Chapter 437: Don’t stop returning to the teacher

In November of the second year of Jian'an, Cao Cao stabilized the situation in Yanzhou and consolidated the sphere of influence of Chen, Liang and others in the east. He led his army to set off and began his second journey to attack Zhang Xiu.

Cao Cao first came to Ye County and met with Cao Hong's troops stationed here. Before this, Cao Hong had issued emergency reports on rescue many times. In order to support Zhang Xiu, Liu Biao continued to send troops to assist Zhang Xiu's army in battle. If Cao Cao did not come again, Ye County would definitely not be able to defend it.

This time, Cao Cao learned the lessons from the last time and did not give Zhang Xiu's army and Liu Biao's army an opportunity to take advantage of. Cao's army first captured Huyang, captured Deng Ji, the general stationed in Huyang alive, and cut off Zhang Xiu's help. Afterwards, Cao Cao led the army to attack Wuyin, and within a few days, he conquered him.

Afterwards, Cao Cao led his army to attack Xinye. When the army came to the banks of the Qingshui River, Cao Cao was particularly depressed. In order to pay homage to the fallen soldiers, Cao Cao specially held a ceremony on the banks of the Qingshui River. Cao Cao personally attended the memorial service and burst into tears, which moved the Cao army soldiers.

On the second day, Cao's army, who had been brave enough to attack Xinye, was determined to win. Cao Cao entered Xinye City that night and rested in the city. Zhang Xiu led his troops to lose to Cao Cao and simply retreated to Rang County.

This time, Cao Cao brought Xun You to the military aircraft. On the night of breaking through Xinye, Xun You found Cao Cao and persuaded: "Ming Gong, Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao are both strong now. However, Zhang Xiu's army is the Xiliang army. When he comes to Nanyang, he can only be regarded as a wandering army and rely on Liu Biao's help everywhere. Once Liu Biao does not provide him with funding, the two will inevitably separate. It is better to temporarily delay the troops and let them separate automatically. If we attack urgently, Liu Biao will definitely not ignore Zhang Xiu and will definitely save them with all his strength. Please consider it."

However, in order to avenge Dian Wei's revenge as soon as possible, Cao Cao did not want to keep Xu Du's south in a dangerous situation and must solve Zhang Xiu's problem as soon as possible. Therefore, Cao Cao did not follow Xun You's advice, but continued to march towards Rang County.

Near Rang County, Cao's army and Zhang Xiu's army fought fiercely for several days. Zhang Xiu couldn't stand it and quickly asked Liu Biao for help. As Xun You analyzed, Liu Biao knew that Zhang Xiu had blocked Cao Cao for him in the north, and had a huge effect. Now that Zhang Xiu was in trouble, he had to help him with all his strength. Therefore, Liu Biao immediately ordered his general Wen Pin to lead 20,000 elite troops and rush to help Zhang Xiu at night.

Kuai Liang offered a plan and asked Liu Biao to send another army to march behind Cao Cao and occupy a strategic important place called Anzhong, which would lead a great victory. Kuai Liang was the number one strategist in Jingzhou. Liu Biao naturally agreed and sent his general Lu Jie to Anzhong to lead 10,000 troops, quietly bypassing Cao's army, occupying the Anzhong Fortress. Then the fortifications were renovated, and relying on the mountains, a line of defense that stretched dozens of miles from east to west was soon built.

Anzhong Fortress is located on the southern Avenue, the most spacious and convenient official road in the Han Empire. This avenue, like the Eastern Avenue and the Northeast Avenue, is the most backbone road in the country. It starts from Luoyang, connects Luyang, Wanxian, Rangxian, Xiangyang and Jiangling, and finally reaches Hanshou, the county seat of Wuling County.

Lu Jie is not very famous, but Kuai Liang knows him. Among the generals in Jingzhou, no one can surpass him in terms of defensive ability. If Cao's army wants to retreat through Anzhong, they will face a wall of iron.

