Chapter 895: The General Trend Has Departed

Old Cao jumped off his horse, exhausted. He tossed his precious sword to the side, and with no regard for his image, sat heavily on the ground, gasping for air. Riding a horse at high speed was quite physically draining. Old Cao was already fifty-three; his body was no longer as sturdy as it once was.

"I have heard of your great name, Wang Yan, for over twenty years. I never imagined that when we finally met, it would be under such circumstances."

Wang Yan also dismounted with a smile, thrusting his horse spear into the ground. He stood, leaning on his sword, and looked at Old Cao not far away: "I have heard of Meng De's great name for over twenty years as well. In the past, Meng De issued a fake decree to the lords of the world to join in the crusade against Dong Zhuo; you were truly a hero then. Today, on the battlefield, you had your main general disguise himself as a guard to launch a sneak attack on me, and you yourself disguised as a common soldier—this lacks the upright and magnificent stature of a hero."

To Wang Yan's sarcasm, Old Cao felt not a shred of embarrassment; instead, he laughed heartily: "History is written by the victors. If you, Ziyan, were to die in battle, who would know of my schemes? The world would only know that Wang Yan died on the battlefield, and Cao Cao dominated the world!"

In Old Cao's words, there was a touch of dominance, but even more helplessness and resignation. It certainly wasn't a resignation he had chosen voluntarily; otherwise, this battle would never have started. He had been helpless first, and now that he had been reduced to a prisoner, he could only resign himself to it. If he didn't, he had no other options—he couldn't exactly burst into tears in front of Wang Yan. As for the so-called dominance, it was just to save face for himself; after all, he had dominated for over twenty years and defeated many opponents.

Of course, this was the victor's interpretation—Wang Yan's interpretation. Regardless of what Old Cao was truly thinking inside, whatever Wang Yan said was the truth. Just as Old Cao said, history is written by the victors.

Old Cao laughed wildly, the morning sun reflecting off his face, while Wang Yan stood with his back to it. If this scene were expressed through a cinematic lens, it would seem as if Old Cao were the righteous party.

Wang Yan ignored him and turned to look at the scene on the battlefield. Once Wang Yan had moved to pierce the battle formation, the Cao army had already begun to collapse. When the central commander's banner was moved, and even discarded, the Cao army shattered. They could no longer maintain their formation, each fleeing for their lives in a chaotic mess—this was what was meant by "the army's defeat is like a collapsing mountain."

Under such circumstances, it was impossible to reform the battle formation. Because the military system had completely broken down, even if the command flags were waved until they smoked, it would be of no use. They could only wait until they had completely escaped the pursuit circle to gather the remnants and reform. Just like the current fifty thousand Cao troops—by the time the commander gathered them, having three thousand would be considered impressive.

Because the Cao army had already given up resistance, many fled out of subconscious instinct. But after running for a while, they realized the situation, threw down their weapons, sat on the ground, and accepted whatever fate came their way.

In a normal situation, Old Cao should be laughing heartily here, and Wang Yan should be laughing along with him. Now that only Old Cao was laughing, it was quite boring. Old Cao smacked his lips, feeling a sense of listlessness.

Looking at Wang Yan's tall and imposing back, the sunlight shone from in front of Wang Yan, which blinded Old Cao. The cinematic expression of this scene was much more harmonious—was Wang Yan radiating golden light?

Old Cao said: "What do you intend to do?"

"It is what *you* intend to do."

"To be honest, before the battle, my civil and military officials intended to attack Tianzhu and expand our territory beyond our borders."

"Very good. In the past, when Han Sui sought peace, it was by attacking Guishuang to save his life. If you all attack Tianzhu, you can also avoid slaughter. Using your great lives to expand the territory for China, making our Huaxia people spread across the universe—this is a merit that will last for a thousand autumns."

Old Cao asked curiously: "You have the ability to govern the world and invincible courage, yet you are ultimately a mortal. A hundred years from now, your descendants will surely not be as good. At that time, if my descendants strive to govern and attack the Central Plains again, are you truly not afraid?"

"After I die, why should I care about the deluge?" Wang Yan said with a chuckle, "You also need not think too much. Those who can be taken away from China are no more than four or five hundred thousand. Strive to govern? Can these four words truly describe the hardships involved?"

Actually, what Cao Cao said made a lot of sense; what one hasn't obtained is always the best. Even if the land of Tianzhu was actually quite good, they would certainly be thinking day and night about returning to the Central Plains.

