Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The fire in Dongchaojin could be seen clearly even from the other side of the Yellow River.

This fire also burned down the entire Dongchaojin and a large number of Yellow River ferries.

The commander in chief of Dongchaojin was none other than Cao Hong.

As a general from the Cao clan, no matter how important Dongchaojin was, Cao Hong would not lower his status to garrison here.

But Dong Chaojin...is so rich!
Most of the transportation of money and grain between the two sides of the Yellow River, as well as the passage of merchants and caravans, had to pass through Dongchaojin.

It is for this reason that Cao Hong, who loves money like his life, knows that if he sifts through Dongchaojin, he will find mountains of gold and silver.

Moreover, the Wei Kingdom was just established, and even Cao Cao himself was extremely poor, and the money and grain in the national treasury were almost always insufficient to cover expenses.

This also meant that even if Cao Cao wanted to allocate money and grain for some private matters, it was extremely difficult as he was closely watched by many officials.

Cao Hong's love of money is one thing, but besides being a capable and adept general, he also knows how to make money reasonably, which is a rare skill. More importantly, Cao Hong will consciously hand over the bulk of the money to Cao Cao.

Therefore, with Cao Cao's tacit consent, Cao Hong has been serving as the defender of Dongchaojin.

But at this moment, Cao Hong, who had made a fortune in Dongchaojin in the past few years, had no color on his face, although he looked much richer than before.

Cao Hong, who was escaping on a ferry under the desperate protection of his personal guards, sat at the stern of the boat, staring blankly at the growing fire in Dongchaojin, muttering to himself.

"Zhao Yun...why is he here..."

"It's over, it's over..."

"My accumulated fortune is gone, and Qingzhou is also going to be gone..."

No one knows the importance of Dongchaojin better than Cao Hong.

It doesn't mean that without Dongchaojin, Jizhou will no longer have a ferry to cross the river to Qingzhou, but Dongchaojin's superior location and convenient transportation mean that it is destined to be the most suitable ferry for large-scale transportation of money and food and troop deployment.

In addition, transportation across the Yellow River also requires a series of supporting equipment at the ferry.

From large items like ferries, warehouses, and official roads to small items like vehicles, manpower, and transportation tools, except for Dongchaojin, the other small ferry crossings in Qingzhou simply do not have these conditions.

Once Dongchaojin was lost, the difficulty for Jizhou to mobilize large numbers of troops to support Qingzhou increased by more than several times. The additional losses required would be astronomical amounts of money, food, manpower, and extremely precious fighter planes.

At this moment, Cao Hong's mind was in a mess, and he didn't know how to report this to the king...

"If I lose Dongchaojin, will the king chop off my head?"

When Cao Hong, supported by his personal guards, stepped onto the north bank of the Yellow River, he still had a dazed look on his face, and allowed the doctor quickly found by his personal guards to further treat his hastily bandaged wounds.

Faced with Tian Yu, who led the White Horse Volunteers to attack Dongchaojin, Cao Hong, who realized it later, naturally led his personal guards to fight desperately to resist, intending to reverse the situation by killing the enemy general in the battle formation.

In terms of martial arts alone, Tian Yu is not outstanding.

Although Cao Hong was greedy and lustful, he never neglected his martial arts and was a rare and powerful general. This meant that Tian Yu was completely at a disadvantage within ten rounds when fighting against Cao Hong who was fighting hard.

It was not until Zhao Yun arrived in time after hearing the news that he rescued Tian Yu who was in danger. He fought with the mad Cao Hong for thirty rounds before he won one shot.

However, because of the chaos in Dongchaojin, Cao Hong's personal guards rushed forward and managed to save Cao Hong from Zhao Yun's spear. They escorted Cao Hong all the way out of Dongchaojin, where the situation was hopeless, and found a ferry, and then they managed to escape. After the doctor finished further treatment, Cao Hong, who had been looking at the flames on the other side of the river, gradually came to his senses and gave an order.

"Immediately send one man and two horses to Yecheng to inform the king that Dongchaojin has been burned down, and prepare horses for me. I will return to Yecheng to apologize to the king."

Cao Hong knew how serious the fall of Dongchaojin was, but he dared not hide it from Cao Cao, lest Cao Cao misjudge the situation.

Someone had to take the blame for the Dongchaojin incident, and Cao Hong was also prepared to be beheaded by Cao Cao after returning to Yecheng in order to reassure the civil and military officials in the court.

On his way back to Yecheng, Cao Hong left a suicide note to his personal guards, asking them to pass it on to his son.

When the wounded Cao Hong rushed to the gate of Yecheng after rushing day and night, his attendants were already waiting there, leading Cao Hong to the government office with serious faces.

Seeing this, Cao Hong knew that the news of the fall of Dongchaojin must have spread.

Besides, there is no point in keeping such a big thing secret.

On the way to the government office, Cao Hong's already tired face became even gloomier, and it seemed that the king was preparing to execute someone in the office.

However, Cao Hong calmed himself down and no longer had any thoughts of struggling or resisting.

As the huge amount of wealth accumulated in Dongchaojin disappeared, Cao Hong felt half heartbroken.

However, when Cao Hong thought about how his carelessness had caused his elder brother to lose Dongchaojin, the other half of his heart died as well.

When Cao Hong arrived at the office and his attendants reported to him and allowed him to enter, he saw that except Cao Cao, most of the well-known civil and military officials of Wei were also there, and most of them had solemn expressions.

In fact, the civil and military officials of Wei State could not help but feel solemn.

It had only been a short time since Liu Bei had spread his Northern Expedition Manifesto throughout the world when news came from Qingzhou that the Northern Expedition army led by the Han Prime Minister Li Ji had penetrated into the heart of Beihai County like a hot knife through butter. Then came the tragic news that Dongchaojin had fallen.

Especially the fall of Dongchaojin, which was no less than turning Qingzhou into an enclave of Wei in a short period of time, and it would be extremely difficult to allocate money, food and military forces.

In a sense, for Cao Cao, this was no less devastating than Liu Bei's shock at hearing the bad news of the White-Cloaked Crossing the River in the original story.

Cao Hong walked in step by step, looking embarrassed and gloomy. Then he knelt down and bowed to Cao Cao who was sitting at the top.

"The guilty general Cao Hong lost Dongchaojin due to carelessness. Please punish me, Your Majesty."

Cao Cao opened his slender eyes and stared at Cao Hong below for several breaths before he spoke slowly.

"What crime have you committed? Get up."

Cao Hong was stunned for a moment, even thinking that he had heard it wrong, and looked up at Cao Cao in a daze.

Cao Cao continued slowly.

"I have heard about the battle of Dongchaojin. We were attacked by Zhao Yun and his 10,000 white horse volunteers. Zilian fought to the death for nearly half an hour to recapture Dongchaojin. He was seriously injured and was just rescued by his personal guards."

"His loyalty and bravery are rare in the Wei Dynasty, which makes me very happy." (End of this chapter)