Unable to bear the contempt of his unscrupulous son-in-law, and intolerable, Sangong of Yuan Dynasty, who originally planned to rest for a while before entering the army, decisively ordered the dispatch of troops and personally led the main army southward. He first rushed to Guandu to meet up with the second son Yuan Xi's team, and then

The eldest son Yuan Tan was the vanguard, traveling forty miles a day via Yuanling, Changshe, Yanling and other places, aiming directly at the lair of Cao Cao, the current honorary capital of the Han Dynasty - Xuchang City!

When the news reached Xuchang, Mr. Cao, who was fearful that Sangong Dayuan would not join the army for a decisive battle, breathed a sigh of relief and once again rejoiced at his luck - every time he encountered a decisive battle with Sangong Dayuan, Sangong Dayuan always did something.

What Boss Cao hopes most is that Mr. Yuan Sangong will do it. But despite being lucky, Boss Cao still dare not take it lightly, because the current strength gap between Yuan and Cao is still huge. In addition to Xuchang's advantage of not needing to protect the grain road, it is also very important to Cao's army.

This is not a chosen battlefield. There are still many problems before Boss Cao. The outcome of the decisive battle in Xuchang is still uncertain and difficult to predict.

Let me briefly introduce the geography of Xudu. Xuchang City in the Cao Wei Dynasty was located near Gucheng Village, Zhangfan Township, 15 kilometers east of Xuchang County, Henan Province. It was on the western edge of the Zhongzhou Plain. From the perspective of the general terrain, it was surrounded by mountains on three sides.

, surrounded by the Songshan Mountains, the Funiu Mountains and the Dabie Mountains on three sides, but the city was built on an open plain with the endless North China Plain to the east, so strategically it was easy to defend but difficult to attack, giving Cao Jun a large number of

The Antenna Pass can be defended, which makes it difficult for attackers to attack Xuchang City. However, from a tactical perspective, Xuchang City is easy to attack and difficult to defend. The overly open terrain allows attackers to attack Xuchang City from all directions.

However, the army had to pay attention to every section of the city wall, and it was very difficult to defend the city.

At the same time, the Xuchang battlefield also has a huge weakness for Cao's army, that is, the open terrain is very conducive to the maneuverability of the Jizhou army with a large number of cavalry, while Cao's army with few cavalry will fall into the unfavorable dilemma of being surrounded by enemies on all sides. In addition,

The influence of Cao's army's financial resources and the insufficient size of Xuchang city also made it difficult for all Cao's troops to enter the city. A part of the army must be stationed outside Xuchang. This will help the Jizhou army to defeat the final main force of Cao's army.

In terms of the army, in addition to the more than 20,000 main troops brought back by Cao Cao from the Cangting front line, Cao Ren also transferred Cao Ren's 15,000 troops from Guandu, Cao Hong's more than 10,000 troops from Nanyang and Sili, and more than 10,000 troops from Nanyang and Sili.

Five thousand troops were transferred from Runan, and finally added to the nearly 10,000 original troops in Xuchang. Cao Jun had about 70,000 troops available on the battlefield in Xuchang. However, the combat strength of the troops assembled from all directions was uneven.

The army was tired from the distance, and three or four out of ten of the main force's wounded were even more tired. Therefore, although the number of troops seemed to be 70,000, their combat effectiveness was far from that of Cangting. The main force of Cao's army on the Guandu battlefield was comparable, and the overall combat effectiveness declined very seriously.

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On Yuan Shao's side, although some troops were allocated to occupy the counties and cities in Yanzhou, and a large number of troops were lost during the war, the number of Yuan Shao's troops who accompanied Yuan Sangong southward still reached more than 140,000, and the strength was still more than that of Cao's army.

Double, among which the cavalry accounted for more than 30,000, and the number of cavalry reached five times that of Cao's army. They took the lead in the open battlefield in Xuchang, and had no worries. The situation was far more favorable than that of Cao Lao, who was surrounded by enemies on all sides.

