Chapter Four Thirty-Seven: Angry and Sending Troops
Cao Cao said angrily: "Tao Qian, a common man, killed my family. I will not avenge this. I swear that I will not be a human being. Come and summon all the generals to the Chariot and Cavalry General's Mansion to discuss matters." He did not take Xun You's words to heart at all.
Xun You sighed deeply and left. Cao Cao's move clearly showed that he did not take the Han Emperor into his eyes. In the past, no matter how big or small matters were, Cao Cao would only implement them after he petitioned the Han Emperor.
He came to see that he could not act on his own, otherwise he would be different from his rebellious ministers, and Cao Cao's impression in his heart would drop sharply.
Cheng Yu hurriedly followed Xun You's footsteps and whispered softly: "Gongda, my lord was also so angry that he did such an inappropriate thing. His family was killed. It would be like this for anyone."
Xun You said: "Zhongde, please give me more advice. The lives of millions of people in Xuzhou are in your hands. Don't let me do anything contrary to morality."
Cheng Yu sighed: "Don't worry, Gongda, we are under the lord's command. Don't I know that the lord is angry for a moment? I will try to dissuade him after he calms down."
Most of Cao Jun's subordinates were members of the Cao family. After hearing the news that Cao Cao's family had been killed in Xuzhou, the generals who gathered together petitioned for battle.
Within ten days, one hundred thousand Cao Cao's troops were stationed on the border of Xuzhou, with flags fluttering and covering the sky. Cao Cao, who was in the middle army, was wearing sackcloth and mourning, with a solemn expression on his face.
Guo Da's surrender solved Cao Cao's future troubles, and the 60,000 Yellow Turban troops sent by him were also dispersed among various ministries.
Cao Cao wore mourning clothes and linen and went out in person to fight. All the soldiers and sergeants in the army were like this. The whole army was in mourning, and the army marched towards Xuzhou with great momentum.
Cao's army is very poor, and those who are poor will not be able to expose the blame. Yanzhou and Qingzhou are already poor places. If the war is calmed down, it will be able to recover after three to five years. A hundred thousand troops rushed to Xuzhou, and all they got was food and supplies.
"My lord, our army is short of food. We should mainly use cavalry sneak attacks. Before Tao Qian can react, we can attack the city and seize the territory to ease the burden of food and grass." Xi Zhicai said.
The faces of the counselors in the tent were not very good, and Xun You couldn't come out because of illness when the army was setting out.
Cao Cao said coldly: "What's the difficulty in this matter? Xuzhou is rich and the people are well-off. If we let the army loot it, the food crisis will naturally be relieved."
Xi Zhicai opened his mouth slightly, unable to adapt to Cao Cao's words for a moment. The world suffered from drought and the people were displaced. Only Yanzhou and Chang'an gathered the refugees and implemented Cao Cao's ideas. The prestige that had been accumulated with great difficulty was completely destroyed.
"When the army set off, I swore that all the people in Xuzhou would be buried with their families!" Cao Cao's tone was cold, leaving no room for negotiation.
Xi Zhicai looked at his nose and mouth, and stood aside with his hands tied, saying nothing, feeling that Cao Cao's anger had not subsided.
"My lord, you must not do it!" Xun Yu ignored Xi Zhicai's look and hurriedly advised, "The people are the foundation of the army. My lord, this will definitely make the Xuzhou soldiers share the same hatred and resist our army. We don't have much food and grass, so we should surrender as a means of surrender."
host!"
Cao Cao glared at Xun Yu and snorted coldly: "Military orders are like mountains, how can they be changed day by day? You don't need to persuade me anymore!"
Xun Yu was glanced at by Cao Cao and felt a chill running down his body. He clearly felt murderous intent from Cao Cao's eyes.
Seeing Cao Cao coming with an army of 100,000 men, the magistrate of Qi County opened the city gates and surrendered to Cao Jun. In his opinion, no matter what, Cao Cao was a cavalry general of the Han Dynasty, and he came with an order to go on the expedition, which was justifiable.
