Although Cao Xiu's army is good at running, Liu Qi's Xiao Guards regard long-distance marching as commonplace, and naturally they do not hesitate to cover up along the way, Cao Xiu ran for hundreds of miles without throwing off the pursuers, and he couldn't help but feel more and more frightened in his heart.

Along the way, his 20,000 army lost more than 10,000, and there were only more than 8,000 elites left, and these more than 8,000 people were chased by Liu Qi's army all the way, from Ancheng to Xincai, from Xincai to Ruyin, when passing through the two cities of Xincai and Ruyin, they didn't even dare to stop, because they knew that Liu Qi's army was chasing very closely, and I was afraid that they would enter the city with their front feet, and the other party would chase them into the city with their back feet, which would not only not solve the problem, but would lead them to be trapped in the city. In this case, it will really become a turtle in an urn, not to mention that these two cities belong to the rear, there are almost no troops, and the food and grass materials are also very poor, and they are simply unable to resist the tiger-like Chu army.

Due to the sharp decrease in the number of sergeants, they no longer have much confidence in being able to hold Runan, and what they hope most at present is to successfully bring these 8,000 men out of Runan and flee to Qianjun not far away.

There is his Cao Xiu's hometown, their old Cao family has a very deep network there, and the people will help them resist the invading enemy, not to mention that there are 30,000 troops stationed in Cao Zhen, Liu Qi's army is running for a long time, even if it is the most elite Xiaowei army in the world, it is tantamount to a fool's dream to deal with Cao Zhen's army of leisure. What's more, it is easy for Liu Qi to occupy Runan, but if he wants to digest Runan, it will take at least a few months, during which time will he have time to attack Qianjun?

In fact, Liu Qi didn't think about attacking Qian County at all, because he also knew that his army was attacking the east and west, and occupying Runan would already be a great gain, if he continued to attack Qian County. Then he is far away from his goal of attacking Luoyang, and even those in the world who expect him to restore the Han dynasty and rescue the emperor will be disappointed in themselves. In this way, if he recovers Luoyang, it will undoubtedly be several times more difficult.

Therefore, Liu Qi had already decided that after capturing Runan. Immediately led the army back to Yingchuan and continued to join the army of Zhulu to attack Luoyang.

This way to chase and kill, Liu Qi defeated Cao Xiu's more than 10,000 elites, captured hundreds of miles of land, the population and materials are countless, it can be said that it is a lot of gains, when he drove Cao Xiu's army out of Runan, immediately ordered the army to be stationed in Ruyin, and then appointed Lü Meng as the assassin of Yuzhou. He also served as the Taishou of Runan, and ordered him to lead a large army to come to Ruyin to change the defense, and at the same time ordered him to surrender the counties in Runan County to stabilize the people's hearts and consolidate his rule.

A few days later, Lü Mengbai took the post of assassin of Yuzhou, and led the army to take over the defense of Runan, and Liu Qi led the army to slowly return to Yingchuan.

But it is said that Cao Xiu's army was in the wolf bèi's escape to the county. Youyouzuo had already reported the news to Cao Zhen, and Cao Zhen didn't know the news of the fall of Runan at all. When he saw Cao Xiu leading the army into Qian County, he thought that he was ordered to mobilize.

But when he saw that Cao Xiu had only a few thousand men and horses, and all of them were sleepy and lacking, he was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "Brother Xian, why is this?" ”

Only Cao Xiu sighed. asked Cao Zhen for a kettle again, poured a few sips, and then gasped and said: "Don't hide it from my brother, I committed a capital crime for my brother this time, and I actually fell Runan into the hands of the thief chief Liu Qi." Now that I am poor and have no way out, I have to take refuge in my brother and entrust all the soldiers under my command, they can get away with saving their lives, and even if the foolish brother goes to his uncle to receive his death, he can relieve the guilt in his heart. ”

Cao Zhen was taken aback when he heard this, because he knew that his brother was really the most outstanding general in the younger generation of the Cao family, and he had rarely lost in many years of battles, how could he have lost the entire Runan County so quickly that he had no time to ask for help?

So Cao Zhen hurriedly ordered someone to arrange for these 8,000 soldiers to go down to rest, and ordered Guo Huai, Wang Ling and others to sit down and rest, and then said slowly: "Brother Xian, don't panic first, you sit down and rest, what is the specific situation?" How many men did Liu Qi use, and what means did he use to capture Runan? Could it be that he also imitated the method of Yingchuan and ordered Yuan Shu's descendants to use the county to lure the soldiers into betrayal and lead him into the city? ”

Cao Xiu smiled bitterly: "There is absolutely no such thing, the reason for the loss of the little brother until Yingchuan, how can he not prevent this?" What's more, although most of the generals and soldiers in the junior brother's army are from Runan, the Yuan family has long lost popularity in Runan, and Hugh said that he was a person after Yuan's surgery, even if Yuan Shu is resurrected, it will be difficult to shake the foundation of my Runan. But the specific reason is really not clear, but I heard that there was an earth-shattering noise in the silent night, and the younger brother was shocked to look at it, but found that the entire north city gate had completely collapsed, becoming a pile of rubble, and the soldiers who were originally tied at the head of the city had already been crushed to pieces, and there was not even a complete corpse, just like that, the Chu army actually attacked Ancheng without much effort, and the younger brother saw that the army's heart was broken, and he had no choice but to lead the army to flee. ”

"What? There can be such a strange thing! Cao Zhen was also shocked when he heard this, he thought hard for a long time, and he didn't know what the reason was, but he knew very well that no matter what the specific reason was, it must be from Liu Qi's conspiracy.

