The Qingzhou army went south to attack Tao Qian on the orders of the Luoyang Emperor.

Although Liu Yu, the emperor, came to the throne in a hurry, he ascended the throne half forced and half helpless.

But half of the princes in the world, plus the recognition of many ministers in Luoyang, then he is the legitimate emperor.

Moreover, when Liu Yu ascended the throne, Tao Qian also recognized it and asked for the title. He was also given the title of Mu of Xuzhou by Liu Yu.

But in a blink of an eye, Tao Qian backstabbed his allies, and especially joined forces with Yuan Shu, a traitor who did not acknowledge the imperial court, to attack Yanzhou.

What kind of behavior is this?

It is not an exaggeration to say that he is committing a crime.

Therefore, when the memorial sent to Luoyang by Liu Bei and Cao Cao was sent to Liu Yu the previous year, Liu Yu quickly ordered Tao Qian to be dismissed and sent to Beijing to be investigated and dealt with by the imperial officers.

It's just that the biggest enemy of the Luoyang court at that time was the puppet emperor Wang Fenli of Jizhou. Liu Bei's Gongsun Zan's troops were also fighting Wang Fen, Cao Cao was crippled, and Sun Jian was still entangled with Yuan Shu, so he never had time to take care of Tao Qian.

But if there is no time to take care of him, it does not mean that everything is gone. Although Tao Qian later paid tribute to Luoyang and begged for forgiveness, from a legal point of view, Tao Qian, the Xuzhou shepherd, had actually been withdrawn since the attack on Cao Cao the year before last.

If it goes away, he is no longer the nominal lord of Xuzhou.

Now Liu Bei still has no time to deal with him, and Cao Cao takes advantage of this opportunity to seize Xuzhou. Chen Mu can only lead the 20,000 troops that Qingzhou barely squeezed out and go south to deal with the matter in a hurry.

"Cao Cao?"

Outside Tan County, Chen Mu was thinking carefully in the camp alone.

Isn't the purpose of Cao Cao's coming to Xuzhou this time just to capture Xuzhou?

By then, sitting on the land of two states, you will have the same strength as Yuan Shao and Liu Bei!

It's a good idea, but it's a pity...

Chen Mu smiled, but unfortunately, all this had been expected.

Since you dare to come, as a long-time friend, you can't be stingy.

What if I give you another half of Xuzhou?

Brother Meng De, brother Meng De.

I hope you will get used to this half of Xuzhou in the future.

Chen Mu walked out of the camp.

In the distance, under the Tan County City, Cao Jun also raised his camp.

Under Guo Jia's persuasion, Cao Cao finally released the people of the two counties and led the army to the city.

Densely packed troops came in and out, auxiliary soldiers carried timber, craftsmen began cutting, rows of fences were erected, and all kinds of horse traps, iron caltrops, and horse traps were arranged at the entrance of the camp.

Building a camp is not a matter of a day or two. During the battle between Yuan Shu and Sun Jian, it took almost only one day to build a few fences.

There are rules for the layout and placement of various types of camps, such as watchtowers, cloud platforms, Juma, and traps. Even for a well-trained army, it may take ten days and a half to build a complete camp.

Cao Jun's side was building in full swing, and the same was true for Chen Mu's side.

At this moment, Cao Cao was also looking at this place.

Historically, he attacked Tan County for two months but could not conquer it because he did not have much food and grass, so he withdrew his troops. On his way back, he slaughtered three cities to scare Tao Qian.

The war hasn't started yet, and Cao Cao has enough food and grass, so he is willing to follow Chen Mu to see the situation.

"Then Chen Zigui, do you really think there is a way to break the city?"

Cao Cao asked Guo Jia.

Guo Jia had his hands in his sleeves, but his eyes were looking towards Tan County, which was three or four miles away.

As the seat of Xuzhou, the size of the Tan County city is slightly higher than that of a county seat, and slightly lower than capitals such as Chang'an and Luoyang. It is three feet high, close to seven meters, and cannot be broken through by ordinary troops.

"That's what he said."

Guo Jia nodded.

Cao Cao sneered and said, "Could it be that he is using a stone cart again?"

"Probably not."

Guo Jia stood on the grass. This place was already outside the city, and people often walked there. The grass was very sparse, and the wind blew up the dust.

In the dust, you can vaguely see countless roofs rising above the city wall in the distance.

The function of the roof was to block the ladders and soldiers climbing the ladders from climbing up the city wall when the infantry attacked the city. But now they are all erected and hung diagonally. They also have the function of blocking arrows and catapults for the soldiers on the city wall.

Although it may not be able to block the attack of the catapult, it can greatly reduce the buffer of the catapult. Unless we use the method in conventional warfare, first use the well rail to push the archers over, and then use rockets to ignite the roof close to the city wall. Otherwise,

The role of the catapult will be greatly weakened.

"No matter what method Chen Zigui uses, we can't leave."

Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice: "Although the strategy of shocking Tao Qian and forcing him to surrender failed. But we cannot just watch Xuzhou return to Liu Bei. At least we have to take half of Xuzhou."

