Cao's series of actions not only made Liu Bei, Cai Ji and other princes prepare for the expedition, but also alarmed Lu Bu, who was entrenched in Xiapi. For Cao Cao's fanfare crusade, Lu Bu appeared surprised and indignant. It must be known that after Lü Bu rebelled against Yuan Shu, he sent Chen Deng to Xu Capital to meet the Han Emperor. In response, not only did the Han Emperor appoint Lü Bu as the general of Zuo, but Cao Cao also personally wrote a letter to express his condolences and woo him. Therefore, since Lu Bu parted ways with Yuan Shu, he has always regarded himself as a hero of the Han family, and never expected that Cao Cao would suddenly send troops to fight.

"Lone for the great Han killed Dong Zhuo and defeated Yuan Shu. Cao Cao's crusade against Lonely" In the lobby, Lu Bu angrily counted Cao Cao's ingratitude.

However, Lu Bu's words did not resonate with the generals present. Everyone knows that Lu Bu was willing to burn the imperial capital for Dong Zhuo's eagle dog before killing Dong Zhuo, and married his daughter to Yuan Shu's son before crusading against Yuan Shu to form an alliance of in-laws. What Lu Bu did after that could not offset his previous evil deeds. What's more, Cao Cao and Lu Bu also had a hatred for seizing the state. Therefore, it is not surprising that Cao Cao would make a move to Lu Bu.

Rather than counting Cao Cao's mistakes here, it is better to quickly consider a countermeasure, which is the common idea of most people. No, after listening to Lu Bu's complaints, Chen Gong first opened his mouth to say to him, the lord, and now, when Cao Cao did not join forces with other princes, he should attack Cao Cao's department head-on, and then wait for the camp with ease, so that he can be invincible."

Chen Gong's advance won the approval of most of the people present. But seeing Cheng Lian taking the first step out of the queue to ask Lu Bu for battle, "My lord, I am willing to be the vanguard to meet Cao Jun"

"So-and-so is also willing to lead the troops to attack." Hou Cheng echoed.

Lu Bu glanced at the subordinates who took the initiative to ask for help, but did not respond cheerfully. Instead, after a moment of silence, he waited for Cao Cao to come, and drove him into Surabaya and drowned him with an iron horse. ”

The reason why Lu Bu had such an idea was influenced by the previous battle of Suishui. The Xiapi River is vertical and horizontal, as long as it is used properly, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not reproduce the grand occasion of the original breaking of Yuanshu. In addition, because he had been repeatedly defeated by Cao Cao in Yanzhou before, Lu Bu was actually quite jealous of Cao Cao in his subconscious. That's why they didn't dare to rashly confront Cao Cao head-on.

But this time, Chen Gong hit the nail on the head and pierced Cao Cao, not Yuan Shu and the like. This man was brave and good at fighting, proficient in strategy, and Surabaya and Suishui were not enough to hinder Cao Cao's attack. What's more, the vanguard of Cao's army has arrived in Pengcheng, and the lord should send troops to reinforce Pengcheng first to keep this strategic location. ”

"Pengcheng is guarded by Cao Xing, and it will be fine." Lu Bu stubbornly retorted.

It's a pity that Chen Gong is not as confident as Lu Bu. But he listened to his bitter advice, "Although Cao Xing is good at fighting, how can he defeat Cao Cao's tens of thousands of troops with only a few thousand troops." ”

"The high walls of Pengcheng City should be able to withstand some time. When Cao's army was tired of attacking the city, Lone led his troops to attack again, wouldn't it be once and for all. After some self-justification, Lu Bu became more and more confident in the strategy he had set. So much so that before Chen Gong could open his mouth to argue, Lu Bu forcibly decided, "Just act according to this plan"

In June of the third year of Jian'an, Cai Ji and Liu Bei each led 10,000 troops and Cao Cao's 20,000 troops to join forces in Pengcheng. Pengchenggu, also known as Zhuolu, has always been a battleground for soldiers. Regardless of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the great battles experienced here during the Chu and Han wars, Cao Cao alone had several battles with Tao Qian in Pengcheng, and left the "Battle to Pengcheng" in the "Three Kingdoms". The humble army was defeated, the dead were tens of thousands, and Surabaya did not flow". However, because Lü Bu did not take Chen Gong's advice and took the initiative, Cao Cao captured Pengcheng County in only twelve days this time, and had enough to build a high platform outside the city to welcome his allies from afar.

