Chapter 6498 The Right Strategy

"I don't know what fate Tavasdes's web of fate is woven, but there must be a direction." Xun You looked at Chen Gong and said. Chen Gong was a dead end, but Chen Gong's ability was trustworthy. It could be said that for these advisers of Cao Cao's forces, the only things that were trustworthy about Chen Gong were his ability and his feelings for Cao Cao, and everything else was nonsense.

"Anyway, it definitely doesn't involve Anxi, because when Anxi collapsed, all the fates related to the future of Anxi backfired on their owners, and the heavy backlash caused them to die instantly." Chen Gong glanced at Xun You and explained.

"Is this also the basis for you thinking that Tavasdes might still be able to accept your control?" Mao Jie reacted instantly. The fate weaving involving the future of Anxi backfired on the owner, and Tavasdes was not dead, so the object of Tavasdes' fate weaving was definitely not Anxi.

"Yes, he may not be as loyal as you think." Chen Gong explained calmly.

If Tavasdes was truly loyal to the Parthian Empire, he should have died when the Parthian Empire was destroyed. Since he did not die, he could not have been loyal to the Parthian Empire because there was no place for the Parthian Empire in his future. Only in this way could Tavasdes avoid the inevitable death of the Parthian Empire's destruction.

"Forget it, don't count on this, just wait and see." Chen Gong waved his hand and said, "How much power do we have now, and can we support the counterattack?"

"If Barak is counted, we are still in the first-rank position under the empire, not much worse than the Yuan family." There was no point in beating around the bush with Chen Gong, so Xun Yu just said what he wanted to say.

"The problem is that Barak is too strong. Do you dare to believe it?" Chen Gong sighed and said. Barak is a strong man who can face the complete forces of Cao Cao head-on. Even if he is at a disadvantage, it may not be so easy for him to lose.

"If you say you completely believe it, that would be a lie, but if you say you completely don't believe it, that's not the case either." Chen Qun sighed and said, "The army that Beigui has defected to is not weaker than the Han army we have, and even the officers are not inferior at all. For example, those former commanders of the fronts in Kabechi are undoubtedly elites."

This was also the reason why Cao Cao took the initiative to win over Kabechi, Bellona, ​​Asot and others. Even now, these people are only in their early thirties, and they have the ultimate internal energy and even the martial arts level of breaking through the world. They also have mental images and can command the army. They are all worthy of training in the Central Plains.

"Is that so?" Chen Gong nodded after hearing this. It was not too outrageous. After all, Barak was a man who had realized the Kushan Empire's century-old wish. It was normal for him to have a qualitative change on the spiritual level.

There were five of these guys when Barak surrendered. They were considered the best backbone of the Northern Nobles. When Cao Cao was around, the Han army was well-organized and could suppress them. Now that Cao Cao has fallen, the Han army's organization has also been in turmoil from the root. The power of the Northern Nobles has already taken the upper hand under Cao Cao, but they had no leader before. People like Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren could still suppress them.

"The mental image is the reflection of a certain belief in the officer's mind in reality." Mao Jie said very seriously, "So if a certain officer really fulfills a nation's century-old wish, then the qualitative change at the spiritual level will cause unpredictable distortions in reality, and the mental image itself is the embodiment of this distortion."

"But that's the problem. He may be stronger than Sikong Cao. He is also Sikong Cao's son-in-law and a marquis recognized by Chang'an. So he took action to seize the victory..." Chen Qun said helplessly. This is really an internal and external trouble.

"Zixiu handled Kandahar very well during the year we were here." Cao Cao first praised Cao Ang, and Cao Ang was slightly stunned when he heard this. While he felt warm in his heart, he remembered the death of his mother and brother. He looked at Cao Cao with some sorrow.

Although Barak was a surrendered general, before the other party surrendered, the target of his attack was Cao Cao himself.

While Chen Gong and his group were discussing Cao Cao and Barak, Cao Cao had already gathered Barak and Cao Ang together, along with the officers and soldiers of the Cao and Xiahou families.

As for foreign officials, there was not a single one.

"The benefits promised to the major families will be fulfilled in the future, but this kind of fulfillment takes time. It is impossible to hand it over now. We have to wait until we conquer the Kabul Valley before we can fulfill it." Cao Cao ignored the eyes of the people present and continued, "In this regard, we don't need to do anything else. It's meaningless. The more we do, the more mistakes we make. It's better not to do it."

"What happened two years ago was my mistake. You can spread this news, but we must move forward. Stopping here will not solve any problems. I will continue to move forward, bearing the responsibility for my past mistakes, and at least let the living get the benefits they deserve." Cao Cao looked at the officers present with deep eyes.

Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong and others were somewhat surprised by Cao Cao's words. After all, Cao Cao was not someone who would easily admit his mistakes, let alone explain them so frankly. However, considering everything Cao Cao had encountered last year, they could understand it to some extent.

But after Barak was transferred from Herat City by Cao Ang due to the turbulent situation, there was still some gap between Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren and Barak.

