Chapter 177 Using Xu Du as a bait and using the world as a chess game
Chapter 177 Using Xu Du as bait and the world as chess
In the winter and tenth month of the sixth year of Jian'an, Yecheng, Jizhou.
After a year of rest, Yuan Shao finally regained his strength and decided to attack Cao Cao again.
Tian Feng did not die this time. Although Yuan Shao was angry at Tian Feng for causing him to lose face, he still gave up killing Tian Feng after Ju Shou's hard persuasion.
Moreover, this time he planned to attack Cao Cao according to Tian Feng Jushu's plan, and he planned to attack step by step. He would not rush to attack, but plan to attack slowly.
In November, Yuan Shao's army crossed the river and stationed troops in Pingqiu. Cao Cao once again went north to actively attack, with an army of 50,000. The two sides faced each other across the river at Jishui, just like the battle of Guandu.
However, this time Yuan Shao's troops were still much smaller. During the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao used 100,000 infantry and more than 10,000 cavalry. Together with the harassing troops attacking from Qingzhou and Sili, the total strength reached 13
forty thousand.
Nowadays, most of the troops were lost in the first battle. Even after regrouping, there are now only more than 80,000 troops. Together with the tens of thousands of troops left behind, Yuan Shao's original army of more than 200,000 troops now only has less than 150,000 troops left.
On the other hand, although Cao Cao's current total military strength is only more than 80,000, he can squeeze out 50,000 elite troops to confront him northward. Therefore, the overall strength of the two sides in this battle is actually not much different. Yuan is no longer weak and Cao is strong in the north.
The two are close to the number of five to five.
Yuan Jun garrisoned troops in Pingqiu, while Cao Cao garrisoned troops in Cangting. Now it was actually Yuan Shao who was eager for success no longer, but Cao Cao.
Because Liu Biao was also actively preparing to attack Cao Cao, Yuan Shao was not in a hurry at all. No matter how Cao Cao sent people to provoke him outside the camp, he remained unmoved and just spent his time. He only had to wait until Liu Biao took action, which was when he would destroy Cao Cao.
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At this moment, in Pingqiu Yuan Junying, Yuan Shao had recovered from his illness, and his energy and spirit were greatly different. Many civil and military generals and counselors were sitting down, with the eldest son Yuan Tan and his nephew Gao Gan standing on the left and right.
"Ming Gong."
General Meng Dai came in and knelt down on one knee and said: "Cao Cao is provoking outside the stronghold again."
"Ignore it."
Yuan Shao regained his original calmness, looked around at everyone and said with a smile: "Liu Jingsheng has raised an army of more than 100,000, and is now preparing for the Northern Expedition. Cao Cao is afraid that he will die of anxiety now."
"Ming Gong said it is right."
Jushou cupped his hands and said: "Our army has plenty of food and grass. We just need to wait for work. When Liu Biao goes north, Cao Cao will definitely go south to attack. We can attack from both front and rear to eliminate Cao Cao."
"Hahahahaha."
After Yuan Shao laughed, his face suddenly became extremely fierce. He slapped the table and said: "The shame of last year must be washed away today!"
At the same time, inside Cao Jun's camp, Cao Cao was walking back and forth in the camp quite restlessly.
Since Yuan Shao was defeated in Guandu last year and returned to Xudu, although the foundation of Xudu has not been lost, all the grain and grass are stored in the palace, and Shen Chen also distributes grain to the people, which indirectly helps him alleviate his urgent needs.
But his overall strength is still far inferior to that of Yuan Shao. The population under Yuan Shao's rule is close to ten million, and his annual grain payment is tens of millions of dan, while the population under his rule is only more than three million, and during the Battle of Guandu due to Yuan Shao's huge
Large-scale invasion makes it impossible to collect food and grass, and the recovery speed is too slow.
However, after the Battle of Guandu, he regained control of Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Xuzhou. Zang Ba also led his troops to surrender. In May of this year, the wheat harvest was harvested. The farmers and the grain and grass paid in from various places still helped him solve the problem.
this crisis.
