Chapter 880 Pointing General
In the fourth year of Taiwu, on the twelfth day of the second month of spring, the state of Qi came to Linzi.
The Lantern Festival has not passed long yet, and there is still a lot of festive atmosphere in Linzi City.
The envoys who had come from Jiangdong, Xuzhou, and Jingzhou had not left yet. They were still making friends in Linzi City, seeming to want to get more information about the Taishan Army in the north.
The time from Shangyuan Festival to now is only a little over a month, but it seems to be a long torment for the wealthy people in Linzi City.
Even people who are insensitive to political affairs have heard about the recent war in the north.
The Taishan Army stationed north of the river finally moved south, and its advance troops had already captured the Dongping Mausoleum in Jinan.
Many of them had migrated from Dongpingling before and had deep feelings for it.
At this time, Dongpingling fell to the hands of the Taishan Army. How could they live this festival well?
But some of the more sensitive ones, especially those who were in the upper echelons of Cao's army, had more sources of information, so they were more tormented and sad than others.
First of all, it is very close from Dongpingling to Linzi, and the distance between these two sides is a vast stretch of plains, not even a river.
Once the elite cavalry of the Taishan Army can be captured, they will appear under Linzi City in a few days.
In other words, Linzi City at this time is more dangerous than ever before.
And that's not the worst of it, these well-informed people heard a piece of news.
It seems that a certain important general on the front line was discovered by the Taishan Army while he was camping and beheaded.
The rumored important general was probably Xia Houyuan, the commander of the frontline army.
No one dared to verify the news, but people's hearts became increasingly turbulent.
However, an incident that happened in the city seemed to confirm this incident from the side.
According to past traditions, after the Yuan Dynasty, many local scholars would come to study with the Confucian scholars in the city.
The most virtuous and respected scholar in the city was Zheng Xuan. But strangely, a wooden sign had been hung outside the door of Zheng Xuan's house early, which said "No visitors allowed".
This made the scholars who wanted to come to inquire about the news even more panic.
It seems that beneath the dull and calm surface, a more turbulent emotion is brewing.
Everyone was smiling in the joyful atmosphere, but their eyes were intentionally or unintentionally looking at the core of the city, which was Cao Cao's shogunate.
How does Duke Cao plan to respond at this time?
Unlike the false joy outside, Cao Cao's shogunate was cold and desolate.
At this time, Cao Cao was holding a battle report in his hand, his eyes dull and lifeless.
Suddenly, he suddenly pushed the desk in front of him away, smashed everything in sight, and then cried violently:
"What's wrong with my wonderful talent, so that I lose my talent?"
He stood up, finally unable to control his emotions, and cursed at the Qing, Yan and Yu handsome men in the hall:
"You all, insisting on walking on a strong wall and clearing the country, have made me lose my talent!"
The clan generals present, such as Cao Ren, Cao Chun, Cao Hong, Cao Xiu, Xiahou Dun and others, all had red eyes and couldn't believe the military report just sent from the front line.
The military newspaper actually said that their eldest brother, Xia Houyuan, had died in the battle, and was killed by an unknown enemy soldier, a low-ranking figure named Xu Shu.
This must be a lie about military intelligence. Everyone who deserves to be killed deserves to be killed!
But the illusion of self-deception faded away in a moment, and these people had to accept the result after all.
The elder brother they had always trusted left them.
Over the years, the Cao and Xiahou families have followed Cao Cao to fight from east to west. They have experienced setbacks, and there have been many twists and turns in the process, but the core children of the two families have rarely suffered losses.
Therefore, for a long time, the children of the two families have had the illusion that they are all destined to be alive, just like when the great ancestor conquered the world in hundreds of battles, didn't all the old brothers in Peixian County live well?
But now that Xia Houyuan died in the battle, it gave everyone the idea that they might not have the so-called destiny and would really die.
The impact of Xia Houyuan's death in battle on these clan generals was by no means as simple as the death of their beloved eldest brother. It had already impacted them on whether Cao Cao had a destiny.
Just when the mood of the two families was swaying, as the chief of Cao Cao and the most important surname of the Cao Group, Xun Yu spoke.
He looked at Cao Cao, who was older than before, and thought about their high-spirited tea talk a few years ago. He felt uncomfortable in his heart. But at this time, as the chief of the army, he had to make more responsible suggestions:
"Ming Gong, the death of General Xiahou was more of an accident. The enemy's partial troops who came out of the mountain accidentally captured the place where General Xiahou was camping, so this tragedy happened. General Xiahou died for the sake of the state, and we must also regard the affairs of the state as ours. Heavy, otherwise wouldn’t it be a waste of General Xiahou’s hard work?”
Cao Cao was silent, because reason told him that Xun Yu was right.
