The strength of the Second Northern Expedition of Chu not only weakened the Wei State, but also made the Wu State very panicked.

When Cao Cao was forced to retreat north of the Yellow River, both sides even sent envoys to convey to each other that they wanted an alliance.

In troubled times, there are never eternal allies, only eternal interests!

Cao Cao had no choice, the battle suffered heavy losses, shaking the fundamentals, if he did not get the full help of Wu, he would face the resistance of the Chu State alone It was very difficult, he had to befriend the Wu State and force the Chu State to retreat, so as to retain his own strength, and at the same time buy time to reinvigorate morale and restore strength.

Wu also had no choice, if they turned a blind eye and let Chu fight down, the result was really unpredictable, and they couldn't afford it.

For Wu State, the best outcome is, of course, that Wei and Chu both lose, thus fulfilling their chances.

But the current situation, it is obvious that the Wei State has been overwhelmed, if the Wei State fails to survive this pass, the capital is broken by the Chu army, and most of the main forces are wiped out in one battle, then the Wu State will not be far from extinction, because its rise is late, the foundation is weak, and it has been oppressed by the Wei State and the Chu State in the past few years, and the development has been slow.

It wasn't until two years ago that after Wang Xu cheated to death in Wuyin and secretly deployed today's shocking scam, the war in the world subsided, and Cao Wei was also busy rectifying himself, and Wu State ushered in leapfrog development. But even so, how can he alone contend with the Chu State that has accumulated for many years.

It must be known that if you talk about the solid foundation and strong backing force, even the Wei State is far inferior to the Chu State.

The achievements of Chu State's early development and reform for more than ten years are not as simple as they seem. The orderliness, sustainability, standardization, and efficiency of its economic, internal, production, and agricultural systems have been the objects that Wu and Wei have been emulating in recent years.

Although Wei was stronger before. But that is also because of the advantage of occupying the north. It can be discussed as a potential undertone. That's already far behind.

Therefore, Sun Jian, Sun Ce and others knew very well that the Wei State could not be destroyed!

At the same time, they didn't want to confront the army of Chu head-on, although the shocking deception set up by Wang Xu this time was not to fight against them, but it really shocked the whole Wu State.

Now that the soldiers of the Chu State are at their strongest, of course they don't want to waste their strength in vain and fight with the Chu State, and they can avoid it. So. Although they formed an alliance with the Wei State, and although they showed a resolute posture, they were unwilling to engage the Chu State head-on until they had to.

Such a situation dragged on for more than two months.

In early July 208 AD, Wang Xu finally ordered the middle and right armies to fully evacuate Yan and Henan.

He also had no choice, if he continued to march into the army, then it would definitely stimulate the full union of Wu and Wei, and Chu was not ready to face the main forces of the two countries at the same time.

If you continue to occupy the Central Plains. That part of the region will become a drag on the Chu State, and these regions will not only be far away from the Chu State itself. is still in the gap between Wu and Wei, it can be said that all sides are facing danger, plus most of the people are from Wei, how to talk about governance, what about garrison?

I'm afraid that if you want to maintain the situation, you need to keep hundreds of thousands of troops stationed here from time to time, and you must continue to recruit people, and constantly send resources from Chu State to maintain it.

However, even if the troops had to be withdrawn, the harvest of the Northern Expedition of the Chu State was really huge, and parts of Yanzhou, Luoyang and Yuzhou were completely emptied.

The amount of money, food, and materials seized was too much to count, and the transportation team continued day and night.

The people, county soldiers, and reservists that the Chu State continued to transfer, as many as nearly a million people, plus the main soldiers, this is such an amazing transportation capacity, but it took more than two months to move them all, and what could not be taken away was also destroyed, and it was burned, making the Cao Jun's treasury completely empty.

In late July, the Middle Route Army and the Right Route Army slowly withdrew to the junction of Nanyang and Yingchuan, and Wang Xu asked Ju Yi and Zhao Yun to lead 50,000 troops to Luoyang to respond to the withdrawal of the Left Route Army.

At the end of July, Zhang Liao led the main force of the White Tiger Army and successfully retreated to Hangu Pass, and Zhou Zhi led the rest of the troops and horses on the left to retreat south to Yingchuan and join Wang Xu.

At the beginning of August, the main force of the Northern Expedition of Chu withdrew to Nanyang, and the Second Northern Expedition came to an end.

Although this battle failed to achieve the original goal, the defeat of the Wei State, but to the Cao army heavy losses, the capture of money, food and materials is huge, the damage caused to the Wei State is so severe, can be called unprecedented, can be called a complete victory, the Chu State through this battle, greatly weakened Cao Wei, became the world's first force worthy of the name.

Of course, at the same time as the retreat of Chu, Wu and Wei also reached a tacit understanding.

Wu occupied most of Yuzhou and Xuzhou, and controlled all the southern regions of the Central Plains, but it did not gain an inch, and had no intention of getting involved in Yingchuan, Yanzhou, northern Xuzhou and other places, allowing Cao Cao to recover the northern regions of the Central Plains, and the two countries were one south and one north, dividing the Central Plains.

This is not because Wu is soft-hearted, but because he does not yet have the strength to fully control the Central Plains, and he does not want to face the Chu State alone, so he took the initiative to cede the northern part of the Central Plains.

