Chapter 164 Famously spread to the world to question Zhang Xiu!
Chapter 164: Fame spreads throughout the world, punish Zhang Xiu!
The raging flames can be seen even dozens of miles away. The fire is soaring into the sky and the smoke is filled. In the early morning, when the sky is still dark, the flames are like sunset covering the sky and dyeing the southern sky.
Cao Cao's face was horrified at this moment. What he was most afraid of now was the loss of Xudu. He was so frightened that he quickly urged his soldiers to leave as soon as possible.
After arriving in Xudu, the flames were still burning. In order to prevent the fire from spreading, Cao Cao ordered his army to immediately dig a firebreak along the perimeter of the city. At the same time, he ordered people to divert the Lishui and Lishui rivers from ditches outside the city to meet the urgent need.
However, with such a large fire, it was still too difficult to extinguish it with water. Even Cao Cao could only prevent the fire from burning to the surrounding farmland and destroying the wheat harvest next May.
Therefore, the fire burned like this for three days and three nights, and it was not finally extinguished until several days later.
The only thing that pleased Cao Cao was that before Liu Bei's Shen Chen army attacked the city, Xun Yu moved all Xu Du's grain reserves to the palace warehouse.
In this way, he didn't need to worry about the food and fodder problem for the army when it returned to Xudu.
As the original city of Xudu, the imperial palace was protected by a moat drawn from the Lishui and Lishui rivers. Moreover, it was not stagnant water but living water, so the fog evaporated and actually cooled the city.
The people inside the city were fine, and the people outside the city were evacuated in time, and no casualties were caused.
The only losses were that the properties and shops of the powerful Yingchuan family and businessmen were burned down. Especially for the powerful local families in Xudu, their family property was severely damaged.
After all, it is difficult for powerful families from other places to compete with the local rich and powerful families in Xudu. The land and houses they own are far inferior to those of their rivals, and their own property is not much.
Not to mention the common people, most of whom live on the edge of the outer city and are engaged in agricultural production around Xudu. Their only family property is a wooden house, which will be burned if it is burned.
On the contrary, because Liu Beijun distributed money and food in the early morning, many people on the edge of the outer city shipped away their valuable furniture such as hoes and poles. If they came back to rebuild their houses, they would have money and food, and their lives would be better than before. .
Moreover, Cao Cao's construction work still deserves recognition.
After Xu Du was burned, he was not in the mood to pursue Shen Chen, but immediately devoted himself to rebuilding his home.
Although the people are just means of production to him, now he really needs these means of production to resume production as soon as possible to ensure the army's food expenditure next year.
So to a certain extent, Cao Cao now stopped plundering and exploiting the people, and began to rebuild homes for the people, not because of his conscience, nor because he became a good person, but because of Shen Chen and Liu Bei The army came.
While Cao Cao was intensively launching the Xudu reconstruction plan, Shen Chen's army had already marched south to Kunyang.
He even beat Li Tong on the way back.
Li Tong received Xun Yu's order and attacked Wuyang and Kunyang together with Zhao Yan, hoping to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao. However, before the attack began in the city, he heard the news that Shen Chen's army had turned around, and fled in panic.
After Liu Bei learned of this situation, he immediately sent people to pursue him. He defeated Li Tong in Baiting. Li Tong suffered heavy losses and retreated to his hometown Langling.
After beating Li Tong, the army retreated from Wuyang and Kunyang, and at the same time moved the population of the two cities to Nanyang to settle down. Outside the gate of Nanyang, Cao Cao was left with two empty cities, and he retreated to Ye County, which made people He was stationed in Lushan, Juancheng, Duyang and other places.
The main reason why Kunyang and Wuyang were given away was that the entrance and exit of Nanyang was really undefeable. The two cities were just around the entrance. People could swagger into Nanyang from the middle, but it was not easy to defend.
Therefore it is better to retreat to Nanyang.
In the Han Dynasty, Ye County was the Dushu Town of Fangcheng in later generations. It was stuck in the center of the Nanyang Basin. Juan City was to the east of Ye County and Lushan was to the north of Ye County. In this way, plus Duyang in the rear, it became Fangcheng in later generations. The county formed a relatively narrow defensive formation.
