In the first month of the second year of Jian'an, Cao Cao mobilized 30,000 troops to attack Nanyang.
Now Cao Cao's military strength is actually very impressive. Historically, when he entered Yanzhou as the prefect of Dongdong County, he only had a few thousand men at the beginning.
But Bao Xin, the prime minister of Jibei at that time, had many troops. After Bao Xin's death, his troops were taken over by Cao Cao.
For example, Yu Jin was Bao Xin's subordinate at that time, and he followed Cao Cao as soon as Bao Xin died.
With Bao Xin's troops as the basis, Cao Cao set up ambushes day and night, took the initiative to attack, and finally defeated the millions of Yellow Turbans that attacked Qingzhou and brought them under his command.
Since then, from about 10,000 to 20,000 people at the beginning, to about 30,000 to 40,000 Qingzhou Yellow Turban elites, we finally have a good team.
Now, after establishing the capital in Xuchang, they defeated the remaining Yellow Turbans in Runan eastward, wiped out the bandits from all directions, and moved a large number of people to farm.
After the food crisis was initially resolved, Cao Cao reorganized his soldiers, eliminated the old and weak, and asked Yu Jin to train elite soldiers. Now he has about 50,000 elite soldiers and horses, which is very powerful.
In fact, Xudu is very prosperous now. After Liu Xiedong returned to the east, a large number of aristocratic families went to Xuchang. At this time, they recruited a large number of people for Cao Cao, and also brought a lot of supplies, which expanded the national treasury.
With the replenishment of troops, horses, food, weapons, equipment and money, he was finally able to start the war again. And this time he went out in full force, because he was afraid that Liu Biao would send troops to help Zhang Xiu, so he had to use his full strength.
By the end of January, Cao Cao's army had arrived in Ye County, and Yingchuan was very close to Nanyang. After he prepared the food, grass and baggage, he had already reached the gate of Nanyang in just two days.
It was only then that Zhang Xiu knew that Cao Cao was coming to attack him, and he was very uneasy for a while. After all, his strength was still far behind Cao Cao, so he immediately came to Jia Xu to ask about strategies to deal with the enemy.
In the middle hall of the Wancheng Prefect's residence, Zhang Xiu walked anxiously around the hall. After a while, an old man in his fifties slowly walked in from the door.
He has a thin face, a slender body, a goat's beard on his chin, and a pair of bright eyes that seem to reveal a brilliance.
Seeing him come in, Zhang Xiu hurriedly stepped forward to greet him and said, "Uncle is finally here. Sit down quickly."
Historically, Zhang Xiu respected Jia Xu very much.
After Jia Xu entered the door, he sat aside and said to Zhang Xiu: "General, why did you ask me to come?"
Zhang Xiu looked anxious and said: "Cao Cao has mobilized tens of thousands of troops to attack Nanyang. I want to ask my uncle how to deal with the enemy?"
Jia Xu frowned slightly, then relaxed and said: "General, it is better to obey Duke Cao."
Zhang Xiu was shocked and said: "Why is this so?"
Jia Xu said: "General, do you think Nanyang can win against Cao Cao with its military strength?"
"this"
Zhang Xiu hesitated and said, "I'm afraid not."
Jia Xu then said: "What if Liu Biao is asked to help?"
Zhang Xiu sneered and said: "Liu Biao's soldiers and horses are nothing more than strong foreign troops and strong internal troops. In a fierce battle in the wild, my eight thousand Xiliang warriors can defeat his twenty to thirty thousand soldiers."
Jia Xu added: "How does the general compare to Lu Bu?"
"Not as good as."
"Lü Bu is so brave that no one can match him, but he was defeated by Duke Cao. Now he welcomes the emperor, and the world has returned to its heart. We should really follow him."
"Is that so?"
Zhang Xiu pondered for a moment, nodded slowly and said, "My uncle is right, maybe I should surrender to Cao Cao, so I will immediately write a letter to ask for his surrender."
"good."
Jia Xu praised.
At that moment, Zhang Xiu was not ambiguous and immediately wrote a letter of surrender and sent someone to deliver it to Cao Cao.
One day later, Cao Cao's army arrived near Bowang County. It was getting late now. He planned to station himself next to Feishui River in Bowang County and convene the generals to discuss the attack on Wancheng tomorrow.
