The place where Zhang Xiu's troops gathered was actually some distance away from the bridge and the river bank.

There was a clear view around the end of the bridge, and there was no ambush. It seemed that Zhang Xiu had no intention of attacking halfway across the bridge.

Perhaps he wanted to attack while Cao Cao's main force was crossing the river, but Cao Cao was not stupid, and he would definitely not cross the river at once, but in sections.

First send a small group of troops across the river to seize the river bank. Once Zhang Xiu attacks, he will immediately retreat. If he does not attack, he will move his troops slowly like ants moving.

Boiling frogs in warm water like this, by the time Zhang Xiu realized something was wrong, most of Cao's troops had already crossed the river, and it was too late to attack again.

It has to be said that there were still a lot of games in the ancient army. To a certain extent, this was also very similar to the Battle of Feishui.

It's just that the troops in the Battle of Feishui were 80,000 against 800,000, but now it's only 6,000 against 15,000. In terms of the scale and impact of the war, the difference is more than one level.

Cao Cao first sent two thousand men across the river, but Zhang Xiu did not attack. The two thousand men formed a formation on the river bank and slowly approached Zhang Xiu's army.

The two sides lined up in a line, about half a mile apart, and faced off with spearmen on the outside and sword and shield men on the flanks.

After the front of the vanguard had stabilized its position, Cao Hong led about 3,000 people in the front and continued to slowly cross the river.

At this moment, Zhang Xiujun really couldn't sit still. The crowd was crowded and he began to move forward slowly.

However, the two thousand men and horses at the front actually had five hundred archers hidden behind them. After seeing Zhang Xiujun begin to advance forward, they immediately began to bend their bows and set arrows.

As one of the two major warlords in the north, Cao Cao was not comparable to Yuan Shao, but he still had strong strength in Henan. Therefore, his army had a large reserve of bows and crossbows, and arrows rained down immediately.

A round of arrows came down, and Zhang Xiu had no choice but to retreat. Then Cao Hong successfully crossed the river. At this time, there were already 5,000 Cao's troops on the west bank of the Tuanshui River, and the number was still increasing.

At this moment, a large number of soldiers appeared on the hills, also with bows and arrows, and arrows rained down continuously. Zhang Xiu's ambush troops came out, numbering about two thousand.

"snort."

Seeing this situation, Cao Cao sneered and said to his left and right: "Zhang Xiu is nothing more than this kid. I have anticipated his intentions. Send me the order and the army will continue to cross the river."

"only!"

On the left and right, Han Hao, Li Zheng, Cao Chun and other middle and lower-level generals followed his orders and ordered the soldiers to start advancing.

Here, Cao Cao's rear army also began to cross the river, while the front army pressed forward. Archers from both sides fired at each other, but there were sword and shield men on both sides, and there were many shields, so the casualties were not very large.

However, Cao's army pressed forward on a large scale, causing Zhang Xiu's army to begin to retreat. The gap on the left bank of the Tuanshui River became wider and wider. In the end, a large number of Cao's troops gathered on the west bank of the Tuanshui River. Twelve thousand people had already spent most of it.

At present, Cao Cao's military strength is actually somewhat stretched. Thirty thousand people came to Nanyang. Cao Ren took away four or five thousand, and Le Jin also took away four or five thousand. In the battle of Wancheng, another four or five thousand people were lost.

Therefore, Cao Cao's total military strength at this time was only 15,000, and he had just sent 3,000 men from the forbidden area to the north to attack Zhang Xiu via a long route, so he only had 12,000 at his side.

At this moment, about seven or eight thousand people had crossed the river, and even Cao Cao had arrived on the other side of the river. They occupied the entire river beach and began to advance steadily.

At this time, Cao Cao did not want to attack directly, because there were two thousand Xiliang troops ambushed on the hilly mountain on the left side of the road ahead. If he charged directly, they would rain arrows on the hillside, and the casualties would be heavy.

Therefore, Cao Cao planned to delay time first.

After Yu Jin made a detour and cut off Zhang Xiu's retreat, he then directly attacked Zhang Xiu's own army, so that he could be defeated by a flanking attack from both sides.

"The time has come to avenge Dian Wei Zixiu and the others."

