My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 649: Cao Cao was hit and a chain reaction occurred
"Have I really fallen into Zhuge Jin's evil scheme?!"

When they saw the Bantun barbarians rushing down the steep slope of the Qinling Mountains as if they were walking on flat ground and stabbing their own waists and ribs,
Xu Huang finally felt a chill in his heart. He felt the blood rushing to his head and even his limbs felt weak due to insufficient blood supply.

The Bantun Barbarians of Liu Bei's army in Hanzhong actually went down the Han River and rushed for six or seven hundred miles. And they came so quickly that they ran all the way to between Shangyong and Fangling to support Huo Jun in the battle!

Xu Huang's military force is definitely much stronger than Huo Jun and these thousands of Bantun Barbarians.

And in fact, these shield-armed barbarians were just bluffing. When they charged out, they shouted the slogan "Wang Ping of Hanzhong is here", but in fact Wang Ping himself did not come at all.

Wang Ping was responsible for the defense of Hanzhong County. How could he leave Nanjun and personally travel hundreds of miles to reinforce the friendly forces? If he came, it would not be just 3,000 people. Liu Bei's army would definitely be able to increase its strength.

So in fact, Wang Ping only sent one general to lead 3,000 people to help in the battle.

But the problem is that Xu Huang didn't know this. His soldiers had already suffered the physical exhaustion of a long march on foot, and had been blocked several times by Huo Jun, and were already exhausted.

Suddenly, some barbarians attacked from an unexpected angle, and it was difficult to distinguish the real and fake ones for a moment. Xu Huang's troops were immediately cut off in the valley, unable to take care of each other.

In this situation, how could Xu Huang control his troops?
The only thing he could do was to order the front army to retreat immediately, fight hard to repel the Bandun barbarians who appeared halfway, and reconnect the front army and the rear army that were suddenly cut off.

But in this case, the front line will inevitably collapse.

Huo Jun, who had defended the temporary camp for two hours relying on the rammed earth walls and trenches, also commanded his soldiers to launch a counterattack at the right time.

Thousands of Jingzhou soldiers jumped out of the breastwork, holding their spears and iron halberds level, and advanced steadily like a wall. The chaotic front troops of Xu Huang finally couldn't resist, and after a short period of fighting each other, they began to retreat one after another, and even trampled on each other.

If Huo Jun had been a little more ruthless and courageous, and had ordered his troops to abandon their formation and pursue the enemy on their own, he might have been able to achieve even greater results.

However, Huo Jun is a general who is good at defense and caution after all. Pursuit battles are not Huo Jun's forte, and he currently lacks experience in this area.

So, for the sake of safety, Huo Jun always strictly ordered all units to maintain their formation during the counterattack. They must not let their formation become disorderly while chasing the enemy, thus giving the enemy no chance to counterattack.

The advantage of this resolute and steady pursuit method is that it leaves absolutely no chance for you. The disadvantage is that it is difficult to increase your speed, and you will gain less results in the pursuit battle, and the enemy will eventually pull away.

However, considering that the enemy's number is still more than twice that of our own, it is understandable that we should proceed step by step.

After this pincer attack, Xu Huang was seriously injured, like a frightened bird. He retreated twenty or thirty miles before he could barely stand firm.

Thousands of Cao's soldiers were lying dead, only a small half of them were stabbed or beheaded on the battlefield, and the rest were trampled in the chaos.

There was also a considerable number of Cao's soldiers who, when they were intercepted and attacked by the Bantun Barbarians, retreated directly to the south in panic, ignoring the fact that there was the Han River on the south side of the battlefield, and were directly driven onto the muddy flats.

Often, if they stumbled, one of their legs would sink into the mud, and they would be trampled to the ground by friendly forces and completely drowned in the mud.

During the entire pursuit, thousands of Cao's soldiers drowned in the Han River.

……

Xu Huang was defeated by Huo Jun and the Bandun barbarians, and retreated more than 30 miles, with a total loss of 6,000 to 7,000 soldiers.

Judging from the absolute number of casualties, Xu Huang's losses were not very large. This was mainly because the valley was narrow, and when his troops retreated, even though the rear army trampled on each other and was chased and killed badly, the chaotic rear army blocked the road, so the central and front armies were still able to withdraw smoothly.

However, after this battle, no matter how much the actual losses were, the morale of Xu Huang's army had already been ruined. It was impossible for them to gather their troops and plan a counterattack on the spot, so they could only retreat.

