The silence of August passed, and the flames of war began to burn in September. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info With Liu Bei's water and land divisions attacking the cities on both sides of Yingshui at the same time, please easily conquer Yuncheng, Xiping, and Xiangcheng, and the entire Yingshui basin has been in Liu Bei's hands, it seems that as long as Liu Bei is willing, he can let the naval army go up the river along the tributaries of Yingshui at any time, and directly attack Chen Di to force the Yellow River. This also seems to be a way to fight, but Liu Bei is not like this. After the failure of the raid on Linying, Liu Bei switched from offense to defense, and seemed to be only satisfied with the newly acquired three county towns, and had no intention of further attack. Liu Bei defended Yuncheng by himself, let Liu Feng guard Xiangcheng, let Guan Ping guard Xiping, and let Mi Fang always respond to the supply of grain and grass along the way. He has completely changed from the initial lightning attack to the current dull confrontation, which makes people a little depressed and a little puzzled at the same time.

"It stands to reason that Liu Bei should be in a hurry to make a quick decision, why ......?" They were puzzled by Liu Bei's approach.

Liu Bei was silent, he shrank in the middle of Yuncheng, watching Linying's movements. Cao Cao, opposite Liu Bei, was also silent, he stayed in Linying City, sitting on an army of 200,000 without the idea of going south. With the exception of the confrontation between Linying and Yuncheng, in other parts of Yuzhou, on the border between Runan and Chenjun, the fighting did not take place. The whole battle between Liu Bei and Cao Cao, which suddenly broke out, came to an abrupt end as if the strings had been broken. The original vigorous Armageddon suddenly fell silent in this land of Runan.

"What the hell is going on?" People all over the world were surprised by this.

At this time, a rumor circulated among Cao Cao's army: Have you heard? Liu Bei issued a message, calling on all the princes of the world to oppose our lord. Now Sun Quan in the east and Li Sheng in the southwest have responded. Liu Bei promised them that if they agreed to send troops on both sides, then Qingzhou and Jizhou would be assigned to Sun Quan, and Yongzhou and Liangzhou would be assigned to Li Sheng. I heard that these two are very excited at the moment and have begun to attack the lord. Sun Quan's troops have arrived in Linhuai, and Li Sheng's troops have already left the valley.

"So all three of them are coming to beat us? How can we cope with it? Can you make sure this is true? The soldiers were skeptical, but they were skeptical. Suddenly hearing that he had actually become the enemy of the princes, these little soldiers who didn't know much about anything, Ye couldn't help but panic.

"Anti-Cao Cao Alliance? Isn't that the same as the anti-Dong Zhuo alliance? In this way, the lord is equivalent to Dong Zhuo's big villain? All kinds of even more outrageous things caused by this news were flying all over the Cao army, making the entire Cao Ying people panic.

At first, such rumors did not attract too many people's attention, and when it finally broke out surprisingly and caused low morale, it was very difficult for the generals in Cao Cao's army to extinguish this rumor that had already caused an effect. They had no choice but to report the matter to Cao Cao, but in exchange for Cao Cao's loud shout: "Who can tell me what is going on?" "This ...... This ......" everyone bowed their heads speechlessly. They also knew nothing about this rumor. They don't know where the rumor came from or how it spreads underneath. They only knew this thing, and when they found out, they were already so out of control.

Cao Cao glanced at his subordinates with resentment, and he really wanted to point at their noses and scold them for being pigs. His anger was too great, because at this moment, in the secret letter reported by Jia Xu, the rumors circulating in the barracks had changed further: such as "The story that Cao Cao had to tell in Wancheng", "The father and son love a daughter together", "A small biography of Mengde's love history", "The reason for Cao Cao's defeat in Chibi" and other strange topics have all emerged. There may be a lot of absurdity in this, and people can know that it is wrong news at a glance, but it seems that the person who wrote these messages knows very well what kind of content the soldiers who have not much culture themselves like, so these things are very popular with the soldiers below, and through their leisurely mouths, they are further dirty, **, and refined. In Jia Xu's report to Cao Cao on rumors, the rumors depict Cao Cao as a man who fights for women and only knows how to think with his lower body. Although Cao Cao himself did not deny that he liked beauty, and although he thought that he was very open-minded and generous, he was still very angry when he suddenly saw all the unbearable things about himself that appeared in this report--when had he Cao Cao been slandered like this? Even the essay written by Chen Lin for Yuan Shao back then didn't seem to be so excessive.

