Xu Huang arrived at Qishan Fort and observed around the fort, Qishan Fort was heavily guarded and had no chance to take advantage of it. I had to bypass Qishan Fort and go to Ji County to meet Cao Ren! Cao Ren welcomed Xu Huang and other generals, Xu Huang took out Cao Pi's warrant and read it, and Xiahou Yuan and Cao Hong thanked him for receiving his order!

Xu Huang handed over the bag to Cao Ren, and everything was explained. Cao Ren looked at the bag and said, "It is gratifying that the king sent Gongming to help in the battle, but it may be difficult for our army to win!" ”

Xu Huangqi said: "Why is this? ”

Cao Ren walked up to a map and said, "Gongming, come and see!" Before Gongming came, the thief army Huang Quan suddenly set fire to all the wheat fields from Nan'an County and Tianshui County for some reason, and our army grabbed a part of it, and the wheat harvested before and after was only enough to last for half a month!

I thought that the thief army came from Liangzhou, and there would be no follow-up grain route that would not burn the wheat fields and cut off the grain and grass, but I didn't expect it, alas!

Most of the wheat fields in Longxi County were harvested by Yang Fu, and Zhao Yun made trouble several times, but was forced to retreat by Yang Fu step by step! Zhao Yun couldn't take advantage of it, so he entered Nan'an County instead and organized the people to harvest the wheat in the north and west of Nan'an County. Zhao Yun led his troops south to set fire, but fortunately, most of the wheat fields in Nan'an County were concentrated near Zhisuo Road, and about half of them were harvested!

The grain harvested by Yang Fu plus the grain harvested by Tianshui and Nan'an is enough for the whole army to support for a month and a half! ”

Xu Huang listened and said, "Okay? Isn't the army of thieves without food? I'm afraid I won't be able to last more than a month and a half without food! ”

Cao Ren said: "How can the thief army sit back and wait to be killed, when they are already burning the wheat fields, they will establish grain routes from Liangzhou, Taoyang, Houhe, and Lintao!"

Yang Fu reported it after he found out! Just when I was about to send the newly trained cavalry to join Yang Fu to attack Lintao and Houhe, I didn't expect the reinforcements of the thief army to arrive from Qishan.

Xicheng was attacked first, and I didn't know it at the time. Thinking that the thieves were cavalry, they did not dare to attack the city. Xicheng was attacked, there were 5,000 soldiers and horses, I gave priority to supporting Xicheng, sent soldiers and horses to help was blocked by the thief cavalry, fierce fighting for several days, the Han army retreated, and Xicheng was kept!

At this time, we knew that the reinforcements of the Han army had arrived, and the siege was all elite foot soldiers! The thief army's move is to transfer away our cavalry.

The cavalry went to aid Xicheng, and Ma Chao inserted into Ji County, leading tens of thousands of cavalry of the thief army to wander around Ji County and engage our army, undefeated and undefeated.

However, the county town of Ji thought that the reinforcements had arrived, and they rejoiced, and it was difficult for our army to break through the fortified city! Then Ma Chao led tens of thousands of cavalry to Nan'an County, and met with Zhao Yun to threaten Longxi County, forcing Yang Fu to give up the idea of attacking Hou He and Lintao.

Ma Chao waited for Yang Fu to concentrate his troops on the garrison, ignored Yang Fu's many provocations, and went northeast into the north of Tianshui to attack Jieting, attacking our army's grain road along the way! More than a dozen strongholds of our army were destroyed.

Seeing that our army was tired by Ma Chao, the thief army in other places began to be restless, and went out to fight with our army, such as Zhou Budo of Jixian County, who also sent troops and horses to sneak attack, but they were all killed and retreated, and they were all wiped out once, but he still sent them for three days in a row, about 100 people each time.

Alas, this is the thief army deliberately attracted the attention of our army, 20,000 thieves took the opportunity to use horses to support the fortification materials and quickly rushed to Pingxiang north of 50 miles, day and night to build a fortress, the two camps are five miles apart, the terrain is very accurate, just threaten our army's grain road. I had set up strongholds at two important points, but in the face of 20,000 soldiers and horses, I was breached in a blink of an eye, and the thief army then began to build fortifications.

