After the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan took the opportunity to go north to seize Hefei, although he was repulsed, but later Cao Cao personally went south in order to stabilize Yangzhou, and defeated Chen Lan and Mei Cheng who were entrenched in the local area, and then left Zhang Liao and others to garrison Hefei.

【South to Yangzhou】

In March of the 14th year of An (209), Cao Gong marched to Qiaoxian County, built clippers, and trained the navy. In July, Cao's army entered the Huai River from the whirlpool, passed through the river, and settled in Hefei. On August 24, Cao Gong issued an order: "In recent years, the army has gone on many expeditions, officers and soldiers have died, sometimes they have encountered plagues, they cannot return to their hometowns, it is difficult for husbands and wives to be reunited, and the people are displaced. It was a last resort. It is hereby decreed that the government shall not stop the supply of food to the deceased soldiers, who have no property in their families and find it difficult to maintain their livelihoods, and the officials must offer condolences and relief to them, which is only as I please."

At that time, Chen Lan and Mei Cheng, who were from Lujiang, occupied six counties such as Di and rebelled, so Cao Cao sent Yu Ban and Zang Ba to crusade against Mei Cheng, and ordered Zhang Liao to lead Zhang He and Niu Gai to crusade against Mei Lan. At that time, Mei Cheng surrendered to the ban, and the ban led the army back. Unexpectedly, Mei Cheng took the opportunity to take his army to join Chen Lan, and the two of them moved to Lishan to defend themselves. There is Tianzhu Mountain in the mountain, it is about 20 miles high, the road is dangerous and narrow, Chen Lan and others avoid it, and it is difficult to enter the mountain down.

Zhang Liao wanted to climb the mountain and march into the army, but all the generals said: "This mountain road is treacherous, and our army has few soldiers, so it is difficult to use troops in depth." Zhang Liao said: "This is exactly the so-called 'one and one, the brave have the front ear' (only the brave can advance)." So he went to the foot of the mountain and set up camp, raised troops to attack the mountain, and finally beheaded Chen Lan and Mei Cheng, and captured all of them. Cao Cao commented on the merits of the generals and said: "Climbing the Tianshan Mountain, stepping through the steep slopes, and successfully winning Chen Lan and Mei Cheng are all the merits of General Dangkou (Zhang Liao)." So he increased his town and made a false festival.

After Liu Fu's death, Cao Cao asked Wen Hui to serve as the assassin of Yangzhou. Before taking office, Cao Cao said to him: "I very much hope that I can keep you by my side to assist the council, but the affairs of the Prime Minister's Mansion are not as important as the affairs of governing Yangzhou." "Shangshu" once said: 'Good shares! It's a good thing! 'In that case, how can I not let Jiang Ji serve you as the governor of Yangzhou? ”

Jiang Ji had served as a special driver in Yangzhou before, and served as a Danyang Taishou at that time, so Cao Cao asked Jiang Ji to go to Yangzhou again to serve as a special driver to assist Wen Hui. On the other hand, Cao Cao sent people to Zhang Liao, Le Jin and others who were guarding the boundaries near Yangzhou: "Yangzhou Assassin Shi (referring to Wen Hui) is a man who is well versed in military affairs, and you must consult with him in everything. ”

In order to prevent Sun Quan's attack, Cao Cao planned to move the people of Huainan inward, so he asked Jiang Ji: "In the past, I confronted Yuan Shao in Guandu, and the people of Yan and Baima migrated, but no one fled, and the enemy army did not dare to plunder. Now, I want to migrate the people of Huainan, what do you think? Jiang Ji disagreed with the migrants, saying: "At that time, I was weak and strong, and if I didn't move, I would lose." Since defeating Yuan Shao, reaching Liucheng in the north, and surrendering to Jiang, Han, and Jingzhou in the south, the people have no other ambitions. But the people are nostalgic for the old land, and are not happy to move, and if they hear about it, they will be afraid and uneasy. ”

