Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 724 Secret Infiltration
  Yuan Xi's biggest enemy now and in the future is naturally Cao Cao.

People of later generations felt that Cao Cao's victory over Yuan Shao in the most critical battle of Guandu in his life was extremely accidental, and attributed it to luck.

But in fact, behind the huge contingency, there is also a deep-seated inevitability.

Cao Cao sneaked into Wuchao and attacked more with less. He fought several battles in a few days and ran long distances. He was able to defeat Chunyu Qiong, a general who had experienced Yuan Shao. This in itself shows that Cao Cao's army is not weaker than Yuan's army in terms of morale and combat power.

"The Duke left Cao Hong to guard, and he will ride five thousand men to go at night, and they will arrive in the morning."

After traveling long distance for more than a day, he still had the energy to defeat Yuan Jun head-on, which in itself explains a lot.

But here comes the question, why did Yuan Shaojun lose? Is it just because of carelessness?

Regarding Cao Cao's surprise attack, Yuan Shaojun's response was to attack with attack. As a result, two generals, Zhang He and Gao Lan, rushed to Cao Cao's camp. At the same distance, they faced Cao Cao's army, which was said to be out of food, but could not defeat it.

Then Zhang He and Gao Lan failed to attack Cao's camp. When they heard that Chunyu Qiong had failed, they immediately surrendered.

"Three Kingdoms·Biography of Emperor Wu": Zhang He and Gao Lan were sent to attack Cao Hong. When He and others heard that Qiong was broken, they came to surrender. Shao's army was defeated, and Shao and Tan abandoned their army and crossed the river.

The inside story hidden here is very intriguing. Zhang He and Gao Lan were the attackers. Even if they couldn't defeat Cao Ying, there was no problem in retreating. But why did he surrender immediately when he heard that Wuchao was lost and Chunyu Qiong was defeated?
  This may be because they are afraid of being accused when they go back, but considering that Yuan Shao has almost no precedent of punishing defeated generals, another possibility is that Zhang He Gaolan felt that after Wuchao was lost, Yuan Jun would have no hope.

So everything points to a possibility.

In fact, Yuan Shaojun did not have enough food.

Because in later generations, the Battle of Guandu was fought after Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan and Jizhou was forced to go to war because of Cao Cao's move to occupy Sili. The two battles were less than half a year apart. Therefore, the truth behind this battle is probably that Jizhou did not have any Rejuvenate.

As a result, the military rations prepared by Yuan Shaojun were not as sufficient as advertised. It was probably false news deliberately released to boost their own morale. After Wuchao was broken, Zhang He Gaolan, who knew the inside story, lost confidence and immediately surrender.

So the question goes back to the beginning, why is the prosperous Jizhou not as well mobilized for the war as Yanzhou, which has been war-torn for years?

The answer is readily apparent. For wartime, a system in which all citizens are soldiers, even if it is more primitive and backward, can limit the potential for exploitation to the greatest extent, thereby surpassing a seemingly superior political system.

Advanced productivity undoubtedly has advantages over backward productivity.

However, advanced production relations may not necessarily suppress backward production relations. Examples of the opposite abound.

The backward tribal nomadic people defeated the peak agricultural dynasty of the feudal system. Cao Cao's farmland slavery suppressed the farm system dominated by Yuan Shao's gentry landlords. The same was true.

What's more, the gentry and landlords under Yuan Shao are not united. Not only are they fighting among themselves with private messages, but they are also trying to cheat others. These people are strong, fashionable and honest in Yuan Shao. Once Yuan Shao loses, many of them will switch to others.

Of course, among the nobles in Hebei, there were also many who stayed in the same position and eventually died, such as Shen Pei and others, but they could not change the fact that Cao Cao's approach could indeed be used in the chaos of the late Han Dynasty. Maximize the potential of the region and people.

Liu Bei, who implemented benevolent policies at that time, was continuously defeated by Cao Cao for a long period of time and could only escape in a panic. This is an example.

In troubled times, it is difficult for people who rely solely on ideals to reach the end. This is the tragedy of the times. It is precisely because of this that they who persist in their ideals and remain consistent will be so bright in the history books, even after being smeared. , and it’s hard to hide its light.

The difference between Guo Jia and Yuan Xi lies in this. Guo Jia has always insisted that those who achieve great things do not stick to trivial matters. Yuan Xi also believes that many of Guo Jia's suggestions are actually the best solutions to solve problems, but he has accepted Yuan Xi's suggestions. It is difficult for people who have been influenced by modern social thinking to accept and take action.

In the chaotic times of the late Han Dynasty, most civilians were not treated as human beings, and the strategies derived from this were often based on sacrificing their right to survival.

Yuan Xi does not blame Guo Jia, because he knows that people in this era cannot transcend the limitations of this era. If he wants to talk to them about everyone being equal, equal pay for equal work, getting rich through hard work, and equality between men and women, it will only be ignored by everyone. As a madman.

But because of this, Yuan Xi felt that since he had come to this era, he naturally had to do something different.

With his meager power, he may not be able to change the general trend of history, but it will be a peace of mind if he can slightly change the trajectory of its wheels and kill fewer people whose lives are like ants.

Even so, with Yuan Xi's current strength, it is unrealistic to defeat Cao Cao with a great victory against Cao Cao, who has all the people as soldiers and spends most of his rent and taxes on war.

