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

Chapter 198: Eighty thousand soldiers gathered together and marched towards Shouchun! Cao Cao: I am overjoyed and then sad. I have lost another son?
Cao Ren was confused.

It is clear that Liu’s army on the other side only has 20,000 troops.

They are still in the process of crossing the river and are still on the Fei River.

Where did the tens of thousands of Liu troops scattered all over Baguan Mountain come from?

Could it be that when they were facing each other across the river, Liu Bei secretly transferred his main force from Chengde City to the other side?
This seems to be the only explanation that makes sense.

However, he had already placed spies along the Huai River and the Zhongtu River to prevent Liu Bei from secretly mobilizing troops.

There are so many Liu troops, at least 20,000 or 30,000 of them. How did they hide from his spy network and be transferred under his nose without anyone noticing?

"General Zhendong, we've fallen into a trap!"

Liu Ye, who was also stunned, suddenly shouted and said anxiously:

"The enemy troops on Bagong Mountain must be bluffing. There are not really tens of thousands of enemy troops!"

"That Jinfan bandit wasn't trying to set up the Queyue Formation. He was trying to take advantage of our army's retreat, causing a shift in morale and formation. He wanted to use this situation to fake a large army on Bagong Mountain and disrupt our morale!"

"And there's that noise coming from the rear. It must be Liu Zan and the other Jiangdong soldiers feigning surrender, taking advantage of the situation to join the enemy and disrupt our morale!"

"General Zhendong, we miscalculated!"

Cao Ren took a deep breath and suddenly woke up.

First, he used Cao Zhi's declaration of war to incite him, luring his army to retreat, causing a brief period of instability in the 40,000-man army. Then, he used the flags and trees on Bagong Mountain to create a bluff, and then he made the Jiangdong soldiers, who had pretended to surrender, scream and shout, completely disrupting the morale of his own army...

This layout, which is linked one by one, is so meticulous and exquisite that it is unbelievable!
Especially Liu Zan's group of Jiangdong surrendered soldiers, who had led them across the river to surrender several months ago.

In other words, the person who plotted this had already laid an ambush for today's battle several months ago!
What kind of wisdom is required to have such far-sighted and unpredictable calculations that are beyond the reach of even the gods and ghosts?
"Xiao He!"

"Could it be that the commander of the East Coast army is not that Jinfan thief, but that demon Xiao He?"

Cao Ren suddenly shuddered and looked up at the other side of the river.

In a trance, he seemed to see a graceful and elegant figure standing by the river, admiring the scene of his army falling into chaos without fighting with a sarcastic look.

On the Fei River.

Gan Ning, who was at the bow of the flagship, also saw the Cao army in chaos without fighting.

"This strategy requires mountains on the east coast to give the enemy a glimpse of our forces. We must also plant spies within the enemy ranks beforehand, and induce the enemy to retreat, thereby destabilizing their morale..."

"This is linked to another. If any one of these links is missing, the whole plan will fail."

"Only Military Advisor Xiao could come up with such an ingenious plan..."

Gan Ning sighed with emotion and expressed his admiration continuously.

As I sighed, the shore was approaching.

Gan Ning put away his thoughts, his face burning with fighting spirit, and he swung his sword:
"All ships, officers and men, listen to my orders! Charge to the west bank of the Fei River and destroy Cao's army in one fell swoop—"

The solemn horn sounded.

One after another, the battleships, carrying the high-spirited soldiers of Liu's army, rushed ashore in the blink of an eye.

Gan Ning jumped onto his horse, leaped off the boat, and charged towards the chaotic Cao army.

Thousands of Liu's troops on each boat rushed to the shore, flooding the river bank like a tide and rushing towards the terrified Cao army.

Gan Ning charged ahead and was the first to plunge into the enemy group.

The long sword in his hand was waving wildly, and the Cao soldiers who blocked his way were chopped down to the ground in groups like fallen leaves swept by autumn wind.

