In the battle of Xuchang, the Cao army team that won the battle still suffered heavy losses that made Cao Boss wail, and the losses of the Yuan army team that suffered the defeat were so heavy that of course it had to at least make Yuan Sangong cry.

Yuan Sangong, who is not hard-hearted, did shed tears, wept for frustration, wept for the fallen Jizhou soldiers, and was repeatedly played by Cao Boss in the palm of his own tears, because of the judgment of Yuan Sangong, gullible belief in the so-called surrender, so that the Jizhou army in the strength is still superior, more than 60,000 soldiers were killed and missing overnight, the main battalion and three partial division camps were lost, and the loss of ordnance, baggage, cattle and horses and vehicles is incalculable.

Coupled with the loss of the previous three wars, the more than 140,000 Jizhou troops brought to the battlefield of Xuchang by the Great Yuan Sangong have now left less than 50,000 frightened remnants of the defeated generals, and most of them are wounded, and many of the main forces have been annihilated.

Because of this, when he led Tao Sheng and other more than ten guards back to Yanling, he saw the embarrassed self-army team outside Yanling City, saw the self-army soldiers who were blackened and scorched by the smoke, and countless generals and soldiers who were bruised all over his body, Da Yuan Sangong could no longer contain the shame, humiliation, sadness and despair in his heart, and hugged his three equally embarrassed baby sons and cried, crying so darkly, the moon was dark, and the remnants of Yuan Jun Wenwu next to him were also crying loudly, The crying inside and outside Yanling City shook the sky, and the grief was everywhere.

After everyone woke up the big Yuan Sangong, the big Yuan Sangong like the last Guandu fiasco, once again spit blood in his mouth, and sighed in the sky: "I swept through the Qingyou and Hebei four states, dozens of big battles, more than 100 small battles, I don't mean to be embarrassed so far!" Mourn me on this day! ”

Sigh, the blood in the chest of the great Yuan Sangong churned, and the blood sprayed wildly in his mouth again, the three brothers of Yuan Tan hurriedly shouted to the military doctor to come to the rescue, Yuan Shang also knelt and hugged the thigh of the great Yuan Sangong and cried, and said: "Father, don't be sad, although our army is defeated today, but the four states of Qingyou and Hebei are still there, and the army of more than 100,000 people still exists, my father also asks to take care of the golden branches and jade leaves, first return to Jizhou to reorganize the soldiers and horses, and then come to take revenge!" ”

Da Yuan Sangong nodded tearfully, and was about to order the withdrawal of troops, but Cui Yan next to him stood up and said loudly: "Don't withdraw your troops!" Although our army was defeated, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses still existed, and the Yanling granary was not lost, and there was still the power of a battle, but the Cao thief had reached the end of the strong crossbow, and the main force was exhausted to the extreme. ”

"Mr. Ji Jue, are you crazy?!" At the critical moment, Mr. Guo Tu, who was likely to secretly hold Boss Cao's salary, jumped out again, and roared with an angry expression: "The main army of nearly 150,000 in our army is not the opponent of Cao Thief's team, and now there are less than 50,000 remnants left, and you still want the lord to continue to attack Xuchang City?" Do you want to lose all the soldiers and horses that protect the lord's retreat?! ”

"The losses of our army are indeed heavy, but there is still the strength to fight!" Cui Yan replied loudly: "At least there are 5,000 fresh troops under General Hao Zhao, and there are still 10,000 fresh troops under General Fu Hu. Today, General Hao Zhao defeated the main force of Cao thieves with 3,000 infantry, which is a clear proof! ”

"The general of the defeated army, how can he be brave?" Mr. Wumao Xinbi, another Cao Jun who brought his own dry food, also stood up and said coldly: "Our army was defeated last night, more than 60,000 troops and the main camp Sanzhai were wiped out together, the morale of the army has been depressed, and the morale of the generals has been lost. How is it possible to win?! ”

"Yes, lord, stop fighting, retreat, retreat."

Countless Jizhou civil and military officers with cigarette marks and blood stains on their faces and bodies pleaded, begging Yuan Sangong to immediately withdraw his troops and withdraw to Xuzhou, accusing Cui Yan of purely ill-intentioned intentions and wanting to harm the last 50,000 Jizhou troops, and some people even questioned it in person, suspecting that Cui Yan was Cao Jun's internal annihilation, and was bought by Cao Boss, and wanted to deliberately throw away the team covering the retreat of Yuan Sangong, so that Cao Jun could capture Yuan Sangong alive.

