Chapter 23 Chapter Twenty-Third

Jian'an three years.new year. Cao Cao is already in his forties. He has both majesty and character, and his domineering and passion are also increasing day by day. He has a gentle and elegant demeanor.He likes to read and write poems alone in his spare time, and he doesn't leave his study called Chunlan's Room all day long.Sometimes he also appeared as a loving father, lovingly playing various games with his young children.He has a great reputation and a high position as the prime minister, and he has achieved great success.But what he is doing now makes people wonder: Has he forgotten the matter of bow, horse, sword and spear in his mind?

In the first month, he went to the emperor to meet the emperor, and after congratulating the New Year, he said proudly: "This year we must go to the west." Huainan in the south, after last year's crusade, Yuan Shu could only linger on in a corner. Speaking of Xi Mian, he immediately thought of Zhang Xiu who was about to move between Nanyang and Jingzhou recently. Sure enough, in the early summer and April of this year, the Prime Minister's Mansion issued an order to march west.Overnight, the army began a military campaign to crusade to the west. The goal of the Western Expedition is very clear: to defeat Zhang Xiu!

The morale of the army is high and the military discipline is strict. The emperor personally sent Cao Cao to the main road outside the gate of Xudu City in a Luanjia. It was early summer, and the wheat was already ripe. When the army passed through the country lanes from the outskirts of Xudu, many people working in the wheat fields were frightened and ran for their lives and hid. Seeing this, Cao Cao immediately ordered: "Go and call Zhuangtou and the village elder!" After a while, Cao Cao said to the trembling village chiefs and the people: "At the time when you have shed your blood and sweat and you are rarely enjoying a good harvest of wheat, we sent out troops and horses for an expedition. Although this is an established national policy, it is really a last resort. Please Don't worry, everyone, only the troops of my generals will pass here. I have issued a military order that no troops will be allowed to trample on the wheat fields. In addition, if any village finds that there are soldiers who plunder the people's property, even if it is an inch of gold, Please also report to us immediately, and my general will behead the soldier who violated discipline immediately."

After hearing Cao Cao's words, the people were all rejoiced.Everyone spread the good news to each other, and rushed to the field, even the old people and women came out and stood around the wheat field, sending off the passing army with confidence. The army strictly enforced the military discipline established by Cao Cao.When the soldiers and horses passed through the narrow passage in the middle of the wheat field, the soldiers tightened the reins with one hand and walked carefully with the other hand separating the ears of wheat. Unexpectedly, something unexpected happened. For some unknown reason, Cao Cao's mount was frightened by the sound of wild pigeons. It jumped wildly and rushed into the wheat field, trampling a lot of wheat.

Cao Cao seemed to have remembered something, and immediately issued an order: "The whole army stops advancing!" Then, he said to the marching master who was in charge of enforcing discipline: "Just now I accidentally violated the decree I personally issued. As the commander-in-chief of the army, I have lost the qualification of commander-in-chief. In any case, you must first discipline yourself. To be righteous is to be honest with yourself, so that your subordinates can be convinced. I harmed myself. I know what I should do in order to strictly enforce the military law. Everyone, don’t feel sad for my death. For the sake of the people in the world, you must further abide by the law. , to serve the imperial court wholeheartedly."

After Cao Cao finished speaking, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. "Prime Minister, you must not do this!" All the soldiers were stunned and speechless when they saw the scene in front of them.Cao Cao's left and right hurriedly dissuaded him. One of them said, "Please wait a moment. The Spring and Autumn Annals says, 'The law is not respected'. The prime minister is the commander of the army, and the life and death of the prime minister is the life and death of the entire army. If you love us, please don't harm yourself." "Well, is it? Is there such an ancient rule in the Spring and Autumn Period? Or I will cut off the hair bestowed by my parents, and I will be beheaded as evidence of my obedience."

As Cao Cao said, he grabbed his hair with one hand, picked up the dagger with the other hand, cut off the hair from the root of the hair, and handed it to the master. Autumn frost is severe! The soldiers were all horrified when they heard and witnessed this situation, and used it to warn themselves. March from May to June.June coincides with the great heat. Especially when the army crossed the Funiu Mountains in Henan, the mountain roads were extremely difficult. Where the army passed by, the ground was wet with sweat.The vegetation on the mountain was covered with thick dust, and the red sand and stones on the mountain road seemed to have been burned by a fire.Not a drop of water was seen on the mountain, and many soldiers fainted to the ground.

"I really want to drink water." "Is there no water?" The fainted wounded soldier groaned like this. Soldiers on the march also showed their thirst for water. Facing such a situation, Cao Cao rode on his horse and suddenly pointed his whip in front of him and shouted loudly: "It's almost here! Over this mountain, there is a plum forest. Those who go early can rest under the shade of the forest for a while. You can also eat green plums as much as you want. There are so many green plums there, just tap the green plum trees, and the green plums will fall all over the ground, and you will surely eat your fill."

