When Yuan Shao led an army of 50,000 to Luoyang, the city had been taken over by the Yanzhou army.

Although the Luoyang Imperial Palace has been completely destroyed, but the Luoyang Imperial City is still there, the city wall is thick, the main gate tower is as high as six zhang, it is still one of the few strong cities in the world.

However, Cao Cao did not intend to meet Yuan Shao's soldiers, and immediately rushed to the city gate from the ruined Changle Palace after hearing the news, and personally welcomed Yuan Shao into the city.

"Brother Ben Chu has been tired all the way, please go into the city to rest. The foolish brother learned that the first brother led the army to pick up the car, prepared the camp tent in advance, and waited for the arrival of the elder brother. ”

After a short greeting, Cao Cao welcomed Yuan Shao into the city, and the two drove side by side, followed by the Jizhou army's brigade. In the face of Yuan Shao, whose strength has been restored, Cao Cao is still as humble and polite as ever, and his right is to meet as old friends, with a very low posture, and Yuan Shao is the leader everywhere.

Cao Cao's humble and smiling demeanor made Yuan Shao very useful, and he smiled and said: "Since Meng De is a piece of mind, he is ashamed to be a brother." However, this time the march of the soldiers and horses under Meng De's command was extremely fast, and two days ago, the scout reported that Meng De had set off from the state capital, and he did not expect to rush to meet the holy car in front of his brother. This move really surprised the brother, and it is said that Meng De led a newly formed war horse, called the 'Tiger and Leopard Cavalry'. But this cavalry defending the city in front of you? ”

Cao Cao's face did not change at all when he heard this, as if he had expected Yuan Shao to have this question, so he smiled calmly: "I don't dare to ask Brother Lao Benchu, there is indeed such a thing." It is ashamed to say that the foolish brother originally wanted to form a cavalry of 20,000 or 30,000 people, but the counties and counties of Yanzhou were repeatedly hit by wars. Money and food were scarce, and baggage was scarce, so he could not afford to buy good war horses, so he only had 5,000 cavalry under the scraping together. It's really difficult to get into the eyes of the Fang family, and it's hard to speak. ”

Speaking of this, Cao Cao pointed to the armor soldiers standing on the city tower and said with a smile: "Look, Brother Ben, these are the soldiers. All of them were unevenly armoured, both blue and black, or wearing heavy or light armor. There are all kinds of things, which is really unsightly, and I ask the first brother not to laugh. ”

Yuan Shao looked up at the guards on the city tower. Indeed, as Cao Cao said, the armor on these armor soldiers is of different colors, and there are all kinds of war armor of any color; And the weapons are not uniform, or spears or halberds or long-handled swords. Varied. There are all kinds of weapons, and it is really a cavalry that is mixed with good and bad, and it is a patchwork of cavalry.

Seeing this, Yuan Shao smiled heartily: "Meng De is too humble. In just one year, Meng De was able to form 5,000 war cavalry, which was not easy. As of today, the number of cavalry under his brother's command is only 30,000, which is really unsatisfactory. It's hard to talk about. Under today's party, the excellent war horses mainly come from the Western Regions, Bingzhou and Youzhou and other border counties. However, these places rich in war horses all fell into the hands of Li Thief and Gongsun Lao Thief. The shape is so bad, if we want to build tens of thousands of iron horses, how easy is it, we can only sigh! Perhaps feeling that his words were a little heavy, Yuan Shao ridiculed Cao Cao and then justified himself, so as not to embarrass Cao Cao too much.

However, compared with 5,000 cavalry and 30,000 war cavalry, the huge disparity is clear at a glance, as long as you are not a fool, no one can hear the mockery in Yuan Shao's words. It can be seen that Yuan Shao has always been resentful and resentful of Cao Cao's escape from the battle of Sili and the fact that he swept away 50,000 soldiers and horses and a large amount of grain and grass.

Because of this, there was an irreparable rift in the former unbreakable Yuan Cao Alliance, so that the alliance broke down, and they were suspicious of each other and wary of each other. Fortunately, at present, the two sides have not officially torn their faces, so they can still stand together with laughter and laughter, but there is no trust between each other anymore.

However, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are from a family after all, and they are well versed in the way of acting on the spot. However, once there is a conflict of interest, don't look at the two of them smiling brightly now, when they really do it, they must be ruthless, never soft, if they don't move, they will get rid of each other quickly, and they will never suffer in the future.

