Chapter 211: Arrogance
Zhang Liao's initiative to lower his military rank suddenly made everyone present feel good about him. As the lord, Liu Bei not only had a good impression of him, but also felt a lot of guilt.
Zhang Liao's lieutenant general was rewarded for his participation in the execution of Dong.
Although Zhang Liao did not actually participate in the core affairs during the action to kill Dong.
Qin Yi, Chen Wei and others were much more involved than him.
But Zhang Liao, as the nominal and de facto second-in-command of the Bingzhou Army, did not even get a Tinghou after executing Dong, which is enough to prove how low Lu Bu's political acumen and emotional intelligence were.
If it were Liu Feng, even if he was demoted to a rural prince, or even a pavilion prince, he would still have to get a title for his second-in-command.
And the situation at that time was that as long as Lu Bu was not involved in politics, Wang Yun was almost obedient to him, willing to give him any name or money. Even the title of Marquis of Wen was given to Lu Bu by Wang Yun.
Getting a title for Zhang Liao was not a joke, but Lu Bu had no such idea.
In the end, Zhang Liao only gained one Zhonglang general from his great success in killing Dong.
Although this Zhonglang general is extraordinary and has extremely high gold content. He is a Zhonglang general who was officially dismissed by the central court. He is simply not comparable to the parallel imports from places like Cao Bao.
Whether it is in terms of meaning or value, this Zhonglang general is extremely important to Zhang Liao. But now he said he didn't want it, and Liu Feng was amazed by his emotional intelligence and courage.
Liu Bei hesitated and said: "This is too unfair to Wen Yuan."
"Why did Ming Gong say this? It is a blessing for Liao to be favored by Ming Gong. "Come here to express your grievances."
Zhang Liao looked at Liu Bei with a sincere look on his face: "What's more, the abilities of Guan, Zhang, Taishi and other brothers are superior to those of Liao. How can a certain person be able to general himself as a lieutenant?" Where? It’s better to accept the appointment of Ming Gong as a lieutenant.”
Pan Zhang blinked, feeling that Zhang Liao had missed someone in his words.
But when I think about it carefully, I am indeed younger than Zhang Liao. It seems that he is the elder brother as they say.
"Great kindness!"
Liu Bei was extremely satisfied. The Zhonglang general given by the Zhang Liao court had a rank of two thousand stones. In fact, he was already as good as Zhou Mu in military positions. of.
Zhang Liao can take the initiative to lower his military rank, which is more conducive to Liu Bei's leadership.
Liu Bei made a decision and said: "In that case, for the time being, Wen Yuan will be wronged as the captain of the broken formation. If he has merit in the future, he will be promoted to the rank of Zhonglang General."
Zhang Liao immediately thanked him: "Thank you Minggong!"
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Cao Cao leaned on the desk, his eyes fell on the letter on the desk, and he stroked his beard with his right hand and pinched it unconsciously, his expression changed. , sometimes ferocious, sometimes sad, sometimes angry, sometimes sad, mixed with occasional flashes of joy.
There are two letters in total on the case table, one of which is written by Liu Bei, the shepherd of Xuzhou, who is willing to redeem Zhang Miao's brother Zhang Chao and the Zhang family members with 20,000 shi of grain, and begs Cao Cao to show his kindness and release Zhang. A way out for the family.
The other letter was from Zhang Miao, the culprit.
This letter is full of guilt and apology, repenting for his back-stabbing of Cao Cao, apologizing to Cao Cao and reminiscing about many of the friendships he had with Cao Cao in the past, and finally analyzing the root cause of his wrongdoings. But he was afraid that Cao Cao would obey Yuan Shao and assassinate him.
When he first saw Zhang Miao's letter, Cao Cao almost tore it up.
But in the end, Cao Cao read the entire letter.
Only then did he know why Zhang Miao betrayed him.
It turned out that Yuan Shao had sent people to hint and even force himself to kill Zhang Miao several times. He thought he had hidden it well, but who would have thought that Zhang Miao actually knew everything about it.
Cao Cao was afraid that Zhang Miao would have wild thoughts after knowing it, so he wanted to suppress the matter. This actually aroused Zhang Miao's vigilance, thinking that Cao Cao was about to attack him.
At this time, Chen Gonglai immediately hit it off and welcomed Lu Bu into Yanzhou, setting off a massive rebellion.
Cao Cao felt very uncomfortable. He had very delicate emotions and was suspicious by nature. There were not many people he could trust. Now he was betrayed by Zhang Miao, which made Cao Cao even more suspicious.
But now, after seeing Zhang Miao's begging letter and Liu Bei's pleading letter, Cao Cao became a little soft-hearted again.
Yes, Cao Cao's own character is also to accept softness rather than hardness.
But Liu Bei himself was always low-key and humble. In addition, Zhang Miao felt guilty, and his family had the blame on Cao Cao.
