The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 452 Volume King's Arrival
Cao Cao stared at the familiar handwriting on the envelope and felt his head aching more and more, and his vision gradually became blurred.

The body that once carried the Central Plains on its shoulders finally couldn't hold on any longer. It tilted to the side and fainted!

"Mengde!"

"Ming Gong!"

Xiahou Dun and Guo Jia stepped forward and quickly supported Cao Cao.

Seeing that Cao Cao was still alive, the two men breathed a sigh of relief, quickly helped Cao Cao onto the couch, and called a doctor to treat him.

Guo Jia also sent Mi Fang and his family out of the city.

Although Mi Fang suffered a lot and his other leg was broken, he still managed to survive.

When Lu Bu learned that Cao Cao had fainted in the city, he immediately became eager to try to attack the city.

It was Guo Jia who sent a letter from the top of the city wall, asking Lu Bu not to attack the city, so as not to hurt the lives of the Han army and the people of Pengcheng.

"The Han people attacking each other is never something the emperor wants to see. General, can't you wait until Ming Gong wakes up and surrender the city?"

When Lu Bu saw that Guo Jia was delaying the war by bringing up the emperor, he also agreed to Guo Jia's request.

"Three days at most! If Cao Cao doesn't wake up, I will assume he's dead! If you don't surrender, I will assume you're determined to resist to the end!"

After three days, Lu Bu returned to the camp to wait.

The result of the Battle of Mangdang Mountain soon spread to other places.

Xiahou Yuan and Man Chong, who were confronting Guan Yu and Zhang Liao in Runan, were both thrown into panic when they heard that Cao Cao had been defeated!
Cao Ang, who stayed in Shouchun, was even more disheartened and didn't know how to deal with the situation next.

Only Sun Ce, who had been lurking in Lujiang County for a long time, was overjoyed!
He wrote a letter to Zhou Yu who had already arrived in Jiangxia County:

"The emperor chose to attack Cao Cao ahead of time, which we did not expect. Fortunately, the two sides met in Mangdang Mountain, and Cao Cao was defeated. I can attack Shouchun under the banner of helping the court and take Huainan into my pocket!"

After saying this, Sun Ce led 50,000 infantry, cavalry and navy troops northward with unstoppable force and soon reached the city of Hefei!

The commander of Hefei was Liu Fu, a native of Pei.

When Liu Fu saw that Sun Ce was coming with great force, he immediately organized the military and civilians to resist.

Hefei was originally built by Liu Fu, who not only built high walls for protection, but also accumulated wood and stones, wove a large number of straw mats with grass and palm leaves, and stored thousands of hu of fish paste as strategic resources.

If Sun Ce used infantry to attack, he would use wood and stones to knock them off the city wall.

If Sun Ce used the navy to attack, he would smear fish paste on the straw mats and use it to burn the warships of Jiangdong.

Sun Ce did not expect that a small city like Hefei could stop his army of tens of thousands, so he could only use the tactic of appeasement towards Liu Fu.

"Cao Cao has been defeated. I am here to take over Hefei on behalf of the imperial court! How dare you resist?"

Faced with Sun Ce's childish lies, Liu Fu did not hesitate to expose them.

"Your father, Sun Jian, secretly hid the imperial seal and was a traitor to the country! Now you, Sun Ce, are just like Sun Jian, relying on the Yangtze River to establish your own regime. You are truly a traitor to the Han Dynasty!"

Sun Ce was furious when he heard this, but he had remained basically calm after these few years.

"Although Hefei is easy to defend but difficult to attack, our army is powerful. Liu Fu will not be able to hold out for too long and will have to ask Cao Ang for help sooner or later! Our army can take this opportunity to ambush Cao Ang, besiege Hefei but not attack, and choose to take Shouchun first!"

And Liu Fu happened just as Sun Ce expected.

He knew that although there were sufficient supplies in Hefei City, there were few soldiers and he was afraid that he could not resist Sun Ce, so he wrote a letter asking Cao Ang in Shouchun to come to the rescue.

When Cao Ang heard that Cao Cao in the north was defeated by the imperial court and that Sun Ce was leading his troops to attack from the south, he didn't know what to do.

So Cao Ang could only write a letter to Xiahou Yuan in Runan for help while he personally led his army to support Hefei.

Cao Ang was somewhat dazed on the way and did not even notice that Sun Ce had set an ambush!
Although Cao Ang had followed Cao Cao in his battles since he was young, he was not as brave as Sun Ce after all. He was eventually defeated and fled back to Shouchun City, where he stayed indoors.

After Sun Ce defeated Cao Ang, he immediately led his troops to besiege Shouchun, and ordered his general Zhou Tai to lead troops to attack Cao Ren in Guangling!
Sun Ce attacked from three directions, apparently intending to take advantage of the court's failure to react and annex all the areas south of the Huai River in one fell swoop!

Xiahou Yuan was shocked again when he received Cao Ang's letter, so he had to discuss with Man Chong and asked them to withdraw to Shouchun to protect Cao Ang.

"What about Guan Yu and Zhang Liao?"

"Who can control them now?"

Xiahou Yuan has always been taciturn and not good at expressing his attitude.

But at this moment, Xiahou Yuan had a dejected look on his face: "Bo Ning! The building is about to collapse!"

With the imperial court and Sun Ce attacking Cao Cao at the same time, Cao Cao has no chance of survival!

Now Xiahou Yuan no longer knew what to do next.

……

"It's better to surrender to the court."

Man Chong's words were like a bolt from the blue, and they immediately exploded in Xiahou Yuan's mind!

"Man Boning, what did you say?"

