Chapter 25 General Xu Huang

Liang County, in Suiyang City.

Liu Bei, who had just taken down Suiyang, sat on the main seat of Suiyang's government office. Guan Yu and other people stood or sat around. In the middle, it was Mi Fang, who was kneeling on the ground and trembling.

Liu Bei frowned slightly, his face hesitated for a long time, and finally sighed, "Zifang, it's all right!"

"Master, Mi Fang knows that she has a deep sin. She used to turn to Cao Fan, but now she cooperates with Cao Fan to design the master. Fortunately, the Lord is lucky, otherwise it will be difficult to atone for Mi Fang's death!" Mi Fang knelt on the ground and said in a trembling voice. Liu Bei sighed when he heard the words. Not only him, but also Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and even Lu Su were silent. It was really unexpected to meet Mi Fang at this time. What was unexpected was that he would open the gate of Suiyang and respond to the army to enter the city. These things are really hard to remember for a while.

"That's all, for the sake of your surrender today, I won't kill you. But you have turned your back several times, and I can't tolerate you anymore. From now on, you can go back to your hometown in Xuzhou and stay behind closed doors for the rest of your life in vegetarian clothes!" Liu Bei hesitated for a long time, thinking that his wife and Mi Zhu did not kill him after all.

"Thank you for not killing!" Mi Fang escaped from death with tears on her face, and then she left with a fart. Liu Bei sighed a few words, and then cheered up and said to everyone, "Guys, we have taken down Liang County now. We only need to take Jiyin and Dong County again, and then we can completely cut Cao Qian apart."

"Except it is!" Everyone was smiling happily. As long as you take the East County, you can control Yanjin, Baima and other places. At that time, even if Cao Yan transferred troops from Guandu, the navy will intercept it more targeted the surname. This is also the strategy that Pang Tong quickly formulated for Liu Bei after learning of the loss of Guan Du. Even if he concentrated his superior forces, he quickly took advantage of the emptiness of Liang Jun and Chen Liu, and changed Cao from being trapped in Xuchang to Yingchuan.

Similar to what the Tang Monk said in the Journey to the West, Yingchuan is just a bigger cage for Cao Wei. At this time, he is close to the Yellow River in the north, Chen Liu in the east, and Yiyang in the west. As for the south, Zhang Liao led 50,000 troops in Runan at any time. Liu Bei was also proud when he thought about Cao Yan's current situation.

"Explore the Malay News, there are only thousands of people in the East County and Jiyin defenders, and the guard Wang Zhong is even more unknown. Brother, don't rest, wait for me to get Wang Zhong's head!" Everyone laughed for a while, and Zhang Fei volunteered first.

"General Lao San, I'm willing to work for you!" As a loser in blocking Zhang Xiu, Ji Ling had to find an opportunity to earn some face for himself. Similar to Guan Hai, Sun Fu and others all took the initiative to ask for help. Liu Bei was preparing to order the general with a smile, but at this time, a small school came in to report: "Lord, there is a Biao army under the city to challenge, and it is actually General Wei Yan!"

"What, Wei Yan?" Liu Bei was stunned when he heard the words, and then hurriedly led everyone to the top of the city to see what was going on.

"Lord?" Wei Yan, who was showing off his power under the city, was shocked when he saw Liu Bei. He quickly got off his horse and came into the city to see Liu Bei.

"Didn't Wen Chang confront Xu Huang in Qi County? Why did he come here?" After the ceremony, Liu Bei asked strangely.

"The lord didn't know anything. On the third day, Xu Huang suddenly withdrew his army and left Shanyang and retreated to Dongjun. After I led the army to occupy Shanyang, I remembered that the lord had been blocked by Liangjun, so I led the army to the south to help the battle. Jiyin's defense is empty, and it has been captured by me. I don't expect that the lord has also captured Liang County!" Wei Yan was also a little unexpected.

"What, Xu Huang retreated to East County?" Liu Bei's face also changed when he heard the words. Not only he, but also the rest of them were stunned, and then they regretted it. There are 40,000 troops and horses under Xu Huang's command, which is more than enough to guard the East County. We are afraid that it will be difficult for us to trap Cao Mengde to death with Henan in a hurry! Xu Gongming was indeed a good general. He immediately retreated to Dongjun and left this way out for Cao!" The designer Pang Tong thought for a moment, but finally sighed. When Wei Yan heard the words, he was completely confused and quickly asked for clues. Lu Su, who was beside him, quickly told him what had happened.

"Oh, if I had known this, I should have waved the army to take the East County!" Wei Yan said with chagrin. Although the capture of Shanyang and Jiyin is also a great achievement, compared with blocking Cao Wei's retreat, this credit is much smaller.

"If so, in the opinion of the military division, what should we do?" Liu Bei was also a little anxious and hurriedly asked Pang Tong. Pang Tong thought for a long time, but finally said with a wry smile, "Now it is not realistic to divide Cao Qian. Xu Huang is stationed in Dongjun. I'm afraid that Cao Qian will withdraw to Hebei as soon as possible. It's not easy to trap Cao to death in one fell swoop!"

"That's it!" Everyone's hearts were a little heavy when they heard this, and Wei Yan himself was even more annoyed. Liu Bei was also a little disappointed, but he still cheered up and said, "Why do you need to be annoyed? Although Cao Mengde could not be trapped to death in one fell swoop this time, the counties of Shanyang and Jiyin had been taken down by Wen Chang. In addition, Cao's army in Xuchang City was annihilated no less than 50,000, which was a great victory, not to mention Longxi Botao. Cao Mengde pretended to be smart, but in the end he lost his soldiers and generals!"

