Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1222 Secret War
Cao Hong took the lead and broke through the scattered Jin army troops blocking the front. After ensuring that there was no danger in the front, he immediately gave the order to the exhausted Wei soldiers to retreat quickly.

He turned his head to look at the rear army, where Le Jin should be leading his troops to fight against the Jin army. Cao Hong hesitated, wondering if Le Jin had fought too hard. Should he start retreating to his side now?
But at this moment, there was a continuous sound of arrows breaking through the air in the distance, accompanied by faint screams. Cao Hong's face changed. He calculated the distance. If it was arrows, the sound would be too loud!

He hurriedly urged the soldiers to retreat. Not long after, Li Dian rode over in a panic and said to Cao Hong, "General, it's bad. The Jin army has used new weapons. General Le has suffered heavy losses and the army has collapsed!"

Cao Hong heard this and sighed, saying, "The Jin army is indeed difficult to deal with. Go and tell them to retreat quickly. Don't worry about the soldiers. Let's all retreat back to Dongwuyang first!"

Li Dian followed the order and rushed back. When he arrived at the battlefield, he found that Le Jin's troops had completely collapsed. The mountains and plains were full of dead bodies and fleeing Wei soldiers. Li Dian ran for several miles towards the fleeing soldiers and finally met Le Jin, who was rescued by his personal guards at a risk of his life.

Le Jin was hit by more than a dozen arrows, some of which even penetrated his two layers of armor. He was lying on a stretcher and twitching constantly. When Li Dian saw this, he quickly ordered his men to bring the war horses to the cart, put Le Jin on it, and escort him all the way back.

Le Jin forced himself to open his eyes and saw Li Dian escorting the carriage. He couldn't help but sigh, "Mancheng, this battle can't be fought."

"If the enemy has this kind of weapon, what use will our generals have in the future?"

Seeing that blood was constantly oozing from Le Jin's wound, Li Dian consoled him, "Is Wen Qian probably falling into a trap?"

"Victory and defeat are common in the military. I will take revenge later."

Le Jin shook his head, feeling more and more aggrieved the more he thought about it, "Either I fell into a trap, or the other side used a crossbow cart to push over, but I just couldn't stop it!"

"Why does the crossbow on the opposite side shoot arrows so fast and with such great power?"

"If this continues, will military tactics and formations still be useful?"

He shouted a few more times and then fainted.

Li Dian took Le Jin and fled all the way to Dongwuyang. After Cao Hong learned that Le Jin was seriously injured, he became even more worried. Now there was no news about Zhang Xiu, who must have been captured or killed. It seemed that he could not defend the eastern route, let alone defend Yecheng.

Moreover, Yecheng had been raided and besieged by the Jin army. Was the Cao family really going to be destroyed?
After much deliberation, he finally made a decision. He left Li Dian to reinforce the defense of Dongwuyang City, while he himself took the more than 10,000 Wei troops that were still intact to Yecheng.

Except for several thousand people who were the defenders of Dongwuyang, the rest were the main force of the central army who had been fighting for several days. When they heard that they were about to set off, their faces fell immediately, but they dared not say anything and could only force themselves to manage their armaments.

Someone complained: "If we keep going like this, even if we don't get killed by the enemy, we will be exhausted to death after running for a few more days!"

Someone shouted, "Be careful what you say!"

Then he lowered his voice and said, "Just be content. The Jin army is too powerful and it is difficult for us to stop them. Do you want to wait for death here?"

"If you follow the general now, your chances of survival will naturally be greater. What else are you dissatisfied with?"

The man in front thought about it and suddenly said, "That's the truth."

"Then have the defenders here been abandoned?"

The other person said: "Who knows, at this time, who can still care about whom?"

"Besides, if you can't win, just surrender. The Jin army won't massacre the city, so at least you can save your life."

The man said angrily, "Damn it, if we keep fighting, we will die on the battlefield sooner or later. Isn't that a loss?"

Such whispers spread widely among Cao's army. In the past, a group of people would have been brought to justice by military law, but now no one cares.

After the battle had gotten to this point, Cao's army had long lost their spirit and only wanted to muddle through. The same went for Cao's generals. Their composure had been shattered when Yecheng was attacked. Now everyone from top to bottom was in a panic and no longer optimistic about the future of the Wei army.

After Li Dian sent Cao Hong out of the city, he stood on the top of the city wall, watching Cao Hong's army marching tiredly towards Weijun, and couldn't help but sigh. Now there were only him and the seriously injured Le Jin left in the city. Within two days, the Jin army would surely attack. How could he fight the enemy with only five or six thousand wounded soldiers in the city then?

What's the point of defending Dongwuyang?
However, Li Dian received news the next day that the Jin army did not march towards Dongwuyang at all, but circled north and went directly to Yecheng!

Only then did Li Dian realize that the target of the Jin army this time seemed to be Yecheng. The first Jin army unit that arrived at Yecheng was not used for a feint attack at all!
Li Dian quickly sent out spies to investigate the movements of the Jin army to see if he could take advantage of the opportunity to launch a surprise attack from the rear and relieve the pressure on Yecheng.

On the Jin army side, Yuan Xi drew a straight line on the map and said to the generals: "Prepare the army overnight and start marching at full speed tomorrow. Our target is Yecheng, where we will meet up with Zhuge Junshi and his men."