At this time, Liu Biao had not completely dealt with Zhang Xian's remnants and was unable to provide support to Shen Chen. However, Cao Cao did not pursue him, so both sides were in peace.
After Liu Bei entered Nanyang, he wrote to Liu Biao.
Historically, his political status was higher than that of Liu Biao. At that time, Liu Biao was only the shepherd of Jingzhou, the general of Zhennan, and the Marquis of Wu. Moreover, he was granted the title by Li Jue and Guo Si, so his status was greatly reduced.
Liu Bei was the emperor's uncle, the shepherd of Yuzhou, the general of Zuo, and the marquis of Yicheng Ting. Liu Xie personally conferred titles on him in Xudu, which was very valuable.
So when Liu Bei came to Nanyang, Liu Biao had to take the initiative to greet him.
But now in order to win over Liu Biao, Cao Cao upgraded Liu Biao's Zhennan general to a hussar general, so that everyone was almost on an equal footing, and Liu Bei was still a guest, so Liu Bei took the initiative to write to Liu to express his goodwill.
The two parties exchanged letters and treated each other as brothers, with Jing Sheng as the elder brother and Xuande as the younger brother.
Because Liu Bei temporarily wanted to be on guard against Cao Cao who might become angry and pursue him, he has not yet gone south to meet Liu Biao.
Shen Chen planned to take advantage of Liu Bei's guarding Ye County to send troops to Rangcheng to question Zhang Xiu.
But what he didn't know was that within half a month after the fire burned Xudu, the news that he visited Xudu three times and burned the city spread throughout the country.
Now everyone in the world knows that Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao in Guandu, but within two days of his success, his old nest of Xudu was burned down.
The person who burned Xudu was a boy who was only fifteen years old.
Overnight, Shen Chen went from being only famous in Jingzhou to being well-known throughout the country. His fame reached its peak in an instant, and everyone in the world was astonished.
Everyone knows his story.
From the time when Cao Cao massacred Xuzhou, to when he was eight years old, he led his clan to hide and massacre, and then urged the clan members to move to Jingzhou for refuge, and then to when he was determined to study in Jingzhou, in just seven or eight years, Jingyi has made many great scholars feel ashamed. Rather, he even created the concept of "unity of knowledge and action" and had the demeanor of a great master.
What's even more powerful is that even though he is determined to study, he never forgets revenge. He repelled Cao Cao's attacks in Nanyang several times. He also sent troops to Yuzhou at the beginning of this year and marched outside the capital of Xu three times. In addition to losing the battle with Cao Cao in person, at other times, They all crushed Cao's army and were as powerful as tigers.
For a time, Xun Yu's comment that he was as brave as a tiger and a silver fox was known to everyone in the world. His reputation as a fox and a tiger also spread throughout the country. It was known to the world that he had the courage of a tiger and the courage of a silver fox. Zhi is a genius with both civil and military skills who is the best in the world!
Jizhou, Yecheng.
Yuan Shao had a very difficult life these days. After escaping from Henan, in just half a month, the whole Jizhou seemed to have changed.
Countless people lamented the death of their sons and nephews in the war, and every household hung silk curtains. Soul-calling cries filled the wilderness. Amidst the harsh winter wind and the vast North China Plain, there seemed to be the voices of countless wronged souls, mixed in the howling wind. Ghosts cry and wolves howl.
Inside and outside Ye City, the cries of the people and the white flags all over the city seemed to remind Yuan Shao that you were the one who killed our nephews because of your own willfulness. You should be responsible for their deaths and should pay for their lives.
!
Rebellions have sprung up in various places. What's even more terrible is that we got the news the day before yesterday that the frontline soldiers who were captured by Cao Cao were released by Cao Cao, but without food and grass, all of them were hungry and turned into wolves.
It is like locusts passing through, leaving no bark, grass or roots behind.
But it was already late winter, and there wasn’t much vegetation left. How could we feed 80,000 people?
Therefore, countless people died of starvation and freezing along the way.
