On the front line of Guandu, on the dirt mountain at the south gate of Cao Ying, Cao Cao, Xun You, Guo Jia and others fell into extreme silence at this moment.

After a long time, Cao Cao slowly walked to the wooden pillar downstairs on the earth mountain wall, held on to the wooden pillar, and lowered his head to breathe.

"Berda."

He muttered to himself, and now he only felt dizzy, cold sweat, buzzing in his head, and his ears seemed to be annoyed by a lot of bugs.

Ren Jun is not only one of the cornerstones of his rear, but also his brother-in-law, the relationship is extremely close, and he was shocked to hear the bad news, which is no less than when Cao Cao and Cao Ren died, which made Cao Cao heartbroken.

"Ming Gong."

Xun You and Guo Jia glanced at each other, and the two hurriedly stepped forward and persuaded him: "Please also ask Ming Gong to cheer up." ”

"I know, it's just a little headache."

Cao Cao gasped, kept rubbing his temples, waved his hand and said, "Fengxiao, Gongda, what do you think of those captives?" Now our top priority is to go south to defend Xudu, and the captives will not be able to be killed in a short time. ”

This time is not the time for Ren Jun to die, Cao Cao must consider the issue of returning to Xu Du as soon as possible, and the others are good to say, the common people will be killed if they are killed.

The most important thing is Xu Du's grain storage and Liu Xie.

Now Cao Cao himself doesn't have much grain and grass in Guandu, and he must go back to Xudu to replenish it, if Shen Chen and Liu Bei are allowed to attack Xudu and burn the grain and grass to rob Liu Xie, then even if he defeats Yuan Shao, his power will collapse instantly.

Therefore, at this time, the first task is to immediately return to Xudu to repel the invading enemy, so whether the prisoner in his hand is killed or released, he must weigh the pros and cons and choose the one that is most beneficial to him.

Xun You sighed and said, "Ming Gong, let it go." ”

"Released?"

Cao Cao turned his head, his eyes had become scarlet at this time, and his whole face was distorted: "Lone went through life and death before he defeated Yuan Shao, captured these 80,000 horses, and let Lone be released?" Yuan Shao's foundation has not moved, so isn't it in vain to fight this battle? ”

Guo Jia groaned: "Not really, there are benefits to release." ”

"You say."

Cao Cao stared at Guo Jia, he wanted to know what the benefit of letting the tiger return to the mountain.

Guo Jia said eloquently: "Yuan Shao has been burning since the black nest was burned, and now it has been nearly a month, why hasn't there been any new grain and grass to come over?" It can only show that Yuan Shao's grain stocks have been used up, and Yecheng does not have much surplus grain, so it needs to be drawn from all over the country. However, it takes time to allocate a large amount of grain and grass in a short period of time. ”

"At this moment, the 80,000 Yuan army is already hungry, Henan and other places have been looted and broken by the Yuan army, and they are already withering, not to mention that they dare not stay in Henan for a long time. The public can dismiss them and force them to go to Hebei, and Guandu is more than five or six hundred miles away from Liyang, the closest to Hebei, and it will take at least seven or eight days to walk. ”

On the way back, 80,000 people lacked food and clothing, and it was winter, and countless people died of cold and starvation. Even if they didn't die, they would have fled back with difficulty, and for a bite to eat, they would inevitably take up arms and plunder the people of Jizhou. ”

"At that time, the scattered soldiers will form a military disaster, sweeping the entire Wei County, Yuan Shao's soldiers and horses will be lost, and they will not be able to appease the defeated soldiers in a short period of time, and they will not be able to recover for at least ten years under internal and external troubles."

"Therefore, Jia thinks that letting Yuan Jun go back will cause better consequences to Jizhou than killing him."

Is it better than a pit kill?

Guo Jia's words instantly calmed Cao Cao, lowered his head and looked at the rammed earth on the ground, and quickly began to think about whether his words were right.

At present, there are almost no people along the Yellow River in Henan.