Moreover, Xu Huang could not tell the strength of the reinforcements from Hanzhong, and did not know whether these several thousand Bantun Barbarians were the enemy's limit. He did not dare to neglect it and did not dare to stay where he was for too long.

After gathering the troops, they continued to retreat in large strides, retreating nearly a hundred miles and returning to the vicinity of Wudang County.

After retreating to Wudang County, Xu Huang originally planned to stay there for a few more days and then see how the flank army sent to Fangling progressed.

If his detachment had already taken Fangling, he could stay in Wudang permanently, without having to worry about being threatened by the enemy on the flank, and at the same time ensure the communication between Fangling and the rear.

However, he had just stationed in Wudang and sent people to Fangling for contact, but less than two days later, he heard another piece of bad news - the 5,000-man detachment sent to Fangling had suffered a disastrous defeat, and the remnants had retreated to the direction of Wudang. It would take more than a day to return and reunite.

After hearing this, Xu Huang was shocked. He totally couldn't understand how Huo Jun could have enough strength to defeat his 5,000-man detachment in the direction of Fangling.

"This is impossible! How many troops does Fangling have? Didn't I tell you to capture the city if you can? Even if you can't, just set up camp on the road and besiege the city?"

The messenger who reported back cried, "Reporting to the general! My captain did camp on the road and did not advance rashly. But yesterday, a group of barbarians suddenly appeared from nowhere in the direction of our army, crossing mountains and ridges as if they were walking on flat ground.

Captain Shi was caught off guard and did not expect another enemy attack from the northeast, so he was defeated by the enemy. Captain Shi saw that he could not do anything, so he quickly gathered up the remaining troops and broke through the siege to retreat.

Xu Huang was stunned and checked again and again before he finally figured out: it turned out to be the enemy's Bantunman reinforcements who had come over the mountains and across the ridges and were running faster than he was marching along the Han River Valley!

As we all know, the section of the Han River valley between the Qinling Mountains is indeed winding, rugged and difficult to navigate.

The straight-line distance on the map looks like more than 100 miles, but in reality it is possible to walk 300 miles along the winding river valley.

At this time, if there is an enemy army that can avoid taking many detours and go straight over the mountain when they encounter a shortcut, it is indeed possible that they will be much faster.

However, the total strength of the Bandunman reinforcements sent by Wang Ping was not enough, so they did not dare to intercept Xu Huang's main force alone.

However, it is completely possible to take a shortcut and launch a surprise attack on the rear of Cao's detachment besieging Fangling without passing through the mouth of the Han River-Dushui River.

Therefore, Xu Huang had to pay the price of once again having an army of 5,000 people defeated and losing nearly 2,000 people.

After repelling the detachment sent by Xu Huang to besiege Fangling, the Bandunman reinforcements also entered Fangling County and directly became the defenders of Fangling City.

If Xu Huang wanted to attack Fangling again, it would not be easy to capture it with the help of these Bantun barbarians to defend the city.

If Xu Huang chooses to ignore them and attack Shangyong alone in the future, these Bantun barbarians will be even happier.

With their mobility that allows them to cross mountains and hills as if walking on flat ground, as soon as Xu Huang's main force goes upstream, they can immediately spread all over the downstream.

Cut off Xu Huang's retreat, rob Xu Huang's food supply, do whatever is convenient for you.

Therefore, when the Battle of Shangyong reached this point, Xu Huang was clear that unless he received large-scale reinforcements, it would be impossible to achieve decisive results in the short term.

Although the Prime Minister still had a lot of fresh troops in reserve, time was running out for Cao's army to be indecisive.

Before, General Cao Ren asked him to attack Shangyong from the flank, because he wanted to take advantage of the fact that Guan Yu of Liu Bei's army had not arrived yet and Cao's army had a clear advantage in total strength, so as to gain some benefits first. At the same time, he also forced the enemy to rescue and fight, creating opportunities for his own side.

Now, all this time has been wasted in the struggle, and Guan Yu is about to arrive. Why would Cao Cao waste his troops on these minor matters?
The battle of Shangyong ended in vain.

"Well, it's impossible to capture Shangyong within a few months. Withdraw the troops to Zhuyang and Yunxian and wait for General Cao to dispatch them."

After understanding these principles, Xu Huang closed his eyes in pain and took the opportunity to announce the plan to his generals and staff.

Upon hearing this, the generals all looked embarrassed and worried about Cao Cao's punishment, so they could not help but raise their concerns in this regard:

"General Cao ordered you to capture Shangyong to ensure the safety of our flanks during the Battle of Xiangfan. Although we have lost 8,000 men and horses, I'm afraid we will be guilty of cowardice if we retreat like this..."

