Due to the deliberate retreat of the horse butcher, the battlefield of Bingzhou appeared to be calm, and Yuan Shao's army captured the entire territory of Bingzhou without blood, but due to the pressure of Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao's two Mobei cavalry armies, Yuan Shao was forced to transfer heavy troops back to defend Yanmen County and Zhongshan Kingdom, and Yuan Shao was ready to take the opportunity to attack Hetao and severely damage the horse butcher's plan was stillborn.

Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty in March of the ninth year of Jian'an (196).

After some bargaining, Yuan Shao and Ma Yue finally reached a secret agreement, Yuan Shao provided Zhou Cang, Pei Yuanshao, and Guanqi with 50,000 stone military rations, 2,000 pieces of cloth, and 500 pieces of silk, while Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao provided Yuan Shao with 20,000 bantam horses and 500 Shandan military horses.

The two sides agreed not to attack each other for two years.

The Hebei army ceded Xihe County as the eastern barrier of the Hetao, and in exchange for the Liang army had to assist the Hebei army in seizing Shangdang County, as the western barrier of Jizhou.

April 9.

After the agreement was signed, Yuan Shao immediately sent the general Zhang He to lead 20,000 troops, claiming to be 50,000 to go south to Shangdang County, preparing to fight with Chun Yuqiong's 30,000 army and destroy Zhang Yang in one fell swoop. At this time, Zhang Yang was forced by the strong offensive of the Hebei Army and successively asked for help from the Bingzhou Army and the Liang Army.

In May, Gao Shun, the general of the Ma Yue faction, led 8,000 troops into Shangdang, and the overjoyed Zhang Yang didn't know that his Shangdang County had already become a bargaining chip on the table between the horse butcher and Yuan Shao, and he had already been ruthlessly betrayed by the horse butcher, and Zhang Yang couldn't understand until he died, how did the horse butcher hook up with Yuan Shao? And why betrayed him?

Because in Zhang Yang's opinion, the horse butcher will not get any benefit by doing this.

……

Compared with the turbulent battlefield of Bingzhou, the Yangzhou battlefield in the south is overwhelming.

In the spring of the ninth year of Jian'an, Zhou Yu personally led hundreds of "grain ships" up the river, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun did not know what the plan was, and sent extremely fast boats, Meng Chong, and fighting ships to pursue them in a big way, but they encountered heavy fog on Poyang Lake and lost their way.

Losing the protection of the boats, Mengchong, and fighting ships, the large building ships of the Jingzhou Navy appeared to move slowly and clumsily, and were finally overwhelmed by the wolf pack tactics of the Eastern Wu Navy Army, and all 17 large building ships were burned, and Cai Mao and Zhang Yun only led dozens of ships to escape.

The Jingzhou naval army was defeated, and Lujiang Liu Xun's foreign aid was lost, so he went out of the city and surrendered to Sun Jian.

After capturing the Lujiang River, Zhou Yu rushed to Shu County overnight to offer advice to Sun Jian, and put forward the strategic concept of dividing the river and ruling the river.

Zhou Yu believes that the current northern heroes stand side by side, and the northwest horse butcher, the northern Yuan Shao, and the Central Plains Cao Ying are all immortal heroes and are in a hurry, and the Wu army should stay out of the situation at this time and wait for the northern melee, and should not easily intervene in the Central Plains melee, so as not to fall into the mud and find it difficult to extricate themselves.

But Liu Biao in Jingzhou and Liu Zhang in Yizhou are incompetent.

Zhou Yu suggested that Sun Jian should encourage troops and horses, accumulate military funds, and take advantage of the endless fighting of the three major warlords in the north to go up the river to destroy Liu Biao and Liu Zhang, and get the land of Jingzhou and Yizhou, so that he can divide the river with the northern warlords and rule, if the timing is right (for example, the northern warlords have been greatly injured because of the melee for many years), they can wrap a million strong troops to the north to attack the Central Plains, if the situation is not suitable (the northern princes are unified by someone from the horse butcher, Cao Ying, and Yuan Shao), they can also defend themselves according to the natural danger of the Yangtze River.

