Cao Ren and Zhu Ling defeated Chen Liu, the wolf bèi fled north, Wang Xu did not let people pursue, in terms of the current situation, chasing these two people is insignificant, the most important thing is to quickly reorganize the troops and horses, and march north in an all-round way to deal with the decisive battle with Cao Cao.

At this time, from Wang Xu to ordinary sergeants, everyone in the middle route army of Chu State held a firm belief and was full of confidence in destroying the Wei State.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Wang Xu and the generals gathered together to arrange the northward advance.

"Ju Yi, Han Meng!"

"In!"

"The two of you will lead 30,000 people to the front tomorrow morning, through Xiaohuang and Pingqiu counties, and attack Changyuan, if the main force of the Cao army has arrived, then do not attack, find a suitable camp to settle down, and take strict precautions, especially at night, beware of the Cao army attacking the camp. If the main force of Cao's army does not arrive, then you must take Changyuan within half a day and hold this place! ”

"No!" Ju Yi and Han Meng nodded solemnly.

Wang Xu didn't tell him too much, he was still very relieved about Ju Yi and Han Meng.

"Wang Ling, Yan Liang!"

"In!"

"The two of you also led 30,000 men to set off an hour after Ju Yi and Han Meng set off, the two armies should pay attention to keeping their distance, but you will not go to Changyuan, but enter Pucheng, make corresponding preparations, I will lead the rear soldiers in half a day to a day after you......"

As soon as Wang Xu said this, there was a sudden rush of shouting outside the camp.

"Newspaper!! Cao Jun reported urgently!! ”

"Cao Jun?" Wang Xu was slightly stunned, and then shouted outside the tent: "Report quickly!" ”

With the voice of the voice, a general quickly walked into the tent and saw its face. Wang Xu was even more surprised. Because he was Yang Ang, who was supposed to be stationed in the sour jujube.

"General Yang. What's so urgent? Asked you to report it in person? ”

Yang Ang took a long breath and quickly saluted: "Back to the King of Chu, the Cao army has retreated, and it is fully retreating to the north of the Yellow River!" ”

"Retreat? When did the withdrawal begin? Why withdraw? Wang Xu couldn't believe it.

"Half a day ago, the specific situation was unknown, but according to Zhuge Junshi's speculation, I am afraid that Cao Cao wanted to give up the Central Plains and lead the soldiers of Wu State to continue to go north. Fight with each other with my Chu country! ”

"Then where is the Zhuge military division now?"

"He has taken the lead in marching to Baima, and instructed the last man to send a letter to the Lord's Gazette, imploring the Lord to send sergeants to support the front line and strive to break the broken rear forces of Cao's army."

"Okay, I see!"

When Wang Xu heard the news, how could he sit still, he didn't expect Cao Cao to react so quickly, and his decision was extremely decisive.

It stands to reason that Cao Cao should have hesitated for a day or two before making a choice after getting the news of Cao Ren's defeat. After all, giving up the Central Plains is not so easy. Although now Cao Cao's core has moved to Jizhou, Hebei. But after all, the time is still short, he has been operating in the Central Plains for a longer time, at least for now, it is still his foundation, how can he give up.

As long as Cao Cao could hesitate for even a day before starting to withdraw his troops, then he would be able to quickly manage to approach and hold Cao's army back to the death, forcing it to fight a decisive battle south of the Yellow River.

But no matter what the reason, no matter what the plan is, now that Cao Cao has begun to withdraw his troops, then his intention to force him to fight a decisive battle south of the Yellow River will naturally fail, and the greatest benefit that Chu can still strive for is to eat as many troops as possible that he has not had time to withdraw, and the sooner the better.

After combing through the shape in his mind, Wang Xu immediately ordered: "Ju Yi and Han Meng, when the soldiers rest for three hours, the two of you will immediately lead 50,000 troops and rush to Baima overnight, hurry!" When he joins Zhuge Junshi, he will obey his arrangement! ”

"No!" Ju Yi and Han Meng happily agreed.

The change of shape shì made the best opportunity to completely annihilate Cao Cao's main force lost, and Wang Xu knew very well in his heart that the outcome of the decisive battle north of the Yellow River was difficult to predict.

To use an inappropriate analogy, the current overwhelming situation of the Chu army is equivalent to grabbing the tail of the Wei state, making its entire body unbalanced and restrained everywhere. But Cao Cao's retreat to the north of the Yellow River was tantamount to making a painful decision to cut off his tail, and although his vitality was greatly damaged, it finally weakened the oppressive advantage of the Chu State.

