Tiger Guards

Chapter 237 Sun Ce Heads North
The situation in Yuzhou was also changing rapidly.

As Cao Cao and Guo Jia judged, King Chen did not like to launch swift and fierce attacks, but only issued manifestos to wage a war of public opinion.

Although some counties tended to be neutral, this neutrality was not only welcomed by King Chen, but also something that Cao Cao's side could barely accept.

In order to strengthen Lu Bu's offensive, King Chen immediately wrote back to Lu Bu after receiving Lu Bu's letter and sent a message to Liang State Prime Minister Luo Jun.

The new soldiers from Liang were handed over to Lu Bu for command... The native place of this group of troops was in Liang, and their families were also in Liang.

In the future, when Lu Bu is short of food, the Liang soldiers will disintegrate and return to Liang.

If you really want to take away the military power of a region, you must maintain stable rule over that region.

King Chen had no confidence in ruling Liang State for long, and lacked a sense of identity with the army recruited during the disaster, so he casually threw it to Lu Bu.

Even the King of Chen did not mind giving up Liang State.

For the State of Chen, the State of Liang was a burden that required constant depletion of food supplies.

King Liang had no prestige for a long time and was difficult to support. It made no sense for King Chen to seize Liang.

Many counties and regions were fence-sitters. After defeating and disintegrating Cao Cao's rule, there would be no obstacles in taking over the counties.

The army and food are the most important things at the moment.

King Chen gave Lu Bu the greatest support, but Chen Gong disappointed Lu Bu.

When Lü Bu's messenger met Chen Gong, Chen Gong had already begun to cross the Ying River and set up camp outside Ruyin City.

"If our army withdraws from Runan, we will lose the hope of Runan. The Runan soldiers will be taken north by Cao Cao and march to Yingchuan, leaving Prince Chen in dire straits."

Chen Gong pointed his whip at Ruyin City. "But if we stay here, the various regions of Runan will be hindered by each other, and Cao Cao will have to divide his forces there. With me on King Chen's flank and Lü Menghou to the north, Cao Cao will have no choice but to divide his forces and hold on. How can he not lose if he holds on for too long?"

Having already confronted Cao Cao, although Chen Gong wanted to lead his motley crowd to Yanzhou to rescue Zang Hong, he really couldn't retreat now.

It is necessary to pin it down in Runan and give the anti-Cao forces in Runan a reason to delay time, so that these people will have the time and courage to reunite and rise up against Cao Cao.

Although his people were a motley crowd, the various factions in Runan under Cao Cao's control were also a motley crowd.

I don't dare to fight a field battle with Cao's army, and Cao's army may not dare to do so either.

When a real battle breaks out, if the people of Runan turn against their own side, it is very likely that everyone will rise up in response, leading to a rebellion in the entire Runan County.

By that time, the mob here under Chen Gong could swell to a size of 50,000 or 60,000.

If the people of Runan use their influence in the Central Plains to boost King Chen's momentum in his campaign against Cao, half of Yingchuan will also rebel.

Then, how could people in Yanzhou just sit there and wait?

Cao Cao was very happy to kill Zhang Miao's brothers and their three clans, but Zhang Miao was a prominent family in Dongping State in the east of Yanzhou. He had served as the governor of Chenliu County, and Zhang Miao's followers were spread all over Yanzhou.

So the opportunity to strangle Cao Cao is right in front of him. Let alone an envoy of Lu Bu, even if Lu Bu himself comes, Chen Gong will not give Lu Bu this face!

Lu Bu's envoy had no choice but to return by a detour.

At this moment, Lu Bu no longer cared about Chen Gong. After receiving new soldiers, equipment and food from Liang State, he just wanted to rush over and fight Cao Cao again.

The only thing that made him unhappy was that it was difficult to replenish his cavalry. He could only lead his troops to Gexiang in the northwest corner of Liang State, set up camp relying on the Bian River, and begin to reorganize the army.

With the war about to begin, he needed some time to incorporate the new recruits into the teams.

In the future, logistical supplies will have to rely on transportation via the Bian River.

