There is no beacon fire in Runan, and red flags are hung everywhere.

On the third day of Cao Cao's own eastward march to aid Cheng's father, he received news that Zhang Liao had invaded the county from the north and west of Runan, and the western soldiers could not stop it.

In an instant, half of the counties in the western part of Yingshui were all included in Zhang Liao's hands, but Ruyang City was alone, and the guard Cao Hong was difficult to support alone. Zhang Liaojun blocked the Yingshui Bridge in the west of Ruyin, demolished the wooden bridges along the way, and let the Yan's fleet in northern Henan cruise on the river to block the water and land. Gao Shun in the east finally became a father, Li Dian Cao Ang led the army of the defeated army to gather the main force of Cao Cao, the road was dangerous, heavy rain poured for months, although Cao Cao had 20,000 soldiers and horses, but there was no danger to defend and no food available, only to move and dodge a hundred miles of land, there was no other way.

This is a coincidence, coincidentally, the pirates in Xuezhou landed in Ruyin and burned the largest and only granary in the east of the Cao clan in Runan.

Since ancient times, people have started to prepare for winter in the summer, and autumn is the most important thing, but what does it mean to have no food in the autumn? Although there are still a few cities in the eastern part of Runan, the west of Runan is rich and the east is poor, the roads are not smooth, and it rains heavily, so you can imagine how big a blow it is for the Cao family.

They had no grain and grass, but they had an army of nearly 20,000 people, which meant that in just one month they would have to consume nearly 30,000 stone of grain and grass, and before the battle began, Cao Cao had already lost, lost Runan, lost everything.

The Cao clan's operation in Runan was not long, because they only had Runan available, and now they were blocked by Zhang Liao during the transfer of troops and generals, and everything was at an impasse. Zhang Liao held Yingshui and no longer advanced eastward, but instead dispatched troops and horses to attack Ruyang, which had no power to fight back; Gao Shun no longer went south, and guarded the road to the north of the Cao family. Cao Cao, Cao Cao can't go west and can't go north, if Zhang Liao becomes a father, Cao Cao goes north and fights to enter the Liang country, and if he doesn't retreat to Ruxi, it's not too bad a result.

But now to fight at this time, what does the Cao family use to fight?

Tens of millions of money, hundreds of thousands of grains and grass, and tens of thousands of soldiers and armor were all dispersed in one day, and half of Runan was lost, and even the remaining western part of Runan could not be defended, and Cao's army camp was full of mourning.

In the face of such a catastrophe, who can be as calm as water?

"It's good to do everything with a drooping face, isn't it all alive and well!"

On the east-west official road in Runan, Cao Cao's main force converged with Li Dian and Cao Angbu, camped for a short time, and saw that the generals hung their heads like defeated roosters, Cao Cao laughed and walked through the camp, patted the soldier standing aside, moved the dejected subordinate, and finally reached the general who sighed, put down his shackle and sat on it, and smiled at everyone: "What happened to make you so depressed?" ”

All the generals were questioned, and Li Dian clenched his fists with shame and said: "My subordinates failed to keep my father, please punish the general!" ”

"If you lose, you lose, with a few thousand soldiers against an army of 30,000, although you Li Mancheng is still honored, what is there to be ashamed of, ah?" Among the strong generals, although Cao Cao was sitting in a waistband, he still seemed to be half a head shorter than others, but at this time, he smiled and said loudly: "Cao Mou thought that you are all elite, my Cao clan's soldiers and horses are invincible, and a good son can beat him and two Yan soldiers if he is released!" Today, Fang knew that Cao was wrong. ”

"You can fight at least four of you!" Cao Cao said and counted with his fingers, "Cheng's father's Yan army has 30,000, and the Yan army in Runan is less than 50,000, and you have a total of less than 20,000 people, one fights four, this is not what Cao said, this is how the Yan family did it." Yan Zhongqing didn't dare to send 20,000 people here, otherwise he would be beaten all over the ground by you rough men, haha! ”

"Full of big men, don't be like those little children, hold your heads high! What's so embarrassing about losing a battle, Cao lost a basket of battles, so what? Cao Cao didn't seem to care about this inevitable defeat at all, waved his hand and smiled: "You don't have to go north anymore, after resting for half an hour, the whole army will enter Peiguo eastward, and Cao will personally cut off." ”

"Peiguo?"

Peiguo is in the east of Runan, but the reason why the Cao family chose Runan instead of Peiguo after the defeat in the north is that the cities of Peiguo were attacked by Zhang Liao in the early years of the campaign, especially the cities in the west of Peiguo, including Qian County and Xiang County, were smashed to pieces by more than 100 stone cannons of the Yan family, and they were completely destroyed, and they could not take on the important task of defending the city at all. For the Cao clan at that time, it was better to enter Runan County, which had suffered little damage and was completely defenseless due to Liu Bei's withdrawal, than to enter the dilapidated Peiguo.

Even if the Cao family has deep roots in Peiguo, it is easier to recruit troops and gather wealth and grain.

"That's right, it's Peiguo. We are not short of soldiers and horses, lack of money, food and baggage, these things are available in Peiguo, and we will not be starved to death when we withdraw to Peiguo, as for the Yan family, there is no need to worry. Cao Cao smiled and waved his hand, he seemed to laugh more than usual in three months, "Zhang Liao is in the west of Ruyin, as long as he can hold this road to Peiguo, Zhang Liao will not be able to go to Peiguo this year, we only need to worry about the 30,000 soldiers and horses in the north." Cao said that if the Yan clan wants to come to conquer us, it will use at least 80,000 soldiers and horses, and there are only 30,000 in the north, and he doesn't dare. ”

Saying that, Cao Cao smiled slyly, dare anyone say it clearly, now Cao Cao didn't think about anything else, he just wanted to boost morale. Because his subordinates were all depressed, the morale of his soldiers and horses was almost collapsed, even if they still had food and grass to last for a month, it was useless, and the dilemma of fewer soldiers and horses fleeing was already predictable.

Didn't Cao Cao know that the current situation was dangerous? No one knows better than him, in the past, he had Yanyu as a foundation, although he was in the land of four wars, he could still conquer the princes of the four directions without defeat, and the strongmen around him were frightened when they heard his name, and they surrendered without even sending troops to conquer the city. But Zhang Liao only dispatched troops and horses to make him deviate from his foundation and have no other way to resist, this situation is extremely bad, and even far exceeds the crisis brought to him by the rebellion of Chen Gong and other Yanzhou scholars back then.

Even Cao Cao himself didn't know whether it was good or bad to go to Peiguo, but he had no choice.

If even he is afraid, if even he has worries on his face, then they don't even need the enemy to conquer them, and they will have no chance to make a comeback!

Even if the future is uncertain, you need to forge ahead, there has never been an invincible person in this world, only a person who walks to victory with his head held high after defeat! Fortune will never leave anyone behind.

Of course, I can't say for sure, at least Pei Guo ...... Heh, not necessarily a good place.

To the east of Peiguo, not far away in Xiapi, a man who was resentful because he could not know water was leading his tired subordinates around the world towards Peiguo, and Runan was his target.

That person's name is Ma Mengqi.