My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 572: Cao Cao admits defeat, the world is shocked

The eleventh year of Jian'an, October 20th, the seventh day after Xiahou Yuan's death.

Chencang Road, Hechi County.

The 52-year-old Cao Cao lay listlessly on his sickbed, tossing and turning from time to time, appearing extremely uneasy.

This year, he seemed to have aged rapidly.

At the beginning of the year, when he had just gotten rid of Situ Zhao Wen and became the prime minister, he was still so high-spirited. But in just eight months, he became what he is now.

In these eight months, Cao Cao probably had more white hair than in the past three years. The last time he was so anxious and sleepless was six or seven years ago, during the Battle of Guandu.

Xiahou Yuan was already dead, but Cao Cao didn't know it yet.

Liu Bei's side would not tell him the news of Xiahou Yuan's death for nothing. They would always think of taking advantage of this information gap and finally making a profit to maximize their own interests.

Therefore, Cao Cao is still worried and anxious about Xiahou Yuan's safety.

"I don't know how long Miao Cai can hold on... Well, even if he can hold on a little longer, what can he do?"

Cao Cao couldn't help getting annoyed as he thought about it. Reason had already told him that Liu Bei was keeping Xiahou Yuan as bait to drain his blood.

However, as long as Xiahou Yuan has not really reached the moment of destruction, how can Cao Cao let go of him and how can he give up directly?
Cao Cao was getting annoyed when he heard a loud noise outside the house. He shouted to the eunuch, "Who is making a noise outside?"

The eunuch hurried over to inquire and quickly reported: "Prime Minister, it is General Xu Huang who urgently wants to see you. It seems that the enemy situation has changed."

Cao Cao rubbed his temple and waved his hand to have Xu Huang come in. Then, Cao Cao saw Xu Huang and Guo Jia coming together.

The moment he saw Guo Jia, Cao Cao couldn't help but frowned: "Fengxiao, why are you here instead of taking care of your illness?"

Guo Jia cleared his throat and said weakly, "General Xu's front camp was suddenly attacked by Liu Bei's Gan Ning's army today. The battle was not going well, so I came to report the battle situation to the Prime Minister. I met him on the way and chatted with him for a few words. I think this is not a war crime, so please don't blame General Xu."

Cao Cao waved his hands with a complicated expression, indicating that he would not get angry. Then he forced himself to calmly talk to Xu Huang about military situation and asked about some details.

Xu Huang also truthfully stated that his front camp was attacked by Gan Ning early this morning. The enemy's offensive was not weak. He struggled for a long time before he managed to repel Gan Ning temporarily. Therefore, he wanted to ask for permission to retreat and abandon the front camp to shorten the battle line.

After Cao Cao heard this, he glanced at Guo Jia and roughly guessed what Guo Jia was up to, so he said directly: "So, Feng Xiao is here to persuade me to understand the suffering of the soldiers and allow Gong Ming to abandon the camp and retreat?"

Guo Jia did not try to hide it and admitted directly: "That is indeed the intention. I think that Liu Bei had stopped his attack for many days and suddenly asked Gan Ning to intensify the counterattack. There must be a trick...

Perhaps Liu Bei had made decisive progress in Yangping Pass and Hanzhong. If that were the case, Liu Bei would be able to free up his hands and focus on dealing with the Prime Minister!

I think that Chencang Road is not suitable for a large-scale battle, and our army has encountered new tactics and new weapons from Liu Bei's army this year, and was caught off guard.

The only solution now is to retreat, rest, work hard, and slowly learn to imitate Liu Bei's army's stirrups, high-bridge saddles, and supporting tactics. When the imperial cavalry is fully developed, we can make plans later. Only in this way can we preserve our strength as much as possible and avoid the whole world being consumed by this hard battle over the Qinling Mountains. "

Every word Guo Jia said touched Cao Cao's heart.

In the fierce battles of more than half a year this year, Liu Bei's army used various ingenious strategies and made full use of the terrible logistical consumption in the Hanzhong battlefield to exhaust Cao Cao's camp. But in addition to strategic and geographical factors, Liu Bei's army also brought out two new killing weapons, the double-sided metal stirrups and the high-bridge saddle, which had a great impact.

