Chapter 126 Chapter 19 Facing Jieshi to the East to View the Sea (1)

One by one, after the harsh winter, the Northern Expedition began. This time, Cao Mengde deployed most of the legions in the newly occupied central and western parts of Jizhou.He led the army of Zhang He and Xu Huang, with Xun You, Guo Jia, and Dong Zhao as his staff, and he was directly under the cavalry of the personal guards, the tiger and leopard cavalry, led by Cao Chun.Cao Chun was Cao Mengde's third general of the Cao family after Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu.Although Cao Ren also had the surname of Cao, Cao Mengde often confessed his family affection in front of him, but in Cao Mengde's family tree, Cao Xiu was the closest relative, and his father was the brother of the same great-grandfather as Cao Mengde.

In addition, Cao Mengde ordered Zang Ba and Sun Guan, the commanders-in-chief of the guerrilla army in Qingzhou, to go north from Qingzhou to attack Yuan Tan's forces in Qingzhou.The Eastern Front is far away and complicated, and it is a matter of time to regain the Eastern Front.And the future management is obviously inseparable from loyal and reliable generals.During the long and arduous battle, Cao Mengde got to know his subordinates one by one.Zang Ba is the candidate to manage this land in the future. When Yuan Tan heard that Cao Jun was pointing at Pingyuan County, he immediately withdrew two hundred miles to the north and defended Nanpi City in Bohai County, preparing to fight Cao Jun from afar.

In December of the ninth year of Jian'an, Cao Jun invaded Pingyuan County, and the surrounding counties surrendered. It was winter, and the rivers were all frozen.The piercing north wind came and went, making the march very difficult. Yuan Tan judged that Cao Jun must spend the winter in Pingyuan County and wait for spring to attack Nanpi. After Cao Mengde and his staff carefully evaluated the timing and the difficulty of the battle, he still decided to complete the Northern Expedition in the cold winter. The Hebei Plain has been frozen for thousands of miles, and snow is drifting for thousands of miles.The Qinghe River leading to Nanpi is even more icy and snowy.

Cao Mengde had no choice but to order Zhang Yun and Xu Huang to call the residents on both sides of the river to use hammers to break the ice on the river to facilitate boat transportation.But the people couldn't stand the pain, so they were reluctantly summoned and slipped away one by one. It was useless for Cao Mengde to spend a lot of silver.In the end, the sergeant had to be ordered to do it himself.Cao Mengde, who was more than a few years old, personally led generals such as Zhang Ying, Xu Huang, Cao Chun, and braved the wind and snow every day to urge the soldiers, which greatly boosted morale.After untold hardships, the northbound channel was finally opened.

Yuan Tan sits around the stove to keep warm and drinks every day in Nanpi, and of course the company of beautiful women is indispensable.In any case, Yuan Tan did not believe that Cao Jun would come in the cold winter. After all, Cao Mengde is here. Guo Tu and Xin Ping advocated taking advantage of Cao's army to come from afar, and it was not yet stable. An urgent attack might be able to deal a fatal blow to Cao's army.Yuan Tan thought this suggestion was feasible, so he led an assault force out of the city to attack Cao Jun. Most of Cao Jun was born in central China, and he rarely fought in the ice and snow. His hands and feet were not flexible, and he suffered heavy casualties for a while.Xu Huang, Zhang He, and Cao Chun will fight desperately.Yuan Tan was afraid that there would be changes in the city, and his number was small, so he didn't dare to fight too hard, so he withdrew his troops and returned to the city before dark.

On the vast snowy ground, soldiers of Cao Jun were lying in disorder. Goose Feather Snow and Twilight hastily buried these nameless corpses in a short period of time. Cao Mengde witnessed the disappearance of these corpses, one, two... "The bones are exposed in the wilderness, and there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles," he remembered the poem he wrote more than ten years ago. Cao Mengde suddenly had the idea of ​​​​withdrawing his troops. Cao Chun seemed to see what his uncle was thinking, and said, "We have gone through untold hardships and traveled thousands of miles. How can we withdraw our troops casually? If we retreat without winning the victory, we will definitely lose our military prestige. In this long-term During the withdrawal, the security of the troops will be threatened everywhere.”