"Liu Zhijun, Cai Zhijun. With a burst of loud laughter, Cao Cao, who was dressed in military uniform, held Liu Bei with his left hand and Cai Ji with his right hand, and strode onto the high platform lined with flags.

Compared with Cao Cao, who had a flamboyant attitude, Liu Bei and Cai Ji invariably chose to keep a low profile. It has been a year since the last time the three of them met in Xudu. During this year, Liu Bei, with Cai Ji's covert assistance, crossed to the south and occupied Lujiang County, while Cai Ji extended his power all the way to Langya, and laid a secret stake in eastern Liao, ready to attack Youzhou at any time. Of course, compared with Cao Cao, who sat on the two states of Yu and Yan and held the banner of the Han family, Liu Bei and Cai Ji were only second-tier small princes.

Therefore, at this time, Liu Bei faced Cao Cao's praise, and hurriedly flattered him, "Cao Sikong was ordered by the Son of Heaven to crusade against the traitor Lu Bu, and we should make a modest offer." ”

Just as Liu Bei and Cao Cao were greeting, Cai Ji subconsciously glanced at the neat columns of squares like black wheat fields under the high platform. As in the position where the three of them were standing at this moment, Cao Cao's 20,000-strong army was in the center, fully equipped and with high morale, mainly infantry, supplemented by a certain number of cavalry. In contrast, Liu Bei's people on the left flank looked a little uneven at a glance, both in terms of equipment and momentum. However, the proportion of cavalry in Liu Bei's camp was obviously higher than that of Cao Cao. Combined with the news that Liu Bei had killed Yang Feng in Pei County, most of the cavalry in front of him should be the remnants of Yang Feng. Cai Ji's men and horses lined up on the right flank of the whole formation, mainly cavalry, with corresponding auxiliary infantry. The equipment is better than Liu Bei, but it has not reached the point of stimulating Cao Sikong.

However, one thing that made Cai Ji wonder was that there was a pit three zhang square and one zhang deep in the open space between Cao Cao's camp and Gaotai. There was nothing in the pit, and it didn't look like it was going to store water, but there were big flags and war drums erected in front of the pit. What's more important is that Cai Ji has also participated in many oath meetings before, but he has never seen any family dig a pit in front of the battle.

Cao Cao on the side seemed to notice Cai Ji's doubts, but when he saw him twisting his beard, he stepped forward with a smile and said, "Cai Yuanjun is interested in this big pit?" ”

Cai Ji came back to his senses with a little embarrassment, arched his hand and said, "Ji is lonely and weak, which makes Cao Sikong smile." ”

"It doesn't matter. Later, you will know what it is used for. Cao Cao pretended to sell it mysteriously.

In the interval between Cao Cao's words, a trace of imperceptible unbearability flashed in Liu Bei's eyes. But this was only a fleeting thing, and Liu Bei quickly turned the subject to a warrior standing behind Cao Cao's right, "This strong man is so burly. But the warriors of the new world? ”

At this moment, there was a majestic-looking warrior standing on the left and right sides behind Cao Cao. The warrior with the halberd on the left is Dian Wei, whom Cai Ji knows, while the one on the right is a new face, as Liu Bei said. But I heard Cao Cao proudly introduce to the two, "This is Xu Chu, a native of the country, whose name is Zhongkang, and he is a lonely captain." ”

When Cai Ji heard that this person was Xu Chu, he couldn't help blurting out, "It turned out to be Xu Zhongkang, who is known as a tiger idiot." ”

Cao Cao saw Cai Ji point out Xu Chu's nickname, and couldn't help but glance at her meaningfully, and then turned his gaze to Zhao Yun behind Cai Ji, and asked rhetorically, "The general next to Cai Yuanjun is dignified, I don't know how to call it?" ”

In fact, Liu Bei recognized Zhao Yun who was acting as a guard behind Cai Ji from the beginning, but in order not to attract the attention of Cai Ji and Cao Cao, he did not come forward to recognize him. Seeing that Cao Cao noticed Zhao Yun's existence at this moment, Liu Bei couldn't help but set his eyes on Cai Ji, because he was also very curious about how Zhao Yun, who was originally under Gongsun Zhan's account, came to Cai Ji's command.

