I am Li Shimin of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 252 Retreating to Qingzhou

"Although Li Shimin is strong, I am not afraid at all. At worst, I will fight to the death, and I will die. But from the overall situation, our army is extremely dangerous in this battle. Surrounded by the enemy on three sides, it is about to face the siege of three times the enemy. A dead end. But I am ready, I will give it a go, even if I die, I will have no complaints, and it will be enough to comfort my life." Cao Cao said firmly while walking on the head of Xuchang City.

Cao Cao stood against the wind in the sun, with a disheveled beard, a solemn expression, and a resolute expression. Some white hair shone silver in the sun.

"My lord, fighting recklessly is not the best strategy. I have a plan, and there may be a glimmer of life. The outcome is unknown." Guo Jiazhizhu said with his hands in his hands.

"Oh, what's the best strategy for Fengxiao? Tell me quickly." Cao Cao asked happily.

"My lord, do you know that Tian Dan will return to the country?" Guo Jia said suddenly.

Cao Cao was obviously taken aback when he heard this, and after a while he turned around and asked uncertainly, "Feng Xiao, is this the only way?" There are too many reasons to act like this.

"My lord, our army has fought against Li Shimin many times. We can win less than we lose, and there is no doubt that the enemy's strength is strong. If Li Shimin's 30 troops were to besiege Xuchang, our army would have no chance of surviving. Besides, Xuchang The terrain of the surrounding plains has no danger to defend at all. It is hopeless to just sit on the isolated city. It is better to retreat to Qingzhou. First, you can rely on the advantage of Mount Tai to defend the front line of Qi State and resist the enemies of Jizhou in the north. Second, there are still Xuzhou in the south. Liu Bei's 1 army was used as a cover, so that the security of the south was guaranteed to a certain extent. In addition, General Cao Ren's 30 army, General Cao Zhen's more than [-] elite troops, and Liu Bei's troops, combined, there are nearly [-] troops. In this way, Li Shimin will definitely not pay attention to our army in the short term, and we can also have a chance to recuperate, and then we will unite with other princes and compete with Li Shimin." Guo Jia confessed his plan.

Cao Cao's face was cloudy and uncertain, as if he was making some kind of determination. After all, it would be too expensive to give up his Yuzhou base camp.

"Haha, today I'm avoiding the sharp edge, and tomorrow I'll fight Li thief to the death." Cao Cao laughed heartily.

"My lord is wise! I will swear to follow him to the death." Guo Jia said gratifiedly, the so-called man who can bend and stretch, Cao Cao is now willing to cut off his tail to survive, and he can be called a hero in the world.

Soon, Cao Cao told all his confidantes about the decision he had discussed with Guo Jia, and immediately there was a roar in the lobby like a frying pan.

Xu Chu had a bad temper, so he jumped out first and said, "My lord, the last general is willing to be the vanguard to fight against Li Shimin. Even though Li Shimin is powerful, why should the man be afraid of death."

"That's right, my lord, it's a big deal, let's fight with them." Everyone shouted loudly.

Cao Cao looked calm and looked at the people in the hall quietly. He could not see any anger or anger. Seeing this, all the subordinates in the hall knew that this was annoyed to their lord, and under the signal of Xun Yu and Guo Jia, they stopped talking.

Seeing that everyone stopped shouting, Cao Cao got up from his superior position and walked down. He glanced at everyone with a complicated expression, and suddenly said: "I can understand everyone's feelings, and I always want to welcome the emperor back and restore the Han Dynasty. However, if our army is defeated because of our insistence on going our own way, and the Xingfu Han Dynasty is destroyed, then we are the sinners of the great Han. Now we are just withdrawing to Qingzhou Rest and recuperate, and wait for someone to fight Li thief to the death, why bother to become famous and learn to be the overlord?"

Seeing that everyone was obviously moved by what he said, Cao Cao continued to add: "Why do you want to die in order to restore the Han Dynasty? What is a temporary retreat?"

"The last general is ordered to follow the lord to the death!" Xia Houyuan took the lead in supporting Cao Cao's decision.

"The last general (subordinate) takes the order and swears to follow the lord!" Everyone also responded one after another, agreeing with Cao Cao's decision. After all, the enemy does have a huge advantage in strength and there is little hope of victory.

"Haha, with the help of all loyal people, why worry about the unrest in the world and the prosperity of the Han Dynasty." Cao Cao said with a big laugh.

………………

Since Cao Cao decided to retreat to Qingzhou, the sooner the better, the better. If Chen Liu's Li Shimin, Yuzhou's Lu Bu army, and Guan Yu's army encircled him, it would be impossible to escape.

Soon the army in Yuzhou quickly assembled, and the food, grass and military resources were quickly deployed. At the same time, under Cao Cao's acquiescence, some prostitutes rushed into the big families in Yuzhou, snatching all the gold, silver and all the food from the family. Some daring ones, raped women, and rape crimes are also emerging in endlessly.

With this looting alone, Cao Cao gathered a large amount of money and food in a short period of time, so he didn't have to worry about military supplies in a short period of time, but there was another Cao thief on the blacklist of the wealthy nobles.

In order to conceal the fact that the army was retreating, Cao Cao sent Xia Houyuan to lead [-] elite cavalry Bei Shangweishi to threaten Zhongmu's back and attack Li Shimin, intending to disturb Li Shimin's sight, and at the same time serve as the army's rear-end troops.

On the other hand, Cao Hong, who retreated to defend Shanyang County, received a secret order from Cao Cao, asking him to defend Shanyang County at all costs, hold back Guan Yu's army, and create conditions to cover the retreat of the main force.At the same time, a letter was sent to Cao Ren, who was already approaching Runan, telling him to turn north and rush to Langya Kingdom.

Naturally, Cao Cao's large-scale eastward retreat could not be concealed from Li Shimin's eyes and ears. One day after the army moved out, Li Shimin received the news that Cao Cao was about to withdraw to Qingzhou through the secret agent of Baiqisi.

"Everyone, this Cao Cao is going to escape. This is an excellent opportunity for us. We must not let him escape so easily." Li Shimin said excitedly.

In fact, Li Shimin also had a hunch that Cao Cao was going to escape. It was a dead end to be trapped in Xuchang, and retreating to Qingzhou was indeed a good choice.

In line with the principle of killing snakes and sticking to the stick, Li Shimin must destroy Cao Cao, a formidable enemy, otherwise he will be allowed to flee to Qingzhou, and he will inevitably resurface.

"My lord, if Cao Cao wants to retreat to Qingzhou, the route of Pengguo County is the fastest. Let General Guan quickly defeat the enemy in front of Shanyang County, and quickly go south to block Cao Cao's escape route to the east. In addition, our army must gather all the cavalry and hurry up. Follow Cao's army, continue to harass and exhaust the enemy, and launch a surprise attack when the time is right, and you will definitely be able to wipe out Cao Cao in one fell swoop." Xi Zhicai suggested.

"Okay, let's do this." Li Shimin suddenly ordered: "Immediately assemble the first camp, Shenwu cavalry, Shence army, a total of [-] cavalry, follow me to attack, and order General Xu Rong to immediately send troops to join the Shenwu army and occupy Yuzhou. Furthermore, immediately fly a pigeon to send a message, asking General Lu Bu to send cavalry to chase Cao Ren's cavalry, and they must be defeated or even annihilated."

"Promise, this subordinate (the last general) obeys the order." Everyone led the order and left.

(End of this chapter)