Cao Cao came to see his old friend and received two comments. He was as happy as a child and inevitably drank a few more drinks.
When he finally returned, Cao Cao was helped back to the military camp by Cao Ren.
Guan Yu and Zhang Xi were speechless for a while. Is this Cao Cao too ambitious to drink too much at such a party? !
Cao Cao had a good grasp of Guan Yu's temper and character, and knew that Guan Yu would not resort to tricks in such an aboveboard gathering.
In addition, Cao Cao did get two rare comments, which relieved some of the knots in his heart. He was happy and just drank a few more drinks.
After Cao Cao returned to camp, Zhang Xi and Guan Yu also returned to the city to rest.
But the next day, Cao Jun's attack began again.
This was indeed a bit beyond Zhang Xi and Guan Yu's expectations.
Originally, Zhang Xi and Guan Yu saw that Cao Cao had become so virtuous after drinking yesterday, and thought that Cao Cao would most likely choose to withdraw his troops. Unexpectedly, they still attacked the city today.
Fortunately, although the two defenders predicted that Cao Cao would withdraw his troops, they did not really let the soldiers relax their vigilance. Therefore, today's attack by Cao Cao's army still failed.
As for Cao Cao, he had indeed sobered up by this time, and under the protection of Cao Ren, he came to the front line to observe the progress of the siege.
After watching the siege for a whole day, Cao Cao finally understood Cao Ren's difficulty.
The Thunderbolt Chariot that traveled across Hebei back then was like a little brother under Fancheng City. It was either being smashed by others or being smashed on the road.
Although Cao Cao was far away and couldn't see the specific structure of the enemy's catapult, it could be seen that it was not controlled by manpower.
Human control cannot maintain range and accuracy for such a long time.
Therefore, continuing to attack rashly without understanding the structural principles of the enemy's catapults will only increase your own casualties in vain.
After watching the siege for a whole day, Cao Cao returned to camp and held a military meeting.
After the military meeting, Cao Cao himself went first and returned to Wancheng.
The remaining three generals, Cao Ren, Zhang Liao, and Zang Ba, were still confronting Zhang Xi and Guan Yu outside Fan City, but they did not launch another siege.
This confrontation lasted for about half a month.
In early March, Guan Yu and Zhang Xi, who were in Fancheng, received a battle report from Xiangyang City at the rear - Liu Bei sent Kou Feng to lead 10,000 troops to attack Shangyong, and the three eastern counties, dominated by Shangyong, were attacked by the Shen family. Under the leadership of the brothers, they all chose to surrender.
Liu Bei immediately ordered the military governor of the three eastern counties of Kou to be responsible for rescuing Xiangyang at any time.
At the same time, Cao Ren outside Fancheng began to slowly withdraw his troops.
Once the three eastern counties are connected, it means that Hanzhong can go down the Han River to support Xiangyang. The battlefields from Hanzhong to Xiangyang will be connected, and Xiangyang will no longer face a shortage of soldiers.
At this time, it was meaningless for Cao Ren to continue to confront Guan Yu and Zhang Xi in Fancheng.
What's more, Cao Cao had already given orders to Cao Ren, asking him to choose an opportunity to retreat.
Therefore, Cao Ren acted as ordered and slowly withdrew his troops to Wancheng, leaving Zhang Liao and 30,000 soldiers to guard Wancheng. Cao Ren went to Xudu alone and cooperated with Sima Yi in Xudu to guard Xudu. These three people mainly guarded against Guan Yu. The army can just go north from Xiangfan.
Zang Ba led the remaining Xuzhou soldiers back to defend Xuzhou, to guard against sneak attacks across the river from the east of the Yangtze River, and at the same time to coordinate the defense of the Huainan area.
In this way, the two battles from Hanzhong to Xiangfan finally came to a temporary halt.
Both sides were unable to launch the next round of offensive.
Regarding Hanzhong, Liu Bei's army defeated Cao Cao's logistical supplies. It was not that Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao in the front. Therefore, the Battle of Hanzhong was a battle that killed 10,000 enemies and suffered 8,000 losses, especially in terms of food and grass logistics. in this way.
Therefore, after the confrontation was over, Liu Bei had no spare time to develop in Guanzhong or Liangzhou.
In addition to dividing his troops to let Kou Feng attack the three eastern counties, Liu Bei's most important remaining plan was to appoint the governor of Hanzhong.
This appointment was beyond most people's expectations, but it was not beyond Zhang Xi's expectations - Wei Yan, a general who had just emerged when he entered Sichuan, rose through the ranks and finally took over the position of Hanzhong Prefect.
Wei Laofu finally achieved this position and became another army commander of Liu Bei Group.
Then, Liu Bei made sacrifices to heaven and earth in Hanzhong, and was advised by his ministers. He went to the imperial court and officially ascended the throne as King of Hanzhong.
In fact, to a certain extent, both Liu Bei and Cao Cao reached a point where they couldn't help themselves.
Even if you don't want to be the king, you have to be the king sometimes. What's more, these two may not really be unhappy in their hearts.
And Liu Bei at least has legal legitimacy compared to Cao Cao. After all, Liu Bei's surname is Liu, and he is a descendant of the Han Dynasty. He became king, but he did not destroy the tradition of "no one is king except Liu" established by Liu Bang.
Besides, Cao Cao has already become the king. If Liu Bei doesn't become the king, wouldn't he be nominally a generation younger than Cao Cao? !
Therefore, he must be king.
In addition, Liu Bei, who also has practical needs, can't always wear the hat of a leftist general and open a government to manage affairs, right? !