Cao Mengde did not expect his young nephew to be so bold and insightful. Xun You and Guo Jia also agreed with Cao Chun's suggestion, and further asked the soldiers to strengthen exercise, use the heat generated in the body to keep out the cold, make their hands and feet flexible, and be ready for battle at any time.Early the next morning, the attack began. In order to prevent the soldiers and horses in the city from going out of the city to fight back before Cao Jun's warm-up exercise was completed, Xun You suggested that the army be divided into several small teams, run in circles, and then deploy into the attack reserve line.

Yuan Tan and the soldiers in the city were baffled. "I have experienced hundreds of battles, and I have never seen such a formation." Yuan Tan said. "You can't go out of the city to meet the enemy, wait until you figure out what's going on." Even Guo Tu, who has always been known for his strategy, said cautiously. Cao Mengde couldn't help laughing too. Near noon, the temperature rises slightly, and Cao Jun's warm-up exercise has been completed.Cao Mengde beat the drums himself, and the morale was boosted for a while, and all the troops moved forward bravely.

Yuan Tan originally wanted to go out of the city to resist, but Cao Jun's various troops rushed together, and Yuan Tan didn't know where to break through.The Yuejin troops under Xu Huang's army attacked the east gate. Guo Tu couldn't resist and was captured on the spot.Yuan Tan rushed out from the north gate, just in time to meet Cao Chun's tiger and leopard light cavalry army. Yuan Tan was beheaded by Cao Ren. Guo Tu, who was being escorted, asked: "What kind of formation did you put in this morning? It dazzles me." The sergeant laughed and said, "That's Mr. Guo Jia asking us to do warm-up exercises!"

112 The death of Yuan Tan means that Qingzhou to the north of the Yellow River and Jizhou have all belonged to Cao Mengde.Youzhou was in a state of fragmentation due to Jiao Touch's rebellion and Yuan Xi's escape. However, after all, there are still two brothers in the Yuan family, and Yuan's former relatives and disciples are also waiting and watching. Of course, they will not be reconciled to the decline of Yuan's family fortune.Yuan Xi had already turned Zhen's humiliation of being occupied by Cao Pi into a flame of revenge. Of course, Yuan Shang was not reconciled to the fact that the throne of the general passed to them by his father was not worthy of the name.Therefore, the surviving Yuan brothers never forgot the idea of ​​fighting back to their hometown in Jizhou, and they are trying their best to persuade Wuhuan to send troops to support them.Gao Gan, Yuan Shao's nephew, still occupies Bingzhou. Although he has surrendered to the imperial court on the surface, he is actually preparing to make a comeback and support the Yuan brothers.

Just like what Cao Mengde revealed to his two sons, he has always disliked those who can only recite the wind and the moon, and graffiti poems, but like to charge forward and do real big things. On the way back to Xudu, Cao Mengde accidentally inquired about Cai Yan's whereabouts.In the first year of Xingping, Li Jue and Guo Si rebelled in Chang'an, and the Hedong area also fell into chaos.Cai Wenji planned to return to her natal family for refuge because her husband died and she had no heirs, but unfortunately, she was robbed by barbarians along the way along with her sedan chair.The Hu people knew that Cai Wenji was the daughter of Cai Yong, a scholar, and they dared not harm her. Because Cai Wenji was beautiful and talented, King Zuoxian of the Huns loved her very much and took Cai Wenji as his concubine.At present, Cai Wenji is still in Huying and has two sons with King Zuo Xian. Cao Mengde got Cai Wenji's poems from Chen Lin again, and he understood her miserable situation better, especially Cai Wenji was in Huying, and her heart to the Han Dynasty made her sigh. Cao Mengde read with tears: "The son hugged my neck and asked my mother what she wanted. People said that my mother should go. There is no time to return. My mother is always kind, so why not be kind now... After a long journey of three thousand miles, when will we reunite..."