Although Cai Mao escaped in a disloyal manner, Cao Cao, who received the frontline battle report, could not blame him with shame.

Cai Mao said it was completely right before. Chen Qun should have been a fraud to surrender the fire. Even if Cao Cao believed in his heart that Chen Qun was coerced by Liu Bei, he could not protect Chen Qun in public at this time. Then, let alone the Jingzhou army was going to rebel, people under his command who were not from Yingchuan should have opinions.

If Cao's army had not suffered a major epidemic in this battle, it might have been another result. If the soldiers under his command could persist in fighting when they were attacked, it would not have been like this now.

After failing to attack Yuan Shang, Cao Cao reflected on his military use. He thought that he was too good to the soldiers, and that only rewarding and not punishing would lead to extremely heavy consequences. He later issued an order that those who harbored deserters had to deal with it, but the situation of the war is still the same, and Cao Cao felt that he was still not strict enough.

I want to order that all the deserters' families will be killed! I see who dares to escape in the future!

In a rage, Cao Cao looked back and saw that the people following him were covered in dust in the firelight that soared into the sky. Although the number was still large, it was even more uniform than Yuan Shao's army that was defeated by Guandu (there was no large-scale surrender to the enemy and a large number of leading generals died in battle), but Cao Cao truly felt the bitterness and helplessness of his old brother Yuan Shao back then.

He is no longer young.

This time, Cao Cao's ambitions in his heart, who was in the stable, had disappeared. When he went south, he thought that he would hold the world in his hands for a few more years before closing his eyes. He could even leave something for future generations and slowly repair his broken reputation.

Everyone will forgive the winner, and as long as he wins, everything he has done before will be forgiven.

But now he has not won...

Cao Cao was in a daze when he suddenly heard someone calling him:

"Prime Minister, the road ahead is getting muddy and it is difficult to move on. Please ask the Prime Minister to dismount." This is Dong Zhao's voice.

Cao Cao, who was used to the bumpy horseback, was very clumsy in dismounting this time. With the light of fire, he saw the road ahead clearly.

After the ancient Yunmengze disappeared, it turned into a large area of ​​small lakes and swamps. Many local barbarians pulled nets to fish nearby, and were surrounded by abandoned wooden boats and winding fishing nets. Under the firelight, there were messy footprints everywhere and many abandoned swords. It was obvious that the pioneers who had often carved before were left behind.

Chang Diao did not leave anyone waiting to guide Cao Cao, and Cao Cao did not blame him. He was just a personal guard under Cao Ren's command, so it was normal that this kind of thing was not expected.

But at least this shows that there should be no big problem before.

For a moment, the Cao army fell into silence. After a long time, Cao Cao suddenly looked up and laughed, scaring Dong Zhao and Chen Lin to jump up.

"Prime Minister, this?"

Cao Cao looked at the scene in front of him and smiled with emotion:

"Liu Bei, I am. I have only planned to be a little late; I will set fire early, and I will be nothing different!"

The Wulin area they had walked past had a large area of ​​dense forest. If the Sun and Liu coalition forces set fire early, Cao's rear army would definitely suffer huge losses.

The southeast wind is still constantly, and it is getting stronger and stronger. Cao Cao's smile made everyone worried that Liu Bei's army suddenly came to their senses and set fire, and quickly moved forward, for fear of falling behind a little.

But this area is too muddy and people can barely pass through. However, the Cao army still has a large number of cavalry teams and camel beasts, so they can't throw them all to the Sun and Liu coalition behind them. Not to mention anything else, just if the military rations are lost, they have to eat human flesh before they can rush back to Jiangling.

Cao Cao thought about it over and over again, and felt a little regretful about why he didn't run away lightly. Now that the army is stuck here, he can only think of something else.

"Let the sick soldiers carry thatch to fill these mud pits, hurry!"

At Cao Cao's order, Cao Ren and Cheng Yu immediately took action and drove away the sick old soldiers in the army to collect thatch and fill the mud and puddles around the landfill.

This order doesn't sound like human words no matter how you hear it. Chen Lin and Dong Zhao frowned in embarrassment, but Cao Ren and Cheng Yu firmly executed Cao Cao's order.

