Chapter 21 The cold voice spreads to Diaodou overnight
After seeing Cao Cao appear in his field of vision dressed in women's clothing, Gongsun Xun's doubts, nervousness, and indecision all night disappeared.
In the final analysis, his previous gaffe was not because he was at a disadvantage. On the contrary, it was precisely because he had a huge advantage and a complete victory was in sight, which made him a little suspicious... Jia Xu and Xun You were not so much helping their lord analyze last night.
The situation is rather comforting to him.
However, when his old friend appeared in front of him, Gongsun Xun suddenly realized that the other party was the one who suffered more and was the one who was forced into the corner.
I worry too much.
But now that he has regained consciousness, unexpectedly, Gongsun Xun is completely relaxed, and even thinks deeply and becomes clear. Almost in an instant, he analyzes Cao Cao's movements last night, Cao Cao's large-scale deployment in front of him, and the extremely weird place on the map.
The military arrangements, all connected together, gave Gongsun Xun a complete guess.
Back to the present, the battle was extremely fierce. Cao's army was almost deployed in full force, and they were full of fighting spirit. This made it difficult for Cheng Pu, who was at a disadvantage and was still on the attacking side.
On the opposite side, Cao Mengde was dressed as a woman to supervise the battle. Cao's army moved forward desperately, but his own side was temporarily restrained. Naturally, everyone on the Tushan Mountain focused their attention on Yan Gong.
Unexpectedly, Gongsun Xun, who came back to his senses, laughed: "Meng De is like a donkey approaching a tiger, this is the end of his skills... Call the gold to withdraw the troops! Even Zhang Liao and Cheng Lian are called back... Haosheng defends the camp!
"
After saying this, he ignored the battle situation in front of him and turned around.
The sound of gongs signifying the withdrawal of troops sounded from the rear of the entire front line one after another. Although Cheng Demou was resentful and resentful, he could not resist Gongsun Xun's military order... he could only retreat with hatred.
The Hebei army poured out of the camp like a tide, and then retreated like a tide, leaving only hundreds of corpses...Cao's army roared like a tsunami, as if it was a great victory! Even more capable soldiers chased them out of the camp.
The attempt to counterattack led to a condescending roll call from the crossbowmen in the Yan army's camp, and then to the suppression of the artillery vehicles in the Cao army camp. In the end, it naturally evolved into a daily performance of artillery vehicles bombarding each other.
After the battle was hastily stopped, not to mention how Gongsun Xun tried to appease Cheng Demou's obviously fragile self-esteem. On the other hand, Cao Mengde had no self-esteem at all... He returned to the camp and first took off the disgusting clothes on his body.
The woman was still indignant, and it took her a long time to breathe evenly.
After all, a victory in a defensive battle cannot really offset the humiliation of dressing up as a woman. In other words, the feeling of having to dress up as a woman to boost morale for a partial victory is really bad! But after that, the situation happened
The crisis has reached an extreme level, and Cao Mengde, who was rewarded by Zhu Shuo, knew that things worse than this would definitely follow...
Having said this, I must also mention Zhu Shuo.
Zhu Shuo's sudden return just before the war was not just a simple return of information; it was also equivalent to unequivocally informing Cao Cao that Gongsun Xun had already known about the drastic changes in Xuzhou, and he would not let go of such a good opportunity; and even more terrible
Yes, Gongsun Xun's timing of returning this man was too clever. Before the battle, all the generals gathered together. In a hurry, Cao Cao had no time to cover up. Zhu Shuo had already told the whole story, but he spread the news about Xuzhou to everyone.
Everyone in the camp knew... It was precisely in order to prevent the morale of the army from being unstable that Cao Cao had no choice but to put on women's clothing to boost morale and divert attention.
