Early in the morning of this day, Liu Biao had just gotten up, and he saw Deng Xixing hurriedly entering the account to report, "Congratulations to the lord!" Congratulations to my lord! Cao Mengde withdrew his troops also! ”

Liu Biao, who was already tossing and turning for the war, heard the words "Cao Cao withdraws troops" at first glance, and immediately didn't care about putting on shoes, so he directly bypassed the screen and grabbed Deng Xi's sleeve and asked, "Is this true?" Did Cao Cao really withdraw his troops? ”

"It's true, and it's true. According to the report of the spies, the Cao camp has been empty this morning. Deng Xi explained to Liu Biao excitedly.

Although Liu Biao knew that Deng Xi would not lie to him in this matter, the sudden victory still made Liu Biao can't help but muttered to himself in disbelief, "Cao Cao withdraws his troops...... Why did Cao Cao withdraw his troops? ”

Deng Xi saw that his lord Ren couldn't believe that Cao Cao had withdrawn his troops until this time, so he couldn't help but step forward and analyze for him, "Lord Mingjian, it must be that Duke Xuande attacked the south and gathered and burned Cao's army's grain and grass, so that Cao Mengde had to withdraw his army. ”

It was not necessary for Deng Xi to remind him, and Liu Biao had already thought of Liu Bei, who led the troops to attack the south from the sudden retreat of Cao's army. After all, since the defeat in the head-to-head confrontation with Cao Cao the day before yesterday, Liu Biao pinned his hopes for turning the tide of the battle on Liu Bei. It's just that the victory came a little sooner than he expected, which made him a little uncomfortable. However, after the initial period of consternation, Liu Biao soon regained his former demeanor and calmness. I saw that he first straightened his messy clothes, then flicked his long sleeves, and ordered loudly, "Give orders to the whole army!" Lonely to eat in Cao Ying! ”

The news of Cao Cao's withdrawal spread throughout the entire Liu camp in the blink of an eye like a spring breeze, and Wu Ju and others, who had suffered the secret losses of the Cao army on the battlefield the day before yesterday, all screamed as if they had eaten five stones, and went straight to the Cao army's camp. Along the way, Wu Ju and the others not only did not encounter any resistance, but they did not even see half of Cao Bing's figures, and rushed into the Cao army camp at once. Wu Ju, who felt very bored, did not stay in Cao Ying for long, but took his men and horses to continue to pursue Cao Jun all the way along the traces left by Cao Jun.

On the other hand, after getting the exact news from the vanguard, Liu Biao also excitedly ordered the chariot to be moved. Galloped into Cao Ying, showing off his might. In fact, the Cao camp at this time, as reported by Deng Xi before, had already been emptied, leaving only the stables, arrow towers, warehouses and other facilities that had not had time to be dismantled in the same place. However, this did not affect Liu Biao's mood to show off.

At this moment, it coincided with the "food time" (7 to 9 o'clock in the morning), which was the time when the Han Dynasty people used the morning food, and saw Liu Biao instructing the attendants to prepare the meal, and at the same time proudly inviting the civil and military beside him, "Come, come, come, please have dinner together." ”

However, while the attendants were busy spreading in the center of Cao's camp, three dazzling fireballs suddenly appeared in the sky, attracting many curious soldiers to stop and watch. But more generals are in front of the sight. was so frightened that his hair stood up, and he hurriedly raised his voice and shouted a loud alarm, "Get out of the way!" Get out of the way! Cao Jun's thunderbolt is coming! ”

It wasn't until this time that the onlookers realized that the three fireballs in front of them were not a miracle, but a killing weapon thrown by Cao Jun. For a while, the soldiers in the camp were like ants on a hot pot, exclaiming again and again. Hugging the head of the rat. As for Liu Biao himself, he completely forgot about eating, and was directly protected by Huang Zhong and others and fled out. And the three fireballs still smashed into the camp as they should.

I only heard a loud bang that shook the sky. The stable that was hit by a fireball turned into a dazzling fireball that soared into the sky in the blink of an eye. The huge wave of qi carried countless fragments, like an invisible hand, and tossed the surrounding soldiers and horses to the ground. The vast majority of people clearly felt the ground trembling beneath their feet, as if the big fish that had caused the earthquake were swimming underground.

In the face of such a scene of common sense, the soldiers of Liu Biao's department completely lost their minds, some of them were so frightened that their legs were weak and they did not dare to get up, and some of them were like headless flies scurrying around aimlessly. However, their nightmare had only just begun, as the stables were blown into the sky. Three more fireballs flew into the sky. This time, Cao Jun's quasi-head obviously went to a higher level, except for one miss, the other two fire bombs hit the arrow tower and the warehouse respectively. Like the stables, there was a series of deafening roars like rolling thunder. Huge fireballs rose one after another from the location of the arrow tower and the warehouse, and the flying sparks ignited a flammable object around them, instantly plunging the entire camp into a sea of fire.

