When Lu Yi and others stood on the east wall of Wancheng City and looked at Cao Jun, Cao Cao was still in the commander's tent!
Although the army was marching toward Wancheng, Cao Cao did not immediately follow the army.
He and a group of counselors and generals were discussing the newly obtained information in the commander's tent.
Sent from Chang'an.
It belongs to Zhong Yao.
Seven months ago, he followed Guo Jia's advice and prepared to use four steps to deal with the crisis brought by Jiangdong.
Unfortunately, the first three steps failed.
The first step is to write a letter to Liu Biao, asking Liu Biao to pay attention to Jiangdong and prevent Jiangdong from attacking Jingzhou.
As a result, the letter was delivered.
Liu Biao is gone!
The second step is to give an order to the Changsha prefect in the name of the emperor, asking him to give up the fight with Jingzhou and unite with Jingzhou to deal with Jiangdong's possible attack on Jingzhou, thereby holding back Jiangdong.
As a result, the governor of Changsha not only defected to Jiangdong, but also sent 5,000 soldiers to help Jiangdong attack Jingzhou and capture Jiangxia and Jiangling counties.
The third step was to write a letter to Jiaozhou Shixie in the name of the emperor, asking him to unite the Baiyue people and bandits in Kuaiji and other places in Jiangdong to crusade against Jiangdong.
As a result, there has been no news!
It wasn't until ten days ago that I received a reply from Shi Xie: There was nothing he could do!
Shi Xie sent more than a dozen envoys to Kuaiji and other places to encourage Baiyue people and bandits to rebel against Jiangdong.
As a result, the various chiefs and bandit commanders of the Baiyue people turned around and sent these envoys to He Qi, the captain of Kuaiji, and they were all killed!
Shi Xie also confessed in his letter that He Qi, the captain of Kuaiji, was a native of Kuaiji.
Jiangdong's appointment of talents was in vain, taking into account the court's general guidelines for appointing officials: locals were not allowed to be appointed to the highest official position in the county.
However, Kuaiji did not appoint a county governor, so the captain was the biggest.
Shi Xie even impeached Lu Yi, the lord of Jiangdong, in a letter and asked the court to sanction him.
Cao Cao read Shi Xie's letter and was so angry that he wanted to kill him.
How could a mere captain of Kuaiji govern a state like this?
And let the court sanction Lu Yi, the leader of Jiangdong?
Isn't this a joke?
If he could really sanction him, he would have sanctioned him long ago in the name of the Emperor!
Not to mention the mere Kuaiji County, even in the appointment of Xuzhou Mu, the Lord of Jiangdong, Lu Yi, also deliberately violated the imperial court's general guidelines for appointing officials.
Today's Xuzhou Mu is called Zhang Zhao, who was originally from Pengcheng, Xuzhou.
Lu Yi, the lord of Jiangdong, not only appointed Zhang Zhao as the pastor of Xuzhou, but also wrote the above document!
Didn't he endure the depression and acquiesce to this matter?
Now that the world is in chaos, everything depends on strength and speaking with fists.
What is the general outline of the former imperial court?
Fortunately, although Cao Cao was extremely angry, good news finally came.
That was Guo Jia's fourth step, and finally achieved good results.
After Zhong Yao was appointed Sili Colonel and rushed to Chang'an, in just a few months, he actually convinced the two major princes in Guanzhong: Han Sui and Ma Teng.
Let them take up posts in Xudu!
Among them, Ma Teng even personally led several of his sons to Xudu!
However, Han Sui did not come in person. He sent his son-in-law Yan Xing and his son to come to Xudu as hostages.
This step made Cao Cao's depression in the past few years disappear.
At this most critical moment, it is the Yingchuan nobles who can make things happen!
He had listened to Guo Jia's suggestion before and was somewhat skeptical when he appointed Zhong Yao.
Han Sui and Ma Teng were kings and hegemons in Guanzhong and had fought countless battles with the imperial court. Can they really be controlled?
But he didn't expect that Zhong Yao could give him such a big surprise.
Especially Ma Teng, who actually went to Xudu to serve as an official in person, made Cao Cao feel like a daydream.
To this day, he still can't figure out how Zhong Yao did it.
There was no clear explanation in the letter.
However, Cao Cao was already very satisfied.
After reading Zhong Yao's letter to all his counselors and generals, Cao Cao smiled proudly and said, "Ah, Zhong Yao finally gave me good news. Ma Teng and Han Sui sent hostages to Xudu As an official, Ma Teng even came here, this is the great settlement in Guanzhong!"
"Yuan Shao is about to go south. Now Guanzhong Dading. As long as we capture Wancheng again, Jiangdong will not threaten us for the time being. We can deal with Yuan Shao with all our strength."
