After learning the whole story of everything, Yin Li and Wu Dun had no choice but to sigh and follow Sun Guan to surrender to Gan Ning. This was the second time Wu Dun was betrayed by his companions, which made Wu Dun scold him on the spot. Sun Guan could only persuade him kindly and constantly apologize.

In January of the 13th year of Jian'an, after Xuzhou and Qingzhou were lost one after another, Cao Chun led his army into Taishan County to pacify the Changyu rebellion, gathered the remaining troops, obtained 5,000 troops, and decided to defend Fenggao City to the death, waiting for Cao Cao's reinforcements.

On January 15, 1918, the 13th year of Jian'an, Xu Huang's troops surrounded Fenggaocheng.

On this day, Xu Huang came to the city to invite the battle and shouted: "I general Xu Huang, General Cao in the city dares to leave the city and fight to the death with me!"

Xu Huang was majestic, and the big axe in his hand was even more timid.

Cao Chun looked worried and sighed: "The Yang family army is moving too fast! Even in the second half, it has never had the speed of their march! Now our army has only 8,000 people, and the city has a shortage of food and grass. It is difficult to last for two months! Xu Huang is challenging outside. I will go out to fight with him, which will also make it a good idea to slash the morale of the Yang family army!"

The deputy general advised: "General, Xu Huang's troops have only 20,000 troops, and our army still has 8,000. If the lord's reinforcements are coming, we will definitely wait for the general to come to fight. If the general goes out of the city to fight, he will lose to Xu Huang! Wouldn't it affect our morale? It won't be worth the loss!"

"Hey!" Cao Chun was in charge of the army and supervised the soldiers. He had always been rigorous. His soldiers were all elite soldiers. Even if Cao Chun defeated Xu Huang alone, it would not have much impact on the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. However, it is hard to say that those remaining defeated soldiers and generals gathered together.

After hesitating for a long time, Cao Chun still did not go out of the city to fight Xu Huang. After all, he was unsure whether he could beat Xu Huang. Because Cao Cao had warned his generals that one thing was that in the Yang family, as long as tens of thousands of soldiers were masters, he would definitely have some experience in placing troops and setting up formations. Otherwise, Yang Fan would never be relieved to hand over so many soldiers to him. If his martial arts were more powerful, he would be able to run away if he couldn't win. If he met a Confucian general, he would really go without returning.

In order to verify the authenticity of Cao Cao's words, Xiahou Dun, who was stationed in Songgao Mountain, took the initiative to attack several times, but he was defeated every time, especially Huang Zhong, who commanded 100,000 troops and his own martial arts made it difficult for Xiahou Dun to beat him.

With Xiahou Dun's previous lessons, the other generals of Cao's camp responded carefully. Today, Xu Huang led 20,000 troops to attack, and Cao Chun knew that Xu Huang must be a powerful general in the Yang family's army, so he immediately stopped thinking of leaving the city to fight alone.

Just as the deputy general said, it would be fine if he could win, but if he couldn't win, he would be a trivial matter if he lost his face. He was afraid that he would affect the morale of the army. Then, Cao Chun directly ordered to stay in the door and guard Fenggao City to stay and wait for Xu Huang to attack.

Xu Huang swears several times, but Cao Chun ignores it, and two months have passed like this.

During this period, the Jiangdong army was also waiting for Zhao Yun to send troops. However, Zhao Yun was like he had taken root in Wancheng. Even if he didn't move, Zhou Yu did not dare to send troops rashly, so he could only wait. After Xuzhou fell, Cao Cao sent people to Jiangdong and asked Sun Quan to send troops. Under pressure, Sun Quan had to ask Pan Zhang to lead 5,000 troops and cross the river to attack Guangling. However, Pan Zhang's actions were like stabbing a hornet's nest. He was chased and beaten by Gan Ning, who was stationed in Xuzhou. Even Pan Zhang himself almost died north of the Yangtze River. After this battle, Sun Quan became much more honest and asked Zhou Yu to wait for the opportunity. Even if Qingzhou was lost again, Sun Quan regarded it as if he had not seen it.

In March of the 13th year of Jian'an, Fenggaocheng had an emergency in food and grass, but Cao Cao's reinforcements were still missing.

On this day, Cao Chun summoned his subordinates to discuss matters.

Cao Chun sighed and said, "It seems that the frontline war is tight, and it is difficult for the lord to draw troops. Now that the city is getting less and less food, we can only try to break through, abandon guards and Fenggao, and retreat to Jibei!"

