Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 342 Cao Cao: T_T
In September of the sixth year of Jian'an, Qu Yi's special forces marched along the Xinzheng and Changsha lines and reached Xu Du.
Its main force was composed of the Yellow Turban Army, which relied on the tactics of "coercing the common people, overdrawing manpower, and forming a human sea" along the way. Like a snowball, it had nearly 100,000 people by the time it reached Xu Du!
Sounds pretty scary?
The actual manpower consumed is about the same as that of 20,000 regular troops, and there is no need for training at all - not because they are elite, but because... training is not very effective.
The main battlefield formations include "rushing forward in unison", "scattering like birds and beasts", and "pigs rushing forward and wolves running away"...
This is also the typical Yellow Turban style tactic during the Yellow Turban Rebellion!
In the early days of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban troops would suddenly appear. Generally, a county town would have only 2,000 to 3,000 standing garrisons, and some special garrisons might have more...
The Han army was stunned at the very beginning!
Even the imperial court began to encourage local people with lofty ideals to be loyal to the king and brave to save the people. Liu Bei, Cao Cao and others shined at that time.
It was not until the imperial court stabilized its position and began to deploy troops and organize the suppression of the rebellion that people realized how weak these Yellow Turban Army were!
A regular Han army that is not easily frightened by numbers can defeat a Yellow Turban Army that is five times its size at a minimal cost. If it has elite soldiers and strong generals, it can even try to defeat an Army that is ten times or even more in size.
Later, the number of Yellow Turban warriors increased, and the Yi Ji of the Huang Tian system could use cheats at any time. Although there was no direct killing, they could summon some fog and black smoke, light wind and rain, and they could also use talismans and water to heal themselves... They really became a tough nut to crack!
Tao Sheng doesn’t have Huang Tianji, so he can only use the tactics he used in the early days of the Yellow Turban Army.
It causes great damage to the local human, material and productivity resources, and will make you arrogant if you win in a row, and will suffer a bloody collapse if you lose once...but it is indeed useful in the short term!
In particular, although the Yellow Turban strongmen were insufficient, they had halberd warriors as sharp weapons.
With Xun Yu in Xu Du, this mob wouldn't have any chance to take advantage of them, but Xu Du still had internal conflicts!
On the night when Xun Yu learned the news, he ordered a strict curfew, and anyone who went out on the streets without reason could be beaten to death by the Xudu guards.
In fact, because Xun Yu was usually the one who maintained the dignity of the Han Dynasty in the Prime Minister's Office - Xun Yu had previously privately advised Cao Cao about the incident of Cao Cao getting "drunk" at a banquet - so on the night that the Yellow Turban Army arrived in Xu Du, Liu Xie summoned Xun Yu into the palace.
If it was anyone else from the Prime Minister's Office, Liu Xie would not have thought of trying...
No one would go to the palace at this time - how did He Jin die back then?
But since it was Xun Yu who said this, Liu Xie felt that he could have a talk with him - Am I not as good as him, Cao Cao?
Even though Dong Cheng was very jealous of this, Liu Xie still thought it was worth a try. As long as he could convince Xun Yu, he could make great strides and emulate Emperor Guangwu in restoring the country.
However, to Liu Xie's disappointment, when Xun Yu came to see him, he brought three hundred armored soldiers with him, which made it clear that he would not be persuaded by any persuasion!
Even when Liu Xie was hinting to Xun Yu, Xun Yu was also hinting to Liu Xie, asking him not to do anything that would embarrass himself or dishearten the prime minister - obviously in Xun Yu's heart, Cao Cao was still the first priority, and the Han emperor was just a white moonlight after all.
Liu Xie was so angry that he sent the guest away immediately!
Before Xun Yu even left the palace, fires broke out everywhere in Xudu. The retainers of various families heard the news and moved, shouting to put out the fires. However, as more and more people came to the streets, the fires only grew bigger...
When the guards who were enforcing the curfew wanted to stop these people and help put out the fire, they were inexplicably attacked.
Few people knew about this plan before, but who in the court doesn't have some family generals with tiger talismans? Who doesn't have some ordinary weapons? Who... doesn't understand what's going on?
