"Remedy? We tried to attack Dongping and Jibei and cut off the grain route from Xuzhou to Hebei, but Xiahou Yuan came out of nowhere, and instead beat us to the ground. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info" Li Ye said angrily, "Cao Cao and Liu Bei have already taken precautions against us, and if we delay like this, we won't be able to last long." ”

Then he looked at Yuan Shu and Yan Xiang, and asked very solemnly: "You don't expect Li Yi to annihilate Cao Cao and Liu Bei in Hebei and give us the Central Plains, right?" ”

Ji Ling smiled bitterly, and Yan Xiang sighed lightly.

Yuan Shu's eyes lit up, and he said without hesitation: "This is completely possible. Once the Northern Xinjiang Army went crazy, Cao Cao could only die. ”

Li Ye scoffed.

Yuan Shu didn't care, waved his hand and said: "It's better to ask for others than for yourself, and we will win half of the Dingtao." ”

………………

In early September, Wei County, twenty miles southeast of Qingyuan City.

When Cao Cao heard that Ma Teng was back, he could hardly believe his ears. He was stunned for a moment, and then rushed out of the camp.

Ma Teng was embarrassed, and the smell of blood and sweat on his body was disgusting. Cao Cao didn't dislike it, hugged him and yelled, very excited.

So far, only Ma Teng has fled with more than 100 horsemen in the East Road army, and the whereabouts of the others are unknown.

Cao Cao asked carefully, and was surprised to find that Ma Teng didn't know as much about the situation on the Dongguang battlefield as he did.

Ma Teng told Cao Cao that Gongsun Zhan and he fought their way out of the siege and fled to Pingyuan City before they broke up. Ma Teng returned to Qinghe to join the army, and Gongsun Zhan felt shameless to see Cao Cao again, and returned to Qingzhou directly with a hundred and ten people.

Cao Cao couldn't hide his disappointment, he originally thought that Ma Teng would bring back the final outcome of the Dongguang battlefield, but he still didn't like it. He estimated that Xiahoudun and Wenpin had been defeated, and the only one who could escape back to Qingzhou was probably Zang Ba's army.

The unexpectedly rapid defeat of the Eastern Route army completely disrupted Cao Cao's deployment. Now the army that the Northern Xinjiang Army has put into the Dongguang battlefield is coming at a rapid pace, and the Northern Expeditionary Army can no longer escape the fate of being surrounded.

Cao Cao was remorseful and heartbroken. However, what made him regret was not that he had divided his troops and caused the entire army of the Eastern Route to be annihilated, but that he regretted that he had not retreated two days earlier. If they retreated south immediately after receiving the news of Yuan Shu's betrayal, the Northern Frontier Army would not be able to surround them no matter what, and they would make a wrong step, a wrong step.

According to Ma Teng's account, the large army used by the Northern Xinjiang Army to encircle and annihilate and block in the Battle of Xiaoliangting together was at least 150,000 to 170,000 people, so there is no doubt that Li Yi must have drawn troops from the Western Road battlefield in order to defeat the Northern Expeditionary Army. In other words, at present, the strength of the Northern Xinjiang Army in the direction of Wei County is weak, and Cao Cao's strategy of calling for the army to withdraw westward, and then join Yuan Shao and withdraw to the Central Plains from the direction of Liyang and Puyang is correct.

At this time, the scout directed the Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry in the direction of Ganling City, and this news further confirmed the intention of the Northern Frontier Army to surround the Northern Expeditionary Army in the vicinity of Ganling City.

After a little discussion with Liu Biao and Liu Bei, Cao Cao immediately wrote a letter to Yuan Shao, asking him to immediately withdraw his troops from Yecheng and withdraw to the southeast to the area around Weicheng, so that he could join the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army and withdraw to the Central Plains together.

Cao Cao was worried that the northern iron cavalry would return to the Guantao area and cut off the retreat of the army, so he ordered the army to march overnight to try to reach Weicheng as soon as possible.

