Chapter 82 Developing a Strategy The Yellow Turban Rebellion brought Tian Ze unimaginably rich harvests. Not only did he successfully recruit Zhang Zhao, Man Chong, Zhang Ji, Zhang Niu and others, but he also got three of his long-cherished generals: Zhao Yun, Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai. Zhao Yun, needless to say, is a nearly perfect general, both in the official history and in the novels. Not only is his personal martial arts extraordinary, but his ability to lead troops in battle is also outstanding. When attacking the Yellow Turbans in Jizhou, Tian Ze paid the most attention to the Changshan area. Fortunately, he happened to meet Zhao Yun leading the local militia to protect the villagers. So Tian Ze did not hesitate to help Zhao Yun defeat the Yellow Turban bandits who came to plunder, and by the way, he captured the entire village and moved everyone away. Changshan's environment is already harsh, but as long as the treatment is adequate, leaving one's hometown is not an unsolvable problem. In order to poach Zhao Yun, Tian Ze went to great lengths. Not only did he promise generous treatment to the villagers, he also showed great sincerity and respect. So much so that after arriving in Liaodong, Tian Ze was still working on Zhao Yun's ideology, fearing that this famous general known for his loyalty and bravery would be as loyal to the Han Dynasty as Guan Yu. However, the result made Tian Ze overjoyed, as Zhao Yun turned out to be the same kind of person as him.
What Zhao Yun was loyal to was not the Han Dynasty, but the benevolent government! Therefore, he soon wholeheartedly returned to Tian Ze. This made Tian Ze sigh with emotion once again. He never expected that his practice of the kingly way would bring him so many unexpected gains. As for Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai, they were generals good at naval warfare that Tian Ze urgently needed. Although they were born in Jiujiang, they were geographically close to Xuzhou, so Tian Ze specially arranged a group of people to meet them. They had not been recruited before because they were still young. Now that the governor had taken the initiative to extend an olive branch, the two men of humble origins chose to join Tian Ze's camp without hesitation. Now the lineup of civil and military officials under Tian Ze's command is so strong that even he himself can't help but feel a little inflated. However, Tian Ze knew in his heart that this was basically close to the limit of the lineup he could form. Most of the talents that could be recruited have already been taken under his command. The rest basically already have jobs or are determined not to come. Only some who are still young may be recruited in the future. But at that time, the princes were fighting for hegemony, and most of the knowledgeable people from all over the country would go to the wise leader nearby who could give them the opportunity to display their talents. Moreover, the princes from all over the country were eager to recruit talents and tried their best to retain them. They would not allow the talents under their rule to easily flow to other places. Most of the world's heroes come from the Central Plains. Tianze's location is too remote and transportation is inconvenient. Compared with the prosperous areas in the Central Plains, it may not be very attractive to these talents. But it was already very good. He had a total of 11 civil officials under his command, 6 of whom were originally under Cao Cao, and 1 each under Liu Bei, Sun Quan, Yuan Shao, and Lu Bu. There were more than twenty military generals, a considerable number of whom were formerly under Cao Cao's command. Tian Ze was almost going to dig all the way down on Boss Cao's wall. But there was no way around it. After all, most of the people that Tian Ze could recruit were of common origin, children from poor families, or young generals and scholars who were not very famous or prestigious. Only Cao Cao, who issued the "Order to Seek Talents" and recruited talents widely, could have a large number of such buried talents. Moreover, after unifying the Central Plains, Cao Cao successfully unified the north. His power was unprecedentedly huge, and the foundation of his civil and military officials was indeed extremely profound. But I guess Boss Cao wouldn't mind too much, after all, the civil official Xun Yu was not poached by Tian Ze after all. Xun Yu's position in Tian Ze's heart is no less than Zhuge Liang's. After all, he not only has full internal energy and profound wisdom, but also has a wide range of friends and rich network resources. As the leader of Yingchuan, Xun Yu had the support of almost all the sons of the Yingchuan noble families. Getting Xun Yu was equivalent to getting a group of top civil officials.
