Chapter 805: Sending Troops to Huainan
Although Cao Cao had a lot of territory, the population under his rule was almost the same as that of the Andong Army, with a number of about 800 people. However, a large territory means that there are more cities to defend and more soldiers to be distributed.
Unlike Cao Cao, Huangfu Chaobo was always thinking about how to get more people. From the initial Luoyang serial mission, he kept trying to find ways to increase the population under his rule.
He got hundreds of thousands of people from Yuan Shu's Nanyang, hundreds of thousands from the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou, and more than one million from all over Jizhou, plus the continuous scavenging from the grasslands outside the Great Wall and the population that has migrated from other places in recent years.
After several years of development, the population under Andong An's rule has reached an astonishing 8 million, while his Andong Army only has eight counties, which means that each county has a population of more than one million, which is very rare in the entire Han Dynasty.
So although Cao Cao had a large number of soldiers, the soldiers he could mobilize in the end were not as many as Huangfu Chaobo's Andong Army.
Although Lv Bu in the north has less troops than the two previous ones, his combat power is extremely strong. Huangfu Chaobo originally sent Lv Bu to Bingzhou with the purpose of sending the plague god, but now he has raised a fierce tiger.
In addition to Guanzhong in the west and Nanyang in the south, the two have not been able to determine which direction the An Dong Army should develop in after several months of discussion. So Huangfu Chaobo took this opportunity to express his doubts, hoping that everyone can consider it.
But this question cannot be considered clearly in a short time, so when Huangfu Chaobo raised the question, everyone did not answer it immediately. Huangfu Chaobo had no choice but to let everyone disperse, but repeatedly told everyone to think about it carefully, and then gather everyone to discuss it carefully after a while.
After the meeting, Huangfu Chaobo returned to the backyard, but stayed for less than half a minute. Because he had something in his mind, Huangfu Chaobo decided that he could not calm down, so he simply led Dian Wei and several guards out of the mansion and came to the city to walk around.
Although it has been decided to go to Huainan, the army cannot be prepared in a short time. It takes time to mobilize troops and gather food and grass. Moreover, it takes some time for the emperor's edict to be delivered to Luoyang and other Guandong princes, so Huangfu Chaobo needs to wait patiently for a while before he can set off.
In the next few days, all the food and grass needed for the expedition have been prepared. According to Xu Shu's arrangement, the army only prepared one month's food and grass to accompany it, and the rest of the food and grass will be purchased from Kong Ju in Yuzhou.
The Huben Camp was led by Huang Zhong and Wang Ran with three schools of soldiers and horses. The deputy general of the Baotao Camp, Dong Fang, also led a school of infantry to Luoyang to join them. As for the Shenwu Army, Zhang He led a school of infantry to go to the expedition. However, because the army was heading south, Zhang He sent a general to lead troops to Xinzheng to wait for the army, and only led the personal guard camp to Luoyang.
On May 30th, all the troops and supplies for the expedition had been prepared, and the imperial edict from Chang'an to suppress the rebellion had been delivered to the princes in Guandong.
At 9:00 in the morning, General Andong, Marquis of Cangting, Huangfu Chaobo, offered sacrifices to heaven in the northern suburbs of Luoyang and issued a manifesto to send troops to suppress the pseudo-rebellious Zhong Dynasty.
At the same time, the emperor of Han in Chang'an announced to the world that Yuan Shu, after four generations of three officials, did not want to serve the court, but wanted to usurp the title of emperor, which was obviously a great rebellion, so the court called on the world's knowledgeable people to suppress the rebels, pacify the rebels, and restore peace to the world.
For a time, the princes of the world responded in droves. Following Sun Ce and Huangfu Chaobo, Cao Cao of Yanzhou and Kong Zhu of Yuzhou successively issued documents stating that they would send troops to suppress the rebels, and the princes who were farther away, Guandong Li Jue Guo Si, Nanyang Zhang Ji, and Liangzhou Dong Huang also stood up and waved their flags and shouted.
After offering sacrifices to the heaven, Huangfu Chaobo personally led the Andong Army to march eastwards towards Hulao Pass. After the army joined Zhang He's Shenwu Army in Xincheng County, they entered Yuzhou to join the Yuzhou Army.
When the various princes in Guandong expressed their intention to send troops to fight the bandits or waved flags to cheer,
In Shouchun, far away in Huainan, in the imperial palace, Emperor Yuan Shu of the Zhong family also received the news and was convening a court meeting to discuss how to deal with the attacks of the various princes.
In the Shouchun Imperial Palace, Yuan Shu wore a crown and a robe and sat under the hall. On both sides of the hall, the civil and military officials were lined up below him. It looked really magnificent, but it was a pity that although it was the new dynasty, there was no scene of prosperity, even the things discussed in the court meeting were like this.
In the hall, Yuan Huan, who was in charge of the world intelligence of Yuan Shu's forces, was reporting the recent intelligence collected by his subordinates. "
"Your Majesty, according to the news sent back by spies from various places, in addition to Sun Ce's announcement of opposition to Your Majesty in Jiangdong, Luoyang Huangfu Chaobo, Yanzhou Cao Cao, Yuzhou Kong Zhu, Nanyang Zhang Ji, Changan Li Jue Guo Si, Xiliang Dong Huang and other princes have successively issued manifestos, stating that my Zhong Dynasty is a rebellion and does not recognize my emperor. "
"Pah!" On the throne, Yuan Shu slapped the armrest of the dragon chair with his hand and shouted angrily: "Sun's kid, if he hadn't jumped out to oppose me first, where would there be so many jumping clowns in this world?"
"My dear minister, have you figured out who is ready to send troops?"
"Your Majesty, at present, among the surrounding princes, except Sun Ce, Huangfu Chaobo, Cao Cao and Kong Zhu have all shown signs of mobilizing troops. The Andong Army and the Yanzhou Army have already begun to gather troops and are expected to march south in the next one or two months. Please make arrangements early, Your Majesty."
"Hmph, some clowns, do you really think that my hundreds of thousands of elite troops are made of mud? Back in Nanyang, if the armies of the two thieves Lu Bu and Zhang Yang were not weak, my 100,000 elite troops would have been defeated at the gates of Luoyang."
"If the 100,000 troops had not been lost in Luoyang, how could I have the shame of being besieged in Nanyang? It's fine if they don't come this time, but if they really want to grab my tiger whiskers, I will definitely let the world see my strong army."
Speaking of this, Yuan Shu shouted: "Where is the general?"
"I am here."
Among the civil and military officers in the hall, the first person ranked first in the military generals responded, and this person was Ji Ling, the number one general under Yuan Shu. After being captured in Luoyang, Ji Ling was redeemed by Yuan Shu and was still valued afterwards. After Ji Ling returned to Nanyang from Luoyang, he immediately trained tens of thousands of heavy infantry for Yuan Shu, and in the subsequent battle of Nanyang, he led his troops to defeat Liu Biao and Zhang Ji, and was valued by Yuan Shu even more from then on.
Afterwards, Yuan Shu fled to Huainan, and Ji Ling successively conquered Pi and Guangling counties for him, which almost doubled Yuan Shu's actual strength. You should know that the population of Xuzhou was originally concentrated in Donghai. Who knew that Cao Cao invaded Xuzhou twice, causing many people in Donghai and Pengcheng to flee to the south. As a result, when Yuan Shu sent Ji Ling to attack the two counties, the population of the two counties had almost doubled compared to before.