Strictly speaking, Cao Cao's harassment of Xuzhou was not a big trouble.
The tactics he adopted were exactly the same as when Wang Yu dealt with the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou. The Yellow Turbans did not have a stable base and money and food supplies, and Qingqi raids could severely damage their morale. But for Xuzhou, which has a big family and a big business, more than a thousand Qingqi on the periphery
Harassment can only cause a little trouble at most.
The real threat to Xuzhou was the side effects of the Qingqi raids, which aroused and intensified its internal conflicts.
There are five counties under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou.
The northernmost Langya is in a semi-autonomous state. The Taishan bandits headed by Zang Ba are nominally subordinate to Xuzhou, but in fact they obey the orders but not the propaganda; Donghai and Xiapi are currently in the hands of Tao Qian; Zhao Yu, the prefect of Guangling, is a famous scholar in Xuzhou
, was a powerful person that Tao Qian took great pains to hire after he took office. Although his position was lower than Tao Qian's, his attitude was not so polite and he was regarded as an equal.
Although Zang Ba and Zhao Yu are unruly, they can still keep in line with Tao Qian in terms of external affairs, and they can still get by in terms of face. Relatively speaking, Pengcheng Prime Minister Xue Li is much more troublesome. This person is from a powerful local faction in Xuzhou.
One of the representative figures, who can be considered a powerful figure in Pengcheng, has shown a tendency to alienate Tao Qian in several previous crises.
Pengcheng State is considered the gateway to the west of Xuzhou. Tao Qian was naturally not at ease with such an important place being left in the hands of an unstable element like Xue Li.
He had no time to spare, so he sent his fellow villager Zuo Rong as the Prime Minister of Xiapi. On the one hand, he was responsible for supervising the transportation of grain from Guangling County, Xiapi County and Pengcheng County to Tan County. On the other hand, he monitored Xue Li nearby.
and suppression.
His strategy was pretty good. He established a follow-up defense line in Xiapi. Even if Pengcheng was really unstable, he could still withstand it for a while. As a result, fellow countryman Zuo Rong stabbed the old man in the back. After this man took office in Xiapi, not only did he
No measures were taken against Pengcheng, and money and food from the three places were withheld, all of which enriched his own pockets.
It may not be appropriate to say that he enriched his own pockets, because he spent all the money on Guangxing Buddhist temples. He asked the people of Xiapi County to read Buddhist scriptures day and night, which caused monks, nuns and Buddhists from nearby counties to move into Xiapi
There are more than 5,000 households in each county.
On April 8, the second year of Chuping, which was the birthday of the Buddha, he held a grand Buddha bathing party in Xiapi. The cost of the roadside banquet alone was 100,000 yuan.
After receiving this slap, Tao Qian suddenly became angry.
The situation in Xuzhou was therefore in chaos, and the arrival of Cao Jun's Qingqi greatly aggravated the chaos.
Xue Li of Pengcheng is waiting for a price, and he may defect to foreign enemies at any time; Xia Pi Rong is so crazy that he makes the Xia Pi country look like a so-called Buddhist country on earth, because Zuo Rong exempts Buddhists from corvee service and the people have no intention of doing it.
After giving birth, all he wanted to do was go to the temple to burn incense and worship Buddha; finally, there was Zang Ba who was watching from the sidelines.
The top priority is to defeat Zuo Rong, and the second is to deal with Xue Li. But the local faction will definitely not cooperate. Zuo Rong's betrayal is a quarrel among Tao Qian's faction. It is too late for the local faction to watch the excitement and surrender, so how can they help Lao Tao?
?
At present, with the Danyang soldiers in the hands of his confidant Cao Bao and the support of Mi Zhu and other local factions, Tao Qian can barely control the situation in the East China Sea, but places further away are beyond his reach.
Cao Jun's light cavalry was more of a deterrent than an attack.
After describing the situation in Xuzhou in detail, Xu Shu concluded: "Cao Cao is indeed not to be underestimated. Although he is thousands of miles away, he has a clear understanding of the situation in Xuzhou. The combination of the civil and military forces he sent is also very reasonable. That Xi Zhicai is
He is very good at strategy. If the situation continues to deteriorate, in the worst case, Xuzhou will collapse without a fight and be easily taken over by others."
"Yuan Zhi, in your opinion, if our army mobilizes reinforcements, how will the situation evolve?" Wang Yu frowned. After entering Qingzhou, two powerful allies suddenly became hindrances. This fact made him feel
Very depressing.
Fortunately for Gongsun Zan, Wang Yu had already been psychologically prepared for the situation in Hebei and took targeted measures. But things were so strange here in Xuzhou!
Obviously before Cao Cao's massive invasion, Xuzhou was a very peaceful place! Could it be that this was also a butterfly effect caused by himself? Otherwise, why would so many opposition groups suddenly appear? Even Tao Qian's direct lineage rebelled?
Zuo Rong? Who is this person? It seems that there is no mention in the novel at all.
Xue Li? Isn’t that Xue Rengui’s name?
Cao Bao had heard that this man was quite difficult to deal with Liu Bei.
Wang Yu's prophet is not omnipotent. He can know the general trend of the world and the deeds of famous people, but when it comes to the internal turmoil in Xuzhou, his eyesight turns black.
Who knew that Xuzhou, which seemed peaceful, had such waves hidden under the calm surface?
