Guo Jia may not be as good as Xun Yu and Xun You in terms of strategy and tactics, but what he is best at is controlling people's hearts.
When Yuan Shao occupied Hebei and was in high spirits, it was immediately apparent that he was strong on the outside and capable on the inside.
When Sun Ce was stationed in the east of the Yangtze River and threatened to go north to attack Xudu, he said that he had made countless enemies and would be seek revenge by his enemies.
When Cao Cao was in the most difficult time, by giving psychological hints and writing about ten victories and ten defeats, he gave Cao Cao the greatest confidence and help to get out of the gloom.
If you don’t know anything about psychology and such a statement is a prophecy, you may think that he is a god.
But just like those psychology masters, after analyzing a certain character's personality and then observing his every move, it is possible to judge his future outcome.
Guo Jia is not a master of strategy and tactics, but he is definitely the best psychological master in the late Han Dynasty. He often does things through the enemy's character.
This tactical arrangement was because Guo Jia had a deep understanding of how afraid Chen Mu was of death, so he set up this dilemma.
Why is it called a dilemma?
Because for Chen Mu, it is a dilemma.
Even if he guessed that the enemy might be playing a psychological game with him, he guessed that more than 90% of the time, Cao Cao was laying suspicion.
But he didn't dare to gamble on the remaining 10%, and he definitely couldn't let the camp around him be empty.
You must know that although there are many records of night raids in ancient times, such as Cao Cao's night raid on Wuchao, Lu Xun's burning camp at Seven Hundred Miles, Li Suxue's night raid into Caizhou, etc. are all famous night raid battles.
However, due to the lack of controllable light sources in ancient times, the fact that ancient people suffered from night blindness, and the inconvenience of commanding at night, the actual night attack war was not as simple as imagined.
Works from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, including "Guanzi" and "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, put a lot of emphasis on night battles. Torches, war drums, gongs, gold medals, etc. were all used as signals to facilitate command.
Most of the time, except for rare occasions when the moon is shining brightly in the sky and the night is as bright as day, at night it is almost impossible to see.
There is no night vision equipment, the lighting range of torches is limited, the command methods are backward, and there is a lack of professional quality. Unless there are military capabilities like Cao Cao, Lu Xun, and Li Su, ordinary generals who engage in night battles will be seeking death.
Often a swarm of swarms charge, and the probability of killing each other is countless times higher than the probability of hitting the enemy. Therefore, night battles often require sufficient preparation, and they cannot rush in recklessly.
Of course, Chen Mu had the ability to deal with night battles. He ordered Zhao Yun to go to support. Zhao Yun's troops were equipped with a large number of torches, drums, horns and rockets, so that they could light up if necessary.
But the problem is that if Zhao Yun leaves, then his headquarters camp will be very empty. It is impossible for Chen Mu to personally lead the army into battle in the middle of the night. Once the enemy raids, in the chaos of the army, under the night, he may be hacked to death by the enemy, or even
He might be hacked to death by his own people.
Therefore, Guo Jia had already guessed that Chen Mu would not really come to support him. However, he also had to give Chen Mu a reason why he could not support him, so he placed suspicious soldiers in the outer camp. After Zhao Yun left the camp, he beat gongs and drums to let him know.
Zhao Yun returned to support.
So in this night attack, Cao Cao rescued Xia Houyuan and Cheng Yu, Guo Jia plotted against Chen Mu, and Chen Mu also had a reason why he didn't rescue Wu Anguo. Only Wu Anguo was unlucky, and he didn't know whether he was dead or not.
"Cao Cao should have left by now. Send someone to Wu Anguo to check on the situation."
Chen Mu said to Zhao Yun.
"yes."
Zhao Yun goes out.
At this moment, Huang Zhong arrived on horseback from outside.
He came from the west of the city, which was far away. He arrived late after the situation calmed down.
"Prime Minister!"