"Depressed...... Very depressed...... "Cao Cao looked at what only he knew, and his chest was pressed to a sad tightness by the big stone. He wanted to find someone to get angry, but he didn't know who to turn to. Unlike when he learned that the person who scolded him was Chen Lin, in the face of this rumor circulating in all directions, he didn't know who the person who scolded him was.

"Alas......" Cao Cao sighed, he really didn't have any better way to deal with such a problem. After all, it was the first time he had encountered it. Although he knew that such rumors must have their own special features compared with the previous ordinary rumors, he did not know what was so special. There is no better way to think of him, so he can only comfort himself with "don't think too much", and at the same time, let his subordinates deal with it severely and strictly according to the original method of quelling the rumors.

"Troubled times need to be recoded. Especially at this time, it is even more necessary to deal strictly with these people who dare to commit crimes against the wind. Although it is very likely that this rumor was invaded by outsiders and used to slander us and demoralize us, if you people resolutely do not believe it, how can it spread? After all, the root lies in ourselves. So our army has to get some sort of work here. Cao Cao thought for a long time, and finally issued this order: "Divide the 100,000 army into five waves, with every 20,000 as a wave, and take turns to rectify." Considering that some of the low-ranking officers below also showed signs of being infected by these rumors, Cao Cao was very uneasy to send all his tiger and leopard horsemen out, trying to rely on their loyalty to him to solve this troublesome matter.

Thus, the rectification of rumors soon began. Although Cao Cao's own intentions were good, and the ultimate goal he wanted was to restore his morale, the tough measures he adopted in this incident and the ruthless approach of the tiger and leopard cavalry he sent out dealt a great blow to the entire army. In the course of this whole rectification, it is inevitable that some people will take advantage of this matter to retaliate, and it is inevitable that some people who have been wronged will appear. But no matter whether they were really spreading rumors or being miserably wronged, they all turned into insignificant souls under Cao Cao's strict order. Cao Cao's army was quickly purged by the blood-soaked sword, and the rumors were no longer spreading, at least on the surface.

To tell the truth, when Cao Cao was dealing with this matter, although he didn't care on the surface, it seemed that as long as the immediate problem was solved, everything would no longer be a problem, but secretly, Cao Cao strictly ordered Jia Xu to strengthen the investigation of Liu Beijun on the Yuncheng side. didn't say anything to anyone, but Cao Cao knew that at the moment when he was the weakest, he couldn't turn a blind eye to Liu Beijun on the other side, but there was no way for him to secretly monitor like this, and try his best to use his own intelligence to "take precautions" than Liu Bei and his mastery of intelligence. This is where Cao Cao thinks he is superior to Liu Bei, and it is also the place where he dares to resist in the face of Liu Bei's attack, and focuses on the immediate matter of rectifying the army.

However, Cao Cao felt somewhat glad that what he was worried about did not happen. "Liu Beijun on the Yuncheng side is simply calm, as if he is fighting, and seems to be very relaxed." Cao Cao would get such information every day, which made him breathe a little relieved, and at the same time, he couldn't help but feel strange, "Liu Bei will definitely not do nothing like the intelligence says." But what exactly is he planning? Cao Cao has been thinking about this.

