Le Jin was defeated in Peicheng, not only the grain and grass were burned, but even the eldest prince Cao Ang, who was protected by him, was also killed, and he was ashamed and indignant, and wanted to apologize for his crime with death.

Fortunately, Lejin's relatives hurriedly dissuaded him, which made Lejin dispel the idea of suicide.

So, Le Jin decided to take the remnants of the army to Pengcheng and apologize to Cao Cao in person. Passing through many villages along the way, Le Jin ordered all of them to be burned down to vent the anger in his heart.

With more than 200 remnants of the army, Le Jin galloped non-stop along the way, and finally arrived at the Cao army camp in Pengcheng at the twilight.

At this moment, Cao Cao, who was in the big tent, was also on fire.

During the day, he launched three consecutive attacks on Pengcheng, and almost captured Pengcheng three times, but when he arrived at Zuihou, he was counterattacked by Xuzhou soldiers, causing his three attacks to be in vain, but killed 3,000 soldiers. How can you not make him angry?

Cao Cao wore a battle helmet, a robe on his shoulders, a fur collar around his neck, a chain mail inside, trousers drooping, sitting in the middle of the military tent, his physique was short and unnoticeable, but his pair of eyes that narrowed into two thin slits from time to time revealed the ruthless nature of his heart, making him have a murderous momentum, so that people dare not underestimate him.

"Since our army entered Xuzhou, it has played a triumphant song all the way, but I don't want to be blocked by a small Pengcheng in the past two days. I don't believe it, I can't even take a small Pengcheng! Cao Cao raised his hand angrily and slapped his hands on the several cases in front of him, shaking some of the things placed on the cases.

On both sides of the big tent, there were a group of people, Cao Cao's right hand sat a group of strategists, and on the left hand side sat a group of generals, after hearing Cao Cao's words, their faces were gloomy, and they drooped their heads and said nothing.

At this time, the roller curtain from the big tent was lifted, and a big man walked in from the outside, this person was nine feet tall, with a cold face, a burly figure, long arms and huge hands, a pair of iron halberds stuck in his back, and the muscles were tense all over his body, full of explosive liliang, it was Cao Cao's personal guard Dian Wei.

Seeing Dian Wei walking in from outside, Cao Cao asked aloud, "What's the matter?" ”

Dian Wei bowed down and arched his hand and said, "Lord Qiqi, Le Jin is asking to see you outside the tent." ”

"Wen Qian? He doesn't protect the grain and grass in Peicheng, where does he come from? Cao Cao said suspiciously.

"My subordinates don't know." Dian Wei Dao.

"Let him in!" Cao Cao waved his hand.

"Whoa!" Dian Wei answered, turned around and walked out of the big tent.

After a short time, Le Jin walked in from outside the tent, with multiple injuries all over his body, stained with blood, exuding a strong smell of blood, and as soon as he entered the big tent, he immediately knelt on the ground.

Without waiting for Le Jin to speak, Cao Cao had already frowned, and when he saw Le Jin like this, he immediately had a hint of foreboding in his heart, and suddenly stood up and asked sharply: "Is there something wrong with Peicheng?" ”

Le Jin nodded hurriedly, crying silently: "The last general was negligent for a while, and was attacked by the Xuzhou soldiers, and all the grain and grass hoarded in Peicheng were burned, and even the eldest prince ...... Also ......"

With a "boom", Cao Cao's mind seemed to explode, and when he saw that Le Jin was struggling, he hurriedly asked: "Tell me quickly, how is Zixiu?" ”

"The eldest prince he...... He was beheaded......"

"Ahh

Cao Cao was suddenly furious, took out the Yitian Sword he was wearing at his waist, and slashed down with a sword, splitting the several cases in front of him in half. He strode in front of Le Jin, put the Heavenly Sword on Le Jin's neck, and shouted hysterically: "The grain and grass were burned, Zixiu was killed, and you still have the face to come back?" ”

"The last general knew that the death penalty was inevitable, and he wanted to commit suicide, but when he thought about it, the lord didn't know about Peicheng, so he came back to ask the lord to die!" Le Jin burst into tears, crying silently, but with a fearless face.

"You...... You...... I'll kill you! Cao Cao was annoyed and angry, and swung his sword and slashed at Le Jin.

Seeing this, Le Jin closed his eyes, stretched his neck, and let Cao Cao cut it.

Seeing that the Yitian Sword was about to cut Le Jin, a long sword suddenly came out of the stabbing oblique, directly blocking Cao Cao's Yitian Sword, and the two swords collided, making a buzz.

Cao Cao was taken aback, he didn't expect someone to dare to stop him, and looked along the long sword, but when he saw that the person holding the long sword was Cao Ren, he hurriedly asked, "Zixiao!" You dare to stop me? ”

Cao Ren is tall and slender, with a straight nose, a beard on his lips, thick hair and a dense beard, and a well-proportioned body.

