When Liu Bei was still showing off his power on the Han River, Cao Cao in Dongjun received a report saying that the Gengcang army that had gone south to conquer Xuzhou had reorganized its army and moved north from Xiapi to the Lanling area of the East China Sea. It seemed that it was preparing to continue its march north.
After reuniting with the Taishan bandits, the war with Yanzhou resumed.
Cao Cao did not dare to be careless at all, and immediately discussed with Guan Yu. The two sides first assembled 30,000 troops in Dongwuyang and stationed them north of the river. They also sent 20,000 troops to guard Fan County, Juye, Jinxiang, and Changyi, ready to take over at any time.
The war came down.
Sun Tzu, the sage of war, once said in "The Art of War" that those who are good at fighting can cause harm to others without killing them. This is the ideal of military strategists. But what is extremely strange is that although they knew the enemy's movements, the Yanzhou troops did not make the slightest move to make progress.
Isn’t it contrary to the famous sayings of the Sage of War? If the generals don’t know how to be a soldier, they can understand it, but all the generals in Yanzhou are newly rising generals, so how can they be so passive in strategy?
This has to start with the Yanzhou War in the past six months.
As early as the end of August last year, after Cao Cao and Guan Yu joined forces, their troops regained strength and immediately launched a counterattack against the Gengcang Army. Cao Cao first attacked from the north bank of the river, led his army straight to the plains, and conquered the plains, Ande, Li State, and Gaotang.
The four counties burned all the hundreds of ships that the Gengcang Army had accumulated here, and then quickly returned to Yangping.
This was Yanzhou's greatest victory since the war between Gengcang and Liu Dai. It was also a surprise attack carefully planned by Cao Cao against the Linzi court after careful consideration. After all, Linzi had previously claimed to recruit an army of 200,000 to fight Cao Cao in Dongjun.
At this time, the ships were burned, and the Linzi court could only look at the river and sigh, and suspended the war.
Unexpectedly, the Linzi court had no intention of crossing the river. Their gathering of ships was just a pretense. They not only deceived Cao Cao, but also deceived Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou. As a result, Guan Hai's army suddenly went south and surrounded Xiapi, trapping Tao Qian and others in the city.
, In the end, there was no help in February, the city was destroyed, and Xuzhou fell into the hands of Linzi.
When Cao Cao received the report that Xiapi was besieged again, he realized that he had fallen into a trap. Cao Cao always boasted that he was smart and had an eye above the top. There were only a few people in the world who could put him in his eyes, but now he had fallen into the trap.
How could the moth thief's plan not make him angry?
Cao Cao took advantage of his plan and led his army across the river on the third day of September to the south bank in an attempt to regain Dongping and Rencheng's two counties. In the initial battle with Lianjie, Cao Cao successively captured Xuchang, Shouzhang, Fucheng, and Zhangxian, and surrounded Wuyan and Guan Yu with a main force of 20,000.
He led his troops to settle in Zhang County to defend against the enemies in Jibei.
Seeing that the city of Wuyan was about to be destroyed and the entire Dongping County was about to be recovered, the Gengcang army suddenly sent out a surprise force. Instead of rescuing Wuyan, they unexpectedly attacked Dongacang Pavilion and defeated it in a single battle. Then they burned all Cao Cao's boats crossing the river.
, Cao Cao saw that the enemy troops were deep in his belly and back, and that his own way across the river was cut off, so he had no choice but to relieve the siege and withdraw his troops, hoping to meet the enemy in Dong'a instead.
Unexpectedly, the enemy general was still unwilling to fight. When Cao Cao went north, the enemy general ran from the southwest, crossed with the Yanzhou army, and reached the north side of Juye Ze. Then he floated on the marsh and crossed Daze in one day.
Suddenly appeared on the north side of Juye City.
When the Juye guards saw the army approaching the city, they were shocked. The Cang army also made a big announcement that Cao Cao was defeated in Dongping and that the main force had been lost. Therefore, the defenders in the city had no intention of fighting, and the enemy troops marched down Jinxiang and Dongping in half a day.
All the counties in Min were panicked and hurriedly called Cao Cao for help.
