Chapter 1156: Li Zicheng, the King of Breaking
Chapter 1154: Li Zicheng, the King of Breaking
Li Zicheng knew very well that among the major princes of Yanzhou, Cao Cao was his biggest enemy, so he decided to help the Yanzhou princes and princes alliance with one arm.
Li Zicheng took the initiative to lend a helping hand at this time, which naturally made the Yanzhou princes alliance overjoyed. After all, they were already forced to an unsustainable position by Cao Cao, so there was no reason to refuse. The two sides quickly concluded a covenant to join forces to deal with the powerful Cao Cao.
Since ancient times, the Han and the thieves have not yet stood together.
Thinking back to the beginning, the eighteen princes of the Han Dynasty spent all their efforts and sacrificed countless times to finally drive all the Ming forces into the three mountains. Now the princes of Yanzhou have taken the initiative to release Li Zicheng into Yanzhou. This behavior of attracting wolves into the house is simply rebellious.
Cao Cao did not expect that in order to deal with him, the princes of Yanzhou would join forces with the "open and upright" Li Zicheng, the "Ming thief". They were determined and unintentionally attacked by Li Zicheng. Not only did they all fall into the twelve counties of Taishan County, but they also lost 20,000 to 30,000 troops.
The Central Plains region was occupied by the Ming Dynasty for many years. Under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, although the lives of the people in the Central Plains were hard, they still had hope in their hearts. Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty was defeated by the Han Dynasty in the end.
After the Central Plains was recaptured by the Han Dynasty again, although the lives of the people improved, they were not much better than before, which also made many people still look forward to the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
After Li Zicheng''s army invaded Mount Tai, the people spontaneously gathered to support the Ming army.
Seeing that his army was so popular with the people, Li Zicheng also had the confidence to win. So after occupying Taishan County, he moved all 500,000 soldiers and civilians who had hidden in Taishan County, and then he was called the king of Gao County in Taishan Prefecture and called the King of Chuang.
When Li Zicheng hid in Mount Tai, he only took away 300,000 military and civilians, but in recent years, he continued to take in and abduct refugees at the junction of Qing, Yan and Xuzhou. With the encouragement of childbirth, the total population of military and civilians under his command reached 500,000.
Li Zicheng also had the intention to be independent. Although he claimed to be king without authorization, he not only betrayed the Ming Dynasty directly, so he still used the banner of the Ming Dynasty to gain the support and support of the people of Yanzhou.
After becoming king, Li Zicheng personally brought 50,000 rebel troops, and continued to attack Cao Cao''s territory in Yanzhou under the slogan of "equal land and exemption from taxes".
The people of Yanzhou were looking forward to the arrival of the King of Chuang and sang folk songs such as "Open the city gate, welcome the King of Chuang, and do not pay food when the King of Chuang comes."
Originally, the coalition of the Yanzhou princes was above the Cao army, but after several defeats, they were surpassed by the Cao army. With the addition of Li Zicheng''s alien army, it directly damaged the Cao army, which also made the Cao army weak again.
Under the joint attack of the Yanzhou princes coalition and the rebel army, the Cao army, which had just suffered heavy losses, had to turn from attack to defense, but the enemy and our troops were disparate, and the people under their command continued to rebel, which made the city guarded by the Cao army chaotic before the battle.
Soon, Cao''s army retreated to Chenliu County and continued to shrink its defense line. If he retreated like this, Cao''s army would really withdraw from Yingchuan County.
Cao Cao knew that the strength of the enemy and us was too disparate. It was too difficult to defeat the joint efforts of the four princes of Yanzhou and Li Zicheng, and it was too difficult to rely on his own strength. Only by joining external forces can we win quickly.
There are not many forces available for Cao Cao to leverage, there are only three companies, including Tao Qian in Xuzhou, Yuan Shu in Yuzhou, and Qin Hao in Sizhou.
