Zhang Miao and Cao Cao have been good friends since childhood, and their relationship is particularly close. In the battle of Bianshui, Zhang Miao even handed over all his legions to Cao Cao. In the first battle of Xuzhou, Cao Cao confessed to his family before the war: "If I can't come back, I will take refuge in Meng Zhuo." When they came back from the war to meet Zhang Miao, they were so excited that they burst into tears-their profound friendship really touched others.
Chen Gong has always admired Cao Cao's talent. When Liu Dai, the secretariat of Yanzhou, died in the battle with the Yellow Scarf Army, he immediately advised Cao Cao to take Yanzhou, and personally went to Yanzhou Secretariat House to persuade officials to welcome Cao Cao as a temporary state shepherd with his outstanding eloquence. It can be said that Chen Gong is the greatest contributor to Cao Cao's success in Yanzhou. At this time, Chen Gong's position in Cao Cao's heart is already very high.
So, why did Cao Cao's trusted old comrade-in-arms Zhang Miao and his most valued subordinate Chen Gong defect?
Zhang Miao's problem lies in his jealousy. He liked being the boss since he was a child, so he spared no expense, so scholars joined him more. When I crusaded against Dong Zhuo, I had achieved the position of Liu Chen, and my position, strength and reputation were above Cao Cao. Who knows that Cao Cao soon became a Yanzhou shepherd, and he became his subordinate, and his heart was very unbalanced. In addition, his relationship with Yuan Shao was very bad. At that time, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had formed an alliance. He was afraid that Cao Cao would kill himself one day to flatter Yuan Shao. So, with the encouragement of Chen Gong, he immediately defected and welcomed his ally Lu Bu to Yanzhou.
Chen Gong's problem lies in his chivalry. His character is heroic in honest and frank, and he can't let go of the fact that Cao Cao killed the former Jiujiang satrap after breaking Yuan Shu, and seized the frontier to make his beautiful wife a mistress. Besides, he has a good relationship with Tao Qian. Cao Cao crusaded against Tao Qian, and Chen Gong repeatedly dissuaded him. Cao Cao didn't listen and didn't take him to war. However, he was still stationed in Dongjun to prevent soldiers from Hebei and Qingzhou, which showed Cao Cao's trust in him. Chen Gong didn't live up to this trust, but led an army to meet Lu Bu in Yanzhou.
Due to the great influence of Zhang Miao and Chen Gong in Yanzhou, almost all the county guards fell into the hands of the rebels in one day, leaving only Juancheng, Puyang, which was guarded by Xia Houdun, Fancheng, which was guarded by Jinyun, and Dong 'e, which was guarded by Zaozuo, still under the banner of Cao Cao.
Chen Gong first detained Jinyun's family, and then sent Pan Ben to Fancheng to surrender. He led the troops to wait for news. As soon as Fan Cheng responded, he immediately attacked Dong 'e and Zhencheng. Lu Bu led the main force to cross the Jinhe River by Baima and set out for Puyang. Zhang Miao sent an emissary to Juancheng, Cao Cao's stronghold, to deceive Yu Xun, saying that Lu Bu had come to assist Cao Cao in attacking Xuzhou, so please provide rations. At the same time, he has made contact with the rebel army in Juancheng-under the arrangement of Chen Gong, the plan is in full swing.
At this juncture, Duke Guo, the secretariat of Yuzhou, joined in the fun and led tens of thousands of people to attack Juancheng.
Four major towns are close at hand!
A favorable change
Juancheng officials were surprised after receiving the notice from Zhang Miao, and didn't know what to do. Yu Xun immediately concluded that this was a mutiny. On the one hand, he strengthened his defense, on the other hand, he secretly informed Xia Houdun of Puyang. After Xia Houdun got the news, he led the whole army to Juancheng overnight. Soon, Yu Xun Xia Houdun captured and killed dozens of rebel insiders, and completely controlled the situation.
By this time, Guo Gong's army had approached Juancheng, demanding to meet Yu Xun alone. Xia Houdun objected, "Now the whole country depends on you. It's too dangerous to go, so don't go. " Yu Xun has made up his mind, and explained, "Guo Gong and Zhang Miao have no contact at ordinary times. Since they came so soon this time, they must not have reached an understanding. Let's convince him to at least remain neutral first. If even this army falls into the hands of Zhang Miao and others and they unite, we will be very dangerous. "
So, Yu Xun went to meet Guo Gong alone. Seeing that Xun was fearless, Guo Gong judged that Zhencheng was well prepared and not easy to attack, so he withdrew.