Some people ate Guanyin soil and were strangled to death, and then were eaten by their starving companions; some people were attacked from behind as soon as they dug a wild vegetable; some people were even strangled alive by everyone and became two-legged lambs.
After finally reaching the edge of the Yellow River, the turbulent Yellow River once again became an insurmountable chasm blocking them in front of them.
Many people relied on cannibalism to survive and lacked weapons. It took many days to build rafts and boats. However, due to poor quality, countless people were killed or injured in a big wave in the river. I don't know how many people were buried in the Yellow River.
Although Yuan Shao knew of their existence, firstly, a large number of equipment had not been brought back from Guandu. Secondly, there was a rebellion in the rear, which required a large number of troops to suppress, and he could not spare any manpower to help the prisoners who were released.
Even he himself fell ill in bed, and Jizhou was leaderless and in chaos.
So, 80,000 people walked this 200-kilometer road for nearly half a month. When they finally returned to Liyang, less than 30,000 of them were left.
Originally, they were fully expecting Yuan Shao to show mercy and send people to Liyang to meet them and provide them with food to survive.
However, Yuan Shao had too much to take care of himself. The civil strife in Jizhou continued, and all the grain and grass were burned. He had to mobilize grain, grass and troops from various places to suppress the rebellion. In addition, he himself fell ill and was often lethargic, so when they arrived in Liyang, they saw nothing.
These 30,000 remnant soldiers were like locusts, densely packed and swept through the entire Liyang County. The county seat was occupied and many people were killed. Liyang, Neihuang, Fanyang, Yin'an and other places in the south of Wei County were all shaken.
In the general's mansion, Yuan Shao's bedroom was built in the backyard. The house was fragrant with Chinese medicine, and the smell of various spices and herbs mixed together to form a unique fragrance.
The disastrous defeat at Guandu made Yuan Shao exhausted mentally and physically, and he fell ill after returning. Various counselors and generals had come to visit during the day. Yuan Shao's condition was actually much better at that time, but he didn't want to talk to them more, so he pretended to be comatose and fell asleep for a while.
Sleep.
By evening, his energy had recovered a lot.
In the past few days, he had been unable to sleep all night, and was drowsy during the day. He was exhausted mentally and agitated. Half a month later, at the age of fifty, he seemed to have aged ten years. His hair was visibly white, and his appearance had changed.
It became silver and gray.
Mrs. Liu and Yuan Shang also left after their visit. A servant came to report that it was Ju Shang who asked for an audience.
Historically, Jushu was captured after Yuan's camp was breached but failed to escape. Cao Cao then persuaded him to surrender, but he did not listen and was defeated and killed when he was about to escape.
But now that Cao Cao had just captured Yuan Jun, he heard that Shen Chen had attacked Xudu, so how could he care about him?
Among the rebellious troops, a general discovered Jushou while riding north and took him back with him. On the second day after Yuan Shaogang returned to Hebei, Jushou also came back and came to look for him.
"Let him in."
Yuan Shao slowly climbed up from the wooden collapse and leaned against the bed screen.
After a while, Jushou walked in slowly, held his hands in front of him and said, "Ming Gong."
"Um."
Yuan Shao nodded: "How?"
"Tens of thousands of new soldiers have been recruited, and high-ranking officials have returned to Jizhou and are rushing to put down the rebellion."
"Where's Li Yang?"
"Jiang Yiqu has gone, hoping to appease the soldiers."
"Well"
Yuan Shao responded, and the room fell silent.
"well"
After a while, he sighed quietly again: "I'm sorry for them."
"Ming Gong."
Jushou held up his hands and advised sincerely: "Losing a few battles is not enough to determine the overall situation. Although Duke Ming is worried, he cannot just let it go. Please cheer up."
"More than 100,000 elite troops went south, and were defeated in a single battle. Now the people in the city are crying and howling. What dignity do I have?"
A sad look appeared on Yuan Shao's face. Those cries carried by the wind into his general's mansion. The sounds were full of sadness and despair. How could he not be ashamed?
Jushou said: "Does Mr. Ming know the latest news?"
"what news?"
