People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 363 Do your best

"What, this is fake?"

Zhao Yun stared in astonishment at the Han emperor in front of him. This handsome guy was clearly wearing the emperor's black robes and was indeed guarded by Cao's army. There was no reason why he could be fake.

Although it is not ruled out that Cao's army might have deliberately used fakes to cover up the real emperor's escape, they would not go to such an extent. After all, a large number of Cao Cao's relatives were captured with this guy.

Zhao Yun looked to the side and saw that they were all Cao Cao's relatives who had been captured by him.

Among them was a woman with a frightened look on her face. She was holding a baby in her arms, and a teenage boy was holding her legs tightly at her feet. In addition to them, there were a large group of boys and girls beside them, all of whom were close relatives of Cao Cao.

Zhao Yun has confirmed the identities of these people, including Cao Cao's wife, Lady Bian, and several of his children, including Cao Pi.
No matter how important Liu Xie was, Zhao Yun didn't think he was more important to Cao's army than Cao Cao's relatives, and he would never use Cao Cao's relatives to cover Liu Xie's escape.

But the next moment, Xiahou Lan's words left Zhao Yun completely speechless.

"He is indeed a fake. I have confirmed that he is a fool." Xiahou Lan cleared his throat and whispered in Zhao Yun's ear.

Zhao Yun was silent for a while, looked at the terrified and helpless "Liu Xie", and finally could only sigh. Since that was the case, there was nothing to doubt.

Where did the real emperor go?
Xiahou Lan looked at the dark night and said in a deep voice: "I have already sealed the gates of Xuchang, so I was able to kill the enemy general. No matter where the Han emperor is hiding, he must still be in the city. We will search the whole city after dawn tomorrow."

Zhao Yun could only nod and said, "Since we have taken Xuchang, our army will temporarily station here. However, there is no need to force the Emperor of Han. The war is more important at the moment. This place is very close to the battlefield in Yuzhou. We can consider helping Wuli first."

Xiahou Lan nodded in agreement, but he felt a little regretful. This battle was a great success, and Cao Cao's entire family was captured, but the most important person, the emperor, was missing.

Xuchang is not small, and it is not easy to find someone among the countless people. It will take at least a considerable amount of time, but we may not have that time.

"We didn't expect the battle to go so smoothly this time. Now that we have captured Xuchang, our mission is complete. If Cao Cao receives the news here, he will definitely be restless. I just don't know how the battle is going on with General Wang Dang. I think as long as we can force the coalition forces out of the city wall, our army will win!"

When Xiahou Lan spoke, the excitement in his words could not be concealed at all.

If the main force of the coalition forces can be defeated in one fell swoop this time, the situation in the world will be clear in an instant. It will not be difficult for Xuan Xia to take this opportunity to unify the world. In Xiahou Lan's view, there is obviously a great chance now.

He even took Xuchang directly, he couldn't think of how he could lose this battle.

Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan were not carried away by the victory in front of them. After taking Xuchang, they immediately carried out strict defense and control of the entire city. This strict control not only guarded the outside of the city, but also the inside of the city.

After all, Xuchang was Cao Cao's old nest. Even if Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan took the city, there was no guarantee that there were no hidden forces of the Cao family in the city.

At this time, Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan did not have time to screen and cleanse the personnel in the entire city, because they did not have much time to stay in Xuchang for a long time. If such a force behind enemy lines just occupied the city and did nothing, it would be a waste of war resources.

Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan have already started to consider preparing to rush to the next battlefield. Compared to occupying a dead end, destroying as many enemy forces as possible on the front battlefield is the real victory.

After all, among the many things the leader has said, there is one that goes, if you keep the land and lose the people, both the people and the land will be lost; if you keep the people and lose the land, both the people and the land will be kept.

Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan both agreed deeply with this statement. What they wanted, of course, was to make the enemy lose as many people as possible.

As for their target, they turned to the battlefield closest to Xu Chen, where Zhou Yu had been fighting with Wuli's Yellow Turbans for half a month. If they could help Wuli win the victory on the western front, the overall war situation would be greatly favored by Xuanxia.

The news of the fall of Xuchang soon reached Zhou Yu, who quickly realized the danger.

"Xuchang is lost. Just like that?"

Zhou Yu's eyes widened as he stared at the messenger who was half-kneeling in front of him, a look of disbelief on his face.

The news came too sudden and too fast. There was not even a chance for Xuchang to ask for help. As soon as the news came, the city fell. This made Zhou Yu panic.

At least give yourself a chance to save the situation. How can you continue to play if such a big city as Xuchang is lost just like that?
"Xiahou Yuan misled me. I lost the city in less than one night. Damn it!"

He had fought with Wuli for a long time and had never been anxious or angry no matter how difficult it was, but now when he heard the news, he was immediately annoyed.

