In fact, long before Liu Qi returned to Xiangyang, he had begun to secretly mobilize soldiers, horses, grain and grass, preparing to deal with the Cao army and horses who were still shrinking in Yanzhou, and after returning to Luoyang in September, Liu Qi got the news that the army had broken through Shanyang and Rencheng, and secretly stepped up military mobilization.

By November, 200,000 troops had been assembled in Luoyang, including 30,000 Xiliang Tieqi cavalry of Ma Chao, 30,000 Danyang soldiers of Zhou Yu, 20,000 of Liu Qi's two major personal soldiers, 20,000 Wudang Fei troops of Meng Shu and Sha Moke, 10,000 female soldiers of Lu Lingqi, 30,000 Tuifeng battalions of Huang Zhong, 20,000 Jinfan troops of Gan Ning, 10,000 Jingzhou troops of Wenpin, 30,000 Qingzhou troops of Li Dian, Xu Huang and Lejin, and in addition to these 200,000 troops, there were more than 20,000 grain transport soldiers. There were more than 5,000 craftsmen who made siege equipment, and more than 50,000 government soldiers who dug trenches and built barracks.

Under the personal command of Liu Qi, more than 200,000 troops set out from Luoyang, passing through Yanshi, Gongxian, Chenggao, Xingyang, Chuilongcheng, wading canals and rivers to Yuanwu, and then came to Sujujube through Yuanwu. At this time, Zhang Fei was in Changyuan, Lü Meng was in Lihu, Zhao Yun was in Juye, Tai Shici was in Fanxian, Zhang Liao was in Wenyang, and Cheng Pu was in Mengyin, and they had completed the preparations for a comprehensive attack on the four counties of Dongjun, Dongping, Taishan, and Jibei.

Liu Qi's 200,000 regular soldiers, plus the armies of Zhao Yun, Lü Meng, Tai Shici, Cheng Pu, Zhang Liao, Wei Yanyu Ban, and Mi Fang, even if there are 400,000 regular soldiers, plus grain transport soldiers, craftsmen, government soldiers, etc., the total army is 500,000.

Liu Qi personally went out this time, commanding an army of 500,000, preparing to take advantage of the winter when the Yellow River froze and Hebei's supplies, grain and grass were difficult to support. In one fell swoop, he defeated Cao Cao's forces in the Henan region, seized the four counties of Dongjun, Dongping, Taishan, and Jibei, and at the same time seized the opportunity to seize the area south of the Yellow River in Qingzhou.

This dispatch is definitely the largest dispatch in Liu Qi's history, and it is also the largest dispatch since the Three Kingdoms, what about the Battle of Guandu? In total, the two sides dispatched less than 200,000 troops, even the famous battle of Guandu in history. The total strength of the two sides is only about 300,000, and now Liu Qi alone has dispatched 500,000 people, plus Cao Cao's army of about 200,000 deployed south of the Yellow River, the 700,000 troops of both sides have gathered together, and the scale is really shocking.

Of course, Cao Cao has not been idle in the past few months, although he does not know much about Liu Qi's transfer of troops, but such frequent transfers are not completely unaware, so he also constantly dispatches elite soldiers and strong generals. He personally led the army to Dongjun County to govern Puyang, and his command concentrated Xiahoudun, Xu Chu, Cao Hong, Sima Yi, Cao Chun, Cao Xiu, Xiahou Shang, Cao Zhang, Zhang He, Guo Huai, Wang Ling, Sun Li, Lü Qian, Zang Ba, Liu Yan, Xiahou Lian, Xiahou Ru, Xiahou Heng and other generals, commanding nearly 200,000 troops in Yanzhou and Qingzhou to resist the invasion of the Chu army.

Cao Cao knew that Liu Qi's troops were very prosperous, and in addition, it was a harsh winter, his roads were impassable, and the supply of soldiers was not smooth, so as long as he suffered losses, it would be difficult to recover, so he had already ordered the army to defend in deep ditches and high fortifications. Without Cao Cao's approval, no one was allowed to fight without authorization. If the order is violated, it will be punished immediately.

After several months of operation, Cao Cao believed that the border area was impregnable, and as long as he held on until the Yellow River thawed in the spring of the following year, he would be able to replenish his troops quickly, if not too long. Just wait another month, the ice on the Yellow River is hard enough for the Hebei army to pass directly from the ice to the south of the Yellow River, and their crisis will be lifted.

And Cao Cao also has nearly 200,000 troops under his command, as long as he can't hold on. I believe that even if Liu Qi has an army of 500,000, he is helpless against himself, as long as his morale is low and he can't see the hope of victory, he can only retreat.

As a result, after more than ten days of fighting, due to the strict defense in all places, although the morale of Liu Qi's various armies was high, no obvious progress was made.

Of course, this can't be blamed on the incompetence of the commanders and generals of the Zhulu army, mainly because this is a strategy set from the beginning, and their role is only to contain the enemy army and make it impossible for them to transfer troops to Puyang, but the real battlefield is in the sour jujube where Liu Qi is.

Nearly 300,000 main forces of Liu Qi's army are gathered here, and at the same time, Cao Cao's 100,000 main forces are stationed in Puyang and Baima.

The 100,000 army set up three lines of defense, the first line of defense was laid by Liu Yan, the Taishou of Dongjun in Yan County, which was full of ditches, full of horse traps and tripping ropes, the main purpose was to prevent the breakthrough of large-scale cavalry, the soldiers were scattered into the dense forest, as long as the enemy arrived, they would snipe and kill the soldiers of the Chu army in the dense forest, once they succeeded, even if they could not succeed, they should immediately go back completely.

