In northern Henan, Cao's army went down to the camp in Yi.

Guo Jia, who was the first to regain his composure, sighed, faced Cao Cao, and said in a low voice:

"Lord, it seems that there will be no mistake in the urgent report, Yecheng is likely to have fallen into the hands of the Qingzhou Army...... As early as two years ago, my subordinates had heard that the Zhushan area of Qingzhou could make firecrackers that suddenly exploded, as well as brilliant fireworks that shot into the sky, but they never expected that this thing could be used to attack the city, and it also blew up the incomparable dozens of zhang city wall of Yecheng in one fell swoop......"

"Alas, it's hard to imagine what an earth-shattering power it is!"

Cao Cao slowly raised his head: "It's only two days, two days!" Liu Zijian actually took the first Xiongcheng in Hebei that Yuan Benchu spent tens of millions of dollars, requisitioned more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians to build day and night, and took more than two years to erect...... Do you really believe what the report says? ”

"Do you think it's possible? Is it just the use of firecrackers that can make an earth-shattering noise and smoke for nine days? ”

All the civil and military officers looked at each other, and Xun You, who was cold in his heart, was full of bitterness, and arched his hand to Cao Cao to express his judgment: "Over the years, the military intelligence spy report presented by Puyang has never been wrong, and the Puyang lieutenant who is in charge of espionage affairs is brave and strategic, calm and decisive, and has always been trusted by the lord!" ”

"Actually, if you think about it carefully, it is not difficult to understand that because of Yuan Benchu's greed and arrogance, he personally led the army north to attack Youzhou, seeking the benefits of the fisherman who did not belong to him in the first place, and then fell into the trap set by Liu Zijian."

"Before this, I'm afraid Yuan Benchu never dreamed that Liu Zijian, who had been in obscurity for several years, would dare to gather up to 100,000 Qingzhou troops and attack his empty old nest Yecheng with lightning speed."

"As for the earth-shattering blowing up of dozens of feet of city walls. For Liu Zijian, who always creates strange things and has no trace of tactics. Maybe it's not that hard. It's just that we don't know how he did it. ”

"In this way, isn't Liu Zijian already ready to plot to seize Jizhou?" Cao Hong finally heard the true meaning of Xun You's words.

Xun You smiled bitterly: "I also just understood, I have to admit that Liu Zijian is really clever, he is too good at hiding, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is scheming, forbearant and ruthless, alas! ”

Frustrated sighs and angry curses followed.

In the meeting that just ended, all the civil and military forces present, including Cao Cao, unanimously came to the conclusion that "within three months." The Qingzhou army, which fought on many fronts, could not break through Yecheng", and even believed that once Yuan Shao's army swarmed south, the Qingzhou army, which was attacked on several sides, was likely to fall into a quagmire from which it could not extricate itself.

It was also based on these judgments that Cao Cao decisively made the important decision of "seizing the fighter plane, uniting with Lü Bu, defeating the Qingxu coalition army, and then seizing the entire Xuzhou" in the just-concluded meeting, which could be quickly implemented by formulating a specific strategy.

Who knew that in the blink of an eye, the Qingzhou Army led by Liu Cun unexpectedly captured Yecheng, and the entire battle situation changed dramatically.

If Cao Cao continued to implement the strategy of uniting with Lü Bu to attack Xuzhou, Liu Cun, who had already taken Yecheng, would not be able to defeat Yuan Shao's army that quickly returned for a while. He can also calmly dispatch 30,000 to 50,000 well-equipped troops with high morale to quickly move south, and sweep away Yanzhou, which is empty, with a devastating force.

At that time. Whether it is Cao Cao or Yanzhou soldiers, they will definitely become the sworn enemies of Qingxu and Xuzhou, and there is no room for maneuver between them, and I am afraid that they will not even have a place to live in the end.

No matter how Chinese Wu sighed and how unwilling he was, Cao Cao had already seen the deep crisis that was slowly approaching, and he was convinced that within five days, the astonishing news that the Qingzhou army had captured Yecheng and Liu Zijian had defeated Yuan Shao would spread all over the world, and he even foresaw the extreme shock and fear of the princes of the world and the sudden change in the situation in the world.

At this difficult moment of life and death, Cao Cao was no longer in the mood to ask for the advice of his subordinates, and decisively made the important decision of "the whole army will retreat thirty miles early tomorrow morning, and I will personally go to Xiaopei to meet Mr. Gongsun, the soul of the Qingxu coalition army and the respected division commander".

Cao Ren and most other generals were still lucky, believing that there was no need for this, but strategists such as Xun You, Guo Jia, and Man Chong breathed a sigh of relief, although they all had a sense of frustration and helplessness among each other, but Cao Cao's choice was the only wise move at the moment, and only by changing course and preserving his strength could he find a chance to rise again in the face of more difficult adversity.