Seeing all the counselors and generals smiling, Cao Cao said, "Everyone, you must learn from Zhong Yao!"
"This time we attack the city, use all our strength to capture Wancheng."
"After my teacher returns to the court, I will definitely call the emperor to ask for your merits!"
All the counselors and generals shouted loudly: "Don't worry, Sikong!"
"This time I, Le Jin, will definitely climb the Wancheng wall first and capture Wancheng for your lord!"
"Brother, don't worry, we will definitely win Wancheng this time!"
Guo Jia also said: "I received news before that Jiangdong captured Xiangyang, and the next step should be Jingbei. Jingbei is guarded by General Wenpin, and the young master Liu Qi fled here. Wenpin was the most loyal to Liu Biao, the former Jingzhou shepherd. General, I think he will fight to the death with Jiangdong for Prince Liu Qi to regain Jingzhou."
"After we take Wancheng this time, Sikong might as well send an envoy to see Wenpin. The above-mentioned son Liu Qi will be the new Jingzhou Shepherd, and Wenpin will be appointed as the Zhendong General, so that they can openly and seriously fight against Jiangdong, thereby consuming Jiangdong. strength."
"In this way, after we succeed in fighting Yuan Shao in the future, we can turn around and go south to Jiangdong."
"If Jiangdong can just use Xiangyang as the boundary and stop fighting, then we can also annex Jingbei in the future."
"Nanyang in the north of Jing has fertile land, outstanding people, rich products, and a large population. It will be of great benefit to you Sikong to stabilize the world."
"If we can defeat Yuan Shao, we can capture Jizhou and other places."
"By then, if we unite with Guanzhong and move south, we may not be able to break through Jiangdong's 'Xiangyang-Hefei-Guangling' defense line."
"After all, Jiangdong has always been superior in water warfare, and the cavalry and infantry lag far behind the north."
Cao Cao smiled and pointed at Guo Jiaqi and said: "Well, what Fengxiao said is very good, so I will do as you say."
After a pause, Cao Cao stood up and said, "But now, we still have to grasp the situation!"
Looking at the sky outside the handsome tent, it was already dusk.
Cao Cao stood up, patted his armor and said, "It's almost time. Lords, fight with all your strength tonight! When the city is broken, there will be rewards!"
All the counselors and generals stood up one after another, clasping their fists together and saying, "Serve Sikong (the princes) to the death!"
Cao Cao waved his big hand, walked out of the commander's tent first and said: "Let's go!"
Everyone followed him out of the handsome tent.
The soldiers had already prepared their war horses and were outside the commander's tent.
Everyone got on their horses one after another.
Cao Cao rode a tall horse at the front and went straight to the east gate of Wancheng City, which had already been lined up.
Seeing that thirty catapults were ready and the thirty thousand troops were all solemn, Cao Cao nodded with satisfaction.
This is the iron-blooded army.
Riding his horse to the edge of the moat, Cao Cao pointed the whip in his hand at the general on the wall and said, "Where is Zhang Xiu?"
Zhang Xiu walked to the city wall, looked down at Cao Cao and said, "What does Cao Cao have to say?"
Cao Cao said coldly: "Zhang Xiu, I will give you one last chance. Quickly open the city gate and surrender. I will only kill you to avenge General Dian Wei and me, Ang'er. I can forget about the others."
Zhang Xiu sneered and said: "Thief Cao, I am the commander-in-chief of Wancheng. You want to kill me and you want me to surrender? What a daydream! Let me remind you once, Thief Cao, don't be fooled by the appearance! You are wise, now Retreat quickly, otherwise disaster will strike and you may be laughed at by everyone in the world!"
Behind Cao Cao, a general rode up.
Cao Hong.
Cao Cao's younger brother once defended Cao Cao from enemies several times.
In the past, Cao Cao was chased by Dong Zhuo's general Xu Rong, and almost his entire army was wiped out. Cao Hong gave up his horse to Cao Cao, allowing Cao Cao to escape.
Cao Cao valued this disciple very highly.
Cao Hong roared: "Zhang Xiu, you are so arrogant even when you are about to die! When we capture the city later, I will personally take your dog's head!"
Looking at Cao Cao, Cao Hong said: "Brother, don't waste your time with this kind of person, attack the city! We have already attacked to such an extent, whether he surrenders or not, we will destroy the city!"
Cao Cao nodded, pulled out the sword from his waist, pointed directly at Zhang Xiu on the city wall and said: "Attack the city!"
The flag bearer waved the flag.
The trumpet sounded.
The army surged towards the moat like a river.
Countless soldiers carried ladders and set them up on the moat.
More soldiers carried siege ladders up the city wall.
