Everyone fell silent, and a pair of anxious eyes pierced Cao Ren's body like needles. He knew that these soldiers were all waiting for him to give an order to return to Wancheng, waiting to go back to protect their children.

What military discipline, what morale, what determination to serve the country, in fact, to put it bluntly, are all floating clouds, once your wife and children have something, even if you Cao Ren kneels in front of these soldiers, they will still choose to protect their families indifferently.

In the crowd, someone took the lead in breaking the silence, "General, I think this matter may not be so serious, according to the favor's opinion, the army of Wei Yan of the upper grade is mostly just a bluff feint." ”

Cao Ren's spirits perked up slightly, and he hurriedly asked, "How do you say this?" ”

Full of favor said: "Liu Bei has only been in Hanzhong for a year, and it has only been less than half a year to capture the three counties such as Shangyong. And in the case of internal instability, how can it be the reason for the county soldiers to attack Wancheng in the north, so according to the pet's opinion, this group of people just wants to support the Guan Yu army in Xiangyang, but there is no need to worry. ”

Full of favor's words are certainly reasonable, and Cao Ren himself can figure it out quickly, but in the current situation, even if he knows the other party's intentions, the soldiers can't control it so much, they can only see the appearance, and the appearance is that the enemy is about to live in his own room, sleep with his wife, and beat his own baby, and it is strange if he does not fight.

After pondering for a long time, Cao Ren sighed lightly, "Boning's view is not unreasonable, but if we really ignore it, then we have to take a big risk, if Wancheng is lost, the enemy soldiers will be able to attack the city of Xu in a few days, and then it will not be a corner of Jingzhou that will be lost, and Xu Luo's henchmen may fall, this risk is too great, I can't afford to take this risk." ”

When Cao Ren said this, Man Zhong knew his intentions, and then sighed: "If this is the case, then the general must lead the army to rush back to Wancheng at this time." But now that Xiangyang has been lost, Wancheng is in danger, and the morale of the army has been low to the bottom, if the general sends troops and horses back to help Wancheng, then Fancheng is bound to be undefendable. And if Fancheng is lost, and the enemy army is all based on Hanshui, then the entire northern Jingzhou will not be able to hold it, and I am afraid that no one can afford to bear such a crime of losing land. ”

After all, Jingzhou, where Cao Ying is based, occupies nearly one-third of the territory of the entire Jingzhou, and it is also the most populous and geographically critical line of the upper reaches of the Han River, and has lost such a large strategic place, of course, this responsibility is not light, and it seems that a general with such an identity as Full Favor can't afford it.

Cao Ren weighed it for a while, raised his head, and said loudly: "There are priorities, in order to protect the land of Nanyang and Xuluo, only to abandon Jingzhou, you can rest assured, the responsibility for losing the land, I, Cao Ren, will bear it with all my might, and it has nothing to do with you." ”

As the supreme military commander of Nanyang and Jingzhou, Cao Ren bravely stood up and took responsibility at this time, and the generals present were at ease this time.

Man Chong then said: "General, since Beijingzhou can't hold it, it can't be cheap Liu Bei for nothing." Favorite, the general quickly ordered the entire northern Jingzhou hundreds of thousands of people to move to the north. In this way, even though Xiangfan was all under Liu Bei's base, there were no people to supply grain and grass, and Liu Bei could not rely on Xiangfan to attack Wanluo north for a while. In this case, we will have a respite and make plans after the Prime Minister's army has withdrawn. ”

Cao Ren nodded in agreement, "According to Man Boning's opinion, quickly send people to order all counties to start acting as soon as possible." ”

…… Five days later, at the mouth of the valley, the camp of Cao's army.

Cao Ying, who was in the Chinese military tent, was discussing with the strategists about the strategy of entering the army, at this time, the 800 miles from Wancheng was sent to the desk, Cao Ying opened the secret report and looked at it, and couldn't help but be shocked.

For a moment, Cao Ying was stunned, his face was pale, he didn't say a word, and the look of anger in his expression made the ministers solemn.

After a while, Cao Yingfang passed the secret report to everyone, and muttered a sigh: "I didn't expect Guan Yunchang to be so good, I knew it was like this, I shouldn't have let him go back then, the tiger is in trouble, the tiger is in trouble, the tiger is in trouble, ......"

In the secret recital, it was written: Guan Yu has broken through Xiangyang, Shangyong Wei Yan also sent troops to endanger Wancheng, Cao Ren in order to protect Nanyang, in desperation, had to give up the first line of North Jingzhou, and led his people to the north, the matter was urgent, the secret report was sent when the action was started, and asked Cao Ying to forgive him for the crime of first cutting and then playing.

"Xiangyang is a strong city in the world, and Lu Chang is also quite talented, how can it be broken in less than two months, I really can't figure it out."

The incident happened in a hurry, and Cao Ren didn't have time to elaborate on the specific reasons for the fall of Xiangyang in the secret report, so Cao Ying naturally couldn't figure it out if he wanted to break his head, and Guan Yu could have a ghost plotter like Fang Shao by his side to help.

