Three Kingdoms: Wolong's brother-in-law, tricking Liu Bei into seizing Jingzhou

Chapter 436: The clown turned out to be me? Another of my sons was killed by Liu Bei? Cao Cao's mentality collapsed!
Cao Ren was determined to defend Jinyang to the death.

Xun You shook his head and sighed, and stopped trying to persuade Cao Ren.

He understood that Cao Ren had no way out.

Prince Cao Zhi died in Bingzhou at the hands of Liu Bei. Cao Ren felt guilty and had no face to see Cao Cao.

Now he can only risk his life and defend Jinyang and Bingzhou to make up for his guilt towards Cao Cao.

So even though Cao Ren knew that there was little hope of holding Jinyang, he was still willing to risk his life to defend it.

Moreover, according to what Yang Xiu said, Liu Bei had already sent troops to capture Lishi, and must have captured Xihe County by now, completely cutting off their way to retreat westward to Guanzhong.

Their hope of retreating back to Guanzhong was gone, and they had no other choice but to continue defending Jinyang and hope that Cao Cao could rescue them.

After weighing all the pros and cons, Xun You could only choose to remain silent and accept this helpless fact.

"General Huoqi, you must stay calm. My Bingzhou Army only has 50,000 soldiers left, while the Han army has more than 200,000 soldiers!"

"Our soldiers are in panic, morale is low, and we are trapped in this isolated city of Jinyang. How can we hold on?"

"Defending Jinyang will only lead to death. The only way to survive is to immediately lead the army to abandon Bingzhou and retreat westward to Guanzhong!"

However, Yang Xiu was in a state of panic and had no intention of understanding Cao Ren's predicament. He jumped up and shouted anxiously to persuade him.

Even Cao Zhi could be abandoned, so how could he, as the hope of the Yang family, be willing to accompany Cao Ren and wait for death in Jinyang?

"You are such a smart, cowardly bastard, how dare you persuade me to give up Bingzhou?"

Cao Ren was furious and kicked Yang Xiu to the ground while cursing.

Yang Xiu grimaced in pain, covering his chest with his hands, looking at Cao Ren with grievance and fear.

I am the young master of the Yang family. It would be fine if you scolded me in public, but you even dared to be rude and violent to me!
Even if you are a general of the Qin State, how dare you humiliate me like this?

"Yang Xiu, you are such a smart fool. If it weren't for your stupid idea of ​​flooding the Zi family, I would have led my army back to Jinyang City long ago. How could my army have been annihilated?"

"If not for this, the Prince of Chenliu would have already retreated to Jinyang and followed me to lead my Bingzhou Army to retreat to Guanzhong. How could he have been killed by Liu Bei?"

"Now that the big-eared thief has taken over Xihe County, cutting off my route to retreat westward, you still have the nerve to tell me to retreat westward and shake my army's determination to hold on!"

"You are a self-righteous, cowardly fool. I will kill you—"

Cao Ren started to scold Yang Xiu fiercely, and when he was furious, he even drew his sword and wanted to kill Yang Xiu on the spot.

Yang Xiu was horrified and frightened, and he hid behind Xun You in a panic like a frightened child.

"Xun Lingjun, save me, save me~~"

He grabbed Xun You tightly and pleaded in fear.

The whole army was annihilated and his nephew was killed. Under the continuous stimulation, Cao Ren was mentally confused and lost all his reason. He jumped down and chased Yang Xiu to kill him.

"General Hussar, calm down!"

Xun You grabbed Cao Ren's arm with both hands and advised with a bitter face:
"To be fair, Yang Dezu's strategy was brilliant, but who could have thought that Liu Bei would see through his plan and use it against us to defeat our army."

"The situation has developed into such a desperate situation. We can only blame Liu Bei for being too strong and Xiao Fang for being too cunning. None of us can match him."

