Great Han Empire

Chapter 765: A Storm of Troubled Heroes

At the end of August, Cao Cao decided to retreat after careful discussion with Liu Biao and Liu Bei.

Cao Cao was the first to get the news of Yuan Shu's betrayal.When Yuan Shu's general Ji Ling began to attack Dingtao City, Xun Yu, who had been prepared, sent the news to Xindu City as quickly as possible.This news was what Cao Cao was eagerly looking forward to. On the one hand, he urged the guards stationed in Ganling City and Dongwuyang to be careful to guard against the surprise attack of the northern army and ensure the smooth flow of the grain road, while anxiously waiting for the news of the attacking army on the east road.If the army wants to retreat safely, the army on the East Road must reach the Nanpi City to contain the main force of the Northern Army.

Cao Cao did not tell Liu Biao and Liu Bei the news, he deliberately concealed it.At this time, the East Army had not arrived at Nanpi City. Once the news of Yuan Shu's betrayal spread, the East Army would withdraw.If the army on the East Road withdraws too quickly, not only will it not be able to achieve its goal of exhausting its opponents, but it may also slow down the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army's southward retreat.

But only one day later, Liu Bei received an urgent letter from Xuzhou.Yuan Shu's generals Qiao Rui, Zhang Xun, and Sun Ce attacked Xiapi, Pengcheng, and Guangling in three groups, and Xuzhou was in danger.

Liu Bei immediately asked to withdraw his troops.Cao Cao and Liu Biao advised him to proceed from the overall situation and wait for a while.If the army on the East Road loses the cover and support of the main force, it will be difficult to retreat completely.Although Liu Bei was very worried, he didn't want to abandon his army, so he had to stay under the city of Xindu.

At this time, Xun Yu's second letter arrived.After Yuan Shu found out that the emperor was not in Changyi City, he personally led the army to besiege Dingtao.Yuan Shu has already taken the bait and was dragged under the city of Dingtao. The prime minister can retreat quickly.

At the same time, Jingzhou also sent urgent books.Cai Mao and Liu Xian, who stayed behind in Jingzhou Prefecture, wrote to Liu Biao that in August, Liu Zhang of Yizhou commanded the Yizhou army to attack Jingzhou.

Now the three of them were eager to withdraw their troops.Cao Cao reckoned that the army from the East Route had already arrived at Nanpi City, and after this period of siege, he also believed that the main force of the Northern Army had moved eastward, and at this moment his goal had been fully achieved.While Cao Cao hurriedly ordered the army on the East Road to retreat, he, Liu Biao and Liu Bei jointly signed a letter to Yuan Shao, asking him to lead the army to move towards Ganling City in order to cope with the retreat of the army.

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Liu Biao and Liu Bei believed that Yuan Shu's betrayal was related to Yuan Shao.Without Yuan Shao's secret support, with Yuan Shu's shrewdness and his current strength, he would never dare to do such a thing, so the two of them disagreed to tell Yuan Shao the news of the army's retreat, so that Yuan Shao would not run away first.As soon as Yuan Shao ran away, the Northern Frontier Army could gather all the troops to chase and intercept the Northern Expeditionary Army. In this way, the retreat of the army would be very difficult and dangerous.

But Cao Cao didn't think so.

Yuan Shao must now know about Yuan Shu's betrayal of the alliance, but no matter what countermeasures Yuan Shao adopts for this matter, he must face up to a reality. If the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army withdraws to the Central Plains, Yuan Shu's end will definitely be miserable.The reason why Yuan Shu is so arrogant now is probably related to his wishful thinking that the Northern Expedition Army will definitely be wiped out on the north bank of the Yellow River.

If the Northern Expedition Army is wiped out and Yuan Shu dominates the Central Plains, the two will surely have a life-and-death battle in the future. This will hit Yuan Shao hard, and he doesn't want to see this situation happen.If all the Northern Expeditionary Army withdraws, Yuan Shu will end badly, and the power of the Yuan Clan will be greatly weakened. Yuan Shao does not want to see this kind of situation, so he has only one choice in the end, which is to let the Northern Expedition go as far as possible. The Zheng army suffered heavy losses, which greatly damaged the strength of Cao Cao, Liu Bei and others, and let them fight Yuan Shu in the Central Plains. When Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Yuan Shu and others were dying, he could take the Central Plains without any effort.

In order to achieve this goal, Yuan Shao will definitely not be in a hurry to retreat now. He must first stabilize the retreating army of the Northern Expedition, so that the army of the Northern Expedition can feel safe. The footsteps will be greatly slowed down. In this way, one Yuan Shu won the time to attack the city and seize the land, and the other Northern Border Army won the time to chase and intercept.

