Chapter 14 Chapter 3 Yecheng Years

At the end of the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), Cao Cao was still in Jiangling. In order to invite Cao Cao back from Jiangling, Sun Quan personally commanded the Battle of Hefei on the Eastern Front. Hefei County belongs to Jiujiang County of Yangzhou Governor's Department, and the old city is located near what is now Hefei City, Anhui Province.According to "Taiping Huanyu Ji", its specific location is east of today's Hefei City. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, wars continued, and Hefei County was once in ruins.Eight years ago, that is, the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Cao Cao sent Liu Fu to be the governor of Yangzhou. Liu Fu's new government in Yangzhou was placed in Hefei City, and he carried out a large-scale reconstruction of the city.Liu Fu's style name is Yuanying, a native of Peiguo, and he is a fellow villager with Cao Cao.He was born in the Liu clan, and he is a capable person. At the beginning, he came to Hefei Kongcheng alone. After several years of governance, he managed the area so that the economy developed and the population flourished.He also focused on strengthening the city wall of Hefei, piled up a lot of wood and stone on the city wall, and organized everyone to weave grass thatch when there was nothing to do. Stocked with fish oil (fish paste).At that time, everyone was puzzled: What did Governor Liu do with these things?Later, everyone understood that these were used to save lives.In the year of the Battle of Chibi, Liu Fu passed away, which was undoubtedly a great loss for Cao Cao.It was at this time that Sun Quan led his troops to kill.

In addition to the road led by Sun Quan himself, Sun Quan also sent Zhang Zhao to lead a team to attack Dangtu County in Jiujiang County.Although Sun Quan's goal was to put pressure on Cao Cao who was still in Jiangling, he was also prepared for another move, that is, if he went well, he would conquer Hefei in one fell swoop and add another icing on the cake to the Battle of Chibi.After Liu Fu's death, Cao Cao had no high-qualified people to sit in the Hefei area. The Qingzhou and Xuzhou Army Corps led by Zang Ba were once stationed in Yangzhou as the support troops for the Jingzhou Campaign, but they were all far away in Guangling County on the Yangtze River. It will take time to return to defending Hefei, and it also means giving up those hard-won sites.

Sun Quan's soldiers came up very smoothly, and Sun Quan's feigned attack turned into a real attack, and Hefei was about to fall. After Cao Cao received the news, he ordered a general named Zhang Xi to go to the rescue.Zhang Xi's deeds are unknown, only that he was previously stationed in Runan County, which is adjacent to the Yangzhou Governor's Department. The reason why he is sent now may be that his defense area is the closest to Hefei, and he leads only one or two thousand people. Sun Quan mobilized 100,000 people on the front line, but it is conservatively estimated that there should be 30,000 to 40,000 people. I don't know if it will be effective if one or two thousand people rush to help.However, when Sun Quan heard that Cao Cao's reinforcements were coming, he actually ordered to retreat (Grand Cao returned from Jingzhou and sent General Zhang Xi to Hefei on horseback. Before he arrived, Quan retreated).Zhang Xi made a great contribution in a daze, but he remained unknown since then, and only this time he showed his face in the official history. The reason is that there are too many capable people in Cao Cao's camp, and it is not easy to become a big-name figure.

In fact, it wasn't that Zhang Xi had great ability, but that Sun Quan couldn't fight anymore. When Sun Quan led the army to attack the city of Hefei, it happened to be raining continuously for several days. This was a pain for the brothers who defended the city, because the city walls at that time were all rammed earth structures, and they were most afraid of rain and water (Shi Tian) Continuous rain, the city is about to collapse).At this critical juncture, the tens of thousands of grass thatch left by Liu Fu played a role, and the city guards built them on the city to protect the city wall.

Only then did everyone realize that Governor Liu had the foresight.Not only that, the large amount of fish oil and wood and stones in reserve also came in handy. At night, fish oil torches were lit on the city to clearly illuminate the city above and below the city, so that the people below could not take advantage of the night to sneak attack.Wood and stone must be prepared for the enemy who is attacking the city. There is nothing more enjoyable than big logs and stones to greet the enemies who climb the wall. Because Liu Fu had the foresight and made a lot of careful preparations during his lifetime, the city of Hefei was not lost.Sun Quan surrounded Hefei for more than 100 days without any progress.

In addition, the preservation of Hefei City is also closely related to the contribution of one person, and this person is Jiang Ji.Jiang Ji Zitong, who was a county official, is now the main assistant of the governor of Yangzhou (don't drive), similar to the role between the deputy governor and the state secretary.After Liu Fu's death, Cao Cao appointed Wen Hui, the former director of the prime minister's office (master book), as the new governor.When Inspector Wen arrived, Sun Quan was in the midst of besieging the city. Although reinforcements were on the way, their numbers were too small to provide emergency relief.

In order to stabilize the situation in the city, Jiang Ji quietly suggested to Governor Wen that he had received a letter from Zhang Xi, saying that 40,000 people were rushing here and that they had already arrived in Yulou.Jiang Ji also pretended to send people to meet the reinforcements, and when he came back, he was divided into three teams. One team entered the city and told the soldiers and civilians in the city to increase their confidence; the other two teams deliberately let the enemy capture them and let Sun Quan "capture" them A forged letter from Zhang Xi. Sun Quanzheng was depressed because he couldn't attack Hefei for a long time, Zhang Zhao's attack was also frustrated, and he failed to capture Dangtu, making him in a dilemma.It seems that this is the only time for Zhang Zhao to lead an army independently. It seems that scholars should be extra careful when joining the army. If they have read military books, they are all Zhuge Liang.

