Chapter 1156: Cao Cao and Yuan Shu
Chenliu County, Chenliu County.
Cao Cao stood on the city wall with a serious face, overlooking the swarming enemy troops below the city, and his heart was extremely solemn.
However, in just ten days, 5 more counties among the 17 counties in Chenliu fell, and this also made the invading army become more powerful and powerful.
Now Li Zicheng has sent his nephew Li Guo to divide his troops to capture the jujube. Once the jujube at the west gate of Yanzhou falls, the connection between Yanzhou and Sizhou will be completely cut off, and Xun You can only return by detouring through Yuzhou.
However, Cao Cao was not worried that Suanzao would fall, because he not only placed 5,000 elite defenders in Suanzao, but the guard was his most trusted clan brother, Cao Ren.
Cao Cao has a lot of talents under his command.
The counselors include: Xun You, Cheng Yu, and Chen Gong.
The generals of this clan include: Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Chun, Xiahou Dun, and Xiahou Yuan.
There are even more generals with foreign surnames: Yin Zhou, Er Lai, Yin Hong, Yin Jiao, Su Hu, Su Quanzhong, Yang Jizhong, Yang Jikang, Wang Junke, You Junda, Xie Yingdeng, Shi Danai and others.
However, in Li Zicheng's previous sneak attack on Mount Tai, You Junda led the retreat and was killed by Li Guo, while Shi Danai was ambushed during the retreat and died under the attack of He Jin and Gao Yigong.
Of course, Li Zicheng's side was not without losses. His confidant Liu Fangliang ambushed Yin Zhou, but was killed by Yin Zhou on the way to break out of the encirclement.
Although Cao Cao lost two generals, his generals were still huge. It was precisely because of the support of so many generals that Cao Cao was able to fight against the five major forces on his own without falling behind.
Cao Cao was not afraid of Li Zicheng when it came to marching and fighting, but he was only afraid of his ability to confuse the people. In just a short time, the people of Yanzhou were in turmoil. I am afraid that the alliance of princes in Yanzhou that attracted Li Zicheng did not expect it.
Thinking of this, Cao Cao couldn't help but look a little ugly. The reason why Li Zicheng was able to seize the five counties of Chenliu so quickly was mainly because of the rebellion of the people in the city.
Cao Cao did not expect that the people under his command would rebel against him. After all, he was one of the few princes who fully implemented the "Han Land System", and most of the people under his command also supported and loved him.
However, the "Han Land Acre System" was originally a castrated version of the "Heavenly Acre System". As a incomplete pirated product, the people naturally supported Li Zicheng, who represented the Ming Dynasty's comeback.
"Yanzhou has finally recovered some vitality from the Yellow Turban Rebellion. I originally wanted to unify Yanzhou as soon as possible and minimize the losses of the civil war, but I didn't want Li Zicheng's 500,000,000 Taishan people to target Yanzhou, and the people were under Li Zicheng's control. Under the temptation, I am restless, even if Li Zicheng can be expelled in the end, Yanzhou will definitely be severely damaged."
Cao Cao couldn't help but sigh, he could already predict that Yanzhou in the future would be riddled with holes.
Bigan on the side saw his lord sighing, and immediately said seriously: "My lord, there is actually a way to stop losses."
"oh?"
Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard this and said quickly: "Sir, do you have any strategies to teach me?"
Although Qin Hao poached Xun Yu ahead of time, Cao Cao also got a blessing in disguise from Bigan's assistance.
As an important official of the Shang Dynasty, Bigan served in two dynasties and served in politics for more than 40 years. He advocated encouraging the development of agricultural and animal husbandry production, advocating smelting and casting to enrich the country and strengthen the military. He was loyal to the emperor and patriotic, petitioned for the people, and dared to speak out and advise. He has the reputation of "eternal loyal ministers". ” the reputation.
Bigan's military ability may be inferior to Xunyu, but his political talents are stronger than Xunyu. It was under Bigan's governance that Yanzhou's vitality could be restored so quickly.