The catapult was pushed across the moat by the soldiers. The soldiers carried the stones and placed them on the wooden frame, ready to attack.
At this time, densely packed heads suddenly appeared on the city wall.
Thousands of archers bent their bows and set arrows, facing Cao's army below the city who was about to climb up the siege ladder!
Cao Cao's eyes narrowed.
Why did so many archers suddenly appear on the city wall?
I have never seen this before during several sieges!
There were originally only six thousand soldiers in Wancheng.
There are thousands of these archers!
Definitely not from Wancheng!
Just as thousands of archers were aiming at Cao's army climbing up the siege ladder from the city wall, a group of figures walked up to Zhang Xiu.
The leader was clearly Lu Yi.
Beside him were Cheng Pu, Jia Xu, Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu and others.
Lu Yi smiled and said loudly to Cao Cao, who was still on the edge of the moat: "Cao Sikong, long time no see! I'm sorry, Wancheng has been taken first!"
"Stop the siege immediately, otherwise, the soldiers will not be polite!"
Cao Cao's face turned pale.
Behind him, Cao Hong, Guo Jia, Xun You and others all looked frightened.
Why did Jiangdong get ahead of people like him again?
Just when Cao Cao was in a daze and had not yet started to withdraw his troops, the city gate suddenly opened.
In the city, the army roared and rushed out.
It's the army led by Tai Shici!
Taishi Ci rushed out first with hundreds of personal guards on horseback, and roared: "Cao Sikong, Lujiang Commander-in-Chief Taishi Ci is here!"
As Taishi Ci rushed out of the city with nearly 20,000 troops, Cao Cao suddenly came to his senses and hurriedly roared to his side: "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat with gold!"
Cao's troops who attacked the city quickly retreated like a tide.
Taishi Ci and his army did not pursue him, but stopped in the open space outside the city.
After him, Zhu Zhi, Cheng Pu, Heng Jie, and Wenpin led their troops to rush out one after another.
Nearly 100,000 troops were arrayed under Wancheng City.
Cao Cao looked at the nearly 100,000 troops, and then looked up at Lu Yi, Zhang Xiu and others who were overlooking him on the city wall. He felt a splitting headache, as if it was about to burst.
The next moment, Cao Cao covered his head with his left hand, screamed "ah" and fell directly off his horse.
Cao Hong and others hurriedly screamed and rushed over.
Cao Hong picked up Cao Cao who was on the ground and almost cried: "Brother, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me!"
Cao Cao opened his eyes tremblingly and said in a trembling voice: "Retreat! Retreat quickly! These 30,000 troops cannot be lost! Yuan Shao is about to go south. If we don't have these 30,000 elite troops, we will give up!"
Cao Hong raised his head, looked up at Lu Yi and others on the city wall, and shed tears.
Is this a question of whether to retreat or not?
Jiangdong's nearly 100,000 troops!
They are going to attack, how can they escape?
Lu Yi met Cao Hong's gaze outside the city and said loudly: "Cao Sikong, generals, we are allies after all, and we will not use troops against you. This time, I just missed Sikong, so I came here to meet you and introduce me to Jiangdong. Let Sikong know all of you talented people!"
"After all, Jiangdong is also the territory of the Han Dynasty!"
"I am the pillar of Jiangdong, and I am also a valuable asset to the country!"
"Please Sikong return to Xudu to see the emperor, and tell the emperor the truth, so that the emperor can be pleased with these important weapons of the country!"
After saying that, he said to the people in the city: "Why don't you meet Sikong yet?"
Taishi Ci, Zhu Zhi, Cheng Pu, Heng Jie and Wen Pin all clasped their fists.
"Lujiang Commandery Commander Tai Shici has met Sikong!"
"Jingzhou Mu Zhuzhi has met Sikong!"
"Left Governor Cheng Pu has met Sikong!"
"I met Sikong at Hengjie in Zhizhong, Jingzhou!"
"Nanyang Captain Wenpin has met Sikong!"
Lu Yi said: "Cao Sikong is a talented person in our imperial court. Please take care of yourself!"
Up and down the city wall, all the soldiers shouted in unison: "Cao Sikong is a talented person in our imperial court. Please take care of yourself."
"Cao Sikong is a talented person in our imperial court. Please take care of yourself!"
"Cao Sikong is a talented person in our imperial court. Please take care of yourself!"
The roars were deafening.
Cao Cao had just come to his senses. When he heard the uniform roar, he covered his head again, his eyes darkened, and he passed out.
Cao Hong, Guo Jia, Xun You and others looked at Lu Yi on the city wall with sad, angry and helpless faces, leading Cao Cao and slowly retreating with the army.
(End of chapter)
