Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1038 When it’s time to break, it’s time to break
Before the next day, Yuan Xi got the letter written by Mrs. Ding to Cao Cao.

Every word in this letter was written by Yuan Xi personally while watching Mrs. Ding to ensure that it would not reveal anything about Cao Ang.

Yuan Xi also knew that this was a bit difficult for Mrs. Ding. She was required to persuade Cao Cao while not revealing anything. The chance was very low, so after writing the letter, Mrs. Ding actually felt unsure.

But in the face of Cao Ang's life, Mrs. Ding gave up all dignity and tried her best to persuade Cao Cao. Just as Yuan Xi guessed, in Mrs. Ding's heart, Cao Ang's life was worth the tens of thousands of people outside the city. life.

After Yuan Xi put the letter away, he said calmly to the anxious Mrs. Ding: "We will do our best to obey fate. We will know in a few days what the effect will be."

He walked away and turned around before leaving, "Aren't you worried that Cao Cao will fall into the trap after reading this letter and be killed by me?"

Mrs. Ding bit her lip and said bitterly: "No one in the world can make him fall into the trap."

"Not even concubine."

Yuan Xi laughed and walked away, leaving only Mrs. Ding with a complicated expression standing there in a daze.

The next day, the letter was delivered to Cao Cao's camp. Cao Cao opened the letter and read it without saying a word.

He ordered people to shoot rockets at the top of the city. Yuan Xi's navy on the Huai River saw it, then sailed across the Huai River and released one of Zhang He's troops.

Cao Cao's face was gloomy, and he said: "I had no hope of relying on them to break the city."

Xu Chu smiled and said: "My lord, I have long since expected you to attack the camp. You should die!"

Zhang He didn't answer, and immediately stepped forward with his gun drawn. The two of them fought over and over for dozens of times, with neither winning nor losing. However, Zhang He saw that more and more soldiers were being used in the camp until the attack failed, so he immediately led his men. Retreat to the shore of Huai River and leave by ship.

"I didn't expect that this ferocious tiger was really so ruthless. He watched the people under his rule die while huddled in the city."

The place where he landed was right behind Cao Cao's camp. Zhang He led thousands of cavalry and wanted to attack Cao Cao's camp, but was stopped by Xu Chu and his men in front of the gate.

Xu Chu chased him to the shore and when he saw Zhang He leaving, he couldn't help but cursed a few times. Zhang He was so alert that he never caught the flaw. It was so annoying that the navy came and went freely!

He thought that Yuan Xi coerced Mrs. Ding to write this letter, with the intention of using Mrs. Ding's name in exchange for the tens of thousands of people who were held hostage outside the city. Naturally, Cao Cao would not give in to this. How could a major battlefield event be exchanged for one person? Is a woman's life such a child's play?

Seeing this momentum, Xun You said to Cao Cao: "My lord, even if these people get to the bottom of the city wall, they may not really attack the city."

He walked around the camp for a long time, then called Xia Houyuan and said: "Attack the city!"

"Even if they can get to the top of the city, they will not make enemies of the soldiers inside. If the soldiers supervising the battle behind us cannot keep up, I'm afraid the entire battlefield situation will get out of control."

The siege of the city did not go smoothly that day. Shouchun had an extremely wide moat. The driven people were crowded beside the moat and could not move forward or retreat. The catapults in the city kept throwing stones over their heads and hitting the back hard. Cao Jun soldiers supervising the formation.

Cao Cao has not fought against Yuan Xi for two years. When he met Yuan Xi today, he found that Yuan Xi had changed a lot. Moreover, Mrs. Ding's previous letter also caused Cao Cao to misjudge.

Yuan Xi at the top of the city read it and couldn't help but look gloomy. Mrs. Ding's letter seemed to have no effect. Was there something in the letter that he didn't see, or did Cao Cao not care about Mrs. Ding at all?

Thinking of this, he once again ordered that all the people who were brought here be thrown onto the battlefield.

After several attacks and defenses, the trapped people fled in all directions. Cao Jun, who was supervising the battle, blocked them and drove them to jump into the moat and let them swim across the river.

