Chapter 496 The Battle Begins

Yuan Xi, Guo Jia and Ju Su had previously studied Cao Cao's tactics, and everyone's evaluation of them was just one word: fast.

Cao Cao's army was good at besieging and attacking the reinforcements. They would first surround the enemy city or troops, and then launch a surprise attack to intercept the troops coming to rescue.

After being used several times, this tactic had become well known to all parties. However, even so, Lu Bu's army still fell into the trap time and time again and suffered heavy defeats.

Later, when Yuan Xi and his advisers reviewed these battles, it took them a long time to understand the secret.

To put it simply, this tactic is to attack the enemy and rescue them, forcing the opponent to adopt a rescue strategy, and then ambush the enemy.

To achieve these two points, one must first predict the local marching routes, and second, appear in places where the enemy does not expect.

Regarding the first point, the marching route of Lu Bu's army, which was mainly composed of cavalry, was actually very predictable. Since horses could not run on rugged mountain roads, they often chose flat roads. Areas outside the roads were often either swamps or forests, making it impossible to march quickly.

Moreover, war horses need sufficient water sources, so their marching route should not only be close to the main road, but also have rivers. Based on this, it is easy to infer the marching route.

Then comes the second and most crucial point, how to attack the opponent unexpectedly.

The strategy of Cao Cao's army was to march quickly.

They arrived ahead of time and ambushed on the road that the enemy must take. Although the soldiers would be very tired, the enemy was almost defenseless during the march and would perform even worse when attacked by surprise, which is why Cao's army was able to succeed repeatedly.

After studying Cao's army's tactics, Yuan Xi could not help but marvel at the good coordination and strengths of Cao Cao's army, from counselors to generals. It was also thanks to Cao Cao's coordination and selection that the Cao army's generals were able to continue to grow in battle after battle.

To deal with such an enemy, Yuan Xi could only play all the cards in his hand without reservation and fight the opponent with all his strength, otherwise he would only seek his own death.

He said, "If I don't go out, how can I tempt the main force of Cao's army to attack?"

"Besides, if I lead my troops there now, Cao's army has not yet fully assembled. Our army is not at a disadvantage in terms of manpower at this moment. If I wait until all his men are gathered, won't it be even more difficult for me to win?"

Lu Xun had to admit that Yuan Xi was right, so he said, "Please be careful, sir."

Soon, the spies in Cao's camp learned the news. The Youzhou army was divided into three groups and rushed directly to the location besieged by Cao's army. The total number of troops was nearly 10,000!

At this time, the vanguard of Cao's army was besieging Liu Bei's family. Its leader Xiahou Yuan had already begun to gather troops, but Cao Ren of the central army and Cao Cao of the rear army had not arrived yet, and it seemed that it would take several hours.

Xiahou Yuan did not expect the Youzhou army to be so decisive. He knew that this was a critical moment. His troops were at a slight disadvantage at the moment, but if he retreated without fighting, all his plans would fail!

Thinking of this, he called over Cao Chun, Le Jin and others who had already arrived and said, "You two each lead an army and cut off their retreat!"

"I'll block it here!"

Cao Chunle Jin knew the seriousness of the situation and immediately shouted, "I obey your orders!"

Xiahou Yuan led the two men away, knowing that the few thousand men he had left could not stop the Youzhou army. He rolled his eyes and shouted, "Go and capture the people of Xuzhou and make them block the way!"

Half an hour later, Yuan Xi held a telescope and watched as Cao's army drove the people to the front, while there were stragglers behind them who continued to kill and loot.

Yuan Xi's face was gloomy. The other party was really disgusting. He knew that Yuan Xi, as the governor of Xuzhou, would be afraid to act rashly, so he took the people of Xuzhou as hostages!

This is the disadvantage of fighting on your own turf. However, on the battlefield, if you are soft-hearted at this moment and wait for the enemy to surround you, your entire army will be in danger of being wiped out!

Thinking of this, he said aloud: "The cavalry will attack the enemy's flank, and the infantry will advance!"

