My father-in-law Guan Yu, I persuaded Liu Bei to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyang at the beginn

Chapter 258 Cao Zhi: Tell Cao Cao that only by surrendering to Chu can one escape death! Liu Bei: Two hundred thousand troops, let's launch another campaign against the Central Plains!

Twelve days later.

Northwest of Qiao County, on the north bank of the Wo River.

Inside an unassuming ferry crossing, nearly two thousand Wei soldiers stood in solemn formation at the ferry landing, on guard.

Hao Zhao stood on the shore, sword in hand, his gaze fixed on the south bank.

Qiao County was built along the Wo River.

Three days ago, he received a secret letter from Cao Zhi, agreeing that after escaping Qiao County, they should head west along the south bank of the Wo River, cross the river at the inconspicuous ferry crossing of Hanyadu, and then he would meet them and take them back to Suiyang.

Therefore, Hao Zhao obeyed Cao Cao's secret edict, leaving more than a thousand soldiers to guard Suiyang, while he personally led two thousand elite soldiers to take a shortcut into Chu territory and found Hanya Ferry.

Dusk was approaching, and the appointed time with Cao Zhi was drawing near.

Soon, a ferry from the south bank slowly sailed towards the north bank.

A black flag was hoisted high above the bow of the ship.

The moment Hao Zhao saw the black flag, his eyes lit up, and he shouted:

"The Fourth Young Master has arrived! Pass down the order to prepare to welcome him!"

As agreed, if Cao Zhi crossed the river, he would hoist a black flag at the bow of the boat.

Upon seeing the black flag, Hao Zhao knew that Cao Zhi had arrived, and naturally became excited.

The two thousand Wei soldiers were all invigorated and rushed to the shore.

Hao Zhao rode his horse straight to the end of the pier, watching with anticipation as the ferry gradually approached.

When the boat was about ten steps from the shore, it suddenly stopped moving forward.

Suddenly, a column of smoke rose from the stern of the ship.

This unusual behavior made Hao Zhao frown, and he suddenly had a bad feeling.

"I am Cao Zhi. I wonder who the commander on the other side is?"

A young nobleman appeared at the bow of the ship and shouted a question at the dock.

Upon seeing Cao Zhi appear, Hao Zhao was secretly delighted and quickly cupped his hands, loudly proclaiming:

"This humble general, Hao Zhao, is the garrison commander of Suiyang. I have come here on the orders of the King of Wei to escort the Fourth Prince back to the country!"

“I have led my troops deep into Chu territory, and we may be discovered by the Chu army at any time. I urge you, my lord and lady, to disembark immediately, and I will escort you north back to your country.”

bow.

Cao Zhi took a deep breath and said loudly:

"General Hao, if you manage to escape back to Wei alive, I have a message for you to convey to Cao Cao."

"Cao Cao is heartless, cruel, and ruthless. He wanted to kill my mother and me. He is no longer fit to be a father!"

"I, Cao Zhi, have long since severed all ties with him!"

"Now I am a subject of the Great Chu, and I should repay the kindness of the King of Chu in taking me in. How could I be ungrateful and betray Chu to join Wei, foolishly returning to Wei to be killed by him!"

"Tell Cao Cao that the King of Chu is destined by Heaven and will surely destroy the false Chu and rebuild the Han Dynasty sooner or later."

"If he is pragmatic and does not want the Cao family to suffer the calamity of extermination, he should quickly submit to the will of Heaven and surrender the country to the King of Chu."

"The King of Chu is a benevolent ruler; he will surely spare his life and give my Cao clan a way out!"

On the ferry.

Hao Zhao was stunned.

The more than two thousand Wei soldiers were all stunned and speechless.

Hao Zhao's eyes widened as if he had witnessed the most unbelievable scene of his life.

Didn't we agree that Cao Zhi would abandon Chu and return to Wei?
Why did you change your mind at the last minute?

That was bad enough, but they even openly criticized Cao Cao and threatened to persuade him to surrender to Chu!

"Fourth Young Master, how dare you—"

Hao Zhao's voice trembled and became hoarse. For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating, and he stammered, unable to utter a single word.

"The Chu army! It's the Chu army!"

Just as Hao Zhao was stunned and at a loss, the screams of soldiers suddenly rang out behind him.

Hao Zhao snapped out of his daze, turned his head to look outside the ferry, and his expression suddenly changed again.

Dust billowed and swept from both flanks toward the ferry.

The Chu-character battle flag fluttered in the dust and mist.

Several thousand Chu troops were advancing along both flanks of the Wo River towards the ferry crossing.

The two thousand Wei soldiers were thrown into chaos.

Hao Zhao glanced at Cao Zhi on the boat, then at the Chu army charging towards them from the ferry, and suddenly felt a chill.

"The Fourth Prince had no intention of returning to Wei. He deceived the King of Wei and lured my Suiyang garrison into Chu territory, where he set up an ambush to try and kill our army."

"The Chu army's target must be Suiyang City!"

"King Wei has fallen into a trap!"

Hao Zhao suddenly realized his mistake, quickly mounted his horse, and shouted:

"All troops, listen to my command! Retreat to Suiyang City immediately!"

