Cao Cao's first letter of request for help was sent by Cao Hong, the Taishou of Runan. Cao Hong said in the letter that there were about 20,000 soldiers in Jingzhou today, and he was afraid that Runan would be lost, so he asked the lord to send 5,000 to 10,000 reinforcements from other places. After Cao Cao received the letter, he did not pay attention to it at all.

Cao Cao thought that Liu Cong had just captured Yizhou, and it was too late to consume. The loss of military strength is relatively large, and it is categorically not going to launch a large-scale military operation in the short term. But because of the Sun-Liu Alliance, now that he is leading his troops south to conquer Sun Quan, Sun Quan will definitely ask Liu Cong for help.

In this way, Liu Cong's sending troops to attack Runan was just for show, he knew that Cao Hong was still more cautious, so he comforted Cao Hong in his reply to stick to Runan!

Soon Cao Cao received the information that Liu Cong's attack was completed, and Cao Cao handed over the letter of help from the Wancheng garrison to several strategists, and the strategists unanimously agreed with Cao Cao's opinion, believing that Liu Cong was a harassment tactic, as long as the two places stuck to the city and Cao Cao's army took Hefei, Liu Cong would naturally retreat.

But what was waiting for Cao Cao was not the news of Liu Cong's retreat, but Guan Yu's attack on Xuchang, the emperor disappeared, and Xun Yu fled! This was sent by Xu Zhu, although Xu Zhu is brave and unscrupulous, he will never joke about this kind of thing!

No way! That's impossible! Cao Cao took Xu Zhu's letter for help and muttered to himself! All the people in the camp were the same as Cao Cao, thinking that this was impossible, Liu Cong was still in Chengdu two months ago, how could he attack Xuchang now. Xuchang is thousands of miles away from Hefei, and it will take seven or eight days to march in a hurry!

But Xuchang had to be saved! This is the place where Cao Cao started, guarding Yuzhou, Yanzhou and Sili, Xuchang is broken, Cao Cao's territory is wide open, to the east can attack Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and even south with Sun Quan to attack Cao Cao's army, to the west is Luoyang, Chang'an and the vast Guanzhong rugged.

To the north, not to mention, it was Cao Cao who took Jizhou and Merge Prefecture from Yuan Shao after a lot of hardship. It can be said that once something happens to Xuchang, Cao Cao's area will face the danger of being cut into pieces. At the same time, Xuchang is also the seat of the entire Han court, where hundreds of civil and military officials gather.

If Liu Cong lives in Xuchang for a long time, it will undoubtedly create the most favorable conditions for him to live in the Central Plains! Hundreds of thousands of troops marched south, and even warships were prepared a lot, once Hefei succeeded, Cao Cao was ready to divide the army into two routes, all the way to the south of the river, all the way along the river to the east to seize Jianye, Wu County!

It's really a little unwilling to retreat like this! But Cao Cao knew that Guan Yu was definitely not a very human, and Xu Zhu was his opponent! In addition, Runan and Wancheng were attacked continuously before, once the rescue was not effective and the three places fell at the same time, then the entire Central Plains would be divided in half with Liu Cong.

If you don't give up, there is no way, in order to prevent Sun Quan from taking the opportunity to sneak attack, you must arrange the retreat. So the first thing Cao Cao did after receiving the letter was to find Zhang Liao: "Wenyuan, Liu Cong's child attacked, Xuchang, Runan and Wancheng were in an emergency, I am ready to lead the army back to Xuchang, and the war in Hefei will be handed over to you." I'll give you 20,000 horses, and tomorrow you will attack Sun Quan's camp, and you can return whether you succeed or not, and then shut your door! ”

"Do as your lord commands!" Zhang Liao was stationed in Huainan and Shouchun for a period of time, and Cao Cao volunteered to be a pioneer in his southern expedition, who knew that this battle would be retreated before it was fought. Cao Cao retreated, he was naturally the candidate for the broken queen!

