Chapter 41 Hefei Yanbing

Cao Cao was not reconciled to this disastrous defeat. He only settled down in Qiao County for a few days, and then began to prepare for the battle. He recruited new soldiers, built warships, and re-drilled the navy.But those remnant soldiers who had just escaped and lost their lives had to go into new battles before they could breathe a sigh of relief. Many of them were still suffering from trauma and pain, and had to go on a journey to risk their lives. After all, the land of the Central Plains is powerful. In just two months, another 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers and horses were gathered, and nearly a thousand new boats were built.But this time, apart from Cao Cao himself, no other generals are optimistic about it. The lesson from Chibi's disastrous defeat is not far away, and even Jingzhou's well-equipped large ships cannot win. How can these newly built small ships overcome the natural danger of the Yangtze River?But Cao Cao seemed to have fallen into a demon, and he was determined to conquer Jiangdong and restore his invincible reputation. Amidst the controversy and complaints, the army set off from Qiao County and went down the Huai River to Hefei.

As most people expected, this was another expedition with heavy losses. The toilers of the three armies had no will to fight, and they were completely deterred by military orders.Moreover, there is still a plague in the Jianghuai area. Many soldiers who were infected with typhoid fever before have not recovered, and now they are wandering in boats and stepping into dangerous places. For them, they have stepped into the gate of hell.Since the departure from Qiao County, soldiers have died of illness, and the situation has intensified. The fleet almost marched all the way and threw their bodies into the river.The weather has turned hot, and the place the army passed by is filled with the smell of rotting corpses.What is the combat effectiveness of such a tired army?The people on both sides of the Huai River were also quite shocked, fearing that Cao Cao would capture another strong man as a source of troops, and fled to other places one after another.

After paying a huge price of nearly 10,000 deaths, Cao Cao finally arrived in Hefei in July of the 14th year of Jian'an.But unfortunately, before he arrived, Sun Quan had already withdrawn to Jiangdong with his army. Although Sun Quan claims to have an army of 100,000, in fact, he only has 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers left after Zhou Yu was assigned. Such a big disturbance is all thanks to Cao Cao's defeat and instability of people's hearts.In addition, the rebellion of Chen Lan, Lei Xu and others also helped him fuel his arrogance, causing panic in the Jianghuai area.When Hefei was in an emergency, Cao Cao barely pulled out Zhang Wei and led more than a thousand cavalry to rescue. In addition, the soldiers in Runan were only three or four thousand. It is impossible for this force to force Sun Quan to retreat.At the critical moment, Jiang Ji made a surprise plan and ordered people to forge military reports. He exaggerated the number of reinforcements by ten times, claiming that 40,000 troops came to the rescue, and sent people to pretend to be messengers and divide them into three teams. Pretending to rush to Hefei to deliver a letter, deliberately luring the enemy to intercept it.Sure enough, the forged letter fell into Sun Quan's hands, and he panicked when he learned that 40,000 troops had come to rescue Sun Quan. He expected that Cao Cao's strength should not be underestimated even though he was defeated, and he was afraid that he would retreat.

The reason why Hefei was able to survive the siege for a hundred days was not only due to the officials and soldiers, but also to the late Liu Fu, the governor of Yangzhou.At that time, Yan Xiang, the former governor, was killed by Li Shu. Sun Quan killed Li Shu again and moved a large number of people from Jianghuai. When Liu Fu was ordered, Hefei was almost an empty city. Pi, Jipi, Qimen, Wutang and other irrigation ditches were expanded and reinforced in Hefei City.And when he was seriously ill and was about to die, he specially arranged for officers and soldiers to hoard food and grass, prepare to roll stones and trees, and strengthen defense with deep ditches and high fortifications.Had it not been for Liu Fu's far-sighted and far-reaching arrangements before his death, Hefei might have been captured by Sun Quan long ago.

Surviving the catastrophe without any danger, from Yangzhou to leave Jiang Ji and work under Liu Ye, all the officials, civilians and soldiers remembered Liu Fu's legacy and wept bitterly.The soldiers who came to rescue after all kinds of hardships were also relieved, but Cao Cao was not satisfied with the result, and he planned to chase Sun Quan and fight the Yangtze River again. All the generals, staff officers, and Yangzhou officials were silent. Everyone looked at Cao Cao with helpless eyes, like clay statues. Even the military advisor Xun You and his old friend Lou Gui stopped talking.It's not that no one has any objections, but that no one dares to remonstrate with this domineering and stubborn prime minister.

