Chapter 1013 Cao Cao’s Decision

Pengcheng, late at night.

Most ordinary people would have fallen asleep at this time, but the lights in the prime minister's house were still brightly lit. Cao Cao was dealing with official documents. He was in the prime of life at the moment, and he was full of energy for working all night long. However, Cao Cao frowned deeply, because the deterioration of the situation in recent days was really beyond his expectation.

Cao Cao felt a deep sense of fatigue. You must know that during the Battle of Guandu, he wanted to retreat and wrote to Xun Yu to retreat to Xudu. Now facing Liu Ye's offensive is even more difficult than facing Yuan Shao. If you endure it, you will naturally not be able to bear it.

"Prime Minister, Prime Minister!"

Footsteps were heard outside the door, and Cao Cao raised his head when he heard the sound: "Miaocai, what's wrong?"

"Prime Minister, Xiapi City was attacked by the Xiliang Army!" Xia Houyuan said anxiously.

"What, how could the Xiliang army appear in Xiapi?" Cao Cao frowned when he heard this.

"Speak to the Prime Minister quickly." Xia Houyuan shouted to the blood-soaked dead soldier of Cao's army.

"Prime Minister, the enemy general Zhang Jaw suddenly appeared at the foot of Xiapi City with his army. He was surrounded by water from all sides. The eldest son organized hundreds of people to break out. We finally fought out. Now Zhang Jaw is attacking Xiapi City every day. Xiapi has already We are in danger, please prime minister to send troops to rescue quickly!" the dead man said loudly.

"What?"

Cao Cao's expression suddenly changed: "The enemy troops appeared under Xiapi City?"

Cao Cao was also a little confused, how did Zhang Jaw appear under Xiapi City? Can't Guangling and other counties in the east resist it?

"Prime Minister! A letter from Governor Chen of Guangling has arrived!"

Cao Cao frowned and unfolded the letter, and his face became darker.

"Prime Minister, what did Chen Deng's letter say?" Xia Houyuan asked hurriedly.

"Chen Deng said that the Xiliang army landed in Dongling. His Danyang soldiers were all restrained by the Xiliang army in Dongling and could not rescue Xiapi City." Cao Cao said solemnly.

"Damn it! This Chen Deng clearly doesn't want to contribute, huh!" Xia Houyuan said angrily.

"I didn't expect the situation to be so critical. I really didn't expect it," Cao Cao sighed.

"Prime Minister, what should our army do for the present?" Xia Houyuan asked hurriedly.

"."

After Cao Cao was silent for a while, he made a decision: "Order Zi Lian to lead the Qingzhou garrison south. Miaocai Ru will be the vanguard and lead 20,000 troops to rush to Xiapi. Gu Gu will lead the army as backup!"

Xia Houyuan was shocked when he heard this: "So, our army is planning to abandon Pengcheng?"

"Leave 10,000 people in Pengcheng to delay the Xiliang army's offensive, and the rest will all go to Xiapi." Cao Cao said solemnly: "We will not hesitate to lose casualties this time. Our army and Zilian's army will join forces to besiege Zhangja, and we will not hesitate to fight with them." In the field battle of the enemy, Zhang Jia must be completely defeated, and we must first abolish Zhang Jia!"

In fact, when facing Liu Ye's offensive, Cao Cao avoided field battles as much as possible. Instead, he used defensive battles to consume Liu Ye's strength and plot a counterattack. But this time it was necessary. Once Zhang Jaw's army could not be eliminated, and when Zhang Jaw and Liu Ye reunited, the crisis would be irreversible.

"Pass my order and start taking action immediately tonight. The troops will be very quick."

"Here!"

That night, Xiahou Yuan set out first, leading 20,000 Cao Cao's troops. Xia Houyuan's marching speed was ranked first among Cao's generals. His best skill was rapid marching, so Cao Cao sent him as a vanguard to urgently rescue Xiapi.

