On March 23, Cao's army officially began to attack, and the army marched eastward, passing through Surabaya and heading north to take Liangcheng County.

Liangcheng County is the southern gateway of Yan County, breaking this city, and going north is a smooth road to Yan County.

Tao Qian only sent two or three thousand people to guard this place, and the main force retreated in the city.

And no one thought that the main force of Cao's army did not go north, but went south to Xiapi, and slaughtered the places near Huainan in the Huainan region, such as Tuxi, Xiaqiu, and Juling.

On March 26, when the news of Cao's attack on Liangcheng reached Jinyangju, Deng Hong summoned Shen Chen to meet him again in the atrium, and the two of them knelt opposite each other, and he said in a deep voice: "Ah Chen, Cao Cao is besieging Liangcheng. ”

Shen Chen nodded and said, "Expected." ”

Deng Hong frowned and said: "But Ah Chen, you obviously said that Cao Cao would break the Pi first and ignore the East China Sea, and at this time he had already killed the East China Sea." ”

Shen Chen said with a smile: "Uncle, this is Cao Cao's bluff, he wants to slaughter Xuzhou, the soldiers and horses will inevitably be scattered, at this time, if Tao Gongzu is smarter and leads the troops to attack, he will inevitably defeat the Cao army, so Cao Cao must make the illusion of a large army pressing the border, but in fact it is to slaughter Xiapi." ”

"Is that so?"

Deng Hong summoned Shen Chenlai to tell him that your judgment was wrong, and Cao Cao only wanted to attack Yan County to avenge his father, and would not endanger them.

But Shen Chen's words seemed to be quite reasonable, and he was suspicious for a while, and the original wording of the lesson could not be spoken.

Shen Chen said: "That's the case, in a few days, Uncle Ancestor will know." ”

"Well, well, then wait a little longer."

Deng Hong couldn't think of a reason to refute it, so he had to agree, anyway, time will prove everything.

After Shen Chen went back, he immediately deceived his parents and brothers, saying that Cao Cao had already called, threatening to slaughter Xuzhou, and had already killed tens of thousands of people, so that they could pack up their belongings as soon as possible and prepare to flee.

Although his parents and brothers were reluctant to give up their family business, Shen Chen had never been untargeted, so he also tearfully packed up his belongings and prepared to escape.

Soon on March 28, Cao Cao's army was still besieging Liangcheng.

But a few of the clansmen who Deng Hong had selected from the clan who were proficient in horsemanship returned, and reported to Deng Hong the news that almost suffocated him—Cao Jun had slaughtered the county, and tens of thousands of people had been killed!

It was in the afternoon, approaching early summer, the weather in Xuzhou was getting hotter, and in the atrium of the Deng family's mansion in Zhangyang, Deng Hong seemed to have fallen into an ice cave at the moment, and he was covered in cold sweat.

Cao Cao is really slaughtering the city!

"Is the news true?" He even pressed twice in disbelief.

The clansmen reported back: "Sixth uncle, I saw with my own eyes that the worry has become a scorched earth, a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, and there are no chickens and dogs in a radius of dozens of miles, so I was frightened and fled back in a panic, lest I be discovered by Cao Jun." ”

"It's over, it's over, it's over."

Deng Hong sat down on the seat, muttering to himself, it was already a mess, and then he suddenly remembered something, his eyes lit up and said, "Quick, go and call Ah Chen." ”

By the time Shen Chen arrived, Deng Hong had already recovered from this shocking news.

When he saw Shen Chen coming, he immediately said excitedly: "Ah Chen, you guessed right, Cao Cao slaughtered and took worry!" ”

Shen Chen's figure stagnated slightly, and after a while, he said gloomily: "I hope my speculation is false, but it's a pity that there are so many innocent people." ”

"What now?"

Deng Hong asked.

Shen Chen said bitterly: "There is no way, escape, the family moves south, there is still a way to live." ”

Deng Hong said: "Can't Xuzhou be guarded? ”

"If Cao Cao slaughtered Xuzhou, let a male lord be the pastor of Xuzhou, or it could be done, but after Cao Cao slaughtered Xuzhou, Xuzhou was already in chaos and must not be defended!"

