Chapter 317: Cao Cao counterattacked

I have to say that this time Liu Cong poked the hornet's nest, or pinched Cao Cao's egg!

In Cao Cao's opinion, his biggest enemy is Yuan Shao! This has been the nagging that has been remembered for more than ten years, whether it was Lu Bu's sneak attack on Yanzhou or the defeat of Fancheng. In Cao Cao's view, it was nothing more than a loss of troops.

And Yuan Shao was not painful, at that time Yuan Shao sat in Youzhou, Jizhou and Bingzhou, and spied on Qingxuzhou. Before the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's soldiers were strong and strong, and he occupied a geographical advantage, and when Cao Cao was fighting to pacify the Central Plains, Yuan Shao was preparing to invade the Central Plains with great fanfare on Cao Cao's back. And at that time, from the pathological comparison, many people seemed that Cao Cao would definitely lose!

Even Cao Cao himself didn't have confidence at that time, it was still Guo Jia, who persuaded each other hard, and Yuan Shao was worthless after a lot of arguments, so Cao Cao cheered up. But Cao Cao still had palpitations even at the time, feeling that the battle of Guandu was the most thrilling battle he had experienced in his life, and Yuan Shao was his worst enemy.

It is precisely because of this that Cao Cao did not have the same high concentration of troops and spirit as the Battle of Guandu when he conquered Liu Cong and Sun Quan in the south several times!

Isn't this a sneak attack by Liu Cong! And it was Xuchang who attacked him, and the emperor Lao'er was taken away. Cao Cao was naturally anxious at this time. If Sun Quan, Ma Chao, Zhang Lu and others attacked or snatched the emperor, Cao Cao would not be so worried. Who is Liu Cong? Liu Biao's son, a relative of the Han family, and the emperor's younger brother! It can be described as a red sprout! If he ascended to the top and shouted after supporting the emperor, Cao Cao would fall behind in the first year of the nation.

Therefore, Cao Cao led a large army from Hefei back to aid Runan and Xuchang, and at the same time transferred troops and horses from Jizhou to the south. Including Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Bingzhou and other places have been mobilized! Only Hou Yuan continued to guard Chang'an. In addition to Zhang Liao, Li Dian and Le Jin, who stayed in Shouchun Town to guard the Hefei area, Cao Cao almost used the generals who could be mobilized at present, in order to have a decisive battle with Liu Cong and completely defeat Liu Cong.

Among them, Zhang Jaw was dispatched to guard Wancheng, Chen Liu, Sima Yi led 20,000 troops to reinforce Xuchang, and Cao Zhen and Dian Man (Dian Wei's son) led 10,000 troops to aid Runan. Even Guo Huai, who was far away in the plains, and Cao Pi in Yecheng received orders and hurried to Xuchang to assemble.

If all these groups of men and horses are assembled, plus Cao Cao's reinforcement army and the original defenders of Xuchang, Wancheng, and Runan, the number will reach 200,000.

Among them, Cao Pi led 20,000 elite cavalry from Yecheng, which made people feel Cao Cao's anxiety, Yecheng has become Cao Cao's base camp and rear for Cao Cao to fight in all directions since Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao. If Cao Cao didn't want to completely defeat Liu Cong's stunt, he wouldn't have recruited Cao Pi to join the war!

And young generals such as Cao Zhen and Guo Huai are Cao Cao's last hole cards.

When the news reached Xinye, Liu Cong was also a little nervous, this time it was a big game, and Cao Cao was really angry! But the soldiers will block it, and the water will cover it! Since Liu Cong is ready to attack Xuchang, he naturally has the consciousness of being counterattacked by Cao Cao!

Correspondingly, all the infantry of the two battalions of Jiangling and Shaxian were transferred, and the soldiers kept urging Wei Yan to speed up the march! At the same time, Yi Yuan, Wang Jie, Xu Shu and others were successively sent to Sun Quan, Zhang Lu and Ma Chao. Liu Cong plans to oppose Cao Cao in the city this time! The other princes all knew that Liu Cong robbed Xuchang and robbed the emperor! In this way, Liu Cong, as a relative of the Han family and the general of the southern expedition, also became famous for his crusade against Cao Cao.

Sima Yi was the first to arrive in Xuchang, and Xu Chu was reassured of Sima Yi's arrival. And Guan Yu directly felt the pressure, he was not afraid that Xu Chu and Sima Yi's soldiers would attack together, but he was worried about Cao Pi's cavalry and Cao Zhen's Qingzhou soldiers, both of which were very strong in combat!

Not to mention the cavalry, as far as the Qingzhou soldiers are concerned, in December of the third year of Chuping (192), the main force of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army unconditionally surrendered to Cao (not defeated and surrendered). After surrendering, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army, including their families, totaled more than 1 million people, including their families, of which 300,000 were in good health, and Cao Cao was organized into a relatively independent "Qingzhou soldier". As for those Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army, who were not accepted as soldiers, they concentrated on agricultural production and used them as rear supplies.

Under Cao Cao's management, the Qingzhou soldiers were no longer the same as the previous exile army, and they were soon engaged in battle.

"Chase the yellow scarf to Jibei. In winter, 300,000 people were surrendered, more than one million men and women, and those who received their elite were called Qingzhou soldiers. - "Three Kingdoms Wei Shu Yi Wu Emperor Ji"

Chen Shou is worthy of being a famous historian, and in just two sentences, he explained the origin and composition of the Qingzhou soldiers very clearly, without any ambiguity and contradiction.

