Chang'an, the General's Mansion.

In the dark night, there was a girl's voice, and the voice was like a lonely peak, rising up to the sky, but it stopped abruptly at the highest point. The Xiliang Dragoon and the other guards guarding outside the door were stunned, and they still stood on duty with expressionless faces. Recently, there have been more and more such voices in the house, sometimes in the room, sometimes in the lobby, and sometimes even on the swing in the backyard.

In the room, Liu Qian gasped and lay on the bed, and said to Chen Cheng: "Tao Qian is seriously ill, I'm afraid I won't be able to survive this year." Now that Cao Cao has Yanzhou and Yuzhou, if he gets Xuzhou again, it will really be out of control! ”

Chen Cheng grabbed a soft and smooth ball in his palm, kneaded the dough for a while, and said, "It's that I thought wrong, if Liu Bei is not transferred to the court, it may be better." But even if Xuande replaced Tao Qian as Xuzhou Mu, he might not be able to block Cao Cao's attack. ”

"Why don't we lead our troops to attack Cao Cao?"

Liu Qian suddenly had the spirit again, she turned over and rode on Chen Cheng's body, and said, "Only when you fight will you ........ Kindness...... Grace ........"

As she spoke, she couldn't go on, put aside the matter of fighting for the first time, and concentrated on exercising. After a long time, another voice resounded in the night.

The next day, the Son of Heaven issued an edict ordering Yanzhou Mu Cao Cao to withdraw his troops from Xuzhou, and the edict said: ".......... If you don't stop the precipice, don't blame the court for being unpredictable! ”

After Cao Cao received the edict, he first laughed, and then said to his subordinate Wenchen generals: "The generals are outside, and the military orders are not subject to it!" ”

He continued to mobilize troops, horses, grain and grass from Yanzhou, preparing to completely solve the problem in Xuzhou before the snow fell. However, just as Cao Jun continued to advance, Yuan Shao suddenly came to the table and asked his eldest son Yuan Tan to serve as the pastor of Yuzhou, and also asked his nephew Gao Gan to serve as the assassin of Qingzhou.

This blow made Cao Cao dizzy and made him a little angry. Previously, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao took the Yellow River as the boundary, back to back to the north and south respectively, but now Cao Cao is developing rapidly, and Yuan Shao has fallen into a long tug-of-war with Gongsun Chan and others.

The situation in which Yuan Shao was strong and Cao Cao was weak seemed to be turning around, but Yuan Benchu suddenly came to such a hand. Cao Cao is not a fool, how could he not see that Yuan Shao wanted to limit his own development? He immediately stopped the military operations on the front line, wanting to find out what Yuan Shao was trying to do first.

If it is only to limit the development of Cao's army, it is fine, I am afraid that Yuan Shao wants to launch a surprise attack when the Yanzhou army is trapped in Xuzhou. With Yuan Shao's reputation among scholars, and the reputation of the fourth and third dukes of the Yuan family, I am afraid that I can really swallow Cao Cao's territory in one bite. Thinking of this, Cao Cao couldn't help but feel afraid.

At the same time, Liu Bei, who was promoted to major general for recovering Luoyang, was named the Xuzhou Assassin, and took Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Gao Shun and other generals through Nanyang, Jingzhou, and Yuzhou, recruiting more than 1,000 Danyang soldiers along the way, and then arrived at Xuzhou on the edge of the East China Sea.

After Liu Bei arrived in Xuzhou, he was soon supported by the Xuzhou Haoqiang led by Chen Deng's father and son. These Xuzhou heroes knew how harsh Cao Cao's rule was, so they were unwilling to join Cao Mengde's command. Now that Liu Bei has entered Xuzhou as a assassin, he needs the cooperation of the locals, and the power of Chen Deng and others has not only not shrunk, but has taken the opportunity to become bigger.

Tao Qian was seriously ill and died soon after Liu Bei arrived in Xuzhou, and the imperial court immediately crowned Liu Bei as the pastor of Xuzhou, and the whole of Xuzhou fell into Liu Bei's hands. Mi Zhu, a local wealthy family, married his sister to Liu Bei and posted a lot of dowry. In addition to the property, the servants alone gave Liu Bei more than 1,000 people.

So much so that Liu Bei sighed with emotion: "The wealth of Xuzhou is better than that of Guanzhong!" ”

Isn't it? In these years, Guanzhong first contributed money and grain to support the war between He Jin and the Kwantung princes. Later, after the rebellion of Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo, coupled with two consecutive major earthquakes, where is it compared to Xuzhou, which has been stable for a long time?

Tao Qian was upright and upright, after breaking the Yellow Turban Army in Xuzhou, he also won over Zang Ba Sun Guan and others who were entrenched in Mount Tai, and there was no war in the state, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. In addition, after the war in the Central Plains, many people fled to Xuzhou, which made Xuzhou's hukou and economy further grow.

But this is also the reason why Cao Cao let others not fight, but came to fight Xuzhou. Although Tao Qian had thousands of Danyang elite soldiers under his command, there were many powerful soldiers in the state, and the number of soldiers and horses and grain and grass he could levy was not as good as Cao Cao's Yanzhou soldiers. Moreover, Tao Qian's subordinates did not have generals who could fight well, although Cao Bao had a good reputation in the state, but against Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Yuan and others, he was defeated every time.

At this time, Cao Cao was surrounded by Huangfu Song, Liu Bei, Liu Biao, Liu Xuan, Zhang Yang and other princes, and the only ally was Yuan Shao, as a result, Yuan Shao also sent his son to serve as the pastor of Yuzhou, which made Cao Cao very angry, he said to Cheng Yu, Xun Yu and others: "Yuan Shao's gas is so small that it is? ”

Although he was angry, Cao Cao was now in the land of four battles, and he had to grit his teeth and endure it for the time being. He sent Chen Gong to Yecheng, expressed his deference to Yuan Shao, and prepared to continue the attack on Xuzhou after repairing relations with Yuan Shao.

