Cao Cao still returned to Yanzhou.

Zhang Wang and Xu Huang were chasing after them.

However, after Cao Cao abandoned a large number of ordinary people who couldn't keep up with his pace, the two still failed to catch up with Cao Cao.

But the civilians who followed Cao Cao back to Yanzhou were only about 50,000.

Those who couldn't keep up with the footsteps were brought back to Pingyuan County after being collected by Xu Huang, who was chasing.

Including the civilians who fled before and brought back, there are almost 40,000 people.

It's only 40,000 people, but it is far from filling the two counties of the Jinan Plain.

Although Cao Cao's trip to Qingzhou only brought back 100,000 people in the end, it caused Qingzhou to lose nearly 200,000 people.

The two counties and eleven cities in the Jinan Plain have almost become empty cities.

Cao Cao failed to live up to his expectations, and Cao Cao originally wanted to take 200,000 people from Qingzhou.

In the end, however, only half of the project was achieved.

If it weren't for the fact that he had brought back 50,000 people before, Cao Cao might not even be able to take away 100,000 people.

Coupled with Cao Hong's death, Cao Cao was very dissatisfied with the results of this trip to Qingzhou.

And Xu Huang was also very dissatisfied.

Ping Bai lost 200,000 people, plus the lives of nearly 10,000 soldiers.

Xu Huang wants to take full control of Qingzhou, and he needs more time.

If Cao Cao hadn't come, Xu Huang would have taken Beihai County by now.

The entire Qingzhou will be under his control, and if he rectifies it a little, he can send troops to Jizhou, and together with Tai Shici and Zhao Hui, he will flank Yuan Shao.

In the face of the three-way army, Yuan Shao wants to win, unless Zhao Hui makes a very wrong decision.

But Zhao Hui is still implementing a strategy of winning steadily.

Yuan Shao had no way to deal with this.

Even without Xu Huang's Yellow Turban Army, it would be very difficult for Yuan Shao to defeat Zhao Hui now.

The time and place are favorable, and Yuan Shao has them all, so that he can win this battle.

When Cao Cao retreated to Yanzhou, Lü Bu also happened to enter Yanzhou with 5,000 people.

Lü Bu launched an attack on Taishan County.

But unlike the last time, this time Lu Bu attacked Yanzhou without the support of various families in Yanzhou.

Lü Bu's attack on Yanzhou was very resistant.

Last time, almost all the counties and counties in Yanzhou were directly announced, surrendering to Lu Bu without the slightest resistance.

And this time, Taishan County, a small county town, faced Lu Bu's 5,000 soldiers and horses, and it was also defended to the end.

Although Lu Bu still broke through the city after all, Lu Bu did not get any benefits.

If every city, Lu Bu needs to be forcibly conquered by force.

With the five thousand soldiers and horses in his hands, it is far from enough.

In terms of time, Lu Bu was not allowed to waste too much time in these small cities.

Before Taishan County was defeated, Lu Bu received the news that Cao Cao had returned to Yanzhou.

Lu Bu could only return to Xuzhou with his men and horses.

Although Cao Cao's current strength is not as good as before, Lu Bu himself is the same.

With only 5,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, Lu Bu had no confidence in facing Cao Cao.

Moreover, these 5,000 soldiers were borrowed from Liu Bei.

After Lu Bu received the news, he could only withdraw to Xuzhou as soon as possible.

Although he returned in vain this attack, he also understood that Yanzhou was no longer the Yanzhou of the past.

Now in Yanzhou, there is no family to support Lu Bu.

It is impossible for Lu Bu to sweep Yanzhou with a few thousand soldiers and horses like before.

There was only one chance, and Lu Bu failed.

The family in Yanzhou can't give Lu Bu a chance.

With such a big advantage before, Lu Bu was still defeated by Cao Cao, and they already lacked confidence in Lu Bu.

Lu Bu had already been bet once, and it was impossible for them to bet again.

The people of these families always put the interests of their families first.

It's just that on Lu Bu's way back to Xuzhou, Lu Bu received another message that he didn't want to see.

Xuzhou Mu Taoqian, when he sent troops to Yanzhou, had died of illness.

Now Liu Bei has taken over Tao Qian's position and has become the new pastor of Xuzhou, in charge of all military and political affairs in Xuzhou.

This made Lu Bu very annoyed.

I wanted to take advantage of Cao Cao's dispatch of troops to Qingzhou to attack Yanzhou again.

As a result, Yanzhou failed to get it, and Xuzhou was also taken away by Liu Bei.

If he hadn't sent troops to Yanzhou, Liu Bei would definitely not have occupied Xuzhou so easily.

At this time, Lu Bu realized that it was no wonder that Liu Bei was so easy, so he agreed to lend him 5,000 soldiers and horses.

It's just that it's too late to regret it.

Lu Bu has no place to stay now, he still has to return to Xuzhou, or he still has to greet Liu Bei with a smile and thank Liu Bei for taking him in.

Jizhou!

Yuan Shao and Zhao Hui are still facing off.

There are no big wars, but small frictions are every day.

Now Yuan Shao no longer dares to let people fight easily to attack Zhao Hui's camp.

Although most of the counties in Jizhou are still under Yuan Shao's control.

However, since the war has been fought so far, the consumption of money and food has been huge.

Even with the foundation of Jizhou, it is now a little unsupportable.

And constantly recruiting new recruits, a lot of land in Jizhou this year has been barren.

A lot of money and food is needed to fight a war, but Jizhou's income this year is not as good as last year.

The consumption is far greater than the output.

Yuan Shao has also realized that if this continues, he will definitely lose.

The longer the time drags on, the slimmer his hopes of victory become.

Zhao Hui is an expedition, and Yuan Shao is a defense.

It stands to reason that the longer the time drags on, the more beneficial it is to Yuan Shao and the more unfavorable it is to Zhao Hui.

But now it's the other way around.

Although there is not much difference in strength, it can already be seen that in terms of comprehensive strength, Zhao Hui has far surpassed Yuan Shao.

Just like when Yuan Shao fought Cao Cao, the gap between the two.

In the battle of Guandu, it was very difficult for Cao Cao to win.

If it weren't for Xu Yu's sudden surrender, Cao Cao would have been defeated.

If Yuan Shao wants to win this war now, the difficulty will definitely not be less than Cao Cao at that time.

So far, Yuan Shao has not seen a glimmer of hope of winning.

But Yuan Shao still looked like he was going to win in front of the soldiers.

With the current situation, as long as Yuan Shao showed a trace of lack of confidence, Yuan Jun's morale would immediately collapse.

Every day there are people agitating in the army, they will definitely win, Zhao Hui came from afar, as long as he holds on for a month, Zhao Hui's grain and grass will be exhausted.

Ordinary soldiers, who do not know the specific situation at all.

They don't know that this battlefield has consumed a huge amount of money and food.

They also don't know that there are already large areas of land in Jizhou that are barren.

They didn't even know that the endless supply of grain and grass in Youzhou was constantly being transported to the front line.

In Zhao Hui's army, every soldier can eat three meals a day.

They couldn't see the huge pressure in Yuan Shao's heart now.

"My lord, the man has been found."

In Yuan Shao's Chinese army tent, after Xin Ping came in, he gave Yuan Shao a salute.

His voice was not very loud, just enough for Yuan Shao to hear.