The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 294 Volume Battle of Changping
“It has not been decided yet.”

"And even if we go to war, there is no need for me to go there in person."

The emperor personally leading the army to war is always a dragon-slaying tactic that hurts both others and oneself, and should not be used lightly.

The first expedition was to Meiwu because there were no soldiers or generals in Guanzhong, so it was really a last resort.

The second time he went to Shanggui, nominally it was the emperor's personal expedition, but in reality it was a cover for the Han army's sneak attack on Hanzhong from Ziwu Valley.

The third battle of Anyi was also a battle that had to be fought.

Unless it is absolutely necessary, the emperor's dragon banner will not be moved lightly.

The appearance of the emperor's dragon banner on the battlefield can certainly boost the morale of one's own side, but to a certain extent, it will also boost the morale of the opponent.

During the Battle of Anyi, it was only after Yuan Shao heard that the emperor's dragon banner appeared in Hedong that he abandoned Jinyang, which had not yet been conquered, and marched south to capture the emperor.

On the battlefield, Liu Xie used the dragon banner as a "hook", which was also a huge risk.

Once the dragon flag was broken in the chaos of the army, even if Zhang Liao arrived from the flank later, he would still be powerless to save the situation.

Therefore, any war in which the Han Dynasty's dragon flag appears can only be won, not lost!
Now, in order to rescue Gongsun Zan, Liu Xie obviously did not risk breaking his dragon flag.

If the Han Dynasty's dragon banner appears again on the front line of the Hebei battlefield, there is only one possibility -

Your Majesty, launch a general attack on Hebei!

"It's not that time yet."

After hearing Liu Xie's assurance, Cai Yan finally felt relieved.

"Your Majesty, please do not go to war at this time."

"It's mainly about the Queen... I heard that when the Queen was born, the Grand Tutor was not by her side because of the war. Now that the Queen is about to give birth, I hope Your Majesty can stay by her side."

Cai Yong and Cai Yan, the father and daughter, really loved Dong Bai to their core.

In response to this, Liu Xie also agreed to this matter.

The most important thing for the court right now is to accumulate strength.

After accumulating enough money and food, we will crush Yuan Shao in one fell swoop and completely recover Hebei!

Liu Xie essentially wanted a quick victory to prevent the Han people from suffering from war.

But the more you pursue speed, the slower you need to go.

We must accumulate enough money and food and mobilize enough troops to the front line to ensure that Yuan Shao is destroyed in one fell swoop!
We can't be like Cao Cao in history.

Although they won the Battle of Guandu, they kept delaying because of their weak foundation. It was not until eight years later that Hebei was completely cleared, which wasted a lot of manpower in the Central Plains and Hebei, and indirectly led to the defeat in the Battle of Chibi, making it difficult for the northern forces to unify in a short period of time.

It is better to chase the poor bandits with courage, not to be a famous scholar!
Therefore, the more it is at this time, the more Liu Xie should be patient and not send out troops at this time and waste the court's power in vain.

"But if Gongsun Zan can survive, it will actually be of great benefit to future wars."

When Gongsun Zan hid in Yijing, he had actually lost the ambition to dominate the world.

But this does not mean that Gongsun Zan has no role to play.

After all, he was a overlord who once competed with Yuan Shao.

Even if he did nothing and just stayed in Yijing, he could at least tie up Yuan Shao's 10,000 troops.

If the enemy has 10,000 fewer troops, it means the imperial court can mobilize 10,000 more troops.

This increase and decrease will have a huge impact on the final outcome of the war!
Not to mention, Gongsun Zan always has some influence in the north, and he might be able to draw in the military forces of the Xianbei and Wuhuan, bringing greater pressure to Yuan Shao.

Therefore, Liu Xie was still thinking about whether he could rescue Gongsun Zan without wasting a lot of manpower.

……

The next day, Liu Xie summoned Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Niu Fu, Lu Bu, Sima Yi, Yang Xiu and others to the Beigong parade ground.

Because whether to rescue and how to rescue are still unresolved issues, the scale of this meeting was not large.

At the beginning, Liu Xie also made clear his demands:

"If you can save Gongsun Zan, it's best to do so."

"Because rescuing Gongsun Zan now will always be beneficial to future wars."

"But if the price to pay is too high, then we will abandon Gongsun Zan and treat him as an abandoned pawn!"

Can't pay too high a price.

In other words, the emperor rejected the idea of ​​crossing Yanshan Mountain and heading directly to Youzhou to rescue Gongsun Zan.

Hearing the emperor say this, Sima Yi and Xun Yu both relaxed their brows.

Obviously, these two people did not agree with the emperor's spending a lot of money and food to rescue Gongsun Zan. The emperor's request actually coincided with theirs.

In this case, there is only one strategy -

"Surround Wei and rescue Zhao!"

Yang Xiu had recently been sorting out the military book "The Thirty-Six Strategies of the Grand Master" compiled by the emperor for Dong Zhuo, and had made some progress in military tactics, so he blurted it out immediately!

"That's right! If we want to save Gongsun Zan now, the only way is to attack Wei and save Zhao."

Those who want to resolve complicated disputes do not control their fists. Those who want to stop a fight do not fight. Instead, they attack the strong and attack the weak. If they can restrain the situation and force themselves, they will resolve the dispute.
Youzhou is too far away, but Yuan Shao’s old nest Yecheng is very close to the imperial court.

