Autumn is high and cool, the grass grows and the horses are fat, and it is the best time of the year to use soldiers.

Especially for the entire Yanzhou, which has always been a battleground for soldiers, this season is a season that is difficult for it to calm down. In fact, in the past year or so, the situation in Yanzhou has been full of ups and downs, and the changes are endless.

Yanzhou has a total of eight counties, with fertile land and abundant products. From the west to the east, Chenliu County in the southwest of Yanzhou has a radius of more than 200 miles, and the two cities of Sujube and Fengqiu in the territory are opposite to the Yuanwu and Yangwu in the Henan Yin boundary of the Sili School Weibu in the west; The southwest of Fugou City is close to Yanling, Yingchuan County, Yuzhou, and Fule City, Chen County, and the Kao City in the southeast corner guards the main road leading to the capital of Liang State in Yuzhou. In the north, Dongjun, Dongping, and Jibei are separated from Jizhou by the river (Yellow River); The mountains of Taishan County in the east are magnificent, the terrain is dangerous, and it is the only way to Xuzhou in the east; The three counties of Jiyin, Shanyang and Rencheng in the south of Yanzhou are intertwined with the Liang, Pei and Lu states in Yuzhou.

Judging from the map, the shape of the whole Yanzhou is like a wide belt, obliquely bundled in the middle of the four prefectures of Hebei, Henan, Xu and Sili, which is the key point for the entire Han Dynasty to travel from south to north, and thus becomes a must for any prince to enter the Central Plains and compete for the world.

Such an important state, the princes of the four sides want to get involved and have many scruples. The main reason for this is that the state is both a strategic location and a dangerous place of taboo. In the whole world, only Cao Cao is the most shrewd and capable, taking advantage of the time, in the Yanzhou Yellow Turban Rebellion, after several battles, finally became the actual ruler of the entire strategic point.

However, since he sat in the position of Yanzhou pastor, he has been sitting unsteadily. Until now, Yanzhou has become a battlefield for Ma Chao and Yuan Shao. The two sides fought wits and courage here, and showed their own means, so that Yanzhou, which had just extinguished the flames of war, once again burst into flames.

At this time, Ma Chao led 3,000 soldiers and was on an expedition with Gan Ning, Lu Qiling and others in this wild and desolate land of Yanzhou. This time, the purpose of their expedition was to fulfill the bold words that Ma Chao had said in the military chamber before.

The current situation that Lu Bu is facing is not without danger. But as Ma Chao said, the whole battle of Yanzhou was actually a morale war of grain and grass: in the early stage, after Lu Bu took advantage of Cao Cao's unpreparedness and almost captured the entire Yanzhou, this grain and grass war began. Subsequently, no matter how many tricks Cao Cao used, Lu Bu only adhered to the principle of having food in his hands and not panicking in his heart, and calmly cracked Cao Cao's several attacks.

However, after the Tao was taken away, Cao Cao was funded by Liu Xie and Yuan Shao, and quickly regained his strength. In contrast, Lu Bu, who had to be relieved by the Ma family from a long distance, became thinner and thinner, so that he would be beaten by Cao Cao.

If you want to recover this disadvantage, Ma Chao, Chen Gong, Lu Bu and others all realize the most important point: grain and grass!

And now Yanzhou's grain and grass, in addition to those fields that have not been harvested, where is there?

The answer is, of course: Cao Cao's camp!

As long as you win a battle and boost the morale of the soldiers, you can break several strategic centers of the enemy like Cao Cao, grab back the grain and grass, and reverse the decline in one fell swoop!

Therefore, after sending Hou Cheng and Xue Lan to harvest the grain and grass of Shanyang and Jiyin counties as soon as possible, Ma Chao led the surprise soldiers out and waited for Cao Jun's reaction.

After discussing with Lu Bu and Chen Gong, Ma Chao believed that Cao Cao, who had the snake camp to serve him, would definitely find out about Lu Bu's actions. As for Cao Cao's tactics, Ma Chao and others have even more experience: Cao Cao's use of troops has always been imaginative and traceless. But there is one habit, which Cao Cao can never give up.

