Chapter 389

Not only was Yuzhou lost, but his old nest, Yanzhou, was also at all times under Gu Yi's military threat.

This, for Cao Cao, was much more uncomfortable.

As for the matter of Xia Houyuan's surrender, Cao Cao didn't believe it at all.

Given Xia Houyuan's level of loyalty to him, even if he were to die, it would be absolutely impossible for him to surrender to the enemy.

It was highly probable that Gu Yi had captured Xia Houyuan and publicly claimed that Xia Houyuan had surrendered voluntarily.

In order to destroy the morale of the Cao army soldiers.

"My lord, for the current plan, I fear the only way is to abandon Peng Cheng and have the entire army return to Yanzhou."

"After all, Yanzhou is our foundation."

"If Yanzhou is lost, even if we take Xuzhou, I fear we won't be able to hold it."

Cheng Yu stood up to analyze.

This was also the unanimous thought in the hearts of the strategists in the Cao camp.

Although Xuzhou appeared to be more prosperous than Yanzhou.

But the aristocratic families of Xuzhou did not welcome Cao Cao, and the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou were also quite repulsed by the Cao army.

Even if Cao Cao forcibly occupied Xuzhou.

With Xuzhou's flat terrain and lack of defensive barriers, it would be impossible to stop the Xiliang Iron Cavalry and Bingzhou Wolf Riders under Gu Yi's command.

By then, I fear Cao Cao would only have the path of moving north to join Yuan Shao.

Therefore.

For Cao Cao.

Yanzhou was the top priority and must absolutely not be captured by Gu Yi.

"Sigh..."

"How hateful!"

"Clearly, Peng Cheng was right before my eyes!"

Cao Cao clenched his fists tightly.

Just a little bit, really just a little bit.

He could have become a great warlord sitting on three provinces!

But now, only his old nest, Yanzhou, remained, and it was also at all times in a precarious state.

Just as Cao Cao was about to issue the order for the entire army to withdraw.

Suddenly, Xi Zhicai, escorted by a unit of elite soldiers, came rushing toward this side from the northeast direction.

"Zhicai, what is this...?"

The people in the Cao camp couldn't help but look at Xi Zhicai with joy.

Subsequently, Xi Zhicai bowed slightly and smiled:

"My lord, I have not failed your mission; I have successfully persuaded Zang Ba to lead 40,000 troops to join our army!"

Hearing this.

The gloom on everyone's faces instantly faded quite a bit.

With the addition of this fresh force from Zang Ba, for everyone in the Cao camp, the probability of holding onto Yanzhou would increase significantly.

Zang Ba was a separatist force entrenched in Haixi Commandery of Xuzhou.

Under his command, he possessed over 40,000 elite Taishan bandits.

Historically, Zang Ba had already established a firm foothold in northern Xuzhou since the end of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Regarding his nominal superior, Xuzhou Governor Tao Qian, Zang Ba had always listened to orders but not summons.

In original history, after Liu Bei became the master of Xuzhou, he tried every possible way to win over Zang Ba.

But Zang Ba consistently refused to join Liu Bei's command.

Instead, when Lü Bu ambushed Xuzhou, Zang Ba chose to actively join Lü Bu's camp.

Later, after Lü Bu's defeat and death, Zang Ba chose to surrender to Cao Cao.

But Zang Ba was not like Zhang Liao, joining the Cao camp as a commander without troops.

The Taishan bandits under Zang Ba's command had as many as 40,000 elite soldiers capable of fighting!

Besides this.

The population controlled by Zang Ba also reached over 250,000.

(PS: This data comes from historical records, not fabricated by the little author.)

To put it bluntly.

Zang Ba was less of a simple general and more of a "local emperor" of northern Xuzhou.

After Zang Ba surrendered, Cao Cao immediately enfeoffed him as the "Chancellor of Langya State."

This was equivalent to implicitly agreeing to hand over three commanderies in northern Xuzhou to Zang Ba to manage.

Later, it wasn't until the time of Cao Pi that he used the method of nominal promotion but actual demotion, exhausting all means, to finally manage to strip Zang Ba of his military power.

It was equivalent to.

From beginning to end, Zang Ba had been a local emperor in northern Xuzhou for nearly thirty years!

Looking at the entire late Han and Three Kingdoms period.

Only Shi Xie of Jiaozhou could be more resilient than Zang Ba in the matter of being a local emperor.

Before formally attacking Peng Cheng.

Cao Cao had already considered the problem of Zang Ba.

Therefore, he dispatched Xi Zhicai as an envoy to Haixi to persuade Zang Ba to join the Cao camp.

For Zang Ba, he clearly knew that he did not possess the strength to contend for the world.

Therefore, his greatest dream in life was to be able to carve out a territory and become an existence like a local emperor.

Looking at the world today.

Those contending for the world, apart from a group of small fry, the only warlords with strength left were Gu Yi, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Gongsun Zan, Sun Ce, Liu Biao, and others.

If he joined Gu Yi's command, I fear Gu Yi would absolutely not allow Zang Ba to continue being a local emperor in northern Xuzhou.

But if he joined Cao Cao's command, everything could still be discussed.

In order to persuade Zang Ba.

Xi Zhicai even directly painted a big picture of Cao Cao wanting to split Xuzhou equally with Zang Ba.

After Xi Zhicai's unremitting persuasion, Zang Ba finally decided to take his 40,000 elite Taishan soldiers to defect to Cao Cao.

And then, there was this scene now, Xi Zhicai reporting to Cao Cao the news that Zang Ba was willing to join the Cao camp.

Of course.

Although with the addition of this fresh force from Zang Ba, the strength of the Cao camp had recovered somewhat.

But Cao Cao was still forced to abandon the plan to attack Xuzhou.

After all.

His opponent was Gu Yi.

Cao Cao didn't dare to gamble, and even less dared to imagine what the consequences would be if his old nest, Yanzhou, were captured by Gu Yi.

Therefore.

For the sake of insurance.

Cao Cao decided to withdraw the entire army from Xuzhou.

Retaining only Dingtao Commandery, which had already been ceded to him during the time of Tao Qian.

Looking at the Cao army continuously withdrawing below the city walls.

Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, and Cao Bao on the city walls all collapsed to the ground collectively.

The torture of these days, for the three of them, was something they really didn't want to experience a second time.

But fortunately, Cao Cao had already withdrawn his troops.

Peng Cheng, in the end, had been held.

At the same time.

When Cao Cao received the battle report from Yuzhou.

In Yecheng, Yuan Shao was venting his anger at Yan Liang and Guo Tu.

"Do you two still have the face to come back?"