Zhang Xiu, the Overlord of the Three Kingdoms

Guo Jia couldn't help but nodded, a heartfelt smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, what he admired most was Cao Cao's indomitable courage and courage to accept challenges.

Cao Cao smiled, then his face straightened, and he said to Liu Ye on the side: "I will ask Ziyang to negotiate with Chen Chu

!" "Yes! I am determined to live up to my mission!"

At this moment, Guo Jia on the side suddenly coughed violently. When

Cao Cao saw it, he couldn't help but feel nervous, and hurriedly went over to help Guo Jia and persuaded him with concern: "Fengxiao is not in good health, it's better to rest early!" Guo Jia shook his head, "I'm fine, the lord doesn't have to worry!"

Cao Cao didn't listen to Guo Jia this time, only to see Cao Cao frown, and said in an irrefutable tone: "No! I have already decided, I will send someone to send Fengxiao back to Yanzhou tomorrow!" Guo

Jia looked at Cao Cao's sincere demeanor, and couldn't help but warm his heart.

Guo Jia lowered his head and thought for a moment, feeling that there was no complicated matter that could not be separated from him recently, so he let Cao Cao go.

Yuan Shao's sudden defection completely disrupted Cao Cao's established deployment, and in order to deal with Yuan Shao's army, Cao Cao had to immediately transfer all his troops back to Yanzhou. At the same time, in order to reconcile with Chen Chu, Cao Cao sent an important strategist Liu Ye as an envoy to the northern army.

Just when Cao's army was busy preparing to advance, Yuan Shao's army, thousands of miles away, had already broken through Chenliu. Chen Liushou and Li Dian escaped with only 3,000 men.

After capturing Chenliu, the gloom that had been pressing on Yuan Shao's heart for many days was swept away, and Yuan Shao was full of vigor again.

Yuan Shao's army did not stop at Chenliuduo, and on the second day, he divided an army of 100,000 led by the general Gao Ran and went straight to Qiaojun, which was hundreds of miles away.

Xun Yu, who was sitting in Yanzhou, took the initiative to abandon Qiaojun in view of the unfavorable situation of insufficient troops and too wide defense, and three days later, Yuan Shaojun's Gaolan headquarters occupied Qiaojun without blood.

The smooth achievement of Qian County made Yuan Shao ecstatic, and at the same time, it also made Yuan Shao have a contemptuous heart. Ignoring the opposition of the strategists, Yuan Shao decided to continue his eastward march and attack Dingtao, the gateway to the west of Yanzhou.

Subsequently, 150,000 Yuan Shaojun led by Yan Liang out of Chenliu, and 80,000 Yuan Shaojun led by Gao Lan out of Qiaojun, and attacked Dingtao on both sides.

However, Cao Jun, who was waiting for the battle, gave Yuan Shaojun a dismount. Yan Liang's 20,000 forwards, who were in a hurry, were ambushed in a valley twenty miles west of Dingtao, and the whole army was annihilated.

Annoyed and angry, Yan Liang then led a large army to attack Dingtao, but after two days of continuous assault, after paying the price of more than 10,000 casualties, no progress was made.

On the third day, Gao Ran led the army to Dingtao City. Then hundreds of thousands of troops took turns to attack the city, and the yellow pressure was like a turbid wave emptying, and the Dingtao City at the center of the storm looked precarious.

The 60,000 Cao troops guarding Dingtao showed an extremely tenacious will to fight, and they simply blocked Yuan Shaojun's wave after wave of attacks.

In a few days, Dingtao City was already full of holes, and the city and the city were all shocked with blood and corpses.

As the fierce war continued, both sides were already showing fatigue, but the balance of the war had gradually shifted in favor of Yuan Shaojun's side, after all, the absolute superiority of forces became more and more evident over time.

Cao Ren and Li Dian stood on the city gate tower, looking at Yuan Shaojun who was receding like a tide, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Looking around at the exhausted soldiers who had suffered heavy casualties around them, and seeing the many collapsed city walls, the two of them couldn't help frowning again.

"General Cao, when will the lord's army arrive?" Li Dian asked Cao Ren with a worried face.

Cao Ren shook his head and didn't answer Li Dian, because he didn't have any bottom in his heart.

Li Dian looked at the mountain of Yuan Shaojun's military camp outside the city, and said with great concern: "If Yuan Shaojun's army continues to attack so strongly, our army can support it for three days at most!"

Cao Jun's army suffered heavy losses under Yuan Shaojun's strong attack for seven consecutive days, and more than half of the 60,000 defenders had already lost. If the situation continues, it is only a matter of time before Dingtao falls. The Cao soldiers guarding Dingtao were all pessimistic, but they still had a glimmer of hope that the main force of their lord Cao Cao might suddenly arrive at the next moment.

Just when Dingtao was in danger under the onslaught of Yuan Shaojun's fierce attack, a good news finally reached the hands of Cao Ren and Li Dian.

At the same time, Yuan Shaojun's Yan Liang and Gao Lan were discussing the strategy of the next attack.

"General Gao Lan, tomorrow morning your troops will launch the first wave of attacks, and then my troops will follow up in echelons and attack Dingtao in turn! Dingtao is already full of holes, I believe that we will be able to enter Dingtao City tomorrow!" Yan Liang said confidently.

