"After this battle, we know that Xuzhou is not easy to win!"
Cao Cao sighed softly.
"Ming Gong wants to withdraw his troops?" Guo Jia asked.
"I heard that Zhou Wen'an was unable to recruit troops in Jingzhou and went to Jizhou again. I was worried that Yuan Benchu would be persuaded by him to lead his troops to attack me. Moreover, Wen'an was defeated in the past and Wenqian was defeated now. This time he sent troops but failed to win. Liu Xuande
He is good at employing people and wins the hearts of scholars. Gu should not have come to attack Xuzhou at this time. Gu was too impatient!"
After a defeat, there is usually reflection.
The same goes for Cao Cao. Only when he doesn't get any benefits will he know that he shouldn't do it.
"Yuan Jizhou is short-sighted and only seeks short-term gains. If he sends troops to attack Xudu, there will be no profit. I guess he will not agree to Zhou Wen'an's request to send troops to attack Xudu." Guo Jia said.
"The Emperor is in Xu, how can it be unprofitable if he welcomes him to Yecheng?" Cao Cao knew the purpose of the Emperor.
"The emperor is in Xu, and Ming Gong can control the world. If the emperor is in Ye, I'm afraid Yuan Jizhou will be like a shackle on himself, and it will be difficult to move his hands and feet." Guo Jia said with a chuckle.
Cao Cao thought about it carefully and felt that Guo Jia was right.
He gathered people with kindness, but Yuan Shao gathered people with reputation.
His name is the fourth and third prince of the Yuan family, the name of loyalty to the emperor and the master. If the emperor were in Yecheng, Yuan Shao would definitely not be as powerful as himself. He could do whatever he wanted. He had too many things to care about.
At this point, Yuan Benchu must have thought that it would be extremely difficult for Zhou Wen'an to persuade him to send troops to Xu.
Besides, he and Yuan Benchu have not officially broken up yet, so he should not openly become his enemy.
I also wrote him a letter of goodwill. In this case, if Zhou Wen'an goes to Jizhou, he may be like Jingzhou and return without success.
Thinking of this, a slight smile appeared on Cao Cao's face: "Following filial piety means knowing people! Not only do you know the lonely, but you also know the origin! Hahaha..."
"It's just that I underestimated Liu Xuande!" Cao Cao said again, "I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, but I didn't expect that both Pengcheng and Xiapi were fortified, and Zang Ba was willing to fight to the death for Liu Xuande and kill me, Zhang Liao. Now I'm waiting for Liu Xuande to return, but I have to fight with him again
If the battle is not going well, even if Xu is safe, we should retreat."
Unable to attack the city and unable to destroy the enemy, Cao Cao felt helpless as never before.
Xuzhou is a large state, and Liu Bei controls the whole state. It is too difficult to capture it in this way. It seems that the only way to defeat Xuzhou is to break up the various forces in Xuzhou and greatly reduce Liu Bei's power.
Just like Zhou Ping unified the three major forces in Xuzhou before, Cao Cao is now thinking about how to break up the three major forces in Xuzhou.
Among these three major forces, the local forces Chen Deng and Mi Zhu are the key, Langya's Taishan Army force Zang Ba is the key, and the Danyang Army force Cao Cheng is the key.
If these people could be separated from Liu Bei, then Liu Bei would be vulnerable.
He told Guo Jia his idea.
When Guo Jia heard this, he immediately clapped his hands and praised: "Ming Gong's move will definitely separate the power of Xuzhou. If the power is not matched, we can take advantage of it and attack it. No one in the world can match the wisdom of Mr. Ming!"
"Hahaha...then what do you think Gu should do?"
Cao Cao laughed. He could hear that there was flattery in Guo Jia's words, but they were also sincere. Of course he knew his own intelligence.
"It seems difficult to make them switch to Ming Gong, but you can alienate their relatives and make them suspicious of each other. If the generals are suspicious of each other, how can they be united? If they cannot be united, how can they work together? If Ming Gong wants to win,
It’s so easy.”
"Hahaha..." Cao Cao laughed again,
"The words of filial piety are exactly what I meant. Chen Yuanlong was appointed as the prefect of Guangling by Liu Bei. Gu Ke persuaded the emperor to worship him as the prefect of Guangling, so that he would know his kindness. His father Chen Hanyu was also appointed as the governor of Yuzhou by Liu Bei. Gu Ke
The emperor can be persuaded to recruit Xu Ren as the Shaofu, and then appoint Yuanlong's younger brother as the Sikong Mansion. As for the Mi family who are married to Liu Bei, Gu can also let them serve as governors, making them suspicious of Liu Bei. In this way
It will be difficult for Xuzhou’s heart to return to Liu Bei.”
"Zang Ba kills me, Wenyuan, and it may be difficult to separate. But Sun Kang can be appointed as the Prime Minister, and Cao Cheng of Danyang can also be appointed as the Prime Minister. If they are willing to accept the post, they will be ungrateful. If they are ungrateful, they will be ungrateful."
Then you won’t be the enemy of Gu, hahaha..."