So the posture of both letters was quite low. Not to mention Zhang Miao, even Liu Bei had an attitude of asking for help. This greatly satisfied Cao Cao's vanity and made him respect Zhang Miao. There was a subtle change in the hatred.
There are fewer and fewer old friends from the past, and Zhang Miao is one of the only few.
The other party not only begged for mercy and repented, but even refused the official position of Chenliu Prefect. From this point of view, Cao Cao judged that the other party's begging for mercy was sincere, and Liu Bei's plea was no problem.
After all, as long as you are careful, the position of Governor Chenliu can do a lot of things, how can you give up so easily.
Once there was no resentment, the past kindness resurfaced, and Cao Cao couldn't help but start to soften.
It wasn't until Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, and Xi Zhicai came outside asking for permission that Cao Cao, who was addicted to the past, suddenly woke up.
After Xun Yu and the others sat down, they saw that Cao Cao did not speak.
The three of them looked at each other, and Xun Yu took the initiative to ask: "Ming Gong, I wonder why you summoned us?"
After Cao Cao glanced at Xun Yu, he pointed to the document on the desk and said, "Wen Ruo, this letter is written by Liu Bei. You can take a look first."
Xun Yu and the others were shocked. They looked at each other quietly again.
Historically, the relationship between these three people was quite good.
Xi Zhicai and Xun Yu were fellow townsmen and close friends. The dramatist Xi Zhicai worked for was a younger brother of the Xun family. Xi Zhicai himself was also a military advisor recommended to Cao Cao by Xun Yu.
As for Cheng Yu, although he is not from Yuzhou, but from Yanzhou, his butt is crooked. He habitually sits with people from Yuzhou, especially he has a good relationship with Xun Yu. , the two also joined forces to save the last three counties for Cao Cao during the Yanzhou Rebellion.
After Xun Yu read the letter sent by Liu Bei, he forwarded it to Cheng Yu, and finally it fell into the hands of Xi Zhicai.
For Liu Bei's letter, the three people present had only one thought, and that was to support it.
Even Cheng Yu, who had the lowest bottom line, couldn't stand Cao Cao's overly cruel character.
To massacre the city at every turn will have a huge negative impact on the reputation.
Let alone Xuzhou, now even Yanzhou has been massacred by Cao Cao. Although the people of Yanzhou have surrendered to Cao Cao again, the feud between the two sides is dead.
During the future Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shaona received so many letters of surrender from Litong, a large part of which was the result of this cause.
This letter sent by Liu Bei was to intercede on Zhang Miao's behalf, begging Cao Cao to let Zhang Miao's brother Zhang Chao and his family go, and let them hand over Yongqiu City while he moved to Xuzhou.
Xun Yu and others quite agree with this suggestion.
Just from Cao Cao's perspective, this matter is not so easy to solve.
Don't look at Cao Cao clamoring to kill Chen Gong, just say hello every day, I am Shalu.
But in fact, it was Zhang Miao who appeared the least frequently who really made Cao Cao hate him and wanted to annihilate the three clans.
As much as he once loved Zhang Miao, Cao Cao now felt so much hatred in his heart.
"Ming Gong, what Liu Shijun said is very reasonable. Why don't you adopt it?"
In the end, Xun Yu was the first to persuade. After all, he was the only one with a more detached status. , Cheng Yu is inferior to him, let alone Xi Zhicai.
Cao Cao smiled coldly and said: "Zhang Chao, I swear to kill him! The expedition to Yongqiu is about to start next month. Liu Xuande wants to retreat from me with a few empty words. Isn't it just a dream?"
Cheng Yu felt relieved. He was most afraid that Cao Cao would not speak. As long as you speak, we can figure out what you are thinking.
"I believe that I should obey the law."
Cao Cao turned his head sharply and stared at Cheng Yu fiercely.
The latter said calmly: "I have three reasons. First, Liu Shijun promised to assist our state with 20,000 dan of food. How can such a generous gift be regarded as empty talk? Second, Zhang Miao is a lost dog. Even if Ming Gong lets him live, it will not harm the overall situation..."
"Huh?"
Cao Cao snorted, obviously a little dissatisfied.
Cheng Yu said calmly: "Thirdly, Mao Xiao first offered Ming Gong a plan to serve the emperor to make him disloyal. The most important thing now is to go west to welcome the emperor, rather than to attack Yong. At the foot of Qiucheng, it is not like being at odds with Xuzhou. "
"There is a saying that things should be prioritized, and the important should be prioritized first."
Mao Xiaoxian was called by Cao Cao in 192. Mao Jie, who was engaged in Zhengpi's governance, was the first to offer Cao Cao the strategy of serving the emperor and ordering disobedience. What is completely different from what many people imagine is that most of the counselors and officials in Cao Cao's camp are opposed to this strategy. Only Xun Yu, Cheng Yu and Xi Zhi firmly support it.
