Back to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Chapter 158 Cao Mengde narrowly escaped death
The section of the south city wall from the south city gate to the west was tens of feet away. At this time, it was crowded with elite Cao Cao troops, and below the city gate, corpses were piled up like a mountain. The blood made the ground slippery. Cao Cao's army on the city wall has been killed. If you want to continue to chase Cao Cao up the city wall, you must abandon your horse and fight on the city wall.

"kill!"

Lu Bu pointed his halberd, abandoned his horse and led the army to kill the top of the city, beheading nearly a thousand Cao soldiers in a row, to see where Cao Cao was approaching, but Cao Cao had already grabbed several siege ladders at this time, and fled out of the city first through the ladders.

Some of Cao Cao's elite soldiers, who had no time to escape, were afraid of Lu Bu's power, so they jumped directly over the walls of the city wall, and jumped down.

Although the city wall of Puyang City is not too high, it is still several feet high. If you jump well, you can fall into the moat. If you can swim, you can save your life.

Seeing this, Lu Bu ordered Cheng Lian to lead five hundred elite soldiers out of the city to intercept and kill the fleeing Cao soldiers, so that Cao Cao would not be allowed to escape.

But when Cheng Lian came out of the city, even though hundreds of Cao soldiers had been killed, Cao Cao and other generals had already put on the uniforms of ordinary servants, ordered some of the dead soldiers to block the pursuers, and left the battlefield before no one was paying attention.

Cao Cao, who escaped with his life, did not dare to return to the camp. Under the protection of only 200 remaining personal guards and generals, he quickly fled Puyang City. After fleeing Puyang City for nearly ten miles, he gradually collected more than a thousand fleeing After the defeat, Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief.

Cao Hong forcibly recruited a mule and horse from a passing village to help Cao Cao sit in the carriage, not daring to stop for a while, and went straight to Juancheng all the way back.

Although Cao Cao's army outside the east and south gates of Puyang City had all been killed, there were still thousands of Cao soldiers desperately attacking the city at the west and north gates. place, and killed for nearly an hour before the enemy was repelled.

Soon afterwards, Wei Xu, who went to attack Cao Cao's camp, sent people to report that he had taken all three of Cao Cao's battalions, killed more than 20 enemy defenders, repelled more than [-] enemy defenders, and obtained nearly [-] shi of Cao Cao's food and grass, feathers More than [-] arrows, and more than [-] Cao Cao civilian husbands and handymen were captured,...

Cheng Lian came to report that Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun and others could not be found outside the city.

Lu Bu counted the general situation of the battle. In this battle, more than 4000 enemy generals were killed, nearly [-] enemy soldiers were killed, more than [-] Cao Cao soldiers were surrendered, and nearly [-] people died in the battle. Fortunately, most of these deaths were defenders of the city. Soldiers, Lu Bu's most elite personal soldiers were not only killed or injured more than [-] people, not one tenth of them were killed or injured.

Although Lu Bu won a big victory in this battle, the problems before Lu Bu are not optimistic.

Excluding the soldiers who died in the battle, there are still more than 9000 soldiers who are too seriously injured. I am afraid that they will not be able to go to the battlefield in the future. Before the battle, there were [-] soldiers. There are less than [-], if Cao Cao leads an army to attack again, I am afraid it will be difficult to defend Puyang, and Puyang has almost no soldiers to recruit!

Lu Bu summoned Chen Gong to discuss the plan, and Chen Gong said: "My Lord, although Cao Cao has been defeated, he has not hurt the root cause. In less than a month, another army will definitely attack again! In addition, Yuan Shao may also disregard the alliance agreement with Cao Cao and attack Puyang. Why don't you just give up Dunqiu and let Gao Shun lead his troops back to Puyang to guard the city together!"

Lu Bu pondered for a while, and said: "Gongtai, your strategy was completely successful this time, but Cao Cao escaped. After all, our army is still not strong enough! If you can have another five thousand soldiers, Cao Cao will be in trouble." Escape!! Recently, Gao Shun has also come to report frequently. Yuan Shao is in a hurry to attack the city. I am afraid that Dunqiu will not be able to hold on for a long time. Since you have this suggestion, then wait until tomorrow. I will order Cheng Lian to lead an army to meet him Gao Shun, withdraw all the money, food and troops from Dunqiu!"

Chen Gong: "Master Hou, if you want to withdraw your troops, it's best to clear Dunqiu City and leave an empty city for Yuan Shao!"

Lu Bu's eyes flashed, "Empty city?"

"Yes! Yuan Shao is very powerful. If our army retreats from Dunqiu, it may be difficult to attack the North Bank of the Yellow River within a few years. Zang Hong's attitude is not clear. If Zang Hong obeys Yuan Shao's order and attacks Dunqiu, Dunqiu It will be lost, why not take advantage of the fact that Dunqiu is still under the control of our army, and forcibly move out all the money, food, population, etc. in the city, and as long as they arrive in Puyang City, they can be forced to recruit soldiers from among the gentry and household members!" Chen Gong said with his hands clasped , but there was obvious cruelty in his face.

Lu Bu nodded in agreement, but suddenly asked Chen Gongdao: "Gongtai, now that the entire Tian clan has been captured by me, and Cao Cao has also been repelled, what should we do with the Tian clan?"

Chen Gongdao: "These rebels can be killed immediately. Not only can they get their money, food and servants, but they can also incorporate their [-] family members into an army!"

"So, isn't that going to make me lose the trust of others? I'm afraid that from now on, powerful scholars and bureaucrats will no longer trust me! Although Tian is hateful, he has made great contributions in this battle. I agree, as long as he can do it." Help me lure Cao Cao into the trick, and let go of his clan's request! I just don't know how much to let go, so that I can control the Tian clan without making them resent me too much!" Lu Bu frowned.

Chen Gong was speechless for a while, Lu Bu sighed and said: "Gongtai, you should go back and deal with the resettlement of wounded soldiers and damaged houses in the city first, and stabilize the people in the city as soon as possible, Puyang can no longer stand such turmoil Already!"

Chen Gong nodded and took his leave, but only took a few steps before turning back, "Master Hou, I don't know one thing. How did Master Hou know the details of the Tian family? Did someone inform you? If so, this is too serious. It is worrying, I am afraid that this person has already mastered the secrets of everyone in the city, if he rebels, I will be in danger!"

Lu Bu showed displeasure, waved his hand and said, "Don't bother with this matter anymore, so many people died inside and outside the city, the most important thing is to deal with it as soon as possible, otherwise within three days, the corpses will rot and the plague will break out! "

Chen Gong resigned again in fear, Lu Bu looked at Chen Gong's back and said nothing, until Chen Gong retreated out of the door and disappeared, his brows slowly relaxed.

As for the person who sent the warning through an anonymous letter, Lu Bu also knew who it was, but Lu Bu would not listen to Chen Gong's words and go to great lengths to find this person out of the city. Judging from the situation, that person must be a friend rather than an enemy!Even if, as Chen Gong said, he knew everyone in the city inside out, so what, Lu Bu hoped that such a person or force existed, which would be more conducive to deterring Chen Gong, the Tian family and other powerful families in the city.

"Who is this person? What does he want?" Lu Bu asked himself.

"Come here!! Rumor has it that Geng Liang is coming to see me!"

(End of this chapter)