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"Zhang Tou'er, I've found the boat, let's go over together!"

In the midst of the reeds by the Yellow River, a soldier of Cao's army ran up to him and reported to a junior officer sitting on the ground. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Around them, dozens of soldiers were lazily sitting or lying on the ground. Hearing the words of the visitor, the little officer also raised his head and said, "Xiao Li, have you ever seen that there are no sailors in the upper and lower reaches?" ”

"Don't worry, Zhang Tou'er, I've seen it all, no. The boat belonged to an old man who fished, and I paid a lot of money before he agreed to come and cross the river. Xiao Li hurriedly explained.

"In that case, let's cross the river!" Zhang Tou'er nodded, and then beckoned everyone to get up, and together they cautiously came to the river, preparing to cross the Yellow River.

"Master Jun, my boat is small, and I can only ferry fifteen people at a time!" The old man who was holding the boat seemed to have as many as seventy or eighty people, and he was also a little bottomless. Zhang Tou'er looked at the big group of people behind him, and finally said: "You can paddle back and forth a few more times, and I will wait for more money than you!" ”

"Great!" Stimulated by money, the old man also began to row with vigor. However, what Zhang Tou'er didn't know was that he had just left with the first dozen people, and the rest of the people on the shore had already begun to chatter.

"Do you really want to go back to Hebei, I heard that many places have been laid down by Liu Bei. Let's just go back like this, can we win? ”

"If we really want to go back, we will definitely have to fight Liu Bei. But if we don't go back, we will only have these dry food around us, and we will not starve to death if we eat them all. ”

Cao Hong used Jia Xu's plan to divide the whole into pieces, distributed all the dry food to the soldiers, and asked them to find a way to cross the Yellow River and then assemble. If you return to Hebei, you will be rewarded. This trick is really very powerful, even if Jing Xiangshui works overtime day and night, it is difficult to do everything. Liu Bei hurriedly ordered the collection of ships from all over the coast to prevent the enemy from crossing the river.

Now what the military situation is, many people have already known through their own channels. The fall of Youzhou and Bingzhou, as well as the annihilation of Xu Huang's military horses in Fancheng, many people began to beat drums in their hearts. Just when these people were gossiping, they heard someone exclaim: "Look, what's going on with their boat?" The people hurriedly looked into the river, but saw that the small fishing boat full of people had been swayed by a wind and waves, and at first glance it seemed that it had the intention of sinking. The people on the shore were shocked, and everyone on the boat was even more nervous.

"This damn old man, carrying so many people at one time, it's hanging now!" A captain on the shore shouted in a hurry. As if to confirm his words, at this moment another wave struck, and the boat finally turned its head and capsized. Zhang Tou'er and a dozen other people all fell into the water, fluttered a few times, and then sank one after another, not even one of them returned to the shore, including the greedy boatman, who was also drowned in the Yellow River. The remaining 60 or so people on the shore looked at it, and they all felt their scalps tingle.

"What should I do?" It was a recruit who was asking, and seeing that no one answered him, this person turned his head to look and saw the captain who had just spoken, and immediately hurriedly asked as if he had grasped a life-saving straw: "Chief Chen, now that Zhang Tou'er is dead, what do you say we should do?" ”

This Chen Wuchang is also a veteran, and these recruits still trust him more in peace. Now everyone can't find the boat for a while, this boat is still the one that Xiao Li Qi found just now, and the dry food around him is almost eaten. Whether we can find a boat to cross the river before the food runs out is uncertain. Since they are not sure, then people's minds can be alive. It's just that what this mind is, but it's inconvenient to say it too carefully or too clearly.

Chen Wuchang looked at his comrades with an expectant face, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "I think that's it, let's go and surrender Lord Liu." I heard that Lord Liu was kind to the soldiers, so we went to vote for him, and when the war subsided, we would find a chance to return to our hometown in Hebei. ”

"That's it!" Everyone knows that the dry food around them is enough to eat for three or four days, and if they don't surrender and wait for the food to run out, if they don't starve to death, then they can only go to the grass to rob the cowards. In fact, most people are not too disgusted with Liu Bei, after all, Liu Bei's reputation is good among the people at the bottom, and they are not worried about him killing and surrendering pawns. When the group discussed properly, they went to Runan to join the enemy.

Something like this has happened almost every day since Cao Hong ordered the withdrawal of troops. It was not until ten days later that Cao Hong withdrew to Hebei to gather men and horses, only to find that there were more than 100,000 troops, and only more than 90,000 people returned. The rest were either intercepted or surrendered to the enemy. Cao Hong also knew that it was good luck to be able to keep most of the people and horses back to Hebei. If he is completely cut off like before, then he can only be trapped and killed in Henan.

"Uncle Huang, what should I do?" When Cao Zhang saw the army assembled, he also hated it. Cao Hong lowered his head and calculated carefully, but finally sighed: "The 300,000 southern expeditionary army, Xu Gongming's 50,000 troops are all lost; It is not easy for Zhang Junyi and Boren to stay in Henan; Coupled with the tens of thousands of soldiers who were separated, more than half of them were lost? What is the face of my Cao Hong, to see Your Majesty? ”

"Uncle Huang, don't be discouraged, we can gather more than 100,000 troops here. Even if you can't go south again, it's still more than enough to repel the enemy army in Youzhou, which is merged with the state! Cao Zhen looked at the atmosphere a little dull, and hurriedly admonished.

