Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1196 Take action
At dawn, a little light appeared on the distant horizon. Wei Yan squatted on the top of the city wall. He stuffed half a piece of cake handed to him by the guard into his mouth and started chewing it.

He now has to race against time because Cao's army under the city may launch an attack at any time.

But he knew that the situation in the city could not last for two days, because in the past few days, Cao's army had attacked the city day and night, leaving Wei Yan with no time to rest for even an hour or two. His already thin cheeks became even more sunken, and his soldiers were also exhausted by this non-stop attack.

Wei Yan suddenly remembered something the King of Jin said unintentionally when he met him before.

The plan is feasible, but what happens afterwards is really troublesome.

Looking back now, he realized that the other party was probably trying to warn him, but he was blinded and took a risk, which ended up putting himself in a desperate situation. It was really ridiculous.

He ground his teeth hard, grinding the wheat cake in his mouth into crumbs. He thought that the food was running out. If this continued, he would have to eat the corpses of the Wei army!
Suddenly, one of his guards said, "General, there seems to be some unusual movement in Cao's camp in the distance."

Wei Yan stood up suddenly. Early morning at dawn is the time when the enemy is most likely to launch an attack. He was afraid that the Wei army was going to attack again.

He looked into the distance from the top of the city wall and saw dozens of torches lit in the Wei army camp opposite, and it seemed that there were people and horses running back and forth inside.

But what's strange is that the soldiers inside seem a little confused. If the Wei army were to attack, they shouldn't be so disorderly.

At this moment, inside the Cao army tent, Le Jin's face looked extremely ugly.

In front of him was a coffin, and lying inside was the body of Cao Xiu.

The Jin army did not launch a surprise attack. Instead, they sent Cao Xiu's body with great fanfare before daybreak, making it known to everyone in Cao's camp. Le Jin knew what the other side was trying to do.

This is to disrupt the morale of the Wei army, to make them panic, to cause the soldiers to scatter, and then to destroy themselves at the lowest cost!

Thinking about the matter of Cao Xiu's body, I am afraid that everyone in the camp will know about it within half an hour. As the main general in the direction of Yuzhou, Cao Xiu's death will have a very bad impact on the morale of the Wei soldiers!

Action must be taken immediately!
Thinking of this, Le Jin issued an order, "All troops must gather and retreat to the north towards Qiao County!"

After receiving the order, Cao's camp broke camp as quickly as possible, bypassed Ruyang City, and retreated hastily to the north. However, Le Jin personally led the elite troops to cover the rear and set up a temporary camp halfway.

As he expected, when the Wei army was on the road and most of them had not yet left, a spy sent a message saying that the Jin army was attacking from the south.

Le Jin looked at the makeshift wooden wall and shouted, "Everyone, get on the wall and stop the enemy!"

The shouts and screams gradually got closer. Huang Zhongwen's hired soldiers arrived and saw the Wei army hiding behind the camp to defend. They decisively launched an attack on the camp gate and a melee broke out.

Seeing the situation outside the city, Wei Yan quickly gave the order, "Five hundred soldiers follow me out of the city, and the rest of you stay and guard the city!"

Seeing Wei Yan also took the opportunity to come out, Le Jin, who was trying hard to stop Jin, cried out in his heart. He had already had a hard time resisting the offensive of the Jin army, and if Wei Yan came to attack his retreat again, he was afraid that he would not be able to escape!

This time, when Huang Zhong and Wenpin attacked the camp, they did not use the crossbow carts they had used before. After all, that thing was easy to damage and was most effective against cavalry, but it had limited effect against strong cities and strongholds. Therefore, the main attack of the Jin army this time used more effective means such as catapults and bows and arrows.

The overwhelming stones and arrows fell like raindrops, making the Wei soldiers guarding the camp cry out in pain. They were suppressed to the point that they could not even raise their heads, let alone fight back!
As the loud noises were heard, Le Jin knew that it was the battering ram that was ramming the village gate. The village gate was not as strong as the city gate, and he was afraid that it would not last more than a quarter of an hour.

