August.

Zhangye City, in the garden of the prefect's mansion.

Zhan Xiaobai was planning the future development plan of the Little White Alliance, thinking about several major issues that concern him and the future and destiny of the entire Little White Alliance.

A large-scale war to fight against thieves occurred between Wuwei County and Zhangye County. In the end, the main thieves general Ma Wan was captured. The Zhangye County Player Alliance was completely disintegrated and declared the end. The forces of the Little White Alliance entered Zhangye County.

In August, Dong Zhuo had already entered Luoyang City, holding the emperor to command the princes. If the historical plot in the game is nothing unexpected, Dong Zhuo will soon accept the war god Lu Bu under Ding Yuan's tent, and deposed the young emperor Liu Bian in September and support Emperor Xian Liu Xie to succeed the throne. In January next year, the eighteen princes will attack Dong Zhuo.

The Battle of Hulao Pass represents the game process that truly entered the era when the princes emerged.

According to the latest data statistics of the game operation company, the total number of active players in China (players who are online for more than one hour a day) has reached 150 million. Obviously, the novice alliance is now ahead of 150 million players.

At this time, Zhangye County was captured, and the original Wuwei County was added. Based on these two wealthy counties, the Little White Alliance will cultivate extremely strong strength. This strength includes player population, NPC population, advanced craftsmen, skilled warriors, wealth, food, resources and other aspects.

Apart from the Little White Alliance, there is no other player alliance that can unify the player villages in a county. At most, only one system city will be won and a group of player villages will be united.

As for the three counties of Jiuquan County, Dunhuang County and Xihai County behind Zhangye County, if he wants to unify Liangzhou, how could he let others take root and sprout in the deepest corner of his home? In Zhan Xiaobai's heart, these three counties have long been his scheduled territory and will not allow any other players or NPC to get involved.

But he was anxious and couldn't eat hot tofu. The alliance had just taken Zhangye County, and the financial and material resources were consumed seriously. It would take at least two months to digest the results. So he was afraid that before the outbreak of the Hulao Pass War, he would not be able to send troops to capture these three counties on a large scale. The time was too late.

The main cities of these three counties are still under the power of the court. They are the three major counties in the northwest of Liangzhou. They are desolate and remote, far away from the central government of the Luoyang imperial capital. The power of the player alliance is not very powerful.

How to seize the three counties in the northwest of Liangzhou is the first question that Zhan Xiaobai thought about.

Should we use the NPC army or the player army? How large a large number of troops are used?

Jiang Xu and Jiang Jiong were loyal to the court and wanted them to conquer the cities under the court, which was impossible. Because Jiang Xu and Jiang Jiong, the two historical generals, served for him with the great purpose of "guarding the territory of the Han Dynasty, maintaining peace, attacking the Xiongnu in the north, and Qiangdi in the south", had a very clear political stance. It would be better to use them to deal with the traitors and horses. However, the possibility of ordering them to attack the cities under the court was 0.

If you can conquer Ma Wan, you may be able to send Ma Wan to the Three Counties. Although Ma Wan is not very strong in history, you can still win the three Counties without high-level generals to guard it.

However, what made Zhan Xiaobai feel very sorry was that the captured horse would not surrender if he did not surrender. Even if he was a historical general, he would have no use at all. He would be useless and tasteless, and it would be a pity to abandon it. This is the second trouble that Zhan Xiaobai was worried about.

The three northwest counties in Liangzhou can be cleaned up slowly, so there is no need to hurry.

However, putting aside the above two issues, what really makes Zhan Xiaobai think carefully is the issue from the East of Liangzhou.

After unifying the "Five Counties of Hexi Corridor" in Liangzhou, Jiuquan, Dunhuang, Xihai, Zhangye and Wuwei, we must walk east to have a way out. Stepping out of the Gulang Gorge in the east is the real problem, and the difficulty is extremely challenging.

Han Sui and Ma Teng were guarding Jincheng County and Anding County respectively, blocking the way for the Little White Alliance troops to go out from the east.

