Guo Jia's optimism was transmitted to Cao Cao, allowing him to cheer up and regain his strength.
What many people don't know is that Cao Cao's early psychological quality was actually far less strong. After Chen Gong's defection, he fell into such a miserable state that he almost defected to Yuan Shao.
At this juncture, it was Cheng Yu who played Zhicai, Xun Yu and other advisers urged him to give up the idea, and finally persisted until the moment he defeated Lu Bu and recaptured Yanzhou.
Many times later, when Cao Cao wanted to withdraw his troops because he could not defeat the enemy, these counselors encouraged him.
For example, Guo Jia persuaded him several times, and Cheng Yu and Xunyu also gave him strong belief support.
It can be said that these people influenced Cao Cao's life, and allowed Cao Cao to acquire the same perseverance and strong psychological quality as Liu Bei from repeated setbacks, so that even if Chibi was defeated, he could still be stable.
situation.
In contrast, the current Cao Cao is also working hard to evolve towards the Cao Cao who suffered repeated defeats and never admitted defeat in the early history, and is constantly strengthening his psychological quality.
On the contrary, the current Liu Bei, because of the smooth flow, is not so interesting that he always does a lot of things as he pleases.
At this point, it's Chen Mu's fault.
However, people's psychological quality is changed by their circumstances. Maybe Liu Bei is not as good as Cao Cao now, but who can guarantee that in the future, if he continues to hone himself in the war, he will also be able to grow to this point?
...
...
In early May of the first year of Xingwu, when Cao Cao defeated Tao Qian, Yanzhou temporarily returned to peace.
The Yuzhou battlefield is still in a stalemate.
Yuan Shu's military strength is actually an advantage, but the division of troops is too serious, resulting in fewer troops on the front battlefield than Liu Bei, Sun Jian, and Liu Biao's coalition forces.
But as Zhang Xun returned to the defense, Yuan Shu's troops were replenished, and he immediately crossed the Pishui River, preparing to destroy Zhao Yun first.
Yuan Shu's own troops numbered 40,000 to 50,000, and together with Zhang Xun's troops, there were 70,000 to 80,000.
Zhao Yun only had more than 10,000 people. How could he match him? So he took advantage of Yuan Shu's crossing the river and immediately led his troops to flee and withdraw from Zheng Qiang.
After eliminating the threat from Zhao Yun's tribe on the north bank of the Qishui River, Yuan Shu immediately sent his troops northward and marched into Dingying to deal with Huang Zu.
Huang Zu only had more than 30,000 people and could not fight Yuan Shu, so he decided to withdraw his troops.
But how could Yuan Shu let him go?
So he issued an order to pursue him, and finally pursued him at Tangxi Pavilion east of Xiping. The battle of Tangxi Pavilion broke out between the two sides.
The setting sun is like blood. There is no smoke on the battlefield, but it is filled with the pungent smell of blood.
Yuan Shuzhi looked at the battlefield in the distance with satisfaction.
After half a day of fierce fighting, which was already at the end of the war, his army killed five to six thousand Liu Biao's troops, and Huang Zu fled in embarrassment with the remaining soldiers.
On the vast land, Huang Zu's army abandoned their helmets and armor and ran towards Xiping. Groups of Yuan's troops were chasing after them.
"Kill, keep killing, I won't let anyone of Liu Biao escape."
Yuan Shu pulled out the sword from his waist, rode a white horse, and was protected by thousands of personal guards. He stood on a hill overlooking the battlefield in the distance, with a bloodthirsty coldness flashing in his eyes.
Although the Jingbei occupied by Liu Biao was a relatively developed and wealthy place with a large population, his army was actually not large, only fifty or sixty thousand people.
Historically, in the third year of Jian'an, Liu Biao had an army of 100,000 people, sitting back and watching, showing great strength.
But this was the first year of Xingwu after all, and he was still five or six years away from his heyday. Therefore, the army Huang Zu brought out this time was actually half of Liu Biao's army.
If Yuan Shu can completely eliminate Huang Zu in Runan, then Liu Biao's strength will be reduced by half in a short period of time. Once Yuan Shu has defeated Sun Jian and Zhao Yun and reorganized his troops, more than 100,000 troops can immediately attack from three sides.
