Although it was considered an organized and disciplined retreat before the battle, under the pursuit of the Xuzhou army who was good at beating down drowned dogs, Cao Jun's organized retreat eventually turned into a rout full of blood and tears. He paid a heavy price, but in the end there was no one left.

The organized team was able to successfully evacuate to Dongping to rendezvous with the chariot team.

It's not that Deputy Director Tao was particularly ruthless, and he killed Cao Jun's troops who had abandoned the city. The key was that the direction Cao Jun chose to escape violated Deputy Director Tao's taboo. If these defeated Cao Jun troops with low morale were heading towards Dingding

Tao fled for his life and went to join Liu Dai's troops stationed in Dingtao. Then Deputy Director Tao probably stayed on the sidelines and did not kill Cao's defeated army.

But Xu Shu led the defeated Cao army to retreat to Dongping, preparing to go to Dongping to join Che Zhou's team. Deputy Director Tao couldn't tolerate this - Dongping was the main team in Xuzhou, and Sun Guan's team in Qingzhou and Hou Cheng's team in Rencheng were scheduled to go there.

Of course, Deputy Director Tao could not tolerate these Cao troops, who were still capable of fighting, to occupy Dongping under the leadership of Che Zhou, making it more difficult for the Xuzhou army to join forces.

In view of this, after confirming the retreat direction of Cao's defeated troops, Deputy Director Tao immediately sent the Junzi Army and the cavalry teams led by Xu Huang and Qu Mian to pursue them. He also divided the cavalry into three teams led by Tao Ji, Xu Huang and Qu Mian.

Led by the three generals of Burma, they took turns resting and chasing each other, without giving any chance to Cao's defeated troops. They also repeatedly demanded that Cao's defeated troops must be defeated before Cao's troops could join forces, so that they would not be able to collude with the chariots and threaten Xuzhou's army.

The reunion plan.

Facts have proved that Xu Shu was only an excellent staff officer and tactical planner, but not an excellent commander. In front of the Xuzhou cavalry who took turns to kill, although Xu Shu also organized some elite teams to intercept from behind, it was a pity that he did not have the ability to let these cavalry attack.

The soldiers of Cao's army fought to the death and obeyed the orders issued by Xu Shu Yue's deputy unconditionally. As a result, the troops at the rear had no intention of fighting to the death. They immediately collapsed when they were attacked by Xuzhou cavalry. In the end, no generals were willing to listen to Xu Shu's orders, from General Ya to ordinary soldiers.

They all let go and ran for their lives. No fool was willing to stop and fight to the death, sacrificing himself to cover the retreat of his companions.

In the face of such an enemy, if the Xuzhou cavalry with their war horses could not win the battle, the Xuzhou generals Xu Huang, Tao Ji and Qu Mian should have been pushed out of the camp and beheaded. These Xuzhou cavalry generals did not disappoint Deputy Director Tao.

Starting from biting the enemy's tail, the poor Cao army's defeated troops no longer had even an hour of peace. Often after the gentleman's army retreated after throwing countless arrows, the cavalry led by Qu Mian came to kill them, with thousands of sharp swords.

The saber was swung with great force, and with lightning speed, it chopped down the Cao Jun soldiers who had no time to escape, turning them upside down and leaving corpses everywhere. When the Cao Jun brigade abandoned the rear team and desperately opened up the Yu Mian team to pursue them, Xu

The Xuzhou cavalry led by Huang chased after them like hungry wolves, and once again killed Cao Jun's rear team in chaos. Then the notorious Junzi Army followed up again, biting Cao Jun's team and kept firing arrows as if they were ghosts.

In the face of such a rotating pursuit, the poor defeated soldiers of Cao Jun had no way to go to heaven or to the ground. In order to survive, they could only flee in groups and groups, fleeing in groups from their own large army that was targeted by the Xuzhou cavalry. Cao Jun

The generals at the grassroots level could not restrain themselves. Later, Dubo, Tun generals and even Qu generals fled with their troops. The grain, grass and baggage brought from Changyi City were scattered along the road, and flags, armor and weapons were thrown away.

