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

"What happened!"

Cao Cao asked in a deep voice, trying his best to control his emotions, and there was a slight tremor in his voice.

Everyone looked at each other, but no one said anything.

The more they dared not speak, the more uneasy Cao Cao felt, and the stronger his ominous premonition became.

"Zi Lian, say something, what happened?"

Cao Cao shouted at Cao Hong, and his mind became increasingly confused.

Cao Hong dared not not answer, so he could only grit his teeth and sigh:

"Your Majesty, Jinyang has been lost... lost!"

Cao Cao's head buzzed and he staggered back half a step.

Everyone around was shocked, thinking that Cao Cao was provoked and was about to faint from anger, and they hurriedly tried to step forward to help him.

However, Cao Cao waved his hand suddenly to stop everyone.

He closed his eyes tightly, took several deep breaths, and finally stabilized his shaking body.

"Jinyang, we finally failed to hold it..."

After a long, sad and helpless sigh, Cao Cao opened his eyes with difficulty.

This sentence seemed to indicate that the author had been mentally prepared for the fall of Jinyang.

He must be mentally prepared.

By the time the Battle of Bingzhou had reached this point, all the counties and kingdoms, all the strategic passes and dangerous hills had been lost, leaving only Cao Ren and his 50,000 soldiers trapped in a palm-sized place like Jinyang City. Anyone with a discerning eye knew that it was impossible for Cao Ren to hold the city.

You, Cao Cao, cannot save Cao Ren.

If it could be rescued, Pubanjin would have been captured long ago. Why would it have been delayed until now?
Even if we take a step back, what would happen even if we captured Pubanjin?

Liu Bei has an army of 200,000 in Bingzhou!

If you capture Pubanjin, he can just dispatch tens of thousands of troops to reinforce the defense of Anyi City and still block your advance.

What to do then? Continue attacking Anyi?

Can you conquer it without three to five months?

Can Cao Ren hold on that long?

Of course not.

If Cao Ren had the ability to hold out for three to five months against the siege of Liu Bei's 200,000 troops, he would not have been beaten to a pulp by Liu Bei and lost the entire Bingzhou in less than two months.

So, everyone knows that it is only a matter of time before Jinyang City falls.

Even Cao Cao himself knew that this would be the result.

Ministers like Guo Jia all knew what the outcome would be, but no one dared to say it, so they could only pretend to be confused and accompany him to continue attacking Pubanjin, pretending to work hard to lift the siege of Jinyang.

There was no way out. He was so angry about Cao Zhi's death that he decided to defend Bingzhou to the death.

These civil and military officials were not stupid. Everyone was afraid of angering him, and no one dared to persuade him to give up.

Until today, Cao Hong, with tears in his eyes, told the sad news of the fall of Jinyang.

Guo Jia, Xu Huang and other generals behind him all breathed a sigh of relief. They all felt relieved, as if a huge stone in their hearts had finally fallen to the ground.

"Zi...Zi is filial to him, he..."

Cao Cao wanted to ask about Cao Ren's ending, but he couldn't bring himself to ask, for fear of getting a result that he could not accept.

"Your Majesty!"

Cao Hong fell to his knees on the ground, unable to hold back his tears any longer.

"Brother Zixiao originally led his army to break out from the north of Jinyang City, but unexpectedly, a deputy general named Guo Huai betrayed him and leaked the secret."

"Liu Bei then easily captured Jinyang and set up an ambush north of Jinyang, completely annihilating the 50,000 troops that I had managed to break through."

"Xun You, Le Jin, Zhu Ling and others all died in the chaos."

"Brother Zixiao was captured alive by the enemy general Zhao Yun, but he would rather die than surrender, and was eventually beheaded on Liu Bei's orders."

"The executioner is none other than the traitor Ma Chao!"

"Your Majesty, Brother Zixiao also died at the hands of Ma Chao!"

"You must avenge him, and avenge our Cao family members who died in Bingzhou!"

Cao Hong cried and recounted the events of the Battle of Jinyang. At the end he was so angry that he hugged Cao Cao's legs and shouted angrily.

Cao Cao's body was frozen, his mouth was wide open, and his face was twisted with endless horror.

He originally still had some hope, hoping that Cao Ren would be able to fight to the death and break through, and come to see him alive.

Unexpectedly, in the end, Cao Ren broke through the siege, but still died in Jinyang.

An army of 50,000 was completely wiped out!
With so many counselors and generals, including his brother Cao Ren, not one of them escaped alive?
The entire Bingzhou Legion is about to be annihilated!
What shocked Cao Cao even more was that Cao Ren died at the hands of Ma Chao again!
Cao Tai, Cao Chun, Cao Zhi, Cao Ren...

In the battle of Bingzhou, four people from his Cao family lost their lives, all killed by Ma Chao's sword!
In a trance, an idea suddenly popped up in Cao Cao's mind:
Is this the retribution for my betrayal?

I killed Ma Chao's entire family back then. Now it's karma, and Ma Chao wants to kill all of my Cao family members?

Cao Cao froze in place, motionless, as if frozen.

"His Majesty?"

Cao Hong called out softly and reached out to touch Cao Cao.

Cao Cao, however, leaped back as if struck by lightning, drew his sword and shouted:
"Don't harm me, horse! Protect me! Protect me quickly!"

Cao Hong was confused.