Attack and destroy Liu Biao.
At that time, if Chen Wen of Yangzhou is dealt with, the entire Jiangnan area, Jingzhou and Yangzhou, will belong to Yuan Shu. In addition, Runan County, the richest county in Yuzhou, I am afraid that if Wang Fen and Liu Bei join forces, they will only be compared to Yuan Shu.
It's between five and five.
When he thought that his grand hegemony was about to be completed, Yuan Shu became even more excited. He waved the sword in his hand and kept giving orders to the heralds around him, ordering the soldiers in front to continue chasing and be sure to keep Huang Zu in Runan.
He cannot be allowed to escape back to Nanyang.
At this moment, on the vast Yuzhou Plain, a fast horse galloped over. Immediately behind him was a ragged and haggard-looking Yuan Shujun scout. While riding the horse, he shouted to the side: "General
, General!”
The Yuan Jun guards at the foot of the mountain verified his identity, and Yuan Shu's general Le led the man to the hillside and said to Yuan Shu, who was looking at the battlefield from a distance on the hillside: "General Zuo, something happened to Pingyu."
"What?"
Yuan Shu didn't react for a while, so he turned to Leji and said, "What did you say? What happened? Say it again?"
Le was helpless and pushed the scout.
The scout knelt down on one knee and said sadly: "General, Chen Wen, the governor of Yangzhou, suddenly attacked Shouchun, then went north to defeat Ruyin Gushi, and marched into Pingyu. General Liang and General Li resisted desperately, but there are few soldiers in the city, so it may be difficult to resist.
.”
"hateful!"
This time Yuan Shu really heard that something happened to Pingyu of the Runan Administration Office. He was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He said to the scout with a ferocious face: "When did you set out and how many days did you walk?"
"The villain was sent out by General Liang to report the news on the third day of junior high school. He has been out for two days. Several people in the same team were killed by Chen Wen's scouts. Only the villain escaped."
"Did Chen Wen already attack the city when you came?"
"We have already attacked. I don't know how Pingyu is doing now."
"How many soldiers and horses are left in the city?"
"Less than four thousand."
"How many people does Chen Wen have?"
"More than 20,000 people."
"hateful!"
Yuan Shu cursed again and said to Leji with red eyes: "Send the order, withdraw the troops!"
"General, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Yan Xiang, a counselor on the side, advised: "If we can annihilate Huang Zu, we will cut off Liu Biao's arm and we will definitely be able to capture Jingzhou."
Yuan Shu said angrily: "Chen Wen defeated Shouchun, and I lost all my land in Yangzhou. Now I'm coming to attack Pingyu, and Runan is about to be lost. After Sun Jian defeats Ruyang, I won't even have an inch of land. Take it."
Why take Jingzhou?"
"this......"
Yan Xiang was speechless for a moment, and the corners of his mouth twitched, not knowing what to say.
Yuan Shu is indeed right.
Now Sun Jian has defeated Xihua and Sun Ce has defeated Nanton. The barriers on the left and right of Ruyang have been lost, and only 20,000 troops are left to defend the city. It is very difficult.
The reason why Yuan Shu defeated Zhao Yun and Huang Zu first was because Ruyang was far away after all, while Zhao Yun and Huang Zu were close at hand. When fighting, of course, the approach is to approach the close first and then the far, easy first and then the difficult. There is no way to defeat an enemy who is far away from you first.
, the reason for allowing enemies who are close to you to wreak havoc?
In addition, if Huang Zu can be retained, it will be a huge blow to Liu Biao, so Yuan Shu has been attacking Huang Zu fiercely.
Anyway, if he thought about it, Ji Ling still had some remaining troops, and it would be no problem to use Ruyang City to hold on for a while. And even if Sun Jian wanted to attack Pingyu while he was chasing Huang Zu, he would have to look at the distance.
But Yuan Shu never expected that Chen Wen, who had been beaten to Danyang County by him before, would steal his ass at this time. At this critical moment, it would almost cost him his life.
You must know that although Yuan Shu raised his army from Changsha, his family fortune was all in Runan, so there was a large amount of grain, grass, baggage and property hidden in Pingyu City.