Shen Chen shook his head.

After crossing over, he really came to this world, and he had more insights into the situation in Xuzhou.

In ancient times, it was logistics and political ability to fight wars, and Tao Qian's level of governance was very average, and he was incompetent and incompetent when he was in office, and the chaos was already apparent.

Not only is there little grain and grass storage, but even the Taishou and county orders in various parts of Xuzhou basically do not obey his orders.

Peng Chengguo's prime minister Xue Li did not agree with Tao Qian, and was persecuted by Tao Qian and abandoned his official position.

Xiapi Xiangzhu filled his own pockets, and withheld all the grain and grass taxes of Pengcheng, Xiapi and Guangling for the great revival of Buddhism, and fled into Guangling because of Cao Cao's attack.

Guangling Taishou Zhao Yu was loyal and upright, and often wrote to advise, but Tao Qian listened to him and did not use it, and was finally killed by Zhenrong, who fled south to Guangling.

Xiao Jian, the prime minister of Langya, was in a corner of peace, and Zang Ba, the commander of the cavalry, occupied Kaiyang and became princes, and they did not obey Tao Qian's orders.

It can be said that Tao Qian, as the pastor of Xuzhou, can control only the East China Sea State.

The population of the East China Sea Kingdom was still 700,000 during the period of Emperor He, and after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the population dropped a lot, and Tao Qian conscripted troops against Cao Cao, and the army of more than 20,000 people was almost lost in Pengcheng.

So now Tao Qian's hole cards in his hand are only about four or five thousand Danyang soldiers and Cao Bao's troops, a total of less than 10,000 people.

The population of the East China Sea is small, and there is not a lot of grain and grass, plus the heroes of the Xuzhou family have their own thoughts, and the hearts of the people are not aligned, so it is impossible to fight Cao Cao.

Later generations said that Tao Qian was a benevolent and righteous gentleman, and he gave up the position of Xuzhou pastor to Liu Bei for the sake of the people of Xuzhou.

But in fact, Xuzhou is a mess now, and it is already bad from the roots.

If you want to solve this mess, you have to spend at least two years to govern Pengcheng and Xiapi, then attack Guangling to eliminate Zhenrong, and then subdue Zang Ba and Xiao Jian.

But Cao Cao would not give him this time at all, so when Liu Bei was in Xuzhou, his troops barely exceeded 10,000, and Yuan Shu and Lu Bu disturbed the situation in Xuzhou, making him exhausted.

It can be said that even if Cao Cao himself came to Xuzhou to be the Xuzhou pastor, it would be difficult to get ahead.

To sum up, there were two ills in Xuzhou before Cao Cao slaughtered Xuzhou.

One is that four of the five counties of Xuzhou do not obey the command of Xuzhou Mu, and their strength is seriously scattered and cannot be unified.

The second is that Tao Qian is old and incompetent, resulting in serious internal chaos and political clarity.

After Cao Cao slaughtered Xuzhou, the third drawback came out, that is, after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the total population of Xuzhou was less than 2 million, and Cao Cao alone killed hundreds of thousands of people, causing the people in the south of Xuzhou to migrate to Yangzhou at that time, and the population decreased sharply again.

Coupled with factors such as famine, natural disasters, and plagues, by the time Liu Bei occupied Xuzhou, the total population of Xuzhou was less than one million, and this number may be even lower, because Xuzhou Haoqiang also had a large number of hidden populations, resulting in a serious reduction in Dingkou.

In addition, Yuan Shu attacked and harassed many times, and Lu Bu was backstabbed, Liu Bei's troops at that time were less than 10,000 people, and his strength was very weak.

And most of them were the Danyang soldiers left by Tao Qian and Cao Bao's troops, these people did not obey Liu Bei, and Liu Bei was struggling.

Therefore, under this kind of internal and external troubles, not to mention Liu Bei's own planning level, even if he is replaced by his ancestor Liu Xiu or Liu Bang, he will have to be beaten to the ground.

Hearing Shen Chen's judgment, Deng Hong hesitated for a while, gritted his teeth and said, "Ah Chen, go, follow me to the clan discussion." ”