In the first battle between Cao and Liu, Zhang Fei annihilated Pang De's 20,000 newly-joined Xiliang troops in one fell swoop and killed Pang De. The double-sided metal stirrups and high-bridge saddle played a decisive role in this.

In the subsequent tug-of-war between Cao and Liu, these two new weapons had little room to play and their impact was not obvious.

However, at the end of the battle, Liu Bei released Ma Chao, who traveled from Dazhong to Qishan Road to Xiabian and Hechi to harass Cao Cao's grain route. Equipped with these two new equipments, Ma Chao's cavalry once again caused great trouble to Cao's army, coming and going like the wind and robbing grain like a god.

It can be said that the double-sided metal stirrups and the high-bridge saddle played a considerable role in the war that lasted for more than half a year, leaving an indelible impression on the top leaders of Cao's army.

Especially during the second peak brought by Ma Chao, Cao's army was able to observe and summarize carefully at close range, and also thought of how to imitate it and how to conduct targeted training after it was created.

However, the war was not over yet, the troops were tied up, and Cao Cao did not have the energy to personally supervise the officials in the rear to carry out their work, so these plans were temporarily shelved.

If Cao Cao could make up his mind to withdraw his troops now and go back to imitate and reorganize himself, he would definitely be able to make up for his shortcomings in this area in time and become an equal match to Liu Bei's army.

By then, Cao's army will have the horse-breeding lands in Liangzhou and Bingzhou, as well as Daijun and Shanggujun in Youzhou. Their long-term warhorse production will certainly be higher than Liu Bei's army. If they learn all the inventions that Zhuge brothers came up with, and their own army is larger in scale, won't there be hope of turning the situation around?

Of course, Cao Cao did not know the current situation of Liu Bei's army in the Northeast Plain and Liaodong Peninsula, nor did he know what construction Zhuge Jin and Zhao Yun had done in the Northeast in the past two years. So he was only unilaterally confident about the output of war horses.

At least Cao Cao himself truly felt that in the niche field of war horses, "the advantage was in me."

As for why Cao Cao had such thoughts in his heart, and whether it was a trap set up in advance by the Zhuge brothers, which subtly gave him a psychological hint to back down, making him have the illusion that "if I give in this time, I will have another chance next time", it is unknown.

This question can never be verified.

No matter what, at this moment, Cao Cao had indeed planted the seeds of giving in temporarily and trying again next time in his heart. He only needed the final opportunity to make a decision.

Cao Cao thought about it painfully for a long time, and finally sighed: "Fengxiao, what you said is indeed reasonable, but Miaocai's life and death are unknown. Even if I know that this is Zhuge Liang's trick, how can I make a decision?
There must be an opportunity to give in. Otherwise, even if I know in my heart that retreat is right, it will be difficult to convince the people of the world. "

Cao Cao had to consider more than just "how to fight the most cost-effectively". As a ruler, sometimes he knew that if he continued to fight after a certain stage or turning point, he would lose more and more, but was it possible for him to stop immediately at that point? Impossible.

Rulers have many issues to consider. They cannot just consider military matters, but also political and prestige matters.

The people of the world will not listen to your rational calculations. You must convince the people, establish your authority, and intimidate your subordinates. In order to avoid internal dissent in Xudu, Yecheng and other places after the withdrawal of troops, Cao Cao must find an opportunity to withdraw his troops.

After listening to Cao Cao's difficulties, Guo Jia could only sigh helplessly: "What the Prime Minister said is true. It's a pity that the situation has become so critical at this moment, and we still want to wait for an opportunity, but we don't know what price the soldiers will have to pay... Gan Ning suddenly intensified his offensive, there must be a conspiracy behind it, it must be Zhuge Liang's conspiracy. The Prime Minister must let the generals on the front line be careful."

Cao Cao remained silent and just nodded. Xu Huang saw that Guo Jia couldn't persuade Cao Cao to withdraw his troops immediately, so he could only go back and grit his teeth and hold on.

……

However, Liu Bei did not make Cao Cao wait too long.

Xu Huang did not get Cao Cao's permission to withdraw his troops, and only managed to survive Gan Ning's attack that day. Even so, Gan Ning still broke through two of his defense lines.

