Chapter 311: Self-directed and self-acted, Cao Yuan starts the war In mid-July of the fourth year of Jian'an, a riot broke out in Xu County, and the Yidaizhao incident, which was supposed to be exposed half a year later, broke out ahead of schedule. This incident marked Cao Cao's complete victory in his struggle with Emperor Xian. During the turmoil, Dong Cheng, Zhong Ji, Wang Fu, Wu Shuo, Wu Zilan and others were killed one after another. At this point, the military power controlled by the old court officials was eliminated by Cao Cao, and the entire imperial city defense fell into Cao Cao's control. Cao Cao also followed Jia Xu's strategy and used a tactic of retreating to advance, thus regaining the support of Emperor Xian. The next day, when the ministers returned to the court, the political situation had changed. Without discussing it with everyone, the emperor directly issued an edict to move the capital to Chang'an that day. When this news came out, the whole court was in an uproar, and all the ministers thought that Cao Cao was blackmailing the emperor. Even the Grand Minister of Agriculture Zheng Xuan stepped out and angrily asked Cao Cao what had happened last night.

However, Cao Cao did not respond to this and angrily accused Zheng Xuan of colluding with Liu Bei, and asked Liu Xie to dismiss Zheng Xuan from the position of Minister of Agriculture. On that day, the emperor issued an edict to remove Zheng Xuan from his position, demoted him to a commoner, and never employed him again! Mr. Zheng was already very old. Upon hearing this, he became so angry that he fell ill. Zheng Xuan's fate also made all the ministers silent and they dared not say a word. Therefore, Cao Cao announced in court that the capital would be moved the next day. The emperor would enter Luoyang through Xuanyuan Pass, and then go to Hongnong to the old capital Chang'an. As soon as the news came out, the entire Xu County fell into busyness and chaos. Many wealthy families thought that Cao Cao was going to abandon Xuchang, so they brought their families and prepared to go to Guanzhong. On the next day, Cao Cao appointed Dong Zhao as governor of Hedong, and sent Zhong Yao, the governor of the imperial court, to Chang'an with the emperor to preside over the government. Without any delay, under the protection of three thousand elite soldiers, Liu Xie left Xu County. In order to guard against obstruction from Guan Yu and Yuan Shao, Cao Cao stationed Xun Yu in Xu County to defend against Guan Yu. At the same time, he personally led his troops north and stationed them at Guandu to defend against Yuan Shao. Some of Cao Cao's actions were extremely decisive. It only took three days from arriving in Xuchang to moving the capital. When Guan Yu received the news, King Liu Xie had already arrived at Yangguan. When Guan Yu heard that the secret decree had been leaked, he immediately led his troops to attack Qiang County in an attempt to stop the process of moving the capital. Unexpectedly, as soon as he advanced to Dingying, he was blocked by Cao Ren, a general under Cao Cao. Upon seeing this, Guan Yu launched a fierce attack all the way and at the same time sent a letter to Liu Bei for reinforcement as soon as possible! It took five days for the news to reach Shouchun via Hongshui. When Liu Bei saw Guan Yu's letter, he prepared to raise an army of tens of thousands to attack Cao Cao's retreat. But at this time, his advisers gave completely opposite opinions.

Yuan Huan, Qin Song and others, led by Liu Ye, all begged Liu Bei to pursue. However, Chen Qun and others, led by Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao, begged Liu Bei to withdraw Guan Yu immediately and not pursue him! The reasons of the two parties were completely different. Liu Ye and others believed that Cao Cao's relocation of the capital to Chang'an must have forced the emperor. Now is a great opportunity to attack Cao Cao. Once we miss it, there will be no chance again. But Zhang Hong and others believed that Cao Cao moved the capital so quickly, it was impossible that he did not get the emperor's approval! With the emperor's edict endorsing it, pursuing them now would be tantamount to treason! The two sides started arguing, and Liu Bei was naturally hesitant and thought about writing a letter to Qin Zhen to ask. But he found that Jiangdong was too far away, and by the time Qin Zhen replied, it might be too late. While hesitating, he thought of Zhuge Liang, so he summoned Zhuge Liang for a secret discussion. In his opinion, Zhuge Liang and Qin Zhen were of the same lineage, and Qin Zhen should have entrusted him with some things before leaving. But after Zhuge Liang entered the mansion, Liu Bei realized that Qin Zhen had not given any instructions at all. Because it was unknown whether Cao Cao would move the capital or when. So Qin Zhen only told Zhuge Liang one thing: play it safe! When Liu Bei heard this, he said, since the military advisor didn't give any instructions, then he should tell me his opinion. Zhuge Liang then told Liu Bei that it was too late to catch up if he sent troops now! Cao Cao was obviously well prepared to move the capital this time and would not give them any chance at all. Moreover, the route chosen by Cao Cao to move the capital is full of twists and turns. Unless they can fly, they will not be able to catch up with the emperor. Instead of sending troops to chase him now, it is better to withdraw Guan Yu first to avoid problems. According to Zhuge Liang's original words: "My teacher once said that Cao Cao has many advisers under his command, so we should not be careless." "Cao Cao is so eager to move the capital now, it's probably for someone else's sake!" "Our army has just finished a major battle, so we should rest and recuperate. We must not act rashly." "Since it is useless to pursue them now, we might as well withdraw General Guan to avoid being plotted against by the enemy!" "Besides, Cao Cao had to pass through Luoyang when he moved his capital, and this place is closer to Yuan Shao." "If our army holds Cao Cao back, the emperor may be captured by Yuan Shao." "Yuan Shao is strong now, Cao Cao is weak. If we welcome the emperor again, it will be difficult to control him." "Therefore, our army should not tie down Cao Cao's troops no matter what." "Besides, I heard that Yuan Shao's four generations of three officials were mostly disrespectful to the emperor." "If we send troops to pursue him, there is no way to protect the emperor from harm. This is a serious crime." "If our army were to hold them back, we would be guilty of the same crime and would lose the trust of the world." His reasons were very sufficient. One was that he could not catch up, and the other was that he could not help Yuan Shao.

