Chapter 191 The Confrontation Between Yuan Cao and Kuangcheng
Chapter 191 Yuan Cao Kuangcheng Confrontation
In June of the ninth year of Jian'an, when Liu Biao launched an offensive and sent Shen Chen and Liu Bei to attack Liu Zhang, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had already begun preparations for the war.
A large number of various weapons and equipment were transported from the warehouses of various military camps and were once again maintained.
Countless supplies of grain, baggage, and tents were sent to Yecheng and Chendu.
In July, after nearly half a year of preparation, Yuan Shao's troops moved first. He sent Jiang Yiqu as the vanguard and his third son Yuan Shang as the commander of the front army. About 30,000 troops entered Liyang.
This time Yuan Shao's total force was still 80,000, but with the addition of auxiliary soldiers, civilians, and craftsmen, the total reached 150,000, known as 200,000, and marched towards Yanzhou.
In addition, the eldest son Yuan Tan, the governor of Qingzhou, led an army of 20,000 people, marched south from Pingyuan Kingdom, entered Jibei Kingdom and Dongping Kingdom, threatening Cao Cao's right wing.
The nephew Gao Gan borrowed soldiers and horses from the Huns in the south of Bingzhou and invaded the east of Koluo River, and then attacked Sili River.
Cao Cao also made timely arrangements. If Zang Ba's troops are included, his total military strength is now as much as 110,000. However, after excluding the rear, he still needs to have a certain number of remaining troops, and the number of people who can be mobilized is about 90,000. .
And this number is not without change. Since the southern princes are at war, Liu Biao and Liu Zhang and Sun Quan start the war at the same time, and even Liu Bei's army has been transferred. Then Cao Cao does not need to consider the issue of rear defense. The only thing he has to face is Han who colludes with Yuan Shao. Then Ma Teng.
So he asked Zang Ba to march from Xuzhou, move from the southeast to the north, and stationed in Taishan County, Lu State and other places. He also sent Cheng Yu as the commander-in-chief and led 5,000 people to garrison in Juancheng. Shi Huan was the central leader and led 3,000 people to Jin. Township, support Zang Ba to contain Yuan Tan.
There were about 10,000 troops in the east, and much more troops in the west. Because Yuan Shao invited foreign aid, Han Sui and Ma Teng rebelled, and ordered Huchuquan and Guo Yuan to drive away Zhong Yao and occupy Guanzhong.
Now all the generals in Guanzhong united together, responded to Yuan Shao's call, assembled an army of 70,000 to 80,000 men, marched toward Hongnong in a mighty manner, and began to threaten Duan Yan in Huayin.
Duan Xuan's army only had about seven or eight thousand men, so Cao Cao ordered him to retreat to Shaanxi County, which was later known as Sanmenxia City.
At that time, the terrain to the south of the Yellow River was narrow, with the dense Qinling Mountains to the south and the mighty Yellow River to the north. It was easy to defend and difficult to attack Guanzhong from Guandong, but it was also not easy to attack Guandong from Guanzhong.
Like Tongguan, with its back to the Qinling Plateau and north to the Yellow River, there are actually many ideal defense points.
It's just that the construction of Tongguan lies at the entrance from Guandong into Guanzhong. This can not only provide defense, but also allow large armies to enter Guanzhong at any time, which has strategic significance for offense.
The same is true at Hangu Pass.
The road between Tongguan and Hangu Pass is a dangerous place bordering the Qinling Mountains in the south and the Yellow River in the north. However, Tongguan is at the entrance of Guanzhong, which makes it easier for Guandong to attack Guanzhong. Hangu Pass is at the entrance of Guandong, making it easier for Guanzhong to attack Guandong. .
However, Hangu Pass in the Han Dynasty lost its strategic significance due to the changes in the Yellow River. Cao Cao considered that he could not attack Guanzhong for the time being, so he focused his defense on the Guandong area.
In this way, even if Han Sui, Ma Teng and other generals in Guanzhong attacked together, the supply line on the south bank of the Yellow River, which is more than 200 kilometers long, would seriously delay their attack.
Cao Cao deployed about 20,000 troops near Chendu and more than 10,000 troops on the eastern front. He personally led an army of 50,000 troops north to meet Yuan Shao.
At the same time, more than 20,000 people under Yu Jin were ordered to garrison in the Yin area of Henan to protect the security of Cao Jun's western front.
