Regret is regret, but Yuan Shu can't back down. At this juncture, Yuan Shu himself knows very well that retreating is tantamount to self-destruction. In front of him is a road in Huashan, and there is no other way out except to carry out the rebellion to the end.

Since there is no way to retreat, there is no need to retreat. With a heart, Yuan Shu set up the Seven Roads Army, resisting the military horses of the Six Roads Princes respectively, and the remaining soldiers were responsible for the task of patrolling. It can be said that Yuan Shu's approach is undoubtedly crazy, he wants to take advantage of the surplus of princes from all walks of life under his command, and at the same time take advantage of the geographical advantage, to make a desperate bet. Winning this battle, his good life as an emperor can continue, if he loses, then there is nothing to say, just draw his sword and kill himself.

Yuan Shu sent seven people and horses, respectively, as follows: the first route general Zhang Xun led 50,000 troops to resist Cao Cao; The second route was led by General Qiao Mao, who led an army of 50,000 to resist Yan Liang and Wen Chou; The third route, General Chen Ji, led an army of 50,000 and went south to resist Sun Ce and Ganning and Lusu under Ao Lie; The fourth road was handed over to the deputy general Lei Bo, who led an army of 20,000 troops to be stationed at the junction of Xu and Yang, preparing to defend Liu Bei sent by Tao Qian; The fifth road was led by the deputy general Chen Lan, who led an army of 20,000 to the west to resist Huang Zu; Han Qu, the sixth general, led an army of 10,000 as patrol envoys, ready to meet several other armies at any time; Yang Feng, the last general, led 10,000 troops and supervised the transportation of six routes of grain and grass.

Han Qu and Yang Feng were originally the Baibo Yellow Turban Army, in history, when Li Dao and Guo Yan caused chaos in Beijing, these two people led their subordinates to the Yellow Turban Army to rescue them, but because of the butterfly effect caused by Ao Lie, Dong Zhuo failed to move the capital to Chang'an, which was close to his old nest, and the rebellion of Li Dao and Guo Yan was not staged. Later, Cao Cao conquered Yanzhou and Yuzhou, and broke up the Baibo Yellow Turban Army, and the two of them took refuge in Yuan Shu when they were desperate. If it weren't for his number one general, Ji Ling, in the original battle of Shaxian. was beheaded by Ao Lie, and Yuan Shu would not send the two of them out, after all, there was a difference between a general and a cronie. But now, Ji Ling's bones have decayed, and Yuan Shu has no choice but to use these two generals. As soon as he thought of this, Yuan Shu began to hate Ao Lie again.

At the same time as sending the Seventh Route Army, Yuan Shu gathered an army of 50,000 and stationed it in Shouchun. Always ready to find the flaws of the princes of all walks of life, wait for the opportunity to attack, and give a fatal blow to the princes along the way. From the perspective of the distribution of troops, Yuan Shu has made great progress in recent years compared with when he was in Luoyang earlier. When he arranged the troops, he obviously arranged them according to the principle of avoiding the important and making light of the light. Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Sun Ce, and Ao Lie joined forces with three groups of men. It's impossible to fight in a hurry. Therefore, Yuan Shu arranged a number of men and horses equivalent to these three roads, focusing on defense; In the face of Liu Bei's 6,000 men and Huang Zu's 10,000 horses, Yuan Shu arranged 20,000 troops accordingly, and his meaning was obvious. It's time to fight a late-stage war, resist the strongest enemies in the early stage, and quickly defeat the weaker enemies in the other directions, and then gather men. Relying on the prerequisites of favorable geography and convenient transportation of grain and grass, he fought a protracted war with Cao Cao and others.

After Yuan Shu finished arranging the manpower, all the generals under his command took orders and left. Only the main bookkeeper Yan Xiang was speechless for a long time, took a deep look at Yuan Shu, and then even owed the gift of resignation, and directly turned around and walked out of the palace forged by Yuan Shu. In Yan Xiang's view, the current Yuan Shu is like a dying and struggling sick tiger, his claws and teeth are no longer sharp, but he wants to go against the sky, to put it bluntly, it is just a battle of trapped beasts. Yan Xiang had already expected that within half a year, Yuan Shu's good days would come to an end.

