My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 135: The Three-Party Battle between Yuan, Cao and Lu

Zhuge Liang was arranged by his elder brother, so he had to go back and take a vacation. During the last few days of the twelfth lunar month and the entire first lunar month, he no longer asked about specific government affairs, and at most just listened to the news from the outside world so as not to be out of touch with the information for too long.

If he really has some free time, he will exercise and study the few volumes of biology and agronomy that his elder brother picked out for him.

After the spring of next year, Liu Bei's army will try out new production methods of raising and transplanting rice seedlings in Sheyang and Haixi. At this juncture, Zhuge Liang is willing to learn more about agricultural knowledge and breeding thinking in later generations, which will definitely be beneficial to future work.

Of course, the teaching materials provided by Zhuge Jin could not talk about "evolution" or "genes", but it was possible to provide some simple common sense and thinking about breeding and selection. Zhuge Liang did not need to know the specific internal operating principles, he only needed to know the application level.

Apart from these studies and exercises, the big brother will temporarily coordinate the other important matters.

As for the talents brought from the north, including Lu Yu, and his senior brothers like Gao You, Xu Miao, Cheng Bing, Liu Xi, etc., Liu Bei took out the last period of the twelfth lunar month to treat them with courtesy, find out their talents, and then assign specific tasks to Chen Qun.

After more than a year of experience, Chen Qun has transformed from an organizer of labor service to a higher-level manager. His talent in personnel organization is gradually being discovered, and he can already help Liu Bei share some of the specific human resources coordination.

Liu Xi and Gao You are not suitable for specific work, but only for academic research, so we should provide them with conditions to immerse themselves in research. Cheng Bing is not as good as the other two in academic research, but he is good at teaching and passing on knowledge, so we should share some of the educational work.

Xu Miao is good at organizing poor people to resume production, so let him share some of the work-for-relief work, as well as the resettlement of people who fled from Yuan Shu's occupied areas.

Finally, there were the more than 1,000 people brought back by Zhao Yun, hundreds of whom were captured by the cavalry of Gongsun Zan released by Yuan Shao's army, and nearly 1,000 pirates.
Liu Bei also personally inspected the troops, and then ordered Guan Yu and Zhao Yun to speed up the training, rectify the discipline and morale of the troops, and ensure that they would not fall behind. Those who should be assigned to the cavalry should be assigned to the cavalry, and those who should be assigned to the navy should be assigned to the navy.

After this wave of reinforcements, Liu Bei calculated that the number of people under his command who could serve as cavalry units was close to 4,000, but the actual number of cavalrymen was still a little over 2,000.

From the time when Zhao Yun was brought back last year to Zhuge Liang's subsequent trip to Hebei, he was able to recruit hundreds of experienced cavalry each time. Unfortunately, there were no matching war horses, so he could only use pack horses to form "mounted infantry" to make up the numbers.

This time, the relationship with Yuan Tan was opened up. Yuan Tan allowed Liu Bei's men to have "military passage rights" along the coast of Shandong Peninsula, and also provided transit berthing and supplies for maritime trade.

When the temperature gets warmer next spring, perhaps Mi Zhu can explore this sea route, establish trade with Gongsun Du, the warlord of the Liaodong Peninsula, and use ships to buy war horses.

After Guan Cheng was killed, there were probably still one or two thousand remnant pirates on the chain of Shamen Islands between Shandong and Liaodong. Mi Zhu's first trade might be in danger. At that time, Taishi Ci could be asked to be responsible for opening up the trade route by force.

Taishi Ci was from Donglai and was very familiar with the situation along the coast of Donglai. Moreover, Taishi Ci fled to Liaodong for several years after committing a crime in his early years. He personally traveled the sea route from Shandong Peninsula to Liaodong Peninsula and was very familiar with the situation in Liaodong.

Therefore, it is absolutely professional to let Taishi Ci escort and open up the trade route. After the Lujiang Campaign is over next summer, Taishi Ci will be free and can be deployed.

……

After finishing these trivial things, it is basically almost the end of December.

Liu Bei no longer ordered people around, and the pace of all work in Guangling County slowed down.

However, because it takes time to transmit intelligence, even during the New Year, Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin would still receive some front-line military intelligence from Chendi or Qiaodi from time to time.

It would take about twenty days for information about the battle between Cao's army and Yuan's army in Chenjun to reach Guangling. The battle between Lu Bu's army and Yuan Shu in Qiaodi was relatively fast, reaching Guangling in just over ten days. The time delay was quite obvious.

According to intelligence, in early December, the situation in the battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shu's army changed. Chen County, which had been besieged by Cao Cao for more than two and a half months, finally ran out of food. The morale of Qiao Rui's troops in the city collapsed, and there was no reinforcement from Yuan Shu outside.

On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, Qiao Rui had to try to organize a fairly determined breakout, but he was unfortunately blocked by Cao Cao himself. The two sides engaged in a brutal bloody battle. Qiao Rui's troops suffered heavy casualties and were unable to break out of the conflict. Thousands of the charging soldiers collapsed and surrendered in an organized manner.

