immediately replied: "Jiang Qin is the captain of the navy under Tao Shang. It is said that he was born as a water thief in Jiujiang, and Ling Cao was born in the southeast. The two are not well-known, but they have some real abilities... But if we talk about him
The two of them were able to defeat Jiang Qi so quickly, I'm afraid..."
Tian Feng stepped out of the office and said: "General, I feel that something is not right about the war in Licheng."
"Oh?" Yuan Shao turned his head, looked at Tian Feng and said, "How do you say this?"
Tian Feng said: "Jiang Qin and Ling Cao are generals under the pottery merchant. It should be good to have the skills of the pottery merchant. However, I have not heard that they have accomplished any great achievements in so many years. Thinking about it, there is nothing surprising.
With their abilities, they should not be able to defeat Jiang Qi."
Yuan Shao suddenly realized something and came back to his senses, saying: "What Yuan Hao means is that there is someone helping these two people?"
After all, Tian Feng was a wise man in the world and had good strategies: "All the important generals under Tao Shang have come out. Only he and Guo Jia and Chen Deng are still in Kaiyang City. There has been no movement from the high officials.
, and the potter has always been cunning, could he?"
Yuan Shao frowned when he heard this: "You mean, the pottery merchant has left Kaiyang?"
Tian Feng pondered for a long time and said: "I'm just guessing... Maybe Guo Jia or Chen Deng arrived in Licheng, maybe."
Yuan Shao tapped the table gently with his fingers and frowned.
However, Pang Ji stood up and remonstrated: "General, in my humble opinion, whether Tao Shang is in Kaiyang or not at the moment, we will know after a test."
Yuan Shao turned to look at him: "How to try it?"
Pang Ji had been captured alive before. Now he was ridiculed for this incident and was ranked last among the eight masterminds of the Yuan family. Now he finally found an opportunity to redeem his reputation and hurriedly remonstrated:
"The general can send people to pass the message quickly and ask the high officials in Qi to try to attack Kaiyang and test the opponent's strength. If the pottery merchant is still in Kaiyang, then let the high officials continue to stalemate with the pottery merchant. But if
When it was found that the pottery merchant was not there... the general immediately ordered the high officials to attack Kaiyang and capture the Langya Kingdom in one fell swoop."
"Well, that's a very good statement." Yuan Shao agreed.
…
A letter was carried straight to the ground by Yuan Jun's fast horse and delivered to the high official as quickly as possible.
After the senior cadre got the letter, he was in a bit of trouble.
Gao Gan is very talented, but he is good at defense but not good at offense.
He also has a very clear understanding of himself.
A high-ranking cadre in history guarded the territory for seven years after taking charge of Bingzhou. When Cao Cao conquered the four prefectures, the high-ranking cadre successfully resisted Cao Jun's general Le Jin. He defended Huguan alone and fought against Cao Cao's army for eight months.
, he is said to be the number one city-defending general in Hebei, and he is well deserved.
But when it comes to offense, he is far behind. This also depends on his character.
The senior cadre was thinking about it right now. It was not impossible to test the pottery merchant, but what if he fell into the pottery merchant's plan?
The senior official frowned and sighed.
His cousin Gao Rou came to Qidi with Gao Gan this time. When Gao Rou first returned to Yuan Shao, he also persuaded the wise and powerful generals from all over the world to join Gao Gan and expanded Gao Gan's team. He can be said to be Gao Gan's right-hand man.
"Brother, why are you so worried?"
Gao Gan said: "The general asked me to send troops to test Kaiyang City to see if the pottery merchant was bluffing and left Kaiyang."
After hearing this, Gao Rou said: "Brother, this is not a bad thing. After this, all the generals in Bingzhou have not made any achievements, and they are very anxious. According to my foolish brother's opinion, let the generals go and fight against Tao's army now."
, even if the potter himself is here, he may not lose."