My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 826: Desperate Cao thief, marching west to survive

"Yuan Rang! It was I who harmed you!"

Shortly after Bingzhou was captured by Liu Bei's army, news of the fall of Jinyang City spread back to Chang'an and Hongnong.

When Cao Cao, who was in Hongnong, heard the news, he couldn't help but feel sad.

Of the brothers of the same generation who had joined him in the uprising, not a single one is left.

Xiahou Yuan died in Hanzhong many years ago, Cao Hong died when he lost Jizhou, Cao Ren died when Luoyang City fell, and now Xiahou Dun died in Jinyang again.

Cao Cao no longer had any trusted cousins with military talent. In the final battle, he could only fight in person, with the help of some of Cao's nephews and nieces.

Even among his sons and nephews, many have died. Cao Zhen died at Hulao Pass, and Xiahou Shang died long ago in Baxi. Only Cao Zhang and Cao Xiu are still alive. The rest, Xiahou Ba and Xiahou Mao, have not been tested, and it is unknown how good they are as generals.

Among the other generals with different surnames, only Le Jin was left with some reputation. Even Li Dian died in the Battle of Heluo, earlier than Cao Ren.

Finally, there are some second-generation talents of generals from other families, such as Le Jin's son Le Chen, who is now in his twenties and serving in the army. Xu Chu's son Xu Yi, who died in battle, and Pang De's son Pang Hui are both passable.

From now on, we can only rely on those civil servants of the Sima family, who are now being used to lead troops to plug the loopholes.

The situation has reached its extreme with few soldiers and generals and a lack of talented people.

Therefore, in the late autumn of the second year of Huangchu, Cao Cao had to consider further accelerating his plan.

"Once Hedong and Bingzhou are lost, it will be meaningless to continue to defend Hangu Pass. Once the defense line of Linjin is broken by the enemy troops in Pubanjin next year and a solid beachhead is established, the enemy troops may detour to the back of Huayin at any time and cut off our retreat route from Tongguan to Hongnong and Hangu.

No matter how many troops are left in Hangu and Hongnong, they will just be surrounded by the enemy and sent prisoners. For now, instead of leaving more troops here, it is better to pile up the troops in Linjin so that the Yellow River defense line can be maintained longer.

As for Hangu Pass, if Liu Bei doesn't attack, then that's fine. If he really attacks, just leave it to him. Buy some time and use the Xiaohan Pass to retreat step by step."

Shortly after confirming the death of Xiahou Dun, Cao Cao had this thought in mind and quickly made up his mind.

He was reluctant to abandon Hangu Pass and Hongnong without leaving a single soldier behind. After all, these places could be used to trade space for time and delay Liu Bei. Moreover, the Xiao-Han Pass was narrow enough that there was no way around it. As long as Tongguan at the back was not stolen, the troops in front would not be detoured and cut off from their way back.

However, Cao Cao's bottom line was to retain only the minimum number of troops to ensure that he could escape as quickly as possible if he was defeated by a strong attack.

The limit of the number of troops is to ensure that if Linjin is breached, we can get the news and run away immediately, and ensure that we can retreat to Tongguan. We cannot have too many people or too much leftover supplies, which will not be transported away in time and eventually fall into the hands of the enemy.

Cao Cao estimated that after the Battle of Bingzhou, Liu Bei should be a little tired, and the heavy snow in winter blocked the mountains, making it unsuitable for attacking, so Liu Bei would probably not attack this winter.

But after the spring of next year, Liu Bei will inevitably force a crossing of the Yellow River between Pubanjin and Linjin. At that time, Hangu Pass and Hongnong will have to be abandoned one after another.

As for Cao Cao, since he announced at the beginning of this year that Cao Pi would be the regent and purged a group of internal disobedients, coupled with the fact that Gan Ning and Wang Ping had tied up a lot of his troops in the summer, it took a lot of effort to plug the gap in Longxi again.

So in the past six months of this year, Cao Cao actually didn't accomplish much. Instead, he was always led by Liu Bei like a fire brigade.

There is nothing that can be done about it, since the house is already in a precarious position and has leaks everywhere.

At this point, all the leaks were finally blocked, but there were no enclaves on the periphery where troops could be left to guard. Cao Cao only had one last piece of territory to defend.

