The Battle of the Jade Seal (V)
Cao Cao's intention was to kill Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu was Yuan Shao's younger brother. If Yuan Shu hadn't gone too far this time, it would have been very difficult to persuade Yuan Shaozhao to attack Yuan Shu. If the Yuan brothers joined forces, Cao Cao would obviously be at a disadvantage.
Cao Cao had an important reason for coming here. Jin Xuan had mentioned in his letter that if Cao Cao attacked Runan, Jin Xuan would send troops to occupy Shouchun and cut off Shouchun's escape route.
Cao Cao's attack was very urgent, and Yuan Yin was detained by Cao Cao. The rest of the generals were not as resourceful as Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu was at his wit's end and was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. At this time, Yuan Shu truly regretted not listening to Yuan Yin's words, which led to this extraordinary disaster today.
Cao Cao had recently sent out a small army to capture or kill Yuan Shu's envoys to Luoyang. At this moment, the alliance army had 100,000 Yuan Shao's troops. If Yuan Shao's troops had any disloyalty, then the advantage they currently had would no longer exist. Cao Cao knew that he had to take down Runan as soon as possible, or else there would be more problems.
At this time, Yuan Shu had another big problem. The grain camp in the city had been set on fire by the spies sent by Cao Cao. Although they had been put out, they had suffered heavy losses. It is a great taboo for military strategists to lack food and grass.
He abandoned Runan. This was Yuan Shu's final decision. Under the current circumstances, it was probably the best choice to abandon Runan. After all, Shouchun was Yuan Shu's base camp and had abundant rations. Moreover, Shouchun County City was one of the strongest cities in the country.
After giving the order, Yuan Shu let out a long sigh. Yuan Shao's 100,000 strong army was stationed outside the city, but Cao Cao was worried that Yuan Shu would drive a wedge between Yuan Shao's soldiers and generals, so he set up many patrol points outside Yuan Shao's camp. The idea of sending an envoy was also put to an end by Cao Cao.
Cao Cao had been waiting for Yuan Shu to abandon the city after the grain camp fire in Runan. [] Yuan Shu's army was about to retreat. This was the best time to launch an ambush.
Yuan Shu opened the city gate and retreated under the cover of the night. Seeing that the alliance army camp was quiet, he was secretly pleased. After walking for less than ten miles, Yuan Shu's army suddenly became worried. They saw countless allied soldiers on both sides of the road. Arrows and arrows had brought a lot of casualties to Yuan Shu's soldiers.
Yuan Shu quickly broke out of the encirclement and killed a bloody path. Just as he gathered his defeated soldiers, the allied forces on both sides rose up again. It was Cao Cao personally supervising the battle. Yuan Shu saw that things were not looking good and led his troops forward desperately. At this moment, the allied forces caught up from behind.
The alliance army attacked from the front and the back. Yuan Shu's army was defeated. Yuan Shu and his generals fought their way out. By dawn, there were only ten thousand soldiers left. Just as he was about to take a break, he saw an army approaching from the front. Yuan Shu was shocked and looked back at the soldiers around him. After fighting for a night, they had no fighting strength left. Could it be that the heavens wanted to kill me? Yuan Shu thought in despair.
The army rushed over in a short while. When they got closer, they saw that it was Lei Bao who had led the army to receive them. It turned out that Lei Bao had received a letter last night from Ji Ling. The letter said that the army had been ambushed and suffered heavy casualties. The alliance army was in hot pursuit and ordered Lei Bao to mobilize all his troops to support them. When Lei Bao saw the letter, he only left 3,000 soldiers to defend the city and sent an army to support him.
While Yuan Shu and the others were puzzled, Cao Cao's army had arrived. Yuan Shu ordered Lei Bo to lead his troops to cover the rear and lead his troops to live in Shouchun to escape.
When he reached the city gate, he saw that the flag had been changed. Just as he was surprised, the city gate opened wide and a general rushed out. It was Guan Yu. Yuan Shu's troops were exhausted and were defeated by Guan Yu's elite troops. Yuan Shu saw Guan Yu riding his horse and rushed over. He could not wait to welcome him with his sword. Although Yuan Shu was a brave general, he had already exhausted his physical strength. How could he resist Guan Yu's divine power? In less than three rounds, he was struck off his horse by Guan Yu.
When the soldiers saw that Yuan Shu had died, they all asked to surrender. Ji Ling, Zhang Xun, Zhang Ying and others were about to surrender. Guan Yu ordered the surrendered generals to raise flags and gather the defeated soldiers.
