When dusk fell, the city of Xiacai County was finally captured.
Cao's army rushed into the city, and there were almost no fierce street battles. Except for sporadic resistance, a large number of Yuan's troops surrendered. They had long lost their fighting spirit.
The mottled city walls are covered with marks of swords and guns, and the pitted ground is littered with corpses and blood.
Under the city walls, in the corners of houses, in the streets and alleys, countless Yuan soldiers dropped their weapons, knelt on the ground, and begged Cao Jun for their lives.
Cao Cao and Guo Jia rode into the city on horseback. Under the protection of their entourage, they looked around.
After a while, Cao Hong came in a hurry. There was still blood on his body, but it had dried up long ago. It seemed that except for the previous battle to break the city, there was no obstacle after entering the city.
"Zilian, where is Yuan Shu?"
Cao Cao lowered his head and looked at Cao Hong. The city of Xiacai County had been surrounded by people. Although the city was next to the Huai River, there were boats he sent patrolling the water, monitoring every move in the city. Therefore, he firmly believed that Yuan Shu was still in the city.
Unexpectedly, Cao Hong said with a serious face: "Brother, let Yuan Shu run away."
"What?"
Cao Cao was shocked and said: "How is that possible?"
Cao Hong said: "I asked the entire city's defenders, but they didn't know where Yuan Shu had gone. Later, some soldiers said that no one was allowed to approach the northeast corner of the city for the past two days, so I took people to check, and found that Yuan Shu was found in a residence.
The tunnel leads directly to the outside of the city."
typical?
Cao Cao and Guo Jia looked at each other with unhappy expressions on their faces.
They actually forgot this trick.
In other words, it's not that I forgot, but that I was negligent.
Because Xiacai is right next to the Huaihe River, the land structure is soft and the geology is not as hard as in the north. If a tunnel is dug, it will easily collapse.
And the reason why they know this is because in the past few years, in order to raise military pay, Cao Cao asked Guo Jia to secretly form Faqiu Zhonglang and Mojin Xiaowei, and secretly robbed tombs and dug graves to obtain treasures.
Although Cao Cao was no longer as rampant as he had been in history because he was afraid that the upright Liu Yu and Liu Bei would know about it, so he only dared to act secretly. However, he also gained some preliminary understanding of the geological structure and understood how difficult it was to dig tunnels.
When carrying out civil engineering work in the Huainan area where the land is soft, a slight mistake may cause the cave to collapse. Therefore, they did not think that Yuan Shu had the ability to dig a tunnel here to escape.
It's just that they obviously underestimated Yuan Shu. There were talented people in his army who could dig tunnels along the Huaihe River. They really underestimated him.
"Where does the tunnel lead?"
Guo Jia asked.
Cao Hong said: "Two hundred steps outside the city."
"No wonder Yuan Shu suddenly sent troops to break out from the west of the city yesterday evening. It turned out to be a suspicious formation."
Cao Cao frowned.
Guo Jia then said: "Ming Gong, Yuan Shu must have fled to Shouchun. If you pursue him now, you will definitely be able to defeat him."
"Well, cross the river immediately and hunt down Yuan Shu."
Cao Cao immediately gave the order.
His army had been better rested than Yuan Shu's army before, and Yuan Shu's army was mostly a mob, and was defeated again. Although it was large in number, its combat effectiveness and fighting will were extremely poor, and it could not last two days.
This was actually the third day after Cao Cao attacked Xia Cai. There were only two days to actually attack the city, the first and second days. Today, it was just the first wave of attacks, breaking through the city.
It can be imagined that as early as the first day, Yuan Shu was already digging tunnels. On the night of the second day, he abandoned his army and fled out of the city overnight.
At this time, Liu Xun had just ended his entanglement with Dian Wei near Daze Township, Lu Bu had not yet arrived at Xiapi, and Xiahou Dun was still chasing Ji Ling. It would be at least the day after tomorrow before Liu Xun, the fastest, could return to help. Although Cao Cao did not know these situations,
But this did not prevent him from making an immediate judgment.
After all, at least at this moment, there are not many soldiers around Yuan Shu, and there must be very few defenders in Shouchun. As long as the enemy does not return reinforcements for a day, Yuan Shu will be nothing more than a withered skeleton in the grave. As long as Shouchun is defeated, the land of Huainan will be destroyed.
It belongs to Cao Cao.
"Brother, what should we do with those surrendered soldiers?"
Cao Hong asked.
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes, and there was a hint of fierceness in his eyes: "If you keep them, you have to disperse the people and horses to guard them. If you let them go, most of them will definitely return to Yuan Shu. You can't let them go and you can't keep them. Let them dig their own holes.
I’ll trap and kill them all!”
Trap to kill?
Cao Hong's expression did not change at all. For them, the children of wealthy families, no matter they are common people or soldiers, as long as they are at the bottom, they are not considered human beings. They are no different from grassroots. If they are killed, they will be killed. So what?
In the Han Dynasty, the only people who could really be considered at the level of human beings were the common people and above who had property. If they were bankrupt poor people or slave owners of big families who killed wantonly, they would be killed. If Liu Bei hadn't stood up to a Han
As a descendant of the royal family, in the eyes of various princes, he was actually nothing.