This is exactly the opposite of Yuan Shao's camp. Most people on Yuan Shao's side support the strategy of coercing the emperor to control the princes. Even Yuan Shao himself was tempted for a time.
But in the end, Yuan Shao chose to give up because of his own inner demons.
Strictly speaking, Yuan Shao belonged to the faction of the young emperor Liu Bian. He did not even recognize Liu Xie as the emperor. He once wanted to support Liu Yu as emperor, which shows the bad relationship between him and Liu Xie.
This is not only because of personal preference, but also the political stance of the Yuan family.
From the very beginning, the Yuan family opposed the abolition of elders and the establishment of young ones, supported the general He Jin and opposed Dong Zhuo's abolition of the emperor.
No matter how reactionary and rebellious Dong Zhuo was, Yuan Shao himself stood firmly opposite Liu Xie.
Asking him to serve the emperor and disobey him would be like slapping himself in the face first, and he also had a strong worry in his heart, that is, what should he do once the Hebei faction and Xiandi merged?
Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are completely different. Although they have their brightest moments on the battlefield, their military capabilities are not on the same level at all. Moreover, Yuan Shao, like Liu Bei, had a huge flaw, which was the lack of kin assistance.
Liu Bei's relatives did not dare to raise an army at all, and they were honest and powerful in Zhuozhou.
For Yuan Shao, most of his relatives either died in Chang'an or sided with Yuan Shu, leaving him with almost no relatives to help him.
Cao Cao had a clan that controlled military power, and he was extremely capable of fighting. He could also check and balance royalists like Xun Yu.
What should Yuan Shao do?
As mentioned earlier, people like Jushou and Shenpei are not just counselors, they are Confucian generals who truly lead troops, with tens of thousands of troops under their command.
The judges even have powerful private soldiers.
Once these people unite with Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao will be completely redundant.
Many people think that Yuan Shao is too stupid to understand the benefits of welcoming the emperor.
But in fact, they could not see the huge risks of Yuan Shao welcoming the emperor.
Yuan Shao himself was a member of the Hebei faction who relied on Jizhou Mu to suppress him. Once Emperor Xian came, all he needed was to promote Yuan Shao to the rank of Third Duke, and then give Jizhou Mu to Jushou, Tian Feng and other Hebei Scholars, Yuan Shao may not even have the strength to resist, so he was ignored.
Because the people in charge of the troops under Yuan Shao are all nobles, not the clan.
This is much worse than Cao Cao's situation, which is equivalent to fast forwarding to the stage of Sima Yi's commanding troops.
Not to mention Geng Bao's temptation, this incident fully proved that Yuan Shao's nobles had never supported him as emperor.
So, Yuan Shao's suspicions and concerns are very reasonable.
What’s interesting is that in Cao Cao’s camp, those who supported Feng Tianzi to order the princes became a minority, and most people opposed this strategy. Still exactly the same as Yuan Shaochu, Cao Cao also fought against all opinions, and the majority obeyed the minority, and finally chose this strategy.
Later facts proved that Xun Yu, Mao Jie and others were all royalists. They were actually the same type of people as Ju Shuo and Tian Feng in Hebei. Their political program was all for the sake of the gentry, and their abilities and moral standards were several, even a dozen or so ranks higher than those of the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
Cao Cao turned his attention to Cheng Yu and confirmed with a steady voice, without showing emotion: "Does Zhongde want to persuade me to let the Zhang family go?"
Cheng Yu seemed not to feel the pressure, and replied without any panic: "Exactly. If Ming Gong agrees to Liu Shijun, not only will he get 20,000 stones of military rations for free, but he will not waste time in Yongqiu. , we can directly send troops to the west to meet the emperor in Hedong. In this way, great things can be accomplished!"
"Ming Gong, I am not the only one in Yanzhou who can meet the emperor. It's much more convenient and faster than what I'm waiting for in Henan, so we have to be careful."
When Cheng Yu said this sentence about Hebei Yuan Benchu, Cao Cao's hands shook and he accidentally tore off a few beards, which hurt. He almost screamed.
After enduring the pain, Cao Cao groaned angrily: "In that case, can we only give him an advantage?"
Only at this time did Xi Zhicai say: "Ming Gong, Now that Xu Qiang is weak, it is not good for me to have a rash conflict. I can only wait for the emperor to find opportunities to weaken Xuzhou."
"In this case, we can only give him an advantage."
Cao Cao said bitterly: "I will repair Xuande and let him transport the grain as soon as possible. At the same time, let the Zhang Miao tribe leave Yongqiu as soon as possible. Within ten days , I want to take back Yongqiu. "
"By the way, the food in Yongqiu must be kept. Zhang Chao and others can advance the rations for fifteen days, seal up all the remaining food, and let Cao Ren enter the city to get an overview. Mobilize Cao Hong to lead 4,000 elite troops, advance westward first, control the Xingyang and Chenggao lines, and wait for the army to follow."
