Summary of the previous chapter: While Cao Cao was teaching Liu Biao, the two idiot brothers Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi started fighting among themselves. Yuan Tan could not defeat Yuan Shang, so he had no choice but to seek refuge with Cao Cao. Cao Cao subdued Yuan Tan, but unexpectedly Yuan Tan secretly recruited Yuan Shang's surrendered generals.
Cao Cao was very angry about this, but he did not show it too much. Although the invitation to Master Ma Xiaoquan failed, Ma Xiaoquan gave Cao Cao a very simple letter. The content of the letter was: Capture Yecheng...
Su You secretly wrote a letter to Cao Cao as an internal agent and asked his confidants to deliver it. Although the letter was delivered, the confidants were caught by Shen Qufei.
During the interrogation, the interrogator was shocked and arrested Su You overnight.
Su You was well prepared. He had already fled Yecheng and defected to Cao Cao long before his confidants sent the letter.
Cao Cao led his army to approach Yecheng. When he was taking a final rest on the way, Cao Cao took out another silk letter and read it.
Guo Jia was curious and asked Cao Cao: "My lord, this letter..."
Cao Cao chuckled and said: "Oh haha, this letter is another letter given to me by Master Shangxian... If Master Shangxian doesn't go out from now on, I will communicate with him through letters...
"
Guo Jiayi was overjoyed when he heard this: "Master Shangxian is so attentive..."
Cao Cao nodded, unfolded the silk letter, looked at it for a few times, curled his lips and said, "What a monster, there is no important information in this letter. I thought he had figured something out, blah"
Guo Jia took the silk letter from Cao Cao, read it over, and said with a smile: "My lord, please don't blame Lord Shangxian. Lord Shangxian must have expected that your lord would come to the city, so he told your lord not to be impulsive and to fight steadily."
That's..."
Cao Cao waved his hand: "What are you talking about if you don't have all these things? Now that I have reached Yecheng, why don't the judges quickly wash their necks and wait to be slaughtered?"
After speaking, Cao Cao snatched the silk letter from Guo Jia with disdain and burned it on fire.
The troops continued to advance and reached the foot of Ye City. Cao Cao ordered his soldiers to pile up earth and dig tunnels in order to attack by force.
Guo Jia and others could not persuade Cao Cao, so they had no choice but to let him do whatever he wanted.
Ye City is a fortified city, and Shen Pei who guards Ye City is also a ruthless character. Cao Cao piles up mountains of earth, and Shen Pei orders people to set off rockets to disrupt Cao Cao's progress. Cao Cao digs tunnels, and Shen Pei simply digs them horizontally in Ye City.
Gully to prevent Cao Cao's tunnel from taking shape.
When Cao Cao saw that the Tushan strategy was not working, he angrily cursed the judge for being cunning.
In desperation, Cao Cao had to temporarily leave some troops to Cao Hong, and Cao Hong continued to attack the city, while he personally pacified the outskirts of Ye City.
The periphery of Yecheng is the main food and military supply area of Yecheng. Cao Cao knew that if he attacked Yecheng desperately, not only would he not be able to defeat it, but he would be exhausted and stranded.
Sitting on his horse, Cao Cao curled his lips, took out a silk letter from his arms, and told Guo Jia: "This demon is really interesting. The last letter didn't say anything. This time, it actually asked me to pacify it."
The outskirts of Yecheng are interesting."
In fact, it was Guo Jia who first came up with the idea of pacifying the periphery. After seeing the correspondence between his lord Cao Cao and Lord Shangxian last time, Guo Jia also decided to secretly communicate with Ma Xiaoquan.
In the letter to Ma Xiaoquan, Guo Jia briefly talked about the current war situation and told Ma Xiaoquan that he wanted to suggest that his lord Cao Cao first pacify the outskirts of Ye City.
Ma Xiaoquan of Xuchang read what Guo Jia said in the letter and exclaimed that Guo Jia was smart and strategic. He quickly replied and ordered his men to hurry up and send it to Guo Jia to express his approval.
After receiving Ma Xiaoquan's letter, Guo Jia was very happy and immediately suggested to Cao Cao to pacify the outskirts of Ye City first. As for the attack on Ye City, he could leave it to General Yi.
Cao Cao thought about it and didn't know who to send. At this moment, Ma Xiaoquan's letter from Ma Xiaoquan arrived.
Opening it up and taking a look, Cao Cao smiled.
The content of Ma Xiaoquan's letter not only "coincided" with Guo Jiati's suggestions, but also strongly recommended Cao Hong.
Cao Cao did not hesitate and immediately ordered Cao Hong to serve as the siege general, while he personally went to pacify the outskirts of Ye City.
Cao Cao personally took charge of the operation, and he was sure to get twice the result with half the effort. When the counties and counties outside Yecheng heard that Cao Cao was coming, they were so frightened that they either surrendered or ran away. Those who couldn't escape simply committed suicide.
Of course, not all counties are afraid of Cao Cao. There are a few counties that really give Cao Cao a headache.
At the end of April in the ninth year of Jian'an (204 AD), Cao Cao finally pacified the outskirts of Yecheng. Since then, Yecheng's foreign aid, including food routes, were successfully cut off by Cao Cao.
In early May, Cao Cao and Cao Hong reunited. Seeing that Cao Hong still could not capture Yecheng, they discussed changing their strategy again.
At this time, another letter from Ma Xiaoquan arrived in time.
