Chapter 440: Falling from a horse and recommending Guo Jia
"Zi...Zida? Why are you back? Where is Zhicai? Where is Zhicai?"
At this moment, Yanzhou Governor's Mansion was completely enveloped by the atmosphere of separation and death. Cao Cao's face was livid, with a hint of defeat in it, and his voice was trembling, almost speechless, and full of disbelief, or unwillingness to believe.
Since the person who escaped back in embarrassment and burst into tears as soon as he entered the door was Xia Houjie, then, to a certain extent, the outcome is self-evident. Cao Cao clearly remembered that when he sent Xia Houjie to join Xi Zhicai, he said
The latter's instructions: personal guard, don't leave even half a step away!
Xia Houjie is not as brave as his father Xiahou Dun, but he is also a very reliable person. He is always meticulous in executing orders without any deviation. Therefore, Cao Cao will always take him with him as a personal guard, and he has high expectations.
Xia Houjie is back, but Xi Zhicai is nowhere to be seen. The only possibility is...
"I deserve to die. I really wish it was me who died. My lord, the military advisor, the military advisor..." Xia Houjie stumbled in all the way. After seeing Cao Cao, he lay on the ground and cried with snot and tears.
, burst into tears.
"Bastard!" Xiahou Dun rushed out from behind Cao Cao and kicked Xiahou Jie hard with great force. He kicked Xiahou Jie into the air and made a 360-degree spin, and then he was like a rag bag.
It fell heavily and made a loud bang.
The crying stopped suddenly, and the roar exploded like thunder.
"Shu Zi! Shu Zi! You have completely disgraced me! My lord asked you to protect the military advisor, but you actually left the military advisor behind and came back alone. Why do you have such a face to come to see me and all my uncles?
See my lord? You don’t have the courage to die, do you? Well, let me, as a father, help you!"
Xia Houchun was going crazy.
Cao Cao's army is a private army to a certain extent. Cao Cao and Xiahou occupy many important positions in Cao's army, especially military positions. As a balance, in addition to Le Jin, Shi Huan and other external military generals, they hold civil positions.
Above all, they are mainly composed of celebrities from all over the world, and there is not even a single relative in the shogunate.
This is a kind of balance. Cao Cao adopted a balancing method after learning the lessons from the fall of Yuan Shao and Liu Dai.
As long as the military power is in the hands of relatives, the power in government affairs, intelligence, and strategy can be delegated or withdrawn. In this way, Cao Jun can not only recruit talented people, but also ensure the stability of power, which is the best of both worlds.
However, the reason why Cao Cao had the confidence to do this was that Cao Cao and the Xiahou family did have many talented people. He, Miaocai, and Zixiao were all good at fighting; Zihe and Wenlie were good at military affairs.
The ability to train soldiers is completely inferior to that of Yue Jin, the leader of the foreign generals.
Meng Decai had the confidence to control the military power with his relatives only because of his own people. Xiahou Dun grasped this point very accurately.
But now, it was raining all night when the house was leaking. Zixiao died in the battle in Hebei. Finally, he died heroically. He was suddenly attacked by two famous generals from Qingzhou. He was also held back by useless friendly forces, and the staff of the external department.
He and the generals had nothing to say.
But something happened to Xi Zhicai. His useless son actually managed to escape with his life. This was no longer an excuse, but a shame for the Cao family!
He was so angry that he was merciless. His fists and feet were like cast iron, and he swung them out with huge force. The roaring sound completely overwhelmed the howling north wind. Being hit by this kind of force, Xia Houjie was like a steel bar.
Bones also have to be bent, let alone a mortal body?
He was already vomiting blood after the first kick. After three punches and two kicks, the crisp sound of fractures could be heard throughout the venue. No one doubted that Xiahou Dun would have beaten his son to death if no one had stopped him in time.
Everyone looked at Cao Cao one after another, but saw that the latter had a sad face, as if he was blind to the tragic scene in front of him, and his whole heart was immersed in grief.
