"General, this is a rare opportunity, let's kill him for a while. Pen~Fun~Pavilion www.biquge.info" Yan Rou said breathlessly, "When Mrs. Li and General Lu's iron cavalry arrives, we will have 30,000 people, and we can completely tear apart the enemy's battle array." ”

"Nope." Zhao Yun waved his hand vigorously, "The Lord has an order to preserve the strength of the Iron Cavalry, and it is strictly forbidden for the Iron Cavalry to attack the enemy head-on at any cost." ”

"General, Cao Cao is on the other side." Yue Yun said dissatisfiedly, "The enemy has returned from a long journey, and he is tired, and this is a good opportunity to inflict heavy damage on him. Does the general have to wait until the enemy has recuperated before fighting? ”

Zhao Yun smiled and said to Yue Yun: "Ying Xiang, what, you want to disobey the lord's order?" ”

Yue Yun's face changed, and he immediately stopped talking.

Zhao Yun got Yue Yun right, and then he turned around and ordered the heralds: "Order all the heralds, keep a distance from the enemy, and force them back to Bocheng." ”

"Urgently inform Mrs. Li and Lu Fengxian that Cao Cao's vanguard army has suffered heavy losses and is currently retreating, and it is no longer able to go north in the short term, please rush to the Dingtao battlefield immediately."

………………

Thin City.

Cao Cao looked at Xiahoudun, whose head was already swollen and deformed, his heart ached, and he asked the doctor next to him very nervously, "How is it?" Will he survive? ”

The two healers standing beside him looked at each other and said worriedly: "After the arrow was taken out, General Xiahou has been unconscious. If he wakes up tomorrow, he should be fine. ”

"He's going to wake up." Cao Cao said in a dumb voice, "Among our brothers, Yuan Rang has the best health, and he will definitely wake up." If his left eye is broken, will it affect his right eye and become blind? ”

A healer replied: "Prime Minister rest assured, as long as General Xiahou survives this catastrophe, his right eye can still be used." ”

Cao Cao sighed, instructed the healer to be careful, and then beckoned Cao Hong, Man Zhong and others to exit the house.

A few people walked in the small garden of the mansion, their hearts were heavy, and the atmosphere was very depressing.

"The iron cavalry of northern Xinjiang appeared in Caoting, and the iron cavalry of the Hu nationality appeared in Fangdong, and our way to rescue Dingtao and Changyi was all blocked." Cao Cao stopped and said in a low voice, "For more than two hundred miles, we can't go there." ”

"Don't be too disappointed, my lord." Man Chong comforted, "Although the Northern Xinjiang Army is now surrounding Dingtao and Changyi, judging from the current defensive strength of the two cities, it is not a problem to defend it for ten days and a half months. We still have time. ”

Cao Cao smiled bitterly and set his eyes on Xi Zhicai, who had been bowing his head and being silent.

"My lord, the Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry did not take the opportunity to attack us today, and the Hu Iron Cavalry did not launch an attack in the eastern direction." Xi Zhicai frowned and said, "Although the attack speed of the Northern Xinjiang Army far exceeded our expectations, judging from the actions of the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry, they did encounter great trouble on the front line of Dingtao and Changyi. ”

"Oh?" Cao Cao was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "What's the trouble?" ”

"Our early speculation on the strength of the Northern Xinjiang Army seems to be correct at present, the infantry they used to attack the city is insufficient, and the speed of the attack is too fast, especially the hundreds of thousands of iron cavalry in such a short period of time to kill Bocheng and defend the east line, the grain and grass are obviously unable to keep up. In this case, the Northern Frontier Army needs time to transport grain and grass from the rear, it needs time to attack Dingtao and Changyi, and it needs iron cavalry to block us to buy time for them. ”

"The Northern Xinjiang Army is now fighting with us with iron cavalry, and there is no very sure that they can defeat us, and in the process of attacking, their own losses will be very amazing, and their troops will soon be insufficient, and in order to prevent Yuan Shao and Liu Biao's reinforcements from quickly rushing to the front line of Chenliu to start rescuing Dingtao and Changyi, they must have enough iron cavalry to block the area between Chenliu and Dingtao in a range of nearly 500 miles wide."

