Cao Hong knew that it would definitely be difficult for him to defend the Jiangdu City.

The main reason for the inability to hold on, in addition to the ability of the New Han army to attack the fortifications is irresistible, there is also the people in Jiangdu City, because of the great influence of Qu'a City on the other side of the Yangtze River, so that the people of Jiangdu City, although they are ruled by Cao Cao, but they have too many connections with Qu'a City.

It can be said that in Qu'a City, most of the products produced by the New Han Dynasty were sold to Jiangdu City, because the exchanges between merchants and merchants were too close, so the people of Jiangdu City were actually a little inseparable from the supply of goods from the New Han Dynasty.

In Jiangdu City, for the time being, because Cao Cao ordered people to rule during the period, it was indeed relatively favorable to the people of Jiangdu City, so in a short period of time, the people in Jiangdu City still supported Cao Cao's regime. At least, when they heard that the New Han Army was coming, the people of Jiangdu City had not yet produced a large number of people who wanted to escape from Jiangdu City, and they still stood with Cao Jun, hated the same enemy, and recognized and supported their Cao Jun.

But Cao Hong knows that now that the New Han Army has besieged Jiangdu City, I believe that it will not be long before the people's confidence in their Cao Army will be shaken, and when the time comes, the people of Jiangdu City will definitely have different hearts, and their hearts will be towards the New Han Dynasty and want to return to the rule of the New Han Dynasty.

Therefore, Cao Hong is now thinking about his plan of how his military horses can leave Jiangdu safely, and thinking that the people of Jiangdu City can now be used, or he can use the people of Jiangdu City to break through the defense line of the New Han Army, and then let him lead the army to break through.

Of course, Cao Hong is not just thinking about breaking through by himself. He is no longer the general who has just set foot on the battlefield and does not know strategy. More than 10 years of experience. is also constantly absorbing and learning by Cao Cao's side. made Cao Hongzhen really become an old fritter, and he didn't plan to break through and escape. He also wondered if he could use this opportunity to deal another blow to the Xinhan army.

Cao Hong knew very well that even if his army broke through and left Jiangdu, the New Han Army would definitely chase after his military horses, and it would indeed be extremely difficult to escape from under the nose of the New Han Army to Shouchun after hundreds of miles of waterway. In particular, Huai'an and other cities had already been captured by the New Han army. Their overland retreat has been completely cut off. Therefore, Cao Hong believes that he must be taken by surprise, and he must not follow the trap laid by the New Han Army, but must find his own way of escape.

Therefore, Cao Hong immediately thought of the Hongze Lake two or three hundred miles north of Jiangdu City.

As mentioned above, Hongze Lake during the Three Kingdoms period was not really a big lake, and it has not yet become a large lake after geological changes. Right now. It was just a barren and reed-filled expanse of wasteland with no end in sight. In the wilderness, the rivers are dense, like the more than 200,000 military horses he had in Jiangdu City, as long as they got into it. They will soon be lost, and even if the New Han Army wants to find them, it will be difficult to find them.

Of course, the current Hongze Lake. It's also quite dangerous, those reeds that seem to be on the ground. When people go up, it may be some mud pits that have not reached the end all of a sudden. People just have to fall into it. It's impossible to climb up alive.

This, when the naval army of the New Han Army attacked Yuan Shu of Shouchun and forced him to borrow grain, when he passed through Hongze Huze, he also suffered a lot. If it weren't for someone who was familiar with the waterways of Hongze Lake, I didn't know how long I would have to stay in that lake before I could pass through.

Later, the New Han Army fixed a waterway in Hongze Lake, so that it was convenient to travel to and from Hongze Lake.

And Cao Hong learned through Cai Mao's mouth that when Cai Mao formed a naval army for Lord Cao Cao, he had been fighting the idea of Hong Ze Huze. Because Cai Mao, who is proficient in water warfare, has always believed that if he relies solely on the Huai River to develop his water army, the space for that activity is too narrow, and it is unlikely that he will really develop and grow. Therefore, there must be a larger space for his naval activities, or a room for maneuvering with the New Han Army's naval forces in the future.

The hundreds of miles of open and barren reed lakes around Hongze Lake are just right for the naval battlefield in Cai Mao's mind.

In addition, the New Han Army took advantage of the strength of its naval army to open a waterway in Hongze Lake, but it was only a waterway, and it was only a waterway for the Hongze Lake area, which was full of rivers, and it was only equivalent to pulling a line from it, and it was not able to form a complete control over the entire Hongze Lake area.