You must know that 30,000 people are stationed there, which is not a small number. The tents are connected together on both sides of the Feishui River, and the flags are fluttering to block out the sky and the sun. It is impossible to see the end.
Generals from all walks of life were summoned by Cao Cao and came to his commander's camp. They filed in one by one and lined up on the left and right.
He did not bring many generals with him on this expedition. In addition to his personal guard Dian Wei, he only had Cao Hong, Cao Ren, Yu Jin, Le Jin, his eldest son Cao Ang, his nephew Cao Anmin, and Li Tong, the Zhenwei Zhonglang general who was stationed at
Ye County will provide support.
In fact, he still has a lot of generals and counselors, but the territory is larger and there are more places to defend. Therefore, Xiahou Dun was appointed by Cao Cao as Henan Yin and stationed in Luoyang to guard against Yuan Shao.
Xia Houyuan is the prefect of Yingchuan, controlling the rear base. Cheng Yu is the prefect of Jiyin, supervising the affairs of Yanzhou. Lu Qian is the prefect of Taishan, guarding against attacks from enemies in Qingzhou and Shandong.
In addition, Xu Huang surrendered to Cao Cao after Cao Cao defeated Yang Feng last year.
However, as a surrendered general, his current status is not high. It will not be until the third year of Jian'an next year when Cao Cao conquers Lu Bu again. He will be worshiped as General Bi because of his achievements in defeating Fu Yangyuanwu.
And Xun You.
Xun You was previously the prefect of Shu County, but the wars at the end of the Han Dynasty caused him to stay in the Jingnan area due to the impassable roads. Cao Cao wrote to him last year, calling him back to Xuchang and appointing him as the prefect of Runan, and he would be in charge of Runan County together with Li Tong and Liu Bei.
.
Before Cao Cao got Liu Xie, there were only a dozen civil and military generals in total. But after he got Liu Xie, his strength expanded rapidly overnight. A large number of celebrities came to join him, and there were already a lot of talents.
Wang Lang, Kong Rong, Du Xi, Zhao Yan, Xun You, Guo Jia, Li Tong, Xu Chu and others all defected to Cao Cao from the end of 196 to 198 AD after Cao Cao welcomed the emperor.
This shows how much benefit Liu Xie's golden brand has brought to Cao Cao.
However, in terms of military affairs, Cao Cao still trusted the Xiahou family and Cao family relatives more, so Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan were stationed in Henan and Yingchuan, while Cao Hong and Cao Ren were with them to control the army.
At present, almost all the troops are controlled by the Cao family and the Xiahou family. Only Yu Jin, a general with a foreign surname, can lead an army alone, and his status ranks behind Cao Ren and Cao Hong.
After everyone sat down, Cao Cao looked around and said: "Everyone, we are going to attack Wancheng tomorrow, but in order to prevent Liu Biao from coming for reinforcements, I plan to let Cao Hongnan attack Huyang and attack Anzhong to cut off Liu Biao's reinforcements.
What do you think?"
Cao Ren unconsciously touched his missing ear, stood up and said, "Sikong, I heard that the Deng and Shen clans have moved to the Xinye area. I want to lead troops to attack Xinye."
In private, he would call Cao Cao his eldest brother, but in the military camp, he would call him his official title. This was Cao Cao's intention to prevent specialization.
Cao Cao muttered: "Xinye is too close to Xiangyang. If Liu Biao comes here, I'm afraid it will be difficult to deal with it."
"Liu Biao is not a military expert, so I am not afraid of him!"
Cao Ren said seriously.
Cao Cao thought for a moment and realized that this was a knot in Cao Ren's mind, so he nodded and said: "Well, it's up to you, but you have to be careful in everything. You should investigate first before taking action. Don't act recklessly."
"only!"
Cao Ren sat down with joy in his heart. He was very angry when he recalled the humiliation Shen Chen had given him.
Although he was ordered by Cao Cao to attack Huangmen Pavilion, he happened to encounter Liu Bei and almost died there. But what made him most angry was not that he almost died, nor that his ears were cut off, but that he was played by a child. Already.
Cao Cao messed up the task assigned to him, which greatly frustrated his sense of mission.
More importantly, he still had no way to take revenge on Liu Bei.
The person who cut off his ear was Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun's brother died of illness the year before last, so he left Liu Bei and returned to Zhongshan Kingdom.
