In the spring of the third year of Kaiyuan, Wenhou Lu Bu and Zhenbei general Wei Yan defeated the Huainan army in Xiangyi, beheaded the deputy general Chen Lan and below, a total of 15,000 ranks, and the rest were captured or defeated, Liu Xun and Liu Ye were only spared, but the losses of the Qingzhou coalition army were minimal.

It was an exhilarating victory. Following Xiahou Yuan's defeat at Rencheng, Cao Cao's army in Yanzhou suffered heavy losses and had lost the ability to fight head-on, so he could only resist to the end with the help of high walls and thick bases.

The significance of this battle is not only that, the long-dormant Hidden Fog Army once again put its name in front of the world, and in the Xiangyi raid, Wei Yan's unbelievable tactics were even more shocking than the heavy catapults that appeared in the Battle of Rencheng.

With the Bed Crossbow first, weapons like catapults weren't too surprising enough, as these new weapons had only increased in number and size, and their fundamentals hadn't changed much.

However, the infiltration tactics adopted by the Hidden Fog Army in the Battle of Xiangyi aroused the high vigilance of the vast majority of soldiers.

Including Qingzhou itself, the composition of recruits in the armies of the princes from all walks of life is very high, although Liu Xun's defeat stems from his too loose management of the army, but there are many new faces, who can guarantee that he has no loopholes at all?

Dealing with the Huainan Army, which is almost a rabble, the Hidden Mist Army can cause large-scale infighting, and in other armies, with the help of assassination and other means, isn't it also possible to create some chaos when the battle is approaching?

Compared with the excitement of the Qingzhou Alliance, the morale of the anti-Qingzhou Alliance was greatly frustrated, and after hearing the news of the fiasco, Cao Cao almost made the decision to abandon Yanzhou and comprehensively shrink his forces.

"Not retreating at this time. When? ”

Cheng Yu said eloquently: "If you withdraw now, you can still preserve part of your strength." At least the soldiers and horses of the two generals Miaocai and Beren can be retreated to Yingchuan in order to plan for the future. Otherwise, you will only be defeated by each one! Lu Bu's soldiers and horses were already good at running, and it was already tricky to trap a camp, and now with the addition of an even more difficult Wei Yan, the battle was completely unreasonable, if it was interrupted, there might not even be a chance to retreat! ”

"Zhongde has a point."

Full Pet followed Cheng Yu. He advised Cao Cao: "If there is no Qingzhou Thunderbolt Cannon, our army can still rely on the city fortress to hold on, but the Thunderbolt Cannon not only has a long range, but the attack power is even more amazing. Many cities are in danger of collapsing without a fight, and they will fall from the wind......"

His tone became more and more heavy: "The battle situation in Yanzhou is already difficult to reverse, and now it is time to preserve the strength in order to make a comeback!" ”

Cheng Yu and Man Chong are not easy people to give up, but Qingzhou made a heavy hand and caused heavy losses to Yanzhou Cao Cao's army. It's already a rout. Now if you want to save Yanzhou, you can only divide your troops from the battlefield of Tiger Prison Pass, but how little less pressure is there on the side of Tiger Prison Pass? If the main force is delayed in the ancient city for too long, it is impossible to say that it will be attacked by Wang Yu and Lu Bu.

Let go of your hands and feet, and the Lu Bu army that attacked with all its strength was too terrifying. Running for thousands of miles, just waiting for leisure. Coupled with the help of the Hidden Mist Army, it is simply like a tiger with wings! It will not do any good to continue to dwell on the Yanzhou battlefield.

"If you give up now, the connection between our army and the Jiangdong Army will be completely cut off." Xun You raised an objection, "Although the two armies were fighting separately before, General Sun has now supervised the army to the north, and will arrive in Chenliu in a few days. No, this is quite inappropriate. ”

"At this time and time, if the Huainan soldiers and horses are still there, or General Miaocai is not injured, and he joins forces with the Jiangdong Army, there should be a lot to do. But now that the Huainan soldiers and horses have been defeated, the two generals Boren and Xuangao have also given up Junyi and surrendered Chen Liucheng...... Although General Sun is brave, after all, he only belongs to the Allied forces, and he knows that he will not retreat in the face of difficulties? ”

Zhong Xuan shook his head again and again, and actually held the same opinion as Cheng and Man: "As Berning said, now it is the best policy to preserve the strength, retire Yingchuan and Luoyang, and urge the soldiers of Jing and Yierzhou to go north as soon as possible to help the fighting side." ”

"Yuan Chang's words are ...... wrong"

Sima Lang, Du Ji, Hua Xin, Liang Xi and other advisers spoke one after another, each insisting on their own words, and each did not give in to each other, and on the whole, those who advocated abandoning Yanzhou had the upper hand.

