Zhuge Liang's fire burned in Xinye City. The strategic goal is to save himself and kill the enemy, so as to achieve the purpose of delaying the attack of Cao's army, and then retreat calmly.

The general who served as the main force this time was not Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who was Liu Bei's right-hand man, but Zhao Yun, who had always been low-key.

Zhuge Liang asked Zhao Yun to command thousands of troops and horses to ambush the three gates of Xinye City in the north and southwest, north and south, and in the hidden places in the city, a lot of firewood was piled up, and many roofs also contained sulfur and other fire-induced objects.

Just after Cao's army entered the city and settled, Zhao Yun led his troops to set fire with rockets and cheered outside Sanmen City, leaving only the East Gate to let Cao's army go out of the city.

Zhuge Liang used Zhao Yun as the main force because only Zhao Yun can implement his strategic intentions without fail.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei have always had prejudice against Zhuge Liang. Although they may not dare to discount the order, Zhuge Liang could not afford to bet at such a critical moment.

Fortunately, Zhao Yun's martial arts and ability to lead troops were not worse than the two, and it did not affect Zhuge Liang's deployment of troops.

Guan Yu was not idle either. He led a thousand troops and horses in the headquarters, each with cloth bags, and filled more sand and soil. He went upstream to stop the water of the Baihe River, preparing to flood the retreating troops from Xinye, and chased them down to take them down.

Zhang Fei also led a thousand troops from his headquarters to ambush the Boling Ferry and intercepted the remaining troops who retreated from the upstream.

Mi Fang and Liu Feng led two thousand troops to camp in front of Quewei Slope 30 miles outside Xinye City as suspicious soldiers.

Kong Ming had already decided to allocate the more than 20,000 troops, so he and Liu Bei took Chen Dao, and only brought hundreds of guards to camp on a high mountain outside Xinye City, climbed up to look, waiting for the sound of the enemy.

Cao Ren and Cao Hong led 100,000 troops to the front team, and Xu Chu led 3,000 iron armored troops in front to open the way, and rushed to Xinye.

Xu Zhu arrived at Quewei Po and was blocked by Liu Feng and Mifang's suspicious soldiers. Because of Xiahou Dun's failure, Xu Zhu did not dare to be careless and stopped to ask Cao Ren for instructions. When Cao Ren saw through the suspicious soldiers and ordered the army to advance, it was getting late.

Before dark, Cao Ren led his troops to Xinye City and immediately sent Cao Hong to attack the city.

The soldiers were not attacked when they reached the city, but only saw four gates wide open. Cao's soldiers rushed out of no way, and there was no one in the city. It turned out to be an empty city.

Cao Hong believed that Liu Bei had fled to the city and led his troops to rest. At this time, the army was exhausted and hungry, and all the troops went to seize houses to make food.

After Cao Ren and Cao Hong had supper, they rested in the county yamen. In the middle of the night, the three gates in the west, south, north and north of Xinye City were in full bloom.

Before Cao Ren could react, the whole city was full of fire. He could not stay any longer, so he had to lead the generals to suddenly get angry and search for a way to run. He fell into Zhuge Liang's plan and rushed out of the east gate of the city and retreated to the Baihe River.

Among the fireworks, Cao's soldiers trampled on each other, and countless dead were dead.

Cao Ren ran along the way, but was chased by generals such as Zhao Yun and Liu Feng. He rushed to the Baihe River. He was drowned 30% by Guan Yu who was ambushed upstream, and lost tens of thousands of people.

When he arrived at Boling Ferry, Cao Ren was chased by Zhang Fei who was ambushed here for a while, and Cao Ren returned with great defeat.

The firewood in Xinye City was burned out, the fire gradually faded, and the sky gradually brightened. Cao Ren took over the remaining troops and settled outside Xinye City, and sent Cao Hong to see Cao Cao, saying the failure.