I noticed it and went forward to obstruct it, and on the way, Ma Chao led the cavalry to intercept it, and our army and the thief army fought head-on. After the battle between the two armies, our army lost more than 3,000 soldiers, and the thief army was almost the same number, but the opportunity was delayed. failed to stop it, the fortress has been completed, and there are tens of thousands of soldiers in each fortress!

I don't dare to let him garrison Longxi again, lest he be divided and surrounded, temporarily retreat to a distance of sixty miles from me, and see how to act next, which will not make the Ming lead the troops coming! ”

Xu Huang sighed: "Blame me, I was hindered by the thief army's formation on Qishan Road, five days later than the thief army, and the situation has undergone a major change!" ”

Suddenly, Xu Huang understood what and said, "The military rations in the general's camp can last for a month and a half, right?" ”

Cao Ren said: "Exactly! How much grain and grass did Komeito bring? ”

Xu Huang said: "I was about to say this to the general, our army is lightly armed and simple for rapid support, and now the remaining grain and grass are less than ten days!" With an additional 40,000 people, the consumption of grain and grass is even greater, and the consumption of grain and grass in the whole army may be even faster! ”

Cao Ren nodded and said, "What do you mean, the king will continue to consume it or say ......!" ”

Xu Huang said: "The king naturally doesn't want to give up, but the situation is compelling, if you can't open the situation for a long time, it will be chaotic in Guanzhong!" Can't put it off any longer! The king said that he couldn't break the thief early, so he opened his bag and acted! ”

Cao Ren said: "In this case, it is better to meet Yang Fu with 50,000 soldiers and horses, and 10,000 cavalry to go south to cut off the thief's grain road!" Let's see how the thieves react! ”

Xu Huang said: "Right to do this, and then discuss!" "The discussion has been decided, the arrangements are in place, and Cao Ren personally led the troops south. Along the way, the scouts are even more clear about the surroundings!

Pang Tongtan's Cao army went south, ignoring Cao Jun, but led his troops and horses to press Ji County step by step, wanting to relieve the siege of Ji County.

In order to fight a war, Cao Ren didn't care about it, and continued to press Hou He and Lintao, besiege two places, and cut off the grain route of the Han army!

After Pang Tong's report, he said to Huang Quan and Cheng Ji: "Cao Ren stepped forward to take risks, thinking that I had no food and wanted to force me to fight head-on!" Cao Ren never thought that our army headquarters would bring its own surplus grain and grass. Huang Thorn Shi had already brought two months of grain and grass and a lot of cattle and sheep when he first transported grain. ”

Huang Quan said: "At first, Cao Jun thought that our army had no food and did not dare to burn the wheat fields. I saw that it was difficult to force the Cao army back with cavalry alone, and I could not see the Cao army harvesting wheat fields.

First, he sent someone to Jincheng to ask his son Liu Chan to transport at least two months of grain and grass, and then collected Qiang cattle and sheep to pull grain from cattle, and the cattle and grain and grass could be fed after arrival.

Bai Huwen, the leader of the Qiang tribe, led all the soldiers and horses of the tribe to charge grain, and in order to ensure that nothing went wrong, Gongzi also sent General Chen to follow him personally.

The current grain team is actually nothing more than a bluff, a false reality. Some had food, while others had empty cars. ”

Pang Tong said with a smile: "It is still the king who has the foresight, in order to train elite cavalry, a large number of grain and grass will be transported to Jincheng, Wuwei and other counties. Now I'm afraid Cao Jun didn't expect that there would be so much grain and grass in the barren land of Liangzhou! ”

Huang Quan responded: "Exactly, Liangzhou's grain production is not high, and the king is brave and aggressive with Liangzhou's soldiers and horses, recruiting a large number of strong soldiers to join the army. As a result, many lands in Liangzhou were understaffed, and in order to form an army as soon as possible, they were not allowed to return to sow seeds. The king simply exempted the army from paying taxes!

These soldiers and horses have to be raised, and they can't afford to rely on Liangzhou alone, so they transported a large amount of grain and grass from Longyou to Liangzhou, but now they are used! ”

Pang Tong said: "The Cao army's grain road is too long is its weakness, and the Cao army in Qishan no longer dares to transport grain. Now that the Cao army only has a grain road on the first line of the street pavilion, we should seize the opportunity and garrison to threaten the Cao army!

