The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

Vol 9 Chapter 114: Cao Cao led his troops to withdraw from the village

Chen Gong left Cao's camp and went south.

After walking about seventeen or eight miles, it was almost dusk.

Chen Gong stopped his horse under a weeping poplar tree by the side of the road, and saw that the red sun was sinking in the west, reflecting on the hills, rivers, fields, and wild forests in the distance, dyed like blood.

Seeing this scene, he felt touched and thought: "Now I, Yanzhou, is just like the blood-stained mountains and rivers under the sunset, thousands of thieves are in chaos, the land is thousands of miles away, the wilderness is barren, the scars are everywhere, the people's livelihood is withered, and the people cry of hunger and cold. , Selling children and girls, it is already extremely desolate, and there must be a bright Lord to save, otherwise, when the sun goes down, it is bound to fall into the dark night, and I don't know how miserable it will be!

"I thought that Cao Mengde would be safe in Yanzhou, but Yuncheng and I were blind and misunderstood him! We are also selfish. Who can defend our Yanzhou now?"

Most of the counties in Yanzhou have fallen into the hands of Xun Zhen, and the only remaining counties are Jiyin, Chenliu and Dongjun. Jiyin was in jeopardy, and the prefect Wu Zi was not a talented person, so this county could not be called; Dongjun was Cao Cao's territory, so it goes without saying; in this way, only Chen Liu was left.

Chen Gong thought: "Chenliu's prefect Zhang Mengzhuo has far-reaching ambitions and is a worthy corporal; Chenliu is a large county, and in the past, the population was 800,000 to 900,000. Although Yanzhou is in chaos today, Chenliu has not been killed by soldiers. I still have it. I can go and vote for Zhang Mengzhuo, and let him protect my land."

Once the path forward was decided, Chen Gong would not delay any longer, and went straight to Chen Liu.

Going to sunset, I randomly found a nearby village and stayed there.

Nowadays, the army is in turmoil, and people from various townships gather in docks, thinking that they are protecting themselves, but they do not dare to take passers-by to sleep at will, but Chen Gong has a great reputation in Yanzhou, and his home is in Dongwuyang County, Dongjun. Dongjun borders Jiyin, because of his reputation among the people of Jiyin, especially in Shanyang and other prefectures, as soon as he reports his name, the owner of the dock in the dock is a town tycoon, but he knows who he is. , then went out quickly, welcomed him into the dock in person, slaughtered the cattle and slaughtered the sheep, and gave him a warm hospitality.

The owner of the dock asked Chen Gong, "I heard that your master is highly regarded by Duke Cao and holds an important position in Duke Cao's army, but why is he walking alone at night?"

Chen Gong remembered his hospitality and answered truthfully, "I want to stay with Chen."

"What are you going to do in Chenliu?"

Chen Gong was reluctant to tell Zhang Miao what he thought of throwing it to him. In the hall, he saw that there were mostly gray-bearded village elders sitting in the hall. He looked outside the hall, and under the moonlight, many children were playing games and pity. After Xun Zhen's army arrived, these old and weak might all die in the chaos, so he changed the subject and reminded them, saying: "Xun Zhen's army Linji water east bank, maybe they will kill here in a few days. I see you This dock is not strong, if possible, it is best to quickly cast to another place to avoid the suffering of soldiers."

The owner of the dock said: "Cao Gong has 30,000 troops, and they are stationed on the west bank of Jishui. Can't they stop the Xuzhou soldiers?"

Chen Gong couldn't help complaining and said, "If I can block the Xuzhou soldiers, I won't lose most of the Yanjing!" After speaking, he regretted his blunder and said to himself, "What am I talking about with them?" He refused to say any more. , only said, "You remember my words, it is best to move as soon as possible."

Stayed in Wubao for one night, the next day, Chen Gong said goodbye.

The owner of the dock said: "Here to Chenliu, although it is not far, it is about two hundred miles away. The road is not stable, and there are thieves from time to time. If you are alone, sir, if you encounter thieves, there may be something you can't bear to say. I have gathered I have gathered more than a dozen strong men from Benwu, please send your gentleman to the south."

Chen Gong could not refuse, so he had no choice but to let it go.

So, under the protection of more than ten masters of the dock, Xiaoxing stayed overnight, walked for three or four days, and reached the border of Chenliu County on this day.