Eight hundred elite soldiers of the Jinfan Army followed up, like a tiger among a flock of sheep, madly harvesting lives.

Following closely behind, Liu Jun's main force pierced into the enemy's formation like sharp swords.

In an instant, more than a hundred battle formations of Cao's army were riddled with holes by Liu's army.

collapse.

Liu's army's frontal offensive dealt a final fatal blow to Cao's army, which was already in disarray.

More than 40,000 Cao troops collapsed and began to ignore the orders from their superiors and disperse on their own.

Central Army Department.

Cao Ren had woken up from his shock, drew his sword, and shouted:

"Order all units to stabilize their formation and drive the enemy down the Fei River—"

To no avail.

Under Xiao He's series of combined punches, the morale of Cao's army and its formations collapsed. No one would care about your orders anymore.

No matter how loudly Cao Ren shouted, he could not suppress the overwhelming defeat of his army.

"General Zhendong, the situation is hopeless. Retreat to Shouchun."

"If you don't leave now, my 40,000-strong army will be wiped out here. Shouchun will be undefendable, Huainan will be lost, and the country will be in danger!"

Liu Ye's voice was hoarse, and he shouted at Cao Ren in an almost pleading tone.

Cao Ren's heart skipped a beat, and his last remaining struggle was extinguished by Liu Ye's words.

"I was first defeated in Wancheng, and then in Shouchun. I have truly failed the Prime Minister's trust and failed the country!"

"Ah~~"

Cao Ren sighed deeply, blaming himself, and waved his hands helplessly:

"Order the entire army to quickly withdraw to Shouchun City."

Cao Ren retreated.

Liu Ye, Li Dian and other generals all retreated as if they had been pardoned.

The Liu army soldiers who landed, under the command of Gan Ning, pursued and killed the enemy all the way.

From the west bank of the Fei River to Shouchun, the vast plains are stained with blood!
When the setting sun sets.

After leaving corpses everywhere, Cao Ren finally escaped into Shouchun City.

Counting the casualties, including the dead and wounded and the soldiers captured by Liu's army, the loss was nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses.

Cao Ren had no choice but to send people to Chengde to order Zhang Liao to abandon Chengde and head north to Shouchun to meet him.

While strengthening the city, he sent messengers on horseback to Guanzhong to ask Cao Cao for help.

Xiao Heze crossed the river by boat, joined Gan Ning's victorious soldiers, calmly set up camp on the west bank of the Fei River, and sent a messenger to the main camp in Chengde to report the victory to Liu Bei.

...

South of Chengde City. In the early morning, all 60,000 Liu troops left the camp and formed up in battle array south of the city.

Liu Bei immediately raised his sword and shot his eyes at the enemy city like a blade.

"Zhang Wenyuan is truly a great general. It would be great if I could use such a good general..."

Looking at the towering flag with the word "Zhang" on it on the top of the city wall, Liu Bei sighed with emotion, and did not hide his admiration for Zhang Liao in his words.

An army of nearly 60,000 attacked Chengde for seven days but failed to gain any advantage.

With less than 10,000 soldiers, Zhang Liao defended Chengde as if it were an impregnable fortress.

Even though they were enemies, Liu Bei sincerely admired this half-fellow countryman from the north.

"We attacked Chengde only to contain Cao's army and reduce the pressure on Military Advisor Xiao."

"By now, our army should have deployed on the east bank of the Fei River. We should have news in the next few days on whether we can cross the Fei River."

Pang Tong pointed in the direction of Shouchun and said.

Liu Bei nodded slightly, with a hint of worry in his eyes:

"Cao Ren has nearly 40,000 troops, while Bo Wen and his men only have 20,000. We are outnumbered. I wonder what strategy Bo Wen will come up with..."

Liu Bei hadn't finished speaking.

A rider came galloping up from behind, dismounted and shouted:
"General, Military Advisor Xiao has victory news!"

"Our Eastern Army has severely defeated Cao's army and successfully established camp on the west bank of the Fei River. Cao Ren has been defeated and retreated to Shouchun."

