The first to chase after was Deputy Commander Hou Cheng under the Pioneer Legion, this time as the pioneer of the vanguard, he originally wanted to make a great contribution. However, when the 50,000 cavalry encountered the thistle, many horses were injured and fell to the ground, and when the opponent's bows and arrows were shot in time, hundreds of people died under just one charge.

Hou Cheng's morale was hit, and he had to lead the army to stop in front of the battle, he was a little annoated by the thistles all over the ground, but there was really no way, so he had to send someone to report the matter to the rear and ask for support.

Deng Ai blocked Hou Cheng, who was pursuing, but there was not a trace of joy on his face. He knew that this was not the final solution to the matter, but it could only stop him for a while, and if General Cao Ren did not send people to support, once the Celestial Empire army cleared all the thistle obstacles, he would have nothing to rely on.

Hou Cheng was blocked by the thistle terrestris, stopped, a day later, the deputy commander of the three legions, General Guan Hai, also arrived here with 20,000 cavalry, looking at the iron thistle terrestris blocking the way forward, he was still a little unconvinced, tried to attack, still lost hundreds of people and was forced to withdraw.

In the first two examples, the two deputy commanders lost their temper, and all they could do was to arrange for the shield soldiers to be in front, and pick up the thistles on the ground little by little while resisting the opponent's bow and arrows.

After waiting for another half a day, Lu Bu and Tai Shici, the commander of the Third Army, rushed here and saw this scene.

"What a Deng Ai, no wonder the emperor said that this person is a human talent, let us be sure to leave his life, it seems that there are really some means. Hate only hates that we didn't bring a magnet, otherwise, this thistle terrestris is nothing. Lu Bu said angrily as he watched the snail-like soldiers slowly clearing the barricades at the risk of being shot by bows and arrows.

"General Lu doesn't need to be in a hurry, we have already received the flying eagle transmission from General Gan Ning, and they have already rushed to Donghai City first, so Cao Ren's retreat is cut off, and it is only a matter of time before he destroys them." Knowing that Lu Bu was in an unhappy mood, Tai Shici on the side smiled and said widely. And after saying this, he said to the other candidate for deputy commander: "Arrange for our archers to fight back with shield soldiers, and I will see who has the better level of bow shooting." ”

Tai Shi Ci arranged for the archers of the three legions to fight, and for a time he really suppressed the bow and arrow raid of the Wei army, making it safer to pick up the thistle terrestris, and the action was faster. If nothing else, all the barricades can be cleared in half a day at the earliest, and at the latest, and by that time, there will be no one to block the onslaught of their iron horses.

Time passed, and Deng Ai couldn't help but be anxious when he heard the news from the soldiers, saying that the thistles were decreasing layer by layer. From time to time, he would also look in the direction of the East China Sea Kingdom, and he hoped that General Cao Ren's reinforcements could come sooner, otherwise, he and the 50,000 soldiers plus countless grain and grass baggage would probably cease to exist.

In anticipation, there was finally news, and a scout ran into the temporary military tent and knelt down in front of Deng Ai and said, "General, our reinforcements are coming, there are as many as 100,000. ”

"Oh, who's here?" As soon as he heard that reinforcements had arrived, Deng Ai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"It's General Cai Yang, and now they are less than five miles away from us." The scout continued to gasp.

"Okay, come with me to meet you." Deng Ai was overjoyed and stepped out of the camp. Although it was Cai Yang, not General Cao Ren, it was a little disappointing, but thinking that if there were 100,000 troops here, it would be possible to establish several defensive lines, and it must be impossible to inflict heavy damage or even repel the army of the Celestial Empire.

Two miles away from the military tent, Deng Ai led a group of personal soldiers to Cai Yang and others who came from afar.

To Deng Ai's surprise, these reinforcements seemed to be in a bad mental state, even General Cai Yang was a little depressed. "General Cai, what's going on?" Feeling that things didn't seem to be what he imagined, these people didn't come to support him, but fled here, Deng Ai had a bad feeling.

"Hey, it's hard to put into words." Seeing Deng Ai, Cai Yang shook his head immediately, and told the story of the failure of the attack on Donghai City, the killing of generals such as Ling Tong and Xu Zhen, and the unknown whereabouts of General Cao Ren.

"What? General Cao Ren killed him back, so why did General Cai come here? Hearing that there was such a big accident on the front line, Deng Ai's heart couldn't help but sigh, but he was still very curious about why Cai Yang was able to retreat here safely.

