Chapter 376 No choice
In Hangu Pass, the autumn rain is cold and refreshing.

Cao Cao climbed to a high place and looked into the distance. He was wearing a straw raincoat. A dozen officials on his left and right were either wearing straw raincoats or long sheepskin jackets.

In the distance, a small fortress can be seen in the valley four or five miles away. The smoke from cooking is thick in the rain, so it is difficult to see clearly.

Cao Cao stopped to observe and asked Cao Zhen, who was in charge of the investigation, "Zidan, are there only 200 people here?"

"Yes, there are only about 210 people, including more than 150 armored soldiers, more than 30 knights, and the rest are infantry. The rest are slaves, responsible for building earthen forts. Every ten days, a transport team of 100 people will arrive, and in three days, a new round of food and fodder will be delivered."

Cao Zhen recounted his investigations during this period. After repeated negotiations, Cao Cao had no choice but to give up Yan and Yu states and lead his troops to station in Luoyang.

A total of 40,000 troops arrived in Luoyang and began to restore Luoyang and the surrounding counties. Another 20,000-plus troops were stationed in Dongjun and Peiguo to oversee the subsequent migration of food and population.

Even though it was approaching winter, Cao Cao still had to relocate the population.

Only those who move to the Heluo area can become his population, and only those who move to the Heluo area can become meaningful population.

If the population were left in their original places, they would either be annexed by powerful families, or become vagrants and bandits, or be controlled by prefectures and counties.

These people who stayed in their hometowns were of no benefit to him at all.

In addition, only by gathering as many people as possible in Heluo can the morale of the army be stabilized.

Regardless of whether the soldiers miss their families or are reassigned, the soldiers must have a family and something to care about.

Otherwise, his family was far away in Guandong, and he could not arrange for a new wife; then if there was any military deployment, the connected troops would leave the camp and be out of supervision, and would most likely rebel and flee in groups.

Only if enough people are migrated, preferably all of them, to the Heluo area, can we ensure that the army's families and future families are also in Heluo, which will naturally stabilize the army.

With the support of the army, he is the General of the Western Expedition of the Han Dynasty.

Without an army, the ordinary guards at the pass, such as the Guanjin and Saizhangwei, could deal with him.

With the current morale of Cao's army, if they want to maintain normal things, they must ensure that the army is of sufficient size!
Only when the scale is sufficient can basic morale be maintained.

If the army deserts and their numbers decrease, morale will collapse. The more it collapses, the more difficult it will be to suppress the desertion, and the whole process will become a death spiral.

If you don't want to kill yourself, you can only ruthlessly relocate various populations.

Even if you die on the road, you cannot stay in your hometown.

Any military dependents who remain in their hometowns will become a factor in the military’s escape and return home.

Anyway, the troops that are forcibly relocating the population are also dispatched crosswise. I will forcibly relocate your family, and you will forcibly relocate my family.

No one knows what they are doing, just bully when you can, and whipping with the whip will make the other party obedient and less resistant.

As for whether the families of my comrades would be injured or killed... I can't care about that. Military law is as strong as a mountain. Who can resist it?

Besides, I didn’t beat the families of other samurai lightly... Would other samurai treat my family gently when executing similar military orders?

In this way, Dong Zhuo sent troops to forcibly relocate the people of Luoyang to the west, and corpses and bones were piled up along the way.

Cao Cao did something similar this year. As long as the two states of Yan and Yu were under Cao Cao's control, all living people, whether commoners, scholars or well-off families, were forced to move westward under the sword to enrich the Heluo area.

As for how many people will freeze to death or starve to death this winter...who can care?

People kept dying on the migration route, but it couldn't be stopped or delayed. Who can care about what happens in the distant winter?

Under this special circumstance, Cao Cao prepared to attack Gan Ning.

He must give it a try. As long as he is not completely wiped out or seriously injured by Gan Ning, it will be a victory for him.

The courage alone of taking the first step to proactively attack will gain recognition from many people.

Just like when he fought against Dong Zhuo, he led more than 30,000 people to pursue him alone.

Although the results of the battle were not ideal, it established Cao Cao's unique image in the eyes of people all over the world.

At this moment, the world fears Guanzhong just as it feared Dong Zhuo in the past.

As long as he took the initiative to harass Hongnong, he would be able to eliminate the fear of all parties and enhance their courage to fight.