In the face of the slander and accusations of these incompetent and flattering people, Cui Yan, who had resolutely inherited the mantle of Tian Feng and frustration, laughed angrily and asked wildly: "Am I Cao Jun's internal annihilation?" Am I Cao Jun's internal annihilation? Very good, if I am the internal annihilation of the Cao army, then when you flee back to Yanling like a group of lost dogs, why do I still give advice to General Hao Zhao to help him block the Cao thief's pursuit with thousands of infantry, and then break the Cao thief team? Wouldn't it be more convenient and easier to let Cao Thief's pursuers kill you all under Yanling City?! ”

Many of the Yuan soldiers were ashamed, but in fact, they didn't really want to slander Cui Yan, but they just found that the Great Yuan Sangong intended to withdraw from the army, and they were used to following the meaning of the Great Yuan Sangong. The result was not surprising, hearing Cui Yan's words, although there was still blood in his mouth, Da Yuan Sangong suddenly looked bad, because Cui Yan's words not only faintly accused Da Yuan Sangong of being a lost dog, but also seemed to be saying that Da Yuan Sangong was not as good as Cui Yan with soldiers, holding so many soldiers and horses in his hands and suffering so many defeats, Cui Yanqi only used a few thousand infantry to defeat the Cao army.

Fortunately, the death of the frustrated professor has made Da Yuan Sangong feel that he is ashamed of his subordinates, so although he was extremely dissatisfied with Cui Yan's angry words, Da Yuan Sangong still did not have a seizure like before, but said with a dying breath: "I am now in turmoil, sick, and I am no longer able to continue to command the battle, pass on the order, retreat, let the Fu Hu and Hao Zhao's new force retreat to Guandu first, and then make plans." ”

"Lord, fighter planes are rare!" Cui Yan was in a hurry, and simply knelt down on his knees to Da Yuan Sangong, and shouted with tears: "The current fighter plane of the lord is an opportunity that our army has finally won after sacrificing more than 200,000 soldiers. ”

Shouting, Cui Yan kowtowed again and again, crying and shouting: "My lord, I beg you, for the sake of the fallen soldiers of our army, give the order to attack now, let our fresh army attack Cao Thief's camp outside Xuchang overnight, if you don't win, your subordinates will beg the whole family!" The lord, although his subordinates are literati, they are also willing to be pioneers, please give the order of the lord and send troops!! ”

After crying and shouting, Cui Yan put his forehead on the ground, crying bitterly and looking forward to a miracle, Da Yuan Sangong ordered to send troops again, but what made Cui Yan desperate was that after Da Yuan Sangong was silent for a long time, he just let Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang pick himself up, and then staggered towards Yanling City in the distance without saying a word, Yuan Jun Wenwu followed closely, leaving Cui Yan alone kneeling in place, tears like rain, and his heart was like a knife.

After a long time, Cui Yan raised his head to the sky and roared, "Cao thief, your life is good!" More than 200,000 Jizhou heroic spirits, you can't turn a blind eye————! ”

A day later, on September 11 of the fifth year of Jian'an, when there was still hope of turning defeat into victory, the whole army of the Jizhou team withdrew from the battlefield of Xuchang and set off to return to Jizhou. When the news reached Xuchang, Boss Cao, whose military strength had reached the end of the crossbow, raised his throat and heart and finally put it back in his stomach, and couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh wildly, "What a good brother in the end, Brother Benchu, you are so interesting, if you fight again, even if I can defend Xuchang City, the loss will definitely be not small!" Thank you, thank you! ”

After laughing, in order to prevent the young friend from suddenly repenting, and in order to intimidate the Jizhou army, so that the Jizhou army could not judge how much strength the army still had, Cao Boss plucked up the courage again, first selected 3,000 new troops from the Xuchang defenders who did not participate in the vicious battle, and then gathered 7,000 old and weak soldiers from the east and west of the camp outside the city, barely enough 10,000 people, and handed them over to his brother Cao Ren to lead, and went north to pursue Yuan Shaojun's team. At the same time, Boss Cao explained to Cao Ren in private, "No fighting, only tracking from a distance and monitoring the retreat of Yuan Shaojun, so as not to expose the truth of our army!" If Yuan Shao gives up Guandu and retreats directly to the north, you can immediately take over Guandu and choke Yuan Shao's comeback! ”

After learning from the scout that Boss Cao sent troops to pursue, the already frightened Yuan Sangong suddenly panicked, not only categorically rejected Cui Yan's proposal to send troops to meet the battle, but also ordered the whole army to speed up the retreat, and give up all grain and grass when necessary. The order was conveyed, and the panicked Yuan army team rushed up and down, and the people stepped on the horse and whipped, and traveled more than 70 miles in one day, although Hao Zhao, who was in charge of the palace, once asked for an order to intercept the road, but was sternly rejected by the great Yuan Sangong, and was forced to follow the main force to retreat quickly, and Cao Ren's team followed from a distance, carefully keeping the distance of Yuan Shao's army.