Not far from the return trip, I saw the city of Jiyang.

Zhao Chong was still sitting in the city, and when he heard the news, he rushed out to greet him and caught Chen Gong. Chen Gong asked him to take out the money and give it to the dozen or so strong men who were escorting along the way to bid farewell to them. Not to mention the dozen or so warriors from Beiguiwubao. Chen Gong also did not enter Jiyang County, and only asked Zhao Chong to send people to lead, without stopping, and then went south to Chenliu County. Jiyang went to Chenliu, two hundred miles away, and three days later arrived in Chenliu County.

Chen Gong is a scholar after all. Although he can ride horses and fencing, he is still incomparable with military generals. His riding skills are average, and his body is not very strong, so he has traveled more than 400 miles for six or seven days. The fine horse under Xun Zhen's tent could complete the journey in two days.

Zhang Miao was waiting at the gate of the prefecture.

The two meet.

Chen Gong bowed his head and said, "The palace is here to see Duke Zhang."

Zhang Miao said: "I said goodbye to you before, and I haven't seen you for ten months. I haven't heard you talk about it for a long time. I feel a little dirty!"

Although Zhang Miao's words were polite and thoughtful, Chen Gong felt a little cold and repulsive from his tone. Compared with the last time when Chen Gong came to Chen Liu to be a soldier, in terms of attitude alone, the two can be said to be very different. .

Chen Gong didn't understand the reason, so he couldn't take the liberty to ask for a while, so he buried his doubts in his heart for a while.

Zhang Miao invited Chen Gong into the palace.

Enter the mansion and log in to the hall.

Zhang Miao asked: "I received a report yesterday that Cao Mengde took advantage of the night to escape to the west and returned to Dongjun. Why was Jun not in Mengde's army, and followed Mengde to escape to Dongjun, but came to my place?"

Chen Gong was stunned for a while, and said, "Duke Cao has gone west to Dongjun?" Immediately, he realized why Zhang Miao was lukewarm to him this time.

Also, it was you, Chen Gong, Chen Gongtai, who came to Chenliu last time to ask for soldiers. What did you say, "Cao Yanzhou has summoned soldiers from Shanyang, Jiyin, and Chenliu counties to fight Xuzhou to the death and protect our people's livelihood." The wind and the rain are swaying, and at this time when the will is united, Wang Gong will not destroy justice with selfishness." He asked politely, "I dare to ask the lord of the government to ask him, is it a military strategy comparable to Cao Yanzhou, or a loyalty that is not as good as Cao Yanzhou?" After saying a lot of righteous and awe-inspiring words, he had to leave five thousand soldiers and horses from Zhang Miao and Zhang Mengzhuo. What was the result?

At that time, the reason why Zhang Miao was reluctant to give Cao Cao reinforcements was that he was "fearing that Meng De would lose again." Just like Yuan Yi, the prefect, he fled without a fight!

In Zhang Miao's heart, how could he not be angry?

Chen Gong said: "To be honest, Gong Jin didn't invite him to come here. The reason why he went south to Guijun was because Caodongjun wanted to give up Jiyin; I just didn't expect that he had already withdrawn back to Dongjun."

"Oh? What do you mean by that?"

Chen Gong then told Zhang Miao about the disputes he had with Xiahou Dun, Man Chong and others in Cao Cao's tent that day. At the end, he sighed and said, "Gong has no knowledge of people, so he mistrusted Cao Mengde. I have set the ambition of 'safe for Yanzhou', but not only did I lose Yuncheng, but when I recalled the fact that the palace came to Chenliu a few days ago, and asked the lord of Mingfu to send troops to help Mengde, I also felt that it was a loss to the lord of Mingfu!"

As he said that, his face was all red, and he didn't dare to look at Zhang Miao, he was restless and very ashamed.

When Zhang Miao heard the words, because he knew that Chen Gong was a kind person and believed that what he said was the truth, he immediately turned cold and said, "That's it!" In turn, he comforted Chen Gong and said, "Gongtai, Jun also Don't blame yourself too much. It's not your fault."

Chen Gong sighed and said, "If I had known today, I would never have followed Cao Mengde's order last time to come to Chenliu to ask Mingfu Jun to ask for troops! Now he will not give up and lead all of them into Dongjun, alas, I am sorry for Mingfu. Your Majesty!" He regretted it.

