Compared to the tragedy, the situation in another body of water was also incomparably tragic. Although there were no charred corpses in this body of water, nor were there any cooked corpses. However, this body of water was dyed red with blood. The entire Yangtze River was full of corpses. There was no end in sight. Some of the narrower parts of the Yellow River were cut off by these corpses.
This was the Yellow River. This was the battle between Cao Cao's 30,000 navy and Yuan Shao's 100,000 navy outside of Guandu.
"Humph, damn it, damn it!" In the tent of Yuan Shao's navy chief general, a handsome middle-aged man was throwing a tantrum. The entire tent had been messed up by him. The tea table, brush, ink, and paper were all scattered on the ground. There was even a bleeding corpse lying on the ground.
This angry middle-aged man was Yuan Shao, General Yuan Benchu! Of course, Yuan Shao was furious. Not only was he furious, but he was also in a state where he could not vent his anger. This was because yesterday's naval battle at Guandu was truly unsightly. Of Cao Cao's thirty thousand navy, less than two thousand managed to return alive while the rest died on the Yangtze River. Logically speaking, Yuan Shao should be very happy because Cao Cao only had a total of one hundred thousand troops. After a month of besieging Guandu, Cao Cao lost thirty thousand troops. Now, less than two thousand of his thirty thousand navy remained. Of those two thousand, most of them were seriously injured. Even if they were saved, they would not be able to return to the battlefield.
However, Yuan Shao wasn't happy. He was even angry. He wanted to kill, he wanted to kill! Because his 100,000 navy, an entire army of 100,000, couldn't even form a battalion. How many people were there in a battalion? 5,000 people! An army of 100,000 was reduced to 5,000 people. You tell me, how could Yuan Shao not be angry? Even if Sun Ce's army was almost wiped out in Wancheng City, he still managed to bring back 5,000 troops! Moreover, these 5,000 troops were Sun Cejun's main force. But now, Yuan Shao's 5,000 troops were all injured. It can be said that they can no longer participate in the battle of Guandu. They need to be transported to the rear! Sun Ce lost 100,000 troops because Sun Ce climbed the walls of Wancheng City. But Yuan Shao didn't even touch the gates of Guandu!
"Cao Cao, Cao Aman, I will kill you!" Yuan Shao shouted angrily. Yuan Shao's dissatisfaction was unknown.
"Military Advisor Ju!" Outside Yuan Shao's tent, a middle-aged scholar heard the commotion inside and walked outside the tent. The guard outside the tent quickly shouted.
"Milord! It's still the same! " Ju Shou asked the guard. Yesterday, after the battle, Yuan Shao was very angry. He didn't even eat or drink. He was just venting his anger. Even a person who tried to persuade Yuan Shao to eat first was killed by Yuan Shao.
"Reporting to Military Advisor, Milord has always been like this!" The personal guards were also very distressed. Yuan Shao's mood swings made them very afraid. If things went wrong, they might be beheaded. The saying that being in the king's company was like being in the company of a tiger was true. If you didn't care about the Lord, then you would be accused of neglecting your duties and not having the Lord in your heart. You might be thrown into prison. If you cared about the Lord, then you might lose your life. For example, the one lying on the ground was overly concerned about the Lord. When Yuan Shao was angry, he asked if Yuan Shao wanted to eat. He thought that he was trying to curry favor with the Lord. Who knew that the horse would hit the horse's tail! He was directly killed by the angry Yuan Shao. This was good. He didn't even die in battle. When he went back, his family might be implicated.
"Sigh!" Ju Shou also sighed. In fact, he couldn't blame Yuan Shao. If he was Yuan Shao, he would also be very angry at this moment. Ju Shou's mind couldn't help but recall the scene of that day.
At dawn, Cao Cao's army began to challenge on the Yellow River. Yuan Shao was very happy. He was worried about how to break through Guandu's tortoise shell, but Cao Cao came out by himself. Wasn't this just courting death? If Yuan Shao was in Guandu's tortoise shell, it would take him a few months to take down Guandu, and it might even be a stalemate. But Cao Cao came out by himself. Yuan Shao was very happy. He was so happy that he even went out to fight.