"You can send Generals Hao Zhao and Guo Huai, who are in Jinyang, out of Jingjing to harass Changshan! Then order Generals Xu Rong and Xu Huang to leave Chenguan, hide in Henei, and advance toward Liyang!"

Changshan and Liyang.

They are two important military towns to the north and south of Yecheng.

If he sent troops to harass these two places, Yang Xiu didn't believe that Yuan Shao would be able to keep his position and continue to attack Gongsun Zan!

Liu Xie nodded approvingly.

In fact, he thought so too.

Besieging Wei to save Zhao could not only rescue Gongsun Zan, but also allow the imperial army to go to Hebei as a rehearsal for the subsequent full-scale attack.

We must test Yuan Shao's ability and find out the layout of Hebei. At the very least, we must have a clearer understanding of the terrain of Hebei.

These things, even if we really launch a full-scale attack in the future, we will have to send small forces to do it. It is better to take this opportunity to gather some intelligence and prepare for the future war. "Your Majesty."

But at this moment, Sima Yi stared at the huge sand table in the center of the Beigong Palace...or rather, he stared at the terrain of Bingzhou in the center of the sand table and had some objections.

"Your Majesty, have you ever thought about how to deal with Yuan Shao's Shangdang defenders?"

Going to the party?

Sima Yi's words attracted everyone to look at the sand table.

As he watched, Liu Xie suddenly frowned.

Go to the party!

The only piece of territory occupied by Yuan Shao in Bingzhou.

This place is not very rich...from a certain perspective, it is completely poor and barren.

But poor mountains and bad waters often have another name:

Easy to defend but hard to attack!

Liu Xie didn't want to care about Shangdang.

After all, the terrain in southern Bingzhou is actually a bit like the word "district".

The horizontal line above "区" is the well diameter, connecting Taiyuan and Changshan.

The horizontal line below the word “区” is the Chenguan Pass, which connects Hedong and Hanoi.

The horizontal line in the middle of the "district" is a mountain range running from north to south, Taiyue Mountain, which separates the road between Shangdang and Hedong.

And the "乂" in the middle of "區" refers to Shangdang County in Yuan Shao's hands.

When the imperial court sent troops, they only had to take the upper and lower roads to reach Hebei.

But now Sima Yi asked Liu Xie to focus on Shangdang County, which made Liu Xie start to think carefully.

"It is certainly feasible to attack Hebei from the north and south channels, but once Yuan Shao shrinks and does not give the court a chance to win quickly, the court's armies in the north and south are likely to go further and further away."

At this time, Shangdang County, which was originally just a useless county, can play a vital role!

The two horizontal lines of the character "区" (district) are constantly extended, and will eventually become more and more fragile. At this time, as long as troops are sent from Shangdang in the middle, the army entering Hebei can be immediately cut off and the encirclement and annexation can be completed.

……

Liu Xie looked at the terrain here.

Of course, Liu Xie’s expectation was actually the worst case scenario.

The prerequisite for completing the encirclement of the two major armies of the imperial court is that Yuan Shao has enough courage to "find people and lost land" and conduct "strategic defense."

But does Yuan Shao have the courage to do so?
There is no doubt that Yuan Shao has!

Liu Xie never underestimated Yuan Shao.

Especially in the military aspect, they dare not underestimate the other side at all.

Yuan Shao’s poor performance was simply due to the inherent deformity of his own camp.

Instead of saying how big the flaws of Yuan Shao were.

A man who dared to give advice to He Jin and mobilized troops from all directions to threaten Empress Dowager He.

A man who dared to escape from Luoyang, organize the princes to fight against Dong Zhuo openly and attack the capital of the Han Dynasty.

A man who dared to seize Jizhou with the power of a county and beat the former overlord Gongsun Zan into a state of temper.

How could such a person not have the courage to carry out the tactics that Liu Xie had just thought of?

And once Yuan Shao really surrounded and annihilated the Hebei army in these two places, I am afraid that the day for the court to recover Hebei will become a distant prospect!

"Thanks to Zhongda, you reminded me."

If Yuan Shao was a fool, Liu Xie could just ignore Shangdang and push forward from the north and south.

But is Yuan Shao a fool?
If Yuan Shao is a fool, then there are probably few normal people in this world.

Therefore, Liu Xie had to be on guard against the problems raised by Sima Yi.

"If we want to attack Hebei, we must first take Shangdang."

Only by completely occupying this "area" could Liu Xie unscrupulously release the Western Liang cavalry to gallop across the Hebei plain.

"The offensive and defensive forces are different!"

Now the situation between the imperial court and Yuan Shao has reversed.

Now, it was finally not Yuan Shao who was trying so hard to attack Guanzhong; instead, Liu Xie was working day and night to come up with a way to attack Hebei.

"but……"

Liu Xie smiled bitterly with some helplessness.

"Attack Shangdang... Everyone, does this decision seem familiar to you?"

Everyone present, even Lu Bu and Niu Fu, immediately became solemn.

Without him.

It's just because that battle is so famous! So famous that even a three-year-old child knows the name of that battle!

Also attacking Hebei from Guanzhong.

We also have to tackle the tough problem of Shangdang.

It was also the most important battle before the Great Unification Campaign...

That war was the earliest, largest, and most thorough large-scale annihilation war in China's military history.

"The Battle of Changping!"

(End of this chapter)