Great Han Empire

Chapter 863 The Heroes of Troubled Times Compete in the Central Plains
At the end of August, Yuan Shao ordered the various armies to launch an attack to contain the troops of the Northern Xinjiang Army and attract the attention of the Northern Xinjiang Army, so as to cope with Cao Cao's Yanzhou Army's attack on Gushi and Wuchao.

On the frontal battlefield at Guandu, Yuan Shao concentrated his main force to attack the north bank of Honggoushui from the front line of Putianze and Qu Yuju, while Kuai Yue used all his troops to attack the Northern Xinjiang Army from the front line of Qu Yuju and Junyi.

On the flank of the Guandu battlefield, Xu Qi (qiu) ordered Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Ji Ling to lead their troops across the gutter and attack Sanling Pavilion.He personally led the army of Sun Fu and Lu Su to attack Fengqiu City, intending to cut off the connection between the northern border troops on the east and west banks of Yingoushui, and help Cao Cao cross the Jishui River to attack Wuchao.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides fought fiercely in the battlefields on both sides of Honggoushui, Yingoushui and Jishui River.

At this time, Xia Houyuan quickly rushed to Longcheng, 150 miles away, with five hundred Qingqi and three thousand soldiers.Ten miles east of Longcheng is Bianqu.He ordered the soldiers to rest in a forest on the bank of Bianqu, preparing to cross the river at dusk, and rush a hundred miles overnight to attack the old city.

After Cao Cao rushed to Junyi to join Cao Hong and Yang Ping, he led the army to advance rapidly to Fengqiu.On the way, he received good news that Xu Chu had arrived at Junyi City with three thousand tigers and leopards riding Xiaopei day and night.Cao Cao was overjoyed and hurriedly ordered Xu Chu to lead his army north to join him.After Cao Cao saw Xu Chu, he asked him how the situation in Xuzhou was. Xu Chu answered three words, "I don't know."Cao Cao was angry and funny, "I want to ask you, how are my family members doing now?" Xu Chu finally understood Cao Cao's meaning, he smiled embarrassedly, and said that after the army stationed in Xiaopei, Zihe (Cao Chun) once I personally visited Pengcheng once, and it is said that Jian Yong took good care of him.

Xu Qi's attack went very smoothly, and the northern army couldn't resist, so they retreated to Fengqiu City to hold their ground.When Cao Cao rushed to Fengqiu, Xu Qi had already begun to attack the city.After Cao Cao saw Xu Wei, he asked him to attack overnight to cover his army to cross the river at night.

In the evening, scouts came to report that the Northern Frontier Army sensed danger and was organizing troops to move the grain and grass stored in Wuchao overnight, and it was estimated that they would transfer them to Yanjin.

Cao Cao made a decisive decision and immediately ordered the army to cross the river to attack.

=

Black nest.

Chang Xi hurried into the big tent to report the latest military situation to Gao Shun, "The rebels have launched an attack, shall we let them cross the river?"

"Whose army?" Gao Shun asked with a frown.

"Cao Cao's." Chang Xi said excitedly, "This time we can surround him and kill him to death."

Gao Shun thought for a while, then pointed to the messenger and said, "Report to Lord Yan Rou immediately that Cao Cao is coming, and ask him to withdraw the cavalry guarding the east of Jishui River."

"Why?" Chang Xi asked strangely, "Didn't your lord's original strategy lure the enemy to Wuchao, and then encircle and wipe them out?"

"Cao Cao is here, he will do his best." Gao Shun said grimly, "Once we fail to encircle and annihilate him, we will give him a foothold in Wuchao, and Fengqiu City will fall into siege. Fengqiu City will lose its function, and the rebels will They will swarm across the river, kill Suanzao and Yanjin, and encircle our army in the area of ​​Jishui River and Honggoushui."

Chang Xi's eyes followed Gao Shun's big hand moving back and forth on the map, and he was suddenly startled.

"Master Zhang Yan ordered us to withdraw from Chenliu and rush directly to the Wuchao area on the north bank of the Jishui River to garrison in order to strengthen the army's defensive strength on the front line of Fengqiu City. When Fengqiu City falls, we can still rely on Jishui The danger of the river kept the rebels firmly on the other side to ensure the retreat of the army." Gao Shun said, "Near Junyi City, there are mainly the troops of Kuaiyue and Xu Yu. If Yuan Shao asks them to attack Wuchao, We can set up a trap, wait for them to set fire to Wuchao, and then send out an ambush to surround them. Compared with the Yanzhou army, these people's army lacks a murderous spirit, a courage to put them to death and survive."

