Liu Bei's army left Guandong on August 19th and arrived in Luoyang on September 7th. As early as the ninth day of August, Cao Cao had arrived in Zhuoxian County. He touched Yuan Shao's body and cried, reprimanding his personal followers for being unfavorable to the cavalry protector, and each used whippings to establish his prestige. When the soldiers saw it, they were both happy and afraid.
Cao Cao then summoned all officers from all ministries and above to go to the county to participate in the discussion. At the meeting, Cao Cao considered that he was a newcomer from the north and had no prestige foundation. Yuan Shao's cronies were still very influential in the army. It would be extremely difficult for him to issue orders and prohibitions in the army, so he would have to rely on the help of others, so At the meeting, he proposed that the army should have nine generals, above all the generals.
These Jiuwu generals may be relatives of the Emperor Zongyi or famous ministers and generals. They are all chosen for the moment. There are nine people in total, who are known as the Nine Military Generals. They can control the country and bring peace to the country. They are also called the Nine Towns Fangguo.
These nine martial generals are:
He envoys Chijie, Yibi Sansi, Zuo Cheqi General, Yanzhou Mu, the commander-in-chief of all military affairs in Hebei, Shouzhanghou, and Jianwu General Cao Cao.
Envoy Chijie, Yibi Sansi, Youzhou Mu, Da Sima, Xiangbenhou, and Xingwu General Liu Yu.
Envoy Chijie, Jizhou Mu, General Hussar, Marquis of Yangping, and General Kaiwu Yuan Shang.
Qingzhou Mu, former general, Lelinghou, Mingwu general Xiahou Dun.
Shi, the governor of the chariot and cavalry general's office, the Marquis of Pingxiang, and the general Fenwu were all given the title.
The Prime Minister of Jibei, the Captain of Cavalry, the Marquis of Linyi, and General Zhenwu Bao Xin.
Bohai Prefect, Euphorbia Lieutenant, Fuyang Marquis, and Ningwu General Chunyu Qiong.
The prefect of Wei County, Marquis of Liyang, and General Anwu reviewed the candidates.
Changshan Xiang, Zhendinghou, Guangwu General Gaogan.
Cao Cao spent a lot of thought on the arrangement. Before he came, what he was most worried about was that the various ministries were scattered and did not belong to each other, making it difficult to compete with the overlord. The establishment of General Jiuwu is to conduct a preliminary split and reorganization of the three state capitals of Yanzhou, Jizhou, and Youzhou, and reshape them into one group.
The candidates for each general are also carefully selected.
Cao Cao listed himself among the Nine Martial Arts to show that he was in power fairly and had no intention of taking power, so as to keep the ministries focused.
In order to further avoid suspicion, among the generals he brought on this trip, only Bao Xin, who was fighting against Dong Yuanxun, could be ranked among the nine martial arts. Among the old troops of Yanzhou garrison, only Xiahou Dun, who was responsible for guarding Yanzhou, was selected, and the rest were basically the old members of the Yuan Shao shogunate.
The first is Yuan Shang. As the third son of Yuan Shao, he was quite important during Yuan Shao's lifetime, but after all, he was not the eldest son, so he should not be the leader of the Yuan family. But Cao Cao overcame all opinions and ranked him among the Nine Martial Arts, and made him the shepherd of Jizhou. As a result, Yuan Shang was so grateful to Cao Cao that he called him "uncle" in public.
Among Yuan Shao's other disciples, Cao Cao should have reused Yuan Tan, but he deliberately ignored it and introduced Yuan Shao's son-in-law Gao Gan into Jiubuli. He was a high-ranking cadre with great talent and ambition, and was outstanding in both civil and military affairs. He was born in the Chenliu Gao clan, and many of his clan members were under the rule of Cao Cao. Therefore, Cao Cao promised to marry him and asked his second son Cao Pi to marry the daughter of Gao Gan, who happily agreed. After winning over Yuan Shang and senior officials, even though Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi and others were dissatisfied, there was nothing they could do about Cao Cao taking over Hebei.
