Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 630: A Battle of Wisdom
Cao Cao opened his eyes and said, "If this is the case, won't our army be in danger of being destroyed?"

Jia Xu smiled slightly, "We have fled the city in a hurry. The enemy will think that our army is in a very bad state, and the rear army will naturally be in chaos, so they will look down on us. If you can go to the rear army to rectify the morale of the army, and at the same time order two generals to ambush on both sides of the road, when Liu He catches up, you can fight him with the main army, and then attack from the ambushes on both sides. Although it will not be easy to defeat Liu He, it will be enough to buy time to escape from Hangu Pass."

"Besides, the lord could have confessed his faults and expressed his willingness to return the emperor to the battlefield. However, the war was dangerous and he dared not surrender in order to save his life. After returning to Yanzhou, he would certainly apologize. Then Liu He would naturally withdraw his troops when he saw that he could not achieve his goal in the battle."

Cao Cao frowned and said, "How could Liu He believe such a joke?"

Jia Xu, however, had a matter-of-fact expression on his face: "He certainly doesn't believe it, but he has to believe it. Although our army has withdrawn from Luoyang City, the city has just experienced a great turmoil, and the ministers are in a state of panic. In addition, the city defense has not yet been arranged. You must know that our army still has 20,000 soldiers and horses at Hulao Pass. If he pursues us relentlessly, and the soldiers and horses at Hulao Pass counterattack from the rear, won't he lose more than he gains? I still say that he is too smart, so he fell into the trap."

Cao Cao did not hesitate any longer: "Okay, let's follow Wenhe. As long as he leads his army to pursue us, I will follow your advice."

After saying this, he looked at Le Jin and Li Dian and said, "You two will each lead 8,000 soldiers and ambush in the woods two miles ahead. I will go to the rear to reorganize the troops. If Liu He comes, do everything as Wen He said just now."

Liu He personally left the north of the city, took over 50,000 troops from Xun Yu, and rushed west. Xun Yu and the other three were naturally left behind to take over the city.

"Cao Cao, Cao Cao, if I can capture you this time, there will be no one in the world worthy of being my opponent. In less than three to five years, I will be able to unify the country."

Thinking of this, Liu He couldn't help but feel a little excited.

After chasing for a long time, he finally saw the vague silhouettes of Cao's army in the distance ahead.

"The enemy is ahead, brothers, follow me and charge forward!"

"Kill!"

Fifty thousand soldiers bravely advanced forward. When the Cao army in front heard the movement behind them, they also hurriedly quickened their pace and fled.

Liu He stared at the enemy in front of him, unwilling to blink, for fear that he would lose sight of the enemy in the blink of an eye.

"The world is in our hands, the world is in our hands!"

He patted the Black King under his crotch. The Black King was now nearly middle-aged. Although his flexibility and physical strength had weakened compared to four or five years ago, his ferocity was even greater than before.

It sensed its master's intention, and let out low roars, exhaling hot air from its nostrils. It ran wildly while keenly searching for a suitable target.

The Black King's four hooves were still strong. After several consecutive pounces, he was the first to catch up with Cao's army.

"Ow!"

Its low roar suddenly turned into a wild howl. Just as it was about to leap forward and bite it fiercely, Liu He suddenly patted its neck.

This was the tacit understanding between it and Liu He. Patting the neck meant stopping. Although it was very puzzled, with so many "food" and "enemies" only a dozen steps away, it could pounce on them with just one leap, so why stop? However, due to the tacit understanding developed over the past ten years, it still stopped quickly.

Liu He looked at these Cao troops with doubts in his heart.

"No, they clearly heard and saw me rushing over. There are tens of thousands of soldiers behind me, but they didn't panic at all. No one fled in all directions, and no one turned around to fight the enemy. There's something wrong."

He stopped where he was, vigilantly observing the surrounding environment in front of him.

About two or three hundred steps forward, in addition to a three or four zhang wide official road in the middle where Cao's army was marching, and another hundred zhang of flat land, there were dense woods on both sides. At this early summer time, the grass and trees were lush, swaying in the wind, and rustling.

"Huh?" He found that after he stopped, the Cao army in front of him, which seemed to be fleeing at a very fast speed, actually slowed down its pace obviously, and from time to time some of them turned back to look at him.

Moreover, in the woods on both sides far ahead, there would occasionally be some unusual movements that were clearly unrelated to the wind.

"There is indeed a problem!"

He waved his hand, signaling the army behind him to stop and watch, with no intention of launching an attack.

Liu He felt that this scene seemed very familiar. He searched deep in his mind for a long time and suddenly remembered. "Oh, yes! Jia Xu, it's him again. Isn't this the strategy he used to give Zhang Xiu advice on how to pursue Cao Cao in the original history? It's just that he was on the winning side at that time, but now he is on the retreating side."

Liu He guessed that Cao Cao must be in charge of the rear troops of the Cao army in front of him, so they could be so orderly, and there must be ambushes in the woods on both sides, waiting for him to catch up and then suddenly strike back.