Seeing Cao Cao reappear, Xiahou Dun and others were somewhat happy. Even if Cao Cao made many mistakes, in their eyes, Cao Cao was still their most reliable brother and their backbone.

The heads of the various branches of the Xiahou family and the Cao family all blushed, as the events of the end of the previous year were still vivid in their minds. Indeed, sometimes it is like this, using tricks will really backfire.

"It's about the same as I estimated. What do you think the upper limit of Barak's ability is?" Chen Gong let out a breath and asked the others.

"Barak, if you were facing Ardashir, how confident would you be?" Cao Cao did not pay attention to the expressions of the leaders of his own factions. Instead, he looked at Barak and spoke. For him now, it was meaningless to dwell on what happened in the past. It would be better to find a way to solve the current problem.

As for Cao Ang, while he was happy, he was also somewhat worried, fearing that his father would do something irrational again.

Although Barak did not deliberately demonstrate his abilities, sometimes changes on the spiritual level will be reflected in reality. Coupled with some special talents, such as Sun Quan's very strange ability, Barak's strength as a counselor under Cao Cao can be speculated.

"But this was only in the past. Now, we believe that Barak may be the strongest officer in our entire force, and he is strong in all aspects from here to here." Xun Yu pointed to his head and then to his heart with some caution and said, "We all agree that Barak may be stronger than Sikong in his peak state."

"If we look at the previous battle records, his level is higher than Xiahou Miaocai's current level, but he does not have an absolute advantage." Cheng Yu said with some inference. Xiahou Yuan is currently the most representative officer of Cao Cao's forces except Cao Cao himself. He is not only strong in martial arts, but also has a sense of the overall situation. He is considered to be a person suitable for guarding a place, and can be compared with the previous Barak.

The knowledge of the six counselors is all in place. For ordinary people's hardware, it is impossible to use it, but for Cao Cao, it can still work. As long as it works, then the god Cao Cao may really be born.

"Father-in-law, I'm afraid it's not possible. The Kabul Valley is too dangerous, and Ardashir himself is a famous general. He is defending the pass. We can't even deploy our front line, let alone face Ardashir directly." Barak did not talk about the winning rate of himself and Ardashir, but instead put the problem on the poor terrain of Beigui. Under this terrain, he had no good solution.

He did find some people on the inside, and it was not an exaggeration to say that he had a legion, but to rely on such a legion to break through the Kabul Valley, he would first have to fight a bloody battle with Ardashir in the upper reaches of the Helmand River, and the two sides would be in a stalemate. Then he could attack Ardashir from behind with a surprise attack, and only by attacking from both sides could he defeat Ardashir. The problem was that even Barak was not sure that he could fight Ardashir in the outrageous terrain from the upper reaches of the Helmand River to the Kabul Valley, and force Ardashir to put all his main forces into it. To be honest, given the terrain, the other side did not need to invest too many troops.

Different from the previous situation when Barak was in charge of Northern Nobles, Ardashir was obviously storing up grain and slowly taking his time to become king. He did not fight Cao Cao to the death, but continued to accumulate strength and wait for the opportunity to kill Cao Cao with one blow. Therefore, he defended the pass and did not launch a large-scale war with Cao Cao.

This kind of fighting style could easily be regarded as a slack fight when the Kushans were strong before, but now the situation of the Kushans is not very good. Summoning Ardashir is only to solve the problem of invasion by the Han Dynasty from the north. It is equivalent to hammering a nail to block the Han army in the north. As for fighting back, it is best if it can be done, but it will not affect the overall situation of the Kushans.

This also gave Ardashir enough autonomy. Anyway, his mission was to defend this place, and everything else could be considered as overtime work.

In this case, even if the Han army wanted to fight a large-scale decisive battle, if Ardashir did not cooperate, Cao Cao would have no better solution.

As for the small-scale competition, it has been going on. After all, both sides now need to use this small-scale competition to strengthen the strength of their own legions and improve the sense of belonging of their soldiers. But in this kind of small-scale battle, when both sides are watching closely and are unwilling to beat the other side, to be honest, there is really not much damage.

So when Cao Cao asked Barak if he could face Ardashir head-on, Barak was embarrassed. It was not that he did not dare, nor that he could not, but he felt that there was no such opportunity. After all, he had achieved the idealism that the Kushan Empire had always boasted about, and he still had some foundation in actual combat.

"Assuming that a major chaos breaks out in the Kabul Valley, can you lead your troops to break through the blockade set up by Ardashir at the pass and break in?" Cao Cao looked at Barak and asked.

"If my father-in-law allows me to select the best troops from each department, I would give it a try. Even if there is such an opportunity, it will be fleeting, so we must act quickly and there will be absolutely no delay." Barak said with a serious expression.

"Okay, then just wait for my time. From now on, you will select the best troops from each unit to form an elite corps and be prepared to assault the Kabul Valley." Upon hearing this, Cao Cao nodded to Barak. The officers of the Cao and Xiahou families under his command were somewhat surprised, but they did not raise any objections. On the one hand, Barak himself was a famous general, and on the other hand, the Kabul Valley was really not easy to tackle, especially after Ardashir entered, the entrance to the valley had obviously become a fortress.

