At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

So not to mention all support, at least no one objected, although some people thought Yuan Shao was good.

For example, Yuan Yi, the prefect of Shanyang, belonged to Yuan Shao's faction, felt that Guo Peng was from Yuan Shu's faction, and was very hostile to him.

However, Bao Xin insisted that Yuan Shao took the lead in destroying the Dongdong alliance, and he was not someone who could entrust the family's future.

This statement was supported by many people, so Bao Xin took the lead and wrote to Guo Peng, asking Guo Peng to send troops into Yanzhou to quell the chaos and protect the safety of the elders in Yanzhou.

Yuan Yi was very angry, and when he thought of his identity, he felt uneasy, fearing that after Guo Peng occupied Yanzhou, he would be persecuted by Guo Peng, so he directly abandoned his official position and fled to Jizhou, Hebei.

In late October, Guo Peng was overjoyed when he received the letter.

On the surface, he gritted his teeth and blamed the Yellow Turban Army, feeling very sorry for Liu Dai's death.

Then he ordered the army to prepare, [-] soldiers were divided into two groups, and under the banner of avenging Liu Dai and eliminating disasters for the country, they marched into Yanzhou openly.

The main force took Zhang Fei as the vanguard and Guo Jia as the marching commander. Guo Peng personally commanded Guan Yu and Zhao Yun led [-] troops into Taishan County.

A division of 1 people, with Cao Ren as the main general, Yu Jin and Le Jin as the assistants, and Xi Zhong as the marching Sima, entered the Jibei Kingdom and started the conquest from the Jibei Kingdom.

For this expedition, Guo Peng intended to cultivate Cao Ren, Yu Jin, and Le Jin's ability to command troops, so he let them lead the army to fight alone.

In order to ensure safety, Xi Zhong, who is resourceful and experienced, was also appointed as the marching Sima to assist him.

Before Yuan Shao invaded, Guo Peng was away on conquest. Although Cao Ren and others were not defeated, they lost their teachers and ground. Guo Peng didn't care much about it, but he began to think about it.

Although it is more and more handy to use troops by oneself, the famous generals are getting more and more famous, but as the lord, he often has to sit in the base camp to make overall plans instead of going out in person.

You can't be the only one who can command troops to fight in all directions, and the generals under your command can't all be just bloody and courageous generals who charge into battle.

It's okay now, but in the future, the family will have a big business, and they will attack from all directions, so don't they have to do it all by themselves?

After observation, Guo Peng determined that Cao Ren, Yu Jin, and Le Jin had the ability and talent to lead troops in battle. They were very strict in commanding troops, had strict military discipline, and showed signs of being independent.

For this reason, Guo Peng decided to focus on training Cao Ren, Yu Jin and Le Jin.

Under them, it is not that there are no people who can be trained to be the commander of the army.

Both Guan Yu and Zhao Yun can be trained. Cao Chun and Cao Xiu, who came to join him from Jiangnan not long ago, are too young, so Guo Peng wants to take them with him to train.

Xiahoudun and Xiahouyuan also have the ability to lead troops, but they are not good at using tactics. They are only good at rushing and fighting. They can be used as vanguard generals, but if they are facing a big scene, they are not good at adapting to the situation.

But guarding the place is enough.

Especially for Xiahou Dun, Guo Peng found that it seemed better to put Xiahou Dun in a civil service position than to fight on the battlefield.

He is an upright person, does not take corruption or bribes, and can lead many people to complete local government affairs, repair water conservancy, build villages, and reclaim wasteland. He is very handy and has never missed anything.

Guo Peng felt that the reason why Cao Cao wanted Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun to be commanders was mainly because of trust.

In that chaotic era, trust was very precious. Cao Cao believed that they would not rebel and that they were his own family members. The role they played might be more equivalent to supervising the army than commander-in-chief.

So basically it is mentioned that these two people are both "supervising" the generals' marching. This "supervising" may mean more of a supervising army.

