The Three Kingdoms: My Wife is a Great and Good Teacher

"If there really were 70,000 Yellow Turban Army, we should be in Luoyang City today," Xun Yu said.

These remarks are not something that Xun Yu would say. At first glance, they sound like bragging and mindless boasting.

But if you know Liu Zhaoqing, or have seen the Yellow Turban Army trained by him, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, and Zhang Jiao, you will know that this statement is not nonsense.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing.

"Just like the vanguard troops before, I cannot ensure that every vassal's army can completely obey my command and their combat effectiveness can meet my requirements, so I can only settle for the second best and find a way under the premise that they do not collapse." Liu Zhaoqing admitted helplessly.

His recent decisions were indeed too cautious, but there was nothing he could do about it.

If the anti-Dong alliance is a chariot, Liu Zhaoqing is the general driving the chariot, then the princes are the beasts pulling the chariot forward.

People like Cao Cao, Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei can be said to be "tigers" or even "dragons". With them in the "chariot", the country will naturally be invincible.

But unfortunately, this is not a chariot pulled by only three or two ferocious beasts. There are some "fierce" ones, and naturally there are also some that are only "beasts" left.

Under the high-speed attack, if the driving skills are not good enough or some mistakes occur, falling off the horse and people is the least likely outcome, and there is a high probability that the chariot will directly collapse.

Therefore, we can only slow down our pace to ensure steady progress.

"There is nothing wrong with this approach." Cao Cao affirmed Liu Zhaoqing's approach, but then changed the subject.

"But, if we do this, won't we lose Zhao Qing's greatest advantage?"

"my advantage?"

Cao Cao looked at Liu Zhaoqing and said, "The reason why I recommended you to Sister Benchu ​​as the leader of the alliance is not to watch you and these princes intrigue against each other."

"Instead, we hope that you can lead the coalition forces and kill everyone together with us."

"So, Zhao Qing might try to change his strategy. It's time to show his fangs."

After Cao Cao finished speaking, another soldier suddenly ran in from outside the tent.

The soldier looked panicked, and judging from his military uniform, he did not belong to any of the princes on this expedition.

"This clothes..." Liu Bei seemed to recognize the military uniform immediately.

At this time, Cao Ren on the side immediately stepped forward and drew out his long sword: "They are Dong Zhuo's soldiers!"

But at this time, Cao Cao stopped Cao Ren. At the same time, several allied soldiers rushed in from outside the door curtain and knocked the in-breaking Dong Zhuo soldiers to the ground.

"Damn it! There is actually a God-given person. Where are you going to run?!"

The soldier who was pinned down tried hard to raise his head and look at Liu Zhaoqing.

"Are you Liu Zhaoqing?!"

But he was immediately slapped in the face by the soldier who was holding him down.

"What's going on?" Liu Zhaoqing asked.

At this time, the soldiers who were suppressing him realized that they had chased this guy into the alliance leader's tent.

One of them quickly knelt on one knee in front of Liu Zhaoqing, bowed his head and replied: "Reporting to the leader, this man is a spy sent by Hulao Pass. We caught him while patrolling outside and originally planned to escort him to prison, but we didn't expect that he would use God's gift to break free..."

"I am not a spy!" the man shouted.

"Shut up!" The soldier who pinned him down pressed his head down.

At this time, Xun Yu said: "It should be difficult to see a spy wearing Dong Zhuo's military uniform."

Liu Zhaoqing asked the soldiers to leave his body, then looked at him and said, "Do you know me?"

It might just be a coincidence that this man broke into the tent, because this tent used for talks was the largest and very conspicuous, but it was not a coincidence that he saw Liu Zhaoqing at first sight after entering and called out Liu Zhaoqing's name.

The most important thing is that when he saw Liu Zhaoqing, the look in his eyes was not fear, but surprise.

This cannot be the performance of a spy.

"Yes." The man nodded and then directly introduced himself.

"I once had the honor of witnessing the Marquis of Changping execute the Ten Eunuchs."

"Huh?" Liu Zhaoqing was surprised. "Whose subordinate are you?"

"I am now a small soldier at Hulao Pass, but I used to be a subordinate of Zhu Jun, the General of the Imperial Court."

"Zhu Jun?" Xun Yu looked at him. "I remember that Zhu Jun disappeared in Luoyang not long after Dong Zhuo entered the capital."

"The general left Luoyang because he did not want to be associated with Dong Zhuo. He is now in Jingzhou. Not long ago, he contacted Sun Jian who is also in Jingzhou." The soldier said, "It should be not long before the Marquis of Changping will receive a letter from Sun Jian."

"How do you know this?" Cao Cao asked a key question.

"Because General Zhu Jun told me to keep in touch with him before he left Luoyang," said the soldier.

"Let you?" Yuan Shao frowned: "Zhu Jun is the General of the Central Army."