The two thousand Wei soldiers, like startled birds, immediately fled north.

The Chu army on both flanks had already swept in.

An ambush has begun.

Whirlpool bow.

Seeing that all the ambushers had emerged, Cao Zhi breathed a sigh of relief and looked across the ferry towards Suiyang.

"At this very moment, Zhao Zilong should have already led 10,000 cavalrymen to the walls of Suiyang."

"My judgment was indeed correct. Xiao Bowen's military tactics are like those of a god, he is truly a military genius. With such a divine man assisting the King of Chu, who can stop him from rebuilding the Han Dynasty!"

"It's truly a blessing for my little sister to marry Xiao Bowen, and also a stroke of luck for my mother and me as her older brother..."

Cao Zhi murmured to himself, a deep sense of relief already creeping across his brow.

The siege at the ferry crossing quickly came to an end.

Two thousand Wei soldiers were killed or wounded, and Hao Zhao, with less than a hundred cavalry, escaped from Hanya Ferry by relying on his horses and fled towards Suiyang.

Suiyang is more than seventy li from Qiao County. More than a hundred Wei cavalrymen fled like startled birds, and the night was filled with terror.

The next day, as dawn broke, Hao Zhao and his party, exhausted, finally saw the outline of Suiyang.

Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a flag bearing the character "Chu" suddenly caught his eye in the morning light above the south gate of Suiyang.

Hao Zhao's heart skipped a beat.

The raising of the Chu flag atop the city walls—doesn't that mean that Suiyang has already fallen?
"That's impossible. Even if the Chu army takes advantage of the situation to attack my Suiyang, it would still take them two to three days to get there from Pengcheng."

"Even if they set off from Pengcheng when I left Suiyang to go south, they couldn't possibly have arrived before me."

"This this…"

Hao Zhao reined in his horse and stared at the Chu banners atop the city wall, utterly stunned and bewildered.

Just as they were feeling bewildered and confused, a group of people came from the front in a panic. There were fleeing citizens of Suiyang and soldiers who had abandoned the city and fled.

Hao Zhao immediately stopped several deserters and asked them how the Chu army had managed to capture Suiyang.

"General Hao, it was the Chu general Zhao Yun who led over ten thousand Chu cavalry in a surprise attack last night. Our army was outnumbered and caught completely off guard, which allowed the enemy to easily breach the city walls—"

The defeated soldier knelt on the ground and explained the reason in a trembling voice.

Hao Zhao swayed, the doubt in his eyes vanishing, and he gasped. "Zhao Zilong of Changshan, cavalry, ten thousand Chu cavalry..."

Hao Zhao's doubts vanished, and he finally had a sudden realization, understanding everything completely.

From beginning to end, it was all a scheme by the Chu army.

Using Cao Zhi's return to Wei as bait, they lured him out of Suiyang City and laid an ambush at the Wo River, inflicting a heavy blow.

The Chu army secretly deployed cavalry to Pengcheng, and relying on the speed advantage of the cavalry, they appeared like divine soldiers descending from the sky at the gates of Suiyang, and captured Suiyang before he could escape back.

This is a series of interconnected steps, ingeniously planned, with every step calculated to be absolutely precise…

What terrifying wisdom could that be?

"Xiao He!"

"In the State of Chu, the one who could devise such a cunning scheme must be Xiao He!"

"He must have foreseen that the King of Wei would lead his troops south from Suiyang, so he ordered the Chu army to seize Suiyang in advance in order to gain the initiative."

"How hateful! I was completely oblivious and was also played by Xiao He..."

Hao Zhao stamped his feet and groaned in frustration, his expression a mixture of annoyance and helplessness.

After slapping his thigh for a while, he could only sigh helplessly:
"We can't take back Suiyang City. We must hurry north to report to the King of Wei. Alas..."

...

Yingtian City, Royal Palace.

Liu Bei stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes fixed on the sand table, on the location of the city of "Suiyang".

Around the sand table, Zhuge Liang, Xiao He, Pang Tong, Lu Xun, and other strategists all focused their gazes on the sand table, lost in thought and speechless.

They are waiting.

We await the battle report from Xuzhou, the news that will determine whether Chu can seize the initiative in this north-south showdown, the decisive battle between Chu and Wei.

"Good news! Good news!"

Footsteps sounded, and Chen Dao, holding a battle report high, rushed into the hall excitedly.

Everyone perked up, raised their heads in unison, and focused their gazes on Chen Dao.

"A report of victory has just arrived from Xuzhou! General Zilong has led ten thousand cavalry to break through Suiyang. Your Majesty, please quickly lead a large army north to join us!"

The hall erupted in an instant.

Liu Bei stepped forward, snatched the battle report, and eagerly examined it closely.

"Bowen, your plan has succeeded! Suiyang is now mine!"

Liu Bei waved the battle report in his hand and clapped his hands, laughing loudly.

The officials in the hall were overjoyed.

Xiao He also breathed a sigh of relief, cupped his hands and smiled:
"Your Majesty, Suiyang has fallen, and the initiative in the Northern Expedition is now in Your Majesty's hands."

