Chapter 90 Tai Shi Ci (fifth update, please subscribe)
Cao Jun retreated.
It was already past afternoon, and the spring breeze was blowing along the river bank.
Zhang Xiu, Jia Xu, Hu Che'er and others rode horses and arrived in front of Gan Ning's army.
"General Zhang."
Gan Ning and Shen Chen greeted him.
Zhang Xiu cupped his hands and said, "Xingba, Ah Chen, thank you for this battle."
The names he used were much more intimate.
"General, your words are serious. Don't say that Cao Cao and I have a blood feud, just say that we will help each other even if our lips are broken and our teeth are cold."
Shen Chen waved his hand, looked at the old man in his fifties next to him and asked, "Is this the famous Mr. Wen He in Guanzhong?"
"You can't live up to your reputation in Guanzhong. Young people like you are the ones to be feared in the future."
Jia Xu also looked at Shen Chen, his narrow eyes narrowed into a straight line: "Xiao Lang looks no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, but he can shake Cao Cao. He is really a young hero."
Shen Chen is actually only eleven years old this year, and will not turn twelve until October. But he grew up relatively early, and he often exercises, practices martial arts and archery, and his meat, eggs and milk are not lost, so he looks like he is fourteen or fifteen years old.
However, he did not correct Jia Xu, but said seriously: "Mr. Wen He is too modest. I am just doing my best to deal with Cao Cao. This beast killed hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou and wiped out more than a hundred of my relatives." , I have no sworn relationship with him, and I believe General Zhang feels the same."
Jia Xu's face twitched slightly.
In fact, he didn't participate too much in this battle. He watched the whole process from a distance and almost didn't say a word.
In fact, Cao Cao's tactics were all in his eyes. As a veteran general who had been in the Xiliang Army for many years, how could he not know how to command on the battlefield?
With his prestige in the Xiliang army, which even made Duan Yan, a veteran Dong Zhuo's confidant, feel threatened, he would definitely have no problem commanding Zhang Xiu's army.
If he were to command the battle at that time, even if he still couldn't defeat Cao Cao because he had too few troops, it would be easy to adjust his formation immediately and hold on longer.
When Gan Ning's reinforcements arrived, Cao's army was unable to defeat Zhang Xiu in a short period of time. The three parties surrounded him. Not to mention annihilating Cao's army, at least most of Cao's army could be left behind.
Even Cao Cao himself might die in this rebellious army.
But he chose to wait and see.
the reason is simple.
Jia Xu never thought of continuing to rely on Zhang Xiu.
From the bottom of his heart, he believed that if Cao Cao got Liu Xie, he would definitely be able to dominate the north in the future.
Therefore, he is the person who most hopes that Zhang Xiu will fail in this war.
As long as Zhang Xiu is defeated and realizes the gap between him and Cao Cao, there will be much less resistance in persuading him to surrender to Cao Cao in the future.
It's a pity that he never expected that Shen Chen would appear in the middle and play a crucial role.
Although Zhang Xiu was defeated in this battle, he was not injured. As long as Cao's army retreats, there will be a chance to regain its strength in the future.
On the other hand, look at Cao Jun.
This battle can be said to have resulted in heavy casualties.
Cao Ren's entire army of 5,000 men was wiped out, and half of Le Jin's soldiers were annihilated.
In addition to the troops lost in the Battle of Wancheng and the Battle of Tuoshui just now, the loss of troops alone was almost 13,000 to 13,000.
Then several generals were lost, including Dian Wei, Cao Renlejin, and his son Cao Ang's nephew Cao Anmin.
The stark contrast made Jia Xu a little doubtful about life at this time.
Is it true that Cao Cao is not good enough?
This thought only flashed through my mind, and when I looked at Shen Chen, something suddenly changed.
Pity.
If this kid hadn't had a blood feud with Cao Cao, maybe he could have surrendered to the imperial court with him.
For a moment, Jia Xu's heart was filled with regret.
However, the people around him didn't know what Jia Xu was thinking at this moment. Looking at Jia Xu's silent expression, Zhang Xiu's face didn't look very good either.
