The Three Kingdoms become stronger when they get treasures

Chapter 83 Yuan Tan's Careful Thoughts

When Yuan Tan heard this, he thought it was a good strategy, killing two birds with one stone!So he asked: "Who will you send to see Cao Cao?"

Guo Tu said: "Xin Ping's younger brother, Xin Pi, whose name is Zuo Zhi, is now the county magistrate of Pingyuan. He can speak well. Let him be an emissary to see Cao Cao."

Yuan Tan called Xin Pi over and asked him if he would like to do this errand. Xin Pi was actually a pro-Cao faction and had long wanted to join Cao Cao, so he readily agreed when he heard about it.Yuan Tan then wrote a letter and sent three thousand soldiers to escort Simpi out of the city.

After leaving the city, Xinpi took the letter and rushed to see Cao Cao overnight.Cao Cao was angry that Liu Biao dared to send troops to harass the rear when he attacked Jizhou, and planned to send troops to teach Liu Biao a lesson. When the army marched to Xiping, Simpi arrived.

Cao Cao summoned Simpi and asked him why he came. Simpi told Cao Cao that Yuan Tan had asked Cao Cao to send troops to attack Jizhou, and handed over the letter written by Yuan Tan to Cao Cao.

After Cao Cao read the letter, he left Simpi in the army, and then called his subordinates Wenwu to discuss.

Cheng Yu said: "Yuan Tan was so anxious to be attacked by Yuan Shang that he had to surrender. It's unbelievable."

Lu Qian and Man Chong also said: "Since my lord has led the troops here, how can he give up attacking Liu Biao and help Yuan Tan?"

At this time, Xun You said: "What the three of you said just now is wrong! In my opinion, the world is experiencing troubled times, but Liu Biao is sitting between the Jiang and Han, and has no ambition to annex the Quartet. The Yuan family occupies the territories of the four states. There are hundreds of thousands of troops. If his two sons live in harmony and stick to their foundation together, then the development trend of the world is really hard to say. Now that the Yuan brothers are attacking each other, Yuan Tan can't beat Yuan Shang and come to defect, we should take advantage of it This opportunity is to get rid of Yuan Shang first, and then get rid of Yuan Tan according to the situation, the world will be peaceful, this opportunity must not be lost!"

Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard Xun You's analysis, so he invited Xin Pi to come over for a drink, and wanted to get more information. Cao Cao asked, "Is Yuan Tan really surrendering or a false surrender? If I send troops to attack Yuan Shang now, will I be able to win?" "

Simpi replied: "Duke Ming, you don't have to ask whether Yuan Tan's surrender is true or not. You just need to see the current situation clearly. The Yuan family has lost battles in the past two years, and the soldiers are exhausted. Yuan Shao himself punished his loyal advisers." Killed, and now the Yuan brothers are killing each other again, splitting the whole group into two hostile groups. Years of wars coupled with natural and man-made disasters, the people in Jizhou have no food. Now the people in Hebei know that the Yuan family is about to die It’s about to fall apart, this is heaven’s plan to destroy Yuan’s family! Now if Duke Ming sends troops to attack Yecheng, Yuan Shang will lose his lair if he doesn’t go back to rescue, and Yuan Tan will follow him to harass him if he goes back to rescue. , Attacking Yuan Shang's exhausted army is not like the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves! If Duke Ming gives up this opportunity and instead goes to attack Liu Biao, then Jingzhou is a land of abundance and joy, the country and the people are smooth, and it will not be able to defeat it in a short time What's more, for Minggong, the biggest disaster is Hebei, as long as Minggong decides Hebei, it will become a hegemony, I hope Minggong will think about it carefully!"

Cao Cao was overjoyed and said, "You are so right, I only regret that I met Xin Zuozhi so late!"

So Cao Cao immediately ordered the army to turn around and attack Jizhou.

When the news came, Yuan Shang was so frightened that he quickly led his army back to Yecheng and ordered generals Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang to cut off the rear.Yuan Tan saw Yuan Shang withdrawing his troops, so he led his army to chase after him. The army marched for dozens of miles. When a cannon rang, Lu Kuang on the left and Lu Xiang on the right, the two brothers intercepted Yuan Tan.