Xiahou Dun's status among the generals of his family was extremely high. Only his brother Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren, who died in the battle, could compare with him. Cao Cao said nothing and Xiahou Yuan just looked at him with a gloomy face. Who dared to step forward rashly?
Xia Houjie's performance was equally frightening. After being beaten like this, he actually gritted his teeth and said nothing. At the same time, he didn't mean to faint, he just stood there.
The shocking scene did not last long. After a while, Xun Yu finally spoke.
"General Yuan Rang, please put aside the thunderous wrath. General Zida is returning alone. He may have some unavoidable reasons. We must give him a chance to explain." Xun Yu said slowly: "What's more, Zhicai is always cautious in his actions.
But this time...it is even difficult to guarantee my own safety. During this period...well, it is always up to General Zida to clear up the doubts of all my colleagues."
Xun Yu made a signal, followed by Cheng Yu who also raised his hand and said: "What Wen Ruo said is true. Zhicai mobilized the Taishan bandits to take advantage of the opportunity to attack Mount Tai. We were all involved in Qingzhou's plan.
Although it is not foolproof, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is nine out of ten. How could the situation have deteriorated to this point, and only General Zida returned alone? He is responsible for the military affairs of General Zida. What happened in Qingchu Taishan?
What is the most important thing?"
Cao Cao's shogunate was headed by three great counselors: Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, and Xi Zhicai.
Xun Yu was in charge of internal affairs and talents, and would also participate in the formulation of grand strategies. He had an excellent view of the overall situation and was Cao Cao's most relied-upon counselor. Cheng Yu joined later, and had many achievements in linking up vertical and horizontal alliances and grasping the enemy's psychology. In addition, he
As a native of Yanzhou, Cao Cao quickly put him in high regard.
Now that Xi Zhicai, who was in charge of strategy and intelligence, is dead, the words of these two people can basically represent the will of the shogunate. Therefore, as soon as the two of them opened their mouths, all the staff members echoed their voices and interceded for Xia Houjie.
"That's right, everyone..." Cao Cao nodded imperceptibly. If you didn't observe carefully, you might not be able to tell whether he was nodding or just trembling.
"Yuan Rang, help Zida up and find a medical officer for diagnosis and treatment... Zida, please tell me, Mount Tai, what happened to Mount Tai?" The low voice came, but it carried indescribable power.
Xiahou Dun, who was furious and furious, pretended to have put away his anger.
"Return. Ahem, report back to my lord. On that day, the military advisor and Zang Ba's bandits..." Xia Houjie was already injured before he came back. He was beaten violently by his father, and the injuries were even worse. If it weren't for his martial arts skills,
The foundation is good, and I feel a breath of relief in my heart. I am afraid that I am speechless at this time.
He struggled and intermittently explained how he successfully mobilized the Taishan bandits; how he successfully invaded Mount Tai and cracked Xu Shu's various strategies and counterattacks in a forward-looking manner; on the eve of success, he encountered Xu Shu in Yuanshan and was ultimately defeated.
, the whole process of the defeat and flight was told.
Due to his serious injury, his description was somewhat lacking in detail, but those present were either familiar with military books or well versed in military strategy. As long as they knew the general outline, they could imagine the entire process of this battle.
For a moment, the house was quiet, no matter whether it was civil or military, or outside, or relatives. Everyone was silent, and their faces were full of shock.
From beginning to end, there were no problems with Xi Zhicai's strategy and deployment. The only reason for the failure was that the enemy was too strange.
Xu He's decisiveness was second. With Wang Yu's foresight, since he allowed Xu He to separatist power in Juping, he would definitely have some assurance to ensure that Xu He's choice at the critical moment was beneficial to Qingzhou. Cao Jun did what Xu He did
It’s not surprising that this person would behave like this because he didn’t do enough homework.
In fact, the winner of this battle did not lie with Xu He. Xu He's joining only enabled Qingzhou to achieve a more brilliant victory at a lower cost and faster speed.
What really astonished everyone in Cao's army was Xu Shu's talent and Qingzhou's unparalleled mobilization ability.
