Xiaoqi

This kneeling did not mean that Cao Cao surrendered to Yuan Shao, nor was he moved by Yuan Shao's generosity, but pure gratitude.With the help of this batch of food and grass, he can quickly stabilize the morale of the army, restore some vitality, and then wait for the opportunity to recruit new soldiers, or directly use the food and grass as bait to attract a group of soldiers from the allied forces to join them.

That's all, nothing more.

Leaning over to help Cao Cao, Yuan Shao suddenly remembered what he had mentioned before, and asked anxiously, "Uh, yes! Meng De just said that there was an ambush army of tens of thousands of horses arranged by Thief Li in Bingzhou. I don't know where this ambush army came from. Where did it come from, why didn't the scouts and secret agents report this matter before?"

"Speaking of this ambush, in fact, the lord has known for a long time, and our army's scouts and secret agents have reported it many times. It's just that in the past two months, because we have focused all our attention on Li thief, and Li thief Deliberately blocked the news, so that we gradually left it behind and turned a blind eye. This time Cao was in a catastrophe, and he overheard Xiliang soldiers mentioning it, so he knew that this army was forgotten by us It turned out to be Li Thief's long-planned surprise soldier who has been planted behind us!"

"Oh?" Yuan Shao was stunned when he heard the words, and for a moment he really couldn't remember the origin of this well-known army: "Since it is an army that we have known for a long time, it is also a surprise army deliberately arranged by Thief Li? How could this strange army appear behind us, and Li Thief is so treacherous?"

"Li thief is far more than treacherous, he is cunning, cunning like a fox, and extremely vicious!" Cao Cao immediately became angry when Li Li was mentioned, his face was gloomy, his eyes were scarlet like beasts, and his teeth itched with hatred.

After finally calming down, Cao Cao took a deep breath, and then told the origin of this strange soldier.

"Speaking of this strange army, the lord is definitely no stranger. I wonder if the lord still remembers that under Li Thief's command there was an army of the Northern Expedition against the Southern Huns, and the general in command was Zhou Yu and Zhou Gongjin, the general under Li Thief's command?"

"Zhou Yu? So it's him?" Yuan Shao said in surprise.

"It's Zhou Yu." Cao Cao nodded in response, with a deep worry on his face, looking at Hangu Pass with deep eyes, and his tone was low and cold.

"A few months ago, Thief Li took the Son of Heaven to swear an oath to the Northern Expedition. He claimed that [-] cavalry marched against the Southern Man. In just two months, he defeated Yu Fuluo's army and won the victory in Qinglang Valley. Just when we were waiting for the alliance to send troops, Zhou Yu led the Northern Expeditionary Army to conquer Gaoliu City, the royal court of the Southern Huns, captured Shanyu Huchuquan and all the nobles of the Huns alive, and then recovered the four counties of Shuofang, Wuyuan, Yanmen and Shangjun, occupying almost half of Bingzhou. Today More than two months have passed, and Zhou Yu's son led tens of thousands of soldiers and horses into Bingzhou. With the prestige of a great victory, he must be invincible wherever he goes.

But herein lies the strangest thing.Since Zhou Yu's army captured Gaoliu City, our army's scouts and secret agents have never sent back any news about Zhou Yu's troops. Suddenly, Zhou Yu's army seemed to have disappeared without a word.And since the allied forces attacked Hedong County, I stopped paying attention to the whereabouts of Zhou Yu's tens of thousands of troops, completely ignored them, and then put all my eyes and thoughts on Li Thief, as if I ignored Zhou Yu's army , turn a blind eye, turn a deaf ear.

Therefore, whether Zhou Yu's army has completely occupied Bingzhou now, or whether Chen Bing Shangdang Commandery is eyeing behind our allied forces, these are important information related to the success or failure of the entire battle situation, we know nothing about it, and we don't even notice it.Isn't it dangerous that we have been kept in the dark about such a crucial matter? "

While speaking, he noticed the disapproving look on Yuan Shao's face, Cao Cao immediately shook his head and said, "Don't underestimate the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under Zhou Yu's tent. It can be destroyed with a wave of hands. However, right now our allied forces have crossed the river to confront the Hangu army under Li Thief's command, and Hedong County is the lifeblood of our allied army's food, grass and supplies. Tens of thousands of troops attacking Hedong County or directly attacking Hanoi County are very likely to cut off our army's food roads in one fell swoop, and then occupy Hedong County, guard the Yellow River ferry, and trap hundreds of thousands of our troops in Hangu Pass, unable to advance or retreat.