However, it is worth mentioning that before the war, things happened in a hurry, and Gongsun Xun was hesitant about the two candidates for delivering the message, Zhu Shuo and Wu Zhi... The latter certainly seemed eloquent, and if Zhu Shuo was detained
In the camp, the people did not dare not do this; but the facts proved that Xun You's suggestion was correct. Zhu Shuo had the identity of a native of Cao Cao and a fierce personality. When the words came out of his mouth, everything
People immediately believed it, and Cao Cao couldn't hide it!
"Father."
He was silent for a day, and in the evening, when Cao Cao was sitting in the middle of the army, thinking hard, Cao Ang, who was staying at the camp, suddenly came from outside. He stepped forward cautiously and reported another thing. "General Huang Gongfu has arrived.
Please meet him in private."
"Call Huang Gong to come to the back tent to find me!" Cao Mengde was slightly surprised, then immediately nodded, and then moved to the back tent.
"General Huang, please sit down."
After a while, Cao Mengde had regained his composure, but he was sitting on the couch behind the tent with his coat on. After Cao Ang led the yellow cover into the tent, he looked at the extremely steady Sun Ce in front of him, whom he admired very much.
The generals under his command could not help but relax a little.
No matter what, it is true that the Central Plains Allied Forces are full of talents, and as the saying goes that everything is people-oriented, so many heroes who gathered under his command to obey orders are the fundamental basis for Cao Cao to have the courage to fight Gongsun Xun.
In fact, even if Zhou Yu died on the field ridge, Cao Mengde had no intention of blaming him, because in his opinion, Zhou Gongjin had indeed fulfilled his responsibility as a commander in one area, and considering his age, he could even be said to have
This person's performance was amazing... except that his opponent was too powerful, and Zhou Gongjin himself had too few cards in his hand.
"Mr. Cao!" Seeing Cao Ang holding his sword and standing at the tent door as a warning, Huang Gai bowed his head seriously and then sat on the chair in front of the couch. For a while, the dried blood on his armor was stained by the candlelight.
It's clear and unmistakable, but no one cares about these details at this time. "There will be something that needs to be reported to Duke Cao privately..."
"Tell me."
"The battle took place during the day and the Northern Army retreated, but an officer deliberately stayed in front of the position led by the last general and asked to surrender..."
"At this time, the officers of the Yan army are surrendering to us?" Cao Cao thought it was incredible.
"This man was not an officer of the Yan Army before." Huang Gai quickly explained seriously. "His surname is Deng Mingdang. He is a person from Jiangzuo. He has always been a Sima of another department under Zhu Junli and Lord Zhufu... After a hard battle that day, he was ordered to surrender to Hebei.
, tried to assassinate Duke Yan, but ended up being tied up and placed there without even seeing Duke Yan's face. Now, by some strange combination of circumstances, he was able to retain his role as an example."
Cao Cao had already woken up after hearing this: "Have you ever asked anyone in the camp that day about this matter?"
"I've asked!" Huang Gai quickly added. "Otherwise, the general would have been killed with one blow, so why would he alarm Duke Cao? Lord Zhufu was seriously injured and has been recuperating in Yangzhai. His old troops are all in my camp.
, everyone recognizes him from top to bottom, and there are many people who know about the false surrender and assassination attempt... and his family members, tribesmen, relatives and friends are all in the south."
"If it was just the old general who fled back, General Huang would definitely not come looking for me." Cao Cao asked sincerely. "But what confidential information did he bring?"
"Of course!" Huang Gai replied seriously. "According to what he said, before he met Yan Gong and was appointed, he had been working as a handyman in Baima Yi, and was active in the Yan army's central military headquarters. He indeed heard
, I saw a lot of confidential military information...and some of the things are actually consistent with what I know?"
"how to say?"
"For example, he once burned many letters of surrender from our rebels, and gave a few names and dates, but they coincided with the several rebellions he committed behind him."
Cao Mengde nodded slowly: "So, he is reliable? And General Huang was also interested in this?"
Huang Gai nodded slowly, but took advantage of the situation to introduce it in detail.
