"Li Sima, I'm lucky to have you to save me this time. I will never forget this kindness. The guy with the double halberds is really powerful, but I couldn't kill him. I didn't expect Cao Cao to have such a fierce general."
Zhang Fei and Li Jia retreated together, but only 700 or 800 of his 3,000 soldiers were able to return. This was a terrible defeat.
"Cao Cao, like Mr. Wen An, is good at using ambush tactics. You can only follow him from a distance and don't rush to pursue him!" Li Jia said.
Li Jia led 3,000 soldiers, but he also lost hundreds of them in order to save Zhang Fei. Now they only have more than 3,000 soldiers, and almost half of them were lost.
"Li Sima, what should we do now?"
Li Jia saved Zhang Fei, and now he is willing to listen to advice.
"Set up camp here first and send someone back to report to the lord what happened here."
After this defeat, there were only 3,000 soldiers and horses left. It would be useless to pursue them again. Li Jia did not dare to make the decision himself. The immediate priority should be to report to Liu Bei, and let the lord decide whether to continue to pursue the enemy.
Zhang Fei dared to take responsibility, but he refused to listen to advice and insisted on pursuing the enemy in a hurry, resulting in the defeat. He was willing to accept any punishment from Liu Bei and agreed to send someone back to report what happened here to Liu Bei.
The two set up camp and waited for Liu Bei.
Although Cao Cao could not kill Zhang Fei or capture him alive, this battle was considered a victory, which made him very happy.
Since the expedition to Xuzhou, he first lost Zhang Liao and then Le Jin, and was defeated many times. Now he finally won once.
But his happy mood did not last long, as a scout came to report that Yuan Shao had sent 30,000 troops and horses, led by Chunyu Qiong and Guo Tu, with Yan Liang as the front army, and was marching towards Xudu.
This news was like a bolt from the blue. What Cao Cao had been worried about finally happened. He couldn't believe that Yuan Shao, a brother he had known for decades, was actually persuaded by Zhou Wen'an to send troops to attack him.
"No wonder Liu Bei sent troops to chase me. It turns out that he already knew that Yuan Benchu would send troops and wanted to drag me here so that Yuan Benchu could attack Xudu."
Cao Cao didn't quite understand before. Liu Bei's purpose was just to protect Xuzhou and retreat his troops. He should have seen him off, but he actually sent troops to pursue him.
"Liu Jingsheng of Jingzhou has not yet sent troops to attack me, why would Benchu send troops? How did Zhou Wen'an persuade him?"
Cao Cao had many questions in his mind.
"Ming Gong, this matter is easy to explain." Guo Jia continued, "The people Liu Jingsheng believed were the words of Jingzhou scholars. The Jingzhou scholars did not want to be enemies of Ming Gong, so they would definitely urge Liu Jingsheng not to send troops. Yuan Benchu said
The subordinates were divided into Jizhou scholars and Yingchuan scholars. In order to fight for power, the two were easily taken advantage of by Zhou Wen'an. They used power to lure each other, and then both persuaded Yuan Benchu to send troops. Yuan Benchu was good at planning but difficult to make decisions, and all his subordinates were like this.
He said so, and he did so."
Cao Cao nodded and said: "Well, when troops move, power is divided. Although there are wise men in the beginning, it is difficult to make good use of them!"
"Jizhou sent troops to Xu, Ming Gong. We must quickly return to Xudu. As long as Jizhou's troops are driven back, Liu Bei has nothing to fear." Guo Jia said.
"Fortunately, Zhang Fei was defeated this time and he will not dare to pursue him again."
Cao Cao immediately sent an order to Cao Ren, who was surrounded by Pengcheng, to immediately lead 10,000 troops and horses back to Xudu and defend the city with Xiahou Dun.
He also asked Yu Jin to lead three thousand soldiers and then put all the baggage at the end, and ordered the soldiers and horses to hurry back to Xudu.
Zhang Fei and Li Jia had just set up camp and were sitting in their tent to rest. Suddenly, soldiers ran in and reported urgently: "General Zhang, Li Sima, and General Zhou Zhonglang are back."