Cao Cao looked forward with a serious look. He heard that Zhang Xiu had captured Dian Wei's leader. In this battle, he not only wanted to take back the bodies of Dian Wei and others, but also wanted to eliminate Zhang Xiu and avenge Dian Wei and others.

Soon Cao Jun began to press forward step by step. Zhang Xiujun could not hold back the pressure and could only retreat step by step. Seeing that they had gone further and further away, Cao Jun was also closer to the hills on the left.

Cao Hong glanced to the north. Yu Jin's figure had not yet appeared on the vast plains, so he came to Cao Cao and said, "Brother."

"Um."

"Zhang Xiu is retreating, and Yu Jin has not arrived yet. If we pursue him again, the ambush on the hill will shoot arrows again."

"Then send people around to the back of the mountain and eliminate all his ambush troops."

Cao Cao said indifferently: "Originally, I thought Zhang Xiu would choose to attack halfway, but I didn't expect that I admired his courage. It seems that there is no need to wait until Yu Jin comes over."

The reason why Yu Jin led 3,000 men to take a detour was not only to cut off Zhang Xiu's retreat, but more importantly, to fear that Zhang Xiu would attack him halfway across the river.

Although Turbulent Water is not a big river, it is the spring flood and the current is very fast, so you must rely on bridges to cross it.

It would not be good if the troops in front of them had just crossed the river and the other party launched a full-scale attack on Cao's army on the river bank, destroying the bridge and cutting off their way forward.

Therefore, Cao Cao decided to let Yu Jin lead the partial division to attack in a detour. If Zhang Xiu did not destroy the bridge immediately and waited for them to cross the river and establish a foothold, and cooperate with Yu Jin, they would be able to defeat the enemy.

It happened that Zhang Xiu wanted to ambush them on the other side of the river, so Cao Cao took advantage of his plan and chose the method of boiling frogs in warm water. He first sent a small number of troops to test. If the other side chose to destroy the bridge, they would be able to evacuate back with fewer people.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Xiu reacted so slowly and retreated passively despite being beaten. As a result, more and more Cao's troops crossed the river. They turned against the guests, occupied the bridgehead, and began to press forward.

In this way, when facing the enemy head-on, there is no need for Yu Jin, but without Yu Jinju, it is impossible to annihilate Zhang Xiu. They turn around and run away, chasing those enemies who have abandoned their helmets and armor and just want to escape. There is no cavalry. It's hard to do.

Therefore, Cao Cao planned to suppress the ambush on the mountain first, and then wait until Yu Jin's army arrived. Then he would attack with his entire army, flanking Zhang Xiu on the road from the west and east, and annihilate him.

At this time, almost half of Cao's army had crossed the river. Cao Hong followed Cao Cao's wishes and sent 3,000 men and horses to go around the hills and mountains from the river bank and climb up the mountains to eliminate the ambush.

But at this moment, the melodious sound of the trumpet suddenly came. On the hill to the left, more than a thousand horses suddenly appeared. In conjunction with the two thousand ambushes originally on the mountain, thousands of arrows were fired, shooting down the men sent by Cao Cao. Kill them, and the rats will run away one by one with their heads in their hands.

"Cao Cao!"

Shen Chen was riding on horseback, holding a big horn in his hand, and roared: "Do you still remember me?"

At this time, Cao Cao was at the Tuanshui Bridge, about a mile away from Shen Chen's position, about 400 meters away. He only saw a black dot and couldn't hear the sound clearly. He was very surprised and said: "Who is that person?"

A knight rushed out, came to the foot of the hill, and shouted: "Sikong, who are you?"

Shen Chen sneered and said, "Let Cao Cao come over."

"Who are you? How can you imagine that you can see Sikong?"

The knight responded.

Shen Chen said indifferently: "Tell Cao Cao, I am Shen Chen, the head of Huangmenting, Xiangben County, Donghai Kingdom, Xuzhou. The heads of Cao Ren and Lejin should be regarded as his return to hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou and hundreds of fellow villagers in Huangmenting." Today I will take Cao Cao’s head to repay the debt.”

What?

The knight's expression changed with shock, and he hurried back to report.

Soon he returned to Cao Cao, turned over and dismounted, and said in a panic: "Sikong, that man said he was Shen Chen from Huangmenting, Xiangben County, Xuzhou, and said"

"What else can you say?"

Cao Cao frowned. This man's name sounded so familiar. He seemed to have heard it somewhere.