The biggest problem is that Yuan Shao’s attack was not severe enough and might even hurt the emperor. If something really happens, they will bring trouble upon themselves if they stay here to hold it back! Therefore, their best option is to keep their troops in place and withdraw Guan Yu's troops to avoid being shot in the back! If it were any other reason, Liu Bei might not be able to be persuaded, but Zhuge Liang's words made Liu Bei give up the idea. Admittedly, this incident happened suddenly and they were unprepared. Since they can't catch up, why should they make things easier for Yuan Shao? Moreover, Liu Bei had some dealings with Yuan Shao and knew what kind of person Yuan Shao was. This guy is only slightly better than Yuan Shu, but in fact they are birds of a feather. As early as the time when Dong Zhuo seized power, Yuan Shao had intended to support Liu Yu to ascend the throne. From this we can see that Yuan Shao had no regard for the Han Dynasty in his heart and had long wanted to usurp power. What if Yuan Shao is angry that Liu Xie is not under his control and really sends troops to stop him? After some thought, Liu Bei gave up the idea of ​​pursuit and ordered Guan Yu to withdraw his troops! When Guan Yu received the order, he was confused and did not want to withdraw his troops for a while. After all, in his opinion, Cao Cao was a traitor. If he didn't attack him now, when would he attack him? But at this time, Yan Xiang gave Guan Yu some words of persuasion: "Your Excellency has appointed a general to guard a large county, and you want to use the general as your arm!" "General, you must know that you also want to promote justice to the world and welcome the emperor to Huainan." "But now you have changed your attitude and forced the general to withdraw. What is your intention?" "Has your intention changed? No! It must be that the general trend does not allow it!" "Now that you have issued an order, if the general does not obey, and the others follow suit in the future, where will your authority be?" After all, Guan Yu was not Yuan Shu. After listening to the persuasion, he had to retreat back to Pingyu sadly. However, before withdrawing his troops, he immigrated more than 7,000 households to fill his own ranks. This was originally something Guan Yu did out of resentment, but it greatly saved Liu Bei's reputation. Because just three days after Guan Yu withdrew his troops, Liu Xie's capital-moving team was attacked. At that time, Yuan Shao heard that Cao Cao had moved the capital, so he sent 5,000 elite cavalrymen under the command of General Yan Liang into Henei to intercept Liu Xie's carriage. As a result, before Yan Liang reached the south bank, Liu Xie's convoy was attacked by a cavalry group. This time, the cavalry, under the banner of Yuan Shao, launched a desperate attack on Liu Xie's carriage. Relying on the advantage of cavalry, he rushed directly to the side of Liu Xie's carriage and shot Liu Xie in the shoulder with a sleeve arrow. Fortunately, Cao Chun led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to rescue Liu Xie in time and saved his life. After this attack, Liu Xie was terrified and became even more afraid of Yuan Shao's power. He immediately issued an imperial decree, calling on all the princes in the world to fight against Yuan Shao on the grounds that Yuan Shao intended to assassinate the king. When this decree was issued, the whole world was shocked. No one could have imagined that Yuan Shao would be so cruel as to intend to assassinate Emperor Xian. Even Yuan Shao himself did not expect such a thing to happen. How dare Yan Liang do that! The reason why he sent troops to pursue was just to kidnap Liu Xie, and he had no intention of assassinating the king at all.