As soon as he entered the tent, the fifty-six-year-old Huang Zhong held up his hands and said, "It's okay, Prime Minister."
"No problem, where is Xu Zheng?"
Chen Mu asked.
Huang Zhong said: "Xu Zheng sent a message to me, saying that his scouts had discovered that there was a war in Dongcheng, and he had already led the army in person. He asked me to come and see the prime minister's safety. I agreed to come down, but I heard the noise on the way.
, came here in a hurry, I don’t know what the situation is now.”
Chen Mu nodded and said: "Since Xu Zheng has passed, it should be fine. I just hope that Wu Anguo's side will not suffer much loss. Cao Cao attacked Dongcheng at night, and Xia Houyuan and Cheng Yu took the opportunity to escape. You will go back to the camp tonight.
, let’s talk tomorrow.”
"only!"
Huang Zhong left and returned to the camp to guard the camp.
Sure enough, about half an hour later, the messenger reported back that Cao Jun had fled far away.
After Wu Anguo was attacked, Xu Rong responded quickly and went to the rescue personally.
At that time, after Wu'an State was attacked by Cao Cao, he defended his camp.
Xia Houyuan and Cheng Yu organized soldiers and left the city overnight to break out of the siege, and happened to encounter Xu Rong's army.
The two did not dare to fight, and immediately fled to the southeast after reuniting with Cao Cao.
Xu Rong led the pursuit, but Cao Cao personally cut off the rear. In the night, neither the enemy nor our soldiers dared to move.
After a moment of stalemate, Xu Rong ordered an attack.
The two sides engaged in small-scale fighting, and there were very few casualties caused by hacking and killing each other. On the contrary, there were many people who got lost and were hacked to death by their own people.
Both sides suffered hundreds of casualties, because today was not a bright night, and nothing could be seen clearly except the torches. It was not like Gan Ning did when hundreds of cavalry robbed Cao's camp at night, and the entire Cao camp was illuminated by torches.
Under this situation, Xu Rong had to give up the pursuit.
On the second day, Chen Mu ordered the army to pack up their baggage, set up camp and head south to Huaibei.
Cao Cao was able to realize so quickly that he was forcing him south. Chen Mu did not expect that the best-case scenario would be for him to make a surprise attack north, go straight to Zhen City, break through the second city and eliminate one-third of Cao Cao's army.
In this way, Cao Cao's military deployment was to lead 30,000 men in Guandu, Xia Houyuan and Cheng Yu each led 10,000 men to defend along the Yellow River, and Xi Zhicai led 5,000 men to defend Jiyin.
The remaining few thousand people were scattered along the route to serve as scouts, scouts, and sentries to prevent the imperial troops from unexpectedly attacking Dingtao.
But Chen Mu didn't follow the routine and defeated Wenpin effortlessly.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Secondly, Guandu was defeated and Cao Cao had to retreat to Fengqiu. This left a huge gap in the rear. Chen Mu then went north again, took Zhencheng directly, and wiped out Cao Cao's 20,000 men.
Centaur.
In this way, it would be great if Cao Cao could have 30,000 men heading south.
Coupled with the repeated defeats, Cao Cao's soldiers lost all their energy and fled countless times along the way. It is possible that the number of the army is less than 20,000.
By this time, Cao Cao was bound to be at the end of his rope, and in the end there were only three results.
The first is to run to Runan, pass through the Dabie Mountains, and enter Jingzhou.
The second is to retreat from Liang State to Chen State, then enter Pei State, and finally enter Huaibei to Yangzhou.
Chen Mu had already analyzed these two results. Liu Biao and Sun Ce would never allow another tiger to come to their territory.
Historically, Liu Bei defected to Liu Biao. First, Liu Bei was in dire straits, with only a few thousand soldiers and generals, and he had a relatively good reputation. He was also a member of the clan, so Liu Biao reluctantly accepted him. Even so, he did not let him enter Jingzhou, but let him
He is in Xinye, Nanyang.