So after receiving the letter, Cao Cao not only did not give in, but immediately began to attack the city, just to see Yuan Xi's reaction. Unexpectedly, after a long time, the other party was very calm and did not seem to waver.

Yuan Xi's side responded well, and the pressure naturally came to Cao Cao's side, forcing the people to attack the city. A big problem was lack of food.

The tens of thousands of people in front of him are all crowded under the Shouchun City. If they want to climb the city wall, Yuan Xi can only take action against them, but the matter has not reached this point, so Yuan Xi can only try first. Let’s look at other ways.

The rations for 100,000 people are a huge amount. Cao Cao, who came from the expedition, naturally did not have the food to feed so many people, so Cao Cao wanted these people to fend for themselves from the beginning and use them as disposable items.

"What I envision is to lure the fierce tiger army in the city out of the city for a decisive battle, and then take the opportunity to counterattack."

After Zhang He returned to the city, he met Xu Huang who had also returned. After questioning, Xu Huang also left the city by boat for a sneak attack, but was blocked by Cao's army and returned without success.

The two of them sighed at each other and said, "Cao Cao is more difficult to deal with than before. What can we do?"

Yuan Xi looked at the darkening sky and the corpses of civilians were floating everywhere on the moat in front of him. His face became even more gloomy. He looked at Cao Jun's camp and thought that Cao Cao really wanted to fight a war of attrition with him, right?
Where does he get food support?

As night fell, Yuan Xi was still sitting on the top of the city, thinking hard. Outside the moat under the city, tens of thousands of people were lying on the spot, shivering in the cool wind of late autumn. This made Yuan Xi even more puzzled. Could it be that Cao Cao was just out of anger?

What's the point of spending it here?
He pointed his finger at the top of the city and thought hard. From Cao Cao's perspective, he should know that Yuan Xi would definitely not give up Shouchun, so what on earth was he going to do?
He slowly turned his gaze from the bottom of the city to the Huai River on the back, and then he was startled.

No way?
The more he thought about it, the more strange he felt. He quickly sent someone to report to Lu Xun, who was leading the army on the Huai River.

Lu Xun received the letter and saw that it said that Cao Cao might take action against the navy. Lu Xun's first reaction was that Yuan Xi was overthinking. Cao Cao's navy did not dare to attack him head-on. It was really possible that he would fetch water with him at night. Fight?
With a skeptical attitude, Lu Xun still ordered the ships to pay close attention to the situation on the north bank of the Huai River. As a result, at the third watch, all Cao Jun's navy on the north bank of the Huai River was mobilized and launched a decisive attack on Lu Xun's navy!
Thanks to his previous preparations, Lu Xun stabilized his position. He looked at Cao Cao's warships emerging from all over the Huai River and thought that Cao Cao was crazy. A water battle at night?
Just when a battle broke out on the Huai River, the people of Shouchun below the city were once again forced to attack the city. They complained and cursed secretly, and reluctantly walked towards the moat.

After receiving the order, Zhang Liao hurried to the top of the city to see Yuan Xi. There were already crowds of people under the city wall. Yuan Xi said to him, "What do you think of Wen Yuan?" Zhang Liao looked at the crowd submerged in the moat and shook his head. : "Cao Cao's move is simply harmful to others and not beneficial to himself."

"How could it be possible to capture Shouchun with just these people?"

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "I think so too."

As soon as Zhang Liao was stunned, he heard Yuan Xi continue: "According to my guess, Cao Cao should use it to cover up his real purpose."

"Is it possible that he wants to withdraw?"

After hearing this, Zhang Liao pondered for a moment, and then his eyes lit up, "If you say so, it's really possible!"

"He marched secretly from the south bank of the Huai River to the north of the Dabie Mountains because he didn't want to be discovered."

"But now that we are retreating, we can't take this road. It's a long way, and secondly, we are easily pursued."

"In comparison, it is obviously a faster and safer route to go north across the Huai River and then withdraw from Yuzhou under its control!"

"So now they are sending out all their navy and pretending to attack in an all-out attack just to cover up the fact that their army has crossed the river!"

Yuan Xi nodded and said: "I think so too. It seems that in Cao Cao's heart, Xu Du still cannot be lost."

