Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 596: Wei's Response
In the eighth year of the Chu calendar, winter came and the weather became colder. The war in the north inevitably died down...
Especially for coastal operations, among the current large ports in Bohai Sea, only Liaodong Port is not frozen in the middle of winter. The others are unable to accommodate medium-sized and larger ships during the coldest month.
However, in the previous two and a half months, Lu Bu had already used the tactics of "sea 'cavalry' raid" to make the Wei State pay a sufficient price.
The coastal workshops, which accounted for nearly 40% of the output of the Wei workshops, were destroyed by the powerful ships and cannons of the Chu State...
It not only liberated a large number of slave laborers enslaved by the evil Wei State, but also struck a blow to the arrogance of the evil families in Wei State, and also reduced the war potential of Wei State.
As for objectively speaking, these workshops did provide the people of Wei with working opportunities that were exploitative but still within a normal range, and production also improved the living standards of the people of Wei... Obviously, this has to be considered later!
The limit that Chu could do was not to wantonly abduct Wei people and migrate them southward or to other areas controlled by Chu. However, since the war had already begun, it would definitely not show mercy to these workshops.
Originally, under the final arrangements and advice before Guo Jia's death, not only did Xiahou Dun use his power to quickly mobilize troops for the first wave of defense, but after learning of Guo Jia's last words, Cao Cao also mobilized all (able to mobilize) forces of the Wei State to cooperate.
Of course, there are some other "rumors" - for example... after Cao Cao learned of Guo Jia's last words, or after learning the news of the Battle of Bohai, he fainted on the spot, and it was Xun Yu who gave the order on his behalf. Some also say that it was Cao Zhi who gave the order on his behalf.
In short, from Lu Bu's perspective, Wei's response was very timely, but the follow-up was indeed a bit... uncoordinated!
With the advantage of navy's mobility, even though they knew the tactics that Lu Bu was going to use, they were still in Bohai Port today and at Andong Port tomorrow... This kind of highly mobile attack still only required 30,000 troops to completely destroy Wei's coastal defense.
Since Wei's army was much slower than Chu's navy, it was equivalent to an opponent with a "shadow clone".
Moreover, the 30,000 attacking troops of Chu State could not be resisted by the 30,000 defending troops. This meant that Wei State not only needed several times the number of troops to hold on, but also needed to prepare such a large number of troops in several more regions.
As for the State of Wei, did it also use sea transport to transport troops?
You must know that in addition to Lu Bu's 30,000 siege troops that sailed quickly on sea troop transports, there were also 30,000 elite naval forces of the Chu State in the Bohai Sea. After the Battle of Bohai Sea, there was almost no damage.
Although part of them are needed to protect the troop transport ships, there are still enough of them for patrol!
Even if Wei still had ships, they would bomb every one that came out...
Therefore, in just over two months, Wei's coastal areas were completely lost. Now Wei has changed its thinking and begun to abandon the coastal areas that are "unimportant" to itself in terms of land warfare.
As for the destroyed workshops, the proportion of Wei official workshops was actually very low...
After all, the official workshops of Wei State were basically focused on the production of military supplies and did not have to consider sales. Instead, they even had considerations of secrecy and security, so they did not crowd the coastal areas with private workshops.
Therefore, for the Wei State, the coastal offensive was basically borne in an 80-20 split between the imperial court and the aristocratic families. Naturally... it was easy for Cao Cao to make a choice!
This was also the change that began to appear in Wei State half a month ago...
And at this time, there is more accurate news in front of the white pattern.
"It seems that the previous rumors about Cao Cao's health are indeed true... This seems to be the work of Cao Cao himself." Bai Tu nodded as he looked at the recent situation in Wei State.
The good news is that Cao Cao was indeed unable to manage affairs some time ago, the bad news is... he has recovered now!
The Chu State's Bufengwei's "tentacles" are very developed, and there are many hidden agents in Yecheng, but they are more concerned about the timeliness of information. The Bufengwei cannot access the core "inside stories".
Cao Cao was unable to manage the affairs before, and he obviously blocked the news...
Facing Lu Bu's "troublemaking", Wei's reaction was divided into three stages. In the initial emergency stage, Wei's reaction was very fast, causing Lu Bu and Zhang Liao to abandon the simple "feint to the east and attack in the west" strategy and go straight to the Wei capital, a very contemptuous tactic.
In the second stage, from Lu Bu's point of view, Wei State was a bit stupid.
He actually fought against Lu Bu several times for those ports and workshops that were definitely not to be defended, but he was taught a lesson every time.
If we have to say what Wei gained, it was probably that it gave some workshops time to evacuate, but compared with the losses of the Wei army, it was not worth mentioning.
Such a strategy full of humanistic care was described by Lu Bu as "dull command".
Even if it was the Chu State, in this situation, to protect the people's evacuation, they would definitely travel light. In order to preserve more property, or even make a fortune from the war, the Chu State would not provide any unnecessary protection...
However, the second stage of Wei's stupidity lasted for more than a month, and then it was the current third stage - considering only the geographical advantages of land warfare and holding on to favorable and important areas!
It was only after entering this stage that Lu Bu's offensive was curbed.
According to Bai Tu's speculation, in the second stage, Cao Cao fell ill and the court's decision-making was somewhat out of control!
Bai Tu had no way of guessing whether it was Cao Zhi or Xun Yu who was in charge, but no matter who it was, he must have been influenced too much by things outside the battlefield at the time, otherwise, with so many generals in Wei, it would be impossible for them not to see that this was stupid.
Unfortunately, Cao Cao is now apparently back in charge, and the State of Wei has become more efficient again, no longer affected by some "off-field" factors. This is indeed bad news for the State of Chu.
In addition, Bai Tu expected that after Cao Cao took over again, the settlement of the previous "off-site interference" did not happen...
Originally, Bai Tu hoped that the State of Wei could cause chaos among itself first.
It seems that even Cao Cao could not settle the accounts without loss, so he had to tolerate some people after restoring order!
In fact, Bai Tu was not wrong!
Indeed, in the second stage of the Wei Kingdom, Xun Yu was ordered to assist Cao Zhi in governing the country - because Cao Cao still had a brief period of consciousness before his fall, Xun Yu was given considerable power.
However, even so, because Cao Zhi had already become one with the majority of the clans, and if he really wanted to give up the vast coastal areas, it would require not only great courage but also great authority...
Giving the order to retreat is often more difficult than giving the order to hold on. After all, Xun Yu is not the King of Wei!
Cao Cao is now in a very depressed mood, not only because of the previous losses, but also because of his disappointment in Cao Zhi.
And ...something that will make him even more depressed is about to happen!
Lu Bu and Zhang Liao obviously didn't want to be kept by Wei for the winter...
