At the same time that Lu Su persuaded Lu Bu hard, the messengers from Qingzhou also arrived in the armies of Yu Ban and Zhang Liao respectively, and the messengers to Bingzhou and Xuzhou were still running wildly on the road.

From the perspective of the aftermath summary, on the day of February 15, the Qingzhou Army carried out a comprehensive contraction in an extremely strange way, which not only made Sun Ce, who rushed north, punch him empty, but also made Cao Cao inexplicably surprised, completely unaware of what was going on.

You must know that when he heard that the conflict between Ma Teng and Han Sui had recurred, and that infighting was destined to occur in the foreseeable time, Cao Cao was almost stunned, and repeatedly recited the sentence 'The time is not good, and the sky will die too' dozens of times, only then did he recover a little bit of spirit.

Cao Ying's strategists were all covered with dark clouds, and their faces were full of iron, as if they were about to face a catastrophe.

The Central Plains battlefield is like this, if the Xiliang army collapses, is there still a need to persist in this war? It doesn't take much, as long as half of Qingzhou's Bingzhou army goes south to Hedong, and then attacks Guanzhong and Hongnong, Cao's army is basically finished.

The loss of Guanzhong and Hongnong is not only a matter of shrinking territory, but also a matter of no strategic depth, and the passage with Yizhou has been cut off. After the Bingzhou Army takes Guanzhong, Luoyang and Nanyang will also face a two-sided attack, which is no joke!

Liu Yan of Yizhou is not a hardcore ally, and Zhang Lu of Hanzhong is also ready to move, plus Liu Biao and Li Ru, who are entrenched in Jiangling licking their wounds...... If Hanzhong is lost, Cao's army will surely collapse. Even if you barely hold on, the hope of turning the tables is quite slim, and you can only survive.

Although Cao Cao immediately sent Zhong Xuan, Cao Hong, Sima Lang and other capable talents to Chang'an and Hongnong to take charge. Contact the local heroes and gather troops for defense. But anyone with a discerning eye knows it. It's just a matter of talking about personnel, and it doesn't change the overall situation at all.

Guanzhong has been tired for a long time. Most of the surviving Haoqiang have become rebels and bandits, and most of these people have been dragged to Bingzhou by Han Sui, leaving three or two kittens, which is not a climate at all. Hongnong is a little stronger, but it is also limited, and he barely gathers a rabble of three or five thousand, in front of the Qingzhou army that came to take advantage of the victory, is it not only the part that has been destroyed and decayed?

When the main offensive of Qingzhou in Chuilong City suddenly turned fierce, Cao Jun realized that Wang Yu had also received the news. Morale is getting low. If Cao Cao hadn't cheered up and his command level hadn't declined, maybe the 80,000 army would have been broken by Wang Yu in one go.

Although the onslaught of the Qingzhou army was blocked, the atmosphere in Cao Ying did not improve much, and everyone's attention was focused on the state.

But everyone who has something to do with Ma and Han is writing letters with their lives, trying to persuade Ma Teng and Han Sui to release their previous suspicions, at least for the time being. Even if you really don't look at each other, it's good to divide the troops.

Some people are bitter. Some people are honest and seductive, some people analyze the pros and cons, and some people scold and try to be the first to drink. In short, do your best. Hopefully, the state crisis will be saved.

But the hope is very slim, from Luoyang to Bingzhou, the road will take at least ten days! During these ten days. There are so many things that can happen.

In this state of mind, when the early morning of February 15th. When the Qingzhou army suddenly pulled out the camp and retreated swaggeringly in front of the Cao army. Including Cao Cao, who was extremely decisive, no one in the huge Cao camp made any reaction, just watched the Qingzhou army withdraw from the battlefield and leave.

"Really retreated?"

Within an hour from the first scout found something unusual and reported back to the camp, Cao Cao did not make any effective instructions, but first repeatedly asked the scout to confirm it again and again, and then personally led the troops out of the camp and arrived at the foot of the city of Chuilong, which can be regarded as confirming that the scout was not lying.

"How can you return?"

"It doesn't make sense!"

Even though they had confirmed it with their own eyes, everyone was still suspicious, completely unaware of what was going on, and they all looked at each other, repeating the same questions over and over again.