Zhang Miao said, "Forget it, I don't need to mention the past." Asked Chen Gong, he said, "What are your plans when you come to my county today?"

Chen Gong got up, bowed down to the hall, and said, "The one who can save me in Yanzhou today is none other than the ruler of Mingfu! Gong has a meager body and clumsy ability. If the ruler of Mingfu doesn't give up, dare to ask him to be the ruler of Mingfu. You are the sincerity of dogs and horses!"

Zhang Miao was overjoyed, got up from the couch, went to Chen Gong, helped him up, and said, "There is a public platform to help me, although the army in Zhendong is strong, Chen Liu can be preserved!"

The two sat down again.

Zhang Miao summoned Zhang Chao and others to meet Chen Gong.

After chatting for a while, Chen Gong turned the subject back and asked, "I just heard the words of the ruler of Mingfu, Cao Mengde has entered Dongjun, I don't know when it happened?"

Zhang Miao replied, "The military report I received last night was written by Meng De in his own hand. His withdrawal was the night before."

Chen Gong murmured, "The night before yesterday?"

Zhang Miao said, "Exactly."

Chen Gong asked: "The Cheng clan, has it been lost now? Dingtao, is it still under the control of Wu Taishou?"

Zhang Miao slowly shook his head and said, "The latest military report has not been sent yet, but I don't know it right now."

The eyes of everyone in the hall, following Chen Gong, couldn't help but move outward, looking north.

...

The night before yesterday, the clouds were dense, obscuring the light of the stars and the moon.

When Cheng Li saw this day, he rushed to Cao Cao's tent, and said to Cao Cao, "Look at the sky, there will be rain in three or two days. Our army has 30,000 soldiers and horses, and half of them are new recruits. It is not suitable to restrain them. , once it rains, the roads are muddy and muddy, and it will be difficult to say, because of the wind and rain, communication will be inconvenient, which will inevitably lead to poor communication of military orders from top to bottom, which will greatly hinder the retreat of our army.

"Tonight there is no light in the stars and the moon, and the Xuzhou scouts on the other side can't see the situation in my camp. Duke Ming might as well take the opportunity to leave the camp."

Cao Cao agreed and accepted his suggestion, so he pulled out the camp overnight and retreated westward.

On the way to retreat, he sent a letter to Wu Zi, telling him that because the army had too many recruits and their combat strength was too low to fight Xun Zhen decisively, he decided to give up fighting Xun Zhen on both sides of the Jishui River. He led his army westward and retreated to Dongjun. "If you want to defend the land, I should help you from Dongjun; if you want to avoid Xuzhou Fengrui, I will wait for you in Dongjun." , As for your Jiyin Army soldiers, whether to fight or withdraw is up to you to decide, and let Wu Zi decide by himself.

Cao Cao led the army and quietly left the camp.

He used Xiahou Dun to lead the elites to the rear of the cavalry, Ding Fei and Cao Chun to guard the two wings, and Shi Huan to clear the way. Order the three armies to light torches and speed up their march.

At the same time, he passed on Dongjun, and the commander was ready to respond.

It was almost dawn, and hundreds of people came from the rear and the southeast of the entire army.

Xiahou Dun sent military officials to the central army to report to Cao Cao, saying: There is a man named Li Xiang who claimed to be the magistrate of Jiuju County, and he attracted hundreds of county soldiers to join him.

When Cao Cao heard this, he rejoiced in his heart and thought: "I have 30,000 people, I retreat without a fight, and Chen Gongtai abandoned me and left. I was worried about how to boost morale and rally the army, that is, the county magistrate of the wrong sentence led the crowd to vote. God is really helping me!" Immediately, he called Li Xiang to see him.

Cao Cao's 30,000 troops, plus nearly 1,000 trucks, pulled out a long line on the road; the troops behind Xiahou Dun's palace were still some distance away from the main force.

Therefore, Cao Cao waited as he walked, and waited for about half an hour, only to see the two of them being taken by the military official who had come to report earlier.

Cao Cao looked and saw these two people, one had a bushy beard and the other had a half eyebrow.

The one with the thick beard and the beard has a strong appearance;

Cao Cao didn't judge scholars by their appearance. He summoned the two of them and asked kindly, "Which one is Li County Lieutenant?"

