After the start of the Second Northern Expedition of Chu, Xiahou Yuan, as a former general of Wei, twice led troops to rescue emergencies. First rushed from Hanoi to Luoyang, and now from Baima to attack the sour date, it can be said that he did not make a mistake in the two marches, but made the most appropriate judgment based on the information he had, and also showed a strong ability.

But the result was a tragedy, both battles were defeated, and the total number of troops lost before and after was as high as 70,000 or 80,000, not to mention that the morale of his subordinates was hit hard, and even Xiahou Yuan himself was really stunned, and even lost his self-confidence, questioning his ability and luck.

Of course, as a famous general, as a general with outstanding psychological qualities, if he is given enough time to reflect, then these are not problems, and he can adjust after all, but the premise of that is that it takes time, he is also a person after all, and there is a limit to bear after all.

After he led the remnants of the army to flee to Puyang, he felt that he really had no face to see Cao Cao, so he took the initiative to plead guilty, and handed over his former general's seal and ribbon, asking for a surrender!

At that moment, Cao Cao looked at Xiahou Yuan, looking at this general who had always been arrogant, but now he was full of vegetables and low spirits, and he had that feeling for the first time.

It's a feeling of fear! It's the fear of Chu and Wang Xu!

This has never been done in Cao Cao's life.

Although he regarded Wang Xu as the most important confidant and the most important opponent in his life since he was young, he has always had strong enough self-confidence to believe that he will become the winner. But now, in the face of the Second Northern Expedition of the Chu State, he suffered a heavy blow in his heart.

He was even a little incredulous that the Wei State was so powerful. But how can it be in a short period of time. Beaten like this?

When he saw Xiahou Yuan's decadent face. I saw not only Xiahou Yuan alone, but more Cao Jun and more Wei soldiers.

Now that this morale has fallen to the bottom, how can this war be fought?

Until now, he hadn't even met Wang Xu, but Wei had lost countless generals, including Le Jin.

The 100,000 guards of Nanyang, although they were not killed, were captured. The rout of the rout can be called the annihilation of the whole army!

The same is true of the tens of thousands of defenders in Luoyang, which is also the end of the annihilation of the entire army, and even more than a dozen important ministers such as Zhong Xuan and Xu Rong were killed!

The two troops and horses that were sent to support Luoyang earlier, totaling 50,000 or 60,000 people, were completely defeated!

A total of 80,000 elite soldiers sent to Chenliu have now been wiped out, and Ai Jiang is nowhere to be found, only Cao Ren and Zhu Ling are still under siege, barely supporting!

In addition, now Xiahou Yuan has failed to attack sour jujubes. The front of 50,000 that suffered tragic losses again!

Then before and after, there are more than 300,000 elite soldiers in total. Killed, wounded, scattered, captured, or completely discouraged!

This result made his heart cold, even if he was a man of the ages, he couldn't bear it, at least not now.

In the end, after he learned the details, he still didn't cure Xiahou Yuan's crime, because he knew that it was not Xiahou Yuan's fault, and asked himself, even he didn't figure out how this battle was fought like this, if he always maintained such passivity and chaos, then Wei would really be over.

There was no anger, no scolding, no accusation, Cao Cao waved away the important ministers with a gloomy face, sat alone in his tent, and reflected quietly.

He vaguely felt that there was something he hadn't figured out!

For two whole hours, Cao Cao had been fiddling with the battle report on the table, carefully examining every detail, and carefully recalling the past.

Since the Battle of Wuyin two years ago, all the qiē have been carefully sorted out and various possibilities have been analyzed.

Gradually, his brows gradually relaxed, but his eyes widened wider and wider, and his gaze became more and more terrifying!

Suddenly, he stood up, his little eyes glinting, and he was talking to himself.

"Ziyang! Ziyang! You really deserve to be the person I admire the most in my life! ”

"Two years ago, you were dancing to death, and you have already planned such a layout, if you don't try to install an internal response at that time, how can you do your best? I said why I feel ominous, it turns out that this is the case, but I hate that I have not realized until now, I regret it, regret it! ”

Cao Cao is really an ordinary person, in this situation, he can also rely on inference to instantly determine the problem, which can be described as a sophisticated calculation.

At this time, he figured out the crux of the problem, thought about it for a while, and thought of countermeasures.

"Someone!"

"What did the King of Wei command?" A young general walked in outside the door and asked loudly.

"Ordered the three armies, immediately change the front to the rear, quickly turn back, retreat to the north of the Yellow River, and conquer the southern general Cao Zhen! Also, you're going to call Jia Xu! ”

"No!"

In fact, this young general didn't need to go to Jia Xu, when he passed the order, he was still on the way to find Jia Xu, when he ran into Jia Wenhe, who hurried to Cao Cao's main account.

Jia Xu was in a hurry, he didn't understand Cao Cao's decision to retreat, so he rushed over, and when he entered the tent, he almost didn't even bother to salute, and he was already in a hurry: "King Wei, you can't retreat!" ”

"Why?" Although Cao Cao's face was still gloomy, he was obviously much calmer than before.