Therefore, after receiving the news, Yuan Shao immediately sent a letter to Yan Liang to question the matter. As a result, Yan Liang was quite wronged. He was ordered to enter Henei, but was stopped by Cao Cao halfway. He has only 5,000 cavalrymen under his command. How can he divide his troops to attack the emperor? In desperation, he had to accept the order and come back to explain to Yuan Shao in person, and let his cavalry testify. Yan Liang was Yuan Shao's favorite general, so there was no reason for Yuan Shao not to believe what he said. So he called a meeting of his advisers to find out who was trying to frame him. After everyone discussed it, they came to the conclusion that this incident was directed and acted by Cao Cao himself! The only purpose was to accuse Yuan Shao of the crime of assassinating the king and making him a public enemy of the world. When Yuan Shao heard the news, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood on the spot. He had been friends with Cao Cao since childhood and knew that this guy was a cunning person, but he didn't expect him to be so cunning! It would have been fine if he had not sent troops, but now that he had sent troops, Cao Cao tried to assassinate Liu Xie. It's like mud stuck on your trouser legs, it's shit if not shit! Seeing that he was being blamed, Yuan Shao naturally asked everyone to find ways to distance themselves from the matter. But when the counselors saw this, they were somewhat helpless. After all, although Cao Cao was the mastermind behind this matter, they had no evidence. Even if they prove their innocence, no one will believe them. The best way is to deal with Yan Liang and put all the blame on him. Then he submitted a memorial to Liu Xie to explain the situation clearly and sentenced Yan Liang to death as an apology. But Yan Liang was Yuan Shao's trusted and beloved general, so given Yuan Shao's temper, he would naturally not deal with him. If we don't deal with Yan Liang, we won't be able to take the blame! Therefore, even though Ju Shou, Tian Feng and others were very intelligent, they were helpless against Jia Xu's strategy. But Ju Su could not resist Yuan Shao's request for advice, so he offered this plan to Yuan Shao. Of course, the end result was that Yuan Shao rejected the proposal and found a scapegoat from Yan Liang's command. Let Chen Lin write a great article about the secret decree and issue a manifesto to fight against the rebels. The manifesto accused Cao Cao of killing innocent people, being ungrateful, holding the emperor hostage, torturing loyal officials, and stealing from royal tombs. In fact, Cao Cao was so angry when he saw the letter that he even had a headache. But in this timeline, Cao Cao read the manifesto and smiled at everyone: "Yuan Shao failed to assassinate the emperor, so he published this article, which only adds to the ridicule!" Faced with this situation, Cao Cao not only did not refute, but instead submitted the edict and personally submitted a petition to apologize.

Even after Liu Xie forgave him, it was not enough. He also beat Cao Hong, who was responsible for protecting Liu Xie, with sixty military sticks. All these actions indirectly indicate that Yuan Shao is the murderer of this assassination. And Cao Cao had only one crime, which was his failure to protect the emperor. This verbal battle lasted until mid-August, and before the outcome was decided, Cao Cao divided his troops into two groups. With Ma Chao and Xiahou Yuan as generals, he marched into Bingzhou and launched a surprise attack on Shangdang County. He then sent his troops to Hebei to attack Liyang. Cao Cao's move was naturally not to have the best of both worlds, but to seize the strategic locations of Huguan and Yanjin. Because his strategic focus has now moved westward, Taishan and other counties will most likely not be able to be defended! In order to stop Yuan Shao's army, they had to occupy Huguan and block the road to the west from Jizhou. At the same time, we will occupy Yanjin to stop Yuan Shao’s main force heading south from crossing the Yellow River! At this time, Yuan Shao was still gathering troops and had no idea that Cao Cao would come so soon. By the time he reacted, important cities such as Huguan, Yanjin and Baima had fallen into Cao Cao's control one after another. Faced with this, Yuan Shao wished he could raise an army and fight a decisive battle with Cao Cao and kill him. However, his subordinates Ju Shou, Tian Feng and others tried their best to persuade him, saying that sending troops now would only confirm their intention to assassinate the emperor. It would be better to wait for two or three years, slowly harass Cao Cao's land, and then send troops when the situation has subsided. However, Shen Pei, Guo Tu and others advocated a quick victory, otherwise not only would Cao Cao have a chance to catch his breath, but Liu Bei might also continue to grow stronger! After some thought, Yuan Shao decided to adopt the advice of Shen Pei, Guo Tu and others and send troops to engage in a decisive battle. So in September of the fourth year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao raised an army of more than 100,000. He mobilized more than 100,000 civilians and auxiliary soldiers, and marched south with an army claiming to be 700,000 strong. When Cao Cao saw this, he left Yu Jin, Liu Yan and others to guard various towns, and went to Guandu to defend it himself. At this time, Liu Bei, who had been inactive, ordered Zang Ba to march north and invade Qingzhou. At once, the three major princes of the late Han Dynasty moved together, and the Battle of Guandu officially began. (End of this chapter)