The ministers around were all stunned, looking at Cao Cao who was screaming in fear. They thought that their emperor could not bear the bad news and was driven crazy.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. We are at Puban Pass. There is no Ma Chao here. No one can harm Your Majesty."

Guo Jia was stunned for a moment, then he tried to comfort him. He was the only one who could see that Cao Cao was deeply frightened by the deaths of Cao's children at the hands of Ma Chao, and he had an illusion that Ma Chao was right in front of him.

After being reminded by Guo Jia, Cao Cao suddenly came to his senses.

Looking at the sword in his hand and then at the stunned soldiers around him, Cao Cao finally understood what had happened and realized how out of control he had been.

The king of a country, who had so many relatives killed by a traitor, was now so frightened that he became mentally disturbed and had hallucinations, making a fool of himself in public.

Where is the face?

Where is the majesty?
Cao Cao froze in place, his face gradually turning red. For a moment he felt both grief-stricken and embarrassed, and didn't know what to do.

"what--"

A mournful scream was heard.

The sword in Cao Cao's hand fell out of his hand, he closed his eyes, straightened his body, and fell heavily to the ground with his head raised.

"His Majesty!"

"His Majesty!"

The generals on both sides were horrified and rushed forward.

At the Puban Pass, thousands of Qin soldiers fell into panic and chaos.

...

The night is dark.

In the dim room, Cao Cao, who had been unconscious for a long time, finally woke up.

Guo Jia, Cao Hong and other ministers all breathed a sigh of relief and gathered around to comfort Cao Cao.

"You don't need to say any more!"

Cao Cao struggled to sit up, waved his hand weakly, and stopped his ministers from trying to comfort him.

Guo Jia and others couldn't help but look surprised when they saw Cao Cao being so calm.

Even Cao Cao himself was surprised. He did not expect that he could calm down so quickly and accept the cruel facts about Cao Ren's death and the fall of Bingzhou.

It was as if the killing of Cao's sons one by one, the capture of cities one after another, and the annihilation of tens of thousands of soldiers had made him numb from all the bad news.

When I woke up from the numbness at this time, the grief and anger in my heart were almost gone.

"Your Majesty, we must avenge brother Zixiao, we must avenge Zijian and the others, and we must take back Bingzhou!"

When Cao Hong saw that Cao Cao had calmed down, he immediately knelt down, crying and angrily asking for battle.

Guo Jia and others did not dare to say anything, but just looked at Cao Cao silently to see his attitude first.

"Zi Lian, you should get up first."

Cao Cao sighed softly, leaned over to help Cao Hong up, and asked bitterly:
"I also want to avenge Zijian, Zixiao and the others, and those soldiers who perished in Jinyang."

"But tell me, if we had the ability to recapture Bingzhou and avenge them, why would we be blocked by a small town like Pubanjin for three months?"

Cao Hong was speechless.

Guo Jia secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

What Cao Cao meant by this was clearly an admission that with Qin's current national strength, it was impossible to cross the Yellow River and recover Bingzhou.

This also means that Cao Cao has fought his way out of the pain of losing his son and has regained the overall perspective that a great leader should have.

"Your Majesty is absolutely right. General Wei, even if we want to avenge General Huqi and his men, it is definitely not now!"

Guo Jia finally dared to speak and bowed to Cao Cao:

"I believe that the fall of Bingzhou is now a foregone conclusion, and it is impossible to recover the lost territory in the short term."

"What we have to do now is to turn the attack into defense and hold on to Puban Pass, Tong Pass, and Wu Pass to prevent Liu Bei from taking advantage of the victory to advance westward and plot against our Guanzhong territory!"

Guo Jia expressed what everyone was thinking.

Except for a few generals from the Cao clan, all the generals from other families nodded and agreed with Guo Jia's strategy.

After all, the dead people like Cao Ren were not their relatives, so it was just a pity for them. Apart from resentment, these generals from other families did not have much resentment.

For them, in this unfavorable situation, the most important thing is to defend the existing one-third acre of land of Qin State.

Only by keeping these can they keep their fiefs, their fame, wealth, glory and honor.

At this time, Cao Hong and others also understood the interests involved. They had a desire for revenge but had nothing to say.

"Ugh!"

Cao Hong stomped his feet hard and closed his mouth helplessly.

Cao Cao couldn't bear to disappoint these relatives, so he patted Cao Hong on the shoulder and said seriously:

"Zijian is my beloved son, and Zixiao is my brother. How can I not avenge them both?"

"Zi Lian, you have to believe me. The current forbearance is only temporary. It is for the purpose of turning defense into offense in the future."

"I swear here on the fate of the Cao family. I will work hard to strengthen the Qin Dynasty. One day, I will march eastward to attack Han and destroy Liu, and avenge our dead relatives!"

After listening to Cao Cao's heroic words, Cao Hong's disappointed and sad mood was relieved, and a glimmer of faith rekindled in his eyes.

"I believe in Your Majesty. One day I will lead you and your brothers to destroy the Han Dynasty and kill Liu Bei, to avenge my brothers!"

"I am willing to endure humiliation and wait for that day to come!"

Cao Hong clasped his fists and expressed his feelings.

Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief, forced himself to get off the couch, walked out the door step by step, and looked towards the direction of Jinyang.

"Liu Bei, you have a lot of blood debts on your hands. Sooner or later, I, Cao Cao, will make you pay with blood!"

"Sooner or later——" (End of this chapter)