"General Zilian (Cao Hongzi), you can't be like this, Cai's opinion at the beginning was to ask the general to stay in Shouchun, and wait for Cai to lead the naval army in Hongze Huze to deal with the invading New Han Army, but you ......" Cai Mao glared at Cao Hong angrily, and said mercilessly: "Do you have to lead the army into Jiangdu City, saying that you can advance, attack, retreat and defend, threaten the Qu'a City of the New Han Army, and contain the army of the New Han Army, but how can you do this?" ”

Cai Mao was really a little anxious, and couldn't find words to describe Cao Hong's fault for a while, so he took a breath and said: "You actually fled without a fight, and lost more than 100,000 elites of the Cao army in vain. But where is the New Han Army you lured? The naval army of the New Han Army did not go deep into Hongze Lake at all, but directly killed us in Shouchun. That, Sixian and Xuyi, is the way for our army's navy to retreat, but you are obviously resting in Xuyi, and when you saw the New Han army coming, you retreated without a fight, so that the New Han Army cut off the retreat of more than 100,000 sailors of our army in Hongze Lake. That's more than 100,000 sailors. General Cao, how do you call me for this loss? How do you explain to Cao Chengxiang? ”

"General Cai, what do you mean? Why does it all seem to be Cao Hong's fault now? That one...... Yes, that's right, it was Cao who suggested that he be stationed in Jiangdu City, but wasn't that what we discussed together? The Xinhan army was strong, and Cao and Sun Ce fought in front of the battle, and they almost survived. They besieged the city of Jiangdu to the point that it was impassable, and General Ben did not lead his army to retreat. Could it be that he stayed in Jiangdu City and was killed by the New Han Army? If it were you, would you not be able to escape? It was Cao who risked his life to lure the New Han army into Hongze Huze. Let your navy wait for work, and destroy them more than 100,000 horses, is this result fake? That, General Ben destroyed tens of thousands of troops and horses of the New Han Army in Jiangdu, and defeated the New Han Army under Liu Xuan. You've already reported the battle report in Hongze Huze to the prime minister, right? The credit is yours, and the fault is Cao's? ”

How could Cao Hong bow his head to Cai Mao? What does Cai Mao count? What qualifications does a general have to lose his temper at himself? If it weren't for Cao Cao's lack of talent to train the navy, how could he be reused? A guy who forgets his righteousness when he sees profit, Liu Biao treats him well, and he is still Liu Biao's wife and brother, but he actually betrayed Jingzhou early and secretly dedicated Jingzhou to Cao Cao. Such a villain, Cao Hong doesn't pay attention to it at all.

"You! You're a strong word! You fled without a fight, and you lost your soldiers in vain...... Well, it's useless to argue with you now. Cai will report the truth to the prime minister, and now, you have said it. What should I do? How can we keep Shouchun? If Shouchun is lost again, you and I will be to blame. The prime minister blames it, and you and I can't afford it. Now, let's think about how to resist the menacing New Han army. Cai Mao stubbornly suppressed her anger and tried her best to say to Cao Hong in a calm tone.

"Humph! Cao was just ordered to come to assist General Cai in guarding Yangzhou, and at present, there are only 30,000 or 40,000 people left in the general's headquarters, how to resist the enemy's Xinhan army, please General Cai, you have to worry a lot, well, the problem of Shouchun city defense, from today onwards, can be handed over to General Ben. "Cao Hong actually directly wants the control of Shouchun City.

Cao Hong also knew in his heart that the remaining military horses he and Cai Mao had now were unlikely to fight with the New Han Army, and the only way to do that was to defend the fortified city of Shouchun was as long as it could last. Of course, if Cao Cao could be asked to send reinforcements, that would be another matter. It's just that now, he just wants to be at ease, but he doesn't dare to entrust his safety to Cai Mao's hands. Who knew that Cai Mao saw that the situation was wrong, and immediately took refuge in the New Han Dynasty? There is one point, Cao Hong is really suspicious, because he also knows some gossip, knowing that Liu Biao's wife Cai, that is, Cai Mao's sister, is now in the New Han Dynasty, by Liu Yi's side, it is estimated that he must have an unspeakable secret relationship with Liu Yi. Who knows if Cai Mao will rely on her sister's relationship to return to the New Han Dynasty? In case, he Cao Hong was bought as a meeting gift to return to the New Han Dynasty, then he Cao Hong didn't know how he died.