Cao Cao unfolded it and took a look and burst into laughter.
Guo Jia asked Cao Cao: "Why is my lord laughing?"
Cao Cao nodded: "This demon knows me so well, Fengxiao, you see, this demon has hit my mark..."
Guo Jia finally believed it. Although he was surprised by Ma Xiaoquan's "magical plan", just like the last sentence in Ma Xiaoquan's letter, Guo Jia's mood suddenly became heavy.
"Don't harm the common people too much, they are the foundation..." Guo Jia repeatedly read the last sentence in Ma Xiaoquan's letter and shook his head helplessly.
Guo Jia knows that the lord Cao Cao has never cared about the life and death of others for his own benefit. Although Lord Shangxian has calculated the lord Cao Cao's next plan in the letter, the lord Cao Cao will definitely implement it. However, the lord Cao Cao will not because of
The plan changed with one word from Lord Shangxian. He... is a lord who "would rather betray others than myself"...
In mid-May, Cao Cao ordered his men to stop the Tushan tunnel offensive and dig long trenches instead.
This long chasm is two feet deep. During the construction at night, when I looked down from above, I could see the slightest bit of cold wind. Ahem, the Han ruler was slightly smaller than the modern ruler. Xiaojue made a rough calculation and found out that the two feet
The distance is not as deep as 6 meters, but at least 5 meters. From the beginning of construction to the digging of the long trench, it took more than a month.
At the end of June, Cao Cao diverted water from the Zhang River to flood the city, creating a vast expanse of water both inside and outside the city.
Faced with the embarrassment of no foreign aid and internal emptiness, the judges in Yecheng finally became afraid.
The judge secretly sneaked out of Yecheng to deliver a message to his lord Yuan Shang. In early July, Yuan Shang saw that his home base could no longer hold on, so he led more than 10,000 troops back to Yecheng to aid.
At this time, Cao Cao had been besieging Yecheng for three months.
Yuan Shang wanted to send someone to the city to communicate with Shen Pei, but Li Fu, the chief clerk, volunteered to go.
However, Yecheng was so surrounded by Cao Cao that not even a fly could fly in. How could Li Fu get in?
Li Fu thought for a long time and decided to dress up as Cao Jun's prosecutor...
On this day, Li Fu, who was well-dressed and led a few of his confidants, swaggered to a military camp of Cao Cao's camp and claimed to be the captain.
Under normal circumstances, this military camp always obeys orders. I have never seen a "high official" at the level of a captain. The officers and soldiers in the camp seemed to be inspecting, so how could they dare to neglect it? They were all in high spirits waiting for the review.
Li Fu saw it in his eyes and sighed in his heart. Although he didn't say it in his heart, Li Fu already understood that Yuan Shang's failure was inevitable.
With a mission in hand, Li Fu did not dare to delay, so he scolded and walked quickly through Cao Jun's camp, and came to the first line of Cao Jun's camp at the foot of Yecheng.
Seeing Yecheng right in front of him, Li Fu scolded him fiercely when he found trouble.
The officers and soldiers of Cao's army on the front line did not know Li Fu. Just when they were dizzy after being scolded, Li Fu rushed into Yecheng at full speed...
Not far away, Cao Cao stood on a chariot, laughing non-stop.
Guo Jia was beside Cao Cao and asked in confusion: "My lord, you have already exposed that man, why didn't you order someone to catch him instead of letting him in?"
Cao Cao has a problem with pride, he is very proud. Especially now that he is still in a strong stage, Cao Cao is even more proud.
The proud Cao Cao knew that it was Yuan Shang who arranged to enter Yecheng, but in any case, Yuan Shang was already at the end of his life and could not save himself. Cao Cao would definitely disdain such an opponent.
However, pride is pride. This time, Cao Cao did not become complacent because of pride. On the contrary, he ordered his men: "It's no big deal. He will come out after he goes in. Be careful and see how he comes out!"
...
Li Fu ran into Yecheng and exchanged opinions with Shenpei. The two decided to let the old and weak people in the city go out, with the sole purpose of saving food and grass.
He did what he said, and Li Fu blended in with the old and weak people, and went out with everyone under the white flag.
When Cao Cao learned about it, he was happy: "This guy has some brains, haha, don't care about him."
After the old and weak people in Yecheng ran out, the food and supplies in the city were much easier than before. After reading the inventory list, the judge nodded firmly and determined to continue to fight Cao Cao to the end.
On the other hand, the news of Yuan Shang's return for rescue reached Cao Cao's ears. Some of his subordinates advised Cao Cao to stay out of the way for the time being. Cao Cao took out another letter, waved it in front of everyone, and said: "What you are saying, this monster
Tao told me a long time ago, but I won’t listen..."
It turned out that Ma Xiaoquan wrote a third letter to Cao Cao, in which he advised Cao Cao to avoid Yuan Shang.
The purpose of Ma Xiaoquan's letter is not true persuasion, but false persuasion.
After reading the letter, Cao Cao immediately understood what he meant, but in front of everyone, Cao Cao still told a little lie.
Cao Cao said: "That brat Yuan Shang wants to come from the main road. Of course I will give in. But if he comes from the small road in Xishan, don't blame me for being rude. I will beat that brat Yuan Shang until he can't shit."
..."
Cao Cao rarely said bad words. This time, he not only said it, but also said a lot. When all the subordinates heard this, they thought to themselves: It seems that the lord has already made up his mind. Hey, forget it, let's just follow the order.