A certain Guo adopted the military system of the Qin Dynasty, and the army was simply a professional soldier. He also preferred to control the army from the grassroots level, and he paid special attention to mastering and training the army himself from the very beginning.

There are two groups of generals who train the army and those who lead the army. The generals who fight in peacetime have only their own personal guards by their side. During wartime, they can take away the well-trained army to fight. After the war, the army still returns to the camp to station.

But at the same time, he can understand that because it is his own family, he brought it out with one hand, and the trust and tacit understanding are incomparable to others.

So whenever I go out on an expedition, I always feel at ease when I hand over the place to my subordinates and my family for many years to guard it.

This time, too, Guo Peng entrusted Cheng Li with the responsibility of staying behind, while Xia Houyuan, Xia Houdun and Cao Hong guarded the area and obeyed Cheng Li's orders, so he was very relieved.

Of course, it is necessary to cultivate capable subordinates. I can't always be on the front line to command operations, and I should play more of a macro-control role.

And later, how to control these increasingly capable subordinates is also a kind of macro-control ability.

So Liu Bang became the emperor because he was good at controlling his subordinates.

The generals must learn, and Guo Peng must also learn. It is very necessary to learn and grow in the midst of war.

So this time, Guo Peng asked Cao Ren Yu Jin and Le Jin to lead the army alone and take charge of the battle, for these things.

Chapter 256 .250 Fighting all the way, annexing all the way

It was late October at this time, and the autumn harvest was basically completed, and the treasury of Qingzhou was greatly abundant, and it entered a new round of construction.

The cost of grain and grass is perfect, and the people who are used to transport grain and grass can also be drawn out.

Grasping the right time, Guo Peng led the army to march, and took Cao Chun and Cao Xiu with him all the way, explaining the route of marching and fighting, planning, camping and preventing sneak attacks, etc., and personally trained them.

The two studied very seriously, especially Cao Xiu, who was serious and rigorous, and did not dare to slack off at all.

If Guo Peng has a question and he doesn't answer it, he will be very disappointed.

Guo Peng asked Cao Chun to learn from Cao Xiu, to be brave after knowing his shame, not to be heartless all day long.

In addition, Guo Peng directly let Guan Yu, Zhao Yun and Guo Jia start practicing.

He didn't care about the marching route, sentry cavalry to find the enemy, set up camp, and prevent sneak attacks. Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and Guo Jia were all responsible for these matters. He was only responsible for the acceptance results, not the process.

Whether you do it right or not, you will be punished directly for any omissions.

Do you dare to have gaps in marching and fighting?

A harsh lesson, let them deeply remember that these mistakes cannot be made, and future generals cannot make these low-level mistakes!

Marching to Laiwu County, Zhang Fei's vanguard army rushed forward and broke through the Yellow Turban army occupying this place first, killing hundreds of people and capturing thousands of people.

The county seat was severely damaged. Guo Peng directly regarded these places as his own territory, and appointed his colleague Xi Ji as Laiwu county magistrate, and began to restore local governance.

Then he ordered the whole army to divide into three groups. Guan Yu led a group of troops to attack Ying County, Zhao Yun led a group of troops to attack Gai County, and himself led a group of troops to attack Mou County.

Attacked from three directions, the Yellow Turban Army was beaten up crying and howling, fleeing one after another, or surrendering.

Then Guo Peng repeated his old tricks. After capturing Mou County, he appointed Eng Guoyuan as the county magistrate of Mou County and began to restore local governance.

While fighting and annexing, Guo Peng took the entire Taishan County in less than half a month.

He led his army to Cheng County, joined forces with Guan Yu, went south to Lu State to destroy the Yellow Turban Army of Lu State, then joined forces with Zhao Yun, and then entered Rencheng State. After Cao Ren attacked Jibei State, he would directly lead his army into Dongping State and destroy Dongping State. Yellow Turban Army.