"King Wei!" Jia Xu took a step closer again, and said anxiously: "My Wei State does not have a naval army, nor does it have a large number of warships, so it is impossible to blockade the Yellow River, and it is impossible to prevent the army of Chu from crossing the river. ”

Cao Cao shook his head: "Gu He once said that he would use the Yellow River to stop the Chu army?" ”

Jia Xu was even more confused, and spoke out to dissuade: "Since this is the case, then we shouldn't retreat to the north of the Yellow River, in this way, wouldn't we let the Chu army go straight to the capital of our Wei State?" Moreover, if the King of Wei retreats now, the 40,000 soldiers and horses of Cao Ren and Zhu Ling will undoubtedly be defeated, and the defenders along the Huai River will also be difficult to resist Jiangdong! At that time, Wu and Chu entered the Central Plains together, and Wei lost the Central Plains? ”

Cao Cao looked at Jia Xu, who looked a little excited at this time, and didn't explain too much, he was silent for a moment before he sighed leisurely: "Wen Ping is the internal response of the Chu army, and Gu has been confirmed without a doubt!" ”

"Huh?" Jia Xu was stunned for a moment, and didn't seem to react, but how outstanding his wit was, after Cao Cao's little thought, he was suddenly shocked. "King Wei, could it be that two years ago, Wen was hired by fraud?"

"As it should be!" Cao Cao nodded.

"Huh!" Jia Xu sighed heavily, and finally understood.

Cao Cao shook his head helplessly, and said: "Wen Ping is an internal response, and Cao Ren and Zhu Ling's soldiers will be defeated within these two days." After that, the state of Chu will take advantage of the victory to attack, and our army not only broke the front in the sour date, but also did not have enough time to redeploy here, unable to change the passive situation. It is better to avoid the edge of the Chu army, retreat to the north of the Yellow River, calmly complete the deployment, occupy the geographical advantage, people, and then fight a decisive battle with the Chu army! ”

When he knew the shape of the moment, in fact, there was no need for Cao Cao to say this, and Jia Xu was also very clear in his heart, so he didn't say anything, thought about it, and instead admonished: "King Wei, since this is the case, Cao Ren and Zhu Lingbu are too late to save it, but the elite stationed in the Huai River area can't be ignored." ”

"If our army retreats, the soldiers of the Huai River will be in a desperate situation and will not be able to hold on for a long time. In his humble opinion, it is better to urgently order him to take the initiative to retreat and let the soldiers and horses of Wu enter the Central Plains, so that not only can the elite soldiers of the Huai River be saved, but also the Wu State and the Chu State will fight for the division of the Central Plains. ”

"Hmm!" Cao Cao was noncommittal, thought about it, and instead asked, "Then where do you think it is better for the Huai River soldiers to retreat?" ”

Jia Xu did not hesitate, and replied to himself: "Retreat to the line of Langxie County north of Xuzhou and Taishan County in the northeast of Yanzhou, curb the danger, and protect Qingzhou in the north of the two places!" In addition, this area is adjacent to Jizhou Plain, Qinghe and other counties, one right and one left, only the Yellow River is separated in the middle, and they can take care of each other, and it is convenient to come and go to rescue. ”

Cao Cao said with a smile: "Isn't this the same as Yuan Shao's early years of dominating the four states of Qing, You, and Hebei?" ”

"Exactly, if Wei keeps these four states from losing, it will have the opportunity to turn the situation around, just wait for the decisive battle to repel the Chu army, and Yanzhou will be pacified without much effort."

"Well, according to your word! Immediately send someone to pass the order to the Huaihe army! ”

Cao Cao acted decisively, did not drag his feet at all, and made the most correct choice in the moment of crisis, which cannot be described as untimely.

Half a day after he made the decision to withdraw the army, Wen Ping led his henchmen to open the gate of Chenliu County's capital, Ju Yi led the Dengsheng soldiers, and rushed into the city first.

Its deputy general Zhu Ling was stationed on the dangerous road in the north of the city, and Ben and Chen Liu took care of each other. Because the place where it was stationed was too dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, for many days, Ju Yi, Han Meng, and Yan Liang did not dare to attack lightly, hoping to wait for Chen Liucheng to be captured, and then concentrate on encirclement and suppression.

Cao Ren was able to hold on for so long, thanks to Zhu Ling's support, if it weren't for his frequent raids, the Chu army could not attack the city with all its might, and Chen Liu would have been broken long ago.

But at this time, Chen Liu suddenly fell, how could Zhu Ling still sit still, and hurriedly led the army to rescue, and the two sides fought fiercely in the wilderness outside the city.

It's just that the Cao army's troops in this place are small, and the morale is low, after losing the dangerous place to rely on, where can they block the encirclement of the Chu army from several roads, only fought for more than half an hour, and then quickly routed, Zhu Ling rescued the wounded Cao Ren, only a few men and horses broke out, and quickly fled to the north.

In fact, Cao Ren was able to escape, not entirely because Zhu Ling rescued him in time, but more importantly, Ju Yi, who was the first to rush into the city, deliberately let him go.

At the beginning, Ju Yi was calculated by Cao Cao, but it was Cao Ren who gave him a way to live, and now he has also returned it to Cao Ren.

No one knows what happened between the two at that time, but Wang Xu knew very well that Ju Yi must have done it intentionally, otherwise Cao Ren would not have been able to rush out of the city, so how could he be rescued by Zhu Ling?

It's just that Ju Yi has heard about it back then, and Wang Xu has long heard about it, and with his mind, he can still tolerate this kind of righteous act, so he just summoned Ju Yi to talk a few words, and then it was over. (To be continued......)