The beginning of the Three Kingdoms Cheng Yuanzhi

Chapter 140

Gongsun Zan's idea is very good, but the development of things often does not depend on people's will.

At the end of the fourth year of Chuping (193), Cheng Yuanzhi personally led the army, divided the troops into eight sides, besieged Yijing from the top, and dug tunnels into the city from the bottom.

30 soldiers, like ants dissecting a corpse, advanced layer by layer, dismantling the outer defense line one by one, and went straight to the center of Yijing.

At the beginning of the first year of Xingping (194), Gongsun Zan saw that the situation was over and gathered a small number of troops to break out, but failed and was defeated and locked up in the city.

Cheng Yuanzhi commanded the soldiers to dig through the foundation and drive it under the central high platform. While digging the foundation, they embedded wooden piles.When halfway through the digging, a fire burned the stake...

The platform immediately collapsed.

Knowing that he would be defeated, Gongsun Zan drew his long sword, yelled three times, "If there is praise, why shoot?", then killed all his family members, and set himself on fire.

In the raging fire, a generation of white horse generals were reduced to ashes.

Life is stalwart, death is tragic.

After half a year, the Battle of Youzhou ended.

Cheng Yuanzhi finally eliminated Gongsun Zan and became the sole overlord of Hebei.

So far, he owns most of Ji, Qing, Bing, and Youzhou, and has become the strongest force in the north of the Han Dynasty.

Perhaps it can be said that he is the strongest prince in the Han Dynasty!

Cheng Yuanzhi knew that even though he had successfully unified Hebei, he would have no worries.After annexing Gongsun Zan's army and acquiring the 300 million hu of grain and grass hoarded in Yijing, his strength increased greatly.

But for other princes, his advantage is not big.

In the entire Han Dynasty, there are still several powerful princes who should not be underestimated.

For example, Yuan Shu occupied Yuzhou and Yangzhou (with a population of 400 million), Liu Biao of Jingzhou (with a population of 450 million), Liu Zhang of Yizhou (with a population of 500 million), and Ma Teng and Han Sui (with a population of Although less than a million, there are [-] cavalry).

Each of these people has been operating in the state where they are located for a long time, with many soldiers and abundant food.

Even Cao Cao, who occupies Yanzhou, and Liu Bei, who occupies Xuzhou, have begun to take shape.

For Cheng Yuanzhi, the immediate priority is not to digest the newly acquired large territory, and how to arrange the destinations of Liu Yu's son Liu He, Liu Yu's former minion Xian Yufu, Yan Rou, Wuhuan West King Wu Ting, East King Su Puyan and others. .

Instead, he immediately went south to restrain Cao Cao.

If you miss this opportunity, it will be difficult to target him again in the future.

At this time, Cao Cao's home was stolen because of the second expedition to Xuzhou to avenge his father, resulting in the fall of most counties in the west, south and north of Yanzhou.

Due to the emptiness of Yanzhou, Lu Bu and Zhang Miao divided their forces into two groups, invincible, and soon there were only three cities left in Yanzhou.

Cao Cao not only faced the situation of being homeless in an instant, but also a more severe situation waiting for him.

After Xuzhou massacred the city, Cao Cao's reputation fell to the bottom in an instant, and scholars felt disgusted with Cao Cao.

Chen Gong, Zhang Miao, Zhang Chao, and the chiefs of the counties and counties in Yanzhou all betrayed Cao Cao.

Of course, there was a reason why Cao Cao killed the famous people Bian Rang, but it was more because Cao Cao massacred the unarmed people in Xuzhou.

Cao Cao's behavior violated the moral standards of traditional scholars, making them no longer support Cao Cao's rule.

To put it more seriously, Cao Cao's move seriously committed the crime of "anti-humanity" and "humanitarian destruction".

Therefore, it is not surprising that everyone is against it.

Right now, the situation Cao Cao is facing is that not only the scholars in Yanzhou don't want to see him, but the people of Xuzhou also have deep hatred for him.

At this time Cao Cao was the weakest.

The right time, place and people are not on him!