As for Jusue, Chunyu Qiong, and Shenpei, Jusue and Shenpei were the leaders of the Hebei gentry, and Chunyu Qiong was the representative of the Yingchuan gentry. They were also Cao Cao's old friends when he was serving in Xiyuan. Cao Cao's arrangement was to divide Yuan Shao's shogunate into two factions, Yingchuan and Hebei, and re-conquer them under his own command.
Using Liu Yu as the general of Xingwu was Cao Cao's most ingenious move. After his struggle for power with Gongsun Zan failed, Liu Yu has been living in seclusion in Guangyang County. Even though the court sent people to invite him several times, he always refused to join the expedition. Yuan Shao, on the other hand, valued Liu Yu's influence and kept sending envoys to ask for courtesy, thereby expanding his reputation in Youzhou. But this time when Cao Cao came, he actually invited Liu Yu to come out and agreed to fight against the Bafu.
It should be noted that Liu Yu is not only famous among various tribes in Youzhou, but also the leader of the clan and noble clans. After he and his son Liu He joined the Hebei shogunate, the panic among the counties in Youzhou was wiped away, and the morale among the soldiers increased even more, as if they had the righteousness to fight against the overlord.
By August 15th, Cao Cao basically conquered Yuan Shao's old troops. The nobles in Hebei reciprocated the favor. At the suggestion of Yuan Shang Jushou, the people believed that the country was in trouble and needed a heroic leader, so they elected Cao Cao as marshal.
At this point, Cao Cao has initially stabilized Hebei, but there are still many things he has to do next. Although everyone recommended him as the leader, he still lacked enough military exploits to convince others. Therefore, the first thing he did after becoming the marshal was to lead his troops to the north to attack Gongsun Du first and avenge Yuan Shao.
Gongsun Du was previously stationed in the Jundu Mountain area and was ordered to resist the Juyong Duan Xuan. Unexpectedly, the Han army was in retreat, so he was recruited by Duan Xuan. He openly resisted Yuan Shao's recruitment and fell into the arms of Jinyang Bafu. Although he was not the culprit in the assassination of Yuan Shao, there is no doubt that he must have been involved if the Bafu envoy was able to infiltrate the Qu Yi army.
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During these days, Gongsun Du has been promoting the power of the Bafu in Jundu Mountain, and then recruiting frustrated Youzhou soldiers. Due to Duan Xuan's support, in just one month, he recruited nearly 30,000 soldiers. It occupies almost half of Guangyang.
Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun agreed that after conquering Hebei, they would return to Yanzhou within one month. After learning what Gongsun Du had done, even though time was urgent, Cao Cao was still determined to get rid of him. He said to the generals: "The heavy troops gathered in Henan are like Mount Tai pressing on top. Although they are indestructible, they are slow to move. But Gongsun Du is close. On the elbows and armpits, it is like a snake coiled up on a couch. Its shape is not prosperous, but its intention is to kill people!"
However, he did not ask all the troops to go north. Instead, he ordered Jushou and Bao Xin to organize the army in Zhuoxian County, restrain the troops, and at the same time convey the news of Cao Cao's assumption of office to the rest of the troops. He led Chunyu Qiong, Xia Houyuan, Zhu Ling, Shi Huan and other generals, united his tribe of about ten thousand people, and marched to Jundu Mountain.
Even though he had the intention of killing the enemy with one blow, Cao Cao was not going fast along the way. He ordered his subordinates to take off their armor and leave them in Zhuoxian County. Then they put away their swords, bows and arrows, and threw them into the carriages. Then they pushed the baggage and led the pack horses, openly holding the banner of Yuan Jun, and served six times a day. Heading north at a speed of ten miles. The distance that the cavalry could reach in half a day with a fast horse actually took two days to cover.
But in this way, from the outside, this group of troops moving trailers and horses did not seem to have any murderous intentions. Instead, they looked like the scattered soldiers that could be seen everywhere in Youyan after Yuan Shao's death. The farmers passing by looked at them and said: Since this group of people is heading north, they are probably going north to join Gongsun Du's troops! Because of their large number, many scattered soldiers gathered and wanted to accompany Cao Cao.
