When the Black Mountain Army invaded Dongjun, Cao Cao had followed Xun Yu's suggestion and gathered all the troops in Dong County in Puyang. No soldiers were left to garrison the area north of the river, so it was easily occupied by the Black Mountain Army as if they were wearing paper. .
At this time, the scouts were ordered by Cao Cao to explore the scene on the south bank of the north bank. They stayed on the south bank for three days, and every day they saw the Black Mountain Army in the north as endless as the river flowing eastward. On the fourth day, the Black Mountain Army began After crossing the river at Cangting, the scouts did not dare to stay on the south bank anymore, so they went back to report to Cao Cao, saying that there were as many moth thieves in the north as locusts in August. They did not know how many there were, and they could not be less than three. One hundred thousand, maybe.
After Cao Cao heard about it, he knew that this number could not be just soldiers. It was probably the Montenegrin army and the Montenegrin veterans and soldiers and civilians who had all moved to Yanzhou. He said to Xun Yu: "There are millions of black mountains running rampant in Hebei. Where are the troops? They are all ordinary people! Is it not possible to stop the migration of the people? As long as thousands of cavalry follow them and harass them day and night, they will not be able to stop them. Okay. It seems that Ben Chu has indeed betrayed the imperial court."
After that, Cao Cao climbed to the top of the city to look at Hebei from a distance and sighed. Although I was prepared in my heart, I couldn't help but feel disappointed when I saw that the situation turned out to be like this. After all, the two were childhood friends who had shared the same adversities, but today they parted ways like this, which also brought disaster to the country. He was sitting in an isolated city, and he thought of his own people's in-laws who were trapped in Dongmin, Changyi. His sadness was really indescribable.
In troubled times, trustworthy relatives and friends are indeed precious. But even the closest flesh and blood brothers are bound to have betrayal and disappointment, just like a bright flower that will eventually fade away, and a bamboo leaf that will always be green but also wither.
From then on, Cao Cao faced the Heishan Army in the north, Guan Cheng in the east, and Guan Hai in the west. The only three counties under his command were Puyang, Baima, and Yan County. Not long after, another news came from the scouts, saying that the Black Mountain Army had crossed the river and had a vague tendency to march towards Puyang. Guan Hai began to attack Henan and faced off with Wei Yan in Xingyang.
At this time, Cao Cao negotiated with Guan Yu and summoned all the officers under his command to discuss the future strategy again.
Du Yun, Guan Yu's aide, said: "Now our army is surrounded from all sides. There are powerful enemies in the southeast, northwest and northwest. It is like a bird in a cage or a fish in a net. If we don't destroy the cage and net as soon as possible, we will wait for the enemy troops to come and shrink." Without the strength of our troops, our army will be trapped to death."
"Du Jun wants us to break into Henan!" Cao Cao knew what Du Yun meant. Now the general Liu Bei was leading his army to Yanzhou to join him. The imperial court suddenly had nearly 100,000 troops, and Geng Cang The army also has the strength to fight.
But Cao Cao was extremely hesitant for a while. After all, as the governor of Yanzhou, he should not leave his jurisdiction without permission. After losing ground one after another, breaking out of the encirclement and asking for help from Henan would be an excuse for abandoning one's duties and neglecting the people. Moreover, he has a high self-esteem, so he would be unwilling to accept Liu Xuande's command.
In fact, most of the people agreed with Du Yun's opinion, especially Guan Yu. He strongly advocated abandoning the city and heading west, saying: "My brother and I have not seen each other for a long time. As long as we brothers work together, no matter how rampant the bandit army is, nothing will happen to us." It can’t be done.”
But when Xun Yu saw that Cao Cao didn't speak for a long time, he guessed his thoughts as if he had a tacit understanding. He also felt in his heart that it was really not a good time to abandon the city, and he did not want to leave, so he said in front of everyone: "Abandoning the city and joining forces is certainly a plan, but in the end it is just a bad move." When everyone heard this, they all felt very strange, so they looked towards He waited for Gao to see him.
Xun Yu said: "It has been ten days since Gengcang's army invaded our land, and it has been a long time to besiege Dongmin Changyi. It can be seen that although the enemy army is large, it cannot break the city in a hurry. This is what we knew last year Yes. Today we abandon the city that is difficult for the enemy to attack and go to join the general. Of course, we can save our lives, but what is the use in the overall situation? We are here today to defend the enemy for a few days and lead the general's troops out of Chenggao. Cang Cang is attacked from the front and back, so he will definitely not dare to attack by force. If Geng Cang Lian can't fight, we can repeat the story of Kunyang and defeat the bandit army, and then Yanzhou can be restored and the bandit trouble can be put down."
After everyone heard the words, they all felt that it was reasonable, so they no longer forced the city to be abandoned, and instead went to rest and prepare their military equipment to prepare for the future defense of the city. But Cao Cao still hesitated about Geng Cang's plan, and said to Xun Yu privately: "Although Wen Ruo's plan is good, if the rebel army has another clever plan, how should we implement it?"
Xun Yu comforted him and said: "Now our army is trapped in the small city. Although it is difficult to win, it is also difficult to defeat. No matter how clever the enemy's plan is, it is nothing more than a plan to deceive the city and persuade them to surrender. Ming Gong only needs to defend the city, and they can't do anything about it. What do I do?" Cao Cao thought about it and thought it was true, so he went to build the city with peace of mind.
On the third day of March, an envoy from Henan came by boat and crossed the river. He brought news to Puyang that General Liu Bei was marching to Chenggao. He said that the two armies were confronting Aocang and asked you to hold on to the city. In less than ten days, the general will Force the enemy troops away and relieve the siege of Dongjun. The soldiers guarding the city were very happy. Everyone thought that the battle was already won, and everyone's lives would not be in vain.
