Chapter 160: Strong on the outside and soft on the inside
Liu Bei was writing a letter to his elder brother at this time, quite contented with his ambition.
Because Tao Qian spent tens of millions of money from Xuzhou's treasury, millions of stones of grain, and what 300 to 50,000 to 50,000 elite soldiers could not do, Liu Bei did it.
That is the Greater Xuzhou Plan.
For the Great Xuzhou Plan, Tao Qian almost drained the Xuzhou treasury, and even formed several alliances with such great momentum that he was almost on the verge of success.
But Tao Qian had forgotten that fighting in troubled times ultimately came down to fists, who could fight better.
Everything you have done before is just to weaken the opponent's combat effectiveness and increase your own combat effectiveness.
As long as you can't win without bloodshed and without a fight, you will have to go through a battle in the end to determine the final winner.
But he, Tao Qian, was far from Cao Cao's opponent, and he was ultimately defeated and ended dismally.
As mentioned before, Xuzhou is actually a plain land, which is easy to attack and difficult to defend. Only a few strongholds can protect itself.
When facing Qingzhou in the north, it must rely on the two river canyons formed by Yishui River and Shushui River, and it is shielded by Wulian Mountain next to it.
If you want to enter Xuzhou from Qingzhou, there is only one best way, which is to take the valley between the two canyons. Not only is the road here smooth, but the land is also very fertile, producing a lot of food, and it can also be used to support war.
The Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army went south to Xuzhou and chose this route. It was also defeated by Zang Ba at the Lianghe Canyon near the border of Qingzhou and Xuzhou.
Historically, Liu Bei was later defeated by Cao Cao. After even his second master was thrown away, he fled north from here to Qingzhou, then to Hebei, and defected to Yuan Shao. This shows the importance of this road.
Of course, in addition to this road, there was another road at that time, which was the coastal passage.
However, because the coastal areas at this time had not yet been washed out of the plains, the coastal passage roads were rugged and narrow, and some low-lying areas were often submerged during high tide, making it difficult for the army to pass.
This is one of the two major dangers in the northern border of Xuzhou.
The second most dangerous obstacle in the north is also in Langya County, located in Kaiyang.
On the left side of Kaiyang are two mountains and one river.
The two mountains are Meng Mountain and Niqiu Mountain, the latter is also the source of Confucius’ name.
It was because of Niqiu Mountain that Confucius’ parents named Confucius Kongqiu. What is ironic is that after Confucius became famous, the corrupt Confucianists changed the name of Niqiu Mountain to Nishan. To avoid Confucius' taboos, this is really stupid.
Both Mengshan Mountain and Nishan Mountain are aligned from east to west, and they are almost parallel. Between the two mountains, there is a passage of about ten kilometers at the widest point from north to south, and it is also accompanied by Wushui. It is simply the best choice for marching armies.
To the north of Mengshan Mountain, there is also the north-south Yishan Mountain, which is a rare obstacle.
In the first year of Xingping, Cao Cao invaded Xuzhou for the second time. The army followed this path.
Kaiyang is at this point. As long as Kaiyang is defended, the waterway supply for the army going south can be blocked. In fact, Cao Cao was unable to encircle Tancheng because he failed to capture Kaiyang, which prevented him from using waterways to obtain supplies.
Moreover, Wushui can also connect Lu State and Lu County. Although there is a missing section in the middle and cannot be connected with Surabaya, this road is also an important passage from Tancheng to Lu County. It is suitable for large armies to pass and its status is quite high.
Therefore, Liu Bei's next goal is to find a way to capture the four counties of Feixian, Huaxian, Nanwuyang and Nancheng in Taishan County south of Mengshan Mountain. Then Xuzhou's entire northern defense line will be completely integrated. One body, hundreds of miles deep, no longer something Cao Cao could penetrate casually.
In the past, Tao Qian only wanted to get Fei County and Hua County, and use them as a stronghold to block the valley passages of Mengshan and Nishan.
Now Liu Bei has directly captured the state of Lu. This is much more perfect than the dream territory that Tao Qian worked hard to manage in the past.
On the west side, the capture of Rencheng State and the upper corner of Pei State completed the terrain of Pengcheng State.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Pei State, as the birthplace of the old Liu family, was a rather large county with jurisdiction over twenty-nine counties. It was a behemoth.
However, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Pei State was ceded to a large area of land to surrounding counties, reducing it to only 21 counties, and its shape also changed into a strange three-fan state.
The three fan blades gather most of the county and are divided into three parts: northwest and south.
In the north, with Junzhixiang County as the core, there are six counties, which are closely related to the three countries of Lu, Rencheng, Pengcheng and Shanyang County.
