It is said that after Cao Hong was defeated at Dingtao City, he led his remaining troops to flee in panic to Chenliu County, and then personally went to Cao Cao's Xingyang camp to plead guilty. At this time, Cao Cao was frustrated at Hulao Pass and was full of dissatisfaction. When he learned that Cao Hong had lost the army due to drinking, he was immediately angry and dismissed his military post on the spot, leaving him only as a knight in the tent. He informed the entire army of the matter. This strictly prohibits officers at all levels from drinking privately.
But in private, Cao Cao and his military adviser Guo Jia lamented: "Although Zi Lian does not have great wisdom, he is experienced in battles, has great courage, and is unmatched by others. Unexpectedly, he was defeated by Zang Ziyuan in a single battle. I still remember. Back then when Suizao took the oath, everyone refused and did not dare to take the oath, but it was Zang Ziyuan who shed his blood and advocated it. His voice was so strong that it was as if it was in my ears. From then on, I looked at him differently, but unexpectedly I still looked down on him!"
Guo Jia sensed something was wrong in Cao Cao's words, and immediately reminded him: "Does Mr. Ming love talents? However, Zang Ziyuan lives in an isolated city, but he can observe integrity and fulfill his duties. He is not someone to be recruited."
When Cao Cao saw that Guo Jia had seen through his thoughts, he laughed to cover it up, and then pointed at the map with his finger and said, "What Feng Xiao said is true. It's just that Dingtao endangers the food road, so we have to do it. In your opinion, who should be sent?" "
Guo Jia thought carefully for a moment and replied: "We can send General Zhengnan to defeat it." General Zhengnan was Cao Ren, who was in charge of the war in Yingchuan at this time.
Cao Cao frowned slightly when he heard this and asked: "After Zixiao was transferred away, what happened to Yingchuan?"
Guo Jia replied: "The Yingchuan side is just trying to contain the situation and is not in a hurry. Ming Gong should first pacify Tao and then Yingchuan."
Cao Cao also raised his forehead and sighed: "That's right. Apart from Zixiao, I'm afraid no one can say that victory will be won." So he sent a letter to Cao Ren, ordering him to lead 30,000 soldiers under his command to attack Dingtao quickly, and at the same time, lead them from Puyang Transshipped grain and grass. As for Cao Hong's remaining troops, Cao Anmin was responsible for attacking Tao.
Cao Ren was a steady man, but he was vigorous and resolute in his affairs. He led the vanguard back to Xinzheng on the same day, assigned relevant tasks to his subordinates, and decamped to return to the army the next day. On the thirteenth day, Cao Ren had traveled more than four hundred miles and camped in the east of Yuanju City, only fifty miles away from Dingtao.
At this time, outside Dingtao City, Zang Hong not only bulldozed all the mountains outside the city, but also took advantage of the opportunity to clear out a trench and build a six-foot-high and five-foot-thick low wall around the city gate. The low wall was just within the arrow range of the city wall defenders but not too far away from the city gate. This had a miraculous effect in preventing Cao's army from piling up mountains of earth near the city.
When Cao Ren led his army to the city again and saw the complete fortifications, he couldn't help reining in his horse and said in shock: "What a Zang Ziyuan! If we don't eliminate it, how can we pacify Henan!" He immediately surrounded the city on three sides and began to attack the city.
In the first two days, Cao Ren first used pointed wooden donkeys to transport troops, trying to climb over the trench and collapse the low wall. However, the pointed-headed wooden donkey moves too slowly. Although it can avoid arrows, it cannot attack during transportation. When the Han soldiers saw the pointed-headed wooden donkeys approaching, they would often climb over the low wall and use long poles with hooks and knives attached to them to cut the ankles of Cao soldiers. Cao's soldiers held up wooden donkeys and had no time to resist. As a result, they only injured three or four people. Most of Cao's soldiers could not support the weight of the wooden donkeys, so they turned around and abandoned the wood and ran away. Even if a small number of people can get close to the low wall, they will inevitably face the dilemma of being outnumbered, so the effect will be little. ….
