Chapter 290 Cao Cao asks for peace

Cao Cao, who was dressed in disheveled and looked embarrassed, surrounded by Guo Jia and others, came to Cao Chun. Cao Chun quickly turned over and got off the horse and knelt down and said, "I will see you when I meet you!"

Cao Cao also turned over and fell off the horse, stepped forward and helped Cao Chun up and said, "Zihe, please get up quickly."

Cao Chun stood up and choked and said, "I will come late to save you. Please forgive me."

"Forget it." Cao Cao sighed, "Isn't Zihe following Brother Ling far away in Shouchun, how did he come to Nanyang?"

Cao Chun said: "Return to the lord, Xuzhou army, and Wu army have all withdrawn from Huainan. Huainan has settled. The brother then left Lei Xu and Mei Cheng to Shouchun and led 20,000 troops to Nanyang to pick up the lord. As soon as the army passed Zhongyang Mountain, he explored horses to return the lord to the lord, confronting the rebels in Liangzhou across Danshui. The brother urgently ordered the Duo General to lead two thousand light cavalry to advance day and night to come to pick him up."

"Oh?" Cao Cao said happily when he heard this, "Zi Xiao is here, and he has brought an army of 20,000?"

"That's right." Cao Chundao, "The brother-in-law's army should have arrived in Yuyang at this time, and it is at most a hundred miles away from here."

"Hahaha~~" Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, and suddenly smiled at the sky, "It's God who helps me, hahaha."

Everyone's hearts were sweet and awkward, and they were speechless.

Cao Cao laughed for a while, his voice suddenly fell down, and a sad look suddenly appeared on his face, and he sighed: "Oh, I don't know what happened to Xuan Gao, Zixiu and the others now? Have you ever broken through the siege?"

Guo Jia said: "Lord, this place is not a place to stay for a long time. It is better to quickly move to Yuyang area and join with General Cao Ren's army before making a decision."

"Yeah." Cao Cao nodded, "Transfer the order and immediately turn to Yuyang."

"Report~~" As soon as Cao Cao finished speaking, a horse suddenly rushed from the mountain road and said loudly, "Prime Minister, I found the Liang army chasing cavalry behind me, about four or five hundred cavalry."

"Ma Butcher!" Cao Cao gritted his teeth, "It's too much to deceive others!"

Guo Jia's eyes were cold and he whispered: "Lord, the Liang army's pursuit cavalry did not know that Zi and the general had led two thousand light cavalry to come to pick him up. He could take this opportunity to catch him off guard, and he could also attack the arrogant arrogance of the Liangzhou cavalry, so that he did not dare to pursue him rashly."

"Yes." Cao Cao nodded, "Just follow what Fengxiao said, Cao Chun obeys the order!"

"The last one will be there."

Cao Chun quickly stood up in front of Cao Cao.

At dawn.

The Danshui battlefield was finally cleared. The Cao army and the Nanyang army had more than 13,000 people, and only more than 2,000 people broke through and fled. The remaining more than 10,000 people were all wiped out, more than 5,000 were captured and more than 4,000 people were killed in battle! The Liangzhou army also suffered more than 3,000 casualties, of which more than 800 were killed in battle and more than 600 seriously injured.

Especially the 500 dead soldiers led by Li Meng all died heroically.

The only thing that made Ma Butcher feels a little regretful is that he still failed to kill Cao Cao in this battle.

It was dawn, and Li Su came to Cao Cao's central tent with a tired face, but at this time it had become Ma Yue's central tent. The butcher Ma had just woken up and was about to have breakfast. Li Su bowed to Ma Yue and said respectfully: "Lord, it has just been confirmed from the Cao army prisoners of war. General Dian Wei beheaded Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang, and the Cao army general who died with General Li Meng was Li Dian."

"Li Dian?" Ma Yue said suddenly, "But Li Dian succeeded in attacking Hangu Pass?"

Li Su nodded and said, "That's right."

"What a pity." Ma Yue sighed, "It's a pity that such a wise and brave general died like this."