There is also one of the most critical factors, that is, although the waterway is controlled by the New Han Army, in fact, the entire Hongze Huze area is within the regional scope of Yangzhou, which actually belongs to their Cao Cao's territory.

In addition, the naval army of the New Han Army actually did not form too strong control over Hongze Lake or even the entire Huai River. After all, they are all deep into Cao Cao's power territory. Cao Cao is not as weak as Yuan Shu back then, nor is he as weak and bullying as Liu Biao in Jingzhou. Although their navy is inferior to that of the New Han Army, they can completely control the waterway on the riverbank, and then form a blockade and control over the waterway. After Cao Cao won Yangzhou, basically, the control of the Huai River was still relatively in place, and if the naval army of the New Han Army wanted to enter the Huai River, it had to go to war with Cao's army. Therefore, in recent years, although some merchant ships have always entered the Huai River in the New Han Dynasty, the sailors of the New Han Army rarely enter the Huai River.

It is precisely in this way that Cai Mao can form a naval army in Shouchun and the Huai River.

Cai Mao never stopped operating the Hongze Lake area from the beginning, although he ordered people to secretly open up several waterways through the Hongze Lake area. The reason why Cao Hong's military horses were able to pass the ears and eyes of the New Han Army from the waterway and suddenly reach Jiangdu was that they bypassed the waterway of the New Han Army from the waterway opened by Cai Mao, and directly reached Jiangdu, which caught the New Han Army attacking Jiangdu by surprise.

Two or three hundred miles north of Jiangdu, there are patches of bamboo forests, as long as he reaches that place, his military horses can cut down bamboo and build bamboo rafts, and quickly enter the Hongze Lake area. At the intersection of the Huai River and the Yangtze River, the Sancha River estuary meets. The river surface is open, and the river water is connected to the sea. Also quite deep, his military horse. It is difficult to engage the Xinhan army in such a section of the river, but when you enter the area of Hongze Lake, it is different, most of the rivers pass through the reeds, the river is not deep, and the current is relatively calm. It was easy for their sergeants to control the bamboo rafts.

In Hongze Huze, it is now equivalent to the home field of Cai Mao's army, and when it comes to Hongze Huze, if the Xinhan army still chases in, then it is time for Cai Mao's army to play. When the time comes, his Cao Hong's military horses can only play a role in luring the enemy and assisting in killing the enemy.

Cao Hong's thoughts became clearer and clearer. He was even more sure in his heart, and he believed that in the case of mental calculation and unintentionality, the New Han Army would inevitably be dealt a big blow.

Other than that. Cao Hong had another thought in his heart.

That, he didn't have a good impression of Cai Mao, a general who had returned to Jingzhou. felt that this person was too utilitarian, and he didn't know how to gain Cao Cao's trust and reuse. Especially. He Cao Hong did not have Cao Cao's permission to expand his army without restrictions. But Cai Mao can just hold a naval army of more than 300,000 military horses. In Cao Hong's mind, he felt that only his brother Cao Renfang could command the more than 300,000 military horses in Yangzhou. But to let a person with a foreign surname master the power of Cao Cao's army, which made Cao Hong's heart feel unhappy.

Therefore, he also wanted to see if the naval army that Cai Mao had formed for Cao Cao was the enemy of the New Han Army. If you can't take advantage of the battle with the Xinhan army in Hongze Huze, your own home field. Then Cao Hong was very skeptical, just by virtue of whether Cai Mao could ensure the safety of the Huai River, and whether he could cooperate with himself to keep Shouchun.

In case he can't hold it, Cao Hong also has to consider his plans in case Shouchun is lost.

Especially now that Yuzhou is in turmoil, it seems that the whole territory may be lost at any time. At that time, the Shouchun City he guarded will become like the current Jiangdu, besieged by the Xinhan Legion. If Cai Mao can resist the naval army of the New Han Army and ensure the smooth flow of the Huai River waterway, then Cao Hong will be sure to defend Shouchun and will not worry about being besieged by the army of the New Han Army again.

Cao Hong considered many issues and finally slowly formed a clear action plan.