Therefore, Cao Cao believed that Yuan Shao would definitely respond to the retreat of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

As long as we join Tian Kai's East Army near Ganling Kingdom, we will immediately gain an advantage in terms of strength. At this time, the Northern Frontier Army must give up our pursuit and turn to encircle Yuan Shao, who has fewer troops.As far as Li Hong is concerned, he has to fight one no matter what now, and he can't let us go swaggeringly.For us, no matter what, we must use this opportunity to weaken the strength of the Yuan brothers, lest they become powerful in the future and usurp the great Han society.

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Cao Cao said this to Liu Biao and Liu Bei. He knew very well in his heart that after he persuaded Tian Kai and others to divide their troops and advance eastward, the fate of the East Army had already been decided. If there were no accidents, the East Army would suffer heavy losses. , and even the entire army was wiped out. Although he lost 1 people, it was a fatal blow compared to the weaker Qingzhou and Xuzhou.After the army withdrew to the Central Plains and defeated Yuan, Qingzhou and Xuzhou had to rely more on themselves in order to survive, which laid a solid foundation for themselves to annex Qing, Xu, and Yangzhou and dominate the Central Plains.

In order to encircle and annihilate the army on the East Road, the Northern Army needed to mobilize a lot of troops, and it took time. This just gave them a chance to retreat calmly, and the excuse for retreat was Yuan Shu's betrayal.

Cao Cao now thinks Yuan Shu is really cute.If Yuan Shu hadn't betrayed at this critical moment, not only would he have no excuse to withdraw his troops, but he would have to find ways to mobilize troops to rescue the army on the East Road. It is possible to be surrounded by the Northern Xinjiang Army and the entire army will be wiped out.

It is precisely because he can retreat calmly and still has great strength in his hands, which pulls Yuan Shao to the battlefield of Jizhou.Now as long as he runs fast enough and the Northern Army also runs fast enough, Yuan Shao will die.

Thinking of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu's dejected faces, as if they were mourning their concubine, Cao Cao was very proud.

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As soon as the army withdrew across the Jiangshui River, a shocking news came. The army of the East Road was blocked by the Northern Xinjiang Army in the Dongguang area.

Cao Cao felt that the situation was a bit wrong, and hurriedly ordered all the troops to retreat quickly, but only one day later, Wenpin's urgent report came.

The life and death of Tian Kai and Ma Teng's army is uncertain, Xiahou Dun is surrounded by Xinhe, and Zang Ba flees and leads his army to Qingzhou.Now Wei Yan is camping on the north bank of the Dagu River with food, supplies and tens of thousands of civilians, trying to delay the attack of the northern army, while himself and Huang Zhong are leading [-] Jingzhou troops to quickly retreat towards the direction of Ganling.Wenpin worried that the northern Xinjiang cavalry would set up an ambush in the Panhe area, so he asked Liu Biao to quickly send troops to support.

Cao Cao, Liu Biao, Liu Bei and others were terrified.Why did the situation on the battlefield in Jizhou change drastically overnight?How many Northern Xinjiang troops are there in the Dongguang area?How many troops does Qu Yi have after him?
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At this time, the army of the Northern Expedition was on both sides of the Qinghe River, about [-] miles away from the Panhe River. Liu Biao was worried about the safety of the Jingzhou Army and strongly demanded to send troops to respond.

Cao Cao flatly refused.

Since the northern border army surrounded Xiahou Dun's army, Tian Kai and Ma Teng's army must have been surrounded and wiped out.According to the calculation of time, Xiahou Dun's army is estimated to be finished.Zang Ba and his subordinates were originally Yellow Turbans, and it was normal for them to flee, but for Xuzhou, not only the loss of 1 troops, but also the scourge of frequent Yellow Turban invasions in the future.As for the [-] troops in Jingzhou, the Northern Xinjiang Army will not let them go, and there must be a huge chasing and interception that will follow. These [-] people will not be saved, so give up, lest the troops who went to the rescue be taken along with them. buried.

The most urgent task now is to send troops to rescue Ganling City and Guantao City immediately, so as to prevent the northern border cavalry from cutting off our retreat.

"If the Northern Army uses their iron cavalry to occupy Ganling City in the south and Qingyuan and Guantao City in the west, then we will be completely surrounded." Cao Cao said solemnly, "Qu Yi is now in our Behind and to the east are tens of thousands of northern border troops rushing towards us. The situation is very critical."

