,,,,,,,,,,,,

At this time, the sky was gradually approaching the fifth o'clock, there was a hint of brightness in the sky, the darkest moment had passed, and the battle to attack Hefei City was gradually coming to an end.

After hearing that a thousand tiger and leopard cavalry were completely wiped out by the Han army, the Cao army in the main camp had no will to resist.

When Gan Ning led more than 8,000 Han troops to the death, the two thousand Cao troops in the main camp were in chaos. Some Cao troops fled from Xiying Gate, while the locals in the Cao army were unwilling to escape. They chose to surrender under the leadership of a Hefei general.

A group of Han soldiers lined up into the main military camp covering an acre of land and quickly controlled the key points of the military camp. The more than eight surrendered soldiers gave up their weapons and armor, sat in more than a dozen large tents, waiting to return home after the war ended.

Accompanied by the surrendered general, Gan Ning climbed the Shou Fort west of the main military camp. This is a five-meter-high fort tower, the tallest building in the entire Hefei area. Standing above the fort tower, it is a view of dozens of miles around.

Ya Jiang's surname is Jiang, a native of Hefei. He was nearly fifty years old. He no longer had the desire to compete and no longer had the expectation of his career. He just wanted to live the rest of his life peacefully. Therefore, after the news of the Han army annihilated the Cao army's cavalry, he immediately decided to abandon the camp and surrender.

He accompanied Gan Ning to the fortress and could clearly see the situation of the city. In the faint morning light, there were fewer and fewer Cao troops on the west city. The Jiangdong army had attacked Hefei from the south gate. Yajiang pointed at the gate of the north city: "Did the general see? The north city gate has opened, which means that Cao's army has abandoned the city and retreated."

Gan Ning nodded. When he saw the north city gate open, he asked, "Will Man Chong stick to the end?"

"It shouldn't be. General Man values ​​soldiers more. Xiaojin in the east is lost and the southern city is also lost. I think he will not insist on defending the city anymore. He will definitely save the soldiers and lead his army to retreat from the north city gate."

Speaking of this, Ya Jiang couldn't help asking: "Does he conquer Hefei belong to Jingzhou or Jiangdong?"

"Hefei is for Jiangdong, we don't need it for the time being."

Seeing that Yajiang's face showed disappointment, Gan Ning patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "General Jiang, don't worry, I will negotiate with Huang Gai and let you continue to guard Hefei. I hope that one day, when the Han army officially attacks Hefei, we will meet again with the general."

Ya Jiang understood what Gan Ning meant, and he nodded silently. At this time, a Jiangdong cavalry rushed from the city and was taken to the tower by the soldiers. He shouted loudly: "General Gan can be there."

"What's the matter?" Gan Ning asked with his head protruding.

"General Huang has seized Hefei City, please go to the county yard to discuss it."

"I understand. Please tell General Huang that I will come after arranging military affairs."

The informant soldiers ran away again, and Gan Ning walked down the sentry tower. At this time, several generals stepped forward and persuaded: "General, be careful of the Jiangdong army's bad intentions, it is best not to go."

Gan Ning smiled, "Don't worry, Huang Gai understands in his heart that he will not be detrimental to us. He can't afford this consequence. Everyone guards the military camp and I will be back soon."

A few more words were told to everyone, Gan Ning led Yu Ming's personal soldiers to ride a horse into the city

Hefei City has been controlled by the Jiangdong Army. When Man Chong heard that Xiaojin and the South Gate were both lost, he knew that the situation was over, so he led thousands of Cao troops to withdraw from the north gate and retreat towards Runan. At this time, Hefei had martial law and people were not allowed to go to the streets. The streets were full of patrols of Jiangdong Army soldiers, and from time to time, Jiangdong Army patrol soldiers escorted the captured Cao army soldiers by.

Gan Ning soon came to the county yamen located in the middle of the city, which was also the county yamen of the entire Huainan County. After Cao's army withdrew, Guan Zhong Yun also led the county officials to surrender to the Jiangdong Army. Gan Ning turned over and dismounted. A Huang Gai's personal soldier was waiting in front of the gate. He hurriedly came up to greet and salute, "My general is already waiting for General Gan, please follow me."

Gan Ning followed him into the county yard. In a temporary official room, Huang Gai was standing alone in front of the map and pondering. Although he had completed the task delivered by Mr. Wu, Huang Gai knew that the battle situation was not over. This time, Jingzhou sent troops to help them seize Hefei, and they had to repay this favor.

At this time, the personal soldiers reported at the door: "Report to the old general, General Gan is here."

"Please come in quickly," Huang Gai said hurriedly.

After a moment, Gan Ning walked in quickly and bowed: "Sorry to General Huang, it was not able to attract the main force of Cao's army, and Gan Ning did not fulfill its promise."

Huang Gai was a person who knew the truth. Although the Jiangdong Army lost more than a thousand people to attack Hefei, he knew that if Gan Ning had not dragged the four thousand Cao troops to Xiaojin, they might not have been able to capture Hefei, especially the 1,000 tiger and leopard cavalry were completely wiped out by the Han army. This was a great favor.

He hurriedly said, "General Gan, please don't have to apologize. Chen Shuo was killed. I deeply regret that you have done your best and have captured the city for us and dragged Cao's army. I understand in my heart."

Seeing that he was sensible, Gan Ning smiled and walked up, and said, "According to the agreement, Hefei is controlled by the Jiangdong Army, I will withdraw back to Jingzhou. In addition, there are nearly a thousand surrendered soldiers in my place, all of whom are native to Hefei. I will hand them over to the Jiangdong Army together with General Ya, and I hope the general will treat them well."

