After Guo Daxian's army surrendered collectively, the morale of the Black Mountain Army plummeted. Many people rumored that Huang Long and others were too forced to make such a choice. Huang Long, Zuo Jiao and Yu Digen, who served as the chief general, explained repeatedly, but this kind of thing could only get darker and darker. Many small armed forces that depended on them were afraid of being annexed and left quietly on their own, which made Huang Long and the other three secretly shocked. Seeing that the situation was not good, the three finally made up their minds and evacuated overnight.

In response, Cao Ang expressed a warm welcome and sent elite troops to pursue them to show his farewell. After three days of continuous pursuit and sneak attack, when Cao Ang led his army back to Qinshui, there were less than 10,000 people in Huanglong's headquarters, and more than 10,000 were captured by Cao's army...

Cao Ang immediately handed over these prisoners to Xu Rong and asked him to drive them to strengthen the defense line between Yujun Mountain and Xiangshan Mountain. As for Cao Ang himself, he led the main force back to Zheng County for rest.

At this moment, the scout heard from: Hanoi prefect Zhang Yang and the Heishan Army Bairao, and the troops of the Heishan Army had fought for more than ten days, and they were in a stalemate. It is said that Yang Chou, the general under Zhang Yang, was defeated and captured alive by Heishan Army. Zhang Yang paid a huge ransom before he redeemed him from the Heishan Army.

Gongsun Zan also echoed the Heishan Army and successively captured several counties in the northern part of Jizhou. Several counties and counties voluntarily surrendered under Gongsun Zan's power. Yuan Shao was shocked. In order to please Gongsun Zan and ease the situation, he promoted Gongsun Zan's cousin Gongsun Fan to the prefect of Bohai, and ordered Zhang Yang to pay a lot of money to the Heishan Army to seek peace.

Zhang Yan, the commander of the Black Mountain Army, considered that Huang Long, Zuo Xiao and others were defeated and could not support Bai Luo and consolidate them. So he ordered Bai Luo to accept Zhang Yang's proposal and return it to Heishan after extorting a large amount of food and supplies in Hanoi County.

Looking at the Heishan Army, in comparison, Gongsun Fan was very rogue. After arriving in Nanpi and initially controlling the troops of Bohai County, Gongsun Fan immediately betrayed Yuan Shao, led the troops of Bohai County to attack, and assisted Gongsun Zan in the capture of Qingzhou and other places, and his troops became increasingly powerful.

Gongsun Zan felt that he was sure of victory, so he appointed Yan Gang as the governor of Jizhou, Tian Kai as the governor of Qingzhou, and single Jing as the governor of Yanzhou, and allocated county magistrates to various places. For example, Liu Bei was appointed by Gongsun Zan as the acting county magistrate of Pingyuan County.

As soon as the appointment letter was released, Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao had no chance of ease. Gongsun Zan even gathered a large army and entered Jieqiao.

In order to break Gongsun Zan's winning streak and to stabilize the situation in Jizhou, Yuan Shao ordered a general mobilization of the whole territory to prepare to fight to the death with Gongsun Zan. In order to gather all his forces, he even sent Xun Chen to ask Cao Ang for reinforcements.

After receiving the news, Cao Ang immediately summoned the generals to discuss the matter before Xun Chen arrived.

Anyway, everyone in the hall was his own people, and Li Su was not polite. He was the first to speak: "Lord, generals, our army had just repelled the Huns and defeated the Huanglong Army in Heishan. He was very tired. Now Yuan Shao wants us to send troops to help and attack Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Zan is also a famous general. If Gongsun Zan defeats Yuan Shao, we will become thorns in the side of Gongsun Zan's troops and be thorns in the flesh. The situation will be very dangerous at that time!"

Xiahou Yuan frowned and said, "But we cannot ignore Yuan Shao's request. After all, we still obey Yuan Shao's orders in name. If we reject Yuan Shao's request, then the respectful attitude we have made in the food, grass and materials we sent earlier will become useless!"

Li Su smiled coldly, lowered his voice, and whispered: "Lord, sir, I suggest sending a small army to attack Xun Chen and his party under the name of Guo Daxian and kill him on the spot! Anyway, there are many armors from the Heishan Army in our army, and they can definitely be perfect. At that time, we can lie about Yuan Shao's request. Anyway, the decisive battle between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan is about to be, and he will not have time to point fingers at us anymore. And after Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan's battle, the victory or defeat has been decided, and we will act again when we see the opportunity."

I have to say that Li Su’s suggestion was very tempting, and everyone was moved. However, there were still two people who had objections, that was Cao Ang and Xi Zhicai.

Needless to say, Cao Ang knew that Yuan Shao finally defeated Gongsun Zan in history. Xi Zhicai pondered for a moment and whispered: "Weigong's strategy can relieve the urgent situation for a while, but it cannot completely solve the problem. In my opinion, if this time Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan fight, Gongsun Zan will definitely be defeated!"

Hearing this, the generals were in an uproar. Now Gongsun Zan is coming in a fierce manner and sweeping all over the place. However, Yuan Shao is in a dilemma in Jizhou, how could he win easily?

Cao Ang nodded softly and said in a deep voice: "What Mr. Sir said is very true, and I have this understanding. Come on, come on, please help me solve the doubts for the generals."

Since Cao Ang started his army, he has established a certain degree of majesty in the hearts of the generals. The generals dare not refute his judgment, and all looked at Xi Zhicai.

Xi Zhicai was recognized by Cao Ang, and he felt relieved. I said, "I'm not alone!" He coughed and said in a deep voice: "Xi, let's analyze it for everyone. Gongsun Zan came in a fierce manner and won consecutive victories. It seemed to be a glorious, but he was already walking on the edge of the cliff!

