The attack on Zhang He's troops was launched in the morning, and the other two places in Xushui and Quanzhou were launched in the afternoon. It didn't take too long before and after, because the combat effectiveness of Yuan Shao's army was really poor.
Furthermore, these defenders have been stationed here for a long time and are too familiar with General Wang's rule. Many of the scouts have even chatted with Wang Yan's scouts and have always heard that there are many good things here. After these scouts go back, they will also reveal it during chatting. After all, it's not that far away, so if you're brave enough, you can go and take a closer look.
Unlike Yuan Shao's side, the people on Wang Yan's side lived not far from the military camp. If you can see the military camp, you can see the village. You can clearly see what the houses are like, what the land is like, and how lively it is every day.
The reason for this was Wang Yan's deliberate instruction, to let people see how prosperous and powerful they were, and also because of his consistent purpose, which was to keep the war outside his own land and fight the war on other people's territory.
For this reason, in the past ten years, he did not build any city, nor expanded any city. He even demolished the gates of all cities and only made necessary repairs to the city walls.
In fact, people are allowed to walk up and around the city wall in Jixian County. But most of them were children, running around on the city wall like crazy. It’s really not surprising that adults come here once and then don’t want to come back again.
It is this decision that makes the military and civilians united and willing to fight to the end to protect their property and life safety. Because there are no city gates, in the event of a war, it would be impossible for officials to run to the city and hide. Everyone is on the same line, so their hearts will be balanced and they will have fighting spirit...
Therefore, when Yuan Shao's sergeants found that they could not defeat Huang Zhong and Zhou Cang's attack, they simply chose to surrender. Not many people even escaped. This is the important role of propaganda.
Wang Yan didn't know exactly what gave Yuan Shao the courage to decide to go to war, but he thought about it roughly on his heels. It was nothing more than occupying the land of three states with a population of tens of millions. If he died, he could even recruit seven people. The eight hundred thousand troops gave Yuan Shao the illusion that he was very powerful, so that he bravely said no to General Wang.
But obviously, the reality is very cruel. In order to prepare, Yuan Shao stationed 50,000 troops in Xushui, Gaoyang, and Quanzhou. Among them, Gaoyang has the largest number, with two generals, Zhang He and Gao Lan, commanding 20,000 troops.
Xushui and Quanzhou each have fifteen thousand troops. In fact, both places originally had about 10,000 people. Later, Huang Zhong defeated Qu Yi in a battle. No one will underestimate Qu Yi. After all, Qu Yi is also a capable warrior, and the people on Yuan Shao's side still know that. So they learned the lesson and each added 5,000 troops. Huang Zhong, who had made a name for himself in one battle, was given special attention.
So the current situation is that General Wang has not used all his strength, and no tactics, strategies, tactics, etc. have been used. He has already relied on the three guards and 20,000 troops to attack directly and captured Yuan Shao's 50,000 troops. horse.
Of course, there must be some element of unpreparedness here. After all, Wang Yan directly captured Zhang He. The army here did not form a battle formation immediately due to the lack of generals and deputy generals. Zhang He also went to tell Gao Lan to surrender, which made Gao Lan gave up resistance. If not, Zhang He and Gao Lan are not useless, and it would still be very difficult to defeat their 20,000 troops in one battle.
Previously, Taishi Ci beat Zhang Yang back and forth for half a month at Yanmen Pass. At that time, Taishi Ci was commanding a guard and horses, and Zhang Yang had 20,000. The situation was not much different from the current situation, but the terrain was different. Even Zhang Yang's men were not as powerful as Zhang He and Gao Lan.
This time the defeated army captured more than 30,000 people, but they were not included in the labor force because the actual situation did not allow it. Militias are being mobilized from all over the country. If these people cause trouble, it will be difficult to deal with it, which will affect the stability of the government and destroy production.
Therefore, together with the militiamen recruited this time, they were broken up and organized into various ministries, and the recruited militiamen were coerced into fighting together. In this way, it not only solves the problem of placement of captured soldiers, but also solves the problem of military strength. At the same time, these captured soldiers can also be militarily transformed to make them what they want.
The only fly in the ointment may be the problem of food and grass. The cost of food and grass for the war was too terrible. If Wang Yan hadn't been stable for so many years and still had some wealth in his hands, he wouldn't have been able to support it.
Therefore, in order to reduce the loss of food, Wang Yan only expanded the troops of Weiwu, Xuanwu, and Guangwu to ten thousand people, with these three guards as the main force, fighting from the front. The rest of the newly recruited troops and prisoners were used as second-line troops. Responsibilities include but are not limited to killing nobles, officials, and knights, maintaining normal local production order, handling prisoner issues, escorting grain and fodder to the front line, and providing support to the front line.
