Chapter 233: Advancing with great strides, but being defeated like a mountain [Subscribe]

It’s Liu Bei again.

In the past few years, Liu Bei's footprints have spread all over the place. He has served in several states in the heart of the Han Dynasty and under the command of various powerful people.

He doesn't even dislike Lu Bu.

Cao Cao narrowed his eyes slightly.

Liu Bei was always looking for opportunities.

His ability to drift is really strong.

Cao Cao was sitting in the marching camp, and Xi Zhicai passed on the message through the communication beads:

"Some time ago, Kong Rong came to the military camp to inquire about the situation of the garrison. I sent someone to keep an eye on him and got some clues."

"Kong Rong asked his trusted confidant to secretly send a letter from Beihai County to the east..."

In front of Cao Cao was a military map of the prefectures and counties.

His sight fell on the Qingzhou area east of Jizhou.

Beihai County is in the middle of Qingzhou, and continuing eastward is the coast.

Cao Cao looked back and forth between Jizhou and Qingzhou, and soon deduced Liu Bei's previous route of action, and even what Yuan Shao had instructed Liu Bei to do.

At that time, Liu Bei received an order from Yuan Shao to go east from Jizhou and enter the coastal area of ​​Qingzhou.

He went to Linhai in order to bypass Cao's defense line in Qingzhou.

From Qingzhou, it was only a short distance of more than 100 miles by sea, and with a few small boats, Liu Bei could be sent south to Xuzhou.

Although Xuzhou was captured by Cao Cao, the Battle of Guandu began shortly after its capture.

Cao Cao's control over Xuzhou was relatively weak, but Liu Bei still had some foundation in Xuzhou, after all, he had the political resources passed on to him by Tao Qian.

In addition, Yuan Shu was sending troops to attack Xuzhou from south to north.

Zang Ba, the military commander of Xuzhou appointed by Cao Cao, led his troops south to fight against Yuan Shu's men.

This gave Liu Bei an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

He only needs to make some achievements in Xuzhou to echo Yuan Shu in the south and the north.

At least it can cause destabilization in Xuzhou and help Yuan Shao gain a favorable situation on the front battlefield.

The ideal situation for Liu Bei to go to Xuzhou was to join forces with Yuan Shu as a friendly force.

Then they went west from Xuzhou and supported Liu Biao's troops who had invaded Yuzhou, thus tearing the defense line behind Cao Cao into pieces.

By then, Xuzhou and Yuzhou, which were under the jurisdiction of Cao Cao, were in turmoil. In addition, Yuan Shao had colluded with some aristocratic fence-sitters in Yanzhou, causing chaos both inside and outside.

Yuan Shao will surely win a great victory.

Cao Cao's thoughts fluctuated: Liu Bei used a short sea route to enter Xuzhou. From a military point of view, it was a stroke of genius.

It is both unexpected, accurate and efficient.

If Liu Bei had an army and landed in Xuzhou to cooperate with Yuan Shu, there is a high probability that Zang Ba would be distracted and cause chaos in Xuzhou.

But does Yuan Shao have the ability to make brilliant military plans?
Or was it Liu Bei's idea?

Less likely.

Liu Bei's ability to command troops is not much better than Yuan Shao's.

Who chose this route for them?
Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that ideas arise on a whim.

Cao Cao studied the map.

Xi Zhicai: "I have asked Xuzhou. Recently, a group of people suddenly appeared in Xuzhou. Their leader is Liu Pi. Liu Bei should be among them."

In his early years, Liu Pi was a general of the Yellow Turban Army from Runan. He surrendered to Yuan Shu and attached himself to Sun Jian.

Later, Yuzhou was captured by Cao's army.

Liu Pi fled and became a bandit for a while, and then became one of the many forces that surrendered to Yuan Shao.

Liu Pi had about three thousand men under his command. Apparently, he was ordered by Yuan Shao to cooperate with Liu Bei to sneak into Xuzhou and stir up trouble.