So currently Cao Cao is not actually short of food, he is short of fighter planes. Liu Biao is eyeing him in the south, and Yuan Shao is making a comeback in the north. Even if the soldiers and horses are elite, it will be difficult to stop the hundreds of thousands of armies on both sides.
"Ming Gong, Yuan Jun hung up his no-war card. Even though he kept yelling and scolding, he still couldn't leave the camp."
After a while, Zhang Liao and Xu Huang, who had been sent to provoke him, returned.
Cao Cao sighed and said: "I know, let the soldiers go and rest first."
"only."
The two men retreated.
Cao Cao frowned.
During the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao was eager to attack, but he found a loophole to counterattack.
As a result, now he is eager to attack. It has to be said that this is not only a kind of irony, but also the sin caused by excessive killing in the early years.
"Ming Gong."
At this time, Guo Jia entered the tent. He saw Cao Cao walking slowly and steadily in the tent. He seemed calm and measured, but the solemn expression on his face still betrayed him. He raised his hands and said, "Ming Gong is still worried.
?"
When Cao Cao saw Guo Jia coming, he smiled bitterly and said: "Those who know me are filial piety. Don't worry about Yuan Benchu. Now that he has lost all his troops and horses, he is definitely not my opponent. It's just that Liu Biao is behind, so I am worried about Yuan Benchu."
"The current situation is like last year's decisive battle with Yuan Shao in Guandu, and Shen Chen was harassing the rear. But I heard that Liu Biao has not recruited Shen Chen now, so Ming Gong has nothing to worry about."
Guo Jia comforted him with a smile.
Cao Cao shook his head: "Although there is no Shen Chen, Liu Biao's army of hundreds of thousands is even worse than Shen Chen's."
"Ming Gong's words are wrong. Last year our rear area was empty. In Shenchen, we had 10,000 elite soldiers, marching hundreds of miles a day, rushing around the counties of Yingchuan. My soldiers in the rear area were exhausted and unable to retaliate."
Guo Jia said: "Although Liu Biao's crowd is large now, they are just a mob, like chickens and dogs. What's the point? What's more, Liu Jingsheng doesn't practice martial arts, and he has more than 100,000 people to attack Jingnan Zhangxian, just like himself.
After fighting for a year, are we not as good as Zhang Xian?"
"Forehead"
Cao Cao was amused by Guo Jia for a moment and laughed happily: "That's true. Liu Biao attacked Zhang Xian but had to wait until Zhang Xian died of illness. He is really incompetent."
Both of them laughed.
In fact, they all know that this is just a relaxing topic, and they should not be too anxious. The challenges they face are still severe, but in many cases, relaxing the body and mind in this way may have better results.
This is what is called strategically despising the enemy and tactically taking the enemy seriously.
After laughing for a while, Guo Jia said seriously: "It's just that Jingnan has mountains and rivers, which makes it easy to defend and difficult to attack, so it can last for a long time. Yingchuan has a clear view, and only the city can be defended. If Liu Biao attacks on a large scale, we will be attacked from the north and south, and we will be attacked from both sides."
It cannot be taken lightly."
"Um."
Cao Cao nodded and said, "What's the best way to practice filial piety?"
Guo Jia thought for a while and said: "Liu Biao has not sent troops yet, and we don't know his details. It is useless to formulate a strategy hastily. It is better to wait and see. After he sends troops, we will see who his generals are.
How are the troops and horses deployed, and then we will respond."
"The words of filial piety are reasonable."
Cao Cao sighed and sat down: "Then let's wait a little longer and wait and see what Liu Biao does."
Historically, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought in Cangting, and the battle was considered a great victory. However, Yuan Shao actually did not damage his roots and calmly withdrew to Hebei. Until he died of illness the following year and Cao Cao went north, Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang and others still had the strength to deal with Cao Cao.
After several years, it can be seen that Yuan Shao suffered little loss in the battle of Cangting.
But history is different now. Ju Shou Tian Feng is still alive and Yuan Shao is slow to pursue it. If Cao Cao tries to lure the enemy deep into his home, he will not fall into the trap. In addition, Liu Biao is coming from behind. If Xu Du is attacked during the battle between the two sides, the consequences will be disastrous.
