We agreed that you, a weak strategist, would fight against three heroes by yourself?

"But, that was the beginning of Xi Yu's entry into our land of Jizhou."

"Cough cough cough..."

Yuan Shao coughed heavily and his eyes were filled with a sinister look.

Yuan Shao said in a deep voice, "However, I have not really lost yet. I have another plan. As long as it succeeds, the world will surely fall into strife again!"

…

Liyang, in the camp.

Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren have been attacking continuously from Dongjun and Yanjin in the past few months. The two have continuously cooperated with each other and won successive victories. Now they have captured Baima, occupied the city near Liyang, and pushed towards most of Wei County.

However, it has been difficult for the two to make progress in the war since then.

On Yuan Shao's side, the defense of Liyang City was quite effective. Because Wuchao's grain and grass were burned by Cao Cao's troops, Yuan Shao's army was now short of food and could only wait for grain and grass to be shipped from various places. For this reason, Yuan Shao's army in Liyang had to shrink its defense scope. .

Therefore, in the past few months, Jizhou has basically recruited thousands of new soldiers from the territory every month and then sent them to battlefields in various places to ensure the number of soldiers.

As a result, it was very difficult for Cao Cao to attack Li Yang and it would be difficult to capture it for a long time.

In this way, the longer Yuan Shao's army in Liyang City held on, the more unfavorable the situation became for Cao Cao.

Once the war in the south becomes unstoppable or becomes tense, Cao Cao will inevitably be unable to insist on attacking Li Yang, so he can only temporarily abandon Li Yang and have to withdraw his troops. In this way, Yuan Shao, who is now passively being beaten, will have an opportunity to reverse his decadence.

At this time, a meeting had just ended in Cao Cao's military camp. The generals left one after another, but Cao Cao asked Zhu Ling to stay alone.

"Zhu Ling, you have been by my side for a long time. Now I am about to fight Yuan Shao, but I don't want to use you for the time being. You go back to Xuchang for now."

Cao Cao didn't give Zhu Ling a chance and directly dismissed Zhu Ling's military power.

"Lord! Why on earth is this happening?"

Zhu Lingtong's face changed drastically, and he even became a little frightened. "My lord, I have always been absolutely loyal to your lord. I will never secretly collude with the enemy. The buyer seeks glory!"

"Haha, I know this very well..." Cao Cao smiled lightly and patted Zhu Ling's shoulder and said, "You have been following me when I conquered the Yellow Turban bandits in the early years, but I also understand that you have always been treating Yuan Shao. Please do it if you want, after all, he was kind to you in the past, and you can't get rid of this matter."

"So, if I ask you to attack Yuan Shao now, wouldn't it be putting you in a position of treachery? And now that the war in the front has been stabilized, you should go back to the rear first and guard Xuchang. I will definitely record such achievements for you."

As he spoke, Cao Cao smiled, his expression was very sincere, and there was no hint of joking at all.

Cao Cao really believed that if Zhu Lingru stayed in the current war, it would have little impact on the war situation.

"What my lord said is true." Zhu Ling was deeply moved by Cao Cao's words. He immediately knelt on one knee in front of Cao Cao, clasped his fists and saluted, and said in a deep voice, "I will set off immediately and return to Xuchang immediately."

After that, Cao Cao patted the main beam with great satisfaction. Zhu Ling turned around and left the camp, going to rectify his troops and horses in order to quickly withdraw to Xuchang.

At this moment, Cao Ren happened to be passing by and happened to pass by Zhu Ling. Cao Ren walked into Cao Cao's tent out of curiosity and said in a deep voice, "Brother, Fengyi has told you a long time ago to advise Niche not to let him go." Zhu Ling, don’t you remember?”

"Hehehe, it doesn't matter. That's because Fengyi thought too much."

"Brother, you are about to start having those romantic thoughts again."

"Don't learn how to speak for justice! Is it possible that you still can't understand the current war?"

"Brother, please listen to your advice. Brother, this Zhu Ling used to be Yuan Shao's general."

"Because of this, I let Zhu Ling go and gave him two thousand infantry. In this way, Zhu Ling has no chance at all, so I will let him go. Don't worry, Zhu Ling is in Xuchang and has one thousand infantry." Two hundred people can't stir up any trouble."

The two chatted about military affairs until it was almost time to eat.

Cao Ren and Cao Cao chatted for a long time about military matters, until dinner time.

At this moment, Zhu Ling returned to his tent. He sighed and took out a letter from his arms...

