In the spring and March of the seventh year of Jian'an, Cao Cao's soldiers and horses left behind in Xudu withdrew to the three counties of Yingyin, Linying, and Fuqiang.

These three counties are the southwest barrier of Xudu, Yingyin is in the west, Linying is in the southwest, and Qianqiang is due south, and each county is only more than 30 kilometers away from Xudu, about a day's journey.

So basically, when you go to these three counties, you belong to the outside of Xudu. When Shen Chen first came to Xudu, he occupied Linying County and sent cavalry scouts to cruise around Xudu City, which shocked Yingchuan.

After learning of this, Zhang Yun was overjoyed, and immediately went north to station in the south of the pavilion, probably in the area of Daguo Town, west of Linying County in the later generations, and confronted the enemy across the Yingshui.

From the beginning to the present, Zhang Yun's uncle Liu Biao has sent him a large number of official documents every day, and on the road from Xiangyang to Yingchuan, which is just more than 200 kilometers, there are messengers who come and go, at least three times a day, always paying attention to the battle situation.

Because the strategy adopted by Cao Hongxiahou and others was to destroy the bridge and hinder the advance of their large army along the way, Zhang Yun set out in January and was trapped in Xiangcheng, Dingling and other places in February, and could not move an inch and could not advance.

He hadn't done anything for more than two months, and he hadn't even made direct contact with his opponent, and Liu Biao was of course very unhappy. He sent more than 100,000 troops, and the enemy was 20,000 or 30,000, and he didn't even start the battle.

So Liu Biao scolded Zhang Yun in the paperwork, which caused Zhang Yun to be under a lot of pressure, and now that people began to retreat, of course he happily ordered the generals at all levels to choose to pursue.

But what is Zhang Yun's ability?

There was almost no planning and command ability, but some of the most basic arrangements were made, such as who went first and who went later, who was the vanguard, who was the front, middle, and rear army.

But the specific time, how to go, route allocation, and before and after arrangements are basically not available.

This led to a great confusion of the whole team, and the soldiers did not know the generals and the soldiers, and they crowded the roads in a chaotic manner. All kinds of shouting, scolding, collision and even fighting sounds are endless.

Those who know know that they are pursuing, but those who don't know think that the army of 80,000 has been defeated, broken and being pursued by the enemy.

So in the midst of such a chaotic march, it took Zhang Yun's army several days to pursue Xiahoudun to Yingyin.

If you look at the entire Yingyin area from a high altitude, you will see that the army commanded by Zhang Yun is laid on the Daoye like countless dense black spots, and their military discipline is corrupted, wandering around, trampling on fertile fields, plundering the people, and causing hundreds of people around the city to relocate.

Xiahoudun stood on the Yingyin City and looked at the distant horizon, and when he saw this scattered formation, he spat on the ground and said to the left and right lieutenants: "Phew, even if you have the ability to lead the troops, you dare to come to Yingchuan, Han Hao!" ”

"The end will be."

His lieutenant Han Hao stood up and said.

Xiahoudun said: "You look at the city, I will lead two thousand men and horses out of the city to rush and kill for a while." ”

"General."

Han Hao hurriedly persuaded: "Sikong let us just garrison the city." ”

"Huh?"

Xiahoudun showed a displeased look in one eye and said, "Do you want me to be so indifferent to the enemy that can be defeated?" ”

"General."

"Needless to say, I have my own ideas!"

Han Hao wanted to say something, but Xiahou had already made up his mind, and he had no ability to stop it.

At that moment, Xiahoudun immediately ordered two thousand elites.

Cao Cao left 30,000 horses in the rear, and now they are basically all around Xudu, from Yingyin, Linying, and Qiaoqiang to Xudu, there are Cao troops in dense township pavilions and important places along the way.

