Three Kingdoms: I, the eldest son of Cao, a loving father of a great man!

Cao Ang returned to Xudu, and he must now summon his men to discuss how to solve the current dilemma.

"Why do you think this is so evil?!"

Cao Ang sat on the handsome chair and angrily lost his temper at his men: "We were supposed to return with a great victory, but we didn't expect that we were beaten to a pulp by Liu Bei!"

Cao Ang rarely showed his true emotions in front of outsiders, but at this moment he could not suppress his inner anger. Too many losses were suffered in this battle of Nanyang!
The subordinates looked at each other and dared not speak.

Cao Ang became even more angry when he saw this, and banged the table loudly: "What are you still doing? Go and get ready! Mobilize the army, I want to compete with Liu Bei again!"

As soon as Cao Ang finished speaking, a soldier rushed over and reported: "My lord, there is urgent news from Dongjun."

"What urgent news?!" Cao Ang asked, "Did Guan Yu regret it again and be unwilling to help us?"

The subordinate shook his head and replied solemnly: "No. My lord, please wait and see."

After taking the letter handed over by the soldier and showing it, Cao Ang's face immediately sank.

It turns out that this letter was sent by Liu Bei to Cao Cao.

Liu Bei invited Cao Cao to send troops to attack Jiangling.

The letter clearly mentioned that if Cao Cao was unwilling to send troops, he would send troops south to capture Xuzhou.

Cao Ang was so angry that he trembled all over, gritted his teeth and cursed: "Dog thief!"

Liu Bei actually threatened himself with such despicable means? !

Seeing Cao Ang trembling with anger, his subordinates quickly comforted him: "Master, don't panic, we can't fall into the trap!"

Cao Ang nodded: "You're right! Liu Bei must have known that I was on good terms with Ma Chao, and deliberately used Liu Biao to make a fuss!"

Although Liu Biao was Liu Bei's father-in-law, he had already been ignored because of his old age and incompetence.

If Liu Bei wants to seize Jing Xiang, he can find an excuse to force Liu Biao to step down. He just needs to make up some lies.

Cao Ang took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and continued to think.

"My lord, now that Liu Xuande is occupying Changsha, it may be difficult for us to recapture Xiangyang directly by land."

The subordinate analyzed: "It's waterway or navy, we can give it a try!"

After hearing this, Cao Ang suddenly realized that the navy under his command was indeed not weak in terms of water routes, but Liu Bei also had a navy, and the two sides were evenly matched.

As for the best of the two land and water routes, it is to take the Huaihe River.

However, the Huaihe River is a tributary of the Yellow River and is not suitable for boat navigation. Moreover, Cao Cao once suffered a loss near the Huaihe River, so Cao Ang would never try it easily.

In addition, water warfare is not conducive to the flexibility and mobility of cavalry.

Therefore, in comprehensive comparison, the best way is still by land.

After thinking for a while, Cao Cao suddenly stood up: "Hurry up and inform the four generals Zhang Liao, Xia Houyuan, Gao Shun, and Zhao Yun that I want to come to Donglai in person!"

"Lord, if you do this, you will attract Zhuge Liang's attention." The subordinate said worriedly.

Cao Ang waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter, we only need to attack secretly. It will be too late to show off our cards to Zhuge Liang after we capture Donglai!"

"Besides, there are only 3,000 Donglai defenders. I will lead my elite troops to launch a surprise attack and will surely take them down in one fell swoop!"

Cao Ang has made up his mind. Even if Zhuge Liang knows this, he cannot stop him.

Cao Cao led five thousand elites to lurk secretly in the territory of Donghai Kingdom, and only started to act after the time was up.

They quietly left Cao Ying and groped towards Donglai City. In order to cover up their whereabouts, they even abandoned their horses.

The target of these five thousand people was extremely small, and the night was hazy, so it did not arouse the vigilance of the Dongnai defenders.

Cao's army detoured behind the city wall, landed quietly, and then quickly moved toward the city. They took advantage of the darkness to kill the city gate guards and control the city gate.

Later, the city gate was lowered by Cao Jun, and Cao Jun filed out of the city.

When the Donglai defenders arrived for reinforcements, Cao Jun had already fled. The guard on the city tower looked at the fleeing Cao army in the distance in surprise, and said with lingering fear: "Fortunately, we guarded firmly tonight, otherwise the city gate would be broken and these Cao soldiers rushed into the city."

The guard became more and more frightened as he thought about it, and quickly ordered a pursuit.

However, Cao Jun was cunning and had long since escaped without a trace.

After the city gate was opened, Cao's troops poured into the city continuously and burned and robbed people's property along the streets, which was very arrogant and cruel.

The guard was furious when he saw this and quickly led people to the area where the incident occurred.

When Cao Jun saw Donglai's officers and soldiers coming, he turned around and ran away, leaving behind wailing and injured groaning civilians all over the ground.

The guard arrived at the scene of the incident and saw the mess everywhere. He couldn't help but frown and sigh.

There was no need to fight this battle at all. The defenders of Donglai were almost hitting the stone with an egg.

But this is good, as it saves them all the effort to attack.

This city was built by the Cao family at a huge cost. The houses, shops and various facilities in it occupy almost one-half of the entire city.

Now that the city has been looted, the Cao family's investment in Donglai has been destroyed.

Thinking of this, the guard felt sad in his heart.

He called a personal guard and said: "Hurry up and take the people to clean up the mess in the city. I will go back and report to the lord first!"

"Yes!"

After the personal guards left in response, the guard general took the people back to resume their duties.

After Cao Ang received the information reported by the guard, he was so angry that his mouth was filled with smoke.

He smashed the tea cup and scolded him angrily: "Trash! A bunch of trash!"

"Lord."

The subordinates stood aside with their heads lowered and did not dare to say a word.

After a long time, Cao Ang gradually regained his composure and calmly analyzed: "Since the Donglai defenders are vulnerable, the Dongwu army is just a weak shrimp and poses no threat at all!"

"The only thing worth fearing now is Ma Chao!"

"Ma Chao is brave and good at fighting, and he is also a disciple of the Martial Saint. If I confront him head-on, I will definitely gain nothing."

"But." Cao Ang paused: "If he wants to kill Liu Zhang, he must first get rid of Liu Biao!"

"As long as we can delay him and prevent him from taking care of Donglai, Liu Biao will be in danger!"

Cao Ang narrowed his eyes slightly, and an eerie smile formed on the corner of his mouth.

"Come here, prepare the carriage for me." Cao Ang said, "I'm going to meet this world-famous Martial Saint right now!"

After Cao Ang arrived at Donglai by carriage, he immediately sent someone to notify Ma Chao to come and meet him.

Half an hour later, Ma Chao came in dusty.

Cao Ang looked at Ma Chao and asked, "Marquis Ma Wen came just in time. I heard that you are planning to invade Dongjun. Is it true or false?"

"Yes, a certain person does intend to annex Dongjun. I wonder what the prime minister thinks of it?" Ma Chao said calmly.

Hearing this, Cao Ang secretly rejoiced: "As expected! This horse is so ambitious!"

"Since Marquis Ma Wen is ready to deal with Liu Biao, I am also willing to help Marquis Ma Wen contain Liu Bei and help Marquis Ma Wen sweep the East County!" Cao Ang agreed generously.

Ma Chao stared at Cao Ang carefully and felt that this man looked familiar.

But he couldn't remember where exactly he had seen it. (End of chapter)