Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 236 Cao Cao breaks the defense
When Cao Cao withdrew his troops to the north and crossed the Xia River at night, he was defeated by Zhang Fei at night, so he headed north to Dangyang Avenue.

Jianli headed towards Jingling, about two hundred miles away.Fortunately, after escaping from Jianli, the journey for more than [-] miles was smooth. Cao Cao was afraid that Huo Jun would pursue him, so he traveled on a starry night.

It was dawn again, and Cao Cao dared to slow down and gather the defeated troops on the spot.

Sitting on the stone pier, Cao Cao looked around at the crowd and sighed: "It was a thrilling night last night. Zhang Fei was extremely brave. If it weren't for Xu Gongming's rearguard fighting hard and the brave tiger and leopard cavalry, Zhang Fei would have been able to escape safely."

After saying that, Cao Cao did not see Xu Huang and asked: "Gongming led the army to the rear, haven't you caught up by now?"

"Zihe, Zidan, you two lead the tiger and leopard cavalry back along the way to find Gongming's troops." Cao Cao ordered.

"promise!"

"Prime Minister, come!"

Sun Quan brought the hot soup cakes from nowhere and said, "When the people on the left and right learned that the Prime Minister was here, they brought food cakes to the Prime Minister."

When Cao Cao saw that the civil servants and counselors on his left and right had no food, he smiled and said, "Wen He is the oldest, Zhong Mou and let Mr. Jia eat."

"Don't dare!"

Jia Xu saw that the attendant had another portion in his hand and said, "Prime Minister, eat first. Xu can wait for now."

Seeing this, Cao Cao was not polite. He drank the hot soup and asked: "Today Xiangyang is still hundreds of miles away. I want to go to Jingling first for food and supplies, contact the Seventh Army of Jiangxia, and send people to investigate." What's going on in Gangneung?"

Xun You looked troubled and said: "Prime Minister, the boats and boats are outstanding on the left side of the Yangtze River. Our army was defeated at Jinkou. Huo Jun was able to seize Jianli. How can he not go up the Han River and isolate the seven armies? Looking at it from You, It is better to retreat to Xiangyang first and then monitor the situation."

Cao Cao frowned slightly and said: "Our army is short of food and grass. If we rush directly to Xiangyang, we will have to rob the people on the way for six to seven hundred miles. It is better to go to Jingling to eat first, and then to Dangyang."

Jia Xu felt uneasy and said: "Prime Minister, Jingling Mausoleum is not far from Xiakou. I am afraid that Jingling Mausoleum will be taken by Jiangzuo's bandits, so it is better to send generals there first. If there are thieves, watch their troops and horses, and leave if there are many; if there are no thieves, they will leave. Thieves can enter and capture the city, thinking that they can support our army."

"it is good!"

Cao Cao nodded slightly and said: "Wenhe's words are very feasible, where is Lejin?"

"The general is here!" Le Jin, with a haggard look on his face, responded with his hands raised.

"I will order you to be the vanguard, and lead the soldiers under the tent as the vanguard, and enter Jingling as quickly as possible." Cao Cao ordered.

"promise!"

After a while, Cao Chun and Cao Zhen led Xu Huang, who had an injured arm, to ask to see Cao Cao.

Seeing Xu Huang, Cao Cao hurriedly asked: "Gongming, how is your injury? And you are traveling so slowly?"

Xu Huang took a look at the shoulder injury and said: "I'd like to inform the Prime Minister to stay behind the palace last night and fight while leaving. However, many of the sergeants in the army fell behind, so the general left behind to gather the soldiers and get five or six thousand soldiers. As for the shoulder injury, While fighting last night, I was accidentally stabbed by Jiang Zuo's soldiers, and the injury was not serious."

Cao Cao shook Xu Huang's hand and sighed: "Gongming, he is really like Zhou Yafu."

"Gongming, please take a seat and rest soon."

Cao Cao took Xu Huang's hand and sat down, speaking kindly, and said: "How can thousands of soldiers and horses be compared with Gongming? Don't do this in the future. If there is a loss in the palace of Gongming, you will be lonely and uneasy!"

