Chapter 148: The Battle of Princes After Tian Ze returned to Youzhou, he rushed to where Zang Ba was, opened the map, and built a logistics base, allowing Zang Ba to gain a foothold in the Taihang Mountains. After these troubles were completely resolved, nearly half a year had passed since Tian Yuan withdrew his troops. During this period, the situation in the world has once again undergone tremendous changes. After Zang Ba's troops entered Taihang, Yuan Shao realized Tian Ze's plan and became very anxious. He did not care about stabilizing Jizhou and immediately marched eastward to Qingzhou, but was resisted by Kong Rong and Tao Qian. Although Kong Rong had little combat power, his identity as a great scholar forced Yuan Shao to take him into consideration, and he was inevitably somewhat restrained in battle. And Tao Qian gave Yuan Shao a severe lesson. At this time, Tao Qian was somewhat similar to Tian Ze. Having been based in Xuzhou for many years, it has a deep foundation, rich resources, sufficient money and food as a backing, and has also recruited a number of elite soldiers from Danyang from its hometown. If we only talk about military strength, Tao Qian is now far superior to Cao Cao and can compete with Yuan Shao. But Tao Qian's biggest problem was that he was too old and had big problems in employing people. His soldiers were strong but his generals were weak, and he often made mistakes in command.
If a real fight broke out, he would be no match for Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. But Yuan Shao was a worrier and did not believe that the so-called truce agreement would really stop Tian Ze from attacking. Especially when Zang Ba was stationed in the Taihang Mountains on the west side of Jizhou and could easily force his troops to attack Yecheng. Therefore, he left most of his elite troops and generals such as Yan Liang and Wen Chou in Jizhou, and only ordered Zang Hong to lead 50,000 troops to station in Qingzhou. Yuan Shao originally thought that Qingzhou was now empty, and Kong Rong was only the governor of Beihai, without many troops under his command. As long as he paid a little attention, he could easily take it down. It was indeed going smoothly at the beginning. The four counties of Pingyuan, Jinan, Le'an and Qi were easily captured without encountering any resistance. However, just when Zang Hong was preparing to finally take over Beihai, Tao Qian showed up unexpectedly. It is said that he came here at the invitation of Kong Rong to repel the bandits. Zang Hong had the ability to lead troops and was well-known for his ability in both civil and military affairs, so Yuan Shao entrusted him with important tasks and appointed him as the governor of Qingzhou. However, he also had a shortcoming, that is, he was a bit straightforward and liked to take a grand approach and face the enemy head-on. After learning that Tao Qian was coming, he didn't think about anything else. After a heated argument, he was defeated by Tao Qian who had the help of Kong Rong. However, he didn't want to disobey Yuan Shao's orders, so he challenged Tao Qian to a head-on battle. In this way, the weaknesses of Tao Qian's civil and military forces were immediately covered up for the most part, and there was no need to worry about being led by the nose. When Tao Qian received Zang Hong's letter of request for battle, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, what a gentleman! This Spring and Autumn style of inviting battles is in line with their current status. Then he ordered Cao Bao to lead 10,000 Danyang soldiers and 20,000 Xuzhou soldiers to beat Zang Hong violently. There was no way, the quality of the soldiers on both sides was not at the same level. In a head-on battle, how could the Jizhou army, which had just been integrated and had little experience in war, be a match for the Danyang soldiers? Zang Hong was defeated repeatedly, but Tao Qian was relentless and pursued him all the way, taking over Qi and part of Yanzhou's Taishan County before he gave up. When Tao Qian got old, he became a cautious person. He was also worried about completely angering Yuan Shao, so he adopted a relatively stable method of cannibalization. Yuan Shao was furious when he heard the news. How could Tao Qian dare to go against him? This was unreasonable. Soon he learned another piece of news that Yuan Shu sent troops to capture parts of Xia Pi County and Guangling County, and beat Tao Qian up by the way. Yuan Gonglu and Tao Qian were in a similar situation. They had a deep foundation and a large number of troops, but they and their civil and military forces were a little weak. He occupied two famous counties, Nanyang and Runan, and had the strong support of the old Yuan family. He was much richer than Tao Qian. At first glance, they launched an attack with an army of 100,000 men, and attacked Tao Qian by surprise without any moral principles, leaving him without any chance to fight back.
