When the sky was dark, apart from the huge fires in Junyi City, there were also imperial cavalry all over the wilderness.
The soldiers were scattered, with almost no formations. Most of them dismounted and led their horses to rest nearby. The battlefield was not cleaned, which obviously did not comply with the battlefield rules established by Chen Mu.
But there was nothing they could do. Firstly, the soldiers had been fighting all night, and both men and horses were exhausted. Secondly, they had been running for dozens of miles and were behind the enemy, so they did not have much time to clean up the battlefield.
According to the order, they took a short rest and waited for the horses to regain their strength. They had to go back immediately. This time they burned Junyi and defeated Cao's army. The result was a great victory. It was a big credit to Xu Chu and Zhang He.
"General, the enemy leader Xiahou Dun ran away. We did not catch up with him, but we captured this man. He was not good at riding and fell off his horse. A prisoner recognized him. He is Cao Cao's counselor Chen Gong!"
At this moment, dozens of cavalrymen escorted a man over. The man was disgraced and had scratches on his body. It was Chen Gong who fell off his horse because of his poor riding skills.
Zhang He's position was close to Junyi City. After Xiahou Dun fought with him, he saw that something was not going well and immediately chose to escape.
Naturally, Chen Gong also chose to escape. They fled north, planning to detour through Fengqiu and escape south through Honggou back to Cao Ying.
Since Xu Chubu was still two or three miles away, Zhang Hebu was naturally responsible for the pursuit.
Zhang He stayed behind to deal with the battlefield matters, and sent several small teams and hundreds of people to pursue Xiahou Dun and Chen Gong. They led infantry, and there were not many people following them when they escaped. Hundreds of cavalry could securely capture them.
.
However, Xiahou Dun was a good horseman and escaped at a gallop. Chen Gong was so anxious that he fell from his horse in a panic. He was captured by the soldiers and escorted to Zhang He.
It is a well-known fact that Cao Cao had four great advisers. Xu Chu got a big fish from Cao Ren, and his contribution was doubled. Zhang Hezheng was worried that his contribution would be less.
Now that I heard that Chen Gong had been captured, I was overjoyed and hurriedly came over and said, "Quick, tie them up, I want to present them to the emperor!"
Chen Gong was very ashamed and angry after hearing this, and shouted: "Crazy man! I am a scholar, how can you insult me so lightly!"
Zhang He rolled his eyes and said, "Scholar? Why did the scholar rebel against the imperial court?"
Chen Gong sneered and said: "If the late emperor were here, he would treat me as a rebellious minister who committed rebellion. However, the so-called emperor today is just the Qingzhou Mu who stole the throne. Does he deserve my loyalty? Cao Gong raised an army to fight in order to return the power.
Why can't Emperor Yu Zhang's heirs start an uprising?"
Zhang He said disdainfully: "Which one of Kang Chenggong, Wen Xiangong, Zirou Gong, and Ying Bogong is not a world-famous veteran of the court, and a righteous man known for his integrity? None of them said that His Majesty stole the throne. It is your turn to say so.
?”
"I......."
Chen Gong was speechless for a moment. Although Cao Cao's group did not admit it, Zheng Xuan, Yang Biao, Zhao Wen, Zhongfu and other princes and ministers admitted that their status in Shilin was much higher than him, and they were still royalists and should have been Liu Bei's successor.
It's the biggest resistance to you. They didn't object, so why do you object?
However, it is not easy to reason with a person who has a fixed way of thinking. Soon Chen Gong found the reason and said coldly: "Everyone knows that Chen Zigui is cunning and cunning. Who knows if he has taken advantage of the princes of the court?"
Family members are threatening each other and forcing the princes?"
"Then that's what you think."
Zhang He was too lazy to argue with Chen Gong anymore and said: "Anyway, you think His Majesty's ascension to the throne is unruly and you call us a rebellious party, so why should we give you preferential treatment? Come here, tie up this guy and send him to Your Majesty.
