After Cao Ren was transferred to Dingtao, Liu Bei's pressure in the direction of Yuzhou dropped sharply. Although the reason is unknown, he was able to transfer the troops at Shenyuan Pass to Chenggao. In this way, the situation at Hulao Pass was also greatly improved.
Even though Cao's army rose up from the mountains and beat drums day and night to attack, they were eventually repulsed by the Han army. As Liu Bei rested for a long time and the remaining troops gradually recovered from the Battle of Bohai, Cao's army's offensive became increasingly weak, leaving the battlefield
Gradually moving towards equilibrium.
Unable to overcome such a difficult attack, Cao Cao then issued an order to Xun Yu, and would successively recruit young people from all over Hebei Province. It was expected that more than 60,000 people could be obtained. At the same time, he also opened tombs in various places in Henan Province to dig for gold, and many of them were permanently stationed in Xingyang.
, sitting with Liu Bei, spending money and food, and competing for national strength.
But in the current situation, what is most unacceptable to Cao Cao is that Dingtao City has contained as many as 30,000 Cao Ren's troops, and there are still no signs of breaking the city. The setback in Dingtao also greatly affected the offensive against Hulao.
Cao Cao was extremely dissatisfied, so he urgently ordered Cao Ren to quickly break through the city and return to the army.
However, Cao Ren's predicament was far worse than that of Cao Cao. Cao Ren had already lost thousands of troops when he destroyed the short wall built by Zang Hong. Afterwards, he tried to rebuild Tushan, but unexpectedly Zang Hong went out of the city several times to fight back. Cao Ren was unable to support him and suffered heavy losses.
There were thousands of soldiers. In desperation, Cao Ren had no choice but to give up the idea of filling in the soil and divided the entire army into five teams. Four teams took turns to attack Zang Hong in a bloody battle, hoping to find opportunities to find weak points in the city's defense, and then use his own formation to break through the city.<
/p>
However, this idea was also seen through by Zang Hong. He played hard to get, deliberately reduced his troops, exposed several flaws in the city wall, and waited for Cao's army to swarm up, thinking that the city was about to be broken. Zang Hong led his formation to counterattack suddenly, and Cao Cao who came to the city was attacked like a storm.
All the soldiers were wiped out. After more than twenty days of hard fighting, Zang Hong took the lead, wore armor, ate food, and fought with his wounds. The morale of the army was still stable. However, Cao's army below the city was exhausted and could hardly launch a decent offensive.
At this time, Cao Ren could only discuss strategies with Guo Tu, but Guo Tu also felt that he was exhausted. He said to Cao Ren: "The soldiers are extremely tired right now, and there are more and more fleeing soldiers. The ban will not stop. If we don't rest for a while, we can fight together again."
If we go down, I’m afraid we won’t even be able to stay under the city.”
Therefore, he suggested that Cao Ren should first move the camp to rest and recuperate, and then divide his troops to Puyang to escort the newly arrived grain and grass from Hebei. After the grain and grass arrived in Xingyang, he would tell Cao Cao the truth and invite additional reinforcements.
Cao Ren had no other choice. Even though he was unwilling to do so, he had no choice but to withdraw ten miles to the west. Then he used Luzhao as his general and sent three thousand soldiers to Puyang, telling him to invite reinforcements.
However, every move of this move fell into Zang Hong's eyes. In the previous hard battles, he also captured some prisoners of Cao's army one after another. From the torture, it can be seen that Cao's army will have a batch of grain and grass in Puyang in the future. Due to the flood in the Yellow River, Cao's army is temporarily unable to transport it by water.
They could only be transported by pack horses in Puyang. Zang Hong took this matter seriously. When he saw Cao Jun retreating, he immediately sent scouts to spy on Cao Jun's movements. The scouts came to report that thousands of Cao Jun troops were heading north.
.It is not difficult for Zang Hong to guess that the batch of food and grass has arrived.
At present, there is not enough food in the city for more than a month. If you want to continue to hold on, you must capture some food no matter what. Even if you cannot capture it but burn it, I am afraid it will shake the morale of Cao's army.