After Cao Cao quickly left Xu County and entered Chenliu, he began to summon the Qingzhou soldiers, Li Dian, and Cheng Yu's troops to come to Chenliu to join him.

As for whether the counties rebelled or not... Cao Cao really didn't care. Even if he cared, it would be impossible for the counties to change their minds.

As long as the army is still there, those counties and prefectures that are like fence-sitters can turn against us at any time.

As a result, the battlefield of Yanyu formed a situation where Xiahou Yuan and Chen Gong in the south were deadlocked at Yingshui and Ruyin, and neither dared to rush into a decisive battle and launch a field battle.

Xun Yu and Prince Chen in the middle each guarded the central army without moving. Prince Chen launched a public opinion offensive, and Xun Yu also made various attempts to appease and respond.

The main forces of both sides did not engage in battle, but the powerful men of all sizes who responded to public opinion and raised troops had already begun fighting. Some of them followed King Chen's call and took the opportunity to seize the counties, while others, under the appeasement and encouragement of Xun Yu, led their fellow villagers' soldiers to attack and suppress the rebellious powerful men.

King Chen's main force remained stationary, and he could still mobilize transportation capacity to supply food to Lu Bu and Chen Gong.

But Xun Yu couldn't attack the State of Chen. It would be better if he didn't attack the State of Chen, because the King of Chen could gather his troops and confront you.

If we invade the State of Chen and the battle goes wrong, the situation in the entire Yingchuan will be in turmoil.

Therefore, Xun Yu could only watch as King Chen transported food, fodder and equipment to Lu Bu in Gexiang of Liang State and Chen Gong in Ruyin of Runan.

The northern battlefield was simple. Cao Cao gathered his troops in Chenliu, and Lu Bu trained his minions in Gexiang.

Both sides are on the side of the Bian River, and once they are ready, they will fight another decisive battle on the side of the Bian River.

Cao Cao did not have time to argue or confront Lu Bu. The longer he was delayed, the greater the probability of changes in the Ruying area. He could not afford to delay.

Lü Bu ate the rice of the Prince of Chen, and this food supply was not stable. Only by quickly defeating Cao Cao in a field battle would many people lead their troops and bring food to Lü Bu! Obviously, the longer Cao Cao delayed, the more Qingzhou troops would gather, and the more complete the battle preparations would be.

The sooner Cao Cao seeks war, the fewer troops he gathers, and the smaller Lu Bu's relative disadvantage will be... Lu Bu will naturally respond actively.

Therefore, once both sides in the northern battlefield are prepared, a decisive battle will break out, and no one will have room to retreat or delay.

As the two states of Yan and Yu were engaged in an all-out confrontation, the battle on the Qingxu battlefield had already begun.

Yuan Shu's offensive was not smooth. He was facing not only Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Chen Deng, and Chen Yu, but also the troops of Chang Ba, the commander of the Donghai garrison, who had just led his troops to support Liu Bei.

After the first round of offensive failed, Yuan Shu could only wait quietly for Sun Ce's reinforcements.

This can only be considered a small fight. Before Sun Ce's main force arrives, Yuan Shu will not waste his troops or launch a tentative attack.

It's not that he felt sorry for or pitied the troops, but if too many troops were lost, it might cause Sun Ce to lose control.

Last year, Liu Yao was frightened by Sun Ce's offensive and abandoned his army to flee to Yuzhang.

Sun Ce had previously attacked Wang Lang, the governor of Kuaiji County. Wang Lang rejected Yu Fan's suggestion to hold on, and instead sent his troops to form a battle array to fight Sun Ce, temporarily repelling Sun Ce.

Sun Ce was in a dilemma as his offensive was not going well and he received Yuan Shu's military order.

He had been troubled by the lack of a legitimate right to rule and secede from Jiangdong, and before Sun Ce even made a decision, his cousin Sun Ben began packing his bags.

Sun Ben did not support Sun Ce's ambitions. He did not think that his family could rule Jiangdong and fight for the world.

If we turn against Yuan Shu, it might be difficult for Yuan Shu to wipe out the Sun family... but the current situation in Jiangdong would be shattered in an instant.

