In the winter and October of the sixth year of Jian'an, Yecheng, Jizhou.

After a year of recuperation, Yuan Shao finally regained his strength and decided to attack Cao Cao again.

Tian Feng did not die this time, although Yuan Shao was resentful of Tian Feng for making him lose face, but under the hard persuasion of Frustration, he still gave up killing Tian Feng.

And this time to attack Cao, he also planned to follow Tian Feng's plan to take action step by step, not to rush to attack, but to plan slowly.

In November, Yuan Shao's army crossed the river and stationed troops in Pingqiu, and Cao Cao took the initiative to meet the attack again, raising an army of 50,000, and the two sides faced each other across the river at Jishui, just like the battle of Guandu.

It's just that this time Yuan Shao's troops are still a lot less, during the battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao used 100,000 foot soldiers, more than 10,000 cavalry, plus the harassment troops attacking from Qingzhou and Sili, the total strength reached 1340,000.

Now most of the men and horses were lost in the First World War, and even after the reorganization, there are now only more than 80,000 people. In this way, coupled with the tens of thousands of horses left behind in the rear, Yuan Shao's army of more than 200,000 at the beginning is now less than 150,000.

On the other hand, although Cao Cao's current total strength is only more than 80,000 people, he can squeeze out 50,000 elites to confront him in the north, so the overall strength of the two sides in this battle is actually not much different, and the north is no longer Yuan weak Cao Qiang, and the two are close to fifty-five.

Yuan's troops were stationed in Pingqiu, and Cao Cao's troops were stationed in Cangting. Now the one who is in a hurry is no longer Yuan Shao, but Cao Cao.

Because Liu Biao was also actively preparing to attack Cao, Yuan Shao was not in a hurry at all, no matter how Cao Cao sent people to provoke outside the camp, he was unmoved, so he was consumed. You only need to wait until Liu Biao makes a move, which is when he destroys Cao Cao.

At this moment, in the Pingqiu Yuan military camp, Yuan Shao has already recovered from his illness, and the spirit of the whole person is very different, and many civil and military generals and strategists are gathered here, and the eldest son Yuan Tan and nephew Gao Gan are lined up left and right.

"Ming Gong."

The general, Meng Dai, came in and knelt down on one knee and said, "Cao Cao is provoking outside the village again. ”

"Ignore it."

Yuan Shao regained his original calmness, looked around at everyone and said with a smile: "Liu Jingsheng has raised an army of more than 100,000 people, and now he is also preparing for the Northern Expedition, Cao Cao is afraid that he will die in a hurry now." ”

"Ming Gong is right."

Frustrated and said: "Our army has abundant food and grass, we only need to wait for work, and when Liu Biao goes north, Cao Cao will inevitably go south to meet the attack, and we can attack back and forth to eliminate Cao Cao." ”

"Hahaha."

After Yuan Shao laughed, Qi Er's face became extremely ruthless, and he slapped the table and said: "The shame of the past year, it will definitely be washed away today!" ”

At the same time, in the Cao military camp, Cao Cao walked back and forth in the camp rather restlessly.

Since Guandu defeated Yuan Shao last year and returned to Xudu, although the foundation of Xudu has not been lost, the grain and grass have been stored in the palace, and Shen Chen also distributed grain to the people, which indirectly helped him alleviate his urgent need.

But his overall strength is still far inferior to Yuan Shao, the population under Yuan Shao's rule is close to 10 million, and tens of millions of stones of grain a year are paid, while he only has more than 3 million Dingkou, and during the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's large-scale invasion was unable to collect grain and grass, and the recovery speed was too poor.

However, after the battle of Guandu, he regained control of Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Xuzhou, and Zang Ba also led his troops to vote.

So the current Cao Cao is not very short of food, what he lacks is fighters. There is Liu Biao in the south, and Yuan Shao in the north is making a comeback, even if the soldiers and horses are afraid of the elite, it is difficult to stop hundreds of thousands of heroes on both sides.