Therefore, Cao Hong felt that the city defense of Shouchun City must be controlled in his own hands, in addition to this worry, if the city defense is under his control, he can also supervise Cai Mao's military horses, and if something is wrong, he can take over Cai Mao's naval power.

"Uh......" Cai Mao was almost so angry that he spit out a mouthful of blood, that, the New Han Army was about to come to the city, Cao Hong actually didn't work together with himself to defend the city, but with his own small calculations, he actually wanted to seize his power and control Shouchun.

However, Cai Mao was depressed and depressed, but at this point, he couldn't argue with Cao Hong, because, who called Cao Hong Cao Cao's cronies? Who called Cao Hong Cao Cao's brother? Seriously speaking, he Cai Mao is really nothing under Cao Cao's account, and he can't even speak in the ranks.

Cao Cao ordered him to form a naval army in Yangzhou, but he has always come, the supreme ruler of Yangzhou has never been him, either Zhang Liao or Zhang He, anyway, there has always been a general pressing on his head Cai Mao, and now it is Cao Hong. In terms of military merits and military positions, Cao Hong, the general, is the real general, he is only the governor of the formation and training of the Cao army, and his power is limited to the scope of the responsibilities of the commander of the navy he formed. Moreover, the commander of this naval army is also Cao Cao's words, he said that he would take it, and he could be replaced casually if he wanted to be transferred.

At this time, he also regretted losing his temper at Cao Hong, because as long as Cao Hong said a word in front of Cao Cao that he was not, he Cai Mao probably wouldn't be able to eat and walk around.

"What do you mean by that?" Cai Mao held back a sentence.

"It's not interesting, when it comes to water warfare, you are better than me Cao Hong, but when it comes to defending the city, I am better than you. Therefore, from now on, I will guard Shouchun City, and you will lead your naval army to fight against the New Han Army together. Cao Hong didn't want to explain too much, so he said lightly.

"Okay, this is the talisman of the city guards. Now it's up to you, the safety of Shouchun City. It was entrusted to General Cao. Cai Mao knew that there would be no result in arguing with Cao Hong any longer, and Cao Hong had to be determined to do so. He didn't dare to openly disobey Cao Hong's intentions. Therefore, he angrily threw Shouchun City's talisman to Cao Hong, but he turned his head and left the meeting hall.

Cao Hong was stunned, but he didn't expect Cai Mao to be so straightforward, seeing that Cai Mao was about to leave, he couldn't help asking: "The army of the New Han Army is about to be killed, where do you want to go now?" ”

"It's not General Cao who said it, Cai is just the commander of the navy, and now Shouchun City has no more to do with me. Cai could only return to the water village of the naval army outside Shouchun City, preparing to raise troops along the Huai River to resist the attack of the New Han Army. Now you can't watch them kill Shouchun City so easily, right? Cai Mao didn't look back and walked away.

At this critical moment, the two generals Cao who guarded Yangzhou actually had an emotional situation and were at odds with each other, how could this withstand the attack of the New Han Army?

However, they can't be blamed at this moment, it's really that they have all lost too many military horses at once, in their hearts. For the matter of guarding Shouchun City, there is no confidence at all. At the same time, they were also flustered, mainly because none of them knew how to explain to Cao Cao. Subconsciously. They all have a bit of a sign of wanting to put the blame on each other, only now, neither of them will say it explicitly.

The reason why Cai Mao had a temper with Cao Hong. It was because he was worried that if he didn't have an attitude towards this matter, how would he say it in front of Cao Cao in the future. I'm afraid it's all up to Cao Hong. When the time came, Cao Hong put all the fault on him. Then even if he has a hundred heads, it is not enough for Cao Cao to cut off.

Now, it is in the early stage of the Great War between the New Han Army and Cao Cao, and every battle, every victory or loss, will directly affect the final decisive battle. What's more, now Cao Hong and him have lost more than 200,000 or 300,000 horses of Cao's army at once, which is tantamount to directly inserting Cao Cao. If Cao Cao doesn't hold them accountable, then Cao Cao is really a good person. However, is Cao Cao a great good man?

Obviously, Cao Cao was not.

Therefore, coincidentally, after Cao Hong waited for Cai Mao to leave, and after Cai Mao arrived at his naval army, the two of them began to write military information almost at the same time, and reported their situation in Yangzhou to Cao Zhang.

Of course, the reports of the two are naturally different.

