Chapter 444 March Agreement
Hearing the determination in Pang Tong's tone, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao both remained silent.
Liu Fan looked at Liu Bei deeply, sighed slightly in his heart, but said nothing.
Compared with this brother, he was indeed too young. He took the initiative silently and achieved his goal with the support of everyone.
Yuan Shao and Cao Cao both needed Liu Bei's help, and their attitude had already been correct, so naturally they would not have any objections.
Sun Ce was in Jiangdong, so it made no difference to him whether the attack was on Jizhou or Liangzhou, and he would have no objection.
He also counted on Liu Bei's assistance and was extremely wary of Tian Ze's threat, so he would definitely support him.
So, this matter can almost be said to be a natural consequence.
However, although Liu Bei tricked them, the people present did not dwell on the matter too much.
Now they can hardly protect themselves, and the counterattack on Xiliang is too far away and there is no point in thinking about it.
After finalizing the defense and support strategies for the two battlefields, Yuan Shao and others quickly returned to their base for defense.
In addition to liking to fight defensive battles, Tian Ze is also very good at surprise attacks and will not allow them to be careless at all.
Liu Bei and Sun Ce also began to prepare support horses and supplies to send to Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.
Braving the biting cold wind, the team transporting war horses and supplies marched forward in a mighty force. The sounds of horse hooves and wheels intertwined and echoed across the vast land.
"It seems that the princes of the Central Plains are really tenacious!"
Tian Ze looked at the letters of intelligence in his hand.
A large amount of supplies were being transported from the three southern princes to the rule of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.
"Zhongde, in this case, our previous plan may be difficult to implement." Tian Ze said.
With the resource supplements from the southern princes, it would probably be impossible to rely on the cavalry advantage to exhaust the food supplies of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao in a short period of time.
Upon hearing this, Cheng Yu sneered: "It doesn't matter. The southern princes can't protect themselves, and yet they still resort to this trick. Well, let's deal with them together."
"what do you mean?"
Cheng Yu pointed at the map without hesitation and said, "Your Majesty, the Central Plains has no strategic location to defend and is vast. The combined forces that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao can mobilize are probably no more than 300,000, while Yun Chang has an army of 200,000."
Since the Battle of Central Plains, Tian Ze has expanded his troops by another 200,000, of which 150,000 are located in Jizhou, ready to march south to Central Plains.
Today, Jizhou has a total of 500,000 soldiers and horses, not including the legions of Zang Ba and Gan Ning. If added together, there are 700,000 soldiers and horses, accounting for nearly half of Tian Ze's troops.
With such a terrifying power, how could Yuan Shao and Cao Cao not be worried.
When the offensive and defensive situations changed, Tian Ze decided to go all out and almost all at once replenished the maximum number of troops he could expand.
"Switch Zhang Liao and Zhang He, and have Zhang Liao garrison Sili to threaten Liu Bei. Zhang He's attack on Yizhou can also tie down Liu Bei's forces."
"Xingba's navy will go directly south to Langya area, and Ling will lead the navy to garrison in Liaodong Peninsula in case of an emergency. If Sun Ce still dares to support Yuan Shao, they will go south from Liaodong Peninsula to Jiangdong." Cheng Yu said fanatically.
Judging from the map, it is actually much closer to attack Jiangdong across the sea from southern Liaodong than from Donglai, and it can be said to be unexpected.
"Cheng Zhongde! Are you going to declare an all-out war with the southern princes?" Chen Gong felt something was wrong the more he listened, and he shouted angrily.
You must be kidding. If a war breaks out like this, the number of troops mobilized will probably be no less than one million. The money, food, supplies and logistical support will drive him crazy.
"We had agreed on a localized battle before, so we absolutely cannot do such a big fuss!"
Upon hearing this, Cheng Yu retorted, "Who said we're going to start a full-scale war?" "Zhang He's troops were originally going to go south to Yizhou. The Sili troops led by Zhang Liao are just internal transfers and do not require additional logistics."
"Similarly, Ling Tong's garrison in Liaodong Peninsula is just a redeployment, and the local money and grain are sufficient for supply. Gan Ning is originally stationed in Donglai Peninsula, and it is only a few hundred miles south to Langya, so it will not have much impact."
Chen Gong was so angry when he heard Cheng Yu's unreasonable arguments that he pointed at Cheng Yu's nose and angrily yelled, "Cheng Zhongde, do you think I don't know military affairs?"
"Let alone whether the various departments should send troops if Liu Bei and Sun Ce react, just your so-called "not much impact" will definitely require tens of thousands of logistics and countless money and food supplies."
"So what?" Cheng Yu said with his true intention.
"Qingzhou must be taken as soon as possible. Now the offense and defense have changed. We can't give the princes of the Central Plains more time to unite."
"Moreover, the more troops we mobilize, the smaller the scale of the war will be. In the end, the logistical pressure won't be much greater."
The change in the world situation corresponds to the change in Tian Ze's strategy.
When the princes of the Central Plains were attacking, Tian Ze delayed the war as much as possible, always controlling the tempo and constantly pulling the strings to give the princes of the Central Plains hope.
Because from the perspective of the cost of war, as long as the interior is not destroyed, the price paid by the attacking side will definitely be far greater than that of the defending side.
The more fiercely the Central Plains princes attack, the greater the price they pay, and the easier it will be to attack in the future.
For this reason, Tian Zeke often secretly created opportunities for them and left them with so-called hope.
However, after the Battle of Central Plains, when the princes of Central Plains had exhausted most of their wealth but still suffered a crushing defeat and could no longer afford to fight the war of northern expedition, the situation changed.
The defensive battle cannot be hasty, and the march southward cannot be slow.
The Central Plains is still easy to deal with, but the geographical advantages of the South are no joke. With the talents of princes like Liu Bei and Sun Ce, if they were determined to defend it and manage it for a few years, it would definitely not be so easy to take it over.
Otherwise, there would not have been the Three Kingdoms and the long confrontation between the Northern and Southern Dynasties in history.
The battle in the Central Plains was won beautifully, but it to some extent destroyed the strategy originally formulated by Tian Ze because Yizhou had not yet been taken.
Step by step, the princes of the Central Plains have begun to integrate their resources, and Cheng Yu is naturally extremely anxious.
"But our current internal affairs are so severe that we have no time to do anything!" Chen Gong said without retreating.
The prosperity under Tian Ze's leadership is the result of his daily hard work.
Although the situation seems to be abundant, in fact, both manpower and food are somewhat stretched. If this continues, it will inevitably greatly affect the development of the area under rule.
"Three months!"
"I promise, I'll fight for three months!" Cheng Yu said without hesitation.
"I think you should be able to guarantee three months of logistics and food supplies, Gongtai."
"Who are you trying to fool? Qingzhou is fine, but you told me that the war in Yizhou can be over in three months?" Chen Gong shouted angrily.
"Yes!" Cheng Yu said without hesitation.
"Yizhou is easy to defend but difficult to attack. If you want to capture it, the best way, besides consuming the enemy head on, is to take them by surprise and attack them when they are unprepared."
"Hanzhong is now under our control, and Liu Fan doesn't know about it. This is our best chance!"
(End of this chapter)
