"Going north?" Cao Cao and Liu Bei looked at Xi Zhicai in horror, in disbelief. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

"Withdraw the troops overnight, go north and rendezvous with Wei Yuanjin." Xi Zhicai pointed to the map on the table, and pointed along the banks of the Pushui River, connecting the five cities of Baima, Yancheng, Changyuan, Pingqiu, and Fengqiu, and said to Cao Cao, "The city here is still under our control, as long as we withdraw to the city of Zhuozao a hundred miles away overnight, the Northern Xinjiang Army will not have time to pursue us." It will take time for them to completely annihilate the enemy of Xiaotaoting tomorrow, and it will also take time to find the direction of our retreat, and by the time they begin to pursue, we will have already arrived at Boiled Zao City. Boiling Zaocheng is one hundred and twenty miles away from Changyuan, and we can get there in one night. When we got to Changyuan, we were safe. ”

"Going north? To Changyuan? Cao Cao thought for a while, and said helplessly, "When we get there, we have to listen to Yuan Shao, do you know what this means to us?" ”

Xi Zhicai persuaded: "Lord, there is no possibility of going south to Yuzhou, so you can only risk going north to break through." If the Northern Frontier Army had reacted extremely quickly and chased all the way, half of us would have escaped to Changyuan. As for the future, let's figure it out. The key now is to defeat the Northern Frontier Army. If the Northern Xinjiang Army occupies the Central Plains, even if the lord arrives in Yuzhou, how many years can he support? At present, it is better for the lord to temporarily take refuge in Yuan Shao to recover some vitality. As long as we work together to defeat Li Yi, the lord still has a chance to make a comeback. ”

Liu Bei also persuaded on the side: "Brother Meng De, compared with the Great Han Sheji, what is personal honor and disgrace?" You are now the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, even if you arrive in Henan, Yuan Shao does not dare to slack off in the slightest. If I have the opportunity in the future, I will definitely help you, I can swear. ”

Cao Cao gratefully patted Liu Bei's back, let out a long sigh, and finally made up his mind and said, "Go north." I hope we can get out of it. ”

He turned his gaze to Xi Zhicai and asked with a wry smile: "If you want to reach Changyuan in one day and one night, you have to throw everything away." Our losses are staggering, so to speak, with nothing. ”

"I only brought three days' rations, and discarded all the rest of the grain and grass." Xi Zhicai frowned, and added, "There are still more than a hundred boats loaded with grain on the river, all of them are scuttled." ”

"Forget it. There are more than 100,000 people here, they followed us from the Central Plains to Jianghuai, and from Jianghuai back to the Central Plains, and suffered a lot, so give them these grains. In the future, when we defeat the Northern Frontier Army and return to Yanzhou, we will need the help of these people. Liu Bei hurriedly shook his hand and said, "Yanzhou has suffered too much in recent years, and food is more important than life for the people of Yanzhou. We can't waste so much food in vain, and we will be damned. ”

Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai looked at Liu Bei in surprise, speechless for a while.

Liu Bei was worried that they would not agree, and then said: "Bring the grain ashore overnight, distribute it to the soldiers and civilians, and let them go home." More than 100,000 people scattered in a hurry, and it will take a long time for the Northern Frontier Army to find the direction of our retreat. Maybe we arrived in Changyuan, and the Northern Frontier Army didn't know our exact location yet. ”

"In addition, Li Yi brought the Hu people to the Central Plains, so that the Hu people could tell the people of all parts of the Central Plains about beating us Han people through their mouths. The Hu people and we have been enemies for generations, and the Hu people have never set foot in the Central Plains. Li Yi, a rebellious man, dared to unite with the Hu people to fight us, and usurped the power of the Hu people to usurp the Han Dynasty's Jiangshan Sheji, which is too shameless. We want to borrow their mouths to let everyone in the world know that Li Yi is a Hu person, today the Hu people want to take away the country of my Han Dynasty, how can my Han people ignore it? How can you not fight back? ”

"Okay, good ......" Cao Cao patted the case and exclaimed, "Xuande, this plan is too good." Li Yi wants to gain a foothold in the Central Plains and dream. ”

Xi Zhicai said with admiration: "Liu makes Jun plan to be a step higher, and the lower officials admire and admire." ”

………………

Li Yi walked around the big tent, feeling restless.

After Cao Cao and Liu Bei suffered heavy losses in Xipingting, there were still nearly 100,000 people, if they regained their morale in the shortest possible time and commanded the army to rush to Xipingting again, the Northern Xinjiang Army might not be able to stop it. Xipingting's victory in that battle was entirely due to the enemy's surprise. Now the Northern Frontier Army does not have time to set the same trap again, and the rebels cannot be fooled a second time.

The Northern Frontier Army only had so many troops under Dingtao City. It was already a very risky thing to block the main force of the rebels with 28,000 cavalry and encircle and annihilate Cao Ren with 52,000 men. Once the resistance fails, it is yourself who suffers heavy damage. Whether we can win the battle of Dingtao now depends on whether we can completely annihilate Cao Ren tonight.

The sound of horses' hooves galloped in.

