When Liu Bei was still showing off his military power on the Han River, Cao Cao in Dongjun received a report saying that the Gengcang army that had gone south to conquer Xuzhou had reorganized its army and moved north from Xiapi to the Lanling area of the East China Sea. It seemed that it was preparing to continue going north to fight with Liu Bei. After the Taishan bandits reunited, they resumed the war with Yanzhou.
Cao Cao did not dare to be careless at all, and immediately discussed with Guan Yu. The two sides first assembled 30,000 troops in Dongwuyang and stationed them north of the river. They also sent 20,000 troops to guard Fan County, Juye, Jinxiang, and Changyi, ready to take over at any time. Down the war.
Sun Tzu, the sage of war, once said in "The Art of War" that those who are good at fighting will kill others without killing them. This is the best principle of military strategists. But what is extremely strange is that although they are well aware of the enemy's movements, the Yanzhou troops have not made any aggressive moves. Doesn't this go against the famous saying of the Sage of War? It would be understandable if the generals didn't know how to be a soldier, but the generals in Yanzhou were all newly rising generals, so how could they be so passive strategically?
This has to start with the Yanzhou War in the past six months.
As early as the end of August last year, after Cao Cao and Guan Yu joined forces, their troops regained strength and immediately launched a counterattack against the Gengcang Army. Cao Cao first attacked from the north bank of the river, led his army straight into the plains, and conquered the four counties of Pingyuan, Ande, Liguo, and Gaotang. He burned all the hundreds of ships that the Gengcang army had accumulated here, and then quickly retreated to Yangping.
This was Yanzhou's greatest victory since the war between Gengcang and Liu Dai. It was also a surprise attack on the Linzi court that Cao Cao carefully planned after careful consideration. After all, Linzi had previously claimed to recruit an army of 200,000 to fight Cao Cao in Dongjun. Cao Cao burned the ships, and the Linzi court could only look at the river and sigh, suspending the war.
Unexpectedly, the Linzi court had no intention of crossing the river. Their gathering of ships was just a pretense. They not only deceived Cao Cao, but also deceived Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou. As a result, Guan Hai's army suddenly went south and surrounded Xiapi, trapping Tao Qian and others in the city. , In the end, there was no help in February, the city was destroyed, and Xuzhou fell into the hands of Linzi.
When Cao Cao received another report that Xiapi was besieged, he realized that he had fallen into a trap. Cao Cao has always prided himself on being smart and having eyes above his head. There are only a few people in the world who can put him in his eyes. But now he has fallen into the moth thief's plan. How can he not be filled with anger?
Cao Cao followed his plan and led his army across the river on the third day of September to the south bank in an attempt to regain Dongping and Rencheng counties. Originally, in the first battle of Lianjie, Cao Cao successively captured Xuchang, Shouzhang, Fucheng, and Zhangxian, and surrounded Wuyan with a main force of 20,000. Guan Yu led his troops to garrison Zhangxian to ward off the enemies in Jibei.
Seeing that the city of Wuyan was about to be destroyed and the entire Dongping County was about to be recovered, the Gengcang Army suddenly sent out unexpected troops. Instead of rescuing Wuyan, they unexpectedly attacked Dongacang Pavilion and defeated them in a single battle. Then they burned all Cao Cao's boats crossing the river. , Cao Cao saw that the enemy troops were deep in his belly and back, and his own way across the river was cut off, so he had to relieve the siege and withdraw his troops, hoping to meet the enemy in Dong'a.
Unexpectedly, the enemy general was still unwilling to fight. When Cao Cao went north, the enemy general ran from the southwest, interlaced with the Yanzhou army, and reached the north side of Juye Ze. Then he floated on the marsh and crossed Daze in one day. Suddenly appeared on the north side of Juye City.
When the Juye guards saw the army approaching the city, they were shocked. The Cang army also trumpeted that Cao Cao had been defeated in Dongping and that the main force had been lost. As a result, the defenders in the city had no intention of fighting, and the enemy troops fell in half a day. Jinxiang and Dongmin counties were all panicked and hurriedly called Cao Cao for help.