With someone taking the lead, everyone else took advantage of the situation and started to act recklessly, including some court officials who had previously flirted with Cao Cao and licked the boots of the Prime Minister's Office!
The defenders of Xudu not only had to defend the city, but also had to fight street battles all the time...
At the same time, the Xuzhou army led by Zhang Fei also marched out from the newly built "Xinpei" on the original site of Xiaopei, with light cavalry in the front and infantry in the back. Taking advantage of the chaos in Xu Du, which was unable to communicate with the surrounding counties, they bypassed Sui Yang and Yang Xia under the pretext of supporting Xu Du.
Xudu and Xiaopei were not far apart, and the road was flat. The defenders of several counties along the way heard that the Yellow Turban Army and Yuan's army were joining forces and approaching Xudu, and that Xudu was in chaos, and there were even rumors that Xudu had already been captured. On the other hand, as an "ally" of Xuzhou, they crossed the border in the name of support...
It's neither possible to stop nor chase, and even the slightest resistance is not proactive!
Zhang Yan's performance at this time... or to be more precise, in the past six months, was also amazing. It was as if he had predicted the rebellion in Yuzhou. He marched out of Guanzhong at the right time and took the entire Hedong area into his possession.
And when Xu Du was in chaos, he and Yang Feng also marched eastward under the name of serving the king!
In less than ten days, Xu Du was on the verge of collapse, and the inner palace of the imperial palace was isolated from the outer city. The new public carriage commander originally appointed by Cao Cao was actually instigated by Liu Bei to rebel, and together with Liu Xie's few remaining imperial guards, Liu Ai and Dong Cheng's family generals, they blockaded the palace.
There were very few troops in the palace, and when the palace was built, Cao Cao did not give it much defensiveness. It was completely different from the palaces in Chang'an and Luoyang!
But now Liu Xie's attitude was just to "protect himself", as if saying "It's so chaotic outside, I'm so scared, my dear Xun, please hold on, I give you a thumbs up", so Xun Yu couldn't do anything to the palace.
However, when the news came that the Xuzhou army came to "support", Xun Yu did not care about much else and decided to go all out, storm the palace, kidnap Liu Xie and Liu Bei, and head north to meet up with Cao Cao first!
However, Liu Bei cried loudly at Sima Gate, crying to Heaven, crying to more than 20 former emperors of the Han Dynasty, and crying to the people... Everyone who heard it was sad, and everyone who saw it was angry. The morale of Xun Yu's subordinates was also affected...
In the end, the two sides agreed to a peace treaty...
Xun Yu did not dare to take too much risk. After all, in the city were not only Liu Xie and the court, but also Cao Cao's family and the families of the Prime Minister's staff. If something really went wrong, the front line would collapse, and there would be no recovery!
Xun Yu let Liu Xie and the court officials leave. At the same time, Liu Xie issued an edict to grant Cao Cao the Nine Gifts, and reiterated that Yuan Shao was a rebel and Prime Minister Cao was a pillar of the country. Even Yuan Feng, who sacrificed for the Han Dynasty during Dong Zhuo's rebellion, was labeled a rebel and his ancestral hall was demolished.
That is to confirm Cao Cao's status as a loyal minister, and "grant him the Nine Gifts", that is, allow him to establish the Wei Kingdom, reduce the shackles of the court on Cao Cao in the future, and at the same time do not give the court and the Yuan family a chance to reconcile!
Anyway, the Xuzhou army has arrived now, and Liu Xie thinks that the value of Yuan’s army has been squeezed out , so he accepts it all...
Liu Bei also wanted Xun Yu to clear the way back to Xuzhou in the east, but Xun Yu's answer was very tough and he stopped at letting them leave Xu Du!
At the same time, Xun Yu was also ready to block Xuzhou, at least to prevent Liu Xie from being invited to Xuzhou...
At this time, Dong Cheng persuaded Liu Bei with a smile. He had already contacted Yang Feng, his "old partner" who had assisted the emperor in escaping last time . Xuzhou was a place surrounded by wars. What was the emperor going to do there?
Let’s go back to Sili!
Liu Xie now distrusted all the princes, so he politely asked Uncle Liu to send troops to protect him, while supporting the return of Sili. He probably felt that this way, all parties would restrain each other, and he would have a better environment to display his imperial mind...