Xi Zhicai finally asked: "What about Kong Rong?"

What to do, guillotine!
But we have to wait until we establish our capital in Jizhou.

Cao Cao took the inquiry bead and looked around Xuzhou.

Neither Yuan Shao, Liu Bei, nor any other party had expected that Cao Cao would defeat Jizhou's army in just three months.

Generally speaking, it is normal for a battle between hundreds of thousands of people to last for a year or two, or even several years.

Cao Cao's quick defeat of Yuan Shao caused Liu Bei's action to not be fully launched, and he lost the best opportunity.

The main battlefield of the Battle of Guandu shifted to Jizhou.

Cao Cao would not adjust his military plan for the sake of Liu Bei, and his current goal is still to conquer Jizhou with all his strength.

"Let Miaocai and Yuan Rang's troops move. One group will enter Xuzhou, and the other group will go south to attack Yuan Shu."

Cao Cao sent a message to Xun Yu.

He left troops in Changyi, led by Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan respectively.

The two teams never moved to protect Changyi, also to allow for flexibility. If there were any unexpected changes, they could be mobilized at any time.

Cao Cao withdrew his eyes from the map, broke camp and continued northward to pursue Yuan Shao.

The army arrived in Yecheng that afternoon.

The last time it was a surprise attack, this time it was an occupation.

From now on, Yecheng will become Cao Cao's territory.

Jizhou has always been the first of the nine provinces of China and an important place in ancient times.

Yecheng is the capital of Jizhou, which shows its status.

Yecheng had a history of nearly a thousand years during the Han Dynasty.

It is also one of the most prosperous cities in the world besides Chang'an and Luoyang, and the capital of the north.

The best choice Yuan Shao made might be to flee Luoyang and choose Jizhou as his first choice for business.

In Jizhou, he demonstrated his extraordinary political skills many times and dominated the area.

Unfortunately, his opponent was the more powerful Cao Cao, as fate would have it. When Cao Cao arrived in Ye City, there were thousands of people waiting to greet him outside the city, all of whom were from the noble families.

It's not that they want to defect to Cao Cao so quickly and have no integrity.

But the situation is already very clear.

Cao Cao's victory over Yuan Shao in this battle has shocked the world for days.

What’s more crucial is that Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao’s main force and suffered very little casualties himself, so he still had enough strength to continue fighting.

Cao Cao led his powerful army north, and Yuan Shao fled upon hearing the news.

Yanzhou has shown its dominance and is poised to sweep across the world.

These northern nobles originally stood firmly on the side of Yuan Shao.

This time Yuan Shao was defeated and Cao Cao went north. They were worried about being liquidated, so they were very nervous and wanted to show their utmost sincerity to welcome Cao Cao and test his attitude.

So we learned that Cao Cao's troops were approaching Yecheng.

There were many people outside the city welcoming us, all wanting to express their friendly attitude.

The weather is cold.

But everyone in the crowd standing in the cold wind had a smile on their face.

Cao Cao lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked over, and saw people from the Yu family also standing in the front of the crowd.

As for his father-in-law, Cao Cao let him stay in Changyi before the war.

Normally, Yuan Shao would not deal with a big family like the Yu family, which was related to them by marriage.

But after being defeated, losing one's mind is not necessarily the case.

Cao Cao was afraid that Yu Qing would worry, so he asked Yu Wen to bring all his close relatives to Changyi.

In the crowd at this time were the relatives of the Yu family who stayed in Yecheng.

Cao Cao sent someone to pass on the message, asking Yu's people to come and see him.

The second branch of the Yu family, Yu Wen’s younger brother was called Yu Qi.

Hearing Cao Cao calling him, Yu Qi glanced at the hundreds of noble families around him, quickly walked to the carriage, and got on after being searched by his personal soldiers.

About a quarter of an hour later, he got out of the car.

However, Cao Cao's chariot and troops did not stop in Yecheng, but continued to move north, raising a large cloud of dust.