Because Shen Chen had reminded him before coming here that when facing Cao Jun in the future, Jia Xu would most likely fail to do his job.
This battle obviously proved that Shen Chen's words were true.
It also made Zhang Xiu further doubt what Shen Chen had told him before, that Jia Xu still wanted to surrender to Cao Cao.
But now is not the time to talk about this. After Zhang Xiu thanked Gan Ning and Chen Chen, he talked about some things about forming an alliance with Liu Biao again, and then evacuated towards Rangcheng.
Gan Ning looked at the direction in which the Xiliang army was retreating and asked Shen Chen, "Ah Chen, is this the end? We don't seem to have eliminated Cao Cao."
"Uncle Xingba, be content with yourselves. We have already achieved a lot of results in this battle."
Shen Chen shook his head and said: "Liu Shijun will not send troops. He does not want to go north to invade the Central Plains."
"Why?"
Gan Ning said in confusion: "This is a God-given opportunity to annex Henan."
"And then there's an emperor above your head?"
Shen Chen shrugged, turned his horse's head and said, "Let's go, we can't guess Liu Shijun's ambition."
Gan Ning touched his head. Although he had read books and was relatively smart, the political wisdom in it was not very clear, which was puzzling.
But Shen Chen's words are correct. From the time Cao Cao came to Nanyang in early February to now, the war has been going on for almost a month, and Liu Biao still has no movement. It seems that he really doesn't want to use his own strength.
The army headed south towards Anzhong. After passing Anzhong, we could reach Xinye by following the rapids. Because Xinye was the intersection of the rapids and the Feishui, it was not very far away.
On the way, Shen Chen was thinking about the future direction.
Liu Biao's refusal to send troops was something he expected.
The reason why he didn't send troops at first was because Liu Biao knew that Zhang Xiu had surrendered and it would be meaningless to send troops to Nanyang, so he might as well defend the periphery of Xiangyang.
Deng Hong had gone to Xiangyang a few days ago, and the news must have been reported to Liu Biao, but now there are no troops coming, which can only prove one thing - Liu Biao has no intention of destroying Cao Cao.
Now Liu Xie is a piece of cake in the hands of foreigners. If Cao Cao gets him, he will be able to coerce the emperor and order the princes.
But in the hands of the clan, it was a hot potato.
What if Liu Biao goes north to destroy Cao Cao and gets Liu Xie?
I can only treat him respectfully and as a loyal minister.
Because he was a member of the Party and a member of the clan named Liu, a serious royalist.
The power of the royalists in Xuchang is not weak now. If Liu Biao intervenes to eliminate Cao Cao, he will inevitably be coerced by the royalists such as Yang Biao, Zhao Wen, Zhang Xi, Fu Wan, etc. to work for Liu Xie.
Compared to serving the emperor in Xuchang, how could one be more comfortable being the supreme emperor in Jingzhou?
What's more, Liu Biao himself had evil intentions.
So if you think about it with your toes, he won't even try to deal with Cao Cao.
And without the help of Liu Biao, it would be impossible to go north and shake Cao Cao's foundation based on Shen Chen's current strength.
To be able to defeat Cao's army this time, firstly, Cao Cao did it himself and had to recruit Mrs. Zou.
The second is to take advantage of information.
If we eliminate these two factors and go directly north to attack Yuzhou, Li Tong stationed in Runan alone will be enough for him to drink a pot.
Therefore, Shen Chen still had no choice but to lie dormant, strengthen himself first, and slowly wait for the opportunity.
So when is the next opportunity?
Battle of Guandu!
Thinking of this, Shen Chen understood that his next step was to prepare for the Battle of Guandu.
Returning to Huangmenting, Deng Hong returned on the second day.
He conveyed Liu Biao's message that Gan Ning should continue to guard Huyang and not pursue Cao Cao. He went to Rangcheng again, sent a batch of grain and grass supplies to Zhang Xiu, and renewed the alliance.
So the situation in Nanyang was decided again, Zhang Xiu was stationed in Rangcheng, and the surrounding counties that had surrendered to Cao Cao all returned to him.
