Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 162 The Talent of the Tiger and Fox
On the front line of Guandu, on the dirt hill at the south gate of Cao Ying, Cao Cao, Xun You, Guo Jia and others fell into extreme silence at this moment.

After a long time, Cao Cao slowly walked to the wooden pillar downstairs on the earth mountain wall, supported the wooden pillar, bowed his head and panted.

"Borda."

He muttered to himself, and now he felt dizzy, cold sweat, buzzing in his head, and there seemed to be many bugs buzzing in his ears, which annoyed him very much.

Ren Jun is not only one of the cornerstones of his rear, but also his brother-in-law, and the relationship is extremely close. Hearing the sad news is no less heartbreaking than when Dianwei Cao Ang Cao Ren and others died.

"Minggong."

Xun You and Guo Jia looked at each other, and the two hurriedly stepped forward and cupped their hands to persuade: "Please cheer up, Mr. Ming."

"I don't know, it's just a headache."

Cao Cao gasped, rubbed his temples constantly, waved his hands and said, "Fengxiao, Gongda, what do you think about those prisoners? Now our top priority is to go south to defend Xudu, and the prisoners cannot be killed in a short time."

This time is not the time to be sad about Ren Jun's death. Cao Cao must consider the issue of returning to Xudu as soon as possible.

The most important thing is Xudu's grain storage and Liu Xie.

Now Cao Cao himself does not have much food and grass in Guandu, so he has to go back to Xudu to supplement. If Shen Chen and Liu Bei invade Xudu, burn the food and rob Liu Xie, then even if he defeats Yuan Shao, his power will collapse instantly. .

So at this time, the first task is to return to Xudu immediately to repel the invading enemy. Then, whether to kill or release the prisoner in his hand, he has to weigh the pros and cons and choose the one that is most beneficial to him.

Xun You sighed, "Duke Ming, let it go."

"Let go?"

Cao Cao turned his head. At this time, his eyes had become scarlet, and his whole face was distorted: "Gu defeated Yuan Shao after life and death, and captured these 8 horses. Let Gu Quan release? Yuan Shao didn't move at all. Isn’t it a waste of time to fight this battle?”

Guo Jia murmured: "Not necessarily, there are benefits to letting go."

"You said."

Cao Cao stared at Guo Jia, he wanted to know the benefits of letting the tiger go back to the mountain.

Guo Jia talked eloquently: "Yuan Shao was burned in Wuchao, and it has been nearly a month now. Why is there no new food and grass? It can only mean that Yuan Shao's food storage has been used up, and there is not much food left in Yecheng. It needs to be transferred from various places. And it takes time to transfer, and it is definitely difficult to transfer a large amount of grain and grass in a short period of time."

"At this moment, the [-] Yuan's army is starving. Henan and other places have been looted and ruined by Yuan's army. They are already withered, not to mention they dare not stay in Henan for long. You can send them away and force them to go to Hebei. Guandu is Liyang, which is the closest to Hebei. There are more than five or six hundred miles, and it takes at least seven or eight days to travel."

"And on the way back, 8 people were short of food and clothing, and it was the cold winter. I am afraid that countless people died of cold and hunger. Even if they did not die, they fled back with difficulty, and they would inevitably take up weapons for a bite to eat. Looting the people of Jizhou."

"At that time, the scattered soldiers will form a military disaster, sweeping the entire Wei County, and Yuan Shao's soldiers and horses will be completely lost. He will not be able to appease the defeated soldiers in a short period of time. Due to internal and external troubles, he will not be able to recover for at least ten years."

"Therefore, Jia believes that letting Yuan Jun go back will have better consequences for Jizhou than killing him."

Better than murder?
Guo Jia's words made Cao Cao calm down instantly. He lowered his head and looked at the rammed earth on the ground, and quickly began to think about whether his words were right.

At present, there are almost no people along the Yellow River in Henan.

