The Jagged Cavalry of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 68 068
Three hours passed, and Sun Qian did not return for a long time, and everyone sat quietly in the hall all night.

Tao Qian was a little worried, and the rest of the people present were also worried. Everyone was secretly guessing whether Sun Qian had been beheaded by Cao Cao!
In the hall, everyone stayed up all night and felt a little sleepy. The whole hall was lifeless.

At dawn, Zang Ba, who had been sitting there for a long time, let out a sneer, broke the silence in the hall first, and said loudly: "If only one letter can persuade Cao Cao's tens of thousands of troops to retreat, then we still need to What are these soldiers who were born and died?"

At this moment, a soldier came in from the outside of the hall, clasped his fists and said, "I would like to report to the envoy, don't drive Mi Zhu to seek an audience outside."

"Mi Zhu? Isn't he in Tancheng? Why did he come here? Let him in quickly!" Tao Qian said.

"Here!"

Not long after, Mi Zhu came in from the outside in a panic, and as soon as he entered the hall, he hurriedly bowed to Tao Qian: "I greet Tao Shijun."

"Mianli. Zizhong, you came from Tancheng, and you look flustered. Could it be that something happened to Tancheng?" Tao Qian asked.

Mi Zhu said: "Don't worry Tao Shijun, Tancheng is safe and sound. I'm here to deliver news to Tao Shijun. Xiaoqi General Zhang Yan has led an army into the hinterland of Yanzhou. Cao Jun also captured Cao Ren, beheaded Le Jin, and surrendered Yu Jin..."

As soon as these words came out, Tao Qian's face full of sorrow burst into a smile, and he hurriedly asked: "Zi Zhong, is everything you said true?"

"It's absolutely true. Not only that, but Zhang Yan divided his troops into four groups and successively captured Changyi, Kangfu, Juye, and Rencheng. Now Zhang Yan took Yu Jin and his party to Juancheng. Cao Cao's The family members are all in Juancheng, I believe Zhang Yan will conquer Juancheng and capture Cao Cao's family in a short time, and then we will have the capital to blackmail Cao Cao." Mi Zhu said with a smile on his face.

Tao Qian couldn't close his mouth when he heard that Zhang Yan had achieved such a gratifying result. Then he remembered what Chen Deng had said to him, and hurriedly said: "Yuanlong, originally everything you said is true. It's true, Zhang Yan has really adopted the strategy of besieging Wei and saving Zhao. Before this government was angry, it was quite indifferent to you, and the words were mixed with sarcasm. This government is here to accompany you!"

After speaking, Tao Qian bowed respectfully to Chen Deng.

Although Chen Deng was also a little angry before, seeing Tao Qian change his views on him, and apologize to him in front of everyone, has given him enough face.He hastily returned a salute to Tao Qian, and hurriedly said: "Based on the situation at that time, it is only human for Tao Shijun to be so angry. Anyone would be angry."

Suddenly, Chen Deng turned to look at Mi Zhu, and asked hastily, "Master Mi, Cao Jun has surrounded the city tightly, how did you come in from outside the city?"

Mi Zhu said: "I came from Tancheng in the starry night. When it was just dawn, I saw no movement in Cao Jun's camp, so I rode my horse and ran straight to the city. I didn't meet a Cao soldier on the way."

Chen Deng was shocked and said: "Cao Jun has been defending tightly these days, how could he let people in so easily? Could it be...Cao Jun has already retreated?"

"The letter from my elder brother must have played a role. Cao Cao is afraid of my elder brother's prestige and dare not attack the city again. Maybe he will withdraw his troops overnight!" Zhang Fei exclaimed suddenly.

Liu Bei said: "Third brother, don't talk nonsense. Cao Cao's prestige is far greater than mine. What prestige can I have as a county magistrate? I guess that Cao Cao must have also heard the news of General Zhang's attack on Yanzhou. He even had no time to pull out the camp and retreated overnight. gone."

Tao Qian said: "What's going on, let's go to the tower to find out! Please come with me to the tower to see what's going on."

As soon as the words fell, Tao Qian got up and walked out, and everyone in the hall followed behind Tao Qian.A group of people left the prefect's mansion, and soon came to the tower.

The Xuzhou soldiers on the tower did not have a sound sleep for three consecutive days and three nights. Seeing that Cao Jun did not move at all last night, these soldiers were lying on the tower and fell asleep.

After Tao Qian and others boarded the tower, they looked out of the city and saw Cao Jun's camp standing in the morning mist. The camp was densely covered with banners, but they didn't see a single figure.

"Tao Shijun, judging from the situation, it seems that Cao Jun has already retreated. Otherwise, why does Cao Jun's camp look so depressed? How about sending a team to find out?" Chen Deng said.

Tao Qian nodded and shouted sharply, "Where is Cao Bao!"

"The last general is here!" Cao Bao hurriedly squeezed out of the crowd, stood beside Tao Qian, and clasped his fists in response.

"Take two hundred cavalry and go to Cao Jun's camp to see what happened!"

"Here!"

Cao Bao went down from the city tower, summoned two hundred Danyang soldiers, rode on horses, ordered the gates to be opened, and then marched towards Cao Jun's camp.

A group of people cautiously approached Cao Jun's camp, Cao Bao yelled a few more times, but no one in the camp answered.So Cao Bao emboldened his courage, rushed into the camp with his cavalry, searched around in the camp, and found that there were no Cao soldiers there, it was just an empty camp.

Suddenly, a Danyang soldier heard some small voices, followed the voices and found Sun Qian in a tent.