"If Dingtao and Changyi were not quickly taken, and the battle line was not stable, the Northern Xinjiang Army needed iron cavalry to block our reinforcements in several directions, which can probably be explained as the main reason why the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry did not attack."

"So, Dingtao and Changyi can indeed hold out for a while?" Cao Cao looked at the generals and asked.

Cao Hong and the others were worried, and they didn't know the bottom of their hearts.

Man Pet nodded affirmatively.

Xi Zhicai wanted to speak and stopped, but after thinking about it, he still didn't say his worries.

The iron cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army only blocked and did not attack, obviously in order to convince the Northern Xinjiang infantry army to concentrate its forces to attack Changyi and Dingtao, in this case, Dingtao and Changyi would definitely not be able to hold it.

Man Zhong swore so confidently in front of Cao Cao that he could hold it, probably considering the military spirit of the army. In Cao's army, from Cao Cao to ordinary generals, their families are all in Changyi City. If the city of Changyi is lost, the blow to the morale of the army will be too great.

Cao Cao asked, "Then what should we do next?" How to rescue Dingtao and Changyi in a limited time? ”

"Give up going east to Dingtao, and go north to Jiyang, the first line of grievances." Xi Zhicai immediately said, "Jiyang and Juju are about two hundred miles away from Dingtao, and when the Northern Xinjiang Army is unstable in the rear of Dingtao, its iron cavalry will not attack these two cities. After we arrived at the front line of Jiyang and Yiju, we tried to advance to Dingtao, contain the troops of the Northern Xinjiang Army attacking Dingtao, and help Cao Ren hold on for a longer time, and at the same time contacted Liu Bei and asked him to give up the defense of the east and withdraw to the line of Kaocheng and Bocheng, so as to form a left-right attack on Dingtao with us. ”

"At the same time, the lord once again sent someone to contact Yuan Shao and asked him to immediately join Liu Biao to establish a second line of defense along the line of Chenliu, Fengqiu, and Xiangyi."

Cao Cao, Cao Hong and the others changed their faces slightly and were silent.

The meaning of Xi Zhicai's words is obvious, he no longer has any hope of rescuing Dingtao and Changyi, but is anxious to establish a second line of defense.

"Zhicai, you said before that when the Northern Xinjiang Army is short of foot soldiers, it may first concentrate its forces to fight Changyi, and then fight Dingtao, which means that the number of Northern Xinjiang troops surrounding Dingtao is not very large. After we arrived at the grievances, could we continue to attack eastward along the Jishui River and compete with the Northern Xinjiang Army for Dingtao. Cao Hong hesitated for a moment and said unwillingly.

"The tide of the battle has changed more than we expected." Xi Zhicai sighed, "The attack speed of the Northern Xinjiang Army is too fast, and we have no time to support Dingtao." After the army arrived at Jiyang and the front line, if we could get Yuan Shao's assistance in grain and grass, we would have time to attack eastward in order to help Cao Ren withdraw from Dingtao as soon as possible. ”

"That's it......" Cao Cao waved his hand and said very frustratedly, "I hope we can hold back the Northern Xinjiang Army in the area of Jiyang and Yiju, and buy time for Yuan Shao and Liu Biao to deploy troops on the front line of Fengqiu and Chenliu as soon as possible." But ......"

Cao Cao looked up at the night sky, shook his head helplessly, and said: "Whether you can block the attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army in the second line of defense depends on whether Yuan Shao can drive Zhang Fei away before the Northern Xinjiang Army kills Chen Liu." If Yuan Shao can't get rid of Zhang Fei for a long time, and the third line of defense can't be established for a long time, we will lose this battle. ”

The people looked at each other with sad faces.

………………

Dingtao.

Guan Yu stood at the door of the big tent and greeted Dong Zhao, who had just come to supervise the transportation of grain and grass.

