Chapter 21 Chapter Twenty-One

"What's Yuan Shu's attitude after reading my letter?" After dispatching the messenger from Huainan, Sun Ce thought to himself. "He will definitely send troops to attack Jiangdong in a rage." Thinking of this, Sun Ce immediately began to actively prepare for the battle, and deployed a large number of warships along the Yangtze River, ready to fight. At this time, an envoy sent by Cao Cao, the capital of Xu, came to Jiangdong, conveyed the emperor's will, and appointed Sun Ce as the prefect of Kuaiji. Sun Ce accepted the canonization of the emperor.The envoy conveyed to him the combat mission issued by Cao Cao in the form of an imperial court order: send troops to Huainan immediately to punish the false emperor Yuan Shu!

Sun Ce didn't dare to resist Cao Cao's order, because he was also half responsible for Yuxi falling into Yuan Shu's hands. Sun Ce said to the envoy, "I would like to obey the holy order." On the day when Xu Du's envoy returned to the imperial court, Zhang Zhao, the chief historian of the Eastern Wu Dynasty, said to Sun Ce, "We have now accepted the imperial decree without reservation. Anyway, Huainan is a fertile land after all, and the Yuan family is also a famous family. A prominent family. Although we were defeated by Lu Bu not long ago, we must not underestimate him because of this. Compared with him, our Soochow is a new country. Although young and full of vigor, our financial resources and military equipment are insufficient."

Sun Ce frowned dissatisfied: "Should we stop here?" "Since we have accepted the imperial decree, how can we not keep our word? If we violate the emperor's order now, the imperial court will definitely suspect that we have different intentions." "Then what do you think we should do?" "In my opinion, it is better for my lord to write an urgent letter to Cao Cao, saying that we have decided to send troops across the river to attack Yuan Shu's flank, and also ask Xu Du to send a large army to fight Yuan Shu head-on. This will allow Cao Jun to dominate the main battle." The important task, while the lord's side has completely changed to the position of reinforcements."

"It makes sense." "We have sang high-profile aid to Cao Cao one after another. If the lord is in danger in the future, he can naturally ask Cao Cao for reinforcements." "Thank you for your ingenious plan. Chang Shi's words are indeed the most reasonable words at the moment. Let's act according to this plan." The urgent letter sent by Sun Ce was delivered to the Prime Minister's Mansion in Xudu within a few days. In the autumn of this year, people in the prime minister's mansion were discussing in private worriedly: "Has the prime minister become stupid recently?"

Cao Cao has been behaving strangely lately, and has been in a daze all day long. In the spring of this year, Cao Cao led an army to expedition to Zhangxiu, but returned in a disastrous defeat.I don't know if it's because his indestructible self-confidence in the past has been shaken, or it's because of his sentimental disposition, or whether it's still hard to forget the beautiful eyes in the hibiscus tent and the weeping Hu Jia sonata in the late spring night.In short, in autumn, his figure looks really lonely. "No, no, the prime minister is definitely not the kind of son who is looking for trouble."

An official in the prime minister's mansion came to the above conclusion after seeing Cao Cao frequently on the road to the newly built ancestral hall, thus dispelling people's foolish speculation in the past. The so-called newly built ancestral hall refers to the temple built by Cao Cao for the brave general Dian Wei who died fighting in the battle against Zhangxiu.After Cao Cao returned to the capital, he personally set up a mourning hall to commemorate Dianwei, and promoted Dianman, Dianwei's son, to Zhonglang.It can be seen from this that Cao Cao's strange behavior is just the lingering thoughts of Dian Wei's death.

At this time, the urgent letter from Sun Ce of Eastern Wu reached the prime minister's mansion, and Cao Cao immediately responded with full promise, and ordered more than 300,000 troops to rush to the battlefield immediately.On the one hand, Cao Cao is like an amorous idiot, often showing sadness and tears, but on the other hand, he is adaptable and immediately shows the demeanor of a courageous, majestic, and all-powerful commander of the three armies. The army left Beijing continuously. It was the autumn and September of the second year of Jian'an, and it was a quiet and clear moonlit night in Xudu.