In fact, as long as one step is taken, everyone can see that this battle cannot be fought again.The tired and sick soldiers were moaning in pain and secretly crying, and their morale had fallen to the bottom.Cao Ren is still struggling to defend Jiangling against the attack of the Sun and Liu families; Yu Jin and Zhang Liao are still fighting with Yuan Shu's former troops; Xia Houyuan is also chasing and intercepting the rebel troops in Lujiang.The entire Jianghuai area is like a dilapidated ship riddled with holes, but Cao Cao just turned a blind eye. Maybe he knew it in his heart, but he refused to accept the fact of failure.

Cao Cao held the command arrow tightly in his hand, as if he wanted to accumulate all the hatred, his stern gaze swept over everyone in the tent - no objection, no daring to have objection.He stood up suddenly, and was about to issue an order to break out of the camp and go south. "Report!" A soldier reported, "Mr. Jiang Gan asks to see you." Cao Cao sat down patiently and slowly: "Bring it in." Jiang Gan stepped forward, and only said: "See the prime minister, and I will return to you." He bowed his head and knelt in the tent, waiting for Cao Cao to ask questions.

You don't need to ask, just by looking at it, you can tell that the trip was a waste of money.How can this kind of lobbying be successful? Cao Cao's move is tantamount to deceiving his ears and stealing the bell.He slightly closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but still couldn't help but ask, "What did he say?" "Zhou Yu refuses to come." Jiang Gan stared at the ground, not daring to lift his eyelids. Cao Cao raised his voice: "I'm asking you, what did he tell you?" Jiang Gan swallowed his saliva, and said bravely: "Gongjin said to me, "When a husband lives in the world, he meets a confidant. He entrusts the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers outside, and he is bound by the kindness of his flesh and blood. Zhang Gengsheng, when Li Sou came back, he still caressed his back and broke his words, how can a young man be able to move it?'”

"Huh! Su Qin's mouth, Zhang Yi's tongue, and Li Shiqi's resurrection can't convince him, what a big tone!" Cao Cao became angry, "The return of the world is close at hand, don't you ask him, just look at him Does the kindness of knowing you, the kindness of your flesh and blood, disregard the common people in the world? Although he is temporarily victorious, how can he fight against the size of Kyushu with the remote southeast for a long time?" "The late student asked," Jiang Gan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, "he only said four words..."

"speak!" "It's man-made." "It's human..." Cao Cao couldn't sit still anymore, and stood up impatiently, "Why? He still wants to fight this old man, why? Who gave him such courage!" Naturally, Jiang Gan couldn't answer this question, so he simply closed his mouth and pretended to be deaf and dumb. Cao Cao fell into paranoia, his mind was full of his brilliant martial arts, he felt that he was burnt inside, his bloodshot eyes almost wanted to spit fire.He was like a very hungry wolf, panting heavily and frantically pacing up and down, circling in the center of the military tent, with one hand firmly clutching the hilt of the sword, as if ready to kill at all times, while the other hand trembled nervously Then, he circled around twice like this, and suddenly roared: "I wanted to finish this battle, rectify a brand new imperial court, rest with the people, and rest with the soldiers...but the two children, Sun Quan and Zhou Yu, still have Big-eared thieves... They are all chaotic people with evil intentions! They only know how to maneuver and only care about their ambitions, but how do they know the way to govern the world? More than 20 years of war, how many people have lost their lives? Which of them has experienced the darkness of the previous dynasty? Which one has benefited the people? In the past twenty years, I have punished rape and evil, wiped out the smoldering smoke, and stabilized the people of the Li people! Punish the murderers, hang the people, like the rain! The whole world will give me who I am... Xiao Xiaozhuzi! They They're all bastards..."