Guan Yu asked a little anxiously, "How many catapults have arrived?" What about the people? I urgently need a man now? ”

"Thirty catapults have arrived, and thirty more giant siege engines will follow." Dong Zhao smiled, "General Guan, don't worry. For more than a year, the imperial court has accumulated a large number of ordnance in the two arsenals of Handan and Yecheng, and all of them will be transported to the Central Plains battlefield in more than a month. ”

Then he looked around and asked suspiciously, "General, why is this an empty camp?" What about the soldiers? ”

"I'm going to fight Changyi." Guan Yu said indifferently, "At present, this is indeed an empty camp. ”

Dong Zhao's face changed at that time.

Guan Yu looked at him, smiled slightly, and said, "The army is on its way back to Dingtao. Zhang Yan's army will also arrive in two days. ”

Dong Zhao was taken aback again and asked, "Changyi has been taken down?" ”

"It's just a small city, and it's time to go down." Guan Yu smiled and pointed to Dingtao City in the distance, "In a few days, I will invite you into the city for a drink." ”

………………

Yin of Henan, who was leading the army north to support Hanoi, suddenly received an urgent report from Zhongmu, Han Heng and Ma Yan were defeated by Zhang Fei near Guancheng and fled to Zhongmu. The Northern Xinjiang Army immediately killed Zhongmu, Han Heng and Ma Yan led the army to defend it, and Zhongmu was in danger.

The Northern Xinjiang Army is going to fight out of Henan and go to Yanzhou to meet the main force to attack Chenliu. Yan Liang immediately came to this conclusion, and hurriedly ordered: "Hurry, report to the lord urgently, the Northern Xinjiang Army suddenly changed the direction of attack, and the main force of our army had to divide its troops to the south and rush to rescue Zhongmu." Please contact Liu Biao immediately, so that the Jingzhou army can enter the Henan battlefield as quickly as possible to attack Zhang Fei. ”

"Zishan, what should I do on the Puyang battlefield?" Jiang Qi asked anxiously, "The senior cadres have asked for help several times, asking us to increase our troops in Puyang. If Puyang can be recaptured, it will be very important to delay the attack speed of the Northern Xinjiang Army and stabilize the battle line at Dingtao and Changyi. ”

"What time is it? Where can I still take care of Puyang? Yan Liang said angrily, "Tell Gao Gan and ask him to retreat to the white horse for me, immediately retreat to the white horse, and don't fight Puyang again." ”

"Zishan, Zhang Fei's attack may just be an illusion, an illusion to attract our main force to Zhongmu so that he can draw support from the Henan battlefield to Pingao." Jiang Qi tried his best to dissuade him, "The attack on the Hanoi battlefield has worked, and the Northern Frontier Army in Pinggao City can't support it. Now as long as we firmly drag the Northern Xinjiang Army in the direction of Aocang, and let Han Heng and Ma Yan defend Zhongmu to the death, we can control the situation in Henan. As long as the Hanoi army captures Pinggao or the Jingzhou army enters Henan, the entire Henan war situation will take a major turn. ”

Jiang Qi persuaded bitterly: "Zishan, please hold on for a few more days, don't rush to transfer troops south to Zhongmu for the time being." ”

Yan Liang smiled bitterly: "I don't know if Gao Rou can defeat Pinggao in the next few days, and I don't know if the Jingzhou army will enter Henan, but I know that once Zhongmu is lost, the battle situation in Henan can no longer be controlled, and the Northern Xinjiang Army can quickly enter Yanzhou from the direction of Zhongmu." At that time, it was no longer important whether Gao Rou defeated Pinggao or not, and whether the Jingzhou army entered Henan, because after Chen Liu's loss, the Northern Xinjiang Army immediately occupied the entire Yanzhou, and the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry could directly kill the Tiger Prison and pass it. ”

"I shoulder the heavy responsibility of stabilizing Henan, and I can't afford to be negligent." Yan Liang said helplessly, "Even if this is a plan by the Northern Xinjiang Army to lure me to divide my troops to the south, I have to open my eyes to fall for this." You must know that I can't afford to lose Zhongmu and Chen Liu. ”

Jiang Qi shook his head and sighed, heartbroken. (To be continued.) )