Once Pingyu was defeated and Chen Wen occupied Pingyu and used the food and grass in the city to defend it, Yuan Shu's army would collapse.
Because he didn't bring much food and grass when he came out. Even if there is still food left in Shangcai, it can only sustain the current 80,000 troops for one or two months. If Pingyu is not defeated within one or two months, Yuan Shu can sing a cool song.
.
Therefore, Pingyu must be rescued, and he must be rescued.
At that moment, Yuan Shu urgently ordered the army to return, and hurriedly urged all the messengers to disperse and chase back his soldiers who had gone far away.
But now the army has dispersed to pursue Huang Zu, so it took a day just to gather the soldiers and rectify the troops and horses, and then it was nearly 200 miles from Xiping to Pingyu. Even if it was a quick march, it would take three or four days to get back.
Shi Pingyu is already five days away.
At this juncture, Yuan Shu could only hope that Liang Gang and Li Feng, who were left behind in Pingyu, could hold on until he could successfully return to his army.
...
...
Ruyang.
Ji Ling could no longer hold on.
The Sun family father and son are really fierce.
Needless to say, Sun Jian is the Jiangdong Tiger.
But Sun Ce is not inferior to his father, he can be called a wild lion.
He used 5,000 men to repel his 20,000 invading army, and actually pursued them all the way.
There were still thousands of people in Chen Jian City in Nandun, but Sun Ce led 4,000 people to break through the city.
Lei Bo of Xihua could not withstand the pressure of Sun Jian and Zhao Yun for a long time. Before the city was broken, he led the remaining soldiers and fled back to Ruyang in advance.
Although the remnants of Chen Jian and Lei Bo's troops fled into Ruyang, the city's defense force increased greatly and already numbered 30,000 people.
However, under the fierce attack of the Sun family and his sons, Ruyang City was in a precarious situation, as if it would collapse at any time.
On top of the city, Ji Ling looked worriedly at the endless tents outside the city.
In fact, what troubled him the most was not Sun Jian's army that had been attacking Ruyang City fiercely in recent days and almost breaking the city several times, but the logistical pressure in the city.
In the past, the grain and grass from Ruyang Nandun in Xihua were transported through Pingyu and then distributed to the three cities.
But it is not easy for Chen Jian and Lei Bo to escape. Naturally, they cannot bring all the food and grass in the city with them. Now they can only eat Ruyang's food and grass together.
The problem is that Ruyang's grain and grass cannot last for long. It has been two months since Sun Jian and Zhao Yun's attack in March. Due to the interruption of grain roads, Ruyang's grain reserves are running low. At most, there will be more than ten days.
The granary must bottom out.
If we continue to defend, it won't be too far away from the time when the soldiers in the city are eating each other's food.
Ji Ling frowned at Lao Gao. In the past two days, he had been thinking about breaking out from the south of the city. Sun Ce was attacking in the south of the city. His men only had more than 4,000 people, which was relatively small. Sun Jian was in the north and Sun Ce was in the west.
Even Zhao Yun is difficult to fight. If he breaks out of the encirclement from the south at night, he might be able to escape.
But even escaping made Ji Ling very worried, because that would bring him back to the original problem, which was that if the Yuan family's hometown in Ruyang was lost, would Yuan Shu be furious and punish him?
Because of this incident, Ji Ling was almost worried to death in the past few days. He stared at Sun Jian's camp outside the city all day long, hoping in his heart that a miracle would happen, that is, Sun Jian would withdraw his troops.
Will Sun Jian withdraw his troops?
He could even think about it with his toes. How could he not do something that would break the city after more than ten days of siege?
Ji Ling felt that if it were him, he would definitely continue to be besieged like this.
It seems that there is only one way to break through.
Ji Ling sighed in his heart.
While he was lowering his head and complaining to himself, Lei Bo suddenly opened his eyes wide and said, "General...General, Sun Jian, seems to have withdrawn his troops."
"ha?"
Ji Ling hasn't reacted yet.
Chen Jian also said: "General, look quickly, Sun Jian really seems to be withdrawing his troops."
Ji Ling quickly raised his head and lay down on the city wall to look far away.
In the distance, I saw that Sun Jian's army camp outside the city had begun to set up camp, and tents and ordnance were loaded onto the carriages. It seemed that they were really preparing to withdraw their troops.
