From the perspective of my old father-in-law, this choice is the best solution.
The reason is very simple. After the Wuhuan point is cleared, does Youzhou need to guard the border? The answer is yes, because in addition to the Xianbei and the Xiongnu in the entire Mobei, you cannot eliminate these people once and for all.
In this case, it is better to be still than to move. After all, we have to guard the border. Guarding one more Wuhuan is also guarding. There is no need to use troops forcefully.
Moreover, the Yuyang, Youbeiping and western Liaoning provinces occupied by Wuhuan are mostly located in the mountains and rivers. They are barren and cold. If they want to conquer Liucheng, the headquarters of Wuhuan, they will even have to cross the Yanshan Mountains. How difficult the logistics will be can be calculated.
Even if the grain and grass were transported from Yecheng, if it had to go through the rugged mountains in the end, one stone of grain and grass transported to the front line would require the loss of at least fifteen stone of grain and grass.
This is also why in history Cao Cao built two canals before conquering Wuhuan, namely Pinglu Canal and Quanzhou Canal, because if Xuchang's grain and grass were not transported to the front line by water, the loss ratio would be as high as one to fifty, even if it was Cao Cao, who dominated the eight states, couldn't bear it.
War is a political game that burns money. Lu Bu has always known this, so no matter what kind of battle, astronomical amounts of food and grass will be involved by default. The question is whether it is worth it.
The army traveled far and consumed a lot of food and grass. Even if everything went well in the end, it would only result in eighteen closed counties.
The three counties of Yuyang, Youbeiping and Liaoxi only have eighteen counties, which is not even comparable to one county in Jizhou. The population, taxation and land of each county are also very different.
Lu Bu really couldn't think of any reason to abandon the Central Plains area occupied by Cao Cao and choose to attack the three counties of Wuhuan which had no strategic or economic value at all.
In fact, not only Lu Bu, but also Cao Cao in history, after regaining the four northern states, all of his advisers except Guo Jia opposed him sending troops to attack Wuhuan. In the final analysis, it was because the score could not be calculated.
"Master Yue Zhang, Yuan Shang is still in Yecheng. Anyway, we are still in charge of the prefectures and counties of the Northern Kingdom in the name of the Yuan family. Over the years, the Yuan family clan has been related to Wuhuan several times, even if common sense says that Tadun is It is unlikely that you will go into trouble for Yuan Shang, but you should be prepared for a rainy day."
Lin Mo said slowly, not in a hurry, "Furthermore, although Wuhuan is a bitter and cold place, there are many good horses. I heard Yan Liang say that there are no less than 20,000 good horses in Wuhuan, and all the tribesmen are good at riding them." Shooting, instead of being controlled by others, why not take the initiative to attack and eliminate these worries at once, and also add horses to our army to fill up the riding and shooting."
Lu Bu stood up slowly with his chin clenched and paced back and forth in the tent. He was thinking seriously.
Fighting the Wuhuan is very expensive and wastes money and food. In the end, if everything goes well, you can indeed get more than 10,000 horses, and there is a certain probability that the balance of income and expenditure will be maintained.
But based on this point alone, Wuhuan's appeal is far less than that of Cao Cao's Central Plains region.
In terms of strategic choices, Lu Bu has never questioned his own opinions. Even during the Central Plains War, it was only because Wei Xu and others were biased. But this time, Lu Bu did not respond. Lin Mo could already feel the fierce fighting spirit deep in his old father-in-law's heart.
He desperately wants to dominate the world.
Human nature is greedy. Cao Cao initially never thought about threatening the emperor and ordering the princes. He just longed to become a general of the Han Dynasty in the Western Conquest.
Nowadays, Lu Bu has so many things that he never dared to imagine, so he begins to eagerly want more things that are beyond the reach of the world.
But, my old father-in-law didn’t know that many things seem to be right in front of you, but when you reach out to touch them, you will find that everything is just a mirage.
The old father-in-law obviously didn't understand the principle of ninety steps and half a hundred steps.
Lin Mo also slowly stood up, sighed, and said what was in his heart, "Master Yue-Zhang, to be honest, even if Wuhuan does not use troops, the next step in the strategy formulated by my son-in-law will not be Those who use troops against the Central Plains."
"What did you say?"
Lu Bu took out his ears and thought he had heard wrongly, "Now that our army is strong and our troops are strong and our reputation is high, taking the Central Plains is like picking out something from a bag. If we don't take the Central Plains, what do we want to do?"
Lin Mo smiled slightly and did not continue the topic. Instead, he asked, "Does your father-in-law know what Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Ce are thinking at this time?"