"He also said that the heads of General Cao Ren and General Le Jin should be regarded as the money Sikong paid back to the hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou and the hundreds of folks in Huangmenting."

The knight tremblingly reported the news to Cao Cao.

If Cao Ren and Le Jin really died, the blow to Cao Cao would definitely be no less than the death of Dian Wei and Cao Ang.

Although Dian Wei and Cao Ang were more important in Cao Cao's heart, Cao Ren and Le Jin were also generals who had followed him for many years, especially Cao Ren, who was his younger brother and had a deep relationship. If they really died, Cao Cao would probably be extremely sad.

really.

When Cao Cao heard the news, he suddenly fell into a trance, his whole mind went blank, and he stood motionless on his horse.

"Sikong, Sikong."

Han Hao, Li Zheng and others around him quickly called him.

Cao Chun on the side was also stunned, then he turned over and dismounted, and kicked the knight like crazy: "You are talking nonsense and disrupting the morale of the army. How can my brother be buried in Nanyang? Come on, drag me out. Beheaded."

In fact, Cao Chun's status at this time was not very high. He was twenty-seven years old. He followed Cao Cao and Chen Liu in his military expeditions, but he did not become the Commander-in-Chief of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry until the 10th year of Jian'an.

Before that, he had been Cao Cao's personal guard, a middle- and lower-level officer. Moreover, he was still a civilian official, not a military attache with high military force. He had previously joined the army as Yilang.

So logically speaking, he is definitely not qualified to make the decision to kill a Cao Cao personal guard.

But his identity is very special. He is Cao Ren's biological brother and Cao Cao's disciple. Therefore, some of the soldiers around him were in a very difficult position. They looked at each other and did not dare to come up to persuade or really drag the knight out and kill him. .

After a while of commotion, the knight was kicked by Cao Chun until he was covered in blood. Cao Cao came to his senses and suppressed his grief and said in a deep voice: "Zihe, stop it. He just conveyed what others said. What's wrong? You beat your colleagues for no reason." , after the war, he collected ten army sticks."

Cao Chun's face was already full of tears. He took a few trembling steps back, collapsed on the ground, and cried loudly: "Brother, my brother. My brother is not dead. My brother can't be dead, right?"

"Hel him down."

Cao Cao rode forward slowly on horseback indifferently, followed by his personal guards. The troops in front gave way to the road, and soon he came to the forefront of the team.

At this time, Cao Hong, who led his troops to attack the back mountain, also came back. He was forced back by arrows and did not know about Cao Ren Lejin. When he saw Cao Cao coming to the front of the battle from a distance, he rode over and said: "Brother, Zhang Xiu Suddenly there were more than a thousand ambush troops."

"I see."

Cao Cao nodded. At this moment, the front of the formation was less than half a mile away from the distant hillside, almost 140 to 50 meters away, and beyond the range of the arrow.

At this distance, the two sides could vaguely see each other. Cao Cao looked at the hillside and saw someone riding a horse on the hill in front of him, about ten feet above the ground, looking down at him.

The man was wearing a white silk robe that didn't reach his crown, and his hair was tied with a rope. He looked young and seemed to be about the same age as his son Cao Pi, only slightly taller.

"Chen Chen. Chen Chen?"

Cao Cao read the name twice in his mouth, and then his eyes seemed to be burning with fire. He raised his head and suddenly looked in the direction of Shen Chen, roaring: "You are Shen Chen!"

He finally remembered that Shen Chen, Huangmenting, Xiangben County, Donghai State, Xuzhou, was a little prodigy he had asked Cao Ren to deal with.

When he came to Huaibei with his troops, most of the people in Xuzhou did not escape and were massacred by him.

Only in Xiangben County, most of the people fled. After questioning, we learned that an eight-year-old child guessed his strategic intention and evacuated the people in advance, saving the people of Xiangben from disaster.

This incident surprised Cao Cao.

However, he is also a person who loves talents. When he first saw such a genius, he wanted to take over the Shen Chen family and bring him under his command.

However, Lü Bu suddenly attacked, and he had to return to Yanzhou to defeat Lü Bu as soon as possible. He was also afraid that Tao Qian would get Shen Chen and prevent him from conquering Xuzhou in the future, so he asked Cao Ren to get rid of the child when he was cut off to avoid future troubles.
To be continued...