Prior to this, Zheng Sui, the Prime Minister of Rencheng, was killed by the Yellow Turban Army, and the Prime Minister of Dongping did not escape such a disaster, and died.

These two countries were seriously occupied by the Yellow Turban Army, and the main force is in these two countries right now, so Liu Dai was defeated and killed here.

But when I heard that Guo Peng led the army to come, Taishan County was cleaned up, and Jibei Kingdom was also in danger. The Yellow Turban Army of the two countries were very disturbed.

Xu He, Sima Ju, Guan Cheng and Guan Hai contacted each other and planned to fight Guo Peng together. They would rather die than surrender, and they must defeat him.

In fact, they didn't know that Guo Peng was very grateful to them. He thanked them for clearing some obstacles for someone like Guo, plundering wealthy households, destroying powerful and government officials, and attacking the power of scholars, leaving a piece of feathers behind.

Although it is a bit troublesome to tidy up in this way, Guo Peng thinks it is much easier to tidy up a place of chicken feathers than to tidy up the noble families.

So Guo Peng was really reluctant to wipe them all out like this.

He always wants to give them a little more time and room to play, let them destroy the enemy's powerful, so that he can occupy more unowned wasteland for the development of farmland.

This kind of thing is justifiable only if the Yellow Turban Army does it. If you do it yourself, you will become the world's public enemy and the biggest traitor in minutes.

Although it is true that Guo Peng is indeed heading in this direction, but now Guo Peng is the character of a loyal minister and good general.

Therefore, those that should be exterminated must always be exterminated, and they are indeed destroying production. When they have no value in existence, they must be exterminated.

Guo Peng didn't care that the State of Lu belonged to Yuzhou. He directly led his army into the State of Lu and wiped out the Yellow Turban Army entrenched in the State of Lu. Then he learned a very interesting thing.

The Acting Prime Minister of the State of Lu at the imperial court is Zhang Liao, yes, Zhang Wenyuan, the one under Lu Bu's command.

He was far away in Chang'an, but he was appointed as the Prime Minister of the State of Lu. Therefore, there is no Prime Minister of the State of Lu now, but each county is in charge of its own affairs, so it was miserable by the Yellow Turban Army.

Of course Guo Peng couldn't let go of such a good opportunity.

Without further ado, he directly led the army in, and under the pretext of destroying the Yellow Turban Army, he simply and neatly wiped out the fleeing Yellow Turban Army and occupied the State of Lu.

Then he appointed the Prime Minister Xiahou Dun and a group of county magistrates and magistrates to occupy this land grandly.

As for the fleeing yellow turban remnants who hadn't had time to catch them, they were allowed to continue fleeing south.

Guo Peng transferred Xiahoudun from Qingzhou, pretended that Xiahoudun was the prime minister of the state of Lu, and asked him to stand here, and let him be stationed while resuming production.

Then Guo Peng turned around and planned to attack Ren Chengguo.

The prime ministers of Rencheng State and Dongping State were all killed by the Yellow Turban Army. These two countries are the most powerful places of the Yellow Turban Army in Yanzhou. They have a large number of soldiers and horses. Compared with them, Guo Peng's army is not enough.

According to the investigation, Guo Peng learned that the main forces of the Yellow Turban Army were in Fan County of Rencheng State and Ningyang County of Dongping State.

After all the bases captured before were lost, they had no way to escape, so they had to shrink their troops and gather all the troops in these two counties to fight stubbornly.

For this reason, Guo Peng contacted Yanzhou early in the morning to raise troops to fight with him, and the two sides attacked from both sides to defeat the Yellow Turban Army together.

On the Yanzhou side, Bao Xin and Ying Shao were the main generals of the two armies, starting from Dongjun respectively, marching towards Rencheng State and Dongping State to cooperate with Guo Peng's attack.

The Yellow Turban Army also realized that this time is a decisive battle, and if they win, they can do a lot in Yanzhou and make a comeback.

If you lose, it's over.