"This Yang Dezu also wanted to save tens of thousands of soldiers for our Great Qin. I think he forgot that Liu Bei had sent troops to seize Xihe County and cut off our way to retreat westward. He didn't intend to shake the morale of the army."

"General Huqi, beheading Yang Xiu at this time will only make the army more panicked, and will not benefit the overall situation at all!"

Cao Ren's sword did not fall down forcefully, and he was pulled down by Xun You, and the anger and ferocity on his face gradually disappeared.

Indeed, it was not that Yang Xiu was incompetent, but that Liu Bei and his gang were too cunning.

Not to mention Yang Xiu, even if it was Guo Jia who was here, he would probably still be fooled by Xiao Fang and suffer the same defeat.

It’s not like I haven’t eaten before…

"Ugh--"

Cao Ren waved his hands, turned around and sat back on his seat, then held his forehead with his hands, frowned, and fell into helplessness.

Yang Xiu breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Xun You with gratitude, wanting to thank him for his help.

"Yang Zude, you are very smart, but unfortunately you are too conceited. In the end, you overestimated yourself and underestimated the strength of Xiao Fang."

"Today, you should understand why all the princes in the world were defeated by Liu Bei."

Xun You looked straight at Yang Xiu and, as a person who had experienced this, gave him earnest advice.

Yang Xiu's body froze in place as if he suddenly came to his senses.

"Planning Saint, Planning Saint..."

"How ridiculous that I, Yang Xiu, boast of my extraordinary intelligence and actually want to challenge the reincarnated sage with my own wisdom."

"It turns out that the clown is me, haha..."

A bitter, self-deprecating sound rang out in the hall.

...

Puban Pass.

Cao Cao stopped at Ma'an Beach, looking at the boats returning to the beach and the Qin soldiers landing dejectedly, his brows gradually furrowed.

He could no longer remember how many times he had crossed the river to attack Pubanjin in the past month.

The ending was no surprise, everyone returned in frustration.

Huo Jun and Ling Tong, two Han generals, defended Pubanjin on the other side like a copper wall and iron fortress. No matter how hard he tried, it was still impregnable. "Our army has suffered setbacks for months, and its morale has been greatly reduced. There are thousands of casualties."

"That Huo Jun is known as the Pseudo-Han Gate God, and his reputation is well-deserved. It seems that it is impossible to capture Pubanjin by force."

"Your Majesty, we cannot place all our bets on conquering Pubanjin to save Bingzhou. We must find another way."

"If this drags on, I'm afraid the generals won't be able to hold out for a few more days."

Guo Jia, who was standing beside him, lowered his voice to remind him, fearing that others might hear and shake the morale of the army.

"This thief Huo Jun is really good at defending!"

Cao Cao nodded slightly, his tone of annoyance mixed with a little respect, and turned to look at Guo Jia:

"Feng Xiao's words make sense. It is really not a good idea to continue wasting time in Pubanjin."

"Then according to Fengxiao's plan, how should I break the impasse?"

Guo Jia raised his hand and pointed to the south, and lowered his voice again:
"Under the current situation, I believe Liu Bei has already expected that we will blindly attack Pubanjin, and Guan Yu's troops in the direction of Tongguan may relax their vigilance."

"I think, Your Majesty, why don't you leave some troops at Puban Pass and continue to bluff and pretend to attack Pubanjin, while Your Majesty leads the main force to march south overnight to Tongguan again."

"If we combine the 100,000 soldiers guarding Tongguan Pass and attack Guan Yu's troops outside the pass unexpectedly, we may have a chance to defeat them in one fell swoop."

"After defeating Guan Yu's army, our army will cross the river and head north to Hedong, and then directly attack Jiguan to threaten and cut off Liu Bei's retreat."

"We can also continue to advance eastward and directly capture the pseudo-Han capital Luoyang. The pseudo-Han government and the people will surely be greatly shocked."

"No matter how we advance, we can force Liu Bei to retreat south as soon as possible, and then we can resolve the crisis in Bingzhou!"