Zang Hong made up his mind and picked out the 600 cavalry in the city. Taking advantage of the sunset and darkness, they secretly crossed the Pu River and galloped north. They rode for more than a hundred miles in one night and saw Cao Jun's grain team carrying the water.
Camp. As it turned out, there were not many people in the grain team. Zang Hong immediately realized that he was walking in front of Cao Jun. The people guarding the grain now were probably only five or six hundred people!
With a thought, Zang Hong immediately chased his horse and approached. Cao's army was alerted. Suddenly there was a big fire and people screamed. Zang Hong quickly dispersed Cao's soldiers and then went straight to the packhorse team nearby. Several soldiers drew their swords and stabbed them open.
The bags were unloaded on the ground, and the soybeans inside suddenly flowed out. Seven or eight bags of millet, wheat, and even some rice were poured out one after another.
Just when I was happy, someone came to report that Cao's army from the south seemed to have arrived. What should I do? Zang Hong cursed when he heard this: "What a thief, you didn't come earlier and you didn't come late, but you caught up at this time!" Zang Hong's original intention was to even carry the pack horse.
He dragged them away together with the grain, but it was too late now. He could only order the soldiers to tear off their robes, wrap a little grain in towels and take them with them. The rest that could not be taken away were burned with fire, and all the pack horses were hacked to death on the spot.
, and then did not fight with Lu Zhao, and led Qingqi directly back to the city.
During this night attack, Zang Hong burned nearly 30,000 hu of food and rice for Cao's army. Cao Ren was shocked when he learned about it, and immediately led his troops to
Puyang fell into the trap again. Zang Hong's army went out of the city to pursue him and met him at Lihu. Cao's army was unprepared and lost all their energy. They suffered a huge defeat. They beheaded 4,000 people for Zang Hong in one battle, and finally withdrew into Puyang in embarrassment.<
/p>
When the news reached Xingyang, Cao Cao could hardly believe it. Except for himself, no one of his generation could compare with Cao Ren in terms of military prowess. Who would have thought that he would suffer another disastrous defeat after Cao Hong?
He discussed this matter with Guo Jia: "Zixiao is defeated by Zang Hong, who can be sent to attack Tao now?"
Guo Jia carefully counted the candidates for him and said: "The only ones in the army who can lead an army alone and are better than conquering the south are Fenwu (Jushou), Anwu (Shenpei), and Zuo Changshi (Tian Feng).
But they are all dignitaries of Zhuo County, and if they perform meritorious service now, I am afraid that the status of Ming Gong will be endangered."
Cao Cao was convinced. He considered it carefully and said: "You mean, I personally lead the troops to defeat it? But who is guarding the front?"
Guo Jia nodded and said in a low voice: "At present, the bandits have insufficient armor and few horses. They can still rely on the city wall to defend themselves, but if they want to go out of the city to fight in the field, they will die. The Ming Dynasty can make Zhenwu (Bao Xin) a general.
, just wait and see here."
Cao Cao kept saying wonderful things, and he continued what Guo Jia said: "The only thing to worry about is how to break the city." At this point, he lowered his head and muttered to himself a few times. Thinking of the defeats of Cao Hong and Cao Ren, he felt an inexplicable feeling in his heart.
He was a little nervous, but then he joked to Guo Jia: "Let me see, does Zang Ziyuan have four eyes or two mouths?"
After that, Cao Cao sent this order to all the armies, and ordered Bao Xin to lead a total of more than 30,000 infantry and cavalry from Dongjun, Jibei, and Dongping counties to guard the camp. Cao Ang was appointed as the governor, and he led the remaining nine soldiers.
Wan's main force returned to attack Dingtao.
When the army arrived at Yuanju, Cao Ren learned about it and rode alone to see him. It was raining heavily, and Cao Ren stood outside the camp gate in the rain. He stood there for three hours before he saw Cao Cao. Cao Cao said to the wet Cao Ren: "My son,
You have worked hard, and you can rest for a while before you take out the strong city. But now that the whole army has been turned around, it is not a trivial matter. The generals are not without criticism, so they have to be punished. The position of conquering the south should be taken away, and you condescend to be a miscellaneous number." Then he said.
