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Chapter 2743 The enemy is at the gates!

As the commander-in-chief appointed by Liu Bei for this major battle, Wang Yue naturally had to pay attention to the overall situation in order to minimize casualties in the fight against Cao Zhen's 50,000-strong army. Therefore, he kept a close eye on the north bank of the Yellow River.

When Wang Yue heard that the commander on the other side of the river was Sima Yi, he felt that taking down Sima Yi would be much better than killing Cao Zhen.

After all, after the Sima family seized power, they truly caused immense suffering to the Central Plains. Wang Yue's mind wouldn't be at peace if he didn't kill Sima Yi and his sons.

Therefore, Wang Yue had been planning how to annihilate Sima Yi's forces. When he learned that Sima Yi had launched a two-pronged attack on the water, he immediately notified Guan Yu to cross the river downstream to Qinghe.

The ambush from all sides has now shrunk considerably. Guan Yu's position is now far from the main force. Originally, he was only there to monitor the Wei army and prevent them from crossing the river downstream, but now it has become Guan Yu crossing the river.

Sima Yi was also calculating at this time. He knew that Cao Zhen's army was dwindling and Cao Zhen would not wait for his arrangements. After all, even if they successfully built the pontoon bridge under the siege of so many troops, they would definitely face a desperate attack from the Han army.

By then, the Wei army will be unable to stop them, and Cao Zhen will surely die.

Cao Zhen's only way out was to rely on his soldiers to fight their way through so that he could reach Hulao Pass and be rescued and brought into the city.

Therefore, when Sima Yi arranged the two-pronged attack, he left only an empty camp in the central army and immediately led the remaining 10,000 men toward Luoyang.

In Sima Yi's eyes, as long as he arrived near Luoyang first, he would surely be able to organize the Luoyang navy to temporarily intercept the Han navy.

In this way, Cao Zhen would not only be able to live, but he would also be able to control the key fortresses and prevent the Han army from advancing directly north from the vicinity of Luoyang to attack Ye City.

Of course, Sima Yi also had another concern: that after Cao Zhen's army was annihilated, the Han army would immediately take advantage of its naval strength to cross the river.

By then, Sima Yi's 10,000 troops would have nowhere to escape and would likely die there. It would be better to find another place to provide support.

What Sima Yi didn't expect was that Wang Yue was even more cautious in his actions. After sending Guan Yu to lead 3 troops across the river, he couldn't possibly feel at ease.

Therefore, after discovering that the navy had wiped out two armies building pontoon bridges and no new troops had appeared, they immediately and decisively ordered Guan Ping and Zhang Bao to lead the army to block the river directly, without waiting to completely annihilate Cao Zhen's forces.

Guan Ping and Zhang Bao each led 10,000 elite troops, heading towards Wei County and Guantao respectively.

The county magistrates here were misled by Sima Yi's actions. They thought that Sima Yi's army was here, so they were completely unprepared.

When Guan Ping and Zhang Bao arrived, they easily captured two county towns.

At this very moment, Guan Yu led an army of 30,000 to sweep through Qinghe County, allowing the Han army to firmly establish itself in Ji Province.

As expected, the Cui family of Qinghe immediately chose to cooperate, which allowed Guan Yu to obtain sufficient provisions in Qinghe County.

The Qinghe family has been a powerful clan in Ji Province for many years, and after choosing sides, they naturally sent clansmen to help Guan Yu.

Therefore, even though Guan Yu sometimes only had 30,000 men, his troops could increase to 50,000 in just one day.

The reason why the Cui family of Qinghe invested so much was entirely because Liu Bei appointed Yuan Shao's grandson as the governor of Runan, which made the Cui family realize that Liu Bei would give important positions to these families who originally supported Yuan Shao.

Just as Guan Yu was hesitating about whether the newly added troops were trustworthy, Guan Ping and Guan Xing also crossed the river. Guan Yu ordered Guan Ping to lead his troops to guard Qinghe, while he and Zhang Bao led tens of thousands of troops directly to Ye City.

After retreating to the south bank of the Yellow River, Zhou Tai soon heard the news of Guan Yu crossing the river. He felt that Wang Yue would not have allowed his father-in-law to cross the river unless he was absolutely certain of success, so he did not hesitate to head towards Pingyuan County again.

Upon learning of the loss of Qinghe, the Wei army, fearing a pincer attack from two directions, retreated into Bohai Commandery after learning that the Han army had crossed the river again. At the same time, they hurriedly sent messengers to deliver the news.

Unfortunately, Guan Yu acted too quickly. Before the messenger arrived, he had already reached Ye City, which terrified Cao Pi!

It must be understood that these changes in the war came too quickly; all the news Ye City received was news of defeat, and nothing but defeat.

Now that Guan Yu has suddenly appeared at the gates of Ye City, Cao Pi thought that Sima Yi might have surrendered.

After all, Sima Yi's army consisted of more than 3 elite troops. Even if it were 3 pigs, it would take the Han Dynasty a long time to kill them. How could they be driven to the gates of Ye City without any commotion?

Keep in mind that the Yellow River was separating them, so Sima Yi still had a chance to escape.

……

Cao Zhen, escorted by three fierce generals, actually fought his way through the enemy ranks and managed to break through the encirclement.

However, only the four of them, along with a few other junior officers, managed to break through. The remaining generals and their personal guards were all trapped there and unable to get out.

Under normal circumstances, none of them would have the face to go back alive, especially the three of them: Zangba, Zhang He, and Le Jin.

The guards who followed him could be described as the youngest members of their entire clan, but now they were all dead here. Their situation was actually similar to that of Xiang Yu back then.

Even a powerful Chu overlord like Xiang Yu was too ashamed to return to Jiangdong and face his fellow villagers. Zang Ba and the other two were probably in a similar situation.

However, precisely because of Cao Zhen's existence, as long as they protect Cao Zhen and return, they will receive rewards, and they will have done right by the entire clan.

However, while they could think of this, Wang Yue, who controlled the overall situation, had already thought of it and notified Liu Bei to prepare to arrest people.

So when the three of them arrived in Zhongmu, they found that Liu Bei, who had not appeared until now, was standing outside the county town with 30,000 troops, blocking their way.

Seeing that the 3-strong army was clearly elite, Zang Ba and the others knew they couldn't possibly break through, so they excitedly said to Cao Zhen, "General, you run first, we'll hold them off."

Cao Zhen glanced at his remaining troops, which numbered only a few dozen men. He noticed that the Han soldiers on the other side were already lined up outside the city, clearly because the city couldn't accommodate them all.

Cao Zhen did not run away. Instead, he rode forward, sighed, and said loudly to Liu Bei, "Lord Xuande, it has been a long time!"

When Liu Bei sought refuge with Cao Cao, he did meet Cao Zhen. At that time, Cao Zhen's surname was Qin, and the two only briefly met.

(End of this chapter)