"Ming Gong, Yuan Jun hung up the exemption card, even if he kept scolding, he couldn't get out of the camp."

After a while, Zhang Liao, who had been sent to provoke, returned.

Cao Cao sighed and said, "Lone knows, let the soldiers go to rest first." ”

"Yui."

The two stepped back.

Cao Cao frowned.

At the time of the Battle of Guandu, it was Yuan Shao who was eager to attack, and he found a flaw to fight back.

As a result, now it has become that he is in a hurry to attack, and I have to say that this is not a kind of irony, and it is also a sin caused by excessive killing in the early years.

"Ming Gong."

At this time, Guo Jia entered the tent, and he saw Cao Cao walking slowly in the tent, seemingly calm and moderate, but the solemn expression on his face still betrayed him, so he arched his hand and said, "Is Ming Gong still worried?" ”

Cao Cao saw Guo Jia coming, and said with a wry smile: "Those who know me are filial piety, and they don't worry about Yuan Benchu, he is now a soldier and a horse, and he is definitely not my opponent." It's just that Liu Biao is behind, and he is lonely and worried. ”

"The current situation is like last year, when we fought a decisive battle with Yuan Shao, Shen Chen attacked and disturbed in the rear. However, I heard that Liu Biao did not recruit Shen Chen at this time, and Ming Gong can have no worries. ”

Guo Jia smiled and comforted.

Cao Cao shook his head: "Although there is no Shen Chen, Liu Biao's vast number of soldiers and horses is more than 100,000 people, which is better than Shen Chen." ”

"Ming Gong's words are wrong, last year, our rear was empty, Shen Chen had 10,000 elite soldiers, traveling hundreds of miles a day, running around in Yingchuan counties, so that my rear soldiers were tired of running for their lives, and they couldn't ask for it."

Guo Jia said: "But now although there are many people in Liu Biao, they are a rabble, like a local chicken and a dog, what is it? What's more, Liu Jingsheng doesn't practice martial arts, and has more than 100,000 people to attack Zhang Xian in Jingnan, and he has been fighting for a year, are we not as good as Zhang Xian? ”

"Forehead ......"

Cao Cao was also amused by Guo Jia for a while, and said happily: "This is also true, Liu Biao attacked Zhang Xian but waited until Zhang Xian died of illness, he was really incompetent." ”

Both laughed.

In fact, they all know that this is just a light topic, and they can't be too anxious, and the challenges to face are still very serious, but many times, it may be better to relax their bodies and minds in this way.

This is called contempt for the enemy strategically and importance for the enemy tactically.

After laughing for a while, Guo Jia still said seriously: "It's just that Jingnan is mountainous and watery, easy to defend and difficult to attack, so it can last." Yingchuan has an unobstructed view, only the city can be defended, if Liu Biao attacks on a large scale, we will be attacked by the enemy in the north and south, and we cannot be taken lightly. ”

"Hmm."

Cao Cao nodded and said, "What is the best plan for Fengxiao?" ”

Guo Jia thought for a while and said: "At present, Liu Biao has not sent troops, and we don't know the details, so it is useless to rashly formulate a strategy. It's better to wait and see, and after he sends out his troops, see who his general is, how the soldiers and horses are deployed, and then deal with it. ”

"The words of filial piety are reasonable."

Cao Cao sighed and sat down in his seat: "Then Gu should wait a little longer and wait and see Liu Biao's actions." ”

In history, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought Cangting, and this battle was also a big victory, but Yuan Shao was actually not injured at all and calmly withdrew to Hebei. Until he died of illness in the next year, Cao Cao went north, Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang and others still had the strength to deal with Cao Cao for several years, which shows that Yuan Shao suffered little loss in the Battle of Cangting.

But now history is different, Tian Feng is not dead, Yuan Shao is slow to figure it out, and Cao Cao will not be tricked if he wants to lure the enemy deep into others. In addition, Liu Biao behind him is menacing, in case the two sides are attacked during the battle, the consequences are unimaginable.