As a pair of old friends who have been together for more than 20 years, the two know each other's personalities very well, and often a smile and a casual word between each other can immediately guess what the other party is thinking, or what is in their hearts. This is by no means a rhetoric or alarmism, but it is true. The so-called old friends, if they can't even understand the other party's personality and temper, they are not real friends.

After hearing Yuan Shao's implicit sarcastic words, Cao Cao's expression changed slightly, but he still had a smile on his face, and after a little silent thinking, he smiled calmly: "What Brother Ben said is extremely true. With a little carelessness, Li Thief has already pocketed the states and counties rich in war horses, so that we can't buy high-quality war horses, and most of the cavalry mounts under his command are inferior war horses secretly sold by Xiliang merchants, or old horses and short horses eliminated by the Xiliang army. In addition, in recent years, it has been rumored that Li Thief has secretly formed an alliance with Gongsun Zan of Youzhou to trade with each other, and its trading place is located in Yanmen, Bingzhou, through Yinshan Mountain, through the grassland, exchange of existence, and frequent transactions.

At the same time, in recent years, Gongsun Chan has repeatedly presented war horses to Li Thief, and has donated no less than 30,000 excellent war horses in four years. Li Thief gave a large number of winter clothes, bedding and daily necessities, and exchanged silk for Youzhou iron and stone, and then sold a large number of weapons to Gongsun Zhan for him to recruit troops and horses, and quickly grew his strength. In this regard, the first brother must be on guard! ”

Cao Cao avoided the important and trivialized, seemingly disdainful of Yuan Shao's sneering, but in fact he competed against each other and refused to give an inch. What is Yuan Shao's biggest pain point, it is Youzhou Gongsun Zhan. Gongsun Chan repeatedly sent troops to invade the border, and Yuan Shao led the troops to conquer Youzhou many times, but he was never helpless against Gongsun Zhan, but was attacked by Gongsun Chan many times and suffered heavy losses. During the Sili War, if it wasn't for Ju Yi's proper defense, he was almost cut off by Gongsun Zhan Jizhou's lair.

In addition, Yuan Shao has the largest state in the world, with sufficient money and food, and a large population, but for many years he has been stagnant, trapped in place, and cannot advance an inch. The fundamental reason is that there is Gongsun Chan of Youzhou behind him, and he is hindered everywhere, forcing him to destroy Gongsun Chan before he can plot against other states and counties. Therefore, Gongsun Chan is not only Yuan Shao's confidant, but also his sore spot. But Cao Cao mentioned Gongsun Zan of Youzhou in front of him, although his words sounded like they were all for his sake Yuan Shao, and he kindly reminded him. In fact, the intentions are sinister and very vicious.

"Humph! Yuan will capture Youzhou sooner or later, and he will definitely break the corpse of the old thief of Gongsun into ten thousand pieces! Yuan Shao blushed and gritted his teeth thickly. This is a cruel sentence burning with anger. It sounded completely aimed at Gongsun Zhan, but that cold snort meant something else, obviously not aimed at Gongsun Zhan, but Cao Cao beside him.

"Brother Benchu is angry. When the military tent arrives, please take a break from the original brother, and then we will talk again. Comforting Yuan Shao with a smile, Cao Cao reined in the horse in front of the camp. Yuan Shao forcibly suppressed his anger, waved his hand to thank him, and then turned over and dismounted. Walk straight into the big tent.

After Yuan Shao left, Xu Youce approached Cao Cao and whispered with a smile: "Why does Meng De have a war of words with my lord? We have known each other for many years, doesn't Meng De know that my father-in-law has an excellent face. What's the point of being a little bit of a give-up? ”

Cao Cao turned his head when he heard this. The smile on his face instantly receded, and he said in a deep voice with an expressionless face: "Ziyuan's words are wrong. We have indeed known each other for many years, and after careful calculation, it has been more than 20 years. For so many years, Cao has endured everywhere and looked at everything from the beginning, but what is the result? When Cao was in a desperate situation, he could have helped at the beginning; Cao endured everywhere. Have you ever appreciated it in the first place? There is a limit to forbearance, and the reason why Cao is polite to him. It's because he's old, not weak! It was inconvenient to say these words directly in front of Yuan Shao, lest Yuan Shao not be able to come to the stage, but he could say it without scruples in front of Xu You.