"Now the Yanzhou army has no home. This decisive battle is their last chance to regain Yanzhou. If they lose, they will die. When a person has no fear of life and death, he is a lunatic. You cannot confront a group of lunatics head-on , we should avoid their edge and plan other strategies, so as not to fall short and ruin the victory in vain."

Gao Shun took his hand away from the map and shook his head in doubt, "I find it difficult to understand that Cao Cao was originally in Guandu, how could he rush to Fengqiu to attack Wuchao in person? Even if he wants to go out in person, he should go to attack Wuchao himself." Old City, not Wuchao." Gao Shun turned his head to look at Chang Xi, with a smile on his face, "Do you know why Cao Cao came to Wuchao?"

Chang Xi wiped the sweat from his brow, hesitated for a moment, and said softly, "Does he want to run away?"

Gao Shun folded his arms and thought for a long time, "Go to the front line immediately and tell Wu Xiong and Guan Hai to firmly hold the defense line of Jishui River and block Cao Cao."

Chang Xi bowed to leave, and stopped after taking two steps.

Gao Shun waved at him, "Don't worry, Cao Cao will find a way to cross the river. Since we want him to burn Wuchao, even if he leads 300 people across the river, he can successfully burn our food and grass camp."

=

Cao Cao turned around in the dark with his hands behind his back.

In the distance, the sky above Fengqiu City was filled with flames, and the deafening sound of killing shook the night.On both sides of the nearby Jishui River, flames also rose into the air, and the soldiers on both sides fought hard with raging arrows.

Xun Yu, Guo Jia and others stood behind Cao Cao anxiously.There are more and more Northern Xinjiang troops on the other side, and the counterattack force is getting stronger and stronger. The long arrows in the sky make the Yanzhou army unable to lift their heads. Under such circumstances, it is impossible to forcefully cross the river.

"Quickly think of a solution, immediately think of a solution." Cao Cao was so enraged that his voice became a little hoarse, "If this stalemate continues, Wuchao's food will be emptied by the Northern Xinjiang Army."

"I don't know how many Northern Border troops are on the opposite side." Guo Jia said to Cao Cao looking at the distant battlefield, "If the Northern Border Army on the opposite side are all troops guarding the Wuchao Food and Grass Camp, then Wuchao is now an empty camp, except for food and grass. The luggage is the husband of the people."

The voices on the battlefield were too noisy, Cao Cao couldn't hear what Guo Jia said, so he walked two steps closer to Guo Jia, and shouted: "What are you talking about, speak louder."

"The purpose of our attack has been exposed. It is estimated that the Northern Army guarding the Wuchao Grain and Grass Camp has arrived here. Now Wuchao has not many enemies." Guo Jia approached Cao Cao's ear and raised his voice, "I suggest that the Lord Bring tigers and leopards to ride, find another place to cross the river, and rush to Wuchao as soon as possible to burn their food and grass." Guo Jia raised his finger to the night sky, "Yangwu City is only sixty miles away from here, and Suanzao and Yanjin are only more than 50 miles away. Here, once their reinforcements arrive before dawn, our attack will fail."

"Find another place to cross the river?" Cao Cao's eyes suddenly lit up.

"The army of Northern Xinjiang is worried that we will kill Suanzao and Yanjin after crossing the river and cut off their retreat, so they will desperately block us at the Jishui River. If the fight continues like this, the battle will become more and more fierce, and our chances will also increase. Little by little." Guo Jia said anxiously, "My lord, immediately ask Master Xu Chu to ride the tiger and leopard along the Jishui River to the east, and see if we can find a place to cross the river."

"Northern Xinjiang cavalry will definitely patrol the other side of the Jishui River. I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to find opportunities." Cao Cao's expression suddenly darkened when he thought of the sturdy Northern Xinjiang cavalry.

Guo Jia hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly opened the map that he had been holding in his arms.Xun Yu hurriedly took the torch from the guard next to him, and walked to the two of them.

Five miles east of Fengqiu City is the confluence of Jishui River and Pushui River, and then the two rivers, one south and one north, flow side by side to Juyeze.The two rivers start from the confluence, and the distance between them becomes wider and wider.

"Your Excellency, you can cross the Jishui River first, then go north for a few miles, and then cross the Pushui River to enter the plain northeast of Wuchao." Guo Jia pointed to the map with the flickering fire and said, "Most of the Northern Xinjiang Army is held by us. Here, for the sake of safety, their iron cavalry will definitely concentrate in Wuchao area to protect food and grass. Their iron cavalry patrolling along the river will only pay attention to the east and west sections of Fengqiu City, and they must be negligent in guarding against the Pushui section after the confluence of the two rivers. .Our attack has just begun, and they would not have thought that we would sneak behind them in such a short period of time."