Qiao Rui had no choice but to retreat to Chen County, but his army was no longer strong and there was no food. Four days later, the commander of the west gate of Chen County chose to contact Cao's army secretly and was willing to surrender the gate in exchange for Cao Cao's pardon.

Cao Cao agreed very readily. Finally, at dawn on the 13th day of the twelfth lunar month, Cao's army broke into the city with the help of an insider. After a day of fighting, the battle was completely ended.

During the two and a half months of siege, approximately 27,000 to 28,000 Yuan troops were completely wiped out, with nearly 10,000 killed or wounded, thousands of whom fled in the chaos, and the total number of surrendered prisoners exceeding 15,000.

Cao's army suffered casualties and fled, and although the total number was no less than that of Yuan's army, after all, it was the attacking party. However, with the influx of a large number of surrendered soldiers, Cao's army actually recovered in numbers, with a total force of several thousand more, but the quality of the troops declined.

Many of Yuan Shu's troops that surrendered were temporarily mobilized and recruited after exhausting all resources, and their quality was far inferior to that of the defeated Cao troops.

Qiao Rui himself was beheaded by Cao's army in the final chaotic fighting after Chen County was breached. This was almost the same fate that Qiao Rui should have suffered - in the original history, Qiao Rui was beheaded by Cao's army in the "Battle of Qi Yang" in Chen County. Now he was simply killed in a different county, the county seat of Chen County.

After the Battle of Chen County, all of Cao's troops in Chen County moved eastward and continued to besiege Ku County, the last stronghold of Yuan's army in Chen County.

Moreover, a large number of Yuan army prisoners who had just surrendered were conscripted to serve as cannon fodder, fill the moat and destroy the fortifications. He also took the opportunity to shout at Li Feng, the defender of Ku County, telling him that Qiao Rui was dead and Chen County had been broken, and there was no hope for him to defend anymore, hoping to make Li Feng collapse earlier and save some food for both sides.

After all, Cao's army was also very short of military rations. Even though they had taken the lead in implementing military farming around Xudu last year and confiscated 60% of the grain grown by the refugees who returned to their homes as official grain, it was still not enough to withstand the consumption of the siege and stalemate of 50,000 troops from autumn to winter.

Cao Cao also wanted to end the battle as quickly as possible, so he would save as much as possible.

In order to force Li Feng to collapse as soon as possible, Cao Cao even changed his previous practice of surrounding the enemy and slightly opened a gap, pretending to be surrounded on three sides with one side missing. But in fact, Cao's army had already ambushed troops on both sides of the Woshui River east of Ku County. If Li Feng really abandoned the city and broke out from this gap, he would be killed. It was also impossible for Yuan's army to transport military supplies to Ku County through the Woshui River. If a large group of reinforcements and food teams approached, Cao's army would also be mercilessly killed.

Cao Cao would only let Li Feng send a few messengers for help, in order not to alert the enemy, thus making it easier to lure them out of their hole.

Therefore, within a few days, a large number of emergency documents were sent to Yuan Shu, forcing him to continue to exhaust all resources and send reinforcements to the northwest. Even if he could not reinforce Ku County, Yuan Shu had to consider how to consolidate the second line of defense after Chen County was completely changed hands.

The plains in eastern Henan are flat, so the army can only deploy defenses along the key nodes of the main water network. There are no other strategic locations to defend, so naturally a lot of troops are occupied.

……

Cao Cao made a major breakthrough, completely wiped out Qiao Rui and was about to annihilate Li Feng. This news finally stimulated Lu Bu. After discussing with Chen Gong, Lu Bu finally launched a decisive offensive against Yuan Shu between Liang and Qiao.

As mentioned above, Lü Bu sent Yuan Shu's marriage envoy Han Yin to Xudu for execution at the end of November. However, Lü Bu did not publicize it at the time, he just sent the person to Xudu secretly.

After Cao Cao had executed all the people, it would have been at least the middle of the twelfth lunar month for the news to reach Yuan Shu. If Yuan Shu was angry and executed Qin Yilu as a retaliation, it would have probably been the end of the twelfth lunar month.

Of course, Lu Bu kept such a low profile in order to gain an advantage in launching a surprise attack when he fell out with Yuan Shu.

Therefore, when he heard that Cao Cao had killed Qiao Rui, causing the Yuan army in Chenjun to be unable to withstand the pressure and possibly causing Yuan Shu to shift more troops to the western front, he immediately seized this last time difference and launched a sneak attack on Yuan Shu's Qiao.

As usual, Gao Shun was responsible for the attack first. Yuan's army did not expect that Lu Bu would be caught off guard and they were captured in two or three counties with insufficient troops, such as Ling County and Qi County.

On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, an urgent report arrived in Shouchun by horse. Yuan Shu was furious when he heard the news. From Yuan Shu's perspective, he almost received the news that Lu Bu suddenly broke the alliance and attacked Qiao, and then he also received the news that Han Yin was sent to Xu Du by Lu Bu to be executed.

