Cao Cao,the Avenging Devil

Three Kingdoms 17

Early 193 AD，Cao Cao曹操 and Yuan Shao袁绍 joined forces to defeat Yuan Shu袁术 at Fengqiu封丘,forced Yuan Shu to retreat to Shouchun寿春,the threaten from south was removed,Cao Cao also began to conquer Xuzhou徐州 eastward.

Tao Qian陶谦,who was the Provincial governor of Xuzhou,during the yellow turban uprising,he did not participate in the allied Army crusading against Dong Zhuo董卓,therefore, he was promoted to the governor of Xuzhou by Dong Zhuo.

Tao Qian had been with Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zan公孙瓒,Joint forces to fight against Yuan Shao and Cao Cao,therefore he had an old grudge with Cao Cao.

The same year,Cao Cao's father,Cao Song曹嵩, was on his way to Yanzhou兖州 from Langya琅琊 in Xuzhou,He was robbed and killed by Tao Qian's general Zhang Kai张闿. Cao Cao,painful and Angry , immediately led the army to Xuzhou himself to revenge.

Cao's army went all the way,captured more than 10 cities in Xuzhou and entered Pengcheng彭城,Tao Qian led army to eengage, but suffered a major defeat,he had to flee Pengcheng and retreated back to Tan county郯县,the Cao army then broke through Pengcheng and besieged Tan county,But it couldn't be captured for a long time,so Cao Cao led the army turned south to attack Suiling睢陵 ,Xiaqiu夏丘 and other places.

This time Cao Cao had a strong purpose of revenge, therefore,wherever the Cao army passed,cities were slaughtered,people were killed innocently in many places,even chickens and dogs are not left,several towns in Xuzhou became no-man's land.

Tao Qian was very scared,hurriedly asked for help from Tian Kai田楷,who was the Provincial governor of Qingzhou青州 under Gongsun Zan's command.

Tian Kai sent Liu Bei,the Commanderial governor of Pingyuan平原,led thousands of people to rescue. It just so happened to the Cao’s army,their provisions had also been exhausted ,so Cao Cao had to retreat.

Tao Qian knew that Cao Cao would not give up easily,so Liu Bei was elected as the Provincial governor of Yuzhou豫州 by Tao Qian,and he allocated to Liu Bei 4000 soldiers,letting Liu Bei to station at Xiaopei小沛 to resist the Cao's army for him.

One year later,in April 194 AD,Cao Cao led a mighty army to attack Tao Qian for the second time. This time Cao Cao drove straight in all the way to Langya and Donghai东海 commanderies. Where his army passed,still wantonly slaughtered people all over Xuzhou,more than 100,000 people were killed. The Cao’s army then marched again into Tan County,Tao Qian and Liu Bei joined forces to engage,but they were defeated by Cao Cao,Tan county seems to be falling,Tao Qian was also ready to escape.

At this time,the news of the rebellion from Yanzhou came,Cao Cao was shocked when he heard the news.He retreated immediately,Tao Qian once again luckily saved Xuzhou. This rebellion was launched by Zhang Miao张邈,the Commanderial governor of Chenliu陈留, together with Chen Gong陈宫,they both were friends of Cao Cao. During the crusade against Dong Zhuo,Cao Cao was also attached to Zhang Miao's army,Chen Gong also played a great role in Cao Cao's efforts to become the Provincial governor of Yanzhou. But because of the famous scholar Bian Rang,was killed for criticising Cao Cao,making them deeply uneasy . In addition,Cao Cao repeatedly ordered the slaughter of the cities in Xuzhou,also let Zhang Miao and Chen Gong saw the Cruel side off Cao Cao. So they took advantage of the emptiness within Cao Cao's crusade,Secretly led Lyu Bu吕布 from Henei河内 to Puyang濮阳,the capital of Dongjun commandery东郡. They jointly promoted Lu Bu as the Provincial governor of Yanzhou.

Zhang Miao and Chen Gong,were both Yanzhou natives themselves,they've been operating here for many years,the power of them was very strong,far from being comparable to Cao Cao. So many commanderies and counties in Yanzhou responded one after another,all defected to Lu Bu, the new governor of Yanzhou.

It should be known that at that time,Yanzhou had a total of eight commanderies,including eighty counties,those only the province’s capital Juancheng鄄城,and two counties under the Dongjun commandery,Fan范 county and Dong'e东阿 county,did not follow their rebellion,it can be seen how bad the situation is for Cao Cao.

Fortunately,it was Xun Yu荀彧 who stayed in Juancheng,he was very calm and composed when things happened.

Firstly,Xun Yu send someone quickly informed Cao Cao of the rebellion,and then he transferred Xiahou Dun夏侯惇,Cao Cao's most trusted men who stationed in Puayang,back to Juancheng. Xiahou Dunled his troops to arrive in a hurry, that night,he killed dozens of Juancheng generals,who tried to collaborate with the enemy,stabilized the situation in the city. Xun Yu then Sent Cheng Yu程昱 to Fan county and Dong'e county,letting him boost morale and stabilize the morale of the army. so under the protection of Xun Yu,Cheng Yu and Xiahou Dun,only then did Cao Cao held onto these three precious footholds.

At this time,Cao Cao who suffered the biggest setback,was rushing back to Puyang,between Cao Cao and Lyu Bu,the former and the new governors,a big drama for the rule of Yanzhou,is about to be staged!