Cao Cao knew that if he continued to focus on plugging the leaks and stabilizing the situation, he would end up with nothing left. Now was the time to launch a plan to escape by marching west, so that he could leave some seeds for the Cao family.

"Zi Huan has been acting as regent as the crown prince for more than half a year. In the first month of next year, I will pass the throne to him and let him take charge of all government affairs. Then I will personally lead the army as the emperor emeritus to defend Linjin and Tongguan.

Then let Ziwen (Cao Zhang) lead the army to the west and try to open up a road to escape to the Western Regions. Now it is late autumn, which is not conducive to a long expedition, but we can first go to Wuwei and other places to eliminate the Qiang people who are invading there. When the spring comes and the weather gets warmer next year, we will try to recover Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Yumen Pass.

How far we can go in the future depends on how long I can hold on here and how much more time I can buy for Ziwen."

Cao Cao had already made up his mind. He had no intention of discussing the issue with anyone else and was prepared to make the decision on his own.

Because he knew that no matter how he discussed this matter with anyone, he would not get support, because for anyone who was not a member of the Cao family, this matter would not benefit them, but only the Cao family.

When Liu Bei attacked, the ministers and generals of other surnames could still choose to surrender and would not die. But the Cao family could not surrender, they could only struggle to survive.

If the civil and military officials from other families were asked to go to foreign lands to fight for the chance to survive for the Cao family, they would certainly encounter numerous obstacles. Those people were bound to persuade Cao Cao to restrain himself, focus on defending Guanzhong, and slowly manage the situation, and use those tricks to stabilize him.

Therefore, matters of this kind can only be decided by the Cao family.

However, Cao Cao was also well aware that the Western Expedition would occupy his already limited manpower and military supplies, and would also make the front battlefield more likely to collapse when Liu Bei attacked the following year, but Cao Cao had no choice.

He now barely had nearly 100,000 soldiers left. After much deliberation, Cao Cao decided to recruit another wave of local militia. After the autumn harvest, he would mobilize a group of idle farmers to defend the place. This would free up more field troops to participate in the Western Expedition.

After final consideration, Cao Cao decided to assign 40,000 troops to Cao Zhang and Cao Xiu to lead the Western Expedition.

Xu Yi, the son of the deceased Xu Chu, was also quite brave, so Cao Cao asked him to follow Cao Zhang and serve as a guard or a vanguard, in short, to be responsible for Cao Zhang's safety.

Le Jin's son Le Chen also went with him. This was to make Le Jin still contribute in the final defense of Guanzhong to prevent him from defecting. Leaving his son as a hostage was also a gesture of goodwill to Le Jin.

Let him know, "No matter whether you surrender or not in the future, or which side you bet on, your son who goes to a foreign land can at least survive, leaving another branch of your Le family to expand and spread your bets."

……

After figuring all this out, Cao Cao quickly began to adjust personnel and military deployments.

He immediately called Cao Zhang over and explained his overall plan.

After hearing this, Cao Zhang was also quite surprised. It's not that he thought that the troops should not be sent to the west, but he felt that the weather was about to get cold, and the soldiers would definitely not be able to adapt to fighting in the bitter cold of the northwest.

But Cao Cao reminded his son: "It is a taboo to use troops in winter, but since ancient times, our Han emperors have never chosen this time to attack the Rongdi in the north. The Rongdi leaders must have been accustomed to it, so they neglected to take precautions.

I didn't ask you to open up the Western Regions immediately. Before winter comes and the snow and wind get stronger, you should first clear out the areas west of Wuwei to prepare for next year. When the weather gets warmer, you can fight all the way to Yumen Pass. What's the difficulty?
I have been fighting with Liu Bei for more than ten years. Now the military strength of the four barbarians is nothing compared to the troops of the Han people. The Qiang people still don't even have iron stirrups. Even if they fight as cavalry, they can't match our army!

Besides, when we Han cavalry fought in the past, we had to consider logistical supplies and communication with the court in the rear. We had to fight and build and operate along the way.

This time, you can go for it with the idea of going all out. Remember to bring more craftsmen and clerks with you. When you arrive at a place in the future, you must be prepared to establish long-term rule there and form your own team. Don't think about contacting the court anymore.

