Chapter 108

"Zhang Tou'er, I found the boat. Let's go there together!"

In a reed swing by the Yellow River, a soldier of Cao's army ran over and reported to a small officer sitting on the ground. Around them, dozens of soldiers were lazily sitting or lying in the local area. Hearing this, the little officer also looked up and said, "Xiao Li, have you ever seen that there are no sailors upstream and downstream?"

"Don't worry, Zhang Tou'er, I've seen it, no. This boat is an old man fishing. I spent a lot of money before he promised to come and cross the river. Xiao Li quickly explained.

"In that case, let's cross the river!" Zhang Tou nodded, and then greeted everyone to get up and carefully came to the river together, ready to cross the Yellow River.

"Sir, my boat is small, and I can only cross up to 15 people at a time!" The old man who supported the boat seemed to have as many as 70 or 80 people, and he was also a little uncertain. Zhang Touer looked at the big group of people behind him, and finally said, "You can row back and forth a few more times, and I'll wait more than you to spend money!"

"Good!" Stimulated by money, the old man also began to row. However, what Zhang Tou didn't know was that he had just left with more than a dozen people on the first trip, and the rest of the people on the shore had begun to chatter.

"Do you really want to go back to Hebei? I heard that many places have been beaten by Liu Bei. Can we win if we go back like this?

"If we really want to go back, we will definitely fight with Liu Bei. But if we don't go back, we will have all the dry food around us. If we eat it all, we will starve to death.

Cao Hong exercised Jia Xu's plan to turn it into zero and distributed all the dry food to the soldiers, so that they could find their own way to smuggle across the Yellow River and then gather together. If you go back to Hebei, you will be rewarded a lot. This move is really powerful. Even if Jingxiang Shuishi works overtime day and night, it is difficult to do everything. Liu Bei hurriedly ordered the collection of ships along the coast to prevent the enemy from crossing the river.

How is the military situation now? Many people have already known it through their own channels. With the fall of Youzhou and Bingzhou, and the annihilation of Xu Huang's army and horses in Fancheng, many people began to play drums. Just as these people were talking, they heard someone exclaim, "Look, what's wrong with their boat?" Everyone hurriedly looked into the river, but saw that the small fishing boat full of people was hit by a wind and a wave, swaying. At first glance, it had a meaning of sinking. The people on the shore were shocked, and the people on the boat shouted nervously.

"This damn old man, with so many people on board at one time, it's a doubt!" A military commander on the shore shouted anxiously. It seemed to confirm his words. At this moment, another wave came, and the boat finally turned its head and overturned. Zhang Touer and more than a dozen people all fell into the water. After fluttering a few times, they sank one after another. Not even one returned to the shore, including the greedy boatman, was submerged in the Yellow River. More than 60 people on the shore looked at it and felt their scalp numb.

"What should I do?" The questioner was a new recruit. Seeing that no one answered him, the man turned his head and saw the commander who had just spoken. He immediately asked as if he had grasped a life-saving straw, "Chen Wuchang, now Zhang Tou is dead. What do you think we should do?"

This Chen Wuchang is also a veteran, and Ping said that these recruits still trust him more. Now everyone can't find the boat for a while. This boat was found by Xiao Li Qi just now, and the dry food around him is almost eaten. Everyone is not sure whether they can find a boat to cross the river before the food is eaten up. Since you are not sure, people's minds will come alive. It's just that what this mind is, but it's not convenient to say it too carefully or too clearly.

Chen Wuchang looked at his expectant colleagues, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "I think that's it. Let's surrender to Lord Liu. I heard that Lord Liu was kind to the soldiers. Let's go to him. When the war is over, we will find an opportunity to return to our hometown in Hebei.

"It has to be like this!" Everyone knows that the dry food around them is enough to eat for three or four days. If they don't surrender and wait for the food to run out, if they don't want to starve to death, they can only go to the grass to rob the bandit. In fact, most people are not too disgusted with defecting to Liu Bei. After all, Liu Bei has a good reputation among the people at the bottom, and they are not worried about him killing. When the next group of people negotiated, they went to Runan to fight against the enemy.

Similar things have happened almost every day since Cao Hong ordered the withdrawal of troops. After the tenth day, Cao Hong withdrew to Hebei to gather people and horses. Only then did he find more than 100,000 troops, and only more than 90,000 people returned. The rest were either intercepted or defected to the enemy. Cao Hong also knew that he was lucky to be able to retain most of the people and return to Hebei. If you are completely cut off like before, you can only be trapped in Henan.

"Uncle, what should I do?" When Cao Zhang saw the army gathering, he also hated it. Cao Hong lowered his head and calculated carefully, but finally sighed: "The 300,000 Southern Expeditionary Army, and 50,000 of Xu Gongming's troops were lost; it was not easy for Zhang Yanyi and Bo Ren to stay in Henan; plus the tens of thousands of scattered soldiers, they actually lost more than half of them? What's the face of me, Cao Hong, going to see your majesty?

"Uncle, don't be discouraged. We can gather more than 100,000 troops here. Even if you can't march further south, it's more than enough to repel the enemy in Youzhou, Bingzhou!" Cao Zhen looked at the dull atmosphere and quickly said.

