Zang Ba in Xiapi City is now very worried, very worried.

The Eastern Wu army besieged Xiapi in four directions, and Zang Ba took care of one and lost the other, and it was extremely difficult to parry.

Indeed, there is a saying that Xiapi County is very large, and among the four counties and one country in Xuzhou, Xiapi is the largest county, and Zang Ba still has time to adjust the depth of defense for the time being.

But this time will not be left for Zang Ba for too long, once Zhou Yu on the south side breaks through Huailing, and Xu Shengjun breaks through Xutai, then he can directly go north to force Xu County. This place in Xu County is not far from Xiapi City.

And once Lu Xun on the western front of Xiapi County captured Pengchengguo, he could also directly cut off the retreat route of Zang Ba's leading army, and completely trapped Zang Ba in Xiapi County.

What's worse is that it's still September.

The grain in Xuzhou was harvested in early September, and now it is late September, and the local government has just registered the tax grain into the warehouse, and it has not yet had time to transport it down.

That is to say, if the army of Eastern Wu breaks through the county towns of Xiapi, it can directly obtain a batch of new grain as a supply of grain and grass, while the defenders of Xiapi must rely on last year's old grain to hold on to the siege on all sides, and the food is not enough.

Therefore, Zang Ba pondered again and again, and felt that there seemed to be only two paths in front of him.

Or, stick to your own side and wait for help.

Or, pack up the remnants of the army now, lead the army to retreat, abandon Xiapi, retreat to Peng Chengguo, and establish the first line of defense in front of Yanzhou.

This is the first option to do it. It doesn't seem to be good.

First, Zang Ba does not have such a high consciousness after all, Zang Ba, who was born as a powerful mountain bandit, pursues "fight if you can fight, and run if you can't fight".

It would be too dangerous for Zang Ba to risk his life to defend and wait for reinforcements from other aspects of Cao Wei to come to his rescue.

Second, even if Zang Ba defends Xiapi, it does not mean that Cao Jun can come to the rescue in time.

Xu Huang of Yanzhou was a square man, strict in the use of troops, and "quite in the style of Zhou Yafu." This is not Zang Ba's evaluation, but Emperor Wu's evaluation of Xu Huang during his reign.

Therefore, Zang Ba believes that after Xu Huang receives his distress letter, he will definitely lead troops to help in time, and with Xu Huang's ability, it is not impossible to kill a passage to save Pi.

But Cao Xiu and Jia Kui in Yuzhou, Zang Ba really didn't dare to hold out hope. Zhou Yu of Huainan is right under the noses of these two, they can let Zhou Yu go north to attack Xiapi, what else can you expect from them?!

Really, Zang Ba really thinks that as long as Zhou Yu from Huainan doesn't come, just with Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin from Langya County, and at most Xu Sheng from Guangling County, Zang Ba gritted his teeth, and it was not without a chance to persevere.

Zang Ba is not an incompetent person in the end, although the three-way attack makes Zang Ba busy, but the defenders of the city are still relatively advantageous in this era, it doesn't matter if the troops are insufficient, as long as Xu Huang can ensure the safety of Peng Chengguo, there is also a lot of food in Xiapi, and it is still okay to hold on for two or three months, and at that time, Cao Pi should be able to lead troops to rescue Xiapi.

But now Zhou Yu suddenly appeared, and his appearance easily broke the battlefield situation.

Zhou Yu led 30,000 Huainan troops into Xiapi County, which instantly widened the gap between the military strength of the two sides, and after Zhou Yu's army merged with Xu Sheng's army, it had already occupied the absolute strength advantage of the southern front, and if Zang Ba wanted to hold on, he had to divide his troops to rescue everywhere between one in and one out.

Zang Ba knew that he couldn't hesitate and had to make a decision immediately - whether to protect Pi or the army.

Whether it is from the situation or from Zang Ba's heart, he is inclined to the latter.

Taking advantage of the fact that the army of the Eastern Wu Fourth Route had not yet been encircled, he gave up Xiapi, retreated to Pengcheng, and relied on Pengcheng to block the Eastern Wu army.

It's not without its benefits.

Peng Chengguo is Yanzhou to the west, Yuzhou is to the south, Zang Ba's retreat can shorten the time for Yanzhou and Yuzhou to come to help, and at the same time can also connect Pengcheng, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou as a whole to form a complete line of defense.

At the same time, if Peng Chengguo is guaranteed to be in hand, Cao Jun still has a foothold in Xuzhou, and if he wants to counterattack Xuzhou in the future, there will be at least one channel.

And the only trouble with retreating to Peng Chengguo is probably that Cao Pi may be very unhappy that the war is imminent, and his side will lose people and lose ground first, what is this like?!

Cao Pi is not Cao Cao, this person still has the ability, but the measurement is really lacking, plus Cao Pi has always looked at Zang Ba as not pleasing to the eyes of a local wealthy family, and anyone who has been a bandit can achieve the position of Governor Qingxu, in Cao Pi's eyes, it is very incredible.

But Zang Ba was appointed by Cao Cao after all, if Zang Ba doesn't have any big problems, then Cao Pi will not easily move Zang Ba, but Zang Ba has almost lost Qingxu and Xu over the years, or lost in the hands of Dongwu, who has always been looked down upon by Cao Pi, if Cao Pi has no opinion on Zang Ba, it would be strange.

Therefore, Zang Ba's retreat, it's really hard to say what status he will have in Cao Wei in the future.

Zang Ba didn't want to be in danger, the city was ruined and died, but he also wanted to keep the glory and wealth. After thinking about it for two days, Zang Ba still decided to withdraw from Xiapi.

Let's save my life first, if I have a life, if I don't have a life, just the character and temper of that Renjun, it's really hard to say how much I will take care of the Zang family.