After hearing Cao Cao's words, the soldiers who were dying of thirst shouted in unison: "We want to eat green plums." "Let's work harder and hurry to Merlin!" shouted the soldiers, suddenly increasing their will and courage to march. In this way, unconsciously, the soldiers imagined the sour taste of green plums, and could not help but salivate in their mouths, thus forgetting their thirst.It is said in history: Wangmei quenches thirst. Cao Cao is good at randomly applying the knowledge gained from reading books in his spare time. Later military strategists studied this as one of Cao Cao's tactics, thinking that it was a clever plan that Cao Cao came up with to relieve the anxiety of soldiers marching under the scorching heat. .

The defenders of Nanyang Wancheng soon saw the smoke and dust raised by Cao Jun's crossing of Funiu Mountain. When Zhang Xiu heard the news of Cao Jun's arrival, he was very panicked. "Please be my backup." He sent Kuaiqi to send a letter requesting rescue to Liu Biao in Jingzhou, and then left the military adviser Jia Xu to guard the city, while he led the army out of the city to meet the enemy.He pretended to be strong and said: "The enemy's soldiers and horses are just tired troops. They are called a large army. I want to see how great they are." However, Zhang Xian, the warrior under him, was the first to fight Xu Chu, Cao Cao's subordinate, and was defeated.Zhang Xiu didn't dare to brag any more, and hurriedly mixed with the hastily defeated soldiers, and fled back to Wancheng in embarrassment.

