Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1220: Urgent
Cao Hong looked at the flag and squinted his eyes. The dark sky prevented him from seeing clearly in the distance, but he always felt that something was wrong. The flag style of the Wei State did not seem to be like this?

However, the Wei State had many forces, especially in Liangzhou and other places where the flags were in disarray, so it seemed that it could not be used as a complete basis. When Cao Hong was hesitating, Li Dian beside him suddenly said, "General, this is not right."

"The background color of the flag looks like that of the Jin army!"

Cao Hong was shocked and looked carefully, and found that it was true, because the flag of Wei was dark red, while the flag of the opposite side was bright red!

This is because both sides were studying the ancient system of the Seven Kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn Period. The State of Wei originated from the State of Jin, so the color was lighter. It could have been quite easy to distinguish during the day, but at this time the sky was dark and the vision was unclear, so Li Dian was the first to see it.

At this time, the other side had already revealed their battle formation. Cao Ren saw something was wrong and shouted, "Form a battle formation!"

After hearing this, Cao's army hastily formed their battle array. However, they were now facing pursuers from Qingzhou from behind, and it was too late to turn around. While they were hastily forming their battle array, the first wave of attacks from the opposite side had already arrived.

A dense rain of arrows enveloped Cao's army. Although the Wei army put up their shields to resist, many of them were still shot down. The attacking enemy did not stop at all. They advanced with archery and sent cavalry to attack the flanks of Cao's army.

Seeing this, Cao Hong immediately sent Li Dian to meet the enemy. Li Dian led hundreds of tiger and leopard cavalry to meet the enemy and rushed up, shouting: "Please tell me your name. I, Li Dian, am an immortal and nameless ghost!"

The man raised his long sword and chopped at Li Dian's head, "King of Jin, General of the Western Expedition, Wei Yan, come and take your life!"

Li Dian put the knife over his head, and the two blades collided with each other, making a loud noise and bouncing back at the same time.

Wei Yan shook his arms and immediately chopped at Li Dian again. Li Dian lost the initiative and was forced to block the sword again. His palms were numb from the shock. He was shocked that the opponent was so strong!
But what made Li Dian even more suspicious was the name on the opposite side. Wasn’t this Wei Yan the general of the Jin army who killed Cao Xiu in Yuzhou?

This happened less than half a month ago, and it has only been seven or eight days since the news reached Li Dian. How come the enemy has already broken through Yanzhou and arrived in Jizhou?
You know, from Yuzhou to Jizhou, one has to pass through at least seven or eight cities in Yanzhou and several passes. Why didn't the defenders along the way sound the alarm?
Could it be that Yanzhou has been captured by the Jin army?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!
But Wei Yan did not give Li Dian time to think. He attacked with wave after wave of sword in his hand, entangled Li Dian tightly. The deputy generals Xie Jing and Li Yi behind him had already taken the opportunity to outflank him.

The reason they were able to break through the Yanzhou defense line so quickly was partly because they adopted the tactic of forced march, and another reason was that they took the route that Lu Su and Jiang Qin took south to Shouchun. The Cao army strongholds along the way had been cleared in advance, so even if scouts knew their whereabouts, they would not have had time to report it.

Wei Yan's surprise attack to the north was a strategy discussed by Yuan Xi and Lu Xun, aimed at catching Cao's army by surprise.

Originally, it would be easy for an isolated army to be surrounded and intercepted if it penetrated deep into the enemy's hinterland. However, after consultation between Yuan Xi and Lu Xun, they adopted a new approach, which was to advance in waves and launch surprise attacks.

Wei Yan's group was the vanguard, followed by Huang Zhong, then Wen Pin, then Yuan Xi and Lu Xun were the center army, and then the rear army. These teams were separated by dozens of miles, about a day's journey.

This looked like a long snake formation, a cardinal sin of military strategy, and could have been easily broken by Cao's army's concentrated superior forces. However, with the aid of some means, this long snake turned into a giant python.

As the head of the snake, Wei Yan's mission was to break through Cao's defense line in Yanzhou as quickly as possible and avoid fighting as much as possible. If he encountered Cao's army, he would only engage in a brief battle. Marching northward was his top priority.

If Cao's army pursued Wei Yan, their rear would be exposed to Huang Zhong's army that would arrive soon. All that would be left behind were food and supplies. After being defeated, Cao's army would no longer be able to resist Huang Zhong's pursuit and would have to either turn around to block him or flee into the city to defend itself.

If the enemy engages in a fight with Huang Zhong, Wen Pin, who arrives later, will join the battle, attacking Cao's army from both sides, making it miserable. Once Cao's army retreats, Huang Zhong and Wen Pin will not engage in a fight and will continue on their way to chase Wei Yan.

If the Wei army has reinforcements, Yuan Xi's central army and rear army will continue to rush to support and ensure the integrity of the entire team. The goal is to break through the Yanzhou defense line as quickly as possible and enter Jizhou.

This approach of leaving no way out may seem dangerous, but Yuan Xi didn't need a way out. As long as he entered Jizhou, that would be his home ground. Why would he be afraid of Cao's army chasing him from Yanzhou?

This method is actually a variation of the long snake formation, that is, if any part of the snake is attacked, the long snake formation can counterattack and surround the enemy with superior forces.