Go in front of me!"
"Warrior, madman! How dare you do this..."
Chen Gong was horrified and couldn't help but curse. However, the soldiers around him controlled him tightly. Seeing that he wouldn't stop, they stuffed a piece of rag into his mouth, tied him up, and sent him away as a prisoner.
Strictly speaking, Chen Gong is not a particularly upright person. After all, when he followed Cao Cao and Lu Bu, he had betrayed him.
But there was a reason for his betrayal. Cao Cao killed many famous people in Yanzhou, such as Bian Rang and others, who were all friends of Chen Gong. Of course, Chen Gong was not angry when his friends were killed by his lord.
It is reasonable for Zhang Miao to rebel.
And Lu Bu was even more outrageous. After taking Xuzhou, he began to give up on progress. He drank and had fun all day long, and did not listen to advice at all. He was even more helpless than Adou. In this case, Chen Gong was very disappointed with him, so he wanted to betray him.
Normal things.
But without these reasons, Chen Gong was still very willing to abide by the principle that celebrities should not betray their masters. Like this time, Cao Cao did not kill his friends, so Chen Gong would naturally not choose to betray and firmly follow Cao Cao.
After cleaning the battlefield a little, Xu Chu's side had already finished counting the number of people. Due to the twenty-level military merit system, all the heads of the corpses on the battlefield had to be cut off, and the soldiers on his side had to be collected and registered.
Regardless of whether you kill an enemy to gain a head level or a soldier who dies in battle, rewards must be given. Therefore, military inspection is very important to prevent someone from committing fraud, or killing good people and taking credit for their merits.
Taking advantage of this time, the soldiers also got sufficient rest. Some of them wore one or two heads on their waists, which made those around them who had not received any military exploits particularly envious and chattered about them.
There were even cases like Xu Chu who had guards help him get his head, as many as forty or fifty, and even captured an enemy general. Such military exploits are unimaginable.
After the battlefield was cleared, the number of casualties between the enemy and ourselves was determined, and there were no differences in battle merit, Xu Chu gave an order, and the army returned in a mighty tide.
.......
.......
On the Guandu side, Liu Bei built a large number of earthen hills outside Cao's camp, and then used crossbows and fire arrows to beat Cao Cao wantonly. On the Junyi side, Xu Chu succeeded in a surprise attack and burned less than half of Cao's army's food and grass.
At this time, the armies of Zhen Cheng, Huang Zhong and Xu Rong were confronting Xia Houyuan's troops in the north. The imperial army surrounded the city and pressed Xia Houyuan to the ground.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The imperial army is divided into three groups, one is attacking Luoyang, the other is attacking Jizhou, and the last one is attacking Cao Cao's rear base camp from Xuzhou.
Cao Cao's response was to unite with Liu Biao and Sun Ce, asking Liu Biao to help him share the frontal pressure from Luoyang. Sun Ce would help him deal with the enemies from Xuzhou in the rear, while he himself had to face part of the Luoyang army and the army from Jizhou.
The idea was good, but it was a pity that Liu Biao was too useless. Thirty thousand against thirty thousand, he was beaten to a pulp by Chen Mu, which directly caused a loophole in Cao Cao's southern defense. At this time, Chen Mu had already gone straight to Jiyin.
In the north, Cao Cao wanted to join forces with Xia Houyuan in Fengqiu after Guandu was delayed for a certain period of time, and use Fengqiu's terrain to continue delaying the imperial troops.
In this way, the enemies in the direction of Jizhou and Luoyang will be dragged by Cao Cao to Fengqiu, and continue to maintain Cao Cao's strategy of bringing down Liu Bei's finances.
However, Xu Rong and Huang Zhongtai were able to fight. Half of Dongjun was north of the Yellow River. These areas had long been occupied by the imperial court. The two went south from Dongjun and crossed the river at the Chuping Ferry. There was Qingzhou Navy there, and Xiahou Yuan could not do anything.