Therefore, you can still manage those forward strongholds inside Yumen Pass a little. If we fight our way out to the west of Yumen Pass in the future, there will be no need to talk about morality. Even if we encounter Hu tribes along the way, we can just slaughter them all, capture all the survivors as slaves, and take away all the supplies and food with the army and burn them to the ground. It doesn’t matter. As long as we don’t care about the retreat, don’t think about contacting the court, and go into battle lightly and kill wherever we go, the army will not be so cumbersome and will be much easier. Moreover, there is no Han people outside Yumen Pass. Even if there are Hu tribes that once submitted to the court, they were no longer under the control of the Han court as early as the time of Emperors Huan and Ling. I will not feel sorry for killing as many of these people who do not obey the king’s rule as possible. You must be mentally prepared for this.”

Cao Cao's coaxing and encouragement finally boosted Cao Zhang's confidence.

Those who have played the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" strategy game in later generations know that in all previous games, the two westernmost counties on the Three Kingdoms map were only Wuwei and Anding.

As for Jiuquan and Zhangye, these places theoretically belonged to the four counties of the Hexi Corridor in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but they will not be reflected in the game at all, because as early as the Huanling period or even earlier, the Eastern Han court could not control those places.

The Xiliang Qiang Rebellion at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was no joke. Even when Ma Teng and Han Sui were at their most powerful, they only controlled the area around Wuwei.

Cao Cao asked Cao Zhang to march westward in stages and according to plan. This year, he should first completely restore control over the area around Wuwei and build a springboard for attack. Then he could launch a general attack in the spring of next year. Everything would then seem more reliable.

More importantly, Cao Cao pointed out a long-standing concern in Cao Zhang's heart, which was the difficulty of "worrying about logistical difficulties in the expedition."

What the Cao family is pursuing now is no longer to incorporate the Western Regions into the territory ruled by the Han people, but to escape and "change homes."

Since even the family could be moved there, they could eat wherever they went, and even burn, kill, and plunder the Hu people along the way. Naturally, most of the logistical problems would be solved.

Moreover, Cao Cao had another idea, but because it was too dark, he had not told Cao Zhang about it until now, and there was no need to tell him - because this idea would not affect its execution whether he said it or not, so it was better to have less trouble than more.

What Cao Cao was thinking was: Even if there were too many murders and too much brutality on the way to the Western Expedition, it would not cause any harm to the Cao family. Instead, it would prevent Liu Bei from pursuing us in the future.

Because when Cao's army passed by, they killed the Hu people and robbed supplies along the way, leaving hundreds of miles of uninhabited area outside Yumen Pass. When Liu Bei's pursuers came again in the future, they would not be able to find any supply points along the way.

All the tribes that could provide supplies and trade along the way were killed by Cao Cao, so Liu Bei could only bring his own supplies. This would greatly delay Liu Bei's pursuit. Even if Liu Bei finally decided to pursue, he would definitely have to spend a few years recuperating and storing supplies in the northwest.

Of course, Cao Cao was also very clear that if he himself fled to the Western Expedition, Liu Bei would definitely hunt him down to death at all costs and would never give up no matter how great the cost.

Therefore, Cao Cao himself must live and die with Chang'an.

Only he himself did not run away, and only Cao Zhang ran away. That's why Liu Bei didn't go to such lengths to hunt him down immediately, making the whole country poor and destitute, just for Cao Zhang.

……

After hearing his father's arrangements, Cao Zhang immediately went to Longxi to make final arrangements before the expedition.

It just so happened that Cao's army had completely eliminated Gan Ning's harassment in the direction of Longxi. As the weather turned colder in late autumn, the Qinling Mountains were about to enter a season of heavy snow and the mountains would be closed. It would be impossible for Gan Ning to show up again until April next year.

This half year is just the right time for Cao Zhang to make a last gamble and attack Wuwei first.

And Cao Zhang did exactly that, and subsequent progress was smooth.

In the winter of the second year of Huangchu (the first year of Zhangwu), Cao Zhang made a small effort. Relying on the absolutely overwhelming gap in weapons technology and the elite cavalry trained in bloody battles in the Central Plains, he wiped out most of the Qiang tribes in the eastern half of the Hexi Corridor.