Gao Ran on the side nodded and did not raise any objections.

Just as the generals were discussing, Yuan Shao's herald suddenly arrived.

"General Yan Liang, the lord has an order, and the army will quickly withdraw to Chen Liu!" Hearing

this order, the generals couldn't help but be startled, and showed a look of disbelief.

Yan Liang grabbed the herald's shirt and lifted the herald up, and shouted with a hideous face: "Nonsense! You dare to fake the lord's orders!" Looking at Yan Liang's terrifying appearance, the herald's face

suddenly turned pale, and he hurriedly said tremblingly: "How dare your subordinates fake orders? The lord really gave orders like this!" Immediately, the herald hurriedly took out a letter from his bosom and presented it to Yan Liang.

Yan Liang took the letter, threw the herald away, and then hurriedly opened the letter.

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

I saw that after Yan Liang opened the letter, his face was instantly ugly. After a while, 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 in Chenliu, and our army must return to Chenliu immediately!"

At this time, Gao Ran asked urgently: "What about here? Do you just give up?"

Yan Liang frowned, and said unhappily: "What a big deal it is that the lord is surrounded!

Gao Ran retorted: "I didn't say that I wouldn't rescue the lord, I just wanted to ask the general to consider how to rescue!"

Yan Liang raised his eyebrows and asked casually: "Then how do you think it should be rescued?"

Gao Ran thought for a moment and replied: "There are still 100,000 troops around the lord, and the main force of the Cao army is only 200,000. Therefore, it is impossible for Cao Jun to break through Chen Liu in a short period of time. As long as we capture Dingtao, we can drive straight into and sweep the entire Yanzhou, and at that time, not only can the siege of Chen Liu be solved, but also Cao Cao's forces can be uprooted!". When he said this, Gao Ran's expression seemed a little excited.

As soon as Gao Ran's words came out, he immediately won the support of many generals. Many generals expressed their support for Gao Ran to Yan Liang.

Yan Liang couldn't help but be moved, what Gao Ran said was very likely to be realized! However, Yan Liang hesitated again, he was a little worried that Yuan Shao would have a situation there, and if there was a case, what would be the use of him 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 Ran said is true, but if there is a case, we will be sinners! So I decided that the army would return immediately!"

When Gao Ran heard this, he couldn't help but be surprised, so he hurriedly said: "General, please think twice! How can there be a battle in ancient times that is not risky

!" "Okay! This matter has been decided! General Gao Ran doesn't need to say more!" Yan Liang frowned and said impatiently.

Gao Ran's face changed, then he sighed, stepped aside, and didn't persuade again.

If this Yuan Shao's army finally attacked Yanzhou according to Gao Ran's suggestion, the development of the situation in the future may be completely changed. But there are no ifs for anything. Cao Cao was lucky enough to dodge the fatal blow that would most likely have brought him down completely.

The news that Cao Cao led his army to the south made the Cao army trapped in Dingtao excited. But after the joy, everyone was still worried, worried that Yuan Shao's army outside the city would continue to attack and advance, if that was the case, not to mention Dingtao, even the entire Yanzhou would be in danger.

Early the next morning, Cao Ren and Li Dian went up to the city wall to inspect as usual. Before they could reach the top of the city, they heard that the city seemed to be very noisy.

The two of them couldn't help frowning, their hearts were displeased, the first thing they thought of was that there might be a sergeant whose morale had been shaken by the fierce battle of the past few days.

Thinking like this, the two couldn't help but speed up their pace.

However, as soon as the two of them reached the top of the city, the scene they saw was very different from what they imagined. The faces of the sergeants were all extremely excited, and many of them were cheering! Almost everyone was looking

out of the city! Cao Ren and Li Dian couldn't help but follow everyone's gaze to look out of the city, only to see Yuan Shaojun's camp busy, and a group of local soldiers came out of the barracks and then drove west along the official road.

Seeing this, a look of surprise suddenly appeared on their faces.

"Great! It seems that Yuan Shao has fallen into the master's plan to 'encircle Wei and save Zhao'!" Cao Ren slammed his fist on the wall, his face full of excitement.

Li Dian on the side nodded, also with an excited expression.

"Man Cheng, immediately gather the

army and pursue it, you must not let Yan Liang go too easily!" Li Dian was taken aback, and hurriedly persuaded: "General, the strength of our army is really limited, we must not attack rashly

!" Cao Ren frowned and said unhappily: "How can you cower when leading the troops to fight! If you don't dare to go, I will lead the troops to pursue!" Then Cao Ren passed the order to the heralds around him.

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

Then Cao Ren led 10,000 troops out of the city. Li Dian, who was standing on the tower of the city gate, frowned, but there was nothing he could do.

Yuan Shao's army returned to the west, Yan Liang led the main force to walk in the front, and Gao Ran led 30,000 foot soldiers to the rear of the palace, which was Gao Ran's own request.

Gao Ran was cautious, and although Dingtao's Cao army had been hit hard, Gao Ran did not take it lightly at all. In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, Gao Ran sent a large number of scouts to reconnoiter the movements of the Dingtao Cao army, and divided his 30,000 foot soldiers into three waves to achieve the purpose of mutual cover.

Yuan Shao's army walked less than ten miles, and the scouts quickly reported that 10,000 Cao troops were coming out of the city to chase after them.

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