Peek at my diary, Cao Cao dominates the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 257 Advance Three Ways into Xiapi City (Thanks [Kun] for the big reward!)
Cao Junbing divided into two groups,

One line was led by Cao Cao himself, aiming at Xiapi in Xuzhou; the other line was led by Xia Houdun, and marched towards Xiaopei, which was occupied by Ji Ling, with the intention of pulling out Yuan Shu's nail embedded in Xuzhou and eliminating worries for Cao Cao.

Cao Cao led the army to draw a semicircle around Xiaopei, which was occupied by Ji Ling, and his goal was Tancheng in the north of Xuzhou.

In occupying Tancheng, Cao Cao had two main considerations: one was to prevent Lü Bu from northern Qingzhou from going south to disrupt the situation;

The second is to cut off Cao Bao's retreat to the north, and can form an encirclement with Liu Bei in the south and Xiahou Dun in the west.

To kill the rooster to warn the monkey, to stabilize Xuzhou, Cao Bao must become the rooster that was killed.

Zang Ba is still guarding Tancheng, but now he has only [-] troops. After hearing that Cao Cao bypassed Xiaopei and went straight to Tancheng, he finally made up his mind and decided to surrender to Qingzhou, which offered him generous conditions.

In fact, after Zang Ba helped Cao Bao capture Xuzhou, Chen Gong has been secretly wooing him.

Zang Ba, who was still a little vacillating at first, decisively took refuge in Lv Bu after hearing that Cao Cao sent troops.

However, Chen Gong did not occupy Tancheng, but with the cooperation of Zang Ba, all the people and gentry of Tancheng were moved to Qingzhou!

Zang Ba didn't even think about defending to the death at all.
After surrendering, he cooperated very simply with the people sent by Qingzhou to evacuate almost all of Tancheng.

So when Cao Cao's army came to Tancheng, they found that Tancheng had become an empty city.

Looking at the empty city, Cao Cao couldn't help cursing angrily in his heart: "The damn Chen Gong didn't even leave me a chicken!"

Cheng Yu also looked at the empty street, and said with a wry smile: "My lord, this Chen Gongtai is really hard to deal with!"

At this time, Jia Xu, who was standing beside Cao Cao, suddenly said quietly: "The population of Tancheng should have just left. If you use light cavalry to pursue, you should be able to catch up within two days."

"Catch up, and then?" Cheng Yu turned his head, looked at Jia Xu, and asked.

"It's killing, it's captive, it's all up to the lord."

It really is a poisoner!

Cao Cao has [-] tiger and leopard riders under his command, and they are all light cavalry now.

They could pursue them, but Cao Cao shook his head slightly and said:
"No! Our most important thing right now is to deal with Cao Bao, and then quickly occupy Xuzhou. We have a tacit understanding with Lu Bu. The population of Tancheng should be regarded as a gift from Cao Mengde to Lu Bu."

Cheng Yu looked at Cao Cao's face and saw that he didn't look like he was joking, so he stopped talking.

After hearing Cao Cao's words, Jia Xu squinted his eyes slightly, raised his eyelids slightly, and nodded secretly.

Cao Cao and Lu Bu have now reached an alliance in tacit understanding. If they fall out with Lu Bu because of the population of a place, Jia Xu will only think that Cao Cao's structure is not enough.

You must know that Yuan Shao in the north has gradually become the dominant force. Cao Cao or Lu Bu alone may not be able to cope with Yuan Shao.

What Jia Xu said just now was just a small test of Cao Cao's mind.

Leaving behind Li Dian and the [-] defenders, Cao Cao led the remaining [-] troops and rushed towards Xiapi City.

Liu Bei, who was far away in Guangling City, finally breathed a sigh of relief after learning that Cao Cao sent troops.

Liu Bei ran more decisively before, and his soldiers were relatively well preserved.

Although the entanglement with Cao Bao and Yuan Shu's army consumed some after he was stationed in Guangling, but with the newly recruited soldiers, he still had 2 men.

"Brother, Cao Cao has already sent troops, shall we also send troops to the Pi?" Guan Yu asked Liu Bei.

