Chapter 1020: Sending Troops to Changyi
In Shanyang County, Yanzhou, in Cao Cao's Feitinghou Mansion in Changyi City, Cao Cao, with a livid expression on his face, summoned everyone to discuss matters. He missed every step. It was because he did not expect that the Yuzhou Army had become the Eastern Expeditionary Army. The land of four counties was lost, especially Qiao County, but the place where I started was a large county with more than a dozen counties and a population of more than one million.
In addition to the three counties of Peiguo, Liangguo and Jiyin, there are four counties with more than 40 cities and a population of more than 2 million. You must know that Cao Cao now has a total of only 18 counties, less than 200 cities, and more than 800 cities. With a population of 10,000, in more than a month, it has lost nearly 30,000. However, the Beihai Ju County in Qingzhou, the intermediary of the Eastern Expedition Army, was lost. Although Xiahou Yuan was confident that he could capture both Qingzhou counties within a month, how could the two Qingzhou counties be compared with the counties in Yanzhou and Yuzhou.
What's more, he has already lost 70,000 to 80,000 elite soldiers and horses, but the Eastern Expeditionary Army has not suffered much losses, so the next war on the Western Front will be even more difficult to fight.
One thing that makes Cao Cao even more uncomfortable is that Sun Ce's army in the south is desperately attacking him. In a month or so, he has captured all the cities in Jiujiang and has now invaded Xiapi Kingdom. Fortunately, Sun Ce's army was not strong enough, and his territory in Jiangdong was also unstable. Under the blockade of Xiapi Prime Minister Manpang, his tens of thousands of troops had been firmly blocked in the south of Tongguo County.
At this time, Cao Cao understood what it was like to be surrounded by enemies on all sides. He needed troops everywhere, but he only had tens of thousands of elite troops at hand, and he did not dare to send them out at all. Fortunately, so far, Pengcheng Prime Minister Lu Qian has assembled tens of thousands of troops and is standing ready in Pengcheng. Together with Man Pang and Cao Ren, the war situation in the three counties of Xuzhou should basically be stabilized.
In fact, Cao Cao didn't know that the war potential of the Eastern Conquest Army had almost been fully exerted, and dozens of cities in the four counties were captured. Although the nearly 300,000 Eastern Conquest Army only lost about 30% of its strength, several After the capture of ten cities, Yan Sheng had diluted the forces in Huangfu Chaobo's hands, and almost all the guards in his hands had been dispatched. Even so, there were not many guards in each city. Important cities There are about two thousand garrison troops, and generally there are only a thousand garrison troops in the city.
In addition, several counties and cities each need to garrison two or three schools of soldiers, so at this time, Huangfu Chaobo can dispatch only less than 100,000 soldiers. If he insists, there are still tens of thousands. Civil servants and prisoners.
After introducing the current situation to everyone, Cao Cao said in a deep voice: "Everyone, tell me, how should we conduct the next war?"
"Father, I feel that our military strength is no longer enough. We should order more recruitment and intensify troop training, otherwise..." Cao Ang spoke first;
"Wen Ruo, how is the recruitment situation in the cities under your rule?" Cao Cao nodded, looked at Xun Yu beside him and said;
"Reporting to my lord, all the city chiefs, officials and generals have reported on the recruitment status. Currently, the number has reached 2,000."
"Pass the order, increase the number of soldiers and horses in each city to three thousand, no, four thousand." Cao Cao shook his head and waved his hand;
"But my lord..." Xun Yu said anxiously; "Based on the current situation of our army, three thousand people is already the limit. If we add two thousand people to each city and there are still 140 cities under our rule, then Even an army of 300,000 people will not be able to sustain it.”
However, Cao Cao waved his hand to stop Xun Yu's words and said, "Let's get over this hurdle first before talking."
Xun Yu was speechless and had to retreat silently. Yes, if he was driven out of Yanzhou by the Eastern Expeditionary Army, what would be the use of leaving more money and food? But with the addition of nearly 300,000 troops, Cao Cao's army Judging from the current situation, it will be dragged down by the army in less than a year. But if there is no conscription, all these cities will be lost, and by then, Cao Cao's army will become a lost dog.
"Send an order to Zixiao and Zilian, asking them to guard the three counties of Xuzhou. If they can drive Sun Ce's army out of Xiapi, it would be best. If not, at least they must keep the richest place in Xuzhou north of Xiaxiang.
"
After thinking for a while, Cao Cao continued: "Give Yuan Rang an order to defend Dongjun no matter what. Let him ignore the battle in Shanyang. If I lose, let him defend Dongjun and the Dongping Kingdom. If If I win, I will let him send troops to Puyang as far as he can. Then I will send Miaocai. I will give him a month to occupy Qingzhou and then lead the troops back west. "
Just when Cao Cao was gathering generals and counselors to discuss countermeasures, Huangfu Chaobo was also in a state of despair. In more than a month, he had captured dozens of cities in Cao Cao's four counties, but Huangfu Chaobo suddenly discovered that he There are no more soldiers in hand. Three hundred thousand troops have been sent out in four directions. It has only been a month now. The number of soldiers and horses that I can use is less than one hundred thousand. The rest have been sent to the defense of the newly occupied cities. .
Nowadays, the number of soldiers and horses in the cities of Henan cannot be reduced anymore. Otherwise, if there is any emergency, there will really be no soldiers available.
Therefore, after Huangfu Chaobo discussed with the three great counselors, he had no choice but to order Huang Zhong to lead Runan's 30,000-strong Shenwu Camp to defend the front lines of Peiguo, Qiaojun and Liangguo, while Huangfu Li's army went north to Shanyang to fight with Huangfu Chaobo's army participated in the war in Changyi.
On April 8, Huangfu Li's army arrived at Shanfu, and after a day of rest, they began to defend Dongxian City. On the same day, Huangfu Chaobo left two schools of soldiers and 20,000 guards to defend Dingtao, and personally led the guards, 10,000 soldiers from Huang Wudie's army and 20,000 soldiers from Zhang He's army, along with 10,000 guards, 10,000 civilians and 10,000 Cao Cao's prisoners, a total of 80,000 soldiers and horses across the Ji River, and marched eastward to Changyi.
Two days later, the army arrived at the foot of Changyi City. After arriving in Changyi, the army did not attack the city immediately, but set up a solid camp to the west of Changyi City, waiting for the arrival of Huangfu Li's army in the south.
Like Dingtao City, Changyi City was also built by the Ji River, but Dingtao was located to the north of the Ji River, while Changyi was located to the south of the Ji River. Changyi City is about ten miles long and wide, with a height of four feet, a base width of six feet, and a top width of more than three or four feet. In addition to the six-foot-high corner towers at the four corners of the city wall, the defense of the city head is much more stringent than that of Dingtao City. There are horse faces every hundred steps along the city wall, and there is a sheep and horse wall behind the moat outside the city.
In addition to these, the news sent back by the Shadow Guards shows that there is also a urn city at the south gate of Changyi, and there is also a more solid inner city in the city, which is a double wall pattern in the shape of a Chinese character "Hui".