It turned out that, just as Cao Cao thought, Deng Dang returned to Cao's camp after a few months and indeed provided a lot of military aircraft, but not many of them were really useful...remove the expired ones; remove the ineffective ones (Xuzhou
military information); remove those that cannot be dealt with (for example, Liu Biao and Lu Bu had many people who corresponded with Gongsun Xun); remove those that are of little use (daily logistics within the camp, military dispatch and internal affairs of Hebei); and remove some more, although they are very important
, but everyone can think of it (for example, as soon as Gongsun Xun heard the news about Xuzhou yesterday, he urgently ordered Cheng Yu to rush to Yingzhou, and Taishi Ci, who returned from the Liaodong conscription, rushed to Xuzhou to support)... Then the rest can really work.
There are only a few of them.
For example, Gongsun Xun just ordered Xu Rong to lead 10,000 Guanxi cavalry from Hongnong this morning to Shenyuan Pass in Luoyang, seemingly preparing to attack Sun Ce;
For another example, Gongsun Xun issued a military order the day before yesterday, asking Baima to dispatch a batch of tens of thousands of dan in terms of food alone, and several thousand cars of logistical supplies to be sent to Guandu!
"Does General Huang want to... set up an ambush in Yangzhai? Or rob the army in Wuchao?" After hearing this, Cao Cao was curious for a moment.
"You have to listen to Mr. Cao on this."
Cao Cao hesitated to speak, but finally replied seriously: "I think both are possible. Our army really needs a victory to boost morale... In this case, why not set up an ambush at Yangzhai in Yingchuan? After all, it is better to intercept at Wuchao
Food is too risky. Our army does not have an organized cavalry, but the Hebei cavalry can roar in. Therefore, if our army cannot win and retreat quickly, the whole army will be annihilated there. Besides, even if we can succeed,
, a mere tens of thousands of stones of grain may not really play a decisive role... What does General Huang think?"
"In this case, I will return to Dengdang tonight and ask him to send a message to Duke Yan, saying that I have convinced Duke Cao to concentrate my troops and set up an ambush at Yangzhai in Yingchuan. At that time, I will naturally invite him to be the vanguard, and then
Lead the headquarters to defect at the last moment and achieve a great victory!" Huang Gai immediately faced him seriously, as if he was saying something logical.
Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, and then became solemn. Even Cao Ang, who was guarding the tent, turned back in surprise.
But Huang Gai asked himself: "What do you think, Duke Cao?"
"Is Deng Dang untrustworthy?" Cao Cao paused for a long time before asking.
"Maybe it's believable, after all, his relatives, old wives and friends are all in the south." Huang Gai sighed. "But maybe it's not believable, because at this time, a victory or defeat will be a huge change. If Duke Yan really wins,
, we will have nothing by then, can we still care about taking revenge on his family? But the question is not whether Deng Dang can be trusted, but that the situation has reached this point. Cao Gong must look for an opportunity to fight decisively. If there is a conspiracy, he will also
It must be launched quickly...and although I am not talented, I am still willing to pretend to surrender to the north to delay some time and attention for Duke Cao, so that it can be convenient for Duke Cao to do what he wants."
"What if I don't have a clever plan?" Cao Mengde stared at the brave general in front of him, and for a moment he was in a trance.
"Then let me pretend to surrender as an opportunity to fight to the death!" Huang Gai remained calm.
Cao Cao was about to speak but stopped.
"The last general is rude and has no words, so I don't dare to say too many things."
At this moment, Huang Gai stood up suddenly, knelt down in front of the couch and bowed down on one knee, and faced Cao Mengde calmly with his hands raised. "But now that Xuzhou has been defeated, the matter has reached a point of necessity. If we don't come up with a strange strategy or find an opportunity to fight decisively, our entire army will be destroyed."
I’m afraid it’s in danger of overturning.”
