Han Xiang

Chapter 58

Zhang Xun opened his eyes in surprise, he couldn't believe that Qiao Rui was so bold, and thought that he didn't understand clearly last night?You take the words of my general as fart?
"Lost? Are you crazy?"

Qiao Rui replied calmly: "Just now, I came to report that Cao Cao's main force is only half a day away. I'm too conservative to let you leave half of it. What's the situation here?"

"Cao Ren led [-] cavalry to block the way, and Li Feng was beheaded." Zhang Xun looked solemn.

Qiao Rui frowned, and said to himself: "Then we can only rush over."

"Yeah." Zhang Xun nodded slightly.

Zhang Xun immediately marched forward, but Cao Ren only harassed the Huainan flank by taking advantage of the maneuverability of the cavalry, making the Huainan army less than ten miles away in half a day.

When camping again at night, Zhang Xun was not as happy as yesterday, and he could see that Cao Ren was deliberately delaying.

Since Yuan Shu took the lead in running away, the whole army did not want to fight Cao Cao. After all, everyone was only serving as a soldier for food, and they had no ideals and beliefs to support them to fight desperately.

Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui sat in front of the bonfire, poking the center of the flame with branches.

He said casually: "General Qiao's analysis is correct. Cao Cao's main force is only twenty miles away from us. It is no longer realistic to bring the grain back to Shouchun. Let the soldiers have a full meal tonight, and leave all the grain carts where they are tomorrow morning. , and then each of them brought five days’ rations with them on their way.”

"Five days should not make it back to Shouchun. If Cao Ren continues to harass tomorrow, it may not be possible in fifteen days." Qiao Rui was very pessimistic.

Zhang Xun frowned when he heard that, he picked the branch twice and threw it into the fire, saying seriously: "The reason why we are being harassed today is because we have some scruples, everyone will go into battle tomorrow, let's see what else Cao Ren can do to stop it." .”

Qiao Rui nodded in agreement: "If you can march quickly for five days, you may be able to reach Ruyin County downstream, where there is a garrison in Huainan, and you will be safe."

"Well, tomorrow I will give an order to advance at full speed. Although I can't bring food back to His Majesty, the [-] soldiers must be brought back safely."

Looking at the starry sky, Zhang Xun secretly accepted his mediocrity.

There was a trace of bitterness on Qiao Rui's face, and he thought that General Zhang's current thinking seemed to coincide with Long Yunqi's style of work.

Because there were Cao Jun before and after, Zhang Xun arranged a large number of sentries to guard at night, but the opponent didn't plan to attack at all.

Before dawn the next day, Zhang Xun sent out scouts. He wanted to monitor Cao Jun's things at any time, and asked people to bury the pot to make food. He planned to set off after he was full.

Because Cao Ren's cavalry was too strong, the scouts who went south did not dare to get too close. When they found Cao Ren's cavalry, they returned to the camp and reported.

Qiao Rui abandoned the grain cart yesterday and is still in place, but Cao Cao's main force is not in the north, as if it disappeared out of thin air.

"Cao Cao is really bluffing? No, even if he wants to leave, he should take the grain truck with him. What exactly is he trying to do?"

Zhang Xun kept patting his helmet at this time, because he had a headache because he couldn't figure it out.

Qiao Rui: "Cao Cao is suspicious by nature, maybe he is afraid that the grain truck will be cheated?"

"Tie Cao used his troops cunningly. We are not his opponents. It's normal if we can't figure it out."

Zhang Xun sighed, then turned his head suddenly and asked again: "By the way, I heard that under General Qiao's command, there is a Quhou named Long who has some insights. Why don't you ask him?"

"Huh? No, no, this kid is a little clever. How could he see through Cao's schemes? Why waste time? Let everyone have enough to eat and go on the road."

"That's right." Zhang Xun smiled leisurely.

Because all the grain trucks had to be discarded, Zhang Xun asked people to make enough breakfast and asked everyone to eat as much as possible so that they would have enough energy to go on the road.

Orders were passed down layer by layer, but when he arrived at Long Xiang's Qubu, he was only allowed to eat eight percent full.

The old soldiers under Tang Jue's command immediately executed it unconditionally without asking the reason, but the soldiers brought by Cao Xing were puzzled, so Cao Xing took the initiative to ask the reason.

"Quhou, it is said that there is no rest in the middle of the day, and you can only eat until dark. Why don't you let the brothers eat more?"