However, the long snake formation also had disadvantages, that is, the local troops were insufficient, and it was easy to be defeated by the enemy with superior forces without knowing anything. However, this weakness did not exist for the Jin army, which had reconnaissance methods such as balloons and rockets. When the Wei army was still more than ten miles away, the Jin army had already known it. The Cao army in Yanzhou was responsible for intercepting and pursuing, led by Le Jin, and assisted by Li Yan and Fei Guan from Yizhou. The two had followed Xiahou Yuan out of Sichuan, but were ambushed by Yuan Xi and Huang Zhong. Xiahou Yuan died in the battle, and Li Yan and Fei Guan fled north with the Cao army and entered Yanzhou.

They originally wanted to go to Xu Du, but received an order to go to the border of Yanzhou to meet Le Jin to defend against the attack of the Jin army. As a result, as soon as the two arrived, they encountered Yuan Xi's army heading north.

The two men, under the command of Le Jin, tried their best, but of course they could not stop the Jin army from rushing north, and the Yanzhou defense line was broken through one by one.

Wei Yan was the first to enter the war zone. The target of Yuan Xi's group was Cao Hong from the beginning. As the key point connecting Jizhou and Yanzhou, as long as Cao Hong retreated back to Yecheng, the supply route between Yanzhou and Yecheng would be completely cut off. If Cao Cao did not retreat to Guanzhong at that time, hundreds of thousands of Cao's troops would be trapped and killed in Yecheng.

To this end, Yuan Xi did not hesitate to mobilize all his reserve forces, including the Qingzhou militia and the Youzhou light cavalry of Yan Rou and Xianyu Fu. These forces combined formed an absolute advantage over Cao Hong's army on the local battlefield.

But at this time, it was too late for Cao's army to react. All of Cao's troops were attracted by Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun's troops that raided Yecheng, and they all went to Yecheng for rescue. Now no one could save Cao Hong's isolated army!

This set of strategies is closely linked to each other. According to the current intelligence, the Jin army has suppressed the Cao army. If Cao Hong continues to defend like this, he will face siege and assault from Yuan Xi's main force.

Cao Hong obviously understood this. When he saw Wei Yan, who had suddenly attacked and entangled Li Dian, he knew that things were not going well. You have to know that there were four Jin army generals on Zhang Xiu's side, and they might all be defeated later. Who knows how many reinforcements the Jin army will have later?

As if to verify his guess, a spy from the Wei army came to report urgently, saying that Wei Yan's troops were only the vanguard of the Jin army, and the teams behind them would probably arrive tomorrow, and their marching direction was to the west of the Wei army, between here and the direction of the road to Yecheng!

Upon hearing this, Cao Hong immediately sent a message to Zhang Xiu and Li Dian, asking them to prepare to retreat westward immediately. Cao Hong escorted the central army first, and the two men entangled the Jin army for half an hour and then followed them to cover the rear. They entered Dongwuyang, more than a hundred miles to the west, to repair their defenses to avoid being cut off by the enemy.

After receiving the order, the various units in Cao's camp began to retreat in a panic. This temporary retreat dealt a heavy blow to morale. The only reason Cao's army did not collapse was because of Cao Hong's prestige.

Cao Hong marched in the dark for half the night, and the soldiers were extremely tired. When it was almost dawn, many soldiers could not walk anymore. Cao Hong yelled and scolded upon seeing this. No wonder he was anxious. They absolutely could not rest at this time. There was no safe place along the way, and they could be attacked by the enemy at any time. Only by entering Dongwuyang could they be safe!
However, things did not go as he wished. The spy came again to report that a Jin army was discovered in the southwest, only twenty miles away from here, and its direction was exactly to the west where Cao Ren's army retreated!

As soon as Cao Hong heard the location, he knew it was too late to get there. If he wanted to return to Dongwuyang, he had to defeat the enemy!
Thinking of this, he secretly cursed himself for being self-defeating, because the enemy came so quickly because Cao Hong had dug the Yellow River earlier.

In order to flood Qingzhou, Cao Hong dug the nearby Yellow River dam with his own hands, turning the downstream into a large swamp. However, Yuan Xi had already prepared for it. By releasing water to Bingzhou in advance, the Yellow River channel in Jizhou was temporarily dried up, exposing the riverbed.

In this way, the Yellow River, which originally required ferry boats to cross, can now be crossed directly on foot, greatly shortening the crossing time.

This is the case with Dongwuyang, which is located on the north bank of the Yellow River and is an important ferry crossing. There are safe areas within dozens of miles on both sides of the city. But now the enemy can cross the river directly on foot and block Cao Hong's way back. It has to be said that this is extremely ironic.

Cao Hong had learned earlier that Zhang Xiu and Li Dian were the rear guards and were one or two hours behind him. In the current situation, it was too late to wait for them to catch up. Cao Hong immediately issued an order, requiring the soldiers to rest for a quarter of an hour and then continue to advance to engage the Jin army ahead!

After receiving the order, the exhausted Wei soldiers ate a few mouthfuls of dry food, stuffed the residue in their mouths, and fell into a deep sleep. Not long after, they were awakened by an urgent call. They jumped up one after another, holding their weapons nervously, and hesitated towards the unknown front in the darkness.

Half an hour later, the Wei army and the Jin army encountered each other. The soldiers on both sides did not make a sound, but silently collided with each other and started a fierce fight.

As soon as the battle started, Cao Hong keenly realized that the condition of the Jin army on the opposite side was actually not good. He immediately realized that the other side was also marching quickly, and he was afraid that the purpose was to tie him up and wait for reinforcements to arrive!

This means that now is the best time to break out!

Thinking of this, he rode forward, waved his hand, and shouted, "All the generals, follow me to charge and break through their defense line!"

Before he could finish his words, someone in the front line pulled up a bow, and with a whoosh, a sharp arrow flew through the air and shot towards Cao Hong in the chest!

(End of this chapter)