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Therefore, Cao Cao did not dare to rush for victory. Instead, when Yuan Shao stood still and stayed in the camp, and perfectly protected the grain road to avoid repeating the same mistakes, he had nothing to do with him.
After all, when Wuchao was burned down, Xu You was the second and fifth son.
Now that Yuan Shao has divided the grain and grass into several pieces and distributed them in Kuangcheng, Pucheng and other places, and defended them according to the city, it is no longer possible for him to repeat the burning of Wuchao.
Both sides continue to stall for time.
More than three months passed, in the spring of the seventh year of Jian'an, that is, in February 202 AD, Liu Biao finally started the Northern Expedition after more than half a year of preparation.
He made Zhang Yun a general, commanding an army of 80,000, and Wenpin a general, commanding an army of 30,000.
There are dozens of generals at all levels under the command of the two generals.
There was also the uncle of the Han Dynasty, assisted by General Liu Bei of the left, with about 10,000 troops. The total force was 120,000, known as 500,000. The troops were divided into three groups and marched northward to attack Cao Cao.
Liu Biao himself did not go.
Yes.
Not even his son went.
So he sent his nephew Zhang Yun and his nephew Liu Hu. He didn't even mobilize his other nephew Liu Pan, and arranged them to guard against Sun Quan in Jingnan.
It's not that Liu Biao doesn't want to go, it's just that he is too old.
If he were ten years younger, he would definitely choose to fight in person and fight on the battlefield to revive the Han Dynasty.
However, he was already old, already sixty years old, and could not withstand the hardships.
At this age, running around even a little bit may lead to death. Moreover, since Kuai Liang died of illness, Liu Biao was also very sad. After crying bitterly, his health became much worse.
Therefore, in the past year, Liu Biao has been recuperating in Xiangyang. During the war, he could only send his nephew Zhang Yun, general Wenpin, and nephew Liu Hu there.
In terms of the status of the Jingzhou Army, Huang Zu must be worthy of his name as the number one general in Jingzhou, and he has always been relied upon by Liu Biao.
But there are two reasons why Huang Zu was not sent.
First, Huang Zu was good at navy and was stationed in Jiangxia to guard against Jiangdong.
Second, Huang Zu had a foreign surname, so Liu Biao naturally did not dare to hand over more than 100,000 troops and horses into the hands of a foreign surname.
And Zhang Yun is his nephew, he is already over forty years old, and is currently the second general in Jingzhou. When he can't fight in person, his eldest son doesn't like him, and his second son can't lead an army, he naturally has no choice but to choose Zhang Yun.
Zhang Yun.
However, although Zhang Yun's ability was not as good as Huang Zu's, Liu Biao was still full of confidence in this attack.
Because the opponent's strength is really too weak.
Coupled with Yuan Shao and him attacking from the north and south, Cao Cao must be exhausted and ready to die.
So when Liu Biao thought about it, even if his incompetent nephew was mediocre and overwhelmed with more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, it should be fine no matter what.
So in the seventh year of Jian'an, in January, Zhang Yun and Wenpin led tens of thousands of troops to the north. By February, Zhang Yun left Nanyang and marched to the Dingling area, facing Cao Cao's remaining general Xiahou Dun across the Ru River.
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Wenpin went north to Xiangcheng and to Fenqiu, where he confronted Cao Cao's general Cao Hong across the Yingshui River.
Cao Cao only left 30,000 troops in the rear. Facing Liu Biao's more than 100,000 troops, he was clearly unable to do what he wanted. He could only burn a large number of bridges and use the two large rivers Ru River and Ying River to temporarily block the enemy.
Taking advantage of this time, Liu Bei detoured to Yuzhou and occupied Runan. For a while, the remaining Yuan family's old troops responded one after another, and soon gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and horses with great momentum.
A few days later, Cao Cao got the news at the Chenliucangting front line. At this time, he and Yuan Shao had been facing off for more than a hundred days, and the two sides had not yet started a war.