Especially Pengcheng. If you get this northern part, you can rely on Feng, Pei and other counties to cover Pengcheng and advance into the Central Plains.
The fan leaf in the west is centered on Qiao County, and there are also six counties. Most of them are integrated with the Liang Kingdom and the Chen Kingdom, forming horns with each other. Between each other, there is a dense network of rivers, connected by eddies.
The southern fan leaf is centered on Qixian County, which was governed by Peijun County in the Western Han Dynasty. Generally speaking, it has a deep connection with Xiapi and Jiujiang.
The entire Pei Kingdom does not have a centripetal force. Geographically, it is more inclined to other surrounding counties. This can be regarded as the essence of the division of counties in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Now, Rencheng and the state of Lu have been captured by Liu Bei, and the northern part of the state of Pei is within his grasp as long as Chen Gui is reinstated. Xuzhou will no longer be easy to attack and difficult to defend in the past.
And all this is just what Liu Bei gained this time when he led ten thousand troops and sent troops to the Lu Kingdom.
How could this not make Liu Bei complacent and complacent.
Unfortunately, as Feng'er said, Xuzhou's military strength is still too small.
If Xuzhou really has 100,000 strong soldiers, not only can it engulf the entire Pei Kingdom, but also key places such as Liang Kingdom and Shanyang County can be easily captured.
Another 30,000 elite soldiers were sent south from Peixian County to Jiujiang. The second brother brought 4,000 elite soldiers out of Dongcheng, and Feng Er brought 10,000 elite soldiers up the river to attack Liyang.
At that time, the dead bones in the tomb can be captured in one battle.
Kong Wenju is truly a wonderful man.
Unfortunately, I have no troops and food, so I can only temporarily withdraw my troops and return to Tancheng.
While Liu Bei was feeling satisfied and complacent, he wrote a letter to his son to praise his achievements.
Cao Cao was really furious in Juancheng.
"Guo Gong pretends to be a famous scholar. He first came from Liangzhou and worked as a running dog of the rebels. Now he is attached to Da'er. What virtues and abilities does he have, and he can also serve as the prime minister of our state?"
Cao Cao angrily drew his sword in his hand. If Guo Gong had been in front of him, he would have cut him into more than a dozen pieces.
Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, Xi Zhicai, Man Chong, Xiahou Dun, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Yu Jin and other close advisers and generals gathered in the hall at this time.
We were originally going to discuss the next stage of military operations, but we received the latest changes in the situation.
I learned that after Liu Bei defeated Guo Gong and captured Lu, he actually let Guo Gong go. Guo Gong seemed to have reached a peace treaty with Liu Bei, and in turn recommended Liu Bei's Cavalry Commander Zang. Ba was appointed as the Prime Minister of the city.
The importance of Rencheng State is unknown to everyone in the three states of Yan, Yu and Xu.
Rencheng itself is stuck in Surabaya, and on the other side of Nanyang Lake from Rencheng, there is a city named Kangfu, which also belongs to the Rencheng Kingdom.
This city is as important as Rencheng, blocking the access to Yanzhou.
On the map, this place is a plain, but in fact, there are swamps everywhere, and there is only a long and narrow channel that can pass through Kangfu.
In history, Cao Cao went here during his second expedition to Xuzhou, and after Lu Bu stole his home, he went here when he returned to aid.
At that time, Cao Cao still laughed at Lu Bu for not knowing how to fight. Chen Gongshao's plan was that if he arranged for an army to garrison Kangfu and then sent an elite force to seize Liangfu City in Taishan County, Cao Cao would not be able to go back. .
This is not an exaggeration, but there is really no going back.
At that time, Jiyin County and Shanyang County all rebelled.
If Cao Cao wants to go back to Yanzhou, he can only go back to Juancheng, Dong'a and Fan County. If he wants to go here, he can only go back to Kangfu and Liangfu.
Kang's father was the closest, while Liang's father went further away.
Lu Bu indeed has a serious lack of strategic vision, which has repeatedly screwed him up in history.
Therefore, Cao Cao's importance to Kang Fu is quite clear.
But now, Kangfu County and Rencheng Kingdom have fallen into Liu Bei's hands.
"Shameless and big-eared, it's because of your persuasion that I didn't send troops to Xuzhou to accuse him."
Cao Cao walked around in the hall with his sword, and from time to time he made false cuts. After a few moments, he really hated Liu Bei: "But this guy is ungrateful. Instead, he invaded my state and occupied my county. Do you really think that I, Cao Cao, is weak and incompetent?"
Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, Xi Zhicai, Man Chong and other civil servants and counselors all lowered their faces and remained silent.
