My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 409: Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi both surrendered, Cao Cao returned to meet Liu Bei

Liu Bei's army successfully captured Yiyang and eliminated Cao's last stronghold in Huainan.

Over the next ten days, Liu Bei's army naturally took advantage of the situation to expand their victory and wiped out the last few small counties of Cao's army in Huainan one by one.

With Li Tong's death in battle, other counties failed to organize effective resistance. Xinxi, Weixian, Xiyang and Xinyang counties were captured by Liu Bei's army at an average rate of one every three or four days.

Li Tong's deputy, Zhao Yan, the governor of Runan, temporarily took over the job of prefect, but Zhao Yan was not a military commander and had no determination to fight to the death. In the end, he only put up a little resistance near Xinyang, and fled before Liu Bei's main force arrived to complete the siege, retreating to Langling County in Huaibei, thus escaping with his life.

Before serving as the county magistrate, Zhao Yan had served as the county magistrate in Langling County for many years. He was a local boss there and had a solid grasp of the area, and the people all obeyed his orders.

During the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao sent people back to his hometown in Runan to encourage the locals to rebel against Cao. Later, Liu Pi and Gong Du responded, but Langling County remained under the command of Zhao Yan. Therefore, it would be difficult for Liu Bei to expand his victory this time.

In addition to the direction of Xu Du, Xun Yu heard that most of Runan had been lost and all the counties in Huainan had fallen, so he quickly drew out a part of the reserve troops that he had squeezed out with great difficulty to fill the gap.

Yu Jin was also urgently transferred from Xiahou Dun's subordinates in Nanyang to plug the leak. After Yu Jin set up a new defense line in Langling, Ancheng and Xincai in Huaibei, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang tried several times but failed to break through, so they finally gave up.

Zhuge Liang suggested: "It will take time to defeat the enemy. There are many rumors that the battle in Hebei has ended. The main force of Cao Cao will definitely come back to support. This year's opportunity to fight is over. It will be a relief to continue northward along the Ru River from Runan, but if we go deep into the enemy's territory alone, we will definitely suffer setbacks.

After crossing the Huai River, the land is flat and there is no possibility of gradual erosion or steady defense. In the north, if the two armies fight, the winner will gain all the land and the loser will have no place to stand. It is better to wait until we are sure of inflicting heavy damage on Cao's main force before we make plans. "

Liu Bei also knew this truth. He just felt a little regretful because he had won on both the eastern and western fronts this year, and his ambition had expanded a little. After listening to the advice, he just sighed and said, "Before Cao Cao arrives, what else can I do in this last little time?"

Zhuge Liang thought about it and sincerely advised: "Even if we have to do something, we should not focus on fighting for land. Before we are sure of a decisive victory over Cao's main force, the plains north of the Huai River cannot be taken. With this manpower and energy, it is better to think about how to weaken the enemy's combat power and relocate the people when retreating."

Zhuge Liang's keen judgment, in the words of later generations, is "If you save the people and lose the land, both the people and the land will be saved. If you save the land and lose the people, both the people and the land will be lost."

The plains in Huaibei cannot hold on to the land. If they really want to take it all, they can only use their brains to recruit people in the final stage, such as relocating people from several counties in Huaibei along the river to Huainan.

Liu Bei accepted this suggestion and no longer worried about land, and the situation became clear.

Since the final stage is only to weaken the enemy's manpower, there is no need to worry about the Huaibei part of Runan.

After expanding the territory on the east and west fronts, Liu Bei's army had already penetrated deep enough on both wings and was about to form a salient. It was not cost-effective to continue to weaken the enemy's manpower at the tip of the salient.

Since we are attacking people instead of land, we should gather our forces and return to the center line to weaken the Fuli direction guarded by Cao Ren himself. We should weaken as much as we can until Cao Cao himself comes back, and then we will pack up and return to Huainan.

Since Gan Ning was injured and needed to recuperate, Liu Bei asked Gan Ning to take part of the exhausted troops who needed to rest and return to Shouchun and Yicheng in the middle. After these troops had a short rest, they could support Zhao Yun nearby and help him gain some advantages in the middle.