"Didn't you have a full meal last night? Don't you remember how there was such a large amount of food on the road before you arrived in Chen Guo? It's more than [-]% full than before."

"But now the rice is cooked, and I can't take it away if I can't finish it"

Long Xiang glanced at Cao Xing, shook his head and smiled and said, "Eating more may not be a good thing. If you walk in a hurry later, it may cause abdominal pain. You know that Cao Cao's main force will disappear? I'm worried that today's return journey will not be smooth, you The cavalry under your command are bumping on the horse, let alone overeat."

"The last general will save it." Cao Xing nodded slightly.

"You won't suffer from listening to Yunqi, you see I won't even ask."

Seeing this, Tang Jue next to him couldn't help laughing. Cao Xing smiled awkwardly after hearing this, and then went to tell the soldiers to eat less.

The Huainan army set off immediately after breakfast. Zhang Xun saw that Cao Cao was unmoved by yesterday's grain truck, so he asked people to throw the remaining grain truck into Yingshui, saying that he could not take it away and would not leave it to Cao Cao.

The army marched south for about two li, but was blocked by Cao Ren's cavalry.

Zhang Xun was about to form an attack when he suddenly saw Cao Ren's cavalry with banners unfurling behind them.

It is roughly estimated that the number of people is more than [-], so you don't need to guess to know that it is Cao Cao's main force.

Qiao Rui swallowed her saliva and said, "No wonder Thief Cao is not in the north, so he turned back to the south overnight. It seems that he doesn't intend to let us pass, so what if we fight recklessly?"

"The soldiers have just had their fill. Cao's army is waiting for work at leisure. It is not good for the army to start a war, but I think Cao Cao has no intention of attacking. Now there is flood water blocking the road on the west side. He can only keep his guard and turn to the east. Let's go and see. "Zhang Xun's face was full of sadness.

Qiao Rui nodded in agreement: "That's the only way."

Zhang Xun immediately ordered to turn eastward, and Cao Cao's side also led the army eastward.

Cao Jun was very surprised. They were just monitoring all the way and had no intention of attacking at all.

Cao Cao's strategy at this time is similar to the contest between Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang. He just follows the surveillance and does not fight. However, there is an essential difference between the two. Sima Yi is because he cannot fight head-on, while Cao Cao follows on purpose.

Although the generals of Cao Jun had strong combat effectiveness, they would have to pay a high price if they wanted to wipe out Yuan Shu's 5 people, so they deliberately drove Zhang Xun into the encirclement.

After following the journey for half a day, Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui finally realized something was wrong.

The soldiers were trembling and confused, and the marching direction was directed northeast.

Long Xiang guessed that Cao Cao was deliberately wasting and wanted to use psychological warfare to reduce the morale of Huainan soldiers, so he offered advice to Zhang Xun through Qiao Rui, suggesting that 5 people be divided into dozens of teams, and then with a destination as the end point, let everyone like Just like Zhongli assembled back then, each of them thought of a way to gather.

General meaning: The Eight Immortals cross the sea, each showing their magical powers.

The combat strength of the soldiers on both sides was very different. Zhang Xun worried that the division of troops would be defeated one by one by Cao Cao, so he did not agree to the proposal of division of troops.

It wasn't until he couldn't get rid of Cao Jun after walking for two days that Zhang Xun tentatively organized a strong attack, but instead lost 3000 troops and killed Liang Gang and Cao Jiang Lejin.

Forced by the helplessness of the situation, Zhang Xun had no choice but to implement the strategy of dividing troops.

He chose the control area in Huainan, Qixian County, Peiguo, as the gathering place for the army, and soon the [-] army turned into [-] detachments, each marching in different directions.

Long Xiang's suggestion is to beat the master to death with a stick, and the overall idea is borrowed from the sparrow war.

He thought that no matter how strong Cao Bing was, after all, there were few soldiers, and if there were too many troops, some of them would always escape. Long Xiang couldn't guarantee that he was the lucky one, so he was also a gambler.

Cao Cao has fought in the north and south for many years, and has never seen such a chaotic formation. He didn't know which team to chase for a while.

Looking at the Huainan soldiers scattered like birds and beasts in the field.

Sitting on the back of his horse, Cao Cao twitched his beard, and sighed meaningfully: "Things have become more interesting."

(End of this chapter)