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Since Cao Xiu was eliminated, Xiahou Dun completely controlled the military power of Yedu. As Cao Zhang led his army back again, the strength of Cao's army was further strengthened. At present, the total strength of Cao's army in Yedu reached 120,000, including 20,000 cavalry. In addition to the soldiers recruited by 10,000, the remaining 90,000 troops were mostly elite troops. At the same time, Cao's army had more than 400,000 stones of grain reserved. The elite soldiers and enough grain reserved gave Xiahou Dun the confidence to fight the decisive battle with the Han army.

But the situation in Yedu is indeed not optimistic. Zhao Yunhe Pin led an army of 160,000 across the Yellow River and headed north. Liu Hu led an army of 50,000 in Wukou Xing to stare at Wei County. Huang Zhong and Gan Ning led an army of 80,000 from Qingzhou to Yedu. Liu Jing personally led a army of 100,000 from Jingxing to Hebei. Nearly 400,000 troops surrounded Yedu from all directions.

Cao's army was like a beast that fell into a trap, either trapped to death in the trap, or the beast was still fighting, fighting to the death.

In the lobby of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Cao Zhi, Xiahou Dun, Zhang Liao, Xu Chu, Zang Ba, Guo Huai, Cao Zhang, and counselors Guoyuan, Liu Ye, Xin Pi and others gathered to discuss the final decisive battle with the Han army.

There was a sand table in the entire Hebei area in the lobby. Everyone looked solemn and stood in front of the sand table and remained silent. At present, their opinions were slightly different. Cao Zhi advocated defending Yedu to compete with the Han army. If the Han army could not win for a year or two, they would retreat.

But Xiahou Dun did not want to passively defend the city. He hoped to find the weaknesses of the Han army, concentrate his troops to defeat each one, and defend Yedu to the end until he was trapped to death. That was definitely not his personality.

"General Zang Ba said, where is Zhao Yun's army at present?" Xiahou Dun turned around and asked Zang Badao.

Zang Ba originally guarded Luoyang with Xu Huang. After Cao Ren's defeat in the Central Plains War, he was temporarily transferred back to Hebei and led 10,000 troops to defend the north bank of the Yellow River in Baimajin, thus escaped the destruction of Cao's army in Luoyang.

The 10,000 troops led by Zang Ba have evacuated the north bank of the Yellow River and are currently stationed outside the southern city of Yedu. He sent many scouts to investigate the situation of the Han army in the Yellow River and have a better understanding of the Han army in the south.

Zang Ba bowed and said, "At present, the main force of Zhao Yun of the Han army is south of Dangyin County, about 150 miles from Yedu. They did not go north and seemed to be waiting for orders."

"Where is Huang Zhong's army now?" Xiahou Dun asked Guo Huai again.

At present, Guo Huai controls Cao Xiu's ten thousand troops, and the army is stationed in the east of the city, mainly responsible for the intelligence on the east. Guo Huai immediately bows and says, "Report to the General, Huang Zhong's army is stationed in Wei County, about 150 miles away from Yedu."

At this time, before Xiahou Dun asked, Cao Zhang stepped forward and walked: "Liu Jing's 100,000 army has passed Jingxing, the sky is in Changshan County, and it should be in Zhao County now."

Cao Zhang rushed back to attend his father's funeral. Of course, this was just his excuse. He left Yedu with anger because Wan Youzhou Army was completely wiped out. However, when he heard that Bingzhou had been captured by the Han army and Liu Jing stationed troops in the first place, he realized that the main force of the Han army would enter Hebei from Jingxing, so his Youzhou army would be the brunt and be attacked by the Han army.

Cao Zhang also considered retreating to Liaodong, or returning to Yedu, and joining forces with other Cao troops to fight against the enemy. But when he was unable to make a decision, Yedu came the bad news of his father's death. As a human being, he had to go to Yedu to attend the funeral. It was precisely for this reason that Cao Zhang finally decided to give up Youzhou and lead his army back to Yedu.

