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

"boom!"

Cao Ren was hit on the forehead by a stone, and blood spurted out instantly. He was in so much pain that he felt dizzy.

After regaining some composure, Cao Ren, filled with shame and indignation, cursed at the surrounding people:

"I am the General of the Cavalry of the Great Wei Dynasty. How dare you unruly commoners be so disrespectful to me!"

"The King of Wei will return sooner or later. He will recapture Liyang and slaughter all of you traitors who have offended him—"

Before he could utter the word "exhausted," another stone came hurtling down in front of him.

"Crack!"

Cao Ren was hit in the mouth, and half of his teeth shattered, causing him to spit out blood.

"You unruly people, you traitors, you traitors!"

Cao Ren was filled with grief and rage, spitting blood as he continued to curse.

The more he cursed, the more indignant and angry the people on the street became.

The stones rained down relentlessly.

Cao Ren's face, head, back, legs... were quickly covered in wounds, a truly gruesome sight.

"Troublemaker...troublemaker..."

At first, Cao Ren was still cursing hysterically, but gradually his cursing grew softer and softer, and he began to be on the verge of death.

Finally, the parade ended.

When Hao Zhao dismounted and examined Cao Ren closely, he saw a mangled body, smashed beyond recognition, covered in blood, and barely clinging to life.

"Pooh!"

Hao Zhao spat at him and said coldly:
"Cao Ren, when you falsely accused me of surrendering to Chu and caused the death of my entire clan, did you ever imagine that you would fall into my hands today?"

The dying Cao Ren barely opened his bloodied eyes and vaguely recognized Hao Zhao's face. His already stiff body trembled violently.

"Hao Zhao, you traitor, you, you—"

Cao Ren raised his hand tremblingly and pointed at Hao Zhao, using all his strength to utter another curse.

Hao Zhao, however, stood with Cao Ren's mangled body on his feet, sword in hand, his eyes burning with the excitement of avenging his great enemy.

"I'll kill you today, and one day I'll kill Cao Cao!"

"Just wait and see on your way to the underworld, the King of Chu will wipe out your Cao clan sooner or later, and kill all your Cao family members!"

"Cao Ren, die!"

A thunderous roar resounded.

Hao Zhao, his long sword brimming with the hatred of his clan's annihilation, slashed down in fury.

Looking up at the gloomy sky, Cao Ren, facing the sky, finally shed tears of sorrow and regret at this critical moment of life and death.

"Mengde, Mengde, why didn't you listen to our advice back then? Why didn't you kill that big-eared thief!"

"Why, why—"

The cries of anguish abruptly ceased.

A spurt of blood gushed out, and a human head rolled to the ground.

The General of the Flying Cavalry of Wei, the foremost general of the Cao family clan, thus perished.

With the change of hands, the gateway to Hebei was wide open.

After his army rested for two days, Liu Bei left 20,000 men to guard Liyang and be responsible for the supply and transportation of provisions. He then led 300,000 troops northward, heading straight for Ye City.

...

It is seventy li north of Neihuang City.

The main force of the Wei army has been encamped here for nearly two months.

Inside the royal tent.

Cao Cao stood with his hands behind his back, his brows furrowed, staring intently at the location of "Liyang" on the map.

His anxiety was palpable, a fact clearly visible to the advisors and generals around him.

Two days ago, news came that the Chu army had pushed down the wall north of Liyang, creating a breach.

The Wei messenger, who had been patrolling the outskirts of Liyang, finally entered Liyang after nearly half a year, carrying the imperial edict ordering him to abandon the city and break out.

Cao Ren was always obedient to his orders, so once the imperial edict arrived, he would naturally lead 20,000 Wei troops to break through the siege without any hesitation.

The only way to break through is to the north.

However, Cao Cao knew that Liu Bei had deliberately opened a breach in order to lure Cao Ren into leading his army to break out, so that he could then ambush and annihilate them.

If Cao Ren had obeyed his orders and abandoned the city to break out, he would have faced a perilous situation.

Cao Cao began to regret his decision.

It's too late.

He no longer had time to send a messenger south again to deliver a new edict to Cao Ren, preventing him from abandoning the city and breaking out, thus falling into Liu Bei's trap.

Now there are only two things he can do.

One was to secretly pray for Cao Ren.

We pray that this top general of the Cao family will be blessed with good fortune and break through the encirclement alive.

Even if the entire army is wiped out, as long as Cao Ren, the pillar of the Cao family, lives, that's enough.

The second thing is to wait.

We await the final outcome of the battle at Liyang.

"General of the Flying Cavalry is a skilled commander and has superb martial arts skills. There is still a great chance that he will successfully break through the encirclement."

"I believe Your Majesty should not worry too much."

Sima Yi, who was behind Cao Cao, noticed his anxiety and offered words of comfort.

Cao Cao's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and he sighed:

“Zixiao is my brother, and no one knows his abilities better than I do.”

"Although that big-eared bandit has an army of 300,000, he cannot use all of them to set up an ambush in the north to block Zixiao."

"I suspect that Zixiao will most likely use a feint attack, having the city's residents pretend to attack another gate to draw away the enemy's forces, while taking advantage of the situation to break out from the north."

"If that's the case, I believe that Zixiao can still succeed..." Before Cao Cao could finish his self-comforting words, Xin Pi, holding a battle report in his hand, stormed into the tent with a solemn expression.

"Your Majesty, there is...there is news from Liyang."

Xin Pi's voice trembled slightly, his hand holding the silk scroll was also shaking slightly, and his eyes even flickered, not daring to meet Cao Cao's gaze.

Everyone in the tent stood up in unison, holding their breath and looking at Xin Pi.

