When that letter drafted by Yan Qing, embellished by Guo Jia, modified by Jia Yan, transcribed by the scribe, stamped by Lu Bu, and sent by Zhang Liao to Cao Cao's hands, the Cao Cao army, carrying a snow-white banner of "revenge and hatred", had already attacked Xuzhou with thunderous force for more than a month.
He came in anger, the scene is blood for blood strong attack, tiger and wolf division of the rage, light Tao Qian's men of those who are accustomed to the comfort of the government troops where can be able to withstand?
In the blink of an eye, let Cao Cao even down four or five cities, he is also hate red-eye, whether resistance or surrender, straight to the city people all slaughtered, graves are also dug up, only a little relief from the heart of the great hatred.
Wherever Cao's army passes, there is not an inch of grass, and blood flows into a river; where Cao's soldiers will arrive, they are scared of the wind, and hatred and fear are intertwined.
Of course, the strategists led by play Zhicai know that this move is very bad, but in the euphemistic advice on a few sentences, not to persuade him to lay down his flag and retreat back to Yanzhou, but to let him not to take the wrath of the innocent people of the state and counties, and only to kill Tao Qian's soldiers and horses can be.
After all, the Lord's father was driven to extinction, even if it is not how close, in the end, it is blood and bone. If even this is also tolerated, the world will reprimand him in vain as a son of man, even male blood is not, can be described as incompetent and unfilial to the extreme, how to be worthy of a power of the Lord?
Cao Cao in a rage, simply do not listen to this, is still under the death sentence, every place will be ripe wheat will be robbed and harvested, as military food, and then let his subordinates wantonly kill the people, with no one to take away are all burned to the ground.
"It's a letter from Lu Yuzhou?"
An onyx has been mostly stained red with blood, Cao Cao stared into the tent, settled in the main seat, long breath out between the nose: "Read it."
Theater Zhicai nodded, unfolded from the hands of the messenger to take the paper, a rough sweep, on the heart of a sigh, a steady voice read: "Today I heard that Mengde soldiers committed Xuzhou, is to report Zun's father's revenge, this is reasonable, cloth also deep regret. However, there is a saying that there is a head, there is a master, the person who harmed your father, not Tao Gongzu, but his subordinate Zhang Lo see the wealth, Fang committed this heinous crime. Zhang loosen's evil, for see profit and forget righteousness, seek money and kill people, the theory must be executed; Gongzu's fault, for the supervision of lax, wrong use of treacherous dogs, but not to death."
"Since Gongzu was appointed by the court, he has been able to overcome the Yellow Turbans, restore production, and defend Xuzhou, and has received the gratitude of the people, and has never been faulted. The same as the Han courtiers, Meng De for snow father's revenge, not to find Zhang loosen, but a blame Gongzu, tired of the people suffer innocent injustice, fish and flesh of the townships, is the same room for war, is a waste of heaven's authority of the delusion, hurt heaven and set His Majesty is not pleased. Today, cloth special book this letter, I hope you think twice, consider one or two, as soon as possible to know the way back, withdrawal of troops back to the camp, report to the court, self-collected their sins, the holy heart of mercy, since not to be held accountable."
If the first part is a serious discussion of responsibility and persuasion, the second part is a blatant threat and mockery.
According to Yan Qing's initial thoughts, the wording of this letter should be more modest and polite, not warm and gentle - that is, to make peace - some, in order to paralyze Cao camp's vigilance, so that they will not have Lu Bu potential also have to send troops to help Xu's consideration.
But was convinced by Guo Jia and Jia to change it to what it ended up being.
They said that Lu Bu had always given people the impression that he was greedy for small gains and that taking advantage of chaos was the norm, and that angering Cao Cao appropriately not only wouldn't make them feel that there was a demon in the anomaly, but would also confuse their judgment.
Lu Bu listened to the schemer's spot-on, uncritical criticism of those bad things in his past, and although his face turned blue, in the end he acquiesced unhappily.
Before Cao Cao personally edged Tao Qian, the heart has been holding fire did not spread out, this time to hear here, really burst into a rage: "Lu Bu, but a once for the tiger as a accomplice, presumptuous, and then with the speculative means to steal Yangzhou's three mangy, even hypocritical biting the words and chewing the words, believe in the words and pretend to comment on what is the right reason to come? When is it his turn to take the name of His Majesty to press the drill?"
It wasn't enough to scold and behead the envoy as well.
Theater Zhicai timely persuade him: "two countries at war, do not cut off the envoys, and Lu Bu is now just watching the fire, waiting for an opportunity to move, write this letter is also to explore the realities of my army is the main, why would you want to calm the anger of the moment, on the granting of the narrow-minded mouth handle? Tao Qian is no match for the Lord's might and courage, panic, will have to letter for help, that Lu Bu is the closest, since in this list, will write a book to persuade, also expected. Now he is the first courtesy after the military, the Lord should also be corresponding with the courtesy."