Red, yellow, green, white...... Cao Cao and all the civil and military officers under his tent stood on the hillside, watching all kinds of fireballs rise up in the camp where he once lived like brilliant bouquets, all of them pointing or clapping their hands like naughty children, and their excitement was overflowing. As for the young Cao Zhang and Cao Zhi, they couldn't wait to ask Cao Cao directly, "Father, is this a landslide and earth cracking technique?" ”

Cao Cao twisted his long beard and looked around at the equally curious subordinates at the scene, and then laughed and said, "Exactly!" It's the art of landslides and earth cracks! ”

As soon as Cao Cao heard Cao Cao personally admit that he had mastered the world-famous landslide and earth splitting technique, and just now he saw with his own eyes that the thunderbolt car had plunged a huge camp into a sea of fire with only six fire bombs, where would they have any doubts, and they immediately shouted excitedly, "Cao Gong is mighty!" God bless Cao Jun! ”

However, Cao Cao and Liu Ye, who was in charge of arranging the organs this time, knew that this was not a landslide and ground cracking technique. It turned out that when Xu You took refuge in Cao Cao, in addition to revealing that Yuan Shao's granary was in Wuchao, he also provided Cao Cao with a few pieces of wood stained with gunpowder residues. Although Xu You was later beheaded by Cao Cao for the Battle of Wuchao, the wood chips he provided were confirmed by Liu Ye, who was good at mechanical techniques, and the alchemists in Cao's Mansion to indeed contain some kind of elixir that could fuel combustion. So Cao Cao used the reason of seeking immortal alchemy, and recruited warlocks from the people to study the pills on the wood chips.

Since gunpowder is an ancillary product of alchemy, after more than three years of hard work, the alchemists of Caofu have analyzed the three main components of gunpowder: charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter. However, because the specific proportion of black powder was not known, the power of the elixir prepared by Cao Jun was far less than that of Qi Jun. In addition, Cao Jun will not plant explosives according to the structure of the city like the Five Elements Escape Banner. So after several tests, Cao Jun's gunpowder has not been able to achieve the effect of blowing up the city wall. Of course, this primitive gunpowder is more than enough for arson and explosion. What's more, in order to enhance the power of the elixir, the alchemists of Cao Mansion also added various strange raw materials to the elixir. This made Cao Jun's pill appear as colorful as it is now after the explosion of the pill, and even some of the pills could release poisonous smoke that hurt people after burning. In a sense, Cao Jun's firearms may be more abundant than Qi Jun's. Because of this, Cao Cao gave this miraculous elixir a name that was both apt and time-piercing-gunpowder.

However, Cao Cao's answer was obviously not enough to satisfy Cao Chang and Cao Zhi's curiosity. No, Cao Zhi followed up and asked Cao Cao again, "Father." Why is it that when a fireball ignites the stable, the people standing nearby are overturned? Can a fire bring down a person? ”

Faced with such a professional question, Cao Cao could only smile bitterly and ask Liu Ye for help, "Ziyang, why is this?" ”

"Back to the prime minister, when the fire bomb ignites the gunpowder, a strong wind will explode, so it will blow the people around you to the ground." Liu Ye replied respectfully.

After hearing this, Cao Zhi nodded as if he didn't understand, and blurted out again, "What is gunpowder?" ”

"Zi Jianxiu has a lot to say!" Cao Cao coughed lightly, interrupting his son's questioning. In fact, the explosion in the camp just now was not caused by a fire bomb. The real effect of the six shells was to ignite the gunpowder buried in the stables, the arrow towers, and the warehouses. And as far as Cao Cao knows. Liu Ye buried thousands of catties of gunpowder in the camp in order to ensure that nothing was lost, so that there was the effect of the landslide and ground cracking just now. In order to prevent his generals from mistakenly believing that the art of landslides and earth splitting with fire bullets and thunderbolts alone would lead to fatal mistakes on the battlefield in the future, Cao Cao did not mind letting his men know about the storage of gunpowder. But when it comes to the specific situation of gunpowder, Cao Cao doesn't want people to have an in-depth understanding.

Cao Cao immediately closed his mouth as soon as he drank it. Meanwhile. The civil and military forces on the side also immediately realized that "gunpowder" may be the key to the technique of landslide and earth splitting, so they also bypassed this topic. began to talk about how to use the technique of landslide and earth fissure to attack the city and seize the ground in the future. Just when everyone was chatting. Suddenly, I heard the sound of horses' hooves behind me. Cao Cao followed the sound and looked back, and saw a group of cavalry galloping towards this side, and the first tiger general with an ape arm and bee waist was Cao Cao's brother-in-law Xiahou Yuan.

