The reason why Liu Bei dared to march straight in like no one else was because he had taken advantage of Cao Cao's lack of troops.
After the defeat, Cao Cao had only 20,000 soldiers and horses, and his military morale was extremely low. After joining forces with the Qingzhou County soldiers, they were able to increase their numbers to about 40,000. In Xuzhou, there were only less than 10,000 soldiers and horses to defend themselves. Under such circumstances, Cao Cao ordered Xia Houyuan to lead ten thousand people to defend Donglai, and then led most of the troops to rest in Linzi. He was unable to organize a defense line in the Dahe or Jishui areas in a short period of time. This gave Liu Bei an opportunity to take advantage of it, and with lightning speed, he broke through to Linzi City in one breath.
After personally leading 20,000 cavalry and stationed in the north of Linzi City, Liu Bei took a short rest and then issued a large-scale appeal to Qingzhou counties, boasting about his martial arts. The essay was written by Wang Can, who had just transferred to his subordinates. The full text is as follows:
"The royal family is under the control of the emperor, and the light is worthy of heaven, but Qi and Ju are the only ones who stand in the way of the teachings.
The head of state had the intention of stopping the war, and ordered him to kill Bo's chariot, so he released the land in the middle of the country, which is a metaphor for survival. Although Jiajia has long-term plans, love begins on his own, and he stops fighting and calms the people in order to seek peace.
Cao Cao was a son of a prince, he was a self-proclaimed son, he trusted Wu and Yue from afar, relied on treachery, rebelled against the master and established the distinction between monarch and ministers, and pretended to be brothers, how could it be said that he was ungrateful, and eventually became difficult to raise, easy to worry about his enemies, and personally sought to fight. He was full of provocations and evil, but he had no support. At that time, he killed Yuan Shao. He immediately believed that the capital was Fu and fled to Sou, where he lived in Hebei. He deceived the people with his sweet words and entered the country to disrupt the country. It is obvious that the ambition of the wolf is restrained.
After Cao Cao eunuched, he was attacked by a storm, slaughtered Qi and Lu with blood, and built the capital to serve as a high official. Although the imperial court cannot bear the suffering of the people, but wants to reward and punish the prince, he should be in charge of a state, a city, and thousands of families. But Zhou Zhang turned his back and kept draping himself away. It was in vain, and his intention was also visible. However, the country is in many difficulties, and now Huairen has made it possible for his power to be treacherous, and the times are convenient. However, heaven and earth have their destiny, and there is always prosperity and adversity. Today, I have inherited the great power in Xijing, and Yan has promoted Zhangwu, but the east wind has not competed, and the sky has conquered. Cao Cao, the leader of the army, is in Xindu. The old thief is treacherous and will fall again.
Nowadays, Cao Cao's eunuch is obsessed with being a traitor, especially because he has a big dream. He wants to use Linzi as a base to bring disaster to Jizhou again. But what are the people to blame? The Chu State was destroyed, and the disaster spread to the trees, the city gates were on fire, and the fish in the ponds were affected. He sent the scholars of Jiang and Huai, and the figures of Qing and Xu to die under the stone, and died in the mist and dew.
Cao Cao, the Marshal of the puppet dynasty, had no known conduct, was good at taking risks, shot birds to judge his merits, and rowed boats to prove his strength. He was already old, and he was an old general. If you use it, you will abandon the good prescription, discard the establishment and lose the place, be pretentious and move the vulgarity, dress up the wisdom and frighten the fool, fill the heart with poisonous stings, indulge in precepts in vain, be impetuous and compete with the chest, and treat the wrong things to be pure. Disasters are coming from above, resentments are rising from below, everyone is tired of suffering, every family is confused, the frost is gradually coming, and the ice is coming. Pass on dangerous and impetuous customs, and let the descendants of frivolous people. The road to cronyism is open, but military power is difficult to grasp. It will bring disaster to the flesh and blood, provoke the belly and heart, charge the city with a strong crossbow, and point the sword at the palace; just explore the sparrows and grebes, but there is no way to save the emptiness of the house, and ask the bear in vain to delay the order carved by the sun. It collapsed externally and internally, but now it is the right time.
