Chapter 25 Four, Cao Cao's divorce plan

After Xu Huang and Zhu Ling arrived on the west bank of the Yellow River, they consolidated Pubanjin, an important ferry on the Yellow River, and ensured that Cao Cao and his main force could cross the river smoothly after arriving here. At this time, there were tens of thousands of Cao troops gathered here, and a more fatal problem appeared immediately, that is, the road conditions were very poor, and it was difficult to meet the needs of so many soldiers, horses, and logistics transport vehicles to move back and forth.Today, there are still traffic problems in Shaanxi and Shanxi on both sides of the Yellow River. The reason is that the Yellow River and its many tributaries have split this area into ravines.

The complex geographical environment created conditions for the Guanzhong coalition to send small units to continuously harass Cao Jun, especially Cao Jun's transport team was the most vulnerable to attack. In order to solve this problem, Cao Cao ordered people to build a corridor on the west bank of the Yellow River in a short time.The so-called corridor is to build walls on both sides of the road to protect the safety of the road. It is a fully enclosed road.The corridors were originally the emperor's prerogative and were used to ensure the safety of the emperor's travel, but there are precedents for their use in wars.During the struggle between Chu and Han, there was a fierce battle near Xingyang. In order to ensure the continuous transportation of grain from Ao Cang, Liu Bang specially built a tunnel.

But now that the military situation is urgent, it is definitely too late to build the wall. According to the records of "Three Kingdoms", Cao Cao ordered the construction of this tunnel, with branches made of continuous fences in the middle, linking all kinds of vehicles (even vehicles and tree fences on both sides), It can also be regarded as a creative use of "corridor warfare". This trick really worked, withstood the enemy's attack, and finally the army smoothly advanced to Weikou, the confluence of the Weihe River and the Yellow River. The main force of Cao's army was on the north bank of the Weihe River, and Ma Chao and other Guanzhong coalition forces were on the south bank of the Weihe River.Cao Cao led his army around a big circle, exhausted all his strength and went back to the original place, but this time the situation was completely different, they circled behind Tongguan, and the natural danger controlled by the Guanzhong coalition forces was no longer useful. up.

The two armies faced each other across the Wei River. Cao Cao sent people to cross the Wei River by boat and built a pontoon bridge on the Wei River.One night, the troops were transported across the river through the pontoon bridge, and the troops were divided and set up camp on the south bank of the Weihe River. After losing the Tongguan natural barrier, the Guanzhong Allied Forces lost the Weihe defense line. Seeing that Ma Chao was in a hurry, he quickly organized a counterattack and attacked the camp at night, but Cao Jun was well prepared and defeated the enemy.Cao Cao took advantage of the situation and pulled all his troops to the south bank of the Weihe River to confront the Guanzhong Allied Forces.

According to the "Cao Man Biography", during the process of Cao Jun crossing the river, Ma Chao commanded his troops to block it desperately, and Cao Jun who had just crossed the river did not even have time to set up camp.This area is located at the mouth of the Weihe River into the Yellow River. The sediment brought by the Weihe River has accumulated for many years, making the soil here particularly loose and sandy (so it is suitable for growing watermelons, and the watermelons in Dali, Shaanxi are very famous until now). It is not conducive to building camps on the spot. It was the ninth month of the lunar calendar, and the weather was very cold. Cao Cao adopted the suggestion of Lou Gui, his adviser, and built the city with sand, watering the sand as he piled it. "Come.

Some people expressed doubts about this record, because it seems that the ninth month of the lunar calendar cannot be turned into ice.This kind of suspicion ignores the details of the eighth month in the 16th year of Jian'an (211), that is, there are two Augusts in this year, and the ninth month of the lunar calendar is equivalent to October in normal times.After Cao Jun crossed the Weihe River, Ma Chao came to challenge many times, but Cao Cao ignored him in order to discourage Ma Chao's spirit.Sure enough, Ma Chao had nothing to do with the "ice camp", so he asked for the cede of land for peace, and at the same time was willing to send his son as a hostage to show his loyalty (asking for Ren Zi).

But it's too late.Cao Cao has completed the deployment of the attack on the Guanzhong Allied Forces. Now that the army is suppressing the border, the people of the Guanzhong Allied Forces are in panic. At this time, they must either fight or surrender unconditionally, and let Cao Cao do what they want.Ma Chao didn't have the capital to negotiate, so what did he say about ceding land and seeking peace? But Jia Xu suggested to Cao Cao that it is better to pretend to agree to them (Xu thinks it can be false).Cao Cao asked Jia Xu what to do after agreeing, Jia Xu only said four words: "It's just leaving." Cao Cao understood immediately.

The so-called "lizhi" means to separate them. Both Jia Xu and Cao Cao saw the disagreement between Ma Chao and Han Sui, and decided to make a fuss from here. The two sides agreed to meet and discuss in detail. Ma Chao and Han Sui were the only ones on the coalition side, and Cao Cao led Xu Chu on the Cao army side. They agreed not to bring any entourage. Ma Chao thinks this is an opportunity. He is a famous tiger general and wants to attack Cao Cao suddenly with his courage.But when he was about to make a move, he suddenly found a big man behind Cao Cao, staring straight at him, his gaze was menacing and full of murderous intent.