In this way, the deployment of both parties is completed.
Yuan Shao's main force of about 80,000 troops marched south from Yecheng, crossed the river from Liyang, entered Dongjun and attacked Chenliu.
Yuan Tan on the right had about 20,000 men, and several thousand more scattered harassing troops.
The left-wing Han Sui and Ma Teng coalition forces numbered tens of thousands, and together with Huchuquan, Guo Yuan and other troops in Bingzhou, the total number was more than 50,000.
In addition, he sent his nephew Gao Gan and Jianyi Zhonglang General Tao Sheng to lead more than 20,000 people to detour to Hanoi County and attack Luoyang from the north. They joined Han Sui, Ma Teng and other coalition forces to attack Yanzhou together.
Not counting foreign aid, the total number of troops Yuan Shao mobilized this time was about 120,000. Counting foreign aid, the total force was about 170,000 or 80,000.
The situation on Cao Cao's side is relatively worse. The left wing has about seven or eight thousand Duan Xuan, plus Yu Jin's twenty thousand, against the Guanzhong Allied Forces' fifty or sixty thousand, and the high official Tao Sheng's twenty thousand. The right wing has Zang Ba's thousands plus Cheng Yuhe.
Shi Huan had 8,000 men, but Yuan Tan had more than 20,000 men.
His own main force was 50,000 against Yuan Shao's 80,000. Overall, the situation was slightly better than the Battle of Guandu. At least this time, there was no need to worry about the rear being attacked by Shen Chen, but it was not much better.
In September, Yuan Shang's main force began to cross the river at Liyang. But this time Cao Cao could not defeat Yuan Shang first like last time.
Because Yuan Shao learned the lesson from the Battle of Guandu where Yan Liang, Wen Chou and others crossed the river in the vanguard, only to be defeated head-on by Cao Cao. While he asked Yuan Shang to cross the river, he personally led the army from Yanjin Ferry in Hanoi County.
In this way, no matter which direction Cao Cao attacks, Yuan's army from the other direction will cross the river smoothly, and then attack the main force of Cao's army from both sides, leaving Cao Cao in the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.
Therefore, Cao Cao's choice was to station troops along Xucheng, Yanxian, Wating, and Weixiang, and arrange defenses around them. The main force was stationed in Kuangcheng on the south bank of Pu River.
In October, Yuan Shao's army crossed the Yellow River. Jiang Yiqu led a vanguard of 8,000 men and invaded Xucheng, but was repulsed by the defender Xu Huang. In mid-October, Yuan Shang came to attack, but Xu Huang was defeated and retreated to the Suanzao Fengqiu area. Yuan Shang settled in Xucheng.
city.
More than a month later, Yuan Shao's main force all crossed the Yellow River. Cao Jun's defense lines in Yanxian, Wating, and Weixiang areas were lost one after another, and they began to retreat to Pucheng and Changyuan areas to defend the Kuangcheng front line.
However, God still favored Cao Cao this winter. After entering early November, heavy snow fell in the north and the weather took a turn for the worse, causing Yuan's army's offensive to gradually slow down.
The two sides faced off in the Kuangcheng area. The extremely bad weather during the Little Ice Age made both sides have extremely low desire to attack and fell into a state of calm.
By next spring.
In February of the 10th year of Jian'an, after more than three months of confrontation, Yuan Shao finally launched a tentative attack.
He sent people to take a detour to Jiyin and go south, hoping to take Qingqi directly to Chendu.
However, the advantage of Chendu's topography is that there are too many rivers around it. It is located at the angle between Yingou Water and Sui River. To the west is Langtang Channel, to the northwest is Honggou Water, and to the northeast is Bianshui River.
Cao Hong, Xia Houyuan, Xun Yu and others who stayed behind arranged tactics and used multiple rivers to defend along the line to repel the invading cavalry.
After this plan failed, Yuan Shao personally led the army in March and officially launched an all-round attack on Cao's army in Kuangcheng.
It's just that Jushou once said that Cao Cao's army was more elite than Yuan's army. The main force of both sides seemed to be 80,000 versus 50,000, but in fact the combat power of the two was not much different.
Historically, the reason for the Battle of Guandu was not that Cao Cao was weaker than Yuan Shao, but that he had to defend against too many directions, and Liu Biao and Sun Ce restrained part of his troops. Otherwise, the entire army would have been strong frontally, and Cao Cao would not have been afraid of Yuan Shao's more than 100,000 troops.
