"Sikong is back, Sikong is back."

The news soon spread throughout Xudu, and the originally panicked situation suddenly calmed down.

It's not that everyone knows that Cao Cao is the backbone, but these people are the standard wall grass, and when Yuan Shao was powerful, he wrote letters to Yuan Shao to secretly befriend him.

Now that Shen Chen is leading his troops north, Xu Du's troops are extremely empty, causing these ministers to mistakenly think that Shen Chen is powerful, so they have to deal with him one after another.

Now that Cao Cao is back, everyone knows that Cao Cao is a ruthless person, and now he is making trouble, and the probability of death is too great, so these so-called princes of the family are all settled down one by one and wait for things to develop.

In short, although they are useless, they will only wave their flags and shout in the back. But again, whoever wins, they will help, at least for now they have to wait for a result.

Cao Cao galloped back to Xudu in the starry night, Xun Yu Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian immediately came over to ask for guilt, outside the north gate of Xudu, everyone saw a large group of cavalry galloping from a distance.

"Sikong!"

When Cao Cao arrived, Xun Yu, Xiahou Yuan, Li Dian, Cao Hong, and many other civilian generals who guarded Xu Du stepped forward to bow and plead guilty.

"Hmm."

Cao Cao nodded, this time when he came back, except for the five thousand cavalry, he didn't bring any generals, only Guan Yu and Xu Chu followed him, like two bodyguards.

At this moment, Guan Yu just killed Yan Liang and made a great contribution, and a few days ago, he asked Liu Xie for merit for him and sealed the Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion, and he returned to Xu Capital today.

After Cao Cao entered the city, he saw many officials, but he nodded his chin majestically, and did not blame them, and then rode into the city on horseback in a high-profile manner, glanced left and right, walked around the streets of the city, and then returned to the Sikong Mansion.

The reason why he did this was naturally to calm the hearts of the people first, and when he arrived at the door of Sikong Mansion, let Guan Yu and Xu Chu lead the knights to recuperate their tired bodies first, and after he returned to the hall of the mansion, he looked at Cao Hong with a calm gaze and said, "Zilian, what the hell is going on." ”

Cao Hong said with a very ashamed face: "Eldest brother, that day we learned that Shen Chen bypassed Ye County in the middle of the night and went north to Kunyang, and Liu Dai, the guard general of Kunyang, also reported that he saw thousands of torches in the middle of the night and went north, I thought he was going to attack Xu Du......."

"Smack!"

Cao Cao kicked over the table and yelled at Cao Hong: "Do you think that if he is going to attack Xu Du, he will really come?" Xu Youwen Ruohe is here, no matter how bad it is, he can hold on for a few days, can't you send someone to investigate during the day? Why do you have to rush to go? With such a low-level voice, you can actually be tricked? What a stupidity! ”

Many soldiers and Cao Cao's henchmen were anxious for a while, and they didn't dare to come out one by one.

And Cao Cao glared at Cao Hong angrily, quite hating that iron could not become steel.

This time he was really angry, because if he hadn't dealt with Yan Liangwen as soon as possible and came back a few days later, Shen Chen would really have hit outside the city of Xudu.

If he joins forces with Zhang Xiu again, the consequences may be unimaginable.

Xu Du was ruined, the key is that once he loses Liu Xie, then he will instantly become the target of public criticism.

At that time, even if Yuan Shao is repulsed, now the scene of Xu Du's gathering of families in the world will disappear all of a sudden, and his reputation in the family will instantly fall to the bottom.

You must know that from only tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Yanzhou, to almost the entire Henan and even Xuzhou and Shandong, Liu Xie's golden signboard has made great contributions.

Once he loses the support of the family, Cao Cao knows better than anyone what the fate will be.

Therefore, in the face of Cao Hong's dereliction of duty, he had no way to cover up.

Cao Hong is not only stingy, but also very strong, hearing Cao Cao's words, he immediately said: "It's Hong's sin, please let my brother allow me to judge myself." ”

After that, he was going to pull out the knives of the guards on the left and right and commit suicide.

Cao Cao hurriedly came up and kicked Cao Hong to the ground, and said, "Bastard, what do I want your life for?" Keep your life and atone for your sins, I only hope you can remember today's lesson, and don't do it again in the future, do you hear? ”

Cao Hong got up from the ground and said with a very ashamed face: "Only." ”

Seeing that he was still guilty on his face, Cao Cao's anger was almost gone, after all, when he was in Bianshui in his early years, if Cao Hong hadn't given him the horse, he would have been killed by Xu Rong a long time ago, so he didn't really plan to hold Cao Hong responsible.

Cao Cao did better than Cao Pi at this point, after all, he was his own relative, if he changed to another general, he would definitely be cut down by Cao Cao, but Cao Hong, Cao Ren, Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Yuan, was the pillar of his family, so naturally it was not good.

