Xu You was attacked and died in the middle of several arrows, and his internal story was not known to the Cao family until a long time later - Yes Xun was relieved, and he didn't have to go to great lengths to lie about Wang Song and Liu Fang's problems. There is no need to ask who set up an ambush to kill Xu Ziyuan, it is Yuan Tan and Guo Tu, and as for who leaked his whereabouts to Yuan Dagongzi? It's a historical mystery that no one knows.

However, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang are originally a family, and they all have each other's spies in each other's camps, or they are just people who have their hearts for each other, which is also a very logical thing.

In short, most of Xu You and his entourage were killed, and only a dozen soldiers escaped, and they returned to Jixian County to report to Yuan Shangyu. The ambusher over there carried back Xu You's body, and found Yuan Shang's letter asking for surrender from the corpse, Yuan Tan sneered, burned it, and then ordered Mr. Xu to be buried properly.

At this moment, Cao Cao temporarily rested in Zhuo County, and waited for the messenger sent by Liu He, who was the same Yan Rou who had come to Xu Du to ask for help. Cao Cao talked to each other that day, and he attached great importance to this young hero of Yandi, and once said: "I regard Qing as a son, and I want Qing to treat me as a father." It may also be that Xun Shui is the influence of Wei Wei's adopted son, he not only talks about it, but is about to open the incense hall immediately...... Ah no, hold a ceremony to officially recognize Yan Rou, the godson.

However, Yan Rou declined politely, saying: "I firmly regard the public as my father, but I live far away, and I will inevitably cling to ridicule, and I am afraid that Liu Youzhou (Liu He) will be jealous." I know my heart, but I can. "Let's not engage in that kind of formalized thing, lest people say that I am clinging to the powerful, or Liu and they suspect me of selling out for glory.

In fact, speaking seriously, Liu He is really not the lord of Yan Rou, but can only be said to be the so-called "co-master" of the heroes in the north of Youzhou who were launched as banners. Yan Rou, Xian Yu Fu, Qi Zhou, Xian Yu Yin, etc. That's all there is a soldier and a land. The forces are not weaker than Liu He. These families formed an alliance because they had a common enemy—originally Gongsun Zhan, and now the Yuan family—and came out in a one, two, and three row.

So this time, Yan Rou bypassed Guangyang, and ran to meet Cao Cao through Yuan Xi's territory, Cao Cao was overjoyed, set up a banquet to entertain him, and led him to meet with the generals, and made it clear that "It's a big surprise here." If there is a son like this, why hate it! Cao Ang stayed in Xudu, but Cao Zheng and Cao Pi followed the expedition, and Cao Cao made Zheng and Pi commensurate with Yan Rou's brothers.

After the banquet, Cao Cao left Yan Rou alone and told him straight to the point, I have three things that I want you to help do. Yan Rou said that it was all up to the orders of the adults - the word "adult" was not used to address officials in those years, but only to the elders, especially the father. Anyway, there are no outsiders, Yan Rou, who was an orphan, directly called Cao Cao as his father.

So Cao Cao said. First of all, I hope that after the destruction of the Yuan clan, you persuade Liu He and Xian Yufu to return to the dynasty with me, and they will be given high-ranking officials and lords. Yan Rou said no problem, those few people have no ambitions, so they raised the flag to recruit troops, one is to avenge the death of his father and the late lord (so Youzhou Mu Liu Yu), and the other is to protect the place, as long as you can stabilize Youzhou, they will be willing to annex.

Cao Cao said that that is too good, I am afraid that these two still want to divide a corner, and then the matter will be troublesome. The second thing is that I will use troops against Jixian County in the near future, and I hope that several of you can send troops to cooperate.

Yuan Shang thought that digging the river and releasing water could block Cao's army for a month or two, but before the water receded, Cao Cao planned to send troops to raid. The reason is that Xun Yu offered a plan, saying that if the water recedes, the ground is muddy, it is more difficult for soldiers to walk, and it is more difficult to transport materials, it is better to take advantage of the water, collect boats, set up wooden rows, and take Jicheng directly with lightning speed, then Yuan Shang will be stunned and will definitely be defeated.

