Yang Xiu's death was not a simple matter of being misled by his cleverness. There were very complicated reasons behind it.
It involves the factional struggle between the noble families in the North, the succession struggle within Cao Wei, and Cao Cao's own choice of the Cao family's future path. But in the final analysis, the trigger is indeed the "tasteless" one.
But was Yang Xiu really dead unjustly? !
The superior himself did not say anything, and the subordinates made the decision for the superior more and more. In such a sensitive place in the military, Yang Xiu's death was not unjust at all.
This time, Yang Xiu, you guessed correctly that the "chicken ribs" command was a hint to retreat, but what about next time? !
Is it possible that next time there is a password for "Yazhen", you Yang Xiu analyzed that this is Cao Cao's authorization for everyone to seduce the emperor, and everyone has to follow you into the Chinese army's tent? !
Cao Cao might have laughed it off in other places, but in such a sensitive place in the military, Yang Xiu had no choice but to die.
After killing Yang Xiu, Cao Cao retreated.
Cao Cao first ordered Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu to lead troops to garrison Chencang Road and continue to block Zhang Fei and Ma Chao's attack, but he called Cao Hong back.
Then, Cao Cao led the army, along with Xu Huang, Guo Huai, Du Xi and others, and slowly withdrew their troops. In mid-February, they completely withdrew from Hanzhong and retreated to Chang'an.
The Battle of Hanzhong is completely over.
In March of the 23rd year of Jian'an, Cao Cao returned to Chang'an and arranged for Cao Hong to guard Chang'an and command the troops of Yongliang. At the same time, he appointed Guo Huai as the governor of Liangzhou to prevent Liu Bei's group from attacking Liangzhou.
After doing this, Cao Cao led his troops from Wuguan into the Central Plains and stationed troops in Wancheng.
In Hanzhong, Liu Bei's group celebrated their victory over Cao Cao crazily, and the French who occupied Hanzhong were instigating Liu Bei to proclaim himself the king of Hanzhong.
But the pressure on Xiangfan's side was suddenly high.
In the land of Xiangfan, Cao Ren's 60,000-strong army seemed to be insufficient. Cao Cao then led nearly 100,000 soldiers who had just experienced the Battle of Hanzhong to Wancheng. The enemies Xiangfan had to face were at least 150,000. the crowd.
The entire Xiangfan army totaled only more than 40,000 defenders.
With this comparison of forces, even with a defensive system like Xiangfan and a world-famous general like Guan Yu, he would be really flustered.
Guan Yu didn't even dare to continue stationing troops outside, for fear of being divided and surrounded by Cao Cao, and eating them one by one. He quickly led some soldiers to station in Fancheng, and ordered other soldiers to get on the ship and return to Xiangyang. He used Xiangyang as his base camp and cruised along the Han River, ready to support Fancheng at any time. .
Cao Ren and other generals outside Fancheng learned that Cao Cao had come to Wancheng in person, and they immediately did not dare to neglect. Cao Ren went to Wancheng in person to explain the current battle situation, while the Fancheng soldiers were temporarily handed over to Commander Zhang Liao.
When Cao Ren arrived in Wancheng, he complained for a while - it's not that he didn't want to fight, it was just that he couldn't afford the loss. There was no guarantee that he would be able to win.
Cao Cao knew the Xiangfan integrated defense system very well. After all, he had a share of the credit for this set of things. It was originally designed to fight against Guan Yu, but now he has to deal with the defense line he designed. .
This gave Cao Cao an even bigger headache. It was a real headache, and Cao Cao had another headache.
Since the withdrawal of troops from Hanzhong, Cao Cao's headache has been recurring. When he arrived in Wancheng, it became even more serious.
But the current situation cannot be ignored. Hanzhong has already given in, which means that Liu Bei has a barrier to defend Yizhou. It is already impossible to attack Liu Bei in the short term.
If Xiangfan gave in again, Cao Cao would not dare to think about it.