As soon as the leader's words of encouragement were said, everyone felt much better. However, at this time, Lu Su thought for a moment and finally said, "Your lord, Cao is still in Xuchang. Even if he wants to withdraw from Dongjun to Hebei, it is not feasible in a hurry. Why don't we go north as soon as possible, or stop Cao's army and annihilate it on the banks of the Yellow River!"

"Yes, Lord, if you march as soon as possible, you may be able to catch up with Cao!" Pang Tong thought for a moment and also agreed with Lu Su's opinion, but his tone was not sure. Whether it can succeed depends on how fast Lao Cao runs. According to experience, Cao's ability to run away has never been bad. So whether to chase or not depends on whether Liu Bei is willing to gamble.

"In addition, Su thought that if Cao Wei retreated, he would inevitably abandon Xu Chang and ignore him. It can be known that General Zhang Wenyuan of Runan led his army to the north and took the opportunity to capture Xu Chang!" Lu Su said again. Liu Bei hurriedly nodded and sent someone to Runan to inform Zhang Liao to act according to the plan. He and Guan Zhang personally led 150,000 troops, together with the Fengyun cavalry, to go north to intercept Cao Jian's return.

As Pang Tong expected, Xu Chang's Cao Qian was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. Suddenly, Xu Huang sent someone to report that he had returned to the army to defend the East County, and he was immediately overjoyed.

"Xu Gongming abandoned Shanyang County, didn't he give up Yanzhou to Liu Bei?" Cao Zhang said angrily, but as soon as he finished speaking, he heard his father snort coldly. He knew that Cao was not happy and did not dare to say anything more. Seeing this situation, the counselor Liu Ye sighed and stepped forward and said, "King of Wei, now General Xu Gongming has retreated to Dongjun, and he has finally guarded a road back to Hebei for the king of Wei. At present, the army's food and fodder is only enough to support less than a month. Let's withdraw from Hebei first and make a plan!"

Although Liu Ye is from Huainan, he is also the elder of Yanzhou Group under Cao Qian. Now he has proposed not to trap Xu Chang, which basically means that Yanzhou Group has silently left Xu Chang. Although it's unpleasant to abandon your hometown, it's better than dying here. Cao Yan looked at Xiahou Dun and others and saw that everyone was against it. Finally, he sighed and said, "In this case, we will wave our army eastward and withdraw from Dongjun to Hebei!" Zixiao, you lead 50,000 troops to stay in Chen Liu and repair the ferry of Guandu!"

"No!" Cao Ren responded. Everyone knows that Cao Yan still wants to leave two footholds in Yanzhou, so that it is convenient to come back later. As long as Dongjun and Chen stay in their hands, we can ensure that the Yellow River ferry will not be lost. At that time, there will always be a way to come and fight again. After arranging all this, Cao Zhen immediately ordered the whole army to withdraw to the East County and prepare to return to Hebei.

Cao has been very silent since he left Xuchang all the way. A man rode a horse, and Cao Pi and Cao Zhang could not get involved, but Jia Xu, Xiahou Dun and other important ministers of literature and martial arts also did not go up to scold. Cao was forced to escape in such a mess, but that was at least ten years ago. Now Cao Jian is the king of Wei. If he is forced to be so embarrassed again, it is really a loss of prestige. Influenced by him, Cao Zhang and others have also been silent, just trying to move forward at full speed.

"Lord, slow down!" The people who walked forward in a muffled voice were suddenly shocked by a broken drink, but everyone looked at Xu Chu, who had always been silent.

"Zhong Kang, what's wrong?" Cao Yan knew that Xu Chu would not play cold humor aimlessly. When he lost his temper, he must have something to do, so he hurriedly asked.

Xu Chu didn't say anything, but jumped off the horse and lay on the ground to listen carefully. Everyone knew that Xu Chu's ears were so strong that he often couldn't escape any slightest sound from his ears. At present, everyone didn't make a sound to see if he heard anything.

"How about Zhongkang?" Cao Chen waited for Xu Chu to get up and ask. Xu Chu frowned slightly, but he still answered honestly, "King of Wei, there is a military horse coming here in the south. There are no less than 100,000 people. It should be coming for us!"

"What?" As soon as he said this, everyone's faces changed slightly. Such a large army from the south may only be Liu Bei's people. There is still a distance from East County. Hurry up, let Liu Bei catch up and block it. Except for the 50,000 people left behind Chen Liu, the rest was just over 100,000. Considering that Cao Wei has just experienced a great defeat and siege, the morale problem is not optimistic.

"Big brother, it's Cao!" Seeing Cao Jun's troops and Cao's flag from afar, Zhang Fei shouted excitedly. Liu Bei didn't say anything, but nodded gently. Beside him, Guan Yu's pair of Danfeng's eyes also narrowed smaller, but the murderous spirit ejaculated from it could still be clearly felt.

"Ready to fight!" Seeing that Liu Bei's army had stopped and set up a formation, Cao Jian ordered softly. Behind him, Cao's army is also ready to go. Under the command of various generals, they are ready to fight at any time. Cao Qian himself sat in the middle army, Xiahou Dun on the left, Li Dian on the right, Cao Hong, Yu Jin, Cao Zhang and other generals in the middle, also the tip of the needle against Mai Mang.

"Give me!" However, under the order of Xiahou Dun, he first led the left-wing men to rush to Liu Bei's army, and then Li Dian, who was on the right wing, also launched an attack. After waiting for them to launch an attack, Cao Chun led the tiger and leopard to rush to Liu Bei's Chinese army from the front, but came first. Cao's strategy is obvious, which is to rely on the unparalleled impact of tigers and leopards to defeat Liu Bei face to face. Then he won a full victory in this encounter.

(to be continued)