Chapter 224 Post-War Matters Everything was just as Li Ru had imagined. After withdrawing from Yanzhou, Cao Cao dared not to start a war again, but quietly strengthened his military forces on the borders of Yuzhou and Xuzhou. More than 60,000 soldiers were killed in the battle, including many cavalry. For Cao Cao, it was almost like losing an arm. How could he dare to care about Bingzhou again? Moreover, after Liu Bei learned that Cao Cao's troops had entered Bingzhou, he had already begun to gather troops on the border. His purpose is self-evident. When Cao Cao and Tian Ze were in a tense confrontation, Liu Bei did not take action for the sake of the overall situation. But after Cao Cao entered Bingzhou, no matter what happened in Yanzhou, Cao Cao could not take care of it, and Liu Bei's attack would not affect the battle between Cao Cao and Tian Ze. Fortunately, the news came slowly, and Yuan Shao and Cao Cao chose to fight quickly despite many considerations. Liu Bei did not mobilize his troops until Cao Cao withdrew to Yanzhou, thus missing the best opportunity. After retreating to Jizhou, Yuan Shao also began to shrink his defense line. In this battle, his losses were much greater than Cao Cao's. Not only did they lose more than 100,000 soldiers, but the two generals Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang who were left behind were killed by Zhao Yun, and a large amount of territory was also lost. In order to kill Tian Ze as much as possible, Yuan Shao almost exhausted all the troops originally occupying the northwest of Jizhou. In addition, Gao Lan's troops in the north of Jizhou were also pushed forward by Guan Yu and had to retreat to defend.
Zhongshan County, Boling County, and Hejian County were all lost, and nearly half of Bohai County was also lost. The entire Jizhou was almost divided into two halves, north and south, with Tianze occupying nearly half. Overall, compared to before the war, Yuan Shao lost almost three counties. Fortunately, most of the local population was relocated to Qingzhou before the war, so the losses were not great, otherwise Yuan Shao would have been completely wiped out. In this battle, Yuan Shao placed too much at stake and lost too badly. But if it happened again, maybe he would still make the same choice, because he has no choice. After Yuan Shao strengthened the border defense line, Guan Yu, who had been advancing, stopped advancing. Pushing the front line forward was also a burden for him. Not only did he have to share the troops to defend the rear, but the pressure on logistics was also increasing. This kind of war to swallow up an entire state often needs to be planned slowly. Otherwise, the huge risks brought about by the elongated front line, unstable rear and insufficient logistics are likely to lead to a direct capsize. Of course, except for the situation like Bingzhou, the gap in strength between the two sides is too big. Even if Tian Ze transferred tens of thousands of troops to defend, it would still be enough to suppress it. The key to the battle of Bingzhou was that Yuan Shao could not afford to delay and had to fight quickly. Otherwise, if he was facing Lu Bu's 200,000-man army, Tian Ze would not be able to defeat him, and he might fall into a long-term stalemate like the peak battle between Cao and Liu - the Battle of Hanzhong. Li Ru submitted a letter asking for help to Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and undoubtedly received a response of strong support from the two, but no troops came to support him. Afterwards, he and Lu Bu surrendered with peace of mind. They tried their best, and even Yuan Shao and Cao Cao could not find any fault with them. Tian Ze's treatment of Lu Bu's side was quite shocking. All civil and military power, military authority, and money and food were not taken away. Instead, Lu Bu's forces were transferred as a whole to the border areas of Wuyuan County and Yunzhong County in the north of Bingzhou, and stationed north of Yinshan Mountain to defend against the Xianbei. All the people from all over Bingzhou who were willing to follow Lu Bu were allowed to go, and they were also given corresponding material support. Lu Bu's extraordinary reputation led to more than 300,000 people willing to follow him, which surprised Tian Ze and moved Lu Bu deeply. His work in Bingzhou over the past two years was not in vain, as most Bingzhou people still remember his good deeds.
Of course, Tian Ze also did a lot of work in this process, because the border needs people to take root. Now with the decrease in the number of refugees, it is indeed difficult to recruit people to live in the border areas, so we can only let Lu Bu raise this banner. Tian Ze granted Lu Bu greater autonomy, organized a large number of laborers, provided a large amount of supplies, and began to build water conservancy projects and cities for the local area, showing his intention to run the business seriously. Of course, in the Yinshan area, Tian Ze carried out large-scale construction, constantly strengthening and building passes, and arranging heavy garrisons. In this way, there will be two impregnable lines of defense in the north of Bingzhou, so they can develop with peace of mind. Even if the Xianbei in the north break through Lu Bu's defense zone, they can rely on Yinshan to resist. Moreover, even if Lu Bu rebelled, he would never be able to cross the Yin Mountains. Of course, it is basically impossible for Lu Bu to rebel. They finally surrendered. Out of "good intentions", Tian Ze injected some spiritual energy into Lu Bu, Li Ru and others, and helped Li Ru regulate his body. Of course, doing so also has a "small" function that is not considered a side effect, which is to control the life and death of these people. When Tian Ze mentioned this matter to Li Ru in secret, Li Ru's face turned dark. But that's all we can do. Although he was reluctant to believe Tian Ze, he had to believe it. Moreover, Tian Ze did solve his talent backlash problem and increased his lifespan a lot, so he could just consider it as a way of repaying his kindness. What followed was a vigorous migration, construction and transformation in Bingzhou. Newly recruited refugees continued to fill the empty Bingzhou. After all, the Taihang Mountains, the natural barrier in the east of Bingzhou, is still in the hands of Tian Ze, and there is the Yellow River in the west and south. Gongsun Zan of Liangzhou has a good relationship with Tian Ze, and Li Jue and Guo Si of Sili have no intention of going north. Most areas of Bingzhou can be completely assigned to the rear area for management. The same can be said for parts of Jizhou. Yuan Shao is in decline and unable to counterattack, so Jizhou is probably in Tian Ze's pocket and he can start to manage it. The war in Hebei seemed to have come to an end. Tian Ze began to quietly digest the fruits of his victory, while Yuan Shao and Cao Cao also silently licked their wounds. But the aftermath of this battle is far from over. After learning about the circumstances before and after this battle, all the princes in the world were stunned. The time before and after this battle was not long, only about half a year in total, but the amount of information contained in it was enormous. Whether it was Cao Cao's decisiveness, Yuan Shao's courage or Tian Ze's strength, they all shocked the princes of the world. While we were still fighting small battles, others had already started a large-scale war with hundreds of thousands of troops. This battle basically established the pattern in the north. They could foresee that the Central Plains would become the main battlefield for the struggle among heroes. In the future, a large-scale war will surely break out again between Tian and Yuan in Jizhou. Liu Bei was full of confidence and ready to go, Yuan Shu was furious and pointed his sword in all directions, Tao Qian was anxious to determine his successor, and Liu Biao continued to live his life calmly behind closed doors...
The reactions of the various princes varied. Similarly, this war also brought considerable shock to the civil and military officials under Tian Ze. After reviewing the entire battle, Cheng Yu immediately requested to expand the army to one million, but Chen Gong rejected it without hesitation and only allowed to expand the army by another 100,000. Cheng Yu, who was furious, immediately called all the generals in the army and prepared to ask Chen Gong for an explanation. Chen Gong also unceremoniously dragged Zhang Zhao and other civil officials in charge of internal affairs to refute the other party. After learning about this situation, Tian Ze realized that the matter must be discussed in detail and the tone must be set, otherwise everyone would be dissatisfied. We simply called both parties together to prepare for a debate, lay the matter out and make it clear, and by the way, decide on future financial plans. (End of this chapter)