On December 16, the 13th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, finally climbed to the top of the Xiakou city.
Since going south in July, the puppet Jingzhou herdsman Liu Cong has tied up his hands, and the eight counties have surrendered. Among the Jingzhou generals, only Liu Bei fought in Xinye and Dangyang. He also collaborated with the puppet Jiangxia governor Liu Qihang to build Shiyang along the Han River. , Miangkou, Xiakou this line of defense.
This was a line of defense that could block hundreds of thousands of troops. However, in the past month, both Shiyang and Miangou were defeated, and Xiakou, which had the strongest defense, was abandoned by Liu Bei.
Maybe some people calculated that Liu Bei would abandon the city, but no one could guess that Liu Bei did not do any damage and left Xiakouqiu without committing any crimes.
Cao Cao's health improved a lot. He patted the city bricks and looked around. He saw many defensive facilities on the city wall, and the hammers, cannons and stones were still piled on the city.
Looking at it, he suddenly smiled.
The only person accompanying him was Man Chong. He was a stern person and just watched silently.
After laughing for a long time, Cao Cao found that no one asked questions and felt a little embarrassed, so he coughed lightly.
At this time, Cao Wu and Zhao Yan climbed into the city together.
Cao Wu had an idea and asked, "Brother, why are you laughing?"
Man Chong's eyebrows jumped involuntarily. He had seen Cao Wu see Cao Cao a few days ago. He only told jokes and did not talk about business. He had already classified Cao Wu as a sycophant in his heart. Now Cao Wu followed Cao Cao's wishes and said, Make him unhappy.
However, Cao Cao was quite talkative. After hearing the inquiry, he smiled and said: "In the past, I had a banquet with Duke Xuande and commented on the heroes of the world. Duke Xuande was worried that I would be jealous of him. Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Liu Biao, Sun Ce, and Liu Zhang can all do this." He listed the people one by one, but they were not in Gu's eyes. Nowadays, the times have changed, and except for Liu Zhang of Yizhou, all the monarchs have withered. Gu and Xuande Gong have not seen each other for many years, but today, he is chased by Gu and has no way out. , the style of the past is still the same. It can not only cut off the wrists of strong men, but also not destroy Xiakou, leave food and grass to help the people, leave defense for us to defend Jiangdong, and spread the name of benevolence and righteousness to the world. If we can meet again in the future, I will do it again Say something to him——"
He looked at the Yangtze River and said loudly: "The only hero in the world is your envoy and Cao."
Back then, when green plums were brewing and wine was brewed, and heroes were surrounding Cao Cao, what he said was a big statement. But now that Jingzhou is in peace, looking back at it again, it is unparalleled in heroism.
Liu Bei was like a lost dog back then, and he is still the same now, but he has never changed his original intention. It has always been his ideal to help the Han Dynasty and promote benevolence and righteousness in the world.
These two people are worthy of being called heroes in the world.
Cao Wu also had many emotions. Although Chibi suffered a tragic victory, he finally recovered Xiakou and completed all his strategic goals.
Today's Jiangdong has no Yangtze River barrier. This year, Cao's army also has to provide disaster relief, repair grain roads, and appease the counties in Jingzhou, so it will be difficult to continue the offensive. But when Cao Jun comes back next year, Yizhou in the upper reaches and Jiangdong in the lower reaches are already meat on the chopping board.
Cao Wu just wanted to say something, but Zhao Yan had already taken the lead and said: "Prime Minister is wise! He saw through Liu Xuande's ambition at a glance. His name is abandoning the city, but in fact he can no longer win. He is just playing a trick to win people's hearts. Stay. It may seem benevolent to take down the city defense equipment, but in fact our army is already in an attack situation. There are few opportunities to defend Xiakou and more opportunities to deploy Chaisang, so leaving behind the city defense equipment is useless to our army!"
Cao Wu glanced at Zhao Yan and thought that this guy was indeed a well-rounded man. Cao Cao was obviously boasting. He said a wise sentence, praising Cao and demoting Liu. In his words, he also showed that his army was fully capable of taking Xiakou. He didn't need to Liu Bei can also abandon the city.
Man Chong, however, looked unhappy. He saw Zhao Yan and Cao Wu walking very close to each other. He thought that Zhao Yan was just a peacemaker. It took so long to attack Shiyang and Miangkou, and Cao Wu was even more domineering. Domineering and sycophantic ministers have something in common after all.
He didn't know how difficult Shiyang and Miangkou were to defeat. Xiakou's defensive power was even stronger than those of the two cities. Even if Cao's army fought for a year and a half, they might not be able to win.
If Liu Bei abandons the city, Cao's army will lose tens of thousands of lives.
Man Chong said: "Prime Minister, Liu Xuande's abandonment of the city does have a great impact on the overall situation and needs to be considered in the long term."
