Chapter 370: Zhang Zhongde died in Chenliu, Guan Yu was feared throughout China On May 27th of the seventh year of Jian'an, Liu Zhang, Yuan Shao and Liu Bei were besieging Cao Cao from all sides. Luoyang, a century-old capital located in the heart of Cao's army, was suddenly attacked by Xu Shu, the prime minister of Pei under Liu Bei. Almost no one would have thought that before launching the advance, Guan Yu would set his sights on this hinterland city. No one would have thought that Xu Shu, an unknown civil official who had been silent for many years, would rush to Luoyang, hundreds of miles away. Due to these factors, Luoyang was captured by Liu Bei's army first, and this move was undoubtedly fatal to Cao's army. Because Luoyang’s current strategic value even exceeds that of Guanzhong where the emperor is located, it is a transit point for all directions. More importantly, this place is where Cao Cao stores grain, and this is the transit point for grain and fodder to support Hebei and Henan. It can be said that the fall of Luoyang meant that the cities in the Central Plains had lost their supplies of food, fodder and troops from Guanzhong. When the news came out, the whole world was shocked. Everyone in Cao's army was terrified, and all the civil and military officials under Cao Cao were shocked.

However, before that, as early as early May, Guan Yu had already launched an attack on Cao's army in Yingchuan. Because capturing Luoyang was only the first step in Guan Yu's strategy. His real intention was to completely annihilate Cao's army in the Central Plains. At this time, Cao's army still had as many as 50,000 soldiers in the Central Plains, including 30,000 in Chenliu alone, and Cao Ren still had 20,000 under his command. These two parts of troops were originally mostly soldiers from counties and states who were withdrawn from various places in Yanzhou after the previous Battle of Guandu, but there were more than 10,000 elite soldiers among them. If Guan Yu wants to fight a war of annihilation, he needs to constantly divide and surround these troops, and then defeat them one by one! In order to achieve this strategic goal, Guan Yu directly raided the important town of Qiangxian in Yingchuan after knowing that Xu Shu had gone around to the north. As mentioned earlier, since Guan Yu was appointed as the governor of Huainan, he had already gone to Shouchun on the surface. Therefore, from Cao Ren's perspective, Guan Yu and his core members should be in Huainan, so he would continue to reinforce Nanyang. This action was tantamount to opening the gateway to Guan Yu. As Guan Yu's main force arrived, the powerful county fell. At the same time, Guan Yu used Jiang Qin, Xu Kun, Zhu Zhi, Pan Zhang and other former generals under Sun Ce to attack multiple areas and captured Zhengqiang, Ruyang, Xihua, Dingying and other counties. As soon as the strong county fell, the four counties were also captured by Guan Yu. By the time Cao Ren heard the news, Guan Yu had actually entered Yingchuan. He had only 20,000 soldiers under his command, stationed in Xuchang, Xinji, Linying and other counties, while Guan Yu had as many as 50,000 soldiers under his command. Faced with this situation, Cao Ren had no choice but to withdraw his troops and send a letter to Cheng Yu in Chenliu County for help. But at this moment, Zhang Xun, the commander of Chenjun, received orders from Guan Yu and suddenly launched an attack on Yanling County north of Xuchang. Zhang Xun was originally a general under Yuan Shu. After Yuan Shu's death, he was ordered to lead Yuan Shu's former subordinates to guard Chen State and other places. In previous wars, Zhang Xun had no chance to fight, but this does not mean that Zhang Xun had no military achievements. Since Yuzhou was severely damaged by Yuan Shu, Zhang Xun, on the advice of Liang Xi and Shu Shao, took the opportunity to recuperate and train militia. Simply put, in addition to the 30,000 troops allocated to him by Liu Bei, Zhang Xun has been organizing military training for his people. Liang Xi made this move because there was no strategic location to defend in the Central Plains and it was easy to be harassed by cavalry. He hoped that through military training, the people would learn how to fight the enemy.