The more you think about it, the more comprehensive it becomes, and that's a good thing. But according to the principle that there are two sides to affairs, Cao Cao's Xiao Xiang also has disadvantages, too much brain power is one of them, and because of this, thinking of more questions and generating more doubts is the other. The constant Xiao thought made Cao Cao's vision farther and farther, and when he did not find Liu Beijun's movement on the front, he set his sights on the west. He suddenly realized that there seemed to be something bad about his current arrangement.

"Wancheng ......! Liu Bei is likely to attack somewhere. Cao Cao felt that his entire layout seemed to have a weakness. In Cao Cao's original arrangement, the entire battle situation was arranged like this: Cao Cao led 100,000 troops to sit in the center to confront Liu Bei's 50,000 horses; Xiahou Yuan sat in Chang'an, with 50,000 troops to defend the western front; Zhang Liao led 50,000 troops to sit in Xuzhou to guard the eastern front; As for Wancheng, Silla was densely laid down, and Xu Huang, Zhang Jaw and other generals defended, and its strength generally reached 50,000; And his eldest son Cao Pi commanded a group of generals to sit in Hebei, thinking that Cao Cao was the back road.

This layout is undoubtedly a safe approach. Although Cao Cao was bold in his use of soldiers, he was not reckless. At this moment, Cao Cao did not dare to ignore this opponent who had been entangled with him all his life and was praised as a "hero" by himself. Although his chances of winning are far more than Liu Bei's at the moment, he still has to plan for that eventuality. After all, anything can happen on the battlefield.

Cao Cao knew that his strength was far above Liu Bei, so in this battle, he fought a battle of strength, using his strong strength and absolute superiority to crush Liu Bei little by little. Therefore, he sought stability in tactics and fought for a long time, so he was completely aimed at Liu Bei's army in terms of troop layout: from intelligence, he learned that Liu Bei's Nanyang army was 30,000 people, and Cao Cao sent 50,000 defenders there; Knowing that Liu Bei's Huainan army was 20,000 troops, Cao Cao asked Zhang Liao to bring 50,000 troops; After knowing that Liu Bei's Runan army was 50,000, Cao Cao led 150,000 troops to face Liu Bei - originally he had prepared 150,000 soldiers, but the attack on Yuncheng caused him to lose 50,000 at the beginning.

"50,000 people are okay...... It's a pity Zifeng. Alas...... Ziman, I'm sorry for you......" Cao Cao didn't feel sorry for the loss of the 50,000 people, because he knew that the 50,000 people were actually only half-trained recruits, and it seemed that as long as there were as many as they could, he didn't care, what he cared about was that Dianman was captured, and you must know that Dianman was the only son of his favorite general Dian Wei.

Sad to sad, even though Cao Cao lost 50,000 people, he maintained a strong position against Liu Bei on the entire battlefield. This was originally nothing to worry about, but Cao Cao suddenly thought of a problem, if he established himself, it was very likely to be broken through in the west.

The so-called problem was caused by Liu Bei's direct capture of his own 50,000 soldiers in Yuncheng. Liu Bei did not enrich all these 50,000 people in his own army, but sent them to Huainan. This was originally nothing suspicious, after all, among so many people, it was impossible for all of them to surrender to Liu Bei. Cao Cao thought that he was not bad for these soldiers, and of course there were some who would remain loyal to him. Therefore, Liu Bei, who had already captured them, seemed understandable to send those who refused to surrender to the rear to be imprisoned. If it were Cao Cao himself, Cao Cao would do the same.

Everything seems normal on the surface, but Cao Cao still thought of a contingency: "If Liu Bei uses the part sent to Huainan to replace the 20,000 people of the Huainan Guan Yu Army, and sends these 20,000 elites to Nanyang, then Zhang Fei's troops in Nanyang will be enhanced, and it seems that with Zhang Fei's bravery and considerable strength, it will be very difficult to prevent him."