Seeing this, Cao Ren had no choice but to change his strategy. He listened to the advice of his subordinate Lu Zhao and stopped using wooden donkeys. Instead, he pulled more than 30 stone carts from Xingyang and concentrated them on the west side of the city, intending to use this to Break through the low wall. In order to protect the chariot formation, Cao Ren also lined up his infantry around him and slowly defended them forward.
Although Cao Cao used a stone chariot to defeat Gengcang when he conquered Fenggao, to the Han army guards in the city, it was just a rumor. As for seeing it with their own eyes, this was the first time. When they saw the stone car approaching slowly, they didn't understand what kind of equipment it was. They just thought it was a new weapon for Cao's army to transport troops. It was not until the stone-shooting cart was positioned on the opposite side of the trench and hit the stone that the Han soldiers finally woke up, but it was too late.
More than thirty stone-discharging carts fired stones at the same time. At first, there was no sound in the wind, and there was no sharp sound of arrows piercing the air. But when the stones fell vertically like flying stars, there was a roaring sound, and even the ground shook repeatedly. In the first round of rolling stones, not many hit the low wall. Some of the rolling stones fell into the trench, some fell behind the low wall, and two hit the low-lying soldiers. The middle part of the body was rotten and bloody. Bile flowed freely, making the guards feel frightened and trembled all over. When the stone was fired again, Cao Jun adjusted
He aimed straight at the low wall and instantly opened several gaps in it, but no Han soldiers dared to step forward. When the officers and soldiers of Cao's army saw this, their morale was greatly boosted and they cheered for joy. Cao Ren was also relieved. After two more rounds of stone firing, several large gaps had been broken through the low wall in the west of the city. Cao Ren ordered his soldiers to go forward and drive away the Han soldiers, completely knocking down the low wall.
However, just as Cao Jun opened up his front line and advanced forward like flying geese, suddenly there was a sound of gongs from the south, and a group of Han soldiers suddenly emerged from the woods in the southeast corner of the city. They formed a group and rushed towards Cao Jun. Cao Jun did not expect that there would be an enemy attack on the flanks, so the positions of the wingers were extremely scattered. Hundreds of Han soldiers rushed like this and immediately killed the unprepared Cao Jun to pieces. Cao Jun tried to turn around to meet the enemy, but the city gate suddenly opened wide, and hundreds of cavalry galloped out through the gap created by the stone carts, completely disrupting Cao Jun's formation. They rushed straight to the stone cart and quickly threw down the torches and pines. Nearly half of the stone carts were burned. Cao Ren had no choice but to lead his army to barely protect the remaining stone carts and hurriedly retreated to the camp in defeat.
Late at night, Cao Ren took people to inspect the woods and found that the Han army had dug a tunnel here, but it had been buried by the Han army. While Cao Ren ordered people to cut down the surrounding trees, he and Lu Zhao laughed at themselves: "Zi Lian suffered a loss beforehand, but I suffered another loss. Zang Ziyuan is brave, careful, loyal and righteous. He is really an outstanding person! It seems that he is a great person!" It will not be easy to capture this city!"
Guo Tu, the accompanying staff member, heard this and smiled calmly: "Since a frontal attack is not possible, why doesn't the general use an ingenious trick to lure him out of the city?"
Cao Ren didn't know why, and after lingering for two moments, he handed over his hands to Guo Tu and asked for advice: "What is the plan of 'huddle, sir? Please elaborate."
Guo Tu said: "The so-called 'huddle' is just to follow his fancy and confuse his mind! Since Zang Ziyuan relies on his loyalty, he naturally cares most about Chen Tingjian's actions. The general might as well send someone to pretend to be Chen Tingjian's envoy and claim to have reinforcements to the west. Come and call him to lead his army to break out of the encirclement and join him. The general led his troops to the west suddenly, leaving a mess in the camp and making an unbearable appearance. In fact, he set up an ambush on the road. Once Zang Hong leaves the city, the general will definitely win!" ….