Three days later, Yuan Shao's army withdrew to the Guandu Pass two hundred miles away, because he was afraid that the main force of Cao's army would chase after him, Yuan Sangong listened to Guo Tu's suggestion and ordered to abandon the Guandu camp, and the whole army continued to retreat north to Puyang. And Boss Cao was even more ecstatic after receiving the news, and hurriedly ordered Ren Jun to send a large amount of military rations to Cao Ren's team, so that Cao Ren's team could guard Guandu for a long time.

There is also bad news, at noon on the same day, the Nanyang guard Wei sent a fast horse to send an urgent report, saying that Liu Biao and Liu Bei's coalition army had bypassed Wancheng and went north directly, leaving only Zhang Xiu's team to contain the Wei team that was defending Wancheng. After hearing the news, Boss Cao first sneered loudly, and then ordered Cao Hong to lead an army of 10,000 to Yexian to garrison and intercept the northbound road of the Erliu coalition army.

"Prime Minister, Yu thinks that it is impossible to divide the troops." Xun Yu stood up and objected: "The main force of our army has fought one after another, seven or eight out of ten soldiers are wounded, and they are in urgent need of time to recuperate, and it is not appropriate to let the army run and trek, and Liu Biao is just a dog guarding the door, although Liu Bei is deceitful, he does not have many troops in his hands, and the grain and grass also need to rely on Liu Biao's snort, which is not a big threat to our army. ”

Considering that his team was indeed tired enough, and the main elite soldiers suffered heavy casualties, Boss Cao quickly accepted Xun Yu's suggestion after thinking twice, and withdrew the order to send troops to block. Then Boss Cao calculated a little, and ordered: "Wen Ruo can immediately enter the palace to meet the Son of Heaven, ask the Son of Heaven to issue an edict, and Ming said that a celebration ceremony will be held on the Yuxiu Platform in the southwest corner of the imperial city to worship heaven and earth, and commend my achievements in breaking Yuan, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty must participate in this celebration ceremony!" ”

"Prime Minister, Yuxiutai is the ...... for the Son of Heaven to sacrifice heaven and earth." Xun Yu hesitated.

"I broke the world's number one thief Yuan Shao, am I not qualified to hold a celebration ceremony on Yuxiu Stage?" Boss Cao sneered and said: "Our army has defeated so hard, this celebration ceremony, naturally the more grand the better, not only to comfort the dead soldiers of our army in the spirit of the sky, but also to warn Liu Biao, Ma Teng and the like of the thieves, if they don't stop the precipice as soon as possible, Yuan Shao will be their end!" ”

Seeing that Boss Cao was resolute and didn't support Boss Cao too much, Xun Yu was helpless, so he had no choice but to make a promise and act according to the order. After Emperor Han Xian received Xun Yu's recital, although he was also very dissatisfied with Cao Lao's transgression, his thin arms could not twist his thick thighs, so he had to nod and agree against his will. At the same time, most of the Han civil and military forces in Xuchang City were also like this, both disgusted with Boss Cao's rampant and domineering, but there was nothing they could do about Boss Cao, who bullied the king, and finally obeyed the order and promised to participate in Boss Cao's celebration ceremony the next day.

The next day at noon, Cao Jun celebration ceremony was officially held in the southwest of Xuchang Imperial City on the Yuxiu platform, in the sound of drums, Cao Boss golden helmet and gold armor, wearing a big red brocade robe, and the Han Xian Emperor who was crowned and crowned was on the Yuxiu Stage, both sides of the steps and below were Cao Boss's henchmen and generals, but the civil and military officials could only serve from afar, and saw the Han Xian Emperor and Cao Boss go to the Yuxiu Terrace together, during which Cao Boss deliberately crossed after following the side of the Han Xian Emperor, twice accelerated the pace and walked side by side with the Han Xian Emperor, the Han Xian Emperor and the Han ministers were all discolored, but they did not dare to speak.

