ushernet Chapter 224 is rare.
Chapter 224 is rare.
"Good, I like a general like General Du. He has courage!"
Yuan Shao said loudly, "However, General Du, courage alone is not enough for this patrol and guard mission; you must have a thorough plan."
"Reporting to my lord, I have some plans. I have decided to build a beacon tower every mile along the river. These beacon towers will not require many people; each beacon tower will only need one squad of soldiers to guard it."
“In some places with good visibility, a beacon tower can even be set up every two or three miles. Each squad of soldiers only needs to be responsible for patrolling and guarding between the beacon towers. Once the enemy appears, they only need to light the beacon tower,” Du Hua said.
It must be said that Du Hua's suggestion was quite good. These kinds of watchtowers do not require too much manpower and resources; all that is needed is to pile up a large amount of firewood. It's just that resupplying each point is relatively troublesome.
Upon hearing Du Hua's plan, Xu You and the other strategists could find no flaws. After all, Du Hua's suggestion was in line with the current situation, and according to Du Hua's plan, these beacon towers were just some dry firewood, which could be obtained from the local materials.
"It just takes some time for the initial preparations." Du Hua added, "Moreover, such missions don't require elite troops; just one or two veterans leading a squad of new recruits is enough. During patrols and alerts, the veterans can continue training the new recruits."
As Yuan Shao's loyal lackey, Guo Tu immediately stood up and said to Yuan Shao, "My lord, I think General Du's plan is very good. It's just that the logistics and supply at each point are a bit troublesome, but I already have an idea about that."
“We can build a supply point every twenty li, and let the soldiers go to the supply point to collect food and supplies every five days. Then the rear can resupply these supply points as needed, which will reduce the pressure on logistics.”
"Hmm, that's a good suggestion."
Yuan Shao nodded and said to Du Hua, "In that case, this task is best left to General Du."
Du Hua! "Your subordinate is here."
"Your main force has five thousand men. I will reinforce them with three thousand new recruits and one hundred cavalry. I hope you can establish a perimeter for one night."
"This humble general has one more request, which I hope my lord will grant," Du Hua said, bowing to Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao generously replied, "Whatever your request, I will fulfill it if I can."
"This humble general would like to request that my lord allocate another fifty cavalrymen to me," Du Hua said.
"Fifty cavalrymen, that's a small matter, but what do you need cavalrymen for?"
Fifty cavalrymen—although Yanzhou had few cavalry units, they weren't nonexistent. Yuan Shao still had over a thousand cavalrymen, not exactly elite, but enough for general patrol, guard, and harassment duties.
Du Hua replied to Yuan Shao: "These cavalrymen are here to facilitate my daily patrols of the riverbank outposts."
"Very well!" Yuan Shao shouted, "I'll give you a hundred cavalrymen!"
Yuan Shao was very pleased. He felt that Du Hua was a trustworthy general. Although Du Hua did not have any outstanding achievements, his hands-on approach was rare in the current Yanzhou organization.
Yuan Shao said to Du Hua, "Qin Nan, don't worry. Once things are stable, you can hand these matters over to your subordinates. Then you can return to Luoyang. I have an even more important task for you."
If Du Hua can continue to maintain this level and make sufficient contributions, Yuan Shao will not mind giving him more important tasks and a higher position.
While Yuan Shao was actively setting up his defense system, Chen Er was not idle either. After talking with Shen Pei and appointing Shen Pei as the governor of Yanzhou, Chen Er then transferred Gao Shun and the First Organization to Yanzhou for garrison duty.
Now, the areas under the control of the self-governing district have become a unified whole, and there is no longer a need to deploy large numbers of main forces in each state as before.
The second organization was dispersed and deployed in three provinces: Ji, Xu, and Qing. One organization's forces were deployed in each province, with the organization headquarters located in Qing.
Following this, the Fourth Organization dispatched an organization to strengthen the defense of Bingzhou, and the river fleet was also reinforced. Two early small iron-hulled boats manufactured by the local shipyard entered service with the river fleet.
A warship equipped with five large-caliber admiral-level guns and ten small-caliber admiral-level guns would definitely be a dominant force on the river.
Of course, such warships were somewhat outdated compared to the Jiangdong navy. Although their artillery was superior to some extent, their shipbuilding technology was definitely inferior. So Chen Er simply let these outdated ships go upstream on the river to bully Yuan Shao and his men.
Time passed slowly, and summer gradually arrived throughout the north and south of the empire. Rainfall became more frequent, and the fighting in all parts of the north and south had ceased. The frequent rain severely affected the use of firearms. In this world of rudimentary firearms, the impact of rain on warfare was truly remarkable.
Not to be surprised, even Yuan Shao slowed down his actions in the Sili region and stopped his infiltration into Yongzhou. Of course, Yuan Shao did not stop his operations against Gongsun Zan's former subordinates in Yongzhou.
With the death of Gongsun Zan, his former subordinates who remained in Yongzhou immediately became highly sought-after by various forces, especially Yuan Shao and Liu Xie. It could be said that whichever side gained the support of Yongzhou would win in this struggle.
Chen Er was naturally not idle in the face of this situation. He would not let go of such a good opportunity, and he was also unwilling to let the sick tiger he had released become fat and fat again and turn around to attack him.
Therefore, Chen Er would rather Yongzhou be divided among various forces than have Yuan Shao control the entire Yongzhou alone. Ideally, he would use Yongzhou to make the surrounding forces fight each other to the point of mutual destruction.
At this moment, Chen Er didn't care whether it would harm the people. He could only mourn silently in his heart. There was nothing he could do. Who told you not to be under my rule? For the sake of a longer-term happiness in the future, I could only sacrifice your current short-term happiness.
Otherwise, would Chen Er have directly transferred Gao Shun's command of an organization to corroborate the claim of Yanzhou? The small organization guarding against Yuan Shao wouldn't need so many people, especially since Yanzhou and Guanzhong don't directly border each other in the current administrative divisions.
Bordering Yuzhou, Gao Shun's main force was mostly stationed in Yanzhou, with only Liao Hua's organization stationed in Zhongmu and Chenliu to strengthen Yuzhou's defenses.