Zhou Yu's strategy can be said to be very strategic.

Zhou Yu keenly discovered that the Central Plains battlefield was a quagmire, and it may not be possible to get benefits by investing in it with the current strength of Eastern Wu, and Eastern Wu lacked the strategic strength to compete in the Central Plains, that is, cavalry! On the premise that there is not enough cavalry, it is extremely unwise for the Wu army to rush north to the Central Plains, especially in the face of horse butchers who started with cavalry, and they will be at an absolute disadvantage.

But this is not the case with Liu Biao in Jingzhou and Liu Zhang in Yizhou.

First of all, Jingzhou and Yizhou are located in the south, with vertical and horizontal rivers and dense water networks, so the two places are not conducive to the use of cavalry, and they are connected to the Yangtze River with Dongwu, and the Dongwu naval army can go up the river and play a role in determining the surname in the war! After capturing Jingzhou and Yizhou, Eastern Wu could also rely on rivers and water networks to resist the cavalry forces of the northern warlords.

Zhou Yu's strategy completely avoided the strategic disadvantages of the Wu army, and carried forward the strategic advantages of the Wu army to the extreme.

Sun Jian adopted Zhou Yu's suggestion, and took the eldest son Sun Ce as the army capital governor of Lujiang Shu County, and Zhou Yu as the water army capital governor of Hukou, and the generals Tai Shici, Pan Zhang, Zhou Tai, and Jiang Qin each listened to the tune in front of the two governors' tents, and ordered Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Gu Yong, and Buqi to build water conservancy, rectify agriculture, step up the reserve of grain and military materials, and be ready to attack Jingzhou at any time!

……

Compared with the momentum of the Wu army on the Yangzhou battlefield, the Cao army and the Lu Bu army on the Yanzhou battlefield were inseparable, but in May of the ninth year of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty (196), the Dongjun battlefield and the Liang State battlefield took a turn at the same time!

Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the third year of Emperor Zhongping of the Han Dynasty (184 years), the war in Yanzhou and Yuzhou has not stopped, and the war in the two states has led to a sharp decline in the population of the two states, and the people are not able to make a living.

This is also the biggest reason why although Cao Ying welcomed the Son of Heaven and occupied the righteousness of the imperial court, he was always in a weak position.

But.

Thankfully, Guo Jia (Mao Jie, don't be misled by this book) appeared when Cao Ying was on the verge of despair, and proposed a Tuntian strategy to Cao Ying!

The so-called tuntian, in today's terms, is to set up a production and construction corps, the practice is to land the Yellow Turban mob and the recruited displaced people together for militarized management, and the political axe will uniformly provide land, farming tools, cattle, seeds and other production materials, and the Yellow Turban mob and displaced people will work and work to plough, and the grain produced will be divided into 55 or 64.

The tuntian practiced by the horse butchers in Beidi and Hetao is actually similar to Cao Ying's practice.

The benefits of Tuntian are amazing.

The burden of the people in the Han Dynasty was extremely heavy, and most of the harvest had to be used to pay the field tax, but most of them were withheld by the middle landlord Haoqiang, and the field tax handed over to the state treasury was only one-tenth or one-fifteenth, and the tax burden was even only one-thirtieth when it was lightest!

In the later period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial court actually wanted to raise taxes, but it could no longer be increased, because the people's harvest was only a pitiful one or two percent, and if the people were exploited again, there would be no way to live! In order to protect their own interests, the Shi clan gate lords with the landlord Haoqiang as the backbone of the late Han Dynasty rose up to oppose the imperial court tax increase, and Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling were forced to be helpless, so they came up with a "high trick" to sell officials, and as a result, the once prosperous Han Empire was pushed to extinction.

On the premise of not increasing the burden on the people, Tuntian has increased the income of money and grain by several times or even more than ten times, and the state treasury has been greatly enriched. It was precisely because of the strong support of the Tuntian system that Cao Ying was able to finally gain a firm foothold in the extremely barren Yan and Henan prefectures.

Although surrounded by strong enemies, and the horse butcher was even more capable of attacking and harassing, Cao Ying could still stand.