After taking refuge, he might still be able to serve as a county magistrate.
After leading the army into the city, Cao Cao still had a gloomy face and ordered: "Before I went out to the army, I said that if my father died in Xuzhou, I wanted the people and officials of Xuzhou to be buried with him, and the soldiers of the three armies to massacre the city and leave no survivors alive."
After the general received this order, after a short period of consternation, he carried it out to the letter. There were many yellow turbans in Cao Cao's army, and they were familiar with doing such things. They raped and plundered. The entire Qi County was shrouded in shadow, and the soldiers were
This indulgent strategy has lost its sanity and killed soldiers who were not from one's own camp.
Three days later, Cao Cao led an army of 100,000 and set out again. At this time, Qi County had long been in ruins, with broken walls and ruins. There were no villages and people within a hundred miles. Cao Cao's army was like passing locusts. Everywhere he could see, it was extremely desolate.
After Tao Qian heard the news, his face turned pale. It seemed that Cao Cao was determined to destroy all of Xuzhou. Unlike Cao Cao, there were very few wars in Xuzhou and the soldiers lacked training. How could they withstand Cao Cao's army of one hundred thousand soldiers?
Public.
"It was me who harmed the people of Xuzhou!" Tao Qian cried loudly in the Xuzhou Mufu regardless of his image.
Mi Zhu cupped his hands and said: "My lord, after Cao Cao's army captured Qi County, they openly massacred the city. Not a single person was left alive in the city. The county towns that followed will definitely resist tenaciously. The Xuzhou army also has 80,000 people. Why should we be afraid of Cao Cao? Cao's army is cruel and ruthless.
Counties along the way will definitely resist to the death."
Chen Deng echoed: "What Mi Biejia said is true. Cao Cao acted so perversely and made the people angry and angry. He will not win the hearts of the people. All he needs to do is send generals to guard him."
Tao Qian sighed: "Don't I know this? It's just that Xuzhou has been without fighting for a long time and has been at peace for a long time. The army is not as large as Cao's army."
"Sir, I am willing to lead the troops to fight Cao Jun!" Cao Bao said loudly.
Tao Qian said happily: "It is a blessing for the people of Xuzhou that General Cao has this intention. However, Cao Cao has so many fierce generals under his command that he is afraid that he will not be able to win. When General Cao leaves, he can defend the city and prevent Cao's army from advancing. Wait for his food and fodder."
If you do everything, you will have to retreat."
Although Cao Bao was a little unhappy in his heart, he still agreed.
After leaving Qixian County, Cao Cao's army divided into three groups to ravage Xuzhou. One group was led by Cao Ren with 30,000 soldiers, and the other group was led by Xiahou Dun with 30,000 soldiers. Cao Cao personally led an army of 40,000 toward Pengcheng and saw ordinary people's villages along the way.
None of them stayed. When the timid officials learned that Cao Jun was coming, they fled. People of all kinds in a hurry could be seen everywhere on the road.
Under such a strategy, Cao Cao's army encountered increasing resistance. The army in front of Cao Cao attacked the city day and night for three days before declaring the city was broken. The county magistrate and all the soldiers fought bloody battles to the death, and the rabbits bitten them when they were anxious.
As for human beings, let alone the passionate soldiers in the army.
Cao Cao ignored the advice of his advisers and massacred the city again. Under such stimulation, every time he came to a city, the soldiers attacked with all their strength, and their morale was high.
However, most of the wise generals and soldiers in the army came from the common people, and the most unsightly thing was for the common people to be massacred. However, Cao Cao's prestige in the army was too high, and the soldiers at the bottom dared not disobey him, so they had to hide their thoughts.
The chaos in Xuzhou has made Jia Rong a little worried. Cao Cao will definitely not be able to attack Xuzhou. However, after this incident, the people in Xuzhou will definitely be in dire straits and not even one out of ten can survive. This kind of Xuzhou is not what Jia Rong wants to see.