"After he received the letter, he should have wanted to retreat, but he was afraid that we would stop him, so he arranged a trick to block our pursuit!"

"Now on the Huai River, there should be a large number of prepared ships taking Cao's army across the river."

"If we want to pursue an attack, it is impossible to leave the city from Shouchun. After all, there are people blocking the outside of the city, and Cao Cao may not be able to set up an ambush."

"But to make them suffer, we can cross the Huai River and attack their landing soldiers from the north bank."

Zhang Liao understood and said: "Liao is willing to go!"

Yuan Xi nodded and said: "Be careful of the ambush on the opposite side. I will ask Boyan to meet you on the water."

Seeing Zhang Liao hurriedly leave by boat, Yuan Xi thought about whether to send Zhang He and Xu Huang out of the city. After thinking about it, he decided not to do it. Cao Cao was good at luring the opponent to take the bait when retreating. Now that there were ordinary people outside the city, a fight would inevitably affect innocent people.

Soon, the sound of fighting started on the north bank of Huai River.

Cao Cao had already crossed the Huaihe River and was camping on the north bank. When he heard Xun You reported that a cavalry army was coming, he sent Xu Chu to stop it. At the same time, he asked: "No one came out of Shouchun City on the south bank?"

Xun You said honestly: "No, the city gates are still closed tightly, and the people outside the city are now fleeing in all directions."

Cao Cao sighed. He ambushed the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry outside Shouchun City, hoping to ambush Yuan Xijun who was leaving the city. Since the other party was not fooled, he immediately said, "Send a message and ask Cao Xiu to come back."

Xun You quickly sent someone out to deliver the message. When he came back, he saw Cao Cao looking in the direction of Shouchun and remained silent, so he advised: "Ming Gong, your retreat this time is not a crime other than war. It's because Jiangdong is too useless."

"If Jiangdong could hold on for three more days, it wouldn't be what it is today. I'll break it off tomorrow. I'll pay a return visit to Xudu, wait for Liu Bei to be defeated, and then make a comeback in the future. It will only take a year and a half."

Cao Cao stared blankly to the south and couldn't help but murmured: "Come back?"

"Can I still wait for that day?"

After saying that, he coughed violently. When Xun You saw it, he hurriedly called for the doctor. However, Cao Cao covered his mouth and shouted: "Don't worry about me. Order the soldiers to retreat as soon as possible!"

"We have to go all out to deal with Liu Bei and defeat Guan Yu. There is no room for failure!"

Yang Xiu was riding on his horse, and as the large army slowly retreated to the northwest, he turned his head and glanced at the rolling Huai River behind him, thinking that this time the troops were sent out, it was really a start to the end.

However, Cao Cao was indeed able to take it up and let it go. When he saw that there was no chance, he immediately withdrew his troops. With such a method, it is no wonder that everyone from the emperor to the ministers in Huaicheng, including his own father, was manipulated by him.

Of course, to avenge the Yang family, you don't have to be Cao Cao's enemy. You can do the same by working under Cao Cao.

Cao Cao's health is deteriorating. If he can defeat Liu Bei this time, he will be crowned king immediately. This is the final struggle and madness. The key then will be the fight for the heir apparent.

Cao Pi, a naturally rebellious bad guy, is actually the most similar to Cao Cao. If he became the heir, he would probably imitate Wang Mang and directly usurp the throne of emperor, right?

And Yang Xiu's faction has already come up with a countermeasure, which is to support Cao Zhi, who is inclined to support the Han Dynasty, and let him squeeze Cao Pi out!

Yang Xiu was full of confidence in this. There were not many people here, but they were all very capable families. Not only the Xun family was involved, but also the Cui family of Qinghe, the Yang family of Hongnong, and the cats and dogs around Cao Pi. , why should you fight with yourself?
The only ones who need attention are Zhong Yao and the Sima family. Thinking of this, Yang Xiu sneered on his lips. You, the Cao family, have pushed the Han court to such an extent. Sooner or later, you will be punished. It depends on how I will deal with it. You, the Cao family, are causing a stir!

(End of this chapter)