What now?
Cao Cao did not have the above conditions, and Nanyang was occupied by the imperial court again. Liu Biao would protect him and the ghost came.
And the third one.
surrender.
Apart from these three roads, there is no other way.
But Chen Mu didn't expect that his plan would be noticed by Cao Cao, so he abandoned Fengqiu and went straight to Zhencheng to rescue him.
But it doesn't matter, now that the situation of the imperial court has been established, even if Cao Cao escapes, the worst result is that he will now take 50,000 troops to Runan or Guangling Xiapi and other places.
In this way, Sun Ce and Liu Biao will be even less likely to let him go to their own territory. I am afraid that the more they push Cao Cao south, maybe he will turn against Sun Liu.
Chen Mu was not depressed because of Zhencheng's defeat, but reorganized his soldiers and pursued them all the way south.
At this moment, Zhang Liao had also broken Fengqiu and captured Yu Jin.
It was easy to break Fengqiu. Dong Fang was one of Yu Jin's generals.
When Cao Cao planned to kill Zhang Miao and annex his troops, Dong Fang was Zhang Miao's general. After Zhang Miao's death, he turned to Cao Cao.
Later, his brother Dong Zhao asked him to serve as an internal agent, so he lurked in Cao's camp, always waiting for opportunities.
Dong Fengqiu was also left behind this time, so he opened the city gate at night and was captured alive by Zhang Liao. Later, he surrendered to Liu Bei, which was naturally another matter.
Liu Bei also pursued Cao Cao non-stop, but he lost the opportunity, his army was bloated, and his march was slow. At this time, he had just arrived in Jiyin.
Cao Cao completely evacuated, Yanzhou and Yuzhou were completely lost, and all the counties along the way surrendered.
In early August, Taishi Ci and Zang Ba withdrew their troops and retreated to the East China Sea.
Although Sun Ce sold Cao Cao and left Cao Cao alone in Henan to fight against the imperial court, he still knew the truth of the dangers of death, so he sent his capable generals Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin to lead 30,000 people north to Pengcheng to intercept Xuzhou's troops.
Taishi Ci and Zang Ba had strong soldiers and horses, but Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin just held on to the city. They were helpless and were forced to continue to besiege the city.
This is different from Chen Mu's fight against Wenpin in Chenliu. In addition to deploying 20,000 central troops in Yingchuan, Chen Mu also had Zhang Xiu's 20,000 troops in Nanyang to support him. Therefore, even if Wenpin was not attacked, Wenpin would
Unable to harass Yingchuan and attack Luoyang.
Xuzhou only had Cai Yang's 20,000 troops left behind. If Taishi Ci and Zang Ba left it alone, if Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin attacked Xuzhou and defeated Cai Yang, Qingzhou in the rear would be in danger.
Now more than 90% of the Han's finances come from Qingzhou's transportation of large amounts of gold, silver, and copper from overseas. Once Qingzhou is lost, Cao Cao may really drag down the government's finances.
So the two of them are still in Pengcheng.
After Cao Cao went south, Zhong Yao knew that now was not the time to fight head-on, so he asked Tai Shi Ci and Zang Ba to return to the East China Sea.
So Cao Cao occupied the Xiapi Pei Kingdom in Guangling, Huaibei, and rested temporarily.
The imperial court was not in a hurry to advance, but pressed forward step by step. While stationing troops in Liang, Jiyin, Shanyang and other places, it also dispatched new officials to Yanzhou to appease the people, rectify the administration, and strictly prevent small thieves and bandits from taking advantage of the chaos to fish in troubled waters.
Maintain public security and order.
After arriving in Pei, Cao's army was stationed in Xiaopei.
Chen Gong was captured, and only Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, Xi Zhicai, and Xu You who had defected from Yuan Shao were left with Cao Cao.