However, the number of Cao troops in the three cities is not much, each with 5,000 people, led by Xiahou Dun, Cao Hong, and Li Dian respectively, of which Xiahou Yuan and his old partner Xun Yu in Xudu, commanding the remaining soldiers and horses, in order to prevent a sneak attack like the last time Xu Du's troops were insufficient.

Due to the heavy losses of Yuan Shao's main elite, it was difficult to carry out an all-round attack like the original battle of Guandu, which gave Cao Cao a huge sense of oppression. Therefore, Cao Cao even had the spare strength to send Zang Ba north to attack Qingzhou and contain Yuan's troops.

Therefore, although there are only 30,000 people in Xudu at present, the situation is slightly stronger than the last time. It will not be like Shen Chen last time, running around with a small force of troops, so that they will be exhausted due to the lack of troops.

At this moment, Zhang Yun's army still appeared in the west of Yingyin in a chaotic manner, and the army of 80,000 was like locusts, covering the sky like locusts, and the wilderness, farmland, and villages were densely packed with Jingzhou soldiers who had no military discipline.

Xiahoudun led 2,000 men out of the city.

This situation is not similar to the Battle of Hefei, the Battle of Hefei is the God of War of Hefei himself is stupid, the army is still far behind, and he took thousands of people to Hefei City to watch the situation.

As a result, when Zhang Liao rushed out of the city with 800 people, Sun Quan and the thousands of soldiers did not react, so they were separated by a few hundred meters and quickly killed the front.

Then Zhang Liao slashed and killed, almost didn't scare Sun Shiwan's pants, and under the protection of the dead, he barely escaped.

The current situation is not that Zhang Yun himself is leading a few thousand people in the front and an army of 80,000 in the back. Instead, the 80,000-strong army did not have any formation at all, as if it had come out for an outing, scattered throughout the entire wilderness west of the city, and had no sense of battle at all.

Is it Jang Yun stupid?

Be.

But there is another reason.

He had an idea with Sun Quan, Sun Quan is 100,000 to 7,000, the advantage is mine, I will bring 100,000 people over, why do you dare to come out with 7,000 people to fight?

The same goes for Zhang Yun.

I'm 80,000 to 5,000, the advantage is mine, I'll bring 80,000 people over, why do you dare to go out of the city with 5,000 people?

So both of them have nothing to fear.

But Sun Quan and Zhang Yun both made the same mistake.

That is, their troops are strong, first of all, they need to line up outside the city and wait for them solemnly, so that they can exert their combat effectiveness.

But before a single soldier or horse arrived, he took thousands of guards to Hefei City.

Not a single soldier or horse was in place, nor was there a formation of soldiers, and it was scattered in the wilderness, and there was no military discipline at all.

Therefore, the generals who are full of flaws, as long as they have some ability, will choose to take the initiative to attack.

Although Xiahoudun has never won a war and has never been promoted, it does not mean that he is poorly capable.

The previous defeats were mainly due to the fact that the opponent was too strong, such as the enemy who lost several times, one Xu Rong, three times Lu Bu, and one Liu Bei, all of whom were the elites of the times.

Zhang Yun dares to touch porcelain with stinky fish and rotten shrimp?

So the gate of Yingyin City opened, and Xiahoudun personally led two thousand foot soldiers, and suddenly rushed towards the Jingzhou army.

What was Zhang Yun's reaction at this time?

No response.

The others are still behind, and they don't know that the enemy has attacked.

Then Han Hu, the general at the front, saw the gate of Yingyin City open, and a large number of Cao troops rushed out of the city, crossing the bridge and killing them.

Zhang Yun's luck in this battle is stronger than that of Hefei God of War, that is, the terrain of Yingyin is close to Lishui, located on the right bank of Lishui, although Weishui is smaller than Yingshui Rushui, it is also a medium-sized river.

Therefore, when Xiahoudun rushed over, he had to cross the river.

The bridges they destroyed before were the bridges of Yingshui and Rushui, and the bridges were less than a mile from the city, so a group of military horses were arranged by the river, and if the enemy attacked directly, the bridge was burned with fish paste grease.

