Chapter 436: Strike the Enemy's Weakness
Tian Ze has always managed his soldiers and generals separately, and also clarified the military system of Da Qi.
Except for a few personal guards, the soldiers under each general would be rotated gradually every three years at most.
This, however, brings some defects and problems.
For example, the soldiers and the general were not closely tied together, and the generals could not fully control their troops as they did other princes' generals.
Moreover, the rotation of soldiers will cause some of the troops under his command to experience a period of familiarization and adjustment, which will greatly reduce their combat effectiveness.
However, this is the only way for a great power to go, and it is also an inevitable choice to prevent military generals from becoming self-reliant and to maintain stability.
In this way, soldiers can be more loyal to the country rather than to the generals themselves.
Moreover, this also brings a great benefit, that is, through repeated running-in, the soldiers will greatly enhance their adaptability and organizational ability.
After all, it is not certain which general they will be assigned to serve under, and their personal character and style may not be compatible with the new army.
During the running-in process, the only way to meet the expectations of the commander is to continuously strengthen the organizational capabilities of the team.
The command quality of middle and low-level officers has been greatly improved, and the organizational ability of ordinary soldiers has also been greatly enhanced.
You know, these soldiers have simply participated in unified learning. They are not the illiterate soldiers of the Central Plains princes who cannot read a single word.
Cultural knowledge may seem unimportant to ordinary soldiers, but its actual impact is enormous, even crucial.
According to Cheng Yu's calculations, for the same type of new recruits, to reach the standard of a regular soldier under Tian Ze, the time required for those who have not received education is more than three times that for those who have received education.
Soldiers who have received education have stronger will, better learning and adaptability, and greater potential for growth.
With the same training methods and time, soldiers who have received education can receive and execute orders from their superiors faster, cooperate better with each other, have stricter military discipline, and are more proficient in combat skills.
At the beginning, many military commanders had objections to this, thinking that it was putting the cart before the horse and not doing one's job as a soldier, but taking time out every day to study.
However, after the military literacy and learning work had been implemented for a period of time, they realized the benefits of it.
They all said, it smells really good!
The original boycotters instantly turned into staunch supporters.
Zang Ba was able to build a mountain corps that was somewhat similar to the later corps because of the foundation laid by this military system. Otherwise, even if Zang Ba was very talented, he would not be able to do it.
The strategy proposed by Guo Jia was also based on this advanced military system.
"The soldiers of my Great Qi are all well-disciplined and will act upon orders. We only need to send a general to lead 100,000 cavalry, and then have Zang Ba's army assist from the side and Guan Yu's army as the backing, and the battle of Qingzhou will be foolproof." Guo Jia said.
Upon hearing this, Tian Ze nodded in agreement.
Using one's own strengths to attack the opponent's weaknesses is his favorite and most frequently adopted strategy.
After all, with so many advantages, it would be a complete waste if we don’t make good use of them.
The main purpose of taking over Xiliang was to avoid the worries of attacking Yizhou, but the benefits and chain reactions it brought were more than that.
Among the thirteen states of the Han Dynasty, the three states that produced horses were You, Bing and Liang.
Tian Ze had unknowingly taken control of these three states, leaving the princes in the Central Plains without a source of war horses.
Especially after several consecutive wars, the war horses of various princes were severely damaged. Moreover, they were short of money and food at that time, and they almost spent all their family assets to buy war horses.
This resulted in them being unable to replenish their forces after losses, the number of cavalry under their command shrank significantly, and the quality of their war horses declined extremely rapidly.
After all, raising cavalry is not the same as raising infantry. It is ok for soldiers to eat less, but war horses will lose weight if they eat less. They are too expensive and are consumables.
Even for the cavalry under Tian Ze, with the standard configuration of one man and three horses, after a great victory, the loss of war horses would probably be more than 20%.
If a warhorse gets injured in any critical part, it will basically be unable to participate in the battle. In a chaotic battlefield, not to mention swords, spears, and arrows, even if there are some obvious bumps on the ground during a high-speed charge, or if the charge lasts too long, it may be seriously damaged.
The battles fought by Yuan Shao and others were not victorious, but rather they were all head-on battles, and the loss of war horses was even more terrible.
The elite cavalry that can be organized now is probably only around 10,000, and at most each person has two horses.
In this situation, Tian Ze, Yuan Shao and others would be defeated by cavalry no matter what.
Even if we can win, we can't afford to fight, let alone gamble.
Now they still have cavalry, although not much, but at least they have the capital to support a major war.
And if you lose all this capital, you will be completely like meat on the chopping board.
In a flat place like the Central Plains, without cavalry, unless the enemy is stupid, they can only hide in the city and defend it, with no possibility of counterattack.
So the question is, leaving aside Yuan Shao, would Cao Cao bet his own cavalry for Yuan Shao's Qingzhou?
Tian Ze did not have only one option: to seize Qingzhou. If Cao Cao dared to send a large number of cavalry into Qingzhou, Tian Ze would dare to turn around and annihilate this cavalry, and then attack Yanzhou.
“No matter how united the allies are, they are still just allies. In the end, they cannot share weal and woe.” Guo Jia said with a faint smile.
"We only need to arrange for General Xu Rong to push the garrison slightly forward to resist the attack by Cao Cao's army. Then send Gan Ning south. In this way, Yuan Shao will have to fight alone."
Upon hearing this, Tian Ze nodded repeatedly.
Guo Jia's move was indeed clever, and it could be said that he completely grasped the weak points of Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and others.
When you have an absolute advantage, it is not a wise move to go all in directly, because there is no sure win in war, especially in the era of cold weapons.
A rainstorm, a gust of north wind, or even a small accident may very likely change the outcome of the war.
Therefore, how to strike the enemy's vital points and defeat the enemy at the lowest cost and in the most stable way is the top priority.
Guo Jia's tactics may not seem very clever upon closer inspection, but they are extremely suitable for the current situation.
Because Tianze had no shortage of war horses and relatively sufficient money and food, he could afford to fight such a wealthy war.
Although this method is expensive, it can reduce a large number of military losses and prevent civilians from suffering. The damage to Qingzhou is also minimal. It can almost be said to be a perfect way to break the deadlock.
Even if Yuan Shao was hysterical, he could only let the people defend the city. He would never do such a stupid thing as leading the people to fight a field battle with Tian Ze's cavalry.
Tian Ze's purpose was not to fight, but to consume food and grass.
As long as they spend more than half a year, they can take over a relatively intact Qingzhou without bloodshed.
(End of this chapter)