Out of the palace, Yan Xiang sighed all the way to his home, preparing to send his wife and children out of Yangzhou to avoid this inevitable catastrophe. As for himself, he has long put life and death out of the equation. Yan Xiang is not a pedantic person, but he also deeply understands the truth that loyal ministers do not care about the two masters, he is ready to stay and accompany Yuan Shu to die, and before he dies, he told Yuan Shu that it was really a very stupid move for him to be the emperor at the beginning.

At the same time, Cao Cao led an army of 50,000 and was rapidly marching towards Shouchun. Along the way, Cao Cao saw that the wheat in the field was ripe, but no farmers came to harvest, and he couldn't help the curiosity in his heart, Cao Cao asked Guo Jia beside him: "Fengxiao, the wheat is ripe, why is no one harvesting?" ”

Guo Jia replied: "My lord, Jia has already inquired, it was the people nearby who heard that the lord led his troops to crusade against Yuan Shu, and they all hid in the deep mountains and old forests for fear of harming themselves, so no one came to harvest grain. ”

When Cao Cao heard this, he was moved: "In the past, Ao Mohan once said that the people were suffering; Death, the people suffer. Today, it seems, is so. If the world's disputes are unresolved, it will be difficult for the common people to live a good life. Spread the order, put up notices everywhere, comfort the people, and let the people come back to harvest the grain. Then, Cao Cao turned his head to Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan and other generals and said: "You all restrain your subordinates, and you will not commit any offense against the common people, and those who violate it will be beheaded immediately!" ”

Immediately, Guo Jia grabbed a pen and knife and wrote a notice in the name of Cao Cao, asking the sergeant to copy a hundred copies and take them to the counties along the way to post them. Announcement cloud: Han Sikong Cao Gong, according to the edict of the Son of Heaven, sent troops to rebel, and eliminated harm from the people, so he had to raise troops as a last resort. Fang Jin's wheat field is ripe, the big and small generals, whoever crosses the wheat field, must not intentionally trample, violators will be beheaded! The people did not need to be alarmed, but they could quickly return to their homes and prepare tools to harvest the grain.

As soon as Cao Cao's notice was announced, it caused heated discussions among the people. Some of the brave farmers took the courage to go into the fields with their tools and tentatively began to harvest the wheat. Cao Jun, who was passing by, didn't come to disturb them, and even some easy-going generals took the initiative to talk to them. The news was like wings, and it quickly reached the ears of more people. As a result, the farmers who had taken refuge in the mountains and forests also ran down the mountain, returned home, picked up tools, and rushed to the fields to harvest grain. A few days later, Cao Cao led his army through a wheat field, commanded his subordinates, cleared the wheat stalks, and moved forward cautiously. Suddenly, a wild pheasant ran out of the field and crashed straight into Cao Cao's war horse. Cao Cao's horse was immediately frightened, and it carried Cao Cao into the field, trampling a large field of wheat.

Cao Cao sighed, turned his head and asked Guo Jia: "Trampling on the wheat field, is it a capital crime?" Guo Jia hurriedly replied: "Sikong's status is noble, how can he discuss the crime?" Cao Cao shook his head and said, "Trample on the wheat field." No mercy. This is a military order made by so-and-so himself, does so-and-so want to go back on his word? As he spoke, Cao Cao drew his sword and was about to slash at his neck. Cao Junzhong, from Xiahou Dun down, all knelt on the ground, begging Cao Cao to think twice. Guo Jia even comforted: "My lord, the righteousness of the ancients' Spring and Autumn Period, the law is not respected. The lord is the official of the court, and he is not a minister under the edict of the Son of Heaven, how can he defy the law at this time? Cao Cao gave up. Raised his sword and cut off a strand of his hair, then jumped off the horse, carefully opened the wheat field, and led his war horse back to the official road. Then he handed the broken hair in his hand to Xiahoudun and said, "Although "Spring and Autumn" is righteous. A certain person has an edict from the Son of Heaven in his body, but he must not ask for guilt. Therefore, the head of the hair cut. You take a certain severed hair to order the three armies. Then there are those who trample on the wheat fields. No forgiveness! Xiahoudun took Cao Cao's severed hair and signaled that the three armies had gone.

In the Han Dynasty, people attached great importance to their limbs and hair, believing that their bodies and hair were left to them by their parents, and once they lost them, it was disrespectful to their parents. Therefore. In ancient times, there was a criminal law for cutting off hair. A person who breaks the law, once his hair is cut off, is despised by all and is regarded as an unfaithful and unfilial person. This kind of psychological torture is far more uncomfortable than physical torture. Cao Cao, as the official of the dynasty, led by example, and did not hesitate to cut his hair as the head, which made Cao Cao's reputation go to a higher level.

