The soldiers who had just rested for less than a quarter of an hour got back on their horses, and Cao Ren ran northeast along the official road, but after running less than a mile, a sudden fire broke out in the mountain col on the left, killing a Han cavalry and blocking the way of Cao Ren's team.

The first general, with a face like a heavy jujube, a big knife in his hand, and a majestic horse in his crotch, is the partial general Wei Yan, Wei Yan and Lu Meng are responsible for intercepting Cao Ren and escaping back to Xuzhou, they have long expected that Cao Ren may go to Liang County, Wei Yan led 3,000 troops to ambush in Dangxian, and really intercepted Cao Ren.

Wei Yan laughed proudly and pointed with a big knife, "If Governor Cao still doesn't get off his horse and surrender, when will he wait?" ”

Cao Ren's heart seemed to sink into the abyss, he only took a hundred personal soldiers, how could he fight this battle? He looked back again and found that he was also intercepted by the Han army behind him, and he had no other way but to break through.

Cao Ren shouted loudly and swung his knife at Wei Yan, and Wei Yan also shouted: "Good come!" He hurried his horse forward and met him with a sword.

Both of them are strong generals in martial arts, they are equal, the sword light is flashing, the two fought fiercely together, fought for more than 30 times, Wei Yan became more and more courageous, but Cao Ren didn't want to fight anymore, thinking about a way to get out.

The two horses were staggered, Cao Ren slashed back with a backhand, Wei Yan had expected it, waved the knife and opened it, Cao Ren was waiting for this opportunity, he slammed the horse's belly with both feet, the war horse galloped out, and fled eastward, and the Han soldiers in front of him swarmed up and stabbed with spears.

Cao Ren knew that this was his last chance, if he couldn't escape, he would die here, Cao Ren roared, swung his knife and slashed several people, trying to break out of the encirclement, at this moment, Wei Yan hung up the big knife, he sneered, took off the longbow, pulled out a wolf's tooth arrow from his back, pulled the bow like a full moon, and aimed at Cao Ren's back.

As soon as the string was loosened, the wolf's tooth arrow shot out like lightning, this arrow hit Cao Ren's back, Cao Ren screamed, his body shook, and he fell from the horse, Wei Yan shouted, "Capture him alive!" ”

More than a dozen soldiers rushed up, pressed Cao Ren to death, and tied him up with a rope, Cao Ren sighed and closed his eyes helplessly

In June of the twentieth year of Jian'an, the two armies of Han and Cao fought for the county, the Central Plains War broke out, the Han army invested 180,000 troops on the battlefield, twice as much as the Cao army, and finally defeated the main force of the 80,000 Cao army in the battle of Qian County with absolute superiority, Cao Ren, the governor of Xuzhou, and the strategist Manzhong were captured by the Han army, and the deputy general Li Tong was seriously wounded in the breakout, and finally died.

After learning of Cao Ren's defeat, Niu Jin, the defender of Qian County, could not withstand the siege of the Han army's 200,000 troops, and finally led his army to surrender.

This took place in the Central Plains Battle of Qian County, the Han army with 250,000 troops against 130,000 Cao army, the Cao army was finally annihilated, more than 20,000 people were killed in the battle, and the surrender of the Cao army soldiers exceeded 100,000, only a few thousand escaped from the battlefield, which is also the heaviest loss suffered by the Cao army since the Red Cliff War.

The victory of the Central Plains War made the strength of the Han and Cao armies out of balance, the strength of the Han army increased to 500,000, while the total strength of the Cao army was sharply reduced to 150,000, the Han army reorganized the army in Qian County, and ten days later, Liu Jing personally led an army of 200,000 to prepare to march to Xuzhou.

At this time, Cao Pi sent an urgent military order from Yedu, ordering Cao Xiu to abandon Xuzhou and withdraw his troops back to Qingzhou

Just when the Han army achieved the glorious results of the Central Plains War and shook the world, Cao Jun also tried to save a little face in Qingzhou, and Cao Pi pinned his hopes on Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao led 30,000 Youzhou troops to cross the Yellow River and advance rapidly in the direction of Qingzhou, and three days later, Zhang Liao's army arrived in the area of Taishan County, and 30,000 Cao troops were stationed in Laiwu County, which was close to Qi County.