Cao Cao had no choice but to turn his troops again and go south to rescue Shanyang County. By the time he arrived at Juye City, Juye had been reduced to an empty city. The Gengcang army once again crossed paths with him, and after a round of fighting, they went straight into Dongping County and recaptured the counties originally captured by Cao Cao in one fell swoop.
At this point, Cao Cao was so angry that he ignored the army's sergeants and soldiers and marched continuously. He was exhausted physically and mentally. He once again led his troops to fight back to Dongping County, and was about to have a life-and-death showdown with Geng Cang. Before the camp was completed, Xun Yu, who was in Puyang, received military reports and came to the army in person to persuade Cao Cao to withdraw his troops immediately. Cao Cao was extremely unwilling, but in the end he listened to Xun Yu's advice and withdrew his troops back to Dongjun, leaving only two counties and one. The ground is a mess.
In February, Yanzhou had no results. Cao Cao lost all opportunities after three maneuvers. The morale and movements of the entire army were like cattle and horses running through the nose for the enemy. In the end, they could only sit back and watch Xuzhou fall. Such a result made it difficult for Cao Cao to sleep peacefully. So when Guan Yu was having dinner with him, he ignored his dignity, knocked the bowl with his chopsticks, and said angrily to Xun Yu: "Wen Ruo, if this year's war ends like this, how can I sit in the position of governor? Thief? The army is so cunning and humiliates me many times, I will personally hold a big sword and peel off his face to vent my hatred!"
Xun Yu listened to him calmly and said slowly: "Don't worry, Ming Gong. Although the rebel army is cunning, when compared with our army when it comes to attacking cities and fortresses, they still have many shortcomings. The reason why they lost the opportunity is because Ming Gong attacked the city first. Since ancient times, the attackers have been disadvantaged. Why? It's all because of the dilemma! As soon as the rebel army knows where Ming Gong is, they know that the rear is empty, and they can come and go as they want, and they can mobilize the Duke to run around. Ming Gong's troops are insufficient and the ground is narrow. Every inch is precious, so how can it not be controlled by others?"
Cao Cao wanted to refute, but after thinking for a moment, he lowered his head and sighed to Xun Yu: "What Wen Ruo said is every word of it!"
After Guan Yu heard this, he also admired Xun Yu greatly. He praised him in his heart as a genius who was not inferior to his brother. Then he asked: "If it is as Xun Jun said, what shall we do?"
Xun Yu said with a smile: "We are just waiting." He gave it a little hesitation. When both of them were impatient, he solemnly explained: "Our army is small and well equipped. If we don't fight, we will win. We will win if necessary." , otherwise Yanzhou will be difficult to defend. The bandit army is numerous and inferior, and it has countless followers, so it can be defeated without danger. Therefore, if our army attacks first, it will inevitably be stretched. The enemy attacks first, so our army can choose the opportunity to win and strike later."
From then on, Yanzhou went on the defensive and sent out scouts to Jibei. The soldiers and horses were on the north bank waiting for the enemy. Once Gengcang made a move, Cao Cao sent troops to intercept. After several months, it was effective. Gengcang suffered several setbacks and no longer invaded. The border between the two sides became peaceful for a while until February this year.
After receiving the news that there would be an army move in Mount Tai, Cao Cao did not dare to slack off. While asking for help from the imperial court, they also followed Xun Yu's old plan of shrinking their troops and holding on to the city to see where the enemy's main attack would be.
But the subsequent development is difficult to understand. For three days in a row, the Taishan scouts sent ultimatums to Dongwuyang, saying that a large army was dispatched from Taishan. However, no matter whether it was Rencheng, Dongping or Jibei, the enemy troops showed no aggressive attitude. The scouts from the three counties also wrote back saying that there were no reinforcements. This greatly confused Cao Cao and Guan Yu, who could not see the enemy's arrangement at all.
Could it be that the enemy was covering up? The three counties seem to be helpless, but in fact the army is sneaking in the mountains and forests, waiting to reach the front line before suddenly attacking?
Cao Cao quickly rejected this idea. Yanzhou is located in the Central Plains, with less mountains and forests and more swamps. If there is a large army passing through, it will be hidden day and night, and it will be extremely difficult to hide the traces.