Understood! This was because he had suffered a loss at the hands of Yuan Gonglu, so he came to Yuan Benchu to seek revenge. After all, Xuzhou was now sandwiched between the two Yuans. Yuan Shu in the south saw him as a weakling and wanted to attack him, while Yuan Shao in the north wanted to invade Qingzhou and approached Xuzhou. Even a rabbit will bite when it is angry, let alone Tao Qian, who also had a hot temper when he was young. There are so many princes in the world, why do you two Yuans keep picking on me? Isn’t this bullying an honest person? Tao Qian retaliated in anger. In fact, he was also afraid. After all, anyone with eyes could see the situation in Hebei. Tian Ze and Yuan Shao have been at peace for two years. Although it may not last that long, it should be no problem for more than a year. Moreover, the choice to stop the war is enough to show that both sides are not sure of defeating the other side and will not go to war easily. Under such circumstances, Yuan Benchu would not stop his march south to Qingzhou, and his target would naturally be the nearest Yanzhou and Xuzhou. In Yanzhou, Liu Dai was killed by the Baibo bandits as expected, and Cao Cao was legitimately recommended by many famous people in Yanzhou to be the governor of Yanzhou, and became a powerful figure. Tao Qian knew that Cao Cao was Yuan Shao's younger brother and that he was quite powerful. In this situation, he felt that he was facing enemies on three sides, and they were all strong enemies. How could he not be panicked? So he had to flex his muscles. He wanted to sell Xuzhou for a good price, but not in this way. What's the value of selling it when others are determined to get it and have the ability to take it? A friend in need is a friend indeed. As for why Yuan Shu attacked Tao Qian, it was because he had just been beaten in Yanzhou and the war in Yangzhou was not going well. Yuan Shu was a cunning man. After learning of Liu Dai's death, he immediately sent troops to Yanzhou, preparing to take over Yanzhou and to support a group of his younger brothers, the Baibo bandits. As the "bandit leader" of the late Han Dynasty, Yuan Shu was very loyal, so bandits from all over the place came to join him, causing his power to expand rapidly. After all, the Yuan family had a solid financial foundation, and the last thing they lacked was money and food. The combination of the Yuan family and this group of penniless bandits was simply perfect. For a time, his strength expanded rapidly. In just one state, he managed to mobilize an army of more than 300,000 in a short period of time, and was secretly the leader in the world. However, would Cao Cao, who had planned all this, allow this to happen? Cao Cao, who had already made preparations, first defeated the Baibo bandits who surrendered, and then, relying on his own agility and tactics, taught Yuan Shu, who underestimated the enemy, a lesson, and took advantage of the situation to occupy Yingchuan County. Yuan Shu not only failed to steal the chicken but also lost the rice, and also lost part of the territory of Yingchuan. However, Cao Cao also miscalculated. When he was pinned down by Yuan Shu, Liu Bei also took the opportunity to send troops in the name of suppressing bandits and occupied part of Taishan County in Yanzhou. After seeing that Cao Cao was not easy to deal with, Yuan Shu set his sights on Yangzhou. However, he was held back by Lujiang prefect Lu Kang. After besieging Lujiang City for a long time, he saw no sign of being able to take it. In a rage, Yuan Shu left Sun Ce behind to continue attacking Lujiang, while he went north and took over part of Xuzhou. In this way, Tao Qian suffered an unexpected disaster. Due to the influence brought by Tian Ze, the princes of the world began to speed up their development. The situation in the Central Plains was like a domino effect, with one move affecting the whole body and becoming extremely chaotic. (End of this chapter)