The reason was almost exhausted by Zhong Xuan and others, even if he gave up Yanzhou, Cao Jun was not without stamina. Jingzhou is now under Cao Cao's command, although some soldiers and horses are also needed to stay behind to guard against Liu Biao in Jiangling, but most of the soldiers and horses can still be transferred north.

In addition, Sima Yi, the rising star of the Sima family, is lobbying Liu Yan in Yizhou, and with his eloquence and insight, he must soon be able to persuade Liu Yan to make Yizhou's soldiers and horses go out of Sichuan to help in the war.

In addition, Li Dian escorted Ma Jun and the disciples of Mo and Gong Ermen to Yingchuan, and it was not hopeless to imitate Qingzhou's thunderbolt cannon. It seems that giving up competing in Yanzhou in order to move later is indeed the king's way.

But the opposition led by Xun You is not unreasonable, if Sun Ce still insists on going north to fight after hearing the news, the contraction of Cao's army will become a pit man.

Now in Yanzhou, there are three main army corps in Qingzhou, Zhang Liao and Huang Zhong on the eastern front, Yu Ban in Chen Liu, and Lu Bu in mobile combat, with more than 40,000 soldiers and horses, all of which are elite. Once he is encircled, even if Sun Ce has three heads and six arms, he will definitely not be able to please him.

If Sun Ce had an accident, even if the Jiangdong Army did not collapse, it would be impossible to maintain the momentum of the offensive. If he is defeated and withdraws from Yanzhou, with this person's clear temperament, it is unlikely that he will continue to cooperate with Cao's army to fight.

As for sending a message to Sun Ce to cooperate with Cao's army's withdrawal operation, it will definitely not work. There are allies on both sides, and there is no subordination, and Sun Ceken's fearless rescue to the north is already a move that takes the overall situation into account. It is simply impossible to let him come as soon as he is summoned and go as soon as he is lingering.

In fact, the Cao army was not even sure where Sun Ce's soldiers and horses had gone.

On the same day as the Battle of Xiangyi, Zhou Yu raided Yuan Shu's palace in Shouchun, and with the cooperation of Liu Bei, who had not long taken refuge in Yuan Shu, he captured Yuan Shu in one fell swoop and killed him on the spot, overthrowing the puppet regime he established. The Dacheng Dynasty existed for less than a month, and has the potential to set the shortest-lived dynastic record.

Yuan Shu came and went in a hurry. The Huainan area was in turmoil. Although Zhou Yu made a plan for elasticity and stability when it was realized, he didn't expect Sun Ce to go north directly. also took away 30,000 elites in one go!

The main force of the Jiangdong Army crossing the river to the north was only 50,000 in total, although a Hongmen banquet was set up in Sui'an, and the result was Lei Bo, Zhang Xun and Chen Ji were surrendered, and the 30,000 Huainan Army were included in the command, but the newly surrendered army, the combat effectiveness was simply not enough to rely on, and it was difficult to hold Sui'an. Where can I get the strength to suppress Yuan Shu's old collar?

Xuzhou's Zhang Jaw and Pang Tong were very keen people, and as soon as Sun Ce led his army to leave Sui'an, he raised troops to the west and launched a powerful attack on Sun Quan and Huang Gai who stayed behind. After Zhou Yu won Shouchun, the first thing he had to do to integrate some forces was to reinforce Sun Quan, and other places couldn't be taken care of for a while.

Therefore, the current Yuan Shu old collar is quite chaotic. The information could not come out at all, and unless Sun Ce took the initiative to report it, Cao Cao would not know the location and situation of Sun Cejun's army at all.