When the news reached Gongsun Du's ears, he was still having dinner in the military capital.
He asked the scout: "It is said that a large group of people have come. Are they well-armed?"
The scout replied: "Many of the people are wearing cloth clothes and straw shoes, and don't have much armor. They have some weapons, but not many. They only have horses and flags, which are in good order."
Gongsun Du said "Oh" and no longer took it to heart. He clapped his hands and called his brother Gongsun Gu and asked him to go there to discuss the recruitment matters.
He himself had more important things to do.
The first thing is to contact Gongsun Du. After Yuan Shao's death, Liaodong Gongsun's attitude changed again. Once Gongsun Du returns to the court again, the troubles in Youzhou will basically be settled. Therefore, Duan Xuan had already talked with Gongsun Du before. As long as he could persuade Liaodong to surrender, he would be the first to be rewarded for his merits on the North Road.
In addition, Gongsun Du actually has some selfish motives. He was quite envious when he heard that when Longyou surrendered, the imperial court had given him the power to seize territory, expropriate prefectures, and exempt counties. When he discussed this matter with his old relatives, someone suggested that it would be better to follow Han Sui's example and seize Guangyang before sending troops to occupy Yuyang and Peiping before the chaos was over. Then he can use his own strength to demand power from the imperial court. This made Gongsun Du very excited. He had been planning this matter recently and had no intention of doing anything else.
At this time, there was suddenly some noise outside the city. Although it was as thin as the sound of wind in the ears, it was obvious that the chaos outside the city was by no means a trivial matter. Gongsun Du stood up and listened for a while, then quickly called a few Cangtou back and asked them to see what happened.
While waiting for the reward, the hustle and bustle outside the city did not subside at all, but became more and more intense. This made Gongsun Du notice a lot of strange things, and he decided to issue a military order to summon the two thousand knights stationed in the city. When the knights were gathering, Cangtou finally reported: the new soldiers outside the city had some of their baggage taken away by the old soldiers, and then the two armies began to fight, which may not be easy to solve.
After listening to the description, Gongsun Du could almost imagine the scene outside the city, which naturally made him feel a little discouraged. He thought to himself: How can such a ragtag group of people accomplish anything? Just concentrate on serving the court!
So Gongsun Du ordered all the elite soldiers and horses in the city to open the city gate and march out majestically from the avenue. He himself rode in front of the soldiers and horses, showing his identity with a silver-white armor, hoping to use this to make the scattered soldiers outside the city break up. Sure enough, as soon as Gongsun Du appeared, most of the soldiers scattered and retreated, not daring to make any more trouble.
But as soon as he came out of the city gate, Cao Cao also saw him. While creating the dispute, they had quietly gathered hundreds of horses together, and the soldiers quietly took out the swords and swords in the baggage. When Gongsun Du led the crowd to this direction, Cao Cao shouted loudly and rushed out with Dian Wei, Xu Zhu, Cao Ren and other ten cavalrymen. After they rushed a few dozen steps, the tiger and leopard cavalry played their trumpets. With a sound, he rode his horse and followed closely behind. The long cold light seemed to rise out of thin air, and before anyone could prepare, it had already pierced into the flesh and blood of many people.
Before Gongsun Du's elite could engage in battle, they were overwhelmed by the scattered soldiers. Even though Cao Cao's troops were not wearing armor and could not fight Gongsun Du head-on, they only had to keep driving away the scattered soldiers and turn them into a rushing line. The strong current from the north quickly overwhelmed the defenses of the military capital.
It only took about an hour for Cao Cao to successfully capture the city. Gongsun Du was pushed off his mount and fell into the crowd before the first wave of rout. He knew it was hard for him to survive, so he lost all hope and cut his own neck with a knife. When people identified the body after the war, they found that his body had been trampled beyond recognition. If it hadn't been for the silver armor, no one would have guessed that it was the body of Gongsun Du of Yanbei.
After a battle in the military capital, Cao Cao returned victorious, beheading thousands of people and taking tens of thousands of prisoners. But what greeted him in Zhuoxian was the news that Xiahou Dun had been captured and Yanzhou was in rebellion.
