An hour later, the army finally reached the banks of the Yellow River. This is the bend of the river, at this time the Yellow River water has not been polluted, the water quality is clear, but the water flow is very fast, and the sound of waves can be clearly heard.

The general Xu Chu had been waiting here for a long time, and hundreds of warships had also gathered here in advance, Cao Cao ordered the army to get on the boats and cross the river immediately, and let Cao Hong stay, ready to meet Zhang He, who came later.

Sitting on the bumpy boat, Cao Cao asked with a smile: "Baoyu, do you know my intentions at this time?" ”

"You want to give up Tongguan and fight Ma Chao from behind." Wang Baoyu analyzed.

Cao Cao waved his hand and said: "This is just one of them, I went to Puhanjin to cross the Yellow River and seize the land of Ma Chaoguanzhong." Once Guanzhong is obtained by me, the Xiliang portal will be wide open, and the advance can be attacked, and the retreat can be defended. ”

"What's the mystery?"

"Tongguan is certainly dangerous, but I have ordered Cao Ren to pretend to be defeated and retreat, and return to the army to stick to Hangu. Although Ma Chao got Tongguan, it was difficult to advance into the Central Plains for a while, and I cut off his grain route, it would not take a few months, and he would be short of food and grass, and the army's morale would be weak. Cao Cao said unhurriedly.

"Lao Cao, a great military strategist, it's really high! I really admire! Wang Baoyu gave a thumbs up.

Hey, Cao Cao rubbed his forehead with his hand, and said helplessly: "A hundred battles can win a state, if the world is in compliance with the imperial court, the country and the people are safe, I don't want to bother with these thoughts." ”

"Hehe, I didn't expect you to have compassion for the world."

"The old man naturally has!"

Regardless of whether Cao Cao really has the world, his outstanding military talent is an indisputable fact. Wang Baoyu did not look at the map, nor did he analyze the military situation, and hung up the post of a military advisor, that is, he relied on knowing some historical outlines, plus some strange ideas, but the real actual combat was to make timely adjustments according to the wartime situation.

It must be said that Cao Cao is still very capable of strategy and can be called a military wizard. But from another side, although Ma Chao is brave, he does not have a decent military advisor, otherwise he would not have fallen for Cao Cao's plan.

"Hehe, this is the strategy I learned in Wen Ji's military book." Cao Cao said proudly.

"In this way, wouldn't Ma Chao be trapped in Tongguan?" Wang Baoyu asked again.

"Eliminate the evil, and let that Ma Chao have no return."

The army quickly crossed the Yellow River and went straight to Kasakatsu along the riverbank. And Ma Chao and Zhang He fought for an hour, and the two of them were thinking about each other.

It wasn't until later that Zhang He was defeated and left, Ma Chao immediately led the army to Cao Cao's camp, Ma Chao went straight to the main camp, thinking of capturing Cao Cao alive and rescuing his father and brother, but the result was empty.

Ma Chao couldn't help but have doubts in his heart, the camp was not messy at all, but it seemed to be an orderly retreat, seeing that Cao Bing had already planned to abandon the camp and flee, could Cao Cao really be afraid of himself?

At this time, the sky was already slightly bright, and news also came from Han Sui's side that Cao Ren could not hold the city and had retreated to Hangu, and the army had captured Tongguan.

It was originally good news that lifted the morale of the army, but Ma Chao couldn't feel happy, the victory came too easily, he didn't intercept the grain and grass, he didn't kill the general of the Cao army, and he didn't even see Cao Cao's shadow, let alone know where he was now.

In other words, it seems to be a superficial victory, but there is no real gain. Thinking of Cao Cao's series of reactions, Ma Chao always felt that there was fraud in it.

At this time, another soldier came to report that Cao Cao's army had crossed the Yellow River from the northeast.