A part of the navy was left behind as the river defense force in the western section of the Huai River, and together with the other infantry troops remaining in the area, they were temporarily handed over to Wei Yan for command.

Wei Yan had been promoted to captain on the spot, but it was just a salary level at the time and did not include a specific position.

This time, Liu Bei took the opportunity to give Wei Yan a formal position and assigned him to serve as the Commandant of Runan, temporarily responsible for the defense of the Huainan part of Runan County to prevent a counterattack by Cao's army after he left.

(Note: Liu Bei's army did not completely seize the entire Runan County. Runan County was too large. There were still some counties north of the Huai River, which were all in the hands of Zhao Yan and Yu Jin, namely Langling, Ancheng, Xincai, etc. mentioned above)
……

As the Huainan war came to an end, it was the end of October of that year.

In the Hebei direction, after more than three months of flooding and siege, Yecheng was finally captured.

On October 20th, Wei County had the first heavy snow of the year.

Two days later, the snow stopped and there were continuous sunny days.

Cao Cao, who was personally in charge of the battlefield in Yecheng, observed the weather and felt that the winter dry season of the Zhang River was about to come.

After all, Cao Cao was also a top commander who had been leading the army for more than 20 years. Although he was not as knowledgeable about astronomy and geography as Zhuge Liang, he could still roughly predict the weather trend based on his experience over the years.

Originally, before the Battle of Red Cliffs in history, didn't he also say the classic line "Yin is born at the summer solstice, Yang is born at the winter solstice, how can the number of these two cycles be determined?", warning Cheng Yu not to make a fuss about such a low-probability event as "a sudden rise of southeast wind".

He decided to make a final desperate attempt. After the flood receded, he launched a general attack, fighting to the death to break the city and kill Yuan Shang and Shen Pei at all costs.

Before he finally took action, he also mentioned his plan to Xun You and Jia Xu. The two counselors also agreed with it and rarely did not raise any opinions.

Xun You made a pertinent comment: "Midwinter is approaching. After the heavy snow has cleared up, the water level of the Zhang River will surely drop. This is enough for a water attack. Even if the city walls have not been completely softened or collapsed, the continuous flooding for more than three months will surely cause great damage to the city's warehouses. In addition, people have to cook with hanging pots, and the plague is rampant. There will be many deaths, and the survivors will not be able to defend the city. This fierce attack will surely break the city."

Since everyone had reached a consensus, Cao Cao decided to launch a general attack in two days. During these two days, the troops were given a good meal to encourage themselves, and the Zhangshui dam was repaired and the accumulated water receded to avoid obstructing the attack route.

In the past few months, his army has not been idle. Although Yecheng has not been captured, the counties of Zhongshan and Changshan in the north of Jizhou have already surrendered. Daijun and Shanggu in Youzhou have also surrendered under the leadership of Jiao Chu. It can be said that if the last isolated city of Yecheng is captured, the situation will be completely resolved.

Two days later, Cao's army, equipped with various siege equipment that had been prepared for a long time, advanced from all sides, tens of thousands of troops swarmed in and launched a full-scale attack. There were also tens of thousands of troops as reserves, ready to rotate into battle at any time.

It can be said that there was no feint attack, it was all main attack, leaving no chance for Yuan Shang to breathe.

Shen Pei did his best to dispatch the reserve troops to defend the city, and engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with Cao's army on many city walls. He also fired arrows crazily to kill Cao's soldiers who were building bridges and ladders.

Unfortunately, most of these cannon fodder troops who built bridges and ladders were surrendered soldiers from Hebei Province that Cao Cao had just conquered. They were either Yin Kui's old subordinates who were captured to be cannon fodder to atone for their sins, or Jiao Chu and Lu Kuang's soldiers. It was truly "using Yuan's old people to fight Yuan's family", and Cao Cao didn't feel sorry at all.

Although Shen Pei was skilled in using crossbows and did not hesitate to shoot arrows in a final desperate attempt, he still failed to stop the overwhelming offensive of Cao's army.

The bloody battle lasted for a long time, and finally Su You, the general guarding the west gate of Yecheng, could not resist and surrendered after being killed by Cao's army on the city wall. Yuan's army completely collapsed at this point, and Cao's army rushed in like a tide, killing everyone they saw in the city, and completely extinguished the last resistance of the Yuan family.