Under Yuan Jun's strategy, most of the area of Yanzhou East County was ten rooms and nine empty, and the real white bones were exposed in the wild, and there was no rooster crying for thousands of miles.

And how far is Zhongmu County, where Guandu is located, from Liyang County, the closest to Jizhou?

There are five or six hundred miles.

In other words, in the November winter, Yuan Shao's 80,000 soldiers will pass through more than 200 kilometers of uninhabited areas without organization and discipline, all the way to the direction of Liyang.

Not to mention that with their state of hunger, it was almost difficult to march a hundred miles a day like Xiahou Yuan.

Even if you can hit this speed, it will take five or six days.

Walking hungry and freezing for five or six days, Cao Cao knew better than anyone what would become of people.

And even this is in the case of conservative estimates.

If you really want to leave, you may have to walk for more than ten days, so at that time, there are very few people who can really go back to Hebei, at most they rely on the breasts of the starving people to barely go back.

And even if it is difficult to Jizhou, it does not mean that it is safe. For the sake of a bite to eat, they will inevitably go to extremes.

When people are hungry and crazy, they can do anything.

After Yuan's army arrives at Liyang, I am afraid that the entire Liyang County will be like locusts crossing the border and being devastated to the extreme.

And a county town in Liyang will definitely not be able to satisfy these hungry soldiers, and their next target must be Neihuang, Fanyang, Yin'an and other places.

The most important thing is that this is still under the condition that they successfully cross the river and return to Jizhou.

It is conceivable that at least more than half of the 80,000 defeated soldiers had to die on the road, not only in hunger and cold, but also in crossing the river!

The turbulent Yellow River is like a moat.

The dilemma faced by the soldiers is that there is no food for hundreds of square kilometers around, and in winter, there is not much grass root bark left, so they have to eat insects and wild animals, and even if they survive to the edge of the Yellow River, the river has become a roadblock.

In order to cross the river, these scattered soldiers will inevitably grab the boats and fight hard, which will further aggravate their internal friction, and when they really return to Jizhou, I am afraid that less than one-third will be there.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao narrowed his eyes slightly, flashed a trace of killing intent, nodded and said: "Well, the words of filial piety are reasonable, and the order is given, release Yuan Jun, and return to Xudu immediately!" ”

At the moment, Cao's army no longer continued to prepare to kill prisoners, but under Cao Cao's orders, they divided their troops into different things.

Cao Cao himself led more than 10,000 people to the south to return to Xudu first, and let Xiahou Dun be the main general, and Yu Ban was the deputy general to lead the remaining Cao army in Guandu.

These people will be responsible for driving the Yuan army back to the north, and at the same time, they will escort all the captured Yuan army's baggage, weapons and equipment, military equipment and other non-grain and grass back to Xudu.

The reason why he didn't choose to go south with cavalry in the starry night like Shen Chen did when he first came to Xudu was because the Wei clan and Yan Ling had fallen.

He had very few supplies on the front line in Guandu, and he couldn't afford the fine fodder for horses, and after the fall of Wei and Yanling, Cao Cao had no way to replenish it along the line.

Historically, his tiger and leopard rider did have a record of galloping for 300 miles in one day and one night to catch up with Liu Bei, but the logistics and supplies of the tiger and leopard rider were extremely sufficient, and one person and two horses also carried a large amount of fine feed such as beans to ensure the horse's physical strength.

Therefore, now that he can't even eat his own army, Cao Cao can basically only ensure that the horses eat grass normally every day, and it is impossible to have soybeans for the horses, so he naturally cannot run long distances.

And just when Cao Cao officially set off for the south on October 28, Xu Du and Xun Yu also felt a headache at this moment.

In Shang Shuling's mansion, Chen Qun looked at the white and black hair on Xun Yu's sideburns, which were much more than yesterday, and said with some distress: "Ling Jun, please cherish your body." ”

Xun Yu has been running around all night in the past few days, borrowing private soldiers and grain and grass to stabilize prices and prevent panic, and the time to sleep every day is very short.