As soon as Ma Yue finished speaking, a rapid sound of horse hooves suddenly sounded outside the gate. Ma Yue turned around and saw Xu Chu leading dozens of cavalry to rush in from outside the gate, and came to the tent of the central army. Xu Chu turned over and fell off the horse again, knelt down in front of Ma Yue on one knee, and said with shame: "Lord, the general was incompetent and fell into the ambush of Cao's army. Not only did Cao Cao run away, but he also lost more than 300 cavalry brothers."

"What?" Ma Yue said in surprise, "What's going on?"

Xu Chu said: "According to the military advisor's instructions, the general of the last general led 500 elite cavalry to pursue the championship path. When he was about to reach the championship, he caught up with the remaining soldiers of the Cao army. When he was about to intercept Cao Cao, two or three thousand Cao cavalry suddenly broke out in the dense forests on both sides of the valley. The general of the general of the last general was caught off guard and fought to the death to kill the encirclement, but the five hundred cavalry had lost more than 300 cavalry."

"Two or three thousand Cao's cavalry?" Ma Yue's chopsticks fell to the ground with a thud and said in a lost voice, "Where did Cao Aman get so many cavalry?"

"Lord, the situation has changed."

When Ma Yue was shocked and suspicious, Jia Xu surrounded Jutu and several generals and schoolmen to the tent. Jia Xu took a breath and said in a voice: "Lord, I just received a detailed return. Huainan Prefect Cao Ren led an army of 20,000 to Yuyang. His brother Cao Chun led two thousand vanguards and light cavalry to pass Rang County. The person who ambushed General Xu Chu must be Cao Chun!"

"Cao Ren, Cao Chun?" Ma Yue said sternly, "So the Cao army has pacified Huainan?"

"It should be so!" Jia Xu said in a deep voice, "It is not difficult to guess. Lu Bu is busy winning over the gentry family in Xuzhou. Sun Jian, the tiger in Jiangdong, is the focus of stabilizing the situation in Jiangdong and accumulating strength to attack Lujiang in Jiangbei. Therefore, neither of the two families will have too much entanglement with Cao's army in Huainan. There is another more important point~~"

Ma Yue said in a deep voice: "Speak."

Jia Xu said: "There is more important point that Lu Bu and Sun Jian do not want to see Cao Cao defeat at this time, because in the end, whether Yuan Shao occupied Yan and Yu states, or the lord entered the Zhongzhuyuan, for Lu Bu and Sun Jian, the threat would be far greater than Cao Cao, so they would not pull Cao Cao back at this time."

"Things will be tricky in this way." Ma Yue said, "With Cao Ren's 20,000 new force, even if Cao Aman has regained his foothold, and in terms of military strength, our army will have to divide at least 3,000 troops to escort Cao's prisoners and escort the wounded back to Guanzhong. In this way, our army's strength will not be as good as Cao's army. It is probably not that easy to take Nanyang in a hurry!"

Jia Xu said: "Yes, it seems that a protracted war of attrition is inevitable."

"Well!" Ma Yue gritted his teeth, "The war of attrition is a war of attrition. Fortunately, our army's food and grass have enough support for more than half a year. If we save some food, it can even last for half a year. If the autumn grain can be harvested again this year, it will be even more unfair! This general doesn't believe that Cao Aman can spend more than half a year with our army in Nanyang! Humph, Yanzhou is a place of four battles after all, and it is not as good as Guan, Liang, and Hetao."

July of the eighth year of Jian'an (195).

The Liang army and Cao army fought fiercely in the east of Danshui, defeated Cao army, beheaded thousands of them, and killed Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang and general Li Dian. Cao Cao only led hundreds of remaining soldiers to flee to the champion. Cao Chun responded and led his army to retreat to Rang County. Soon, Huainan prefect Cao Ren led his army to Rang County and joined Cao Cao.

In mid-August, Ma Yue led more than 4,000 cavalry and more than 14,000 infantrymen to Rang County.

