Chapter 139: Changshan Zhao Zilong, Victory [Subscription Request]

The moonlight is bright and clear.

Cao Cao did not follow Yuan Shu in pursuit, but instead came to the mouth of the canal dam near Taishou.

The water conservancy projects in the Han Dynasty were already very complete, using diversion dikes, flying sand weirs, herringbone dikes, etc. to build spillways, dam mouths, and accumulate sand and gravel to build dams.

The river-blocking ropes are used as capstans to raise and lower sluice gates to discharge floodwater or accumulated water, control silt, and relieve drought and flood.

Winter is not the flood season and the water level is not high.

But the dam mouth was always closed, the water was full, and it slowly flowed out from the upper edge of the dam mouth.

When Cao Cao arrived, he ordered his men to control the dam mouth and raise the ropes blocking the river, and the rushing water poured out like thunder.

Not far downstream, there are two more embankments.

The three dams together form a river-blocking dam.

Cao Cao ordered his men to open the two dams upstream one after another.

The third dam was hit by too much water in a short period of time. With nowhere to discharge the water, the water overflowed onto the embankment and flowed towards Taishou not far away.

“The dam is not powerful enough.

I am afraid it will not cause too much damage to Taishou downstream." Zhang Miao said.

“It doesn’t need to cause too much damage, otherwise the surrounding fields will also be destroyed.

The amount of water is just right now. Yuan Shu has become a frightened bird. He will run away immediately when he sees the flood rushing into the city." Cao Cao said.

Zhang Miao followed and watched the battle throughout the past few days and was quite excited.

Cao's army chased Yuan Shu all the way, and just by killing the surrendered soldiers, they captured two to three thousand pieces of armor.

Yuan Shu previously controlled the rich Nanyang County, as well as most of Yuzhou and Yangzhou.

Most of the troops under his command wore fine armor rather than half-body armor.

Just picking up this batch of armor would be a considerable fortune.

Cao Cao stared at Yuan Shu and attacked him like he was herding sheep. Zhang Miao had already figured out a little bit.

All the wealth accumulated by Yuan Shu was squeezed out by Cao Cao in this battle and plundered to become his own.

At the beginning, only part of Yuan Shu's troops were defeated.

But after his defeat, he kept calling on his troops to come to his aid, and the trend of defeat continued to expand.

The benefits Cao Cao reaped then grew.

Chasing Yuan Shu was also for the world to see.

Cao Cao dug open the dam and raised the rope to block the river, just as the bright moon was rising.

Yuan Shu and his companions discovered something unusual and climbed up to the top of the city wall. They saw the raging water outside the city and a white line pressing over with a terrifying momentum.

There were trees outside the city, which were being swept away and collapsed by the flood.

Yuan Shu immediately thought that it was Cao Cao who had ordered the dam to be breached.

Simply inhumane.

No matter how big or small the water is, Taishou will definitely not be able to survive.

Yuan Shu mounted his horse and rode away.

The newly gathered reinforcements under his command caught up with him, and he did not have time to carry with him all the food and supplies he had.

boom--

The flood broke through Taishou's city gate and the water level in the city increased.

Fortunately, it was not the flood season, so the direct threat was not great. The water level eventually rose to half a person's height and then slowed down.

At daybreak it receded again.

When Cao Cao entered the city, the whole city was muddy.

Zhang Miao followed beside him, smiling happily.

There was no fighting in this battle, and a batch of supplies were picked up.

The soldiers of Yuan's army had been wearing armor and marching for days, and they thought they could rest for a night in Taishou, take off their armor and go to sleep.

The flood came in the middle of the night, and he didn't even have time to put on his full armor, so he ran away with Yuan Shu.

The armor was made of metal and was soaked in the flood for half a night, but not a single piece was lost.

Zhang Liao brought people to collect the supplies and was also full of joy.

This time, Yuan Shu ran all the way to Ningling, and did not stop, continuing to move south.

Changan.

Yuan Wei soon received the news and learned that Yuan Shu had withdrawn all the way from Yuzhou.

Yuan Shu's defeat was much faster than he expected.

Yuan Wei originally had another plan. He wanted to persuade Tao Qian of Xuzhou to send his elite troops to the northwest, rush to Qiao County, and launch a surprise attack on the entire Cao family.

If successful, the life and death of Cao's family would be in Tao Qian's hands, which would definitely have a huge impact on Cao Cao.

If Yuan Shu took advantage of the situation and used his military force again, there was a high probability that he would be able to defeat Cao Cao and control Yanzhou.

But Yuan Wei did not expect that Yuan Shu was being chased by Cao Cao and had no strength to fight anymore.