Following down, he immediately made a decision and immediately summoned a group of generals and officials he trusted in Jiangdu City. Plot with them on the details of how their army will evacuate Jiangdu City. At the same time, he also sent people out of the city at the risk of death, broke out of the encirclement of the New Han Army, rushed to Shouchun, and reported to Cai Mao urgently, informing Cai Mao of his action to lure the army of the New Han Army into Hongze Huze, and Cai Mao was prepared to meet and ambush the New Han Army in the Hongze Huze area as soon as possible.

After everything was ready, Cao Hong sent people to post notices all over the city in the Jiangdu City.

It is mainly said that his Cao army is weak and it is difficult to resist the attack of the New Han Army, but he was ordered by Prime Minister Cao Cheng to live and die with Jiangdu City, and he must fight to the death with the New Han Army in Jiangdu City. However, based on the good relationship with the people of Jiangdu City, he did not want to hurt the people in Jiangdu City, so he would communicate with the New Han Army, so that the New Han Army must not harm the hundreds of thousands of people in Jiangdu City, open the city gate, let the people in the city leave Jiangdu City, and seek resettlement and protection from the New Han Army. He also made it clear that the battle between their Cao army and the New Han army was a battle related to the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty, and it was necessary to fight, but it had nothing to do with the ordinary people. Including the Cao army, the Cao soldiers, who were originally the children of Jiangdu City, could be disarmed and returned to the field, and went out of the city with the people to return to the New Han Dynasty.

As soon as Cao Hong's proclamations came out, the city of Jiangdu was in an uproar, and many people in Jiangdu were moved by Cao Hong's move, and many people spontaneously came out, saying that they would fight to the death with Cao Hong's Cao army against the attack of the New Han Army.

In the end, Cao Hong personally ordered the people of Jiangdu City to leave Jiangdu City as soon as possible when the city gate was about to be opened the next day. Moreover, he personally ordered those soldiers who were originally Jiangdu's children to be disarmed on the spot and let them leave the army, so that the excitement of the people calmed down.

Cao Hong knew that the Cao soldiers of Jiangdu's children were afraid that they would eventually be unable to leave their homeland, even if they left Jiangdu with themselves and arrived in the treacherous area of Hongze Huze, once they had different intentions and wanted to escape, they would definitely have to flee back to Jiangdu, and they would definitely fall into the hands of the New Han Army, so that his intentions and the route of his army would be exposed. Therefore, he simply fled without Jiangdu's soldiers.

Cao Hong's plan was to take advantage of the chaos when the people of Jiangdu City poured out of Jiangdu City, and he led the army in the city to rush out, break through the encirclement of the New Han army, and retreat north.

Cao Hong also knew that the New Han Army had always been known for loving the people like sons, and his own army was mixed with the people who went out of the city, and the New Han Army would definitely not attack the people, and when the time came, it would be a good opportunity for his army to break through.

However, although there was an uproar in the city and was shocked and surprised by Cao Hong's decision, the news did not spread outside the city at the first time, so that the Xinhan army outside the city would know. Cao Hong had long expected that the New Han army would definitely have an internal response in the Jiangdu City, so he first deliberately sent military horses to strictly guard the city defense, and did not let anyone approach the city wall within a few hundred steps. In this way, even if the Xinhan army in the city wants to send information out of the city, it can't be done. In addition, there are also many archers prepared to guard the city, and when they see birds flying, they all shoot down, and even mosquitoes will never let them fly out.

At dawn the next day, Cao Hong immediately sent an envoy to the camp of the New Han army to ask Sun Ce to tell him that he would let the people of Jiangdu leave Jiangdu. Let the New Han Army see that for the sake of the people, they should not take advantage of this moment to attack the city.

This one, but it's a real conspiracy. Even if Sun Ce and a group of generals and strategists felt that there was a problem and it was Cao Hong's conspiracy, there was no way to veto Cao Hong's approach for a while.

After all, if Cao Hong really wanted to do this, it would be impossible for the New Han Army to say that it could not let the people of Jiangdu City go out of the city to take refuge, and it was impossible to prevent the people of Jiangdu City from coming out of the city. On the contrary, as Cao Hong expected, for the people who went out of the city to defect, the New Han Army really had to take responsibility for the resettlement of them.

What's more, at this time, Sun Ce and they couldn't do it even if they wanted to, because although Cao Hong sent a messenger to inform Sun Ce of the matter, Cao Hong didn't wait for Sun Ce to respond, he opened the gate of Jiangdu City, and began to let hundreds of thousands of people in the city come out of the city one after another.

This really surprised Sun Ce and others. (To be continued.) )