Very passive, Cao Cao is really anxious now, and the severity of the situation is beyond what he can handle.

It can be said that almost at the same time, all around his territory of influence showed signs of collapse that made him feel powerless, and it was difficult to deal with it for a while.

There was no good news about the wars in Yuzhou, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Xuzhou, Qingzhou, and Yanzhou, and almost all of them were pressed and beaten by the New Han Army. A little carelessness can lead to a total rout.

This is really Cao Cao's helplessness. At this time, Cao Cao's military horses were so many that no matter which side they were sent to support them, they were overstretched and couldn't take care of them.

In the final analysis, it is still a relationship where the overall strength is far weaker than that of the New Han Dynasty. The New Han army could mobilize millions of troops at the same time, and he Cao Cao was only a million military horses, and in terms of troops, he was already far weaker than the New Han army.

In the new Han Dynasty, they can make a big show and let go of the action of marching and attacking his Cao army. And he, Cao Cao, is restrained everywhere and has no power to fight back.

He could have resisted the Zang Ba Taishan military horse who came to Qingzhou from the north, but he surrendered to the New Han Dynasty, hoping that Mr. Shui Jing could shake the foundation of the New Han Dynasty from that mysterious aspect, but even Mr. Shui Jing was defeated, and he lost two generals. One fell into the hands of Liu Yi, and although the other returned, he was seriously injured and could no longer fight for him. has been coming, and has been a gold-touching lieutenant who has scavenged wealth for Cao Cao. He also left him. This made Cao Cao unconsciously have a feeling of heroic end, and the wall pushed everyone. Zangba's submission. Long Chu's departure made Cao Cao also see a sign of farewell. He didn't know how many generals and advisers would leave him next, and how many sergeants would flee from his camp.

Cao Cao at this time was really helpless and unwilling.

There was no way, he had to give orders one after another, so that Li Dian and Man Chong, who had fled back from Xiangcheng, should hurry up and rectify their defeated army that had fled back from Xiangcheng, and cooperate with Xia Houen of Yingchuan to deploy defenses in Yingchuan. gave them a death order to the generals, and they had to hold the Yingchuan defense line no matter what. The New Han Army must not be allowed to break through. Once it breaks through, the new Han army's troops will be directed at Xudu. This is what Cao Cao thinks must be ensured first.

Then, he hurriedly sent a fast horse to send a secret letter to Runan City, ordered Zhang Liao, gave up Runan City, and led 200,000 or 300,000 Cao troops in Runan City to break through and retreat to Yingyang City.

Yingchuan to Yingyang is only dozens of miles away, and they are also about 100 miles away from Xudu. If Zhang Liao can lead the Cao army in Runan to retreat to Yingyang City. Then it is equivalent to accumulating 500,000 or 600,000 Cao troops in the south of Xudu, forming a horn trend in Yingchuan, Yingyang and Xudu respectively. The Cao army in the three places can support each other at any time, and it only takes half a day. You can come and go to support. This is also more conducive to Cao's army's counterattack against the New Han army. If there is a fighter to take, Cao Cao thinks that his Cao army can be in one day. Assemble a large army to attack a certain weak point of the New Han army. This may be Cao Jun's only chance.

Cao Cao's orders were quite severe. Ordered Zhang Liao to act according to his orders. This is related to the success or failure of his Cao Cao's overall situation, and it cannot be violated.

Meantime. Cao Cao considered that Xiangcheng had been lost, and he planned to abandon Runan and the entire Yuzhou, and began to shrink his forces to defend. Therefore, he thinks that it is no longer meaningful for the Cao army on the Yangzhou side to stay in Yangzhou and deal with the new Han army that came to defend. Now the Jiangdong Army has been killed outside Yangzhou Shouchun City, and there are also the military horses of the New Han Army advancing to Shouchun City, if the Cao Army of Yangzhou Shouchun is not decisively withdrawn, then the military horses of Yangzhou Shouchun may face the danger of being besieged and annihilated in Shouchun by the New Han Army.

Therefore, Cao Cao urgently ordered Cao Hong, who was still in Shouchun in Yangzhou, to quickly lead the military horses in Yangzhou to retreat north along Yingshui, retreat hundreds of miles all the way, and arrive in the area of Qiaojun, and arrange a defensive line, mainly to prevent the New Han army pursuing along Yingshui and the New Han army that may be killed from Xuzhou. Of course, Xuzhou is still in the hands of Cao Jun for the time being, but Cao Cao does not think that with the few troops he has left in Xuzhou, he can still ensure that Xuzhou is not lost. The fall of Xuzhou is estimated to be a matter of time. Therefore, Cao Cao planned to build a defensive line as soon as possible, so as not to let the New Han army from Xuzhou drive straight into it when the time came.