Therefore, Cao Cao did not dare to rush to win, but when Yuan Shao did not move, just settled in the camp, and in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, he perfectly protected the grain road, and he had nothing to do with the other party.

After all, when the black nest was burned, there was a Xu Yu as a second or five boys.

Now Yuan Shao divides the grain and grass into a number of them, all over Kuangcheng, Pucheng and other places, according to the city guard, it is impossible for him to reproduce the fire and burn the black nest.

Both sides continue to stall for time.

More than three months later, in the spring of the seventh year of Jian'an, that is, in February 202 AD, Liu Biao finally began the Northern Expedition after more than half a year of preparation.

He made Zhang Yun a general and commanded an army of 80,000, and Wen was appointed a general and commanded an army of 30,000.

Under the command of the second general, there are dozens of generals at all levels.

There is also the uncle of the Han Emperor, the left general Liu Bei is the auxiliary left, the army is about 10,000 people, the total strength is 120,000, known as 500,000, the soldiers are divided into three roads, and the mighty north goes north to attack Cao.

Liu Biao didn't go himself.

Yes.

Not even his son went.

sent a nephew Zhang Yun and nephew Liu Hu, and even another nephew Liu Pan was not transferred, and was arranged in Jingnan to guard against Sun Quan.

It's not that Liu Biao doesn't want to go, but he's too old.

If he is ten years younger, he will inevitably choose to fight in person and fight on the battlefield for the revival of the Han Dynasty.

However, he is old, he is sixty years old, and he can't stand the toss.

At this age, a little rush may kill him, not to mention that since Kuai Liang's death, Liu Biao has also been sad, and after crying bitterly, his health has deteriorated a lot.

So in the past year, Liu Biao has been recuperating in Xiangyang, and he can only send his nephew Zhang Yun, the general Wen Ping, and his nephew Liu Hu to the war.

In terms of the status of the Jingzhou army, Huang Zu must be a veritable number one general in Jingzhou, and he has always been relied on by Liu Biao.

But there are two reasons why Huang Zu was not sent.

First, Huang Zu is good at sailors, sitting in Jiangxia, guarding Jiangdong.

The second is that Huang Zu is a foreign surname, and Liu Biao naturally does not dare to hand over more than 100,000 soldiers and horses to the foreign surname.

And Zhang Yun is his nephew, who is also in his forties, and is currently the second general in Jingzhou.

However, although Zhang Yun's ability is not as good as Huang Zu, Liu Biao is still full of confidence in this attack.

Because the strength of the opponent is too weak.

Coupled with Yuan Shao's attack from the north and south with him, Cao Cao was bound to be tired of running for his life and waiting to die.

So in Liu Biao's mind, even if his nephew who is not a weapon is a little mediocre and oppresses people with more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, it should be okay.

So, in the seventh year of Jian'an, in January, Zhang Yun and Wen Ping went north with tens of thousands of troops, and in February, Zhang Yun marched out of Nanyang and marched to the area of Dingling, where he looked at Cao Cao's remaining general Xiahoudun across the Rushui.

Wen Ping went north to Xiangcheng, went to Fenqiu, and confronted Cao Cao's general Cao Hong across Yingshui.

Cao Cao left only 30,000 horses in the rear, and in the face of Liu Biao's army of more than 100,000 people, he was obviously a little powerless, so he could only burn a large number of bridges and use the two large rivers Rushui and Yingshui to temporarily block the enemy.

Taking advantage of this time, Liu Bei made a detour to Yuzhou and occupied Runan, and for a time the remnants of the old Yuan clan responded again, and soon gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, with great momentum.

A few days later, Cao Cao had already received the news from the front line of Chen Liucangting, and at this time he had confronted Yuan Shao for more than 100 days, and the two sides had not yet started a war.

Knowing that Liu Biao's army had finally gone north, Cao Cao immediately summoned his three strategists, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, and Xun You, to discuss countermeasures.