In the big tent, Zhang Liao stood alone in front of the sand table and pondered for a long time, at present, the Han army is mainly distributed in Jinan County, Qi County and Le'an County, but he does not know the specific army deployment of the Han army, and the lack of intelligence plagues Zhang Liao's decision-making.

But Zhang Liao has another problem, that is, the army he led is not very handy, not that he can't command this army, but after his orders are passed down, when they are executed, they will always be a little late, and there is no military order as fast as a mountain.

Zhang Liao also understood in his heart that this army was Cao Zhang's Youzhou Army, which had been in operation for many years, and only obeyed Cao Zhang's orders, but Cao Zhang had no choice but to hand over military power under pressure from his father, and it was Cao Pi's order to take over the 30,000 Youzhou Army himself, so how could Cao Zhang let himself command this army as he pleased? It is not surprising that there is still a shadow of Cao Zhang in the army.

On the one hand, the lack of intelligence on the Han army, and on the other hand, the lack of command of the army, the two major troubles really made Zhang Liao feel powerless to fight in Qingzhou.

At this moment, a personal guard reported at the door of the tent: "General Qiqi, there is a person from outside the battalion, claiming to be a fellow general and the current Beihai County Cheng, and he specially asks to see the general." ”

Zhang Liao frowned, his fellow villager, Beihai County Cheng, he thought about it, suddenly woke up, and hurriedly asked, "Is the person who came surnamed Li?" ”

"It seems to be surnamed Li."

Zhang Liao was suddenly overjoyed, he knew who was coming, and hurriedly said: "Quickly invite him in!" ”

Zhang Liao is a native of Mayi County, Yanmen County, born in a wealthy family in the county, there are two wealthy families in Mayi County, one is Zhang Liao's family, and the other is the Li family.

If I remember correctly, this Yidu Li County Commander is the second son of the Li family, called Li Kan, they have been studying together since childhood, and later lost contact, Zhang Liao only knows that Li Kan is an official in Qingzhou, it should be him.

After a while, a middle-aged scribe was led into the big tent and said with a smile: "Brother Wenyuan, don't come unharmed!" ”

Sure enough, it was Li Kan, although they hadn't seen each other for twenty years, Zhang Liao still recognized him at a glance, he stepped forward and grabbed the other party's hand and said with a smile: "Brother Li Xian is still the same as before, and his appearance has not changed much." ”

"Really? Am I still that young? Li Kan touched his face and smiled.

The two laughed, Zhang Liao hurriedly invited Li Kan into the big tent and sat down, and ordered his soldiers to serve tea, Zhang Liao said: "Wenzhong, haven't we seen each other for more than 20 years?" ”

"I haven't seen each other for twenty-one years, the last time we saw each other was when Jian'an returned to his hometown to worship his ancestors in the third year, we drank and drank freely, at that time I was just a small master of Yidu County, but Wenyuan was already famous all over the world."

"Don't mention this fame, I'm ashamed!"

Zhang Liao waved his hand, and asked with a smile: "I haven't always understood, how can Wenzhong be an official in Qingzhou?" ”

Li Kan smiled and said, "I'm Beihaijun's protégé, doesn't Wen Yuan know?" ”

Beihai Jun is Kong Rong, who once led the history of Qingzhou Thorns, and his protégés are all over the world, Zhang Liao suddenly realized that his fellow townsman was Kong Rong's disciple, could it be that he was an official in Qingzhou.

Li Kan smiled again: "I was recommended by my teacher to serve as the lord of Yizhou, and I was promoted to Beihai County Cheng step by step, and I heard that Wen Yuan led the army to Qingzhou, so I came to meet me." ”

Zhang Liao's heart moved, he had only been in Qingzhou for a few days, and Li Kan actually knew that his news was so fast, could it be

At this time, the soldiers brought two cups of tea in, Zhang Liao took a sip of tea, and then asked in a casual tone: "How did Wenzhong know that I was leading the army over?" ”

"To tell you the truth, I also received the documents from the Han army, and I knew that Wen Yuan led the army over, so I rushed to meet him."