Yuan Shao attacked for more than ten days and lost many troops and generals, so he had to retreat back to Yan County.
At least for now, even in a wild confrontation, Cao's army is not necessarily worse than Yuan's army, not to mention that Yuan's army still attacks Cao's camp?
Early April of the 10th year of Jian'an.
At this time, Liu Biao in the south had just defeated Liu Zhang's army, and Huang Zu in the east from Yuzhang was still entrenched in the Penglize area, fighting with Sun Quan's troops.
The war in the south is almost coming to an end. Liu Bian is now building momentum for proclaiming himself emperor, but the war in the north has just begun.
Inside Cao Cao's camp, counselors such as Xun You, Guo Jia, Dong Zhao and Mao Jie were all present. Cao Cao looked at the official document in his hand, and the solemn look on his face showed his extremely uneasy heart.
The content of this official document is not a report that Liu Biao is seeking political independence and proclaiming himself emperor in the south after defeating Liu Zhang and Sun Quan.
Rather, it is a letter showing that the war situation on the Western Front is corrupt and on the verge of collapse.
After Duan Xuan retreated to Shaanxi County, after the winter passed, the Guanzhong Allied Forces began to attack Shaanxi County fiercely.
Shaanxian County has extremely superior defense advantages. To the south is the Qinling Plateau, which has a large altitude difference, and to the east is the transition zone between the Qinling Mountains and the Taihang Mountains, which is the Daimei Mountain area.
But it also has a disadvantage, that is, if you want to defend here, you must have enough troops stationed in Dayang County, north of the Yellow River, to block Zhongtiao Mountain and prevent the enemy from crossing the river from the north of the Yellow River to attack behind Shaanxi County.
Duan Xuan was short of manpower, which caused the Guanzhong Allied Forces to attack Huchuquan. Guo Yuan's department went directly from Zhongtiao Mountain to Dayang County, which later became Pinglu County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province. He crossed the river from Maojin Ferry and met with Han Sui, Ma Teng and others.
Attack Duan Suu from the west and north at the same time.
Under this situation, Duan Yan barely persisted for several months, but the huge gap in military strength caused Duan Yan to be defeated in the end. The remaining troops retreated to Xin'an County, which was probably located in the Yima City area east of Mianchi County in later generations.
After passing Xin'an County, we arrived at Luoyang. From the Luoyang Basin, we can go to Yingchuan in the south and Henan County in the east. Then we will have an unobstructed plain area, which will seriously threaten Cao Cao's western and southwest defense lines, giving Cao Cao
A major blow.
Therefore, Luoyang must not be lost, at least to ensure that the Kwantung Allied Forces are blocked from Hangu Pass!
"Duan Xuan was defeated and Luoyang was in danger."
Cao Cao passed the official document in his hand to many advisers. After they all read it, he said, "What do you think about this?"
Mao Jie is a strategic talent. He immediately realized that this matter was a great threat to Cao Jun in a strategic sense, and immediately said: "Ming Gong, Luoyang must not be lost. Once Luoyang is lost, tens of thousands of Guanzhong troops will pour in, and
If there are too many cavalry, they may attack Yingchuan Chenliu!"
"yes."
Cao Cao sighed, nodded and said, "I am thinking the same way. It's just that although I no longer have to worry about Liu Biao and Sun Quan in the south, there are so many troops in the north that I can't spare the manpower to go to Henan."
Now he is not short of food and grass, but he is short of troops.
After cooperating with the Yanzhou family, mountains of grain and grass accumulated, plus the grain accumulated by exploiting the people in the fields in the past few years, it was enough for him to confront Yuan Shao for four to five years.
The problem is that Henan is very dilapidated, has a serious population loss, has enough food and grass but lacks young soldiers, so there is a shortage of soldiers and horses.
Therefore, facing Yuan Shao's overwhelming army, Cao Cao could basically only defend and was unable to attack.
Yuan Shao, on the other hand, allied with Han Sui, Ma Teng and others, and borrowed soldiers and horses from the southern Xiongnu. Even Wuhuan Tadun in the north supported Yuan and sent some cavalry to participate in the battle, which made Cao Cao's troops stretched thin.
