Qinglong Three Kingdoms

Chapter 685 Cao Cao's Reaction

Now Zhu Wei is thinking about the beginning of the Battle of Guandu in the original history. Perhaps in June of 199 AD, Yuan Shao had no intention of mobilizing troops. Yuan Shao still spent half a year to stabilize the northern territory.

It is very likely that Cao Cao himself analyzed the possibility of Yuan Shao going south based on the situation, so he made many preparations before Yuan Shao sent troops, and finally lured Yuan Shao to Guandu for a decisive battle with him.

Of course, as far as the original historical development is concerned, even though Cao Cao had made a lot of preparations in advance, his final victory in the battle at Guandu was still due to some luck.

During the confrontation between the Cao and Yuan armies in the Battle of Guandu, other forces in the Central Plains, such as Sun Ce and Liu Biao, almost sat on the sidelines and did not make any moves. Perhaps they did not expect Cao Cao to win at all at first, and they were still thinking about it. Cao Cao was defeated, how should they face Yuan Shao.

That's why they didn't intend to send troops to Cao Cao. They just hoped that Cao Cao could restrain Yuan Shao and give them some time to grow.

Otherwise, even if they send troops to attack, Cao Cao will be difficult to parry. In the middle and late stages of the Guandu battle in the original history, Cao Cao was almost unable to hold on, that is, relying on Xu You's surrender, he knew Yuan Shao's side Cao Cao reversed the situation through a surprise attack on Wuchao.

Well, after talking about so many things that happened in the original history, they are actually just vernacular.

After all, now that Zhu Wei controls the territory that was originally occupied by Liu Bei and Sun Ce, it is naturally impossible to sit back and watch the fight between tigers. And based on the current situation, Zhu Wei should take action against Cao Cao earlier than Yuan Shao.

So as far as the current position of the territory between Zhu Wei and Yuan Shao is concerned, what news changes on Zhu Wei's side is not a matter that Yuan Shao cares too much about.

But on Cao Cao's side, he didn't dare to relax. It can be said that since the end of the Shouchun battle, Cao Cao has been on guard against Zhu Wei's possible attack on Xu Du.

For this reason, Cao Cao built several defensive lines in Yingchuan County facing Jingzhou Nanyang County, just like the fortifications prepared in Guandu to defend Yuan Shao in history.

Now Nanyang County is in the hands of Zhu Wei, so it is not like when Liu Biao controlled Jingzhou in history, and there was still Nanyang County between Xu Du and Xu Du as a buffer zone.

So Zhu Wei could send troops into Yingchuan County at any time to threaten Xu Du. In fact, Zhu Wei's threat to Xu Du was greater than Yuan Shao's threat to Xu Du in the original history.

After all, Yuan Shao still had to face the Yellow River when going south from the north. Therefore, as long as Cao Cao controlled a few Yellow River crossings, he could have a somewhat blocking effect on Yuan Shao's army's attack, so that Yuan Shao's army could not easily cross the Yellow River.

For example, in the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao ordered Yu Jin to lead two thousand troops on foot to guard Yanjin, an important ferry on the south bank of the Yellow River, so that Yuan Shao's army could only cross the Yellow River from Baimajin, which was farther away, which triggered the Battle of the White Horse. Allusions of the Three Kingdoms of Yan Liang and Zhu Wenchou.

But now if Zhu Wei attacked Yingchuan from Nanyang, Jingzhou, and then threatened Xudu, there would be no Yellow River to stop him. At most, he would use Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain to construct some mountain defense lines.

Therefore, since Shouchun returned to Xudu, Cao Cao had already begun to build a defense line in Yingchuan County, and at the same time sent a large number of spies to investigate movements in Zhu Wei's territory.

Now that Cao Cao heard the news from Zhu Wei, he naturally didn't believe that Zhu Wei was planning to send troops to Yizhou.