In fact, the battle of Yecheng lasted longer than the same period in history since it was flooded by water attack. On the one hand, this was because in history Yecheng was attacked for more than two years and was only flooded for the last three months. Before the flood, Cao's army had repeatedly attacked and weakened Yecheng.

In this life, Cao Cao attacked with water right away. Without the long-term sporadic consumption before, it was normal for Yuan Shang to hold out for ten days or half a month longer. On the other hand, because in this life, the brothers Xin Ping and Xin Pi had already joined Yuan Tan and did not betray their master to join Cao. Under the chain reaction, the incident that should have happened, "Shen Pei hated Xin Pi for betraying his master and joining the enemy, and angrily killed more than 80 members of Xin Ping's family", did not happen.

All the civil and military officials of the Yuan family who were "not absolutely loyal to Yuan Shang" were now with Yuan Tan, and only Yuan Shang's die-hard fans were left. In the end, the incident of "Shen Rong, the nephew of Shen Pei, wavered and opened the door to welcome the enemy" did not happen.

Cao Cao finally captured the city by relying on a brute force attack to break through the city tower that was defended by Su You, Feng Li and other Yuan family generals.

Taking all these factors into account, the time it took Cao Cao "from flooding to the capture of the city" ended up taking more than a month longer than in history.

On the second day of November, Yecheng was officially and completely captured. In order to boost morale and win over the army, Cao Cao allowed his troops to plunder for three days.

The surrendered generals Gao Lan and Lu Kuang rushed into the city without caring about looting, and rushed straight to the general's mansion, wanting to kill Yuan Shang to show their merit and consolidate their future position in Cao's camp.

Other former generals of Cao Cao, because they were greedy for spoils and property, and were not as familiar with the terrain of Yecheng as the surrendered generals, they just robbed whatever they saw along the way and fought their way forward, and ended up falling behind.

In the end, Gao Lan and Lu Kuang fought for the throne. Gao Lan killed Yuan Shang, who was resisting stubbornly, and Lu Kuang killed Yuan Xi, who was trying to escape in disguise. They each took a head and went to Cao Cao to show off their achievements.

After hearing this, Cao Cao was relieved, but he still scolded him on the surface to win over the people of Hebei: "Why not capture him alive? Benchu and I have been friends for 30 years. What if his sons and nephews repent and surrender?"

Gao Lan and Lu Kuang were speechless for a moment. Fortunately, they had thought about this problem before and quickly sorted out their thoughts. They appealed:

"Sikong, it's not that we don't want to capture them alive, it's just that Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi were so stubborn that they drew their swords and fought to the death, unwilling to be tied up."

Cao Cao had a way out, so he went with the flow: "In this case, I will still give you credit as usual, but you must also remember to explain these words to the captured Hebei officials, and then you can deal with them yourself, so as to prevent the people of Hebei from panicking and thinking that the court will not accept surrender!"

Gao Lan and Lu Kuang understood what he meant and agreed to it repeatedly, and were about to leave.

How could Cao Cao really care about the lives of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi? What he cared about was how people in the world viewed the deaths of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi. He absolutely could not convey the reputation that "he, Cao Cao, could not tolerate surrender."

Cao Cao saw Gao Lan and his men were about to leave, so he called out to them, "Apart from the brothers Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, are there any other relatives in the Yuan family? You didn't kill innocent people, did you?"

Gao Lan didn't quite understand Cao Cao's habits and didn't know how to answer for a moment, although he did not kill any other members of the Yuan family.

Lü Kuang was more opportunistic than Gao Lan. He had surrendered to Cao Cao for four months and had figured out Cao Cao's temper. He quickly expressed his loyalty and said, "Don't worry, Sikong. Most of the others are distant relatives and female relatives. They are not resisting. How dare we kill innocent people? We will all be detained in the palace and wait for Sikong to decide."

Cao Cao nodded with satisfaction and went to personally receive Yuan Shao's family.

