(Thank you for your support from Dameng! Thank you Zhao Wuxiu 2014, ufgw, Xue Yuntao)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as the fourth year of Jian'an entered the spring, Hebei was shocked by a piece of news: Zhao Yun, the commander of the Dragon Wolf and the commander of the Dragon Wolf and the commander of the Dragon Wolf and the commander of the Dragon Wolf and the commander of the Qingzhou Dragon Wolf and Taishi Ci, sent troops at the same time, one north and one south, like two swords that inserted ribs, pierced into the Hejian Kingdom and Bohai County, which Yuan Tan belonged to.

Yuan Tan's army was about to collapse, abandoned Nanpi, and retreated to Anping Kingdom.

Yuan Shang, Shen Pei, Feng Ji was shocked when he heard the news and was in a dilemma: If you don’t let Yuan Tan come in, you will probably be destroyed by the Dragon Wolf Army. You can’t afford to be punished by the crime of not saving him when he dies. If you let Yuan Tan come in, how to resettle? You have to let him raise troops for the territory, and a country is definitely not enough. At least two, this is to cut a piece of meat from your own body...

Yuan Tan collapsed a hundred miles and quickly retreated into Anping Kingdom, and there was no time to respond to Yuan Shang Group. Yuan Shang Group had no choice but to respond passively. While urgently ordered Zhongshan to send troops to attack Zhao Yun sideways, he was ordered to Anping and Qinghe guards to meet Yuan Tan, but he could not let him enter the city, so he could only station troops in Yiting.

However, the effect of the two orders was not obvious. In Zhongshan, the Zhen family was extremely uncooperated, did not support grain, and did not mobilize the servants, and even argued with the defenders, which missed the opportunity for war. However, the two countries of Anping and Qinghe were influx of large numbers of Yuan Tan's troops, such as the Yellow Turbans passing through the border, and the lives were devastated.

The commander of Anping Guoxin, the governor of Anping, asked Yuan Tan's army to station in Jijin City dozens of miles away. Unexpectedly, the city gate was bribed by Yuan Tan that night and opened the east gate. Yuan Tan's army rushed in. He captured his commander and controlled the entire city. In just a few days, the country of Anping was fully in the hands of Yuan Tan.

The Qinghe Kingdom's garrison was even more unlucky. He was besieged by the Longwolf Xu Lin's army and was in great urgency. Suddenly, Guo Tu led his army to help the garrison. Of course, the defender was overjoyed and raised his hand to welcome him. As a result, as soon as Guo Tu entered the city, he controlled the four gates and disarmed the defender. The defender really "raised his hand".

The outside enemy and the insider attacked, and the person who was not defeated was really not found in Hebei.

In fact, both Yuan Tan and Guo Tu were very clear in their hearts. They knew that this was Ma Han’s strategy to drive away tigers and swallow wolves. But they had no choice. Instead of being beaten out, it would be better to evacuate themselves and find a better and safer place. Anyway, Yuan Shang, Shen Pei, Feng Ji and others forced him to have obvious displeasures. You are on the first day of the lunar month, and we are on the fifteenth day of the lunar month; if you want us to be a shield, we will let you live your own fruits. In the face of interests and survival, no brotherhood is useful. Everyone has a thought: I will die for the Taoist fellow Taoist.

In March, more than 15,000 troops from Yuan Tan's troops occupied Anping and Qinghe. Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci also withdrew from the two countries and returned to Hejian and Bohai. At this point, Ma Han's territory was connected from north to south. The Yuan group, which once claimed to be the domineering world and occupied the four prefectures of the Han Dynasty, was left with only half of Jizhou in less than half a year after Yuan Shao's death.

At this time, the Yuan family's forces were divided into two divisions: Yuan Shang occupied five counties and states. He had about 50,000 soldiers and horses, but his elite level could no longer be compared with before the Battle of Guandu. It was possible to defend himself, so it was impossible to take the initiative. Yuan Tan occupied the two countries, with nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses, and he was hiding in Hebei. He did not dare to move.