"Tai Shou Yuan also knows that there is a huge gap between me and General Zhu Jun, so Dong Zhuo will naturally think so." The soldier said: "After the general left Luoyang, some of his former subordinates were killed, and the rest were all dismissed from their positions. Only a soldier like me would not be noticed and would only be disbanded and sent back to the army."

No one would doubt that a letter from an insignificant soldier would be from a former General of the Imperial Court.

"Why did Zhu Jun ask you to find me now?" Liu Zhaoqing asked immediately.

"General Zhu Jun asked me to keep in touch with Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song and others. I learned that the troops at Hulao Pass were just bluffing. Dong Zhuo's main force will attack the other two routes of the anti-Dong coalition, and he will personally lead the army."

"If we outflank them from the flank at this time, we can annihilate at least 100,000 of Dong Zhuo's troops, and even capture her alive!"

Everyone was surprised.

At this time, Cao Cao turned his head to look at Liu Zhaoqing and smiled.

"Look, isn't this the chance to kill everyone?"

Chapter 274: Opportunity is not to be missed, lead troops to attack Dong 4K

This is indeed a good opportunity to break Dong.

It might even be possible, as Zhu Jun's old soldiers said, to capture Dong Zhuo alive.

"Did Zhu Jun say this alone?" Liu Bei asked the soldier at this time.

The soldier shook his head and said, "General Zhu Jun got the information from the loyal ministers in the court and put them together to come to this conclusion."

"General Zhu Jun also said that Dong Zhuo wanted to use this battle to establish his authority, so he would not only mobilize almost all of his elite troops, but would also bring the emperor and important officials of the court to witness his great victory."

After the soldier finished speaking, Yuan Shao frowned and said, "Bringing so many irrelevant people with us will only increase the logistical pressure."

"But if almost all of our elite troops are defeated, the other two routes will definitely be defeated." Liu Bei nodded.

Then he looked at Cao Cao, which was exactly the result Cao Cao had predicted.

"Precisely because they are elite troops and their numbers far exceed those of the enemy, they become arrogant and do not think that someone may attack them from behind," Cao Cao said with a smile.

“It’s a great opportunity.”

Liu Zhaoqing pondered for a moment and asked the soldiers again: "The coalition army is divided into three groups. Since Lu Bu in this group is just to support us, if Dong Zhuo wants to establish his authority, which group will he choose?"

I can't answer this question.

"I only know that General Zhu Jun said that there will be carriages for the emperor on both routes, but he did not tell me which route it was."

After a moment's silence, Liu Zhaoqing asked his servant to take the soldier downstairs to change his clothes and have someone watch him for the time being.

"Zhaoqing, do you think this man is untrustworthy?" Cao Cao asked Liu Zhaoqing after the soldiers left.

"It's not that it's unreliable." Liu Zhaoqing frowned, "It's just that this news has many loopholes."

"Zhu Jun and Lu Zhi were originally good friends, so it's normal for them to be in contact. There are indeed many loyal ministers in the court, but Dong Zhuo will definitely be wary of them after he was assassinated after the emperor was deposed."

Cao Cao said, "So, it can be understood that the information Zhu Jun obtained was so unclear."

"But what if this was news released deliberately by Dong Zhuo?" Yuan Shao asked at this time.

"Lure us to attack. Not only can we catch all of us in the other two routes, but we can also not defend the middle route."

"Military operations should be carried out steadily and without taking such great risks."

"But...if this is really an opportunity, then we will miss the chance to overthrow Dong Zhuo in one fell swoop, or turn disadvantage into advantage." Liu Bei said softly.

"Then, we can wait for Sun Jian's letter, and then we will know whether it is the news that Zhu Jun got through investigation." Yuan Shao said.

"Before that time, the man who escaped from Hulao Pass might be discovered tomorrow, and the news of his disappearance would reach Lu Bu's ears in two days at most. Dong Zhuo would receive the news in three days at most. With counselors like Jia Xu around, he would definitely realize that we might take this opportunity to attack Dong Zhuo's main force." Cao Cao said.

"Even if he hadn't received this news, I think Dong Zhuo would have been on guard." Yuan Shao still felt that it was too risky to disrupt the previous steady layout based on this single piece of news.

At this time, everyone looked at Liu Zhaoqing.

"Wenruo, what do you think our chances of success are if we send half of our troops to attack Dong Zhuo?" Liu Zhaoqing asked Xun Yu who had been in deep thought.

"Dong Zhuo's elite troops are no less than 100,000. If all of them are deployed, it would be like an ant trying to shake a tree with only half of our troops, which is more than 30,000." Xun Yu said.

But soon, she changed the subject: "But, we have advantages that she doesn't have."

"Advantage?"

