In the ninth year of Jian'an (204 AD), after The death of Yuan Shao, his second son's brother YuQiang, the eldest son Yuan Tan could not defeat the younger son Yuan Shang, and even sent someone to form a son and daughter with Cao Cao to form an alliance against his younger brother, Yuan Shang was furious, and decided to "take the outside must first be inside", so that he did not have to judge the general Su You to stay in Yicheng, and then led his elite troops to attack Yuan Tan.
As soon as he went out on his front foot, Cao Cao arrived on his back foot, besieged the city of Yicheng, and was about to attack, and good news came from the city, yuan took Su Youyi as an internal response, cut down the trial match, and presented the city to Cao Cao as a greeting gift. Cao Cao was overjoyed, busy sending people to sneak into the city to contact, but unexpectedly at the critical moment Su You's men committed internal traitors, and the conspiracy was tried and learned, and as a result, the two of them fought in the city, Su Yu was defeated, and had to forcibly fight the city and flee to Cao Cao.
Pictured: Su Yu
Cao Cao said it didn't matter, the eldest brother and I avenged you, so the soldiers entered the city of Yecheng, launched the engineering troops, went up the tushan mountain, dug tunnels down, and attacked the city in all directions in the air, above ground and underground.
Unexpectedly, the trial was already prepared, and he actually learned the clever strategy of Cao Cao's Battle of Guandu that year--digging trenches horizontally in the city to resist. Cao Cao did not succeed in his plan and made a plan, so he asked Su Yu to pass on the book with flying arrows, and secretly plotted against the trial general Feng Li, who secretly opened the tummy gate at night (the secret exit outside the official city gate was built for the fence, but when the enemy first came, the camp was undecided, and the elite horse jumped out of the tummy gate, attacking it unprepared, and attacking it unexpectedly. Let Cao Jun come in, did not expect to be scared by Su Yu, very alert, in the middle of the night three more came to the head of the city to inspect, just found the danger, at this time Cao Jun came in three hundred people, easy to deal with! Without stopping, he sent people to push down the boulder from the city tower and close the gate, so that The Cao army could not re-enter. Of course, the three hundred Cao Jun and Feng Li's men who had entered the city were dead and alive, and they were interrogated with a pot of stew, and none of them escaped with their lives.
Photo: Feng Li
In the original Battle of Guandu, the two sons of the trial were taken prisoners by Cao Jun, and Cao Cao held the hostages in his hands, and he could not even threaten the trial for half a point. Even Cao Cao had to admire it.
It seems that it is impossible to take Yecheng in the short term, Cao Cao decided to besiege the city to fight a protracted war, and the protracted war is the logistics, so in the end it is still necessary to repeat the old tricks of Guandu, cut off your grain!
In April, Cao Cao left Cao Hong to continue to besiege Yecheng, and personally led his elite to the west to attack Maocheng (maocheng in present-day southeast of Shixian County, Hebei), cutting off the grain route from Shangdang to support Yicheng through the Taihang Mountains, blocking the connection between Jizhou and Hezhou, and then rushing north to take Handan, cutting off the grain route north of Yicheng, and blocking the connection between Jizhou and Youzhou, and then Yiyang County and Xiangxian also announced the surrender of the city. As the towns around Yecheng were eaten away by the Cao Army one by one, slowly turning into an isolated island, its end was not far away.
To this end, Xu Huang specially offered a plan to Cao Cao: "Sun Tzu said that 'pulling out the city of people instead of attacking.' 'Now that the second Yuan has not been broken, and those who have not yet descended from the cities have listened to them, it is advisable to reward Yiyang and The counties to show the cities. Then don't look at the wind. Cao Cao then made the second county the Marquis of Guannei, and the other counties of Jizhou did indeed look down one after another, and a small number of those who did not surrender also adopted a wait-and-see neutral attitude, and watched the development of Cao Yuan's war and then determine their belonging.
At this point, The Cao army formed a strategic isolation and siege of Yecheng, and Cao Cao could execute the final plan to break the city with great generosity and happiness.
In May, senior engineer Cao Cao changed his approach, destroyed the tacky conventional fortifications such as tushan and tunnels, and dug a trench around the city with a circumference of forty miles. It's just that this project is also perfunctory, shallow and narrow, and you can step over it with one step. The judge saw it on the city tower, laughing at Cao Cao is really a stupid groundhog, digging such a small pit, what a fart!
Anyone can laugh, but laughing at Cao Cao, Cao Cao will usually make him pay the price.
Sure enough, it was night, Cao Cao suddenly launched the tactics of the sea of people, all the Cao soldiers worked all night, rushed to dig the trench, and overnight, they widened and deepened the trench to two zhang, which was nearly five meters in the Han Dynasty, and the height of two floors was measured. He was greatly surprised, and he didn't know what Cao Cao was doing with this kind of super project? Anyway, it's a big bad thing!