One hundred thousand navy soldiers stood on the Yellow River, covering the sky and the sun. Opposite them was only thirty thousand Cao Jun. Although most of Yuan Shao's army were northerners, and northerners didn't know how to swim, these one hundred thousand navy soldiers were gathered by Yuan Shao from his eldest son Yuan Tan in Qingzhou and several places near the Yellow River in Jizhou. They couldn't be considered as elites, but in order to conquer the Central Plains, these navy soldiers were well-trained.
On the other hand, Cao Cao's navy wasn't famous. Most of them were surrendered generals, and there were only a few navy generals. After all, Cao Cao's territories were mainly land battles, such as Zhili, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and so on. The true elites of the navy were also the overlords of the navy. If Old Cao had an elite navy and an elite navy general, he wouldn't have to rely on Zhang Yun and Cai Mao to train the navy in the Battle of Red Cliffs. He wouldn't have fallen for Zhou Yu's sowing discord and killed the two of them, and no one would help him train the navy.
Just like that, the two equally matched navies started fighting in the Yellow River basin. They were all the same. They knew how to swim and fight, but their overall strength on the warship would be reduced. In terms of quality of soldiers, it was a competition of who had more people.
Yuan Shao naturally laughed. He wanted to crush Cao Cao with his entire army. After that, he wanted to capture Cao Cao alive and use him to persuade the remaining forty thousand soldiers who surrendered in Guandu. Yuan Shao was very proud of himself. This battle could pacify half of the Central Plains.
Sure enough, Yuan Shao's army began to move. They displayed an aura of an entire army pressing forward. Everyone was charging forward with all their might. One must know that there were only so many enemies. If they were late, they might lose their battle merits. Therefore, some of the navy fleets began to panic. However, it did not matter. As long as the flag was correct, it would be fine as long as they could distinguish between allies and enemies! Anyway, after a round of arrows, they would engage in a boarding battle.
Yuan Shao's navy moved, but Cao Jun did not move. He even turned the warship horizontally, exposing the entire side of the warship in front of Yuan Shao's warship. At this time, there were a total of three ways to fight a naval battle. The first was to ram, the second was to shoot arrows, and the third was to engage in close quarters combat. If the warship was turned horizontally, then the warship's ability to ram would disappear. The most vulnerable part of a warship was the center of the ship. You can see that every warship was basically cut in half and sank into the sea or river. When Cao Cao's navy turned the warship horizontally, it was immediately met with a series of mocking laughter. They said that Cao Cao was courting death and that he might raise a white flag in the next battle.
Ju Shou also thought so because he also knew some of the key points of naval warfare. If you don't want a sturdy bow and insist on exposing your weakness in front of others, isn't that courting death? A group of Yuan Shao's navy rushed towards Cao Cao's navy.
For some reason, when Ju Shou saw Cao Cao's calm expression and the motionless Cao Army's warships, the uncomfortable feeling in his heart rose again.
"Milord! Ju Shou thinks that we should send out a vanguard to test the waters! Just in case it's a trap! " Ju Shou was very cautious. He told Yuan Shao his idea. Naturally, he didn't know what the other party was up to. Even if he sent out a vanguard to test the waters, it would only be a few dozen warships and a few thousand soldiers.
"A trap? Haha! " Yuan Shao didn't care. He didn't even care about Ju Shou's stiff tone that made him uncomfortable. This was because he was about to win. As long as he defeated Cao Cao, then who in the world would be able to compete with him, Yuan Shao? This world was destined to be surnamed Yuan.