There were so many people in the mountains and fields that even the Xuzhou cavalry could not carry them, so they had to send fast horses back to Changyi to report the news and ask Deputy Director Tao to send an infantry team to collect the loot.

The unstoppable pursuit lasted for a whole day. When it was getting dark in the evening, when they fled to the shore of Juze Lake in embarrassment, the more than 4,000 defeated Cao troops who escaped from Changyi were completely defeated, and Cao Jun was completely gutted.

The soldiers fled all over the mountains and plains, scrambling to escape in all directions. There was almost no Cao Jun team of about a hundred people on the battlefield, and the number of Cao Jun soldiers beside Xu Shu was less than 30, but the Xuzhou cavalry still took turns to pursue them, never stopping.

Jun Zijun, who likes close combat, also took the opportunity to practice close combat. He gave up bows and arrows to directly kill enemies who were not good at swords and guns, and tried his best to collect harvests to practice close combat. Seeing that the situation was over, Xu Shu also gave up his efforts to gather the team and simply changed into a uniform.

Wearing ordinary soldier clothes, he took the last twenty or so soldiers around him and fled to Dongping at night. He no longer cared about the life and death of his defeated soldiers, and allowed the astonishing endurance of the Gentleman Army cavalry to massacre the defeated soldiers who had fallen alone and collapsed.

In the battle of Changyi, with only part of the main force dispatched, the Xuzhou army annihilated Xiahou Yuan's army, the main force of Cao's army on the southern line of Yanzhou, in one fell swoop. Not only did it remove the nail stuck in the throat of the Xuzhou army's northward march, it also completely shattered the Xuzhou army's

In the shadow of their hearts, even Xuzhou veterans who participated in the Yuan Tao War in Tao Qian's era no longer believed that Cao's army was invincible. They believed that the current strength of Xuzhou's army was enough to compete head-on with the main force of Cao's army, so Changchun

Immediately after the Battle of Yi, the Xuzhou army, from high-ranking generals to ordinary soldiers, unanimously requested Deputy Director Tao to immediately send troops north to attack Dongping and then directly attack the back of the main force of Cao's army. The humiliation of the disastrous defeat seven years ago was overcome, and the desire for war was very strong.

strong.

The morale could not be lowered. Deputy Director Tao, who was only one step away from assisting Yuan Ruo in Cao's strategy, certainly would not suppress the soldiers' desire to fight. After only one day's rest after breaking through Changyi, Deputy Director Tao left Cao Xinglu behind.

After five thousand troops guarded Changyi, they immediately led the army to march north again. The troops were divided into two groups. One group was led by Deputy Director Tao himself, and went directly north to Dongping via Juye. The other group was led by Chen Dao, and first detoured back to Rencheng and Hou Cheng.

Join forces, then escort the grain and grass from Rencheng to the north, and join the main force at the foot of Dongpinglu City.

At the same time, Deputy Director Tao sent a message to Sun Guan on horseback, ordering Sun Guan's team to seize the opportunity to step up the offensive, strive to defeat the reinforcements sent by Che Zhou to Sheqiu, and join the main force in Dongping County. Even if it fails, they will have to bite the Che Zhou faction.

The reinforcements to Sheqiu reduced resistance to the blitzkrieg launched by the main force. In addition, Deputy Director Tao had to send a messenger back to Xuzhou and ordered Xu Chu, Zhao Yun, Gao Shun and other troops who were still resting in Xuzhou to give up their plan to go north for reinforcements.

Rest with peace of mind and defend the base camp. The existing troops are enough to attack Dongping.

"My lord, would you like to send a messenger north to contact Yuan Shao, report the news that our army has captured Changyi, and strengthen Yuan Shao's determination to stand firm and wait for help?" Liu Ye suggested.

"It's not necessary." Deputy Director Tao replied: "Changyi was captured by our army. In order to prevent the news from leaking out, Cao's thieves must have completely blocked the road crossing. It is difficult for our army to sneak through directly and take a detour from Qingzhou.

It’s too far. By the time the messenger arrives at Cangting, our main force may have already reached Cangting.”

