On the seventh day of the ninth month of the fourth year of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the mound was sealed. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

When Cao Cao learned of the defeat at the front and the annihilation of more than 200,000 troops, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded and stunned for a while.

Before Yuan Shao set out from Yancheng, he ordered Cao Cao to divide his troops to the south to reinforce the line of Junyi and Zhongmu, and block Li E's cavalry army under the city.

Cao Cao had the intention of going south to Xuzhou, so he did not follow Yuan Shao's orders, but still stationed troops in Fengqiu, always inquiring about the battle situation on the front line, so as to withdraw when the time was right. Who knew that just one day later, the battle situation was turned upside down, and the coalition army was defeated in Pingyang Pavilion, and more than 200,000 horses were wiped out.

Although Cao Cao had been plotting to capture Xuzhou and planned to make a comeback, he had absolutely no intention of letting the coalition forces be defeated. If the coalition army is defeated and the Central Plains is lost, it will be difficult to defeat Li Yi again, which is also an important reason why Cao Cao has not turned against Yuan Shao so far.

In Cao Cao's heart, the most ideal outcome of the Central Plains War is that the coalition forces defeat Li Yi, and Yuan Shao suffers heavy losses and is unable to take the Central Plains, so that he can take advantage of the excellent opportunity for all parties to fight again after the Central Plains War, first swallow Xuzhou, and then occupy Yanzhou, and wait for his own soldiers to take Yan and Xu without bloodshed, and after recovering some strength, the next thing is to defeat Zang Ba and capture Qingzhou.

With the land of Yan, Qing and Xu as the foundation, he can stand with Li Yi, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and others, and not only survive without worry in the future, but also be more likely to build a famous career in history.

However, yesterday's annihilation of more than 200,000 coalition troops completely buried his dream. Even if he takes Xuzhou now, he will directly face an attack from the direction of Yanzhou, and the existential crisis is getting bigger and bigger.

In the Battle of Dingtao, he lost Cao Ren, the Battle of Pingyang Pavilion, and he lost Xiahou Yuan, and in just a few months, his two brothers and tens of thousands of troops disappeared without a trace. Cao Cao was not only sad and indignant, but also disheartened, and suddenly lost the confidence and courage to compete for the world.

"Lord, what are you still thinking?" Cheng Yu saw that Cao Cao was speechless, and urged urgently, "Let's go south to Xuzhou immediately, go south immediately, and there can be no delay for a moment." ”

"Lord, give the order quickly." Man Zhong patted the case hard, "The cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang is rushing in, if we hesitate, we will definitely be surrounded by those murderous brutes, the situation will be irretrievable, and Sheji may be overturned." ”

Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, then became furious, smashed the bamboo slip in his hand to the ground, and said loudly: "Now go south to Xuzhou, the Northern Xinjiang Army will rapidly advance westward from the line of Fengqiu, Junyi, and Zhongmu, and surround Yuan Shao and Liu Biao on the line of Yanjin and Suozao, and the last bit of the coalition army will also be wiped out." Yuan Shao and Liu Biao are both dead, what resistance does the Northern Xinjiang Army have? They will leak down, successfully occupy Henan, and then kill Yuzhou directly, and force Luoyang, in less than a year, they will be able to sweep the world. In this case, what is the point of us occupying Xuzhou? Even if we occupy Xuzhou, how many days can we hold on? ”

"Yuan Shao can retreat directly from the direction of Suozao and Yuanwu to cross the Bianqu, and garrison the few remaining troops in the line of Xingyang, Chenggao, and Guancheng, so that he can cross the river to support Hanoi in the north, support Yuzhou in the south, and defend the tiger prison in the west. Xi Zhicai hurriedly persuaded, "My lord, after the cavalry of Northern Xinjiang enters Henan, they will have to face several rivers such as Yingou Shui, Jishui River, Gulf Water, Bianqu, Langtang Canal, etc., and all advantages will be lost, and it will be impossible to complete the encirclement of the coalition forces in the shortest possible time. As long as Yuan Shao and Liu Biao can correctly judge the direction of the Northern Xinjiang Army's outflanking, give up going south and turn westward, and withdraw their troops directly from the Bianqu area, they will definitely be able to turn the crisis into safety. ”

"At present, the infantry army of the Northern Xinjiang Army is limited in number, and in the case that its cavalry army cannot play its full role, they have to attack the city and pull out the fortress, and constantly move south to seize more cities to consolidate the battle line, so they will definitely not be able to deal a greater blow to the remnants of the coalition army."

"In addition, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, and Liu Bei still have nearly 200,000 horses in their hands, and there are newly recruited soldiers in Luoyang and Yuzhou, relying on these horses and strong cities, Yuan Shao and Liu Biao and others can completely hold Luoyang and Yuzhou, and the situation is not as bad as the lord imagined."

"Indeed, Zhicai is very reasonable." Cheng Yu pointed to the map on the desk and said, "The Northern Xinjiang Army will start attacking south from Baima and Puyang on the banks of the Yellow River, and their army will sweep through the line of Yanjin and Suzao, the line of Junyi and Zhongmu, the line of Kaifeng and Chenliu, and then enter the line of Yingchuan, Chen and Liang in Yuzhou. Lord, look at it, how many roads are there from the south bank of the Yellow River to Yuzhou? At least more than 700 miles, the Northern Xinjiang Army has reached the limit in terms of physical strength and food and grass, and it is impossible to support them to continue the attack. ”

