Chapter 98 Northern Expedition against Zang Ba
On the other side, in Tancheng County, Liu Bei finally made the decision to kill Cao Hong in half.
It was originally just Liu Bei's conjecture that Cao Hongli was connected to Cao Cao, but then more and more evidence emerged, and he even followed the clues and caught a Cao Cao's spy gang, which directly confirmed that the person behind Cao Hong was indeed Cao Cao.
Now Cao Hong had no hope. With Cao Hong's execution, the Danyang Sect also completely split.
The originally powerful and domineering Danyang sect no longer existed. Cao Bao simply jumped ship without mentioning it. Even the remaining Xu Dan avoided this title and had no idea of inheriting the faction leader. .
Since Cao Hong's death, the Danyang civil servants of Cao Hong's line have also been purged, freeing up a lot of positions and being assigned to various factions by Liu Bei. Even Liu Feng was assigned to several positions, and people from Liu Erying were assigned. Older teenager.
For this reason, Liu Feng rushed back to Tancheng County to crown them, pick their names, and they became adults from then on.
Seeing that everything was developing as expected, Liu Feng finally breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as they wait another month, send troops to Langya and successfully defeat Zang Ba, then the situation in Xuzhou will be off to a good start.
Time flies. With the smooth development of farming, military training, sugar production, salt production, grain harvesting and other projects, Xuzhou begins to become full of vitality.
The three cities of Xiangbi, Lanling, and Chengxian that were originally destroyed have also regained their population.
Although this population is insignificant compared to before the war, it is much better than a month ago when wild beasts were rampant and there were no people for hundreds of miles.
By the beginning of March, Zang Ba’s grain inventory had gradually bottomed out.
At the same time, the latest news came from Yanzhou. Cao Cao's army finally dispatched and drove directly to Dingtao.
Lü Bu’s army also began to mobilize, and Lü Fengxian personally commanded the army to assist Jiyin County in governing Dingtao County.
Cao and Lu are about to start a new battle under Dingtao City.
In the south, Liu Biao echoed Liu Yao and launched an attack on Yuan Shu's flank on the western front. Guo Gong also took the opportunity to attack Yuan Shu's territory in Yuzhou. The cooperation between the two sides caused Yuan Shu's head to split and he could only turn around to fight. .
Sun Ce and Liu Yao were still looking at each other across the river, but they could not find a way to break through the river defense, and they had no way to defeat the opponent.
As a result, the warlords around Xuzhou were all busy fighting, and there was a window period during which no one could threaten Xuzhou.
Especially Cao Cao and Liu Feng knew that the widow Cao had always coveted Xuzhou and was obsessed with it. He even wanted to leave Lu Bu in Yanzhou and attack Xuzhou several times.
Although historically Xun Yu, Xi Zhicai and Cheng Yu persuaded him.
But if Liu Bei fell into a war with Zang Ba prematurely, God knows, would Cao Cao think this was a God-given opportunity and not listen to Xun Yu and the others?
This is not random thinking. Although Cao Cao praised Xun Yu to the sky, he did not obey Xun Yu's words.
If nothing else, Xun Yu and others tried to persuade Cao Cao to attack Xuzhou, but Cao Cao didn't listen.
Cao Cao refused to listen to his advice not to carry out a massacre in Xuzhou.
Cao Cao was advised to attack Yanzhou Juye first and then Tao, but Cao Cao still refused to listen.
I advised Cao Cao not to play with the widow in Wancheng, but Cao Cao still refused to listen.
So instead of placing hope on the possibility that Xun Yu and the others can persuade Cao Cao, it would be safer and safer to wait a little longer until Cao Cao goes to arrest Tao Lang.
Learning that Cao Cao, Lu Bu, Yuan Shu, Guo Gong, etc. were all fighting, Liu Feng, Chen Deng, and Lu Su agreed that this was the best time for Liu Bei's army to go north.
Liu Bei's weeding operation in the Northern Expedition to Langya was in full swing.
On the first day of March, everyone gathered in the state capital to hold a highly confidential combat meeting.
