Chapter 172: Divide the Forces to Block

After Yuan Xi rushed to Yuan Shao's main tent, the generals and strategists arrived one after another, but their expressions were not good.

Calculating the time, if they marched at full speed, Zhang Yan's vanguard could arrive in about ten days!

No one was sure whether they could capture Yi Jing within this time.

Xin Ping was the first to speak: "Now we must respond."

"Should we divide our forces to intercept Zhang Yan, or focus all our efforts on attacking Yi Jing?"

Ju Shou said: "Isn't there another option, retreat?"

Xun Chen said coldly: "With the army pressing the city, to speak of retreat is a violation of military law, isn't it?"

Shen Pei said: "As the supervisor of the army, Gongyu naturally needs to consider the worst-case scenario. What if it rains heavily again?"

Everyone was silent. The rain a few days ago not only damaged the grain and armor, but also caused many people to get sick and even die.

If there was another rain, the Yuan army would probably collapse and retreat without Gongsun Zan even launching a counterattack from the city.

Who knew that the weather would be so strange this year? It's already October, and it's still raining!

Pang Ji said: "The current situation is one of no retreat. This year, various states have suffered locust plagues, but Ji Province has been the least affected, so we have surplus grain to raise an army."

"This large-scale army mobilization has cost a great deal. If we retreat now, it may be two or three years before we can raise such a large army again."

Guo Tu echoed: "If we miss this opportunity, let alone two or three years, even three or five years, it's hard to say what changes will occur in the future."

Tian Feng sneered: "But if we fail to capture the city and our army is cut off by the Black Mountain bandits, not only will we lose our main force, but even Ye City will be in danger."

"I heard that Cao Cao sent troops to attack Ye City, but fortunately, our army was prepared and temporarily drove them back."

Xu You said: "That's hard to say. Cao Mengde is our ally. Why would he attack at this time?"

"I think Mr. Yuan Hao is just worrying unnecessarily."

Tian Feng sneered: "I think you are on good terms with Cao Cao, so you are speaking up for him, aren't you?"

Xu You's face turned red, "Yuan Hao! How can you slander my reputation out of thin air!"

Seeing the strategists arguing, Yuan Xi thought that having more strategists wasn't necessarily better. Like now, it was simply counterproductive.

If he were in Yuan Shao's position, he wouldn't be able to manage these people at all.

These strategists relied on their own aristocratic clans and had become too powerful to control. Although they were all contributing, they would speak from their own positions, not from absolute neutrality.

Currently, the strategists present, Shen Pei, Tian Feng, and Ju Shou, are from the Ji Province faction, Xun Chen, Guo Tu, and Xin Pi are from the Yingchuan faction, and Xu You and Pang Ji are from the Nanyang faction. The relationships between them are complex. When planning, they not only want to enhance their own reputation, but also want to suppress the other side.

The hidden problems here will become more and more intensified with the passage of time. Today is just the tip of the iceberg, and the Ji Province faction is already dissatisfied with being suppressed by the other two factions and has begun to develop war-weariness!

The Ji Province faction should be supporting Yuan Tan. Now that they are being suppressed by the other two factions that support Yuan Shang, Yuan Tan's chances of becoming the heir are becoming increasingly slim.

Moreover, the benefits allocated to the Ji Province strategists are far lower than expected. It can even be said that after the Yingchuan and Nanyang factions gained power, they greatly weakened the power of the Ji Province strategists in the local area.

Therefore, the Ji Province faction has begun to show a trend of opposing. Tian Feng's so-called offense may be that he saw this fact a few years ago and used his foul mouth to vent his dissatisfaction.

Yuan Xi thought that this world was really wonderful. He was the one who advocated attacking Yi Jing, but now it was Yuan Shang's faction that supported attacking Yi Jing, while Yuan Tan's faction had the idea of retreating!

Yuan Shao's strategists are really too troublesome. Yuan Xi felt that Yuan Shao had not balanced the contradictions between these factions, and in this respect, he was far inferior to Cao Cao.

Don't look at the fact that Cao Cao has many strategists and generals under his command, but Cao Cao controls them quite well.

Cao Cao's idea of strategists is quite clear, that is, to focus on the Yingchuan faction.

From Xi Zhicai to Guo Jia, and then to Xun Yu and Chen Qun, all of them are from Yingchuan, while Cheng Yu, who initially followed Cao Cao, became a marginal figure in the later period. Needless to say, Jia Xu went to hide his talents and bide his time.

So when Cao Cao couldn't make up his mind, he only needed to find the Yingchuan people, close the door, and discuss it, and the matter would be settled. Moreover, Cao Cao himself is a very powerful military strategist and can suppress people.

In military affairs, Cao Cao takes the Cao family and Xiahou family as the core leaders. No matter how high the achievements of other generals with different surnames are, they can only be deputies most of the time.

This effectively eliminates infighting. Although they will also lose battles, under this system, at least stability can be guaranteed.

But Yuan Shao's side has much bigger problems in comparison.

Not to mention the infighting among the strategists, even the generals are divided into factions.

There is the veteran Chunyu Qiong, the Four Pillars who each stand on their own, and the generals of Bing and Liang who are subject to exclusion and suppression.

It's okay when Yuan Shao personally leads the army to win battles, but if he loses a battle, each faction will inevitably shirk responsibility. At this time, the generals without backers become scapegoats.

Back then, Qu Yi betrayed Han Fu and defected to Yuan Shao because he lost a battle and was about to be punished by Han Fu, so Qu Yi was forced to rebel against Han Fu.

As a result, after he defected to Yuan Shao, because of his bravery in combat and the power of his vanguard death soldiers, he was also feared and ambushed by Yuan Shao, and almost died.

