Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 550 Beyond Victory and Defeat
In the southern suburbs of Ji County, Yuan’s army camp.

Under the cover of night, Yuan Shang, who was unable to sleep, paced alone in the courtyard wearing a cloak.

He instinctively didn't want to go any deeper. No matter whether he took the Changping Jundu Mountain or the Xishan Road, as long as he chased after them, a distance of three to five hundred miles would bring him to a completely different world.

It's still not too late to withdraw now, but if you chase after him, there will be no turning back.

Kebi could migrate and escape with his tribe, but it was impossible for Yuan Shang to flee elsewhere with the officials and people of Hebei.

After this year's autumn harvest, Cao Cao, who occupies Qingzhou, will be able to basically consolidate his control over Qingzhou.

In other words, after the winter, Cao's army regained its ability to launch external attacks.

You should know that it was Guanzhong who mediated between the two families before, which stopped the war and reached a temporary ceasefire.

Now that he has broken with Guanzhong, Cao Cao, who is affiliated with the southeastern court, has sent troops to attack him... This is easy to understand.

I just hope that the envoys sent to Jiangdong can move faster, get the title of king as soon as possible, and officially belong to the southeastern court, so that Cao Cao will have some concerns.

After becoming king...

Yuan Shang was thinking, and the crazy thoughts in his mind could no longer be suppressed. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, forming a stream of white gas.

The white mist dissipated, and the night became colder and colder.

With this thought in mind, he turned back to his room. Just as he was about to fall asleep, his chief clerk Li Fu came with the latest military information: "My lord, Dai County has reported that Commander Zhang Yan led about 5,000 infantry and cavalry to the north from Shangdang through Taiyuan and headed straight for Dai County. It seems that they are less than a day's journey away now."

Yuan Shang picked up the original military order and read: "The troops of Dai are gathering at Gaoliu, and we are powerless to stop them."

Gaoliu is located in the northern part of Dai, close to the border, and is a relatively important border city.

The most peculiar thing about Dai County is that Dai County is at the southernmost tip. There is no other way around it. During administrative planning, Dai was divided into two parts, east and west. In addition, in order to resist invasions by various Hu people, the most important county seat in Dai County is actually located at the southernmost tip.

This is still a relatively normal situation. When the Hu tribes were invading fiercely, the governor of Dai County could only borrow a county in the nearby Zhongshan State to settle down.

Yuan Shang immediately asked, "Tadun has decided to pursue us, and his follow-up troops will soon arrive, mostly infantry. Now that things have come to this, I have no way to retreat."

Li Fu said calmly: "I am willing to follow you through fire and water."

"In that case, the entire army will follow and fight him to the death!"

Yuan Shang said in a resolute tone, "I will leave part of the central army to assist my brother in besieging Ji County, and the remaining troops from Youzhou and Jizhou will all go out to fight. You still need to explain this matter to them. They were the ones who were most eager to fight at the beginning. Now that things have come to this, I hope they will keep their promise."

"Yes, I understand."

Li Fu did not shirk his responsibility. It was after many people's lobbying and persuasion that Yuan Shang made up his mind.

Even many people went to Yuan Shang's mother Liu to spread the word, which influenced people around Yuan Shang and aroused Yuan Shang's desire to fight.

Even though Yuan Shang left the main force of the central army to Yuan Xi to besiege Ji County, the various powerful families had no way to retreat and could only join the pursuit.

Otherwise, if they really let the other party escape, only endless torture will await them.

In this situation, Yuan Shang risked his life and took part of the central army to join the pursuit, which was already a great respect for the powerful.

Li Fu had already guessed something, but there was no need to reveal it.

The successive transformations of Guanzhong and Cao Cao were bound to involve some pain, just like puncturing an abscess, all for the sake of long-term development.

Necessary sacrifices and losses are acceptable.

It was also at night that the Youzhou soldiers recruited by Black Bear began to burn down the original camp.

The fire could have been set during the day while the military tents and supplies were being collected, but they were just preparations for arson.

Under the Black Bear Army's order, the small camps deployed in various places were ignited one after another, and the bright flames were difficult to ignore.

On the hillside on the east bank of the water, Tian Yu, with a mourning band on his head, stood quietly looking at the fire points on the opposite bank.

"Tell Tadun that this is a provocation and demonstration by the bandits, because they will break camp early tomorrow morning, and they are asking whether our army dares to pursue them."