Cao Cao's army followed closely to the city and completely blocked the four gates of Wancheng. The two sides entered a stalemate of siege and defense. The defenders adopted new tactics.They poured boiling molten iron on the enemy soldiers gathered under the city wall, and then threw a large amount of filth like iron slag or human corpses from the top of the city, drying up the city wall. The moats are filled. But Zhang Xiu's despicable method did not intimidate Cao Jun.Cao Cao personally came to the front line and ordered: "Wancheng must be taken!" Cao Jun concentrated most of his forces at the west gate of Wancheng, and began a three-day and three-night non-stop siege. In any case, the place where the main general commands is where the main force is. Cao Jun used various methods such as erecting archery towers as high as cloud ladders, piling up earthen bags, filling the moat, releasing random arrows, shouting soldiers, throwing oily firewood, and throwing burning pine cones to attack the city repeatedly. Zhang Xiu's defensive force will also be exhausted. He asked Jia Xu worriedly: "Tell me, when will Jingzhou's reinforcements arrive? Wancheng is about to lose its hold. Is there still time?" Now the military adviser Jia Xu's complexion has changed, which has become Zhang Xiu's only psychological support.Jia Xu replied confidently, "No problem." "Is there no problem?" "Why do you say there is no problem? Ah, no! No! As long as you stick to it tenaciously. I believe that Wancheng can not only be defended, but it will not be difficult to capture Cao Cao alive." "Huh? Capture Cao Cao alive?!" "You must think I'm bragging. In fact, as long as you believe me, Cao Cao's life must be in your hands, just watch." "What trick do you have?" Zhang Xiu asked. What kind of trick is hidden in Jia Xu's chest? He said to Zhang Xiuru: "During this battle, I secretly boarded the tower to observe the enemy's situation, and found that Cao Cao had walked around the city three times to observe the strength of the four gates before attacking the city. Among them, the one that caught his attention most seemed to be The Xunmen Gate in the southeast. Why did he pay attention to the Xunmen Gate? Specifically, the wooden fences in the deer village there are very dilapidated. Defensive weakness." "Oh I got it!" "So I dare to conclude that the sharp-eyed Cao Cao has decided in his heart to regard Xunmen as the breakthrough point of the siege." ——The day after the inspection, he began to deploy the main force of the siege to Ximen. He himself came to the scene and commanded the army to attack city." "Since he secretly decided to use the Xunmen in the southeast as a breakthrough point, why did he command the main force to attack Ximen so eagerly?" "This is Cao Cao's strategy of attacking the west. His wishful thinking is to attract the main force of our army to the west gate by attacking the west gate, and then take advantage of our unpreparedness to suddenly break through the Xunmen gate, and the whole army will enter in one fell swoop. Completely ruined Wancheng." After Zhang Xiu heard what Jia Xu said, he shuddered. "My lord, please leave this matter to me." Jia Xu took the initiative to challenge Zhang Xiu. In fact, Cao Cao had known for a long time that there was a military adviser named Jia Xu in Wancheng, but he didn't know much about Jia Xu. Not only that, but wise men like Cao Cao often think that others are not as intelligent as themselves. That night, while Cao Cao ordered the army to launch a general attack on Ximen with bluff, he secretly transferred stronger troops to Xunmen.Cao Cao took the lead, jumped over Muzha Luzhai, and approached the city wall directly.In this sneak attack, no enemy defenders were found. Cao Cao smiled happily: "It's ridiculous! They fell into my trick. The soldiers guarding the city have all rushed to the west gate. It seems that they really don't know." Cao Cao simply opened the city gate in one fell swoop, and rushed directly into the city. ——What is strange is that the city is completely dark, there is no bonfire in sight, and the surroundings are eerily quiet. "How is this going?" Cao Cao reined in his horse and looked around suspiciously. Suddenly there was a bang, and a raging fire ignited all around. "It's over!" Cao Cao turned around and yelled in despair at the army following behind, "This is Zhang Xiu's plan to lure the enemy into deep, retreat quickly! retreat quickly!" But it was too late. With the shouts of the earth shaking and the mountains shaking, the darkness was filled with enemy troops everywhere. The shouts of the enemy finally came down to one sentence: "Catch Cao Cao alive!" Cao Cao whipped his fast horse and fled. In this battle, Cao Cao survived alone, and countless Cao troops were wiped out at Xun's Gate that night. Not only that, because the opponent saw through Cao Cao's feigned attack, Cao's siege troops in Ximen were also defeated by Zhang Xiu in embarrassment.Unfavorable in the First World War, the whole line was shaken, and then full of flaws appeared, and the morale of the army was in chaos.At five o'clock, the battle situation changed fundamentally, and Cao Jun was chased by Zhang Xiu's troops instead.After the sun rose at dawn, Cao Jun had retreated to a place twenty miles away from Wancheng.After counting the losses, Cao Jun lost more than 50,000 troops overnight. At this time of crisis, Cao Cao heard even worse news: "Liu Biao of Jingzhou suddenly sent troops to cut off our army's retreat, and made a gesture of attacking Xudu." Cao Cao's face was bleak, he gritted his teeth and said angrily on the defeated battlefield: "We'll see!" Then, on the pretext that "retreat is also the art of war", he led his army to turn around and return to Xudu. On the way, I received the latest information: "Liu Biao heard that once he dispatched a large army, Sun Ce of Soochow would mobilize military ships and go up the river, and Jingzhou would face the danger of being attacked. Therefore, he was timid. Whether to send troops is not yet known." Decide." Among the generals of ancient and modern times, the more they fought, the more courageous they became, and there were very few generals who won consecutive victories, but there were very few generals who often suffered such tragic defeats like Cao Cao. The war launched by Cao Cao, in a word, is the poetry created by Cao Cao.Just as he loves to write poetry, Cao Cao is also very keen on fighting. That kind of enthusiasm, that kind of conception, is like a poet combining golden words with his own painstaking efforts to create poetry, the two are very similar.In the war, Cao Cao put this into practice, this is Cao Cao's tactics. Therefore, Cao Cao's wars are Cao Cao's creations—both outstanding masterpieces and disastrous failures. In short, he was a belligerent man.Because of his warlike nature, he will never become depressed even if he suffers a disastrous defeat. However, this defeat was too tragic after all. Even a hero like Cao Cao kept frowning and frowning all day long on his way home after the defeat.He wrote a poem and sighed: "The plum is sour, the defeat is sad, the shape is different, and the sex is the same, but the heart and tongue are sweet." Riding on a swaying horse, he also recited many poems.Even in adversity, he is full of