The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 343 Volume Shaying River

When Cao Ren and Cao Chun returned home and saw Cao Cao, the first thing they did was to apologize to Cao Cao.

When Cao Cao heard that the emperor had built a Jinyong City in Luoyang without anyone noticing, he did not blame the two men, but instead tried to comfort them.

"In this case, we can only abandon Xu County and go to Chenliu to fight a decisive battle with the imperial court!"

The inability to capture Luoyang and threaten the emperor meant that the joining of Liu Bei and Lu Bu's forces in Henan was a foregone conclusion.

At this time, regardless of whether Cao Cao was willing to fight against the imperial court's Xiliang cavalry, he had to fight such a battle.

But just when Cao Cao was about to withdraw his troops, he received news of the surrender of Chenliu in the rear.

"vomit!"

Cao Cao felt his stomach churning and he retched unconsciously a few times.

The loss of Chenliu would mean the complete loss of Yanzhou in the north!
This means that the imperial court has completely torn the military forces of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao into two along the river, preventing the two sides from supporting each other!

The most terrible thing is that most of the soldiers under Cao Cao's command are from Qingzhou in the Taishan County area.

If the news spreads, I'm afraid the soldiers in the camp may mutiniate at any time!

"Chen Gong! Zhang Miao!"

"Chen Gong! Zhang Miao!!!"

Cao Cao's voice at this moment sounded like a cuckoo crying blood, mournful and endless.

Xu Chu outside the door was about to go closer to check, but Cao Cao inside suddenly stopped crying and laughed out loud: "Good! Good! The court is like this, they must have lost their vigilance! They thought I would run away with my tail between my legs! Good!"

Cao Cao cried and laughed alternately, which made Xu Chu very worried.

Although Cao Cao's eyes were red and swollen, he still had a smile on his face: "Send the order! Cross the Yingshui River today and attack Liu Bei according to the original plan!"

"Here!"

The generals in Cao's camp didn't know what had happened, but seeing that Cao Cao was still in high spirits, they felt reassured.

"We must win this battle!"

……

Liu Bei’s camp in Ye County.

Due to the tortuous road, it took three days for Liu Bei to receive the emperor's edict.

"The emperor wants us to retreat?"

After Liu Bei repeatedly questioned the angel and confirmed that he had not misinterpreted the emperor's intention, he immediately discussed the matter with Zhuge Liang.

"Since the emperor wants us to retreat, we must return to Nanyang as soon as possible."

Zhuge Liang obeyed the emperor unconditionally.

Moreover, the emperor also explained the reason in the edict, so it was not groundless.

"Cao Cao has been forced into a desperate situation. It is time to actively seek opportunities for battle. As long as we avoid his sharp edge and make Cao Cao unable to fight, we can make him fall without attacking!"

Liu Bei smacked his lips, but was a little dissatisfied: "Why is this war fought so inexplicably? We have been stationed in Ye County for several months, but we haven't fought a single battle. Now we have to withdraw our troops?"

By now, Liu Bei was feeling confused. He didn't know how far the war had progressed and why he had to withdraw his troops suddenly.

Zhuge Liang had no choice but to explain to Liu Bei: "The best strategy is to defeat the enemy's strategy. If you want to defeat the enemy, you don't necessarily have to defeat him head-on on the battlefield. Instead, you must first find ways to weaken his power and make his power weakened to the extreme. Then you can win in one fell swoop."

"Our current retreat is only to enable us to defeat Cao Cao at an easier time in the future. I hope your uncle will be informed of this!"

No matter how many words are said about the art of war, it can actually be summed up in eight words: defeat the weak with the strong, and defeat the few with the many!
The so-called "defeating the majority with the few" only refers to the weakness on the overall battlefield, not the weakness on a local battlefield.

The art of war is to use various means to continuously weaken the enemy, strengthen yourself, and then kill the enemy with one blow.

Now that Cao Cao can be defeated by retreating, why not do it?

At this moment, Zhuge Liang was also praising the emperor in his heart.

Although he did not spend much time with the emperor, and could not serve the emperor every day like Sima Yi and Yang Xiu, he was able to learn a lot of the art of war from the emperor's battlefield dispatch this time.

If only the ability to fight is considered, Zhuge Liang believed that the emperor would have at least 95 points, Cao Cao would have 85 points, and Liu Bei... would have at most 70 points.

Therefore, it would be better for Liu Bei to listen to the emperor's command and withdraw his troops honestly!
"That's fine!"

Liu Bei just complained casually to relieve the hardships of the past few months and had no intention of actually disobeying military orders.

Immediately, Liu Bei called Guan Yu and Ma Chao, two pillars of the country, and explained the emperor's will to them.

Guan Yu was fine, but Ma Chao frowned: "I have come all the way from Liangzhou, and now I am going to withdraw so rashly?"

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang knew that Ma Chao had a hot temper, so they spoke to him in a gentle voice, which made Ma Chao calm down.

But when Ma Chao thought about having to retreat hastily without even fighting a battle, he couldn't help feeling a little annoyed.

There is no other reason.

Among the Eight Pillars of the Han Dynasty...now among the Nine Pillars of the Han Dynasty, Ma Chao has the worst record.

Niu Fu, the most loyal of the Xiliang army, followed Dong Zhuo in his campaigns and was the big brother of all the Xiliang generals. It is not an exaggeration to call him the capital of the pillars of the country.

Lu Bu, needless to say! Who in the world doesn't know you?

Zhang Liao’s decisive victory in the Battle of Anyi could have stopped the crying of children in Hebei.

