Chapter 171 Decisive Battle in Yecheng

So, before leaving, Cao Cao issued a new legion policy to the Second Legion: the Hebei strategy time limit: seven years.

Wu Fan led his subordinates to take the order solemnly.

At present, Hebei, except for Shangdang, Jinyang, and Ye in Bingzhou, all of which were conquered by Wu Fan's Second Corps, there are still three prefectures and six cities left. They are: Xiangping, Beiping, and Ji in Youzhou; Beihai and Pingyuan in Qingzhou; and Nanpi in Jizhou, with a total force of about 350,000.

However, due to insufficient military and food, it is impossible for this 350,000 troops belonging to each city to be all mobilized together. According to the information currently available, Yuan Shao is gathering the troops of Nanpi, Ji, Beihai and Pingyuan with about 200,000 troops from the plain closest to Yecheng as the center, taking the plain closest to Yecheng as the center, gathering about 200,000 troops in the four cities of Nanpi, Ji, Beihai and Pingyuan, preparing to fight the last decisive battle with Cao's army.

Originally, Cao Cao's First Army was stationed in Yecheng, and Yuan Shao's army had not yet emerged from the previous defeated shadow. He was generally afraid of Cao's army, so Yuan Shao did not dare to use troops to Yecheng without authorization. However, in order to rescue Xuzhou, Cao Cao retreated the First Army, and there were only the Second Army left in Yecheng, with less than 40,000 troops. In this way, Yuan Shao would definitely take this opportunity to capture Yecheng.

After all, Yecheng is the largest city in Hebei, with a status equivalent to Luoyang and Xuchang in the Central Plains. Seeing that Cao's army took Yecheng away from him, how could Yuan Shao swallow this breath?

At this point, Wu Fan had to race against time to speed up the expansion of his army, and mobilize all troops that the Second Corps can mobilize in cities, gather in Yecheng, and fight the final decisive battle with Yuan Shao's army.

As for the plan to detain Yecheng to the death and consume his troops and food in the face of Yuan Shao's army, Wu Fan had thought about it, but he directly rejected the plan. The reason was that the plains had an siege weapon manufacturing facility. This decisive battle was Yuan Shao's last hope, and he would definitely give all his financial resources to equip the troops with as many siege weapons as possible. In this way, defending Yecheng would be an extremely unwise choice. Not only would he not be able to defend Yecheng, but his own army would also suffer heavy casualties.

To put it short, Wu Fan immediately sent a messenger to Jinyang, Shangdang and Luoyang under the jurisdiction of the Second Army, and ordered the three cities of the three cities of the three cities to send some troops to Yecheng.

In addition, Wu Fan made a special order to Henoi: He ordered the remaining general Cao Ren, Xun Yu, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun to lead 35,000 cavalry and infantry troops to support the Xuzhou battlefield, and rushed through the Central Plains official road. After arriving at Xia Pi, he went north and attacked Beihai.

The distance between Hanoi and the North Sea, it takes twenty days for infantry troops to march.

Geographically, Beihai and Xuzhou are adjacent to Xuzhou, and are a front-line city. There were heavy troops stationed before. However, since Xuzhou is currently attacked by Sun Jian's army and has no time to take care of Beihai, Yuan Shao was able to safely transfer the Beihai defenders to the plains and participate in the decisive battle in Yecheng.

In this way, it is certain that the Beihai is empty, how could Wu Fan not take it? Apart from Henoi, Yecheng is stepping up its war preparations and cannot send out manpower and troops; Luoyang has no capable candidates; Jinyang is newly defeated, and needs to be guarded against Ji, and it is already the limit to be able to send 10,000 people to Yecheng, and it is impossible to seize Beihai at all. Since Shangdang is a rear city, Wu Fan only sent Yang Biao and Chen Zhen to guard it, and there are not many troops, so naturally he could not send them to capture Beihai.

After comparison, only Hanoi has the ability to seize the Beihai.

Since Wu Fan took down Yecheng in Hanoi, it is currently surrounded by Shangdang, Ye and Luoyang, and is like Shangdang. Wu Fan ordered Cao Ren and the four men to take Beihai to appoint Chen Qun as the prefect, and Wang Yun was his general, leaving only 5,000 troops to garrison, and the remaining nearly 10,000 troops were all transferred to Yecheng.

Those who were transferred to Yecheng at the same time as nearly 10,000 people were also counselor Guo Jia and Wu Fan's apprentice Li Zhan.

Ten days later, the city received Wu Fan's order and all the troops sent to Yecheng arrived. Among them, Jinyang sent 10,000 troops, Shangdang sent 5,000 troops, Hanoi sent 8,000, and Luoyang sent 20,000 troops; plus Yecheng's own troops, a total of 98,000 troops.

On the other hand, there were nine generals in Yecheng, namely: Wu Fan, Lu Bu, Hua Xiong, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Zhang Liao, Zhou Tai, Lu Lingqi, and Guo Jia. Li Zhan has not yet been granted a disciple and cannot lead troops alone. He is not considered a general.

There is no doubt that all these nine people are real and none of them have idle food. Therefore, although Yecheng is much less than Yuan Shao's army, Wu Fan was calm and unconscious. The generals under Wu Fan were all ready to fight, waiting to kill the enemy and make achievements in the upcoming battle.

Two days later, early in the morning, with the rolling dust and smoke rising from the distant horizon, Yuan Shao's 200,000 troops finally appeared.

Yuan Shao's army was moving very slowly this time, and assembled all ten shafts in advance, and pushed them all the way to Yecheng slowly. It seems that Yuan Shao learned from the lesson of the last long-distance raid and instead fought steadily. With his military strength and a large number of siege weapons, he wanted to seek a safe and secure place to take down Yecheng.

