Tan County is the administrative seat of Xuzhou. Historically, it was not until Liu Bei took control of Xuzhou that the administrative seat was moved to Xiapi.
At this moment, in the Tan County City, in the mansion of the prefect, Tao Qian was sitting tremblingly on the banquet. Next to him was his close confidant Cao Hong.
As for the well-known father and son Chen Gui and Chen Deng, they are not here at this time. One resigned and went home to recuperate at home. The other is serving as a Diannong school captain and is currently cultivating fields and planting grains in various parts of Xuzhou to help Xuzhou improve.
Grain production.
Tao Qian looked around with his narrow eyes. Many people read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and thought he was a polite, modest gentleman and a good man with a kind heart.
But looking at the history books, Tao Qian is actually not a kind person. According to records in "Three Kingdoms" and "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", Tao Qian was a libertine when he was young. As a result, his mother-in-law did not want to marry her daughter to him, and scolded him for "playing too much".
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Secondly, he did not respect his elders. His father's friend was also his superior, but he did not treat him politely. "The county governor Zhang Pan, an ancestor of the same county, and Qian's father and friend, are very close to each other, but Qian is humiliated."
Then he had a very arrogant attitude. Sikong Zhang Wen took him with him to attack Han Sui and treated him very well. However, Tao Qian did not take military affairs seriously and even humiliated Zhang Wen in public.
Finally, when he was in power in Xuzhou, he was close to villains and far away from virtuous ministers. He turned a blind eye to loyal and good people, but was very friendly to villains like Cao Hongzuorong.
"At that time, the people in Xuzhou were prosperous, with grain and rice to support them, and many refugees returned. However, they were modest and apostate: Yaxie Zhao Yu, the prefect of Guangling, was also a famous scholar in Xu Fang. He was loyal and straightforward, and Cao Hong and others slandered the villain.
That is, he should be humble and accept his duties. If the punishment and administration are not harmonious, many good people will be harmed by it, and this will gradually lead to chaos."
Therefore, maybe Tao Qian is not a cruel person, but to say that he is a virtuous person is really not worthy. It can only be said that his qualifications are only average, but his ambition is higher than the sky, and he is arrogant and arrogant, which is not qualified.
of the monarch.
At this moment, Tao Qian looked around and looked at the three cronies around him. He only valued powerful people from aristocratic families and looked down on ordinary people from poor families. This led to the outflow of Xuzhou's talents, such as Xu Sheng, Lu Dai, etc., who were not used by him.
Therefore, among the people around me who were born in aristocratic families, except for the talents of Chen Gui and his son of the Chen family, the rest, that is, Mi Zhu, have a huge family fortune and have the characteristics of being close to others.
Everyone in the room was silent and sat quietly. It was hot summer outside and the sun was shining brightly, but the atmosphere inside the room was as cold as an igloo.
"Now that Cao Cao has captured Pengcheng and his army is at its peak, he has repeatedly threatened to capture Xuzhou and avenge his original revenge. How do you think we should deal with the enemy?"
Tao Qian's tone was vicissitudes of life, and he coughed twice from time to time. Since last year, his health has deteriorated and is getting worse day by day. Although he doesn't know if his end is approaching, it also makes him very sad.
Xuzhou was at least peaceful when he was there. Once he left, how could his two sons, who were unwilling to serve in politics, hold on to this land?
Cao Bao and Mi Zhu didn't speak. Cao Hong hesitated for a moment and asked cautiously: "Everyone in the world knows that Cao Mengde has become an ally with Qingzhou. Liu Xuande is so powerful that he and Cao Cao are in a pincer attack on Xuzhou. Now we can only form a good relationship with him.
Only then can we break the siege of Xuzhou."
"Liu Bei? Haha."
Tao Qian sneered and said in a low voice: "I'm afraid you don't know that at noon today, 20,000 troops from Qingzhou marched south from Langya Kingdom, saying that I attacked my colleagues for no reason and committed a capital crime. I was ordered by the imperial court to come to attack.
.”
"ah?"