At the meeting, Liu Bei began to assign tasks.
First, mobilize 2,500 county troops from Donghai County and Xiapi County respectively, of which 4,000 will go north with the main force to fight, and the remaining 1,000 will be divided into two groups and stationed in Lanling and Chengxian respectively. , responsible for guarding the city, and at the same time responsible for supporting Chen Dao and Xu Sheng's troops behind at any time.
Second, Chen Deng is the commander-in-chief and Cao Bao is the deputy commander-in-chief. He has jurisdiction over Zhang Fei's 1st Division of 2,000 people, Zhao Yun's 1st Division of 1,500 people, Xu Dan's 1st Division of 3,500 people, and Cao Bao's Division. Eight thousand people and 2,000 soldiers from Xiapi County were the main force, totaling 17,000 people.
Advance by water, bypass Jiqiu, go straight to Kaiyang, strike first, at least Zang Ba must be blocked in the city, unable to escape.
In addition, it is also necessary to be responsible for cutting off the connection between Kaiyang and Linyi and Yangdu, making it an isolated city.
Third, with Guan Yu as the commander-in-chief of the partial division and Lu Su as the army commander, he will lead the headquarters with 2,000 people, Zhang Jie’s subordinate with 1,500 people, Donghai County’s national army with 2,000 people, and Tian Yu’s subordinate. Fifteen hundred people, a total of more than 7,000 people, besieged Jiqiu City.
Fourth, with Xiahou Bo as the chief general, Chen Dao as the deputy general, and Liu Feng as the army officer, there were 500 people from the capital headquarters and 1,000 people from Xu Sheng's department, a total of 1,500 people. They arrived in Zeng County and watched Chang. pig.
At the same time, Xiapi Kingdom was ordered to be on higher alert and to conduct frequent and detailed operations to guard against Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, and Guo Gong's misdeeds.
Liu Bei led his headquarters of 1,500 people, the remaining 2,000 Donghai County soldiers, and 3,000 Danyang soldiers, a total of 6,500 people. They were stationed in Tancheng and served as the general reserve team to control the overall situation.
For more than a month, this plan has been discussed and revised many times by Liu Feng, Chen Deng, Lu Su, Guan Zhang, Cao Bao and others before it was finally finalized.
Although Xu Dan is still unaware of the situation, the relationship between the two parties has eased a lot, and with Cao Bao personally coming forward, he will definitely not contradict Liu Bei's decision to send troops.
Besides, at this moment, even if he wanted to resist, he no longer had the strength.
The current situation can be said to be united, and both civil and military forces are eager to make meritorious deeds. They want to establish Liu Beijun's reputation in a battle.
Even Liu Bei himself was high-spirited and high-spirited when issuing orders.
When had Liu Xuande been so generous?
Can actually command tens of thousands of troops, allocate and distribute them, conduct multiple routes concurrently, and advance simultaneously by waterways.
Not to mention Liu Bei before, even after he settled in Xuzhou, he never dared to think of such a beautiful scene.
Liu Bei couldn't help but cast his eyes on Liu Feng, who was present and honest.
My Qilin son should have half of the credit.
As soon as the order was issued, all ministries were immediately mobilized and prepared for battle.
Tentatively set for March 15th, troops will be dispatched immediately. All ministries are not allowed to delay. Anyone who disobeys the order will be executed.
This plan is extremely confidential. Only the chief generals and necessary personnel of each department can be informed. Anyone who leaks the secret will be executed.
The time soon came to March 15th, and all the ministries had been mobilized intensively.
According to the strategic plan, Chen Deng took Zhang Fei's troops as the vanguard, Cao Bao as the follow-up, and Chen Deng personally led the troops from Xiapi County as the middle army. Zhao Yun and Xu Dan took the overland route and bypassed Jiqiu County. , rushed towards Kaiyang.
On the official road outside Jiqiu County, a large group of people raised up dust, which looked like a long snake from a distance.
On the Yi River in the distance, there are also many sails, heading towards Kaiyang.
