My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 827: Cao Cao passes on the throne and faces a decisive battle

"Why did spring come so late this year? It's already March, but the snow in Zhangye hasn't melted completely. It will take at least two months for the weather to reach Yumen Pass.

If we leave Yumen Pass in May, the expedition to the west will take three or four months at most, and then it will start snowing. At most, we can hold out until October, when the weather will be too cold to fight. This expedition to the west is really not a job for humans. There are only five months a year suitable for fighting, and we have to endure the scorching summer heat. "

Spring, March, the second year of Zhangwu/the third year of Huangchu.

In Zhaowu County of Zhangye Commandery in Liangzhou, Cao Zhang looked at the still white land in the distance and felt quite anxious.

In August last year, he received the order from his father and led 20,000 cavalrymen to march west. Before winter, he cleared the area around Wuwei County.

Later, due to the cold winter, progress was difficult and he took great efforts to consolidate Zhangye County. Then he was blocked by the snow and has been resting ever since.

Cao Zhang was only in his twenties and did not have much experience, but he had fought in the north for several years and killed many barbarians on the Youbing grassland.

Before coming here, he thought to himself that he should be able to adapt to the weather and soil of the northern grasslands, but when he really arrived in Zhangye, he couldn't help but sigh that the temperature difference between day and night in the Western Regions was too great.

The further west you go, the hotter the day and the colder the night. I heard that the heat here in midsummer is more severe than in the south, but the cold in winter is also more unbearable than in Youbing.

When Cao Zhang first started, he did lose some troops - not because of combat casualties, but simply because the troops were not suitable for the severe alternation of cold and heat. Fortunately, this kind of casualties did not lead to death, at most injuries, and then they could only stay in the city to rest and recover during the winter.

Now, after the troops have been stationed in Zhangye for several months, their adaptability to the water and soil has finally improved a little.

Cao Cao, who was in the rear, knew that his son's performance on the front line was unfavorable due to the unfavorable natural environment, and he did his best to provide him with extra help.

Cao Cao's camp responded to the situation by trying to improve logistical support. For example, when they found that the soldiers could not stand the severe cold at night, they were given more fur coats.

Since there were not enough leathers, they had to rely on killing more Qiang people on the spot and looting winter supplies.

The Cao army workshops in the rear were also forced to learn from others and improve their production processes. For example, in recent years, the Cao army has also discovered that the soldiers of Liu Bei's army seem to wear cheaper and better warming jackets in winter.

During the Han Dynasty, there were no cotton jackets because white caltrop (cotton) was not widely used. There were not even other padded jackets with a similar structure to cotton jackets. When it was cold, people relied on leather jackets and furs to keep warm.

But fur products are animal products after all, and it is common for them to cost five times more than plant products.

Liu Bei's army, thanks to Zhuge Jin's help, although the white floribunda was not popular in the early years and there were no good varieties, Zhuge Jin asked the tailors to repeatedly test the structure of the jacket, trying to sew warm clothes that would not easily leak the filling. As for the filling inside, it can be filled with dried reed flowers or something like that.

In short, you should look for a filling material that is not as durable as cotton, but is barely warm enough and will not rot too quickly.

It is definitely not a good idea to just stuff straw into the jacket, because even if the straw is dried, it will rot after a while.

Cao's army had been fighting Liu Bei's army for a long time, and they were able to strip clothes from the dead. So Cao Cao could supply all the captured jackets to Cao Zhang for his western expedition, and then try to imitate and make a batch of inferior imitations.

There were many logistical efforts like this. All in all, Cao Cao put a lot of thought into the great cause of escaping and preserving the fire.

In addition to these material guarantees, Cao Cao also made major concessions in personnel arrangements just to pave the way for his son's westward expedition.

At the beginning, Cao Cao did not plan to send core advisers to Cao Zhang to assist in military affairs, because he himself had few civil servants with good strategies available.

