The sky-high fire was mixed with thick fog, and no one could be seen at all, coupled with the continuous release of arrows by the Hanzhong army, Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He did not even meet Yang Ang and Zhang Ren, and they were defeated in a hurry.

The two roughly saw the direction, beckoned the soldiers to retreat, and ran wildly for dozens of miles in the night before finally getting rid of the pursuit.

A rough count of the ranks showed that there were 30,000 vanguard troops, and less than 20,000 remained, including thousands of wounded soldiers. Xiahou Yuan regretted that his intestines were blue, Zhang Tie blushed and didn't say a word, and the two of them rushed to Cao Cao's camp in the rear.

Cao Cao was having a high fever, feeling like he was sleeping on a fire, he suddenly opened his eyes, stared at Wang Baoyu, who was dozing on the side, and asked, "Baoyu, I dreamed that there were fireworks burning on the mountain, what do you mean?" ”

Wang Baoyu rubbed his eyes, immediately pinched his fingers, and said solemnly: "There is a fire on the mountain, it is a volcano brigade, and it should be at the moment." It's very unlucky, it should be that the team in front of you lost. ”

"Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He are both fierce generals who have been on the battlefield for a long time, how can they make a mistake?" Cao Cao waved his hand, very confident.

"There is no victorious general, not to mention that Zhang Lu's side must be on guard." Wang Baoyu nodded, which is equivalent to giving Cao Cao a psychological preparation, after all, he is an old man, and he is sick, what if he is angry?

Cao Cao was suspicious, and his face was very ugly. At this time, it was already faintly dawn outside, and a guard rushed in, panicking, Cao Cao saw it, his heart chuckled, and he knew that it was not good, and asked in a calm tone; "But the war ahead? ”

The guards didn't even dare to raise their heads, and said with a crying voice: "Report to the prime minister, General Xiahou is big, and he will return defeated!" ”

Cao Cao sat up with a flutter, got up too violently, his head was dizzy, his ears were buzzing, and he grinned in pain.

Wang Baoyu advised him not to be angry, it was already like this, an irreversible fact. But Cao Cao still struggled to put on his clothes, tied a strap on his head, and walked out of the big tent with Wang Baoyu's support.

At this time, Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He were smoked like black Africans by the smoke, and their exposed eyes were not bright, and they both knelt on the ground and waited for them to fall.

As soon as they saw Cao Cao, the two immediately kowtowed. Xiahou Yuan even cried on the ground, asking for the death penalty, he really didn't want to live.

Cao Cao was so angry that he slapped the two, but he didn't have the strength to slap the two, rubbed his head and asked loudly: "30,000 soldiers and horses, you two have been on the battlefield for a long time, why did you lose overnight and return with a wolf?" ”

"The camp was attacked by Yang Ang and Yang Ren at night." Xiahou Yuan said.

"In vain, I have painstakingly cultivated the two of you for many years, how can I not know that the art of war is cloudy, and if the soldiers are tired and tired, they will hinder the robbery?" Cao Cao pointed at the two and said angrily.

"Damn it, look down on that Zhang Wei!" Xiahou Yuan kowtowed again and again.

"You really deserve to die!" Cao Cao was furious, and pointed at Zhang He and said angrily: "Zhang He, you are both wise and brave, and you are the most serious, why did you have such a fiasco?" ”

Zhang He didn't know how to explain, he drooped his head listlessly, but Xiahou Yuan was angry, took over the conversation, choked up and added, "General Zhang He has reminded me many times, just because I am greedy for merit and progress, and I don't pay attention to it. As a result, the result ......"

"Drag Xiahou Yuan out and behead him!" Cao Cao ordered, and immediately several soldiers held up Xiahou Yuan, and Xiahou Yuan closed his eyes in despair. Wang Baoyu was not in a hurry, knowing that there must be a plea.

Poof! Poof! Sure enough, Jia Xu, Yang Xiu and the others all knelt down and pleaded: "Please Prime Minister Nian has made many military exploits in General Xiahou and exempt him from punishment." ”

Zhang He also hurriedly interceded: "General Xiahou is loyal, I only blame me for being lucky and failing to do my best to stop it, if the prime minister punishes me, punish me!" ”

Sima Yi didn't squeak, but a sneer flashed across his face, and it could be seen that he was in favor of killing Xiahou Yuan, after all, Xiahou Yuan had a very bad start.

"If you don't punish you, how can you enforce military discipline?" Cao Cao did not forgive.

With Wang Baoyu's understanding of Cao Cao, now that he is angry, most of what he says is angry, even if he kills Xiahou Yuan today, he will definitely regret it in the future, it is better to pretend to be a good person, so he persuaded: "Old Cao, killing the general in battle, that is an unlucky thing." Although General Xiahou was at fault, Zhang Lu was really cunning and couldn't prevent it, so it was better to let General Xiahou make meritorious contributions. ”

Cao Cao was silent, his meaning was self-evident, Wang Baoyu squeezed his eyes at Xiahou Yuan, and asked, "General Xiahou, do you have the confidence to kill Yang Ang and Yang Ren?" ”

Of course, Xiahou Yuan didn't really want to die, and hurriedly said: "The subordinates are determined to take the heads of the two to avenge today's humiliation." ”

"The last general is also willing to ask for his life and swear to kill these two." Zhang He also said.

"Lao Cao, don't be angry, kill General Xiahou, Zhang Lu will definitely be happy, this is called pain for relatives, and fast for enemies!" Wang Baoyu turned around and continued to persuade.

"For the sake of the military advisor's face, I will spare you for the time being." Cao Cao finally spat out Xiahou Yuan.

Xiahou Yuan couldn't help but cast a grateful glance at Wang Baoyu, but Sima Yi still didn't speak, slipped to the side, and pretended to help count the people and take care of the wounded.

Since the beginning of the expedition, Wang Baoyu has paid close attention to Sima Yi, and thought that he could put forward some military opinions, but he didn't expect that this person was unusually low-key, usually rarely spoken, and rarely communicated with Jia Xu and Yang Xiu. The work is also real, for example, whether the soldiers have enough to eat, whether they sleep comfortably at night, whether they miss their relatives, and so on.

Because he knew that Sima Yi would be Zhuge Liang's strong enemy in the future, Wang Baoyu didn't like to deal with him, so let him go. Although Cao Cao brought him in, he didn't talk to him much, and in Wang Baoyu's opinion, Cao Cao still had an inexplicable wariness of Sima Yi.

Cao Cao had a bad appetite and couldn't eat anything, so he returned to the tent and continued to lie down, but asked Wang Baoyu to discuss the next offensive plan with Jia Xu, Yang Xiu and others, and he couldn't lose his soldiers and horses in a daze.

Wang Baoyu found the two of them and asked in a big way: "Two, do you have a map here?" ”

"There are so many mountains in this place that there is no map." Yang Xiudao.

"You can't fight a war without a map, you have to get a map first." Wang Baoyu said.

"What Baoyu military advisor said is extremely true, we must not rush to march, we must find out the geographical advantages." Jia Xu agreed.

"Maps have always been a military secret, how can I get them?" Yang Xiu said with a difficult face.

"Old Yang, use your brains, you go and order the soldiers, first go and catch the woodcutters nearby, according to their descriptions, don't you just draw a map." Wang Baoyu gave Yang Xiu a task.

Yang Xiu reluctantly went out, and Jia Xu said with a smile: "Baoyu, with you coming, this battle will definitely be a big victory." ”