In addition, Cao Cao decided to kill a military general to make an example. That's Cai Mao. Cao Cao felt that at this time, it was time to deter the generals in his army. Otherwise, everyone thinks that it doesn't matter if they lose the battle, and they will flee one by one as soon as they see the New Han Army, so how can they fight a decisive battle with the New Han Army to the end?

Cao Cao directly announced to the whole army that Cai Mao's crimes were listed, even if it was not so, but in order to be able to deter the whole army and convince the whole army, so. Cao Cao directly announced to the whole army.

Cai Mao's first crime, fear of war, and poor support for friendly forces, led to Cao Hong's army of 200,000 or 300,000 being trapped in the Jiangdu City, and almost the entire army was wiped out.

The second crime, under the circumstance of occupying the heavens and the heavens, did not do anything in Hongze Huze, and actually allowed the New Han Army to easily break through the waterway defense line of Cai Mao's more than 300,000 water troops. This is a sin of dereliction of duty. Cao Cao had high hopes for the naval army established by Cai Mao, but in the end it was like paper paste, vulnerable, wasting Cao Cao's countless manpower and financial resources, and making Cao Cao feel disappointed.

The third crime is that in the face of the pressure of the New Han Army, he did not think about his own faults, and did not work together with his colleagues to resist the strong enemy, but secretly shifted the responsibility to his colleagues and slandered his colleagues, with the intention of confusing the public and covering up his mistakes. There is a crime of deception.

Fourth, there is evidence to prove that Cai Mao was greedy for money and lustful, and greedy for the materials that Cao Cao handed over to the formation of Cao's navy, so that some of the hardware measures of Cao's navy were far from meeting the expected plan.

Fifth, there is evidence that Cai Mao has bad intentions and signs of betraying the Xudu court. There is evidence that Cai Mao's sister Cai is now in Luoyang, and her sister's son Liu Cong is said to be the lord of Jingzhou by the New Han Dynasty when she becomes an adult. Inherited the position of his father Liu Biao. Cai Mao wanted to return to Jingzhou and was suspected of defecting to the New Han Dynasty.

……

Well. In fact, many of them are trumped-up charges. However, everything is not for Cai Mao to argue. Cao Cao had already issued an order for Cao Hong to immediately execute Cai Mao and execute him to deter the entire Cao army.

Therefore, Cai Mao never escaped the fate established by history, and was finally wrongfully beheaded by Cao Cao. It's just that he was really wronged in history. After beheading him, Cao Cao also knew that he had beheaded the wrong person, and he regretted it a little. But in this life, it was Cao Cao who deliberately wanted to kill him.

This, Cao Cao also considered another problem, because although the Cao army in Yangzhou Shouchun was his Cao Cao's military horse, it was actually formed by Cai Mao with one hand and one foot. This formation time is not too long, though. However, Cao Cao believes that Cai Mao's prestige among the Cao army is still relatively large. And these naval soldiers are all military horses recruited by Cai Mao in Yangzhou. If you don't behead Cai Mao. In case Cai Mao really had some different thoughts, he had the intention of betraying him Cao Cao. Then this Cao army and navy will probably be instigated and taken away by Cai Mao. Therefore. Cao Cao felt that it was better to cut through the mess quickly. beheaded Cai Mao first, and then let Cao Hong take control of this military horse instead of Cai Mao. Then the army horse was sent back to the county area.

When Cao Cao ordered Cai Mao to be beheaded. A separate case for disposal has also been announced. It is a notice of the loss of Xiangcheng. In the proclamation, the ban was directly regarded as rebellion, and the faults of Xiangcheng were all blamed on the ban. Cao Cao's approach was to allow Li Dian, Man Chong, Xia Houen and other Cao Jun Cao generals to be able to defend Yingchuan for him with peace of mind and play a role in urging them.

Then, Cao Cao ordered the troops and horses of Xuzhou, depending on the situation, if the new Han army in Qingzhou entered Xuzhou from the Beihai side, and the new Han army that landed from the sea was too strong, then they were allowed to act at the opportunity, save their troops, and first retreat to the areas of Xiaopei, Mangdangshan, Shanyang, and Shangqiu to set up defenses. In addition, Cao Cao gave another order to Cao Ren, if the Yanzhou battlefield was no longer possible, he could also look at the situation, save his strength, and retreat to the area around Dongjun to defend.

Cao Cao's series of orders was actually equivalent to starting to shrink his forces, give up some vast and difficult to defend places, and hold the surrounding cities with Xuchang as the center, so as to keep this territory. Then look for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the New Han army.

If Cao Cao did not save his troops and was wiped out by the New Han army one by one on various battlefields, then Cao Cao would have completely lost hope of turning the tables.

Of course, Cao Cao's orders were actually discussed with his ministers, and he felt that under the current situation, Cao Cao could only return a glimmer of hope.