Almost when Cao Cao made a painful change, Yuan Shao, who was thousands of miles away in Jizhou Julu, was also in great pain, the bad news of the fall of Yecheng came, Chun Yuqiong and other generals were frightened and dumbfounded, and their faces turned pale after the judgement, Gao Gan and others exclaimed, and soon the same tears fell like rain with the lord Yuan Shao, and the only people who could quickly regain their composure in the dozens of civil and military forces in the hall were Tian Feng who had a resolute personality and Xu You, who had a premonition.

Listening to the crying and sighing in the hall, looking at the frightened faces, Tian Feng, who was full of self-reproach in his heart, sighed faintly, and finally took the initiative to bow to Xu You, who had always despised him and was extremely greedy, and respectfully asked in a voice so slight that he could only hear each other: "Ziyuan can have a good remedy?" ”

Xu You shook his head painfully, thought for a while and asked in a low voice: "Has Brother Yuanhao noticed that after noon, the more than 10,000 Qingzhou cavalry that have been entangled and constantly attacking behind my army for several days have disappeared?" ”

Tian Feng was taken aback: "What does Ziyuan mean...... The Qingzhou army has already discovered General Koyi's attempt to break away from the Youzhou battlefield and fly south to join our army? ”

What else can be explained? It seems that our only hope is gone, even if General Koji Yi and his 5,000 warriors have the strength to fight with one enemy and ten, but they have been secretly out of the fortress for more than 50 days now, and the journey of marching and fighting is thousands of miles, and they have reached a state of exhaustion at this moment. ”

"If on the way south, it is attacked by tens of thousands of angry Youzhou troops and more than 10,000 Qingzhou iron cavalry like wolves and tigers, it will be difficult to escape the doom of annihilation...... It's ridiculous that there are still people who pin all their hopes on General Lu Yi, alas! ”

Xu Yu let out a long sigh, shook his head and closed his eyes helplessly, as if only closing his eyes could alleviate the pain in his heart.

Tian Feng didn't want to let the ostracized but scheming Xu Yu stay out of the matter, reached out and grabbed his arm, and scolded in a low voice: "How can Ziyuan be so depressed? The matter of eating the king and being loyal to the king! Although the current battle situation is extremely unfavorable, our army still has 60,000 elite infantry cavalry, and 80,000 strong men who are like arrows. As long as you cheer up and work together, you can't help but fight hard to save the decline! ”

Xu You slowly opened his eyes: "Brother Yuan Hao wants to fight for honor and succeed, right?" At this moment, it is estimated that except for Brother Yuan Hao and the grief-stricken lord, I am afraid that no one has such courage anymore. ”

"You ......" Tian Feng was annoyed.

Xu You hurriedly grabbed Tian Feng's hand, glanced at the chaotic lobby, quietly breathed a sigh of relief, approached Tian Feng, who was half a head shorter than himself, again, and asked in a low voice:

"I don't know if Brother Yuan Hao has considered it, why on the way south in a hurry for several days, except for the more than 10,000 Qingzhou iron horsemen behind him, my army has not encountered any obstruction or ambush?"

"Say what you think!"

Tian Feng, who has always been wise and calm, is in turmoil at the moment.

Xu You sighed again: "If my guess is correct, Liu Zijian and his 100,000 army are fighting with the idea of waiting for work, and they want to fight a decisive battle with our army under Yecheng!" There are three reasons why I say this, one is that after Liu Zijian unexpectedly blew up the city wall with a thunderbolt bomb to break through Yecheng, he urgently needed to pacify the soldiers and civilians in the city, eliminate all the rebel forces, and stabilize Yecheng inside and out, otherwise how could he rest assured that he would fight a decisive battle with our army outside Yecheng? ”

"Second, Liu Zijian's army gathered in Yecheng, waiting for work, with superior troops, and occupying a favorable position, it is completely possible to defeat my 60,000 troops who have traveled hundreds of miles and hastily moved south......"

"Third, if our army rests for a few days and advances slowly without impatience, the tens of thousands of Qingzhou iron cavalry in the north and the Youzhou army that defeated the Xianbei army and turned south to pursue will be able to continue to move south to flank our army after destroying the Lu Yi Division!"

Speaking of this, Xu Yu sighed bitterly: "Alas...... No matter what we do, we are powerless to return to the sky, and there are only two ways to go: one is to resolutely fight to the death with Liu Zijian, and the other is to turn around and go west, over Taihang, as long as we can escape to Bingzhou, there is no chance of a comeback, it depends on how the lord chooses. ”

After saying this, Xu You found that the full hall of civil and military affairs had quieted down for some time, and everyone, including the lord Yuan Shao, was staring at himself and Tian Feng, who was suddenly unaware and thinking deeply, obviously everyone heard what he had just said. (To be continued......)