Of course Liu Bei didn't want to let go of this opportunity, so he said to Guan Yu: "Yun Chang, send the order, and the army will move out, and cooperate with Cao Cao to deter Xiapi City!"

"Here!" Guan Yu left without hesitation. They had waited too long for this day.

Cao Jun Xiahou Dun stopped all the way and set up camp [-] miles outside Xiaopei City.

Their target and opponent is not Cao Bao of Xuzhou, but Yuan Shu who also covets Xuzhou.

After Liu Bei withdrew from Xuyi, Ji Ling's army was unstoppable.

After merging the two armies sent by Yuan Shu for reinforcements, the three armies of Ji Ling, Chen Ji, and Lei Bo drove in and captured almost half of Xuzhou.

Today, nearly 3 Ji Ling's first army has entered Xiaopei City, standing in front of Xiahou Dun.

In the past, Xiaopei City, which had small walls and small walls, had become a medium-sized city after Liu Bei's operation and expansion in the past two years, but I didn't expect that I hadn't used it yet, and now it's cheap for Ji Ling.

Not only that, Chen Ji, another member of Yuan Shu, led an army of [-] troops stationed on the main road not far from Xiaopei City, forming a corner with Xiaopei City.

If Xiahoudun wanted to attack Xiaopei, he had to be careful of Chen Ji's flanks or even a sneak attack from the rear; if Xiahoudun wanted to pull out Chen Ji's barracks first, the defenders in Xiaopei would certainly not sit idly by.

With Xiahou Dun's [-] soldiers, it is not easy to defeat Ji Ling and Chen Ji.

Yuan Shujun's arrangement obviously wanted to block Cao Jun's eastward advance. Although it could not block all of them, at least part of them were divided.

Moreover, under Yuan Shu's command is General Qiao Rui, who is leading an army of [-] soldiers and Lei Bo's [-] soldiers to march towards Xiapi City together.

Poor Cao Bao may never have imagined in his dreams that he just replaced Liu Bei as the lord of Xuzhou, but suddenly attracted two hungry wolves staring at him.

Cao Bao knew that it was impossible to survive under Cao Cao and Yuan Shu on his own, so he repeatedly urged Wang Xiu to contact Qingzhou to send troops to help.

But recently, Wang Xiu has been in contact with aristocratic gentry who are willing to move out, and he doesn't bother to talk to Cao Bao at all.

Cao Bao has been used up, and he has only the last bit of value left to scare the monkeys.

The scramble for Xuzhou in the east has already begun tensely. After seeing off Lu Bu's family, Lu Yan hurried back to Chenliu day and night.

Because Xi Zhicai's condition worsened.

In the house that Cao Cao bought for Xi Zhicai, Xi Zhicai was lying on the bed with a bloodless face, next to two servants who were invited to take care of him.

Guo Jia pushed the door open and entered, not at all disgusted with the smell of herbs that filled the room.

Coming to Xi Zhicai's bed, Guo Jia asked softly, "Zhicai, do you feel better?"

Xi Zhicai turned his head and smiled with difficulty and said, "Don't worry, I can hold on."

"Changsheng will be back tomorrow at most. He must still have that Peiyuan Dan. You must persevere!" Guo Jia said, his eyes suddenly turned red.

The speed at which Xi Zhicai's condition progressed this time was beyond everyone's expectations.

At the beginning, Xi Zhicai just felt dizzy and a little out of breath.

After being ordered by Cao Cao to go home to recuperate, his body felt so weak the next day that he couldn't even get out of bed.

In order not to distract Cao Cao and Lu Yan, Guo Jia told them that Xi Zhicai was just a minor problem, but now only three days have passed, and Xi Zhicai's condition has deteriorated to the point where he is about to fail!

Guo Jia was really frightened by this. He quickly used the shadow guards to pass the news to Lu Yan.

When Lu Yan received the news, his heart tightened. After bidding farewell to Lu Lingqi and the others, he rushed back to Xuchang overnight without stopping.

(End of this chapter)