Xun You, Cheng Yu and other advisers also participated in the discussion, and felt that Cao Cao really wanted to do this now, so that he had a little chance to deal with the New Han Army to the end.

Although Cheng Yu already has a lot of good feelings for the New Han Army, he has indeed considered returning to the New Han Dynasty in his heart. However, he was still by Cao Cao's side for the time being, and when Cao Cao asked him for advice, he was in the position of being a minister. He still gave Cao Cao a plan. It's just that this strategy seems to be too risky, and Cao Cao thought about it for a long time, but he didn't adopt it.

Cheng Yu suggested that Cao Cao not behead Cai Mao, but ordered Cai Mao and Cao Hong to decisively abandon Yangzhou Shouchun, but instead of retreating north, let Cai Mao and Cao Hong, two generals, take advantage of the vast terrain of Yangzhou and the intricate waterway network, and the whole army entered Hongze Lake by boat. Then, avoid the New Han army, go straight to the empty Qu'a, and even take the capital of the river again. Once successful, before the New Han Army could react, Cao Jun immediately turned around and returned to Hongze Huze. With such a military operation, Cheng Yu felt that it would definitely force the New Han Army in Jiangdong to hurriedly transfer troops back to Jiangdong, so that Cao Cao would suddenly lose the threat of the New Han Army from Yangzhou.

However, Cao Cao was not optimistic about letting his army go behind enemy lines alone. In case of defeat in the battle, the whole army will be annihilated, so that the entire South Road military horses, hundreds of thousands of military horses are gone, which makes the New Han Army drive straight into without pressure. Cao Cao didn't dare to bet. What's more, he was already very suspicious of the courage of Cai Mao and Cao Hong, and doubted whether they would dare to carry out this order.

Therefore, Cao Cao thought about it, and felt that it was better to forget it, be conservative, kill Cai Mao, save more troops, and leave it for a decisive battle with the New Han army.

Cao Cao's order was issued, which was equivalent to starting the rhythm of Cao's army's shrinking forces.

However, for the New Han Army, there is no need to care about any changes in the Cao army, just follow their own plan of action, advance step by step, and if they have the opportunity, they will occupy Cao Cao's city and destroy a Cao army. If you don't have a chance, you will first confront Cao Jun and look for fighters.

Now that the war has been fought, Liu Yi is not in a hurry.

When he returned to Luoyang this time, Liu Yi did not leave immediately. Instead, he took the Xuanyuan Sword and the Emperor's Technique to meet with the Xuanyuan Feng sisters.

"The Art of the Emperor", the handwriting on it is equivalent to the same bone armor, and Liu Yi can't see it at all, so he didn't spy on this thaumaturgy. It was directly handed over to the Xuanyuan Feng sisters.

When the Xuanyuan Feng sisters saw that Liu Yi suddenly retrieved this heirloom for them, they were stunned on the spot, mixed with joy and sorrow.

When Liu Yi told them about the recapture, he talked about the death of Sima Hui. Xuanyuan Feng just sighed faintly, and didn't look too sad. Of course, Liu Yi also knew that Xuanyuan Feng was indeed in love with that Sima Hui at that time in the best years of her life, even if she was now a passer-by and an enemy. In Xuanyuan Feng's heart, there is still a feeling of loss. The feelings that once happened, no matter what happened later, happened and could not be as if they hadn't happened. For this, Liu Yi can also understand.

It's Xuanyuan Qing, she is really happy, and she doesn't have too many ideas at all. In order to reward Lewi, she specially asked Lewy to be alone with her. Then, she actually memorized the "Emperor's Technique" to Liu Yi, and taught Liu Yi a physical technique that their people had learned in this obscure "Emperor's Technique". Well, this is actually a kind of atrial surgery.

There are a total of 72 kinds of body movements, and when doing these movements, combined with the mental method of breathing and exhaling luck, both parties can achieve the same effect as the usual practice of meditation and breathing luck in a very happy situation.

Obtaining this method suddenly made Leo a lot more fun and happy.

Xuanyuan Feng and Xuanyuan Qing, both of them, asked Liu Yi to hide the fact that he had killed Sima Hui from Sima Ruyan. At most, it can be said that he died in front of Liu Yi, but it must not be said that Liu Yi killed it with his own hands. They were afraid that Sima Ruyan would not be able to pass the level in their hearts, and they were even more afraid that Sima Ruyan would be sad.

After all, how can it be said that Sima Hui is Sima Ruyan's biological father, and his pillow person killed his biological father with his own hands, how does Sima Ruyan face Liu Yi?

Liu Yi thought about it, so he simply asked the two girls to tell Sima Ruyan about it, so as not to be difficult to speak when he went to say it. (To be continued.) )