Zhang Liao didn't expect Li Kan to be so frank, he groaned and asked, "Has Wenzhong already surrendered to the Han Kingdom?" ”

Li Kanwei smiled, "Wen Yuan's words are inappropriate, as far as I know, the Wei State only includes the Central Plains and Hebei, and Bingzhou and Qingzhou do not belong to the Wei State, and are still directly under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, so I am originally a Han minister, loyal to the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty, and the Han State is also a subject country of the Han Dynasty, how can I return to the Han State?" ”

Zhang Liao smiled bitterly for a while, although what Li Kan said was true, but the Han Dynasty existed in name only, and everyone in the world knew it, so it caused a chaotic situation now, Wei replaced the Han Dynasty, and the Han State was regarded as the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty, but there was also a great Han emperor in Yedu, and sometimes even Zhang Liao was confused.

Li Kan understood Zhang Liao's thoughts, and said with a smile: "This time the Han army raided Qingzhou, Qingzhou was empty, the counties did not resist, and the Han army did not embarrass us, treating each other as Hanchen, just two days ago, I received a document sent by Lu Sima to the counties, saying that Wenyuan had led the Cao army to the north, and Lu Sima hoped that the counties would put the people's livelihood first and not make useless resistance, so I am still Hanchen." ”

Although Li Kan said this, Zhang Liao didn't believe it very much, since Lu Xun still sent documents to the counties, indicating that they were actually loyal to the Han State, but Zhang Liao didn't want to say it, he knew in his heart that if there were no local officials to maintain order in Qingzhou, Qingzhou would have to be in chaos, even if they had surrendered to the Han State, they would not dare to move them lightly, and this was not something he could decide, it was up to Cao Pi to decide on the appointment and dismissal.

Zhang Liao was more concerned about the military, he thought about it and asked, "Does the Han army have a garrison in Beihai County?" ”

"Originally, there were 10,000 Han troops stationed, but before I left, the Han army also withdrew, and I heard that not only Beihai County, but even the Han army in Qi County also withdrew."

Speaking of this, Li Kan took out a letter and handed it to Zhang Liao, "This is a letter left by Lu Sima when he evacuated Beihai County, he asked me to forward it to Wen Yuan, please take a look at it." ”

Zhang Liao sighed secretly in his heart, Li Kan really came for a purpose, not as simple as coming to see himself, although he sighed in his heart, he still took the letter quietly and read it quickly, Lu Xun wrote very clearly in the letter, the Han army will be stationed in Le'an County, and does not want to fight with the Cao army, if the Cao army insists on going its own way, the Han army will never back down.

From this letter, Zhang Liao saw two key points, one is that the Han army has withdrawn to Le'an County, concentrating its forces, and not allowing itself to be broken individually, and the other is that the Han army will remain in Qingzhou and is willing to maintain a state of confrontation with Cao's army.

Zhang Liao got up, walked quickly to the sand table, and took a closer look at the location of Le'an County, Le'an County is backed by the Yellow River estuary, there are Jishui and Zishui main streams in the territory, as well as a large sea area, no wonder the Han army wants to occupy Le'an County, retreat can leave by boat, enter can sweep Qingzhou.

This time Zhang Liao's task is to recover Linzi, and it seems that the task can be completed, but whether to fight a decisive battle with the Han army and recover the entire Qingzhou, he must consult Cao Pi, and Cao Pi will decide.

Thinking of this, Zhang Liao smiled at Li Kan and said: "I also want to ask Wenzhong to work hard again, send a reply letter to Lu Xun for me, Cao Jun naturally did not commit any crimes, and will never disturb the people, but whether to fight or not to fight, it is not for me Zhang Liao to decide, before receiving the order from Yedu, I don't want to ignite the flames of war in Qingzhou." ”