"Having said that, our army had better send the news to Cangting as soon as possible." Liu Ye reminded: "Yuan Shao has an impatient personality, is impulsive and irritable, and is not very patient. Cao Cao is already facing a disastrous defeat. In order to win this

At the last chance, we cannot rule out the possibility that Cao Cao will jump over the wall at the last moment, take risks, and use any means to force or induce Yuan Shao to initiate a decisive battle. If Cao Cao is lucky enough to succeed and forces Yuan Shao into a decisive battle, but is defeated by Cao Cao through deceit, not only will our army help Yuan Shao

The strategy of weakening Cao Cao will be in vain, and our army will be forced to fight a decisive battle with Cao's army who quickly returns to the army. The situation will be very unfavorable to our army."

"What Mr. Ziyang said is absolutely true. We really have to guard against this. Cao Cao can definitely do something like jumping over the wall in a hurry." Deputy Director Tao nodded, and took the map to calculate for a while. Deputy Director Tao quickly

The order was given: "Send someone to see Tao Ji and ask that silly boy to come see me immediately."

………………

When the news that Xia Houyuan's troops were completely wiped out was sent to Boss Cao, Boss Cao, who always said that Mount Tai collapsed before him without changing his expression, could no longer remain calm. He simply slumped down on the ground, his face dark and pale.

He had the color of a dead man, he was sweating profusely all over his body, and he was shaking as if he was shaking. All the counselors in Cao's army present were dumbfounded, so dazed that no one even thought of stepping forward to help Boss Cao.

Boss Cao's personal cultivation was obviously much better than that of Sangong Da Yuan. After trembling for a long time, Boss Cao not only stood up slowly, but also did not yell and curse hysterically like Sangong Da Yuan. On the contrary, he also showed some smiles.

, smiled bitterly and sadly, and said in a calm and helpless tone: "The biggest mistake I have ever done in my life is not to kill the traitor Tao Ying in Xuzhou City. Now it has been proved that this is a legacy of raising tigers, and I am responsible for it."

.”

Xun You, Cheng Yu and Mao Jie were silent. Guo Jiaze, who had recommended the release of Deputy Director Tao, burst into tears. He once again knelt down in front of Boss Cao and kowtowed in apology. He was even more regretful than Boss Cao about being deceived by lard.

He actually persuaded Boss Cao to let Deputy Director Tao go back to restrain Uncle Liu Huang. As a result, Uncle Liu did not raise the tiger, but unexpectedly raised a snake! A poisonous snake! The one who returned the favor was the most venomous five-step snake!

After personally helping Guo Jia and comforting him with words, Boss Cao said to several counselors: "My lords, you all know the situation. Our army is about to face a dangerous situation of being attacked from both sides. Where should we go? What do you think?"

All the counselors were silent. After a long while, Mao Jie said cautiously: "Prime Minister, how about dividing the troops to resist? Although Tao Thief used tricks to trap the main force of our army on the southern front, he did not dispatch all the elite of Xuzhou's main force. Our army

If you detach an elite force to fight, you may not have no chance of winning. Even if there is no chance of victory, there is still a high chance of blocking the Tao bandits' march northward."

"Then I will be eaten alive by Tao Thief and Yuan Shao!" Boss Cao waved his hand and said through gritted teeth: "Tao Thief and Yuan Shao have too much money, food and manpower advantage over our army. Yuan Shao's grain road is close and it is convenient to transport food. Tao

The thieves have sufficient food and grass in the rear, and the food roads are relatively safe. They can easily ensure that there is no shortage of food and grass in the front. However, our army's food and grass must be transported from Xuchang and Chenliu, thousands of miles away. For food that consumes money, we are not Yuan Shao's opponent, and we are not Yuan Shao's opponent.

No match for Tao Thief."

"You can't divide your troops. It's too risky to divide your troops to meet the enemy!" Xun You also objected: "It's better on the northern front. Yuan Shao's intelligence and military strategy are far inferior to those of the prime minister. Even if there are changes, there is nothing to fear. But the southern front is different.