In the Three Kingdoms, it was said that Wei Yan was rebellious. However, Wei Yan didn't rebel against Shu until his death. In the Three Kingdoms, it was said that Lao Cao wanted to replace Han, but Wei Yan didn't proclaim himself as an emperor. Even though he had the ability to do so at that time, the Three Princes of the Yuan Family of the Fourth Generation were truly rebellious. It wasn't a lie to say that Yuan Shao was rebellious. When Yuan Shao was in Luoyang, he was first recommended to General He Jin. General He Jin had high hopes for Yuan Shao because he was the grandson of Grand Tutor Yuan Kui. The Three Princes of the Yuan Family of the Fourth Generation were not joking. Therefore, He Jin had to give face to the Yuan family. At that time, Yuan Shao really made He Jin's eyes light up. He was handsome and had a strategic mind. How could He Jin not like him? At that time, He Jin wanted to deal with the Ten Palace Attendants. With the support of the Three Princes of the Fourth Generation, He Jin was like a tiger that had grown wings. However, Yuan Shao's Yuan family secretly colluded with the Ten Palace Attendants in order to obtain greater benefits. After all, one couldn't put all their eggs in one basket!
After that, the palace fell into chaos. Yuan Shao led his troops to kill the Ten Palace Attendants. Among the Ten Palace Attendants, Zhang Rang and the others escaped from Luoyang with the young emperor and Liu Bian. Yuan Shao managed to catch up with them. At that time, Dong Zhuo had also arrived. Dong Zhuo's troops were about the same as Yuan Shao's. Dong Zhuo's main troops had not arrived yet, only the vanguard. As long as Yuan Shao had the slightest bit of loyalty to the Han dynasty, it would be impossible for the emperor to fall into Dong Zhuo's hands!
However, Yuan Shao, for his own sake and to make the Great Han lose its head, left the young emperor and led to the dethronement of the emperor and Dong Zhuo occupying the capital. After that, Cao Cao assassinated Dong Zhuo. After that, the eighteen vassals started a crusade against Dong Zhuo. To be honest, if the eighteen vassals really fought, Dong Zhuo would have been beaten back to his hometown in Xiliang to farm. However, the eighteen vassals all had their own ulterior motives. Only a few of them could fight and wanted to fight. One was Cao Cao. At that time, Cao Cao really wanted to serve the Great Han and help the Great Han conquer the world. Therefore, Cao Cao fought with all his might. Even if the vassals did not move, Cao Cao himself would have been ambushed by Dong Zhuo and almost couldn't return.
The second one was Changsha's Sun Jian, Sun Wentai. This person was not lying. If he was still alive, he might be another great vassal. If he was still alive, Jingzhou would probably have a change of master. This person was very brave and fierce in battle and was called the Tiger of Changsha. The only time Lü Bu was beaten back was when Sun Jian's troops were beaten back. In order to appease this tiger, Dong Zhuo even wanted to marry his daughter to Sun Jian's son. However, Sun Jian did not agree.
If Sun Jian continued to fight, Dong Zhuo would still have to go back to Xiliang to farm. However, the fun was coming! Yuan Shao wanted to keep the world in chaos and also to let his Yuan family continue to fish in troubled waters. Even if his father and uncle's family were all beheaded by Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao still did not move. He even detained Sun Jian's army provisions with his younger brother, Yuan Shu. How could they fight without provisions? If the soldiers could not even fill their stomachs, how could they fight? Sure enough, Sun Jian was defeated and even lost a great general. Sun Jian tried to reason with the Yuan brothers, but one played the good cop and the other played the bad cop. After Dong Zhuo burned Luoyang and fled to Chang 'an, the Yuan brothers started to have ideas again. They continued to allocate troops and provisions for Sun Jian to continue fighting! Sun Jian fought his way to Luoyang and found the Imperial Jade Seal. To be honest, Sun Jian's death was not unrelated to the Yuan brothers. In fact, the Yuan brothers were mostly responsible for it. It was the Yuan brothers who spread the news of the Imperial Jade Seal. This attracted the attention of Jingzhou's Liu Biao, who intercepted and killed Sun Jian midway.
