Looking at Dian Wei's fallen body, Zhang Xiu wiped the sweat from his face and took a long breath.
At this time, he had to be thankful that Jia Xu's judgment was correct.
Dian Wei is really brave and has the ability to change the entire battle situation on his own.
If he is allowed to wake up and stick to the gate of the stronghold until Cao Jun reacts, I'm afraid his situation will not be very good.
Fortunately, Jia Xu believed that Dian Wei was the daring of Cao's army, so he sent Hu Che'er into Cao's camp, made Dian Wei drunk with Xinye liquor, and stole his two halberds.
Otherwise, this battle will be difficult.
After Dian Wei's body collapsed suddenly, the surrounding Xiliang army officers dared to approach him. Someone cut off Dian Wei's head and passed it around to each other to boost the morale of the army.
After he finally killed Dian Wei at the expense of hundreds of lives, Zhang Xiu asked his neighbors, "Have you seen Cao Cao?"
Someone said: "He fled to the northwest."
"Chase!"
Zhang Xiu immediately issued an order: "Send me the order to go northwest and continue to hunt down Cao Cao. It's a matter of life and death!"
"only!"
The surrounding officers and soldiers responded with a roar and rode in hot pursuit.
Over there, Cao Cao galloped all the way to Cao Hong's camp. At this moment, Cao Hong was also attacked.
But his reaction was quite quick, he immediately repelled the enemy and led his army to attack.
He met Cao Cao on the way. Because he was worried about Cao Cao's injury, he had no way to save his own camp. He could only protect Cao Cao and escape back to his camp.
On Zhang Xiu's side, he met Yu Jin, who was to the north of Cao Cao's stronghold and led troops and horses to come to the rescue.
As a result, he met Zhang Xiu on the way. He fought and retreated, and evacuated all the way to his camp.
He actually brought out not many soldiers and horses, because he was worried that going out in full force would leave his camp empty, so he only brought a few hundred men and horses, mainly to investigate the situation.
Therefore, he was defeated by Zhang Xiu and was forced to flee back to his own camp. After returning to his own camp, Yu Jin immediately issued orders to build fortifications and prepare defenses.
However, Zhang Xiu did not continue to chase after repelling Yu Jin, but turned back and continued to search for Cao Cao's traces. According to Jia Xu's wishes, Cao Cao must be eliminated in this battle, otherwise there will be endless troubles.
So the battle continued, and the wilderness was full of Cao Cao's fleeing soldiers and horses. Cao Hong reacted quickly, sending people to gather the soldiers and evacuate the camp, protecting Cao Cao and evacuating to Xi'e County to the north.
Just when Zhang Xiu was looking for traces of Cao Cao among the rebels, several cavalry scouts came back from the southeast, found Zhang Xiu, and said, "General, a large group of troops has appeared in the southeast."
"What?"
Zhang Xiu said in surprise: "The people in the southeast? Can you be sure who they are?"
He remembered that Cao Cao sent Cao Ren to attack Xinye Huyang, and sent Le Jin to Anzhong Rang County. If Cao Ren came back, there would be trouble.
The scout replied: "It's too dark and we can't see very clearly. The enemy is approaching fiercely, so we don't dare to get close."
Zhang Xiu's face changed slightly, he pondered for a moment, and said, "Go and explore again."
"only."
The scouts set off again.
When Zhang Xiu learned that an army of unknown origin was coming towards him, he did not dare to neglect it and immediately gathered his soldiers and prepared to fight.
Unexpectedly, after about ten minutes, the scout came back and reported: "Report, general, the person coming is General Gan from Huyang. Deng Gongcao from Jingzhou's Liu Shijun is also here, saying he wants to meet the general."
"Gan Ning and Deng Hong?"
Zhang Xiu was shocked and said: "Huyang is two hundred miles away from Wancheng, how could they come here?"
The scout shook his head and said, "I don't know very well, but judging from the direction they came, it seems they came from the direction of Xinye."
"Newfield?"
Zhang Xiu pondered for a while and suddenly asked: "What time is it now?"
"It's probably already midnight."
The scout replied.
The fifth watch day is Pingdan, between three o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the morning.
In ancient times, people went to bed relatively early. Cao Ying went to bed at seven or eight o'clock in the evening, and by about nine o'clock, he was almost asleep.
The time when Zhang Xiu launched his attack was around eleven to twelve o'clock, which is often called midnight.
In other words, Gan Ning rushed from Xinye to Wancheng in two hours?
Zhang Xiu was a little surprised and doubtful for a moment, so he said to the scout: "Take me to have a look quickly."
The scout took Zhang Xiu to the south.
To the south is Wancheng. They galloped for more than ten miles, and from a distance they saw a long dragon with torches running quickly towards the countryside south of Wancheng.
Soon they arrived outside the south gate of Wancheng. At this time, the sky was already slightly bright. Zhang Xiu saw the figures of Deng Hong and Gan Ning through the light.