Han and Ma, these are two real NPC warlord characters, and they are the first-class NPC warlords in the game. Their status is second only to the top vassal overlords such as Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Liu Biao.

In history, Ma Wan belonged to only one of the eight generals under Han Sui. Compared with them, Ma Wan is not a little bit worse. Ma Wan is only capable of military generals, and does not have much wisdom, strategy, or political influence.

If it weren't for the natural barrier of Gulang Gorge, Zhan Xiaobai had sent three generals and mobilized three thousand heavy halberd soldiers to build a pass to guard the pass, I'm afraid that any of these two characters would be enough to flatten Wuwei County.

Zhan Xiaobai defeated Ma Wan, but it does not mean that he can compete with Han Sui and Ma Teng.

He was unwilling to have serious military conflicts with any of the two warlords unless the two warlords took the initiative to invade Wuwei County.

Han Sui annexed Han people such as Bian Zhang, Beigong Boyu, Li Wenhou, and Qiang Di's 100,000 elite troops, and their strength soared. Jincheng County could no longer accommodate this powerful military strength. Han Sui sent troops to Xiping County, and brought down the city of the unlucky player alliance leader, Dihuang. Poor Dihuang, he did not even have the throne of the lord of Xiping City, and then stepped down in a mess and retreated to Xiqiang.

After Ma Teng took the foundation of Anding County, he quickly captured Beidi County, owned two major counties, and his power quickly rose.

Xiaobai, Han Sui, and Ma Teng are nicknamed by countless players as the three major warlords of Liangzhou, and their territory reaches two counties.

The Little White Alliance, currently has normal diplomatic relations with the two warlords of Han Sui and Ma Teng. One is diplomatic 50 and the other is diplomatic 48, and there is no deep hatred.

Diplomacy degree is 50, which means that the two forces have no friendship. The higher the diplomacy, the closer the relationship between the two forces, the lower the value, and the more hatred the two forces. The full value is 100 and the lowest value is 0.

Once the power of the player and the NPC have a diplomatic degree that drops below 30, it is a hatred relationship, and an offensive war may break out at any time.

The Little White Alliance and the Han Sui warlords had almost no intersection, so it was 50. The Little White Alliance and the Ma Teng warlords, because they fought a small-scale war in Gulangxia, did not cause much damage, so they reduced by 2 points to 48 points in diplomacy.

In addition, since Han Sui and Ma Teng rebelled against the court, in order to unite with the imperial encirclement and suppression forces commanded by Zhang Wen and Dong Zhuo several months ago, they had already formed a sage brother of the opposite sex. The diplomacy between their forces increased to 60 and was relatively close. It was not until 208 of the game calendar that South Korea and Ma would become deadly enemies and attack each other due to conflicts among their subordinates. The brother alliance between South Korea and Ma was completely disintegrated. There were 189 to 208 of the game calendar, and there were 19 years left, which was quite a terrifying long period. I hope that the South Korea and Ma alliance would collapse, but I was afraid that it would not be seen in a short period of time.

From a diplomatic perspective, the three largest warlord forces in Liangzhou: Han Sui, Ma Teng, and Xiaobai. The one who is most likely to break out of war is Han Sui-Xiaobai, Ma Teng-Xiaobai. Given that Han and Ma have established a brotherly alliance - this is a very high-level alliance, as long as Xiaobai starts war with any of them, he will almost inevitably be attacked by another.

Even if Dong Zhuo was here, facing Han Sui, Ma Teng, the two powerful enemies, were afraid to retreat for hundreds of miles and dare not speak of war. Cao Cao was almost defeated by Han Sui and Ma Chao and was forced to use a strategy to disrupt the alliance between them.

Zhan Xiaobai knew very well that the Little White League was at an absolute disadvantage compared to Han and Ma. This was the third difficulty he faced.

As long as players who know a little about tactics know that they must not easily start the battle with Han and Ma, otherwise they will definitely be done. And they must defend Gulang Gorge and cannot take a step back.

Zhan Xiaobai is planning to do this.

However, a big problem has come.

