Shang master and apprentice went north from Biyang, crossed Zhongyang Mountain through Wuyin, and went straight to Ye County.

Yexian is the only way for Xuchang to transport grain, and the master and apprentice did not stop after arriving in Yexian, but cut off the grain road with great fanfare, and then marched in the direction of Xuchang.

Master Shang was soon discovered by Cao Jun after making a big fanfare, and Cao Jun immediately sent a letter to Cao Hong. After Cao Hong received the military report, he immediately ordered: "Now Xuchang is empty, if the master and apprentice arrive in Xuchang, Xuchang will be in danger!" Let the soldiers quickly pack up the camp tent, we will release it back to Xuchang, and inform Yu Ban to be careful himself. ”

As soon as Cao Hong's order was issued, Cao Xiu and Xiahou Shang came over, "Uncle, why did you order the withdrawal of the army?" ”

When Cao Hong saw the two coming, he explained: "I just received a military report that Master Shang is attacking Xuchang in Ye County. Most of Xuchang's troops have been brought out by us, and we must rush back. ”

Cao Xiu said: "Uncle is slow, this may be the enemy's strategy. ”

Cao Hong asked puzzledly, "Why do you think so?" ”

Cao Xiu said: "Master and apprentice Shang have been cruising around the Yang and Wuyin, acting as flanks. He had not moved north before, indicating that he was trying to cut off the rear route of our army. Now that Master Shang and his apprentice occupy Yexian County, he has already occupied the back road of our army, he only needs to cut off the grain route of our army to defeat our army, why should he go north to Xuchang? ”

Xiahou Shang also said: "That's true, if Master Shang and his apprentice just shook a shot, halfway through the snake man, our army hurriedly returned, and they would definitely rush into his encirclement." ”

Cao Hong asked, "What if Master Shang really attacked Xuchang?" ”

Cao Xiu said: "Uncle, rest assured, Xuchang is not completely defenseless, and Xun Shangshu (Xun Yu) will definitely block it for some time." When the time comes, we will speed up and return, and we will surely be able to attack them and defeat the master and apprentice. ”

Cao Hong waved his hand, "Master Shang is a fierce general, it is very difficult to defeat him, it is good to be able to drive him away!" ”

Xiahou Shang said: "Why does my uncle want to increase his popularity and destroy his own prestige? When I fight him, I will make him look good. ”

"Hugh be restless!" Cao Hong said: "Master Shang is a famous general for a long time, and there are many people who have fought against him, but there is no one who dares to say that he can win against him." You are still young, but don't get into the habit of underestimating people. ”

Xiahou Shang was still a little unconvinced, but Cao Xiu pulled him. Unlike Xiahou Shang, Cao Xiu has fought with many generals under Zhang Yi, and he knows the terrible things about these generals under Zhang Yi.

Although he was dissatisfied with Xiahou Shang's arrogance, he was still very obedient to the proposal of the two. He knew Xun Yu's ability, when Lu Bu attacked Yanzhou, Cao Cao had three counties left, including Juancheng, where Xun Yu was stationed. Therefore, although Xun Yu did not lead the troops to fight, he still had the ability to defend the city.

Cao Hong slowly returned to Xuchang with his troops, and sent a lot of scouts to check if there were any enemy ambushes along the way.

The two-day march was like blocking the sun, and there was nothing unusual along the way, and everyone's new gods relaxed a lot. When he came out of Duyang and marched to Ye County, he passed by a woodland. The woodland is a little far away from the mainland, so Cao Hong didn't care too much about it, and continued to shoot scouts to explore the way. But when they reached the middle of the woodland, the scout in front of them suddenly galloped back and shouted, "There is an enemy ambush ahead." ”

Cao Hong immediately ordered the army to be stopped, and then said to Xiahou Shang beside him: "Boren, I really let you say yes, Master Shang and his apprentice are indeed in ambush." ”

Xiahou Shang smiled proudly, "Master Shang and apprentice are just a puppet. Uncle, let's form a formation! ”

"Good! Formation! Cao Hong ordered again.

Cao Jun immediately moved, wanting to form a military formation, and then ambush accordingly.

At this moment, a hundred steps away from the forest, an army suddenly appeared, led by a big man, who was Master Shang's apprentice. Master Shang shouted: "Cao Jun is in the plan, follow me to kill!" ”

The killing of Master Shang and his apprentice made Cao Jun panic for a while, they obviously didn't expect that there would be an ambush in the forest so far away. Seeing the enemy rushing quickly, Cao Jun's formation speed slowed down a lot, and before Master Shang and apprentice came over, he was stunned that he didn't form a battle formation.

Cao Hong's eyes widened, the enemy had set up two ambushes! Fortunately, he was experienced and quickly ordered: "Block them, and the rest of the people will retreat fifty steps to form a formation!" ”

Xiahou Shang was also dumbfounded, he had never seen such an ambush, nor had he seen such a fierce general. When he saw Master Shang and his apprentices rushing into the camp, rushing left and right, invincible, he realized that he had really underestimated Master Shang before.

Cao Hong pulled Xiahou Shang, "Don't be stupid, hurry up and command the soldiers to form a formation." ”

"No!" Xiahou Shang only proceeded, and immediately went over to organize the soldiers.

In less than a cup of tea, another wave of enemy troops came from the front and rushed directly to the unformed military formation.

Cao Hong's eyes widened angrily, he didn't expect that the enemy would even take this into account, this has already killed nearly 10,000 people, and the enemy's battle formation is strictly forbidden, but his side can still form a battle array.

Cao Hong hurriedly called Cao Xiu and asked Cao Xiu to go to another place to form a battle formation, and he himself went to form a battle formation. He can't do it, and the enemy can still attack both of them at once?

But he didn't expect that the enemy really could! Just after they had already found a place, two more enemy armies suddenly appeared, and they rushed directly over, directly breaking up the battle formation they were about to form.

"How so?" Cao Hong helplessly looked at the battle formation that he was about to form, and was crushed by the enemy.

Master Shang had already killed the Cao army just now, and immediately rushed to the next one, and the two-box attack quickly dispersed this one.

The situation on the battlefield took a sharp turn for the worse, and Cao Hong knew that there was no way to recover the defeat, so he quickly gathered some soldiers to withdraw first, and then slowly gathered other soldiers.

In this battle, it took three hours to fight, and the master and apprentice were only able to withdraw their troops.

Feng Xi, Deng Fang, and Liu Yong also collected their troops and came back, and happily said to Master Shang and his apprentices: "General, we have killed more than 3,000 Cao troops and captured more than 6,000 people, Cao Hong has retreated to Xuchang, and Li Yuanjun's order has been completed, the lord should praise us greatly, right?" ”

Master Shang also laughed, these three were recruited by the lord from Jingzhou, which is not bad, and he is completely competent to act as a lieutenant and a captain. And these people have a high level of culture and can be completely independent. "Don't think about this now, if you want the lord to praise you, go back and help Pharmacist Li defeat Yu Ban, and after you completely take Nanyang, the lord will definitely appreciate you."