As Liu Biao's envoy, Deng Hong persuaded him to surrender. Later, when he helped Liu Biao deal with the Nanyang Yellow Turbans, he met Gan Ning and naturally knew them both.
Seeing them coming, Zhang Xiu's nervous mood relaxed a little, and he immediately stepped forward and said: "General Gan, Deng Gongcao."
"General Zhang."
The two came over on horseback without dismounting. They greeted each other on horseback and said, "How is the situation?"
"Forehead"
Zhang Xiu didn't know how to answer for a while.
Because when he saw the two of them, he was actually very embarrassed and didn't know what to say.
Some people in later generations wondered that Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu were allies. Since Zhang Xiu wanted to rebel against Cao Cao, why didn't he ask Liu Biao to send troops to help?
And why did Liu Biao miss the opportunity and not take advantage of this opportunity to send troops to eliminate Cao Cao?
the reason is simple.
Zhang Xiu actually really wanted to join Cao Cao, so he and Liu Biao had fallen out and there was no contact between the two parties.
However, what Cao Cao did later was too unethical. He not only took over the family's aunt, but also plotted to kill Zhang Xiu, which forced Zhang Xiu to rebel again.
In this case, he naturally couldn't go to Liu Biao.
Secondly, although the battlefield took place in Wancheng, Wancheng was actually very far away from Xiangyang.
The entire Nanyang Basin is only a little smaller than the Guanzhong Basin, with a length of 200 kilometers from north to south. Wancheng is closer to the north in Nanyang, 130 kilometers from Xiangyang to Wancheng, and more than 80 kilometers from Huyang to Wancheng.
Although Nanyang is flat and the road traffic is very developed, you must know that they have just started taking action here. Liu Biao learned the news and may not send troops here until the day after tomorrow.
Therefore, when Zhang Xiu thought about it, it was impossible for Liu Biao to send someone to help him. From beginning to end, he could only complete this matter by his own strength.
So when he saw Gan Ning and Deng Hong suddenly appearing, Zhang Xiu was actually very surprised. He never expected that Liu Biao's army would appear here. Could it be that Liu Biao had calculated that he would attack Cao Cao today and sent people here in advance?
Seeing the embarrassment on his face, Deng Hong immediately understood what he meant and said: "General Zhang falsely surrendered to Cao Cao, and Liu Shijun also knew about it. So after hearing about Mrs. Zou, he immediately sent us to help."
"Ah, yes, yes, yes."
Zhang Xiu didn't think deeply. He immediately patted his forehead and borrowed the donkey down the slope and said: "The Cao thieves came too fast. Before I had time to inform Liu Shijun, he had already surrounded Wancheng. I had no choice but to feign surrender because I planned to take the opportunity to make a sneak attack."
Fortunately for him, he succeeded tonight."
Deng Hong asked: "How is the war situation now?"
"Cao's army was defeated."
Zhang Xiu said with some emotion: "The defeated soldiers were running everywhere. I didn't have enough manpower to pursue them. Unfortunately, I couldn't find Cao Cao."
Deng Hong glanced at Gan Ning, who nodded slightly and said: "It doesn't matter, the most important thing now is to immediately annihilate the remnants of Cao Cao's army and weaken Cao Cao's strength. We will unite with the general and attack together."
Zhang Xiu said happily: "That's great, thank you both."
At that moment, the troops of Gan Ning and Zhang Xiu merged into one and continued to pursue Cao Jun. They fought until dawn, annihilating and scattering a large number of Cao Jun's main forces.
However, near noon, both the Xiliang and Jingzhou soldiers were tired and exhausted, so they finally withdrew to Wancheng.
Because Yu Jin temporarily built a large number of fortifications in the camp, Zhang Xiu and Gan Ning did not dare to attack, allowing him to escape. Together with Cao Hong, they protected Cao Cao, gathered many defeated soldiers, and retreated to Wuyin County.
Afterwards, the soldiers and horses were counted. Except for Cao Hong and Yu Jinbu who were safe and sound, Cao Cao's more than 10,000 people in the main camp were not alive. Only less than 2,000 people escaped. The rest were either killed or scattered.
This battle can be said to have resulted in extremely heavy losses.
So far, Cao Cao has not received news about Dian Wei, Cao Ang, and Cao Anmin, so he is also very anxious. Even though he is very sleepy, he has been unable to sleep. He keeps urging Cao Hong and Yu Jin to send scouts to investigate the situation and want to know their lives and deaths.
However, Zhang Xiu and Gan Ning's troops were cleaning the battlefield, and many people came to watch Dian Wei's body. There were also a large number of Xiliang troops and Jingzhou soldiers wandering around, searching for property on the corpses on the battlefield, so Cao Jun's scouts did not dare to get close.
.
When daylight passed the next day, Zhang Xiu and Gan Ning arranged for the soldiers to clean the battlefield and sleep in shifts. They braced themselves and returned to the Wancheng prefect's mansion, preparing to eat something to fill their hungry bellies.
