A middle-aged man with a height of seven feet, thin eyes, long beard, and short appearance saw Xu Chu stumbling to the military camp covered in blood. He stood up in a hurry and said, his expression concerned, and he didn't seem to be hypocritical.
Xu Chu, however, looked ashamed. He knelt down and apologized to the man in front of him, his lord Cao Cao, saying: "My lord, Chu was reckless and wanted to capture Bowang. I will bow to my lord."
Gong, unexpectedly, was defeated by the guard. Five thousand men and horses, the guilty general only brought back one thousand. Please punish the guilty, my lord!!!"
When Cao Cao heard about the defeat, he was not as angry as Xu Chu imagined. His face was calm and he asked: "You are reckless, I know this, Wenda is a careful person. I sent him as your deputy just to make him
He tried to dissuade you at the critical moment, why didn't he dissuade you?" He spoke with serious words, his eyes flashed, and he stared straight at Xu Chudao.
Xu Chu was a little flustered, but he was a loyal man after all, and he kowtowed and said, "General Li tried to persuade me, but I didn't listen and insisted on attacking this city. The fault is all mine, not General Li's!"
Cao Cao nodded. Victory and defeat are common things in military affairs. Some mistakes can be made, and some cannot be made in a lifetime, otherwise it will ruin your life. Then he asked Li Tong to come in and ask, and his answer was similar to Xu Chu's. Ruijing
We can't attack a small city with only two thousand defenders." Although Cao Cao didn't have an angry look on his face, he still felt a little unhappy in his heart.
"My Lord, the defenders in the city used a special repeating crossbow. It is different from the three-shot repeating crossbow commonly used by our army. It is a ten-shot repeating crossbow. It can be fired within a few breaths and is extremely powerful.
This crossbow is also larger than an ordinary repeating crossbow. It seems to weigh about thirty or forty kilograms and can only be used on the city wall." Li Tong was careful and observed it during the battle.
"Oh, how many are there? Will Liu Qi's army produce them in large quantities?" Cao Cao was a little curious about the new weapons, and he saw the key to this battle at a glance.
"I estimate that there are hundreds of them. As for whether the Jingzhou Army has a large number of them, I really don't know." Li Tong answered truthfully.
"Well, Wenda, you are not guilty in this battle. You can go down." Cao Cao waved his hand and asked Li Tong to go down. Seeing that his lord was not punished, Li Tong felt happy and looked at Xu Chu who was kneeling on the ground, showing a trace of sympathy.
But he couldn't intercede for Xu Chu.
Xu Chu knew that he had caused a big disaster this time and could not escape punishment. He kowtowed and said, "Xu Chu was wrong. Please ask the Lord to punish him!"
"Humph, you still know that you are wrong! Because of your recklessness, you have lost 4,000 of my elite warriors in vain. Even if I kill you ten thousand times, I will not be able to express the hatred in my heart! Someone, drag me out and chop you!" Cao Cao
Cao was so angry that he jumped and shouted.
"promise".
The guards outside the tent obeyed the order and came in to pull Xu Chu away.
"Lord, you must not do this!"
"Lord, wait!"
The counselors and generals in the tent tried to dissuade them one after another, but Guo Jia came out and said: "My lord, it will be detrimental to the army to kill the general before fighting!"
"Yes, Xu Chu is guilty, but he is not guilty. He has also tested out the truth of the Jingzhou army, so that our army can be prepared for the next step. Please, my lord, allow him to make meritorious service for his crime." General Xu Huang advised.
"Yeah yeah!"
"Spare him."
"Take a break from his life and let him pay for his crimes and make meritorious deeds!".
Cao Cao's remaining counselors Xun You, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, Liu Ye and other generals Zhang He, Yu Jin, Man Chong, Gao Lan, Cai Yang, Cao Hong, Cao Chun and others also came out to persuade him.
In fact, Cao Cao was just pretending that he would not be willing to kill his loyal and beloved general. He was just doing it for everyone to see. After all, the state has national laws and the army has military regulations. You cannot do it arbitrarily just because of Cao Cao's preferences.
act.
As for being angry, Cao Cao was not faking it, he was really angry, but not at Xu Chu, but at Liu Qi. Liu Qi was so sinister that he made such a powerful weapon to defend the city and killed four thousand of his elites. I'm afraid.
The counselor behind him came up with a plan to give Cao Cao a blow here. How could Cao Cao not be angry?
Seeing everyone begging for mercy, Cao Cao stepped down and hesitated: "In this way, everyone will plead for you. I won't kill you either."
When Xu Chu heard that Cao Cao would not kill him, he was overjoyed and kowtowed repeatedly: "Thank you, lord. Thank you, lord."
"Don't thank me yet. A death sentence can be avoided and a life sentence cannot be pardoned. Because of your reckless behavior, I lost four thousand elites. Now I will fine you a year's salary, strip you of your official position, and reduce you to a pawn in front of the tent. At the same time, you will receive thirty sticks. With
Be a warning!"
This was the lightest punishment, so no one continued to persuade. Cao Cao saw the poor Xu Chu being dragged down, and he felt very angry. He was very angry, Liu Qi was too cunning.
In such a small city, there are actually two thousand elite soldiers ambushed, and there are such weapons to defend the city. The intention is to give me, Cao Cao, a disgrace.
"What do you think when you look at Liu Qi's actions?" Cao Cao was just a little sorry for the loss of four thousand men. He was really concerned about how Liu Qi's main army would respond.
A pale young man came out and said: "Jia thought that Liu Qi was going to have a decisive battle with our army. In a battle involving more than 100,000 people, the role of the city would be very small. Especially in a place like Jingzhou, most of the cities are built along the water.
There are no such natural dangers as mountains to defend."
Guo Jia coughed and continued: "Ma Teng is just working hard but not exerting any effort. If the lord is victorious, he will attack with all his strength; if the lord is invincible or defeated, he will stop attacking immediately. General Xiahou will face the Yangtze River.
Due to the natural dangers, our army cannot fight by water, and I am afraid it will be difficult to cross
Crossing the Yangtze River. The key to this battle lies in the war between the lord and Liu Qi. So I think that Liu Qi will definitely concentrate his main force in Wancheng and fight our army decisively. Only by defeating the lord can Liu Qi solve this crisis. 1
Liu Qi will definitely take the initiative to seek a decisive battle with our army within a month."
Cao Cao nodded and agreed. Then a question came up. Cao Cao asked: "Then should our army fight Liu Qi in a decisive battle?"
A man with a dull appearance and dull eyes came out and said: "Both my lord and Liu Qi have just experienced the war, and their strength has not yet been fully restored. But Liu Qi is different from our army. Jingzhou is rich and Jiaozhou in the south has experienced little war.
The population and food supply have not decreased but increased. On the other hand, our army, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Qingzhou, and Yuzhou are all war-torn places. Their recovery is not as good as that of Liu Qi. Therefore, a quick war is also the purpose of our army."
"Gongda, what you said is true! Last time Yuan Shaoyu attacked my rear, he spared this kid, but he didn't expect that he would become a problem. This time, he won't be so easy." It turned out that the man was Cao Cao
Xun You, the mastermind of the plot, looked dull on the outside, but actually had a hidden strategy. He was evaluated by Cao Cao as: Foolish on the outside but wise on the inside, timid on the outside and brave on the inside, weak on the outside but strong on the inside, unable to defeat the good, without any hard work, capable of reaching wisdom but beyond the reach of stupidity.
(Sorry for the dizziness. I will update it on the first day of the day and tomorrow tomorrow!)