It's just that Xu You was always talking about cheating and was frivolous, often calling him by his nickname. Cao Cao always disliked him, so he didn't reuse him. After this defeat, he fled to Pei State and counted the number of people again.
It turned out that countless soldiers scattered and fled. Originally, they were defeated in Guandu and lost several thousand men and horses. Five thousand men were left behind in the ban. After the break, Cao Cao's main force plus Xi Zhicai and Xiahou Yuan Cheng Yu's army should have 50,000 men.
Yes, but now there are only more than 40,000 people, and thousands of people have disappeared.
This includes Xu You.
However, Xu You himself was not reused by Cao Cao, so he didn't bother to care about him.
In the mansion of the governor of Pei State, Cao Cao summoned three people for a meeting.
Everyone sat down.
Cao Cao sighed: "Everyone, the imperial court is pressing hard to drive me out of Henan. Chen Zigui is sinister and vicious. He pretended to attack Henan in three directions, but in fact he wanted to destroy part of my army and then force me to flee south.
, forcing me to a dead end."
Guo Jia encouraged: "Ming Gong, these days, I have been tossing and turning, thinking all day long, and found that we actually have a chance to fight."
Cao Cao asked: "What is Fengxiao's plan?"
Guo Jia thought: "Sun Ce has not yet conquered Jiangdong. If we are defeated, the imperial court will take advantage of the opportunity to attack Yangzhou, and his dream of seizing Jiangdong will be completely ruined. I believe he will understand this truth. At this time, we should write to Sun Ce and Liu Biao,
Let their main force go north and join forces with us to fight against the imperial court."
"Well, that's what I thought too."
Cao Cao nodded: "There is also Liu Biao. He sent 30,000 troops before. Although he lost a lot, I heard that Liu Biao pacified the four counties of Jingnan a few years ago. There were more than 100,000 men with armor. I believe he should have more.
There is a lot of spare energy available to help.”
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Guo Jia smiled bitterly and said: "But I guess Liu Biao will not give his full help. Chen Zigui once analyzed him and said that the older he gets, the more timid he becomes.
, and the two sons are quarreling, the family is uneasy, and they spend all day making plans for trivial things. They no longer have the ambition to fight for the world, so it may not be easy to persuade him. "
Cao Cao frowned and said: "Liu Bei now has more than 300,000 soldiers and horses, and he occupies the north. He is very powerful. Can't Liu Biao see that if I am eliminated, his death is coming? With his ability, he can sit in Jingzhou and
What can we do? A mere 100,000 armored men, in front of Liu Bei, are like chickens and wagging dogs."
"It's difficult."
Guo Jia shook his head, he couldn't be sure about this.
Liu Biao is already sixty-one years old this year. He is already old. It is obviously impossible for him to be as ambitious as he was when he was young.
According to his analysis, unless Liu Bei formally prepares to attack Jingzhou, otherwise, Liu Biao will most likely choose to hide in Xiangyang and live in a coma all day long, just muddle along. Even if the world is shattered outside, it is none of his business.
Xi Zhicai pondered for a moment, then raised his hands and said, "Ming Gong, I am willing to go to Jingzhou to persuade Liu Biao to send troops and horses to help."
Cao Cao asked: "How does Zhicai plan to persuade him?"
Xi Zhicai thought for a while and said: "I heard that there are many hermits in Xiangyang who went south from Yingchuan. These people are quite familiar with some of the big families in Jingzhou. Maybe we can start from this aspect."
Cao Cao nodded and said, "Those who are kind and ambitious are thoughtful. Let me leave this matter to you."
Guo Jia said: "Then I will go to Jiangdong to convince Sun Ce."
Cao Cao said: "Well, Zhicai and Fengxiao, it all depends on you whether reinforcements can come to help."
Although Liu Biao and Sun Ce sent people before, they were not their main force.
And this time.
Cao Cao planned to persuade the two of them to mobilize the main army, and after joining him, they would have at least 100,000 soldiers and horses to fight the imperial court to the death!