In Yedu, Cao Zhang had only 20,000 troops and could not compete with Xiahou Dun, who controlled the 100,000 troops. He also learned from Cao Xiu's lessons and tried his best to cooperate with Xiahou Dun's army deployment without losing control of the army. Of course, Cao Zhang also opposed the trap of Yedu and advocated sending troops to fight the Han army. Strategically, he coincided with Xiahou Dun, which was also the reason why he was silent but did not oppose Xiahou Dun.

Xiahou Dun nodded, quite satisfied with Cao Zhang's attitude. Although with his personality, he would definitely take away the command of the Youzhou Army, the current situation no longer allows internal strife, so he could only barely accept Cao Zhang's cooperation instead of handing over power.

At this time, Xiahou Dun picked up the wooden pole and said to Zhaojun: "Liu Jing's main force is Zhaojun, away from Yedu. If we send troops north overnight and fight Liu Jing's 100,000 troops, we can decide the victory or defeat at most one day. Huang Zhong's army and Zhao Yun's army have no time to support him. As long as we can defeat Liu Jing's main force and turn around to defeat Huang Zhong's army, we will not only win Hebei, but also regain Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Yuzhou, and regain the strategic advantage over the Han Dynasty, so success or failure will be here."

"But what if we fail?" Guoyuan asked hesitantly.

Xiahou Dun shook his head, "How come the National Jung-in-Chief said such an inexplicable word, there is no perfect sure of anything, but we have 100,000 elite soldiers, and Liu Jing is also 100,000 elite soldiers. When the two armies meet, the victory or defeat is 55 points. At least we have hope to defeat Liu Jing's main force, which is much better than being trapped in Ye."

"But what if Liu Jing doesn't fight?" Liu Ye, who had been silent, finally couldn't help but speak.

This sentence seemed to poke Xiahou Dun's vital point. Xiahou Dun was furious and pointed at Liu Ye and cursed: "Do you think you are a relative of the Han Dynasty and get benefits from Liu Jing? You, a traitor, don't kill you today, how can you convince the public?"

Xiahou Dun pulled out his sword and rushed towards Liu Ye, scaring Guo Huai and Zhang Liao to hug him quickly. Guo Huai advised: "The general should calm down and kill the strategist in the battle is not a good sign."

Perhaps it was more taboo to kill generals in the face of war. Xiahou Dun took away the sword and ordered the guards on both sides to "beat this person with sticks!"

Liu Ye was also extremely angry. Before the guards could come forward, he snorted heavily and walked out quickly.

Liu Ye was driven away, but Xiahou Dun was still angry. He turned around and asked Xin Pi, "Could Xin Zhongcheng also object?"

"I have no objection!"

Xiahou Dun breathed a long sigh and looked back at Cao Zhi. He was waiting for Cao Zhi's final statement. Cao Zhi had no choice but to nod his head slowly, "It's up to the general to decide everything!"

"Then it's decided, leave ten thousand new troops to defend the city, and the remaining ninety thousand troops will follow me to fight Liu Jing, and set off today!"

...........

Everyone dispersed, Xiahou Dun left the Prime Minister's Mansion, turned over and said, "Go to the Northern Military Camp!"

At this time, a shout came from behind, "General, please stay."

Xiahou Dun turned around, but saw that it was Guo Huai who was chasing him. He stopped his horse and asked, "What else is Boji?"

Guo Huai ran forward and said, "Why didn't the general let him stay in Yedu far away? He was able to stay in Hefei back then. I felt that he was more confident in letting him stay in Yedu."

The Wan Xin Army was trained by Zhang Liao for more than a month. Zhang Liao and Wan Jun were more in harmony and had prestige in the Wan Xin Army. Therefore, Guo Huai suggested that Zhang Liao lead Wan Xin Army to defend Yedu, but Xiahou Dun did not make such a decision. The defense of Yedu involves the military power of Wan Xin Army, so Xiahou Dun decided to let his son Xiahou Shi command the Wan Xin Army.