In fact, as of today, Wang Yan's army has become quite powerful in combat effectiveness. His military age is from twenty to thirty-two years old. He will be discharged before he reaches a certain position.
As of today, it has been ten years since he started his business. It can be said that most of the soldiers in the army have retired. Even the earliest batch is only forty-two years old now. These people are all police lieutenants and still have combat requirements. Although he is over forty years old, his fighting ability is actually sufficient. He is a serious veteran. This group of people, when pulled out, are all tiger and wolf masters.
On the other hand, the militia system has been in effect for ten years, and there are still many people who have never served as regular soldiers, and these people are all over thirty-two years old. This group of people has also been undergoing training, but the training intensity is not as high as before Thirty-Two. They still have fighting ability.
It's just that this time Wang Yan recruited young men who already had children, not the old guys.
As for the management of the conquered land, although the current talent pool is still insufficient, compared with the previous difficulties when conquering Youzhou, the current situation is much better.
Although education is still not universal, eight years have passed and a large number of people who can write and calculate have been trained. Moreover, among the grassroots township pavilions, there are also many officials who have excellent professional skills and are qualified to do their jobs. At this time, they are all grassroots talents who can be used to stabilize and manage the newly added land and population.
After a few years of stability and some food saved, enough to support the army's expedition, this was Wang Yan's confidence to further force Yuan Shao. If there is no war, how can soldiers get to the top? How do junior officials get promoted? How to ensure the talent echelon?
However, if Yuan Shao gives the people and land, he will not continue to fight this time. Instead, he will operate for two years, digest the population and land, and continue to force Yuan Shao southward. Anyway, there is no end.
Now that Yuan Shao thinks he can do it, General Wang can only reluctantly obtain the population and land he wants, and he needs more...
"Zhang He and Gao Lan deserve to die!"
Yuan Shao flipped the table again, wanting to order the death of the two family members. After thinking about the torture he would face if he didn't win, he decided to keep a line.
Such thoughts are not clear, so I can only be angry alone.
He ordered: "Yan Liang and Wen Chou are the chief generals, and Gao Gan, Gao Rou, Dong Zhao, and Han Meng are the deputy generals. Each of them leads 70,000 troops and is the king of the Northern Expedition. Guo Tu, Feng Ji, Xin Ping, and Shen Pei are the army. Sima, go out with the army. Tian Feng, Ju Shou and others prepare food, grass and weapons, recruit sergeants, and mobilize the armies of Ji, Qing, and Yanzhou to defeat the king's thieves and vent the hatred in my heart.
Gentlemen, please do not disturb the morale of the army. From now on, if anyone dares to surrender to the king and his thieves again, he will be killed! "
In the past time, Yuan Shao had not been idle and had been reorganizing his army, but now Wang Yan did not show any martial ethics and came directly to kill him. He had no choice but to deal with it. In fact, his troops have also been mobilized, but they have not reached the place yet. In the past, they were afraid that a caravan would betray their actions, so they were more cautious. Now that the king thief strikes first, the response will naturally be faster.
In fact, quite a few of the capitulationists below want to persuade them again. The news they have received now is that Gaoyang and Xushui have little resistance and will collapse at the first touch. The same is true for Quanzhou. Fifty thousand soldiers and horses were defeated just like that, without even thinking about it?
They all knew Yuan Shao thoroughly, and they were convinced by Yuan Shao's current state. But they really didn't dare to say it. After all, the sword was in Yuan Shao's hand, and it would not be a crime to have the sacrificial flag cut off at this time. Moreover, there were military generals who were staunchly fighting, so talking at this time was useless.
Reluctantly, they had no choice but to start doing things. They need to study strategies and how to fight Wang Yan.
The battlefield is the vast North China Plain. Here, in addition to urban battles, there are head-to-head field battles. The situation on the battlefield changes at any time, so the strategies studied by many people at the back are actually of little use. Mainly relying on the generals ordered by Yuan Shao, as well as Guo Tu and other army commanders, they were able to keenly capture fighter opportunities on the battlefield, mobilize various forces, and attack the king's thieves.
However, it cannot be said that the people who stay are trash. They are all wise people. Although they are inevitably stupid, they all have vision.
While each was performing his duties and dedicating all the efforts of the three states to defeat the king's thief, Xu You discussed with a group of people and came up with a strategy.
