Finally, Zhou Cang was found on a river bank near Xiakou.
He was so lucky that he fell into a coma after falling into the flood...but unexpectedly hugged a huge tree floating on the water...
The flood carried him dozens of miles away, and he drifted for a full day and night before finally passing out on the river bank near Xiakou.
But until two days after the battle, Guan Yu's army could not find any trace of Cao Ang.
However, in order to frighten Cao Jun and Yi Xiaotian... Guan Yu immediately sent someone to announce that Cao Ang was dead. This news, together with the news that Cao Ren's entire army was annihilated, began to spread from Jiangxia to Anhui City.
While Guan Yujun continued to search for Cao Ang's traces, Cao Ren, who had returned to Shiyang with the help of Chen Jiao and Jiang Ji, finally woke up from his coma.
——
"Cao Ang! Where is Cao Ang!"
Cao Ren suddenly woke up from the bed and desperately called Cao Ang's voice.
After all, the scene of him rushing off the eaves and falling into the flood with Zhou Cang was so impressive that even in a comatose state, Cao Ren kept repeating this scene in his dream.
"Is the general awake?"
Someone's questioning voice came from outside the door.
The soldier at the door who had just heard Cao Ren's shouting in the house said with certainty:
"The general just woke up."
Immediately afterwards, someone opened the door. Cao Ren looked at the door blankly and immediately recognized the person.
"Prefect Jiang...Cao Ang...my nephew..."
Cao Ren asked tremblingly, even a little pitifully.
But the response he got was Jiang Ji silently shaking his head.
After hearing the news, Cao Ren sat blankly on the bed, not knowing how to react.
"Where is Zhongye...how is Zhongye..."
Holding on to his painful body, Cao Ren continued to ask questions.
Previously, Wenpin was stabbed hard by Zhou Cang's knife in order to protect him. Whenever he recalled the horrific injury, Cao Ren felt guilty.
Cao Ang disappeared... If even Wenpin died because of him, Cao Ren felt that even if he survived, he would spend the rest of his life in sin.
Speaking of Wenpin, Jiang Ji sighed, and this sigh made Cao Ren's heart twitch.
Seeing the grief on Cao Ren's face, Jiang Ji realized that Cao Ren had misunderstood and hurriedly explained:
"No, no, no, General, don't worry... General Wenpin's injury has stabilized, but I'm afraid he won't be able to go to the battlefield again for a long time."
Upon hearing the news, all the strength in Cao Ren's body was exhausted, and he fell weakly on the bed.
Jiang Ji hurried forward to investigate, and Chen Jiao and others also came after hearing the news——
Soon, the news of Cao Ren's awakening spread throughout the army, which added some vitality to the rather dull atmosphere in Shi Yang at the moment.
"General..."
Chen Jiao blamed himself the most for Cao Ang's disappearance. In the past few days, he had led his soldiers for an unknown number of miles, constantly searching for Cao Ang's trace in the lower reaches of the river.
Even including Queyue City... they also sneaked through when the enemy was unprepared, but the results they obtained needless to say.
"It's Chen Jiao..."
Cao Ren fell on the bed, his eyes lifeless.
Just listening to Chen Jiao's voice next to him, Cao Ren responded slightly.
Chen Jiao hurriedly knelt down in front of the bed, tightly holding Cao Ren's outstretched hand with a sad expression:
"General...it is a humble position...it is a humble position that failed to fulfill its responsibilities...the disappearance of the eldest son is entirely responsible for..."
There was a cry in Chen Jiao's voice. He knew that he clearly had a chance to stop Cao Ang... but the more he knew this, the more he blamed himself.
The key is…
The key is that after learning how Cao Ren and Wenpin escaped from trouble, Chen Jiao fell into complete numbness... It was Cao Ang who risked his life to save the two generals... If he had really stopped Cao Ang, maybe Cao Ren and Wenpin would not have survived.
, and then...then Cao Ang will only blame himself even more.
This is a dead end...
No matter what, he, Chen Jiao, is just a military commander... there is really very little he can do.
However, Cao Ren had no intention of blaming Chen Jiao.
"It's not your fault..."
"If I hadn't been careless and went deep alone... and been trapped by the flood, I wouldn't have been in a situation where you had to come to rescue me. Naturally, my nephew wouldn't be so worried..."
"It's all my fault..."
Cao Ren seemed to be overly sad, and his voice now contained no emotion except fatigue.
Seeing Cao Ren's appearance, everyone fell silent.
Not only Cao Ang, in this battle... all the military strength Xiangyang accumulated over the years was in vain.
Not to mention the future offensive and defensive changes between them and Liu Bei, the ones who will be most affected are Yi Xiaotian, Zhang Liao and others who are currently besieging Liu Bei in Wancheng.
Guan Yu defeated them and ensured Jiangxia's unimpeded flow, without even using his full strength.
If nothing unexpected happens, Guan Yu's other army may have already arrived near Wancheng...
By then... this sophisticated plan planned by Yi Xiaotian and involving the military forces of Liu Bei, Sun Quan and Cao Cao will be completely ruined due to their defeat in Jiangxia.
Liu Bei... is a serious problem for Cao Cao. Now that Cao Cao is old... if he wants to have such an excellent opportunity to defeat Liu Bei, he may not be able to see it.
Coupled with Cao Ang's disappearance... I don't know how big a blow this will be to Cao Cao...
Although there is such an assessment for establishing an heir, Cao Ang's bravery in this battle has conquered everyone present... But such a mellow, humble, brave and passionate Cao Ang is very likely to die because of this accident
And died young...
These results, just thinking about them, are hard to accept. If something goes wrong again in Wancheng -
"Brother Yi...cough cough cough...has anyone gone over to Brother Yi?"
The two people Cao Ren felt sorry for the most were Cao Cao and... Yi Xiaotian.
At this moment, he knew that the situation was irreversible, and he only hoped that Yi Xiaotian could retreat as soon as possible... If he was surrounded by enemy reinforcements without knowing anything, Cao Ren might actually die on the spot to apologize.
He coughed violently and seemed to be agitated again.
After hearing this, Jiang Ji quickly comforted him:
"General... don't be anxious yet... We are still searching hard for the eldest son... Guan Yu is not well-intentioned and is spreading rumors that the eldest son was killed by them. In order not to affect the situation in Wancheng... I have sent people to rush there.
Go to Wancheng to inform Mr. Yi."
Jiang Ji seemed like a person who was supporting the overall situation in such a desperate situation, but in fact... he was also suffering in his heart.
He feels that he has a large part of the responsibility for Cao Ang's disappearance...and...and he now has a deep question hidden in his heart...but the current atmosphere is not suitable to talk about this matter, what if...what if it is true?
It caused public anger and chaos within them, and the situation was truly out of control.
"Anyway... I will send someone to explain this matter to Yecheng... Xiangyang is now defenseless and must mobilize reinforcements... General, just have a good rest..."
Jiang Ji finally said this, but Cao Ren didn't respond... He seemed to have fallen into some kind of memory.