………………

In early September, Wei County, ten miles southeast of Yecheng, Pingyang City.

Yuan Shao gently fanned the pu fan in his hand, with a leisurely expression.

Guo Tu, Feng Ji and others gathered around the case and argued fiercely.

"Now the situation in Hebei is no longer profitable for us, and we should withdraw as soon as possible, so as not to have long nights and dreams and suffer unnecessary losses." Feng Ji looked very excited, and kept pointing at the map with both hands.

"The main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army is currently encircling and annihilating Gongsun Zan on the Dongguang battlefield. Gongsun Chan has 130,000 people, and if the Northern Frontier Army wants to eat them, even considering that the combat power of the Northern Frontier Army is much stronger than that of the coalition army, it will need at least the same number of troops, and it will take a while. Even if the Northern Xinjiang Army used the terrain to successfully divide Gongsun Zhan's army and shorten the time to destroy the enemy, it was still very difficult to turn back and surround Cao Cao after solving Gongsun Zhan. ”

"However, our goal has been achieved, and now whether it is Li Yi in Hebei, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan in the three alliances, or even Liu Biao in Jingzhou, their strength has suffered a heavy blow. Yuan Shu has achieved nothing in Yanzhou now, neither being able to hold the Son of Heaven hostage, nor occupying the entire territory of Yanzhou. In this case, Cao Cao, of course, would withdraw to the Central Plains at all costs. After Cao Cao returned to the Central Plains, he would immediately fight with Yuan Shu. We just need to wait patiently for a while, and when they are both defeated, we can start attacking the Central Plains. ”

Feng Ji's opinion was supported by some people.

However, Guo Tu raised objections, saying: "Since the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army is on the Dongguang battlefield, why didn't Cao Cao go directly south to Ganling and withdraw to the Central Plains from the direction of Dongwuyang?" In order to give up the near and far, he came to join us, and he wanted to retreat from the direction of Liyang and Puyang in Wei County? ”

"There are only two possibilities for Cao Cao to do this. First, Gongsun Zan on the Dongguang battlefield has been defeated, the 130,000 army has been annihilated, and the iron cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army has rushed to Ganling City in front of Cao Cao, blocking Cao Cao's retreat road, he has no choice but to turn to us and withdraw to the Central Plains together after joining us. The second is that Cao Cao saw through our intentions, and he was able to continue to occupy the Central Plains in order to ensure that after defeating Yuan. They want to lead the Northern Xinjiang Army to the battlefield of Wei County through this method, hoping that the Northern Xinjiang Army will surround us and eat us. ”

"In addition, there is another question we must consider, if we withdraw now and leave Cao Cao in Jizhou, will Li Yi do what we want and continue to encircle and annihilate Cao Cao at any cost? Li Yi is not an idiot, he will not kill Cao Cao for us and give the Central Plains away. I can say with certainty that as soon as we withdraw, the Northern Frontier Army will put Cao Cao back in the Central Plains. In this way, we are bound to settle the grudge with Cao Cao, and the Central Plains will inevitably be full of war, and in the end, Li Yi will be all right, and he can easily take the Central Plains. ”

"So not only can we not retreat now, but we must make a full plan to respond to Cao Cao's retreat, so that we can take advantage of the opportunity that Yuan Shu has not been able to occupy Yanzhou so far, quickly defeat Yuan Shu, take Yanzhou, and then occupy the entire Central Plains."

"If the Northern Xinjiang Army had annihilated Gongsun Zhan, then now Cao Cao would only have more than 50,000 people left. Even if Liu Bei and Liu Biao are added, there will not be more than 100,000 people. The strength of the Northern Xinjiang Army has been damaged after the complete annihilation of Gongsun Zhan, and if Cao Cao is encircled and annihilated again, its strength loss will be even greater, which will give us enough time to stabilize the Central Plains. ”

Guo Tu's opinion was also supported by some people, but there were three key issues that were very thorny, and if these three issues were not handled well, Yuan Shao might suffer heavy losses and even be in danger of being wiped out.