In the tent of the commander of the Cao army, four people sat in columns.

Cao Cao looked around at everyone and said: "Last month, Liu Biao stationed troops in Kunyang, a few days ago came the news, his generals Zhang Yun, Wen Ping, all soldiers entered Dingling and Xiangcheng, Liu Bei occupied Runan, Yuan's old department echoed, what do you think?" ”

Guo Jia took the lead in analyzing: "Liu Biao is over sixty years old, claiming to be the Duke of Chu, I think he must have the ambition to be the emperor, so he will inevitably urge Zhang Yunwen to march as soon as possible and attack Xudu, I guess he is afraid that he will assassinate the Son of Heaven." ”

"Well, Fengxiao's words are very reasonable."

Cheng Yu and Xun You also nodded, in fact, the reason why Liu Biao was called the public and did not make too much trouble was because he was a clan surnamed Liu.

Now there are countless princes surnamed Liu in the world, and there are countless princes and princes, Gaozu once set the alliance of white horses, with this regulation, even if Liu Biao is the king, as long as Liu Xie does not strongly oppose it, then no one can accuse him.

As for Liu Xie's opinion, what can he say? was controlled by Cao Cao, and it was obviously a little difficult to speak out.

Cao Cao condemned Liu Biao in his name, but Liu Biao held up the official document of the edict and said that this was Cao Cao's edict, so the reaction of all the princes in the world was not as strong as when Yuan Shu was called emperor.

After all, even if Yuan Shu is the emperor, he actually offends a few princes here. Liu Zhang in Yizhou, Yuan Shao in the north, Han Sui Ma Teng in Guanzhong, everyone is only busy with their own one-third of an acre, who cares if you are called the emperor or not.

So far, except for Sun Quan's response to Cao Cao's call and condemning Liu Biao, saying that he would raise troops to fight, even Liu Zhang, the southwestern prince who has the same enmity as Liu Biao, has not taken any action.

Because of Sun Quan's response, Cao Cao also issued an edict to canonize Sun Quan as the general of Zhennan, comprehend Ji Taishou, and attack his brother Sun Ce's Marquis of Wu.

However, Sun Quan had just inherited Jiangdong and was recuperating, and Huang Zu's troops had been replenished, with tens of thousands, almost the same as his soldiers and horses, so Sun Quan went to the court and said that he needed time to prepare, but he had not yet sent troops, which was regarded as a wave of rewards for nothing.

"I look at the north and south, Yuan Shao is slow and Liu Biao is anxious, the southern soldiers are pressing and the northern soldiers are late, or you can lead the troops to the south to break Liu Biao first, and then go north to compete with Yuan Shao."

Guo Jia put forward his own opinion.

He thought that Liu Biao was in a hurry, and there would inevitably be a lot of flaws, and when the time came, he could first lead troops south, lure the enemy deeper, break Liu Biao first, and then go north to fight with Yuan Shao.

However, Xun You shook his head and said: "No, although the southern soldiers are numerous, they are not as strong as the northern soldiers, defeat Liu Biaoyi and break Yuan Shao's difficulty." Once we go south, Yuan Shao will inevitably chase after us, and even if we defeat Liu Biao, our backs will be attacked by Yuan's army, and it will be difficult to maintain. ”

"Hmm......"

Guo Jia groaned, he was actually the best at analyzing the psychology of friend and foe, so every time he could encourage Cao Cao, and develop strategies by exploring the enemy's ideas, but in terms of tactical planning, he was indeed inferior to Xun You and Cheng Yu.

"Ming Gong, I have a plan."

At this moment, Cheng Yu said: "Between us and Yuan Shao, it is like two evenly matched tigers, both circling each other, circling in circles, looking for each other's flaws. Now that Liu Biao is coming, going south to break Liu Biao will be attacked by Yuan Shao, so why don't we take this opportunity to deliberately expose flaws and lure Yuan Shao to chase after it? ”

Cao Cao hurriedly asked, "What does Zhongde mean?" ”

Cheng Yu said with a smile: "We can retreat, and when Yuan Shao comes to chase, it will cause a decisive battle in the field, and then use the strategy of ambush on all sides, and suddenly the soldiers and horses will be killed, and they can be defeated." ”

"It's not that simple."