The uncle and nephew of the Xun family either died or left. Guo Jia died long ago. The strategic civil servants that Cao Cao can use now are mainly the Sima brothers and Jia Xu. The rest are not very strategic.

Sima Yi has to help Cao Pi defend the Yellow River defense line in Linjin and cannot move, so the only one left is Jia Xu.

Cao Cao also knew that Jia Xu was from Wuwei County in Xiliang. As an elder from Xiliang, Jia Xu was relatively familiar with the situation in the Western Regions and was considered a local tyrant.

But Cao Cao also knew very well how much Liu Bei, who had fought with him for most of his life, hated Jia Xu.

In this life, Jia Xu twice extinguished the hopes of the previous emperor Liu Xie to rule the country personally.

The first time was after Wang Yun killed Dong Zhuo. Jia Xu united with the Xiliang generals to rebel and killed Wang Yun, which led to the rise of Li Jue and Guo Si.

The second time was the Dong Cheng Rebellion, when Dong Cheng and Lu Bu wanted to plot against Cao Cao, but were also suppressed by Jia Xu's scheme.

It can be said that Jia Xu defeated the king's support efforts involving Lu Bu twice, and even killed Lu Bu the second time.

Of course Cao Cao knew what all this meant. He was also worried that sending Jia Xu to the Western Regions would bring trouble to Cao Zhang, causing Liu Bei, who might originally be unwilling to hunt down Cao Zhang at all costs, to become desperate because of Jia Xu's existence.

In that case, the counter-effect played by Jia Xu would be similar to "stuffing Pang Hui into the Western Expedition team."

But now, Cao Zhang's Western Expedition encountered a setback due to various reasons: he was unfamiliar with the place and the environment.

After much deliberation and weighing the pros and cons, Cao Cao finally decided to use Jia Xu in a limited way in order to help his son avoid traps.

However, before sending Jia Xu out, he still had a meeting with Jia Xu and used both kindness and force to persuade him.

Cao Cao's meaning is roughly as follows:
"Wenhe, you are not young anymore, you are almost 70 years old. I am really worried about you following the army on the expedition, and your body cannot bear it. But at this time of national crisis, I have no choice but to ask you to help a little.

Considering that you are from Liangzhou, I allow you to patrol the counties from Wuwei to Jiuquan on behalf of the emperor, assist in military affairs, and supervise military supplies. You don't need to worry about the military affairs outside Yumen Pass. I am not an unkind person. "

(Note: The second year of Zhangwu corresponds to the original 20th year of Jian'an, when Jia Xu was 69 years old)

The subtext of Cao Cao's words is that he hopes Jia Xu can help the court to sit in the four counties of the Hexi Corridor, which can be regarded as a glorious return to his hometown in his later years. However, if Cao Zhang further attacks Yumen Pass in the future, Jia Xu will not be needed to accompany the army, nor will he be allowed to do so.

Since Jia Xu could not leave Yumen Pass, he stayed behind to help Cao Zhang with logistics, give some advice, and act as an advisory role.

This would not only make the elderly Jia Xu feel more relaxed, but also allow him to return to his hometown. Cao Cao felt that he had been kind enough.

As for the future when the Cao family loses even the four counties of the Hexi Corridor, Cao Cao will not allow Jia Xu to chase Cao Zhang all the way west. Jia Xu can disappear and hide in Liangzhou, but he must not implicate Cao Zhang.

Of course, Cao Cao also knew that Jia Xu, an old villain, had a strong desire to survive, so his verbal warnings might not have enough effect.

What's more, when that day really comes, Cao Cao will definitely be gone, so how can these words control Jia Xu?

Therefore, Cao Cao would naturally give Cao Zhang a secret letter, explaining the key points and telling Cao Zhang not to accept Jia Xu's surrender in a critical moment. Cao Cao even wrote in the secret letter:

When the imperial court falls, if Jia Xu surrenders to you, you can behead him and send his head back to Jiuquan, but it does not have to be sent to Liu Bei. Just try to hand it to the local surrendered generals to ensure that Liu Bei will know in the future that Jia Xu did not go to the Western Regions.

