Overlord!

Chapter 276: Going to Attack Xuzhou
The situation in Beihai was just as Zhang Fei said. The Jiangdong army was like a broken bamboo, marching straight into Ju County. Yin Li, the defender of Ju County, was shocked and fled because of Li Dian's defeat.

Immediately, countless heroes raised flags in various counties in Beihai, and Jiangdong's army easily captured the eastern half of Qingzhou.

Mainly in the Qingzhou area, Cao Jun did not have much defense, let alone consolidate the people's hearts.Not long after Zang Ba broke through Qingzhou, he was forced to compete with the Hebei army in the Yellow River area.Jiangdong's army covered its rear and attacked the empty area, which was like a long sword cutting through bamboo.

The situation in Qingzhou can also be regarded as a preview and abbreviation of the general trend of the world. The three families of Yuan, Cao and Sun are competing. If they are not prepared in the slightest, they will be attacked by the other party.

After hearing the news that Sun Ce had sent troops to Qingzhou, Cao Cao, who was marching to Dong'a, was furious and smashed the cups and chopsticks heavily on the table!

"Sun Ce is a real bastard and a mad dog!"

His tone was full of doubts, and he asked the general Cheng Yu beside him: "Gu is very puzzled! It is Yuan Shaoxiong who controls the four states, Ying Yang Heshuo, and is more powerful. Sun Ce should join forces with Gu to defeat Hebei together! Gu Yi I sent envoys to appease him and want to be friendly with him, and the alliance is against Yuan Shao. Why is he always like a mad dog, biting at us?"

Dong'a is the hometown of Cheng Yu, a famous scholar in Yanzhou.

General Cao Ying, who oversaw affairs in Yanzhou for Cao Cao, was indeed a ruthless person.

He was a famous scholar in Dong'a, so he was deeply respected by the local people. During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Prime Minister of Dong'a County, Du, rose up to respond and even burned down the warehouses in the county.The county magistrate fled across the city, and the officials and people fled eastward to Quqiu Mountain, carrying the old and the young.

At this time, Cheng Yu stood up and said that Wang Du had captured the city but could not settle it, and his power could be measured.He just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to plunder property, and had no ambition to build strong armor and strong soldiers to attack and defend.Why don't we return to the city one after another to defend it?Then, with a strong city and thick walls, the king's rule is bound to be defeated.

The officials and others refused to comply, so Dong'a's elders and wealthy families gathered around him and went with him to recapture the county.Later, Wang Du came to attack the city, and Cheng Yu led his officials and people to open the city gate and defeat it, and Dong'a was saved.

Since then, Cheng Yu has been well-known in the countryside and has a harmonious relationship with the people.

At that time, the governor of Yanzhou summoned Cheng Yu many times, but Cheng Yu refused.

As a result, Cao Cao served as the governor of Yanzhou and summoned Cheng Yu, who agreed immediately.

When Cheng Yu was about to leave, his villagers came to joke with him happily and asked him why Cheng Yu was so different from before and after.

In the end, Cheng Yu also said goodbye to the villagers with a smile without explanation.

But it was such a famous person who had a close relationship with Dong'a. When Cao Cao was short of food, Cheng Yu personally led his army to attack his county and provided him with three days of food. He also slaughtered a large number of people and mixed them with human breasts.

This cruelty is simply terrifying to ordinary people.

That's his hometown friend, the person closest to him.As a result, he personally led troops to plunder and massacre, so Cao Cao respected and feared him.

This general, who was nominally the most important general under Cao Cao and had long been in charge of Yanzhou affairs, only had [-] elite troops.

So much so that he had to unite a group of bandits and desperadoes from the mountains and swamps, with thousands of people, in order to protect Dong'a.

This is the forefront of Cao's army. It is located in Dong'a County. On the west side of the county and adjacent to the Yellow River is the famous Cangting.

The armies of Yuan and Cao both gathered heavily here. It was an important crossing of the Yellow River, with Pingyang and Dongwuyang to the north, and Dong'a and Fan counties to the south.

It can be said that if the Hebei army wins the Battle of Cangting, it can penetrate southward into the hinterland of Yanzhou and divide Yanzhou and Yuzhou into two.At that time, the land of Shandong will no longer be owned by Cao Cao.