In fact, Cao Cao also used this trick in history. He first made Mi Zhu a partial general, then made him the prefect of Yi County, and made Mi Fang the prime minister of Pengcheng.
Yi County was specially separated from Taishan County in order to arrange a post of governor for Mi Zhu, but the Mi brothers refused to take the job and preferred to wander with Liu Bei.
Chen Deng was appointed as the prefect of Guangling. Chen was the Prime Minister of Pei at the time, but he was also allowed to increase his rank from 2,000 shi to 2,000 shi. A prefect got the same treatment as Jiuqing.
As for Zang Ba's Taishan brothers, they divided Langya and nearby counties into five counties and made them all governors. Although a county may only have two or three counties, they also gave them the title of governor.
Now in order to deal with Liu Bei, Cao Cao wanted to take advantage of the fact that the emperor was in his own hands. He could divide the counties if he wanted to, and let whoever he wanted be the governor. As long as Liu Bei could be defeated, Xuzhou would be his.
"Ming Gong, Zhou Wen'an is in Jizhou now. It is better to spread some rumors, saying that Zhou Wen'an has surrendered to Yuan Benchu and will not return to Xuzhou. Maybe it can also distract the hearts of Liu Bei's army." Guo Jia suggested.
"That's okay too."
Although Cao Cao felt that this would have little effect, it might have some effect.
His idea of appointing the governor cannot be implemented immediately. He will have to wait until he returns to Xudu before the imperial court issues an edict.
With this idea, Cao Cao began to prepare to retreat and ordered to retreat in five days.
Rumors about Zhou Ping's intention to stay in Jizhou and join Yuan Shao spread and reached Liu Bei's ears.
There are also many soldiers in the army talking about it.
"I don't believe that Mr. Wen An will betray the lord, please don't believe the rumors!"
The first person to stand up and speak for Zhou Ping was Xu Chu.
He was the first to know Zhou Ping, and he knew him relatively well. He knew that if Zhou Ping wanted to defect to Yuan Shao, he would have done so long ago and would not have waited until now.
Moreover, Xu Chu himself was persuaded by Zhou Ping to defect to Liu Bei. He would never believe that Zhou Ping would betray Liu Bei and join someone else.
Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, Chen Dao and others also didn't believe it and spoke for Zhou Ping one after another.
In fact, Liu Bei didn't believe it either. He knew what kind of person Zhou Ping was, so he said to everyone: "This must be a rumor spread by Cao Cao to disturb the morale of our army. Send an order to the entire army not to say anything more about this matter. Anyone who says anything else will
, military law disposition.”
Although there were some discussions in the army, most people did not believe it was true. After Liu Bei issued an order to stop talking, no one talked about it again, and the matter dropped.
At this time, news came back from Lujiang that Huang Zu, the governor of Jiangxia, led more than 20,000 troops to march into Lujiang. After Sun Ce received the news, he led his troops to retreat from Jiujiang, leaving Huang Gai to guard Liyang with 10,000 people.
If Sun Ce goes to rescue Lujiang, Jiujiang will have no worries, Hefei and Shouchun will not be lost, and Guan Yu's troops and horses may also be used.
The scout reported again that Cao Cao's army seemed to be preparing to break camp and might retreat at any time.
This news made Liu Bei both happy and worried.
The good thing is that if Cao Cao retreats, Xuzhou will be saved. The sad thing is that if Cao Cao retreats, it will be difficult to destroy him.
For this reason, he thought hard about countermeasures and wanted to make Cao Cao retreat, uukanshu.com www.uukanshu.com but not so quickly. If Zhou Wen'an persuaded Yuan Shao to send troops, it would be best to wait until Yuan Shao defeated Xudu before Cao Cao could return.
.
"My lord, the art of war says, don't stop when you return to the army. We should not pursue it yet. We should wait and see if Jizhou sends troops. Liang thinks that Mr. Wen'an will send back the news soon. If Jizhou sends troops, we can pursue it urgently.
If Jizhou does not send troops, we cannot pursue him." Zhuge Liang said to Liu Bei.
Zhuge Liang had read the art of war and knew the principle of not stopping after returning to the army.
If Jizhou did not send troops to attack Xu and Cao Cao retreated, he would have been on guard when he retreated, and chasing him would probably be in vain.
If Jizhou sends troops to attack Xu, Cao Cao will be in a hurry to retreat. At this time, he only wants to rescue Xudu as soon as possible, and may not be too prepared for Xuzhou's pursuing troops.
However, Zhuge Liang knew that Cao Cao was good at using troops, so he would definitely think of such a problem, so he said: "Even if Jizhou sends troops and we want to pursue them, we can only pursue them without attacking, delaying their retreat. Cao Cao is good at using troops."
People may be setting up an ambush, and if you chase them and attack them, you may be caught in their ambush.”
Liu Bei agreed with Zhuge Liang's point of view. Mr. Wen An liked to set up ambushes, and so did Cao Cao. The millions of Yellow Turbans and Lu Bu who entered Yanzhou were all defeated because of his ambush.
"I hope Mr. Wen An will write as soon as possible!" Liu Bei was just waiting for news from Zhou Ping.