, Tao Thief and Jia Xu are both cunning and cunning people, and they are best at winning by surprise. Unless the prime minister goes to the south, no matter which general is sent south, he will probably not be Tao Thief's opponent."

"Should I personally lead the army south to fight against the Tao bandits?" Xun You's words reminded Boss Cao, and also gave him the idea of ​​personally leading the army south to fight against Deputy Director Tao. However, after hesitating again and again, Boss Cao finally gave up the idea.

Firstly, the enemy in Jizhou is currently at hand. The division of troops before the battle will definitely lead to a fierce attack by the Jizhou army. There will also be trouble and danger on the northern front. The second is... To be honest, Boss Cao is not sure that he will be able to defeat Deputy Director Tao and Boss Jia.

Poison's treacherous gangsters have joined forces, and now the situation is far worse than normal. Boss Cao is even more uncertain about defeating Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao Poison, the ruthless and dark duo.

"Prime Minister, it's better to retreat." Xun You suggested again: "While the Tao thieves have not blocked our army's retreat, our army will retreat across the Yellow River to ensure its return, and then we can act when we have the opportunity."

"We cannot retreat." Cheng Yu objected: "Our army has been in a stalemate with Yuan Shao for more than two months. Both sides are exhausted and their morale is depleted. If we retreat at this time, our army's morale will be severely damaged. Yuan Shao not only immediately understands that our army is south

The line has changed, and we will definitely pursue our army with all our strength, and our army must cross the natural dangers of the Yellow River. If we are attacked by Yuan Shao's army when crossing the river, our army will definitely suffer a disastrous defeat, and the consequences will be disastrous!"

"If we retreat now, our army still has hope of preserving our main force." Xun You retorted: "But if we don't seize the opportunity to retreat now, when the Tao thieves break through the carriages and continue to go north to cut off our army's return route, our army will be nothing more than a horse.

It’s hard to go back to Xuchang.”

After Cheng Yu's rebuttal, Xun You said: "As for Yuan Shao's pursuit, it is not difficult to deal with it. Although the Tao thief has defeated Xiahou Yuan, it is inconvenient for him to communicate with Yuan Shao. Even if he immediately sends a horse to detour Qingzhou to send the news to Yuan Shao, there will be no

It is difficult to succeed in ten days and a half, so our army only needs to strictly block the Yellow River crossing and the southern checkpoint road, and do not give the Tao thieves a chance to secretly deliver the message. Our army can gain valuable time to withdraw calmly. Then we will

If the army arranges some illusions and pretends to retreat before the battle to lure the enemy deeper, it will not be difficult to deceive Yuan Shao and retreat across the Yellow River calmly."

"Mr. Gongda's plan is feasible." Mao Jie jumped out and said with cupped hands: "The scouts of Yuan Shaojun captured by our army earlier said that Ju Shou asked them to secretly count the number of smoke and stoves in our army's cooking stoves during the patrol. He was obviously on guard.

Our army secretly withdrew across the Yellow River. In this case, our army could have done the opposite of Sun Bin's plan of reducing the number of stoves and adding more troops. We would have reduced our troops and added more stoves. While slowly retreating to the Yellow River crossing, we would deliberately build more stoves every day.

At night, we secretly withdraw our troops. When the main force has withdrawn across the Yellow River, it will be much easier to withdraw the rear troops."

Mao Jie's idea was indeed a good one. Not only did Xun You and Guo Jia both nodded in praise, but even Cheng Yu, who had previously opposed withdrawing troops before the battle, also nodded and praised: "Mr. Xiaoxian's plan is brilliant. Yuan Shao is doubtful."

, Ju Shou was cautious in using his troops. Although Cui Yan's character was not known much, the prime minister was known for his strategizing in using troops. Yuan Shao and others suffered heavy losses repeatedly. Even if they sensed that the situation was not good, they would definitely suspect that our army was luring them into fighting and would not dare to do so easily.

Taking risks will give our army the opportunity to withdraw calmly."