Besides, Cao Ying and Lu Bu were holding each other in the Liang State, and in a blink of an eye, it was the beginning of May of the ninth year of Jian'an, at this time, the wheat in the counties of Yanzhou had matured one after another, and Lu Bu, who was worried about not being able to defeat Cao's army, suddenly found an unexpected fighter plane appearing! Because of the lack of food, Cao Jun was forced to transfer to Qian County to "go to the valley".

Because Liang did not have a Tuntian farm, but Qian County did.

Cao Renjun, who was stationed in Puyang, was also facing the dilemma of a shortage of military food, and had to take the risk of sending troops to Jibei and Dongping to harvest wheat, because Jibei and Dongping both had Tuntian farms, and although Cao Bao and Zhang Liao's Xuzhou army had captured Jibei and Dongping, they did not destroy Tuntian farms and did not send troops to garrison them.

……

Qian County, Cao Jun camp.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Cao Ying was convening Guo Jia, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Liu Ye, Guan Yu, Zangba and other civil and military henchmen to discuss the matter, and Liu Ye, who was in charge of intelligence, stepped forward and said: "Lord, Tan Ma returns, Lu Bu did not lead the army to attack Xudu, but led the army to enter Jianping in the northeast of Qian County. ”

In the nine years of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty, after a long period of war, the cities in Yanzhou and Yuzhou have been seriously damaged, except for a few large cities such as Xuchang and Puyang, most of the remaining cities have collapsed, and they do not have the value of occupation at all.

Cao Ying stroked his hair and smiled: "Lu Buzhi is talented and sparse, but Gongtai is an understanding person." ”

Guo Jia said: "Lu Bu led the army into Jianping, his intention is nothing more than to obstruct our army from going to the valley, the lord might as well use this to set up a situation, so that Chen Gong is smart but is mistaken by cleverness, and finally kills Lu Bu." ”

Cao Ying's eyes were shining, and he asked with a smile: "I don't know if there is a good plan for filial piety?" ”

Guo Jia said: "When it is said that the Ming Dynasty, the armies can ignore the enemy of Jianping and go out to harvest wheat as usual." ”

Zang overbearing: "When the armies go out to harvest wheat, if Lu Bu Suer leads the army to attack, and all the armies are not in time to return to the camp, won't the lord be in danger?" ”

Guo Jia said: "If Lu Buruo leads the army to attack, he has his own plans. ”

Zangba hugged his fists to Cao Ying and said: "My lord, the last general thinks that he should leave a military horse to protect the lord's safety." ”

"No need, hehe." Cao Ying stroked his hair and smiled, "The world is said to be cunning and suspicious, and will never give the opponent a chance to take advantage of. ”

The generals had no choice but to agree.

On the second day, the generals each led their troops out to harvest wheat, Cao Ying only ordered Guan Yu to lead 500 school swordsmen to stay in the camp, and ordered 200 marksmen to lie in wait in the two dense forests around the city of Qiaoxian County, and arranged everything, Cao Ying then set up a banquet in the tent and drank with Guo Jia, Xun You and others.

At noon, the horse returned, and Lu Bu really led the army to attack the camp.

Cao Ying happily got up and said loudly: "Where is Guan Yu?" ”

Guan Yu stepped into the tent in response, and clenched his fists and said, "The end will be." ”

Cao Ying said: "Lead five hundred school swordsmen to line up outside the city. ”

Guan Yu said: "Obey." ”

Seeing Guan Yu's figure leaving, Cao Ying instructed his soldiers again: "Come, move the banquet to the city tower." ”

After the soldiers moved the banquet away, Cao Yingcai clapped his hands and said to Guo Jia and Xun You: "Fengxiao, Gongda, go to the city tower with Gu to drink and feast, wouldn't it be nice to have Lu Bujinge to help you have fun." ”

Guo Jia and Xun You solemnly said at the same time: "My lord, please." ”

……

Let's talk about Lu Bu.

