The Nameless of the Common Clans

The conflict between Cao Cao and Tao Qian began long after he got the emperor.

Cao Cao's getting the emperor was indeed a great help to Cao Cao in terms of righteousness. At least in terms of talents, a large number of talents came to him. This admiration was not for Cao Cao's reputation. In terms of reputation, Cao Cao was not much better than Chen Mo. These people came to him for the emperor's face.

No matter whether the emperor's words are useful or not, the emperor is here. In people's hearts, this place is considered orthodox. Therefore, after Cao Cao brought the emperor out of Ziwu Valley last year and deceived Liu Biao to welcome the emperor to Juancheng, although his power did not increase much, there were many talents who came to him.

But more talents are a good thing, but also a bad thing. Cao Cao only has one state of Yanzhou, and half of Yingchuan in Yuzhou. The important positions in the court are still held by Chen Mo. If people of the level of Huangfu Song, Zhao Wen, and Zhong Yao are really dismissed, no matter which one, it is not just one person or one family that will be offended.

Huangfu Song had the entire Guanlong gentry behind him, and even Zhu Jun who came over could not let him go, not to mention Zhong Yao. The Yingchuan talents under his command had a good relationship with Zhong Yao. Zhao Wen represented Shu, and his influence in the Central Plains was not too great, but he could also represent the entire Shu gentry.

Chen Mo did not choose the remaining nine ministers when selecting people, but only looked at reputation. He chose scholars who had great influence in various states and counties.

Dismissing any of them at random would be equivalent to offending the gentry of a state or a county. Because of the matter of the emperor, Cao Cao offended Chen Mo and Liu Biao at the same time. The hatred between him and Yuan Shu was also long-standing. If there were any more mistakes in the matter of the three officials and nine ministers, Cao Cao would really be surrounded by enemies. It would be useless to hold the emperor. At least Yuan Shu would definitely take the opportunity to attack, and Yuan Shao could not help him.

But if he did not enfeoff, there would be no way to place so many talents, so not long after getting the emperor, Cao Cao planned to expand outward to relieve the pressure brought by too many talents.

But to the west, Chen Mo had already succeeded. The Heluo area was managed by Chen Mo's general Xu Huang. Unless Yuan Shao agreed to fight Chen Mo together with Cao Cao, Cao Cao would definitely not be able to do it alone.

But although Chen Mo and Yuan Shao calculated against each other, they did not openly tear each other apart. Yuan Shao only instigated Zhang Yang to create trouble for Chen Mo in Henei. Moreover, Yuan Shao was now busy completely destroying Gongsun Zan, so he was naturally unwilling to tear his face and fight with Chen Mo. If not, Cao Cao would not have to take the risk of borrowing from Nanyang, paying nearly 10,000 troops and offending Liu Biao before he could bring the emperor back.

Fighting with Yuan Shao was naturally impossible. The biggest reason why Cao Cao could now safely defend Yanzhou, a place with four battles, was that he was still a vassal of Yuan Shao. At this time, Cao Cao needed Yuan Shao's support, so he naturally did not dare to turn against Yuan Shao.

As for Yuan Shu, although he won for a while before, it was only with the help of Liu Biao who cut off the food supply route, and only then was Yuan Shu defeated. Now he has fallen out with Liu Biao because of the emperor. Cao Cao is still unsure about Yuan Shu alone, so the only one he can move now is Tao Qian.

In fact, in the battle last year, Cao Cao had always had the upper hand. He defeated Tao Qian in Pengcheng County and captured more than ten cities, forcing Tao Qian to retreat to Tan County and stay at home. Cao Cao also occupied Suiling, Xiaqiu and other places, which can be said to be a great harvest.

But later, due to the lack of food and grass, he retreated and moved all the people in more than a dozen counties to Yanzhou. The food and grass in the city were taken away without a grain left. In order to deter the people, he even massacred several counties in Pengcheng. In Suiling, perhaps for Chen Mo's sake, there was no massacre in the city, but the means of relocating people were not gentle.

In total, Cao Cao fought Yuan Shu first, then went to Guanzhong, fought with Liu Biao, and then went to the southeast to fight Tao Qian. It was not surprising that he ran out of food and grass in the end.

But he had to fight. Chen Mo had gained the three auxiliary positions and was gradually gaining strength. On Yuan Shao's side, Gongsun Zan had gradually withdrawn from the Qingzhou battlefield, and Youzhou was about to be unable to bear it. The situation of two heroes coexisting was already formed. Although Cao Cao had won the emperor, if he did not find a base, with the terrain of Yanzhou, whether Chen Mo went east or Yuan Shao went south, they would be the first to bear the brunt. How could he not be anxious?

Of course, in order to be able to attack Xuzhou and prevent Yuan Shu from coming to help, Cao Cao's layout began as early as when he was fighting with Yuan Shu.

Originally, the relationship between Tao Qian and Yuan Shu was still good. When the two Yuans separated, Yuan Shao sought to seize Jizhou, and Yuan Shu occupied Nanyang, Runan, Yuzhou, and Yangzhou. Chen Yu, the governor of Yangzhou, was appointed by Yuan Shu.

When Cao Cao and Yuan Shu were fighting, in order to avoid Tao Qian's attack, Cao Cao secretly sent people to Xiapi to persuade Chen Gui to help. At that time, Cao Cao had a good relationship with Chen Mo and they had secretly formed an alliance. He also had some friendship with Chen Deng in Luoyang, so he asked Chen Gui for help.

So when Yuan Shu was defeated and could not escape Shouchun, Chen Yu refused Yuan Shu to enter. Tao Qian wanted to send troops to assist Yuan Shu, but Chen Gui secretly obstructed him, making Tao Qian's troops not send out in time.

