People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 365 My home is gone?

A mighty army of more than 300,000 was marching towards Xuchang. Although the coalition forces had successfully burned the Yellow Turbans' baggage by disguise, creating conditions for their own evacuation, Cao Cao was still not happy.

Logically speaking, this was one of the few times that Cao Cao gained an advantage over the Yellow Turbans, but his brows were tightly furrowed, and his expression was filled with visibly worried expressions.

Xun Yu and Guo Jia beside him knew exactly what he was worried about.

"Don't worry, Lord Cao. We have already sent Zhang Liao to lead a light army to rush back to Xuchang to support it. Even if they can't catch up with the Yellow Turbans, they won't be too late. As long as Xuchang can hold out for a few days, the crisis will naturally be resolved. With the power of our army, we can encircle and suppress the Yellow Turbans and help Zhou Yu win the battle in Yuzhou in one fell swoop."

Guo Jia spoke in a hurry, but there was nothing he could do about it. Since Cao Cao was riding his horse so fast, he had to run as fast as he did, so he naturally panted while speaking.

Of course, if Cao Cao ran faster, the army would run even faster.

Now Cao Cao is eager to return home and wishes he could reach Xuchang immediately.

Even though he had sent Zhang Liao to rush back for help, he still couldn't feel at ease. After all, Xuchang was not only related to the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, but also his wives, concubines and children!

At this time, Xun Yu also rode forward and said, "Feng Xiao is right. General Xiahou Yuan is a veteran general. With him guarding Xuchang, we can't say it's as stable as Mount Tai, but at least it will be no problem for a few days. Xuchang must be safe now, Lord Cao, rest assured."

Relief
Of course Cao Cao wanted to be at ease, and logically speaking, there was no need to worry. After all, Xuchang was a big city and it would not be easily lost.

However, although he had confidence in Xuchang and Xiahou Yuan, he was hard to be at ease with the Yellow Turbans. No one in the world today dared to underestimate the fighting power of the Yellow Turbans, not even Cao Cao, who had suffered losses at the hands of the Yellow Turbans time and time again.

Cao Cao became anxious when he thought that there were more than 10,000 troops who might arrive at Xuchang.

However, Xun Yu and Guo Jia's repeated persuasions also made Cao Cao realize a problem, that his emotions were too obvious, which is usually a taboo for those in power. After all, there are countless people watching below, and if the person above cannot sit still, those below will be even more panicked.

In order not to affect the morale of the army, Cao Cao took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and even laughed.

“What are Wen Ruo and Feng Xiao worried about? It’s just a mere 10,000 Yellow Turbans. How can they ruin the overall situation of our coalition? Now everything is under my control. What is there to worry about? Hahaha!”

Although Cao Cao rode his horse at the same speed, his face was calm and composed: "I have never been worried, so you don't need to persuade me."

Guo Jia and Xun Yu looked at each other, nodded, and said no more.

But then a laugh was heard, and it turned out that two people were riding their horses to catch up. Cao Cao and others looked back and saw that it was Liu Bei of Jingzhou and his general Guan Yu.

"Meng De is calm in the face of great events. He is indeed a hero of the time!" After Liu Bei stepped forward, he bowed and smiled at Cao Cao while accompanying him.

But then his expression changed, and he became worried: "It's just that we need to prepare for the worst. If Xuchang is really conquered by the thieves, how will we deal with it? After all, Xuchang is the residence of the emperor. If the emperor falls into the hands of the thieves, then..."

After Liu Bei spoke, Cao Cao and others' faces turned unhappy. It was not that they had any opinion on Liu Bei, but they found this result hard to accept.

Cao Cao pondered for a long time, and said in a deep voice: "If this is true, we, the officials of the Han Dynasty, will risk our lives to rescue him. No matter what, we cannot let the emperor fall into the hands of the thieves."

Liu Bei quickly responded: "General Cao is right. We should be prepared to fight to the death."

Having said that, Liu Bei did not feel at ease at all. If the time really came, rescue would not be an easy task.

What if the rescue fails? What will the allied forces do then?

They all formed an alliance to fight against the enemy in the name of the emperor. If the emperor fell into the hands of the enemy, how could they still raise the banner?

Cao Cao obviously couldn't predict the worst-case scenario. If they really had to imagine the emperor being captured, then how could they deal with it? They could probably just keep their agreement to it.

Cao Cao didn't want to continue this sensitive topic. After looking at Liu Bei, his gaze fell on Guan Yu, with a deep admiration in his eyes.

"Speaking of this battle, the credit for our army's successful evacuation goes to Yun Chang. If it weren't for Yun Chang leading his troops to successfully attack the camp, our army wouldn't have been able to repel the enemy, let alone escape safely."

As Cao Cao spoke, he nodded towards Guan Yu, and Guan Yu calmly bowed in response.

Although Cao Cao and Guan Yu were flirting with each other, Liu Bei was not anxious. He believed that his second brother would only follow him closely, and no matter who came, it would be impossible to poach him. Naturally, he did not care about the goodwill Cao Cao showed to Guan Yu.