The Dragon Wolf Army's spring offensive has come to an end.

In the same month, a big war also occurred in Huainan. The big war occurred between Cao Cao and Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu's power fell sharply in the fourth year of Jian'an. Since he was usurped and became emperor, he was attacked by Lu Bu and Cao Cao one after another. Later, his subordinate Sun Ce rebelled and even gave him a heavy blow. Sun Ce first broke away from Yuan Shu in Jiangdong and then expelled Yuan Yin, the prefect of Danyang appointed by Yuan Shu, and then obtained Guangling prefect Wu Jing and the commander Sun Ben, who joined forces, which caused Yuan Shu to lose large areas of land such as Danyang and Jiangdong, and his power was greatly reduced. At this time, Yuan Shu had only half of Yangzhou left.

Anyone can see that Yuan Shu was about to follow his brother's footsteps and his power was about to fall. At this time, the person who was taking advantage of the situation came, Cao Cao.

Shouchun, Yangzhou, where Yuan Shu was located, was a place of four battles. Huaibei had a force under Ma Han, the governor of Xuzhou, Mi Zhu, there was Cao Cao in Yuzhou, and to the south of Huainan, there was an independent Sun Ce; to the southwest was Liu Biao in Jingzhou.

Among these four major forces, Mi Zhu is the weakest and is still barely able to protect himself. In addition, Xuzhou's powerful men are mostly conservatives. Without the order from Luoyang, they would never cross the river. Sun Ce's wings are getting richer and his strength is increasing day by day. However, as a former subordinate of Yuan Shu, he could betray and abandon his master, but he would never dare to fight back. As for Liu Biao in Jingzhou, he was also the one who did not offend me and I would not offend others. Therefore, there was only Cao Cao who really threatened Yuan Shu.

In the early spring of the fourth year of Jian'an, Yuan Shu sent Yan Xiang to the Central Government to take charge of the army, and brought tens of thousands of stones of grain and rice and money to Qiao County, hoping to form an alliance with Cao Cao.

Qiao County is Cao Cao's hometown, so after Cao Cao occupied Yuzhou, he moved the prefecture from Runan to this place.

Yan Xiang's words were made, and the central idea was that Yuan and Cao were both threatened by the Mars. When this crisis was happening, they should work together to give up their past grudges and unite to fight against the horse.

Cao Cao looked at him and said nothing.

Finally, the hardcore royalist Xun Yu responded with a firm tone: "Duke Cao can join the princes of the world, but Yuan Gonglu is not in the alliance!"

Yan Xiang returned in disappointment, and Yuan Shu was having a big banquet for guests at that time. When he heard the news, he turned over the table.

But Yuan Shu never expected that Cao Cao not only refused to form an alliance, but also raised his knife to him, and the time to choose was insidious.

On the fifth day of the third month, Yan Xiang and his party who had been on the mission to Yuzhou had just crossed the Huai River and returned. Unexpectedly, there were thousands of Cao troops behind him.

Cao Cao took the new General Li Feng, Cao Hong, as the main general, and the captain Zhu Ling, as the Sima of another unit. He led 7,000 infantry and cavalry, stepped on the tail of Yan Xiang and his party, and took advantage of the unprepared Yuan army to break through the Huai River defense line and attack Dangtu.

Yuan Shu was shocked and Shouchun was shocked. Dangtu was only more than a hundred miles away from Shouchun, and it can be said that he had hit the doorstep.

Yuan Shu urgently dispatched troops and generals, Liu Xun, the emperor of Huainan (i.e. Jiujiang County), led 5,000 troops to Xiquyang, and unified command of Xia Cai, Xiquyang, Yinling and Zhongli Zhucheng troops to form an arc-shaped defense line.

At the same time, Yuan Shu also accepted the advice of Yuan Yin and Yan Xiang, and sent General Chen Lan, stationed in Shucheng, Lujiang, to lead 3,000 troops to Longshu to meet with another general Lei Bo, and jointly attacked, crossed the Huai River, and repelled Cao's army's rear route, Long Kang, and attempted to encircle Cao Hong and Zhu Ling on all sides. Even if they were not good, they would force him to retreat.