According to "Three Kingdoms Zhang Chuan", Sun Quan was in a hurry and wanted to charge into the battle in person (Quan led a light cavalry to rush to the enemy). Sun Quan's secretary-general (Chang Shi) Zhang hurriedly persuaded him, and Sun Quan gave up his idea. Now, Sun Quan saw the captured letter, which said that 40,000 horses were rushing here to help. Regardless of whether it is true or not, there is information that Cao Cao himself has left Jiangling. The basic goal of this campaign has also been achieved. Now It just happens to be a step, let's withdraw. Sun Quan ordered to burn the siege equipment and camps, and retreat from Hefei.

Jiang Ji, who made great contributions, was still a young man of twenty-six or seventeen years old at this time. Later, he became an important minister of Cao Wei.In the tenth year of Wei Zhengshi (249), Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling Incident, killed Cao Shuang, and took control of the government.As an old minister loyal to Cao Wei, Jiang Ji was in an embarrassing situation, and he died that year. Sun Quan's information is correct. Cao Cao did retreat from Jiangling between the end of the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208) and the beginning of the fourteenth year (209). Very depressing.He didn't even stop in Xiangyang, and evacuated directly from Nanyang County to Xu County.

Cao Cao also did not stay in Xu County. At this time, Hefei was still in a state of stalemate. Cao Cao decided to go to rescue the siege himself and meet Sun Quan for a while.In March of the fourteenth year of Jian'an (209), Cao Cao led the main force to the Yangzhou Governor's Department. At this time, he received the battle report from the Hefei front, and Sun Quan had already withdrawn his troops. Since the battle was not so urgent, Cao Cao decided to rest and reorganize his troops in his hometown of Qiao County. At the end of the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao also returned to his hometown to train troops here.However, today is not what it used to be. It was a big victory that time, but this time it was a big defeat.

However, this did not have much impact on Cao Cao. Some people like to return to their hometown, but they dare not face their hometown and relatives and friends when they encounter failures and setbacks.Cao Cao didn't see it that way. After more than ten years of military career, he had already made him take victory and defeat very lightly. Only those who can afford to lose can win. Cao Cao seriously trained his troops in the Qiao County area. Qiao County is located on the edge of the Guohe River, which is accessible by boats and directly to the Huaihe River.Cao Cao's military training this time focused on training the navy. He set up a temporary shipbuilding base here and stepped up to build warships.Of course, the Guohe River is not as good as the Huaihe River, let alone the Yangtze River. At this time, Cao Cao could only build warships with a lighter displacement (the army went to Qiao, used as a light boat, and the water control army). Cao Cao believed that the water army was one of his weaknesses and the main reason for the total defeat in the Battle of Chibi. To defeat Sun Quan and regain Jingzhou, he must build a strong water army. In the autumn of this year, Cao Cao had been training troops in Qiao County for three or four months. He had recruited from all sides and built a considerable number of warships. Take it to the test in a real combat environment. The route they took was: from Woshui to Huaishui, then from Huaishui to Feishui, and then to the outside of Hefei.Cao Cao issued a military order: "Recently, the army has gone to war many times. When the disease spread, many officers and soldiers died outside. As a result, husbands and wives could not be reunited, and the people were displaced. Would a person with a benevolent heart be willing to do this (and the benevolent would not be happy) This is really a last resort. It is now ordered that the government shall not stop the distribution of food rations to those who have no property to support themselves in the family of the deceased (the county magistrate shall not refuse to let the deceased’s family have no property to support themselves), and the local administrator must often Compassion and condolences, according to my wish (to call my will)." Cao Cao personally sits in Hefei, where he adjusts and enriches the officials of the Yangzhou Governor's Department and various counties and counties (set up Yangzhou prefects and counties), and promotes water conservancy projects to promote the construction of farmland. Cao Cao stayed for several months before and after this, and personally presided over the reconstruction of Shaopi and other water conservancy projects.Shaopi, also known as Anfengtang and Qisipi, was first built by Sun Shuao, a famous prime minister of Chu State in the Spring and Autumn Period. It is an artificial reservoir and is known as "the crown of ponds in the world". The four major water conservancy projects in ancient times. Shaopi is located in the south of Shouxian County, Anhui Province today, surrounded by many tributaries of the Huaihe River, surrounded by vast fertile fields, and its geographical location is very superior. "Historical Records" says that it is "one hundred and twenty miles around", and the water area is much larger than today. Cao Cao rebuilt Shaopi, gave full play to its irrigation and navigation functions, and cooperated with the farming in surrounding areas, making it an important grain base, which is very important for further consolidating Hefei's strategic position. Under the leadership of Wen Hui, the governor of Yangzhou, Jiang Ji, the state government, and Wei Cangci, the governor of Suiji, Cao Cao's power in Yangzhou has been consolidated to a certain extent, and Hefei's role as a strategic location has been further strengthened. The focus of Sun Wu's contention, the two sides have launched offensive and defensive battles here many times.At the end of this year, Cao Cao returned to Qiao County. However, as soon as he left here, something happened again.