[Thanks: Book friends Hua Xiaoyun and Kill Grain Book Friends for their monthly ticket support, thank you!] 】

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"Li, Wen, Chang!"

The moment he raised his eyes to see the Golden Lion Beast King and Li Li on his back, Cao Cao suddenly lost his mind, his eyes widened, and he looked up at the figure on the top of the mountain without blinking, baring his teeth and groaning.

"What is Meng De still hesitating, go quickly, it's too late if you don't leave!" Cao Hong, who was beside him, urged with a pale face trembling.

Cao Cao woke up when he heard the sound, his eyes scanned the surroundings, his face was gloomy like a cloud, and his expression darkened.

When his eyes turned, he shook his head gloomily and lamented in a low voice: "The valley mouth and the cliffs on both sides are surrounded by soldiers under the command of Li Thief, and it is too late to escape now!" Tonight, we were so negligent that we didn't know our whereabouts until we were besieged by the Xiliang army at this moment. It's too late, it's too late, I'll wait for my life! ”

"Mengde's words are wrong." Seeing that Cao Cao was so pessimistic and negative, Cao Hong's cheeks were red and he said disapprenously: "Meng De must not mess with himself. At this time of crisis, tens of thousands of soldiers of our army have pinned their hopes for survival on you; If you give up resistance, then I'll be completely finished, waiting to be killed! ”

In his eagerness, Cao Hong didn't care about the courtesy of the minister, grabbed Cao Cao's shoulders with both hands, and said urgently: "Time is not waiting for me, please Meng De make a decision quickly, whether to fight or surrender, it is all up to you to decide!" ”

Cao Cao's expression was shocked when he heard this, and a touch of absolute color instantly crossed his slightly distracted eyes, raised his eyes to look at the majestic figure high on the top of the mountain, and said in a cold tone: "My Cao family, Xiahou family and Li Thief have always had a disagreement, and they have accumulated grievances for many years, and new and old hatreds are entangled. Therefore. Even if we are willing to bow down and lead the people to surrender, I am afraid that the Li thief will not give up, and sooner or later he will kill us. ”

As he spoke, Cao Cao's eyes narrowed slightly, and he whispered with a ruthless face: "Zilian, for today's plan, we have no way to survive except to fight to the death." So, don't think about it. You immediately lead the soldiers to rush out from the valley mouth, swear not to retreat, and must tear through the enemy's siege line and fight your way out. As long as I rush out of the mountain stream before dawn, there will be a glimmer of life. Otherwise, this gourd valley is the place where we will be buried! ”

"Why don't you break north?" Cao Hong then asked: "Li Thief led his troops to block the mouth of the valley, and the mountain stream in the north can still escape." Why do we have to stay here and fight to the death with the Li thief? ”

Cao Cao shook his head when he heard this. He said in a solemn voice: "Li Thief has always been immobile, leaving no room for spare, killing them all, and his methods are extremely cruel. Now that he has appeared here, it means that the valley mouth at the northern end of the mountain stream is also blocked by the thief army, otherwise he would not have shown up lightly. What's more, outside the mouth of the valley in the north is the bank of the Yellow River. The area is narrow, the road is difficult, and we have no boats to cross the river; Once you flee to the banks of the Yellow River, it is tantamount to a self-defeating retreat. There is no way out but to fight and die. ”

Speaking of this, Cao Cao's tone suddenly changed, and he said coldly: "Zilian doesn't need to say much, quickly lead the troops to rush and kill, don't hesitate!" ”

"No, the last general will take the order!" Cao Hong gave up his hand, turned around immediately, waved his big hand, and brazenly led tens of thousands of soldiers to rush to the valley mouth.

As soon as Cao Hong left on his front foot, Cao Cao straightened his armor a little, pulled out his sword, and shouted: "Where are the two generals Yu Ban and Le Jin?" ”

"The last general is here, please give the lord an order!" Yu Ban and Le Jin heard the sound and bowed down to respond.

