Chapter 208 The real plan "Qian Zhao is a very cautious man in employing troops. Although he has missed many good opportunities, he is quite difficult to deal with when it comes to defending the pass." After learning about the situation at Tumen Pass, Shen Pei frowned. Although he was quite clever in employing troops, Shen Pei could see that Qian Zhao was indeed a novice, because some details were still a bit rough and too conservative. In the previous ambush of Han Dang at the entrance of the valley, the enemy was unaware of the fire attack and did not take any countermeasures, so they ambushed him when only a few hundred people had passed by. If they waited another half a quarter of an hour until most of the army entered the valley, Han Meng's 5,000 vanguard troops might have been buried in the sea of fire, and even Han Meng would have found it difficult to escape. There is also the hillside on the side of Tumen Pass. They clearly had such a great geographical advantage and also had the advantage in military strength, so they could have closed the distance and kept them all. To put it bluntly, he was still too naive. If he had experienced more battles and gained more experience, he would not be so cautious even if he played cautiously. Although the loss of soldiers and the possibility of falling into a trap were avoided, the opportunity to decide the outcome with one battle was missed. However, Qian Zhao's grasp of the timing and his thorough and agile thinking really impressed Shen Pei. It would be difficult to capture Tumen Pass with such a person stationed there, and the only way to capture it was to rely on the sheer force of the troops.
"Zhengnan, what should we do now?" Yuan Shao couldn't help but ask. Shen Pei looked towards Shangquyang and said in a deep voice, "My lord, we currently have two paths to choose from." "One is to lead the remaining troops and continue to attack Tumen Pass, betting that Lu Fengxian can tie down Tian Chengshou until we can break through Tumen Pass." "Second, go north to Shangquyang and join forces with Cao Mengde." Yuan Shao's many advisers had been planning a strategy for a long time, so it was naturally impossible to be that simple. They had also anticipated what to do if Tumen Pass was difficult to capture, after all, it was one of the "Nine Fortresses in the World". The most important thing is that Yuan Shao didn't dare to bet on how long Lu Bu could hold on. No one can say how long Lu Bu, who has only 50,000 troops and has to take care of the feint attack, can hold back the powerful and well-trained Tian Ze. Therefore, Shen Pei’s real strategy was to go north. After withdrawing from Huguan, Cao Cao did not follow Yuan Shao to Tumenguan, but led his troops to continue northward, directly approaching Shangquyang. The purpose is self-evident, of course, is Xu Huang. "If we can defeat Xu Huang's troops, there will be a gap in Jizhou's northwest border defense. We can pretend to attack Youzhou and force Xu Rong's troops to hold on." "In fact, he passed Changshan Pass and headed north, led his army westward, bypassed the Taihang Mountains, entered Bingzhou, and cut off Tianze's retreat. At the same time, he contacted the Xianbei to go south, gathered forces from all directions, and captured Tianze's main force in Bingzhou in one fell swoop." "It would be best if we could take this opportunity to kill Tian Ze. In this way, the lord's great cause can be accomplished!" "Even if we can't kill Tian Ze, we must trap him in Bingzhou and prevent him from returning to Youzhou." Shen Pei clenched his hands tightly, his eyes showing a fierce look. This is the ultimate strategy in his mind. What is Bingzhou? It is tasteless to eat and a pity to abandon. Even if they can hold on to it this time, Lü Bu and his men will suffer heavy losses. They can only enjoy peace for one or two years, and then they will have to resist Tian Ze's second attack. They still want to dominate the world, and they can't always be entangled here by Tian Ze. Shen Pei's target from the beginning was not Bingzhou, but Tianze. Yuan Shao's best option to break the impasse now, and almost the only possibility, is that something happens to Tian Ze.