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Now that we have finished introducing the situation, let’s take a look at Boss Cao’s tactics to defend against the enemy. In view of the inability to retreat to Xuchang City, Xun Yu, whom Boss Cao trusted the most, suggested that only more than 10,000 troops be left to guard Xuchang City, and the remaining 60,000 troops were stationed out of the city.

Outside the North City of Xuchang, Yuan's army was not given a chance to defeat them. Although Boss Cao accepted Xun Yu's suggestion to leave only more than 10,000 troops to defend the city, he rejected the proposal to station outside the north gate of Xuchang and decided to station his army in Xuchang.

Outside the east gate, there is a decisive battle with Yuan Shao's army in the east, the most open area around Xuchang.

Xun Yu was naturally surprised when he heard Boss Cao's decision. When asked about the reason, Boss Cao calmly replied: "Of course it is to induce Yuan Shao to fight as soon as possible. In order to defend against the enemy, our army has mobilized a large number of troops from the local area."

If we reinforce Xuchang, a rebellion will break out over time, and traitors like Liu Biao, Tao Ying, Liu Bei, and Zhang Xiu will inevitably take advantage of the situation. If our army is late for a decisive battle, it will be even more dangerous."

As soon as Boss Cao finished speaking, an emergency report came from Nanyang. Wei Zhong, who had replaced Cao Hong in Nanyang, sent someone to report that he had discovered that Liu Biao had accepted Liu Bei's suggestion and decided to send 30,000 troops to join Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu's troops.

Go north and launch an attack on Nanyang Cao's army, with the purpose of recovering the entire territory of Nanyang, and then act according to the opportunity, never ruling out the possibility of continuing to go north to attack Xuchang.

"The damned big-eared thief is indeed the same as the little thief Tao Ying. They are extremely cunning and shameless people!" Boss Cao cursed a curse word, and then gritted his teeth and ordered: "Order Wei Zhong to defend Wancheng, Wancheng

If you can't hold on, immediately retreat to Ye County to buy time. After I defeat Yuan, I will come back to find Big Ear Thief and Mr. Liu Biao to settle the score!"

Of course, there was good news. During this period, Xia Houyuan, who had lost the important town of Changyi, also returned to Xuchang and knelt down in front of Boss Cao to plead guilty. Boss Cao, who was in the process of employing people, did not make it difficult for Xia Houyuan and gave Xia Houyuan a demotion.

Let him stay in the army and make meritorious service.

This is the only good news. At the same time, bad news is coming like snow flakes. In addition to the main force of Yuan Shao's army getting closer and closer, the local powerful Qu Gong, Zhang Chi and others in Runan also launched a rebellion simply and neatly.

, there was a war in Runan County, and Man Chong, the prefect of Runan, was unable to send troops to suppress it, so he could only defend Pingyu and wait for Boss Cao to come back for help; then there was an emergency report from Guanzhong, and Ma Teng from Xiliang received the news of the tragic defeat of Cao Jun in Cangting.

, decisively marched into Guanzhong under the banner of serving the emperor and leading an imperial edict against Cao. Fortunately, Boss Cao did not mobilize the Guanzhong troops to return to Xuchang to aid Xuchang due to the distance, so Zhong Yao and Pei Mao who were guarding Guanzhong should be able to hold on for a while.

In addition, there was also trouble in Hanoi. The Bingzhou army controlled by Yuan Sangong sent troops to attack Hanoi, but there were almost no troops to defend Hanoi. Duan Yan, the general of Cao's army guarding Hanoi, simply surrendered to Yuan Shao

It is only a matter of time before the troops and Bingzhou troops cross the river to support the main force of Yuan Shao's army.

Not counting these, there is another thing that worries Boss Cao, that is, the most dangerous main force of the Xuzhou army is retreating towards Changyi. Although it is not ruled out that the Xuzhou army, whose commander is seriously injured, may directly retreat to Xuzhou, it is also possible to retreat along the Surabaya River.

, Jishui marched westward, attacking Dingtao, Chenliu and other places! So after receiving the news, Boss Cao immediately gnashed his teeth and cursed, "God damn the traitor Taoying! I bet that this traitor will take advantage of the situation and rob him again."