Xu Huang was very moved when he saw Cao Cao acting like this and said: "The general is incompetent and cannot break the troops on the left side of the river. He can only gather the defeated troops for the prime minister. Huang is very ashamed."

"Good rest!"

In fact, Xu Huang gathered five or six thousand soldiers and horses for Cao Cao, how could he not make Cao Cao happy.Cao Cao led [-] remnant troops to cross Jianli and met Liu Bei and Huo Jun. Now they had escaped. Together with the troops gathered by Xu Huang, they were only half of yesterday's number.

An army of [-] to [-] soldiers survived the Great Fire of Chrysostom and encountered the wilderness of Yunmengze. Liu and Huo were stubbornly holding on, with less than [-] men and horses. Such a high battle loss ratio already made Cao Cao numb.

Cao Cao led the remnants of his troops to the north. In order to prevent Huo Jun and Liu Bei from pursuing them one after another, whenever there was a shortage of food, he would take food from big households and powerful people, and his marching speed was very fast.

Jingling City is located at the intersection of Han River and Yang River. The land is fertile and the people are prosperous.Cao Cao had almost nowhere to go if he didn't eat at Jingling.

Le Jin led nearly a thousand soldiers as the vanguard and rushed to Jingling City.When approaching Jingling, Le Jin saw that there were few people around Jingling, and he couldn't help but have doubts in his heart.When they reached the woods, Le Jin felt that the woods on both sides of the road were too quiet and couldn't help but slow down.

"Wait a minute!"

Le Jin raised his hand, motioning for the sergeant to stop, and said: "The woods are too quiet, and there are few sounds of birds. We are afraid that there is an ambush here, so we sent people to explore the woods on the left and right to prevent the army from being lost."

"promise!"

Bu Qu retreated, and a dozen scouts came out of the queue, preparing to search and explore the mountains and forests on both sides.

Although Le Jin was born as a subordinate of Cao Cao and was often known for his boldness and bravery in battle, after more than ten years of fighting, Le Jin also had a rough understanding of military strategy.After all, how can a brave but foolhardy general survive for a long time?

Just as the scouts entered the forest to investigate, dozens of arrows flew out, knocking the scouts to the ground.Then, the sound of golden drums sounded from both sides of the forest, and the sound of the drums was like thunder, resounding through the forest.

A 'Guan' flag appeared among the woods. The words on the left and right were difficult to see clearly due to the dense tree trunks.Vaguely visible are the words 'Han' and 'Dang'.At the same time, the flags were flying, and the entire forest seemed to come alive.

Guan Yu stationed his horse in the forest and shouted loudly: "I wanted to capture and kill Cao Cao, but unexpectedly I met a dog."

"Le Wenqian, do you recognize Guan Yunchang?" Looking at the 'Guan' flag in the forest, Yue Jin Buqu said in horror: "Why is Guan Yu here?"

Le Jin's face darkened slightly and he said: "Importantly inform the Prime Minister that Guan Yu is setting up an ambush here."

With that said, Le Jin clenched the spear in his hand and shouted loudly: "Form up and retreat, don't panic!"

"promise!"

In the forest, Guan Yu didn't know what Le Jin was thinking. Under his arrangement, arrows shot out of the forest like locusts. The soldiers outside were hit by arrows and died one after another, and the sound of wailing could be heard everywhere.

He ran away from Yunmengze and was defeated in Jianli.The armor on their soldiers was not complete at all, let alone shields.

After several waves of arrows were fired, Guan Yu raised his palm and pointed forward, saying: "We were suddenly ambushed by our army. The enemy's formation was not strict. My father led the cavalry to fight out, and you led the infantry to stay behind."

"promise!"

Guan Ping responded with his hands raised.

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

Guan Yu led dozens of Southern Cavalry galloping out of the forest, their troops pointed directly at the "Le" flag, their horses were as fast as thunder.

"Form up and retreat!"

Le Jin raised his spear and shouted at the top of his lungs.