The boring ceremony process will not be introduced in detail, in short, it is probably that Emperor Han Xian ascended the Yuxiu platform under the pressure of Cao Lao [***], first worshiped heaven and earth, commended Cao Boss for breaking Yuan's merits, and then issued a holy decree, rewarded Cao Boss himself, and gave Cao Boss full authority to reward the meritorious soldiers in this battle, Cao Boss did not dare to be too arrogant in front of heaven and earth, and knelt down honestly, and was rewarded with three knocks. Finally, he took the edict and stood in front of the stage, and issued a decree to reward the soldiers of the Cao Army who had made meritorious contributions and died in this battle. Finally, after Boss Cao finished dictating the long list of rewards, the drums started again, and the civil and military officials whose legs were numb bowed down, they were able to get up, and the long-winded celebration ceremony finally ended.

Although the ceremony is over, the matter is not over, when Cao Boss and Emperor Han Xian got off the Yuxiu platform together, Cao Boss was about to order Emperor Han Xian to go back to the palace to get the queen and civil and military officials to disperse, but Bo Sima Lang, the prime minister who was responsible for the documents for Cao Boss, hurriedly came to Cao Boss's side, and whispered in Cao Boss's ear, Cao Boss didn't think so at first, but only listened carefully to a few words, the holy decree in Cao Boss's hand fell to the ground, and a black face suddenly turned pale.

"Cao Aiqing, what's wrong?" I don't know if Boss Cao deliberately threw away his holy decree, Emperor Han Xian was uneasy, and asked carefully, "What's the big deal?" Why did Aiqing lose her temper so much? ”

In front of everyone's eyes, the gray-faced Boss Cao looked like he was stupid, and he didn't say a word for a long time, and Emperor Han Xian and everyone didn't know what was going on, so they all waited with bated breath for Boss Cao to react. It wasn't until a long time later that Boss Cao barely took a step, but before he could take a step, Boss Cao had already stumbled and fell to the ground, and when everyone was shocked, Sima Lang, who had already been mentally prepared, hurriedly bent down, put his hands on Boss Cao, and said respectfully: "Prime Minister, please be careful." ”

"Smack!" What answered Sima Lang was a heavy slap from Boss Cao full of anger, which made Sima Lang's face bloom, and then Boss Cao's crazy roar was also uncontrollable and echoed under Yuxiu, and he asked hysterically: "Liu Dai and Chen Jiao, what are you eating?" Why did Tao Ying destroy the thieves and defeat Chen Liucheng, so there was a report to me?! ”

"Tao Aiqing defeated Chen Liucheng?" Emperor Han Xian was so surprised that he couldn't believe his ears.

"Has the Xuzhou army captured Chen Liucheng? So, the Xuzhou army is only two hundred miles away from Xuchang?! ”

The Han family and Cao Jun Wenwu who were present also changed color on their faces, but Cao Boss's henchman Wenwu was as pale as earth, and the court officials loyal to the Han family were all overjoyed, so ecstatic that they couldn't hide it in front of Cao Boss, and one of them laughed directly and simply shouted: "Okay!" ”

"Who's applauding?!" Boss Cao turned around angrily and shouted, "Bring up the rebels who cheered for the pottery thief!" ”

The applauded rebel minister was quickly escorted up, but Boss Cao, who had already drawn his sword, was dumbfounded, because the civilian official in front of him in a dark court uniform was the only person in Xuchang City in Xuchang City who did not dare to poison him, except for Emperor Han Xian - because his surname was Tao Mingwen and he was the only brother of Deputy Director Tao.

"Prime Minister, it's true that the ministers applaud." Although the potter is honest and kind, he is not stupid, knowing that Boss Cao will never dare to hurt himself, Suo surnamed arched his hand and asked: "Dare to ask the prime minister, the subordinate applauds for the upcoming meeting with his brother, what is the crime?" ”

Boss Cao's forehead jumped up, and his right hand holding the sword was already trembling slightly, but the potter's face was fearless, and he said to Sima Lang again: "Mr. Boda, the prime minister asked you, how did my brother Tao Ying break through Dingtao and Chen Liu, and why is there a military report now, you haven't answered yet." ”

Sima Lang didn't dare to say anything, just peeked at Boss Cao, Boss Cao gritted his teeth, and suddenly shouted: "Tell him, let him know what a despicable and shameless person his thief brother is!" ”