He raised his head and looked around, seeing that the rain of arrows and rocks above his head seemed endless and relentless. He knew that the Jin army had made sufficient preparations in advance. It was true that the soldiers on the Jianghuai side might not be able to do it, but there was no shortage of military supplies. He was now risking his life to fill the gap, which was simply not worth it!
Seeing the Wei soldiers being shot down one by one, Le Jin gritted his teeth. He originally thought that he could hold out for a long time, but the 10,000-man army on the opposite side that had killed Cao Xiu was obviously more powerful than him. He had thought too well before!

Seeing that Wei Yan's army was approaching, Le Jin immediately issued an order to withdraw, and retreated at the fastest speed, in the direction where Wei Yan was attacking!
His move was unexpected, and the Wei army was inspired with great courage in order to escape. When they saw Wei Yan's army blocking the way, they immediately rushed forward with red eyes and shouting wildly.

Wei Yan intended to leave the city to cooperate, but he never expected that Le Jin would use the retreat to make himself the target of public criticism. Nearly ten thousand Cao troops rushed towards Wei Yan's army like pigs and wolves, and instantly broke Wei Yan's army into pieces.

Wei Yan led the remaining troops in a panic and scattered to both sides of the road, only to find that the Wei army did not pursue them, but fled north without looking back. Knowing that he had been tricked by Le Jin, he was so angry that he started cursing.

He gathered his soldiers, leaving only two or three hundred people, and reluctantly turned around to continue pursuing Cao's army, but this small number of people could not stop anything and could only watch the Wei army escape.

Wei Yan was so angry that he picked up a bow and shot at the Wei army repeatedly. After only a few arrows, the bow arm broke with a snap.

He threw the broken bow to the ground, feeling very angry. In the distance, two generals led their troops to pursue him. When they got close, they saw Wei Yan's attire, jumped off their horses and asked, "Is it General Wei?"

Wei Yan stepped forward to inquire and learned that the two men were the generals Huang Zhong and Wenpin whom Yuan Xi had beckoned to recruit in Jingzhou this time, and that they had come with Yuan Xi's army. He hurriedly presented them with heavy gifts. He also heard that this time Yuan Xi had moved to another battlefield and even Xiahou Yuan and Cao Xiu had been defeated by the Jin army. He was immediately shocked.

He naturally knew how difficult it was to kill Cao's generals, especially those at the commander-in-chief level like Xiahou Yuan!

Huang Zhong said, "I still have war horses here, General, why don't we give chase together?"

Wei Yan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Thank you for your kindness, General. I have made the king come to rescue me personally, so I will apologize to the king. You two can pursue first and don't worry about me."

Upon hearing this, Huang Zhong and Wen Pin looked at each other, then mounted their horses together and continued to pursue Cao's army.

Wei Yan was waiting by the roadside. In fact, he had been waiting for so many days and had no strength to chase. After a while, Yuan Xi's flag appeared on the road ahead. He went up to meet Yuan Xi and confessed his crime first.

Yuan Xi pulled Wei Yan and said with a smile: “No, Wen Chang did a good job.”

"If I hadn't planted Ruyang as a thorn and separated Le Jin and Cao Xiu, I really wouldn't have been able to defeat them one by one."

"Moreover, a thousand cavalrymen marched straight into the enemy's hinterland, which is a rare surprise attack victory in recent years. Wenchang is indeed a talented general. In the future, I will have to rely on Wenchang when I go north to Jizhou."

Wei Yan was excited and asked, "My lord, do you want to continue to fight north?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Of course. Now we need to make a concerted effort to penetrate Yuzhou and Yanzhou, then engage in a decisive battle with Cao Cao in Jizhou and drive him completely to Guanzhong!" Ten days later, Cao's camp in Yecheng received the news from the south, and there was chaos throughout the camp.