Cao Jun's abnormal movement made Sun Quan on the opposite side quickly receive information, and when they wanted to send someone to investigate further, Zhang Liao killed him. After a battle between the two armies, Zhang Liao quickly withdrew to the camp. Then Cao Cao's army began to retreat in an orderly manner towards Runan.

According to Cao Cao's plan, in order to rescue Xuchang, it was necessary to repel the invading enemy from Runan, otherwise Runan would be lost, and most of Xuchang and Huainan would lose contact. Even if Liu Cong's army no longer went north, once Sun Quan knew that Cao Cao had retreated, he would definitely take advantage of the situation to attack!

At ten o'clock in the evening, Sun Quan also received the news, unlike Cao Cao, who was full of sorrow, Sun Quan laughed: "Zijing, Ziyu (Zhuge Jin) this Liu Cong is really righteous enough, Cao Cao marched south, and he led the army to the north!" Cao Cao can stand it now, and our army also needs to readjust its strategic deployment, take this opportunity to cross the Yangtze River, and strive to push the border to the Huai River area! ”

"My lord! I am afraid that the move of the southern army is not from the rescue of our department, but his own other plans. "Although Lu Su is generous, he is the most metropolitan governor of Sun Quan's group and one of Sun Quan's most trusted staff, so he naturally sees it more far-reaching.

"Yes, lord, if it's just to relieve the pressure on our department, send troops to attack Runan and Wancheng! Today's intelligence shows that Xuchang has also been attacked, and the main general will be Guan Yu, leading 30,000 troops. This Cao Cao must retreat today, is the lord also ready to take advantage of Cao Cao's retreat to cover up? Zhuge Jin suggested on the side.

"Huh? What is this Liu Cong going to do? However, in this way, Cao Cao's retreat will definitely be prepared, Zhang Liao came to attack this morning to attack and defend, if our army pursues, I am afraid that we will not be able to take advantage of it......" Sun Quan didn't want to pursue, but he knew that Cao Cao was cautious by nature, and he must have careful arrangements.

"It's better for us to wait for Cao Cao to withdraw and find out the situation of the defenders, launch an attack along the Yangtze River, and take the opportunity to occupy the line of Shouchun and Huaihe!" Sun Quan quickly expressed his ambitions, in his opinion, Cao Cao's return to help this time must be a defeat with Liu Cong! You must know that Liu Cong is also an idle person, since he dares to invade Xuchang, he must be prepared!

As long as Liu Cong dragged Cao Cao, he would lead his troops to the north and take all the Huaiyang area, and even covet Xuzhou and Yuzhou...... If it doesn't work, it will be feasible to see Cao Cao want Liu Cong to divide the victory and defeat, and if Liu Cong is defeated, it is also feasible to attack Jiangxia or Changsha instead! So Sun Quan doesn't plan to fight hard with Cao Cao!

Lu Su and Zhuge Jin understood what Sun Quan meant after hearing this, and the lord didn't want to pursue, so they had to give up. Although it is a pity, but now the situation is a bit delicate, after Ma Chao was greatly weakened by Cao Cao, this Han family is actually three families competing for hegemony, at present it seems that Cao Cao has the advantage, but Liu Cong and Sun Quan each have topographical advantages, stationed on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

"Lord, even if we don't pursue with all our might, we must send a small force to boost the morale of our army, and also let the Cao army restrain themselves, so that they know that this Jiangdong is not a place for them to come and leave when they want!" Lu Xun on the side saw that the three oligarchs didn't want to pursue Cao Cao, and he was very anxious!

"Bo Yan Hugh wants to say more! The lord has made up his mind, so go down and rest. In fact, Lu Su still thought the same as Lu Xun from the bottom of his heart, such a great opportunity to strike a blow to the enemy's morale and encourage his own morale. However, Lu Su, who has followed Sun Quan for many years, naturally knows Sun Quan's temper,

Especially his suspicious character, this Lu Xun is not used by Sun Quan in Jiangdong, if he offends Sun Quan again this time, I am afraid that the future will be even more sad, so Lu Su hurriedly stood up and pretended to reprimand Lu Xun, wanting to calm things down. No, Sun Quan Tinghou laughed.

