Chapter 196: Defeat quickly, win quickly [Subscribe]

After the Han Dynasty pacified the world, Xia Pi became the capital of Chu. When Han Xin was the King of Chu, he was stationed here.

As an important city in the east, Xia Pi's economy and culture are quite developed.

There are six streets, ten alleys and thirteen markets in the city, with a bustling traffic. The geographical environment is superior, bordering Sishui and Yishui in the south, the city walls are high and thick, and the products are rich.

But because it is close to the water, Xia Pi is relatively low in terrain.

In later generations, due to the bursting of the Yellow River, people here had to relocate and build a new city of Xia Pi.

The terrain of Xia Pi gradually rises as you head eastwards, and standing on the high ground, you can overlook the surrounding area.

At this time, Cao Cao and others were standing on a high ground, watching the rushing water from afar.

Boom——

The waves hit the gate of Xia Pi, shaking the entire city.

The water rushed into the city, overturning the mountains and the sea.

Since it was not the flood season, the water seemed turbulent, but it could not shake the city walls.

However, the city gate could not withstand the impact and was washed away by the water. The heavy city gate hung crookedly under the doorway.

The water waves are flowing back and rising higher and higher.

This level of water will not cause a major disaster, but it will cause huge damage to materials.

The damage to the city gate greatly weakened Xia Pi's defense capabilities, and the blow to the defenders was like adding insult to injury.

On the top of the city wall, for the first time in his life, Lu Bu felt a chill in his heart.

Whenever he and Cao Cao meet, it seems that he will be in trouble.

Seeing the flood rising, Lu Bu's face gradually turned pale.

In the second half of the night, the water level slowed down a little. Lu Bu cheered up and led his troops to fight the flood with all their strength.

He demolished many houses in the city, blocked the damaged city gates, and rescued supplies. He was busy until the next afternoon, nervously preparing for an attack by Cao's army.

However, in the following days, Cao's army did not make any movement and never launched an offensive.

After the water in the city receded, that night, the deafening rumbling sound arose again.

Lu Bu and others rushed to the top of the city wall in panic and took a look.

Far outside the city, waves rushed in again along the terrain.

Lu Bu couldn't help but curse Cao Cao for being insidious and extremely evil.

He finally understood.

Cao Cao did not attack the city these days, but was storing water.

As soon as the water in the city receded, he released another wave.

This time the water was not as abundant as last time. When it poured into the city, it only reached people's thighs.

But the blow to people's hearts is fatal.

Everyone knew that Cao Cao controlled the upstream sluice gates, destroyed the dams, and prepared to divert water to attack Xia Pi every now and then.

The initiative to fight or not lies entirely in the hands of Cao's army.

Lu Bu was worried.

The army surrounded the city, and it was trapped both internally and externally.

He also received a piece of news that made the situation worse: Cao Cao had evacuated the people in the suburbs of Xia Pi and the surrounding areas in advance to save them from the flood.

This move clearly conveyed the message that Cao's army would not harm the people and would only target Lu Bu by flooding the city, thus weakening the resistance of the people of Xuzhou and dividing the relationship between Lu Bu and the people of Xiapi.

Cao Ying.

Cao Cao was sitting in the central army tent on a high ground. A gentle breeze blew, and the tent curtains swayed.

He was reviewing the volumes sent from all over Yanzhou.

He captured Xia Pi along his way, while Huang Zhong went from west to east, cutting off and isolating Langya County in the north of Xuzhou and rapidly encroaching on it.

Jizhou also took action. The main troops were divided into two routes, one of which went south from Qingzhou to harass Huang Zhong.

Another group headed west to rescue Zhang Yang in Hanoi, but suddenly turned south halfway and was about to attack Yanzhou.

However, Cao Cao's side attacked quickly. Xia Pi was flooded with water twice, and the troops from Jizhou had just come out.

Changes are happening all around and news is flying everywhere.

Cao's army diverted water to besiege Xia Pi, and it was soon known to all parties.

"The news sent says that Xia Pi may be captured at any time?"

"Yes, Xia Pi is in danger."

"It's only been a few days. Wasn't Xia Pi a strong city since ancient times? How many soldiers did Cao's army use?"

"Yanzhou diverted water to flood the city, then accepted surrender from the periphery and surrounded it without fighting."

"Lü Bu has a shallow foundation and internal turmoil. He may collapse on his own."