Chen Yu was Chen Gui's cousin. Chen Mo had to call Chen Yu his uncle. When Yuan Shu later took back Shouchun, Chen Yu fled to Xiapi with his younger brother Chen Cong.

Yuan Shu had just been defeated by Cao Cao at that time, and he did not want to be attacked from both sides, so he did not continue to pursue the matter, but the alliance with Tao Qian was broken.

But Cao Cao took the emperor away from Chen Mo, which made Chen Gui feel cheated. When Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou next time, Tao Qian wanted to unite with Yuan Shu again, but Yuan Shu held a grudge against him and ignored him.

Cao Cao's layout for Xuzhou was completed, and Xuzhou was completely isolated. This set of tactics was quite beautiful, and Xuzhou was almost like meat on Cao Cao's chopping board.

At the beginning of this year, Cao Cao's father Cao Song returned home from Langya and was killed by Zhang Kai on the way. This was also an acquaintance of Chen Mo. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Zhang Kai surrendered in time and served in Xuzhou. Later, after Tao Qian took office, in order to consolidate his rights and interests, he promoted some generals, and Zhang Kai was one of them.

However, Zhang Kai was not a person who followed the rules. Although he was valued by Tao Qian, he led his troops to occupy the Langya area, recruited soldiers and horses, and had the intention of ceding land and becoming king. He also had a lot of connections with the Taishan bandits. However, to develop the territory, he naturally needed money and food. Cao Song passed by with his family wealth. How could Zhang Kai not be tempted?

So Zhang Kai led his troops to kill Cao Song and seize his wealth, but later he found out that this was Cao Cao's father. Knowing that he had caused a big disaster, Zhang Kai took the money and ran away with his trusted men without saying a word, but Cao Cao put the blame on Tao Qian. It was a revenge for his father, but even if Yuan Shu wanted to help, he couldn't do it now. After all, it was just like Cao Cao and Chen Mo. He and Cao Cao were brothers, but Cao Song was also his elder. Cao Cao wanted to avenge his father now, and Yuan Shu couldn't do it at this time.

And Guanzhong was in a severe drought this year. In order to prevent Chen Mo from making trouble, Cao Cao also sent people to contact Ma Teng and Han Sui, promising official positions to ask the two to send troops to contain Chen Mo. As for Liu Biao, Cai Mao was Cao Cao's classmate. Cao Cao and Liu Biao formed an alliance based on Cai Mao's path. Although the two families are now at odds, Cai Mao can still appease Liu Biao, so Cao Cao's rear is relatively stable.

First, for revenge, and second, for expansion of territory, Cao Cao had absolutely sufficient reasons to attack Xuzhou this time, and Tao Qian really had no ability to stop Cao Cao. According to this situation, taking Xuzhou was almost a foregone conclusion.

But Cao Cao still missed some things after all his calculations, and his rear was not stable.

At the beginning, the Yanzhou scholars welcomed Cao Cao into Yanzhou, not to make Cao Cao powerful, but just to let Cao Cao help them expel the Yellow Turbans, but Cao Cao was not someone who could be manipulated by others. After expelling the Yellow Turbans, his power grew rapidly, and like Chen Mo, Cao Cao also understood the disadvantages of the gentry being too powerful, so in Yanzhou, Cao Cao's means were quite tough, in order to intimidate the Yanzhou scholars, he beat Bian Rang to death.

Chen Mo also knew about this matter, in fact, it was not Cao Cao's fault, Bian Rang was a famous scholar, and a great famous scholar. He Jin was always polite when he met Bian Rang, and Chen Mo's father-in-law Cai Yong also admired Bian Rang, and his literary accomplishment was absolutely outstanding.

But Bian Rang also had many problems of famous scholars. He judged people by their birth. Even if Cao Cao became the governor of Yanzhou, in Bian Rang's eyes, he was still the adopted son of a eunuch. No matter how high your position was, he would look down on you. Moreover, these emotions were directly expressed in front of Cao Cao. Cao Cao also wanted to establish his prestige to intimidate the scholars of Yanzhou at that time. Bian Rang just happened to run into the muzzle of the gun and was beaten to death by Cao Cao.

At that time, Chen Mo wrote a letter to remind Cao Cao to be careful, which was equivalent to offending the scholars of Yanzhou. Cao Cao did make some preparations. After he left, Cao Ang and Xun Yu stayed in Juancheng, Cheng Yu guarded Dong'a, and asked the general Yu Jin to guard Yuanfu. He also arranged his own confidants in each county.

But at this time, Liu Bei came. Originally, Liu Bei received an invitation from Tao Qian and Kong Rong to come to help, but he met Chen Gong on the way. Chen Gong suggested that if Liu Bei went directly to Xuzhou, he might not be Cao Cao's opponent, but Cao Cao had sent a large army this time, and Yanzhou was empty. At this time, if Liu Bei could attack Yanzhou and cut off Cao Cao's retreat, the siege of Xuzhou would be lifted without a fight.

Liu Bei had been wandering for half his life, and what he wanted most was a piece of land that belonged to him, not to mention that the emperor was also in Yanzhou. He was a relative of the Han Dynasty, so he naturally couldn't watch the emperor become Cao Cao's puppet.

The two men hit it off almost immediately and set out immediately. Taking advantage of Cao Cao's absence, they attacked Yanzhou. With the help of Chen Gong, Zhang Miao and others, just like when they welcomed Cao Cao, local scholars flocked to join them. In addition, Liu Bei had two fierce generals by his side, so they fought all the way to Juancheng before being stopped by Cao Ang and Xun Yu. Even so, almost all the territory that Cao Cao had worked hard to conquer in the past two years was occupied by Liu Bei. All of a sudden, Cao Cao almost became a rootless drifter!