Han family achievements

Chapter 341 The personality differences between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao
  When Cao Cao heard Guo Jia's words, he stopped and said with a gloomy expression, "How do you think His Majesty will react?"

Yuan Shao will undoubtedly blame Cao Cao for this defeat and attribute it to Cao Cao's 'disobedience'.

When the time comes, the people in Luoyang will take notice of the news, fearing that the impeachment memorial could have flooded His Majesty's desk in the palace!
  Guo Jia slowly put down the wine bottle beside his mouth and said: "I don't know either. Ever since Dong Zhuo's rebellion, the reaction in the palace has been very strange. Why is it that Yuan Shao is the commander-in-chief and turns a deaf ear to Yuan Shao's appeal and the coalition he formed. Yanzhou It was clear that he could move, but he immediately retracted it. Liu Bei was allowed to go to Runan, and Xuzhou was completely left alone. As for Liu Biao, he seemed to let it go..."

After hearing Guo Jia's words, Cao Cao felt a little depressed.

He is the general who shows off his power, Guo Jia is just an aide, and Cao Cao has far more things to consider than Guo Jia.

What Guo Jia was talking about was about big things, but Guo Jia couldn't understand other small and subtle things.

‘Does His Majesty trust me? ’

Cao Cao looked in the direction of Luoyang City and remembered Jian Shuo's words before his death.

‘Will I really die without a burial place in the future? ’

Cao Cao was silent for a long time, then suddenly smiled and said: "No matter what your Majesty's foresight is, what we have to do now is to hold Dong Zhuo back and wait for news about Huangfu Jianzhang."

Guo Jia liked Cao Cao's big heart and his calmness in the face of important events. He took a sip of wine and said with a smile: "General, we can't let General Hou and Dong Zhuo have too much leisure."

Cao Cao turned his head, turned his eyes slightly, laughed loudly, and said, "What Fengxiao said makes sense!"

Immediately, he turned around and shouted not far behind him: "Xia Houyuan, Le Jin!"

When the two heard the sound, they quickly ran over and said, "General."

Cao Cao snatched the jug from Guo Jia's hand, took a sip, and said, "I order you two to order two thousand troops each to pretend to attack Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo at night. Remember, it's just a pretense. If there is danger, get away immediately. Don't do it." Love war!"

"General, take your orders!" The two men raised their hands in response and strode away.

After the two people left, Cao Cao frowned, looked at the wine bottle in his hand, and said with a strange expression: "Fengxiao, why does this wine smell like medicine?"

Guo Jia took it over with a smile and said: "Master Ang found it for me. He said it tasted very special. I wasn't used to it at first, but the more I drank, the better it became. I couldn't put it down."

When Guo Jia heard that it was Cao Ang who had come for him, he didn't think much about it. He looked towards the direction of Luoyang City, maybe he took a sip of wine, and sighed with some joy in his heart: "Fengxiao, you said, Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, they are all plotting." What?"

Guo Jia took a sip of wine, glanced at Cao Cao's side face full of emotion, and said with a calm smile: "Life in this world is nothing more than fame, fortune, and wealth. Even those monks who are known as pure-hearted and ascetic, It’s all for the sake of bliss after death, not to mention us ordinary people?”

Cao Cao didn't react at all, he just looked quietly in the direction of Luoyang City.

Guo Jia didn't say anything either.

Guo Jia couldn't see through the thoughts of his general, but one thing was very clear - this general also had great ambitions!

at the same time.

Xia Houyuan led two thousand soldiers and horses, and suddenly rushed to the Pinghu Pass. The drums were beating like thunder, and the shouts of killing were soaring into the sky. In the silent night, it was particularly shocking.

The entire Pinghuguan was shaken, and the torches lit up one after another, like a fire dragon wandering in panic.

Countless arrows shot out from the gate, dense as rain.

Not long after, the drunken Dong Zhuo, the disheveled Lu Bu, and the sleepy Li Ru, Guo Bang, Niu Fu and others all came, looking at the dark pass with shocked expressions.

After a while, everyone's anxious hearts gradually dropped, and they already understood.

Li Ru snorted coldly and said: "Ming Gong, this Cao Cao is playing a trick to tire out the enemy!"

Dong Zhuo has also been in battle for a long time, so he couldn't tell. He looked unmoved and said in a deep voice: "You guys take turns to finish the battle, don't be careless!"

The most terrifying thing about this strategy of tiring the enemy is not the pretense, but the fact that you don’t know when it will be real.

"General, take your orders!" Lu Bu, Hu Zhen, Niu Fu, Guo Si, Zhang Ji and others raised their hands in response.

After the big victory during the day, they all drank a lot, and few of them were completely sober now.

The bottles and kettles are closed, and they are ready to be prepared. They don't dare to be careless at all. Who knows whether what Cao Cao is playing is true or false?