Xun You said: "Yu Jin still has more than 20,000 troops in Henan. If we can defeat Gao Gan and Tao Sheng's troops, these people can go to support Duan Yan."
"However, Gao Gan and Tao Sheng did not take the initiative to attack, but stationed troops in Wude, Huai County and other places. It would be extremely difficult to break through."
Cao Cao was pondering, and suddenly noticed an imperceptible smile on Guo Jia's face beside him, and asked: "Following the filial piety seems to be a plan?"
"It's not like there's any plan."
Guo Jia smiled and said: "It's just that some old friends from Yingchuan in Yuan camp told me when they wrote to each other that Yuan Shao was in very bad health. He got sick last winter. I didn't expect him to survive this year. Therefore, Ming Gong's great cause
It’s almost done, I’m happy in my heart.”
"hehe."
Cao Cao forced a smile, shook his head and said: "Even if Yuan Shao dies this year, Han Sui, Ma Teng and others can invade Luoyang at any time. In less than a month, Gu will be dead. This is not worth being happy about.
"
Guo Jia thought for a while and said: "Ming Gong, I remember that the official document sent by Sili Xiaowei once said that Han Sui and Ma Teng attacked each other, and Han Sui also killed Ma Teng's wife. It can be seen that the two of them were not the same.
If they don't agree, the generals in Guanzhong originally formed a temporary alliance because of Yuan Shao's power, or they may be using countermeasures."
"you mean?"
Cao Cao touched his beard. He envied Guan Yu's long beard, but unfortunately his own beard was not that long.
Guo Jia smiled and said: "Han Sui killed Ma Teng's wife, and Ma Teng must hate him deeply. However, due to lack of troops, he could not defeat Han Sui, so he had to make peace first. If he could convince Ma Teng and other generals, then Han Sui would definitely be able to do so."
Break it."
"Well."
Cao Cao nodded, unless Ma Teng was a ruthless man who would not even avenge his wife and children, then he would admire him.
Dong Zhao said: "Even if this plan can be successful, we still need to defeat Tao Sheng, a high-ranking official."
"That's true."
Cao Cao pondered: "Who do you think can go to Henan and defeat Tao Sheng?"
"Forehead"
Everyone looked at each other and hesitated for a moment.
Among Cao's troops, Cao Ren was naturally the most powerful in terms of military capabilities among the four major clans.
But Cao Ren died.
The other three can also act independently, but they are no different from Yu Jin.
If you can't even break the ban, who can break it?
Among the generals with other surnames, Yue Jin is also dead, Xu Chu is just a rush general, Xu Huang and Li Dian are not able to take charge of their own affairs.
Zhang Liao is somewhat handsome, but firstly, he is a demoted general, and secondly, he is actually not as good as Ban.
Historically, he was the first of the five good generals, but that was because he had the stain of surrendering to Yu Jin.
Without this stain, Zhang Liaoyuan cannot be compared with Yu Jin.
So if you want to say that Tao Sheng, a high-ranking cadre who can lead 20,000 troops and defeat more troops than Cao Cao, and does not take the initiative to attack but passively defends, there is really no one else besides Cao Cao.
"Go alone alone."
Seeing everyone like this, Cao Cao also knew the situation, so he said solemnly: "I will lead a thousand cavalry to Henan alone. Gongda will go with me. You and I will assist Yuan Rang to guard the camp and hold on. Is it possible to do it?"
"only."
Everyone should give it a thumbs up.
Although it is risky to let Xiahou Dun be the coach.
But at this time, there is no other way but this.
At that time, Cao Cao summoned Xiahou Dun and ordered him to listen to the words of Guo Jia, Dong Zhao, Mao Jie and others and stick to the camp while he rushed to Luoyang overnight.
Some friends said that the protagonist group has few appearances, and the protagonist Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang don't have many roles. But everyone should consider that this is the Three Kingdoms, a group portrait. You can't just write about the protagonist group. In an era of bright stars, everyone is a hero. Cao Cao's talents and strategies,
Yuan Shao's unwillingness to fail, Sun Quan's courage (doubtful), Liu Biao's ambition, Liu Zhang's ideas, and various heroic generals and counselors. It is difficult for me to arrange the roles of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, so in terms of character creation, I prefer
In order to cover everything, the protagonists like Cao Cao and Liu Bei have more roles in the group, and other people will arrange it. There is no way around it.