In the midst of a great defeat, these remnants were not only useless, but also consumed food. Now it is time to make good use of them.

·

The pursuit of the Sun-Liu coalition was indeed not fast. To be precise, whether it was Liu Bei, Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu, they had never thought that they could wipe out Cao Cao's army directly here.

This time, Cao Cao's navy was all over. Even if he returned to Jiangling, he could not get out of the warship. He either chose tens of thousands of people to stay in Jiangling and wait for the Sun and Liu coalition forces to surround him, or he could only choose to withdraw most of the troops and horses back to Xiangyang. No matter how he chose, Jiangling's attack was the focus later, and chasing Cao's army in the dark is a very dangerous thing.

After all, most soldiers are seriously lacking in vitamins these days, and night blindness is very common. If they are ambushed by Cao's back team in the cold dark night, they will suffer a considerable loss.

But Guan Ping was unwilling to give up.

He clearly remembered Yun Shanshan's saying that he had killed Cao Cao in history and made unprecedented contributions. His previous verbal battles and the use of scholars and the east wind have been successful. Today, he must usher in his great reputation in history, proving that the Japanese book was a fake.

Under the leadership of Zhang Yun, Guan Ping, Wei Yan and Huang Zhong only led 300 people, ignored the defeated Cao's army, and directly advanced along the defeated Cao's army's defeated front.

There were too many defeated soldiers in the Cao army. The team of more than 300 people was like a trickle among the many fleeing soldiers. Most of the Cao army soldiers were rushing to the road, and they did not find Guan Ping's troops in the crowd for a while.

Zhang Yun, who led the way, was worried that something would happen. Cao Cao was very polite to the Jingzhou army before and did not use their family as hostages, but if he was discovered in Guan Ping's army, what consequences would be waiting for him and his family?

He tried to escape into the defeated army of Cao's army several times, but after looking at Wei Yan, who was always staring at him not far behind, he quickly gave up this idea.

"Little General, forget it. There are people who can set the way out of the old thief, and there are people behind the palace. There are too few people in our house. Just chase their remains. Walk forward and wait until dawn is discovered, and you will be surrounded."

Guan Ping didn't say a word, and his feet didn't stop at all.

Not only him, but even the elderly Huang Zhong also adjusted his breathing and followed slowly.

Liu Bei's army was silently afraid of people, without the cheers and excitement in the pursuit of war, nor the decadent helplessness driven away by Shangguan. This was the first time Zhang Yun had seen such a situation for a long time.

No, not either.

He had seen barbarians fighting in the Jingxiang area before, and barbarians in several villages split into formations, and everyone was ready to die. When fighting, it was really earth-shaking and was one of the best strong soldiers in the world. Liu Biao envied the combat power of these barbarians back then and also incorporated them into the army, but after they joined the army, they soon became the habit of most soldiers and generals. They did not fight without food or money, and they did not fight without supervision teams, and they were all like everyone else.

The army under Guan Ping did not kill people to vent their anger, nor did they pick up spoils, but braved the cold night, hundreds of people were moving forward like one. What a sharp spirit, how did they train a strong soldier?

Not only Zhang Yun didn't understand, but even Guan Ping didn't expect that his soldiers would have such aura.

If it weren't for destiny, he almost didn't know how to describe why this army, which was almost entirely composed of Jingzhou people, suddenly became so brave and determined, and even had such a strong spirit without too much mobilization.

Tonight, whoever dares to stop us will definitely pay the price!

After a night of fierce fighting, Cao's army gradually came back from the initial panic. Generals continued to ride horses to the back of the formation and ordered the scattered soldiers to stop.

These defeated soldiers feared Shangguan's authority and did not have much food, so they could only obey orders. Soon, Cao's aimless defeat began to improve, which made Guan Ping and others' urgent marches even more abrupt.

"Stop, please!" a silly confusing scholar said tiredly, "Stop, stop, follow me in a row, don't be in chaos."

The sound was steady and elegant, and Guan Ping instantly heard the enemy's extraordinary sound.

"Who is this?" he asked Zhang Yun.

Zhang Yundi's lips trembled a few times and said in disbelief:
Chapter completed!