From now on, Liu Bei will basically hit him wherever he wants, but Cao Cao, sitting in the hinterland of Hebei and the Central Plains, has to be passively beaten everywhere. What is this? !
Cao Cao held on to his strength and decided to conquer Xiangfan himself. But he failed in the end.
Cao Cao, who was suffering from a headache and having difficulty even getting out of bed, had to temporarily give up the idea of leading the army personally and ordered Cao Ren to regain control of Xiangfan no matter what the cost.
After receiving this order, Cao Ren quickly returned to the front line of Fancheng and began to command his soldiers to attack the city regardless of casualties.
At the same time, Cao Ren strictly ordered the craftsmen in the army to work hard to build a thunderbolt chariot. Our thunderbolt chariot is not as good as the opposite catapult, but at least it is still useful for the city wall.
If our quality is not good, we will win with quantity.
If you can destroy twenty of my Thunderbolt Chariots, then I will build forty, eighty, or even a hundred to hit your wall.
As soon as Cao Ren became fierce, the pressure on Zhang Xi increased.
You must know that Cao Ren has the advantage of troops after all. There are 60,000 people in front of him, and there are 80,000 or 90,000 reinforcements behind him. If he really has to fight for his life, Zhang Xi is really worried about whether he can hold it.
In addition, Cao Ren built a large number of thunderbolt chariots. Although they were a little rough due to the rush of time, and their range and accuracy were extremely unstable, they were so numerous that Zhang Xi would always be able to attack the opponent even if he piled catapults on the city wall. There were moments where things were missed, there were times when stones were thrown onto the city walls by thunderbolt chariots.
As time goes by, it’s hard to say how long this city wall can last.
Now Zhang Xi's only comfort is that Guan Yu has now retreated to the city, which gives Zhang Xi a lot of confidence to guard.
At least so far, Cao's army has not attacked the city wall, and the defense line is basically stable.
Moreover, with Guan Yu commanding inside the city, Zhang Xi only needs to pay attention to the battle situation on the city wall. Guan Yu will control some of the siege equipment outside the city and when it is necessary to go out to fight.
With Guan Yu's keenness and ability to control the battlefield, the time he chose to leave the city would only be better than Zhang Xi's choice.
Although the two people did not say it explicitly, they roughly divided the work according to this tacit understanding. One was responsible for the wall and the other was responsible for the field.
But Cao Ren's side is not easy to deal with either.
Cao Ren personally directed the soldiers to attack, and he personally went to the front line to supervise the battle. He held a shield with his own hands and stood on the front line to command the battle and boost morale despite the threat of stones.
Zang Ba, on the other hand, was responsible for the unified dispatch of Xuzhou soldiers, arranging siege batches, and paying attention to the protection of the flanks.
Zhang Liao didn't have to do anything. He led the remaining 10,000 cavalrymen in Cao Ren's army to roam around the outside of the battlefield. As long as he saw Guan Yu leaving the city to fight in the field, he would quickly attack and surround him. He didn't want to kill Guan Yu, but he also wanted to kill and injure Fancheng's army as much as possible. There is strength to reduce Fancheng's defense capabilities.
For a time, the two armies of Cao and Liu launched a protracted tug-of-war under Fan City.
The battle lasted for half a month, until Cao Ren's attack was a little weak, and Guan Yu's side had already lost two groups of reinforcements from Xiangyang, and then it slowly stopped.
The losses on both sides were considerable. There were corpses everywhere under the walls of Fancheng, some of which were even mutilated. The attack was so brutal that both sides did not even have time to collect the corpses.
In more than ten days of siege battles, Cao Ren's army suffered casualties of more than 14,000 people, but the only thing that made Cao Ren happy was that only more than 6,000 of them were killed, and the remaining 8,000 people were injured, and most of them were injured. It's an arrow wound.
There was no way, Cao's army was suppressed by the arrow rain from the defenders during the attack. It is very normal to have many arrow wounds, and most of these injuries are not fatal. After a little bandage and rest, they can attack the city again.