If the war really develops to this point, how will our army of princes deal with themselves?Let alone break through Hangu Pass, even the entire army could not be evacuated from Hangu Pass. In the past, Thief Li led 10,000+ cavalry to fight head-on. Zhou Yu's army prevented our army from crossing the river. To the south, there are cliffs and jungles thousands of miles away, which can be called natural barriers.

If this is the case, we and the hundreds of thousands of allied troops will be in a dilemma.There are only two final results, either to be trapped here, or to be killed by Thief Li, and there is no place to die! "

"Ah! How could this be?" When Cao Cao said the last sentence, Yuan Shao's forehead was covered with cold sweat, and then he screamed in horror, and fell down on the rock, looking at the majestic and towering mountains in despair. Hangu Pass, I was speechless in a daze.

Seeing Yuan Shao's bewildered look, Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief, and thought to himself, "This is the Yuan Benchu ​​I know Cao Cao! He looks wise and powerful, but in reality he is strong on the outside and hard on the inside. When there are great changes, they will return to their dandyish nature and be at a loss."

Chapter 682 Who Is the Hero of Hangu?

Seeing Yuan Shao's bewildered look, Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief, and thought to himself, "This is the Yuan Benchu ​​I know Cao Cao! He looks wise and powerful, but in reality he is strong on the outside and hard on the inside. When there are great changes, they will return to their dandyish nature and be at a loss."

Just as Cao Cao secretly breathed a sigh of relief, Yuan Shao's next performance surprised him again, and he had to re-examine the leader Yuan in front of him.

But after seeing Yuan Shao sitting on the rock for a moment, the look of horror on his face quickly disappeared, replaced by an unpredictable and profound smile.

Seeing that Yuan Shao was still able to laugh in a panic, and his smile was so weird and sinister, Cao Cao was shocked, and suddenly felt that things might not be as simple as he imagined, and Yuan Shao must have someone behind him, or he still has himself. Unknown trump card.

Therefore, Cao Cao forced himself to calm down, pretending not to know, and persuaded Yuan Shaokuan to calm down.

"Brother Benchu, why are you laughing? Could it be that you are laughing out of anger? If that's the case, brother Benchu ​​doesn't have to be like this. You must know that you are so angry that you have hurt your body, and the battle has not yet reached the point of no return. As long as we deal with it properly, everything will be fine." If there is enough time, we can completely prevent problems before they happen, and let Thief Li's carefully laid tricks come to nothing, wasting all his efforts!"

"Hehehe!" Turning his head and seeing the concern on Cao Cao's face, Yuan Shao smiled happily, and waved his hand to signal Cao Cao to sit down and continue drinking.

"Meng De doesn't have to worry about brother Wei. I'm fine now, very sober, and not angry at all."

While speaking, Yuan Shao personally filled a cup of wine for Cao Cao.Then he held up a cup and invited Cao Cao to have a drink together.

After drinking, Yuan Shao quickly restrained his smile, his face filled with awe.He sighed lightly: "Well, just as Meng De said, Yuan really underestimated Thief Li too much before!

In Yuan's eyes, he has always regarded the little thief Li Li as a weak man of the same age as Xianyi. A villain like Dong Zhuo is a crazy man who succeeds.Even if you can be arrogant for a while, it will not last long after all, just wait for the time to come.With a flip of the palm, it can be wiped out in ashes and smoke, and the nine clans can be wiped out, which is nothing to be afraid of.

