Chapter 15 3. The last grass pressing on Lu Bu

The offensive outside the city was like a wave, and Lu Bu in the city was getting more and more panicked.After thinking about it, he felt that there were only two people who could send troops to support Xiapi: one was Zhang Yang, his fellow villager and former colleague, and the other was Yuan Shu, who had just become the puppet emperor. Cao Cao moved Emperor Xian to Xu County, Zhang Yang was very angry about this, but he had no choice but to do it, strength determines status, his strength cannot be compared with Cao Cao, and he can only watch the card of emperor fly away from his hand.Zhang Yang had no choice but to continue wandering around Hedong County and Hanoi County, echoing with the Black Mountain Army and Baibo Army, but no one came to trouble him.

There used to be a big hat on Zhang Yang's head: Da Sima.This is an extremely lofty position, belonging to the rank of Shanggong, and its status is higher than that of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao in name. But whether Zhang Yang has the strength to send troops to rescue Zhang Yang at this time, Lu Bu really can't say.With the idea of ​​giving it a try, Lu Bu sent people to look for Zhang Yang in Hanoi County to see if he could come to rescue him.Yuan Shu's strength is much stronger, but Lu Bu and Yuan Shu had just turned against each other and made a move. He rejected Yuan Shu's request for marriage, killed Yuan Shu's special envoy, and became an enemy. I'm not sure if I can help myself.

However, there was no better way, so Lu Bu decided to give it a try. Lu Bu led more than a thousand people out of Xiapi City and took the initiative to challenge Cao Jun.The two sides fought in a scuffle, and Lu Bu did not love to fight. He killed for a while and retreated into the city on his own initiative, because Lu Bu's goal had been achieved, and his purpose of this military operation was to cover the special envoy's departure from the city. Lu Bu's special envoys were Xu Si and Wang Kai, but their details are unknown.After the failure of Lu Bu Group, many generals and advisers under him only left their names without detailed deeds.This is not surprising, history is often the stage for the winners.If Lu Bu succeeded, Xu Si and Wang Kai must be people like Xun You, Guo Jia or even Zhuge Liang.

Under the cover of Lu Bu, Xu Si and Wang Kai left Xiapi City, came to Shouchun, and met Yuan Shu.Yuan Shu was still angry with Lü Bu at this time, he said to Xu Si and Wang Kai: "Lü Bu is not willing to make a marriage, failure is inevitable, why come and tell me (what is the meaning of coming back to hear about evil)?" Xu Si and Wang Kai said: "Ming Shang does not save General Lu now, and he himself will fail in the end. General Lu is gone, and Cao Cao's next target is Ming Shang." Xu Si and Wang Kai said "Ming Shang", which actually recognized Yuan Shu as the emperor, and Yuan Shu felt very comfortable hearing it.At the same time, Yuan Shu also thought that no matter how unhappy he was with Lv Bu, they were still in a close relationship. If Lv Bu was eliminated, it would be easier for Cao Cao to clean himself up.Yuan Shu decided not to sit idly by.

Lu Bu in Xiapi City was even more anxious at this time. Xu Si and Wang Kai did not hear back after they left. He felt very regretful that he did not send his daughter to Shouchun at the beginning.At the beginning, it was Chen Deng who persuaded him to turn against Yuan Shu and join Cao Cao. Now it seems that Cao Cao is untrustworthy, and Chen Deng is even more unreliable. Now Chen Deng is attacking the city under Cao Cao's command.The more Lu Bu thought about it, the angrier he became, and the angrier he became, the more anxious he became. "Heroes" stated that Lu Bu decided not to wait any longer. In order to win Yuan Shu's support, he would personally send his daughter to Shouchun and ask Yuan Shu for help.The age of Lu Bu's daughter is unknown, and Lu Bu no longer cares whether Mrs. Lu agrees. He tied his daughter on his back with silk cotton, and prepared to personally escort her out of the city.

As soon as Lu Bu left the city, the Cao army outside noticed the movement. They resisted desperately and fired arrows at the same time.Although Lu Bu was a famous general, he had no choice but to retreat into the city because he was afraid that his daughter on his back would be injured. The morale of the defenders in the city was even lower. Although they were a team that was used to fighting, they were trapped in Xiapi City at this time. Everyone panicked. In this case, it is easy to go wrong internally. In fact, the side that attacked the city did not go well.Xiapi City could not be attacked for a long time, and Cao Cao also had a headache. The army stayed in Xuzhou for a long time. Zhang Xiu in Nanyang County, Liu Biao in Jingzhou, Yuan Shao in Jizhou, Han Sui and Ma Teng in Guanzhong, these people are all staring at Xuzhou at the moment It is really hard to say whether the battle will take advantage of the chaos and loot.