After several years of development, this strategy has turned the southeastern part of Chen State into a state where everyone is a soldier. In addition, the Battle of Guandu caused a large number of people to flee south. Liang Xi registered them as citizens one by one, gave them farmland, and took in tens of thousands of people. In addition, the State of Chen had previously relied on bows and crossbows for its prosperity, so Zhang Xun continued to stockpile food, fodder, weapons, and crossbows, accumulating tens of thousands of them. All of this made the troops under Zhang Xun well-equipped and extremely powerful in combat, even as strong as Guan Yu's own troops. Therefore, after receiving the order, he directly attacked Chen County and captured Changping and other places. After learning that Guan Yu had captured Xinji, he took 20,000 troops to take Yanling himself. At this point, Xuchang had actually been surrounded by Guan Yu in three directions, with the only direction of Nanyang in the west not being surrounded. When this news reached Chenliu City, there is no need to say how surprised Cheng Yu was. Liu Bei's army surrounded 20,000 with 70,000. In the direction of Nanyang, Qin Zhen surrounded Wancheng with an army of 50,000. All this seemed to announce that Liu Bei was preparing to take over the three southern counties. At this time, because Yuan Shao was holding back in the north, Xiahou Dun's troops could not return to support, and Cao Cao was out of reach in Hanzhong, so now they needed 60,000 to 70,000 people to deal with Liu Bei's army of more than 100,000. If there were any strategic places in the Central Plains that could be defended, they could continue to hold on, but the Central Plains is a smooth place. Faced with this extreme situation, on May 14, before Xu Shu captured Luoyang, Cheng Yu led his troops south to the State of Chen, intending to besiege Wei to save Zhao and force Zhang Xun to open up the way. However, when he personally led his troops to Yangxia, he was ambushed by Liang Xi, and lost more than a thousand soldiers and horses, and his morale plummeted. Upon seeing this, Cheng Yu became furious and led his army to attack Yangxia. After more than ten days, he was blocked by Liang Xi's 5,000 soldiers and horses. Seeing that Liang Xi, a minor official, was so powerful, Cheng Yu came up with a vicious plan. He led his troops to massacre the people outside the city and forced Liang Xi to leave the city to fight. Over the course of three days, more than a dozen villages were massacred by Cheng Yu, with thousands of civilians killed or injured, and even babies were not spared. Once captured by Cao's army, they would be taken to the front of the city and beheaded collectively. Rivers of blood would flow outside the city, and the soldiers inside the city would become increasingly nervous. Liang Xi felt sorry for what happened and decided to withdraw his troops, but Cheng Yu chased him closely and his entire army was wiped out, and he almost died in battle. Fortunately, his soldiers were all willing to fight to the death and led Liang Xi out of the encirclement, allowing him to escape and retreat to Chen County. After such a victory, Cheng Yu not only did not stop, but intensified his efforts, marching all the way, burning, killing and looting along the way, and the people in Chen wanted to eat his flesh alive. But it must be said that although Cheng Yu's strategy was vicious, it was extremely effective. Seeing that he was ruthless, Liang Xi had to ask Zhang Xun for help. Upon hearing this, Zhang Xun had no choice but to lead his troops back to the State of Chen to expel Cheng Yu's troops, but he was ambushed by Cheng Yu again, and thousands of people were killed or injured. After Zhang Xun was defeated, he had no choice but to retreat to Changping, and at the same time informed Guan Yu of the news that Cheng Yu was heading south. When Guan Yu heard that Cheng Yu had massacred tens of thousands of civilians, he was immediately indignant. He simply stopped besieging Cao Ren and led his troops north to pursue Cheng Yu. This actually fell into Cheng Yu's delaying strategy. When he saw Guan Yu returning, he also turned his army back and headed north. But when Guan Yu saw this, he realized Cheng Yu's plan, so he ordered Guan Ping to lead 5,000 troops to the north to capture Yongqiu. This move blocked Cheng Yu to the east of Chenliu and prevented him from advancing westward. Seeing this, Cheng Yu simply set up camp and held his ground, confronting Guan Yu. According to Cheng Yu's idea, he has now attracted Guan Yu's attention and increased Guan Yu's supply line by more than 200 miles. They only need to hold out for more than ten days and raid Guan Yu's supply troops to defeat Guan Yu and win the battle. However, things did not go as planned. Just two days after Cheng Yu left the camp, news came from the west that Xu Shu had captured Luoyang.