The mastermind in front of him always seemed so rational, and it seemed that his only emotion had been turned into ashes after his father burned himself in Dongping Tomb.
This made Cao Cao a little uncomfortable.
What he hoped even more was that Xun Yu could stand up with him and scold him, even roar in anger.
But Cao Cao knew that Xun Yu would never be like this.
After a while, Cao Cao regained his composure and said to Xun Yu:
"Wen Ruo is right, anger cannot solve the problem. Now that Miaocai died in battle, someone must take charge of the frontline army, otherwise when the Taishan Army in Dongpingling reacts, it will inevitably go south."
Xun Yu nodded, and just when he was about to say something, Shen Pei stood up and said to Cao Cao:
"Ming Gong, among the troops on the front line of Jishui at this time, Gai Tong has the most seniority and the most outstanding military exploits. Without him, he would not be able to control the front line troops."
Xun Yu glanced at Shen Pei and felt a little uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything.
After all, the person Xun Yu himself wanted to recommend just now was actually Gai Tong.
The reason for this is not only that Gai Tong is mature and prudent and has military exploits, but the more important reason is that Gai Tong and Cao Cao are old friends. With Gai Tong as the main general, Cao Cao can trust him.
But surprisingly, Cao Cao shook his head directly:
"Lao Gai is too stable to be a frontline general. I decided to use Lu Qian, who is under Miaocai's command, as the general to unify the original troops and continue to attack the Taishan Army's communication lines near Dongpingling."
But the wise men present disagreed with Cao Cao's words.
Among them, Zhong Yao stood up and warned:
"Gong Cao, the talent of a general lies in subduing the masses. But Lu Qian is just a partial general. There are only four or five people like him in General Xiahou's army. How can he subdue the masses?"
Cao Cao valued Zhong Yao's advice very much.
There is no other reason. This senior official who fled from the civil strife in the Kanto court and defected to him is, at least in terms of political struggle, no better than the elites in the shogunate.
So since Zhong Yao said this, Cao Cao naturally had to take it seriously.
At the beginning, he thought purely from a military perspective. After all, although Gai Tong had rich military experience and still had a remnant of the Northern Expedition Corps that was good at fighting, to be honest, his military ability was not very high. As for Lu Qian, Cao Cao was very optimistic about this person and thought he was a good general. Naturally, he hoped to help him up to clean up the situation.
But what Zhong Yao said is right, that is, generals are not appointed in this way, especially when the struggle between the enemy and ourselves is so disparate, any small internal dissatisfaction may evolve into a mutiny in the troops.
So Cao Cao asked Zhong Yao, who can do it?
Zhong Yao just glanced at the group of standing generals and said to Cao Cao:
"Cao Yangwu can be the general of Jishui."
Cao Yangwu is Cao Ren, the general of Yangwu.
Among the generals of the Cao clan, Cao Ren was in the front row in terms of prestige and leadership. It seemed like the best arrangement to have Cao Ren as the general this time.
Moreover, the powerful generals under Xia Houyuan's command were originally controlled by the clan generals. It is acceptable to arrange for another clan general to go there.
Therefore, the suggestion put forward by Zhong Yao is obviously much more reliable than Cao Cao's choice.
Cao Cao also asked Cao Ren, so he asked Cao Ren below:
"Is Zixiao willing?"
Cao Ren stood up directly from the mat and said to Cao Cao:
"My lord, I must avenge Brother Xiahou!"
Unexpectedly, Cao Cao frowned directly after hearing this:
"Actually, I chose you to be the general from the beginning, but I know you too well, so I was afraid that you would take Miaocai's hatred too seriously and get carried away in the end. But now that I see it, you are indeed like this. Go on. Well, it will be someone else’s choice.”
But Cao Ren said something:
"My lord, I know that you are worried about raising an army out of anger, so you took the initiative to attack the Taishan Army when our front line was weak. But my lord, you are looking down on me. I will never forget what I said. Brother and enemy, we must fight the Taishan Army to the last soldier, but this does not mean that the general will get carried away. "
Cao Cao pondered for a moment and thought of several candidates, but none of them were as safe as Cao Ren, so he emphasized again:
"Zixiao, after you go to the front line, the first thing you should do is learn the lesson of Miaocai. You can no longer wander in, and you must follow the army when traveling. In addition, you must still focus on attacking the supply routes of the Taishan Army to harass the enemy rather than fight decisively. Finally, I will let Mr. Cheng take office with you. You must not do anything he objects to."
"If you can do these three things, I will hand over the position of general to you."
Cao Ren glanced at Cheng Yu who was sitting in the seat, not sure what this old man whose name had been changed by Cao Cao was capable of.
If he was really capable, would Yuan Shao lose so miserably in the decisive battle with Yin Luo?