Now Liu Bei has a larger territory, more talents, and more people who have made meritorious deeds and are rewarded. He can't keep creating official positions and fooling around with things, right? !
Everyone will be dissatisfied.
Everyone fights against you Liu Bei for nothing more than two things, a name and a title.
Now there is no hope for the title of jue. After all, the emperor has to personally confer the title of Liu Bei, the king of Hanzhong, and it also requires a symbolic memorial to Xu Du.
Of course, whether the court agrees or disagrees is one thing, but you have to have this process.
But the name is different. The name can be fought for a little bit.
If Liu Bei was just a left general, then he could only divide so many auxiliary officers and assistant officers. Even if Liu Bei concurrently served as a Yizhou Mu, the positions that could be divided now have basically been divided.
Because Liu Bei's foundation was to "support the Han Dynasty", Liu Bei had to abide by the official regulations of the Han Dynasty and could not break through them at will, which caused a more troublesome problem.
Everyone has made great contributions, but there is no room for promotion, so they can only make do with some rewards.
This definitely won't work. Even Liu Bei knows that this won't work.
Therefore, Liu Bei must move his position upwards to make enough space so that he can grant officials and make wishes for everyone.
So since you want to lift them up, let's just lift them up a little higher. As for the clan members of the Han Dynasty, it's not too much to divide one's power and call them kings, right? !
In this way, with the recommendation of all the ministers, Liu Bei went through the process listed above, and then succeeded to the throne of Hanzhong.
The first thing he did when he became the King of Hanzhong was to make wishes for everyone to be promoted.
The first person to be sealed is the Quartet General.
In the official system of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the generals of the four directions were the most important generals after the generals, the generals of the cavalry, and the generals of the guards, and they had the rank of permanent generals.
The Four Expeditions and Four Towns are, in a strict sense, considered generals with temporary titles.
Today there is a rebellion in the west, then appoint a general to quell the rebellion. After returning to the court, this title will be revoked. This is the regular general system of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Of course, during the Three Kingdoms period, especially after Cao Cao normalized the Four Expeditions General, the Four Expeditions and Four Towns Generals became permanent generals with a higher rank than the Four Directions Generals.
But now, Liu Bei, the King of Hanzhong, still adheres to the official system of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The most important general rank below the King of Hanzhong is the General of the Four Directions.
Just like in history, Liu Bei made Guan Yu the former general, Huang Zhong the rear general, Ma Chao the left general, and Zhang Fei the right general.
By the way, among the four generals, only Huang Zhong does not have the right to take holidays, while the other three all have the right to take holidays.
In fact, there is nothing we can do about it.
Huang Zhong's battle on Dingjun Mountain to kill Xia Houyuan was of great help to the Battle of Hanzhong. It can basically be said that he was the biggest contributor to Liu Bei's victory in Hanzhong. Therefore, in terms of official positions, Huang Zhong must occupy a place among the four generals.
But Huang Zhong's qualifications are really incomparable to the other three.
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were both Liu Bei's disciples and Liu Bei's sworn brothers. They themselves had great military exploits, so Liu Bei felt very relieved.
Although Liu Bei was worried about Ma Chao, he had the highest title and official position when he came here, and his ancestors were from a famous family. After Fubo General Ma Yuan, his social status was high, so it was reasonable to give him a holiday.
Anyway, it's right under your nose. This holiday doesn't mean much if it's not a holiday.
Therefore, when Huang Zhong suddenly squeezes in among the three Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and Ma Chao, it feels awkward no matter how you look at it.
Guan Yu would feel very awkward if others didn't tell him.
Especially, no matter how Guan Yu looked at it, he felt that Huang Zhong's selection was full of shady feelings.
Needless to say, Zhang Fei and himself, Liu Bei himself has enough merit and qualifications.
Ma Chao is the person with the highest rank and rank below Liu Bei, so he should be regarded as the eldest brother who wants to win people's hearts and attract others to vote.
But this Huang Zhong, no matter how he looks at it, he seems to care about his background in Jingzhou School.
Don't tell me that the eldest brother forced Huang Zhong to be promoted in order to take care of the interests of the Jingzhou faction, right? !
As soon as Guan Yu thought of this possibility, he began to feel awkward in his heart, and this awkwardness, well, before it officially started, he asked Zhang Xi to break it open, crush it into pieces, and find out the reasons why Liu Bei did this bit by bit. , analyze it for Guan Yu.
Huang Zhong squeezed into this list based on his true ability. Killing Xiahou Yuan played a crucial role in Liu Bei's occupation of Hanzhong, and it laid the foundation for the victory in the subsequent Battle of Hanzhong.
It can be said that without Huang Zhong's formation to kill Xia Houyuan, Liu Bei's King of Hanzhong would not exist.
After hearing this, Guan Yu had to admit that Huang Zhong did have reasons for being selected.
Moreover, a 70-year-old man actually performed formation slashing, and the one he killed was a famous general like Xia Houyuan. When Guan Yu calmed down and thought about it, it was indeed incredible.
Even if Xia Houyuan wanted to die on his own, but he didn't have any force points, you wouldn't be able to do it if most people gave you a chance.
What Huang Zhong lacked was qualifications, not ability. Guan Yu was dissatisfied with people who had a vegetarian diet, but it did not mean that Guan Yu was not convinced by anyone.
Just a little.
"This time, I have wronged Brother Zilong Xian!" Guan Yu sighed to Zhang Xi in private.
When Zhang Xi heard this, he realized that the second master who co-wrote the book was trying to avenge Zhao Yunming!
(End of chapter)