Yanzhou and other places were the foundation of Cao Cao's early years, and now they are the gateway to Hebei, so of course it is impossible for him to give up in vain, and after the retreat of the Chu State, he quickly entered the station.

At this point, a strange pattern was formed.

The northern part of the Central Plains occupied by Cao Cao bordered the Chu state at Luoyang and Yingchuan, and the southern part of the Central Plains, occupied by Jiangdong, bordered the Chu state again in Runan.

Among them, Yingchuan and Runan are one north and one south, which happen to be close to Jingzhou Nanyang.

For this reason, Wang Xu also strengthened the defense of Nanyang, and ordered Zhang He's Eastern Army and Zhang Jing's Suzaku Army to garrison the two main army corps......

On the tenth day of the first month of August, the army returned triumphantly, and the people of Xiangyang flocked to greet it, and the cheers were deafening!

Because there were too many people on this day, for safety reasons, Wang Xu's family did not go out of the palace to greet them, but just waited quietly in the palace.

This time, Wang Xu did not avoid this troublesome scene, but rode a war horse and constantly accepted the cheers of the people, this is to announce his return, to make the people really feel at ease, and to let the whole Chu country clearly feel his return.

In a sea of joy. The entire cruise lasted a full half day. Before the evening. Wang Xucai led the civil and military forces to the palace, and then feasted the ministers in the South Palace.

Wang Xu's return and the great victory of the Northern Expedition seem to have turned all the past contradictions into invisible. Suspicions, estrangements, and contradictions seem to be rapidly fading, and many people are drunk, and excitement and happiness are overflowing, and such a scene has not happened for two or three years.

It wasn't until the end of the banquet late at night that the anxious Wang Xu took the time to hurry to the West Palace and take the lead in meeting his parents and elders. After some explanations, it was relieved and comforted, and finally the old people stopped crying. calmed down, but they didn't think that they were reluctant to let Wang Xu leave. insisted on dragging him to stay in the West Palace for one night.

Wang Xu actually felt very guilty in his heart, although he kept the memories of his previous life, which made the sense of closeness not so strong, but his parents and family in this life gave him all the qiē.

From the moment he was born, he received countless favors and cares, and it can be said that the whole family revolves around him, but he tries his best to meet his needs.

But when he was young, he ran away from home for his dreams and desires, which can be said to have broken the hearts of his parents and relatives in this life.

When he grew up, his family moved to Jingzhou, but he was in turmoil, and his busy affairs and frequent battles made him get together with his family less and more. Especially in the last seven or eight years, I have hardly seen each other a few times, and I have not really sat down and spoken properly.

Since the first Northern Expedition, I haven't seen it at a glance, my parents think he is dead, the white-haired person sends the black-haired person, how to smooth out that kind of pain!

Now that Wang Xu has returned victoriously, when he sees his parents and family in this life, he finds it even more obvious that the years are urging people to grow old, and the white hair has already filled their foreheads, and wrinkles are all over their cheeks.

For some reason, the memories of my childhood suddenly became clear at this time.

He remembered that when he was young, his mother sat by candlelight and made every piece of clothing for him with her own hands.

He remembered that his father, Wang Yan, ran around and stayed up all night for his request, so he wanted to find a famous teacher for him.

He remembered the old locust tree in the courtyard of his hometown in Shanyang, and when he was free, he always liked to go to play under the old locust tree.

At that time, Xu Shu was still a little girl, he was still a little boy, his mother in this life was young and beautiful, young and beautiful, her skin was still as white as snow, she always looked at him gently, hurt him, and walked around behind him, for fear that he would fall his hands or feet! When he was sick, he accompanied him day and night and cared for him carefully!

In this life, his father, Wang Yan, was still an elegant scribe at that time, and he was as rich as jade, but he was worried about his illness, tried his best to grow up, was angry that he was wronged, and ran around for his request.

Even if it is a few aunts, they can be said to take good care of him, pampering, protecting, and treating him like a treasure, saying that he is afraid of melting in his mouth, and he is afraid of falling off in his hand.

But time passed, and before they knew it, they were all old, and they could no longer see their young faces! I can no longer see their voices and smiles at that time!

This night, Wang Xu tossed and turned on the bed, and the eyes that made countless enemies fear on the battlefield were always moist from time to time, and bursts of mist were wavered......

The next day, when the sun rose, he ate breakfast made by his mother in this life.

Although the content is very simple, he tastes a different taste, and he feels that it is 10,000 times better than those food masters in the palace!

This made him feel very good, and even when he arrived at the Qilin Hall and started the court discussion, he still kept a smile.

The generals of Wenchen thought that he was happy for the victory of the Northern Expedition, who would have thought that it would be such a simple reason?

This court discussion lasted for a long time, and the ministers briefly reported all aspects of the situation in the Chu State, starting from the early morning and not finishing the general situation until the afternoon.

Wang Xu listened quietly, only wrote down a rough note, but in order to say more about these matters, he then announced the end of the court meeting.

This made the civil and military inexplicable, I really don't understand how this can happen, it stands to reason that after Wang Xu comes back, at least he has to do some rectification, but it is really unexpected to break up the discussion so suddenly!

It's just that no one knows that Wang Xu is actually still waiting for news from afar, and he needs to see the information over there before he can really start a comprehensive rectification...... (To be continued......)