Under Yuan Jun's strategy, most of the East County of Yanzhou was empty, the real bones were exposed in the wild, and there was no chicken crowing for thousands of miles.

And how far is Zhongmou County, where Guandu is located, from Liyang County, which is the closest to Jizhou?

There are five or six hundred miles.

That is to say, in the winter of November, Yuan Shao's 200 rout soldiers will pass through more than [-] kilometers of uninhabited areas in an unorganized manner, all the way towards Liyang.

Leaving aside their hunger state, it is almost impossible to march as fast as Xia Houyuan can walk a hundred miles a day.

Even if it can hit this speed, it will take five or six days.

Cao Cao knows better than anyone what will happen to a person after walking for five or six days hungry and cold.

Even this is a conservative estimate.

If you really want to leave, it may take more than ten days, so at that time, there are very few people who can really return to Hebei.

And even if it is difficult to reach Jizhou, it does not mean safety.For a bite to eat, they will inevitably go to extremes.

When people are hungry and crazy, they can do anything.

After Yuan Jun's rout arrives in Liyang, the entire Liyang County will be destroyed like locusts.

However, a single county in Liyang certainly cannot satisfy these hungry soldiers, and their next target must be Neihuang, Fanyang, Yin'an and other places.

The most important thing is that this was when they crossed the river and returned to Jizhou smoothly.

It is conceivable that at least half of the [-] routs died on the road, not only from hunger and cold, but also from crossing the river!
The turbulent Yellow River is like a moat.

The predicament faced by the soldiers is that there is nothing to eat in the surrounding hundreds of square kilometers. In winter, there are not many grass roots and bark left, so they have to eat insects and wild animals. Even if they live on the edge of the Yellow River, the big river has become a hindrance.

In order to cross the river, these scattered soldiers will inevitably snatch the boats and fight violently, which will further aggravate their internal friction. When they really return to Jizhou, it may be less than one-third.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao narrowed his eyes slightly, flashed a flash of killing intent, nodded and said: "Well, Feng Xiao's words are reasonable, pass the order, release Yuan Jun, and return to Xudu immediately!"

At present, Cao Jun no longer continued to prepare to kill the captives, but under Cao Cao's order, he divided his troops and went about their own affairs.

Cao Cao himself led more than [-] riders and headed south back to Xudu. He then appointed Xiahou Dun as the general and Yu Jin as the deputy general to lead the remaining Cao army at Guandu.

These people will be responsible for driving Yuan Jun back to the north, and at the same time escort all the seized Yuan Jun's supplies, weapons and equipment, military equipment and other non-food and grass materials back to Xudu.

The reason why he didn't choose to go south with cavalry at starry night like the first time Shen Chen came to Xudu was because the Wei clan and Yanling fell.

His frontline supplies at Guandu were running low, and he couldn't afford fine feed for horses. After the fall of Weishi and Yanling, Cao Cao had no way to replenish them along the line.

In history, his tiger and leopard rider did have a record of galloping three hundred miles a day and one night to chase Liu Bei, but the logistics supplies of the tiger and leopard rider are extremely sufficient, and one man and two horses also carry a large amount of fine feed such as beans to ensure the horse's physical strength.

Therefore, now that even his own army can't eat enough, Cao Cao basically can only guarantee the normal diet of the horses grazing every day, and it is impossible to have soybeans for the horses, so naturally he cannot make long-distance raids.

And just when Cao Cao officially set off for the south on October 28, at this moment in Xudu, Xun Yu also felt a headache.

Inside Shang Shuling's mansion, Chen Qun saw Xun Yu's temples were intertwined with white hair and black hair, which was much more than yesterday, and said with some distress: "Ling Jun, please take care of your body."

Xun Yu has been running around all night in the past few days, borrowing private soldiers and food and grass to stabilize prices and prevent panic. The time for sleeping is very short every day.

He didn't even burn incense today like in the past, but after listening to Chen Qun's words, he asked him: "The people in the city don't know about it."

"Never, and no people have fled."