Including the later so-called five good generals, except for Yu Ban, basically did not have the opportunity to lead the troops alone, and was only assigned to the Cao family Xiahou family as deputy generals, because Cao Cao relied on them more.

Now that Cao Ren is dead, the four pillar-like Cao family generals are one less member, how could Cao Cao be willing to let Cao Hong commit suicide because of this matter?

But the appearance still has to be done, Cao Cao said: "Demote you to the captain of Eagle Yang, remove the knight, and reflect on your mistakes." ”

"Yes."

Cao Hong lowered his eyebrows and looked at him, he was already very happy to be immortal, what else did he have to hope for?

After punishing Cao Hong, Cao Cao looked at Xun Yu and the others and said, "Wen Ruo, Miaocai, what is the current situation?" ”

Xun Yu said: "Shen Chen's troops are in Linying, and yesterday Li Dian led his troops to beg for it, and he was defeated by his design. This person just saw the emptiness in our rear, and every time he feinted to attack Xu Du and forced us to fight a decisive battle with him, and now Xu Du has insufficient troops to fight him, so he ......"

"I see."

Cao Cao nodded and asked, "How many soldiers and horses are there in the city?" ”

"There are about 12,000 people, but these are all temporary recruits, among which there are less than 4,000 elite soldiers...... "jújíá?y.?? m

Xun Yu's face is difficult to color.

This is the embarrassment of Xu Du, because Cao Cao mobilized all the main forces to Guandu, Sili, Yanzhou, and Qingzhou to fight Yuan Shao along the line, resulting in a serious shortage of troops in the rear, as long as the enemy broke through the defense line of Cao Hong and Li Tong, then Xu Du would be very uncomfortable.

Cao Cao groaned: "There are not many soldiers, four thousand people are enough." ”

Xun Yu said again: "General Zhengnan went to the paperwork yesterday, and he has already arrived at the capital of Qianqiang, and I have asked him to make promises in the capital of Xuanqiang." ”

"Oh?"

Cao Cao frowned and said, "You called Li Tong back?" ”

Xun Yu smiled bitterly: "This is also a matter of no choice, if you don't mobilize reinforcements as soon as possible, Xu Du is really at risk of being broken, even if Sun Ce attacks, you have to save Xu Du first." ”

Cao Cao's brows furrowed even deeper.

In his opinion, Xun Yu's move is the so-called drinking water to quench his thirst.

Li Tong brought his own soldiers and horses to Cao Cao, and his strength was still relatively strong, with more than 10,000 men and horses, so he was able to defend Runan to defend Sun Ce, and including Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and others, all wanted to win him over.

At that time, Cao Cao didn't know that Li Tong was unreliable, after all, he was a foreign surname, and at this time, most of the counties in Yuzhou had rebelled, who could guarantee that Li Tong would surrender?

Therefore, to mobilize Li Tong back, Cao Cao had two concerns, one was that he was afraid of the emptiness of Runan and Sun Ce's attack. Second, they are afraid that Li Tong will defect, and the situation will be worse.

But at this time, it has reached an extraordinary period, and Cao Cao's history has just accepted Zhang Xiu's surrender, and he dared to arrange Zhang Xiu, a person who had betrayed him once, to the ruthless role of Chen Liu's own right wing.

He immediately gritted his teeth and said: "Lonely people don't doubt, suspicious people don't need to, since you believe in Wenda, naturally don't worry about him, send someone to send a message, let Li Tong go north, and join Gu." ”

"Yui."

Xun Yu went down to do something.

Cao Cao looked left and right and said: "Shen Chen is just a child, relying on the emptiness of the lonely rear, thinking that he can attack and disturb Xu Du, it is really wishful thinking, now Gu comes back, since he captures this child, go back first, Li Dian Cao Hong Xiahou Yuan, you lead the troops to guard Xu Du, let me go to the palace first to appease the Son of Heaven, and tomorrow I will enter Linying with my soldiers." ”

"Yui."

All the soldiers and strategists and officials retreated.

After Cao Cao and the others left, he forced his body to go to the palace to see Liu Xie first, and after some comfort on the surface, he immediately returned to Sikong Mansion to rest.

Man is not made of iron.

Guandu traveled more than 90 kilometers to Xudu, and drove all night, almost every hour of walking, the horses had to rest for two hours, and the average speed of running was 10 kilometers per hour, whether it was a horse or a soldier, they were too tired to work.

Therefore, it is not realistic to lead the troops to go out now, at least one day of rest, in addition to the soldiers, the most important thing is that these war horses must be fed with fine fodder, eat and drink enough and sleep well before they can send out the army.

So on the third day of Shen Chen's soldiers entering Linying, Cao Cao finally finished resting, and at this time, Li Tong arrived in Xudu yesterday and joined Cao Cao's soldiers, so that the elite number of Cao's army reached nearly 20,000 people, and they came towards Linying.