Tao Qian was too busy to take care of himself. Even if he tried his best to defend himself and did not go out of the city to fight Zhu Yuanzhang, it would still be difficult to stop the city from losing territory. Xuzhou has now been eroded by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Yuan Shu is attacking Li Mi to unify Yuzhou. Although Li Mi is afraid of Yuan Shu''s strength, he is not afraid of war. The two sides have their own victory and defeat, and Yuan Shu has a greater victory overall.
As for Qin Hao, Sizhou, regardless of the personal relationship between the Qin and Cao families, although Sizhou has not been unified yet, the situation has become clear.
Therefore, only Qin Hao from Sizhou had the possibility of sending reinforcements to support him, while Cao Cao sent Xun You to seek help as an envoy. Cao Cao''s writing style is excellent. In his words, he seemed to be in danger of Cao''s army. If the Qin army did not provide reinforcements, Cao''s army would probably not last long.
After reading the letter of help in his hand, Qin Hao smiled and asked Liu Bowen: "Military advisor, is the battle situation in Yanzhou really ruined so much?"
Liu Bowen nodded and said, "After Cao Cao''s defeat, his troops had dropped to 80,000. The coalition of the princes of Yanzhou had 70,000 troops, and Li Zicheng only dispatched 50,000 troops."
As he said that, Liu Bowen took out a piece of paper, took a look, and continued with a solemn look on his face: "But according to the information of our military discs, most of the people in the Central Plains are interested in the Ming thieves, so Li Zicheng can quickly expand his army at any time.
Even as long as Li Zicheng is willing, he can expand his army of 200,000 in a short period of time, and he has already conscripted 50,000 new troops to stay in Taishan County. ”
“Hiss…”
Everyone took a breath when they heard this, while Qin Hao chuckled and said, "Wow, there are so many." He seemed to be indifferent.
Pei Ju stood up with a serious face and said, "Lord, with the troops Cao Cao possesses, it is difficult to protect himself without external forces, let alone defeating Li Zicheng and the princes of Yanzhou.
Once Li Zicheng completely occupied Yanzhou, even if Hulao Xiongguan was in hand on the eastern front of our county, it would be a huge threat to our army. ”
"Is it difficult for Cao Cao to protect himself?"
A strange look flashed in Qin Hao''s eyes and he smiled and said, "I can''t see it."
The battle situation in Yanzhou seems to be unfavorable to Cao''s army, but it has not reached the end of the journey. Cao Cao cannot be underestimated and will not be defeated by Li Zicheng so easily.
Besides, although the princes of Yanzhou brought wolves into the house this time, they would not allow Li Zicheng to become bigger. Once Li Zicheng really grew and made them afraid, the princes of Yanzhou might turn against each other, and might help Cao Cao in turn. ”
Pei Ju and Liu Bowen looked at each other. They didn''t expect that the lord would be so optimistic about Cao Cao, but what the lord said did make sense.
The battle situation in Yanzhou seems clear, but in fact it is extremely complicated. There will never be a winner in the short term.
Yanzhou is next to Sizhou. Whether it is Cao Cao or Li Zicheng''s unification of Yanzhou, it is a threat to the Qin army and will definitely restrain part of the Qin army''s forces.
Therefore, for Qin Hao, who is determined to unify the world, the best situation is to let the Cao army and the Chuang army fight endlessly. It is best to fight until Qin Hao unify Hebei and have not yet decided the outcome.
As soon as he thought of this, Qin Hao immediately recruited Cao Cao''s envoy Xun You and declined, "Although the Qin and Cao families have a good relationship, our army is still trapped in Sizhou and cannot extricate themselves. Even the matter of his family has not been resolved. I really don''t have the energy to divide the troops to help others. Please forgive me for your envoy."
Seeing Qin Hao refuse, Xun You couldn''t help but feel anxious and wanted to persuade him again, but Qin Hao didn''t give him a chance to speak.
"Although I can''t help Cao Gong in terms of military strength this time, I can give Cao''s army a free batch of supplies and food to Cao''s army. I hope Cao Gong can overcome this difficulty as soon as possible."
(This chapter ends)