Ma Chao couldn't help being taken aback. He had long heard that there was a man named Xu Chu beside Cao Cao, who was extremely powerful and brave. Could it be him (Chaosu heard about Chu Yong, suspected that it was Chu)?Ma Chao asked Cao Cao, "I heard that you have a Marquis Hu, where is he now?" Cao Cao pointed back at Xu Chu, saying that this is my Marquis Hu.Ma Chao thought for a while, and did not act rashly again. Xu Chu Yong won the championship of the three armies, even more than Dian Wei who had died in battle. The army gave Xu Chu a nickname, "Tiger Crazy", and Xu Chu was named Guan Neihou, so he also had the title of "Tiger Marquis". reputation.

Later, the two sides had another pre-battle conversation. For some reason, only Han Sui went this time without Ma Chao.According to the records of "Three Kingdoms", Han Sui's father and Cao Cao were elected Xiaolian in the same year, which is a bit similar to the "friendship of the same year" in the same year of later generations. Ten people, this is also a kind of fate.And Han Sui himself was officially appointed General Zhengxi by the imperial court, and he was a colleague of Cao Cao (the father and Sui's father were filial and honest, and he was in the same generation as Sui). For this reason, the atmosphere of the talks between the two parties was quite harmonious.

Cao Cao and Han Sui got closer and closer, and the two horses came together unknowingly, and they chatted for a long time (Jiao Ma Yu Shi).Their conversation didn't cut to the chase, but narrated some old stories and homely things, and they clapped their hands and laughed happily when they talked happily. According to the "Book of Wei", in order to ensure the safety of Cao Cao, Cao Jun soldiers placed many wooden obstacles (wooden horses) outside the area where the two talked, so that others could only see them from a distance And I couldn't hear what they said specifically, but I could see that they talked very speculatively. At that time, there was no one in the world who did not know Cao Cao's name, including the minority soldiers from Liangzhou, but very few had seen Cao Cao, and they all wanted to see what Cao Cao looked like up close.Seeing this situation, Cao Cao joked loudly to the officers and men of the Guanzhong Allied Army: "Do you want to see me, Cao Cao? I am also a human being. I don't have four eyes and two mouths, but I have more wisdom (do you want to see Cao Gongxie? Jews also, they don’t have four eyes and two mouths, but they have more wisdom ears)!” The soldiers at the scene laughed, not as if they were preparing to fight, but as if a star was coming to a concert. Han Sui didn't know that this was exactly Cao Cao's strategy, and the inventor of this strategy was himself.Sixteen years ago, generally in the Guanzhong area, Han Sui turned Li and Fan Chou against each other by using the trick of making homework in front of the battle, resulting in Fan Chou being killed.At that scene, Jia Xu might have watched it in front of the battle. Now, Cao Cao is like Han Sui, and Ma Chao and Han Sui are like Li and Fan Chou back then. The tricks are not fresh, but practical.With Jia Xu's dexterity, he temporarily cloned this trick and used it for Han Sui in turn, but Han Sui was still kept in the dark. Sure enough, Ma Chao fell for the trick, and as soon as Han Sui came back, he asked Cao Cao what he had talked about before the battle. Han Sui thought about it for a long time, but he couldn't think of anything serious to talk about, so he honestly replied that there was nothing to talk about, but this made him feel uncomfortable. Ma Chao became more suspicious. Cao Cao added fire without losing the opportunity. He wrote a letter to Han Sui, deliberately scribbling and altering the letter, making it look like it was written by Han Sui. Then change the decision), Cao Cao deliberately let the letter fall into the hands of Ma Chao, and Ma Chao became more suspicious after reading it. Through these tricks, Cao Cao made the Guanzhong coalition forces distrust each other, and they were all soldiers, and they had no confidence in a decisive battle with Cao Jun.Cao Cao felt that the heat was almost ready, so he issued a general attack order. Before the general attack began, Cao Jun first harassed with a small group of troops and repeatedly attacked, making the enemy tired of coping (challenged with light soldiers first, and fought for a long time). Enemy defeated. Cheng Yi, Li Kan and others were beheaded in front of the battle. Han Sui and Ma Chao fled to Liangzhou with their remnants, Yang Qiu fled to Anding, and Cheng Yin and Hou Xuan fled to Hanzhong.Later, Cao Cao conquered Zhang Lu, and after Hanzhong was captured, Cheng Yin and Hou Xuan surrendered. So far, Guanzhong has been declared peaceful. This battle is a concentrated expression of Cao Cao's superb military command art, which shows that Cao Cao has reached the state of proficiency in the use of troops at this time.From a strategic point of view, he first slowed down the pace of attack, deliberately let the enemy gather, in order to achieve the effect of annihilating in one battle; then skillfully used suspicious troops, and divided the troops in time, and staged a good show of alienation at the critical moment, making the enemy retreat steadily , began to disintegrate from within; by the time of the decisive battle, the enemy had actually lost the determination to resist desperately.