When Tai Shici set off from Jizhou, Cao Jun had already finished converging, and when he walked to Le'an County, Cao Ren, the pioneer of Cao Jun, had already started with Liu Beijun.

However, it is said that Cao Ren was ordered by Cao Cao, the general of the expedition to the east, and led 20,000 infantry to open the road in front, and soon after leaving Xue County, he saw that many people in the road were supporting the old and the young, and fled to the east with valuable belongings at home. When these people saw the arrival of Cao's army in the rear, some hurriedly discarded the bulky and large items, some abandoned the livestock raised at home, and some simply fled into the bushes and fields on both sides of the road, as if they had seen demons and monsters.

Cao Ren, who was riding on a horse, looked at the chaotic scene not far ahead, his face was a little displeased, and he said to his subordinate Li Dian: "These people must have been instigated by others, otherwise why didn't they flee earlier, but blocked the road when our army passed by!" Ben will order you to immediately lead 3,000 armored men to clear the roads for the passage of the army! ”

Li Dian received the order, and took three thousand tiger and wolf soldiers all the way to push through, slaughtered all the living things seen in the road, and moved all kinds of things to both sides of the road and burned them.

Three days later, Cao Ren led his army to the outside of Yinping City.

Looking at the banner of Liu Zi displayed at the head of the city, Cao Ren sneered three times, and ordered the troops to bury the pot and prepare all kinds of equipment used in the siege, not taking Liu Bei's army in his eyes at all.

At the head of Yinping City, Liu Bei said to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei: "Cao Jun's army is strict and orderly, and the camp is well arranged, which is really a strong enemy I have seen in my life!" ”

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had gone to Gongsun Zhan's camp to help in the battle, and they had seen the soldiers and horses under Liu He in Youzhou, and they were skeptical of the evaluation of their eldest brother Liu Bei. In order to cheer Liu Bei up, Guan Yu said: "Although the Cao army is numerous, it is nothing more than that, compared to the soldiers and horses under Liu Shiren in Youzhou. It's still a little less murderous. The eldest brother has 2,000 battle-hardened Danyang soldiers under his command, which is not inferior to Cao's army. ”

Liu Bei listened to Guan Yu's words, although his fear decreased slightly, but he was even more jealous of the one who was far away in Youzhou. Cao Cao's vanguard force makes people feel irresistible when they see it, but Liu He's command is now 150,000 men with armor, if they are against each other in the future, how can they fight?

After Cao's army was ready, it was devastating as soon as it came up, and large ladder trucks, carts, crashes, and well rails were all dispatched, which shows that Cao Cao wanted to attack Xuzhou. In the past few years, I have really made all kinds of preparations in secret. What made the three peach brothers even more frightened was that behind these siege equipment, Cao Jun launched hundreds of thunderbolt carts in one word, throwing rolling stones the size of human heads into the city, killing and wounding many soldiers defending the city in an instant.

It turned out that this thunderbolt was Cao Cao's former strategist Liu Ye after careful research. The previous generation of the car has been improved and strengthened, making it more than double its range. The rate of fire has been increased by a factor of two. Therefore, it was very powerful, and it was specially used against the soldiers and fortifications defending the city.

Liu Bei originally planned to use the cover of the city wall to barely resist until dark and then lead the army to retreat to Lanling, but he was stunned by Cao Ren as soon as he saw it, he didn't think much about it, and quickly asked his third brother Zhang Fei to lead a thousand soldiers to break off, and he quickly retreated to the east with a few of his subordinates and the rest of the soldiers.

Facing the overwhelming Cao army. Even though Zhang Fei has the courage to be invincible, there is nothing he can do at this moment, Cao Ren is a pioneer general, and he is accompanied by a clever and clever drama talent. There is no chance for Zhang Fei to be naïve and simple in front of the battle, so Zhang Laosan couldn't support it not long after Liu Bei withdrew, and he followed the footsteps of the eldest brother and the second brother with the remaining more than 300 remnants...... Ran away!

Cao Ren climbed to the top of Yinping City, without the pride of winning the first battle on his face, but carefully checked the marks of being hit by the stone bullets fired by the thunderbolt car, and then ordered the soldiers to recover all the stone bullets that were projected and did not shatter, and save them for the next siege battle.

The thunderbolt made by Liu Ye requires the cooperation of several soldiers to control, and it can be loaded with several round stone bullets at a time in a shooting bucket, or a large stone bullet with a diameter of more than one and a half feet. The only fly in the ointment is that these stone bullets must be polished from fine rocks, and you can't just find some bits and pieces of stones on the side of the road to fill up.

The former military advisor Xi Zhicai carefully observed the traces left by Liu Jun in the city, came to Cao Ren and said: "The valuables and people in the city have been transferred by Liu Bei, and Liu Bei has long been ready to retreat in this battle, so don't be careless." ”

Cao Ren nodded and said, "Today, our army will stay in Yinping to rest for the time being, and when the army led by the lord arrives, I will lead the army eastward again!" ”

As the vanguard general of the Cao Army, Cao Ren in history has a brilliant record in his life, except for the defeat to Zhu Heng, a young general of Eastern Wu before his death, in his more than 40 years of military career, he has not tasted defeat! Counting the battles that Cao Ren participated in, he fought against Xuzhou, broke Lü Bu, conquered Zhang Xiu, fought Guandu, rejected Zhou Yu, broke Ma Chao, defended Fancheng, and broke Xiangyang, and took over the post of general after the death of Xiahou Dun, and concurrently served as the great Sima. In the entire Cao Wei camp, Cao Ren was better than Xiahou Yuan in terms of merit, higher than Xiahou Yuan in terms of fame, and close to the five good generals in terms of party clan, and he was actually the first person in front of Cao Cao's account.