However, what Meng De said just now made me startled like a revelation, and I suddenly woke up.to this day.I have always underestimated Li thief.He made a mistake, mistook a tiger for a hungry wolf, and thus underestimated the mighty combat power of the Xiliang Army.If what Meng De said is true, then my army of vassals will fall into a place of eternal doom, and the vassals of all walks of life will surely die at the hands of Li Thief, or become prisoners of Li Thief's subordinates. "

After a short pause, Yuan Shao drank another glass of wine, and then wiped the wine stains from his beard with his sleeve.He sighed thoughtfully: "Li thief is so scheming! First he pretended to be defeated, and then he was defeated again. He retreated and retreated again; in fact, he lured the enemy to go deep, and lured our allies to cross the river to fight with him, and then back and forth. Attacking and encircling from all sides, they attempted to annihilate hundreds of thousands of allied forces including us in front of Hangu Pass. The most rare thing is that the entire tactical strategy was flawless, interlocking and step-by-step, luring us into falling into the trap without knowing it. Into Li Thief's conspiracy. If Meng De hadn't observed carefully under the heavy setback this time, I'm afraid I would have been kept in the dark until now. In a good trap, you are caught in a desperate situation but you don't notice it. Such a wonderful and meticulous layout is not much better than Han Xin's ambush from ten sides to kill the overlord Xiang Yu in the past, and even surpassed it.

Li Lizhen is a traitor in the world.I and others have underestimated this thief before, and mistakenly regarded the traitor as a young man, and almost fell into prison, ruining my reputation for a lifetime! "

"Brother Benchu, no, what the leader said is absolutely true." Cao Cao nodded in agreement after hearing Yuan Shao's words.But when the words came to his lips, he keenly sensed that Yuan Shao's voice seemed to have other meanings, so he immediately changed his tone, still calling Yuan Shao the leader of the alliance, and no longer directly calling him by his name to show respect.

Cao Cao didn't pay attention to these subtle and subtle titles before, and he didn't have to look at other people's faces everywhere.However, from time to time, people have to bow their heads under the eaves.The current situation is pressing, prompting him to be careful and cautious everywhere, so as to avoid mistakes, not to be annoying, and then achieve his expected goals.

In the midst of a sudden change of mind, he noticed the faint smile in the corner of Yuan Shao's eyes, and Cao Cao's eyes flashed a look of surprise. He wanted to know what Yuan Shao was hiding from him, but it was inconvenient to ask him directly, so he could only make indirect remarks. , let Yuan Shao speak out by himself.

"As the lord said, although our lords and allies are in danger of being besieged by Li's army on all sides, everything is still in the making, and it is not too late to remedy it. In Cao's humble opinion, the lord should send more troops Stick to Hedong County, and remind Zhang Yang to be vigilant at all times, and send extra agents to infiltrate Shangdang County to inquire about the news. Once Zhou Yu's army is found, he will immediately send troops to conquer, and Zhou Yu's army must not be allowed to step into Sili. In this way, the rear of our army The food road is unimpeded, and the threat from the north can be easily resolved. As for Xu Rong's army behind our army and Li's army of thieves in front, Xu Rong's Xingyang camp where Xu Rong is stationed is temporarily ignored, and we only need to be on guard at all times. That's it; right now, our top priority is to attack Hangu Pass, the sooner the better, the longer the delay, the more unfavorable it is to our allies, we must make a quick decision, otherwise things will change!"

"Well, what Meng De said is true." Yuan Shao nodded with a smile and looked at Cao Cao approvingly: "I have made up my mind. I will attack Hangu Pass tomorrow and fight Li Thief!"

"It's so good, the leader is wise!" Cao Cao agreed happily.

"It's just that I don't know who the leader plans to send troops to reinforce Hedong County? If the leader does not give up, please order Cao to lead his troops to reinforce the prefect Zhang Yang, and swear to protect the safety of the food road in the rear!"

"Uh! Mengde is going to guard the grain road in Hedong?" Yuan Shao was astonished when he heard the words, and shook his head without thinking, "No, no, no, this is really inappropriate! Familiar with the art of war and strategies, and the formation of troops. Great talents like Meng De, instead of commanding battles on the front line, become generals escorting food and supplies. Once the news spreads, won’t the world say that I, Yuan Shao, are jealous of talents and exclude talents? It’s impossible, absolutely impossible!”

"Could it be that the leader doesn't trust Cao and doesn't want to entrust him with important tasks?"

"No. Don't talk like that to Meng De. If I can't trust anyone, who else can't trust you?"

"Since this is the case, why is the leader doing this? Do you want Cao to lead his troops to attack Hangu Pass? If that's the case, the leader may wish to think about it. How can Cao conquer Hangu Pass with less than 2 horses in his hands? I'm afraid that after one attack on the city, the only remaining troops in Cao's tent will be killed and injured, and Cao will surely become a vain prince like Zhang Miao who has no soldiers. If so, Cao would rather kill himself I don’t want to be humiliated like this even if I die!”