At this time, the Black Mountain Army finally led its troops.
They arrived in Puyang one afternoon and surrounded the city from three directions: southeast, north, and south. Cao Jun's soldiers looked down from the city wall and saw the huge number of people. They were so shocked that they lost their sense of shock. They just felt that there should be so many people in the world. I saw very few of these people wearing armor, and many of them were still wearing single clothes. Many of them only had a knife in their hands, but few were in large numbers. From a distance, dust was everywhere, and the light of the knife was shining in the smoke, which was very spectacular.
But what made Cao's troops extremely confused was that even though the enemy army arrived, they did not make preparations to attack the city. Instead, they surrounded three men and one was missing, and they seemed to be conniving at Cao's troops' eastward march to Henan. When Cao Cao saw this situation, he laughed and said: "The rebels are really ignorant! There are reinforcements in the west, and the rebels cannot break the city. Do you think that just letting me go will affect the fighting spirit of the army?" After that, he also looked at the enemy. The military camp was arranged, and then the sergeants were encouraged, planning to leave the city at night to attack the enemy's weak points.
It was Shenshi at this time, and the sun's shadow was getting westward, but it was not yet dusk. The Black Mountain bandits besieging the city suddenly made a move, which attracted the attention of the Puyang guards.
The Montenegrin army in the east gradually separated to the north and south, leaving a road large enough for four horses to gallop. Then a group of black-armored knights came leading a convoy. The carriages in this convoy are quite strange in appearance. They don’t look like carriages or carriages. They are square and square, and then covered with a piece of black cloth from the top to the feet, so that the contents inside cannot be seen. Nothing happened, but they were slowly pulled by two variegated horses, following the black-armored knights all the way to the front of Puyang City.
The black-armored knight at the front was holding a mysterious flag with a picture of Huang Yunfeiyan. It was the flag of Zhang Yan, the leader of the Black Mountain Army. Even the sharp-eyed Cao Jun recognized it, which made them feel a little eclipsed. After all, Zhang Yan has been invincible in the Taihang Mountains since the first year of Zhongping. The imperial court failed to conquer him many times and could only appease him. He appointed him as the General of Pingnan Zhonglang to lead the affairs in the valleys of Hebei and set a precedent for appeasement in the world. His reputation spread far and wide, and he was regarded as an outstanding person.
The black-armored knight waited for all the convoys to arrive, ordered them to line up in a row, and then said loudly at the foot of the city: "Is Mr. Cao here? Zhang Fang, the prefect of Chenliu under the command of Zhang Yan, the shepherd of Yanzhou, is here. I have something to say to Mr. Cao. explain."
Cao Cao had just arrived at this time. He heard the words of the people in the city and didn't bother to come forward. He asked Cheng Yu, the White Horse Commander, to stick out of the wall. He stood ten feet away and said loudly: "I am Cheng Yu, the White Horse Commander of Dongjun. I am responsible for this." We are on the defensive. Ambassador Cao is still busy with official duties. He has no time to meet with you bandits. If you have anything to say, just tell me."
Unexpectedly, Zhang Fang rode his horse and laughed loudly below the city. His laughter was so clear that it made everyone in the city uncomfortable. After he finished laughing, Zhang Fang pointed to the seven carriages behind him: "Mr. Cheng County is laughing. We have been ordered by the emperor to come here to appease Mr. Cao. There are some words that can only be said to Mr. Cao, and There are some things that can only be seen with Mr. Cao. If Mr. Cao doesn't answer me today, I'm afraid he will regret his mistake and find it difficult to live in peace."
When Cheng Yu heard this, he was furious and rebuked loudly: "The affairs of the world are nothing more than loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. However, the late emperor gave Zhang Yan an important task, but Zhang Yan did not want to repay his kindness. Instead, he threatened his loyal ministers. Aren't he afraid of making the world laugh? A filial son is sincere. Don’t let it be your own thoughts! No matter what you have or what your feelings are, my Lord will never waver in the slightest!"
When he finished speaking, all the soldiers in the city cheered. Even Cao Cao couldn't help but nodded and said with satisfaction to Guan Yu on the side: "Cheng Yu is usually eloquent, but I didn't expect that he could speak so well at this time."
There was a moment of silence in the city, and then Zhang Fang replied: "Since Mr. Cheng said so, I will let others speak."
Cao Cao was inexplicable and couldn't look around, so he had to stand there and wait for the follow-up. After waiting for a while, he vaguely heard a wailing voice. The voice was a female voice, which Cao Cao was very familiar with, but for a moment I couldn't remember it. After a while, the female voice stopped crying and said something that shocked Cao Cao: "Ah Hao, my father is here! Save his life!"
This sentence was like thunder, making Cao Cao tremble. He quickly asked the soldiers in front of him to get out of the way, and he looked down and saw a naked woman being tied and thrown to the ground. Several swordsmen were standing aside, and next to them was a prison car with a black cloth lifted off. .
Although the woman had disheveled hair, Cao Cao recognized her. She was the favorite concubine of his father Cao Song.
Zhang Fang rode his horse behind the woman, raised his head and continued to say to the top of the city: "Shijun Cao, all your relatives and brothers are here, are you really unwilling to surrender?"
Cao Cao had a lot to say, but when he thought of what Cheng Yu had just said, he choked in his throat and couldn't say a word.
Zhang Fang was quite disappointed. He did the next best thing and ordered the black cloths on the remaining prison vans to be pulled away. Then he pulled out the people in the prison vans one by one and knelt down side by side with the woman.
Cao Cao felt dizzy again. He recognized them all. These eight people were his father Cao Song, his younger brothers Cao De and Cao Yu, his younger brothers Cao Chun and Cao Fen, and his nephews Cao Lin, Cao Qiong, and Cao Yu. Ming.