But now seeing the enemy's command ability, Xiahoudun didn't care about destroying the bridge, and immediately led 2,000 people to rush out, so that the distance between the two sides was much farther than the battle of Hefei.

Han Hu was the vanguard at the forefront, and he was already only half a mile away from the Lishui Bridge, and when he saw the enemy coming out of the city, he rushed across the bridge and attacked them, and he was shocked for a while, and hurriedly shouted for the soldiers to regroup.

But in such a chaotic situation, where can it be neat in a short period of time, Xiahoudun galloped on his horse, and the soldiers behind him screamed and rushed to kill like wild wolves, Han Hu was instantly stood under the horse by Xiahoudun, and the vanguard team was in chaos, and thousands of people began to throw their armor back and flee.

They were the vanguard, rushing farther than the previous army, and if there was a slightly stronger general at this time, they would have reacted, but Zhang Yun was even in the rear. So much so that the front army was in a hurry and unprepared, and was directly overwhelmed by the scattered soldiers and horses of the vanguard.

"Hahahaha."

Xiahoudun actually killed Han Hu and a few Jingzhou soldiers, but before he could make a move, the soldiers in the front row were just one to kill, and the enemy was defeated, and he immediately laughed and ordered to continue the pursuit.

However, when he scattered Zhang Yun's 5,000 pioneers and more than 10,000 former troops, a team suddenly blocked him in front of him.

There are not many people in these departments, only more than 1,000 people, but they are well-trained, and the leader of the general is named Huo Du, who is the Sima of Zhang Yun's army, and at this moment, when Hou Dun left the city in early Xia, he had already reacted, sounded the horn to warn the whole army, and at the same time lined up in place.

The scattered soldiers rushed towards his army, and seeing that they were about to break up his ranks, Huo Du decisively ordered the shooting of arrows, and shot many of them, and the soldiers were so frightened that they diverted from both sides of the team like a tide.

Huo Du was like the mainstay, the Dinghai Divine Needle in the middle of the river, forcing the scattered soldiers to both sides and facing Xiahoudun alone.

Xiahou was killed, and the arrows were like rain, flying towards Cao's army.

"Retreat!"

Seeing that the enemy was blocked by a force and the rain of arrows was coming, Xiahoudun hurriedly issued an order to retreat.

For a time, Cao Jun left dozens of corpses behind and fled in a hurry.

And the rout of Hanhu over there scattered the front army, and even the Chinese army was almost in chaos, if it weren't for Huo Du's efforts to turn the tide, I am afraid that there would be a big rout in the battle of Weishui.

Knowing that at this time, Zhang Yun had no choice but to order the generals of the Chinese army to gather the rout, and he led the rear army to retreat ten miles and set up camp.

After the investigation by both sides, the loss of Xiahoudun was more than 40 soldiers who were shot and killed by Huo Du.

What about Zhang Yun?

Hanhu's vanguard was slashed by Xiahoudun's army of less than a hundred people.

The remaining front army and vanguard suffered nearly 1,000 casualties, a small number of which were routed soldiers shot by Huo Du, and most of them were actually killed and injured by falling and stampede in the process of escaping.

This made Zhang Yun lose face, and it was another matter to regroup the team and provoke again after resting for two days.

At the same time, the Kurouti front.

Yuan Shao's attention to Liu Biaojun was no less than that of Cao Cao, and almost when the Jingzhou army began to form an encirclement of Xu Du, the scouts had already rushed north to report.

Three days later, 200 kilometers away from Fengqiu Yuan Ying, they got the information that Cao's army had retreated three days earlier, and Zhang Yunwen had hired Liu Bei's army to pursue them north.

This news is obviously relatively backward, because it just took Zhang Yun three days to catch up with Xiahoudun.

This also means that almost when Yuan Shao got the news that they were going north, today Zhang Yun hit a nail under Yingyin City, and was attacked by Xiahoudun, almost beating 80,000 people to the verge of collapse.

