Since the removal of Cao Xiu, Xiahoudun has fully mastered the military power of Yedu, with Cao Zhang's re-leading army back, Cao's army strength has been further enhanced, the current total strength of Cao's army in Yedu has reached 120,000 people, including 20,000 cavalry, in addition to 30,000 newly recruited soldiers, the remaining 90,000 troops are mostly elite troops, at the same time, Cao's army still has more than 400,000 stone stockpiles, elite soldiers and enough stockpiles of food to give Xiahoudun and the Han army the confidence to fight a decisive battle.

Zhao Yun and Wen Ping led an army of 160,000 to cross the Yellow River to the north, Liu Hu led an army of 50,000 to Wei County, Huang Zhong and Gan Ning led an army of 80,000 troops from Qingzhou to Yedu, and Liu Jing's 100,000 troops led by Liu Jing personally entered Hebei from Jingcheng, and nearly 400,000 troops surrounded Yedu from all directions.

Cao Jun is like a beast that has fallen into a trap, either trapped in the trap to death, or trapped in the beast and fighting to the death.

On the lobby of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Cao Zhi, Xiahoudun, Zhang Liao, Xu Chu, Zang Ba, Guo Huai, Cao Zhang, and strategists Guoyuan, Liu Ye, Xin Bi and others gathered together to discuss the final decisive battle with the Han army.

There is a sand table of the whole territory of Hebei on the lobby, everyone is solemn, standing in front of the sand table silently, at present their opinions are slightly different, Cao Zhi advocates sticking to Yedu and the Han army to contend with, if the Han army can not win for a year or two, they will retreat.

But Xiahoudun didn't want to defend the city passively, he hoped to find the weakness of the Han army, concentrate his forces to break through, and defend Yedu until he was trapped to death in the end, that was by no means his character.

"General Zang Ba, tell me, where is Zhao Yun's army at present?" Xiahoudun turned around and asked Zang overbearing.

Zang Ba originally defended Luoyang with Xu Huang, but after the disastrous defeat of Cao Ren's Central Plains War, he was temporarily transferred back to Hebei and led 10,000 troops to defend the north bank of the Yellow River in Baimajin, and thus escaped the destruction of Cao's army in Luoyang.

The 10,000 troops led by Zang Ba have withdrawn from the north bank of the Yellow River and are currently stationed outside the southern city of Yedu, and he sent many scouts to investigate the situation of the Han army in the Yellow River and have a better understanding of the Han army in the south.

Zang Ba saluted and said: "At present, the main force of Zhao Yun of the Han army is south of Dangyin County, about one hundred and fifty miles away from Yedu, and they are not going north, and they seem to be waiting for orders. ”

"Where is Huang Zhong's army now?" Xiahoudun asked Guo Huai again.

At present, Guo Huai is in control of the original Cao Xiu's 30,000 troops, and the army is stationed in the east of the city, mainly responsible for intelligence in the east. ”

At this time, without waiting for Xiahoudun to ask, Cao Zhang stepped forward and said: "Liu Jing's 100,000 army has passed through Jingcheng, three days in Changshan County, and now it should be in Zhao County." ”

Cao Zhang rushed back to attend his father's funeral, of course, this was just his excuse, he was angry because of the 30,000 Youzhou army was wiped out and left Yedu, but he heard that Bingzhou had been captured by the Han army, Liu Jing was stationed in Taiyuan, he realized that the main force of the Han army would enter Hebei from Jingcheng, so that his Youzhou army would bear the brunt and be attacked by the Han army.

Cao Zhang also considered retreating to Liaodong, or returning to Yedu, and fighting the enemy with other Cao troops, but just when he was difficult to decide, Yedu came with the bad news of his father's death, as a son of man, he had to go to Yedu to mourn, and it was for this reason that Cao Zhang finally decided to give up Youzhou and lead the army back to Yedu.

In Yedu, Cao Zhang only had 20,000 troops, unable to compete with Xiahoudun, who controlled the 100,000 army, and he also learned the lesson of Cao Xiu, and tried to cooperate with Xiahoudun's army deployment without losing control of the army.

Xiahoudun nodded, more satisfied with Cao Zhang's attitude, although with his character, he would definitely take away the command of the Youzhou Army as well, but now that infighting was no longer allowed, he could only reluctantly accept Cao Zhang's cooperation instead of handing over power.

At this time, Xiahoudun picked up the wooden pole and said to Zhao Jun: "Liu Jing's main force is in Zhao County, about three hundred miles away from Yedu, if we send troops north overnight and fight a decisive battle with Liu Jing's 100,000 army, we can tell the winner in one day at most, and Huang Zhong's army and Zhao Yun's army have no time to support, as long as we can defeat Liu Jing's main force and then turn around and defeat Huang Zhong's army, then we will not only win a big victory in Hebei, but even regain Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Yuzhou, and regain the strategic advantage over the Han State, so success or failure is in this move." ”

"But what if we fail?" Guo Yuan asked hesitantly.

Xiahoudun shook his head, "How can the state servants say such uninformed words, there is no perfect certainty of anything, but we have 100,000 elite soldiers, Liu Jing is also 100,000 elite soldiers, the two armies meet, the victory or defeat is five or five points, at least we have hope to defeat Liu Jing's main force, which is much better than trapping Ye to death." ”

"But what if Liu Jing doesn't fight?" Liu Ye, who had been silent, finally couldn't help but speak.