However, Guo Jia thought for a while and said: "Ming Gong, there are nearly 20,000 soldiers here. If we kill him, it will still waste time. We must pursue Yuan Shu without delay. Why not leave a few people and imprison them first, and wait until we break Shouchun?"
, and deal with them again.”
"Um......."
Cao Cao thought for a moment and nodded: "Okay, just follow the words of filial piety."
At that moment, two thousand people were left to guard the prisoners, while the rest of the army crossed the Huai River in a mighty boat and headed east to pursue Yuan Shu.
It's not that Guo Jia and Cao Cao were kind-hearted, but it was not that easy to kill and surrender soldiers in ancient times. In the era before machine guns, beheading one by one would take who knows how long.
The speed of pit killing is faster, just force the soldiers to dig the pit themselves, let them jump in and then fill it with soil.
But the problem is that when digging a pit, the surrendered soldiers may resist and refuse to die. They must be suppressed by a large army, and it is impossible to send only a few people to guard them.
In this race against time, for every hour that remains in Xia Cai, Yuan Shu's reinforcements will move faster, and their plan to capture Yuan Shu and occupy Huainan will fail.
Therefore, they could not stay here longer, so it was better to cross the river as soon as possible.
In order to prepare for Yuan Shu's crossing of the river, and also to plan for his own army to cross the river, Cao Cao collected many ships, so the crossing of the river was very fast. After the rear baggage troops also crossed the river, the army set off for Shouchun.
When Liu Bei came before, he brought a lot of supplies. When he went north, he left a lot of food and grass for Cao Cao and Sun Jian who suffered heavy losses. This provided favorable conditions for him to attack Yuan Shu later - there was enough food and grass.
Some people may wonder why Liu Xun and Ji Ling had to cross the Huaihe River to rescue Yuan Shu even though they were on the north bank of the Huaihe River.
This is because the Huaihe River passes around Jiujiang County, and then passes through Peiguo, Xiapi, and Guangling. It shows a J shape. If Liu Xun and Ji Ling want to rush to aid Yuan Shu, they must first enter Jiujiang County from Peiguo Xiapi before they can come over.
, otherwise, they would have to take a long detour to the east, enter Runan County, and then go south to Xiacai, a long detour.
So now Liu Xun and Ji Ling are rushing to Shouchun at the same time, but in terms of time, they are still far behind Cao Cao. Although Cao Cao did not catch Yuan Shu in Xiacai, Xiacai is not far from Shouchun, almost across the river.
In the past two days, Cao Cao also sent people to try to attack Shouchun, and there were already advance troops there.
For Yuan Shu, it has reached a critical moment.
In the evening, Cao Jun came to the city.
That night, Cao Cao was stationed outside the city, preparing to attack tomorrow.
Under the night, the starfield is flat. As the weather gets warmer, the sharp cold wind blows, but it is not as sharp as before.
At midnight, Cao Cao read a book in the tent and prepared to rest.
Although he didn't know where Liu Xun and Ji Ling were at this time, he had already deployed scouts and scouts around Jiujiang. Once the enemy returned for reinforcements, he would know immediately.
There is still no movement, which shows that Yuan Shu has no support at all in a short period of time. After investigation in Shouchun, he only has thousands of troops, not as powerful as Cai Cai. Therefore, Cao Cao is full of confidence in attacking the city tomorrow and believes that he can definitely win.
Down.
After watching for a moment, he blew out the oil lamp and planned to go to bed. But at this moment, footsteps suddenly came from outside the tent, and his subordinate Yu Jin hurriedly shouted outside: "Ming Gong, something happened."
"Come in."
In the darkness, Cao Cao looked indifferent. It would definitely not be a good thing if something happened at this juncture.
After Yu Jin came in, he found that the tent was dark and he could not see where Cao Cao's people were. He could only kneel on one knee at the entrance of the tent and said: "In the direction of Feishui, we found a large number of ships heading towards Shouchun."
"What?"
Cao Cao was shocked and said: "How is this possible? It is impossible for Yuan Shu's defenders in Lujiang to return reinforcements so quickly."
Only three days have passed since he attacked Yuan Shu. The reinforcements from Peiguo and Xiapi, which are closer to Jiujiang, have not arrived yet. Why did the reinforcements from Lujiang arrive first?
This is unreasonable.
Although Lujiang and Jiujiang are next to each other, if you take a boat from Penglize, go east along the Yangtze River, then enter Chaohu from Ruxushui, and then pass through Hefei and Feishui to reach Shouchun, this route was used by Sun Quan in the Northern Expedition with an army of 100,000 in history.
route.
Due to smooth winds and smooth water throughout the journey, especially the eastward flow of the Yangtze River, the water flow is very fast and large ships fly down the current. It is indeed possible to reach this place in three days.
But the problem is that we can't just count the time for the reinforcements to arrive, but also the time for the order to be sent.
Yuan Shu's defeat was very fast. Unless he had anticipated the defeat and ordered to find reinforcements in advance, he would have withdrawn from Gushi to Ruyin and then suffered a major defeat in Shen County. In just two days, it would have been so difficult.