Cao Cao thought of this possibility, and a cold sweat suddenly broke out on his body. Speaking of Zhang Fei, Cao Cao couldn't help but think of the scene on the Changsaka Bridge. At that time, Zhang Fei left a deep impression on Cao Cao, and judging from the set of suspicious tactics he did, this Zhang Fei was not a person with only brute force and no brains. This gave Cao Cao a headache: "Although Gongming and Junyi are both wise and brave generals, with the two of them leading 50,000 belts to defend, can they hold the Western Front?" Zhang Fei's shock to Cao Cao was so great that Cao Cao couldn't help but doubt the defensive ability of the two guards on the Wancheng side.

At this moment, he suddenly remembered that he didn't seem to have received information from Wancheng for several days.

"This ...... What's going on? Could it be that Wancheng ......? The more Cao Cao thought about it, the more frightened he became, he hurriedly asked someone to find Jia Xu, and instructed him to quickly investigate the situation in Wancheng: "I don't want to wait for their own report, because I don't know when it will be, I just want to know the information about Wancheng quickly, so ...... Wenhe, this matter only depends on you. Use your powers. Cao Cao said this, and he decided to let Jia Xu's spies find out all the relevant things.

"Yes......" Jia Xu agreed, he is a quiet person, and there are not many things that he will do, and he will often carry out the task only when Cao Cao has given a task. Obviously, this is a somewhat passive approach, but it is such a passive approach that makes Cao Cao feel reassured. Cao Cao didn't like people who were engaged in conspiracies to take the initiative, because that would make him uneasy.

Jia Xu's spies once again used their abilities, and within a few days they sent the results of the final investigation to Cao Cao. However, this report did not bring good news to Cao Cao: "Xinye has fallen...... An Zhong was also lost, Liu Beijun and Zhang Fei led 50,000 people to attack Wancheng in a hurry, and Wancheng was besieged to death. As for the county towns around Wancheng, mobs sprang up, and the name of the city was changed almost overnight. Wancheng is now a lonely city, and it is in danger......"

"What......?" Cao Cao may have thought that Wancheng would be attacked by Liu Beijun, but he definitely never thought that Wancheng would encounter such a dangerous situation. Cao Cao looked carefully, and the information handed over by Jia Xu noticed the word mob filled in on it, but he asked with some confusion while being annoyed: "Mob? Where did this mob come from? ”

"Tuntian Captain Dong Yan was in Tuntian, wantonly raising his share, oppressing the people, and the people had no choice but to do the opposite. Of course, according to our analysis, there must be Liu Beijun's gap to stir up there. Jia Xu quickly reported what he had discovered.

"Tuntian Captain Dong Yan? It's a familiar name. Cao Cao frowned, as if he had heard the name somewhere, and his face was full of disgust. He hated this kind of exploitation of the people.

"The lord forgot? In the past, Zhao Ji returned, and the lord promised her to marry, and the person who was promised to marry was this Dong Yan. The lord loves its beauty. Jia Xu smiled faintly and reminded Cao Cao softly.

"Shohime's husband? How could I have chosen such a person for Akihime? When Cao Cao heard this, he finally remembered who Dong Yan was, and he couldn't help but regret it, but he shook his head lightly but sighed: "Dong Yan is so hateful, I'm really ashamed of Zhao Ji." By the way, Wenhe, what happened to Dong Yan and Zhaoji? He asked nervously.

"Zhang Feijun killed Dong Yan, when Zhao Ji was outside, he was not killed, but he didn't know what happened." Jia Xu gave Cao Cao such an answer.

"So it's possible for Akihime to be alive?" Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this: "This ending may be the best." Dong Yan deserved his crimes, and he deserved to be killed. As for Akihime, it's also a blessing to be able to escape. Cao Cao patted his forehead and instructed Jia Xu: "Wenhe, you send someone to search for Zhaoji's whereabouts and ask her if she is willing to come back, if not, then escort her all the way to where she wants to go." Cao Cao felt that he seemed to have no face to meet Zhao Ji, so he finally gave such an order.