Xia Houyuan also knows the art of war. He advances and retreats, is still and moves, and does not dare to breathe when he closes the jar and stirs the atmosphere.

For Le Jin on the other side, things didn't go so smoothly.

He led two thousand troops and approached Yuan Shao's camp from darkness. However, Yuan Shao's camp was tightly guarded and patrolled everywhere, leaving no gaps to exploit.

Le Jin lay on a stone, looking at the lights of Yuan Shao's camp and the dense watchtowers surrounding him, his brows furrowed into the Chinese character "Sichuan".

A military lord next to him whispered: "Captain, why don't we just fight in directly? It's dark anyway, so it's easy to fight out."

Le Jin shook his head and said, "That ruined the general's plan."

The military lord had no other ideas and could only accompany Le Jin to continue observing Yuan Shao's camp.

Compared with the drunken Pinghuguan, Yuan Shao's camp was much more strict and the defense was airtight.

Le Jin thought about it, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said to the military lord next to him: "Do you still remember the strategy the military advisor played in Beihai last time?"

The military prince was stunned and said: "Captain, the villain had not yet surrendered to the army at that time, and neither did the captain."

Le Jin stared at him unkindly, then pulled him over and whispered for a long time.

The military lord understood immediately and said, "I'll go now, little man."

After Le Jin waited for him to leave, he called in a few more people, gave some instructions, and then quietly left with them.

At this moment, people came out one after another from Yuan Shao's tent, and the only ones left inside were Tian Feng, Xu You, Gao Gan and Ju Shou.

Yuan Shao ate a few bites in a hurry and put it down. He wiped his mouth, sat up straight and said calmly: "Zi Yuan just said that he would choose an opportunity to retreat and return to Yangzhou. What do you think?"

Jushou glanced at Tian Feng and said: "General, Dong's thieves are insidious. The coalition forces have lost more than half of their troops now. Dong Zhuo is in a dangerous position and it is not suitable to attack by force. My subordinates suggest that we withdraw our troops and rest for a while, and then launch another expedition next year."

Gao Gan immediately answered and said: "Uncle, I think you should withdraw your troops. Although you are loyal to the imperial court and want to fight against thieves. But Cao Cao has different ambitions. You are the only one left in the coalition. How can he still send troops? According to the truth, the imperial court Uncle will understand."

Seeing that every word was said to him, Tian Feng observed Yuan Shao's face, but had no way of judging his true intentions, so he simply kept silent.

Yuan Shao and Tian Feng looked at each other, their eyes cold and indifferent, and said, "What does Military Master Tian think?"

Tian Feng smiled lightly and said, "I just obey my orders."

Yuan Shao couldn't guess what Tian Feng was thinking, and he was worried that he would tell the court nonsense, so he asked, "Commander Tian, ​​do you think I should continue to advance the army?"

Tian Feng said: "This official doesn't understand military matters, so the general asked the wrong person."

Yuan Shao slowly withdrew his gaze when he saw that Tian Feng was not making any progress.

Jushou understood, took a memorial, handed it to Tian Feng, and said: "Brother Tian, ​​this is the memorial from the general to the court. I would like to ask Brother Tian to read it. If there is no problem, please sign it."

Tian Feng remained calm, already understanding Yuan Shao's purpose of keeping him here today.

Yuan Shao, Xu You, and senior officials all looked at him with different eyes, and they all looked at him fiercely.

It seems that if Tian Feng doesn't sign, he won't be able to walk out of here alive tonight.

Tian Feng reached out and took it, read it carefully, and pretended to be silent.

This memorial focuses on Yuan Shao's brilliance, Cao Cao's disobedience, and Dong Zhuo's insidiousness. It then says that the army is demoralized and lacks food and grass, and asks the court to allocate food and grass.

It is obvious that retreat is an advance and they want to withdraw their troops.

Tian Feng was still unsure whether Yuan Shao really wanted to withdraw his troops or had another agenda.

Under the glare of everyone's eyes, Tian Feng did not hesitate, picked up the pen, and signed his name.

Jushou personally waited for him to finish writing, and couldn't wait to grab it and hand it to Yuan Shao.

After Yuan Shao confirmed that it was correct, he said with a relieved look on his face: "Master Tian, ​​thank you for your hard work. Please rest early."

Tian Feng looked at Yuan Shao with a normal expression and said: "General Hou, Tian wants to remind you of something."

Yuan Shao obtained Tian Feng's signature, which was equivalent to confirming the defeat of the coalition forces that was caused by Cao Cao's disobedience in the court. The failure of the subsequent challenge to Dong was also Cao Cao's fault.

You can advance to attack and retreat to defend. Yuan Shao was quite satisfied and said with a smile: "Commander Tian, ​​feel free to speak out."