, if our army is defeated, he will definitely seize the two counties of Jiyin and Chenliu immediately, and then annex my counties in Yuzhou!"

In view of these circumstances, Xun Yu finally understood the good intentions and helpless pain of Boss Cao's decision to garrison the east gate of Xuchang. When Cao's army established a stable camp outside the east gate of Xuchang, the Jizhou army finally arrived outside Xuchang City.

A large camp was set up twenty miles northeast of Xuchang, and the granary was carefully arranged in Yanling City. It was still guarded by Juhu, the son of Jushou. Even though Sangong Yuan began to dislike Jushou less and less, he still disliked Jushou.

There is still trust between father and son.

Cao Cao's strategy of luring the enemy by stationing the main force in an open area was successful again. On the third day after arriving in Xuchang, which was also the 29th day of August in the fifth year of Jian'an, Sangong Dayuan did not wait for the camp to be fully established, and immediately led the troops to

The army came to fight outside Cao's army camp. Cao Laoshan sent general Cao Ren out of the camp to fight, and secretly ordered Cao Ren to promise defeat but not victory. He deliberately fought a small defeat first to exaggerate Yuan Sangong's already extremely arrogant heart. Cao Ren obeyed the order

, deliberately lost to Mr. Yuan Tan in the battle, and retreated to the camp. Yuan Sangong sent his troops to attack the camp, but the Cao army's camp was quite strong, and Yuan Shao's army was eager to attack. In the afternoon, he ordered his troops to return to the camp to celebrate the first battle.

Great victory.

Everything developed according to Boss Cao's expectations. Seeing his brother's triumphant return, Master Yuan Shang was furious. The next day, he asked Sangong Yuan for an order to go to war and got permission. But when Yuan Shang

The young master angrily led the army to the outside of the camp to start a fight. Cao Cao laughed loudly and immediately called General Zhang Liao and arranged for Zhang Liao to lead 3,000 cavalry out of the camp to fight. He also ordered fiercely: "We will win this battle."

You are not allowed to lose. If you are defeated, you will be beheaded! But you are not allowed to take Yuan Shang’s life. If Yuan Shang dies in your hands, you will be beheaded immediately!”

Zhang Liao accepted this difficult order without hesitation, and indeed he fought hard to defeat Mr. Yuan Shang in a duel. He also deliberately showed mercy when he had the opportunity to capture and kill Mr. Yuan Shang, only to allow Mr. Yuan Shang to be defeated and defeated.

Cao's army took advantage of the situation to pursue and kill many soldiers of Yuan Shang's team. It was not until Yuan Sangong personally led the army to respond that he immediately returned to the camp. After Yuan Shao's army withdrew his troops and returned to the camp, Master Yuan Shang was of course dejected, while Master Yuan Tan was naturally arrogant.

Ang, while hypocritically comforting his third brother, he asked for orders to lead the army to fight to avenge his third brother.

After two tentative contact battles, which also quietly intensified the conflict between Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, on the first day of September, after careful consideration, Cao Boss resolutely led an army of 30,000 to go north to fight outside Yuan Shao's military camp.

Just as Cao Lao expected, Yuan Sangong rejected Ju Shou and Cui Yan's suggestion not to fight lightly, and personally led an army of 60,000 out of the camp to fight with Cao's army in the plains and wilderness.

It was also a coincidence that during the battle between the two armies, in order to completely anger his old friend Sangong Dayuan, Boss Cao deliberately asked Sangong Dayuan in public why he did not join forces with the Xuzhou army to attack Xuchang, and then laughed at Sangong Dayuan's victory at Cangting because he only relied on the help of his son-in-law.

Cao Cao's Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao's army.

It was also at this time that Cao Jun, who had no way to retreat, burst out with astonishing combat effectiveness. Facing Yuan Shaojun's crazy attack, his position remained motionless. He relied on the formation to start a bloody battle with Yuan Jun, and the fight was extremely fierce.

The battle was fierce. Although Sangong of Yuan Dynasty repeatedly added troops and generals, he was still unable to break up Cao's army. The casualties of his army increased rapidly. The fierce battle continued until the afternoon. Seeing that the morale of the Jizhou army was exhausted, Cao Boss decisively ordered Dian Wei to lead three thousand elite troops to launch an attack.

