In July of the second year of Taiwu.
After the fall of Zhu'a, it was also learned that Cao's army from Jinan was moving north from Jishui to increase troops in the plains, and launched strategic offensives from multiple fronts in Le'an and the plains, with the intention of eating away at the Taishan Army's barrier in the southeast of the river.
At that time, Marshal Guan Yu of the Taishan Army's Left Army had his own judgment on the situation.
In order to alleviate the deterioration of the situation, Guan Yu decided to carry out a proactive attack to reduce the pressure on Ding Sheng of Pingyuanjin.
In addition to ordering captains Guo Mo and Zhu Ying to snipe and intercept Cao's army in the Jinan direction in the Taishan area, Guan Yu also ordered the garrison troops from the Dongping Kingdom to enter Thailand one after another.
Most of Dongping Kingdom and Jibei Kingdom have basically been under the rule of the Taishan Army for three years. They have always been well-equipped with troops and food supplies, so they received Guan Yu's order from the Nanfu and hurriedly moved along the Wen River to Fenggao, Taishan County.
After Guan Yu commanded most of the marshal's troops from his left army to attack, these garrison troops took over the defense of the Fenggao area.
So Guan Yu, who had no worries, began to march towards the Zhu'a area, followed by the rescue of Tai Shi Ci and the aid of Guo Shu.
After defeating the Han army's ambush, Guan Yu led his entire army of 7,000 steps and 2,000 cavalry southward to attack Zhu'a.
Although the Zhu'ahan army captured Zhu'a City at that time, in fact there were still many Taishan troops with Zhu'a camp resisting in the vast countryside.
So most of the Han army went out of the city to level these dock walls.
So when Guan Yu led the mighty army southward, Zhu'a was recovered by Guan Yu again without any resistance.
Guo Shu, who went south with Guan Yu, was still a little frightened at first, always worried that he would be punished by Guan Yu for his mistake in losing the city. But Guan Yu did not deal with Guo Shu, but also entrusted him with important tasks.
Guan Yu still used Guo Shu as his Zhu'aling, and ordered him to collect the camp officials who were living in the countryside and let them repair in Zhu'al.
With Guo Shu's return to the Zhu'a area, the camp soldiers who were originally scattered in the field, such as Han Chang and others, returned one after another. They continued to recruit and reorganize local officials in Zhu'a, intending to cooperate with Guan Yu's next phase of action.
Because with the emergence of Guan Yu's mobile force of ten thousand people, especially at the node of Zhu'a, the war situation in the East has undergone tremendous changes.
At that time, Xiahou Dun, who was stationed in Licheng, learned that Guan Yu had appeared in Zhu'a. After repeatedly confirming the news, he dispatched his general Li Du to lead 500 Licheng soldiers to garrison the village outside the city. Wall, control the transportation artery Hetai.
There, Li Du will defend the west together with Qingzhou Yellow Turban and Le'an's powerful tribes.
On the other hand, Xiahou Dun kept most of his troops in the city to suppress the attack.
It turned out that the news of Guan Yu's appearance in Zhu'a spread to the city, and everyone in the city's family was panicked and wanted to abandon the city and leave.
At the same time, Licheng, as the hometown of Zhang Chong, the leader of the Taishan Army bandits, has a huge influence. Xiahou Dun was not sure how many people in the city had already connected with the Taishan Army, so he needed to keep most of his troops in the city.
Therefore, under such circumstances, Xiahou Dun informed Xun Yu in the rear:
"Qingzhou's military affairs are only sparse on the west road. Licheng is the gateway to Jinan, and Jinan is the throat of Qingzhou. However, it is difficult to defend Licheng. This place is a place where thieves flourish, and the common people are all bandits. ..."
In short, Quanshu means one thing, which is to ask for reinforcements.
But Xiahou Dun didn't know that Xun Yu didn't have any extra troops at this time.
After Cao Cao took 20,000 elite troops north to Pingyuanjin, Cao Cao's army was already empty of defenses in the hinterland of Jinan. Except for the presence of more than a thousand officials in Shanghai at various key routes into Mount Tai, there were no arrangements at all in the eastern part of Jinan.