"My lord, if we stay on the battlefield in the Central Plains and help Yuan Shao and Liu Biao delay the attack speed of the Northern Xinjiang Army and stabilize the front in Henan, there will be only one consequence, that is, to lose Xuzhou." Cheng Yu said loudly, "We will be trapped on the battlefield in the Central Plains, and Cao Chun and Jian Yong are fighting again because of the occupation of Xuzhou." Cao Chun had no reinforcements, and with his current strength, he could not occupy the entire territory of Xuzhou, in this case, how could the Northern Xinjiang Army miss the opportunity? ”

"Once Li Yi stabilizes the battle line, he will definitely recruit troops south to kill Xuzhou as quickly as possible. In addition, we must also take into account that after Zang Ba learned of the great victory of the Northern Xinjiang Army in the Central Plains, it is very likely that he will defect again, shake hands with the Northern Xinjiang Army, and the two sides will join forces to attack Xuzhou from the direction of Beihai. ”

Cao Cao calmed down, he thought about it carefully, sighed helplessly, and said happily: "Okay, I'll listen to you and go south to Xuzhou." However, before leaving, we wrote a letter to Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, and Liu Bei, telling them the idea of our retreat to Xuzhou in the south, first, we have surrendered the flank of the battlefield, and the cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army will quickly occupy the line of Fengqiu, Junyi and Zhongmu, and ask them to immediately withdraw west to Bianqu, and not to retreat south, so as not to fall into the encirclement of the Northern Xinjiang Army and suffer the fate of the annihilation of the whole army. I don't want to take the initiative to provoke infighting at this time, let Li Yi pick up a big bargain for nothing, and let Sheji be defeated because of this. ”

The three of them, Man Chong, Cheng Yu and Xi Zhicai, looked at each other, and all nodded their heads in agreement with Cao Cao's idea.

In the past, Cao Cao's design to go south to capture Xuzhou was based on the defeat of the Northern Xinjiang Army by the coalition army and the sudden increase in Yuan Shao's strength.

But now it's different, now that the coalition forces have been defeated, Hebei's strength has increased sharply, and if everyone wants to save their lives and support the crumbling Han Sheji, they must work together to fight against Li Yi. At this time, if everyone still wants to cause infighting, it will not only kill themselves, but directly overthrow the society.

Cao Cao's southward march to Xuzhou in this critical situation, from the perspective of the overall situation, was entirely to keep Xuzhou before the Northern Frontier Army, although Cao Cao was suspected of preserving his strength, but it was also urgently needed by the coalition forces. At present, in the coalition army, the only one who can rush to Xuzhou in time and hold Xuzhou is Cao Cao's army. If Yuan Shao could think of the danger of Xuzhou during the retreat, he could only let Cao Cao lead the army to defend Xuzhou.

Cheng Yu immediately wrote a letter, giving a detailed analysis and explanation of Cao Cao's southward journey to Xuzhou and many things that might have been beneficial to the coalition forces. Cao Cao ordered the messenger to set off immediately and rush to Yanjin. , I can't wait.

In the afternoon, Cao Cao, Cao Hong and others led a large army and quickly retreated south.

………………

On the eighth day of September, Yanjin.

Yuan Shao and Liu Biao led their troops all the way and quickly rushed to Yanjin, ready to join Liu Bei's army, but before they could catch their breath, the scouts hurriedly reported that the cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army was chasing after them, and there were only fifty miles left from Yanjin.

Yuan Shao was helpless, and wrote to Liu Bei in Hanoi, saying: "Yanjindu is about to be lost, Xuande, you should stay in Hanoi for the time being, don't cross the river." ”

Liu Bei was blocked in Hanoi, and if he wanted to cross the river to the south, he could only withdraw to the line of Pinggao and Huaicheng first, but in this way, his time to go south to Xuzhou would be greatly delayed, and Xuzhou was very likely to fall.

Just when Yuan Shao was at a loss, Cao Cao's letter arrived. After reading the letter, Yuan Shao shook his head and smiled bitterly, handed the letter to Liu Biao, and said, "Brother Jingsheng, Meng De has already gone south to Xuzhou. ”

Liu Biao had long known that Cao Cao was going south, but he didn't expect Cao Cao to ignore the safety of tens of thousands of troops of the coalition army at this time, and turn around and run first.

"This Cao Heizi, he wants us to die. We're all dead, how many days will he be able to hold on? Does he want to take refuge in Li Yi and be a house slave for Li Yi? Liu Biao scolded angrily while reading the letter, "In that case, what else can we do?" Let Liu Bei stay in Hanoi for the time being to resist the Northern Frontier Army, and let's withdraw directly to Ao Cang. ”

Yuan Shao sighed, shook his head and said, "Cao Cao arrived in Xuzhou, Xuzhou is his, and he won't let it out." ”

Liu Biao sneered: "Not only Xuzhou is his, I think Jiujiang and Lujiang counties will also be his sooner or later." Sun Ce and Zhou Yu are a little careless, and it is estimated that even Jiangdong is his. But that's fine......"

Liu Biao looked up at Yuan Shao and continued: "With Meng De sticking to Xuzhou, Li Yi can only stop at the border between Yan and Xu, and it will be difficult for him to break in. ”

"Yuzhou, the key now is Yuzhou." Yuan Shao said worriedly, "If Yuzhou is captured by the Northern Xinjiang Army, and Yingchuan, Chen and Liang are lost, then not only Luoyang is in danger, but even Jingzhou is under the attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army." ”

"Where's your defense?" Liu Biao looked at Yuan Shao and asked, "If you decide to give up Zhongmu and Junyi and return to the front line of Xingyang, Aocang, and Guancheng, then your current strength will be enough." I can quickly go south to Yuzhou, so that I can save some food. After the annihilation of the 250,000-strong army, we now have enough food, and the current grain stock can support the 100,000-strong army until this winter. (To be continued)). If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote, your support is my biggest motivation. For mobile phone users, please go to read. )