People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 427 What is the price?

That night, the wind was very strong and the smell of blood was even stronger. There was the blood of civilians, as well as the blood of Yellow Turbans and Wei soldiers. It was clearly late at night, but the battle that was taking place now seemed to be the most intense one since the two sides had fought each other.

When Cao Cao discovered that the Yellow Turbans had launched a general attack, he knew that if he wanted to break out tonight, he would have to pay a huge price, because he could have evacuated on his own initiative, but now he was forced to retreat. This was actually the difference between the first and the second move, and it also meant that countless lives might have to be paid behind the scenes.

Suddenly, Cao Cao felt a little regretful. If he had known this would happen, perhaps it would have been a better choice not to massacre the city. At least the Wei army could have withdrawn in a relatively calm manner.

Unfortunately, he has always been such a person, a person who is not so strictly rational and is more easily swayed by emotions. Therefore, he can vent his anger on countless innocent people because of the death of his relatives, and he can also run to the aunt of someone else and say "sit on the same table with her" after recruiting Zhang Xiu. In the end, he harmed the three sages.

This kind of thing is actually absurd, and it is even more incredible when it happens to a great leader like Cao Cao. Even an ordinary person with a little rationality would not necessarily do such a stupid thing.

But Cao Cao did it anyway. This was a huge character flaw of Cao Cao, but that was just his personality.

He couldn't suppress his joy, and even less could he control his hatred.

But he hated these people. He hated why they did not serve him as his cattle and horses but were bewitched by the Yellow Turbans. When he thought that these rebellious people could live in peace under the rule of the Yellow Turbans, he could not control his anger.

To some extent, he actually hated his own incompetence. He just didn't want to face the fact that he was not as good as Xu Chen.

It was obvious that he didn't have to kill the civilians, and it was obvious that not killing them would be more conducive to the army's withdrawal. He even knew this very clearly in his mind, but he couldn't help it. He had to kill them. If he didn't kill them, he would feel unhappy and his thoughts would not be clear.

How could I, Cao Cao, be worse than this villain Xu Chen? It’s not me who is wrong, it’s you rebellious people!

He did so, and now there were bad consequences. He did regret it, but it was useless to regret it at this time. Just as sleeping with Zou Shi required the sacrifice of Dian Wei, Cao Ang, Cao Anmin and countless soldiers, now he had to pay for his irrationality.

As for how much it will cost to pay for this time, that is another huge question.

Everyone thought that the Yellow Turbans were unlikely to send troops, but they did not expect that for the purpose of rescuing the people, the Yellow Turbans were willing to take the risk even if it was risky.

Fortunately, many of Wei's civil and military officials were elite talents. Even if the monarch Cao Cao was not there at the first moment, they spontaneously responded in a timely manner, which prevented the situation from completely collapsing.

Although it gave many civilians a way to survive, it also brought a relatively stable internal situation to the Wei army, which enabled Cao Cao to organize the army to retreat from the west gate as soon as he arrived.

Fighting at night is actually very difficult, but fortunately this is the same for both the Wei army and the Yellow Turbans.

The Wei army in the city has begun to gather and began to evacuate in batches and in an orderly manner towards the west gate.

Up to now, even if there had not been tonight's massacre, the people in the city would still be a huge hidden danger to the Wei army. Active withdrawal can be regarded as a helpless move by the Wei army to avoid greater losses.

However, the withdrawal of troops was not something that could be done at will. It was bound to cost the Wei army a huge price to achieve. If things went wrong, the withdrawal would turn into a rout. The consequences of the massacre had exacerbated the Wei army's dire situation. The original plan to take the initiative to attack the Yellow Turbans and cover the army's retreat had been shattered. Instead, the Yellow Turbans put a knife on their necks and forced them to leave. The difficulty of executing the two was completely different.

Sure enough, when Cao Cao led his army out of the west gate, there was already a large army waiting for him outside the city, ready for battle. It was obvious that the Yellow Turbans had anticipated Cao Cao's intention to retreat, so they would naturally not leave any gaps in their blockade.

The army stopped at the city gate. Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and looked across. Every moment at this moment was worth a thousand gold. If the army wanted to retreat, it could not engage in a fight with the enemy. Once the Yellow Turbans at the east gate broke in, the Wei army would be trapped in a dead end by being attacked from both sides.

Guo Jia's face was flushed and he reeked of alcohol. He immediately rode forward and said, "Your Majesty, we need to send a general to block the enemy and cover the retreat of the main army!"

All the civil officials remained silent. Being the rear guard was a military mission with a high probability of death. At this critical juncture, unless Cao Cao personally gave the order to send troops, or the generals took the initiative to accept the order, no one else had the room to speak.

However, a stern-looking general stepped forward slowly, holding his horse's belly. After taking a look at the Yellow Turban defense line in front of him, he bowed to Cao Cao and said, "Yu Jin is willing to lead the troops to cover the rear!"

Cao Cao was deeply moved, with a look of self-blame and sighing. Finally, he nodded helplessly: "Wen Ze is my right-hand man and general. I can rest assured that you will cover the rear. Remember to lead the army back. When the time comes, I will personally commend you for your achievements!"

Yu Jin looked solemn. He just bowed calmly, said "Yes, sir", and then led the army behind him out in a line.

Such an army of several thousand troops rushed straight to the Yellow Turban defense line outside the city, and soon the sound of fighting broke out.

"Your Majesty, it's time to go." Guo Jia took a last sip of wine, threw away the wine jug, and reminded Cao Cao.

When Cao Cao turned around, he saw the dark Wei army behind him and the Jinyang City with flames everywhere. For a moment, his nose felt sore and he even had the urge to cry.

There have been times of hardship and embarrassment in my life, whether it was when I was defeated by Xu Rong and fled in panic, or when I was beaten by Zhang Xiu and had to flee in fear, those were the low points in my life. But compared to now, those things in the past are nothing.

In the past, it was just an old horse stumbling, but this time, I tried my best to do everything I could but still couldn’t change my fate. This is the greatest despair.

Although it seemed that the massacre in the city had brought him bad influence, even if he did not consider this, when the Wei army retreated from here, he had already completely lost. After this loss, there would be no chance of recovery at all.

It seems like it's all over.
Cao Cao smiled dejectedly. All his imperial ambitions, all his glory and love and hate would come to an end with this battle. It didn't really matter whether he could retreat successfully. Even if he ran away, he would only die slowly in the days to come.

"Let's go."

After saying this in a deep voice, Cao Cao suddenly kicked his horse's belly and rushed out of the crowd.

Everyone looked at Cao Cao's back as he rode alone and slowly merged into the darkness, and they inexplicably felt a sense of sadness in their hearts. They were all elites of the era and naturally realized what the current situation was.

The trend is over.
(End of this chapter)