Chen Qun said: "It's just that those aristocratic families are secretly connecting with each other, and they often gather every day, so there may be some unruly intentions."

"Don't mind them."

Xun Yu closed his eyes, rubbed his temples, and said softly: "Mr. Cao will go south in a few days, they can't make any waves."

Although he wanted to block the news, it was impossible to completely isolate such a big event, so he could only minimize the impact so as not to cause panic among the people.

It is not easy for Xu to have such a scene now. It is impossible for him to turn the security situation created by himself into chaos.

But it can barely hide it from the people at the bottom, but it can't hide it from those powerful families.

It's just that the news of Cao Cao's victory in Guandu made these people dare not make any big moves.

In fact, even when Yuan Shao was at his strongest, these aristocratic families did not launch a rebellion in Xudu.

The reason is that the Yingchuan aristocratic family supported Cao Cao, while the foreign aristocratic family lacked private soldiers, and Xu did not have actual troops.

There are also many reasons why Yuan Shu was repeatedly defeated by Cao Cao, and Yang Biao was imprisoned and tortured by Cao Cao.

The two most top aristocratic families in the world, Runan Yuan, Hongnong Yang, Yuan Shu was beaten by Cao Cao, and Yang Biao was taken to Liwei by Cao Cao and tortured as soon as he arrived in Xudu.

Even Yuan Shu and Yang Biao and Cao Cao were ignored, let alone others.

Moreover, Cao Cao's murderousness and brutality were very high, and the famous families were very afraid, so they dared not rebel even more at this time.

"Ah."

Chen Qun nodded slightly and said, "Now Xudu is guarding the emptiness. I'm afraid that before Duke Cao goes south, Shen Chen and Uncle Huang will attack Xudu."

Xun Yu said: "Don't worry, I've already ordered people to transport all the food stored in Taicang to the palace. As long as the stored food in Xudu is not destroyed, everything will be fine."

"Report!"

At this moment, the scouts suddenly rushed into the hall and said loudly: "Guan Yu and Liu Bei's army just broke out of the camp, so I don't know where they are going."

"Explore again!"

Xun Yu said immediately.

After about an hour, the scouts came back again and said, "Report, Guan Yu and Liu Beijun are heading towards Jile Township together."

Only Lexiang?
Xun Yu's face changed drastically, it was the east direction of Xu Capital City.

At that time, the inner city of Xudu was the imperial palace, and the outer city was expanded circle by circle, but the main expansion direction was to the west.

Therefore, the outer cities on the southeast, north and south sides of Xudu will be relatively weak. Among them, the east city is the closest to the imperial palace, only one street away, and you can reach the east gate of the imperial palace.

The most important thing is that the layout of the imperial palace was close at that time. The location of the warehouse of the imperial palace was generally in the northeast corner, just like the location of Luoyang Taicang in the northeast corner, because at that time the grain market in the east city of Luoyang was close to it, which was convenient for storage and transportation.

The layout of the Xudu Imperial Palace was mostly reduced and built according to the layout of the Luoyang Imperial Palace. If Liu Bei and Chen Chen's coalition forces reached the east city, it would most likely threaten Xudu's food storage, and Cao Cao's forces would be really dangerous.

"Immediately order Xia Houyuan and Cao Hong to return to defend Xudu, and then send people to move the food stored in the palace to Chengguang Hall and Yongshi Terrace."

Xun Yu gave the order without hesitation, and at the same time pondered for a moment, then said: "Send a letter to Li Tong, let him attack Wuyang and Kunyang, so as to encircle Wei and save Zhao."

"only."

The Shangshu Lingshi who was on duty today immediately went to disperse the instructions.

After they leave.

Only then did Xun Yu look into the distance with sad eyes, and said softly, "Shen Chen really has the talent of a tiger and a fox, but it's a pity that he can't be used by Duke Cao."

　Good news, from the 7th to the 8th, I will explode 4 in two days, and I will become a coding machine and write desperately.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)