Cao Cao also knew the news that Liu Bei was appointed as the pastor of Xuzhou, but he did not think that Liu Bei would be his own opponent, even if Liu Xuande was the "hero of the world" praised by Chen Cheng. Although Xuzhou is rich, most of the population and wealth are in the hands of the powerful people, even when Tao Qian is there, he can't expand more troops, what can Liu Bei do?

Not to mention Liu Bei, even if Chen Cheng came in person, he would also want to annex Xuzhou!

The war continued to break out in Xuzhou, although Liu Bei's subordinates were good generals such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Gao Shun, and assisted by Chen Deng and Chen Qi's father and son, the Xuzhou soldiers were still defeated and retreated by Cao's army. It's not Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and the others can't fight, not to mention that the Cao army is two or three times as many as them, and they are all elites who have been in battle for a long time, and they can be defeated without being defeated, and they have been able to prove their ability.

In the past, Cao Cao's opponents were all killed by the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves. The Yellow Turban Army, which was once entrenched in the Yanzhou Plain, was all wiped out.

Pengcheng, Lanling and other places were lost successively, Guan Yu and Gao Shun led the defeated soldiers all the way back to Xiapi, and there were only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses left, and they were surrounded by Cao Cao with more than 40,000 people. On the plains of Xuzhou, a large number of soldiers can occupy an absolute advantage. There are no majestic passes here, and the terrain is flat and the waterways are crisscrossed, which is very suitable for large-scale operations.

Cao Cao repelled Guan Yu and Gao Shun and took advantage of the situation to besiege Picheng. He took Xu Chu, Dian Wei and other personal generals, and came to the city to observe the situation, and when he saw that the city was well guarded, he couldn't help but feel a little worried, but his face was unabated. He lifted his horsewhip, pointed to the city, and said: "In the past, Chen Wenzheng said: Who is the opponent of the heroes in the world, Cao Liu!" Looking at it today, although Liu Bei is not bad, he is still not as good as me Cao Mengde after all! ”

Both left and right said: "The lord is wise and powerful, even Chen Cheng can't compare, let alone Liu Bei?" ”

Cao Cao laughed, rode around the city for a while, and then rode back to the barracks. When he returned to the big tent of the Chinese army, the smile on Cao Cao's face immediately disappeared, and he said to Guo Jia, Xi Zhicai and others: "The weather has turned cold, or it will snow in a few days." Although Liu Bei is not my opponent, he has always refused to surrender. Now you have also seen that the city of Xiapi is heavily guarded, and it is not urgent, how should this be? ”

Xi Zhicai said: "I heard that Guan Yu, the general of Xiapi, is the same brother as Liu Bei, so it is better to besiege this city first and wait for Liu Bei to lead the army to help." If you can kill or capture Liu Bei, then Xiapi will naturally surrender without a fight! ”

Cao Cao said with a smile: "I have ordered Xiahou Yuan and Cao Chun to lead the cavalry to be stationed sixty miles away, if Liu Bei dares to come, he will definitely not be able to please him." ”

Guo Jia said: "I heard that Cao Bao and Liu Bei's general Zhang Fei have always had a gap, it is better to persuade Cao Bao to persuade Cao Bao, if he can take Liu Bei's head to surrender, the lord will go to the table to seek Xuzhou Mu for him, how about it?" ”

"Cao Bao? I'm afraid that this person is not Liu Bei's opponent. ”

Guo Jia said with a smile: "Even if this plan fails, it will not harm our army." If Xuzhou is in turmoil because of this, it will be better. In addition, the Rong Rong, who supervised the transportation of grain and grass in Xiapi and Guangling, believed in the demon Buddha, and was very greedy for money. If you are greedy and cruel, and you believe in Buddhism, you will definitely give birth to chaos. As long as foreign aid is cut off, how long can Xiapi City be held? ”

Xi Zhicai added: "Guangling Chen Qi Chen Deng's father and son are quite famous among scholars, so it is better to make Wen Ruo write a letter to solicit them. Now Liu Bei relies on Guangling to continuously transport grain, grass and soldiers and horses, if Chen Qi and his son can take refuge in him, then Liu Bei is not enough! ”

Cao Cao knew that these strategies took a long time and had slow results, and they might not be able to succeed. But there is no good way now, so we can only wait and see. He was able to overwhelm all the princes around him, relying on the strength of his soldiers and horses, and his ability to defeat the enemy repeatedly. The so-called strategy is just icing on the cake.

Of course, the governance of the place still needs the help of Xun Yu and other scholars and heroes. The reason why Cao Cao has been able to win battles all the time is that there are many soldiers and generals, and that there is plenty of food and grass is another. Many times, when his soldiers and horses began to go hungry, the enemy was already dizzy from hunger.

The amount of grain and grass is relatively comparative, and the output of Yanzhou is not as good as that of Xuzhou, but Cao Cao's grain and grass are always more than Liu Beijun. The number of people in Yanzhou is not as good as that of Xuzhou, but the number of registered households and the number of soldiers and horses that can be conscripted are far more than those in Xuzhou.

In this case, even if Liu Bei's ability to use troops to fight is the same as Cao Cao's, it will only be defeated.

At all times, the ability to organize and mobilize is a very important part of determining the outcome of the outcome. From the beginning of the Warring States period for hundreds of years, to the later war of liberation, no exception was imposed.

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