Wu Fan, who had already learned the information, stood on the head of the city and looked at Yuan Shao's army, and immediately ordered: Except for Zhou Tai and 13,000 infantry guarding the city, the other generals and 85,000 troops were all out of the city to meet Yuan Shao's army.

But the 85,000 troops left the city, Qingzhou fighters alone accounted for 30,000 people; led by Wu Fan, Guo Jia was the general and Li Zhan was the subordinate. The remaining 55,000 troops:

The cavalrymen were 15,000, led by Lu Bu and Lu Lingqi.

There are 15,000 cavalrymen led by Yan Liang and Wen Chou.

The cavalry was 15,000 led by Hua Xiong.

There are 10,000 cavalry, led by Zhang Liao.

It is obvious that Wu Fan's troops were too focused on cavalry, but none of them were archers. The reason was that most of the generals under Wu Fan were proficient in cavalry military tactics, such as Hua Xiong, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and Zhang Liao. They all had the highest cavalry military tactics: assault. Lu Bu and Lu Lingqi, father and daughter, were proficient in cavalry tactics while proficient in cavalry tactics. Therefore, Wu Fan handed over the only team of cavalry to the father and daughter to lead. As for Wu Fan himself, he was proficient in infantry tactics, Zhou Tai and Wu Fan were both good at infantry tactics. However, since no one was good at archers, Wu Fan gave up the archers directly.

Wu Fan used troops like this. He regarded the military strategy to equip the corresponding military branches, rather than forcing the generals to equip the military branches that he was not good at to pursuing the balance of the military branches. This method of using troops has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that once a fierce attack is launched, it will be extremely fierce and overwhelming, making it difficult for the enemy to resist. The disadvantage is that due to the imbalance of the military branches, it may be unsuitable in some battlefields; such as rugged mountains or water battles.

This is the reason why there is no perfect world.

Of course, the reason why Wu Fan's current military use is unbalanced is because his subordinates and generals are unbalanced in military tactics. If Wu Fan wants to change this situation, as long as he adjusts the candidates for generals, the problem will be solved.

However, Wu Fan does not want to change this situation at present. Hebei is like the Central Plains, with many plains, and the cavalry is just right to exert its power. Such seemingly unbalanced military configuration is the most suitable.

However, after the five troops led by Wu Fan and his generals were lined up, Yuan Shao's army on the opposite side had also come close. Seeing Wu Fan, the general of Cao's army, standing in front of the formation, Yuan Shao was so angry that he trembled all over. This was the man who repeatedly defeated our army, which directly led to our army's defeat and captured Yecheng. That's not all, he even kidnapped my two generals Yan Liang and Wen Chou, who were really angry and killed me.

Although Yuan Shao was very angry, he did not talk to Wu Fan after he stood up from the carriage. The reason was: on the one hand, there was nothing to say about the two armies fighting and conquering the city and land. On the other hand, when Yuan Shao saw the other two people standing in front of the Cao army, he threw his thoughts on talking to Wu Fan aside.

These two people are naturally Yan Liang and Wen Chou.

Yuan Shao said loudly to Yan Liang and Wen Chou and the other two:

"Yan Liang, Wen Chou, I treat you two well, why do you betray me now? Are you two of you actually ungrateful and afraid of death and greedy for life?"

Yan Liang and Wen Chou were both loyal and righteous, but they were not good at distinguishing talents. After hearing Yuan Shao's words, they lowered their heads silently and didn't know how to answer. Wu Fan turned his head and saw: This is not good, and if this continues, it will have an impact on the morale of the entire army.

Just as he was about to answer for his two righteous brothers, Guo Jia was already speaking:

"Why is Lord Yuan Shao so criticized loyalty and kindness? Yan Liang and Wen Chou have repeatedly sacrificed their lives to save you from the chaos, and have personally taken arrows and stones without fear or resentment. Even the soldiers of Cao's army respect the two generals very much. But I did not expect that all of this would be erased by your words. In this way, the two generals' actions of abandoning secrets and turning to the light should be followed by the Yuan army."

When Yuan Shao heard this, he was speechless. Before he could figure out how to answer, a cavalry on the flank was already running out and came straight to take Wu Fan, shouting angrily:

"The thief general Wu Fan, return my second brother's life"

Who else can this person besides Zhang Fei?

In the flank army behind Zhang Fei, Liu Bei hurriedly asked Zhang Fei to return to the formation. When Zhang Fei saw Wu Fan's eyes were red, he was not willing to listen. He just urged Wu Fan to get off the horse. The spear of the serpent of the Snake Spear broke the back of the horse. The horse was in great pain and rushed towards Wu Fan in shock.

Wu Fan looked at Zhang Fei with an expressionless face, but in his mind recalled the prompt message he received after killing Guan Yu that day:

Tip: Because you killed Guan Yu, Zhang Fei’s relationship with you became an enemy.

Tip: Because you killed Guan Yu, Liu Bei's relationship with you became an enemy.

Tip: Because you killed Guan Yu, Guan Ping’s relationship with you became an enemy.

This is a typical setting for "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". After killing a general, his sworn brothers or relatives will regard himself as his enemies. However, this is also the setting, which makes "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms appear more realistic and bloody.

Similarly, if Wu Fan is killed by someone, Wu Fan's sworn brothers: Hua Xiong, Yan Liang and Wen Chou will also regard that person as their enemies. Of course, Wu Fan does not want his three sworn brothers to bear such a deep hatred.
Chapter completed!