My father-in-law Guan Yu, I persuaded Liu Bei to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyang at the beginn

Chapter 188 Hefei changes hands! Cao Cao was stunned: The person who drove Xiao He away was actually Cao Pi’s stupid son?
"It's General Xiahou, it's General Xiahou's head!"

"General Xiahou was killed by Zhao Yun!"

"Our 20,000 brothers were completely wiped out. Were they all killed by Liu's army?"

"Then how can we defend Hefei City?"

The terrified screams of Cao's soldiers on both sides echoed throughout the city walls in an instant.

Before Guan Yu's army attacked the city, Zhao Yun had already broken the morale of the defenders with just one head.

"I actually killed Uncle Miaocai?"

"What should I do if my father finds out?"

"How can I face my father again?"

Cao Pi, who was sitting paralyzed on the ground, was so frightened that he kept muttering to himself like a madman.

The crime of murdering the emperor had made Cao Cao extremely disappointed in him, and he drove him to Hefei.

Now he is self-righteous again and instigated Xiahou Yuan to launch a surprise attack on Liyang, killing his own uncle. If Cao Cao knew about this, would he still forgive him?

He was about to say goodbye to the throne of the Cao family once and for all.

This is still the lightest thing. I am afraid that Cao Cao will be so angry that he won’t even want to look at him again. It is not impossible that they will never see each other again in this life.

Cao Pi had never seen such a big storm, and at this moment he was so frightened that he was completely confused and at a loss as to what to do.

"Master Zihuan, you—"

Zhang Liao was also filled with anger. He wanted to blame Cao Pi, but swallowed the words back when they came to his lips.

The matter is done. What's the point in blaming Cao Pi now?
The most important thing now is to stabilize the morale of the army and defend Hefei!
Zhang Liao then took off his cloak, wrapped up Xiahou Yuan's head, and ordered his soldiers to take it away first.

Then he took a deep breath, helped Cao Pi up, and said in a deep voice:

"Prince Zihuan, the soldiers are watching you and me. You must cheer up and work with me to stabilize the morale of the army."

"Now that General Xiahou is dead, we must shoulder the responsibility of defending Hefei."

"We still have over 10,000 elite soldiers. If we can stabilize their morale and fight to the death, we may be able to hold out until the Prime Minister's reinforcements arrive!"

Zhang Liao had recovered from the shock of Xiahou Yuan's death and first thought of the overall situation of defending Hefei.

He was a man who had seen many storms and waves. He had fought more than a hundred battles in his life and had encountered all kinds of dangers.

In his opinion, the current crisis has not yet reached the point where it is out of control.

He has confidence, but that doesn't mean Cao Pi has confidence too.

Xiahou Yuan's head had shattered his mental will, and at this moment, there was nothing left in his heart except fear.

Hearing Zhang Liao's words, Cao Pi suddenly came to his senses, shook off Zhang Liao's supporting hand, and shouted excitedly:

"Uncle Miaocai is dead, and all 20,000 soldiers are gone. How can you, Zhang Liao, hold on to Hefei with just our limited numbers?"

"Guan Yu has an army of 50,000. If we continue to hold on to Hefei, we will be trapped in the city and will be dead."

Cao Pi became more and more panicked as he spoke, and shouted to the soldiers around him:
"Hefei City can no longer be defended. Abandon the city and retreat northward immediately. Retreat to Shouchun to save your lives—"

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhang Liao's expression suddenly changed.

I told you to cheer up and follow me to trick the soldiers into defending the city, but instead you added fuel to the fire and told the soldiers to abandon the city and flee?
As the son of Prime Minister Cao, if you shout like that, the morale of the soldiers will definitely collapse!

really.

The Cao army soldiers on both sides were stunned at first, and then they fled towards the north gate as if they had been pardoned.

Cao Pi was like a frightened bird, stumbling and trying to escape from the city.

Zhang Liao's face changed drastically. He grabbed Cao Pi and said sternly:
"Hefei is the throat of Huainan. If Liu Bei takes Hefei, he can head north to Shouchun and swallow up the entire Huainan."

"With Hefei City in the hands of the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister has the opportunity to drink from the Yangtze River and take over Jiangdong."

"Master Zihuan, Hefei must not be abandoned!"

Cao Pi ignored Zhang Liao's persuasion and shouted in a trembling voice:

"Hefei has fallen. At worst, my father can lead his army to retake it in the future. If you and I don't leave, our lives will be lost here."

"If you lose your life, you lose everything!"

A look of astonishment flashed across Zhang Liao's face. He obviously had not expected that Cao Pi, the son of Cao Cao, would be so afraid of death!
All he talks about is saving his own life, without any sense of the overall situation.

"Master Zihuan——"

"enough!"

