Control your ancestors and create an immortal family starting from the Eastern Han Dynasty

Chapter 85: Cao Cao's death, the opportunity to unify the world has emerged

——The situation has completely reversed.

Cao Ren's defeat caused the complete collapse of Cao Cao's defense line.

Even the Runan battlefield has been affected.

Cao Cao had to retreat.

Now that the State of Chen has been lost, Gu Chen can attack Jizhou from above, Pengcheng from below, or even directly surround Runan.

No matter what the result is, it is something that Cao Cao cannot afford to lose.

He must withdraw his troops.

Faced with the current situation, Cao Cao's hair turned white almost overnight.

I don’t know if it was because he was too sad about Cao Ren’s death, or because his dream was gradually becoming impossible to come true.

From this day on.

Cao Cao no longer had the vigor and vitality he once had, and there was an inexplicable sense of decadence about him.

Everyone was helpless about this.

For any prince, encountering an opponent like Gu Chen is a great misfortune.

What more can they say?
Jingzhou.

Gu Chen's impact in this battle was indeed too great, and it had a fatal effect on the morale of the soldiers under Sun Ce.

Zhuge Liang once again defeated Zhou Yu's fire attack plan in Jiangling.

Sun Ce had to retreat to Jiangdong again.

The situation in the entire world changed completely after Gu Chen completely defeated Cao Ren.

Cao Cao redeployed the defense lines in Liang and Pei counties.

In fact, for Cao Cao.

His current strength is not weak at all. What is really difficult to solve is the gap in people's hearts and military morale.

Gu Chen's reputation as an invincible person has been thoroughly accepted by the people.

Not to mention them, even Cao Cao himself was a little afraid of Gu Chen.

This is the most difficult problem for Cao Cao to solve.

Originally, Gu Yi thought that Gu Chen would take advantage of this opportunity to attack Pengcheng directly and completely eliminate Cao Cao.

But Gu Chen was not in a hurry at all.

He is really like a numb machine that has to arrange everything properly.

Gu Chen was not in a hurry to attack.

Instead, he reorganized the three armies and took this opportunity to stabilize the people's hearts in Yingchuan and Chen State.

Until all of this is done.

Only then did Gu Chen mobilize his troops again and continue to charge towards Liang State along the Chen State.

Although he still had many generals under his command, Cao Cao had no choice but to come in person to take precautions in order to prevent the army from completely losing morale.

Now, for Cao Cao.

He only had one tactic against Gu Chen——

That is to delay Gu Chen!
He was certain that, given the current situation, as long as Gu Chen could not clear the world within his lifetime, the entire world would definitely fall into a stalemate.

By then it will be Gu, Cao, Sun and Liu.

All parties are working together.

Then the Cao family would have hope of turning the tables.

At this point, he has placed all his ambitions on future generations, and this is a measure Cao Cao has no choice but to take.

Fortunately, Gu Chen maintained his attitude of taking action against the aristocratic families from beginning to end.

This attitude can be said to be forcing many nobles to choose Cao Cao, and to a certain extent, it can provide Cao Cao with great help.

But if you want to really stop Gu Chen, it is ultimately a pipe dream.

This battle.

Gu Chenke was not acting alone.

Although his playing style is steady, it will change with the situation.

Now Lu Bu is dead.

Then the troops he left in Bingzhou to guard against Lu Bu could also turn from defense to offense.

In the twelfth year of Jian'an, March;

——Zhang Liao led his army out of Jinyang and attacked Bingzhou.

At the same time, Liu Bei also attacked Pei State from Runan.

The three parties moved together.

This is definitely a fatal blow to Cao Cao today.

Cao Cao could only send his trusted generals and sons to take precautions.

But in the end it was hard to stop.

Zhang Liao was fine, although he was extremely brave, but after all, he had a natural advantage in defending the city.

Moreover, Cao Zhang's bravery is no less than Zhang Liao's.

But Gu Chen and Liu Bei's offensives were different.

The key is--

Sun Ce also died.

The successive defeats finally made his control over Jiangdong gradually unbalanced, especially the emergence of the Jingzhou nobles made many Jiangdong nobles dissatisfied.

Conflicting interests among all parties.

Sun Ce died in an assassination.

Before his death, he handed over his seal to his younger brother Sun Quan.

But even so, it is impossible to directly stabilize the current unbalanced situation in Jiangdong.

Rebellions broke out in various parts of Jiangdong, and civil unrest continued.

It is no longer possible to intervene in the war in Central Plains.

This was definitely a fatal blow to Cao Cao.

How could he possibly withstand the attacks from three sides under such circumstances?
The situation has changed completely!
In just one month, the State of Chen was lost.

Even if Cao Cao is here.