Sure enough, after obtaining the Imperial Jade Seal, Yuan Shu, Yuan Gonglu, really became an emperor. Although he only became an emperor for two to three years, it was obvious that the Yuan family had the idea of replacing the Han dynasty. Did Yuan Shao not have the same idea? Yes! Of course, Yuan Shao had it. It could be seen from the fact that he did not put the Han dynasty in his eyes after he became a great general. The Han dynasty? In Yuan Shao's eyes, it was just so-so. If Yuan Shao had the Han dynasty in his heart, he would not have accepted his younger brother, Yuan Shu, after he was defeated by Yuan Shu. It was all for the sake of obtaining the Imperial Jade Seal in Yuan Shu's hands. Otherwise, who would dare to accept Yuan Shu, a fake emperor? Even Liu Bei, who had formed an alliance with Yuan Shao, did not dare to let Yuan Shu pass through his territory. He was afraid that his reputation would be tarnished.
If Yuan Shao really defeated Cao Cao in history and took over Guandu, then the Great Han Dynasty might have been destroyed at that time. There was no need to talk about the Three Kingdoms or the revival of the Han dynasty.
Now, Yuan Shao was only a step away from that position. How could he not be excited?! Decades of hard work, decades of planning, wasn't it all for this step? If the Great Han Dynasty could last for hundreds of years, then the Yuan Dynasty could not last for hundreds of years! One must know that Great Ancestor Liu Bang was just a ruffian and a mere village constable. Yuan Shao, on the other hand, was one of the Three Princes of the Fourth Generation. If such a person could obtain the Han dynasty, then Yuan Shao would not be able to do so.
"Guangping! You are overthinking! " Yuan Shao said to Ju Shou with a smile. This smile really made Ju Shou stunned. Ever since Yuan Shao took over Hebei, Ju Shou had never seen Yuan Shao's smile. Ever since he defeated Gongsun Zan, Ju Shou had never seen such a smile on Yuan Shao's face.
Originally, Yuan Shao was only the governor of Bohai Prefecture. The real master of Jizhou was Han Fu. Ju Shou was also Han Fu's special guest. At that time, Yuan Shao wanted to obtain the support of the nobles and also those famous scholars. It could be said that he was courteous to the wise and had really achieved the kind of importance he attached to talents.
The reason why Ju Shou and Tian Feng chose Yuan Shao and abandoned Han Fu was because of Yuan Shao's smile. At that time, Yuan Shao was very sincere to them. He asked Ju Shou and Tian Feng about everything, no matter how big or small. Even his youngest son, Yuan Shang's name was written by Ju Shou.
However, ever since Gongsun Sui was defeated, Yuan Shao changed. He was no longer the courteous Lord he used to be. His attitude towards Tian Feng and Ju Shou had changed to the point where he had nothing to say. He even felt disgust towards them. Tian Feng had been imprisoned by Yuan Shao.
Now, after more than ten years, Ju Shou saw this smile again.
"Guang Ping, look. The Yellow River is only a few dozen meters wide and there are no plants to block it. How could Cao Cao trick us? Guang Ping, didn't your intelligence report say that Cao Cao only has Manahan. In Guandu, Cao Aman only had 100,000 soldiers under his command. After a month of attacks, Cao Aman had lost more than 30,000 soldiers. This meant that he only had 70,000 soldiers left! Even if all seventy thousand soldiers come out, I, Yuan Shao, have nothing to fear. Even if all of my one hundred thousand soldiers are wiped out, I, Yuan Shao, will still win. "Yuan Shao was really ambitious. Yuan Shao was right. If Cao Cao brought out all of his seventy thousand soldiers, even if Yuan Shao lost all of his one hundred thousand soldiers, he would still be the winner as long as he could wipe out the seventy thousand soldiers. Because even if he lost one hundred thousand soldiers, he would still have one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. One hundred and fifty thousand soldiers wouldn't be enough to conquer half of the Central Plains.
"En!" Ju Shou didn't know if he was influenced by Yuan Shao's smile or Yuan Shao's words. He didn't think much about it and just nodded. Yuan Shao had the capital. He could afford to play!
But who knew? Yuan Shao's words of wiping out the entire army really became reality.
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