The topic changed a bit. Lu Bu was stunned for a while and said casually: "Cao Cao, of course, is preparing to start a life-or-death battle with us in the Central Plains. As for Sun Liu."
Lu Bu rubbed the fibrous roots on his chin and frowned: "I guess they will take advantage of the battle between me and Cao Cao to carve up the Jingxiang territory."
The old father-in-law's analysis was quite accurate. Lin Mo nodded slightly, "So, when so many pairs of eyes are staring at us, I plan to do the opposite and not use troops in the Central Plains. At least for the time being, there is no need to rush to the Central Plains." Use troops."
"You want a truce to train troops?" Lu Bu looked surprised, barely missing the word "bad strategy" written on his face.
Lin Mo didn't say anything, but turned towards the sheepskin map hanging behind the handsome case and pointed at a corner.
"Guanzhong?"
After Lu Bu blurted out, Lin Mo took a deep breath and explained: "Send troops from Bingzhou, aim directly at Sizhou, and then capture the throat of Sanqin and the key points of Guanzhong.
Afterwards, the Northern Army was able to drive into Liangdi, pacify the rebel forces from the west, and then send troops from Guanzhong to capture Yizhou, the land of abundance. At this point, an encirclement and pincer attack on the Central Plains, Jingxiang and Xiang was formed.
As our territory expands, the Central Plains will definitely be in panic. What Cao Cao can do is either forcefully use troops against the Northern Kingdom to force our army to return for reinforcements, or find ways to annex the three counties of southern Hunan to control the entire territory of Jingxiang. This is a way to avoid harm. "
"To attack Sizhou from Bingzhou, we should first capture the three counties in Guandong. This way we can divide Cao Cao's territory in Sizhou into two. Although Tongguan is dangerous, it will become a helpless place. This is considered the best strategy."
Lu Bu frowned when he said this, and then shook his head, "But Liangzhou is a bitter cold place, and it is no better than the three counties of Wuhuan. It will be of no use to our army.
Yizhou, the land of abundance, is certainly a good place, but the Qinling Mountains are rugged and difficult to navigate. To send troops from Guanzhong, they have to cross the Qinchuan River for 800 miles and pass through the thousands of miles of Shu Road. There are countless dangerous passes along the way. They are all places that are easy to defend and difficult to attack. This difficulty is even more difficult than conquering the Central Plains. Several times or even dozens of times. "
It's not surprising that the old father-in-law thinks so. He idealizes the progress of the war situation.
Lin Mo could guess with his toes that the battlefield his old father-in-law longed for was a bloody battle with Cao Cao in the Central Plains, and finally defeated him with the foundation he had accumulated over the years.
What will happen next is that the land of Jingzhou will probably be divided up by the Sun and Liu families, so what? To a certain extent, they even helped themselves to disintegrate Cao Cao's power. When they get to that point, they will not be able to fight one against two. No.
As for the navy, now I have invested a lot of resources in Gan Ning, so in the end my navy and land forces may even send troops to Jingxiang to complete the final battle to annex the world.
But he forgot about the rapidly changing situation on the battlefield.
It is true that at this stage, our own side is superior to Cao Cao to a certain extent in terms of military strength, food and grass, civil servants, and generals, and has a greater chance of winning.
The problem is that as long as the war situation reaches a stalemate, Sun Liu may indeed destroy Cao Cao's strategic backyard, and the ten tribes in Guanzhong may also take the opportunity to cause chaos, and even Wuhuan may jump out to attack the rear of the northern kingdom.
When that time comes, Lu Cao will only end up in a lose-lose situation.
One of Lin Mo's biggest worries was not actually about this, but the fear of Liu Bei entering Sichuan.
Yizhou is a land of abundance. The territory of one state is comparable to that of the four northern states. In history, Liu Bei had half of Jingzhou and Yizhou accounted for half of the country.
Compared with the Northern Kingdom and the Central Plains, which are constantly war-torn, Yizhou's potential is too great.
Moreover, Yizhou has natural dangers. Simply judging by the tactics of defending according to dangers, no place among the thirteen states of the Han Dynasty can compare with Yizhou.
Yizhou is in Liu Zhang's hands, so it is not difficult to conquer, but if Liu Bei enters Sichuan and Zhuge Liang arranges his troops, Lin Mo really doesn't know how to break through Yizhou's natural dangers.
Think about it, even after Zhuge Liang died, Deng Ai had to travel 700 miles of rugged and dangerous roads to sneak across to Yinping. Coupled with Liu Chan's ignorance, Zhuge Liang's garrison on Motian Ridge was withdrawn, which led to the defeat of Shu. .