In last night's battle, Yuan Shu's army had lost forty thousand men and fifty thousand prisoners. Less than eighty thousand had managed to escape to Shouchun. Yuan Shu's generals, Liu Yao, were killed in the chaos of the army. Guan Hai, Liu Pi and Gong Du followed Lei Bo to Xuzhou to join Tao Qian.
A few days later, Ji Ling and others gathered more than 70,000 defeated soldiers. Guan Yu left 50,000 strong soldiers and the rest were dismissed and returned to their hometown. He left 20,000 soldiers in his own army, and the remaining 30,000 were ordered by Xing Daorong to be taken to Jianye and incorporated into the generals of Jianye.
It turned out that Jin Xuan had written a secret letter to Cao Cao, saying that if the allied forces broke Runan, Zhuge Liang would send troops to occupy Shouchun. Cao Cao judged that Yuan Shu was about to leave and sent someone to inform Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang ordered people to forge Ji Ling's letter (Ji Ling had left a letter to Guan Yu when he seized the jade seal) to lure Lei Bo to send an army to help. Then he sent Guan Yu and Xing Daorong to lead 40,000 troops to attack Shouchun. When Yuan Shu's defeated army arrived, the soldiers no longer had the strength to fight, so they were defeated in one battle and easily killed Yuan Shu.
Cao Cao saw that Yuan Shu had died and that Shouchun had been occupied by the King of Changsha, but his goal had been achieved. He ordered Yuan Shao and the vassal army to return first. He led the army into Runan and pacified the people. He left Cao Hong with 30,000 troops to defend and led the army back to Chang 'an.
Yuan Shao heard that his brother had died tragically and that his army had been incorporated by Cao Cao and Jin Xuan. Although he hated his brother's actions, he still hated Cao Cao.
On the other hand, the political situation in Xuzhou had changed drastically because of the appearance of one person. This person was the famous Liu Bei in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Previously, because Liu Bei had defeated the Yellow Turbans, he was appointed as the county magistrate of Pingyuan County and trained ten thousand elite soldiers. Later, Yuan Shao's sphere of influence was changed to Yuan Shao's cronies. Liu Bei saw that the situation was hopeless and led his troops to join Tao Qian. It was also because Tao Qian and Liu Bei were fated. Seeing that Liu Bei had come to join him, he handed over all the military power to him. Liu Bei was also a talented person. After Liu Bei's training, the combat strength of the Xuzhou soldiers improved very quickly.
Tao Qian was already old, so he wanted to give the position of prefect to Liu Bei. Liu Bei really did not study history, so he refused to accept it and was overjoyed. After Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, he married into the Mi family of Xuzhou and received great help from Mi Zhu and Mi Fang.
And Lei Bo, Guan Hai, Liu Pi, Gong all came to surrender, so that Liu Bei's strength greatly increased. At this time, Xuzhou had Chen Gong, Mi Zhu, Chen Deng, Jian Yong, Sun Qian, etc., and Mi Fang, Lei Bo, Guan Hai, Liu Pi, Gong Du, etc., with a total of 110,000 troops.
Liu Bei saw that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao both had the intention of annexing them, so he formed an alliance with Kong Rong of Beihai, Liu Dai of Puyang, Ma Teng of Xiliang, Gongsun Zan of Beiping, Li Ru of Tianshui, Zhang Lu of Hanzhong and Fan Chou of Anding. They were called the Eight Marquises. Once these forces combined, they formed a new political force. Liu Bei became the representative of another emerging political force besides Jin Xuan, Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao.
At that time, there were forty-eight prefectures in the world, and Jin Xuan had already obtained fourteen prefectures, namely Changsha, Wuling, Guiyang, Lingling, Yuzhang, Luling, Poyang, Kuaiji, Yizhou, Wucheng, Jianye, Lujiang, Shouchun and Yong 'an. Liu Qi, King of Chang 'an, had six counties, including Jiangzhou, Chengdu, Yunnan, Jianning, Lintong and Xiabian. Liu Biao, King of Jingzhou, had five prefectures: Jiangling, Jiangxia, Xiangyang, Xinye and Shangyong. Liu Bei's eight marquises had jurisdiction over Xiliang, Tianshui, Anding, Hanzhong, Xuzhou, Puyang, Beihai, Beiping, and Xiangping. Yuan Shao's sphere of influence included Dai County, Nanpi, Jinyang, Pingyuan, Yecheng, Xiaopi and other six prefectures (Xiaopi was originally under Yuan Shao and Cao Cao's control. After obtaining Runan, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao negotiated to give Xiaopi to Yuan Shao, and Runan belonged to Cao Cao). Cao Cao controlled Xuchang, Wancheng, Luoyang, Hongnong, Chenliu, Qiaocheng and Runan. --
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