Cao Hong and Cao Bao looked at each other. Cao Cao was already hard to resist. Adding Liu Bei, the overlord from the east, Xuzhou was even worse. How could they fight?
"Why, two years ago, Yuan Shu sent an envoy to persuade me to send troops to attack Yanzhou together. The two of you detailed the benefits of Yanzhou's capture and urged me to agree. Now that the battle has been defeated, Yanzhou has not gained it, and it has angered Cao Cao and Liu Bei. Now they are fighting
If you come here, you will no longer have a charter?"
Seeing that they were at a loss, Tao Qian suddenly felt unhappy and stared at the two of them with an unkind expression.
When Yuan Shu sent envoys to him to form an alliance, he was hesitant at first.
After all, he had just received the imperial edict from the Luoyang court at that time. If he took the initiative to attack Cao Cao, who was also recruited as the shepherd of Yanzhou, he would be committing a capital crime.
If the court blames him, it is very likely that he will lose his reputation as a righteous person.
But at that time, his close confidants Cao Hong and Cao Bao urged him and talked about many advantages of attacking Yanzhou, so he reluctantly agreed.
As a result, Cao Bao and Zhang Xun combined a total of 70,000 to 80,000 troops, and Cao Cao fought with only 20,000 troops and horses for so long but failed to capture Yanzhou. In the end, Cao Cao cut off the food route and retreated due to exhaustion of food.
This resulted in Tao Qian not getting Yanzhou, and also offending Cao Cao and Liu Bei at the same time. It can be said that he lost his wife and troops, and lost all his money.
Originally, Liu Bei was expected to fight Yuan Shao to the north, and Cao Cao only had Dongjun, so he would not have time to take care of Xuzhou at least in the short term. Let's wait and see the situation in the north. There is no choice in the future.
Who would have expected that in just two years, Cao Cao would pacify Yanzhou, and Liu Bei would temporarily make a truce with Yuan Shao and begin to join forces to deal with him.
Everything happened so suddenly that Tao Qian didn't have time to react. Pengcheng had already been captured by Cao Cao. Just when he was furious and was about to lead his troops to defend against the invading enemy, the bad news from Qingzhou made him calm down instantly.
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Now, we are not fighting against the relatively weak Cao Cao, but fighting against Liu Bei and Cao Cao at the same time. Cao Cao will be very difficult to deal with, and if Liu Bei is added...
Thinking of this, Tao Qian looked at the two men with even more unkind eyes. When the army was defeated, some rumors were heard in the city that the two men had accepted Yuan Shu's gift. They thought it was just to catch the wind, but now it seems that it may not be true.
Out of nowhere.
Cao Hong naturally noticed Tao Qian's displeased look. Sweat was pouring from his forehead. He looked at Cao Bao, thinking that his younger brother could give him some good advice. In the end, Cao Bao didn't say a word and was helplessly racking his brains to think of a solution.
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This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Suddenly the voice of the attendant was heard outside the door: "Ming Gong, Captain Diannong wants to see you."
"Yuanlong is back?"
Tao Qian said quickly: "Let him in quickly."
After a while, Chen Denshi walked in and bowed his hands: "Ming Gong."
"Yuanlong sits."
Tao Qian asked him to sit down and asked, "How is Brother Han Yu?"
Chen Deng's father, Chen Gui, whose courtesy name is Hanyu, retired from the position of Peixiang and is currently retiring in his hometown in Xiapi.
Chen Deng smiled bitterly and said: "Ming Gong, I was stationed in Yinping before, but I didn't go back to Xiapi. I heard that Cao Cao had already attacked Pengcheng, so I hurried back."
"oh."
Tao Qian was a little disappointed. There was no one around him who could make decisions. Only Chen Gui had always been resourceful, but it was a pity that he was not here either.
After Chen Deng sat down, he immediately said to Tao Qian: "Ming Gong, Cao Cao stormed the city, stopped marching, and wantonly abused our Xuzhou. His next step will be to send his troops north to attack Fuyang and Wuyuan, and his troops will be directed towards Tan County.