In the morning, after receiving a detailed report, the brigade Cao Jun set off from Qian County to harvest wheat, Chen Gong thought that Qian County must be guarded against emptiness, so he suggested that Lu Bu raise troops to sneak attack, Lu Bu adopted Chen Gong's suggestion, and then ordered Song Xian to hold Jianping, and he and Chen Gong ordered 20,000 troops to come to attack Qian County.

Lu Bu and Chen Gong led an army of 20,000 to the east of the city of Qiaoxian, only to see Guan Yu straddle the horse and cross the knife to block the way, and Guan Yu behind the five hundred school swordsmen lined up, although with 500 soldiers facing the 20,000 Xuzhou army, the vultures were full of anger and fearlessness. Behind Guan Yu and the five hundred school swordsmen, the gate of Qiaoxian City was wide open, and a team of old and weak soldiers were sweeping the streets.

"Lord, military advisor, look, Cao Apu!"

The sharp-eyed Cheng Lian suddenly shouted.

Lu Bu and Chen Gong raised their heads when they heard the sound, looked in the direction of Cheng Lian's finger, and sure enough, they saw Cao Ying and two Confucian scholars drinking opposite each other on the gatehouse, and the two teams of beautiful young women twisted their willow waists lightly before the banquet, and the three of them talked and laughed, and they actually looked at the 20,000 army outside the city as if they were nothing.

"The thief is playing tricks, and he will be captured by this general when he enters the city!"

After saying that, Lu Bu wanted to pat his horse and advance, but Chen Gong hurriedly stopped: "The lord is slow." ”

Lu Bulema stopped and asked Chen Gong suspiciously: "Why did Gongtai stop General Ben?" ”

Chen Gong stretched out his finger and pointed to the left and right, and said to Lu Bu: "Lord, please look, there are two dense forests on the left and right, and if there are frightened birds flying in the forest from time to time, there will be an ambush by Cao Jun!" And Cao Ying is cunning and suspicious, and his use of soldiers can be described as flawless, so how can he easily expose his flaws? There must be something else in this. ”

Lu Bu thought about it, and finally felt that he was still unwilling, and said to Cheng Lian: "Cheng Lian, send two teams of fast horses into the forest to find out!" ”

"Yes!"

Cheng Lian took the order and left.

In less than an hour, Cheng Lian hurriedly turned back and said to Lu Bu: "Lord, there is indeed an ambush of Cao's army in the forest, and half of the probe horses sent by the last general have been shot and killed. ”

Chen Gong said: "Lord, the matter is already obvious, Guan Yu and the five hundred school swordsmen who stayed outside the city are just bait to lure the enemy, if our army attacks on a large scale, the ambush in the forest will be exhausted, and the inside and outside will be attacked!" And Cao Ying has always been ruthless with his soldiers, and it is very likely that he will send another light cavalry to outflank the back road and intercept my baggage, so it is not suitable to stay here for a long time, and the troops should be withdrawn as soon as possible. ”

"Damn!" Lu Bu glared fiercely at Cao Ying, who was on the city tower in the distance, waved the Fang Tian painting halberd in his hand, and said sharply, "Order, the whole army retreats!" ”

Lu Bu gave an order, and the 20,000 Xuzhou army suddenly retreated like a tide.

On the city tower, Cao Ying breathed a long sigh of relief, and smiled at Guo Jia and Xun You: "Gongtai is planning to do it, this time I will lose my trust in Lu Bu, and the defeat of the Xuzhou army is not far away, hehe!" ”

……

Jianping, the camp of the Lu Bu army.

Lu Bu led the army to return to the camp, and all the fine works came back with the news, the wheat in the northeast of Qian County has been robbed by the Cao army, and the fine work that infiltrated the Cao army also sent back the news (in fact, Cao Ying deliberately released the news), there was no ambush in the dense forest outside the city, in fact, there were only two hundred marksmen, and at that time, except for Guan Yu's five hundred school swordsmen, there was no soldier under Cao Ying's command.

Chen Gong was ashamed when he found out.

Lu Bu was repentant, and he thought that if Chen Gong hadn't stopped him at that time, Cao Ying would have already become the soul of his Lu Bu's halberd, and for this time, Lu Bu was so angry that he didn't talk to Chen Gong for two days.