Tian Yu turned his head and looked at the messenger: "Be sure to provoke Tadun. Tomorrow our army will be the first to cross the river so that we can build a floating bridge for the army."

"Yes." The messenger understood. Anyway, all they could do tomorrow was to cross the river and build a pontoon bridge with the wood prepared today.

The sky gradually brightened, but Tian Yu still did not dare to relax and sent knights with torches to patrol the east bank.

Perhaps because there are large lakes and wetlands on the east side of the valley, a light mist appeared again in the morning.

When Tadun arrived at the river bank, he saw that the Youzhou soldiers had already begun to cross the river in the fog and were busy building a pontoon bridge.

Shortly after the mountain torrents receded, the water content of the surface vegetation in the upper reaches was very high. After the water merged into the river, the river entered its flood season.

Otherwise, if it is the dry season, the soldiers can be mobilized to build dams to store water so that the army's supplies can pass through quickly.

When the fog cleared, we saw that the largest camp in the north had begun to burn.

Tadun held the wide belt decorated with gold pieces around his waist with both hands, and he was smiling and full of vigor. He narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance: "Burning the camp and fleeing means that they will not leave any rear guard."

Naturally, they were unable to seize ready-made camps.

Unlike Tadun, who had a strong physique and a plump face, Tian Yu looked exhausted due to the torture of war during this period, and the skin on his face was peeled off by two layers.

Tian Yu responded to Tadun's words: "Your Majesty, do not be careless. This man is cunning in his use of troops."

"It's just the way of illusion and reality."

Tadun turned his head to look, but from Tian Yu's angle of view, Tadun's neck was almost invisible, as if his chest was right below his chin.

Tadun smiled and said, "General Tian, ​​guess whether he is bluffing or hiding an ambush."

Tian Yu thought about it seriously and suggested: "Why don't you and I write one word each, and then check each other?"

"Very good."

Tadun agreed, and immediately someone beside him fetched a pen, and the two of them wrote a word on each other's palms.

They looked at each other and raised their hands to each other, each with the same empty word.

Tian Yu smiled, and Tadun laughed, "I think the same as you, General. It shows that the enemy has run out of tricks."

The execution of tactics requires manpower. The enemy has been fighting for so long that the reliable backbone forces have suffered huge losses. How can they continue to dispatch backbone forces to cover the rear?
If other newly affiliated forces are sent to cover the rear, it is estimated that as soon as the main force leaves, these forced affiliated forces will collapse and turn against the main force.

Precisely because we need to involve these affiliated forces, we cannot allow our precious core forces to be dispatched.

Tadun was very familiar with this way of leading troops. He had studied the tactics of the Black Bear and Guanzhong soldiers, and many battle examples were very familiar to him... They were completely the hunting tactics of the various Hu people.

The process of the other side's development and growth is highly similar to the annexation of various Hu tribes.

They are all complete mergers, which completely break up the original structure and redistribute human and production resources.

This is how annexation wars between tribes work: the defeated side loses everything.

Therefore, if the casualties in the annexation process are relatively small, continuous annexation can be launched, and the annexation will be faster and faster.

The people around were watching, thinking that Tadun, the Wuhuan King, would do something big, but he ended up just standing there as if nothing had happened, watching the fireworks in the distance on the north bank with Tian Yu.

Tian Yu did not urge him, as he knew that Tadun, the Wuhuan King, was also in danger.

The two Xianbei kings, Qianman and Kuitou, fought for the throne. As we all know, the cousins ​​were doomed together, the western Xianbei was destroyed, and the central Xianbei was severely damaged.

The Wuhuan are now facing a similar crisis. Tadun is the nephew of Qiuliju. Because he is older, and Qiuliju's son was young when he died, Tadun had no choice but to take over the tribe.

During the reign of Tadun, he married a woman from the Yuan clan and quickly grew stronger with the support of Yuan Shao.

However, both the Wuhuan people themselves and Gongsun Du, Xianyu Fu and even the Xianbei people outside would support Qiuliju's son to check Tadun's growing autocratic hegemony.

Therefore, Tadun was very eager for a brilliant victory!

But at the same time, he couldn't afford a crushing defeat, otherwise all his efforts over the years would be equivalent to working for his cousin in vain.

(End of this chapter)