According to previous experience and practice, after Gan Ning broke through some of Xu Huang's defenses and captured one of his old camps, he should slow down his offensive and temporarily become a spent force. In this way, Cao's army can also use space to trade time and delay Gan Ning's offensive momentum.

Unfortunately, this time, the situation was very different from Xu Huang’s previous experience.

It was only until the next morning that Gan Ning recovered and launched a new wave of offensive along Chencang Road. The interval between the two waves of Liu Bei's army's attacks was very short, which was a change from the previous normal situation. Xu Huang was facing a powerful enemy and also smelled the unusual danger. He had to ask for help on the front line and asked Le Jin to send some reserve troops to support him.

After the offensive was resumed, Gan Ning changed his usual steady and cautious attitude. Today, Gan Ning seemed to be particularly violent, and he attacked without holding back. His offensive was so swift that in just half an hour, he broke through another line of defense and a camp of Cao's army.

Just as Xu Huang and Le Jin were busy trying to reorganize the defense at the second line of defense, Liu Bei's army in the east made a rotation deployment. As soon as Gan Ning retreated, Xu Huang saw that Liu Bei's army had invested another fresh force.

Moreover, this new force was led by a fierce general who was very familiar to Xu Huang and Le Jin, but who should not have appeared on the battlefield of Chencang Road.

There is no doubt that this general is Zhang Fei.

After more than two months of fierce fighting and stalemate, Cao's army knew that Zhang Fei should appear in Micang Mountain, Mianyang, and east of Yangping Pass. With Xiahou Yuan blocking Yangping Pass, Zhang Fei should not appear on the battlefield of Chencang Road.

Therefore, as long as Zhang Fei showed up and coordinated with the shouting and yelling of Liu Bei's army, the Cao army would recognize that it was Zhang Fei. This in itself would be enough to deal a devastating blow to the morale of the Cao army.

How could Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong miss such an opportunity?

Therefore, as soon as Zhang Fei appeared on the battlefield, he strictly followed the instructions of the military advisors and used the most sudden and deterrent method. He personally led the cavalry equipped with double-sided metal stirrups and high-bridge saddles to launch an all-out charge against the Cao army, which was already retreating and loose.

The other reserve troops under Zhang Fei also followed closely behind the cavalry and launched a charge together.

At the same time, Zhang Fei used his signature loud voice to shout loudly to make his identity known, and the other cavalrymen around him also temporarily acted as scolds and shouted in unison.

"Zhang Yide is here! Xiahou Yuan has been killed by me! All 200,000 soldiers of the king who are fighting against the rebellion have arrived here! Those Cao thieves who do not surrender will die!"

"Don't work for Cao Cao anymore! Eating the military pay of the great man is the only way out!"

The specific content of the call was actually not important. As long as the message was conveyed that "Zhang Fei arrived at the Chencang Road battlefield, which means that Yangping Pass has been breached and Xiahou Yuan has been destroyed", the morale of Cao's army would be completely hopeless.

Xu Huang and Le Jin were originally fighting hard but after this attack, their morale was thrown into chaos and they could no longer control their troops.

Countless Cao troops began to flee, and the troops left behind to fight to the death were quickly defeated by Zhang Fei and Gan Ning.

If the Chencang Road had not been so narrow and congested that the attacking side could not deploy their formation and could not outflank and divide the enemy, today's continuous pursuit and fierce battle would have at least destroyed tens of thousands of Cao's troops.

Even so, when Xu Huang and Le Jin retreated back to Hechi County, they still lost more than 10,000 troops.

Cao Cao was shocked to hear the news of the defeat, and was so sad that he was speechless for a long time.

Xu Huang and Le Jin were very worried, thinking about today's defeat, and wondering how the Prime Minister would reprimand them.

In the end, Cao Cao, contrary to his usual behavior, did not blame them, but just sighed: "If we had listened to Feng Xiao's advice two days earlier and admitted defeat and retreated, we would not have suffered another defeat today and lost another 10,000 troops in vain!"

"Prime Minister!" Xu Huang and Le Jin avoided the scolding and were still slightly touched in their hearts.

No matter what, Cao Cao took all the blame for the defeat on himself, and based on this alone, he was at least stronger than Yuan Shao.

