Chapter 791: Sour Date Alliance (Part 1)
Chapter 791: Jujube Alliance (Part 1)
Chapter 789: Jujube Alliance (Part 1)
Yanzhou, Chenliu County, Suanzao County.
Suanzao County is located in the far west of Chenliu. It is a transportation hub connecting Si and Yanzhou, and it is also the closest county to Hulao Pass, so it was arranged by Cao Cao as a meeting place for the princes.
When the Ming Empire occupied Yanzhou, Jujube had already been reduced to a poor county with thousands of people. However, because the geographical location of Jujube was too important, the Ming Dynasty not only strengthened the city wall defenses, but also sent heavy troops to garrison it. After the Ming Dynasty, Li Qingzhao's brother Li Bai personally came to govern.
During his tenure in the county, Li Bai almost eradicated all the disadvantages of the county. After working hard and sleeping hard, he finally cured the county and absorbed tens of thousands of refugees within a year, completely getting rid of its reputation as a poor county.
After the decisive battle of the Han and Ming Dynasties broke out, Suanzao County was the first to bear the brunt. Li Shimin and Xiang Yu fought several times, and the Suanzao County, which had finally recovered its strength, was once again destroyed in the flames of war.
In the Battle of the Han and Ming dynasties, the Han Dynasty won, and Can Ming fled into the Three Mountains.
After Cao Cao was appointed as the shepherd of Yanzhou, he also attached great importance to the important position of jujube and sent general Cao Ren to guard it again. After Cao Cao's resource tilt, the jujube finally gradually recovered its vitality.
This time the princes from all walks of life gathered together, and the coalition troops numbered hundreds of thousands. Naturally, it was impossible for them all to rush into the small county of Suanzao.
In order to receive various princes, Cao Cao sent Xun You to make arrangements early, and the company camp built outside Suanzao County was even enough to accommodate an army of 500,000 people.
After Qin Hao led his army to Suizao, he discovered that he was the first prince to arrive. Even Cao Cao, the host, was still dispatching troops and horses in Chenliu. It was estimated that it would take some time to arrive at Suanzao.
The person responsible for receiving Qin Hao this time was Cao Ren, the general of Cao Army.
Due to the sworn friendship between Qin Wen and Cao Cao, the relationship between the Qin and Cao families became very good, and the exchanges between the forces were the most. Gradually, Yanzhou became the main commercial export center of Nanyang.
Qin Hao had known Cao Ren before. When he saw the visitor, he immediately greeted him with a smile: "General Cao Ren, long time no see."
“The last time I saw the Marquis of Qin, it was the Marquis who killed Xiang Yu’s traitor at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Today I see the Marquis of Qin in even better shape than before.” Cao Ren said with a smile.
Qin Hao smiled calmly and said, "You are too different from me, Lord Hou. Hao's wife Xiahou Qingyi is from the Xiahou family, and the Xiahou family and the Cao family are close relatives, and the general is also Hao's elder, so Just call me by my cousin."
"this…"
Cao Ren was a little hesitant, but seeing that Qin Hao didn't look polite, he agreed.
“Okay, Zixu.”
“That’s right.”
Qin Hao smiled and asked: "Marquis Wei, no, it's my Third Uncle Cao. How long will it take to reach Suanzao?"
“Mengde has gathered his army and will surely arrive in three days.”
“I wonder how many troops Third Uncle will send out this time?”
"The people in Yanzhou are poor, and they have been severely harmed by the Ming thieves. They have not been able to recover yet, so Mengde can only mobilize an army of 30,000 at most."
Qin Hao nodded unconsciously after hearing this. What Cao Ren said was indeed true, and Yanzhou did not belong to Cao Cao alone. Excluding the troops stationed in various places, an army of 30,000 was almost Cao Cao's limit. Three days later, Cao Cao led an army of 30,000 to Suanzao, and the strength of the Suanzao camp also reached 90,000.
Accompanied by Cao Cao, Qin Hao briefly inspected Cao Cao's 30,000-strong army and found that although the equipment of Cao Cao's army was not as sophisticated as that of Qin's army, it was no inferior to Qin's army in terms of training.
When Qin Hao accompanied Cao Cao on an inspection tour of the Qin army, Cao Cao immediately cast an envious look at Qin Hao when he saw that the Qin army's armor was shining brightly and their swords were sharply tempered. They were many times better than the weapons of his own army.
“My nephew Zixu, I really envy you. Nanyang County alone can support such an elite army. It seems that you have really made great efforts in the governance of Nanyang.”
The implication of Cao Cao's words is that Nanyang is really rich, otherwise how could he build so much sophisticated equipment.
Qin Hao smiled indifferently and said modestly: "The main reason is that Nanyang County has a good foundation. Anyone who serves as the governor of Nanyang will not be any worse."
Cao Cao obviously didn't believe it, and said: "My dear nephew, please don't try to confuse me. Although Nanyang was once the largest county in our Han Dynasty, it could not support so many elites before, and the tax revenue was far worse than it is now."
"Actually, it's nothing. Over the years, my nephew has been vigorously rectifying Nanyang's internal affairs and encouraging business development. Oh, by the way, in order to deal with Dong Zhuo this time, my nephew has sold iron and steel to gather the equipment of a large army. After the army withdraws, it will be dismantled. Woolen cloth."
Seeing that Qin Hao not only did not take the bait, but even became miserable with himself, Cao Cao couldn't help but sigh in his heart that Qin Hao and Qin Wen's father and son were really nothing alike.
Since Cao Cao became sworn friends with Qin Wen, he has benefited a lot from Qin Wen.
Without mentioning anything else, let’s just say that Cao Cao bought the three thousand tiger and leopard horses from the Jin army at the lowest favor price, half buying and half giving them away.
War horses are priceless in the Central Plains. Cao Cao was able to form such an elite cavalry because of his sworn relationship with Qin Wen.
Cao Cao was also addicted to taking advantage. After seeing the Qin army's equipment, he wanted to buy some equipment cheaply by favoring Qin Hao. However, Qin Hao pretended to be confused and was simply a seamless egg that Cao Cao could not find. Nowhere near the mouth.
After the two of them chatted for a while, Qin Hao was not in the mood to play Tai Chi with Cao Cao, and went straight to the point: "Third uncle, my nephew hopes that you can support my nephew as the leader of this alliance."
Cao Cao looked surprised and asked, "Brother, won't he come over?"
The eldest brother Cao Cao calls is naturally Qin Wen, and if Qin Wen also comes to join the alliance, there will be almost no suspense about his position as alliance leader.
Qin Wen is almost the only general left in the Han Dynasty. He is more than enough in terms of reputation and governance, so absolutely no one dares to compete with Qin Wen for the alliance leader, but Qin Hao is different.
Although Qin Hao has the most outstanding military exploits among the princes, he is still too young after all. Some people will definitely use this as an excuse to oppose Qin Hao as the leader of the alliance, so Qin Hao came to seek Cao Cao's support just in case. .
After hearing Cao Cao's question, a trace of sadness flashed in Qin Hao's eyes, he lowered his head and said in a deep voice: "My father was seriously ill in the Battle of Hetao, and he will no longer be able to lead the army in the future, and this time he came to lead the army on behalf of the Jin army. It’s Uncle Four.”
“It turns out to be brother Qin Jian!”
Cao Cao looked disappointed and sighed: "Second brother Sun will also come to join the alliance this time. I wanted to take this opportunity for us three brothers to have a drink and chat again, but now it seems that it is impossible. What a pity."
There is still a little transition before the war officially starts. After all, in such a big battle, everything must be explained clearly, so that it will not look empty and will be more exciting.
(End of this chapter)