Especially since Old Cao was taking those powerful clans with him. The powerful clans of this time were proper aristocrats. Tracing them back, one could reach the Shang and Zhou periods, and even further to the ancient mythological era, and they were the true, orderly inherited direct lines. Strictly speaking, many were families with a thousand-year history.

And they were being humiliatingly driven out of China by Wang Yan, allowing a group of commoners to step onto the political and historical stage—how could they be willing? Therefore, they would certainly claim to be the legitimate successors of Huaxia, thinking generation after generation about returning to their ancestral land. And in this process, they would strictly enforce the system of direct inheritance, absolutely forbidding descendants born from intermarriage with the Tianzhu barbarians from holding great power, to ensure the purity of their bloodline and legitimacy.

In this regard, Li Shimin had the most right to speak, and he had been cursed thoroughly for it.

However, even if they were to attack back, it wouldn't matter. Because Wang Yan's transformation of the common people had already been completed; even if they were weak, they wouldn't be so easy to defeat. Even if they were like the Manchu Qing, killing hard from beginning to end, the common people had long since awakened, and there would always be those who refused to submit. Fighting back and forth, the meat would all rot in the pot; if it wasn't the Wang Empire, it wouldn't matter.

Even if one wasn't like Wang Yan, who had experienced a thousand years, but just someone who had come from two thousand years later, had taken history and politics classes, and had a relatively normal brain, one should understand the basic principle of following objective laws: there is no dynasty that lasts for ten thousand generations, only the people who last for ten thousand generations...

As for Wang Yan saying he would let Cao Cao take away four or five hundred thousand people, this was naturally necessary. After all, relying on Old Cao and the other powerful clans, how much could they really achieve? It was still necessary to let Old Cao take away a batch of men and women, so that they would have the capital to expand their territory.

And although after going over, the common people would still inevitably be ruled by the powerful clans, once they arrived there, the Han commoners would be their own people. No matter what, even if the powerful clans were greedy, they would always treat their own people better, turning instead to exploit the Tianzhu barbarians more to subsidize the Han commoners. They weren't stupid; of course, they understood where their base was.

Most importantly, expanding outward—if there were no people, it couldn't last long, and it would even be easy to be assimilated by others. It was necessary to ensure the number of Han commoners, to occupy the magpie's nest, to replace the old with the new, so as to carry out a substantive occupation of Tianzhu...

Saying these few words expressed a general idea, and that was enough. Wang Yan didn't bother with Cao Cao anymore, letting the personal guards who had followed him form a circle, taking Old Cao onto a horse, and advancing with his troops.

Capturing Old Cao was not the end of the war, but merely a turning point. That they were able to capture Old Cao this time was because Old Cao himself had taken a risk; it was a coincidence added to by various reasons. Winning the war was inevitable, but capturing Old Cao, which signaled the end of the war, was not.

After all, Old Cao still had sons, other civil and military officials, and hundreds of thousands of troops. These troops were still guarding various passes. In other words, they still had leverage and a basis for bargaining, which was naturally unacceptable.

What needed to be done now was to take all the various passes into their hands, disintegrate the majority of their troops, leave them with no other path to take, and certainly not let them think they could still negotiate—they couldn't be allowed to have such wishful thinking.

Therefore, this battle had achieved victory. The militia in the rear pushed forward, the militia on the opposite bank began to cross the river to transport supplies, and at the same time, they reorganized the surrendered troops, pressed toward Nanchang, took Nanchang, and confiscated grain and fodder. Coordinating with Lu Bu and others, they ended the fighting in the remaining areas.

The frontline troops did not stop advancing either, but instead made a forced march that same day, arriving at Qiupu (Chizhou City) to station troops. Dian Wei, who had arrived earlier, had already brought the situation under control.

The main strategy was still as previously stated: to go along the river, completely control the riverbank area, let the militia on the opposite bank cross over, control the situation in Jiang Nan, and then continue to press toward the territory. Completely shatter the hopes of the Cao Cao camp, and when the time came, simply send that group of people away.

Wang Yan was not in a hurry to march, following slowly behind, taking Old Cao with him. He didn't hide his issuing of orders, and they ate and drank well. It wasn't just Old Cao; Xu Chu had been captured alive earlier, and Wen Chou had been unlucky and killed.

It was just that Lu Bu had been trapped in the midst of ten thousand troops, and without soldiers following to charge the formation, it was all for nothing. Moreover, Wang Yan's soldiers were very elite, proficient in the methods of battle formations, and had countermeasures for martial generals, so they wouldn't let a martial general truly mow them down like grass.

In addition, Old Cao hadn't come alone; he had civil officials following him. Except for those who were truly unlucky, they were all captured alive. So Old Cao wasn't lonely; he had people to keep him company.