But Yuan Shao didn't know.

At this moment, in the Yuan camp, Yuan Shao convened several strategists to meet the council.

On the eve of the Battle of Guandu, he gave the two main strategists, one of whom was given military power by him, and the other was imprisoned by him.

Ke Fu Zhu fled back to Hebei, using Shen Chen and Liu Bei as examples, and encouraged Yuan Shao with words, and made Yuan Shao restore his former generosity, release Tian Feng, and improve the status of the two.

In fact, to a certain extent, Guandu's suppression of them before was mainly due to the factions of strategists under Yuan Shao. For example, the Jizhou faction such as Fu Zhu, Tian Feng, and Judge, the Yingchuan faction such as Xin Ping, Guo Tu, and Xun Chen, and the Nanyang faction of Feng Ji and Xu You.

The local faction in Jizhou was too strong, and Yuan Shao was afraid that he would not be able to suppress it, so he supported the Yingchuan faction. Like Xin Ping, Guo Tu, and Xun Chen are the advisors he values the most, but Xun Chen died of an unexpected illness, so he can only rely on Guo Tu to clamp down.

Under normal circumstances, now Xu Yu rebelled, and Xun Chen died of illness. The local faction in Jizhou is too strong, even if he flees back to Hebei, Yuan Shao should abandon him and Tian Feng, and then support Xin Ping, Guo Tu, and Feng Ji to fight against the local faction in Jizhou.

But the battle of Guandu stimulated him too much, so Yuan Shao no longer engaged in any imperial mental balancing methods, and simply let Tian Feng be the mastermind, although this would make the local faction in Jizhou who supported Yuan Tan stronger, but in order to defeat Cao Cao, he also let go and did not engage in these messy things.

Then, at the suggestion of Tian Feng, the two sides confronted each other from November last year, and now more than four months have passed, at least Yuan Jun still occupies a certain active advantage, and Cao Jun has provoked countless times, but he is still immobile and calm.

At this time, news came from the south, in the camp of the main general, Yuan Shao looked at the four people under his hands, Tian Feng, Guo Tu, and Feng Ji, raised the official document in his hand and said: "There is a document from the south, the Jingzhou army is attacking Yingchuan in three ways, and Cao Cao's soldiers and horses left behind in the rear have to retreat to the periphery of Xudu to hold on, what do you think?" ”

Tian Feng stroked his beard and said: "Ming Gong, Cao Cao did not have many soldiers and horses left in Xudu, and Liu Biao's troops had advanced and reached the periphery of Xudu, which shows that Cao Cao is very likely to retreat." But Cao Cao has always been cunning, and I expect that if he really retreats, he will first hold his troops and then evacuate in the starry night. ”

"Hmm."

Yuan Shao nodded and said, "Cao Cao is used to fighting at night, and I am also wondering if he will leave at night." ”

"If he leaves at night, it will not be easy to send scouts to explore the surroundings of Cao Ying, but you can send scouts to lurk on the path he must pass through to see if he will take advantage of the night to go south." ”

"Okay."

Yuan Shao said from the kindness: "Then do it according to the public." ”

None of them doubted the authenticity.

If Liu Biao did not march and Cao Cao withdrew for no reason, he would definitely not be able to hide from Hetian Feng.

But Cao Cao made a bloody investment this time and directly used Xu Du as bait.

How can there be any reason to use the nest as bait in this world?

Isn't he afraid of destruction?

Therefore, they all took it for granted that Cao Cao's rear was empty, and Liu Biao's army pressed in, giving Cao Cao too much pressure.

Everyone thought that Cao Cao would inevitably withdraw his troops and go back to defend Yingchuan.

And Yuan Shao, according to his own understanding of Cao Cao, Meng De was the best at scheming, either a surprise attack or a starry night to withdraw his troops.

Therefore, they all felt that these two nights were likely to be the time when Cao Cao retreated.