Cao Pi shook off Zhang Liao again and shouted angrily:
"If you want to defend Hefei to the death, then do it yourself. Don't drag me down with you!"

After saying this, Cao Pi never looked back, and fled towards the north gate with the defeated soldiers.

Zhang Liao froze in place, looking at Cao Pi fleeing in panic and his soldiers collapsing across the board, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh of helplessness.

"The Prime Minister is a hero of his time, but what kind of sons did he father?"

"One was a reckless man with courage but no strategy, who lost his life in vain, while the other was a coward who only cared about self-preservation."

"The sons of the Cao family are all inferior to those of Yuan Shao. I'm afraid the foundation built by the Prime Minister through countless battles will have no successors..."

Zhang Liao sighed in his heart, shook his head and sighed helplessly, then had to follow the defeated soldiers and embark on the road to escape to the north.

Ten thousand Cao troops fled without fighting.

At noon, flags with the word "Liu" on them were raised over Hefei City.

This throat of Huainan was thus declared to have changed hands.

Amid the deafening cheers of the soldiers, Guan Yu led his generals up to the north gate tower.

As far as the eye can see, the land of Huainan is within sight.

He seemed to be able to see the Huai River rolling eastward and the towering Shouchun City waving to him.

"He devised a plan to kill Xiahou and capture Hefei with his wits. My son-in-law is truly a god!"

Guan Yu stroked his beautiful beard with emotion, a proud smile on his face.

"Hurry to Wancheng and report the victory to my brother."

"Tell him that I have already taken Hefei. The gates of Huainan were opened for him by Bowen and I!"

...

Wancheng.

Outside the north gate, the curses were deafening.

More than a hundred Cao soldiers were cursing, stretching their necks and shouting at Wancheng at the top of their lungs.

What kind of people are weaving mats and selling shoes? What kind of people are you, Liu Bei, a coward? The insults are as harsh as they can be.

This move was made by Cheng Yu.

The purpose, of course, was to provoke Liu Bei and lure him out of the city to fight.

There was no other way. Ever since Liu Bei entered Wancheng, he had adopted the tortoise-style tactics. No matter what tactics Cao Cao used, I remained unmoved. Cao Cao had launched several powerful attacks, using every possible means, and suffered many casualties, but he still could not shake Wancheng in the slightest.

With all his tricks left, Cao Cao could only resort to Cheng Yu's strategy and use this tactic of scolding like a shrew.

Unfortunately, Liu Bei remained unmoved.

He cursed from day to dusk for three days and three nights, but Liu Bei never sent a single soldier out of the city.

They don't even bother to fight back, and instead send out loud-mouthed cursers to curse back at you, Cao Cao.

Today was another day of cursing, but the Liu army in the city remained as still as a mountain.

"Big-eared thief, I don't believe you can keep your composure forever!"

Cao Cao's face darkened, and he whipped his whip and shouted:

"Tomorrow, add another hundred scolds, dig out Liu Bei's family tree, and scold me one by one, until you get to Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing!"

Cao Ren and other generals knew that this plan would not succeed and would only make the world laugh at Cao Cao's lack of magnanimity, but they did not dare to advise him and could only obey the order.

Seeing that the sun was setting, Cao Cao could only swallow his anger, turn his horse around and prepare to return to the camp.

"Report——"

"General Zhang Wenyuan, urgent report has arrived from Shouchun—"

A horseman came galloping over, dismounted, held high a battle report and knelt in front of Cao Cao's horse.

It's good to have a healthy body.

Zhang Liao was clearly guarding Hefei, so why did he send urgent reports from Shouchun?

Besides, the military report from Huainan should have been submitted by Xiahou Yuan.

An ominous premonition came over me.

Cao Cao swallowed his saliva, took the silk book nervously, took a deep breath, and opened it tremblingly.

"Xiao He feigned Bu Zhi's surrender and used Jiyin King Liu Xi as bait to trick Zihuan Gongzi into urging General Xiahou to lead a surprise attack on Liyang, intending to recapture the Jiyin King..."

"General Xiahou was ambushed by Xiao He in Liyang, and 20,000 of his troops were killed or wounded. General Xiahou was then beheaded by the enemy general Zhao Yun..."

"Guan Yu's army later attacked Hefei. Prince Zihuan ignored Liao's advice and fled Hefei first, causing the army's morale to collapse. Liao had no choice but to abandon Hefei and retreat north to Shouchun..."

Cao Cao's eyes widened, his hands trembled more and more, his face gradually turned pale as paper, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Hefei city fell?

Xiahou Yuan, another of his brothers after Cao Hong, died again at the hands of Liu Jun?
Or was he instigated by his foolish son Cao Pi and fell into Xiao He's trap?
This foolish son was so afraid of death that he fled in panic, causing the army to collapse and the Huainan Pass of Hefei to fall into Liu Bei's hands?