"General Zuo and a young man named Shen Chen stormed Xudu, causing a fire and burning down the city!"
"What?"
Yuan Shao was shocked and asked: "What happened to Cao Cao?"
Jushu replied: "He is not seriously injured. It is said that Xingye galloped back to Xudu to put out the fire, but Xudu was completely devastated and dilapidated."
"Pity."
Yuan Shao sighed: "If Cao Cao dies, I can sleep in peace."
Jushou said seriously: "Ming Gong, Shen Chen is only a fifteen-year-old boy, but he can attack Xudu three times and kill more than tens of thousands of Cao Cao's troops? After this battle, Cao Cao is also exhausted and will inevitably decline. Even a young man can be brave.
Fighting hard, Ming Gong is still in his prime now, how can he be depressed because of this?"
"solitary"
Yuan Shao was a little moved by Ju Shou's words, but he also thought that he had ruined so many elites in Jizhou, and the cries of countless soldiers and their families inside and outside the city were as destructive as the sound of debt collection, which made his heart feel like a knife and his face was dejected.
Jushou added: "General Zuo is only ten years old and nearly forty years old, but he is able to fight and defeat again and again. Xuzhou and Cao Cao have been defeated in several battles for supremacy. He has lost his foundation and joined Duke Ming. He has been defeated and fought repeatedly.
Now that he can burn down Xudu together with Shen Chen, establish an unparalleled feat, and finally be known to the world, does it mean that after Ming Gong was defeated once, he felt that his great cause was impossible?"
"Um."
Yuan Shao took a deep breath. Jushu's encouragement really inspired him. He nodded and said: "Gong Yu is right. Even Liu Bei and a fifteen-year-old boy who has no foundation can fight bravely and sit alone among the four states."
How can we fail to get back up after the land and sea are full of people's hope? I will nurse myself back to health, suppress rebellions in various places, cultivate people's livelihood for a few years, and then I will have a showdown with Cao Cao!"
"Ming Gong is wise."
Ju was overjoyed and bowed his hands.
But Yuan Shao's profound gaze looked south outside the window.
The Battle of Guandu.
He did lose.
But this battle is by no means the beginning, but only the beginning.
In the future, he will definitely regain his strength and fight to the death with Cao Cao again!
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In Jiangdong, the 19-year-old Sun Quan recently attacked Wancheng in Lujiang and eliminated Li Shu, the prefect of Lujiang.
In order to frighten Xiao Xiao, who was rebellious in Jiangdong, he ordered the massacre of the city, killing everyone in the city, capturing Li Shu's 30,000 Buqu, and marched back to Moling in a mighty manner.
After this battle, the rebellions in various parts of Jiangdong subsided a lot.
Sun Quan put Sun Fu under house arrest again and put down Sun Hao's rebellion. Now only Shanyue in the south still has some rebellion, and Jiangdong has become peaceful.
At the end of the fifth year of Jian'an, the news that Cao Cao's capital was burned also spread to Jiangdong.
In Moling County, Sun Quan was receiving a guest.
This person's name is Zhuge Jin, who is Zhuge Liang's half-brother.
Zhuge Jin avoided trouble in Jiangdong and lived in Qu'a. Sun Quan's brother-in-law, Qu'a Haoqiang Hongzi, was friendly with him. After talking with him, he thought he was a genius, so he recommended him to Sun Quan.
It happened that Sun Quan's chief secretary Bu Zhao also had a good relationship with Zhuge Jin. When he heard about Zhuge Jin's arrival, he also recommended his friend to Sun Quan.
Several people were sitting separately in the hall, and they were chatting happily. Zhuge Jin also expressed his willingness to serve as an official in Jiangdong, so Sun Quan planned to make him a guest first to see his talent and learning before making any calculations.
At this moment, a servant suddenly came to report, entered the hall and knelt down on one knee to Sun Quan and said: "Report, urgent news from Yuzhou!"
"Send it up."
Sun Quan had a serious face. Although he was only nineteen years old, he was already quite majestic.
The attendant then handed the bamboo slip with both hands and brought it to the case.