Tian Feng stood up, looked around at everyone, and then said: "After Yuan Shu, you, Yuan Shao, do you know who will come after Yuan Shao?"

Yuan Shao's expression changed suddenly, his eyes darkened like ink.

After Yuan Shu rebelled, it was Yuan Shao who led his troops to annihilate them.

Tian Feng's words are a naked warning!
  Xu You snorted coldly and said: "Brother Tian, ​​you are talking nonsense. The general is loyal to your majesty and annihilated the rebellious Yuan Shu for the imperial court. It is a great achievement! You are talking nonsense and you are framing the hero. Do you know the seriousness of the crime!?" Jushou, Senior officials followed and scolded him one after another, their tone was very unkind and vaguely murderous.

Tian Feng was not afraid, he just stood at a distance and let them bicker with each other.

Yuan Shao wanted to kill Tian Feng now, but knowing that it was not the right time, he could only hold back his raging anger and said with a smile: "You are wrong. What Tian Feng meant is that besides me, there are a few people who are loyal to the court." , can you suppress thieves for the imperial court? Military Master Tian, ​​is what I said true?"

Tian Feng faced Yuan Shao directly and said loudly: "You, the fourth and third prince of the Yuan family, should know the word 'loyalty'. Now you are the only one left in the Yuan family. Let me ask you Yuan Shao, how do you write the word 'loyalty'?"

"Tian Fengpifu!"

Yuan Shao was furious and stood up, pointing at Tian Feng and yelling: "Come here, drag him out and cook him for me!"

Jushou, Xu You, Gao Gan and others did not expect that Tian Feng, who had always been taciturn, would be so tough tonight, and every word he spoke was like a knife, piercing Yuan Shao's heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys!

Jushou quickly dissuaded him and said: "General, please don't get angry..."

"Don't beg for mercy!"

Yuan Shao was furious, with a ferocious expression on his face, as if he wanted to choose someone to devour, and shouted: "Drag him out!"

Today, soldiers rushed in, but they were not looking for Tian Feng. Instead, they knelt down and said anxiously: "General, there are signs of Dong Jun outside the camp."

Yuan Shao's expression suddenly changed and he said, "How many people are there?"

The last time the coalition forces were defeated, although Yuan Shao reported the news secretly, the ambush was still a surprise to Yuan Shao. If Yuan Shao walked slower, the end could be imagined.

The soldier kneeling on the ground raised his head and said, "I don't know for the moment, but from the lookout tower, we can see that there are people all around, hidden in the dense forest, and there are probably more than [-] people there."

Yuan Shao couldn't care less about Tian Feng and walked out quickly.

Jushou, Xu You, Gao Gan and others also looked shocked. They followed Yuan Shao to the front of the camp, climbed up to the watchtower and watched carefully.

Zhang He stood next to Yuan Shao, pointed to several swaying tree shadows, and said: "General, Dong Jun's figure was found in those places. The general will send people to investigate. There are dense footprints. As far as can be found, Look, there are probably more than five thousand people.”

Yuan Shao grasped the railing tightly with both hands, eyes widened, and saw only the dancing shadows of the trees, and half of the people were missing.

But when Zhang He said this, he had no doubt at all.

"Report!"

At this time, a messenger came to the foot of the tower and said urgently: "General Qi, we found traces of enemy troops three miles behind the camp, about a thousand people."

Yuan Shao turned around and crossed the illuminated camp. It was pitch black outside and he couldn't see anything.

Jushou thought for a while and said: "General, Dong's thieves' morale has been greatly boosted. A night attack is very possible and we have to guard against it."

Yuan Shao nodded and said with some confusion: "I just don't know what Cao Cao's situation is now?"

Logically speaking, Cao Cao was between them and Dong Zhuo, so the first person Dong Zhuo had to deal with should be Cao Cao.

Xu You stroked his beard and said, "General, Cao Ah Man may have something to do with Dong Zhuo."

Yuan Shao was immediately shocked and agreed with Xu You's words.

Even if it is not a real connection, but just some kind of tacit understanding, or a tip-off, like he did before, it is still a big crisis for Yuan Shao!
  Yuan Shao quickly calmed down and said in a deep voice: "Give me the order, everyone is put to sleep, and the formation is in place to prepare for an attack on the camp!"

"The last general takes orders!" Zhang He, senior officials and others responded loudly.

The entire Yuan Army camp was quickly put on alert, with loose pine outside and tight inside, open fires and patrolling soldiers everywhere.

Zhang He even arranged it himself, with both defenses and traps, waiting for Dong Jun to attack the camp.

Le Jin, who was hiding in the dark, saw all this and immediately retreated quietly, not daring to get any closer.

The scattered soldiers and horses sneaked back silently in the darkness.