Cao Cao did not listen, but still decided to forcibly relocate the people of Jianghuai, and as a result, more than 100,000 people in Jianghuai fled to the territory of Eastern Wu because they were frightened. Cao Cao admired Jiang Ji's talents because of his views on the migrants, and when Jiang Ji was later sent to Yecheng by his envoys, Cao Cao laughed and laughed at himself when he saw Jiang Ji: "I wanted to let the people take refuge, but I drove them all away." ”

Later, Cao Cao conquered Sun Quan in vain, and appointed Zhang Liao, Le Jin, Li Dian and other troops to lead more than 7,000 people to guard in Hefei. In this year, county magistrates were set up in Yangzhou to reclaim Shaobi Tuntian. In December, returned.

Later, Cao Cao appointed Wen Hui, Jiang Ji and others to manage government affairs in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and Zhang Liao, Le Jin, Li Dian and others to manage military affairs to oppose Sun Quan.

【Tongjakudai】

In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), the imperial court abolished the three dukes and set up the prime minister and the imperial historian. In June, Duke Cao was appointed prime minister.

In the spring of the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210), Cao Cao issued an order in order to recruit talents: "Since ancient times, all the monarchs who founded the country and prospered relied on the help of sages and gentlemen to rule the world!" Is it a fluke that the monarch gets a virtuous talent and does not leave the alley? It's just that the rulers from above don't go to the search. If it is not yet settled today, this is the time when talents are needed. Confucius said: 'Meng Gong is more than enough to be the head of the retainers of the Zhao and Wei families, but he cannot be the doctor of the two small kingdoms of Teng and Xue. 'If you must be honest to be appointed, then how can Qi Huan Gong dominate the world? Is there really no one in the world who is as talented as Lu Shang but wears tattered clothes to fish by the Weishui? Is there anyone like Chen Ping who has been falsely accused of fornicating with his sister-in-law and accepting bribes but has not yet met someone who knows talents? You must help me to identify and recommend talented people from humble backgrounds, and as long as they are talented, I will recommend them, so that I can reuse them. ”

In the winter of this year, Cao Cao built the Tongque Terrace.

Nowadays, because of the influence of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and some famous poems (such as: Dongfeng does not cooperate with Zhou Lang, Tongque Chun Shen Lock Erqiao), many people directly associate Tongquetai and beauties together, but in fact, Cao Cao's original intention of building Tongquetai is not so.

It is said that after Cao Cao eliminated the Yuan brothers, he stayed in Yecheng at night, and saw the golden light rising from the ground in the middle of the night and dug up a bronze finch the next day. Today, the copper bird, also auspicious omen, Cao Cao was overjoyed, so he decided to build the copper bird platform on the Zhangshui, in order to show its ability to calm the four seas.

However, I personally think that Cao Cao's construction of Tongque Terrace at this time is meaningful. First of all, if Cao Cao wants to show his contribution to pacifying the four seas, he can start after eliminating the Yuan brothers, there is no need to wait until the fifteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao got auspicious at this time, and built Taiwan, I feel that I don't want to boast about myself, but to maintain stability.

At this time, Cao Cao's group went south and had completely failed, the Battle of Chibi and the Battle of Jiangling had ended in defeat, Sun Quan even dared to take the initiative to attack Hefei, although it failed, it also had a great shock and impact on Cao Cao's internal body, so Cao Cao urgently needed to stabilize people's hearts and develop forces at this time.

Before Chibi, Cao Cao was powerful and invincible in the world, so he may not be so concerned about talents, but after the Chibi fiasco, Cao Cao suddenly found that things were not so simple, so he still needed to further recruit talents and enhance the strength of his group. And Cao Cao's construction of Tongquetai is actually using auspicious words to dilute the shadow of past failures, in order to win over his subordinates, stabilize people's hearts, and show that the will of heaven is still on his side.

Of course, there is also the meaning of showing one's own force and deterring those who have different intentions.