As for military generals, Cao Cao was suspicious of these generals from other families and did not trust them. The military power was almost firmly in the hands of the Cao and Xiahou clans. The fact that the Five Elite Generals were poached by Tian Ze should not have had much impact on Cao Cao. I have helped Boss Cao solve a lot of difficult decision-making problems. I believe Boss Cao's headache will get better in the future. Even if he knows these things, he will be grateful to me. Tian Ze silently gave himself a thumbs up in his heart. "Since there is no problem with management, let's discuss the dispatch of troops next." "The territory of Goguryeo is mostly composed of rolling mountains, which make it difficult for cavalry to maneuver and inconvenient for them to participate. It is more suitable for infantry combat. Moreover, the inner city of its capital is built on the mountain and there are many fortresses around it. It would be difficult to attack by force." Cheng Yu said. "The rest of the small towns and villages are not a big problem. We can use this opportunity to train our infantry's combat and offensive capabilities." "But I'm afraid that Goguryeo will adopt guerrilla tactics. After all, they grew up in the mountains and forests since childhood and are too familiar with mountain warfare and the complex local terrain. Although it will not affect the overall situation, it will delay our plans." Xun You frowned slightly, analyzing the situation. "The most difficult thing is not winning, but how to concentrate the Goguryeo army and prevent them from harassing us everywhere and distracting us." "Can we use the domestic city as bait and implement the strategy of besieging the point and attacking the reinforcements?" Tian Feng put forward his idea with a sharp look in his eyes. "This is the best option at the moment, but the prerequisite is that logistics can be fully guaranteed." Dong Zhao said cautiously. Then everyone's eyes turned to Chen Gong. Chen Gong looked intently at the terrain and mountains around Goguryeo on the sand table, carefully calculated it in his mind, and finally nodded and said, "Okay." He picked up a pointer and pointed to several large rivers in Goguryeo and said, "We can use the navy to transport food and grass upstream along the Hunjiang River, the Peishui River and many other rivers." "And Goguryeo's capital, Neigucheng, is located next to a tributary of the Hunjiang River. We only need to send a few elite naval forces to escort it to ensure the safety of the food route. It is not difficult to besiege it." "At the same time, send appropriate troops to station around the rivers, thoroughly eliminate the surrounding Goguryeo forces, and move their people inland as slaves. Choose the dangerous terrain along the river to build strong villages and forts, and move the refugees to live and farm there." "In this way, it will be easy to take down Goguryeo by gradually eroding it, but it will probably take a lot of time, at least half a year." Tian Ze nodded and said firmly, "It doesn't matter if it takes longer. Even if it takes one or two years, we can still sustain it." There are still five years before Dong Zhuo's Rebellion. Due to the limitation on the speed of attracting refugees, there are not many places that Tian Ze can capture and rule, so there is no need to rush. "If we prepare to send out troops in a big way and make an act of sending a large army to attack the inner city, Goguryeo will definitely gather most of its elite troops here to defend." Xun You said calmly. "Guo Nei City is surrounded by mountains on three sides and a river on one side. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack, but the soldiers inside are also difficult to escape. With Goguryeo's current food reserves, it will definitely not last for half a year." "For the Goguryeo troops scattered in all directions, we can send a large number of well-trained and well-equipped small groups of elite infantry to conduct a dragnet search and defeat them one by one." "If everything goes well, in less than three months, by the autumn we will be able to completely bring Goguryeo under our rule." In Xun You's eyes, dealing with Goguryeo was too easy, and was not much easier than fighting the mob of Yellow Turban bandits. The enemy was completely vulnerable in the field battle, but when defending the city, our side had sufficient food and ample time, and also had an absolute advantage in military strength. Xun You really couldn't think of any reason for failure. Even if there was heavy snow and plague was rampant, Tianze had enough cotton clothes and doctors. Even if the Hunhe River is frozen, Tian Ze has already developed a practical sled, which can still be used to transport supplies on a large scale, but the cost will be slightly higher. "We should be cautious in this military expedition. We should be careful to guard against the Xianbei, Buyeo and Sushen sending troops to support us. After all, if one person is gone, the other will be in trouble. So it is better to have more troops rather than less." Cheng Yu reminded. In fact, there are the Three Han to the southwest of Goguryeo, but the Three Han have always been bullied by Goguryeo, are close to the Han Dynasty, and are extremely weak, so there is no need to worry too much. Moreover, Cheng Yu felt that if the Three Han dared to take action, he could just suggest Tian Ze to send troops to attack them, which would be a legitimate reason for the attack.
"We currently have more than 120,000 soldiers in Liaodong. The 60,000 soldiers left in Liaodong are enough. The rest can go north to attack Goguryeo. This is just the right time for the soldiers to gain experience and practice." Tian Ze heard this and seemed to be thinking about something. "it is good!" (End of this chapter)