In this time and space, I am older than Zhuge Liang. Is it possible that I will choose to outlast my opponent like Sima Yi?
Although the old father-in-law has a certain degree of arrogance now, the fundamental reason is that there is a serious deviation in the definition of opponents between him and Lin Mo.
From beginning to end, from Lin Mo's perspective, Cao Cao was never the only opponent to him. Liu Bei and Sun Ce were both existences that could not be ignored.
But the old father-in-law didn't take Liu Bei and Sun Ce seriously, so he was eager to attack the Central Plains, and firmly believed that taking over the Central Plains would mean taking over the entire world.
He didn't understand that none of the Ten Tribunals of Guanzhong, Sun Ce, and Liu Bei were kinder than Cao Cao.
As a forward-looking vision of a traveler, the most important thing in the world now is not the Central Plains, but Yizhou. After owning Beiguo and Xuzhou, only by holding Yizhou in one's own hands can we ensure that there will be no subsequent confrontations for many years.
Now, his old father-in-law collided with his own strategic choice, and Lin Mo didn't think it was entirely his fault. Although there were certain reasons for this, it was not the dominant one.
The dominant reason is that they see things differently.
However, Lin Mo still wanted to test whether his old father-in-law had become stubborn because of the changes in the past.
In the past, he only needed one sentence to convince Lu Bu, but now, he still has to use this sentence, "Master Yue-in-law, whether it is Liangzhou or Yizhou, my son-in-law is ready and is just waiting for the opportunity to get it. "
Hearing this, Lu Bu's eyes did not light up as before, but he looked deeply at Lin Mo, hesitating to speak, seemingly unable to make up his mind.
Perhaps he was used to his father-in-law obeying his advice, or perhaps he felt that his father-in-law was a little angry because of his hesitation. He couldn't wait for Lu Bu to express his position. Lin Mo shook his head, held up his hands and said, "How to choose, father-in-law, please make your own decision." , I’m going to look at the list of prisoners.”
This is not a grudge, but a compromise.
From the time Pengcheng mistakenly recognized his father-in-law until today, the two have been together for five or six years. They know each other well after spending time together. If he can't even listen to his own words, let alone others.
After all, the old father-in-law is a human being, not a puppet, let alone Lin Mo's puppet.
He has his own thoughts and his own choices. It is normal to have disagreements on the road to drifting apart.
If he really decided to do this, Lin Mo would use his own methods to correct it, but people are very strange. You can adjust a person's thinking, but you can't completely change his will.
Maybe, these years have been really smooth.
"etc."
When Lin Mo walked to the Chinese army's tent, Lu Bu finally stopped him.
Looking at Lin Mo, who had his back turned to him, Lu Bu sighed feebly, "Yunwen, if I were as old as you, I could attack Sizhou, Liangzhou and Yizhou first, and even have a truce for a few years to stock up on food and fodder to build... Ordnance, but"
Before he could finish speaking, Lin Mo turned around suddenly, his eyes firm and fierce, "Master Yue-Zhang, no one knows which will come first, tomorrow or the accident. Some people will die before they see the world clearly, and some people will survive like a walking corpse but they are ancient. Old age.
Destiny is something that is never controllable. A wise man should do his best to obey the destiny and should not force anything. "
Lu Bu chuckled lightly, turned away, and murmured: "Who has never been young? Wait until you are my age before you say these words."
At this moment, Lin Mo was dumbfounded and finally realized that the difference in strategic choices between himself and his old father-in-law was not actually a difference in perspective, but a difference in mentality.
Lin Mo didn't know how to refute what his old father-in-law said, because in the past, he simply wanted to defeat his enemies and further expand his territory.
But now, he didn't say anything, but Lin Mo knew clearly in his heart that he wanted to create his own dynasty in his lifetime.
My old father-in-law's ambition has grown too much.
If it was just a tactical choice or a strategic dispute, I could always find some way to convince him, but the facts before me could not be overturned.
He is indeed no longer in his prime when he fought against three heroes at Hulao Pass alone, or when he single-handedly challenged the six generals of Cao Ying under Puyang City.
In fact, in this era, the old father-in-law is already considered to be old.
If it were in the past, Lin Mo would have played with his childish character and fought with his old father-in-law. He spread his hands and curled his lips and said: "My old father-in-law has made up his mind. My son-in-law, I wish you success. I will go back to Pengcheng first."
But now, he is no longer the boy he was before. He is married and has a child. The man in front of him is the father of his favorite woman, the grandfather of his child, and the father-in-law who can attack Xiaoguan at all costs for him.
People, you can't always expect the other person to accommodate you.
Love is never an obligation.
