Cao Cao still listened to Guo Jia's advice, leaving Cao Ren to garrison Chang'an, and he led the army back to the Central Plains.

Xiliang.

Longxi County.

In the past few days, the armies of Yuan Xi, Yan Liang, and Ma Chao have moved forward at a very fast speed and arrived at Ma Chao's base camp.

Longxi is a larger county in Xiliang, and he guards the passage from Xiliang to Chang'an.

As soon as Ma Chao came back, he got the news that Han Sui had passed through Longxi three days ago and went to Jincheng County. He was eager for revenge, and he couldn't kill Jincheng immediately and kill Han Sui.

But Pang De said: "Major General, our army has been attacking for days, and we are really tired, let the soldiers rest for two days, anyway, Han Sui fled to Jincheng County, and he will not do much." His army is only seventy or eighty thousand, and our army can win in one battle! ”

"Okay...."

Ma Chao said: "You give the order to go down, and the whole army will rest in Longxi." After three days, we will head to Jincheng. ”

"No."

Pound was ordered to leave.

The army entered the city.

Yuan Xi asked Yan Liang behind him, "How much food do we still bring?" ”

"My lord, there is still a lot of food, but there is not much wine and meat."

"Take out all the wine and meat, let the soldiers have a full meal, and then go all out and eliminate Han Sui." Yuan Xi said.

"Yes."

The army soon entered the city.

When he arrived at the mansion, Ma Chao took Yuan Xi into the mansion. There was a group of people standing in the courtyard, and Ma Chao introduced: "General Yuan, this is my brother Ma Dai, my sister Ma Yunlu, and the dog Ma Qiu..." ”

He explained a whole bunch of things.

Yuan Xi nodded.

Ma Chao said: "This is General Yuan, who came here to help me crusade against Han Sui." You don't want to see you yet. ”

"Meet General Yuan..." Humane.

"Hurry up and excuse me."

Yuan Xi helped them up and said, "We are all martial arts practitioners, so we don't have to care about these red tapes. ”

"General Yuan, please..." Ma Chao took Yuan Xi into the hall and asked someone to bring tea.

Ma Dai walked up to Ma Chao and whispered, "Big brother, what happened?" Why do you want to crusade against Han Sui? And also... Didn't Uncle come back with you? ”

(Note: Ma Dai is Ma Teng's nephew and is a cousin of Ma Chao.) ）

Syllable!

Ma Chao remembered the revenge of killing his father, slapped his fist on the table, and said: "Han Sui dog thief, he actually colluded with Cao Cao to kill my father." When I returned to Xiliang, I wanted to cut off his head with my own hands to comfort my father's soul in the sky. ”

"What?!"

Ma Dai took two steps back: "Uncle has been..." ”

He never thought that Han Sui would betray Ma Teng and kill Ma Teng.

Ma Chao clenched his fists and said: "I heard from the defeated soldiers that before my father died, he was still calling Han Sui a brother and brother, but Han Sui instructed his son-in-law Yan Xing to stab a sharp sword into his father's body from behind..." ”

"And then..." Ma Chao couldn't cry anymore: "My father's head was cut off by the dog thief Han Sui..." ”

"Big brother, you give the order, I will kill Jincheng and take Han Sui's head!" Ma Dai said angrily.

Call...

Ma Chao took a deep breath, wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, and said, "I have already ordered that in three days, I will march to Jincheng again." ”

"General Yuan, do you have any suggestions for the conquest of Han Sui?" Ma Chao looked at Yuan Xi on the side.

Yuan Xi only cared about drinking tea, put down the tea bottle, and said, "I don't know about the situation in Xiliang, and I don't have a map of Xiliang. It's hard to judge. However, I know that Han Sui wants to straighten out the military horses and compete with the general. Therefore, we must be fast. ”

Ma Chao said: "There is an elite under Han Sui's command, named Huangzhong Yicong. It was the army that surrendered Qianghu in the early years, and the original leader was Li Wenhou, who later served in Han Sui. It is said to be very elite... ”

Yuan Xi chuckled and said, "No matter how elite the army is, can it defeat my giant beast?" Meng Qi doesn't have to worry, when the time comes, our troops will face Han Sui's Huangzhong Yicong. ”

"Thank you."

Ma Chao now wants to take revenge, and he doesn't even want the opportunity to fight against Huangzhong Yicong. If it had been before, he would have shouted to fight to the death with the enemy's elite.

.....................

Yuan Xi and Ma Chao's army rested in Longxi.

Han then returned to Jincheng County and gathered troops and horses to defend him.

value at this time.

Cao Cao returned to the Central Plains.

Xuzhou.

Gao Lan's tens of thousands of troops, from Puyang to the east, swept all the way, and won successive battles. It successively conquered Anyi in Yanzhou, Peixian in Xuzhou, Pengcheng and other regions. It looks like it's about to hit Tan County.

If Tan County is conquered again, Xuzhou will be basically captured.

Gao Lan's actions in Xuzhou shocked the generals and officials of several major states. Needless to say, the local army in Xuzhou assembled to meet the battle under the dispatch of Che Zhou and Chen Gui.

Yuzhou, Yanzhou, and even Luoyang all had soldiers and horses marching towards Xuzhou.

Li Tong, who was defending against Zhou Yu in Huainan, knew that Xuzhou was in danger, and also dispatched 10,000 soldiers and horses to rush to help. In fact, he had 40,000 or 50,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, and it was difficult to even hold Huainan.

But Xuzhou is very important, it is Cao Cao's big granary, how can it not be saved?

Fortunately, Zhang Liao and Cao Chun's iron cavalry had already rushed to Zhou Yu's rear and attacked Cao's army in Huainan on both sides. Zhou Yu was afraid of Cao Chun's tiger and leopard ride, and retreated to the high ground to avoid its edge.

.............

Faced with tens of thousands of Cao troops approaching Xuzhou, Gao Ran was still attacking Tan County in Xuzhou.

Tan County is the seat of Xuzhou governance, which is of great significance.

The more ferocious the attack, the more anxious the enemy became.

"Report, report..." On this day, a scout came to report: "General, last night on the third watch, Cao Zhen led the army of Puyang to attack the camp outside Dongcheng at night. After Cao Zhen's attack on the camp was victorious, he personally led 20,000 troops towards Xuzhou. ”

Gao Ran took the battle report and grinned: "Haha... Good! ”

"Cao Zhen, this kid, has finally taken the bait." Gao Ran picked up the battle report and said to the scout: "You must pay close attention to the movements of Cao Zhen's army, and report every half a day, without interruption." ”

"Yes."

The scout departed.

Gao Ran hurriedly ordered the whole army to retreat and rest.

In the account.

All the generals didn't understand: "General, why did you suddenly order the withdrawal of the troops?" If we attack continuously, maybe before dark, we can take Tanxian. ”

"Before dark, can you really take Tan County?" Gao Ran asked rhetorically.

All the generals bowed their heads.

Gao Ran said: "Since we entered Xuzhou, Che Zhou and Chen Gui have gathered all their troops in Tanxian to hold on. Therefore, we fought one battle after another, swept all the way, and did not lose any troops. Attacking Tan County now is the most difficult level. If we try our best, we can also take it, but we will be surrounded by enemy forces in Yangzhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou and other regions. At that point, we will have no way back and will be in a desperate situation. ”

"I'll be honest with you. The lord did not give an order, let me attack Xuzhou, I did it on purpose, and its purpose was to lure Cao Zhen of Puyang to help. I just got a report, and Cao Zhen has already taken the bait. He personally led 20,000 troops to rescue Xuzhou. This gives us a great opportunity. ”