Seeing Deng Ai's puzzled expression, Cai Yang naturally couldn't say that he fled because he was afraid of war, so he had to make up a reason and said, "Isn't it because I'm worried that Brother Deng's grain and grass will have problems?" This is in a hurry, by the way, how is the situation here now? ”

Hearing Cai Yanggu talking about him left and right, it was clear that he was a deserter, and now he was indeed saying such a righteous and awe-inspiring thing, Deng Ai couldn't help but feel a little ashamed in his heart. It's just that he took the overall situation into account, and he didn't expose the other party's approach in person, but still told the truth about the current situation.

Hearing that the rear army had been caught up, and that Lu Bu's 600,000 troops were ten miles behind them, Cai Yang's face couldn't help but turn pale, he originally thought that there was a glimmer of life when he fled here, but now he knew that he was still surrounded by people.

"General Deng, what happens next? With those thistles alone, we're afraid we won't be able to stop each other for long. Cai Yang asked anxiously.

"Indeed, it is estimated that in two hours, perhaps shorter, those thistles will be all put away, and in that case, we will only have one chance left." Deng Ai shook his head, let him be resourceful, there is nothing he can do at this moment.

The army has no fighting spirit and the morale of the army is weak, and in such a situation, he will not believe that he can still turn defeat into embarrassment.

"So, we have no chance of victory?" Cai Yang couldn't help but ask in surprise when he heard that Deng Ai was so discouraged.

"Yes, there is no other way to go but to the death." Deng Ai still nodded heavily. At this moment, he didn't think about Cai Yang being a fugitive, he was just thinking about how to inflict heavy losses on the Celestial Empire army before he died, at least he wanted to tell others that he Wei was not without capable ministers.

Deng Ai was thinking about how to inflict a heavy blow on Lu Bu, but he really didn't know that Cai Yang had already had other thoughts.

To say that people are afraid of death, it is just a matter of varying degrees. And Cai Yang himself belongs to the kind of person who is extremely afraid of death.

Because he didn't want to die, he abandoned Cao Ren and fled to the rear army, but he didn't expect that the situation here was also not optimistic, thinking that once Lu Bu killed him with a large army, he would not be able to resist it at all with the 100,000 people in his hands, and he would still have a death-bound result.

He had heard that although the army of the Celestial Empire was extremely fierce, the treatment of generals was still good, and even the commanders and deputy commanders of many legions, as well as some divisions and generals, were all born as generals. Emperor Zhang Chao values your ability and contribution, and he doesn't attach much importance to your background.

Even if this is the case, maybe there is only one way to survive by surrendering, and even if you get it right, you can still be regarded as having made a great contribution, and maybe you will be promoted to a knight.

Thinking that even the king Cao Cao was defeated all the way, and General Xiahoudun died in front of the battle, where would the Wei army have any hope? In this way, it is better to surrender, or it is possible to win a glimmer of life.

Thinking about it all his life, Cai Yang couldn't hold back a little, and when he looked at Deng Ai's gaze, he had a little more enthusiasm. He wanted to tell this person about it, if he could cooperate with himself, it would be best, if not, then he had to kill, then maybe all the great work would be his own.

"Well, General Deng, that's the case, I have some ideas I want to hear from you, I don't know if it's convenient." is determined to tell his plan, but Cai Yang still needs some face, and he doesn't want to tell the matter in front of his subordinates.

Deng Ai didn't know what Cai Yang had in mind, but seeing that he was sincerely invited, he nodded and said, "In this case, General Cai, please follow me into the account to talk." ”

"That's the best." Cai Yang nodded, overjoyed. After seeing Deng Ai turn around and go to the camp, he hurriedly summoned a confidant and said: "If you want to live, now there is only one way to surrender, you can arrange it later, control the entire rear army, and wait for me to give an order, that is, open the camp gate and let the army of the Heavenly Empire come in. ”

This lieutenant has followed Cai Yang for many years and has long been a confidant. And he has been worried about the future prospects, and now he is overjoyed when he hears that the general is preparing to surrender, in fact, he has long had such thoughts, but he didn't dare to say it. Now that the general made a decision, he naturally supported it unconditionally, and immediately nodded and agreed, "General, don't worry, you just have to talk to General Deng, and leave the outside affairs to me." ”

"Okay." Seeing the deputy general cooperate so much, Cai Yang was overjoyed, stretched out his hand and took out the general's token, gave it to the other party, and then rode after Deng Ai.

In Deng Ai's tent, he retreated left and right, and only when he and Cai Yang were left, did he politely ask, "General Cai, do you have a way to solve the current crisis?" ”

"Yes." At this moment, Cai Yang said very confidently.

"Listen up." Deng Gong's expression was very serious at this moment, he really wanted to hear if Cai Yang had any tricks to return to the sky.

"Let me ask you, how strong is the Celestial Empire?" did not answer Deng Ai's question immediately, but Cai Yang began to ask out loud.