The Battle of Red Cliff 6(Three Kingdoms 50)
History of China
Previous Chapter ：The Battle of Red Cliff 5 (Three Kingdoms 49)
Catalog of Three Kingdoms’ history
Only after Cao Cao occupied Jiangling江陵 did he free up time to deal with the affairs of Jingzhou荆州. In addition to Liu Cong刘琮, who was appointed as the Provincial Governor of Qingzhou青州, several representatives of the surrendered faction were all reappointed as officials under Cao Cao’s command, and a total of 15 people were awarded the title of Marquis.
Cao Cao's move repeatedly enlisted the hearts of the country's scholars to clear the way for his subsequent campaign against Eastern Wu, and it did have an effect. For example, Zhang Zhao张昭, an Important Minister under Sun Quan, was jealous badly.
There has never been a shortage of high-level strategists in Cao Cao's group, and Cao Cao is often able to take advice with an open mind. However, this situation changed a bit before this Southern Expedition.
Firstly, Guo Jia's郭嘉 death has not only removed Cao Cao from having a military advisor to ask questions of, but also a friend to whom he has devoted his life, which has had a great impact on Cao Cao's heart.
Secondly, after the unification of the northern China, Cao Cao had hoped that Xun Yu荀彧 could take up the position as one of the Three Excellencies, but Xun Yu was adamant and declined more than a dozen times in a row. Subsequently, Cao Cao, who was sulking, abolished all Three Excellencies positions and became the Prime Minister（has more power than Three Excellencies） himself.
The difference between Cao Cao, whose personal desires are rapidly expanding, and Xun Yu, who is dedicated to support the shaky Han Empire, are becoming more apparent by the day.
Under these circumstances, Cao Cao had to find someone to replace Xun Yu in advance. Xun Yu was a man of good character, had presided over the government for many years, and was the leader of all the scholars. Cao Cao considered that the only person who could replace Xun Yu, in terms of character, talent, and origin, was Xun You荀攸, who was also a famous scholar from Yingchuan颍川,and Xun Yu’s nephew（he is actually older than Xun Yu）. So Cao Cao appointed Xun You as his Center Strategist,in charge of taking care the affairs of the rear, so from then on, Xun You, who was so thoughtful and calm, no longer followed the army in battle.
Therefore, when Cao Cao went south to Jingzhou, some of the Strategists were angry, some of them passed away, and some of them stayed behind, the five important strategists by Cao Cao's side, only Cheng Yu程昱 and Jia Xu贾诩 were still with Cao Cao.
After learning that Liu Bei had fled to Xiakou夏口 to join Sun Quan, many officials around Cao Cao thought that Sun Quan would surely kill Liu Bei and show his submission like Gongsun Kang公孙康 of Liaodong辽东 who sent the heads of the Yuan brothers. But Cheng Yu said, "You people are too young! Can the situation last year be the same as now? Sun Quan is not Gongsun Kang, and instead of killing Liu Bei, he will fund Liu Bei's troops, horses, provisions and unite with him against us!"
Cao Cao was deeply impressed with Cheng Yu's opinion, and he stroked Cheng Yu's back and said with emotion, "Zhongde!(仲德Cheng Yu’s courtesy name) Thinking back to the defeat of Yanzhou兖州 back then, if I hadn't listened to your plans, how could I have had the success I have today?" Cheng Yu is a man of wisdom, seeing Cao Cao's complacent face, he already has an inkling that the coming battle may not go well. So he replied, "As long as a person knows how to be contented, he will not make a fool of himself because of greed, and now the time has come for me to retire in a hurry! " Cheng Yu is politely exhorting Cao Cao not to get carried away, to stop when he sees fit, and openly expressing his desire to remove his military power and retire.
Cheng Yu didn't want to contribute, and the only person around Cao Cao who could discuss military strategy with was Jia Xu. But Jia Xu also disagreed with Cao Cao's eagerness to fight against Sun Quan. He thought that Jingzhou had just surrendered, and that it was too risky to attack Sun Quan at this time, as the people in Jingzhou had not yet fully surrendered. So he said to Cao Cao, "my wise Lord !You have already defeated Yuan and now you have recovered Jingzhou, your military power is already strong enough. If you focus on recruiting talented people, accumulating food, and making the people live and work in peace and contentment, the area east of Yangtze River will naturally bow down to you, so why do you need to raise a mighty army and rush to a decisive battle?"
But at this point, Cao Cao is so arrogant that he doesn't have the patience to consolidate his rule and appease the people in Jingzhou. So Cao Cao didn't listen to Jia Xu's advice. Perhaps in Cao Cao's view, Sun Quan and Liu Cong weren't that different, they were both just boys relying on their inheritance, and as long as his army pressed in, they could be captured.
Whether the news of Liu Cong's surrender from raising his state could scare Sun Quan, Cao Cao is not sure, but it scared Liu Zhang刘璋, who was far away in Yizhou益州. Liu Zhang got the news long before Cao Cao's army moved south, and he scrambled to send someone to pay Cao Cao a visit, making it clear that he wanted to submit to the imperial court. Cao Cao was so pleased that he appointed Liu Zhang as General of Rising Might and Liu Mao刘瑁, Liu Zhang's elder brother, as General of Pacifying Bandits.
On Cao Cao's way to the south, Liu Zhang sent Zhang Su张肃, the deputy Governor of Yizhou, to send Cao Cao 300 veteran soldiers and some royal objects. Cao Cao again accepted Liu Zhang's sincerity and made Zhang Su as the Commanderial Governor of Guanghan广汉. Zhang Su was promoted, so Liu Zhang promoted Zhang Song张松, Zhang Su's younger brother, to the position of deputy governor of Yizhou.
After Cao's army occupied Jiangling, the solicitous Liu Zhang ordered Zhang Song to be his emissary for the third time to Cao Cao. The reason why Liu Zhang took the trouble to send people frequently to show his goodwill was that he was afraid that his price would not be enough to surrender, and he was also afraid that he would get into trouble if he didn't flatter Cao Cao, so he had to test Cao Cao's sincerity over and over again, with misgivings.
But this time it is really clumsy, because at this time the situation is not what it used to be, the pacification of Jingzhou is too easy, the complacent Cao Cao, now his attitude towards Liu Zhang is: "Look, Liu Cong has already surrendered, Sun Quan is also close, now even the surrenders have to queue up, I am looking forward to you take the initiative to surrender before, now it doesn't matter, and if you don't catch up, I'll come back to punish you easily! !"
Driven by this mentality, Cao Cao has nothing favourable to say to Zhang Song. Moreover, Zhang Song was a short man with a ugly face, so Cao Cao was even more displeased with him, his attitude was very cold. In the end, Cao Cao dismissed Zhang Song with only a post of a County Magistrate . Anyhow, Zhang Song, as Liu Zhang's deputy governor, was considered the second-in-command of Yizhou, Cao Cao's attitude towards him was not just cold, it was simply humiliating. That's it, Cao Cao, who knew nothing about it, missed his best chance to capture the Province of Yizhou.
Cao Cao also confidently wrote a letter to Sun Quan, Saying that “Recently I was ordered by the Emperor to crusade against the rebels, and that once the flag was pointed, Liu Cong was captured, and that now that I lead a mighty army of more than 800,000 soldiers, coming to meet you, General, let's hunt together in Wu."
Cao Cao reckons that Sun Quan would be lucky if he didn't wet his trousers when he read this letter. Thus, in December 208 A.D., Cao Cao ordered his own troops, along with the newly integrated Jingzhou Army, totalling more than 200,000 men, to march by both land and Yangtze River from Jiangling to Xiakou.
To be Continud !
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