Countercharge.

When the war drums of Cao's army finally sounded, three thousand elite soldiers of Cao's army rushed straight into the enemy formation like tigers descending from the mountain. Their swords and guns were raised, and the momentum was like a mountain collapse. Dian Wei's halberds flew. Yuan generals fell off their horses one after another, and those who stood in their way were invincible. Cao's soldiers were like tigers and sheep.

The soldiers of the Yuan army turned around and ran away with a look of horror on their faces. The Sangong of Yuan stood on his horse with his sword in hand and yelled at the top of his lungs to stop the defeated army. However, the army was defeated like a wave, and the Yuan army's formation was scattered by his own defeated soldiers.

Seeing a rare opportunity, Cao Lao immediately ordered a general attack. Thirty thousand Cao's troops rushed down the enemy's formation, like water from a broken embankment. Yuan Shao's army was defeated and fled. Cao's army pursued them, frantically killing Yuan's army and Cao Lao.

They personally risked arrows and stones to charge and kill. Yuan's troops scrambled for their lives and trampled on each other, leaving countless dead.

After all, Yuan's army was outnumbered. After receiving the news of the battle's defeat, Yuan Shang immediately led his troops to respond. He attacked Cao's army from the flank in an attempt to help his father stabilize the decline. However, he was met with a furious attack by Cao's army, who was also beaten.

Cao Jun was defeated on the battlefield, and Cao Jun chased all the way to the vicinity of Yuan Jun's camp. It was not until Yuan Tan led his troops to meet him that Cao Lao ordered his troops to withdraw. Firstly, it was because it was not possible for Cao Jun to overwhelm Yuan Jun's camp, which was waiting for him, and secondly, in order to continue the wedge.

Yuan brothers.

In this battle, Cao Jun killed less than 2,000 people, beheaded more than 6,000 Yuan Jun soldiers, and beheaded more than 20 Yuan Jun generals. The morale of Cao Jun's army was greatly boosted, while the morale of Yuan Shao's army was severely depressed, especially Yuan Sangong's.

Furious, he killed more than ten of his own generals who had failed in combat and led the collapse. Gritting his teeth, he ordered the army to prepare for war and prepare to send troops for revenge the next day. Although Jushou and Cui Yan tried to persuade Sangong Da Yuan to be patient for the time being and not to rush for a war, Da Yuan

The three princes refused to listen.

In the next few days, Sangong of Dayuan, who was completely angered and humiliated, launched two large-scale decisive battles, but was defeated twice by Cao's troops who had no way out. The casualties were quite heavy. Sangong of Dayuan was defeated in consecutive battles.

He was so angry that he almost vomited blood, but he was helpless to deal with Cao's army. And Boss Cao could not get there easily. In the continuous high-intensity battles, the main force's casualties increased rapidly due to fatigue, and the local second-line army was not as elite as the main force. Even if it was regarded as a

The use of the core team could not create a combat advantage, so the casualties were also heavy. A total of nearly 10,000 troops were lost in the three battles. The already exhausted teams became even more exhausted. There were even cases where some teams were unable to launch a pursuit after defeating the enemy.

"Prime Minister, we can't continue like this." After being keenly aware of these situations, Xun Yu, who was responsible for defending the city, came to the camp overnight to meet with Boss Cao, and warned him face to face: "The main force of our army has been marching east and west for many years, and the injured

There are so many, and our physical strength has been severely reduced after successive battles. If we continue to face Yuan Shao like this, our army will sooner or later be exhausted by Yuan Shao's superiority in strength. We must win by surprise before our army can hope to reverse the situation."

"Of course I know this, but how can we win by surprise?" Boss Cao shook his head tiredly and asked again: "Mr. Wenruo went out to the city overnight to see me. Does he have any strategy to defeat the enemy?"

