The Qingzhou Plain and Jinan have all fallen into the hands of Cao Cao.

There are 11 cities in the two places, with a total population of 250,000.

Xu Huang's soldiers and horses have also arrived in Le'an County.

Cao Cao can no longer sweep Qingzhou like before.

As for the five cities to which Le'an County belongs, if Cao Cao dares to attack one of them, he will be attacked by Xu Huang immediately.

Cao Cao was at war with Lü Bu in Yanzhou.

In fact, it was clear that he wanted to attack other cities many times, but the real purpose was to ambush the main force that Lu Bu came to support.

The strength in Xu Huang's hands is now higher than that of Cao Cao.

But if Xu Huang was also ambushed by Cao Cao once.

The tide will soon be reversed.

It's just that Xu Huang is more cautious than Lu Bu.

Cao Cao wanted to ambush Xu Huang, which was more difficult than ambushing Lu Bu.

However, Cao Cao's purpose this time was not to occupy Qingzhou, and he didn't need to defeat Xu Huang.

After Xu Huang arrived in Le'an, Cao Cao temporarily stood still.

But secretly, Cao Cao was already preparing to send civilians back to Yanzhou.

Of the 250,000 civilians, Cao Cao did not send them all back at once.

Cao Cao still didn't make a big splash. Don't want to expose your purpose too early.

The three-way soldiers and horses that were separated had quietly divided into more teams and entered the various cities again.

It's just that the original 25,000 people have now been reduced by 5,000, and only 20,000 remain.

The 5,000 missing people have already taken 50,000 civilians and headed towards Yanzhou.

Of course, these 50,000 people were also scattered, and they were the first batch of people selected from the eleven county towns.

This batch, Cao Cao gave them a promise, and they themselves have no family wealth in Qingzhou, and many of them are originally homeless.

Cao Cao promised them, as long as they followed them to Yanzhou, and allocated land and even houses.

How could these people refuse?

One by one, they are now walking on the road, with a smile of hope on their faces.

The allotted land, the house given away for nothing, where did they dare to think before.

What's more, along the way, Cao Cao also provided them with grain and grass.

Where was there such a good thing before.

If it weren't for Cao Cao, many people would probably starve to death.

Whether it is Zhang He before or Xu Huang now, there is not enough food and grass for themselves, and it is difficult to provide food for these displaced people.

There were so many civilians in the ranks, and the pace of progress was much slower than when they came.

The speed was slow, even if 50,000 people were scattered into a dozen teams, they were still discovered a few days later.

But Cao Cao didn't let them go back the way they came.

Instead, the nearest road is chosen according to the location of each city.

The people of Pingyuan County directly entered Jizhou and entered Yanzhou from Jizhou.

Even if Xu Huang found out, he would have already had time to stop Cao Cao.

I can only watch these 50,000 civilians enter Jizhou and Yanzhou, and become the people under Cao Cao's rule.

Xu Huang finally knew Cao Cao's purpose.

But in just a few days, Cao Cao has once again coerced 100,000 people.

Xu Huang missed the best opportunity.

There are two counties and eleven cities in Jinan, which originally had a population of 250,000.

And now, these eleven cities have become empty cities.

Those who did not want to leave, those who dared to resist, were slaughtered.

Of the 200,000 people, nearly 50,000 were killed, and corpses can be found everywhere in the city.

Cao Cao didn't have much time to mobilize them.

Only by using the bloodiest means did others not dare to resist, they could only obediently follow him out of Qingzhou, leave their hometown, follow him to Yanzhou, and settle down again.

But 50,000 people were unwilling and fled.

After all, Cao Cao's troops were too small.

If these people really want to run, Cao Cao can't do anything about them.

When Xu Huang reacted, Cao Cao had already begun to retreat to Yanzhou with his men and horses.

Xu Huang was very annoyed.

He misjudged Cao Cao's purpose.

But it's too late to regret it.

Xu Huang could only lead the army to pursue behind.

He didn't want Cao Cao to take away the 100,000 people.

Cao Cao has only been here for less than a month, and he has lost half of Qingzhou's population.

Xu Huang's chest was dull, and a mouthful of blood almost didn't spurt out.

Why did he take Qingzhou?

In the final analysis, it's not just for the 200 people in Qingzhou.

Only when there are people in hand can there be strength.

Like Cao Cao, Yanzhou has a population of less than one million, and Cao Cao can't even recruit new soldiers.

There are also large tracts of land that are barren and uncultivated.

If he comes to Qingzhou now, he will directly bring back 150,000 people.

Cao Cao could recruit 20,000 recruits from these 150,000 people.

The remaining 130,000 people can reclaim at least one million acres of land for him.

Next year, we can harvest at least two million catties of extra grain.

These two million catties of grain can feed an army of 100,000.

Cao Cao's strength will be restored in this year's time.

Xu Huang didn't think about it that much now.

He did not allow Cao Cao to snatch such a common person from his own hands.

The disappearance of the 250,000 population in the two counties also has a great impact on Qingzhou.

Cao Cao has taken away 50,000 people, and he must stop the current 100,000 people.

100,000 people, dragging their families with their mouths, each carrying pots and pans.

They are not soldiers.

So the pace of progress is slow.

It's only ten or twenty miles a day.

And Xu Huang led an army of 50,000 and marched fifty miles a day.

Three days later, he caught up with Cao Cao.

But Cao Cao did not panic.

Carrying 100,000 people on the march, Cao Cao had long thought that he would be caught up.

But he did it anyway.

Because he already has a way to deal with it in his mind.

In the face of the pursuing enemy, it is absolutely impossible to blindly escape.

And Cao Cao is not defeated now, but retreating.

The 20,000 elite soldiers in his hands were not chaotic, everyone was calm, and the team was always very orderly.

Cao Cao also planned the route of retreat.

The road is not the closest, but along the way, there are five places that are perfect for ambushes.

The first ambush point, Maple Leaf Forest.

Perfect for hiding, hiding 10,000 people in the woods will not be detected.

"Lord, I am willing to take five thousand people to ambush Xu Huang in the Maple Leaf Forest."

When Cao Cao passed by the maple leaf forest, the general Cao Ren said.

"No, you don't." Cao Cao shook his head.

Cao Ren was puzzled, because Cao Cao's best thing was ambushes.

With such terrain, Cao Cao would definitely set up an ambush in the past.

It is naturally best to successfully ambush the enemy, and even if there is none, there is no loss for them.

But this time, Cao Cao didn't.

"Take five thousand men, take off your armor, and mingle with the people." Cao Cao said.

20,000 armored soldiers, if there are 5,000 fewer soldiers, the target is very obvious, Xu Huang's spies can easily estimate the strength of Cao Cao's hands.

But 5,000 people mixed in with 100,000 people, it is very inconspicuous.

"What do you mean, my lord?" Xiahou Yuan asked.

Cao Cao said: "Even you all know that this is an excellent place for ambushes, doesn't Xu Huang know?" ”

(End of chapter)