In Fancheng, Liu Bei's army also suffered more than 4,000 casualties, of which more than 2,000 were killed in action, and nearly 2,000 were injured, with a casualty ratio of half.
But the injuries suffered by the defenders were basically caused during the battle for the city wall. They were usually knife wounds. Knife wounds were rarely minor injuries.
This is also the reason why Guan Yu had to transfer two reinforcements from Xiangyang even though there were only more than 4,000 injured in Fancheng. The injured soldiers could not continue to fight in the defense of the city. They had to withdraw to the rear to rest and re-enter the battle in the future. The possibility is not too great.
The battle situation under Fancheng has temporarily entered a deadlock again.
Cao Ren wanted to attack, but now he was a little weak in attacking. Although there were more lightly wounded soldiers in the army, these soldiers also needed a good rest before they could fight again. After being unable to attack for a long time, the morale of the army was also somewhat low.
Another one. After Cao Cao's condition improved a little, he visited the front line of Fancheng in person.
Cao Ren did not expect Cao Cao's arrival at all, and what Cao Ren did not expect was that Cao Cao came with dozens of cavalry guards this time and did not bring an army.
What does this mean? In fact, Cao Ren already knows it in his heart, but Cao Ren is not very smart. Even if he guesses it, he will not take the initiative to say it.
After Cao Cao led dozens of cavalry to the front line of Xiangfan, he immediately sent an envoy to Fancheng without saying a word, saying that he wanted to talk to Guan Yu in front of the formation.
To be honest, Guan Yu really didn't expect that Cao Cao would come in person, let alone that Cao Cao would actually invite him to have a talk in front of the battle. This matter can be done or not.
It can be done because Guan Yu is magnanimous. Even if Cao Cao uses villain tricks, Guan Yu is not afraid.
But he didn't do it because Guan Yu was now guarding one side and couldn't betray his elder brother's trust. There were some things that his elder brother didn't need to blame, but Guan Yu couldn't help but pay attention to them.
Furthermore, if Cao Cao, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, invited him to talk to Guan Yu, maybe Guan Yu would go, but now this is the King of Wei.
Since the White Horse Oath, there have been no kings with different surnames in the Han Dynasty. All kings with different surnames are rebellious and traitors to the Han Dynasty.
To be honest, Guan Yu's feelings towards Cao Cao are very complicated. There is a side of gratitude, but at the same time, there is also a side of hatred. Especially from the moment Cao Cao broke through the boundaries of the Han Dynasty Prime Minister and established himself as the Duke of Wei, Guan Yu's feelings for Cao Cao That little bit of goodwill has basically returned to zero.
Now, Guan Yu is entrusted by his elder brother Liu Bei to defend Xiangfan and defend Jingzhou. You, Cao Cao, a national traitor, actually asked to meet. Are you really not afraid that I will kill you with a knife? !
Well, even if he really asked the second master to cut him, he probably wouldn't be able to do it. But meeting, it's really not a suitable proposal.
In particular, Guan Yu looked at Zhang Xi subconsciously, and at the same time, he handed Cao Cao's letter to Zhang Xi openly.
Zhang Xi looked at Guan Yu inexplicably at first and didn't understand what Guan Yu was hesitating about. After reading the letter, he understood. What's this? !
If Guan Yu had surrendered to Cao, he would have surrendered long ago. How could he still be in this situation today? !
Thinking about it more carefully, Cao Cao came to the front line in person, but did not bring any reinforcements. It is conceivable that this man was definitely not here to persuade Guan Yu to surrender.
Most likely, I came here to meet an old friend.
After all, based on their positions and their current ages, the chances of seeing each other again are already very few.
There is nothing to hesitate about.
Zhang Xi didn't wait for Guan Yu's reaction and said directly to the envoy, "Please tell me, my lord, that at noon tomorrow, outside the north gate of Fancheng, between the two armies, Xi and Guan Junhou will prepare a banquet to entertain Duke Cao."
The messenger heard this, took the promise and left.
Just because Guan Yu was confused, why didn't I say that I agreed to meet him? !
(End of chapter)