Therefore, after Zang Ba made a decision, he immediately ordered the county soldiers in Xiapi counties to continue to hold on and wait for reinforcements, but he summoned the defenders in Xiapi City to assemble, and the whole army withdrew to Pengcheng under the banner of supporting Peng Chengguo.

And Zang Ba's withdrawal, anyone with a little brain knows what this Qingxu Governor is doing. The county soldiers are not stupid, your boss has given up Xiapi, who will help you hold on.

After that, it became that Zang Ba led the army to retreat quickly to Pengcheng, while the Zhou Yu and Xu Sheng coalition forces on the southern front and Zhuge Jin's army on the eastern front marched vigorously, and it took less than ten days to conquer Huailing, Xutai, Xuxian, Quyang and other places one after another, and the three-way army surrounded Xiapi City.

At this time, Zang Ba had already retreated to Pengcheng, sending troops to block Lu Xun's attack on the one hand, and on the other hand, he began to strengthen the city and defend it, and at the same time sent a second letter of help to Xu Huang and Cao Xiu behind him.

If you don't come again, then don't blame me for retreating directly to Yanzhou.

It's not easy for Zang Ba, but Cao Wei's teammates in this year still have reliable people.

On the fifth day of Zang Ba's retreat to Pengcheng, Xu Huang arrived with 20,000 reinforcements from Yanzhou.

Xu Huang came in time, which greatly relieved the pressure on Zang Ba and gave him the confidence to stabilize the defensive line.

But Cao Wei has a reliable teammate like Xu Huang, and naturally he also has that trick man's thing, and there is no movement at all so far.

For example, Cao Xiu and Jia Kui in Yuzhou.

Cao Xiu and Jia Kui are in conflict again.

Zhou Yu slipped out with 30,000 men from the gap between the two garrisons and went north to attack Xiapi County, which made Cao Xiu and Jia Kui extremely angry.

No matter which angle you look at it, it's a big-eared post that slaps the faces of the two of them, and you can't reveal it.

Cao Xiu was very angry, he was beaten by someone in Shiting two years ago, and this time he sent troops to Huainan, and he was thinking about whether he could have a chance to save some face. It's okay now, and my face is gone.

To tell the truth, Cao Xiu is a person, in fact, he still has ability, and his biggest problem is not ability, but his responsibility as a coach. Cao Xiu didn't even think about it, and threw the blame on Jia Kui about Zhou Yu jumping out of the encirclement, relying on himself as the boss, and immediately called Jia Kui to scold.

Jia Kui's heart is on fire.

Who did he recruit and provoke whom?!

The last time he was seized by Zhou Yu, he was not trying to save you as a loser, but this time he was slipped out by Zhou Yu, is there no responsibility for you?!

Jia Kui's ability is not low, a character with both wisdom and bravery, but his problem is not ability, but his personality is too stubborn and straightforward.

Originally, Jia Kui looked at Cao Xiu unpleasantly, and felt that this person was a second ancestor, but now it is okay to be scolded inexplicably, Cao Xiu also pushed all the responsibility for Zhou Yu jumping out of the encirclement to himself. Jia Kui didn't do it.

Jia Kui directly had a fight with Cao Xiu, and broke up unhappily.

After the two returned to the camp, they both wrote to Cao Pi to plead their grievances, accusing each other of their mistakes.

After a quarrel, it doesn't count as a lawsuit, and the two have disagreements about the next military action.

Zang Ba's letter for help had already reached Cao Xiu's hands, and Cao Xiu's first reaction was not to save Zang Ba, but to take advantage of the opportunity of Zhou Yu to lead the army north, break through Yinling, and attack Shouchun.

According to Cao Xiu's thoughts, the current strength of Eastern Wu in Huainan is definitely insufficient, there will not be too many defenders in Shouchun, and the defender is Sun Shao, an unknown person who has never heard of it. It can be seen from the surname that this person is probably inseparable from Sun Quan.

As long as you can take advantage of the opportunity of Zhou Yu's troops to regain Shouchun and suppress Huainan, it will be equivalent to cutting off Zhou Yu's return route, and it can also force Zhou Yu to withdraw and reduce the pressure on Zang Ba.

But Jia Kui didn't think so.

Jia Kui believes that since a resourceful person like Zhou Yu dares to take the initiative to lead his troops north, then he must do a good job in the defense of the Huainan region, and he must have a backhand.

The troops of Eastern Wu in the Huainan region are indeed insufficient, but behind Huainan is Jiangdong, as long as the Shouchun guard will hold on for a month, Sun Quan of Jianye can bring troops to help at any time, how can it be said that it is easy to suppress? !

In the end, this is actually Jia Kui is a little disgusting, Cao Xiu, don't think that the generals of the clan are idiots like someone, Emperor Wu can have famous generals like Cao Ren, Cao Chun, and Xiahou Yuan, how do you know that this Sun Shao is incompetent? !

It is better to honestly follow the original plan, go north to reinforce Zang Ba, strive to keep Pengcheng, and wait for the opportunity to recapture Xiapi.

Actually, there is some truth to these two ideas, calm down with each other and discuss it well, make a decision and implement it together, no matter what you do, you can actually do it.

But the problem is that these two people have been at odds for a long time, and the two do not have Zhang Liao, and Li Dian's consciousness of forbearance for the country ended up unhappily.

Cao Xiu wanted to take the army to attack Huainan, and Jia Kui wanted to take the army to rescue Zang Ba, and in the end, Cao Xiu gave Jia Kui 5,000 people and asked him to go north to rescue Pengcheng, and he took more than 30,000 people to the south to attack Huainan.

Give Jia Kui angry. 5,000 people to rescue Pengcheng?!

Rescue the fart!!

(End of chapter)