Chapter 91: The fish is dead and the net is broken, lets leave tonight
Yuan Shao has cavalry.
And there are far more of them than people think.
Historically, he led more than 100,000 elite soldiers, plus logistics, baggage, and civilians, up to 3.5 million troops to conquer Cao Cao in the south.
According to the records of "Three Kingdoms", at that time it was just a general name that Yuan Shao had more than 100,000 infantry and cavalry.
But there are also detailed explanations, saying that Yuan Shao's own cavalry had eight thousand, following Yuan Shao to attack Guandu, and after the failure of the battle of Guandu, they covered Yuan Shao's escape.
There was also Wen Chou who led five or six thousand troops to attack Yanjin, but Xun You used a "bait" tactic. His "five or six thousand cavalry" were defeated by Cao's cavalry of "less than six hundred", and he himself died in the rebellion.
Finally, Yan Liang led tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry to attack Baima. Cao Cao sent Zhang Liao and Guan Yu to attack Yan Liang. Yan Liang did not learn the information until more than ten miles away, so he hurriedly accepted the battle and was killed by Guan Yu.
Although all three were defeated, it can only be said that Cao Cao dealt with it appropriately, not that they had few troops.
Therefore, in careful calculation, Yuan Shao had at least 20,000 cavalry.
It's not much different now.
The vigorous cavalry rumbled in like countless tanks, causing Gongsun Zan, who was in an extremely excited state, to sink to the bottom of his mood.
He knew that Yuan Shao had cavalry, but he didn't expect them to arrive so quickly and in such large numbers.
As the prince who had lived outside the Great Wall for a long time and was most familiar with cavalry, Gongsun Zan only took one look at the billowing dust and smoke and knew that the number of this wave of cavalry could reach at least tens of thousands.
Where did Yuan Shao find so many cavalry?
Gongsun Zan secretly hated him.
What he didn't know was that as early as Wang Fen's period, Yuan Shao had laid the foundation for cavalry.
In order to help his adopted son Lu Bu establish the Bingzhou cavalry, Wang Fen purchased a large number of horses from Xianbei in central China and formed a cavalry brigade of tens of thousands of people.
At that time, Lu Bu was still contending with Guan Yu in the Dangyin area, because when Wang Fen formed the cavalry, Jizhou people were the main body. Therefore, Lu Bu wanted to rebel, but these people would not agree at all.
As a result, Lu Bu could only borrow Zhang Yang's Bingzhou Army, plus the two thousand cavalry he brought from Chang'an, to form an early team to attack Yanzhou.
After Lu Bu left, this group of cavalry naturally belonged to Yuan Shao and became Yuan Shao's first cavalry brigade.
Later, Yuan Shao colluded with Xianbei in central China and began to buy horses on a large scale again.
And it's not hundreds or thousands of horses, but tens of thousands.
Horses are not like people. There are as many cavalry as there are people.
In real life, a cavalry often requires two to three well-trained horses.
It’s not just rotation, there are also problems such as horses being sick, injured, damaged in battles, etc.
Therefore, it often takes 20,000 to 30,000 horses to form a cavalry team of about 10,000 people. Even for this cavalry team, a logistics team of tens of thousands of people must be raised.
Generally speaking, the price of raising one cavalry is enough to raise three to four elite infantry.
This is why Liu Bei never organized a large-scale cavalry, and Gongsun Zan did not dare to hire too many Wuhuan and Xianbei people.
It's really too expensive.
But Yuan Shao is rich.
Wang Fen left him a huge legacy.
As a result, Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan did not rely on others, but relied on their own hands to build a kingdom, but it was comparable to the strength of their successors.
I have to say, this is a kind of irony.
Gongsun Zan looked at the vast dust and smoke in the distance, his face extremely gloomy. After a while, he said in a deep voice: "Start the trumpet."
The desolate sound of trumpets resounded throughout the sky, and the Youzhou cavalrymen who were killing everyone shouted to return to the team.
These cavalry were also veterans of Gongsun Zan's command. Just by hearing the shaking of the ground and the mountains, they knew that a difficult opponent was coming, so they stopped charging long ago and waited for the general's next order.
