"This move opens up the green sky, and rotates to look at the constant stone. The clear sky accumulates frost and dew, and the righteousness is chilling."
Cao Song, the father of General Pingdong Cao Cao, was attacked by a group of Xuzhou cavalry at the border of Taishan County. All of them were killed, and hundreds of chariots accompanying them were also plundered. At the critical moment when Gongsun Zan and Zang Hong were fighting for Qingzhou, Cao Song
His death undoubtedly triggered another war.
Although Tao Qian's explanation was that the traitor Que Xuan sent people to kill Cao Song, and in order to give Cao Cao an explanation, Tao Qian even murdered Que Xuan after he returned to Xuzhou and annexed his people. But this did not calm Cao Cao's anger.
, in mid-July, Cao Cao, Cao Ren, Yu Jin and others will set out from Dingtao to march south to attack Tao Qian, marching down more than ten cities. Tao Qian could not protect himself and hurriedly asked Gongsun Zan for help, and Qi Prime Minister Liu Bei learned that
After this incident, he was worried that he would not be able to escape from Lu Bu's men. He immediately led his troops south and joined Tao Qian to stop Cao Cao.
Pengcheng, Fuyang County, Xuzhou.
"Brother, Wuxian, Shiqiu, Luxian and other places have been captured by our army. I don't know what to do with them?" Cao Ren, the Sima of another department wearing armor and linen, came into the tent and asked.
, Cao Ang, who joined the battle with the army, also followed.
"Why bother asking? Since we invaded Xuzhou, what did you and I do before and what we still do now!" Cao Cao, who was also wearing mourning, was sitting at the main seat, holding a slip in his hand, raised his head and looked at Cao Ren,
His voice was not loud, but his tone was unusually calm: "Behead him in half, kill him in a trap, dig a river, in short, kill him cleanly, leaving no one alive, and all the chickens and dogs!"
Cao Ren was stunned. Even at the beginning, Cao Cao was quite lenient towards the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans who had a bad record. But now these people are all good people, why are they so cruel?
He was about to speak to dissuade him, but Cao Cao interrupted him with a wave of his hand: "That's it! If you don't do this, it's hard to understand the hatred in my heart!"
Cao Ren hesitated for a moment, knowing that the hatred for killing his father was irreconcilable, and no matter how much he tried to persuade him at this time, it would be of no avail, so he loudly responded: "I promise!"
Then Cao Ren went out to arrange military orders, leaving only Cao Cao, Cao Ang and Xi Zhicai in the tent.
Cao Cao looked at the slip in his hand again. It was the last letter sent to him by Ying Shao, the prefect of Taishan. Ying Shao felt ashamed and afraid because he failed to respond to Cao Song in time, so he wrote this letter.
After writing letters of an investigative nature, he abandoned his official position and went to Yuan Shao.
The letter described the whole incident in detail. When Que Xuan led his troops to attack Mount Tai, Rencheng and other places, a group of cavalry took the opportunity to intercept and kill Cao Song and his son in Qiting. Ying Shao failed to find out the main messenger.
Who is it? But according to Ying Shao's point of view, Que Xuan is the most suspect person.
But Cao Cao didn't see it that way.
"Que Xuan was moving to fight in Rencheng at that time. How could he specially send cavalry to Yiting? And he was just a grass bandit, so where did he get the cavalry?" Cao Cao said disdainfully: "It was clearly Tao Qian who took advantage of Que Xuan's momentum.
He did this murder secretly, intending to put the blame on Que Xuan later. Now that Que Xuan is dead and there is no further evidence, Tao Qian's plan is a good one! What a humble gentleman, even Ying Shao helped him speak up.
!”
Xi Zhicai was still calm at this time, and he said calmly: "Tao Qian once again advocated righteousness, and he was with Langxie for Yinde, Pengcheng for Jilian, Beihai for Kongrong, Ying Shao, Xu Qiu, Fu Qian and others.
He supported Zhu Jun as Grand Master and intended to attack Dong Zhuo. His momentum was so great that even Yuan Jizhou was jealous and jealous. Now Yin De has taken refuge, Ying Shao has fled, Ji Lian has died, and Kong Rong has been conquered. This second alliance has fallen apart.
, it’s time to seize the opportunity to attack. Therefore, no matter who is the culprit this time, it is imperative to attack Xu."
"That's right. Now Gongsun Zan, Tian Kai, Zang Ziyuan, Lu Bu and others are fighting fiercely in Qingzhou. Since we have sworn an alliance, we should protect each other with our troops. This attack on Tao Qian was a matter of course, but who would have expected it? It's for this reason..." Before Cao Cao could finish his words, he looked up and saw Cao Ang who was listening quietly, and suddenly asked with a stern face: "Zixiu, do you think that my way of letting Zi Xiao massacre the city is too cruel? "
Cao Ang was startled when he heard this. He seemed to understand somewhat, but he hesitated and said with obvious disapproval: "Please forgive my son for speaking bluntly. Even if it is to avenge the Taigong, it only needs to attack Tao Qian alone. As for the massacre of innocent people, , it’s a bit…excessive.”
Cao Cao's stiff face broke out into a smile, and he asked Xiang Zhicai: "Where is Zhicai? Do you think my behavior is cruel and unethical?"
"It's an ancient order to punish the people and punish their crimes." Xi Zhicai curled his lips and said with impunity: "Although it is a bit excessive to mutilate his subordinates, it is also a last resort."