The first question is whether Gongsun Chan has been defeated. If Gongsun Chan has been defeated, the main force of the Northern Frontier Army has been outflanked from both flanks, at this time, Cao Cao can only turn to Yuan Shao for help in order to escape the fate of being annihilated, but once Yuan Shao launches a rescue, it is very likely that he will also be surrounded by the Northern Frontier Army.

The second is whether the Northern Xinjiang Army is determined to annihilate Cao Cao. If the Northern Xinjiang Army, in the case of encircling Cao Cao, saw that Yuan Shao had run away, and deliberately withdrew from the encirclement and released Cao Cao, then the matter would fall short, and there would be endless troubles in the future.

The third is to force the Northern Xinjiang Army to make up its mind to eliminate Cao Cao, Yuan Shao will sacrifice part of his troops, but is Yuan Shao willing to sacrifice this part of his troops? How to ensure that Yuan Shao could quickly defeat Yuan Shu after sacrificing this part of his troops?

Because Guo Tu's suggestion contained too many uncertainties, Yuan Shao weighed it for a long time and it was difficult to make a decision, but Guo Tu was right, if he ran away, Li Yi was very likely to put Cao Cao back. Li Yi putting Cao Cao back and Cao Cao breaking out with his own help are completely different things, and they will produce two completely different results on the battlefield in the Central Plains.

Just when Yuan Shao was at a loss, an astonishing news suddenly came from Yanzhou: Yuan Shu captured Dingtao and snatched the Son of Heaven.

The loss of Dingtao was not fought by Yuan Shu's army, but by the rebellion of the defenders in the city.

One of Cao Cao's troops was a disciple of Chen Liu's great Confucian Bian Rang, and in order to avenge his teacher, he suddenly turned against him, opened the city gate, and let Yuan Shujun in. Yuan Shu controlled the Son of Heaven and occupied most of Yanzhou, and the situation changed dramatically.

Yuan Shao had no way to retreat, so he could only go to Weicheng to meet Cao Cao first. At this time, no matter what Cao Cao's purpose was to retreat westward from Wei County, Yuan Shao had to first make a gesture to respond to Cao Cao in order to maintain the alliance between the two.

………………

In early September, Julu County, Gwangjong City.

After Sima Yanzhi of the Zhengdong General's Mansion got the urgent report from the armies from all walks of life, he immediately explained to Guan Yu the current position of the armies from all walks of life.

Zhang Fei sent a letter that Yuan Shao was retreating, and he would lead 56,000 soldiers from his headquarters to pursue him.

The armies of Li Zhong and Sun Guan had reached the north bank of the Qing River forty miles away from Guantao. Since Cao Cao's vanguard army had already arrived at Qingyuan City, the two decided to insert into the Daliuxu thirty miles in front of Guantao City to block the rebels.

After receiving the order of the lord, Zhao Yun had already led his army to the front line of Guantao and Weicheng, preparing to meet Zhang He, Xian Yufu and Yan Rou, and gather 36,000 iron cavalry to block the rebels.

In the next three days, there will be Zhang Fei's 56,000 army, Li Zhong and Sun Guan's 16,000 infantry army, and Zhao Yun and Zhang He's 36,000 iron cavalry, a total of 108,000 troops.

This 108,000-strong army will take on the heavy task of blocking the rebels from breaking through and outflanking Yuan Shao.

After receiving the order, Lü Bu will lead 18,000 iron cavalry to gallop 500 miles and rush to the Yin'an, Fanyang, and Neihuang lines in the south of Wei County to surround Yuan Shao.

Li Jing was leading his army across the boundary bridge, and two days later, they would reach the line between Guantao and Weicheng and surround Yuan Shao from the north.

In mid-September, when Xu Da's 32,000-strong army arrives at Wei County, we will gather 190,000 troops to encircle and annihilate Yuan Shao. (To be continued.) )