After Sun Quan took it, he glanced at it, his face changed slightly, and his blue eyes showed disbelief.
"Forehead"
Everyone saw him reading the letter, but they didn't speak for a long time, and they were a little at a loss.
After a while, Hongzi said: "General, what happened in Yuzhou? Could it be that Cao Cao is attacking?"
During the previous campaign against Li Shu, Li Shu asked Cao Cao for help, but Cao Cao was still fighting the Battle of Guandu at the time and had no way to deal with him.
The latest news is that Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu, which shocked the world. Therefore, everyone is very worried, fearing that Cao Cao will attack Jiangdong again at this time.
"no."
Sun Quan shook his head, put down the official document in his hand, and said softly: "The left general Liu Bei and the hussar general Liu Biao's general Shen Chen attacked Xudu together, and Xudu was burned to the ground."
"What?"
Bu Zhao said ecstatically: "General, I'm so happy. At least within a few years, it will be difficult for Cao Cao to invade Jiangdong, and we can rest in peace."
"Well, that's a good thing."
Sun Quan nodded noncommittally, with no happy look on his face.
Zhuge Jin and Hong Zi Bu Zhi looked at each other and roughly understood why Sun Quan was unhappy.
It's just that I feel unbalanced.
All of them were young men under the age of twenty. When they were fifteen, they killed Xudu three times, and the last time they burned down Cao Cao's lair.
He is nineteen years old, but he is often said to be named after his father and brother.
In the future, when people talk about Shen Chen, they will say that Shen Lang burned Xudu on the fifteenth day of his life. He was really a brave young man.
When talking about Sun Quan, most people just say, Oh, Sun Quan, the lord of Jiangdong who relied on his father and brother to lay the foundation of Jiangdong?
How could he be happy when comparing the two?
It's just that this kind of thing requires self-regulation. Although the three of them knew that Sun Quan was unhappy, they had no way to persuade him, so they could only choose to remain silent.
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At the same time, in addition to Jizhou and Yangzhou, as things continued to ferment, news spread as far away as Liangzhou, Yizhou in the southwest, and even Jingnan in eastern Liaoning about the outcome of the Battle of Guandu and the fire in Xudu.
When Xiliang Han Sui, Ma Teng and others caused trouble in Guanzhong, they had agreed to surrender to Cao Cao because Zhong Yao was in the middle to mediate the situation, and even sent their children to Xudu as hostages.
After the fire in Xudu, Cao Cao's prestige suddenly fell to the bottom, and the two men no longer feared the court and started a rebellion.
For this reason, Cao Cao ordered Pei Mao and Duan Xuan to garrison Chang'an to protect Chang'an's safety.
The two sides broke up and were temporarily friendly in history, and Han Sui and Ma Teng also sent troops to help Zhong Yao defeat Bingzhou Gaogan, which was completely the opposite. Later, when Cao Cao fought with Yuan Shao, he personally conquered Han Sui and Ma Teng. This is
Future stories.
In December of the fifth year of Jian'an, Xu Du reluctantly rebuilt a large number of wooden houses for the people inside and outside the city to live in. Cao Cao asked Xun Yu to settle the rear, and he personally led the army and stationed in Kunyang in the south.
At the end of the year, Liu Biao finally put down Zhang Xian's rebellion and gained tens of thousands of troops from his army. Over one hundred thousand troops and horses were gathered overnight. After Yuan Shao's defeat, he became the leader of all the princes in the world. When he learned that Cao Cao had come to Kunyang in person
, he ordered Wen Pin and Zhang Yun to lead an army of 50,000 people and march north to Wancheng.
The two sides faced off against Kunyang, Wuyang, Yexian, Duyang, and Wancheng at the gate of Nanyang. Although Cao Cao and Liu Biao both had the power of a great victory, they each had their own fears, so they did not start a war for a long time. They just locked up layers of walls and blocked each other.
It's just precaution.
With Liu Biao's military assistance, Liu Bei was able to take time to go south to Xiangyang to visit Liu Biao in person. Shen Chen, on the other hand, wrote to Liu Biao while rushing to Rangcheng to question Zhang Xiu!