"Captain, Yuan Shao has fallen into a trap!" Several military princes were overjoyed and whispered to Le Jin.

Le Jin always had a hot temper and rarely used tricks. He never thought that it would actually work. Hearing the flattery from his subordinates, he laughed and said: "Don't move for now. Wait for an hour. Let's make some noise and let Yuan Shao camp." No peace."

"Captain is brilliant!" Several military lords were rough and tough and not very good at flattering, so they could only say this.

Le Jin pressed his hands and waited quietly.

Within an hour, Le Jin made some noise, which made Yuan Shao's camp tense.

It wasn't until daybreak that Le Jin quietly withdrew.

After Le Jin left, it wasn't until near noon that a scout came back, covered in blood and with disheveled hair.

"General Qi,"

The scout cavalry knelt on one knee and looked at Yuan Shao, who had red eyes and a tired face, and said: "Cao Jun has cut off the road from Pinghu Pass. We can't get through, and the scout cavalry everywhere can't come back. The villain risked his life to come back. Report the news!"

Yuan Shao sat up straight and shouted in a deep voice: "Tell me, what happened!"

Ju Shou, Xu You, Gao Gan, Zhang He and others all looked at the scout cavalry. They were confused all night, feeling nervous and confused.

"Cao's army attacked Pinghu Pass last night. As soon as it became light, they continued to attack fiercely. They didn't stop until the villain came back." The scout cavalry said.

Xu You, Ju Shou, Director Zhang and others looked at each other, somewhat unable to react.

Dong Zhuo wanted to attack them at night last night, and Cao Cao attacked Pinghu Pass at night, and now he is attacking by force.

There is always something indescribably weird here.

Yuan Shao stayed up all night, feeling dizzy and trying his best to stay awake, and said, "Are you sure that Cao Cao is storming Pinghu Pass?"

The scout cavalry raised his hand and said: "Back to the general, the villain has been observing for half an hour. Cao Cao used [-] troops. When the villain came, there were at least thousands of casualties. The villain was definitely not wrong!"

Yuan Shao stared at him for a while, then waved him away, raised his head and looked at several counselors.

Jushou didn't want Xu You to attack by force, so he immediately said: "General, I'm afraid there's a trick here, so it's better to wait and see what happens."

Director Zhang and others could not tell the reason, so they could only remain silent.

Yuan Shao reluctantly turned his head, and felt that it was safest to 'sit back and watch' at the moment. He nodded and said: "Okay. Order the soldiers to take turns to rest, don't be careless!"

"Yes!" everyone responded.

After everyone left, Yuan Shao left Xu You alone and said suspiciously: "Ziyuan, tell me, what exactly does Meng De want to do?"

Seeing Yuan Shao acting like an old friend reminiscing about the past and talking about another old friend, I knew that Yuan Shao was extremely wary of Cao Cao.

Xu You didn't dare to act like his old friend. Tian Feng was still locked up in the stable and would be boiled at any time.

Xu You pondered solemnly for a while and said: "General, you also know that Cao A'ao, after being a eunuch, has always been cunning, changeable, insidious and despicable, which is difficult to measure with ordinary people's thoughts. Now he is leading his army across the gap between the general and Dong Zhuo. He is He took a big risk, so he had a big plan. I suspect that Cao Cao has found a way to conquer Pinghu Pass."

Yuan Shao opened his eyes and said, "What method?"

Xu You bowed and said: "I can't guess, but it's probably true."

Yuan Shao sat there, his eyes flashing like lightning.

He was also leaning towards Xu You's inference.

But this inference is not good news for Yuan Shao, but bad news!
  He wants to shift the responsibility for the defeat of the coalition forces to Cao Cao. If Cao Cao takes the lead in breaking through Pinghu Pass, then his plan will fall short!

Yuan Shao thought for a while and asked Xu You again, "Ziyuan, if your inference is true, how should I deal with it?"

Xu You lowered his head, a ruthless look flashed in his eyes, but when he spoke, he said: "General, no matter what Cao A is hiding in his conspiracy, sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight is the best strategy for the general."

Yuan Shao also knew it, but just sitting and watching Cao Cao display his machinations made him feel uncomfortable, like a ray on his back and a lump in his throat.

Xu You seemed to see something, but he didn't say anything he wanted to say.

Yuan Shao was silent for a long time and said: "Ziyuan, tell me, if I send troops to... assist... Meng De, is it appropriate?"

Yuan Shao paused deliberately for the word 'assistance', the meaning was self-evident.

Xu You knew what Yuan Shao meant and said without hesitation: "General, if Cao Ah Man is plotting against the general, just wait for the general to send troops..."

Yuan Shao's expression changed slightly, his brows furrowed, his heart was restless, and his face was hesitant.

(End of this chapter)