Following by Wang Yan's side, eating and drinking every day, Old Cao adapted quite quickly. Especially since he discovered that what Wang Yan ate was truly good, and the skills of the cooks by his side were even better—far superior to his own, by several notches.

Of course, Old Cao didn't just eat for free all day; he still observed the operation of Wang Yan's army at close range. Overall, it operated much more smoothly than his own army. The army's movement speed was quite fast, and their actions were disciplined. Not only did Wang Yan eat well, but the army's food was also far better than his own army's—it was all solid rice, and every meal had meat porridge.

The soldiers laughed, scolded, and joked among themselves, and they all had a bit of literary talent. They weren't like uneducated people who struggled to express themselves and spoke without focus. The most excessive thing was that he saw a small soldier holding a charcoal pencil writing a letter home. He specifically asked, and the person was just a small soldier, not even a squad leader.

At this moment, Old Cao finally understood just how awesome Wang Yan was, and he also knew where he had lost—it was Wang Yan's awesome internal governance ability. Just on the item of grain alone, if Wang Yan's army ate the same as his army, according to the current situation, they might have been able to fight him until the end of time.

It's no wonder Wang Yan had saved up for so many years before fighting; Old Cao even felt a bit fortunate in his heart, otherwise he feared he would have been gone long ago...

Old Cao personally led fifty thousand troops, along with capable generals like Xu Chu and Wen Chou, and was defeated in one battle. This news could not be hidden. Fifty thousand people were not so easy to capture; there were always people informing the rear.

Although messengers were sent to inquire about Wang Yan's intentions, they did not surrender at the same time and were still putting up resistance. They certainly knew Wang Yan's policies very well; how could they want to give up so easily?

Wang Yan detained the messengers and did not respond, still advancing with a large force. Although Old Cao's subordinates were still putting up a desperate struggle, how could the news of their boss being captured alive not have an impact? The powerful clans were once again packing their belongings with very skilled, professional techniques, preparing to run away. Although the common soldiers on the front line didn't know the news, the upper echelons were panicked, and the lower echelons were uneasy—relying on them to have combat effectiveness was truly too naive.

Therefore, the overall speed of advancement was quite fast. It took only ten days to end the war in Yangzhou, killing and capturing many of Cao Cao's great generals, such as several surnamed Cao and several surnamed Xiahou. Because the Shu region did not attack and only defended, all of Cao Cao's capable generals were here.

They also took Nanchang, besieged Linxiang (Changsha City), and at the same time took Pengze, pressing toward Jiujiang. And the troops and horses in Jiujiang were all defeated soldiers chased by Wang Yan all the way, counting the troops and horses originally stationed on the riverbank to protect the grain routes, there were about one hundred thousand.

However, fighting a war wasn't just about having many people, especially since the defeated soldiers had already lost their combat effectiveness. Moreover, many defeated soldiers brought the news of Old Cao being captured over, which made the small soldiers who were originally kept in the dark very uneasy. Under such circumstances, their already not-very-strong combat effectiveness dropped by several notches. The reason they weren't flattened was simply because they had adopted a turtle-shell tactic.

This was because the high-level officials under Old Cao didn't want to completely lose their right to speak, so they were still trying their best to resist.

But currently, Cao Cao's fifty thousand troops in Jiang Nan were basically all wasted. The remaining ones in the Shu region certainly didn't number fifty thousand; at most, they were twenty or thirty thousand. Among these, the elite soldiers would number ten thousand at most.

It could be said that it was only a matter of time. And to achieve this point, from the time Old Cao launched the sneak attack, it had only been a little over two months. A war of unification that should have been long-drawn-out ended hastily because of Old Cao's risk-taking.

On this day, Wang Yan was handling military and political affairs in the military tent. With victories coming one after another in the front, the governance in the rear had already begun. With spring plowing just around the corner, various tasks had to be pushed forward steadily. Counting the population, clearing the accounts of farmland, distributing land, allocating supplies, and sending the surrendered soldiers back to their hometowns—tasks like these had already begun.

Not only that, because Old Cao had swept up the population to cross the river back then, especially taking away a massive amount of able-bodied men, many people's families were still in Henan. Who knew if their wives and children had been given away by General Wang as concubines to others? The work of going home to find relatives also had to be carried out, and in this process, there was a pile of messy things.