, Of course, there is also the Mi family in Xuzhou. The Mi family has always been the largest supplier of food and grass to the Xiliang army, so naturally they cannot just sit idly by.
Jia Rong immediately wrote a letter, one to Cao Cao and the other to Mi Zhu in Xuzhou.
Cao Bao led the army to guard Pengcheng.
Wherever Cao Cao's three armies passed, corpses were strewn across the fields, and it was too horrible to see. Xun Yu tried to persuade Cao Cao one after another, but all failed. At the same time, Cao Cao also secretly hated Xun Yu.
Cheng Yu played with Zhicai and remained silent about everything in front of him, but judging from the slightly trembling hands of the two, their hearts were not at peace.
After taking a look at Jia Rong's letter, Cao Cao snorted coldly: "General? Humph, as long as I am willing, he, the general, can do it."
"Lord, no!" Cheng Yu, the talented playwright, urged them all. The Xiliang Army was not a soft persimmon like Tao Qian.
Cao Cao said: "You don't need to dissuade me. I don't know about this. Jia Rong actually wrote a letter asking me not to massacre the people of Xuzhou anymore. It's really a mistake. I am acting according to the order, so how can I listen to Jia Rong's order?"
A flash of light flashed in Xun Yu's eyes, and he took the opportunity to persuade: "My lord, Jia Rong's words are not unreasonable. The people are the foundation of governing the country."
"That old thief Tao Qian killed my family. This hatred is irreconcilable. When I started the army, I swore that the people of Xuzhou would be buried with him." Cao Cao interrupted.
The three armies burned, killed and looted all the way, and met under Pengcheng. When they learned about Cao Jun's actions, the people along the way fled. Originally, this kind of battle had nothing to do with the people. Just imagine, a city without people can only be an empty city.
What's the use of Cao Cao's empty city? Cao Bao led an army of 30,000 people, which was difficult to resist and retreated all the way to Pengcheng. There were 30,000 people when he left, but only more than 10,000 people came back.
Cao Cao's army numbered 100,000. Due to the fierce resistance along the way, he lost 20,000 soldiers. In order to achieve a quick victory, wherever they went, the army attacked the city day and night. After a short rest, they set off again. If Xuzhou
A single cavalry force was enough to keep Cao's army from advancing even an inch, but the Central Plains had always lacked war horses, the soldiers' riding skills were not high, and no princes had the courage to equip a large number of cavalry.
Pengcheng City has high walls and thick walls, a wide moat, and there are many soldiers on the city. It is obvious that they are fully prepared.
With the support of the soldiers, Tao Qian tremblingly appeared on the city. Looking at the densely packed Cao army outside the city, with no visible edge at a glance, he felt sad. Could Xuzhou, which had been governed for many years, be lost because of the greed of his generals?
Tao Qian was really unwilling to see the innocent people in Xuzhou suffer. Even if he could resist Cao's army this time, what would he do?
"Let the envoy go to Cao Jun's camp. If Cao Jun can spare the people of Xuzhou, I am willing to tie myself out of the city and surrender."
"Sir!" The Xuzhou generals said in unison after hearing this. They are passionate men in the army. Seeing the people displaced under Cao Jun's cavalry, their hearts were already filled with anger. The moment Cao Jun appeared under Peng City, they had already done what they wanted.
Well, the city depends on the people.
"Sir, no, Cao Cao is cruel and will definitely kill the people of Xuzhou. Xuzhou cannot live without a master for a day." Chen Deng advised.
"Master Chen's words make sense. Cao's army only has 80,000 troops, and there are 50,000 troops in the city. The art of war says to surround an enemy by ten, but Cao's army has actually committed a major taboo." Mi Zhu also advised.
When the soldiers in the city heard Tao Qian's words, they were all moved. Mr. Zhou Mu was willing to die for all the people. Such an official was worthy of their sacrifice. The soldiers looked at Cao Jun again with a trace of fear in their eyes.