The snipe and the clam are at odds with each other, and I take advantage of their disadvantages. Fang sent his swift cavalry to chase the wind, and his fine armor to shine in the sun, four or seven in a row, millions of people in a group, in the shape of turning stones, with the force of breaking bamboos. When Mount Tai crosses the river, the green cover reaches Qi, thorns grow in the palace of Linzi, and elk swim in the palace of Jimo. But I am afraid that leather chariots will trample upon them, swords and cavalry will trample them, qizi will be toppled, and bamboo arrows will destroy them. If a famous scholar from Qilu, a descendant of a sage, returns to the army and appoints an official, he will immediately be given the rank of guest minister and be given the title of Purple Gold. All gentlemen wish for good fortune. "
This memorandum was full of literary talent and fully demonstrated Liu Bei's determination to defeat Cao Cao. Therefore, Liu Bei admired it very much. After reading it, he immediately promoted Wang Can to be the crown prince, hoping that he could assist Liu Xie in the future. Soon afterwards, 130,000 troops from the rear also rushed to Linzi. The army camp surrounded the huge city of Linzi. The camp crossed the Guishan Mountain from the river canal. From a distance, the flags were overwhelming and the city of Linzi looked like an isolated island in the ocean.
When the surrounding counties and counties learned of the situation, they were all frightened and sent envoys to Liu Bei's tent to investigate the situation. Liu Bei was not embarrassed, he talked and comforted them one by one, and released them again. He discussed the matter with the generals and said: "The people of Qingzhou have been in contact with our army for many years. Although they have blood feuds, they have no righteous indignation and must be resolved in a royal way. The armies must not involve the common people in their actions and disturb the hearts of our people. Anyone who violates the rules will be killed!" "
Although the Western Dynasty's army was stationed under Linzi City at that time, the Jiaodong Plain, Tai Valley Valley and Xuzhou River Network were still under the control of the Eastern Dynasty. Xia Houyuan was stationed in Huangxian at this time, while Cao Zhen stayed in Xiami. The two sides urgently transferred a group of ships and sailors from Liaodong via sea transportation, which could be enough to maneuver the boats to harass the rear of the Western Army in an emergency. It was like two nails. On the back of the Western Army. Fa Zheng's plan was to besiege Linzi first and extirpate the two cities before making plans to attack the city. Especially when it was advantageous, it only took one day and night to sail the boat to Jishui, which was hard to guard against. At this time, the Western Army was unable to create a naval force that could compete with it in a short period of time.
Moreover, the Western Dynasty had long known about the Sun-Cao alliance. Although there were not many Eastern soldiers and horses in Xuzhou, Sun Quan might not have sent people from Xuzhou north to help after getting the news, so as to attack the Western army from both inside and outside. From this perspective, the Western Army should also send troops to invade Dongguan and occupy Muling Pass, the Qingxu important road, in order to prevent the Wu Army from reinforcing it.
Liu Bei discussed with Guan Yu and other generals and believed that the Western Army had a clear military advantage. Even if they divided their forces to attack Mulingguan, Huangxian, and Xiami at the same time, they would still have room to spare. Therefore, the troops were divided into three groups: Liu Bei led 70,000 troops to guard Linzi City, General Guan Yu led 30,000 troops to attack Xiami and Huang counties, and Yuan Tan led 30,000 troops to overthrow Muling Pass so that they could not join forces. , unable to rescue each other.
After Guan Yu received the order, he immediately stationed in Juxian County and recruited supplies with great fanfare from the surrounding areas. He said that after collecting the supplies for the siege, he would slowly attack Xiami. After Cao Zhen heard the news, he was very nervous. He led his troops to fortify the walls and clear the fields, and built city ultimatums on the city towers in order to defend the city for a long time and repel the enemy. After waiting until the day Guan Yu agreed to send troops, Cao Zhen sent someone to inquire about the news. When he learned that Guan Yu had already left the camp, he immediately prepared a formation in the city. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a whole day, Guan Yu did not come to attack the city at all.
At dusk, Cao Zhen suddenly turned pale with fright. He hurriedly called a confidant and said: "Guan Yunchang is bluffing and saying that he is coming to lay secrets, but he has not come. I am afraid that he is going to the east and the west and heading straight to Huang County! Hurry up!" Go quickly and inform the Xiahou Envoy to be more careful." Knowing that the matter was urgent, he immediately took two horses and rushed to Huang County. As a result, he happened to bump into Guan Yu's troops near Yangqiu Mountain, and was immediately seen by the Han soldiers. If something goes wrong, he will be captured alive. When Guan Yu heard the news about Cao Zhen, he couldn't help stroking his beard and said with a smile: "The Cao family has many thousand-mile horses, but it's a pity that they are a little slow in wisdom!"