According to Xia Houjie, during the Battle of Yuanshan, Qingzhou mobilized at least 50,000 to 60,000 militiamen! There were so many who appeared on the battlefield, and there were many times more who were behind to transport grain and grass and ensure logistics...
In other words, Qingzhou easily mobilized a hundred thousand troops!
Yes, no matter how large the militia is, it is still a militia, and its combat effectiveness is limited. If it is just to recruit people, it is also very simple. If Cao Cao wanted to, it would be no problem to recruit 200,000 people from the people.
The problem is that these people he pulled out can not play any other role except to build momentum and consume food and fodder. On the Qingzhou side, under the command and command of Xu Shu, the monster, the combat strength of one hundred thousand militiamen was completely intact.
It's the most terrifying thing when it's fully unleashed.
The strong men who were forced to pull, let alone charging in formation, a hail of arrows were enough to collapse their morale. But according to Xia Houjie's description, in the first two waves of offensive organized by Xu Shu, the militiamen fought against the superior bandit army.
Although the third wave did not engage in close combat, they engaged in long-range shooting with the bandits.
Militiamen with this kind of performance are completely different from militiamen in the usual sense. To a certain extent, these people should be included in Qingzhou's military strength!
No wonder Wang Yu didn't care about exposing his side to Zang Ba's blade, leaving Xu He, who had not yet fully integrated into the Qingzhou system, to be in Juping. He was not taking risks, he just had enough confidence.
The slogan "All the people are soldiers" can become a reality under the full control of the Qingzhou shogunate. What's more important is that Wang Yu has such a genius under his command, who can use the militia tactics so sharply!
The civil and military officers of Cao's army had always had a high opinion of Qingzhou and were well prepared mentally. However, at this moment, they were still shocked to the point of being speechless and did not know how to comment at all.
In the huge hall, only Xia Houjie's weak and intermittent words echoed.
"The military advisor saw that something was not going well and could not persuade Zang Ba to withdraw his troops, so he ordered us to leave the battlefield and retreat to Yanzhou. Everything was going well, but who would have thought that Xu Shu seemed to have expected the military advisor's move and actually gave up.
I got off the frontal battlefield in the middle of a fierce battle, led Qingzhou's special forces, and personally pursued and killed..."
"Qingzhou's special forces are mostly selected with high martial arts skills. They are very good at chasing and ambush, and their attacks are extremely fierce... The brothers fell off their horses one after another, and the people behind them sent batch after batch to escape.
At the foot of Mount Tai, only fifteen of the three hundred personal guards, including the last general, were left. Although the enemy was temporarily thrown away by the military counselor's trick, with Xu Shu's ability, he probably wouldn't be able to hide for long..."
"The situation is critical. The general wanted to cut off the rear and fight to the death, but he galloped all the way, and the military advisor's body was already..."
I chased the troops and carried the military advisor into the mountain on my back. I never thought that at this critical moment, another accident would happen..."
Xia Houjie's voice suddenly became sharp, as if he remembered the scene again and exclaimed: "The general and his party rested at the foot of the mountain for about a stick of incense, and briefly searched the surroundings beforehand.
, confirmed that it was safe there, but for some reason, there was a man hiding behind the rocks. When the military advisor dismounted, the man suddenly made a surprise attack!"
"The military advisor was seriously injured, but this person did not want to fight. He turned around and ran away. The general could not catch up..." Xia Houjie said with a sad face: "I failed to protect the military advisor and betrayed my lord's trust. The general was then
It was time to die. However, the military advisor still had a trace of clarity at that time. He told the general that he must convey the message to the lord, so he can only survive so far..."
"What can Zhicai say?" Cao Cao, whose eyes were filled with tears and was filled with sadness, hurriedly asked after hearing this.
"The military advisor recommended a person, saying that this person's talent is ten times better than his own. If this person succeeds him, he will be under the influence of Jiuquan and feel at ease."
"Who is so successful that he admires him so much?" Cao Cao was shocked.
Xia Houjie said a name without hesitation: "Yingchuan Guo Fengxiao..." (To be continued...)