Who is the opponent that Cao Cao cannot defeat?
Three Kingdoms 121 (Special - Review of Cao Cao's Life 6)
After greeting the Emperor and moving the capital to Xuchang许昌, Cao Cao looked up and saw that he was still surrounded by powerful enemies.
At that time, there were more than 20 warlords in the empire. In addition to Cao Cao himself, who occupied Yanzhou兖州 and Yuzhou豫州, there were Zhang Yang张杨 in He'Nei河内, Li Jue李傕 and Guo Si郭汜 in Guanzhong关中, Ma Teng马腾 in Liangzhou凉州, Han Sui韩遂 in Jincheng金城, Song Jian宋健 in Fuhan枹罕, Yang Feng杨奉 and Han Xian韩暹 in Liang梁 county, Zhang Xiu张绣 in Nanyang南阳, Liu Biao刘表 in Jingzhou荆州, Shen Dan申耽 in Shangyong上庸, Zhang Lu张鲁 in Hanzhong汉中, Liu Yan刘焉 in Yizhou益州 and Shi Xie士燮 in Jiaozhou交州, Sun Ce in Jiangdong江东, Yuan Shu in Huainan淮南, Lu Bu and Liu Bei in Xuzhou徐州, Gongsun Zan公孙瓒 in Youzhou幽州, Gongsun Du公孙度 in Liaodong辽东, and the most powerful Yuan Shao,who occupied 3 provinces as Jizhou冀州,Qingzhou青州 and Bingzhou并州.
This does not include the Black Mountain Army like Zhang Yan张燕, the remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion Army all over the country, and the various minority forces such as the Wuhuan乌桓, Xianbei鲜卑, and Southern Xiongnu匈奴.
Cao Cao knew that he still had a long way to go to unify the empire, so he had to adopt a strategy of allying with the distant ones, attacking the near ones, and breaking them down one by one, starting with the weak ones first and then the strong ones later.
For lords far away from him, such as Sun Ce, Ma Teng, Han Sui, Shi Xie, etc., he mainly pacifies and allied with them; for lords bordering him and relatively strong, such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Lu Bu, Zhang Yang, etc., he does not easily start a war, and waits for the right time to conquer them; and for lords stationed in the vicinity and relatively weak, such as Yang Feng, Zhang Xiu, etc., he resolutely cleans up and prioritizes fighting them.
In October 196 AD, Cao Cao took the initiative to give up his position as General-in-Chief to Yuan Shao in order to appease him and avoid an early break with him. That month Cao Cao led an army that captured Liang County, with Yang Feng and Han Xian leading the remnants of their army to join Yuan Shu.
Before that, Liu Bei was defeated by Lu Bu and came to Xuchang to join Cao Cao. The strategist Cheng Yu程昱 advised Cao Cao, “Liu Bei is a man of great talent and has won the hearts of the people, he will not be willing to be subordinate to others, so it is better to get rid of him before it is too late! “But Cao Cao replied, “Killing one man and losing the hearts of the world is not a good idea.” Cao Cao also recommended Liu Bei to be the provincial governor of YuZhou, and funded him with some soldiers and provisions, so that he could go back to Xiaopei小沛 to gather his former troops and keep Lu Bu in check.
In the first month of 197 A.D., Cao Cao began to attack Zhang Xiu in Nanyang according to the strategy he had previously devised. Zhang Xiu surrendered first and then rebelled, and Cao Cao was defeated so badly that not only did he get a shot in his right arm, but even his own warhorse was shot to death, and Cao Cao was able to make a terrifying escape when his eldest son, Cao Ang曹昂, relinquished his own horse to his father.
Upon returning to Xuchang, Cao Cao reviewed himself in front of his generals, “I was wrong this time, wrong in not immediately keeping Zhang Xiu's family as hostages, just wait and see, I won't make such a mistake again!”
Thereafter, Cao Cao really took this lesson to heart. Not to mention the surrendered generals, even the generals guarding the borders were required to leave their families in the capital as hostages.
Later this rule gradually evolved into a clear legal provision in Cao Wei. If a general rebelled or defected to the enemy, the whole family was to be executed. If a city was besieged by enemy troops and surrendered after defending it for less than 100 days, all the families of the soldiers in the city were implicated. Only if they surrendered after defending the city for 100 days and no reinforcements came to rescue them, their families would not be implicated.