But Shen Chen already had eyes and ears in Xudu, and a few years ago he sent someone to buy a store in Xudu, pretending to be doing business, but in fact, he secretly raised a few horses in the farm outside the city, and as soon as Cao Cao entered the city, his people went to report the news.

Knowing that Cao Cao had arrived in person, Shen Chen retreated to Xiangcheng yesterday.

He didn't bring much grain and grass himself, basically the soldiers each brought ten days of dry food, once Cao Cao besieged the city, either break through or plunder the people of Linying, so it was better to withdraw the troops as soon as possible.

It's just that how could Cao Cao let him go?

After glad that Li Tong did not defect, Cao Cao asked Li Tong to hand over the talisman to Xiahou Yuan and make him Xiahou Yuan's lieutenant general.

Then he personally led the cavalry, took Guan Yu and Xu Chu, and when Shen Chen had not retreated from Xiangcheng to Kunyang, he had already galloped over, intending to intercept him halfway.

Although he only had 5,000 cavalry, and the Han Dynasty cavalry did not have stirrups, horseshoes and high bridge saddles, the speed of the cavalry was still too fast, and the infantry were not afraid of the cavalry in formation, but if it was delayed for too long, when the Cao infantry arrived, it would be encountered.

At this time, Shen Chen's current location is near Jinche Township, about ten kilometers south of Xiangcheng and more than twenty kilometers north of Kunyang.

However, of course, he is not in the urban area of Pingdingshan, but in the area of Ziyun Mountain in the east, which is also the only mountainous area near Xiangcheng, and Kunyang is in the south.

It was the early summer, after the light rain two days ago, the weather was sunny today, and after Shen Chen withdrew his troops, he followed the official road all the way to the south.

On their right hand side is the Ziyun Mountain Mountains, the official road is in the east of the mountains, the mountains and forests are lush at the moment, and a few families can occasionally be seen at the foot of the mountain, villages and fields are all over the place, the plains are vast in the distance, and the hills, mountains, forests, and rivers are looming.

After the soldiers of Huangmen Pavilion were broken, Gan Ning's army walked in front, lined up in two long lines of 8,000 people along the wide post road, stretched for about two miles, and walked unhurriedly towards the south.

"Enemy attack!"

"Whew! Shout! Shout! Shout! ”

At this moment, a shrill whistle sounded throughout the wilderness.

There were several scouts on horseback in the rear, quickly warning the front, they were the scouts that Shen Chen had arranged to follow the rear of the team.

There is no need to send out to investigate, just follow behind the troops, and once they find the enemy, they will immediately gallop over, catch up with Shen Chen's team, and warn them.

In an instant, the whistles came and went, and the soldiers of the Ganning Army were at a loss one by one, and the soldiers of the Huangmen Pavilion had already gathered on the plain on the right side under the leadership of officers at all levels, and then Shen Chen gave combat instructions and immediately took action.

"Brother Shen!"

"Hmm!"

Shen Changqing walked on the road, and when he met someone he knew well, he would say hello to each other or nod his head.

But it doesn't matter who it is.

There was no superfluous expression on everyone's face, as if they were very indifferent to everything.

on this.

Shen Changqing is used to it.

Because this is the Demon Suppression Division, it is an institution that maintains the stability of Great Qin, and its main responsibility is to kill demons and monsters, and of course there are some other side jobs.

Arguably.

In the Demon Suppression Division, everyone has a lot of blood on their hands.

When a person is accustomed to seeing life and death, then he will become indifferent to many things.

When he first came to this world, Shen Changqing was a little uncomfortable, but over time he got used to it.

The Demon Suppression Division is huge.

The people who can stay in the Demon Suppression Division are all powerful masters, or people who have the potential to become masters.

Shen Changqing belongs to the latter.

Among them, the Demon Suppression Division is divided into two professions, one is the town guard and the other is the demon exterminator.

Anyone who enters the Demon Suppression Division starts with the lowest level of demon slayer.

Then step by step, he is expected to become a town guard.

Shen Changqing's predecessor was a trainee demon slayer in the Demon Suppression Division, and he was also the lowest level of the demon slayer envoys.

Have memories of the predecessor.

He is also very familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Division.

It didn't take long for Shen Changqing to stop in front of an attic.

Unlike other places full of slaughter, the attic here seems to stand out from the crowd, and in the bloody Demon Suppression Division, it presents a different tranquility.

At this time, the attic door is open, and there are occasional people entering and exiting.

Shen Changqing only hesitated for a moment, and then stepped in.

Access to the attic.

The environment has changed in vain.

A burst of ink fragrance mixed with the faint smell of blood came to his face, making his brow furrow instinctively, but quickly stretched.

The smell of blood on everyone's body in the Demon Suppression Division is almost impossible to clean.