Behind him, Cao Ang obviously wanted to interrupt, but was stopped by Cao Cao, but Huang Gai had already continued speaking:
"Mr. Cao, I know that as a foreign general, I am not enough to win the trust of Gong Cao, and I have no intention of sacrificing my heart and blood for Gong Cao... I am a barbarian from Lingling, half of my body is muddled, and I am about thirty years old.
When I was 2 years old, I saw the heroic figure of my late grandson general. From then on, I carried my sword and served the Sun family for two generations. It has been a full ten years! Therefore, the people who entrusted my life to me in this life are naturally two Sun Polu, one after another.
Could it be two Generals Sun... And who is General Sun in Yangzhai now? Doesn't Duke Cao know? Although he only has two counties and 20,000 troops, he has never been willing to win the hearts of the people.
, and asked him to surrender to Hebei, fearing that he would rather die than obey. Although I don’t care about the struggle between the north and the south, or the differences between Han and Yan, I am willing to go through fire and water for the foundation of the Sun family! In that battle a few months ago, I should have died.
If I die in the camp, do I care about this life today? As long as I am alive in this world, my death may be heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than a feather... If I were left to die in the camp, submerged in the general trend, Huang would definitely
I’m not willing! All these words are just to ask Mr. Cao to trust me once so that I can achieve what I want!”
Cao Cao looked at the person in front of him for a long time, as if he had gotten to know him again, but finally sighed, helped him up in front of him, and then said sincerely: "As General Huang said, the situation is already very critical, and I do
I had a plan from a long time ago, and I originally wanted to go by myself, but Gongsun Wenqi was on the opposite side, staring at me, so I didn't dare to move lightly. I thought about it all day, and I was about to let Bo Fu do it this time.
exist……"
"There is no need for me to tell you the details, Mr. Cao." Huang Gai suddenly interrupted him with a loud voice. "Since I have decided to pretend to surrender as a bait to lure Mr. Yan, I am an abandoned son and cannot participate in such a big event. And this
This is a major event, the less people know about it, the more sure it is... As long as Cao Gong says a word, will I be allowed to be a bait, in Yangzhai or Guandu? That's it. As for my false surrender, please don't say more, Cao Gong.
, even to General Sun, there is no need to mention it, so as to save him from distraction."
Cao Cao knew that he was holding on to the other party with the intention of dying, and he wanted to be a dead soldier. He felt sad for a moment, but he could only hold back and said: "I really didn't expect General Huang to be so ambitious and fierce... Please use Yang Yang."
Zhai Shi pretended to surrender to Gongsun Wenqi, so please be sure to remain useful."
Huang Gai didn't say much. He bowed again and hurriedly retreated.
Cao Mengde raised his head in the tent and let out a long sigh, but he finally had nothing to say.
Cao Ang, who was standing at the tent door, came to his senses and didn't know what to say for a moment, but Cao Cao looked at his parent-child posture and reluctantly adjusted his emotions. He laughed for a moment and said, "Zixiu, follow me out for inspection."
Cao Ang naturally did not dare to neglect.
In this way, the father and son walked side by side under the moon and began to patrol around the camp. This is the Chinese army's tent far away from the front line. Naturally, there is no danger of battle, but it cannot be said that there is no atmosphere of war.
On the left and right sides of the Chinese army's tent, there are newly built so-called transfer camps. One of them is the wounded camp, where the wounded who cannot recover quickly after being injured are gathered here and then transported by civilians to the Chenliu area in the rear; there is also another camp.
Naturally, it is the civilian camp. After the civilians have finished transporting food and grass, they need to stop here. After a night's rest, they have to turn around in a hurry. When the war is tense and there is a shortage of soldiers, the strong ones among them will be directly selected into the auxiliary troops... Bai
Ren Jun, who attracted Gongsun Xun's surprise during the day, was the chief officer of this camp.