, changed him to General of Dang Kou, and then pointed at Cao Hong and said: "Even Zixiao can't defeat you, so it's not your fault. So I'm the captain again and go get your people. There won't be another time!"
” He also appointed Cao Hong as the cavalry captain and went to reorganize the old troops.
Soon after the rain stopped, Cao Cao led his army to the foot of Dingtao City. At the same time, the first batch of 20,000 reinforcements from Hebei also arrived across the river from Hebei. The leader was Zhu Ling, the general who led the army. When Cao Cao saw him, he was very surprised.
He laughed and said, "Even Wenbo is here. I think Zang Ziyuan is going to be scared." Since then, the size of Cao's army has reached 130,000. They poured into the city from all four directions, and the defenders looked at it from the top of the city.
I saw that Cao's army's line stretched continuously for more than 20 miles, completely surrounding Dingtao City.
Zang Hong led the crowd to patrol the wall, trying to see Cao Jun's formation. When he saw the banner of Cao Jun's headquarters, a group of noisy crows suddenly flew over the sky, screaming as they flew over the city. At this time,
, I don’t know who in Cao’s army gave the order. Cao’s soldiers on the ground suddenly unloaded their arrows and fired arrows at the crows in the sky. The cloud-like crows were caught off guard. After being shot, they fell to the ground like rain. Looking again
Looking from the air, I saw a dozen crows whining and circling, quickly changing direction and flying east. For a time, all the guards in the city were in awe, and they all understood the meaning of Cao Jun's move: surrounded by a large army
, they will not let even a bird fly into Dingtao City.
Upon seeing this, Zang Hong ignored the huge enemy force and took advantage of Cao's army's unstable foothold. He led the defenders to suddenly open the city gate and attack the camp in the early morning. The two sides soon started a fierce battle on the banks of the Jishui River.
The sound of killings on the battlefield in the distance was so loud that Cao Cao himself was awakened from his sleep. He was now in the west, looking at the fire in the southwest sky. He turned to Xu You and asked: "Ziyuan, which one is there?"
?" Xu You also covered his furs and looked hard. When day and night came, the Dingtao city wall was hidden in the mist. He couldn't see the flag in the distance. He could only listen and think, and quickly replied: "In
The person there should be Lu Weihuang."
Cao Cao frowned when he heard this. He called Xu Zhu and whispered a few instructions to him. After he left, he continued to stand and listen. Unexpectedly, the sound of fighting did not subside, but intensified. It seemed that the guards were
With all the elite troops out, Lu Weihuang could not resist.
After standing for a while, Cao Cao felt cold all over.
Incomparably, the raindrops came more quickly, crackling on the leather hat. He stretched out his palms to catch the raindrops falling from the sky, but was surprised to find that the sky was full of small hailstones! The hailstones bounced around in his hands, slightly
Feeling pain. Cao Cao looked back and saw Dian Wei and dozens of his trusted knights standing silently in the hail, waiting for his orders.
However, Cao Cao was unwilling to mobilize the army. The disparity in strength between the two sides was nearly twenty times. He did not believe that Zang Hong could break through the encirclement. If he led the army to act rashly, he might open an opening for the enemy, so he only allowed Xu Zhu to lead hundreds of troops.
Riding forward to assist, the rest of the troops remained motionless.
After a while, a knight came to report, saying that Zang Hong led 3,000 soldiers out of the city to fight, and Lieutenant Lu led an army to defeat them. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. As for Cao Jun, Zang Hong led his troops to kill more than 2,000 people.
Lu Weihuang also beheaded him. Fortunately, Zhu Ling was nearby and led his troops to fill the gap. Only then did they force the enemy back into the city. They inspected the corpses and found that about 100,000 enemy soldiers died in the battle.
Five hundred people.
Cao Cao was silent for a long time. He looked at the Dingtao City not far away, which had just returned to calm. He finally said with emotion: "I understand a little bit. Zang Ziyuan seems to be like a gentian!" In order to boost morale, Cao Cao ordered Lu Weihuang's cronies to be removed from the cavalry.
Ten people were cut in half and executed, and Lu Weihuang's soldiers were ordered to wear white linen and serve as the vanguard of the main attack on the west of the city.