Guan Yu panted into the big tent and asked Li Yi, "Big brother, is Cao Cao still attacking Xiping Pavilion at night?" ”

"Nope." Li Yi asked urgently, "Haven't you broken through the resistance of the rebels yet?" ”

"Cao Ren still has a hand, and at the critical moment, there are still troops to support Wei Yuanjin." Guan Yu waved his hand angrily, "Our losses are too great, we can't fight hard like this." Big brother, give me 5,000 iron cavalry, and I will personally lead the army to charge into battle. ”

Li Yi didn't directly agree to Guan Yu, but asked, "How is the north?" Ding Zero cavalry did not rush in? ”

"Cao Ren brought a hundred Wuhan Iron and Steel cars, plus some baggage trucks, which just formed a car formation and blocked the hill. Mrs. Zhai Ya rushed twice, but the loss was too great and was stopped by Li Zhong. Guan Yu wiped his sweat and continued, "Li Zhong transferred more than a dozen catapults from each battalion, ready to throw fire oil, and burned the car array with a fire. But once the fire is ignited, it will burn for two hours. With this time, Cao Ren was able to use the baggage truck to reset the car formation. ”

Li Yi asked, "So you want to take advantage of Cao Ren's arrangement of the chariot formation in the north to lead the cavalry to break through?" ”

"Yes." Guan Yu said, "Since Cao Cao went to sleep at night, and there was no war on the Xiping Pavilion, you can transfer me five thousand iron horses." ”

"Okay." Li Yi nodded and said, "No matter what, before noon tomorrow, we must end the battle in Xiaotao Pavilion." ”

Guan Yu saluted solemnly, turned around and walked out of the big tent.

………………

Small pottery pavilion.

Cao Ren's wish was disappointed. The Northern Frontier Army did not stop attacking after the night came, as he imagined, on the contrary, as the night became thicker and thicker, the Northern Frontier Army's attacks became more and more fierce.

Wei Yuanjin and Cai Yang asked Cao Ren for help again, and the western defense line was about to be broken through by the enemy.

During the day, Guan Yu was worried that Cao Cao and Liu Bei's army would break through the blockade of Xiping Pavilion and kill him in the back, so he kept a battalion of men and horses just in case. After darkness fell, Guan Yu learned that Cao Cao and Liu Bei had stopped attacking, and immediately threw the reserved army on the battlefield. With the help of Li Hui, Wei Yuanjin and Cai Yang had just stabilized the battle line, but before they could take a breath, the Northern Xinjiang Army roared and killed them, giving them a heavy blow.

Cao Ren has no troops to adjust at the moment. Xiahouba's chariot formation in the north fell into a sea of fire, and his defeat was imminent. To the east, Zhang Yan commanded the army to forcibly cross the river and stubbornly advance to the hinterland of Xiaotaoting. Although Xiahou Yuan tried his best to stop him, the morale of Cao's army had been lost, and the soldiers were panicked and could only fight and retreat.

Just when Cao Ren was desperate, Cao Cao's letter was delivered to Cao Ren by water.

Cao Cao said in the letter: "Today, the main force of the army suffered heavy losses at Xiping Pavilion and lost the sharpness to continue the attack. Grievances, Jiyang and other places were all controlled by the cavalry of Northern Xinjiang, the back roads had been blocked, the grain and grass had been cut off, and the survival of the army was in jeopardy. After careful discussion with Liu Xuande, we decided to withdraw to Fengqiu and Chenliu to join Yuan Shao before they were completely surrounded by the Northern Xinjiang Army. After the army retreats, you are left to fend for yourselves. I will send a ship to meet you, and you will escape as much as you can. ”

After Cao Ren read the letter, he was silent in the dark for a long time.

Mao Jue quietly walked up to him and asked in a low voice, "When will the prime minister hit Xiao Taoting?" ”

Cao Ren shook his head, threw the letter in his hand into the bonfire, and said calmly: "The prime minister will send a ship immediately, we will withdraw." Go and gather the officials of the prefectures and prepare to get on board and evacuate. ”

Mao Jue was shocked, and looked at Cao Ren dumbfounded for a long time without speaking.

Fast horses came quickly.

The Northern Frontier Army lit a fire on the battlefield on the west side, illuminating the battlefield as bright as day. The cavalry of the Hu people also appeared on the battlefield on the western flank, and with the cooperation of the army of infantry soldiers in the northern frontier, they launched a fierce attack on the Cao army. Wei Yuanjin couldn't resist it, and retreated again and again with the remnants of his troops.

"Tell Wei Yuanjin that there are no reinforcements. If you can keep it, if you can't keep it, you will retreat to the Chinese army. Cao Ren then ordered Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Ba that if they could not block the attack of the Northern Frontier Army, they would all withdraw and defend the Chinese army's chariot formation.

Retreating from Dingtao to Chenliu for more than 500 miles, the army traveled a long distance, and the only way to successfully escape the pursuit of the cavalry in the northern Xinjiang was to bring more heavy vehicles, so as to form a vehicle formation at any time to block the attack of the cavalry, so whether it was Cao Cao, Liu Bei, or Cao Ren, the first thing that came to mind when retreating was not speed, but safety.

With a lot more troops than the Northern Xinjiang Army, with a strong car formation, and with the long arrows in the hands of the soldiers, they had enough confidence to withdraw to Chenliu safely.

The wagons brought out by Cao Ren from Dingtao City played an important role in the fierce battle.

As Cao's army slowly retreated, forty large and small ships slowly approached the embankment in the night.

Cao Ren ordered his personal guards to garrison the embankment, extinguish all the torches on the embankment, and strictly forbid anyone to approach the embankment for 100 steps.

Wei Yuanjin, Xiahou Yuan, Cai Yang, Xiahou Ba and others each led their troops and withdrew to the Chinese army one after another. The soldiers who fought fiercely for a day and the night were covered in blood and exhausted. The Northern Xinjiang Army also seemed to be tired, and tens of thousands of troops approached around the car formation, surrounding Cao's army. (To be continued.) )