Eight hundred and ninetieth chapters predict the enemy first
Chapter 819: Predict the enemy first
Yuan Shu's army did not stop, and even the soldiers and horses that went to Zhu County returned and headed towards the area between Xiling and Anlu.
Now Jingzhou is completely in chaos, and soldiers and horses from all directions are running wildly. Cai Mao leads an army of 40,000 to Xiangyang, Yuan Shao's 60,000 army and Yuzhou's 40,000 army go south crazily. Cao Cao speeds up to Xiling, while Yuan Shu leads
With an army of 130,000, they rushed towards the center between Xiling and Anlu.
Cai Mao was the closest and the road was clear, so he arrived at his destination first. Cai Mao did not hesitate when he arrived at Liu Biao. With Cai Mao as the commander-in-chief, under the jurisdiction of the three brothers Liu, Guan and Zhang, he led an army of 60,000 directly to Deng County.
Lei Bu and Chen Ji of Deng County defended Deng County. Although Cai Mao had twice the number of troops and horses, it would not be easy for Cai Mao to break through Deng County.
"My lord, if this speed is not enough, you can order General Ma Chao to lead the cavalry army, Wen Chou to lead the Tiger Army, Yan Liang to lead the Tiger Army and the Polu Army to go ahead. They all have carriages and can move quickly. They can build defensive measures at predetermined locations."
The road to Jiangxia was not smooth and the march was slow. Chen Gong directly suggested that the main army should go north first and build defensive measures to stop Cao Cao.
"Okay, let's do it this way. You also follow the army and act accordingly. Otherwise, I'm afraid the three of them will fall into Cao Cao's trick."
Yuan Shu was also a little impatient. Once Cao Cao and Yuan Shao joined forces, they would have at least hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, and they could even reach 200,000. They would be a huge threat to his more than 100,000 soldiers and horses. If they could not be divided,
If it is broken, he will have no choice but to retreat.
Generals Ma Chao, Wen Chou, and Yan Liang separated from the main force with eight thousand cavalry and nearly forty thousand main troops. They took carriages and began to accelerate their actions to seize favorable terrain to snipe Cao Cao. The army did not stop, but continued northward following the tail of the large army.
"Lord, I don't think we can rush to Xiling on the current road."
Xi Zhicai, who was marching, looked at Cao Cao with a trace of worry in his eyes.
"Are you afraid that Yuan Gongluo will not attack Xiling, but will lead his troops to rob and kill us outside Xiling?"
Cao Cao glanced at Xi Zhicai and understood his thoughts instantly.
"Well, Yuan Shu is a very good man. What he fears most now is that we join forces with Yuan Shao. His only way to defeat the enemy is to divide and annihilate them. I'm afraid that he will abandon Xiling now and rob and kill us."
Xi Zhicai nodded to Cao Cao. He knew what Yuan Shu was afraid of, so there was only one way he could do it. First send troops to rob and kill the relatively weak himself, and then go to a decisive battle with Yuan Shao after defeating himself.
"Well, then if we hit him with a distance difference, wouldn't he abandon Xiling?
Instead of going to Anlu, we will go further east from Anlu and return to Xiling."
He also nodded to the possibility of Yuan Shu ambushing Cao Cao. Anyway, with 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers and horses in Xiling, it would be no problem to resist them for two days. Instead of taking the risk of taking a shortcut, it would be better to take a bolder route and return to Xiling.
"That's exactly what I thought. It may be two or three days late to return to Xiling by taking a long way, but Yuan Shu will never miss our route. As long as we arrive safely, Yuan Shu will have a hard time this time."
What Cao Cao said was exactly what he wanted to say. Now it seems that it is not advisable to take a shortcut and take a long way around.
"Then change the route."
"promise."
Cao Cao gave an order for the remaining 40,000 troops to change their original path and start moving eastward, detouring back to Xiling.
Time passed day by day. After Yuan Shao's 60,000 troops arrived in Suixian County, they merged with the 40,000 troops from Yuzhou south, and marched towards Xiling with 100,000 troops.