"Military Advisor Xiao says Zhang Liao will definitely abandon the city and retreat north. General, please attack Chengde quickly!"

The surroundings immediately became lively.

Liu Bei was greatly encouraged and quickly took the information on the silk letter, reading it with great surprise.

I was just worried that the enemy in the east was larger than ours and it would be difficult to cross the Fei River.

Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, Xiao He's victory news came, which was really a pleasant surprise.

The key point is that the Eastern Army not only crossed the river, but also severely damaged Cao Ren!

The silk book describes in detail how Xiao He used a strategy to cause 40,000 Cao troops to be defeated without a fight.

Liu Bei suddenly understood and couldn't help but clapped his hands and praised:

"I knew that Bowen was full of clever ideas. He must have a brilliant plan when he personally takes action this time."

"It is so, it is so!"

Liu Bei laughed heartily and showed the information in his hand to Pang Tong.

After Pang Tong read it carefully, a look of admiration appeared on his face, and he sighed:

"Military Advisor Xiao's plan, which uses the strategy of false attack to perfection, is truly remarkable."

While the two were still sighing, the generals on both sides had already gathered their desire to fight.

Zhang Fei pointed his snake spear at Chengde City and shouted excitedly:

"General, Military Advisor Bo Wen has said that Zhang Liao will abandon Chengde and retreat north. So what are we waiting for? Attack the city!"

Liu Bei withdrew his sigh, pointed his whip at Cheng De, and said proudly:
"Pass on my general's order, the entire army will attack the city immediately!"

The war drums sounded and the trumpets blew.

The 60,000 soldiers of Liu's army were full of fighting spirit and rushed towards Chengde City like a tide.

As Xiao He expected, Zhang Liao received an urgent military order from Cao Ren last night and fled the city with more than 9,000 soldiers that night.

Those Cao army soldiers on the top of Chengde City were just dummies, bluffing.

Liu's army broke into the city without bloodshed.

The last barrier to Shouchun thus changed hands.

After Liu Bei ordered his army to rest in Chengde for a day, he marched north along the Fei River.

Two days later, the main army joined forces with the Eastern Army.

They gathered 80,000 troops and marched to the city of Shouchun.

...

Thousands of miles away, east of Huaili City, is Cao Ying.

Inside the central army tent, Cao Cao was discussing with his advisers how to defeat the Xiliang coalition forces.

Ma Chao, who had been defending Huaili for seven days, finally waited for Han Sui to lead reinforcements from Longxi. The two armies combined had about 50,000 soldiers, and their momentum was restored.

Perhaps because of the lessons learned from the previous defeats, Ma Chao had learned his lesson. After joining forces with Han Sui, he held Huaili without fighting and used light cavalry to attack Cao's army's food supply route.

After several attacks, Cao's army lost about 40,000 hu of food and fodder, which gave Cao Cao a lot of headaches.

The counselors discussed the matter back and forth, but could not come up with a perfect plan.

Sima Yi signaled to Cao Pi with his eyes.

Cao Pi understood and said,
"Father, I do have a..."

Before he could finish his words, the curtain was lifted and a noble lady rushed in with a panicked look on her face.

"Husband, you have to save Zhi'er, you have to save Zhi'er~~"

When the noble lady saw Cao Cao, she burst into tears, took a few steps forward and fell down in front of Cao Cao.

"lady?"

When Cao Cao recognized that the noble lady was his wife, Bian, he was surprised.

The counselors and generals in the tent were also greatly surprised.

Cao Cao supported Bian and asked in surprise:

"Madam, why don't you stay in Xudu? Why did you suddenly come all the way to the Guanzhong front?"

Bian wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and choked up:
"My dear husband, Zhi'er has been captured by Liu Bei in Huainan, and his life or death is uncertain!"

"I have already lost Zhang'er, I cannot afford to lose another son. You must save Zhi'er!"

Cao Cao's head buzzed and his face changed drastically with horror.

(End of this chapter)