"Lord, everyone, now that the facts are in front of you, it is not the time to study why, you should organize the army to pursue as soon as possible!" The only one who behaved differently was Guo Jia, who was loud and trying to wake everyone up and take effective action as soon as possible.

"This ...... I'm afraid it's not right? Cheng Yu immediately raised an objection: "The withdrawal of the Qingzhou army is quite strange, there is no sign at all in advance, who dares to guarantee that this is not Wang Yu's plan to lure the enemy, just wait for our army to catch up and launch a counterattack?" ”

"Exactly, the Qingzhou Army retreated at this time, it is really strange, and before there is no further news to confirm, our army is still holding on." This time, even Xun Yu's uncle and nephew agreed with Cheng Yu's opinion, and his face was full of palpitations.

"In the previous wars, our army was inferior, Qingzhou has a stable government, a large population, and sophisticated technology, which is far superior to our army. If we continue to fight step by step, what are the chances of our army winning? It's not risky now, but when? Guo Jia tried to raise the volume and try to make his words heard by everyone in order to arouse a few more supporters.

"It's no sign of it, but if you think about it, it's not. Three days ago, the onslaught launched by the Qingzhou Army was not to cover the retreat of the army! To the east of the Tiger Prison, most of the terrain is flat, and the enemy army has no way to use the terrain to set up an ambush, and our army catches up, and the worst case is only a head-on battle, so why be afraid? ”

"Bonghyo, you said three days ago?" Cao Cao frowned and said suspiciously: "What you said three days ago, wasn't it when the news of the state came here?" If Wang Yu made a decision to withdraw his troops at that time, could it be for reinforcements and annexation of the state? But isn't that weird? Unless he was going to mobilize a large army to the north for reinforcements, he didn't need to do it. ”

"Specifically, there is limited information at the moment, and it is not yet known. But Chen is sure that our army is catching up now, and the possibility of luring the enemy and destroying Wang Yu's strategy should be half each! If we really hit the plan to lure the enemy, it is just a decisive battle in advance, and our army has the upper hand in strength, and it may not be impossible to fight. If it's the latter, then ......"

Guo Jia looked at Cao Cao, his eyes full of ardent anticipation. As he himself said, although he tried his best to strengthen himself, the speed of Cao's army's development was always not as fast as that of the Qingzhou army. shows the competitive strength of the carriage and horse, and in the end it is also a loss. It's better to fight on a shop and decide the winner in a fight! Now no one supports him. But it doesn't matter, as long as Cao Cao can show his courage, this battle will be fought.

Cao Cao fell into deep thought, and only after a long time did he raise his head and call out two names in a hoarse voice: "Wen Lie, Zhong Kang ......"

"The last general!" Cao Xiu and Xu Chu all came out of the ranks.

"The two of you lead your troops and horses to pursue along the way, you must be careful on the way, and you must not fall into an enemy ambush. If the enemy retreats in a hurry, they will return quickly. I should lead my own army and then press on, can you understand? ”

"The last general understands, please rest assured!" Generals Cao and Xu took orders. Except for Guo Jia's obvious disappointment, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief, this was a happy ending.

Guo Jia suggested that Cao Cao's whole army should be killed, it was too dangerous, once it was bitten in the wilderness, without the support of the city, then there was really only a decisive battle. Now for the decisive battle. Is there a must-have? Even if the Qingzhou Army really has a reason to retreat, it can be calmly strategized, so why rush to settle the situation in a war?

Soon, news came from Cao Xiu. said that he found the encirclement set up by the Qingzhou army, and he was almost surrounded, and the cavalry was fast enough. escaped alive, which verified everyone's worries.

At last. Guo Jia could only look up to the sky and sigh, regretting that he missed this opportunity.

……

As a matter of fact. On the eve of Wang Yu's withdrawal, the battlefield of Bingzhou had taken an astonishing turn.

The camp of the Xiliang Army rarely quiets down, and it is always very noisy on weekdays, like a market. The Qiang soldiers and the Han rebels were very reckless, and they only basically obeyed the military discipline, unless it was night, when it was time to go to bed, don't think about these people to be quiet.

On the 14th of February, in the center of the camp, it was even more noisy, because tonight it was Han Sui who invited Ma Teng to a banquet in an attempt to reconcile and eliminate this imminent infighting.