Yan Liang and Chen Gong ran all the way with their soldiers and horses and finally arrived at the place between Xiling and Anlu, and then began to build a defense line. At the same time, Ma Chao and his cavalry began to approach Anlu to detect Cao Cao's traces.
But it is a pity that Cao Cao understood Yuan Shu's idea first and led his army to avoid Anlu and advance directly from their north towards Xiling.
"Military advisor, this situation is not right."
Yan Liang looked at Chen Gong, a trace of worry flashed in his eyes.
"Well, it stands to reason that Cao Cao should be arriving soon, but why hasn't Meng Qi responded yet?"
Chen Gong also felt that something was wrong. Cao Cao knew that he was leading troops into Jiangxia, so he should have returned to Xiling at all costs. Why was there no trace of him?
"So what do we do now?"
"In this case, you immediately send your scouts to the north and east to explore. I'm afraid that Cao Cao will see through our purpose and not take the route from Anlu to Xiling, but go further to Xiling."
Since there is no trace of Cao Cao's troops in the direction of Anlu, we can always find traces of him by exploring elsewhere.
"promise."
Yan Liang directly hugged Cheng Nuo, and then started to go north and east with a few scouts to search for Cao Cao.
Even though Yan Liang led his scouts to the north and east, there was still no trace of Cao Cao, and he could only return in despair.
Yuan Shu rushed to the defensive line constructed by Yan Liang with his troops and horses.
"Lord, something may not be good for us."
Chen Gong looked at Yuan Shu and couldn't help but blush.
"What's wrong?"
Hearing Chen Gong's words, Yuan Shu was also stunned.
"Cao Cao probably ran away."
Chen Gong was embarrassed to tell him what he had guessed, which was that Cao Cao jumped out of his encirclement.
"What?
Ran?
what's the situation?"
Yuan Shu was even more stunned. How could Cao Cao escape?
He didn't understand a little bit.
"After we arrived here, Meng Qi immediately led his cavalry towards Anlu, but there was no trace of Cao Cao along the way. Then I sent scouts north and east, but no trace of Cao Cao was found.
I guess he may have seen our intention and did not take the route from Anlu to Xiling at all, but took a long way back to Xiling."
Chen Gong directly said everything he was thinking.
"It's very possible. Cao Cao is not a mediocre person. He can naturally see what we can see. If this is the case, it is not nonsense for him to go all the way to Xiling. Since Cao Cao cannot be stopped, it will be our fault.
.”
Cao Cao was a military master, not to mention having Xi Zhicai by his side, so it was very possible for him to discover his intentions.
Is there such an artifact as a reconnaissance plane now? If Cao Cao insists on avoiding him, it will be really difficult to find him in a place as big as Jiangxia.
If Cao Cao really returns to Xiling, then he will be the one who becomes passive next.
"Since Cao Cao escaped, we might as well ignore Cao Cao and lead the army to rob and kill Yuan Shao. If he wants to join forces with Cao Cao, he must leave Nanyang and go south to Xiling via Sui County. If we go north now, we should be able to stop him on the road and wait until
Defeat Yuan Shao and then go south to attack Xiling, the result will be the same."
Although Cao Cao may have predicted his purpose and headed to Xiling to avoid his own robbery, Yuan Shu had only one way to go south. As long as he led his army north, it was still possible to block Yuan Shao's troops.
"Gongtai, you have to think carefully. If Yuan Shao's troops run away again or he cannot be defeated, Yangzhou may be in danger."
Although Chen Gong's strategy was considered to be appropriate to the situation, if he had not blocked Yuan Shao's army, he would have been completely passive, and Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, who had joined forces, would probably lead their troops to advance into Yangzhou.
"If we don't stop Yuan Shao now, we can only retreat now and return to Yangzhou. When Yuan Hao attacks Runan County, I believe Yuan Shao will lead his troops back. By then we will raise troops to attack Jiangxia, but in this case Cao Cao will be very
He may return to Nanyang and completely unite with Yuan Shao, and then it will be difficult to suppress Cao Cao."