Ying Shao smiled bitterly and said, "General Cao, there are 20,000 troops from Xu Huang who are stationed outside the city. How should our army break through?"

"Yes! I'm trapped for two months now. My brothers have complained a lot. I'm about to run out of food. I'd like to ask the general to make plans!" said the deputy general with a frown.

"How much food is left in the army?" Cao Chun thought about it and asked Ying Shao.

Ying Shao thought about it and replied, "If you eat dry rice, you can eat it all in three days. If you eat porridge, you can last for half a month!"

"You can't drink porridge!" Cao Chun said in a deep voice: "If the food is reduced, the soldiers in the army will definitely know that there is a shortage of food. By then, the morale of the army will be even more unstable! It seems that we only have three days to plan!"

"General Cao's words are wrong!" Ying Shao analyzed: "Fenggao City is one or two hundred miles away from Jibei Kingdom. Even if our army really breaks out, it will have to go for a day and a night. We also need food and grass when marching. Therefore, our army has only two days to plan. It is best to break through tonight and leave two days of food for unprepared needs!"

"If we break through today, Xu Huang outside the city may be prepared!" Cao Chun hesitated for a while and said with some difficulty.

"Oh! General!" Ying Shao was anxious and replied: "Even our army doesn't know about breaking through tonight. How could Xu Huang outside the city know? From the perspective of the following, breaking through tonight is the best, just to catch Xu Huang off guard!"

"Yes!" Cao Chun was stunned when he heard this, slapped his forehead suddenly and realized: "I am really confused by some of the authorities! Fortunately, Ying Taishou gave a reminder! Well, our army will break through tonight and retreat to Jibei!"

Just as Cao Chun was discussing the breakthrough with his subordinates, Xu Huang outside the city also received information from the spies from Diting Camp. After learning that the food in Fenggao City was in urgent need of emergency, Xu Huang quickly summoned his subordinates to discuss.

"Our army spies just heard the news that the food in Fenggao City is almost over. Cao Chun can't hold on for a few days! This general concluded that Cao Chun would lead his troops to break through in the past few days! Now, I will pass on the orders of this general..." Xu Huang began to arrange troops with excitement, trying to encircle and kill this powerful general in Cao's camp when Cao Chun leads his troops out of the city.

General Xu Huang asked with a worried look: "General, there are three thousand tiger and leopard cavalry under Cao Chun's command! The lord once told him that the tiger and leopard cavalry is very powerful, and its combat power is not much different from that of General Lu's Bingzhou wolf cavalry! Should we notify General Gan and ask him to send some people to support him!"

"Yes! Most of our army are infantrymen. If the tiger and leopard cavalry are allowed to break out of the siege, how can our army catch up?" The other person also said worriedly.

"Haha!" Xu Huang laughed and said, "Do you think I don't know how powerful the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry is? Two months ago, I sent someone to report the war here to General Gao. Chen Dao, General Chen has already ambushed near Taishan!"

The deputy general said in confusion: "Will Cao Chun run into the mountains after breaking through? Why did he take a detour to Taishan?"

"Hehe!" Xu Huang smiled confidently and said, "Didn't I ask you to ambush the southwest of Fenggao City? I want to drive Cao Chun to Taishan! If Cao Chun runs into the mountains, I will only ask you!"

The deputy general then suddenly realized and replied, "So that's the case. General, please be fine! At night, we still have some tricks to bluff! We will definitely not let Cao Chun see the truth or false!"

In fact, Xu Huang arranged suspicious soldiers in the southwest of Fenggao City. Due to insufficient troops, he could only take this dangerous move. However, before this, Xu Huang would still send someone to notify Chen Dao and ask him to send troops south to help.

That night, Cao Chun really quietly opened the west gate and prepared to escape into the southwest mountains with his men. However, as soon as he arrived at the foot of the mountain, Cao Chun saw the sound of drums in the mountains suddenly, and there were many torches everywhere. Cao Chun thought that Xu Huang had ambushed in the mountains. When he didn't know the depth of the enemy's army, Cao Chun did not dare to enter the mountain rashly. At this moment, Xu Huang also brought his people from the east. In desperation, Cao Chun had to lead his army to the north to rush to Taishan, trying to bypass Taishan and turn into Jibei Kingdom.

Xu Huang chased after him all the way, and Cao Chun kept dividing troops to block the attack. After crossing the Shiwen River, Cao Chun was left with only three thousand tiger and leopard cavalry and Ying Shao, the prefect of Taishan County.
Chapter completed!