In Youzhou, Shen Pei had no way to deal with Tian Ze. But when Tian Ze sent troops to Bingzhou, the opportunity came. By combining the strength of himself, Cao Cao, Lu Bu, and the Xianbei, it might be possible to destroy Tian Ze. Although Tian Ze has a descendant now, he is just a child. As long as he dies, Youzhou will be leaderless and will no longer pose a threat. For this, no matter what the price, it was worth it. Shen Pei was even ready to destroy Jizhou and urged Yuan Shao to move the capital to Linzi, Qingzhou. It has to be admitted that Shen Pei's plan was very bold. Although there were many difficulties and risks, it was not impossible to succeed. Moreover, it was hidden so deeply that even Jia Xu and Guo Jia did not notice it at this time. However, if Tian Ze knew about this, he would have to sigh in addition to admiration. It was a good idea, but the opponent was wrong! It was no wonder that Shen Pei was wrong. After all, who would have thought that a cultivator would sneak into the crowd of mortals? Even if the 150,000 troops led by Tian Ze were completely wiped out, Tian Ze could return to Youzhou unscathed. Although he could not kill too many people, Tian Ze's ability to protect himself would not be restricted, and there was no possibility of being killed in this world. Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao drew the sword at his waist without hesitation and split the table in front of him in half with one sword. "A real man born in troubled times should be courageous and resolute, dare to gamble with the world, and have no regrets even if he fails!" "Zhengnan, my sword is now in your hands. You are in charge of the battle. Anyone who is cowardly and does not move forward can be killed, no matter who it is! Including me!" At this moment, Yuan Shao, like Cao Cao who decided to fight the Battle of Guandu, had already been fully aware of the situation. If you don’t gamble, you won’t have a chance to win! Even if we lose, we have to lose gloriously! No regrets! Upon hearing this, Shen Pei looked at Yuan Shao with a burning gaze, then knelt on the ground, took the sword with both hands, and said solemnly: "Pei, I obey your command!" "Send troops! Head north!" …… In the direction of Bingzhou, Tian Ze arrived with a large army and marched southward, where they were soon harassed by Lu Bu's army. Tian Ze chose to divide his troops without hesitation. In addition to the main force led by Zhang Liao and Le Jin, Zhao Yun, Ma Teng and Pang De each led 20,000 cavalry and dispersed. Among them, Pang De led his troops westward and took over the border defenses of the three major Bingzhou border armies of Yunzhong, Wuyuan and Shuofang from Lu Bu's army. The two sides had a great understanding of each other. At this moment, they were not enemies, but comrades-in-arms who were also Han people. Tian Ze temporarily lost 20,000 cavalry, while Lu Bu recovered thousands of cavalry and thousands of infantry. It seemed like he had suffered a great loss, but Tian Ze didn't feel anything. Because it is necessary! The tacit understanding between him and Lu Bu was that whoever governed Bingzhou would have his own ability, but it must not be trampled by foreigners. If not, Tian Ze's trip would have lost most of its meaning. Even though there were some casualties in terms of military strength, it was more than enough to deal with Lu Bu. However, Tian Ze soon felt how difficult Lu Bu was to deal with, and the title of "Flying General" was not undeserved. When he was young, Lu Bu often fought against larger forces in Bingzhou. He was an expert in using cavalry. He was particularly good at fighting against larger forces with smaller forces and harassing with cavalry, causing Ma Teng and Zhao Yun to suffer a lot. Relying on the advantage of war horses, the cavalry led by Ma Teng and Zhao Yun were actually not much slower than Lu Bu's army blessed with the "Flying General" talent, but Lu Bu managed to cleverly play them off every time. Fortunately for Zhao Yun, he was good at cavalry guerrilla warfare and had superb martial arts. After suffering two losses, he quickly came up with a solution. Although it was still a bit forced, he was still able to fight against Lu Bu with his advantages in manpower and equipment.
He even accidentally revealed a flaw in a battle, exposing his own guards and giving Lu Bu the opportunity to behead them. The arrogant Lu Bu naturally could not miss this opportunity. He switched to the sharp arrow formation without hesitation and rushed in. As long as he killed Zhao Yun, he could take advantage of the situation to destroy this cavalry. As a result, after charging in, he was embarrassed to find that although Zhao Yun seemed to be slightly weaker than him, he could not win no matter what. The two fought quickly for dozens of rounds. Although Zhao Yun seemed to be at a disadvantage with more defense than attack, Lu Bu did not sense any chance of winning. He even had a vague feeling that Zhao Yun did this on purpose, wanting to take the opportunity to encircle and suppress the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry led by him. After instinctively realizing that this was a trap, Lu Bu immediately abandoned Zhao Yun and led his troops out of the siege, but he still lost a lot of cavalry and suffered a small loss. But Ma Teng was really helpless. The cavalry he led were good at attacking the camp, but they could not even get close to Lu Bu's army, and could only fight back with armor and bows and arrows. (End of this chapter)