Xu Rong, who once defeated Cao Cao and Sun Jian, later lurked in Yuan's camp and became the last straw that broke the camel's back for Yuan Shao.

Liu Bei pacified Shu, secured Jingzhou, and defeated Zhou Yu in Yiling.

Guan Yu, who killed Yan Liang and Wen Chou, was a great hero in the Battle of Anyi. Xu Huang, who had experienced the Battle of Jincheng, the Battle of Hanzhong, and the Battle of Pingshu in his early years, was finally promoted to the rank of Zhuguo by virtue of his achievements in killing Gao Gan, which was also convincing enough.

even……

Even Zhang Xiu, who inherited his father's military power and was promoted to the rank of Pillar of the State, used a trick to inflict an unprecedented defeat on Cao Cao in Wancheng!
Only him, Ma Chao.

So far, only half of the Battle of Jincheng can be used.

Therefore, it is inevitable that some people in the army believe that Ma Chao's position as a pillar of the country was only obtained by relying on the favor of his father Ma Teng in the past, and that he is the most unworthy of all the pillars of the country.

Ma Chao had wanted to avenge his previous defeat in this war and establish his reputation as a pillar of the country, but he had not expected that he had not even seen the shadow of Cao's army and was about to withdraw his troops?

But when he learned that it was the emperor's intention, Ma Chao did not dare to disobey and could only return to the camp and sulk.

Just when they were gathering their troops and preparing to retreat, a scout came to report that he had seen traces of Cao's army.

"Did you read that correctly?"

"Absolutely not! The enemy has already crossed the Yingshui River and is heading towards our camp!"

"how many people?"

"It's estimated to be no less than three thousand!"

Three thousand...

Ma Chao quickly weighed the situation in his mind and was immediately overjoyed.

"Gather the soldiers! Follow me and charge out!"

This put the deputy general who had received the order to retreat in a dilemma: "General, weren't we supposed to retreat? Why are we fighting Cao's army now?"

Ma Chao was unconcerned: "There are only 3,000 infantrymen. How much effort will it take to kill them?"

"Should we inform Uncle Liu?"

"If you don't want to go, just come back. Why bother the emperor uncle?"

Ma Chao assembled his 5,000 cavalrymen and immediately left the army camp and headed in the direction where Cao's army was found.

By the time Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang learned the news, they could only see a cloud of dust raised by Ma Chao's cavalry.

"Dare Meng Qi'an to do this?"

Zhuge Liang quickly asked Liu Bei to let him personally take the military order to recall Ma Chao!
But Liu Bei didn't care: "Meng Qi is extremely brave, but he is just 3,000 Cao soldiers. I think he will be back soon!"

Zhuge Liang:......

"Uncle! Cao Cao has always been treacherous. How could he send 3,000 infantrymen across the river to seek death?"

"According to what the emperor said, Cao Cao is now seeking a decisive battle with us. His primary goal is to eliminate the cavalry led by Meng Qi! Now that Meng Qi is going to the battle, isn't that exactly what Cao Cao wants?"

Only then did Liu Bei realize the seriousness of the matter.

The continuous good news from various battlefields almost made Liu Bei forget one thing -

His current enemy is Cao Cao!

The emperor could defeat Cao Cao from a strategic perspective, but that did not mean that Liu Bei could defeat Cao Cao from a tactical perspective!
If we are careless at this time...it will cause big trouble!
"Yide! Take my military token and quickly catch up with Mengqi. Ask him to lead his troops back immediately! Otherwise, you will be punished by military law!"

Liu Bei was still not confident about sending Zhang Fei alone, so he asked Zhao Yun to go along as well. If his literary efforts failed, he would try military force. He must make sure that Ma Chao and Cao Cao do not collide with each other!
……

At this moment, Ma Chao had already led his troops to fight against Cao Cao's 3,000 infantrymen.

On the plains, the battle between cavalry and infantry was a complete massacre!

Ma Chao excitedly led his cavalry to reap the lives of Cao's infantry at will, but he didn't notice that on the other side of the river bank to the east, two pairs of cold and ruthless eyes were staring at him.

Cao Cao and Cheng Yu.

"Everyone knows that the Ying River was named in memory of Ying Kaoshu, a man from Zheng during the Spring and Autumn Period."

"But they didn't know that the largest tributary of Yingshui is called Shahe River, so the locals call the upper reaches of Yingshui River the 'Shaying River'."

Sand River...

As the name suggests, it is rich in mud and sand.

Cheng Yu watched as Ma Chao's cavalry was gradually led to the bank of the Shaying River by the 3,000 infantrymen who had been released, and he bowed to Cao Cao and said, "My lord, we can begin now!"

"Ma Chao's cavalry can no longer move. We only need to dig a dam upstream to submerge all of the cavalry!"

"Once Liu Bei's cavalry is gone, my lord can easily defeat Liu Bei and return to rescue Chenliu!"

The three thousand infantrymen were actually a trap set by Cao Cao and Cheng Yu.

As long as we can attract Ma Chao's cavalry, even if three thousand soldiers die, it will still be worth it!

even.

After the Yingshui River bursts its dike, it will flood a large number of farmlands nearby and downstream, and submerge half of the fertile land in Yuzhou.

but……

"I would rather let the world betray me than let the world betray me!"

Cao Cao looked at the mature farmland downstream with mixed feelings and closed his eyes.

"let's start!"

With a blast of sound, bursts of roar suddenly came from the upstream dam.

Ma Chao looked up in horror, only to see white waves rushing towards him like evil dragons!
Fell into a trap!
(End of this chapter)