If such a situation occurs, wouldn't it be a repeat of the rebellion in Yanzhou in the first year of Xingping if he hurriedly returned to the army?Cao Cao was in Xuzhou, and Xu County was always on his mind. At this time, information came that Zhang Yang raised troops in Dongshi, under the banner of supporting Lu Bu, and attacked Xiapi, which made Cao Cao even more worried about the situation in Xu County.Cao Cao was not afraid that Zhang Yang would kill him, he was afraid that Zhang Yang would kill him in Xu County. Although Zhang Yang did not pose a fatal threat to him, he took the lead in making trouble, and the powerful factions around him were even more eager to move.

I don't know where the Dongshi where Zhang Yang raised his troops is, it should be in Hanoi County, some people think it is the Dongshi of Xiapi City, that must be wrong, Zhang Yang should be far away from here at the moment. Cao Cao wanted to withdraw his troops, but Guo Jia and Xun You both came to persuade him. Now that he has reached a critical point, he must not relax. If Lu Bu is relieved, it will be even more difficult to deal with him in the future. Guo Jia said: "Back then, Xiang Yu had more than 70 cities, and he had never lost a battle. Once he lost power, he died and the country fell. , internally and externally. Lu Bu's power is far inferior to Xiang Yu's, and the current situation is not as good as Xiang Yu's. If he takes advantage of the momentum to attack him, he will definitely be captured!"

Xun You also said: "Since Pengcheng, Lu Bu has been defeated in successive battles, and his vigor has declined. The three armies are dominated by generals, and the army with generals has no fighting spirit. Although Chen Gong has some resourcefulness, but now he has no time to use his strategies. If you attack vigorously, you will definitely be able to take Lu Bu down." Xun You and Guo Jia gave Cao Cao an idea to flood the city with water. They suggested diverting the Sishui and Yishui waters near Xiapi City to the city, making the city full of ocean, and it would be even more difficult for Lu Bu to defend it.

Yuan Shu planned to come to support Xiapi, but he wanted to wait until Lv Bu was exhausted and Cao Cao had to pay a higher price, so he moved very slowly.But Zhang Yang's side was even more troubled. As soon as he joined the army, he was killed by his general Yang Chou, who turned to surrender to Cao Cao.However, not long after, another general under Zhang Yang, Sui Gu, killed Yang Chou and led his troops to surrender to Yuan Shao. In any case, neither of the two people that Lu Bu had been dreaming of in his dreams came, one didn't want to leave yet, and the other could never leave.

There was an apocalyptic atmosphere in Xiapi City, Lu Bu sighed all day long, scolded this and that, his words and deeds were a little out of order.Chen Gong tried his best to find a way out of the siege, but there was still nothing he could do.In this case, Lu Bu's men went into trouble. According to the "Kyushu Spring and Autumn Annals", Hou Cheng, a general under Lu Bu, had fifteen good horses to feed, but the feeders secretly took the horses away and wanted to leave the city to give them to Liu Bei.Hou Cheng chased after him personally and took the horse back.Hou Cheng felt that this was also a small victory, and wanted to celebrate with a few tables of banquets. Hou Cheng brought out the wine brewed at home and killed a few more pigs, and all the generals came to congratulate him.Hou Cheng always respected Lu Bu very much. He took half a pig and five buckets of wine to give to Lu Bu, and knelt down and said: "Thanks to the kindness of the general, let me chase the horse back. I didn't dare to eat the wine and meat first, so I specially offered it to you." Let’s talk about your heart.” Lu Bu seems to have lost his charisma, and his subordinates always respect him. Hou Cheng did this purely out of respect, but Lu Bu became angry as soon as he heard it. Lu Bu said: "The city is besieged, food is scarce, and I'm banning alcohol. Don't you know? You eat and drink, and call yourself brothers. Do you want to gang up and murder me? Hou Cheng was terrified, and hurriedly apologized and begged for mercy. When he returned home, he returned all the gifts from the generals, and threw away the wine and meat, still feeling uneasy. Lu Bu's inhumanity chilled Hou Cheng a little.When Hou Cheng defended the city, he didn't work as hard as before.Finally, Hou Cheng decided to surrender to Cao Cao, which became the last straw that crushed Lu Bu's elephant.