Cao Ren didn't have much emotion, as soon as he thought of Xiahoulan appearing here, he subconsciously thought that Xiahoulan was coming with a large army, so there was still room for reversal in this battle.

"General Xiahou, hurry up and take the army to support, as long as your troops join, we still have a chance to win!" Cao Ren said excitedly.

Xia Houlan's face was depressed, he really didn't know how to say his own thing. And the captain of Xiahoulan's personal army said on behalf of his master: "General Cao, when we entered Nanyang, we were calculated by Liu Yu and Liu Bei's dog thieves. Now it's just us guys. ”

"What? That's all you guys left with? Cao Ren was a little shaky when he heard this, there were only a few people left in the thousands of soldiers and horses, and it was the same as the annihilation of the entire army.

Xiahou Lan hurriedly supported Cao Ren and said ashamedly: "The last general is incompetent, please punish the general." ”

"And what are you doing here?" Cao Ren shouted angrily directly.

Xia Houlan continued: "General, originally our department was ambushed by Nanyang Liu Jun, and the last general directly chose to temporarily avoid the edge, but at the most critical time, Liu Bei's righteous brother Zhang Fei suddenly appeared behind our department with a large army, and directly attacked our department without saying any nonsense. Two fists were hard to beat four hands, and under their two-sided blows, we resisted desperately. However, there was a huge disparity in strength and finally ended up defeated. The last general wanted to die to atone for his sins. However, the appearance of Zhang Fei made the last general know about the conspiracy of Liu Yu and Liu Bei to join forces, if the last general died, I am afraid that the general and the lord would be calculated by Liu Bei. So the last general broke through under the cover of his own soldiers. But Zhang Fei and others kept chasing and killing, causing the war horse to lose its strength and unable to move forward. We finally chose to come on foot to join the general. But in the end, it was too late. ”

Xiahoulan's words stunned Cao Ren, Liu Bei and Liu Yu secretly teamed up? Cao Ren didn't believe it at first, but felt that Xiahou Lan was a member of the Xiahou family, and it was impossible for him to lie on such a big issue. Liu Yu is now the emperor, and Liu Bei claims to be a relative of the Han family, if Liu Yu promises to give Liu Bei great benefits, such as the promise of being a marquis and a king, it is difficult to guarantee that Liu Bei will not be tempted. Now that Zhang Fei appeared and attacked Cao Jun, and chased Xiahou Lan all the way, he was worried that Liu Bei's conspiracy would be revealed. Cao Ren felt that there was only one explanation.

"In this way, Prime Minister and Sun Ce were both deceived by Liu Bei's villain!" Cao Ren said in a deep voice.

Xia Houlan arched his hand and said: "The general is wise, and the last general is also such a guess. ”

Everyone present was silent, and Cao Ren's whole face was so gloomy that it was terrifying.

"Let's go, go back to Runan!" Cao Ren really couldn't think of any other explanation, and now he had to return to Runan City to recuperate from his injuries and tell Cao Cao the news.

But Xiahou Lan poured a basin of cold water and said, "General Cao, I'm afraid that Runan City at this moment is no longer owned by the prime minister!" If Liu Bei and Liu Yu join forces to deal with the prime minister, our department was defeated before, how could they not make a move against Runan, I am afraid that the current Runan City is already surnamed Liu. ”

Such a large basin of cold water directly made Cao Ren's whole body cold.

Yes, when Cao Ren went out on the expedition, Runan City had no troops, and if Liu's army attacked Runan City, Runan City would not be able to hold it at all.

Cao Ren closed his eyes in grief and said desolately: "I, Cao Zixiao, will actually make a mistake so far!" How to substitute for the main bus! ”

Xiahou Lan said: "General Cao, the lord must still be in the dark now. We will go back and report to the Lord at once. ”

Cao Ren felt that Xiahoulan was right, things had come to such a point, and he couldn't save the situation no matter how much he wanted to.

So Cao Ren and Xiahou Lan returned to Shouchun together. Cao Ren was now wounded all over his body, and could only be carried by a few of Xiahou Lan's personal soldiers who built a simple stretcher out of trees, so as not to aggravate the injuries due to the bumps of the horses, otherwise Cao Ren would not think about returning to Shouchun alive.

