Chapter 25: Heaven for a moment, hell for a moment
In the winter of November of the second year of Xingwu, the snow in Hanoi County had stopped. The world seemed to be covered in silver, and the winter sun hung in the cloudless sky, illuminating the world.
The vast Taihang mountains to the north are like ice dragons covered with jade, standing majestically in the wind and snow. The sunlight shines through the leaves in early winter and falls mottled on the snow, reflecting the pale light.
Lu Bu and Zhang Yang went east along the Qishui River and came to the east of Chaoge County. This location was called Jun County in later generations, but at this time, it was called Liyang.
In the famous later TV series "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", when Cao Cao, played by Mr. Bao Guoan, paid homage to Yuan Shao, he asked Chen Lin to read the "Essay on Discussing Cao Cao" in front of him, but Chen Lin did not dare to read it.
Cao Cao once made a generous speech in front of generals at all levels: "When this article was spread to Xudu, I suffered from a headache and was bedridden. After reading this article, I broke out in a cold sweat. I didn't feel that the headache suddenly recovered, and I could free myself.
Lead an army of 200,000 men, march into Liyang, reject Yuan Shao, and fight to the death!"
Although many things in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are fictional, Cao Cao did fight against the Yuan family in Liyang, but not with Yuan Shao, but with Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang after Yuan Shao died of illness.
Hebei laid the foundation.
So from this point of view, we can see the importance of Liyang. It can be said to be the throat of Jizhou and Yanzhou. If we can capture this place and use Liyang as an offensive base, we can enter Puyang in the east and Chenliu and Yingchuan in the south!
Lu Bu certainly didn't dare to think that Yingchuan was now Luoyang's territory, and the imperial court had sent a new Yingchuan prefect, but Chenliu of East County and Jiyin County were Lu Bu's primary targets.
Because of the eight counties in Yanzhou, these three counties have the largest population and largest area. As long as these three counties are controlled, it is basically equivalent to controlling most of Yanzhou.
Therefore, the first step is to enter Liyang.
Liyang has even become an empty city at this time, because it is located in Luoyang, Jizhou, and Yanzhou, which can be said to be the center of war. For many years of war, the local people have fled and died. The fields are barren, the city is dilapidated, and there is no one there for a long time.
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After entering Liyang, under the planning of Wei Jian, Lu Bu's troops divided into two groups, one with infantry, and attacked Puyang. This is Cao Cao's hometown. There are still Xi Zhicai and some elite Cao Jun soldiers stationed in the city.
On the other hand, the cavalry went south and attacked Chenliu County. Chenliu County and Jiyin County now have Xiahou Dun and Xia Houyuan as the governors, but they have very few troops. Although Lu Bu only has two or three thousand cavalry, what he needs is lightning speed to cover his ears.
, defeat them quickly.
Under Wei Jian's plan, Zhang Yang led 10,000 troops and rushed to Puyang. The defensive force here was the largest, and the city was relatively high. With Xi Zhicai's ability, it was definitely impossible to break through easily, so he could only besiege but not attack.
, just surround Puyang first.
Lu Bu, on the other hand, led his cavalry and flew south to kill Chenliu. He passed through various counties along the way without stopping at all. He only brought a few days of food and grass, and rushed for hundreds of miles. In less than half a day, he entered the territory of Chenliu, and then galloped his horse.
Arrive in Chenliu County.
This is the strategy of first easy and then difficult.
At this moment, Xiahou Dun, who was still in Chenliu County, did not realize that someone was already attacking him. The entire county only had thousands of county soldiers left behind by Zhang Miao, and they were still scattered in various counties.
Some people may wonder that Zhang Miao and Wu Zi both had tens of thousands of troops. Cao Cao should have had some defensive force in Yanzhou after absorbing these surrendered soldiers.
This is indeed true, but Zhang Miao and Wu Zi's troops are very rich, and there are many older veterans among them.
Cao Cao preferred the elite, so he eliminated many old soldiers and gave them fields to farm, leaving the young and elite. Therefore, in the entire Yanzhou, there were only more than 10,000 young and elite left behind, including those in Puyang.
There are two thousand people, and seven to eight thousand people are scattered in other counties.
Because if Yanzhou needs to be governed, it must restore order and allow the people to farm, so that small groups of destructive forces such as bandits, bandits, and bandits cannot harass the people. Therefore, each county must allocate troops, which greatly weakens the defense.
strength.