, Why didn’t Ming Gong immediately lead his troops south to resist at this time?”
Chen Deng thought that Cao Cao had only one goal now, which was to conquer Tan County. As long as he killed Tao Qian, he could occupy the entire Xuzhou. It was absolutely impossible to go south and capture Pi and Guangling.
Because Xuzhou is a long strip, Donghai State is Lianyungang in later generations, which is relatively north. If Cao Cao chooses to go south to capture Pi and Guangling, Tao Qian already has more troops than Cao Cao. As long as he holds Tan County, he will allocate 20,000 to 30,000 men.
With men and horses, Cao Cao's hometown Yanzhou can be turned upside down.
This is not the behavior of a wise man like Cao Cao. Therefore, Chen Deng felt that as long as Tao Qian led his troops at this time, he could rush to the two cities of Fuyang and Wuyuan, divide the troops to guard them, and block Cao Cao from the East China Sea. This battle would end
The result will inevitably be a dead end.
Unexpectedly, Tao Qian spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "I don't want to lead the troops south, but today when I was preparing to reorganize the troops, Liu Xuande of Qingzhou came down with a letter of challenge, saying that he would attack me with Cao Cao. At this moment
, I am attacked from both sides."
"What?"
Chen Deng was shocked. He never expected that Qingzhou would come to join in the fun at this time. He was stunned for a moment.
Tao Qian sighed and said: "If I lead my troops to Fuyang and Wuyuan at this moment, Qingzhou will move south from Langya Kingdom and come directly behind us. How can we be the enemy? That's why I gathered everyone to discuss countermeasures."
After hearing his words, Chen Deng put his hands in his sleeves and sat motionless on the table, frowning tightly and falling into deep thought.
If Cao Cao is just a wolf, then Liu Bei is a fierce tiger.
...
...
Chen Mu was in Langya Kingdom at this time.
The year before last, Tao Qian attacked Yanzhou, and Wang Fen stationed troops on the border. Qingzhou had no choice but to deploy its main force in Pingyuan Country, and the two sides faced off.
But at that time, while Xuzhou's main force was attacking Yanzhou, Qingzhou still sent 5,000 troops south to respond.
The people leading the team at that time were Qin Luofu's uncle Cai Yang and his wife's brother Qin Qi.
Cai Yang went south from Beihai Kingdom and fought all the way to Ju County, the seat of Langya Kingdom. He was blocked by Langya Prime Minister Xiao Jian and could not advance any further, so he stationed troops in various counties facing each other far away.
Now that Cao Cao was about to take action against Xuzhou, Chen Mu did not intend to sit back and watch, but decided to take action as well. It was called to punish thieves under the imperial edict, but in reality it was to protect the people and protect their lives.
After sending a letter to Liu Bei on the front line, Liu Bei had no doubts and appointed Chen Mu as the temporary governor. He sent Zang Ba and Huang Zhong Gaoshun, with a total of 15,000 frontline elites under his command, to Linzi for Chen Mu's dispatch.
In this way, plus Cai Yang's five thousand people, Chen Mu has 20,000 people under his command, including one general, three lieutenants, and eight army commanders. The strength is pretty good.
He led the army to the counties, met with his uncle Cai Yang and his brother-in-law Qin Qi, and held a military meeting.
Among the county mansions, Chen Mu was sitting in the chief seat, Zang Ba was sitting under his right hand as the general, and then the three lieutenants Huang Zhong, Gao Shun and Cai Yang were seated.
Military Sima was a middle-level officer and was originally not qualified to participate in such high-level meetings, but Qin Qi was Luo Fu's biological brother, so he was treated as a bodyguard and could not sit at the table, so he stood at the door and listened.
When everyone sat down, Chen Mu said to Cai Yang: "Uncle, the military meeting has not started yet, so I will call you uncle. However, after the military meeting, there were only the general, the governor and the captain in this hall, and
There is no uncle or son-in-law, including nephews, have you ever understood?"
Cai Yang said quickly: "This is natural. There are only big and small in the army, no relatives or clans."
"Um."
