[Three Kingdoms] Seven steps into wetness

Not long after Cao Cao sent troops, Tian Yin and Su Bo, the common people of Hejian County, gathered together to revolt, and the momentum was quite strong.

When he received the news, he only glanced at the letter and continued to order south.

One month later, there was an urgent report saying that Cao Pi had ordered Jia Xin to lead his troops to attack, and Tian Yin and others had been attacked immediately. Cao Cao just nodded lightly.

Compared with Cao Zhi and Cao Zhang, Cao Cao tried to make him try to defend the city as early as the Battle of Guandu.As for now, Cao Pi has made great achievements in defending the city.

In fact, among Cao Cao's heirs, only Cao Pi has come into contact with the essence of power.

——In the first month of spring in the 16th year of Jian'an, the emperor granted Cao Pi the title of General of the Five Senses.

Not only was he the only official among Cao Cao's heirs who entered the court, he was also the deputy of the prime minister, and there were a lot of guests in Cao's mansion in Xuchang.

Later, Tongque Terrace was completed, and Cao Pi went to Yecheng.Although the officials in Yecheng were not as exaggerated as Xu Chang, there were not a few people who entertained Cao Pi.Later, Cao Zhi made a lot of limelight when he appeared on stage, and he made many friends.

But what Cao Zhi and Cao Pi came into contact with were not the same.

Most of the people who fell in love with Cao Pi were powerful officials in their hands; most of the people who entertained Cao Zhi were the sons of these officials.

The difference is not the same.

Cao Cao led more than [-] troops into Xiangyang, divided another [-] troops, and ordered Zhang Liao and Le Jin to join Zhong Yao in Chang'an.

As a result, everyone was at a loss.

Liu Bei went to Yizhou, taking only Pang Tong, a military adviser who had escaped from Cao Ying after Chibi, and ordered Zhuge Liang to stay in Nanjun.Now Jingzhou has [-] troops, and Yizhou has nearly [-] troops. Looking at Cao Cao's formation, he seems to want to fight on two fronts?

In other words, he planned to use Zhang Liao, Zhong Yao, and more than [-] soldiers and horses from Hanzhong to deal with Liu Zhang's nearly [-] soldiers and horses.And with his nearly [-] soldiers and horses, against Zhuge Liang's [-] elite soldiers.

Although Cao Cao wrote a call to crusade against Liu Zhang, he did not fail to attack the west in this way-for example, not long ago, he attacked Ma Chao in Xiliang under the slogan of attacking Hanzhong.

Zhuge Liang saw Cao Cao's actions from a distance across the Yangtze River, squinted his eyes and said slowly, "Why did Cao Cao make this trip?"

Is it too strange to say that Cao Cao attacked himself in the name of attacking Yizhou?After all, he was defeated by Liu Bei and Sun Quan not long ago with 20 soldiers. Now even if there are nearly [-] elite soldiers, can Zhuge Liang fight him alone?

He really couldn't understand Cao Cao's intentions, so he could only order people to explain the situation to Sun Quan and Liu Zhang respectively. Liu Zhang replied that he would send [-] troops to Badong; The messenger brought back a message and said: Once Cao Cao attacks Jingzhou, I will send troops!

Sun Quan's words are really too subtle.

First of all, the word "once" shows that what he wants to see most in his heart is actually Liu Zhang and Cao Cao. convenient.Anyway, it seems that I can't get Yizhou anymore, what do you like.But if you want to attack Zhuge Liang, Prime Minister, then Sun Quan has no choice but to send troops!

Speaking of alliances, how subtle is it?

However, in fact Sun Quan made such a decision, the main reason was Zhou Yu's plan to attack Yizhou in the past but he had to die.Now that Liu Bei has entered Yizhou, he will naturally not be happy.

Anyway, the combination of Liu Bei and Liu Zhang can also be equal to Cao Cao.If he can make the three fight to the death, he will have a better chance to take advantage of the situation.

Zhuge Liang had already expected Sun Quan's heart, so his expression was the same, and he deployed troops to guard Cao Cao.

Since Cao Cao's move has made these people puzzled, it seems that he has the upper hand.

But it's not.

The land of Yizhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Even if he invades Badong and goes down the Yangtze River to Jiangyang, as long as Liu Zhang defends Chengdu to buy time for Sun Quan, Sun Quan can raise his troops to attack Xuchang.