Cao Cao had no choice but to turn his troops again and go south to rescue Shanyang County. By the time he arrived at the foot of Juye City, Juye had been reduced to an empty city. The Gengcang army once again crossed paths with him, killing all the carbines and attacking directly.
Enter Dongping County and regain all the counties that were originally captured by Cao Cao.
At this point, Cao Cao was so furious that he ignored the army's sergeants and soldiers who were marching continuously. He was exhausted physically and mentally. He led his troops back to Dongping County again, and was about to have a life-or-death showdown with Gengcang. Before the camp was completed, Xun was in Puyang.
After receiving the military report, Xun Yu personally came to the army and persuaded Cao Cao to withdraw immediately. Cao Cao was extremely unwilling, but in the end he listened to Xun Yu's advice and withdrew his troops back to Dongjun, leaving only two counties and one place in a mess.
In February, Yanzhou had no results. After three maneuvers, Cao Cao lost all the opportunities. The morale and movement of the entire army were like cattle and horses running away from the enemy. In the end, he could only sit back and watch Xuzhou fall. Such a result made it difficult for Cao Cao
Anzhen. So when Guan Yu was dining with him, he ignored Xun Yu's face, knocked the bowl with his chopsticks, and said angrily to Xun Yu: "Wen Ruo, if this year's war ends like this, how can I have the dignity to sit in the position of governor?"
?The thieves are so cunning and have humiliated me many times. I will personally hold a big knife and peel off their faces to vent my hatred!"
Xun Yu listened to him calmly and said slowly: "My lord, there is no need to worry. Although the rebel army is cunning, when compared with our army when it comes to attacking cities and fortresses, they still have many shortcomings. The reason why they lost the opportunity is because
Ming Gong attacked the city first. Why has it been disadvantageous for those who attacked the city since ancient times? It was all because of the dilemma! As soon as the rebel army knew where Ming Gong was, they knew that the rear was empty, so they could come and go as they pleased and mobilize the Duke. Ming Gong's troops were insufficient and the ground was narrow.
Every inch is precious, so how can it not be controlled by others?"
Cao Cao wanted to refute, but after thinking deeply for a moment, he lowered his head and sighed to Xun Yu: "What Wen Ruo said is so precious!"
After Guan Yu heard this, he also admired Xun Yu greatly. He praised him in his heart as a genius who was not inferior to his brother. Then he asked: "If it is as Xun Jun said, what shall we do?"
Xun Yu said with a smile: "We are just waiting." He gave it a try, and when both of them were impatient, he solemnly explained: "Our army is small and well-equipped. If we don't fight, we will win. We will win if necessary."
, otherwise Yanzhou will be difficult to defend. The bandit army is numerous and inferior, and there are countless followers, so it is possible to count defeats without danger. Therefore, if our army attacks first, it will inevitably be stretched. The enemy attacks first, so our army can choose the opportunity to win and strike later."<
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From then on, Yanzhou went on the defensive and sent out scouts to Jibei. The soldiers and horses were on the north bank waiting for the enemy. Once Gengcang made a move, Cao Cao sent troops to intercept. After several months, it was effective. Gengcang suffered several setbacks and was no longer invaded by the invaders.
The border between the two sides became peaceful for a while until February this year.
After receiving the news that a large army was about to move in Mount Tai, Cao Cao did not dare to slack off. While asking for help from the court, he also followed Xun Yu's old plan of shrinking his troops and holding on to the city to see where the enemy's main attack would be.
But the subsequent development is difficult to understand. For three consecutive days, Taishan scouts sent ultimatums to Dongwuyang, saying that a large army was dispatched from Taishan. However, no matter whether it was Rencheng, Dongping or Jibei, the enemy troops showed no aggressive attitude. The three counties
The scouts also wrote back saying that there were no reinforcements, which greatly confused Cao Cao and Guan Yu, who could not see the enemy's arrangement at all.
Could it be that the enemy army was covering up? The three counties seemed helpless, but in fact the army was sneaking in the mountains and forests, waiting to reach the front line before suddenly attacking?
Cao Cao quickly rejected this idea. Yanzhou is located in the Central Plains, with less mountains and forests and more swamps. If there is a large army passing through, it will be hidden day and night, and it will be extremely difficult to hide its traces.