Cao Cao walked under the moon for a long time, and was depressed by the seriousness and tension in the Chinese army. He was about to leave the Chinese army camp, but he did not dare to go to the wounded barracks on the left. Instead, he took Cao Ang and strolled to the civilian camp on the right.
.
However, at the end of autumn, the cold wind was blowing and the weather turned cool. As Cao Mengde walked along the way, he saw that all the people in the camp were exhausted, sitting silently and lifeless, and some were even shivering due to cold and exhaustion.
It didn't matter. When Cao Cao, Cao Ang and several guards were about to walk past a fire, he was stunned for a moment and stood in the shadow.
It turned out that next to the fire, a gray-haired civilian husband was holding a wooden thorn and pricking the blisters on the feet of a man who was obviously a young man next to him. The young man put his feet in the old man's arms, and his soles were facing the firelight.
, everyone could clearly see that almost the entire sole of his foot was dripping with blood and was in a state of disarray. However, he was sleeping so soundly that he didn't even notice that there were so many blisters on his foot.
Cao Mengde is a sentimental person, and he is a living person who has both personal ambition and a desire to help the world and the people. He has always been moved by the situation... But when he saw such a scene today, he just felt that some Han Dynasty orthodoxy was used to convince him in the past.
, any personal pride and ambition are not worth mentioning.
In an instant, he almost burst into tears after experiencing Xia Houyuan, Cao Chun, Cao Xiu, Xu Chu, Wang Bi, and even Huang Gai's generosity just now.
However, it was precisely because he thought of these people who were dying one after another, or who were determined to die for the so-called overall situation, that he couldn't cry anymore, and even knew what to do... because those people were urging him.
and inspired him, telling him to fight to the end to achieve great things.
He stood withered in the shadow of the moon, his life experiences turning around like a revolving lantern.
The spirit of the captain in the north of Luoyang, the ambition of Dunqiu when he was the commander, the decadence when he was implicated and dismissed from office, the heroic spirit when pacifying the Yellow Turbans, the lament for the people's livelihood after taking office in Jinan, the disappointment with the government, and then the rise during Dong Zhuo's rebellion.
, the ambition to travel across the Central Plains, the excitement of getting the support of Liu Bei and Liu Biao... all kinds of complicated thoughts were stirred repeatedly in the same person's heart, but in the end they were no match for the angry wide-open eyes on Cao Chun's head, and the pair in front of him.
Bloody feet.
But the two are contradictory!
One urges him to move forward with all his strength, and the other reminds him that it is better to give up for the sake of the people's livelihood!
While he was thinking wildly, the gray-haired old man picked out the blisters for the young man who didn't know whether it was his grandson or who he was. Then he threw down the wooden thorn and stood up with all his strength. He seemed to be preparing to go to the well to find some water, but unexpectedly he looked back.
Seeing such a scene, I was immediately frightened.
"Old man!" Cao Mengde, who had no choice but to hide, stepped forward shyly and held the opponent's hands directly, regardless of the dirt on his body. "Please stay with me for another month, success or failure, I, Cao Mengde, will never let you do it again.
Such hard work!”
As if he had exhausted all his strength, Cao Cao said this seriously, regardless of whether the other party understood or not, he let go and walked back to his main camp.
Cao Ang immediately led his guards to catch up, while the old man was at a loss. Only his white hair trembled in the autumn wind for a moment... He didn't even know who Cao Mengde was?
"Father!" Walking to the fire sand pile between the two camps, Cao Ang finally caught up and asked the doubts in his heart. "What did father mean by his words just now? And what Huang Gong replied to before... Although Xuzhou was defeated
, but is the overall situation really like this? Don’t we still have so many troops?”
"This is exactly what happened." Cao Cao turned around on the sand pile, looked down from a high position, and sighed. "Zixiu, you must understand... soldiers and horses need something to support them, and fighting between two heroes is never the case.
It’s a city-by-city basis!”