At the end of last year, after Liu Bei arrived in Xudu, Liu Xie entrusted him with the important task of recording the royal family tree and calling him the emperor's uncle.
As a result, Liu Bei's political status rose sharply, and when Cao Cao and Liu Xie were temporarily unable to confront each other, it was impossible for Cao Cao to kill Liu Bei for Cao Ren's ear and anger Liu Xie.
So this matter can only be let go.
However, the failure of the mission and the loss of the ear always reminded him of his defeat, so this time he must bloodbath Huangmenting and wash away the shame.
Seeing Cao Ren sitting down happily, Cao Cao looked at Cao Ang and Cao Anmin and said: "Zixiu, Anmin, you will follow me tomorrow and fight outside the city."
"Yes, father (uncle)."
The two of them should hold hands.
This time I brought Cao Ang and Cao Anmin here for training.
Cao Ang intends to be his successor, and Cao Anmin can be Cao Ang's assistant. In the final analysis, the people Cao Cao trusts the most are the people of the Cao family.
After arranging everything, Cao Cao arranged the vigil mission, dismissed the meeting, and let all the soldiers perform their duties.
When it was still dark the next day, Cao Ang's voice suddenly came from outside Cao Cao's camp.
"Father, father!"
Hearing this voice, Cao Cao got up sleepily.
If it were another servant, he would probably kill someone in his dream, but it was Cao Ang who came, and he said: "Zixiu, come in."
"Father, I am so happy."
Cao Ang walked in quickly, holding a roll of bamboo slips in his hand, and said happily: "Zhang Xiu surrendered."
"oh?"
Cao Cao was surprised and asked: "Is this true?"
"This is a letter of surrender."
Cao Ang handed the bamboo slip in his hand to him and said, "Zhang Xiu is already waiting for us outside Wancheng."
"Ha ha ha ha."
After reading the letter, Cao Cao laughed and said: "Those who know the current affairs are heroes. Send an order to the three armies to set off and set up camp outside Wancheng to make fire and cook food."
"good."
Cao Ang immediately went to convey the order.
Soon, when Cao Cao changed out of his silk pajamas, put on a black silk robe and walked out of the camp, the three armies were already preparing to move out.
Dian Wei was eight feet tall and extremely burly. He stood outside the tent like a door god. When he saw him coming out, he bowed his head and said, "Sikong."
"Um."
Cao Cao nodded: "Let people unpack the tents and set off for Wancheng."
"only."
Dian Wei took the order and left.
The 30,000 men he led were led by Cao Ren, Cao Hong and Yu Jinling, who each led a few thousand, while he himself commanded the rest of the troops.
In addition to Le Jin, the middle and lower-level generals included Han Hao, Shi Huan, Zao Zhi, Li Zheng, etc., as well as Cao Chun and Cao Xiu as his imperial guards, who helped him control about 15,000 troops.
After receiving the order, all the soldiers immediately set out from the camp.
Bowang is very close to Wancheng. By noon, they had already reached the sunset area on the left bank of the Tongshui River to the north of Wancheng.
This place is just close to the river bend. It turned out to be a village, which is very suitable for the garrison of the army.
Cao Cao stationed his army here.
At this moment, Zhang Xiu led the generals and Jia Xu out of the city to greet him, arrived at Cao Cao's camp, and surrendered to Cao Cao.
Zhang Xiu was very sincere in surrendering. He placed his army in the west of the city. He and all the generals in the army came over, which was equivalent to entrusting his life in the hands of Cao Cao.
Seeing this situation, Cao Cao was very satisfied. It was early spring in January, the cold wind was severe, and Cao Cao's army had not yet built a camp, but only set up some tents.
Cao Cao himself, Dian Wei, Cao Ang, Cao Anmin and others were riding on a hillside outside Cao's camp. He was protected by hundreds of guards. From a distance, he saw Zhang Xiu and more than ten generals and generals approaching.
.
After they got close, Cao Cao's soldiers led them to the foot of the hillside. Cao Cao dismounted and walked down the slope. Zhang Xiu bowed his head and said, "Xiu, I have met Duke Cao. Please forgive me."
"Ha ha ha ha."
Cao Cao laughed loudly and stepped forward to help Zhang Xiu up and said: "It is a great blessing that the general can lead his troops to surrender to me. There is nothing to forgive."