Wu Dun was having lunch in the county government office at the moment. When he suddenly heard the report, he threw down his bowls and chopsticks and headed towards the city wall.
Wu Dun’s face turned pale when he climbed onto the city wall and saw the scene outside.
At this time, his troops have not been mobilized. If he wants to be ready and go out of the city to fight, it will take at least half an hour to start.
The opponent's troops marched arrogantly in front of him, seemingly not worried about being flanked.
When they reached the fork of the river, a group of 1,500 men from the main force formed an array to prevent Wu Dun from attacking halfway across the river. The remaining main force, with the support of the fleet, began to cross the river.
The river Zhao Yun and Xu Dan want to cross is not the Yishui River, but a small river called Ji Shui. This river bypasses Ji Qiu and connects the Yishui River and Shu River, but the water depth is very shallow. , only small boats can pass, but big boats cannot pass.
At this time, Zhao Yun formed a formation to prevent Wu Dun from attacking, while Xu Dan urged the troops to cross the river quickly.
Xu Dan, who is in the team, is a little confused now. Not long ago, the state government gave him an order to reorganize his troops and prepare to go south to Guangling.
But who knew that before setting off, they realized that the troops were going north, to Langya.
Xu Dan felt a little resentful, feeling that Liu Bei could not trust him.
Fortunately, he got an explanation from Zhang Jie. In the latter's eyes, Liu Bei's secrecy made him feel that Liu Bei could achieve great things.
If even a fight against Langya makes a big fuss, what big deal can it be?
As for whether he could trust himself, Zhang Ji couldn't help but criticize Xu Dan for being hypocritical.
When I asked you to take refuge quickly before, you said to think twice.
Now I am complaining that Liu Shijun cannot trust you.
You don’t even want to think about how you and Cao Bao treated Liu Bei when he came here earlier. Did he dare to believe you?
Fortunately, Zhang Lie's explanation made Xu Dan feel a lot better. After he got busy, he no longer had random thoughts.
Wu Dun's face was pale. He really didn't expect Liu Bei to go north in a big way.
It's not like Zang Ba and others haven't discussed how to treat Liu Bei.
The conclusion is that Liu Bei is not worthy of surrender.
Zang Ba and others agreed that Liu Bei's talents were mediocre, and he was not from a high-ranking family. He had been defeated many times by Yuan Shao and Cao Cao before. Such a person has neither reputation nor achievements, and lacks background. , how to make them tempted to place bets?
Furthermore, Zang Ba and others felt that Liu Bei might not be able to stand in Xuzhou. He should be deep in the quagmire now and miserable at the torment of Xuzhou scholars and Danyang sect.
Not to mention that Cao Cao is watching from the west and Yuan Shu is watching from the south.
These two people dreamed of swallowing up Xuzhou.
If you tell Zang Ba that Liu Bei will come to beat him, no matter how vigilant he is, he will never believe it.
Wu Dunshen agreed. Although he was still paying attention to the movements in the south, he was really not mentally prepared for a fight.
As a result, now others rushed directly under his eyes, preparing to cross the river to open the sun. "Captain, what should we do?"
Although Wu Dun only had a thousand men and horses under his command, he was a serious captain, as Tao Qian showed.
Wu Dun opened his mouth to say something, but looking at the pale faces and pleading eyes of his men, he couldn't say anything about his order to leave the city for a side attack.
On the opposite side, there were at least five to six thousand people. He only had a thousand troops, and the weapons were not complete.
Although the opponent is not much better, the number of people is five or six times that of our own side. How can we fight this battle?
“Defend by the city!”
In the end, the two words "leave the city" became the four words "defend the city". The men all breathed a sigh of relief and immediately agreed.
Wu Dun struggled a little in his heart, felt a little ashamed, and felt that he was sorry for his eldest brother Zang Ba.
I think that when I followed my eldest brother, I dared to charge into the Yellow Turban formation with hundreds of thousands of people. But now, only a few thousand people have dared to leave the city to attack them.
But soon, Wu Dun’s guilt disappeared.
Because a lot of dust was raised in the distance, Guan Yu's troops also followed closely.
