EBE Chapter 37: Cao Cao intercepts Cai Yong at the roadside and invites him back to Yanzhou.
Chapter 37: Cao Cao intercepts Cai Yong at the roadside and invites him back to Yanzhou.
On the mountain road leading to the Guanzhong region.
Cao Cao and Su Yu rode together on the same steed, Jueying.
Cao Cao and Su Yu were not yet aware of Yuan Shao's disbandment of the coalition.
But for Cao Cao and his entire army, this news was no longer of any significance.
Pursuing Dong Zhuo alone was inevitable.
Even if the coalition had not disbanded, Yuan Shao would not have, as the leader of the coalition, summoned the various warlords to pursue him.
They never expected these so-called allies to come and help them, so they naturally didn't think about gains or losses.
Moreover.
Although Cao Cao's main force consisted of only a few thousand men, their morale was remarkably high thanks to the encouragement of Cao Cao and Su Yu.
"A wisp of smoke..."
The sound of horse hooves sounded.
Xiahou Yuan, looking flustered, hurriedly led over a hundred cavalry sentries back from the front to report to Cao Cao:
"My lord, a scattered Xiliang army has been spotted ahead, numbering approximately two thousand."
"These Xiliang soldiers are not well-equipped and do not look like the Xiliang elites under Dong Zhuo."
"More than two thousand people?"
Su Yu pondered this matter in his heart.
If these two thousand men were an ambush force, they would not pose much of a threat to Cao Cao.
Moreover, Xu Rong chose Xingyang as the ambush location, as this was the plan that best served Xu Rong's interests.
In other words, the two thousand soldiers not far away could not possibly be Xu Rong's ambush troops!
So the question is, what are they?
Su Yu felt that this army was most likely a second-line army that had broken away from the main force of the Xiliang army and scattered.
Because they didn't know the route, they took a detour through a side path and ended up on this mountain path.
The brave wins when we meet on a narrow road.
Moreover, these two thousand-plus Xiliang soldiers have no idea that there is a Cao army lurking behind them waiting for an opportunity to strike.
If we don't take the initiative now, when will we?
Having figured this out, Su Yu told Cao Cao his guesses.
Cao Cao immediately ordered his entire army to attack!
The mountain path was very narrow.
Even the second-line army of the Xiliang Army, which numbered over two thousand, had to be divided into several groups of soldiers, making it impossible for them to walk side by side.
Just as the supreme commander of this Xiliang army was about to rest on the spot.
A series of hurried footsteps sounded from behind!
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The shouts of battle instantly echoed through the mountains, even creating a considerable echo in the valley.
This Xiliang army of more than two thousand men was only a second-line army. Who would have thought that there would be pursuers on this mountain road?
In an instant, the army was thrown into chaos!
Even the highest commander of the Xiliang army was at a loss for what to do for the time being.
The man who served as the vanguard of Cao Cao's army was none other than Xiahou Yuan!
The guards around Xiahou Yuan, under his training, also became skilled archers.
They took out their bows and arrows and fired a volley at the Xiliang army not far away.
If these second-line troops of the Xiliang Army were replaced by Dong Zhuo's elite elite troops, they would probably have already taken up arms and charged into battle against Cao Cao's army by now!
Unfortunately, a second-line army is just a second-line army.
In their panic, many of them perished under the hail of arrows.
The rest were like frightened birds, not knowing what to do.
Su Yu's mind stirred slightly, and he instructed Yue Jin, who was standing beside him:
"General Wenqian, go and tell those soldiers that those who surrender will not be killed!"
Le Jin accepted the order and left.
Among Cao Cao's generals, his voice was one of the loudest.
In addition, Su Yu made a homemade megaphone for Yue Jin.
Le Jin held up the megaphone and gave a shout, instantly becoming the focus of the entire audience.
The group of Xiliang second-line troops who were scattering and fleeing immediately turned their attention to Yue Jin.
Upon hearing the words "Those who surrender will not be killed," more than half of the soldiers chose to surrender on the spot.
Those who remained had long since lost all fighting spirit.
Accompanied by the charge of Cao Cao's army.
In less than five minutes, almost all of the surviving two thousand soldiers chose to surrender.
Subsequently, Cao Cao instructed generals such as Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, and Cao Hong to go and gather the surrendered soldiers.
But among the surrendered soldiers, there was even a horse-drawn carriage.
"My lord, the person sitting in that carriage must be of noble status."
Su Yu made a suggestion to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao quickly pulled Su Yu towards the carriage.
A refined-looking old man, over fifty years old, stepped down from the carriage.
"Teacher...?"
Upon seeing the old man, Cao Cao was shocked and immediately bowed to him.
Yes, this old man was none other than Cao Cao's tutor, Cai Yong, who was also Cai Zhaoji's father.
"Meng De?"
"How will you be here?"
Cai Yong was equally shocked to meet Cao Cao.
Cao Cao immediately informed Cai Yong about the pursuit of Dong Zhuo.
After hearing this, Cai Yong cupped his hands towards Cao Cao and said:
"Among the many lords in the allied forces, only Cao Cao is a true hero!"
"I admire you!"
Upon hearing the teacher's praise, Cao Cao's face flushed red, a rare occurrence for him.
It should be noted that although Cao Cao was quite accomplished in literature.
However, among Cai Yong's many disciples, Cao Cao was not actually outstanding.
This brings us to Cao Cao's ambitions.
Literature was merely a sideline for him; his primary occupation was being a tyrant.
The other disciples focused on literature, which Cao Cao could not compare to.
"By the way, teacher, why did you end up here on the mountain path with this group of stragglers?"
Cao Cao was filled with doubt.
Cai Yong sighed and began to recount:
"Dong Zhongying burned Luoyang, and many ancient books were also destroyed in the fire."
"I couldn't bear to see these ancient books lost, so I asked Dong Zhongying for an army and did my best to collect them before leaving Luoyang."
"But even with my best efforts, I have only managed to gather 60% of it."
"Many rare copies were lost in the fire."
"Later, as I and this army strayed further and further from the main force, we came to this mountain path."
Upon hearing this, Su Yu's face lit up with joy!
If he remembers correctly, Cai Yong and Dong Zhuo had a fairly good relationship.
Although Dong Zhuo was considered a vulgar person by the scholar-officials.
However, Cai Yong was willing to befriend Dong Zhuo, making him one of the few scholars in Luoyang who took the initiative to befriend Dong Zhuo.
At the same time, Dong Zhuo gave Cai Yong a lot of face and sent troops to help him collect ancient books.
But obviously.
Because this army got lost, Cai Yong and the ancient books he carried were destined never to reach Chang'an.
"Master Cai, why don't you come back to Yanzhou with me?"
Cao Cao, shameless as ever, extended an invitation to Cai Yong.
Cai Yong smiled:
"Mengde, I can certainly agree to this."
"But I have a worry that I cannot be at ease until it is cured."
Cao Cao raised an eyebrow upon hearing this and said:
"I wonder what Master Cai is referring to...?"
Cai Yong smiled slightly:
"It's exactly the matter you wrote about in your letter, Mengde!"
……