Xu Huang's cheeks twitched slightly when he heard this: "I will take the blame for cowardice, this is not something you need to consider.

Guan Yu's reinforcements will arrive someday. I heard that General Yu also suffered a defeat in Dangyang and lost a lot of troops.

If I am stubborn and don't stop in time, if there are more casualties, I'm afraid it will affect the overall situation!"

When the generals heard that Xu Huang actually took the initiative to take the responsibility, they looked at him with a higher opinion of him. The low morale caused by the recent defeat and their dissatisfaction with their commander were also slightly alleviated.

The whole army was united, and the military order was quickly implemented. More than 20,000 soldiers retreated one after another, moving closer to Cao Ren. Coincidentally, just as Xu Huang was defeated and slowly retreating, a messenger came from the direction of Fancheng the next day, and the two sides met on the way.

The messenger was also shocked to see that Xu Huang had retreated and was quickly brought before Xu Huang.

Xu Huang met the other party with a grim expression. He took the letter and read it. It turned out that the letter contained instructions from the military advisor Guo Jia.

Guo Jia analyzed in the letter that it was absolutely unusual for Huo Jun, an unknown general, to take the initiative to resist the enemy on the front line and set up layers of defense. He should be cautious and not pursue the enemy to prevent fraud.

After reading it, Xu Huang's face became even uglier, but he had nothing to say.

Isn't this hindsight, Guo Jia? Why didn't you say it earlier?

But after asking about the recent situation in detail, Xu Huang was helpless.

Because he learned that Guo Jijiu had rushed south from Wancheng to the front line in Fancheng to rescue the situation only after the news of Yu Jin's defeat was reported back to Wancheng.

Previously, Cao's high-ranking officers thought that Xu Huang's journey was not suspenseful and the enemies he would face were also weak, so they neglected him and did not pay much attention to the battle situation on his side. Everyone was staring at Yu Jin and working together to help him.

In fact, the Cao army's high-ranking officers were not wrong in their view - because Xu Huang's army was indeed unimportant and could not cause much trouble. Even if he was defeated, he would only lose 8,000 men in the end. It was not like Yu Jin's army lost more than 30,000 men in a single battle.

After all, Yu Jin couldn't avoid the defeat because the enemy was too cunning.

As for Xu Huang, he could have avoided the situation if he had been more careful. Huo Jun's strategy of luring the enemy was actually quite crude if you carefully examine it. Unfortunately, Cao's army underestimated the enemy and did not take it seriously enough.

This can be considered as a "newbie benefit" brought by Huo Jun's infancy and lack of fame. If Liu Bei's army had replaced any famous general in Shangyong, Xu Huang would not have fallen into this trap.

Now that things have come to this, I can only accept the responsibility for the failure.

……

Two days later, the news of Xu Huang's defeat was transmitted back to Xiangyang and Wancheng respectively.

Cao Ren in Xiangyang was very depressed when he heard that he had lost another 8,000 soldiers and horses.

Within ten days, Yu Jin lost more than 30,000 troops, plus those on Xu Huang's side, a total of 40,000 troops disappeared.

As one side gained strength while the other side lost strength, Liu Bei's army's disadvantage to Cao's army was greatly reversed. The offensive and defensive situation was also reversed.

Cao Ren no longer dared to act rashly, and could only defend the three key nodes of Xiangyang, Fancheng and Xianshan Camp, waiting for Liu Bei's army to take action.

On the other hand, Cao Cao, who was in Wancheng, couldn't help but have a headache for three or five days after learning about this small defeat. He really couldn't eat or sleep, and he sighed for several days before he came to his senses.

The number of troops lost by Xu Huang was not large in absolute terms, but the continuous defeats had a significant impact on Cao Cao's mentality.

This also made him less calm and more pessimistic about the future.

"Liu Bei has so many talented people under his command? An unknown general can defeat a powerful general like Xu Gongming. It's amazing... Huang Zhong who defeated Wen Ze and Huo Jun who defeated Gongming, weren't they originally under Liu Qi's command?

Why were these former generals of Liu Biao unable to achieve success under Liu Biao, but transformed in just two months under Liu Bei? Could it be that Liu Bei was really helped by a god? Or was this god Zhuge Jin? "

Cao Cao, who was 54 years old, actually began to become a little superstitious. He really couldn't understand this.

This cannot be blamed on him. After all, Huang Zhong and Huo Jun were not well-known before, and that was why Cao Cao and Cao Ren underestimated the enemy.