Now the concern is whether Ji County can hold on. Taking advantage of the Cao army's attack on our grain road, the whole army pressed to Ji County and sent reinforcements, and then the whole army went to the direction of Xiangping, went down to the village, and blocked the Cao army's grain road! The people promised.

Cao Ren besieged Hou He and Lintao for more than half a month, and there were no generals in the city who could defend them, let alone soldiers who were good at fighting. It was breached one after another. The Han army grain and grass were intercepted four times in a row, only one was real grain, and the rest were filled with grass sacks! Intercepting grain and grass That time, when the Han army saw that Cao Jun was intercepting grain, they burned it off and turned around and ran, and they also killed 2,000 Qiang soldiers before and after!

Cao Ren sent people to pretend to be a grain transport team to deceive Qishan Fort, of course, Pang Tong had long been unprepared, and the defenders did not open the door.

Cao Ren also sent Xu Huang to lead the cavalry to Jincheng County to attack Yuzhong, the seat of Jincheng County, so that the Han army and the Qiang family tribe were threatened, so that the Han army would learn the news and return for reinforcements.

Xu Huang arrived forty miles east of Yuzhong, the leader of the Qiang tribe, Bai Huwen, led his troops and horses to intercept and kill regardless of casualties, Cao's army lost 1,000 soldiers, and Baihu Wenbu was defeated, and the casualties were even more heavy, but then Chen Zhi led 1,000 Bai'er elite soldiers to stabilize their position. Later, more Qiang cavalry arrived and went around the back to set fire to the pasture.

Xu Huang noticed the abnormality, but he had no choice but to carry limited grain and grass, and there was nowhere to loot, after all, the purpose of sending troops was just to try his luck, and he didn't dare to go too deep, and Taoyang City had always been in the hands of the Han army, and the consequences of running out of food were unimaginable. Then he retreated, Xu Huang didn't expect that in fact, Liangzhou was already in flames.

During this period, Cao Ren personally rushed to Xiangwu City to negotiate with Xu Miao, hoping that he would surrender. Xu Miao actually had a grasp of the situation, knowing that Cao Jun could not hold out for too long, Xu Miao of course refused, and asked Cao Ren on the city wall: "Why did General Cao insist on attacking Liangzhou in the first place, and only take the four counties of Longyou?" ”

Cao Ren was very strange and said: "I have never stepped into Liangzhou, how can I be persistent!" ”

Xu Miao said with a smile: "If you only want to take the four counties of Longyou, why do you take the initiative to seek a confrontation between soldiers and horses in Liangzhou?" Isn't it good to wait for the enemy to attack step by step? Liangzhou has rebelled since ancient times, with static braking, the army is overwhelmed, Liangzhou is in chaos, and now even Di Dao has not been taken, even if Liangzhou has changed how it can be, the general trend is gone, the general will withdraw early! "Go down to the city.

Cao Ren replied: "The king's order is to take Longyou and Liangzhou as soon as possible, and I will act as ordered to make a decision, why not?" Moreover, our army's expedition, the cost of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, a quick battle is the best policy, and the next policy is to consume it! ”

Xu Miao said: "The general thinks about it himself, and farewell!" "Go down to the city.

After Cao Ren returned, he deduced the map with Xu Huang and Yang Fu many times, and sighed: "Xu Jingshan may be right, I am really anxious to use troops in a moderate manner!" ”

Xu Huang said: "Xu Miao talks about the army on paper, and after the fact, there is no plan, and there is no plan for the battle, in the opinion of a scholar, the general should not take it seriously!" Cao Ren nodded.

Cao Xiu sent news one after another: first fought fiercely with Pang Tong and Huang Quan and ten miles south of Ji County, and fought for three days, with mutual casualties.

When the thieves fought fiercely with themselves, they secretly sent soldiers and horses to help the thieves in the city. Cao Xiu arranged for Cao's army to guard the outer city wall in advance, but the thief army still ignored the casualties, braved arrows, and carried cloud ladders to attack.

After seeing this, Zhou Budo organized troops and horses to go out of the inner city and attack Cao's army with the Han army outside the city. The soldiers and horses in the outer city could not resist it, and thousands of Han troops on the periphery took advantage of the chaos to enter the inner city.