Could it be another cover-up? The bandits were cunning. They might have lied about attacking Yanzhou like they did when they conquered Xuzhou, but in fact they repeated their old tricks and turned to Yuzhou to attack Yuan Shu.
This idea was quite convincing, but Cao Cao immediately rejected it. After all, although Yuan Shu was stupid, he was not a fool. After attacking Lujiang, he also deployed heavy troops in Pei State, and the generals guarding them were also famous generals such as Sun Xiang and Ji Ling. Geng Cang's army wanted to conquer the cities of Pei Kingdom quickly, but they couldn't.
Cao Cao thought about it in the state capital, wandering back and forth, but in the end he still couldn't come up with an answer, so he could only write to Xun Yu again to discuss. Xun Yu thought for a long time, but he couldn't figure it out. Finally, he wrote back: "The enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered. The opportunity to fight is with the enemy but not with us." "The Art of War" says: Those who were good at fighting in the past first made themselves invincible, then waited for the enemy to become victorious. This cannot be done. The victory lies with oneself, but the victory lies with the enemy. With the current situation, we can only be invincible first and remain unchanged in response to all changes."
Cao Cao also agreed to this and sent envoys to strictly order Xiahou Dun, Cao Ren and others on the south bank not to leave, while he stayed in the Cangting area, waiting for news from the east day and night. For a time, I couldn't eat well, couldn't sleep, and I lost a lot of weight.
On February 16, news finally came from Jinxiang, Shanyang, saying that the Rencheng bandit army seemed to be leaving the city to gather. Cao Cao immediately replied and asked Chen Gong stationed in Jinxiang to continue the investigation. If the news was true, he would lead his army to rescue him.
While Cao Cao was overjoyed to have found out the enemy's movements, Geng Cang's main force was traveling rapidly through Yuzhou.
Before the fifth day of February, the Gengcang Army had completed its assembly in Mount Tai. The 140,000-strong army had been resting in Nancheng to prepare for war. On the night of the 10th, they stayed day and night and arrived in Pengcheng Liu County in batches. Sixty miles northwest of them, there were 20,000 Yuzhou soldiers stationed. Seventy miles southwest of them, there were also 30,000 Yuzhou soldiers. They were led by Sun Jian's nephew Sun Xiang and Sun Jian's nephew Xu Kun.
But Geng Cangjun not only didn't care about this, but also made an astonishing move. They ignored the Yuzhou soldiers in the north and south, and actually led an army of 140,000 people directly through the two armies!
Early on the morning of the 11th, both Xu Kun and Sun Xiang discovered signs of the Gengcang Army. However, the strength of the two sides was greatly disparate and they did not dare to leave the city to pursue them. They could only watch the endless flow of people on the city wall. After two days in a row, the army's The tail just disappeared into the western sky, and the spring soil that Cang Jun stepped on seemed to have been plowed twice, exposing the roots of weeds. The Yuzhou sergeant was also at a loss, not knowing where this flow of people would go.
In four days, under the leadership of the local Yellow Turbans, Gengcang's army ran four hundred miles westward, passing through Zhuqiu, Xiayi, and Suiyang, and finally stopped in a narrow area north of Meng County and west of Bo County. To the east of Bo County is Jiyin County of Yanzhou, and to the west of Bo County is Chenliu County of Yanzhou.
At this time, Yanzhou's army was all gathered in Shanyang and Dongjun counties, and Chenliu and Jiyin had almost no defenders.
After the military discussion before the battle, Geng Cang Da Sima Guan Hai and Situ Guan Cheng sighed: "Bypassing Cao's army, using a large army to pass through Yuzhou, and then coming here to steal the enemy's rear route, it is really a clever plan that no one can guess. ! After the general recruited more talents, he was able to be as resourceful as the waves and as endless as the sea. We should also imitate him."
At midnight on February 16th, Gengcang's army divided into two groups and marched directly into Chenliu and Jiyin counties. On February 21st, Guan Hai defeated Zhang Miao and Guan Cheng defeated Zhang Chao and occupied all the territory. Zhang fled into Dongjun in a panic, but Shanyang was attacked from both sides and was in danger.