Qingzhou, Beihai.

"What, Xiapi City is in danger?"

When Cao Hong saw Cao Cao's handwritten letter, he immediately waved his hand: "The whole army goes south, quickly!"

In the direction of Pengcheng and Qingzhou, the two Cao armies set out separately and converged in the direction of Xiapi. Cao Cao led his army as backup and then set off.

"General, according to the sentinel intelligence, a large number of Cao's troops in Pengcheng are coming out east and converging in the direction of Xiapi." Guo Jia reported to Liu Ye.

"Oh? The enemy is not planning to create suspicion and attract our troops, right?" Liu Ye frowned.

"General! Zhang Zhengnan has sent troops to surround Xiapi City, and is now attacking day and night!"

"oh?"

Liu Ye's mind turned and he suddenly understood: "I understand, no wonder a large number of Cao's troops are heading east to reinforce Xiapi!"

"Since Cao Cao took the initiative to abandon Pengcheng and support Xiapi, he might have also sent Qingzhou Cao Hong's army to go south, intending to have a time lag with our army to encircle and annihilate Zhang Jia's army first." Guo Jia speculated: "Our army can leave some troops to continue. After laying siege to Pengcheng, the general personally led his army to the east and joined forces with Zhang Junyi to engage in a decisive battle with Cao Cao! This was a good opportunity. Cao Cao knew that our army was powerful, so he had been consuming our army's strength by defending the city. Now that I have made up my mind to prepare for the field battle, I must not miss it.”

Liu Ye nodded and ordered: "Generals, listen to your orders!"

"The general is here!"

"Yu Jin, Sun Li, and you two oversee an army of 30,000. Cao's army continues to besiege Xiaoxian and Pengcheng. It is absolutely impossible to release the enemy troops."

Yu Jin cupped his fists and said, "General, please rest assured, I will never miss anyone."

Liu Ye nodded: "I personally lead an army of 70,000 people and march towards Xiapi, preparing for a decisive battle with Cao Cao. Ma Chao and Ma Tieru will lead 10,000 cavalry as the vanguard, and Jia Xu will accompany the army as counselor."

Ma Chao cupped his fists and said, "Here!"

Liu Ye nodded with satisfaction and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, if nothing else happens, this should be the last battle for our army to unify the world. As long as this battle is over, you will all be famous generals for the resurgence of the Han Dynasty, no less than The twenty-eight generals of Guangwu Yuntai, you must seize the opportunity to leave your name in history."

After hearing this, the generals of the Xiliang Army were all gearing up and full of confidence.

"All troops set out!"

Yu Jin led 30,000 Xiliang troops to besiege Pengcheng and Xiao County, while Liu Ye personally led 70,000 infantry and cavalry to the east for reinforcements.

Outside Xiapi City.

"attack!"

"kill!"

More than 40,000 Xiliang troops burst out with shouts of killing like a roaring mountain and a tsunami, and launched a full-scale attack on Xiapi City. I saw tens of thousands of Xiliang troops rushing forward pushing the ladder truck and the crash truck. The wooden bumper on the crash truck hit the city gate hard. The ladder truck was pushed under the city wall and opened immediately. The iron hook on it grabbed it. At the top of the city.

Tens of thousands of Xiliang troops shouted loudly, holding Huanshou knives in their mouths, and climbed on the ladder using their hands and feet at very fast speeds.

Under the city head, there were also thousands of archers with bows and arrows, aiming their bows at the city head and shooting. Countless arrows intertwined into an airtight network in the air, suppressing the defenders on Xiapi City.

"Fight back, fight back, quickly!"

Cao Ang was on the top of the city, personally waving his sword to supervise the battle, and called on Cao Jun to counterattack. However, as soon as Cao Jun's archers showed their heads, they were immediately suppressed by the dense arrows and retracted their heads. The number of Xiliang's army was four times that of Cao's army, which put considerable pressure on Cao's army.