For Cao Ren, this day at the end of November of the thirteenth year of Jian'an was extremely difficult. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoAlthough he was ordered to guard Jiangling, and what happened in Chibi had nothing to do with him, it was just talking about it in ordinary times, where could he still do it when Cao Cao was in danger? Speaking of loyalty, Cao Ren was one of Cao Cao's most loyal generals, he was not only Cao Cao's courtier, but also Cao Cao's kindred, and the clan blood relationship during this period made him and Cao Cao always stand on the same line. Cao Cao said whatever he wanted, he did what he did, not only was he less than those foreign generals in terms of ability, but his loyalty was enough for Cao Cao to completely entrust his rear to him. In Cao Cao's opinion, leaving Cao Ren and Cao Hong in Jiangling, and letting Chen Jiao and others assist, is enough to ensure that Jiangling is not lost. After all, the soldiers and horses he allocated to Cao Ren were as many as 50,000.

This difference is also a very important advantage. Although Cao Ren also had some regrets in his heart that he could not go to the battlefield, he also willingly accepted this task. As a general who also had the experience of being in charge of one side, he naturally understood how important it was for an army to have a reliable rear, and Jiangling was the rear that Cao Cao needed at this moment.

"Gangneung is a very important place, and there is absolutely no room for mistakes. It stands to reason that I am guarding cautiously no matter what, but right now, ......" Cao Ren, who was in the Gangneung Taishou Mansion, frowned tightly, and looked worriedly at the eastern sky: it was red. Cao Ren received a scout horse galloping from the direction of Chibi, saying that Cao Cao's army had been defeated by Zhou Yu's fire attack plan and was now retreating to Jiangling in embarrassment.

"Defeated? What kind of defeat is it? Hearing this, Cao Ren immediately stood up, his eyes widening. Seeing the redness in the direction of Chibi, he had a very bad idea in his heart. But that idea is just an idea after all, and he may not have a trace of luck in his heart. However, when a real report ripped off this luck and put the cruel facts in front of him, he couldn't help but be surprised.

"All the ships were burned, and the sailors in Jingzhou didn't know whether they would survive or die. The sky and the earth are all red, and the enemy is killing from all directions, and we have no way to resist it. It was as terrible as purgatory on earth......" the herald gasped, and although there was still a slight panic on his face, he was able to explain everything in a more coherent way.

"Isn't that a big rout?" Cao Ren couldn't help but sit on the ground weakly when he heard this. It doesn't get any worse than that. Cao Ren looked at the messenger in front of him fixedly, looked at him from head to toe, and looked at him with an obvious appearance that had been smoky, but finally determined the truth of what he said.

"Everything is true, so what am I going to do? Are you going out of the city to meet your lord? "Cao Ren thought about this matter, this should have been a very easy problem to solve, after all, for Cao Cao's own existence, the existence of Cao Cao, the leader, is really more important than anything else, but the current situation is: Cao Cao has been defeated, and he urgently needs a corner of the corner for himself to repair, and Jiangling, which is protected by large soldiers and commanded by his own cronies, is obviously such a suitable place - for Cao Cao himself, he definitely does not want to see Jiangling miss, even in this extremely dangerous situation." Gangneung must be guaranteed not to be lost! Cao Ren thought about the situation in front of him from Cao Cao's point of view, but he affirmed the importance of Jiangling more and more.

"You must first ensure that Jiangling is not lost, and then you can talk about how to rescue the lord." After thinking about it for a while, Cao Ren finally confirmed this, and at the same time encountered a new question: "How can this be done?" Cao Ren clearly knew that due to the defeat of the lord Cao Cao in the front, the comparison of the forces of the enemy and us was reversed, maybe in the future, the lord could integrate tens of thousands of horses from the defeated army, but at the moment, against the approaching coalition army, Cao Ren could really rely on the 50,000 in his hands. 50,000 versus 100,000, this is a difference of several times. Cao Ren may not be worried about this, but he is somewhat troubled by this.

"Alas...... What a hassle. After thinking about it for a long time, Cao Ren sighed helplessly, and finally chose to gather everyone to discuss: "Please General Cao Hong and them to the front hall to discuss matters." In any case, the lords have already been defeated, and I need their advice on how to solve the problems that follow. Cao Ren ordered his own soldiers.