No one thought that in a situation like Yanzhou, someone would actually attack. Cao Cao's counselors had analyzed that Lu Bu might come to attack, but they felt that it was impossible for Lu Bu to mobilize the 20,000 Jizhou soldiers under his command.
But how can human calculations compare to heaven's calculations?
It is true that Lu Bu could not command the Jizhou army, but Zhang Yang was commanding the Bingzhou army. The two had a close friendship and were close friends who shared life and death. When Wei Xi came as an envoy of the imperial court, they had already decided to join the imperial court, so they joined forces.
One place, come to plan Yanzhou.
When Xiahou Dun knew that Chen Liu was being attacked, it was already too late. The cavalry was as fast as lightning. The soldiers on the tower had just issued a warning when Lu Bu had already arrived at the bottom of the city and led his troops into the city in a mighty manner.
Chenliu County was immediately in chaos. When Xiahou Dun heard the news, he hurriedly brought dozens of personal guards out from the prefect's mansion, and met Lu Bu head-on.
The two only fought for more than ten rounds before Xiahou Dun fell into a disadvantage and had to flee in panic on horseback.
Lu Bu did not pursue him, because according to Wei Xi's words, the most important thing now is to capture Chenliu, and then quickly go to Jiyin. After capturing Chenliu and Jiyin, he can then go north to Zhangyang and defeat Puyang. Then the situation is over.
Certainly!
After driving away Xiahou Dun, Lu Bu ordered his generals to occupy the treasury, search for supplies, and collect surrendered soldiers. Then he appointed Li Su as the prefect of Chenliu, leading a thousand men to garrison, and then led the army to rush eastward.
Since Wang Fen helped Lu Bu get a lot of Xianbei horses, Lu Bu used tricks to get a large number of horses under his command, so the Bingzhou army had one person and two horses. They changed horses without changing people. They only rested briefly along the way and did not stop at all.
To Jiyin County.
This offensive was as fast as lightning. Xiahou Yuan was completely unprepared. He was still hunting outside the city at the time, and suddenly encountered Lu Bu's army. He didn't even have time to fight, so he ran away, leaving the city behind and fled to Yuzhou in the south.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! In just five days, Chenliu and Jiyin were defeated one after another. Lu Bu also left his troops behind, and then led the army, went north to meet Zhang Yang, and stormed Puyang. The entire
The process seemed to have been planned in advance. Lu Bu knew all the information very well, and no one in Yanzhou reacted.
Wei Ji would definitely not tell Lu Bu that this information came from the hidden military intelligence department in Yanzhou. He only said that this was information that Luoyang had learned before. There was detailed information about Cao Cao's troop allocation, personnel arrangements, food, grass and material distribution.
supply.
The Qingzhou Military Intelligence Department was founded in the second year of Zhongping, ten years ago. In the past ten years, it has developed in full swing, and its influence has spread all over the world. Chen Mu placed chess pieces everywhere. Even Yizhou and Jingzhou have branches of the Military Intelligence Department.
.
With the information provided by the Military Intelligence Department, Lu Bu occupied half of Yanzhou with almost no effort, and then marched into Puyang. The army besieged the city, completely surrounding Puyang, and continued to attack fiercely.
Although Xi Zhicai desperately defended, his troops were too few. Enemies attacked from all directions, and with only 2,000 men, it was impossible to defend Puyang. Puyang was eventually captured.
In desperation, Xi Zhicai could only lead the remaining soldiers to retreat to the east of Dongping Kingdom, and join forces with Bao Xin of Jibei Kingdom to resist Lu Bu's attack.
The sudden offensive collapsed the entire Yanzhou's fragile defense system, because Cao Cao did not expect that anyone would attack at this time. He led his troops to Xuzhou, and his hometown was at its most empty, but the counselors had already analyzed that Lu Bu
There are simply no troops to fight.
The appearance of Zhang Yang in the end was indeed beyond everyone's expectations. After all, Guo Jia and the others were not gods. They would have considered that Lu Bu had saved Zhang Yang once, but they would not have considered that Lu Bu and Zhang Yang had become close friends. This became the battle.
key.
Just when Lu Bu was attacking Yanzhou, Cao Cao was in Xuzhou at this moment. His army marched southward with overwhelming force, conquering several counties and bringing most of Xuzhou in the south into his sphere of influence.
Now, there is only Zuo Rong of Guangling City. In history, after Tao Qian died, he simply sent troops to plunder the entire Guangling, and then fled south to Moling and sought refuge with Xue Li.