Shixun also agreed with this proposition, and said that I brought so many parts of the cart to prepare for the siege, if it was in the mud, it would not be able to carry it at all—it could be dragged directly with the mud, but who was the one who dragged it? It would be much more convenient to transport it with wooden drainage.

So Cao Cao said to Yan Rou, you prepare immediately after you go back, don't wait for the water to recede, I will do it in ten days. Yan Rou said that I set off overnight and rushed back to the north, so I didn't miss the adult's business.

The third thing, Cao Cao asked: "Qing thinks that if he attacks Jicheng, Yuan Shang will either go east or west?" "If he tried to escape, where would he go? Yan Rou replied confidently: "Lord Wen has sent a letter to Gao Gan, so that Yidai County will be attached, Shang Su is suspicious, and he will not dare to flee west...... "He will not dare to go to Gao Gan-" but will go east and ask for help from the Karasuma soldiers. "Yan Rou was taken captive to Karasuma and Xianbei when he was a child, and was a close confidant of his lord (the so-called adult of the foreign clan refers to the chief), and he sought an opportunity to escape back to the Han land, and it was because of this that he was elected by Xian Yufu and others to be the captain of the Karasuma Protector - without him, he was most familiar with the affairs of the foreign clan. Therefore, Yan Rou also knew about the collusion between the Yuan clan and the Karasuma chiefs, if Yuan Shang escaped into Karasuma, whether the chieftains would help him or not, and he could guess that he would not leave ten.

Cao Cao continued to ask: "If Shang Dong goes, what path will he take?" "Where will he run from?

Yan Rou said that he must have escaped from Yuan Xi's territory, as for our northern families, please rest assured, we must set up checkpoints, patrol all roads, and not let a single bird leave. Cao Cao stroked his beard, smiled slightly, shook his head, and said, "Why not indulge it?" "Let him go.

Yan Rou was puzzled and asked. This is going to be changed, Cao Cao must not be too lazy to explain, since he is Yan Rou who is like his son, he might as well enlighten him: "I have two intentions." First, he could blame Yuan Xi and order him to return to the court...... "I need an excuse to beat Yuan Xi and bring him back to Xudu, so as to completely pull out the power of the Yuan family from Youzhou." Of course, I won't reveal that Yuan Shang was let go by you, and you can't admit it, so I'll be sure that Yuan Shang beat Yuan Xi and escaped!

When Yan Rou heard this, she nodded again and again: "The adults are very deep." Cao Cao continued to explain: "The second intention is to go east to conquer Karasuma to relieve the danger of Qing and others. ”

In the original history, Cao Cao did not intend to fight Karasuma at the beginning. He defeated Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan brothers successively, swallowed a huge Jizhou, and had to digest it for a long time, where did he still have the strength to expedition to the Peerless Domain? Including Youzhou, Cao Cao did not fight directly, it was Yuan Xi's generals Zhang Nan and Jiao Touch who took the initiative to rebel and surrender to Cao, united Liu and them, and turned the western part of Youzhou into a state ruled by wealthy clans dependent on the imperial court. But then the Yuan brothers fled into Karasuma. Lure the Karasuma soldiers into the fortress and do harm. Jiao Touch, Liu He, etc. cannot be treated. Only then did Cao Cao raise another army and personally expedition.

But in this timeline, the situation is very different. First of all, Cao Cao Jizhou was taken early, and it was almost digested; Secondly, this time to fight Youzhou, the road is like a bamboo, and there is a fundamental difference from the battle of Jizhou and the battle of Yecheng in the original history - although the battle is also stable and presses the other side to fight, after all, the difference in power is not so great. And it lasts for a long time - Cao Cao feels that he is not old. As the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, he personally led tens of thousands of troops to the north, and in just two months, he took three and a half counties (Zhuo County, Guangyang, Dai County and Yuyang in the south), which is really a knife to slaughter chickens, so it is better to solve the Karasuma problem by the way.

