Chapter 285: Jia Xu's ingenious plan, a battle thousands of miles away Cao Cao's idea of ​​moving the capital was certainly not a sudden whim. In fact, around the same time last year, Xun You had made a similar suggestion to Cao Cao. At that time, Liu Bei had just occupied Huainan. To be honest, Cao did not expect to be forced to this point. But Xun You's prediction was obviously very correct. They had no way of stopping the strategy that Qin Zhen planned for Liu Bei. Qin Zhen didn't even give them much time to react. He used Yuan Shu's body to push Liu Bei up. In two years, to put it bluntly, they couldn't even stabilize a large state, but Qin Zhen gave Liu Bei two and a half states. With Liu Bei's rapid rise, moving the capital seemed to have become an inevitable option for Cao Cao. However, in a sense, Cao Cao was not passively moving the capital at this time, but wanted to gain a strategic advantage. Just as Qin Zhen inferred, Cao Cao was planning how to give Yuan Shao a severe blow! This is what happened, and we have to push the time back to the time when Cao Cao sent troops to Nanyang. In August of the third year of Jian'an, when Liu Bei's army was planning to take over Jiangdong, Cao Cao launched an attack on Nanyang.

This was Cao Cao's third attack on Zhang Xiu, and also the one with the most thorough preparation. But in the original process, Cao Cao's campaign against Zhang Xiu ultimately ended in failure. Because just when Cao Cao was besieging Zhang Xiu, news came from the north that Yuan Shao intended to attack Xu Du. As a result, Cao Cao had to abandon Zhang Xiu and hastily return to Xu Du to guard against Yuan Shao. But in this timeline, due to the influence of Qin Zhen, Cao Cao no longer had time to spare. After all, Yuan Shu had already been defeated, Lu Bu was heading north, and Liu Bei and Sun Ce were fighting fiercely. This gave him a rare opportunity where he was free of enemies and could concentrate on dealing with Zhang Xiu. Under the powerful military force, Zhang Xiu was forced to retreat to Rangcheng. Cao Cao besieged the city for half a month, almost frightening Zhang Xiu to death and making him want to open the city and surrender several times. But Jia Xu stayed in the city and sternly warned Zhang Xiu not to surrender, otherwise he would be killed by Cao Cao. Thanks to Jia Xu's strong command ability, Zhang Xiu survived until early September, when Liu Biao sent his general Wen Pin to raid Anzhong, forcing Cao Cao to return. Zhang Xiu listened to Jia Xu's plan, took advantage of the chaos to launch a surprise attack, and once again broke Cao's retreat. But history took a turn at one moment. Cao Cao, who was supposed to withdraw his troops, did not do so, which made Jia Xu see something unusual. He keenly realized from the situation that Cao Cao would not retreat easily. Therefore, even when the allied forces had the upper hand, they still persuaded Zhang Xiu to surrender. Zhang Xiu was stunned when he heard this, and said directly to Jia Xu: "That day, Envoy Liu did not go north, and our army was trapped in Rangcheng. I wanted to surrender, but you did not agree." "Now that you have sent your envoys north, Cao Cao will be defeated. Why do our troops surrender?" Upon hearing this, Jia Xu explained to Zhang Xiu in detail: "I advised the general not to surrender before, but it was because Cao Cao came here with hatred."

