Xingyang, Cao Jun's camp.

"Ahem, cough, cough~"

In the violent coughing, Xi Zhicai coughed up a mouthful of blood, and his face was as pale as paper.

"Lang Zhong, how is the condition of Mr.?" Cao Cao looked at Xi Zhicai worriedly and asked Lang Zhong on the side.

Lang Zhong shook his head with a wry smile, withdrew his finger on Xi Zhicai's pulse, glanced at Xi Zhicai, and then looked at Cao Cao, with a hesitant expression.

"But it doesn't hurt to say it." Xi Zhicai waved his hand, it seemed that after coughing up the blood, he was much better, and his breath was a lot more even, and he looked at Cao Cao at this moment and said: "In the early years, there was a Xiangshi for me, saying that I had a great calamity in this life, if I could survive past forty, I could break through the shackles of life, and the minister was thirty-nine this year. ”

"Sir, don't say that." Cao Cao's face sank, looked at Xi Zhicai with concern, shook his head and said, "Xiangshi's words, how can you be gullible." ”

Xi Zhicai shook his head, motioned for Na Langzhong to leave, turned his head to look at Cao Cao and said, "Lord, how long has the minister been in a coma?" ”

"It's been ten days." Cao Cao sighed, Xi Zhicai's physical condition is not optimistic, even if he was in a coma before, it would not be more than three days at most, but this time he was in a coma for ten days, which made Cao Cao very worried, this is his mastermind, once he has lost Xi Zhicai, it will be like cutting off his arm.

"Ten days?" Xi Zhicai was slightly distracted, then shook his head and said, "How is the battle situation of the coalition forces?" ”

"The Jizhou army is stationed in Suoju, although there have been several conflicts with the soldiers and horses of Hanoi, but the war has not officially started, Yuan Shu is attacking Xuanyuan Pass, the distance is too far, I heard that the fight is very fierce, as for the revolving gate pass......" Cao Cao smiled bitterly, looked at Xi Zhicai and said: "Chen Deng was ambushed by the imperial court at the revolving gate pass, Chen Deng is dead, and the remnants of Xuzhou have retreated." ”

"Chen Yuanlong is dead!?" In his impression, Chen Deng not only has a good strategy, but also has a good hand in commanding the army, so how arrogant Jiangdong Sun Ce is in Jiangdong, he was repelled by Chen Deng several times, such a character died at the revolving gate, which is really regrettable.

After a while, Xi Zhicai's face suddenly changed, and he shouted: "It's not good, Yuan Shu is in danger." ”

"Huh?" Cao Cao was stunned when he heard this, and then reacted, the Xuzhou army was defeated, Yuan Shu became a lone army, not only the imperial court can attack through the revolving gate, but also don't forget, the imperial court is also stationed in Nanyang, the retreat of the Xuzhou army is equivalent to isolating Yuan Shu, and even the imperial court soldiers and horses don't do anything, as long as Yuan Shu's grain road is cut off, and then a move to close the door and beat the dog, Yuan Shu's 100,000 male soldiers have become a joke.

It's not that Cao Cao reacted slowly, but that he has been worried about Xi Zhicai's safety in the past few days, and the court has not taken the initiative to find trouble with Cao Cao during this time, which made Cao Cao a little slack.

"Not really, right?" Cao Cao smiled bitterly, even he didn't believe it, with today's resolute character, during this time, the Tiger Prison Pass didn't have the slightest reaction, but he couldn't hold on, and even Guan Yu didn't move, to say that this son of heaven had no arrangements, he didn't believe it when he killed Cao Cao.

"Tiger Prison, what are the recent movements?" Xi Zhicai didn't answer, but asked rhetorically.

Cao Cao smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"One wrong step, one wrong step!" Xi Zhicai sighed: "At the beginning, outside the pass between His Majesty and the Tiger Prison, he obviously held the crossbow in his hand, as well as the Xiliang Iron Armored Cavalry, but he never used it, until the coalition army thought that it would break the tiger prison, and suddenly made a move, completely defeating the morale accumulated by the coalition army for more than a month, so that the coalition army had a sense of unbreakable, and began to choose the strategy of avoiding the enemy's edge and dividing the troops to attack, but it gave His Majesty the opportunity to gather superior forces and break each one." ”

"That Chen Yuanlong is by no means easy to deal with, the lord has also dealt with him, you should know that this person is powerful." Xi Zhicai said here and took a breath: "Although I don't know why I was ambushed, with Chen Yuanlong's caution, I am afraid that someone in the DPRK and China had secretly set a trap long before the war. ”

"As soon as the Xuzhou army is broken, there will be a gap in the original deployment of the coalition army, and then, gather superior forces and cut off the weakest Yuan Shu all the way first!" Xi Zhicai looked at Cao Cao, shook his head and sighed: "In the original battle of Nanyang, Yuan Highway gathered more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, but he was still beaten by the 30,000 army of the imperial court and lost his armor and collapsed. ”

In terms of military strength, Yuan Shu's soldiers and horses are among the princes, second only to Yuan Shao, and there are more powerful generals such as Sun Ce to help him, after the Xuzhou army retreated, it is said that Cao Jun is at the bottom, but the military strength is not so calculated, an excellent commander can definitely reverse the problem of insufficient troops, and the quality of soldiers and generals is also an important factor affecting an army.