Ma Chao just sat in the camp tent and drank a glass of wine, as soon as he heard the news, he was so shocked that the wine glass fell to the ground, and said with great regret: "I have been sending troops along the river to strictly prevent the Cao thief from going north, but I didn't expect that this battle would make the Cao thief finally have to make a detour to cut off my rear!" ”

"General, while the Cao thief is on the east bank of the Yellow River, why don't you immediately send troops to intercept it?" Pound said.

Ma Chao patted his head and said, "I almost forgot about the big thing!" General Pang, quickly cross the river with me and return to the north bank, go to Puhanjin to intercept the Cao thief, and never let him cross the Yellow River! ”

Ma Chao led 20,000 elite troops, quickly returned by boat, along the west bank of the Yellow River, and went straight to Puhanjin. Some people may wonder, why is everyone staring at this place?

Wang Baoyu came to take a closer look and realized that looking at this section of the Yellow River flowing from north to south, the rest of the river bank is steep, the water flow is deep and turbulent, only this section of the water wave is relatively stable, the widest, so the river is also the shallower, and even the water can be passed.

After Zhang He crossed the river, he led 10,000 troops to stay on the shore to intercept Ma Chao. At this time, it was already noon, Cao Cao did not dare to delay for a moment, and immediately ordered the army to cross the river quickly, and the rest of the 90,000 troops led their horses down the Yellow River, which was quite spectacular.

Wang Baoyu's roaring horse is short, and as soon as it goes to the water, it reaches the horse's waist, Wang Baoyu's legs and feet are immersed in the water, and it is bitterly cold, and soon the heat on his body is consumed, and he is so cold that he holds his shoulders and his teeth chatter.

This was the case with those who rode horses, but it was even worse for soldiers without horses, for in some places the water was up to their chests and their feet were so soft that several men had to support each other to move forward.

Cao Cao's pants were also wet, and he was so cold that he was so excited, and now he had no beard, and the cold wind poured into his neck vigorously, which was indeed very difficult.

From the back shadow, Cao Cao shrunk his neck and hunched his waist, more like a rickety old man. When Wang Baoyu saw this situation, he couldn't help but sigh secretly, who worked hard for whom, and who was busy, three points of the world will always return to Jin.

If there were archers in ambush on the opposite bank at this time, and ten thousand arrows were fired at once, the Cao soldiers in the water would have suffered heavy losses, and the blood stained the Yellow River. But Cao Cao had already made arrangements, he had already sent Xu Huang and his general Zhu Ling to lead 5,000 men and horses, and arrived at the opposite bank first, the main purpose was that once Ma Chao returned to the army and rushed to it, he would resolutely stop it, and it would only take two hours for the army to cross the river.

Ma Chao did lead his troops in a hurry to intercept Cao Cao's crossing of the river, but he was blocked by Xu Huang and Zhu Ling, and 5,000 men and horses fought against 20,000 Xiliang elite soldiers, and the battle was very tragic.

Pang De was trapped by Zhu Ling several times, and he was in a hurry, so he waved his big knife and roared and cut Zhu Ling into several pieces. Poor Zhu Ling flew into the sky with a touch of heroic spirit, but before he died, he grabbed the reins of Pound's horse with his hand, and was also cut to pieces by Pound.

When Cao Cao's army had all crossed the Yellow River, Xu Huang, who had returned from defeat, had less than 100 people left, and he was wounded in many places.

Seeing that Xu Huang had tears in his eyes, but he didn't see Zhu Ling's figure, Cao Cao knew it, and the old tears were rampant, comforted Xu Huang a few words, and then led the army south to meet Ma Chao.

The soldiers were still drenched, and they didn't have time to change their clothes at all, and as soon as they rushed through a valley, they saw Ma Chao rushing in a hurry.

As soon as he saw Cao Cao's figure, Ma Chao immediately strangled the white horse under his crotch, and his expression revealed a touch of frustration, in the end, it was a step too late, and Guanzhong was already doomed.