Chapter 360: Three-Way Pressing
The situation of the Yellow River naval battle was soon known to both Tian Ze and the allied forces.
Tian Ze couldn't help but frown.
Gan Ning's troops were forced into a confrontation with Zhou Yu even though they had the advantage in warships. This was within his expectations.
After all, Zhou Yu was a genius who could reverse the situation in the world and single-handedly lead the direction of the Battle of Red Cliffs.
At the peak of his career, Boss Cao led an all-star lineup and hundreds of thousands of troops south, but his hopes of unifying the world were burned out by the fire of Red Cliff.
Although Gan Ning was brave and resourceful, he was still far from being able to deal with Zhou Yu.
However, what he did not expect was that Gan Ning, knowing full well that he was no match for his opponent, still chose to take the risk and launch a sneak attack.
"What about Sun Lin? As a military advisor, didn't he consider that Zhou Yu might backfire?" Tian Ze asked.
Cheng Yu shook his head slightly: "Even Tian Hu couldn't stop Xing Ba, let alone Sun Lin."
"Besides, how can we fight a war without taking risks? If we are always conservative, we will be easily pressed by the enemy and gain the upper hand, which will be disadvantageous to the war."
"Xingba's biggest problem was that he underestimated his opponent. But fortunately, he still had some sense and deployed the defense of the water fort, so the losses were not too great."
"However, Zhou Gongjin took advantage of the opportunity to hijack a number of new warships, and also let Cheng Pu's 20,000 navy troops enter the Yellow River."
Tian Ze sighed softly after hearing this.
Yes, I took it for granted.
Which famous general doesn't have his own temper? If Gan Ning gave up so easily, he would not be Gan Ning.
But if he wanted to equip Gan Ning with a first-class adviser, he simply did not have enough talent under his command.
Xu Shu was in Zang Ba's group, Xun You was in Zhao Yun's group, Guo Jia was in Guan Yu's group, Cheng Yu was by his side, and the rest of the advisers also had tasks to do and could not get away.
We can't pull out Lu Xun, an immature child laborer.
"Forget it, that's it."
"It's nothing more than the loss of a few thousand soldiers and a few hundred warships. It's no big deal. I believe that this loss will benefit Xingba in the future." Tian Ze comforted himself.
"But Zilong's side is even more dangerous." Cheng Yu said with a little concern.
Tian Ze nodded slightly after hearing this, and looking at the situation on the map, he said in a deep voice: "Order Wen Yuan to lead his troops to quickly move south and attack the heart of Yanzhou."
"Order Yunchang to lead his troops eastward and surround Linzi."
"Order Ling Cao's troops to leave 20,000 men to garrison Donglai, and lead the rest of the navy directly south along the coast to Jiangdong."
"I just don't believe they dare to continue fighting!"
Upon hearing this, Cheng Yu pursed his lips slightly.
"Your Majesty, this will resolve the current crisis, but I'm afraid the current good situation will be ruined."
Neither Tian Ze nor the coalition forces were prepared for this battle, and neither of them expected it to come to this point.
The two sides have already formed a tug-of-war situation.
Cheng Yu was a little worried at first, but when he found that Zhao Yun had really blocked the coalition forces' attack, he immediately realized that this was a great opportunity.
An opportunity to wipe out the coalition forces in one fell swoop.
As long as Zhao Yun could hold out for another month, Guan Yu would take Jinan County, Zang Ba would also have a firm foothold in the Taihang Mountains, and Zhang Liao would send troops to Dongjun to cut off the road to the west, and the coalition army would be completely surrounded. The east, west, and south were all surrounded by heavy troops, and the north was the main force led by Tian Ze and the navy led by Han Dang.
By then, they will be unable to escape.
Once these hundreds of thousands of main forces together with the four princes and their civil and military forces are captured, Tian Ze can easily seize the Central Plains, and the process of conquering the world will be greatly shortened.
"Although Cheng Pu's army has only 20,000 naval forces, they have many of our advanced warships. The navy on the Yellow River is a little empty now, and Guan Yu is entangled near Dongping Mausoleum in Jinan."
"This navy will become a major threat to us. If we allow it to tie down Han Dang's navy, Zilong will find it difficult to resist the attack of the coalition forces." Tian Ze sighed.
"It would be better to transfer Jiang Qin's troops to support us and merge with Han Dang, then we can definitely destroy Cheng Pu's troops." Cheng Yu said.
"Jiang Qin can't move." Tian Ze said in a deep voice.
"Zhou Gongjin has already gathered troops at the mouth of the Yellow River. Jiang Qin's troops are the last line of defense on the north bank of the Yellow River. Once they move, the coalition forces will fight us to the death. What should we do?"
"Besides, Zang Ba is also in trouble in Mount Tai now. I'm afraid the original encirclement plan will no longer work."
Upon hearing this, Cheng Yu sighed deeply, his eyes full of regret.
He had made all the calculations, but he never expected that there were so many heroes in the coalition.
Sun Ce and Zhou Yu almost turned the tide of the battle single-handedly, and the same was true for Yuan Shu, who was originally inconspicuous, which really gave him a headache.
Zang Ba's operations in the Taishan Mountains were initially very smooth.
He had been a bandit here for a period of time and was very famous and prestigious. Many bandits he encountered would bow down to him when they heard his name and saw the fully armed soldiers.
Zang Ba quickly occupied half of Mount Taishan, and did so almost without bloodshed.
Taking advantage of the local bandits' knowledge of the terrain, Zang Ba built a large number of defensive facilities.
However, with the demise of Yuan Shu, the situation soon changed.
I don’t know what kind of magic power Yuan Shu had, but the local bandits who had originally bowed down to him now all turned to Yuan Shu, and did it very decisively.
Yuan Shu quickly integrated the remaining bandits and suppressed Zang Ba's activities to the north of Mount Tai.
Zang Ba had thought about leading his troops to attack, and although he won every battle, he felt a headache when he counted the gains and losses after the war.
These bandits did not gather in one place, but fought on their own relying on the advantages of the terrain. When they encountered his large-scale attack, no one knew what they were thinking, but they did not flee, but gathered in the village to defend it.
Although it was not difficult to conquer the city, Zang Ba suffered heavy losses and captured very few spoils. Overall, he lost a lot of money and grain.
No one knew what kind of magic potion Yuan Shu had used to make these poor bandits not run away, but instead hovered around them like flies, and would come close again once Zang Ba retreated.
Zang Ba estimated in his mind that he did not have much grain, and if he continued to collect it like this, it would be a loss.
For the first time, he felt the disgust and powerlessness that the allied princes felt when facing Tian Ze.
Yuan Shu's personal charm and talent were too helpless in this situation.
It has to be said that Yuan Shu underwent a complete transformation after his defeat in Shouchun.
Having gained great enlightenment, he completely let go of his prejudices and unscrupulously maximized his talents, playing to his strengths and avoiding his weaknesses, without caring at all whether he would be ridiculed by the world.
If we don't fight you, we will just consume your troops and money.
This almost rogue approach was extremely effective, and it effectively curbed the development of Zang Ba's army, forcing it to retreat to the north side of Mount Tai and unable to advance at all.
(End of this chapter)