He didn't even burn incense like in the past, but after listening to Chen Qun's words, he asked him, "The people in the city don't know about it, right?" ”

"There has not been, and no people have fled."

Chen Qun said: "It's just that those big families are secretly constantly connected in series, and they often meet every day, for fear of bad intentions." ”

"Leave them alone."

Xun Yu closed his eyes, rubbed his temples, and said softly: "Cao Gong will go south in a few days, and they can't afford to make any waves." ”

Although he wanted to block the news, it was impossible to completely isolate such a big thing, so he could only try to suppress the impact so as not to cause panic among the people.

It is not easy for Xu Du to have such a scene now, and it is impossible for him to turn the security situation he has created into chaos.

But he can barely hide from the people at the bottom, but he can't hide from those powerful families.

It's just that the news of Cao Cao's victory in Guandu made these people dare not make any big moves.

In fact, even when Yuan Shao was at his strongest, these powerful families did not launch a rebellion in Xudu.

The reason for this is that the Yingchuan family supports Cao Cao, while the foreign family lacks private soldiers and has no actual troops in Xu.

There are also many reasons such as Yuan Shu being repeatedly defeated by Cao Cao, and Yang Biao being tortured by Cao Cao.

The two top families in the world, the Runan Yuan family and the Hongnong Yang family, Yuan Shu was pressed and beaten by Cao Cao, and Yang Biao was tortured by Cao Cao as soon as he arrived in Xudu.

Even Yuan Shu and Yang Biao and Cao Cao don't pay attention to it, let alone others.

And Cao Cao's murder and brutality are very high, and the famous families are very afraid, and they dare not rebel at this time.

"Hmm."

Chen Qun nodded slightly and said, "Now that Xu Du's guards are empty, I'm afraid that before Cao Gong goes south, Shen Chen and Uncle Huang will attack Xu Du." ”

Xun Yu said: "Don't worry, I have already asked people to transport all the grain in Taicang to the palace, as long as the grain in Xudu is not destroyed, everything is still hopeful." ”

"Report!"

At this moment, the scout suddenly rushed into the hall and said in a loud voice: "Guan Yu Liu Beijun has just pulled out of the camp, and I don't know where he is going. ”

"Probe!"

Xun Yu said immediately.

After about an hour, the scout came back and said, "Report, Guan Yu and Liu Beijun went to the direction of Zhile Township." ”

Only happy town?

Xun Yu's face changed greatly, it was the direction of the east of Xudu City.

At that time, the inner city of Xudu was the imperial palace, and the outer city was expanded in a circle, but the main direction of expansion was the west.

Therefore, the outer city on the southeast and north sides of Xudu will be relatively weak, and the east city is the closest to the palace, and there is only one street away from the east gate of the palace.

The most important thing is that the layout of the palace was close at that time, and the location of the palace warehouse was generally in the northeast corner, just like the location of Luoyang Taicang was in the northeast corner, because the grain market in Luoyang Dongcheng was close to each other at that time, which was convenient for storage and transportation.

The layout of the Xudu Palace is mostly reduced according to the layout of the Luoyang Palace, if Liu Bei and Shen Chen's coalition army kills the Dongcheng, it is very likely to threaten the Xudu Grain Stockpile, and then Cao Cao's forces will be really dangerous.

"Immediately order Xiahou Yuan and Cao Hong to return to defend Xudu, and then send people to carry the stored grain in the palace to Chengguang Hall and Yongshitai."

Xun Yu gave the order without hesitation, and at the same time pondered for a moment, and then said: "Send the book to Li Tong again, and let him attack Wuyang Kunyang to save Zhao by encircling Wei." ”

"Yui."

The scholars on duty today immediately dispersed to convey the instructions.

Wait until they're gone.

Xun Yu looked into the distance with a sad gaze, and said softly: "Shen Chen really has the talent of a tiger and a fox, but unfortunately he can't be used by Cao Gong." ”

Good news, from the 7th to the 8th, I will explode more than 40,000 in two days, and I will become a codeword machine and write desperately.

(End of chapter)