Although the crisis in Juancheng has passed, other places are equally dangerous. What shall we do? Someone persuaded Cheng Yu, an East Albanian, hoping to appease him with fame.
Cheng Yu ran to Jinyun and said, "I heard that Lu Bu arrested your whole family, and the anxiety under filial piety will make you make a wrong judgment. Please calm down first. Since there is chaos in the world, there must be people who bear the fate and let this chaotic world settle down. Therefore, the wise should carefully consider choosing the most suitable leader. The winner is Chang, and the master is dead! Chen Gong defected to meet Lu Bu, and the cities responded as if they could make a difference, but they were not. Sir, if you look carefully, you will find out what kind of person Lu Bu is: arrogant and conceited, unable to be friendly to subordinates, headstrong and rude, corporal, but only one person. Such people, though powerful, are doomed to accomplish nothing. Cao Cao's wisdom and strategy are obvious to all. This is the man of destiny. You guard Fancheng, I guard Donga, and we will certainly create great achievements like Tian Dan. If you disobey loyalty and obey evil, both mother and son will die. Please think deeply! "Jin Yun replied with tears:" I dare not be unfaithful! " At the same time, he immediately killed the lobbyist who had arrived in Fancheng to show his determination.
Cheng Yu immediately sent troops to tear down Cang Tingjin's crossing bridge, cutting off Chen's way forward. Then they rushed to Dong 'a, and the soldiers and civilians in Dong 'a were fully prepared for resistance under the mobilization of Zaozuo. With Cheng Yu's efforts, Chen Gong's plan was a complete failure, so Chen himself had to take his troops around a big circle and cooperate with Lu Bu to attack Puyang.
If Chen Gong can occupy Fancheng and Dong 'e as he wishes, he can control Dongping, seal Kang Fu and Mount Tai, isolate Juancheng and stop Cao Cao's main defense. Therefore, Cao wiped out the Yanzhou rebels while holding the three cities and coming back to life, and Cheng Yu made the greatest contribution. When Cao Cao came back, he gratefully held Cheng Yu's hand and said, "Without my husband, I have nowhere to go." Therefore, the table is played as Dongping phase.
Through the efforts of Cheng Yu and Yu Xun, things turned around, but at this time, Xia Houdun had an accident.
Xia Houdun and his men are Qingzhou Yellow Scarf Army. For the safety of Juancheng, he left Puyang with the whole army. When he returned after the incident subsided, he found that Lu Bu arrived in Puyang faster than him. Xia Houdun cannot be defeated. As a result, his Qingzhou army mutinied and hijacked him. Seeing that Xiahou Legion was about to break up, Han Hao, the deputy commander, stepped forward, led Qin Bing to surround the camp, called people together, and asked the whole army not to make a move. After stabilizing the army, he judged that the mutinous soldiers were only for money, so he went to Xia Houdun, reprimanded the mutinous soldiers, and bowed down to Xia Houdun with tears, saying, "This is the national law, and I can't help it." Then regardless of the safety of Xia Houdun, ordered his men to kill the mutinous soldiers. The soldiers were frightened and immediately released Xia Houdun. Finally, Han Hao killed all the mutinous soldiers, and the whole army was in awe.
Xia Houdun, who regained his freedom, was not discouraged. Instead, we immediately organized the army, lined up outside Puyang, and fought endlessly with Lu Bu, insisting that Cao Cao's main force return in time.
defeat
When Cao Cao arrived in Fancheng, he was overjoyed to learn that Lu Bu and Xia Houdun were still fighting fiercely in Puyang. He said to his left and right, "Although Lu Bu and Chen Gong can instigate state affairs, they can't occupy Dongping, stop Kangfu and stop me with the dangerous road of Mount Tai. They can only reach Puyang. I know how incompetent they are. " Cao Cao saw the situation clearly: as long as Puyang can be recaptured, it is not difficult to regain the support of Yanzhou counties. So, act immediately and the whole army will go to Puyang.