"However, now that Guan Yu's army is about to invade the north, there can't be no one stationed along the Yellow River!" Xiahou Ba frowned. Everyone knows in their hearts that there are not many troops that the Cao Wei court can use. Cao Hong lowered his head and thought about it, and finally sighed: "In this case, I should go back to Yecheng to see Your Majesty first, make sure that the Yellow River defense line is safe, and then make plans!" ”

Three days later, Cao Hong led the remaining 100,000 troops back to Yecheng. Cao Pi was speechless for a long time when he saw Cao Hong's unlucky appearance, and finally sighed: "It's good that Uncle Huang can come back, and the southern expedition to win Wancheng and Xuchang can be regarded as a gain." Now Liu Bei's soldiers are attacking Youzhou and Bingzhou in two ways, and the local garrison is already a little overwhelmed, so please ask Uncle Huang to repel these two roads as soon as possible! ”

"Ministers should serve His Majesty!" Cao Hong hurriedly agreed. After the army rested for a few days, it immediately sent troops in two ways, one led by Xiahou Ba, leading 60,000 troops to support Zhuojun, and the other led 80,000 troops by Cao Hong and Cao Zhang, going to support Shangdang, preparing to repel Zhang Fei and Zhao Feng.

On Hebei's side, Cao Jun finally had a countermeasure, but Henan's Zhang Jaw and others, under the double pressure of Guan Yu and Liu Bei, almost couldn't even breathe. Although what Cao Hong said before was more beautiful, the current Zhang Jaw is very sad compared to Zhang Xiu back then.

Back then, Zhang Xiu was in Wancheng, and his opponent was Cao Ying, who only occupied the land of Sizhou, and he also had Liu Biao as an ally behind him, so Zhang Xiu was able to jump for a few years. Now the southwest of Wancheng is Liu Bei's sphere of influence, Henan County and Hongnong County in the south, and Xuchang in the east, although they are their own horses, but the defenders are extremely limited. Relying on tens of thousands of people to defend the foundation of Henan, Zhang Jaw is really not confident.

When Cao Hong began to withdraw his troops, Liu Bei's more than 100,000 people immediately went out of Tongguan to attack Hangu Pass. At the same time, the armies of Zhang Liao and Guan Yu also began to attack Xuchang, but they left Wancheng alone. Zhang Jaw was puzzled at first, but then understood that once the land of Xuchang and Henan was broken, what else could he do if he was trapped in the lonely city of Wancheng?

The number of garrisons in Henan and other places was limited, and under Liu Bei's strong attack, Hangu Pass, Hongnong County and Henan County fell one after another, and the defenders surrendered one after another. And Xiahou Shang of Xuchang resisted desperately for half a month, and was also broken by Guan Yu, Xiahou Shang killed himself, and in the land of Henan, except for the lonely city of Wancheng, there was no half stronghold of Cao Jun.

Finally, on this morning a month after Cao Hong left, a large group of people drove from all sides of Wancheng, surrounding a city that was impassable. Seeing all this in the city, his scalp was numb.

"It's been a long time since I've seen so many people!" Zhang Jaw muttered in his mouth, in the impression that he had never seen so many people except for the Battle of Guandu more than ten years ago. At the time of the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao claimed to be an army of 700,000, and now Liu Bei's actual troops in Nanyang have reached more than 400,000, and the two sides are almost equal in terms of numbers.

Not to mention that Zhang Jaw was extremely shocked in his heart, and the rest of the ordinary soldiers also changed their faces when they saw such a boundless military horse. Surprisingly, the Han army did not attack the city. After setting up the camp, he came out of the army on horseback and came to the city alone.

"It's Gao Yan!" It didn't take long for Zhang Jaw to see that the person who came was Gao Lan, who was ranked among the four court pillars of Hebei with him back then. Time flies, among the four court pillars in Hebei, Yan Liang and Wen Chou have already died on the battlefield, and the rest of themselves and Gao Ran actually have to meet on a narrow road.

But seeing that Gao Ran didn't bring a blade, and didn't even approve the armor, he went directly to the city and greeted loudly: "Brother Junyi, the old man Gao Ran is visiting, please see you in the city!" Hearing this, Zhang Jaw's heart moved, and he hurriedly ordered the city gate to be opened and Gao Ran entered, and he personally went down to the city to greet him.

"Brother Junyi, Qingzhou has been separated for decades, Brother Junyi is in Hebei, and he has had a good time these years!" After entering the mansion, Gao Ran also asked with a smile. Zhang Jaw smiled bitterly when he heard this, and finally said astringently: "It was okay before, but now, being surrounded here by Uncle Liu's army, naturally it is not good!" After a pause, Zhang Jaw also asked: "I heard a while ago that Jingzhong is already an official under the command of Uncle Liu Huang, and he is really prosperous!" ”

The four expeditions, four towns, four pings and four security generals are all second-class in terms of official rank, only slightly inferior to the three dukes. It is indeed not easy for Gao Ran to get to this point. Of course, Gao Ran also heard a different taste from Zhang Zhan's words. Envy, or rather, heartbeat?

So Gao Ran didn't say much, and said directly: "Junyi, you and I are old friends, brother, I won't sell Guanzi in front of you, my brother came this time, and His Majesty sent me to persuade my brother to abandon the darkness and turn to the light." If the elder brother can return to obedience, he will be in the Han Dynasty in the future, and his career will be promising! ”

(To be continued)