Chapter 23 The tide is over

In July of the ninth year of Jian'an, Yuan Shang failed to rescue Yecheng. He was beaten by Cao Cao along the Zhanghe River. He sent envoys to ask for surrender but was not allowed. Today's Anyang City, Henan Province is not the same as Qishan where Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was stationed).Cao Cao chased and beat the dog in the water, and followed him like a ghost, and surrounded Yuan Shang's camp, not to mention a fierce attack. The Hebei army looked at the Cao soldiers who were attacking all over the mountains and plains, trembling with fright, they couldn't even raise their weapons - in fact, if they didn't run, Yuan Shang could barely protect himself. The fighting spirit is gone, the morale is gone, the hearts of the people are gone, and even the ability to resist is gone.Some people were so frightened that they ran away with their heads in their arms, some put down their weapons and knelt down and begged to surrender, and some were eager to surrender and simply turned their guns and ran to Yuan Shang's tent to kill...Yuan Shang's generals Ma Yan and Zhang Yi (yi) turned against each other, and the camp was immediately captured by Cao Bing Breakthrough, the Hebei army collapsed across the board.Seeing that the general situation was over, Yuan Shang threw down the soldiers, food, supplies and even seals and festivals, and only took a few soldiers to take advantage of the chaos and escape.

Generals who are determined to die have no greed for life, and now that the commander-in-chief of the army has disappeared, how can soldiers work for such a master?The smoke cleared, and the battlefield was bleak. The majestic Hebei army under Yuan Shao's command was completely gone. There were only a group of terrified wretches left kneeling and begging for a living. lost... Cao Cao immediately descended the mountain, looking at the ruined Yuan Jun camp, his joy was beyond words.After this battle, Yuan Shang's family property was completely lost, let him escape without soldiers and food.Youzhou Yuan Xi has few soldiers, and Bingzhou is far away from the high mountains. Cao Cao doesn't need to care about Yuan Shang anymore, let his elder brother who is regarded as an enemy go and deal with him.

The soldiers searched for the things Yuan Shang left behind, and there were more than a dozen carts of luggage and utensils, including many precious jewels and jade. Cao Cao couldn't help laughing: "Yuan Shao brought a bunch of messy things when he fought at Guandu. Yuan Shang really looks like his father. Pity He hardly understands military affairs, far worse than his father!" Ma Yan and Zhang Wei threw down their weapons, and under the watchful eye of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, they came down to Cao Cao's horse, knelt down on their knees and shouted: "I'm late for surrender, please forgive me!"

"Innocent and meritorious, please hurry up." Cao Cao saw that the two defectors were tall and powerful, and they must be brave men, so he couldn't help but tut his tongue, "Yuan still has warriors like you, but he can't fight hard. Really! Ridiculous and hateful." Ma Yan is a reckless person, and he couldn't help yelling: "I don't want to lie to Mr. Ming, I don't want to work with Yuan Shang for a long time! What the hell is brother vendetta fighting in the nest? When you see the enemy, you know how to run away. This battle is really fucking hot." Damn it, I'm taking refuge in Cao Bandit, so I won't work for him!" He was so busy talking, that he habitually brought out the word "Cao Bandit".

Everyone in Cao Ying immediately drew their swords and turned their faces when they saw him talking like this, but Cao Cao stopped him with a smile: "It's okay, it's okay, I have no kindness to them, so what if I call them a thief? From now on, I will treat Hebei scholars kindly, and they will still Will you take me as a thief? Hahaha..." Zhang Wei is more self-cultivated than Mayan, and knelt down and said, "Ming Gong, please forgive me. The reason why we have come here now is not because of luck, nor because we follow Yuan Shang's obsession. It's because we started out of recklessness and suffered. Yuan Shao was promoted to return to the army to repay the late Lord's kindness! How did you know that Brother Yuan Shang is so unbelievable..." The seven-foot tall man had tears in his eyes when he said this, and Ma Yan was also very melancholy.

Cao Cao thought in his heart——Yuan Benchu, Yuan Benchu, you are indeed my strong enemy Cao, even if you die, there are still so many people who miss you!Despite the failure of Guandu Cangting, if you hadn't died early, I wouldn't have taken Jizhou so easily.To be honest, I didn't completely defeat you at all, but succeeded by bullying your two stupid sons... Thinking of this, Cao Cao felt more and more important how important it is to win the hearts of Hebei, so he quickly put on a gesture of Yuan Shao's old friend : "The old man once fought against eunuchs as officials in the same dynasty as Yuan Benchu, and I know its magnificence. I came here not only to take the land of Hebei back to the court, but also to teach his unfilial sons a lesson!" In fact, this is false It can't be more fake, but it is effective to coax reckless warriors like Ma Zhang.