"Who are you talking about?" Zhang Fei and Li Jiaqi asked, neither of them could believe that what they heard was true.
"Zhonglang General Zhou Wen'an." The soldier said it clearly enough this time.
"Where did you return, sir?"
Zhang Fei and Li Jia were greatly surprised when they heard that Zhou Wen'an was back.
"Outside the camp, no, outside the tent."
"Then why don't you go out and greet her quickly?"
Zhang Fei said and stood up quickly. Just as he was about to leave the tent, he heard someone outside the tent say: "Haha, no need, I came by myself."
Hearing the sound, Zhang Fei and Li Jia were stunned, and they all stared blankly at the tent door.
The person who came in from outside the tent was none other than Zhou Wen'an, who had not been seen for many days and still had a wine gourd hanging around his waist. Behind him was Zhang Wu, who had been carrying a bow and an arrow.
The two of them were covered in dust, and even the wine gourd on Zhou Wen'an's body was now covered with dust, making it look less beautiful.
"Hahaha, sir, when you are here, why don't you wait outside the camp and let me go out to greet you."
"I'm already dying of thirst waiting for you to greet me. Do you have any wine?"
"Yes, yes, come, please bring some wine. Today I am drunk with my husband, hahaha..."
Zhang Fei laughed loudly and saw Zhou Ping sitting down, but Zhang Wu stood behind him and said hurriedly: "Brother Ziwei, there are no outsiders here. You can also sit down and drink with me."
Zhou Ping turned back to Zhang Wu and said, "Ziwei, please sit down too."
"promise."
Zhang Wu responded and sat down next to Zhou Ping.
After receiving Zhang Fei's orders, the soldiers did not dare to neglect, and quickly brought the wine and served it to everyone.
"Go get some more cooked meat. Sir, you must be starving after traveling all the way." Zhang Fei ordered again.
Zhou Ping poured the wine and drank it by himself, without toasting to Zhang Fei. He drank three glasses in a row before he seemed comfortable and said: "Good wine, I haven't had such a delicious wine in a long time, hahaha..."
Because he was in a hurry to get back to Xuzhou, Zhou Ping hardly drank any alcohol along the way and had been craving for it for many days.
"Sir, please persuade Yuan Jizhou to send troops. I would like to offer you a drink, sir."
Li Jia raised his glass and said.
Zhou Ping raised his glass in greeting and drank it all in one gulp.
At this time, the soldiers brought the mutton and Zhang Wu had already drank a few glasses of wine. When he saw the mutton, he immediately picked it up and gnawed it, as if he had been hungry for a long time. Zhang Fei laughed loudly.
Zhang Fei also raised his wine glass and said respectfully to Zhou Ping: "I would like to toast you sir. I miss you day and night these days. Now that you are back, I don't need to miss you so much."
"Ping Ye misses the master very much!"
Zhou Ping raised his glass and drank together. After putting down his glass, he grabbed the mutton and gnawed it, just like Zhang Wu.
Zhang Fei and Li Jia knew that these two people were really hungry.
Li Jia called the soldiers and ordered them to go out and entertain Zhou Ping's guards. He gave them meat and wine and allowed them to eat and drink as much as they wanted.
"I heard that you were defeated in pursuit of Cao Cao."
Zhou Ping finished chewing a leg of lamb and drank another glass before wiping his mouth and saying.
"Hey, it was me who was eager to take Cao Cao's head and didn't listen to Li Sima's advice, which led to this defeat. This matter has nothing to do with Li Sima. I pursued it on my own initiative."
Zhang Fei quickly put aside Li Jia and took all the responsibility on himself.
"What's the loss?" Zhou Ping asked again.
"Nearly three thousand soldiers and horses were lost, and Cao Cao personally cut off the rear. His soldiers were very brave."
Zhang Fei was embarrassed to answer and muttered for a long time, so Li Jia had to answer for him.
"Actually... In fact, Zhuge Kongming and Li Sima both said that if I only chase but not attack, my eldest brother also gave the same order. I thought that Cao Cao must have been in chaos because he abandoned his helmet and armor along the way, but I didn't expect that Cao Cao, a common man, actually
An ambush was set up for me, and there was another general who wielded two halberds and was very powerful. He fought with me for more than a hundred rounds without a win or loss. If Cao Cao hadn't had this person, I would have taken his head."