Cao Cao thought for a while, reached out and patted Guo Jia's thin shoulder, and said with a wry smile, "At this point, we can only try."

=

Dawn, dawn.

Yan Rou, Jiang Wu, Wei Jun, and Yang Ming stood outside a forest in the northeast of Wuchao, lazily watching the birds flying around and chirping, feeling bored.

The Wuchao camp in the distance was bathed in the morning sun, and busy crowds were coming in and out.

"Ziping (Gao Shun) changed his plan temporarily and insisted on blocking Cao Cao on the south bank of the Jishui River. This is good, Cao Cao is at a loss and will not come." Wei Jun took a sip of water from the water bag, and looked dissatisfied. Yan Rou immediately dozed off, "Why did you listen to him? You finally got a chance to besiege Cao Cao, but it was wasted like this."

Yan Rou gave an ambiguous "hum" and didn't speak.

"Don't worry, it's not time to kill Cao Cao yet." Jiang Wu stretched her waist and said with a smile, "Cao Cao and his subordinates are now jealous of killing Cao Cao, we'd better avoid it and don't fight with him." They hit head-on. Killing one thousand enemies and harming ourselves by eight hundred, we don’t do this kind of thing.”

"Hmph..." Wei Jun glared at him, "Are you old? Why is your murderous spirit gone?"

Jiang Wu didn't bother to pay attention to him, and just let him curse.

At this moment, the war horse that Yan Rou sat on suddenly shook its head, then swung its front hooves, and let out a long neigh.Yan Rou's eyes suddenly opened, and she turned her head to look at the rising sun.

Several fast horses rushed out of the fiery red clouds, roaring all the way.

"Here we come." Yan Rou shouted excitedly, "Cao Cao is here."

=

Regardless of the dissuasion of Xun Yu, Guo Jia and others, Cao Cao personally led the tigers and leopards across the Jishui River and Pushui River, made a small circle of about forty miles, and successfully arrived in the northeast of Wuchao.As Guo Jia said, the Northern Army was probably attracted by the fighting in Fengqiu City, and there was no Northern Army patrolling here.Although this situation is extremely abnormal, Cao Cao has no time to think about it.When you arrive at Wuchao, you will face a battle of life and death, and it is superfluous to think about anything.

Under the leadership of Cao Cao, the tigers and leopards marched forward indomitable speed.

The Wuchao camp was in chaos in an instant, the sound of war drums for alarm, and the sound of panic horns resounded through the field for a while.The peasants in the camp seemed to be blown up, wolves galloped, and their fearful shouts were earth-shattering, even overshadowing the rumbling horses galloping.

Teams of guard cavalry rushed out of the camp, but facing the overwhelming enemy and the thrilling roar of killing, they completely lost the courage to fight, turned their horses and ran away one by one. .

The tiger and leopard riders rushed into the camp, slashed and killed wantonly, and set fire everywhere.In a short period of time, the Wuchao camp was engulfed in flames, with billowing thick smoke covering the sky and the sun.

"Let's go, let's go..." Cao Cao saw the fire ignited, and immediately roared, "Retreat immediately, withdraw..."

Fifteen miles away is the battlefield of fierce fighting. If there is a slight delay, the sneak attack cavalry will be surrounded by the northern border army, and no one will be able to escape.

Tigers and leopards rode back and forth like flying, and roared along the way they came from in a blink of an eye.

Huge roars sounded from all over the Wuchao camp, and iron cavalry rushed out like the wind.

Cao Cao's face turned pale with fright, he hit his horse and galloped, wishing he could have wings.Xu Chu remained calm in the face of danger, and let some cavalry protect Cao Cao to evacuate along the north bank of the Pushui River, and turned around with some cavalry to meet him.At this time, if you don't try your best to block the northern Xinjiang cavalry who are chasing, the 3000 people will be wiped out.

The Duliao Cavalry, Yunzhong Cavalry, and Wula Cavalry surrounded them from all directions, like chopping melons and vegetables, and killed Cao Cao's tiger and leopard cavalry.Xu Chu led his personal guards and cavalry to break through the siege, and finally took only a dozen people to jump into the river and escape to the other side of the Pushui River.

Wei Jun was not satisfied, and commanded the Wula iron cavalry to continue to pursue, but Yan Rou gave the order to sound the horn to withdraw troops.

"Now we have to put out the fire, so go back and put out the fire immediately." Yan Rou smiled at the furious Wei Jun, "The Wuchao camp is on fire, if you don't go to put out the fire, but pursue and kill people all the way, it will arouse the suspicion of the rebels."