Therefore, even though Cao Cao arrived here, he couldn't easily move a step.

He gathered many soldiers and asked how to deal with it next.

Guo Jia first said: "The current trend is that the lord will seize Yizhou on the surface, and Liu Bei pretends to assist Liu Zhang, and he also thinks so in secret. Sun Quan is looking forward to the war between the three parties in the east. After the war, he will take the opportunity to attack us. Yizhou."

He paused, and continued: "Liu Bei is already in Jiameng, and he has more hope of capturing Yizhou than the lord and Sun Quan. However, Yizhou cannot be handed over to others,"

Cao Cao nodded slowly: "Not bad."

Guo Jia showed a smile, and continued: "The purpose of my lord's trip is to weaken Liu Bei's troops as much as possible, and to attract Liu Zhang and Liu Bei to fight each other."

"exactly."

Therefore, Cao Cao did not hesitate to divide his troops into two places and ordered Zhong Yao and others to restrain Liu Bei and Liu Zhang, and went to Xiangyang to face Zhuge Liang in person.

Cao Cao sighed: "But how can we weaken Liu Bei's army?"

During Liu Bei's trip, he brought military advisor Pang Tong and Fazheng under Liu Zhang's command, but he never took away any soldiers from Jingzhou.If you want to use Liu Bei's troops, you have to fight Zhuge Liang.And once the war started, Liu Zhang would definitely help Zhuge Liang.

Xun You said: "Judging from the news sent back by General Zhang Liao, Liu Bei has guarded Jiameng for two months, but he has never once sent troops to Hanzhong. I think Liu Zhang must have doubts in his heart. It is only because he is afraid of the lord that he has no choice but to do so." .”

"What the lord has to do is how to use these two people to drive a wedge between them."

How to separate?

Cao Cao squinted his eyes, and the light suddenly appeared in his eyes.He looked around at the counselors, and finally asked Cao Zhi: "What do you think, fourth?"

Cao Zhi bowed and said, "Son, I thought I could ask my father to write a letter to tell Liu Zhang."

Cao Cao frowned and said, "And then?"

Cao Zhi smiled slightly: "There is no more."

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Cao Zhi's idea was unbelievable. If he didn't say anything else, he just wrote a letter to tell Liu Zhang, and Liu Zhang would believe it?Isn't this too naive?If a letter is useful, why is there a war in this world!

Cao Zhang laughed out loud.His smile was like a fuse, making all the generals laugh out loud.

But the counselors had different expressions.

Cao Cao glanced at Cao Zhang: "My third son, you are smiling so happily, it seems that you must have some good plan."

Cao Zhang stopped laughing abruptly, and looked at Cao Zhi who seemed to have never seen him with a bitter face, full of depression.

Cao Cao said with a smile, "It seems that Wenhe has a countermeasure."

Jia Xu bowed and said, "Liu Zhang was already afraid of the lord, even if he asked Liu Bei to guard Jiameng, it was just for peace of mind. What the lord needs is nothing more than a battle."

Cao Cao repeated: "A battle?"

Jia Xu frowned, "That's right, it was a destructive battle, a battle that could shatter all hope in Liu Zhang's heart. Then, my lord wrote a letter to Liu Zhang as the fourth son said."

Everyone suddenly realized!

Jia Xu's smile deepened: "The lord can express peace or oppression. Liu Zhang is cowardly, and will definitely consider what the lord said in the letter. Once he thinks, the plan will be half successful."

This bridge was used to deal with Ma Chaoshi not long ago.

In the past, Cao Cao went to Ma Chao's camp to chat with Han Sui for a day. After returning, he changed the peace agreement, arousing Ma Chao's suspicion and alienating the two, making his army unstable. Now he wrote to Liu Zhang to inform Liu Bei of his ambition, even if he could not achieve his goal in the end. There must also be suspicions between Liu Zhang and Liu Bei.

At that time, it was because Ma Chao was suspicious, so even though Han Sui did not rebel at all, he believed it; now Liu Bei has evil intentions, once Liu Zhang sends troops to Jiameng to investigate, can the alliance between the two continue?

In September of the 16th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao ordered Yu Jin and Cao Zhang to attack the Badong garrison from the flank.The more than ten thousand soldiers and horses in Yizhou were killed by these three thousand cavalry, almost without leaving any armor!And Cao Cao led his troops into Yiling and faced Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others.