This sentence was like a needle to the key point of Xiahoudun, Xiahoudun suddenly jumped like thunder, he pointed at Liu Ye and scolded: "Do you think that if you are a member of the Han family, you can get benefits from Liu Jing?" You bastard, you bastard who eats inside and out, if you don't kill you today, how can you serve the public? ”

Xiahoudun drew his sword and rushed towards Liu Ye, so frightened that Guo Huai and Zhang Liao hurriedly hugged him, Guo Huai persuaded: "It's not a good sign for the general to calm down his anger and kill the strategists in battle. ”

Perhaps it was more taboo to say that he was about to kill the general, Xiahoudun put away his sword and ordered the guards on both sides, "Give me this person a stick!" ”

Liu Ye was also resentful in his heart, and before the guards stepped forward, he snorted heavily and walked out quickly.

Liu Ye was driven away, but Xiahoudun was still angry, and he turned back to Xin Bi again, "Could it be that Xin Zhongcheng also wants to oppose it?" ”

"I have no opinion!"

Xiahou let out a long sigh and looked back at Cao Zhi, he waited for Cao Zhi's final statement, Cao Zhi was helpless, so he had to nod slowly, "It's up to the general to decide!" ”

"Then it's decided, leave 30,000 new troops to defend the city, and the remaining 90,000 troops will follow me north to meet Liu Jing, and set off today!"

Everyone dispersed, Xiahou dun left the Prime Minister's Mansion, turned over his horse and ordered: "Go to the North Military Camp!" ”

At this time, a shout came from behind, "General, please stay." ”

Xiahoudun turned around, but saw that it was Guo Huai chasing after him, he reined in his war horse and asked, "What else is going on in Boji?" ”

Guo Huai ran forward and said: "Why didn't the general let Wen Yuan guard Yedu, he was able to defend Hefei back then, and he felt that he was more sure to keep Yedu." ”

The 30,000 new army was trained by Zhang Liao for more than a month, and Zhang Liao and the 30,000 army had a deeper run-in, and he was also very prestigious in the 30,000 new army, so Guo Huaijian asked Zhang Liao to lead the 30,000 new army to defend Yedu, but Xiahoudun did not make such a decision, and the defense of Ye involved the military power of the 30,000 new army, so Xiahoudun decided to let his son Xiahou Nan command the 30,000 new army.

Xiahoudun pondered for a moment, but still shook his head, "If my main force is defeated, and there are eggs under the nest?" I have made up my mind, don't persuade me anymore, Berji can return to Dongying quickly, and lead the army to join me in an hour! ”

Xiahou urged the war horse and galloped away, Guo Huai shook his head regretfully, although Xiahou Nan was Cao Cao's son-in-law, he was cowardly and unscrupulous, and it was really not a good idea to let him guard Yedu, Guo Huai had no choice but to get on the horse and go to Dongying

In the afternoon of the same day, Xiahou led an army of 90,000 to leave Yedu, before leaving, he repeatedly told his second son Xiahou Nan, so that he could stick to the city, and must not be lured by the Han army, go out of the city to fight, Xiahou Nan also agreed to his father's advice one by one.

Xiahoudun then urged the march to the north, he must rush to defeat Liu Jing's main force before the Han army reinforcements arrived, in order to gain the initiative in this battle, Xiahoudun still has a glimmer of hope in his heart, maybe they can seize the opportunity to kill Liu Jing or capture Liu Jing alive, then the situation of the world will be completely reversed.

At this time, Liu Jing's army had arrived in Xiangguo County in the north of Guangping County, which is today's Xingtai in Hebei Province.

This was expected by Liu Jing, his original intention was to lure the snake out of the hole and lead Xiahoudun's army out of Yedu, and then Zhao Yun's main force cut off Xiahoudun's retreat and break Xiahoudun and Yedu, of course, Liu Jing also considered the possibility of them being defeated by Xiahoudun's army, for which he made full preparations.

Handan is about one hundred and thirty miles away from Xiangguo, and if it is pursued by cavalry, it can be reached in one day, but Liu Jing knows that Xiahoudun will never let the army disperse, and at this juncture of a decisive battle, both sides are very cautious and will not be careless.

Liu Jing immediately ordered the army to retreat north, and continued to lead Xiahoudun's army to the north, at noon the next day, 100,000 Han troops arrived in Gaoyi County, Zhao County, Liu Jing had already built a large camp on Hanlonggang in the west of the county, there are many low hills in Gaoyi County, and the groundwater is very rich, and it can also be easily dug to get water on the hills and hills, which is very suitable for setting up a large camp.

Hanlonggang is a gentle hill, abrupt on the plain, about 100 feet away from the flat land, the hill is very flat, covering an area of about 200 acres, Liu Jing sent the general Guan Yu to lead 20,000 soldiers, with ten days to build a solid slab wall type barracks, and then water and condense ice, the camp is condescending, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In fact, it was Liu Ye's worry, Liu Jing did not intend to fight Xiahoudun immediately at all, and used delaying tactics to drag down Xiahoudun's morale.

The soldiers in the barracks were very busy, setting up big tents, building fire shelters, digging wells for water, building guard towers, a team of scout patrol posts were sent to all directions, Liu Jing inspected the camp surrounded by dozens of generals, he came to the south camp near the gate, only to see more than 100 craftsmen with the army were installing giant trebuchets, he stepped forward and asked: "Have the trebuchets in the east been reinstalled?" ”

The leader of the craftsmen stepped forward and saluted: "Your Highness, it has been reinstalled, and it is foolproof. ”

At this time, Guan Yu, the general behind him, said in a low voice: "Your Highness, if the Cao army attacks the camp with trebuchets, will it pose a threat to the big battalion?" ”

This is not only Guan Yu's worries, many generals have this kind of worry, if Cao Jun attacks the camp with a fireball, as long as a fireball smashes into the camp and ignites the big tent in the barracks, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Liu Jing smiled faintly and said: "The Han army started by playing with fire, how can it be defeated under the fire attack, everyone rest assured, we have sufficient countermeasures." ”

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