"Yu did come up with a strategy to defeat the enemy, but he was not very sure about it." Xun Yu said: "The Prime Minister must also know that there are many courtiers in Xuchang City who are dissatisfied with the Prime Minister's monopolization of power and have secret contacts with Yuan Shao. In this case,

Why didn't the Prime Minister order Fu Wan, the father of Empress Fu, to write a letter, saying that Fu Wan had secretly colluded with many ministers in the court and was preparing to launch a rebellion in Xuchang City, and to assist Yuan Shao's army to enter the city, and asked Yuan Shao to attack Xuchang tomorrow night at midnight, Fu Wan and others

He led his servants to open the north gate of Xuchang to meet him. Yuan Shao will be overjoyed when he hears the news, and he may even personally lead his army to attack the city. At that time, the prime minister will lay an ambush and defeat Yuan Yiru."

"Great idea!" Boss Cao was overjoyed and immediately said: "Let's do it this way. I'm very familiar with my assistant Yuan Benchu. He has been losing consecutive battles in the past few days. He must have been so angry that he lost his mind. With such a move,

He will never miss the opportunity to take away our army's granary, he will definitely lead the army here personally, and he will definitely not listen to anyone's advice!"

"That's it. Mr. Wen Ruo can quickly return to the city, force Fu Wan to write a letter overnight, and then send someone to Yuan Shao's camp to send the letter overnight." Boss Cao ordered decisively.

"Don't worry, Prime Minister, the book is ready." Xun Yu took out a letter from his arms with a smile and said with a smile: "It didn't take much effort. Although Fu Wan was a little reluctant, Yu asked him why he was with the palace

After having a close relationship with the chamberlain Mu Shun, he immediately agreed to write a letter in his own hand after Fu was over, in exchange for Yu not reporting the matter to the Prime Minister."

"In addition, Yu also brought a member of Fu Wan's family for the Prime Minister to send letters at any time. The Prime Minister can rest assured that although this Fu Wan's family has followed Fu Wan for many years, he is a spy placed by our army in Fu Wan's home.

, it was this family member who secretly contacted me about Fu Wan’s secret contact with Queen Fu through Mu Shun.”

"Hahahaha...!" Boss Cao laughed loudly, patted Xun Yu on the shoulder and praised: "After all, Mr. Wen Ruo is still careful enough to send such a person to deliver the message. No matter how many details Yuan Shao has in Xuchang City, he will definitely not be able to tell the difference.

It’s true or false.”

………………

At the same time, outside the city of Dingtao, more than 400 miles away, a group of Cao soldiers who had thrown away their helmets and armor suddenly came to the east gate of Dingtao and shouted to the city. When the defenders on the city asked where the troops were, these soldiers

Cao Jun's soldiers replied: "We are a team stationed by General Liu Dai at the Heze Lake. In the evening, a group of Xuzhou soldiers and horses suddenly came east to attack our camp. We, a small number of soldiers, could not hold on, so we fled back to report the news.

"

"Is the Xuzhou bandit army coming to attack Tao?" The defenders on the city were shocked. The general ordered people to throw down several torches and ordered: "Shine the torches in your faces and report your identities and names one by one."

"No." The soldiers of Cao's army under the city agreed. They picked up torches and shined them on the faces of the soldiers in the team one by one, and loudly announced their names and identities. Seeing that these soldiers were indeed their own soldiers, the guard on the city did not hesitate and immediately gave the order.

Open the city gate and let these defeated soldiers enter the city.

The suspension bridge was lowered and the city gate was opened. The Cao Jun soldiers outside the city helped me before they walked into the city gate corridor. At this moment, the darkness outside the city suddenly heard the sound of killing. A large group of Xuzhou soldiers rushed in madly. The defenders on the city

Shocked, he quickly ordered the city gate to be closed and the suspension bridge to be pulled up. Xuzhou soldiers riding fast horses had already rushed onto the suspension bridge, wielding their axes and desperately cutting off the suspension ropes. Cao's soldiers also suddenly took action, hacking them to death and scattering them with their swords.

The leader of the Cao soldiers who tried to close the door kept shouting, "Brothers, guard the city gate. As long as the Xuzhou army enters the city, we will each be rewarded with 10,000 yuan! A reward of 10,000 yuan!" (To be continued!)
Chapter completed!