Cao Cao's heart leaped into his throat, but when he saw Xin Pi's expression, his heart skipped a beat.

An extremely ominous premonition instantly enveloped my entire body.

Inside the large tent, there was a deathly silence.

Cao Cao took several deep breaths, trying his best to calm himself down, and casually waved his hand:
"Tell me, has Zixiao successfully broken through the encirclement?"

Xinpi swallowed hard, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.

Cao Cao frowned and shouted:

"Just tell us the result, the sky won't fall!"

Xin Pi shuddered and had no choice but to unfold the silk scroll, take a deep breath, and read aloud in a trembling voice:
"Two days ago, the General of the Flying Cavalry abandoned the city and broke out, but was ambushed by the Chu army in the north of the city, and his 20,000 troops were wiped out."

"General Yue was killed by the enemy general Zhao Yun, and Cheng Wu was captured. He wanted to surrender to the false Chu but failed, so Liu Bei ordered him to be beheaded and his head displayed to the public."

"The General of Chariots and Cavalry refused to surrender and was paraded through the streets on Liu Bei's orders. He was severely wounded by the rebels and was eventually killed by the traitor Hao Zhao..."

By the end, Xinpi's voice was almost choked with sobs.

Inside the tent, a clamor of astonishment erupted.

Some were angry, some sighed, some felt helpless…

Cao Cao felt as if he had been pierced by a thousand arrows. He clutched his chest and staggered back several steps.

"Father!"

"Your Majesty!"

Sima Yi, Cao Chong, and the others rushed forward to help Cao Cao up.

Cao Cao gasped for breath, his face contorted with grief and indignation, desperately trying to squeeze out a few tears from his eyes.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't squeeze out a single tear.

In a daze, Cao Cao realized that he was beyond tears at the loss of Cao Ren.

Cao Zhang, Cao Hong, Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Xiahou Yuan…

Over the years, one brother after another, nephews and nieces have died at Liu Bei's hands, and he has shed too many tears.

My tears have run dry!

Today, the news of Cao Ren's death has left him unable to shed a single tear.

"I have lost another pillar of the nation. Is it truly Heaven's will to destroy me?"

Cao Cao could only pound his fists on the table, beat his chest and stomp his feet in a mournful cry to vent his anger and despair.

The people around wanted to offer comfort, but didn't know how to start.

Apart from Cao Chong silently shedding tears, grieving for Cao Ren's death, the others merely shook their heads and sighed.

"Hao Zhao, you disloyal and treacherous traitor, a beast in human form!"

"You caused the death of Zixiao, I will exterminate your entire clan!"

Cao Cao suddenly remembered this matter and roared angrily:
"By my order, swiftly exterminate Hao Zhao's entire clan. I intend to wipe them all out—"

Everyone was shocked, and their surprised yet embarrassed gazes turned to Cao Cao.

It seems that our King of Wei was ultimately overstimulated and has even forgotten what he once did.

“Father, as early as when Luoyang fell, you had already issued an edict to exterminate Hao Zhao’s entire clan.”

Cao Chong, who was standing beside him, had to give a reminder.

Cao Cao was taken aback at first, then shouted even more hysterically:
"Then I will exterminate his entire clan. I will kill everyone related to him. I will exterminate his entire clan..."

Everyone was terrified and dared not utter another sound.

After a long time.

Cao Cao's anger was finally released, and he leaned on his cane, slumping down weakly.

"Now that Liyang has fallen and Zixiao is dead, the 300,000-strong army of the Da'er rebel will surely drive north and head straight for Yecheng."

"Our Great Wei has reached a critical juncture of survival. What strategies do you have to turn the tide? Speak them quickly!"

Having recovered, Cao Cao had to face reality.

The reality is that the natural barrier of the Yellow River has been completely lost, and the arrival of 300,000 Chu troops at the city gates is a foregone conclusion.

Holding Ye City is crucial to the fate of Ji Province, and the fate of Ji Province is crucial to the survival of Hebei Province.

If Hebei is lost, his Wei state will be only one step away from destruction.

The ministers were all anxious and flustered, but they looked at each other and no one offered any advice.

"Jia Wenhe, tell me, what should I do?"

Seeing that no one was willing to offer a suggestion, Cao Cao had no choice but to personally call out names, filled with annoyance.

After rolling his eyes a few times, Jia Xu had no choice but to say:

"Your Majesty, please forgive my bluntness, but with the loss of Liyang, Liu Bei's 300,000-strong army has entered the heart of Hebei and is already within reach."

"With our current national strength and military power, it is probably hopeless to defend Ye City and Ji Province."

"I believe that rather than wasting our limited forces in a war we are destined to lose, we should choose to preserve our people and avoid repeating the mistakes of Liyang City."

Jia Xu gave a lengthy analysis, then bowed respectfully:

"Therefore, I believe that we should abandon Ji Province and You Province and withdraw all our existing troops to Bing Province."

"In this way, we can at least retain nearly 120,000 fresh troops."

"Bingzhou is connected to Guanzhong in the west, blocked by the Yellow River in the south, and protected by the Taihang Mountains in the east, giving it a great geographical advantage."

"Then our Great Wei can rely on the formidable passes of Tongguan, Wuguan, and Jingxiaoguan, and with our current forces, we can hold off the hundreds of thousands of troops of the pseudo-Chu and preserve the three prefectures of Bing, Yong, and Liang!"

"As long as we hold these three provinces, we can ally with Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang in the south, and form an alliance with the Gongsun family in Liaodong in the east, to recuperate and rebuild our strength."

"Only when the pseudo-Chu is in turmoil and the Central Plains are in flux can Your Majesty lead your army eastward to reclaim the lost territories in one fell swoop!" (End of Chapter)