The big man is on the run

Chapter 182 Cao Cao Sweeps the Central Plains
After careful consideration, Cao Cao estimated the combat power of the princes in the Central Plains, and felt that the imperial court had just given Liu Bei a fake axe, so it was not easy to attack Liu Bei, so he decided to eliminate Lu Bu who was entrenched in Pengcheng, Pei, and Runan counties first.

However, Cao Cao sent Xiahou Dun as the vanguard, but was defeated by Gao Shun and Zhang Liao.

When the news was sent back to Cao Cao, the counselors and generals were in an uproar. There were still many voices of opposition to Cao Cao's plan to attack Lu Bu first. Most people thought that Liu Bei was the biggest enemy. After all, the relationship between the Yanzhou Group and the Xuzhou Group The contradiction between them can be described as blood feud.The Xuzhou Group killed Cao Cao's own father, and Cao Cao led his troops to massacre the counties and counties of Xuzhou several times, killing people as far as Surabaya.

Everyone felt that Liu Bei was on the side, and it was not a good plan to attack Lu Bu from a distance.

Only Guo Jia insisted that Lv Bu was fierce, and if he allied with Yuan Shu and crossed Huai and Si, Huainan's local heroes would surely respond. Now he can only have a chance to defeat him when his momentum has not yet risen and everyone is divided.

After all, among the people Lu Bu and the horse among the red rabbits are not bragging. No matter how bad Lu Bu's character is, his combat effectiveness is indeed first-class, especially Gao Shun's trapped camp and the Bingzhou Jingqi led by Zhang Liao and others.

So Cao Cao personally led the army to march eastward and entered Xiaopei. Chen Gong persuaded Lu Bu to take the initiative to send troops to meet him, but Lu Bu refused.In June, Cao Cao captured Xiaopei and killed all the people in the city.Then they marched into Pengcheng. At this time, Chen Gong suggested that Lu Bu lead his troops out of Pengcheng, defend the city by himself, and support each other like horns. Cao Cao's army was short of food from afar, and when his food was exhausted, the two armies attacked at the same time. .

Lu Bu felt that what Chen Gong said was very reasonable, and planned to let Chen Gong and Gao Shun defend the city, and led his cavalry to cut off Cao Cao's food supply.

However, things go wrong because of the pillow wind.

Lu Bu's wife told Lu Bu that Chen Gong and Gao Shun had always been at odds. If Lu Bu left the city, Chen Gong and Gao Shun would definitely not work together to defend the city.Moreover, Cao Cao used to be so good to Chen Gong, and Chen Gong even betrayed Cao Cao. Now you are not as good as Cao Cao to Chen Gong. You have to hand over the whole Pengcheng and our wives and children to him. If you go out alone, Chen Gong will join the enemy what to do?
This pillow blows people's minds, Lu Bu is a capricious person, and he judges others by himself, so he naturally feels that Chen Gong may betray him like he betrayed Cao Cao.So Lu Bu gave up his revenge plan, and secretly sent his subordinates Xu Si and Wang Kai to ask Yuan Shu for help.

Yuan Shu is also a person who wants face. He has become the emperor, but he was tricked by Lu Bu before. At this time, the first reaction was that he was close to Lu Bu, but he couldn't help but retorted, saying that Lu Bu would not marry his daughter. This defeat is a matter of course, why are you still looking for me now?

Fortunately, both Xu Si and Wang Kai are eloquent, and they directly pointed out the stakes. If Lu Bu is gone, Cao Cao's next target will be you, Yuan Shu!
Yuan Shu then sent troops to Lv Bu to support him. Lv Bu wrapped his daughter in cotton wool around his back, mounted his horse and planned to send it to Yuan Shu himself in the dark, but was blocked by Cao Cao and had to return to Pengcheng angrily.

Cao Cao led the whole army to Pengcheng, and Lu Bu led the army to fight and failed repeatedly, so he had to defend the city and dare not attack.Cao Cao ordered his subordinates to surround Pengcheng, attacked day and night, and dug the water (Bian water) to flood it.

However, because Lu Bu made up his mind to defend Pengcheng, Cao Cao was unable to conquer it for a while.

Cao Cao besieged Pengcheng for several months, and his soldiers were exhausted. They all wanted to go back to Yanzhou to rest.