Chen Lan led his army to Longshu and Lei Bo to join forces, and the two armies joined 7,000 troops and headed north according to the instructions. Everything seemed as planned and seemed normal. But when the army had just walked dozens of miles and was about to arrive at the county, Chen Lan and Lei Bo ordered the county magistrate to provide a large amount of food and grass.

The county magistrate of the storm said that the army had just started to be deployed and there was no need for too much food and grass, and the county magistrate did not have so much food and grass. But as soon as he finished speaking, Lei Bo suddenly drove forward, drew his sword and cut off the head of the county magistrate of the storm, and then he led his troops to plunder.

Subsequently, the two generals Chen and Lei announced their separation from Yuan Shu, led 7,000 troops and threatened thousands of people from the county, and fled into the Dabie Mountains branch, and the officers and soldiers were not good at being bandits.

When Yuan Shu heard the news, he trembled all over, drew his sword and chopped him up, and even chopped a maid who sent honey water to death. If it had been two years earlier, Chen and Lei dared to rebel, and a large army would have gone directly to crush him to death. But once and forth, Yuan Shu was really powerless at the moment.

Fortunately, after the bad news, good news came: Seeing that it was impossible to break through the Yuan army's defense line, Cao's army burned Dangtu City, plundered the people's property in the city to cross north, and returned to Huaibei.

The first conflict between Cao Cao and Yuan Shu in the fourth year of Jian'an ended.

...

"Cao Mengde is indeed smart. It is indeed good to take the initiative first. Although he failed to defeat Yuan Shu, I believe that in the next autumn and winter season, Cao's army will launch a second or even a third attack again."

In Luoyang's cavalry general's mansion, Ma Han was analyzing the causes of the battle in Huainan with his think tank members.

Why did Cao Cao fight Yuan Shu? It was not that their horoscopes were inconsistent, but that Yuan Shu's usurpation of the throne had already nailed him to the opposite side of the Han court. If this person was not eliminated in one day, it would definitely become an excellent excuse for Ma Han to move south to annex the southern princes. With Cao Cao's cleverness, how could he not understand this?

Cao Cao launched the battle in Huainan to defeat Yuan Shu, which could not only obtain his troops, food and territory, but also eliminate this major hidden danger. It was a killing of two birds with one stone. However, the famous generals and soldiers under Cao Cao had lost too much, and Yuan Shu had not yet reached the end of the country. Although he had gained temporary benefits, his successors were weak, and the two sides were in a stalemate and each withdrew their troops.

Although this battle did not achieve the expected results, it can be foreseen that Cao Cao would never give up and would try his best to wipe out Yuan Shu before Ma Han unifies Hebei. Ma Han could only secretly hope that Yuan Shu would support him for a while, but he would never have any practical support.

Guo Jia agreed with this and further explained: "If the Cao army launches the second battle in Huainan, it will definitely join forces with Liu Jingsheng and Liu Xuande to attack from the west and north. However, Sun Bofu from Jiangdong may not dare to face the former master, and most likely will be on the sidelines."

Jia Xu smiled and said, "Liu Xuande will definitely join forces with Cao Mengde. As for Liu Jingsheng, it depends on whether the pressure the lord puts him enough."

Ma Han looked north and said meaningfully: "The pressure must be enough... Well, Gongda stayed in Jingzhou for the longest time, and it should be judged whether Cao and Liu could have an alliance."

Xun You pondered a little and gave an unexpected answer: "The Jingzhou family may not be willing to be enemies with their lords, but it is also relevant to the interests of destroying Yuan Shu. With You's understanding of Liu Jingsheng, the most likely countermeasure is to transfer Nanyang Zhang Xiu's troops and Cao Mengde to fight together."

As soon as Xun You said this, he immediately received praise from Ma Han, Jia Xu, Guo Jia and others, and agreed that this was the most likely countermeasure to Jingzhou.
Chapter completed!