The three peach brothers intended to interfere with Cao Ren with arrogant tactics, this time they obviously miscalculated, looking at Cao Ren's way of dealing with them, it was purely a steady and steady battle, relying on superior troops and numerous siege equipment, all the way through. When encountering this kind of calm and moderate striker, no matter how much your opponent calculates, you can only run away at the end of the day.

After the three Taozi brothers fled to Qi County, they counted the soldiers and horses under their command, and found that it was only half a day's work, under a round of attacks by the Cao army, more than 1,000 people were lost, and more than 1,000 people fled halfway, and now the available soldiers under their command are only more than 2,000.

The three brothers had a sad face, and after a long time, they finally came to the conclusion that the plan of arrogance was useless, and if Cao Ren led the army to Qi County, he drove a catapult and bombed indiscriminately, with the current strength, it would not be enough to feed Cao Jun. Since you can't beat it, what should you do? Keep fleeing east!

That night, Liu Bei took Jian Yong, Liu Deran and others to take away all the money, grain and property stored in Qi County, and retreated in the direction of Lanling overnight, while Guan Yu and Zhang Fei led the remaining soldiers to stay in Qi County to buy time for Liu Bei's retreat.

To say that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are really good, after Liu Bei left, although they were facing the danger of being crushed by Cao Jun at any time, they were not afraid, not only did not withdraw immediately, but instead appeased the people in Qi County, and put on a posture of vowing to live and die with Qi County, making the people in the city mistakenly think that Liu Bei was still in the city.

The next day, Cao Cao led the army to Yinping, and heard that Liu Bei's army was vulnerable and would collapse at the first touch, so he smiled and said to the left and right: "Liu Xuande wants to use his mantis arm as a car, it's really overwhelming!" ”

The strategist Xun You said: "From Yinping to Lanling, you need to pass through Qi County, if Liu Bei stationed his soldiers and horses in this city, he can delay our army for two or three days. ”

"Let all the armies follow the precedent, push all the way over, and wait for our army to approach Lanling, and then make plans!"

Cao's army then pulled out the camp, and the 50,000-strong army marched at the same time, arriving at Qi County two days later.

When Guan Yu and Zhang Fei learned that Cao's army had arrived with 50,000 troops this time, they were so frightened that they hurriedly abandoned the city with the only remaining 2,000 soldiers and horses, leaving tens of thousands of people in Qi County.

Cao Jun then took the county without spending a single soldier. Because of the large number of the army, Cao Cao ordered people to drive out all the people in Xuzhou County, and then sent a thousand soldiers to take all these Xuzhou people back to Yanzhou as slaves.

Liu Bei, who ran one step ahead, after escaping into Lanling County, boasted to the guards Sun Guan and Mi Fang about how he was not afraid of Cao Cao's 50,000 troops in the face of danger, how he resisted Cao Cao's continuous attacks, and then degraded Cao's army, as if he withdrew to Lanling not because he was defeated, but specially rushed to teach experience.

When Guan Yu and Zhang Fei fled outside Lanling City with two thousand remnants, Liu Bei was a little dumbfounded at the time, he blew a lot in front of Sun Guan and Mi Fang, and as a result, the two brothers came to him two days apart, wasn't this a slap in the face?

Liu Bei hurriedly ran out of the city, pulled Guan Yu aside, and asked in a low voice, "Why don't you see the people of Qi County entering the city with you?" ”

Guan Yu blushed his already red face, and told Liu Bei about the situation when Cao's 50,000 troops arrived in Qi County, which made Liu Bei break down in a cold sweat. Liu Bei reminded Guan Yu: "Don't spread the word about leaving without a fight!" You and the third brother will lead the remaining soldiers and horses to withdraw to Xiangben County immediately, but I am afraid that this second line of defense will also be broken by the Cao army in an instant! ”

"Big brother, if my third brother and I leave with our soldiers and horses, wouldn't it be dangerous for you to stay here?"

"It's okay, I have my own way out!"

Liu Bei sent Guan Yu and Zhang Fei away, and returned to Lanling, where he said to Sun Guan: "Cao's army was brutal and unkind, and when it attacked Qixian, it actually drove the people of Xuzhou to act as a human wall, and my two brothers were unkind and cruel to the defenseless people, so they had to withdraw. ”

When Sun Guan heard Liu Bei describe Cao Jun as so ferocious, he was furious, he glared and said: "Cao thief is so rampant, this time Sun will definitely let him pay for his blood debt!" ”

Cao Cao waited for a day in Qi County, and Wang Bi, who went to Kaiyang to win over Zang Ba, returned, and Wang Bi told Cao Cao: "Zang Ba has a lonely temperament, and he is unwilling to accept the invitation of the lord, saying that he wants to compete with the lord on the battlefield." ”

Cao Cao didn't care, and said with some admiration: "Zang Xuangao is a famous and brave man in the end, if he can be won over by us in a few words, I have to wonder if he is deceitful." In that case, let people sneak into Lanling City to spread rumors! ”

A few days later, Mi Fang heard the news that Cao Cao had sent someone to secretly connect with Zang Ba, and her heart was tense at that time. Liu Bei also heard similar news, and he hurriedly ran to Sun Guan's tent and said to Sun Guan: "General Sun, now the city is full of news about General Zang's preparation to join forces with Cao Cao. ”

Sun Guan was worried about this rumor, and after listening to Liu Bei's words, he asked, "According to Xuande, how should I deal with it?" (To be continued......)