The butterfly effect of history played a slight role here - because the fall of Yecheng occurred more than a year earlier than the same period in history, Cao Pi, who was only sixteen years old, was unable to go to the expedition with the army, and did not appear in the team entering the city, let alone participate in robbing the families of the two Yuans.

In this life, the first member of the Cao family to arrive at the former residence of General Yuan Shao was Cao Cao himself.

But this is of no use because Zhen Ji had married Zhuge Jin four years ago.

Cao Cao was the first to enter the Yuan family's backyard, and all he saw were a few inferior women. He felt unhappy and asked the attendants around him, only to remember that Yuan Shao's most beautiful concubines had all been killed by his wife Liu.

Cao Cao felt disgusted and secretly cursed this jealous woman for being such a waste.

He was not interested, and there were frequent urgent reports from the south recently, reporting that three counties had been lost. Cao Cao had no intention of enjoying the fruits of victory, so he just took over the victory hastily, left a part of the army to maintain law and order, and then returned south with the main force.

……

Cao Cao marched quickly and crossed the Yellow River in four days. By mid-November, his troops had reached Suiyang.

Suiyang was the seat of Liang County. Going northeast from Liang County over the Mangdang Mountains was Xiaopei, which Liu Bei's army had just occupied.

From Suiyang, going down along the Sui River and passing the distance of a county, you can reach the twin cities of Fuli and Zhuyi that Cao Ren is defending, as well as Qi County, which is temporarily used as a support point by accident.

Therefore, when Cao Cao arrived in Suiyang, he was able to stabilize the situation and ensure that Cao Ren's retreat was not lost. He could then consolidate the front line as appropriate, or consider counterattacking Liu Bei if there was an opportunity.

On the first night after he arrived in Suiyang, Guo Jia, who was recuperating in Suiyang, came to ask for a meeting and brought a letter of apology from Zhang He, who was now guarding Xiayi County.

Naturally, Cao Cao ignored his tiredness and met Guo Jia as soon as possible.

Guo Jia got straight to the point. As soon as he came in, he admitted that he was incompetent and deserved to be punished:
"I am incompetent. Within three months, I fell into Zhuge Jin's trap and lost nearly three counties with Zhang He: the entire Pengcheng County was lost; only Shanchi and Juping counties remained in Taishan County; and only Yi and Zhuqiu counties remained in Pei County.

Zhang He wanted to come and apologize in person, but the defense of Xiayi cannot be neglected. Recently, Liu Bei's army has made many unusual movements on Mangdang Mountain. Therefore, I asked my subordinates to submit a petition to explain myself and ask for the minister's wise advice. "

Cao Cao took Zhang He's memorial and looked at it coldly several times. In the end, he didn't say anything to comfort him. He just said in a matter-of-fact way:
"You are indeed incompetent, and some of your plans were too wrong. However, the consecutive defeats in Pengcheng and Taishan were caused by me myself - Ji An criticized Emperor Xiaowu for employing people like piling up firewood, and the latecomers were superior, which would inevitably make people alienated.

Thinking about it now, it was indeed a golden word. When the imperial court restored Xuzhou, it was too casual in conferring titles. Later, in order to persuade the surrendered generals who were originally bandits in Mount Tai to serve, it was even more generous in rewarding them with noble titles.

This year, Chang Xi's rebellion was a way of paying for the deaths of Zang Ba and Sun Guan last year! I just regret that Zhuge Jin was so meticulous that he seized on this tiny flaw and made a big fuss about it! In the future, I will take this as a warning and never use my noble title to win people's hearts again."

Cao Cao spoke to himself in a desolate tone, taking the greatest blame for the loss of the three counties on his own shoulders, and he did reflect deeply on it.

Guo Jia could tell that he did not blame him too much, and on the contrary, he wanted to reward Zhang He for his spirit of "fighting again and again after repeated defeats", and he was grateful and impressed.

Guo Jia couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "It's a pity that all this has come too late. If the lord had taken the initiative to have a heart-to-heart talk with Jun Yi before heading north, so that Jun Yi wouldn't have to worry about being suspected of being jealous of his colleagues, how could the battlefield in Xuzhou have come to this point...

But this is fate. Who could have expected that such a small flaw would be seized upon by Zhuge Jin and used to his death? "

(End of this chapter)