Send someone for help quickly?
According to Cao Cao's estimation, when Yuan Shu issued the order to ask for help, it would be at most the night of Shen County's defeat.
Going south from Shen County to Lujiang County and taking the land route through the entire Lujiang County, the speed is much slower than the waterway. If you are lucky, it may take five or six days, but if you are not lucky, it may take ten days and half a month.
Because south of the Lujiang River is the Dabie Mountains, with countless high mountains and ridges. Not only is the road difficult to walk, but in the vicinity, Liu Biao's army is also confronting Yuan Shu, and there are a large number of bandits blocking it, making it even more difficult to move.
Some people may ask, since it is very fast to get there by boat from Penglize, why not go there by boat?
This is because of the relationship between downstream and countercurrent.
Taking a boat from Penglize, the Yangtze River flows downstream, which is naturally fast. Although it turns into a countercurrent when it reaches the Ruxu River and Feishui River, the water flow is not as fast as the Yangtze River and has little impact on the big ship, so it can still maintain a very fast speed.
But when you go to convey the order, try taking a boat upstream of the Yangtze River?
Let alone Penglize, even if you cut off your hand, the water of the Yangtze River will take you to the Yellow Sea.
Therefore, Cao Cao and Guo Jia deduced several times and believed that it was impossible for the Lujiang defenders to arrive in a short time. It was normal for them to arrive more than ten days later than the reinforcements from Peiguo and Xiapi.
But now this sudden appearance of the fleet really frightened Cao Cao. He was not prepared at all, and he didn't know what the enemy was doing.
"Ming Gong, the scout reported that through the moonlight, he could vaguely see that the flag hanging on the ship had the word "yellow" in it."
Yu Jin said: "It doesn't seem like Yuan Shu's army."
"Yellow letters?"
Cao Cao stood up, walked to the table, lit the oil lamp with a fire stick, sat down with his cloak, and frowned deeply: "Go and call the military advisor."
"only."
Yu Jin accepted the order and left.
yellow......
Huang Zu?
Cao Cao's face was very serious.
He never expected that Yuan Shu's defenders in Lujiang would be so useless.
At the same time, he did not expect that Liu Biao would be so ambitious, and it seemed that he planned to take advantage of Yuan Shu's defeat to come and get a piece of the pie.
After a while, Guo Jia, who was slightly sleepy, entered the tent, bowed his hands and said, "Ming Gong."
"Sit down first."
Cao Cao waved his hand and asked, "Do you already know the matter?"
Guo Jia sat cross-legged on the west side of the table, nodded and said: "Yu Jin has already told me."
"What do you think?"
"The word yellow can only be Huang Zu."
"Yes, I think so too."
Cao Cao pondered: "As I expected, Liu Biao must have heard that Yuan Shu was besieged by us in Gushi, so he attacked Lujiang. He just captured Lujiang a few days ago, and immediately moved his army northward from the river."
Guo Jia said: "Yuan Shu is already a sick dog, so there is nothing to be afraid of. However, Liu Biao is coming fiercely, and I am afraid that he is eyeing Jiangdong. We have to be on guard."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Historically, due to geographical issues, Cao Cao was not interested in the Huainan Yangtze River Basin in the early days.
But now, it is also a geographical issue. He must compete for Huainan and Huaibei.
The competition between Liu Bei and Yuan Shao has reached a fever pitch, but Cao Cao did not coerce the emperor to make the princes strengthen himself, so his territory has not expanded. So far, it is only one Yanzhou plus half of Xuzhou.
Therefore, in order to obtain large grain warehouses such as Huainan and Huaibei, and break out of Henan's territory, he must attack Yuan Shu and allow himself to obtain the entire Henan area except Yuzhou and northern Xuzhou.
Seeing that he was about to kill Yuan Shu and defeat him. When Huainan, Huaibei, and his own Yanzhou were about to be connected, Liu Biao came out halfway and was also eyeing Huainan. It would be a lie to say he wasn't uncomfortable. Cao Cao was in a very deep mood.
Oops.
He thought for a moment and said: "In the interest of filial piety, how should we respond to Liu Biao's attack?"
Guo Jia thought: "Liu Biao has great natural dangers on the river, and the water conservancy of ships can radiate to the entire Jiangdong. But if you go north to Huainan, you only need to hold on to Hefei, and you can use the river to control it. We have no idea about Jiangdong now, or we can use it to control it.
Let's discuss and divide Yangzhou equally. We will get the land in Huainan, and he will get the north and south of the Yangtze River."
"Um."
Cao Cao nodded: "Okay, let's not talk about tomorrow's attack on the city for now. Write a letter for me and ask Huang Zu to send someone to my camp to discuss the matter."
He was the prefect of Yizhou and was at the same level as Liu Biao, so it was naturally impossible for him to send someone to discuss with Huang Zu in person.
Huang Zu could only come here in person or send an agent.
Now, at least nominally, he and Liu Biao belong to the same camp. Because they both declared themselves vassals to the court and formed an alliance to fight against the previous alliance of Yuan Shu and Tao Qian, this way there was room for discussion and they would not fall out when they met.