Cao Cao Vs Lu Bu,the Battle for Yanzhou
Three Kingdoms 18
May 194 AD，Cao Cao led his troops back to Yanzhou兖州,immediately besieged Puyang濮阳,which Lu Bu吕布 occupied.
Lu Bu held on to the city,But Cao Cao was helped by Puyang's big clan of Tian,who let Cao's army to attack the east gate of Puyang.
In order to motivate his soldiers to fight with courage,Cao Cao followed Han Xin's韩信 example to cut hemselves off. After entering the city,they burned the east gate. But what Cao Cao didn't expect was,his elite “Qingzhou soldiers” were crushed by Lu Bu's cavalry,when they just entered the city.
In the street fighting,the superiority of cavalry is still enormous,the Cao’s army was in chaos,Cao Cao himself was even captured by Lu Bu's cavalry. Fortunately,none of these people in this group had ever seen Cao Cao before.He lied that:"the man riding the yellow horse no far away was Cao Cao!"Everyone was overjoyed and chased together,Cao Cao took the opportunity to escape,he braved the fire and forced himself out of the east city gate,even his left hand was burned.
Lost in the first battle Cao Cao was not discouraged,he boosted morale and gathered the remnants of his troops, to continue attacking Puyang.
Since then, the two sides had fought many times,each winning or losing,the two armies held each other for more than 100 days from May to August.
At that time Yanzhou was in a severe drought,and another severe locust plague broke out.There was simply no way to raise military provisions,many soldiers fled due to hunger.Cao Cao had to return to Juancheng鄄城 to rest,Lu Bu was also stationed to Shanyang山阳 due to lacking of food.
In those war-torn years,food was the most important and scarce material,Zhang Xiu's张绣 uncle Zhang Ji张济 died in a battle for grabbing grain,Yuan Shu's袁术 defeat was also related to the lacking of food. Countless warlords,Often not defeated by another more powerful armed forces,it's about self-defeat without a fight ,dying due to lacking of food.
During the confrontation with Lu Bu,it was the most difficult period for Cao Cao. At that time,Cheng Yu程昱 was trying to help Cao Cao,to get through the difficulties. Reluctantly he set his troops to rob food in Dong'e东阿 county.You must know that Cheng Yu was from Dong'e County,but the food what they robbed from their hometown,was only enough for Cao's Army to support for 3 days,and it was even mixed with a lot of Human flesh. Since then elections had affected Cheng Yu's reputation throughout his life. It was why Cheng Yu,who had not been named as one of the The highest ranking official - three councillors in his life.
In this extremely difficult situation,Cao Cao led the soldiers through the harsh winter. In early 195 AD,he overcame natural disasters,regruton began to reclaim his lost ground. Cao Cao first marched into Dingtao定陶,although the city defense was not conquered,but Cao Cao defeated Lu Bu's elite cavalry hardly.
The Cao army then marched all the way east to Juye巨野,where Lu Bu's general Xue Lan薛兰 was stationed. After receiving the message,Lu Bu led the army to rescue,but he was defeated by Cao Cao again,Xu Lan was killed,Lu Bu retreated to Shanyang.
At this time,the news came that ,Tao Qian陶谦 ,the Provincial governor of Xuzhou徐州, died of illness. Cao Cao's own opinion was to take the opportunity to attack Xuzhou first,then go back and clean up Lu Bu. But his most important strategist Xun Yu clearly objected,after discussion Cao Cao accepted Xun Yu's advice,first to grab the wheat to solve the immediate problem of eating.
Soon Lu Bu and Chen Gong陈宫 led more than 10,000 men to attack,Cao Cao took the approach of showing weakness,half of the troops were hidden in advance.
Lu Bu saw that Cao Cao had few soldiers,Sure enough he rushed over without any scruples,waiting until the two armies fought together,Cao Cao saw the chance. Ordered the ambushed soldiers to charge together,Lu Bu was defeated and fled to Dingtao. Cao Cao then pursued and attacked DingTao,Lu Bu and Chen Gong led the remnants of the army to retreat to Xuzhou to join Liu Bei刘备,the then Provincial Governor of Xuzhou. Cao Cao's former close friend Zhang Miao张邈,who also betrayed Cao Cao this time,fled to Xuzhou too. He also sent his younger brother,Zhang Chao张超,to protect his family,who flee to Yongqiu雍丘.
In August of the same year,Cao Cao's troops surrounded Yongqiu,after 4 months of fierce fighting,by December Yongqiu was captured,Zhang Chao killed himself. Zhang Miao Learned the news of Yongqiu's siege,ran to Yuan Shu asked for help.But he was killed by his subordinates before arriving Shouchun寿春,Yuan Shu's base.
At this point,Lu Bu's forces were all expelled,Yanzhou also returned to Cao Cao again. One year later in August 196AD,Cao Cao greeted the Emperor Xian of Han汉献帝 arrived to Xuchang许昌,in order not to offend Yuan Shao袁绍,he ceded the title of the General-in-Chief to Yuan Shaonamedlet the emperor appointed himself as the Chancellor of Constructions.
He took charge of the goverment of the Han court,soon the Real Power Department in the Imperial court,all of them were replaced by Cao Cao's henchman. Xun Yu was named as Chief of Secretariat,responsible for the specific affairs of the country. Cheng Yu was given the title of the Commanderial governor of Jiyin济阴,taking charge of Yanzhou. Man Chong满宠 was appointed as the magistrate of Xuchang,taking control of the new capital,Dong Zhao董昭 controlled the former capital,Loyang洛阳. Mao Jie毛玠 was responsible for the election of officials. All the generals in the troops were Cao Cao's trusted generals,Such as Xiahou Dun夏侯惇, Xiahou Yuan夏侯渊, Cao Ren曹仁, Cao Hong曹洪,Yu Jin于禁,Lyu Qian吕虔, Li Dian李典,yue Jin乐进, Xu Huang徐晃, Dian Wei典韦 and others.
From 196 AD,after Cao Cao took the emperor,the situation of China had also some changed,many petty warlords have been annihilated. For example, the eleven warlords of the alliance against Dong Zhuo,only the brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu remained,it had only been 6 years. It can be seen how fast the big waves are rushing to the sand,the later waves like Liu Bei are still brewing,while most of the front waves were died on the beach. At this time Cao Cao was still surrounded by strong enemies,the north is the powerful Yuan Shao,the southeast is Yuan Shu ,the east is Lu Bu of Xuzhou,the south is Zhang Xiu in Wancheng宛城 ,further south is Liu Biao刘表 in Jingzhou荆州, the northwest are Ma Teng马腾 and Han Sui韩遂.
Facing with this situation,Cao Cao adopted the strategy of uniting the long-distance but attacking the close one. In order to stabilize Ma Teng and Han Su,Cao Cao sent Zhong Yao钟繇 to Chang'an长安,letting him command military of Guanzhong关中,in the name of the emperor. After Zhong Yao arrived in Chang'an,He wrote a letter to Ma Teng and Han Sui,to clarify the relationship,Ma Teng, Han Sui, both obeyed,and each send a son to the imperial court for rule.
For Zhang Xiu, whose strength was weaker and close to him,Cao Cao was obviously not so polite. Spring 197 AD,Cao Cao personally led his army on the road,to conquer the city of Wancheng宛城 .
During his military career,few places were quite like the Wancheng ,filling Cao Cao with extinction and bitter memories.