When Cao Cao's army retreated from Yangwu and other places, the local people rushed to follow them.
Naturally, the people do not want to leave their hometowns.
But they heard from people who escaped from Baima County and other places that those people who did not want to leave their homeland were forcibly recruited as civilian husbands by Yuan Shao. They worked day and night, and their lives were even more miserable than those of cattle and horses.
It is naturally hard to leave one's hometown, but it is better than being forcibly drafted by Yuan Jun to work as an ox and horse, with life and death unpredictable, right?
Instead of staying in their hometown and waiting to be killed by Yuan Shao, why not follow Boss Cao to the south to temporarily avoid the war. Maybe they will return home one day in the future?
The people wanted to leave with him, so Cao Cao naturally couldn't turn a blind eye to them.
Just moving forward with the people will inevitably slow down his marching speed, so Cao Cao sent cavalry to block the rear and delay the marching speed of Yuan Shao's army.
Fortunately, after Yuan Shao defeated all Xiahou Yuan's camps, he temporarily chose to rest and recuperate, which gave Cao Cao enough time to evacuate with his people.
Looking at the team with no end in sight and only moving faster than a turtle, Cao Cao actually felt very bitter.
Obviously, he had neatly defeated Yuan Shao's 200,000 troops in two battles, and killed Yuan Shao's two favorite generals, Yan Liang and Wen Chou... But in the end, he was like a lost dog, hurriedly evacuating to avoid the sharp attack. This
Who won the battle and who lost the battle?
Although Zhao Yun, Xia Houyuan and others defeated Yuan Jun's 200,000 vanguard.
But the number of Yuan's troops who were actually killed or captured was only 40,000 to 50,000 at best.
The two vanguard armies that were defeated still had about 100,000 troops after regrouping. In addition to Yuan Shao's main force, there were more than 300,000 troops. They were like a cloud of fierce generals and a rain of advisers. This was their hard power!
Four 40,000 to 50,000 men were just scratching the surface for Yuan Shao, who had an army of nearly 500,000 men.
More than forty miles north of Puyang is Jizhou.
It is said that for this battle, Yuan Shao raised nearly two million shi of grain from four states! It must be said that Hebei is really very rich, and Yuan Shao does have his own arrogant capital.
Cao Cao abandoned the area north of Guandu and retreated to Guandu, setting the main battlefield for Cao Yuan's decisive battle in Guandu. This was a typical choice of exchanging space for strategic advantage.
Cao Jun can replenish food and grass from Chenliu, Yingchuan and other places;
On the other hand, Yuan Shao had to bear nearly 200 miles of grain roads. In addition, Dongjun was nailed to the side and rear of Yuan's army's grain roads like a nail. The risks Yuan Shao had to bear also greatly increased.
Let’s talk about Guandu, the decisive battlefield.
Although Jishui is not as broad and fast as the Yellow River, as Lu Yan analyzed, Guandukou itself is surrounded by water on three sides and has a radius of hundreds of miles. It is suitable for fighting. The battlefield is only a few miles wide and twenty miles long, so the combat space is extremely limited.
It gives Cao Jun the advantage of reducing the number of Yuan Jun.
After returning to Guandu, Lu Yan saw Ren Jun standing on the city wall from a distance, loudly instructing the civilians to build fortifications.
When Ren Jun was working under Lu Yan, he showed excellent logistics capabilities.
Later, he went out with Mao Jie and was appreciated by Cao Cao, who kept him by his side and was responsible for logistics work.
After Yuan Shao issued a petition to criticize Cao,
Ren Jun followed Cao Cao's orders and began to prepare all the logistics needed for the war. Later, after learning from Lu Yan's diary that Guandu was the final battlefield, he asked Ren Jun to build fortifications in Guandu in advance.
Now a few months have passed, and a row of solid city walls has been erected on the plain area of Guandu Ferry.
"It smells like the Great Wall..." Lu Yan couldn't help but admire in his heart as he looked at the city wall that was seven or eight meters high and five or six meters wide.
Although this city wall is only a few miles long, it will be Cao Cao's biggest support in fighting Yuan Shao.
Gusun
Lu Yan and others followed Cao Cao to inspect the progress of the fortifications.
Seeing Cao Cao and other big shots approaching, Ren Jun, who was on the city wall looking over the whole situation, trotted down quickly, bowed and said: "I've seen the Prime Minister! I've seen the Sir!"
Ren Jun was both excited and frightened when Cao Cao handed over such a major matter to him.
He stayed at the construction site every day these days and only slept for less than two hours at night, in order to avoid even the slightest flaw.
"Thank you for your hard work, Boda." Looking at the dark and thin Ren Jun, Cao Cao sighed with emotion, lifted him up, and continued to ask, "How is the progress of the fortifications?"
"Back to the Prime Minister, one hundred thousand civilians are working in shifts day and night. The city wall has been built and the moat is almost dug. All that's left is to prepare rolling logs and stones, set up trebuchets, ballistas and other defensive equipment."
"Not bad!" Cao Cao nodded, walked to the moat that was about two feet wide but not yet open to water, took a look, and continued: "Yuan Shao will arrive in Guandu in about ten days, and a bloody storm is inevitable. !”
After Cao Cao finished speaking, he led a group of people behind him across the suspension bridge and came under the city wall.
Pulling up his sleeves and extending his hand, Cao Cao patted the wall tiles. Feeling the hard and cold touch from the wall tiles, he nodded again and said: "Not bad! Let the people speed up through Guandu and arrange them in Chenliu County for the time being. .”
"Um..." Ren Jun seemed a little hesitant, and he even glanced at Lu Yan. Taking in so many people at once put a lot of pressure on Chenliu County!
Lu Yan saw Ren Jun's hesitation and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, Boda can just do what Mr. Cao said. After the victory of this battle, these people can just go to Luoyang..."
"After winning this battle?"
Lu Yan's words were so natural, just like it was time to get off work today.
After listening to Lu Yan's very natural words, everyone felt miraculously at peace in their hearts.
Under the leadership of Ren Jun, Cao Cao crossed the first city wall.
However, less than a hundred meters away from everyone, there was another city wall!
It turned out that in the past few months, they had built a total of two city walls, with a total length of probably nearly forty miles.
Ren Jun explained to Cao Cao from the side: "My subordinates felt that one city wall was not very safe, so they took the initiative and built a second city wall! Prime Minister, please atone for your sin!"
"Boda is thoughtful, how can he be guilty if he can only achieve merit?" Cao Cao patted Ren Jun's arm. The more he looked at this energetic young man, the more he liked him. He couldn't help but thought to himself: "My younger sister is not young anymore, or else Betroth her to Boda?"
After passing through the two city walls, you can see the majestic camp in the distance, where many ordnance supplies are stored.
Everyone had been traveling continuously for several days and was already exhausted. When they saw the camp and thought about the hot and fragrant food inside, they suddenly felt hot in their hearts.
"Boda, you sent someone to arrange for the cooks to kill pigs and sheep so that the soldiers can have a good meal. Today, let everyone have a good rest."
"Here!" Ren Jun hurriedly left after agreeing. He wanted to prepare meals for the soldiers himself.
...
At the end of July in the third year of Jian'an.
After Yuan Shao received the grain supplies from Yanjin, he broke camp and continued southward.
Facing the army with Yuan Shao personally as the vanguard, Cao Jun did not even dare to resist, and even took the people together and fled early.
Yangwu, Wuchao, Fengqiu, Yuanwu and other places fell one after another in just a few days.
For a time, Yuan Jun was in a state of overwhelming power and arrogance!