Hearing this order, the generals were shocked and showed an incredible expression.

Yan Liang grabbed the messenger's clothes and lifted the messenger up, and shouted with a ferocious look on his face: "Nonsense! How dare you fake the lord's order!"

Looking at Yan Liang's horrifying appearance, the messenger's face turned pale and he quickly said tremblingly: "How dare I pass the orders by my subordinates? The lord did do this!" Then the messenger quickly took out a letter from his arms and presented it to Yan Liang.

Yan Liang took the letter, threw the messenger away, and then quickly opened the letter.

The other generals all looked at Yan Liang and waited for Yan Liang to speak.

After Yan Liang opened the letter, his face looked ugly in an instant. After a moment, Yan Liang said in a gloomy voice: "It's really time for Cao Cao to come back!"

Then Yan Liang raised his head and glanced at the generals and explained: "Cao Cao has returned to the army, and the lord is surrounded by Chenliu. Our army must return to Chenliu immediately!"

At this time, Gao Lan asked anxiously, "What about here? Did you give up like that?"

Yan Liang frowned and said unhappily: "What a big deal it is to be surrounded by lord! You actually have something to worry about!"

Gao Lan retorted: "I did not say that I would not rescue my lord, I just wanted to ask the general to consider how to rescue him!"

Yan Liang raised his eyebrows and asked casually: "Then how do you think you should rescue him?"

After thinking for a while, Gao Lan replied: "There is still a hundred thousand troops around the lord, and the main force of the Cao army is only 200,000. Therefore, the Cao army cannot defeat Chenliu in a short period of time. Dingtao can be broken every day. As long as we capture Dingtao, we can march straight into the entire Yanzhou. By then, not only will the siege of Chenliu be resolved, but Cao Cao's power can also be uprooted!" When he said this, Gao Lan's expression seemed a little excited.

As soon as Gao Lan said this, he immediately won the support of many generals. Many generals expressed their support to Yan Liang in support of Gao Lan.

Yan Liang couldn't help but be moved. What Gao Lan said was very likely to be realized! However, Yan Liang hesitated again. He was loyal and worried that something would happen to Yuan Shao. If it happened, what would be the use of Yan Liang even if he captured the entire Yanzhou?

After hesitating for a while, Yan Liang looked at the generals and said, "What General Gao Lan said is reasonable, but if it happens, we will be a sinner! So I decided to return immediately!"

Gao Lan was shocked when he heard this, so he said anxiously: "Please think twice, General! There is no way to take risks in the wars in ancient times!"

"Okay! This matter is decided like this! General Gao Lan doesn't need to say more!" Yan Liang frowned and said in a deep voice impatiently.

Gao Lan's face changed, then sighed, stepped aside, and stopped persuading him.

If this Yuan Shao army finally attacked Yanzhou according to Gao Lan's suggestion, the development of the situation in the future may be completely changed. But nothing is possible. Cao Cao was lucky enough to avoid a fatal blow that was very likely to completely collapse.

The news that Cao Cao led the army southward excited the Cao army trapped Dingtao. But after being happy, everyone was still worried that Yuan Shao's army outside the city would continue to attack and advance vigorously. If that were the case, let alone Dingtao, even the entire Yanzhou would be in danger.

The next morning, Cao Ren and Li Dian went up to the city wall to patrol as usual. Before they could reach the top of the city, the two heard that it seemed very noisy on the city wall.

The two couldn't help but frown, feeling unhappy. The first thing they thought was that some soldiers might have been shaken by the fierce battles in recent days.

Thinking of this, the two of them couldn't help but speed up.

However, as soon as the two of them climbed to the city, the scene they saw was very different from their imagination. The soldiers' faces were extremely excited, and many people were cheering! Almost everyone was looking out of the city!

Cao Ren and Li Dian couldn't help but follow everyone's eyes and look out of the city. Yuan Shao's military camp was busy, teams of soldiers came out of the military camp, and then drove west along the official road.

Seeing this, the two were shocked...

A happy expression suddenly appeared on his face.

"That's great! It seems that Yuan Shao has been hit by the lord's plan to 'surround Wei and save Zhao'!" Cao Ren punched the wall with an excited expression on his face.

Li Dian, who was beside him, nodded with an excited expression.

"Mancheng, gather the army immediately and pursue it with his own tail. It is important not to let Yan Liang go too easily!"

