Year 192, after the spring plowing.
After some time, it was the summer solstice. A proclamation spread throughout the world. Cao Cao's 50,000 soldiers were about to send troops to Xuzhou.
He attacked Tao Qian, the herdsman of Xuzhou. He coveted the property of the Cao family and secretly sent rebel soldiers to kill Cao Cao's father Cao Song when he passed through Xuzhou.
He had almost killed Cao Song, but fortunately, he had the help of a famous person to save his life.
However, there were still a few Cao clansmen who were killed, only Cao Cao's father and his concubines.
Cao Cao's second brother, Cao De, and Cao Cao's nephew, Cao Anmin, had also survived.
At such a time when both men and gods were angry, Xu Prefecture's reputation would naturally be ruined. If the people of Xu Prefecture resisted this official, it would be against the heavens.
Seeing that the army would move after autumn, a declaration of war alarmed the entire Qing and Xu regions, and even threatened a portion of Yangzhou.
As a result, Xuzhou was in chaos.
……
Xuzhou Prefecture.
Tan County.
In Tao Qian's office, he was lying on a couch, seriously ill.
He was so angry that he was unconscious.
He was a benevolent person, and he had pursued benevolence and righteousness his entire life in order to obtain the praise of the people and the support of the aristocratic families.
At the same time, most of the soldiers and horses under his command followed him because of this. As for the fierce generals, they naturally would not stay here. The rest were generals who followed him out of friendship, as well as the soldiers and horses of Dan Yang that he had brought over from Dan Yang.
There were thirty to forty thousand people in total, and the number of soldiers in the entire territory was only seventy to eighty thousand, maybe even less than a hundred thousand.
Cao Cao's 50,000 soldiers were only the vanguard. He still had 70,000 Qingzhou soldiers and 100,000 Yanzhou troops.
Altogether, there were more than 200,000 of them. If all of them were to come out in full force, how could they resist?
In a fit of anger, Tao Qian knew that his reputation was ruined, and he directly fell to the ground and fainted. He only woke up today.
When he woke up, his general Cao Bao, Chen Deng, the other driver of the Chen clan of Xuzhou, was already waiting on both sides.
The old Tao Qian looked haggard. His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were sunken. He moved his lips slightly, and his beard fluttered slightly. His hair was messy in front of his eyes.
"Where is Cao Cao's army?" he asked softly.”
"Not yet. He just issued a call to arms. He'll only move after autumn…" Cao Bao smiled bitterly.
" Don't worry, my lord. This year, Cao Cao has taken in 300,000 Yellow Turban remnants. It won't be easy to solve the problem of food. They might not have any provisions and are just scaring us..."
"Sigh…"
Tao Qian let out a long sigh." Xu Prefecture is a place of war. I've been so friendly to my neighbors all these years because I'm afraid of being attacked.”
"Yuan Shu from the south is dominating Jiangnan and has long wanted my Xu Prefecture.”
" The Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou in the north have repeatedly harassed us. Yuan Shao is also waiting for an opportunity to take Qingzhou and head south..."
"Even Cao Cao was ready to expand his territory, but who would have thought…"
"Sigh, I gave him a chance! I'm so stupid! Why did I send Zhang Kai to escort them?”
Tao Qian sat up and looked up at the sky with a long sigh. Two lines of tears flowed out of his eyes.
"Why would I offend them? Cao Mengde, Cao Mengde is a formidable man of the world. It has been less than a year since the alliance was formed, but he has already established a firm foothold in Yanzhou. Xuzhou is in danger now, and we have few soldiers. How can we fight each other…"
At this moment, the young Chen Deng could not help but sigh." My lord, why don't we ask for reinforcements?"”
"Oh! Chen Deng!"
Tao Qian suddenly reacted, and his expression became much better.
And Chen Deng!
Chen Deng is still in Xu Prefecture!
After all, he was ranked 37th on the Heaven Ranking of Counselors!
Moreover, he was so young and could enter the top half. In the future, he would also be a dragon among men!
"Yuanlong, Yuanlong, you have to think of a way.!”
Tao Qian grabbed Chen Deng's hand as if he was grasping at a life-saving straw.
"What should we do in this situation…"
Chen Deng could only remain silent.
What could he do?
I'm ranked 37th, which looks pretty good. I'm one of the top young people.
However, can I summon a hundred thousand soldiers to resist Cao Cao?
"Why don't we ask for reinforcements, my lord…"
Chen Deng repeated what he had just said.
Tao Qian finally understood.
"Oh right, please help, please help…Who can we ask now?”
Tao Qian thought about it carefully. He had never had any friendship with any dukedom. Even if he went to ask for help, they would not come to save him.
Could it be that he wanted to talk about the alliance in the past to gain sympathy…
Sigh.
For a time, Tao Qian also fell into confusion.
"My lord, this is the only way now. Fortunately, Cao Cao's father was not killed. Perhaps we can gather all the wealth Cao Song brought back then and compensate Cao Cao.”
"Compensate…Compensate…"
Tao Qian was furious again. How much money would that cost?!
There were nearly a hundred carts of goods!
How could I afford to pay?
"Sigh, I should go and ask for help…"
Tao Qian had no choice but to send his own son, Tao Shang.
His eldest son, Tao Shang, was not an official and did not have any political achievements. However, he knew some diplomatic etiquette. In three days, he went straight to Jizhou without stopping.
He did not even see Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao had just settled down in Jizhou and became the herdsman of Jizhou. He was plotting against Bingzhou and Qingzhou.
He had no time to care about these things. Moreover, he and Cao Cao were allies, so it was impossible for him to make a move.
His second son went to find Yuan Shu, but Yuan Shu was willing to send troops to rescue him at the cost of more than half of Xuzhou.
Otherwise, they would not be willing to wade into this muddy water. After all, Xuzhou was in the wrong first. What reason did they have to send troops to help?
This was a matter of filial piety.
In the end, Tao Shang could only go to Gongsun Zan.
Gongsun Zan was easy to talk to. He didn't attack them, but he didn't have any intention of sending troops either. He just evaded a few times, thinking that it was unwise for him to go on an expedition in Youzhou.
However, someone stood up.
" If you don't want to go, I'm willing to go. The alliance was decided back then…If we fight because of this, wouldn't we lose our benevolence and righteousness? Cao Mengde must be using the fact that my father was robbed to do something unjust. I can't just sit by and do nothing.”
This person had unusually long arms, a square face, and big ears. He had a square face and looked righteous. There were two strong men beside him, one wearing a green robe and the other wearing a black suit.
They followed.
" Xuande." Gongsun Zan stroked his beard and smiled faintly." You only have two or three thousand soldiers. I'm afraid they won't be of much use."”
Liu Bei's face was full of seriousness as he said with certainty,""I don't agree with your words. The chaos of the world lies in the hearts of the people. If the people have no one to rely on, they can only humbly seek power.”
"I dare to be the first in the world! Although there were only 3,100 people in Xu Prefecture, they were willing to walk for the righteous path.”
When Gongsun Zan heard this, he was stunned and did not say anything. Then, he nodded slightly." Then you go."”
"Since that's the case, I'm willing to help you with 3,000 people.”
"Alright, thank you, Duke Ming!"
Liu Bei cupped his fists. His eyes were firm, his chest was puffed out, and his back was extremely hard.
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