Prevent.
The two passed through Dong'afan County and arrived north of Jiyin. Since there were almost no dangerous places to go north of Jiyin except the Yellow River, Xiahou Yuan could only defend the enemy at Zhencheng and Linqiu.
These two counties are the two gateways to the north of Jiyin. At the same time, there are hundreds of miles of Dayeze to the east and the Yellow River to the west. If the imperial army wants to attack Jiyin, it can only go through these two counties.
Therefore, Huang Zhong and Xu Rong each led a total of 30,000 troops to attack two county towns, while Xia Houyuan and Cheng Yu each guarded a city.
Cao Cao's military strength was too stretched, so the two men had only a little over 10,000 soldiers, making it difficult to resist.
With the north gate wide open, Cao Cao was trapped in Guandu, leaving the northwest undefended.
I have to say that the war situation was really different from what Cao Cao expected.
He never expected that the imperial court's combat effectiveness would soar.
I originally thought I could compete with Liu Bei, but I didn't expect that less than a month after the war started, there were problems with both his southern and northern defense lines, and I was still being suppressed by Liu Bei in the west.
But Cao Cao didn't know about this situation at this time. When the gate to his north was wide open, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun crossed the river from Yanjin Ferry and went straight to Fengqiu.
The geographical location of Fengqiu is so important. Cao Cao and his advisers could clearly see it, so how could the imperial advisers not see it?
Xun You's official position was promoted one level by Liu Bei and he became a general and military advisor, responsible for coordinating several generals.
This is to prevent the issue of leadership between Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Xu Rong and Huang Zhong.
With unified command, problems can be easily solved.
Xun You sent Xu Rong and Huang Zhong southward from the northeast of Dongjun to capture Jiyin, and he also sent Zhang Liaogao to go south from the southwest of Dongjun to capture Chenliu. Because the front lines at both ends of Dongjun were too long, Xiahou Dun and Cheng Yu could not move at all.
Can't have both.
At this time, Xun You had already arrived at Fengqiu with Zhang Liao and Gao Shun. Fengqiu had a part of the garrison stationed in the city. He was not in a hurry to attack. He just stationed troops in the jujube area and waited for the opportunity.
At this time, Cao Jun was already in a very unfavorable situation. Zhang Liao and Gao Shun arrived at Suanzao, which was less than 200 miles away from Guandu and could be reached in two days.
At this time, Xiahou Dun took some of the remaining soldiers and fled back to Cao Cao's camp, and told Cao Cao the news of Junyi's defeat.
"What?"
When Cao Cao learned about this in the general's tent, he was stunned and speechless for a long time.
After a long time, Guo Jiacai said sadly: "Ming Gong, please cheer up. Junyi's grain and grass were burned, and Liu Bei continued to build mountains outside. We must evacuate Guandu immediately and go to Fengqiu."
"The public station mistook me!"
Cao Cao was sweating like raindrops and felt a splitting headache. He had a headache again. He couldn't help but said: "If it weren't for the trick of luring the enemy deep, we could still continue to resist in Guandu. My son is so filial!!!!"
It hurts me so much!"
Guo Jia shook his head and said: "Gongtai is not to blame for this. No one thought that Liu Bei had a plan, and I'm afraid they also guessed that we might ambush."
Cao Cao's face turned pale, his head hurt even more, he sighed, and after a moment he said: "Get ready to evacuate tonight."
Junyi City was destroyed, and the food and grass in his rear were burned. If the attack continued, the soldiers would starve to death.
Now only Fengqiu has food, so they must evacuate to Fengqiu.
At this moment, Cao Jun was preparing to withdraw.
But while Cao's army was wailing all over the camp, Liu Bei's side was filled with joy.
Xu Chu and Zhang jointly took Cao Renchengong into custody, and took more than 2,000 heads with them, and captured more than 3,000 prisoners. Except for less than 2,000 people who escaped, the imperial army achieved a complete victory in this battle.