The news spread everywhere and people from all sides were talking about it.

Sun Tzu's Art of War says in the chapter on offensive strategy: The best military operation is to attack the enemy's plans, the next best is to attack their alliances, the third best is to attack their troops, and the worst is to attack their cities.

The method of attacking a city is a last resort…it will take three months to complete, and another three months to complete.

Cao Cao's understanding of this passage was that siege was the most difficult of all types of warfare, as the enemy had fortified their cities and cleared the fields, waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out. However, siege required the construction of siege vehicles, ladders and other equipment, as well as the piling up of earth outside the city to create favorable terrain, which took a long time.

After the battle begins, the attackers will lose at least one-third of their troops and still be uncertain whether they can capture the city.

In the era of cold weapons, sieges were indeed difficult.

The most feasible way is actually to consume!
See if the people in the city run out of ammunition and food first, or if the attackers are unable to sustain their food and supplies, then retreat first.

Because the city walls were high and thick, supplies were stored in advance.

Lu Bu, Zhen Xin and others realized that it would be difficult for Cao's army to break into the city quickly.

But the conditions for siege are static, while the people fighting are alive.

If the city is strong, then attack people's hearts.

Opening the city and releasing water during the non-flood season will actually not cause much damage.

But the psychological impact is strong.

Lu Bu's already negative reputation and the only loyalty his followers had for him were washed away with the flood.

"Provincial Governor, when are we going to attack the city?"

The generals in Cao's camp were ready to fight and came to Cao Cao every day to challenge him for battle.

If more water accumulates and there is an attack once or twice, there may be a mutiny in the city, and it will probably be the end of us without even having to fight Lu Bu.

Cao's army came here in vain, and the generals hardly took any action.

"There's no rush to attack the city. Let them come out and surrender on their own."

"When attacking a city, we need to consider the battles in other directions, not just our own. If we attack too early, it will be difficult for other directions to coordinate."

Cao Cao gave a brief explanation.

He, Jia Xu, Guo Jia, Xun You and others focused on the overall situation.

In addition to dealing with Lu Bu, the more important thing is to fight against Jizhou and other parties who are ready to make a move. We must coordinate the timing and echo each other.

The others left, and Jia Xu handed over a brief message: "It was sent from the city."

They have people under Lu Bu's command.

Jia Xu was mainly responsible for instigating rebellion.

What he handed over was a letter from a general under Lu Bu who had been instigated to rebel. The letter asked if he wanted to surrender now, as he felt he could not hold on any longer.

"The spies said that when the water level in Xia Pi was low, about two feet, every household had to live on low mats and kangs on the ground. If they went out, they would be soaked in water, and the rice and flour would become moldy."

"As soon as the last water receded, we delivered the next one, and now we are watching it rise again."

"After three repetitions, it's not just the civilians who can't stand it. There are also soldiers from Xuzhou. Only Lu Bu's direct lineage is left, and they are still holding on."

"And in order to save food supplies, Lu Bu has just ordered the entire army in the city to ban alcohol."

Jia Xu smiled:

"Soaking in water during the day, and not allowed to drink some wine to warm up at night. The person we instigated to rebel said that he and his soldiers were a little exhausted, and asked if we could let him surrender as soon as possible?"

"Does Lu Bu still trust him?"

"Which one is the governor asking about?"

My goodness, from what Jia Xu said, there are far more than one person who has been instigated to rebel around Lu Bu.

Historically, more than half of the eight generals under Lu Bu successively surrendered to Cao.

Now Jia Xu is in charge of inducing surrender, making arrangements in advance, creating favorable conditions both inside and outside, and pulling people to surrender to Cao. How many of Lu Bu's men are still willing to follow him is a question worth pondering.

"The one with higher status."

"Lü Bu doesn't have many men under his command, so he has no other choice but to distrust them.

Lu Bu let him guard one of the city gates alone, so it was easy for him to surrender. He could just come out of the city gate he was in charge of.

He asked more than once, wanting to come earlier, saying he had prepared a gift for the governor."

"Tell him that I want to trap the enemy camp. If Gao Shun can come over, it will be a great achievement for him."

Many of Cao Cao's arrangements were precisely for the purpose of taking over the Xianzhen Camp.

You should know that Zhang Liao was from the old Bingzhou Army.

The Xianzhen Camp was built with the earliest batch of veteran soldiers of the Bingzhou Army as the main force.