Cao Cao has always been energetic and courageous. On the first day he arrived on the battlefield, he launched an attack. There is an army of Lyu3 bu4 stationed in the west of Puyang City, which are horns of each other and echo each other from afar. Cao Cao personally led the elite night attack, completely eliminating this deviant division, boosting morale and taking the initiative.
However, Chen Gong, Cao Cao's counselor, was very familiar with Cao Cao's tactics and knew that Cao Cao had always been good at unexpectedly destroying the enemy's forwards or some divisions before the meeting, thus gaining an overwhelming advantage in momentum. Therefore, after receiving the news that some divisions were quickly eliminated, he immediately and accurately judged that only Cao Cao would act in this way, and Cao Cao would definitely retreat unexpectedly, and the number would not be many. So he immediately asked Lu Bu to attack the whole army and panic in Cao Cao.
The triumphant Cao Cao immediately fell into a tight encirclement! According to the dangerous situation, Cao Jun defends and Lyu3 bu4 attacks crazily. This war is very cruel. Both Cao Cao and Lu Bu went into battle in person. From morning till noon, the Lyu3 bu4 army raided dozens of times in a row, but it was still unable to break Cao Jun's defense, with heavy casualties on both sides.
Cao Cao and Serenade, if the stalemate continues, will be wiped out, so they recruited death squads to make a surprise attack, hoping to fight our way out. Sima (captain of the guard) Dian Wei led the death squads, each wearing two pairs of armor, with only a spear and no shield, and rushed forward with all his strength. However, it was not long before he was stopped by the arrows of the Lyu3 bu4 army and hid on the ground. Seeing this, the Lyu3 bu4 army launched a counter-charge. Dian Wei showed no fear, and his opponent said, "Call me when the enemy is ten paces away." ..... and say, "Ten steps!" Dian Wei added: "Let's talk about it in five steps." ..... About nervous shouting: "has arrived! ! "Dian Wei immediately got up and shouted at the enemy with a halberd, stabbing everyone. The enemies standing in front of him all fell down without a hand, and the morale of Lu Bu's army fell and they retreated. Soon, the encirclement was punched with a gap. At that time, as night fell, Cao Cao led an army behind the death squads in Dian Wei, deus ex.
Cao Cao, who returned in a mess, got the promise of Puyang rich man Tian. So, he immediately led the troops to attack Puyang, and Cao Jun poured in from the east gate. In order to boost morale, Cao Cao burned down the East Gate, expressing his determination to take Puyang for good. Lyu3 bu4 also not weakness, arrayed in the city, and jun street fighting.
As soon as the two sides came into contact, the Qingzhou army on Cao Cao's left was defeated by the cruel hand-to-hand combat of Lu Bu's army, which led to the chaos of Cao Jun. Cao Cao made a decisive decision and abandoned the array and retreated. In the chaos, Cao Cao was captured by Lu Bu's men. Because Lu Bu's men didn't know Cao Cao, they asked, "Where is Cao Cao?" Cao Cao used his quick wits and pointed to the front and said, "That's the one riding Huang Ma." Lyu3 bu4' s men immediately abandoned Cao Cao and went after Huang Ma's generals.
Fortunately, Cao Cao escaped from danger and immediately turned around and rushed out of the burning east gate. His left hand was badly burned, so he couldn't catch the reins and almost fell off his horse. Thanks to the help of his entourage, he was able to escape smoothly.
Cao Cao did not rest after he fled back to the camp. He immediately personally did the work, sympathized with the retreating army, ordered the whole army to immediately make siege weapons, and once again led his troops to attack Puyang at the gate.
Lyu3 bu4 and Chen Gong guessed that Cao Cao's morale would be greatly reduced after the defeat, and they were preparing to pursue them. As a result, they found Cao Jun coming again. The two men looked at each other in surprise. They didn't know what was going on-it was clear that Cao Cao had lost two games in a row, almost completely annihilated, but the other side still had such a strong fighting spirit, and it looked like he had lost two games in a row!
In fear, Lu Bu did not dare to fight, and blindly strengthened the Yugoslav capital. The two sides have been deadlocked for more than a hundred days, and they can't get rid of each other. At this time, when he encountered a plague of locusts, Lu Bu ran out of rations and had to retreat. Cao Cao was unable to occupy Puyang for the same reason, so he temporarily withdrew his troops and returned to Juancheng.