Therefore, even if the elite forces of various tribes were concentrated under Barak, it would not be an easy task to conquer the Kabul Valley. Even if Ardashir himself was prepared, he might even be in danger of death.

"Father, how about I march with General Barak?" Cao Zhen suddenly jumped out and said. Although he was his adoptive father, Cao Cao was really good to Cao Zhen. In addition, Cao Zhen had grown very well in the past two years. After realizing that this matter was very difficult, he felt that he still needed to step forward to share Cao Cao's worries.

"No, you have other things to do, and the Kabul Valley is not easy to conquer. Even if all the elite troops of various units are concentrated in Barak's hands, they may not be able to take it." Cao Cao rejected Cao Zhen's proposal, "It's just that we have to face this pass, it's just a matter of time."

"Only after we take over the pass can we truly gain a foothold here." Cao Cao looked at everyone present and said, "Rather than letting Ardashir continue to build this pass and turn it into a full fortification or even a city, which will make our subsequent offensives increasingly difficult, it is better to take down this pass that has only completed the initial fortification now."

"After we take over this pass, it will be relatively easier for us to defend or advance later." Cao Cao said, pointing to the pass in front of the Kabul Valley on the map.

"Even if we take this pass, it will be difficult to defend it. Kandahar and Kabul are not close in distance. It is only because of the reliance on river transportation that our logistical pressure is relatively small. But compared to nearby Kabul, even if we take this pass, it will be difficult to defend it. Even if we insist on occupying it, it will easily become a bleeding point." Cao Ang looked at the pass that Cao Cao pointed to. It was very close to Ardashir but far away from Kandahar.

The distance between the two sides can even reach ten to one. Although Kandahar has the advantage of river transportation of the Helmand River, which makes the logistical pressure extremely low, even so, compared with Ardashir who is fighting nearby, the logistical pressure of both sides will be as high as three to one or even four to one. Fighting against Ardashir under such logistical pressure, Cao's army may be directly destroyed.

The officers and soldiers present were all veterans who had survived many battles. They could see this point, so they were not very interested in Cao Cao's proposal. It was indeed very likely that they would be able to capture the city by concentrating their superior forces. But what about the blood loss point after they captured the city? Ardashir's grindstone? Isn't that crazy?

"No, what I mean is that the whole family, young and old, should join in the battle. We should take this place and become local residents. We can then extend our forces into the valley and fight with Ardashir inside the valley." Cao Cao said, pointing to a more detailed map of the interior of the Kabul Valley.

This strategic idea was completely beyond everyone's expectations, and it was something that had never been recorded in any previous history books. But after Cao Cao came up with this idea, all the generals and officers fell into deep thought. It seemed that there was no problem. As long as they could capture this pass, this way of fighting seemed to be fine.

Everyone knew that Cao Cao's strength was about the same as Ardashir's. The reason why the attack was difficult was because the broken terrain put too much pressure on logistics, coupled with the natural advantages of the defenders.

But if the advantages brought by the terrain to the defenders and the logistical problems caused by the mountainous terrain were eliminated, Cao Cao might not necessarily lose if he and Ardashir faced off head-on.

"It seems to be no problem." Barak was the first to understand this idea. Attacking the pass would incur heavy losses, but as long as he was determined to fight, Barak would still be able to take it down. The reason he didn't fight before was only because the losses were too great and there were no subsequent benefits.

But if Cao Cao brought his entire family, young and old, into the battle, took the pass, and then cultivated the land on the spot, the terrain advantage of the Kabul Valley would be completely eliminated.

This way of fighting had never appeared before the Three Kingdoms period. The first person to do so was Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Liang actually relied on this trick to defeat Sima Yi and even turned himself into a local tyrant. If Zhuge Liang's supernatural powers had not been inferior to fate, he would have been taken away by God. Zhuge Liang, who had harvested enough grain in Yongliang, was able to wipe out Yongliang and return to the old capital within the next year.

Although Cao Cao's idea is somewhat different from Zhuge Liang's, what makes Cao Cao better than Zhuge Liang in the official history is that when Zhuge Liang launched the Northern Expedition, there were very few people in Yongliang who responded to the Han Dynasty. But if Cao Cao's entire family, young and old, went into battle together and became local residents, there would definitely be a lot of northern nobles in the Kabul Valley who would respond to Cao Cao. So the Barak card is still very useful.

It may not be easy to use the card of Barak to poach people from Vesudeva I, but using the card of Barak to poach the northern nobles under Ardashir would be very effective when the momentum is great.

In addition, the time when Cao Cao was targeting was when the summer grain was harvested, and the whole family, young and old, would go into battle together. Even if Ardashir was prepared, Ardashir, who had never experienced such a thing, would definitely not be able to stop Cao Cao before he could react.

Even if the pass was occupied by Cao Cao, Ardashir might not realize the seriousness of the matter. If he were to show Cao Cao how to become a local resident in an instant, he might be able to enter Kabul directly. Although he would not be able to take it down, at least the situation would not be as dire as it is now.

There is nothing much to say, except that it is cool.