Yuan Shu's forces, with their initial strategic arrangements such as luring the snake out of its hole, were not weak, but unfortunately they encountered the overly powerful Cao Cao.

It seemed that Yuan Wei’s arrangement was no longer useful.

Taifu Mansion, it’s not yet dawn.

Yuan Wei ordered his men to light lamps, took out a map of various states and counties, stared at Yanzhou, and then checked along the route that Cao Cao took in chasing Yuan Shu.

Cao Cao's victory over Yuan Shu and Yuan Shu's loss of Yuzhou were a foregone conclusion.

The key is whether Cao Cao can take over Yuzhou.

Yuan Wei’s judgment was impossible. Cao Cao’s situation in Yanzhou was unstable, and he would be starved to death if he wanted to take over Yuzhou.

Cao Cao did not have so many troops to occupy Yuzhou, nor did he have the means to pacify the internal troubles in Yanzhou, and his position was not legitimate.

However, even though he judged that it would be difficult for Cao Cao to control Yuzhou, Yuan Wei still couldn't help but worry.

Starting from Luoyang, Cao Cao's speed of rise and his methods of doing things were superior to ordinary people in every way.

Yuan Wei was no longer sure what Cao Cao would do.

If Cao Cao really managed to secure Yanzhou and then take over Yuzhou, I'm afraid no one in the world would be able to resist him.

……

"Where did Zilong fight?"

South of Yuzhou, in the military tent, Cao Cao was looking at the marching map.

Before this, after Zhao Yun separated from him, he led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry northward, first defeated the Black Mountain bandit leader Zhang Yan, and then led his troops to continue their attack northward.

In Sun Tzu's Art of War, there is a tactic called "taking food from the enemy."

They only brought a small amount of baggage, and relied entirely on robbing the enemy for supplies along the way.

There is a calculation that if you rob one bushel of food from the enemy, it is roughly equivalent to saving twenty times the food you carry. The one who did the best in this regard was Guanjun Hou during the reign of Emperor Wu.

He traveled thousands of miles, with almost no baggage, relying entirely on looting from various Hun tribes for supplies, and fought thousands of miles without getting tired, beating the Huns all the way to pieces.

As we all know, the world fell into chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty.

But no matter how chaotic it is, any warlord has the power to attack all the surrounding tribes.

Whether it was Sun Quan, Liu Bei, or Cao Cao, they all used foreign tribes to gain experience and win battles time and time again.

Among the princes, even Gongsun Zan, who was defeated by Yuan Shao in the early stage, never lost a battle against foreign tribes.

Both the northern nomadic peoples and the southern barbarians were often beaten by the Han people. One named Meng Huo was captured seven times!
During the Han Dynasty, no matter how chaotic the country was, it would always win any foreign war it fought.

Yuan Shu contacted Yufuluo of the Southern Xiongnu and attacked Yanzhou together.

Cao Cao had already made some judgment on this news based on some signs when Bian Mei arranged people to go to Bingzhou to bring back those craftsmen.

After defeating the Black Mountain bandits, Zhao Yun rushed in the opposite direction, taking the initiative and heading straight for Yufuluo's hometown and the Southern Xiongnu tribes in the north of Bingzhou.

When Cao Cao was fighting Yuan Shu, Yu Furuo was shocked to receive news that a Han army had launched a surprise attack on the Southern Xiongnu, causing heavy losses to all units.

Yu Fuluo had no time to attack Yanzhou, so he returned to provide assistance upon hearing the news.

While on his way north, he was stabbed in the back by the Black Mountain Army, which was originally his ally.

Zhao Yun forced the Black Mountain Army leader Zhang Yan to surrender and ordered him to attack the Yufuluo tribe, which was equivalent to a pledge of surrender.

After that, the Black Mountain Army in Bingzhou had the Southern Xiongnu as its opponent, and would inevitably have to further rely on Yanzhou.

When the Black Mountain bandits attacked Yu Fuluo, Zhao Zilong of Changshan also turned back from Bingzhou and attacked them from both sides.

Yu Fuluo was attacked repeatedly and his troops were defeated. Zhao Yun then pursued him all the way and chased him back to the Southern Xiongnu for the second time.

Several Xiongnu tribal leaders were captured and killed by Zhao Yun. Then, following Cao Cao's orders, they built a Jingguan in the area north of Bingzhou that entered the Han territory. The Jingguan was filled with human heads and was a horrifying sight.

Then Zhao Yun turned back to Yanzhou from the southeast corner of Bingzhou in the north.

This was already early March.

At this time, Liu Xiang's troops under Yuan Shu, who had been stationed in Changyuan County, had become an isolated force, unable to advance or retreat, and were trapped in the county.