Seeing Cao Cao's anger, he hurriedly knelt on the ground, threw down the long sword in his hand, and said with his fists: "The lord is angry, now our army is the time to employ people, Captain Le is brave and good at fighting, courageous, and proficient in the art of war, if he is killed, it is really a pity, it is better to spare his life and let him make meritorious contributions." Besides, the matter of Peicheng, I can't complain about Captain Le, the lord still didn't expect the Xuzhou soldiers to dare to sneak attack Peicheng, Captain Le is a hundred miles away, how could he think that the Xuzhou soldiers would come to attack after a long journey? The death of the eldest prince is indeed caused by the poor protection of the captain of the school, and the captain of the school also has an unshirkable responsibility, but it was the enemy army who killed the eldest prince, not the captain of the school, if the lord killed the captain of the school, wouldn't he be in the hands of the enemy? I beg the Lord to calm his anger and save the life of the lieutenant! ”

As soon as Cao Ren's words fell, everyone in the big tent pleaded with Cao Cao in unison: "Please calm the anger of the lord and leave the life of the school captain!" ”

Cao Cao frowned, looking at Le Jin's scarred body, like a bloody man, and after hearing Cao Ren's consolation, he also felt quite reasonable, and Le Jin was indeed a general in his army, if he was killed, it would be a pity.

He held the Yitian sword, cut off the helmet cherry on Le Jin's helmet with a sword, endured the pain of losing his son, and said to Le Jin: "For the sake of the face of the generals' dissuasion, today I will temporarily spare your life, the death penalty can be avoided, but the living crime is unforgivable, cut off your position as a school captain, demoted to a soldier, and make meritorious service for the crime." ”

"Thank you for the grace of the lord not to kill, and I am grateful!" Le Jin immediately thanked him.

"Get out!" Cao Cao said coldly.

"Whoa!" Le Jin was lucky not to die, and with a sense of gratitude in his heart, he slowly withdrew from the big tent.

"Fengxiao, how much grain and grass are there in the army?" Cao Cao turned to look at the young scribe who was sitting in the first position on the right and asked.

The young scribe was about twenty-three or four years of age, and his appearance was delicate, and his body was slightly emaciated, and he looked a little weak, but under his eyebrows was a pair of eyes that shone like jewels, and his bright eyes were bright, and his broad forehead showed wisdom beyond ordinary people, and there was a melancholy expression in his silence that could move anyone, but which made people feel that the feelings were so deep and elusive.

This person is Cao Cao's marching master book, Guo Jia and Guo Fengxiao.

Guo Jia heard Cao Cao ask about the grain and grass, hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "Lord Qiqi, there is not much grain and grass left in the army, and it can last for five days at most." ”

After Cao Cao heard this, his brows furrowed and he stopped talking.

There was a sudden silence in the big tent, and after a long time, Cao Cao spoke: "Fengxiao, in this situation, where should our army go?" ”

Guo Jia thought for a moment, and then replied: "Lord Qiqi, the city of Pengcheng is strong, our army has been attacking for two days and cannot conquer it, and now the grain and grass have been burned again, if we continue to stay in Xuzhou, it will be greatly disadvantageous to our army." It is better to retreat back to Yanzhou for the time being, reorganize the troops and horses, and then conquer Xuzhou after the spring of next year. ”

Cao Cao paced in the big tent, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Tomorrow, we will launch a fierce attack on Pengcheng, if we can capture Pengcheng, we will rob the people in the city of food, and stay to continue the expedition to Xuzhou until Tao Qian is captured and the entire Xuzhou is swept away." If it cannot be captured, it is not too late for our army to withdraw back to Yanzhou. ”

……

The hazy sky was shrouded in a thick layer of clouds, and the north wind swept the snowflakes wantonly between the heavens and the earth.

Zhang Yan led more than 2,000 Danyang soldiers to return the same way, walked to the vicinity of Liuxian, encountered a snowstorm, and the sky had gradually darkened, everyone was sleepy and tired, so they had to stop advancing and rest in Liuxian for a while.

As soon as everyone entered the county seat of Liuxian, what they saw was a miserable state, the county town was in a mess, and the corpses were scattered in every corner of the county.

The men and women, young and old, were lying in pools of blood, and what was even more terrible was that the ground was full of headless corpses, whose heads had been cut off.

There are also many women's corpses that are even more horrible to see, they are lying there naked with their thighs open, some have been cut open, some have their stomachs cut open, and some have arrows stuck in their lower bodies, you can imagine how cruel the people who killed them were.

This was the atrocity committed by Cao Jun in Liuxian four days ago, and because of the cold weather, the corpses in the city were covered with a thick layer of frost, and the corpses showed no signs of decomposing.

Zhang Yan hated Cao Jun's behavior of killing and burying it without burying it, if this was a hot summer day, so many corpses would definitely rot if they were exposed to the sun and not buried, and what was even more terrifying was that it might also evolve into an epidemic.

He ordered the soldiers to dig a large pit in the open space on the northeast side of the county seat of Liuxian, carry all the corpses out of the city, and throw them in the pit for burial, at least so that the dead people could be buried in the ground.

After finishing the burial work, Zhang Yan and the others were already tired enough, so they simply ate a little dry food they carried with them, and found some ruins in the county seat of Liuxian County to spend the night temporarily.

There were no people within a radius of tens of miles, and the only remaining creatures in this lifeless, blood-soaked land were a few dogs that had escaped and run back, and they stood by their dead owners and barked fiercely, showing their loyalty and grief.

Tonight, they can rest here without worrying about someone sneaking up.

At dawn the next day, Zhang Yan and others rode their horses and continued to rush towards Pengcheng.