Li Dian was shocked and quickly advised: "General, our army's troops are really limited, so you must not attack rashly!"

Cao Ren frowned and said unhappily: "How can you shrink from leading troops to fight? If you dare not go, I will lead your troops to pursue you!" Then Cao Ren passed the order to the messenger beside him.

Seeing this, Li Dian persuaded him again, but Cao Ren didn't listen to him at all.

Then Cao Ren led 10,000 troops out of the city. Li Dian, standing on the city gate tower, frowned, but had no choice.

Yuan Shao's army set out to return west, Yan Liang led the main force to walk in the front, while Gao Lan led the 30,000 infantry behind the palace, which Gao Lan himself asked.

Gao Lan was cautious. Although the Cao army in Dingtao had been severely damaged, Gao Lan did not take it lightly. In order to ensure that everything was safe, Gao Lan sent a large number of scouts to investigate the movements of the Cao army in Dingtao, and divided the 30,000 infantry under his command into three waves to achieve the purpose of mutual protection.

After Yuan Shao's army walked less than ten miles away, the scout quickly came to report that ten thousand Cao's troops were coming out of the city to chase him.

Gao Lan immediately sent a fast horse to inform Yan Liang who was walking in front, and at the same time ordered his 30,000 infantrymen to stop and ambush on the spot.

The ambushing place of Gaolan is located more than ten miles west of Dingtao. It belongs to hilly terrain, with streams and woods.

About two quarters of an hour later, the excited Cao Ren led 10,000 Cao troops here. They did not realize that they had entered Yuan Shaojun's ambush circle. He was now full of thoughts of biting Yuan Shaojun hard.

Just as Cao Ren repeatedly urged the soldiers to hurry up, a sharp arrow suddenly shot out from the woods beside the official road, and took Cao Ren on the high horse.

At this moment, Cao Ren did not notice this sudden change at all. In the flash of lightning, the sharp arrow shot Cao Ren.

However, Cao Ren was not caught off guard, nor was he even injured. It turned out that the sharp arrow was shot on the tassel of the helmet.

Cao Ren couldn't help but be stunned. At this moment, the sound of killing sounds suddenly appeared on both sides of the official road, and Cao's army only saw countless yellow Yuan Shao's troops rushing out.

The soldiers under Cao Ren were shocked when they saw this and didn't know what to do for a moment.

Before the Cao army could react, Yuan Shao's army rushed into the Cao army, and the two sides immediately started a melee.

Yuan Shao's army was three times that of Cao's army, and Cao's army was unprepared, so shortly after the war, Cao's army fell into a passive state.

Under the surging offensive of Yuan Shao's army, Cao's army suffered heavy losses and retreated step by step, and its position became increasingly chaotic.

While Yuan Shao's army was attacking Cao's army head-on, it also distributed some of its strength to go around the rear of Cao's army, obviously trying to eat up this group of Cao's army that dared to advance in one fell swoop.

The situation of Cao's army is in danger. If they cannot escape in a short period of time, waiting for their fate is likely to be wiped out.

Cao Ren looked at the chaotic situation in front of him and couldn't help but regret his recklessness and did not listen to Li Dian's advice. But he regretted it now.

Seeing that Yuan Shaojun's pocket formation was about to be solid, if the pocket formation was solid, then Cao Ren and his subordinates would come.

At this critical moment, a 5,000-man Cao army suddenly appeared in the rear. The leading general was Li Dian, the deputy general guarding Dingtao. It turned out that Li Dian became more and more worried shortly after Cao Ren led his troops away. So after explaining his defense, he personally led 5,000 people out of the city with the goal of rescuing Cao Ren when possible.

As soon as Li Dian led the five thousand Cao troops to appear, he launched a fierce attack on Yuan Shao's army from the outside. Yuan Shao's army was caught off guard and the encirclement that had already been stuck was instantly torn apart.

Cao Ren's face showed a look of surprise, and he followed...

He raised his sword and shouted: "General Li Dian is here to support us! Brothers and fight with me!" The morale of the generals suddenly increased.

Before he could finish his words, Cao Ren rushed to the gap that Li Dian's troops rushed out. The remaining soldiers retreated while fighting and following Cao Ren's footsteps.

Under the attack inside and outside, Yuan Shao's army on the east was killed and defeated. Cao Ren led the remnants of the army to withdraw.
Chapter completed!