"Using double halberds? It could be Dian Wei."
Zhou Ping remembered that the only person under Cao Cao who wielded double halberds was Dian Wei.
"Is his name Dian Wei? Sir, you actually know this person?" Zhang Fei asked urgently.
"I've heard that this man's bravery is probably not weaker than yours. He is now Cao Cao's personal guard. If you want to defeat this man, you have to steal his halberds first, otherwise it will be extremely difficult to win alone. However, with
Even if you are brave enough to benefit from virtue, you will not be defeated by this person."
Zhou Ping praised Dian Wei a lot, but he also wanted to praise Zhang Fei so as not to embarrass him so much.
Zhang Fei didn't care at all. He really admired Dian Wei's martial arts. This was the second person he truly admired. The first was Guan Yu.
"If I lose this battle, my eldest brother will definitely scold me. Sir, go back and say a few good words for me in front of your eldest brother. I...I will treat you to a drink."
"My lord has clear rewards and punishments. It's useless for me to say nice things, but for the sake of you inviting me to drink, I can help you atone for your sins." Zhou Ping raised a glass to himself and said with a smile.
"How to atone for your sins?" Zhang Fei asked quickly.
"Pursue Cao Cao and make up for your mistakes with victory." Zhou Ping said calmly.
Zhang Fei originally had a hopeful face, but at this moment he suddenly became discouraged: "Sir, don't tease me. I have already defeated you once. Do you want me to be defeated again, sir?"
Zhou Ping laughed and said: "Hahaha... I have no grudges against you. If you invite me to drink again, will I harm you?"
"Sir, are you serious?" Zhang Fei couldn't believe it.
After Li Jia heard Zhou Ping say that he would pursue Cao Cao again, he kept his head down in thought. Now he seemed to have figured it out. He raised his head and asked: "Sir, you expected that because Cao Cao won once, he thought we would not dare to pursue him again, so he relaxed a little.
If we continue to pursue at this time, will we definitely win?"
"Yes, Cao Cao personally cut off the enemy before, resisted it with strong troops, and set up an ambush. He abandoned his baggage to lure you to pursue, so you will be defeated. Now that you have been defeated once, Cao Cao predicts that you will not dare to pursue again. You may have heard this now
If Jizhou sends troops to attack Xu, they will be in a hurry to retreat and neglect to take precautions. If you pursue them now, how can you fail to win?"
The more Li Jia thought about it, the more he felt that Zhou Ping was right. He said to Zhang Fei happily: "General Zhang, what you said is right. If we pursue him now, we will definitely win."
Zhang Fei couldn't figure it out. He didn't know why Li Jia persuaded him not to pursue him before and now persuaded him to pursue him. Is it true that as the teacher said, if he pursues him now, he will surely win!
"You also think you can win?"
"We will definitely win."
Zhou Ping replied with a smile, while Li Jia nodded to Zhang Fei.
"Okay, Mr. Ixin."
Zhang Fei now wanted to win again and wash away the shame of his previous defeat.
"However, you have few troops and cannot fight for a long time. If you wait for Cao Cao's troops to come back for reinforcements, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to retreat. You can rob his baggage and retreat as soon as you win." Zhou Ping added.
"I listen to what you say, sir." Zhang Fei bowed his hand to Zhou Ping.
"You should go quickly now, I will be drinking here and waiting for your good news."
"Hahaha... The gentleman will wait here for a moment, and I will go get him some wine."
Zhang Fei and Li Jia surrendered their tent to Zhou Ping and gathered their troops to pursue Cao Cao again.
"General Zhang, Li Sima, are you still chasing?"
Some military princes heard that they were going to pursue Cao Cao again, but they thought they had heard wrongly.
"Stop talking nonsense, I will take you to perform meritorious service this time."
The wounded soldiers were left behind, and Zhang Fei and Li Jia, with only more than 2,800 soldiers, left the camp and chased Cao Cao.