As a result, on the third day, the news came from Xizuo again, Cao Jun once again rushed out of the city to prepare to harvest the wheat in the northwest of Qian County, Lu Bu heard the news and raised troops again, this time Lu Bu simply left Chen Gong in Jianping to defend the city, and he came with 20,000 troops to sneak attack Qian County, Chen Gong blocked it in every possible way, and Lu Bu just didn't listen.

……

Lu Bu led the army to the outside of the city of Qiao, Cao Ying's old trick was repeated, and Guo Jia, Xun You drank and had fun in the city, and ordered Guan Yu to lead five hundred school swordsmen to line up outside the east gate, this time Lu Bu just snorted coldly, led the army to cover the kill, Guan Yu could not be defeated, and led the Qinglong Yanyue knife back, leading five hundred school swordsmen to rush into the city of Qian.

Lu Bu didn't know what to do, so he led his army straight into the city.

When Lu Bu killed Guan Yu and rushed to the city to kill Cao Ying, he suddenly found that it was not Cao Ying at all, but just a puppet wearing Cao Ying's crown clothes.

In a hurry, Lu Bu wielded Fang Tian's halberd to "kill" a bloody road from the Xuzhou army, and he rushed out of the city, and the dense forests on both sides suddenly killed everywhere, this time, Cao Ying really ambushed 8,000 elite soldiers in the dense forests on both sides, and took advantage of the Xuzhou army to enter the city to kill the generals, and suddenly cut off the retreat of the Xuzhou army.

Cao Jun inside and outside the attack, Xuzhou army defeated like a mountain, Lu Bu left and right rush out of the encirclement, is thinking about death, Cao Jun in the northeast corner of the sudden chaos, Lu Bu was overjoyed to see this, hurriedly harassed the remnants of the army to the northeast corner to cover up, but found that Chen Gong led the army to help, the two armies converged at the moment, killed through the Cao army's encirclement, defected to Jianping and left.

However, when Lu Bu and Chen Gong led the army back to Jianping, they found that the banner of the Cao army was hanging high on the tower of Jianping City.

Of course, Cao Ying would not miss this God-given opportunity, and immediately ordered Zangba to lead the army to follow-up, and he took Guan Yu as the vanguard, personally led 8,000 elite soldiers to march lightly, and rushed to Xiapi, but the remnants of Lu Bu and Chen Gong had just retreated to Xiapi, and Cao Ying's army also followed, surrounding Xiapi City.

At the end of May, Zangba led an army of 20,000 to meet with Cao Ying outside the city of Xiapi, Cao Ying was not in a hurry to attack the city, but ordered to dig a deep ditch along the outside of the city of Xiapi, and the ditch was full of antlers, and the arrow tower was built outside the ditch, posing for a long-term siege.

……

Lü Bu was defeated by Cao Ying in Qian County, but Cao Bao and Zhang Liao won a complete victory in Dong County, beating Cao Ren and Cao Hong to the point that they lost their armor and collapsed their armies.

The Battle of Puyang and the Battle of Qiaoxian were staged almost simultaneously.

Cao Ren's strategy is similar to Cao Ying's, but because of the different opponents, the results obtained are also diametrically opposed, Cao Ying won a big victory, Cao Ren was defeated!

Early May.

The grain and grass in Puyang City were about to run out, Cao Ren decided to divide his troops out of the city to harvest wheat, but he was worried that Cao Bao and Zhang Liao would take the opportunity to sneak attack Puyang, so he set up a plan, so that his younger brother Cao Hong led the army out of the city with great fanfare, went to Jibei to harvest wheat, and quietly sneaked back to the dense forest outside Puyang City at night to set up an ambush.

The next time, Zhang Liao really led the army to attack Puyang, but was defeated by Cao Ren and Cao Hong.

Zhang Liao was defeated, Cao Ren thought that the Xuzhou army did not dare to sneak attack, so Cao Hong once again led the army out of the city with great fanfare, but this time he really went to Jibei to harvest wheat, but the next day, Cao Bao and Zhang Liao came to attack Puyang with all their troops, Cao Ren's soldiers were few and invincible, and Puyang was lost.