Without Yuan Shu as his strong backer, heroes from all over Jiangdong would rise up in rebellion, which would be enough to bring down Sun Ce.

What else could Sun Ce do?
Even if he gritted his teeth, he could not persuade Yuan Shu to change his mind.

People like Yuan Shu don't care about losing Jiangdong again.

Even though he knew that Sun Ce's retreat would lead to the loss of Wujun and Danyangjun again, and that Liu Yao, who had retreated to Yuzhang, would make a comeback... Yuan Shu still didn't care. If he could drive Liu Yao away once, he could drive him away a second time.

What Yuan Shu cared about was Xuzhou, the victory or defeat, pride and face in his battle with Liu Bei.

Defeating Liu Bei and taking Xuzhou; then sending troops to attack Jiangdong would actually help strengthen Yuan's rule over Jiangdong.

Just like forging iron, every time a group of enemies are lost, they will emerge; and when they are defeated, the number of local rebels will decrease until they dare not oppose anymore.

Under Yuan Shu's repeated urging, Sun Ce had no choice but to retreat with hatred.

He withdrew his troops back to Wujun and led the vanguard troops to sail north.

On the other side, Liu Yao retreated to Yuzhang County and also received an imperial edict from the court here.

At the beginning of the year, Zhou Shu, the prefect of Yuzhang County, died. Liu Biao recommended Zhuge Xuan to take over and seize Yuzhang, which had a population of one million.

The imperial court also sent Zhu Jun's son Zhu Hao as the governor of Yuzhang County. Zhu Hao asked Liu Yao for reinforcements, and Liu Yao sent Zuo Rong to help.

As a result, the allied forces of Zhu Hao and Zuo Rong successfully forced Zhuge Xuan to retreat and besieged him in Xicheng.

Just at this time, the imperial envoy arrived again to summon Zhuge Xuan to the court.

Zhuge Xuan gave up resistance and evacuated with his fellow villagers, partners and some followers from Yuzhang County. Then Zuo Rong held a banquet to assassinate Zhu Hao and took over Yuzhang County himself.

Even though Liu Yao learned that Sun Ce had retreated, he could not help it and immediately sent troops westward to unite with the soldiers and powerful people of Yuzhang County to encircle and suppress Zuo Rong and his Buddhist followers.

As for Taishi Ci, who had been attached to Sun Ce last year, he could only bring his troops to Wujun to wait for the fleet.

Fighting back home... is very tempting for many northerners who are living in Jiangdong to avoid the chaos.

Therefore, the morale of Taishi Ci's own troops did not decline, but the morale of the Jiangdong soldiers assigned to him was low, and they were unwilling to go to the north to fight.

In Jiangdong, they can have enough to eat, and even if they fight various tough battles, they don't have to worry about going hungry or having to fight against dangerous things like cavalry.

Therefore, all the soldiers from Jiangdong were opposed to going to Xuzhou to fight, including Sun Ce's headquarters.

Desertion was a common occurrence, and even the Danyang soldiers were no exception.

They fought fierce battles in Jiangdong, and if they lost, they could often escape or surrender. There was no custom of killing the surrendered here.

But it was different in the north. It was difficult to escape back home after a defeat, and those who surrendered would be executed... This was just a rumor brought by Zuo Rong and the people of Xuzhou. They exaggerated the incidents of Cao's army massacring cities, surrendered soldiers, and disaster victims, and mistakenly believed that the generals and armies in the north were so ferocious.

Just as Sun Ce was leading his troops northward by sea, Zang Ba, the imperially appointed governor of Qingzhou, led 3,000 light troops to attack Beihai and surrounded Yuan Tan.

In an instant, Qingzhou exploded.

Zang Ba's reinforcements and follow-up troops moved north one after another, and many counties in Qingzhou also raised troops to respond to Zang Ba.

Naturally, there were also those who raised troops to rescue Yuan Tan, but such people were relatively few, and after raising troops they often just waited and watched.

These people didn't even save Kong Rong at the beginning of the year, so how could they save the new Yuan Tan?
(End of this chapter)