"This is Changshan Zhao Yun, General Zhao Zilong. Speaking of which, it is still Liu Yuanjun's old acquaintance. On the one hand, Cai Ji confessed Zhao Yun's identity, and on the other hand, he turned back to Zhao Yun and signaled, "Zilong, I haven't seen Liu Yuanjun yet." ”

"I've seen Liu Yuanjun. I've seen Cao Sikong. Zhao Yun took a step forward and saluted Liu Bei and Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was not dissatisfied with Zhao Yun's greeting to Liu Bei first, but on the contrary, he turned back to Liu Bei with interest and asked, Oh, does Liu Envoy know General Zhao? ”

After Liu Bei was countered by Cai Ji, he naturally couldn't continue to pretend to be stupid. I had to answer truthfully, "Bei fought side by side with General Zhao in the Battle of Jieqiao. Cai Envoy Jun can get such a thousand enemies to help him, which is really envious of others. ”

"Liu Yuanjun has won the award. Isn't General Chen under the king's account also an enemy of 10,000 people? Cai Ji deliberately pulled the topic to Chen Zhi behind Liu Bei.

Cai Ji and Liu Bei's-for-tat confrontation made Cao Cao quite satisfied. It must be known that Cao Cao had already heard about Liu Bei's crossing of the Huai River by Donglai's merchant ships. With Cao Cao's suspicious personality, it is impossible to say that he is not wary of the cooperation between the two. However, seeing Cai Ji and Liu Bei tearing each other down, Cao Cao temporarily put aside his concerns, laughed, and got up with the mud, "It's okay." This Eastern Crusade can get the help of many warriors, and Lu Bu is not enough. ”

When Cao Cao said this, his expression suddenly changed, he waved his big hand, and said murderously, "Come on, make sacrifices"

"Whoa"

With Cao Cao's order, after a short time, Cao Jun under the high platform escorted a group of ragged people out. But in the crowd, there were both warriors in short shirts and literati in long robes, old and young, who looked quite chaotic at first glance, but there were no women and children mixed in. However, before Cai Ji could figure out that the sacrifices Cao Cao said were related to these people, Cao Jun had already driven all the prisoners into the deep pit that Cai Ji was quite curious about before.

It was only at this time that Cai Ji suddenly realized that the pit at the bottom was actually used to kill the prisoners and sacrifice the flag. The so-called sacrificial flag is a ritual in which the leader of the ancient army killed a living creature before setting out on an expedition, and sacrificed the life of the living creature to the gods in order to seek the blessing of the gods. Cai Ji also sacrificed flags when he went out on the expedition, but he used three animals, namely horses, cattle and sheep. Yuan Shao and Yuan Tan used the living sacrifice flag when they went out on the expedition, but they were only one or two captives. And at this moment, Cao Cao actually wanted to sacrifice the flag with nearly a thousand lives, so bloody style far exceeded Cai Ji's concept of sacrificing the flag, so that two words suddenly popped up in his mind - slaughter the city.

In other words, there are many records of Cao Cao's massacre in the history books, among which the more famous ones are "in the fourth year of Chuping (193), attacking Tao Qian and the Xuzhou Massacre"; "In the second year of Xingping (195), Cao Cao broke Zhang Miao and slaughtered Yongcheng"; "In the third year of Jian'an (198), Lu Bu was conquered and Peng City was slaughtered"; "In the battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao was killed and 70,000 troops were surrendered"; "In the ninth year of Jian'an (204), Yuan Shang was attacked and Ye City was slaughtered"; "In the twelfth year of Jian'an (207), Karasuma was conquered and Liucheng was slaughtered".

