Three Kingdoms

In life, it seems that every moment, every month and every year, there are troubles coming one after another, all of which appear unexpectedly.

Cao Cao looked at the lights of the camp in the distance with a calm face, but in his heart, just like the lights of the camp in front of him that stretched into the distance, he had to rise and fall along the ground if he wanted to calm down.

Cao Cao's back was still straight and straight. Although he was indeed not big, no one dared to ignore him as he sat there. He seemed to be the center of attention, the bright moon among the stars.

In the past few years, Cao Cao boasted that he had not slacked off at all. From the day he became the governor of Dongjun, he began to fight in the north and south. He first attacked Heishan, then attacked Qingzhou and Xuzhou, and then defeated Yuan Shu and put down the rebellion. He defeated Yuan Shao again, and then gathered Jizhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Qingzhou, and Xuzhou, and almost gathered half of the entire Han Dynasty!

However, all this seems to be useful, and it seems to be useless.

Just like Cao Cao, he has all the military and political affairs in his hands, but sometimes it still feels like he is holding a handful of sand, and there seems to be something, but when he exerts force...

No matter what happens in life, it always happens when you are least prepared.

When Cao Cao prepared for a long time and wanted to fight Fei Qian, Fei Qian was hesitant to move. As a result, when Cao Cao couldn't sit still and began to gather Jizhou, Fei Qian ran out again.

The guards around him were vigilantly checking what was going on around them, and occasionally cast some admiring looks. Perhaps in the eyes of these guards, Cao Cao should be a majestic lord, a tall and majestic image, but only in Cao Cao's heart, Only then did I truly realize that he was actually a mortal made of flesh and blood.

It will also hurt, it will hurt, it will also be sad, it will also be decadent...

The lights stretched from the front to the distance, dancing in the night wind, like the stars in the sky falling to the ground, and like the cold light reflected from the swords and guns in the ranks.

Although at this moment, there are not many people in Jizhou who can stop Cao Cao. The only two places left are the vicinity of Yecheng and the Youzhou area. It can be said that most of the area north of the river is basically under Cao Cao's control. Holding the two most prosperous states of the Han Dynasty, with the support of a large population, the great passes and important towns built by the Han Dynasty for a hundred years, and more than 100,000 soldiers at hand, it should be said that the world should be just around the corner, but Cao Cao knew in his heart that That group of troops that traveled across the Northland and swept through a large area of ​​Guanzhong Longyou in a few years was a terrifying existence.

The question now is, should we continue to completely eliminate the remaining problems in Jizhou, or should we return to the army immediately? The counselors argued endlessly, giving the shortcomings and advantages of the two options, but only Cao Cao could make the final decision.

The night was quiet, with only the low hum of insects all around.

No one can give Cao Cao an answer, he can only rely on himself.

……(·??·?)……

The sky has basically darkened, but the lights above Luoyang City are brightly lit.

Fei Qian stood at the top of Luoyang City, feeling somewhat emotional.

To the north of Luoyang City, the Xia Gate is still relatively complete, and the corner towers even survived. However, the other Valley Gate was one of the first areas to be ignited because it was close to Taicang and the arsenal, so it was basically completely destroyed. The scorch from the flames at that time still remains.

On the west side, the upper west gate collapsed and has not yet been repaired. The Yongmen looks more or less like the city gate where Fei sneaked in. In the south, there is only one Jinmen and Xiaoyuanmen, one water and one land. It is like the Mingtang and Lingtai opposite Luoshui. Only pieces of debris were left, looking like long-dead giant beasts in the night, with only a few blackened ribs pointing diagonally toward the sky.

It's worse to the east.

The Upper East Gate, the Middle East Gate, and the Xiu Gate were basically restored later and are incomparable with the original ones. Especially near the Xiu Gate, the remains of various buildings have not been completely cleared up yet. You must know that in the Han Dynasty, Luoyang City, near the Chao Gate, were all the residences of the Three Dukes. Generals, Sikong Lieutenants, etc. were all located in this place. It was prosperous and exquisite. It is hard to say that it was ranked second in the world. Who is first.

And such a majestic capital city is now like this. Even after a long period of successive renovations and repairs, it still cannot restore its former appearance.

Fei Qian sighed deeply.

The big man, perhaps like this, gradually decayed and died in the flames of war.

After learning that Li Dian had been captured, the original garrison in Luoyang City was turbulent and collapsed, allowing Fei Qian to occupy Luoyang with little effort. From this perspective, Cao Cao sent Li Dian to defend Luoyang. It now seems that it was a wrong decision. But the question is, who else can Cao Cao send?