On this day, Yuan Shao was drinking in front of the map, and the king's troops advanced too quickly. After finishing the battle in Xushui and Gaoyang, they ignored the cities in between and went straight into the Julu Kingdom and Anping Kingdom, which are the heart of Jizhou. They have already fought against Yan Liang and others, and the main battlefields are these two places. On the Quanzhou side, Bohai County is being wiped out at a very fast pace. The other armies seemed to be made of paper and could not resist at all.
Fortunately, Yan Liang, Wen Chou and others are currently under control of the situation, preventing the king's thieves from going south, and more troops and horses are also concentrating on the front line. The campaign against the king's thief has been made known to the world, and it has been agreed with Cao Cao. As expected, Cao Cao cherished his reputation and did not take the opportunity to take action. Instead, he continued to capture Yuan Shu and Liu Biao, and even launched an offensive far beyond what he had done before.
Lao Cao is the sensible person.
Liu Bei also formed an alliance with Cao Cao, crossed the river to join Yuan Shu, and started a battle with Sun Ce, who had just started his business. Obviously, Liu Bei is also a sensible person. In fact, he has been very sensible since he left Liaodong...
Xu You stepped forward and said: "My lord, the main force of the current Northern Expedition must be in Youzhou. You may send troops to attack Taiyuan, take Yanmen, or attack Guangchang (Laiyuan) and go straight to Jixian, and the battle will be successful. Even if it fails, , it can also contain the king's bandit troops and consume their food and grass. I am close to Taiyuan, and the bandits are far away from Taiyuan, so they will surely make a profit."
Yuan Shao stared at the map for a while, nodded, said hello, and then sent an order to Chunyu Qiong, who was heading north, to lead 30,000 troops straight into Taiyuan. At the same time, Zhang Yang was ordered to move out of Huguan to mobilize troops. He also wrote to Zhang Yan, hoping to unite with the Black Mountain Army and attack Taiyuan, hoping to seize Yanmen Pass and kill him.
Chunyu Qiong was originally in Yanzhou to guard against Cao Cao. Now Cao Cao cherishes his reputation and dare not take action, so he naturally mobilizes his main force to go north to fight against the king's thief. Now that we have just left Yanzhou, we can directly lead the troops into action. Zhang Yan is the leader of the Black Mountain Army, the largest leader, and the other Black Mountain Army have stolen their names.
Of course the life of the Black Mountain Army was not good. Over the years, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Zhang Yang had been catching them and beating them up to gain experience. It can not only train the army, increase the population, but also gain back some resources.
A few years ago, Wang Yan occupied Yanmen Pass and opened up a road from Jixian to Yanmen within the Taihang Mountains. Zhao Yun also began to clean up Taiyuan and crack down on illegal armed forces. As a result, many bandits came out to join Wang Yan, which made life very difficult for Zhang Yan and others. They definitely couldn't defeat Zhao Yun, but they couldn't surrender, because surrendering meant death, and it would be very uncomfortable to not go up or down. Moreover, the subordinates began to have different ideas, and the team was very difficult to lead.
As for the offensive route, there are eight passes in Taihang Mountain, that is, eight passes that are easy to defend but difficult to attack, namely Jundu Xing, Puyin Xing, Feihu Xing, Jingxing, Fukou Xing, Baixing, Taihang Xing, and Zhiguan Xing. These eight wells are strategically important places, and military strategists in all dynasties have fought here. Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, this Baxing has been a very important place.
In terms of distribution, Wang Yan occupies three of these eight towns. Starting from Jingxing, they are all Yuan Shao's territory. There is also a famous pass in Jingxing, Niangzi Pass. However, the name Niangzi Pass did not come into being until the Tang Dynasty. Princess Pingyang led her troops to garrison here, hence the name. It is now called Weize Pass, west of Shijiazhuang. The passes going south from here are all under Yuan Shao's control.
When Wang Yan took Yanmen before, he didn't have the courage to go over the mountain to help Zhang Yang, because he was afraid that Wang Yan would go south. Now it's the other way around. He wants to send troops to Taiyuan and steal Wang Yan's hometown.
Xu You's suggestions and Yuan Shao's decisions are of course very good and very feasible.
So when Zhang Yang went out, he was beaten by the troops led by Zhang Wu. Zhang Wu's fighting ability was indeed not good, so Wang Yan sent him a school captain, Zhang Liao. With more than 6,000 troops, in cooperation with the local militia, and under the instructions of Guo Jia, who was based in Taiyuan, Zhang Wu completed his mission brilliantly.
As for Chunyu Qiong and Zhang Yan, there are also people to deal with them, namely Zhao Yun, Liao Hua, and Dian Wei.