Yuan Xi switched to Qu Yi's perspective and could deeply feel the depression. No matter what he did, it wouldn't work. Isn't this the same as being slapped in the face whether you wear a hat or not?

No wonder Zhang He and Gao Lan attacked Cao Cao's camp without leaving any survivors and immediately surrendered. Although there was a reason for their lack of loyalty, they were probably aware of the Yuan Shao circle's gameplay. If they went back, they would definitely not have a good ending, so they would naturally choose to surrender.

In the final analysis, it is still because they did not form a circle to keep warm.

The strategists did form a circle to keep warm, but different factions fought again.

The strategists were still arguing endlessly, and Yuan Shao finally couldn't bear it and said: "Retreat is impossible. I will never return to Ye City without taking Yi Jing!"

As soon as he said this, everyone calmed down. The Yingchuan and Nanyang factions looked proud, while the Ji Province faction was expressionless.

Because in their opinion, Yuan Shao's words were supporting Yuan Shang and suppressing Yuan Tan again.

Seeing this, Yuan Xi thought that it was enough. The reason why a few strategists dared to play like this was because Ji Province was too strong, so they were fearless and felt that even if they fought each other, it would not affect the success or failure of the matter.

If Yuan Xi hadn't read the script, who would have known that Yuan's family had such a big advantage, but it was wasted and wasted?

However, since Yuan Shao had already stated his position, then the remaining two paths were to attack with all his strength or to divide his forces to block the Black Mountain bandits.

Zhang Yan has three routes. One route is directly attacking Ye City. Yuan Shang is stationed there, and there are enough troops left in Ye City. There is no problem with just defending the city.

Now it is the route that bypasses the south of Yuan Shao's army in the middle. After everyone discussed it, they decided that Yuan Tan would lead 10,000 people to block it.

Zhang Yan's route also has only 30,000 to 40,000 people, and most of them are cloth-clothed militia with wooden spears. Yuan Shao's 10,000 elite soldiers are enough to block them.

Then there is the route that passes south of Beixin City and bypasses the back of Yi Jing.

Everyone looked at Yuan Xi. Seeing this, Yuan Xi knew that he was the most familiar with the defense line of the three cities of Zhuo County, and only he was the most suitable.

He said: "I'll take that route, but now I only have more than 2,000 people left. I'm afraid it's still a bit less. If I can gather 5,000, there will be no problem."

Yuan Shao pondered slightly and said: "Okay!"

"I will allocate another 500 cavalry and 2,000 infantry to you!"

Yuan Xi thought it was done. Relying on the defense of the three cities, these soldiers would have no problem blocking the Black Mountain bandits.

The key is whether he can get back in time to see Gongsun Zan's final outcome.

He glanced at Yuan Shao before leaving. The father and son looked at each other, understanding each other's intentions.

Before leaving from Ye City, the father and son had a private conversation. Only the two of them knew that there was a key that could be used. As for whether it could play a role, it depended on the future situation.

He returned to the camp, summoned Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci, told them to recruit soldiers, reorganize the team, and return to Zhuo County the next day to block the Black Mountain bandits.

The two took their orders and left. Yuan Xi then asked Sun Li to bring Tian Yu and said, "Brother Guorang, I may have to break my promise."

"Originally, I wanted to take you to see Gongsun Zan for the last time, but now the Black Mountain bandits are coming, and I have to go back to meet them."

These days, Tian Yu has been forced by Sun Li to watch the Yi Jing defense. At the beginning, he was quite angry when he saw the defending soldiers on the city being killed, but later, when he saw the Yuan army returning to the camp, they were also missing arms and legs and wailing in pain, and he gradually became silent.

After hearing Yuan Xi's words, there was no trace of strangeness on his face. He said: "This is not the fault of the son, why should you apologize to Yu."

Yuan Xi sighed: "Because I always promised you first."

Tian Yu thought that you didn't promise me anything. I wanted to go back, but you didn't let me go back!

He said: "The son doesn't need to explain these things to me. I have received the kindness of the Marquis of Ji, so I will not have two minds."

Sun Li listened to this from the side and couldn't help but mock: "Gongsun Zan, that dog thing, even kills his own people. You are being foolishly loyal."

Tian Yu was silent after hearing this.

Yuan Xi had already arranged things properly. After gaining some free time, he patiently said to Tian Yu: "Actually, I am very interested in Brother Guorang, and there are many questions I don't understand."

"For example, Liu Yuzhou and Gongsun Zan are both from the same sect, but their actions are much more benevolent and righteous. And you have followed Liu Yuzhou for a longer time. Why did Brother Guorang abandon him and return to Gongsun Zan?"

Tian Yu didn't expect Yuan Xi to know about his affairs. He hesitated for a moment and said: "Now that things have come to this, I will not hide it from the son."

"I initially went to the Marquis of Ji because my clan uncle was working under the Marquis of Ji."

"That day, Liu Yuzhou and my clan uncle jointly resisted Yuan Tan, so I naturally went to Liu Yuzhou."

"Afterwards, Liu Yuzhou abandoned Ji Province and my clan uncle and went to Tao Qian. Out of consideration for face, I would naturally choose my clan uncle's side."

Yuan Xi was puzzled after hearing this: "Who is Brother Guorang's clan uncle?"

Tian Yu's face showed a strange look: "The son has dealt with him many times."

"It was the one who was appointed by the Marquis of Ji as the governor of Qingzhou, but was defeated by the son and forced to escape from the sea."

Yuan Xi suddenly realized that it was Tian Kai, no wonder!

The relationship between these two sides is deeper than he thought. He had destroyed Tian Kai's hometown, how could Tian Yu give him a good look?

No wonder Tian Yu is so stubborn, it turns out the reason lies in Tian Kai!

This is troublesome, because Tian Kai is even more stubborn!