Li Xiang replied: "Xiaguan Injustice County Li Xiang." Introducing the thief-eyed man, he said, "This is Yiliangkui, the lower gate of Bixian County."

Cao Cao smiled and nodded, looked up and down Li Liang and Liang Kui, praised him, and said, "What a brave man!"

Liang Kui was in such close contact with such a big official for the first time, and he was so nervous that he stammered: "The villain and Li Weijun heard that the Duke of Cao had stationed troops on the south bank of the water to prevent Xun Town from advancing from east to west, so they specially Come to vote, I am willing to serve Duke Cao."

Li Xiang glanced at him and thought: "Which pot can't be opened and raised! Cao Mengde has already withdrawn his troops to the west, and said, 'to stop things from Xun Town from entering', isn't this exposing people's shortcomings in person?" Looking at Cao Cao's expression, he saw that Cao Cao was calm and composed.

He sighed and said: "Speaking of which, I was going to fight Xunzhen East on both sides of the Jishui River, and I would desperately protect the people of Jiyin and not be harmed by Xuzhou soldiers! But how many times I have recruited grain, people and husbands from Gui County. The county can't give it to me. Our army is short of food, and Xunzhen East is afraid of my army's might, and he has not dared to cross the aid. It is impossible for me to pull out the camp and withdraw my troops. I will return to the east county first and then make plans ."

Li Xiang praised him in his heart, and secretly gave Cao Cao a thumbs up, thinking, "Well said!" He dared not let Liang Kui's winker speak again, and said, "It will be long in Japan. Hexi'. Today the general is withdrawing from Jixi, how can we know that Xun Zhendong will not be defeated from Jidong in the future?

Cao Cao looked at Li Xiang in surprise, and said to himself, "That's good!" He looked at Li Xiang with admiration and asked, "Where is your hometown?"

Li Xiang replied: "The elephant family is in the state."

Li Xiang's hometown was in Shangjun, Bingzhou, and it was Yanzhou that was too far away from Bingzhou, with Jizhou in the middle. Therefore, after seeing that the grievances could not be kept, he did not want to return home, but came to join Cao Cao.

Cao Cao sighed: "Bingzhou is thousands of miles away, and Qing is far away from Xiangzi to serve as an official to help Yin, and it is not easy when Xunzhen invades our Yanzhou from the east! It is difficult for the people, and it is difficult for officials!" Li Xiang, said, "How many chapters are you accompanying?"

"Five hundred county soldiers."

"Are they willing to leave their hometown and enter Dongjun from me?"

"Although the time of the general's lord Yan is not long, the general's benevolence, righteousness and kindness are known to all the people in our county. These five hundred county soldiers voluntarily followed the general to Dongjun."

Cao Cao was overjoyed and said, "Okay!" He immediately ordered Li Xiang to be the commander of the other divisions, and Liang Kui to be the leader of the team, to get rid of the five hundred county soldiers, and to assign another five hundred troops to him to lead him together. He said to Li Xiang, "When you first arrived in our army, you have not yet made a contribution. If I am not good, I will immediately promote you to a prominent position, and I will subordinate him to a Sima of another department. Elevate!"

The other Sima can lead one by himself, and he is already a general who leads the army independently. This military rank is not low.

Li Xiang happily accepted.

...

But they said that after Cao Cao withdrew his troops, the next day, the scout Xun Zhen on the opposite bank noticed that Cao's camp was empty, and sneaked across the river to reach the outside of the camp.

When Xun Zhen received the report, she was disappointed and fell to the ground. Gu Yu Xi Zhicai, Xun You, Zhang Zhao and others said, "But Meng De escaped!"

Xi Zhicai was not surprised by this ending, he said: "When our army arrived, Caodong County did not build a camp on the east bank of Jishui, but went to the Cheng family to camp on the west bank. I think he was thinking of finding an opportunity to retreat and escape. It's gone!"

Xun Zhen thought about it for a while, and this is indeed the truth.

If Cao Cao wanted to go to war with Xuzhou soldiers, he would definitely rely on the Cheng clan and camp on the east bank of Jishui, but he chose to camp on the west bank and left the Cheng clan alone on the opposite bank. When Xun Zhenbing arrived, he wanted to avoid the battle and retreat.

Xun Zhen smiled and said, "It's okay, Quanrong Mengde is free for a few days, and in the coming day, I'll listen to him in the hall for me!"