When Xiahou Yuan saw that the Youzhou army beat the drums of attack without hesitation, he sneered in his heart. All the talk of treating others with kindness and righteousness was fake in the face of life and death in a war.

The cruel truth will expose the true colors of these hypocritical people and let everyone in the world understand that we are all the same!

Soon, the Youzhou cavalry began to rain arrows at them. The infantry at the front advanced with shields raised, and someone in the middle shouted, "Whoever holds the people hostage will be killed without mercy!"

"Let go of the people and surrender immediately, and there is still a chance to survive!"

A soldier from Qingzhou in Cao's camp was so angry that he chopped down the civilians in front of him with his sword and laughed, "If I kill him, what will happen?"

The next moment, with a whoosh, a feather arrow pierced through his chest, killing him on the spot.

At this moment, everyone else was silent and quickly hid behind the people.

Lu Lingqi retracted the bow and arrow and looked at Yuan Xi proudly, but Yuan Xi shouted to the front: "Fellow citizens of Xuzhou, I am Yuan Xi, the governor of Xuzhou!"

"The enemy army used you as a shield to block their arrows. In order to rescue you, there will inevitably be casualties!"

"I swear here that I will never let any of the people who hold you hostage escape, and I will properly accommodate those who survive!"

"If there is any sin, it is all mine!"

When the people of Xuzhou heard this, they all became agitated. Some shouted, "The governor has come to rescue us. If we take the blame for these thieves, we will only harm the governor. We might as well fight them!"

When everyone heard this, they all shouted. The Cao army soldiers chopped the shouting person on the neck and killed him on the ground, trying to stop the situation from getting out of control, but it was too late. Many people turned around and fought with the Cao army soldiers.

Yuan Xi saw the opportunity and shouted, "All troops, move forward and wipe out the enemy army!"

The Youzhou army rushed forward with roars, and once the battle started, the Cao army, which was unable to take care of the front and rear, fell into a disadvantage.

Xiahou Yuan, who was supervising the battle from behind, was extremely surprised. He finally caught a big fish!

Compared with this, the death of a few people is nothing!

He quickly sent spies to inform the other two armies of Yuan Xi's whereabouts, and at the same time raised his sword and shouted, "Kill this man and make him a marquis of a thousand households!"

"Follow me!"

When the soldiers in Cao's camp heard this, their eyes lit up and they shouted and rushed forward following Xiahou Yuan.

In the Han River, warships were speeding northward. Taishi Ci stood at the bow with a long bow on his back, looking extremely anxious.

After Yuan Shu's army captured Xia Pi, they took the opportunity to spy on Guangling. Taishi Ci and Chen Deng organized their troops for defense, but received an order from Yuan Xi to mobilize troops. Taishi Ci immediately led his troops north, but it would take at least two days to reach the vicinity of Haixi.

I hope nothing goes wrong in these two days!

The Youzhou army and Cao Cao's army had been fighting from noon to night, with many casualties on both sides. Although the Youzhou army had a considerable advantage, the Qingzhou soldiers, under the command of Xiahou Yuan, were not afraid of death and had not collapsed.

Yuan Xi saw several times that the Qingzhou soldiers were waving their crude weapons, shouting wildly for Huang Tian, ​​and rushing forward without regard for their lives. After Lu Lingqi and Sun Li chopped them to the ground, those people still struggled to get up.

Looking at the crazy looks of these people, Yuan Xi thought that these people were such a waste. If they were under his command, they could just hang bamboo tubes on their bodies and charge into the enemy camp.

Huang Tian and the like, it seems these people really think that Cao Cao inherited the Taiping Dao.

Thinking of this, he became even more disgusted and shouted, "Kill them all!"

To him, these Qingzhou soldiers before him had become fanatical tools being used and had no meaning of existence.

In that case, it might as well kill them all.

However, the other side obviously wanted to drag him here. Calculating the time, Yuan Xi would have to withdraw his troops at night, otherwise he would not be able to escape when Cao Cao's main force arrived!