In the southwest, Yuzhou's Yima Pingchuan is where Hebei's Wuhuan Tuqi rode.

Both Cao Cao and Cheng Yu saw this very clearly, so Cao Cao personally led more troops here and paid attention to the situation in Qingzhou.

Regarding Cao Cao's doubts, Cheng Yu said: "Since the Ling Chi of the Han Dynasty, heroes from all over the world have risen up. Since the annexation, the only ones who can compete in the Central Plains are the general, Yuan Shao, and Sun Ce."

"However, Yuan Shaotu wanted to imitate Zhou Gong's subordinates, but he didn't know the opportunity to employ people. He is broad but constant, good at planning but seldom decisive. If he is persistent, he will have no power, and if he is little decisive, he will lose his future. Although he is strong now, he will not be able to achieve great achievements."

"This trend is unanimously recognized by the world's heroes. The general has defeated Yuan Shaoyuan. Sun Ce is worried about this, so he naturally wants to send troops to cover up the general's rear."

After saying that, Cheng Yu said with relief: "However, Sun Ce thought he was proud of his victory in Qingzhou, but he did not know that he lost his momentum because of it. The so-called never forgetting the past is the guide of the future. If Qingzhou is attacked in front, then we, Yan and Yu, will All the generals in the state must strictly guard the city to prevent them from attacking me. Sun Ce's loss this time can be said to be a small one."

This was actually Cheng Yu's complete words of relief. Regardless of whether Zhuge Liang attacked Qingzhou or not, the Jiangbei Expedition was already a foregone conclusion.No matter what happens, there will be large-scale battles on the Cai, Ru, Jing, Xiang, Peng, and Pei fronts. Without the Battle of Qingzhou, would the generals in these places not be able to defend themselves?

However, after hearing Cheng Yu's words, Cao Cao finally felt comforted and asked angrily: "Are we going to let Sun Ce come up and bite us like a mad dog?"

Although Sun Ce's army has not caused any substantial damage to Cao Cao's inner circle so far, both Xuzhou and Qingzhou are marginal areas newly occupied by Cao Cao's army.

To be precise, the whole world knew that Sun Ce was determined to make the Northern Expedition, but so far, Sun Ce still had not taken the initiative to attack Cao Cao on a large scale.Instead, Cao Cao mobilized his troops and invaded Huainan.

In the eyes of ordinary people, there is not much direction in this battle.It can only be seen that since Cao Cao gained the Central Plains, he decided to expand to Huainan. However, he lost his army in a battle with Sun Ce, so he gave up his intention to expand Huainan.

In fact, this is the norm. Since the end of the Han Dynasty, these princes have been conquering the east and west, without much long-term plan.

The same goes for Cao Cao. If Xun Yu hadn't persuaded him, he would have conquered the east once and the south again.When Yanzhou was still undecided, he heard that Liu Bei had captured Xuzhou, so he wanted to abandon Lu Bu and fight against Liu Bei.When Xuzhou was not at peace, he also turned around and attacked Zhang Xiu.

To sum up, there was great chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, and heroes and warriors arose together.From Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, and Yuan, to the disciples of Han, Ma, Zhang Yang, and Liu Biao, as well as the prefectures and counties, there were more than ten thousand people, and they were all powerful, and they all claimed that the ancestors of the Han Dynasty could heel, and Huan and Wen Yimai.

But everyone has the desire to unite the world, but wisdom cannot help.

In fact, Cao Cao was not any stronger than these people, otherwise he would not have lost countless battles, but he had an advantage that these princes could never compare with, that is, Cao Cao could accept advice with an open mind and listen carefully to the opinions of his advisers.

Therefore, his wisdom and planning are far superior to those of Mai Lun and others, and are incomparable to other princes.

Regarding Cao Cao's complaints, Cheng Yu said: "The so-called dogs fight against human power. Now Jiangdong is so unscrupulous that the general has no time to compete with those who rely on him. If the general really gathers a large army and marches eastward, and wants to use his staff to beat the dogs, he will not dare to fight. Life and death are bound to retreat.”

Cao Cao nodded and said: "Now that the three families are fighting, Sun Ce must be worried about the snipe and the clam fighting, and the fisherman will benefit."

"But do we really want to raise a large army to attack Xuzhou?"