Win the battle
In the same year 10, Cao Jun, which was seriously short of food, was in danger of collapse under the attack of locust plague. Yuan Shao sent someone to persuade Cao Cao to take his family hostage and take refuge in him. Cao Cao saw that Yanzhou was too late to recover, and the army had no fighting spirit. He is ready to accept Yuan Shao's suggestion and take refuge in Yuan Shikai.
At this time, it was Cheng Yu who expressed strong opposition: "Is General Cao really afraid of the immediate difficulties? Why is there such an thoughtless idea? Yuan Shao has long had the ambition to annex the world, but his own ingenuity is insufficient and he has not been able to do so. Do you really think you can accept such a person, general? How can a general be as powerful as Han Xin and Peng Yue? Although Yanzhou is incomplete now, we still have three cities and more than 10 thousand soldiers who can be used for fighting. With the general's martial arts strategy and the assistance of Yu Xun and Cheng Yu, we will certainly be able to achieve hegemony. I hope the general can think it over again! "
Cao Cao was very moved after hearing this, so he gave up the wrong idea of taking refuge in Yuan Shao.
In the spring of the second year of Xingping (195), Cao Cao, who recovered from illness, personally attacked Dingtao, the neighboring city where Lu Bu was stationed in Yang Shan, and sent Coss to attack Ju Yang to isolate Lu Bu. As a result, Lu Bu was successfully forced to retreat.
In summer, Lu Bu decided to fight back and sent Lan Xue and Li Feng to station troops in Juye to attract Cao Cao's main force and prepare to meet with a great army. But his wishful thinking was seen through by Cao Cao, who sent Coss to attack Juye, giving people the illusion that Cao Cao himself was in Coss' army. As expected, Lu Bu was taken in, and led a Qingqi to Juye, ready to attack the main force of Jun. As a result, Cao Cao was ambushed halfway and fled in defeat. Cao Cao took advantage of the situation and the whole army attacked Lan Xue and Li Fengjun. Xue Lijun was attacked before and after, and the war soon turned into a massacre. Li Xue was completely annihilated-Cao Cao won a major victory over Lu Bu for the first time.
Lu Bu, who was retreating at that time, joined the Chen Gong Department and assembled more than 10,000 troops. When they combined, they decided to take it by surprise, so they turned around and fought with Cao Cao again. Cao Cao didn't expect Lu Bu to come back so soon. Before that, he had sent all the troops to collect food and grass. Only 1000 Zhong Jun is stationed in Juye. In desperation, Cao Cao boldly adopted the "empty city plan" and put all these 1000 people in position to bluff outside the camp. Lu Bu and Chen Gong observed that there was a levee in the west of Cao Cao's camp and a large forest in the south. Seeing that Cao Cao had nothing to hide, thinking that there would be an ambush, he camped on the spot, concentrated on consolidating the defensive position, and did not dare to attack rashly.
That night, Cao Cao recalled a large number of troops, all of whom were lying in ambush under the levee, ready to defeat the Lyu3 bu4 army. When Lu Bu got the report, he realized that Cao Cao's action yesterday was just a bluff. He regretted it and took the initiative the next morning.
He grandly led the cavalry to directly assault Cao Zhongjun's levee. As a result, he was ambushed by Cao Jun, and Lu Bu's army was unexpectedly defeated. After returning to this array, he barely held his ground. That night, Lu Bu was afraid of being completely annihilated in the decisive battle with Cao Jun, and fled overnight, giving up Yanzhou with Chen Gong and going to Xuzhou and Liu Bei.
Cao Cao, who won the decisive victory in Juye Campaign, successfully captured Dingtao City and divided his forces to pacify the chaotic county.
In December, Qiu Yong was captured. Because it took five months to attack the city, Cao Cao launched a bloody killing and Zhang Miao was destroyed. Zhang Miao himself was killed by his men on his way to Yuan Shu. In this way, it took more than a year from the mutiny in Zhang Miao, Chen Gong to the recovery of lost territory by Cao Cao.
In this war, Cao Cao performed very well. He didn't lose heart in successive failures, and he lost and fought again and again. He aroused the fighting spirit of the whole army with the crazy enthusiasm of starting a prairie fire. Although he was in adversity, he completely overwhelmed Lu Bu in momentum and finally won the war. So this victory is the victory of Cao Cao's will!
increase and decrease
This war gave Cao Cao a profound lesson and had a far-reaching impact on Cao Cao's future career development.