At this time, Sun Qian was tied up with five flowers, his mouth was still gagged, and he curled up on the ground with a letter beside him.

The Danyang soldiers quickly untied Sun Qian, and Sun Qian walked out of the tent with the letter, and returned to Kaiyang City with Cao Bao to meet Tao Qian.

Tao Qian felt a little relieved when he learned that Sun Qian had returned with Cao Bao safe and sound.

Sun Qian entered the city, and when he saw Tao Qian, he immediately presented a letter and said: "Cao Cao quietly retreated last night, and when he left, he left this letter for Tao Shijun, please Tao Shijun Take a look!"

Tao Qian opened the letter and read it. Cao Cao wrote in the letter that it was because of Liu Bei that he withdrew his troops, but he didn't mention Zhang Yan's capture of all parts of Yanzhou.

Sun Qian said again: "Tao Shijun, last night I saw Xia Houyuan tell Cao Cao that something happened in Yanzhou. Zhang Yan led his army to wipe out Cao Ren's army, killed Le Jin, surrendered Yu Jin, and captured Cao Ren alive. In addition, Chen Gong, the prefect of Dongjun under Cao Cao's tent, and Zhang Miao, the prefect of Chenliu, secretly united to welcome Lu Bu as Yanzhou pastor and attack all parts of Yanzhou. At present, only Juancheng, Fanxian and Dong'a counties of Cao Cao are still there. Under control. Although Cao Cao withdrew his army last night, he traveled all night and his soldiers were a little tired, so he will not go too far. Why not lead his army to pursue Cao Jun, maybe he can gain something!"

After Tao Qian heard this, he nodded again and again, and hurriedly said: "Zang Ba, gather all the cavalry and immediately pursue Cao Cao!"

Chen Deng hurriedly suggested: "Mr. Tao, Cao Cao uses his troops like a god. Although he retreats in a hurry, he will inevitably take precautions. As the saying goes, the poor should not pursue, not to mention that our army is already exhausted, so it is not suitable to pursue. It is better to let Cao Cao go. go."

Tao Qian said: "Cao Cao heard that there was a loss in Yanzhou and retreated overnight. How could he think that we would pursue it? This is a golden opportunity. If we don't take advantage of this time to attack Cao's army and recover our losses, when will we wait?" ? Zang Ba, immediately gather all the cavalry, led by you, to pursue Cao Cao!"

"Tao Shijun, the general thinks what Chen Xiaowei said is very true. Cao Cao has always used his troops treacherously. If he retreats his army, he will definitely leave a soldier behind to ensure that the army can return to Yanzhou safely. If our army leads the army at this time Chase, I'm afraid I'll fall into Cao Jun's ambush, then the gain will not be worth the loss." Zang Ba clasped his fists.

Seeing that Zang Ba refused to go, Tao Qian was also furious, and gave Zang Ba a vicious look.

At this time, Cao Bao volunteered and said: "Tao Shijun, since Captain Zang is unwilling to go, let me go!"

"That's all there is to it." Tao Qian said.

Cao Bao then turned to Liu Bei, Kong Rong, and Tian Kai and said, "Cao Cao took Yanzhou as his foundation. Now that Yanzhou is lost, Cao Cao is exhausted, and he will definitely go back in a hurry. He is like a bereaved dog now. How could he set up an ambush on the road? What are you leading?" The rescuers are all fresh troops, I wonder if you can go to pursue Cao Cao with me, I will not take any of the looted Cao army's equipment, I will share it with you, I don't know what you think?"

Tian Kai and Liu Bei nodded their heads when they saw that it was profitable. Although Kong Rong wanted a piece of the pie, but he didn't have cavalry in his hands, and Tai Shici also came to help, so he couldn't be counted as his subordinate, so he had to give up.

Therefore, Tian Kai led five hundred cavalrymen under his command, Liu Bei led more than a hundred cavalrymen including Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun, together with two thousand cavalry composed of Danyang soldiers led by Cao Bao, bid farewell to Tao Qian, and pursued Cao Cao mightily. up.

Chen Deng shook his head helplessly, sighed lightly, and said, "Whether they can come back alive is still unknown..."

Tao Qian walked away when he heard Chen Deng's dejected words, and sat in the hall with Kong Rong, Tai Shici, Mi Zhu, Sun Qian and others, waiting for the good news.

An hour later, the "good news" finally came. Cao Bao, Liu Bei, and Tian Kai went to pursue Cao Cao, but encountered an ambush on the way. , Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun's desperate protection, I am afraid that the end will be the same as Cao Bao.

More than 2000 cavalrymen went in a mighty manner, but only a dozen cavalrymen came back, which can be described as a heavy loss.

Tao Qian regretted it very much now, the only blame is that he didn't listen to Chen Deng's advice at the beginning, so that he was defeated. Don't feel bad?
In the hall of the Taishou Mansion, Liu Bei and Tian Kai came back disheartened, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun were also downcast. Tao Qian hurriedly found someone to treat Liu Bei and Tian Kai's injuries, and arranged for a guest room for everyone to stay temporarily. No more mention of chasing Cao Cao.

At the same time, Zhang Yan led more than 2000 cavalry including Yu Jin, and finally entered the territory of Juancheng after a day's long journey.

When they were about to arrive in Juancheng, Zhang Yan, Yu Jin and others suddenly saw a majestic army coming from the northwest. Looking from a distance, they saw banners fluttering in the army, and they were flying the banner with the word "Lv".

Zhang Yan frowned, guessing: "Could it be Lu Bu's army?"

(End of this chapter)