"If we open the city and surrender, Cao Cao will kill you and massacre the whole city to vent his anger, so we should not surrender!" "Now Liu Jingsheng has sent reinforcements, Cao Cao has been defeated, and his anger at Liu Biao is far superior to that of the general, so he can surrender!" "I see that Liu Bei started from Huainan, and Cao Cao must have the intention of advancing westward." "Our army will be defeated sooner or later. Only by surrendering to Cao now can we save your life!" After hearing this, Zhang Xiu tried to send an envoy to Cao's camp to offer surrender. Jia Xu's intuition was correct, because at this time Cao Cao was actually pretending to retreat, intending to launch a surprise attack and defeat Liu Biao. Facing Zhang Xiu's envoy, Cao Cao was hesitant, but Xun You persuaded him: "Zhang Xiu is not a person to be feared. The only person to be feared is Jia Xu." "This man is a master at using troops. It is useless to defeat the enemy and it is just a waste of time!" "If you surrender now, why not accept it? You can gain a great general and a good plan!" When Cao Cao heard this, he told the envoy that Zhang Xiu could surrender, but he needed to invite Jia Xu to meet him first! Upon hearing this, the messenger hurried back to Zhang Xiu to report. When Zhang Xiu heard that Cao wanted Jia Xu to go, he naturally was unwilling. It was Lao Jia who concluded that Cao Cao was testing their sincerity. If he didn't go, Cao Cao would certainly not accept him. But if he went to see Cao Cao, he could save Zhang Xiu's life. In desperation, Zhang Xiu allowed Jia Xu to enter Cao's camp again. As soon as Cao Cao saw Jia Xu, he took Jia Xu's hand to show his closeness. But Jia Xu responded coldly when he saw this, and said directly to Cao: "The reason you were defeated in Wancheng in the past was that you didn't listen to Qin Zhen's advice, but it was also because you were too arrogant." "Although our city is small and our army is weak, we are not afraid of fighting Cao Gong!" "We surrendered only because Lord Cao served the emperor and respected justice." "I didn't expect that you would show me kindness and justice, but instead divide us first, so the general was afraid and rebelled." "Today, Cao Gong has not changed his old attitude, and has ignored the general and promoted an old man first." "So we will obey today, but someone else will surely rebel tomorrow!" When Jia Xu said this, Cao Cao suddenly woke up, and then he said happily: "Mr. Jia's words are very good, and he should be Cao Mengde's teacher!" He immediately bowed to Jia Xu and appointed him as a military officer in the Sikong Mansion. He then wrote a handwritten letter to Zhang Xiu, expressing that he had forgiven Zhang Xiu. As a result, Zhang Xiu gladly surrendered. In mid-September, Cao Cao sent a surprise attack and defeated Wen Pin, and occupied Nanyang County. At this time, Cao Cao wanted to return to the capital, but after Jia Xu knew that Cao was going to pacify Xiliang, he suggested: "Xiliang is located in a remote area, with warlords everywhere and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses." "If you raise a large army and attack them, they will surely unite their forces to resist."

"Now that we have captured Nanyang, why don't we pretend to deploy troops here, secretly march out of Wuguan and launch a surprise attack on Longshang?" "Once we succeed in taking Longshan, we will follow up with our army and catch them off guard!" When Cao Cao heard this plan, he was overjoyed. He openly deployed his troops in Nanyang, but actually sent Xiahou Yuan and Le Jin to lead 5,000 soldiers to raid Xiliang. When Qin Zhen in the east went north to defend against Lu Bu, Xiahou Yuan's troops suddenly appeared in Longxi County. This move directly confused Ma Teng, Han Sui and others. Because they had not received any news that Cao Cao had raised his troops to the north. By the time they reacted, Cao Cao's troops had already entered Guanzhong and were heading northward in an endless stream. This is also different from the original process. In history, Cao Cao conquered Xiliang according to Xun Yu's strategy and sent Zhong Yao to the north to recruit the heroes of Xiliang. People like Ma Teng and Han Sui were only sent as hostages and were not defeated. This also laid a direct hidden danger for Ma Chao's joint rebellion with Han Sui. In this timeline, Cao Cao followed Jia Xu's plan and went straight to Xiliang. Compared with Xun Yu’s more conciliatory style, Jia Xu’s strategies have always been accurate in hitting the snake’s weak spot, and every move is successful! With his assistance, Cao Cao successively attacked Longxi and captured Anding. Seeing Cao Cao's aggressive advance, Ma Teng and Han Sui directly submitted a letter of surrender. However, when Jia Xu saw the two men's surrender, he gave Cao Cao another suggestion: "Their foundation is far away in Jincheng, Wuwei and other counties. Now they are submitting a memorial to prove that their foundation is invincible." "If we accept their surrender now, it will be a recipe for disaster. We can make them move south." "If they are unwilling to move south, we should continue to move north and attack them until we seize their base." Upon hearing this, Cao Cao followed Jia Xu's advice and persuaded the two to continue their advance while heading south! This attitude immediately made Ma Teng and Han Sui furious, and they gathered together an allied force to fight a fierce battle with Cao Cao. It was snowing heavily at that time, and a large amount of firewood was piled up in the Xiliang coalition camp. Xun You advised Cao Cao to use fire attack to defeat the coalition forces. Cao Cao followed his plan, pretended to leak the news, and filled sacks with large amounts of grain and hay soaked in tung oil, pretending to be transporting grain and fodder. The Xiliang coalition forces were short of food. After receiving the news, they robbed the enemy's food and brought it back to the camp. This continued until night, when Cao Cao ordered his men to storm the camp and set fire along the way. With the help of both inside and outside forces, they burned down the allied camp and defeated tens of thousands of Xiliang coalition forces. This battle directly defeated the Xiliang coalition forces. Ma Teng and Han Sui knew that they were no match for Cao Cao, so they once again submitted a letter of surrender and stated that they were willing to use their sons as hostages. But when Cao Cao saw this, his old habit came back and he said he disagreed. He said he wanted to be hostage, so you two brothers should come with me and I will let my son lead the army here. Naturally, he didn't know that there was a Ma Chao hidden among these sons. I just think that the danger to Xiliang all lies with Ma Teng and Han Sui. After he took these two away, other warlords and their scholars were no longer a problem.