He felt a little regretful. He did find a few of Liu Bei's officials, but there was still no news of the others, and many people had also fled. Why not just leave now?

At this time, a spy came to report that a woman from a noble family was suspected to have been spotted several miles to the south.

After hearing this, Yuan Xi said to everyone, "Kill them!"

The crowd killed their way forward, and finally arrived at a few collapsed earthen houses when it was almost dark.

Yuan Xi saw a faint figure next to a dry well. He jumped off his horse and walked over with a knife in hand.

The figures over there immediately shrank back and tried to pick up bricks on the ground to protect themselves. Among them, a female figure wanted to jump into the well.

Yuan Xi walked up a few steps, grabbed the woman who was about to jump into the well, and said, "I am not a Cao soldier."

The woman had disheveled hair and was extremely frightened when she was pulled by Yuan Xi. When she heard Yuan Xi's voice, she was immediately surprised and asked, "My lord?"

Yuan Xi took the torch and shone it on the woman's face, and asked in surprise, "Why is it you?"

It turned out to be Mi Zhen!

He thought he might meet Liu Bei's family, but he didn't expect it to be Mi Zhen. Shouldn't the other party be in the north of Tancheng?

Mi Zhen was almost exhausted when she saw that it was Yuan Xi. She calmed herself down and said hurriedly, "Sir, don't worry about me. Madam is seriously injured!"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Xi looked down and saw a woman hugging a young girl whose face looked quite familiar. Then he realized that these were Liu Bei's wife and daughter whom he had met before.

But Liu Bei's wife looked very bad at this time. She had several knife wounds on her body, her face was pale, and she was already dying.

He said to Mi Zhen: "What's going on? Where are the others?"

Mi Zhen gradually explained a few words, and Yuan Xi finally understood that Mi Zhen had escaped with Mi Fang, but he had actually met up with Liu Bei's wife, daughter, and Madam Gan. They all fled eastward, but were finally caught up by Cao's army.

Although Mi Fang had many servants around him, they were no match for his enemy and were about to suffer heavy casualties. Mi Fang was the only one on the field, and Liu Bei's wife was seriously injured and did not want to leave.

But the final result was that Mi Fang escaped with Mrs. Gan!

Mi Zhen stayed voluntarily and insisted on staying with Liu Bei's wife. Seeing Mi Zhen's firm attitude, Mi Fang had to leave first.

Yuan Xi knew that there must be some hidden story, but at a time like this, women were indeed a burden, and it couldn't be said that it was too harsh on Mi Fang to protect herself.

But regardless of the fact that Liu Bei's wife was seriously injured and dying, it was indeed difficult to take her away. So why did Mi Fang take Madam Gan away?

Logically, if only one person was taken away, Liu Bei's daughter would have ranked before Madam Gan, right?

According to Mi Zhen, Madam Gan and Madam Liu Bei whispered something to each other, and then Madam Liu Bei asked Mi Fang to take Madam Gan away!

Yuan Xi shook his head, thinking that he couldn't care about such things at the moment. The most urgent thing was to rush back and reunite with the main force.

He said to the soldiers on both sides: "Take them away."

At this moment, trumpets sounded from all four directions at the same time, and someone shouted, "They've fallen into a trap!"

"Come together and kill them all!"

Suddenly, shadowy figures appeared in all directions, and countless Qingzhou soldiers rushed over!

Yuan Xi's face darkened. The Qingzhou soldiers arrived much faster than expected!

It shouldn't have been this fast!

He shouted, "Form a formation and stop them!"

Soon, thousands of Qingzhou soldiers surrounded the place. Lu Lingqi brandished double halberds and Sun Li brandished a long sword, killing the attacking soldiers one by one. However, several generals rushed out from the darkness on the opposite side and forced their way towards the two of them.

As soon as the two sides fought, Yuan Xi realized that something was wrong. The attacking enemy was definitely not a mediocre fighter, but a general from Cao's camp!

He guessed correctly, it was Xiahou Yuan, Li Dian and others who came!