Chapter 386 Helpless
The army marched westward, and the grand scene attracted the attention of people all over the world.
An army of more than 200,000 soldiers marched westward, and hundreds of thousands of troops were added to the Sili and southern Hebei lines.
Tian Ze was clearly showing off his power to all the princes in the world.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers marched in formation, and their terrifying power was enough to subdue any villain.
At this moment, people all over the world deeply felt the terrifying power of Tian Ze, the northern hero.
However, what made Tian Ze most gratified was not this, but that the army always maintained a strict formation and strict military discipline during the march.
From beginning to end, it never caused any impact on the local people.
The people passing by along the way were not afraid, and some even took the initiative to come forward to offer water and porridge.
Tian Ze felt quite proud as he saw that this army, which was very different from the ordinary army driven by food and wages, had initially formed an elite force with military discipline and faith as its core.
Who in the world can defeat such a powerful army?
If it weren't for the unreasonable thing called talent in this world, the army under Tian Ze's command would be more than enough to deal with the soldiers of the Central Plains princes at a rate of one against five.
The princes of the Central Plains looked at Tian Ze, who was showing off his power, and their hearts were filled with envy, jealousy and hatred.
Damn krypton gold dog!
There are less than 20% of the soldiers in their army now, and their equipment is worse than before, while Tian Ze is rich.
"Wenruo, can we make some more armor?" Cao Cao asked somewhat unwillingly.
Xun Yu's mouth twitched slightly.
Are you kidding me?
Now the people under his rule can hardly afford to eat, and it is difficult to maintain an army, so where does the money come from to build armor?
Since the coming of the troubled times, people's livelihood in various places has been more or less disrupted.
Agriculture is still okay, but smelting and manufacturing are basically only one tenth left.
After all, filling your stomach is the first priority.
Without a stable external environment, even if a large number of iron weapons are produced, they cannot be exchanged for food, and it would be good enough if they are not treated as fat sheep and robbed.
Most of the weapons under their command were left over from the treasuries of Yanzhou and Yuzhou before the chaos, while some were provided by local noble families and used to arm their own troops.
The war with Tian Ze has been fought vigorously in recent years, but in fact it has only been relying on past strength. It is not easy for us to support this decisive battle now.
The fact that the armor-wearing rate in the army can be maintained at 20% is the result of Xun Yu's wise management.
As if realizing that he had asked a stupid question, Cao Cao smiled bitterly and said, "I was delusional. I am no longer qualified to train soldiers now."
When dealing with Tian Ze's army, one armored soldier is at most equivalent to two ordinary soldiers, but the latter is much cheaper than the former and has better effect.
Cao Cao and his men could not afford to operate on a large scale with elite troops.
"My lord, there is no need for us to belittle ourselves." Mao Jie comforted.
"Although Tian Ze is strong, he has too many concerns during the battle and cannot act arbitrarily like us. In this battle, our chances of winning are not low."
"Right now, the key for us is to decide as soon as possible how to deal with Zang Ba's tribe, otherwise it will become a serious threat to us."
Cao Cao stared at the direction of Mount Tai on the map with a solemn expression.
"Zang Xuangao is too difficult to deal with!"
Zang Ba has been constantly moving closer to the iron army described by Yu Tianze.
Due to his talent, Zang Ba is almost the person most likely to successfully replicate some of his style.
Although it only has some capabilities, it is enough to perform many cool operations.
For example, guerrilla warfare.
Playing hide-and-seek with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others in the vast Taishan Mountain Range.
Zang Ba's army had reached a certain level of combat quality, morale and organizational ability, and had a large number of bows and crossbows at hand. They attacked in a scattered but not chaotic manner and retreated without being defeated, which made Yuan Shao and Cao Cao extremely helpless.
Before this, Yuan Shu dealt with Zang Ba alone, and the two sides fought tit-for-tat and back-and-forth.
They thought that if they joined in, the effect would be better and they would be able to remove Zang Ba as soon as possible. But when the fight really started, they found themselves embarrassed and became the ones who caused the trouble.
Faced with Zang Ba's army, which adopted guerrilla tactics and launched layer upon layer of blockades, they had no way out and were led back and forth by the nose.
A lot of troops were lost, but there was no result at all.
Only at this point did Yuan Shao and Cao Cao finally understand something.
Yuan Shu was not weak, at least in terms of mountain warfare, Yuan Shu was actually the strongest among the three of them.
This guy had completely chosen the wrong battlefield before, and his skills were all wrong.
However, they also knew that only Yuan Shu, who was not the lord, had such ability.
Because he has no scruples or constraints, he can attack recklessly according to his own ideas.
Stabilizing the rear, ensuring food supply, and frontal combat were things that Yuan Shu was not good at, and these were things that Yuan Shao had to worry about.
"We have deployed nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses in the Taishan Mountains. In just half a month, we have lost more than 5,000 soldiers, and the results of the battle..." Having said that, Xi Zhicai could not bear to say any more.
"Let's retreat." Cao Cao said with a long sigh.
"Send troops to defend the vicinity of Mount Tai, retreat again, shrink the defense line, build strong defenses and clear the fields, and only defend but not attack." Cao Cao said helplessly.
"My lord, if this happens, I'm afraid that Jibei, Dongping, Taishan County, and the area around Lu will all be taken." Jia Kui said unwillingly.
"Is there any other way besides this?" asked Cao Cao.
Jia Kui fell silent after hearing this.
Although he is best at taking advantage of geographical conditions, he is helpless in the face of the current situation.
After all, no matter how good the geographical location is, it still needs people to maintain it.
Facing an army like Zang Ba's that is good at guerrilla warfare and night attacks, there is simply no solution in a place like Mount Tai.
Rather than getting entangled which will only get you deeper and deeper into trouble, and instead play right into the other party's hands, it is better to cut off your own arm.
Xun Yu looked at the map on the wall and suddenly said, "My Lord, have you ever thought about a question?"
"If we adopt the strategy of holding on, Yuan Shao will do the same."
Xun Yu gently drew a circle on the map.
"The counties surrounding the entire Taishan mountain range will be in a state of military vacuum, with only the army led by Yuan Shu to contain Zang Ba."
"It would be fine if our army wins this battle, but if it fails and Tian Ze leads his troops to occupy Langya County, then..."
"Then the entire Qingzhou will be surrounded by Tian Ze's army and attacked from three sides, and it is very likely to be lost," Mao Jie added.
Cao Cao smiled faintly when he heard this: "So what?"
"In this battle, how can there be no such thing as gaining advantages without suffering losses? We have taken a gamble in this battle, so we must be prepared to pay the price of losing the gamble."
"Qingzhou is the bargaining chip we put on the table."
"Would Yuan Benchu be willing?" Jia Kui asked.
Among all the princes in the world, Yuan Shao has always made the greatest sacrifice in resisting Tian Ze.
From northern Hebei and southern Hebei to northern Qingzhou today, they have been constantly losing territory, and it is the basic territory that they have painstakingly built.
If it were an ordinary person, he would have gone crazy long ago. The fact that Yuan Shao could hold on until now already made Jia Kui admire him very much.
Jia Kui was worried that Yuan Shao would go crazy if he lost the entire Qingzhou.
"He will." Cao Cao said dimly.
(End of this chapter)
