The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 7: Among the Danyang generals, who can compete for merit? (Please read on!)
Twenty miles away from Tan County is Cao Bao’s camp.

"The news is true. Many counties in Yanzhou responded to Chen Gong and Zhang Miao and raised their troops to rebel."

"Cao Cao has already dispatched his army to quell the rebellion!"

In the camp, Xu Dan said to the generals with excitement.

He was Tao Qian's General of the Central Army and also a general of the Danyang faction, serving under Cao Bao.

Cao Bao, who was sitting in the center of the seat, was stroking his beard, and was surprised and happy about the news.

Different from the wretched and ugly image in ordinary Three Kingdoms picture books or various Three Kingdoms games, Cao Bao is a handsome middle-aged man with a very elegant appearance.

Early this morning, Liu Bei sent someone to inform him of the news of the rebellion in Yanzhou.

Cao Bao did not dare to believe it, and hurriedly sent people to contact his intelligence network in Yanzhou, while secretly monitoring the movements of Cao's army.

As expected, after Cao Cao learned of the incident in Yanzhou, he decisively withdrew his troops.

"General, now is a godsend opportunity. We have been defeated repeatedly by Cao Cao since we started our army."

"Lord Tao is already quite disappointed with us. Now is the perfect time to take advantage of Cao Cao's withdrawal and attack him without warning. We will surely win a great victory."

Xu Dan suggested excitedly from the sidelines.

The soldiers have been holding a grudge these days, just waiting for this day to come.

Cao Bao frowned, a little hesitant:
"Cao Cao is good at using troops. If he had been prepared, our army would have been defeated if we had attacked him rashly, which would have dampened our morale."

Xu Dan immediately said anxiously:

"The military situation in Yanzhou is extremely urgent. If Yanzhou is lost, Cao Cao will be homeless!"

"Cao Cao is only concerned with resolving the emergency in Yanzhou, so how can he take care of us?"

"Our Danyang soldiers are all good fighters. We were outnumbered the day before yesterday and were defeated by Cao Cao. Now we are taking advantage of Cao Cao's unpreparedness and attacking him from behind. How can we not win?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a guard came in and bowed:

"General, Zhang Sima and his men heard that Cao's army had retreated, and they came to ask for a meeting!"

"Let them in!" Cao Bao said in a deep voice after hearing the guard's message.

Soon, more than twenty middle and low-level officials, led by Sima Zhangkou, came into the tent.

They are all Danyang generals and core figures of the Danyang faction.

"General Cao, now all the counties in Yanzhou are in rebellion. Cao Cao cannot take care of both ends. If he withdraws his troops, he will be vulnerable."

"If we attack now, we will surely win a great victory!"

"General Cao, please do not hesitate and make a quick decision!"

Zhang Kuang was the most excited.

"Cao's army has been plundering Xuzhou and abusing the people for a long time. The people of Xuzhou hate them deeply."

"Now Mr. Tao is old and no longer able to control the overall situation in Xuzhou. Chen Gui, Chen Deng and his son, as well as Mi Zhu and others, all favor Liu Bei."

"They have been whispering in Tao Gong's ear many times. Tao Gong divided the Danyang troops with Liu Bei. This is exactly what they did."

"If this continues for a long time, it will not be a good thing for our Danyang Sect."

"I hope General Cao will think about it!"

Zhang Kuang's views represent the views of all Danyang generals.

All the high-ranking officers of the Danyang Army were Tao Qian's direct generals and were also Tao Qian's reliance.

Now that Tao Qian was old and had no intention of passing Xuzhou to his descendants, he instead favored Liu Bei.

Liu Bei was a newcomer from the north, so the generals in Danyang naturally did not recognize him.

The Danyang factions wanted to quickly win a battle to regain Tao Qian's trust and win prestige.

If something really happened to Tao Qian, they could use their military achievements to support Tao Qian's son to succeed the throne.

Both of Tao Qian's sons were rather mediocre and weak. Once they inherited Xuzhou, the real power would naturally be in the hands of their Danyang faction.