Cao Cao was too lazy to be hypocritical, and just waved his hand weakly: "Hurry up and prepare to withdraw! When you leave, take away everything that can be transported, and evacuate all the civilians along the way. Burn Hechi County and Xiabian County completely! Burn all the heavy objects that cannot be transported! Don't leave anything for Liu Bei!

The loss of Hanzhong was inevitable. Miaocai had died for his country, and our army had a way out. It was meaningless to continue. The only thing we could do now was to ensure that everything along the Qishan Road and Chencang Road was destroyed. We must not let these two roads become springboards for Liu Bei's counterattack in the future.

The imperial army can no longer expect to go south through the Qinling Mountains to annex Bashu in the future, and we cannot let Liu Bei use this route in reverse. As long as the Qinling Mountains are cut off from now on, the battle between the imperial court and Liu Bei can be controlled in Guandong. At least both sides will not have to spend heavy troops to defend the western line. "

Cao Cao finished this analysis dejectedly, and his mind became clearer and clearer as he spoke.

He had realized that in the future, there would be no more wars in Guanxi. Whether Liu Bei went north or he went south, there would be no more fighting in Guanxi.

The roads here are difficult to travel and the geography is rugged, resulting in the problem of "whoever attacks will suffer" becoming so serious that it cannot be made any worse.

Since in this life, Cao Cao and Liu Bei still have long plain areas bordering their territories in Guandong, the next decisive battle in the future will definitely break out in Guandong, and the westernmost point will not exceed the Jingzhou line.

Yizhou will become Liu Bei's rear base and will no longer bear military pressure. It will only need to supply money, food, soldiers, supplies and armaments to Liu Bei's other territories.

Similarly, Guanzhong would become Cao Cao's stable rear base, no longer bearing military pressure, and only providing Cao Cao with some horse farms and horse sources.

However, Guanzhong was a devastated land with a sparse population. Even though Cao Cao had taken over Hanzhong last year and successively robbed some people from Zhang Lu's control area to fill Guanzhong, the total number of people in Guanzhong who were registered as civilians and paid land taxes was still less than 200,000 households.

If Liu Bei could completely control Yizhou, he would gain nearly a million households at once. The Battle of Hanzhong lasted for two years, and Liu Bei's manpower gain would be five times that of Cao Cao.

This is the extent to which the situation deteriorated due to Cao Cao's eventual loss of the Battle of Hanzhong, which was truly very serious.

……

Cao Cao took the decision-making responsibility for retreating troops on himself, and publicly blamed himself for not listening to Guo Jia's suggestion to retreat troops in time.

This attitude ultimately ensured the orderly retreat of Cao's army, and all his demands were strictly implemented.

Within just a few days, Cao Cao decisively abandoned Hechi County, destroyed Xiabian County, and completely destroyed the mountain node counties on Chencang Road and Qishan Road, making the mountain roads across the Qinling Mountains more difficult to travel in the future. Then the entire army withdrew to the north of the Qinling Mountains as quickly as possible.

After confirming that Cao Cao had retreated, Liu Bei's army naturally advanced at full speed, pursuing the enemy to the north and reoccupying the abandoned mountain areas.

Unfortunately, Cao Cao left them nothing, and Liu Bei’s army could not get any supplies if they continued to pursue. In the end, they could only have a "three-day tour of Dasan Pass" - after Liu Bei’s army crossed Hechi County, the farthest they pursued was Dasan Pass, at the entrance of the Qinling Valley, 40 miles southwest of Chencang City.

Because Cao's army left a large number of troops to guard the pass, Liu Bei's army had no way to deal with this pass, which was once known as one of the "Four Barriers of Qin".

In the end, Liu Bei himself stayed outside Dasan Pass for three days, and inspected the mountain and river terrain and geographical environment with Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong.

He asked his military staff to compose several poems to record the event and praise his military achievements, and then withdrew his troops back to Yangping Pass.

-

PS: The map has finally been changed. In order to speed up Zhuge Jin's re-entry and give him more roles in the new map plot, the previous outline still needs to be adjusted and polished, so the writing will be a bit slow in the next few days.

I didn't expect the Battle of Hanzhong to be so long and have so many twists and turns. And this map also means that Zhuge Jin can't appear in the Battle of Hanzhong. I apologize to the readers who have been following the update.

(End of this chapter)