"However, now that Guan Yu's army is about to invade in the north, there can be no one stationed along the Yellow River!" Xia Houba frowned. Everyone knows that there are not many troops that Cao Wei's court can use. Cao Hong lowered his head and thought for a while, and finally sighed, "In that case, I'd better go back to Ye City to meet your majesty first to ensure that the Yellow River defense line is safe, and then make a plan!"

After the third day, Cao Hong led the remaining hundreds of thousands of troops back to Ye City. When Cao Pi saw Cao Hong's unlucky appearance, he was speechless for a long time. Finally, he sighed, "It's good that Uncle Huang can come back. Nan Zheng took Wancheng and Xu Chang, which is also a gain. Now Liu Bei's soldiers attack Youzhou and Bingzhou in two ways, and the local garrison is a little overwhelmed. Please ask the emperor to repel these two people as soon as possible!"

"I should serve your majesty!" Cao Hong hurriedly answered. After a few days of rest, the army immediately sent troops in two ways. One route was led by Xiahou Ba and led 60,000 troops to support Zhuo County. On the other route, Cao Hong and Cao Zhang led 80,000 troops to support the upper party and prepared to repel Zhang Fei and Zhao Feng.

Cao Jun from Hebei can finally have a response, but Zhang Yi and others in Henan are almost out of breath under the double pressure of Guan Yu and Liu Bei. Although what Cao Hong said before is more beautiful, the current Zhang's jaw is very difficult compared with Zhang Xiu in those years.

In those years, Zhang Xiu sat in Wancheng, and his opponent was only Cao Jian, who occupied the land of the four states, and he also had Liu Biao, an ally behind him, so Zhang Xiu could jump for a few years. Now on both sides of the southwest of Wancheng are Liu Bei's sphere of influence. Although Henan County and Hongnong County in the south and Xuchang in the east are his own family, the garrison is extremely limited. Relying on tens of thousands of people to keep the foundation of Henan, Zhang Yi is really not confident.

There is a way to be afraid of what comes. Just as Cao Hong began to withdraw his troops, more than 100,000 people in Liu Bei's pass immediately came out of Tongguan and knocked down on the Hangu Pass. At the same time, Zhang Liao and Guan Yu's army also began to attack Xu Chang, but left Wancheng alone. Zhang Yi was very puzzled at first, but then he understood that once Xu Chang and Henan were broken, what else could he do if he was trapped in the lonely city of Wancheng?

The number of troops stationed in Henan and other places is limited. Under the attack of Liu Bei, Hangu Pass, Hongnong County and Henan County fell one after another, and the defenders surrendered one after another. After Xuchang's Xiahou Shang resisted desperately for half a month, the city was also broken by Guan Yu. Xiahou Shang killed himself. In the land of Henan, except for the lonely city of Wancheng, there was no more than half of the stronghold of Cao's army.

Finally, on the morning of the day a month after Cao Hong left, a large group of people came from all sides of Wancheng, encircbling a city. Zhang Yi saw all this on the head of the city, and his scalp was also numb.

"I haven't seen so many people for a long time!" Zhang Yi muttered, in his impression that he had never seen so many people except for the battle of Guandu more than a decade ago. At the time of the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao claimed to be 700,000 troops. Now Liu Bei's actual troops in Nanyang have reached more than 400,000. In terms of the number of people, the two sides are almost equal.

It's not to mention that Zhang Yi was extremely shocked, and the rest of the ordinary soldiers also changed their faces when they saw such boundless military horses. Unexpectedly, the Han army did not attack the city. After the camp was set up, he rode out of the army and came to the city alone.

"It's Gaolan!" It didn't take long for Zhang to see it clearly that the person who came was listed with himself in the four columns of Hebei. Time flies. Among the four pillars of Hebei, Yan Liang and Wen Chou have already died on the battlefield, and the rest of themselves and Gao Lan will also meet on a narrow road.

But when he saw that Gao Lan did not carry a blade, he didn't even approve the armor. He went straight to the city and shouted, "Brother Yanyi, the old man Gao Lan is visiting. Please meet me in the city!" Zhang Yi's heart moved when he heard the words, and he quickly ordered to open the gate and let Gaolan in. He also went to the city to greet him in person.

"Brother Yanyi, Qingzhou has been separated for decades. Brother Yanyi is in Hebei. He has been doing well these years!" After entering the government office, Gao Lan also asked with a smile. Zhang Yi smiled bitterly when he heard the words, and finally said astringently, "It used to be fine, but now, it's naturally not good to be surrounded by Uncle Liu's army!" After a pause, Zhang Yi also asked, "I heard that Jingzhong is already the general of Zhenbei under the command of Uncle Liu. It's really a prosperous official!"

General Siping and Si'an, Sizheng Sizhen, are all second-grade, only slightly inferior to Sangong. It's really not easy for Gao Lan to get to this point. Of course, Gao Lan also heard a different taste from Zhang's words. Envy, or heartbeat?

So Gao Lan didn't say much, and said directly, "Yan Yi, you and I are all old friends. Brother, I won't be a secret in front of you. Brother, this time, it was your majesty who sent me to persuade my brother to give up. My brother's talent is far better than Gao Lan. If he can be obedient, he will definitely have a great career in the Han Dynasty!"

(to be continued)