"Mengde doesn't have to be angry, Quan I didn't say anything." Xu You smiled, then looked around, and saw that Cao Jun's camp was camped in the north of the ruins of the palace, but the camp tent prepared for Yuan Shao was located alone in the south of the palace, nearly ten miles apart. In addition, the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials were nowhere to be seen, and they must have been placed in the northern camp by Cao Cao.

"Meng De is really a caring person, and he chose a camp for my Jizhou army early. In the next generation, the lord of my family thanked him in advance, and after we were properly settled, I went to meet the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials of the court. It is necessary to arrange for the sergeants to set up camp in the village, and ask Meng Deduo to bear with the rudeness, and he will not accompany him. After speaking, Xu Yu bowed his hand, then turned around and shouted loudly as the army camped on the spot.

Seeing Xu You leave, Cao Cao glanced at Yuan Shao's camp tent, then turned around and waved his hand to signal the soldiers behind him to return to the camp.

―――――――――― small dividing lines――――――――――

An hour later, when Yuan Shao led his subordinates to Cao Ying to meet the Son of Heaven, the city gate guards hurriedly entered the account to report, and there were princes and horses all the way, and there were many soldiers and horses.

Immediately, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao led their generals to rush up to the city tower, and saw about 40,000 horsemen galloping straight to the city gate, and the big "Liu" character on the banner was very conspicuous.

"This is the soldiers and horses under Liu Bei's account in Xuzhou, and he is accompanied by Lu Bu, who lives in Xiaopei, and the wolf cavalry under his command." Cao Cao recognized at a glance that the army in front of him was the Xuzhou army, after all, he had fought with the Xuzhou army twice, and the confrontation lasted for a year, and he fought with the army of Lu Bu not long ago, so he was extremely familiar with the weapons and armor of the Xuzhou army and the army of Lu Bu.

"Liu Bei came to intervene again, what do you want?" Yuan Shao frowned and asked in an unkind tone.

Cao Cao smiled slightly: "Why does Brother Ben ask knowingly? Liu Bei joined the alliance halfway before, and his intentions were already revealed, but in the end, he was defeated and returned with nothing. This time, the Son of Heaven issued the edict of King Qin, and all the princes have received the edict, and you and I are the closest to Luoyang, so we rushed to arrive, and these princes who are a little farther away must come later. ”

Yuan Shao bowed slightly, and said in a deep voice: "What should I do now, refuse to accept or let him enter the city?" ”

Cao Cao smiled calmly: "Brother Ben Chu said that he was laughing. The princes from all walks of life have been edicted to take over, how can we stop them? What's more, this is the territory of Sili, only more than 200 miles away from the Xingyang camp, and with the speed of the Liang Iron Cavalry in the west, the troops can come to the city within a day. Therefore, we must not fight with the princes from all walks of life, otherwise we will be captured by the Li thief, and no one will be able to escape! ”

"Report -- the news of the beacon fire in the north 、、、 Bishan has been discovered, and the Xiliang cavalry has been discovered fifty miles away 、、、 the west!" As soon as Cao Cao's words fell, he saw a military marquis under his command rushing up to the city tower in a panic, and his tongue trembled and he hurriedly reported.

"Ahh The generals exclaimed, and Cao Cao and Yuan Shao turned pale and were shocked. Immediately, Cao Cao took the lead in coming back to his senses, and immediately decided: "Brother Ben immediately went out of the city to inform Liu Bei and Lu Bu of this matter, so that they don't have to enter the city, and rest on the spot." Cao arranged for the Son of Heaven and the officials to leave Luoyang and move to Nanyang! ”

At this time, Yuan Shao was already flustered, and after hearing the words, he nodded without thinking, and immediately ran downstairs with a group of generals, and Cao Cao also left the city tower, and began to arrange for the army to withdraw from Luoyang, escorting the Son of Heaven and hundreds of officials to Nanyang County, so as to avoid the pursuit of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry.

As for why Cao Cao chose to retreat to Nanyang, no one raised questions at this moment, and it was unusually unanimous in approval. Because, when they learned that the Xiliang Iron Cavalry had chased after them, they were in chaos, and when Cao Cao proposed to retreat to Nanyang, they immediately thought that the only prince force among the princes today who could confront the Xiliang army head-on was Jingzhou Liu Biao. Therefore, they had no objection at all, and unanimously agreed with Cao Cao's arrangement and led the army to retreat to Nanyang, the imperial township??????

―――――――――――― To be Continued ―――――――――――― (To be Continued......