In the past, when he fought with foreigners, Liu Yu was in the rear to prepare food and supplies for him, and he had no worries. Now Gongsun Zan and Liu Yu were in opposition, and Liu Yu no longer had a knife for him, which was already considered to be full of feelings. Gongsun Zan could not count on Liu Yu's help at all. He consumed all his own inventory now. Although he has captured a lot of territory and appointed many generals, his foundation is not solid. As long as he suffers a defeat, the forces under his command will immediately change their ranks! Disagreement in the rear and unstable foundation is the first reason why Gongsun Zan will lose!

In the past, Gongsun Zan had been fighting in Youzhou to fight against foreign tribes. The people of Youzhou were suffering from the invasion of foreign tribes and would rather be exploited by Gongsun Zan than support his army. Now that foreign tribes were either subdued by Liu Yu or defeated by Gongsun Zan, it posed no great threat to the people of Youzhou. Letting them bear this heavy tax, everyone was very dissatisfied. The people of Jizhou, who were newly included in Gongsun Zan's rule, had always enjoyed relatively low labor taxes under Han Fu's rule. Now they have suddenly doubled and doubled, and the people were extremely dissatisfied. If they don't care about the people, the people will naturally not support him. This is the second reason why Gongsun Zan will definitely lose!

Gongsun Zan is a man who is self-reliant and does not value his aides. His subordinates remember their demerits and forget their kindness to their subordinates and will revenge their grudges. Such a person cannot get the sincere loyalty of his subordinates and cannot attract outstanding talents to serve. For example, Guan Yu, who killed Hua Xiong with a warm wine, would rather stay under the command of Liu Bei of Pingyuan Ling than serve Gongsun Zan. Although Yuan Shao is indecisive, his reputation accumulated by the attack on Dong Zhuo attracted a large number of capable ministers to serve. For example, Xun Chen, Xun You, Feng Ji and Xu You, relying on his talent and being mean and ruthless, this is the third reason why Gongsun Zan will lose!

There are three reasons. Although Gongsun Zan's power is now at its peak, in my opinion, it is the dry bones in the tomb and the defeat is imminent. As long as Yuan Shao does not underestimate the enemy and advances rashly, the longer the battle with Gongsun Zan, the more beneficial it will be to Yuan Shao. And for us, confrontation between the two strong people is the best time for us to develop!

In other words, if we want our army to develop better, it is best for Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao to fight for a long time; if we want Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao to fight, we must let Yuan Shao win a battle and conquer the morale and public opinion of Jizhou; if we want Yuan Shao to conquer the morale and public opinion of Jizhou, we nominal subordinates should obey his orders, contribute some strength, and encourage him to win the battle!"

Xi Zhicai's analysis was very reasonable, and the generals under Cao Ang nodded one after another. Since then, Xi Zhicai has also established his position as the number one strategist under Cao Ang.

So, Cao Ang solemnly welcomed Yuan Shao's envoy Xun Chen and his party in Zhuang County, and agreed to send troops on the spot.

Cao Ang said to Xun Chen: Although the four counties have just repelled the Black Mountain bandits and the Huns' joint attack, the army is extremely tired, but since Uncle Yuan issued an order, he, as a nephew, will definitely devote his efforts and do his best.

Cao Ang even promised on the spot that he would personally lead 500 cavalry and 2,000 infantry to Jizhou to assist in the war. He also brought his own military rations to reduce the burden on Jizhou.

Xun Chen was extremely moved and said to Cao Ang: "I heard that Zixiu respected Yuanzhou Mu very much. Now it seems that his reputation is worthy. When I set off, the ministers persuaded me that this trip was extremely dangerous and that I might be harmed by a slut. After all, Gongsun Zan is powerful now, and it is very difficult for Cao Zixiu to make a choice. However, Yuanzhou Mu said that Meng De was loyal and courageous, and his son would definitely abide by loyalty and lead the army to reinforce. Now it seems that it is true!

However, although Zi Xiu decided to lead a large army to attack, the four places in Zhengxian County have just repelled the attacks of the Huns and Black Mountain bandits, and they must leave enough troops to prevent the enemy from counterattacking! If Zi Xiu is lost, Yuan Alliance Leader will have regrets forever. In this way, Gongsun Zan's cavalry is mostly the only cavalry, and Yuanzhou's majesty is very difficult to deal with. Zi Xiu also asked Zi Xiu to lead 500 cavalry to Jizhou to assist in the battle. The food, supplies, armor and equipment are all under our responsibility!"

Cao Ang insisted on it, but with Xun Chen's persuasion, he finally agreed to his request.

So Cao Ang led 500 cavalry to Jizhou to rescue Yuan Shao. When he passed by Hanoi County, Zhang Yang admired Cao Ang's righteous deeds and specially provided Cao Ang with 100 iron armor to enhance his character.

Yang Chou, a general under Zhang Yang, was captured by the Heishan Army and hated the Heishan Army very much. After hearing that the Cao army severely injured the Heishan bandits, he was extremely happy and secretly sponsored Cao Ang to more than 200 war horses to strengthen the cavalry's continuous combat capabilities. Cao Ang happily accepted this and gave Yang Chou a thousand gold. However, when Yang Chou's wife and concubine spent a lot of money, they accidentally exposed the inside story, which made Zhang Yang frown secretly.

A few days later, Cao Ang led a large army to march day and night, heading straight to the front line. He met with Yuan Shao's army more than fifty miles away from the Jieqiao.
Chapter completed!