Cao Cao quickly gave the answer, he actually dug the embankment of the Zhanghe River near Yecheng, introduced the water of the Zhanghe River into the trench, and then continued the designed terrain, from high to low, all the way forward, into the city, Yicheng suddenly became a Zeguo, the military and civilians in the city were trapped in it, and the grain and grass were cut off, this was the end! Not only can the judge not laugh, but he can't even cry!
However, from May to August, when the city of Yecheng was starving to death, more than half of the officials in the city starved to death, and he swore not to surrender, because he firmly believed that Yuan Shang's army would return sooner or later.
It is said that Yuan Shang went to attack Yuan Tan and fought for half a year, but there was no result, but the base camp of Yecheng had been stewed into a pot of porridge by Cao Cao, and there was no way, so he had to personally lead more than 10,000 soldiers and horses back to the rescue at the end of July, and prepared to send a person to Yicheng to explore the situation and see the trial.
To risk death to send a letter from cao Cao's tens of thousands of troops, to discuss the plan of internal and external cooperation, and then to come out unscathed, this must have superhuman courage and wisdom. Yuan Shang asked a circle, Yan Zhao zhuangshi, but no one dared to go, and finally a weak Wensheng bravely stood out, it was Li Fu, the master of Jizhou and the giant deer.
Without three or two three, who dared to go up to Liangshan, Li Fu was really extraordinary, and even took only three retinues, swinging all the way, extremely arrogant and high-profile, and went straight to Yecheng. Of course, they were wearing the armor of a senior general of the Cao Army, and they also cut more than thirty staffs in the wilderness (the staffs held by law enforcement officers in the ancient army) and bundled them on their horses, and they did not know what they were used for.
In this way, Li Fu and they swung to the front of Cao Ying, looking left and right all the way to see whose vigilance was not high, whose military posture was not good, and whose military appearance was not neat, so they rushed up and scolded: "I am the governor of the patrol camp sent by the lord and the new dispatch, and Er and other guards shoulder heavy responsibilities, why is the form of sleepy, the military appearance is scattered, the line is uneven, and the armor is not neat, so give me a beating!" Then they were hung up and waited with a staff, like a sadist, and the Cao jun was stunned by his bluff, and quickly all of them were respectful and respectful to meet his inspection.
In this way, Li Fu swung and deceived all the way, and even gave him a cross over Cao Camp, slowly and leisurely swung under the city gate, beckoning, and a rope was put down on the city tower, Li Fu they were in the stunned eyes of a cadre of Cao Jun, grabbed one end of the rope, and was pulled into the city by the people in the city! Li Fu went to the other driver's mansion, informed the trial match of the situation, and said that he could raise the fire as a trumpet and should be combined inside and outside to break Cao Ye, and the trial match could not help but mix sorrow and joy, and the old tears flowed and shouted long live.
For more than half a year, the trial finally lasted until the peach blossoms bloomed. On the other hand, Cao Cao, far from being depressed, was full of interest in Li Fu and laughed: "This is not only to enter, but also to come back." "And look at what tricks Li Fu still has!"
Li Fu did not disappoint Cao Cao, he knew that after he had made such a fuss in Cao Camp, he would definitely increase his vigilance, and it would be impossible to repeat the old technique. What to do? Li Fu asked the trial to release thousands of useless old, weak and hungry people out of the city at night to escape for their lives, and they could also save food. The judge agreed, so he found thousands of hungry people and asked them to shout slogans for forgiveness, hold white flags and torches, and leave the city through the three gates. For a time, the city gate was wide open on three sides, torches were like stars lighting lamps, illuminating the lonely night sky, the Cao Army guards were attracted by the bright light of the sky, they all came to watch, Li Fu and others mixed in with this gang of hungry people, taking advantage of the night to go out of the city.
The next morning, Cao Cao heard that Li Fu had indeed left, and instead of getting angry, he clapped his hands and applauded: "As I said." I thought that Yuan Shangzhi's reinforcements were near. Very good, very good! The generals were puzzled and said, "Not good, not good." Now Yuan Shangjun is in the city, and when the soldiers return, they will die in battle. Sun Tzu said: 'Do not hide when you return to your teacher, and do not chase after the poor.' 'It is better to avoid this return to the teacher. Cao Caoxin said that it was not a dead read for you to read the soldier's book, so he had to teach the generals again: "If Yuan Shang comes from the main road, it can be seen that he is desperate, and I should avoid it; if you come from the West Mountain Path, you will see that his heart is weak and timid, and he still has the heart to rely on danger and self-improvement, and I can capture it." "The nations will be taught.