Could it be another cover-up? The bandits are cunning. They may have lied about attacking Yanzhou just like they did when they conquered Xuzhou, but in reality they repeated their old tricks and turned to attack Yuzhou to attack Yuan Shu.
This idea was quite convincing, but Cao Cao immediately rejected it. After all, although Yuan Shu was stupid, he was not a fool. After attacking Lujiang, he also deployed heavy troops in Pei State, and the guarding generals were also famous generals such as Sun Xiang and Ji Ling.
Geng Cang's army wanted to conquer the cities of Pei Kingdom quickly, but they couldn't do it.
Cao Cao thought about it in the state capital, wandering back and forth, but in the end he still couldn't come up with an answer, so he had to write to Xun Yu to discuss it again. Xun Yu thought for a long time, but he couldn't get the answer, and finally wrote back: "The enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered.
The opportunity to fight lies with the enemy, not with us. "The Art of War" says: Those who were good at fighting in the past were first to be invincible, and then waited for the enemy to be victorious. The invincible lies with oneself, but the victorious lies with the enemy. In the current situation, we can only be victorious first.
Because we are invincible, we must remain unchanged to cope with all changes."
Cao Cao also agreed with this, and sent envoys to strictly order Xiahou Dun, Cao Ren and others on the south bank to stay tight. He himself stayed in Cangting area, waiting for news from the east day and night. For a time, he couldn't eat well, couldn't sleep, and became a little thinner.
.
On February 16th, news finally came from Jinxiang, Shanyang, saying that the bandits in Rencheng seemed to be leaving the city to gather. Cao Cao immediately replied and asked Chen Gong stationed in Jinxiang to continue investigating. If the news was true, he
I will lead my army to rescue you.
While Cao Cao was overjoyed to have found out the enemy's movements, Geng Cang's main force was traveling rapidly through Yuzhou.
Before the fifth day of February, the Gengcang Army had completed its assembly in Mount Tai. The 140,000-strong army had been resting and reorganizing in Nancheng to prepare for war. On the night of the 10th, they went out day and night and arrived in batches at Liu County, Pengcheng. Sixty thousand miles northwest of them
There are 20,000 Yuzhou soldiers stationed there, and 30,000 Yuzhou soldiers are stationed 70 miles southwest of them. They are led by Sun Xiang, Sun Jian's son and nephew, and Xu Kun, Sun Jian's nephew.
But the Gengcang Army not only didn't care about this, but also made an astonishing move. They ignored the Yuzhou soldiers in the north and south, and actually led an army of 140,000 people directly through the two armies!
On the morning of the 11th, both Xu Kun and Sun Xiang discovered signs of the Gengcang Army. However, due to the disparity in strength between the two sides, they did not dare to leave the city to pursue them. They could only watch the endless flow of people on the city wall. After two days in a row, the army's
The tail just disappeared into the western sky, and the spring soil that Cang Jun stepped on seemed to have been plowed twice, exposing the roots of weeds. The Yuzhou sergeant was also at a loss, not knowing where this flow of people would go. In four days, under the leadership of the local Yellow Turbans, Gengcang's army ran four hundred miles westward, passing through Zhuqiu, Xiayi, and Suiyang, and finally stopped in a narrow area north of Meng County and west of Bo County.
To the east of the county is Jiyin County of Yanzhou, and to the west of Bo County is Chenliu County of Yanzhou.
At this time, Yanzhou's army was all gathered in Shanyang and Dongjun counties, while Chenliu and Jiyin had almost no defenders.
After the military discussion before the battle, Geng Cang Da Sima Guan Hai and Situ Guan Cheng sighed: "Bypassing Cao's army, using a large army to pass through Yuzhou, and then coming here to steal the enemy's rear route, it is really a clever plan that no one can guess.
! After recruiting more talents, the general can be as resourceful as the waves and as endless as the sea. We should follow suit."
At midnight on February 16th, Gengcang's army divided into two groups and marched directly into Chenliu and Jiyin counties. On February 21st, Guan Hai defeated Zhang Miao and Guan Cheng defeated Zhang Chao and occupied all the territory.
Zhang fled into Dongjun in a panic, but Shanyang was attacked from both sides and was in danger.