"From the fact that Zhu Jun's former subordinates are still loyal to him, we can see that Dong Zhuo is unpopular, so she chose to bring her own elite troops with her when she led the troops to the battle personally this time. However, the soldiers fighting on the front line are her own, but the ones providing supplies and transporting baggage in the rear must be ordinary soldiers."

“This is our first advantage.”

"And the second advantage is also our disadvantage." Xun Yu continued: "Dong Zhuo has at least 100,000 elite troops who are brave and good at fighting. The other two armies combined cannot even compete with them. However, because they are elite troops, their supply needs are more time-consuming than those of ordinary troops."

"Dong Zhuo has many troops, so he has even more food and supplies in the rear. Plus, the people transporting them must be people who are against Dong Zhuo. We don't need to confront them head-on. We can find their food and supplies and cut off their supply first, which will greatly weaken their strength."

"Finally, there is a third advantage." Xun Yu looked at Liu Zhaoqing.

"That is, Dong Zhuo is likely to directly defeat one of the coalition forces, but he will definitely let his guard down. We know her route, but she doesn't know us. The enemy knows, but we don't, which is also an advantage."

After Xun Yu finished his analysis, Cao Cao was the first to sigh: "As expected of Wen Ruo, he not only summarized the advantages and disadvantages, but also put forward the best strategy to attack the enemy."

Even after hearing this analysis, Yuan Shao felt that he might really have a chance.

"But, if the information from that soldier is false, or biased, or if we can't find which side Dong Zhuo is on and he has gone another way..." Liu Bei said.

If that were the case, then the results of Xun Yu's analysis would also be reversed.

"It is possible." Xun Yu did not deny it, "But opportunities are fleeting, and sometimes we cannot afford to hesitate."

Yuan Shao was still thinking at this moment, while Liu Zhaoqing slowly exhaled.

"Wen Ruo is right. This information does have loopholes. It could be a trap set by the enemy. However, it is also a great opportunity for us."

"If we confront Lu Bu here, as long as Lu Bu doesn't come with a large army to die, we can only wait for the other two routes to make a breakthrough before we can capture Hulao Pass."

"And knowing that Dong Zhuo has a high probability of obtaining intelligence on the other two routes, it is very likely that the two routes will collapse, and Lu Bu will not lead his troops to support us. We are undoubtedly just dying a slow death here."

"If we can't capture Hulao Pass, once the other two routes are wiped out by Dong Zhuo, the alliance will just disintegrate."

"So, we must take the initiative to make a turnaround possible."

Liu Zhaoqing looked at Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Liu Bei: "Unless our goal is not to defeat Dong, then we cannot miss this opportunity no matter what."

Cao Cao smiled, Liu Bei nodded slightly, Yuan Shao frowned slightly, then nodded and said, "It seems that this is the only way."

"Do you need me to invite the other princes here immediately?" Cao Ren, who was beside Cao Cao, asked at this time.

Liu Zhaoqing shook his head: "No need to tell them."

"Some of them will definitely disagree and we will have to persuade them, which will just waste precious time."

"Besides, withdrawing half of the troops will definitely attract the attention of Hulao Pass, so I plan to only bring more than 5,000 people."

"I will lead Meng De's troops to search for Dong Zhuo's main force, while Sister Benchu, Sister Xuande and the other princes will stay here."

Seeing that Liu Bei's eyes seemed to have changed, Liu Zhaoqing immediately explained: "Sister Xuande can fight Lu Bu together with Yunchang and Zhang Fei. This is the key to supporting Lu Bu all the way if our side is exposed."

"And Sister Benchu, as the daughter of the highly prestigious Yuan family, came to the alliance to take charge. Tell the princes that we are just going to inspect somewhere else. No one will suspect anything for the time being, and it will also stabilize the morale of the army."

"But, with only more than 5,000 troops, isn't it too dangerous?" Yuan Shao said to Liu Zhaoqing.

Liu Zhaoqing shook his head: "As Xun Yu said just now, we don't need to confront Dong Zhuo's main force head-on. We just need to cut off his food and grass, and then disrupt his military morale, or even go directly to the rear of Luoyang and force him to return to defend."

"Besides, if we have too many troops, supply will be a big problem. This strategy already has enough troops. Not to mention that the quality of Meng De's and my troops in the alliance is also elite, not inferior to Dong Zhuo's."

Liu Zhaoqing smiled and said, "Besides, for me, five thousand soldiers to do this kind of thing is actually a rich battle."

When everyone heard this, they were unable to refute it.

Others may say this just to pretend and brag without shame, but Liu Zhaoqing has really fought in actual combat. He led forty men to penetrate deep into the Wuhuan, and eight hundred cavalrymen dared to march north for 1,500 miles to kill the Xianbei.

Five thousand people, and they are all Liu Zhaoqing's and Cao Cao's elite troops, that is indeed quite a lot.

Cao Cao was amused when he heard this, and then asked with a smile: "When does Zhao Qing decide to set out?"

"Now."