Cao Cao burst out laughing suddenly, knocked on the table with the slips a few times, and said: "This battle is to avenge my father. This is true, but to massacre the city with anger is to scare Tao Qian! The reason why I Everywhere they passed, they were killed, just to demonstrate in Xuzhou!"
He looked at Xi Zhicai, who was smiling but said nothing, and then stared at Cao Ang, who looked puzzled, and taught earnestly: "Since I led the army, I have often issued military orders: 'Those who surrender after being surrounded will not be pardoned.' The people of Xuzhou are better than Yanzhou Yinshi is no better than the common people in Qingzhou, Yuzhou and other places who have experienced wars for a long time, so they are more afraid of death than the people of Qingzhou and Yuzhou. This massacre is just a warning to the officials and people of Xuzhou. If Tao Qian continues to resist, he will lose Due to the popular sentiment, his subordinates are also hesitant...I don’t expect this old man to be able to support it for a few more days!"
Although Cao Ang did not have the benevolence of a woman, he was also a young man who acted openly and aboveboard. When had he ever been exposed to such insidious calculations? Hearing these words, he felt like a ray of light on his back, and he felt a chill in his heart: "But... so... , for fear of being criticized by scholars all over the world, saying that Aweng... harmed innocent people and harmed his reputation."
"But if peace is restored to the world, I will have no regrets. Why should I care what the people in the world think of me? Those people can only talk a little bit. If we really want to bring peace to the world, we still have to fight on the horse!" Cao Cao! He said with a big laugh, but the laughter quickly stopped.
Cao Ang's words actually make sense. The massacre of Xuzhou will definitely damage his already bad reputation, and will also cause him to lose the support of the people of Xuzhou, making it difficult for him to govern in the future. Moreover, after this battle, how will the Yanzhou scholars view him? Cao Cao thought of When the princes of Guandong gathered for an alliance, he and his friend Yuan Shao talked about their future plans. Yuan Shao said: "According to the Yellow River, block the Yan Dynasty, and fight for the world with Rong and Di people." But he said: "I will let the world's intelligence go. If you control it with Tao, you can do anything."
Yuan Shao values 'power', while Cao Cao values 'intelligence'. He is where he is today thanks to the intelligence of Cheng Yu, Chen Gong, Xun Yu and others. It is also the 'intelligence' of these people, Cao Cao's power increased sharply, and he won consecutive battles against Qingzhou Yellow Turban, Yuan Shu, Tao Qian and others. But once a person gains power, he will often get carried away and become cruel at heart...
Cao Cao hurriedly calmed down the god. Although he felt some regret, it was not enough to make him change his established strategy. He looked at Cao Ang, who was upright and heroic, and for no reason he thought of his dead half-brother Cao De. , if Cao De was still around, he would probably get along well with Cao Ang, right?
According to the few surviving accounts of that night, Cao Cao admired Cao De's heroic death. At that time, he wanted to declare to everyone that there was no wimp in his Cao family, and use this to inspire the generals. But when he thought of his father, Cao Song
The cause of death was unspeakable, and Cao Cao had no choice but to bury it in his heart.
"Ming Gong took revenge and raised the army, although his methods were cruel, but repaying evil with kindness, how can you repay kindness?" Xi Zhicai noticed the subtle look on Cao Cao's expression, coughed and said: "This is the temperament of Ming Gong, not to mention Tao Qian's repeated invasion of Yanzhou, this time can be regarded as
If you repay the favor, people will naturally understand what Ming Gong did in the future."
Cao Cao pursed his lips and looked at Xi Zhicai again: "We are most familiar with each other, but others may not see it that way."
Xi Zhicai's expression dimmed. He naturally knew who the "others" Cao Cao was referring to, and he said helplessly: "He will figure it out eventually."
"I hope." Cao Cao finished speaking slowly and couldn't help but frown. He stretched out his hand to rub the swollen corners of his eyes: "I hope he can figure it out..."
"Aweng, are you having trouble again?" Cao Ang didn't know what riddle the two were playing. He saw Cao Cao touching his forehead with his hand, and he quickly knew what had happened. He stepped forward to take a look, and suddenly found that Cao Cao was being raped.
The eye circles covered by his hands suddenly turned red, and there were faint tears swirling in his eyes.
He was stunned at that moment, but in a blink of an eye he saw Xi Zhicai closing his eyes and thinking deeply.
It turns out that my father, who has always been like a tiger, will also be sad sometimes...
In the next few days, Cao Cao sent Yu Jin, Li Qian and other generals to the north to harass Yinping, Changli, Hexiang, Lanling and other counties, attracting Tao Qian's main force, and finally the two sides launched a decisive battle under Fuyang City.
Xuzhou and Qingzhou echoed each other and became the first large-scale battle between princes in the fourth year of Chuping. The participants included Gongsun Zan, Zang Hong, Liu Bei, Lu Bu, Cao Cao, Tao Qian and other prefecture and county officials. A total of more than 100,000 people were dispatched by both sides.
The whole of Qingxu was in turmoil, people were displaced across the country, and the remnants of the county were crying endlessly.
At the same time, just when Gongsun Zan was stuck in the quagmire of the war in Qingzhou and could not get out; just when Cao Cao vowed to go south to attack Xu and officially opened the Qingxu battlefield. Jizhou Shepherd Yuan Shao had defeated his elite soldiers and thousands of cavalry in Changshan.
Zhang Yan, and began to pursue him one after another, half chasing and half driving Zhang Yan away to the west.
On the other side of the Han Dynasty, Hedong County was also brewing a crisis that was far more influential than Qingxu.