The army of the Southern Expedition claimed to be 300,000, but in fact it only had nearly 100,000 infantry, 40,000 cavalry, and more than a thousand vehicles. Before leading his army to leave Xudu, Cao Cao sent a call to arms to Liu Xuande in Yuzhou and Lu Bu in Xuzhou.The call to action reads: "Autumn is approaching, I am going south to the Huai River, please meet me halfway." After receiving the appeal, Liu Xuande immediately led Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and other elite troops to wait in Yuzhou to join Cao Cao.After Cao Cao saw Liu Xuande, he said happily, "I always want to meet up with my honest and loyal servant as soon as possible. This meeting finally fulfilled my long-cherished wish."

The flags of the Confederate Army reflect each other.While taking a short break, the two males had a heart-to-heart conversation. Liu Xuande looked back at Guan Yu, and ordered: "Bring those two things up." Guan Yu took out two heads with his hands. Cao Cao was taken aback when he saw it, and hurriedly asked, "Whose head is this?" "One is Han Siam's head, and the other is Yang Feng's head." "Are those two people who betrayed Yuan Shu and defected to Lu Bu? I heard that Lu Bu sent them to the local government again. Why did they end up like this today?"

Liu Xuande replied calmly: "These two people are just as the prime minister said. They were later sent by Lu Bu to serve as officials in Yidu and Langya counties respectively, but after taking office, they began to apportion exorbitant taxes, and the local people suffered greatly. They also indulged their subordinates. I raped and plundered and committed numerous crimes. Therefore, I responded to the complaints of the people and corrected officials for the court, and quietly ordered Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to lure and kill the two thieves in the name of a banquet." "Oh, that's how it is." Cao Cao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after hearing this.