"There may be Cao Cao in there." Wei Jun pointed to the direction where the enemy cavalry fled, and shouted, "If Cao Cao can be killed, the rebels must be gutted."

Yan Rou waved her hands again and again, "You think highly of Cao Cao too. Who is Cao Cao? He would put himself in danger? Also, how can you fight this battle if you have made the rebel army utterly shattered? split apart, but let their morale be like a rainbow."

Wei Jun was so angry that he blew his beard and stared, and cursed.Yan Rou turned her horse's head and walked away as if she didn't hear it.

=

Under August, Zhongmu.

Yuan Shao received the news from Xia Houyuan that they successfully burned down the Northern Xinjiang Army Food and Grass Camp in the old city, but 500 people were chased and killed by Northern Xinjiang cavalry during the retreat, and finally the entire army of 400 infantry was wiped out. I only brought more than [-] light knights and retreated to Longcheng, and suffered heavy losses.

Yuan Shao was overjoyed and anxiously waited for news from Cao Cao.If Cao Cao could also burn down the Wuchao Camp, the Northern Army would not be able to hold out for a few days on the Guandu battlefield.

Good news followed.Cao Cao urgently reported that the sneak attack on Wuchao was successful. Although more than 1000 tigers and leopards were paid a heavy price for this, it finally completely reversed the current battle situation.The decisive battle can begin.

Yuan Shao was elated, and while ordering heavy rewards to the meritorious soldiers, he ordered all the troops on the battlefield to immediately withdraw from the battle, seize the time to rest and prepare for a decisive battle with the northern army.Yuan Shao's reason for not fighting a decisive battle is very simple. Burning the food and grass accumulated by the Northern Xinjiang Army in Gushi and Wuchao does not mean that the Northern Xinjiang Army has no food and ordnance now.According to the usual practice, each army must prepare at least three to five days of food, grass and military equipment during the war in case of emergencies, so the best time for a decisive battle should be five days later.Of course, within these five days, if the northern army wanted to retreat, the army would immediately launch an attack when its position was unstable and the army was in a state of confusion.

After Yuan Shao's order spread to all the armies, Liu Biao and Cao Cao were most anxious, and they rushed to Zhongmu to persuade them.

Liu Biao rushed to Zhongmu first.He said to Yuan Shao, now is the time to attack, how can you stop the army?We have less and less food, don't you know?
When Xu You came back a few days ago, he said that there was trouble in the desert, and the king of Xianbei, Kebi Xiong, defeated Xian Yufu, and Li Hong hurried back to Handan from Guandu for this reason.In addition, it is also true that Zang Ba betrayed Hebei and joined us again, right?What do these two things mean?It shows that the northern border army has worries about the future, and Li Hong can't support it anymore. He may have made preparations in advance to retreat.Now we have burned the food and grass of the Northern Army. The Northern Army has completely lost the possibility of defeating us. They will withdraw immediately. Therefore, our top priority is to attack, keep attacking, and drag the Northern Army firmly in Guandu. Let them retreat even if they want to, so that once they run out of food and grass, the army's morale will be in chaos, and collapse is inevitable.

Yuan Shao shook his head and refused.

What we burned was only the food and grass that the Northern Xinjiang army had accumulated on the Guandu battlefield. They had more food and grass in Liyang, Baima, and Puyang. In the event of a war, Li Hong could only give up the retreat for the time being, and instead tried his best to send food and grass to Guandu, and continue to fight with us for consumption.The war situation has progressed to this point, do we still need to fight for consumption?Could it be that Brother Jing Sheng is willing to bury his Jingzhou disciples on the Guandu battlefield?

Liu Ming made it clear that Yuan Shao didn't want to fight anymore.The reason why he stopped fighting now was to give the Northern Xinjiang Army time to retreat.As long as the Northern Xinjiang Army withdrew from Guandu and returned to Hebei, he would be able to take advantage of a huge advantage.Unparalleled feats and the great land of the Central Plains became his possessions in a blink of an eye.No wonder he insisted on sending the emperor to Nanyang, that's what happened.

=

Cao Cao returned to Guandu day and night, and Cheng Yu, who came out of the camp to meet him, looked sad, "Ziyuan (Xu You) is dead."

Cao Cao was shocked, "Yuan Shao killed it?"

Cheng Yu nodded, "After you and Miaocai (Xiahouyuan) successfully burned the food and grass of the Northern Frontier Army, Fengji immediately led people to surround our camp and forced Ziyuan to death."

Cao Cao's hands and feet were cold, and he suddenly realized that he had made a fatal stupid mistake, "Yuan Shao is going to attack me."

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(To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please visit www.CMFU.COM, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)
(End of this chapter)