Xiahou Dun pondered for a moment and still shook his head, "If my main force is defeated and how can I finish my eggs when the nest is destroyed? I have decided, don't persuade me anymore. Bo Ji can return to Dongying quickly and lead his army to join me in an hour!"

Xiahou Dun urged the horse to run away. Guo Huai shook his head regretfully. Although Xiahou Wu was Cao Cao's son-in-law, he was timid and had no plans. It was really not a good idea to let him guard Yedu, and Guo Huai had no choice but to get on the horse and go to Dongying.

............

In the afternoon of the same day, Xiahou Dun personally led an army of 90,000 to leave Yedu. Before leaving, he reminded Xiahou Ku to hold on to the city and not to be lured by the Han army to go out of the city to fight. Xiahou Ku also agreed to his father's instructions one by one.

Xiahou Dun immediately urged to march to the north. He had to defeat Liu Jing's main force before the Han army reinforcements arrived to take the initiative in this battle. Xiahou Dun still had a glimmer of hope in his heart. Perhaps they could seize the opportunity to kill Liu Jing or capture Liu Jing alive, and the situation in the world would be completely reversed.

At this time, Liu Jing's army had arrived in Xiangguo County in the north of Guangping County, which is today Xingtai, Hebei. At this moment, Liu Jing received a scout news and found the main force of Cao's army in Handan County to the south, and was marching rapidly to the north.

As Liu Jing expected, his original intention was to lead the snake out of the cave, lead Xiahou Dun's army out of Yedu, and then Zhao Yun's main force cut off Xiahou Dun's retreat and defeat Xiahou Dun and Yedu one by one. Of course, Liu Jing also considered the possibility of them being defeated by Xiahou Dun's army, and for this, he made sufficient preparations.

Handan is about ten miles away from Xiangguo. If it is pursued by cavalry, it can arrive in one day. However, Liu Jing knew that Xiahou Dun would never let the army be dispersed. At this critical moment of decisive battle, both sides were very cautious and would not be careless.

Liu Jing immediately ordered the army to retreat north and continue to lead Xiahou Dun's army to the north. At noon the next day, 100,000 Han troops arrived in Gaoyi County, Zhaojun. Liu Jing built a Daying on Hanlonggang, west of the county town. There were many low-lying hills in Gaoyi County, and the groundwater was very rich. He could easily dig wells to fetch water on hills, which was very suitable for laying down Daying.

Hanlonggang is a gentle hill, suddenly on the plain, about a foot from the flat ground, and the hills are very flat, covering an area of ​​about two acres. Liu Jing sent general Guan Yu to lead 20,000 soldiers to build a solid wall-shaped military camp in ten days, and then watered and condensed ice. The camp was condescending, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

In fact, it was Liu Ye's concern. Liu Jing did not intend to fight Xiahou Dun immediately, and used delay tactics to drag down Xiahou Dun's morale.

The soldiers in the military camp were extremely busy. They set up large tents, built fire sheds, dug wells to get water, and built sentry towers. Teams of scouts were sent to all directions. Liu Jing was surrounded by dozens of generals to inspect the camp. When he came to the gate of the Nanying, he saw Yu Suijun craftsmen installing giant trenchers. He walked up to him and asked, "Has the trenchers on the east been reinstalled?"

The craftsman led his hand forward and bowed, "Your Highness, it has been reinstalled, and it is foolproof."

At this time, Guan Yu, the general behind him, whispered: "Your Highness, if Cao's army uses catapults to attack the camp, will it pose a threat to the camp?"

This is not only Guan Yu's worry, but many generals have this concern. If Cao's army attacks the camp with fireballs, as long as a fireball hits the camp and ignites the big tent in the camp, the consequences will be unimaginable.
Chapter completed!