"Understood." Jia Xu knew Cao Cao's contradictory heart, and suddenly arched his hand, but it went on like this.

Jia Xu left, and Cao Cao pondered on the map.

Wancheng is a very important stronghold that must be kept, otherwise Liu Beijun can be surrounded by Wanxiangluo from the west to attack him. "It's absolutely not okay. Once such a situation occurs, I am afraid that Li Sheng in the west and Sun Quan in the east will be desperate to embarrass me. I'm going to be terrible. Cao Cao thought so. Although he was still calm and calm on the surface, he was actually anxious. At this moment, he can't wait to grow a pair of wings, take a heavenly army, and go thousands of miles to reinforce Wancheng.

But this is completely impossible, and when it comes to the actual need to make a decision, he still has to regain his composure: "Where did you draw troops and horses to form reinforcements to reinforce Wancheng?" This is the question that Cao Cao is thinking about at the moment: "From the east?" No, Zhang Liao's task is not only to defend Guan Yu, but also to defend Sun Quan. So Westface? That's not going to work. Because Li Sheng in the west is also a character who is not easy to get along with. Although he himself said that he was going to the south to conquer Nanzhong and the west to conquer Qiangdi, and the army was also gathering in these two places, he was still a little worried about this. I don't know what Li Sheng's military strength is, in case I transfer Xiahou from the west, then if Li Sheng sends troops, won't I be in the middle of losing the pass, and watch Li Sheng become a strong Qin? This is also inappropriate. ”

Cao Cao thought about it, and finally felt that it was the most correct to send troops directly from his middle to reinforce Wancheng anyway: compared with other aspects, his middle lane had the most powerful army, and if it was on the defensive, there would be no problem in transferring tens of thousands of people from the middle lane. And it is also very close to Wancheng from the middle road, and in terms of time, the reinforcements sent from the middle road can arrive in Wancheng in the shortest time.

"From Linying, all the 30,000 infantry troops and tiger and leopard cavalry will go to reinforce Wancheng. At the same time, he sent someone to send an order to Yecheng, so that the eldest son could lead 50,000 troops to serve in front of the army. Cao Cao finally gave such an order. Sending troops from the middle lane to reinforce Wancheng will undoubtedly weaken the combat power of the middle lane and make the middle lane fall into a more passive situation. Now Liu Bei is a prince with a certain strength, and he wants Cao Cao to confront Liu Bei's 70,000 soldiers with 70,000 soldiers, although Cao Cao is not afraid, but he is also a little unwilling, and it is undoubtedly the best decision to uphold Cao Cao's consistent policy at present. Although Cao Cao likes to use strange soldiers, he doesn't like to blindly use strange soldiers, but when he thinks that he can defeat Liu Bei with regular soldiers, he likes to show his strength in front of the world. Of course, this is also safe, after all, under such a layout, Cao Cao's army's "weakness" is only more than ten days, Cao Cao has self-confidence, and he will ensure that he will not lose his face in these ten days.

"Zihe, this time to rescue Wancheng, you are the vanguard. Five thousand tigers and leopards rode on, as always, to move quickly, and rushed to Wancheng as soon as possible to relieve the siege. Because he knew that this rescue played a vital role in the entire war, Cao Cao, who had always disliked wordiness, was also rare to be wordy, and carefully told Cao Chundao: "There are also many unpleasant things on the battlefield, if Zihe arrived in Wancheng, Wancheng had fallen, and that Zihe would wander outside Wancheng to strike at Liu Beijun's periphery." This time, the mob in Wancheng actually dared to help Liu Bei. Zihe, you clean up all these mobs for me. ”

Clean-up, which means this massacre. If this is said so clearly to some generals, it may cause them to resent it, but these are indifferent to a hard-hearted person like Cao Chun. He had already done a lot of massacres. From Xuzhou in the early peace period, to the later war in Hebei, to the later war against the Xiongnu, the battle of Chibi six years ago, etc., almost all of the massacres were handled by Cao Chun. Under Cao Cao, he and his tiger and leopard riders simply existed as slayers.

