After Guan Yu besieged Fancheng, although he temporarily gained the upper hand in the situation, he also felt more and more difficult with the continuous arrival of Cao's reinforcements, and after that, the news of the fall of the rear came, and Guan Yu was forced to retreat.

【Battle against Xu Huang】

After the failure of the ban, Cao Cao sent Xu Huang to support Cao Ren, Xu Huang did not pose much threat to Guan Yu at first because of the small number of soldiers, but later Cao Wei continued to reinforce, Xu Huang had more and more troops, and Guan Yu gradually could not support it.

Earlier, after Xu Huang arrived in Fancheng, Guan Yu besieged Cao Ren very tightly, and other reinforcements had not yet arrived, Xu Huang's subordinates were mostly recruits, and it was difficult to fight with Guan Yu, and the men and horses were not enough to relieve the siege of Fancheng, but at that time, the generals urged Xu Huang to send troops to rescue as soon as possible, and Xu Huangtun was stationed in Yanglingpi in a dilemma.

At that time, Zhao Yan traveled south as a speaker to participate in Cao Ren's military operation, so Zhao Yan said to the generals: "Now the enemy has besieged Fancheng very strongly, tighter than the water, our army's infantry is weak, and Cao Ren is cut off and cannot break the enemy together, and hastily sending troops to rescue is not good for both inside and outside." At present, it is better to order the front army to enter the encirclement, and secretly send spies to inform Cao Ren and let him know that the rescue troops outside the city have arrived, so as to motivate the soldiers. Even if the reinforcements from the north road arrive in only ten days, the soldiers in the city will be enough to hold the city during this time. Then the inside and the outside should be united, and the enemy will definitely be defeated. If there is a blame for the delay in rescue, I am willing to take responsibility. Later, Cao Cao returned and sent generals Xu Shang, Lu Jian and others to meet Xu Huang, and ordered: "We must wait for all the soldiers and horses to be concentrated, and then go forward together." ”

So the generals were no longer urging, so while digging tunnels, they used bows and arrows to shoot letters into the city to inform Cao Ren, exchanged news several times, and prepared for the future counterattack.

[Reinforcements continue]

In order to defeat Guan Yu and rescue Cao Ren, Cao Cao personally went south on the one hand, and on the other hand, he transferred troops from all over the country to support, at that time, Cao Cao sent a total of twelve battalions of troops such as Yin Department and Zhu Gai to Xu Huang to help him fight against Guan Yu, and Zhang Liao and other generals were also on the road at that time.

At that time, Cao Cao first issued an edict in the name of the imperial court to recruit Yanzhou Assassin Shi Pei Qian and Yuzhou Assassin Shi Lu Gong to lead the army to the order, at first Pei Qian thought that it was just a general summoning, so after receiving the edict, he just slowly reorganized the army.

Yangzhou Wen Hui saw that Pei Qian didn't know anything, so he talked to him secretly and said: "Judging from the current situation, it must be that the prime minister knows that the military situation in Xiangyang is urgent, and wants you to immediately lead the army to support." The reason why he did not order an urgent summoning was that he did not want the defenders in other places to be disturbed and shaken. Within a few days, you will inevitably receive a secret letter urging you to march immediately, and Zhang Liao and other generals will also receive a summoning order. Zhang Liao and his lords have been in the lord's service for a long time, and they must know the lord's deep meaning, and if their army rushes to the battlefield before you who have already received the edict, you will definitely be punished! ”

Pei Qian listened to Wen Hui's words, immediately left the baggage, and ordered the army to set off quickly with light equipment. Not long after, Pei Qian really received a secret letter of urgent summoning, and Zhang Liao and the others were also recruited, just as Wen Hui expected.