Zhang Xiu said quickly: "Xiu has asked the soldiers to station themselves in the west of the city. Duke Cao can let the soldiers enter the city and go to Wancheng to rest together."
"good."
Cao Cao nodded, got on his horse again, and ordered his soldiers to enter Wancheng.
Although Wancheng was the seat of Nanyang, it had been slightly damaged by years of war, so there were not many soldiers and horses stationed in the city. Cao Cao only brought 5,000 people to control the four city gates.
After entering the city, it turned out that there were no soldiers from Zhang Xiu in the city. When the entire city was under Cao Cao's control, he felt at ease and went to the prefect's mansion with Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu.
At this moment, the gate of the prefect's mansion was opened, and everyone in the mansion was welcoming Cao Cao's arrival. The group quickly arrived at the gate of the prefect's mansion, and one by one they got off their horses.
Cao Cao raised his head and looked at the Nanyang Prefecture's mansion. It was surrounded by a wall outside, Zhumen High Courtyard, and the ground was paved with bluestone slabs.
Although this courtyard is very luxurious, there are still a lot of marks like carvings on the beams, pillars and walls, and the bluestone slabs on the ground can still see the dark red and withered blood stains.
From the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the present, wars have occurred in Wancheng more than once, and the vicissitudes of the mottled history have brought countless turmoils to the city.
"It is truly a blessing to the general, a blessing to the people, and a blessing to the court that the general can turn his heart to the imperial court."
At this time, Cao Cao sighed sincerely, grabbed Zhang Xiu's hand and patted it gently.
If Zhang Xiu had not chosen to surrender, perhaps Wancheng would have faced another catastrophe today. His soldiers and the people of Wancheng would have died and been injured.
Zhang Xiu said quickly: "This is all because Duke Cao has a broad mind and is willing to accept homeless people like us. We are also very grateful."
"yes."
Hu Che'er said loudly: "We don't want to fight either, we are helpless and have no other options."
Cao Cao's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw Hu Che'er, because Hu Che'er was extremely physically imposing and could compete with Dian Wei. He immediately fell in love with talent and said, "Who are you?"
Zhang Xiu then introduced with a smile: "This is Hu Che'er, a strong general in our army. He has extraordinary physical strength and is the bravest of all three armies."
"Such warriors should be rewarded."
Cao Cao waved, and someone came over with a plate of gold. He took the gold, put it in Hu Che'er's hand, and said with a smile: "I will give this plate of gold to you."
"this"
Hu Che'er glanced at Zhang Xiu and saw that Zhang Xiu had no expression on his face, so he had to bite the bullet and said, "Thank you Sikong."
"Ha ha ha ha."
Cao Cao patted Hu Che'er's hand, turned around and walked into the prefect's mansion.
The mansion was now filled with people, including the family members and servants of the prefect's mansion, all going out to greet Cao Cao.
This was considered etiquette at the time. When welcoming distinguished guests, the entire mansion would come over.
The leader was a woman. She squatted slightly and saluted, "I've seen Sikong before."
"I've seen Sikong."
Many Zhang Xiu family members and servants saluted at the same time.
The woman stood at the front, and there were several other women and children on the left and right, both men and women.
Zhang Xiu said: "Sikong, this is my aunt, my wife and children."
Cao Cao waved his hand and said, "Well, everyone, please get up."
As he said that, he walked inside.
At this time, according to the rules, everyone should disperse and let Cao Cao pass.
Then the master took Cao Cao into the hall to discuss matters, and the family members and slaves also returned to the backyard.
Everyone did the same thing.
The woman originally lowered her head and retreated left and right, but then she stood up and walked backwards.
When Cao Cao passed by her, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
Just a glance.
Then.
Then he quickly turned his head and stared at her intently with an appraising look.
I saw that the woman was about 27 or 28 years old, with a beautiful face that would make a country beautiful.
In addition to her stunning looks, she also has a very good figure.
The places that should be plump are plump, the places that should be thin are thin, and the buttocks are also very perky...
What a beautiful woman.
Cao Cao thought to himself.
When the woman saw Cao Cao looking over, she thought he was nodding to her, so she bowed slightly and walked to the backyard with Zhang Xiu's children.
Cao Cao looked at her leaving figure, slightly in a trance.