The paths Fei Qian and Cao Cao took to climb up from the bottom were completely different. They took completely different directions and were in very different environments. Therefore, Fei Qian could appoint people with other surnames to serve as officials in various places, but Cao Cao could not.

This is not to say that Fei Qian's subordinates must be people with extraordinary intelligence. Fei Qian's subordinates also have average, or even not so good people, but they can still obtain certain positions. Even Wen Neng can see people like Pang Tong, Xu Shu and Xun Chen. In this way, Wu Neng could see Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, Tai Shi Ci, etc., but under Cao Cao, those who occupied the first line position would always be Cao Moumou, Xia Hou Moumou, and then it would be the turn of others.

Even Xun Yu was actually restrained by Xiahou Dun. Although Xun Yu could mobilize some of his soldiers, they were limited to the vicinity of Yingchuan. If he wanted to expand to the entire Yuzhou, he could only go through Xiahou Dun, let alone cross the prefectures and counties. .

This point is caused by Cao Cao's innate conditions and is difficult to change.

If Fei Qian were in Cao Cao's position, to be honest, it would be difficult to make any decent adjustments.

Fei Qian has hardly relied on the strength of his family since he was a child, so he has not been much restrained by his family. Cao Cao relied on the Cao family and the Xiahou family, both before and after Suanzao, so Cao Cao The Cao family and the Xiahou family must take high positions and cannot be negotiated. However, such a result is equivalent to the Cao family and the Xiahou family monopolizing high-level positions. On the one hand, Cao Cao has to use them because even if Cao Cao wants to break the deadlock, he will be defeated by others. The Cao family and Xiahou family join forces to extinguish such small flames. On the other hand, the dissatisfaction of other surnames will become more and more serious. After all, there is no room for promotion. Looking up, it is all kinds of nepotism. Who will feel comfortable?

Such a vicious cycle gradually broke out after Cao Pi arrived, eventually leading to the complete demise of the Cao family and the Xiahou family...

Li Dian and Luoyang were a hidden danger that emerged under Cao Cao's model.

Xun You made it very clear that if Cao Cao wanted to attack Jizhou and accept the legacy left by Yuan Shao, he could not rely on others. He could only rely on the personnel of the Cao family and the Xiahou family. As a result, Cao Hong, Cao Ren, and Cao Chun still have a lot of people. Xiahou and others are all concentrated in Jizhou, and Luoyang is equivalent to the front line, and secondly it is dilapidated, so it can only be Li Dian, and only Li Dian.

Similarly, since Li Dian is here as the commander-in-chief, naturally his soldiers cannot be Cao Cao's top-notch soldiers. At most, they are second-rate and above-average. And these soldiers...

Ever since, with the advice of Xun You, who was so familiar with Cao Cao's situation, Fei Qian captured Luoyang with almost no effort.

However, Xun You also emphasized once again that just like Dong Zhuo felt in a dilemma when he was in Luoyang, Yangcheng, the next point, was the focus and difficulty this time.

Yangcheng is equivalent to the gateway of Yingchuan. Unlike Luoyang where Li Dian is the commander-in-chief, Yangcheng is garrisoned by Xiahou Dun. Both in terms of quantity and quality of soldiers, they are more numerous and stronger than Li Dian.

At the same time, if Fei Qian's army goes south, Luoyang will be threatened from the north at any time. One day, Cao Cao may come out from that corner and kill Fei Qian, and then block Fei Qian's way back...

Therefore, what to do next and what is a more secure approach are also issues that Fei Qian has to weigh and think about now.

You can take a wave when you need to wave, but you must be able to stay steady when you need to be steady. Is this what a real man is? Although there seems to be something wrong with saying this, the general meaning is the same. However, other things can be considered later. One thing is quite urgent, which is to bring back the troops of Zhu Ling and Zhang Lie first.

What Fei Qian didn't expect was that his success in Luoyang did not bring a better influence to Zhu Ling and Zhang Lie, but instead stimulated Xiahou Dun...

……Σ(￣.￣?)?……

A night bird passed by high in the sky, and then headed south along Luoshui. It pushed aside the cover of clouds and saw the flickering firelight in the distance tearing away the tranquility of the mountain forest and disturbing its original interest in foraging. He couldn't help but let out a cry high in the sky, then shook his wings, changed direction, and disappeared into another cloud.