"This hateful Liu Qi, what kind of means did he use? It's not terrible that we're defeated, it's terrible that we're defeated and we don't know what the enemy is doing, because the enemy will continue to use this terrible means to capture other cities, and what about us? Because we don't know the specific means of the enemy, there is naturally no corresponding countermeasure, which will make our sergeants more and more panicked and less confident. Cao Zhen's face suddenly became sad, and he said in a heavy voice.

He couldn't help but feel heavy, because his defensive ground was already directly facing the threat of Liu Qi, if one day Liu Qi gave him the same means, would he have the confidence to defend Qian County?

Even Cao Xiu, who was more talented than him, would be defeated, so how sure could he resist this mysterious means?

Cao Xiu naturally knew the worry on Cao Zhen's face, but he had no choice but to say apologetically: "The younger brother is incompetent, and he has not found out what Liu Qi's conspiracy is, but the younger brother will definitely order these soldiers under his command to be loyal to his brother and do his best to help his brother defend Qian County." ”

Cao Zhen felt a little comforted in his heart, and then took Cao Xiu's hand and said: "Brother Xian, please rest assured, this time there are Guo Huai, Wang Ling and other generals and Brother Wei to testify, explaining to my uncle that this battle is not a crime of war, presumably when my uncle is employing people, it is impossible to really execute Brother Xian, eat a trench and grow wise, I believe that as long as we learn from the lessons and deal with it carefully next time, we will not let Liu Qi's conspiracy succeed again." ”

When Cao Xiu heard this, he couldn't help but show a grateful look, and arched his hand and said: "Thank you brother for your comfort, but since the younger brother has made a small mistake, he will definitely bear the responsibility, Guo Huai and they will be handed over to the elder brother, and the younger brother will borrow a fast horse and go to Luoyang to apologize to his uncle." ”

Cao Zhen saw that Cao Xiu had made a decision, so he no longer persuaded him more, but first arranged him to rest in the camp tent, and at the same time wrote down the situation in Runan in detail, and ordered someone to send it to Luoyang on a fast horse, hoping to explain it to Guò himself, so that his brother could save his life, or in other words, find a step down for Cao Cao to leave Cao Xiu's life.

It was precisely because of this that Cao Cao had already obtained the details of the fall of Runan long before Cao Xiu arrived in Luoyang, but he still didn't know what the loud noise that caused the collapse of the city wall was going on? Therefore, when Cao Cao asked Cao Xiu to plead guilty, he ordered someone to temporarily take Cao Xiu down, and he was convicted after the details were clarified.

After Cao Cao sent spies to Runan secretly to investigate, the spies returned from Runan and reported, Liu Qi said when rewarding the three armies, the fall of Ancheng is the result of God's warning, because Cao Cao is not virtuous, so the sky rained thunder, the gate of Ancheng was razed to the ground, just in time for their army to plan the siege, so they took the opportunity to enter the city, broke the city, in order to thank God for help, Liu Qi once publicly sacrificed to the sky in the suburbs to express gratitude.

Cao Cao listened to the return of the altar, but breathed a sigh of relief, in fact, with his generation of traitors, he didn't believe in any providence at all, otherwise he wouldn't have taken the Son of Heaven seriously, so in his opinion, this should really be like what Liu Qi said, it was just an accident, thunder and fire fell from the sky, which happened to destroy the city gate and gave Liu Qi a chance.

In fact, in Cao Cao's heart, he would rather this be the so-called warning from heaven than the collapse of the entire city gate, in fact, it was a mysterious weapon made by Liu Qi, otherwise, this mysterious weapon would definitely put him in a more disadvantageous position in the future defense of the city.

Therefore, Cao Cao spared Cao Xiu's life according to the report of the spies, the reason is that the incident of Ancheng was purely an accident, thunder and fire fell from the sky, and it happened to fall to the city gate, and the city gate was scorched, which made Liu Qi lucky to win, this is not a crime of war, so Cao Xiu was spared a death, but he lost his division and lost his land along the way, and even lost the entire Runan County, the death penalty can be avoided, and the living crime is unforgivable, and he was demoted to the general of Pingdong, Yuzhou did not drive, and Cao Zhen was the assassin of Yuzhou, and ordered him to Cao Zhen to assist Cao Zhen to guard the county, and encouraged Cao Xiu individually, hoping that he could assist Cao Zhen to defend the county regardless of gains and losses.

Cao Xiunuo agreed, and expressed his gratitude to Cao Cao for sparing his life, and then went to Qian County, reviewing the details of the fall of Runan while walking, and then suddenly remembered that if this matter was really a disaster from heaven, why could Liu Qi's army pour into Ancheng so quickly? Could it be that this Liu Qi has the ability to predict the future, so he made arrangements in advance? Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why he even set up an ambush in such a timely manner, as if he had made arrangements in advance, but is it possible? Can you calculate that there will be thunder and fire at the gates of the city he attacks? How could he Cao Xiu believe such a suspicious thing?

Therefore, although Cao Cao made an excuse for his immortality, Cao Xiu himself was not good at explaining more, but he believed that the loud bang must be due to Liu Qi's conspiracy, so he made up his mind that no matter what the cost, he must find out the truth of the matter. (To be continued......)