In midsummer, the sudden one-day war in Guandu shocked the world.

This is natural. After all, the intensity of the battle is far beyond people's imagination, and the impact of the battle result is destined to be sensitive and far-reaching... The 30,000 core troops of the Central Plains Allied Forces were almost wiped out in one day, and the core of the Yan Army was

The Hebei cavalry also lost nearly 5,000 troops in one day; in addition, the Yan army failed to break through the Guandu camp, while the Central Plains Allied Forces almost completely lost their cavalry organization.

The victory of the battle undoubtedly belonged to Duke Yan and his Hebei Army, but the Central Plains Allied Forces and Cao Sikong did not collapse because of this.

"Gongsun Wenqi has always been like this. If he doesn't fight, he will do it. In a battle, he will use all his strength. Now that our army has lost all its cavalry, and Guandu is extremely wide, they may not be able to regroup their troops to attack within three to five days. Then our army will be attacked again.

How to deal with it?”

On the evening of the second day after the war, both sides were still licking their wounds, and the corpses on the battlefield had not yet been cleaned up. Cao Mengde suddenly summoned Liu Ye, Cao Ren, Huang Zhong, Sun Ce, Huang Gai and other key generals in the camp.

Join Cao Ang and discuss the situation together.

I saw that his color was as usual, his speech was smooth, but his tone was slightly serious. If his hair had not been burned to a large extent, and his eyes were bloodshot, it would be almost impossible to tell that this person had just experienced such a big defeat the day before, and he was also in the tent.

The generals couldn't help but admire him secretly.

However, although Cao Cao's unabated momentum was admirable, he could not ease the situation. Hearing this question, everyone in the tent was in trouble.

"Don't hide it from Lord Yafu." Sun Bofu was a straightforward person and blurted it out directly in his position. "It's not just Guandu. I hastily brought troops to help. Yingchuan is empty. If Cheng Pu brings troops out of Sheyuan Pass at this time, I'm afraid that

It is difficult to protect Yingchuan... You must know that there are many checkpoints in the old land of Sili. Whether it is Cheng Pu or Zhong Yao, they can use them to attack and defend. But we cannot easily leave."

"Yingchuan is a heartland, we must protect it!" Cao Cao was equally straightforward. "Since Zhu Junli has been found, you don't need to delay. You can return to Yingchuan immediately. Zhu Junli has also been sent to the rear to rest in peace..." At this point,

Cao Mengde paused for a moment, but then said solemnly, "After returning to Yingchuan, you can abandon Yangcheng, Lunshi and other places. You only need to lead the entire army to guard Yangguan and Yangdi. In this case, once you come,

, can form a linkage with the main camp here; secondly, hoarding the main force there, with the strong city behind, can also prevent the Hebei cavalry from bypassing the rear and making a surprise attack."

Sun Ce was slightly startled: "That's the truth, but what about the direction of Ru River? Yingchuan and Sili have two main access routes from the north to the south. If I gather all my troops in Yangzhai and Yangguan, I can naturally defend Yingchuan, but if

What if the Guanxi soldiers suddenly leave Luhun Pass and take the southern route of Ru River?"

"I personally wrote a letter to Lu Bu, asking him to leave Luyang and stay in Linyang to stay on the south road." Cao Cao seemed to have already prepared the draft.

Sun Ce nodded slowly: "That's okay, after all, the situation is like this, demolishing the east wall to repair the west wall is a helpless move... Nanyang still has enough troops and horses."

Liu Ye listened for a while and roughly understood Cao Cao's thinking: "What does Mr. Cao mean...still stick to Guandu?"

"That's right." Cao Cao nodded in response. "Now that things have happened, if we abandon Guandu, we will let Gongsun Wenqi go into the hinterland of the Central Plains and defend the city... But I think that is just a waste of time! And if we can still raise it

If we use Guandu to counter it, we can still have a chance of victory."

"But now our army suddenly lost 30,000 main troops, including almost all the cavalry..." Liu Ye finally asked the key question. "In a few days, reinforcements from Hebei will arrive. At that time, Duke Yan will go south again or attack Guandu.

Or send the cavalry to go around and attack the cities behind them, what if they are behind them? Among the cities behind them, Yangzhai in the direction of Yingchuan can rely on Sun Polu to gather troops, and Marquis Lu Wen can support them, such as Chenliu to the east, and what about Weishi to the southeast?