Someone once commented on the Haw Par Ride: "...... As the name suggests, their army is like the fierce tiger and leopard beast, and every ferocious attack comes back with blood...... Whether it's their claws or their fangs, it's always smelling of blood, and a large part of that gore belongs to the innocent. ”

The person who said this undoubtedly hated the ferocity of the tiger and leopard ride, but Cao Chun was speechless for such an accusation. When he was asked to say what he thought of such an assessment, he said: "The blood gained from killing is the greatest gain for an army like mine, and only an army filled with the blood of the enemy is the strongest." I'm proud of my army because they can accomplish whatever the task. Don't tell me that those people are innocent, in this troubled world, there is no innocent theory. Cao Chun is also a little complacent about this, this is a slightly morbid idea, but in Cao Cao's opinion, Cao Chun undoubtedly has a very good mental quality. Therefore, Cao Cao dared to give this order directly in front of Cao Chun.

"Nuo ......" Although he was carrying out such a task again, Cao Chun's face did not change otherwise, and he responded lightly and lowered his hand to the side.

At this time, Cao Cao had already walked in front of his brother Cao Ren: "Zixiao, this time you will lead the infantry army, behind Zihe. If Wancheng is not lost, you will integrate Xu Huang and Zhang He's men and horses, and continue to attack Xiangyang directly to the south. If Wancheng has been lost, then you will aim to attack Wancheng. Remember, your task is not to defend, but to attack and attack. Zhang Fei is a person who has no obstacles in attack, but his defense is insufficient. His personality is irritable, this kind of personality makes him not a little worse in defense, as long as you take offense as defense, I am much more relieved in this west. ”

"No." Cao Ren nodded heavily, hugged his fist at Cao Cao, and went down.

Five thousand tigers and leopards rode away, followed by 30,000 foot soldiers—Cao Cao's order was reached, and the rescue set off almost instantaneously. Saving soldiers is like fighting fire, but they dare not slack off in the slightest.

At the moment, the best outcome for Cao Cao was to arrive in Wancheng before Zhang Fei's army broke through and directly rescue Wancheng from danger. However, things in the world are always not as good as they should be. Cao Chun has only led the army to walk for half a day. Cao Cao got an urgent report from Jia Xu: "Zhang Fei has captured Wancheng!" ”

"How so?" Cao Cao smacked his tongue: "It's only been a few days since this Zhang Fei launched an attack on Wancheng." Actually...... It's ...... Just broke Wancheng like this? This Wancheng is a strong city. When did it become thinner than paper? What's going on here? Cao Cao's eyes widened and asked Jia Xu.

Zhang Fei sent a death squad to the root of the city wall, threw the earthen pot, and then Zhang Feijun's rockets fired in unison, hitting the clay pot. The clay pot exploded violently, the sound was like thunder, but it was a gap in the wall of Wancheng, and the army poured in, and Wancheng was broken. Jia Xu lightly told the truth about the battle situation in Wancheng, and did not attach any comments to it. Because he knew, Cao Cao completely understood what was going on.

"A weapon that sounds like thunder?" Cao Cao's eyes flashed: "I remember that such a weapon seems to be only available to Li Sheng." ”

"Yes. This kind of thing is indeed only available to Li Sheng, but it is not ruled out that Li Sheng sold this thing to Liu Bei, and it may even be ......" Jia Xu suddenly stopped his words: "I suggest that while the lord arranges the battle situation, he should also go further and start elsewhere." Even in terms of the Jiangnan Alliance, which seems to be closely connected now, it does not seem to be completely perfectly united, and there are always gaps between them. ”

"I understand that. Originally, I was going to wait for the outcome of the battle to come to a certain point. But now it seems that it can't wait for that time. Cao Cao nodded heavily when he heard this, his eyes suddenly became firm, and he seemed to have made a decision.