Following that, Cao Cao said to Xi Zhicai: "Zhicai, Xuande Yanxu. Hua Tuo, the miracle doctor of Yu, has stayed in Tancheng. I have asked him before to allow you to go to Xuzhou for treatment. There can be no further delay in treating your illness. The arrangements have been made. You can meet Xu Shisun Qian tomorrow. And set off for Tancheng. "
Historically, Xi Zhicai died in the first year of Jian'an. Although Cao Cao could not know this, he was very worried when he saw that Xi Zhicai's condition worsened.
This was also the condition that tempted Cao Cao the most, besides the 20,000 shi of grain and Zhang Miao's handwritten letter begging for mercy and repentance.
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In Yongqiu County, Chenliu County, Yanzhou, Zhang Chao stood on the city wall and looked at Cao Jun's camp outside the city.
Cao Ren and Cao Hongxian led eight thousand soldiers and horses to begin the siege.
According to the rules of Cao Cao's army, there is no mercy for siege. Once Cao Cao's main force arrives and besieges the last city gate, Yongqiu County will no longer have a chance to surrender.
After entering December, the weather became colder, and the food in Yongqiu City was only enough for three months, which made Zhang Chao worried.
Even if Cao’s army does not attack the city, what will happen if they run out of food in three months?
I don’t know if my brother can move to rescue the troops, or when Ziyuan’s troops will arrive at Yongqiu.
While Zhang Chao was thinking wildly, Zhang Chao's subordinates Wang Yuan, Zhang Qian and others came over and comforted him: "My lord, what are you looking at? It's windy on the city wall, so don't stand for a long time. Let's go down to the tower first."
Zhang Chao sighed and pointed outside the city: "The only one who can save me is Ziyuan. If Ziyuan comes to save me, he should come from here."
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Wang Yuan and Zhang Gan looked at each other with disbelief on their faces.
The part of Dongjun where Zang Hong is located is the area north of the Yellow River. It is at least seven or eight hundred miles away from Yongqiu. Even if Zang Hong wants to save them, Cao Cao's territory is along the way. How can Zang Hong still fly? Can't come over?
At this moment, two riders suddenly galloped out of Cao’s camp in the distance and headed towards the city wall, shouting: "I am an envoy, I am not allowed to shoot arrows."
Zhang Chao was surprised at first, and then asked suspiciously: "Cao Jun envoy? Are you here to persuade him to surrender?"
Both Zhang Qian and Wang Yuan shook their heads.
"Let's go down to the city tower and have a look."
Zhang Chao took the lead and ordered the envoys of Cao Jun to be released into the camp while rushing to the city gate, while other generals followed Zhang Chao.
When he arrived at the city gate, the two riders had already entered the city.
When one of them saw Zhang Chao, he shouted: "Lang Jun, Lang Jun! I am Zhang Qian."
Hearing this man shouting, Zhang Chao immediately recognized him , this person is Zhang Miao's close confidant.
Zhang Chao asked repeatedly: "Why are you here? How is my brother? Why are you in Cao's camp?"
"Lang Jun, the Dalang Jun has a letter here, asking you to go to Xuzhou to fight with Cao Cao. He meets up."
The servant took out the letter from his arms and handed it to Zhang Qian.
Zhang Qian checked it and found nothing unusual, then handed it to Zhang Chao.
Opening the letter and reading it, Zhang Chao understood the whole story.
It turned out that it was his brother who asked Xuzhou Ambassador Liu to come forward, and finally persuaded Cao Mengde to let him and his family live.
Cao Cao gave the order and allowed Zhang Chao and the Zhang family to leave for Xuzhou. However, no one from Yongqiu was allowed to leave. The Zhang family was only allowed to bring personal belongings. In addition to necessary rations, other food items were also not allowed. Gotta stay.
These conditions are extremely harsh, but compared to being massacred, it is simply too lucky.
After reading the letter, Zhang Chao breathed a sigh of relief.
Just keep some food, as long as you are allowed to take the goods away.
Zhang Miao is one of the eight chefs. A chef is said to be able to save people with wealth.
How could Zhang Miao have so little money? The Zhang family is at least a wealthy businessman in the country, with countless money.
Both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were very envious of the Zhang family's property. Now these properties have long been transferred from the State of Lu to Chenliuzhong, right here in Yongqiu City.
How can Zhang Chao be willing to give up?
So, Zhang Chao immediately prepared a large number of vehicles, leaving all the food behind, taking only half a month's rations. The rest of the vehicles were filled with gold and silver goods, and began the great migration towards Xuzhou.
(End of this chapter)