Chapter 42 8. Sun Quan Sudden Sudden Peace

In February of the twenty-first year of Jian'an (216), Cao Cao returned to Ye County from Hanzhong.In May, he was granted the title of King of Wei.In October, another expedition against Sun Quan was launched.In November, the army arrived in Qiao County. Cao Cao's wife, Mrs. Bian, and her son, Cao Pi, accompanied the expedition. Cao Pi's wife, Mrs. Zhen, stayed in Ye County due to illness. Cao Pi's 12-year-old eldest son, Cao Rui, and her daughter, Princess Dongxiang, were also accompanied by their grandmother Bian. After the army arrived in Hefei, they took a short rest. Cao Cao listened to Zhang Liao and others report on the battle of Hefei.According to the "Three Kingdoms Zhang Liao Biography", Cao Cao also specially inspected Xiaoyaojin where Zhang Liao defeated Sun Quan, and sighed for a long time here (following the battle of Liao, those who sighed for a long time).After that, Cao Cao added more troops to Zhang Liao's troops and asked him to move to Juchao (now south of Tongcheng, Anhui).

In the first month of the following year, Cao Cao also arrived at Juchao, which was upstream of Ruxukou, one or two hundred miles away from Ruxukou, and close to Wan County. Cao Cao's idea was not to rush to attack Ruxukou first, but to take back Wan County, a strategically important place in the north of the Yangtze River, and then take a steady and steady approach to completely pull out the nail of Ruxukou. But unfortunately, another plague broke out in the army at this time.According to the "Three Kingdoms Sima Lang Biography", Sima Lang, the governor of Yanzhou appointed by Cao Cao, went to the army to condolences to the sick soldiers, and personally asked the doctor to deliver medicine (the sergeant's epidemic, Lang bowed his patrol, and sent medicine), but unfortunately he fell ill and died. , aged forty-seven.

Sima Lang is Sima Yi's eldest brother, the head of "Sima Bada". The plague was ferocious, and its spread included the entire north and the Yangtze River Basin. Cao Zhi wrote in his article "Speaking of the Epidemic Qi": "The plague was prevalent in the 22nd year of Jian'an, and every family suffered from the grief of losing their loved ones. Some people think that ghosts and gods are making waves, but most of the people who suffer from this disaster are the children of families who wear coarse clothes and eat grass. But there are relatively few. This is a plague caused by the imbalance of yin and yang, so what kind of ghosts and gods are there? It's really ridiculous for ignorant people to insert peach charms to drive away ghosts."

According to Cao Pi's "You and Wu Zhishu", Xu Qian, Chen Lin, Ying, and Liu Zhen all died of the plague, and Wang Can, another important figure among the seven sons of Jian'an, also died during the march. related to this plague. Five of the seven sons of Jian'an died almost at the same time. This plague caused a heavy blow to the literary industry. Cao Cao's great cause of defeating Wu was also severely damaged. Because of the lessons learned from the last battle of Chibi, he knew that epidemic diseases in the army would cause great damage to the combat effectiveness of the army, so he did not dare to take it lightly. He also had the idea of ​​​​withdrawing troops .

At this time, Sun Quan suddenly sent Captain Xu Xiang to ask for surrender, which happened to give Cao Cao a step, and Cao Cao decided to return to the army. Sun Quan made a 180-degree turn when the battle was still unclear, which indeed puzzled many people, but those who are familiar with Sun Quan know that he had his own plans for doing so. Sun Quan suddenly discovered that he had paid a huge price for fighting Cao Jun desperately in the Ruxukou area. He had faced danger many times, but his gains were not much. Instead, his ally Liu Bei took advantage. After Liu Bei seized Yizhou, he did not let go of Jingzhou. After the struggle and compromise between the two sides, they barely reached an agreement to draw the Xiang River to govern. However, Guan Yu, who is sitting in Jingzhou, has made a lot of moves recently, which has posed a de facto threat to Sun Wu.

