Chapter 210 Xu Huang's Hesitation The terrain of Bingzhou is very special. Although the area is vast, in fact most of it is grassland, and the essence is only the area centered on Yanmen, Taiyuan and Shangdang. These three counties are sandwiched between the narrow, steep Taihang Mountains and Luliang Mountains, and there are a large number of mountains crisscrossing, forming four major basins from north to south: Datong, Xinding, Taiyuan, and Shangdang. Rivers such as the Fen River pass through this area, making it a farming area suitable for cultivation. Because the land here is fertile and there are natural barriers, more than 70% of the people in Bingzhou gather here. "At present, Tian Ze and his men have occupied the Datong Basin to the north of the Xinding Basin. However, the Datong Basin is close to Youzhou, and there is a large gap in the northeast, making it difficult to garrison. This place is not suitable for encircling Tian Ze, and it is very easy to make mistakes." "The Taiyuan Basin to the south of the Xinding Basin is not only our most important base, but also connected to Jingxing in the east. Once Tianze enters this area, even if he is defeated, he can retreat back to the Taihang Mountains." "So, the Xinding Basin is our best choice." Li Ru said in a deep voice. "The Xinding Basin is not only sandwiched between the Taihang Mountains and the Luliang Mountains in the east and west, but is also blocked by the Hengshan Mountains in the north and the Yunzhong Mountains and Xizhou Mountains in the south. There are four exits in total." "Among them, Shiling Pass, the southern exit leading to the Taiyuan Basin, is the most important. It is located at the gap between Yunzhong Mountain and Xizhou Mountain. We have arranged 5,000 infantrymen to garrison there, and with a large army behind us, there will be no problem."
"Pingxingguan in the northeast, Yanmenguan in the north, and Ningwuguan in the west are all in our hands, but we are a little short of manpower." "We can open Yanmen Pass, let Tian Ze in, and pretend to defend Shiling Pass to the death." "Ningwu Pass is extremely narrow and not suitable for a large army to pass through. Three thousand defenders are enough to block it." "Pingxingguan is the only way for the northwest of Jizhou to bypass Lingqiu Road and enter Bingzhou. We must defend it. But we only need to hold out until Yuan Shao's army arrives." "Moreover, the eastern part of Pingxing Pass is close to the defense zone of Xu Rong and Xu Huang. Tian Ze will definitely not put too much energy here when he goes south from Yanmen Pass. It should be no problem to station 3,000 garrisons here." "At the same time, we should take advantage of this opportunity to transport as much food and grass as possible to Pingxingguan. Yuan Shao's army will take the Lingqiu Road, and we don't know how they will solve the food and grass problem along the way. But they will not be able to carry much food and grass, and at that time, they can only rely on the food and grass near Pingxingguan for replenishment." "But the transportation of food and grass still needs to be concealed, and we have to transport some to Yanmen Pass. But fortunately, we have plenty of food and grass now." Li Ru had great confidence in Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. If they dare to adopt such a radical and risky strategy, they will certainly launch a surprise attack at all costs and arrange cavalry to seize Yanmen Pass as quickly as possible. Perhaps they can arrive there in less than ten days. "The key to this battle lies in timing." Li Ru said in a deep voice. "Tian Ze has always been calm and steady, and he has the ability to explore the terrain and understand the enemy's situation. Once he finds that Yuan Shao's army is coming from the northeast, he will definitely be on high alert and immediately defend Yanmen Pass to stabilize the retreat." "Therefore, when Yuan Shao marches into Bingzhou, we must attract Tian Ze's main force to Shiling Pass to buy time for Yuan Shao to block Yanmen Pass." "We don't seek to capture it, as long as we can occupy Guangwu County and hold it firmly, so that Tianze's main force cannot retreat to Yanmen Pass." "But at the same time, we can't spend too much time here, lest the other two passes are in danger of being breached. It also prevents Tian Ze's follow-up baggage troops from reaching Yanmen Pass and strengthening the defense of Guangwu County nearby." Speaking of this, Li Ru couldn't help but feel a headache. Why is Tian Ze difficult to deal with? It seems that his military force is extremely large, and he also has countless militiamen and baggage troops. A large number of baggage troops are not the baggage troops of an ordinary army. They are formed separately and are not included in the ranks of combat soldiers. They are the so-called young and strong ones. However, these young and strong men are well-trained, and they are equipped with armor and weapons. Although their equipment is not as brave as the regular soldiers under Tian Ze, they are no less capable than their fellow soldiers. In a head-on confrontation, it looks like there are only a few hundred thousand troops, but when they really fight, who knows how many soldiers there are on the other side.