Although he always called Jiang Dong a mad dog, he also lamented that it was hard to compete with him!
He had just fought a defeat in Huainan, and the morale and morale of his main force had not yet been restored. Otherwise, he would not have sent all the troops from the vassal town to Qingzhou.

You must know that the loyalty of any feudal town is relatively worrying!

These people are just using their power to attach themselves to them. When they are safe, ants gather, and when they are poor, the birds scatter.

When the army is defeated, these people will disintegrate and disperse.If you win, your power will grow and your tail will be too big to lose.

If not, Cao Cao would not want to reuse these people at all.

Doesn't he, Cao Cao, want to make laws and cut down the feudal vassals?

It’s not that I don’t want to, but I really can’t.

In this case, Cao Cao's situation was not much better than that of Sun Ce, and the size of the army he could mobilize was not large.

At least another battle with Sun Ce in Xuzhou is far from enough.Cheng Yu said: "It is a taboo for politics to change orders at night. Yuan Shao was lucky enough to use the hero's plan. He faked the power of the soldiers and the people. He reaped the strength of the huge sea in the east, lifted the entire Jin Dynasty in the west, blocked the Baiqu Yellow River in the south, and had strong strength in the north. A bow and a horse, two thousand miles away, and hundreds of thousands of them, can be said to be majestic. However, those who are underestimated by the world's heroes are those who have many tricks and few important points, and are fond of making plans without making any decisions."

"How can the general learn from this? Sun Ce cannot be eliminated suddenly, so Xun Jun said that he should first defeat Yuan Shao, capture the river in the north, and then block Sun Ce in the south, using the power of the north to conquer the poverty in the south."

"We are located in the Central Plains and are attacked from the north and the south. If the trend is repeated, our power will be exhausted. We must firmly pursue this strategy, guard against Sun Ce, and attack Yuan Shao."

In fact, this policy was set by Xun Yu when Cao Cao first captured Huaibei.

At that time, while Cao Cao sent envoys to make good relations with Jiangdong, he built city walls, built defense lines, and increased troops to garrison in the Cai, Ru, Xu, and Huai areas.

According to Zhang Zhaozhi's assertion, Cao Cao's best strategy is to deepen his roots and strengthen his foundation, so as to win the hearts of the people, recuperate and recuperate, and build up his men and horses.

If the power in the Central Plains is stabilized and the four sides are impregnable, then any large army will have difficulty attacking it, and it will have to attack the city and demolish the stronghold all the way.

Then Cao Cao attacked Yuan Shao with all his strength, first defeating the powerful enemy and then taking Hebei.With the strength of the entire north and the power south of the Huaihe River, the world can be settled.

However, Cao Cao was certain that Sun Ce would not be able to befriend him and would definitely take advantage of the situation to attack him.

So he attacked Huainan in advance, intending to take advantage of Sun Ce's unstable foothold in Huainan and defeat Sun Ce so that Sun Ce would not dare to go north for several years.

Completely eliminate the possibility that Sun Ce would send troops to attack Xu County where he ruled during his decisive battle with Yuan Shao in Hebei.

In fact, it cannot be said that he was wrong.

It is simply fanciful to expect that Jiangdong will not send troops to cover up his rear.

As the lord of Jiangdong, it is an open secret that Sun Ce reorganized his army, hoarded food and grass, and prepared for the Northern Expedition.

As long as Cao Cao's main force of [-] to [-] troops marches toward the Yellow River, his rear will be empty.

Then Sun Ce will definitely send out heavy troops to attack the counties he governs.

A traitor like Cao Cao refused to be controlled by others and started a battle in Huainan in advance with the intention of severely defeating Sun Ce. There is nothing wrong with the strategy.

I can only blame him for this battle. He really underestimated the southeast, thinking that Jiangdong was poor and Sun Ce was young and not a hero.

He was only regarded as an ordinary southeastern separatist prince, similar to Liu Biao, Liu Yao, and Liu Zhang.

As a result, he was severely defeated by many famous military generals such as Zhang Liao, Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu, Zhang Fei, etc. The generals on his left and right were completely defeated by Jiangdong. Even though he had the talents of Sun and Wu, he was good at using troops and could change everything, he could not compete with them. When the enemy engaged, they were cut off from food routes and forced to retreat.

