"Withdraw!" After firing another wave of arrows, Chen Zhi suddenly waved his hand, and then all the crossbowmen began to retreat in an orderly manner, avoiding the enemy troops from both sides, bypassing Xuchang City and beginning to retreat to the west.

"What's going on?" Cao Ren and Xiahoudun saw that Shicai was still desperately blocking their crossbowmen, and their crossbowmen suddenly withdrew, and they were suddenly confused. However, the soldiers didn't care about this, without the terrible rain of arrows, they only needed to cross the trenches in front of them, and they could successfully complete the set goal and enter Xuchang City.

"Strange, it's too weird to withdraw!" At the head of Xuchang City, Cao Ying muttered to himself, and Cao Ren and Xiahoudun under the city were also looking at each other. However, the urgent military situation did not allow them to hesitate for too long, and after sending scouts to make sure that there was nothing unusual around, Cao Ren and Xiahoudun carefully commanded the army and slowly moved towards Xuchang City. When they arrived at the city, Cao Ying ordered the city gates to be opened, and the enlarged army came in.

"Father!" After seeing Cao Ying, who had been separated for several months, Cao Pi and Cao Zhang couldn't cry anymore. "Zihuan, Zihe, why do you have to pretend to be this little child!" Although Cao Ying is teaching his son, the meaning of relief in his words is still obvious. After being besieged for a long time, his son was rescued, and Rao was Cao Ying's first annihilation, and he couldn't help but feel agitated in his heart.

"King Wei, I'm too late to save the driver, and I ask King Wei to forgive me!" Next were Cao Ren, Xiahoudun and others, and Cao Ying was relieved one by one. At this time, Xiahoudun hesitated for a while, but still gritted his teeth and said: "King Wei, Mr. Fengxiao passed away a month ago!" ”

"What?" For the rest of his life, Cao Ying suddenly heard the bad news, and he felt dizzy for a while, and he almost couldn't stand steadily. Everyone hurriedly helped Cao Ying to sit down in the hall, gasping for a long time, Cao Ying stopped Cao Pi, who was about to call a doctor, and asked abruptly: "Zihuan, how did Fengxiao go?" ”

"Mr. Fengxiao is sick from hard work!" Cao Pi said with a sad face, and then told the original local story of Guo Jia's illness and expedition to Liaodong until his death, as well as his plan to leave a chain of iron cables to help the army cross the river. Cao Ying and the others were of course embarrassed when they heard it, and even Xiahoudun and the others, who already knew it, sighed when they heard Cao Pi's words again.

"Fengxiao is dead, and I will be mourned this day!" Cao Ying was stunned for a long time, suddenly screamed, and then fell on the table and did not wake up, then everyone was panicked, and hurriedly called the doctor to check.

A group of doctors treated them together for about half an hour, and then they left the room sweating profusely. Everyone knows Cao Ying's condition, purely because of the agitation after hearing the bad news at first glance, so that the head wind disease recurred, and then he suddenly fainted. Now, after the treatment of a group of doctors, it has finally stabilized. It is estimated that after a few more hours of sleep, they will be able to recover, and everyone will be relieved when they hear this.

By the time Cao Ying woke up, it was already that night. Opening his eyes with some difficulty, Cao Ying felt some bitterness in his mouth, knowing that he had already drunk the medicine. Mentioning the spirit and humming a few words, Cao Pi and Cao Zhang, who were sitting on the side and napping, hurriedly heard the sound and moved.

"Is Father better?" Cao Zhang hurriedly stepped forward and asked, but Cao Pi put a soft cushion behind Cao Ying and helped him sit up. "It's much better for the father, the son, how is the current military situation?" Cao Ying shook his head slightly, quickly adjusted his state, and began to inquire about Cao Pi's military situation.

"It's very weird, Liu Bei's guy has been withdrawn since I entered the city, and I have disappeared. Uncle Yuan Rang had already sent scouts to inspect a radius of thirty miles, but he didn't see Liu Bei a single soldier! Cao Zhang was a little incredulous. He is also a person who has fought a war, but he has never seen such a big retreat for no reason, and his intuition tells him that Liu Bei is going to play a conspiracy.