Lin Mo shrugged with a wry smile, "My father-in-law taught me that if you have made up your mind, then we will attack the Central Plains, destroy Cao's thieves, and give my son-in-law some time to prepare."
Lu Bu turned around slowly and looked at Lin Mo with his head tilted. His eyes were a little surprised, as if he didn't recognize the son-in-law in front of him. He smiled and said, "You have a character as strong as Ling'er. Why are you so happy today? I expected you to You're going to have a fight with me."
The smile on Lin Mo's face slowly faded, and Yun Danfeng said lightly: "I think if Ling'er was here, she wouldn't want to see us quarreling, and Chuan'er wouldn't want it either, right."
Lu Bu was startled when he heard this.
Lin Mo didn't respond. He was stunned for a moment and then walked back to the handsome case expressionlessly, looking down at the battle report.
Lin Mo bowed his hands and turned around to leave.
I don't know if this kind of farewell was considered a bad breakup, but after Lin Mo left, Lu Bu still stood up and turned around to look at the map.
He didn't speak but his eyes were a little wandering. He didn't know if he was looking at the Central Plains of Yanzhou and Yuzhou, or at Sizhou, Liangzhou, and Yizhou.
If there is anything in this world that can check the greed and impulse of human nature, it should be family love from deep within.
A full month has passed since the messenger came back to report to Cao Zhen and Man Chong that Cao Cao's reinforcements would arrive in half a month.
Let alone a hasty march, we should be here at a normal marching speed.
But the fact is that Lu Jun did not move at all under the city. He neither scolded the formation nor attacked the city every day, just confronting himself.
This can only mean one thing. Not only did the reinforcements not come, they didn't even enter Bingzhou's territory. Otherwise, they should have taken action long ago.
In Jinyang City, the government hall.
Man Chong and Cao Zhen sat opposite each other without saying a word.
From their initial excitement of repelling Lu Jun to their full hope of receiving Cao Cao's reply, they were all exhausted in the day-to-day waiting.
At this moment, their eyes were full of fatigue and despair.
No matter how much you struggle in your heart and comfort yourself, you can't hide the fact of being abandoned.
They became abandoned children.
Surviving with a broken arm is certainly tragic.
But only the broken arm knows how painful it is.
They didn't even dare to go to the military camp to appease the soldiers, because the defenders in the city were now far more desperate than they were.
"Lead the troops and rush out. This is the only chance." Cao Zhen was hunched over and weak.
"Does the general believe this?" Man Chong's wry smile was full of sarcasm.
Yes, there are indeed two thousand cavalry and ten thousand soldiers and horses in the city, but it is impossible to organize the troops to rush out of the city.
Military morale is something that can only be achieved once and for all.
The fundamental reason why the declaration of fighting to the death by killing the white horse in the school field can boost morale is that everyone is willing to believe that as long as they hold on, they will have a chance to wait until Cao Cao comes to rescue them.
But now, their lord has abandoned them.
For Cao Cao, they fought to the death and shed their lives and blood in Jinyang City, but in exchange they ended up abandoning their sons.
No one believes in Cao Cao anymore, not even Man Chong and Cao Zhen.
They were simply unable to organize another charge.
Why rush out to find the lord who abandoned them?
Oh, not worth it.
Whoosh whoosh~
It was night, and countless arrows were shot into the city, which was so blind that it was nailed to the wooden lattice of the city gate.
Cao Jun did not even shoot an arrow to fight back, but subconsciously hid under the city wall.
That’s all, if you want to attack the city, then attack the city.
But after this shower of arrows, there was no movement under the city gate.
After a while, a centurion bravely stuck his head out and looked down, but he couldn't see anything clearly.
He turned to look at the arrows and found that the arrows were all wrapped in silk cloth.
He stepped forward and opened it to check. It was Lu Jun's reward.
The content is very simple. Cao Cao has abandoned you. Surrender Kaicheng. If you don't kill, whoever opens the door with a reward will get a reward.
On the verge of despair, the rewards written by Zhao Yun seemed to give these Cao soldiers a glimmer of hope to survive.
Everyone's face showed a smile that had survived the disaster.
No one even needed to take the lead in shouting. The defenders on the walking path gathered together in small groups to whisper, and even burst into tears of joy.
Now, not only did they not feel a trace of guilt about Kaicheng's surrender, they even felt that it was the best revenge for Cao Cao.
After dawn, Man Chong opened his sleepy eyes and found that he was tied to the bed and unable to move.
All around, there were pairs of gloomy eyes.
"Warlord, don't blame us for being ruthless. It was not we who failed Cao Cao today, but he who failed us first!"
(End of chapter)
