This article is the 30th article in the series of "Sentence Interpretation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The author has also established a today's headline column called "Three Kingdoms in Literature and Ink" to support this series. ”
In May of the seventh year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao fell ill and died. Before Yuan Shao's death, he recovered most of Jizhou and regained some morale. Of course, there are also factional battles that have never been resolved.
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On the issue of heirs, Yuan Tan Yuan Shang was divided into two major factions, and Yuan Shang had always been favored by Yuan Shao, so he was promoted by the Qunchen. Yuan Shao's family in Jizhou was inherited by Yuan Shang. Yuan Tan, as the eldest son, was certainly unhappy at this time, and he was a soldier in the Liyang area and declared himself a cheqi general.
Yuan Tan Yuan Shangqi resisted Cao
In September of the seventh year of Jian'an, Cao Cao began to work on military affairs in the north, and the army pressed the border in an attempt to attack Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang. In fact, although the two brothers usually fight in the nest, but in the face of the common enemy Cao Cao, they can still temporarily put aside the contradiction between the two, after all, a pen can not write two Yuan characters. Yuan Tan decided to join forces with Yuan Shang for the time being.
Cao Cao's Northern Expedition to Yuan Tan Yuan Shang now has a huge advantage. Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang retreated, although the two failed one after another, but when defending, they were united in their determination, which also made Cao Cao a little difficult. Soon after, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, under the oppression of Cao Cao, sought out dangerous areas to hold on, blocking Cao Cao's time for half a year.
In March of the eighth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao vigorously attacked the city that Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan had firmly held, and broke the two men. The Yuan brothers fled in the night. Cao Cao saw that the offensive momentum was very good, so he attacked Yuan Shang's hometown of Yicheng in April. Perhaps Cao Cao's several months of conquest was the end of the strong crossbow, perhaps there was something wrong within Cao Cao's Xuchang, or perhaps Cao Cao wanted to use a plan to disintegrate Yuan Tan's yuan shang brothers, and Cao Cao quickly retreated after the unsuccessful attack, leaving a man named Jia Xin to guard Liyang. Cao Cao returned to Xudu in May.
Nest fight
Since Cao Cao withdrew his troops, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Without external pressure, the two of them showed their true nature once again.
Yuan Tan thought in his heart, I am the eldest son, why is my father's inheritance in the hands of his little brother?
Yuan Shang thought in his heart, I am the legitimate heir, but what if his brother seizes power?
Thinking about it, the two of them are going to spell out a dead or alive.
Faced with the extremely tense situation of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, Cao Cao unexpectedly attacked Liu Biao in August of the eighth year of Jian'an. This trick is really clever, because the less pressure on the north, the more desperate the dispute between the two Yuan and Yuan can be.
Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang pinched each other, but Yuan Shang's faction was strong enough and Yuan Tan did belong to the "guest general". After several battles, Yuan Tan was defeated and went to the plains to rest and prepare for the battle.
Yuan Tan was almost finished, and Yuan Shang decided to march forward to prepare to completely eliminate his own brother. At this time, the desperate Yuan Tan sent Xin Bi to cao Cao for peace and help.
Cao Cao "pulls the bias frame"
When Cao Cao received Yuan Tan's distress letter, everyone had a heated discussion about whether to save Yuan Tan in the end, among which Xun You took the firmest position and advised Cao Cao to accept Yuan Tan's request for help.
According to the "Book of Wei", a "vague historical material", Cao Cao said that Liu Biao did not come to attack me when he attacked Lü Bu; Liu Biao did not come to save Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu, indicating that Liu Biao was a "self-defending thief" and could talk about it later in the face of such a person.
Cao Cao pointed out that Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were very cunning, and we should take advantage of his chaos. Even if Yuan Tan's move is deceitful, he will definitely tie his hands in the end. If we use this move to break Yuan Shang and subdue a large area of land in Jizhou, this will maximize our interests.
In the end, Cao Cao decided to immediately withdraw his troops back to the capital, accept Yuan Tan's call for help, and quickly make a rescue.
Cao Cao and Yuan Tan became sons and daughters
In October of the eighth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao rushed to the Liyang area and arranged for his son Cao Zhen to marry Yuan Tan's daughter as a gesture. In this way, Cao Cao and Yuan Tan became a generation, then Yuan Shao was Yuan Tan's father, how would Cao Cao call Yuan Shao?
Cao Yuan and Yuan became relatives, but this move was a "fake marriage", for which Pei Songzhi put forward his own views.
Pei Songzhi believes that less than a year and a half has passed since Yuan Shao died and the two were married. Although Yuan Tan belonged to yuan shao's "separate seals", he was also the eldest son, did not guard yuan shao's filial piety for three years, and actually made marriage arrangements during this period, which was contrary to common sense.
Pei Songzhi pointed out that this move was likely to be a temporary measure for Cao Cao, and the two only agreed verbally. At that time, although the two clearly stated that they were married, they may not have been married in that year.
Yuan Tan's careful thinking
Cao Cao and Yuan Tan reached some kind of agreement, and Yuan Shang saw that Cao Cao was coming, so he lifted the siege of Yuan Tan and returned to Yecheng. Seeing that Yuan Shang was such a "bear", Yuan Shang's Subordinates Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang of Dongping left Yuan Shang and surrendered to Cao Cao, and were made Marquis by Cao Cao.
According to the Book of Wei, Yuan Tan did not forget to woo the Lü Kuang brothers after the siege was lifted. Yuan Tan secretly gave Lü Kuang a general's seal to hint and co-opt. Lü Kuang was also not polite, and accepted Yuan Tan's gift at that time, but turned his face to Cao Cao and explained the situation.
When Cao Cao learned of this, he said that I had long seen that Yuan Tan would adopt such an inferior strategy. Yuan Tan wanted me to attack Yuan Shang, and secretly obtained the population to form an army. When Yuan Shang was defeated, he was also full of wings and took advantage of the opportunity to sneak attack after the great battle of our army.
Cao Cao pointed out that in fact, if I broke Yuan Shang, the overall strength would immediately increase, how could Yuan Tan have the opportunity to take advantage of it?
In the face of Yuan Tan's small actions, Cao Cao was full of self-confidence. This kind of seeing that other people's small tricks in turn give people the feeling of setting up a set, Cao Cao should be very satisfied.
Text: Talking about the author of the Three Kingdoms xxy
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