Cao Cao urgently ordered Cao Ren to lead 5,000 troops to the left of Rang County, and 5,000 troops to the right of Rang County, and to support Rang County to resist the Liang army! At this point, Cao's army had the help of the Nanyang army, had the advantage of military strength, was even more favorable, and had harmonious people. The Liang army had excellent troops and sufficient food and absolutely strong cavalry, so the two armies began a protracted confrontation.

In a blink of an eye, Liang and Cao's army had been confronting each other in Rang County for two months.

Time quietly came to October of the eighth year of Jian'an. A powerful cold current swept south from the north. The land of Nanyang became cold overnight, and dripping water turned into ice (that is, the cold air invaded the south, and the weather often suddenly became cold). Due to the years of war, the Cao army consumed extremely high money, grain and materials. The Yan and Henan prefectures under Cao Cao were already barren. Due to the large consumption of young and middle-aged people, agricultural production and handicraft workshops had been severely damaged, and there was no longer enough winter clothing for recruitment.

Due to the lack of winter clothes, the Cao army soldiers could only rely on thin clothes to resist the severe cold. Every day, soldiers died silently. Instead, this bad weather replaced the Liang army and became the biggest enemy of the Cao army soldiers!

The Liang army's situation is much better than that of Cao army.

After the 23rd Route Alliance Army's Battle against Horses ended, the horse butcher adopted a policy of restoring the people, making every effort to restore agricultural production in Hetao, Guanzhong and Liangzhou, and vigorously supported the handicrafts and commerce in Guanzhong. Although there were several military operations during this period, they were all small-scale expeditions and did not interrupt the process of restoration and recuperation.

By the eighth year of Jian'an, after three years of restoration, the treasurys of Guanzhong, Liangzhou and Hetao gradually became full. The stable life under Ma Yue also had a fatal attraction to the people of Guandong. Every month, thousands of Guandong people migrated from thousands of miles to Guanzhong. Ju Su, who was responsible for internal affairs, refused to accept this. Every household transferred the rations needed to settle their homes, and distributed land according to the heads. Anyway, there were countless idle land in Guanzhong, which was enough to accommodate millions of residents.

The recovery of agricultural production allowed the people under Ma Yue to have no worries about food and clothing, and the prosperity of industry and commerce greatly enriched the materials in the territory under Ma Yue's rule. The livestock and fur in the northern part of the Mo River, the pottery and porcelain in Hetao, the carpets and jade in the Western Regions, as well as the tea and silk from the south of the Yangtze River all converged in the Sanfu area of ​​Chang'an, and this area quickly became a commercial center under Ma Yue's rule.

With the help of vibrant commercial channels, Ju Su bought a large number of fur jackets from the market without any effort. With these fur jackets, the Liangzhou army who went out to fight was able to avoid the pain of wind and cold. Compared with Cao's army's starvation and coldness, he was much more lucky.

Wancheng, the prefect's mansion.

Chen Dao rushed into the hall angrily and said to Chen Ji: "Brother, Cao Aman has come to ask for food again. In addition, he also asks for clothes to protect the cold."

"Third brother!" Chen Ji said anxiously, "How many times have you told me about it? I want to respect the Prime Minister!"

"Hmph!" Chen Dao groaned and said unhappily, "At present, our army is short of food, why should we give Cao's food and grass?"

"What do you know?" Chen Ji shouted, "Isn't Cao's army trying to help us defend Nanyang? If the entire Nanyang County was occupied by the butcher Ma, we would have nothing. What's the use of leaving food and grass?"

Chen Dao said: "If I had known this, I would have just joined the horse butcher!"

"Shut up!" Chen Ji said furiously, "What's the use of saying this now?"

"But brother." Chen Dao said, "Cao Aman ordered an arrow to my soldiers. I can't swallow this anger!"

Chen Ji said angrily: "That can only be blamed on yourself. Who made you compete for strength and victory? In the end, he suffered a defeat and ran away from the wrong direction? To be honest, you are half responsible for the defeat of Cao's army. It is already tolerant that the Prime Minister did not hold you accountable. Do you still be unyielding, ashamed or not?"