Cao Cao knew that the hatred value of Jia Xu was too high.

And Cao Cao would not let Jia Xu know all this.

Jia Xu could only rely on his own experience and guess that His Majesty must have kept something in reserve to prevent him from harming the Third Prince. So if the time really came, Jia Xu would have to find another way to survive.

At least for now, Jia Xu was sent by Cao Cao to Zhangye County to meet Cao Zhang.

In order to make it easier for Cao Zhang and Cao Xiu to advance, Cao Cao also sent another general, Xu Huang, to help Cao Zhang fight.

Xu Huang was the best cavalry commander among Cao Cao's surviving generals. Although Le Jin was also good at commanding troops, he was better at attacking and fighting tough battles, and was not good at cavalry raids.

After receiving the order, Xu Huang and Jia Xu rushed to the Zhangye front in the spring. Accompanying Xu Huang were some cavalry reinforcements that Cao Cao had finally plundered.

At this point, Cao Cao was very clear that it was meaningless to keep cavalry in the Guanzhong battlefield, so except for the last necessary personal cavalry, other cavalry field troops were basically sent to Cao Zhang.

……

After sending Xu Huang and Jia Xu away, Cao Cao also made his final decision before the war, which was to formally pass the throne to Crown Prince Cao Pi.

For this matter, Cao Cao himself made a special trip back to Chang'an from Tongguan, and after less than five days of hasty preparation, he held the succession ceremony.

The moment Cao Pi became emperor, he was filled with mixed feelings. Two years ago, he was still feeling lucky that he could be emperor for once, but his path to power was so bumpy. There had always been instability and opposition within Cao Cao's regime.

As a result, he had to serve as the crown prince for four months and then as regent for a year before becoming the emperor.

All in all, he had been the crown prince for nearly a year and a half before ascending the throne, and it was unknown how much time he had left as emperor.

Fortunately, Cao Cao treated him well. After Cao Pi ascended the throne, Cao Cao let him live in Chang'an City for a month or two, where he lived in the palace, used the emperor's guards of honor every day, and enjoyed the emperor's majesty.

It was not until April, when the news became more and more tense, and Liu Bei on the other side seemed to have made preparations for the attack and was about to launch another river crossing campaign, that Cao Cao found Cao Pi and spoke to him heart to heart:

"Zihuan, how does it feel to be the emperor these past two months?"

Cao Pi did not dare to be complacent, and quickly said humbly: "I am a humble minister with little experience and dull talent. I still need your advice in many areas."

Cao Cao's face darkened slightly: "You are already the Son of Heaven! How can you call yourself a vassal? Change it quickly! The Son of Heaven must have the dignity of an Emperor. You may not have a grand palace or a golden carriage, but you must not lose the dignity of an Emperor.

When the late emperor returned to the east in a hurry after the rebellion of Li Jue and Guo Si, he also did not have a palace and a carriage that conformed to the etiquette of the emperor, but he never gave up. Liu Bei may cross the river at any time now, and your father will not let you live and die with Chang'an City. Here, your father and Liu Bei will have a decisive battle.

You can first take a small number of personal guards and garrison in Chencang, so as to avoid Liu Bei's frontal attack, and also to personally guard against Gan Ning and Wang Ping taking the opportunity to invade again.

Although Chencang has not been the capital for nearly a thousand years, before King Wen of Zhou rose to power, he established his base in Mount Qi, which was Chencang. So going to Chencang to take refuge temporarily is not considered a loss of dignity for the emperor. There is no imperial palace to live in, but you must remember that you are the emperor! "

Cao Pi had originally thought about escaping and living a few more years, but he was reluctant to sacrifice the dignity of an emperor. He knew that he would eventually have to die, and if he panicked and humiliated himself, it would not be worth it, and he would have lost the outcome.