Cao Ying pondered for a long time and couldn't figure it out, Liu Ye hurriedly said: "Prime Minister, the cause of the fall of Xiangyang, it's not too late to investigate later, when Fang is now, he should quickly send someone to pass on General Zixiao, so that he must stick to Beijingzhou and wait for help, if Guan Yu is allowed to have Xiangfan, then the henchmen of the Central Plains will be exposed to his soldiers, and the world will be terrified." ”

At this time, Sima Yi said: "Xiangyang has been lost, Wancheng is in danger, the soldiers must have been confused, most of Fancheng cannot be defended, and General Zixiao must have moved the people of North Jingzhou to surrender to Nanyang." ”

Sima Yi's remarks only give his analysis, but do not provide a specific solution to the problem, and it is most appropriate to describe it as "point to point".

"How's Miaocai's soldiers and horses going?"

Cao Ying once again pinned his hopes on Xiahou Yuan, hoping to make a breakthrough in Hanzhong to redeem the defeat suffered by Jingzhou.

"Miaocai entered the military capital, but he was blocked by the Di people, and he couldn't pass by the way, and Fang Jin is attacking and defending."

Cao Ying looked disappointed again, it seemed that the last hope of capturing Hanzhong was also dashed, and after weighing it again and again, he said in a deep voice: "Let the big-eared thief be proud for a while, and after the lone division recaptures Jingzhou, it is not too late to personally lead the army to fight him to the death." ”

As soon as Cao Ying's words came out, everyone knew that he had made up his mind to withdraw his troops, although he was very reluctant on the surface, but he was relieved in his heart. After all, after months of torture in this ravine, everyone hoped that they would be able to get out sooner rather than later.

"Prime Minister, Liu Bei is out of danger, and the fight is a calculation of waiting for work, our army is retreating now, and we should beware of him taking advantage of the situation to pursue." Sima Yi said again.

Cao Ying snorted coldly and said disdainfully: "How can Lone not know, Lone still expects him to be like this, if he really has the courage to chase, Lone will give him a lesson." ”

…… Three days later, Pang Tong, who was in charge of guarding the mouth of the valley with Huang Zhong and Ma Chao, found out that something was wrong.

Because after the ineffectiveness of the strong offensive in the previous stage, the two sides fell into a stalemate, and the Cao army rarely launched a large-scale attack, and in Pang Tong's opinion, most of them were waiting for the good news of the Xiahou Yuan Department on the Western Front.

But now the Xiahou Yuan Department was blocked by the Di people who were arguing, and Zhang Fei's department was unable to move forward in the mountains of Wudu, and in such an unfavorable situation, Cao Jun suddenly seemed to have cramps, and ran to the camp to call for battle for three days in a row, and after calling the battle on the third day, the drums in Cao's camp shook the sky that night, and it stopped until midnight, and on the fourth day, it returned to normal, without any movement.

Pang Tong, with his keen military sense, had a hunch that there must be something else hidden in this.

Just when Pang Tong was still pondering, he received a good news from Nanzheng, the king of Hanzhong, saying that Guan Yu had won a great victory in Jingzhou and had now broken through Xiangyang.

After hearing the news, Pang Tong immediately woke up, only to understand that Cao Ying must have heard the news of the fall of Xiangyang, and had to withdraw his troops quickly, but he was afraid that they would take advantage of the situation to pursue, so he bluffed and feigned an attack.

So, Pang Tong urgently ordered Ma Chao and Huang Zhong's two armies to turn defense into attack and attack Cao Ying, and when the two generals led more than 30,000 horses to capture Cao Ying without much effort, they found that there were only a few thousand old and weak people left here.

Overnight, more than 100,000 Cao soldiers went to the empty building.

Looking at the empty camp full of countless flags, Pang Tong couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "Cao Mengde is really scheming. Xiangyang's battle report was a few days too late, and if I had known a few days earlier, how could I have fallen for his bluff. ”

"Military division, the valley road is very difficult, and the thief has been gone for a few days, if we rush to pursue it, we may be able to catch up."

Ma Chao said eagerly, it's no wonder, he has a heart of revenge for his father, just waiting for the time to be ripe, and personally beheaded Cao Ying to take revenge, and now if he watches Cao Ying grow away from under his nose, of course he can't swallow this breath.

According to the original plan, it should have been taken the opportunity to chase and kill when the Cao army retreated, and the army took advantage of the situation to go north out of Qinchuan, Pang Tong also thought that if the Cao army was allowed to retreat smoothly, wouldn't it seem that he had made a mistake, and seeing that all the soldiers were eager to kill the enemy and their morale was strong, Pang Tong and Ma Chao and Huang Zhong led 30,000 elites to pursue Cao Ying.

The Qinling Valley Road is indeed difficult and difficult to walk, and Cao's army has a few more steps, but fortunately, this group of soldiers of the Hanzhong Army are mostly Yizhou mountain infantry, and they are far more proficient in marching in the mountains than Cao Ying's Central Plains Army. Therefore, after pursuing all the way, it didn't take a few days to catch up with some of Cao's army's rear troops, and easily annihilate these tired troops.

Finally, ten days later, they entered the last temporary camp left by Cao Jun, and in front of them less than ten miles, there was already the mouth of the North Valley of the Slope Valley, and the Cao Army had only just walked out of the Slope Valley.

When Ma Chao couldn't wait to lead the army to chase and kill, Pang Tong decided to stop the pursuit at this time.

Ma Chaoda was puzzled and asked urgently: "Strategist, we have worked hard for more than ten days, and now that Cao Jun is in front of us, why should we stop pursuing!" ”

"It's because of it."

Pang Tong kicked over the iron pot left behind with his foot, and at his finger was a military stove still smoking from itself.

(To be continued)