"Brother, why are you going to Cao Aman?"

"For brother, just discuss matters!" Chen Ji's face darkened and said coldly, "You have to listen carefully. Don't talk about gossip that is not conducive to the unity of the two armies in the future. Otherwise, don't blame me for not recognizing my relatives!"

"Brother!?"

Chen Dao was silent.

Rang County Government Office.

Cheng Yu quickly walked into the lobby and said to Cao Cao: "Lord, the food and clothing escorted by the Nanyang army have arrived. As the lord expected, the butcher Ma really sent Ma Chao to rob the grain. Fortunately, Chen Dao's three thousand Nanyang soldiers were guarding him to death, and General Cao Chun's two thousand cavalry responded in time, so Ma Chao did not succeed."

"Oh." Cao Cao sighed, with no joy on his face and said worriedly, "But this little food is only enough to last for half a month. What should we do after half a month? Wen Ruo just sent an urgent letter to the people. Dongjun and Jibei were plagued by locusts, and the autumn grains were not harvested. Huainan and Runan were hit by heavy snow disasters, and the people were frozen to death. Now the food of the people has become a problem. Our army can't compete with the people for food, right?"

After saying this, Cao Cao's expression became more and more gloomy, and he continued: "Just just made a detailed return, but Guan, Liang and Hetao under the rule of Ma Butcher, are in good weather, and this year's autumn grain is a rare bumper harvest! This is the third consecutive year of bumper harvest under the rule of Ma Butcher. Alas, even God is facing Ma Butcher, how can this battle be fought?"

"Lord, this is not God's bias." Guo Jia said, "As far as we know, the butcher Ma spent a lot of money on the management of Guan, Liang and Hetao. Just digging the canal in the northern region, hundreds of thousands of people have invested in the digging of the northern region, which has led to the tens of hectares of fertile land that can ensure drought and flood. I think Hetao is not that good in Guanzhong."

"Don't you know the true nature?" Cao Cao said sadly, "The horse butcher is in Guanzhong, Liangzhou and Hetao. The Xianbei and Xiongnu in Mobei are almost killed by him. The Wuhuan people and Qianghu people have completely become his minions. Even the 36 countries in the Western Regions have been dealt with by the horse butcher. Ma Chao's uncle and nephew have been taken over. The horse butcher has no worries, so he can cultivate and rest."

"I also want to build water conservancy and rest with the people, but Yanzhou is located in the Central Plains, surrounded by ambitious places. It is really impossible to calm down. You are talking about it. Since I helped the emperor move the capital to Xuchang, when did I sleep peacefully? When did our army have enough time to rest and train?"

"Yes, due to the lack of necessary rest and sufficient training, the gap between our army's combat effectiveness and the Liang army's combat effectiveness is getting bigger and bigger!" General Yu Jin sighed, "The soldiers of the Liangzhou Army are becoming more and more skilled, and the battles are getting more and more experienced. However, our soldiers are constantly consuming and replenishing new recruits. The combat effectiveness is always on the spot and cannot be significantly improved. In the long run, the gap between the strength of the Liang army will only become bigger and bigger."

"Lord!" Guo Jia said, "It seems that we must find a way to improve the surrounding situation, otherwise our army will eventually become weaker and weaker in the endless consumption, and eventually completely disappear."

"I had this idea long ago, but the world did not fulfill my wish." Cao Cao said helplessly, "Others may be easy to deal with, but the butcher Ma will never give up. After so many years, the grudges between the butcher Ma can't be resolved by resolving them. This is a death fate that will never stop."

"As the saying goes, things are done by people." Guo Jianing said, "Ma Butcher regards the lord as his life's strong enemy. Although he must put it to death and be quick, everything is absolutely true. If the lord's nest, Hetao, is threatened, will he continue to be enemies with the lord? Or will he return to the army to rescue the lord?"

Cao Cao said: "How do you say this?"