I saw Cao Cao half-jokingly beckoning to Xiahou Yuan, "Miaocai missed the show!" ”

Xiahou Yuan turned over and dismounted and smiled at Cao Cao nonchalantly, "If you miss it, you will miss it." Compared to watching dramas, Yuan still prefers hunting. ”

Anyway. Xiahou Yuan took out a head from the quiver behind him, and everyone looked at it and saw that it was the head of Cangwu Taishou Wu Ju. Cao Cao stepped forward with a look of relief and patted Xiahou Yuan's shoulder and encouraged, "Miaocai is also hard." ”

It is said that Cao Cao had received a battle report that Cao Chun and Xu Chu had successfully ambushed Liu Bei in the south as early as yesterday evening. In order to cheat Liu Biao before he got the news. On the one hand, Cao Cao asked Liu Ye to bury the gunpowder prepared in advance in the camp, and on the other hand, he personally led the army to withdraw from the camp overnight, thus making the illusion that he abandoned the camp and fled because of the attack on Nanjuju. Early this morning, Liu Biao saw that Cao Ying's people went to the camp empty, and as Cao Cao had measured, he immediately sent troops and horses to capture Cao Ying. However, in order to catch Liu Biao, a big fish, Cao Cao deliberately let go of Wu Ju, who arrived at Cao's camp first, and let Xiahou Yuan feign defeat to lure him into pursuit. After the paralyzed Liu Biao himself entered the camp, Cao Cao ordered Liu Ye to throw a fire bomb with a thunderbolt to ignite the gunpowder in the camp. So, there was the scene of awakening and excitement just now.

As Cao Cao said, the martyrdom in the camp had ended at this moment, and apart from the raging fire that spread throughout the camp, Xiahou Yuan couldn't see anything special about the camp opposite. However, at this moment, a group of cavalry suddenly rushed out of the camp surrounded by flames, and one of the generals was carrying a person on his back, and that person's uniform looked like Liu Biao.

"My lord! Liu Biao escaped! Xiahou Yuan exclaimed, and immediately pulled the reins in his hand, flew on one foot, and was about to chase Liu Biao.

Who would have thought that Cao Cao raised his hand and stopped Xiahou Yuan, "Wait!" Don't chase after the genius. ”

"My lord?" Xiahou Yuan's eyes widened and he said anxiously, "Liu Biao is also running!" ”

Cao Cao still stood in place, watching Liu Biao and the others drift away, and said proudly, "Miaocai, the method of using soldiers, the whole country is the first, and the country is second; The whole army is the first, and the broken army is second; The whole brigade is the first, and the broken brigade is second; The whole pawn is the first, and the broken pawn is second; The whole army is the first, and the army is second. Therefore, a hundred battles are won, and the good ones who are not good are also; The soldiers who surrender without a fight, and the good ones are also good. ”

Xiahou Yuan saw Cao Cao move out of "The Art of War", and couldn't help but freeze in place. Liu Ye and other strategists who were present were all in high spirits. Indeed, there are things in this world that are far more frightening than death. According to the current situation, Cao Jun wants to take Liu Biao's head, which is as easy as probing to get things. However, once Liu Biao died, his son Liu Qi would be elected as the new lord by Jingzhou Wenwu, so as to raise an army for revenge. On the contrary, with Liu Biao's courage, he had seen the technique of landslide and ground cracking, how could he dare to confront Cao Jun again. What's more, those soldiers and horses who fled with Liu Biao will also transmit what they saw and heard today back to Jingzhou. As the saying goes, "attacking the city is the bottom, attacking the heart is the top", Cao Cao obviously wanted to use the technique of "landslide and ground cracking" to capture the hearts of the soldiers and people in Jingzhou, so as to achieve "surrendering the army without a fight".

Thinking of this, Liu Ye and the others couldn't help but bow down to Cao Cao convincingly, "The lord is clever!" ”

Cao Cao was so flattered by Liu Ye and others, and he was also proud in his heart. In Cao Cao's view, Liu Bei's army was defeated and fled, Liu Biao was frightened, and the two great enemies in front of Jingzhou had been wiped out, and the next thing he had to do was to send troops to capture Lujiang County held by Liu Bei and Shouchun, an important town in Jianghuai, and on the other hand, to win over the local clan in Jingzhou and force Liu Biao to surrender completely. With such a two-pronged approach, it will not take two or three months to think that the counties north of the Yangtze River will be taken over by him Cao Cao.

And just when Cao Cao was secretly thinking about how to seize Jingzhou, another cavalry galloped towards this side in the distance. But seeing that the messenger on the horse was full of dust, as soon as he saw Cao Cao, he turned over and dismounted and presented a leather box containing the battle report, "And the state is urgent!" Please take a look. ”

Cao Cao took the leather box and opened it, and the smile that was originally hanging on his face instantly solidified into an iron blue. Xiahou Yuan, who was on the side, saw Cao Cao's face change suddenly, and knew that the situation was not good, so he also dismounted and asked, "What happened to the lord?" ”

Cao Cao did not answer Xiahou Yuan immediately, but under the concerned gaze of all the civil and military forces, he lowered his head and looked back at the few numbers on the battle report, and then read word by word with a tense face, "Cai Anzhen used the technique of landslide and earth cracking to break the city and punish Gao Gan." ”

――――――

Small Theatre Hours:

CC triumphant: Voila! That's called fireworks.

Xiao Cai (black line): You are fireworks. (To be continued......)