At the beginning, Liu Qi did not expect that his own family would use a strategy similar to that of guerrilla warfare in later generations, so he actually suffered a secret loss, nearly 3,000 soldiers under his command were shot by Liu Yan using this strategy, and hundreds of horsemen fell into the trap pit, and were stabbed to death by sharp objects such as horse repelling guns and antlers in the pit, in addition, hundreds of knights were thrown to the ground after their mounts were tripped by the horse rope and then trampled to death by the horses.

Liu Qi suffered a small loss at the beginning, and no longer dared to underestimate Liu Yan, so he accepted Jia Xu's construction, filled the trap with the Hao Bridge, and used the Xiao Guards and Praetorian Guards wearing thick combat boots to destroy tripping horses, antlers, thistles and other things, and then set fire to the dense forest, but this counterattack turned out to be very effective, burning at least 2,000 Wei troops.

In addition, Liu Qi selected hundreds of soldiers who were good at shooting from Huang Zhong's Tuifeng battalion, and they also lurked and fought with the archers who were secretly attacking, and after nearly ten days of competition, they finally cleared Liu Yanbu's "guerrilla" forces on the periphery, and then more than 200,000 troops advanced towards Yan County.

Liu Yan didn't expect that the outer defense line that he had painstakingly deployed for four months would be so lightly broken by Liu Qi, although he had killed and injured nearly 4,000 Chu troops this time, he knew that he had suffered more than 2,000 casualties, which could be regarded as a beautiful battle with fewer victories, but he knew that this was mainly due to his four months of careful preparation, and the current number of kills and wounds was too big compared to the one or two thousand people he expected, which made him worry.

However, he knew that with the meager strength he deployed in the first line of defense, he could not resist Liu Qi's main army of more than 200,000 at all, so he had no choice but to order the army to retreat to Baima and prepare to resist to the death here.

"Fortunately, we have dragged on for ten days, and we are only twenty days away from the goal of one month, even if the white horse is lost and Puyang, with the solidity of Puyang, coupled with the 100,000 army led by the prince of Wei, Liu Qi will not be able to break through even if it is two months, and it will be spring in two months, and at that time, with the speed of replenishment of food and grass for our soldiers, Liu Qi will definitely have no chance of winning, and what can he do if he does not retreat at that time?"

Liu Yan secretly made a plan, so he led the army to quietly evacuate Yan County, and then quickly came to Baima.

It was Sima Lang who was guarding here, and when he saw Liu Yan retreating to Baima after only ten days, his face couldn't help but change, and then asked in a deep voice: "But in ten days, Liu Taishou actually let Yan County lose it?" Is your preparation so weak for the past four months? ”

Sima Lang is the assassin of Yanzhou, although he is only in charge of four counties, he is also Liu Yan's top boss, so he didn't dare to contradict it, and carefully explained: "The last general didn't expect that this Liu Qi has always been hypocritical and righteous, and this time he actually made such a move as burning the dense forest, but as a result, the soldiers deployed there couldn't dodge, and he burned more than 2,000 to death, plus there were many sharpshooters in the Chu military camp, and they also hid to counterattack, resulting in the loss of the sharpshooters that the last general had cultivated with great difficulty, Liu Qi ordered people to fill in the trap pit, clean up the tripping ropes, antlers, thistles and other things, if the last general did not return, I am afraid that the whole army would be wiped out. ”

"What are the casualties of the Chu army?" Sima Lang's face turned purple, and he asked Liu Yan with a calm face.

A trace of shame flashed on Liu Yan's face, and he said softly: "About more than four thousand, the Chu army paid double the price to break through the first line of defense of the last general. ”

Sima Lang was really furious when he heard this, and said in a deep voice: "Didn't you say that this time it can at least cause more than 10,000 casualties in the Chu army?" Didn't you say that you could stop the Chu army for at least twenty days? Where did your commitment go? Why did the Chu army occupy Yan County so quickly, and only pay this casualty? Hmph, 4,000 people are not even one thousandth of the Chu army, it's like a drop in the bucket, how can you make Liu Qi feel distressed? ”

Liu Yan originally thought that he had stopped Liu Qi's 300,000 troops for ten days with thousands of people, and caused double casualties to the enemy, although he did not complete the goal of holding on for twenty days and destroying more than 10,000 enemies that he took the initiative to request, but he had already completed the task set by Cao Cao to hold on for three days, even if he would not get a reward, at least he should be relieved by Sima Lang, but he didn't expect the other party to be furious, and couldn't help but be dissatisfied with Sima Lang, and at the same time secretly regretted that he shouldn't have been greedy for merit. Offer a higher goal that you can't accomplish.

But Liu Yan couldn't have imagined that even Sima Lang couldn't imagine that although the four thousand soldiers were not in their eyes, it really made Liu Qi feel distressed, after occupying Yan County, Liu Qi personally paid tribute to the fallen soldiers, and apologized deeply, repenting of his behavior of underestimating the enemy, after that, Liu Qi also specially ordered someone to transport the remains of the fallen soldiers back to Luoyang for burial.

The dignified King of Chu said to the soldiers of the three armies with tears in his eyes: "Please believe that this king will never let the blood of these 4,000 brothers be shed in vain, and this king will definitely use the blood of the enemy generals to wash away the shame." (To be continued......)