It turned out that Zhang Liao had already seen through Cao Ren's tricks, and deliberately led the old and weak army to attack Puyang for the first time, but was defeated by Cao Jun, and successfully slackened Cao Ren's vigilance.

When Cao Hong heard the news, he hurriedly led his army back to rescue Puyang, but was defeated by Zhang Liao.

Cao Ren and Cao Hong lost their armor and retreated into Chenliu in embarrassment, Cao Bao and Zhang Liao led the army to chase after them and led the army into the territory of Chenliu, but it is a pity that at this time Lu Bu had been defeated by Cao Ying and fled back to Xiapi in embarrassment, otherwise, once Cao Bao and Zhang Liao divided their troops to outflank Cao Ying's back road, Cao Ying would fall into a desperate situation! In this way, the outcome of the Battle of Yanzhou will be completely rewritten.

End of May.

Cao Bao and Zhang Liao heard the news that Lu Bu was defeated and trapped in Xiapi, and hurriedly returned to Xuzhou, and the siege of Chen Liuzhi was relieved without a fight, and at this time, there was no food in Chen Liucheng, and there were only 3,000 soldiers left under Cao Ren and Cao Hong's account! If it weren't for Lu Bu's defeat, in three days at most, Cao Ren and Cao Hong would have been defeated and killed, and Cao Ying's Northern Route Army would have been wiped out!

If things really develop like this, this will undoubtedly be a heavy blow to Cao Jun's morale and morale, but unfortunately, this is only hypothetical, because of Lu Bu's defeat, none of this will happen! Zhang Liao and Cao Bao's brilliant victory on the battlefield of Dongjun was in vain in a blink of an eye.

……

Xiapi, the siege has been more than a month.

In the backyard of the official residence, Lu Bu was sighing at the bright moon in the sky, and the moonlight dragged Lu Bu's figure on the ground for a long time.

However, the heart of the invincible general~~ is no longer there.

"General?"

A pulsed voice sounded from behind her, Lu Bu slowly turned around, the delicate and graceful body of the sable cicada like a flower and the graceful and plump body looked more and more graceful and charming under the moonlight, the wind and frost of the years did not leave any traces on her face, and Lu Bu's night watering made her more and more delicate.

"Cicadas."

Lu Bu called out in a low voice, he was so stupid that he thought that after the defeat of the army, such a stunning beauty would be reduced to the spoils of Cao Ying's thief, Lu Bu was so distressed that he almost suffocated! But kill her? Lu Bu couldn't be ruthless no matter what, cicada, cicada, what should you let me do with you?

Lu Bu suddenly understood a little bit of the state of mind of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, when he faced Yu Ji, that childlike affection, that heroic shortness of breath, regretted not listening to the words of the public platform, regretting not listening to the advice of the public platform, he only hated the ruthlessness of the world and couldn't do it again............

Outside the city of Xiapi, Cao Ying's military tent.

The soldiers suddenly entered the house and said, "Prime Minister, General Guan Yu asks to see you outside the tent." ”

"Cloud Chief?" Cao Ying looked up in amazement and said to the soldiers, "Let him in." ”

The soldiers led the order to go, and in less than a moment, Guan Yu flashed into the big tent, respectfully waved to Cao Ying, and said in a low voice: "Prime Minister, the city of Xiapi is about to be broken, and Yu has something to ask for." ”

Cao Ying said: "Yun Chang but it doesn't hurt to say. ”

Guan Yu said: "Yu is already thirty and seven this year, but he has not yet married a wife, after the city is broken, he begs Lu Bu's concubine Diao Chan, and hopes that the prime minister will be fulfilled." ”

"Well, what's so difficult about this, I'm sorry."

Cao Ying agreed, but he secretly kept an eye in his heart.

I thought that this was the second time that Guan Yu had mentioned this Lu Bu's concubine Diao Chan in front of him, could it be that this woman was really beautiful and charming? Otherwise, how could Guan Yu never forget? Well, it seems that after the city is broken, I have to take a look at it first, if it really looks like the country is beautiful and beautiful, I have to be wronged by Yun Chang, hehe.

(To be continued)