They desperately spread the news that Guo Peng slaughtered the Yellow Turban Army, trying to arouse the courage of the Yellow Turban soldiers to fight against Guo Peng's army.

They believed that the repeated defeats in previous battles were due to the fact that the troops were scattered and inconsistent, and they could not gather together to defeat Guo Peng's main force, which resulted in being defeated by Guo Peng one by one. But the strength is also unprecedentedly strong.

There are about 3 soldiers available in Ningyang County, and more than 3 soldiers available in Fan County, while Guo Peng's crusade army seems to have a total of only 3 soldiers.

Therefore, the Yellow Turban Army has a little confidence that it can defeat Guo Peng and win.

Guo Jia pointed out this point very keenly.

"Before, the Yellow Turbans were scattered all over the country, and our army defeated each of them with superior strength. Although the Yellow Turbans were numerous, they were scattered and were not our elite opponents. Therefore, they retreated steadily and surrendered in large numbers.

But the current group is the most steadfast Yellow Turbans, it is not easy to surrender, and there are many people, there are no less than [-] soldiers who can fight, and they are suppressed to the extreme. Once they rebound, their strength will be terrible. Jia suggested to postpone the attack. "

Guo Jia spoke to Guo Peng and suggested that Guo Peng should not attack quickly, and should send an order to Cao Ren, who was preparing to attack Dongping in Jibei, not to attack immediately.

Chapter 257 Liu Guo's Divorce Scheme (revision)

Guo Peng thought carefully and felt that Guo Jia was reasonable, so he accepted Guo Jia's advice, stopped marching, and did not launch an attack immediately.

Later, Guo Jia sent spies to investigate the distribution and terrain of the Yellow Turban Army's troops, and continued to deduce it on the sand table with a group of generals, thinking that this battle was not so easy to fight.

The Yellow Turban Army has reached the critical point of life and death. The so-called mourning soldiers must win. If they march rashly, they may be in danger of being defeated. Even if they win, it may be a miserable victory, which is not in Guo Peng's interest.

Guo Jia suggested to make peace with them, and in this extreme state, use extreme pressure to force them to surrender, so that their entire army will surrender to Guo Peng, and surrender without fighting.

Guo Peng refused.

He remembered what kind of distress the existence of the so-called Qingzhou soldiers had brought to the ruler, and felt that it was impossible to do so.

"It is necessary to defeat and destroy the leader of the Yellow Turban thieves, behead all of them, and get rid of them. Only then can the prisoners of war be forgiven and put into private households to farm. .”

Guo Jia felt embarrassed.

"If you must kill the leader of the opponent, the opponent must fight to the death. A battle of trapped beasts is not a good thing for our army. I hope the general will be aware of it."

Guo Peng grinned.

"Did I say I'm going to keep them in a corner?"

"Ok?"

Guo Jia looked confused.

"I figured out a way."

Guo Peng narrowed his eyes, and then ordered Guo Jia to investigate the distribution of the Yellow Turban Army's troops.

Despite this, Guo Jia still believes that persuading surrender is the best way.

You can take Yanzhou without a single soldier, and you can get a large number of soldiers, why not do it?

When Guo Jia went to investigate the distribution of the Yellow Turban Army's strength, Guo Peng received a letter from Xi Zhong.

Xi Zhong, who was stationed in Gang County, also suggested that Guo Peng persuade the Yellow Turban Army to surrender and make it Guo Peng's force, but Guo Peng also refused.

"They can persevere to this point, which shows their firm will. Even if they surrender for a while, it may not be an expedient measure. They must not be allowed to surrender in an organized way. They must be defeated. Otherwise, even if their army surrenders, they will inevitably form forces. , dare not make a difference.”

Guo Peng wrote back to Xi Zhong, ordering Xi Zhong and Cao Ren to stand by, not to persuade them to surrender, not to attack, and wait for his news.

A few days later, Guo Jia's information arrived.