The two generals stopped their mourning, each took out a brocade box from his bosom, and handed it to Cao Cao respectfully.Xu Chu and Deng Zhan feared that it might be fraudulent, so they took it first and opened it for inspection before showing it to Cao Cao.But see is a gold seal, a copper seal. The golden seal is Yuan Shao's general seal.At that time, Cao Cao established Xudu in favor of the emperor, appointed himself a general, and Yuan Shao was a captain. Send this golden seal.Now it can be said that things are returned to their original owners when people die.Looking at another copper seal, it is also engraved with a tiger pattern, and engraved with eight seal characters "An imperial edict, the seal of the Marquis of Wei Township". It was made by Yuan Shao privately. Playing with this seal made him decide to part ways with him.Presumably, Yuan Shao also showed a rare and flawless jade. It seemed that he intended to engrave it as a jade seal on the day he finished his work, and hold it as a treasure. Where is the dust...

Cao Cao waved his hand and asked Lu Cui to take it for him, and went back to contribute to the court.At this time, there was another burst of laughter, and Zhang Xiu came riding a tall war horse with a solemn expression, and beside him was a group of small soldiers carrying several large objects—golden axe, bai yan and flag.If you lose the golden axe, you will lose the power of life and death, if you lose Baiyan, you will lose the name of setting up an army, and if you lose the flag, what is the majesty of an army commander? In today's battle, Zhang Xiu took the lead in entering the enemy's camp to seize the flag. Cao Cao couldn't help but bowed his hands: "General Zhang has worked hard!"

Zhang Xiu got off his horse and paid homage: "It's all about the majesty of the God of Ming!" Because he had a feud with Cao Cao who killed his son, he fought with all his might, and he didn't dare to take credit for it. Cao Cao raised his thumb repeatedly: "The general is worthy of being a good relative of the old man! The old man wants to invite the imperial court, and then add a thousand households to the general." But Zhang Xiu was quite frightened.He is already a marquis of a thousand households, and if he adds another thousand, it will not be said that Cao Ying's generals are inferior, and no one in the Manchu Dynasty can surpass him except Cao Cao.Zhang Xiu waved his hand and declined: "The general dare not accept..." As he spoke, he took off his pocket and kowtowed.

Guo Jia was on the sidelines, so he hurried over to help him, and took the opportunity to lean into his ear and whispered: "You have enmity with the lord, but the lord gave you a high official and rich salary. This is for the world to see! If you don't accept it, wouldn't you Hinder his reputation of impartiality?" Only then did Zhang Xiu come to his senses, but he was still worried after receiving this generous reward. He didn't want to bring up this matter again, so he turned around and waved his hands: "Little ones, push the lord's enemy here!" Accompanied by a burst of shouting and cursing, the soldiers pushed Chen Lin over.At this moment, he has lost all hope, his hair is disheveled, his arms are tied, a spear is placed on his shoulder, his eyes are staring blankly at the ground, and his steps are staggering like sleepwalking. The previous time he begged for Yuan Shang and Cao Cao did not settle the old score with him. This time he is absolutely doomed. Let's settle the old accounts together.