"Got it, go and call Wen He over!" Cao Ying said lightly. This kind of thing is not something that Cao Pi and Cao Zhang can solve, and they still have to discuss with Jia Xu to see what tricks Liu Bei wants to do.

After Jia Xu entered the account, Cao Ying had returned to normal, but he still sat on the bed to meet Jia Xu. "Wenhe, Liu Bei suddenly withdrew his troops, what do you think?" After signaling Jia Xu to excuse himself, Cao Ying asked directly.

"There must be fraud!" Jia Xu said it very bluntly.

"Why?" Cao Ying asked playfully.

"After we got reinforcements from General Zixiao and others, although there were no less than 200,000 troops. It's just that this place is very close to Liu Bei's hinterland, and he can mobilize a large army to fight to the death with us. Now that the troops are withdrawn in a hurry, there must be fraud here! Jia Xu said lightly.

"I've also thought about it, if that's the case, how do you estimate Liu Bei to cheat?" Cao Ying frowned slightly and continued to ask.

"This, I really don't know!" Jia Xu sighed. If you can even think of this, then Jia Xu is really more divine than a magic stick. Cao Ying nodded, and then asked, "Wenhe, then in your opinion, what should I do now?" ”

Jia Xu was silent for a while, and finally spoke: "In my opinion, now I am waiting for Xu Changkong to wait for Liu Bei, after all, it is not the best policy." There are still hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Hebei, and Yuan Tan has already been ambushed, and there is no worries. Now you can wait for the lord to recover from his illness, or wave his army to take the initiative to attack, and after forcing out Liu Bei's main force, fight to the death; Or take it as the first thing, return to Hebei, and then make plans! ”

"That's true!" Cao Ying nodded. Now Cao Ying thought about it for a while, but he still hesitated. There is no other reason: Xuchang Cao Ying can't afford to lose it, but he can't keep it either.

At present, Cao Ying is in Henan, plus the 40,000 defenders of Shanyang Xu Huang, and he will only have more than 200,000 troops. If you return to Hebei, it is certainly safe. But after several months of defeat and siege, not to mention the heavy losses, low morale was inevitable. In addition, Liu Bei besieged the city for a long time, and Xuchang's grain and grass were already insufficient, so even if he left a large army to garrison after the withdrawal, he was afraid that he might not be able to keep Xuchang.

But even if he couldn't keep it, Cao Ying couldn't just throw Xuchang away. Not only for their own military interests, but also for the hearts and minds of the people under their rule. Although Cao Ying was from Hebei, most of the civil and military officials who assisted him in making a fortune, such as the Xun brothers and the Xiahou family, were all from Yanzhou and Yuzhou. Since these people followed Cao Ying to raise troops more than ten years ago, due to the rampant bandits in Yuzhou at that time, the children of their clans have all moved to live in the relatively peaceful Yanzhou. At present, if Cao Ying abandons Xuchang and leaves, then Liu Bei can calmly attack Yanzhou from Jingzhou, Qingzhou and Xuzhou, so that Cao Ying's old foundation can be regarded as completely copied. Cao Ying didn't want to re-enact the tragedy of being robbed by Zhao Feng ten years ago.

It's paradoxical and ironic. Xuchang, which was originally of great strategic significance to Cao Ying, was turned into a piece of chicken ribs because of Sima Yi's clever strategy this time. Cao Ying is not guarding, nor is he abandoning. After thinking about it too much, this head hurts a little again.

looked at Jia Xu, who was noncommittal in front of him and waited for him to make up his mind, Cao Ying knew that in fact, Jia Xu was still inclined to withdraw the army first. His first proposal to lure Liu Bei's main force to a decisive battle, as long as anyone with a little brains can understand that Cao Ying, who is in this state now, fights with Liu Bei with a non-dominant force, although he will not hit a stone with an egg, but he is obviously at a disadvantage. Cao Ying thought about it, but still motioned for Jia Xu to go down first, and he was going to discuss with Cao Ren and Xiahoudun first to see what they could do.

But before Cao Ying could discuss the results, this afternoon, Tanma, who had just returned from inquiring about the news, brought Cao Ying an amazing news.

"What, Liu Bei's army occupies Liang County?" When Cao Ying heard the news, he wondered for a moment if he had heard it wrong, Liu Bei had nothing to do there.