"That's right," Cao Ren nodded when he heard this, "It's just that Zang Ziyuan and Chen Tingjian are good friends. They are so familiar with each other. I'm afraid it would be difficult to deceive him with ordinary words, right?"
Unexpectedly, Guo Tu was prepared and said to him with a smile: "Have you forgotten, General? I am also from Yingchuan! Chen Tingjian has been friends with my family for generations, and I also have many of his childhood handwritings, imitating his notes and vocabulary. , couldn't be easier." After saying that, he took out a roll of yellow silk from his arms, which was the kind used by the imperial court to convey secret messages from the military and the state.
Cao Ren took it and unfolded it. The content above was as Guo Tu said, saying that he was leading his army to Gucheng and was about to arrive at Luoyang. He decided that Tao Shou was useless and hoped that Zang Hong would break through and rush to Xinzheng. At the end of the yellow silk, there is a seal of Sili Xiaowei.
Cao Ren was overjoyed when he saw this. He smiled at Guo Tu and said, "Unexpectedly, sir, you have already made arrangements!" But he immediately had doubts and asked, "Where did this seal come from? Is there anything wrong with it?"
Guo Tu raised his hand and whispered to him: "When Yuan Shijun took office as the commander of the Sili School, he secretly prepared some stamped yellow silk without words. After he was assassinated, I got a few. It’s the right time to use it here!”
After hearing this, Cao Ren's last doubts dissipated. He nodded and said, "If this battle is successful, sir, you will have achieved seven successes!"
Let's say that on the second day, Cao Ren sent out four men, pretending to be court envoys, and rode lightly around to the east of the unguarded city, and went straight to the low wall to call the door. The soldiers in front of the low wall were originally quite suspicious, but after seeing the seal behind the yellow silk, they had no doubts and immediately opened the city gate and welcomed the four people into the city.
Cao Ren sent people to watch from a distance and reported the news of the city's entry as soon as possible. After Guo Tude heard about it, he smiled at Cao Ren and said, "This plan is half done. The general can prepare to move his troops to set up an ambush." Cao Ren nodded. yes.
While he was conveying orders to the officers of various ministries, someone from outside the camp came to report: "General, an envoy was sent to the city to ask for an audience. It is said that the general sent envoys to send greetings. They should also return the courtesy according to the rules." After hearing this, Cao Ren and Guo Tu looked at each other in confusion, and finally said : "Let him in!"
But I saw a man in a cloth shirt holding a box and walked calmly into the tent. When he met Cao Ren, he first saluted solemnly, and then told himself his identity. He turned out to be Lei Shang, a poor man from Dingtao City, and finally opened the wooden letter he brought.
. As soon as the cover of the letter was opened, the surrounding people were immediately dazzled. It turned out that the letter contained the heads of the four people who had entered the city before.
Lei Shang said to Cao Ren at this time: "Although I don't know how your army can imitate Longshou's handwriting and seal, you can't imitate Longshou's mind. My master and Longshou are in love with each other and share the same aspirations. I know that he will never end up in such a mess. , so I will take the heads of these four people and order them to be returned to your army."
After that, he bowed to Cao Ren three times and walked out slowly, ignoring the crowds of soldiers around him. Someone took advantage of the situation and threatened to cut off Lei Shang's head. Lei Shang was unmoved and sarcastically said: "You bully the few with the crowd, does it count as your skill if you kill me?"
When Cao Ren heard this, he felt admiration in his heart and waved his hand to order the soldiers to retreat. After Lei Shang left, he looked at the heads in the letter and couldn't help but sigh to Guo Tuchang: "The five virtues of a general are wisdom, trust, benevolence, courage, and strictness. Zang Ziyuan possesses all of them, and he is truly a famous general in the world! Ren is not as good as kindness. also."
Chen Ruicong