Cao Ren can live, and the happiest person is Xia Houlan. There is no other reason, Cao Ren did not die, so the main responsibility is borne by him, plus other factors, the possibility of Xia Houlan retreating is very high. And Cao Ren has a very high position in Cao Cao's heart, Xiahou Lan saved Cao Ren, Cao Cao and the Cao family will definitely be very grateful to Xia Houlan, and the reward in the future is certain. Xia Houlan now knows that her future is bright, which is in stark contrast to Cao Ren's gloomy inner world.

After Ma Chao returned to the battlefield, the battle between Cao Jun and Xiliang Iron Cavalry was almost over. A sentence "Cao Ren is dead!" "You can completely collapse Cao Jun's confidence.

Without the main general, Cao Jun was like a lamb and was constantly devoured by the hungry wolves of Xiliang Iron Cavalry.

Almost all the Cao soldiers who resisted were killed, and the rest were soldiers who had lost their willpower to resist, squatting on the ground one by one, holding their heads in their hands, and surrendered directly.

For such a result, Ma Chao did not have any big surprises, in fact, in the field battle with Cao Jun, Ma Chao really did not fear anyone.

With Ma Chao's character, there is only one fate for these Cao soldiers, and all of them will be killed. Ma Chao has never been soft on the enemy, and this time is the same. And Ma Chao felt that the biggest credit was to capture or kill Cao Ren alive, but Cao Ren fell into the cliff, and this great credit was gone, and there was no point in keeping these surrendered Cao soldiers.

"Kill them all! Not a single one to stay! Ma Chao gave the order directly.

Xiliang Tieqi raised the butcher knife in his hand without saying a word, preparing to finish these Cao army soldiers, anyway, it was not the first time they had done this thing. The soldiers of the Cao army were like frightened birds, all huddled in a ball. After eating the bowl of rice as a soldier, they also knew that they could not live a long life, they had long expected that they would die at the hands of the enemy, and now they would be killed if they surrendered.

Just when Ma Chao was about to slaughter the Cao soldiers, Sima Yi arrived in time. When he saw that Ma Chao was about to slaughter the prisoners, he hurriedly stopped: "Meng Qi can't! ”

Ma Chao saw Sima Yi galloping panting on a war horse, and stopped himself in his mouth, his face was suddenly displeased, and he said, "Zhongda, what are you doing here?" Also, when it's your turn to dictate what Ben will do? ”

Sima Yi was choked a little uncomfortable by Ma Chao, you are so arrogant, no matter what, you are also controlled by your own military division, do you have such a way to talk to your superiors?

But considering Ma Chao's profound background and future prospects, Sima Yi said with a smiling face: "General Meng Qi, as the old saying goes, killing and surrendering is ominous. The general's big victory today was supposed to be celebrated, how could the atmosphere be ruined by such a trivial matter. Due to the continuous improvement of His Majesty's strength, many places need to be served, and these captives are all strong laborers, what a pity to kill. Wouldn't it be better to keep them and send them to the localities to do their labor, so that the local labor force will be sufficient? If Your Majesty knew that the general could think so much about the country's society, he would definitely be happy. These Cao soldiers will also be grateful to the general for not killing, and the world will also praise the general's benevolence, so isn't it beautiful? ”

Sima Yi knew that Ma Chao had a good face, so he talked about the benefits of not killing Ma Chao, so that Ma Chao could listen to it.

After Sima Yi said this, Ma Chao's face became much better-looking, and at the same time, he also felt that Sima Yi was right. Killing these captives is just a matter of Ma Chao's words, if these captives are used as labor, in exchange for Liu Yu's dragon face and great joy, this deal is a good deal.

"Since Zhong Da has said so. Ben will sell you a face and spare the lives of these dogs! Come on, tie them all up, send someone to escort them to Xuchang, and wait for the arrival! Ma Chao waved his hand and gave the order.

Ma Chao's words made all the butcher knives on the Xiliang Iron riders take back. This can be seen Sima Yi's intelligence, and a few simple words persuaded Ma Chao.

The Cao Jun captives escaped, and they all thanked Ma Chao for not killing. The soldiers of the Cao army knew that they might be sent to do coolies next, but it was better to die than to live, at least they heard that Emperor Shenwu was good to the people under his rule, and it should not be bad for them to be prisoners. No matter how bad it is, it's better than being killed, the Cao army captives can only take one step at a time.

These captives accepted Ma Chao's arrangement very resignedly, which made Sima Yi think less about it.