"Exactly, before General Xiahou and General Cao came to Xuchang, Liu Bei's army withdrew its troops to the east one after another, and went straight to Liang County through the Ru River, and it was said yesterday that Liang County was occupied!" The scout said in a low voice.

"Didn't I also leave 10,000 defenders for Zhang Junyi to stay in Liang County, how could Liu Bei be captured so quickly?" Cao Ren couldn't help but be stunned and said, Liang Jun was in charge of guarding him, and now he had an accident as soon as he ran Liang Jun, and he couldn't afford this crime.

"Mi Fang, the deputy general of Liangjun, took advantage of General Zhang's unpreparedness and secretly opened the south gate to instigate Liu Bei into the city. After General Zhang Jaw fought hard, he still failed to hold the city, and now General Zhang has packed up his troops and horses and went to Shanyang to defect to General Gongming! The scout said in a low voice.

"Mi Fang?" Cao Ying really couldn't cry or laugh when he heard this, he made a fuss about him this time, but he didn't expect that the repetition of lies is the truth, Mi Fang, a soft bone, offered the city again when Liu Beibing was in the city, and it was really unpleasant. However, Cao Ying also knew that after Cao Ren left, Zhang Jaw relied on 10,000 defenders to stay in Liang County, and in the face of Liu Bei's hundreds of thousands of troops attacking the city, he was afraid that he would not be able to hold it for too long. Just then, another scout came to report again.

"Qiqi King Wei, Li Tong, the former Jingzhou garrison general, led an army of 20,000 from Wancheng to the north and has occupied Yiyang County!" This probe brought Cao Ying an even more puzzling piece of news. Yiyang County belongs to Sizhou, but the city wall there is low, and it is not a strategic place.

"It's not good, Liu Bei wants to cut my army apart in the land of Yanzhou!" After Jia Xu looked at the map, his face suddenly changed drastically.

"Mr. Wenhe, what do you mean by that?" Cao Zhang's mind hadn't turned around yet, but Cao Zhang's face had changed.

"Look, everybody!" Jia Xu pointed to the map and said to everyone: "Now that Liu Bei has captured Liang County, after occupying Yiyang, if Chen Liu is taken again, we will be completely stuck in the land of Yingchuan in Xuchang, and the eastward advance will be blocked by Chen Liu, and the westward advance will be blocked by Yiyang, and there will be Liu Bei's army on both sides of the east and west." In this way, Liu Bei doesn't need to fight hard, just sit and wait for me to run out of food and grass, and the army's morale is unstable, and then he can win without a fight! ”

"What?" Cao Zhang's face changed greatly when he heard this, and he stared at the map for a long time before he said with some difficulty: "In this way, isn't it a big deal?" ”

"I'm afraid it may not be like this!" Cao Ren was much calmer than Cao Zhang, pointing to Yiyang on the map, Cao Ren said: "The city wall of Yiyang is short, and Li Tong is only 20,000 defenders. When I wave my army to attack, I can capture Yiyang in a few days and open up the road back to Sizhou! And the Jingzhou military horses have been exhausted by Guan Yu, and I am afraid that there will be no other soldiers and horses to reinforce Li Tong at the moment. ”

"Yiyang is adjacent to Luoshui, and Liu Bei's water division is convenient. Although Guandu was defeated before, Gan Ning went upriver to the hinterland of Sizhou, and now he is afraid that he has entered Luoshui to assist Li Tong in guarding Yiyang. Jia Xu sighed. In fact, as Jia Xu said, this is the strategy that Pang Tong quickly formulated for Liu Bei after hearing about Gan Ning's defeat, that is, not to stick to trapping Cao Ying in Xuchang, but to take the surrounding cities with superior forces, and replace the cage trapped in Cao Ying from Xuchang to Yingchuan. At this time, Liu Bei was personally leading a large army to attack Jiyin. Once Jiyin was taken, it was possible to take the eastern counties directly, and completely split Cao Ying's territory south of the Yellow River into three parts, from east to west were Xu Huang in Shanyang, Chenliu and Yingchuan counties in the middle, and Henan counties in the west.

(To be continued)