Cao Cao to resourcefulness, to help him a lot of play Zhicai has always relied on, often outsiders say that they can not always leave his wisdom to assist, this time to go on the war, he certainly pouring all the troops, but the tent in the heart of the strategist into two, Xun Yu, Cheng Yu guard Zhencheng, they only take play Zhicai, and just from Chang'an Zhang Xiujiao side to find a gap to get out of the work of the return to the Lou Gui two people.
In addition to insisting on slaughtering the people, Cao Cao is still extremely convinced by the advice of play Zhicai, and when he hears this, he suppresses his temper and asks for advice with an open mind: "Why is this? If he really intends to save Tao Qian's old man, even if he speaks kindly to him, it's still useless."
Theater Zhicai first said sentence rude, cough a few times, then said: "Lord Gong pro expedition, the initial intention is to crusade Tao Qian, revenge and snow hatred. Lu Bu this person, capricious, the eye without justice, the heart without etiquette and law, but the soldiers fine food, and there are capable of supporting people with extraordinary talent, the potential for strong small victory over us, can not be underestimated, to deal with, but also when the long term, can not be like dealing with Tao Qian this, the hasty rise of the army. What's more, he is currently in the area of Hongze Lake to fight bandits, to come to the rescue of Xuzhou, full speed under, but a few days of work can be rushed, so it will be a big disadvantage to our army."
"How about a good word of perfunctory delay, slow down its troops, at the same time all-out attack, and so Lu Bu with people killed to save, we industry to take half of Xuzhou, can be on the cut off Beihai County and Xuzhou connection, so that Kong Rong dare not act rashly, but also backed by the allies and no worries. And then repair half a year, set Qing, Yanzhou two states of strength, down to attack, then Lu Bu even with Tao Qian formal union, Lord can also meet."
Cao Cao stroked his beard for a moment and nodded, "What Mr. Cao has said is not wrong; Kexu should be the first priority."
Then he discussed for a while, and left money for the envoy, as he had been told, and treated him kindly, and only after a few days did he entrust him with his return letter.
Cao army iron blood merciless, □□□ Xuzhou territory, Tao Qian panic and confusion, continuous defeat, the messenger sent to ask for help but never even shadow.
He really could not hold out, and did not care about driving tigers to wolves, and sent ten or so letters with cutting words to Yangzhou Yuzhou to ask for reinforcements.
No one knows that Lu Bu, who everyone thought was making a big fuss at the border of Xuyang and Yangzhou to rid the people of evils, focusing on clearing out Zheng Bao, Zhang Duo, and Xu Qian, who had been harboring troops and doing evil things for years, and who had achieved great results, had in fact led 30,000 soldiers and horses along the mountain paths out of Yuzhou, crossing the Yingshui River, avoiding Qiao County, and heading to Janjia City through Shangqiu and Guide, unnoticed by the gods and ghosts.
Although the troops were drawn empty, the city prepared to defend the empty, at first inevitably disturbing, but Xun Yu, Cheng Yu two people to do through the work, but also with the Cao army as if breaking through, the good news frequently, those worries will soon be gone.
Even if Xun Yu has always been on guard against the movements of the near neighbor Lu Bu potential, but also in recent times the Lord's family met with a dramatic change, on the spot troops retaliation before becoming extraordinarily strict, it is impossible to put all the energy on the stalking.
It was impossible to realize that the core troops led by Lu Bu, months ago, had switched their positions and quietly returned to Xu County to standby, and without craving for the other counties, they came straight to Jancheng, the capital of Yanzhou Prefecture.
After all, there are 30,000 living people, also equipped with fine horses, in broad daylight, want not to attract attention, afraid to count on others are blind. So in order to hide people's eyes and ears, Lu Bu listened to the advice, rather than greatly slow down the marching speed, but also only choose the small road, dark night without lighting torches forward.
Occasionally, there are really unlucky passers-by, in order to prevent the news from leaking, it is necessary to kill each other.
So when the cavalry in heavy black armor came to cover the ground and unfurled the flag of "Lu" as if it covered the sky, the soldiers patrolling on the city wall were all flabbergasted, suspecting that the sun of the autumn tiger was too strong, and that their eyes were baked out of their minds.
The same is to attack a surprise, to be taken by surprise, the combination of Xun Yu Cheng Yu, than Yuan sent to guard Shouchun's wimpy to know a few times stronger.
The open city gate abruptly ran out of a few fast horses, to the direction of Xuzhou and go, Lu Bu know that is to ventilate the message to go, the heart of the mind to remember the heavy light command, such as a hungry tiger to catch the sheep like urging the red rabbit to catch up with the bending of the bow and arrows, and in an instant to call all of them to do the death of the arrows.
Letter delivery is not out, Xun Yu is not panicked, only one side of the city wall guards with a bow alert, one side let in the people among the very high reputation of Cheng Yu to pacify the panicked city people, one side immediately ordered to close the walls, and then burned several bonfires in the city, black rolling smoke into the sky, as a warning.
Lu Bu slowly put away his bow and arrows, turned his horse back to the formation, and after ordering his men to surround the remaining gates, he asked Yan Qing, "What about the smoke?"