Wu Dun no longer felt any shame or struggle in his heart. He was sweating coldly and was just glad that he had been calm just now.
Otherwise, if we were attacked from the front and back at this moment, I am afraid that the whole army would be annihilated.
After Guan Yu arrived, he quickly detached a force of troops to cover Zhao Yun's troops, while the latter began to withdraw his troops, taking over from Zhang Lie's troops who had already crossed the river, and continued to cross the river.
After Guan Yu's main force arrived, he did not besiege Jiqiu City with three gates. Instead, he chose the method of surrounding three gates and missing one. He only blocked two city gates and let go of the last one. The city gate facing north was intended to shake the defenders' fighting spirit.
Guan Yu's decision was effective. People in the city were panicked, and Wu Dun's army was also shaken.
They only saw tens of thousands of people on land.
As the saying goes, if there are thousands of people, they will fill the mountains and plains.
Looking out from the top of the city, it seemed that Liu Bei's army was all in front of him, a sea of people, not to mention that the large fleet of ships must also be transporting Liu Bei's army.
Wu Dun felt numb. Where did his eldest brother get the information that Liu Bei could not stand in Xuzhou?
Liu Bei had just entered Xuzhou a few months ago, and he could already easily mobilize 20,000 to 30,000 people to go on an expedition. Does this look like he is planning to run away?
Brother, you misunderstood me!
Fortunately, the main backbone and grass-roots officers in Wu Dun's army are all his loyal soldiers and rural party members. Otherwise, because of the scene in front of him, he might have rebelled against the army in the city, so he would have been kidnapped and taken away. Bounty.
Guan Yu's troops surrounded Jiqiu step by step and sent envoys to the city.
Wu Dun had no intention of seeing it, but he was afraid of irritating his soldiers and causing them to rebel directly, so he still had someone open the city gate and bring the envoy in.
Surrender is not allowed. Wu Dun is also a man. He has made an agreement with brother Xuan Gao to live and die together. If a person has no faith, he cannot stand, so how can he break his promise?
Let's first listen to what this guy has to say before making any calculations.
After the envoy arrived, he didn’t hesitate and went straight to the point.
Liu Bei sent troops for the sake of Xuzhou's righteousness. Zang Ba, the cavalry captain, refused to follow the state capital and separatist the local area, which was tantamount to rebellion.
Liu Bei sent envoys several times to teach him, but Zang Ba turned a blind eye and did his own thing.
Now that Liu Bei had taken over as the governor of the state, he could not just sit back and do nothing, so he sent troops to conquer.
The envoy also specifically stated that if Wu Dun had no knowledge, he would be innocent and could open the city, surrender his weapons, and resume his duties.
There are also rewards after the war.
In fact, it was a step down for Wu Dun's surrender, and he turned against the enemy and made meritorious service. The treatment was quite generous.
Wu Dun's face was pale. As he said just now, he must not surrender, and he must not lose his loyalty.
If you want to defend the city, not to mention that Qiucheng’s walls are short and suffered from military disasters before. There are several large gaps in the city wall, and the two city gates were temporarily repaired. They cannot withstand the collision of vehicles. , it’s really impossible to keep it.
If Wu Dun forces the city to be defended, it is estimated that the city will be destroyed in less than half a day.
There is no other way, just run away.
Anyway, Zang Ba had told him before that if things were not harmonious, he would just retreat and go back to Kaiyang to join him.
Therefore, although Wu Dunming knew that the northern city gate might be a trap, at this point, he did not want to wait for death and could only take the risk.
However, he did not run away directly. Instead, he first asked the envoy to question him to delay time, and at the same time asked the soldiers to quietly gather his confidants and hide at the north gate.
Then he found an excuse to escape from the golden cicada's shell, and ran out of the north gate with more than 300 close friends.
By the time the envoy reacted, he and the more than 600 cannon fodder left behind were the only ones left in the city.
The envoy hurriedly comforted Wu Dun's defeated troops who were left behind, and at the same time notified Guan Yu outside the city, asking him to send troops into the city to maintain order.