This letter comes from Yecheng, Jizhou.

After reading the letter, Zhu Ling murmured, "I don't know how I can save you from the difficulties now. You were kind to me in knowing me. I, Zhu Ling, have to repay such kindness."

"Early on, all the women, children, and children in my family died at the hands of Gongsun Zan. No matter what, it was you who avenged this sworn revenge for me..."

Zhu Ling's face was very surprised, and then he immediately urged the troops to set off. Now, among the core figures of the troops under his command, there are more than a hundred people who are captains of ten and at the level of centurions.

Although these people do not hold real power in Cao's camp, with only more than a thousand soldiers and horses on their side, but with the veterans and officers, as long as Zhu Ling wants to do something, he can still have more than a thousand soldiers and horses on his side. , plus they are all veterans or officers, Zhu Ling can still do a lot, such as cutting off the food and grass in Cao Cao's rear, or even destroying it directly.

In this letter, Yuan Shao talked about his past kindness to Zhu Ling and also mentioned that he had been his adoptive mother for several years. Zhu Ling was inevitably a little moved in his heart, but he had no excuses.

Otherwise, Zhu Ling would feel deeply guilty.

And if Yuan Shao could stabilize himself, Zhu Ling thought he could go back.

In this way, Zhu Ling thought that Cao Cao would win, but at this time, Zhu Ling had a good chance to escape.

From the beginning of the war to the present, Zhu Ling had always believed that Cao Cao would win. However, at this moment, Cao Cao removed his military power and only gave him a few soldiers and horses to march to Xuchang. This gave him a good reason to escape, and he became a member of the army. free man.

After coming out of Cao Cao's camp, Zhu Ling led his troops and horses all the way to Xuchang. There happened to be many grain stations on the way.

Zhu Ling thought that he only needed to detour from the grain depot to Xuchang in the name of Cao Cao, and then pass the grain and grass to Huaxian County, and then pass through two roads in Junxian County, successfully bypass Cao Cao's military camp, and then seize Cao Jun's military rations. , Zhu Ling can return to Yuan Shao and help Yuan Shao solve the crisis in Liyang.

…

That night, it was very quiet in Cao Cao's camp. Now the midsummer is about to pass. This year, Cao Cao has been staying in the Guandu camp. He has never returned to Xuchang, and he is very tired.

Yuan Shao is grieving for Li Yang's army.

"It's a pity that Wen Chou can't compare with Yan Liang after all. If Yan Liang is still there, just because of his bravery, he can be deliberately sided and eliminated directly."

"However, Wen Chou doesn't have many strategies, but when he implements his strategies, he is very honest and reckless, and he executes all orders without any changes. This is very rare."

At this moment, it was in front of Cao Hong and Yu Jin that Cao Cao could calmly express his confusion.

However, in front of other generals, Cao Cao always had a very optimistic image. At the same time, he constantly encouraged his soldiers and often gave them good hopes. In this way, Cao Cao always prevented his bad mood from affecting his soldiers.

Cao Cao wanted his soldiers to believe that as long as he captured Liyang, he would have stepped into the land of Jizhou.

Liyang City is the southern barrier of Wei County and the largest county in the south of Jizhou.

So far, Cao Cao has led his army to attack for half a year, but has failed to capture this place.

If Cao Cao hadn't insisted on using military orders and various encouragement strategies to keep his soldiers and horses standing firm, Cao Cao's camp would have been in turmoil.

As for war, the ancients said: once it is vigorous, it will weaken again, and it will be exhausted three times.

The same is true for the soldiers and horses in Liyang City. The defenders in Liyang City have been holding on to the city for more than half a year. They are no longer as firm as they were at the beginning. Without the continuous supply of food and grass and the encouragement of Wen Chou and others, the defenders in the city would have already entered a state of fatigue. .

"Lord, in my opinion, the current situation is just right." Cheng Yu said, "The six months we have been attacking Liyang can be regarded as buying a lot of precious time for Master Xi to develop his reputation in Leling County."

"Nowadays, many ordinary people know that Leling County is implementing benevolent government, and there is money and food to be earned. A large number of refugees are climbing mountains and wading to Leling. At almost the same time, many rebellions occurred in Guangping. Although they are rumors about refugees, I think these rumors are absolutely credible."

"Yuan Shao, is the current situation of internal and external troubles no different from the situation of Gongsun Zan back then?"