When the retreat horn sounded, the cavalrymen came in small groups and quickly galloped in the direction of Gongsun Zan, while Gongsun Zan went down the hillside and evacuated to the north.
His white horse and the soldiers carrying the flag behind him became the most conspicuous symbols. Everywhere he passed, there were cavalry following him and returning to the team.
It's like countless streams converging into one river, rushing vastly. It's also like a comet dragging its long tail, shining across the night sky.
All the soldiers gathered behind Gongsun Zan in an orderly manner, and marched away in a mighty manner.
Not long after they left, Yuan Jun's cavalry arrived from behind.
The leader of the team is Yuan Shao's nephew Gao Gan. As an important ace, Yuan Shao's cavalry unit has always been given to his closest confidants.
For example, this time when Yan Liang came to block the Hutuo River, Yuan Shao assigned 5,000 cavalry to him.
The cavalry around them are all led by senior officials.
Since Gongsun Zan likes to arrange cavalry outside the camp to act as surprise troops, when Gao Gan came this time, Yuan Shao originally sent him to go ahead and cooperate with Ju Yi to see if he could find an opportunity to annihilate Gongsun Zan's cavalry wandering nearby.
Unexpectedly, he saw a huge defeat as soon as he came over. Seeing this situation, the senior officials were not sad but happy. He said happily to his deputy general Guo Yuan: "Tsk, tsk, tsk, I didn't expect that Ju Yi would be like this."
Guo Yuan sneered and said: "Ju Yi has always despised us and even disrespected Duke Ming from time to time. Today is a big defeat. The general can insult him and let him know how powerful he is."
"Forget it, now that we are facing a powerful enemy, my uncle still has some use for him."
Gao Gan thought for a while, then snorted coldly: "Hmph, if one day my uncle defeats Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei, he will definitely be killed. This man is just a villain who gets mad when he gets his way, and the soldiers under his command only listen to him, so they don't do anything.
Disobeying my uncle and being so arrogant will lead to death."
"Um."
Guo Yuanshen nodded in agreement.
Since Ge Ting defeated Gongsun Zan, Ju Yi has always been arrogant and looked down on other generals, so his popularity under Yuan Shao's tent was not good.
Moreover, his soldiers are very independent and only listen to Ju Yi, not Yuan Shao.
No one can tolerate this behavior of listening to the tune but not the propaganda.
Now Yuan Shao still has some use for him. If the surrounding enemies like Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei are defeated, it will probably be the time when all the birds are gone.
The senior official ordered the cavalry troops to rest where they were. He, Guo Yuan and dozens of other guards let the horses pass by at a brisk pace.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! At this time, Ju Yi was gathering the remaining soldiers. When he saw Gao Gan coming over, his face was ashen, and he reluctantly showed a smile and said: "Thank you, General Gao, for saving your life."
oh?
The senior officials were puzzled.
Ju Yi has changed his temper.
Why did you suddenly show your kindness to him?
If it had been in the past, I'm afraid he would still have that bad face and wouldn't be able to get rid of him.
But now Yuan Shao still needs Ju Yi, and it is impossible for the senior officials to fall out with him, so he did not make any sarcastic remarks, but got off his horse and said hypocritically: "General Ju, thank you for your hard work. Ming Gong originally sent me to cooperate with you. Let's see if I can
We can't surprise Gongsun Zan's cavalry, who would have expected...sigh."
After saying this, he sighed, as if he was feeling sorry for Ju Yi. Even if Yuan Shao really wanted to use Ju Yi after this battle, he would probably have to punish him to destroy his prestige.
However, Ju Yi said coldly: "If this is the case, General Gao came at the right time. I am about to attack Gongsun Zan, and General Gao can respond from the side."
"Oh, attacking Gongsun...what? What did you say?"
The senior official didn't listen carefully at first, but when he came to his senses, he was shocked and said: "You said you wanted to attack Gongsun Zan!"
Ju Yi looked over from a distance and saw that many of the remaining soldiers had gathered together, about ten thousand people, so he said: "Yes, Gongsun Zan must have thought that we would not dare to attack him again today when he attacked our troops, so this is the time when he is most relaxed."
, if we attack now, we will surely win a complete victory."