There is nowhere to retreat - there are only three barren small counties left to the west to slowly annex. After the annexation, there is no other territory to expand.

There is nowhere to enter - Dongfang is the territory of Han Sui and Ma Teng, two tigers, but he can't shake them. If the Little White Alliance cannot step out of the Gulang Gorge Portal in the Dongfang, it will not participate in the Battle of Hulao Pass, Chang'an and Luoyang, let alone compete for the world. Before 208, he will be trapped in Gulang Gorge. This is equivalent to declaring that the Little White Alliance will not participate in the battle for hegemony in the world, and the road to conquest will end here.

"There is no way to retreat, and there is no way to advance" is the fourth problem faced by Zhan Xiaobai.

The first problem is that the Little White Alliance annexes the three northwest counties of Liangzhou. This problem can be easily solved without worrying, because there is no strong opponent to compete with you in these three counties. The second problem is to conquer Ma, which can only take a chance, but because success or failure does not affect the overall situation, so this is only the slightest problem of all the problems. The third problem is to avoid a war conflict with Han Sui and Ma Teng. This only requires defending Gulangxia to maintain a diplomatic degree of no less than 30. I believe that Han and Ma will not be dizzy and attack the first dangerous pass of Liangzhou for no reason.

In other words, the fourth question, "There is no need to retreat, and there is no need to advance" is the real problem!

Zhan Xiaobai sighed.

He knew very well that the Little White Alliance had fallen into a strategic dilemma. Yes, this is a "strategic dilemma" rather than a "tactical dilemma". Many players do not understand or distinguish between strategy and tactics.

Players who do not understand tactics or strategies are ordinary players. They can only enjoy the game, fight and kill in the game, or rely on brotherly loyalty to form cliques, build villages, practice martial arts skills, etc. There is no concept of tactics and strategy. About 98.8% of players belong to this category.

Players who only understand tactics but do not understand strategy are players at the first level of legion commanders, generals, and strategists. They know how to win over people's hearts, command operations, and win. 0.18% of players fall into this category.

There are very few players who understand strategy. Almost all players at this level are leaders and skilled strategists. 0.018% of players fall into this category.

Even if you understand strategy, there are differences between cleverness and clumsiness. Cleverage players can usually surpass the leader-level players and become leaders with great prestige in the game. This category does not exceed 0.0018%.

Players who are proficient in strategy and tactics are extremely rare. 0.0002% of players belong to this category, and can be said to be one in one million. This category of players can almost become leaders and the top strategists - as long as they are willing.

Zhan Xiaobai can easily solve the first three tactical problems, but is trapped by the last strategic dilemma - it is not that he is not proficient in strategy, and there are very few people who can compete with him in the game. It is precisely because he is too proficient that he is stumped.

"Annexation of the three northwest counties of Liangzhou" and "avoiding the war with Han Sui and Ma Teng" are tactical issues. "There is no way to retreat, and no way to advance" are strategic issues.

But Zhan Xiaobai faced tactical and strategic issues and had a conflict. Tactical, he was asked to avoid conflicts with Han Sui and Ma Teng, otherwise he would face a catastrophe and die without death. Strategically, he was required to break through the barrier between Han Sui and Ma Teng and walk out of Gulang Gorge to compete for territory, otherwise the Xiaobai Alliance would be trapped in the five counties of the Hexi Corridor. This is a conflict between tactics and strategies.

Tactical victory will never solve the strategic problems and difficulties. Tactical experts will never understand why they are constantly winning, but they are still no match for strategic experts.

Just like in the battle between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. In the battle of Pengcheng, Xiang Yu 300,000 elite troops rushed to Liu Bang's 300,000 troops and won a great victory. Only more than ten cavalry left in Liu Bang escaped. Xiang Yu was very strong in tactical terms and was invincible in the world. Later, Xiang Yu still won consecutive battles, with more than a hundred big and small battles, and even in the last battle, he still beheaded hundreds of Han troops and won tactical victory. However, the series of tactical victories could not change the ending of his suicide in Wujiang, and he eventually fell at the feet of Liu Bang.