With the brains of Cao Cao's counselors such as Guo Jing, Xun Yu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, etc., they all know that the army of Gan Ning and Zu Lang sent by Zhu Wei to attack Liu Zhang in Yizhou is already enough to capture Yizhou. More troops pass by.

Now that Zhu Wei made such a movement, Cao Cao felt that Zhu Wei was going to use his troops on his side.

Therefore, Cao Cao immediately dispatched Xiahou Dun, Li Dian, Yu Jin and other generals to garrison Xiangcheng. Xiangcheng can be regarded as the hub city where Cao Cao constructed the first line of defense in Yingchuan County.

Xiangcheng is located in the eastern section of the Funiu Mountains, with rolling shallow mountains in the southwest, hilly areas in the north, and plains in the middle and east. The overall terrain is high in the west and low in the east.

The Cao army with Xiahou Dun as the main general stationed in Xiangcheng can radiate the four counties of Wuyang, Kunyang, Fucheng, and Jia in the southwest of Yingchuan County for defense, so as to resist Zhu Wei who may enter Yingchuan from Ye County or Luyang County. army.

Among them, the father's city was an important town in northern Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period. Its scale was second only to Ying, the capital of Chu, and it was the companion capital of the old Chu. Therefore, it also had a good wall defense, and now it has become a garrison for Cao Jun's defense. An important frontier city.

Then, Cao Cao dispatched Cao Ren, Xu Shang, Xu Huang, Lu Zhao and other generals to garrison Yingyin. This is the central city of Yingchuan's second line of defense, which can then radiate the defense of Yangdi and Linying counties.

As for Cao Cao himself, he was stationed in Xudu and could lead his troops to Xiangcheng at any time to resist Zhu Wei's possible incoming army.

Of course, the soldiers currently stationed by Cao Cao in Yingchuan are not all elite main force. Many of the soldiers are new soldiers, young and strong soldiers, and even the soldiers stationed by Cao Cao in the local area.

It turns out that Cao Cao also learned from Zhu Wei's method of farming, and he wanted to farm in the land of Yingchuan, so he arranged farm troops in many places.

It can be said that Cao Cao's defensive line against Zhu Wei's side in Yingchuan was a defensive line constructed in the name of garrisoning fields. On the one hand, he could garrison the fields to raise troops, and on the other hand, he could garrison troops to prepare for war.

Now, based on his analysis and judgment of Zhu Wei's military trends, Cao Cao ordered the troops stationed in these areas to prepare for war. He specially dispatched generals such as Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren there, so that he could command the army at any time to resist the invasion of Zhu Wei's army.

Of course, while Cao Cao was actively preparing for military defense, he couldn't help thinking of using other strategies to delay the possibility of Zhu Wei sending troops.

Cao Cao is actually in a state of rest and recuperation now. Cao Cao used a lot of food in the Shouchun War before, but he didn't get any food and materials in Shouchun after that. Therefore, Cao Cao also needs time to restock food and grass. He also doesn't want any war to occur, and his current food reserves are not enough to support the war.

So at this time period, Cao Cao sent an envoy from the emperor to Zhu Wei, as if to reward Zhu Wei for his meritorious service in suppressing the rebellion against Yuan Shu in Shouchun.

This time, Cao Cao was very generous in conferring Zhu Wei the post of Taiwei in the name of the Son of Heaven, and he had the real power to record the affairs of the minister. He also named Zhu Wei the Hussar General, which was equivalent to making Zhu Wei's official position into the ranks of the three princes. , in terms of military position, he is second only to the highest-ranking general.

This time Cao Cao can be regarded as showing his favor to Zhu Wei. Cao Cao himself has the official position of Sikong and General Chariot. Now Zhu Wei's official position is higher than him. Maybe Cao Cao just wants to use this vain official position. To suppress Zhu Wei's idea of ​​mobilizing troops.

After all, Zhu Wei had just obtained such an official position, and in turn used soldiers against Xu Du, wouldn't that be unreasonable.

In fact, this is also Cao Cao's plan to slow down the army...

(End of this chapter)