Without the suppression of Cao's army, Zhang Xiu made an edict to the two prefectures of Yan and Henan.

And not only that.

Under the cover of night, Xiahou Dun and Cao Hong led the remaining 40,000 to 50,000 troops to Liuxian in the southwest, and temporarily used Liuxian as a base to defend.

The entire Cao army retreated in an orderly manner, not defeat. Faced with possible pursuit by the Liang army, they had to cover each other and head south.

Otherwise, the army would go south all the way, and it would be a great defeat.

Xiahou Dun and Cao Hong were also in retreat when they summoned the generals and officers and conveyed the orders for Cao's army to go south.

At that time, the generals were very happy and expressed their willingness to follow Cao Gong to the south to Jing and Yang prefectures, continue to resist the Liang army, and revive the Han Dynasty.

Cao Jun walked in an orderly manner for a short while, and after one day, he arrived at a designated location.

On the open space outside Wuyuan County.

Under the banner of "Xiahou", Xiahou Dun stood on his horse with a haggard face. He looked up at the generals leading the troops around him, including him and Cao Hong, as many as eight.

He took out a white cloth from the cloth bag behind the horse, with a sketch of the camp on it. He said to everyone: "My generals. This is the picture of the camp I drew. You can set up camp according to this picture."

"Also. General Cao." Xiahou Dun turned his head and looked at Cao Hong with a very serious face: "At this time, the Liang army had already entered Shanyang City, and maybe he had sent people to pursue him. Be careful to send a probe to find out the movements of the Liang army. So as not to be caught off guard and be attacked by the Liang army."

"No." Cao Hong held the horse whip and bowed to Xiahou Dun. In this marching and fighting, whether it was sending troops or retreating, he had to arrange a horse to explore. He was very clear about this principle.

"promise."

The other generals bowed their promise. Xiahou Dun nodded, and then set up camp with the generals.

When they retreated, they were very orderly and brought a lot of supplies and food. After the construction of the camp, they took advantage of the fact that there was still some light in the sky. The Huotou Army began to build a pot and make rice. After the soldiers had enough food and drink, each army set up its own defense.

In Xiahou Dun's big tent.

He had a meal with Cao Hong, wiped the corners of his mouth with a cloth towel, and cleaned up his beard. This big beard is powerful, but it is very inconvenient to eat and will be stained.

"Zi Lian. No matter what, we are all out. Let him go over the past. After we arrive in the south, we will probably live in the south with our family, the entire Cao family, and the Xiahou family, for a long time, and we will not even be able to return to the Central Plains in our lives. You are familiar with the matter of buying industries, and you will have to help me when the time comes." After Xiahou Dun cleaned up his beard, he looked up and said to Cao Hong.

Cao Hong was also cleaning his beard. He slapped his chest and said confidently: "You can give this yuan to me. The land I bought is cheap and good."

Xiahou Dun was not an ordinary general, but a military general with very noble morality.

He was devoted to public service and did not seek personal gain for himself. Although his salary was very high, most of them were distributed to his soldiers.

Therefore, he was very motivated by the army and was able to control the army. This also led to his family being poor and had no industry.

Cao Hong is different. Although he is loyal to Cao Cao, he has left the reputation of "Lei Ma" in history.

However, Cao Hong was good at entrepreneurship, and his family even had more wealth than Cao Cao's family.

Before leaving Shanyang County, the two sat down and analyzed the situation together. Jingzhou and Yangzhou have a terrain advantage, unlike the Central Plains, which is not as dangerous as the Central Plains.

The Liang Dynasty seemed to be unable to do anything at once. They could only stand firm in the south, and even reproduce for decades or hundreds of years.

Although Xiahou Dun did not seek personal gain, he also wanted to buy land and houses, giving himself and his family the most basic survival guarantee.

After the entire Cao family and Xiahou family went south to Jingzhou and Yangzhou, they would probably buy land and houses in large quantities to increase local housing prices.

After the two talked about their future life in Jingzhou and Yangzhou, the topic returned to the present.

"Zi Lian. I don't know who can trust the generals except you and me. When they left the city, they followed us, which might be due to the situation. Tonight, someone might cause trouble or take the opportunity to leave us. We must be careful to guard their respective camps and not take it lightly."

Xiahou Dun showed a solemn look on his face and said to Cao Hong in a low voice.

"Yeah. I understand." Cao Hong nodded and said.

Although they brought 40,000 to 50,000 troops from Shanyang City, it would be great if they could actually reach Jingzhou and Yangzhou's troops.

Soon Cao Hong said goodbye and left, Xiahou Dun was not idle. He ordered the soldiers to come in, put on armor and helmets for himself. Then he led dozens of strong personal soldiers to inspect the headquarters camp, appease every officer he saw, doing things meticulously and meticulously.

After this, Xiahou Dun felt relieved and returned to the central army tent. Although he was not very tired and wanted to take a shower, the conditions were now simple, so he could only wash his face, soak his feet, and hurriedly went to bed.

In the middle of the night, Xiahou Dun woke up.

Listening to the roar and killing sound from the east, Xiahou Dun lifted the gray bedding with a serious face and sat up. Without waiting for his call, a personal soldier hurried in from outside.

"Does the general have any instructions?" the personal soldiers bowed and said.

"Send someone to inquire, who is causing trouble."

Xiahou Dun's tone was very solemn. As expected, someone was in trouble at night.

After Cao Cao lost Qingzhou and Xuzhou, the Cao army was actually unstable. It was already the limit to maintain a certain degree of unity under the offensive of the Liang army.

Now Cao Cao abandoned the Central Plains and saw that the world was about to return to Liang. It is normal for some people to be in a state of mind.