Cao Cao strode up to them and ordered in a low voice: "Immediately lead 20,000 soldiers and horses to break through to the north of the mountain stream, at any cost, be sure to break through the enemy's siege, and then go south along the bank of the Yellow River, regardless of the fighting in the south, and do not stop along the way, until you reach the north bank by boat." If Cao dies here tonight, you will meet Cao Ren after returning to Hedong, return to Yanzhou immediately, support my eldest son Cao Ang to succeed him, evacuate Yanzhou, and capture Qingzhou! ”

"It's ??? The last general swears to protect the lord to break through, and he is unwilling to steal his life! The two generals Yu Ban and Le Jin were stunned when they heard this, and then bowed down and said.

Cao Cao patted the second general on the shoulder, shook his head and said, "I know that the two of you have always been loyal, so I entrusted the future to each other. Well, without further ado, go ahead. It's so self-cherishing, please two! ”

Seeing that Cao Cao's mind had been decided, the two generals Yu Ban and Le Jin had no choice but to bow down to receive the order, and then led their own soldiers to run straight to the depths of the mountain stream.

Seeing the two of them leave, Cao Cao's eyes showed a trace of unbearable color, and after a flash, his eyes were absolutely cold, and his expression was extremely cold.

"My father just said that he couldn't divide the troops, but now why do he want the two generals Yu Ban and Le Jin to lead the troops to attack the mountain stream at the northern end?" A young general beside Cao Cao asked in a low voice.

That's right, this person called Cao Cao his father, but he was not Cao Cao's biological son, but Cao Zhen, who was adopted by Cao Cao as his righteous son.

The young generals who are following Cao Cao at this moment, in addition to the righteous son Cao Zhen, there are three young generals, these are Cao Ang, Cao Xiu and Cao Anmin. These four people are not very old, the age of the weak crown, but they have been following Cao Cao for more than a year, and they are the rising stars of the Cao family, and they can be of great use after a few years of training.

This time, Cao Cao led the army to join the alliance, did not bring his female dependents to the expedition, and let the second son Cao Pi stay in Dong'e, take care of the family, and Xun Yu was in charge, and Cao Chun led more than 30,000 men and horses to sit in the rear. The strategist who followed him to the alliance was Cheng Yu, and all the generals under his command went out with the army. In order to surprise the Hangu Pass, Cao Cao divided the army into two, one of 20,000 soldiers and horses led by Cao Ren and Cheng Yu to stay in the camp of the Hexi Army, and the other 60,000 troops were led by him to cross the Yellow River and wait for the opportunity to capture Hangu Pass.

After hearing Cao Zhen's words at this moment, Cao Cao turned over and explained in a low voice: "The art of war has clouds: the real is virtual, the virtual is real, the virtual is real, and the virtual is the way to use soldiers."

The mountain stream is narrow, and our army's 60,000 soldiers and horses are trapped in the valley and cannot be used at all. Tonight, if I can break out of the valley, 40,000 soldiers are enough; If you can't break out of the encirclement, 20,000 more horses won't help. Therefore, let the two of them lead 20,000 soldiers to attack to the north, although it is gratifying to be able to rush out, if they can't rush out, they can also put pressure on Li Thief and weaken the strength of the Xiliang army at both ends of the mountain stream. ”

"I see, the boy understood." Cao Zhen nodded in response.

Cao Cao bowed slightly, looking in the direction of Gukou with a solemn expression, but seeing that Cao Hong had already led the soldiers to rush to Gukou, the blood fight was about to start. Immediately, Cao Cao waved his hand to signal that the nephews around him didn't need to say much, and said in a deep voice: "Get ready." As long as Zilian leads the troops to tear open the gap, we will immediately lead the army to rush out! ”

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On the top of the mountain.

Li Li's original intention was to induce Cao Cao to answer loudly, so that he could determine Cao Cao's location, and then try to shoot him or stare at him, and finally find a good opportunity to kill Cao Cao, and he must not be allowed to slip away.