Seeing that he was furious, all the officials backed away in shock. It was the first time in their lives that some people saw such a big anger, and their legs were so frightened that their legs went limp.Everyone lowered their heads and dared not make a sound, only Cao Cao's hoarse shout was the only one in the big tent. "I am the only one who is guilty and innocent in all directions. How dare the world have the will to go beyond? Why don't they let these chaotic people stop? They want to let this chaotic world go on, what is their intention...their heart should be punished! I am so angry and also……" Suddenly a high-pitched voice said: "Prime Minister! I have something to ask you." Everyone was taken aback, who dared to say more at this time?Everyone glanced at him, but saw an ugly middle-aged scribe squeezed out from the crowd. Cao Cao was having nowhere to spread his fire, so he looked sideways—He Qia and Yang Shi.Maybe ugliness is a treasure, but he didn't get angry when faced with this extremely ugly face, he just shouted sharply: "Speak!" "No." Hexia was full of confidence, and took a few steps forward, "I have the courage to ask, if the prime minister and Sun Liu exchanged views, what should you do?" "What did you say?" Cao Cao was so confused that he didn't understand at all. The Heqia sentence was repeated again and again: "If the prime minister exchanges with Sun Quan and Zhou Yu's generation, others occupy the north and have a strong army, and you occupy one place to fight alone. Others advise you to focus on the general trend of the world, and advise you to solve the problem. Jia returns, will you follow the good example?" Cao Cao was speechless, his anger disappeared in an instant, and he stared at Heqia with bloodshot eyes-of course he would not, everyone who wants to make a difference in troubled times is the same, who has no right to fight?Who doesn't have the ambition to dominate the world?In the past, Yuan Shao supported the people of the four prefectures and asked Cao Cao to move his capital and surrender in a letter. How did he reply?At Guandu, Yuan Shao defeated with an army of 100,000. How did he fight?Now the Sun and Liu families are the same as he was at the beginning, but he has become Yuan Shao instead, and more than a hundred thousand troops went south to conquer and finally returned in defeat!How similar is it, and how embarrassing it is?Back then Cao Cao laughed at Yuan Shao's arrogance and arrogance and underestimating the enemy, but now these words turned into a slap in the face, which in turn hit him in the face.How did you get to this embarrassing situation? Cao Cao was sober, and he was not completely sober until this moment, and he came out of the unrealistic delusion after the defeat.He tremblingly patted He Qia on the shoulder twice, and then burst into laughter: "Hahaha...you asked a good question! Hahaha..." After speaking, he laughed and staggered out of the big tent. "Prime Minister! Prime Minister!" All the subordinates shouted to chase them out. He Qia opened his arms and stopped everyone: "Don't go! The more you persuade, the worse it gets. Let the Prime Minister think it through himself." Cao Cao laughed non-stop when he left the big tent, laughing at himself for being stupid, laughing at being arrogant, laughing at being ignorant of current affairs, laughing at being as hopeless as Yuan Shao.Ever since he won the conquest of Karasuma, he has been self-inflated, underestimating the heroes of the world, and Jingzhou came too easily, which made him arrogant, and ended up being disgraced.who to blame?Blame himself.It's a pity that he realized it too late, and he has lost the best opportunity to unify the world... Smiling and laughing, he gradually calmed down—the soldiers all stared at him blankly.Some of these poor soldiers were traumatized, and some were sick. Even if they were not injured or sick, they were thin and haggard after more than half a year. Is this still the iron army that shocked the Central Plains back then?Cao Cao couldn't laugh anymore, he was ashamed of the soldiers who were born and died, and even more ashamed of those souls who died on the battlefield.But that's not all, what face does he have to answer Xu Du?What face does he have to meet Xun Yu?What face do you have to say goodbye to that puppet emperor?What face do you have to meet those celebrities from all walks of life who have been recruited by all means? He has already taken that terrifying step, he is no longer Sikong, but the only prime minister since the founding of the Zhongxing Dynasty.The ruler is not the ruler, the minister is not the minister, the unclear is not embarrassing, what should I do?Proclaim the emperor on behalf of the Han Dynasty according to the established plan?Then he is not an emperor, but a traitor who steals the country.He became a man who conspired to usurp the throne. Didn't he make Sun Liu a loyal minister and a teacher of justice?Wouldn't it be handing over the banner of eradicating national thieves to the enemy?Didn't he become the same as Yuan Shu?As long as the world is not unified, he cannot risk the disgrace of the world. But it’s okay if you don’t move forward. Now that you’ve reached this point, can you go back?How many charges of liquidation await?How many people who climb the dragon and attach to the phoenix look forward to it?He couldn't stop even if he wanted to.How did you come to this dead