Therefore, facing Xiahou Dun's letter asking for help, Xun Yu could only inform Xiahou Dun on the front line of the current military situation in Qingzhou:
"In terms of the overall situation, Licheng is related to Qingzhou's border, so it must not be lost. However, the military strength of the county government is exhausted, and there is really no reinforcements to send. At this time, we can only hold on to Licheng, and we will never be able to win decisively and invite war. Since ancient times, when defending a city, one must guard the stronghold. If the thieves advance westward, they will advance in separate directions. Yuan Rang can attack key points first and block them in front of each other, so that they cannot wait for gaps to rush in and support each other..."
On the one hand, Xun Yu emphasized the importance of Licheng, and on the other hand, he also gave Xiahou Dun on the front line military advice on fortifying the city step by step.
Xun Yu's meaning is very straightforward, which is to keep Guan Yu's troops out of Licheng and not allow them to break through, because the hinterland of Jinan is now empty. If Guan Yu's troops are allowed to run freely, the situation will be very bad.
However, Xun Yu did not put all the safety of Jinan on Xiahou Dun. He first ordered Bian Bing, Zhao Yan, and Xu Ding who were in Qi to withdraw their troops and return to Ji.
Bian Bing is Cao Cao's brother-in-law. He has been fighting with Cao Cao and is now in charge of the war between Qi and Beihai.
After the Yellow Turban uprising in Qingzhou, Beihai Kingdom's counties were actually in ruins, and powerful families formed strongholds to protect themselves.
So when Bian Bing's expeditionary army appeared near Beihai Kingdom, powerful and powerful names in the country came to join them one after another.
For example, Wang Xiu from Yingling in Beihai took 300 of his family members to defect to Cao's army. County officials Sun Shao, Shiyi, and Zhusheng Peng Qiu all joined Bian Bing.
In this process, Bing Yuan, who was also from Beihai, played a huge role.
Bing Yuan was originally the best scholar in the county, and he was a disciple of Zheng Xuan. Bing Yuan's letters introduced and communicated with him, which made the heroes of Beihai Kingdom know Cao Cao's ideas.
Although there are different opinions on his policy of eclectic use of talents, his military force can undoubtedly give each family in Beihai a sufficient sense of security.
So, for a time, the intelligence of Beihai was like a trickle, flowing into Cao's army.
Facing the southward march of Cao Jun and Bian Bing's army, Guan Hai in Beihai was unable to stop it. At a specific meeting, Guan Hai made a decision to fully transfer to Donglai.
The reason for this is because there is a base of the Taishan Army in Donglai. When you get there, you can join the Taishan Army and keep warm together.
Therefore, when Xun Yu's order was dismissed, Bian Bing's troops were already strong.
Knowing that the Taishan Army was about to advance from the direction of Licheng, Bian Bing left Zhao Yan to guard Beihai, and then commanded eight thousand troops to go north to support Dongping Ling.
But just when Xun Yu continued to mobilize troops from all parties to send to Licheng.
Bad news came, Licheng was lost.
At that time, Marshal Guan Yu of the Taishan Army's left army was reorganizing his troops in Zhu'a. In addition to his own fourteen infantry battalion heads and two cavalry regiments, he also had 2,000 men from Guo Shu's army.
Afterwards, Guan Yu divided his troops and marched westward, heading straight for Licheng along the Hetai Passage.
Li Du, who was guarding the first line of defense outside Licheng, was busy shrinking his troops to defend the most important barriers.
But when Guan Yu's troops appeared in front of Li Du's troops, a Taishan army emerged from behind the camp wall.
That was Guo Mo's tribe who had entered Mount Tai before. His troops followed the inaccessible mountain road of Mount Tai and penetrated directly behind the Han army's camp. In this way, when Guan Yu's main force appeared, Li Du inside the barrier was actually already being attacked from the front and back.
The damage caused by the front and back attacks at this time is not the actual result, but the psychological level.
The rear passage is the support passage between Li Du's troops and Licheng. Once the rear is intercepted, the morale of Li Du's troops plummets.