"Um."

Guo Jia said: "I think so too. Now that Sun Jian is fighting Yuan Shu, the main forces are concentrated in Runan and the southern part of Pei. Chen and Liang are his foundations and cannot be easily moved. But Lu is hanging on

To the north, Sun Jian has never taken care of it. If we can take it down, we can connect it with Pi Guangling under Pengcheng. By then we can capture Taishan County, and the situation is complete."

"good!"

Cao Cao nodded with satisfaction.

Historically, after he started from Dongjun, he conquered Xuzhou twice, but he only crippled Xuzhou and did not occupy it.

At that time, his strategy was to defeat Yuan Shu and occupy Yuzhou. After occupying the two states of Yan and Yu, he really began to grow and had the strength to compete with Yuan Shao.

But now Yuzhou was attacked by Chen Mu, and Sun Jian defeated Yuan Shu and occupied this place.

Therefore, it is almost impossible for Cao Cao to go south now, and there is only one way to go east. On the grounds that Tao Qian has attacked him for no reason, he can justifiably attack him, and wait until he captures Xuzhou before considering the next step.

It has to be said that although it is a helpless move, it is also Cao Cao's only way out. Even if Chen Mu comes to disrupt the situation now, he must take part of the territory.

Otherwise, if Cao Cao is trapped in Yanzhou all the time, surrounded by people who cannot fight, Cao Cao will really be trapped and die here.

Here the Yanzhou Army and the Qingzhou Army were busy building camps, while over there Tao Qian of Tan County was very anxious to get angry.

People are calling at the door of his house, can he not be in a hurry?

To this end, he has held several meetings to discuss countermeasures with his advisers.

"Tell me, I'd rather bring you a charter."

In the mansion, Tao Qian was sitting on his knees in the hall, looking at the people below and urging them urgently.

The reason why he was so anxious was because Cao Cao and Chen Mu chose the right time to attack.

At this time, the summer grain has not been harvested yet, and the city is still using last year's winter grain. Even though there is still a lot of stock, he has 30,000 troops eating it.

It's not that Tao Qian has never fought before, so he has deployed troops. There are 30,000 people in the city, 5,000 in Houqiu, and a camp of 10,000 near the Shu River in Yushan.

The three groups of people took a defensive posture and were able to respond quickly no matter where they were attacked.

However, a total of 45,000 troops consume countless amounts of food and grass every day. In addition, the summer grain has not been harvested. They can last for eight or nine months at most. In a year and a half, the food and grass will be exhausted.

Therefore, as long as the Yanzhou Army and Qingzhou Army are not in a hurry to attack and continue to fight him, in the end Tao Qian will have to fight his opponent in the wild.

Cao Cao only had 20,000 troops, and he was beaten to the point of losing his armor, let alone the 20,000 Qingzhou troops he still had.

So now Tao Qian is like an ant on a hot pot, he is at a loss as to what to do.

"My lord, don't be anxious, there will always be a way."

Cao Hong quickly comforted him.

Tao Qian said angrily: "The enemy has already reached the city. We will attack the city within ten days. Should we wait until the city is defeated before we can think of a way to deal with it?"

"Forehead......"

Cao Hong's face was full of embarrassment.

Brothers Mi Zhu and Mi Fang looked indifferent.

Only Chen Deng remained silent.

In addition to a few of their cronies, Sun Guan and Yin Li were also here.

Now Cao Bao, as the number one general in Xuzhou, leads his troops to garrison at Yushan, while Lu Fan garrisones at Houqiu. Now only Sun Guan, Yinli, Zhang Kai and others are available in the city.

Because Sun Guan had resisted Cao Cao's meritorious service before, he was promoted to captain. A captain was not a senior military attache, but he was also a mid-level officer.

Tao Qian did not have Liu Bei's power to appoint officials. Moreover, Liu Bei was loyal to Liu Yu, and Liu Yu also admired him, so Liu Bei was allowed to make generals.

On the other hand, Tao Qian was a rebel, so it was naturally impossible for Liu Yu to appoint Xuzhou officials. Therefore, the officials he appointed were basically within the scope of the governor's powers.

For example, Cao Bao was just a cavalry captain, equivalent to a general. Sun Guan, Yinli, Zhang Kai and others were national captains, equivalent to a school captain.

In fact, Tao Qian had governed Xuzhou for many years, so his strength should not be that bad.

But at this time, he was already in his sixties, old and weak, and his abilities were only average, and he could not completely control the entire Xuzhou.

People like Zuo Rong and Xue Li did not obey him, and there were many grass-head kings in the Xiapi area of ​​Guangling. As a result, Tao Qian could only attack Tan County and could not go south to use the strategic depth to resist.

Now that the Qingzhou Army and the Yanzhou Army were approaching fiercely, Tao Qian had no way to retreat. Naturally, he got angry. Seeing everyone's silence, he said angrily: "Normally, Li'er and others boast of their talents, but now they are helpless in front of a powerful enemy.
To be continued...