Ma Chao came back to his senses and asked Sima Yi: "Zhongda, are we going to pursue while we are victorious?" Or is there another arrangement? ”

Sima Yi said with a smile: "What we have to do now is to attack Runan immediately, and conclude that Runan City's current defense is weak, but we can fight down!" ”

"Okay, just listen to Zhongda." Ma Chao's favorite thing is this kind of battle that goes down in a fight, which is very refreshing.

So, Ma Chao handed over the captives to the soldiers brought by Sima Yi, and then took the Xiliang Iron Cavalry and Sima Yi and went straight to Runan City. Of course, Sima Yi didn't just come alone, he came with a lot of infantry, because he concluded that Ma Chao decided to be able to win, and there were a large number of prisoners, and the result was not what Sima Yi expected.

A large number of people slaughtered towards Runan County with great momentum, and after entering Runan County, they encountered no resistance along the way.

Ma Chao couldn't help but praise Sima Yi's resourcefulness in his heart, it was really as easy as he said.

It's just that Sima Yi was full of doubts, he thought that Runan would be easy to take, but he didn't expect that there would be no resistance at all.

"It's a bit weird." Sima Yi began to wonder if he had miscalculated, Cao Cao's side had already taken precautions against this mutation, and Runan did not resist at all but wanted to lure Sima Yi and Ma Chao deeper into them, and then ambush them.

It's not impossible. Sima Yi was very jealous of Cao Cao. was so afraid that Sima Yi spent a lot of time studying Cao Cao every day, and the more he knew Cao Cao well, the more Sima Yi felt that Cao Cao was terrifying. Sima Yi really admires Liu Yu, even he needs to be afraid of people, but Liu Yu can continue to seek his own advantages in the confrontation with Cao Cao. With such a comparison, Sima Yi knew that Liu Yu's ability was above Cao Cao.

"Meng Qi, we need to be careful." Sima Yi suddenly said a word.

Ma Chao, who was on the march, immediately ordered the troops to stop advancing, and then asked, "Zhongda, do you see something coming?" Is there an ambush for the enemy? ”

Sima Yi shook his head and said, "I didn't see any ambush. It's just that along the way, there is no resistance at all, which is really weird. If this is Cao Cao's conspiracy, I'm afraid there will be a trap waiting for us ahead. ”

Ma was shocked, he seemed to be too proud before, and completely ignored Cao Cao's power. If it weren't for Sima Yi discovering this detail, he might really be stupid and continue to move forward, and sooner or later he would have been calculated by Cao Cao.

Ma Chao asked in a deep voice: "Then are we returning to Yingchuan?" ”

"It doesn't have to be this way! There are not many troops that Runan can send. Even if Cao Cao had a conspiracy, he was ambushed in a dangerous place. Let's send more scouts, as long as we are not ambushed by Cao Cao, Cao Cao can't help us. After all, the name of Xiliang Tieqi is not blown. Sima Yi said firmly.

Ma Chao immediately followed what Sima Yi said and sent a large number of scouts to explore the way ahead.

Sima Yi has to be careful, for the easier it is to get, Sima Yi always feels a little strange. This is a classic paranophoria. Of course, Sima Yi would not count that Runan County did not have any resistance because Runan had been taken by Zhang Fei and Gao Shun, and all the Cao troops in the county fled when they heard the news. So this is Sima Yi thinking too much.

The scouts were dispatched, and Ma Chao and Sima Yi's march slowed down. But the scouts kept reporting that there was nothing unusual ahead. Sima Yi couldn't figure out how this could be the case.

Knowing that the last scout came back and brought Runan City, Liu Yu's banner had been planted.

At this time, Sima Yi understood that Runan City had been taken by Liu Yu's other troops.

"No wonder, it turns out that Runan City has already been won." Sima Yi smiled bitterly, it seemed that he had thought too much before.

Ma Chao was a little depressed, Runan City was taken by others, so he didn't have anything to do with this credit. And Ma Chao originally wanted to go to the bottom of the cliff to find Cao Ren's body, but in order to march into Runan, this matter was forgotten by Ma Chao. Now that Runan City doesn't have to fight, there is nothing to do without Ma Chao, that is, Ma Chao has spent so much effort, all of which are in vain.

"General Meng Qi, let's go to Runan now. Let's see who took Runan City so quickly. Sima Yi suggested.

"Yes!" Ma Chao nodded in approval, he felt that Xiliang Tieqi had been running around for so long, and he also needed to find a place to rest.

When Ma Chao and the others rushed to Runan City and saw Gao Shun appear in front of them, the faces of the two of them became very colorful.