"I thought that at that time, Gongsun Zan was besieged in Youzhou and could not go south, but he could not go north. Yuan Shao should be in the same situation now, with internal and external troubles, and a dilemma. In this way, my lord will be able to completely defeat Yuan Shao now!"

"Hehehe..."

Hearing this, Cao Cao felt an inexplicable bitterness in his heart, and even more strangely: he was also suffering from internal and external troubles, which was very similar to Gongsun Zan's original situation.

Come to think of it, it does seem a bit like retribution. Perhaps just as Yuan Shao forced Gongsun Zan to death in the first place, he will be forced to death in the same way now.

"I also know this, but after thinking about it for a long time, I don't know why." Cao Cao took a sip of cold water and said in a deep voice, "I really don't understand why Yuan Shao still insists on holding on to this situation now. Withdraw troops?”

"The terrain of Liyang City is not high, so it is very difficult to defend it, and the losses are huge. Even with a strong general like Wen Chou, it is difficult to hold on for a long time!"

"If this drags on, Yuan Shao will only suffer greater losses. By this winter, Yuan Shao will surely lose more than 30,000 troops. If I, Sister Jia, attack hard, I will not hesitate to lose the consequences in the next few years. Yuan Shao's defense The army attacks fiercely, and Yuan Shao's losses will surely exceed 100,000."

"At the same time, the men in Liyang City and even Jizhou will flee Liyang and even Jizhou to avoid military recruitment!"

"If I were Yuan Shao, I would never have defended Liyang. Instead, I should have retreated to Wei County. This is the largest city in Wei County. There are countless treasures and dangerous roads in the city. I would have retreated to Wei County. There is the entire Wei County. The largest city in the county!”

"It seems that Yuan Shao must be waiting for something, perhaps something that forces me to withdraw my troops."

Cao Hong and Cao Ren looked at each other and asked blankly: "What is Yuan Shao waiting for?"

"It's ridiculous. If I knew what Yuan Shao was waiting for, why would I need to ask you two?!"

Cao Cao glared at Cao Hong and Cao Ren.

Now, Cao Cao couldn't figure out the Yuan Shao matter, but he wanted to figure out the rest.

At this moment, it was almost midnight.

Cao Cao asked Cao Hong to go back and deploy night patrols and defenses, leaving a few people in the camp on standby at any time.

Not long after, everyone in the camp was startled when they suddenly remembered the sound of footsteps.

At this time, all the soldiers had fallen asleep, and only the sentry guards were left. When footsteps appeared, there must be a reason. As for whether it was good or bad, no one knew, and they could only look at the direction where the sound came from.

When everyone saw it, the person who came was actually General Gao Shun who was trapped in the camp.

At this moment, Gao Shun was holding a baggage in his hand, but the baggage was leaking blood.

Cao Cao has been on the battlefield for decades, and his experience tells him that the baggage in Gao Shun's hand is likely to be a human head.

But it was really hard for Cao Cao to guess whose head it was.

Despite this, Cao Cao immediately paid attention to it. He stood up immediately and was very confused. After Gao Shun walked in, he asked, "Why did the general kill people late at night? Is there an assassin?"

"It's not an assassin, this is Zhu Ling's head." Gao Shun said coldly.

Gao Shun never talked much and rarely interacted with others, but he always managed the army strictly and never made any mistakes, which has always been admired by people.

Therefore, even though Gao Shun came to the camp late at night, Cao Cao did not think Gao Shun had any bad intentions.

However, Xu Chu did not relax his vigilance. He drew his sword and looked at Gao Shun warily.

"Since he is not an assassin, I would like to hear why General Gao killed one of my beloved generals?"

Cao Cao looked at the table and saw that the head was indeed Zhu Ling, and Zhu Ling was indeed dead.

But as a result, where are the more than a thousand veterans under his command now?

Cao Cao was even more confused, how could Gao Shun successfully kill Zhu Ling when there were more than a thousand veterans around him.

Could it be that Gao Shun is a powerful general who hides his secrets?

Gao Shun walked in, knelt on the ground, bowed deeply, and said in a very calm voice, "Reporting to my lord, I will be entrusted by Master Xi. Firstly, I will be in charge of the casting and use of the giant crossbow. I will obey your orders. Secondly, I will take charge of the casting and use of the giant crossbow." , just pay close attention to Zhu Ling’s movements.”

"Last night, Zhu Ling mobilized his troops and headed south. When he was encamping at Wulidi, he said that he was ordered by the Prime Minister to send back grain and grass to prevent Yuan Shao's sneak attack."

