Three Kingdoms Strong Army System

After Xia Houyuan's [-] troops arrived in Luoyang from Chenliu, Cao Cao sent [-] troops in Xuchang one after another to Luoyang as a follow-up force.

When Xia Houyuan withdrew to Luoyang, the last of the [-] troops also arrived in Luoyang.

Cao Cao occupied the Central Plains area. Although the location was small, it was densely populated, but it was also the area that was most aggressively attacked by the Yellow Turbans.

He ruled the whole of Yanzhou, half of Yuzhou, and Henan Yin, with between 15 and 20 troops under his rule.

It is not that his soldiers are insufficient, but that his food and grass cannot maintain a standing army.

Cao Cao's territory is the real place of the Four Wars. Although he has a lot of soldiers and horses, he also has a lot of enemies to guard against.

Yuan Shao in the north of the Yellow River, Tao Qian in the east, Yuan Shu in the southeast, and Liu Biao in the southwest, only the direction of Qingzhou is the easiest.

Being able to spend [-] against Liu Zhang is already his limit, and it can be done by deploying more troops, but the defense in other directions will be greatly weakened.

As soon as Xia Houyuan led his army back to Luoyang, the scouts outside the city came to report. Cao Cao ordered Xia Houyuan to come to see him after he had settled down the soldiers and horses.

It took half an hour for Xia Houyuan to arrange all the troops, and then rushed to the Luoyang General's Mansion with a Biao general.

Because Liu Zhang guarded Tongguan and cut off the possibility of Dong Zhuo moving westward to Chang'an, Luoyang City was preserved intact.

However, in the past few years, the population of the once prosperous Luoyang City has dropped by half because of Li Jue, Guo Si and others who are busy in the Luoyang area.

Among them, some people moved west to Tongguan and fled to Guanzhong under Liu Zhang's rule.

Although the emperor was in Xuchang, Cao Cao still didn't dare to set up the commander's mansion in the imperial palace. The place where he is now is the mansion of He Jin, the mansion of the great general back then.

He Jin's General's Mansion is very close to the Luoyang Palace, and it is also very large.

Xia Houyuan and others rushed into the General's Mansion, and they could directly enter the meeting hall where Cao Cao was sitting without notification.

"Miaocai, you're back!" Cao Cao got up to greet him. His words were simple, but he showed his concern.

Cao Song's original surname is Xiahou, Xiahouyuan and Xiahoudun are Cao Cao's blood relatives, while Cao Hong, Cao Ren, and Cao Chun are Cao's relatives.

"My lord, the last general is back!" It was impossible for Xia Houyuan to call Cao Cao by his nickname in front of all the generals.

"Tell me about the situation on the front line!" Cao Cao picked up a noble from his desk and handed it over.

There was wine in Juezhong, Xia Houyuan glanced at the wine in Juezhong, and drank it all in one gulp.

Xia Houyuan was good at running the army, and he was strict with himself. He never drank alcohol during the marches and battles, but now he was in the rear, and it was the wine handed over by Cao Cao himself. Of course he wanted to drink it.

"My lord, after I arrived at Hangu Pass, Liu Zhang came to attack the city within a few days, and did not go down for several days,"

Xia Houyuan spoke eloquently, Cao Cao listened carefully, and the time of a stick of incense passed before he knew it.

"My lord, the specific situation is like this!" After Xia Houyuan finished speaking, he looked at Cao Cao, waiting for his decision.

Cao Cao pondered for a moment, then glanced at the generals confidently, and laughed loudly: "Liu Zhang sent [-] troops to attack me in Henan Yin. Now counting the losses, there are about [-] men who can fight, while we have only seven men who can fight. Wan, but I'm not afraid of him."

"Dare to ask my lord, why are you not afraid!" Guo Jia is indeed a wise man, and he sent all the steps to pretend to be in front of Cao Cao.

Cao Cao glanced at Guo Jia admiringly, and said triumphantly: "Although Liu Zhang has a large number of people, he has come from a long distance. Although our army is small, we are waiting for work at ease. Liu Zhang's food is far away, and our army's food is close. The loss is greater than our army. Although Liu Zhang attacked Luoyang, it could not last long, and Yuan Shao would not miss this opportunity for a long time."

Soon, Cao Cao gave a lot of reasons, and these reasons were telling the generals in the meeting hall that our army would definitely be able to defeat Liu Zhang.

After hearing Cao Cao's analysis, the generals, who were still a little doubtful and timid, were filled with confidence.

After Cao Cao finished speaking, Guo Jia began to cooperate again.

"My lord is wise. Although our army is small, we have the right time, place and people. It is very difficult to lose. But Liu Zhang is the number one prince in the world after all, so we should not be careless!"

"What Feng Xiao said is right," Cao Cao nodded.

Cao Cao recalled what happened to Liu Zhang these years and began to analyze him. "Liu Zhang was able to lead the prefect of Jingzhao Yin in a weak year. I thought he was a clan member of the Han Dynasty, but I didn't expect him to first seize Fufeng and Fengyi counties in just a few years, and then take Shang counties, swallowing Liangzhou. , then merged Yizhou, and finally took Bingzhou from Yuan Shao's mouth, but his ability is not small, we need to be careful in dealing with it, everyone has a clever plan, come quickly!"

One person counts the short, two counts the long.Cao Cao asked his subordinates for countermeasures while thinking for himself.

Cao Cao had many advisers, among them Xun Yu, Xun You, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, and Xi Zhong were the most outstanding, but Xi Zhong died of illness and Xun Yu stayed in Xuchang. At present, only Guo Jia and Xun You are around Cao Cao.

Xun You thought about it carefully, then bowed his hands and said: "My lord, Liu Zhang is too powerful, which is not good for other princes. You can write to Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, knowing their interests, and persuade Yuan Shao to attack Bingzhou and Liu Biao to attack Wuguan, so that they can be dispersed." Our army is under pressure!"

"Gongda's plan is very clever. As the saying goes, the soldiers attack the enemy, and the soldiers attack the enemy." Cao Cao was overjoyed.

When Guo Jia saw Cao Cao looking over, he said, "My lord, Liu Zhang is far away, which is not good for a long battle. However, our army fights every year, and the food, grass and equipment are abundant. It is unrealistic to drag Liu Zhang down. Moreover, Yuan Shu may send troops after a long battle." To take Yuzhou from me, our army should fight urgently."

After Cao Cao thought about it, he felt that Guo Jia's words made sense.

However, there is nothing he can do about it, who let his territory be in the world.

Moreover, at the beginning of the melee among the princes, he had no chance to choose. He was appointed as the governor of Dongjun by the imperial court, and was later welcomed as the governor of Yanzhou by his friend Chenliu prefect Zhang Miao and others. occupy.

After occupying Yanzhou, he has been troubled by food. Every time he fights, the food problem limits the number and time of his troops.

Cao Cao stared at the military map of the Luoyang area, thinking while looking at it.

Soon, he looked back at his subordinates and said, "I want to fight Liu Zhang three days later, what do you guys think?"

"I will obey!" All the subordinates responded in unison.

Cao Cao made this decision because his troops, marching for days, were exhausted and needed rest, and he also needed to make certain deployments.

Seeing that all the generals agreed with his idea, Cao Cao was very happy, and he began to discuss with them how to march and deploy.

In the end, it was decided to set the decisive battle location outside Luoyang City, in the open space outside the West Gate.