Besides, the main force of the Black Bear is in Hexi, preparing for the Battle of Hehuang. Gan Ning may not be able to make a comprehensive defense here. If the attack is successful, Gan Ning will be defeated.

Then, along the broken Hongnong Passage, 60,000 to 70,000 Cao troops rushed forward.

It doesn't matter whether we can attack Guanzhong. As long as we can seize the opportunity to invade Hedong and Taiyuan and seize them, we will have a channel to invade the heart of Guanzhong at any time.

In this case, the defensive pressure and military costs in Guanzhong will increase greatly.

If the confrontation continues for a long time, Black Bear will not have the energy to manage the affairs of the West.

Once other parties have caught their breath, the coalition forces' attack on Guanzhong will be just around the corner.

Therefore, whether it was for long-term strategic planning or to take the opportunity to adjust and optimize the internal military structure, Cao Cao had to launch this relatively "sudden" war.

However, Gan Ning established many beacon towers and garrisons outside Mianchi. The garrisons were built along the valleys. Fortunately, due to the short time, the garrisons were not completed.

Although beacon towers were completed one after another, they were all visible beacon towers, and the hidden ones had not yet been built.

If the vanguard troops destroy the beacon tower, they only need to take out a few garrisons to have the opportunity to attack Mianchi.

Whether it was the capture of Mianchi and the killing of Gan Ning, or Gan Ning breaking out of the siege...it was all great news for Cao's army.

Even if Gan Ning broke through the siege and evacuated, as long as they kept chasing him and didn't give Gan Ning the chance to mobilize the army and organize a defense line, it would be like the entire Hongnong was undefended!
Gan Ning’s biggest weakness is that he is too close to the front line.

As the command center, Gan Ning is related to the safety of the eastern barrier.

Although putting oneself in danger in this way could intimidate Xiahou Dun in Luoyang, this kind of deterrence could not bring any practical benefits, so it was not worth it.

Besides, who is Gan Ning?
Two years ago...one year ago, who knew who Gan Ning was?
Not to mention Cao Cao, few people in the entire Cao army were willing to look at Gan Ning directly.

He has no distinguished background and no outstanding military achievements, and he has risen to this important position entirely by relying on his connections with the Yuancong family.

All in all, there is no difference between Gan Ning and Xuan Liang, Xu Lin, Zhang Ding and others. If we have to say there is a difference, it is that Gan Ning brought his troops with him.

But even so, since the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, has Gan Ning achieved any commendable military achievements?
Therefore, even though the entire Cao army attached great importance to Gan Ning, it was difficult for them to look at Gan Ning in the eye.

In their eyes, Gan Ning was a third-rate tyrant who was easily instigated, had a reckless character and was prone to rebellion.

After leaving Yizhou, he spent many years under the command of Liu Biao and Huang Zu. He probably couldn't make it any longer, so he gave up and joined Black Bear who was passing by Jingzhou.

It would be difficult for anyone to look Gan Ning in the face.

It was also under the premise that the entire army despised Gan Ning that the Cao army participating in the operation was generally filled with confident smiles and their morale was relatively high.

The morale was infectious, and even someone as optimistic by nature as Cao Cao became more determined in his belief: this time it will definitely succeed.

His belief and emotions were passed down layer by layer, and the entire Cao army became unprecedentedly confident.

However, Gan Ning had already seen through everything.

It was also a little hard to believe. He took Zhang He's letter of denunciation and read it again and again. He always felt that someone like Zhang He with such a big stain on his resume was not worthy of trust.

But he also felt that it was unreasonable for Zhang He to take credit for the information he had speculated himself.

Zhang He had a bad reputation and was a surrendered general, so he was excluded from Cao Cao's action plan.

Such a person actually obtained the information that Cao Cao was preparing to attack Mianchi through analysis of clues, and even sent someone to deliver a letter to inform the secret.

No matter how you look at it, it seems a bit unreasonable.

How could a surrendered general with a dark resume have such vision and accomplishment?
He has low morals but such a strong military sense?
As for whether this was Cao Cao's trick...

There is no such possibility. How could they send someone to inform on others and pretend to surrender before an attack?

He knows his own business, and now is indeed a good time to attack him.

So, Gan Ning wrote back to Zhang He and began to mobilize the surrounding troops.

The troops were not transferred to the front line in Mianchi, but were mobilized to Shaanxi and Tianjin.

(End of this chapter)