Tiansan helped people. When Cao Cao led a large army to surround Rang County, he did not expect to withdraw his troops soon, so he ignored the key point behind it. After Liu Biao's reinforcements arrived, Zhang Xiu's morale was greatly boosted, and Cao's army attacked for several days without any progress. At this moment, a top-secret news came, making Cao Cao unable to rest. After secretly discussing with Xun You and others, Cao's army withdrew overnight.

It turned out that news came from Cao Cao's intelligence organization "Ghost". Yuan Shaomi's chief adviser Tian Feng saw that the main force of the Cao army was moving south in large numbers, and Xu Du was empty, and he advised Yuan Shao to send troops to attack Xu Du in a straight line and snatch the emperor to Jizhou.

The current person in charge of the "Ghost" organization is Guo Jia. He is meticulous. If he is not sure, he will not report this news to Cao Cao in such a critical moment in an urgent manner. Cao Cao is confident that this is the most important thing for Cao Cao. For Cao Cao, Xu Du's safety is the top priority, and he must give way to anything, so quickly retreating is the only choice.

In order to rush back to Xudu as soon as possible, Cao Cao chose to take the most convenient southern avenue. He didn't know that this marching route almost wiped out the entire Cao army.

Just twenty or thirty miles north of Rang County is a mountain with a dangerous terrain. The southern Avenue passes through the mountains, and here is the Anzhong Fortress. Cao Cao's army was firmly blocked by Lu Jie's troops within a day. Cao's army attacked fiercely for a day. Because the Anzhong Fortress was too dangerous, Cao's army lost a lot of people but made no progress.

At this time, the coalition forces of Zhang Xiu and Wen Pin had already caught up from behind and compressed Cao's army into a small area south of Anzhong Fortress. Cao Cao was in a dilemma. It was very difficult to attack Anzhong, and even if he was captured, the losses would be extremely heavy. Take a detour. Starting from Anzhong, there are steep mountains and there is no way to go. Unless you turn around and fight Zhang Xiu and Wenpin, you will repel them and choose a way to go. But Anzhong's defenders will take the opportunity to attack from behind, and Cao's army will be attacked from both sides.

Although Cao's army was not at a disadvantage in terms of the number of troops, it was difficult to expand its troops in a limited area. Liu Biao's army and Zhang Xiu's army, which had the advantage of terrain, were even more dominant, and Cao's army fell into the so-called death.

The situation suddenly became serious again, and Cao Cao paid the price for his negligence again.

The two armies were in a stalemate for several days, and the Cao army soldiers became obviously impatient. Xun You hurriedly found Cao Cao and said anxiously: "Lord, the situation is extremely unfavorable to our army. We must find a way to leave this dead place as soon as possible."

After several nights of hard thinking, Cao Cao had come up with a countermeasure. He laughed and said, "Don't worry, Gong Da. The military strategy is full of things, don't stop returning to the army. Now the enemy must block our army's way back and fight for the death ground with us. They will be defeated."

When Xun You heard Cao Cao say this, he looked at him with firmness. He knew that Cao Cao had already thought of a plan to defeat the enemy, so he stopped asking anything more.

On that day, the Cao army continued to fight against the enemy on both sides. In order to avoid casualties, Zhang Xiu and Wenpin discussed and simply did not take the initiative to launch an attack, and listed it as a defensive formation, waiting for the day when Cao army collapsed.

More than twenty days have passed, and the Cao army still slowly and slowly with Zhang Xiujun. Wenpinjun made them relax involuntarily. Li Ru reminded Zhang Xiu: "General, Cao's army's actions are abnormal, be careful of their tricks."

Zhang Xiu then ordered to strengthen night patrols to prevent Cao's army from stealing camps.

The next day, Zhang Xiu and others were surprised to find that the tens of thousands of Cao troops surrounded by them in front of Anzhong Fortress suddenly disappeared overnight!

I know what happens next, and listen to the next chapter to explain it.
Chapter completed!