Guo Jia said: "Lord, since the Ma Butcher's rule has begun to recuperate, it will not be easily interrupted without large-scale invasion. Otherwise, the rest of the three years will be wasted! From this we can judge that under the premise that the foundation is not threatened, Ma Butcher will never make a big move. At most, like the current battle in Nanyang, two to three thousand people were dispatched to fight in the war."

Cao Cao said: "Show up."

Guo Jia said: "These 20,000 to 30,000 troops alone are not enough to deal with two wars at the same time. Please think, if Yuan Shao from Hebei suddenly attacked Bingzhou at this time and threatened to capture Hetao, would the butcher Ma return to defend Hetao, or would he continue to tangle with our army in Nanyang at the risk of losing his lair?"

Without waiting for Cao Cao to answer, Yu Jin rushed to answer: "That's right, of course, the horse butcher has to return to the army to defend Hetao! Hetao is the lifeline of the horse butcher, and the horse butcher will never dare to take this risk."

Cao Cao said: "When Fengxiao means letting Yuan Shao attack Zhang Ji?"

Guo Jia said: "That is, the lord can agree to Yuan Shao's letter to make his army famous. If Yuan Shao sent troops to attack Zhang Ji, General Zilian (Cao Hong) would no longer have to be stationed on the south bank of the Yellow River to prevent Yuan Shao. With these 20,000 troops, the lord can do a lot."

Cao Cao said: "But Fengxiao had never thought about it. Once Yuan Shao's army famously conquered Bingzhou, the entire Hebei will become Yuan Shao's territory. Yuan Shao is ambitious and has great ambitions. After unifying Hebei, he will definitely turn his attention to Yanzhou. At that time, a battle between the original minister and Yuan Shao will inevitably be inevitable."

Xun You suddenly said, "Lord, I understand the meaning of filial piety."

Cao Cao said, "Oh, Gongda might as well speak out."

Xun You said: "If Yuan Shao launches a large-scale attack on Bingzhou, Ma Butcher Ma will never dare to get entangled with our army in Nanyang again. In this way, the danger in Nanyang will be resolved without fighting. Similarly, if Yuan Shao sends troops to attack Bingzhou, our army will no longer have to worry about defense in the north. If it can form an alliance with Sun Jian and Liu Biao, it will be able to gather all the troops to move eastward to attack Xuzhou!"

"Xuzhou has been upheld under Tao Qian's rule for many years, but has not suffered from the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the suffering of swords and weapons, the people are rich and the gentry is rich. If the lord can seize Xuzhou in one fell swoop, it can alleviate the worry of lack of money and food. Moreover, Tao Qianxin was deceased, Lu Buxin succeeded, and the people of Xuzhou were not sure of their hearts. This is an excellent time to attack Xuzhou."

Guo Jia said: "There is another benefit to attack Xuzhou."

Cao Cao said: "What are the benefits?"

Guo Jia said: "As long as our army does not hurt its vitality during the Xuzhou crusade, we can train an elite soldier that is comparable to the Liang army through this battle! At that time, the lord's command has enough troops to protect Nanyang and then block Hangu, which is enough to block the Liang army's military front. Even if Yuan Shao raises the crowds from Hebei to attack, it will be enough to deal with it!"

"On the other hand, if our army continues to confront Liang's army in Nanyang, Yuan Shao will sooner or later send troops to Bingzhou, and our army will not be able to stop the end of Zhang Ji's demise. At that time, Yuan Shao will take the people from Hebei to the south, and the lord will only use the barren lands of Yan and Henan provinces, how can he resist?"

Cao Cao was quite moved, but he still asked with some concern: "Liu Biao in Jingzhou is not a problem, but Sun Jian, a tiger in Jiangdong, is also an ambitious person. Will he agree to form an alliance?"

Guo Jia said: "Sun Jian will definitely agree to an alliance, because the Wu army has just pacified the four counties of Jiangdong and is now facing harassment from Shanyue and Nanyue. Even if Shanyue and Nanyue are pacified, the next target of the Wu army can only be Liu Xun, who is separating Lujiang. Before Liu Xun is destroyed, the Wu army will not turn against our army."
Chapter completed!