Especially since there are a large number of Qingzhou soldiers and Le'an powerful troops in Li Du's camp, the morale of the army is not high. Now that the food road is blocked, and Guan Yu is facing a heavy army, he is directly psychologically collapsed.
That night, a roar broke out in Li Du's camp and collapsed without a fight.
Without this, Li Du had no choice but to run eastward with the rebel army. In the end, he was ambushed by Guo Mo and surrounded and killed at the foot of Jiao Mountain.
Guo Mo was a powerful general of the Zuo Army. He learned that Li Du was the commander of the camp after obtaining Li Du's military card. Then he suddenly decided to disguise himself as a Han army and attack Licheng at night.
Licheng originally had no city walls. After Xiahou Dun took control of Licheng, he began to carry out large-scale construction work, building city walls and surrounding docks and barriers.
When Guo Mo made a light attack on Licheng, Xiahou Dun also got the news that Li Du's outer fortress was besieged, so he led 4,000 elite troops out of the city to rescue. But Guo Mo's light troops went straight and took a small path, just missing Xiahou Dun.
When Guo Mo went straight to the gate of Licheng, there were only a thousand Han soldiers stationed in the city.
Guo Mo wanted to pretend that the Han army was defeated and entered the city, but was immediately discovered by Cao Jun. But something dramatic happened. After learning that the Taishan Army was outside the city, the rangers in Licheng City and the officials guarding the city gate turned against them and opened the city gate directly.
The reason why Licheng is like this is due to the work done by Guo Shu before. He has been communicating with the heroes in Licheng to let them understand what an opportunity it will be to join the cause of the Taishan Army.
On the other hand, Cao Jun's general Xiahou Dun's distrust of the heroes of Licheng was also part of the reason why they turned against each other.
Xiahou Dun really found it hard to trust these locals in Licheng, because if he asked any of them at random, he could find out their inextricable relationship with the Taishan Army.
So Xiahou Dun knew that the crater he was sitting on was a volcano that could erupt at any time. How could he not suppress it too much?
And now, Xiahou Dun has rashly sent most of his troops to rescue the outer strongholds, which has created an opportunity for this.
After Licheng was defeated, Guo Mo did not take advantage of the victory and pursue it, but once again chose to set up an ambush in the Baizhang Ridge area east of Licheng.
After learning from the Fangzheng heroes in the city that the main force of Cao's army had just left the city to support outside the city, Guo Mo concluded that this Cao army would come to rescue Licheng later.
Therefore, Guo Mo let Cao Jun's flag still hang on the top of Licheng City, and then quietly set up an ambush circle outside the city.
Not long after Guo Mo and the others waited, Xiahou Dun hurried back with four thousand troops. Behind them were the cavalry troops led by Guan Yu himself.
It was only because it was dark that the cavalry could not move forward, so Xiahou Dun was asked to withdraw here.
In the dark night, Xiahou Dun's face turned blue.
The military officials behind were constantly urging their subordinates to discard their clothes and armor in order to get rid of the pursuing troops behind them.
Xiahou Dun still doesn't know why Li Du's barrier was broken down so quickly.
Seeing that Licheng was about to arrive, Xiahou Dun's nervous heart finally relaxed.
But at this moment, an unknown number of Taishan troops suddenly rushed out from both sides. How could Cao Jun, who had discarded most of his armor, form a resistance?
That night, Xiahou Dun's troops were severely defeated, with nearly a thousand casualties. Fortunately, Xiahou Dun was really alert and did not enter Licheng again after breaking out of the siege. Otherwise, he would have been caught in a trap again.
Xiahou Dun led the remaining troops to continue eastward and directly entered the Dongping Tomb.
Most of Guan Yu's troops behind him finally arrived outside Licheng early the next morning and officially took over this gateway to Jinan.
Guan Yu gave very high praise to Guo Mo for his ambush last night.
In this battle, Guo Mo really shined on the Eastern Front.
On July 4th, the outer dock wall of Licheng was broken. The next day, Guan Yu's army entered Licheng. After that, he did not rest and continued to the east.
On the fifth day, they followed the direction of Xiahou Dun's remaining troops and pursued eastward, turning into Dongpingling. They successively swept through the six fortresses of Cao's army outside Dongpingling. Finally, on the 10th, Guan Yu's army surrounded Dongpingling.