Xun You shook his head: "Yuan Shaojing was defeated last time, and he was assisted by Tian Feng, he will not be so stupid that we will retreat immediately, he will chase him immediately, and he will inevitably listen to the truth and reality, and will only chase after we are sure that we have gone south, so this plan can't work." ”

"That ......"

Cheng Yu scratched his head, then he couldn't help it.

Cao Cao looked at Xun You and said, "What is Gongda's plan to teach me?" ”

Xun You thought for a while and said: "There is only one plan, when the plank road is repaired in the light, and the plank road is in the dark." ”

"What is the explanation of this plan, please elaborate." Cao Cao hurriedly asked.

"Feng Xiao is right, Yuan Shao is slow and will not rush to attack. However, if the northern army is strong and the southern army is weak, how can there be a strong army on the side and attack the weak army first? When the time comes, our army will be tired first, even if it defeats Liu Biao, and then goes north to compete with Yuan Shao, it will be difficult to hold on for a long time. ”

Xun You said eloquently: "Therefore, Liu Biao is in a hurry to attack, so we will let him attack." At this time, the Ming Duke can lead the army to retreat, and then make Xiahou and Cao Hongyang pretend to be invincible, and the soldiers and horses retreat to the periphery of Xudu, at this time Liu Biao must march again, and the army surrounds Xudu, so that Xudu is like a leaf boat in the sea, which can capsize at any time. ”

"Isn't that all in danger?"

Cao Cao frowned.

Xun You said with a smile: "It is to put Xu Du in danger, at this time, Duke Ming can personally lead an army of 40,000 to the south, leaving 10,000 horses to confront Yuan Shao." When Yuan Shao learned of this and saw us retreating, he would inevitably think that we were going south to relieve the siege of Xudu, so as to rest assured that the 10,000 horses left behind would be attacked. ”

This plan is to show the enemy weakness first. The deliberate retreat of the troops allowed Liu Biao's army to create a situation that had already surrounded Xu Du and that Xu Du might overturn at any time.

And Yuan Shao got the news that Xu was besieged by Liu Biao, and then saw that Cao Cao's main force had withdrawn his troops, and there were only 10,000 people left in Cangting, so he would inevitably think that Cao Cao was going to fight with Liu Biao and go south to lift the siege of Xu Du.

In order to fall into the well, he will definitely choose to continue the offensive and attack the Cao Ying who stayed behind.

At that time, the Cao battalion soldiers and horses left behind retreated, and Yuan Shao pursued, and at this time, the main force did not have the Cao army that went south at all, so it suddenly came out, and ambushed on all sides, and Yuan Shao could be defeated.

"It's a risky move."

After Cao Cao listened, he sighed.

This strategy is to use Xu Ducheng as a bait and the world as a chessboard.

Once Liu Biao's strength is miscalculated, and Liu Biao really attacks Xu Ducheng, I am afraid that even if he defeats Yuan Shao in Cangting, it will be a big dragon being slaughtered, and he will lose all the games.

Xun You smiled bitterly: "Frustrated Tian Fengdu is a resourceful person, if you want to deceive them, it is not easy to talk about it, only with Xu Du as bait, can you lure Yingjie to the bait." ”

"Hmm."

Cao Cao nodded: "Gongda is right, since he set out on the expedition, he has fought against Dong Zhuo against the Yellow Turban, except for Lu Bu's defeat of Yuan Shao, which time is not dangerous and dangerous?" Even if the world is an enemy, it is not all there, well, with the words of filial piety, the plan of the public, and the strategy of Zhongde, it is first the north and then the south, with Xu Du as the bait, leading Yuan Shao to the bait, ambush on all sides, and the lonely to break it! ”