Chapter 127: The Allied Forces with Ulterior Motives
Several months had passed since Yuan Shao sent the letter of surrender, and the alliance meeting finally officially kicked off.
It has to be said that the aristocratic family is really capable of gathering the food, fodder and weapons needed for a million-strong army within a few months.
Moreover, all the people in the thirteen states of the Han Dynasty were mobilized. Even Liu Biao, a relative of the Han royal family who wanted to sit on the sidelines and watch, had to send some people to participate in the alliance.
The reason was simple. Liu Yan, the governor of Yizhou, died in Yizhou due to an assassination. Although his son Liu Zhang continued to lead Yizhou as the governor, everyone understood the determination of the aristocratic families to attack.
Liu Zhang wanted to avenge his father, but he couldn't find the enemy at all.
He raised the butcher knife above his head, but found enemies everywhere.
Every aristocratic family under his command is suspected , and every civil and military official under his command may be a member of an aristocratic family.
There is nothing that can be done about this, as loyalty and filial piety were the most important things in the Han Dynasty.
Among them, there is no need to say much about filial piety, which is the foundation of the Han Dynasty.
As for loyalty, it actually depends on the situation.
The first one is naturally the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. As the supreme leader of the empire, he naturally has the loyalty of everyone.
However, in most cases, the Han emperor was just a cultural symbol, and very few people had the opportunity to see him.
Therefore, in addition to being loyal to the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, most people also have another actual object of loyalty that they can come into contact with on a daily basis, and that is their lord.
Similarly, the third situation is the officialdom of the Han Dynasty.
As long as you have done something under the recommendation of someone, even if he is not your lord, according to the values of the Han Dynasty, the relationship between you two is quite close.
This is an era where a teacher once a teacher is a father for life.
This is exactly what is meant by disciples and former officials.
You know, the aristocratic families used to control the promotion channel, and officials were nominated by them every year.
Most of the officials were disciples of Luoyang's several thousand-year-old families, and almost the entire Central Plains was under the influence of the Luoyang families.
Unable to swallow the humiliation of being driven out of Luoyang, these noble families mobilized everything they could.
Liu Yan wanted to stand by and watch, but it was not that easy. As soon as he went out, he was stabbed by the assassins and eventually died from the poison in the wound.
Liu Zhang could only bury the hatred of his father's murder deep in his heart, and then sent his civil and military officials to participate in the Suanzao League.
Under the mobilization of the crazy Luoyang noble families, the princes of the Suanzao League are more than just the eighteen routes.
Let’s talk about the princes who came and their names.
The first route, with three officials in four generations, many of whom were former officials. The eldest son of the Yuan family, Yuan Shu, the prefect of Nanyang, was named Gonglu.
The second group, with three dukes in four generations, many of whom were former officials, was a concubine’s son of the Yuan family. Yuan Shao, the governor of Bohai, was named Benchu.
The third route, with a voice like a huge bell, handsome and heroic, the White Horse General, the Governor of Youzhou Gongsun Zan, whose courtesy name was Bogui.
The fourth route is the hero of the ages, with unparalleled courage, the fierce tiger of Jiangdong, and the governor of Changsha, Sun Jian, whose courtesy name is Wentai.
The fifth group is the royal family of the Han Dynasty, who is unparalleled in benevolence and righteousness, virtuous and kind, and the governor of Xuzhou, Liu Bei, whose courtesy name is Xuande.
The sixth route is Cao Cao, the prefect of Chenliu, whose courtesy name is Mengde. He is a hero in troubled times, a capable minister in peaceful times, and resourceful.
The seventh route is to be able to adapt to changes, remain calm in the face of adversity, and be a brave bandit on the border. The governor of Bingzhou, Ding Yuan, whose courtesy name is Jianyang.
The eighth route is the Alien Alliance, with brave generals like clouds and strategists like rain, and the Jizhou player coalition.
Each of these eight princes has an army of over 50,000 men, which can be said to be a powerful force.
Apart from the most powerful eight-way troop forces, the rest were scattered small troops, each with as many as 30,000 to 50,000 soldiers and as few as 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers.
Han Fu, the governor of Jizhou, Kong Rong, the governor of Yuzhou, Liu Dai, the governor of Yanzhou, Wang Kuang, the prefect of Henei County, Qiao Mao, the prefect of Dongjun County, Yuan Yi, the prefect of Shanyang County, Bao Xin, the prime minister of Jibei County, Zhang Chao, the prefect of Guangling County, Zhang Yang, the prefect of Shangdang County, and Huang Zu of Jiangxia County are all on the list.
As for Yan Yan and Zhang Ren sent by Liu Zhang of Yizhou, Gan Ning, Wei Yan, Xing Daorong sent by Jingzhou, and Yan Rou sent by Liu Yu of Youzhou, they can also be regarded as small forces.
Next are the players, including Guo Ye from Liaodong, Bai Wushang from Sili, Wei Kuo who went to Bingzhou, Zhang Su from Youzhou, Zhang Hao from Qingzhou, Gu Shici from Xuzhou, and Jiang Lie from Jiaozhou.