In fact, Cao Cao is really a very legendary figure, whether he is a traitor or a hero, but no one can really see what he is thinking in his heart, maybe only Guo Jia can vaguely see a little truth in his heart, but unfortunately, Guo Jia did not dare to say it, so in the history of later generations, Cao Cao is like a mystery, leaving people with countless thoughts. Cao Cao could kill his father's sworn brother Lu Bohao's family without mercy, or he could cut off his head because he affected the people to harvest grain on the way to the army; He can coldly say the cruel words that he would rather teach me to bear the people of the world and stop teaching the people of the world to bear me, or he can treat the people with affection and righteousness and even surrender to the generals.

In history, among Cao Cao's five good generals, three of them all surrendered to Cao Cao later, but the most Lu Hou was in a high position, in charge of a side of soldiers and horses, and became a big official on his own. Also Guan Yu, in history, in order to protect Liu Bei's two wives and only son, Guan Yu had to surrender to Cao Cao after being separated from Liu Bei, and made it clear that once he learned of Liu Bei's whereabouts, he would have to go to the same place thousands of miles away. Even so, Cao Cao still treated Guan Yu well, invited Guan Yu to the banquet every day, and gave Guan Yu the title of General Dangkou and Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion. It's not that Liu Bei doesn't want to give Guan Yu a higher official position, it's that Liu Bei doesn't have so much right to give Guan Yu a higher official position, which shows Cao Cao's love for Guan Yu. Finally, when Guan Yu learned about Liu Bei's whereabouts, Cao Cao not only did not stop him, but gave Guan Yu the Chitu BMW he took from Lu Bu.

Of course, these things will not happen again now, at least, the red rabbit horse will not fall into the hands of Guan Yu, because of Ao Lie's butterfly effect, Lu Bu is now alive and well, and the image in history is also very different. It's far away, let's talk about Cao Cao. Cao Cao advocated frugality all his life, but at the same time spent a lot of money to build the Tongque Terrace; He was suspicious by nature, and even after his death, in order to prevent future generations from robbing tombs, he built seventy-two suspicious graves in advance, but he was concerned about Guan Yu and Wuziliang and others; He has a strong desire for power, aiming to be able to rule the world, but at the same time, he refuses to be the emperor for the rest of his life; He regarded Liu Xie as a puppet emperor and coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, but at the same time, he supported Liu Xie with fine clothes and food.

In terms of martial arts, Cao Cao in history repeatedly defeated the strong with the weak, successively conquered Zhang Xiu, destroyed Lu Bu, broke Yuan Shu, defeated Yuan Shao, and conquered Wuhuan externally, which objectively promoted the integration of the nation, accelerated the end of the troubled times, and laid the foundation for the future unification situation, and was an outstanding military strategist.

In terms of internal affairs, Cao Cao advocated frugality, encouraged peasants to open up wasteland, implemented the tuntian system, and appointed officials to promote meritocracy rather than relatives, laying the foundation of the Cao Wei Empire. Although there were brutal aspects such as using human flesh to make food to feed the army and slaughtering cities, on the whole, it still brought a relatively stable life to the people in the north to a certain extent, and he can be regarded as a relatively outstanding politician and strategist.

In short, Cao Cao is such a contradictory mixture, both a hero and a traitor, and at the same time, he is also an out-and-out hero. Later generations have different understandings of Cao Cao, which has created a mystery-like image of Cao Cao in later history. As for what kind of person Cao Cao is, it can only be the opinion of the benevolent and the wise. (To be continued......)

PS: PS: The description of Cao Cao in this chapter is mostly true. What kind of character is Cao Cao in history, I believe that friends who like the Three Kingdoms have their own opinions, just like the last sentence of this article, everyone will see the wisdom of the benevolent and the wise. In addition, the matter of cutting the hair and acting as the head did not happen on the way to defeat Yuan Shu, but when Zhang Xiu was conquered, it was arranged in this way for the needs of the plot. In the end, Da Kun's description of Cao Cao as a mixture of traitors, heroes and heroes is Da Kun's personal opinion and does not represent history. Don't scold me if you don't like it.