"Yes!" The pro-soldiers who received the order trotted out all the way. After staying by the side of the Lord General for so long, they also know a little bit of the ability to observe words and colors, and naturally understand what kind of situation they should behave in.

Soon, everyone was invited to the antechamber. When Cao Ren told them what he knew, everyone's faces showed worried expressions. They are all generals who are very loyal to Cao Cao, and now that they hear that Cao Cao is in danger, they are all eager to send troops to rescue Cao Cao immediately.

"What else? Isn't the general ready to prepare his troops and horses?" Cao Hong, who had a strong temperament, questioned Cao Ren angrily: "There will be our soldiers all the time, and every time we delay a little, the more unstable the life of the lord becomes, and now there is nothing more important than sending troops to rescue the lord." Why is the general still hesitating? ”

"Zilian, you still look at things too simply." Cao Ren smiled bitterly: "Jiangling is a big city, and our 50,000 soldiers and horses are here, which is just enough." If it is really as you said, desperate to rescue the lord, then what about the city defense of Gangneung? Now the enemy is much stronger than me. Once Jiangling is lost, our army is afraid that it will be trapped in Jingzhou and will not be able to return. ”

"So what does it matter? Jiangling is lost, we can still go to Xiangyang! Cao Hong said assumedly.

"To Xiangyang? It's easy to say, but at that time, we were already sleepy, and we didn't have any combat power, could we still go to Xiangyang under the pursuit of the enemy? Cao Ren scoffed at this: "If the lord is defeated, his men and horses will definitely be poor and demoralized, while the enemy's side will definitely have high morale. If the enemy can defeat the lord, he must be a man of high intelligence, if they use the means of ambush on the way of our army to Gangneung, I am afraid that even the lord and you and I will die without a place to be buried. ”

After listening to Cao Ren's explanation, everyone, including Cao Hong, suddenly fell silent. Although they are in a hurry, they are still very sensible. After more than ten years of military life, they have experienced a lot of battles, so they naturally understand what is most in line with their immediate needs, and naturally they also understand what Cao Ren said. It's just that understanding is understanding, their hearts are still quite anxious, just because of their foreign surnames, they don't have much to say, they just look at Cao Hong, who is surnamed Cao and Cao Ren. They all looked at him, and just wanted him to talk to Cao Ren and come up with a strategy in the end.

"Do you just sit and wait? In case of...... In case of...... The lord ...... "The impatient Cao Hong didn't see everyone's eyes at all, just the so-called brother of Cao Cao, and his feelings and loyalty to Cao Cao were not fake." As early as when he was young, when Cao Cao said "the world can be without floods, but not without justice" in Cao Cao's crisis, he was very anxious at the moment. Even if he couldn't receive everyone's invitation, he still thought the same as everyone else, and couldn't wait to ask about his brother.

"Of course not, it's just that with our current situation, we must come up with a balanced solution to solve the problem of defending Gangneung and rescuing the lord." Cao Ren thought and said.

"How do you do both?" Cao Hong's eyes widened: "Didn't you say it?" We now have just enough troops to defend the city. ”

"That's why I have to take a gamble." Cao Ren frowned, and slowly said what he thought in his heart: "I plan to leave 10,000 people to guard the city and send 40,000 people to meet the lord." I knew that 10,000 people would never be able to defend Gangneung, so I wondered if it could be like this: the flags and drums on the head of Gangneung City were silenced, and the gates of Gangneung City were scattered and opened, and the appearance of an empty city was posed; but he threw two thousand of the ten thousand men into the city and shouted to make a noise; And the remaining 8,000 people were divided into four roads, and they were lying on the left side of Gangneung, and they were also waiting for the banner. If the enemy does not come to fight our Gangneung's doctrine, if it does, we will use the ambush tactics to deceive them, anyway, it will only take a day at most to receive the lord, as long as we can drag them to that moment, I think everything will have a result. ”

"It's a great plan, and it can be done quickly." There may not be a brilliant person among the people who can revise this strategy in a pinpoint of the times, but as a group of generals who are by no means brainless, they can still distinguish the good and bad of the strategy, and as soon as they heard Cao Ren's strategy, they felt that it was very feasible, and there was not so much discussion about it.