Therefore, throughout the Three Kingdoms period, the number of Wei generals who surrendered to the enemy was the least, and before Cao Cao's death in 220 A.D., there was only one person, Yu Jin于禁,who surrendered to the mighty Guan Yu.
In September 197 AD, Yuan Shu crowned himself emperor in Shouchun寿春 and led his army into Chen Commandery, luring and killing Liu Chong, the prince of Chen, whose fief was here, and Luo Jun, the governor of Chen Commandery.
Cao Cao first used his political advantage, appointing Lu Bu as the General of Left in the name of the imperial court, as well as Sun Ce, a nominal subordinate of Yuan Shu, as General of Recovering Han and Marquis of WuCheng(county), allying with them, and then he personally led his troops in an eastward expedition.
The problem was that Yuan Shu had all been scared by Cao Cao before, so when he heard that Cao Cao was coming in person, he left his army and fled alone, leaving four of his generals to block Cao Cao.
Cao Cao quickly defeated Yuan Shu's generals by marching rapidly. After the victory, Cao Cao ordered Cao Hong曹洪 to lead an army alone to conquer Zhang Xiu for the second time, but to his surprise, Cao Hong was easily defeated by Zhang Xiu and was forced to defend Ye County叶县.
In October of the same year, Cao Cao, in the name of the imperial court, ordered Duan Wei段煨, who was a former member of Dong Zhuo's army along with Li Jue, to conquer Li Jue in Guanzhong关中, while he himself led his own troops to rescue Cao Hong.
When Cao Cao reached Wancheng in November, Liu Biao sent his men to assist but was defeated by Cao Cao.
But then news came that Yuan Shao was trying to sneak up on Xuchang, so Cao Cao hurriedly withdrew to Xuchang upon hearing the news.
Soon after, news came from Guanzhong that Li Jue had been defeated and beheaded, and Cao Cao ordered the extermination of his whole clans.
In March 198 AD, Cao Cao conquered Zhang Xiu for the third time and succeeded in encircling him at the city of Rangcheng, but after two months of continuous attack, he was never able to capture the city.
In May, reinforcements sent by Liu Biao again arrived outside the city, cutting off Cao Cao's retreat route, Cao Cao saw that the situation was not good enough and had to order a withdrawal.
Zhang Xiu takes advantage of the situation and leaves the city in pursuit, only to be defeated by Cao Cao's personal rearguard, but Cao Cao doesn't expect Zhang Xiu to come after him again, and Cao Cao's rearguard is routed. Cao Cao doesn't dare to be careless, so he orders his entire army to form a square formation on the ground and slowly advance.
Cao Cao has a habit of writing to Xun Yu荀彧 to ask for his advice whenever he encounters difficulties in leading his troops outside, and this time was no exception.
In his letter, Cao Cao wrote: “The enemy is pursuing us very closely, and we can only advance a few miles a day right now, but according to my projections, by the time we get to Anzhong安众, we will be able to defeat Zhang Xiu! ”
A month later, Cao Cao's army finally reached Anzhong, but Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao surrounded Cao Cao's army in the center.
Cao Cao ordered his soldiers to dig tunnels through the night, drilled out of the encirclement with provisions and supplies, and set up ambushes at dangerous passes.
When daybreak came, Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao's allied forces thought Cao Cao had fled, so they rushed to launch a full-scale pursuit, but they encountered Cao Cao's ambush and were defeated.
In July of the same year, Cao Cao returned safely to Xuchang, and even the master of tactics, Xun Yu, was so amazed that he came to ask: “This siege can be said to be very thrilling, but in your letter you were certain that you could defeat the enemy, why is that?”
Cao Cao replied, “The enemy won't let us retreat, which is the same as pushing our army to the brink of extinction, Difficult times often bring out the best in people, so I knew we would win! "
But although Cao Cao spoke softly, his own mind was actually filled with doubt. “Since my military, hundreds of battles without fail, even Tao Qian陶谦, Lu Bu and Yuan Shu and a series of strong enemies, are simply not a match for me, how a little Zhang Xiu is so difficult to deal with? He only has one city and a few thousand soldiers, how come he can't be defeated in three consecutive conquests? Could it be that this guy is guided by someone superior? ”