He is not afraid of good opponents but he is afraid of bad teammates. He now feels that he has been betrayed by his teammates.

It was already very difficult for him to hold the Yellow Turbans with tens of thousands of troops, and the Yellow Turbans' troops were not many, so he could barely stabilize the situation. Now, although he held the front, he lost the fire in the rear, and it was lost so easily, which made Zhou Yu have the urge to vomit blood, as if all his efforts for half a month were wasted.

“Oh no, Xuchang has fallen into the hands of the Yellow Turbans. Doesn’t that mean the Emperor will…” Lu Su was also a little confused, but he soon realized a terrible thing.

Zhou Yu's face was as gloomy as water: "How can we care about the emperor? I'm afraid we can't even protect ourselves!"

Hearing this, Lu Su was stunned at first, but soon came to his senses, and then his face changed drastically: "Things are going to get bad. If the enemy is smart, they will definitely abandon Xuchang and attack us from both sides. Then we..."

Zhou Yu slammed the table and said what Lu Su dared not say: "Our army is already in a difficult situation. If we are attacked from both sides, we will surely be defeated!"

After that, Zhou Yu added with a dark face: "We must be prepared to fight to the death."

Afterwards, Zhou Yu and Lu Su summoned all the generals and explained the situation to them. Everyone's face turned ugly.

These generals knew very well how difficult it was to defeat the Yellow Turbans. When they thought about being attacked from both sides in the future, they felt as uncomfortable as if they had eaten a fly.

After some discussion, everyone made the arrangements for the next battle, and the generals said goodbye with bitter faces.

Zhou Yu sighed, then walked out wearing armor, and Lu Su naturally followed closely.

Zhou Yu was already under tremendous pressure after this incident. After he walked out of the tent and looked at the condition of the soldiers, the pressure became even greater.

Fortunately, he found a strategic position and took advantage of the terrain and military strength to barely stop the Yellow Turbans, but it was still a very difficult task.

After spending half a month fighting the Yellow Turbans here, the soldiers were visibly exhausted and their morale was slowly declining. If they were to face another pincer attack at this time, Zhou Yu really didn't have much confidence.

Instead, he began to pray that the Yellow Turbans in the rear would simply stay in Xuchang and not interfere in the frontal battlefield.

However, judging from the enemy's unexpected surprise attack and decisive offensive that resulted in the city being captured overnight, the other side obviously had a fairly high level of command and would not fail to see what was most critical at this moment, so Zhou Yu did not have too high expectations for his prayers.

"Gongjin, if the enemy really attacks, how should our army respond?" Lu Su was also worried as he accompanied him.

Zhou Yu climbed up the watchtower and looked at the enemy positions in the distance. He seemed to have foreseen that he would face an even more dangerous war next: "There is nothing else to do but fight for our lives. We have no way out."

Lu Su sighed: "If we lose this battle, the situation will be irreversible. I'm afraid Xuan Xia will really go south to seize the world."

Hearing this, Zhou Yu's hand unconsciously tightened the hilt of the sword. He knew very well that Lu Su was not lying.

The coalition forces really can't afford to lose. It's only the beginning. Are they going to be defeated by Xuan Xia?

"Do our best and leave the rest to fate. No matter what happens on Cao Cao's side, at least we must hold our own position!" Zhou Yu gritted his teeth and squeezed out these words.

He never expected that just to suppress Lu Meng, the situation would turn out like this.

An elite like Zhou Yu who came from a big clan would never want to see Xuan Xia ruling China, as this would bring a devastating blow to his own family.

By then, no one knows how many relatives will be liquidated, and all the land and ancestral property accumulated by generations will be taken away. Moreover, people from the gentry family will not be able to enter officialdom for three generations, which will ruin their future.

The Yellow Turbans did not really exterminate all the nobles, but it was not too far off. They were still able to find out what the large number of nobles in the north were doing now.

The nobles and powerful families who once dominated a region were all purged by the Yellow Turbans. The guilty were either killed or given corporal punishment. All the land was divided equally among the common people, and all the property was confiscated.

A large number of once powerful aristocratic families fell into oblivion in an instant. The better ones were still able to survive by doing business, but the worse ones simply fell into the ranks of ordinary people. This huge gap in between was something Zhou Yu absolutely did not want to experience.

In order to defend the interests of his family, he must keep Xuan Xia out of the door. He can't afford to lose!

While he was thinking, he saw movement in the Yellow Turban camp in the distance. It turned out that a large army was moving out to attack him. A new day of suffering began. He didn't know how long he could hold on, but he could only grit his teeth and continue to hold on.

With the sword drawn, Zhou Yu showed a determined look, and then walked step by step towards the front line.

No matter how difficult it is, I must win and go home.
I still have a lovely wife waiting for me at home, I can't let her down.
(End of this chapter)