end?Dilemma... Suddenly, the words "It's hard to get off a tiger" appeared in his mind. These were the last words Guo Jia tried to yell when he fell ill in the mountains outside the Great Wall.I didn't understand it at the time, but now I finally understand it, but it's too late, he is really stuck. Cao Cao looked up to the sky and sighed: "If Guo Fengxiao was here, how could I have been defeated so far..." At the beginning, except for Guo Jia, Xun You reminded him not to think about disintegrating the two forces of Sun and Liu at once, and he ignored it; Cheng Yu warned him not to underestimate the enemy, He didn't listen either.In addition, what Jia Xu said is "taking advantage of the old Chu's blessings to feed the officials and scholars, comfort the people, and make them live in peace and contentment, so that Jiangdong can be subdued without laboring." Jiangdong, step by step steadily? So many people have reminded him overtly and secretly, but he is still obsessed with it.There is also Kuai Yue's gang of old Jingzhou bureaucrats. They have dealt with Jiang Dongjiu. Even if they know the details of Sun Quan and Zhou Yu, what can they say as surrenderers?Dare to say anything... Cao Cao regretted everything after thinking about it clearly.If the land of Jiangxia is determined first by land warfare, and then Jiangdong is planned, what is the current situation?If you observe the geography in detail in advance and march from the Han River instead of rushing to the Yangtze River, you may not necessarily fail, right?Even when Wulin is in a stalemate, if he is cautious and does not underestimate the enemy, what will be the result? What's the use of thinking about it now, I've already lost, let's firmly engrave this painful lesson in my heart.Cao Cao fell to the ground, tears streaming from his eyes... In July of the fourteenth year of Jian'an, Xinwei (October 10, 209 A.D.), Cao Cao issued a decree to compensate the soldiers of the three armies. The Southern Expedition ended sadly: In the next few months, Cao Cao kept his soldiers and horses, one to recuperate from injuries, and the other to expand Liu Fu to carry out half of the Shaobei project, and ordered Wei Cangci, the capital of Suiji, to reclaim farmland on a large scale.This can be regarded as making up for some people's hearts. The defensive battle on the front line of Jiangling lasted for more than half a year. Cao Ren tried his best, but he still couldn't get rid of the passive situation.Zhou Yu sent Gan Ning to attack Yiling, and Liu Bei led his troops to the rear of Jiangling, intending to cut off the food roads. This battle became more and more passive.What is even more unfortunate is that Li Tong, the general guarding Runan, rescued Cao Ren with illness. He took the lead in pulling out the antlers along the way. Although he rushed to the front line, he died of illness in the army. Cao Jun not only lost a key general, but also seriously affected the morale of the army. .In desperation, Cao Cao had no choice but to give up, and ordered Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and Man Chong to retreat in great strides, abandoning all the territory south of the Han River, and delimiting the defensive strongholds in Xiangyang and Fancheng. Many officials had objections to this, but Cao Cao insisted on this decision.After all, he is a generation of commander who has experienced many battles. As long as his brain is not hot, he still has a unique vision.Although the discarded territory is large, there is no danger to defend those places, and Xiangfan has the Han River as a barrier. Xiangyang and Fancheng face each other across the water, and the north and south cooperate with each other.Even better, to the west of Xiangyang is Fangling County. Fangling was originally just a county. "Historical Records" said that it was "thousands of miles across, surrounded by mountains and forests, and its solid high tombs, such as houses", so it got its name. This place was originally under the jurisdiction of Yizhou. After entering the control of Jingzhou, Liu Biao promoted Fangling County and the surrounding area to a county, and appointed Kuai Kuai of the Kuai clan as the county governor. Cao Cao originally planned to replace this person, but Chibi was defeated and the situation was unstable. A powerful faction like him who had served for many years I dare not move casually.Moreover, Kuai Kui has a good relationship with the Shen family, the largest local tyrant, and with such a solid foundation, let them continue to occupy the county.Although Cao Cao had never met Zhuge Liang, nor heard of the "Longzhong Dui", he knew that Fangling County was the only way to enter Shu, and with Xiangyang blocking this place, and the heavy use of Kuai Kuai, no one would Want to seek the land of Shu. It will take a long time to recover, and this is all Cao Cao can do. Whether there is something unexpected, only God knows. The vigorous Southern Expedition completely failed, and nothing was gained except Xiangfan.More than half of the hundreds of thousands of troops were lost, the best chance to unify the world was lost, and Cao Cao's dream of becoming emperor became far away.The city was abandoned, the soldiers were comforted, the rebellion was contained, and everything returned to calm, but this does not mean that the bad influence of the defeat is over. On the contrary, internal problems have just been revealed...