Xuzhou, Xiapi.
30 miles outside the city, Cao Cao's army had occupied all the main roads. The army had disappeared for a long time.
Under such circumstances, Liu Bei and Tao Qian joined forces to attack the pass, but they were stopped by a bloody battle.
After a day and a night, they finally killed thousands of enemies and broke through the main pass, chasing after Xiao Pei.
That night, they finally understood.
Cao Cao had sent thousands of elite soldiers to guard the pass to slow them down. In fact, he had already led his army back to save Yanzhou.
After all, Yanzhou was Cao Cao's base camp, and his family was all in Yanzhou's Juancheng, which was East County.
Now that Puyang had been colluded with by Chen Gong and lured in by Lu Bu, and Chen Liu had been rebelled by Zhang Miao, who was trying to recruit the various prefectures and counties under his command, it was very likely that they would be completely lost within ten days.
Cao Cao did not dare to hesitate.
Therefore, even though they were exhausted after a day and night of fierce attacks, they still forced themselves to lead the army in pursuit.
Cao Bao and Liu Bei led the way.
There were more than forty thousand people in total, and nearly ten thousand cavalry passed through first, followed by infantry.
However, after passing through the pass, they were ambushed by Cao Cao's army. After another day of bloody battle, many of them only managed to escape late at night. Liu Bei and Cao Bao fled first, and the army scattered.
After returning, only three to four thousand people were left.
The rest were either killed, became deserters, or surrendered to Cao Cao.
In an instant, nearly half of Xu Prefecture's troops were gone.
After Tao Qian heard the news, he was extremely furious and fainted.
……
That night.
Cao Camp.
Cao Cao was lying on a makeshift couch, lying on his side weakly. His body was covered with a blanket, and there was a warm towel on his head.
Cao Ren and Xi Zhicai were sitting in front of him, checking the military equipment and collecting the gains from the battle.
They had gained a lot in this battle, and their morale was greatly boosted.
However, Xi Zhicai still couldn't be happy.
After coughing a few times, he said worriedly," My lord, we don't know anything about the current situation in Yanzhou. If we don't hurry back, perhaps…"
"Although this ambush was a surprise victory, the losses are still unknown. Should we march back to Yanzhou?”
He was Cao Cao's military advisor, Chancellor, but when he heard Cao Cao's order, he found it unbelievable.
Cao Cao did not return to Yanzhou immediately.
Although they had fainted due to dizziness, they still ordered the elite soldiers to guard the main roads. The army pretended to retreat, but in fact, they were hiding between the mountain forests on both sides.
Waiting for Liu Bei and Tao Qian to attack.
Now that they had won a great victory, they had to admire Cao Cao's quick-wittedness.
Xi Zhicai knew very well that they had not received the news of the rebellion in Yanzhou for long. Xu Prefecture would definitely receive the news as well. After all, there were many spies in Yanzhou.
With such an arrangement, they must have thought that the army had to retreat quickly and return to Yanzhou.
However, it was precisely because of this that he could use Tao Qian's intention to completely injure his lord to lure him into the trap and pay the price of a bloody night of battle between the soldiers at the pass.
They would devour the entire army.
Of course, he did it in the end.
However, Xi Zhi felt that at such a critical moment, dancing with the tip of the blade was a little too costly.
At this moment, Cao Cao's lips parted slightly." Send a hundred cavalrymen back to Yanzhou overnight to scout out the situation. We can't retreat now that we're about to get Xuzhou.”
At this moment, Xi Zhicai suddenly felt bitter." My Lord, Wen Ruo only has 5,000 soldiers left. Yuan Rang has Chen Gong as his spy in Puyang. We don't know where he is now. There are no more reinforcements."”
"Yes."
Cao Cao's eyes became sharp. He was still lying on his side, looking very weak, but very determined.
"Read the letter that Wen Ruo sent over again.”
Xi Zhicai frowned. He had read the letter once and could almost recite it. Did he miss some news?
"A letter? The letter did not mention any news of reinforcements.”
" But…Xu Zhen?!"
Xi Zhicai suddenly reacted." Wen Ruo mentioned that Xu Zhen had said in advance to be on guard against Zhang Miao.”
"However, he has already gone to Yingchuan. If Chen Liu defends to the death, Xu Zhen will find it difficult to attack! His army consisted mostly of cavalry, and they were good at fighting in the field, not in attacking.”
How could they attack without sufficient siege weapons?
Could it be that he was just stalling?
"Hey."
Cao Cao suddenly laughed and smacked his lips.
"He has many ways."
"Since Yi Feng already knew that Zhang Miao was going to rebel, he naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity. If I remember correctly, Xu Zhen still has one to two thousand soldiers who don't have military equipment.”
Xi Zhicai was stunned for a moment.
It could be like this?
This was f * cking…
"However, since General Xu knew, why didn't he say anything?”
Cao Cao's eyes flickered for a moment before he took a deep breath and released all the pent-up emotions in his chest.
"No one would believe it. If they didn't experience it themselves, who would believe that Zhang Miao and Chen Gong would betray me?”
These words seemed to make Cao Cao age ten years in an instant.
His shoulders drooped down weakly.
Cao Ren and Xi Zhicai, who were standing beside him, felt a little awkward and uneasy. They shouldn't have brought up this topic.
During this period of time, the reason why Cao Cao was so sick was not only because of the internal strife in Yanzhou, but also because of Zhang Miao and Chen Gong's betrayal.
Chen Gong was still alright. After all, he was only a trusted aide under Cao Cao's command.
On the other hand, Zhang Miao was his childhood friend. Back then, Yuan Shao had asked Cao Cao to kill Zhang Miao several times, but Cao Cao had never agreed.
He also advised Yuan Shao not to treat his old friend like this.
He had always treated Zhang Miao sincerely and never had the intention to harm or suppress him. The last time they returned from Xuzhou, they even hugged and cried.
At that time, Cao Cao only felt that his feelings were genuine.
He did not expect that in less than half a year, Zhang Miao's knife actually stabbed into his vital bone.
How could she not be sad?
"Zhicai, tell me, shouldn't I have used the strategy of not using people I suspect and not using them? Was I wrong?”
Xi Zhicai bowed deeply, his heart filled with mixed feelings.
"My lord, you must not say that."
"If it wasn't for the fact that my lord only chooses talents, doesn't use people he suspects, and doesn't trust people he uses…how could there be Xu Zhen? How could there be people like the Xun family, and how could there be a day when I, the opera prodigy, would stand out?”
"It is precisely because the lord is trustworthy when employing people that there are true celebrities who are willing to follow him.”
"As for Zhang Miao and Chen Gong, it was their fault, not the lord's.”
"Yes, Big Brother!" Cao Ren immediately stood up and put a hand on Cao Cao's shoulder to help him sit up." A talent like Yifeng knows that big brother doesn't trust people, so he dares to repeatedly make up for his mistakes.”
At the mention of this, Cao Cao sat up and smiled.
" Hmph hmph... that's right." There was some bitterness in his smile." But I placed Xiahou En beside Yifeng, but my original intention was not to monitor him.”
"I'm just curious about how he's going to cause trouble, hahaha…"
At this moment, Cao Cao's mind suddenly relaxed a little.
" Go," he said gently." Rest for the night. We will attack Kaiyang at night and take over Xiapi.”
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