In the past few days, the two armies were tense and on the verge of breaking out, and of course Ma Teng would not go to Han Sui's camp in a big way. Han Sui found an intermediary, which eliminated Ma Teng's vigilance, and the place where he set up the banquet was in the camp where he burned Dangqiang Haoshuai.

Ma Teng has Qiang blood, and has always been close to the Qiang tribes, hearing that it was in the Qiang camp, his mind suddenly relaxed a lot, and he took his second son Ma Xiu and happily went to the banquet.

Ma Xiu is only fifteen years old now, and his martial arts and strategy are far inferior to his brother Ma Chao, so he is not useful. The reason why Ma Teng brought him here was because Han Sui planned to marry his only daughter to Ma Xiu in order to show his sincerity, and the two families would marry Qin and Jin, so as not to be filthy in the future.

According to the custom of the Qiang people, a man marrying a bride needs to go through a step of grabbing a bride immediately. Han Sui and Ma Teng initially had a disagreement, because the former despised the latter's bloodline, and this time Han Sui married a daughter in the Qiang way in the camp of burning Dangqiang, which can be regarded as full of sincerity.

Ma Chao didn't come because Ma Teng was still a little vigilant, so he ordered Ma Chao and Ma Dai to take charge of the army outside, just in case.

However, under the cover of night, the roaring bonfire reflects not a festive and peaceful atmosphere, but a blood-spilled and tense killing scene.

In the midst of the chaos, Ma Teng, who was covering his left shoulder, stood up from the fallen weapon rack, his hand covering his left shoulder was already oozing blood, he was still wearing a robe, looked at the other end of the bonfire, and hissed: "Han Wenyue, why do you want to kill me!" ”

After shouting this useless word, Ma Teng covered his shoulders and looked coldly at the others in front of him.

The leader of the Burning Qiang people did not dare to make eye contact with him, and shrank his head backwards. But Hao Shuai Nali mustered up the courage and said: "Brother Ma, everyone has easily reached today's situation, and what you want to fight for is wealth and glory, not spirit." This time, you listened to the rumors, and you embarrassed Mr. Wenyue, it was your fault......"

"Okay, good, good, Lao Tzu was despised by Han Laogou for half his life because he was half a Qiang person, but in the end he was calculated by the Qiang people, Han Laogou, you are really right to look down on Lao Tzu, Qiang Hu, it's a group of wolves, white-eyed wolves that can't be raised! It shouldn't exist in this world! But don't be complacent too early, I'm dead, Meng Qi is still there, Meng Qi can't, and the army of Qingzhou! Lao Tzu is one step ahead, waiting for you at the bottom! ”

Han Sui looked at Ma Teng, who was almost crazy there, expressionlessly, just shook his head slowly, and did not delay here, turned around and went out of the camp. Even if Ma Teng doesn't say it, he must gather troops and horses as soon as possible, and launch an attack as soon as possible while Ma Chao has not yet received the news, so as to eliminate this last hidden danger.

As long as Ma Chao is solved, even if his strength declines, with this 300,000 army, is he afraid that there will be no place for him?

Nali picked up a scimitar, smiled hideously, and shouted: "Cut Ma Teng!" ”

The soldiers in the camp rushed up like a tide, and the few guards around Ma Teng were quickly drowned in the crowd, and soon, Ma Teng's scolding and shouting also came to an abrupt end, and a generation of strong men finally died under the knife cut from behind.

But neither the killer nor Han Sui, who was one step ahead, noticed that just as the chaos was coming to an end, a petite figure was sneaking in the dark and approaching, and just happened to see the scene of Ma Teng falling to the ground covered in blood, being dismembered by a knife!

This small figure trembled violently at first, as if it had been greatly stimulated, but it was rare that it did not make any sound. Instead, he quickly regained his composure, looked deeply at his father and brother who died tragically for the last time, and left so resolutely. The direction of departure is Ma Chao's camp!

Soon, the Xiliang military camp was full of fires, and the shouts of killing shook the sky, which soon alarmed Xu Shu and Xu Huang who were stationed in Zixian County, ten miles away. The second general was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately ordered his troops and horses to go out of the city, preparing to take advantage of the fire to rob and solve the strong enemy of the Xiliang Army once and for all.

Chaos and killing became the theme of this night, and this night also became the biggest and most critical turning point in the Central Plains War. (To be continued......)