Cao's troops were arranged in a neat formation, with their heads raised like long winding snakes, fangs sticking out, and tongues sticking out, ready to attack at any time. The battle flags crackled in the night wind, and behind the battle flags Below, Xiahou Dun stood proudly.

No one expected that after Xiahou Dun received the news that Fei Qian had captured Luoyang, he did not immediately turn to defense. Instead, he intensified his pursuit of Zhang Lie and Zhu Ling!

Noisy sounds echoed around him from time to time. Xiahou Dun stared at the changes on the battlefield and issued orders from time to time, asking the soldiers to make adjustments to cope with the changes.

Although Zhu Ling and Zhang Lie were not large in number, Xiahou Dun did not dare to relax or look down upon him at all. He simply treated them as if they were five to six thousand people. Starting from Xu County and reaching the mountains here, they continued to attack He coordinated his troops and advanced layer by layer in order to completely block Zhang Lie and Zhu Ling and then eliminate them completely.

This was not a big war, but Xiahou Dun fought like one. I don’t know if I should say he was cautious or too cautious, but in short, Xiahou Dun’s operation mode brought great trouble to Zhang Lie and Zhu Ling. Trouble, all the way through contact, fighting, breaking away, and then being caught up again. In a whole day, I am afraid that it added up to four or five hours of fighting and escaping. From the initial point of contact to now, the distance At least more than thirty miles away, but still unable to completely escape Xiahou Dun's roundup.

The knife Zhu Ling held was trembling slightly.

As a witness who had experienced Taishi Ci's Battle of Yecheng, Zhu Ling thought that this time he could be like Taishi Ci back then, blooming with dazzling brilliance under the Xu County City, burning the most brilliant highlight moment of his life, but in At this moment, Zhu Ling realized deeply that the Battle of Yecheng, which seemed very simple and easy back then, was actually how dangerous and terrifying...

Everyone wants to achieve success and success. When he saw Taishi Ci's heroic appearance, Zhu Ling seemed to have seen the most perfect goal in his heart. So, Zhu Ling fell down in front of Taishi Ci, just like It is to worship the dream in his own heart.

This is not a matter of groveling, nor is it a matter of flattery and seeking survival. Zhu Ling feels that Taishi Ci is a living hero, the direction of his future progress. But now, Zhu Ling realizes that he seems to be still some distance away from such a heroic standard. Not a small distance.

For cavalry to take the initiative, it is actually similar to that between men and women. The one who is at a distance has the upper hand. Anyone who accidentally jumps in and sinks too deep will be in trouble. Today, no, yesterday, Zhu Ling was in too deep. The original goal was just to dabble, but accidentally...

Zhu Ling couldn't be entirely blamed. After all, he had been around Xu County for so many days and needed to replenish some supplies. Zhang Lie nodded in agreement and rested for an extra half day.

Unexpectedly, Xiahou Dun was entangled in him after half a day's extra time, and he couldn't get rid of him no matter what.

Zhu Ling and Zhang Lie tried several times, but were blocked by the surging Cao Jun. Once, they almost broke through Cao Jun's array and defeated Cao Jun's hasty attack on the river with arrows, spears and bodies. However, at the last moment, Cao Jun's backup arrived. Zhu Ling and Zhang Lie had no choice but to retreat.

The cavalry is like a wandering libertine. When wandering, he has endless charm and will attract all kinds of eyes from the big mushroom and the little widow. But if one day the libertine is entangled and falls to the ground, the charm will dissipate. He became almost like the slovenly Wang Guangguan in the village.

Xiahou Dun's strategy was very simple, which was to stalk Zhang Lie and Zhu Ling. No matter which troops discovered Zhang Lie and Zhu Ling, they would fight to the death. Then the rest of the troops would immediately adjust their direction and encircle them step by step, compressing Zhang Lie and Zhu Ling's space for movement. , finally blocking Zhang Lie and Zhu Ling in such a not very large area.

"what to do? Zhang Lie said, "Kill out?" If we don't fight out, we will be pushed into the forest! 』In the mountains and forests, the cavalry is not even as agile as the infantry. Once they really enter the mountains, there will definitely not be much good fruit to eat.

"You can't go into the mountains!" Zhu Ling said immediately, was silent for a moment, and then emphasized again, "You can't enter the mountain!" 』

But if we can’t enter the mountains, where can we go?

The approaching fire represents the further compression of Cao's army.

General Taishi, if you were here, what decision would you make? Zhu Ling gritted her teeth and thought silently. Suddenly, an idea struck her...