Cao Cao's eyes suddenly brightened. Guo Jia's words seemed to make him suddenly enlightened, and he suddenly got out of the dead end of fighting at Putanjin.

"Yes, to force the big-eared bandits to withdraw and save Bingzhou from danger, we don't have to capture Pubanjin!"

"The big-eared thief attacked my Bingzhou, so I attacked his Luoyang and raided his lair!"

Cao Cao laughed loudly and said happily:

"Quickly order all troops to retreat to Puban Pass and take a day off to rest. Tomorrow night I will personally lead the army straight to Tong Pass!"

After the strategy to break the impasse was decided, the gloom on Cao Cao's face disappeared, a long-lost smile appeared on his face, and he whipped his horse and was about to return to the city gate.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty——"

A crying voice was heard behind me.

When Cao Cao turned around, he saw Cao Hong riding his horse in a panic. He dismounted from his horse, staggered and fell in front of him.

"Prince of Chenliu, Zijian, he, he..."

Cao Hong had tears in his eyes and was so anxious that he spoke incoherently and could not explain himself for a long time.

Hearing the name Cao Zhi, Cao Cao immediately became alert.

He helped Cao Hong up and asked in a deep voice:
"Zi Lian, don't panic, what do you want to say?"

Cao Hong took a few deep breaths, trying his best to calm his out-of-control emotions, and replied with a sad face:
"Your Majesty, the Prince of Chenliu was killed by the big-eared thief!"

Cao Cao's body swayed, his mouth opened wide, and his face froze in shock.

At this moment, he thought his ears were broken and that he was just hallucinating.

Guo Jia's face also changed drastically, and he shouted anxiously:
"General Wei, are you confused? The Prince of Chenliu is in Bingzhou and is protected by the General of the Cavalry. How could he be harmed by Liu Bei?"

"Besides, even if the Prince of Chenliu was really murdered by Liu Bei, Your Majesty didn't know about it. How did you suddenly know about it?"

Cao Cao suddenly woke up, and the grief and anger that was about to explode was suppressed in an instant. A trace of luck surged in his heart, and he looked at Cao Hong anxiously again.

Cao Hong sighed and explained with tears in his eyes:
"Just now when we crossed the river to attack Puban Ferry, I saw the Han army hanging a head above the wall. At that time, a soldier recognized it as the head of the Prince of Chenliu."

"I didn't believe it at the time. I braved the arrows and rushed to the enemy camp wall to take a closer look. Only then did I recognize that it was really the head of the Prince of Chenliu!"

"Your Majesty, the Prince of Chenliu was really killed by Liu Bei. Thousands of soldiers saw it with their own eyes. There is no way they are wrong!"

boom!
It was as if a bolt of thunder fell from the sky, mercilessly striking Cao Cao on the head.

In an instant, Cao Cao felt the world spinning, his eyes were dizzy, and he staggered and fell backwards.

"His Majesty!"

Guo Jia and Cao Hong hurried forward and supported Cao Cao.

"Impossible, Zijian can't be dead!"

"Zijian was clearly in Bingzhou, and he was clearly protected by Zixiao, so how could he be killed by the big-eared thief?"

"Impossible, this is impossible, I don't believe it, I don't believe it~~"

Cao Cao's voice was hoarse and trembling, and he kept muttering in a trance, not daring and unwilling to accept the cruel fact that Cao Zhi was dead.

"Your Majesty, General Wei and tens of thousands of soldiers saw it with their own eyes, how could they be wrong!"

"This must be because the General of the Cavalry was badly defeated by Liu Bei, the situation in Bingzhou changed dramatically, and the Prince of Chenliu was unfortunately killed by Liu Bei."

"Then Liu Bei hung the head of the Prince of Chenliu at Pubanjin in order to intimidate our army and undermine our morale!"

Guo Jia supported Cao Cao and figured out the cause and effect with tears in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)