This is one of the drawbacks of the allied forces' joint operations, because the orders are not unified and the communication between them is not sufficient, and it is difficult to form a joint force.

But. Although the reasons on both sides are very good, in Cao Ying, such a scene of divergent opinions is still rare. Because Cao Cao himself is a very decisive person, even if it is a difficult topic to judge, it is often after everyone has expressed their opinions. Cao Cao will soon make a decision. In addition, above the staff. There is also a Guo Jia.

Guo Jia's status in Cao Jun is almost equivalent to Zhang Liang in Liu Bang's era, and he has always been very assertive on strategic issues.

But today, Cao Cao's face sank like water, his eyebrows were deeply locked, and he couldn't make a decision. And Guo Jia is even more outrageous, he didn't participate in the military conference at all! This situation seems somewhat strange, but the advisers don't care much, just argue.

It is no exaggeration to say that Cao Jun has reached the critical point of life and death, and there are few mistakes in the choice, and the catastrophe is not far away. With the current status of the strategists, there is no other way out except to support them to the end, so everyone can only try their best to persuade Cao Cao to adopt what they think is the most correct strategy.

Just as he was stuck, the tent door suddenly moved, Cao Cao seemed to have an electrocardiogram, and he looked up without a single bit, and saw Guo Jia flash in, with a dignified face.

"Bonghyo, you're finally back!" Cao Cao got up from his position, walked quickly to Guo Jia, and asked from afar, "What's the situation?" ”

Guo Jia shook his head slowly, but did not answer. Although the ministers don't know the cause and effect, their hearts are also sinking, obviously, there is bad news again.

"At this point, there is nothing to hide, how can morale be low?" Cao Cao's expression was also gloomy, he put down his raised hand again, silently walked back to the handsome case, and sat down dejectedly.

After Cao Cao sat down, Guo Jia explained to everyone: "Ladies and gentlemen, the lord ordered Jia to contact the two generals of Ma and Han in Bingzhou and urge them to fight the Qingzhou army as soon as possible. If the Qingzhou army can't defend and is difficult to overcome, you might as well divide your troops and go south, attack Hanoi first, and then attack Wei County, or join the Yanzhou battlefield......"

Everyone bowed their heads slightly, knowing it.

The eastern part of Bingzhou, which was later known as the mountains and rivers of Shanxi, was a place that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as Xu Shu's 50,000 army relies on its geographical advantages to defend it, although Xiliang has an army of 300,000, it is helpless. If you can't spread your troops, what advantage can you talk about? Rather than spending time in the annexed states, it is better to divide troops to reinforce the Central Plains battlefield and give full play to the troops.

Previously, the Western Liang Army had no intention of joining the Central Plains battlefield, not because Ma Teng and Han Sui were unwilling, but because Cao Cao was unwilling. When the Xiliang army came, it was necessary to share the benefits, and Cao Cao, the landlord, not only had to provide grain and grass equipment, but also shared the profits to the Xiliang army in the territory after the war.

But now there is no way, the situation is pressing, even if he drinks to quench his thirst, Cao Cao can only do this first, and then talk about the current difficulties. Of course, the fewer people who know about this kind of thing, the better, so Guo Jia is fully responsible and operates secretly.

However, judging from Guo Jia's behavior, this matter is still not smooth enough.

"When the envoy contacted the Xiliang army, he knew that there was no fighting on the battlefield of Bingzhou, or it should be said that the battle had come to an end, because the two generals Ma and Han were actually in a stalemate with each other because they could not be attacked for a long time...... As the minister expected, the two generals had ** fell for Xu Shu's discordant plan! ”

"What?" Including Cao Cao, everyone was shocked.

Now the battlefield in the Central Plains has been defeated and retreated, and the situation is extremely unfavorable, and the greatest hope is the Xiliang Army. And the biggest weakness of the Xiliang Army was exposed, this is really a house leak that happened to rain overnight, and the ship was late and encountered a head wind!

No matter how strong Ren Xiliang's army is, there are internal disputes first, and it is fortunate that Xu Shu will not take the opportunity to defeat him, so what else can he talk about reinforcing the Central Plains?

This destiny, could it really fall on that Wang Pengju?