Chapter 263

"Gongsun Zan has been defeated!"

The Dark Owls sent news; it was already the beginning of the sixth year of Chuping.

In the fourth year of Chuping, Su Fan succeeded Tao Qian and officially became the Inspector of Xuzhou, although the Imperial Court did not agree to Tao Qian's memorial.

But in reality, the local area now did not care about the Imperial Court at all. You did not have the ability to suppress the warlords in various places, so the Imperial Court did not have any deterrent power either.

The local area completely belonged to autonomy, just like the Warring States period.

After getting Xuzhou, Su Fan did not have any actions other than letting his own army station in various parts of Xuzhou.

At most, it was constantly transporting some grain, grass, and a small amount of weapons and equipment to Sun Jian's side.

Fighting with Yuan Shu for four years, the two sides fought countless times in Yangzhou, constantly killing each other. Besides being short of grain, Sun Jian was naturally also short of weapons and armor.

He was not Yuan Shu; he did not have Yuan Shu's foundation, and weapons and equipment could be equipped quickly.

So facing Yuan Shu's endless consumption, Sun Jian insisted for several years, and seeing that he was about to be unable to support it.

Su Fan transported some grain, grass, and weapons. As for the troops, Sun Jian prepared them himself. Fortunately, in this era, people were not short. As long as there was grain, a batch could be pulled in.

In these years, good men did not become soldiers; there was indeed this saying.

However, in troubled times, if you did not join the army, you could not live either.

Besides, if you did not join the army, someone would forcibly conscript you.

To resist Yuan Shu's army, Sun Jian could only desperately conscript troops, pulling batch after batch of young men into the army, without much training time, and sending them to the battlefield.

Training on the battlefield, experiencing a few wars, those who survived were veterans.

With Su Fan's support, Sun Jian barely supported it. In these few years, Su Fan also learned through the Dark Owls that the number of troops killed and injured on both sides was a full nearly one million.

Yuan Shu's strength was at least weakened by thirty to forty percent.

As for Sun Jian, it was even more serious. If he did not have Su Fan's support, he would probably only be able to roll back to his old home in Changsha.

Sun Jian was in danger in the south, and Gongsun Zan in the north was defeated again. This defeat was a serious injury to his vitality.

The White Horse Righteous Followers actually lost more than half.

"It is estimated that Yuan Benchu is going to counterattack."

Getting the news sent by the Dark Owls, Su Fan's several major strategists, Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, and Xun You, all came to Su Fan's government office meeting hall to discuss matters.

"My Lord, Gongsun Zan cannot be defeated. Once defeated, with the influence of the Yuan clan, they can soon control Youzhou. With Youzhou plus Jizhou, Yuan Shao will become the number one warlord."

"Relying on the appeal of the Yuan clan, I am afraid that the various places in the north will all lean towards Yuan Shao."

Everyone knew the influence of the Yuan clan. If there was no appeal of the Yuan clan, just relying on Yuan Shao, he could easily take down the entire Jizhou.

Not to say Yuan Shao's ability was not good; among the warlords at the end of the Han Dynasty, he could also be considered a talented person, and in the early stages, he looked like he had some ambition.

It was just that there were flaws in his character, and he had no opinion when encountering masters, so he caused the final defeat. Of course, the final defeat also had the reason of pride.

The Battle of Guandu and the Battle of Red Cliffs were both because the master was arrogant, leading to being defeated by a small number.

The early Yuan Shao had some ability, but without the support of the Yuan clan, he could swallow the entire Jizhou so quickly.

That was absolutely impossible.

The foundation of the Yuan clan allowed him to take a big shortcut.

"If Yuan Benchu takes down Youzhou, several places in the north will all be swallowed by Yuan Shao. In the south, there is another big warlord, Yuan Shu. I am afraid that there will not be many warlords in the world who dare to resist."

Cheng Yu's words were indeed correct.

History was also like this, but it was a pity that Yuan Shu played a bad move, ascending the throne as emperor in advance. If Yuan Shu did not ascend the throne as emperor.

Yuan Shao unified the north, and Yuan Shu had the south, the warlords in the Central Plains, I am afraid that even Cao Cao would have no heart to resist.

The two Yuans in the north and south joined forces; who could block it?

Even if the two brothers had contradictions, but the elders of the Yuan family were still there, they could completely sweep away other warlords first, and the two would decide the winner in the end.

So by that time, it would only be their Donghai Ling that would have to fight alone.

Everyone naturally also felt the pressure.

"Gongsun Zan cannot be defeated!"

Xi Zhicai also said firmly.

"Then what do you think we should do? We cannot send troops directly now!"

Sending troops was not impossible, but this would disrupt his layout. Once he really sent troops, Cao Cao would inevitably come to block, and at the same time, if the Yuan clan had insight, they would definitely let Yuan Shu send troops to block him.

In this way, Sun Jian would inevitably get rest.

Su Fan was not afraid of Sun Jian, but letting him recover, he would have to pay more price to take down the other party in the future.

This was definitely not worth it.

It also conflicted with his previous layout.

"My Lord, there is no need to send troops. Doesn't General Guan Hai in Qing Province have an elite force? You can let him go to Jizhou and make a move to attack Jizhou, so as to slow down Yuan Benchu's attack speed."

"Guan Hai has an army, but there are only fifty thousand elite soldiers. I am afraid that is not enough."

Because the Donghai Ling needed population, most of Guan Hai's million-strong young army had been sent back to the Donghai Ling.

Su Fan let Guan Hai begin to implement the elite soldier strategy.

So at the moment, Guan Hai had only two hundred thousand troops under his command, of which fifty thousand were elites, and the rest were all to boost the momentum.

"There is no need for General Guan Hai to really fight to the death with Yuan Benchu. My Lord, have you forgotten that there is still a Yellow Turban in the Taihang Mountains?"

Guo Jia suddenly said.

The Dark Owls were all over the world. A few years ago, they found out information about the Taihang Mountains.

Of course, it was also the Taihang Mountain Yellow Turbans appearing in Jizhou, which was noticed by the Dark Owls, so there was a mix-in investigation.

This investigation was also a bit shocking. The Yellow Turban army and people in the Taihang Mountains were a full ten million.

And Zhang Jiao's two brothers were actually among them.

At that time, Su Fan was a bit surprised to learn this news. No wonder there was no news of these two people after the Battle of Julu, and the Imperial Court had no follow-up.

Yet I did not expect the two to hide and hide in the Taihang Mountains.

In history, that was Zhang Yan. Now it has changed. Zhang Jiao's two brothers commanded ten million Yellow Turban army and people. This was not a small force.

Guo Jia reminded, and Su Fan also remembered.

Zhang Jiao's two brothers were not weak either. In those years, they could fight back and forth with the official army.

With these two people, the main general of the Yellow Turbans was not as scattered as in history. At least those who were not taken down by the official army ran into it.

So in the Taihang Mountains, the power of that group of Yellow Turbans was not weak.

"So Feng Xiao's meaning is to let Guan Hai contact the Taihang Mountains and let them send troops, but Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao are not fools and will not move easily."

"This is natural, but there are ten million Yellow Turbans in the Taihang Mountains, and the consumption of this grain is also very large."

"In these few years, the news passed by the Dark Owls, the Taihang Mountain Yellow Turbans often go out of the mountains to attack various places in Jizhou and snatch grain."

"It shows that they are also constantly short of grain. Use this to lure them; I am not afraid they will not move."

"Hmm! This is possible."

Su Fan nodded upon hearing this.