Cao Cao was discussing matters with his ministers at the time. When he heard the news from Jingzhou and Yuzhou, he stood up in disbelief, his hands shaking, and shouted to Xun You, who had reported the news, "What did you say?"

"Miaocai and Wenlie both died in the battle?"

"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible!"

Xun You's face was full of bitterness. "Because the time of transmission was different, the news from both sides came at the same time."

"General Xiahou went east from Yizhou and arrived in Jingzhou, preparing to go north to Yuzhou. However, he encountered the fierce tiger and was intercepted by the Yuan-Liu coalition. After a fierce battle, tens of thousands of troops were almost wiped out, and General Xiahou was killed on the spot."

"After that, Xionghu immediately returned to Shouchun. While Generals Cao and Le in Yuzhou had not yet received the news from Jingzhou, he quickly crossed the Huai River to the north, entered Ruyin, and ambushed General Cao Xiu."

"General Cao died on the spot, and then Xionghu led his army to defeat Le Jin and marched north. Now they should take advantage of the situation and attack Qiao County."

"General Le is currently defending Qiao County, evacuating the Cao and Xiahou clans, and has sent an urgent message."

"General Cao Xiu's body will be sent to Yecheng soon."

Everything went dark in front of Cao Cao's eyes. He suddenly felt something surging up in his chest and abdomen. His body swayed, blood spurted out of his mouth, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

The ministers were thrown into chaos upon seeing this. They rushed over and carried Cao Cao to the back room, then went to call for a doctor to treat him.

When the Wei army officials and nobles in the city heard this, they were immediately in chaos. Many of them wanted to flee the city immediately, but were stopped by Zhong Yao who closed the city gates and was well prepared.

Zhong Yao was also having a headache about how to deal with these people. Cao Cao was now vomiting blood and unconscious. What if he couldn't wake up?
He thought about it again and again, and finally made up his mind to go find Xun You and said to him, "Gongda, we can't wait any longer."

"We have to take action."

Xun You asked in surprise: "Do it?"

"What action?"

"The king is not dead yet!"

Zhong Yao's eyes flashed coldly, "It will be too late when the king dies!"

"Think about it, even if we don't take action, can the other side endure it?"

"They are already at a disadvantage. This opportunity is a godsend for them, so they will definitely take this opportunity to eliminate us!"

Xun You still couldn't believe it, "Where do they get such courage?"

"Aren't you afraid that the King of Wei will investigate you later?"

Zhong Yao sneered and said, "Pursue?"

"If the Second Young Master dies, can the Lord still kill the Third Young Master?"

Xun You still didn't believe it, "The Third Young Master is not that kind of person."

Zhong Yao sneered: "He may not be, but his subordinates may not be."

"And I have always suspected that the person behind the Third Young Master, besides Yang Xiu, Cui Yan and others, is likely to be Dong Zhao!"

Xun You knew that Zhong Yao had always been suspicious of Dong Zhao, and wondered why he had such a strong hatred towards Dong Zhao?

It seems that he has never done anything bad to you from beginning to end, right?

But Xun You knew that Zhong Yao was a ruthless person, who would dig up his friend's grave just for what he wanted, so he said, "Yuan Chang, even if what you guessed is correct, there is no evidence."

"We can't do anything to the Third Young Master, can we?"

Zhong Yao said coldly: "We really can't attack the Third Young Master, but we can cut off his hands and feet."

"This is the opposite of what the other side is doing. If they take action, they will definitely try their best to kill the Second Young Master."

"What we have to do now is to take a two-pronged approach, protecting the Second Young Master and eradicating the Third Young Master's followers!"

Xun You asked, "What about the crime?"

Zhong Yao said decisively: "Collaborating with the enemy!"

"Now many people want to escape and have been controlled. Start with those who are close to the Third Young Master and torture them to make them confess!"

(End of this chapter)