Now, his father told him historical stories and helped him find a way out, and Cao Pi felt some self-deceptive sense of comfort in his heart.

It turns out that Chen Cang was the foundation before King Wen of Zhou established the Zhou Dynasty. Later, King Wu defeated King Zhou and destroyed the Shang Dynasty. The Zhou people moved the capital to Haojing, which is near Chang'an today.

Thinking about it this way, going to Chencang wouldn’t be so embarrassing.

As for the loss of Chang'an, Chencang would probably not be able to hold on for long. But it didn't matter, Cao Pi would have the final say at that time. If he really wanted to live longer and struggle more, he could retreat again. As long as Longshan was blocked, there would be no problem in surviving a few more months.

Cao Pi had a desire to survive after all, and after he figured it out, he shed tears and bid farewell to Cao Cao. After a few more days of hesitation, he led his troops on their journey.

……

After Cao Pi left, Cao Cao stayed quietly in Chang'an, waiting for his last moment.

At the same time, Cao Zhang in the northwest finally lived up to his expectations. After being reinforced by Xu Huang and Jia Xu, he made a new breakthrough in Xiliang in April of the third year of Huangchu.

In early April, Cao Zhang, who had reorganized his forces, fought back to Jiuquan County, eliminated the local rebellious tribes and Qiang people, and slightly repaired the roads inside and outside Yumen Pass and prepared the logistics.

In May, after making logistical preparations under the guidance of Jia Xu, Cao Zhang led nearly 90% of Cao's cavalry, broke out of Yumen Pass, passed Shatou and Yuanquan, and rushed towards Dunhuang County.

During the hottest time of summer, Cao Zhang successfully reached Dunhuang. Because this place was once directly ruled by the Han people, and there were still many Han people left, Cao Zhang was relatively restrained.
He did not carry out a large-scale massacre to solve the supply problem, but only targeted the local Qiang people and supported the Han people who were originally oppressed.

They organized the local Han people and turned them into their agents to govern the area and raise supplies. After a month or two of hasty work, they managed to establish a new order and had sufficient supplies for continuing their westward advance.

After entering July, with the peak of the hot summer passing, the Gobi Desert finally entered the golden season of the year, which is most suitable for military operations.

Cao Zhang, who had made all the necessary preparations, resolutely left Dunhuang, the westernmost county, and entered the territory that had once been under the rule of the Western Regions Chief Administrator's Office.

Dunhuang is the westernmost county established by the Han people in history. Further west, although there is also a history of Han rule, it was not in the form of a county system. They only used the Chief Secretary's Office or the Protectorate to accept tributes from small countries and coordinate disputes between small countries. Han officials could not directly interfere in the internal affairs of local small countries.

Cao Zhang had no idea about the situation of his father Cao Cao and his second brother Cao Pi in the rear. He didn't even know whether Liu Bei had launched a general attack or whether his father was still alive.

Before leaving Dunhuang, Cao Zhang had completely lost contact with the rear area, and even Jia Xu was not allowed to leave Yumen Pass with him.

The road ahead could only be relied on by Cao Zhang, Cao Xiu and Xu Huang. There were only strong winds blowing from time to time and yellow sand that was difficult to contain when the wind started.

"Perhaps, at this moment, my father has been killed by Liu Bei... As a son, I am a coward if I cannot protect my father and fight against Liu Bei..."

Whenever it was late at night and everyone was asleep in the desert, Cao Zhang couldn't help but feel panic and confusion.

Fortunately, Cao Xiu and Xu Huang would persuade him: "The Third Prince must not slack off. This is also to preserve the bloodline of the Cao family, which is what His Majesty expects to see. Only by fighting to the Western Regions and escaping with a way out can we live up to His Majesty's trust.

There are 20,000 to 30,000 cavalry here, which is what Your Majesty gathered by gathering all the war horses that could be found in Guanzhong and Xiliang. Using this cavalry well, marching westward, finding a place with abundant grass and water, and becoming the hegemon in a foreign land, is the greatest loyalty and filial piety. "

Cao Zhang also quickly freed himself from the depression of worrying about his father's death and decided to cheer up.