Cao Cao was sighing when he was interrupted by Man Chong, who said slightly displeasedly: "The military power of the army has been handed over to General Beifu. Just listen to him."
Man Chong was startled. He didn't expect that after the battle was over, Cao Cao actually said that according to Cao Wu, the relationship between these brothers was really so good?
In fact, this is also a test for Cao Cao against Cao Wu to see whether Cao Wu can handle the post-war affairs well.
Cao Wu laughed and said, "Commander Jia already had a solution for this matter."
"oh?"
Cao Cao became interested, but he didn't know what Jia Xu could do.
Cao Wuze slowly told the poisonous scholar Jia Xu's response.
Liu Bei abandoned the city and took only two thousand people with him. The remaining thousands of soldiers were integrated into the common people.
These people were gradually picked out by Zhao Yan's people to prevent them from gathering together to cause trouble.
Then Jia Xu arranged for many Jingzhou soldiers to mix among the people of Jiangxia to fill their vacancies.
In this expedition, Jingzhou soldiers were also the majority. They were sent among the people to publicize that Liu Bei took away a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry when he abandoned the city, but left the people behind.
Some people added fuel to the fire and said that during the battles of Shiyang and Miangkou, Liu Bei also abandoned the city and fled, and he had long been in the habit of abandoning the city.
In this way, the people of Jiangxia would not know the truth or falsehood, and Liu Bei's behavior would not be considered a righteous act.
This was just the first step. How could a poisonous man be so simple? He found two thousand Yizhou soldiers brought by Zhang Song and let them go back. But before going back, he told them that what Cao Cao feared most in his life was Liu Bei. point of view, and told him that the reason why he was afraid of Liu Bei was that he was afraid that Liu Bei would replace Cao Cao.
In this way, when these two thousand people returned to Yizhou, Liu Zhang would definitely know about it. Since Cao Cao was afraid that Liu Bei would replace him, how could he deal with it?
This made Liu Zhang suspicious of Liu Bei and reduced the risk of Liu Bei entering Sichuan.
Jia Xu didn't care whether Liu Bei went to find Wu Ju, the governor of Cangwu, or took a detour to Sichuan, because no matter what, the two thousand soldiers would go in front of Liu Bei and give Liu Zhang a heads-up.
Liu Zhang was already timid and fearful. After hearing this, how could he dare to let Liu Bei into Sichuan? The matter of borrowing troops has become empty talk.
After this combination of attacks, Liu Bei's feat of abandoning the city will be meaningless.
This is exactly the trick of showing off one's tricks at a glance. Jia Xu's proficiency in playing has already impressed Cao Wu, but he is not done yet.
What's even more shameless is that Jia Xu also ordered people to spread the news that Sun Ce's widow Da Qiao fled to Xiakou after being defeated on the water, but was taken away by Liu Bei in retaliation for Liu Bei's navy being used as cannon fodder and Yuan Lin's death. The hatred of the rebel army.
Da Qiao knew his identity, but except for participating in disaster relief on the first day, he never showed up again. How could the people of Jiangdong know where Da Qiao was? As more people spread the rumor, Jiangdong began to believe it.
In the eyes of Jiangdong people, for Da Qiao, who was as important as the mother of the country, to be kidnapped by Liu Bei like this, it was the same shame as when Aunt Zhang Xiu was taken over by Cao Cao, and this bridge was forged.
Jiangdong will definitely ask Liu Bei for someone, but where will Liu Bei come from? In this way, the contradiction between the Sun and Liu alliance will only become more and more serious.
The poisonous scholar Jia Xu used a set of tactics to add fuel to the fire, and Jiangxia, Yizhou, and Jiangdong fell into the trap at the same time.
After talking about the plan, Man Chong finally shut up, and Cao Cao nodded frequently, because they realized that for Liu Bei, a new dead end had arisen. Even if he was really a hero in the world, he would not be able to make a living without rice. When Cao Jun consolidated Jingzhou Well, what can a mere Cang Wu do?
After the people of Jiangxia return to their hearts, Jiangxia can advance, attack, retreat or defend, but what does Jiangdong mean?
Liu Bei, Liu Zhang, Sun Quan, and Jia Xu calculated the three families at once, and they really calculated the hearts of the people.
Especially the statement that Da Qiao was kidnapped made Cao Wu laugh. It was really poisonous for Jia Yuan and the enemy to win, but they were able to perfectly defeat Liu Bei's plan.
In the chaos of the army, Liu Bei was determined to take the blame.
Man Chong thought a lot, because he knew that Jia Xu came up with this plan, and he did not admire Cao Wu, but he still handed over his hand and said: "The general has a clear mind and has learned a lesson."
Cao Wu raised his hand and returned the gesture.
But Man Chong still did not give up. He continued: "Prime Minister, in fact, the most important thing at the moment is to decide the next move of the army than to spread rumors and slander Liu Bei. It has been five months since the soldiers set off in July. It is time to regroup." ”