Liu Xuande said sincerely again: "By the prime minister's order, I am here to welcome the army and ask the prime minister to punish me. We will kill people arbitrarily, so please investigate strictly." "Why did Xuande say that? What you are doing is for the sake of correcting officials and eliminating harm for the people. It is completely different from ordinary personal grievances and private fights. You should be rewarded for your meritorious service. There is nothing wrong with it." Cao Cao said generously. "Prime Minister really forgive me for waiting?" "Of course, when I meet Lu Bu in the future, I will also tell him by the way, please rest assured." The weather has been fine for several consecutive days, and the autumn sky is like washing.It's just hotter at noon. But Cao Cao was in a bad mood.He is troubled by the blockage of the road to the south - this year, the Huaishui area south of Xuzhou has continued to rain heavily, which has caused many rivers to flood, cliffs to collapse, and many large and small lakes to form in the wilderness. The men and horses of the army going south and the vehicles carrying the luggage had to trudge through the mud for a long time. "Ah, it's really not easy. It's difficult for the army to march all the way, right?" Lu Bu greeted Cao Jun who was heading south at the boundary of Xuzhou. Cao Cao nodded cordially and said with a smile: "Feng Xian has won a big victory recently, it is really gratifying." After the meeting, the guests and the host decided to station the army outside the city. Later, Lu Bu held a grand welcome banquet in the posthouse, and Liu Xuande also attended the same table. The three parties sincerely united to create a grand momentum to crusade against Yuan Shu. The tactful Cao Cao said to Lu Bu: "This southern expedition depends on your strong support. I have already reported to the imperial court to reward you as General Zuo, and I will give you the seal and ribbon after the war." Lu Bu was originally a very happy person, so he was naturally overjoyed by Cao Cao's generous reward. Therefore, he said again and again proudly: "I wish to do the work of a dog and a horse." So far, the three armies of Cao, Liu, and Lv have formed one body, and have deployed a specific lineup to continue southward. That is: take Cao Cao as the central army, Liu Xuande as the right army, and Lu Bu as the left army. So, what kind of countermeasures will Yuan Shu, who is in Huainan and self-proclaimed emperor, take against the crusade against Cao, Liu, and Lu? "Wow, the big thing is not good, the enemy is attacking!" On the border, the sentinels immediately lit up the smoke of the alarm. From the outpost flew out a Chuanqi who was in charge of "first-class alarm". One called the police, and the other called the police, and they all galloped towards Shouchun City where Yuan Shu lived. It didn't take long for urgent reports from the border to pour in. "The three armies of Cao, Liu, and Lu have formed a unified crusade army..." After hearing such an urgent report, Yuan Shu, who claimed to be the emperor, turned pale with shock. "Hurry up and call Qiao Rui!" Yuan Shu yelled at his subordinates, he asked his general Qiao Rui to urgently establish a battle line of defense, and immediately held a major military meeting.While the ministers were discussing, the urgent military reports from the front were still coming in like snowflakes. An urgent report wrote: "Sooner or later, the enemy will break through the border, and the consequences of disintegration will be disastrous." The battered Yuan Shu finally made up his mind and personally led 50,000 cavalry out of Shouchun City in an attempt to stop the enemy on the way. "Our army's vanguard has a bad start!" Not long after the battle, Yuan Shu heard the news of the defeat from the front. "General Qiao Rui, the vanguard of our army, was caught in the chaos when he was fighting the enemy vanguard Xiahou Dun. He was picked off by a pistol and died." Other than that, there were depressing emergency calls. As Yuan Shu's face became more and more ugly, his central army began to waver. Someone murmured softly: "Oh, the dust and smoke are everywhere over there, can't it be that the enemy army came here?" The demoralized and timid morale spread throughout the entire army like a plague, and no one implemented the strict "no retreat" supervision order issued by the Chinese army. Even the entire army began to retreat without organizing a decent resistance. Yuan Shu had no choice but to lead the Chinese army to flee back to Shouchun City, and closed the eight gates of the city tightly in order to strictly prevent the defense. Yuan Shu was determined to defend the city and fight the enemy for a long time.He said to the soldiers: "From now on, we must stick to the city and wait for the expeditionary enemy to return exhausted and exhausted." At this time, the enemy's troops quickly approached Shouchun City. Lu Bu's army came from the east, and Liu Xuande's troops rushed from the west. In addition, Cao Jun crossed the high mountains in the north and stared down at the land of Huainan.Sharp pointing, invincible.It is said that Cao Cao's Chinese army camp has advanced to a place not far from Shouchun City. Everyone in Shouchun City was shocked when they heard about the enemy's situation.All the generals in the city talked about the enemy's situation all day long.Not long after, another emergency alarm came from the southwest like a bolt from the blue: Sun Ce of Soochow had prepared boats and boatmen, and was leading his army across the Yangtze River to attack the city with Cao Cao in coordination with each other. After Yuan Shu heard the urgent report from the Southwest, he was taken aback: "What? Even that boy Sun Ce is here?" He couldn't help but think of the rude reply from Sun Ce he had received earlier, and trembled with anger: "You ungrateful bastard! You ungrateful thief!" However, no matter how much Yuan Shu scolded, everything was useless. Now, Yuan Shu is at a loss.Cao Jun's momentum in front of him was like a rainbow, and the shouts shook the mountains and rivers.Approaching behind him were hundreds of warships from Soochow in the south of the Yangtze River. These fleets threatened his life like a tsunami.Yuan Shu was so scared that he stayed up all night. The sleep-deprived Emperor Yuan Shu had nothing to do, and held lifeless meetings with his confidant generals all day long to discuss countermeasures.At today's routine military meeting, a general Yang said: "Your Majesty, the situation is now in dire straits. If you continue to defend Shouchun City, you will only end up self-destroyed. I think the matter has come to an end. Your Majesty can lead the Imperial Forest Army to cross temporarily." Cross the Huai River, move to another place, and then wait for changes in the current situation to make a plan for the next step."