The order was given, and the scouts went out.

It is too difficult to plant scouts around Cao Ying, there are countless scout posts around, Yuan Shao is no longer Yuan Shao before Guandu, and his strength cannot be crushed, so he can only retreat and choose the official road to start.

However, it is not easy to probe the news on the official road where Cao Cao withdrew his troops, and the rear is the grain road and the official document transportation channel, and there are countless Cao troops coming and going every day, and there are many sentry posts along the line.

Just as Cao Cao had to pass through many Yuan Shao outposts in the Battle of Guandu to get to the Black Nest, it was very difficult for Yuan Shao's scouts to break through the blockade and lurk on the side of the road.

So in the end, they broke up into pieces and chose to use the squad as a unit to hide in the woods, hills, and fields that were not easy to be discovered by Cao Jun's scouts for dozens of kilometers along the rear line.

March 7.

This was the second night after Yuan Shao received the news.

In the middle of the night, Yuan Ying was silent.

At the same time, the rear of Cao Ying was busy, and a large number of torches were heading south.

More than ten miles along the way to the south, there are mighty torches and long dragons.

This situation naturally alarmed the Yuan army scouts, and they hurriedly rushed back to the Yuan camp in the starry night to report to Yuan Shao.

However, it was more difficult for Yuan Jun's scouts to go back, the distance was long, and they could not take the official road but only the small road, and it was not until it was close to dawn that Yuan Shao learned the news.

"What?"

Yuan Shao only got up at this time, wearing a plain silk undershirt, and when he heard that the scout was coming, he immediately said while dressing: "Go down first, where are the guards." ”

The scout went down, and the guard at the door came in and said, "General." ”

"Let Tian Feng Guo Tu come over."

"Yui."

The guards immediately went to give the order.

After a while, Yuan Shao got dressed and waited in the big tent to teach Tian Feng Guo Tu.

He watched the three of them come in and laughed: "As expected, Cao Cao withdrew his troops in the middle of the night yesterday, and only a few people were left in the camp at this time. ”

Tian Feng groaned: "Cao Cao is used to strange soldiers, I wonder, will he deliberately set up an ambush, repel us first, and then go south to Xudu?" ”

Yuan Shao said: "The scouts have investigated, Cao Jun has traveled dozens of miles, all the way south, there will be no fake." ”

"I'm afraid it's a suspicious tactic."

Fu Zhu frowned and said: "Cao Cao will not be unexpected, if he goes south in the starry night, we will immediately chase after him, if he can't defeat Liu Biao in Xudu for a few days, as soon as our army arrives, he will be attacked on his back." If I were Cao Cao, I would retreat from us first, so that we would not dare to pursue, and then go to relieve the siege of Xudu. ”

Although Xun You used the trick of hiding from the sky and crossing the sea, using Xu Du as a bait, he successfully convinced them that Cao Cao was now eager to return to Xu Du to rescue.

But Tian Feng and Fu Zhu are not fools.

They felt that Cao Cao would not be stupid enough to ignore the Yuan army directly, and no matter how urgent he was, he would definitely find a way to deal with it, and it was very likely that he was arranging suspicious soldiers, just using the matter of Xu Du to lure them into pursuit, so as to achieve the strategic goal of quickly repelling the Yuan army.

Yuan Shao hesitated: "Then according to the meaning of Gong and Yuan Hao, we will not move?" ”

"If Cao Cao just makes us suspicious and doesn't move, wouldn't it be a missed opportunity? By the time Cao Cao goes south to repel Liu Biao, it will be too late for us to march again. ”

Guo Tu finally spoke at this time.

In the Battle of Guandu, his strategy failed several times, causing his position in the army to plummet, and now he finally found an opportunity to fight back.

And what is rare is that Fu Zhu and Tian Feng did not refute him.

Because what he says is the truth.

If Cao Cao took advantage of their suspicious psychology and attacked Liu Biao like lightning, defeated Liu Biao, and then went north to meet them, then they would have missed the opportunity.