Cao Hong's report is that he went to Yangzhou and worked with Cai Mao, and the two of them combined, one guarding the river and the other guarding Shouchun. Cao Hong is half-true and half-false, true and false, and true in falsehood, and explained how he led his army to Jiangdu, how he defeated the New Han army, and how he fought bravely in Jiangdu. But then, it was faintly pointed out that when the New Han Army reorganized its troops and horses and sent a large army to attack Jiangdu, Cai Mao's army did not send food supplies to Jiangdu in time. Seeing that the New Han army was attacking the city in a hurry, and their grain and grass would soon be unsustainable, Cao Hong told Cao Cao his plan again, of course, now he tried to make his plan as perfect as possible. Then, he pointed out that because there was no support from Cai Mao in the waterway, his military horse was chased and intercepted by the Xinhan army, and as a result, he fled into Hongze Lake.

Naturally, it was also mentioned that he risked his life to lure the 200,000 sailors of the New Han Army into Hongze Huze, so that Cai Mao's navy took advantage of the environment to wipe out nearly 100,000 of the New Han army. He was injured in the battle with Sun Ce, so he took advantage of the battle between Cai Mao's navy and the New Han army, and he broke away from the battlefield and returned to Xuyi County to recuperate. However, I don't know why, Cai Mao's navy did not defeat the navy of the New Han Army, and actually let the navy army of the New Han Army pass directly through Hongze Huze unknowingly and kill Xuyi County. In a hurry, it was difficult for him to fight with the army of the New Han Army, so he withdrew to Shouchun. Now, he is in control of Shouchun......

In general, Cao Hong really pushed his responsibility away, although he didn't explicitly say that Cai Mao was not, but the implicit meaning was already obvious, it seemed that Cai Mao's impropriety made him lose more than 100,000 Cao Jun. In addition, Cao Hong also left a little way back for himself, that is, he mentioned that he was a little worried about guarding Shouchun with Cai Mao, and was worried that Cai Mao's will to resist the New Han Army was not resolute enough. Therefore, he asked Cao Cao to send reinforcements to Yunyun.

This, also secretly took Cai Mao's army, if there is really something and Cao Cao wants to investigate it, Cai Mao is afraid that he really can't say what he says.

In addition, the report written by Cai Mao to Cao Cao naturally shirked responsibility for himself as much as possible, and put the fault on Cao Hong as much as possible. It's just that what Cai Mao said is more true than Cao Hong's, at least, some situations are true.

For example, as Cao Hong said, he discussed with Cai Mao about sending troops to Jiangdu. That, there is a discussion, but Cai Mao actually disagrees with Cao Hong leading the army to take risks. Because Cai Mao was worried about the strength of the New Han army, he had already made it clear to Cao Hong that his naval army could send Cao Hong's military horses to Jiangdu from the waterway, but in order to avoid his naval fleet being attacked by the New Han army, he would not stay in Jiangdu. This, Cai Mao explained to Cao Hong early on. However, in Cao Hong's current situation, it is a different way.

Also, Cao Hong was in Jiangdu, facing the siege of the New Han Army, and he fled without a fight, which is also a fact, in Xuyi County, Cao Hong fled without a fight, resulting in his more than 100,000 sailors still stranded in Hongze Huze, and his life and death are still unknown.

Cai Mao didn't dare to say more to Cao Cao about Cao Hong's not, he just made some facts clear, hoping that Cao Cao could see that this main fault was not him Cai Mao, even if Shouchun was lost in the end, Cao Cao should not blame him. Because the army of the New Han Army has not yet reached Shouchun, he and Cao Hong have lost so many Cao Army, so how can he deal with the New Han Army? Now, Cai Mao also noted that he has handed over the military and political power of Shouchun City to Cao Hong, and he is only assisting Cao Hong in guarding Shouchun. If there are any problems in the future, we must investigate them, and Cao Hong will bear the most important responsibility.

Comparatively speaking, Cai Mao's letter to Cao Cao is much more credible than Cao Hong's, and it seems to be much more sincere.

However, Cai Mao didn't know that if he didn't write this letter to Cao Cao and let Cao Hong say whatever he wanted, then he might really have nothing to do. However, when he wrote this letter to Cao Cao, it became the cause of his loss of life.

Let's not mention this for the time being, let's talk about Cao Hong and Cai Mao respectively, wrote letters separately, and ordered their cronies to send them to Cao Cao in secret.

At this time, the army of Sun Ce and Gan Ning had already controlled Xuyi and other areas, and began to advance along the upper reaches of the Huai River, advancing nearly 100 miles in one day. (To be continued.) )