The worries are "solved" according to Cao Ren's method, although everyone knows that there must be so-called dangers in this, but with such an arrangement, the danger will definitely be much less. After all, compared with Liu Bei, who has the strongest martial arts in the world, and Sun Quan, who has occupied Jiangdong for three generations and has a prosperous talent, the most likely person to fight his Jiangling idea may be Li Sheng of Changsha. Although I also heard that Li Sheng also has a lot of outstanding talents, but so what? This kind of virtual and real mosaic plan is not something that can be seen by the so-called talents. At least Cao Ren, like everyone else here, didn't believe that Li Sheng in the south had such a level. This may be a bit of a hasty assumption, but it is true from a common sense point of view. Cao Ren and the others also obtained some information about Changsha after Cao Cao paid attention to Li Sheng, and naturally understood very clearly: Li Sheng is the so-called strong and weak in literature and martial arts at the moment.

"Perhaps, they won't dare to call at all!" A faint smile on Cao Ren's lips represented the thoughts of most people here.

After this was done, the question of how to rescue Cao Cao was directly put in front of everyone. Different from the previous "discussion" about the defense of Gangneung as Cho In's Ilgundo, Cho Ren and Cho Hong had different ideas on how to rescue.

"Why? We can only go twenty miles out of the city to meet the lord? Don't you think that's too close? Twenty miles, almost at the doorstep. Why can't you go a little further and go directly to Huarong Road to answer? Cao Hong was very puzzled by what his brother said about the twenty-mile welcome. He felt that this was a cowardly act, if he said this when he hadn't solved the problem of Jiangling's defense before, it might be interpreted as cautious, but now that the problem of defending Jiangling has been solved, Brother Cao Ren is still so careful, which is really undeserved in Cao Hong's opinion. A nameless anger rose in his heart, causing him to glare at Cao Ren fiercely, and like a storm, he sent such a polite question to his boss and brother.

"Because I'm afraid that there will be something on the Gangneung side!" Cao Ren said categorically: "Although there is very little chance of this kind of eventuality, even if there is a little possibility, we can't be sloppy." Although the lord's forces suffered heavy losses, their elites, such as the tiger and leopard riders, did not collapse. With these elite guards, I don't think it's too difficult to get to the Huarong crossing. ”

"What if? If there is a what-if, what are we going to do? Aren't you worried about that at all? Cao Hong asked impatiently, it was really difficult for him to understand his brother's cautious thoughts.

"What if? There is nothing just in case. If it's Gangneung, I don't dare to guarantee it, but when it comes to the lord's side, everything is clear. Unlike Gangneung, which may be attacked inexplicably at any time, the enemies encountered by the lord are all pursued from behind. It is impossible for them to use any means of ambush, and they can only follow after the lord. However, even if such a catch-up is not possible, they will not be able to last long. After all, apart from us, neither the Sun family nor the Liu family have so many war horses or so many cavalry. It is also very difficult to pursue the cavalry brigade of the lord with infantry. Regarding Cao Hong's questioning, Cao Ren still explained that the old god was there. Although he was also very anxious in his heart, at this moment in front of everyone, he still had to endure the anxiety in his heart and put on a confident and calm appearance - this is undoubtedly one of the difficulties of being the main general.

"But ......" Cao Hong still wanted to raise an objection, but before he could say his words, he was interrupted by Cao Ren in one breath: "There is no need to say more. I don't want to, so let's just prepare the soldiers and horses to rescue the lord. Saving soldiers is like fighting a fire, and it must not be delayed for a moment. Although I know that you are still dissatisfied with my arrangement, I ask you to do it anyway. This is a request, but also an order, if anyone does not obey, can be removed from office on the spot, military law is ruthless, you will never be allowed to bargain, understand? Cao Ren said and glanced at Cao Hong deeply, the hint of warning was self-evident, he really knew that his brother was really a little arrogant. Although he was now in his thirties, the young man's flesh had not disappeared from his body. If it was normal, Cao Ren would still be a little envious of him for having such a sharp spirit, but now he hopes that Cao Hong can become more accommodating. After all, there can be no mistakes in this plan, everything must fit together step by step.