But when Jia Xu saw this, he hurriedly tried to dissuade Cao Cao: "Ma Teng and Han Sui had never seen the power of Sikong before, so their words are not to be trusted." "I now bow down to you and am willing to use your son as a hostage, which shows how sincere you are." "If we push them too far, they will surely feel resentful and go to the court, which will cause chaos." "Why not follow his words and take his son in? Then they won't dare to rebel again in the future!" In terms of the ability to understand people's hearts, Jia Xu could be considered a top figure in the late Han Dynasty. I know that Lao Cao's actions are a way to bring disaster. After he gave such advice, Cao Cao slapped his head and said: "If it weren't for Mr. Jia's advice, I'm afraid I would have ruined the whole thing!" When he thought about it, he realized that this was the truth. How could using the father as a hostage to the son be better than using the son as a hostage to the father? After all, sons may betray their parents, but parents rarely ignore the life and death of their children! He took Ma Teng and Han Sui away. What if one of his children lacked martial ethics and insisted on rebelling? Then he followed Jia Xu's advice and took away the children of Han Sui and Ma Teng. Because Ma Teng had five sons, one of them died, leaving four. Cao Cao immediately took away Ma Chao, Ma Xiu and his youngest son Ma Shi and his three sons, leaving only the third son Ma Tie to stay with Ma Teng. As a result, Cao discovered the handsome young man Ma Chao. After a quick try, I realized that this kid was an unparalleled warrior who could even defeat Xu Chu under his command. This made Cao very happy. If it weren't for Jia Xu's persuasion, he might have adopted another son. But even so, Cao Cao liked Ma Chao very much and directly appointed Ma Chao as a general and made him obey orders under his command. But Lao Cao didn't know that this move directly reduced a potential enemy and added a hidden danger. As the situation has evolved to this moment, the situation in the world has changed drastically. In December of the third year of Jian'an, Qin Zhen defeated Lu Bu and Cao Cao pacified Xiliang. When Cao Cao arrived here, he had already planned to return directly to Xu Du. But when the troops were halfway there, news came from Hanoi that Zhang Yang had died. Sometimes things in the world are so wonderful that the fate of some people can be changed by accident. Some people seem to be destined to die at a certain time. In the original story, when Cao Cao was attacking Lu Bu, Zhang Yang, as Lu Bu's good friend, sent troops directly to Dongshi to rescue him. Unexpectedly, one of his generals, Yang Chou, rebelled and killed Zhang Yang in order to defect to Cao. After Zhang Yang's death, Sui Gu killed Yang Chou and led Zhang Yang's troops to station at Shequan, and subordinated them to Yuan Shao. But in the current timeline, it was not Cao Cao who defeated Lu Bu. When Qin Zhen besieged Lu Bu, Zhang Yang didn't even receive the news.

What a coincidence this is. Although Zhang Yang did not receive the news, Cao Cao intended to seize Henei according to Xun Yu's plan. But Zhang Yang had made great contributions to the court, and Liu Xie had always prevented Cao Cao from attacking Henei. When Guo Jia saw this, he suggested to Cao Cao that he should kill Zhang Yang from within first. So when Cao Cao sent troops to Nanyang, Guo Jia began to plan to instigate Yang Chou's rebellion. After three months, Yang Chou finally made up his mind to rebel and then killed Zhang Yang. However, Guo Jia did not give enough consideration to Sui Gu, which led to the situation turning out to be the same as it was originally. Seeing that Sui Gu had killed Yang Chou, Guo Jia hurriedly reported to Cao Cao to seize Henei. At this time, Cao Cao had just returned from his army. When he saw the news, he was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. I thought that he originally wanted to take Nanyang this time, but unexpectedly took Xiliang, and now he also took Hanoi as a gift. He then changed direction and ordered Shi Huan and Ma Chao to attack Hanoi. Sui Gu left Zhang Yang's chief secretary Xue Hong and Henei governor Miao Shang to guard Shequan, and he himself led his personal troops to flee to Yuan Shao. He was intercepted and beheaded at Quancheng by Shi Huan and others. After Cao Cao won the battle, he surrounded Shequan again, and Xue Hong and Miao Shang both surrendered. Therefore, by the first month of the fourth year of Jian'an, Cao had fought across thousands of miles and pacified various factions in less than half a year. Such a result made Cao Cao's confidence soar, and the impact of Qin Zhen's departure was greatly reduced. But at this moment, Guo Jia brought another piece of news. Qin Zhen led his troops to help Liu Bei pacify Xuzhou and captured Lu Bu alive. (End of this chapter)