But this time, if Liu Xie really gathers superior forces to concentrate on dealing with Yuan Shu, whether it is Xi Zhicai or Cao Cao, they are not optimistic about Yuan Shu, the imperial court is full of fierce generals, and now the famous ones are Lu Bu, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Xu Huang, in addition, Ma Chao, Pang De, Zhang Liao were also well known by the princes in the previous battle of Tiger Prison Pass, and Gao Shun, the guard of Tiger Prison Pass, this is only known, and those who don't know are even more unknown, if so many generals gather together to face Yuan Shu, the picture is unimaginable.

"In addition, what worries the minister the most is ......" Xi Zhicai looked at Cao Cao: "Lu Bu is the first general of the imperial court, but there is no news so far, the minister suspects that the imperial court may have other plans besides this, and what the plan, the minister can't speculate, but it is certain that once Lu Bu appears on the battlefield, I am afraid it will be the time when the sky collapses!" ”

Cao Cao then remembered that in addition to the means that were being shown at the moment, there was also a Lu Bu in the imperial court, a person who should have attracted much attention, but he did not show up from beginning to end in this battle, and for a while, in the big tent, it was terrifying.

"The military advisor will inevitably increase the morale of others too much, so no matter how powerful Lu Bu is, can it be worth 100,000 male soldiers? Even if Yuan Shu is destroyed, the imperial court will not be harmed at all, our army and Yuan Shao combined, but there are 250,000 troops, in terms of military strength, far beyond the imperial court, as long as you can open a gap, drive straight in, go straight to Luoyang, when the time comes, even if Lu Bu, it is impossible to turn the tide of the war, right? Cao Ren on the side couldn't help but say.

"Zixiao!" Cao Cao glared at Cao Ren, even if Xi Zhicai didn't say it, he knew that he and Yuan Shao were at odds with each other, this time to send troops, Cao Cao was originally with the idea of paddling, and he couldn't do anything, but now it seems that he wants to be lazy, if Yuan Shu really perishes, plus the departure of the Xuzhou army, it is impossible to achieve it, even if the court ignores it, Yuan Shao will never allow Cao Cao to be lazy.

"Lord...... Make a decision early. After a moment of silence, Xi Zhi looked at Cao Cao and said seriously.

Whether to bow to the imperial court, or to go all the way to the dark, it depends on Cao Cao's decision, Xi Zhi is very clear, all along, Cao Cao has always been more interested in the Han family, especially after Liu Xie gradually showed the means of Ming Jun, but the problem is that Cao Cao's command, and even Xun Yu, who has always followed the orthodoxy of the Han family, are not of the same mind as Cao Cao, it is not that Xun Yu is disloyal, but the position of the family determines that Xun Yu cannot accept the new policy of the imperial court.

Even Xun Yu is like this, not to mention Chen Qun and others under Cao Cao, if he has an accident, among the masterminds under Cao Cao, I am afraid that only Cheng Yu is always on Cao Cao's side.

"How easy is it to say?" When Cao Cao heard this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"Newspaper~"

A lieutenant came in from outside the camp with a brocade box in his arms, bowed down and said, "My lord, the Tiger Prison Pass just sent someone out, put this brocade box outside the camp and left." ”

"Open!" Cao Cao suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart, and said in a deep voice.

"Whoa!" The lieutenant agreed and opened the brocade box, only to see that in the brocade box, there was a bloody human head, which made everyone exclaim.

Most of the people present are battlefield veterans, even if they are drama Zhicai, they are used to seeing the cruelty of the battlefield, a human head, naturally it will not be overwhelming, but what really makes everyone exclaim is that this human head is the leader of the coalition forces, the head of Yuan Shu.

"Really...... Really killed!? Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren and the others looked at Xi Zhicai with a look of horror, and they were in a coma for ten days, and after waking up, they roughly guessed what might happen based on Cao Cao's words alone.

"Ahem, cough, cough~" Looking at Yuan Shu's dead head, Xi Zhi let out a violent cough, and his face was flushed sickly because of the violent cough.

"Hurry up and invite Langzhong!" Seeing this, Cao Cao hurriedly shouted.

"It's okay!" Xi Zhicai grabbed Cao Cao, shook his head and said, "The lord doesn't need to worry, the minister can still hold on." ”

Cao Ren looked at the captain and said sharply: "What words did you leave when someone from the imperial court came?" ”

"Not ...... Never! The lieutenant shook his head.

"Your Majesty is forcing us to make a decision!" Xi Zhicai smiled bitterly: "Lord, retire!" ”

"Huh?" Cao Cao stared at Xi Zhicai in astonishment.

"If what I expected is right, at this moment, the imperial army is probably already forcing towards Xingyang, and when the time comes, there will be Ao Cang Guan Yu, Tiger Prison Pass Gao Shun soldiers and horses, I'm afraid they will also come, and our army can't resist it!" Xi Zhicai took a deep breath, shook his head and sighed: "And Yuan Shu and Chen Deng died in battle, Xuzhou's strength was greatly damaged, and Runan will also become an empty land, so how can Jiangdong Sun Ce sit idly by?" If the lord goes back late, I'm afraid that the south will have to fight first, don't forget, Your Majesty still has a chess piece in Qingzhou so far has not moved, no matter what the lord wants to do, he must strengthen himself, but now is a good time! ”

"I know!" When Cao Cao heard this, he couldn't help but sigh and nodded.