After the initial setback, Cao Cao quickly remembered that about seven or eight days ago, he had asked Sima Yi to return to Xu Du first to contact Xun Yu or Xi Lu and let them arrange the rewards and promotions in preparation for the Battle of Jingbei.

The promotions and rewards of his civil and military officials were secondary. The key was that Cao Cao himself needed to take advantage of his great achievement in pacifying Liu Biao and quickly secure a promotion in title.

He had been the prime minister for three or four years, and there was nothing more he could do in terms of official rank. But his title was still Marquis of Wuping, which was not enough to reflect Cao Cao's superior status among all the ministers. The main breakthrough direction of this operation was the title.

Liu Bei's strength also made Cao Cao feel more and more that it was necessary to do so.

He had to force the court officials to take sides in order to see who in the Qing Dynasty were not absolutely loyal to him, but were half-heartedly united under the banner of the Han Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao couldn't help rubbing his head, and then ordered his confidant to send someone to Xudu to contact and ask about Sima Yi's situation.

However, as luck would have it, Cao Cao's envoy had not yet been sent out, and the secret letter to Sima Yi had not yet been completed.

Later that day, Sima Yi took the initiative to send someone to Xudu to deliver a secret letter to report the latest situation of his mission to Cao Cao.

When Cao Cao heard that there was news about Sima Yi, he quickly put down other unimportant tasks at hand, took out a dagger and cut open the seal to take a look.

"…Minister Xi has already made a preliminary decision that the Prime Minister has made great contributions and should be made Duke of Wei, with Wei County and Henei, Guangping, and Yangping as fiefdoms, and a ancestral temple built…"

"…However, Lord Xun privately rejected his proposal, saying, 'You originally raised an army of righteousness to help the court and stabilize the country, and you are loyal and sincere, but you are actually willing to give in. A gentleman loves others with virtue, so it is not appropriate to do so.' Therefore, this proposal is still under discussion and has not yet been submitted to the court for discussion..."

Cao Cao took a quick look and his expression became serious.

According to Sima Yi's reply, Shizhong Xi Lu and others were definitely willing to push this matter forward, but they did not expect that there would actually be a bottleneck with Xun Yu in the end.

When Sima Yi left, he asked Cao Cao what he would do if important officials objected. Cao Cao didn't take it seriously at the time. He never thought that an old friend who had been with him for more than ten or twenty years would really sabotage him.

But now, all this is really happening.

Moreover, the news came at the same time as the bad news of Xu Huang's defeat. Cao Cao's double anger value was also added together, which inevitably made him even more uncalm.

Cao Cao subconsciously touched his sword and felt dizzy from a headache. He quickly sat down and endured it for a long time before he calmed down a little.

"Wen Ruo! Why is it you! Why do you have to stop me!"

Cao Cao stroked his sword and sat alone in thought. He had no way of discussing this issue with anyone because it was too obscure and no one dared to intervene in such a conflict between high-level officials, fearing that they would get into trouble.

Cao Cao had to face it alone.

If all this happened in the 17th or 18th year of Jian'an in a parallel universe, Cao Cao would have been much more decisive, given his prestige and influence, even if it meant moving Xun Yu away.

But now, all this happened in the 13th year of Jian'an.

Cao Cao's territory and power are slightly smaller than those in the same period in history (he lacks Qingxu and Bohai Prefectures, and half of Youzhou).
What's even more terrible is that while Cao Cao lost three states of territory compared to the same period in history, the rest of the world had been completely unified in the hands of his only major enemy, Liu Bei.

If Liu Bei could have taken over the entire Jingzhou, then the territory and population strength ratio of the whole world would be basically 50-50. Now Cao Cao has taken Nanyang County and Xiangyang, and lost four counties. The comparison of Cao and Liu's territory is barely 5.5 to 4.5.

Under such circumstances, Cao Cao obviously did not dare to mess up his own internal situation, otherwise Liu Bei would join forces from both inside and outside, and everything might collapse.

Even if Xun Yu objects, he cannot be touched in name for the time being. What Xun Yu should do still needs to be done, and the handover can only be done slowly. In terms of title and reputation, Xun Yu must be coaxed.

"Alas, even if Wen Ruo is like this, I can't let Wen Ruo down, so I'd better find a way to promote him in public and demote him in private as soon as possible.

If Shengwen is promoted to Junior Tutor, his authority over the court's personnel and titles and awards will be removed, but his other duties can remain the same, as long as he stops making trouble...

In any case, let Xi Lu and Sima Yi finish this matter first before considering the rest."

Cao Cao made this decision in his heart.

(End of this chapter)