Fight for a long time, win.Cao Cao then occupied Yiling and retreated to Xiangyang.

Yiling is located on the banks of the Xiling Gorge of the Yangtze River, strangling the throat of Chongqing and Hubei, controlling Bakui at the top, and Jingxiang at the bottom.

Cao Cao's trip confused Zhuge Liang again.

He felt that he understood something, but he couldn't figure it out for a while.

What made him understand was that he heard that Cao Cao sent an envoy to Chengdu and delivered a letter to Liu Zhang.

Zhuge Liang suddenly realized.He immediately wrote a letter of resignation, and ordered people to go to Jiameng quickly and hand it over to Liu Bei.

It was the end of October when Liu Zhang received this letter.

At the end of October in Yizhou, the weather is getting a little bit colder, and the leaves on the roadside are gradually turning golden.

Since Cao Cao sent troops, Liu Zhang has had trouble sleeping and eating, and not long ago he had a cold.After drinking the medicine, he slowly unfolded the brocade silk that Cao Cao sent, and leaned in the chair to read every word.

The general idea of ​​Cao Cao's letter is as follows: "Brother Ji Yu, I fought with you not long ago, and I was lucky to win. Now Yizhou is rich and rich, and everyone in the world wants it. Let me put it bluntly, although Yizhou's terrain is dangerous and difficult to conquer, But no matter whether I or Sun Quan, as long as you are willing to spend a little bit of effort to go deep into Yizhou, your city will be destroyed. Since you must lose, why do you fight? It is better to surrender as soon as possible, so as not to waste people and money! Speaking of which, you have known me for many years, How can you not know who I am, Cao Cao? You should know that if I occupy Yizhou, I will definitely order you to continue to manage Yizhou, just to collect military power. Of course, it is natural for you not to believe me. But if you don’t believe it or not, why bother to lure wolves into the house? ?”

Seeing this, Liu Zhang's complexion suddenly changed.He quickly closed the brocade, got up and took two steps, and when he sat down again, his complexion was pale.

The meaning of Cao Cao's letter, on the surface, is to remind him that Liu Bei has unruly intentions and is thinking of Yizhou.However, in fact, once Liu Zhang and Liu Bei were separated, Yizhou would eventually fall into Cao Cao's hands.

Judging from the current overall situation, this letter should not only be unbelievable, but should be treated calmly, as if it was the truth.

But Liu Zhang couldn't do it anymore.

Not long ago, his loyal general Liu Gui and others persuaded him not to trust Liu Bei too much. He thought they were worrying unnecessarily; Zhang Lu killed everything; but when Cao Cao came to this letter, he could no longer ignore the uneasiness in his heart.

No matter Sun Quan or Cao Cao, they all wanted Yizhou.And Liu Bei, who he regarded as his savior, was also plotting his territory.

——how sad? !

Cao Cao said at the end: "Brother Ji Yu, if you don't believe me, you can send your own soldiers to Jiameng to see what happened."

Next to him, Zhang Song wondered what Cao Cao had written, and was about to ask Liu Zhang, when Liu Zhang waved his hand and said tiredly, "Zhang Song, you go down first."

Zhang Song bowed and retreated slowly.

Liu Zhang looked at his back with a secretive expression.

Although he doesn't have any ambitions, he just wants to stick to Yizhou regardless of the situation in the world, but he is by no means a fool, he was just born in the wrong era.

Liu Zhang never doubted Cao Cao's words.Even Liu Bei's hope that he could resist him was destroyed by this battle - with only [-] cavalry, he killed more than [-] soldiers and horses almost without injury, how powerful is this?

He is desperate!

But Cao Cao's letter gave him infinite hope.

He was silent for a long time, and ordered someone to call Liu Gui.

Ten days later, Liu Gui reported the matter of Jiameng to Liu Zhang.Although Liu Zhang had been prepared for a long time, when he heard the news, his face was still pale for a long time, and his lips trembled, unable to utter a word.

In early December, Cao Cao received a letter from Liu Zhang and the head of Zhang Song, his adviser.

The letter said: If the prime minister ordered the emperor to make me, Liu Zhang, continue to be Yizhou shepherd, I will form an alliance with you and kill Liu Bei Yu Jiameng!

Cao Cao was delighted.

On the sixth day of December, before the emperor's edict was issued, Liu Bei rebelled.