But in fact, these military lessons were all used by Cao Cao to stir up the hearts and minds of the military. In fact, his heart was like a mirror, in the past six months, Cao Cao had robbed Yuan Shang of how much territory, and how badly he had hit Yecheng, Yuan Shang had really had the courage to come to the rescue long ago, and dragged on until now, which could only show that he was afraid of Cao Cao to the extreme, and only to the point of not coming back to the point where he could not say that he could not come back, did he sneak back to try his luck. Such a debauched man, I am afraid that he will do even more!
A few days later, Tan Ma Lai reported that Yuan Shang's reinforcements had come from the path of Xishan (i.e., Taihang Mountain) and were now in Handan. Cao Cao was holding a meeting in the big tent, and laughed when he heard it: "Lonely has already won The State of Jizhou, do you know what the kings know?" All the generals said, "I don't know." Ask the lord to make it clear that "Cao Cao is still selling Guanzi:" The princes will soon be visible. Meeting! ”
At this point, even Guo Jia couldn't understand what medicine was sold in this gourd, so he went to ask Cao Cao privately, and Cao Cao told him: "Yuan Shang came back from this time, and secretly made a fire with the trial to make the city respond." I divide the troops and attack them, and I can capture them in one battle. Guo Jia didn't understand any more: "How does Cao Gong know the enemy's plan?" Cao Cao laughed and said nothing. Guo Jia suddenly realized: "Li Fu easily entered and exited Yecheng, was it arranged by Ming Gong?" Cao Cao laughed and lovingly put his arm around Guo Jia's shoulder: "Only filial piety can know the lonely will!" ”
Yuan Shang's reinforcements soon came to Yangping Pavilion, eight kilometers east of Yecheng, linfushui (north of Yicheng), without further ado, piled up firewood at night, lit a release signal, and the trial in Yecheng was very happy at first sight, and also busied themselves with lighting the fire, and then the two sides went out at the same time, attacking inside and outside, wanting to repeat the battle of Liu Xiu's Kunyang in that year.
Unfortunately, there was no drama, because Cao Cao had already cracked the script, and when he saw the fire, he divided it into heavy troops, blocked it all the way to the trench, and attacked all the way to Fushui. The soldiers under the trial were already malnourished, a dozen were even more exposed, and they could not hold back to the city in a few clicks, and soon Yuan Shang's tired soldiers could not resist, and they saw that the trial match could not rush out, the attack tactics failed, and they had to retreat all the way, and as a result, they were surrounded by the Zhanghe River, Yuan Shang saw that the general trend had gone, and had to send Chen Lin to surrender to Cao Cao, cao Cao's full victory was of course not allowed, and only ordered the troops to step up the siege. Yuan Shang had to take advantage of the night to break through and flee into the Taihang Mountains. Of course, Cao Cao did not give Yuan Shang the opportunity to go into the mountains to fight a guerrilla attack, so he did not spare him, beat the falling water dogs, and ordered his troops to go into the mountains to encircle and suppress them, and Yuan Shang had to lead a small number of soldiers and horses to the north to zhongshan.
In this battle, the Cao army captured a large number of heavy weights, including 19,620 helmets, as well as countless weapons such as spears, shields, bows, and halberds, as well as Yuan Shang's general robes, seals, and knots. Cao Cao then came up with another clever plan, sending Xin Bi and Yuan Jun's troops to set up a stall under the city, showing Yuan Shang's "relics" to the defenders of Yicheng, and the defenders saw that the big general's eating guys were all lost, and knew that Yuan Shang had either lost or died, anyway, he could not count on it, and his fighting spirit suddenly collapsed!
But in this case, the trial still did not surrender, and continued to open his eyes and talk nonsense to boost morale: "Stick to the death battle!" The army is tired, the second son Yuan Xi has already led the army from Youzhou to fang, and our army has no worries! Then two commands were issued:
First: Send all the family members of Xin Shi and other generals to prison to dispel the hatred in their hearts.
Second: Arrange super crossbows at the head of the city, and those who are close to the city wall to "set up stalls" will not be spared. This giant crossbow was really powerful, shooting more than a dozen stall makers in a few days, much more powerful than the city management, Cao Cao was furious, personally went to the city to set up a stall, fucking did not believe in evil. The interrogation was suddenly as excited as chicken blood, and all the strong crossbows were crazy and fired in unison, Cao Cao was still relatively calm at first, laughing while setting up a stall, and slowly he couldn't laugh out, the more the arrow shot more and more fiercely, the more urgent it shot, and finally an arrow shot closer and closer, passing over Cao Cao's head. Cao Cao was frightened out of a cold sweat, and the generals also hurried forward to collect the stalls and pull back Cao Cao, Cao Cao was still not convinced, insisted on not retreating and shouted at the head of the city: "Old thief of Chengguan, oh no, the old thief of trial, after the lone city is broken, he will be returned a hundred times!" Regardless of the trial, the crossbowman continued to shoot until the giant crossbow arrow was shot out, and Cao Jun resumed the stall, and the name of the hard bones became famous all over the world.