Several counselors boasted passionately, but Boss Cao himself remained silent all the time. His triangular eyes rolled around and he was just calculating nervously. Finally, after several counselors had finished complimenting each other, Boss Cao pondered and said slowly: "

Gentlemen, I wonder who still remembers the battle between Tao Thief and Liu Bei at Xiaopei? Why did Liu Bei suddenly abandon Xiaopei and leave when Lu Bu's reinforcements only had one day to arrive at Xiaopei battlefield for reinforcements?"

"The prime minister is joking, how can we forget such a classic tactical deception in battle?" Cheng Yu bowed and replied: "The reason why Liu Bei abandoned the city and left was because Tao thief caught Liu Bei's fear of Lu Bu's capriciousness.

He sent a fake envoy of Lu Bu to Xiaopei City, pretending that Lu Bu had broken off diplomatic relations with Liu Bei, making Liu Bei think that he was alone and helpless. In order not to be trapped and killed in Xiaopei City by Tao Thief, he fell into the Tao Thief's plot and abandoned the city."

"That's not right." Boss Cao shook his head and said, "There is still one key detail missing. Apart from sending fake envoys, what else did the Tao thief use to deceive Liu Bei? To make Liu Bei completely despair of Lu Bu?"

"Dummy head made of wheat flour!" Guo Jia replied: "After the Tao thieves found out that Liu Bei's envoy was Sun Qian, he used wheat flour to pinch Sun Qian's dummy head and asked the fake envoy to bring it to Xiaopei City to show it in public. He deceived the big-eared thief Liu Bei who was not as treacherous as Tao Ying."

Boss Cao nodded slowly, suddenly patted the table in front of him, and said loudly: "I have made up my mind, first defeat Yuan Shao, and then defeat the Tao thieves! Defeat them one by one to protect our Yanzhou territory!"

"Destroy Yuan Shao first? Then defeat the Tao thieves?" All the counselors were shocked and said together: "Yuan Shao is stubbornly defending the camp. How can our army defeat him?"

"Of course we are retreating to lure the enemy." Cao Lao replied with a cruel smile: "Our army first retreated to the bank of the Yellow River and set up camp with its back to the water. Then we didn't need to do anything in the opposite direction. We directly followed Sun Bin's strategy of increasing troops and reducing the number of stoves to lure the enemy. Plan, in the end………….”

After hearing Boss Cao explain the evil trick he had thought up, Guo Jia, Xun You and others were all ecstatic. They quickly saluted Boss Cao and flattered him: "The prime minister's clever plan is unpredictable. Yuan Shao will do it this time." If our army is defeated, Tao Ying's traitors will certainly not be able to worry about it."

"Don't praise me. If you want to praise, just praise Tao Zei." Boss Cao was modest and waved his hand and said, "If Tao Zei hadn't thrown the brick in front of him, I wouldn't have been able to come up with such a strategy to win in defeat!"

After being humble, Boss Cao quickly ordered: "Without further delay, our army must immediately split up and act. First, immediately block the road pass to the south. We must not give the Tao thieves a chance to secretly deliver the news! Second, send an order to the entire army. , be prepared to mobilize your troops. As soon as it becomes clear tomorrow, immediately break up your camp and retreat to Cangting Ferry, and go to the stronghold with your back to the water! Third, immediately go to the army to find soldiers who look similar to the traitor Tao Ying, and then bring them all to me. Selected by me personally!”

All the counselors sang their promises together and went down to make arrangements. At night, more than 20 Cao soldiers who looked similar to Deputy Director Tao were led to Boss Cao. Boss Cao carefully identified and selected one of them, and then rewarded the others heavily. Soldiers, ordering them to keep silent about the matter and put them back. Finally, in front of the soldier who looked most similar to Deputy Director Tao, Boss Cao finally said another famous saying that has been passed down through the ages, "I want to borrow your head for a moment." "Use it, you can go away with peace of mind, I will support your wife by myself."

After saying this, before the unfortunate man could ask for mercy, Dian Wei had already rushed forward and chopped off the unfortunate man's head with just one blow. He then carefully disguised the severed head and quickly put it into a container. The quicklime wooden box was wrapped in red brocade for later use. The unlucky headless corpse was put into a sack by Boss Cao's trusted guards and carried to a deserted place for burial.
Chapter completed!