However, it is a pity that Cao Cao was not fooled and simply ignored it.

This made Li Liliton feel disappointed, like a punch in the air. There was nowhere to focus, and the plan failed.

Since then, he has not been able to judge Cao Cao's specific location.

In addition, the valley was dimly lit, with only a dozen torches. But tens of thousands of Cao troops gathered.

Looking down at the valley, I saw the dense crowds of people surging in the cols on both sides of the stream. I can't see the specific situation at all. There is no way to tell who Cao Cao is, and what kind of armor and battle robe he is wearing.

"Cao Cao is Cao Cao, not only cunning and wise, but also amazingly adaptable. It seems that I underestimated him before, but I didn't expect this old boy to be so alert, he is really a cunning and difficult character! ”

Whispering to himself. Li Li looked intently at the Cao army under the mountain, trying to capture Cao Cao's figure from the many Cao army soldiers.

However, he was disappointed again, and finally failed to lock Cao Cao's position. I can't even estimate Cao Cao's approximate location.

Seeing this, Li Li patted the Golden Lion Beast King's back, and the Golden Lion Beast King moved in response and carried him down the mountain quickly.

At the same time, Li Li waved his hand to signal the archers on the top of the mountain on both sides to release their arrows, and they were all rockets, in an attempt to ignite the dry grass in the valley and completely reveal the Cao army in the valley, so that the Cao army's strength and Cao Cao's own location could be accurately judged, as well as the color of the armor and battle robes.

Otherwise, the valley will be dark, and it is very likely that Cao's army will take advantage of the night to storm the valley, and then break out in one go.

If the fire in the valley is bright, as long as you keep an eye on Cao Cao, even if you run away from some ordinary soldiers, it doesn't hurt, they are all small fish and shrimp, and if you run, you will run away, which is not a pity. However, once Cao Cao was allowed to flee among the soldiers, then tonight's operation to encircle Cao's army would be tantamount to a complete failure, and even if most of Cao's army were wiped out, the gains would outweigh the losses and would be of no practical use.

Therefore, in Li Li's eyes, there is only one purpose for besieging Cao's army tonight, and that is to capture or kill Cao Cao alive. As long as Cao Cao can be killed, even if all the 60,000 Cao troops run away, it doesn't matter, and they can run if they want to, regardless of the overall situation.

"Whoosh!"

Just as Li Li drove the Golden Lion Beast down the mountain, arrows suddenly burst out on the cliffs on both sides of the Gourd Valley, and arrows with cold light slanted down, heading straight for the dense Cao soldiers in the valley.

At this moment, the Xiliang army on the cliffs on both sides was quite numerous, with a total of no less than three thousand archers. However, these archers were mainly concentrated on the top of the mountain in the east, that is, the 3,000 infantry army that followed Li Li up the mountain, and the archers on the top of the mountain in the west were only more than 100 people, which were more than 100 personal soldiers left by Li Zhi when he inquired about the situation of Cao's army.

"Ahhh

As the arrows fell, the valley screamed again and again, thousands of Cao soldiers were killed by arrows, and there were not a few soldiers who were trampled, bruised or shot. This is not because of the archery skills of the infantry army under Li Li, but because the Cao army is too numerous and too crowded, and it is densely packed with people. In this case, any soldier who has the strength to do it, even if he does not use a bow and arrow, and throws a stone down casually, can kill and wound one or two Cao soldiers.

The reason why Cao's army fell into such a passive situation was that they were afraid of exposing their whereabouts and being too cautious, so they shrank all their forces in the valley, and there were only a few hundred scouts on the hills on both sides to be on guard. But these scouts were silently eliminated by Li Zhi's personal soldiers, so that after the Xiliang army captured the top of the mountain on both sides, tens of thousands of Cao troops did not know it. There are also reasons for the weather and time, the weather is bitterly cold, it is late at night, and Cao Jun is exhausted after a long journey, which has caused the current extremely passive situation.

—————————— (To be continued)(To be continued......