Yu Qi looked around and said, "The governor of Caozhou said that everyone should put their worries at ease and wait until he defeats the Yuan family and comes back to discuss everything."

Cao Cao spent the Spring Festival of that year in battle.

While he personally led his troops northward, Huang Zhong and Taishi Ci also deployed their troops in the northern part of Qingzhou with all their strength.

If Yuan Shao's territory was divided into three parts, Jizhou would be in the middle, with Bingzhou and Qingzhou on the left and right respectively.

Youzhou is located in the northeast of its territory.

Huang Zhong and Taishi Ci had been attacking Qingzhou before, and were gradually pushing northwards.

The purpose of cooperating with Cao Cao's central army at this moment is to cut off Qingzhou and Youzhou's support for Yuan Shao in one fell swoop.

In mid-February, Yuan Shao retreated from Wei County, where Yecheng was located, to Julu County in the central area of ​​Jizhou.

Cao's army, with 50,000 elite troops, marched north.

Yuan organized his troops to fight, but was defeated again.

The army was defeated like a mountain.

The Yuan family retreated from Julu to Zhongshan County.

At this time Cao Cao divided his troops, with Zhao Yun leading one group to the northwest into his hometown, Changshan County, Jizhou. Then he went west to join forces with Zhang Yan's Black Mountain Army that was heading north from the Henei camp, and they swept back and forth to attack the remnants of Yuan Shao in Bingzhou.

Zhang Liao led another army to advance from the right wing and enter Bohai County.

At this point, the Yuan family, which had been retreating again and again, was trapped in the middle, with no help from either side, becoming a turtle in a jar.

Huang Zhong and Taishi Ci led their troops to engage in battle with the Qingzhou troops under the command of Jizhou.

Yuan Shao's nephew Gao Gan was shot and killed by Taishi Ci on the battlefield, and then he defeated the Qingzhou army and was able to join forces with Yan Rou and Xianyu Fu.

After Jizhou collapsed, Qingzhou collapsed, and after Qingzhou collapsed, Bingzhou collapsed.

Yuan Shao only had Zhongshan and Hejian counties left, with no room to maneuver.

Yuan Shao's eldest son Yuan Tan regained consciousness for the last time at the end of March and said to Yuan Shao and Yuan Kui: "I hate it so much. I hate that my Yuan family has such bad luck..."

He died soon after.

Yuan Shao also choked on blood for several days afterwards.

The defeat of the Yuan family is imminent.

At the same time, Sun Ce was appointed by Cao Cao and, together with Xiahou Dun's troops who went south, attacked Yuan Shu in Huainan from both the upper and lower routes.

Yuan Shu immediately withdrew the troops that were attacking Xuzhou.

Liu Bei further revealed his whereabouts.

He led Liu Pi's troops under Yuan Shao and appeared in public, trying to recruit and collect the political legacy left to him by Tao Qian, and wanted to gather people in Xuzhou.

At present, Liu Bei occupied a border town in Xuzhou.

Jizhou.

After several days of rapid progress, Cao's army advanced to the junction of Zhongshan and Julu.

Cao Cao was stationed in the central army, receiving and sending messages from all sides.

Previously, Liu Yan of Yizhou and Ma Teng of Liangzhou joined forces and wanted to go north to attack the Luoyang area, but they were exposed by Cao's camp first. With the end of the Battle of Guandu, Liu Yan and Ma Teng retreated again.

However, Jingzhou was still in a stage where it was unable to take care of itself.

After Zhang Xian and Zhang Jin joined forces, their momentum continued to grow.

After summarizing the situation from all sides, Cao Cao walked out of the military camp and thought to himself: The Yuan clan is about to be defeated. After annexing Jizhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou, to what extent will the power under his command grow?
His calmness also gave rise to strong expectations.

The opportunity for the situation in the north to be initially settled is within reach.

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(End of this chapter)