"Please give me some advice, father." Cao Ang became more and more anxious. Since that battle, he had become one of the most hard-line in the army. Naturally, he instinctively resisted the words of such a collapse of the situation.
"It's the people's heart." Cao Cao certainly had no reservations about his son. "Gongsun Wenqi already has the advantage. He won the first victory, the second victory, and the third victory again. But we are defeated again and again. Then we can't see victory.
After the hope, the hearts of our Central Plains Alliance will be dispersed. After Xuzhou is over, do you think the people of Wu County next to Guangling will be unstable if Bo Fu is not there? Liu Biao is half-hearted and short-sighted, do you think he will see that the situation is not good?
, in order to seek peace with Gongsun Xun, we suddenly withdrew our troops? The Central Plains is besieged on both sides. Do you think the cities in various places will deliver autumn grain in time? Do you believe it or not, in another month, if we cannot win a big victory, then the various places in the Central Plains will
Rebellions will arise one after another, and officials will change the banner of the entire county? Zixiu and Gongsun Xun may need to clean up the situation in one city and one area to digest the territory, but as the losers, we may not be able to hold on and the whole thing will be shattered!
"
Cao Ang felt sad for a moment, but did not refute... because this kind of thing is easy to understand.
"You have also heard what happened in the back account before. Follow me back and I will write a letter. You set out overnight and deliver it to Bo Fu in person. I will use his ability to fight and dare to fight and Huang Gongfu's false surrender to delay it.
Take advantage of me!" Cao Cao stepped forward and patted his own son on the shoulder, feeling relieved as if he was giving an ordinary order.
Cao Zixiu looked up at his father's calm eyes and a trace of white hair on his temples. Suddenly, the gray hair of his father-in-law and the gaze on his uncle Cao Chun's head flashed before his eyes, and then he focused on it in a daze.
Lower your head.
However, as soon as the father and son descended the sand dunes and entered the Chinese army camp, a soldier hurriedly greeted them, leaned over and reported a piece of news that caught them off guard:
"Reporting to my lord, Zhu Changzhang just committed suicide in the camp! He left a last word, saying that he just woke up at this time, and he actually became the sword of the Yan thief. He regretted it so much that he could only die to pay for his sin and live up to Cao Zidan's courage.
!”
Cao Cao was silent for a long time, and just nodded slowly: "I understand."
After saying this, he took Cao Ang into the camp and wrote a letter.
There are unforeseen circumstances and coincidences. Almost at the same moment, Cao Jun's camp went north, and Gongsun Xun, who was inspecting the wounded camp, also learned a sudden news.
"Your Highness..." Yicong officer Wang Ling, who was found from the Chinese army camp, was sweating profusely. He was so nervous that he couldn't control himself, but he had to give in and tell the truth. "I just checked the casualty list of today's battle. It has been verified repeatedly and confirmed. , the artilleryman of the front camp, Qu Junhou Lu Fu, was killed by the enemy camp's artillery stones at the beginning of the war!"
Gongsun Xun, who was explaining something to the military doctors and wounded in front of him, was silent for a while. After a long time, he slowly nodded: "I understand."
Everyone around was silent, and no one dared to get angry.
But Gongsun Xun firmly held the broken blade at his waist, but suddenly turned around and faced the wounded soldiers in the camp seriously: "Gentlemen, I swear to you today that within one month, someone from my Gongsun will definitely make a decision. Victory or defeat, I will never let you work so hard again! And our army will win this battle!"
————I know the dividing line————
"In mid-September, when the battle became more intense, Prime Minister Lu Fan's eldest son died in the battle. Taizu heard about it and said nothing. The next day, Emperor Shiren was not crowned, and he and his attendants were all working on white horses. For a while, they all entered Guandu, and left and right They were all shocked." - "Jiu Yan Shu". Volume 2. The Chronicles of Emperor Taizu Wu
ps: What do you mean by that sentence? In the new month, start being a good person from today on!