Because for them, Renchengguo is important, but for now, it is just a disease of mustard moss, but Lu Bu and Chen Gong are the scourge.
As long as you, Cao Cao, don't change your goal, and you put down Lu Bu and Chen Gong, and turn to fight Liu Bei, then no matter how harsh you scold us, we won't say anything.
You can’t let your leader be so angry that you don’t even give him the right to vent, right?
Xiahou Dun was a little stunned. He didn't expect that the little brother who came to Qiao County in the past would be so ruthless and made Meng De so angry. When I first saw him, I thought he was a kind and kind person, but how could he become like this now?
Cao Ren didn't know Liu Bei. When Liu Bei went to Qiao County, Cao Ren had already gone south to become a bandit, and he also gathered a team of hundreds of people.
As for Cao Hong and Yu Jin, it was natural that Cao Cao obeyed his orders.
Cao Cao scolded Liu Bei for a long time, but he didn't have any new words. He could only attack Liu Bei for having big ears and selling straw sandals.
But Liu Bei doesn’t care.
However, Cao Cao was very rational this time. He scolded him but never mentioned turning around and attacking Xuzhou.
Are you kidding? You managed to severely injure Lu Bu. Why don't you take advantage of his illness to kill him and go attack Xuzhou, which has a strong army?
At the beginning of the year, it was thought that Xuzhou had just been taken over by Liu Bei. The state was unstable, people's mentality had changed, and there were no strong troops to guard it, so he wanted to capture Xuzhou as the foundation.
After six months, Liu Bei defeated Zang Ba in the north, captured Guangling in the south, and even defeated Guo Gong. He was no longer the weak general he was before.
After Cao Cao got tired of scolding, he threw his sword towards his seat, then sat back down and said to Cheng Yu: "Zhongde, it seems that you have to work hard again."< br>
Cheng Yu naturally understood what Cao Cao meant, and stood up to ask for instructions: "Ming Gong, if Liu Shijun makes any request, how should Yu respond?"
Cao Cao knew that Cheng Yu was asking for conditions from him.
Now that Yanzhou is on one side, Liu Bei must be appeased.
Otherwise, if Liu Bei is really crazy and goes to side with Lu Bu, even if it will anger Yuan Shao, Cao Cao has only one way to go: across the river.
Now that Liu Bei has captured Rencheng State, and Guo Gong is in Liang State, he indeed has the power and possibility to interfere with Yanzhou, so we must guard against it.
At this time, Cao Cao felt extremely aggrieved. How could Liu Bei's momentum rise so quickly?
If he hadn't personally led the team to sabotage Xuzhou, he would have thought that his generals had let themselves go.
Despite being depressed, Cheng Yu’s questions still need to be answered.
"I can appoint Zang Ba as the Prime Minister of the city in the name of Yanzhou Mu, but Xuande needs to promise me that he will not occupy my Yanzhou counties anymore, otherwise, Cao will personally lead the troops. Break it."
As the governor of Yanzhou, his performance is naturally more reasonable than Guo Gong, the governor of Yuzhou, and it also makes Zang Ba's appointment as the prime minister of the city more legitimate.
However, Cao Cao also kept an eye on it. Since it was he who appointed Zang Ba as the Prime Minister of the city, he could naturally win over Zang Ba, and he could also be transferred to Zang Ba in the future.
But in general, this is beneficial to Liu Bei and can be regarded as Cao Cao's concession and sincerity.
As for the future, it will naturally depend on who is strong and who is weak. In the end, strength will speak for itself.
But Cheng Yu was not satisfied. His brows were still furrowed. This condition was still too difficult.
Renchengguo is already in Liu Bei's pocket. If you take this as a benefit, you have to get Liu Bei to agree.
"Ming Gong, Rencheng City is already in Liu Shijun's hands. I'm afraid that Ming Gong's kindness may not be appreciated by Liu Shijun."
Cao Cao was also a little embarrassed, knowing that Cheng Yu was referring to Liu Bei, and he was clearly referring to himself.
But he couldn't think of any good moves for a while, so he could only humbly say: "Zhongde, you are the envoy, you can try your words."
Cheng Yuye You're welcome, he just raised his finger and said: "Hulu County."
When Cao Cao heard this, he immediately shook his head like a rattle.
Why did Cheng Yu want Hulu County, but Cao Cao refused to give it?
Because the location of this county is also extremely important.
It is on the opposite bank of Nanyang Lake, on one side of Kangfu County, and is also located at the intersection of Sishui, Nanshui, and Sishui in Nanyang Lake. It also connects Pei County, Liu County, and Pengcheng. thoroughfare.