His power gradually extended to include Wancheng, Nieyang, Anzhong, Jiyang, and Yuyang.
Liu Biao continued to guard his one-third acre of land. The entire Jingzhou, except Nanyang, was the northern defensive zone around Xiangyang, Deng County, Fancheng, Caiyang, Huyang and other places north of Xiangyang.
Although Cao Cao left Nanyang, he sent Cao Hong to garrison Ye County, which was regarded as leaving a nail in Nanyang. The three forces divided Nanyang North, Nanyang Middle and Nanyang South.
Nanyang has returned to peace. No matter what, life must continue. Most people will not be affected by the war and still have to work hard.
People who are not in ancient times have no idea how difficult it was for the ancients to survive.
In later generations, chemical fertilizers, high-yield seeds, and mechanized farming have greatly reduced the time farmers need to work. They are often only busy during sowing and harvesting.
In ancient times, without modern technology, not only did people have to rely on the weather for food, but they also had to work in the fields most of the time, weeding, killing insects, irrigating, digging canals, and raising seedlings without stopping for a moment.
And even if they take care of millet and wheat seedlings all the time, the yield is incomparable to that of later generations. Therefore, a person often has to cultivate more than ten acres of land on average to maintain food and clothing, and the hardship is ten times harder than that of later generations of farmers.
There are nearly 20,000 people in Huangmenting. Before the war, most of them fled to Huyang for refuge. After the war, they returned here. By early March, the place had returned to its former prosperity.
When Shen Chen returned to his clan, he immediately started a new plan to rest and repair the damage caused by the war. Cao Jun's corpse had to be dragged far away to be burned and buried, ditches were dug, walls were built, and preparations were made to harvest last year's wheat. There was not even a moment. Stop.
He does not have much time to stay in the clan. After Deng Hong completes Liu Biao's mission, he will return to Huangmenting to pick him up. Shen Chen will continue to return to Xianshan Academy to study, and Deng Hong will continue to return to the Prefectural Mufu.
On March 4th, several knights from the north suddenly went south and found Huangmen Pavilion.
Today happened to be the time for Shen Chen to prepare to go south.
Deng Hong came back yesterday. After gathering and paying homage, his grandfather, grandson, Cai, and hundreds of servants, big and small, were heading to Xiangyang again.
Shen Zhen and his wife and Shen Chen's eldest brother and sister-in-law prepared a banquet for him early in the morning, killing chickens and sheep to bid farewell to Deng Hong and Shen Chen.
After lunch and about to set off, someone came over to report to him that there was a letter from Runan.
"Let them in."
Shen Chen was dressing up at home. Ancient people also dressed up when going out.
A gentleman pays attention to appearance, so he should wash himself cleanly, put on brand new clothes, and tie his hair before going out.
He happened to be tying up his hair. He didn't have to wear a crown at the age of twelve, so he simply tied his long hair up with a cloth and wrapped it with a silk scarf.
Although I really want to cut my hair and have the short crew cut that I often had in my previous life, it is a pity that the ancients were very particular about the body, hair, and skin.
Cutting hair was a very scary thing at that time, because there was a very harsh punishment in the Han Dynasty called "Kun punishment", which was one of the five punishments.
This punishment is nothing more than cutting off all your hair and giving you a completely bald head.
Shaving one's head is a severe punishment, which shows the seriousness of cutting one's hair.
After arranging his hair, Shen Chen left his room and came to the front hall.
The eldest brother Shen Zhong is entertaining them.
The leader of the group was a strong man eight feet tall, with two halberds on his back. His arms were extremely long, and his body shape was similar to that of Zhao Yun. They were both burly and as strong as ape arms.
When he saw Shen Chen coming out, he stood up from the table and asked, "But Mr. Shen?"
Mr. Little is the nickname given to him by Liu Bei.
Shen Chen smiled and said: "Exactly, don't you know your surname?"
"My name is Tai Shi Ci, and my courtesy name is Ziyi. I am the superintendent of Uncle Liu's tent. I have been ordered by the emperor to deliver letters to the young gentleman."
The person who came was none other than Tai Shici.