Chapter 54 Chapter 7 Incorporating the Qingzhou Army to Compete for Yanzhou Land (6)

After Li Jue and Guo Si asked Cao Cao's envoys to go back, they gradually felt that Zhong Yao's words made sense.They realized that if they wanted to consolidate their political power, they had to contact these high officials in the Kanto region.They had heard that Xuzhou Mu Taoqian and former Henan Yin Zhujun had united against them. They were very angry at first, but now they thought that they should find a way to appease Zhu Jun like Cao Cao. It turned out that Zhu Jun and Tao Qian had sent troops to fight Dong Zhuo before, and Dong Zhuo had sent Li Jue and Guo Si to defeat Zhu Jun.Now, Tao Qian has joined forces with some of the neighboring ministers to promote Zhu Jun as the grand master, and issued a notice calling on the herdsmen from all over the country to join forces to fight against Li Jue and Guo Si to please the emperor.Li Jue and Guo Si listened to Jia Xu's plan and sent envoys to invite Zhu Jun to come to the court to be the grand master.

After Zhu Jun received the envoys sent by Li Jue and Guo Si, he realized that Li Jue and Guo Si had recommended him to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty and wanted to give him a senior official.And Tao Qian and the others have already promoted him as the Grand Master, asking him to take the lead in conquering Li Jue and Guo Si, his status is high enough.It can be seen that the so-called "Taishi" was not appointed by the imperial court after all, and of course it is not genuine.Therefore, Zhu Jun was moved by the imperial court appointment, and decided to bid farewell to Tao Qian and the others.He said: "The king summons his ministers, and the ministers should go as soon as they are called, without any hesitation, which can be called righteousness."

Tao Qian was very upset, and asked scoldingly, "Could it be that the grand master has changed his mind and is unwilling to oppose Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou, and is willing to work with them instead?" Zhu Jun replied unconvinced: "You have completely misunderstood me. People like Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou are just villains. They will surely intrigue each other in the future. At that time, I will take the opportunity to attack and destroy them. That way , the great event of conquering them will be successful." Regarding Zhu Jun's excuse, Tao Qian originally wanted to expose him, but after thinking about it, since he had made up his mind, he had no choice but to give up and left angrily.Zhu Jun went to Chang'an today to meet Li Jue.On the second day, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty appointed him as a servant.

Tao Qian's plan to push Zhu Jun to lead the conquest of Li Jue and Guo Si fell through. The three years of Chuping was definitely a bumper year for Cao Cao's personal career.First, it was Cao Cao who finally obtained the control of Yanzhou; second, it was Cao Cao who recruited 300,000 Qingzhou troops by means of attack and appeasement, which greatly expanded his team; third, it was the great favor of Mao Jie Suggestion, although he has not yet fully implemented it, the development of the next ten years will be based on Mao Jie's "serving the emperor" and "garrisoning the soldiers" as the guiding principles; fourth, it will have an important impact on Jian'an's style of writing in the future Son --- Cao Zhi was born.

In the spring of the fourth year of Chuping, Cao Cao's army, which had just been formed at the end of last year, faced a severe challenge from Yuan Shu's army, one of the main forces of the Kwantung Army. After pacifying Yanzhou, Cao Cao stationed his direct army in Zhencheng.At this time, the situation of the Kwantung Army's confrontation between the North and the South underwent major changes.Liu Biao, governor of Jingzhou, exerted pressure on Yuan Shu's troops stationed in the northeast border of his prefecture and county, and cut off financial resources and military supplies.As a last resort, Yuan Shu turned to Yanzhou for development, thus invading Cao Cao's territory.

Yuan Shu stationed the main force in Fengqiu City, and contacted the remnants of the Montenegrin Party defeated by Cao Cao and the Yufu Luozhong of the Huns, planning to attack Cao Cao from the west. After the deployment was completed, Yuan Shu dispatched General Liu Xiang to lead the vanguard troops towards Zhencheng, where the troops directly under Cao Cao were stationed, posing as a challenge.But Liu Xiang was terrified of Cao Cao's combat ability. As soon as he arrived at Kuangting on the south bank of Pushui, he set up camp and dared not advance. After Cao Cao received the information sent by the intelligence personnel, after careful analysis, he concluded that Yuan Shu's army would attack Zhencheng from three sides.Cao Cao guessed that his intention was nothing more than to use a powerful momentum to force the troops of other counties and counties in Yanzhou not to help Cao Cao, so as to achieve the purpose of isolating Cao's army.

Cao Cao thought that he must be discouraged before he can take the lead in the momentum.He quickly saw the weakness in Yuan Shu's layout.Although Liu Xiang's vanguard posed as a lure to fight, it was a serious mistake to choose Kuangting. Kuangting is far from Chenliu, Yuan Shu's main force, and it is indeed about a day's infantry journey less than going from Zhencheng to Kuangting.However, Cao Jun only needs to cross the Pu River to attack Kuangting directly.However, Yuan Jun of Chenliu had to cross Sui River, Bian River, Nanji River and Beiji River in succession to get to Kuangting.With the way of marching at that time, crossing the river was a very troublesome thing.If Cao Jun marched at full speed, he would definitely reach Kuangting earlier than Yuan Shu's main force behind him.And the troops of the Montenegrin Party and Yu Fuluozhong were even further away. If they arrived, the war would have ended long ago.

After Cao Cao analyzed the weaknesses in Yuan Shu's military layout, he initially grasped the chances of victory.The so-called know yourself and the enemy, and you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles. Cao Cao remembered a sentence in the art of war again.Now, he has reached this level, so there is no reason not to win this battle. Based on this situation, Cao Cao decided to launch a surprise attack on Yuan Jun after much deliberation. Before and after this, Cao Cao adopted this method of fighting many times, because it was very suitable for his taste, and taste was the expression of his personality traits and military style.Cao Cao is bold, witty, and full of strategies. These advantages make him like to take surprise attacks and often succeed.

This time, Cao Cao resolutely decided to launch a surprise attack on Yuan Shu. Cao Cao sent Xun Yu to assemble the armies of Yanzhou's counties in Zhencheng, and mobilized them openly. The banners were clear and the drums were bursting. It seemed that they were conducting comprehensive defense and training, and they could be seen and heard from far away.The spies sent by Yuan Shu reported the situation to Yuan Shu, and concluded that Cao Jun was forming a large-scale formation to prepare for the battle. Yuan Shu believed it. At the same time, Cao Cao led the troops directly under him, silenced their flags and drums, marched secretly, and quickly came to the bank of Pushui.For all such critical actions, Cao Cao personally took action, and he had to grasp any step of this important chess piece to advance or retreat.No one can replace him. It's not that others can't do it, but it's too critical a step. Cao Cao always seems a little worried about letting others do it.Because that critical step is related to the victory or defeat of the whole army, there are often many emergencies that require extraordinary tact and decisiveness to deal with.

Now, Cao Cao led the main force to the edge of Pushui, and this first silent operation was a success.Because along the way, he not only asked the troops to stop, but also asked everyone not to make loud noises.He does not take the main road or the small road, but chooses secluded places to pass.At the same time, he also dispatched many secret spies to detect suspicious people, and if there are any, they will be captured first, regardless of whether the person is Yuan Shu's person or not.