……
At this time, Dongpingling was surrounded by Guan Yu's Zuo Army Marshal's troops.
In order to prevent Cao Cao from the north from going south to rescue him, Guan Yu ordered his subordinate Zhang Nan to lead two thousand officials to attack Taixian County north of Dongpingling.
Taixian County is located south of Jishui, and it is also where Cao Jun went north to rescue the plains. By capturing Tai County, we can not only build a defensive belt to the north with Jishui, but also cut off the food supply to Cao's army in the north.
On the other hand, Guan Yu, in his capacity as Jiedu, ordered the Taishan Army's field-protecting soldiers in the Tugu area to attack eastward. On the one hand, it served as the eyes and ears of the army in the south. On the other hand, it caused pressure on the southeastern counties of Qingzhou, making them hesitant to support Dongping. Mausoleum.
Tugu is located at the eastern foot of Mount Tai. Most of the rural communities within its territory are controlled by the Taishan Army, and they are among the earliest groups. Although these field-protecting soldiers with Shanliao as the core are the most basic armed forces, in fact The combat power cannot be underestimated.
After they got Guan Yu's order, they quickly organized a force of nearly a thousand people. Many of them were trained by Jin Falcon back then, and they were very skilled in tactics and techniques.
In addition, this is the first time in so many years that the Taishan Army has issued a military order to attack behind enemy lines, which makes the morale of these field guards very high.
Gradually, they forgot Guan Yu's original military order and began to move more boldly towards the hinterland of Qingzhou.
At the same time, under Dongpingling City, Guan Yu was observing the city.
After looking around and returning to the tent, Guan Yu asked his generals to express their opinions. This has been passed down since the Zhang Chong period.
The first person to talk about is Guo Mo, who is the most eye-catching in this battle.
Guo Mohao said angrily:
"The commander made strategic plans and arranged them on the north and south sides. It was like opening his arms to embrace the Dongping Mausoleum. At this time, there were no reinforcements in the Dongping Mausoleum. In addition, we had conquered the Dongping Mausoleum back then. , are very familiar with the defense of the city, and there are also a large number of people in the city who have benefited from our army, so this battle is not a worry. "
Guan Yu nodded, but when he glanced at the arrogant generals under his tent, he felt unhappy.
Youdao has the kind of generals he brings out as a general. Guan Yu himself has the kind of arrogant temperament, and these powerful generals under his command are no exception.
But since becoming the leader, Guan Yu has grown a lot, and his temperament is more settled than before.
As a result, he couldn't see the arrogance of the generals now.
He hummed:
"Do you think Cao Jun is afraid of us?"
No one said anything, but that was obviously what he meant.
So Guan Yu continued:
"Yes, I have also seen Cao Jun's fear of our army. But is Cao Jun afraid of me, Guan Yu? Is he afraid of you warriors? Or is he afraid of these armored soldiers in our hands? Yes, our army is indeed brave and capable. We are invincible in all battles. We have great military strength all the way from Fenggao. It stands to reason that everyone should be afraid of me, so why should Cao Jun not be afraid?"
"But is this really the case? Is Cao Jun afraid of the more than ten thousand Taishan troops outside the city, or is he afraid of the ideas behind us?"
"The king once said that we are destined to be tolerated in this world."
"I asked why?"
"The king said so."
"Because they are afraid of us, they are afraid of an ideal society, they are afraid of a fair society for everyone, they are afraid that the natural authority they brag about is just a lie, and what they are even more afraid of is that thousands of Guizhou leaders have begun to stand up. .”
"They doubt our ideas, denounce our ideas, and suppress our ideas, not because we are wrong, but because they are afraid. Because there is no idea that can make millions of people continue to fight and die. Millions of people sacrifice their lives. Death is not for anyone’s benefit or position, but for the justice of the world. Who has ever seen such a concept? ”
"Who is not afraid of confronting such a great and vast spirit?"
So, Guan Yu said this to everyone present:
"The enemy fears me not because of the sharpness of my weapons, but because of my justice in the human heart. So please, gentlemen, be sure to guard against arrogance and impetuosity."