As Cao Zhi's opponent, Zhang Xiu was definitely at a disadvantage. According to Guo Jia's estimation, the strength comparison between the two sides was five to one. Zhang Ji was shot to death in Jingzhou, and Liu Biao "made people accept him."
"Everyone was pleased to hear this and obeyed." In other words, after Zhang Ji's death in battle, many of Zhang Ji's subordinates surrendered to Liu Biao, and only some of them were taken over by Zhang Xiu. Therefore, Zhang Xiu's strength was not enough to compete with Liu Biao.
Cao Zhixiang, who has achieved the goal of "holding the emperor hostage", can compete with him.
Everyone knows this, Zhang Xiu even more clearly. Zhang Xiu is not a very stupid person. He has a handsome appearance, a mustache of a standard Northland man, and a tall and tall figure. He studied under the martial arts master Tong Yuan, and
Zhao Yun also has good marksmanship and is known as the "King of Spears in the North". Countless masters have died under his tiger-headed golden spear. Such a standard heroic man should be in his prime when he is young and promising. But no one has
Zhang Xiu is a perfect person, with a cheerful appearance, but his personality is a bit repetitive. If he thinks of it today and does it, he will regret it tomorrow, so it is often difficult to retain real talents around him.
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" says that Zhang Xiu's surrender was planned by Jia Xu. There is no historical record, but this is the fact.
The arrival of Jia Xu made Zhang Xiu, who was in distress about whether to fight or surrender, overjoyed. Jia Xu was immediately welcomed into Wancheng, and Zhang Xiu even treated Jia Xu as a nephew.
When Zhang Xiu asked Jia Xu for advice on how to settle down between Liu Biao and Cao Zhi, Jia Xu directly suggested that Zhang Xiu surrender, welcome Cao's army into Wancheng, and hand over the land of Nanyang to Cao Zhi and join his service.
Zhang Xiu was a little uncomfortable with Jia Xu's straight-to-the-point approach. But then he thought that Jia Xu had been following Cao Zhi for some time, and now he was worshiped as a high-ranking official by Cao Zhi, so he naturally wanted to speak for Cao Zhi. This time he came to him
It seems that he is here in a purely official capacity, and is no longer a long-lasting acquaintance of his in Chang'an.
Before Jia Xu arrived, Zhang Xiu was in a state of indecision. Firstly, he did not want to be used by Liu Biao to block Cao Zhi's bullet holes. Secondly, he was afraid that Cao Zhi would not treat him well. After all, he and his
His subordinates were born as "Xiliang warlords". Starting from Dong Zhuo, the Xiliang warlords who followed him to Beijing were famous for a while, but they left the world with cruelty and vicious infamy. Now they are despised by the people of the world.
The kind that everyone calls for beating. Cao Zhi used a strategy to counterattack his subordinates last year and had them killed, which shows how cruel he is towards the warlord who was born in Xiliang.
Zhang Xiu did not quickly agree to Jia Xu's suggestion. He just kept Jia Xu and entertained him well. He came to talk to him every day, drink and chat with him.
Jia Xu knew that in order to persuade Zhang Xiu to surrender, haste makes waste, and there was no need to rush it. He just slowly instilled in Zhang Xiu Cao Zhi's talent and strategy, and he would definitely be the hero to dominate the world in the future. Jia Xu often mentioned to Zhang Xiu
, "Today the world is falling apart, the country's leader has moved, people's livelihood has been ruined, and people are in exile due to famine. The public family has no savings for the years, and the people have no ambition to secure the country. It will not last long. Now Cao Gong has been ordered by the emperor to not serve. He is cultivating and cultivating, and raising the army.
Capital, then the career of overlord can be achieved." Jia Xu's purpose of doing this was to understate Cao Zhi and belittle Liu Biao. He told Zhang Xiu that although Liu Biao was strong among the people, he had no foresight and no infrastructure.