And at this time, the general trend of the world is also different from the original history, and the pressure on the southern line of the Cao family is not great. In the southeast direction, both the Lujiang River and Chen Deng and Tai Shici sat in the east and west, and the lord of Eastern Wu changed from the arrogant Sun Ce to the stable Sun Quan. Don't dare to act rashly for the time being; Due south, Zhang Xiu is still in Wancheng. Looking at Liu Biao firmly, it is also difficult for Liu Jingsheng to go north to dig out the back road of Cao's family. So in the original history, Cao Cao and the Yuan clan fought viciously in Jizhou, and they were worried that Liu Biao of Jingzhou would go north at any time, and the fight was terrifying, but now there are not so many worries.

In addition, Shi Xun once built yì Cao Cao to form an offshore fleet to control the Bohai Sea and threaten Liaodong, so as to prepare for the future collection of Gongsun's territory and the restoration of the four counties of Korea. Therefore, Cao Cao thought that if he could break Karasuma, then Gongsun would be afraid, and he would not be harmed—Hongfu was right, although the place was far away, it could not be regarded as if he did not exist.

Besides, since I want to bring Liu He, Xian Yufu and others back to Xudu, then just leave a Yan Rou to guard Youzhou, can he really withstand the incursion of East Karasuma and West Xianbei? For the sake of this godson, I also have to help him break Karasuma.

Cao Cao said to Yan Rou: "The former secretary Xu Xu wants to send troops to help, and there are many dissenting words in the court, and the road is far away, and the intruders are often there, so why bother with the expedition?" "Fortunately, at that time, Shi Xun had already entered the Prime Minister's Mansion as an official, and he didn't need to go to the court, otherwise he would definitely be sprayed back: what, because it is a border area, it is normal to be harassed by foreigners, don't worry, don't call him back? Then just throw away all the land, since the land is the land of the Han family, and the people are the people of the Han family, then the imperial court has the obligation to protect, how can it pretend not to be invisible? Thou art cowardly, and thou art so!

However, Cao Cao didn't really want to send troops to help Yan Rou and them resist Karasuma at that time, without him, unless he went by sea, otherwise the troops would inevitably pass through Yuan's territory, and he was not ready to destroy Yuan's public opinion and military preparations in one fell swoop - of course, this could not be said to Yan Rou. Now I can confidently and boldly promise: "If I return to the capital, if I want to recruit Karasuma again, I am afraid that there will be constraints in the court, so it is better to make a decision immediately." "I came out to fight the Yuan family, and by the way, I hit Karasuma, and no matter how much I oppose those rotten Confucians in the court (although the biggest rotten Confucian Kong Rong is no longer there), when it is their turn to speak, I will already be triumphant.

Yan Rou was overjoyed, and immediately said: "Ruoping Karasuma is a blessing for the people of Youzhou, thank you again!" ”

The matter was so discussed, exactly ten days after Yan Rou left, Cao Jun suddenly set off from Zhuo County and Liangxiang, waded through the water, and arrived at the city of Jixian in an instant. Yuan Shang and Xiao Ji were so shocked that they didn't dare to defend it, so they led the army east and ran wildly all the way. The soldiers dispersed along the way, and when they deliberately let go of the gap and fled to Xuwu County, there were less than five hundred horsemen left around them.

Cao Cao entered Jixian County and captured the detained Xin Ping and Zhen Yao. Zhen Yao immediately asked to surrender, but Xin Ping resolutely refused to bow his head, if it weren't for his brother Xin Bi's bitter complaint, he would almost lose his head. In the end, Cao Cao saw Xin George's face, forgave Xin Zhongzhi, and allowed him to return to his hometown. Immediately, Cao Cao rebuked Yuan Xi and asked him to immediately go to his base camp to explain clearly. Yuan Xi was frightened when he saw the book, and urgently summoned the group of officials to discuss, and unexpectedly, Liu Fang actually came out of the squad leader: "Congratulations to the general, congratulations to the general!" (To be continued......)

PS: Some readers suggested that Simbi had already surrendered after the Battle of Yecheng...... This is the case with large long articles, many details are often forgotten even by the author himself, and it is easy to be inconsistent, when the original manuscript is still very rich, I will repeatedly check and revise, and try to avoid similar mistakes...... Fortunately, I turned it back and took a look, and there was a mention of Xin Bi's name there, there was no drama, so I just revised the old chapter and deleted him from the list of Yecheng who surrendered to Cao that day.