Therefore, all the generals in Danyang requested to fight, hoping that Cao Bao would seize this opportunity and not be overtaken by Liu Bei.

Liu Bei was the biggest political enemy of the Danyang faction. When he came to Xuzhou to help fight Cao Cao, Tao Qian allocated 4,000 Danyang soldiers to him.

The strength of the Danyang faction was severely weakened.

Tao Qian, this old man, has bad intentions and intends to make the two factions fight against each other and check and balance each other.

But the Danyang generals were helpless. They could not just sit there and wait for death. They had to fight back. Before Cao Bao could say anything, another guard arrived in a hurry.

"Report——"

"General, Liu Bei's army is heading towards Pengcheng."

what! ?

When they heard the news, everyone's faces changed.

"Pengcheng is the direction where Cao Cao will withdraw his troops. Liu Bei must be going after Cao Cao!"

After hearing the news, Cao Bao, who had originally been a little hesitant, became furious.

He drew his sword and in a rage, he cut the chair in front of him in half.

"Big-eared thief, how dare you compete with me for credit!"

Cao Bao was now certain that Liu Bei was determined to compete with him for power!

In name, Liu Bei came from Qingzhou to help Tao Qian resist Cao's army.

Now Cao Cao has already withdrawn his troops, but you are still not leaving and are desperately chasing him. Aren’t you just trying to gain merit and reputation?

It seems that this big-eared thief intends to stay in Xuzhou permanently.

He really doesn't take our Danyang School seriously.

Thinking of this, Cao Bao became even more angry and immediately ordered:

"Generals, please stand up and return to your camps. When Cao Cao's army has completely retreated, we will pursue them and we will surely succeed!"

"Here!"

The generals and soldiers in the big tent were filled with heroic spirit and responded in unison, full of an indomitable momentum.

The words are divided into two parts.

Cao's army was marching in an orderly manner on the official road in Xuzhou, and all they saw along the way were bones.

But Cao Cao, who was walking at the front of the team, had no time to pay attention to what was happening in front of him. He felt very heavy.

It was not because a rebellion broke out in Yanzhou, but because the person who led the rebellion in Yanzhou was actually his good friend Zhang Miao, to whom he had entrusted his wife and son!
When Cao Cao first conquered Xuzhou, Tao was strong and Cao was weak, and Cao Cao had no confidence that he could defeat Tao Qian.

He entrusted his wife and children to Zhang Miao and said to them, "If I don't come back, you can go to Zhang Miao for help."

This trust in Zhang Miao fully demonstrates the depth of the friendship between Cao Cao and Zhang Miao.

Cao Cao has been racking his brains these days but has not been able to figure out why Zhang Miao betrayed him.

You know, for Zhang Miao, he disobeyed his elder brother Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao asked him to kill Zhang Miao, but he did not do it even though it would offend Yuan Shao.

"...Meng Zhuo Meng Zhuo, why did you betray me?"

Cao Cao murmured, puzzled.

It's funny that he once said to Chen Gong, "I would rather let others down than be let down by others."

That is, I can let others down, but others cannot let me down.

But he didn't expect that when he was on an expedition in Xuzhou, the person who stabbed him in the back was actually his closest friend.

This really broke Cao Cao's heart...

"Don't worry, Lord Cao. My army will march out today and will be back before Lu Bu takes Yanzhou."

The person who spoke was Cao Ren, Cao Cao's cousin and also Cao Cao's favorite general.

Cao Cao sighed when he heard this:

"I am not worried about the emergency in Yanzhou, but I am thinking about Meng Zhuo's rebellion against me."

Cao Ren snorted:
"Lord Cao treated Zhang Miao well, but this fellow harbored evil intentions. When I return to Yanzhou, I will exterminate his entire clan to avenge my hatred!"

As he was speaking, another man urged his horse to come in front of Cao Cao.

This person was not a military general, but a scholar.

　Please read it! Please read it! Please read it! Please read it! Please read it! Please read it! Please read it! Please read it! Please read it! Please read it! Please read it! Please read it!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)