At this moment, Cai Ji suddenly realized that he might be witnessing the "Cao Cao Slaughtering Pengcheng" incident. Although in the Han Dynasty, the massacre of the city did not mean the slaughter of all the old and weak women and children in the city, but the slaughter of people and prisoners related to the enemy army in the city. But no matter who the target is, a massacre is a massacre after all. Cai Ji can tolerate the death of tens of thousands of people on the battlefield, because it is war, and the chances of killing and being killed are equal. But driving a group of unarmed people into a big pit and burying them alive is something that Cai Ji can't accept or understand.

Almost without thinking, Cai Ji stepped forward to Cao Cao and stopped, "Sikong, the strong enemy is in front, it is not advisable to make a small matter first, and the killing is ominous." ”

As soon as Cai Ji's words came out, they immediately attracted everyone's side attention. Zhao Yun, who was standing beside Cai Ji, had a gleam of approval in his eyes. But Cao Cao seemed indifferent to Cai Ji's statement, but snorted coldly and threatened, "Killing is ominous? Lonely never believed such lies. Lonely only knows that Lonely once issued a message to the world, and those who descend will be exempted from slaughter. Since these people dare to stand in the way of the lone army, they deserve to be slaughtered."

However, in the face of Cao Cao's murderous arrogance, Cai Ji did not flinch because of this, but said in a firmer tone, "If this is the case, Sikong should pardon these people." Could it be that Sikong wants the city under his rule to surrender in the future for fear of slaughtering the city? ”

Cai Ji's attack on the spear of the son with the shield of the son made Cao Cao speechless. At this moment, Liu Bei, who had not spoken, also took a step forward and exhorted Cao Cao, "Sikong, Cai Yuanjun is reasonable. Killing is ominous, please think twice. ”

Cao Cao looked at Cai Ji, whose face was slightly flushed, and then at the righteous and awe-inspiring face. Suddenly, his expression changed, and he stroked his beard leisurely, and today for the sake of the face of the two envoys, let's pardon this sinner. ”

Seeing that Cao Cao had finally regained his fame, Cai Ji immediately said with a long sigh of relief, "Xie Sikong is complete." ”

And Liu Bei also flattered, "Sikong Zhen is a teacher of benevolence and righteousness." ”

However, Cao Cao did not take Cai Ji's thanks and Liu Bei's flattery to heart, but saw him turn around and whisper to Dian Wei behind him. Hearing this, Dian Wei immediately took the order, stepped down from the high platform, and brought up a sturdy man from among the captives below. But as soon as he saw this man on the high platform, he knelt down to Cao Cao and thanked him, "Cao Xing, thank you for the grace of not killing." ”

Cao sex? Cai Ji didn't expect to inadvertently save the marksman under Lu Bu's account in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and couldn't help blurting out, "But General Cao, who killed Hao Meng and saved Lu Bu?" ”

Cao Xing was asked by Cai Ji like this, his face suddenly turned dark, and he said angrily, "Lu Bu is shameless, he actually sat back and watched Pengcheng being besieged"

It turned out that just last year, Hao Meng, the general of Lu Bu's department, was instigated by Yuan Shu to rebel and attack Xiapi Mansion at night. At that time, Lu Bu, who was concubine with his wife and concubine, did not wear a crown and hat, and fled to the camp of the governor Gao Shun. Gao Shun then led his army into the palace to defeat Hao Meng. As Hao Meng's subordinate Cao Xing, he took advantage of the situation to turn against Hao Meng and kill him, and sent his head to Lu Bu. Strictly speaking, Cao Xing is indeed kind to Lu Bu.

Cao Cao seemed to have expected Cao Xing's reaction a long time ago, but he asked solemnly, "The general knows that Lu Bu is shameless." What should we do in the future? ”

Cao Xing didn't say a word, so he knelt down on one knee to Cao Cao and said, "I am willing to be a pawn of Sikong Ma"

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