Chapter 12 2. Three Wars Zhang Embroidery

196 A.D. was a bumper year for Cao Cao. As we said in the previous section, Cao Cao completed the two major events of enshrining the emperor and farming the land in this year, and gained political and economic capital.Now, he can finally realize his political ideal of unifying the world.So, who was his first conquest? This person is Zhang Xiu.Zhang Xiu is the nephew of Hussar General Zhang Ji. Zhang Ji was Dong Zhuo's subordinate. Dong Zhuo was killed. Zhang Ji, Li Jue and Guo Si attacked Chang'an to avenge Dong Zhuo. At that time, the arrow died in the middle of the stream.Zhang Xiu took over his army, allied with Liu Biao, and stationed in Wancheng.

The reason why Cao Cao took Zhang Xiu for surgery was very simple. The persimmons were picked softly, and Zhang Xiu's strength was relatively weak at that time.At first, things went surprisingly smoothly.When Cao Jun's soldiers came to the city, Zhang Xiu opened the gate of the city wide and surrendered without using a knife or a gun. Cao Cao won the first battle without any effort. Cao Cao was unavoidably proud, but he lost his mind and did a taboo thing, that is, forcibly married Zhang Xiu's aunt.Cao Cao is very easy-going in life and does not have high requirements. As long as the food can fill his stomach, the clothes can keep him warm, and the house can shelter him from wind and rain, he is satisfied. But he has one hobby, which is women.Every time Cao Cao captured a city, he would collect a few beauties and go back.This time when he entered Wancheng, when he saw Zhang Xiu's aunt was so beautiful, he was tempted, and without even thinking about it, he took her as his concubine by force.

In addition, Zhang Xiu has a personal bodyguard, Hu Che'er, who is a talent.Cao Cao is a man who loves talents, and when he sees Hu Che'er, he is overjoyed. He gives red envelopes and treats him to dinner. He is very affectionate. Cao Cao showed his strength in that room, and Zhang Xiu next to him couldn't hold back his face.It's shameful enough to occupy my aunt, but you still keep trying to win over my subordinates. Doesn't that mean you're trying to trick me into plotting against me?So, at the moment when Cao Cao was delighted with the love of Meiji and was infinitely happy, Zhang Xiu gave him a sudden blow.

Zhang Xiu's attack was very technical.He first applied to Cao Cao and said that our troops need to be moved to defense, is that okay?Cao Cao said yes, and he continued to ask, our transport vehicles are too small, with limited capacity, and many things can’t fit, can we let soldiers wear armor and carry weapons, so as not to use vehicles to carry them?Cao Cao was immersed in the feeling of happiness, he was not on guard, and readily agreed. So Zhang Xiu's team was dressed in military uniform, holding weapons, and driving chariots, passed by Cao Cao's barracks carelessly, suddenly turned around, rushed into Cao's camp, killed Cao Cao by surprise, and threw away his helmet and armor.

Cao Cao was severely injured in this battle. His favorite eldest son, Cao Ang, died, and his closest general, Dian Wei, died. Another nephew, Cao Anmin, also became Zhang Xiu's ghost. Even Cao Cao himself was almost The son's life is in danger. It was Zhang Xiu's counselor Jia Xu who planned this battle, that is, the one who instigated Li Jue and Guo Si to attack Chang'an.When Cao Cao was proud, Jia Xu gave him a heavy blow, but he also helped Cao Cao a lot at a critical time.Of course, this is something for later, we will talk about it later. Cao Cao, who had suffered a defeat, returned home in despair, and held an experience summary meeting when he returned home.At the meeting, Cao Cao took the initiative to take responsibility for the defeat and made a painful self-criticism to everyone.He said, I was wrong this time. I should have taken precautions against Zhang Xiu and took one of his sons as a hostage when I accepted his surrender, but I didn't do that.I know the reasons for my mistakes, and I won't make them again next time.

This is what makes Cao Cao different from others. If Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu were replaced, they would definitely blame others and investigate who was in favor of Zhang Xiu's false surrender. However, Cao Cao did not shirk his responsibility and took the responsibility himself. The summary meeting is not for nothing.In the second year, Cao Cao went south to attack Zhang Xiu again, and this time it was Zhang Xiu's turn to be beaten everywhere. However, the road to growth is doomed to bumps and bumps, and Cao Cao cannot avoid this rule. In the third year, that is, in April 198 AD, Cao Cao once again raised an army to attack Zhang Xiu.Before leaving Xudu, Cao Cao's military advisor Xun Yu persuaded Cao Cao not to attack Zhang Xiu. He said that Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao were in an alliance, and we would be very difficult to deal with. Now Zhang Xiu is provided by Liu Biao with food, and Liu Biao will not seriously provide Zhang Xiu with food and grass. , so Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao will fight on their own one day, we might as well wait for a while to reap the benefits of the fisherman, you have pushed them into a hurry now, it is very important for us that the two of them join forces to fight us Adverse.

Cao Cao didn't listen to Xun Yu's words, so Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu formed a buddy of friends and jointly fought against Cao Cao.So Cao Cao ordered to retreat. Zhang Xiu guessed that Cao Cao was afraid of this retreat, and led the army to pursue the victory.Jia Xu persuaded him not to chase, but Zhang Xiu would not listen, and excitedly chased him, but was beaten back in disgrace, and fled back in a state of embarrassment, before he could sit still, Jia Xu encouraged him, general, hurry up and chase again!Zhang Xiu was confused, and asked, I wanted to chase just now, but my husband said not to chase, but now I came back from a defeat, and you said hurry up, what does that mean?Jia Xu waved his hand and said, don't ask, just chase after him!Zhang Xiu trusted Jia Xu after all, so he didn't ask any more questions, and chased after the defeated general after clearing up the remnants of the soldiers. This time, Cao Jun was beaten to death.

