Seeing that Junko was suffering greatly, the slow flow of life under the blood could not be saved. Qi Duo in the stronghold snatched the bow and arrow from the robe, trembled and raised the bow and arrow, and shouted to Shunzi at the top of his voice: "Shunzi, let's see you in heaven!" ”

The long arrow broke through the air and hit the door of the straight head. Come to think of it, his death was not a little painful.

With the addition of the Jiangdong Army's catapults, the casualties on the Church side increased dramatically, and the speed at which the Jiangdong Army built pontoon bridges became faster. The battle lasted for another hour, the pontoon bridge was finally built, and tens of thousands of Jiangdong soldiers crossed the river with great momentum.

At the same time, Cao Cao also issued an order for a complete retreat. Arrange special personnel to guide the church guards in the city to assemble in the direction of the West Water Gate.

West Water Gate, the gateway to the city through the catkins river, has been in a state of disrepair for many years. After thousands of church guards dug through the night, the wall where the precarious gate was located collapsed, and became a thoroughfare for the army to leave the city.

Teams of church guards covered each other along the passage road out of the city, and went into the deep mountains of the Nanyang area outside the city, without a trace.

Although he failed to catch Cao Cao, the capture of Xiangyang after six days also relaxed Sun Ce's nervous mood.

In order to smooth the grain route of the Northern Expedition, he spent two more days capturing Zhuocheng and Fancheng in Nanyangzhi, and firmly controlled the Xiangfan area in his hands. After leaving thousands of soldiers and horses to defend the town, he led the remaining army of more than 70,000 to continue north.

Due to the destruction of all the roads and bridges along the way by Cao Cao, the process of the Jiangdong Army going north was extremely difficult, and the transportation of grain and grass was blocked.

In this regard, Sun Ce was very annoyed, but he had no choice but to make Lu Meng as a pioneer and open roads in the mountains and fill in the bridges.

What disgusted Sun Ce the most was not only that. As soon as he left Fancheng on his front foot, he heard a report from Malai that Zhuocheng was surrounded by thousands of cult troops. There are only 1,500 guards in the city, and they can't stand it, so please send troops to support.

It was an important transit point for the transportation of grain and grass for the army, and Sun Ce naturally couldn't sit idly by, so he ordered Xu Sheng to lead 5,000 soldiers and horses to rescue, but he never thought that he would be defeated by Cao Cao's ambush halfway.

Sun Ce had no choice but to lead the army back to support, but when he felt that there was still a shadow of the church army under the city of Zhuocheng, he had already crossed the Xiangjiang River to the east bank of the river.

Hurried back but pounced, so angry that Sun Ce screamed, slapped the guard of Zhuocheng to the ground, and scolded angrily: "Why didn't Cao Cao send someone to report immediately, causing me to run in vain." Someone, pull him down and behead him. ”

The guard told him again and again, "If I don't report it, it's really a thief who is cunning." He retreated in the middle of the night, but did not pull out the village, and deliberately left many lights in the village, and when I found that the village was empty, it was already too late! ”

Zhou Yu, Xu Sheng, and Lu Meng begged for mercy for this guard, "Lord, the big war is coming, it's time to employ people, spare his life!" "Instead of decapitating it. It is better to let them bear the guilt and make meritorious contributions. ”

Sun Ce relented and was about to spare his life, but at this time he got the news that the Northern Expedition had just withdrawn to Zhuocheng on the front foot, and the cult soldiers and horses on the back foot destroyed the bridges they built one by one, and at the same time, a large number of obstacles were set up on the road with broken tree trunks, antlers, thistles and other objects.

Sun Ce was furious when he heard the news, slapped Zhuocheng again, pointed at his nose and scolded, "It's all because of you, it's my big thing." Someone, drag him down and cut him down for me. ”

This time, the Jiangdong generals were really angry when they saw Sun Ce, and no one dared to come forward to persuade them again. Seeing the poor guards get out of the gate with five big and three thick axe hands, he screamed and screamed for his life.

After relieving the danger of Zhuocheng, in order to protect the city, Sun Ce asked the wounded Zhou Tai to personally guard the city, and left him 5,000 men and horses. Then he embarked on the road of the Northern Expedition again without stopping. Along the way, he cleared obstacles, built bridges, and spent fifteen years before he arrived at the foot of Xinye Castle.

When they came to Xinye City and looked at the blood red cross banner waving in the wind on the city wall, as well as the dense guards of the church guarding the city, Sun Ce, Zhou Yu and all the soldiers in Jiangdong sighed in their hearts.

How so?

They were the first to ask such a question in their hearts.

According to their expectations, at the beginning of the war, Cao Cao's Jingzhou Legion burned more than 50,000 people to death in Wulin Port, and later killed more than 30,000 people in Xiangyang City, and more than 10,000 people died in the city, adding up to more than 90,000 people. According to reliable intelligence, Cao Cao only had a total of 100,000 troops, and it stands to reason that there should be no troops available, and Xinye City is an empty city without defense.

However, the reality is quite the opposite. The brightly clad church guards at the head of Xinye Castle were lined up, densely packed with people next to each other, and it was generally estimated that there were at least 20,000 people on the south gate alone, and at least 50,000 or 60,000 people on the four gates combined.

"What's going on?" Sun Ce's face turned white, and he looked at Zhou Yu in disbelief.

Zhou Yu was also at a loss, and said in shock: "Impossible! It's impossible! ”

"Could it be that the cult's reinforcements are coming?" Ling Tong asked in surprise.

