Cao Cao's camp in Cangting is 30 miles away from the Yellow River, and the road section that can be ambushed is about more than 10 miles, and there are large dense forests on both sides of the road that can deploy ambush soldiers.

How to lead Yuan Jun into the ambush circle? It is necessary for all departments of Cao Jun to cooperate with the 'performance'.

In order to attract as many pursuers as possible, Cao Cao needed to use the right generals to break the rear.

Cao Cao, as the lord, was the most suitable bait, but he was not confident enough in his martial arts, and he did not dare to take the lead like Liu Bei, luring Xiahou into the trap at Bowangpo.

Later, at Jia Xu's suggestion, Cao Cao chose to use Zhang He and Gao Ran to break the queen.

Zhang He and Gao Ran surrendered in Guandu, and their wives and children were liquidated by Yuan Shao after the war, so they treated the Yuan family as mortal enemies, and Yuan Shao's soldiers saw the second general as traitors.

Cao Cao sent Zhang and Gao Er's generals to break off, and asked to deliberately defeat the battle when covering the retreat, attracting Hebei soldiers and horses to chase deep to the south, and then gather and annihilate them.

The use of the demote to shoulder the heavy responsibility, although it shows that Cao Cao is undoubtedly very generous in employing people, but his suspicious character cannot be unconditionally trusted, so as usual, he also sent his cronies to act as the 'chief committee'.

Cao Cao is not aimed at Zhang He and Gao Lan, he is actually wary of all the generals, but whenever there is a major combat mission and it is necessary to send a general, it is usually supervised by Shi Lian, Han Hao or Cao Hong, Zhang Liao and Xu Huang survived like this.

Although Zhang He and Gao Ran are from Hebei, their wives and children are dead, and they have settled in the Central Plains after surrendering, so it is unlikely that they will oppose Cao and Yuan, but Cao Cao will not gamble on his character.

Being in the border of Hebei, Cao Ying's big move could not hide from his opponent Yuan Shao.

The rebellion of Runan, Shouchun, and Donghai, Yuan Shao was also well aware.

As the information was sent to the camp in Hebei, Yuan Shao was very hesitant to pursue it, and at this time, the usual party and government in Hebei revived again, and there was a heated debate on whether to pursue or not.

Opponents believe that if they continue to survive, they will suffer the least loss to the current Hebei, and they will leave behind the vitality and recharge their strength, and when the world changes and then go south, they can eliminate Cao Cao in one fell swoop.

Supporters focus on the difficulty of finding the right time, saying that Liu Bei, Sun Quan, and Changba rebelled at the same time, and the probability of this kind of thing happening again is not large, and Cao Cao only used 60,000 or 70,000 soldiers to beat more than 100,000 soldiers in Hebei into a defender, and there is a big gap in the quality of individual soldiers between the two sides.

On the one hand, Yuan Shao wanted to be strong, but on the other hand, he was worried that Cao Cao would be big, he didn't think that Liu Bei and Sun Quan could pose enough threats to Cao Cao, and if the strength of Cao's army was equal to that of the northern army next time, not only would the difficulty of defense be greatly increased, but it would be difficult for him to chase the Central Plains.

It's hard to choose in reality, and I'm very entangled in my heart.

Yuan Shao's own arrogance made him determined to gamble again, and he was trampled on the soles of his feet by the former 'little follower', and he couldn't turn a blind eye even if he died.

On the afternoon of 18 August, Cao Jun's preparations were completed, and more than 100 ships anchored at the Yellow River crossing and stood by.

Cao Cao immediately ordered the camp to be raised, and the main force guarded the heavy grain and grass in the middle of the team, and was broken by Zhang He, Gao Lan, and Shi Lian with 3,000 paces.

Sixty or seventy thousand soldiers lined up and marched to the southern ferry, putting on a posture of not being afraid of Yuan Shao's pursuit.

At this time, the Hebei soldiers and horses had also assembled and stood by, just waiting for Yuan Shao to give the order to launch a pursuit.