"Ju Yi, are you crazy?"
The senior official couldn't bear it anymore and accused him: "You have suffered a big defeat for the first time and your morale is low. If you go to attack now, are you looking for death?"
Ju Yi glanced at him and said coldly: "Do you want to go or not?"
After saying that, he turned around and headed back to his own formation.
"hateful!"
Gao Gan was so angry that his teeth were itching. No wonder Ju Yi gave him a good look just now. It turned out that he hoped that he would send troops to help.
If you object now, others will immediately turn against you. This kind of person is simply a dog-faced person who will turn against you at any time.
"General, what should we do now?"
Guo Yuan asked: "Ju Yi is narrow-minded and only wants to seek revenge on Gongsun Zan. We cannot follow him into danger."
Gongsun Zan was not completely incapable of fighting back. He still had more than 20,000 troops and 5,000 cavalry.
This time Yuan Shao went north and lost a lot of troops in Fuyang City. In addition, Ju Yi was attacked head-on by Gongsun Zan this time, leaving a lot of people for Wen Chou and Zhang He to resist the Qingzhou Army. As a result, Yuan Shao's own troops were less than 50,000.
.
In addition, Yan Liang's troops on the other side of the river only numbered more than 50,000. Compared with Gongsun Zan's more than 20,000 people, although they had a military advantage, they could not say that they could win with 100% certainty.
After all, war is inherently full of unexpected factors. Examples of defeating the large with the small and the weak defeating the strong were numerous before the Qin and Han dynasties.
But now Ju Yi insists on going north to seek revenge on Gongsun Zan immediately. In Guo Yuan's view, this is tantamount to seeking death.
Because his troops had just been defeated, their morale was low. However, Gongsun Zan's troops had a great victory and their morale was high. With this disastrous defeat, Ju Yi, who originally had more than 20,000 people, now only has more than 10,000 people. Even with the addition of
The high-ranking cadres were only as powerful as Gongsun Zan.
Even though the strength of the troops is about the same, if you still attack the enemy's camp with high morale, isn't this looking for death?
Why don't senior officials know this?
But he is very confused now.
Because Ju Yi has always had the independence to make his own decisions, he would listen to orders but not propaganda, and senior officials could not give him orders.
But watching Ju Yi die is not a good thing.
It's not that the senior official didn't want to see Ju Yi die, but he felt sorry for the many elite soldiers under Ju Yi's command and knew that his uncle had always been coveting these soldiers.
As Yuan Shao's most capable general in training, Ju Yi's subordinates were the most brave and adept at fighting. According to historical records, "Yi has been in Liangzhou for a long time, and he has learned Qiang fighting, and his soldiers are all sharp." With so many elite soldiers following him to death, senior officials did not want to
See this situation.
Therefore, senior officials are now faced with a dilemma.
I wanted to persuade Ju Yi not to go, but Ju Yi didn't listen to him at all.
Let him go as he pleases, what will he do with so many soldiers under his command?
And once Ju Yi's entire army is wiped out, it will be another big blow to Yuan Shao.
Originally, the military strength was not completely overwhelming, but when Ju Yi killed more than 10,000 people, the total military strength was even less, and there was even less advantage.
So after thinking about it, the senior officials could only grit their teeth and say: "No, we still have to get through."
"Why!"
Guo Yuan was puzzled: "Can't he just go and die on his own, Ju Yi? Why did he drag us along?"
Gao Gan shook his head and said: "It's one thing for him to die, but his troops cannot be lost. Gongsun Zan still has a lot of troops. In a battle between trapped beasts, the fewer our troops, the more difficult it will be to deal with him."
.”
"What do you mean, General?"
Guo Yuan asked tentatively.
Gao Gan chuckled and said, "You said, if Ju Yi dies in the chaos, then his subordinates..."
"oh."
Guo Yuan showed a meaningful smile and said: "When killing enemies on the battlefield, there are always surprises. Even a general is not immune to this."
"Walk!"
Gao Gan waved his hand and turned back.
Ju Yi had already summoned his troops and was preparing to let the soldiers rest for a while and regain their strength before attacking Gongsun Zan.
Naturally, he, a senior official, could not be idle. He had to send someone to inform Yuan Shao while preparing to act together with Ju Yi.