If even Hulu County is given to Liu Bei, then Liu Bei will completely own Nanyang Lake and Weishan Lake, and Rencheng State will be completely integrated with Xuzhou, and there will no longer be any military exchanges with Xuzhou Any threat.
Therefore, Yanzhou will lose all the coastal cities located in Nanyang Lake, Weishan Lake and these lakes, and will also lose the support of the navy. The Xuzhou navy only needs to rely on Hulu and Rencheng, especially If it is Hulu, it can easily block the entrance to the lake, making it impossible for the Yanzhou navy to enter the lake.
How could Cao Cao be willing to give such important land.
He was reluctant to give it, but Cheng Yu dared to ask for it.
Because Cheng Yu understood that if he wanted to fulfill Cao Cao's mission requirements, if he didn't have something real to pack, it would most likely be a wasted trip.
Unless Liu Bei and his counselors are collectively insane, they will not take advantage of this moment to seize the land and lakes.
Take a step back, can't Liu Bei win Hulu?
How is this possible.
Hulu only had a few dozen local government officials and soldiers, not even county soldiers. How could they withstand Liu Bei's tiger and wolf army?
It's just that Liu Bei was still worried about Cao Cao and Yuan Shao behind Cao Cao, so he didn't take action.
"How can this happen? This place will never be given to me."
Cao Cao shook his head and refused, but found that Cheng Yu was at ease.
After Cao Cao looked at him, Cheng Yu calmly continued: "Ming Gong, not only Hulu will be given, but also Gaoping, Nanpingyang, Xiaqiu, as well as Feixian and Nanwuyang in Taishan County. , Nancheng and Huaxian ”
Cao Cao almost went crazy again when he saw Cheng Yu named a total of eight counties, all of which were located in key areas.
But at this time, Xun Yu stood up and worshiped: "Ming Gong, the most urgent task at this time is to appease Liu Xuzhou so that he cannot join forces with Lu Bu. Although these counties are important, they are not the priority now. . Ming Gong should sacrifice small gains for the overall situation."
Xun Yu is extremely smart. As soon as Cheng Yu finished speaking, he knew what the other party was thinking.
It is nothing more than wanting to advance but suppressing first.
I wanted to get enough chips but didn't use them in the end. Doesn't this show Cheng Yu's personal ability?
If all the bargaining chips were useless, he spent all his efforts and efforts to make contingency plans, and finally persuaded Liu Bei to give in.
Where is the credit?
No one can see it.
As the leader of the Yuzhou faction, Xun Yu is quite close to Cheng Yu.
Although Cheng Yu is a native of Yanzhou, he has always been puzzled by the locals.
After defecting to Cao Cao, he quickly and naturally drew closer to Xun Yu and became an important ally of the Yuzhou faction.
Xun Yu had to help with this.
And Xun Yu also thought that what Cheng Yu did was fine and reasonable.
So he took the initiative to express his position, which strengthened the rationality of Cheng Yu's request.
Following this, Cao Cao's mastermind Xi Zhicai also interjected: "Ming Gong can also declare that Liu Bei's people will be the magistrates of various counties, so as to sow discord between Liu and Lu. If it can lead to If they fight each other, they can even drive away tigers and devour wolves.”
Xi Zhi is an authentic Yuzhou sect, recommended by Xun Yu. The boss of his own sect has spoken out, so he cannot sit idly by and ignore it. Besides, what Xi Zhicai said is quite reasonable.
Let Cao Cao realize that whether it is Hulu or other counties, they are all cities under Lu Bu's command and have nothing to do with Cao Cao.
More importantly, once these are given to Liu Bei, the other party will be bordering Lu Bu and threaten Changyi, the commandery of Shanyang County.
At this time, Shanyang County and Jiyin County next door were both the territories of Lu Bu's die-hard supporters.
As Xi Zhicai said, if these counties can be used to provoke a conflict between Lu Bu and Liu Bei, then Cao Cao's attitude will be different.
Later generations knew that Cao Cao was about to defeat Lu Bu, but at that time, Cao Cao was still very worried.
So far, Cao Cao and Lu Bu are still at odds with each other. The target of this attack is Juye Strong City. There are celebrities inside and reinforcements outside, which is very difficult to fight.
Cao Cao sat in his seat with a drooped face and did not reply, as if he was deep in thought.
In fact, he could guess the thoughts of Cheng Yu and Xi Zhicai, and he could guess part of Xun Yu's thoughts.
Even as demanding as Cao Cao, I still feel that Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, and Xi Zhi are the ones who are mature enough to plan for the country. Some personal disputes are inevitable.
The most urgent task now is how to choose.
(End of this chapter)