The Cao army that stayed in Changyuan and besieged Liu Xian's troops were led by Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan brothers, and Cao Ren.

The military advisor is Jia Xu.

Liu Xian led his troops to break out several times, but was defeated every time. When they ran out of ammunition and food, he and Changyuan magistrate Ji Jun came out to surrender.

After Jia Xu questioned Cao Cao, he ordered the execution of the loyal descendants of the Yuan family who had been cultivated for many years among the surrendered soldiers.

Liu Xiang was taken outside the city and beheaded in public.

The river was dyed with blood.

Yuan Shu was defeated by Cao's army and fled all the way to Yangzhou and Jiujiang, completely giving up Yuzhou.

The psychological trauma caused by this battle to Yuan Shu was so great that he dared not go north to participate in the struggle for hegemony again.

During the entire pursuit process, Cao Cao actually had the opportunity to kill Yuan Shu.

But he didn't do it because Yuan Shu would later become emperor!
The first prince to proclaim himself emperor was Yuan Shu.

With his becoming emperor, many things will be different.

Cao Cao was trying a more difficult path and needed Yuan Shu to be the first person to proclaim himself emperor.

Although this battle is not as famous as the Battles of Guandu and Chibi known to later generations, it is also the highlight of Cao Cao's military career.

Using inferior forces, they pursued Yuan Shu's troops along the way, which was the 800-li pursuit battle in Changyuan.

After this battle, Yuan Shu's strength was greatly reduced.

The news of the war's outcome spread, and everywhere was in an uproar.

More importantly, from here on, Cao Cao's territory and power will deviate greatly from history.

He planned to occupy Yuzhou, south of Yanzhou.

Of course, the prerequisite is to first solve the problem that the Yanzhou Mu came to the position illegitimately and did not take the righteous position.

Early March morning.

Cao Cao took out a map in the tent and stared at the mountains, rivers, borders, and distribution of states and counties of the Han Dynasty.

Zhang Miao, Zhang Liao and others were also there.

The whole army was filled with joy after the great victory.

"We defeated an enemy several times our size, chasing them all the way, and our own casualties were no more than one third of their number."

Zhang Miao was also happy when Cao Cao won the battle, and thought:
"Meng De, you are the governor of Yanzhou without the imperial edict. As long as you don't solve the problem, the hidden dangers will still exist. What are you going to do?"

The imperial edict appointed him as governor of Yanzhou, which was a righteous position, and it was not impossible to solve the problem.

"Some people have been in high positions for too long and cannot see the situation clearly," said Cao Cao.

"You mean the Yuan family?" Zhang Miao guessed.

"The Yuan family has three dukes in four generations, and has controlled the government for several generations. They boast that they can gather the reputation of the world's noble families."

Cao Cao said: "Even the imperial power changes, let alone the rise and fall of a family."

The Yuan family is indeed the most prestigious among the aristocratic families in the world.

But not everyone can compare.

Just like the imperial power, if there is a slight disturbance, how many people will come to fight for it?
Among the aristocratic families, there were the Yang family, the Yingchuan Chen family, the Xun family, the Wang family, the Ma family and many other aristocratic families, all of whom had plans to take their families a step further.

Cao Cao withdrew from Luoyang and Chang'an, but Wang Yun remained in the court.

During the period when Yuan Wei was imprisoned, Wang Yun was externally dependent on Dong Zhuo and held a high position. He was the most powerful among all the ministers.

Later, it was Wang Yun and Cao Cao who joined forces to get rid of Dong Zhuo, and his reputation doubled.

After that, Wang Yun joined forces with Lu Bu to control the imperial guards and his power grew.

After Yuan Wei came out, he wanted to take control of the government again, command the ministers, and influence the emperor, which inevitably led to a conflict of interest with Wang Yun's faction.

Chang'an at the moment is also experiencing undercurrents.

The two sides each have power and fight openly and secretly.

The personal friendship between Wang Yun and Yuan Wei is not worth mentioning in the face of such power.

The opponent of your opponent is your friend. To deal with the nobles, you just need to win over some and suppress others.

What's more, Cao Cao and Wang Yun had always had a good relationship.

Yuan Wei still held the position of Secretariat and could influence the emperor to a certain extent.

But he had been imprisoned for a year after all, and some power had fallen into Wang Yun's hands and could never be taken back.

Over the past year, the little emperor has become more dependent on Wang Yun, with whom he often meets.

It might be possible for Cao Cao to obtain the title of Governor of Yanzhou.

If he could, the biggest problem he faced would be solved.

However, what Cao Cao wants may not just be the governor of Yanzhou.

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(End of this chapter)