unyielding spirit yearning for a better life, and he will never give in. Cao Jun passed through Xiangcheng and came to the bank of the Fei River. Cao Cao stopped his horse suddenly, bowed his head and lingered, crying "Ah", two lines of clear tears rolled down his cheeks. The generals asked in surprise, "Prime Minister, why are you so sad?" "Is this the clear water?" "yes." "Last year, our army also attacked Zhangxiu in this place. Due to my negligence, Dianwei died in battle. I feel sad for Dianwei's death, and I can't help but think of many things at that time." As Cao Cao said, he got off his horse, tied it to a willow tree by the river, and ordered people to pile up a pile of stones on the small soil bag on the river beach.Cao Cao personally went up to worship, and finally couldn't help but burst into tears. Seeing Cao Cao's human side, the soldiers were moved by his deep affection for Dian Wei, and worshiped him one after another. Then, Cao Cao offered sacrifices to the spirit of his eldest son Cao Ang, and worshiped the Buddha to save his nephew Cao Anmin. At this time, the long branches of willows by the river were drooping, the river was already chilled with autumn, and the black starling birds were flying back and forth in the air-the whole army was crying bitterly. In the early summer, Cao Jun walked through the wheat field path and embarked on the journey in high spirits. Who knows that in the cool autumn and August, Cao Jun's soldiers returned home with wounds all over their bodies.Their indignation and humiliation are really indescribable. Unbearable to look back, even Lu Qian and Yu Jin and other confidant generals were injured, and countless luggage were forced to be discarded in the enemy's position-ah, Cao Cao looked up to the sky and sighed: the mountains have fainted, and the sun is covered by dark clouds! "Look, someone is coming." "Oh, it's our urgent envoy." Just as the soldiers were discussing a lot, I saw a man rushing over from the opposite side. The person who came was a messenger sent by Xun Yu who stayed behind in Xudu, and he brought a secret letter to Cao Cao. After Cao Cao received the letter, he opened it hastily, and saw the letter read: "Liu Biao of Jingzhou has dispatched troops to cooperate with Zhang Xiu to stop our army near Anxiang on the way home. Please be vigilant." "If such a thing really happens, I have already prepared for it." Cao Cao was very calm about this, and he said to Xun Yu's messenger, "Don't worry." After Cao Jun came to the boundary of Anxiang, as expected, he found that the coalition forces composed of Liu Biao's Jingzhou soldiers and Zhang Xiu's army had seized the dangerous pass on the road. Cao Cao said: "The enemy has their geographical advantage, and we must also strive for our geographical advantage." So he commanded the army to set up an array on the mountain.Cao Jun's operations were carried out quietly from dusk to dawn the next day, digging a secret passage on a mountain without mountain roads, and hiding 80% of the army in the basin on the back of the mountain. At dawn, the morning fog just cleared.The soldiers of Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu's allied forces set up a pergola and looked at Cao Jun's position. "Strange! Why are there so few people over there?" Someone whispered. "Is that much?" Someone nodded in agreement. "During this period of time, 50,000 soldiers of Cao's army died in battle. After the defeat and retreat, they will have to march hard for a long time. Deserters will inevitably appear on the way, and a large number of wounded and sick will be discarded. So we can go back alive. There won't be many people there." Perhaps out of such considerations, those generals led their troops out of the pass not long after.A large number of soldiers ran in the field in black and began to attack Cao Jun's position. The coalition forces didn't take Cao Jun seriously at all, and approached Cao Jun's position in a big way. At this moment, Cao Cao suddenly appeared at the corner of the mountain, and he ordered loudly: "Soldiers in the basin, now is the time, come out of the abyss like a dragon in the abyss and turn into clouds! Surround the enemy troops in the wild, put Kill them all, I want to see the bloody annihilation with my own eyes!" In a blink of an eye, Cao Jun, whose strength had increased by more than eight times, suddenly emerged from the ground, blocked the enemy's retreat, and outflanked the enemy from the front and sides.Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu's coalition forces were completely in disarray.Due to the entanglement of autumn grass in the wilderness, all the fleeing soldiers were stabbed to blood.After a while, the corpses of the coalition forces were all over the field.The soldiers who rushed to escape did not dare to stay at the pass, and fled directly to Anxiang City on the opposite side of the mountain. "Burn that county town for me too!" With grief and indignation, Cao Jun stepped up his pursuit of the remnant enemy.At this time—another emergency report came from Xu Du.This is like the fate of Cao Jun, always at the critical moment when he is only one attack away from hitting the enemy's heart, a sudden change spoils the mood of fighting.The urgent report said, "Yuan Shao of Hebei took advantage of the emptiness of Xudu and issued an order to mobilize the entire army in an attempt to invade Xudu." "Yuan Shao, you bastard!" Cao Cao was shocked when he heard this, and decided to rush back to Xudu desperately day and night. Seeing Cao Cao's panic, Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao turned around and pursued Cao Cao. Jia Xu, Zhang Xiu's military adviser, remonstrated: "The pursuit now will definitely suffer a disastrous defeat." The two refused to listen to persuasion and continued to lead the army in pursuit.Sure enough, as expected, he was ambushed by Cao Jun's strong soldiers halfway, and returned in a complete defeat. Seeing the distraught look of the two men after their defeat, Jia Xu said in amazement: "What are you doing? Now is a good time to pursue, and we will definitely win a great victory!" Although they turned back, seeing Jia Xu's confident encouragement, the two led their troops in pursuit again.As soon as the two sides fought, the victory and defeat were judged. As a result, a major victory was achieved, and the allied forces returned home singing triumphant songs. After the battle, the two asked Jia Xu with admiration: "Mr.'s strategy is really ingenious. How did you know the outcome of the battle before the battle?" Jia Xu smiled modestly and replied: "My level is only at the most elementary level in the art of war. In the first pursuit, because the enemy had already expected to be pursued, he must have left a strong army behind. This is common sense in the art of retreat. Then when you pursue the second time, the situation will be different. The opponent will think that the pursuers will not come again, and as a result, the strong soldiers will be the front and the weak soldiers will be the rear. Natural combat effectiveness and morale Great reduction, at this time, taking advantage of the emptiness to pursue the attack will definitely win a big victory. The reason why my words are effective is just because I deeply believe in these principles."