After Yanzhou was stolen, Cao Cao wanted to take down Xuzhou first, and then go back to recover Yanzhou.After Xun Yu learned about it, he wrote to persuade him:
"Xuzhou's children remember the shame of the Lord's previous massacre of the city, and everyone must fight to the death to defend themselves, and there is no surrender. Even if you can defeat Xuzhou, Lord, you will not be able to gain the hearts of the people there. It is better to recover Yanzhou first, and then make plans."

Cao Cao returned to Yanzhou, rectified his army in the east, gathered the old troops, and fought several fierce battles with Lu Bu and Zhang Miao respectively, from winter to spring, and then to summer.

The three parties were evenly matched, and each had a victory or defeat. Cao Cao was in a hurry to regain Yanzhou.

Yanzhou presents a three-legged situation, with Lu Bu in the north, Zhang Miao, and Zhang Chao in the southwest.Cao Cao occupied the east.

The three forces each occupy two or three counties, and they will fight whenever they have time.

Cheng Yuanzhi felt that Cao Cao's act of massacring Xuzhou was extremely unwise, both morally and strategically.

Cao Cao will definitely regret this decision.

If he doesn't regret it, then help him himself!

After pacifying Youzhou, Cheng Yuanzhi handed over the aftermath to Zhang Yang and others, and then led an army of [-] to the south.

Passing through Changshan County, he specially stopped the army, pitched a tent, and sent someone to look for Zhao Yun.

Three years ago, Zhao Yun once said, "When the Duke dominates Hebei, it is the day when the clouds come out of the mountains."

Now, it's time for Zhao Yun to fulfill his promise.

He has been thinking about this young man with a white horse and a silver gun for a long time.

Cheng Yuanzhi couldn't help grinning out loud at the thought of having a handsome guy Zhao from now on.

It attracted frequent glances from left and right.

After a while, the person sent to look for Zhao Yun came back and reported with shame on his face:

"My lord, my subordinates are incompetent. I haven't found Zhao Yun. The entire Zhao Family Village is empty, and even the people are missing."

Could it be that these people are afraid that I will not be able to find Zhao Yun, so they vent their anger on them, so they hide?
This should be the case...

It's the fourth time.

I actually released the pigeons four times by Zhao Yun!Still trusting him time and time again, like a dog that can't lick the goddess.

I am so humble!
It’s tolerable, it’s unbearable!

In the camp, Cheng Yuanzhi was furious instantly, and with a "slap", he threw the wine bottle to the ground, and shouted:
"For this person, I almost lose face!"

"Zhao Yun... bullied me too much!"

Ju Shou cupped his hands and said: "My lord, is there a possibility that Zhao Yun didn't deliberately avoid the lord, but happened to go out on business..."

"Is the whole village going out?" Cheng Yuanzhi asked angrily.

"This..." Jushou thought for a while and said, "Is there another possibility that Zhao Yun brought the whole village, old and young, to Yecheng to join you, my lord?"

"I know a little bit about the meeting between the lord and him that day. Judging from Zhao Yun's behavior of leaving Gongsun Zan and not wanting to be an enemy with him, this person has a lot of affection and will not do such a dishonorable thing."

It's not impossible that...

Cheng Yuanzhi thought about it carefully, and combined with Zhao Yun's previous two behaviors of releasing his pigeons, he felt that this possibility was possible, but it was definitely less than one percent, so he shook his head and said:
"Is it public and known about the first two things?"

Cheng Yuanzhi refers to Zhao Yun's pseudonym Zhao Feng, and he released pigeons twice before and after.

Jushou naturally knew about this, he opened his mouth and was speechless to refute for a while.

Cheng Yuanzhi said in a deep voice: "Send me a general order to arrest Zhao Yun throughout the entire territory, but if you see him, you will be rewarded with a thousand gold! If you can capture this person alive, you will be rewarded with ten thousand gold, and I will be appointed as a general!"

Although Cheng Yuanzhi did not have the right to be a marquis, this order is still very effective in the land of Hebei.

The soldiers got the order and hurried out of the camp to give orders to the whole army and the counties and counties along the way.

After this incident was revealed, the atmosphere in the tent became lighter.

Ju Shou took out a letter from his cuff, handed it over and said, "Master, Tian Feng has another letter."