They were unable to stabilize the morale of the army which had been completely broken. The defenders of many cities chose to surrender without a fight as soon as they heard that Gu Chen's army had arrived.

This is bound to affect Cao Cao's defense.

He killed many people, but was unable to stop this decline.

He had no choice but to keep retreating.

The capital was moved to Kaiyang again.

At the same time, he used the terrain to engage in a tug-of-war with Gu Chen.

April;

Pei State was also lost;

The civil unrest in Jiangdong greatly reduced Liu Bei's pressure, allowing him to mobilize more elite troops.

——Especially Guan Yu.

He seemed to be holding his breath.

To him, the generals of Jiangdong were all rats. He just wanted to kill the enemies and make merit with his brothers on the front battlefield.

Since arriving in Runan, he has passed five passes and killed six generals.

This completely caused the Cao army, which had already lost all desire to fight, to collapse.

He helped Liu Bei capture Xiang County, an important town in Pei State.

The entire Yuzhou area was completely lost.

Yanzhou and Yangzhou were separated successively by Gu Chen and Liu Bei, and their troops headed straight for Qingxu.

Bad news will continue to come.

This inevitably caused Cao Cao's health to deteriorate.

But he still insisted on mobilizing troops to guard the areas that were most important to him.

The land of Yangzhou, where his roots were relatively shallow, was directly given to Liu Bei.

Try your best to block Gu Chen's attack.

But the situation remains increasingly tense.

Everyone could feel Cao Cao's decline.

The fluctuations in people's hearts can definitely not be reversed by strict prevention and control!

Rebellions broke out in all directions.

Some local tyrants have even taken the lead and wanted to take this opportunity to surrender to Gu Chen.

Especially in Jizhou.

Although Gu Chen has not yet gone to Jizhou in person, and the Julu Gu family has never taken any action.

However, the expectations of the people of Jizhou for the Gu family still far exceeded Cao Cao's imagination.

Although they did not know Zhang Liao's name, they knew who he was following.

Although Gu Chen never used the name of the Julu Gu family since he started the rebellion.

But his surname is also Gu!

This is a natural advantage for the people of Jizhou.

Especially in recent years, Gu Chen’s systems in various states have made countless people in the world yearn for him.

Cao Cao's situation was like a lone boat in the stormy waves, on the verge of collapse.

Pressures from all sides surged like a tidal wave, making him feel like a trapped beast in a thorn bush. Every struggle was mercilessly cut by sharp thorns. In this desperate situation surrounded by enemies on all sides, if he was not careful, he would be completely swallowed up by the darkness.

And this day did not last long. It was in the sixth month of the twelfth year of Jian'an.

Cao Cao's most trusted advisor Guo Jia suddenly died of illness.

It was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, causing Cao Cao to fall completely.

Pengcheng, the Taifu Mansion.

The atmosphere among the ministers was extremely solemn. Everyone's face was filled with worry, and some even couldn't help shedding tears.

At this time, Cao Ang finally hurried back.

"Father!!!"

He shouted anxiously and rushed into the inner hall, where he saw Cao Cao lying on the bed with only his last breath left.

The next moment, he knelt down.

"Father!!!"

Looking at Cao Cao now, Cao Ang was completely stunned.

Tears kept rolling down his eyes.

He really couldn't accept that his father, who was once full of vigor and capable of doing anything, would end up like this.

"Zixiu."

Cao Cao slowly opened his eyes, looked at Cao Ang, and forced himself to sit up.

But he was indeed too weak at this time.

Even getting up was difficult.

Seeing this scene, Cao Ang felt even more sad. He hurried forward to help Cao Cao up, and his body couldn't help but tremble.

"Why are you crying?"

Cao Cao smiled calmly and slowly reached out to help Cao Ang wipe the tears from his eyes: "Even people like Lord Gu, Marquis Wencheng, and even Emperor Guangwu and Emperor Ming will die."

"Not to mention I am Cao Cao?"

There was no fear of death on his face, only worry about the afterlife and a little bit of unwillingness.

"Father!"

Cao Ang held Cao Cao's hand instead, the sadness on his face not diminishing at all.

Cao Cao looked at his eldest son like this.

The expression on his face became more complicated.

He took a deep breath and then spoke again: "Zixiu."

"You are my eldest son."

"I will let you inherit my position, so don't blame your father."

Cao Cao's tone became inexplicably serious, and his eyes were fixed on Cao Ang.

"Father, don't worry."

Cao Ang nodded without hesitation: "I will never let my father down. I will do my best to seize the destiny of the Cao family. If I fail, I will definitely protect the clan!"

His tone was extremely strong.

Cao Cao had already told him this.

The Cao family has come to this day, but it is not completely without any way out.

