Chapter 52 Chapter 7 Incorporating Qingzhou Army to Compete for Yanzhou Land (4)

Cao Cao, the prefect of Dongjun, was training soldiers and horses in Puyang under the rule of Dongjun.As soon as he heard the news that Liu Dai, the governor of Yanzhou, had been killed, he started planning in his heart.In order to rebuild Yanzhou's defense, Cao Cao immediately invited the heads of nearby counties and counties to convene an emergency military meeting.Cao Cao had an assistant, a local Dongjun native, named Chen Gong, styled Gongtai.He is Cao Cao's subordinate and a counselor.He suggested to Cao Cao: "Yanzhou Inspector Liu Dai was killed in battle, and now the imperial court is unable to appoint a head immediately. I plan to contact some prominent figures in the prefecture, and try my best to persuade the staff of the Inspector's Mansion to fight for the position of acting governor of the Ming Mansion for you." .If we can win this territory, we can use it as the basis for fighting for world hegemony."

What Chen Gong said made Cao Cao very tempted. He was very grateful to Chen Gong, and immediately agreed with Chen Gong's opinion, and asked him to work hard.Chen Gong went immediately. The governor's office in Yanzhou was panicking over Liu Dai's death in battle and the imminent attack of the Yellow Turbans.Chen Gong took the opportunity to say: "Nowadays the whole country is divided, and this prefecture has no leaders. It is easy to be annexed, and everyone will lose the position of commanding the people of the prefecture. It is better to welcome Mr. Cao, the prefect of Dongjun. With him as the leader, not only can we fight against The Yellow Turbans in the turmoil can protect the people of this state to live and work in peace."

Bao Xin, the Prime Minister of Jinbei, has always looked up to Cao Cao and placed great hopes on Cao Cao. He also persuaded Cao Cao to return to the south of the Yellow River to wait for an opportunity.At this moment, he was also listening to Chen Gong's words, expressing his full agreement, and using this to encourage the officials present.Bao Xin helped Chen Gong to meet with other officials again.Those officials were worried that the Yellow Turbans would make things difficult for them. Now that someone can take the lead to support the situation, they can protect their lives and property while continuing to serve as officials. Why not? So they all agreed to let Cao Cao succeed Liu Dai as the governor of Yanzhou.

So, at Bao Xin's instigation, these state officials crossed the Yellow River and went to Dongwuyang to meet Cao Cao and temporarily take state affairs.And immediately reorganized the state and county defense forces, preparing to deal with the powerful Yellow Turbans to the end. However, after all, the Yellow Turban Soldiers have a large number of people and strong combat capabilities, and they have just won a battle, and their momentum is very large.Cao Cao had few soldiers and weak forces, how could he resist such a strong Yellow Turban army? As soon as the two armies came into contact, Cao Cao immediately felt that the disparity was too great and it was difficult to win.Sure enough, the first battle was lost, and Cao Cao decisively withdrew his troops and retreated to stand firm.

Although he was defeated in the first battle, Cao Cao still seemed confident.He carefully analyzed the Yellow Turbans, and believed that the Yellow Turbans lacked horses, had low mobility, and were loosely organized.Although there are a large number of people at present, they are proud of victory, and their vigilance is relatively reduced.Therefore, he did not plan to fight head-on with the Yellow Turban Army, and decided to use surprise tactics instead to wear down the opponent's momentum.As long as the opponent's momentum is depressed, it will not be difficult to destroy. After repeated thinking, Cao Cao planned to set the battlefield for the surprise attack in Shouzhang City, which is now southwest of Dongping County, Shandong Province.Shouzhang City is located between Jishui and Wenshui, and there is a rather open plain, which is most suitable for cavalry assault.As for the cavalry, it is Cao Jun's strength.Cao Cao has served as a cavalry lieutenant several times. In addition to his excellent riding skills, he is also better at commanding cavalry battles.

The Yellow Turban Army gathered between Wuyan City and Shouzhang City, very close to Cao Cao's army.But Cao Cao still wanted to observe the opponent's position.So Cao Cao and Bao Xin boldly led a mixed infantry and cavalry force of 1,000 people to the front line to survey the terrain in person.With an army of 1,000 people, Cao Cao ran to hundreds of thousands of people to collect information. Sometimes Cao Cao was indeed bold and almost reckless. Cao Cao has a delicate mind, good at creative planning, and has always been brave in action. He often likes to go to the forefront by himself. Therefore, the later poet Su Dongpo praised him as the military strategist who is the best at using troops in Chinese history.However, in the history of Cao Cao's life, there were often dangerous situations of embarrassment. The main reason was his excessively bold behavior.

Cao Cao was very proud of the careful planning of the Battle of Shouzhang, so on the eve of the battle, he took Bao Xin to the front line to inspect, and explained his battle strategy to Bao Xin in a frantic manner.Perhaps due to over-excitement, the cavalry troops of Cao Cao and Bao Xin went a long distance ahead of the infantry troops and came right to the edge of Wenshui.Suddenly, an enemy force of several thousand appeared in front of him. Cao Cao had to rush to fight with hundreds of cavalry.However, the terrain on the shore was uneven, and the cavalry could not exert the power to charge. In addition, the infantry failed to support in time, and the number was far behind. The entire army was about to be wiped out.

In the crisis, Bao Xin asked a few brave cavalry athletes to protect Cao Cao and escape first, while he led the remaining cavalry troops to fight to the death.Although Cao Cao strongly opposed it, Bao Xin said that an army cannot do without a commander.In order to take care of the overall situation, Cao Cao had to take advantage of the gap to break out.As a result, Cao Jun was killed and wounded, and Bao Xin also died fighting hard at the age of forty-one. Bao Xin was originally a rich man with a good family background, and he was considered a rare person with lofty ideals in the Kwantung Army.

Thinking back to when Cao Cao was single and weak, Bao Xin encouraged Cao Cao and said: "People who lack resourcefulness cannot stand out. Even if they are very prosperous now, they will fail one day. In the future, I think only you can make things right, General." You are a man sent down from heaven!" Cao Cao was very sad that such a close friend died for his own carelessness and adventure. He offered a reward for finding Bao Xin's body, so he had to ask someone to carve a picture of Bao Xin with wood, paint it with oil paint, and hang it for burial.When mourning, Cao Cao cried very sadly, and the soldiers were moved to tears.When everyone saw Cao Cao crying so sadly for a fallen soldier, they were all very moved, and they naturally became closer to Cao Cao psychologically.

In memory of Bao Xin, Cao Cao was determined to win the war. Cao Cao gathered all the young people in Yanzhou, and after only a short training, they participated in actual combat.In order to make up for the army's lack of combat experience, Cao Cao wore armor around the clock and personally commanded the battle. Therefore, the morale of the entire army was strong.The new source of soldiers has increased a lot, and with the legions left by Liu Dai and Bao Xin, Cao Jun's fighting strength is getting stronger and stronger. On the contrary, the Yellow Turbans were lax in organization and lacked military knowledge. Although they were numerous and powerful, they could not withstand Cao Cao's marathon pursuit, and their morale declined again and again.After dozens of battles, Cao Cao hardly let the Yellow Turbans take a breather.He sent out all the legions to take the initiative and fought in turn.Cao Cao's army has high mobility and strong fighting spirit. After several beautiful battles, the fighting will of hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans was completely defeated.

Cao Cao has always been sympathetic to civil uprisings, if it weren't for Bao Xin's incident, he would never have pursued the Yellow Turbans so fiercely.Therefore, when the Yellow Turbans suffered successive setbacks and were exhausted, Cao Cao gradually calmed down from his intense emotions.