Chen Mu nodded with satisfaction, then looked at Qin Qi and said: "Nephew, watch more, listen more, learn more, and don't interrupt, otherwise the military law will be hard to spare."
Qin Qi immediately cheered up and replied hurriedly: "Wei, I promise I will never say anything."
"good."
Chen Mu then said: "The military discussion will begin now. Where is Cai Yang?"
"Humble."
Cai Yang hurriedly stood up and raised his hands in response.
Chen Mu asked: "You have been guarding here for two years, have you figured out the surrounding terrain?"
Cai Yang said: "Commander, please look at the map."
After saying that, he waved his hand, and a soldier immediately presented a nearby map.
Chen Mu waved and said, "Everyone, come and take a look."
Everyone gathered around.
Cai Yang introduced: "This was drawn by students from the Earth College of Taishan University. The surrounding mountain ranges have been marked one by one. It is very simple and clear."
Everyone stood in front of Chen Mu's desk and looked at it. They saw that this map was the same as most maps. It was just a few simple strokes outlining mountains, rivers, cities, roads and other simple coordinates. There was nothing special about it.
But this is normal. It does not mean that those who graduated from the Institute of Geosciences must draw lifelike maps. It is impossible to draw a real map with such a large piece of paper.
Therefore, the most critical point lies in the scale, icons, indicators and other important reference objects on the map.
There is definitely no latitude and longitude network, but it is very convenient to learn to read scale icons and pointers. When you see the actual terrain, you will also have an idea of how many feet away the things marked on the map are.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Chen Mu also studied it carefully. According to the markings on the map, the surrounding Ju County is Shushui on the right and Fulai Mountain on the left. The county seat is about ten kilometers away from the mountains.
This means that the army can pass directly.
But you can get through, but you can't. Because if you don't conquer Ju County, how will you transport the subsequent food and grass? If the city directly sends troops to cut off your food routes, the soldiers on the front line will have to eat dirt.
Therefore, ancient wars were basically about attacking a city and setting off a stronghold. At least a food route had to be cleared before the attack could continue.
Things like Deng Ai sneaking into Yinping, fighting in Chengdu, and directly forcing Liu Chan to surrender rarely happened, because Deng Ai had no backup supplies. Once Chengdu defended, waiting for reinforcements from various places to arrive, Deng Ai had no food supplies, and he would only die.
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It was just that Liu Chan had no choice but to surrender after considering that Ji Han's people's livelihood was in decline and he could no longer fight. He was a model of sizing up the situation and distinguishing right from wrong. He was definitely not the image of "A Dou who cannot be helped" inherent in everyone's mind.
Chen Mu looked at the map and saw that Ju County is located between mountains, with mountains on both sides, and rivers at its back. If it were to be attacked from the front, only the North City Gate and the West City Gate could be attacked. The terrain was extremely dangerous.
No wonder that with Leyi's ability, he couldn't attack this place for a long time. It seems that it is not without reason.
"I'm afraid this place can only be conquered by intelligence, not by force."
Chen Mu held his chin in thought.
Zang Ba asked: "Captain, how can we outwit him?"
Chen Mu said: "I have two strategies. A two-pronged approach may work. Where is Zang Ba?"
"The end is here!"
Zang Ba quickly stood up straight and saluted with his hands raised.
"I order you to lead an army of ten thousand, bypass Ju County, pass through the rugged valley, and pretend to take Kaiyang."
"only!"
"Where is Huang Zhong?"
"Be humble!"
"I order you to lead five thousand men and lie in ambush in Fulai Mountain, waiting for orders."
"only!"
"Where is Gao Shun?"
"Humble."
"I order you to lead our troops and transport food and grass to the rear."
"ah?"
Gao Shun was dumbfounded. His army was so brave in fighting a tough battle, but he could only transport food?
Chen Mu smiled slyly: "You have your own uses."
"only!"
Gao Shun was overjoyed and accepted the order happily.
Immediately, the task was arranged. On the next day, Chen Mu, Zang Ba and Cai Yang led an army of ten thousand people and marched south towards Ju County in a mighty manner.