"No." Sima Lang carefully agreed, and said tremblingly: "Prime Minister, after Tao Ying returned to Shichangyi, he suddenly sent light cavalry to raid Heze, first captured my army stationed in Heze, and then bribed the soldiers with a lot of money, so that they could deceive the Dingtao City Gate at night, take the opportunity to take Dingtao in one fell swoop, and capture Liu Dai, the defender of Dingtao. Then Tao Ying bribed Liu Dai again, so the technique was repeated so that Liu Dai led the army to defeat Chenliu, and deceived the Chenliu city gate again, and the Xuzhou army entered the Chenliu city, killed the guard Chen Jiao, and occupied the Chenliu city, because the Xuzhou army advanced very fast, a line of eighty miles, and the gentleman's army came forward to search and kill our army scouts, so our army had not had time to issue an alarm before. ”

The pottery merchant smiled, Emperor Han Xian and Han Wenwu showed a sneaky joy, Cao Jun Wenwu was all as earthy, and Cao Boss was even more angry, and scolded repeatedly: "Destroy the thief!" Thief! It's a bribe and a sneak attack! also bullied Xuchang, the main force of our army, and took advantage of the fire to rob! Stealing chickens and dogs! Shameless! ”

"The prime minister's words are wrong." The potter was neither humble nor arrogant and said: "If the younger brother is shameless to break the city with a plan, then what is the prime minister who uses a plan to break Yuan Shao?" ”

Emperor Han Xian nodded quietly and agreed with the potter's words, but Boss Cao pointed a sword at the potter and roared: "Shut up!" Don't think that my son is in the hands of the pottery thief, I won't dare to kill you! ”

"If the prime minister wants to kill the minister, please do it as soon as possible." The pottery merchant also went out, raised his head and aimed his throat at the tip of Cao Laoda's sword, and said with a smile: "After Shang's death, Brother Ying can also attack Xuchang with confidence and rescue the holy driver." In exchange for the death of the businessman, Ying Brother has no distractions, and there is no need to cast a mouse taboo, it is worth it. ”

Boss Cao's sword was trembling, his hands were trembling, and his whole body was trembling, and he wanted to stab the potter to death with a sword countless times to confront him in public, but the sword seemed to weigh a thousand catties, and he couldn't say anything. After a long time, Boss Cao could only roar, slammed the sword on the ground, and then roared: "Come on, escort the potter back to his home, send 300 soldiers to guard it strictly, and whoever enters and leaves without permission, no matter who it is, will be beheaded immediately!" ”

"No." Dian Wei agreed, and when he came up, he picked up the potter, and lifted the powerless potter up like an eagle catching a chicken, but Boss Cao yelled again: "Let him go and let him go by himself!" Tell me Jun again, and if you don't have my order to kill the potters, you will kill the three clans! ”

Dian Wei, who was still tied with gauze on his head, reluctantly let go of his hand, the potter's face did not change, but he was dressed neatly, and then knelt down on his knees to Emperor Han Xian, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, the minister is about to retire, please take care of your Majesty, and please rest assured that your brother Tao Ying has never lost a battle since his debut." This time, the younger brother will definitely be able to rescue His Majesty from this tiger and wolf's den, and please take care of your Majesty's jade body, and calm the good news of the younger brother. ”

Emperor Han Xian was both excited and moved, and simply had the courage to say, "Aiqing, you should take care of yourself." ”

Boss Cao turned his head angrily, his eyes breathed fire, and he glared at Emperor Han Xian, who cowered and did not dare to look at Boss Cao. After a while, Boss Cao suppressed his anger and gritted his teeth and said: "Your Majesty, if you think that when you arrive in Xuzhou, you will be better than now, then you are very wrong!" The minister dares to bet on the head of the Xiang, you are in the hands of the pottery thief, you will regret it 10,000 times more than now! ”

After saying this sentence loudly, Boss Cao shook his hand, strode out, and ordered with a loud roar in his mouth, "Please return to the palace immediately and send more royal guards to protect you!" Gather the civil and military generals above the captain level to discuss matters at the Prime Minister's Mansion! Tell the whole army to prepare for war now! The enemy is coming! Our most terrible, insidious, and despicable enemy, the army of Tao Ying thieves, is coming!! ”

"God kill your pottery thief!" Walking among the hundred officials, Boss Cao couldn't help but look up to the sky again and roared, "Why was I blind when I was under the city of Xuzhou?" Why are you blind?! ”

(To be continued)