Yan Qing laughed: "This can't be prevented. Wen Ruo now can not feel the realities of our troops, also do not know the surrounding counties how the situation, this smoke, he put to the East County governor Xiahou Dun to see. It won't hurt to tell them to send the letter out, and our army will surround here first. The rear force is empty, even if Xiahou Dun is too brave, but also have the intention to come to the rescue, can not be defeated by the Lord not? But to hit a stone with an egg, throwing himself into the net. In front of us, we have Bo Fu Gong Ming who is entangling Cao Cao, so if Cao Cao wants to return, he can't just get out of the way. I've ordered them to pursue Cao Cao with all their might once he shows signs of retreating."
Cao Cao's most important base is in a state of emergency, Cao Cao will certainly return to the heart of the arrow, full speed back to the defense, and send someone else to break the back. The more anxious he is, the more likely he is to make a mistake. With Little King's bravery and intelligence, combined with Xu Huang's strict and meticulous military management, if he dares to do so, he will certainly be torn off a large piece of flesh with blood and bones.
He has also pondered the possibility that Cao Cao knows that the tide has turned and simply chooses not to return to the defense: either to continue to attack Xu and take possession of it, or to attack Yangzhou and surround the Wei to save Zhao, or to defect to Yuan Shao and wait for the opportunity to take over the magpie's nest.
Although feasible, but each has its own drawbacks that is: alone the first, that Tao Qian again waste, soldiers and horses are not paper mache, and then he also has a dozen years of roots in Xuzhou, quite popular, reputation and in the territory of the Cao soldiers burned, looted and plundered no evil can not be the same.
Besides, it is so painful to destroy the enemy's territory before, and it is just as difficult to repair and rebuild it afterward.
Fascinated by his thoughts, he was then intimately arched with his head by the red rabbit beside him, and Yan Qing suddenly snapped back to his senses, hurriedly refocusing his mind on the Janus in front of him.
This city is easy to defend and difficult to attack, even if the defenders are only a few thousand, fewer than them several times, Yan Qing will never take this lightly, mistakenly think that attacking the city will be a pile of easy work: the other not to mention, even that the God's plan of heaven's gift of Zhuge Liang have been in a similar situation to download the heel.
That is in the siege of Chencang in a battle, both sides of the disparity of forces, the enemy and a half a time to wait for reinforcements, Zhuge Liang thought the victory was assured, but held for more than twenty days can not take by Hao Zhao with more than a thousand people defending the city, only to retreat to the end of the war.
With this previous experience, Yan Qing not only valued siege equipment highly, but also refused to jump into the pit of being formed in turn and then destroyed by the enemy army in turn.
Since these instruments were bulky and heavy, their transportation was much more difficult than their production, and their defense was also very fragile, he anticipated this beforehand, and so he forcefully recruited dozens of craftsmen from Xu Cheng on a temporary basis, bringing along only the essential materials, and taking the rest from the local area, and as soon as the army set up camp outside of Jancheng City, they began to form the Well Apparatus, the Thunderbolt Chariot, and the Punching Chariot at the same time, according to the drawings that Yan Qing had improved in advance.
With more people, they can be all three, plus arrows to cover the ladder - in order to avoid fire damage, this ladder are picked not inviting combustion of special materials to do, the cost is not expensive. And just by the inside of the thousands of people, even if they have the heart of the death, strict defense, but also no three heads and six arms, how can resist the attack from all sides?
Yan Qing tilted his head back to look at the wall, his heart overflowing with the sentiment of raising an army for a thousand days, while with his superior eyesight, he quickly captured Xun Yu's figure.
History books in the description of Xun Yu Cheng Yu in the enemy rebels in the siege, always called the three counties immovable performance, and not too much ink, only to "design" two words to summarize it.
Unknown things are always the most scrupulous, Yan Qing would rather be bored to beat the wall and finally strong jerk, but also do not want to play with Xun Yu Cheng Yu these two heart of the thief more ghosts in the battlefield to play what the face.
In his own eyes, it was already flawless, but maybe in Xun Yu's eyes, it was full of flaws?
However, when the other party sent someone to shoot an arrow with a bundle of cloth and silk on it, with a note that Xun Yu was begging to have a distant conversation with his old friend Yan Qing, this bit of delusion of evasion was crushed at once.
The best policy is to give up without a fight, so before the two armies fight, send the vassal with the other side to meet, play the emotional card, so as to persuade to surrender, also called a customary practice, not to mention that Lu Bu's side is known for his eloquence of the world's Yan Qing, he went to do the job, anyone who doesn't feel that there is something wrong.
Lu Bu, who has always been unconventional, favors the talent that stirs up something even here.
He first glanced at the calm Yan Qing without moving, and keenly saw the reluctance contained there, so he expressionlessly folded the arrow, and the thick silk was also rubbed and thrown to the ground, and was curiously picked up by the red rabbit and spat out.
He sneered disdainfully and said in a deep voice, "How valuable is Mr. Buzhi, can he allow that enemy general to see him whenever he wants?"