In the following days, the Chu army fought for Cao Cao's retreat and launched several breakthroughs, but they were all blocked by the Cao army behind the palace.

Wang Xu finally gave up his delusional attempt to hold back most of Cao's army, and planned to eat the troops behind his palace, only to wait for him to finally withdraw and cross the river, and then follow and kill them, and defeat them in one fell swoop.

Unexpectedly, after most of Cao's army withdrew to the north of the Yellow River, this palace army did not cross the river, but suddenly disappeared overnight.

In a fit of rage, Wang Xu quickly dispatched scouts to investigate, only to learn that the army had set up a fictitious camp and had already taken advantage of the night to retreat eastward, and the destination was obviously Qingzhou. This made him so angry, the trick of the golden cicada shelling, he used it very well, and he didn't think that he would be calculated by others today.

But at this time, it was too late to chase, and it was even more impossible for the Chu army to chase to Qingzhou, after all, whether or not the capital of Wei could be broken was the key to the success or failure of the Northern Expedition.

At this point, the famous Battle of Chenliu finally ended, with the defeat of Wei and retreat to Hebei, and the middle route army of Chu State stationed in Baima and Puyang as the result, the entire campaign, the loss of Chu State was almost negligible, and Cao Cao was disabled nearly 150,000 elite divisions.

This battle of Chenliu, together with the earlier Battle of Luoyang and the Battle of Nanyang, was collectively known as the three major battles in later generations.

The state of Chu achieved brilliant results with very small losses, and the losses of the Wei state before and after the state reached an astonishing 35 or 60,000 troops, and if you add the casualties of the Huaihe soldiers and the Wu state in the battle, it is already close to 400,000 losses, not only the high-level civil and military casualties, but also a large number of outstanding middle and low-level generals and colonels suffered heavy losses.

These armies, these backbones, are the elite main forces of the Wei State, and they are veterans who have fought against the Chu State and the Wu State for many years, and their extended losses are far higher than literally!

Fortunately, Cao Cao used his wisdom and decisiveness at a critical moment to preserve part of the elite forces of Wei and avoid the catastrophe.

After Wang Xu led the Middle Route Army into Baima and Puyang, he did not dare to cross the Yellow River north immediately, because the continuous battle had made the Chu army show fatigue. Facing Cao Jun, who responded calmly. Don't dare to attack lightly. You can only rest in place and wait for the recovery of combat strength.

At this moment, Wei and Chu are really standing on the same starting line, each preparing for the decisive battle.

But in fact, Wang Xu had a vague feeling in his heart that the second Northern Expedition of Chu State might end here.

After Sima Yi, Li Dian, Cao Xiu, Guo Huai and other generals led their troops to evacuate from the Huai River area, Wu's Northern Expeditionary Army was led by Sun Ce. It quickly followed northward and occupied most of Xuzhou except for Langxi County and part of Yuzhou.

Soon, Zhou Yu of Wu led his army to occupy the eastern part of Runan County, and confronted Zhao Yun, Zhang He, and other generals of the right route army of Chu State.

When Wang Xu got the news in Puyang, he suddenly felt depressed, and couldn't help but summon Zhuge Liang to discuss.

"Kong Ming, Wu Guo is trying to stop me from destroying Cao!"

"Alas!" Zhuge Liang sighed. Rather helplessly, he shook the feather fan. "Wu Guo is worried that after the Chu State destroys Cao, it will not be able to fight alone. Sun Ce's current move. It was clearly intended to occupy parts of Xuzhou and Yuzhou and extend the border of Wu to the Central Plains. One is to suppress the Wei State, the second is to increase its own strength, and the third is probably to form an alliance with the weakened Wei State! ”

"Wu and Wei form an alliance?" Wang Xu raised his eyebrows, and his melancholy was even stronger.

"Judging by its actions, it should be good!"

Zhuge Liang was far more sensitive to politics than to military, and was therefore very confident in his inferences with himself.

"The Wei State suffered heavy losses in this battle, the elite soldiers were consumed too much, and the Central Plains was even more painfully lost, and the national strength was already at a disadvantage compared to the Chu State, and it may be difficult to recover in a short time. Now Wu has marched into the Central Plains and taken most of Xuzhou and Yuzhou without much effort, although it has gained a lot of money, it is still a relatively weak side. Neither of them can compete with the state of Chu alone now, so an alliance may be inevitable. ”

"But if the two countries are united, how can the Chu State be matched?" Wang Xu said worriedly.