"Then which direction are we going to retreat? From the direction of Ganling City, or from the direction of Guantao?" Liu Biao knew that Cao Cao was right, so he could only reluctantly abandon his 1 horses and let them fend for themselves.

"From Brother Jing Sheng's point of view, which direction is the safest for us to retreat from?"

"Ganling City." Liu Biao said without hesitation, "We will go south from Ganling City, cross the Dahe Gudu and enter Dongjun, and then follow Fagan and Dongwuyang to the Yellow River. This is the shortest distance."

"We can imagine that the northern army will naturally think that they will send heavy troops to the Dahe Gudu to stop us." Cao Cao shook his head and said, "Although this retreat is the shortest, it is a dead end."

"How do you know that the northern border army will rush ahead of us and cut off the army's retreat?" Liu Biao sneered, "Since you can predict everything, why is there such a crisis today?"

Cao Cao looked at Liu Biao coldly, with a trace of contempt in his eyes.He hummed softly, but said nothing.

Liu Bei stretched out his hand to pull Liu Biao, signaling him not to get excited.In this army, the combined army of Liu Biao and Liu Bei is less than 5000 people, while Cao Cao has nearly 3 horses, and there are [-] Qingzhou troops who also obey Cao Cao's military orders.If Tian Kai is really dead, it will soon become Cao Cao's Yanzhou Army.As for Qingzhou, it seems that it must be in Cao Cao's pocket.After the Battle of Dongguang, it was not only the situation in Jizhou that was reversed, but also the situation in the Central Plains.Now that Cao Cao is very powerful, he must listen to Cao Cao in everything, especially when the relationship is life and death, let alone fall out with Cao Cao and ask for trouble.

"Does the Prime Minister think that we should retreat in the direction of Guantao?" Liu Bei looked at the map and asked suspiciously, "Guantao is two hundred miles away from Ganling City. If we retreat in this direction, our intention is too obvious and we will be easily attacked. The attack by the iron cavalry in Northern Xinjiang will cause even greater losses. Does the Prime Minister think that Yuan Shao will definitely come to meet us?"

"Yes, Yuan Shao will definitely come." Cao Cao said very confidently, "Now, we give up going south to Ganling City, and the army advances along the south bank of the Qing River to Qingyuan and Guantao in the southwest." Then he looked at the crowd, Suddenly he stroked his beard and smiled, "Tell me, what expression will Li Hong have when he hears that we are running straight towards Guantao?"

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In early September, Pingyuan City.

Tian Kai raised his head with difficulty.

The horse lying beside him was still neighing mournfully, and bright red blood spurted out from the long wound on the horse's abdomen, splashing his head and face.There are galloping horseshoes everywhere in front of my eyes, and the sound of fierce fighting seems to come from far away, and suddenly it seems to be close at hand.Tian Kai wanted to get up, but the long arrow pierced his shoulder blades and pierced his abdomen, and the great pain made him howl uncontrollably.

He regretted it. He felt that he should follow Ma Teng's persuasion and return to the Ganling Congress with Ma Teng to join Cao Cao.Although Dongguang was defeated in the first battle, it was not his responsibility. At that time, countless Northern Xinjiang troops came to kill him, and he had no power to parry at all.Cao Cao still has his own army of [-]. With this [-] army, he can still occupy Qingzhou, but now there is nothing.

If I left Pingyuan City earlier, if I crossed the river and returned to Qingzhou earlier, would I be able to escape this pursuit?Am I going to survive?
Tian Kai lay down in a pool of blood, the blood in his body was draining little by little, and his life was leaving him little by little. Although the physical pain made him twitch all over, he no longer felt the pain in his heart.

He turned his face sideways with difficulty, trying to open his eyes to look at the blue sky.He thought of Youzhou, the endless prairie, and the moment when he saw Li Hong for the first time.This Xianbei slave who came back from the desert finally defeated Gongsun Zan and himself.

Tian Kai slowly closed his eyes.

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Gongsun Xu squatted next to Tian Kai's body, endured it for a long time, and still shed tears.

Tian Kai watched him grow up, he was his uncle, he once fought fiercely with his father in the northern frontier, but today he died under the Youzhou iron cavalry.

Li Su helped Gongsun Xu up and comforted him softly.

Back then in Youzhou, the General, Xian Yufu, Yushi, Yan Rou, me, and many others all fought side by side with him.The enemies at that time are now friends, and the brothers at that time are now enemies. Life is such helplessness.Li Su sighed, and waved to the guards standing behind him, "Send the order to send Tian Kai to Yuyang, Youzhou for burial. Even if he is a rebel, he should be buried in the place where he fought bloody battles." .”

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(End of this chapter)