Some people think that the historical books record this very generally, saying that Cao Cao subdued more than 300,000 physically strong people and compiled them into the "Qingzhou Army", which is a lack of detailed research in the history books.

In fact, there were about 1 million Yellow Turbans who surrendered to Cao Cao, of which the number of Yellow Turban troops was 300,000, not only young and strong men (that is, the main body of the later Qingzhou soldiers), but also old and weak soldiers and young "baby soldiers".

It is conceivable that the Qingzhou soldiers must have undergone a rather strict selection, and in the end, tens of thousands of people were organized into a formal army system, and in order to dispel the worries of the soldiers and build a relatively stable logistics base at the same time, the rest of the people, including the families of the Qingzhou soldiers, were arranged to be stationed in the fields to provide food and grass for the military.

In his book "A Study of the Military System of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", the historian Mr. Gao Min believes that there is no such thing as "religious freedom", because since their surrender, they have basically broken away from the Yellow Turban Sect. The Yellow Turban Sect was just a slogan for recruiting troops and rebellion, just like the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in later generations. Once the common people were able to live and work in peace and contentment, the Yellow Turban Sect had no attraction to them.

After they surrendered, they changed from unorganized and undisciplined idle personnel to well-trained and capable troops who made great contributions to Cao Cao's cause, and the son inherited his father's business, and existed for a long time, the name of Qingzhou soldiers existed for a total of 28 years, after Cao Cao's death, they thought that they had lost their allegiance to the leader, and there was no such wise person to lead them, and each asked to disperse.

At that time, the doctor Jia Kui was a very talented person, in order to prevent them from rebelling, he unconditionally provided them with food and money to return home, this army that made great contributions to Cao Wei, after the last time to serve them for a lifetime of court worship goodbye, most of them disarmed and returned to the field, living a leisurely peasant life.

Liu Cong is a soldier, so he naturally understands this history. Guan Yu has been in Cao Ying for several years, and he has an intuitive understanding of the combat effectiveness of Qingzhou soldiers.

Coupled with the elite cavalry led by Cao Pi, Guan Yu has received at least 20,000 news at present. There is a plain around Xuchang, not to mention 20,000, it is 10,000, once the cavalry is charged, Guan Yu's 30,000 infantry is simply not enough. They also have a louder name called Haw Par Ride! The results are brilliant.

The first was in the Battle of Nanpi in the ninth year of Jian'an (204 AD), killing Yuan Tan on the battlefield; Then, in the twelfth year of Jian'an (207 AD), when he was marching north against Wuhuan, he beheaded Wuhuan Shan Yudun on the battlefield; In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208 AD), Liu Bei was defeated in the Battle of Changbanpo; In the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211 AD), the Kansai Army led by Ma Chao was broken.

Cao Cao's supreme command organ of the army was called "Bafu", and the army was divided into three parts: the central army, the local army, and the Tuntian army. The local army is the defender of the state and county, and the tuntian army is the border guard. The central army is divided into two armies, the outer army is actually stationed outside but under the direct command of Cao Cao, the Chinese army is called the Wuwei Battalion, which is the Praetorian Guard of the capital and the imperial palace, and is Cao Cao's direct subordinate troops, usually about 100,000.

The Chinese army of the Chinese army is the tiger and leopard cavalry, which is the core elite, part of the defense of Cao Cao and the overlord, part of the perennial stay in the palace, the commander is mostly led by Cao Cao's relatives, called the leading general, Cao Ren and Cao Chun have been the leading generals of the tiger and leopard cavalry. For example, "Wei Shu Jiu Xiahou Cao Biography Nine" says that Cao Chun "initially participated in the military affairs of Sikong with Yilang, and supervised the tiger and leopard to ride from the south of the periphery". There is also a lot of other information, this tiger and leopard cavalry does exist, and it must be Cao Cao's strongest army.

He is called the "Tiger and Leopard Rider" because he is extremely strong in combat and is as brave as a tiger and leopard in battle. The members of this army are all one in a hundred, and it is an exaggeration to say that the person who can serve as a general in an ordinary army is just an ordinary soldier in the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry", and it is conceivable that his combat effectiveness is the top among the troops of the Three Kingdoms.

And this cavalry unit led by Cao Pi is the elite of the elite, the tiger and leopard of the tiger and leopard riding! Cao Cao's old book left in Yecheng to take care of the family and nursing home was taken out, and Guan Yu was naturally nervous! Therefore, while actively preparing for war, she sent someone to inform Liu Cong, hoping to withdraw from the Xuchang battlefield as soon as possible.

Liu Cong was also very entangled at this time, as the scouts understood, this time Cao Cao used almost half of his strength. Prepare to fight Liu Cong between Xuchang and Xinye. Of course, this is not what Liu Cong wants to see, after all, Cao Cao has many cavalry, and the plains have the advantage. If you want to play the infantry, you can only withdraw from the plains and come to Xinye Castle or use the two rivers to intersect and the mountains of Fancheng to entangle with it.

But so far the emperor and Xun Yu have no whereabouts, if he withdraws all the troops to Xinye at once, Emperor Liu Xie is very likely to fall into the hands of Cao Cao again! This is the reason why Liu Cong is still hesitating! Of course, Wen Ping's special infantry training also takes time, and only the more skilled he is, the more he can surprise Cao Cao in the duel with the Caocha cavalry. So no matter how Fa Zheng and others dissuade them now, Liu Cong is determined to fight and retreat.

At the same time, the spy department and hundreds of people from Jinyiwei spread their nets in Yuzhou and Nanyang, looking for the whereabouts of Emperor Liu Xie and Xun Yu!