Cao Cao had good conditions to accept the surrender and take over the Xianzhen Camp.

Because there is the ready-made example of Zhang Liao.

By letting the Xianzhen Camp surrender and join Zhang Liao's army, they can reduce their concerns in all aspects.

Previously, Cao Cao instructed Chen Gong to suggest that Lu Bu fight outside the city, with the hidden purpose of breaking through the camp.

After hearing what Chen Gong said, Lu Bu would give up the idea of ​​leaving the city to charge into the enemy line.

Otherwise, if Lu Bu led his troops out of the city, he would definitely bring his most elite troops.

Cao's army and the Xianzhen Camp are about to confront each other and try their best to destroy the Xianzhen Camp.

Cao Cao wanted to take over this invincible "special forces" which was one of the strongest in the late Han Dynasty.

So I used some tricks.

Chen Gong's suggestion had the opposite effect. Lu Bu did not leave the city, and the Xianzhen Camp became useless.

The structure can be preserved intact.

In history, Gao Shun died together with Lu Bu after the city was broken.

Part of the Xianzhen Camp surrendered to Cao Cao, but without Gao Shun, its combat effectiveness also declined.

In Xia Pi City.

A certain person who was in Lu's camp but whose heart was with Cao and who had been instigated to rebel, received an order from Cao Cao and thought it would be too difficult to get Gao Shun to surrender to Cao.

Gao Shun was a stubborn man. He was grateful to Lu Bu for having promoted him, so it was almost impossible to get him to betray Lu Bu.

If you want to persuade Gao Shun to rebel, you must first make him completely disappointed in Lu Bu!

How can this be done?
……

Inside the big tent, Cao Cao was discussing matters with Jia Xu.

"…We need to speed up the deployment of our spies."

"The situation was chaotic before, with troops from all sides mixed together. Now the situation in the northern prefectures and counties is gradually becoming clearer. As time goes on, the use of spies and the secret confrontations between the two sides will become more and more important."

Cao Cao looked down at the other scroll handed to him by Jia Xu, which turned out to be a book of merits.

The commander-in-chief of this expedition to Xuzhou was Cao Cao.

But the planners were Guo Jia and Xun You.

The idea of ​​flooding Xia Pi with water was proposed by these two people.

Jia Xu was in charge of personnel, instigating rebellion against the enemy and ourselves, and transmitting messages.

Cao Cao had foreseen everything, but he didn't say it, so as not to dampen the enthusiasm of his civil and military officers to fight bravely and offer advice.

This scroll records the individual's achievements in detail and is used to reward people later.

After reading it, Cao Cao made some comments on the booklet.

In the following days, the situation in Xia Pi City became increasingly dire.

Lu Bu was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. He began to send people to break out and seek help everywhere.

One day, Cao Cao saw a new hint in the entry:

[Your reputation is approaching two million, and you are about to trigger the tide of military luck]

[When your reputation reaches 5 million, you can activate the mythical martial luck for the second time, all living things will gather together, and the world will be in turmoil.]

"Governor, there is a letter." The personal guard walked in from outside.

Cao Cao took the letter, but it turned out to be a letter sent by Zhen Yan from the Zhen family in Jizhou.

After reading it, Cao Cao remained silent.

At this time, another interrogator came in from outside the tent: "Lü Bu has left the city."

At the gate of Xia Pi, Lu Bu rode on horseback and held a spear.

There was actually a young girl tied up on his back, as if he wanted to break out with the girl.

"That's his daughter. He wanted to ask for help, so he sent a message to Yuan Shu, suggesting that he lead his troops and take the opportunity to attack Yanzhou to relieve the danger in Xiapi."

Jia Xu said: "Yuan Shu deliberately teased him, saying that they had agreed to marry their daughters, but Lü Bu changed his mind, and now he wants Lü Bu to send his daughter over in person. He agreed to send troops, and Lü Bu is preparing to break through and send his daughter over."

Cao Cao said: "Let's take the city. The time is almost right."

boom!
As soon as he finished speaking, Dian Wei and Xu Chu rushed forward to kill him.

Taishi Ci received the order and immediately informed the entire army!

Jia Xu also issued an order, asking all the people who had been instigated to rebel in the city to come and surrender, there was no need to wait any longer!
Soon, there was a commotion in Xia Pi City.

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(End of this chapter)