“…… Well. After saying so much, Cao Ren came to an end slightly, he saw his forbearance from Cao Hong's place, and felt a little inappropriate in his heart, but at the moment, he didn't want to say anything more. There weren't many events for him, and he himself felt the urgency. Under such circumstances, it was impossible for him to convince his brother any more, but directly chose to issue a combat deployment: "I brought 40,000 soldiers and horses from my headquarters to rescue the lord, and Zilian and Chen Jiao guarded Jiangling." Everything has to go according to plan, and I don't want to come back and find out that the flag at the head of the city has changed. ”

"Yes!" Although there were still many opinions on Cao Ren's order in his heart, the other party put out the identity of the chief general and directly issued the order, and everyone couldn't say anything. They walked away in a huff, and in utter frustration began their orders.

After some orderly preparation in the chaos, the Cao army of the brigade came out of Jiangling City. They held high a brightly colored flag, and did not hurry to set out on the journey to the rescue. Although Cao Ren himself said that saving soldiers is like fighting fires, when it comes to actual implementation, Cao Ren doesn't seem to be in such a hurry. He believed that Cao Cao would eventually escape from the pursuit of the enemy from the east and come to the vicinity of Jiangling, so he did not give his men the order to fight. Because in his opinion, his people are not so much fighting with the enemy's pursuers in order to rescue Cao Cao, but rather putting up men and horses in order to receive the lord, and the key is not how much their own combat strength is, but whether the momentum on their side can make the friendly troops whose morale has already been low feel at ease.

"The person who can defeat the lord is definitely not the kind of simple-minded and reckless. They must know where their strengths and weaknesses lie, so when we unpack the good team, they will inevitably retreat instead of choosing to meet us head-to-head. After all, for them, each of the cavalry they use to pursue our army is a precious existence, and they can't afford to lose both. It's a very Meiji option, and it's the only place we can take advantage of it right now. Cao Ren understood this very well, so he issued such an incomprehensible order to his subordinates.

"Ji Bi, do you think Brother Zixiao can successfully rescue the lord here?" Standing on the tower of Jiangling, looking at Cao Ren's soldiers and horses gradually moving away, Cao Hong, who was considered by Cao Ren to be a high-spirited person, walked tightly and frowned, and asked in a low voice Chen Jiao, Chen Jibi, who was left by Cao Ren to defend the city with him.

"I guess that's fine. General Hugh has to worry about General Zhengnan, but there are wise generals in our army, and although the arrangements he is making at the moment make it difficult for us to understand his intentions, since he will be like this, there will definitely be places where he thinks it is necessary. We just need to respectfully receive the order and complete it. Chen Jiao cautiously persuaded Cao Hong: "At this moment, since the general has been entrusted with the important task of defending the city by the adults, it is only an important matter for the moment, and the rest can be ignored." ”

"I understand." Cao Hong nodded heavily, but he was a little helpless: "I'll let people prepare." Since Brother Zixiao has gone out, then I should also take my own men and horses to attack. ”

"Sortie?" Chen Jiao was puzzled: "Isn't our task to defend the city?" ”

"Hehe, these arrangements in the city are enough for you, but the ambush soldiers outside the city still need to think about it. To be honest, Brother Zixiao has left us in a big trouble. He didn't look at what kind of environment Jiangling was in, these four horses were in Pingchuan, and the ambush soldiers were not easy to arrange. Cao Hong said with a wry smile.

"That's also ......" Chen Jiaowei promised, for tactical matters, he, a civil official, is not very proficient, and he is just smiling bitterly at the moment.

Soon, Cao Hong rushed out of Jiangling City with his men and horses. Unlike Cao Ren's high-spirited and posthumous departure, Cao Hong at the moment is full of momentum and is planning to fight. Although none of the flags and drums in his team were pulled down, he didn't seem to plan to use them at the moment, so he handed them over to the team at the back of the team to carry them, and hurried towards the woods. Cao Hong's idea was relatively simple, that is, to use some of the small forests around Gangneung City as a place for his ambush. There was no way to do it, at least Gangneung's topography on the plains and the tight time he didn't have to bother looking for a better ambush location.