"Hehe, great Jia Xu, great Cao Cao, if I hadn't traveled through time from the future, I would have really been fooled by you this time. If it were based on real skills, I would naturally not be a match for Jia Xu alone, but in this battle of wits, I will definitely win!"

He said to the messenger beside him: "Pass the order and retreat slowly, pretending to be a little panicked."

Although the messenger did not understand what it meant, he still passed on the general's order immediately as it was his duty.

Liu He suddenly sighed loudly: "Oh, how hateful! I didn't expect Cao Cao to be so cunning. The 20,000 troops at Hulao Pass didn't even retreat. Humph, he wants to lure the tiger away from the mountain. I won't fall for it. After we take Hulao Pass, it won't be too late to take Yanzhou. The whole army retreats!"

Then he patted the Black King, who shook his head to express his dissatisfaction.

Liu He smiled, leaned down, and stroked the Black King's head: "Okay, I'll give you a live sheep when I get back."

Black King might not understand his whole sentence, but after so many years of getting along, Black King knew very well what the sound of "sheep" meant. Every time he heard this pronunciation, he could have a delicious meal, so he was very happy, turned around and ran back.

Cao Cao personally led the rear army in the front, slowing down the pace of escape while constantly sending people to the rear to observe the movements and gather information.

"What's going on? Liu He has clearly caught up. If he didn't attack immediately before because he was waiting for the army to catch up, then why hasn't he attacked now that he has joined the army?"

He now had complete faith in Jia Xu's strategy, so he was ready to wait for the rear army to suddenly turn their guns around and quickly line up to fight the enemy. When the two sides were fighting fiercely, Le Jin and Li Dian would attack from both sides. When the battle between the two sides was at a stalemate, he would personally speak to Liu He, and only then would he have the capital to negotiate. Otherwise, if the battle was one-sided and he was defeated step by step, Liu He could destroy him in one fell swoop. Then, what capital would he have to negotiate?
At this time, the scout came back again: "My lord, Liu He's army..."

"How is the army? Are they going to launch an attack?" Cao Cao asked hurriedly.

"No, Liu He...he withdrew his troops..."

"Withdraw? How is that possible?" Cao Cao's eyes almost popped out.

The scout said confidently, "I saw it with my own eyes, and I heard him say that the army at Hulao Pass had not withdrawn. This must be a trick of our army to lure the tiger away from the mountain. After we take control of Hulao Pass, we will attack Yanzhou. And among his army, many soldiers have disorderly steps and are in a state of nervousness and confusion. It doesn't seem fake."

"Well... this is exactly what Wen He expected. It's just that I should have said it, but now he has discovered it on his own initiative. His army has withdrawn now. How should I express my intention to exchange the emperor for Cao Hong and apologize to the court?"

Cao Cao was caught in a dilemma for a while.

At this time, several people rode over on horseback. They were Jia Xu, Cheng Yu, Guo Jia and Xi Zhong.

"My lord, why did Liu He's army withdraw?"

An army of 50,000 strong may not cover the entire sky but it still makes quite a noise. If they were willing to find out, it would be easy for them to find out.

Cao Cao nodded and said, "Yes, he suddenly stopped the pursuit and said something about our army's strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain. He wants to take Hulao Pass first, stabilize Luoyang, and then attack Yanzhou. This is troublesome."

He looked at Jia Xu again and said, "Wenhe, you have predicted that he will come here and he is indeed held back by the troops at Hulao Pass. However, the two sides have not yet fought and I have not had the chance to shout at him. If he goes south from Hulao Pass and we take a detour to Hangu Pass, we may be one step slower than him. Miaocai and his men only have tens of thousands of troops and are fighting with Yuzhou. How can they stop Liu He's fierce attack? If Yanzhou is lost, won't we become rootless duckweed?"

This time, Jia Xu also frowned, "I can't figure out what Liu He is thinking. Logically, he has already caught up with us. Even if he has some suspicions, he should at least fight for a while to test us. But he rushed back in such a hurry. If it were someone else, it would definitely be a trick. How could the news of Hulao Pass reach him so quickly while he was on the march? But we all know Liu He's ability to get information. If he says he can do it, we have to believe him."

Cheng Yu said: "My lord, since he has withdrawn his troops, we have no choice but to speed up our march and return to Yanzhou as soon as possible. Otherwise, if we continue to half-retreat and half-prepare for war, I am afraid we will lose time. It will take time for Liu He to purchase food and grass. If we hurry on, we should be able to return to Yanzhou smoothly. As for the matter of apologizing and exchanging the emperor, we can only explain it after arriving in Yanzhou. However, during this period, we still have to strictly arrange the defense of Yanzhou to prevent any accidents. Only when our army is ready for a battle can we strive for an opportunity for peace talks."

Cao Cao exhaled heavily, feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Well, pass the order down, advance at full speed, and return to Chenliu within seven days."

(End of this chapter)