"

"To put it bluntly, there is a shortage of troops, right?" Cao Cao said sternly. "If we add another 20,000 troops here in Guandu, we can hold on; if behind us, Chenliu, Zhongmou, Weishi and other places are like my son Bofu stationed in Yangzhai

If they have enough troops, what will happen if the cavalry surrounds them? Then their cavalry will be defeated by the fortified city, and they will have to guard against Guandu, where the cavalry's logistics will be cut off at any time..."

Liu Ye was completely awakened and simply asked directly: "How many places are Cao Gong prepared to abandon?"

At this time, the remaining main generals in the tent who were still a little confused were shocked and then woke up.

That's right... The battle situation has reached this point, and the logic on the battlefield has been very clear. It is that the Central Plains Allied Forces were broken through a gap by Gongsun Xun yesterday's battle! This gap, as a geographical concept, refers to the big colander of Guandu

, is also a military concept. To put it bluntly, it means that the strength of the defense line is suddenly tense!

What to do?

We can only selectively shrink the defense line and gather troops!

However, there are two ways to shrink the defense line. One is to simply abandon the wide intersection of Guandu, retreat to the city grid behind you, and defend the city. Defending the city is still different from defending the camp, but this will undoubtedly work at the same time.

Give up the last bit of strategic initiative; the other way is to continue to defend Guandu, and to bear the hidden danger of cavalry bypassing the rear caused by the wide Guandu intersection, so in addition to increasing the number of troops in Guandu, there are also three major cities behind Guandu

Increasing additional garrison... But if this is the case, a large number of cities and territories will have to be strategically abandoned in other places.

The question is, how much do you have to give up to fill the gap?

"Nothing north of the Bianshui River." Cao Cao seemed to have made a decision. "Withdraw eastward to Bo County of Liang State... To the west of Bo County, to the north of the Bianshui River, and to the northwest of Yingchuan, Yangzhai, and Jiyin

In the far west, there are fifteen cities in total, as well as the Pushui Camp, all given to Gongsun Wenqi! What do you think?!"

There was silence in the tent.

"Lord Yafu, what a decision!" After a long time, Sun Ce moved his butt slightly in his position and responded slowly, but he was the first to respond positively and received Cao Cao's gaze.

It has to be said that although Sun Boxu is young, his outlook on the overall situation is particularly outstanding, and he is even vaguely superior to Lu Bu and Liu Biao. He had been so straightforward when sending troops before, but now he suddenly lost nearly three soldiers.

One-third of the troops, but actually dealt with it calmly.

It makes people think of his father, Jiangdong Tiger Sun Wentai, who passed away several years ago.

"Mr. Cao is truly a hero!" Now that Sun Ce had spoken, Liu Ye was speechless for a moment.

"In this way, we will indeed have no worries about our military strength." Huang Zhong also spoke seriously.

In other words, aside from the direct losses in yesterday's battle, it was just a strategic contraction. In fact, it was a good thing for Liu Ye and Huang Zhong... After all, giving up a lot of land and cities and greatly withdrawing the defense line would not only

Concentrating troops and continuing to maintain the overall situation has greatly eased the pressure on Liu Bei and Liu Biao, because the latter two also shoulder a large number of logistical tasks. Is it uncomfortable to shorten the supply line?

And from a strategic point of view, in order to advance and retreat, Gongsun Xun must also lengthen the supply line and deploy troops on a large scale in the newly occupied enemy-occupied areas to maintain a strategic confrontation posture, which in turn will bring consequences to the Yan army.

Huge logistical pressure.

Of course, Gongsun Xun must be willing to do this, because he is here to conquer the Central Plains. No one believes in the argument of "welcoming the emperor". If he really wants to welcome the emperor back, why not just go out to Wuguan and attack Nanyang? He has to be here

Is Cao Cao doing this kind of thing in his heart?

So having said that, what is really difficult to accept but has to accept this move is undoubtedly Cao Cao's camp itself, which gave up fifteen cities in one go. In addition, before voluntarily giving up six cities on the north bank of Pu River, it can be said that Cao Cao's army was able to win the war within a month.

Abandoned about an entire county's territory plus a depth of two hundred miles!

Losing the depth of two hundred miles, Cao Cao's territory, which was already flattened, would inevitably reach a certain desperate situation... Because to the south of Bian River is Chenliucheng, which is Suiyang, Liang State, the base where Cao Cao started his career. If this line is lost again

, Cao Jun was defeated in the true sense!

But what else can be done at this moment?

Cao Ren and Cao Ang responded with silence, as if the war situation was tense and Cao Cao had not had time to discuss with them.