"Although Cao Cao's use of troops is ever-changing, but it is ever-changing, his way of using troops is nothing more than Qi Zheng complementing each other, Yin and Yang combined, often leading a large army, and then sending an army as a partial division, or leading a large army to attack the city and breaking the village, or making the partial division attack the enemy's flank baggage, plus now Cao Cao's soldiers are full of food, we often end up in a situation where he bullies the weak." Chen Gong in the military chamber, although he said that Cao Cao's methods were broken. But for Cao Cao's military talent, he was amazed, and even in the end, he directly praised Cao Cao: "The wisdom is beyond others, and his use of soldiers is like Sun and Wu!" ”

Hearing these words, Lu Bu's face was extremely gloomy, if it weren't for the fact that he had already gone through several twists and turns, his mood had greatly improved, and Liu Xiu and Lu Qiling secretly comforted him, maybe Lu Bu might have spoken out angrily immediately. However, Ma Chao has his own opinions on this.

At that time, after he comforted Chen Gong and Lu Bu respectively, he said fairly and objectively: "Every time Cao Cao uses troops, he either sends Yu Ban, Le Jin and others to ignore the enemy's left and right, or simply let Xiahou Yuan run thousands of miles away. As a result, the enemy always does not dare to divide his troops easily against Cao Cao, but even so, once he relaxes, he is often taken advantage of by Cao Cao. However, the two of them have ever thought that every time Cao Cao sends troops, he actually has his inherent goals, and the yin and yang of the strange army complement each other, just to complete his set goals! ”

"Yes!" The first to wake up was Chen Gong, I saw him follow Ma Chao's guidance, wake up with a trace of memory, and said: "In the battle of Zhencheng, Cao Cao's surprise attack was swift, just to stand firm; In the battle of Puyang, he wanted to recapture Puyang with all his might....... in these two battles, we were able to defeat Cao Cao, that is, we knew his intentions, and Cao Cao had nothing to do. But later, after the reversal of the army, we could no longer figure out Cao Cao's goal, so we were led by Cao Cao's nose ........"

"Not bad! And to this day, we still don't know how Cao Cao will deal the cards. But there is one ........" When he said this, Ma Chao couldn't help but smile at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were also filled with strange brilliance, and he said: "At this moment, one thing is that grain and grass are the top priority of the two armies. We can't guess Cao Cao's thoughts, can't we still create a chance for him? ”

In this way, poor Hou Cheng and Xue Lan, thinking that they were just performing ordinary tasks, led two thousand soldiers and horses to Juye County in Shanyang County to collect grain. However, in fact, the two didn't know that they had actually been sold by Ma Chao, Lu Bu, Chen Gong and others as bait to tempt Cao Cao to send troops to attack.......

However, although the two of them did not know, their lives should be safe: half a day after the two sent out the army, Ma Chao led Gan Ning, Lu Qiling and others; And Lu Bu led Wei Xu, Cheng Lian and others, each with 3,000 soldiers and horses, and sneaked into two ways to ambush at both ends of Juye County. Later, Chen Gong also personally led all the troops, escorted them to the rear and then set off!

With such all-round and three-dimensional protection, Hou Cheng and Xue Lan are not only fetching food, but the two of them are bent on cutting their wrists and committing suicide, so Lu Bu and Ma Chao can also arrive in time to save the two! As for Cao Cao, who has the Coiled Snake Camp as his eyeliner and knows the essence of the Yanzhou War, Ma Chao didn't believe it, after seeing Lu Bu's 'last struggle', he couldn't help but not move!

As long as Cao Cao sent troops, it would fall into the net laid by Ma Chao! And once Cao Cao fell into the net, no matter how he struggled, he would inevitably lose a big defeat. As a result, the entire situation in Yanzhou can be changed in one battle!

Traveling with such thoughts, before he knew it, it was night, Ma Chao looked up at the sky, and saw that the whole sky was like an overturned inkstone, and the thick and mellow night soon covered up everything that glowed, and it was a lifeless dead black. The night wind was wet and dull, light but not gentle, and the blow on the face was uncomfortable. It seems that there is a fierce aura permeating the heavens and the earth, floating in the night wind, or hidden in Ma Chao's heart:

"Cao Cao, this is the first real contact battle between us. Let me Ma Mengqi see the handwriting of you, the first soldier of the Three Kingdoms! ”