Man Chong's face was full of bitterness: "Don't I know that I must be loyal to you, my lord?"

"But given the current situation, even if I die on the battlefield, I won't be able to make the slightest change to the overall situation."

"Ming Gong's defeat is inevitable. If you do not surrender to the court and fight hard, you will actually be making things easier for Sun Ce of Jiangdong!"

Continuing to resist and preventing the imperial army from heading to Huainan was actually buying time for Sun Ce.

Man Chong really didn't know why he should persist in this meaningless resistance!
Xiahou Yuan was furious, but he didn't know how to preach.

His brother, Xiahou Dun, actually lived a good life in Chang'an.

His daughter, Xiahou, also became the legal wife of Zhang Fei, one of the current pillars of the country. It can be said that Xiahou Yuan actually had no reason to go against the court...

Just when Xiahou Yuan was struggling, a scout suddenly came to report that Zhang Liao was leading 5,000 cavalrymen to his flank!

Xiahou Yuan thought that Zhang Liao was going to attack his flank, so he naturally did not dare to be negligent.

The Battle of Anyi and the Battle of Jixian have made Zhang Liao a recognized top general!

Some people even thought that Zhang Liao was the second most powerful general of the Han Dynasty after Lu Bu!

It's never too late to be on guard against people like this!

But when Xiahou Yuan caught up with Zhang Liao, Zhang Liao did not show any intention of fighting him. Instead, he swaggered and talked to Xiahou Yuan in the battle formation.

"I have received an imperial decree from the Emperor! It requires me to go to Hefei immediately to resist Sun Ce! If you don't want your good nephew Cao Ang to get into trouble, you'd better get out of the way!"

The emperor actually asked Zhang Liao to go to Huainan?

Xiahou Yuan couldn't believe it: "Don't lie to me! You must want to go to the rear and attack our army together with Guan Yu!"

Zhang Liao felt a little helpless, not knowing where Xiahou Yuan's mysterious confidence came from.

"Xiahou Miaocai! You should have known that the General of the Cavalry had defeated Cao Cao in Mangdang Mountain, and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was completely annihilated! Under such circumstances, your Runan army is just a piece of fat meat that can be eaten at any time. Why should I spend so much effort to compete with you in wits and courage?"

"Huainan is the top priority now! Once Sun Ce pushes his power to the Huai River, it will definitely be a troublesome matter in the future!"

"Cao Pi once sent me a gift when he was in Chang'an, so I certainly couldn't just stand by and watch Cao Ang die."

"Please allow me to rescue your great nephew Cao Ang, who is trapped in Shouchun!"

At this point, Xiahou Yuan believed about 70% of Zhang Liao's words.

To be honest…

The court was already giving them face by being willing to use Zhang Liao and Guan Yu, two pillars of the country, to play "house" with them in Runan.

At a time like this, no matter how careful the imperial court is, it is impossible to put its energy into dealing with them!

After hesitating for a moment, Xiahou Yuan reined in his horse and chose to return along the original route without chasing Zhang Liao.

Seeing that Xiahou Yuan was no longer pestering him, Zhang Liao bowed to him and continued to move towards Huainan!

……

With Cao Cao's defeat and Sun Ce's sudden advance, the entire southern Central Plains became a mess, and the situation everywhere became extremely complicated.

As the three-day deadline was getting closer, Lu Bu became a little confused. He didn't know whether he should choose to attack Pengcheng and capture Cao Cao in the city.

Fortunately, Lu Bu’s struggle did not last too long.

Because the emperor's dragon banner finally followed closely and arrived at the city of Pengcheng!

"Greetings to the Emperor!"

Under the fluttering red dragon banner stood Liu Xie's figure, a figure that made people feel at ease at first sight.

This figure gives us reason to believe that no matter how complicated the current situation is, it can be easily resolved under the control of the Emperor!

Behind the emperor were a group of high-ranking officials.

Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi were at the top of the list, whispering from time to time, as if they were exchanging opinions and sorting out the current situation.

There were also two southwestern rulers, Yonghua and Bie, and some envoys from small countries in the Western Regions following in the center of the team.

Compared to when they were about to set out, the voices of these people were much quieter.

If they had seen the prosperity of the Han Dynasty and the kindness of the emperor when they were in Chang'an.

Then after following the expedition, what they saw was the power of the Han Dynasty and the awe-inspiring power of the Emperor!
From Chang'an to Qingzhou.

This was not a very far distance for the Han people, but it became a paradise that they could not even imagine!

They knew that the Han were very powerful.

But I didn't expect that the Han people could be so powerful!
There are endless boats on the river, more numerous than carp.

At the end of the road, there is a city that is more prosperous than their capital.

And beside the emperor, there is an army of terrifying size!

Even more terrifying is...

These troops are not all the troops of the Han Dynasty!

The soldiers of the eleven pillars of the state.

The cavalry of the three tribes of Beiting Protectorate.

There are also county soldiers and prefecture soldiers scattered all over the place...

And this is not even the heyday of the Han Dynasty!
Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Jiangdong, Liaodong...

All these lands add up to more than tens of thousands of acres.
The total population of these lands is more than millions.
They are just thankful now.

Fortunately, this huge and powerful empire did not seem to be keen on expanding its territory in the past few hundred years.

Otherwise, with this big man who is not even at his peak, who can resist and who can defeat him?
Any envoy who followed the emperor through this journey would probably never have the slightest thought of rebelling against the Han Dynasty again in their lifetime...

At this moment, Liu Xie also dismounted his horse and looked towards Pengcheng not far away.

"Cao Cao, is he inside?"

(End of this chapter)