This is also true: the righteous soldier wins, and he keeps his position to gain wealth.
Jia Xu said this because he wanted Zhang Xiu to see the difference between Cao Zhi and other princes, and to clearly express the fact that Cao Zhi would eventually achieve hegemony.
And it is clearly conveyed that Liu Biao is just a talker. He can sit here and chat, but he can't fight, let alone do the hero's business, and he is a miser.
Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao have formed an alliance. Jia Xu said that if my guess is correct, the agreement between you must be that Liu Biao will provide food and grass. And Liu Biao, based on Jia Xu's understanding of him, he will not take it seriously.
The one who provides you with food and grass, so Zhang Xiu, you have to think carefully. If you really confront Cao Zhi, you will soon be in a dilemma.
Jia Xu is smart, but sometimes his cleverness can be mistaken for his cleverness. Jia Xu acted too smart in front of Zhang Xiu, so instead of gaining Zhang Xiu's trust, his rhetoric made him suspicious of Jia Xu's purpose.
Therefore, Zhang Xiu has not made a clear stance on Jia Xu's arrival in Wancheng for more than ten days, whether to surrender or fight.
Jia Xu's patience was slowly being exhausted. He really wanted to write a letter back and ask Cao Zhi to send troops to attack any city outside Wancheng first to intimidate Zhang Xiu.
Unexpectedly, Jia Xu's expectations came true. Not long after, he received news that Cao Zhi was leading an approaching army. Jia Xu laughed loudly and ordered his subordinates to open the door of the camp where he lived, saying that he would arrive today.
Zhang Xiu.
Cao Zhi came to conquer Jingzhou with real swords and spears, and the army came to Wancheng. It's time for Zhang Xiu to wake up, right?
Soon Jia Xu's words came true. Zhang Xiu, who also received the news that 150,000 troops were approaching Wancheng, immediately came to the residence he had arranged for Jia Xu. When he entered the door, he called "Sir, save me!"
But Zhang Xiu was not sincere in his heart, because he was still waiting for Liu Biao's backup and came to Jia Xu just to delay Cao Zhi and buy himself some time.
Jia Xu was good at guessing other people's psychology all his life, but this time he still couldn't see through what Zhang Xiu was thinking. He might have guessed it, but he didn't include it in the risk factor and didn't care. Because Jia Xu believed that when Zhang Xiu saw it
Jia Xu believed that Zhang Xiu would be impressed by the grand appearance of Cao's army and his horses, and would sincerely surrender to Cao Zhi's arms.
What this world-famous "Poison Master" didn't expect was that Cao Zhi didn't let him happen, and was directly led into consequences he didn't expect.
At Zhang Xiu's request, Jia Xu wrote a letter of apology to Cao Zhi, asking Cao Zhi's army to stop outside Nanyang and allow him to prepare for a few days before leading his men to Zhangling for talks with Cao Zhi.
But not long after the letter was sent, rebels in Nanxiang and Zhangling counties surrendered to Cao Zhi's army, and the most forward position of Zhangxiu bordering Yuzhou was directly owned by Cao Zhi.
Before the peace talks even started, Zhang Xiu lost two counties, but Cao Zhi still won them without bloodshed. Zhang Xiu imagined Cao Zhi's joyful expression, and began to loosen his original delaying strategy. Although there were thirty-six counties under Nanyang's rule,
, is an absolutely super large county with one or two cities, so the problem is not big. But now is an extraordinary period. Zhang Xiu is worried that if someone under his rule has rebelled, others will follow suit, and the situation will be difficult to deal with. So Zhang Xiu once again
Find Jia Xu to express his willingness to speed up the peace talks.
Jia Xu was also very happy that Cao Zhi had easily won two counties as soon as he arrived in Jingzhou. At this moment, he proudly looked up to the sky and sighed, God is really helping me! He won two counties without fighting, which will undoubtedly accelerate Zhang Xiu's determination to surrender.