In the first battle, more than [-] men were lost, as well as a large amount of baggage, carriages and horses. The advantage of many years of rest and recuperation was wiped out in one fell swoop.

In fact, the entire Cao camp could no longer withstand the second major defeat. If it lost another 2, or even 3 people, more than half of Cao's army's elite soldiers would be lost.

In today's era of great strife, he has lost fifty to sixty thousand troops, and he has to rest and recuperate for three to four years, which is enough for Sun Ce and Yuan Shao to completely destroy him.

Obviously, in this case, it is impossible to fight Xuzhou.

But since Cheng Yu said this, Cao Cao quickly reacted and asked, "Do you plan to attack the east and attack the west?"

Cheng Yu nodded and said: "Now our troops are too small to defeat Hebei, so we need to divide our forces. If the general intends to attack Xuzhou, Qingzhou will have to take it lightly. Yuan Shao is unclear about the people he employs. Yan Liang, Wen Chou, etc. are all brave men. However, Yuan Shao failed If you consider him a general, you can defeat him in one battle. Now the general personally attacks Le'an with a light force to cover up his unpreparedness, and Yan Liang can be captured!"

Cao Cao was immediately overjoyed and said, "How can I worry about the uncertainty of the world when I have your honor alone?"

There are [-] people in Yan Liang's army. If Yan Liang is beheaded and his troops are destroyed, even if only a few thousand people are beheaded, it will be enough to shock Yuan Ying!
The [-]-strong army was defeated, and Yuan Shaobi suffered a huge loss of face. Because of his arrogance, he was afraid that he would alienate his subordinates and advisers.

Cao Cao never thought that Yuan Shaozhi was much more talented than Cao Mengde.Because of the power struggle, Hebei was only occupied.

If Yuan Shao can use the tactics of counselors, he will still be a powerful enemy, and it will be difficult to deal with it with clever tactics.

After all, Tian Feng, Ju Shou and others are truly the heroes of Hebei.

Emperor Gaozu was able to conquer the entire territory of the Han Dynasty with the talents of Peixian County.

Sun Ce had to use the outstanding talents from the three counties of Jiangdong to divide the world.

And if Yuan Shao can use the talents and wisdom of the entire Hebei Province, it will be difficult for Cao Cao to resist him.

But Yuan Benchu ​​could gather people but couldn't employ them, so the situation was completely different.

So Cao Cao personally sent five thousand elite soldiers from Dong'a to the east.

The four states of Qing, Xu, Yan, and Henan are really close to each other.

These four states are called four places, but the counties and counties are densely covered and interconnected. Dong'a is called the land of Yanzhou, but crossing one county to the east leads to the Kingdom of Jibei, and crossing another county leads to the Kingdom of Jinan. Jinan is the boundary of Qingzhou.

When Cao Cao served as the prime minister of Jinan, he abolished obscene sacrifices in the country and won the hearts of the people of Qingzhou.

Therefore, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban bandits were willing to surrender to Cao Cao and only respected him from beginning to end.After Cao Cao's death, the Qingzhou Army dispersed on its own without waiting for orders from the central government.

Cao Pi couldn't even blame him, but ordered the states and counties to properly arrange his return.

The common people are not unintentional, and the good governance they once had has been left to Cao Cao for decades.

And the evil deeds in the past have an impact on the situation all the time.

Yuan Tan and Tian Kai controlled the people in Qingzhou, which made Qingzhou scholars and people deeply hate them.

Cao Jun arrived suddenly and Yuan Jun was caught off guard.

This is the most elite [-] troops under Cao Cao's command, which is equivalent to Jiangdong's uniformed Dragon Bird Cavalry and Xie Fan Army.

Historically, Cao Cao led these [-] elite troops to defeat Chunyu Qiong's Wuchao, which was heavily guarded by tens of thousands of troops, as well as Yuan's troops who came for reinforcements.

These people didn't drink. They were the five thousand elites who lost to Cao Cao in the field.

Now Cao's army suddenly arrived and cooperated with Zang Ba and Sun Guan's troops to cover up and attack Yan Liang.

Yan Liang, who was unprepared, lost more than thirty camps in one day.

Yuan's army did not expect that the main force of Cao's army would suddenly attack. The troops had no time to gather, and the defense line collapsed. They retreated hastily, falling into the river and causing countless casualties.

(End of this chapter)