The Qiang chieftains were either killed or integrated and sent into exile.

Cao Cao only had to defend his home afterwards, so he left almost no cavalry for himself, and gave at least 80% of the remaining cavalry to Cao Zhang, Cao Xiu and Xu Yi for the Western Expedition.

After Cao Zhang took action, a small episode occurred within Cao Cao's camp. Pang Hui, the son of Pang De, submitted a petition requesting to serve as Cao Zhang's vanguard and to join him in the western expedition to pacify the Qiang people and even to pacify the entire Western Regions in the future.

Pang Hui made such a request, of course, because he knew that he had killed Ma Teng's entire family. If he did not run away, but stayed to guard Guanzhong with Cao Cao, if Cao Cao was defeated in the future, he would definitely be liquidated by Ma Chao.

He originally pledged his allegiance to Cao Cao in the hope that Cao Cao would take him with him when he went on the Western Expedition.

Of course, these reasons could not be stated openly, so the written reason Pang wrote in the letter was simply "My father and I have been in Xiliang for a long time, and we know the nature of the Qiang and Hu people well. If we can contribute to the Western Expedition, we will be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort."

As soon as Pang Hui submitted his memorial, Cao Cao knew what he was thinking.

However, it was not easy for Cao Cao to refuse openly at the moment, so he replied with approval first, pretending to be submissive, and invited Pang Hui to come to Chang'an to meet him and receive the troops.

Cao Cao's decree roughly said, "We still have several thousand newly assembled cavalrymen in Chang'an, who were originally intended to be sent as the second batch of reinforcements to Ziwen, but we lack a general familiar with Xiliang affairs to lead them." He asked Pang Hui to come to Chang'an to take over and give him the military power of this army.

In order to prevent the soldiers from not knowing their generals and the generals from not knowing their soldiers, the handover must be carried out in front of the emperor.

After Pang Hui received the imperial edict, he did not doubt it too much.

Because he knew very well that if Cao Cao really intended to give him a cavalry unit that was not originally from Xiliang,
However, he himself did not have enough prestige, so he had to receive clear orders from the emperor, and Cao Cao had to speak to the cavalry unit in person and ask them to obey Pang Hui. Only then would Pang Hui be able to keep the situation under control.

So Pang Hui took a small number of personal soldiers and trusted officers and went to Chang'an in winter.

As a result, after arriving in Chang'an, Cao Cao changed his mind.

"The military situation was urgent and the war situation had changed. Guan Yu actually planned to cross the Yellow River at Pubanjin in the cold winter.

Pang Hui, you must immediately take these three thousand cavalrymen and go to Linjin to reinforce Sima Yi. Assist Sima Yi in blocking the defense line along the Yellow River and make sure Guan Yu is not allowed to go ashore!

After Guan Yu gives up the landing, it won’t be too late for you to go to Wuwei to assist Ziwen! "

When Pang Hui heard this arrangement, he was immediately dumbfounded.

Didn't the decree clearly state that he was here to assist Cao Zhang in his western expedition? Why did he change his mind after arriving and instead assist Sima Yi in defending the Yellow River defense line?
But since they had already arrived in Chang'an, Pang Hui could not openly disobey the order, so he had to say that he was not very knowledgeable and did not know much else.
It’s just that I happen to be more professional in dealing with Western Qiang affairs. I hope Your Majesty can make the best use of their talents and put me in a position where I can best utilize my strengths.

As a result, Cao Cao seized the opportunity and turned against him.

"Pang Hui! You are disobeying my order. Are you planning to take over the army? Come and capture him! Hand over his former troops to other generals!"

Are you kidding? How could Cao Cao let someone like Pang Hui go to the Western Regions?

If Pang Hui went to the Western Regions, Ma Chao would chase him there at all costs, wouldn't that cause trouble for Cao Zhang?
Therefore, since Pang Hui is unwilling to lead troops to defend Chang'an or Linjin, let him stay in the prison of Chang'an City and live and die with Chang'an City.

He should feel honored to be able to accompany Emperor Cao Cao and share the fate of the capital.

(End of this chapter)