Pang Tong saw that there were soldiers and horses entering the city, no longer entangled, and went north that night, attacked Xiangping unsuccessfully, turned to Nan'an County, and found favorable terrain to camp several times.

Cao Xiu led 10,000 soldiers and horses to follow, cooperated with Yu Ban of Nan'an County, and sabotaged Pang Tong's intentions several times.

Pang Tong did not succeed in success, so he withdrew to Pingxiang, and built a camp every ten miles near the two fortresses where he had been stationed before, so that the camp was erected little by little.

Yu Ban was afraid that the grain road would be lost, so he built a fortress in advance at a critical place, so that the Han army had no land to camp and no village to stand. However, there were too many fortresses that needed to be garrisoned, and there were not enough troops.

Pang Tong seized the opportunity to besiege a fortress of Cao Jun, Cao Xiu and Yu Ban went to help, but Ma Chao who suddenly killed was caught by the flaw, and thousands of people were killed and injured!

Cao Ren sighed after seeing it: "I never thought that the thief army would dare to cut off the grain route with our army. Looks like we're losing! ”

Xu Huangqi said: "What is the reason why the thief army is stationed in Liangzhou with a large amount of grain and grass? Could it be that you want to open the Western Regions? ”

Cao Ren said: "I have figured this out, Liu Beiguang of Liangzhou raised 30,000 cavalry, and the foot soldiers are not counted!" Where can Liangzhou afford to raise so many soldiers, it must hoard a large amount of grain and grass!

Speaking of complaining about me, Xiahou Yuan's entire army was annihilated, I was afraid of repeating the mistakes of the past, and all the soldiers and horses were received to Longxi County, and the first line of Houhe and Lintao were all abandoned, which allowed the thief army to transport grain! ”

Xu Huang comforted: "We don't know the truth of the thief army, and only when we blindly enter the army can we suffer losses, which is not a crime of war." ”

After Xu Huang finished speaking, Cao Ren patted Xu Huang on the shoulder, took out the bag and said, "I can only count on the king's clever plan!" ”

After opening it, I saw that it was written: General Ren, the time to open this bag is the time to retreat.

After several months of conquest and tens of millions of dollars, it was very disappointing that Ben Laiqing was able to live up to the wishes of the previous king, and the king entrusted him to pacify the traitors and regain the territory, but it was all in vain! With Liu Bei's heroism, it is difficult to have such a good opportunity.

The king has no plan, and the king can't do anything. Only by moving the people of the land that he has gained, so that Liu Bei can get the land and no one else. In the long run, it will be difficult to make a difference in a land without people. This king has sent Zhang Ji and Du Xiantun to Xianyang, and they can send people to contact! The whole army is back, and there is no room for further loss!

Cao Ren felt sad in his heart after seeing it, and when he thought of Cao Cao, he felt that he had a lot of burdens. At the moment, it is impossible, the whole army retreats to Ji County!

Suddenly, outside the account, Yang Fu led several people into the account. Cao Ren wondered, "Who is this?" ”

Yang Fu said: "General, Su Heng of Xicheng County rebelled, and Qiang Hao Lin Dai and Ding Lingqiang responded with tens of thousands, and sent people to contact Lu Shuizhi Yuanduo, Yijian concubines and other leaders, and they all agreed to start up together.

This is a messenger sent by Su Heng, hoping that our army will rush to Jincheng County to respond! ”

The envoy said in detail: "General Su Heng (self-proclaimed) was dissatisfied with Huang Quan's tyranny, and when he learned that Wang Shi had arrived and started an incident in Jiuquan County, Qiang Hao's neighbor Dai immediately responded.

The Qiang leaders of Jincheng and Wuwei counties in Liangzhou, Zhi Wudai and Baihuwen, both led their own soldiers and horses to help in the battle, and the three counties of Jincheng, Wuwei and Zhangye were unprecedentedly empty.

The leaders of Zhi Yuanduo and Yijian's prostitutes and concubines were originally among the Qiang people who were recruited by Huang Quan to send troops and horses to participate in the war, but they were far away from Jincheng County, so they did not rush to Longxi County with the rest of the troops to participate in the war.