Everyone is honestly doing their own thing and not worrying about anything else. They all thought that as long as these things were done well, there would be no problem in keeping Gangneung. Although Cao Hong and the others had some complaints about Cao Ren's plan before Cao Hong's decision was made, but now that the plan had been decided, he also hoped very much that this would eventually succeed. However, they all seem to have forgotten that the success of the plan is not only the ingenuity of the plan itself, but also the secrecy of the plan. If everything they do is known to others, how can they still be successful? Like now:

"If you want to use this trick against us, you really have some ability. If we didn't feel all this at the moment, I'm afraid we would really be deceived by you, but now......" Zhao Yun, who had been waiting in a forest in the south for a long time, saw Cao Ren and Cao Hong's actions clearly, and laughed coldly. While they rejoiced for themselves, they mourned for their enemies. After all, in all fairness, their plan was indeed very good, but since everything was spread out in front of their own people, the outcome of failure had already been determined. They didn't think that Zhao Yun would come so quickly, this was their biggest mistake. Even if this is not to blame them, because there has never been a team that advances so fast, their misery does begin from this point.

"Are you all ready?" Zhao Yun's troops in the forest were all gathered together, and two thousand cavalry escorted twelve carriages and stood quietly in the gap in the forest, although he had long known that none of his men had stayed here, but Zhao Yun still asked this routinely.

"Alright." A neat echo echoed in the forest.

"Well, we'll follow the plan. Captain Xu led 500 cavalry as the left flank, and Captain Chen led 500 cavalry as the right flank, each following behind the middle road. As soon as our army retreats from the center, you will attack the enemy on the left and right. Seeing that the soldiers under his command could respond to him so neatly after running for such a long distance, Zhao Yun's always calm face showed a slight smile of satisfaction, and he quickly ordered his soldiers and simply encouraged them: "This is the first time that our mobile cavalry has appeared in battle, whether or not others can recognize our identity as a double pay, it depends on your performance later." Show your majesty and let everyone else know that we are the strongest combat force under the lord. ”

"Oh!" Although the soldiers in the forest had tiredness on their faces, the momentum on their bodies was not much weaker because of the long-distance attack. After coming to this forest early to rest for half an hour, the strength on their bodies has recovered a little, and now they have listened to Zhao Yun's encouragement, and they all have a good performance of hatred in their eyes, so that the other comrades-in-arms who usually have a lot of criticism on their side all shut their mouths. At this moment, they are all holding back a breath of anger that is about to explode in their hearts.

This anger came from the training in the past. Although Li Shengjun's military salary was originally much higher than that of other forces in the world, generally speaking, Li Sheng's current wealth was only to ensure that the people who became his soldiers had a little surplus after food and clothing. Changsha is a rare city in the world, but compared with other forces that have several states and counties, Li Sheng, who only owns Changsha, is naturally much inferior. Therefore, under the leadership of Li Sheng, who has a frugal concept, Changsha is not very wealthy from every official to every soldier, and it can be said that everyone is basically a little higher on the basis of food and clothing. However, it is said to be basic, that is to say, there are absolutely exceptions in it: among the officials under Li Sheng, the only exception naturally refers to Li Sheng's "immortal master" Zuo Ci, because Li Sheng asked Zuo Ci to help study some strange things, and the investment in this is naturally very large; As for the army, there are only two teams that have double treatment on top of the military salary, one of which is understood by everyone, and Li Sheng's personal army is composed of one of the strongest soldiers in all the armies, and the other is the mobile cavalry commanded by Zhao Yun for the first time on this battlefield.

To be honest, Zhao Yun doesn't know much about this army, he is not the trainer of this team, but only the leader of this team. Placed in Wudang for a long time, he learned about all kinds of things under his lord's account mainly through various rumors, although he also knew some things about this army from others, but he only knew about it. For going further, Zhao Yun only understood that this army had the ability to fight for a long time and run thousands of miles.

"Is it because they are able to do this that the lord gives them special care?" Zhao Yun still didn't understand this. However, as a good general, he naturally understands what he should say and do in such a situation. He knew that in today's battle, all kinds of his strategic direction had been completely arranged by his lord, and all he needed was to arrange it in specific tactics. In other words, you just need to attack.

"Attack?" Zhao Yun looked at Jiangling City rising on the horizon, and a scorching spark flashed in his eyes.