Wang Yan can be called a cunning old man. Although he is careless most of the time, he still wants to conquer the world. A decision will affect the lives of soldiers and civilians. Of course, he has carefully considered everything. Whatever Yuan Shao could think of, he would definitely take care of it.
And to be honest, his formation is defensive-oriented. What stands out is playing steadily and staying the same to cope with changes. Just like the battle at Julu, Huang Zhong and Taishi Ci were in the front, followed by a large number of militiamen and supplies. If they were damaged in the battle, they would replenish their troops. If they were surrounded, the army would rush to rescue them.
If there are no accidents, then relying on Huang Zhong, Taishi Ci, and Zhou Cang on the other hand, these three generals will be interspersed in the front, and the large forces behind will continue to follow, advance, and manage.
However, the current Julu battlefield is actually not going well because Yan Liangwen Chou has many troops. They increased their troops closer to each other and prepared in advance. Relatively speaking, although Wang Yan also prepared in advance, his territory was so large that it would take a long time to mobilize troops from the grasslands and Liaodong. But for now, the problem is not big and we can deal with it easily.
On the Taiyuan side, Wang Yan also deployed heavy troops, including the most powerful Xiaoqi Battalion and Xuanjia Battalion...
Chunyu Qiong and the Heishan army divided into three groups and advanced from multiple passes. He himself went to Weize Pass in Jingxing. This road is not easy because it is steep and narrow. The army has both food and horses, so it does not pass quickly.
Coming out of the customs is Yu County, and to the south of Yu County is Jinyang (Taiyuan City).
Taiyuan County was brought under Wang Yan's rule for a relatively short period of time, just one year. But it is this year that is enough for people here to understand what a good life is. Farming is taxed one ten times, and you can also buy new seeds with higher yields on credit. Salt is cheap, cloth is cheap, oil is slightly more expensive, and there is no labor. You are paid for work, and the money can be spent on grain. People who buy food in stores have never had such a good time.
Therefore, they admired the officials in green shirts and the non-aggressive troops in armor, and they were even more enthusiastic about General Tianwu, whom they had never met before. Every household had a longevity plaque.
Wang Yan is clear about this. Basically every household supports him.
The people here are living a hard life. The Black Mountain bandits and the Southern Huns were rampaging before and they robbed everything. The population here is actually not much, and they have all gone into the mountains to become thieves.
But it was different now. They were wearing armor, holding various weapons, formed a battle formation, and followed a group of knights who were covered in iron armor, even the BMW they were sitting on.
This is a valley, the shortest road from Yu County to Jinyang.
Dian Wei stood on the slope holding a pair of halberds, spying on what was going on in the valley from a distance. Dian Wei likes his current position very much. He trains with a bunch of tough guys every day, which makes him very happy. And he didn't need to use his brain. Just like now, Guo Jia told him to wait here. If he didn't wait for anyone, then just go to the other side, simple and direct.
Time passed little by little, and soon he saw several groups of enemy scouts approaching from the mountain. When he saw the person, Dian Wei turned around and left because he was one of his own.
He strolled to the foot of the mountain, and his men put heavy armor on him, jumped on the horse, holding an iron halberd in one hand.
"Give the order!"
As his words fell, the knights beside him waved their flag-draped horses.
Then, Dian Wei covered the ghost face, clamped the horse's belly with his legs, shouted loudly, and the tall horse snorted and started running slowly.
As it moved, the beetles fluttered and rustled, and the horse's pace became faster and faster.
The knights on the horse said nothing, holding the resisting horses tightly under their armpits, and they remained silent. More than a thousand armored war horses were on the same frequency, shaking the earth with rumble. The silence of the knights was deafening.
In the valley, Yuan Shao's army was panicking and hurriedly turning their horses. The leader was Chunyu Qiong.
Heavy cavalry was not very fast because the burden was too heavy. But the sound of the heavy and powerful horse's hooves was like the Lord of Hell beating a drum, reaching people's hearts.
Dian Wei charged forward, knocking off an enemy knight who was still stunned with his halberd, and went straight to kill the general in the distance who had bright armor and was hurriedly turning his horse around.
There was nothing that could stop him from sitting on the iron hooves of his horse. What was left was just a puddle of meat after the army passed by. It was pure slaughter, a hellish scene.
This is war...
Thanks to brother (Yasuo and Doraemon) for the reward of 500 coins for continued support.
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Thank you to all the brothers who recommended me for your support,
Thanks to the big brothers who read silently for their support.
(End of chapter)