After all, Cao Cao had never participated in the aristocratic family's secret attack on Gu Xi, nor had he ever taken action against the Gu family of Julu.

At this point, he has no way out.

But the Cao clan still exists!

It's nothing more than giving up interests and forgetting all hatred.

Although it is not known whether all this will work, this is the last arrangement Cao Cao can make for his descendants and clan.

Hearing this, Cao Cao finally nodded slightly.

He didn't say anything else.

Perhaps because of a last burst of energy, he suddenly felt that his body had regained some strength.

Cao Cao slowly stood up and walked out of the hall without saying any nonsense.

Under the surprised eyes of everyone.

He had someone announce the decree he had already made, formally handed over his inheritance to Cao Ang, and told him about his arrangements after his death.

"I have traversed the world throughout my life, fought countless battles, and finally achieved hegemony."

"Now that the deadline is approaching, it is difficult to recover from the many regrets."

"."

The cries continued to ring out.

All the descendants of the Cao family were extremely sad.

But Cao Cao had no fear of death from beginning to end, and even spoke casually about his own funeral.

Everyone listened very attentively.

The voice gradually faded.

The entire hall gradually became crystal-clear.

Cao Cao looked at the sunlight outside the hall, as if he had suddenly made a decision.

Then, under the astonished gaze of everyone.

Cao Cao went straight out of the hall.

He asked someone to bring his mount, and then, without caring about anything else, he rode straight out of the city.

"Father!"

Cao Ang and a group of civil and military officials were completely stunned.

While shouting, he hurriedly chased after him.

Cao Cao ignored him and rode his horse straight out of the city until he stopped on a high slope beside the Si River.

——The setting sun is blood-red.

Look at the rushing river in front of you; look at the bright world in the distance.

Under the setting sun, everything is so charming.

At this moment, countless thoughts kept flashing through his mind.

Everyone will think back on his or her life before dying.

Cao Cao had already forgotten when his ambition was born.

Perhaps it was the day he heard of Gu Xi's death, or perhaps it was the day he defeated the arrogant Yuan Shao and became the most powerful prince in the world.

His original ideal was just to become the General of the Western Expedition of the Han Dynasty.

Clear out the thieves in the world and bring the entire Han Dynasty to the peak like the three ministers of the Gu family, and bring the entire family to the peak.

But now everything is contrary to what it was before.

Cao Cao couldn't help but think of a question, and silently asked himself in his heart: Do you regret it?

But almost instantly, he shook his head.

What is there to regret?

Looking at the world today, if there were no Gu family and no Gu Chen, who among the princes of the world could stop him?
Thinking of this——

He couldn't help but burst out laughing again.

Such achievements are enough for him to be proud of!

At this time, Cao Ang and other civil and military ministers also followed.

Everyone was stunned when they saw Cao Cao laughing loudly while riding his warhorse in the sunset.

They knelt silently behind Cao Cao, not wanting to disturb him.

Cao Cao smiled like this for a long time, his eyes always fixed on the vast world.

Time passes slowly.

He seemed to have a vague sense of something.

The laughter suddenly stopped, and then he roared loudly:

"The bones of an old horse may be broken, but the night is long and there is no dawn!"

Say it.

He seemed to have used up all his strength, and his whole body trembled violently.

The setting sun grew dimmer.

The next moment, Cao Cao fell off his horse.

"Father!!!".
------

"Cao Cao, courtesy name Mengde, was from Qiao, Pei State.

He was alert and capable since he was young. Although he came from an official family, his talent and ability were unmatched among his peers.

At first, he followed the Grand Tutor Gu Xi to suppress the Yellow Turban Rebellion. He noticed that the powerful people in all the prefectures and counties had different intentions, so he secretly formed a group of followers and waited for the right time.

He pretended to be submissive to Yuan Shao, borrowed his name to take Yanzhou, and then allied with Liu Bei to attack Yuan. In the Battle of Qinghe, Shao's army was defeated, and he then took over Jiyou.

He then swallowed up Qing and Yu, eyed Yang and Xu covetously, held the emperor hostage and ordered the governors to stay, and his power shook the whole country.

However, destiny has its own destiny, and even a hero cannot defy it.

Gu Chen of Jizhou was a formidable foe whom Cao had not defeated in twenty years.

Yingchuan's plan failed, Chen State weakened his edge, Huainan trapped his power, and Cao Cao's ambition to unify the world was cut off.

In the summer of the 12th year of Jian'an, Cao's old illness suddenly broke out and he became seriously ill in Pengcheng.

When he was dying, he rode his horse to the Si River and laughed loudly, saying, "The bones of an old horse may decay, but what can we do about the long night without dawn?"

He died after he finished speaking.

——"Records of Heroes of the Late Han Dynasty: Cao Cao"

(End of this chapter)