Gongsun Zan, who hated Yuan Fang so much, fell into madness.
You must know that Pingyuan County was still Gongsun Zan¡¯s territory not long ago, and the scholars and people here were still Gongsun Zan¡¯s people.
Now in order to take revenge, Gongsun Zan did not hesitate to massacre the city and kill the people to vent his hatred.
The generals were all frightened by Gongsun Zan's order to massacre the city. Although some felt it was inappropriate, no one dared to offer advice for fear of offending Gongsun Zan.
"My lord, the two armies are fighting, and there is nothing we can do about each other's deaths and injuries. However, the people in the plains are innocent. I beg my lord not to vent your anger on the people."
The deathly silence was broken, and the person who spoke to persuade him was none other than Zhao Yun.
When Gongsun Zan saw that Zhao Yun dared to object, he couldn't help but became furious and shouted: "The unscrupulous people in the plains dare not to rise up to resist Yuan Fang, the little thief. They are all unforgivable and deserve to die. Whoever dares to persuade me again will be punished by me." Kill who!"
The crazy Gongsun Zan couldn't listen to the advice at all and denounced Zhao Yun violently.
Seeing this, Guan Jing hurriedly said: "My lord is right. All those unruly people should be killed. My lord avenges his relatives. This is a matter of course. Zhao Zilong actually opposes it. It is really inappropriate."
When Guan Jing joined Gongsun Zan, he also reprimanded Zhao Yun.
Zhao Yun was choked, and he had a lot of truth in his heart, but he had no way to express it, so he could only remain silent.
Gongsun Zan was encouraged by Guan Jing and became more determined to massacre the city, so he demoted Zhao Yun, who had persuaded him, to a lower official position and transferred him to the rear to increase the transportation of grain and grass.
After driving Zhao Yun away, Gongsun Zan ordered 30% of his troops to attack other villages and counties outside Pingyuan City. Anyone who passed by the cavalry, old or young, would be killed.
In order to cope with the burning of half of the grain and grass in Nanpi, Gongsun Zan ordered the implementation of the strategy of killing all, looting, and burning all, in order to achieve the purpose of supporting war with war.
Even if all the supplies in Pingyuan County were plundered, it would still not be enough to meet Gongsun Zan's army's food and fodder needs. In addition to looting, Gongsun Zan had no choice but to extend his hand back to his own territory.
He issued strict orders to forcibly requisition grain and grass from the people in the counties in Jizhou and Youzhou under his control, and plundered them from house to house. Anyone who disobeyed would be killed.
Spring has just arrived, and the harvest season has not yet arrived. The people are still relying on last year's grain reserves. Now Gongsun Zan's additional grain collection is tantamount to taking the rations of life from the people's mouths.
For a time, the people in Youji counties were miserable and full of complaints. However, due to Gongsun Zan's iron-blooded military power, they could only dare to get angry but dare not speak out. They were forced to donate the food they had to survive. Those who refused to pay the food would be killed. Thousands.
Gongsun Zan used such a high-pressure policy to seize the grain and grass from the people, which to a certain extent alleviated the dilemma of his grain and grass being burned.
Gongsun Zan, who was determined to take revenge, would not retreat even if his territory was drained of water and the people resented him.
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A few days later, Pingyuan City.
The atmosphere in the mansion was cold and solemn.
Yuan Fang sat with his eyebrows high and his eyes filled with resentment as he stared at the mountains of urgent documents on the table.
Ban County was attacked by Youzhou Army, and three thousand soldiers and civilians were massacred.
Leling was attacked by the Youzhou army, and four thousand people were massacred.
The Youzhou army could not attack Xiping City, butchered and plundered the countryside, leaving no one alive within a radius of fifty miles.
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The emergency documents recorded the massacres committed by the Youzhou Army. The extremely cruel killings shocked all the civil and military personnel of the Yuan Army present.
Yuan Fang only has more than 10,000 troops, mainly concentrated on the front line of Pingyuan City. Several counties that are not important, such as Ban County, are actually only garrisoned by county soldiers with low combat effectiveness.
It is precisely because of this that the Youzhou Army was able to easily break through these counties and carry out burning, killing and looting.
In fact, according to common sense, there is no need for the Youzhou Army to spend any effort to capture these counties that have no strategic significance.
But Yuan Fang did not expect that Gongsun Zan had fallen into madness. For the so-called revenge and to support war with war, he would not hesitate to attack and plunder these unimportant counties.
"Moreover, Gongsun Zan actually dared to massacre the city while just looting food and grass.
"Gongsun Zan, you crazy dog!" Yuan Fang cursed angrily, with murderous intent burning like fire in his razor-like eyes.
"Young master, this old dog Gongsun Zan dares to massacre our plains. It's really hateful. You can lead us to attack and we will fight him to the death!" Yan Liang shouted angrily.