"General Cao, you are too kind. Yunchang was just following the plan. His advantage lies in his military strength. The real credit should go to the person who made the plan. If it weren't for General Cao's plan of using civilians instead of soldiers, we would never be able to escape the Yellow Turbans."

Liu Bei glanced at Guan Yu and then smiled faintly at Cao Cao.

Although he appeared calm and composed on the surface, he was actually somewhat smug and proud in his heart. There were not many people in this world who could gain the upper hand over the Yellow Turbans, and only his invincible second brother could do that.

After a conversation, Cao Cao quickly lost interest in continuing. Xu Chang didn't know what to do yet, and the fact that he could pretend to be friendly with Liu Bei was already enough to give him face.

Just as they were about to end the discussion, they heard a loud shout in the distance. Everyone turned around and saw a rider galloping towards the army, shouting "urgent news". This immediately made everyone nervous, as they knew there was an urgent military situation.

Military intelligence has come at this time. Where could it be from?
That can only be from Xuchang!

Sure enough, when the messenger was led by the soldiers and ran over, he dismounted as soon as he arrived in front of Cao Cao, and then began to report in panic. The content of the letter was exactly the military situation in Xuchang.

"General, Xuchang has fallen!"

The moment the soldier finished speaking, everyone's faces changed instantly. Cao Cao even took a breath of cold air, and then a burst of pain like a splitting pain shot out from his forehead.

They just said they were prepared for the worst, but that was just a precautionary measure. In fact, although they were worried about it, they didn't think the chances of it happening were high.

Now, what they predicted came true, and Xuchang really fell.

This news was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for them.

Xuchang is extremely important, not only because the emperor is there, but also because it is related to the situation on the battlefield.

Putting aside the terrible consequences of capturing the emperor if the Yellow Turbans captured Xuchang, at least for now they had to worry about whether the Yellow Turbans would be the first to deploy to the battlefield in Yuzhou and thus influence the outcome of the war.

"How could this happen? How did Xiahou Yuan defend the city?" Cao Cao became angry and questioned the messenger.

Although the messenger was panicking, he still explained the situation: "General, eight days ago, the Yellow Turbans suddenly attacked Xuchang in the middle of the night. They used explosives to break into the city quickly, and the defenders in the city were unable to react in time and were defeated. Xuchang thus fell into the hands of the Yellow Turbans."

Cao Cao's eyes were red, and he grabbed his head and cursed: "Xiahou Yuan misled me, Xiahou Yuan misled me, he deserves to die, he couldn't even hold out in such a big city like Xuchang for a whole night, I will kill him with my own hands!"

The messenger shuddered with fear and swallowed hard, then said, "General Xiahou Yuan...he has been killed by the enemy general."

Cao Cao was immediately furious when he heard this, and for a moment he wanted to get angry but didn't know how to do it.

But soon he was no longer in the mood to care about Xiahou Yuan, but thought of more important people, that is, his wife and children!

"What about the people in my mansion? Where are they now?" Cao Cao's eyes widened and his voice trembled. Given the way the Yellow Turbans treated the gentry, he didn't dare to think too much.

The messenger said in a broken voice: "The general's relatives, they were all captured by the Yellow Turbans."

Cao Cao's body swayed and he almost fell off his horse. It was no wonder that he reacted like that. No matter who encountered such a thing, it would be difficult to withstand it.

For example, Liu Bei is now a little overwhelmed. Cao Cao's relatives have been captured. Then the more important thing is that the emperor...

"If that's the case, where is the emperor?" Liu Bei couldn't sit still and asked immediately.

The messenger looked even more miserable: "The emperor was also captured by the thieves."

This time, Liu Bei also took a deep breath.

The news was so explosive that it caught Cao Cao and Liu Bei off guard. The people around them were also dumbfounded. They never expected that Xiahou Yuan would be defeated so easily and directly. It seemed normal that he could have survived the night.

At this point, anything you say is redundant.

Cao Cao and Liu Bei looked at each other, their eyes were equally anxious, one was anxious for his relatives, the other was anxious for his monarch.

"Order the army to advance at full speed!"

The two men shouted at the same time, then drove their horses away to speed up the march. Faced with this earth-shattering news, they had no extra time to waste.

All Cao Cao was thinking about was rescuing his family at all costs!

All Liu Bei was thinking about was rescuing the emperor at all costs!

The news of the fall of Xuchang was like a huge rock thrown into a lake, which instantly threw the entire situation into chaos. The coalition forces, which had finally gained some initiative from Wang Dang with great effort, were suddenly plunged into an extremely uncomfortable situation.

Although they would be able to recapture Xuchang with their huge force after leading their troops back, they found it difficult to accept the capture of the emperor and Cao Cao's relatives.

At this time, the vanguard army led by Zhang Liao finally arrived at the city of Xuchang one step ahead of time. However, it was unknown whether he could rescue Cao Cao's relatives and the emperor for the coalition forces.

(End of this chapter)