As for the last group, it was Ma Teng in Liang Province. Although he could not come over, he highly responded to Yuan Shao's call and assured Yuan Shao that he would stab Guo Hao from Liang Province.
A total of twenty-eight princes launched the campaign against Guo Hao with great momentum.
Sour jujube!
At this time, flags covered the sky, and the tents were densely packed with soldiers. There were hundreds of thousands of troops stationed here.
The flags of various princes fluttered in the strong wind. At this time, in the central army tent, princes from all over the country were sitting there.
There was warmth in the spacious tent, and the princes inside were all excited.
Yuan Shao sat in the first seat with a heroic look on his face, and heroes from all over the world sat on both sides, chatting happily for a while.
"Today, the twenty-eight princes have gathered together. It is a blessing for the world. However, it is not feasible to have no leader. We should elect a leader, so that we can work together to punish the traitors!"
As someone started to make a fuss, the big tent suddenly became lively. The civil and military officials under the princes began to flatter their own lords, and the princes accepted the flattery calmly.
Cao Cao, who did it, had a helpless look on his face. He looked at the quarreling people and sighed in his heart, thinking, since they are all useless, don't blame me.
Yuan Shao, who was at the head, had a dark face and his pupils were filled with anger. He knew the person who started it, a student of the Yuan family, but it was Yuan Shu who started flattering him, not taking him, the initiator, seriously at all.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”
Yuan Shao was filled with hatred in his heart. Legitimate son, legitimate son, legitimate son. All the old men in the Yuan family are pigs. Why did they give up on him?
"I recommend General Yuan Shao, who has three generations of high officials!"
"I recommend General Yuan Shu, the son of a third-generation duke!"
"What's wrong with my master? Is he not qualified to be the leader of the alliance?"
For a while, there was a chaos in the central army tent, and some people even took pleasure in exposing each other's scars on purpose.
The people nominated by each other became more and more outrageous, and even Liu Bei was said to be the only candidate for the leader of the alliance.
The bickering lasted for a whole day. A group of players watched a group of princes bickering with boredom. They really couldn't play this, but they couldn't run away. If they ran away, they might be tricked into nothing by these ruthless princes.
The players and lords sat solemnly, but in fact they were already daydreaming. They opened a thread on the forum and started chatting awkwardly with the players in the big tent.
After all, except for ancient poetry and Jiang Lie, everyone else is an old acquaintance, so it would be great for everyone to chat in advance.
But after all, a snake cannot survive without a head. In the end, with the support of Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Jian, the heroic Yuan Shao successfully took the position of leader.
After all, from a certain perspective, Yuan Shao was also a prince persecuted by the aristocratic families. They had a lot in common, and they had worked together before, so he was more familiar with Yuan Shu than with him.
As for Yuan Shu, he could only take the position of deputy leader to supervise the logistics of food and fodder.
"They don't really think I will lose, do they?" Guo Hao was speechless as he held the intelligence.
What's going on with these guys outside? Not a single player has stepped forward to be an undercover agent.
Chen Xi's face was full of teasing: "It seems that they think you are Mr. Dong, and they are still sitting here to finish your dream of getting an official position and territory!"
"Really? They really don't understand the situation clearly!" Guo Hao shook his head and put down the information.
"I am in control of the pass, and I have the strongest army, the strongest generals, and the strongest civil officials under my command. How can they fight me?"
"The strongest civil official? Are you talking about me?" Chen Xi was stunned, a little surprised.
"Of course it's you. I'm afraid there is no one in this world who can compete with you." A smile appeared on Guo Hao's face. Chen Xi, who had just started his career, was too unconfident. No wonder Jia Xu asked him to flatter Chen Xi more often.
"Zhuge Liang, Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Xi Zhicai, Ju Shou..." Chen Xi recited the names of the civil officials one by one.
"If this were a normal world, I would have the confidence to defeat them, but we all have the same knowledge, so I really have no confidence." Chen Xi sighed, feeling extremely desperate about this chaotic world.
It was obvious that he was just an average person, and now standing on the same starting line as the monsters in history, he had no hope for himself at all.
"Zhuge Liang!" Chen Xi's words directly defeated Guo Hao.
Before, he asked Wang Yue to go to Xuzhou to deliver a letter, and on the other hand, he hoped to get Zhuge Liang under his command as soon as possible. However, when Wang Yue went there, he found that Zhuge Liang was only four or five years old.
Guo Hao simply couldn't understand why Zhuge Liang had to grow up step by step, as guys like Sun Ce, Ma Chao, and Zhou Yu had already developed early.
Although the Zhuge family has moved into Luoyang, expecting Zhuge Liang to contribute will probably be a long wait.
"Oh, forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore!" Guo Hao touched his chin and decisively let go of his resentment.
"Zichuan, I noticed that you are getting more and more tired. Is the aftereffect of Zhenguo so serious?"
Seeing that Chen Xi couldn't even open his eyes, Guo Hao asked with concern.