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war, let's raise an army."

Liu Bei stopped laughing, looked around at his ministers, and said boldly:
"By my order, proceed according to the original plan, with all three armies deployed."

"Let's conquer the Central Plains again!"

The ministers readily accepted the order.

When the imperial edict was issued, the entire city of Yingtian was in an uproar.

The following day, Liu Bei set up an altar west of Yingtian City to offer sacrifices to Heaven and vowed to launch a northern expedition.

King Liu Bei of Chu personally led the Imperial Guards and troops from Huainan and Jiangdong Prefecture, totaling 100,000 men, across the river and headed north towards Suiyang.

Xiao He, Lu Xun, and others accompanied the army to devise strategies.

Generals Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Zhu Huan, Guan Xing, and others all joined the campaign.

From the direction of Qingzhou, Gan Ning, Pang Tong, Su Fei, Wen Pin and others led 50,000 troops from the Qingxu Prefecture, advancing westward along the Yellow River, heading straight for Puyang.

Jingzhou direction.

General Guan Yu, with Xu Shu and Fa Zheng as his assistants, led 60,000 troops from Jingzhou Prefecture, including generals Wei Yan, Guan Ping, Yan Yan, and Zhou Cang, northward from Xiangyang, heading straight for the line of Ye County and Kunyang.

A total of over 200,000 Chu troops advanced northward in three routes, heading towards Wei territory.

At the same time, two envoys rushed to Liangzhou and Hanzhong, calling on generals such as Ma Chao of Liangzhou, as well as Zhang Lu, to lead their troops out of the Longshan and Qinling Mountains to attack the Guanzhong region of Wei, in order to contain Wei's western forces.

War has broken out again in the Central Plains.

The Wei state had already taken action before the Chu army marched north.

Along the Yingchuan line, General Cao Chun and General Xu Huang have led more than 70,000 Wei troops south from Xuchang to assemble along the Kunyang line.

Along the Qingzhou front, General Xiahou Dun also led 50,000 troops to march towards the Pingyuan and Dongjun fronts.

Cao Cao personally led 140,000 Wei troops south from Ye City to Liyang, preparing to cross the Yellow River to Suiyang.

On this day, on the south bank of the Yellow River, at Baima Ferry.

Cao Cao stopped his horse on the riverbank, his eyes half-open, gazing at his vast army in the distance.

On the south bank at Baima Ferry, tens of thousands of Wei soldiers had already crossed the river, while on the north bank at Liyang Ferry, the line of Wei soldiers waiting to cross stretched as far as the eye could see.

The sheer scale of the campaign and the overwhelming military might reminded Cao Cao of the grandeur of his campaign against Jingzhou after unifying Hebei.

"Since Father King implemented the Nine-Rank System, all the powerful clans and noble families, big and small, have offered up their troops to fight for the country. The strength of our Great Wei is far greater than it was back then."

"Your subject believes that this southern expedition by Father will surely crush the false Chu like a rotten tree."

Seeing Cao Cao's high spirits, Cao Pi took the opportunity to outline his plans.

Cao Cao tried his best to suppress the smile on his lips, but said calmly:

"Although our army is stronger than it was back then, 30% of these hundreds of thousands of troops are private soldiers, and their combat effectiveness may not be as elite as it was back then."

"Zihuan, don't you remember how many losses we've suffered over the years because we underestimated that big-eared thief?"

"Remember this: pride comes before a fall. In this battle, we must not underestimate Liu Bei or Xiao He!"

Cao Pi hurriedly responded with nods and acquiesces.

Seeing that Cao Cao could remain calm, his advisors, including Cheng Yu, were all relieved.

Just then, Tiger Guard came forward to report that Hao Zhao, the garrison commander of Suiyang, had arrived and had urgent military information to report.

Cao Cao and his son exchanged a glance, their eyes both revealing joy.

Without a doubt, Hao Zhao must have picked up Bian and her son and personally escorted them to see him.

Cao Cao suppressed his secret joy, feigning indifference on his face, and flicked his whip:
"Summon that lowly woman...summon Bian Shi and her son Zijian to come see me."

Cheng Yu and the others were completely baffled.

The secret plot between father and son went unnoticed by the other advisors, who naturally did not know the purpose of Hao Zhao's sudden visit.

As for Cao Cao's words, "Bian Shi and Zijian and his mother came to see me," Cheng Yu and the others were completely bewildered.

Only Cao Pi breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a huge weight lifted from his heart.

A moment.

Hao Zhao arrived disheveled and dismounted, kneeling before Cao Cao.

"Your Majesty, I have fallen for Chu's trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain. The Fourth Prince has no intention of returning to Wei!"

"He used the promise of returning to Wei as bait to lure Jiang Chen out of Suiyang, but Chu took the opportunity to send 10,000 light cavalry to launch a surprise attack on my city of Suiyang!"

"Your Majesty, Suiyang has already been captured by the State of Chu!"

Cao Cao swayed slightly, and his half-open eyes suddenly snapped open.

(End of this chapter)