Chapter 57 Chapter 8 Expansion of the Territory: Tu Xuzhou’s Backyard Fires Fight Puyang (1)

After Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, his momentum was greatly improved, and the territory of Yanzhou was at least temporarily occupied, and all counties and counties in Yanzhou were convinced by him. However, although Cao Cao's mind is full of "serving the country and the people", the great ambition of "stabilizing the world and eliminating the suffering of the people" often appears in his poems.But in practice, he is a pragmatist.He knows that without power, ideals are just empty talk.After taking control of Yanzhou, the most urgent question in his mind is to increase the territory and strength as soon as possible.

However, to the north of Yanzhou is Yuan Shao, the leader of the alliance.Yuan Shao has rich military experience, and there are many resourceful and brave men under his tent.Yuan Shao puts a lot of emphasis on practicality, which is very different from Yuan Shu who only likes bluff.Yuan Shao annexed Han Fu and defeated Gongsun Zan's army, which was known for its bravery and ferocity, and became the leader of the northern army.With Cao Cao's strength alone, he could not afford to offend Yuan Shao anyway. Jingzhou in the southwest of Yanzhou has a vast land and rich resources. Under the leadership of Jingzhou Mu Liubiao, the people are very stable and the military defense is also very strong, not to mention that there is Yuzhou separated from it.Yuzhou is a battleground for military strategists. Except for the semi-independent state of the counties and counties, the military generals of the other prefectures of Hebei, Yan, Jing, Xu, and Yang also have their own territories here.Therefore, even if he becomes the top executive of Yuzhou, it is just a name in vain.

But Xuzhou, to the east of Yanzhou, was a paradise in the troubled times of the late Han Dynasty.At the beginning, the Yellow Turban Party uprising did not affect this land of fish and rice.Mu Taoqian of Xuzhou is diligent in governing and keeping the people safe. No matter how the world's major events change, he will try his best to play an irrelevant role and defend this fertile land with all his strength. Cao Cao, who wanted to expand his territory, quickly took a fancy to this ideal big goal. Tao Qian, courtesy name Gongzu, was a general who was born in the army.He was appointed as Xuzhou Shepherd in the last years of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, and he deliberately worked hard to manage this place.Xuzhou is rich in products and has a good household registration, so the social life is very stable, and all the people live and work in peace and contentment, creating a peaceful scene.After the incident of the Yellow Turban Party happened, people in Xuzhou were worried that their hometown would be harmed, so they put their hopes on Tao Qian. Tao Qian said: "Only with more of our own soldiers and horses can we protect our homeland."

The people took the initiative to demand the expansion of the army.Tao Qian took the opportunity to expand the army, named Baojia, which was really waiting, hoping that one day he would compete for the world with force and financial resources. After Dong Zhuo's Rebellion, the Chang'an government and the Kwantung Army confronted each other.The Yuan brothers of the Kwantung Army fought against each other from the north to the south. Although Tao Qian often supported Yuan Shu, he still tried to avoid getting involved in disputes in order to maintain his strength. In the fourth year of Chuping, that is, in the summer of 193 A.D., after Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu, the Chang'an government fell into chaos again, and the court survived in name only.Yuan Shu, the leader of the southern region of the Kwantung Army, was defeated by the emerging Cao Cao Army, and the order of the world seemed to be turned upside down.Tao Qian believed that the time had come, and decided to use Xuzhou as his base to participate in the big action to fight for the world.

However, although Tao Qian was quite ambitious, he was also a very cautious person. He still didn't want to show up in person, so he tried to create a puppet regime, Que Xuan, and proclaimed himself emperor in Picheng under Tao Qian's jurisdiction.First of all, Tao Qian attacked Qingzhou, which had been divided by the state army like Yuzhou, and captured Huacheng and Guicheng in Taishan County of Qingzhou.Tao Qian's next goal was Sili District, so he had to pass through Cao Cao's territory Yanzhou first. Tao Qian was not ignorant of Cao Cao's talents, but he was confident in his strength, so he directly attacked Rencheng at the southern end of Yanzhou without saying hello to Cao Cao.Tao Qian thought that Cao Cao had nothing to do with him, that's why he was so arrogant and presumptuous.

Sure enough, Cao Cao didn't respond.Cao Cao also knew that Tao Qian had invaded Rencheng, but at this time Cao Cao and Yuan Shu had just fought four months of hard pursuit, and the army was very tired and had to take a thorough rest, so he ignored Tao Qian's attack for the time being.Cao Cao only strictly guarded a few important places, and even deliberately gave up Yanzhou, allowing Tao Qian to come and go freely, deliberately showing his unwillingness to confront Xuzhou head-on.Cao Cao's generosity really paralyzed Tao Qian for a while. A few months later, when the season entered autumn, the autumn harvest in Yanzhou area was over, Cao Jun's food and fodder were abundant, and Cao Jun's troops also had enough rest and reorganization, Cao Cao thought it was time to take action.

Cao Cao thought about how to deal with Tao Qian.He has a habit of thinking about military operations not in the tent, but to go outside, especially in the wild, and he thinks about problems while walking.It seems that the scenery and breath of nature can enlighten his thinking.Indeed, that broad field of vision is of great benefit to the expansion of his mind, and his thinking is naturally much broader when he expands his mind.As a poet, Cao Cao has a lot of imagination and creativity, and the use of imagination and creativity often makes his military strategies unexpected.Therefore, anyone who is both a poet and a military strategist is very powerful.Cao Cao thought about problems and came to the wild, as if to find a suitable external environment for his imagination and creativity to stretch his limbs. Therefore, once he stepped out of the mansion or camp, his various military fantasies would be lost. It will come out of the head, showing itself very flexibly and vividly.

After thinking about it, Cao Cao decided not to confront Tao Qian's expeditionary army head-on. He was only pretending to deal with it on the surface, and actually adopted the strategy of "surrounding Wei and saving Zhao" to attack Xuzhou directly. Cao Cao carefully analyzed Tao Qian's situation. First of all, Tao Qian's main force is not in Xuzhou, and the main force has been following Tao Qian.The garrison remaining in Xuzhou is only a small part. Moreover, according to Cao Cao's investigation, this part of the garrison belongs to the part newly recruited by Tao Qian to expand the army. Although they have been trained for a while, they lack field combat experience after all.

Cao made a clever deployment. He placed one-third of his soldiers and horses on the battlefield facing Tao Qian. On the surface, he intended to fight Tao Qian for a decisive battle, but in fact he was to protect Yanzhou.Cao Cao adopted the strategy of "encircling Wei and saving Zhao" against Tao Qian, but Tao Qian could not take the opportunity to attack Yanzhou.Therefore, he put these one-third of the elite soldiers on the front, completely defending Yanzhou in an offensive and defensive manner.Even if Tao Qian later found out that Cao Cao's main force was not in Yanzhou, he couldn't help the Yanzhou defenders for a while.

On the other hand, Cao Cao led the main army to rush towards Xuzhou, Tao Qian's base camp.He grasped the crucial step, and also grasped the overall situation.If you win this move, you will win the whole game; if you lose this move, you will lose the whole game.Therefore, no matter how difficult and difficult this step is, he must go there personally.