At this time, it was Guo Jia who dissuaded him again. Guo Jia believed that Lü Bu was brave but not resourceful.And Lu Bu's army has always been an army with a very distinctive style. Lu Bu's personality and charm are the main influencing factors of his subordinates. Now that Lu Bu's momentum is declining and he does not have the spirit to fight a decisive battle, Chen Gong's ingenuity is not enough to solve this situation. As long as we persevere, Cao Jun can definitely win.

Yuan Shu, whom Lv Bu placed high hopes on, was unable to give him substantial assistance. At the critical moment when Lv Bu was besieged at the end of his life, it was Liu Yi who gave him a hand.

Liu Yi wrote to Liu Bei, clearly pointing out that although Cao Cao could win over, as far as the court was concerned, he still stood with the national traitor Yuan Shao and belonged to the enemy.Although Lu Bu's character is not good and he attacked Xuzhou, but no matter what, Lu Bu remained loyal to the Han Dynasty from the beginning to the end, and there is a saying that the enemy of the enemy is a friend. Therefore, Liu Yi tried his best to persuade Liu Bei Rescue Lu Bu.

After receiving the silk letter, Liu Bei also had his own considerations. Although Xuzhou is now integrated internally by him, which is much better than when he just took it over from Tao Qian, his strength is still very weak, and he wants to confront Cao Cao head-on. It is impossible to rescue the city under siege, so Liu Bei took a tricky way.

Liu Bei personally led an army to attack Cao Cao's grain road.

Cao Cao was besieging the city, but the food road was cut off. He was so angry that he had no choice but to do anything. He and Liu Bei were fundamentally opposed to each other. Liu Bei's move included not only a bitter relationship with Lu Bu, but also a promise to take over Xuzhou.

You must know that the only price for taking over Xuzhou from Tao Qian is that Liu Bei must represent Xuzhou and oppose the Cao Cao Yanzhou Group, which has a blood feud with Xuzhou.

Seeing that Cao Cao outside the city mobilized some soldiers and horses to repel Liu Bei's harassment, Lu Bu also saw the opportunity to break through the encirclement.

It's a pity that Lu Bu still underestimated Cao Cao. Cao Cao pretended to retreat, but in fact wanted to lure Lu Bu's army out of the turtle shell of Pengcheng, drag them outside to gather and annihilate them.

This was Guo Jia's idea, but Guo Jia had calculated thousands of times, but he failed to figure out one thing, that is, Lu Bu's bravery is really not inferior to Overlord Xiang Yu.

It was the same Pengcheng, the same ambush from all sides, and Lu Bu also fought his way out.

Xiahoudun, Xiahouyuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and the military generals of Xiahou Cao took turns to intercept and attack, but Lv Bu, who was at the bottom of his boat, broke through several lines of defense and escaped successfully.

Of course, Lu Bu also paid a great price for this. Generals such as Hou Cheng and Song Xian were killed. Under the cover of Gao Shun's camp and Zhang Liao's Bingzhou Jingqi, he only escaped from the encirclement with more than a thousand elites.

In the Battle of Pengcheng, Cao Cao defeated Lv Bu, and Lv Bu defected to Yuan Shu to the south. Looking around the entire Central Plains, Cao Cao had only the last opponent who was worthy of a battle-Liu Bei.

At this time, Liu Bei fell into a worse strategic situation than Yuan Shao due to the attributes of Xuzhou's Four Wars.

Yuan Shao was just caught between two breadwinners, and Liu Bei was completely at a loss.

To the north is Qingzhou of Yuan Tan, to the west is Yanzhou of Cao Cao, to the south is Sun Ce of Jiangdong, and to the east is the vast sea.

The closest imperial power to him is Yangzhou Shepherd Liu Yao who is at ease in Yuzhang County, Yangzhou.

But you must know that Liu Yao himself, the pastoral capital of Yangzhou, was beaten to the territory of only one county, so how could he save Liu Bei?
In the third year of Jian'an, while Liu Bei was facing tremendous pressure, Liu Yi also faced new challenges.

After a long preparation, Yuan Shao showed his sword.

In September of the third year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao, after the autumn harvest, led an unprecedented 14 cavalry troops, plus auxiliary soldiers and civilian husbands, totaling 40, claiming [-]. Gongsun Zan.

With only [-] Youzhou cavalry and [-] infantry in his hands, Gongsun Zan could not fight Yuan Shao at all. He hastily abandoned Zhuo County and retreated to Ji County (now Beijing), Guangyang County. Court support.

(End of this chapter)