In fact, had it not been for Chen Mu's repeated orders not to kill the prisoners, there would have been more than 3,000 prisoners, but more than 5,000 heads. Even if the prisoners had the same merit as the heads, after all, the heads were easier to carry than the prisoners.
Just wear it on the waist, so the soldiers would rather kill people than take prisoners.
In Liu Bei's camp, after listening to Xu Chu and Zhang He's account of the battle, he said happily: "Yes, Zhongkang and Junyi performed very well in this battle. If Zhongkang hadn't gathered for a deadly battle and attracted the enemy, Junyi would have waited for the opportunity and not blindly
We go out to fight, I'm afraid this battle may not result in such a victory. The merits will be recorded first, and when Cao Cao is destroyed, rewards will be given based on merits!"
Xu Chu and Zhang He were overjoyed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
After the two men retreated, Liu Bei turned around and asked many counselors: "Everyone, Cao Cao's food and grass were burned. Now I'm afraid he can't hold on anymore."
Dong Zhao smiled and said: "Yes, Cao Cao has no food. He will definitely have to move to other places within a few days at most."
Liu Bei pondered: "Then how should we respond?"
"Cao Cao is particularly treacherous. If you choose to pursue him when he withdraws, be careful of him setting up an ambush."
Mao Jie thought: "Although our army has surrounded Cao's army now, it is not completely superior in strength. It is not easy for the army to form a good formation when pursuing. If we pursue too close, the formation will be scattered and we may suffer losses."
"You mean not to chase him, but to let him go?"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Liu Bei frowned.
This is a good opportunity to encircle and annihilate Cao Cao, that is, if you don't have an overwhelming advantage in the number of troops on hand, otherwise you can surround Cao Cao's entire camp and see where he runs.
Jia Xu smiled and said: "Your Majesty, the Second Duke is right. It is indeed easy to be ambushed when chasing, but we can analyze where Cao Cao will run and set up an ambush to ambush him in advance. This is a trade-off between offense and defense. We can calculate the direction of his escape."
If it arrives, it will naturally be blocked by us."
"Then tell me, where will he go?"
Liu Bei asked.
"There are no more than two directions, Fengqiu and Jiyin."
"Yes, there is a prime minister leading an army in the direction of Jiyin, cutting off Cao Cao's retreat. He is seeking death by going to Jiyin. If he goes to Fengqiu, it will indeed be a bit troublesome."
"Fengqiu faces water on both sides. The terrain is no less complex than Guandu. There is also a city that is not easy to capture."
"Who said that? If we are facing water on both sides, wouldn't it be enough to dig out the river and flood the city?"
"Well...that's true, but the water attack might hurt Tianhe."
"Fire attacks can also damage Tianhe, and the Prime Minister uses them every day..."
"Prime Minister, you are not a mortal."
The counselors immediately started discussing.
Speaking of which, Liu Bei's group of advisers is much more luxurious than Cao Cao's. Those with intelligence above 90 include Jia Xu, Dong Zhao, Mao Jie, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Xu Shu, etc., and there are more than ten with intelligence between 70-90.
indivual.
Everyone is gathering firewood and the flames are high. Not to mention Cao Cao's retreat route and direction, even Cao Cao's underpants are almost seen through. The intellectual struggle between the two sides is not on the same level.
At this moment, a soldier suddenly came in from outside the door and said: "Your Majesty, there is a letter from Marquis Lingting, saying that he has led General Zhang and General Gao to Suanzao."
The Marquis of Lingting is Xun You. He was named the Marquis of Ting because he made many contributions during his previous campaign against Yuan Shao.
Hearing this, Liu Bei was overjoyed and said: "You really get what you want. If Cao Cao retreats to Fengqiu, Xun You can cut off his retreat. If he retreats to Dingtao, his fourth brother can cut off his retreat. Cao Cao has no way out."