Chapter 1000 Cao Cao's Decision
After defending for a day, Xu Rong ordered the army to break out overnight. Xiahou Yuan did not expect that Xu Rong would break out so quickly. He was caught off guard and allowed most of Dong Anping's defenders to break out. After nearly 10,000 losses in the 26,000-strong army, all the remaining 16,000-odd people successfully evacuated into Ju County.
As a result, the number of troops in Juxian City increased sharply. In addition to the 20,000 guards under Wu Anguo, the capital of the country, there was also a school of soldiers under Mu Shun, the deputy general of Qianniu Camp, plus a group of soldiers in Xu Rong's hands. Sixteen thousand soldiers and horses, the total force reached more than 40,000. In addition, Juxian County was originally the seat of the Beihai State and had always been the largest city in Qingzhou except Linzi, the prefecture city. Therefore, Xu Rong was still confident in holding Juxian County.
After returning to Jixian County, Xu Rong left the city defense matters to Mu Shun and Wu Anguo. He immediately found Beihai Prime Minister Cheng Huan and Chang Shi Chen Rong to discuss arrangements for other city defenses. At Xu Rong's suggestion, all armies from the two cities north of the Jumeishui River were evacuated, and if the people were willing to leave, they also left together.
As a result, the 3,000 garrison troops and more than 10,000 people in Guangxian County all evacuated to Linqu, while the 3,000 garrison troops and thousands of people in Yiguo County also retreated to Shouguang County.
Just when Xu Rong led his army to withdraw from Dong'anping, Cao Cao in Changyi City also received two pieces of information sent by Jia Kui's people. Faced with Jia Kui's speculation, Cao Cao and all the counselors and generals were stunned. Later, after Xun Yu and Sima Yi analyzed it like a piece of cake, everyone had to admit that Jia Kui's guess was nine out of ten true.
Cao Cao picked up Jia Kui's letter again and couldn't help but sighed: "Even if I know it now, what's the use? How can Qiaojun and Liang Guo be saved?" At this point, he looked at Sima Yi again and said: " Zhongda, if I send troops to support Qiao County, is it okay?"
"My lord, you must not do it. The only ones my lord can use now are the tens of thousands of central troops in Changyi and the 30,000 troops of the Xiahou Prefect of Dongjun. However, now that the Eastern Expeditionary Army has nearly 200,000 troops attacking Dingtao, the war is in full swing. If The lord's army has left Changyi, and if Dingtao is lost, Shanyang will not be protected." Sima Yi quickly objected;
"If Changyi doesn't send troops to rescue Qiao County, where can we send troops? Am I just going to sit here and watch Zi Lian trapped in the isolated city, and eventually be defeated and perished." At the end of the sentence, Cao Cao's voice was almost unreasonable.
"My lord, please don't raise an army in anger," Xun Yu also advised: "My lord, you must not abandon the near and seek the far. If Qiao County cannot be saved, you can just send an order to General Cao Hong to retreat to Xuzhou."
At this time, Cao Cao calmed down a little, looked at the two men and said, "Can you send Xuzhou soldiers and horses to support?"
Sima Yi shook his head and said: "Xuzhou soldiers and horses must not be moved lightly. Now the cities in Jiujiang cannot be defended, and the army is about to retreat to Xiapi. In this case, Sun Ce's army will definitely follow closely to attack Xiapi, so Xiapi's army cannot be defended." If you move lightly, Pengcheng's troops and horses can be sent out, but there are too few troops and horses in Pengcheng. Lu Guoxiang only has 3,000 Chinese troops and 10,000 county soldiers, so this is the only way to go. "
Having said this, Sima Yi looked at Cao Cao and said: "Please give an order, my lord, to order Pengcheng Prime Minister Lu Qian to mobilize soldiers from the counties and states from the cities in Pengcheng, plus some troops from the cities under Peiguo and Qiaojun, and gather them in Xiangxian County for training. After a while, when the time is right, they will send troops eastward to rescue Qiao County."
"There are now 30,000 defenders in Qiao County. In addition, Liang Guoxiang and Jia Kui have sent troops to support them. I believe they can last for at least a month. With this time buffer, it should not be difficult to break the siege of Qiao County. "
Only then did Cao Cao realize that he now had hundreds of thousands of troops, but he was in an embarrassing situation with no troops to mobilize. In desperation, he had no choice but to agree to Sima Yi's suggestion and immediately gave Lu Qian an order to quickly gather troops and horses to prepare to support Qiao County.
The matter of Qiao County was put aside, and Sima Yi said again: "My lord, for the current plan, there are only two possible ways to break this situation."
The resolution of the Qiaojun matter made Cao Cao feel much better. When he heard what Sima Yi said, he quickly asked: "Zhongda might as well say it clearly."
Sima Yi walked quickly to the map and said: "One is Dingtao.
If our army can defeat Huangfu Chaobo's army in Dingtao, then we will have enough troops to break the siege of Qiao County. "
Cao Cao looked at Dingtao, shook his head, and said: "Outside Dingtao City there are Huangfu Chaobo's Guards, Zhang He's Chen Liujun, and Huang Wudie's Henan Army. There are more than 100,000 troops in total. Qineng can easily defeat them! "
Now that it is known that Huang Zhong is in Yuzhou, the general flag with the word "Huang" appearing in Dingtao must be the general flag of Huang Zhong's daughter Huang Wudie.
"In this case, then Qingzhou!" Sima Yi also knew that it was unrealistic to defeat the Eastern Expedition Army outside Dingtao City in a short period of time, so he set his sights on Qingzhou.
"Qingzhou?" Cao Cao asked a little strangely: "Miaocai's subordinates have gathered a hundred thousand troops, including fifty thousand elites of the Chinese army. By the way, there is no news from Taishan yet, right?"
"There should be some action on Mount Tai soon. These alone are not enough. Huangfu Chaobo has a hundred thousand people in Qingzhou. Although they are guarding various cities, the troops and horses under General Miaocai are also slightly insufficient. The plan requires more troops. There are more than thirty counties in the north of Qingzhou and Jiaji. From each county, another two thousand county soldiers will be mobilized to support General Miaocai. In this way, another fifty or sixty thousand troops can be added to bring them Leave it to General Miaocai to end the Qingzhou war as soon as possible. Only in this way can we get rid of the current predicament. "
Xun Yu shook his head to express his opposition: "Zhongda's move is too risky. If the Jiyin East County line cannot be defended, the entire Yanzhou will be lost. At that time, what's the point of taking Qingzhou?"
"So Dingtao cannot be lost. Not only that, the lord needs to be prepared. If Dingtao is lost, then Changyi must be defended to the death. Therefore, the lord needs to transfer some county soldiers to Changyi to be on the safe side." Sima Yi gritted his teeth and said;
The different opinions of the two military advisors put Cao Cao in a dilemma. After a long time, Cao Cao finally made up his mind. The troops in Qingzhou were slightly insufficient. If the troops were not increased, Xiahou Yuan would indeed be exhausted. Besides, Xu Rong was not an easy person. Although he sent Cheng Yu to assist for the sake of safety, if the troops were insufficient, a good cook could not cook without rice.
Thinking of this, Cao Cao said decisively: "Order Jibei and Qingzhou counties to each dispatch 2,000 county-state soldiers and send them to Linzi as soon as possible to join Xiahou Yuan's army. At the same time, tell Xiahou Yuan to occupy Qingzhou within three months. At the same time, order the rest of the counties to dispatch 1,000 county-state soldiers to assemble in the county capital. If the Eastern Expedition Army attacks, the county capital must be defended."