After saying these words, Cao Cao looked solemn, his eyes were firm, and he had a resolute attitude that he would rather die than compromise.

"Meng De's words are serious. The former Meng De has led the army to fight continuously, and even personally led the army to attack Hangu Pass. Although the sneak attack failed, everything Meng De has done for the Allied Forces is obvious to all. Therefore, the following I don't intend to send Meng De to lead the battle in the battle of the city or the decisive battle between the two armies, but I want you to stay in the camp and beware of Xu Rong's sneak attack from behind in Xingyang!"

"Oh?" Cao Cao's expression changed slightly when he heard the words, and he looked up at Yuan Shao with a puzzled face: "Then what about the reinforcement of Hedong County? The leader must not be careless, Hedong County is the only way out for our allied forces, and it must not appear Any mistakes, or we will die here!"

Yuan Shao nodded slightly, and raised his hand with a smile to signal Cao Cao not to be impatient: "Meng De doesn't know something. He received a secret report from Hedong this morning. Yesterday Hanoi County added tens of thousands of reinforcements. Now the two counties of Hedong and Hanoi have gathered more than [-] horses. It is enough to resist Zhou Yu's son's tens of thousands of Xiliang troops, and even wipe out Zhou Yu's army completely! Hehehe"

"Tens of thousands of new reinforcements?" Cao Cao's face changed when he heard that, and he said in surprise, "What does the lord mean to say that some other princes will come to join the alliance?"

"Exactly!" Yuan Shao nodded happily, and immediately took out a roll of letter from his sleeve and handed it to Cao Cao, with a confident smile on his face.

Quickly unfolding the letter, Cao Cao had read the contents of the letter in a short while.However, after reading the secret letter, he didn't have a smile on his face, let alone the slightest hint of surprise. Instead, he frowned, with an extremely strange expression.

In an instant, Cao Cao's eyes were filled with extremely complex expressions: astonishment, surprise, anger and humiliation, all kinds of emotions flashed in his eyes, and the expression on his face also changed accordingly, from shame and anger to blushing and gritted teeth He pursed his lips and remained silent with a sullen expression on his face.

Seeing Cao Cao's shameful and angry expression, Yuan Shao filled Cao Cao's glass of wine again, then patted his shoulder lightly, and said softly, "Brother, I know that the person Meng De doesn't want to see the most is this letter." The princes of the Ninth Route mentioned on the silk. In the past few months, Meng De has been inseparable from this person even in setbacks. It can even be said that it is this person who caused Meng De to lose the foundation of Yanzhou and step by step to the current situation. .

To be honest, Brother Wei also hates such opportunistic snobs. At the beginning, Meng De avenged his father. He was an upright and upright teacher. As a result, the two dispatches of troops failed to achieve all the results, and the success fell short. Mengde was also attacked by Lu Bu in the rear of Yanzhou, losing his foundation.The most irritating thing is that the old man Tao Qian was so stupid that he didn't pass the inheritance to his two sons when he was dying, but handed over the huge six counties of Xuzhou to this person.

When there are no heroes, only such opportunistic common men and bastards will rule the roost.A commoner who used to weave mats and sell shoes, turned himself into a leader of the six prefectures of Xuzhou, and he was equal to me as a lord who dominated one side and stood side by side in the world.This move is really absurd, hateful and hateful! "

After mercilessly reprimanding the princes of the Ninth Town, Yuan Shao's voice changed abruptly: "However, it is a done deal now. This person has stolen Xuzhou. It is a fact that cannot be changed in the short term. Therefore, Brother Wei specially invited Meng De to be alone today. Xu, I also hope that the virtuous brother will put the great cause of the thief as the most important thing, put aside personal grievances for the time being, ignore the previous suspicions, and work together with this person to help the brother defeat the thief Li! I don’t know what the virtuous brother wants?"

Chapter 683

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"Brother Wei specially invited Meng De to speak alone today. I also hope that my virtuous brother will put aside his personal grievances for the time being, regardless of the previous suspicions, and help my brother defeat Li thief together with this person! I don't know what the virtuous brother thinks? After finishing speaking, Yuan Shao looked at Cao Cao with a smile on his face, and there was a hint of earnestness in his eyes.

"What the leader said is very true."