Upon learning that Liu Biao's army had finally moved north, Cao Cao immediately summoned his three counselors, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, and Xun You, to discuss countermeasures.
In the camp of General Cao's army, four people sat in rows.
Cao Cao looked around the crowd and said: "Liu Biao stationed troops in Kunyang last month. News came a few days ago that his generals Zhang Yun and Wenpin entered Dingling and Xiangcheng, Liu Bei occupied Runan, and Yuan's old troops
Echo, what do you think?"
Guo Jia was the first to analyze: "Liu Biao is over sixty years old and calls himself the Duke of Chu. I think he must have ambitions to become emperor, so he will definitely urge Zhang Yunwenpin to march as soon as possible to attack Xudu. I guess he is afraid of plotting to harm the emperor.
"
"Well, the words of filial piety are very reasonable."
Cheng Yu and Xun You also nodded. In fact, the reason why Liu Biao proclaimed himself duke without causing too much trouble was because he was from the clan with the surname Liu.
Nowadays, there are countless princes and princes surnamed Liu in the world. Emperor Gaozu once established the White Horse Alliance. According to this regulation, even if Liu Biao becomes king, as long as Liu Xie does not strongly oppose it, no one can blame him.
As for Liu Xie's opinions, what opinions could he have? Being controlled by Cao Cao, it was obviously difficult to speak out.
Cao Cao actually condemned Liu Biao in his name, but Liu Biao held up the official document of the imperial edict and said that it was Cao Cao's false edict. Therefore, the reaction of all the princes in the world was not as strong as when Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor.
After all, even if Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, he only offended a few princes here. Liu Zhang in Yizhou, Yuan Shao in the north, Sui Ma Teng in Guanzhong, everyone was only busy with their own three-acre land, who would care?
Do you think it's a matter of calling yourself emperor or not?
Therefore, so far, apart from Sun Quan responding to Cao Cao's call, condemning Liu Biao, and saying that he would raise troops to attack, even Liu Zhang, the southwest prince who also had the same hatred as Liu Biao, has done nothing.
Because of Sun Quan's response, Cao Cao also issued an edict to confer Sun Quan as the General of Zhennan, the governor of Kuaiji, and succeeded his brother Sun Ce in the title of Marquis of Wu.
However, Sun Quan had just inherited Jiangdong and was recuperating, and Huang Zu's troops had been replenished, with tens of thousands of followers, almost as many as his troops. Therefore, Sun Quan went to the court and said that he needed time to prepare, but he had not yet sent out troops, so it was a waste of time.
Wave reward.
"I look at the north and the south. Yuan Shao is slow and Liu Biao is anxious. The southern troops are pressing but the northern troops are late. Perhaps we can lead the troops south to defeat Liu Biao first, and then go north to compete with Yuan Shao for supremacy."
Guo Jia put forward his own opinions.
He believed that Liu Biao was eager for success and would inevitably have many flaws. When the time came, he could lead his troops south to lure the enemy deeper, break Liu Biao first, and then go north to fight Yuan Shao.
However, Xun You shook his head and said: "No, although the southern army is larger, it is not as effective as the northern army. It will be easy to defeat Liu Biao, but it will be difficult to defeat Yuan Shao. Once we go south, Yuan Shao will definitely chase us. Even if we defeat Liu Biao, we will still have our backs."
It will be difficult to maintain if it is attacked by Yuan's army."
"Well"
Guo Jia pondered, he was actually the best at analyzing the psychology of the enemy and ourselves, so he could encourage Cao Cao every time and formulate strategies by exploring the enemy's thoughts, but in terms of tactical planning, he was indeed not as good as Xun You and Cheng Yu.
"Ming Gong, I have a plan."
At this moment, Cheng Yu said: "The relationship between us and Yuan Shao is like two evenly matched tigers, both circling and circling each other, looking for each other's weaknesses. Now that Liu Biao is attacking, if he goes south to defeat Liu Biao, Yuan Shao will surely attack him."
, so why don’t we take advantage of this opportunity to deliberately expose our flaws and lure Yuan Shao to pursue us?”
