Yuan Xi learned the lesson of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao's power was vast, and it was not a battle that could be destroyed, so he decided to slowly erode, this time taking advantage of Cao Cao's absence in Xuchang, he first attacked Puyang, Xuzhou and other places. In order to prevent Xuchang from sending troops to support, Zhang Jaw and Sima Yi were ordered by Yuan Xi to lead an army of 50,000 to attack Chenliu's front line, so that Xuchang could not take care of whether to rescue Chenliu or Puyang.

Xuchang, at this time, Cao Pi was summoning Xiahou Dun, Cao Hong, Liu Ye and others to urgently discuss how to deal with Yuan Xi's attack. Cao Pi was nervous and excited, one was worried that he would not be able to resist Yuan Xi, and the other was that once he repelled Yuan Xi with his own ability, he would definitely be recognized by Cao Cao as his successor. Cao Pi humbly asked: "Yuan Xi took advantage of Prime Minister Cao's absence in Xuchang to invade the Central Plains, I don't know what the adults have in mind?" ”

Although Cao Cao went to Xiliang and took Xun You and Guo Jia away, there are still many capable people in Xuchang, such as Liu Ye, Jia Kui, Chen Qun, etc., Liu Ye is a very wise strategist, just because he is a relative of the Han family, Cao Cao has always been taboo, so he has not been reused. Seeing that everyone was silent, Liu Ye proposed to Cao Pi: "The eldest prince, before the lord set out on the expedition, he also considered that Yuan Xi would send troops to sneak attack, and the Puyang guard general Cao Ren is the lord's confidant general, good at defense, and with the help of Le Jin, Li Dian and others, it is not easy to be captured." However, Chen Liu, it is too close to Xuchang, if it is obtained by Yuan Xi, our army is afraid that it will be difficult to sleep and eat, so the eldest prince only needs to send troops to support Chen Liu. ”

"Mr. Ziyang is reasonable, Puyang has Zixiao to defend, naturally foolproof, Chen Liu's soldiers are few, he should indeed go to support, and the minister is willing to lead the troops to Chen Liu, and face off against Zhang Jaw." Xiahoudun is Cao Cao's most trusted general, and when Cao is in trouble, he naturally has to come forward.

Cao Hong, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen and other Cao generals asked for battle, willing to lead troops to deal with Zhang Jaw, Cao Pi was overjoyed, and Xiahou was the main general, with Cao Hong and Cao Xiu as the deputy generals, leading 50,000 to Chen Liu's help. Xuchang originally only had 100,000 horses, Cao Cao took away one of the most elite troops, and now Xiahoudun has taken away another 50,000, there are not many soldiers and horses left in Xuchang, and most of them are reserve Tuntian troops, Cao Zhi hesitated and said to Cao Pi: "Big brother arranges like this, will it be too risky, in case Yuan Xi's goal is Xuchang, I'm afraid I will regret it." ”

Cao Pi looked at his smart third brother, a little unhappy, in order to make him clear who is in charge now, he said: "Before my father set out on the expedition, I made my own decisions about everything, and now that everyone agrees, the third brother should not worry too much, and the high walls of Xuchang City are thick, and Yuan Xi will not be bored with himself." ”

Yuan Xi's army resisted outside Puyang City, and the Puyang guards were already in full battle, not giving Yuan Xi the slightest chance to sneak attack. Yuan Xi inquired that the Puyang guard was Cao Ren, the best defensive general under Cao Cao, and he didn't dare to attack with all his strength, but he tried it a few times, but the effect was not good.

Seeing that the war was unfavorable, Xu Shu suggested that Yuan Xi might as well unite with Yuan Tan to attack Xuzhou and other places first, and Yuan Xi followed his plan, leaving Gao Shun and Tian Feng to monitor Cao Ren, and he and Xu Shu led the army to capture Xiaopei. Cao Ren saw Yuan Xi leaving, afraid that he had gone to Xuzhou, and was waiting to divide his troops to rescue, Li Dian stopped: "General Cao, Yuan Xi is scheming, I'm afraid there is fraud, our army has few soldiers, as long as he holds Puyang, Yuan Xi will be useless even if he wins Xuzhou." Xuzhou has no danger to defend, and when Yuan Xi retreats to Hebei on the other day, Xuzhou returns to our army. ”

Yuan Xi saw that Cao Ren was not fooled, and there was no army to chase him, so he was very helpless. Xu Shu comforted Yuan Xi and said: "The lord doesn't have to be discouraged, although Cao Ren held Puyang, it's just that our army doesn't want to attack it, if you can take the land of Xuzhou, the rich land of Xuzhou is far better than a Puyang." Xuzhou is a flat river, it is difficult to defend, but that is only for Cao Cao, our cavalry dominates the world, how can Xuzhou be difficult to defend? Yuan Xi listened to Xu Shu's words, and was immediately overjoyed, attacking Xiaopei and Xiabil.

The people of Xuzhou, the most hated is Cao Cao, when Cao Cao avenged his father, killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, the corpses were pushed into a mountain, and Surabaya did not flow. Although Xuzhou nominally belongs to Cao Cao, it is actually its own and protects its own interests.