As the battle situation was anxious, Bai Huwen and other leaders were also ready to participate in the battle. Seeing that the war was protracted, Zhi Yuanduo and Yi Jian's prostitutes were afraid of damaging their subordinates, so they were reluctant to raise troops to help Huang Quan, but Jincheng ordered them to urge, and they were afraid that Huang Quan would be questioned for the end of the war, so they agreed to respond to Wang Shi! ”

Cao Ren looked at the map and said, "Why did you only come to contact me now, our army has been in Longyou for more than three months?" ”

The envoy hurriedly explained: "Jiuquan is separated by Jincheng, Wuwei, Zhangye and other counties, and Huang Quan deliberately blocked the news in order to avoid riots. The general of my family still learned the news from the Qiang people who were recruited, and found an opportunity to raise troops to respond to Wang Shi, and then joined up with neighbor Dai and others, and went all the way east to Zhangye County, contacting Wuwei County Zhiyuanduo and Yijian prostitutes.

My general originally wanted to contact Wang Shi first, but if this was a small fight, he would send someone to come, not to make the general happy, and now the situation is very good, so he dared to send a villain to contact Wang Shi, and the villain is also on the road, the border between Jincheng County and Wuwei County is completely blocked, and it is led by a group of sergeants with white yaks, and the control is very strict, so it is delayed! The villain climbed the mountains and forests, and searched all the way to get here! ”

Cao Ren sneered in his heart: What a clever mouth, Su Heng is just an opportunist, and he is stunned to be said to be a person who is dedicated to me! Cao Ren thought about how to act, and said for a long time: "You go back and tell Su Heng that I will show him as a mighty general, and Jincheng is too guarded." A month later, General Ben led a large army to Liangzhou to support, and before that, Liangzhou must be turned upside down. Tell Zhi Yuanduo and Yi Jian prostitutes and concubines that as long as they help the tribe of the thief army, let them rob, and the general will guarantee that all the robbers will be theirs! ”

The envoy thanked him, and Cao Ren ordered Yang Fu to discuss specific matters with the envoy.

Seeing off the messenger, Xu Huang was about to speak, when Cao Ren hammered on the table and said: "Why are you only here now, ten days early, even if it is five days!" ”

Only then did Xu Huang understand that Cao Ren knew that things were no longer possible, and said: "My fault, I led my troops to be blocked by Bai Huwen and Chen Zhi, and I never went too deep, if I had Bo at the beginning, Jincheng County would have taken the Li, and if Liu Chan was captured, then we would have been able to turn defeat into victory!" ”

Cao Ren raised his hand and said: "Gongming doesn't have to blame himself, you think too much, to say something unpleasant, Liu Bei has other sons, and taking Liu Chan too seriously is our problem." Zhang Xiu killed Cao Ang, the eldest son of the first king, but the first king still accepted Zhang Xiu. Liu Bei is even more shameless, he will care about a son, and even exchange a son for our 100,000 army, he will not hesitate.

It's late, it's all late! Ten days earlier, I would have led my troops along the grain route established by the thief army to Jincheng County, and now our army is subject to the storage of grain in the battalion. Xu Miao's words came true, and he was anxious to fight but failed to wait for the fighter, and the fighter was already powerless. Di Dao and Zhong Tiquan should be taken down, and wait patiently for three months for Xu Miao to surrender, and the situation will not come to this point.

Now the Nan'an and Tianshui thief armies have firmly established themselves and blocked our army's grain road, and Longxi County, which leads to Jincheng and Wuwei, has not been taken. Now if you want to meet Su Heng, you have to use the only remaining grain and grass to rush to Jincheng.

Once Jincheng can't be captured for a long time, the back road may be robbed, and our army will be wiped out! And even if Su Heng is connected, it is useless to take Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Wuwei counties. Find a way out early, we can't help! ”

Liu Bei's Yizhou reinforcements have already come in, and the presence or absence of the Qiang soldiers and horses has no substantial impact! ”

As he was talking, Yang Fu entered the account and said, "The envoy has left, is the general really going to support Su Heng?" ”

Cao Ren shook his head and said: "I can't support, it's not worth the risk, I said that in fact, I said that in order to use Su Heng to wear down the strength of the thief army as much as possible, so that Liangzhou will be smashed!" ”

Yang Fu said: "General Gao Jian! Saying this, Yang Fu sighed in his heart: Huang Quan wished that Su Heng had picked these Qiang people, the Qiang people's power was weakened, and his governance of Liangzhou was more stable!

