Cao Cao's army soon marched from Xuchang to Huaibei.

The distance from Xuchang to Huaibei is not too far, there is no mountain road in the middle, most of them are just plains and open land, Cao Cao's army, even if there is no need to march in a hurry, half a month is enough.

In fact, Cao Jun didn't need to go directly to Huaibei, but took a detour to Huainan and went straight to Yuan Shu's lair.

But if he does this, Yuan Shu will definitely give up Huaibei and directly order the army stationed around to return to Shouchun, although Cao Cao dares to argue with Yuan Shu, but he doesn't want to compete with Yuan Shu himself.

All he wanted was to use the other princes around him to consume Yuan Shu's strength, and then slowly annex Yuan Shu.

Therefore, it is better to directly lead the soldiers and horses to attack Shouchun than to lead the army to attack Huaibei head-on.

The defenders in the Huaibei area had been severely defeated by Lu Bu and lost confidence, and when Cao Cao's army came, they were powerless to resist at all, and they would be defeated by Cao Cao's army in a short time.

Cao Cao didn't even need to pay much to easily bring the huge territory of Huaibei into his own hands.

More importantly, the territory of Huaibei connects the Xuzhou area.

Once Cao Cao occupied Huaibei, he had so much to do.

Yuan Shu can be attacked in the south, and Lu Bu can be encircled in the east.

In any case, this place is a place for him to fight, so instead of attacking Shouchun, it is better to take Huaibei first.

In a county town in Ruyin.

Yuan Yao and Qiao Rui led soldiers and horses to be stationed here.

A few days ago, Cao Cao's Qinwang order had not yet been issued.

Yuan Yao had already learned that Cao Cao was about to use troops against Yuan Shu.

Because Yuan Yao had already sent his own men to the vicinity of Xuchang, although Cao Cao had not yet mobilized troops and horses, some charioteers transporting grain and grass had already appeared in the direction of Xuchang to Huaibei.

Some of the grain drivers are actually inconspicuous, and there are also some transport teams that transport grain and grass to the front line on weekdays, but the amount of grain and grass transported by these drivers has increased significantly.

The number of troops stationed at the front line under Cao Cao is not large, and the supply of grain and grass in many cities is basically self-sufficient.

Yuan Yao only used the grain and grass transported by these coachmen, and concluded that in less than half a month, Cao Cao would definitely use troops against Huaibei.

He can even guess the exact location.

"Zhu County should be the first county town attacked by the Cao army."

"So god? I don't believe it, Childe, you can guess that Cao Cao will use troops against us, this is not difficult, after all, we are indeed in a disadvantageous position now, and it is not impossible for Cao Cao to take the opportunity to bite us. ”

"But you can still know which county Cao Cao attacked first, then I really don't believe it."

"Is it possible that the spies under your command are even more powerful than the spies under Zhang Xun?"

"Zhang Xun doesn't know when Cao Cao called, you can actually know which county Cao Cao attacked first."

Qiao Rui has been familiar with Yuan Yao these days, and when he talked to Yuan Yao about Cao Jun in the military camp, he involuntarily talked about these things with Yuan Yao.

The two had made a bet before, Yuan Yao bet that Cao Cao would use troops against Ruyin at this time, Qiao Rui didn't believe it, because Cao Cao was newly defeated and lost troops in Wancheng, so he should recuperate at this moment.

But Yuan Yao bet with him that Cao Cao would definitely use troops against Huaibei within half a month.

Qiao Rui naturally didn't believe it, so he took a pot of good wine as a bet, and bet on whether Cao Cao would use troops against Huaibei within half a month.

No, for several days, people were sent to Yuzhou to inquire about the news.

However, a few days passed, and Xuchang did not move at all, and Qiao Rui thought that his gamble was going to be won.

But the time had just reached the tenth day, and King Qin's order came out.

Immediately afterwards, Xuchang's Cao army also quickly reorganized its troops and horses, and went straight to Ruyin, and wanted to make a detour from Ruyin to Huaibei and use troops against Huaibei first.

After the news reached Ruyin, Qiao Rui was shocked, he never thought that he would lose, Cao Cao actually did not recuperate in Xuchang, but instead went to the edge of the sword, directly led an army of 30,000 and went straight to Ruyin.

This made Qiao Rui's face shocked, and he hurriedly came to find Yuan Yao.

At this moment, Qiao Rui doesn't care about his gambling game, but cares more about his own life.

After all, once Cao Cao really came over, the little soldiers and horses they were stationed in Zhu County would not be able to withstand the toss of Cao Cao's army.

It is estimated that even Cao Jun's wave of charges can't stop it.

Because of this, Qiao Rui came to Yuan Yao to discuss countermeasures.

But after Qiao Rui came to find Yuan Yao, Yuan Yao not only told him that Cao Jun would fight, but also the first one to fight was the county where they were stationed, which made Qiao Rui a little unconvinced.

"General Qiao, it's not that I have more gods, and it's not that I have more spies than Zhang Xun, but there are some things that need to be used to use your brain."

"The main reason why I was able to know that Cao Cao would send troops within half a month was because I had discovered the transportation dynamics of Cao's army's grain, grass and baggage in advance."

"As the saying goes, the three armies have not moved, the grain and grass go first, and the Cao army has been transporting grain and grass to our side, you say that he will not send soldiers and horses to fight us, I don't believe it."

"As for why I know that the first city that Cao Jun fought was not somewhere else, but Zhu County, where we were stationed, it is not difficult to guess that the place he is going to is Huaibei, and the Zhu County we are stationed in is the only way to Huaibei."

"The county towns in other places have no effect on defeating them, and they need to be garrisoned, which is not conducive to their attack on Huaibei."

"Only Zhu County is Cao Jun's first target, if you don't believe it, you will be able to see Cao Jun in a few days."

Yuan Yao explained a few words to Qiao Rui, which made Qiao Rui's face sink and immediately panicked.

"Huh? Childe, what should we do? ”

"We can't wait here for Cao Jun to come and beat us."

Although Qiao Rui is a veteran, he is still a little weak in the face of this situation.

Instead, he came to ask Yuan Yao, a young man, mainly because he had gotten along with Yuan Yao these days, and Qiao Rui had already understood that the young man in front of him was not ordinary.

The things he knows are not much worse than those of these veterans, but there are many things that they can't think of, and they can provide him with a lot of valuable information.

Yuan Yao looked at Qiao Rui's nervous expression, but immediately comforted him.

"General Qiao, don't worry, Cao Cao called, I will also help you defend this city, the top priority is to send people to Zhang Xun for help."