Yuan Tan stopped and said: "When my father was alive, I never treated the two generals slowly. Why do I help my younger brother so much now?"

After hearing this, Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang got off their horses and asked to surrender. Yuan Tan said, "I have surrendered to Duke Cao now. Don't surrender to me. I will take you to see Duke Cao together!"

Yuan Tan invited the two generals to meet Cao Cao. Overjoyed, Cao Cao betrothed his daughter to Yuan Tan on the spot. He also appointed Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang as Marquis, and brought them to his army for use.

Yuan Tan asked Cao Cao to attack Jizhou. Cao Cao said that the army came in a hurry and the food and grass could not keep up. He temporarily retreated to Liyang and ordered Yuan Tan to return to the plain to guard and wait for the food and grass to arrive before attacking Jizhou.

Guo Tu said to Yuan Tan: "Although Cao Cao betrothed his daughter to you, I'm afraid it was not his real intention. Now that he has rewarded Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang, this is to buy the hearts of the people in Hebei. If we attack us, my lord, why not engrave two seals of the general, secretly reward Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang, and order them to act as internal support, and when Cao Cao defeats Yuan Shang, he will take advantage of the opportunity!"

Yuan Tan followed Guo Tu's suggestion, engraved two general seals, and secretly gave them to Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang. Who knew that the Lu brothers really wanted to join Cao Cao, and brought the seal to Cao Cao. I said it.

Cao Cao laughed and said, "Yuan Tan gave you the big seal because he wants you to be an internal response. After I defeat Yuan Shang, he wants to take advantage of me! You take it first, and I have my own opinion on this matter." Since then, Cao Cao has been With the determination to kill Yuan Tan.

It's ridiculous that although Yuan Tan and Guo Tu have small cleverness and small schemes, they are definitely not opponents when facing Cao Cao and many first-class advisers under Cao Cao.When Cao Cao was a powerful foreign enemy, you Yuan Tan was still fighting for power and profit with your younger brother Yuan Shang, killing each other, and even surrendering to your father's greatest enemy in order to eliminate your younger brother. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Yuan Tan will die.

Guo Tu is a selfish villain. When Cao Cao attacked Wuchao, Guo Tu came up with an idea but was adopted by Yuan Shao. As a result, the food and grass were not rescued, and Zhang Yun and Gao Lan who were sent to attack Cao Ying were also defeated.In order to get rid of his responsibility, Guo Tu forced Zhang He and Gao Lan to surrender to Cao Cao.

It can be said that half of the responsibility for Yuan Shao's failure lies with Guo Tu. With such a person as a counselor, Yuan Tan is not far from death.

After Yuan Shang and Guo Tu found out the news, they ordered Yin Kai to station in Maocheng to open up the grain road with Shangdang, and ordered Juhu, the son of Jushou, to guard Handan, echoing each other from afar.Yuan Shang, on the other hand, stayed in Jizhou with Chen Lin to guard Jizhou, and personally led troops to attack Pingyuan, intending to destroy Yuan Tan first, and then return to a decisive battle with Cao Cao.

When Yuan Tan saw Yuan Shang coming to attack, he sent someone to warn Cao Cao. Cao Cao said happily, "I will definitely be able to capture Jizhou this time!"

It happened that Xu You came from Xuchang. When he saw Cao Cao, he said, "My lord sits here every day. Do you want to wait for God to strike two thunderbolts to kill Yuan Shao's son?"

Cao Cao smiled and said, "Don't worry, I've already made up my mind." So Cao Cao ordered Cao Hong to attack Yecheng, and he himself led an army to attack Yin Kai.

Yin Kai led his troops out to resist, but was killed by Xu Chu. After Cao Cao recruited Yin Kai's subordinates, he reined in his troops and went to Handan.Juhu also led his troops to the enemy, but was killed by Zhang Liao.

After solving the enemy forces on the periphery and cutting off the food roads and reinforcements in Yecheng, Cao Cao led the main force to Jizhou and began to besiege Yecheng, the last home of the Yuan family.

(End of this chapter)