Within a day or two, Yuan Shu was so furious at Lu Bu's betrayal that he vomited blood and fainted. Fortunately, he was rescued by a medical officer.

Yuan Shu was a man who could not bear to lose. After waking up, he did not care about defending against Cao Cao and sending more troops to the rear of Ku County to set up a second line of defense. He even ignored the fact that after Cao Cao broke through Chen County, he could go south to attack the Yuan family's old nest, Runan County.

Yuan Shu simply lost all his mind and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Bring all the newly recruited soldiers from Runan and Huainan counties, as well as all the soldiers who can be mobilized for field battles, to Qiao. I will personally lead the army to fight Lu Bu to the death! I swear to kill this unjust thief to thank the world!"

This time, Yuan Shu's civil servants were of one mind. Whether it was the resourceful Yan Xiang or the corrupt and despicable Yang Hong, they all advised against it in unison:
"Your Majesty, this is not possible! Although Lu Bu is a hateful villain, he has no long-term ambitions. He just wants to take advantage of the situation to make a quick buck. Your Majesty, don't you know him? The real threat is Cao Cao, or even Liu Bei.

If the troops from Runan are also withdrawn to reinforce other places, after Cao's army captures Ku County, if they do not move eastward but turn south, your majesty's ancestral home will be in danger! And if the troops from Huainan are withdrawn, who will defend this important place in the capital!"

Yuan Shu insisted, "Never mind! Cao Cao is at least my rival, and it's not shameful to lose to him. What kind of a bastard is Lu Bu! How can such a bastard take advantage of me? I swear to kill this thief! I would rather leave Runan empty than kill Lu Bu with all my strength! As for the capital being empty, I will withdraw the troops from Lujiang to the north to replace them!"

Yan Xiang and Yang Hong's persuasion was in vain, and the generals under them could only carry out the imperial edict. Li Feng of Ku County was forgotten about, and no one tried to rescue him again. They just thought he was given to Cao Cao for free.

Finally, Yuan Shu did not forget to add an explanation, asking the Grand Herald (the person in charge of diplomatic affairs at the court) to immediately go to the post station to capture Lü Bu's envoy Qin Yiluo, and send him to the downtown area of Shouchun to be beheaded in public, in order to vent his hatred for Lü Bu's execution of the envoy.

This insignificant change did bring about a butterfly effect - because Qin Yilu died two years earlier than the same period in history, he and his wife Du Shi were unable to give birth to a son, Qin Lang. Qin Lang thus completely disappeared from history.

……

But you know what, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Although Yuan Shu was defeated several times in a row, he still occupied a large area of fertile land. Yuzhou originally had a dense population, and he could still quickly mobilize a wave of troops by exhausting all the resources.

This time, Lu Bu just came to launch a sneak attack to gain a small advantage. He wanted to take advantage of the fact that Cao Cao was holding off the main force of Yuan's army and make some money.

In addition, Lu Bu himself was fickle, so he was also suspicious of whether others would be fickle. Even though he had already surrendered to the imperial court, he still had to station heavy troops in Suiyang, the core of Liang County, for fear that Cao Cao would turn against him and attack him after all his main forces moved south.

Due to various factors, the total number of troops Lu Bu used to ambush Yuan Shu was not large, only more than 20,000 people.

Unexpectedly, after just conquering a few counties, Yuan Shu reacted so violently that he ignored Cao Cao and Liu Bei and marched north with all his troops to fight for his life.

A decisive field battle broke out between the two sides around Qiao County. Lu Bu's army had less than 30% of Yuan's army, and most of them were local soldiers from Xuzhou, so the quality of their troops was not obvious.

Yuan's army, because they had been holding back their breath, did a good job of revenge mobilization before the war, and had done a good job of propaganda on Lü Bu's betrayal, which boosted their morale. After a fierce battle, they actually defeated Lü Bu, and Lü Bu's 20,000 Xuzhou troops were killed by more than half, so he could only retreat to Suiyang with his trusted veterans.

Yuan Shu's army actually suffered more casualties than Lu Bu's, and many soldiers fled in this decisive battle, but after all, they swarmed forward and won.

This could be regarded as a chance for Yuan Shu to regain his prestige, telling the world that he was in such a mess only because he was beaten up by the princes. If he ignored everything and focused on fighting to the death with one of them, no prince would be sure of defeating him, Yuan Shu!
Cao Cao took advantage of Yuan Shu's full efforts to avenge Lu Bu and captured Ku County. Li Feng finally collapsed and surrendered. After clearing the entire territory of Chen County, Cao Cao took advantage of Yuan Shu's restlessness and went south to infiltrate Runan.

Cao's army set out from Yingchuan County where Xu Du was located, went down along the Ru River, captured Dingying, and besieged Shangcai, fighting brilliantly - but all this happened after the first month of the third year of Jian'an.

(End of this chapter)