Time passed minute by minute.
The night is gradually approaching.
At this time, Gongsun Zan held a banquet in the camp.
Because there might be a decisive battle tomorrow and the day after, everyone did not drink strong alcohol and replaced it with extremely low-alcohol liquor.
However, this victory still made all the soldiers happy, and they couldn't help but have a few drinks.
Although Tian Yu felt that drinking before the war was inappropriate, he thought about it and finally decided not to spoil the fun. After all, he also believed that no one in the world would dare to come and make a surprise attack overnight after being defeated.
"Ming Gong's return with a great victory has dampened Yuan Shao's spirit. As long as we hold on for a few more days and reinforcements arrive, we can make Yuan Shao look good."
Subordinate Tian Kai said with a smile.
Gongsun Zan nodded and said thoughtfully: "I have ordered people to sneak back to Youzhou. After Nanlou receives the letter, I estimate that people will be sent to help me soon."
It turns out that Gongsun Zan did not do anything during this period.
Zhuo County is now in chaos. His younger brother Gongsun Yue and his subordinate Zou Dan rose up to resist and fought against Xianbei in the central region. When he learned the news earlier, Gongsun Zan had already sent a letter to ask for help.
The Wuhuan Huqi responded to the call and sent men and horses to help Gongsun Yue. The two sides were evenly matched and the fight was bloody. The result has not yet been determined.
However, Gongsun Zan knew that this was the result of the Wuhuan tribes' unwillingness to use their full strength. After all, he was suddenly in trouble, and all the tribes also raised the price, raising the original price a lot, and sending out a lot fewer soldiers.
Although he was tricked by the Wuhuan tribe, Gongsun Zan could only grit his teeth and swallow it. After all, he had been in business for many years and understood what businessman thinking is. It is the norm in the business world to raise prices on the ground. In front of capital, don't think about talking nonsense.
conscience.
When asking for help this time, Gongsun Zan found the Nanlou tribe, the largest tribe in Wuhuan, and offered a very high price.
As long as Nanlou agrees to the price, reinforcements are expected to arrive soon.
When the time comes, he will definitely not be without the strength to fight.
"Yuan Shao is frustrated and must reorganize his soldiers before he can continue the attack. I think we should stabilize the camp and never be defeated by Yuan Shao before reinforcements arrive."
Tian Yu gave his opinion.
"Um."
Gongsun Zan took it seriously and said: "You can put the baggage carriages in the front camp. If the front camp is not well guarded, set it on fire to delay the time."
"You can also dig trenches in the middle camp and lay out a lot of traps. If Yuan Shao comes to attack, he will be unable to move even an inch."
"The general can also dispatch from the rear camp and use the cavalry to make a surprise attack on his grain road."
The generals gave their opinions one after another.
This victory greatly improved their morale and gave them hope of victory.
At this moment, a soldier suddenly came from outside and reported: "General!"
"Come in."
Gongsun Zan shouted.
The soldier led several people in and said: "Liu Shijun's messenger is here."
"oh?"
Gongsun Zan was overjoyed and said, "Is Xuande here?"
The scout who came to report the news raised his hands and said: "General Gongsun, my Ming Gong has arrived twenty miles away to meet the general. Please leave tonight."
Leaving tonight?
Gongsun Zan wondered: "Where is Xuande?"
The scout said: "The road to the north has been blocked by Yuan Shao. The merchant ships that Ming Gong used to go to Youzhou, Qingzhou, took the sea route. They have arrived at the outlet of the Hutuo River and are waiting for the general. We will send the general to Youzhou and wait for the general to gather his troops.
Let’s attack Yuan Shao together.”
"Have you arrived at the outlet of Hutuo River?"
Gongsun Zan was surprised and happy. He stood up and laughed and said: "Okay, okay, give me the order to break up camp tonight and let's go back to Youzhou."
"only!"
When the soldiers heard that they no longer had to fight to the death, they were all very happy and followed the orders one after another.
At this moment, the generals led them back to their respective camps and prepared to leave.
And at this time.
After finishing their rest, Ju Yi's troops took advantage of the darkness and sneaked up to Gongsun Zan's camp...