Cao Cao hurriedly asked: "What does Zhongde mean?"
Cheng Yu said with a smile: "We can withdraw our troops, and when Yuan Shao comes to pursue him, we can cause a decisive battle in the field. Then we can use the strategy of ambush from ten sides, and suddenly the troops and horses rush out, and we can defeat him."
"It's not that simple."
Xun You shook his head: "After Yuan Shao's defeat last time, and with Tian Feng as his assistant, he won't be so stupid that we retreat immediately. He will come after us immediately. He will definitely find out the truth and wait until he is sure that we have gone south.
Chasing, so this plan cannot work."
"That"
Cheng Yu scratched his head, then there was nothing he could do.
Cao Cao looked at Xun You and said, "What clever ideas can Gongda teach me?"
Xun You thought for a while and said: "There is only one plan, build the plank road openly and attack Chen Cang secretly."
"What is the solution to this plan? Please explain in detail." Cao Cao asked hurriedly.
"Fengxiao is right. Yuan Shao will slow down his plan and will not rush to attack. However, the northern army is strong and the southern army is weak. How can there be a reason for the strong army to attack the weak army first? When the time comes, our army will be tired first after a long journey south.
Even if we defeat Liu Biao and then go north to compete with Yuan Shao for supremacy, it will be difficult to last long."
Xun You talked eloquently: "So Liu Biao is eager to attack, so we will let him attack. Ming Gong can lead the army to retreat at this time, and then order Xiahou Dun and Cao Hong to pretend to be defeated, and retreat to the vicinity of Xudu. At this time Liu Biao will inevitably attack again
Marching forward, the army surrounded Xudu, making Xudu like a boat in the sea, ready to capsize at any time."
"Then Xudu is not in danger?"
Cao Cao frowned.
Xun You smiled and said: "The purpose is to put Xu Du in danger. At this time, Ming Gong can lead 40,000 troops southward, leaving 10,000 troops to confront Yuan Shao. When Yuan Shao learns about this and sees us retreating, he will definitely think that we are going south.
Lift the siege of Xudu, so that we can safely attack the 10,000 soldiers and horses left behind. When the soldiers and horses left behind retreat and Yuan Shao pursues us, we will ambush in the road and we will definitely defeat them!"
This strategy was to show the enemy weakness first and deliberately retreat, allowing Liu Biao's army to create a situation where Xudu had been surrounded and Xudu might overturn at any time.
Yuan Shao got the news that Xudu was besieged by Liu Biao, and when he saw that Cao Cao's main force had withdrawn and there were only 10,000 people left in Cangting, he would have thought that Cao Cao was going to fight Liu Biao and go south to lift the siege of Xudu.
In order to add insult to injury, he would definitely choose to continue the attack and storm Cao's camp that was left behind.
At that time, Cao's troops who stayed behind retreated and Yuan Shao pursued them. At this time, the main force of Cao's army suddenly rushed out without going south at all. They ambushed Yuan Shao from all sides and defeated Yuan Shao.
"This is a dangerous move."
After hearing this, Cao Cao sighed.
This strategy is to use Xudu City as bait and the world as a chessboard.
Once Liu Biao misjudged his strength and allowed Liu Biao to attack Xudu City, I am afraid that even if he defeated Yuan Shao at Cangting, the dragon would be slaughtered and the whole game would be lost.
Xun You smiled bitterly and said: "Jushu Tian Feng is a wise man. If you want to deceive them, it will not be easy. Only by using Xu Du as bait can you lure the heroes to the bait."
"Um."
Cao Cao nodded: "Gongda is right. Since Gu went out to fight, he fought against Dong Zhuo for the Yellow Turbans, except for Lu Bu who defeated Yuan Shao. How many times has it not been dangerous? Even if the whole world is an enemy, they are not all enemies. It's better to show filial piety.
It is said that Gongda's plan and Zhongde's plan are to go north and then south, using Xudu as a bait to lure Yuan Shao into taking the bait, ambushing him from all sides, and trying to defeat him!"