"No...... No way! Zhou Yu analyzed: "Luan Ziqi's army of more than 200,000 is now in Hanzhong, and there are no troops in Qingzhou, Qizhou, Jizhou, and Sizhou. In addition, Guan Yu in Xuzhou was pinned down by our 50,000-strong army and could not come back to help in Shouchun, so it was impossible for Cao Cao to get so many troops in a short time. ”

"But Cao Cao's soldiers were there. Could it be that he will scatter beans into soldiers? Sun Ce felt uncomfortable as if he had eaten a fly.

At the head of Xinye City, Cao Cao saw Sun Ce's performance through the telescope, and when he saw Sun Ce turning around, he couldn't help laughing, handed the telescope to Cao Ang and said, "Ang'er, how are we doing with this monkey?" ”

Cao Ang also smiled, "It's really relieving." ”

"Do you know where Sun Ce suffered this time?" Cao Cao took the school Cao Angdao.

Cao Ang thought for a long time and replied truthfully, "The child doesn't know. ”

"Remember, Ang'er! Seeing is not necessarily believing. Today's Cao Cao has changed the embarrassed appearance when he fled for his life a few days ago, wearing special clothes and solid armor, looking radiant. He taught Cao Angdao: "During the First Battle of Wulin, Sun Ce saw a lot of white bones, charcoal ash and 50,000 armors in Dazhai, and he thought that he had burned my 50,000 army. But he didn't know that it was just an illusion to deceive him. If he examined carefully, it would not be difficult to find that those bones were not human bones at all, but were spliced together from the leftover cattle and sheep bones of our Holy Sect's soldiers and horses, and as for those armors, they were waste armor cut from the Holy Sect. Pity him Sun Celi is so hungry that he only cares about rejoicing in destroying the 50,000 soldiers and horses of my Holy Sect, and he doesn't find the mystery. As for our 50,000 troops, as early as the moment when Lu Meng and Gan Ning attacked Zangba's military village, they were led back to Xinye by your son Uncle Xiao. ”

Cao Ang smiled and said, "Father's trick is really clever. ”

"It's the sect leader's deception. Being a father is nothing more than an implementer. Cao Cao stroked his beard and asked Cao Ang, "What time is it?" ”

Cao Ang turned his head, glanced at the mechanical gui (clock) placed in the center of the castle tower, and said, "Back to my father, it will be three o'clock in the morning." ”

"Three quarters!" Cao Cao nodded, "In another half an hour." Half an hour later, it's time to close the net. ”

Cao Ang raised the binoculars, looked at the southeast and southwest of Xinye for a while, and asked Cao Cao: "Father, Ang has something unclear and still hopes that his father will solve his doubts." ”

"But it doesn't hurt to say it."

"As pointed out by the soldiers of my Holy Sect army, they are invincible in all battles, and they are far more powerful than the Jiangdong army. This time he fought against Sun Ce, why didn't the sect leader choose to raise a large army and directly send troops to Wulin and go straight to Moling. Our army has both the benefits of treasure ships and the prosperity of gunpowder, and it is easy to cross the river and attack the city, and the Moling is at your fingertips. It is only a matter of time before Yangzhou and Jiaozhou in Jiangdong are occupied. However, the sect leader did not do this, but took great pains, sent troops to Hanzhong, and self-immolated Wulin, and insisted on guiding Sun Ce to Jingzhou itself, so that the entire Xiangyang City was destroyed in the fire, and our army also suffered heavy losses. Why is that? ”

Cao Cao heard Cao Ang's outspoken strategy for Luan Yi's combat strategy, so he hurriedly covered his mouth. Then he looked around for a while, and saw that Cao Ang's voice was quiet, and no one heard Fang Cai's words. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, and hurriedly pressed his ear to Cao Ang's ear and asked: "Ang'er, you are a good child, but this outspoken problem will have to be corrected in the future." You can't say that in public anymore. ”

"What kind of words?" Cao Ang was puzzled.

"Question the Master, or slander the Master. If you listen to it, it will cause trouble. ”

Cao Ang retorted, "Sect Leader is wise and martial, how could I say bad things? As for questioning the leader, the leader is kind and kind, and it is often said that even saints sometimes make mistakes, so I hope everyone will correct his mistakes more. I'm doing what the sect leader has ordered, how can anyone come to me for trouble. ”

"Ang'er's idea is too naïve." Cao Cao whispered: "That's right, the sect leader is very kind, and he knows the truth that 'good medicine is good for disease, and good words are good for action'. But the believers in the Lord......" As he spoke, he pointed to the soldiers around him, the church guards stationed in the city, and of course, the fanatics of the Church of Our Lady who had been educated in the church system since childhood, and the supporters of Luan Yi's steadfastness, the clergy and the workers and preachers, "They don't care about this." In their eyes, the Sect Master is a being above the saints, a son and messenger of the Virgin, and a descending god. God is infallible to them. Do you understand? ”

Cao Cao paused, then said, "That's right. If you point out a mistake made by the leader in person, the leader will happily accept it and even correct it immediately. But if your doubts are made known to the other brothers in the Lord before they hear it, then you should wait to be drowned in their spittle! ”

"This ......," Cao Ang thought thoughtfully, "my son knows." According to my father's intentions, I also think that the sect leader is a bit more than worth the loss by luring Sun Ce to Jingzhou this time? ”