After an unknown amount of time, Cao Ang pursed his lips for a long time and spoke before his uncle: "I think this is a very appropriate move for my father!"

Cao Ren hesitated to speak, but finally nodded heavily: "As of now, this is the only way it can be! I obey my brother's orders in everything!"

As soon as this statement was made, everyone in the camp was completely in agreement.

It is of course a good thing to be united as one, and it is certainly an incredible decision for Cao Cao to take the initiative to give up a large amount of territory to maintain the last chance of the coalition. However, after everyone expressed their stance, the tent fell silent again... It was as if everyone was thinking of yesterday's big event again.

defeat and losses, and then worry about future wars.

In fact, if yesterday's battle was not so shocking, how could we unite so easily today and make up our minds to give up so much territory?

"The Hebei Army also suffered a lot." After a long period of silence, Cao Mengde sighed slightly under the candlelight. "It is always difficult to launch an offensive within a few days... Take this opportunity, Zixiu, to continue to clean the battlefield and bury the soldiers who died in the battle.

! Bo Fu, don’t delay, go back to Yangzhai immediately; Zixiao, you and General Huang Hansheng go to take charge of the front camp, and be sure to repair the burned front camp as much as possible; Zi Yang, please go to Punan University immediately

Camp, tell Lu Zijing my decision, and then retreat without stopping for a moment!"

"Here!" All the generals from Sun Ce on down stood up and bowed their heads to face each other.

"So, Cao Cao abandoned more than ten cities in Punan and Bianbei?" A few days later, in Wuchao camp, Gongsun Xun finally received the reinforcements behind him and information about Cao's army's new movements after resting for a while.

.

"Reporting to Your Highness, that's exactly what it is." Guo Jia handed over his hand. "After Lou Sizhou discovered the movement in Punan, he was afraid that Cao Cao would clear the country along the way, so he immediately joined forces with Generals Xu and Zhang to cross the river without having time to report... According to the forward report now

Judging from the results, Chenliu Ban County to the north of Bianshui River has been completely vacant. The cities such as Yuanju and Zhuzao to the west of Jiyin County have also been abandoned. Cao Hong's banner was discovered all the way to Bo County of Liang State in the east.

That place should be heavily guarded."

"Le Jin is in Puyang, Li Jin is in Lihu, Zhang Chao is in Juyang, Gaogan is in Dingtao, and now Cao Hong is in Bo County. They are all generals, with heavy troops and famous cities." Gongsun Xun sat thoughtfully in his seat.

"This line of defense backed by Onezawa, Leize, and Heze is still very stable. It can hold Zibo (Lou Gui) to the west, and Yunchang (Guan Yu) to the east..."

"That's right." Guo Jia immediately agreed. "Furthermore, according to reports from the sentries, south of the Bian River, Cao Mengde also concentrated his troops in Suiyang, Chenliu, Mengcheng and other places, instead of fortifying everywhere."

"This is natural. The Bianshui River is only twenty miles south, and there is the Suishui River. The two rivers west of Suiyang flow almost parallel. According to the art of war, this is a typical death place for cavalry. We cannot continue from there.

Crossing two rivers to attack." At this point, Gongsun Xun couldn't help but smile. "Actually, I had long thought that Cao Mengde would shrink the defense line to concentrate his troops, but I never thought that he would be so straightforward and abandon it in one breath.

After conquering so many cities, they retreated so far."

"Basically, everything that can be abandoned has been abandoned." Guo Jia responded sternly. "But on the other hand, Cao Mengde has no choice but to give up and retreat! Guandu and Biansui Ershui are their last road.

Defense line!”

"Well said!" Gongsun Xun stood up suddenly and paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his hands. "I knew that Cao Mengde and Lu Zijing were not that easy to deal with, and since he built such a large camp in Guandu, he seemed to have something in mind.

Planning, trying to win... Then this kind of thing is expected. It's just filial piety..."

"I'm here."

"Where do you think Cao Mengde's chance of victory lies?" Gongsun Xun asked seriously.

"I think that the so-called chance of victory for Cao Mengde does not exist, or has not yet appeared. He just wants to continue the stalemate, and then wait until both sides are extremely exhausted and have to show their flaws...Put your hopes on

Seize the flaw before us, and you will hit with one strike!" Guo Jia responded in a deep voice. "In other words, the so-called chance of victory must naturally arise in the stalemate! Otherwise, why would you try your best to maintain the Guandu camp?"
To be continued...