【Guan Yu's defeat】

At that time, Guan Yu sent troops to camp in Yancheng, and after Xu Huang arrived, he designed to dig a trench to make it look like he wanted to cut off the enemy's rear road. Guan Yu's troops burned down their camp and fled. After Xu Huang occupied Yancheng, the two camps were connected, and he advanced slightly to a place about three zhang away from the enemy's encirclement, but did not attack. The enemy was garrisoned at the head of the perimeter, and there were also troops stationed at the four mounds. Xu Huang threatened to attack the defending enemy at the head of the siege, but secretly attacked the four mounds, Guan Yu saw that the four mounds were going to be breached, and personally led five thousand paces and cavalry to fight, Xu Huang met the attack, Guan Yu retreated, Xu Huang took advantage of the victory to pursue, rushed into the enemy encirclement with one blow, broke the enemy army, and many people threw themselves into the water and died.

According to the "Shu Ji", before the war, because Guan Yu and Xu Huang were fellow villagers and had a good relationship, the two had a distant dialogue, but said that their lives were not as good as the military. Guan Yu was frightened and said, "Big brother, what are you talking about?" Xu Huang replied: "This is a matter of the state." ”

According to the "Zizhi Tongjian", after Xu Huang's encirclement was broken, Fu Fang and Hu Xiu, who betrayed the country, were killed, and Guan Yu retreated, but Guan Yu's ships were still guarding the water, and the road to Xiangyang was impassable.

However, with the continuous arrival of Cao's army, Guan Yu's pressure became more and more intense, and soon the news of the fall of Nanjun reached the army, Guan Yu's army was shaken and unable to fight again, so he completely withdrew his troops.

When Guan Yu retreated, Cao Ren convened the generals to discuss the military situation, and everyone said: "Now that Guan Yu is in a critical situation, he will definitely panic, and he will be able to capture him alive by pursuing him with victory." ”

Zhao Yan said: "Sun Quan took advantage of Guan Yu's difficult situation and wanted to secretly cut off his back road, and he was worried that Guan Yu would return to the army to rescue, and he was afraid that our army would take advantage of the exhaustion of their two armies to take action, so he cooperated with us and was willing to serve us, but in fact, he was temporarily on the sidelines to adapt to the situation to watch the victory or defeat." Now that Guan Yu has become a lone soldier, he should be left as Sun Quan's confidant. If he pursues it relentlessly, Sun Quan will change his mind, fearing that after Guan Yu is broken, our army will attack Eastern Wu, and he will create trouble for our army. I think King Wei must have been planning for this at this time. Cao Ren then postponed the pursuit. Cao Cao heard that Guan Yu was defeated, but he was afraid that the crowd would chase him, so he hurriedly sent someone to pass the order to Cao Ren, just like Zhao Yan had planned.

However, after Guan Yu withdrew from the army, the chaos in the Xiangfan area did not end, after Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi ascended the throne, and once gave up Xiangfan, and Sun Quan directly picked up the cheap, Cao Pi repented, and recaptured Xiangfan.

When Fancheng and Xiangyang were in danger, Cao Cao transferred the famous general Zhang Liao and all the generals back to aid Cao Ren, but Zhang Liao and others did not arrive, Xu Huang had relieved the siege of the two cities, and his merits were comparable to Zhang Liao's Battle of Hefei.

Cao Cao said in an edict: "The enemy surrounded the trenches with ten antlers, and the general won the battle, so he fell into the siege of thieves and beheaded many prisoners." I have been using soldiers for more than 30 years, and I have heard of people who were good at using soldiers in ancient times, but there is no one who has been able to drive so long into the enemy's encirclement. Moreover, the siege of Fan and Xiangyang is better than the siege of Ju and Jimo before, so the general's merits are better than those of Sun Wu and Sui Tho. (Note: This is where the idiom "long drive straight in" comes from.) ）

When Xu Huang triumphed, Cao Cao personally went out of the camp to greet Xu Huang for seven miles, and set up a banquet to celebrate and comfort Xu Huang. Cao Cao Juwei (a kind of wine container in ancient times. Rotundity. capacity of four liters) said to Xu Huang: "Xiangyang and Fancheng have been preserved, it is your credit to the general!" ”

Xu Huang governed the army strictly, the order was forbidden, at that time, the army gathered in Mopi, Cao Cao's case was in the camps, many soldiers went out to watch, only Xu Huang's subordinate barracks were neat, and the soldiers were stationed in the formation. Cao Cao sighed: "General Xu can be said to have the style of Zhou Yafu!" ”