But now, before he could start causing trouble, Cao Cao's army had already followed and surrounded his more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in the county town.
Zuo Rong was a cunning man, so he thought of pretending to surrender, tricking Cao Cao into the city, and killing him at a banquet.
As a result, this plan was easily discovered by Guo Jia and others, so they broke up and started a formal war.
However, Zuo Rong was not very popular in Guangling. He had previously embezzled funds from three counties and promoted Buddhism everywhere, which made the people complain. Many people wanted to kill him.
Guo Jiacheng, Yuchen Palace, and others planned and found a way to get in touch with some Guangling powerful men. After more than a month of siege, they cooperated internally and externally, and finally defeated Guangling County.
Cao Cao ordered Zuo Rong to be beheaded to thank the people for their anger. The army entered the city in great force, and the group settled in the prefect's mansion in Guangling County.
It was noon in the prefecture, and the killings in the city had not subsided. The streets were full of blood. Most of Zuo Rong's soldiers had surrendered. There were a few rebellions in the city, but Cao Ren and Cao Hongzheng led their troops to quell them.
But now that the city has been destroyed, the situation has been decided. Cao Cao is sitting on the main seat in the hall of the prefecture, Guo Jia, Chen Gong, Cheng Yu and others are sitting in rows, and some sergeants are on the banquet to prepare for the celebration.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Cao Cao raised his wine glass and laughed loudly at his counselors: "Everyone, Guangling has finally been captured."
Guo Jia smiled and said: "Congratulations to Mr. Ming, such a great thing has been accomplished."
"Yes, Yanzhou and Xuzhou are connected together, and the vast and fertile land in between is in the hands of Duke Ming."
Chen Gong also said: "As long as Liu Bei and Yuan Shao are confronting each other, he can govern for a few years, and the government can revitalize people and people. Duke Ming will soon be able to have an army of 100,000, and then he will have the resources to compete with other heroes."
Why did Cao Cao take advantage of this moment to capture Xuzhou?
In addition to the fact that Yanzhou has been surrounded by all sides and it is difficult to escape. The most important thing is to take advantage of the difficult stage between Liu Bei and Yuan Shao to develop and strengthen himself and improve his strength.
Now that his strategic goal has finally been achieved, how can he not make people happy?
Cheng Yu also raised his glass, chuckled and said: "What we need most now is to stabilize the current situation, find ways to gain population from Huainan, and expand Xuzhou's land. Xuzhou is thousands of miles of fertile fields, with fertile fields in the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers. I heard that Qingzhou has
If high-yielding rice can be grown, the Duke's treasury will surely be full."
"Um."
Cao Cao nodded: "It seems we have to find a way to get some rice seeds from Liu Xuande."
The scale of rice cultivation in Qingzhou has never been large. Only hundreds of thousands of acres of fields are planted in the two counties near Judian Lake. In other places, millet and wheat are still the main crops.
The reason is that the north is not suitable for growing rice.
Guangling Wujun and other places became Jiangsu in later generations.
How suitable is Jiangsu for growing rice?
"If Taihu Lake is ripe, the world is full" is a proverb spoken by people in the Song Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty introduced Champa rice and planted it in large quantities in Jiangsu, supporting almost half of the population of the Song Dynasty. This shows that Huainan has a unique rice cultivation foundation.
Including Chen Mu's first strategy after unifying the world in the future, he also planned to promote Champa rice in large quantities in the south, with a five-year plan to first develop productivity and feed the current population of 30 million in the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, even though the proportion of Zhancheng rice planted in Qingzhou is not large, he has always insisted on farming. This is the reason.
When he thought that if he could introduce Champa rice from Qingzhou and plant it in large quantities in Guangling, he would be able to harvest a lot of food very quickly. Cao Cao was so happy that he grinned from ear to ear and said happily: "Come on, let's have a drink together. Today, it's really great."
It’s so enjoyable!”
"Drink!"
Guo Jia also raised his wine glass happily.
Everyone raised their glasses to each other at the same time, and then happily picked up the glasses and put them in their mouths.
Just at this moment.
Cao Ren suddenly burst in from outside the door and said with a hint of tears: "Brother, it's bad, Lu Bu and Zhang Yang joined forces to attack Yanzhou, Yuan Rang and Miaocai were both defeated!"
Boom!
The wine glass fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
Cao Cao seemed to be frozen there.
His face still maintained the cheerful smile just now.