Cheng Yuanzhi took the letter, opened it and read it, and fell silent.

In the letter, Tian Feng wrote: "Nowadays Youzhou is newly settled, and the hearts of the people in the north are not attached. It is really unwise for my lord not to appease you. Besides, the imperial power is still there. If you send your troops south at this time, it is really inappropriate. Please, my lord, Think twice, Tian Feng bows down."

Can Tian Feng actually see that I am going south?
After reading the letter, Cheng Yuanzhi was surprised.

He didn't mention the matter of going south to everyone.

Originally, he planned to return to Yecheng with great fanfare, pretend to be rested, and then quietly go to Jinan alone, secretly plotting to attack Cao Cao.

Although the raid plan this time was hasty and full of loopholes, Cheng Yuanzhi was still not worried about failure.
Because Cao Cao's situation is very difficult at this time.

When Cao Cao found out that the rear was attacked again, there was still a bigger surprise waiting for him.

Cheng Yuanzhi had already made an appointment with Yuan Shu. At that time, the latter would also advance troops from the south to surround Cao Cao.

When Cao Cao found that he had nowhere to go, he probably couldn't figure out how he fell into the desperate situation of besieged by all sides and heaven and man.

After all, the severe situation of the four-way siege cannot be solved by Cao Cao's ability.

You know, he was in a hurry just by Lu Bu, plus Zhang Miao was eyeing him, and there were Cheng Yuanzhi and Yuan Shu who were planning to play tricks behind their backs.

It's hard not to die!

Tian Feng's old-fashioned words made Cheng Yuanzhi, who had just suppressed his anger, a little irritable for a moment.

Speaking of which, at the beginning, it was you, Tian Feng, who hurriedly advised me to go south, but now that Youzhou has been ruled, you suggested to stop the army and support the people?
Good guy, Tian Feng, are you all right?

Do you know how powerful Cao Cao is?If I miss this opportunity today, I will regret it in the future!

Cheng Yuanzhi threw the letter aside and ordered: "Rush to Shangdang immediately and demote Tian Feng to the county magistrate of the eldest son city!"

"immediately!"

"..." In the tent, all the civil and military men looked at each other, secretly sympathizing with Tian Feng.

He was just promoted to be the prefect because of meritorious deeds, well, his ass probably hasn't warmed up yet, so he went back down again.

……

The army continued to go south, and arrived in Yecheng in a few days.

Shen Pei greeted him out of the city, picked up the crowd, and when he entered the city, he reported to Cheng Yuanzhi:
"My lord, the order to apprehend Zhao Yun has been sent to Hanoi, Bingzhou, Qingzhou, Jizhou, Youzhou, and all the barbarians outside the Great Wall."

"Well, yes, how many cavalry are there in Yecheng now?"

"One hundred thousand."

"Enough is enough, immediately transfer to Jinan County in batches."

The examiner responded, and was about to turn around and go to work, but suddenly stopped at the same spot, hesitating and said: "Why are you arresting Zhao Yun, my lord?"

Cheng Yuanzhi sneered and said, "From today on, he is my enemy!"

"This person bullied me too much!"

Seeing that the judge was still in a daze, Ju Shou first took a look at Cheng Yuanzhi, and seeing that the latter was silent, he told the former the details of Zhao Yun's three pigeon releases.

After Jushou explained the cause and effect to the judge, the judge suddenly said:

"My lord, Zhao Yun is in the mansion right now."

"He came to visit the lord ten days ago. At that time, the lord was supervising the battle in Yijing, so Commander Su made the decision to ask him to live in another courtyard."

"This arrest warrant..."

What?Zhao Yun is here? ! !

Cheng Yuanzhi was overjoyed in an instant, and immediately left everyone and went straight to the other courtyard.

The judge hurriedly stopped the horse's head: "My lord, then this order to arrest Zhao Yun..."

Cheng Yuanzhi laughed: "Revoke immediately, take it back!"

"..."

Just as Shen Pei got out of the way, Ju Shou came to stop him again: "My lord, what about Tian Feng?"

"Immediately reinstated!"

Jushou also stepped aside.

Cheng Yuanzhi galloped away.

Everyone looked at each other, silently.

(End of this chapter)