So this is where Frustration and Tian Feng are also entangled.

Chase.

I'm afraid of ambushes.

Don't chase it.

I'm afraid there is no ambush.

It's a bit hard for them to ride a tiger now.

There was a moment of silence.

Yuan Shaochang let out a long breath, looked at Tian Feng, and said with some displeasure: "Gong and Yuan Hao, take an idea." ”

Fu Zhu pondered again and again, and finally said: "Ming Gong can attack Cao Ying first today, at this time Cao Ying has few people, after the breakthrough, and then march south, it is not too urgent, but send the vanguard and the front army to pursue, the main force is slow, even if it is ambushed, it can also protect the whole army." ”

"Hmm."

Yuan Shao nodded, this is a relatively safe suggestion, although it will still be a step slower, but no matter what, attacking Cao Ying is also a necessary thing.

You can't leave Cao Ying's 10,000 horses alone, and go directly to chase Cao Cao.

So what should he do with the rest of the grain and grass?

Therefore, Yuan Shao did not hesitate at that time, and in the early morning of March 7, after Cao Cao had evacuated Cangting three hours ago, he gathered his troops and began to storm Cao's army.

At this time, the Cao battalion had very few troops, and the Yuan army launched a full-scale attack on the Cao camp in the morning, and by noon the Cao battalion, which had few major generals, could not hold on, and the remaining seven or eight thousand men and horses were evacuated from the south gate under the command of the remaining lord general Ban.

Yuan Shao ordered the general Lu Kuang to be the vanguard, Jiang Qi to be the former army commander, and led 25,000 people to pursue Cao's army, and he led 30,000 people to follow the rear for the Chinese army, and the rest of the men and horses to escort the rear army.

In the afternoon, Lü Kuang and Jiang Qi began to pursue Yu Ban, who had retreated south. Yuan Shao's main force followed them about ten miles away, approaching the south in a mighty way.

When he passed the Cangting Pavilion and went in the direction of Huangxian, Yuan Shao, who was halfway there, suddenly heard a message.

Because Xu Du was close to two hundred kilometers from the Cangting front, it often took three or four days for the news from the south to arrive, and the news that Yuan Shao got before was that Liu Biao's army surrounded Xu Du, but he didn't know that when he got the news, Xiahou Tang almost defeated Zhang Yun.

"Two thousand people almost defeated the eighty-thousand-strong Jingzhou army?"

Yuan Shao looked at the messenger with a look of disbelief.

The messenger replied: "Exactly! ”

Yuan Shao looked at Tian Feng and the others left and right, and looked at each other.

Although it is the consensus that the southern soldiers are not as good as the northern soldiers in foot combat, 80,000 against 2,000 is almost a fiasco?

Is Liu Biao's army a bunch of rice buckets?

"Not good!"

Frustration's eyes widened, and he suddenly said: "Liu Biaojun is far less powerful than Cao Jun, which shows that Cao Cao shouldn't worry about Xu Ducai, I'm afraid there is fraud in it!" ”

Yuan Shao also sensed that something was wrong, and immediately said, "Let Lu Kuang and Jiang Qi come back." ”

"Report!"

Almost at the moment when this order was given, a knight rushed quickly, and when he reached the vicinity of the army, Yuan Shao turned over and landed in front of his horse, knelt down on one knee and said: "General Yu, General Lu and General Jiang were suddenly ambushed by Cao's army, and they have been defeated at this moment!" ”

Yuan Shao's brows furrowed instantly, and he glanced at the frustrated professor, and was a little happy.

OK.

If it was him, he would definitely insist on giving the order to chase after him.

Fortunately, Tian Feng's plan was safe, and now he only lost the front army and the vanguard, which is no big problem.

So he ordered: "Withdraw!" ”

"Withdraw!"

A new order was issued, and tens of thousands of Yuan troops withdrew northward like a tide.

(End of chapter)