"I feel sleepy in spring, tired in autumn, drowsy in summer, and unable to wake up in winter. I wish I could sleep until next year. Please give me your talent quickly. I can't stand it anymore." Chen Xi said weakly. His mental strength was drained as soon as he entered Luoyang, and all of it went to the sky in Luoyang to sort out the weather.
This caused him to feel drowsy every day. Although sometimes it was because he wanted to be lazy, most of the time it was due to lack of mental strength.
"After the unification, you will probably have to sleep for a long time again." Guo Hao thought helplessly, why his plug-in always malfunctioned.
He didn’t know how long it had been since the achievement system was triggered. It was as if it didn’t exist at all.
Another external plug-in of mine, Chen Xi, was drowsy every day and spent most of his waking time slacking off.
The two cheats are more unreliable than each other. If it weren't for the fact that his tricks snowballed so quickly, he might have been trying to take advantage of the situation in the coalition.
…
The princes outside the Great Wall certainly didn't know what Guo Hao was thinking. Under the leadership of Yuan Benchu, they were discussing how to deal with Guo Hao. In their eyes, this crusade was bound to be a success.
The players proposed to split the troops into five groups. One group would take a small path to the rear of Hulao Pass to cause sabotage, one group would attract the attention of Hulao Pass, and then another group would take a detour to attack the rear of Luoyang, one group would cut off the traffic between Hangu Pass and Luoyang to prevent Guo Hao from sending troops to support Hulao Pass, and the last group would go to Rongyang to cut off Guo Hao's retreat.
This was Cao Cao's original proposal to deal with Dong Zhuo. It could maximize the advantages of the coalition forces with more soldiers and generals, and could completely make Guo Hao run around in a hurry.
Unfortunately, this proposal was still rejected, and it was Cao Cao who vetoed it.
Guo Hao is not Dong Zhuo, who has so many elite troops at his disposal. By doing this, they are maximizing their advantages and disadvantages.
Even if you divide your troops into five groups, you have to be able to defeat the enemy first. With so many weaklings under their command, if you don't rely on numbers, they might be defeated in one wave.
Yuan Shao planned to use his strength to overwhelm the enemy and directly attack Hulao Pass without any strategy, relying only on numbers.
This was also the human wave tactic he learned from the Yellow Turbans. If Guo Hao had not burned all the food, it would be hard to say whether they could defeat the Yellow Turbans.
After a little thought, everyone who had experienced the Yellow Turban Rebellion agreed to Yuan Shao's proposal.
The time they were besieged in the camp was the darkest time in their lives.
Now that they can use this tactic against others, they are only too willing to do so.
Speaking of this, the princes were a little worried about Yuan Shu. They hoped that Yuan Shu would burn his grain again, as that would be hilarious.
After thinking about it, the group of people quickly transferred their troops to the area around the grain to protect the grain.
They don't want to follow the old path of the Yellow Turbans. Moreover, it was Guo Hao who was responsible for the destruction of the Yellow Turbans in the first place, and they don't want to make the same mistake again.
The army marched towards Hulao Pass in a mighty manner. Yuan Shao's move was indeed a good strategy. After all, the initiative was in the hands of the coalition forces, and Yuan Shao could use any method he wanted.
Since Yuan Shao wanted a decisive battle at Hulao Pass, Guo Hao had no choice but to fight Yuan Shao at Hulao Pass. After all, Guo Hao's goal was not simply to defeat the coalition forces.
Moreover, this strategy is very beneficial to Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao's advisers have already analyzed it and the outcome of this battle is fifty- .
Planning for defeat before the battle begins is a basic quality of a strategist, and this group of people had already calculated the future path.
Yuan Shao deliberately indulged the selfishness of the princes. Anyway, the more people died, the weaker the opponents he would face in the future. This was very beneficial to Yuan Shao.
What can he get by defeating Guo Hao? By then, the credit might all belong to Yuan Shu. What does it have to do with him?
If his advisers had not stopped him, Yuan Shao would have wanted to communicate with Guo Hao directly and sell these twenty-eight princes for a good price.
After all, Guo Hao is powerful, and it is necessary to join forces to weaken Guo Hao. Yuan Shao can only give up this terrible idea with regret.
The decisive battle at Hulao Pass was extremely advantageous for Yuan Shao.
Not only can it weaken the power of future enemies, but it can also greatly enhance his reputation.
If he won, he would be a role model for the world and a positive figure who purged the emperor's court; if he lost, it would be because the princes under his command were deceitful and unwilling to try their best to deal with Guo Hao, and he, Yuan Shao, would be a tragic hero.
Whether he wins or loses, he will become famous and attract countless civil and military officials to join him, which will only make him more powerful.
Sun Jian and Ding Yuan took the vanguard position and ran towards Hulao Pass. Although a decisive battle was a decisive battle, it was sensible to test the intelligence first.
Although the family's tentacles are long, it is unrealistic to expect them to send out intelligence during martial law.
Therefore, the coalition forces have to collect intelligence on the defenders themselves.
The princes set out towards Hulao Pass unhurriedly. The dispatch of a million-strong army was not a game that could be accomplished with just a click. They had a lot of things to do.