More importantly, there was the development of Jiang Nan. Although it had been developed to a certain extent, it was still far from enough. After all, Jiang Nan had a developed water system and a suitable climate. Although there were many mountainous areas, under the application of various terraced fields, the land was utilized quite well. Now Wang Yan had not yet broken away from the agricultural era, and even if the grain production in Jiang Nan was not as good as in the Northeast, it was certainly not bad, so naturally, it had to be developed well.

For a long time in the future, the main work would be the development of the South and the adjustment of population distribution.

At this time, a personal guard walked in to deliver a letter: "Great General, Zhuge Liang has sent someone to deliver a letter; he has already broken through Jiangguan and blocked the Cao army's grain route." As he spoke, he respectfully presented the bamboo tube containing the letter with both hands.

Wang Yan raised his eyebrows slightly, feeling a bit surprised.

He knew that Zhuge Liang was going to cross mountains and ridges to attack the Jiangguan of Yu Fu, but he hadn't expected it to be so fast. It had only been a little over twenty days, not even a month.

For a key location like Jiangguan, the Cao army naturally defended it with heavy troops, and it was quite difficult to capture it, which was why Wang Yan was surprised.

Taking the bamboo tube and removing Zhuge Liang's personal letter, Wang Yan began to read it slowly.

After reading the letter, Wang Yan understood the process. Speaking of which, it wasn't difficult; it was just that the general guarding the pass wasn't very serious. After all, there was still a large army outside, and the Shu region was their territory. Moreover, the general here also knew the news of Old Cao's defeat and capture—even if the high-level civil and military officials tried their best to block it, it was useless. One cannot share wealth and hardship with powerful clans.

Because when they were wealthy, they would kill others to avoid sharing the wealth. And when they reached hardship, they would often leave first.

So after such a long time, the news spread. Only the vast number of common soldiers and low-to-mid-level officers were kept in the dark, but the high-level civil and military officials all knew the news of Old Cao being captured.

Under such circumstances, how could the martial generals not be panicked? Once panicked, they lost their fighting spirit and became lax.

So Zhuge Liang captured the team transporting grain and fodder, and took advantage of the night to impersonate them and trick the city gate open. Although the plan wasn't very successful, the general guarding the city was derelict in his duty and was already drunk, failing to effectively stop the resistance. Those elite troops who had impersonated them held the city gate firmly, and soon waited for the main army to arrive, easily taking Jiangguan.

Zhuge Liang was also very confused. After all, it had been quite hard for him to lead the main army across the big mountains, and yet the opponent was just like this—how could he not be confused?

Wang Yan shook his head. Capturing Jiangguan meant that the steepness of the Shu region had been broken through for them. With this breakthrough, the main army could thrust straight inside. In front of elite warriors, everything was in vain. Moreover, by cutting off this grain route, the one hundred thousand troops in Jiujiang couldn't last long at all. This also avoided casualties from fighting, which was undoubtedly a good thing.

After handling various affairs until evening, Wang Yan set up a banquet, inviting the captured Old Cao and his subordinates to have dinner together.

Wang Yan sat at the head, Cao Cao sat at the lower seat, and the rest were Cheng Yu, Jiang Ji, and Old Cao's martial generals. The atmosphere in the military tent was not very good; after all, they were all Old Cao's people.

Their eyes exchanged back and forth, probably wanting to take the opportunity to seize Wang Yan and instantly turn the tables. However, fortunately, there were two rows of personal guards standing behind, which made them sober up.

"Meng De, you should look at this letter."

While the dishes were being served, Wang Yan drank a cup of wine with Old Cao with a smile, and let the personal guards send Zhuge Liang's letter into Old Cao's hands.

Old Cao took the letter with a smile, but after reading it, the smile disappeared from his face.

He read it very slowly, word by word.

The military tent suddenly became quiet. None of Old Cao's subordinates spoke, none moved their chopsticks, and even fewer drank wine. They all looked at Old Cao, wanting to understand what kind of letter it was.

Only Wang Yan at the head was carefree, eating dishes and drinking wine first. The sounds were clearly audible in the quiet military tent, and this posture was already enough to make people very unhappy; the sound made people want to kill Wang Yan.

After a long time, Old Cao laughed heartily and put down the letter.

"The general trend has departed. Good, good, hahahaha. Brother Ziyan, such a good thing, should be celebrated by you and me. Come, drink..."

Wang Yan also laughed heartily. This time, it finally matched Old Cao's script...

A fifty-three-year-old man and a forty-two-year-old man, each a leader of a side, drank strong liquor heartily while laughing.

Old Cao's subordinates didn't understand why this was, and Wang Yan's personal guards had no interest in knowing why.

At this moment, Old Cao's loneliness could only be understood by Old Wang... ===== CHAPTER 896 =====