When Bai Xiaowen's 30,000 troops arrived at Anyang, there was no news of Xiahou Dun's invasion.
Bai Xiaowen gathered the officers of Anyang and above to check if there were any Divine Court Awakened among them. Only then did he feel relieved.
The sentries reported that Xiahou Dun's 7,000 soldiers were stationed in Liyang and were repairing the city.
Moreover, the Cao's reinforcements were continuously crossing the Baimajin River south of the Yellow River and entering Liyang. It was said that there were 200,000 of them.
Tian Feng said, "Liyang is the south gate of Jizhou. Liyang's camp fell and the thief army has already opened up in Jizhou. Today, the thief army has 200,000 soldiers and is very powerful. Should we transfer the troops from Yedu over as soon as possible to fight against Cao Cao? "
Bai Xiaowen shook his head and said, "It's impossible for Cao Cao to make provisions out of nothing. He lied about having 200,000 soldiers. It's already good enough that he has half of them. We are not in a hurry to transfer troops. With 30,000 troops, it's enough to guard Anyang. After Murong Ping finishes reorganizing the troops, he will lead the troops to defend Weixian County. "
If Cao Cao really brought 200,000 soldiers, the daily consumption of grain was close to 10,000 bushels (equivalent to 150,000 catties), which was definitely a heavy burden for the Cao army.
More importantly, the army was on an expedition. In the enemy's territory, the grain had to be transported from their own home.
The supply team ate and chewed on the men and horses on the road. The consumption of grain on the road was also huge. The longer the battle line, the higher the consumption. That was why 'Sun Tzu's Art of War' advocated 'fighting the enemy because of grain', which was to rob the enemy's territory of military supplies.
This was also the reason why Bai Xiaowen praised Jiang Yiqu and conferred him a posthumous title. In addition to setting an example for the generals, the main reason was that when he was defeated, he could burn the accumulated grain in Liyang's camp to prevent the enemy from using it.
Even after the burning of Guandu's Crow's Nest, the Yuan's grain reserves were still better than the Cao army.
Bai Xiaowen only brought 30,000 soldiers and transported the grain from Yedu, so the burden was also light.
Bai Xiaowen himself felt that in the Three Kingdoms era, there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Although the momentum was great, it was really unnecessary. 30,000 elite soldiers were enough to capture the enemy's city. 100,000 soldiers were also enough to destroy the enemy's country.
Unless it was a multi-front war and a full-scale war, more troops were needed.
Quality is more important than quantity. This is the principle of military strategy.
After Tian Yu and Murong Ping finished reorganizing the army, they would eliminate a large number of old, weak, and disabled soldiers, and hand them over to General Ren Jun to open up the wasteland.
That's right, the special talent Ren Jun that Bai Xiaowen captured in Xudu's Field Guard was also put to good use. When Xu Du left with the Son of Heaven and the officials, he didn't forget about Ren Jun, bringing Ren Jun's family to Yedu.
Ren Jun had no way out. At the same time, he had no more worries, so he decided to seek refuge with Bai Xiaowen.
What needed to be mentioned was that it was only 199 AD (4th year of Jianan). Cao Cao only brought back the emperor in 196 AD and moved to Xudu, changing the name to Jianan. Many talents under him served Cao Cao for a short period of time.
The loyalty of the talents of the Cao Group was not as high as that of the later period of the Three Kingdoms.
In addition, Bai Xiaowen was the legitimate son of the emperor, and his charisma as a monarch was also exaggerated. It was only natural that Ren Jun would submit to him.
Speaking of the era name, after the Son of Heaven moved to Yedu, Bai Xiaowen changed the era name to Taishi. 199 AD was the first year of Taishi.
This was the era name when the three families were unified. Bai Xiaowen using Taishi as the era name had a deeper meaning.
Tian Feng thought about it for a moment and understood Bai Xiaowen's intentions, "Lord shouldn't be in a rush to take back Liyang, right?"
Bai Xiaowen smiled, "Although Liyang City has an important strategic position, as long as we defend Anyang and Weixian, we can prevent Cao Cao from opening up the situation. Since Cao Cao has gathered so many troops, he will definitely use up a lot of grain. When they lose their morale and run out of grain, we will find a chance to attack. We will definitely be able to win. "
Tian Feng was a wise strategist, so when he heard that, he said, "Lord's words are right."
Bai Xiaowen stationed his troops in Anyang. Relying on the city wall, he dug a trench on the west side of the city and built a new stronghold. He sent Zhang He and Gao Lan, two generals, to lead ten thousand elite troops to be stationed there.
If the enemy sieged the city, Zhang He and Gao Er would attack the enemy's flank. If the enemy sieged the stronghold, the defending troops would attack the flank.
This was the plan that Chen Gong gave Lu Bu during the Battle of Xiapi. Unfortunately, Lu Bu was too engrossed in beauty and did not listen.
… …
Two days later, Cao Cao personally led the army and arrived at Anyang City.
Cao Cao raised his whip and pointed at the city wall, "Yuan Xi my nephew, come out and speak!"
Bai Xiaowen stood on the city wall and pointed at Cao Cao, "Traitor Cao! The hatred of killing my father is irreconcilable. I have nothing to say to a deceiver like you. If you want to fight, let's fight! "
His tone was really impassioned, similar to Ma Mengqi during the Battle of Wei River.
Cao Cao laughed, "Yuan Xi my nephew, a straightforward person does not beat around the bush. Didn't you kidnap the emperor and bring him to Yedu for the same reason as me? I have heard that as the Minister of War, you are the Minister of War. Every important matter of the imperial court is reported to you first, and then to the Son of Heaven. You also made Xun Yu the Minister of War, all imperial edicts are under your control. The Son of Heaven is nothing more than a human seal.
Bai Xiaowen obviously would not admit it and said, "I was trusted by the emperor and was given the power to make arbitrary decisions. There is a fundamental difference between me and a traitor like you! Traitor Cao, Xu Tian besieged the emperor and killed the imperial concubine in the forbidden palace. These evil things were all done by you. You want to be on the same level as me? You are not worthy! "
Cao Cao's skin was really thick and he did not get angry.
He laughed and said, "Yuan Xi my nephew, why have I not heard of any of these things that you said? Don't speak nonsense. When your father was alive, he and I were close friends. Later on in the war, he unfortunately lost his life. I also felt really sorry for him! Now that my army is pressing on the border, do you want to return the emperor and give him to Jizhou? As his uncle, I will not mistreat you! "
Bai Xiaowen sneered and used his big move. He recited the "Denouncing Cao Zhao".
Cao Cao heard a few sentences and shook his head. He waved his whip and ordered the army to attack the city.
However, with Zhang He and Gao Lan leading the troops to the west of the city, the Cao army did not dare to go all out. Bai Xiaowen also chose elite troops to defend the city. Relying on the main camp in Yedu, they had all the resources and equipment to defend the city.
Immediately, oil was poured down and ladders were burned. Rolling logs and stones smashed many to death. There were also arrows raining down. Wave after wave of Cao sieging soldiers charged up and fell like wheat being harvested.
When Li Shuyi saw this scene from the city wall, his eyelids twitched. From this, one could see how tragic the siege of Hua Xia was.
However, to the leaders of the Three Kingdoms, this was just a small matter.
On the first day of sieging, the Cao army lost three thousand men while Bai Xiaowen only lost a few hundred. This loss ratio was normal.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