It is undeniable that Xiang Yu has magical talents in tactical use, which is rare in the world. However, "Heavenly destroys me, it is not the crime of using troops." Xiang Yu's last words showed that he could not understand even if he died. How could he die at the hands of another peerless strategic master Liu Bang.

This is the gap between tacticians and strategists.

After a big circle, I suddenly realized that I had returned to the starting point. All the victory I had won before was useless. Tactical masters often died in a confused and "innocent".

Zhan Xiaobai is a master of tactics and is proficient in strategy. At least he will not let himself lose. So while he just won Zhangye County and won a huge victory, he did not show much joy.

He clearly saw that the Little White Alliance had fallen into a hidden strategic crisis - the Little White Alliance was trapped in the narrow five counties of the Hexi Corridor. If he was trapped for a long time, he would be far behind the player alliance in the heart of the Central Plains. Unfortunately, in history, Han Sui and Ma Teng both lived a long life. In the game, Han Sui and Ma Teng collapsed in 208, and Han Sui even died in 215 years. Ma Teng's son Ma Chao died even later. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be difficult for them to get out of the game easily. After all, they are the strongest boss-level NPC characters.

Zhan Xiaobai's tactical ability has increased ten times more. Facing Han Sui and Ma Teng's alliance, they will also be blocked in Gulang Gorge and cannot get out of this canyon in one step. Unless he has more historical generals and greater military strength than Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao - but this is impossible. Just five counties in the Hexi Corridor of Liangzhou cannot produce so many NPC generals or so military strength.

Tactical victory can never solve the strategic dilemma. Strategic problems can always be solved by strategic means. People who mistakenly think that they can rely on tactical victory to change the strategic dilemma will always be tactical players.

Zhan Xiaobai is very clear about the difference between tactics and strategies, without any hesitation or hesitation. Therefore, he is much better than other player leaders, always at the forefront, most admired and loved by countless ordinary players in the game, and most suspicious and slandered by some competitor alliances, and wishes to use conspiracy and tricks to destroy the Xiaobai alliance.

Unfortunately, they never understand that conspiracy and tricks are still tactical means, not strategic means. They will only be surprised and strange, wondering why their "so clever" means do not work, and never imagined that tactical means are only very easy to use for ordinary people, but have no effect on skillful strategic players.

Tactical players experts always question Xiaobai's combat ability, believing that he is not very good at war, and in many cases he gets huge gains by luck. Just like the battle to conquer Zhangye, they will think that Xiaobai has picked up too many advantages from the Zhangye County Players Alliance, and some are not victorious. He is somewhat distracted by the victory in the Xiaobai Alliance's war.

Strategy players are unwilling to be enemies with him. Because when low-level strategists and advanced strategists are in irresistible fear in their hearts. They do not want to defeat and do not understand, but they cannot escape the ending of defeat without understanding. This depressing failure will make the Yin Li and fear that arises in their hearts difficult to achieve greater success.

There are not many players who have tried this kind of depressed and defeated, such as the Warring States World, Blue Demon Tears, etc. The Warring States World is very depressed because he is a strategic player. After defeat, he realizes it and becomes a little awake. He is so depressed that he wants to vomit blood. Blue Demon Tears is not too depressed because he is a tactical player. After defeat, he can't figure it out and is a little depressed. As for Fenyang Hou, he never admitted from the bottom of his heart that he had failed and is planning to borrow Xiaobai's power to make a comeback. Is this power really that easy to borrow?

Because of this, the Silent Sword, the prosperous Han and Tang Dynasties, Xiaoye, the Yellow Turban World, the lonely two cities, the peerless heroes... etc. The top leaders and player leaders in the game, no matter what they do, their eyes are always on a place in Liangzhou and never left.

As strategic players, they can more or less detect the strategic dilemma that Xiaobai Alliance is about to face. I just don’t know if they feel relieved about the strategic dilemma that Xiaobai is facing now? Or are they regretful or regretful?

Or are you looking forward to it? Looking forward to the little white-haired people breaking through and the heroes from all walks of life compete for the world?!
Chapter completed!