"The most likely possibility is that the local factions join hands to resist. If they cannot resist, they are likely to collude with foreign enemies. While our army is fighting head-on, we must also be careful of plots from behind."
Xu Shu's intelligence system covers a wide range of areas. Spying and collecting intelligence, analyzing it, and formulating strategies are all his responsibilities. Xuzhou is his top priority. Even before Wang Yu came back, he
The evolution of the situation in Xuzhou has been repeatedly deduced.
"If we cannot win quickly, our army's limited strength will be dragged on the Xuzhou battlefield; if there is another incident in Hebei, our army will need to divide its troops and go northward; fighting on both sides will put great pressure on our army's strength and logistics. If there are more people
Seeing the emptiness inside our army..." Xu Shu didn't finish his words, but Wang Yu already understood the implication.
"Then our army will have to fight on three sides."
A war on three sides, with strong enemies on all three sides, was a strategic situation that Wang Yu tried his best to avoid.
The situation he was trying to create was to maintain the rear for the time being, and to deal with Hebei first with all his strength. Now that Gongsun Zan had followed his advice and arrived in the plains, he certainly could not let the other party fight alone, and the Xuzhou side could not be ignored either.
Although historically, the crisis in Xuzhou only broke out a few years later, now that Wang Yu has realized that the impact he has caused is getting bigger and bigger, it is difficult to say whether there will be any accidents.
If we take it lightly now, we will regret it when Xuzhou really changes hands.
However, we can't send a large army to cross the border, and we can't let it go. Is it possible to carry out another assassination? Wang Yu shook his head and smiled bitterly. When the corner of his eye glanced at Xu Shu's face, something moved in his heart: "Yuan Zhi, do you have any ideas?
?”
After analyzing the pros and cons of marching into Xuzhou, Xu Shu always had a faint smile on his face. It was a smile that combined confidence and courage. It reminded Wang Yu of himself on the banks of the Yellow River.
Xu Shugong cupped his hands and said: "My lord, I believe that soldiers are more valuable than elites. If you want to solve the crisis in Xuzhou, this principle is just applicable. A large army pressing down on the border may cause a local backlash. If only a small number of elites are sent, then
It won’t attract too much attention. Or you can use it as an envoy and bring hundreds of guards with you to make it more hidden.”
Xu Shu's plan was bold, but not too outrageous.
Can a small number of elites affect the overall situation? First, Ban Chao, and then Wang Yu have already given the answer. At present, Qingzhou even has such a team, which is best at lurking and assassinating.
Therefore, even Taishi Ci, who had always been at odds with Xu Shu, did not raise any objections at this moment. Everyone was thinking attentively and weighing the feasibility of this plan.
Wang Yu put his hand on his forehead and muttered: "If it's just Zuo Rong, Xue Li and the others, there's nothing to worry about. With Yuan Zhi's talents, even if he can't capture them easily, there won't be much danger. The problem is that Xi Zhi is talented
…”
Wang Yu didn't know much about Xi Zhicai. He was not very famous in history and was currently very low-key in Cao's army. However, Wang Yu knew very well that Guo Jia was assigned to this person's class and usually came here.
It is said that the ability of the successor is not as high as that of the predecessor. Just look at the example of Soochow.
After Zhou Yu, he was succeeded by Lu Su, then Lu Meng, and then...
Of course, Guo Jia may be a special case, but this is not a reason to look down upon Xi Zhicai. The current Xu Shu is not the magical strategist in history who has studied for many years and achieved success. He is just a young man who has just fledged.
The expectations for our opponents are really not optimistic.
The current situation in Xuzhou is very unfavorable; the troops brought by Xu Shu are not as talented as Xi Zhi; in addition, Wang Yu currently has no assistants to allocate to Xu Shu. His generals all have their own jurisdictions, and the only ones who are temporarily free are Taishi Ci and Zhao Yun.
, but in the Hebei War, Wang Yu will definitely take these two people with him.
There are still few talents. Before the war in Hebei begins, shouldn't we find ways to dig out a few more talents?
Halfway through the sentence, Wang Yu fell into deep thought, but Xu Shu was extremely unconvinced. He thought that his reputation was not as good as that of Xi Zhicai because of his talent and learning, but he also had advantages that Xi Zhicai did not have.
Fighting in formation, Qingzhou's special forces may not be very strong, but to cope with the current complicated situation, the special forces who are good at hiding, assassinating, camouflaging, and having super personal combat power are much better than Cao Cao's light cavalry.
Besides, his experience in the past year or so after joining the army was not in vain. The Qingzhou intelligence system had many rules and regulations that he had never heard of. It seemed strange at first, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. These new things opened his eyes
vision, and on this basis, he has made great progress.
Xu Shu would not look down on Xi Zhicai, but he would not belittle himself either. Seeing Wang Yu's hesitation, he took a step forward and said loudly: "I am willing to issue a military order. If we go to Xuzhou this time and fail, I am willing to lead the army!"
Wang Yu also didn't expect that he would lose his mind and actually become a motivator for Xu Shu. As soon as he said the military order or something, it would mean burning the boat. If he was rejected, his enthusiasm and loyalty would be greatly affected.
damage.
"As for the Xuzhou matter, please leave it to Yuan Zhi." Wang Yu stood up solemnly and entrusted this important task to Xu Shu.