"But the general is well aware of the military order that our army is short of food and grass. The food and grass in the army can only be used for three days. When the food station arrives, subsequent food and grass will also need to be delivered through the food station."

Gao Shun explained it in great detail.

"Master Xi once told us that establishing a grain depot may seem invulnerable, but if spies appear inside, the grain and grass will also be destroyed. It will be difficult to resist when we return from where we came from."

Gao Shun was fearless and truthfully stated his purpose. He even took out a letter from his arms and said, "This letter was obtained from General Zhu Ling's personal place. Please check it personally, my lord."

"Send the letter." Cao Cao immediately looked at Xu Chu and said.

"Hmm..." Xu Chu came to Gao Shun and suddenly felt that this man was full of murderous aura. He was a rare person in the army.

From this point of view, if this son was asked to kill someone, I'm afraid he wouldn't hesitate at all and just go ahead and kill the person.

Xu Chu took the letter from Gao Shun and handed it to Cao Cao.

However, there are still blood stains on the letter, and the blood has soaked the letter. Some of the writing on the letter has become blurred, but fortunately it can still be read carefully.

Cao Cao just read a few paragraphs in the letter and concluded that the letter was written by Yuan Shao, and then said in a deep voice, "This letter is indeed written by Yuan Shao. Haha, so to speak, Yuan Shao wants to put me to death... …”

Suddenly, Cao Cao felt a chill on his back.

Starting from Yanzhou, he warned himself to be courteous to virtuous corporals and employ people with no suspicion. Thanks to this strategy, although Cao Cao was in danger several times, he was always protected by loyal people, and he was able to turn danger into safety until today.

But Cao Cao really didn't expect that he would almost be killed by someone he once trusted.

Fortunately, Zhu Ling did not intend to assassinate him. In Cao Cao's view, Zhu Ling might have a bad conscience. Cao Cao treated him impeccably and even took him with him to give him some advice.

When he attacked Shouchun and annihilated the false emperor, Zhu Ling also had many achievements. He would not destroy his future and what he firmly believed in his heart and carry out assassination.

Or maybe Zhu Ling was afraid of Xu Chu's might and loyalty. After all, Xu Chu guarded Cao Cao day and night and would never leave easily.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao concluded that Zhu Ling did not want to kill him, but wanted to assist Yuan Shao with food and grass.

Cao Cao knew that Zhu Ling was well aware of the shortage of food and grass in the army. If the food and grass did not arrive within three days, Cao Cao would definitely send someone to check and urge the delivery of food.

If Zhu Ling succeeded in this move, by the time Cao Cao found out, Zhu Ling would have already left with the food and grass.

And Cao Cao will be counterattacked by Liyang's soldiers and horses. In the end, he will have no choice but to retreat, or kill his horses to satisfy hunger. Otherwise, the soldiers and horses under his rule are likely to mutiny!

If there is a lack of food, any army will naturally have no strength at all.

Cao Cao thought to himself: Yuan Benchu, he is really thoughtful. He placed such a person beside me eight years ago.

You are indeed Yuan Benchu. Eight years ago, you were vicious and far-sighted. Compared to you today, you are much more powerful.

Fortunately, Xi Yu seemed to have seen through this plan long ago.

Cao Cao remembered that Xi Yu began to warn him to be wary of Zhu Ling a few years ago.

But Cao Cao finally felt compassion and treated Zhu Ling with the courtesy of a national scholar. However, Cao Cao never thought that he wanted to let him go back to Xuchang, but he didn't know that Zhu Ling would betray him like this.

Fengyi, you saved my brother’s life again this time!

Cao Cao stared at Gao Shun for a long time, but Cao Cao didn't speak for a long time. After a while, Cao Cao sighed, "Gao Shun, since you have killed Zhu Ling for me, are you willing to stay with me? "

At this moment, Cao Cao stood with his hands behind his back, admiring Gao Shun's ability.

Seeing Cao Cao standing with his hands behind his back, it seems that this man is brave and loyal. Such a powerful general is very rare. In the future, if he gets help from Gao Shun on any battlefield, he will get twice the result with half the effort.

Gao Shun bowed deeply, not daring to look at Cao Cao, and said solemnly, "Ming Gong invites you, I will naturally not refuse."

"But when the general came, Master Xi once said that if Duke Ming knew that Zhu Ling would rebel, the lord should think of a countermeasure, otherwise, Zhu Ling's death would be wasted."

"What do you think, my lord, of this matter?"