This is often the case on the battlefield. If you are slow, you will lose everything. Because Guan Yu had the upper hand, he finally broke into the hinterland of Donglai County between Jimo and Jiaodong, and successfully reached Xia Houyuan's city. At this time, Xiahou Yuan was recruiting shipping supplies outside the city. There was no general in charge of the city, so the city gates were wide open. When they saw Guan Yu's army, the soldiers of the Eastern Army were in chaos. The generals in the city did not dare to take responsibility, so they abandoned the city and fled, leaving Huang County to the Western Army. But Guan Yu had quite a lot of cavalry under his command. Upon seeing this, they galloped into pursuit. How could the Easterners escape? In the blink of an eye, it turned into a hunter chasing the prey. After being unable to run for a few miles, most of the Easterners were overtaken by Qingqi. After leaving behind dozens of corpses, most of the Easterners abandoned their troops and surrendered.
When Xia Houyuan heard the news, he was completely devastated, and the boat crew evacuated hastily to Changshan Island. Guan Yu also occupied Huang County. After he obtained the city, he calmly divided his troops to occupy Donglai County. Counties such as Muping, Dongmu, Changyang, and Qucheng all looked forward to the wind and descended. Guan Yu also carried out the strategy of searching for ships, redeemed all the ships of the people on the seaside, and then dragged them into the city to cut off the supplies at Xiahouyuan, and then returned leisurely. Army, then encircle the enemy tightly.
It was night, and the Westerners took turns to rest and attack the city overnight. First isolate the city wall from the rivers on both sides, and then raise the earth and mountains to level the city. At dawn the next day, the mountain was completed. The heavily armored sergeants went out to attack the city along the mountains. The flying arrows fell from the city, but the Westerners, with their thick armor, continued to carry arrows up. When the Westerners came to the city, they were met by the people in the city who greeted them with big sticks and hammers. Although the Westerners have heavy armor, they are not immune to casualties.
But the defenders couldn't help but the Westerners came in turn, and they fought fiercely for half a day. If there was a slight oversight, the Westerners had already occupied the city tower like ants, and then set fire to the archery tower. After the billowing black smoke rose, the defenders were confused and fled the city wall one after another, pouring out from the west gate. Cao Zhen also knew that the situation was over and had no choice but to lead his troops out of the city. Guan Yu sent out cavalry to chase and captured thousands of people. Cao Zhen had ships prepared in a secret place, so he luckily escaped with his life and led hundreds of people to meet Xiahou Yuan at sea.
In just a few days, the Western Army had already captured the coastal counties of Qingzhou, but on Yuan Tan's side, it reached a stalemate at Muling Pass.
Muling Pass is known as the most dangerous pass in Shandong, and it is not for nothing. This pass was built by King Mu of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It was built on Daxian Mountain in the east line of Yishan Mountain. Later, the Qi State repaired it. It connects Canghai to the east, Taidai to the west, Linzi to the north, and Xuhuai to the south. It is the first in the country. Important areas were repaired extensively. Although it was once abandoned since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the dangerous terrain has not changed at all, and Tao Qian and Yuan Xi have reinforced the place many times. But when Yuan Tan came, he had to attack head-on, and he seemed a little helpless.
Yuan Tan initially planned to build a mountain of earth, but the terrain of Guancheng was steep. Most of the city walls were built on the side of the cliff and could not be filled. The few flat parts made it easier for the defenders, so they only needed to join forces in one place to deal with it calmly. , many siege soldiers became living targets and were completely unable to advance. Yuan Tan also considered that the general guarding the city was his brother Yuan Xi, and he had some intention of persuading him to surrender, so he did not continue to attack by force. Instead, he built the city in the northern part of Guan, repairing the fortifications and facing the enemy. An archery letter was issued in the city to persuade him to surrender, but Yuan Xi remained unwavering, resulting in no progress in the offensive and defensive posture within ten days.
It was already the second month of spring in the third year of Zhang Wu. The grass was growing and orioles were flying, and the spring tide was surging. Lü Meng led 20,000 Jiangdong reinforcements and finally arrived at the Xuzhou battlefield. The transcoding has been serious recently, which makes us more motivated and updates faster. Please use your little hands to exit the reading mode. Thanks