But even though he despised Cheng Yu in his heart, Cao Ren still hugged Cao Cao:
"The general will be able to do it in the end."
Cao Cao nodded, and then asked Cheng Yu in the seat:
"I would like to ask Duke Cheng to accompany Zixiao for this time, so I can ask Duke Cheng to assist Zixiao well for me."
Cheng Yu quickly stood up from the mat and bowed deeply:
"Dare to disobey orders."
In this way, everyone confirmed that Cao Ren and Cheng Yu would be the core of the new frontline army, dedicated to commanding an army of nearly 30,000 on the Jishui frontline.
And this time, Cao Cao delegated more power than before. In addition to Cao Ren being in charge of Xia Houyuan's troops before, the Gaitong tribe that had been deployed downstream of Jishui was also transferred to Cao Ren's military support to counter the 40,000 Taishan Army in the north. .
At this point, Cao Cao only had less than 30,000 direct troops left.
But at this moment, an urgent military report was sent from the south, which directly made Cao Cao even more passive.
It turns out that Guan Yu's tribe at this time finally moved from Yimeng Mountain to Beihai, and successively attacked Anqiu, Chang'an, Gaomi and other places.
Now Cao Cao couldn't sit still, because Gaomi was Cao Cao's last retreat. Once the north was in trouble, he could only retreat to Xuzhou through here, but now his retreat was cut off by Guan Yu.
Why is this Guan Yu so haunted? He seems to have a past grudge with his old Cao.
Therefore, after urgent discussions with his staff, and after repeated weighings, Cao Cao finally decided to send troops to Beihai to annihilate or drive Guan Yu out.
In order to achieve the effect, Cao Cao ordered Chen Qun to send an envoy to Xuzhou again, let him get in touch with Chen Deng, and agreed that the Xuzhou army would attack from the Langya area and work with him to encircle Guan Yu's army.
For the Qingxu family, Guan Yu's crossing of Beihai certainly cut off the connection between the two families, but to a certain extent, it also gave the Qingxu family a chance to annihilate the Taishan Army.
Guan Yu jumped into the encirclement of the Qing and Xu families by himself. If he was not eaten at this time, they would be the ones who would be eaten later.
From this point alone, Cao Cao believed that Chen Deng still had this understanding.
Therefore, after confirming that Xun Yu would be left behind on the one hand, Cao Cao gathered 20,000 troops for a military parade in Linzi.
At the swearing-in meeting, Cao Cao impassionedly said to all the officials:
"In the eighth year of the Yellow Turban, the world was in ruins. One day, I, Cao Cao, rode into Qingzhou, relying on the people of Qingzhou to destroy their fields and houses, marry their wives, and use their brains to support the army. Now that the army has arrived, we can't fight back, so we can only protect ourselves. Wouldn't it be a waste to raise the army for a thousand days? I am familiar with it. Survival and death are determined by destiny, but I will live up to my Qingzhou people!"
After some eloquent speeches, Cao Cao waved his hand and shouted:
"Go south!"
So, Cao Cao led 20,000 Qingzhou army chariots and cavalry to block the road, and drove toward the Beihai in the south in a mighty manner.
But Cao Cao might never have guessed that his so-called Jishui defense line would collapse so quickly.
……
Cao Cao appointed a new general, Cao Ren, for the Jishui front line, but this decision was still a bit late.
In fact, when Xu Shu learned that the general of Cao's army who attacked and killed was Xia Houyuan, he went straight to Ding Sheng in Dongping Ling to inform him of the situation.
Ding Sheng didn't believe it at first, but he wasn't sure until some of Cao's captured soldiers actually knew Xia Houyuan.
Immediately afterwards, huge ecstasy hit Ding Sheng's heart.
To put it bluntly, in the past few years, he has been driven to death by this Xia Houyuan. It was this man's guarding in Pingyuanjin that made him, Ding Sheng, spend the past two years just on the river.
And in this process, how many former subordinates and generals became famous military generals?
Now, not only has the enemy been killed, but now there is a huge opportunity.
Xia Houyuan was the enemy's frontline general. Now he died unexpectedly. The enemy's tens of thousands of troops were in a leaderless and chaotic situation. As long as he seized this opportunity, he might not be able to defeat the enemy in one battle.
Finally, Ding Sheng's moment is coming.
In order to seize this fleeting opportunity, Ding Sheng gathered the three thousand Youzhou assault cavalry in the city and prepared to take advantage of the chaos to directly attack the enemy's Lu Qian and Xianyu tribes.
In order to thank Xu Shu, Ding Sheng was kind enough to transfer Xu Shu into the cavalry army and let him go south with him to attack the main enemy force.
In this way, the Qingzhou war seemed to have stepped on an acceleration point, and it suddenly fast-forwarded to the prelude to the decisive battle.