Xi Zhicai said: "Caodong County has led his troops to flee, Cheng's clan is just an isolated city, and now the people in the city must be in a panic, and one drum can go down. Dare to ask Ming Gong to give orders to attack the city, while his troops cross the river and enter Dingtao! Dingtao has already won , Jiyin belongs to Duke Ming."

Xun Zhen then ordered Le Jin to lead troops to attack the city, and Xu Xian and others to build a pontoon bridge and take the lead in crossing the river.

Cao Cao's trusted generals were all brought by his side. The Cheng clan guards were not directly related to Cao Cao, and most of the guards Cao Cao left to him were recruits who had not undergone much training and were incompetent. At this time, Cao Cao had left, and there was no fighting spirit in the city.

Le Jin only surrounded the city, and before the battle began, the city fell.

Xun You presided over the new soldiers who were incapable of fighting in the city, and each of them paid travel expenses and sent them home; those soldiers with some fighting strength, who wanted to go home, also paid the road expenses and let them go back. Those who are willing to join Xuzhou soldiers should keep them.

After these things were settled, Xun You returned to the Central Army, the troops were still crossing the river, and there were still a small number of people who had not crossed.

Xun You said to Xun Zhen: "Duke Ming, since we attacked Yan, we have fought many times before and after, and our army has captured many prisoners. At present, there are quite a few soldiers in Yanzhou who have joined our army. There are already two or three thousand soldiers. There have been several conflicts in other battalions. Our generals and soldiers look down on them, and even those generals who are temporarily in charge of the surrendered battalions also despise the soldiers. If things go on like this, there may be chaos.

"In You's humble opinion, it is better to reorganize the soldiers of the army, take the brave soldiers, and form a group under the leadership of General Le, Captain Pan and others. Since they are natives of the state, the soldiers should be convinced; in the future, they will attack the East. In the county, it is also convenient to use them as pioneers.”

Among the generals under Xun Zhen’s tent, there were not many people from Yanzhou. They were from Yanzhou and above the captaincy, only Pan Zhang and Le Jin. Therefore, when Xun You said “people from the state”, he meant Pan Zhang and Le Jin. Le Jin and Yanzhou Jiangzu are fellow villagers in the same state.

Pan Zhang and Le Jin were both from Dongjun. In the future, when they attacked Dongjun, they would definitely be the vanguard. Therefore, Xun You said, "It is also convenient to use them as the vanguard."

Xun Zhen followed the advice like a stream, and said, "It is very good for Gongda to discuss this."

He thought for a while, and said, "Before Wu Zi sent thousands of soldiers from Jiyin County to Meng De, our army attacked Changyi and defeated his cavalry general Yang Zhang, and Bo Fu attacked the injustice. In other words, he defeated Sima Zang Jun’s army again. Now, the city of Dingtao is definitely empty. Attacking Dingtao will not use so many troops~www.wuxiaspot.com~ It is not too late, now we can teach Wenqian to leave some military officials, Part of the song, adapting the descending soldiers." I did it when I thought of it, and immediately sent an order, ordering Lejin to start this matter.

However, Jiyin was already in the bag, and Xunzhen did not have to wait until Dingtao was laid down, so Xunzhen had the spare energy to reorganize Jiangzu.

When Le Jin received an order, he selected dozens of capable and competent military officials, and gave them thousands of troops. Adaptation is not a matter of one sentence, it is more complicated.

First of all, the name, age, physical appearance, place of origin, etc. of the descendant must be compiled into a book, in duplicate. One was kept in the army, and the other was kept by the shogunate. Secondly, depending on the situation, either still maintain the original organization of Jiangzu, or disrupt them, and re-organize them from Wu, Shi, until the team, the tun, and the song. Thirdly, in principle, the military officers at the bottom are selected from the veterans of Xuzhou soldiers, but if there are particularly fierce soldiers, they can also be hired. .

Finally, although the military law used by the state and county troops in various regions is basically not very different, they are all the law of the Han family, but Xun Zhen's troops are more strict than the troops in other regions, and they also need to be surrendered." Three orders and five applications”, aroused their attention.

All sorts of things, quite time consuming.

Xun Zhen would not wait here, so he left them behind, and after all the troops had crossed the river, they headed south along the Jishui and rushed towards Jiyin.

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