Guan Yu was overjoyed when he got the reward.
This is the first time he has led an army alone and is a senior official.
Although he was only a partial master, Guan Yu was still under great pressure.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the war started, Qiucheng fell without a fight, and most of his mission was completed, which made him very happy.
Lu Su was also very happy, but he did not forget his duty and said: "General, you can quickly order one of the troops to enter the city to appease the people, and then punish the other to pursue Wu Dun. If you can Capturing him alive is a great achievement."
"Okay, okay!"
Guan Yu's face became more rosy, he nodded at Lu Su, and then said: " Guorang, you personally lead the troops into the city to maintain order. Anyone who harasses the people or robs will be killed without mercy.”
"Yes!"
Tian Yu stood up to accept the order, turned around and left, ordering his troops to enter the city.
Afterwards, Guan Yu said to Zhang Lie: "Zhang Sima, you can lead your troops to pursue Wu Dun. It will be a credit to drive him away. If you can capture him alive, it will be a great achievement."< br>
Zhang Jie felt happy and quickly stood up to receive the order.
“Sima will remember what Cai Lu said to the army just now, if you capture someone alive, you should treat him with courtesy and send him to the general immediately.”
"Yes, General!"
He thought Tian Yu had gained weight just now, but he didn't expect that his task was not bad. General Guan was a kind man.
In fact, according to the system of the Han Dynasty, only those above Zhonglang Jiang are qualified to be called generals.
But since the Dong Zhuo Rebellion, as long as you are more flattering, even the captain can be called a general, and the general of the lieutenant can be declared by the state and county.
But generally speaking, the current captains are still very valuable, and they are far from as bad as the Three Kingdoms period after the Jian'an year.
So, Zhang Lie summoned 1,500 people from his headquarters and chased Wu Dun's ass.
Although the other party left early, Xu Dan's headquarters had fifty cavalry. Because Zhang lied about taking the land route, they all were left to him. They came in handy at this time, so it was not all hopeless.
Not to mention that Tian Yu led troops into the city, collected more than 600 surrendered troops abandoned by Wu Dun, and then maintained order in the city.
Wu Dun also had some abilities. He took in refugees near Jiqiu, restored people's livelihood, encouraged farming, and rejuvenated the war-torn land.
There are not many people in the city, but there are hundreds of them, mainly serving Wu Dun's tribe and cultivating the land outside Jiqiu City.
After Tian Yu entered the city, he pacified the people, took in the surrendered soldiers, posted notices, and appeased the people. The city soon settled down.
After Guan Yu received the report, he ordered the main force to enter the city.
There are many houses in Jiqiu City that can be used for garrisoning large armies, which saves the hard work and inconvenience of camping in the wild.
After entering the city, Guan Yu arranged for messengers to report the battle situation to the commander Chen Deng and the lord of Tancheng, Liu Bei. Then he named the Donghai County soldiers and his own headquarters, preparing to continue northward after lunch and join Chen Deng to encircle Kaiyang. .
That is, Qiucheng will be entrusted to Tian Yu, who will be responsible for its defense and use it as the army's forward base.
After Zhang Jie comes back, regardless of whether he captures Wu Dun or not, he will continue to go north to chase Guan Yu.
These are all plans that have been specified in advance. You only need to follow them without worrying about asking for orders.
On the other side, Governor Chen Deng’s army continued to move northward. Although it was going against the current, its speed was not slow at all.
In the afternoon of that day, Chen Deng's troops had appeared on the river outside Kaiyang City.
According to the scheduled plan, Chen Deng's fleet was divided into two parts, with Zhang Fei's and Chen Deng's troops on the left, and they landed on the right side of Kaiyang City. On the right, Cao Bao's troops landed on the left side of Kaiyang City.
Then set up camp according to the terrain that has been surveyed, cut off Kaiyang's external communication channels, and then wait for Xu Dan and Zhao Yun to arrive and rendezvous the next day.
When Chen Deng’s fleet appeared, the same thing happened in Kaiyang.
(End of this chapter)