"No." The personal soldiers had expected it, and then calmly responded to the promise, turned around and went down. Xiahou Dun put on his shoes and walked out of the inner tent and arrived at the outer tent. Four personal soldiers rushed up with his armor and put on armor for him.

After the cloak was neatly arranged, Xiahou Dun sat on the small stool, listening carefully to the movement, the sound of killing became weaker and weaker, as if things had come to an end.

Not long after, the personal soldiers who were ordered to leave returned and reported: "Report to the general. It was the general of Wusheng who led the troops to rebellion and attacked General Liu. General Wusheng who could not conquer General Liu, so he led his troops away."

Xiahou Dun sighed when he heard this. Wu Sheng was Cao Cao's old general who raised an army in Yanzhou and was one of his confidants. In this environment, he not only chose to betray Cao Cao, but wanted to attack him and obtain military achievements for Liang Zhuan Xiu.

It turns out that people's minds change.

"Send someone to appease the generals of the army. Let me tell them. The situation is like this now. I will not hate them when they leave me, but if they raise up and cause trouble like Wusheng, then I, Xiahou Dun, will look down on them. One day, when we return to the Central Plains and restore the Han Dynasty, we will inevitably wipe out them."

Xiahou Dun held the hilt of the sword around his waist, with a stern tone and a fierce murderous aura.

"No." The personal soldier looked stern and Ying Nuo left.

Xiahou Dun had no choice but to sit for a while, and then asked his personal soldiers to come up and untied his armor for him and continued to sleep.

But this time I was sleeping uneasy.

As Wu Sheng led his troops to leave, the camp experienced another turmoil, and another general raised an army to rebellion.

However, Cao's army was still elite and prepared. The general's rebellion still failed and just led his troops away.

Not only that. When Xiahou Dun gathered his troops the next morning, he learned that two other generals had quietly led his troops away.

Ironically, among them are Liu Yuan who was attacked by Wu Province.

As a result, only four of the eight generals under Xiahou Dun and Cao Hong's troops were left, and of course the troops also reduced, leaving only more than 20,000.

It was already dawn, and Cao's army had packed up their baggage and prepared to set off. However, the soldiers were all confused, haggard, and anxious all day long, and their morale could be said to be extremely depressed.

Under the "Cao" flag, Xiahou Dun sighed and turned to the remaining General Lin Sheng. General Xu Yun bowed and said, "The two generals are loyal. When they arrive in Jingzhou, Meng De will definitely not treat the two generals unfairly."

"General Xiahou is so serious. I, Lin Sheng, was just a ranger. If it weren't for the promotion of the lord, how could I be the general and lead seven or eight thousand soldiers? No matter what the situation is, I will follow the lord to the end." Lin Shenghu had a wide forehead, a loud voice, and a loyal face, bowed to Xiahou Dun.

Xu Yun nodded and agreed.

Xiahou Dun was very pleased, smiled and nodded, raised the golden whip in his hand and said to the south: "Okay. Let's go south together."

"Although Jingzhou and Yangzhou only have two states, they have vast territory and many mountains and rivers. We will definitely make a comeback."

At the end, Xiahou Dun's tone became excited.

"promise."

Everyone responded with a loud promise, developed expectations for the future, and then led their troops south together. Xiahou Dun led his troops to cut off the rear personally.

The situation of Xiahou Dun and Cao Hong's troops is just a microcosm of the entire Cao army.

Although the war damage in Qingzhou and Xuzhou and the damage caused by the Liang army's attack on the city for several days, Cao Cao's troops still had hundreds of thousands of troops.

Among them are elite soldiers and newly recruited civilians.

As Cao Cao abandoned the Central Plains and headed south to Yangzhou and Jingzhou. Not to mention the established generals defected, even ordinary soldiers secretly left the military camp in groups.

Such an army can only be said to be intact and maintain its intact system, and does not have much combat effectiveness.

In the north, on an open space.

Cao Cao led most of his troops to camp here. His troops were very messy. There were elite soldiers, ordinary soldiers, generals, and the families of officials in Dongjun, which were really messy. Fortunately, there were very few defectors.

"I will set up camp here tonight. I will order the generals of each army to be careful." Cao Cao let out a long breath under the banner of the "Cao" character. Although it was spring, sweat broke out on his forehead. After reaching out to wipe it, he turned over and got off the horse.

"No." An official immediately agreed and went down.

"Report to the lord. General Sun is only ten miles away." An official hurried over and reported with a happy expression.

"It's great. Spread this good news and stabilize the morale of the army." Cao Cao felt relieved and said happily. He was not so hot, and his sweating volume dropped greatly.

Cao Cao had to admit that his army was already a frightened bird and could not withstand any turmoil. Only after reaching Jingzhou safely, repairing and appeasement could he once again form combat effectiveness. The Liang army was eyeing him, especially Hu Cheer's 30,000 elite cavalry.

He could not return safely unless Sun Wentai's elite soldiers.

"No." The official responded with a loud bang and turned around and left.

Cao Cao was still very excited and ordered people to make rice first, cook delicious food, buy fine wine, and wait for Sun Jian.

Shortly after nightfall, a large-scale voice sounded from the south of Cao's camp. It was Sun Jian who led 50,000 elite troops to arrive, and the envoys from both sides continued to communicate.

Sun Jian's camp was about one mile south of Cao's camp, and the two sides were clearly distinguished. This was beneficial.

If something goes wrong with Cao's army, Sun Jian can attack quickly.

If the two sides join forces and Cao's army has problems, it will implicate Sun Jian, which may lead to both collapse.

After settling down the camp, Sun Jian led only dozens of personal soldiers into the Cao army camp. After Cao Cao received the news, he personally welcomed Sun Jian at the gate of the Central Army camp.

The sky was pitch black, as if it was a black cloth, blocking the sky. The flames burning by the torches around were very weak and insufficient in brightness.
To be continued...