What he has to do now is to slowly bleed Cao Cao's blood until the day comes when Cao Cao has exhausted all the potential in his territory and is unsustainable.

Yuan Xi knew that Cao Cao also understood this. Although all the people in Yanzhou were soldiers, the negative consequences of this situation would inevitably begin to show after three to five years, so Cao Cao must expand his territory as soon as possible to replenish his blood. On the Jizhou side, even if Cao Cao is bound to win, he must wait for Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang to fight internally, but Cao Cao cannot afford to wait. If he does not want to attack Xuzhou, then he has only one choice, which is Jingzhou.

Therefore, Yuan Xi guessed that Cao Cao would definitely offer very generous conditions to Zhang Xiu in exchange for Zhang Xiu's surrender.

Of course, from the perspective of later generations, Cao Cao could not control his lower body and suffered a big loss. But now the direction of history has changed. Cao Cao's desire to obtain Jingzhou is more urgent than that of later generations. In the face of this pressure, perhaps Cao Cao faced Zhang When embroidering, I will be more careful and careful.

Yuan Xi couldn't count on whether Cao Cao would really sleep with Zhang Xiu's aunt Zou, but if there was such a thing, Yuan Xi wouldn't let Cao Cao get his wish.

So what he had to do was to disrupt the situation in Sili, make the path Cao Cao could take narrower and narrower, and then find the right time to enter the situation.

Gao Gan has already restrained Ma Teng and Han Sui, and Yuan Xi has also given Yuan Shu enough poisonous bait to tempt him. The rest depends on whether Yang Feng in Huaicheng can kill Zhong Yao, the most critical person in Sili.

At this time, Yang Feng had sneaked into Huaicheng for two days. She was not in a hurry to use secret codes to contact the spies sent by Yuan Xi, because it was still some time before the action was taken, and the more people she contacted, the greater the possibility of being exposed.

Therefore, all Yang Feng could rely on now was herself. She contacted the Taiping Taoist congregation and found a suitable woman, letting her hide in the cellar. Yang Feng used her identity to act in front of others.

This method also carries the risk of exposure. The safest way is to kill the woman.

Yang Feng thought about this idea in her mind, but finally gave up. Although she knew that it would probably expose herself, she might have done it before, but now she had a different idea.

She thought to herself that she was not such an indecisive person before. Why did her thoughts begin to change?

Now, for two nights in a row, she visited Zhong Yao's house and found that it was indeed well-defended. There were not only hundreds of soldiers taking turns guarding the entrances inside and outside, but also the passages outside the house and everywhere in the house. There were also patrols. The team patrolled continuously.

Under this situation, it was almost impossible to sneak in secretly. The way Yang Feng thought of was to break in by force.

Let Yuan Xi's spies directly attack the entrance of Zhong Yao's mansion in several groups, causing chaos. Soldiers from the other side will inevitably come to rescue. There will be a gap in the defense. Yang Feng will wait for an opportunity to sneak in at this time, and the possibility of being exposed will be much smaller.

But this also means that the spies sent in by Yuan Xi have almost no chance of survival.

Yang Feng had no psychological burden on this. These people were originally dead soldiers. Since Yuan Xi had given her command, she should have been prepared to let these people die. Even if they were Yang Feng's own soldiers, they had been killed in order to To achieve the goal of killing Yuan Xi, he also filled it in desperately.

But what Yang Feng is worried about is that even if everyone is filled in, the goal may not be achieved.

Because she had inquired several times, she could only figure out the patrol routes of soldiers on the outside of the mansion and near the courtyard wall. As for going inside, it was difficult for her to grasp what was going on.

Although insiders had already figured out the general layout of Zhong Yao's mansion and the location of Zhong Yao's bedroom, the intelligence did not mention the layout of the soldiers inside. Those who wanted to send the intelligence could not access such important information. information.

Yang Feng once wanted to pretend to be a Taiping Dao witch and sneak in openly, but she gave up the idea after seeing how closely the soldiers of the palace searched all kinds of people who entered.

She sat on the roof in the distance and thought about Zhong Yao's mansion for a long time. Then she turned over and fell to the ground. She took advantage of the night to hide her figure and disappeared.

Relying on her light body skills, she left secret signals in hidden corners of the city and began to summon the dead soldiers who had sneaked into the city.

She did not ask to meet with the dead soldiers, but directly issued the order through a coded message, agreeing to take action directly the next night.

Zhong Yao was sitting in the hall, headed by Ding Chong, and more than a dozen subordinate officials were sitting on their knees in turn. This was Zhong Yao recruiting all the major noble families in Sili, and each family also reciprocated, sending out capable disciples from their own families to attach themselves to them. Cao Ying's forces became officials.

There are many wealthy families such as the Hedong Wei family and the Sima family. Now, under the leadership of Zhong Yao, they have gradually taken control of Sili and become the most important force.

Zhong Yao said: "The news that Gao Gan colluded with the Southern Xiongnu to go south to Hanoi has been confirmed. What are your strategies to resolve it?"

Someone immediately said: "We should immediately contact the Southern Xiongnu tribe in the north of Taiyuan County and promise them generous profits to attack Taiyuan County, the headquarters of Gao Gan. If they can't see each other, the captain can send troops to attack them."

This idea hit the nail on the head, attracting everyone's attention, and they discovered that the person who spoke was a member of the Wei family in Hedong.

(End of this chapter)