On the watchtower on the south side of the camp, Yuan Shao silently looked at the Cao army in the distance and did not say a word, until the last row of soldiers of the Cao army was blurred, and he still did not speak.

The eldest son, Yuan Tan, was impatient, and when he saw Yuan Shao just doing this, he couldn't help but clench his fists and ask: "Father, Cao Bing has gone away, when will we go?"

"No hurry, no hurry." Yuan Shao shook his head: "Cao Mengde is very good at using soldiers, at this time, the pursuit must be ambushed, wait and then make a calculation." ”

Yuan Tan asked, "When will you wait?" Thirty miles away from the crossing of the Yellow River, Cao Cao must have crossed the river overnight. ”

"It's not too late to wait for an hour or two to chase after you, just let the sentinels keep an eye on it" Yuan Shao looked at the sky, his face full of calm.

"Father, it's too late and the vision is too poor, our army is chasing after you"

Yuan Tan was about to remind, but he felt that someone was tugging at the corner of his clothes, and that position must be Guo Tu, he guessed that Guo Tu had something to remind him, so he stopped admonishing and excused himself to leave the top of the tower.

Looking at the back of Yuan Tan leaving, and then looked at the young son Yuan Shang standing next to him, Yuan Shaoxin said that the boss is reckless and impatient, I really don't know what big things he can do in the future, fortunately, Xianfu (Yuan Shang) looks like himself, maybe he can inherit the foundation of Hebei, but he must think of blocking the mouths of the ministers, otherwise there will be legal obstacles to abolishing Chang Liyou.

"Xianfu, Xiansi (Yuan Tan) said that what you think?"

"Child."

Yuan Shao asked his youngest son on the watchtower, and the eldest son, Yuan Tan, descended the tower to a hidden place, and the strategist Guo Tu soon followed.

The two stopped at the blind spot of the watchtower, and Yuan Tan looked left and right at no one, so he asked curiously: "What is the matter with Mr. Shicai pulling me?" ”

Guo Tu said earnestly: "The lord has his own plan, the eldest prince has made many remarks just now, and he has been reckless and impatient, I am afraid that you will have a bad impression."

"Bad impression?" Yuan Tan replied coldly: "I am not as handsome as my third brother, my father has liked him more since he was a child, what do you want to make a good impression now?" Accumulating more military prestige is the right thing, but no matter how well-behaved Xianfu is, what can he do? The Central Plains relied on real knives and real guns. ”

Guo Tu reminded in a deep voice: "Wu Luo can be cultivated slowly, last year, the eldest prince was recruited from the official crossing, and this time the second prince and the third prince are here, and the lord is slowly giving them opportunities, you must not be complacent." ”

"It's okay, when it comes to pleasing my father, I'm really inferior to my third brother, but when it comes to leading troops to fight, how can the two of them catch up with me?"

Yuan Tan once defeated Tian Kai and helped Yuan Shao capture Qingzhou, while Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang had little actual combat experience, so they were particularly confident.

Guo Tu was noncommittal, frowned and said: "Since the lord has gathered an army, he will inevitably launch a pursuit, and the eldest prince can be patient and obey orders." ”

"But Cao Jun has already gone away, what is my father waiting for? I know that he is worried that Cao Cao will leave his troops behind, and even arrange ambushes when he retreats, if he really waits for an hour or two before chasing, it will be dark when he chases to the ferry, and it will be easier to be ambushed at night." Yuan Tan frowned, very worried.

Guo Tu nodded in affirmation: "Among the paths of Cao Cao's retreat, half of the road sections are wrapped in dense forests on both sides, and if Cao Cao sets up an ambush, he must be here, maybe the lord intends to fight a decisive battle at the ferry." ”

Yuan Tan was shocked: "Cao's army is already strong, if it is allowed to rely on the Yellow River and follow Han Xin's back, how can our army win?" ”

Guo Tu shook his head and smiled mysteriously: "Then I ask the eldest prince, counting back hundreds of years, except for Han Xin's backwater, why hasn't anyone else used it?" ”

"Why?"

"Because everything else has failed, Han Xin is the only one who wins the battle."

(End of chapter)