Cao Cao entered Yanzhou as an outsider and successively won great victories in wars with the Yellow Scarf Army, Yuan Shu and Tao Qian. Cao Cao was intoxicated by the rapid expansion of the brilliant appearance, and did not realize that there was a dangerous turbidity current surging under this appearance: the old forces in Yanzhou could not tolerate outsiders to succeed; Brilliant just people hate Cao Cao's cruelty and lewdness very much.
At this time, Cao Cao was eager to expand his territory, without considering the most fundamental things: Yanzhou's internal affairs should be focused and the county personnel framework should be rebuilt-such an important thing was completely diluted by the war from the beginning. The consequence of neglecting the structural construction is that the dangerous turbidity current forms a surging torrent.
Cao Cao's massacre in Xuzhou not only frightened the soldiers and civilians in Xuzhou, but also showed his cruel side to the people in Yanzhou. As a result, with the events in Zhang Miao and Chen Gong, floods broke out-almost all counties fell to the rebels! If Yu Xun and others who were loyal to themselves had not saved several strategic locations, Cao Cao's fate would not be as simple as returning to his original shape.
This rebellion made Cao Cao aware of the importance of talents: Chen Gong's brilliant strategy pushed Cao Cao to the wall several times. If he had not defected, he believed that he would be able to reach the high position of Yu Xun, Zhou Xun and Jia Xu in the future. It's a pity that such talents ran away. Thanks to the appearance of resourceful and strong-willed Cheng Yu, he not only saved the day at the critical moment, but also resolutely stopped Cao Cao's wrong idea of taking refuge in Yuan Shao at the most difficult time. Otherwise, Cao Cao's fate will be similar to that of Liu Bei later. In addition, Yu Xun's calmness, Han Hao's boldness, Dian Wei's bravery and even Xia Houdun's loyalty all helped Cao Cao at the critical moment. If you want to win the world, such excellent talents are essential! Therefore, Cao Cao later issued a decree on seeking talents, which brought most talents from all over the country to his side.
This rebellion also made Cao Cao realize the importance of logistics. In the war with Lu Bu, due to the serious impact of the locust plague, food and grass could not be supported, not only failed to win Puyang, but also was forced to disband a large number of officials and troops because of insufficient supplies. In the end, there were only more than 10 thousand people left, and even almost took refuge in Yuan Shao! I believe that at that time, Cao Cao really realized the words in Sun Tzu's Art of War, "The method of using troops is ten times, and the rickshaw is thousands of times. A hundred thousand, the grain is thousands of miles away, the internal and external expenses, the guest's use, the glue paint material, the battle of A, the daily expenses are thousands, and then a hundred thousand teachers will lift it." The profound meaning of. Judging from the bitter experience, the reason why he persistently and vigorously promoted the strategy of reclaiming farmland should be caused by the strong stimulation of this crisis.
This rebellion also made Cao Cao realize the importance of soldiers' quality. The mutiny in Xia Houdun and the rout in Puyang were all the consequences of the low quality of soldiers, which seriously affected the outcome of the war and almost drove Cao Cao to the wall, thus strengthening Qiang Bing's thought. At that time, the main force of Cao Jun was Qingzhou Yellow Scarf Army. Although the quantity is large, the quality is too low. It is impossible to train them into an iron army in a short time through legal construction. Thanks for the plague of locusts! The negative effect of the plague of locusts was to drastically reduce the area of Cao Jun, but the positive effect was that Cao Jun got rid of weeds, preserved seeds and enhanced his fighting capacity. This greatly reduced the difficulty of Cao Cao's army management. In the continuous growth of Cao Jun, he always insisted on running the army, thus laying a solid foundation for Cao Cao to win more with less in Guandu and later unify the north.
......
The long-term victory made Cao Cao obsessed with fighting for the world simply by violence. This crisis made him fully realize the one-sidedness of violence and realized that nothing can be done by violence alone. Turn to infrastructure construction, recruit talents, and gradually make yourself stronger.
A successful person needs to face many setbacks and difficulties in order to reach his brilliant peak and truly mature in constant tempering. This rebellion can be said to be a turning point in Cao Cao's life. Through the gains and losses in this war, Cao Cao learned enough lessons and began to move towards his brilliant future!