Sun Quan suddenly realized that he was so stupid.At this time, Lu Su, who had always supported the Sun-Liu alliance, died of illness. Lu Meng, who succeeded him, had a different strategic proposition. He believed that Guan Yu was a far greater threat to Sun Wu than Cao Cao.As soon as Lu Meng took office, he began to plan to compete with Guan Yu for Jingzhou. Against this background, Sun Quan was eager to make peace with Cao Cao. Cao Cao was also eager to withdraw from Ruxukou. Apart from the plague, Liu Bei, who was far away in Chengdu, was staring at Hanzhong, who had just arrived. He sent Zhang Fei and Ma Chao to capture Xiabian, the seat of Wudu County (now Chengxian County, Gansu Province) ).Wudu County affects the security of Hanzhong's flanks. Ma Chao has a long history of influence in Liangzhou, and has close ties with the tribal leaders of the Qiang and Di people, and he can turn up big waves at any time.

This made Cao Cao not in the mood to continue fighting at Ruxukou. Since neither side wants to fight anymore, all that is needed now is a ladder to get down the steps.Sun Quan knew that he had to hand over the ladder first, otherwise Cao Cao would not speak first if he wanted to, so he took the initiative to send someone to ask for it to surrender. Liu Bei is famous for being a pragmatist, but Sun Quan is even more pragmatic than him. Sun Quan is best at adjusting his posture, and can often do many unexpected things at critical moments. Now it is neither the first for Sun Quan to adopt such a soft posture This time, and not the last time.

Someone concluded that Cao Cao is good at military affairs, Liu Bei is good at politics, and Sun Quan is good at diplomacy. Of course, Sun Quan didn't have to pay any real price for his surrender this time. It was just a soft word, which coaxed Cao Cao to leave happily. This is the fourth time Cao Cao has used troops in the direction of Hefei to no avail. It seems that "The List of Later Disciples" said that he "failed to cross Chaohu Lake four times" was calculated time and time again, and there was no false report at all.Because Liu Bei suddenly became stronger, Cao Cao and Sun Quan actually found common ground in strategic interests. The truce agreement reached by the two sides in the 22nd year of Jian'an (217) was still in effect until Cao Cao's death.

Cao Cao left Xiahou, Cao Ren, Zhang Liao and other ministries with a total of 26 troops stationed in Juchao. If an army is calculated at about 10,000 people, there are more than 200,000 troops stationed in this area. These troops are led by Xiahou. command. This is probably because Cao Cao learned the lesson of leaving only 7,000 people to guard Hefei when he evacuated last time, and simply sent people to stay here for a long time.At this time, Xiahouyuan was in Hanzhong, and Xiahou was in Juchao. Cao Cao paid more attention to the Xiahou brothers than Cao Hong and Cao Ren. Sun Quan also chose a commander-in-chief to take full charge of the defense of Ruxukou. This person was General Zhou Tai of Pinglu, with Zhu Ran and Xu Sheng as assistants.But Zhou Tai's qualifications were similar to those of Zhu Ran and Xu Sheng, and he came from a poor family. These two didn't admire him very much. Knowing this situation, Zhou Tai also had the intention of shrinking back.

Sun Quan held a banquet in honor of the generals at the base of Ruxukou. When the wine was full, Sun Quan came to Zhou Tai in person and ordered Zhou Tai to untie his clothes, and Zhou Tai obeyed.At this time, everyone saw that Zhou Tai's body was full of scars, as many as dozens of places, and the skin was hardly intact. Sun Quan pointed to the wounds on Zhou Tai's body and asked him one by one where they were left in the battle. Zhou Tai answered them one by one, telling Sun Quan how he was injured.According to "Jiang Biao Zhuan", at this time Sun Quan held Zhou Tai's arm with tears streaming down his face, and called Zhou Tai's words and said: "Youping, you are as brave as a bear and a tiger in fighting for our brothers. Dozens of wounds, skin like a knife, how can I not treat you with the kindness of flesh and blood, and entrust you with the heavy responsibility of soldiers and horses Describe, Gu Yi, why don't you treat Qing with the kindness of flesh and blood, and entrust Qing with the importance of soldiers and horses)? You are a hero of Wu State, and I will share honor and disgrace with you, and we will share weal and woe. You Ping, please accept the appointment as soon as possible. I resigned because I came from a poor family!"

All the people present were moved.Sun Quan gave Zhou Tai the clothes, hats and headscarves he usually wore, and sent people to play drums to send Zhou Tai out of the camp.From then on, Zhu Ran, Xu Sheng and others deeply admired Zhou Tai.