Cao Cao looked at him with a slight smile: "Chen Kongzhang, let's meet again, is it just as the old man said before?" He had already issued a military order that he must catch Chen Lin alive when he saw Chen Lin. Chen Lin had nothing else to say, but just bowed her head in silence. "Why isn't Yin Kui with you?" Chen Lin whispered: "He died in the chaos." Yin Kui did not receive "preferential treatment" like him, and was slaughtered on the spot when he ran into Cao Bing. "Looking for Yin Kui's body, the loyal ministers must have a good burial!" Cao Cao sneered, but then said, "The living may not be happy, and the dead may not be sad. It may be cheap to die in battle, but it is more painful to live... Hehehe..." A smirk made Chen Lin shudder, not knowing what kind of capital punishment Cao Cao would use to torture herself.He wanted to ask for mercy, but after all, he was a very old man, and he was a guest at He Jin's mansion with someone Cao, if he humbly begged for work, not only would Cao Cao look down on him, but he would even look down on himself.He was anxious, lowered his head and secretly thought about how to deal with it. Sure enough, Cao Cao suddenly changed his face with a sinister smile, and sternly shouted: "Chen Kongzhang! What is the old man's hatred against you? The writing of the article actually scolded my Cao family so badly! What is my father doing? If you don’t explain it to the old man today, I’ll tear you to pieces before the army!” With thousands of cuts to pieces in sight, Chen Lin didn't have time to think about it, she stepped forward and knelt down on the ground: "The matter of the call for words is an arrow on the string and has to be launched." "What did you say?" "The arrow is on the string, I have to shoot!" Chen Lin's answer seemed to be an understatement, but it actually had a lot of meaning.He compared himself with the arrow, the string that controls the arrow is Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao asked him to write a call to action and he could only do so, it was like firing an arrow from a string, but the arrow cannot be controlled by itself. After hearing this, Cao Cao was speechless for a while, and turned his head slightly, only to see Lu Cui, Fan Qin, Liu Zhen, Ruan Yu and others standing behind his horse with hands down.If he realizes something—if it's the other way around, if I want Lu Cui and the others to write an article scolding Yuan Shao, how dare they not write it?Are they not the same as each other?Chen Lin's status is much higher than theirs. When He Jin was in charge, he was the shogun Bo, and he was considered a little famous person. Now it is the time to win the hearts of Hebei, so why should I put him to death?Ma Yan and Zhang Wei are generals, and the soldiers who killed me on the battlefield can be forgiven. Why should it be difficult for a literati who uses a knife and pen as a sword?forget it…… Cao Cao gradually put away his anger: "Let's untie... what an 'arrow must be fired'! Since Yuan Benchu ​​can be your string, why not me? I appoint you as the secretary, and from now on I will be in charge of the documents. The old man wants Whoever you shoot with this arrow, you will shoot for me!" "Thank you Mr. Cao for your magnanimity..." Chen Lin survived death, tears welling in her eyes.The soldiers loosened the ropes for him, and Xun You and Chen Jiao helped each other up—remembering why Xun You and him entered the mansion back then, but Chen Jiao and him were from the same hometown of Guangling, and there was no one in the world who was an official. In the circle, there is a lot of personal affection. At this time, Bian Bing, who was in charge of armaments, came, holding the account book in one hand and calculating chips in the other, and laughed from a long distance: "My lord, we can make a fortune after this battle. Yuan Shang left us all the family wealth." , there are 20,000 sets of armors and hoods alone, as well as countless spears, crossbows, and shields, which are enough for you to equip a few more troops!" Cao Cao was happy but also a little frightened.The army he led was a king's division with a decent reputation in the imperial court, but there had never been so many armored pockets, and many partial divisions were still wrapping their heads with cloth handkerchiefs. The Yuan family was a separate regime, so there were so many excellent weapons. Half of Guandu was lost!Cao Cao had to admit that the strength Yuan Shao had accumulated over the past ten years was beyond his reach.Thinking about this point, I feel that the battle cannot be delayed, so I immediately sent a horse to send an order: "Our army will rest here for one night, and the troops will be temporarily handed over to the old generals of Hebei, such as Zhu Ling, Zhang He, Mayan, Zhang Wei, etc. Tomorrow, we will return to Yecheng to join Cao Hong. .” "Promise!" All the generals took orders in unison, and the resounding voice soared into the sky, Cao Jun's prestige was unmatched by anyone in the world. When Cao Cao returned to the army, he revised his seal to the court, boasting of his achievements: 〖The minister said that the traitor Yuan Shang returned, that is to say, Li Jingrui punished him.Today, the people are still in shock, the trilogy is mourned, and the soldiers are led to flee.The minister Chen Jun was held firm, the Zhu flag was shining brightly, the tigers were thundering, and the flag was dazzled. Hearing the sound, he was discouraged, threw his arms and disarmed, and was frustrated.Shang fled alone on horseback, and gave away the pseudo-axes, one for each of the great generals, and one for each of the Marquis seals of the township of Wei, and nine thousand six hundred and twenty of them. The contradictory bows and halberds are innumerable. 〗 In Cao Cao's view, this seal is no less than the war drum that deterred Yuan Shang, but this time it deterred the emperor Liu Xie...