Zhuge Liang smiled, shook his head and said: "The lord doesn't need to worry, the alliance between Wu and Wei cannot really work together, and it is impossible to attack Chu together, because there is also a big gap between Wei and Wu, and if Wei relaxes, Wu will not be able to compete alone." ”

"You mean to say that Wu Guo is playing with the idea of balance?" Wang Xu asked.

"Not bad! According to his subordinates, the current state of Wu has made up his mind. Seeing that Cao Wei was weakened, he intended to confront the Chu State with his alliance, and at the same time seized the Central Plains, strengthened himself, and suppressed Cao Wei's strength. ”

"In this way, Wu Guo will now be fishing in troubled waters!"

"Fishing in troubled waters?" Zhuge Liang was slightly stunned, and then smiled: "It is appropriate for the lord to describe it like this, but Cao Cao will not let Wu Guo be so happy, but it is really a great difficulty for the lord to sweep the world." ”

Wang Xu was really out of luck at this time, if Wei and Wu were allied, then he really didn't know how to fight, he never expected that the shape would gradually evolve into this.

"Kong Ming, now that the shape has become so complicated, what do you think we should do in the future?"

Facing Wang Xu's inquiry, Zhuge Liang smiled, and seemed to have already made up his mind. "Lord, in fact, in the past few days, my subordinates have come up with three countermeasures."

"Oh? Come and hear it! Wang Xu's spirit was shocked.

"One strategy, withdraw the troops, turn to Jingnan, and crusade against Jiangdong! Cao Cao's strength is now greatly weakened, morale is low, and the soldiers are afraid of the Chu State, if the lord sends a strong general to defend the danger, he should barely be able to resist, so he will concentrate his forces and fight a decisive battle with the Wu State, and try to destroy Wu first, or there is something to do. It's just that this is the next policy, the soldiers of Chu are tired of fighting, and they will raise troops to attack Wu again, and the victory or defeat is unpredictable, and Cao Cao is a hero in the world, and he can stop his counterattack, it is not known! If you are not careful, you will be in danger of destroying the country! ”

"The second strategy, withdraw the army, continue to painstakingly manage the internal affairs, enrich the national strength, and conquer once a year or every other year in the future, take the offensive as the defense, gradually weaken the strength of Wu and Wei, and always keep the Chu State stronger than the two countries, and then make good use of the way of combining vertical and horizontal lines, so that the three countries can fight each other. After years and years, if you persist for a long time, you will finally be able to wait for the best time, and Cao Cao and Sun Jian are old, and when they die, it will be difficult for the successor to fully control the country in a short time, and it is also a good time to do so. This strategy is stable, but it will take a long time and extend to two generations, which is the middle policy. ”

Hearing this, Wang Xu suddenly felt cold, isn't this second strategy Qin's strategy to destroy the Six Kingdoms? When will it take to sweep the world? If you don't pay attention to it a little, I'm afraid that he himself will turn to ashes, and the three kingdoms have not been unified, if it is like the three kingdoms in history, and there are few people in the whole country who die, then what is the meaning?

Immediately, I couldn't help but hurriedly said: "What about the best policy?" What's the best way to go? ”

"As for the best policy, although it is dangerous, it is promising!" Zhuge Liang said, habitually shaking the feather fan, and after a pause, he continued: "The best policy is to set Xiliang, sweep away the troubles, get the elite soldiers of Xiliang, gather the strength of the country, and attack Wei again!" ”

When Wang Xu heard this, he almost didn't want to think about it. "Okay, then it's the best policy, only this strategy can be my favorite!"

As he spoke, he quickly stood up and said sharply: "The herald is frustrated, let him organize his manpower as much as possible, and be sure to empty all the Cao Jun treasury in the place he currently occupies as quickly as possible, whether it is money, food, materials, or ordnance, in short, move it for me." ”

"In addition to not allowing the property and lives of the people to be touched, those things that belong to the Wei State Treasury will be demolished if they can't be moved, and burned for me if they can't be demolished, I don't want to see anything left!"

ps: The second watch is here! In the future, two more per day, until the end of the book, if you add more, it will be in the evening, depending on the situation, do not build yì everyone intends to wait for the change! (To be continued......)