The generals looked at each other and accepted the order together, but they were unsure because the Jin army was also exhausted, and winter was still more than half a month away. When the weather turned cold, could they besiege Yecheng in winter under such circumstances?

Yuan Xi did not explain to the generals, but asked them to organize their troops and set out tomorrow. In the end, Lu Xun and Wei Yan stayed behind. Yuan Xi first said to Wei Yan: "Wen Chang has traveled hundreds of miles this time, and it is really hard."

Wei Yan quickly said: "It is all within my responsibility."

Yuan Xi said, "I have seen Wen Chang's ability to march quickly, so the task I am giving Wen Chang now is to organize the army and set out in two hours to support Zhuge Military Advisor in Yecheng."

"Military Advisor Zhuge is surrounded by Cao's army who may come to support him at any time. I am really worried, so I can only trouble Wenchang again."

"I will select 5,000 soldiers who are not injured and in good physical condition for you. You can choose any mule or horse in the army. Use the carriages to transport the baggage and tired soldiers. You must rush to Yecheng as quickly as possible to provide support!"

After hearing this, Wei Yan immediately took the order and went out. Soon the army became busy.

Yuan Xi relaxed a little. Seeing that Lu Xun wanted to speak, he said, "Bo Yan, just speak frankly."

Lu Xun said, "My lord, what you are doing now is still like the long snake formation you formed before, which can respond from beginning to end. There is nothing wrong with this idea."

"But Weijun is not Yanzhou. Yanzhou's troops are scattered and it is difficult to break this formation. But now Weijun still has at least 70,000 to 80,000 Cao troops distributed in various cities. They are likely to send troops to besiege our weak points, making it difficult for us to move forward."

"This kind of forced march is still too risky."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "I know, but I don't want to give the Wei army a chance to rest for the winter."

"The current fighting style has resulted in heavy casualties, but if it is delayed until next year, the number of casualties will increase several times."

Lu Xun asked, "But can we really capture Yecheng in half a month?"

Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "I don't know either, but I have a feeling that Cao Cao is really going to fail this time."

"Whether this guess is right or not, I have to try it anyway so as not to miss this opportunity."

"The situation on the battlefield changes rapidly. Even if we can't think of a solution for the time being, we will always be able to come up with some new ideas after Lord Kong Ming and they meet up."

After hearing this, Lu Xun had no choice but to nod. He felt that there was something he had to ask, so he asked, "Mr. Fengxiao left Shouchun earlier and his whereabouts are unknown. It seems that he was not seen on the battlefield in Jizhou either. Did the lord send him to do something else?"

Yuan Xi thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I'm not sure either."

"Before he left, he just asked me for the token of the Northern District Prosecutor's Office and said that he would act accordingly. As for what he was going to do or where he was going, he didn't tell me either. He just said that he wanted to keep it secret."

After listening to this, Lu Xun was silent for a while and said, "Could it be that he is in Yecheng?"

Yuan Xi was startled, then he said in a lost voice, "It is indeed possible."

"Then we should hurry up and march. If we delay for too long and let Cao Cao stabilize the situation in the city, our spies in ambush in the city will be in trouble!"

On the city wall of Yecheng, Sima Yi had been guarding the city for several days. Zhuge Liang, who was outside the city, launched several attacks, but Sima Yi managed to resolve them all.

Although Cao's army suffered heavy casualties, the last thing Yecheng lacked was people, and Sima Yi only hoped that the Jin army would not attack the city wall. Anyway, the longer the time, the more disadvantageous it would be for the Jin army below.

Facts also proved that Sima Yi's idea was correct. The Jin army under the city began to get anxious because reinforcements from Cao's army were constantly arriving.

Although they were all scattered troops and were all repelled by Zhao Yun, if this continued, the tens of thousands of Cao troops in Wei County would sooner or later rush back and surround Zhuge Liang's isolated army.

But Sima Yi did not feel the slightest bit of joy, because he heard rumors in the city that Sima Yi had colluded with the Jin army and was preparing to open the city and surrender!

Sima Yi might not care about such nonsense at ordinary times, but it was very troublesome when Cao Cao was about to die. Who knew if Cao Cao would go crazy before his death? After all, at Cao Cao's instruction, a purge had already begun in the city in the past few days!
Sima Yi had his own information channels and learned that the cause of the incident was actually a rebellion by the eldest princess and the fourth prince in the Prince of Wei's mansion!
This incident happening at this critical time point was a huge blow to Cao's camp, and related rumors were flying everywhere. Some said that the Fourth Prince was assassinated by the Second Prince and forced to rebel, and some even said that the Third Prince had been killed by the Second Prince.

Sima Yi thought that Yecheng had probably been infiltrated by the Jin army like a sieve. The so-called School Affairs Office was simply a bunch of trash, suppressed like this by the Jin army's spies. They were not as reliable as his own loyal soldiers and servants.

If this continues, collapse may happen suddenly. Now that the pressure on the city's defense has been reduced, should I meet Cao Cao?
At the same time, in a secret place in the city, Yang Feng entered the room and said to the people sitting inside: "I was wondering how could the Cao Qing siblings cause such a big storm, it turns out that the master has been behind it all the time."

(End of this chapter)