Fortunately, even the hardest bones had cracks, and at this moment, the bone cracks exploded. The nephew of the trial match, Zhen Rong, who was a lieutenant at the east gate of Yicheng, believed that the yuan clan's general trend had gone, and it was meaningless to be loyal again, and finally announced an uprising on the second day of August, and opened the city gate at night, let the Cao army enter the city, and the trial and leading the troops to fight to the death in the alley, and finally because they were outnumbered, they were captured.
At the same time, Xin Bi had rushed into the city at the moment of the destruction of the city, and went straight to the Yecheng Prison to rescue the implicated Xin clan, but it was too late, they had already been killed before the city was destroyed to vent their anger.
Xin Bi was devastated, and rushed back to Cao Ying like crazy, and just as he was confronted with the trial and was escorted into the account, Xin Bi was greeted by a horse whip: "Slave, Ru is really dead today!" The whipped eyes of the judge were still staring at Xin Bi and scolding: "Ru led Cao Cao to destroy my Jizhou, I hate not to kill Ru!" Ru dog generation also, can you kill me? Xin Bi was half dead, thinking that he had to kill this guy today, otherwise how could he get my surname right. After a while, Cao Cao also came, and when he entered the door, he asked the interrogator: "Ru Zhi offered the door to pick me up?" ”
Judge shook his head: "I don't know." ”
Cao Cao laughed triumphantly: "This Ru nephew is also dedicated." ”
The trial match almost fainted: "Children are not enough, and even this!" ”
Cao Cao also said, "The day before yesterday, when you went to the city to set up a stall, the city manager in your city shot out crossbow arrows, why are there so many yahwehs?" ”
Judge raised his head and said, "But I hate his ears!" If you give me three thousand chengguan and enough crossbows and arrows, I can recover Xuchang and save the Son of Heaven from the clutches of the Ru Devil! ”
Cao Cao listened, and thought that this stunned guy was quite interesting, so he wanted to be generous and accept it for his own use: "Qing is loyal to the Yuan clan, and he has to do the same." Forgive you! ”
The judge still held his head high: "Cao Thief, who wants you to forgive!" I will not fall to my death! ”
Cao Cao frowned and was about to persuade again, when Xin Bi next to him suddenly cried loudly: "More than eighty mouths of the Wuxin clan have all been killed by this thief." May the Ming Dynasty kill it, and hate it with snow! ”
Speaking of this, Cao Cao understood that he had to choose between Xin Bi and the trial match--although the trial match was talented, but it was too dead-eyed and old; Xin Bi was young and promising, loyal and strategic, and the material that could be made was also -- he had no choice but to sigh, and the sword and axe hand pushed the trial match out and cut it. However, on the execution ground, the judge suddenly shouted slowly, then struggled to stand up, adjusted a little to the north, and said: "My lord is in the north, and I must not die facing the south!" Only then did he fall to his knees, and his neck was bladed.
The reason why the trial match is loyal, because the Yuan family is really very good to him, after the destruction of Shi ZaiYe City, Cao Cao did not judge the family's property to tens of thousands, and found that his family hid a lot of doormen who committed countless evil deeds, simply the local black boss. The previous trial had also imprisoned Xu You's family for embezzlement, and it turned out that his own ass was not clean. amusing!
In any case, after half a year, Cao Cao finally gnawed down this hard bone and pocketed the first city in Hebei and settled on Jizhou. In September, the Han Emperor issued an edict to worship Cao Cao as the pastor of Jizhou.
After Cao Cao became the pastor of Jizhou, he began to focus on running Yicheng as his hegemonic capital in order to stabilize the north nearby. There are tens of thousands of household registrations in Yecheng, and with a little construction, it should be the capital. As for Xu Du, in the future, he should try to go as little as possible, so as not to be calculated by the Han Emperor again, and it was really upset, and there was no benefit on both sides.
Yidu was the first urban axis design for Cao Cao himself, which had a profound impact on the history of Chinese architecture
Nine years later, in the eighteenth year of Jian'an (213 AD), Cao Cao was made the Duke of Wei, and officially set the capital at The City of Yicheng, which had been in operation for a long time, and from then on, until 580 AD, Yang Jian listened to rumors and destroyed it, and the capital became the center of the stage of China's three hundred years of turmoil.