Chapter 63 Chapter 8 Expansion of the Territory: Tu Xuzhou’s Backyard Fires and Battle of Puyang (7)

Lieutenant General Han Hao was very calm. He saw that the purpose of this group of rebels was only to ask for money, and had no other intentions, and there was no sign of collusion with Chen Gong and Lu Bu. Just a prominent hostage.Therefore, deputy general Han Hao first tried his best to appease the rest of the troops, and then surrounded the jungle, and he personally shouted to the small group of rebels.He first assured the rebels that as long as they released Xiahou Dun, they would definitely let them go.Otherwise, they would not be able to get out of this powerful encirclement anyway. The rebels also sent a representative to answer and put forward three conditions: first, give them a certain amount of money; second, let them go; third, they will not pursue after they leave.Lieutenant General Han Hao accepted everything, that is, he asked someone to send the money into the jungle first, and then let go of a gap.

The rebels took the money and left from the exit, where they released Xiahou Dun. As soon as the rebels came out of the woods, they ran away.Han Hao wanted to send his army to kill them, but he stopped because of Xia Houdun, saying: "A few bumpkin peasants want to go home and take care of their wives, so let them go. It will be useless to keep them. Killing them will not help stabilize the morale of the army. " So Han Hao assembled his troops and Xiahou Dun announced: "If you want to go home, it's early. I, Xiahou Dun, will not stop me, and I will give you an appropriate amount of travel expenses. But tell everyone, if you don't work together during this turmoil, What's the use of going home to keep one party safe? What's the safety of home when the country is restless?"

Not a single soldier was willing to leave after hearing this.Therefore, Xiahou Dun and his deputy Han Hao reorganized the troops and gathered in the field far away from Puyang City. Originally, according to Chen Gong's plan, as long as Fan Cheng responded, he could quickly attack Dong'e and Zhen Cheng.But Cheng Yu blocked his plan to coerce Jin Jian, and then blocked Cangtingjin.Chen Gong had no choice but to go around in a big circle and attack Xiahou Dun's Puyang City. Although Puyang City fell, Xiahou Dun did not retreat too far, but still deployed the main force on the field outside the city with confidence.This is no different from a nail, nailed there firmly, always fighting with Lu Bu's army endlessly.In this way, the pressure on Zhencheng and other three counties was relieved a lot indirectly, so that the main force of Cao Cao on the expedition could rush back in time and deploy for counterattack.

Cao Cao was taken aback by the emergency military news from Yanzhou, his base camp, and immediately called a military meeting to discuss the matter urgently. Cao Cao said: "If there is a loss in Yanzhou, we will all be homeless. Even if we occupy Xuzhou, we will meet stubborn resistance. We have to find a way quickly." At this time, Liu Bei came forward to mediate the dispute between Cao Cao and Tao Qian. The staff officer Guo Jia suggested: "You might as well take the opportunity to mediate, return to Yanzhou first, and let's talk about it after the Zhang Miao incident is resolved!"

Therefore, Cao Cao sent Cao Ren and Guo Jia to conduct peace talks, while he led the main army and rushed back to Yanzhou in the dark to respond.Tao Qian and Liu Bei didn't know the situation behind Cao Cao at this time, and thought Cao Cao really expressed reconciliation. What Cao Cao was most worried about was that Lv Bu would go south and own Fancheng and Dong'e, so that he could control Dongping and block Kangfu's dangerous road.In this way, not only can Zhencheng be isolated, but it can also prevent Cao Cao's East Expeditionary Division from returning to defense based on the danger of the land.Cheng Yu also saw this crisis, so he spared no effort to move around to block Lu Bu's offensive.

Therefore, when the anxious Cao Cao learned that Lv Bu and Xiahou Dun fought in Puyang, he couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief, and at the same time said very complacently: "It seems that Lv Bu and Chen Gong can certainly instigate Yanzhou to rebel overnight, but in the end his army We can only attack Puyang." After Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief, he calmly analyzed the current situation of Lu Bu and Chen Gong.Obviously, Chen Gong's plan and the actual military action did not fully match.The weaknesses of Lu Bu and the Zhengong camp have been clearly exposed. As long as Puyang can be regained, it will not be difficult to win the support of the counties and counties in Yanzhou.Therefore, Cao Cao has already seen that the main key to this counterattack war is the offensive and defensive battle in Puyang.

Of course, while thinking about the war along the way, Cao Cao did not fail to reflect on himself: Why did such a change happen in the base camp? Why did so many people suddenly respond to the change and oppose him? Undoubtedly, there are some inevitable objective reasons for this, but one's own mistakes cannot but be a crucial factor.First of all, he really shouldn't have carried out this cruel massacre. Yes, it was for political reasons, but it was too hasty to do so.He could have solved it with a little slow political means, but he has resorted to force entirely.Secondly, even in the Bian Rang incident, he was too determined to go his own way. He offended many famous people by killing Bian Rang.On the contrary, if he was tolerant of Bian Rang, wouldn't he win over many celebrities? What he particularly regretted was that he shouldn't have taken Bian Rang's wife, maybe killing her would not have attracted so many criticisms.Also blame him for being too lustful at the time.Therefore, he secretly vowed that in the future, he must put the great cause first, and try to restrain himself as much as possible when it comes to women's sex...

Cao Cao rushed back to Dong'e, Yanzhou at night, and planned with Cheng Yu and the others to fight the enemy. When the soldiers heard that there were only three cities left in Yanzhou, and even their old dens were taken away, they couldn't help but feel a little bit gloomy.Cao Cao saw the officers and men whispering to each other, with panic on their faces, he straightened his beard, smiled slightly, and said, "Since Lu Bu has won Yanzhou, he should occupy Dongping and cut off the main roads between Yanzhou and Mount Tai. Then I won't have any trouble." Returning, but he chose to station his troops in Puyang. It seems that this kind of person is brave and foolish, and there is nothing to be afraid of."

Cao Cao said this on purpose, and at the same time he was telling the truth.His purpose is to boost everyone's morale, the morale of the troops is equal to the spirit of the troops, and the troops without spirit have nothing. Sure enough, when the soldiers heard what Cao Cao said, they started another discussion, and their morale gradually cheered up again. Cao Cao decided to recover Puyang first.He personally took Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Dun, Le Jin, Li Dian, and seven generals, including Yu Jin from Mount Tai and Dian Wei from Chenliu, and led more than 40,000 troops to the outside of Puyang City. .

When Lu Bu heard the news, he rushed out immediately, with several generals on both sides.The first one was Zhang Liao, a native of Mayi, Yanmen, who was originally a general of Ding Yuan, the governor of Bingzhou, and later attached himself to Dong Zhuo.The second is Zang Ba from Mount Tai. He was originally a subordinate of Xuzhou Mu Taoqian. This time he came to help Lu Bu against Cao Cao.Generals Zhang Liao and Zang Ba led Gao Shun, Hao Meng, Cao Xing, Cheng Lian, Wei Xu, Song Xian, Hou Chengjun and 50,000 soldiers to fight Cao Bing head-on.Zhang Liao only attacked Xiahou Dun, Zang Ba only attacked Lejin, and Lu Bu only attacked places where there were many people.