Chapter 59 Chapter 8 Expansion of the Territory: Tu Xuzhou's Backyard Fires Fight Puyang (3)

Taishan Taishou Ying Shao arrived, there was already blood and corpses everywhere, his face turned pale with fright.Of course I didn't dare to reply to Cao Cao, so I didn't even dare to be an official, so I ran away privately. When the news reached Cao Cao's army, Cao Cao was so angry that he almost fainted.Although he and his father had never been in harmony, they were his biological father after all, not to mention such a tragic death, he couldn't think of it no matter what.Cao Cao stomped his feet and beat his chest, cried and cursed, vowing to avenge his father. Was Zhang Kai sent by Tao Qian to kill Cao Song? Or was Tao Qian sent him to escort Cao Song? Seeing that the fortune was different, he betrayed Tao Qian and became a strongman? Cao Cao didn't care about it, he only recognized Zhang as Tao Qian sent him there, and Zhang killed his father, so he must seek Tao Qian's revenge.

In the fourth year of Chuping, that is, at the end of 193 AD, Cao Cao asked Chen Gong to stay in Dongjun, and asked Xun Yu and Cheng Yu to guard the three counties of Zhencheng, Fanxian, and Donghe. Call to Xuzhou. With a surge of anger, Cao Cao took down more than a dozen cities in a row, until he reached Pengcheng and Fuyang, before meeting Tao Qian's main force.But Tao Qian was holding on to Tancheng, and Cao Cao couldn't attack it for a while.After a long time, due to lack of rations, the troops had to retreat and come back to rest the army. In the second year, the first year of Jixingping, 194 AD, when summer came, Cao Cao formed an army and attacked Xuzhou again.

Since Cao Cao already owned Pengcheng and Xiapi County during the first Eastern Expedition, Cao Cao had already built a Caogong City at this time to commemorate his father who was killed.Now he used the excuse of avenging his father and led the army himself, and asked Yu Jin and Cao Ren to lead another army to attack in two directions.They split up to attack Qulu, Suiling, and Xiaqiu.Every time a city is laid down, a large-scale massacre is carried out. At that time, many people in Guanzhong and Luoyang fled to the east to avoid Dong Zhuo's massacre.Therefore, the area around Pengcheng has a relatively large population.In order to avenge his father, Cao Cao declared that even if he killed all the people in Xuzhou, he would not forgive his hatred.Therefore, wherever Cao Cao's soldiers and horses went, regardless of men, women, old or young, they were all killed. Hundreds of thousands of people were massacred, and their bodies were thrown into the river without a place to put them.The river was dyed red, and the smell was so strong.In the counties of Pengcheng, Fuyang, Qulu, Suiling, and Xiaqiu, there were no pedestrians on the roads, not even a chicken or dog.

This may be an unprecedented massacre in Cao Cao's life, and the whole world was shocked by it. For Tao Qian, the "Cao Song Incident" was a dumb man eating Coptis chinensis, and his good intentions became a bad thing.Cao Cao's revenge was so brutal that Tao Qian was afraid that even Tancheng would be difficult to defend, so he had to ask Gongsun Zan for help.At that time, envoys were sent to Qingzhou to ask Gongsun Zan's subordinate Qingzhou Governor Tian Kai to send troops.Tian Kai agreed, and sent people to Pingyuan to ask Pingyuan Prime Minister Liu Bei to send troops together.

Liu Bei, Tian Kai, and Beihai prefect Kong Rong were all dissatisfied with Cao Cao's brutal behavior, and they were willing to help Tao Qian. Due to the strong defense of Tancheng, the people of Xuzhou formed a strong centripetal force because of Cao Cao's massacre, which made Cao Cao have to think seriously.He decided to adopt a thorough encirclement war, planning to gradually eliminate the Xuzhou army on the outskirts of Tancheng, so as to isolate Tao Qian's main force inside Tancheng.He thought, only in this way can he achieve miraculous effects similar to the method of breaking through each.

After several battles, Tao Qian also had a good understanding of the combat effectiveness of Cao Cao's army. He knew the advantages of Cao Cao's army, so he tried his best to avoid the decisive method of pure field battles, and changed the method of using offensive and defensive mutual horns. Tao Qian's deployment is: 1. Strengthen the defense of Tancheng, and establish a new stronghold in the northwest corner - Xiangben City as the first line of defense.2. General Cao Bao of the Dispatch Department, together with Kong Rong and Liu Bei's support troops, set up a field task force in the east of Tancheng to serve as mutual horns.

After Cao Cao observed and estimated Tao Qian's defense from a long distance, he soon discovered Tao Qian's attempts and weaknesses, and he had some countermeasures in mind accordingly. Cao Cao sensitively discovered that due to lack of actual combat experience, the Xuzhou Army was frightened by Cao Jun's fierce and destructive power during the Battle of Pengcheng, so the entire department was very conservative and passive.Tao Qian himself took the main force to hide in the well-defended Tancheng, while the vanguard of Xiangben City, Cao Bao, and Liu Bei's horned troops were too weak and lacked combat effectiveness at all. On the surface, it seemed that they were actively preparing for battle, but in reality, The Xiangben Army and Cao Bao Army were still passively defending Tancheng.In other words, neither Tao Qian nor his Xuzhou had the will to fight anymore, and all the arrangements were just for temporary self-protection.

According to this situation, Cao Cao sent Cao Ren to form a field outside Xiangben City to block Tao Qian's attempt to leave the city.And he personally commanded the main force.Attack Cao Bao and Liu Bei's combined forces. Cao Cao attacked Cao Bao and Liu Bei's troops with all his strength. The powerful offensive made Cao Bao and Liu Bei's army unable to resist. At first, they could only parry, but had no power to fight back.Tao Qian saw this situation from the top of Tancheng, and did not dare to come out to help.Not to mention that there is Cao Ren waiting for his help, even if there is no Cao Ren, he is afraid that he will never come back after leaving the city.Cao Cao's cavalry will cut off his retreat with lightning speed.

After Cao Bao and Liu Bei's joint army retreated steadily, Cao Cao immediately turned his army around and cooperated with Cao Ren to attack Xiangben City.The combination of the two teams is even more powerful, especially Cao Ren's troops, who are always ready to go, and all of them are full of energy and fighting spirit. The defenders of Xiangben City saw Cao Bao's army collapsed and their morale was low, so they were the first to lose psychologically. They were all timid and lost their courage.Therefore, in less than three days, Xiangben City was captured by Cao Jun. Cao Cao went straight into Xiangben and ordered a massacre. Wherever the front of the soldiers went, blood flowed like a river, and there were almost no chickens or dogs left.Tao Qian, who was stationed in Tancheng, was terrified and out of his wits.He could no longer stay in Tancheng anyway, so he led his team to quietly abandon Tancheng and go to Danyang County, Yangzhou.

When Cao Cao saw that Tao Qian had really escaped, he couldn't stop laughing. He ordered the whole army to drink to congratulate. In fact, Cao Cao has more grand strategies in his heart. Sometimes he is a drunkard who doesn't care about drinking. On the surface it is one thing, but deep down there is another thing, which is much bigger. The same is true of this battle of revenge.