After listening to Cao Cao's words, Bigan immediately said: "Li Zicheng has moved all the 500,000 Taishan soldiers to Yanzhou. After the lord defeats Li Zicheng, he can seize the Taishan soldiers from Li Zicheng, and there will be 500,000 Taishan soldiers as supplements. Yanzhou’s losses can at least be minimized.”
Cao Cao couldn't help but his eyes lit up when he heard this. He had been thinking about how to defeat Li Zicheng as soon as possible to reduce the losses, but he forgot that the 500,000 Taishan soldiers were already Yanzhou people. If they increased and decreased, Yanzhou's losses might not be that big.
"Sir's words deeply touched my heart."
Cao Cao's eyes flashed and he smiled: "Perhaps what I should consider is not just defeating Li Zicheng, but how to completely take away the Taishan people. After all, it has a population of half a million."
"The only ones who are really difficult to deal with under Li Zicheng are the 50,000 elite soldiers. The rest of the newly recruited troops, no matter how large they are, are just like the original Yellow Turbans and cannot pose a threat to our army." Cheng Yu said.
"But Li Zicheng is an extremely cautious person, and he is also assisted by the famous scholar Li Yan. With the current strength of our army, it is difficult to severely damage Li Zicheng." Chen Gong frowned.
Cao Cao and others nodded in agreement. After all, what Chen Gong said was true, and there was nothing that he could not admit.
"I hope Qin Hao will agree to lend troops." Cao Cao sighed.
At this time, Cao Qiudao ran over with a serious face and said: "My lord, the military advisor's flying pigeon message has been sent back."
Cao Cao took the letter from his hand and couldn't help but smile bitterly after reading it: "Qin Hao rejected our army's request for help because the war in Sizhou was not over, but he promised to support a batch of supplies and grain to meet his urgent needs.
Gongtai had spoken before, saying that Qin Hao would never send reinforcements until he unified Sizhou, but I had luck in my heart. Now it seems that it is better to ask for others than to ask for yourself. "
After Cheng Yu, Chen Gong and Bigan looked at each other, Cheng Yu said: "My Lord, Li Zicheng is not only a threat to our family, he is a catastrophe to the entire Yanzhou. Maybe we can consider Let’s hold peace talks with the Yanzhou Alliance, first join forces to expel Li Zicheng and then decide who will be the leader of Yanzhou.”
Cao Cao nodded thoughtfully, but when Chen Gong saw this, he stood up decisively and said seriously: "I have some personal relationship with Zhang Miao, and I would like to go as an envoy to persuade him."
Upon hearing this, Cao Cao immediately grabbed Chen Gong's hand and said seriously: "Gongtai, don't force this trip. If it works, it'll be fine. If it doesn't, that's it. Your safety is the most important thing."
"promise."
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At the same time, Yuan Shu of Yuzhou was also furious. He thought that with his absolute military superiority, this crusade against Li Mi would be a complete victory, but he didn't want to stumble along the way and pay a lot of casualties.
"What does Ji Ling do for a living? Li Mi only has an army of 50,000 people. I gave him a full army of 150,000 people. Three times the number of troops can't defeat even one Li Mi. He's a fool..."
Yuan Shu was so angry that he cursed loudly, while the ministers below looked at each other and didn't know how to plead for Ji Ling. After all, an army of 150,000 people could not defeat an army of 50,000 people. This was indeed too incompetent.
Yan Xiang couldn't help but sigh when he saw this. As Yuan Shu's mastermind, he naturally knew Ji Ling's abilities. He could barely command an army of 50,000, but an army of 150,000 was too much for him, but his lord just wouldn't listen. However, Ji Ling, who was incompetent, was allowed to take the position of commander.
"Lord, let's change the generals." Yan Xiang stood up and said in a deep voice:
Yuan Shu glanced at Yan Xiang and sighed: "I regret that I can't stop talking about the military advisor. Who does the military advisor think can be replaced as the main general?"
Yan Xiang glanced at Zhao Kuangyin not far away, thought for a moment and then said in a deep voice: "General Lian Po is calm in his troops and can shoulder this important task.