Hearing Li Ru's words, Lu Bu nodded repeatedly, full of admiration. After all, he is a military advisor! If it were him, he would never be able to think of these things even if he racked his brains. As an intuitive and tactical player, Lu Bu was very good at fighting, and his ability to respond to situations and seize opportunities was among the best in the world, but he was far behind in strategy. He could only be described as a general, not a commander. "Military Advisor, what should we do?" Lu Bu asked. "Wait!" Li Ru uttered a word lightly. "Wait for Yuan Shao to give us news." "Yuan Shao gave us news? The Taihang Mountains are blocked and we are so far away, how could he pass on the news?" Lu Bu asked puzzled. "If he really wants to do this, he will find a way to inform us in time." Li Ru said. If Yuan Shao wants to implement this strategy smoothly, he still needs his help. Without his talent to cover it up, Tian Zefang would probably notice something wrong if there was any movement on either side. …… In the northwest of Jizhou, although Xu Huang was relatively calm at this time, he was still a little worried. Although he knew that the Tumen Pass garrison commander was very capable, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao did have too many troops. However, he had no other choice but to defend Shangquyang and nail it to the northwest corner of Jizhou. Although he was well versed in military tactics and was not clear about Yuan Shao's strategy, he was aware of the possibility of a large number of enemy troops moving near Jingxing, which made him instinctively sense the crisis and choose to defend Shangquyang County. He now has only a little over 20,000 troops under his command. Not to mention resolving the crisis in Jingxing, he can't even capture the nearby Nanxing Tang County. Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang still have nearly 30,000 troops under their command. "General, there are too few troops in Jingxing and the northern part of Taihang Mountain. How about I send 5,000 soldiers to go north to provide assistance?" Tian Ning asked. With the army approaching, he was very anxious. He was not clear about the situation at Tumen Pass, but the only 3,000 soldiers left in the northern part of Taihang Mountains were definitely not enough! If the enemy attacks, it would be difficult to defend. "Don't panic." Xu Huang said calmly. He was of course aware of Tian Ning's worries, but in his opinion these were completely unnecessary worries. He knew very well how steep the terrain in the northern part of the Taihang Mountains was. It was possible for a few thousand elite troops to find a small path to enter, but an army of tens of thousands could not get in at all in a short period of time, and it was even more unrealistic to want to cross this area. Three thousand defenders are enough here. It doesn't matter if some areas are lost, as long as we don't let a large number of Yuan troops enter Bingzhou. "The situation in Jizhou is too chaotic right now. We must stabilize it first. It won't be too late to take action until the scouts get accurate information." How could Xu Huang not know the urgency of the situation at this time? However, the more urgent the situation was, the more he had to stay calm, otherwise he would easily fall into the enemy's trap. In these battles, he was repeatedly plotted against by the enemy, and his vigilance was raised to the highest level. Soon, the scouts sent by Xu Huang brought news that the defenders of Nanxing Tang were marching westward on a large scale, and most of the defenders in the county were gone. Upon hearing this, the generals under Xu Huang became even more anxious.
But Xu Huang frowned and asked, "What is the enemy's movement in the direction of Jingxing?" "The enemy seems to be mobilizing a large number of troops to attack Jingxing, probably tens of thousands of them." After hearing this, Xu Huang could no longer sit still. "All generals, listen up! Gather the best troops and march south to Xing Tang!" (End of this chapter)