After returning, Zhang Xiu saw that Jia Xu was a god-man, and pestered him to ask why the first time he chased the retreating soldiers with elite soldiers and lost, but the second time he chased the winning soldiers with remnants and won?Jia Xu asked Zhang Xiu with a smile, why do you think Cao Cao retreated?Zhang Xiu said, are you scared?Jia Xu said, Wrong, look at this war, Cao Cao has neither lost nor made mistakes, why did he suddenly withdraw his troops?There must be something wrong with his rear, that's why he retreated.He is withdrawing his troops in a planned way, rather than retreating in defeat. With Cao Cao's wisdom, he will definitely cut off the rear himself, so general, if you catch up at the beginning, of course you will lose without a doubt.Cao Cao has something on his mind, so he will rush back in a hurry. Now that he has defeated you, he will not cut off the back himself. He will definitely go to the front. Invincible reason ah?With this explanation, Zhang Xiu admired Jia Xu so much.

So, is Jia Xu's speculation about Cao Cao correct?Facts have proved that the situation on Cao Cao's side is exactly the same as what Jia Xu speculated, and Jia Xu is indeed a man of clever calculations. It turned out that when Cao Cao and Zhang Xiu were fighting fiercely, Yuan Shao's counselor Tian Feng saw the opportunity and suggested to Yuan Shao that we should take the little emperor over while Cao Cao was away and Xudu was empty.When Cao Cao heard the news, he thought that the emperor was much more important than Zhang Xiu, so he quickly withdrew his troops and went back to save the fire in the backyard.

In fact, Cao Cao was a false alarm. Yuan Shao did not accept Tian Feng's opinion and attacked Xu Du.Cao Cao fought Zhang Xiu three times in a row, with one defeat, one victory and one draw.Who knows, in the fourth year, things suddenly turned around, and the old rival Zhang Xiu took the initiative to surrender to Cao Cao. What happened? At that time, there were only two largest confronting forces left in the Central Plains, which were Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, so the middle force became the target of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's group.Yuan Shao was always late in seeing things, but this time his reaction was quicker.He sent someone to tell Zhang Xiu, you have to vote for us, and you will suffer disaster sooner or later if you follow Cao Cao.As soon as the conversation stopped, before Zhang Xiu could reply, Jia Xu pushed back and said, please go back and tell your envoy General Yuan, just say that our lord said that General Yuan can't even tolerate his own brothers, and he can tolerate people with different surnames ?Yuan Shao's envoys went back angrily.Zhang Xiu was quite frightened, and asked Jia Xu, sir, you sent Yuan Shao's people away like this, what should we do?Jia Xu said, don't worry, we can rely on Cao Cao!Zhang Xiu was dumbfounded, are you kidding me?I fought with Cao Cao three times and rebelled once. His son and general died in my hands. Let's surrender. Can he let me go?Besides, his strength is not as strong as Yuan Shao, so what's the benefit of voting for him?

Jia Xu said, this is why we want to seek refuge with Cao Cao!Our little power is just icing on the cake for Yuan Shao, how can he take us seriously?But in Cao Cao's place, it is a timely assistance, and Cao Cao will definitely value us.Besides, Cao Cao has great ambitions and is a person who is dedicated to achieving hegemony. Such a person will definitely put the overall situation above personal grievances, and will not care about those things in the past, and he is now employing people. People like us who rebelled against him Going to rely on him will also help him establish his image, general, you can surrender with confidence. Zhang Xiu always obeyed Jia Xu's words, so he took his troops to Xudu.When Cao Cao heard that Zhang Xiu had come to surrender himself, he was overjoyed from the sky, and came out from afar to greet Zhang Xiu. He held Zhang Xiu's hand and greeted him warmly. He was very affectionate and never mentioned the rebellion in Wancheng.He also arranged a banquet to entertain Zhang Xiu warmly. During the banquet, he proposed to form a family with Zhang Xiu.From then on, Zhang Xiu was attached to Cao Cao's tent, and Cao Cao gave Zhang Xiu far more treatment than others. Zhang Xiu was finally confiscated to two thousand households, while none of the others had more than one thousand households. And Jia Xu, who planned all this, also became a counselor of Cao Cao.If Cao Cao's attitude towards Zhang Xiu was more or less for diplomatic purposes, then Cao Cao was sincerely grateful and admired Jia Xu.After Zhang Xiu came to surrender, Cao Cao once held Jia Xu's hand in private and said that the man who made me believe that the most important thing in the world is Mr. Since Jia Xu joined Cao Cao, he has become very low-key in life. He has never been in the limelight or socialized much. He often thanked guests behind closed doors and lived quietly at home. His son and daughter married ordinary people. .In the unpredictable era of the Three Kingdoms, the fate of counselors was often miserable, but Jia Xu was able to live peacefully until his death at the age of 77. He was the counselor with the best ending in the Three Kingdoms era. In the spring of the year when Zhang Xiu surrendered to Cao Cao, Yuan Shao assembled 100,000 elite troops and marched towards Xudu. Cao Cao also led his troops to Guandu. A war that will determine the current situation is about to start. What is this? What kind of war? Why is Jia Xu so clever?The reason is that he has seen through human nature and human heart.He is a person who knows people and can clearly understand the minds of the people he deals with, so he can see the reasons behind Cao Cao's retreat and the results of Zhang Xiu's surrender.At the same time, he is a confidant, so he understands that people like him who surrendered from the hostile camp are not only objects to be used but also objects to be guarded against for Cao Cao.Therefore, after he voted for Cao Cao, he restrained his edge and kept a low profile, winning a peaceful and peaceful life for himself in the troubled times.