Each cruel and cold fact was like countless bolts of lightning, striking Cao Cao's head in one breath.

After being stunned for a moment, Cao Cao suddenly suffered a headache and felt a splitting pain in his forehead, as if it was about to explode.

"Miaocai, Miaocai..."

A mournful and shrill howl was heard.

Cao Cao covered his forehead with his hands, feeling dizzy and dark, and his huge body fell off his horse.

"Prime Minister——"

Cao Ren and other generals and counselors were all horrified.

The Cao army was in chaos.

At nightfall, Cao Cao was sent back to his tent and a medical officer was summoned for emergency treatment.

Cao Ren, Cheng Yu and other close ministers had all read Zhang Liao's urgent report and were all shocked and astonished.

Upon learning that his brother had died in Hefei, Cao Ren was naturally extremely sad and angry, and he wanted to immediately lead his troops south to Huainan to avenge Xiahou Yuan.

Only with Cheng Yu's persuasion did Cao Ren barely suppress his grief and anger and ordered that the news of the dramatic changes in Huainan should not be made public.

Unfortunately, the truth could not be hidden, and overnight, the news of Xiahou Yuan's death spread throughout the camp.

The news spread widely in all the camps. The hundreds of thousands of Cao's troops were all terrified and stunned, and private discussions were going on one after another.

The people in Cao's camp were in chaos.

Late at night, inside the central army tent.

Cao Cao, who had fainted due to anger, finally woke up.

In the big tent, the sounds of weeping and cursing were heard again.

After crying and cursing for half an hour, Cao Cao finally vented all his grief and anger, and collapsed weakly on the couch.

Only then did counselors such as Cheng Yu and Liu Ye dare to speak out and advise.

Wancheng could not be captured after a long siege, but Hefei was unexpectedly lost, Xiahou died, and the situation in Huainan took a sharp turn for the worse.

Moreover, the aftermath of the emperor's assassination has not yet subsided, the throne is still vacant, and people in the rear are unsettled.

Under such an unfavorable situation, there is no point in attacking Wancheng again.

Cheng Yu and others then proposed that they should immediately return to Xu Du in the north, send reinforcements to Shouchun to stabilize the situation in Huainan, and at the same time, help the new emperor ascend the throne as soon as possible to eliminate the negative impact of the emperor's assassination.

Cao Cao also calmed down at this moment and no longer had the confidence to attack Wancheng. He could only wave his hand weakly and approve the request of Cheng Yu and others.

"How could a hero like me have such a foolish and irresponsible son?"

"Cao Pi, oh Cao Pi, you really disappoint me. I shouldn't have sent you to Hefei and let you kill your talented uncle—"

Cao Cao picked up Zhang Liao's report again and saw all the shameful things Cao Pi had done, and he gritted his teeth in anger.

Cao Zhi, standing aside, was secretly delighted, quietly clenched his fists, and tried his best to restrain the excitement in his heart.

"I never thought my second brother would be so foolish. He made a series of stupid moves. First he killed the emperor, and now he has caused Uncle Miaocai to die in Hefei. It seems that father is extremely disappointed in him."

"If that's the case, why don't I report what Yang Dezu has uncovered to my father while the iron is hot, so that he can never stand up again?"

Cao Zhi's eyes darted around and his mind was in turmoil.

Regarding that matter, Yang Xiu had repeatedly warned him not to report it to Cao Cao in person, otherwise it would only backfire.

However, seeing that Cao Pi had made another big mistake and was only a step away from completely losing the chance to compete for the throne, Cao Zhi was so excited that he forgot Yang Xiu's advice.

After hesitating for a long time, Cao Zhi gritted his teeth, cupped his hands and sighed:
"My second brother is also eager to make a contribution and wants to recapture the Prince of Jiyin to make up for the mistake of accidentally killing the emperor."

"But he underestimated Xiao He. He is so resourceful and calculating that even my father would be wary of him, let alone him."

Cao Zhi's fanning the flames made Cao Cao even more angry, and he scolded Cao Pi for overestimating his own abilities.

Cao Zhi saw that the time was almost right, so he changed the subject:
"Speaking of Xiao He, I heard Yang Xiu mention him earlier. He has already found out who drove him away, causing my father to miss out on such a brilliant man."

Cao Cao was like a chicken with its blood pumped up. He sat up straight and asked anxiously:
"Since Yang Xiu had already found out, why didn't he report it earlier?"

"Zijian, tell me quickly, who on earth was that idiot who drove Xiao He away?"

Cao Zhi took a deep breath and sighed:
"I dare not hide it from my father. The person who drove Xiao He away back then was none other than my second brother!"

Cao Cao was stunned.

(End of this chapter)