Huang Gai smiled, "Don't worry, General Gan, since I am a local, of course I will continue to use it and let them maintain order. I invite the general to come over to discuss what we should do next. If we shock Cao's army to the greatest extent, we may be able to force Cao Cao to withdraw."

Gan Ning walked up and smiled and said, "When I left, the provincial governor had already given me a plan. If I took Hefei, I would continue to go north to seize Shouchun and send troops to Qiao County. I hope that the Jiangdong Army could also send some troops to cooperate with me to go north. As long as Cao Cao retreated from Jingzhou, I would immediately withdraw Hefei and hand over Hefei to Jiangdong. I would lead my army back to Jingzhou and never break my promise."

Gan Ning's plan was expected by Huang Gai, but if Shouchun could be captured, he could give it to Wu Gong. He pondered for a moment: "I ordered Lu Meng to lead 10,000 troops to cooperate with your army to go north, but in the end we want Shouchun."

Gan Ning nodded, "Then we will decide."

The queen of the Heavenly Queen, 20,000 coalition forces arrived in Shouchun. Due to the loss of Hefei, the Dongdamen in the Central Plains opened. The 400,000 Cao troops were mainly concentrated in Guanlong, Jingzhou, Yedu, Xuchang and Xuzhou in the north. The troops in the Central Plains were empty, and there were only a few soldiers in Shouchun.

After learning that the Jiangdong and Jingzhou coalition forces were invaded, the Shouchun County Magistrate abandoned the city and fled, causing the coalition troops to occupy Shouchun without bloodshed. The 20,000 coalition forces did not stop in Shouchun, and continued to advance quickly towards Qiao County, which was invincible. Five days later, they captured Chengfu County and the soldiers pointed to Qiao County, which shocked the Central Plains.

The news that the Sun and Liu coalition forces conquered Hefei and entered Qiao County finally reached Jingzhou. It was late April. The confrontation between the Han army and the Cao army had lasted for more than a month. Neither side took action and were waiting patiently.

In order to delay time, Cao Cao implemented Xun Yu's plan as soon as possible, and confirmed the occupation of Fancheng, so that the border between the two sides would be pushed to the front line of the Han River. At the same time, he began to dispatch troops to Runan to prepare to attack Anlu County, so as to attack Qichun.

On the one hand, Liu Jing was waiting for news from Hefei, and on the other hand, he dispatched tens of thousands of troops from Bashu to Jingzhou, and at the same time turned 20,000 troops from Xiangyang to Jiangxia to increase Jiangxia's defense. Both sides mobilized their troops and generals, and they were in a desperate situation to fight to the death.

But in fact, the Cao army could no longer support it. This time Cao Cao went south to Jingzhou was just a temporary decision. It was far from the previous preparations for more than a year during the Battle of Chibi. The supply of the 100,000 troops began to be in urgent need of the Cao army's food from Wancheng to Fancheng. Although Cao Cao requisitioned thousands of ox carts and transported food day and night, it still could not meet the huge consumption of the 100,000 troops.

Zhang Liao once built many ships in Wancheng, which could use clean water to transport food, but a single crossing of the river caused all nearly a thousand small ships to be lost. Without ships, it would be impossible to transport water on a large scale.

As he had no choice, Cao Cao began to use sheepskin rafts to transport food, but just two days ago, a team of Han army sentry ships headed north along the Bishui River and burned several sheepskin rafts full of food, and tens of thousands of stones of food were burned. This tragic loss made Cao Cao angry and ordered the famous Cao army generals who were guarding the river.

But Cao Cao also knew that this was not a dereliction of duty by the soldiers, but a pain of the weakening of the navy. He had to stop transporting food in sheepskin rafts. However, news that Cao Cao was even more unacceptable came quietly.

Chen Qun hurriedly walked towards Cao Cao's tent. He had just heard some rumors that Hefei was defeated and the Jiangdong army had already gone north to the Central Plains. This rumors made Chen Qun feel a little uneasy. He was eager to confirm the matter with the Prime Minister.

Chen Qun walked to the tent, stopped again, stepped forward and whispered to Xu Chu, "General Xu, what is the Prime Minister now?"

Xu Chu shook his head gently, "The Prime Minister was furious just now. I have never seen the Prime Minister so angry. I suggest that you avoid it for the time being and wait until the Prime Minister calms down before talking."

"But something happened in Hefei," Chen Qun asked with concern.

Xu Chu glanced at both sides from the corner of his eyes, and saw that there was no one on the left and right, then he whispered to Chen Qun: "Hefei is indeed lost. Cao Zhen fled to Xuchang, and Man Chong also retreated to Runan."

Chen Qun was extremely shocked. The rumors were true. How could this be possible? Sun Quan actually attacked Hefei. He was a little confused and could not think of the reason for it. At this time, Cao Cao's tired voice came from the tent, "Is it a long time, please come in?"

Xu Chu was so scared that he quickly took a step back, stood up straight and did not dare to say anything. Chen Qun had to bite the bullet and walked into the tent.

In the big tent, Cao Cao sat at the table with his back facing the tent door, his back was slightly hunched, and he looked extremely tired. Chen Qun stepped forward and knelt down, bowed, "See the Prime Minister"

"You're welcome, please sit down."

Cao Cao slowly turned around and smiled bitterly, "Did you come to see me after hearing the rumors?"

"Yes, I can't believe it."

"I don't believe it either, but this is the fact. Not only did Hefei fall, but Qiao County also falls."

Chen Qun was stunned for a moment, and then whispered for a while: "It's because Bei Zhi misread Sun Quan, Bei Zhi has a responsibility."

Cao Cao shook his head, "You did not read Sun Quan wrong, nor did I read it wrong. It's just that we underestimated Liu Jing and underestimated our biggest rival."
Chapter completed!