Chapter 330: The Honest Man Zhao Yun
"I think General Zilong is the most suitable person." After the ministers looked at each other, Cheng Yu stood up and said.
Tian Ze showed an expected expression.
After becoming emperor, Tian Ze lavishly rewarded his ministers.
Among the civil officials, Jia Xu, Chen Gong and Cheng Yu were the leaders, followed by Xun You, Guo Jia, Tian Feng, Zhang Zhao, Dong Zhao, Man Chong, Guo Yuan, Mi Zhu and Tian Chou. They formed the cabinet and were in charge of the twelve ministries and strategic formulation.
In terms of military generals, Xu Rong, Guan Yu, Zhang Liao, Zhang He and Xu Huang were the five marshals, Xu Rong was the general of guarding, and the others were named the four generals of expedition.
Zhao Yun, Gan Ning, Zang Ba and Yu Jin were next in line and were named the Four Town Generals. After them came many brave generals.
Among them, the status of the first five is self-evident. Whenever there is a large-scale battle, these five people will be the commanders.
Gan Ning's influence on water battles, Zang Ba's influence on mountain battles, and Yu Jin's influence on the combat effectiveness of the army are unmatched by other generals.
Only Zhao Yun made Tian Ze feel a little regretful.
Today's Zhao Yun is no longer serving as the security captain as in history. Instead, he is being trained by Tian Ze and has shown some talent over the years.
Moreover, he has many advantages, such as superb martial arts, wisdom and courage, and calmness. As long as he leads the troops, Tian Ze will not worry about any problems.
But so is success, and so is failure.
Zhao Yun's character was too stable and flawless, making him very easy to use. Whenever there was a battle, when other generals were in command, Zhao Yun would act as a ballast and firefighter, and rarely had the opportunity to lead the army.
Because Tian Ze would never send an overly bloated army to fight in every battle, only two people would be needed to lead the battle in one place.
Although Zhao Yun is only slightly inferior to Zhang He and Xu Huang in command, his ability as a general is much stronger than the two and more comprehensive.
In this situation, considering the overall situation, Zhao Yun was naturally "sacrificed" every time and lost the opportunity to take command.
Over time, Zhao Yun withdrew from the first echelon and could only serve as the chief in the second echelon.
He is not interested in fame or fortune, and does not care about this matter. He always does the hardest and heaviest work and does not mind.
Now that the war is about to begin and problems arise, he is naturally pulled out again.
Looking at the terrain on the sand table, Tian Feng sighed and said, "Although there are only two or three counties between the Yellow River and Taishan County, it is almost flat and will face fierce attacks from both Yuan and Cao. I am afraid that only Zilong can take on this important task!"
"Yuan Benchu and Cao Mengde are both outstanding people. They will not fail to see the strategic importance of Taishan County. Once our army sends out troops, the two will take action quickly, and the biggest possibility is to cut off the area between the Yellow River and Taishan."
"As a result, the soldiers of Mount Tai will become an isolated force. No matter how strong they are, without money and food, they will be trapped and die in the mountains."
Tian Feng was an honest man, so he naturally had a good impression of Zhao Yun, who was also an honest man. He didn't want Zhao Yun to suffer losses all the time, but under such circumstances, Zhao Yun was the only one who was most suitable to be stationed here.
"Use Zilong as bait to lure the princes of the Central Plains into the trap, and then wait for an opportunity to weaken them." Guo Jia concluded.
……
Once the strategy was formulated, the troops from various units quickly began to mobilize according to the layout.
Zhang Liao's army is stationed in Bingzhou, Zhang He's army is stationed in Sili, and Guan Yu's army is stationed in Jizhou. These three parties remain unchanged.
As a mobile force, Xu Huang's army moved closer to southern Hebei and replaced Zang Ba's army to share the defense of Jizhou.
Zang Ba led his army directly towards Mount Tai. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, who were always highly alert, soon received the news and were shocked to learn that Tian Ze was marching into Mount Tai.
"Tian Chengshou sent Zang Ba's troops across the Yellow River to attack Taishan County. Zhu'a and Licheng fell one after another."
After Ju Su reported the latest situation, Yuan Shao looked at the people in the hall and said, "Tian Ze is attacking us. What do you think he wants to do?"
Tian Ze's strategic direction had always been to the west and south, and he seemed to have no interest in the Central Plains. But he suddenly attacked at this time, which really caught Yuan Shao off guard.
For a moment, I couldn't guess what Tian Ze was thinking, and I was worried that Tian Ze was really preparing to go south to attack the Central Plains.
Xun Chen saw Yuan Shao's thoughts and stepped out to say, "My lord, Tian Chengshou's rash dispatch of troops could not be intended to capture the Central Plains, otherwise Zhang Liao's troops in Bingzhou would not have remained silent."
"I'm afraid that they sent troops to Mount Tai just to force our army to send troops to fight them."
Among Yuan Shao's civil officials, the most intelligent one was not Ju Su, but Xun Chen. He judged Tian Ze's intention in a flash.
Xun Chen's words calmed Yuan Shao's mind, but did not solve the problem he raised.
Even if they could see that Tian Ze was trying to force them to fight, what could they do? Could they really just ignore it?
Losing Taishan County is a small matter, but what they are worried about is that they will be forced to retreat again and again.
After all, they were all aware of the terrain and strategic value of Taishan County. It was like a big nail nailed around the surrounding area. Once the war broke out, Yuan Shao's Qingzhou and Xuzhou could be cut in half.
"My lord, Tian Chengshou has expanded his army again this year. Now the Guan Yu Legion in Jizhou, the Xu Huang Legion, and the Zang Ba Legion heading towards Taishan County have a total force of no less than 400,000. I'm afraid we cannot defeat them." Ju Su frowned.
"Even if we unite with Cao Mengde, I'm afraid... I suggest that we immediately contact Liu Bei and Sun Ce to come to the rescue and cut down the fields together."
Shen Pei retorted: "Although Tian Chengshou has many elite soldiers, he is a coward. The number of troops he has stationed in southern Hebei is at least 200,000."
"In this case, we can only mobilize 200,000 troops for the attack. It is not impossible for us to defeat them."
"The enemy is advancing all the way. If we wait for the allies to arrive before engaging them, I'm afraid Taishan will soon fall."
"We all know what Zang Ba is capable of. Once he takes root in Mount Tai and stores up some food and grass, it will be difficult to wipe him out."
"In your opinion, we should send troops immediately to avoid missing the opportunity to fight."
Feng Ji and Xu You nodded slightly.
Ju Shou sighed, "Zhengnan, what you said is true. But wouldn't this be exactly what Tian Chengshou wants?"
"Compared to fighting with our coalition forces, what they hope most is probably to defeat us one by one. After all, the smaller the scale of the battle, the more advantageous it is. In terms of the overall situation..."
Upon hearing this, Shen Pei interrupted and said, "Gong Yu, you are considering the general situation. But have you ever considered the great cause of your lord?"
"You should know the importance of Taishan County best. If we give it up, it will be beneficial to the Anti-Tian Alliance, but what about the Lord?"
"If Taishan County is lost, Qingzhou will be at risk of being divided, and the people in the surrounding counties and prefectures will also have to consider evacuating. Can we afford such a huge risk and loss?"
After hearing what Shen Pei said, Ju Su could not help but remain silent.
(End of this chapter)