At this time, Jia Xu thought that the two counties were obtained by Guo Jia through some trick, and the purpose was also to cooperate with his work of persuading surrender in Wancheng. At this time, he did not know that Xun You had already arrived in Wuyang.
On the front line. Regarding Zhang Xiu's previous hesitation and now eagerness for peace talks, we can only lament and shake our heads because he is not a man of great talent and strategy, no matter what.
Soon everything seemed to go as Jia Xu and Zhang Xiu expected. After Cao Zhi's army secured Nanxiang and Zhangling counties and established a firm foothold, it stopped and did not quickly advance towards Wancheng.
Zhang Xiu breathed a sigh of relief, and under Jia Xu's slightly satisfied look, Liu Biao sent general Deng Ji to reinforce Huyang. After Liu Biao received Cao's army's large-scale march south, he kept his promise and sent troops to assist Zhang Xiu. Liu Biao's assistance became
Zhang Xiu's important help in defending Wancheng was also the continuation of Zhang Xiu's strategy from the beginning.
This time it was Zhang Xiu's turn to chuckle. After hearing the news that Liu Biao's rapid troops had arrived in Huyang, he began to ignore Jia Xu again. He also semi-publicly placed Jia Xu under house arrest and refused to let him go, claiming that he would
After defeating Cao Zhi, he asked Mr. Jia to stay and be his military advisor.
But before he finished his sentence, Huyang and Wuyang, who formed a horn to protect Wancheng, were immediately attacked by two groups of soldiers and horses from Cao's army. Cao Zhi stayed in Nanxiang, and Zhang Ling's army quickly attacked these two
Pounce everywhere.
"What about the heavenly soldiers and generals coming?"
After saying these words, Zhang Xiu hurriedly led his troops to Wuyang. Since Huyang had Deng Ji to help guard it, he would go to Wuyang to help defend it.
On the day Xu Huang attacked Huyang, in the spring of March and April, snowflakes actually started to fly in the sky. The flying snowflakes were roaring and rolling like a jade dragon, and he seemed to be inspiring everyone on the battlefield with his pride.
.
Cao Xiu and Cao Anmin, two nephews of Cao Zhi, as Xu Huang's deputies, saw Xu Huang in person. They led their troops with a calm pace and were the first to rush up the city wall in the face of the flying snowflakes. The soldiers behind them were like a tide, without any fear.
They rushed straight up the Huyang City Wall. Relying on the 3,000 vanguard armors that rushed forward with light cavalry, Deng Ji was caught off guard and once lost the North City Gate. However, he still bravely led his troops to seize it.
Qiang Qiang defended Huyang.
But just two days later, Cao Zhi appeared at the gate of Huyang City and brought reinforcements. Cao Jun's soldiers were inspired and attacked the city even more fiercely. When Xu Chu, who was supposed to be guarding the Forbidden Palace, appeared before Cao Jun
When he was seen holding a long-handled steel knife and shouting: "Follow me if you are not afraid of death," Cao Jun became excited.
In order to prevent the recurrence of historical tragedies, Cao Zhi specially swapped Xu Chu and Dian Wei. Xu Chu followed him on the expedition, while Dian Wei stayed in Xu Du and temporarily accepted the responsibility of defending the capital.
A cry like a collapse was accompanied by a wave of waves that rushed to the top of Huyang City. The top of the city was immediately filled with blood mist under the swing of Xu Chu's steel knife. At the same time, Xu Huang, who detoured and attacked from the east gate, was not to be outdone.
After a while, he led his troops to the top of the city. Huyang was not a city that was governed, the walls were not high enough, and the city defenses were not that strong.
When Xu Chu and Xu Huang slaughtered each other like a competition, and the blood mist raised by their efforts fell on the white snow below the city, the city of Huyang was broken, and the three thousand defenders finally surrendered, and Deng Ji was captured.