When Cao Cao heard this, he couldn't help but curse: "Wife Zhuge, how dare you do this? He set fires repeatedly and ruined my major affairs several times!" He led the army to Xinye Xiazhai and ordered the soldiers to fill the Baihe River and prepare to attack Fancheng in one go.

Liu Ye, a counselor under Cao Cao, was also a royal clan. Seeing that the Han Dynasty was in decline, he did not want to support himself, but instead defected to Cao Cao who was optimistic about him.

During the war between Cao Cao's army, Liu Ye repeatedly made brilliant plans and often hit the nail on the development of the world situation, becoming an important counselor under Cao Cao.

As a relative of the Han family, Liu Ye did not support the Han family, so it was not because he forgot the clan! Because even the royal family could not put eggs in a basket, he defected to Cao Cao to leave a way out for the royal family.

Liu Ye had no different intentions towards Cao Cao, but it did not mean that he did not have the same clan. Before coming to Jingzhou, Liu Ye found Cao Cao and tactfully proposed that he should avoid suspicion and not follow Cao Cao in the south.

Cao Cao originally did not dare to take Liu Ye to the south of the battle. After all, he and Liu Biao and Liu Bei were relatives of the Han Dynasty, and his blood was thicker than water. He could not sit idly by and watch their dangers.

But when Cao Cao saw that Liu Ye took the initiative to avoid suspicion, he wanted to take him to the south to fight because he was very acknowledged Liu Ye's ability, but he had no confidence in his loyalty, so he could just take a look at it.

Although Liu Ye agreed to follow the army to fight south, he also put forward a condition: not to participate in the decision of the army's offensive strategy. He was afraid that he would not be able to explain it clearly at that time, so he would only make some other irrelevant suggestions when necessary.

Now that Cao Cao conquered Xinye, Liu Ye saw that Liu Bei's situation was critical, he tried his best to buy some time for Liu Bei's retreat.

Therefore, he took the initiative to offer advice to Cao Cao:

"The prime minister first arrived in Xiangyang, and he had to buy the people's hearts first. Now that Liu Bei has moved all the people in Xinye to Fancheng. If my troops advance directly, the two counties will be filled with dust. It is better to send someone to surrender to Liu Bei first. Even if Bei does not surrender, it can also show my love for the people; if he surrenders, the land of Jingzhou can be determined without fighting."

Cao Cao was right and then asked Liu Ye, "Who can be the envoy?"

Liu Ye replied: "Xu Shu and Liu Bei have a close relationship. Now in the army, why not order him to go there?"

This is also a plan that Liu Ye had already thought of. He recommended Xu Shu to persuade Liu Bei to surrender. In fact, it was to give him an opportunity to inform him, so that Liu Bei could know his current situation and take corresponding countermeasures.

The candidates who persuade the surrender have always been very particular. Try to find someone who has friendship with the other party, so that the success rate can be greatly increased.

Therefore, there was nothing wrong with Liu Ye recommending Xu Shu as an envoy, but Cao Cao died indirectly at his own hands because of Xu Shu's mother, and was afraid that he would have prejudice against him and lacked confidence in him.

Although Xu Shu did not make any comments, his first conversation with Cao Cao still made Cao Cao recognize his talent. He did not want to lose Xu Shu, so he said, "He may not come again. If he returns to Liu Bei, wouldn't it be better to have a tiger's wings?"

Liu Ye said, "If he doesn't come, he will be laughed at. The Prime Minister should not doubt it."

Cao Cao summoned Xu Shuzhi and said to him: "I originally wanted to trample on Fancheng, but I would pity the orders of the people. You can go and say that Liu Bei: If you are willing to surrender, you will be exempted from punishment and title; if you are even more obsessed, the military and the people will be killed, and the jade and stone will be burned. I know that the Duke is loyal and righteous, so I will go there. I hope you will not let them down."

As soon as Xu Shu entered Cao's camp, he was highly valued, and he was also moved by Cao Cao's sincerity.

He was also very confused about how to repay Cao Cao's kindness, but he was determined not to betray Liu Bei, which was Xu Shu's bottom line.
Chapter completed!