When Cheng Yu heard this, he was immediately shocked, because he was now in the east and Guan Yu was in the west. Once Luoyang fell, Guan Yu could go straight to Xingyang and open up a passage. After the two sides joined forces, not to mention his 20,000-plus troops, the total 100,000 troops in the north and south could not be saved. In desperation, Cheng Yu could only try to retreat and take back Luoyang for Cao Cao before Guan Yu attacked. So on the fifth day of June in the seventh year of Jian'an, Cheng Yu took advantage of the cover of night and quietly left the camp. In order to conceal his whereabouts, he even withdrew his troops without even confiscating the tents. Unexpectedly, when he had walked less than five miles from the camp, a large number of soldiers and horses suddenly rushed out from the woods on both sides. Guan Yu pointed at him on his horse and shouted angrily: "Cheng Yu, you old villain, you killed innocent people without permission. I knew that Luoyang had fallen and you would withdraw your camp. I specially came here to meet you. Come and die with me!" As soon as he finished speaking, Guan Yu rode his horse forward, led his troops and charged forward, killing Cheng Yu in the midst of thousands of troops. As soon as Cheng Yu died, Cao's army was immediately defeated. The 20,000-strong army fled in all directions, countless of them were killed, and more than 10,000 were captured. After Guan Yu killed Cheng Yu, he ordered his men to whip more than a hundred corpses and abandon them in the wilderness. He then led his troops westward and attacked towards Chenliu City. However, when Cao Cao was defeated at Guandu, Cheng Yu, Man Chong and other troops on the eastern front withdrew into Chenliu City. When Cheng Yu sent out his troops, he left Man Chong with 8,000 soldiers to garrison Chenliu City, intending to defend the retreat. Unexpectedly, before the victory report came from Cheng Yu, he heard the news of the fall of Luoyang. In horror, he had to order the news to be blocked and sent a letter to Cheng Yu. This book was the culprit that led to Cheng Yu's defeat. As soon as Cheng Yu's defeat, the news was spread back to Chenliu City. Upon hearing that Cheng Yu was dead, Man Chong was shocked. He knew that Chenliu could no longer be defended, so he led his troops to retreat south to meet up with Cao Ren. However, as soon as his troops left Chenliu, they were held back by Guan Ping's troops, and he had no choice but to retreat back into the city and defend it. On June 13, the seventh year of Jian'an, Guan Yu led his troops to besiege Chenliu and, according to Kan Ze's plan, hung Cheng Yu's head for public display. He also ordered the captives under his command to persuade the city to surrender, and wrote a letter to persuade the city to surrender, saying that only Man Chong should be killed and the rest should not be killed. After a few days of this, people in the city became uneasy. In addition, Man Chong was a cruel official who had made countless enemies in his life. When he saw the soldiers in the city talking among themselves, he ordered those who dared to speak out to be killed. However, the means that were usually enough to intimidate others were ineffective at this time and immediately triggered a mutiny in the city. The generals under his command opened the city gates and surrounded Man Chong in his mansion and set it on fire. In the fire, Man Chong killed his wife and children and then committed suicide. With the death of Man Chong, all the counties in Chenliu County surrendered. Except for those who fled and were killed or wounded, more than half of the 30,000 troops in the county surrendered to Guan Yu. Guan Yu captured Chenliu County and led his troops south to seize Yingchuan County and capture and kill Cao Ren in Xuchang. Faced with the overwhelming force of Guan Yu, Cao Ren had no choice but to burn down the treasury in Xuchang and break out. Zhu Zhi, Xu Kun and others who were responsible for blocking Cao Ren led their troops in pursuit, capturing more than 3,000 people all the way. However, due to Zhu Zhi's old age, his horse stumbled on the battlefield, and he fell off his horse, was seriously injured and died. After hearing about this, Guan Yu felt very sorry and promoted Zhu Zhi's nephew Zhu Ran to be the military commander, in charge of commanding his troops. Seeing that Cao Ren abandoned Xuchang and fled towards Nanyang, Guan Yu divided his troops into two groups. One group, led by Guan Ping, went north to capture Xingyang, Chenggao and other places and meet up with Xu Shu. He personally led the army along the way, captured Yingchuan city along the way, and pursued Cao Ren into Nanyang. At this point, Yingchuan and Chenliu counties fell into the hands of Liu Bei's army, and the war lasted for more than two months.

Guan Yu, who was over 40 years old, commanded an army of more than 100,000 and gained the advantage on the Central Plains battlefield. In this battle, the troops under his command defeated a total of more than 20,000 Cao troops. Important officials of Cao army such as Cheng Yu and Man Chong were killed in the battle, and Cao Ren fled without a fight. After the war, Guan Yu continued to pursue Cao Ren, while Xu Shu ordered his soldiers to spread the news that Cao Cao would be defeated inside the pass. As soon as the news came out, bandits emerged in Hongnong, Hedong and other places, and the big bandit Zhang Baiqi responded from afar, and the people settled in various places all rebelled. For a time, rebellions broke out everywhere under Cao Cao's rule, and a storm was about to come. Guan Yu's name was feared throughout China. (End of this chapter)