Cao Ren was remorseful, missed a move, and was passive step by step. At the beginning, he should have personally led the troops into Longxi County, but now it is too late to say anything.

Cao Ren then organized the relocation of all the people in Tianshui County except for Ji County, and Longxi County was also in control, but Pang Tong had secretly sent reinforcements to strengthen Xiangwu City and Di Dao troops, and strengthening Di Dao was the passage for Cao's army to enter Wuwei County, and it had to be said that Pang Tong really wanted to do everything.

Xu Miao got reinforcements, did not blindly insist, sent the chief Shi Ma Hao to lead the troops at the junction of Longxi County and Tianshui County, Cao Ren knew about it, afraid that there was a plan, delay for a long time, the gains outweighed the losses, and gave up the relocation of the people of Longxi County.

Nan'an County began to move together. After Ma Chao and Zhao Yun noticed it, they sent soldiers and horses to stop it, and then Cao Ren sent the elite Cao army to pretend to be the migrating people, and after Ma Chao rescued the people, he suddenly attacked and cooperated with the nearby ambush Cao army cavalry. Ma Chao lost hundreds of people, and his anger jumped like thunder!

After that, every time the people were rescued, they were taken prisoners by the Cao army, and all the male people were stabbed one by one. Check the palms of the people to see if they are the ones who have been holding guns for a long time!

Zhao Yun began to object, and soon after suffered an ambush, but the same strategy was used to defend the Han army. Zhao Yun did not lose too many soldiers. After that, the default Ma Chao action.

In the following month, the Han army Cao Jun turned from a conquest to a fight. The two armies have been engaged in skirmishes, and the people are the most innocent, and the two armies are fighting to take care of the people.

Zhao Yun, Pang Tong and others were influenced by Liu Bei and Confucianism, and their subordinates showed mercy, and Ma Chao and the Qiang cavalry such as Oh He, Yao Ge, and Moth Shasai didn't care, and whoever stood in the way was a shot.

It is worth mentioning that the leader Zhi Wudai is merciful, and Yang Wan and other Di people are not like the Qiang people! Thousands of people were killed and injured in January.

The people who refused to move or the people who went to the mountains to take refuge, their residences and houses were set on fire by Cao Jun, and Cao Ren ordered a ban, but it still happened from time to time! The two counties of Caoren relocated 150,000 people, making the two counties with the largest population and the richest in Longshang unmanned!

Pang Tong let Cao Jun leave, and Ma Chao, Zhao Yun, Jiang Wei and other generals were strong in blood and strength, and they asked for orders to pursue them again and again!

Pang Tongyi refused, and ordered Huang Quan and Cheng Yi to send soldiers and horses to invite back the people who were hiding in the mountains!

Pang Tong refused to chase after him, but he made an unexpected move, personally selecting horses and feeding them with young grass and wheat-mixed horse feed. Pick the best knights and give them a good rest.

It has been six days since Cao's army withdrew from the street pavilion. Pang Tong recruited Ma Chao, Zhao Yun, and Jiang Wei and ordered them to lead 10,000 elite cavalry to chase Cao's army.

Ma Chaoqi said: "This Cao army has been gone for six days, and when we catch up with Cao Jun and enter Guanzhong early, then Cao Jun will have reinforcements, morale is sufficient, and he will not worry about food and grass, and the fight will be beneficial to Cao Jun and not conducive to our army!" ”

Pang Tong smiled: "Cao Ren, they all think so!" Cao Ren, Xiahou Yuan and others are proficient in the art of war and have high vigilance, and they will definitely personally break the army and slowly retreat.

Cao's army did not fight any major defeats, its morale was not declining, and the food was still able to support it, so it pursued it, and the outcome was unpredictable. Cao Ren's army was not yet ready to attack.

When he walks out of a considerable distance, he can return to Guanzhong, the city is in front of him, the defense must be relaxed, and he will run back quickly, the so-called return to the heart is like an arrow, who still has the heart to fight, just want to rest as soon as possible, and relax his spirit, this is the time to fight. Ma Chao bowed, and the generals ordered to pursue.