"Sun Jian actually withdrew his troops?"
Ji Ling was puzzled. What did it mean to withdraw troops at this pass?
Could it be that Ming Gong defeated Huang Zu and came to attack Sun Jian?
Because the roads were blocked and the grain roads were cut off, people outside the city could not enter and those in the city could not get out. Ji Ling did not know the situation on Yuan Shu's side.
But he did know that Zhang Xun should be back, because he was the one who asked Yuan Shu to recall Zhang Xun.
After being defeated by Sun Ce in Chen County, Ji Ling knew that Ruyang could no longer face the siege of the Sun family and his sons, so he had no choice but to ask Yuan Shu for help. Yuan Shu wrote back and said that he would call Zhang Xun back to let him persist.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Now seeing that Sun Jian seemed to have a vague intention to withdraw his troops, Ji Ling couldn't help but think that maybe Zhang Xun returned to defense in time and the boss had already defeated Huang Zu.
Retreat and prepare to come to his rescue.
"General, Sun Jian withdraws his troops. This is an opportunity. Why not..."
Lei Bo watched the actions of Sun Jian's camp with his eyes rolling. This seemed to be a good opportunity to attack.
"No, the Sun family father and son obviously had a premeditated plan. Sun Jian first coordinated with Sun Ce to set up the stronghold, and after Sun Ce set up the stronghold, he then came to protect Sun Jian. The father and son are the horns of each other, how can they attack?"
Ji Ling pondered for a moment, looked into the distance, and saw a large group of people coming slowly from the west of the city. It was Sun Ce's army in the south of the city. They had also set up camp and were now preparing to join Sun Jian.
The so-called father and son soldiers went into battle. When Sun Ce set up the stronghold, Sun Jian was serious and watched the defenders in the city. When Sun Jian set up the stronghold, Sun Ce came to protect him again. The links were linked together, a bit like the chain of horses in chess.
It left Ji Ling unable to start.
While the defenders on the tower over there still couldn't figure out why Sun Jian and his son set up the camp, after a morning of demolition, the army successfully uprooted the camp, loaded the supplies onto the carriages, and started a new journey.
Groups of people came out of the original camp in a mighty manner. Thousands of people from Sun Ce over there also poured into the river like streams and slowly gathered into this group.
Sun Jian was riding on the horse and saw his son galloping forward on horseback. He was happy in his heart, but he still kept a straight face and acted like a majestic father. When Sun Ce approached, he scolded: "Bo Fu, I didn't ask you to go back to Chen County."
Are you taking care of your mother and brother? Why are you following me here again?"
But Sun Ce said: "Father, I have asked Sun He to send his mother and younger brother to Xu County. Now that Yingchuan is occupied by Luoyang, it is very safe. We will take Yuan Shu back one day after we defeat him."
Yingchuan?
Thinking that Zhao Yun's soldiers and horses were near Zheng Qiang and that Yingchuan had been pacified by the imperial court, Sun Jian nodded and said: "Well, you are quite smart, but you don't want to go to the battlefield in this battle. Just follow behind my father."
That’s the flank.”
"only!"
Sun Ce agreed politely on the surface, but he had his own ideas in his heart.
This battle is the decisive battle to decide the ownership of Yuzhou. If Yuan Shu can be forced out of Yuzhou or directly eliminated, it will be a great thing for the Sun family, which is in urgent need of a place to live.
Therefore, Sun Ce is already thinking that he must not retreat in this battle. Even if he tries his best, he must let his father, the Yuzhou Shepherd, truly occupy the territory of a state!
A few days later, it was mid-May.
At this time, Pingyu City was crumbling under the attack of Chen Wen, the governor of Yangzhou, and it was difficult to hold on for much longer.
Fortunately, Yuan Shu returned to the defense in a hurry and arrived at Shenting on the north bank of the Qishui River. He was very close to Pingyu, still dozens of miles away, and he would be able to arrive soon.
However, just when he arrived at Shenting, less than twenty miles away from Pingyu City, two magnificent armies came from afar on the vast land!
Sun Jian, Sun Ce, and Zhao Yun who came from Zhengqiang stopped attacking Ji Ling and started to stop Yuan Shu instead!