Returning to the familiar prefect's mansion again, Zhang Xiu was still very emotional.
He was sitting in the main seat in the hall, with Jia Xu and Hu Che'er sitting on his right, and Deng Hong and Gan Ning sitting on his left.
Everyone was very tired after working all night, but at this moment they still cheered up, poured one or two glasses of low-alcohol millet wine, and toasted each other.
After everyone finished drinking, Zhang Xiu said: "Thank you very much Deng Gongcao and General Gan for coming to help, but there is something unclear about Xiu."
Deng Hong smiled and said: "General Zhang wants to ask how we learned about this and came to help overnight, right?"
"Yes, I plotted to attack Cao Ying, but I never revealed the secret. How did Cao Cao know about it?"
Zhang Xiu was very curious.
Deng Hong smiled and said nothing, but said after a moment: "Cao Cao sent Cao Ren to attack me in Huyang, but we killed him and annihilated him. Later I heard that Cao Cao entered the city that day and gave General Hu gold as a gift, and then what happened to Mrs. Zou,
I knew that the general would definitely turn against Cao Cao, so I came here to help him."
"Forehead"
Zhang Xiu immediately looked at Jia Xu with a guilty conscience, and said with a forced smile on his face: "I see, that's it, I really want to thank you both for this."
"It's just a little effort."
Deng Hong waved his hand and said: "It's just that the general killed Cao Cao's eldest son, nephew and confidant general Dian Wei in this battle, and formed a deep hatred with Cao Cao. If he doesn't die, he will definitely raise troops to invade the country in the future. What are the general's plans?"
Zhang Xiu said bitterly: "I am also very worried. I wonder if sir, can you teach me something?"
Deng Hong pondered: "Now that the general has defeated Cao Cao, he should immediately write a letter to Ambassador Liu to explain the cause of the matter. He said that Cao's army was moving too fast and had no time to ask for reinforcements, so he had to pretend to surrender before he was ready to start an uprising.
At that time, I wrote a letter inviting General Gan to defeat the enemy together, what do you think?"
Zhang Xiu didn't think much and nodded repeatedly: "That's exactly what it should be."
Deng Hong added: "After Liu Shijun gains trust, he will no longer doubt the general. At that time, the general can ask Liu Shijun to send heavy troops to station in Huyang, Biyang and other places to advance and retreat with the general. Only in this way can we resist.
Cao Cao’s attack.”
"I see."
Zhang Xiu said: "I will write a letter tomorrow and send someone to Xiangyang."
Deng Hong smiled and said: "That's the best."
The two chatted for a while, and the chef finally brought the dishes. They had not eaten since yesterday and were hungry. After filling their stomachs, they dispersed.
Gan Ning and Deng Hong went back to reorganize their troops and camped on the spot. The camp was located at the camp that Cao Cao had not burned down yesterday.
Zhang Xiu then stepped up his efforts to send letters to surrounding counties to inform them of the news that he had recaptured Nanyang.
In the evening, Zhang Xiu had not slept since yesterday and was already very tired. He was about to go back to the military camp to have a good rest. Unexpectedly, Jia Xu suddenly came to him.
The two met in Zhang Xiu's tent. Jia Xu came in and said, "General."
Zhang Xiu was very tired, but when he saw Jia Xu coming over, he still cheered up and said, "It turns out it's your uncle, what's the matter?"
Jia Xu pondered: "Now that Cao Cao is not dead, there will be endless troubles. He has taken advantage of the emperor to order the princes, and will soon reorganize his troops and attack Nanyang again. Does the general really intend to die with Cao Cao?"
Zhang Xiu was still angry and said in a cold voice: "Humph, this thief Cao is just a villain who doesn't keep his word. He made nice words when he recruited me, but what happened? Not only did he humiliate my aunt, but he also plotted to get rid of me.
Does your uncle still have any luck with him?"
Jia Xu knew that it was definitely unrealistic to talk to Zhang Xiu about surrendering to Cao Cao at least for now, so he immediately said: "Of course not. What I mean is that surrendering to Cao Cao is definitely not an option. We may have to find another way."
Can."
"Find another way?"
Zhang Xiu asked in surprise: "Isn't Nanyang good?"
"Cao Cao will come again." Jia Xu said: "The victory over Cao Cao's army this time was calculated but not intentional. If Cao Cao's army comes again one day, it will be impossible to win such a victory again."
Zhang Xiu thought: "We can unite with Liu Biao to fight against Cao's army."
"Liu Biao?"
Jia Xu sneered: "General, don't you think Liu Biao is even more defensive about us?"
"What do you mean, uncle?"
Zhang Xiu didn't understand.
Jia Xu's eyes were serious and he said softly: "What I mean is that Liu Biao has already sent people to secretly monitor our every move. Once we no longer need him, I'm afraid he will send troops to destroy us."
Zhang Xiu looked at Jia Xu with a stunned expression, a little at a loss.