"Since Bo Yan has a heart, I will give you 10,000 elite soldiers, and you will expand the results as much as possible!"

"Thank you, my lord!" Lu Xun was very happy when he heard this, this is the first time that Sun Quan has treated himself like this in public for so many years. Even Lu Su and Zhuge Jin on the side were surprised!

"Lord, Bo Yan is still young, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to send him to pursue him at this time!" Lu Su was worried about Lu Xun's meritorious service, you must know that Cao Cao had an army of 100,000, and the lord only gave Lu Xun 10,000 elite soldiers, in case he was too aggressive......

"Zijing is thinking a lot, General Ben was a few years younger than Bo Yan when he took over his father's and brother's inheritance. Bo Yan, you should be cautious when you go this time, expand the results of the battle if you have the opportunity, and return to the camp as soon as possible if you don't have the opportunity! ”

"Yes!" Lu Xun had to order him to go out and order troops to prepare to pursue Cao Cao's army. Silence returned to Sun Quan's tent!

Cao Cao beat Sun Quan, Liu Cong beat Cao Cao, at this time, Sun Quan is indeed not suitable to pursue Cao Cao with all his might, otherwise he will lose nothing, and it is very likely that he will make a wedding dress for Liu Cong! In this way, Sun Quan just sent the young ones one after another, and gave up the plan of the whole army to pursue Cao Cao, waiting for the news of the two strong fighting on the south bank of the Yangtze River!

Sun Quan's army did not chase, Cao Cao naturally fell quiet, he could leave Zhang Liao to garrison the front line, Lu Xun came to attack, Zhang Liao could resist for a while, and he kept urging the army to advance, wanting to rush to the Runan battlefield as soon as possible.

However, it was said that Lu Xun listened to the admonition of Sun Quan and Lu Su, and after he led 10,000 elite soldiers to cross the river, he did not directly attack the base camp of Cao Cao's army garrisoned by Zhang Liao, but made a detour to the north and started a race with Cao Cao's army! He's ready to surprise and ambush him halfway! Therefore, Cao Cao did not encounter pursuit at all, and the army began to retreat from Hefei to Runan in an orderly manner

In the camp of Sun Quan in the south of the Yangtze River, tens of thousands of soldiers began to rest, and this originally huge southern expedition of Cao Cao soon ended with Cao Cao's retreat.

Soon after, Lu Xun successfully ambushed on the halfway of Shouchun, killed five or six thousand enemies, captured three or four thousand people, and only paid two thousand casualties on his own side, which made Lu Su breathe a sigh of relief. Sun Quan was also very happy that Lu Xun could achieve such a result.

But another piece of news made him unhappy, it turned out that Liu Cong had kidnapped the emperor, and Xun Yu had run away! If this is true, Sun Quan will begin to regret it, what a good opportunity, now that he listened to Lu Xun's advice, he would definitely be able to defeat Cao Jun with all his strength at the beginning.

Now Liu Cong is afraid that he has taken a big advantage in this battle, you must know that the emperor is in hand, and he coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, Cao Cao has done a very good job over the years!

Of course, Sun Quan didn't want Liu Cong, who was originally about the same strength as himself, to support the emperor soon after swallowing Yizhou, so that Liu Cong would improve a lot in terms of strength and prestige, which was definitely not good news for Sun Quan, who was weak in the three-strong competition.

Originally, Cao Cao was dominant, and his alliance with Liu Cong was quite stable, but if there was a situation where Liu Cong alone could confront Cao Cao, then his ally would not be so important in Liu Cong's eyes......

If there really is such a day, this Sun Quan will reconsider the relationship between himself and Cao Cao and Liu Cong, Sun Quan certainly does not want to see Liu Cong, who is in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, really go down the river one day...... Therefore, Sun Quan immediately sent scouts and spies to the north and Jingzhou, wanting to find out the real situation as soon as possible.