After leaving Yumen Pass, there is almost no one in the area for 500 miles.

Every one or two hundred miles, you can barely find a small oasis to stay. Historically, when Xuanzang went to the Western Regions to seek Buddhist scriptures, his journey was not allowed by the imperial court, so he had to avoid forts garrisoned by troops. He had to bypass the oasis that served as a relay point, and he almost died of thirst in the desert.

It was only the end of the Han Dynasty, so naturally the imperial court had not set up outposts or forts in these oases, but there would definitely be local Qiang tribes living by the water and grass.

However, Cao Zhang had a large army at hand, as well as a map of the Western Regions provided by Jia Xu, a native of Wuwei. He had done enough homework in advance, so he could rush directly to these oases, kill all the local people, rob all the livestock and supplies, and each time he would have people fill all the water containers.

Even the sheep that had just been slaughtered were skinned, washed, and tied up to store as much water as possible.

With sufficient supplies, Cao Zhang successfully passed through the five or six hundred miles of uninhabited area and arrived at an area roughly equivalent to the northwest of Lop Nur in later generations.

Of course, the so-called "smooth" was only relative. His 20,000 to 30,000 cavalrymen still paid the price of more than a thousand deaths when passing through the no-man's land.

Hundreds of them died of thirst or heat stroke, and many more were buried alive by sandstorms. When passing through desert no-man's land, a gust of wind could sometimes take away hundreds of lives, even if he had found enough guides and made adequate preparations.

In addition to the deaths of more than a thousand people, there were even more people injured by heat stroke and sandstorms, accounting for nearly 20% of the entire army.

When Cao Zhang finally returned to the grassland from the Gobi Desert, he was already covered in dust and dirt.

Fortunately, he also knew that when he returned to the grassland area, he would be not far from Gaochang Kingdom.

Gaochang Kingdom is the area of Shanshan and Turpan in later generations.

In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ban Chao, who "gave up his pen to join the army", killed the Hun envoy who came to win over the King of Shanshan on the territory of Shanshan State, and then forced Shanshan to surrender to the Han Dynasty.

Cao Zhang's cavalry attacked along the back edge of the Lop Nur no-man's land. The Gaochang people were completely unprepared, so they were conquered by Cao Zhang in a few days.

Cao Zhang originally thought that the imperial court had not contacted the Gaochang people for many years, and the local people should have been assimilated into the barbarians.

However, when Cao Zhang's army surrounded Gaochang and raided and killed Gaochang's top leaders, they discovered that the local area was still mainly governed by the Han people.

Cao Zhang could not start a massacre, so he could only continue to rest and recuperate in the local area, collect taxes and military supplies, and nominally establish counties under Han rule - this point is not much different from the original history.

Because originally in history, after the establishment of the Cao Wei regime, the Western Regions Chief Secretary's Office was set up within a few decades, and its seat was located in the Shanshan/Gaochang area. The area was indeed one of the few Han Chinese settlements in the Western Regions.

Cao Zhang couldn't just start a massacre, and his logistical difficulties couldn't be completely resolved. He could only take a short break and then, while there were still two months left in autumn, he would quickly move westward.

Finally, before the winter of that year, Cao Zhang conquered Weili and Luntai, which is the area of Korla in Xinjiang in later generations.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a large lake and an inland river with abundant water. The area was close to the Tianshan Mountains and could enjoy the warm and humid air currents from the melting snow of the Tianshan Mountains and the Black Sea.

There were no Han people living in these places, most of them were Hu people. Cao Zhang was finally able to let go and kill people without restraint, supporting and employing local Han people, slaughtering Hu people for supplies, and fighting to support the war.

As for his father, Cao Cao, there has been no news about Cao Zhang for half a year. He has no way to verify whether he is dead or alive in a short period of time.

(End of this chapter)