Being ambushed suddenly and hit by a hail of arrows, those under Yue Jin's tent were in panic. Amid Yue Jin's shouts, they were reluctantly forming a formation.

However, Guan Yu's horse speed is too fast!

"kill!"

Guan Yu, who was holding a flag, stared at Le Jin's flag.The marching column of less than a thousand people was very thin. Dozens of Nanqi used him as the tip and rushed in along the empty column.

In Le Jin's horrified face, he saw Guan Yu holding a tagger and opening his eyes, his long beard rising in the wind, shouting loudly: "Le Jin, do you recognize Guan Yu?"

"Den!"

Le Jin subconsciously raised the spear in his hand to block. At the moment of the fight, Guan Yu's strength of a tiger and a bear and the force of his horse's sprint made his jaw numb, and the spear in his hand was knocked away by Guan Yu's long spear.

In the next moment, the spear pierced Le Jin's armor, and Guan Yu's long spear pierced Le Jin's chest.Le Jin screamed and fell off his horse, hot blood dripping onto the soil.

Seeing that their leader was beheaded, the rest of the tribe fled or surrendered, no one dared to fight Guan Yu.

Le Jin struggled for a while and vomited blood. Looking at Guan Yu who dismounted and cut off his head, he closed his eyes unwillingly.

Guan Yu held up Le Jin's head, sneered a few times, and said, "I wanted to kill Cao Cao, but I was met by Le Jin. It's fate!"

"Father!"

When Guan Ping saw his father kill Le Jin with a single sprint, he congratulated and said: "Father, with great power, kill the thief general Le Jin!"

Guan Yu handed the head to his attendants and Fu Xu smiled and said: "It is easy to ambush the defeated army and kill Le Jin. It is not as easy as when I killed Yan Liang in formation."

In Guan Yu's eyes, today's surprise attack on Le Jin was nothing.The sergeants led by Yue Jin were no longer an army with strong morale, nor were they soldiers with complete armor. They were far inferior to beheading Yan Liang.

After all, Le Jin and his men were burned in Jinkou and survived in the Yunmengze wilderness. Most of the sergeants could no longer be called soldiers.The morale of the army has been dissipated, and the mighty Northern Division is nowhere to be seen.The battle between the two armies is closely related to the quality of the soldiers. Therefore, if the two sides exchange positions, Guan Yu will also be defeated by Le Jin.

"Father, do you want to pursue Cao Cao?"

Guan Yu pondered for a while and said: "Le Jin was killed by our army. Cao Cao may have known it and led his army to another route. Our army only has 2000 soldiers and horses, most of them are infantry, so it is difficult to pursue them. Moreover, Cao Cao has tigers and leopards in his hands. There are many cavalry, but if Cao Cao wants to escape, he will not be able to stop him; if he fights to the death, it will be difficult for our army to win."

"promise!"

After the Battle of Jinkou, Guan Yu was ordered to go up and capture Jingling, and led 2000 naval troops to gallop across the Han River, leaving [-] to guard Xiakou.In order to prevent the Seventh Army from crossing the Han River, Lu Meng led three thousand naval troops to patrol the Han River.Guan Yu led [-] troops to guard Jingling. Now he ambushed Cao Cao's army. Guan Yu left [-] old and weak men in the city and led [-] men to fight.

Cao Cao heard that Guan Yu was ambushing Le Jin, so he sent tiger and leopard cavalry to rescue him. He failed to rescue Le Jin, but only brought back news of Le Jin's death.

"Wen Qian?"

When he heard the bad news, it was like thunder that shook his ears. Cao Cao was stunned, and then he shed tears of sadness and said: "Wen Qian has experienced hundreds of battles and fought hard to gain strength. How can he die here now?"

Cao Cao was really sad. In addition to the destruction of his army of more than [-] men, he never thought that the two veteran generals Cheng Yu and Le Jin, who were his closest confidants, were also dead.

After crying, Cao Cao cried again.The Battle of Chrysostom really allowed Cao Cao to break his defense.

"Guan Yu, I swear to kill you!"

(End of this chapter)