As soon as Yan Liang took the lead, the extremely angry generals asked for a fight one after another.
Gongsun Zan invaded him for no reason, and now he massacred civilians. Yuan Fang had long been extremely angry. He wished he could have a big fight and kill the old dog Gongsun Zan with his own hands to vent his hatred.
Now seeing how impassioned the generals are, Yuan Fang isHow could the leader of the three armies be timid and ready to fight on the spot?
In the midst of indignation, Guo Jia calmly said: "Gongsun Zan is clearly trying to force us to fight by massacring the city like this. You should stay calm and don't fall into Gongsun Zan's trick of luring the enemy."
Guo Jia's words shocked Yuan Fang's heart, and he immediately understood the meaning.
Gongsun Zan's massacre of the city was clearly intended to support war and avenge the murder of his son and brother, but in fact it was intended to induce him to fight.
With Gongsun Zan¡¯s current strength, it is not possible to break through Pingyuan City, but if he can be induced to take the initiative and Yuan Fang takes the initiative, the chances of winning a decisive battle in the wild are still very high.
With Yuan Fang¡¯s resourcefulness, how could he not understand what Guo Jia said.
After pondering for a long time, Yuan Fang resolutely said: "Of course what Feng Xiao said is reasonable, but the people in the plains are my Yuan Fang's subjects. Now I see them being slaughtered by foreign enemies, but I, Yuan Fang, ignore it and only huddle in the city to protect myself. In the future, What shame do I have to ask them to provide me with food and grass, send their children to join the army, and help me, Yuan Fang, achieve great things!"
Yuan Fang¡¯s words seemed to contain some shocking power, which shocked Guo Jia deeply.
Soon, he understood the deep meaning of Yuan Fang's words.
As an illegitimate child, why did Yuan Fang, who was despised by others, rebel in anger?
Of course, it is to no longer be oppressed and despised by others, to become stronger and to regain one's dignity.
Now, if he sits and watches his people being oppressed and killed without doing anything, what qualifications does he have to talk about dignity?
After a long silence, Guo Jia sighed: "Jia understands the young master's intention. Jia believes that even if we want to send troops, we should do so selectively rather than blindly."
Seeing that Guo Jia agreed with him, Yuan Fang was deeply relieved and said: "Feng Xiao, tell me how to send troops."
Guo Jia then pointed at the map and revealed his strategy.
His tactic is to exclude all the cities that have been massacred and plundered, such as Ban County, so the remaining cities should be the targets of Gongsun Zan's next massacre.
Guo Jia analyzed the location of these cities, their level of wealth and other factors, and deduced the order in which Gongsun Zan might attack.
At Guo Jia's suggestion, Yuan Fang mobilized part of his troops and sent Guo Huai and Yan Liang to lead their troops out at night to garrison those cities in advance.
Guo Jia¡¯s strategy really paid off.
The plundering troops sent by Gongsun Zan, according to the advance plan, aggressively attacked Ande and other remaining counties. They thought they could easily break the city, but they did not expect that elite troops of Yuan's army had already been stationed in the city.
The Youzhou Army blindly and arrogantly launched an attack, but was met with a resolute counterattack by the Yuan Army. The attack on the city was fruitless, but suffered losses.
Guo Jia¡¯s strategy successfully helped Yuan Fang protect the remaining city and saved the people in the city from being massacred by the Youzhou army.
Gongsun Zan could not attack the city, so he turned his main attention to the countryside, sending his light cavalry into the countryside to burn, kill and loot.
Although Yuan Fang secured the key areas of the county, he did not have many troops to protect the vast countryside. Moreover, the Youzhou Army's light cavalry came and went like the wind, and Yuan Fang had no way to deal with it.
The people in the plains and countryside were tortured by the Youzhou Army, and urgent documents from the Beihai Kingdom in the south were also sent day and night.
Seeing that Yuan Fang was being dragged down by Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian simply sent more troops to Cao Bao and attacked Dongwu City with 40,000 men. Zang Ba's army was already in crisis and the situation became increasingly difficult.
That day, in the military mansion, Yuan Fangzheng and various civil and military officials discussed a solution.
Guo Jia, who was holding the gourd high and taking a big gulp of wine, suddenly opened his mouth and squirted out a mouthful of wine as if he was being choked.
"Fengxiao, what's wrong?" Yuan Fang looked at Guo Jia in surprise.
Guo Jia wiped the wine stains from his mouth, with a strange color in his eyes, and said excitedly: "Young Master, I just took a sip of wine, and suddenly I thought of a strategy that will definitely help you defeat Gongsun Zan's mad dog."
Guo Jia has a plan!
Hearing his words, Yuan Fang's stern face suddenly filled with infinite surprise.