Langya County is in the hands of the Taishan thief Kou Zangba, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in his hands, which is the strongest force in Xuzhou, and Guangling County is in the hands of Chen Si and Chen Deng, the father and son of the Xuzhou scholars, the father and son have commanded people, although they obeyed Cao Cao's orders and defended Guangling to resist Sun Quan, but they fought for their own family interests; Donghai County is in the hands of Taishan thieves Kou Wu Dun, Yin Li and Chang Ene, although the three of them belong to Cao Cao, but they are also grass on the wall, whoever is strong will take refuge in whom, as long as their territory is guaranteed.

Xiao Pei, Xia Bi and Peng Cheng experienced many years of war, and because the people hated Cao Cao, they did not send too many soldiers to station. When the people of the three places heard that the general Yuan Xi was a hero in the world, they directly opened the city gate to greet them, not afraid of Cao Cao's revenge, and even thought that only the general Yuan Xi could help them defeat Cao Cao.

Yuan Xi easily obtained the three cities of Xuzhou, out of the list of the people, after personally hearing Cao Cao's evil deeds to the people of Xuzhou, he also hated Cao Cao very much, originally thought that it was just Liu Bei deceived Yuan Shao, deliberately fabricated a lie, but I didn't expect Cao Cao to take the people out of anger for his own selfish desires, it was an unforgivable crime, Yuan Xi promised the people of Xuzhou, he would definitely avenge their blood hatred! Yuan Xi's commitment won the support of the people of Xuzhou and also gained a firm foothold in Xuzhou.

Yuan Tan got Yuan Xi's order, and even stepped up the attack on Langya County, and he couldn't destroy the Taishan thieves, which made Yuan Tan feel ashamed. Tibetan Ba and Sun Guan are both brave generals, the two cooperate tacitly, Tibetan Ba guards Langya County, Sun Guan hides soldiers in Mount Tai, harasses Yuan Tan Liangdao, Guo Tu and Xin Ping have a strategy, but Taishan thieves come and go freely, and they can't be prevented.

The East China Sea thief Kou Wu Dun had a friendship with the Tibetan tyrant, and when he saw Yuan Xi attacking Langya County, he wanted to send troops to help. Yin Li and Chang Ene are both people who forget their righteousness, although they are both Taishan thieves, they think that they should wait for their work at ease, and then act secretly after both sides are defeated. Wu Dun immediately had an argument with the two, angrily scolded the two for not being righteous, and led the people of his headquarters to support the Tibetan tyrant.

Although Yuan Xi obtained the three cities of Xuzhou, he only had 20,000 horses and could not capture the entire Xuzhou. Xun Zhan proposed: "My lord, Chen Si Chen Deng's father and son met me, and the two of them were famous people in Xuzhou, so they had to surrender to Cao Cao, and I am willing to surrender on behalf of the lord." Yuan Xi was overjoyed and ordered someone to prepare a gift and let Xun Zhan be a lobbyist to recruit the Chen family father and son.

The news of Yuan Tan's setback in Taishan County reached Yuan Xi in Pengcheng, Zhang Yan was the commander of the 100,000 Black Mountain Army, and naturally understood the psychology of the Taishan thieves, and suggested Yuan Xi: "General, I know something about the Taishan thieves and the East China Sea thieves, these people are just forced by the situation, they just want to ensure their own interests, the more we attack urgently, and don't give them a way to live, the more desperately they resist!" Why don't you let me talk to them? ”

As Zhang Yan said, Taishan thieves eat soft and not hard, as long as they can talk, they are all happy, Yuan Xi decided to let Zhang Yan go to talk to them, but the army's deterrence is still needed, so he ordered Gao Shun to come to Xuzhou and go to Taishan County to meet Tibetan tyrants for a while.

Cao Ren saw that Gao Shun had not attacked Puyang for several days, and he was puzzled, and after a few days, even Gao Shun led the army to Xuzhou, at this time, Cao Ren knew that things were bad, and Yuan Xi's purpose was not Puyang, but Xuzhou. At this time, there was also news from Xuzhou that Xiaopei, Xia Bi and Peng Cheng had fallen into the hands of Yuan Xi, Cao Ren was shocked, and after discussing with Li Dian and Le Jin, he decided to send troops to rescue Langya County.

Zhang Jaw and Sima Yi are really natural partners, but this time Zhang Jaw is the main general, Sima Yi is joining the army, Zhang Jaw wanted to take advantage of Chen Liu's defense to win weak, Cao Jun captured Chen Liu before the reinforcements arrived, but Sima Yi said: "General Zhang can't, capturing Chen Liu will expose our army's target, and Xuchang will not sit idly by, our army will be stationed on the spot first, wait for Cao Jun, watch the situation of Cao Jun first, and then act not too late." ”

Sima Yi's strategy is very clear, we are not here to attack the city, we are just here to cover the general's actions, so that the enemy can not figure out the truth and truth. Zhang Jaw was noncommittal, remembering that before setting out on the expedition, Yuan Xi had warned himself not to be impatient, listen to Sima Yi's advice, and not to be in a hurry to make meritorious contributions, so he followed Sima Yi's advice, found a geographical advantage and stationed, and waited for the opportunity to move.